British Columbians made record-breaking number of 911 calls in May

British Columbians made the highest number of 911 calls in E-Comm's 24-year history in May, according to the emergency communications operator.

The operator received 240,759 total calls in May, 39 per cent higher compared to May 2022, with some days seeing more than 8,300 calls. In the past five months, there have been 21 per cent more emergency calls compared to the same period in previous years.

The increased call volumes, which has been steady year after year, may be due to heat and wildfire, and the return of tourism and social gatherings.

#BritishColumbia

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New Brunswick cabinet minister quits post, blames premier and government's school gender policy

Dorothy Shephard resigned from New Brunswick's cabinet Thursday to support a Liberal motion for Policy 713 changes to be revoked.

"I can no longer remain in cabinet," said the handwritten letter. "I resign from cabinet effective immediately."

Premier Blaine Higgs had earlier ordered a review of LGBTQ policies in the province's schools. 

#NewBrunswick

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4️⃣0️⃣ Canada passes 40 million population milestone

Canada's population has reached more than 40 million, Statistics Canada said.

The milestone comes amid a wave of new immigrants as part of Ottawa's promise to bring in 500,000 people a year by 2025.

The 40-million mark came faster than expected, Statistics Canada said, as the country added 1.1 million people in 2022, most of them permanent and temporary immigrants.

Statistics Canada said that if current immigration levels remain, Canada's population could hit 50 million in two decades. And by 2041, two in five Canadians could be born abroad.

Ontario is Canada's most populous province with almost 15.6 million people, while Quebec comes a distant second at 8.8 million.

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Canada will deploy Leopard 2 tank squadron to NATO battlegroup in Latvia

The Canadian Armed Forces will deploy 15 Leopard 2 battle tanks and about 131 personnel to a NATO force in Latvia by next spring, Defence Minister Anita Anand said Friday.

The tanks and support vehicles will come from Gagetown, N.B., and Edmonton.

"There will be 15 Leopard 2 A4M tanks, two armoured recovery vehicles and then a variety of maintenance and fuel and supply and transport vehicles," Anand said, adding the deployment will consist of a total of 50 vehicles, including the tanks.

It's expected that the equipment will arrive in Latvia by the fall, with the full group of personnel in place by next spring.

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🇨🇦🇺🇸 US to send satellite data to Canada to help detect wildfires

The U.S. Department of Defense began sending real-time satellite and sensor data to Canadian authorities on Friday, technology it said would help more quickly identify new fires.

The U.S. has already dispatched more than 600 firefighters to Canada to help battle the flames.

"Starting today, DOD personnel will analyze and share real time data derived from U.S. satellites and sensors and convey it via a cooperative agreement between the U.S. National Interagency Fire Center and the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre," U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge said in a statement.

#wildfires

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Protesters rally against Pride Month activities at Calgary schools

In Calgary, trans activists were confronted by Muslim families angry over LGBTQ+ ideology at schools. Organizers say Christians and people of other faiths and backgrounds also took part.

They said they don't want gender ideologies imposed on their children.

The pro-LGBT side was ultimately smaller. Protesters were split over whether or not they would be seen as Islamophobic if they protested Muslims. One group told their members not to attend. 

#Alberta

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🇨🇦🇭🇹🇩🇴 Dominican Republic, Canada disagree over Haitian police aid office

A day after Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly announced plans to set up a Canadian office to coordinate support for Haiti’s national police this summer in the neighboring Dominican Republic, her Dominican counterpart denied any deal authorizing an office on Dominican territory.

In a post on social media, Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez said no deal been struck, adding that the Dominican government has not even discussed such a plan.

On Thursday, Joly announced plans to coordinate a police support operation from a base in the Dominican Republic and thanked Alvarez for providing it, according to a trannoscript from a Canadian government official.

#Haiti

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Titanic tourist submersible goes missing, rescue efforts underway

A search was underway Monday off the coast of Newfoundland for a small submersible reported missing near the wreck of the Titanic.

The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said the vessel was reported overdue around 9:13 p.m. Sunday, about 435 miles south of St. John's, Newfoundland.

A Canadian Coast Guard vessel and military aircraft were assisting the search effort, which was being led by the U.S. Coast Guard in Boston.

OceanGate Expeditions confirmed the search for its submersible and said its focus was on those aboard the vessel and their families.

Officials are working to get a remotely operated vehicle that can reach a depth of about 20,000 feet to the site as soon as possible.

