Scotiabank Economists Slam Both Major Party Platforms in Canada
Economists at one of Canada's biggest lenders are raising doubts about the fiscal plans offered by the leading parties in the country's election.
Derek Holt and Rebekah Young, economists at Bank of Nova Scotia, both authored reports questioning the assumptions used in the Conservative and Liberal spending platforms, which were released in recent days.
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Hamilton Spectator
35 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
MPs to vote on government's speech from the throne in confidence motion
OTTAWA - The Liberal minority government's first real test comes today as MPs are scheduled to vote on the government's throne speech. The Liberals lost a vote Monday evening when opposition members successfully amended the speech to call on the government to table an economic update before Parliament breaks for the summer. Government whip Mark Gerretsen insisted nothing went wrong with that vote despite the Liberals losing it by a count of 166 to 164. However, the vote on the throne speech itself is a confidence vote, which means that if the government loses it, it could be forced into a general election. The speech focuses heavily on building up the Canadian economy by fast-tracking projects it considers to be in the national interest, and moving faster to build new homes. Opposition party leaders say the speech is vague, relies too much on slogans and doesn't explain how the government plans to scale back its spending. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2025. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
I tried the UK's newest 'Dutch' roundabout - was it really as confusing as some claim?
It was raining when I took a purple bike and helmet (borrowed from a friend) to the opening of a new £2m, "Dutch-style" roundabout built on an industrial estate in Hemel Hempstead. I had not ridden a bike since I was about 10 years old, so it was a little daunting to put myself in front of traffic on a new road layout. Cyclists similarly inexperienced might also be feel uncertain by the unfamiliar array of black, green, red and white road markings. The roundabout is funded by Active Travel England and the basic premise is that cars and lorries must give way to both cyclists and pedestrians - while cyclists must give way to pedestrians. The layout is markedly different to other roundabouts, which has prompted some criticism they are "confusing". So I had made sure to watch the three-minute CGI explainer video the local council created to help uncertain road users like me. The video warned me to keep an eye out for oncoming cars, despite having priority on my segregated cycle track. The roundabout joins three other Dutch-style ones in operation around the UK - in Cambridge, Sheffield and Chichester. They were first introduced in the Netherlands in the early 1980s and were declared the 'Holy Grail' of traffic safety, according to Dutch News. The country is famed for its cycling culture and infrastructure and, according to Urban Cycling Institute, invests €595m each year in infrastructure linked to bicycles. Since then they also become increasingly common in France, especially Paris, and have no headed over to the Channel. In the UK, council leaders say they will help make life easier for those wanting to cross these roundabouts on foot and on bike, while also helping to manage the speed and flow of traffic. The previous Conservative government cut England's cycling and walking budget by £380m in March 2023, according to Bike Radar - though the current government now announced a £291m funding package this year to create 300 miles of new footpaths and cycle tracks in a sign of the shifting momentum towards pro-cyclist transport. Nonetheless - the approach continues to receive a mixed response. In the UK, campaigners have raised concerns over people being confused by the road markings, and who has right of way, with the BBC reporting that Cambridge's Dutch-style roundabout has seen more collisions in the three years since it was built. And even in the Netherlands, concerns remain about accidents at the supposedly cycle-friendly roundabouts. Road safety advocacy group VVN pointed to research that showed 22.3% of roundabouts in the Netherlands had one or more bicycle accidents, 786 of which were the scene of serious incidents, Dutch News reports. But what's it like tackling the newly minted version on Boundary in Hertfordshire, some 30 miles north-west of London? The video warned me to keep an eye out for oncoming cars, despite having priority on my segregated cycle track. So, how easy is this to follow in practice? After a few false starts, I was off across the brightly coloured green cycle lane - which made it very easy to see where I was going. As I made my way onto the roundabout, a man zipping around it on an e-bike did look a little startled by the new configuration and shouted "it's a bit confusing" at me. The roundabout wasn't too busy when I cycled around it with a few cars and lorries who slowed down when they saw me coming. There were one or two lorries who put their foot down when they saw me on the approach - probably thinking they had the element of speed on their side to out-race me. It seemed that many of them were not too sure about the new road lay-out and being cautious of a young woman in high-vis teetering about. With my own cycle lane, it did feel a