Canada has the critical minerals Donald Trump wants. So what should we do with them?

An ongoing trade war and U.S. President Donald Trump’s hunger for critical minerals have brought Canada’s rich mineral deposits into the spotlight, with federal and provincial politicians promising to accelerate natural resource projects.

Interest in the country’s critical minerals surged after Trump started musing about annexing Canada, experts say, and grew as the president’s global trade war intensified.


Surprise China! Here’s some good background on why Canada’s rare earth minerals remain in the ground.

‘You don’t control your destiny’: Why Canada’s rare earth deposits are staying in the ground

Somewhere on the outskirts of Montreal, Kiril Mugerman, chief executive of Geomega Resources Inc., aims to build a recycling plant that can produce rare earth oxides — the obscure set of elements that recently emerged as a flash point in the U.S.-China trade war.

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Turning to recycling marks an about-face from the original game plan for his company, which spent millions of dollars trying to prove it could mine rare earths from a patch of land in northern Quebec.

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US ‘open to recognising Crimea as Russian in Ukraine deal’

The US is open to recognising the annexed Crimea peninsula as Russian territory as part of a wider Ukraine peace deal.

On Thursday, Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy, presented allies with proposals in Paris that would freeze current battle lines and leave most Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory under Moscow’s control.

The potential concession comes as Donald Trump, the US president, signalled on Friday that his administration would abandon peace-brokering efforts without quick progress.

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Long lines at polling stations as Canadians turn up for advance voting

Canadians reported long lines as polling stations opened for advance voting on Friday.

Advance polls will be open again 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. nationwide Saturday through Monday, with election day set for April 28.

Some voters at polling stations across the country told CBC News early Friday they were waiting upwards of two hours to cast their ballots.


I voted, 5 lines in a high school gym, solid turnout.

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Narrative hardest hit …

Woman, 27, accused of ‘suspected hate-motivated’ incident at TTC station

A 27-year-old woman is accused of a suspected hate-motivated incident at a TTC station in North York last summer.

Toronto Police claim a woman assaulted and threw alcohol on the alleged victim, then uttered anti-East Indian comments and threats around 8:30 p.m. on July 2, 2024.

Mursal Abdul Basir was taken into custody on Tuesday.

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Van Hollen Backtracks As El Salvador Stunt Backfires Spectacularly

Senator Van Hollen meets with MS 13 gang member in El Salvador

Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is frantically backpedaling after his ill-conceived El Salvador publicity stunt blew up in his face. The Maryland Democrat, who initially trumpeted his mission to “rescue” a deported MS-13 gang member, is now desperately trying to rewrite the script of his adventure gone wrong.

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Carney platform promises $130B in new spending, deficits until 2029

Mark Carney’s plan for Canada includes $130 billion in new spending which will see the country run deficits until at least the fiscal year 2028-2029.

Entitled “Unite, Secure, Protect, Build”– the platform also commits more than $18 billion of spending on national defence, putting Canada on track to “exceed our NATO target by the year 2030,” according to policy experts who briefed reporters.

Part of those expenditures include new submarines and additional icebreakers for the Royal Canadian Navy, and the purchase of “Canadian-made airborne early warning and control aircraft.”

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BBC accused of giving children ‘dishonest’ view of communism after failing to mention mass killings

The BBC has been accused of giving children a “dishonest” view of communism after their website failed to mention mass killings.

The broadcaster’s educational branch BBC Bitesize has come under fire for failing to mention the millions that died under such governments.

The website even excludes referencing specific Soviet dictators altogether – including Joseph Stalin.


This is an earlier piece by BBC Bitesize that was about Stalin, can’t find the Lenin/Communism clip referenced in the story.

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Michael Higgins: Carney has brought Project Fear to Canada

 

Project Fear almost worked for Mark Carney in Britain and now he is trying the same tactic here.

To listen to Carney is to envisage that the United States is about to invade us; steal our oil, gas and water; ravage our resources, land and women and generally wreak havoc.

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It is a message of despair and fear, and it is rooted in nothing but guile and political ambition.

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Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre see very different threats to Canada

Thirty-seven years ago, inside a television studio in Ottawa, John Turner thrust an index finger at Brian Mulroney and warned that with one stroke of a pen Mulroney had reversed 120 years of national development and thrown Canada into the “north-south influence of the United States.”

“When the economic levers go, the political independence is sure to follow,” Turner said.

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Wait till the Colonel tells them those chickens aren’t halal

One dead after protests against KFC branches in Pakistan

Police in Pakistan have made dozens of arrests following a string of protests targeting KFC branches across the country which led to one man being killed.

Protesters, angry at the war in Gaza, have been urging a boycott of the chain, claiming it’s a symbol of the United States and its ally Israel.

At least 20 attempted attacks on KFC outlets have been recorded across the country in the past week, Pakistan’s Minister of State for the Interior Talal Chaudhry told the BBC.

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Carney candidate invited head of suspected secret Chinese police station to campaign event

MONTREAL — A Montreal-area Liberal candidate invited to a campaign event this week the head of two organizations suspected by the RCMP of operating a secret Chinese police station.

The invitation by Alexandra Mendès, the Liberal incumbent running for re-election in Brossard—Saint-Lambert, sowed consternation within the Liberal party, which has faced scrutiny over multiple candidates’ comments about or apparent links to the Chinese government.

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White House reveals COVID lab leak theory as ‘true origins’ of pandemic in flashy new website that blasts Biden, Fauci and Cuomo

The White House revamped its COVID-19 information website on Friday, unveiling a sleek new landing page dedicated to the “true origins” of the pandemic.

COVID.gov, which previously contained information about testing, treatment and vaccination against the coronavirus, now redirects to a website that reads, “Lab Leak: True Origins of COVID-19.”

The webpage slams both the Biden administration and former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of the pandemic — and indicates that the Trump administration is fully onboard with the theory that COVID-19 leaked out of a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

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Poilievre promises to end ban on single-use plastic straws, other items

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre promised to strike down a key element of the Liberal government’s environmental policy Friday as he and other party leaders got back onto the campaign trail following the national leaders’ debates in Montreal.


Related …

h/t Mauser

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