‘Huge spike’ in population adding to pressures on Ontario ERs

“Huge spikes” in population are adding to the “sustained pressure” felt by the province’s emergency rooms, the Ontario Hospital Association is warning.

In a statement Wednesday, the group said Ontario’s rapidly rising population is linked to growing wait times and high levels of hospital occupancy amid the circulation of rampant respiratory illnesses.

As of January 13, there were 1,274 COVID-19 patients, 445 flu patients and 158 RSV patients receiving care at Ontario hospitals, according to the OHA.

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Is Trudeau’s latest vacation scandal a sign he has already checked out?

Colourful Quebec Conservative MP Jacques Gourde came up with a delicious pun to describe the varying explanations given by the Prime Minister’s Office about Justin Trudeau’s Christmas vacation at a friend’s luxury Jamaican villa.

During a Wednesday House of Commons ethics committee hearing looking into Mr. Trudeau’s 10-day stay at the exclusive Prospect Estate resort, located on the site of an 18th-century sugar plantation, Mr. Gourde used a French expression whose English translation roughly means “Trying to pull the wool over our eyes.” Literally, however, the expression “Nous prendre pour des valises” translates as “taking us for suitcases.”

Vacation, suitcases. You get it, right?

We can hope. But I suspect he is too vain to give up despite being one of the most hated PM’s in our history.

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Here’s where some Trudeau Liberals say they’ve gone wrong — and how the party can turn it around

OTTAWA — Apparently, being Liberal isn’t as fun as it used to be.

Sean Casey, the long-serving MP for Charlottetown, will admit that. And how could he deny it? One glance at the polls would make any Grit cringe. Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives — whom many Liberals disdain as their ideological opposites — are threatening to unseat them. And Casey has picked up on public fatigue with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which he sees as the predictable result of grievances accumulated through eight years in power.

Even so, to Liberals like Casey, it is too early for defeatism.

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Douglas Todd: Ottawa insider warns about immigrant-investor schemes

“The strange story of Vancouver” is the name of an internal immigration department memo that reveals the many things wrong with Canada’s earlier business-investor programs. That hasn’t stopped Ottawa from expanding a related scheme.

An adviser within Canada’s immigration department is warning about the dangers of entry programs that favour entrepreneurs, given the failure of earlier initiatives.

The internal cautions come at the same time the immigration department, which has been under fire from top bank economists for damaging the economy by bringing in a record 1.25 million permanent and temporary residents in a year, is expanding another program that gives preference to would-be entrepreneurs.

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Trudeau is incompetent on all fronts: immigration, housing and internationally

This is unprecedented: last weekend, the Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, lamented the poor performance of his own government in matters of… immigration.

“Out of control”, “disconcerting”, the minister used adjectives giving the impression that he was a member of the opposition holding the government to account.

Around a hundred thousand temporary residents enter Canada EVERY MONTH (!). These temporary residents include students, temporary foreign workers and asylum seekers.

Regular immigrants represented some 1.2 million people in 2022.

However, we still do not know how to decently house all these new arrivals.

However, we are talking about more than two million people per year, all categories combined.

I am personally in favor of immigration, but everything must be planned and well managed, otherwise chaos sets in and that is precisely what we are experiencing.

Two years ago, senior public administration in Ottawa warned Trudeau of the enormous housing shortage that awaited us if nothing changed.

So what is happening was not only predictable, it was planned!

The scandal is that Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has done absolutely nothing, despite warnings from its officials.

(more…)

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Canadians Must Act Now to Save Our Country

Our nation is undergoing unprecedented social and economic transformation.

Many Canadians are suffering while our elected representatives remain silent. During the COVID crisis, the rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution were suspended while our institutions and members of Parliament quietly approved the mandates.

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Israeli envoy joins calls for Canada to clarify its stance on ICJ genocide case

OTTAWA – Israel’s envoy to Canada is joining calls for the federal Liberals to clearly state Ottawa’s position as the International Court of Justice considers an allegation of genocide against Israel.

