🇨🇦🇬🇧 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
🍁 Maple Chronicles
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
🍁 Maple Chronicles
🤡40👍2
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
🍁 Maple Chronicles
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
🍁 Maple Chronicles
🤬11👍6😱4👏2
Canadian government funds project to fight 'disinformation'
The Canadian government is providing a C$5.5 million investment to create the Canadian Digital Media Research Network.
Announced on Jun. 7 by Dominic LeBlanc, minister of intergovernmental affairs, infrastructure and communities, the CDMRN aims to “further strengthen Canadians’ information resilience by researching how quality of information, including disinformation narratives, impacts Canadians’ attitudes and behaviours and by supporting strategies for Canadians’ digital literacy.”
Suspicious when a state wants to have its own center deciding what can be labled as disinformation.
🍁 Maple Chronicles
The Canadian government is providing a C$5.5 million investment to create the Canadian Digital Media Research Network.
Announced on Jun. 7 by Dominic LeBlanc, minister of intergovernmental affairs, infrastructure and communities, the CDMRN aims to “further strengthen Canadians’ information resilience by researching how quality of information, including disinformation narratives, impacts Canadians’ attitudes and behaviours and by supporting strategies for Canadians’ digital literacy.”
Suspicious when a state wants to have its own center deciding what can be labled as disinformation.
🍁 Maple Chronicles
🤡33👍4🔥2
Research raises concerns over 'looming' new retirement gap
Concerns have been raised over a "different type of retirement gap", after research revealed that many savers are underestimating their life expectancy.
The research found that people aged 50 and over on average think they will live until around age 80, whether male or female.
However, despite these expectations, according to the ONS life expectancy calculator, a male aged 50, will, on average live to age 84, while a women aged 50 will live on average to age 87.
This gap between expectation and reality could create additional pressures on retirement planning and a different type of retirement gap, especially given the choices the majority of people currently make around their plans, choosing unsecure retirement income over any type of guarantee.
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Concerns have been raised over a "different type of retirement gap", after research revealed that many savers are underestimating their life expectancy.
The research found that people aged 50 and over on average think they will live until around age 80, whether male or female.
However, despite these expectations, according to the ONS life expectancy calculator, a male aged 50, will, on average live to age 84, while a women aged 50 will live on average to age 87.
This gap between expectation and reality could create additional pressures on retirement planning and a different type of retirement gap, especially given the choices the majority of people currently make around their plans, choosing unsecure retirement income over any type of guarantee.
🍁 Maple Chronicles
🤡10👍2
Canadians are working past retirement, but not because they want to
More than half of Canadians still in the workforce past the age of 60 are there by necessity, not choice, according to a Labour Force Survey from Statistics Canada in 2022. Fewer people had retired in the past year, compared to the year before, among people aged 55 to 64.
One major reason is inflation, which is rising faster than government support such as Canada Pension Plan or Old Age Security payments.
Debt is another significant factor preventing seniors from retiring. According to Statistics Canada, the number of seniors with mortgage debt has almost doubled over the past few decades.
🍁 Maple Chronicles
More than half of Canadians still in the workforce past the age of 60 are there by necessity, not choice, according to a Labour Force Survey from Statistics Canada in 2022. Fewer people had retired in the past year, compared to the year before, among people aged 55 to 64.
One major reason is inflation, which is rising faster than government support such as Canada Pension Plan or Old Age Security payments.
Debt is another significant factor preventing seniors from retiring. According to Statistics Canada, the number of seniors with mortgage debt has almost doubled over the past few decades.
🍁 Maple Chronicles
😢11🤡3
🇨🇦🇨🇳Microsoft to move top AI experts from China to lab in B.C.
Microsoft is transferring some of its top artificial intelligence researchers from China to a new research lab in Vancouver.
The new laboratory will be organizationally aligned with its Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA) headquarters in Beijing to enhance collaboration with the engineering team in Vancouver and it will be staffed by researchers from various labs worldwide, including China, according to Microsoft.
MSRA has already begun applying for visas to facilitate the relocation of its Beijing-based experts to its new institute.
