🪖'Large proportion' of military disliked relaxed rules on personal grooming, survey finds

The Canadian military has tightened up regulations on personal grooming after getting an earful from members who were not happy with the relaxed standards introduced almost two years ago.

The revised rules on hair and beard length come into effect today.

The country's soon-to-retire top military commander, Gen. Wayne Eyre, has championed the relaxed rules on personal grooming. He said no one should make too much of the revisions.

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🪖Lt.-Gen. Jennie Carignan chosen as next chief of the defence staff

Lt.-Gen. Jennie Carignan has been named the next chief of the defence staff, making her the first woman to serve as the top commander of the Canadian military.

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📈Toronto's population growth higher than major U.S. cities due to 'surge of immigration'

Toronto’s population is the fastest growing in Canada and in the United States, a new report says.

Toronto beat out major American cities like Houston and Dallas. While Toronto’s metropolitan area grew by 221,588 people over 12 months, Houston and Dallas saw much less growth, with 139,789 people and 152,598 people respectively.

What is surprising is the lack of awareness south of the border of how rapidly Toronto is becoming an economic powerhouse mainly built on robust immigration from many countries. At the time of the 2021 Census of Canada, 49 per cent of the Toronto metropolitan area’s population was born outside Canada.

report states.

The report said it was “remarkable” that out of the top 10 fastest-growing central cities in North America, eight of them were in Canada. The cities that made the top 10 list were Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Vancouver and Halifax.

#US
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💰Alberta ends fiscal year with $4.3B surplus

The Alberta government ended its fiscal year on March 31 with a $4.3 billion surplus despite having to pay $3 billion in contingency costs due to the province's worst fire season on record.

Finance Minister Nate Horner defended the government's current plan to use surplus cash to pay off debt while saving some of it into the Heritage Fund.

#Alberta
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🏠Ottawa considering buying hotels to house growing number of asylum seekers

Ottawa is considering buying hotels to house the growing number of asylum seekers and to cut the cost of block-booking hotel rooms to accommodate them, Immigration Minister Marc Miller says.

The federal government has in the last few years taken out long leases on hotels to help provinces house thousands of refugee claimants. This year, Ottawa has been footing the bill for approximately 4,000 hotel rooms for 7,300 asylum seekers, many of whom have transferred from provincial shelters and churches.

#immigration #housing
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💰United States looking at all options to respond to Canada's digital services tax

The Office of the United States Trade Representative says it will do what's necessary to halt Canada's tax on large foreign digital services companies.

Last month, Parliament approved the government's plan to add a three per cent levy on foreign tech giants which generate revenue from Canadian users. It means the companies will have to pay taxes on that revenue in Canada.

Many of those companies are based in the United States and American industry is demanding action.

#US
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High housing costs has two-in-five recent immigrants saying they may leave their province (or Canada)

New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds recent trends that have seen Canadians concentrating in Alberta, moving south, or beyond Canada and the U.S., potentially increasing in coming years. Most likely among those to consider further relocation are recent arrivals.

Consider that while three-in-10 Canadians (28%) say they’re giving serious consideration to leaving their province of residence due to housing affordability, this number rises to 39 per cent for those who have lived in the country for less than a decade.

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Canadian households now the third most indebted in the world

Canadian households have been on an epic borrowing spree. At the start of 2020, they interpreted record low rates as a signal to borrow as much as possible, as fast as they could. From Q1 2020 to Q1 2024, household debt climbed a whopping 25% higher. Two-thirds of the accumulation occurred before the first rate increase in Q1 2022.

The debt surge helped put households amongst the most indebted in the world. They now owe over 100% of GDP, making Canadinan households the third most indebted in the world, and the most indebted of any G7 economy. It’s only beat by Australia and Switzerland.

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😄Calgarians respond to news that Justin Trudeau will not be coming to the Calgary Stampede.

#Alberta #Trudeau
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Poilievre’s Conservatives spent more than 20 times as much on ads as Trudeau’s Liberals in 2023

Newly released financial statements show the Conservative Party spent $8.5 million on advertising in 2023 — more than 20 times as much as the governing Liberals, who spent just over $380,000.

