🪖Poilievre says he would 'cut wasteful foreign aid,' work towards NATO spending target

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is pledging that a future government would cut what he calls "wasteful foreign aid" and would not allow funding to go to "dictators, terrorists and multinational bureaucracies."

He made the comment Thursday in response to a question about his position on NATO's military spending targets, as ministers from the military alliance meet in Brussels.

The Conservative leader's office says a future Poilievre government "will work towards meeting Canada's NATO spending commitment" of two per cent of its GDP.

#Poilievre
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🏠 Investors account for 30 per cent of home buying in Canada, data show

Investors have become more prevalent in Canada’s housing market, accounting for 30 per cent of all residential real estate purchases in the first part of this year, according to new data.

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, investor buying has grown as soaring home prices ramped up interest in residential properties as an asset class.

Investors were responsible for 30 per cent of home purchases in the first three months of the year, according to data released by the Bank of Canada. That is up from 28 per cent in the first quarter of last year, and 22 per cent in the same period in 2020.

The central bank defines an investor as a buyer who took out a mortgage to buy the property while maintaining a mortgage on another home.

Meanwhile, the percentage of first-time homebuyers shrunk to 43 per cent in the first quarter of this year from 48 per cent in the same three months in 2020. Similarly, repeat buyers fell to 27.5 per cent from 30 per cent over the same period.

#housing
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Non-binding Commons vote calls for feds to revise immigration quota

A call from the Bloc Quebecois to revise current immigration quotas within 100 days was approved in a non-binding vote in the House of Commons.

MPs voted 173 -150 in favour of the Bloc’s motion, with only the Liberals standing against the idea.

The motion asked that cabinet meet with premiers “to consult them on their respective integration capacities” and “table in the House within 100 days a plan for revising federal immigration targets in 2024 based on the integration capacity.”

Canada currently has an annual quota of 500,000 immigrants in addition to 227,000 annual permits for temporary foreign workers and 983,000 foreign students.

This used to be a Quebec thing. People used to say Quebeckers were against immigration because they were racists. Now people in Toronto are saying they are having problems managing the volume of immigrants.

said Bloc Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet.

#immigration
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💰Feds won't pause carbon price despite inflation

The federal government is ruling out any future pauses or exemptions to the carbon price, despite still-high inflation numbers contributing to the cost of living, according to Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon.

On Tuesday, the federal government announced a rebrand of its highly controversial carbon-pricing program, changing the name of the quarterly rebate from the Climate Action Incentive Payment to the Canada Carbon Rebate.

There are no changes to how the federal fuel pricing system and corresponding rebate will actually work, but the Liberals argue the new name will make the program easier for people to understand.

The rebranding announcement came ahead of a planned April 1 increase to the carbon price.

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🌱💸 GST on Carbon Tax to cost Canadians $486M this year

A recent report from the Parliamentary budget officer has made it clear how much the GST on the Carbon Tax is costing Canadians.

This year alone, the GST on Canada’s Carbon Tax will cost taxpayers $486 million. Over the next eight years, the number reaches $6 billion.

Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MP Alex Ruff tabled a private member’s bill to remove the GST from the Carbon Tax last October. He knows it is very unlikely to make it through Parliament, but he believes the most recent report from the Parliamentary budget officer makes it clear what the Carbon Tax is.

The Carbon Tax is a tax plan, not an environmental plan. The government has yet to meet an emissions target, so why are we punishing Canadian taxpayers with a tax on a tax?

Ruff said.

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Very conveniently, the economy isn't about numbers when you have record high rent, and you're stuck with high inflation and interest rates. 🤡

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🏳️‍⚧️🚫Nearly half of Canadians support banning surgery and hormones for trans kids

Nearly half of Canadians believe gender reassignment surgery for minors should be prohibited and support bans on hormone prescriptions for children, according to a new national survey of more than 2,000 Canadians.

🔹45 per cent Canadians support a blanket ban on gender reassignment surgery for minors, the most popular response in the category, while 11 per cent agreed that minors should be permitted to undergo gender reassignment surgeries “without the need for parental consent.”