#NewfoundlandAndLabrador #US

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Deadly Manitoba highway crash investigation continues, RCMP interviewing survivors

The investigation into a deadly crash on a section of the Trans-Canada Highway is continuing by RCMP, as the Manitoba government has announced supports for family members of victims.

The crash involving a semi-truck and a handi-transit van on June 15 on the Trans-Canada Highway at the intersection of Highway 5 killed 15 people and hospitalized 10 people.

The passengers of the bus were primarily from Dauphin and the surrounding area, and were heading to a casino at the time of the crash.

#Manitoba

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Hate crime charge against BLM Calgary president dropped

The Crown has dropped a hate crime charge against Calgary Black Lives Matter president Adora Nwofor, less than two weeks after she was arrested by police.

Prosecutor Will Tran told Justice Indra Maharaj the Crown would not be proceeding with the allegation Nwofor committed a hate-based mischief by interfering with people’s access to St. Thomas Aquinas School.

#Alberta

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Alberta extending fuel tax relief program until end of the year, premier says

Alberta's United Conservative Party government says it's sticking to its campaign promise to extend the fuel tax relief program until the end of the year.

Premier Danielle Smith says the program, which saves Albertans 13 cents per litre at the pumps, was set to expire at the end of this month.

Finance Minister Nate Horner says extending the program is to cost $520 million, but the government is cautiously optimistic about Alberta's economy.

#Alberta

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Illicit drug toxicity now leading cause of death for B.C. residents between 10 and 59

The death toll for illicit drug overdoses in British Columbia has surpassed 1,000 people just five months into the year.

A statement from the BC Coroners Service says the 176 deaths in May pushed the toll to 1,018 people who have overdosed due to unregulated drugs.

The service says illicit drug toxicity is now the leading cause of death in B.C. for people between the ages of 10 to 59, surpassing homicides, suicides, accidents and natural diseases combined.

Fentanyl was present in almost nine of 10 tests, nearly double the rate of methamphetamine and cocaine.

#BritishColumbia

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Quebec police arrest 45, seize 440 weapons in Canada-wide raids targeting 3D-printed guns

A Quebec-based anti-gun unit says 45 people have been arrested and 440 guns have been seized in raids targeting manufacturers of 3D-printed or "ghost" guns across eight provinces.

Police carried out 64 raids and seized 440 guns, including 3D-printed handguns, long guns and silencers, as well as other guns and 3D printers.

Authorities say they're increasingly concerned about untraceable ghost guns, which are assembled at home or 3D-printed without serial numbers.

#Quebec

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Only 40% of Canadians trust legacy media

The University of Oxford’s annual report on global media has found that a vast majority of Canadians don’t trust legacy news media.

The study surveyed trust in legacy media outlets including CBC, Global News, CTV News, CP24, Toronto Star, Globe and Mail and others.

Trust has declined by 15% since 2016 when 55% of Canadians indicated overall trust in the news.

In 2023, Canadians reported an all-time low trust level of 40%. Additionally, trust in English speaking Canada was much lower (37%) than in French Canada (49%).

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More than 100,000 B.C. households at risk of homelessness due to rental crisis

The average rent in B.C. increased 30 per cent from 2016 to 2021 — the largest increase of any province — making B.C. one of the country’s most unaffordable place for renters to live, according to a new analysis.

The latest findings from the Canadian Rental Housing Index, a national database of rental housing data, revealed a “staggering increase” in rental costs across the country, with B.C. and Ontario leading the country with the highest proportion of renters spending more than half of their gross income on rent and utilities.

In B.C., there are more than 660,000 renter households, according to the 2021 census. Of those, more than 105,000 households — about the size of the city of Nanaimo — pay more than 50 per cent of their gross income on rent and utilities, a crisis level that puts people at increased risk of homelessness.

#BritishColumbia #housing

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Only 20% of Canadians say Trudeau’s Liberals deserve to be re-elected

A new poll has found that only 20% of Canadians believe Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party deserve to be re-elected.

The poll also reveals that 81% of Canadians want a change of government, and Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives are making gains.

According to Abacus Data’s latest national survey, out of the 81% who want change, 50% say there is a good alternative to Trudeau, while 31% said there is not. 56% of those who want change and think there’s a good alternative would vote Conservative, while 25% would vote NDP.

#Trudeau

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🇨🇦 Birth tourism on the rise in Canada

🔹Canada attracts tourists not only with its nature and culture but also with one particular thing: the country grants automatic citizenship based on birthplace.

