Canada

Legitimate point, that kind of applies to Lemmy here too. It's not helpful to just dunk on Americans for being Americans. To beat fascism, we need to be allies.

“‘This obsession with bike lanes is, frankly, not helping anyone. And if, instead, the government stayed in its lane and focused on things like helping cities with transit, that would be a real improvement for Torontonians.’ Longfield said the money could be used to fix growing pains in opening Toronto’s new Line 6 Finch West or to finally open the long-promised Eglinton Crosstown LRT, both of which are under the jurisdiction of the province’s Metrolinx corporation.” — Ethan Lang, CBC News

Debt writeoffs by the federal government climbed above the $5-billion mark during the last fiscal year, according to figures reviewed by The Globe and Mail, adding to a debate over Ottawa’s practice of keeping the identities of those who benefit from such debt relief secret.

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The upward trend in writeoffs inspired Conservative MP Adam Chambers to introduce a private member’s bill, C-230, that would require Ottawa to publicly disclose all corporate writeoffs worth $1-million or more.

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“This is a great legislative initiative,” said Liberal MP Ryan Turnbull, the parliamentary secretary to François-Philippe Champagne, the Minister of Finance and National Revenue, during the debate on the bill.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-ottawas-debt-writeoffs-climb-above-5-billion-mark/

Unions in the least labour-friendly province boost wages, protect vulnerable workers and shrink inequality.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/53308292

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree is heralding the test run of the government's marquee gun control policy as a success — despite the pilot receiving low uptake. 

Since 2020 Ottawa has banned some 2,500 types of firearms. The government has argued the makes and models on its list are for warfare — not hunters and sport shooters. 

The policy has faced opposition from the Conservatives and firearm-rights groups who argue the move punishes law-abiding gun owners instead of going after criminals. 

In response, the government promised to buy back those firearms as a way to fairly compensate owners.

A test run of the buyback program had little pickup. At the outset Ottawa had hoped to collect 200 firearms during a six-week pilot in Cape Breton, N.S. — instead just 25 were surrendered from 16 people.

The results, made public last week, are raising questions how the more than $700-million program will work when it's rolled out coast to coast.

"As an overall pilot, I believe it is successful," said Anandasangaree during a news conference on Monday.

"We wanted to test the capabilities that we have to both be able to register as well as recover the firearms that people wanted to voluntarily hand over to us."

Anandasangaree maintained the pilot wasn't about "quantitative" results.

"When we roll out the program in its full form in the upcoming weeks, we do anticipate much greater uptake," he said. 

"We were able to correct a number of issues that people had identified, both on the online portal and in other means. And I believe we're well poised to be able to launch the program in the coming weeks."

His department would not say which makes and models were returned during the pilot. 

Some provinces vowing pushback 

Low uptake isn't the only problem facing the program. Few provinces and police forces have officially signed on.

Alberta's government released a detailed plan in December to fight the program, calling it an unconstitutional attack on its citizens' rights.

Under proposed legislation, Alberta said it will take all reasonable steps to ensure that neither the government, nor any "provincial entity" participates in the implementation or enforcement of the federal policy.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has also vowed to fight the program while Ontario Premier Doug Ford has said he doesn't want provincial money funding the collection. 

So far Ottawa has announced one agreement to support the program: a $12.4-million deal with Quebec.

The RCMP and Quebec provincial police, along with the Cape Breton, Halifax and Winnipeg police services, have also agreed to take part. 

Public Safety Canada said it didn't have an estimate of how many guns it intends to collect during the national rollout.

The amnesty period for possessing a banned firearm comes to an end later this year. Owners have until Oct. 30 to dispose or deactivate their listed firearms or face legal consequences.

Walking down the aisles of one of “Canada’s” major groceries, it’s rare to see Indigenous food products. Even in smaller, independently-owned retailers, they are still few and far between. Fish might be from Alaska and seaweed from Japan, despite being plentiful on the coast of “British Columbia” and harvested by local First Nations. There are many “Canadian” products big and small, but Indigenous producers, as well as their local traditional foods, are rare. Where are the Indigenous goods?

Im from the states and for the last year I've changed to Labatt as my "protests purchase" because of the asshole is the Whitehouse. I probably could have done a better job of reaching things as it seems Labatt sold in the states is actually a US company and not Canadian. However, the product is branded very Canadian so at least is appears im purchasing Canadian. All that said, is there an actual Canadian brewed beer I can purchase in the states you'd recommend? (Looking for a simple lager or pilsner.)

Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank is cutting ties with one of its largest member agencies after the charity uncovered discrepancies with invoices Feed Scarborough provided to support grant funding and reported those and other financial management concerns to police.

Daily Bread’s board of directors decided not to renew Feed Scarborough’s membership agreement last week, so it will no longer receive food deliveries or funding from Daily Bread after its membership expires at the end of this month.

CBC News reviewed that report along with corresponding invoices, corporation records, property records and emails, which together raise a number of concerns about Feed Scarborough’s financial spending and management.

Those issues include $18,000 of invoices Feed Scarborough provided Daily Bread to support grant funding which the vendor has no record of, more than $100,000 of expense claims paid to then-board chair, now CEO, Suman Roy that were self-approved, and using grant money to buy $10,000 worth of food from Roy’s own company.

CBC News has confirmed the deceased is Trevor Dubois. Friends and family have posted about the death, although Saskatoon police and the Saskatchewan Health Authority have not released the name of the deceased.

In a news release, Saskatoon Police say officers were called to the hospital shortly after 7 a.m. CST, after receiving reports that a man had died.

Investigators have determined that hospital security entered a patient's room after it was reported a firearm was seen inside.

"When security attempted to restrain the male, a physical altercation took place. During the interaction, the male became unresponsive and was later pronounced deceased," the news release said.

After the incident, police found an imitation firearm, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

At the time of his death, Dubois was in hospital undergoing chemo treatment for brain cancer.

oh no!

Chris Alemany from Port Alberni tells his tale of politically poking the fediverse into the agenda of Canada's federal government.

Find Chris: @chris@socialbc.ca
Find Paige: @paige@canadiancivil.com

Paula Simons (Canadian Senator): @paulatics@mstdn.ca
https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2026/01/07/get-the-fk-off-there-mps-senators-call-on-government-to-abandon-x-twitter-following-wave-of-grok-porn/487023/

According to Noovo Info, both drivers were sleeping in their trucks when they were violently struck at 1:30 a.m.
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According to the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), the truck drivers had parked too close to the railroad tracks.

Toronto police say they arrested eight people and 29 charges were laid at a demonstration downtown Saturday.

In a news release Sunday, the Toronto Police Service said its officers attended a demonstration at Nathan Phillips Square, located in the area of Queen Street W. and Bay Street, at around 2 p.m.

Dozens gathered at Nathan Phillips Square Saturday to protest mass immigration, prompting a counter-protest and a news conference with city councillors and opposing groups.

Ahead of the anti-immigration rally, Coun. Neethan Shan (Scarborough-Rouge Park) and Coun. Paula Fletcher (Toronto-Danforth) joined groups such as the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the Urban Alliance on Race Relations to denounce racism and xenophobia, the Toronto & York Region Labour Council said in a news release.