🔹42 per cent support a ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapies for children aged 15 and under, apart from those who have already begun the intervention.

Slightly over a quarter (26 per cent) of Canadians felt that such medical interventions, when paired with parental consent, were appropriate. Only 11 per cent supported access to such care without any parental oversight.

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📈 Ottawa sees 19 per cent increase in reported hate crimes in 2023, police say

The number of reported hate crimes in Ottawa increased 19 per cent in 2023 from the year before, according to Ottawa police.

The Hate and Bias Crime Unit investigated 460 reported incidents in 2023, including 344 criminal and 116 hate-motivated incidents. That's up from 377 total incidents, including 300 criminal and 77 hate incidents, reported in Ottawa in 2022.

According to police, the "most serious violations" were mischief to property, threats, assault, harassing communication and theft under $5,000.

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Canada holds 'workshops' for Indian officials on rule of law

Canadian officials are offering their Indian counterparts "workshops" on the rule of law — at least as Canada sees it — even as tensions over Sikh separatism flare up.

How India defines extremism or even terrorism does not always compute in our legal system.

senior bureaucrat Weldon Epp told MPs this month.

Canada has had "long-standing exchanges" with India on counter-terrorism concerns, Epp said, but what New Delhi considers Khalistan extremism doesn't always meet the Canadian bar.

For example, Canada opted twice against extraditing Hardeep Nijjar, Sikh community leader killed in June 2023, to India in the past decade over claims he had a role in a cinema bombing and an alleged terrorist camp.

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📉 Canada's inflation rate slowed to 2.9% in January

Canada's annual inflation rate slowed to 2.9 per cent in January, mostly due to a deceleration in the price of gas, according to data from Statistics Canada. Economists were expecting the rate to come in at 3.3 per cent.

Gas prices fell four per cent year over year in January after gasoline drove headline inflation up in December, due to what economists call a base-year effect (the impact of comparing prices in a given month to the same month a year earlier).

The core inflation rate, which strips away gasoline and other volatile sectors, was 3.2 per cent.

While groceries are still getting more expensive, prices grew at a slower rate in January, Statscan said.

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Prime Minister in Vancouver Tuesday to make housing announcement alongside Eby, Sim

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Vancouver today, set to make a housing-related announcement alongside Premier David Eby and Mayor Ken Sim.

Trudeau's public itinerary says he'll make the announcement this morning, and then head to a local high school to meet with students before an event at a community centre with seniors in the afternoon.

Eby said last week at a housing-related news conference he recently spoke with Trudeau about B.C.'s housing initiatives and there appeared to be federal interest in what the province was planning.

#housing
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🇨🇦🇺🇦 Canada to donate 800 drones to Ukraine: Blair

Canada will donate more than 800 drones to Ukraine as part of an additional aid package to the country, Defence Minister Bill Blair announced on Monday.

The drones, worth an estimated $95 million, are paid for by the $500 million package unveiled by the prime minister during his visit to Kyiv last June.

Since February, 2022, Canada has spent $9.7 billion supporting Ukraine, including $2.4 billion on military aid.

#Ukraine
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Ottawa owes Quebec $1 billion to cover costs of asylum seekers, Legault government says

Quebec has reached a breaking point in its ability to provide essential services — from education to social assistance — to thousands of asylum seekers arriving in the province, and Ottawa needs to act to take control over the borders, the Legault government said Tuesday.

People need to be aware of the magnitude of the situation.

Canadian Relations Minister Jean-François Roberge, flanked by three other ministers, told reporters at a news conference where the Legault government upped the pressure on Ottawa to act.

We need the federal government to assume its responsibilities. This cannot continue. If we are unable to provide services we are approaching what could become a humanitarian crisis.

They said Quebec has had to provide the equivalent of $1 billion in services over the last three years to manage the influx. Ottawa has paid $140 million to Quebec but it is not enough, the ministers said.

