JULY
July 4
SCOTUS rules against Trump’s birthright citizenship bill
Majority of Canadians (67%) support more/expanded pipelines Global
- even with leading questions it was still like 62%
JUNE
June 30
Foreign investors buy record amount of Canadian bonds (Reuters)
June 29
Ottawa set to relaunch federal green home retrofit program in 4 provinces https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/federal-green-home-retrofit-program-9.7252107
June 23
Something caused a bunch of citizens to get emails ordering them to surrender proof of citizenship, no one knows what (CBC)
- Immigration Minister Lena Diab said “idk”
- applications are being reviews and revocations undone if they’re “deemed OK”
- for people who claimed citizenship by decent after December
- department said “a few dozen”, actual number is 4100 lmao
New NWT highway to be first national interest project (CBC)
- I thought that was the mines?
- under Build Canada Act
- Mackenzie Valley Highway
- deep geological nuclear waste facility (northern Ontario) was also lightly mentioned? Didn’t know that was a thing
Less Canadians see US as reliable under Trump (yeah no shit) (Global News)
- in other news, water is wet
- only 33% view them favourably, down 54% in 2024
7 First Nations sign nuclear reactor ownership deal (CBC)
- Darlington power plant
- first of 4 SMRs
- Ottawa providing $700M loan guarantees
- equity partnership
- Ontario Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce
- the 4 reactors together to cost $21B
- first reactor scheduled to be completed by 2030
June 22
cutting funding for asylum therapy CBC
- ngl I don’t think asylum seekers need this so badly that the government should subsidize it (over other things), but bad for the therapy industry for sure
- communication was shit, sure
- some asylum seekers argue they are productive members of society because of it
- same plan introduced the co-pays
- supposedly the cost of the program bad been skyrocketing
- from 896 million between 2020-21 and 2024-25, projecting it could rise to $1.5 billion by 2029-30.
- they also do a provincial breakdown in the article but I don’t care
Canada’s Inflation at 3.2% in May CBC
- gas prices main driver; expected to mellow out as gas prices have been settling recently
- even excluding gas prices, CPI up 2.2% MoM
- Shelter price lower, only +1.7% YoY
June 21
Canada and Australia further Arctic Over-the-Horizon radar system agreement
- A-OTHR
- Secretary of State (Defence Procurement) Stephen Fuhr signed the $2.5B agreement, to be operational in 2029
- also signed a “comprehensive industrial benefits deal” seeking investment in Canadian defence industrial base
- why tf is Australia working on Artic stuff?
- second unit, Polar Over-the-Horizon Radar, undecided
- will create 2,270 jobs annually until 2033
Poilievre criticizes federal-BC plan to purchase vacant condos, calls it a bailout for developers (CBC)
- “Where is your bailout?… [Carney] seems to have a bailout for anyone who’s part of the Liberal club of power brokers.”
- Carney and Premier Eby announced $5B over 10 years for local infrastructure
- one component is a partnership on ‘Condo Conversion’ (see [[#Canada and BC to build homes, infrastructure ([Office of PM](https //www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2026/06/18/canada-and-british-columbia-forge-new-partnership-accelerate)) ([Global News](https //globalnews.ca/news/11912022/carney-bc-housing-funding-tumbler-ridge-school/))|PM’s address]])
- turn 2,200 vacant condos into affordable homes
- “one of the fastest and most efficient ways to increase housing supply… new, affordable homes as quickly as possible”
- several experts (?) have also said it’s basically a big bailout
June 20
Feds talking about narrowing Access to Information Act (Global News)
- comes from Information commissioner Caroline Maynard (independent agency I guess)
- one bad change is wanting to change the definition of “record” to “official record”
- Treasury Board says it’s more efficient, Maynard says it hides a lot of info; just because it’s not ongoing business doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant
- “For example, what if records of business value are not yet stored in official repositories when an access request is made? What about records that are no longer of ‘ongoing’ value because a project or contract is no longer active, but their retention period has not yet expired?”
- also concerns about using info that self-expires (invented example: Teams deleting stuff after 6 months)
Surprising no one, fentanyl isn’t an issue at the Canada-US border (CBC)
- 3 kg seized this year, verses 3,000 kg seized at the US-Mexico border
- American politicians aren’t giving us credit for increased efforts anyways
- off-topic - opioid deaths were down 23% in 2025 (CBC) so yay
June 19
Carney government passes law allowing some banned pesticides (CBC)
- Bill C-30 received royal assent
- cabinet has power to authorize pesticides that Health Canada deemed unsafe
- This was kinda snuck into a bill largely about economic stuff
- Cabinet can authorize any pesticide that is in the interest of economic or national food security
- “security interests” not defined
- lots of environmental/health people mad af, it’s a big overturn
- none were allowed to testify before congress or study the legislation
- House leader Steven MacKinnon promises to be transparent
- Minister of Health, Marjorie Michel, declined to answer questions
- she’s met with the pesticide lobby and particularly CropLife Canada, a whole bunch of times
- See Canada’s Pest Control Products Act
Canada imposes 10% global tariff on canned vegetables (excluding CUSMA)
- 200 days max
- to protect domestic producers
- excludes CUSMA, Israel, Chile, some developing countries
- basically they’re still honoring trade obligations
- provisional while the Canadian International Trade Tribunal does a study on whether imports are harming domestic processors
- should have a result by Sept. 9
June 18
Ottawa adds $5.4B for child care program over next 2 years (CBC) (Global News)
- $10/day childcare nationwide hasn’t been achieved
- Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu says provinces ask for more money to afford the program
- Ontario alone says they need an additional $2B/year
- currently $19/day daycare
- Ontario Education minister Paul Calandra hasn’t said whether current plan will be enough
- improvements so far have saved families ~$11k/year
- lowered fees caused spike in demand
- initial agreements expected 250,000 more spaces, only 173,500 so far
- Alberta, Ontario only agreed to 1 year extension (others did 5)
Canada automatic tax filing could save low-income Canadians $2k
- could pay out $342M over 5 years
- plus $87M to administer
- basically low-income people often don’t file their tax returns, this would help them
- will help 3,000 individuals, and scale up to 50,000 by 2027
Canada and BC to build homes, infrastructure (Office of PM) (Global News)
- $5B over 10 years for infrastructure
- $1.6B for multi-unit housing (to be matched by BC)
- $600M over 3 years (matched by BC) for health infrastructure (eg. hospitals, ER)
- $50M for community infrastructure
- GoC to provide one-time transfer of $284M to reduce new construction barriers
- 852M announced for other transit projects)
- Canada-BC Partnership on Condo Conversion
- Basically the government buys unused/unsold condos and “converts” them, which in this context means a “financial/structural” conversion
- critics compare this to a developer bailout/buyout
- details are scarce, but it might be the Federal government who foots the bill
Fares Al Soud votes
- No to Vote #167 - amendments to Bill C-9
- Yes to Vote #168 - amendments to Bill C-9
- Yes to Vote #169 - second reading of C-26 - payments bill
- Yes to Vote #170 - second reading of Bill-267 - making electronics more durable
- everyone’s on-board except the conservatives
- No to Vote #171 - amendment to Bill C-22 - lawful access
- TODO: What amendment?
