📈 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.
🍁 Maple Chronicles

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
🍁 Maple Chronicles

🗳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
🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇺🇸✈️ 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
🍁 Maple Chronicles

'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
🍁 Maple Chronicles

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
🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇺🇸 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
🍁 Maple Chronicles

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.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

❌🏳️‍⚧️ 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
🍁 Maple Chronicles

🏦 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
🍁 Maple Chronicles

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.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

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
🍁 Maple Chronicles

🗳More than 100 candidates — most in Canadian history — to run against Poilievre in byelection

Next month's byelection in Alberta's Battle River-Crowfoot will break the record for the most candidates on a federal ballot in Canadian history.

As of Friday, 108 candidates — mostly associated with a group of electoral reform advocates known as the Longest Ballot Committee — have registered to run for the seat.

The byelection was called after its recently re-elected MP, Damien Kurek, resigned to allow Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to run for a new seat in the House of Commons.
#Poilievre #Alberta #election
🍁 Maple Chronicles

❌💰Google kills ad fee in response to Canada removing digital services tax

Google is eliminating a surcharge on ads it previously implemented in response to Ottawa’s now-defunct digital services tax.

A year ago, Google said it would put in place a 2.5 per cent surcharge for ads displayed in Canada in response to the tax, effective October 2024.

A Google spokesperson says the company has now stopped charging the fee, and will refund previously collected funds once the federal government officially repeals legislation that implemented the tax.
🍁 Maple Chronicles

🛳 Canada's first large-scale shipment of LNG delivered to port in South Korea

A tanker carrying Canada’s first major shipment of liquefied natural gas has arrived at a South Korean port. A vessel called the GasLog Glasgow delivered the shipment from LNG Canada‘s terminal in Kitimat, B.C.

Two other tankers have left LNG Canada’s terminal and remain in transit, heading to ports in Japan and South Korea.

Though Canada is the world’s fifth-largest producer of natural gas — with a significantly shorter sailing time to Asian markets compared to competitors on the United States Gulf Coast — the country is a late entry to global LNG markets, nearly a decade after the U.S. and around three decades after Australia and Qatar.
#energy #BritishColumbia #SouthKorea
🍁 Maple Chronicles

📝 23 Quebec business owners launch $300 million lawsuit over temporary foreign worker permits

A group of Quebec business owners have launched a $300 million lawsuit against the federal government this month, arguing they’re facing bankruptcy if Ottawa goes ahead with its plan to reduce the number of foreign workers coming into Canada.

The heads of the 23 businesses, which make everything from steel products to winter jackets and airplane parts, say temporary foreign workers are essential to stay afloat.
#Quebec #immigration
🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇺🇸 U.S. commerce secretary dismisses question that free trade with Canada is dead

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is dismissing the question of whether U.S. free trade with Canada is dead, calling the notion "silly" and saying a substantial amount of Canadian goods enter the U.S. tariff-free under the current North American free trade deal.

We have a plan called [the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement], virtually 75 per cent of all goods coming from Mexico and Canada are already coming tariff-free.

But in the same breath, Lutnick suggested tariffs on Canada are here to stay, for now.

The president understands that we need to open the markets. Canada is not open to us. They need to open their market. Unless they're willing to open their market, they're going to pay a tariff.

#US
🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇺🇸 Trump thinks Canadians ‘nasty’ for avoiding U.S. travel, banning booze: ambassador

Canadians avoiding travel to the United States and banning American alcohol are among the reasons U.S. President Donald Trump thinks the country is “nasty” to deal with, the U.S. ambassador to Canada said Monday.

Pete Hoekstra told a conference audience on Monday that such steps “don’t send positive signals” about Canada treating the United States well.

Hoekstra was speaking at the annual Pacific NorthWest Economic Region Foundation summit in Bellevue, Washington.
#US
🍁 Maple Chronicles

🎓Auditor-General plans probe of international student program

The federal Auditor-General’s office is planning an audit of the international student program, which has been mired in controversy over a rapid influx of foreign students in recent years.

The government of former prime minister Justin Trudeau was heavily criticized for the rapid increase in immigration after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, driven in part by a sharp rise in the number of international students in the country.

The increase in immigration fuelled record population growth that strained the housing market – pushing up both home prices and rents – and put pressure on other services such as health care.
#immigration
🍁 Maple Chronicles

Fentanyl in air at Vancouver supportive housing offices

The presence of second-hand fentanyl smoke is so severe at some British Columbia supportive housing facilities that workers cannot escape “substantial exposure,” even if they stay in their offices and don’t venture into hallways or tenants’ rooms.

That is the among the findings of tests conducted at 14 British Columbia supportive housing facilities, results that contributed to the province’s decision to form a working group aimed at tackling safety issues — including second-hand fentanyl exposure.
#BritishColumbia
🍁 Maple Chronicles

🚶🏽‍♂️‍➡️'Temporary' workers account for 19% of Canada's private-sector workforce

Temporary foreign workers account for a little under 19% of Canada’s private-sector workforce. That’s according to a May 1 Immigration Ministry briefing note.

The note put the number of temporary residents at just over 3 million — a number that includes more than 129,000 individuals who illegally overstayed their visas.
#immigration
🍁 Maple Chronicles