Canada

The head of the Air Canada pilots union says she'll step down if members opt not to approve a tentative deal with the airline, raising the stakes as aviators mull whether to accept hefty salary gains or drive an even harder bargain.

Charlene Hudy, who chairs the Air Canada contingent of the Air Line Pilots Association, told her fellow employees in a virtual townhall Friday that she "will have no choice but to resign" if they vote down the would-be contract.

"If the membership votes no to this (tentative agreement), it would clearly indicate to the public, media, government and company that I no longer speak on your behalf," she said in a question-and-answer session that followed the online gathering. The Canadian Press has obtained a copy of her statement and confirmed it with two pilots.

The data, which was obtained through an access to information request, also shows that nearly a dozen RCMP firearms have gone missing so far this year.

In total, 122 handguns, 55 shotguns, 23 rifles, three submachine-guns and two machine-guns have been reported lost by RCMP detachments across the country since 2020. Canadians are largely prohibited from using or acquiring machine-guns and submachine-guns, which are fully automatic and capable of rapid fire.

Nearly half of the guns were lost in 2021, when a staggering 99 RCMP firearms were reported missing, including three fully automatic weapons. There were also 25 lost firearms in 2020, 44 in 2022, 26 in 2023 and 11 in the first seven months of 2024.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has committed explicitly to sending more Canadian natural gas to Germany and other European countries.

The Bearspaw south feeder main has been reconnected to Calgary's water distribution system, city reservoirs have been filled and all water use restrictions have been lifted, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said at a news conference Sunday morning.

Outdoor water restrictions have been in effect since the feeder main, which distributes most of Calgary's treated water, was shut down at the end of August for additional, urgent repairs following its rupture on June 5.

"This is the day we have all been waiting for," said the city's director of capital priorities and investment Francois Bouchart.

A $2.14-billion federal loan for an Ottawa-based satellite operator has Canadian politicians arguing about whether American billionaire Elon Musk poses a national security risk.

The fight involves internet connectivity in remote regions as Canada tries to live up to its promise to connect every Canadian household to high-speed internet by 2030.

A week ago, the Liberal government announced the loan to Telesat, which is launching a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites that will be able to connect the most remote areas of the country to broadband internet.

Conservative MP Michael Barrett objected to the price tag, asking Musk in a social media post how much it would cost to provide his Starlink to every Canadian household that does not have high-speed access.

Edit: Added Summary as requested.

Author: Steve Boots
Length: 49:51
Topic:

• The Worst QP Ever
• BC's Heartless Policy
• Alberta's Oil Bailout
• Favourite Moment
• BC United's Hilarious Failure
• We Need To Help Refugees
• Casual Cruelty
• Less Than A Million

Summary:
This week, The British Columbia government is criticized for implementing a new, harsh addictions policy, while the Alberta Government continues to use public funds to support the oil industry. Additionally, political figures have taken increasingly anti-immigrant stances targeting specific groups. Meanwhile, Canada's Premier has displayed casual cruelty in politics, and the National Broadcast Corporation (NBC) United has been a significant embarrassment in political history.

If POLICE KEPT working-class people safe, Winnipeg would be one of the safest cities in Canada, if not the world. The Prairie city of more than 800,000 people now spends more than one quarter of its operating budget on the Winnipeg Police Service—by far the highest share for any major city in the country. The police force is projected to spend more than $330 million in 2024 and $360 million in 2027. Comparatively, the entire Community Services department—which includes all libraries and recreation services such as pools, arenas, and community centres—is budgeted for a measly $110 million by 2027, while the city’s contribution to public transit will reach only $133 million by then.

A vast majority of this police budget goes toward the salaries, benefits, and pensions of a tiny cadre of extremely well-compensated cops. A cop starts making a six-figure salary after only five years on the job. In 2022, about 1,300 WPS employees made more than $100,000 a year, compared to only sixty employees of Winnipeg Transit and twenty-three from Community Services. In total, more than half of the 100 highest-paid city employees belong to the WPS. This situation also means that future wage increases will further inflate already enormous salaries, and that this divide will only widen in the years to come. Meanwhile, life-affirming care goes underfunded, understaffed, and unsupported altogether.

Unsurprisingly, this forcible process of cleansing and containing Indigenous people has frequently ended in killings. There’s been a staggering amount of death and injury caused by the WPS in recent years, from shootings, tasers, beatings, arrests, and in-custody mistreatment and neglect.

The 32 countries that have formally recognized non-human animal sentience include the European Union, Switzerland, Chile, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

The people behind a year-old medical school dedicated solely to turning out family doctors say the small program based in Oshawa, Ont., is disrupting traditional medical education in a way that could help solve Canada's shortage of family physicians.

"The big idea here is to preselect a group of students who not only want to become doctors, but they want to become family doctors, and right from the outset to surround them with all the wonders of family medicine," said Dr. Jane Philpott, dean of Queen's University's Faculty of Health Sciences, and former federal health minister.

But critics say, while it's a good initiative, the effort is a drop in the bucket and that solutions to the overwhelming primary care shortage lie elsewhere — from training more nurse practitioners to removing barriers for foreign-trained doctors.

