🪖While the Armed Forces are sorting out whether to send soldiers as backdrops to a Punjabi singer and how to meet NATO's 2% spending target, retiring military personnel are facing delays in receiving severance, back pay and accumulated vacation payouts.

Who wouldn't want to serve in an Army like that?

🍁 Maple Chronicles

Justin Trudeau calls two byelections in Manitoba and Quebec for Sept. 16

After the Liberal party’s devastating loss in the Toronto—St.Paul’s byelection, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling for another round of byelection to be held on Sept. 16.

The Prime Minister’s Office announced Sunday byelections for two of the three seat vacancies in the House of Commons for the ridings of Elmwood—Transcona in Manitoba and LaSalle—Émard—Verdun in Quebec.

Trudeau did not yet announce a byelection in the British Columbia riding of Cloverdale–Langley City, which polling suggests the Conservatives would likely reclaim from the Liberals were an election held today.

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🏃‍♂Canadian triathlete of Ukrainian origin Tyler Mislavchuk vomited at the finish of the Olympic distance in Paris after a swim held in the Seine.

He came in ninth place. And he later revealed he had actually vomited 10 times.

Up until June, E.coli levels in the river were 10 times higher than the level deemed acceptable by sports federations.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

❌🏳️‍⚧️Ontario transgender woman loses fight to have province pay for facial feminization surgery

No, the government shouldn't have to pay for your delusions.

#Ontario
🍁 Maple Chronicles

💰Conservatives on pace for another record fundraising year as Liberals, NDP trail by wide margin

Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party is on track for another record-setting fundraising year, amassing more than $20-million from donors in the first half of 2024 and far outpacing the results of the Liberals and NDP.

According to the latest quarterly fundraising numbers, released by Elections Canada on Wednesday, the Conservatives raised $9.8-million between April and June, bringing their total this year to $20.5-million.

In comparison, the Liberals raised $3.8-million in the second quarter, bringing their total in 2024 to $6.9-million. The NDP meantime raised $1.3-million in the second quarter, bringing their total to $2.6-million.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦🇨🇳 Canadian military encounters Chinese research vessel in Arctic, warns competitors are 'probing' infrastructure

A Canadian warship on its first-ever Arctic patrol encountered a Chinese polar research vessel in the Bering Strait off Alaska earlier this month, as the Department of National Defence says global competitors are increasingly probing Canadian infrastructure and gathering intelligence in a warming Arctic.

A National Defence spokesperson said HMCS Regina and its CH-148 Cyclone helicopter "interacted safely and professionally" with the Chinese research vessel Xue Long 2 as it transited the strait, but did not have any encounters with the four-warship task group, which she said "remained in international waters at all times."

#China
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🇨🇦 Forest Fires in Alberta Threaten 400,000 Barrels Per Day of Crude Oil Production

Ongoing wildfires in Alberta could affect crude oil production of about 400,000 barrels per day, primarily in the northeastern part of the province, with many producers on high alert as 176 fires are currently raging in the province, industry officials said.

The western Canadian province of Alberta produces about 4 million barrels of heavy and light crude oil and about 16.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day.

Goldman Sachs noted that Suncor has been cutting production at its more than 200,000-barrel-per-day Firebag field for over two weeks, and other producers have begun evacuating non-essential workers from the hardest-hit fields.

The fire has already reached the town of Jasper and a national park through which the 890,000-barrel-per-day Trans Mountain pipeline runs, as well as Canadian National Railway tracks that carry crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas by tanker from Alberta to Canada's west coast.

#Canada #oil
@songofoil

👊Conservatives launch attack ads on NDP, calling leader ‘Sellout Singh’

The Conservative party released two new ads this week attacking NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh as a “sellout,” blaming him for rising crime, housing prices, and the high cost of living.

Sellout Singh. He gets his pension, you pay the price.

In 2022, the New Democrats agreed to support the Liberals on key votes in the House of Commons. Conservatives suggest Singh is maintaining the deal to secure his MP pension, which he will qualify for in October 2025.

To be honest, Conservatives shouldn't get too comfortable. Every politician is a sellout in one way or another, and they are not immune to it.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🏠💸Lenders can offer more 30-year mortgages starting Thursday – but they won’t be cheap

Extending a mortgage by five years will lower Canadians’ monthly housing costs by a few hundred dollars but cost them six figures in the long run.

For a 30-year mortgage, the monthly cost of the average home in Canada would fall to $3,477 per month, compared to $3,789 for the same home with a 25-year mortgage. However, the total cost would rise from $1,136,853 to $1,251,835, an increase of almost $115,000.

The promise made by the Liberals in the 2024 federal budget to offer Canadians 30-year mortgage amortizations will come into effect for first-time homebuyers on Thursday.

