🚨💊 Canada’s drug safety relies heavily on foreign inspections

Canada’s drug safety system is significantly dependent on foreign regulators, particularly the U.S. FDA, which conducts 70% of inspections for drug manufacturing sites supplying medications to Canadians.

Health Canada handles only 15% of inspections, leaving 85% to international agencies. However, the FDA faces staff shortages and pandemic-related backlogs, with about 2,000 drug plants overdue for inspection, heightening worries about drug quality and patient safety.

Recent incidents, like contaminated eye drops from India causing deaths and blindness, underscore the risks of weak oversight.
#healthcare #US #India
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🇺🇸 Contrary to Trump's claims, Canadian border is not major source of fentanyl, U.S. report says

Most of the fentanyl entering the United States continues to come from the southern border, not the northern one, according to a recent report by an American think-tank, despite President Donald Trump’s statement on Thursday that Canadian authorities have failed “to stop the drugs from pouring into our country.”

The report used new data regarding fentanyl seizures, which challenges public pronouncements made by Trump and the White House about the threats posed by the Canadian border. Authors Jon Caulkins and Bishu Giri write that such concerns are largely overstated and could even undermine America’s ability to prioritize tightening the country’s border with Mexico.
#US
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Poilievre says he lost Ottawa riding for being 'honest' about plan to cut public sector jobs

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre says he lost his riding of Carleton in the federal election due to an "aggressive" campaign by public sector unions after he was honest about wanting to cut federal worker jobs.

Poilievre had held the Ottawa riding of Carleton for two decades until the April 28 election, when he was defeated by Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy by 4,500 votes.

Poilievre no longer has a seat in the House of Commons, but he's hoping to regain one in the rural Alberta riding of Battle River–Crowfoot on Aug. 18 — after former Conservative MP Damien Kurek offered up his spot in what is one of the safest Conservative seats in the country.
#Poilievre
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🇺🇸 Canada demands answers after a citizen dies in ICE custody

The Canadian government is demanding answers from the U.S. following the death of a Canadian citizen in immigration custody. Johnny Noviello, 49, died while in custody in Miami pending removal proceedings. Noviello entered the U.S. in 1988 on a legal visa and became a lawful permanent resident in 1991, per ICE.

In 2023, he was convicted in Volusia County, Florida, and sentenced to 12 months in prison for racketeering, trafficking oxycodone and hydrocodone. This year, he was arrested by ICE at the Florida Department of Corrections Probation Office and was being processed for deportation because of his criminal conviction.
#US
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🇺🇸 Carney says a U.S. trade deal without some tariffs is unlikely

Speaking to reporters ahead of a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill about the trade war, Carney said that all of Trump's trade agreements to this point have included some tariffs.

He said "there's not a lot of evidence right now" that the U.S. is willing to cut a deal without some tariffs included.

Indeed, Trump's trade arrangement with the U.K., a country with which the U.S. has a trading surplus, includes a 10 per cent baseline tariff.
#US
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🪖🇦🇺Canada joins Australia’s largest-ever military exercise likely to draw attention of China

The largest-ever war-fighting drills in Australia, Exercise Talisman Sabre, are underway and expected to attract the attention of Chinese spy ships.

Talisman Sabre began in 2005 as a biennial joint exercise between the United States and Australia.

This year, more than 35,000 military personnel from 19 nations, including Canada, Fiji, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, and the United Kingdom, will take part over three weeks, Australia’s defense department said.
#Australia
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🦠🇺🇸 Alberta surpasses U.S. in confirmed measles cases with more than 1,300

Alberta has surpassed the United States in confirmed measles cases, after 30 new cases were diagnosed over the weekend. The province reported Monday that it has seen 1,314 cases since the beginning of March.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 1,288 cases so far this year across 39 states.

The outbreak of the highly contagious disease hasn’t led to any deaths so far in Alberta, but three people, including two children, have died in the United States.
#US #healthcare
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❌ Poilievre calls for 'very hard caps' on immigration to better integrate newcomers

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling for a tougher stance on immigration, saying Monday he wants to see "very hard caps" on the number of newcomers allowed into the country.

Speaking to reporters at a news conference in Ottawa, Poilievre said the country has struggled to integrate newcomers and he wants to see more people leaving than coming in "while we catch up."
#immigration
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✈️🚨 Suspected hijacked plane incident at Vancouver International Airport

A dramatic security incident unfolded at Vancouver International Airport, when a suspected hijacked small plane from Victoria caused temporary airspace closures.

The RCMP arrested the pilot, the sole occupant, after the plane landed safely. The incident disrupted air traffic, leading to flight delays and diversions, with operations resuming later.
#BritishColumbia
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📈 Inflation rate rose slightly to 1.9% in June

The pace of inflation sped up to 1.9 per cent in the month of June as costs for cars and clothes increased, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
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Poilievre adviser Jenni Byrne staying on, Conservatives confirm amid speculation of ouster

Jenni Byrne, the campaign director who many blame for the Conservatives’ loss in the spring election, will continue to play a role in the party, but sources say she is stepping away from the daily grind on Parliament Hill.

