Roxham Rd. asylum seekers being transferred to Ontario

380 people crossed the border via Roxham Rd. Saturday and Sunday.

Only eight stayed in Quebec. The other asylum seekers were sent to Ontario, where a block of hotel rooms had been made available.

#Quebec

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Toronto confused about whether or not John Tory is actually resigning as mayor

Tory continues to attend City Hall like nothing is amiss. He has yet to formally submit his resignation, meaning that he’s still Toronto’s mayor.

Tory’s office confirmed on Monday that he will remain in office until the city’s 2023 budget is finalized — a process that could take weeks — and that he “will be working to ensure it is approved.”

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Trudeau arrives in Bahamas to meet Caribbean leaders as Haiti crisis deepens

🇧🇸Trudeau is participating as a special guest at the summit of 20 Caribbean leaders in Nassau.

His office said the trip will allow leaders to consider political, security and humanitarian assistance to Haitian people.

🇭🇹Haiti’s de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was not elected to the role but will nonetheless participate in the Nassau meetings, has asked for foreign military intervention — and the U.S. has previously suggested that Canada could lead one.

The United Nations supports such an intervention, but the idea remains unpopular in Haiti.

#Haiti

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Toronto council finalizes 2023 budget, Tory finally steps down

The $16.2 billion budget was approved Wednesday night.

The new budget includes:

▪️5.5 per cent residential property tax increase
▪️$48.3-million increase to Toronto’s police budget
▪️5 per cent cut in transit service compared to last year

Moments after the meeting was adjourned, Tory submitted his letter of resignation, effective 5 p.m. Friday, February 17.

#Ontario

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Gas prices increase by 3.7 cents per litre across Newfoundland and Labrador overnight Feb. 16

The Public Utilities Board announced an increase of up to 3.7 cents per litre (cpl) to the price of gas, setting the maximum cost of a litre of regular unleaded self-serve gasoline to $1.677 on the Avalon.

The next price change is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 23.

#Newfoundland #Labrador

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🇨🇦🇭🇹Canada will deploy Royal Canadian Navy vessels off the coast of Haiti in the coming weeks

The announcement came during a meeting of Caribbean leaders on Thursday.

The vessels will conduct surveillance, gather intelligence and maintain a maritime presence off the coast of Haiti.

While Trudeau said it was important to confront the “severity” of the situation, Canada stopped short of pledging any type of military presence on the ground.

#Haiti

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🇨🇦🇨🇳CSIS documents reveal Chinese strategy to influence 2021 election

According to The Globe and Mail:

▪️Beijing had two goals: to seek return of minority Liberal government and defeat Conservatives perceived to be hawkish

▪️Chinese officials and diaspora groups were used in disinformation campaigns against Conservatives

▪️Undeclared cash donations among tactics employed to support preferred political candidates

#China

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1. Justin Trudeau wears a mask
2. Gets the booster
3. Removes the mask because the booster immediately protects him

Because, apparently, that's how biology works 🤦🏻‍♂

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Nearly 40% of Canadians borrowing money to cover daily expenses

🔹The percentage of Canadians who borrow money to cover daily expenses increased from 26% in 2020 to 38% in September 2022, according to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada.

🔹Proportion of Canadians who used online lenders or payday loans more than tripled from August 2020 to September 2022, increasing from under 1.5 percent to over 4.5 percent.

🔹Researchers said that around 41 percent of Canadians reported they didn’t have sufficient emergency funds to cover unexpected expenses, while 25 percent said they regularly spent more than their monthly income.

The agency’s findings were based on monthly questionnaires posed to 1,000 Canadians nationwide between August 2020 and September 2022.

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🇨🇦🇺🇸Illegal immigrant apprehensions across Canada-US border jump 846 percent in fiscal 2023

Apprehensions and encounters by the U.S. Border Patrol in the northern Swanton Sector—ports of entry in Vermont, New Hampshire, and northeastern New York—have drastically increased this fiscal year, with Mexicans accounting for the majority of illegal individuals trying to cross into the United States from Canada.

In January 2023, Customs and Border Protection officials at the Swanton Sector recorded 367 apprehensions and encounters, surpassing the past 12 years’ January apprehensions, which had totaled 344.

For the fiscal year-to-date from October 2022 to January 2023, there has been an 846 percent jump in encounters and apprehensions compared to the same period in fiscal year 2022.

☠️ Blood Meridian

B.C. premier says no plans for early election, as poll finds majority expect 2023 vote

The poll, conducted by Vancouver-based Research Co., found 53 per cent of respondents believed it was either “very likely” or “moderately likely” that B.C. will have a provincial election in 2023.

