Readout - Prime Minister Carney speaks with Prime Minister of Singapore Lawrence Wong Français
In the face of shifting global trade and economic uncertainty, the leaders acknowledged the 60-year diplomatic relationship between the two countries and discussed boosting co-operation, noting the growing opportunities through the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
The prime ministers discussed increasing trade and investment, particularly in the agri-food and nuclear energy sectors.
Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Wong welcomed progress toward a Canada-ASEAN free trade agreement and look forward to meeting at the ASEAN Summit in Malaysia in October.
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CBC
6 minutes ago
- CBC
Alberta minister threatens to axe bike lanes. Can he make his case?
Social Sharing The provincial government that routinely demands Ottawa stay in its jurisdictional lane is keen to swerve into another jurisdiction's lanes. Bicycle lanes. Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen has signalled he wants cities, particularly Edmonton and Calgary, to alter or remove any cycling lanes that impede automobile traffic — and avoid future bike lanes that do so. If they don't, Alberta might create the powers to do so itself. Alberta wouldn't be the first province to insert itself into the bike lane debate, following fellow conservative politicians in Ontario and, more recently, Nova Scotia. Whether it's dubbed ending the " war on cars" or fighting for " common sense," the fight over which road users get asphalt space has sounded similar across the country. But there are lessons in a new court ruling that struck down the largest province's bid to tear out bike lanes in Toronto, beyond the constitutional violations cited by the judge. Ontario launched its plan to dismantle Toronto bike-lane barriers by stating, repeatedly, that they worsen vehicle congestion by compromising vehicle space. It's the same logic Dreeshen applied last month, ahead of his meeting on the topic with Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek: "While we fund major infrastructure projects, like the Deerfoot [Trail], to improve traffic flow and reduce congestion, some local decisions are moving in the opposite direction, removing driving lanes." Cycle Toronto's court challenge of Ontario's "Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act" got the courts to peel back the advice and research that underpinned Ontario's claims against bike lanes. Or, mainly, the lack thereof. "To the contrary, records produced by the government in this litigation show that the internal advice prior to passing Bill 212 was that protected bike lanes can have a positive impact on congestion and that removing them would do little, if anything, to alleviate gridlock, and may worsen congestion," Ontario Justice Paul Schabas' ruling states. Reaction pours in after Ontario judge blocks Ford's bike lane removal plan 3 days ago The decision refers to an engineering firm the province hired to study its car lane restoration. It reported: "While removing the bike lanes and replacing them with traffic lanes may increase the vehicle capacity along the immediate length of the roadway, the actual alleviation of congestion may be negligible or short-lived due to other confounding factors or induced demand." Induced demand refers to a well-travelled concept in transportation engineering that expanding road capacity will attract more automobiles, and therefore restore any congestion that briefly gets eliminated. (Meanwhile, Schabas also found that the health and safety risks to cyclists if they lost their barrier-protected routes through key parts of downtown Toronto was easily proven.) Would the rise and ebb in vehicle traffic behave any differently if the protective curbs for safer biking were removed in favour of an extra driving lane on 12th Avenue S. or Fifth Street S.W. in Calgary? Dreeshen emerged from his July 30 meeting with Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek pleased that she agreed with his interest in removing problematic bike lanes. "These bike lanes are not fixed," she told reporters after the sit-down. "If a bike lane is causing any concerns with congestion or parking, our traffic team is open to reviewing and making any necessary changes." The question, then, could come down to whether Calgary and Alberta could find a problem that Toronto and Ontario did not. In 2015, the city added its downtown network of temporary barrier-protected bike lanes on a few streets, as a pilot project. City officials measured the change in motorist travel times