❌🏳️‍⚧️ 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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🗳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
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❌💰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.
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🛳 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
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📝 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
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🇺🇸 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
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🇺🇸 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
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🎓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
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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
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🚶🏽‍♂️‍➡️'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
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💸Average Canadian family spent 42.3% of income on taxes in 2024: study

🔹The average Canadian family spent 42.3 per cent of their income on taxes in 2024, according to a new study from the Fraser Institute.

🔹The report from the Fraser Institute showed the average Canadian family, which it estimates to have earned an income of $114,289 last year, paid about $48,306 in total taxes to the federal, provincial, and municipal governments.

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💸 Ottawa’s hotel bill for asylum seekers reaches $1.1-billion

The federal government says it has spent $1.1-billion to house asylum seekers in hotels since 2017, on top of $1.5-billion it has given provinces and cities to help pay for refugee claimants’ upkeep.

Asylum claims have increased dramatically from 50,365 in 2017 to 173,000 in 2024 in Canada. Most arrive in Ontario and Quebec, particularly in Montreal and Toronto.
#immigration
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🏛💰 Calgary projects $175M budget surplus for 2025

The City of Calgary is projected to achieve a $175 million budget surplus in 2025, continuing a decade-long trend of sizeable surpluses averaging $158 million annually.

As of June 30, the surplus stands at $221 million, driven by higher investment income and lower-than-expected expenditures. Surplus funds may be allocated to infrastructure projects or reserves, sparking discussions ahead of the 2025 municipal election.
#Alberta
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Alberta concerned with federal plan to accept newcomer parents, grandparents

Alberta’s immigration minister says he’s concerned about the federal government’s plan this year to accept thousands of parents and grandparents of immigrants already in Canada.

Federal Immigration Minister Lena Diab’s office said the federal government’s actual countrywide target for approvals this year for the parent and grandparent immigration stream is at 24,500.
#Alberta #immigration
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📊 Most Canadians still think Canada is accepting too many immigrants, and many don't trust newcomers: poll

🔹62 per cent of people think that the country is currently admitting too many immigrants.

That’s an increase of four percentage points since pollsters last asked the question in March 2025, and more than double the number of people who felt that way six years ago. In the most recent poll, only 20 per cent disagreed and 19 per cent said they don’t know.
#immigration
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All 5 former Hockey Canada players found not guilty of sexual assault

An Ontario Superior Court justice today found five members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team not guilty of sexual assault charges, ending an eight-week trial.

Justice Maria Carroccia said the Crown had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the complainant in the case had not consented to the sexual activity that took place in a room on the second floor of a London, Ont., hotel in June 2018.
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Number of federal public service jobs could drop by almost 60,000, report predicts

A new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says the federal public service could shed almost 60,000 jobs over the next four years as Ottawa looks to cut costs.

Earlier this month, Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne sent letters to multiple ministers asking them to identify cuts to program spending at their departments of 15 per cent by 2028-29.

The report, written by Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives senior economist David Macdonald, says the federal public service could lose up to 57,000 employees by 2028.
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3 drillers freed from northern B.C. mine after being trapped for days, says company

Newmont Corp. says the three miners who have been trapped for days in the Red Chris mine in northern B.C. were successfully brought to the surface safely on Thursday night.
#BritishColumbia
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