#BritishColumbia #China
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Microsoft is transferring some of its top artificial intelligence researchers from China to a new research lab in Vancouver.
The new laboratory will be organizationally aligned with its Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA) headquarters in Beijing to enhance collaboration with the engineering team in Vancouver and it will be staffed by researchers from various labs worldwide, including China, according to Microsoft.
MSRA has already begun applying for visas to facilitate the relocation of its Beijing-based experts to its new institute.
#BritishColumbia #China
🍁 Maple Chronicles
😢9👏5
Olivia Chow elected as Toronto’s mayor in byelection
Voters in Toronto have elected Olivia Chow as mayor of Canada’s largest municipality.
Chow is a former NDP MP and was a city councillor for Toronto starting in the ’90s for more than a decade, with a long history in Canadian politics as a progressive left politician.
The 66-year-old beat out other top candidates like former Toronto police chief Mark Saunders, former city councillor Ana Bailao, current city councillors Josh Matlow and Brad Bradford, former Liberal provincial education minister Mitzie Hunter and columnist Anthony Furey.
#Ontario
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Voters in Toronto have elected Olivia Chow as mayor of Canada’s largest municipality.
Chow is a former NDP MP and was a city councillor for Toronto starting in the ’90s for more than a decade, with a long history in Canadian politics as a progressive left politician.
The 66-year-old beat out other top candidates like former Toronto police chief Mark Saunders, former city councillor Ana Bailao, current city councillors Josh Matlow and Brad Bradford, former Liberal provincial education minister Mitzie Hunter and columnist Anthony Furey.
#Ontario
🍁 Maple Chronicles
🤡26❤4👍3
Montreal sees spike in violent crimes in 2022: police report
There has been a marked jump in the number of crimes against individuals on Montreal police territory between 2017 and last year, according to the service’s 2022 annual report.
🔹This crime category increased by nine per cent between 2021 and 2022, and by 21 per cent over the last five years.
🔹There were 41 homicides last year compared to 37 in 2021; and firearm infractions which numbered 563 in 2022 as opposed to 516 the previous year.
🔹Reported hate crimes numbered 212 in 2022 versus 194 in 2021.
🔹Property crimes also went up by 13 per cent in 2022 compared to the average for 2017 to 2021, after a dip during the pandemic lockdown.
#Quebec
🍁 Maple Chronicles
There has been a marked jump in the number of crimes against individuals on Montreal police territory between 2017 and last year, according to the service’s 2022 annual report.
🔹This crime category increased by nine per cent between 2021 and 2022, and by 21 per cent over the last five years.
🔹There were 41 homicides last year compared to 37 in 2021; and firearm infractions which numbered 563 in 2022 as opposed to 516 the previous year.
🔹Reported hate crimes numbered 212 in 2022 versus 194 in 2021.
🔹Property crimes also went up by 13 per cent in 2022 compared to the average for 2017 to 2021, after a dip during the pandemic lockdown.
#Quebec
🍁 Maple Chronicles
😱7
Alberta-made technology screens people’s speech for early signs of Alzheimer’s
Alberta researchers have found a way to catch potential early signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
They’re using a machine-learning model to detect audio cues — certain speech patterns that are linked to a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia.
▪️The technology listens for three features: pauses in speech, word length or complexity, and speech intelligibility.
“For dementia patients, because there might be a need for more recall, they tend to forget words and they need a certain amount of time to recall those words, so there will be longer pauses,” researchers explain.
Researchers used 237 English-speaking individuals and 46 Greek-speaking individuals — half were labeled as dementia patients and half were a control population.
The model was able to distinguish Alzheimer’s patients from healthy controls with 70-75 per cent accuracy.
#Alberta
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Alberta researchers have found a way to catch potential early signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
They’re using a machine-learning model to detect audio cues — certain speech patterns that are linked to a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia.
▪️The technology listens for three features: pauses in speech, word length or complexity, and speech intelligibility.
“For dementia patients, because there might be a need for more recall, they tend to forget words and they need a certain amount of time to recall those words, so there will be longer pauses,” researchers explain.
Researchers used 237 English-speaking individuals and 46 Greek-speaking individuals — half were labeled as dementia patients and half were a control population.