next to the bike-safety bollards. Along an eight-block stretch of Eighth Avenue S.W., there was no change in westbound traffic during the afternoon peak, and a 15-second decrease going the opposite way in the morning, according to a 2016 city report. What impact did the cycle lanes on Fifth Street have, for their 14 blocks? In the afternoon rush, commutes were up by 10 seconds. Morning travel times rose by 90 seconds along the downtown-spanning stretch of 12th Avenue S., including an added 13 seconds of delay at the intersection of two new bike lanes — but officials in that report pledged to review signal timing and road design before the lane would become permanent. Would these numbers justify the removal of bicycle lanes, having not persuaded council to do so back then? And what trade-offs are acceptable for creating a safe route for cyclists around the city's centre? The city also measures the number of cyclists (and other users) getting into and going through Calgary's business core. In that respect, the statistics show little before-and-after change, despite promoters' high hopes for a big boost to cyclist numbers. In 2014, before the protected bike lanes, the share of downtown commuters who came in or out on two wheels was 1.7 per cent. Rates rose before the pandemic to 2.7 per cent in 2017 — that still looks puny in relative numbers, but that's more than a 50 per cent jump in bike commutes. However, it dipped to 1.9 per cent in the 2024 transportation count. Dreeshen remarked on that figure after his meeting with Gondek. " So that means 98 per cent of people are commuting on a daily basis in their vehicles," he told CBC Radio's The Homestretch. "And obviously when you take away a driving lane for vehicles to put in a bike lane you're helping that small two per cent of commuters at the expense of drivers." Dreeshen is incorrect that it's two versus 98 per cent, as the non-cycling total also includes transit users and people walking into downtown; automobile drivers and passengers account for 59 per cent of downtown visits, according to city statistics. And there's another statistic that Gondek highlighted after seeing the minister: less than one per cent of Calgary's road surface is dedicated to bicycles. This certainly stands to become political fodder, coming into the fall's municipal votes. A conservative-aligned Edmonton mayoral candidate is echoing provincial rhetoric with a promise to halt any new bicycle lanes, and Calgary Coun. Dan McLean has said he wants the Eighth Avenue route axed and others reviewed. Meanwhile, the UCP issued a letter to members this week in Dreeshen's name, urging them to weigh in on a party survey's question about a potential bike lane crackdown — along with other questions inviting supporters to endorse existing UCP policies on taxes, school library content and private surgery clinics. "Of course, not everyone lives downtown. But many of us travel into the city for work, errands, or events, and we feel the impact too," Dreeshen's party email stated. This rhetoric gets at the heart of why provincial conservatives like to make hay about curbs and lane paint in a city's core, where voters tend to skew NDP or Liberal. Their own suburban and small-town base would likely be bothered by road space they can't drive on or park in, especially on a busy game night or lunch hour when they venture downtown. Just as planning the route for the Green Line LRT is supposed to be the city's jurisdiction, so is the addition and subtraction of bicycle lanes — though at least with the LRT, the Smith government can argue they're a funding partner. The Smith government's keen interest in downtown bicycle barriers comes alongside Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams' comments this week to Postmedia, about cities' business being provincial business. "Every single municipality in this province from the biggest cities to the smallest summer villages are creatures of legislation enacted by this legislature and this government has authority over those municipalities," he said. Technically, this is true, as it is in Ontario and elsewhere. It's not common, however, for provincial ministers or the premier to state this fact, given all its implications for interventions into the decisions of elected city or town councils. "I'd like to see the premier stay in his lane — and it's not a bike lane," a Halifax city councillor said about Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston's threats to crack down on a cycling infrastructure proposal he has opposed.
CBC
6 minutes ago
- CBC
Carney wants to spend an extra $9B on defence by April. Is that possible?
