Manitoba sets date to establish long-promised seniors' advocate office
The long-promised Manitoba plan to establish an independent seniors' advocate, who would examine health care, social services and other programs that affect older generations, is finally set to go ahead.
But not for several more months.
The government will proclaim legislation on Nov. 1 that will open the door for the advocate to be appointed, said Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister Uzoma Asagwara on Friday.
An advocate's office was a campaign promise by both the NDP and the Manitoba Liberals in the lead-up to the 2023 election. After forming government, the NDP made it a key commitment in the mandate letter for Asagwara.
Once appointed, the advocate will set up an independent office of the legislature to examine individual complaints, as well as systemic issues faced by seniors and elders, similar to the provincial advocate for children and youth.
The seniors' advocate will also be required to make reports and recommendations to the legislature in a public manner.
The recommendations could be on a wide range of government services, including health care, housing and government programs and supports, Asagwara said in a news release from the province.
Laura Tamblyn Watts, CEO of the Canadian seniors' advocacy organization CanAge, called the announcement "a huge victory for Manitoba seniors," adding CanAge is "very encouraged that this government is starting to put the pieces in place to address the needs of its aging population.
In other provinces where there are already seniors' advocates, "real change has started to happen," she said in an email to CBC News.
Connie Newman, executive director of Manitoba Association of Senior Communities, called the advocate position "a good thing," but not the be-all and end-all.
"The more ears that are on older adult issues [the better]. It should help us all," she said.
But Newman is worried the establishment of the office will make the public and government feel like everything is being taken care of, when "there's a lot of issues out there," and the new office won't solve them all.
"That's my biggest fear," she said, adding she is concerned the office won't be funded enough for the amount of work it will likely face.
Those aged 65-plus "dominate the landscape" in terms of population numbers, she said.
While the advocate can deal with policy issues, it can't solve others faced by seniors, such as the isolation and growing mental health issues many face — or, more simply, general courtesy toward seniors as they learn to live in a society that seems to be forgetting them, said Newman.
"We, as the public have to be nicer. There's things people can do, like helping an older person cross the road," she said.
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The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. 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 He had VIP tickets for him and his wife to attend an upscale seafood festival in Los Angeles last December where they would feast on the food he grew up eating as a kid in Boston. Surrounded by shellfish presented raw on ice by some of the city's best chefs, Kapczynski said he chose to sample a few 'Fanny Bay' oysters harvested from the southern B.C. coastline. 'After three or four hours, I wished I was dead it hurt so much,' said Kapczynski, who was hit with severe abdominal pain and vomiting every 30 minutes for five hours. 'It was the most painful thing I've ever felt.' 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And in March, FDA officials issued public import warnings about oysters from two Baynes Sound suppliers. B.C. Shellfish Growers Association executive director Nico Prins at the Stellar Bay Shellfish wet holding facility in Deep Bay located on the east coast of Vancouver Island north of Qualicum Beach. Photo by Chad Hipolito / Postmedia This isn't something farmers are doing to their oysters. This is something happening to the waters we grow them in Nico Prins, executive director of the B.C. Shellfish Growers Association 'This isn't something farmers are doing to their oysters. This is something happening to the waters we grow them in,' said Nico Prins, executive director of the B.C. Shellfish Growers Association. 'The underlying causes point to long-standing government failures, jurisdictional confusion and a lack of meaningful partnership with industry.' 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Journalists from the Investigative Journalism Bureau and New York City News Service have analyzed six years worth of shellfish recall and outbreak data across Canada and the United States, and interviewed more than two dozen oyster farmers, consumers, aquaculture researchers and government officials to understand how human waste sitting on ocean floors is being transported vast distances and into the mouths of unsuspecting oyster consumers. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. That's what likely happened to many oyster lovers in Los Angeles and beyond in December 2024 when the oyster beds of Baynes Sound were closed by federal authorities just two days before the federal government issued a massive recall notice warning of 'possible norovirus contamination.' By that point, the suspected tainted mollusks were fanning out across the continent to restaurants, hotels, seafood festivals and grocery stores. A view from above of the Stellar Bay Shellfish production tumbling area where workers rotate oyster baskets in and out of the salt water to mimic the natural wear of the ocean and help improve shell size and grade in the Bayne Sound at Bowser, B.C. Photo by CHAD HIPOLITO / POSTMEDIA Most oysters on the market — both raw and cooked — are safe. And the continental industry is growing. Canada's oyster market hit $66 million from 15,000 metric tonnes in 2022, the last year for which data is available. A decade earlier it was about 10,000 tonnes, valued at about $28.3 million. B.C. leads the country in oyster production with 7,371 tonnes. Americans consume 42.3 million pounds of oysters per year. In 2023, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration valued domestic oyster production at US$243 million. But most oysters consumed by Americans come from foreign waters. Canada is the leading exporter of oysters to the United States, with about 90 per cent of the country's production heading south. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Last year alone, the U.S. imported about 10.6-million pounds of Canadian oysters. But while the gnarly shellfish have become a high-demand delicacy summoning a precious price from sophisticated foodies, they have an unfortunate characteristic: Oysters ingest organisms such as bacteria, viruses and other toxins in the ocean water where they are grown. That includes fecal matter. Stellar Bay Shellfish wet holding facility where Pacific oysters are graded, washed and sorted at their location in Bowser. Photo by Chad Hipolito While all shellfish filter their food and pass it along to those who consume them, health risks are mitigated with mussels, clams and other shellfish because they are typically cooked. Not so with oysters, which are most often served raw on ice. 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It takes 10 viral particles to get you sick and every gram of vomit and feces has seven billion particles in it. Bob Rheault, executive director of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association Hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. and Canada get sick every year from norovirus. But a lack of reporting and monitoring make it impossible to know how many of those cases were caused by tainted oysters. In part, that is because most people do not provide a stool sample needed to prove the connection. 'Very few cases will actually have lab confirmation,' said Prystajecky at B.C. Centre for Disease Control, who calls official illness numbers a 'gross underestimation.' One factor complicating traceability is the prevalence of shellfish medley plates served at restaurants. Restaurants offering diners a variety of shellfish from multiple sources on the same plate, coupled with poor record keeping, makes it extremely difficult to identify the source of a potential contamination in the event of a reported illness. Kapczynski's contact with suspected tainted oysters happened at last year's L.A. Times 101 Best Restaurants, an annual event that features some of the most prestigious and elegant restaurants in Los Angeles. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. He said he consumed about a dozen pieces of shellfish that night including nine oysters and a few clams. Nearly 90 people were infected with norovirus at the Los Angeles seafood event that Kapczynski attended, according to the Los Angeles County Health Department. Sixteen sought medical care from the incident and two were hospitalized, the department said. But Kapczynski suspects the real number may be much higher. After the incident, he posted on social media asking if anyone who had attended the L.A. Times event had become ill. He says he quickly connected with others who experienced the same symptoms. The outbreak triggered recalls by oyster distributors across California, health advisories issued by the state's public health department and warnings from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Canadian government about consuming oysters from Baynes Sound due to suspected norovirus contamination. Stellar Bay Shellfish president Sean Reid is photographed near the production line on Bayne Sound in Bowser, B.C. Photo by Chad Hipolito / Postmedia Baynes Sound harvest areas dubbed 14-8 and 14-15 — near Denman Island on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island — are less than 200 kilometres from Vancouver. For generations, farmers in Baynes Sound have fanned out along the shellfish-rich coastline in boats, pulling up baskets, trays or cages containing oysters from the ocean floor. In shallow water, farmers pluck oysters by hand and place them into mesh bags This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Once collected, the oysters move to a federally inspected processing facility where they are graded and packed before being shipped to markets across Canada, the U.S. and beyond. Timothy Green is an expert in aquaculture at Vancouver Island University who studies shellfish production from an office overlooking the harvesting grounds of 14-8. He said human sewage contamination from failing septic systems in Baynes Sound is exacerbated by government buck-passing from one agency to another, repeatedly ending with inaction. 