Will Donald Trump and Elon Musk destroy each other?
How did two of the most powerful men on the planet — Donald Trump and Elon Musk — go from friends to foes embroiled in a public meltdown? Andrew Chang explains what drove a wedge between them and why it may be in their best interests to reconcile sooner rather than later. Images provided by Getty Images, The Canadian Press and Reuters. (Additional credits: 4:35 - MSNBC/YouTube; 4:37 - CNN/YouTube; 4:29 - CBS News/YouTube)
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Canada Standard
30 minutes ago
- Canada Standard
Wildfires Push Climate Onto the Agenda as G7 Leaders Meet in Alberta
With the G7 leaders' summit due to descend on Kananaskis, Alberta June 15-17, questions are swirling about what Canada can accomplish with this year's G7 presidency and how agreement is possible with Donald Trump in the room-while swirling smoke from a devastating Prairie wildfire season helps bring climate change back onto the leaders' agenda. Now in its 50th year, the G7 brings together the leaders of seven of the world's biggest economies plus the European Union in what is described as a "forum for co-operation, stability, and shared prosperity." The leaders' summit each year is meant to end with a consensus statement of all the countries. But community voices on everything from climate change to international finance and justice have rarely been satisfied with the outcome. Much of the news analysis leading up to this year's event has cast the G7 as a diminished institution, reduced to handshakes, photo ops, and carefully-worded generalities that are the most the countries can agree to. Coming into this year's summit, the G7's "legitimacy is hanging by a thread. Its promises have fallen flat, its unity is strained, and its moral voice is fading fast," retired civil servant Bhagwant Sandhu writes for The Hill Times. "Originally conceived as a multilateral pact among Western democracies to steward global economic control, the G7 was never intended to serve the desires of its most powerful-and now unpredictable and illiberal-member: the United States," he adds. "The group's initial goals have been obscured by authoritarianism, unilateral action, and creeping militarization." That leaves Prime Minister Mark Carney with a choice, Sandhu says. "Canada can, of course, preside over the usual choreography of communiques and handshakes-or try something more ambitious: restore the G7 to its founding mission." Carney's office kicked off that discussion June 7 with a list of the three "core missions" the PM will pursue in his role as G7 president, all "anchored in building stronger economies"-the same priority, CBC points out, that he has brought to the domestic scene in Canada. The list includes: "Protecting our communities and the world" by "strengthening peace and security, countering foreign interference and transnational crime, and improving joint responses to wildfires"; View our latest digests Building energy security and speeding up the "digital transition" by fortifying critical mineral supply chains and using technologies like artificial intelligence to spur economic growth; Investing in stronger infrastructure, creating higher-paying jobs, and fostering "dynamic", competitive markets for business. But much of the attention so far has been on the chaos Trump will bring to the table, just as he did in 2018 when Canada last hosted the G7 in Charlevoix, Quebec. Then, as now, U.S. tariffs were at the centre of the discussion, and Trump issued two angry tweets pulling the U.S. out of the leaders' final communique, just hours after countries had signed off on the text. "A show of unity on big geopolitical problems that holds longer than a few hours after President Donald Trump's participation will be seen as success after the American president in 2018 blew up a fragile consensus even before he left the last Canada-hosted G7 in Charlevoix, Que., later angrily insulting then-prime minister and G7 host Justin Trudeau," writes Toronto Star Ottawa bureau chief Tonda McCharles. This time around, "a key performance indicator for the summit will [be] getting something down that all leaders can agree upon that will also include the U.S.-and that will be a challenge," Deanna Horton, a diplomat who served twice in the Canadian embassy in Washington, told The Hill Times. On June 11, McCharles reported that organizers of this year's summit are not looking for a final communique that represents a consensus of all G7 members. "Instead, G7 host Carney is expected to issue a G7 chair's statement and the closed-door high-stakes sessions that could nevertheless produce some heated discussions will be summarized in documents likely to be so whitewashed of the juicy bits, that they could almost be written in advance." The Star has details on how the Summit agenda is likely to play out. Carney has also stirred controversy with the list of "middle power" countries he's invited to the summit. In addition to the leaders of Ukraine, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, and South Korea, the list includes Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government has been linked to acts of murder and extortion on Canadian soil, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been