Doug Ford calls supervised consumption sites ‘worst things’ to happen to communities

Premier Doug Ford defended his move to close more than half of the provincially funded supervised drug-consumption sites in Ontario and replace them with a network of new treatment centres, calling the sites the worst thing to happen to communities.

Mr. Ford’s government announced new restrictions this week that would ban supervised consumption services within 200 metres of schools or daycare centres as of next March, which will result in the closing of 10 sites. The government also intends to prevent such sites from relocating and to block new ones from opening.

We haven’t seen it get better. This was supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. It’s the worst thing that could ever happen to a community, to have one of these safe-injection sites in their neighbourhood.

Ford.

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9,300 employees locked out: Latest updates on shutdown of Canada's 2 largest railways

Contract talks resumed Thursday after Canada's two largest railways locked out their employees overnight in what is an unprecedented shutdown of freight traffic across the country.

Following months of increasingly bitter negotiations, shipments at Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. ground to a halt.

On Thursday morning, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference posted pictures to social media of workers from Halifax to Vancouver setting up picket lines, while sign-toting employees demonstrated outside CN's headquarters in downtown Montreal.

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We will have more to say shortly on what we're doing to make sure that the right solution is found quickly for the economy.

PM Trudeau tells reporters in Sherbrooke, Que., as he comments on the labour dispute that has shut down Canada's two main railways.

Master of word salad.

#Trudeau
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Trains could start rolling 'within days,' labour minister says after sending dispute to binding arbitration

Freight traffic on Canada's two largest rail networks could resume "within days," Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon said Thursday after sending two labour disputes to binding arbitration.

Canadian National Railway Co. (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. (CPKC) locked out 9,300 engineers, conductors and yard workers just after midnight Thursday, capping months of increasingly tense and bitter labour negotiations.

Less than 17 hours after the lockout began, MacKinnon announced he's using his powers as labour minister to step in.

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🍽 Restaurant closures surge

Food inflation and higher wages and rents have all contributed to increasing costs for restaurants is outpacing revenue growth post-COVID leaving many operators with no choice but to close their doors.

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Liberals say they will rein in temporary foreign worker program after historic influx

Housing Minister Sean Fraser said Sunday that the federal government will curb the number of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) coming into the country after a post-COVID surge.

Unemployment rates among immigrants and young people have crept up to concerning levels in recent months, according to federal data.

The landscape has changed. We don't see that acute labour shortage that existed even two years ago. As the economic landscape changes, so too must the policy landscape.

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Temporary foreign workers protest… having to leave Canada? What part of 'temporary' wasn’t clear to them?

Or are they just used to the idea that a temporary worker visa is their ticket to life in Canada? They shouldn’t be so sure of that.

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Brampton man charged in alleged sex assault of 3-year-old in hospital

A 31-year-old Brampton man is facing sex assault charges and police believe there may be other victims who have yet to come forward.

Police in Peel Region say a man was in Brampton Civic Hospital on August 18 when he approached a three-year-old child who was in a stroller and allegedly touched them.

The man then went to another area of the hospital and allegedly committed an indecent act that other people within the facility witnessed.

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📊🏠'Next generation' in Ontario feel homeownership unachievable: survey

According to a new survey, 75 per cent of young Ontarian respondents who don't currently own a home say purchasing one is a priority.

But only 47 per cent of them believe that home ownership is attainable — the lowest score among all regions in Canada. Twenty-seven per cent don't believe it's achievable at all and 26 per cent are unsure, the survey found.

The average price of a residential home in Ontario in July was $837,685, according to the most recent MLS Home Price Index. In Toronto, that number is $1,082,500. The average price of a single-family detached home in Toronto is $1,689,500, while an apartment is $707,800, according to the index.

#Ontario #housing
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How is he not tired of promising the same thing and ultimately not solving the problem?

