Canada

The province has traditionally supplied an average of four Quebec-born players per squad since the National Hockey League began allowing teams to send players to Olympic rosters. In 2010, at the Vancouver Olympics, when Canada won gold, all three goalies were Quebecers: Martin Brodeur, Marc-André Fleury, and Roberto Luongo.

In a historic first, since 1952, Canada’s twenty-five-man hockey delegation won’t have anyone from la belle province, where the game was born, where kids are raised to bask in the memory of Les Glorieux, and where the Montréal Canadiens’ legacy of twenty-four Stanley Cups (the most in the NHL) acts as a unifying force, transcending language and politics.

While the news reverberated across the country, in Quebec it was treated as a national tragedy, prompting hard questions about the province’s ability to produce elite talent. On social media, Montreal journalist Brendan Kelly called the Team Canada roster announcement an “indictment of Hockey Québec,” referring to the provincial body in charge of moulding future national players.

The author of Habs Nation: A People’s History of the Montreal Canadiens, which explores the deep relationship between Montreal’s legendary hockey team and Quebecers, Kelly says he understands why Quebecers are alarmed. “We live for hockey here,” he says. “It’s such an important part of our history, and it’s just fallen off the cliff. And successive Quebec governments have just sort of let it happen.”

The world must, as Prime Minister Mark Carney recently noted, accept the current climate as it is, rather than looking to the past.

To do so, Canada must develop a defence policy that can meet the country’s needs. The Canadian government’s recent budget envisions a significant increase in defence spending over the next several years.

The problem Canada faces, however, is one that all middle powers face: an inability to compete with great powers in a conventional war.

The Canadian government must therefore pursue non-conventional means to overcome conventional weakness. Simultaneously, the country must be cognizant of the implications of alternative defence policies. The former Yugoslavia provides a harrowing example.

The screams were so loud that neighbours across the street in this quiet, prairie community called 911.

Within minutes, RCMP officers from the local detachment responded. Inside the house, a woman was crying. So were the kids.

And the officers found themselves investigating one of their own.

"He was screaming and yelling," said the now ex-wife of the RCMP constable — the one the officers were investigating that night. "I was shaking. I was scared."

CBC has agreed not to name the woman because she fears telling her story could put her in danger.

Over the following months, she said, she repeatedly reached out to RCMP resources for help to deal with her husband’s anger issues. She suspected work-related post-traumatic stress disorder was to blame.

A new CCPA report found Canada is increasingly a country of exorbitant wealth alongside persistent poverty.

Maybe Canadians need to start rethinking our investment strategy and look to our own country and Europe to invest this money. The returns might be lower at first, but as the investments start to grow the economies, the returns will also grow. It is a long-term strategy, not a get-rich-quick strategy, but it is the best strategy for our children and grandchildren. Investing in America at this point is risky at best. Won't do a thing for Canada.

I’m honestly beyond frustrated at this point.

I am an international student in Canada. I had my B1/B2 visa interview at the US Consulate in Toronto in January, got approved, and my passport was shipped via Canada Post on Jan 21. It was supposed to be ready for pickup Jan 23 in Ottawa. Instead, it’s been stuck as “in transit” in Ottawa for over two weeks.

I’ve contacted Canada Post multiple times, and every time I get the same useless answer: they can’t find it. Now they’re telling me to contact the US consulate to file a claim. So basically my passport is somewhere in their system and nobody knows where, and nobody takes responsibility.

I have a US trip next week and there’s no way I can get a new passport and visa in time if this thing is actually lost. Has anyone dealt with Canada Post losing a passport from the US consulate shipment? How long did it take to resolve?

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/7110362

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Ukraine’s Finance Ministry and the World Bank signed a grant agreement on Thursday worth $690.8 million, funded by Japan and Canada through proceeds generated from frozen Russian assets under an Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) Loan.

Signed in autumn 2024, the ERA Loan is the key macrofinancial assistance for Ukraine, helping Kyiv to sustain core state functions during wartime. The tranche represents Canada’s final contribution under the ERA instrument and Japan’s first disbursement.

The funding was secured under the “Supporting Public Expenditures for Sustainable Public Administration in Ukraine” program, known as PEACE in Ukraine, a mechanism set up by the World Bank and Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance.

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According to the finance ministry, the grant will be directed to Ukraine’s general budget fund and used to reimburse critical state expenditure, including pension payments and social assistance programs.

These include housing and utility subsidies, which have grown in importance as millions of Ukrainians face reduced incomes amid the war and repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure.

Of the total $690.8 million package, $544 million stems from the Japanese government, $146 million from Canada, and $800,000 from a multi-donor trust fund established under the PEACE in Ukraine program.

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Following the latest disbursement, total funding mobilized through the PEACE in Ukraine program will reach $51.7 billion, the finance ministry reported.

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The ERA Loan is a crucial component of Ukraine’s 2025 financial strategy, backed by profits generated from frozen Russian assets held in Europe.

The program redirects interest earnings from Russia’s immobilized assets toward Ukraine to compensate for the destruction caused by the war. The ERA Loan provides $50 billion in financial assistance that Ukraine will not have to repay.

This initiative was negotiated between Ukraine, the EU, the US, Canada, Japan, and the UK, with joint agreements signed in late 2024. These countries remain the ERA’s major stakeholders.

