Canada

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The Canadian International Trade Tribunal has initiated an interim review of its order concerning the dumping and subsidizing of solar modules and laminates originating in or exported from China.

The review concerns order RR-2020-001, issued on Mar. 25, 2021, which encompasses Chinese solar modules and laminates composed of crystalline silicon cells and thin-film photovoltaic products made of amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride or copper indium gallium selenide.

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A brief mention of an abusive relationship between a Vancouver police officer and a teen he met at school in a recent police watchdog report shows a need for more transparency around the identities of officers who commit misconduct, says a civil liberties advocate.

Without knowing the officer’s name, the public has no way of knowing if he went on to work with another police department or to work with young adults, said Meghan McDermott, policy director with the BC Civil Liberties Association.

“Where is he now? He might be working as a member of the RCMP somewhere and he might be in a school in the Okanagan. We don’t know,” McDermott said.

Floodwaters reached Highway 1 in Abbotsford, located approximately 70 kilometres southeast of Vancouver on Thursday night, prompting new evacuation orders for seven properties close to the highway as water began spilling onto the roadway.

Those orders come on top of evacuations already affecting the region. Nearly 460 properties have so far been ordered to leave and another 1,069 properties remain on evacuation alert in Abbotsford.

The city says the flooding has forced the closure of Highway 1 in both directions between Sumas Road and No.3 Rd. Drivers are being asked to avoid the area and check DriveBC for updates as conditions continue to change.

A non-commissioned member of the Canadian military intelligence branch has been charged with passing classified information to a "foreign entity," the Department of National Defence revealed late Thursday.

Master Warrant Officer Matthew Robar was arrested by military police and faces eight charges under the National Defence Act.

He’s accused of — among other things — communicating "special operational information" and breach of trust, according to a statement issued by the Defence Department.

The statement does not name the foreign entity.

Ontario MP Michael Ma announced Thursday that he is leaving the Conservative caucus and joining the Liberals.

The MP said in a statement that he made the decision after listening to his constituents in the riding of Markham-Unionville in the Greater Toronto Area.

"This is a time for unity and decisive action for Canada's future," he wrote.

"In that spirit, I have concluded that Prime Minister Mark Carney is offering the steady, practical approach we need to deliver on the priorities I hear every day while door-knocking in Markham-Unionville."

acab

https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/16/cohere-is-quietly-working-with-palantir-to-deploy-its-ai-models/

A program intended to replace the entire stock of the Canadian military’s aging assault rifles is being sped up, CBC News has learned.

An internal Department of National Defence presentation references a move to quickly order the first tranche of weapons under the Canadian Modular Assault Rifle program.

A Defence Department equipment briefing, dated July 2025, says the plan is to order up to 65,401 modern rifles with the possibility being left open to increase the delivery up to 300,000 should the government proceed with a plan to drastically scale up the size of the military supplementary reserve.

The Canadian Modular Assault Rifle is intended to replace the current stock of C7 and C8 rifles, which date from the Afghan war almost two decades ago.

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43442390

[Op-ed by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a former prime minister of Denmark and former secretary general of Nato.]

Web archive link

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The war in Ukraine, North Korea’s missile tests, and China’s growing assertiveness reveal a stark truth: the great divide of our age is not as geographic as it once was, but political and ideological. It is the fault line between open societies and autocratic ones.

For Europe, the imperative is clear: deepen partnerships with other democracies that share our values, our economic models, and our strategic outlook.

And few countries embody this alignment more than Japan.

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Japan is not just a major economy in the Indo-Pacific — it is a democracy of principle, a strategic actor with advanced capabilities, and a steady partner in global security.

Over recent years, Tokyo has grown its defence cooperation, expanded its space and cyber capabilities, and strengthened its regional engagement.

Meanwhile, the nature of threat is shifting.

Autocratic states — Russia, North Korea, China — are cooperating increasingly.

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I have long advocated for a 'Democratic 7' (D7): the EU, the UK, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

Together, these nations account for roughly a quarter of global GDP and more than a third of global trade.

Yet what they share is deeper: a network of trust, rule-of-law, and open economy.

Within that framework, Japan stands out. Its contributions in space, defence and high-tech industries are world-class.

Europe should not view Tokyo as adjunct — it should view Japan as central to our strategy. From satellite systems to missile defence, from industrial innovation to standard-setting in critical technologies, Japan can be both partner and template.

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• The Bank of Canada holds rates steady at 2.25% as expected
• Macklem says economy was proving more resilient to tariffs
• Macklem reiterates policy rate at about the right level

The Bank of Canada held its key policy rate steady at 2.25% on Wednesday as widely expected, and Governor Tiff Macklem said the economy was proving resilient overall to the effect of U.S. trade measures.

Despite tariffs between 25% and 50% on some critical sectors such as cars, lumber, aluminum and steel, Canada's economy has shown signs of strength.

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Third quarter annualized GDP grew by 2.6%, much more than expected, while employment data showed the economy added 181,000 new jobs between September and November.