bit disorientating to be on the look-out for cars - even though I knew I had priority. But, with no pedestrians on a zebra crossing, a driver who is not familiar with Dutch-style roundabouts may believe they have a right of way – cyclist or not. Deciding not to risk it, I was quite wary of how fast I was going while constantly scanning the area ahead. One of the criticisms in Hemel Hempstead has been the location of the roundabout in an industrial estate not from the M1 turn-off and there didn't seem to be many pedestrians (or cyclists) using the snazzy roundabout when Yahoo News was giving it a test run. Even for an inexperienced cyclist like me, roundabouts like these that give priority to cyclists can ultimately only be a good thing - it quickly began to feel like second-nature and knowing motorists were slowing down ahead of time helped instil a bit more confidence. I can only imagine a more experience cyclist will be overjoyed at knowing they have their own designated lane and the traffic stopping especially for them. But putting one of these roundabouts in a location serving mainly delivery drivers in lorries... well, it does seem like it could have gone elsewhere. But what do some of the locals we met feel about it? David Coulson, 65, who regularly drives across the roundabout, told us he "couldn't believe" the cost of the works. "I wouldn't be surprised if people got killed or injured on it," he said. "I also can't believe they spent this much money. It's right off the M1 - you're not going to get many pushbikes coming off there. "I drive but I also take a walk up here. I don't see much other footfall than myself," said Coulson, originally from New Zealand. "At least it's colourful." Finance manager Fred Theron, 52, works close to the new roundabout and cycles to work from Luton in the summer. He said: "The roundabout before was more dangerous because there are a lot of trucks using the it. "Cycling, you'd have to be in the road coming from Boundary Way and that wasn't the best. Now it's going to take a bit longer having to the cycle around the whole ring but it will be safer." Theron said it would take time for motorists to get used to the new road layout, adding: "Here, when I was walking across, there was a truck coming and I wasn't sure if he was going to stop. "I'm not sure if motorists will know how the cycle aspect works with having to give way. But I do think it's a good initiative and hopefully more people will cycle to work like I do." Lib Dem councillor Adrian England, said he felt "perfectly safe" testing out the roundabout following its opening on Tuesday. "With anything new - especially when you're a cyclist and all you've got is your helmet - you need to look after yourself," he said. Meanwhile Stephen Giles-Medhurst, the executive member for Highways from Herts County Council, said he had a go on a bike and acknowledged it would take "a little bit of getting used to". "We hope to encourage more people to cycle or walk to their places of employment," Giles-Medhurst said. "It's safer, as the pedestrian crossings and cycle path go all the way round it. Vehicles are slowing down, maybe because it's new, but I didn't have any near misses. You can't engineer out someone being stupid."Read more Family pays tribute to cyclist killed in collision by Wiltshire driver (Wiltshire Times) Scared of cycling in London? Here's how to do it safely (The London Standard) World Bicycle Day: How Rome is urging more people to ditch their cars and cycle (Euronews) Click below to see the latest South and South East headlines
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Abramovich's billions were never going to reach Ukraine – and ‘Government knew it'
The Government knew from 'day one' that the frozen £2.35 billion Chelsea sale fund might never reach Ukraine, according to an official involved in the deal struck with Roman Abramovich. Four prime ministers and five chancellors are facing questions about why it has taken more than three years for Abramovich to be threatened with legal action to break a 'ridiculous' deadlock over the release of money to help victims of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Russia's neighbour. That is after it emerged that Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, and David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, were preparing to haul Abramovich to court amid a row over how to spend a fund set up when he sold Chelsea as he was being sanctioned for his alleged links to Putin. The row centres on the interpretation of a 'deed of undertaking' between the Government and Abramovich in which he agreed for the money to be committed to charity 'for the purposes of helping victims of the war in Ukraine'. When putting Chelsea up for sale, Abramovich publicly stated that he wanted the proceeds to be used 'for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine' – including those from his native Russia, something successive governments have refused to countenance. An official involved in the negotiations in 2022, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Telegraph Sport: 'Day one, we were concerned. We went eyes open with the fact that this was a possibility. But there genuinely wasn't an alternative.' The official said the danger of Abramovich blocking the release of the Ukraine fund had taken a back seat to fears he 'would let Chelsea go to the wall' if a deal was not struck to sell the club before the end of that season, or that he would try to 'legally get the money back himself' if sanctions against him were lifted. 