'A slap in the face for François Legault` after Arthabaska byelection loss
Analyst Raphaël Melançon says the Arthabaska byelection result is 'a very important victory' for the PQ, which he says is the leading political force in Quebec.
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National Post
7 minutes ago
- National Post
Man walks into Nova Scotia forest, walks out with $28K fine: 'I want to challenge this order in court'
A Nova Scotia man who intentionally violated the province's ban on entering the woods says he plans to fight his $28,000 fine. Article content Jeffrey Evely, a veteran and former candidate for the People's Party of Canada, recorded a video over the weekend of him first going to the Department of Natural Resources in Coxheath, N.S., and informing officers he was going into the woods to protest the ban. Article content Article content Article content 'I want to challenge this order in court, and the only way to do that is to get the fine,' Jeffrey Evely says in the video. 'So, I'm not trying to make trouble for you guys, I just want a piece of (Premier) Tim Houston and I want to be as accommodating and nice as I can be.' Article content Article content When he left the forest, he was handed a fine of $28,872.50, according to an image of the document. Article content The new policy came into effect on Aug. 5, and will remain until Oct. 15. It bans people from hiking, camping, fishing and the use of vehicles like ATVs in the woods due to the elevated wildfire risk. People are not even allowed to enter the woods. The fine for violating the ban is $25,000. Article content Evely's fine includes taxes, fees, and surcharges. Article content 'I know it's the height of summer vacation and people want to do all the activities that we enjoy,' Houston said when the ban was announced. 'But we have to stay out of the woods. It's a small price to pay to avoid the devastation that we saw from wildfires in 2023.' Article content Article content Article content 'This law views people as the problem – not dangerous activities. This law is anti-human, and should someone find themselves on the wrong end of a charge – a massive charge, $25,000 dollar fine, for going into the woods, you can expect a constitutional challenge and a judicial review of this order,' said Marty Moore, a constitutional lawyer with JCCF. Article content 'Premier Houston would be wise to immediately review his overly broad order to avoid further legal action.' Article content Evely will argue that 'banning citizens from enjoying nature on the assumption they could start a fire is unconstitutional,' JCCF said. Article content Evely is not the only one asking for the ban to be reconsidered. The Ecology Action Centre, Dal Legal Aid and the Canadian Constitution Foundation have also said the ban should be overturned.
CTV News
7 minutes ago
- CTV News
Trump's nominee to oversee jobs, inflation data faces shower of criticism
Part of an email to Bureau of Labor Statistics employees from William Wiatrowski, obtained by The Associated Press, is photographed Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick) WASHINGTON — The director of the agency that produces the nation's jobs and inflation data is typically a mild-mannered technocrat, often with extensive experience in statistical agencies, with little public profile. But like so much in U.S. President Donald Trump's second administration, this time is different. Trump has selected E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, to be the next commissioner at the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Antoni's nomination was quickly met with a cascade of criticism from other economists, from across the political spectrum. His selection threatens to bring a new level of politicization to what for decades has been a nonpartisan agency widely accepted as a producer of reliable measures of the nation's economic health. While many former U.S. Labor Department officials say it it unlikely Antoni will be able to distort or alter the data, particularly in the short run, he could change the currently dry-as-dust way it is presented. Antoni was nominated by Trump after the BLS released a jobs report Aug. 1 that showed that hiring had weakened in July and was much lower in May and June than the agency had previously reported. Trump, without evidence, charged that the data had been 'rigged' for political reasons and fired the then-BLS chair, Erika McEntarfer, much to the dismay of many within the agency. Antoni has been a vocal critic of the government's jobs data in frequent appearances on podcasts and cable TV. His partisan commentary is unusual for someone who may end up leading the BLS. For instance, on Aug. 4 — a week before he was nominated — Antoni said in an interview on Fox News Digital that the Labor Department should stop publishing the monthly jobs reports until its data collection processes improve, and rely on quarterly data based on actual employment filings with state unemployment offices. The