Canada

This week, Canadian airline WestJet became one of the first to try to switch the ability to recline into a paid "perk" by announcing that it was reconfiguring 43 of its Boeing 737-8 MAX and 737-800 (BA) planes to have what it classifies as a "refreshed range of seating options."

Health Canada is touting the major uptake of its public dental insurance program, but data shows that nearly half of the 5.2 million eligible patients have yet to see a dentist.

Of the Canadians approved for coverage, 2.8 million have been to a dental clinic, Health Canada says. And to date, those visits have cost taxpayers $3.37 billion.

The new data comes six months after the Canadian Dental Care Plan expanded significantly to cover 18- to 64-year-olds. So far, 1.8 million people in this newest cohort are approved for the plan. A quarter of them have actually used it so far.

Health Minister Marjorie Michel says having people enrolled is the first step.

"It's still a new program," Michel said Thursday at a news conference at a community centre in Ottawa. "To have people enrolled in the program is key for them to have the opportunity to go."

"It's like, you can go to your doctor, and you don't feel the need to go tomorrow morning, but you still can go to the doctor. It's just the same."

Health Canada also now says close to 100 per cent of active dentists, denturists and independent dental hygienists are treating patients through the program. It's a significant milestone considering initial uptake from dentists was low.

The national insurance program subsidizes the cost of dental care for Canadian residents with a family net income below $90,000 if they don't have access to a private insurance plan.

The program helps pay for a range of dental work, including cleanings, fillings and dentures. Health Canada says that on average, each patient has had $800 in expenses covered per year.

Local hospitals saved $1.66 million after 48 residents moved into Dunn House, says doctor

When Dr. Andrew Boozary and his team at Toronto's University Health Network looked deeper into the issue, they discovered that about 100 patients accounted for more than 4,500 emergency department visits in one year.

A month-long hospital stay costs the public health system more than $60,000, he said, compared to $15,000 a month to keep a person in a provincial jail and about $6,000 to house someone in a shelter.

There had to be a better way, he thought.

Boozary and the hospital network teamed up with Fred Victor, a non-profit housing and social services organization led by a kindred spirit, CEO Keith Hambly.

A four-storey building was erected on a parking lot UHN owned next to its rehabilitation hospital on a quiet residential street in Toronto's west end. It features 51 units where residents sign long-term leases and have access to doctors, nurses, social workers and a whole host of health and social supports.

Residents began moving into Dunn House in the Parkdale neighbourhood a year ago. Now, Miles and 50 other people, many of whom came off the street or from emergency shelters, call the place home.

The reverse:

The reverse shows a birds-eye view of a family of beavers — an adult male and female, and their two kits — building a lodge. The obverse depicts what’s happening underwater out of our eyelines, showing the underbellies of the beavers and their lodge.

The side:

It's expensive though:

Collectors can purchase this coin on the Mint’s site, but it’ll cost more than the change in your wallet. It has a mintage of 2,750 and is being sold for $479.95.

Article: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-coin-beaver

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/47316929

The banking alliance had at its peak over 140 banks globally, including Canada's Big Six banks, all committing to setting both shorter and longer-term decarbonization targets to help accelerate emissions reductions.

Sustained political pressure from U.S. Republicans led major U.S. banks to leave the alliance after the election of Donald Trump last November.

Canadian banks including RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC and National Bank all left the group in January, saying they would continue climate efforts outside the group.

For the unions, the logic is familiar: weaken the service then offer it to the private sector. "Public services are cut until they lose their relevance. After that, the public is told, 'You see, you're paying too much for this. We're going to cut these services,'" insists Bélisle. For his part, Brodeur reiterates the usefulness of the public postal network: "People realize this. It costs $70 to send a letter to Hamilton through private companies."

They accuse Ottawa of not investing and of preparing to transfer services to private companies. They also mention the rise of Intelcom in the parcel business and point out that it belongs to the brother of Mélanie Joly, a minister in the Carney government.

"It's media spin to make the public believe that Canada Post is a sick animal that needs to be put out of its misery," says Brodeur.