The model was able to distinguish Alzheimer’s patients from healthy controls with 70-75 per cent accuracy.
#Alberta
🍁 Maple Chronicles
👍13👏4❤1
N.S. buys 25 modular homes for residents displaced by wildfires to rent
Nova Scotia says it is purchasing 25 modular homes to be rented out to residents displaced by this season’s multiple wildfires.
The province said in a statement Tuesday that it will spend $7.4 million on two and three bedroom, furnished modular houses.
Rents will range from $1,000 to $2,000 per month and the modular home can be placed on residents’ property while they rebuild.
The wildfires in Nova Scotia that started in late May destroyed 150 houses in the Tantallon-area and about 60 homes and cottages in Shelburne County.
#NovaScotia #wildfires
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Nova Scotia says it is purchasing 25 modular homes to be rented out to residents displaced by this season’s multiple wildfires.
The province said in a statement Tuesday that it will spend $7.4 million on two and three bedroom, furnished modular houses.
Rents will range from $1,000 to $2,000 per month and the modular home can be placed on residents’ property while they rebuild.
The wildfires in Nova Scotia that started in late May destroyed 150 houses in the Tantallon-area and about 60 homes and cottages in Shelburne County.
#NovaScotia #wildfires
🍁 Maple Chronicles
🤡16❤5👍1
Canada Day tornado was strongest in Alberta since Edmonton one in 1987
The weather experts have concluded that the worst damage from the Didsbury tornado on July 1 is rated EF4, making it the highest-rated Alberta tornado since Edmonton in 1987. The maximum wind speed reached 275 km/h.
Twelve residences were hit by the tornado with three being destroyed, four were left uninhabitable, and a further five were damaged.
#Alberta
🍁 Maple Chronicles
The weather experts have concluded that the worst damage from the Didsbury tornado on July 1 is rated EF4, making it the highest-rated Alberta tornado since Edmonton in 1987. The maximum wind speed reached 275 km/h.
Twelve residences were hit by the tornado with three being destroyed, four were left uninhabitable, and a further five were damaged.
#Alberta
🍁 Maple Chronicles
👍5😢5🤡3
British Columbia port strike enters day four
The strike at British Columbia ports enters its fourth day after talks between the two sides stalled on Monday.
More than 7,000 workers who load and unload cargo at more than 30 B.C. ports have been on strike since Saturday morning.
Representative for the BC Maritime Employers Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada negotiated over the long weekend before the association issued a statement Monday saying it says it didn't think more bargaining is going to produce a deal.
#BritishColumbia
🍁 Maple Chronicles
The strike at British Columbia ports enters its fourth day after talks between the two sides stalled on Monday.
More than 7,000 workers who load and unload cargo at more than 30 B.C. ports have been on strike since Saturday morning.
Representative for the BC Maritime Employers Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada negotiated over the long weekend before the association issued a statement Monday saying it says it didn't think more bargaining is going to produce a deal.
#BritishColumbia
🍁 Maple Chronicles
👏5👍2😢1
Canada's office vacancy rate climbed to its highest level in nearly 30 years last quarter
A report by commercial real estate firm CBRE says the national office vacancy rate in Canada climbed in the second quarter to its highest level since 1994.
The firm says the national office vacancy rate rose to 18.1 per cent in the second quarter, up from 17.7 per cent in the first quarter.
The firm says downtown vacancies in the second quarter inched higher in all major centres except for Calgary and the Waterloo region.
Canadian office markets are grappling with the threat of a recession, interest rate hikes, tech sector weakness, tenants reducing the size of their spaces and new supply of office space.
🍁 Maple Chronicles
A report by commercial real estate firm CBRE says the national office vacancy rate in Canada climbed in the second quarter to its highest level since 1994.
The firm says the national office vacancy rate rose to 18.1 per cent in the second quarter, up from 17.7 per cent in the first quarter.
The firm says downtown vacancies in the second quarter inched higher in all major centres except for Calgary and the Waterloo region.
Canadian office markets are grappling with the threat of a recession, interest rate hikes, tech sector weakness, tenants reducing the size of their spaces and new supply of office space.