June 17
US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding
June 16
Carney met with PM of Italy, Giorgia Meloni
- they invested $100M in NM Graphite Mine
- They’re gonna work with us for their critical mineral stockpile
- we’re gonna buy their M-346 advanced jet trainer aircraft
- TODO: Is this different/unrelated to all the other talks about F-35s and Grippens?
New Liberal bill allows request to delete deepfakes
- Bill C-36 Todo - link and describe
- will also require more info from companies about how they’re using AI (eg. Mortgage calculations)
- could also ask them about what info was used (eg. Maybe they’re using out-of-date records)
Carney met with EU’s von der Leyen, agree to SAFE deal
- First SAFE contract awarded to Canada
- Poland to buy Canadian ORION tactical radios from Montreal-based Marconi Technologies
- it’s like $10M, so it’s more about supporting the alliance/Canadian business than about economic impact. Still tho
- Carney to join/co-chair OceanEye International Alliance
- related to climate change, maritime security
New Canada Russia sanctions (CBC)
Job vacancies up 2.4% in Q1 2026
- first increase since Q2 2022
- unemployment slightly down, 6.6% compared to previous 6.8%
- so this means there’s more demand for workers?
- mostly for positions requiring education; high-school or less did not change
- vacancies in health occupations continues to decline, down 5% since Q4
June 14
Carney Ireland cooperation (PM office)
- first visit in a decade
- includes AI investment; healthcare investment, research, manufacturing, training; more agri trade; research
- security and defence
- Ireland is our 8th largest investor
- they are to ratify CETA
- medical cooperation (CCRM and RINN)
- biomanufacturing
Canada to raise bills on private-sector privacy, First Nations water access (Global News)
June 13
US-Iran deal signed, details to follow (Iran Intl)
Ghana’s mad Canada rejected the visa of a player on trial for rape
June 12
UAE paid Iran 10B more to halt ceasefire (Iran Intl) (Reuters)
- others say potentially might go up to $20B total
Canada to tighten import of forces labour products (CBC)
- Bill C-35 TODO
- basically just a response to the US getting mad at Canada for this
- “made-in-Canada solution to an international problem”
- legislation would “shift the burden” to prove that suspected products were not made with forced labour onto the importer
- imo burden upon whom?
- Conservatives say they took too long
- Liberals say they were trying to until Trudeau resigned, but they were the ones who changed the CUSMA language on this in 2020 so they were already the ones working on it
- Jamieson Greer’s office recently recommended a 10 per cent forced labour tariff on countries including Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom — but said it would not apply to goods covered by CUSMA.
- there’s a lot of Canada has good laws but poor enforcement from everyone incl. The US reps
- haven’t made statements on China
June 10
BC’s mad AB’s not including them in pipeline planning (Global News)
- 4 planned routes “pretty late in the process”
- still no private backers interested, let alone BC/FN approval
Al Soud Votes
- Yes to vote #141 - Motion to proceed to Orders of the Day
- to vote #142 - Time allocation for Bill C-20,
June 9
Al Soud Votes
- No to vote #135 - amendment to C-16
- No to vote #136 - amendment to C-16
- Yes to vote #137 - amendment to C-16
- No to vote #138 - Opposition Motion (Inflationary policies)
- No to vote #139 - Concurrence in an opposed item (amendment)
Scrap EV bill, auto group says (Global News)
- Ford + GM + Stellantis
- basically they’re saying they’re too dependent on the US to diversify to other countries
- “Simply put, there is no Canadian auto industry without the U.S.”
- some calls for at least some cybersecurity, like banning Chinese software on these cars
- first batch of Chinese EVs arrived last week
Ford’s trip to Washington yielded nothing (Global News)
- Chamber of Commerce meeting was cancelled, so he didn’t meet any politicians
- meetings with the American Automotive Policy Council, the American Farm Bureau Federation and Autos Drive America
- He’s trying to launch a “Fortress North America” plan, which is probably the same as “Fortress Am-Can” which went nowhere
Carney said Gordie Howe opens this week, Trump says not without his cut (CBC)
- Trump says he wants compensation for what they spent. They spend $0.
- plan was Canada gets 100% of revenue until they recoup their cost, then maybe 50-50
- the competing ambassador bridge is owned by a private, Republican family who is in touch with Commerce Secretary Lutnick
- they’ve been fighting the bridge since the beginning
June 8
Facebook paying foreign “Alberta separatists” (CBC)
- not new but still annoying
- US, Netherlands, India, Pakistan, Indonesia
- annoying that CBC buried the lead
- McGill’s Media Ecosystem Observatory - [prelim] inauthentic activity about separatism has tripled
Bill S-228 (criminalize forced sterilization) passed, awaiting assent (OpenParl)
Poilievre is based for the first time in his life, calls to not call AB separatists “enemies” (CBC)
- not much to say, I just want to give the fucker credit where it’s due
- “As we debate the fight for a united Canada, we must remember that those who are choosing separation from Canada are not our enemies. They are our fellow citizens, family members, loved ones, business partners, neighbours [and] friends,” he said during a speech in Calgary on Monday.
- “The goal should not be to beat one another in this referendum. It should be to unite us all when it is over, to show our fellow citizens — all of them — that they belong in Canada, that they are a treasured part of our national family,” Poilievre said.
Talks of social media ban for children under 16 (Global News)
- online harms bill coming out on Wednesday
- Cultural Minister Marc Miller is sponsoring/authoring it (TODO: Which is the correct terminology here?)
- in line with Australia (passed), UK, Spain, South Korea, France (in consideration)
- several provinces (MN, ON, AB, NB) have talked about it
- privacy commissioner Dufresne argues such a ban shouldn’t come at the expense of privacy protections, arguing there could be alternative solutions
- without offering any? TODO
- questionable success in Australia, with teens evading the ban and social media companies not fully complying
- basically “prohibition doesn’t work”
- MY OPINION
- honestly maybe getting rid of anonymity on the internet isn’t so bad, what has it gotten us beyond internet trolls
- only concern is shit like tech giant tracking, but it’s not like they don’t have proxies/workarounds anyways. Our phone is basically a proxy for us anyways
- I do find the “can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube” argument compelling; if a ban is easily evaded, are we just forcing more surveillance for nothing? And how much are we willing to give up for a perfect ban?
