Head of the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg stepping down

The head of Canada’s top infectious-disease laboratory in Winnipeg is resigning to take on a new role at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, while the RCMP continues to investigate the activities of two scientists fired from his facility for covertly working with China’s military.

Philippe Guillaume Poliquin will step down from the National Microbiology Laboratory on Aug. 2 to become the assistant registrar for the complaints and investigations department at Manitoba’s medical oversight body on Aug. 6.

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Navy facility in Canadian Arctic 'could be finished this season,' a decade overdue

Nearly a decade behind schedule, the Canadian military’s long-promised naval refuelling station in the High Arctic could open as early as this summer, albeit with restrictions on the facility's operations and serious questions about its long-term viability.

The Department of National Defence says contractors at the $115-million Nanisivik Naval Facility are still fixing valves, painting buildings and replacing pipes before the maritime outpost on the northwestern coast of Baffin Island can operate.

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📝Two-thirds of Canadians express pride in being Canadian, with only 11% indicating otherwise. Interestingly, there is a notable generational difference in this sentiment.

Specifically, 81% of Canadians aged 60 and older state they are proud to be Canadian, whereas 49% of those aged 18-29 and 58% of those aged 30-44 share the same sentiment.

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🇨🇦🇮🇳Indian passenger, 24, with ties to human trafficking disguises himself as senior citizen in attempt to board Canada-bound flight

Officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport detained Guru Sewak Singh after they noticed multiple discrepancies in his appearance.

Singh, who was heading for an Air Canada flight, had dyed his facial hair white as he tried to replicate the passport photo of Rashvindar Singh Sahota, a 67-year-old from Punjab.

#India
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0️⃣ Failed candidate makes history in Canada with zero votes in federal election: ‘I am the true unity candidate’

Félix-Antoine Hamel, 45, made history this week when he received zero votes in a recent Toronto-St. Paul’s by-election.

When I saw the result, I was like, ‘Well, I am the true unity candidate. Everyone agrees not to vote for me.

He is the first federal candidate to get no votes in a contested race in Canada’s history.

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Trudeau says he is 'committed' to staying as PM after byelection loss

Justin Trudeau says Monday he is "committed" to staying on as prime minister after the Liberals' shocking Toronto-St. Paul's byelection loss one week ago.

There's always going to be lots of reflection after a tough loss, but there's also so much to do.

🤡

#Trudeau
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❗️Afghan Sikh sponsors donated to Sajjan’s riding association during Kabul airlift campaign

Directors of a charitable foundation that struck a deal with Ottawa to sponsor the immigration of Afghan Sikhs to Canada made political donations to then-defence minister Harjit Sajjan’s Vancouver South Liberal riding association around the same time as Canadian special forces soldiers were instructed to rescue and airlift the group from Kabul.

Elections Canada records show that between them, these directors made thousands of dollars of personal donations to the Liberal Vancouver South Liberal riding association in August 2021. Canada was in the midst of a general election campaign that had begun August 16 and Mr. Sajjan was seeking re-election in the Vancouver South riding.

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🪖Michael Higgins: Retiring defence chief says buckle up, Canada, we’re on cusp of war

Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre warns that the world has entered a “pre-wartime security environment” with multiple threats and opportunities for countries to violently clash.

If you’re in uniform, you learn to be pessimistic about the security situation because you’re trained for the worst case. Given the indicators and the trends that we see, I am pessimistic about the security situation.

After three years as the defence chief, Eyre will step down sometime in the summer. His replacement has not yet been named.

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Watch the light leave Trudeau's eyes.

#Trudeau
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Trudeau no longer going to Calgary Stampede

Shortly after the Liberals’ shocking loss in the Toronto-St. Paul’s by-election last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s attendance at the Calgary Stampede was cancelled, according to sources with knowledge of his schedule.

Trudeau has attended every year since becoming Liberal Party leader in 2013 except for the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. The Stampede runs from July 5 to 14 this year.