Social Sharing Prime Minister Mark Carney's goal of hitting NATO's defence spending target of two per cent of gross domestic product this year will be an uphill — nearly impossible — battle, say experts and critics. An extra $8.7 billion is earmarked for defence spending by the Department of National Defence (DND) or other government departments, and $370 million for the Communications Security Establishment (CSE). Allies had been pushing Canada to meet NATO's goal for nearly 20 years — but actually actually doing so became imperative with Donald Trump in the White House. "Mark Carney's words are right, but he's gotta crack the whip here real quick," said John Ball, a former Canadian defence industry executive for nearly four decades and now consultant. NATO defines defence expenditures as payments made by a national government specifically to meet the needs of its armed forces, or those of allies and the alliance. Conservative MP and defence critic James Bezan warns it will be difficult for procurement officials inside government to reverse a long-standing culture of risk aversion, deferred decisions and allowing billions of dollars in lapsed spending. WATCH | Canadian defence spending expected to climb further: Canada, NATO allies agree to 5% defence spending target 1 month ago "By the time we get back into Parliament and a budget is passed, we're going to have half a year to spend money that the department won't be able to shovel out the door," Bezan said in an interview with CBC News. He wonders if the government will just engage in a "game of creative accounting" to meet its NATO commitments on paper. But some within the Canadian defence industry as well as DND and Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) themselves point to existing mechanisms that can be leveraged to move quickly. Those include the use of standing offers, supply arrangements and pre-qualified vendor lists, as well as strategic partnerships with defence companies identified as centres of excellence, bilateral partnerships with other countries and the U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. In situations that are truly time sensitive, the government can invoke a National Security Exception (NSE), Urgent Operational Requirements (UORs) or issue an Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN). Although these have strict eligibility criteria and are not everyday tools. "If the government can demonstrate to us that this is in the interest of national security and there is a limited availability from a competitive factor, we would be open to those types of procurement," said Bezan. "But we can't make a habit of using NSEs as a way to … get the equipment that we require for the Canadian Armed Forces." Carney outlined on June 9 the general areas for increased investment, but gave no specifics. The list included better compensation; health care and infrastructure for personnel; new equipment such as aircraft, armed vehicles and ammunition; expanding the Canadian Coast Guard and moving it under DND; repairing and maintaining existing ships, aircraft and other assets; and developing new drones and sensors to monitor the sea floor and the Arctic. "We think it's largely going to be made up of items that are already identified or some that have been languishing in the procurement pipeline or projects that were underfunded," said Christyn Cianfarani, president and CEO of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI). Spending at home One way to spend faster would be to expand existing orders for armoured vehicles, ships and planes. For example, augmenting an existing contract for 360 light armoured vehicles from General Dynamics Land Systems in London, Ont. A company spokesperson says it would be able to quickly respond to contract amendment requests. But if the government intends to buy equipment not already on order or in the inventory, Cianfarani argues DND and PSPC have to change their approach. "There should not be a protracted procurement process," she said. "Probably a good portion of that $9 billion could be spent on Canadian firms." The prime minister has explicitly stated that part of the goal is to build up the Canadian defence industry, while acknowledging that continuing to do business with allies, including the U.S., will remain necessary. Cianfarani is far from alone in her concern over Canada's procurement process, one of the main reasons critics argue spending $9 billion in less than a year is doubtful. PSPC says its preference is for open, fair and competitive procurement. But many argue the process is overly long, and in some cases merely a box-ticking exercise where the winner is a foregone conclusion. "Why did they do it? They did it to appease," said Ball of those requests for proposals that already have a preferred candidate in mind. Cianfarani said it's frustrating for firms to spend millions on a bid for which they never had a real chance. She said it would be better to engage in "directed procurement" more often, as is done in other countries, where the government knows what it wants to invest in — and who the best suppliers are — and it then chooses them. But Bezan and others warn of the risk of boondoggles increases if the rush to spend money also means hurried oversight. "Talking about going to two per cent, and higher down the road, doesn't mean we give licence to spend money frivolously," said Bezan. 'Deliberate urgency' Those in the defence industry argue that they too want to make sure there's value for money. "I use the phrase 'deliberate urgency,' in that we need to think about how that money impacts the Canadian economic situation," said Chris Pogue, a former Royal Canadian Air Force pilot and now president of Calian Defence and Space. "I don't think we should let urgency overcome smart procurement, but things can move quickly if we have a sense of the direction we want to go and the kind of capability we need." Pogue said capabilities around sovereignty need to be homegrown, such as equipment and supplies needed for operations in the Arctic. An additional challenge is that most defence spending, at least on the capital side, is spent and accounted for over a number of years. But a senior government official says they truly plan to increase defence spending by $9 billion before April. That said, the government continues to describe both the amount and the deadline as targets, not certainties.