🍁 Maple Chronicles
👍7❤4🔥3
Safest city in Canada is in Ontario, new report finds
Eight of the top ten safest cities to live in Canada are in Ontario, according to a new report by rental listing company Rentola — and Toronto came in fourth.
Overall, the city of Barrie, Ontario took first place as the safest city in Canada, with a total score of 7.13 out of 10, the study found. In last place was Winnipeg, Manitoba after scoring 4.59 out of 10.
Each of Canada’s metropolitan areas were ranked based on factors obtained from Statistics Canada, including: the number of citizens per police officer, crime severity index, violent crime severity index, non-violent crime severity index and crime-solving rate. It’s unclear how each factor is weighted to arrive at a final score out of ten.
In total, 34 cities made the list.
#Ontario
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Eight of the top ten safest cities to live in Canada are in Ontario, according to a new report by rental listing company Rentola — and Toronto came in fourth.
Overall, the city of Barrie, Ontario took first place as the safest city in Canada, with a total score of 7.13 out of 10, the study found. In last place was Winnipeg, Manitoba after scoring 4.59 out of 10.
Each of Canada’s metropolitan areas were ranked based on factors obtained from Statistics Canada, including: the number of citizens per police officer, crime severity index, violent crime severity index, non-violent crime severity index and crime-solving rate. It’s unclear how each factor is weighted to arrive at a final score out of ten.
In total, 34 cities made the list.
#Ontario
🍁 Maple Chronicles
🤡26👍1
Quebecor pulls all its ads from Facebook and Instagram
Quebecor Inc. is withdrawing advertising from Meta's Facebook and Instagram platforms after the tech giant's decision to remove Canadian news from its sites.
Meta made the move in response to the federal Online News Act which requires Google and Meta to pay news publishers for content that appears on their sites if it helps them generate money.
Both Meta and Google have said they would remove Canadian news from their platforms to avoid having to compensate the news outlets.
Quebecor says it is making its move after Meta's "categorical refusal" to enter into negotiations.
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Quebecor Inc. is withdrawing advertising from Meta's Facebook and Instagram platforms after the tech giant's decision to remove Canadian news from its sites.
Meta made the move in response to the federal Online News Act which requires Google and Meta to pay news publishers for content that appears on their sites if it helps them generate money.
Both Meta and Google have said they would remove Canadian news from their platforms to avoid having to compensate the news outlets.
Quebecor says it is making its move after Meta's "categorical refusal" to enter into negotiations.
🍁 Maple Chronicles
👍9❤3🤡3
💰Income gap between Canadian households increases at record speed
The share of disposable income between Canada’s highest and lowest households widened in the first quarter of 2023, according to data released by Statistics Canada.
The gap between the top 40 per cent and bottom 40 per cent of household incomes reached 44.7 per cent, marking a 0.2 per cent rise from the same time last year. The figure was still lower than pre-pandemic levels, which averaged 45.1 per cent from 2010 to 2019.
🍁 Maple Chronicles
The share of disposable income between Canada’s highest and lowest households widened in the first quarter of 2023, according to data released by Statistics Canada.
The gap between the top 40 per cent and bottom 40 per cent of household incomes reached 44.7 per cent, marking a 0.2 per cent rise from the same time last year. The figure was still lower than pre-pandemic levels, which averaged 45.1 per cent from 2010 to 2019.
🍁 Maple Chronicles
😢9🤡7👍2😱2🤬1
Canadians flocking to Alberta
Alberta attracted more interprovincial migrants than anywhere else in Canada in the first three months of 2023.
The province gained 15,786 residents from elsewhere in the country. Meanwhile, B.C. and Ontario saw net losses of 712 and 14,732, respectively.
#Alberta #Ontario #BritishColumbia
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Alberta attracted more interprovincial migrants than anywhere else in Canada in the first three months of 2023.
The province gained 15,786 residents from elsewhere in the country. Meanwhile, B.C. and Ontario saw net losses of 712 and 14,732, respectively.