Iddo Moed says Canada should “leave no room for misinterpretation” on its stance, noting that many of Canada’s allies and peers have stated a clear position on the case.

The highest court of the United Nations held two days of public hearings last week as South Africa argued that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

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Canada’s Real Estate Bubble Is Batsh!t Crazy Compared To Other G7s

New data from the world’s largest central bank serves a reminder of just how batsh*t crazy Canada’s real estate bubble is. Housing bubble experts from the US Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas (Dallas Fed) released its latest update of global home prices in Q3 2023. Most G7 countries moved in a similar fashion, rising with 2020 rate cuts and have shown recent moderation. However, zooming out reveals Canada’s real estate bubble is nothing like any other G7 country. It puts the peaks seen in US and Japanese bubbles to shame, predating its recent population boom narrative.

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Useless Immigration Minister urged to crack down on international student ‘no shows’ at colleges

Immigration experts are calling on the government to crack down on the abuse of study permits for international students, including those gaining admission to Canada but who do not attend college or university once they get here.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is also being urged to target people applying from abroad to attend private colleges that report high levels of “no shows.”

The Liberals are doing nothing to mitigate the harm done.

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GOLDSTEIN: PM’s flip-flop on Mideast war shows we’re not a serious country

Can’t imagine what could cause such reticence.

The Trudeau government’s botched announcement on whether Canada supports South Africa’s argument before the world court that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, is just more proof that Canada under its current federal government is not a serious country.

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‘Breaking point’: Legault asks Trudeau to slow influx of asylum seekers

Quebec Premier François Legault is asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to slow the influx of asylum seekers entering the province, which he said is nearing a “breaking point.”

Legault made his request in an official letter to Trudeau sent Wednesday afternoon, a copy of which was obtained by The Canadian Press.

“We are very close to the breaking point due to the excessive number of asylum seekers arriving in Quebec month after month. The situation has become unsustainable,” Legault wrote.

The original French reads as “Dump them in Ontario.”

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Liberal-induced housing disaster cannot go on

Canada’s wildly high rates of immigration that have made it practically impossible to raise a family in Canada unless you’re rich

One of the most vexing questions that inevitably arises in any close scrutiny of the factors contributing to the dramatically worsening standard of living in Canada is whether the causes are a function of decisions the Trudeau Liberals made deliberately, or whether it’s all been a series of catastrophic mistakes.

Either way, this can’t go on.

Trudeau and or his handlers using Junior as a front deliberately inflicted this horror on Canadians. Prove me wrong.

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144 Hamas supporters no other state is foolish enough to accept on track to come to Canada, pending biometrics

144 Gazans on track to come to Canada, pending biometrics

Ottawa has processed visa applications for 144 people in the Gaza Strip, putting them on track to be reunited with extended family members in Canada — as long as they can make it across the border for biometric screening and final approval.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada opened a program to offer temporary visas to as many as 1,000 people in the besieged Palestinian territory, if their relatives can support them in Canada.

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“It’s a real problem:” Housing starts across Canada fall seven per cent in 2023

The GTA saw a slight increase in housing starts, driven largely by condos, but only because of a lag in the impact of interest rates locally, according to the latest figures from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

“We’re just not seeing the supply built that we need,” said economist Mike Moffatt, blaming higher interest rates and a weak economy. “And it’s a real problem.”

Actual annual housing starts were down seven per cent across the country in 2023 compared to 2022, to 223,513, but were up five per cent in the GTA to 47,428.

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Joel Kotkin: Trudeau has weakened Canada — and by extension, the entire free world

At a time when the western world desperately needs some backbone, Canada seems to be swaying. It appears to have moved away from its long-term commitment to protect our now wobbling western civilization. This can be seen in how Canada deals with its defence responsibilities, its flaccid stand on Israel and in its belief in the value of its own existence.

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