- No talk yet of AI/chatbot restrictions
June 7
Most Albertans disapprove of Premier Smith Global News
- let’s go babyyyy
- 56% disapprove, 38% approve
- higher among men, young people, UDP
- NDP has 1% higher approval
- 58% disapprove of separation
- nobody knows what Smith wants
- 21% think she wants to stay, 48% think she wants to separate
- 58% think she’s just doing it to stay in power
- % who want to leave down 10 points from Jan, now 18%
June 6
Premier Smith walks back separatist support at UCP rally (CBC)
June 5
Already low Alberta separatism support drops lower (Global News)
- 18% said they would vote this fall to hold a binding separation referendum, 72% said they would check off to remain in Canada
- dropped 10 points from January
- “stay” voters more firmly committed
MP Erskine-Smith to resign (CBC)
- Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities
- was planning on running for OLP leadership, but he lost the Liberal nomination for byelection provincial riding, so who knows
- this relates to previous news where he was complaining about election interference, but he lost that appeal
- Guilbeault is also leaving, and a few other MPs also plan to leave
- in total, 3 Liberals, 1 NDP, 1 Bloc
- 3/5 left federal to try provincial, couldn’t confirm the other 2 Liberals
Not yet a recession, Canada’s unofficial authority says (CBC)
- C.D. Howe Institute’s Business Cycle Council
- basically “yes there were 2 quarters of decline, but that’s not the true measure”
- 3 Ps — pronounced, persistent, pervasive
- they’re arguing it’s not persistent enough or pronounced
- tangent - unemployment fell to 6.6% in May from 6.9% in April
- first uptick since November
Canada adds 88k jobs, unemployment drops 0.3% (StatCan directly)
- April to May
- employment rose 0.2 points to 60.7%
- unemployment fell 0.3 points to 6.6%
- across age groups, but biggest gains in youth (15-24; +0.8%)
- follows a net decline over the first 4 months (-0.5%), but YoY it’s up
- mostly full-time work, mostly private sector
- mostly construction, but growth almost everywhere
- drop in wholesale and retail trade
- Ontario: employment +1% and unemployment -0.5%
- WFH continues to shrink
- construction gained 27,000 jobs, wholesale and retail lost 35,000
- much higher than the predicted 10k gain
June 4
Higher oil and gas prices projected even higher (CBC)
- Brent futures currently 150+ in the coming weeks (2-3)
- fading hopes for a US-Iran deal combined with unchanging demand for crude
- ExxonMobile and Chevron are both worried about June and July
- US petrolium reserve is low at 357.1 million barrels
- TODO: what was it as its peak, what is the “healthy” amount, and what is/should be Canada’s
- Iran attacked US bases in the Gulf literally the night before, so tensions still high
- Salazar, head of macro oil and gas research at Enverus (Calgary firm), warns prices to remain high through at least 2027
- fuel demand has rose in Canada even after the blockade (jet fuel and gasoline)
- projected prices above $2/litre
Bill C-8 — Critical Cyber Systems Protection Act passed
- Completed third reading in senate
- awaiting royal assent
Bill C-9 — Combatting Hate Act - At consideration in the HoC of Senate amendments
- passed third reading in the senate
- sent back to the HoC with amendments for it to review
- HoC can reject the amendments or propose counter-amendments, and then it goes back to the senate for them to decide
- senate member had suggested an amendment to stop the removal of the good-faith religious text defence. Committee rejected the amendment
- bad idea imo
- senate member had suggested an amendment to add residential school denialism as a criminal offence. Full senate voted that down
- meh
- AG consent requirement reinstated
Al Soud HoC votes
- Yes to vote #124 — Time allocation vote for C-16
- basically capping how long they can debate the bill before forcing a vote
- fairly routine, but often contested
Carney meets with PM of Barbados, Mia Mottley
- agree to renew the Canada-CARICOM strategic partnership
- Canada will deploy $97 million through GAIA Climate Loan Fund
- Canada has contributed $170 million to the Clean Energy and Small Island Developing States faculty (World Bank)
- basic environmental shit, clean energy and natural disaster prep
- $9 million for combating crime (transnational, maritime, police)
- TODO: the fuck does Canada get out of this?
Carney launches AI for All strategy (Office of PM)
- 5 years
- attract foreign investment
- leverage 12 international partnerships already signed
- India and Australia partnerships I think
- establish national AI literacy initiative
- provide trusted AI agents to post-secondary students
- provide up to 90,000 AI-related jobs, work placements
- AI Missions Program - incorporate AI into healthcare 😬
- build an AI supercomputer
- support Canadian AI companies
Carney government slows down sweeping environmental changes (CBC)
- First Nations and civil society organizations were mad
- government is extending public engagement period to July 22 (originally June 7)
- government had been planning to exempt projects from the “jeopardy test” for species at risk
- if the project jeopardizes a species’ survival, it is rejected unless issued a specific permit from the government (Section 73)
- designating pre-approved development in “federal economic zones”
- decision might be shifted to the fall session (September)
Carney’s AI strategy - $2B in funding, 250,000 jobs by 2031
- goals
- protect Canadians from risks of AI
- free AI literacy
- entry-level training
- training 3000 educators for this
- create 90,000 AI-related jobs
- 250,000 new jobs via AI adoption by 2031
- boost AI adoption from 12% of businesses to 60%
- build an AI supercomputer
- Carney thinks Canada “ranks near the bottom” in terms of AI trust, training, implementation
- they’re also concerned about privacy, online safety, marking AI-generated content
- $50M to expand Canadian AI Safety Institute
- $500M to help Canadian AI startups
- Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative
- $700M to AI Compute Access Fund
- $200M into AI Missions Program, first mission regarding Canadians’ healthcare
- $500M to Canadian Tech Growth Fund
- gives federal government equity stakes in the most promising Canadian AI firms
- will leverage the “sovereign wealth fund” to help here
- private capital to build data centers + power plants
- $100M to launch Health Sector Data Space
-
- $100M to the “Vital” platform (TODO: what is this?)
-
Liberals to delay proposed changes for major projects environmental reviews (Global News)
- originally they were talking about approving major projects before they’re reviewed, and exempting from laws meant to protect at risk species
- also proposed taking pipeline review and stuff away from Impact Assessment Agency, and giving it to Canada Energy Regulator
June 3
Al Soud House of Commons votes
- No to vote #130 — Opposition motion to economic policies
- basically “Liberals need to acknowledge the economy is shit and present a plan to fix it”
- No to vote #131 — Motion to decline the 2nd reading failed
- Yes to vote #132 — Adopt certain provisions
- Yes to vote #133 — Adopt all remaining provisions
June 2
Canadian government using Anthropic’s Mythos model (Global News)
- AI minister Evan Solomon said they signed onto Project Glasswing
- finds vulnerabilities in systems
- restricted to top corps and governments (eg. US, India)
Trump’s $1.8B slush fund scrapped (CBC)
- forced after public backlash, and lawmakers threatened to bust his $72B bill to fund immigration crackdown
- apparently there was a huge Republican backlash too
- rule to bar future audits of Trump or his family’s taxes still in place
- Acting AG Todd Blanche refused to put it in writing
First Chinese EVs arrive in Canada (Global News)
- 2900 units (6% of allowance)
- basically just Teslas
- Carney’s deal reduced tariffs from 100% to 6.1%
- “A federal government memo obtained through the Access to Information Act and first reported on by The Canadian Press urges Canadians to be cautious about the privacy risks of digital devices they buy and use.”