connected to human rights crackdowns, mistreatment of migrants, and the 2018 murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Meanwhile, Carney's plan for the summit makes scant direct reference to past G7 commitments in areas like power sector decarbonization, methane controls, forest and land degradation, and elimination of fossil fuel subsidies-a promise the countries made in 2016 and were supposed to deliver on by this year. "Its climate commitments remain stalled, and the vaunted $600-billion infrastructure pledge to the Global South-first announced in 2021 as the 'Build Back Better World' initiative-has been more frequently rebranded and re-announced than realized," Sandhu writes for The Hill Times. Moreover, "the G7 has yet to fulfill its decades-old promise to allocate 0.7% of each member's gross national income to humanitarian aid. At the start of the 2023 Hiroshima summit, it was still short by a staggering US$4.49-trillion. More troubling still, members like the United Kingdom have diverted aid funds from humanitarian crises to finance NATO expansions, raising serious questions about the group's priorities." In a release this week, Oxfam warned the G7 is in the midst of its biggest-ever foreign aid cut. The member countries, which account for three-quarters of the world's official development assistance, are on track to cut their aid budgets 28% in 2026 compared to 2024 levels, the organization said. "Rather than breaking from the Trump administration's cruel dismantling of USAID and other U.S. foreign assistance, G7 countries like the UK, Germany, and France are instead following the same path, slashing aid with brutal measures that will cost millions of lives," said Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar. "The G7's retreat from the world is unprecedented and couldn't come at a worse time, with hunger, poverty, and climate harm intensifying. The G7 cannot claim to build bridges on one hand while tearing them down with the other." Meanwhile, in a G7 agenda stripped bare of any language that could rile up a volatile U.S. president, author Arno Kopecky says the massive wildfires covering swaths of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia are playing into Canadian officials' plan for keeping climate change in the conversation. When officials first began planning the meeting last year, "Canada's Liberal government wanted the G7 to discuss climate change (the host nation sets the summit agenda), but what if Donald Trump was there as President?" Kopecky writes for the Globe and Mail. "This was no abstract worry either: the day before Jasper caught fire, Joe Biden had dropped out of the presidential race, and the Democrats' prospects looked dismal." Officials "knew that if they start with the standard stuff on climate change, Donald Trump and his people would get out their red pens and just say 'no way,'" John Kirton, founding director of the G7 Research Group, told Kopecky. "So then, what is your strategy? And wildfires was the answer." The difference, Kopecky writes, is that while Trump refuses to listen to climate science, he's seen a rash of wildfires since he returned to the White House in January, and his country is now receiving smoke from the blazes in Canada. "So Donald Trump's got a reason to be seen to be doing something about it," Kirton said. It also "speaks volumes" that the energy security section of the G7 agenda talks about artificial intelligence, but makes no reference to oil and gas, Kopecky writes. Source: The Energy Mix
Calgary Herald
43 minutes ago
- Calgary Herald
WATCH: The 2025 G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis, Spelled Out
Article content As world leaders gather in Alberta from June 15 to 17, this episode of Spelled Out breaks down what the G7 actually is, why it matters, and what to watch for this year. Reporter Bill Kaufmann sets the scene for the three days of meetings in Kananaskis, about one hour west of Calgary, looking at the impact of everything from the war in Ukraine to AI, climate change, and the return of Donald Trump. Article content Article content Article content What is the G7? Article content The G7 is a club of the world's richest democracies: the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Canada. The European Union also takes part. Article content It started in the 1970s, during a time of global economic chaos, as a way to figure out how to keep the global economy steady. Article content And for half a century, they've been meeting every year, discussing everything from trade to terrorism to tech. Article content The 2025 agenda is packed: economic recovery, climate change, AI, the digital transition, and of course, the war in Ukraine. Article content Article content But what makes this summit especially unpredictable is the return of U.S. President Donald Trump. He's known for challenging traditional alliances and for bringing plenty of drama to global forums. Article content Zelenskyy is pushing for tougher sanctions on Russia and more weapons and aid for Ukraine but that could rub Trump the wrong way, given his reluctance to escalate pressure on Moscow. Article content Article content While a lot of the action happens in front of the cameras, much of the work can take place on the sidelines. Article content At summits like this, leaders break off into smaller, private meetings — sometimes one-on-one. These quiet moments are often where real deals and negotiations happen. Article content Most of the area around the summit site in Kananaskis is closed to the public. Designated protest zones are set up in Calgary and Banff, where over 1,400 journalists will be reporting from an international media centre. Article content