monthly employment reports are probably the closest-watched economic data on Wall Street, and can frequently cause swings in stock prices. When asked at Tuesday's White House briefing whether the jobs report would continue to be released, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration hoped it would be. Trump news White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a briefing at the White House, Tuesday, June 3, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) 'I believe that is the plan and that's the hope,' Leavitt said. Leavitt also defended Antoni's nomination, calling him an 'economic expert' who has testified before Congress and adding that, 'the president trusts him to lead this important department.' Yet Antoni's TV and podcast appearances have created more of a portrait of a conservative ideologue, instead of a careful economist who considers tradeoffs and prioritizes getting the math correct. 'There's just nothing in his writing or his resume to suggest that he's qualified for the position, besides that he is always manipulating the data to favor Trump in some way,' said Brian Albrecht, chief economist at the International Center for Law and Economics. Antoni wrongly claimed in the last year of Biden's presidency that the economy had been in recession since 2022; called on the entire U.S. Federal Reserve board to be fired for not earning a profit on its Treasury securities holdings; and posted a chart on social media that conflated timelines to suggest inflation was headed to 15 per cent. His argument that the U.S. was in a recession rested on a vastly exaggerated measure of housing inflation, based on newly-purchased home prices, to artificially make the nation's gross domestic product appear smaller than it was. 'This is actually maybe the worst Antoni content I've seen yet,' Alan Cole of the center-right Tax Foundation said on social media, referring to his recession claim. On a 2024 podcast, Antoni wanted to sunset Social Security payments for workers paying into the system, saying that 'you'll need a generation of people who pay Social Security taxes but never actually receive any of those benefits.' As head of the BLS, Antoni would oversee the release of the consumer price index by which Social Security payments are adjusted for inflation. Many economists share, to some degree, Antoni's concerns that the government's jobs data has flaws and is threatened by trends such as declining response rates to its surveys. The drop has made the jobs figures more volatile, though not necessarily less accurate over time. 'The stock market moves clearly based on these job numbers, and so people with skin in the game think it's telling them something about the future of their investments,' Albrecht said. 'Could it be improved? Absolutely.' Katharine Abraham, an economist at the University of Maryland who was BLS Commissioner under former U.S. President Bill Clinton, said updating the jobs report's methods would require at least some initial investment. The government could use more modern data sources, she said, such as figures from payroll processing companies, and fill in gaps with surveys. 'There's an inconsistency between saying you want higher response rates and you want to spend less money,' she said, referring to the administration's proposals to cut BLS funding. Still, Abraham and other former BLS commissioners don't think Antoni, if confirmed, would be able to alter the figures. He could push for changes in the monthly press release and seek to portray the numbers in a more positive light. William Beach, who was appointed BLS commissioner by Trump in his first term and also served under Biden, said he is confident that BLS procedures are strong enough to prevent political meddling. He said he didn't see the figures himself until two days before publication when he served as commissioner. 'The commissioner does not affect the numbers,'' Beach said. 'They don't collect the data. They don't massage the data. They don't organize it.' Regarding the odds of rigging the numbers, Beach said, 'I wouldn't put it at complete zero, but I'd put it pretty close to zero.'' It took about six months after McEntarfer was nominated in July 2023 for her to be approved. Antoni will likely face stiff opposition from Democrats, but that may not be enough to derail his appointment. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a senior Democrat from Washington, on Tuesday slammed Antoni as 'an unqualified right-wing extremist' and demanded that the GOP chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, hold a confirmation hearing for him. ___ Associated Press Staff Writers Paul Wiseman and Stephen Groves contributed to this story. Christopher Rugaber And Josh Boak, The Associated Press
CBC
8 minutes ago
- CBC
Is a U.S. trade deal still possible?
The Power Panel discusses the latest in the ongoing trade talks in Washington as tariff pressure mounts at home following U.S. President Donald Trump's deadline passing without a deal.
