archived (Wayback Machine)

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/34120777

Canada has been "over reliant on the US for too long," and wants to forge closer ties with the UK and the EU, Canada's foreign minister Melanie Joly said.

"We are the most European of all non-European countries," she told the BBC on Wednesday. "That's why we want to be closer to Europe."

Her latest remarks come after she and Prime Minister Mark Carney met with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday to talk about a new partnership.

US-Canada relations have been tense in recent months, after Trump imposed tariffs on Canada's auto, aluminium and steel industries, and said Canada would be better off as a US state.

[...]

Trump has imposed general tariffs of 25% on Canada and Mexico, and sector-specific import taxes on cars, some of which have been suspended pending negotiations.

[...]

Joly said the tariffs caused widespread anxiety in Canada, and became the number one ballot question in the recent Canadian election.

"Some have lost their jobs, and many families are affected," she said. "My job and the prime minister's job is to make sure that we defend them."

[...]

According to Statistics Canada, Canadian exports to the United States decreased 6.6% in March 2025, a second consecutive monthly decline following the strong ramp up in exports to the United States that led to a record in January. Despite the recent decreases, Canadian exports to the United States were 2.5% higher in March 2025 compared with November 2024. Meanwhile, imports from the United States fell 2.9% in March. Canada's merchandise trade surplus with the United States went from $10.8 billion in February to $8.4 billion in March. Meanwhile, exports to countries other than the United States jump

Canadian exports to countries other than the United States rose 24.8% in March, representing the second-largest percentage increase on record. Exports to the United Kingdom (unwrought gold), the Netherlands (crude oil), Hong Kong (crude oil) and Germany (various products) increased the most for the month.

[...]

Butler said there’s been “severe overbuilding” in the Toronto condo market for a number of years, specifically when it comes to smaller units.

“The tiniest of tiny condos,” Butler said. “It’s weird that in a country like Canada where there’s been a consistent housing crisis for the last 10 years that if you build a very bad product, people won’t take it, it’s as simple as that.”

Butler said many of the unsold condos on the market today are ones designed for investors or real estate speculators and are not practical for most families.

“They are roughly the size of large hotel room, only meant to be rented out, and there’s been simply a massive overbuilding of non-family units,” he said, noting that many of the condos for sale in Toronto currently are 500-square-feet or less.

Basic Privacy Protection 101.

Chapter 1.

Never, ever store the personal data in the same place as the person's name.

Store the data using a numeric ID tag,and the actual name in another database, heavily encrypted, that links the name to the ID tag. The two files are not in the same database, not even in the same place (server farm). It takes two different access methods to connect the data to the name, and can only be done on the destination computer.

I thought this was a great analysis of the published meeting between Carney and Trump so thought I’d share it here, not only because this is also my takeaway from the meeting: nothing’s actually done in a practical sense, but a bridge is built without compromising Canada’s position, and, more subtly and interestingly to Canadians, without actually praising Trump, but got him and his supporters to think that he’s being praised. It’s my first time actually liking doublespeak lol.

And I think it’s a great display of restraint from Carney, a kind of restraint we should have as adults. A close friend of his was insulted right in his face, and he took it without saying anything back, only to give out a response to a later question by a journalist in a way that is both slightly elaborately vague and lightly sugarcoated, just enough for you to maybe guess what his thoughts were when that exchange went down.

~~Also, if someone knows if CBC posts these anywhere else but YouTube, it’d be great if you could share that with me.~~ I’ve updated the link to CBC’s website. Thank you @zqwzzle@lemmy.ca!

We need to stop teaching students that every person has the same value as white, Christian men. - Peter MacKinnon

Is the DEI in the room with us right now, Peter?

So it is no longer just stupidity n the CPC ranks, it is back to Scheer stupidity.

Headline was from the CBC newsletter

They cited this link: https://www.cihi.ca/en/child-and-youth-mental-health/who-is-the-most-affected-by-mental-health-disorders

The rate of children and youth (aged five to 24) in Canada visiting emergency departments declined 31 per cent over the past five years according to a new report.

Hospitalizations for mental health disorders among children and youth also declined over the past five years, with a 23 per cent lower rate of hospitalizations between 2023-24 compared with 2018-19, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) reported this week.

Over that same period, a larger proportion of young people in several provinces went to their physician about their mental health, and more were prescribed medications for mood and anxiety, said Cheryl Chui, director of health system analytics at CIHI.

The findings suggest that mental health has not necessarily improved in this group. Instead, there's been a shift in the places patients go to for mental health care, Chui said.

There’s a broader strategy at work here, too. By letting his opponents expose the smallness of their politics, Carney’s will start to look bigger by comparison. This might not satisfy the Liberal partisans in his midst, although after he saved their party from political oblivion they almost certainly won’t push back very hard. But it will look good to the sort of middle of road Canadians he’ll need to win the next election, whenever it comes — the ones who largely abandoned the party near the end of Trudeau’s leadership.

This isn’t just a problem for environmentalists or scientists — it’s a direct threat to democratic decision-making. Disinformation erodes our ability to have honest, fact-based debates about the future of the country. It undermines trust not only in science and journalism but in government itself. When voters are manipulated by falsehoods, democracy doesn’t function as it should.

During the election, we saw the consequences play out in real time. From misleading ads claiming that climate policies will "bankrupt the middle class," to talking points that dismiss renewable energy as unreliable, Canadians are being bombarded with claims designed to erode support for meaningful climate action. These messages often use emotional appeals and cherry-picked data, wrapped in populist rhetoric, to create the illusion that fighting climate change is at odds with economic prosperity or national sovereignty.

TORONTO — GameStop Canada says it has been acquired by French-Canadian entrepreneur Stephan Tetrault from the video game retailer’s struggling parent company.

Officially named Electronics Boutique Canada Inc., GameStop Canada says it will relaunch its 185 stores as EB Games Canada — a name associated with retail gaming from bygone decades.

Tetrault is the founder of Montreal-area-based toy manufacturer Imports Dragon and co-owner of American action figure-maker McFarlane Toys, and last month became a partner at Canadian chain Mastermind Toys.

U.S.-based GameStop Corp. said in February it was looking to sell its Canadian and French operations as it evaluates its international assets and doubles down on cost-cutting.

GameStop was one of the companies at the centre of the “meme stock” craze on Wall Street, which saw struggling brands’ share prices soar as retail investors made risky bets.

Its sales last year declined 27 per cent to $3.82 billion, though net income shot up to $131.3 million versus $6.7 million in 2023.

Wow. A new 'politicized' and 'sanitized' term for 'severe budget deficit spending' - "a new path to budget balance'. At least they could be half-truthful and include 'a new LONGER path to balanced budgets'.

We are not in a 'deficit budget' position. we are just in a 'new path to a balanced budget'.

But in comparison to a physical location, outreach teams are limited in the resources they can offer, says Mia Hershkowitz, a harm reduction worker. For instance: Hershkowitz describes how outreach teams can only carry small amounts of oxygen due to its weight. But as terrifying amounts of veterinary tranquilizer poison the unregulated supply of drugs, Naloxone, the medication commonly used to reverse opioid poisoning, is simply not strong enough. People who are overdosing often need oxygen to help bring their heart rate back up – but outreach teams rarely have access to it.

According to Toronto’s Drug Checking Service, more than half of all fentanyl checked in the first two weeks of April contains some form of toxic tranquilizer.

That situation would become more severe under the Safer Municipalities Act, a new bill proposed by the Ford government. If passed, it would let police ticket and arrest people using illegal drugs in public, slapping them with harsher punishments including a fine of up to $10,000 and being jailed for up to six months.