Do you think liberals will use this as an excuse for their failures?

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Canada's unemployment rate rose to its highest level in more than 2 years last month

The Canadian economy lost 1,400 jobs in June as the unemployment rate climbed to its highest level in more than two years, Statistics Canada said Friday.

In its monthly labour force survey report, the agency said the unemployment rate came in at 6.4 per cent for the month, up from 6.2 per cent in May, as the size of the labour force grew.

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📝Majority want public release of names of MPs accused of foreign interference, poll says

Most Canadians surveyed want the public release of the names of MPs accused of foreign interference, according to a new poll.

Sixty-eight per cent of those surveyed want the disclosure of the names and for the elected officials to have an opportunity to publicly explain their actions, according to a Nanos Research survey.

Meanwhile, 28 per cent say implicated elected officials should have a chance to explain themselves before the inquiry into foreign interference led by Marie-Josée Hogue.

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🪖Trudeau headed to Washington for NATO summit. What to expect

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to arrive in Washington, D.C., on Monday to mark the 75th anniversary of the NATO military alliance.

#US
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🏠Nearly 40% of new Canadians are considering moving due to housing costs

According to the poll, 28 per cent of Canadians overall are considering leaving the province that they reside in due to soaring housing costs. Most live in either Ontario (39 per cent) or British Columbia (36 per cent), where high housing costs have persisted for longer compared to other regions.

Across Canada, 42 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds say they are considering moving from their current province. According to the poll, renters are more likely to consider moving than those who own their dwellings with or without a mortgage.

#housing
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💸Gold stolen in Toronto airport heist now likely overseas, police admit

Peel Regional Police have quietly conceded that millions in gold stolen from Toronto Pearson Airport in April 2023 was likely quickly smuggled out of Canada to the Middle East or South Asia.

We believe a large portion has gone overseas to markets that are flush with gold. That would be Dubai, or India, where you can take gold with serial numbers on it and they will still honour it and melt it down…. And we believe that happened very shortly after the incident.

lead investigator Det. Sgt. Mike Mavity told members of the Peel Police Service Board during a June 21 meeting.

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🪖🇨🇦🇺🇸U.S. plans to press Canada, other NATO allies at summit to meet 2% spending targe

Michael Carpenter, a White House national-security official, said Monday that alliance members will hold countries’ “feet to the fire” if they have not yet fulfilled their decade-old pledge to spend 2 per cent of GDP on the military.

Another U.S. diplomatic official said there has been debate in the administration over how aggressively President Joe Biden should press the issue with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Part of the discussion is whether to shame Canada publicly or keep it private, the source said.

#US
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🚫💰Saskatchewan wins injunction to block CRA from collecting carbon tax

The Saskatchewan Party says its application for a court injunction to stop the Canada Revenue Agency from collecting the federal carbon tax from the province has succeeded.

The court ruled in our favour, blocking the federal government from unconstitutionally garnishing money, pending the full hearing and determination of the continuation of the injunction by the Federal Court.

Bronwyn Eyre, the provincial justice minister and attorney general said Monday.

Eyre said garnishing a provincial bank account violates Section 126 of Canada’s constitution. The issue will now go a full hearing.

#Saskatchewan
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Trudeau on his way to get spanked at the NATO summit.

By the way, who's he waving at?

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✈️ Canada’s ambassador for climate change racks up travel expenses

Canada’s ambassador for climate change has charged $254,000 in travel expenses in less than two years on the job.

🌍According to Blacklock’s Reporter, from day one Catherine Stewart went on international trips including to Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam, Bali, Beijing, Bern, Brasilia, Brussels, Cairo, Copenhagen, Delhi, Florence, Geneva and Helsinki. She also visited Istanbul, Kinshasa, Leipzig, Lisbon, London, Milan, Mumbai, Munich, New York City, Paris, Rome, Sao Paulo, Sharm El-Sheikh, Vienna, Washington and Zurich.

Expenses included business class airfare, and she travelled by air even when train service was available.

This is what climate emergency looks like!

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At the Calgary Stampede

People are heartbroken that Trudeau didn't make it this year.

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