Immigration Minister Marc Miller is laying out the federal government's priorities for improving Canada's immigration system today with a newly released report.The federal government's report outlines key actions intended to strengthen the immigration system, based on consultations with stakeholders.It says Ottawa plans to take housing, health care, infrastructure and other services into account when planning immigration levels.The report proposes creating a chief international talent officer position to better align immigration programs and pathways with the labour market.It says the federal

The City of Surrey is looking for businesses that are willing to lease their industrial land and then use the land as a truck parking facility.At yesterday's Surrey City Council meeting, council voted on a request proposal for a potential parking operator.Mayor Brenda Locke said on this occasion that the problem of large truck parking in Surrey is almost a decade old.Due to lack of facilities for truck parking, they are parked on roads.Now the city staff has been urged to find such places which can be used for truck parking.The Mayor says that a large number of trucks are based in Surrey and t

British Columbia has plans to make Holocaust education mandatory for high school students with additions to Grade 10 curriculum coming in 2025.Eby made the announcement at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver on Monday.Premier David Eby says it's been a "frightening time" for the Jewish community after deadly terrorists attacks by Hamas militants in Israel earlier this month.He says there has been a rise in antisemitism in B.C., and combatting hate starts with learning from the past so the same horrors are never repeated.The changes will take effect in the 2025-2026 school year to

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem says fiscal and monetary policy are rowing in opposite directions, making it harder to bring inflation down.Macklem is appearing before MPs on the House of Commons finance committee after the Bank of Canada's recent rate decision and quarterly economic projections.In response to questioning from Conservative MP Jasraj Singh Hallan, the governor says government spending is working at cross purposes with the central bank's efforts to bring inflation down.The governor says that according to federal and provincial budgets, government spending aggregate will gro

A group of more than 30 British Columbia retailers, trade associations and other organizations is calling for a co-ordinated government response for repeat offenders they say are behind a wave of theft, vandalism and violent crime.The Save Our Streets coalition says the need for immediate action is "critical" to meet threats to staff safety, rising security costs and the community impact.The group says federal and provincial governments can't succeed by addressing "singular aspects" of the problem, such as drug decriminalization, policing resources or mental-health reform.Members of the group

Protesters are marching in downtown Montreal to condemn the Quebec government's plan to double university tuition for students from other provinces.Protest organizer Alex O'Neill, who grew up in Montreal and studies at McGill University, says out-of-province students can't afford to pay the $17,000 the government wants to charge them next year.Many participants at the protest, which stretched the length of two city blocks, wore purple, the colour of Bishop's University, in Sherbrooke, Que., the province's only English-language university outside Montreal.Sophia Stacey, president of the univers

The federal government is expanding its drug and substance use strategy to try to save more lives and provide more services to people disproportionately affected by Canada's overdose crisis.The Public Health Agency of Canada says the drug landscape has changed with an increasingly toxic supply since the strategy was first developed in 2016.It also says the COVID-19 pandemic revealed gaps in the government's approach and the need for a more holistic, integrated response.The strategy's priorities include funding more community-based programs for prevention, treatment and support.It also includes

The Federal Court today dismissed a legal challenge to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's May 2020 regulations banning some 1,500 styles of firearms.Justice Catherine Kane says in a decision released today that the applicants raised issues around the matter of guns and public safety but the court only explored the question of whether Trudeau's cabinet went beyond its powers in passing the regulations.A few weeks after a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 22 people in April 2020, the Liberals announced they were banning 1,500 models of firearms that it considered too dangerous to be society.The Canadian

Ontario is lowering the age for regular, publicly funded breast cancer screenings from 50 to 40, which Health Minister Sylvia Jones says will help with early detection.Jones is set to make the announcement later today and says the expansion will mean an additional 130,000 mammograms are completed in the province each year.The move follows a draft recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force earlier this year that said screenings in that country should start at 40 instead of 50, because evidence suggests that would have a moderate benefit in reducing deaths.The change in Ontario