CBC
6 minutes ago
- CBC
Beef costs more than ever, but Canadians won't let that ruin barbecue season
As Canadians fire up their grills for the August long weekend, one of the nation's most cherished summer traditions is now facing a costly twist: beef prices have surged 25 per cent over the past year, far outpacing the rate of inflation and putting the price of summer burgers and steaks into uncharted territory. The price of ground beef hit $14.67 per kilogram in May of 2025, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada, a 25 per cent increase over the $11.72 recorded a year earlier and well above the country's current inflation rate of 1.7 per cent. This weekend marks one of the busiest grilling holidays of the year in Canada, as families and friends gather at cottages, campgrounds and in backyards from coast to coast. Even with ground beef hitting historic highs, Canadians seem unwilling to let go of their cherished burger, or trade it in for tofu. If anything, the lingering effects of trade tensions and a growing movement to support local producers have only strengthened demand for homegrown beef, according to some analysts. "Demand for beef is phenomenal. It's really a good news story," Kevin Grier, a Guelph, Ont.-based, economist who specializes in livestock, meat and grocery market analysis, told CBC News. "If you want somebody to blame, really blame the consumer because we keep on coming back." Persistent Western drought shrinks herd Behind the price spike are some familiar factors: smaller herds from prolonged drought in Western Canada and high input costs for feed. "There's been so much drought in southwest Saskatchewan and southern Alberta that some of these farmers have not had any moisture since the snow melted in April," said Stuart Smyth, a professor in the department of agricultural and resource economics at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. Smyth said some western producers are choosing to shrink their herds rather than absorb the high cost of feed, which in some cases has to be hauled in from other provinces. Faced with the prospect of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, many are opting to downsize instead. "That's why we've seen this drop of half a million head of cattle over the last five years, is because this has been a fairly prolonged drought in one of the regions that has the highest number of livestock," he said. Some ranchers see an upside Still, not every farmer is feeling the pinch. Thanks to strong demand, fuelled by barbecue culture's surge in popularity and a renewed push to support local amid ongoing trade tensions, some cattle producers are, for once, seeing a rare upside. Unlike previous cycles of food inflation, this one is offering certain producers a better return. "We don't get to set our prices," said Lee Irvine, a cattle farmer outside of Calgary. He explained that ranchers don't have much control over what they earn for their cattle. Instead, they're price takers, accepting whatever the market offers at auction. "So when consumers are willing to go out and pay higher prices for beef, there's trickle-down effects to the primary producers," he said. "We're selling our cattle at a higher margin right now." Still, not all producers have been able to take full advantage. After back-to-back years of drought, Irvine said his operation didn't receive enough spring rain to sustain a full herd this year. "We're only running about 20 head," he said. "Normally we'd have anywhere from 30 to 60." Cost of cattle puts butchers in a crunch Some butchers said the issue isn't a shortage of cattle; it's the cost of buying them. "We have no problems getting beef, but we just got to pay the higher prices for them," said Andy Trbizan, who runs the Mt. Brydges Abattoir in Mount Brydges, Ont., alongside his daughter and son. "I'm thinking it's got to be about 15 to 20 per cent higher than what it used to be." Despite passing those costs onto the consumer, whether its steak, chuck or a whole brisket, beef has proven resilient. The jump in beef prices hasn't deterred shoppers or wannabe pit-masters. Instead, BBQ culture seems to be enjoying a full-blown heyday. The trade and marketing association Canada Beef says since 1989 demand for beef last year was only higher in 2020 and 2022. "Demand is really high, especially in the summertime," Trbizan said, noting the abattoir often sees lineups that stretch out the showroom door on weekends. "People want to get out, do their barbecues, and they want to entertain." If you want somebody to blame, really blame the consumer because we keep on coming back. "And smoking meat has become very popular, so everybody has their smokers out and they're trying new things as well," his daughter Nicole Miller said. These conditions are expected to keep beef prices elevated through at least 2027, with little immediate relief in sight, according to a recent industry report. This projection underscores the slow and steady nature of herd rebuilding, which requires time for animals to mature and reach market size. Experts suggest consumers may need to prepare for a prolonged period of higher prices, even as producers work toward stabilizing supply.