#housing
🍁 Maple Chronicles

Canadian-born Paul Whelan, U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich released in Russia prisoner swap

Canadian-U.S. citizen Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich have been released from a Russian prison in an international swap deal, U.S. President Joe Biden confirmed Thursday.

Turkey, which co-ordinated the exchange, said 10 people, including two children, had been moved to Russia, 13 to Germany and three to the United States. Also involved in the swap were Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Belarus.

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📈Data shows violent crime up since 2015

The volume and severity of police-reported crime has been on “an upward trend that began in 2015,” Statistics Canada said in a report released last week.

The violent crime severity index “remained virtually unchanged” last year, the statistics agency said, because there was a decline in more serious crimes such as homicide. However, there was nearly a seven per cent increase in violent crimes such as assault, robbery and extortion, Statistics Canada said.

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Wedding celebration in Vancouver

Welcome to Khalistan.

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City plans 'sprung structures' for up to 300 refugees, asylum seekers

The City of Ottawa is hoping for a quick response on its funding application for a newcomer reception centre, which it now says will include two tent-like structures capable of sheltering up to 300 people.

The city submitted a request to the federal government for $32.6 million to fund the facility, known as a "welcome and stabilizing centre."

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📉Canada plans to reduce temporary residents, cap future intake

Canada plans to reduce its temporary residents and set a cap on temporary immigration, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said on Thursday.

The government wants to reduce temporary residents to 5% of the total population over the next three years from 6.2% in 2023, Miller said. That would be a cut of about 20% from Canada's 2.5 million temporary residents in 2023.

#immigration
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🇨🇦🇺🇸 How a cross-border conspiracy to smuggle drugs into B.C. on a Jet Ski unravelled

A 67-year-old man who planned to use a Jet Ski to smuggle more than 180 kilograms of fentanyl and methamphetamine into Canada was convicted in a Seattle courtroom Friday, after beachcombers found the drugs stashed in several duffel bags along the Washington state coastline.

John Michael Sherwood was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute, and conspiracy to commit international money laundering following a six-day trial.

#US #BritishColumbia
🍁 Maple Chronicles

Sajjan defends request to use soldiers as backdrop for Diljit Dosanjh concert

Of course he does, he thinks he lives in Khalistan.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

👶📉 Canada’s major cities are rapidly losing children, with Toronto leading the way

Since 2016, the number of children under the age of 10 as a proportion of the population has shrunk in every one of Canada’s six largest cities. Most of these major cities are losing children at a rate faster than Canada’s overall national decline.

The census metropolitan area of Toronto (which includes Toronto and the cities of Vaughan, Mississauga, Brampton, Markham, and six smaller communities) saw the greatest decrease in children under the age of 10 per 1,000 people, with a drop of nearly 11 children in that proportion in five years.

In 2016, Toronto had nearly the same children per 1,000 residents as Canada’s average of 120. The population then rapidly declined, making it and Vancouver the only major Canadian cities to fall below the national average.

From 2016 to 2021, Toronto shed a whopping 32,990 children. It and Montreal, which had a loss of 1,705, were the only major Canadian cities to experience a total decline in children.

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Liberals borrow 'weird' tactic from Democrats in latest attack on Pierre Poilievre

The Liberals are labelling federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre “weird” in a new line of attack borrowed from the United States Democrats.

Several Liberal MPs, including one cabinet minister, have used the word to describe Poilievre on social media in recent days.

Stealing the worst ideas.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

❗️Toronto terror arrests raise questions about security screening

The federal government is declining to explain how a Toronto man was able to immigrate to Canada despite allegedly having taken part in ISIS violence overseas.

Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, has been charged with committing an aggravated assault for the Islamic State outside Canada in 2015.

The RCMP arrested Eldidi and his son Mostafa, 26, at a hotel north of Toronto as they were allegedly about to commit a terrorist attack for ISIS. Police seized a machete and axe at the scene.

Just look at how hard the terrorists are trying to help with reaching immigration goals.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

How about he takes his rupees back to India?

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💰Average Canadian household pays 43% of income on taxes— only 35.6% on basic necessities

In a recent report, the Fraser Institute revealed that the average Canadian family is spending 43 percent of its annual income on taxes and just 35.6 percent on basic necessities like food and shelter.

The independent economic think tank examined how the tax burden on Canadian families has shifted from 1961 to 2024. The tax bill has jumped by 2,705 percent, according to the report, which found that an average household earned an income of $109,235 and paid $46,988 in total taxes.

In 1961, 33.5 percent of a family income was reserved for taxes while 56.5 percent went to basic necessities.

🍁 Maple Chronicles