Actually, the item at the top of the Bloc's list of demands is a bill that would benefit millions of seniors across Canada — not just those in Quebec.

Bill C-319 proposes to increase by 10 per cent the amount of full pension for people once they turn 65. It also would boost the employment income exemption used in determining the amount of guaranteed income supplement (GIS), from $5,000 to $6,500.

Blanchet is also using Bill C-282 as a bargaining chip. The legislation would provide new protections to Canada's supply management system.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police says that they’re “overwhelmed” and are being increasingly “victimized” by activists as officers struggle to respond to a rising number of protests.

“Through immigration, thousands of people, who may have had an orientation towards violence as a means of expression or activism, continue to arrive in Canada every year,” said Carrique. “Protests are an opportunity for the blending of other activist splinter groups, or simply thugs… with a goal to create disruption, often co-opting the original intent of a lawful assembly.”

When pressed for further details about officers who have been doxxed, CACP spokesperson Natalie Wright did not have concrete answers. She said photos of officers have been posted on social media by activists at protests. “In the line of duty, assaults and injuries and even deaths for police officers have been on the rise, and this is of grave concern to your police leaders,” Carrique added.

After the press conference, this reporter, who is visibly Indigenous, was told to leave the event, and was quickly walked out of the conference centre by volunteers.

Canada’s S-210 is part of a wave of proposals worldwide seeking to gate access to sexual content online. Many of the proposals have similar flaws. Canada’s S-210 is up there with the worst. Both Australia and France have paused the rollout of age verification systems, because both countries found that these systems could not sufficiently protect individuals’ data or address the issues of online harms alone. Canada should take note of these concerns.

When members of Asubpeeschoseewagong Anishinabek (Grassy Narrows First Nation) and their supporters arrive at Queen’s Park this week, they’ll be calling for the Dryden pulp and paper mill that’s been poisoning their water with neurotoxins for nearly 60 years to permanently close.

Staff at the upstream Reed paper mill in Dryden, Ontario, about 150 kilometres east of Grassy Narrows, dumped nearly 10 metric tonnes of mercury into the English-Wabigoon River system in the 1960s and early 1970s. Mercury poisoned the plants and fish that the people of Grassy Narrows, and neighbouring Wabaseemoong Independent Nation, were consuming.

A half-century later, medical experts are finding that varying nervous and neurological health effects affect up to 90 per cent of Grassy Narrows residents.

In May, scientific researchers released scientific researchers released (archived link) the revelation that sulphate and organic matter in the effluent that the mill is still releasing into the river is making methylmercury in the river system even worse, as opposed to diminishing over time as they were told.

The Ontario government is considering bringing forward legislation that could prohibit the installation of bike lanes when lanes for motor vehicles are removed as a result, sources say.

Siemiatycki said "this government has signalled that the car is king," pointing to prior steps the governing Progressive Conservatives (PCs) have taken to ease costs for drivers.

He sees the PCs as making a clear play for the votes of motorists, and believes the policy would also appeal to many drivers frustrated with congestion on the roads.

cross-posted from: /c/britishcolumbia

"For too long, the idea of home ownership has been out of reach for way too many people — people who earn a decent income, who are priced out of the market and do not see any path to home ownership," said Premier David Eby, speaking at the project unveiling on Thursday.

My family and I moved from the US to Canada in the summer of 2023 and last week was the first time I had to make use my Services Card. I went to the ER in excruciating pain, had blood and urine labs done, a shot of pain killers then waited around (a long time) for a CT scan. The doctor said it might be a new record, but I had been bumped a few times by suspected stroke patients that came in, so totally understandable. Several hours later with a prescription slip in hand I exited the hospital. Easy as pie.

For anyone who has never had the displeasure of experiencing an American hospital you can not understand how much simpler and less stressful and cheap the Canadian system is. I dont know what it would have cost me in the USA, probably whatever my insurance deductible was, but it certainly was not $0. That state of not knowing what all this is going to cost you, and how you will afford it, makes an already awful experience even worse. Not being harassed for money on the way out, never once discussing the cost of something with the DR was truly eye opening.

TL:DR Thanks BC Health. You are not perfect but you are amazing. Anyone promoting American style health care here in Canada has either never experienced that gong show or is independently wealthy enough not to have to think about the costs.

(kidney stone for anyone who is curious. it was horrible)

According to the article, this is the seventh death of a First Nations person in police custody in the last three weeks.

The Southern Chiefs' Organization says it's taking Manitoba Hydro and the provincial government to court in a Charter challenge to have Lake Winnipeg given all the rights and protections of a living entity.

"Today, we are making history," Grand Chief Jerry Daniels said at a news conference Thursday morning.

"We're not saying this is going to solve everything, but we think this is going to be a good start to changing the way people think about the way the lake's governed."

A statement of claim filed Thursday in the Manitoba Court of King's Bench with assistance from the Public Interest Law Centre alleges the way the Manitoba government and Manitoba Hydro have artificially controlled the water levels and outflow of Lake Winnipeg for decades has been "completely negligent" and had "dire" effects on the lake, Daniels said.