🇺🇸🇮🇳Indian migrants drive surge in northern U.S. border crossings

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have had nearly 20,000 encounters with migrants between ports of entry on the northern border. That’s a 95% increase from last year.

Nearly 60% of those encounters were with Indian nationals.

One of the migrants interviewed crossed into the U.S. illegally a few weeks ago, through the thick woods connecting Canada to upstate New York. He’s now awaiting a hearing in front of an immigration judge after claiming asylum in the U.S. But he admits, he came here mostly for work, and because “I get more opportunities in the U.S. compared to Canada.”

#US #India
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📉Trudeau government to slash immigration levels

The Trudeau government will announce a dramatic immigration cut Thursday, reducing new permanent resident numbers by almost 100,000 in 2025 after years of consecutive increases to the country’s immigration targets.

The federal government is planning to decrease permanent resident intake from 485,000 this year to 395,000 in 2025. The government is planning to further cut intake to 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027.

#immigration
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2 men plead guilty in murder of Ripudaman Singh Malik, then fight one another in B.C. court

A shocking scene unfolded in a B.C. courtroom on Monday, as a fistfight broke out after two men pleaded guilty to murdering a man acquitted in the 1985 Air India bombing.

Ripudaman Singh Malik was fatally shot in Surrey in July 2022. In 2005, Malik was acquitted in the Air India bombing that killed more than 300 people. He had consistently denied any involvement.

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Alberta announces $112M to build 250 modular homes for displaced Jasper residents

The Alberta government is investing $112 million for the construction of interim housing for Albertans who lost their homes when the community of Jasper was decimated by wildfire three months ago.

The bulk of the funding announced Monday will be used to construct 250 modular homes within the Jasper townsite.

#Alberta #housing #wildfires
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Trudeau says he will lead Liberals in next election following caucus meeting on his future

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he will lead the Liberal Party into the next federal election campaign, speaking one day after some Liberal MPs criticized his leadership during an extended closed door caucus meeting.

Mr. Trudeau answered questions about the meeting for the first time Thursday, stating clearly that he has no intention of stepping down.

During Wednesday’s caucus meeting B.C. MP Patrick Weiler read a letter to the room expressing concern with the party’s direction and asking the Prime Minister to step down. Mr. Trudeau was told that 24 people had put their names to it, but those names were not disclosed even in the private meeting.

#Trudeau
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Bloc Québécois leader has received security clearance, party confirms

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet has received the necessary security clearance to review classified national security files, his party has told Radio-Canada.

That makes Conservative Pierre Poilievre the only party leader in the House of Commons who doesn't have the proper clearance to review top-secret documents.

#Poilievre
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🗳B.C. Election: Crucial recounts won’t start until Sunday as number of uncounted ballots rises to 65,000

Seems shady.

#BritishColumbia
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💉Ontario man granted euthanasia for controversial 'post COVID-19 vaccination syndrome'

An Ontario man in his late 40s with a history of mental illness died by euthanasia after his assisted death assessors decided that the most reasonable explanation for his physical decline was a post COVID-19 “vaccination syndrome.”

#MAID
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I think he phrased it wrong. He meant: “This is temporary — to help me win the election.”

#Trudeau
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🎒Quebec suspends teachers accused of forcing “Islamist” practices in public school

Following an investigation into Bedford Elementary School in Montreal, Quebec, 11 teachers have been suspended for “introducing Islamist religious concepts” into school contrary to the province’s secular requirements, which resulted in reports of neglect and abuse.

If only they did that for those who force their LGBT religion on children.

#Quebec
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Ottawa's pledge to reduce immigration is not enough, PQ says

Ottawa’s plan to lower the number of new permanent residents is “not enough,” Parti Québécois MNA Pascal Bérubé told reporters Thursday at the National Assembly.

Premier François Legault also criticized the federal plan. “It’s not a big drop,” he said Thursday. The premier has been calling on Ottawa for months to reduce temporary immigration by 50 per cent.

PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has already signalled his party’s plan will call for a “drastic” and “substantial” reductions in all categories of new arrivals.

#immigration
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🗳B.C. election results: Mail-in ballots heavily favour NDP, only absentee ballots left to count

Of the approximately 43,500 mail-in and assisted telephone ballots counted Saturday and Sunday, 55 per cent went to David Eby’s incumbent B.C. NDP, while just 32 per cent went to John Rustad’s B.C. Conservatives.