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Mayor says city should repair buildings if landlords don't, but it hasn't in years
After recently touring an apartment building badly in need of repairs, Toronto's mayor sent a message to landlords: if they can't repair their property, the city should do the work themselves and send them a bill. But city data shows that Toronto hasn't exercised that power since 2021, when it was done once. Though the mayor is working to make the city more prepared to use it, through a successful motion at city council in May. Chow spoke about the enforcement measure known as remedial work Saturday — which the city has the power to use under the property standards bylaw — while addressing tenants of a Rexdale apartment building who are dealing with pest infestations, chronic flooding and other issues. But a 2024 report on RentSafeTO, the city's rental enforcement program, shows the tool has been used infrequently in recent years. It was used four times in 2017, once in 2018, ten times in 2019, once in 2020 and once in 2021. Remedial action wasn't used in 2022, 2023 or 2024, according to the RentSafeTO year in review for 2024. Chiara Padovani, with the York-South Weston tenants union, says renters have been demanding the city use its remedial work enforcement mechanism for years. "What we need the city to actually do is use that tool to use that power and actually implement remedial action when tenants are living in conditions that are impacting their health and safety," Padovani said. "When a landlord is not upholding their basic responsibilities and the bylaws that are in place to protect tenants to have a decent place to live, then the city needs to stop playing nice." WATCH | Residents of Toronto apartment in need of overdue repairs call for mayor's help: Residents of Toronto apartment in need of overdue repairs call on mayor's help 3 days ago Duration 2:52 Mould, insects, and plumbing problems are just some of the issues tenants at a Rexdale apartment complex are raising to Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow. Tenants say their landlord isn't doing anything to address the problems, and the city's enforcement is failing them. CBC's Naama Weingarten reports. In a statement, the city said the goal of RentSafeTO is to use "progressive enforcement action" to achieve compliance, reminding tenants that any issues they're having with a building should be brought to the landlord first. It says remedial action is used in "extenuating circumstances." Padovani says a perfect example of the city's lack of enforcement came in a recent ombudsman's report delivered in May. In it, the city's municipal licensing and standards (MLS) department, who are responsible for bylaw enforcement, was criticized for unfairly responding to requests for help from tenants at a building in need of repair. City didn't consider remedial action, homes lost: report The report looked into the city's handling of a rooming house with no heat and water, a loss of vital services that caused 10 of 11 tenants to lose their homes. "MLS never considered using its own power to restore the vital services itself," the report reads. It goes on to say there is no indication MLS considered remedial action for the building. After that report was made public, the mayor put forward a motion requesting city staff to make sure Toronto has a roster of contractors who, if needed, can carry out emergency repairs to keep buildings livable. The property standards bylaw is meant to ensure rentals are free of pests, kept clean and have running hot water, among a variety of other things. If the city has to step in and do work itself, a fee of $74.36 per hour is added to the owner's property tax bill. The head of the city's federation of tenants' associations also can't remember an instance of the city actually using its power to do repairs for tenants. Yaroslava Avila Montenegro, executive director of the Federation Of Metro Tenants' Associations, said if the city exercised that mechanism more regularly, it would make a huge impact. "We at the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations get calls on maintenance work with different buildings every single day," she said. "I would say around 50 per cent of our intake calls deal with some kind of maintenance issue." She believes there needs to be a shift in the way the city approaches enforcement. "Broadly speaking, in Canada we have this culture that puts homeowners first in terms of priorities. But when it comes to folks who rent, and tenants, we are seen as second-class citizens," she said. The city's website says in some cases issues are resolved by educating landlords, while in others further action is required. A 2024 RentSafeTO report says the enforcement team's objective is to "work with building owners."