- what memo??
- in 2017, China passed a law requiring all companies to comply with state requests for info
- National Intelligence Law
- extra concern considering phones connect to cars
June 1
Iran stops negotiations with US, vows complete block of the Strait of Hormuz (CNBC)
- Iran to stop exchanging messages
- in retaliation for ceasefire violations
- oil prices rose 7% after the announcement
- another condition before negotiations is a full withdraw of Israel from Lebanon
- attacks have been ramping up since Monday (May 25th)
- also threatening to block the Bab al-Mandeb Strait
- entrance to the Red Sea
- Trump had recently said he was considering a deal to pause the conflict, but never followed through
- a 5th of the world’s oil passes through Hormuz
- Brent and WTI crude price was dropping prior to this news
MAY
Highlights
- technical recession (here)
- Canada looking to by the Swedish Saab GlobalEye radar jets over the American jets (here)
- Canada-Germany LNG deal confirmed (here)
- Trump pardoned himself and his family for tax stuff forever (here)
- Nouveau Monde Graphite’s Matawinie graphite mine broke ground (here)
- Honda suspended $15 billion EV complex (here)
- Alberta referendum stuff looks like foreign interference (here)
- jobs down 18,000 YoY (here)
- rent down 5% YoY (here)
- house sales up 6% MoM (here)
May 31
- Poilievre calls for emergency debate as Canada enters technical recession (Global News) ^68449b
- means fuck all, he’s asking Carney to hold a debate
- technical recession: 1% decline in Q4 2024, 0.1% decline in Q1 2025
- Poilievre claims Equifax said insolvencies up 19% YoY, thousands of jobs lost in Q1 2026
-
- 1/10 GTA residents now using a food bank
- wrong year? I’m seeing 2024 numbers
- Daily Bread Food Bank → in 2024 1 in 10 Torontonians
- Food Banks Canada → in 2025, 28% of young adults had skipped meals due to affordability, 20% had used food bank
- Pollara Strategic Insights found similar
- 1/10 GTA residents now using a food bank
May 30
- Canada tomato prices up 21% YoY, 40% in US (CBC)
- tariffs + Iran war + NA weather
- should improve in summer?
- sharp increase in Canadian citizen applications (CBC)
- half are Americans
- TODO: Something about Bill C-3? My notes didn’t make sense
- 70,000 waiting to be processed
- Trudeau’s 4 climate policy architects upset with Carney (CBC)
- context - Guilbeault just retired over this
- Carney - “We are focused on investing to get results”
- Canada was close to 2030 goals, they won’t even get 50% there
- everyone was confident with Carney’s environmental position pre-election
- central banker know for linking climate change and financial stability
- blended climate action and finance when working with CN
- in the book Values, wrote “to meet 1.5 C target, 80% of fossil fuels would need to remain in the ground”
- TODO: look up Carney’s ‘Tragedy of the Horizons’ speech
- Carney did a bunch that people expected of Poilevre doing
- consumer carbon tax
- reversed oil/gas emissions cap
- scrapped EV mandate
- LNG focus
- bitumen pipeline focus
- Carney: “there is no credible plan to net zero without a relentless focus on affordability”
- Norway + Germany pitching submarines (CBC)
- all-for-one, one-for-all
- they want a Norway + Germany + Canada common fleet, that’s cute
- 12 x 212CD submarine (TKMS)
- 4 by 2036, first timeline offered
- SK notorious for aggressive timelines and accurate budget
- 4 by 2036, first timeline offered
- all-for-one, one-for-all
- 212CD versus South Korea’s KSS-III (by Hanwa Ocean)
- 212CD is built for the artic and double-hulled, but they haven’t even put out their first order while the KSS is in service
- SK is very timely and budget-friendly (4 by 2032)
- KSS is more offensive I think
- ngl kinda feels like Canada should buy a view of each, but again, G/N seem to want an “all-or-nothing” deal
- Canada Post Q1 record loss of $205M
- $164M YoY
- delivery volumes down, TODO is this solely why?
May 29
- CSIS didn’t report employees (potential) unlawful activity (Global News)
- 22 “non-compliances” with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 2023-2024
- when finally reported, insufficient details
- CSIS Act requires reporting to public safety minister only if “prosecutable”, but current director signed a memorandum in 2025 says they should report all offences
- Director Daniel Rogers took office in 2025
- Canada in ‘technical recession’ in 1st quarter (CBC)
- real GDP declined for 2 quarters
- -0.2% in Q4 2025, -0.1% in Q1 2026
- contradicts StatsCan/The Canadian Press saying in April there were 4 straight months of Real GDP growth? TODO
- real GDP declined for 2 quarters
May 28
- Canada suspending visas due to Ebola from Uganda, Congo, South Sudan (CBC)
- Bill C-12 (March) invoked for first time
- CRTC to triple streamers’ financial contributions, Liberals say they can’t ‘reject’ it as Conservatives have called for (Global News)
- Broadcasting Act doesn’t have the authority to regulate the CRTC in that way
- TODO: no idea what the Broadcasting Act actually does
- something about licensing
- TODO: Online Streaming Act
- CPC opposed, LPC, NDP, BQ support
- Sask. adding dedicated female washrooms after 114 years lmfao (CBC)
- not even “gender neutral” before, it was men only
- MLAs don’t get mat. leave
- only costs $200k too
- Bill S-205 passed HoC First reading
- An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act
- Trump is suing E. Jean Carroll, the one who accused Trump of sexual assault (CNN)
May 27
-
Al Soud votes:
- No to vote #124 — Bill C-30
- Conservative vote to kill the bill
- Basically this was a vote to kill the bill at the 2nd reading
- Motion to decline the 2nd reading failed
- yes to vote #125
- Liberal vote to pass the bill
- Passed second reading (narrowly, by 6 votes)
- now the bill goes to review and revisions, i.e. ‘Consideration in committee’ and ‘Report stage’
- Narrow pass (6 votes)
- No to vote #126
- Cancellation of federal tax on gas and diesel, and the Clean Fuel Standard (Opposition motion)
- Failed overall
- No to vote #127 — [[Bills of the 45th Parliament#^c8791d]|Bill C-233 (44-1)]]
- Amend the Criminal Code (assault against persons who provide health services and first responders)
- Passed 2nd reading
- No to vote #124 — Bill C-30
-
Canada negotiating to buy Saab’s GlobalEye system (CBC) (PM Office)
- AEW&C
- chosen over the Boeing E-7 (American)
- built on Bombardier 6500 executive jet with Saab radar sensor
- manufactured in Toronto plant
- Saab had originally tried making a joint deal that would also include the Gripen (instead of the F-35s)
- NATO’s also considering GlobalEye so this brings us in line
- 3000 jobs in Canadian aerospace and defence
- 1/3rd of GlobalEye aircraft will be manufactured in Canada, including orders from Allies
- new Canada Company Boost: if a Canadian company does at least 70% of the work domestically, they’ll get 100% credit. hmmmmm
-
Chinese interference ‘systemic’ (Global News)
- Montreal Institute for Global Security report
- one day before China’s foreign minister (Wang Yi) to arrive in Ottawa after a decade lmfao
- push for Anita Anand (Foreign Affairs Minister) to bring it up
- found interference in each G7 country
- universities also “susceptible”
-
C-22 to be amended for encryption, metadata details (Global News) (CBC)
- tech companies have said they support the first half
- not the second half, that requires “core” providers to establish “access points”
- ?? I don’t remember any verbiage for that
- Police and CSIS are basically like “we’re fucked if you don’t give us tools for the modern age”
-
Canada assisted Americans trying to leave the Middle East in the midst of this Iran war (Global News)
- American officials didn’t have a facility for US citizens to get passports
- apparently we have an embassy over in the UAE, and apparently we helped a bunch of countries (UK, Japan, etc.)