A Toronto man is thanking the efforts of a Good Samaritan who came to his aid following a heart attack, while he says many others ignored his pleas to call emergency services.

The actions of the man who saved his life have recently spread like wildfire across social media platforms, serving as a reminder that small acts of kindness take very little effort, and they can be matters of life or death.

Brijesh Patel was in the middle of a workout a few weeks ago at his gym in Liberty Village when he began to feel off.

Leaving with chest tightness, he knew he shouldn’t go home where he lives alone. “The chest pain was getting worse, I was sweating a lot, and then my right hand started feeling numb, tingling,” Patel said to Global News.

In the moment, he says he knew he was having a heart attack.

Sitting on a bench in front of a restaurant, Patel began asking people if they could call him an ambulance. But despite being close enough to people he could touch them, no one was responding to his calls for help.

Finally, a man responded, telling him that his phone was dead. That’s when Patel realized he was holding his own phone, but in his disoriented state, he didn’t know where he was.

Patel says the man ran into a nearby Pi Co. after calling 911, to ask for their address. Shortly after, he came out to wait with Patel for the ambulance.

“I remember him specifically saying, ‘Hang in there brother, I can hear their sirens, they’re close,’ which was very assuring,” he said.

But as the paramedics began taking him away, he realized he didn’t know his hero’s identity.

“I did not get his name at that moment at all,” he said. “When they were putting me on a stretcher, I wanted to say, ‘stop the guy,’ but the words didn’t come out.”

Patel said he asked his friend to go to the restaurant and ask them to review their security cameras for when the Good Samaritan came in.

They released a still image of the man while Patel was recovering in hospital to clear a blocked artery.

During this time, his sister, Sejal, put together a social media video asking people to help identify their hero. It worked.

But Sejal said the man wanted to remain anonymous. “When we were trying to thank him, he said, ‘I don’t think I did anything special. Please don’t give me more accolades than I need, I’m just doing what’s normal, I’m doing what’s human,'” she recounted.

Still, she managed to put her brother in touch with his mystery man thanks to a flood of people on social media who started looking for him following her plea. “He was like, ‘I don’t need anything.’ Well, I’m like, ‘I need to buy you a beer,” said Patel.

The man who came to his aid may not have wanted their thanks, but Patel said it’s important for him to receive his family’s gratitude.

As for the people who ignored him, Patel said he holds no ill will towards them, but he’s encouraging them to follow the lead of the man who did “what’s human.”

“Sometimes maybe just slow down so you can help the opportunity to help someone,” he said, adding, “it costs nothing to dial 9-1-1.”

We expose a network of overseas scammers targeting and blackmailing teens, and in some cases, driving them to suicide within hours of falling into a trap known as ‘sextortion’. We create fake social media profiles to investigate the business behind the blackmail.

We expose a network of overseas scammers targeting and blackmailing teens, and in some cases, driving them to suicide within hours of falling into a trap known as ‘sextortion’. We create fake social media profiles to investigate the business behind the blackmail.

Add your name to the petition submitted by MP Jenny Kwan for withdrawing Bill C-2, the “Strong Borders Act” which among other things enables warrantless access to Canadians' digital data stored by private companies.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/52745670

Pétition à la Chambre des communes
Attendu que :

• Les Québécois et les Canadiens s’attendent à voir leurs taxes et impôts être utilisés et gérés consciencieusement et de manière socialement responsable, ce que ne respecte pas les dépenses actuelles liées à la fonction de gouverneur(e) général(e).

Nous soussignés, citoyens québécois et canadiens, prions la Chambre des communes réunie en Parlement de prendre les mesures suivantes concernant les dépsense lièes à la fonction de gouverneur(e) général(e)

1. Fixer un salaire de 1$ par an, symbolique;
2. Vendre Rideau Hall et distribuer aux banques alimentaires du produit de la vente et des frais d’entretiens économisés; ou faire de Rideau Hall la résidence officielle du Premier Ministre et de la gouverneure générale et l’envoi des sommes économisées pour l’entretien de deux résidences officielles et du personnel qui y est affecté aux banques alimentaires canadiennes;
3. Interdire tout voyage à l’extérieur du Canada, que des rencontres virtuelles soient privilégiées;
4. Entretenir la garde-robe à l’interne;
5. Retirer les services de chauffeur et de limousine;
6. Utiliser des services de chef cuisinier lors de repas protocolaires seulement;
7. Restreindre les tâches à la sanction de projets de lois, à des repas protocolaires avec les dignitaires en visite au Canada, à des cérémonies de commémoration ou de récompense civique et au discours du trône.

