U.S. senators in Ottawa urge Carney to quickly repeal digital services tax
'You all, to your credit, said you're not going to collect it. I asked that Canada move as quickly as possible to get a law passed in Parliament making sure that it's gone permanently,' Ron Wyden, a Democratic senator from Oregon, told media Monday following a meeting between Carney and a bipartisan delegation of four U.S. senators in Ottawa.
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Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Clean energy is the future — why are we investing in fossil fuels?
Opinion I don't know about you, but I have to say I'm a bit confused these days. In fact, in political terms, I really don't know whether I'm coming or going. Am I coming out of a fossil fuel-addicted world into a greener cleaner one, or going back to fossil fuels as the only default position to keep Canada financially afloat in the face of a fascist's tariffs? I know which direction almost 80 per cent of us want to be headed, but I'm not sure our provincial and federal leaders agree, given all this talk about gas and oil pipelines cutting through environmentally sensitive northern lands and mega-mining projects in Ontario's 'ring of fire' — peatlands that store a staggering 35 billion tonnes of the world's carbon. So I'm left asking — is this the only way we can cut loose from the U.S. and cope with a trade war, or are our leaders simply taking the easy way out? Easy in the sense that it's all too familiar, seems to be pragmatic and, at least in the short term, may more or less maintain our standard of living. In the somewhat longer term, it won't be easy at all, given that we live in a world that's already blown past the 1.5 degree Celsius mark above pre-industrial levels, and crossed several of the seven thresholds that measure the distance between a climate emergency and climate chaos. Given the latter reality, I find myself asking a couple of simple questions — why aren't Mark Carney and Wab Kinew talking about a clean energy revolution as a way to beat the tariffs and trade war? Why isn't Carney talking about a bolder vision, challenging the government to work together to retool Canada's economy and set our country up to become a world leader in clean energy and green technology? Now, maybe I'm naïve, and god knows I'm no economist, but it seems to me, as I've said before, that if Canada was able to blast forward from an agrarian based economy to an industrialized one in just six years during the Second World War, why can't we do the same now? I mean, we've got a lot of smart Canadians who would likely rise to the challenge and there are quite a few highly skilled Americans looking for a way out of the current political nightmare in their own country, who could be recruited to the cause. And transitioning to clean energy like solar and wind doesn't just make environmental sense, it's also a financially smart, given that renewable energy is now 41 per cent cheaper and just as efficient. It's also more secure, because as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently observed — 'There are no price spikes for sunlight, no embargos on wind.' In fact, countries like Denmark and Germany have already demonstrated that the transition to clean energy works by generating 50 per cent to 67 per cent of their power needs with solar and wind. Canada, meanwhile, is generating a paltry seven per cent to 11 per cent of its total electricity with alternate sources. This when Atlantic Canada is deemed to have some of the best wind power potential in the world and the Prairies have excellent prospects for solar. Not to mention the fact that clean energy technologies offer numerous business opportunities for economic growth, which also expands Canada's trade options. Just look at China where investments low carbon manufacturing as well as solar and EVs have created new and booming markets. And the irony is that the vast majority of Canadians want a renewable energy transition to happen. According to the Pembina Institute, even 70 per cent of Albertans are worried about their heavy dependence on oil and gas, and more than 80 per cent think their government should be planning for new opportunities for energy workers. Which suggests to me that most Canadians know the world is undergoing an energy transition and are worried that our country will be left in the dust by Europe and China where efforts to reach Net Zero are accelerating. Look, the truth is we don't have much time to get this done, given that climate driven, extreme weather events — from flash floods in Texas, to the massive forest fires in Manitoba — are accelerating. So instead of building pipelines and mining one of the world's largest carbon sinks, maybe we should be focused on investments that will bring Canada into an economically stable, low carbon future. Maybe it's time for our leaders to halt the fool's errand of looking to the past for short-term, carbon-heavy solutions, and start talking to Canadians about a just transition to clean energy. One that will guarantee a better, safer, more secure future for our grandchildren. Erna Buffie is a writer and environmental activist. Read more at
Winnipeg Free Press
4 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Vice President JD Vance is on the road again to sell the Republicans' big new tax law
