Quebec avian flu cases higher than expected as bird deaths near 1 million

Poultry farmers in Quebec are grappling with a series of outbreaks of deadly avian flu, as the number of birds that have died or been euthanized due to the disease since early last year nears the one million mark.

As of Friday, 20 locations in the province were considered actively infected. Alberta had the next highest number of infected sites with 11, followed by British Columbia with eight. More than 7.6 million birds in Canada have either died or been euthanized due to the flu since last year, including 945,000 in Quebec.

On April 26, the Quebec government implemented new rules that banned exhibitions, fairs or sales where birds from different locations come together.

#Quebec

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Trudeau to visit Edmonton, meet with CAF personnel assisting with wildfires

PM Justin Trudeau is set to stop in Edmonton this morning to meet with Canadian Armed Forces personnel who are assisting Alberta in fighting ongoing wildfires.

About 300 members of the Canadian Armed Forces will be deployed across the province to help with the blazes that have forced thousands of Albertans to flee their homes and rural properties.

Wildfires officials are warning that rising temperatures that have been a problem for crews battling wildfires in the province’s north are now also a concern in Alberta’s south.

#Alberta #Trudeau

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Polling shows Chow leading Toronto mayoral race ahead of debates

Olivia Chow continues to grow her significant lead in the polls, while she and other top candidates prepare to square off tonight in the first major debate ahead of Toronto’s mayoral by-election next month.

A Forum Research poll conducted on Saturday found that 36 per cent of decided and leaning voters favoured Chow, up three percentage points from last weekend

Forum’s poll conducted last weekend on May 6 and 7 had Mark Saunders and Josh Matlow tied for second place behind Chow with 14 per cent support each amongst decided and leaning voters.

However, the most recent poll suggests that Saunders has separated himself from the pack as the clear runner-up with 18 per cent.

#Ontario

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🏠 Average Canadian house price rose to $716,000 in April — up by $100K since January

After plunging due to interest rate hikes throughout last year, the average price of a Canadian resale home has now increased for four months in a row.

The Canadian Real Estate Association said Monday that the average selling price of a home that sold on its MLS system in April went for $716,000. That's the fourth monthly increase in a row, and it marks a collective increase of more than $100,000 since the start of the year.

The market peaked at just over $816,000 in February 2022 — right before the Bank of Canada began its aggressive campaign of rate hikes.

#housing

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🇰🇷🇨🇦 Trudeau says Canada ready to partner with South Korea on critical minerals, security

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in Seoul on Tuesday in the first visit in nine years by a Canadian leader. He said on Wednesday his country is ready to partner with South Korea on critical minerals and clean energy projects, and to fend off North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.

Addressing South Korea's parliament, Trudeau said Canada was committed to increase military engagement to mitigate threats to regional security.

He said the issues will be "at the core" of a summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol set for later on Wednesday, which will be followed by a press conference and official dinner.

#SouthKorea #Canada

@asianomics

Daughter-in-law of Montreal mobster shot dead

Police say a 39-year-old woman is dead after she was shot while driving her car in a parking lot Tuesday afternoon in the city's Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough.

The victim is Claudia Iacono, the owner of the Salon Deauville Coiffure Spa. She was shot multiple times in her car in broad daylight.

Iacono was married to the son of Moreno Gallo, a man with links to organized crime who was assassinated in an Acapulco restaurant in Mexico on Nov. 10, 2013.

No arrests were made as of Tuesday evening as major crime investigators spoke with witnesses and reviewed surveillance camera footage from the scene.

#Quebec

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One third of Canadians fine with prescribing assisted suicide for homelessness

▪️Starting in March 2021, Canada became one of only a handful of countries on earth to legalize assisted suicide even in instances where a patient does not have a terminal illness.

▪️Research Co. found that 73 per cent of poll respondents favoured the current regime, and only 16 per cent opposed it.

▪️If a Canadian’s only affliction was “poverty,” 27 per cent said they would be fine with legalizing that person’s access to MAID. Another 28 per cent pegged “homelessness” as an appropriate bar to qualify for MAID.

▪️20 per cent of respondents were fine with MAID being handed out to anybody for any reason.

#MAID

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B.C. premier welcomes plans to reform bail system, calls on parliament to pass proposed legislation swiftly

▪️British Columbia's premier says he welcomes the Liberals' new bail-reform legislation, which includes new measures that would make it more difficult for some repeat violent offenders to get released on bail.

Justice Minister David Lametti introduced the bill Tuesday saying it responds "directly'' to concerns raised by premiers, police associations and victims' rights groups

▪️Bill C-48 would amend the Criminal Code so that those charged with a serious violent offence involving a weapon — one with a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment — who were convicted of a similar offence within the last five years will face a reverse onus to get bail.

"Reverse onus" means the accused would have to show why they should be released instead of the prosecution having to prove that they should remain behind bars.

#BritishColumbia

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Nova Scotia premier announces plan to build new school for francophone students

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston has announced the construction of a new school for francophone students on the province’s Eastern Shore.

The new school, to be completed by September 2027, will replace École des Beaux-Marais, which was built in 1950 and currently serves the area from Lake Echo to Ship Harbour.

Houston issued a statement saying the Education Department will work with the community to design the school and choose its location.

The school will be part of the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial and serve students from pre-primary to Grade 8.

#NovaScotia

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Ontario announces break up of Peel Region, cities to become independent by 2025

The Doug Ford government is breaking up the Region of Peel, paving the way for Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon to become independent cities by 2025.

Legislation was tabled at Queen’s Park Thursday afternoon that kicked off the process by creating a transition board to help “ensure the process is fair and balanced.”

This board will be established sometime this year and would consist of up to five members appointed by the minister of municipal affairs and housing. These members will have expertise in labour, governance and finance, officials said, and will make recommendations in summer or fall of 2024.

Once the three cities are independent, the services they provide will most likely rest solely on the municipalities. It is possible that some services such as police and utility rates for water services could remain regional.

Officials say that further legislation could be proposed in the fall of 2024 to “address any outstanding restructuring matters.”

By Jan. 1 2025, one year before the next municipal election, Peel Region will officially dissolve.

#Ontario

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Trudeau arrives in Japan for G7 summit

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has landed in Hiroshima, Japan for the G7 Leaders' Summit, where he's expected to push for increased co-operation on global and economic security to guard against geopolitical instability and the threat of climate change.

#Trudeau

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🇺🇸Indigenous nation in US seeks to block billion-dollar port project in Canada

A tribal nation in the U.S. is seeking to block approval for a multibillion dollar port expansion in Canada, arguing that it holds transboundary rights and should have been included in consultation process.

The effort to block approval of a new container terminal project in Vancouver marks the first major attempt to use a recent landmark decision by the Canadian supreme court, which found that some Indigenous peoples living in the US have rights in Canada.

On Thursday evening, the Lummi Nation filed a judicial review in Canadian federal court, seeking to quash approval of the Roberts Bank terminal expansion and arguing that Canada failed to “consult and accommodate” the nation on the “potential adverse impacts” the project could have on the community’s Aboriginal rights and noscript in Canada.

Following the law, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority has consulted with 46 Indigenous groups, drawing up agreements with 26 of them. But the Lummi Nation, across the border in neighbouring Washington state, was not included in the consultations.

#BritishColumbia

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Immigrants, people of colour are biggest fans of the monarchy in Canada: poll

New polling shows that although the monarchy is falling out of favour among Canadians, it retains its popularity among new immigrants and visible minorities.

▪️40 per cent of Canadians have a net positive view of the monarchy, but they’re now outnumbered by the 47 per cent who have a net negative view, says the new survey from the Association for Canadian Studies and the Metropolis Institute.

Yet, despite the overall low favourability, the monarchy remains popular with immigrants.

▪️More than half — 52 per cent — of immigrants have a positive view of the monarchy, while just 36 per cent of non-immigrant Canadians do.