'The decision was to put it in a place where we knew he couldn't get at it, and then there was a principle that this charity would be formed and that it would spend the money wisely,' the official added. 'That it's dragged on to this point is just as much a testament to the fact that the Government hasn't invested financial pressure, resources or political capital in dealing with what was, from day one, very clearly going to be a problem.' Indeed, Reeves and Lammy have taken until this week to threaten legal action, something Telegraph Sport has been told the previous Conservative government had ruled out. That is despite a report by a House of Lords committee in January last year finding it 'incomprehensible' the issue had not been resolved and urging ministers 'to use all available legal levers to solve this impasse rapidly, so that Ukraine can receive much-needed, promised, and long overdue relief'. The report was published by the European Affairs Committee, chaired by cross-bench peer Lord Ricketts, a former permanent secretary to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, British ambassador to France and national security adviser. He told Telegraph Sport it had taken too long for the Government to act upon the report's recommendations and acknowledged an acrimonious legal battle could delay things much further when it comes to accessing a fund likely to have accrued more than a hundred million pounds in interest. 'It's getting ridiculous that this delay should be dragging on and on,' Ricketts said. 'I'm not a lawyer and I can't explain exactly what the Government are going to do, but I think it's now really urgent to get this sorted. And I think 'incomprehensible' is still a pretty good word to describe why, three years later, we're still waiting for the money to go to the people who really need it in Ukraine.' Concerns over the delay had been raised even earlier, including by Mike Penrose, the former chief executive of Unicef UK, heading the independent foundation set up to administer the fund. He was joined two years ago by Oxfam, Save the Children, Kyiv-based charities and UK families hosting Ukrainian refugees in calling for then prime minister Rishi Sunak to urgently break the deadlock. That was after the European Union, like the Government, ruled the money could only be spent within Ukraine's borders, an edict the charities urged Sunak to ignore. Labour peer Lord Foulkes also wrote to then chancellor Jeremy Hunt in September 2023 over the 'unacceptable delay' in releasing the funds, adding in his letter: 'The only barrier, as far as I can tell, seems to be bureaucracy, and it strikes me as ridiculous that we should let a matter of paperwork confound these efforts, when our Ukrainian allies overcome incredible adversity on a daily basis.' Foulkes told Telegraph Sport: 'The trouble is we've been playing by the rules that the Russians never acknowledge, never play by, and we have been trying to get some agreement on it. 'That was always likely to fail – and certainly take a long time. I'm glad that, at last, they're now taking action and I think it's the right thing to do, and they should press ahead with it as quickly and as forcibly as possible.' Telegraph Sport has been told the previous government ruled out legal action after concluding there were too many downsides, including the risk investors could shun the UK. Various sources with knowledge of negotiations with lawyers for Abramovich have branded the ongoing row as a 'nightmare issue', describing the seizing of Russian assets as 'politically explosive'. Explaining the difference between freezing and seizing assets, a source said: 'Seizing assets is a whole new ball game. There's a sizeable chunk that is frozen in Britain that are Russian-state assets. There are huge numbers of countries and lots and lots of lawyers who would explain to you that if you even try taking it and just seizing it and say that money is now ours, you are facing intense pressure.' The source said that could include 'lobbying' from other countries which invest in the UK who might say: 'OK then, we're pulling out billions of billions from your economy now.' Bart De Wever, the Belgian prime minister, also warned in March that confiscating almost €200 billion (£168 billion) of frozen Russian assets would be 'an act of war' and would carry 'systemic risks to the entire financial world system'. Telegraph Sport has also been told the last government was split on whether to compromise on Abramovich's demands, with Andrew Mitchell said by one source to have discussed ways ministers could 'cut a deal' with the oligarch when he was at the Foreign Office. Explaining the power Abramovich currently held over the frozen Chelsea sale fund, a source said: 'He can't access the money. He can't spend the money, but he can stop the trust spending it and, at the moment, he's always hidden behind, 'No, the terms that I agreed to the sale are not quite the same as the terms that the British Government are now insisting on'.' Telegraph Sport has approached a representative for Abramovich for comment on the Government's legal threat against him. A book entitled Sanctioned is being released next week in which he is expected to be quoted about the sale of Chelsea and the sanctions imposed on him. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