'It seems to be that the powers that be are absolutely powerless to stop this from happening,' he said. 'For some reason in North America, we just don't want to take care of our wastewater.' Government oversight of Canada's oyster industry is labyrinthine, spanning a range of agencies and departments at all three levels of government. Provincial and municipal governments are responsible for sewage infrastructure, treatment systems and land-use planning. In a written statement to reporters, B.C.'s ministry of health said it is difficult to monitor the source of the fecal contamination behind norovirus outbreaks. 'Current surveillance methods can only detect whether there is fecal bacteria in the water. Without knowing the source of contamination (for example human vs. animal) it is difficult to set up a mechanism to prevent the contamination from happening again.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Federally, four different agencies have various responsibilities for oyster monitoring. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) verifies shellfish entering the market are safe and recommends closing high-risk harvest sites to Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), which issues the closures. Meanwhile, Transport Canada regulates sewage discharges from vessels, while Environment and Climate Change Canada sets and enforces national standards for wastewater. It's a crush of regulatory oversight. But it is failing consumers and triggering devastating impacts on harvesters, said oyster farmers in Baynes Sound. B.C. Shellfish Growers executive director Prins said industry revenues are down 35 per cent because of norovirus-related closures in Baynes Sound. 'And this year is going to be way, way worse. I wouldn't be surprised if companies and the industry will be down 50 per cent on sales.' Pacific oysters work their way through a grading facility in Fanny Bay. Photo by Chad Hipolito Alex Munro, director of farming and processing for Fanny Bay Oysters, said his company suffered a 50 per cent drop in production from a three-month closure of the oyster beds from the December 2024 outbreak. 'Then this year we got slammed again for four or five months,' said the 30-year oyster producing veteran. 'We have an ongoing problem with human waste getting into the ocean and contaminating our products and we're trying very hard to identify where that's coming from and to try and get someone to fix it.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In addition to the December 2024 recall, the company was also named in oyster recalls in October 2023 and March 2022. Stellar Bay Shellfish in Baynes Sound was also shut down for six months this year and nearly that long in the previous two years, said Sean Reid, a third-generation oyster farmer and president of the company. The production losses totalled as much as $3 million. 'We do have rules about the functioning of your septic fields and systems,' he said. 'How would you not have enforcement and regulation on something as important as that for the environment?' Beyond the economic hit, blaring international headlines detailing oyster-related outbreaks and illnesses can have lasting reputational damage on the B.C. shellfish industry. 'Just the press we've had the last three years has been so damaging to the whole area that I have a lot of distributors that are like, 'I have a lot of customers that won't touch anything from Baynes Sound now,'' said Reid. 'We were in a lot of the larger hotel chain-type restaurants… and they, as a corporation said, 'We don't want product from there. There's too much liability associated with it.'' B.C. Shellfish Growers Association executive director Nico Prins stands among tons of oyster and clam shells at the Mac Oysters facility in Fanny Bay. The shells can later be crushed into a powder and used for other agriculture purposes. Photo by Chad Hipolito / Postmedia News Government reports and studies dating back more than two decades show repeated calls for more stringent regulation and oversight of the oyster harvesting waters of Baynes Sound. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In December 2002, a quarter of the waters in Baynes Sound were closed for harvesting over concerns of sewage discharge from boats, according to documents from the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management Coast & Marine Planning Branch in B.C. 'A significant portion of Baynes Sound waters have been subjected to bacterial contamination from a variety of upland sources such as sewage and agricultural runoff,' the report concluded. The report called for action including inspections of aquaculture in Baynes Sound, letters sent to 'non-compliant operators as an initial step to bringing them back into compliance, and an enforceable code of practice for shellfish aquaculture.' Between November 2016 and May 2017, more than 400 Canadians were sickened after eating raw oysters from 12 B.C. shellfish farms that tested positive for contamination of norovirus, E. coli and other bacteria, according to a report by B.C. Centre for Disease Control. Half of those farms were in Baynes Sound. A prolonged outbreak closed 12 shellfish farms linked to norovirus illnesses, triggering economic losses of more than $9 million, according to a provincial report that called for more action to reduce the risks. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'How did norovirus contaminate so many different shellfish farms? Human sewage contamination of the marine environment,' the report concludes. 'What occurred in the 2016-17 season will occur again ― the only question is when.' The following year, at least 176 Canadians and 100 Americans were confirmed to have been infected with the norovirus linked to B.C. oysters that made their way to eight states and across Canada. Oysters from Baynes Sound were responsible for 'the majority of illnesses,' concluded B.C. Centre for Disease Control in a later report on the incident. 'Commercial fishing vessels are the most plausible source of human sewage and norovirus contamination,' the report concluded. One commercial fishing vessel operating in the Baynes Sound area reported that discharging sewage into the ocean was 'common practice.' In February 2022, the B.C. Shellfish Growers Association sent strongly worded letters to officials and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Environment and Climate Change Canada asking for meetings to discuss the 'devastating effect' of norovirus outbreaks linked to oysters cultured in the Baynes Sound. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. None agreed to meet, according to the association. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in a written statement that it has maintained 'regular engagement with the B.C. Shellfish Growers Association,' and that norovirus contamination of shellfish is a 'shared responsibility that involves all levels of government, as well as other stakeholders.' Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) said in a written statement that it has been engaged in mitigation discussions around human waste and norovirus in Baynes Sound since 2022 when it convened a working group including agencies involved in the management of shellfish safety, waste regulation, public health, pollution control and enforcement. The statement does not reference any specific outcomes from the working group discussions. A handful of oyster seed also known as spat held at a facility in Fanny Bay. Photo by Chad Hipolito 'DFO remains open to continued dialogue with industry on possible collaborative approaches to address long-standing pollution challenges,' the statement said. Environment and Climate Change Canada did not respond to questions from the IJB. Three months after the B.C. Shellfish Growers Association reached out to the federal ministries, Canadian and American authorities issued warnings about raw oysters from 14-8 and 14-15 following a large outbreak of 192 norovirus illnesses reported from 13 states impacting more than 600 people. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In February 2023, the association's Prins sent another letter, this time to the provincial ministry of health, again asking for a meeting. 'Our industry and farmers can no longer afford to have our businesses eroded or sit idle while we are the victims of a shameful practice and a failure of government,' the letter said. No meeting ever took place, he said. That same month — February 2023 — and again in December of that year, the FDA issued warnings after oysters from 14-8 suspected of carrying norovirus and Campylobacter jejuni — a food poisoning-causing bacteria commonly associated with animal feces — reached consumers across the U.S. Prins and his members have been hesitant to speak publicly about the concerns with contaminated waters where they earn their livelihood for fear of adding to the area's reputational damage. But their frustrations have reached a boiling point, he said. 'We are taking action to protect our customers and safeguard our farms. But we are limited. We don't have the authority, the tools or the resources to upgrade wastewater infrastructure, enforce regulation or monitor all the potential contributors to contamination. That is the job of government.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Freshly cleaned oysters glistening in the morning sun in Chance Harbour, Pictou County. Photo by Molly MacNaughton / IJB B.C.'s oyster fields aren't the only ocean waters in Canada compromised by suspected sewage-tainted oyster beds. 'Same issues here,' said Paul Budreski, who has been farming oysters along Nova Scotia's north shore for decades. 'We have poorly treated sewage systems … There has been very little attention from the federal and provincial governments.' Paul Budreski has worked in the shellfish industry since 1978. He says It keeps him active and allows him to stay close to his sons and grandsons. Soon, his second oldest will take over the family business. Photo by Molly MacNaughton / IJB On a recent summer morning Budreski's son — dressed in a black wetsuit — was sorting oysters just pulled from harvesting grounds in Chance Harbour, N.S., as his father looked on. They typically gather their catch by diving or snorkelling in shallow waters. The uniform-sized oysters are separated and sent to local restaurants. The rest go to loyal customers who care more about taste than aesthetics. Budreski holds two oyster leases. One of them is not far from an area that he said has been contaminated for decades. He believes the cause is obvious: failing septic systems and sewage runoff from a cluster of aging cottages nearby. Federal data obtained by the IJB shows 122 active shellfish farming closures since 2019 in the Northumberland Strait, an oyster-rich stretch of coastline along the north shore of Nova Scotia where Budreski harvests. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The vast majority of those — 114 — were attributed to 'water quality or sanitary pollution source.' In September of last year, at least 550 people got sick from norovirus at the P.E.I. International Shellfish Festival, according to the province's chief health officer. Canada has 'very strict' guidelines on where it allows shellfish to be harvested, said Sarah Stewart-Clark, an associate professor of shellfish aquaculture at Dalhousie University in Truro, N.S. Paul Budreski's son cleans off a fresh batch of oysters in the water. He calls his business a 'small boutique operator,' mostly selling to restaurants within Nova Scotia. He hasn't sold in the U.S. since 2015. Photo by Molly MacNaughton / IJP 'I say we're one of the best in the world at that part. That's not saying that we're the best in the world in ensuring all of our sewage is treated before it goes out into the ocean.' She said Canada could grow more food if the problem of untreated sewage was addressed. 'There's some areas where the municipality has not had any treatment of sewage,' she said. 'In other cities, they have developed sewage-treatment facilities, but they haven't separated their rainwater collection from that sewage treatment.' That lack of separation causes trouble during heavy rainfall, when treatment plants can become overwhelmed by the combined flow of sewage and rainwater, said Stewart-Clark. 'There are immediate closures whenever that happens to ensure that consumers are safe.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The risk of sewer overflows and runoff from extreme rain is increasing as water temperatures rise. Estuaries, where many oysters are cultivated, are in the direct line of these runoffs that can carry bacteria and toxins into rivers and eventually oceans where they can get into the oysters. 'They're going to pick up some of these pathogens that are being flushed down from the pastures, from the impermeable surfaces in the urban environment, and that's how they can get into the food chain,' said Jan Semenza, an environmental epidemiologist and associate at the Department of Sustainable Health at Umeå University in Sweden and Heidelberg Institute of Global Health in Germany. 'If we don't clean up our environment, it all ends up in the oysters.' Pictou oyster fisherman Budreski said it is time for governments to act. 'Who doesn't want clean water? We have a problem here … maybe we should do something about it.' Keefer McMahon works with disgarded oyster shells in the Stellar Bay Shellfish wet holding facility where Pacific oysters are graded, washed and sorted in Deep Bay located in Bowser. Photo by Chad Hipolito / Postmedia News While federal agencies in both Canada and the U.S. oversee oyster production, there remains a patchwork of state and provincial rules. Many experts and oyster harvesters in B.C. say they long for the approach they see just south of the border in Washington state, which they say is ahead of the curve in regulating, testing and preventing contaminated shellfish from entering the market. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. If an illness outbreak occurs from Washington shellfish, an epidemiologist will do an evaluation to determine the source of the illness. If it is determined that it is not food handling at the restaurant but the oysters themselves, the harvesting grounds are shut down and the department of health reviews the evidence to determine the source of contamination. 'We also try to define [if] there is an ongoing source occurring in this area where we need to have a long-term closure and work with our partners to get things fixed before we reopen,' said Scott Berbells, manager of Washington's Department of Health's shellfish growing area section. Part of that investigation involves shoreline inspectors who show up at contamination areas looking for evidence of failing septic systems or wastewater plants, as well as ships dumping human waste. 'We have staff that are in the field that are going door-to-door, that are walking over drain field areas, inspecting onsite sewage systems, interviewing homeowners about their systems,' said Berbells. 'Anything in the watershed that has the ability to impact the marine water we have to look at and evaluate and determine that the risk is low enough to allow shellfish harvesting.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. A Mac Oysters boat departs from the dock at Fanny Bay. Photo by Chad Hipolito / IJP That vigilance typically kicks into gear within hours, he said. 'If we get a report today, we try to be out in an area this afternoon, looking around, doing research, talking with our local health partners, trying to figure out what's going on.' The department also employs an environmental engineer who focuses on discharges from wastewater-treatment plants, marinas and other potential sources of contamination. If a cause is found, such as an old septic system oozing human waste into coastline waters, state officials from public health and local health authorities work together to strategize a fix, including offering loans and grants to homeowners to make the repairs. 