Canada

The lesson from fossil fuels couldn’t be clearer: once infrastructure is built, it’s nearly impossible to reverse.

The Globe report says the province is considering creating new types of physicians.

The first would see doctors bill the province for patient care as usual. The second would see doctors quit the public system entirely and run private clinics where patients are billed at rates set by doctors. The third would see physicians split their time between public and private models.

The report said the government would have the power to restrict which types of services physicians can provide and bill for privately.

Doctors can already quit the public system in Alberta if they choose, but it's not immediately clear just how many have.

The third option would be a first in Canada, and the Canadian Medical Association, which represents physicians across the country, warned Tuesday that it could lead to Albertans waiting longer to see their family doctors.

"The evidence from around the world is clear: where a parallel private health system operates, both health outcomes and access to care are worse," association president Dr. Margot Burnell said in a statement.

"Alberta's private care plans may similarly weaken an already challenged public health system."

Opposition Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi told reporters the government was pushing "American-style medicine" and its plan would only punish low-income Albertans.

During question period Tuesday, Nenshi called on Premier Danielle Smith to call an election over the issue.

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly pitted two giant defence companies against one another on Tuesday for the future of Canada's fighter fleet, saying the $27-billion contract to buy 88 U.S.-made F-35 jets doesn’t deliver enough jobs for workers in this country and that the public expects a better deal.

In perhaps her most pointed comments to date, Joly acknowledged publicly that the federal government was talking with Swedish defence contractor Saab, which has promised to bring thousands of aerospace manufacturing jobs to the country in the assembly of its Gripen E fighter jet.

"We think that we can use military procurement to get more,” Joly told reporters. “That is why we're looking, indeed, at the Gripen."

She said Saab is offering 10,000 jobs.

A U.S.-bound cargo ship was damaged and is taking on water near Bella Bella on B.C.'s Central Coast, officials say.

The Canadian Coast Guard said it received a report from the Malolo tugboat around 10:15 a.m. PT Tuesday that the freight barge it was towing was taking on water.

Officials say the boat was going from Alaska to Seattle, Wash., when it was damaged, and there were no reports of pollution as of Tuesday night near Bella Bella, which is around 480 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.

William Housty, the director of the Heiltsuk First Nation's integrated resource management department, told CBC News that they received reports that the barge was taking on water in the Fisher Channel, around 15 kilometres east of Bella Bella.

"The dive surveys showed that the hull on one part of the barge was compromised, so they must have hit the ground at some point," he said.

The modernized definition expands the list of positions that count toward the total to include jobs like showrunner, special effects director and head of costuming.

The CRTC says those roles should be staffed by humans, not AI.

Over the past few weeks alone, several AI leaders, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, began hinting that they expect governments to step in and bail out AI companies if and when the bubble bursts. After all, the U.S. government did exactly that in March of 2023 when Thiel's last big withdrawal of funds (from Silicon Valley Bank) precipitated a series of bank collapses.

With so much pension money and other public funds riding on AI stocks Carney could also decide to bail out AI giants and data centre builders with public funds, rather than take a precautionary tact and pull out investments now from over-bloated AI firms.

The Alberta government has invoked the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to prevent court challenges to a trio of laws impacting transgender youth and adults.

The clause is part of a bill now before the house, and Premier Danielle Smith says the move is necessary to protect children’s health and well-being.

She says their health could be jeopardized if challenges to the laws are tied up in court for a long time.

The notwithstanding clause allows governments to override Charter rights if deemed necessary as a way to balance the authority of both politicians and the courts.

The clause relates to laws that put restrictions on student pronoun changes at school, on girls’ and women’s sports, and on medical therapies for young people looking to transition.

Two of those bills are facing court challenges on the grounds they are harmful and unconstitutional.

Richard Falk and Hilal Elver were detained for approximately three hours at Pearson airport.

Here is an Invidious link to the video (1 min).

Hollywood actor [and Tibet activist] Richard Gere says Canada should not pivot to a stronger relationship with China just because of its currently strained relationship with the United States.

He says he is worried about that strain but says that won’t last forever and it is problematic for Canada to make “corrections” in its relationship with China as a result of the issues with the U.S.

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"If you look what's happened around the world with the arrangements the Chinese have made, [it is clear that] they haven't turned on well for anybody," Gere said. "I'd be very, very sceptical of these arrangements."

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Gere was on Parliament Hill on what is known as Tibet lobby day, an annual event that advocates for the rights and freedoms of Tibetans.

Gere’s philanthropy work includes advocating for human rights in Tibet and supporting the Tibetan independence movement.

The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Tibet and the head of Tibetan Buddhism who was forced into exile in 1959 after an uprising by Chinese troops.

Liberal MP James Maloney, whose Ontario constituency is home to the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre, welcomed Gere in a statement before question period today, before most MPs gave the actor a standing ovation.

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In the video, Gere warns of