🇨🇦🇺🇦🇷🇺Ukraine cleared to use armour donated by Canada on Russian territory

Ukraine is free to use Canadian-donated tanks and armoured vehicles inside Russia, the Department of National Defence said Thursday.

Canada has donated eight Leopard 2A4 tanks, a few dozen armoured combat support vehicles and hundreds of armoured patrol vehicles, as well as a handful of M-777 howitzers.

At what point did we become comfortable with being dragged into a war with Russia?

#Ukraine #Russia
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For the first time Alberta surpasses B.C., Calgary tops Vancouver, for venture capital investment

The tech sector in Calgary and across Alberta continues to draw interest, with the city now outpacing Vancouver — and the province surpassing British Columbia — in attracting venture capital investment during the first half of the year.

A new report from the Canadian Venture Capital Association shows firms in Alberta raised $383 million during the first six months of the year through 41 separate deals, compared with $288 million and 43 deals in British Columbia.

#Alberta #BritishColumbia
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🇵🇸Pro-Palestinian encampment dismantled at Vancouver Island University after 110 days

A pro-Palestinian encampment at Vancouver Island University (VIU) was dismantled on Sunday morning, 72 hours after the B.C. Supreme Court granted the university an injunction ordering its removal.

#BritishColumbia #Palestine
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B.C. woman arrested after racially offensive social media content, RCMP says

A Chilliwack, B.C., woman has been arrested over what police are describing as racially offensive content she shared via social media.

RCMP spokeswoman said the woman was allegedly targeting members of the South Asian community on X, adding investigators learned of several examples but believe one person is responsible for all the content.

Copying the Brits?

#BritishColumbia
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📈💸The average family’s tax bill rose $7,606 between 2019 and 2023, more than 2.5 times the previous three decade’s average

Between 1992 and 2023, the average tax bill for the average Canadian family rose by $29,376 (166 percent) to $46,998, according to a recent research paper ennoscriptd “The Canadian Consumer Tax Index,” published by the Fraser Institute.

Between 2019 and 2023 alone, the average Canadian family's cumulative taxes rose $7,606. For comparison, between 1992 and 2020, families' tax bills grew by a four-year average of $2,896.

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Toronto seeing recent surge in mpox cases

Toronto is seeing a spike in mpox cases as the city’s public health unit advised eligible residents to consider getting vaccinated.

Toronto Public Health reported an increase in mpox cases from June to July, stemming from what the public health unit called major events and festivals in the city.

❗️Wondering what kind of June festivals might have triggered the monkeypox epidemic?

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Railways halt more shipments ahead of potential lockout as bargaining tensions rise

The country’s two main freight railways are ramping up the amount of cargo being turned away ahead of a potential lockout that could snarl supply chains and disrupt industries.

Canadian National Railway Co. schedules show that, starting today, it is barring container imports that originate at ports ranging from New York City to Mexico.

The two railways have warned that 9,300 engineers, conductors and yard workers will be locked out on Thursday unless they can reach new collective agreements, while the union has also said it is poised for a strike.

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Quebec to authorize early requests for MAID, won't wait for Ottawa to change law

Quebec says that starting this fall it will authorize early requests for medical assistance in dying from certain patients before their condition renders them incapable of giving consent.

The province has been calling on the federal government to modify the Criminal Code to allow people to make such requests, but Quebec says it won't wait any longer.

#Quebec #MAID
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📉Inflation expected to drop in July, giving Bank of Canada more ammo to cut at its next meeting

The Bank of Canada is expected to cut its policy rate at its next meeting in September.

Inflation decelerated in June to 2.7 per cent annually, with the drop attributed to a slowdown in gasoline prices. Despite an uptick to 2.9 per cent in May, inflation has followed a cooling trend and has remained within the target range of one to three per cent since the beginning of this year.

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Canada to pause approval of temporary foreign workers for low-wage jobs in Montreal

Canada will freeze the approval of new temporary foreign workers in low-wage jobs in the Montreal area starting in September.

A senior government source said the processing of Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications will be suspended for six months, starting on Sept. 3, for job offers with wages below $27.47 per hour — currently Quebec's median hourly wage.

#Quebec
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💉Ontario to close supervised consumption sites near schools

The Ontario government is moving to close supervised consumption sites for drug users near schools and prohibit any new ones from being built near schools as well.

The changes will mean that any site within 200 metres of a school will no longer be permitted.

201 meters okay then?

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🚫Potential strike looms as Air Canada pilots negotiate new contract

The union representing Air Canada pilots says job action could happen next month if a new collective agreement isn’t reached.

According to the Air Line Pilots Association, the previous contract is a decade old. The union wants the airline to address retirement and scheduling concerns, as well as compensation.

This past June, the union filed a notice of dispute under the Canada Labour Code and is entering the final stages of conciliation with Air Canada. The pilots are now voting on whether to give their union a strike mandate. The ballots are set to close Thursday.

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🇺🇦Canada pledges $5.7M in humanitarian aid for Ukraine, with focus on children

International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen says Canada will provide $5.7 million for Ukrainians to meet their basic needs.

Another chunk of money that won't be accounted for.

#Ukraine
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Doug Ford calls supervised consumption sites ‘worst things’ to happen to communities

Premier Doug Ford defended his move to close more than half of the provincially funded supervised drug-consumption sites in Ontario and replace them with a network of new treatment centres, calling the sites the worst thing to happen to communities.

Mr. Ford’s government announced new restrictions this week that would ban supervised consumption services within 200 metres of schools or daycare centres as of next March, which will result in the closing of 10 sites. The government also intends to prevent such sites from relocating and to block new ones from opening.

We haven’t seen it get better. This was supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. It’s the worst thing that could ever happen to a community, to have one of these safe-injection sites in their neighbourhood.

Ford.

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9,300 employees locked out: Latest updates on shutdown of Canada's 2 largest railways

Contract talks resumed Thursday after Canada's two largest railways locked out their employees overnight in what is an unprecedented shutdown of freight traffic across the country.

Following months of increasingly bitter negotiations, shipments at Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. ground to a halt.

On Thursday morning, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference posted pictures to social media of workers from Halifax to Vancouver setting up picket lines, while sign-toting employees demonstrated outside CN's headquarters in downtown Montreal.

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We will have more to say shortly on what we're doing to make sure that the right solution is found quickly for the economy.

PM Trudeau tells reporters in Sherbrooke, Que., as he comments on the labour dispute that has shut down Canada's two main railways.

Master of word salad.

#Trudeau
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