Is the Carney government serious about building up Canada's defence industry?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Sun
10 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
Auto tariffs stoke layoff angst in Canada's once-proud Motor City
Unemployment has surged in Oshawa and now tops 9%, one of the highest rates of any Canadian city Published Jul 28, 2025 • 7 minute read Chris Waugh, a representative of the trade union that represents GM workers. Photographer: Chloe Ellingson/Bloomberg Photo by Chloe Ellingson / Photographer: Chloe Ellingson An hour from Toronto, downtown Oshawa seems to exude the vibe of a pleasant small town. But signs of economic stress are multiplying in the place that once fashioned itself as Canada's motor city. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Lines form early outside the food bank on Simcoe Street where customers load strollers with pasta and bags of bread. Homeless encampments dot the river trail. Inside local food joints like Ciao Amici, a lunch stop serving Italian specialties, conversations drift toward layoffs. On that front, there's a lot to talk about. Unemployment has surged in Oshawa and now tops 9%, one of the highest rates of any Canadian city. In May, shortly after US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on automobiles, General Motors Co. said it planned to reduce output at the only Canadian assembly plant it owns that builds pickup trucks. The move affects some 700 jobs at the factory. Many more people will feel the ripple effects. As the Trump administration tries to pull more automotive jobs into the US, Oshawa's reckoning is a warning to other manufacturing cities. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. What's jarring for the residents of Oshawa is that, not so long ago, the city was on the way back. That GM assembly line near the shore of Lake Ontario died once, when the automaker closed it at the end of 2019. Then the Covid pandemic hit, demand for vehicles surged — and GM made the surprising decision to reopen the old plant. Last year, about 150,000 Chevrolet Silverados were built here, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center — many of them destined for dealers' lots in the US. That's the norm for Canadian auto assembly plants, which export most of what they build. But it's a two-way street. Walk around a Ford or GM or Chrysler dealership in Toronto or Vancouver or Calgary, and you will find more US-manufactured models for sale than Canadian ones. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Canada, which has roughly one-eighth the population of the US, is the largest foreign buyer of American-made cars and light trucks. When parts are included, the US runs a trade surplus in automotive with Canada — a product of decades of tight integration between the countries. That system, however, doesn't fit within Trump's vision for the sector or for trade. In March, he reiterated his threat to use tariffs to 'permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada. Those cars can easily be made in the USA!' 'We reopened in 2021 at a high,' said Chris Waugh, a 23-year veteran of the Oshawa plant and an official with Unifor, the union that represents its employees. 'Now we're going back down. I've been through this before, but a lot of these younger workers haven't. They left other careers to come here. They bet on GM.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Inside the autoworkers' union office, the tension is palpable. The sunny halls adorned with tropical plants have a different energy today than a few years ago, when the assembly line had whirred back to life. Workers cluster in small groups, discussing employment insurance, benefits continuity and the rotating layoffs that have become the new reality. 'Growing up, our union always found a way to keep us working,' said Jeff Gray, president of Unifor Local 222. 'My fear is that under our watch, we aren't going to be able to keep everybody working.' Families are starting to prepare for leaner times. Waugh mentions a single mother quietly preparing her house for sale. Others cancel family trips or sell cars. Many feel a deep sense of loss. These jobs aren't just paychecks; they've long been paths to stability for Canadians without college degrees. Wages climb to over C$40 an hour after four years. There's a pension, shift premiums and benefits. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. It's not easy to replace that, and hard conversations are going on around kitchen tables across the province of Ontario, the home of all of the major plants that assemble cars and light trucks in Canada. Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV each have factories in the suburbs of Toronto that are currently idle. Both companies say they have plans to restart the assembly lines, but in the meantime, employees wait and worry. Stellantis trimmed its work schedule at a plant in Windsor, Ontario, shortly after Trump imposed his auto tariffs. About two hours southwest of Oshawa, the future of another GM factory in Ingersoll, Ontario, is in serious doubt. The electric commercial vans made there aren't selling, and it is being shut down for months. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'We've fought for 90 years to make these good, middle-class jobs,' said Waugh, the union official in Oshawa. 'If we let them go quietly, what are we telling our kids?' GM executives say the company faces $4 billion to $5 billion in exposure from tariffs. It expects to offset about 30% of that through a series of measures including 'manufacturing adjustments,' Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson told analysts on July 22. A GM spokesperson said the changes in Oshawa are necessary to make the company's manufacturing operations 'sustainable,' but it's not giving up on Canada. 'GM has been building vehicles in Canada since 1918, and we are implementing a plan to keep building here for another 100-plus years,' Ariane Souza Pereira said in an emailed statement. 'We are not in a position to speculate around hypothetical scenarios.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. For decades, GM and the unions built a culture in Oshawa where neighbours cared. Food banks, drop-in centers and addiction services grew stronger here than in nearby towns, according to Mayor Dan Carter, but those services now feel the strain. 'We've always looked out for each other,' Carter said. 'But capacity is not the same as compassion.' At the Simcoe Hall food bank, demand has exploded. New clients are up 200% since 2020, according to Graeme Cook, a coordinator there. The facility states that it can only serve 35 clients in the morning and 35 clients in the afternoon, and only three days a week. The problem is not unique to this city: food-bank traffic has skyrocketed in a number regions of Canada after the economic and inflation shocks of Covid. The concern in Oshawa is that the pressure on such services will grow unbearable if more people lose their jobs. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The plight of auto towns represents a huge challenge to Prime Minister Mark Carney, who won a national election in April after a campaign that was dominated by debate about which candidate can stand up to the most hostile US administration that Canadians can remember. During that election, Trump decided to place new import taxes on foreign-made automobiles, citing US national security interests. Canadian officials believe that's directly in violation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that Trump agreed to in 2018, during his first term in office. Carney retaliated, imposing 25% counter-tariffs against US vehicles, closely matching what the White House did. His stance against Trump helped his party win the vote. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. To protect jobs, auto companies can apply to get a break on those Canadian tariffs if they maintain their employment and production in the country. In theory, that gives General Motors a proper incentive to keep local factories going. After all, it's a net importer: it sold 294,000 light vehicles in Canada last year, almost double the number it made. In practice, the people of Oshawa understand what's really happening. Trump's bullhorn is louder than Carney's. As GM cuts hours and jobs in Canada, it's expanding a plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, that also makes Silverado trucks. And the Detroit-based company is planning to add production of new pickup truck models at a plant in Lake Orion, Michigan, in 2027. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I don't think there is a quick solution to the challenges that are being faced right now,' said Joy Nott, a partner in the trade and customs practice at the Canadian arm of KPMG. The big unknowns for the industry include how far Trump will go with tariffs and whether he will use next year's scheduled review of the US-Mexico-Canada accord to truly break the tightly bound North American auto supply chain. That would be hugely disruptive not only for companies like GM and Stellantis but for the much larger number of companies in those countries that produce parts and components. Canada has the capacity to reorient parts of its manufacturing base to serve its own market or other trading partners, Nott suggested. 'If we rethink our supply chains and leverage our trade agreements, we can retain and even grow jobs in communities like Oshawa. But it's going to take a shift in mindset.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Carter, the Oshawa mayor, said the best solutions aren't grand gestures but targeted fixes: giving small firms room to invest, trimming red tape, lowering costs for businesses. He has been lobbying the provincial and federal governments for tax relief, skills funding, and better alignment between training programs and real jobs. Inside the union hall, leaders bristle at the idea that retraining will fix everything. 'People think you can just switch,' Gray said. 'But when you've built your life around these wages and benefits, it's not so simple.' The financial and emotional gap between an assembly line job and a service gig is too wide for many to cross, Waugh said. Carter – who in the past battled homelessness and addiction himself — has convened roundtables with business, nonprofits, and educators. He's trying to find a path forward. But he also says Canada needs to find ways of being more productive, boosting investment in business and innovation. 'We are not a broken city,' he said. 'We are in transition. And we are not done.' Canada Editorial Cartoons Sunshine Girls Relationships Editorials
National Post
10 minutes ago
- National Post
Canada's justice system is bringing itself into disrepute: Full Comment podcast
Article content Article content Article content Article content One-day sentences for aiding and abetting the Islamic State terror group, a few short years for murder, but possibly more if you're an anti-vaccine trucker: these stories and loads of others from recent Canadian court cases seem to be undermining the public's faith in our justice system. Brian Lilley chats with Postmedia columnists Jamie Sarkonak and Chris Selley about how things went so wrong and what to do about it. They also discuss the recent acquittal of the five hockey players for sexual assault, and how the judge's exceptional handling of the case shows that all is not lost if we want to fix the system — if anyone in government is ever willing to try. (Recorded July 25, 2025.) Article content Article content Article content Article content
CBC
11 minutes ago
- CBC
Search for B.C.'s Best Symbol: Animal Semifinals
If you were to have asked settler British Columbians what their favourite symbol of this area was 100 years ago, few would have said orcas. "They were seen as an animal that was quite terrifying and something to be feared," said Andrew Trites, director of the University of B.C.'s Marine Mammal Research Unit. "Even the name they were given, killer whales, that should be a red flag right there," he said. Because of some dangerous encounters with humans and the fact that whales and humans were often viewed to be in competition for salmon, headlines like "Killer Whale Spreads Fear" and "Criminals Of Ocean" were seen in B.C. newspapers in the 1940s and 1950s. At one point, there was the idea of using machine guns near Seymour Narrows to shoot them. But according to historian Jason Colby, public perception of orcas among settlers changed rather dramatically in the 1960s, as they began to be put in captivity and studied. "Even though that practice is rightly criticized these days, it was really the spark that transformed our relationship with them," he said. "When we brought them into our urban spaces and started experiencing them as individuals … it was a powerful factor in shifting the way people not just thought about orcas, but how they thought about how we treat all wildlife in the region." In that sense, according to Colby, the orca became a proxy for B.C.'s burgeoning environmental movement — including the campaign to stop holding them in captivity — and with that became a symbol of something far greater than its own species. Or put another way, symbols often become powerful not because of what they do, but how the culture around them changes. "The shifting economic value or environmental values, the shifting priorities about how we interact with the local landscape and seascape," said Colby. "I think it's a pretty powerful symbol of how we changed in terms of our values and priorities, and it remains so today." Yet despite the shift among settler attitudes over the past 100 years, many coastal First Nations have deep, longstanding and sacred relationships with orcas. According to Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations' teachings, orcas are the guardians of the sea, and for the Tsleil-Waututh people, the whales are a source of spiritual power and teachings. In 2018, when an orca mother carried her dead calf through the Salish Sea for 17 days, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation called it a "direct communication" from the whales to remind them of their responsibilities to the lands, waters and beings. From 64 symbols to just 16 left While the orca may be a powerful symbol, can B.C.'s official bird, the mighty Steller's jay, produce a big upset? The Search for B.C.'s Best Symbol has reached its third round, and with it, the number of daily matchups this week goes down to two. The winners will advance to the quarterfinals, which begin next week. Voting closes at 10 p.m. PT — may the best symbols advance!
