🇨🇦🇨🇳Trudeau warns journalists that questions about China's election interference are racist and should stop

Trudeau had been asked several questions about allegations of election interference by the Chinese government.

🔻Among the questions Trudeau didn’t give a clear answer on was whether CSIS had warned the Liberal Party in 2019 that they had concerns that now Liberal MP Han Dong had received support from the Chinese consulate in Toronto.

“There are 1.7 million Canadians who proudly trace their origins back to China. Those Canadians should always be welcomed as full Canadians and encouraged to stand for office. I want to make everyone understand fully: Han Dong is an outstanding member of our team, and suggestions that he is somehow not loyal to Canada should not be entertained.” Trudeau said.

🔻While Trudeau claimed that Han Dong is undoubtedly loyal to Canada, he did not comment on the specific allegation that the Chinese government helped Han Dong win the election.

#China

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Quebec follows Canada in banning TikTok on government devices

Hours after the Canadian government announced it would remove video social media app TikTok from all government devices, the Quebec government followed suit and did the same.

On Monday evening, Quebec Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital Technology Éric Caire announced new directives for public organizations that include forbidding the installation and use of TikTok on government mobile devices.

#Quebec

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🏦The Canadian economy stayed flat in the fourth quarter following five consecutive quarters of growth

Statistics Canada says real gross domestic product was unchanged in the last three months of 2022, despite higher household and government spending as well as a stronger trade position for Canada.

The report shows a much grimmer economy than forecasters had anticipated as higher interest rates take a more noticeable toll on the economy.

In December, the economy contracted by 0.1 per cent as goods-producing industries declined.

However, a preliminary estimate from Statistics Canada suggests the economy bounced back in January with 0.3 per cent growth in real GDP.

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🇨🇦🇨🇳Canadian imports from China hit $100B in 2022, setting new trade record

Recent events involving the Chinese spy balloon incident, election interference, TikTok ban and the general worsening of Canada-China relations will probably not stay in the way of business.

💰 Trade between China and Canada hit record levels in 2022, with imports breaking the $100-billion mark for the first time, which is a 16 per cent increase from 2021.

The biggest category of imports in 2022 was consumer goods, at $31 billion, followed by electronic and electrical equipment, worth $28 billion.

The data show Canadian exports to China also reached a historic high of $27.9 billion, recovering from a slump that followed the 2018 arrest of Chinese Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou and China’s detention of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig.

China last year lifted a three-year ban on Canadian canola that had been imposed after the arrest of Meng, who has since returned to China.

#China

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B.C. to become 1st in Canada to give free prenoscription contraception beginning April 1

B.C. says it’s investing $119 million over the next three years to ensure everyone under the Medical Services Plan can access contraception products, copper IUDs and the morning after pill at no cost.

Patients will also now be able to get prenoscriptions from local pharmacists without visiting their doctor first.

#BritishColumbia

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MPs summon Google CEO, executives over news-blocking in Canada

MPs have summoned Google executives from head offices in both the U.S. and Canada to appear before a House of Commons committee Monday and answer for blocking some Canadians’ access to news content on Google platforms.

The committee is summoning Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, Kent Walker, president of global affairs and chief legal officer, Richard Gingras, vice-president of news, and Sabrina Geremia, vice-president and country manager for Google in Canada.

The summons is only enforceable for individuals in Canada, the committee heard. Of the listed executives, only Geremia is based in Canada.

Google has been blocking news stories from showing up in some people’s search results and in its “discover” feature on Android devices in response to the government’s Bill C-18.

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🇨🇦🇨🇳Man writing report on Chinese election interference ran Trudeau Foundation when big donations came in from China

▪️The Trudeau government has appointed the former Trudeau Foundation CEO, Morris Rosenberg, to write the report that will be presented to the Canadian public on foreign interference in the 2021 election.

▪️During his time as the head of the Trudeau Foundation, Rosenberg was involved in facilitating a controversial $200k donation from influential Chinese Communist Party official Bin Zhang.

#China

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Jagmeet Singh will deactivate his TikTok account

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he'll deactivate his TikTok account which has nearly 879,000 followers.

He added, however, that the move is a "pause" and left open the possibility of reactivating the account.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is also "taking a break" from his TikTok account.

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Vancouver airport border agents seize arsenal of prohibited weapons inbound from China

A Chilliwack resident has been arrested after the Canada Border Services Agency linked him to an arsenal of prohibited weapons, some of which were seized at the Vancouver International Airport inbound from China.