- “Canada has agreements with allied countries to share consular services in emergencies, but not with the U.S. Despite the lack of a formal agreement, GAC said assistance is given in collaboration with close security partners.
-
Guilbeault resigns as MP, says Canada ‘backsliding’ on climate (CBC)
- he had already stepped down as environment minister, idk why he’s leaving his seat
- says Canada will be lucky to slash its emissions by 15% below 2005 by 2030
- says Smith didn’t implement the carbon pricing system he had negotiated under Trudeau, so he doesn’t have faith she’ll do it now either
- lots of rollbacks on environmental stuff under Carney so far
- repealed consumer carbon tax, eliminated EV sales mandate, potentially ending oil and gas emissions cap, reversed promise to end fossil fuel subsidies
- 14 Liberal MPs penned a letter to Carney concerned about the environmental backslide, but keeping behind closed doors
May 26
- Progress on that military personal relationships stuff - forced disclosure now (CBC)
- for junior/senior relationships only
- “unless properly disclosed… is not consensual”
- it’s a follow-up from the Arbour 2022 report
- RCMP investigator had intimate relationship with informant (CBC)
- the investigation said he should resign, but the RCMP won’t confirm whether he did
- Biden’s suing the US Justice Department because they’re planning on releasing his conversations with his biographer (CBC)
- LNG deal between Canada and Germany to be announced (CBC) ^6e1fa0
- KSI Lisims LNG (BC) and SEFE (Germany)
- Carney and Germany sign LNG export agreement (CBC)
- if it ever gets built, Germany would purchase 1 million metric tonnes of LNG per year
- German company SEFE
- $10 billion Ksi Lisims LNG facility in BC, largely Indigenous-owned (Nisga’a)
- pipeline will support 12 million metric tonnes, so lots of potential
- 80 km
- floating LNG facility in NW BC
- whale territory? Hmmmmmm
- Maninder Sidhu, International Trade Minister, says lots of demand
- will link with Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (already approved)
May 25
- Western Canada’s premiers to gather in Alberta to talk trade (Global News)
- annual
- BC AB SK MN YK NW
- Parliamentary Votes
- Vote #120 — C-30 An Act to implement certain provisions on the spring economic update tabled in Parliament on April 28th 2026
- Passed
- Al Soud voted Yes
- Vote #121 — Opposition Motion (Protection of private property rights in Canada)
- Rejected
- Al Soud voted no
- Vote #122 — C-11 An Act to amend the national Defence Act and other Acts
- Passed
- Al Soud voted yes
- Vote #123 — C-11 An Act to amend the National Defence Act and other Acts
- Passed
- Al Soud voted yes
- Vote #120 — C-30 An Act to implement certain provisions on the spring economic update tabled in Parliament on April 28th 2026
- Tweet - Nobody read the Canada-Germany LNG deal and now I’m mad (source)
- O’Toole - Ambassador Bellman politely criticized the Canada-Germany deal
- Robertson - Bellman DESTROYED PP’s position on the deal
- PP - Liberals don’t understand Germany, BC and Germany are so far away, how does this deal make sense?
- Bellman (Correct) - We like this deal, whether that means shipping to Germany or doing LNG swaps with Asia
- What the deal actually says - SEFE (German corp) takes possession of the LNG at the terminal, after which they will do whatever they want
May 24
- Erskine-Smith’s appeal regarding alleged nomination voting irregularities was dismissed (CBC)
- basically he’s mad that he lost the nomination in Scarborough-Southwest by 19 botes, saying there were 34 more ballots than registered voters
- committee said the rules were followed, that it was probably just a record-keeping error
- ngl it literally comes down to “some names weren’t crossed off a list correctly”, and also you literally had your people everywhere, why did you only raise issues after you lost?
May 22
- Tulsi Gabbard resigns from Trump Cabinet (Fox News)
- husband has brain cancer
- my opinion - that’s probably 100% true but she probably appreciates the exit ramp, given how she responded during that Iran deposition
- US Congress might block the $1.7B “compensation” fund (Fox News)
- Senate Majority Leader Thune said fund “makes everything way harder” for Republicans
- granted by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for the IRS case, the same one that gave Trump + family immunity for like everything
- Trump sued his own IRS and settled with himself
- apparently this money was auto approved without asking Congress??
- no clarity as to where the money comes from (loan, budget, etc)
- Trump can’t receive the money but he can allocate it to allies, donors, etc.
May 21
- Supreme Court to hear BC challenge over mineral rights (CBC)
- they passed DRIPA law in 2019 (indigenous people’s act)
- if BC wins, it means the federal government has to stop an online registry that lets “free miners” to register claims on Crown land, until they talk to the indigenous
- “free miners” = individuals, like hobbyists or prospectors. No heavy machinery
- Opinion Piece - why the Pentagon froze that Joint Board on Defence (CBC)
- Murray Brewster
- feels like it’s aimed to influence Canadian military policy
- but most people are like “you’re freezing the what?”
- this is a WWII-era board, they’ve met 7 times in the last decade so it’s not some central body. Haven’t met in like 1.5 years
- it’s kinda funny that most Canadians’ only engagement with the board is the knowledge that America is being a dick about it
- irony is that they’re saying Canada isn’t contributing enough right after Canada just met their NATO obligations for the first time and is on their way to 5%
- alternative is this might have to do with NORAD, which would be involved in Trump’s “Golden Dome”, which Canada hasn’t given firm commitment to
- this’ll probably push us towards buying less US and building more Canadian equipment, which is what we’re already doing and which Trump is already annoyed by
- and it makes it even harder for politicians to advocate for buying American
- “They’re mad at Canada for not being sufficiently bullied”, Saidmeman, Carton University
- RCMP mishandled NS sexual assault / murder case (CBC)
- Susie Butlin, like 10 years ago, after she had told the RCMP that she was being sexually assaulted and harrassed, and the national watchdog says they failed in both cases to do enough
- watchdog claims offers’ knowledge of sexual assault laws was insufficient, influenced by myths and stereotypes
- no changes in the RCMP since
- sexual offence training is not mandatory (??), only 10% of officers took it as of Oct 2023
- commissioner agreed to make it mandatory for everyone who could be involved in SA complaints, but also disagreed that the RCMP hasn’t done enough (????)
- CRCC says they’re happy with the steps the RCMP said they intend to implement
May 20
- Government is going to speed up PR process for “people with high-paying job offers” (CBC)
- just a new thing on the point system
- not even, it’s just combining systems that already exist
- meant to incentivize skilled workers (eg. doctors, researchers)
- just a new thing on the point system
- Carney to drop carbon pricing for BC too (Global News)
- follows Eby being kinda salty about the Alberta deal, saying it gave them an unfair advantage
- Eby says he wants to see “a fair share for British Columbia of federal investment”, and Carney emphasized giving BC partnership and shit
- basically, seems like he’s promising a lot in order to get Eby on board
- Hosting FIFA will cost Canadians $1B (CBC)
- $82 million per game, pretty inline with previous tournaments
- Liberal Government nominates Gen. Jennie Carignan for next chair of the NATO military committee (CBC)
- elections in September
- Canada’s chief of the defence staff
- served in the Golan Heights, Bosnia, Afghanistan, major-general in Iraq
- ngl I wouldn’t have thought much of her if I hadn’t seen that even the US had gave her a medal, the Legion of Merit
- Eby - Canada can’t work if separatists get all the attention (Global News))
- he’s not wrong, but also BC has the most projects referred by the MPO so idk man
- Apparently foreign governments can just fly our MPs out?? (CBC)
- this article is about how lobbying rules just changed to significantly reduce the free trips allowed, but they can still do it? Wtf
- SpaceX IPO on June 11th/12th (CBC)
- estimated $1.75 trillion
- CSIS is warning they’re pretty restrained without Bill C-22 (CBC)
- basically no one wants Bill C-22
- CSIS there’s lots of threats and shit and tech is moving too quick, and not having this sort of access prohibits them
- CSIS actually gave 2 examples of the roadblocks they faced and how C-22 would have helped
- they were tracking the movement of terrorists, got a warrant for trailing the cellphones, but the service providers said ‘they did not have the capability to track the device because it isn’t legally required’
- so C-22 can just force service providers to have to include shit like that
- apparently other Five Eyes partners already have this? TODO
- foreign partner needed help with an investigation partially within Canada and using Canadian phone numbers
- CSIS confirmed the phone numbers were obtained through a reseller, but resellers aren’t required to maintain records of sales
- they were tracking the movement of terrorists, got a warrant for trailing the cellphones, but the service providers said ‘they did not have the capability to track the device because it isn’t legally required’
- they also give they example of VoIP, where short metadata retention means they can’t trace anything from a spoofed phone number
- Bilodeau (under Anandasangaree (Minister of Public Safety)) says they’re open to encryption concerns. Article doesn’t state anything firmly
- Canadian mining company Sherritt signs preliminary deal to sell majority stake in Cuba mining corp to American corp (CBC)
- pulling out of Cuba
- Gillion Capital LLC belongs to a former Trump administration advisor, Ray Washburne
- follows Trump’s sanctions on Cuba, hmmmmmmm
- Washburns was head of the US development bank, and a member of the intelligence advisory board
- The US departments of State and Treasury do not object, surprise surprise
- Carney wants to help solve global ‘energy crisis’ (CBC)
- says if BC keeps bogging them down, they’ll be ‘spending more time elsewhere’
- issue is Eby is still skeptical of another pipeline, especially through northern BC
- Carney pointed out that almost 1/3 MPO projects are for BC, which is true. Eby needs to stfu
- Eby is more interested in LNG, eg LNG Phase 2
- again, already designated by PMO
- Eby says he wants BC to have its fair share of federal investments even though Carney has already said they would get a share of the proposed BC crude pipeline
- any move to lift the north cost oil tanker ban is a “non-starter”
- Trump Just Pardoned Himself and His Family Forever (New York Times OpEd) (TODO: Move this out of “News”?) ^cd0bf9
- It’s a followup on an AP story from yesterday
- the Trumps demanded compensation for the leaking of his tax returns, seeking $10B
- remember that Trump is both the plaintiff and in control of the defendant agency, so inherent conflict of interest from the get-go
- Todd Blanche gave pre-emptive exoneration from all potential criminal liability for certain financial crimes
- plus guarantee that they cannot pursue tax claims against him, his family or his businesses
- “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing” President Trump, his eldest sons or any of their businesses
- “whether presently known or unknown”
- Trump’s longstanding IRS audit is basically killed, he probably would have had to pay more than $100M
- as long as it took place before the agreement took place, it cannot be the basis for prosecution
- [OPINION] By Jeffrey Toobin’s reading, the government cannot challenge the legality of any trusts, which can survive in perpetuity
- meaning any Trump trusts that existed before this doc can exist like this indefinitely
- the $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund that was created as a part of the resolution, it will be controlled by a 5-member panel who is appointed by the AG and the president can remove at-will
- basically Trump “doesn’t control” the fund, but he effectively controls the fund
- the 2024 SCOTUS ruling had only closed investigations of things that happen while Trump is in office. This covers any time
- undoing this would be hard as fuck
- probably not a lawsuit - what plantiff?
- congress? courts would say it’s within the AG’s discretion
- future justice department would take years
- the precedent basically elevates all future presidents and their families into a new cast
May 19
- Nouveau Monde Graphite’s Matawinie Mine breaking ground ^baff67
- one of Carney’s MPO projects of interest
- breaking ground in under 6 months, sounds pretty good!
- will be the largest graphite mine in the G7, 106,000 tonnes annually
- boosts Canada’s share of graphite production from 1% to 6%
- 1000 new jobs, brings $2 billion in investments
- completed by late 2028 (so they say)
- not an “easy win”; this project was like nearly dead because they couldn’t get all the funding promised at the same time. It was the combination of the CGF plus Investissement Quebec and ENI and Canada Infrastructure Bank
- plus the seven-year offtake agreement (basically Canada’s gonna be a guaranteed customer for them)
- with the purpose explicitly to be an alternative to China
- Canada acting as a commercial customer to anchor a mine’s financing is very unusual
- plus the seven-year offtake agreement (basically Canada’s gonna be a guaranteed customer for them)
- Graphite info
- usually comes in 3 forms, flake (batteries), amorphous (refractories/steel), and vein (rare but pure, basically just Sri Lanka)
- Matawinie is large-flake, which is premo. large is for refractory and nuclear, medium is for EV batteries
- natural is way cleaner than synthetic; produces 1-2 kg of CO2 per kg compared to nearly 5 kg
- this will integrate with NMG’s planned battery plant, which would be cool
- not finished but not zero either, they own land and stuff and are looking to be ready to be online around when the mine comes online
- still needs funding (!!)
