Introduction of Strong Borders Act prompts concerns
CTV's Abigail Bimman on concern about the introduction of the Strong Borders Act which aims to secure the border and stop organized and financial crime.
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CBC
18 minutes ago
- CBC
Wildfire evacuee numbers climb to more than 17,000 in Manitoba, premier says
Social Sharing The number of wildfire evacuees in Manitoba has increased, with more likely as a handful of communities remain on alert. "The numbers have continued to grow. We were saying 17,000. I think we can safely assume it's north of that number now," Premier Wab Kinew said on CBC Manitoba's Information Radio on Thursday morning. He didn't have an estimate on the total but said about 16,800 people are now registered with the Canadian Red Cross. "And keep in mind, not everyone registers with us. Some folks, they just make the decision they're going to stay with family," Kinew said. It's been eight days since he declared a provincewide state of emergency due to rapidly spreading wildfires and extreme fire conditions in northern and eastern Manitoba. Since then, the northwestern part of the province has also become a danger zone. There are 15 communities under mandatory evacuation orders and another three under voluntary evacuation. Three others — Snow Lake, Norway House and Chemawawin Cree Nation (Easterville) — are under evacuation alerts or notices, with people ordered to be ready to leave with short notice. "We are in a new reality when it comes to wildfires. Typically, we would have one part of the province dealing with challenges and … there'd be, like, maybe two communities on evacuation in other summers. This year, it's every region at the same time," Kinew said. "So that's one thing that we need to plan for in the future." The pace at which everything has been happening has also opened an unfortunate door to misinformation on social media, Kinew said. To combat that, the province is launching a digital information portal later on Thursday. "It is striking during a state of emergency how quickly false claims can make their way around social media that actually pull away time and resources from people who would otherwise be co-ordinating an evacuation effort or responding to the actual wildfires themselves," Kinew said. Watch as the northern Manitoba wildfires grow 20 hours ago Duration 1:11 Wildfires have been burning in northern Manitoba since late May, when a province-wide emergency was declared. Watch as CBC Weather Specialist Riley Laychuk tracks the fires threatening the communities of Flin Flon, Sherridon and Pukatawagan. Three days after last week's evacuation of the city of Flin Flon, rumours sprouted on social media about firefighters being killed while battling the blaze. "I realize people are driven by stress in some cases, and in other cases by a compassionate response to try and get information out there, but … to have the added stress of some false information being shared on social media was counterproductive," Kinew said. The province's info portal "will be a trusted source of information on fires, where to find evacuation supports, how [people] can help in the response," he said. The province will also begin holding regular, but not necessarily daily, news briefings. The first of those is scheduled for 12:45 p.m. Thursday. As of Wednesday (the most recent data available), a total of 513,803 hectares had burned in the province. Last year at this time, 43,141 hectares had been impacted. Manitoba's fire situation report shows there are 27 active wildfires and a total of 111 fires to date, which is well above the average of 91 for this time of year. Kinew on Thursday also defended the province's decision to send evacuees to Ontario, addressing criticisms that suggested Manitoba was unprepared to respond to the demand. "That is the Manitoba response, just to be clear," he said. The province hired a private firm to manage the evacuee response, "and they found rooms in Niagara." "Earlier in this same wildfire season, Ontario didn't have rooms and we housed more than 1,000 Ontario evacuees here. I think one of the things that we're seeing this year is that we have to have a pan-provincial — a national — response, just given the scale of the emergency we're facing." The ability to get people, within a week, out of harm's way and into shelters and provide wraparound supports is a testament to the emergency management team in Manitoba and partners like Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, the Manitoba Métis Federation and municipal leaders across northern Manitoba, Kinew said. One of the other challenges the province has had to address is ensuring thousands of evacuees, especially those in major centres like Winnipeg, are kept safe from exploitation. "It is one of the very disturbing things about this, that even in the midst of the vast, vast majority of Manitobans stepping up and donating or volunteering, that there is a small group of people who are also trying to show up and prey on evacuees," Kinew said. "You can let your mind wander to some of the really bad behaviours that this might encompass." To counter that, security guards and other resources have been installed around evacuation centres, and police are working with First Nations safety officers, he said. "If there's a criminal act going on, there's going to be accountability. Somebody's going to get arrested," Kinew said. And then there's what he calls "a fourth layer of response," meaning help from community groups in Winnipeg like the Downtown Community Safety Partnership, the Bear Clan and Ogijiita Pimatiswin Kinamatwin (OPK), an Indigenous-led organization that supports at-risk youth affected by gangs, poverty and violence. "We've been working with them to ensure that they're, in some cases, that insulating security layer around people to protect them from bad actors," Kinew said. "In other cases, this is about somebody struggling, and we do have crisis stabilization unit, public health nurses and, you know, the medical professionals at each of these shelter sites and reception centres." Mandatory evacuations are in place for: Bakers Narrows. Big Island Lake. Bissett. Cranberry Portage. Flin Flon. Little Athapapuskow cottage area. Lynn Lake. Marcel Colomb First Nation (Black Sturgeon). Nopiming Provincial Park. Parts of Whiteshell Provincial Park. Pimicikamak Cree Nation (Cross Lake). Pukatawagan (Mathias Colomb Cree Nation). Schist Lake. Sherridon. Tataskweyak Cree Nation (Split Lake). Voluntary evacuation orders are in place for: Opaskwayak Cree Nation. Snow Lake. Wanless. Are you an evacuee who needs assistance? Contact Manitoba 211 by calling 211 from anywhere in Manitoba or email 211mb@
