The last four-plus years have been a rollercoaster for millions of Canadians.
The pandemic, which began in early 2020, quickly led to mass layoffs (most temporary) and widespread disruptions to normal life. This was accompanied by hiccups in often-fragile global supply chains, subsequently aggravated by the Russia-Ukraine war.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc defended Canada’s national security system after it was revealed an alleged ISIS terrorist was granted Canadian citizenship just before being arrested for plotting a terror attack in the Greater Toronto Area.
The suspect, Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, was initially allowed into Canada on a visitor visa in 2018 and subsequently gained refugee status, permanent residency, and finally citizenship.
Another group of post-secondary students in Brampton has the public talking this week — largely in the form of criticism — for protesting about failing their classes.
Just like the demonstrations that took place outside of the city’s Algoma University earlier this year, dozens enrolled at St. Clair College of Applied Arts and Technology — an institution operated in partnership with private a career college called Ace Acumen Academy — are claiming that their school has “failed them for no reason.”
Translation: “Ve we’re not going to class because ve have vob at Tim Hortons and we expect to just cheat on test and when we couldn’t we failed this is mean”
Go home your scum https://t.co/3HvDS3ENwY
— Small fringe minority with unacceptable views (@TrudeausCloset) August 27, 2024
h/t RH
When politicians make important financial decisions based on a movie they may have seen as kids, it shouldn’t come as a shock if the results prove to be sub-optimal.
Field of Dreams was a hit 1989 film based on a 1982 novel about a 1919 baseball scandal. An Iowa farmer played by Kevin Costner repeatedly hears an ethereal voice advising him “If you build it, he will come.” So he constructs a ball diamond in a corn field and, sure enough, long-dead figures from a long-gone baseball team — including Ray Liotta as Shoeless Joe Jackson — come wandering out of the fields for a game of pick-up.
Canada will try to break its rising dependence on low-wage, temporary foreign workers (TFWs). This week the Government of Canada (GoC) announced it will freeze processing of TFWs in some regions with elevated unemployment. Despite rising unemployment, the program has seen explosive growth with annual volumes rising 300% over the past five years. Just the first quarter of 2024 has already processed more than the annual total for 2018.
Justin Trudeau is betraying a whole generation of young people by taking away their jobs.
The prime minister, as well as the deputy prime minister, talks a good game about helping young people get ahead and giving them opportunities.
But the federal Liberals are refusing to abolish a disastrous policy that is spiking youth unemployment as well as giving Canada a bad name.
Justin Trudeau’s latest plan for housing might best be described as you will own nothing and be happy.
In a video posted to social media over the weekend, Trudeau laid out plans to use federal lands to build more homes without giving you the chance to own them.
“Here’s something we can all agree on, we need more housing,” Trudeau says enthusiastically as his social media video kicks off.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rejected comparisons to U.S. President Joe Biden’s political fate on Monday, saying he’s focused on delivering an agenda that will carry the Liberals through the next election.
Mr. Trudeau gathered in Halifax with his cabinet for the second day of their retreat ahead of the return to the House of Commons next month. Last week’s Democratic convention, which saw Kamala Harris rise to the top of the presidential ticket and energize the party, has drawn significant attention from Liberals north of the border.
Liberal edits to the immigration system are somewhat like a magician’s sleight-of-hand tricks. One hand distracts the audience, while the other maintains the illusion.
The latest flashy distraction came to us Monday: Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault announced that, starting Sept. 26, low-wage temporary foreign worker (TFW) program permit approvals will not be granted in cities with more than six per cent unemployment. TFWs will be limited to one-year stays, and they will only be permitted to make up 10 per cent of their employer’s workforce (down from the 30 and 20 per cent of recent years).
The federal government will establish a working group to examine low economic productivity and a stagnating standard of living, Treasury Board President Anita Anand has announced.
Anand said she was immediately striking the working group, but details were scarce on its composition, timetables, and objectives. The working group will have the expertise to evaluate productivity issues in the private and public sectors and have representatives from across the country, she said Aug. 27, speaking from the margins of the Liberal cabinet retreat in Halifax. Unions will also be engaged.
Government officers told to skip fraud prevention steps when vetting temporary foreign worker applications, Star investigation finds
As the Trudeau government promises to crack down on a temporary foreign worker program it admits has been abused, a Star investigation has revealed the government is fast-tracking applications by directing processing officers to skip crucial steps designed to prevent fraud.
Beginning in January 2022, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) directed staff to apply “streamlining measures” when evaluating the legitimacy of applications by employers who want to hire temporary foreign workers.
According to internal ESDC documents obtained by the Star and interviews with a current ESDC employee, routine checks meant to ensure the system is not abused by unscrupulous employers have been suspended in an effort to process applications faster.
That Great Replacement theory? It’s just a conspiracy!
HALIFAX—There was one unusually candid moment as a parade of Liberal ministers went before cameras at a cabinet retreat in a soulless downtown conference centre.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller, a friend of the prime minister’s, knew he’d be asked about the party’s prospects under Justin Trudeau and whether the Liberals had learned any lessons from a summer of talking to cranky voters or from the fluid presidential race south of the border.
Miller’s blunt answer: Sure. But it’s not for public discussion.
Liberals confident deal with NDP to keep them in power will hold until June
Government House Leader Karina Gould said Tuesday she’s confident the NDP supply-and-confidence agreement that keeps the Liberal government in power will hold until its expected end date in June 2025.
That agreement, first signed in March 2022, allows the government to carry on without fear of falling on a confidence vote. If the two parties abide by the deal, there would be no federal election until next summer at the earliest.
Canada’s fixed-date election law dictates that a vote will happen in October of next year — but the prime minister could call one earlier than that if he wanted.
Everyone agrees that Canada faces a housing shortage. But it’s not a shortage of homes: it’s a shortage of homes people can afford. In Toronto, for example, there is currently a glut of condos on the market. Prices have fallen as investors offload properties: high interest rates mean their mortgage payments exceed the rents they can get.
Homes have become unaffordable because of the disconnect between wages and prices. Why? Because there’s a disconnect between wages and prices. The average price-to-earnings ratio in Canada more than doubled from 3.2 in 1980 to 6.7 in 2020. Vancouver currently has the highest price to earnings ratio , at 12.3, followed by Toronto at 9.3. To put that in perspective, to buy an average house in those cities in July 2024, you need a household income of $208,000 and $226,000 , respectively. Not exactly middle-class.
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced reductions to the temporary foreign worker program Monday, but there are many exceptions to the clampdown that could still see thousands of people brought to Canada for short-term work.
Trudeau said the program needs to be reined in as the country’s unemployment rate rises.
