🩺 Health authorities spent $100M on travel nurse contracts in past year

Newfoundland and Labrador's regional health authorities have spent around $100 million on private agency nurse contracts in the past year. 8 contracts for out-of-province agencies show recruitment and retention efforts are failing.

Not including tax, the total works out to more than a quarter-million dollars — $266,438.36 — per day, every day, spent on travel nurses since April 2022.

NDP Leader Jim Dinn suggested that at least some of the $100 million could have been used to improve provincial retention.

#NewfoundlandAndLabrador #healthcare

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Quebec to ban prayer rooms in public schools, only 'silent' praying allowed

Bernard Drainville told reporters he has learned of at least two Laval schools that have permitted students to gather for prayer.

Drainville says he will issue the directive to all school service centres, adding that prayer rooms in schools are not compatible with official secularism.

The minister, however, isn’t prohibiting prayer altogether, saying that students who want to pray should do so “discreetly” and “silently.”

Drainville’s position has evolved in the past 24 hours — on Tuesday he told schools not to reserve rooms for a single religion and to ensure prayer spaces respected gender equality.

But he changed his mind after the Parti Québécois called for a stronger directive from the Education Department to avoid prayer rooms cropping up across the province.

#Quebec

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City reached 'turning point' in dealing with East Hastings Street encampment

The premier and Vancouver's top officials defended their approach to Wednesday's takedown of the Downtown Eastside tent encampment with police enforcement, insisting safety issues had escalated to the point they had to act.

Ongoing fires in and around the tents, escalating violence, and reported sexual assaults of women were all repeatedly cited by officials, who described the remaining campers as entrenched and unwilling to leave despite multiple offers of shelter spaces.

“We need to restore Hastings as a street that is safe and welcoming to everyone,” said Mayor Ken Sim.

The chiefs of Vancouver's police and fire departments, the city manager and the mayor held a news conference at city hall as the tent clearing was underway.

#BritishColumbia

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🇸🇾RCMP arrests two women after they return to Canada from ISIS camps in Syria

Two Ontario women were arrested on terrorism allegations on Thursday after returning to Canada from camps in Syria for captured ISIS suspects.

Dure Ahmed and Ammara Amjad were arrested on terrorism peace bonds upon arriving at Montreal airport.

They were then flown to Ontario and appeared by teleconference in a courtroom in Brampton, Ont., north of Toronto. The women were among four the Canadian government brought out of Syria on Wednesday, along with their children.

They do not face any criminal charges. Peace bonds impose a list of conditions on suspects that can include wearing an ankle bracelet and taking part in a de-radicalization program.

#Ontario

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🇨🇦🇺🇸 Roxham Road quiets down after U.S. Canada deal on asylum seekers

▪️Officials say the massive wave of would-be refugees crossing into Canada has slowed significantly since the end of March, when the government negotiated a deal with the United States to turn away asylum seekers at unofficial border crossings like Roxham Road — closing a long-standing loophole in the Safe Third Country Agreement.

▪️That agreement assumes that Canada and the U.S. are "safe" countries for would-be refugees. It also forces asylum seekers to apply for refugee status in the first country they enter — Canada or the U.S. — and prohibits them from crossing the border to file a claim.

▪️Now that asylum seekers are blocked from using that road, they will likely try to enter Canada through other spots along the 9,000-kilometre border that separates the two countries, refugee advocacy groups expect.

#RoxhamRoad #Quebec #border

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Two men arrested, 90 kg of cocaine seized in undercover bust

Calgary police have seized more than 90 kilograms of cocaine and arrested two men after a four-month investigation into an alleged drug trafficker.

Investigators received information in October about a person believed to be involved in a cross-Canada drug trafficking operation.

Two vehicles travelling to Calgary from Vancouver were stopped in February and found to have the cocaine inside hidden compartments.

Two men are charged with two counts each of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. They are scheduled to appear in court April 14.

#Calgary

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Ontario man allegedly claimed he smuggled over 1,000 people through Akwesasne

An Ontario man who once allegedly bragged he'd moved over 1,000 people across the Canada-U.S. border, is now facing a nine-count indictment alleging he was the "primary organizer" of a human smuggling network using Akwesasne Mohawk territory.

