CanadaSep 21, 2023
Lasting solution to Haiti's crisis will have to come from within the country : PM Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says a lasting solution to the crisis in Haiti will have to come from within the crisis-racked country.Trudeau made the comments on his final day at the UN as he sat down with Ariel Henry, Haiti's embattled acting prime minister. Trudeau announced an additional $80 million in humanitarian aid and security help for the overmatched Haitian national police.Canada is also imposing fresh sanctions against three more members of Haiti's corruption-riven business community, bringing the total to 29 to date. Trudeau and Bob Rae, Canada's ambassador to the UN, also presided
CanadaSep 21, 2023
Freeland introduces bill to remove GST off rental developments
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland introduced legislation this morning that would remove GST charges from new rental developments and update the country's competition law.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised the new legislation earlier this month to address the housing crisis and affordability crunch.Experts have called on the federal government to remove GST charges off new purpose-built rentals to help spur construction of these kinds of homes.The bill is also supposed to strengthen the Competition Bureau by giving it the power to compel information from companies to conduct studies, tight
CanadaSep 21, 2023
Ottawa gives Food Banks Canada $17.9M for pilot to provide menstrual products
The federal government has tasked Food Banks Canada with handing out free menstrual products to members of marginalized low-income communities.Gender Equality Minister Marci Ien announced the pilot program Thursday.She says the government is injecting $17.9 million into the initiative.Through the project, Food Banks Canada will distribute free period products to community organizations across Canada.It is also going to partner with existing organizations that deal in period education to scale up their operations.The Menstrual Equity project is part of a broader push from the government to redu
CanadaSep 21, 2023
India suspends visa services in Canada
Due to the tension between India and Canada over the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Indian government has taken a big decision.External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that Canadians will not get visas for now.He cited security as the reason behind this.Indian visa processing services have been suspended from September 21 until further notice, the BLS Indian Visa Application Center said in a statement.80,000 Canadian tourists visited India in 2021, making them the fourth largest group according to the Immigration Bureau of India.Meanwhile, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesp
BCSep 20, 2023
Nijjar death case: Vancouver police boost security at Indian Consulate since Trudeau remarks
The Vancouver Police Department says it's beefing up security outside India's Consulate after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week there was credible intelligence about a potential link between India's government and the killing of a Sikh community leader in B.C.Const. Tania Visintin, the department's media relations officer, says police are "closely monitoring the situation" since Trudeau's announcement about the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a vocal supporter of an independent Sikh homeland, who was shot dead in Surrey in June.She says Vancouver police aren't aware of any specific
BCSep 20, 2023
Illegal tobacco growth costing three provinces $2.47 billion in taxes: Retail report
The governments of British Columbia, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador lost up to $2.47 billion in tax revenues over four years due to the growth in illegal tobacco sales, says a convenience industry report.The Convenience Industry Council of Canada report released Wednesday examined the downward trend in legal tobacco sales in the three provinces since 2019, compared with the rising growth in the underground contraband tobacco market."These cigarettes are illegally sold, tax and duty free, without any Health Canada regulations or inspections and retail for a fraction of legal tobacco pric
CanadaSep 20, 2023
1 in 4 adolescents have been cyberbullied : StatCan
A new StatCan report says one in four adolescents in Canada have been cyberbullied and it's taking a toll on their mental health.The study says youth who have been victimized online have a greater risk of depression, anxiety, eating disorder symptoms and thoughts of suicide or suicide attempts.The report says transgender and non-binary youth, as well as females attracted to other females, are at higher risk of being victimized online.Adolescents living with chronic health conditions such as asthma, epilepsy or learning disabilities are also at higher risk for cyberbullying, especially if they
CanadaSep 20, 2023
Canada Post breaking law by gathering info from envelopes, parcels: Watchdog
The federal privacy watchdog says Canada Post is breaking the law by gleaning information from the outsides of envelopes and packages to help build marketing lists that it rents to businesses.The office of privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne says information collected for the marketing program includes data about where individuals live and what type of online shopping they do, based on who sends them packages.The commissioner found Canada Post had not obtained authorization from individuals to indirectly collect such personal information.In a report on his office's investigation, Dufresne s
CanadaSep 20, 2023
Investigation into Levi Strauss' ties to forced labor begins
Canada's corporate ethics watchdog has launched an investigation into allegations that Levi Strauss Canada is working with companies that use forced labour in China.Sheri Meyerhoffer, the ombudsperson for responsible enterprise, is looking into whether the denim company known for Levi's jeans has supply relationships with Chinese companies that source materials from Uyghur people forced to work in the Xinjiang region.Meyerhoffer's office is tasked with investigating complaints about possible human-rights abuses in the operations of Canadian garment, mining and oil and gas companies.Levi Straus