#Trudeau #housing
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🇨🇳🚙🌱Canada to impose 100% tariff on Chinese EVs, including Teslas

Canada, following the lead of the US and EU, said on Monday it would impose a 100% tariff on imports of Chinese electric vehicles and announced a 25% tariff on imported steel and aluminum from China.

The duties apply to all EVs shipped from China, which would include those made by Tesla, a Canadian government official said.

Canadian imports of automobiles from China to its largest port, Vancouver, jumped 460% year over year to 44,356 in 2023, when Tesla started shipping Shanghai-made EVs to Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Ottawa was acting to counter what he called China's intentional, state-directed policy of over-capacity.

#China
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🇺🇸🪖U.S. wants Canada to hit military spending target 'as rapidly as humanly possible'

Canada and other countries that are laggards when it comes to military spending should hit the NATO-imposed target of spending two per cent of GDP "as rapidly as humanly possible," National Security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on the sidelines of the Liberal cabinet retreat in Halifax on Sunday.

While Sullivan welcomed what he called Canada's "historic" commitment to bulk up military spending, he reiterated that the United States would "like to see that two per cent target hit" quickly.

#US
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Trudeau says he plans to lead Liberals into next federal election, dismisses comparisons to Biden

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rejected comparisons to U.S. President Joe Biden’s political fate on Monday. Trudeau said the lesson he takes from the Democrats is that the government needs to respond to the things that “people are actually worried about” and present solutions to the issues they face.

We’re going to go into this next election, putting a very clear choice for Canadians. I’m focused on making sure we’re delivering through that election the kinds of things that Canadians need.

#Trudeau
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Immigration minister says upcoming changes to permanent resident levels 'not cosmetic,' but 'significant'

Immigration Minister Marc Miller says the federal government is "looking at a number of options" to re-evaluate permanent resident levels in Canada and says any upcoming changes will not be "cosmetic" but "significant."

#immigration
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🗳Montreal byelection to have most candidates in federal election history

An upcoming byelection in Montreal will have the longest ballot in the history of Canadian federal elections, breaking a record set earlier this summer in Toronto.

At least 91 candidates will be on the ballot for the Sept. 16 byelection in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, according to Elections Canada. Seventy-nine of them are linked to the Longest Ballot Committee, a group protesting Canada’s first-past-the-post voting system. The group wants a citizens’ assembly to be in charge of electoral reform, because they say political parties are too reluctant to make the government more representative of the diverse views of the electorate.

Elections Canada's final list will be available Wednesday.

#Quebec
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Canada may hit low-wage foreign worker record even with freeze

This week the government announced it will freeze processing of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) in some regions with elevated unemployment. Despite rising unemployment, the program has seen explosive growth with annual volumes rising 300% over the past five years. Just the first quarter of 2024 has already processed more than the annual total for 2018.

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🇲🇽Mexico freezes relations with US, Canadian embassies which criticized judicial reform

The Mexican government has paused its relationship with the U.S. and Canadian embassies in the country, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday, after their ambassadors criticized a proposed judicial reform that he backs.

"There is a pause," Lopez Obrador said in a press conference, clarifying that the freeze was with the embassies and not with the countries.

#Mexico #US
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Sikh who took over Khalistan campaign from Hardeep Singh Nijjar warned life at risk

A Sikh who took over the Khalistan independence referendum campaign from slain Hardeep Singh Nijjar said police have warned him his life is in danger.

Inderjeet Singh Gosal said the Ontario Provincial Police visited his Brampton, Ont., home after midnight on Friday to notify him he was the subject of a “duty to warn” notice.

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U.S. Ambassador says Canadians are consuming an ‘unhealthy’ amount of American news

U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Cohen says Canadians are consuming too much American news, which he believes is “unhealthy” because of American legacy media’s polarizing and partisan nature.

He added that it’s come at the expense of Canadians consuming news about their own country’s politics.

According to new statistics from the Reuters Institute, a significant number of Canadians, particularly in English Canada, rely on American outlets like CNN and the New York Times on a weekly basis for news.

#US
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