Canada
What to expect from Mark Carney's Liberal leadership bid
The top three on Thursday's Global Naitonal -- Mark Carney, former governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, has officially jumped into the race to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as leader of the federal Liberals. David Akin looks at why Carney says he's the best candidate for the job, who's supporting him, whom he's already going after and the attack ad the Conservatives have already launched.
Is carbon pricing dead? Freeland vows to scrap rebate if Liberal leader, sources say
Chrystia Freeland has championed consumer carbon pricing for years — but now, she says she can no longer back a policy that has become politically toxic. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is standing by it until the very end. Those running to be Liberal leader need to win over Liberal party members first — and then whoever wins will quickly face Canadians in a federal election. Their challenge will be to set themselves apart from Trudeau, and that means ditching some of the policies he championed. Global’s Touria Izri reports.
Trudeau launches Canada-U.S. relations council, as Danielle Smith goes rogue on Trump tariff response
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has created a Canada-U.S. relations council as part of his response to U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's tariff threat. Mike Armstrong reports on who is forming that council, and how Alberta remains the missing link in the 'Team Canada' approach.
[Advertisement] Mark Carney: Just like Justin
The Conservative attack ad, which dropped hours before Carney's launch. -DA
Trudeau calls out Danielle Smith for not putting "Canada first" amid Trump tariff threat
During a press conference in Windsor, Ont. on Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called out Alberta Premier Danielle Smith for being the only premier not to sign a "Team Canada" response to President-elect Donald Trump's tariff threats. "Every single premier other than Danielle Smith chose to put Canada first," he said. The Alberta premier did not sign the joint statement along with the rest of Canada's first ministers who met on Wednesday to lay out plans to tackle the tariff threat.
‘No consequences’: Canadian Sikhs allege widespread threats, spying by India
Witnesses told the Hogue Commission behind closed doors India had threatened their families, spied on temples and meddled in Canada’s elections, according to the newly unsealed documents. India “interferes in Canada because there is no reason not to,” one witness told the commission adding that “the Canadian government has been largely impotent in the face of interference.” “There have been no consequences.”
Michael Charrois to seek federal NDP nomination in Burnaby North-Seymour
Michael has long-standing ties to the community, is a Union of British Columbia Performers and Canadian Actors’ Equity Association member, and is a theatre arts instructor for Burnaby’s Shadbolt Centre Community Programs. The incumbent here is Citizens Services Minister Terry Beech, first elected in 2015. This is geographically weird riding in that Burnaby North is separated from the Seymour part by Vancouver Harbour. You cannot drive from one side of the riding to the other without leaving the riding. Beech made that point in 2015 by kayaking from Burnaby North to Seymour. Politically, the north and south parts of the riding are also very separate. Lots of small-c conservative voters in Seymour who generally outnumber the NDP-leaning types in the Burnaby part of the riding. It was impossible in the last three elections for the NDP to break through here and will be difficult again. Model right now has the CPC winning by 16 points.
Justin Trudeau has been no enemy of Christianity
Michael Coren: Justin Trudeau has been a far-from-perfect Prime Minister of Canada. There were minor scandals, personal misjudgements, and a pride that prevented his resigning earlier. But, if we consider calmly and objectively his nine years in office, he was in many ways one of the more Christian premiers in the democratic world.
The Provinces
Trump tariffs could cost B.C.’s economy almost $70B in 3 years, government says
B.C.’s finance minister says president-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs would have devastating effects on the province’s economy and growth.
Nova Scotia premier says Trump tariffs threaten thousands of jobs in province
Tim Houston says the proposed tariffs would threaten jobs in the agriculture and fishery sectors as well as in the manufacturing of products such as tires.
Trump ‘picking the wrong target’ by attacking Canada, Quebec premier says
As Francois Legault wrote Wednesday in The Hill, a U.S. political news website, the president-elect’s proposal of a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian exports “can backfire.” “Canada will not become the 51st state in the union, but our economies are so intertwined that in terms of trade, we already have a customs union,” Legault wrote in his opinion piece.
Four candidates seeking Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound PC nomination
Former West Grey councillor Stephen Townsend joins the race to replace Rick Byers as PC nominee in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says Trudeau was 'harmful to nation'
While Moe has never shied away from his disagreements with Ottawa, he did take time this week to commend Trudeau for his public service. “I can tell you, it takes a certain degree of courage to put your name up and serve,” Moe said, “and he has certainly done that.”
Elsewhere
Hamas set to release first hostages under Gaza ceasefire deal on Sunday, Israel says
Under the six-week first phase of the three-stage deal, Hamas will release 33 Israeli hostages, including all women (soldiers and civilians), children, and men over 50.
Supporters Chant 'Heroes!' As Russian Court Jails Navalny's Lawyers
A Russian court sentenced three lawyers of Aleksei Navalny to lengthy prison sentences for carrying correspondence from the late anti-corruption crusader out of prison, prompting his supporters at the hearing to erupt into chants of "heroes."
German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock attacks Olaf Scholz over Ukraine aid
Baerbock, whose Green party is pitching itself as the most robust supporter of Kyiv in campaigning for next month’s federal election, said it “really pains me” that Scholz was refusing to approve an extra €3bn in support to buy weapons.
German far-right leader to attend Trump inauguration
The invitation to Tino Chrupalla follows an endorsement of the AfD by Trump ally Elon Musk and a discussion with co-leader Alice Weidel on social media platform X which fed concern about the U.S. billionaire's ambition to influence European politics.
Canada’s energy minister says many Republicans don’t even know Trump’s tariff plan
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said after meeting with elected officials in Washington that even most Republicans don't know what Trump is planning.
Media
'Washington Post' staffers plea to Bezos: Save the newspaper
Subscribers and star journalists have fled the Post in its first year under CEO and Publisher Will Lewis. Now staff have signed a petition asking owner Jeff Bezos to intervene.
Apple is pulling its AI-generated notifications for news after generating fake headlines
The rare reversal from the iPhone maker on its heavily marketed Apple Intelligence feature comes after the technology produced misleading or altogether false summaries of news headlines that appear almost identical to regular push notifications.
Science and tech
Meta’s new AI model can translate speech from more than 100 languages
Meta’s system ... points to the possibility of instant interpretation across languages in the not-too-distant future—like the Babel fish in Douglas Adams’ cult novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. SeamlessM4T is faster than existing models but still not instant. That said, Meta claims to have a newer version of Seamless that’s as fast as human interpreters. The key is a process called parallel data mining, which finds instances when the sound in a video or audio matches a subtitle in another language from crawled web data. The model learned to associate those sounds in one language with the matching pieces of text in another. This opened up a whole new trove of examples of translations for their model.
The Calendar
- 0915 ET: Washington, DC - Foreign Affairs Min Melanie Joly speaks to reporters.
- 0945 ET: East Angus, QC - LPC MP Marie-Claude Bibeau makes a funding announcement
- 1000 ET: Toronto - PM Trudeau meets with the Counil on Canada-US Relations
- 1100 ET: Pictou, NS - LPC MP Sean Fraser makes an infrastructure funding announcement.
- 1200 ET: Ottawa - NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh holds a virtual meeting with US Senator Bernie Sanders.
- 1400 ET: Toronto - PM Trudeau and International Trade Min Mary Ng meet with the Canadian Automotive Partnership Council
- 1500 ET: Toronto - PM Trudeau and International Trade Min Mary Ng tour an automotive plant.
- 2000 ET: Sidney, NS - GPC MP Elizabeth May meets with constituents.
Issued this day ...
… in 2013: Sc 2618: Raoul Wallenberg. Design: q30 design Inc.
As Canada Post noted in a press release at the time this stamp was issued, “what happened to Raoul Wallenberg after 1945 is a bit of a mystery. What is known – and is legend – is his mission to save as many as 100,000 Jewish people in Budapest, Hungary during the Second World War.
Wallenberg – then 32 – arrived in Budapest in 1944. He designed a protective passport called the Schutz-Pass featuring the symbols and colours of Sweden, which he handed out indiscriminately, often in dangerous circumstances, to people in the Jewish community. But before he could return home at the end of the war, he disappeared into Soviet custody with no satisfactory explanation of his fate.
In recognition of his efforts, the Canadian government made the Swedish-born Wallenberg Canada’s first honorary citizen in 1985, and designated January 17, the day of his disappearance, as Raoul Wallenberg Day.
The stamp, featuring Wallenberg’s passport photo from 1944, shows a number of elements related to his efforts in Budapest including Hungarian Jews rescued from deportation and images from the Schutz-Pass."