Calgary Herald
18 minutes ago
- Calgary Herald
Average home price growth in Canada outpaces affordability
Article content Home prices have more than doubled wage growth in Canada over the last 25 years, highlighting how housing has become unaffordable across much of the country, a new report has concluded. Article content Desjardins Economic Studies published a study in May finding average home prices since 2000 have 'ballooned' by more than four times whereas household disposable income has only increased a little more than two times. Article content Article content Article content Desjardins further noted that first-time buyers face a steep hill to ownership, especially given they are also paying historically high rent across many Canadian markets. Article content Article content The report pointed to the Desjardins Affordability Index being at historical lows for affordability even as mortgage rates have eased and home prices have fallen in Canada's most expensive markets like the Greater Toronto Area. Article content Affordability hit bottomed out coming out of the pandemic as interest rates soared from near historical lows to about seven per cent for five-year fixed mortgages by fall 2023, but the report noted Canadian households remain under pressure — made worse by Canada-United States trade anxieties. Article content Desjardins added that home price pain is not merely an outcome of lower interest rates during the pandemic and recently high migration to Canada. Prices have accelerated gradually over the last 25 years — though more so as a result of the pandemic. Article content Assuming a household could save 20 per cent of disposable income, earning three per cent per year on money saved, it would take six years to have a down payment for the average home in Canada, about $700,000. Article content Given the economic uncertainty, stirred largely by U.S. policy, affordability is unlikely to improve soon, it added. Article content
Globe and Mail
21 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Trump and Xi agree to further talks to settle trade disputes between U.S., China
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to further talks between the countries to hash out differences on tariffs that have roiled the global economy, according to U.S. and Chinese summaries of their phone call on Thursday. 'There should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products,' Trump wrote on social media. 'Our respective teams will be meeting shortly at a location to be determined.' Trump and a Chinese government summary of the meeting said the leaders had invited each other to their respective countries at a future date. 'The U.S. side should take a realistic view of the progress made and withdraw the negative measures imposed on China,' the Chinese government said in a statement published by the state-run Xinhua news agency. 'Xi Jinping welcomed Trump's visit to China again, and Trump expressed his sincere gratitude.' Beijing envoy urges Ottawa to end tariffs on Chinese EVs and warns against 'Cold War mentality' The highly anticipated call came amid accusations between Washington and Beijing in recent weeks over 'rare earths' minerals in a dispute that has threatened to tear up a fragile truce in the trade war between the two biggest economies. The countries struck a 90-day deal on May 12 to roll back some of the triple-digit, tit-for-tat tariffs they had placed on each other since Trump's January inauguration. Though stocks rallied, the temporary deal did not address broader concerns that strain the bilateral relationship, from the illicit fentanyl trade to the status of democratically governed Taiwan and U.S. complaints about China's state-dominated, export-driven economic model. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has repeatedly threatened an array of punitive measures on trading partners, only to revoke some of them at the last minute. The on-again, off-again approach has baffled world leaders and spooked business executives, who say the uncertainty has made it difficult to forecast market conditions. How a Canadian suit maker got slammed by Trump's China tariffs China's decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets continues to disrupt supplies needed by automakers, computer chip manufacturers and military contractors around the world. Beijing sees mineral exports as a source of leverage – halting those exports could put domestic political pressure on the Republican U.S. president if economic growth sags because companies cannot produce mineral-powered products. The 90-day deal to roll back tariffs and trade restrictions is tenuous. Trump has accused China of violating the agreement and has ordered curbs on chip design software and other shipments to China, while also doubling steel and aluminum tariffs to 50%. Beijing rejected the claim and threatened countermeasures. In recent years, the United States has identified China as its top geopolitical rival and the only country in the world able to challenge the U.S. economically and militarily. Despite this and repeated trade threats and tariff announcements, Trump has spoken admiringly of Xi, including of the Chinese leader's toughness and ability to stay in power without the term limits imposed on U.S. presidents. Trump has long pushed for a call or a meeting with Xi, but China has rejected that as not in keeping with its traditional approach of working out agreement details before the leaders talk. The U.S. president and his aides see leader-to-leader talks as vital to sort through log-jams that have vexed lower-level officials in difficult negotiations. Thursday's call came at Trump's request, China said. It's not clear when the two men last spoke. Both sides said they spoke on Jan. 17, days before Trump's inauguration and Trump has repeatedly said that he had spoken to Xi since taking office on Jan. 20. He has declined to say when any call took place or to give details of their conversation. China had said that the two leaders had not had any recent phone calls. The talks are being closely watched by investors worried that a chaotic trade war could cut into corporate earnings and disrupt supply chains in the key months before the Christmas holiday shopping season. Trump's tariffs are also the subject of ongoing litigation in U.S. courts.