"It's been a difficult year for Canadians and Canadian businesses. But as the year is closing, it's looking better than it looked in the spring, in the summer," Macklem said during a press conference after the rates decision.

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Uncertainty remains high and if the outlook changes, the bank is ready to respond, Macklem said, reiterating comments he made when the bank cut rates in October to their current level.

"Governing Council sees the current policy rate at about the right level to keep inflation close to 2% while helping the economy," said Macklem.

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Archived link

[HALO is an NGO operating in Ukraine. Women are clearing the land after Russians mined it.]

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Until 2017, demining was on Ukraine’s list of 450 occupations prohibited for women. Today, women make up 30 per cent of HALO’s 1,500 Ukrainian staff.

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[HALO is also] training Ukraine’s women to make their country’s land safe again. Canada has played a part in this work. In early 2024, the Trudeau government — which had a feminist foreign-aid strategy — provided HALO with a $5-million grant to support its female demining efforts. Today, the future of such grants look uncertain.

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For years, even before all-out war began, Russia has been littering Ukraine’s fields, roads and forests with mines, booby-traps and trip-wire explosives.

These efforts have turned Ukraine into one of the world’s most contaminated countries, some reports say. It is estimated that as much as a quarter of Ukraine’s territory — equivalent to the Canadian Maritimes in size — is mined.

The effect is devastating. As of May, explosive ordnance had killed nearly 500 people and injured another 1,000.

The contaminated lands mean farmers cannot plant crops, families cannot rebuild their homes and children cannot play safely outside. It also threatens global food security, undermining Ukraine’s agricultural output and role as Europe’s so-called “breadbasket.”

In 2023, Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy set a goal of clearing 80 per cent of Ukraine’s contaminated lands within 10 years.

This is where HALO comes in.

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For nearly four decades, HALO has been clearing landmines, cluster munitions and other explosives from some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones.

Its work began in Afghanistan but today spans 30 countries. The non-profit employs more than 11,000 people and generates roughly US$200 million in revenue.

Its expansion into Ukraine has been supported by international donors, including Canada.

Samuel Fricker, a Canadian projects officer with HALO who is based in Langley, B.C., says he is glad to see Canadian dollars being put toward HALO.

“As someone who pays taxes in Canada, I’m … happy with where the money goes,” he tells me in a HALO team video call days later.

“The reason I work in this field is because of how tangible the impact is. You are seeing landmines being removed. You’re seeing genuine lives saved,” he says.

Canada’s $5-million contribution accounts for a small fraction of HALO’s $60-million annual Ukraine budget.

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Daria Hapirova, a gender expert at HALO, says training women to demine is crucial because hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men have joined the military.

“Unfortunately, there is no time for us to act in a gender-neutral way,” she says on the call. “[W]ithout women right now, Ukrainian mine action wouldn’t function.”

Hapirova says there are halo effects to promoting gender equality in a niche sector like demining.

“We started to change our uniform sets, for example, to make it more inclusive, and not only suitable for female bodies, but also to be more practical and more inclusive for different shapes of man’s bodies,” she says.

Fricker says HALO is also more effective at its work when women are included.

Households headed by women — often widows or those whose husbands are fighting — are more willing to share information with female surveyors, he says.

“The interactions are much, much improved by having that diversity,” he says.

Canada’s $5-million grant ended in August, and HALO currently has no ongoing Canadian funding for Ukraine. “We are in discussions with [Global Affairs Canada] about potential future options for follow-on funding,” Shustova says.

But the political winds have shifted. On Nov. 23, Prime Minister Mark Carney said at a press conference in Johannesburg that Canada no longer has a feminist foreign policy.

He added, however, that gender equality will remain an “aspect” of Canada’s broader international agenda.

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President Donald Trump issued his 2025 National Security Strategy for the United States on Friday. It’s a remarkable document, something like the Rescript of Honorius, when the emperor Honorius in the year 410 told the cities of Roman Britain that he was withdrawing Rome’s legions and they’d have to defend themselves hereafter.

From now on, Trump says, America will look after itself and leave Europe and Asia to their fates. But the countries of the Western Hemisphere are now to be firmly in America’s sphere of influence. And that includes Canada.

The strategy says: “Our goals for the Western Hemisphere can be summarized as ‘Enlist and Expand.’ We will enlist established friends in the Hemisphere to control migration, stop drug flows, and strengthen stability and security on land and sea. We will expand by cultivating and strengthening new partners while bolstering our own nation’s appeal as the Hemisphere’s economic and security partner of choice.”

Canada could expect similar interference with our domestic affairs, including our immigration policy. The United States would explicitly support far-right parties like the Conservatives and the People’s Party of Canada and their provincial equivalents like Alberta’s United Conservative Party. Any party or government endorsing immigration and multiculturalism could expect a barrage of disinformation attacks in social media and U.S. mainstream media (which are increasingly owned by a few tech billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk).