Canada
Nearly 13K international students applied for asylum in Canada this year, data shows
Global News has learned that in the first nine months of this year, more than 12,000 foreign students applied for asylum to stay in Canada once their student visa runs out. For years, post-secondary institutions have depended upon foreign students. But now, as Mercedes Stephenson reports, it appears the government has backed itself — and schools — into a corner.
"It will slow everything": Grain workers start strike at 6 Metro Vancouver terminals
About 600 workers have gone on strike and Grain Workers Union Local 333 president Douglas Lea-Smith said the Vancouver Terminal Elevators Association needs to come back to the bargaining table to negotiate a deal. The union said it provided the employer with a “comprehensive package” last week and it had no counter-offer. That work stoppage is expected to have an impact of more than $30 million per day. Global's Aaron McArthur reports.
Poilievre makes 1st attempt to topple Trudeau government with non-confidence motion
Canadian MPs were in the House of Commons on Tuesday to debate a Conservative non-confidence motion spearheaded by leader Pierre Poilievre to bring down Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government. But, without the support of the NDP or the Bloc Québécois, it's a vote the Conservatives seem doomed to lose.
Mortgage changes will give ‘extra incentive’ to build homes faster: Freeland
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland clarified new downpayment rules for the larger insured mortgage cap on Tuesday, one of the proposals she claims will help improve affordability.
A ‘handful’ of people barred from House of Commons jobs over foreign influence concerns
House of Commons security official says two people have been denied employment with MPs over foreign interference concerns in the last six months.
Elections boss says parties should run nominations, but possibly with tighter rules
During an appearance at a federal inquiry into foreign interference, Stéphane Perrault pointed to the importance of parties controlling their own processes and indicated his agency lacks the resources to administer such contests in any event. Elections Canada has suggested possible changes to safeguard nominations, including barring non-citizens from helping choose candidates, requiring parties to publish contest rules and explicitly outlawing behaviour such as voting more than once.
On Familiar Spirits
Senator Yuen Pau Woo: The theme that runs through these [reports about foreign interference] is the grave, indeed “existential” threat of foreign interference in Canadian democracy and, more specifically, in the conduct of our elections. This threat is deemed to come principally from the People’s Republic of China and to a lesser extent from Russia, India, Pakistan, and Iran. Presumably, threats to our democracy from sources closer at hand are not existential. Perhaps they are deemed not to exist in the first place. Or perhaps there are witches and then there are witches, and we are interested in exorcising some demons from our body politic but not all of them. The author, in my view, is frequently and wilfully blind to well-documented activities by the PRC to interfere in Canadian political activity. PRC diplomats did indeed plot to intimidate CPC MP Michael Chong for his advocacy for Chinese Uyghurs -- and a Chinese diplomat was thrown out of the country because of it. At the inquiries the senator talks about, we have heard emotional testimony from Canadian Uyghurs about the threats and bullying they have received from PRC officials. Read what the senator has to say, but all federal political parties and our "Five Eyes" intelligence partners are clear-eyed that the PRC does indeed engage in significant and pervasive interference operations.
The Provinces
New Brunswick Liberals pledge overhaul of recruitment for health professionals
Leader Susan Holt, campaigning Tuesday in St. Stephen, N.B., said the party would change the compensation model for doctors and increase the number of residency spaces for doctors in training. The Liberal plan also calls for streamlining the process for recognizing the credentials of foreign-trained doctors and other health professionals.
New Brunswick election: Televised debate tonight features three main party leaders
The event marks a key milestone in the provincial election campaign, which started last Thursday and will end with a provincewide vote on Oct. 21.
Saskatchewan NDP promises a 24-hour ER department at Saskatoon City Hospital
The Saskatchewan NDP says, if elected, it plans to make the Saskatoon City Hospital's emergency department open 24 hours a day and hire more full-time nurses. City Hospital is in the riding of Saskatoon Meewasin which gets new boundaries, new boundaries that make it a little more "Saskatchewan Party" green. I suspect Meewasin will be one of the closer races to watch on Oct 28 but I think it may be tilting NDP right now.
‘Get off your a-s-s:’ Doug Ford scolded for telling homeless people to get jobs
Experts in the field said the premier has made the mistake of assuming that people living in tents in parks don’t want to work.
‘A cultural shift’: Canadian schools navigating new world of cellphone bans
From cellphone "hotels" to patchwork policies to recalibrating lesson plans, teachers and schools across Canada are learning to navigate a classroom without cellphones.
Elsewhere
Trudeau pushes allies to lift long-range weapons limits for Ukraine at UN
Trudeau said he had 'a number of those conversations directly with leaders' at the UN when asked if he is making progress in growing consensus for lifting the restrictions.
Trump ignores the First Amendment and says those who criticize the Supreme Court should be tossed in jail
The former president, who has invoked his First Amendment right to launch a bevy of attacks against federal and state judges, suggested it should be “illegal” to rebuke judicial decisions or try and advocate in favor of a certain decision. “It should be illegal, what happens,” Trump told a crowd in Pennslyvania. “You know, you have these guys like playing the ref, like the great Bobby Knight. These people should be put in jail the way they talk about our judges and our justices, trying to get them to sway their vote, sway their decision.” Irony much?
Top China Economist Missing After Xi WeChat Comments
A leading Chinese economist has disappeared from view after allegedly criticising President Xi Jinping in a private WeChat group, the Wall Street Journal reported. Zhu Hengpeng, the deputy director at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), was arrested following remarks reportedly made that included veiled criticisms of Xi’s leadership and China’s struggling economy,
Media
Poilievre lashes out at Bell Canada after CTV airs altered clip
He blasted Bell, citing a rating agency's recent decision to downgrade its credit rating to "near junk status." He accused CEO Mirko Bibic of being "overpaid," said he "empties the books to pay his wealthy friends" and claimed the company pays "an unacceptably and unrealistically high dividend."
Kamloops radio station lays off newsroom employees, to play more music
Stingray Radio president says RadioNL, which has been broadcasting since 1970, is moving to a different style of programming.
Science and tech
Pfizer’s updated COVID-19 vaccine approved by Health Canada
The mRNA vaccine, called Comirnaty, targets the KP.2 subvariant of Omicron, replacing the previous version which targeted the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant.
The Calendar
- 0915 ET: Montreal - Innovation Min François-Philippe Champagne meets with a European Commission official.
- 0930 ET: 125B West Block - The NDP national caucus will meet.
- 0930 ET: 025B West Block - The CPC national caucus will meet.
- 1000 ET: 225A West Block - The LPC national caucus will meet
- 1100 ET: 430 Wellington - BQ Leader Yves-François Blanchet and BQ MPs Alain Therrien, Andreanne Larouche, and Yves Perron speak to reporters.
- 1130 ET: 135B West Block - Sen. Marilou McPhedran and others speak about the Rohingya people.
- 1230 ET: 135B West Block - NDP MP Leah Gazan speaks about her private member's bill.
- 1400 ET: Senate of Canada - Pierre Moreau will be sworn in as a senator for Quebec.
- 1615 ET: C128 Senate Building - The Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade will meet: Bill C282. BQ MP Luc Thériault to testify.
- 1630 ET: 410 Wellington - Fisheries and Oceans (FOPO) | Meeting 118 - Drafting report
- 1630 ET: 025B West Block - Natural Resources (RNNR) | Meeting 106 - Canada's Electricity Grid Network
- 1630 ET: 415 Wellington - Public Accounts (PACP) | Meeting 141 - Report 1, ArriveCAN, of the 2024 Reports of the Auditor General of Canada
- 1630 ET: 330 Wellington - the Status of Women (FEWO) | Meeting 121 - Coercive Behaviour
- 1630 ET: 430 Wellington - National Defence (NDDN) | Meeting 115 - Briefing on the Mandate and Priorities of the Chief of the Defence Staff / Situation in the Indo-Pacific Region
- 1715 ET: W110 1 Wellington - The Senate Standing Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy will meet: Bill C280. Sen Brent Cotter to testify.
- Ottawa - PM Trudeau hosts a dinner for France President Emmanuel Macron.
Issued this day ...
… in 1980: Scott #869a se-tenant pair. Inuit — Spirits. Design: Reinhard Derreth.
From 1977 through to 1980, Canada Post issued an annual quartet of stamps focusing on Inuit culture and customs, each of them featuring work by Inuit artists. This pair is the final one in that 16-stamp series. Sc 868 features the soapstone sculpture Bird Spirit (1966) by Doris Hagiolok (1929-?) from Kugluktuk, NT. Sc 869 features the 1973 stonecut print Shaman by Simon Tookoome (1934-2010) an Utkusiksalingmiut Inuk artist who lived and died at Qamanittuaq, Baker Lake.