The topic of birth tourism makes headlines from time to time, and it seems that this trend is on the rise. However, there is no nationwide data to reflect the scope of this trend. Figures vary: from 2,500 suspected foreign births in a 2017 report to 4,400 births estimated by the Canadian Institute for Health Information in 2019. But one thing is clear: the numbers have grown significantly since the early 2010s, when only around 800 foreign births were recorded on average.

Birth tourism isn’t illegal in Canada, and many foreigners use this as an opportunity to give their children a possibly better future. In most cases, birth tourists are patients who have access to quality health care in their home countries but opt for Canada instead.

🔹Turists are willing to pay from $6,000 to $10,000 (for an uninsured non-resident) to give birth at a Canadian hospital to secure citizenship. However, as the study shows, not all bills end up being paid. In 2019–2022, health services across Alberta had $694,000 in unpaid hospital fees. These debts add to the strain on the health care system.

In addition, tourists take up hospital beds and physician hours meant for residents, which results in longer wait times or in need to travel to another hospital.

It is also quite difficult to estimate which countries travelers were predominantly from. The data available for Alberta shows that 77% of mothers were from Nigeria. Smaller portions came from the Middle East, China, India, and Mexico. But overall, birth tourists preferred to go where they had friends or family.

🔹A more radical way of preventing tourism would be to eliminate birthright citizenship. However, this could create a number of problems for refugees and other temporary residents who plan to continue living in Canada and who want to raise their children as Canadians.

Therefore, it seems more realistic to make exceptions that would nullify instant citizenship if a baby was born to a parent temporarily visiting Canada on a tourist visa.

#healthcare

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Calgary has been named one of the most expensive cities in Canada

The recent cost of living survey released by Mercer shows that Calgary is in the top five for most expensive cities to live in Canada.

Calgary trails the usual suspects of Toronto and Vancouver, along with Montreal and Ottawa on the global rankings. This is the second straight year that Toronto finished as the most expensive Canadian city with Vancouver coming in second.

The survey says Canada is on the low end of the list for North America with 19 American cities ahead of Toronto.

Mercer says its cost of living survey measures the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each location, including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods, and entertainment.

Compared to Canadian cities, the cost of living has increased more year-over-year in the US, with all American cities surveyed having gone up in the rankings since last year and all Canadian cities going down.

#Ontario #BritishColumbia #Alberta

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Average hourly salary vs. minimum wage: Here's what Canadians are earning

According to Statistics Canada, people across the country are earning well above minimum wage.

British Columbia:

This past May, British Columbians made about $34.21 per hour. BC even had the highest year-over-year increase (7%).
During that month, the lowest-paid workers in BC were earning a minimum wage of $15.65.

Alberta:

In Alberta, the average hourly salary in May was $34.63. The last time Alberta raised its minimum wage was in June 2019 to $15 an hour. This is a 2.9% year-over-year change, the country’s lowest increase.

Ontario:

Ontario and Canada had the same average hourly wage year-over-year increase. There was a 5.1% increase in Ontario as the hourly wage raised from $32.60 to $34.27 on average. The last time Ontario raised the minimum wage was in October 2022 to $15.50 an hour.

Canada wide:

Across the country, the average hourly wage among Canadian employees in May 2023 was $33.25. This year, federally regulated private-sector employees received a one-dollar pay increase ($15.55 to $16.65 per hour). The Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) said this increase was to keep pace with inflation, which rose by 6.8% in 2022.

#Ontario #Alberta #BritishColumbia

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🇨🇦🇬🇧 Canadians will be charged to visit the UK starting next year

The UK government recently announced that it would be implementing its new visa waiver system called the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) worldwide in 2024.

It was created to strengthen security at the UK border by “ensuring robust security checks are conducted on every visitor pre-travel.”

According to the British government, anyone coming from a country that does not need a visa to enter the UK will be required to get an ETA. This includes Canadians.

#UK

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British Columbia saw an alarming 24% rise to 2,515 euthanasia deaths last year

British Columbia saw 24 percent more people getting assisted suicides last year — what campaigners call an 'alarming' sign of unraveling safeguards on euthanasia in the Canadian province.

Some 2,515 people received medical assistance in dying, more than the 2,030 who did so in 2021, BC Ministry of Health figures show.

The data come amid concerns that BC and Canada as a whole are headed toward a euthanasia free-for-all, as federal officials weigh whether to extend the procedures to the mentally ill and even children.

Last year, some 5.5 percent of all fatalities in BC were assisted suicides, making it one of the top causes of death in the province after cancer, heart disease, and dementia, and roughly on par with drug overdoses.

#BritishColumbia #MAID

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