Simranjit Singh pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in the U.S. Federal Court for the Northern District of New York to charges related to human smuggling. He was extradited to the U.S. on Thursday.

The indictment is based on evidence gathered through surveillance, Facebook messages and human sources related to four failed smuggling attempts across the St. Lawrence River between March 2020 and April 2022, according to court records.

Singh allegedly acted as a broker, charging $5,000 to $35,000 per person to smuggle mainly Indian nationals into the U.S., according to court records.

He then paid people in the community between $2,000 to $3,000 per person to take them across the river through Akwesasne territory.

#Ontario #border

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🇨🇦🇺🇦 Ukraine's PM to visit Canada to seek heavy armoured vehicles and ammunition

Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine, is visiting Canada in the coming weeks. Ukrainian government is not disclosing the date of the trip.

Shmyhal said the Ukrainian government would like the Canadian government to offer Canadian companies investing in Ukraine a war risk insurance.

The Canadian government’s 2023 budget, unveiled in March, offered a new $2.4 billion loan for Ukraine. In the past 12 months Ottawa has provided more than $1 billion in military gear to Kyiv.

Shmyhal said his visit will include signing cooperation agreements with a Canadian company in the nuclear industry – he did not provide more details – and noted that Kyiv has already signed deals with foreign firms including some from Canada.

#Ukraine

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Nova Scotia suspends doctor’s licence after 17,000 Ozempic prenoscriptions sent mostly to U.S.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia has suspended the licence of a doctor who allegedly wrote thousands of Ozempic prenoscriptions for Americans and prompted British Columbia to limit the drug to Canadian residents.

The doctor reportedly lives in the U.S. but holds a Nova Scotia licence.

#NovaScotia

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Union representing 35,000 CRA workers vote in favour of strike

The union representing 35,000 Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) service workers voted "overwhelmingly" to strike Friday.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Union of Taxation Employees made the announcement at 1 p.m. ET. The vote was held between Jan. 31 and April 7 and impacts the majority of CRA employees.

Union members who work at the CRA will be in a legal strike position as of April 14. The strike could cause delays for Canadians filing their 2022 taxes by the May 1 deadline.

A final round of negotiations between PSAC and the CRA is set for April 17 to 20.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

More than 115,000 still without power in Quebec following deadly ice storm

Hydro-Quebec says it hopes to reconnect power today to more than 50,000 customers who have been without electricity since last week's deadly ice storm.

Around 114,000 clients remain without power, including approximately 80,000 in Montreal.

The utility has restored power to over 90 per cent of the more than one million customers who lost power after Wednesday's ice storm and plans to reach 95 per cent today.

The vast majority will have power back on Monday, but some complex cases may not be resolved until Tuesday.

#Quebec

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Multiple bureaucrats stripped of security clearance for allegedly spying since 2017

▪️Since 2017, at least three employees working in Canada’s public service had their security clearance revoked due to allegedly spying or acting on behalf of a foreign country.

▪️Two bureaucrats had their security clearance revoked in 2019 due to allegations of spying and another one in 2017. The public servants were employed by Employment and Social Development Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

▪️The Canada Border Services Agency did not reveal which countries the employees were acting on behalf of nor if the employees were criminally charged. It is unclear if the other bureaucrats who had their security status stripped away are still employed by the public service.

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🏠 Only 27% of Canadians believe the feds are doing enough on housing affordability

🔹An Ipsos poll found that 63% of Canadians who currently do not own a home have “given up” on ever owning one.

🔹The poll also revealed that only 27% of Canadians feel the government is doing enough to address housing affordability.

🔹While 76% of Canadians believe purchasing a home is the best investment choice, seven in 10 believe home ownership is only for the wealthy. This belief was most widely held by Canadians aged 18-24.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦Chronicles of the week: April 3-9, 2023

▪️Jeremy Hansen announced as the first Canadian to orbit the moon. Hansen will be part of NASA's Artemis II mission orbiting the moon for 10 days.

▪️Ex-bureaucrat pleads guilty to stealing $47.4M from Ontario government. A judge sentenced Sanjay Madan to ten years in prison.

▪️Vancouver police took down East Hastings Street tent encampment.

