Canadians could stay visa-free longer in U.S. under proposed bill
Canadian snowbirds could stay longer in the United States without a visa if a bill recently proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives becomes law.
The bipartisan bill put forward by Reps. Elise Stefanik of New York, Laurel Lee of Florida and Greg Stanton of Arizona proposes to extend the time Canadian citizens can remain in the U.S. without a visa from 180 days to 240.
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National Observer
43 minutes ago
- National Observer
Canada's Conservatives still aren't serious about housing
He was so close to getting it. Jacob Mantle, the newly-elected thirty-something Conservative MP for York-Durham, rose in the House of Commons on Tuesday to make a point about housing costs. 'Oxford Economics reports that Toronto's housing market ranks among the worst in the world for affordability. At the same time, mortgage delinquency rates in Toronto are higher than at any time during the pandemic. The financial burden is suffocating the next generation of homebuyers.' But Mantle wasn't actually interested in proposing solutions to that problem. Instead, he wanted to whine about the fact that the Carney government isn't going to table a budget until the fall, which the government has defended on the basis that it will be better able to account for the fallout from Donald Trump's tariffs by then. And despite his supposed concern over housing, Mantle was dismissive of the government's plan to embrace and scale up modular housing in Canada. 'My generation refuses to live in a shipping container,' Mantle said. For what it's worth, I suspect many members of his generation (and mine) would be happy to live in the sort of modified shipping containers that are being designed and built right now, including the ones in his own city. But modular housing is so much more than just the use and conversion of shipping containers. It's an entirely new approach to homebuilding, one that uses factories and their inherent economies of scale to drive down costs. They can be one or two-storey, single or multi-family, and configured in any number of layouts and sizes. In an environment where driving down construction costs is a nearly existential issue for Mantle's generation, you'd think he would be more open to new ideas and economic innovation — especially when it promises to use more Canadian materials and labour. Then again, if you've been paying close attention to the Conservative Party of Canada's approach to this issue, his behaviour was entirely predictable. Under Pierre Poilievre's leadership, the party and its MPs have repeatedly highlighted the very real problem of rising housing costs in Canada and the disproportionate impacts they have on younger people. But when it comes to actual solutions to that problem — ones, at least, that don't involve cutting taxes or regulations and assuming the market will magically solve the problem it has helped create — those same Conservatives either disappear into the metaphorical bushes or come out on the other side of the issue. In Calgary, for example, opposition to a city-wide measure to increase affordability and density while reducing sprawl came mostly from Conservative-leaning councilors like Dan McLean, Peter Demong and Sean Chu, with some conspicuous cheerleading work coming from federal Conservative MP Greg McLean. In British Columbia, provincial Conservative party leader John Rustad decided to go to bat for the very 'gatekeepers' standing in the way of new housing that Poilievre had repeatedly promised he would eliminate. Even in Ontario, where Conservative politicians have been more visibly and vocally on-side with pro-supply measures, the results of the Ford government's efforts have been underwhelming, to say the least. We are not in a moment where we can afford to reflexively turn our noses up at potential solutions. And yet, Conservative politicians like Mantle seem determined to find fault in every proposed approach that doesn't flatter their own pre-existing ideological and political biases towards cutting taxes and reducing government involvement. Modular housing will not be, in and of itself, the solution to a problem that has been building for more than two decades. But that's only because nothing on its own will, or could, be the solution. The Carney government has embraced modular housing as a way to lower costs and improve affordability in Canada's housing market. Canada's Conservatives, on the other hand, seem determined to miss the mass timber for the trees. Instead, we need every possible lever being pulled right now, from regulatory reform and improved operating efficiencies to direct government involvement, procurement, and even development. Mantle is right that the status quo has failed his generation. But he's wrong to indignantly oppose a good-faith effort at challenging and changing it, and all the more so as he pretends to speak on behalf of an entire generation. We can only hope that his party and its online proxies don't decide to turn modular housing into this year's iteration of the 15-minute city and throw a self-evidently good and decent idea into the stew of online conspiracies it always seems to have at low boil. Yes, that might feed the eternally hungry appetites of their increasingly online political base. But it won't do anything to address the problem Conservatives like Mantle claim to care about. At some point, Canadians may conclude that they're not actually all that interested in solving it.
Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
Alberta's Smith, former prime ministers to speak at conference ahead of G7
CALGARY - Two former Canadian prime ministers and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith are among the notable names set to speak at a conference today ahead of next week's G7 leaders' summit in Kananaskis. The conference is hosted by the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy and its G7 research group and will feature a series of panels about past summits and international affairs.
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
In the news today: World leaders, former PMs and protestors expected ahead of G7
Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed… Groups planning protests for G7 summit in Alberta Protests during the upcoming G7 leaders summit in Kananaskis, Alta., may be starkly different than demonstrations happening this week against immigration crackdowns in the United States. A University of Toronto research group that has been monitoring the meetings of world leaders since 1998 says its analysis shows Canadian protests are more peaceful and smaller. But similar to the recent demonstrations in Los Angeles, they're likely to be against the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump. 'The Los Angeles protests will add another (issue) the protesters going there already care about, but it won't do anything much more than that,' said John Kirton, director of the G7 Research Group. Former PMs speaking at conference ahead of G7 Two former Canadian prime ministers and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith are among the notable names set to speak at a conference today ahead of next week's G7 leaders' summit in Kananaskis. The conference is hosted by the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy and its G7 research group and will feature a series of panels about past summits and international affairs. Former prime minister Jean Chrétien will speak about past summits hosted in Canada alongside his former deputy prime minister and finance minister John Manley. Former prime minister Joe Clark is to give the closing keynote speech and offer his thoughts on the day's discussions. Smith faces raucous town hall on coal policy Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and three of her ministers got an earful on Wednesday night from southern Alberta locals at a rowdy, hours-long town hall to discuss the province's coal policy. About 500 people, dressed in cowboy hats, belt buckles, and jeans, packed a community hall in Fort Macleod, Alta., for an event marked by heckling, competing applause and placards. 'If we are not prepared to look and find middle-ground solutions to allow for industries to proceed while reducing our environmental footprint, you're going to find that different industries become the next on the hit list,' Smith said through a chorus of protesting voices and verbal jabs. 'Banning industries is just not something we are going to do.' $30B in new investments needed for mineral demand A newly released report estimates Canada will need at least $30 billion in new capital investments by 2040 if it wants to meet domestic demand for the critical minerals key to a green economy transition. But the Canadian Climate Institute's report says cutting back on environmental safeguards and Indigenous consultation to speed up those projects is likely to backfire. The report released Thursday says those cutbacks can lead to delays later on, due to community opposition or litigation. The think tank's latest report comes as the federal government, along with Ontario and British Columbia, face major pushback from First Nations and environmental groups to legislation intended to speed up mining project approvals. N.L. hydrogen companies behind in land bills Newfoundland and Labrador is owed millions of dollars in fees from green energy companies, underlining growing doubts about whether promises of major projects and multi-billion dollar investments will pan out. Six companies are vying to create new operations in the province that would use wind energy to produce hydrogen for exports overseas. Figures obtained by The Canadian Press reveal some owe a collective total of $13.7 million in fees due in 2024 for the use of Crown land. Russell Williams, an associate political science professor at Memorial University in St. John's, N.L., said he's not surprised the companies have land fees outstanding. 'I think it highlights the extent to which the public should be skeptical about megaprojects, and about governments getting very carried away, very early, with the idea that there are huge benefits from these kinds of natural resource developments,' Williams said in a recent interview. However, the province insists the money will be collected. Kendrick Lamar to perform in Toronto tonight Kendrick Lamar is set to perform in Toronto tonight in his first swing through Drake's hometown since the pair started feuding last year. The American rapper stops in the city for two nights on his Grand National Tour with SZA, and some Drake fans say they plan to congregate outside the Rogers Centre. An Instagram post shared across social media promises a so-called 'OVO Takeover' near the venue, referring to Drake's brand, October's Very Own. The post says Drake fans want to 'show Kendrick whose city this is,' but that there will be 'no hate, no drama — just pure Toronto energy.' A spokesperson for Drake did not respond to a request for comment. — This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2025