#Quebec #immigration
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🚙 3 men accused in Montreal car theft ring walk free due to court delays

Even though authorities are trying to crack down on car thefts in Montreal, three men accused of operating a luxury car theft ring in the city walked free last month because it took too long for their case to go to trial.

In a ruling handed down by the Court of Quebec, Justice Salvatore Mascia said he "had no choice" but to issue a stay of proceedings against the trio.

The ruling comes as the federal government and local police are taking steps to address rising concerns about car theft, particularly in hot spots like Montreal.

#Quebec
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is asked whether he is willing to accept the responsibility for the ArriveCan app scandal.

#Trudeau
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🇨🇦🇬🇧🇦🇺 Canada should join non-nuclear part of AUKUS defence pact, former British and Australian PMs say

The door should be opened for Canada to join the non-nuclear component of AUKUS, a security pact between Australia, Britain and the United States, three former British and Australian prime ministers say.

An article by the London-based think tank the Legatum Institute says Canada’s vast critical mineral resources, advanced technological sectors, particularly artificial intelligence and quantum computing, and its integration with the U.S. significantly complement AUKUS objectives of a technology-sharing military alliance.

It is time now to go further and to bring in other countries to this partnership – and the most obvious next candidate must be Canada. No country better epitomizes the values that make AUKUS possible – and Canada has a huge amount to offer.

former British prime minister Boris Johnson is quoted as saying.

Mr. Johnson’s successor Liz Truss and former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott also added their endorsement to the idea of Canada joining the AUKUS partnership.

#UK #Australia
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Conservatives eye subpoena threat for firm in ArriveCan controversy

The Conservatives want to issue another formal summons for the owners of GC Strategies to appear before the government operations committee probing the ArriveCan controversy.

If they don’t appear, Conservatives want to see the Sergeant at Arms of the House of Commons take them into custody and compel their appearance.

It is very rare. And it’s unfortunate that it’s come to this point, but it’s essential that we use this tool if these individuals continue to ignore. So, we’re going to summon them again.

Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer told reporters on Tuesday.

The ArriveCan app is under renewed parliamentarian scrutiny following a report from the auditor general last week. In her report, Karen Hogan found that nearly $60 million was spent on the app but could not come to a conclusive dollar figure due to poor record keeping.

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🏠 Ottawa to provide $2-billion in loans to spur B.C. construction of rental units

The federal government says it has agreed to provide $2-billion in low-cost loans to spur the construction of rental units in British Columbia, forging a deal that focuses on building on municipally owned land.

Ottawa expects that the federal loans to developers and other groups will help lead to the construction of more than 8,000 rental units, or double the amount originally envisaged under the B.C. government’s BC Builds program.

#housing #BritishColumbia
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🇨🇦🇲🇽Mexico talks with Canada about high number of asylum requests

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday that his government is addressing a complaint from Canada over the high number of asylum requests from Mexicans.

According to data from the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Commission, between January and September 2023, Mexicans made the most asylum requests, with 17,500, well above Haitians, who made the second-highest number of requests with just over 8,500.

We are dealing with it, he raised it with me in San Francisco, in the bilateral meeting we held, that they had that concern.

said Lopez Obrador, referring to a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum summit in November, when asked about the matter.

Trudeau said last week that Ottawa was talking to Mexico City to see how to reduce the number of asylum requests by Mexicans and said some people receive support from organized crime to reach Canadian territory.

#Mexico #Trudeau #immigration
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Quebec turns to Supreme Court to stop asylum seekers’ access to subsidized daycare

Quebec is heading to the country’s highest court to prevent children of asylum seekers from accessing the province’s coveted subsidized daycare spaces.

Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette says the government will seek leave at the Supreme Court of Canada to appeal a Feb. 7 decision that found the province’s daycare rules are discriminatory.

The Quebec Court of Appeal ruled that asylum seekers who hold a valid work permit are entitled to register their children in Quebec’s public daycares.

Quebec’s decision to appeal comes as the government demands $1 billion from Ottawa for the cost of settling the influx of asylum seekers, who the province says are putting unsustainable pressure on social services.

#Quebec #immigration
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