#Trudeau
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Immigrants used Canada Day to whine about their problems and ask for more help from the government.

The timing is not accidental.

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🪖'Large proportion' of military disliked relaxed rules on personal grooming, survey finds

The Canadian military has tightened up regulations on personal grooming after getting an earful from members who were not happy with the relaxed standards introduced almost two years ago.

The revised rules on hair and beard length come into effect today.

The country's soon-to-retire top military commander, Gen. Wayne Eyre, has championed the relaxed rules on personal grooming. He said no one should make too much of the revisions.

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🪖Lt.-Gen. Jennie Carignan chosen as next chief of the defence staff

Lt.-Gen. Jennie Carignan has been named the next chief of the defence staff, making her the first woman to serve as the top commander of the Canadian military.

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📈Toronto's population growth higher than major U.S. cities due to 'surge of immigration'

Toronto’s population is the fastest growing in Canada and in the United States, a new report says.

Toronto beat out major American cities like Houston and Dallas. While Toronto’s metropolitan area grew by 221,588 people over 12 months, Houston and Dallas saw much less growth, with 139,789 people and 152,598 people respectively.

What is surprising is the lack of awareness south of the border of how rapidly Toronto is becoming an economic powerhouse mainly built on robust immigration from many countries. At the time of the 2021 Census of Canada, 49 per cent of the Toronto metropolitan area’s population was born outside Canada.

report states.

The report said it was “remarkable” that out of the top 10 fastest-growing central cities in North America, eight of them were in Canada. The cities that made the top 10 list were Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Vancouver and Halifax.

#US
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💰Alberta ends fiscal year with $4.3B surplus

The Alberta government ended its fiscal year on March 31 with a $4.3 billion surplus despite having to pay $3 billion in contingency costs due to the province's worst fire season on record.

Finance Minister Nate Horner defended the government's current plan to use surplus cash to pay off debt while saving some of it into the Heritage Fund.

#Alberta
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🏠Ottawa considering buying hotels to house growing number of asylum seekers

Ottawa is considering buying hotels to house the growing number of asylum seekers and to cut the cost of block-booking hotel rooms to accommodate them, Immigration Minister Marc Miller says.

The federal government has in the last few years taken out long leases on hotels to help provinces house thousands of refugee claimants. This year, Ottawa has been footing the bill for approximately 4,000 hotel rooms for 7,300 asylum seekers, many of whom have transferred from provincial shelters and churches.

#immigration #housing
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💰United States looking at all options to respond to Canada's digital services tax

The Office of the United States Trade Representative says it will do what's necessary to halt Canada's tax on large foreign digital services companies.

Last month, Parliament approved the government's plan to add a three per cent levy on foreign tech giants which generate revenue from Canadian users. It means the companies will have to pay taxes on that revenue in Canada.

Many of those companies are based in the United States and American industry is demanding action.

#US
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High housing costs has two-in-five recent immigrants saying they may leave their province (or Canada)

New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds recent trends that have seen Canadians concentrating in Alberta, moving south, or beyond Canada and the U.S., potentially increasing in coming years. Most likely among those to consider further relocation are recent arrivals.

Consider that while three-in-10 Canadians (28%) say they’re giving serious consideration to leaving their province of residence due to housing affordability, this number rises to 39 per cent for those who have lived in the country for less than a decade.

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Canadian households now the third most indebted in the world

Canadian households have been on an epic borrowing spree. At the start of 2020, they interpreted record low rates as a signal to borrow as much as possible, as fast as they could. From Q1 2020 to Q1 2024, household debt climbed a whopping 25% higher. Two-thirds of the accumulation occurred before the first rate increase in Q1 2022.

The debt surge helped put households amongst the most indebted in the world. They now owe over 100% of GDP, making Canadinan households the third most indebted in the world, and the most indebted of any G7 economy. It’s only beat by Australia and Switzerland.

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