- there is also a whole battery situation forming in Quebec with GM and RIO Tinto battery stuff
- long-term demand is great, expected to triple by 2030
- prices are kinda fucky for many reasons but also because China controls like 90% of battery-grade graphite
- but also a bonus for people looking to reduce dependency on China
- usually comes in 3 forms, flake (batteries), amorphous (refractories/steel), and vein (rare but pure, basically just Sri Lanka)
- Kars4Kids isn’t helping kids lmao (CBC)
- no joke their Canadian branch is just sending money to the US and Israel, you can’t make this shit up
- US government agrees to drop tax claims against Trump (AP News)
- permanently drop tax claims, “forever barred”
- remember, this was done by Trump’s IRS
- also bars investigating his family, affiliates and others
- signed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
- as a part of this, they’re creating a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to compensate his allies, anyone they perceive as targets of prosecution
- would not rule out people who did violence on Jan 6th
- Daniel Werfel, former IRS Commissioner, said he was unaware of any instance to permanently forgo examination of previously filed tax returns
- decision follows Trump + family agreeing to drop lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury Department
May 18
- Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) given control of the Strait of Hormuz
- Formed on May 5th so I guess they just took a minute to formalize transfer of power?
May 15
- Supreme court - IPV can be basis for lawsuits (CBC)
- “not confined to conduct that inflicts physical or psychological injury, but includes all abusive conduct by which one intimate partner coerces and controls the other, thus depriving them of their autonomy.”
- this is a ‘tort’, so civil not criminal
- Canada is sending election observers to Armenia (CBC)
- HRW is warning that Armenia is suppressing the opposition so this election might be scuffed
- Kenneth Roth, IODA and former head of HRW - “It’s as if … Western governments, including Canada, have basically decided that for geopolitical purposes it doesn’t matter if there’s democracy in Armenia,” said Roth. “As long as the government that emerges from it is on the West’s side.”
- this shit’s dumb, it’s just a guy who cares a lot about the region being too passionate
- realistically it’s probably just Canada doing a half-assed effort of like “We’ll watch but we’re not gonna redo your whole shit”
- Armenia opposition members are getting shafted though
- Samvel Karapetyan - main opposition Russian-Armenian business tycoon is under house arrest
- Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan - clergyman, Canadian citizen (weird)
- charged with attempted coup again Pashiyan (current Prime Minister)
- this is the first election since Armenia lost the Azerbaijan war / the Nagorno-Karabakh region
- Azerbaijan’s destroying churches in Karabakh, not good
- “constructed during illegal occupation” yeah okay still not good
- Canada and Alberta make agreements on exports/emissions/pipeline (PM’s Office)
- MOU for energy, renewable energy, climate
- Fix the carbon credits market (acknowledged it’s not working)
- $130 per tonne by 2040
- “jointly issue 75 million tonnes of Carbon Contracts for Difference (CfDs)”
- Clean Electricity Tax Credit - Canada and Alberta:
- doublling grid by 2050 inlcuding renewables
- ‘Electricity Working Group’ to be created to achieve net-zero emissions by alberta by 2050, plus modernizing and renewables, etc.
- Diversify global markets (read: building a pipeline)
- Alberta will submit a bitumen proposal by July 1st
- Canada will pursue it as a “project of national interest”
- see Building Canada Act
- both with work to get BC on-board
- CER has been heavily changed/edited/“un-toothed”
- TODO: Look more into this, it’s messy if nothing else. Like CCS isn’t necessary for the electric grid anymore, but they still gotta be net-zero, but the timeline might or might not be shifted? idk man
- one thing is that CER did mandate that facilities would have to be net-zero or shut down by 2035. According to Alberta, many facilities would have to permanently shut down because they couldn’t make changes in time, but Ottawa said “bro just buy credits or be cleaner, it’s not that hard”
- Obviously Alberta’s being a drama queen, and Ottawa’s putting a heavy burden because if they don’t then no one’s going to even try
- The Implementation Agreement (PM’s Office)
- specifies precise carbon price per year until $130 in 2035
- Trudeau had said $170 by 2030, this is a big step back
- Alberta will regulate a minimum transfer price for credits
- ‘Stringency Rate’ set for each sector (oil sands, hydrogen, many others)
- More CfDs stuff
- Should carbon stuff be repealed, Canada will assume sole liability??? very weird
- Canada wants high-voltage intra-provincial transmissions projects on a national basis (!!)
- Canada and Alberta reaffirm commitment to make an agreement with the ‘Oil Sands Alliance’, known as the ‘Pathways Project’
- Canadian Natural Resources Limited, Cenovus, ConocoPhilips Canada, Imperial Oil Limited, Suncor Energy
- they call it “trilateral” but the Indigenous are additionally included
- 16 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of emissions reductions from Pathways projects
- Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage Investment Tax Credit
- Pipeline babyyyyy (to Asian markets)
- Alberta will submit application to MPO by July 1
- Canada will pursue designation as project of national interest for approval by October 1 2026
- intends to provide condition documents by September 1 2027 to enable commencement of construction
- NOTE: pipeline and “Pathways” are mutually dependent
- iow they’re only doing the carbon capture if the pipeline is approved
- agree to pressure BC to work together
- ‘Electricity Working Group’ will be formed to get Alberta to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector by 2050
- “electricity sector” is interesting, I’m guessing that doesn’t include gas/crude/drilling
- Claude - “the electricity grid specifically… That means the power grid — the generation and transmission of electricity”
- More from Claude - includes all power plants including dirty
- Excludes extraction/refining gas/oil
- specifies precise carbon price per year until $130 in 2035
- NOT INTRODUCING OIL AND GAS EMISSIONS CAP
- Alberta is BIG HAPPY about this one
- Canada and Alberta are gonna talk AI data centers by July 1 2026
- Canada and Alberta are gonna talk nuclear by January 1 2027
TODO: Bill C-69 — the "no more pipelines" law
May 14
- Honda indefinitely suspends $15B EV complex (CBC) ^9caaf8
- they had paused it last year saying they’d re-evaluate, now it’s indefinite
- would have been 1000 jobs, 240,000 vehicles/year by 2028
- follows Honda’s first full-year loss at $2.7B USD
- blame EV plans/demands flopping
- also blame US environmental regulation rollback (and EV incentives presumably)
- gonna pivot to hybrid/gas
- no affect on current jobs, only future investments
- Carney announces National Electricity Strategy (PM Office)
- double grid capacity by 2050
- lower total energy costs for 7 in 10 households
- plans to incorporate natural gas 😬
- though he says major investments to clean energy, so idk what the ratio’s looking like. Currently it’s 80% clean
- 4 pillars
- infrastructure. Distribution, storage, modernization
- connectivity. East-West-North lines to reduce provincial fragmentation
- train/attract/retain talent
- they project this’ll take >130,000 high-skilled workers by 2050
- make more of the required components domestically
- Sobeys, Loblaws are “maple washing” (CBC)
- Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) fined 2 stores $10k each, and a month later, 2 more
- Sobeys has phased out the red maple leaf symbol
- fines are rare; 127 examples of cheating were found but only 2 fines
- Travel to the US down 42%, higher than thought (CBC)
- based on cell data from UoT study
- StatsCan had previously said only 25% decline
- return trips from overseas countries are up (StatsCan)
May 13
- Ottawa, Alberta near deal on carbon pricing rising to $130/tonne by 2040 (CBC)
- Smith rejects Alberta judge’s ruling against separatist petition (Global News) (Global News/The Canadian Press)
- judge ruled they should have consulted First Nations first
- First Nations call the referendum process unconstitutional
- dumb Albertan fucks can’t grapple with Treaties 7 and 8 so they keep rambling about other shit
- Treaty 7 - promised land, payments, provisions and rights to First Nations within Alberta
- Southern Alberta - mainly Blackfoot, First Nation band governments
- Treaty 8 - improvement on old BC treaty
- covers 841,000 km2 (largest of the treaties)
- land rights and ownership
- government food, assistant, elderly care, medicine
- hunting rights and such
- Treaty 7 - promised land, payments, provisions and rights to First Nations within Alberta
- Justice Shaina Leonard
- “Neil Dobson, a lawyer for the province, argued in court that it was premature to consult with Indigenous leaders about the petition”???
