🎓Ontario sees drop in international student applications amid cap on study permits

Ontario has received 23 per cent less international student applications this year after the federal government reduced the number of study permits. The provincial government revealed it accepted 181,590 applications, down from 235,000 in 2024.

The cap has led to a drop in enrolments at Ontario colleges, prompting them to suspend programs and reduce staff.
#Ontario #immigration
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🗳Doug Ford planning to call Ontario election next Wednesday: source

Premier Doug Ford is planning to call a provincial election next Wednesday, which would send Ontarians to the polls on Feb. 27, a senior Progressive Conservative source has confirmed.

The planned election call would follow months of speculation that Ford wanted to face voters before the fixed 2026 date.
#Ontario
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💸📊 More than half of Canadians are feeling 'financially paralyzed,' RBC poll says

🔹More than half (or 55 per cent) of people surveyed by the RBC Financial Flexibility Poll described themselves as “financially paralyzed,” and 50 per cent said they are spending all of their income on necessary bills and expenses.

🔹Twenty-nine per cent said their finances were in “a constant state of chaos,” and 48 per cent believe they will never be able to get ahead financially.

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🇺🇸Canada, Mexico steelmakers refuse new U.S. orders

Some steelmakers in Canada and Mexico are telling customers that they are refusing new orders to the United States on concerns that President Donald Trump soon will reimpose duties.

Canada’s Stelco Holdings Inc. has been telling U.S.-based consumers it is pausing sales quotes, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mexico-based steel suppliers also stopped taking orders for material this week as they await potential action from Trump.
#US
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Trudeau plans on stacking Senate before retiring: source

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is planning a final wave of appointments to fill the 10 vacancies in the Senate before he retires in March. The move would allow him to leave a mark on Parliament for years to come, as these unelected legislators will be able to sit until the age of 75.

A source familiar with the matter says that the selection process for the future senators is already underway and should be completed before his departure. After proroguing Parliament earlier this month, Trudeau announced that he will leave power after the Liberal Party chooses a new leader on March 9.
#Trudeau
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B.C. bracing for undocumented migrants from the United States

B.C. is asking Ottawa for money to help local shelters that are preparing for a potential rise in undocumented migrants from the United States.
#BritishColumbia #US
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New bill will require newcomers to Quebec to adopt ‘common culture,’ minister says

Quebec’s immigration minister says newcomers to the province need to embrace the “common culture” to avoid ghettoization.

The Quebec government will table a new bill on the integration of immigrants on Thursday, which will require newcomers to adhere to Quebec values like gender equality and secularism.

Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge told reporters today that Canada has never defined its own common culture, and the Canadian model of multiculturalism doesn’t work for Quebec.
#Quebec #immigration
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📊 Mark Carney is more likely to expand the Liberal Party’s voter pool than Chrystia Freeland

Mark Carney stands out with stronger impressions than Chrystia Freeland and Karina Gould. He enjoys a better overall rating among the general public—33% positive vs. 20% negative (for a net +13)—and he’s also viewed most favourably by current Liberal supporters.

Chrystia Freeland is more widely known but has higher negative ratings, which drags down her net impression to about -1. Among Liberal supporters, she remains popular, though she trails Carney in terms of net favourability.

Karina Gould is less well-known to Canadians: most haven’t formed a strong opinion about her yet, and nearly half say they don’t know enough to comment. This leaves her with lower positives than the other two.

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🏦 BoC cuts key interest rate to 3% as tariff threats loom

Canada’s central bank has cut interest rates for a sixth consecutive time as inflation remains around two per cent and the threat of U.S. tariffs looms.

The 25-basis point cut comes as the Bank of Canada forecasts GDP growth will strengthen in 2025 if there is no trade war with the United States.

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💰🛢Trump says Canada tariffs coming Saturday, ‘may not’ include oil

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would likely decide by the end of the day Thursday whether to put a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian oil imports that he confirmed will take effect on Saturday.

We may or may not. We’re going to make that determination probably tonight on oil. We’ll see. It depends on what the price is. If the oil is properly priced, if they treat us properly – which they don’t.

