Canada

Fictitious names. Dozens of e-transfers. A drained bank account.

For the first time, court documents reveal details about how an employee of an assisted living organization systematically defrauded a client, a man with a diagnosed mental illness.

It’s the latest development in the story of Contentment Social Services Foundation (CSSF), which made headlines in 2024 after families said their loved ones with complex needs were discharged from the hospital into hotel rooms with little support. After reporting from CBC News, the Alberta government stepped in to find new housing for 27 clients, and launched several investigations.

Edmonton police also laid charges against Shum Yousouf, a CSSF program manager and housing worker, for incidents dating back to 2023.

Premier Danielle Smith wielded a striking figure earlier this month to make her case for giving her province more say in how the federal government picks upper court judges for Alberta.

“Especially since 80 per cent of the judges or so have been demonstrated to have Liberal party donations, I don’t know why anyone would think that the process we have right now is free of politics,” she told reporters.

Eighty per cent? Four in five?

If that were true, it would paint a picture of a judicial appointment system rife with partisanship, at levels previously unseen in other analyses of judges’ donation records, either academic or journalistic.

It is not true. The single media source Smith got that fact from has since corrected it.

Global Affairs Canada is now telling Canadians in Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara to head to airports only if they have a confirmed flight, "and it's safe to do so," two days after violence erupted across Mexico.

"The situation in Mexico is becoming more stable … though the volatility and instability differs throughout the country," Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday morning.

"For that reason, we are advising Canadians who remain in Mexico at this time to follow the advice of local authorities."

CBC News has reached out to GAC multiple times for clarity on that advice and not yet heard back.

But according to a government news release in Jalisco state, all economic and productive activities there were scheduled to resume Tuesday, including the reopening of self-service stores, convenience stores, wholesale markets, banking institutions and intercity transport routes.

Indigenous-owned or co-owned renewable energy projects have a role to play in helping Canada come closer to reaching its climate targets, says one advocate.

James Jenkins, executive director of Indigenous Clean Energy, a not-for-profit that supports Indigenous-led clean energy projects at the community level, said Indigenous-owned or co-owned renewable energy projects increased over the last decade.

“Every project that's not emitting does help Canada reach that target,” said Jenkins.

Data released from Environment and Climate Change Canada in December suggests Canada will fall well short of its 2030 climate goal — just halfway to its target of a 40 to 45 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels.

Jenkins, a member of Walpole Island First Nation in southwestern Ontario, said among the growing list of operations are hydroelectric, wind and solar projects, and battery storage. Renewable generation can generate revenue which is then reinvested into community, he said.

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Ross Linden-Fraser, research lead of 440 Megatonnes, a data project at the Canadian Climate Institute tracking climate policy, said Indigenous nations have been "at the forefront of some of the really encouraging developments in clean electricity.”

He co-authored a recent Canadian Climate Institute report assessing the federal government’s report on progress toward the 2030 emissions reduction target that suggests Canada has moved further away from its climate targets since 2023 because the federal and provincial governments have removed or weakened climate policies.

"If Canada, a wealthy, high emitting country, is not contributing to global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, that global effort is going to be weaker and we're going to have a harder time as a world trying to avoid these climate impacts,” he said.

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Specifically, the two countries' governments intend to strengthen collaboration on electric and hydrogen mobility and advancing battery and critical minerals partnerships.

In a joint declaration ... say[s] the agreement underscores "the strategic significance of the automotive and mobility sectors" for economic development and resilience for both countries. The plan aims to strengthen the industrial base, diversify and stabilise supply chains, and further accelerate the introduction of zero- and low-emission vehicles.

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The governments in Berlin and Ottawa aim to establish an automotive and mobility cooperation group to facilitate dialogue on sectoral development, the expansion of bilateral trade in automobiles, and the continued roll-out of battery-and hydrogen-based mobility.

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Enbridge’s CEO doesn’t think investors should take on the risk of developing new fossil fuel infrastructure — that, instead, governments should do so for them.

Headline has since been updated to:

Pre-construction condo buyers could face financial catastrophe without many options

It’s illegal for Canadian police to search mail in transit, but it had been commonplace in the territory, according to Nunavut RCMP Chief Supt. Kent Pike.

“It’s something we’ve been doing as long as the RCMP has been in Nunavut,” Pike said.

Please skim the article and authors to get an idea of the message of this piece (and ideally also read it)

Authors:

• Ekaterina Rhodes - Associate Professor, School of Public Administration, University of Victoria
• Megan Egler - Postdoctoral Fellow, Public Administration, University of Victoria
• Rowan Hargreaves - Research Associate, Public Administration, University of Victoria
• Samuel Lloyd - PhD Candidate, Department of Psychology, University of Victoria

An excerpt of the intro:

Fossil fuel-dependent communities in Western Canada sit at the centre of Canada’s energy decisions. A just and inclusive clean energy transition will depend on how well governments listen to these communities and how fast they deal with the forces working to slow down energy decarbonization.

When it comes to the energy transition, public discussion tends to focus on emissions targets and policies to achieve them. These are important, but they’re just one aspect of the issue. In the oil- and gas-producing regions of Western Canada, conversations and concerns centre on livelihoods, identity and a nagging doubt: does anyone in power grasp rural realities?

Our ongoing research across the region — based on large citizen surveys, focus groups with municipal leaders and analysis of disinformation — highlights that emotions, narratives and perspectives of communities sit at the heart of Canada’s energy transition politics. As we mark the United Nation’s International Day of Clean Energy today, these voices demand attention before divides deepen further.

Focus groups with municipal staff from 10 oil- and gas-producing communities in British Columbia and Alberta revealed a delicate balancing act. They’re actively pursuing diversification — geothermal projects, hydrogen pilots, tourism expansion, data centres, manufacturing hubs, even rare-earth mineral processing — but most of these efforts build around, rather than beyond, oil and gas.

For many communities, the industry isn’t just jobs. It’s the economic engine funding hospitals, schools, arenas, roads and the very existence of their towns. Abstract talk of an energy transition can feel threatening when it overlooks this.

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The percentage of Canadians with a favorable view of the U.S. is now very similar to the percentage with a favorable view of China [both are very low].

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Canadians’ shifting opinion maps onto rhetoric from key government figures. Industry Minister Melanie Joly’s comment that trade discussions with China are “more predictable and stable” than with the U.S. is a good example of missing the forest for the trees.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Davos speech, a thinly veiled criticism of President Trump, came days after a new trade deal and smiling photo-op with Xi Jinping. It was another historic miscalculation. Both Joly’s comment and Carney’s speech betray a naive equivocation between China and the U.S.

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Yes, perhaps American democracy is strained, but the resilience of the American political system and people is also very much on display.

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Elections, term limits and push-back from legislatures on the executive are openly despised concepts in the People’s Republic of China. When Xi exercises hostage diplomacy or coercive tariffs against trading partners, which he does routinely, there is no open debate, no democratic backlash, no Chinese media outcry.

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Late this summer, a U.S. appeals court ruled most of Trump’s tariffs illegal. The Supreme Court followed up Friday, ruling that Trump exceeded his authority when imposing tariffs through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law intended to be reserved for national emergencies.

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For Canadians, perhaps the most disturbing part of Trump’s presidency thus far has been its immigration enforcement, including shootings and deaths in custody. The seemingly needless deaths on the streets of Minneapolis, and the subsequent characterization of the victims as “domestic terrorists” by the Trump administration, is inexcusable.

Yet compare the American outcry and mass protests over these crackdowns to the Chinese response to the Uyghur genocide.

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