Word that Ms. Byrne had been forced out spread through Ottawa political circles Tuesday, the latest round of speculation on whether Leader Pierre Poilievre will make any changes to how his party does business after an election campaign that returned yet another Liberal minority government.

Ms. Byrne and Mr. Poilievre have a personal and professional relationship that goes back decades.
#Poilievre
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🗳More than 50 candidates registered in Alberta byelection where Pierre Poilievre hopes to win back a seat

Dozens of independent candidates have already registered in the rural Alberta riding of Battle River—Crowfoot byelection, where Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre hopes to win back a seat in the House of Commons.

The list stems from a co-ordinated effort by electoral reform advocacy group the “Longest Ballot Committee,” which is aiming to break records during this byelection by registering hundreds of candidates.
#Poilievre #election
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🇺🇸✈️ U.S. fighter jets scrambled to Vancouver airport during alleged hijacking: Norad

American fighter jets were scrambled towards the Vancouver airport on Tuesday as a small plane that was allegedly hijacked from Victoria flew in circles around British Columbia’s largest airport, the pilot’s intentions still unclear.

The F-15 Eagle jets responded from a U.S. base at approximately 1:30 p.m., while Canadian CF-18 Hornets were also “in the process of responding,” a spokesperson for Norad, the joint North American Aerospace Defense Command, said Wednesday.

The U.S. fighter jets were still en route to the Canadian airport when the Cessna 172 landed.
#BritishColumbia #US
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'This is a scam': Poilievre wants rules changed to stop long ballot protests

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he wants Canada's election laws changed to prevent long ballot protests as he is set to face another one next month.

We have to take action because this is a scam. It is unfair, it is unjust and it must stop.

An electoral reform advocacy group — known as the Longest Ballot Committee — has been organizing dozens of candidates to run in byelections in recent years, resulting in metre-long ballots that have caused delays in vote counting and confounded some voters.

#Poilievre #election
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Canada targets China with higher tariffs as part of steel industry measures

Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced new measures he says are aimed at protecting Canada’s steel industry that include targeting metal that comes from China.

The new measures include restricting and reducing the amount of foreign steel imports entering Canada.

Additional duties will be imposed on 25 per cent of steel imports from all non-U.S. countries that contain steel melted and poured in China before the end of July.
#China
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🇺🇸 Canada weighs limiting lumber exports to solve US trade dispute, BC Premier says

Canadian officials are open to considering limits on how much softwood lumber can be exported to the US to try to resolve some of the trade friction between the countries, according to the leader of British Columbia.

We think there is actually an opportunity for lumber to be one of the early agreements and wins that are struck.

Premier David Eby said.
#BritishColumbia #US
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Carney has made concessions to U.S. ‘without achieving anything,’ says Bloc leader

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet is taking aim at what he calls the Liberal government’s “failure” to make meaningful progress towards a new bilateral agreement with the U.S.

Blanchet accused Prime Minister Mark Carney of prioritizing nation-building projects over trade negotiations, which he says risks sacrificing Canadian jobs.

[Carney] has not given the trade issue and the tariffs issue enough interest to get any kind of result. He has renounced and made compromises on many things so far, without achieving anything in the deadlines he had created.

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❌🏳️‍⚧️ Alberta’s transgender ban in sports exempts visiting out-of-province athletes

Alberta is rolling out new regulations this fall banning transgender athletes from playing women’s sports, but the province will still admit out-of-province transgender competitors.

Tourism and Sport Minister Andrew Boitchenko said the discrepancy is out of his hands.

We don’t have authority to regulate athletes from different jurisdictions.

#Alberta
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🏦 60 per cent of Canadian mortgage owners could face higher mortgage payments by 2026

Roughly 60 per cent of Canadian mortgage holders will face higher monthly payments when their loans come up for renewal in 2025 and 2026, according to a new Bank of Canada report.

The bank says that although mortgage interest rates are expected to gradually decline, most borrowers will still see payment increases relative to their current contracts — many of which were signed during periods of lower interest rates.

The report estimates that in 2025, homeowners renewing their mortgages will see an average increase of 10 per cent in their monthly payments compared to December 2024 levels.
#housing
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Boy, 14, sought in robbery turned stabbing that left 71-year-old woman dead in North York

A 14-year-old boy is wanted in connection with a robbery that turned into a stabbing in North York that left a 71-year-old woman dead on Thursday. The teen is wanted for second-degree murder in the stabbing death of Shahnaz Pestonji.

The 71-year-old was loading groceries into her car in the parking lot of a commercial plaza on Parkway Forest Drive, south of Sheppard Avenue East, when she was attacked and stabbed. Pestonji was transported to the hospital but died later.

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Arab Power leader killed in Quebec prison

One the leaders of the Arab Power street gang was killed in a Quebec prison.

Sylvain Kabbouchi, considered one of the heads of the group, was assassinated at the maximum-security Donnacona Institution Sunday.
#Quebec
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