Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland is asked why the Trudeau government is hiring social media influencers on TikTok to spread government messaging despite identifying TikTok as a national security risk.

As expected, she gave no coherent answer.

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New report says 1 in 4 Canadians may be living in poverty

A new report from Food Banks Canada suggests the number of Canadians living in poverty may be higher than previously thought, with the organization estimating 25 per cent could fall under this category because they cannot afford two or more household essentials.

But according to Trudeau, Canadians are worried about the climate crisis.

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🚙🇨🇦🇨🇳🇺🇸🇪🇺Canada prepares potential tariffs on Chinese EVs after US and EU moves

Trudeau’s administration is planning possible new tariffs on Chinese-manufactured electric vehicles to align Canada with measures taken by the US and EU.

The government wants everyone to switch to EVs because we're in a climate emergency. But when you buy your electric car, they want their piece of that pie.

#energy #China #US #EU
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What would you say to this asylum seeker?

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🪖'I expect more': NATO head on Canada's need to increase defence spending

We live in a more dangerous world, and therefore we need to invest more in our defence and our security. I welcome the increase you have seen in Canada over the last years, but I expect more.

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview.

A new report from NATO shows more than two thirds of member countries will reach the agreed-upon target of spending two per cent of the country’s GDP on defence this year.

Canada is not among them, and according to NATO officials, is the only member of the alliance without a charted path or timeline by which it will meet the spending goal.

We can't provide for our own army, let alone NATO.

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🇨🇦💰🪖How much does NATO want?

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg accuses Canada of failing to meet its NATO spending target of 2% of GDP. How much is that? Let's do the math.

As of 2024, Canada's GDP is approximately US$2.5 trillion.

🔵 2% x US$2.5 trillion = US$50 billion (or roughly CAD$68 billion).

Now let's apply that figure to reality. The federal government ended the 2023-24 fiscal year with a deficit of CAD$50.9 billion.

No wonder Canada can't hit the 2% mark. There is simply not enough money.

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🗳Toronto-St. Paul's by-election

A by-election is set to take place in Toronto-St. Paul’s, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has stated will mirror the choices voters will face in the next federal election.

Toronto-St. Paul’s has long been considered a Liberal stronghold, but the vote scheduled for June 24 is shaping up to be more competitive.

#Ontario
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Businessman killed in Toronto triple shooting defrauded hundreds of victims, netted at least $100-million, records show

A businessman shot dead in an altercation with a former client on Monday victimized hundreds of people through myriad enterprises that sparked three major police operations, netted at least $100-million and triggered dozens of lawsuits, according to interviews and court records.

For all that, Arash Missaghi seemed immune from consequence. His voluminous court records show no convictions, no jail time and no successful lawsuits against him in Canada, while providing few – if any – indications why criminal charges against him were withdrawn on multiple occasions.

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🎓Foreign student clampdown on track to halve arrivals to Canada

If application numbers and approval rates seen in the first four months of this year remain constant throughout 2024, the number of approved study permits could drop to 229,000. That’s a 48 per cent drop from 436,678 permits approved last year.

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🏠 Average asking rents in Canada reach record $2,202 in May, says new report

A new report says the average asking rent for a home in Canada hit a record $2,202 in May, up 9.3 per cent compared with a year ago and 0.6 per cent from the previous month.

Based on the report, the average asking rent for a one-bedroom unit in Canada was $1,927 in May, up 10.7 per cent from a year ago, while the average asking price for a two-bedroom unit was $2,334, up 12.1 per cent.

#housing
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🇨🇦🇱🇧Canada reportedly preparing to evacuate 45,000 citizens from Lebanon amid war fears

Canada is preparing a massive evacuation of its citizens from Lebanon should a full-scale war break out between Israel and Hezbollah.

The report quotes from a conversation held Friday between Foreign Minister Israel Katz and his Canadian counterpart Mélanie Joly.

The report says the conversation was tense and that Joly told Katz that the Canadian military was drawing up plans to evacuate 45,000 people from Lebanon.

#Lebanon
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Foreign nationals can no longer apply for work permits at the U.S.-Canada border

Foreign nationals will no longer be able to apply for a Post Graduate Work Permit (PGWP) at the U.S.-Canada border, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said on Friday.

Miller said the move was being implemented to curtail something known as “flagpoling,” which is when some temporary residents of Canada bypass the normal wait times involved in applying for a work or study permit online by leaving the country and then immediately re-entering to receive same-day immigration services.

#US
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🩺 People are walking out of Quebec ERs before being treated, study confirms

The number of patients who left Quebec emergency rooms last year before being seen by medical personnel grew compared with five years earlier, a study by the Montreal Economic Institute has concluded.

The study found that during 11 months spanning 2023-2024, 3.2 million patients went to Quebec ERs, and 11.5 per cent of them — 376,460 people — left before they had been seen by a health care professional.

#Quebec #healthcare
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📹Apocalyptic footage from Victoria, BC.

Regret decriminalization yet?

#BritishColumbia
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Alberta’s opposition NDP picks ex-Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi as leader

Former Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi will lead the opposition New Democratic Party in Canada’s oil-rich province Alberta, the party announced in a live-streamed meeting on Saturday.

Nenshi’s parents immigrated to Canada from Tanzania, and he was the first Muslim mayor of a major Canadian city.

#Alberta
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Maximum-security prison that held killers Magnotta, Pickton evacuated due to wildfires

A maximum-security prison in Quebec that has held notorious murderers including Luka Rocco Magnotta and Robert Pickton has been evacuated due to the intensification of nearby forest fires, Correctional Service Canada has confirmed.

A release issued Sunday says inmates at the Port-Cartier Institution were “successfully moved” to other secure federal correctional facilities after an evacuation order was issued for the City of Port-Cartier, Que., on Friday.

#Quebec #wildfires
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❌Canada Day parade in Montreal cancelled

The annual Canada Day parade in Montreal has been cancelled less than two weeks before the event, due to alleged bureaucratic issues between the organizer and the city.

The event’s organizer, Nicholas Cowen, claims “difficulties with local government leaders” were to blame when trying to coordinate the July 1 parade that’s been held since 1977.

#Quebec
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Ottawa split on plan to let undocumented migrants apply to stay in Canada

The proposal – which would include allowing rejected asylum claimants and former international students with expired study permits to apply to remain in Canada – was presented by Mr. Miller to cabinet before MPs began their summer recess.

But Mr. Miller said no conclusion about introducing a broad “regularization” program for migrants who have been in Canada for several years has yet been made and that discussions between ministers are continuing.

The country is being suffocated by migrants and the government is thinking of ways to allow more illegals to stay.

#immigration
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🖊Majority of millennials, Gen Z don't support Trudeau's internet regulation plans: poll

The poll, released Monday, finds that less than half of Canadians aged 18 to 39 say they “support the government’s new rules to regulate the web, podcasts, streaming and social media to restrict offensive speech and online harms.”

Only 44 per cent say they support the initiatives. The majority either disagree with the policies (39 per cent) or don’t know (16 per cent).

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⚡🗳Conservative candidate Don Stewart has won the longtime federal Liberal stronghold of Toronto-St. Paul's

Don Stewart garnered 42.1% of the vote, beating Liberal candidate Leslie Church (40.5%).

#Ontario
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