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South Korean industrial giants Hyundai and Hanwha Ocean are exploring a range of potential investments in Canada spanning automotive manufacturing, batteries, hydrogen energy and marine infrastructure, as Ottawa deepens industrial ties with Seoul and weighs a multibillion-dollar submarine procurement.

The federal government recently signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Republic of Korea aimed at closer cooperation on the “future of mobility,” including automotive and battery manufacturing. Hyundai representatives and Hanwha Ocean executives were part of the South Korean delegation involved in the talks, which are described as being in early stages.

Those discussions come as South Korea pushes to secure Canada’s contract to replace its aging submarine fleet—an agreement that multiple sources told CTV News could be worth roughly $100 billion over 30 to 40 years.

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For the federal government, the convergence of defence procurement, automotive manufacturing and clean-energy transition presents an opportunity to attract long-term industrial investment across multiple sectors—auto, steel, batteries and marine—while strengthening domestic supply chains.

As Volpe noted in CBC News, Canada’s regional strengths could support a coordinated approach.

“Given the advances in hydrogen technology from British Columbia to the advances in fuel sources in Quebec, this could be a pan-Canadian plan,” [the resident of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association (APMA) Flavio] Volpe says.

The submarine contract winner is expected to be selected by the end of 2026.

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Canada’s $664M investment in the European Space Agency is the most significant investment Canada has made since partnering with the ESA, supporting both civilian and defence R&D for Canadian space tech.

It is expected to create hundreds of jobs in Canada and generate significant ROI. Canadian-ESA investments have traditionally seen an average return ratio of 3:1 - every dollar granted produced a 3x return.

The funding will go to critical ESA Program Areas ranging from Satellite Communications and Earth Observations, to Space Exploration, Space Safety, and Navigation and Technology Development. The programs were selected following consultations with Canadian firms in the space sector.

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Aside from investing dollars in international projects, the move is designed to give tangible benefits to the Canadian industry. Money will be allocated to key fields determined from consultation with the Canadian space sector. Enhanced Canadian access to the European market means that firms will be positioned to compete for high-value contracts and engage with European leaders in the sector.

Partnerships are a two-way street.

For the defence industry: With its Defence Industrial Strategy in mind, Canada will invest in ESA programs aligning with its strategic objectives. This means that over the next 3 years, Canada will focus on programs to enhance its capacity to meet its dual-use requirements.

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Engaging the ESA means taking advantage of the bridges being built between the European space and defence sectors. The ESA has been focused on supporting Europe’s Readiness 2030 plan (formerly ReArm Europe), which aims to mobilise €800B in defence spending over the next 4 years. The ESA plans to contribute to this mobilisation by bringing the space and defence sectors closer together, increasing its dual-use and security-related initiatives, and committing to defence-related programs if mandated to do so by its member states.

They have been doing this ever since I can remember. I recall that they allegedly tried to convince the shopper that it is '50%' or '80%' off. A few times I think it was '90% off'. Kudos to Quebec for having the courage to investigate and prosecute. I don't think it will change much, however. Once, I had a clerk tell me 'Don't buy it now, tomorrow it will be 50% off'. He showed me the schedule of 'price reductions' for it for the next 12 months. If I waited eight weeks, it would be 75% off.

the housing crisis has been created by banking practices that have directed excessive amounts of credit into the property market, and especially residential mortgages. As a result, buyers can bid prices up to ever-higher levels, resulting in a market where people must pay more for the same type of housing. Hence financialization can be defined as an inflationary tendency in the housing market that is induced jointly by banks’ desire to expand mortgage lending and buyers’ confidence that the value of their properties will rise.

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However, the image of a bubble bursting and prices returning to a more rational “equilibrium” level does not seem to apply to the housing market. Because housing is a necessity, people are willing to pay high prices for it. Bidding wars can therefore persist even when relative supply grows, so long as credit markets enable them.

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China has overturned the death sentence of Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian official said on Friday, in a possible sign of a diplomatic thaw as prime minister Mark Carney seeks to boost trade ties with Beijing.

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Schellenberg was detained on drug charges in 2014 before China-Canada ties nosedived after the 2018 arrest in Vancouver of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou.

That arrest infuriated Beijing, which detained two Canadians – Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig – on espionage charges that Ottawa condemned as retaliatory.

Then in January 2019 a court in north-east China retried Schellenberg – who was 36 at the time – sentencing him to death while declaring that his 15-year prison term for drug trafficking had been too lenient.

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The court said he had been a central player in a scheme to ship narcotics to Australia, in a one-day retrial that Amnesty International called “a flagrant violation of international law”.

Schellenberg has denied wrongdoing.

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cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/58606457

https://archive.is/FSeUr

Canada’s government is working to land a Chinese-Canadian auto plant that will export electric vehicles globally, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said.

Canadian auto parts firms such as Magna International Inc., Linamar Corp. and Martinrea International Inc. could participate in a joint-venture assembly plant in Canada with Chinese EV companies.

“We believe that these great Canadian champions can partner with Chinese EV companies to make a Canadian-Chinese car to export it around the world,” Joly said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Friday.

“We can find a way to have software in the car that will address the security concerns,” she said. “We think we’re able to have labor standards that are in conformity with what we accept and expect in Canada, and that there can be local supply chains in Canada that are created out of these investments