▪️A similar trend holds for visible minorities: 47 per cent have a positive view of the monarchy, compared with 37 per cent of white Canadians.

#KingCharles

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Trudeau lectures Italy’s Meloni on her opposition to gender-ideology

PM Justin Trudeau used a meeting with Italian PM Giorgia Meloni to lecture her about her country’s LGBTQ record. Media outlets reporting on the interaction noted that Meloni looked “visibly annoyed” by Trudeau’s remarks.

“Obviously, Canada is concerned about some of the (positions) that Italy is taking in terms of LGBT rights,” said Trudeau. “But I look forward to talking with you about that.”

Meloni has been outspoken about her opposition to indoctrinating children with gender-ideology and its associated harms.

#Trudeau

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Group suspected of hosting Chinese 'police station' received up to $200,000 in federal funding

The federal government gave up to $200,000 in funding since 2020 to a Quebec charity the RCMP suspects may be hosting a secret Chinese “police station.”

Experts on Chinese foreign interference fear that funding may have helped pro-Beijing actors expand the Chinese Communist Party’s network in Canada, while “legitimizing” the organization police suspect may be supporting efforts to intimidate or silence critics of China’s ruling regime.

That organization is Service à la Famille Chinoise du Grand Montréal (SFCGM), a Montreal-based charity that advertises itself as resource for Chinese immigrants to Canada that also promotes initiatives for the community’s well-being.

Financial records filed by the charity to the Canada Revenue Agency because of its charitable status reveal that Ottawa sent a total of $200,000 in public funds to SFCGM between 2020 and 2022 (the last reported fiscal year).

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Private health care in Alberta is harming the public system – new report

A new study by Parkland Institute concludes expanding private health care in Alberta has not decreased wait times for surgeries and other procedures.

In 2019, the United Conservative Party government of Alberta announced the Alberta Surgical Initiative, the purpose of which was to expand access to surgeries through greater reliance on the private sector.

Then, in 2020, the government allocated $400 million for medical procedures in private sector entities called “chartered surgical facilities.” The stated goal was to increase the share of private sector procedures from 15 per cent to 30 per cent provincewide.

By 2022 Alberta had the “worst wait times performance for priority procedures in the country”.

The report suggest that the expansion of private chartered surgical facilities has diverted resources away from public hospitals and, in turn, reduced provincial surgical volumes.

#healthcare #Alberta

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Canadians will pay up to $1,157 by 2030 on Trudeau’s second carbon tax

A new report by the federal budget watchdog found that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s second carbon tax will cost the average Canadian family between $384 and $1,157 by the end of this decade.

“Canadians are already struggling to afford gasoline and groceries and the last thing we need is another carbon tax that makes life more expensive,” said Canadian Taxpayers Federation federal director.

Canadians will first start paying the carbon tax on July 1, 2023 as part of a clean fuel regulations scheme. This is on top of the federal carbon tax already in place.

#Trudeau

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Child-care deserts in Canada affecting nearly 50 per cent of younger children

A new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is highlighting a lack of child-care spaces in Canada.

The report found that of the 1.97 million children in Canada under the age of eligibility to enter kindergarten, 946,000 of them are living in child-care deserts.

The Centre estimates there are 759,000 full-time licensed child-spaces in the country, however for each postal code there are at least three children competing for a single spot. Roughly 48 per cent have access challenges.

Among the most impacted provinces, 92 per cent of Saskatchewan's younger children are living in child-care deserts, followed by 79 per cent in Newfoundland and 76 per cent in British Columbia.

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Minden residents hope legal challenge will stop local emergency room from closing

Health Services announced in April that the ER at its Minden location would close as of June 1 and all emergency services would be transferred to its Haliburton site, about 25 kilometres away. Meanwhile, residents are hoping to take their battle to court.

They have launched a campaign called “Save Minden ER.” On Friday, the group announced a plan to raise $100,000 in order to fund a legal challenge seeking an injunction and judicial review of the consolidation plan before it moves ahead.

#Ontario #healthcare

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