Canada is confronting an expanding and complex cyber threat landscape with a growing cast of malicious and unpredictable state and non-state cyber threat actors, from cybercriminals to hacktivists, that are targeting our critical infrastructure and endangering our national security, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre) says in its National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025-2026. The threat assessment is based on information available as of September 20, 2024.

Key judgements:

• Canada’s state adversaries are using cyber operations to disrupt and divide. State-sponsored cyber threat actors are almost certainly combining disruptive computer network attacks with online information campaigns to intimidate and shape public opinion. State-sponsored cyber threat actors are very likely targeting critical infrastructure networks in Canada and allied countries to pre-position for possible future disruptive or destructive cyber operations.
• The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) expansive and aggressive cyber program presents the most sophisticated and active state cyber threat to Canada today. The PRC conducts cyber operations against Canadian interests to serve high-level political and commercial objectives, including espionage, intellectual property (IP) theft, malign influence, and transnational repression. Among our adversaries,** the PRC cyber program’s scale, tradecraft, and ambitions in cyberspace are second to none**.
• Russia’s cyber program furthers Moscow’s ambitions to confront and destabilize Canada and our allies. Canada is very likely a valuable espionage target for Russian state-sponsored cyber threat actors, including through supply chain compromises, given Canada’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, support for Ukraine against Russian aggression, and presence in the Arctic. Pro-Russia non-state actors, some of which we assess likely have links to the Russian government, are targeting Canada in an attempt to influence our foreign policy.
• Iran uses its cyber program to coerce, harass, and repress its opponents, while managing escalation risks. Iran’s increasing willingness to conduct disruptive cyber attacks beyond the Middle East and its persistent efforts to track and monitor regime opponents through cyberspace present a growing cyber security challenge for Canada and our allies.
• The Cybercrime-as-a-Service (CaaS) business model is almost certainly contributing to the continued resilience of cybercrime in Canada and around the world. The CaaS ecosystem is underpinned by flourishing online marketplaces where specialized cyber threat actors sell stolen and leaked data and ready-to-use malicious tools to other cybercriminals. This has almost certainly enabled a growing number of actors with a range of capabilities and expertise to carry out cybercrime attacks and evade law enforcement detection.
• Ransomware is the top cybercrime threat facing Canada’s critical infrastructure. Ransomware directly disrupts critical infrastructure entities’ ability to deliver critical services, which can put the physical and emotional wellbeing of victims in jeopardy. In the next two years, ransomware actors will almost certainly escalate their extortion tactics and refine their capabilities to increase pressure on victims to pay ransoms and evade law enforcement detection.___

Archived version

China and Russia once again tried to interfere in Canada’s latest federal election but likely had minimal impact on the vote that was ultimately free and fair, said the foreign interference in elections watchdog.

...

“While foreign actors attempted to undermine it, it did not affect the integrity of the election. There were no significant security incidents observed during the election, no cyber threats and no incidents of violent expression,” Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force spokesperson Laurie-Anne Kempton told reporters Thursday.

SITE — composed of the RCMP, Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Communications Security Establishment and Global Affairs Canada — is tasked with monitoring federal elections for foreign interference. But the public is only advised of foreign efforts if they meet a certain threshold for disclosure.

...

BC Building Trades said the report proved BC Ferries prioritized the lowest bid...

Oh god they're going to shit-buckets aren't they

(I know this topic can be controversial but this is really well written).

"This is a heartbreaking loss, and no words can capture the pain of losing a child. My sincere condolences go to the family during this profoundly difficult time,"

If I could I would kick every antivaxer right in the face because of this.