Canada

I want to point out that the issue of Child Porn sentences aside, shout out to those who believe Danielle Smith will use the Notwithstanding Clause over and over again. Take a look at this quote:

In a 5-4 decision, the top court said although the sentences contribute to the objectives of denunciation and deterrence, they also remove judges’ discretion to impose sentences other than imprisonment when appropriate.

Conservative politicians swiftly denounced the ruling.

In a social media post, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith called the judgment “outrageous” and urged the federal government to overturn it using the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause.

Sudanese Canadians say family members who have applied to join them from war-torn Sudan are, after months of waiting, suddenly receiving approvals to come to Canada or communications from Ottawa’s immigration department about their applications.

Immigration Minister Lena Diab has this week come under pressure to get her department to speed up the processing of applications after massacres occurred in a besieged Darfur city.

Thousands of unarmed civilians have been killed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces this week in El Fasher, according to estimates from human-rights groups and independent monitoring sites. Reports included the killing of hundreds of people in a hospital.

The massacres are the latest atrocities in the Sudan war, which erupted in 2023 after a power struggle between Sudan’s army and the RSF. The war, considered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, has forced 12 million people from their homes, killed hundreds of thousands and left 30 million people in need of emergency aid.

Last year, Ottawa set up a temporary humanitarian program to help Sudanese with immediate family in Canada flee the civil war. The special pathway to permanent residence for people affected by the conflict is available to Sudanese with immediate family here who can help support them.

No Paywall

The 2025 Winter Smart Traveller Survey by the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada (THIA) found that only 26 per cent of Canadians are likely to go to the U.S., a 37 per cent drop from last year.

In B.C.'s south Okanagan region, some wine grape growers are struggling to find buyers for their fruit, during a year many were hoping to make a solid profit after devastating crop loss in recent years.

After two years of severe winter damage, vineyards across the region produced strong yields this season.

But some farmers say a provincial program that allows wineries to import grapes from the United States is crowding the market and leaving them with grapes they can't sell.

Despite strong quality and sugar levels, Gill said his Merlot and Cabernet Franc grapes should have been picked two weeks ago. He's concerned about making his loan repayments.

The Conservative and NDP caucuses are grappling with what to do about the upcoming federal budget and whether they want to be part of an effort to trigger an election by voting it down, multiple sources told CBC News.

Senior Conservative sources say the party's leadership does not want an election right now, but they are also opposed to voting for the new Liberal government's first budget given the potential reputational risk of backing Prime Minister Mark Carney and an agenda they simply don't support.

A Conservative source says speculation about the Liberals potentially losing the budget vote is “not contrived” as, at this time, there are not enough votes for it to pass in the House after it is tabled on Tuesday.

Notwithstanding clause notwithstanding.

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Nearly 30,000 Ukrainians arrived in Manitoba through the province’s reception and welcoming centre since February 2022, according to a provincial spokesperson. More than 27,600 health cards were issued.

Neither the province or organizations... are tracking how many people have started businesses here. But [some Ukrainian migrants like] Mila Shykota, who arrived in Winnipeg following the start of the war, created the Ukrainian Guide to Winnipeg.

It's an online directory of some businesses recently started by Ukrainian newcomers as well as others that sell Ukrainian items or food.

...

Vitaliy Lebezun, vice-president of Warkentin Business Solutions — which offers accounting and business consulting services — said he's fielded questions from Ukrainians who have arrived in Manitoba around topics such as starting a business and self-employment requirements.

He expects that to continue as people become more settled.

"There’s a lot of people who came and they had their own businesses, and that’s why they want to start here again," said Lebezun, who is originally from Ukraine but moved to Manitoba more than 20 years ago.

"And there’s a lot of people who maybe did not have businesses but always wanted to, and they’re going to start."

...

Archived link

The two-day Group of Seven meeting in Toronto opened hours after US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping signed an extendable one-year deal on China’s supply of rare earths.

Germany’s Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Katherina Reiche, told reporters the Trump-Xi deal marked “a good sign,” noting German reliance on Chinese critical mineral exports. But she stressed the agreement “can’t prevent us” from moving forward on broadening supply chains for the materials used in everything from solar panels and mobile phones to precision missiles. “We need diversification of our import routes on raw materials,” Reiche said.

With concern growing about China’s overwhelming dominance in rare earth refining and processing, G7 leaders announced a “Critical Minerals Action Plan” at a summit in western Canada in June.

Canada’s Energy Minister Tim Hodgson said the Toronto meeting will aim to formally launch a new initiative designed to curb China’s market influence. The Critical Minerals Production Alliance will “secure transparent, democratic, and sustainable critical mineral supply chains across the G7,” he said. Under the alliance, the governments of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States would mobilize private investment to expand critical mineral production that bypasses China.

Archived link

The latest findings on the Westminster espionage scandal that has sent shockwaves through British politics — and this podcast (75 min) draws the lines connecting that case to Canada’s own national-security crisis.

In the case, President Xi Jinping’s powerful ally and reported spymaster, Cai Qi, is alleged to have overseen a covert Ministry of State Security operation inside the U.K. Parliament. According to British parliamentary records and corroborating media leaks, Cai’s network cultivated a young British teacher while he was living in China, recruiting him through a front company run by the MSS. The recruit allegedly secured access to Westminster through another young Brit — a researcher and adviser who was reportedly tasked with gathering real-time intelligence on Conservative MPs critical of Beijing’s human-rights abuses in Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Taiwan.

The explosive Cash and Berry prosecution was pursued under Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government, but was later quietly abandoned by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government. Documents and sources cited in London suggest that senior political advisers close to Starmer, including a former banker known for pro-China trade advocacy, may have influenced the decision to collapse the case — raising profound questions about ethical interference in Britain’s judicial process.

The transnational case is not just a scandal but a systemic warning: the same dynamic of political suppression, elite capture, and economic dependency that has compromised the United Kingdom’s response to CCP [Chinese Communist Party] influence has already unfolded in Ottawa.

[...]

Similar patterns that troubled Justin Trudeau’s government on Chinese election interference could persist under Mark Carney’s leadership. And in the case of Starmer, the powerful U.S. House Select Committee on the CCP has directly lodged concerns with the British Ambassador, questioning whether the Cash and Berry case was cancelled due to pressure from China or trade and development considerations between Beijing and London.

[The podcast also discusses] the Bureau’s reporting from Vancouver and Toronto, where Chinese and Mexican cartel networks have built a global hub for synthetic-opioid production and shipment. These networks, operating through Canadian ports and logistics channels, are now targeting Australia and New Zealand, demonstrating how the same state-linked criminal and intelligence systems driving espionage in Westminster are simultaneously fueling a deadly global trade in fentanyl and methamphetamine.

Archive: [ https://archive.is/Z2vw9 ]