In total, 1,350 prohibited weapons and 13 prohibited firearms (Tasers) were seized.

This included 260 stun guns, 422 prohibited knives, 171 stun batons, seven spring-loaded batons, 390 pairs of brass knuckles and 13 Tasers.

Charges are pending against the arrested man.

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🇨🇦🇵🇭Manitoba plans to bring in 350 nurses from the Philippines

A Manitoba delegation has returned from the Philippines, where it has potentially recruited 350 nurses: 190 registered nurses, 110 health-care aides, and 50 licensed practical nurses.

Selected candidates must undergo an immigration interview and verify proficiency in English.

“Our government committed to providing a welcoming streamlined and reasonable process to ensure that internationally educated health care providers are able to practice their passion and excel in our health care system.” - Health Minister Audrey Gordon said.

When questioned about the ethics of taking health-care workers from other countries, Gordon said Manitoba and the Philippines have a Memorandum of Understanding Agreement.

#healthcare

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Ottawa ends shipments of rapid COVID-19 tests to provinces as millions set to expire

There are 90 million rapid tests still in the federal inventory. About 80,000 of those are set to expire within six months and 6.5 million within the year. The rest expire within two years.

Ottawa has ordered more than 811 million rapid tests since the beginning of the pandemic with a price tag of about $5 billion. About 680 million of those went to provinces and territories.

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B.C. firm gets approval from Health Canada to make and sell cocaine

🔹Adastra Labs in Langley, B.C., said in a statement that on Feb. 17 Health Canada granted a cannabis company the right to possess, produce, sell and distribute cocaine.

B.C. Premier David Eby commented on the news: "If Heath Canada did in fact do this, they did it not only without engaging with the province, but they did it without notice to us."

"It is not part of our provincial plan," he added, referring to the ongoing effort to stem the overdose death rate.

🔹Health Canada clarified that the company can only sell to other licence holders who have cocaine listed on their licence, namely pharmacists, practitioners, hospitals, or the holder of an exemption for research purposes.

Adastra Labs said in the statement the amended licence allows the company to "interact" with up to 250 grams of cocaine and to import coca leaves in order to make and synthesize the substance.

🔹Opposition leader Kevin Falcon criticized the move: "Cocaine isn't prescribed, it isn't safe, and this is wrong,. Commercializing cocaine as a business opportunity amounts to legalizing cocaine trafficking, full stop."

#BritishColumbia

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Trudeau Foundation returns $200K to Beijing-linked donor

💵In 2016, Zhang Bin, a wealthy Chinese businessman and adviser to the Chinese government, made a donation to the foundation worth $200,000, which Canadian security officials now link back to the Chinese government.

Foundation president Pascale Fournier released a statement saying that the foundation — which funds and promotes academic and public interest research — has reimbursed Zhang the full amount of the donation.

#China

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Climate activists toss pink paint on Royal B.C. Museum's mammoth replica

A centrepiece of the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria, Woolly the mammoth, was defaced with pink paint by protesters trying to draw attention to climate change.

The new climate campaign "On2Ottawa'' says washable pink paint was tossed at the tusks of the three-metre-tall mammoth to protest what it calls "criminal'' federal government inaction on the climate emergency.

3 people were arrested for mischief, and the incident remains under investigation.

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📈Vancouver city council has approved a 10.7% property tax increase as part of its 2023/24 budget

Vancouver city council passed its 2023 budget, just hours after the mayor announced city hall was considering a nearly 11 per cent property tax.

The 10.7 per cent tax hike — up from an initially proposed 9.7 per cent — was approved in a nearly unanimous budget vote that will see spending increase for the fire department, police and city engineering services.

Mayor Ken Sim conceded the hefty increase “sucks,” and pinned the blame on what he said was years of underfunding, leaving core city services badly in need of new investments.

#BritishColumbia

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🏦CIBC data show 20% of mortgages not covering interest costs

🔻20% of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) mortgage holders are seeing their loan balances increase, as rising interest rates make it harder for them to pay off their homes.

$52 billion of mortgages were in a state where borrower monthly payments are not enough to cover even the interest portion.

The bank has allowed these borrowers to extend the time taken to repay the loan, which is known as the amortization period. Plus, borrowers are adding unpaid interest to their original loan or principal.

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Opposition MPs vote for public inquiry into foreign election interference

▪️Opposition MPs passed a motion calling for the federal government to launch a national public inquiry into allegations of foreign interference, after hearing hours of testimony from top intelligence officials who sought to assure that the integrity of Canada's last two elections was upheld despite meddling attempts by China.