The B.C. Greens took 10 per cent of the votes, and the rest went to a mix of Independent and third-party candidates.

Elections B.C. will not be updating the final count again until Monday, when roughly 21,500 additional absentee ballots will be tallied.

#BritishColumbia
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🎓Seneca Polytechnic to temporarily close Markham campus over international student cap

Seneca Polytechnic says it is temporarily closing one of its campuses north of Toronto because of the federal government’s recent cuts to the number of international student permits.

The college says it expects the cuts to result in declining enrollment, requiring the closure of its Markham campus.

#Ontario
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💸Tens of thousands of taxpayer accounts hacked as CRA repeatedly paid out millions in bogus refunds

At the height of this year's tax season, the Canada Revenue Agency discovered that hackers had obtained confidential data used by one of the country's largest tax preparation firms, H&R Block Canada.

Imposters used the company's confidential credentials to get unauthorized access into hundreds of Canadians' personal CRA accounts, change direct deposit information, submit false returns and pocket more than $6 million in bogus refunds from the public purse.

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Ontario government moves to extend 5.7 cent gas tax cut to June 2025

Ontario is moving to extend a 5.7-cent cut to the provincial gas tax until next summer.

Premier Doug Ford said his government will soon put forward legislation that, if passed, will keep the tax at nine cents per litre until June 30.

#Ontario
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🇮🇳🇺🇸 Sikh separatist claims Indian 'spy network' operates in US and Canada

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen at the center of an assassination plot, said earlier this month that the Modi government should not be allowed to conduct hostile activity in foreign countries and said India's consulates in the U.S. and Canada were running a "spy network", although he did not provide any proof.

The U.S. and Canada "need to put their foot down that regimes like Modi's...should not be allowed to come to America or Canada, challenge their sovereignty and get away with it. They need to put their foot down and close (the consulates) permanently," he said.

This is bold coming from a man whose whole purpose in life is to violate India's territorial integrity.

#India #US
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🗳Saskatchewan Party wins 5th consecutive majority government

The Saskatchewan Party will remain the governing party of the Prairie province it is named after. The win is the party's fifth consecutive majority government.

The victory means Scott Moe will once again be Saskatchewan's premier. He is projected to retain his seat in the Rosthern-Shellbrook constituency.

#Saskatchewan
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Montreal to shed city hall welcome sign that includes woman wearing hijab

A welcome sign in the lobby of Montreal’s newly renovated city hall depicting a woman wearing a head scarf will be removed in the name of secularism, Montreal’s mayor says, following criticism that the image is offensive.

The drawing of a woman wearing what looks like a hijab will be taken down because of the “discomfort” it causes but also because institutions must strive to be secular.

#Quebec
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Liberals ‘seriously in danger to fall,’ Bloc says as deadline passes

The Bloc Québécois is warning that the Liberal government is “seriously in danger to fall” as it begins talks with other opposition parties eyeing a topple after its demands were not met by deadline.

The Bloc Québécois had given the Liberals a Tuesday deadline to greenlight two key bills to avoid an attempt to trigger an election “before Christmas.”

They had until Oct. 29, which is today, to deliver that, which they did not do.

Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet.

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More Liberal MPs demand secret vote on Trudeau’s future, as cabinet ministers reject request

A growing chorus of Liberal MPs called for a secret vote on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s future after his cabinet ministers tried to shut down the demands and argued it was time their party end the in-fighting.

On Tuesday, six more Liberal MPs added their names to the list of people who are publicly demanding their caucus cast a vote on the Prime Minister’s future as leader. Four other MPs had already made the request in the wake of Mr. Trudeau saying last week that he would stay put despite the concerns raised by dozens of MPs who fear an electoral wipeout in the next election if Mr. Trudeau remains leader.

#Trudeau
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Poilievre says it would be 'not fair' for Liberals to replace Trudeau as leader

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre thinks it would be “not fair” for the Liberals to oust Prime Minister Justin Trudeau now, as in his view they are “morally obligated” to keep him.

Poilievre’s comments come ahead of another potentially significant Liberal caucus meeting Wednesday, during which members are expected to continue discussions around the party’s leadership and the next election.

Poilievre wants to sink the Liberal Party and is willing to sacrifice the interests of the people by forcing us to tolerate Trudeau's leadership for another year.

#Poilievre #Trudeau
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