▪️More than 800,000 people lost power as freezing rain hit Ontario and Quebec on Wednesday. Although most of the damage has already been repaired, some residents are still without power.

▪️Union representing 35,000 Canada Revenue Agency CRA service workers voted to go on strike on April 14.

#digest

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Canada’s privacy watchdog opens investigation into OpenAI, ChatGPT over complaint

Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne said his office was investigating OpenAI after receiving complaints alleging "the collection, use and disclosure of personal information without consent."

"A.I. technology and its effects on privacy is a priority for my Office. We need to keep up with – and stay ahead of – fast-moving technological advances, and that is one of my key focus areas as Commissioner," Dufresne said in a statement.

In a video call between the watchdog’s commissioners and OpenAI executives, including CEO Sam Altman, the company promised to set out measures to address these concerns – though the remedies have not been detailed.

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Vancouver Police Requires Officers to Consider Age, Ethnicity Before Handcuffing

The Vancouver Police Department has officially updated its handcuffing policy to require officers to consider a person’s age, ethnicity, and the seriousness of the alleged incident before using handcuffs to restrain the individual.

It also informs police officers that they can no longer view handcuffing someone who is under arrest, detained, or apprehended as a “routine action.”

The updated policy states that before applying handcuffs, the officer must have “lawful authority that is objectively reasonable, is proportionate to the potential risk of harm the officer faces, and is necessary to fulfil a legitimate policing objective.”

Another revision to the handcuffing policy states that a police officer who uses force on the job is “legally responsible for the force applied.”

#BritishColumbia

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🚜 Shortage of Canadian farm operators is looming, report says

▪️A new report says more than 40 per cent of farm operators will retire over the next decade, leaving Canada with a shortage.

▪️The report from the Royal Bank of Canada says the country will be short 24,000 general farm, nursery and greenhouse operators. It also estimates that 66 per cent of producers do not have a succession plan in place.

▪️To address the shortage and lack of succession plans, the report says Canada will need to accept 30,000 permanent immigrants by 2033 to take over existing farms and greenhouses or establish their own.

▪️The report says the shortage will come at critical moment because Canada's agricultural sector will need to produce significantly more food for a growing world population, but must also cut emissions to meet climat-related restrictions.

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🩺 Intense competition pushes eastern Ontario communities to lure family doctors with cash

As mayor of Quinte West, Jim Harrison says he's offered doctors everything from a boat slip to a temporary apartment in an effort to convince them to move to the city.

Harrison claims the scarcity of doctors creates a big issue: a competitive market is pitting municipalities in Ontario against each other in creative attempts to lure family doctors.

"We've got to do everything we can to get the doctor to stay here — not just to come here," Harrison said.

Quinte West, located on the shore of Lake Ontario about 20 km west of Belleville, currently offers physicians a financial incentive of $100,000 in exchange for a five-year commitment to the city.

#Ontario #healthcare

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Royal Canadian Navy wants 12 new submarines

The Royal Canadian Navy is pushing the government to support a program to build up to 12 new submarines.

The Navy is already in the early process of studying how to replace its current fleet of four Victoria class subs via the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project, and the service hopes a new submarine program will make it into the updated defense policy.

Industry sources have suggested a new fleet of 12 subs would cost at least $60 billion. However, Canadian shipbuilding programs have a history of going over budget. For example, the projected cost of the Navy’s planned 15-strong frigate fleet has grown from $14 billion to over $80 billon, according to estimates from the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

Deliveries of the new frigates won’t begin until the early 2030s, and the program will put pressure on the military’s budget into the 2040s.

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🇨🇦🇷🇺 Canada is imposing sanctions on 14 individuals and 34 legal entities from Russia, including those associated with the Wagner PMC, Justin Trudeau announced.

#Russia

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PM's chief of staff set to testify Friday on foreign interference

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's chief of staff, Katie Telford, will appear before a parliamentary committee on Friday.

The Prime Minister's Office says Telford will testify at the procedure and House affairs committee on the issue of foreign interference in Canadian elections. An exact time has not been scheduled.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh had said his party would back a Conservative motion to call Telford to testify if the government didn't voluntarily agree.

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