B.C.’s next election is currently scheduled for October 19, 2024 under the province’s fixed-election law.

#BritishColumbia

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Protesters mark anniversary of police crackdown on freedom convoy in Ottawa under emergencies act

A group of protesters gathered on Parliament Hill on Feb. 18 to mark the anniversary of the removal of Freedom Convoy demonstration in Ottawa following the invocation of the Emergencies Act by the federal government in February 2022.

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🏦Senate calls for more transparency from Bank of Canada

The Senate committee on banking, commerce and the economy published a report looking at the causes of high inflation and the state of the economy. The report did not make any formal recommendations, but it did suggest that parliamentarians should spend more time looking at monetary policy issues.

“What is evident is the need for enhanced Parliamentary oversight over the deployment of fiscal and monetary tools, particularly in times of crisis and uncertainty. The Bank of Canada should be more transparent and periodically make public its assessment of the effect of its interventions on inflation and on the evolution of key economic indicators,” - the report states.

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🇺🇸🇨🇦U.S. and Canada call off search for unidentified airborne objects that were shot down

While the U.S. did successfully locate debris from the Chinese balloon it shot down on Feb. 4, both countries have come up empty-handed in the search for three other unidentified objects. After multiday efforts, both U.S. and Canadian officials called off their searches on Friday.

U.S. fighter jets would later shoot down unidentified airborne objects near the Alaskan northern coast on Feb. 10, over Canada's central Yukon on Feb. 11 and over Lake Huron near Michigan's Upper Peninsula on Feb. 12.

#US

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🇨🇦Chronicles of the week: Feb. 13-19

▪️Premiers accept federal health-care funding proposal. Roughly $46.2 billion will be sent to the provinces and territories over 10 years.

▪️Canada seeks to recover two objects shot down over Yukon and Lake Huron but later calls off the search.

▪️Trudeau attends a meeting with Caribbean leaders in the Bahamas and, as a result, plans on deploying Royal Canadian Navy vessels off the coast of Haiti in the coming weeks.

▪️John Tory steps down as mayor of Toronto after admitting to a relationship with a former office member.

▪️Protesters gather on Parliament Hill to mark the anniversary of the removal of Freedom Convoy demonstration in Ottawa.

#digest

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🇨🇳🇨🇦 China says “never interfered” in Canadian elections

China has rejected allegations it interfered in Canada’s federal elections. The Chinese Consulate-General in a statement said the accusations “will damage the friendship and interests of the peoples of both countries”. The statement further urged “the relevant media to abide by professional ethics, immediately stop smearing and attacking China.”

The statement followed a report in The Globe and Mail newspaper, citing confidential intelligence documents. The report said that Beijing had interfered in the 2021 federal election.

China’s government used diplomats and proxies to lead disinformation campaigns aimed at boosting certain candidates of the Liberal party – the party considered more favorable to Beijing – against their Conservative rivals, the paper reported.

#China #Canada

@asianomics

National anthem singer changes 'O Canada' lyrics at NBA All-Star game

During her pre-game performance Jully Black, a Canadian R&B singer, sang ‘O Canada! Our home on native land,’ rather than the official lyrics of ‘and native land’. The singer put a heavy emphasis on the alteration, taking a vocal pause.

◾️The last official change to Canada’s national anthem was in 2018, when its lyrics were updated to make them gender-neutral, changing “all thy sons command” to “all of us command.” There is no proposed legislation to make further changes to the anthem as of now.

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Legault says Roxham Road must be ‘priority’ for Trudeau at meeting with Biden

In a letter to Trudeau, François Legault wrote that the federal government urgently needs to complete the renegotiation of an agreement with the U.S. that has pushed asylum seekers to enter Canada at the irregular border crossing, known as Roxham Road.

“Roxham Road will have to be closed eventually, whether we like it or not. Therefore, I am asking you to make this a priority subject during your upcoming meeting with the U.S. president, Mr. Biden.” - Legault.

📈More than 39,000 people claimed asylum after they were intercepted by the RCMP crossing Canada’s land border into Quebec in 2022, compared with 369 in the rest of the country.

In total, around 64 per cent of all asylum claims in Canada in 2022 were made in Quebec.

Trudeau is set to meet with Biden next month.

#Quebec #Legault #Trudeau

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🦠Unprecedented avian flu outbreak continues to wreak havoc in Canadian flocks

Avian flu outbreak has forced the cull of millions of birds in Canada, with the federal government paying out tens of millions of dollars in compensation.

There have been about 7.2 million domestic birds affected by H5N1 avian influenza, or bird flu, in Canada since this strain of the virus was first detected in the country more than a year ago.

🍁 Maple Chronicles