#Alberta #Ontario #BritishColumbia
🍁 Maple Chronicles
👏13🤡5🤬4👍1
Heat wave continues to sizzle across Canada with weather warnings
Several parts of Canada continue to swelter under intense heat, prompting weather alerts.
Southern parts of Ontario and Quebec are entering the third day of a multi-day heat event that Environment Canada has warned could see temperatures reach highs near 40 degrees Celsius when humidity is factored in.
The weather agency says temperatures are expected to taper off in those regions by several degrees on Friday, while northern Ontario will see relief starting today.
A heat warning is also in effect in British Columbia, from the north to central coast and in the Fraser Canyon area east of Vancouver, where daytime highs between 30 and 35 degrees Celsius are expected through Sunday.
#Ontario #Quebec #BritishColumbia
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Several parts of Canada continue to swelter under intense heat, prompting weather alerts.
Southern parts of Ontario and Quebec are entering the third day of a multi-day heat event that Environment Canada has warned could see temperatures reach highs near 40 degrees Celsius when humidity is factored in.
The weather agency says temperatures are expected to taper off in those regions by several degrees on Friday, while northern Ontario will see relief starting today.
A heat warning is also in effect in British Columbia, from the north to central coast and in the Fraser Canyon area east of Vancouver, where daytime highs between 30 and 35 degrees Celsius are expected through Sunday.
#Ontario #Quebec #BritishColumbia
🍁 Maple Chronicles
🤡10🔥5👍2
Ottawa man first to face terrorism, hate charges linked to far-right propaganda
An Ottawa man is the first ever to be charged in Canada with terrorism and hate propaganda offences for advocating a violent, far-right ideology.
RCMP say they arrested and charged 26-year-old Patrick Gordon Macdonald with participating in the activity of a terrorist group, facilitating terrorist activity and wilfully promoting hatred for a terrorist group.
The RCMP says Macdonald helped make propaganda material for a terrorist group called Atomwaffen Division.
The group, also known as AWD, is a U.S.-based neo-Nazi organization that was listed as a terrorist entity in Canada in 2021.
According to the U.S.-based Southern Poverty Law Centre, AWD's graphic designs are created by a Canadian known as "Dark Foreigner," the online screen name allegedly used by Macdonald.
A second person was arrested in Kingsey Falls, Que., as part of the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team investigation but no charges have been laid at this point.
#Ontario #Quebec
🍁 Maple Chronicles
An Ottawa man is the first ever to be charged in Canada with terrorism and hate propaganda offences for advocating a violent, far-right ideology.
RCMP say they arrested and charged 26-year-old Patrick Gordon Macdonald with participating in the activity of a terrorist group, facilitating terrorist activity and wilfully promoting hatred for a terrorist group.
The RCMP says Macdonald helped make propaganda material for a terrorist group called Atomwaffen Division.
The group, also known as AWD, is a U.S.-based neo-Nazi organization that was listed as a terrorist entity in Canada in 2021.
According to the U.S.-based Southern Poverty Law Centre, AWD's graphic designs are created by a Canadian known as "Dark Foreigner," the online screen name allegedly used by Macdonald.
A second person was arrested in Kingsey Falls, Que., as part of the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team investigation but no charges have been laid at this point.
#Ontario #Quebec
🍁 Maple Chronicles
🤡21👍5❤2🎉2😢1
⚛️ World's biggest nuclear power plant being planned in Canada
The Ontario government said Wednesday Bruce Power will conduct an environmental assessment of adding as much as 4.8 GW of capacity to its plant in Canada’s most-populous province. The plant’s eight reactors currently have about 6.2 GW of capacity and supply 30% of the province’s power.
The expansion would make the site larger than Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, the biggest in the world with seven reactors and more than 8 GW of capacity.
#Ontario
🍁 Maple Chronicles
The Ontario government said Wednesday Bruce Power will conduct an environmental assessment of adding as much as 4.8 GW of capacity to its plant in Canada’s most-populous province. The plant’s eight reactors currently have about 6.2 GW of capacity and supply 30% of the province’s power.
The expansion would make the site larger than Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, the biggest in the world with seven reactors and more than 8 GW of capacity.
#Ontario
🍁 Maple Chronicles
👍17🤡6👏4😱1