#US
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🇺🇸🪖Canada and U.S. should establish a joint Norad base in Arctic, Alberta premier proposes

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is calling for a joint Canada-U.S. Norad military base in Northern Canada, expanding the organization’s aerospace and maritime defence efforts.

In a Thursday statement, Smith said she pitched the idea at a meeting on Wednesday with fellow premiers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Smith has been urging more collaboration with the U.S., as President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods starting Saturday.
#Alberta #US
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NDP again pledges to defeat the government in March

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has again pledged to defeat the government by the end of March, as the Liberals tried to make the case for the New Democrats to give them a lifeline through to the fall to strike pharmacare agreements.

I’m demanding that the Liberal government call back Parliament. Let’s put before Parliament a package to protect workers, support workers that are impacted by these tariffs.

Singh said.

The Conservatives have also requested a return of the House before prorogation ends on March 24. A government official said Thursday there is no plan to recall the House earlier.

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Canada launches fentanyl crackdown to convince Trump tariffs aren't necessary

Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said the federal government will launch this week a new regulatory process to increase the control and oversight of precursor chemicals in Canada, which are used to produce synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

He also said the government is currently negotiating with American authorities to stand up a joint North American fentanyl strike force targeting organized crime, including cartels.

McGuinty also pointed to the training and deployment of "new border detector dog teams, specialized 100 per cent in fentanyl detection."
#US
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💰🇺🇸After Trump tariffs, Trudeau reveals $155B counter-tariffs on U.S.

Canada is hitting back against U.S. President Donald Trump‘s tariffs with counter-tariffs worth $155 billion.

Tonight, I am announcing Canada will be responding to the U.S. trade action with 25 per cent tariffs against a $155 billion worth of American goods.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Saturday.

Trudeau said this will include immediate tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods as of Tuesday, followed by further tariffs on $125 billion worth of American products in 21 days’ time to “allow Canadian companies and supply chains to seek to find alternatives.”
#US
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🇺🇸 Ford 'ripping up' Ontario's $100M contract with Elon Musk's Starlink

Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford is "ripping up" Ontario's $100 million contract with Elon Musk's Starlink in the wake of U.S. tariffs on virtually all Canadian goods, he said in a statement Monday.

The contract, signed in November, was meant to provide high-speed internet access through Starlink's satellite service to 15,000 eligible homes and businesses in rural, remote and northern communities by June of this year.
#US
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Loonie falls to lowest level since 2003 after tariffs announced

The Canadian dollar fell to its lowest level in more than two decades after U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs to be enacted Tuesday.

The loonie was trading for 68.13 cents US, its lowest level against the U.S. dollar since 2003, compared with 69.04 cents US on Friday.

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💰Trump wants U.S. banks in Canada, he says after speaking with Trudeau

Donald Trump is making fresh demands for Ottawa to allow American banks greater latitude to operate north of the border, following the first of two phone calls scheduled with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Monday.

Canada doesn’t even allow U.S. Banks to open or do business there. What’s that all about?

Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday morning.
#US
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⏸️ Trump hits pause on trade war after Trudeau vows new border measures

Canada obtained a one-month reprieve from U.S. President Donald Trump’s threatened steep tariffs Monday after promising to invest $200-million more in fighting organized crime and drugs, with additional pledges to appoint a fentanyl czar and designate drug cartels as terrorists.

Under the terms of a deal struck by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mr. Trump, Canada also agreed to launch a new joint strike force to combat organized crime, and illegal production and distribution of the deadly opioid fentanyl.
#US
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💰Trump tariff threat reignites push to slash barriers to trade inside Canada

The now-delayed but still looming threat of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods has reignited the debate about removing barriers to trade within Canada.

Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre seized on the issue Monday, releasing a seven-minute video claiming “it’s actually easier for our businesses to sell to other countries than to other Canadian provinces” and that eliminating interprovincial trade barriers could boost family incomes by $6,000 a year.

The federal government’s own 2024 fall economic statement, citing International Monetary Fund data, acknowledges the impact, arguing the country could boost its GDP by as much as 4 per cent, or $2,900 per capita, by liberalizing internal trade.

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