'We don't just walk away and call the area prohibited and say we're done,' said Berbells. 'We work with our partners to try and find the problem and fix it.' If a contamination source is not identified, the harvest area will be closed for a minimum of 21 days to ensure the virus dies off, although it could be longer depending on the season. The state also takes a preventative approach to stopping contamination before it happens, including efforts to flag potential contamination sources in advance or closing harvest areas preemptively. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'We are constantly evaluating and reevaluating septic systems along the shoreline,' said Berbells. 'This includes periodic inspections of those systems, and really maintaining those systems so they do not fail, finding the problem before it's a failure, and fixing those minor problems before we have surfacing sewage in the area.' Vancouver Island University's Green said Washington state's commitment to solving the problem rather than just identifying it and moving on is key to the long-term health of our waters. 'We're not going to solve every norovirus outbreak, but we certainly should be able to reduce the number of big outbreaks.' An oyster's age can roughly be estimated by counting the growth rings on its shell. Photo by Molly MacNaughton / IJB 'I'll have a vendetta against oysters forever' Around the same time that Kapczynski was sliding B.C. oysters into his mouth in Los Angeles last year, Jaya Flanary was eating oysters from those same harvesting beds. Flanary was visiting Vancouver with her boyfriend, Isaiah, on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, from their home about 60 kms south in Washington state. Before they headed out to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park to see the canyon lights, the couple decided to dine at a downtown seafood market. That night on the cliffwalk at Capilano, her boyfriend of four years proposed. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'It was great until it wasn't,' she said. 'I'll have a vendetta against oysters forever.' By the next day, the couple's engagement celebrations were spent experiencing intense nausea, cramps and what Flanary described as 'the worst headache either of us have ever had.' 'We spent the entire night — his turn, my turn, his turn, my turn — projectile vomiting and s**tting the entire night. It was the worst experience ever,' she said. Flanary hasn't touched oysters since. Kapczynski, whose abdominal pain lingered for weeks after he consumed Baynes Sound oysters, has also avoided oysters ever since. 'I will not eat a raw oyster again, for a long time, if ever,' he said. Learning of the long history of contamination in the Baynes Sound from reporters, he said the answer is obvious. 'Our food supply is so critical,' he said. 'We have to do something about it.' Agatha Khishchenko and Andy Lehren are with the New York City News Service. The Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB) at the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health is a collaborative investigative newsroom supported by Postmedia that partners with academics, researchers and journalists while training the next generation of investigative reporters.
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- Global News
Carney holds ‘productive' call with Trump as U.S. trade war stretches on
Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke over the phone on Thursday as the effects from Trump's trade war continue to mount. The two leaders had a 'productive and wide-ranging conversation,' Carney's office said in a statement. The call came just hours after Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand was in Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 'The leaders discussed current trade challenges, opportunities, and shared priorities in a new economic and security relationship between Canada and the U.S.,' the statement from the Prime Minister's Office said. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Russia's war in Ukraine was also discussed, the PMO said. 'The leaders also discussed how to build on the President's leadership to support long-term peace and security for Ukraine and Europe,' it added. Story continues below advertisement The two also agreed to 'reconvene shortly.' The phone call between Carney and Trump comes after Trump signed an executive order last month that raised tariffs on Canada to 35 per cent on Aug. 1, and as a trade deal remains out of reach. The White House said at the time that Trump was raising the tariff rate because Canada 'has failed to cooperate in curbing the ongoing flood of fentanyl and other illicit drugs' into the U.S., as well as Canada's retaliatory tariffs on American goods. Carney said at the time he was 'disappointed' by Trump's decision to raise tariffs further. 'While the Canadian government is disappointed by this action, we remain committed to CUSMA, which is the world's second-largest free trade agreement by trading volume,' Carney wrote in a letter posted on social media.