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Vice President JD Vance is hitting his home state on Monday to continue promoting the GOP's sweeping tax-and-border bill. He will be in Canton, Ohio, to talk about the bill's 'benefits for hardworking American families and businesses,' according to his office. Aides offered little detail in advance about the visit, but NBC News reported that his remarks will take place at a steel plant in Canton, located about 60 miles south of Cleveland. The visit marks Vance's second trip this month to sell the package, filled with a hodgepodge of conservative priorities that Republicans have dubbed the 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' as the vice president becomes its chief promoter on the road. In West Pittston, Pennsylvania, Vance told attendees at an industrial machine shop that they should be able to keep more of their pay in their pockets, highlighting the law's new tax deductions on overtime. Vance also discussed a new children's savings program called Trump Accounts and how the new law promotes energy extraction, while decrying Democrats for opposing the bill that keeps the current tax rates, which would have otherwise expired later this year. The legislation cleared the GOP-controlled Congress by the narrowest of margins, with Vance breaking a tie vote in the Senate for the package that also sets aside hundreds of billions of dollars for Trump's immigration agenda while slashing Medicaid and food stamps. The vice president is also stepping up his public relations blitz on the bill as the White House tries to deflect attention away from the growing controversy over Jeffrey Epstein. The disgraced financier killed himself, authorities say, in a New York jail cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. Trump and his top allies stoked conspiracy theories about Epstein's death before Trump returned to the White House and are now reckoning with the consequences of a Justice Department announcement earlier this month that Epstein did indeed die by suicide and that no further documents about the case would be released. Questions about the case continued to dog Trump in Scotland, where he on Sunday announced a framework trade deal with the European Union. Asked about the timing of the trade announcement and the Epstein case and whether it was correlated, Trump responded: 'You got to be kidding with that.' 'No, had nothing to do with it,' Trump told the reporter. 'Only you would think that.' The White House sees the new law as a clear political boon, sending Vance to promote it in swing congressional districts that will determine whether Republicans retain their House majority next year. The northeastern Pennsylvania stop is in the district represented by Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, a first-term lawmaker who knocked off a six-time Democratic incumbent last fall. On Monday, Vance will be in the district of Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes, who is a top target for the National Republican Congressional Committee this cycle. Polls before the bill's passage showed that it largely remained unpopular, although the public approves of some individual provisions such as increasing the child tax credit and allowing workers to deduct more of their tips on taxes.
Canada News.Net
6 hours ago
- Canada News.Net
Paramount merger wins OK after lawsuit tied to Trump settles
NEW YORK CITY, New York: A new era in Hollywood is taking shape. U.S. regulators have approved the US$8.4 billion merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media, paving the way for tech heir David Ellison to take control of some of the most iconic names in entertainment, including CBS, Paramount Pictures, and Nickelodeon. However, the deal, approved this week after a partisan 2-1 vote by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has been shadowed by political controversy and questions over media independence in an election year. Paramount recently paid $16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump over CBS News' editing of a "60 Minutes" interview with his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris. This raised concerns that the settlement was made to smooth the merger's path. FCC Democrat Anna Gomez, the lone dissenter, condemned the move as "cowardly capitulation" and criticized the agency for imposing "never-before-seen controls over newsroom decisions." Chairman Brendan Carr, a Republican and Trump appointee, said the settlement had no bearing on the FCC's decision and emphasized that Skydance provided assurances of a commitment to unbiased journalism. Those assurances include the appointment of an ombudsman to review complaints about editorial bias and a pledge not to implement any diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, an issue Trump has called discriminatory. Carr praised the pledges, saying they would allow CBS to "operate in the public interest" and called it "another step forward" in eliminating DEI-based policies. Some lawmakers remain unconvinced. Senators Edward Markey and Ben Ray Luján said the timing of the lawsuit settlement and merger approval "reeks of the worst form of corruption." Comedian and CBS host Stephen Colbert had called the settlement "a big fat bribe" on air. His show was canceled days later. Paramount claimed the decision was financial. The merger ends the Redstone family's decades-long hold on Paramount. Shari Redstone, who took over as chair in 2019, had hoped to strengthen the company against streaming giants. But Paramount's market value has plunged in recent years, accelerating the push for a sale. David Ellison, son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, will become chair and CEO of the new entity. Jeff Shell, former NBCUniversal chief, will serve as president. Chris McCarthy, one of Paramount's current co-CEOs, will exit after the deal closes. The FCC's review lasted over 250 days—far longer than its 180-day target.