▪️After debate spanning two meetings of the Procedure and House Affairs Committee, by a vote of 6-5 with Liberal MPs voting against, opposition parties voted in favour of an NDP motion calling on PM Justin Trudeau to enact an inquiry that would include but not be limited to allegations of election meddling.

▪️The committee still needs to report this decision to the House, but it is non-binding, meaning it's still in the government's purview whether to take the committee's advice.

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🚑 On the Canadian healthcare system crisis

🔻Though the premiers have accepted the new federal healthcare funding, they admit it is insufficient to improve the situation as the country's healthcare crisis deepens.

The majority of Canadians (56% of respondents) believe that the quality of healthcare provided in their province or territory has worsened over the past 5 years. How did it come to this?

The COVID-19 pandemic has only amplified pre-existing healthcare problems: staff shortages, emergency room closures, long wait times for appointments and surgeries, overworking and burnout.

🔻With worsening working environment, healthcare workers are leaving their jobs in the community health agencies to work in private ones, or leave the industry altogether.

Staff shortages are severe among nurses and family physicians, especially in remote clinics, where they face uncompetitive salaries and high work-load.

Small emergency rooms and family clinics close due to being under-staffed, preventing patients from receiving medical assistance locally. In facilities which still function, it can take several hours to see a doctor.

Healthcare jobs prestige is declining: working overtime has become normalized and is not always paid; healthcare workers often experience aggression from patients and don’t feel like the government does enough to fix the situation.

In Ontario, for instance, nurses fall under Bill 124, which limits wage increases to 1% per year for Public Service employees, which doesn’t keep up with the current 6% inflation rate.

🔻So, it's not surprising that 75% of nurses and 69% of doctors say they intend on leaving the industry in the next 12 months. And this is while there is already an all-time high staff shortage with 126,000 healthcare and social assistance sector vacancies.

Up to two-thirds of newly-graduated nurses leave the profession within the first two years of working. With this trend in mind, some medical students choose to drop out before finishing their degrees.

🔻While healthcare workers in France and in the UK who face similar problems actively protest and demand better working conditions, their Canadian colleagues fail to follow suit. They choose to leave the profession or migrate.

A lot of nurses migrate to the U.S., where employers offer $15-$20 higher pay rate than similar jobs in Canada and a less stressful work environment. This migration rate has doubled in the last 3 years, with more than 1,700 nurses now leaving Canada for the U.S. each year.

🔻The government seems to be aware of the severity of the situation, but the measures they take are insufficient. And plans to attract international healthcare workers have so far not shown visible results.

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Ontario proposes speeding up mine approvals in bid to gain foothold in battery metals industry

▪️The federal government said late last year that it was working with the provinces and territories to reduce red tape in the sector, after conceding that mine approvals take far too long. Developing a mine in Canada can take up to 25 years.

▪️The potential amendments to the provincial Mining Act would make it easier for companies to obtain permits to mine metals from tailings, allow companies to defer up-front payments on plans to close mines, and loosen restrictions related to the rehabilitation of shuttered mine sites.

▪️Over the past few years, the Canadian and United States governments have pushed to establish North American supply chains of critical minerals used in electric car batteries, such as lithium.

#Ontario

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Families fear crowded classrooms as UCP funds only two Calgary school projects

UCP’s new schools announcement this week only granted full funding to two local projects.

“Our school board has lost the courage and the willingness to advocate for us. Instead, we have a board that’s willing to just stay quiet and take the scraps," says Krista Li, who sits on the West Calgary Catholic High School advocacy group.

According to her estimates, class sizes are well over 40 students in high school core courses at a local school.

Information on class size averages is no linger available after the UCP in 2019 removed the requirement for boards to report the numbers.

“Students know, parents and teachers know, exactly how large classes are. It’s ridiculous how the government and school boards just hide those numbers now,” Li concludes.

#Calgary

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🥇Female athletes are against policies allowing trans athletes to compete in the female category

By a wide margin, elite female athletes have rejected the idea of allowing male-bodied athletes to compete in their women’s sport.

This comes from a Sport Canada commissioned report:

▪️91.7% of the female athletes interviewed agreed that female athletes should have the right to compete in dedicated female sport categories in sex-affected sports.

▪️88% agree that transwomen (biological males) have a competitive advantage over females.

▪️88% disagree when asked if gender identities are more important than biological sex when deciding eligibility in high performance sports.

Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport currently implores national sports organizations to include male-born persons in the female category based upon self-identified gender status alone.

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