Regional plan rejection delaying current Halifax housing projects: mayor
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Globe and Mail
13 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
California Republicans sue to block Democratic redistricting plan
Republican lawmakers in California have filed suit seeking to block action on Governor Gavin Newsom's redistricting plan, which aims to create five new Democratic U.S. congressional seats in his state to counter a similar move in Texas favouring Republicans. The Republicans argue in their emergency petition to the California Supreme Court that the state constitution bars consideration of the redistricting plan until September 18 because new legislation requires a 30-day review period before lawmakers may act on it. The four Republicans who filed the suit on Monday asked the court to block Democratic lawmakers from moving forward with the legislation until September 18, absent a three-fourths vote the petition says would otherwise be required of each chamber to proceed sooner. The petition asks the state Supreme Court to rule on the merits of the lawsuit by Wednesday or to stay the legislative process in Sacramento while the case remains under judicial review. California Democrats currently face an August 22 deadline to pass all three bills of the redistricting plan to meet Newsom's goal of placing the newly drawn political maps on the ballot for a special statewide election on November 4. The lawsuit comes as Newsom seeks a tit-for-tat expansion of California's Democratic delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives to offset a redistricting effort pursued in Texas at the behest of President Donald Trump that would net five more House seats for Republicans. Trump's redistricting fight could spread to other states as California looks to replicate Texas GOP plan Republicans now hold a narrow 219-212 majority in the U.S. House, with the battle for control of Congress expected to be closely fought in the November 2026 midterm election. Newsom and his fellow Democrats have characterized their bid to depart from the state's independent, bipartisan redistricting process – adopted by voters in 2008 – as a temporary 'emergency' strategy to neutralize what they see as extreme moves by Trump and the Republicans to rig the system. The redistricting effort pushed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott broke with a tradition in which lawmakers draw new electoral maps only after the once-per-decade census. Democrats also argued that the Republican proposal would disenfranchise minority voters by weakening their political clout. A special session Abbott called to pass the Republican plan led to a two-week walkout by more than 50 Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives, who left the state to deny the legislative quorum necessary to pass Republicans' plan. The Texas Democrats returned to the Austin statehouse on Monday, saying they had achieved their goal of temporarily thwarting the Republicans while prompting Democratic-led states, such as California, to consider mid-decade redistricting moves of their own. State Democrats return to Texas, ending walkout that stymied vote to redraw congressional map But Texas Republican leaders immediately initiated a crackdown on newly returning Democrats, requiring they be permitted to come and go from the state Capitol only if they signed a paper agreeing to be placed under escort of a state police officer who would ensure they were present for legislative sessions going forward. Several Democrats bristled at the escorts, calling the restriction a political stunt that was wasting public money. One legislator, Texas House Representative Nicole Collier, protested the move by refusing to sign the required permission slip and spending the entire night in the statehouse rather than consent to being placed in the custody of a police escort. Texas Republicans, newly assured of a quorum, planned to take up their redistricting measure on Wednesday.
Globe and Mail
13 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Trump criticizes Powell again, says Fed chair is ‘hurting' the housing industry
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is 'hurting' the housing industry 'very badly' and repeated his call for a big cut to U.S. interest rates. 'Could somebody please inform Jerome 'Too Late' Powell that he is hurting the Housing Industry, very badly? People can't get a Mortgage because of him. There is no Inflation, and every sign is pointing to a major Rate Cut,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. Inflation is well off the highs seen during the pandemic, but some recent data has given a mixed picture and inflation continues to track above the Fed's 2 per cent target range. Trump's latest salvo against Powell comes ahead of the Fed chair's Friday speech at the annual Jackson Hole central banking symposium, where investors will cleave to his every word for hints on his economic outlook and the likelihood of a coming reduction to short-term borrowing costs. The Fed's next policy meeting will be held on September 16-17. Investors and economists are betting the Fed will cut rates by a quarter of a percentage point next month with perhaps another reduction of similar size to come later in the year, far less than the several percentage points that Trump has called for. Trump's Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has promoted the idea of a half-point rate cut in September. Trump considering 'major lawsuit' against Fed's Powell over Washington headquarter renovations The U.S. central bank cut its policy rate half a percentage point last September, just before the presidential election, and trimmed it another half of a percentage point in the two months immediately following Trump's electoral victory, but has held it steady in the 4.25 per cent to 4.50 per cent range for all of this year. Fed policymakers have worried that Trump's tariffs could reignite inflation and also felt the labor market was strong enough not to require a boost from lower borrowing costs. The Consumer Price Index rose 0.2 per cent in July, with the 12-month rate through July at 2.7 per cent, unchanged from June. Core CPI, which strips out the volatile food and energy components, increased 3.1 per cent year-over-year in July. Based in part on that data, economists estimated the core Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index rose 0.3 per cent in July. That would raise the year-on-year increase to 3 per cent in July. The PCE is a key measure tracked by the Fed against its own 2 per cent inflation target. And despite a moderate rise in overall consumer prices in July, producer and import prices jumped, a suggestion that higher consumer prices could be coming as sellers pass higher costs onto households. The inflation picture comes amid a picture of a possible cooling in the labor market, with declines in monthly job gains, although the unemployment rate, at 4.2 per cent, remains low by historical standards. Fed expected to stick with regular-sized rate cut after hot inflation data Trump's online attacks on the Fed and Powell more typically focus on the cost that higher interest rates mean for U.S. government borrowing. High mortgage rates are a key pain point for potential homebuyers who are also facing high and rising home prices due to a dearth of housing supply. Mortgage rates can be loosely tied to the Fed's overnight benchmark rate but more closely track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which typically rises and falls based on investors' expectations for economic growth and inflation. A Fed rate cut does not always mean lower long-term rates – indeed after the Fed cut rates last September, mortgage rates – which had been on the decline – rose sharply. In recent weeks the most popular rate – the 30-year fixed mortgage rate – has drifted downward but – at around 6.7 per cent most recently – is still much higher than it had been before inflation took off after the pandemic shock and the Fed began its rate-hike campaign in 2022.
CTV News
13 minutes ago
- CTV News
Pierre Poilievre must still face leadership review after winning byelection
Edmonton Watch CTV News Edmonton's Evan Kenny finds out how Pierre Poilievre's win in the Battle River-Crowfoot byelection will impact his upcoming Conservative Party leadership review.