- judge asked him why he didn’t already consult and he said it was their right to wait?
- 302,000 people voted for separatism (above the 178,000 requirement)
- 400,000 people voted for “Forever Canadian”
- lead by former Alberta deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk
- No one knows how many people accessed leaked Alberta voter list (Global News)
- 3 million people were leaked
- there was an official list that was supposed to be given to Republican Party of Canada, who claims they don’t know how it got in the hands of The Centurion Project (who leaked it)
- David Parker heads The Centurion Project, apparently very uncooperative
- Carney’s gotta deal with some environmental regulation pushback (CBC)
- Liberals like Guilbeault think Carney’s proposed regulation changes are “beyond what Harper proposed when he was in power”
- Guilbeault is the former environment minister
- says he likes a lot of it, but doesn’t like how much is delegated to the provinces, fears it’ll lead to inconsistent standards across the country
- there’s also a “federal economic zones” proposal he doesn’t like, which would be pre-approved for certain developments
- “take us back decades”
- federal cabinet could be given limited powers to exempt projects from the “jeopardy test”
- under the Species at Risk Act, projects have to meet criteria that ensure they protect endangered species, eg. all reasonable alternatives are taken into consideration
- “jeopardy test” - activity will not jeopardize the survival/recovery of the species
- “The debate about whether it is too hard to build things is probably in some danger of being based more on vibes than on careful examination”
- ngl I have a vibes-based opinion on this, TODO look into it further
- Angus poll - majority of Canadians now prioritize economic growth over environmental protection when designing national energy policy
- this also follows March’s $3.8 billion announcement to protect nature in James Bay and Manitoba (CBC) so it’s not like Carney doesn’t care about the environment at all
- but 55% of Liberals still prioritize environmental protection
- Guilbeault’s concern is if people don’t trust the process, groups will turn to tribunals and bog down progress
- Liberals like Guilbeault think Carney’s proposed regulation changes are “beyond what Harper proposed when he was in power”
- Angus Topshee promoted to vice chief of defence staff (CBC)
- replacing Lt.-Gen. Stephen Kelsey
- Rear Admiral Dan Charlebois is promoted to vice-admiral
- Tech companies don’t like Anandasangaree’s sketchy-ass lawful access bill (CBC)
- Bill C-22
- Rachel Curran (Meta) - the bill would “conscript private companies into service as an arm of the government’s surveillance apparatus.”
- everyone seems to think it’s going to undermine encryption, introduce backdoors
- Ottawa spent more than $800M on AI contracts over 3 years (Global News)
- incl. 240 in Cohere
- also smaller amounts for ChatGPT and others
- not all departments/agencies/crown corps giving all their info
- main spenders - Public Services and Procurement, Innovation Canada, national Defence, CRA
- CSIS declined to release info, RCMP says they don’t have info aggregated
May 12
- insolvency in Canada is up (CBC)
- 37,121 Canadians filed in the first quarter of 2026 - highest since 2009
- lower if you factor in population growth, but still
- up 8.5% YoY
- biggest spikes in BC, PEI and Ontario
- bankruptcies grew more than proposals grew most in Ontario and Alberta
- bankruptcies require debter to give up assets (eg. homes
- proposals are a plan to pay back their debt on a schedule while keeping their assets
- 37,121 Canadians filed in the first quarter of 2026 - highest since 2009
- First Nations want to eliminate 2nd-generation cut-off (in line with UN advice) (CBC)
- current Indian Act cut-off prevents Indian status from being passed down to children after 2 generations of one parent with status
- EMRIP (part of the UN) advises member states how to implement UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People
- applies to Bill S-2
- Zelenskyy says Ukraine working on ‘drone deal’ with Canada (Global News)
- basically they’re like “we’re experts now and we’ll hook you up”
- 20 other countries already working with them
- David McGuinty (National Defence Minister) and Anita Anand (Foreign Affairs) are on this one
- this is a follow-up to statements from last August discussing intent “to co-produce defence materials in both countries”
- strong follow-up from November criticisms that Canadian companies aren’t cooperating out of fear of sending employees/investments over there
- Anand to pitch Canada defence, economic ties during Persian Gulf trip (Global News / The Canadian Press)
- meeting in Oman for defence and economic trade, next is Qatar
- key players in brokering peace
- says she courting investments while expressing solidarity
- David McGuinty is also visiting Qatar and UAE
- meeting in Oman for defence and economic trade, next is Qatar
- Americans are salty about Canadian alcohol boycotts (CBC)
- Canadians are avoiding American even when they have the option, choosing local
- America - president and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States said he’s trying to make a case to Trump admin to find some common ground
- exports to Canada dropped 63%
- “devastating”
- global US alcohol exports declined 3.8%
- claim if Canada is excluded, exports are actually up 2.5%
- that means Canada is 7.3% of their export market
- Nova Scotia Liquor Corp is selling their inventory now, but not buying more
- claim demand has petered off
- Keyera Corp bought the Canadian NGL business from US Plains All American Pipeline L.P. (CBC)
- $5.3 billion
- competition bureau challenges the deal, alleging it’ll harm energy producers and stifle investment
- Dunkin’ returning to Canada (CBC)
May 11
- amendment to sexual deepfakes bill to include “nearly nude” images (Global News)
- Bill C-16 — Protecting Victims Act
- this is not a “deepfakes” bill, it protects victims and one aspect of that will be deepfakes. But it’s a big bill
- arguably too big?
- this is not a “deepfakes” bill, it protects victims and one aspect of that will be deepfakes. But it’s a big bill
- basically amendments were spurred on by Elon’s twitter grossness
- Bill C-16 — Protecting Victims Act
- Appealing the Results in Scarborough Southwest (YouTube - Nathaniel Eurskine-Smith)
- from the dude who lost in the riding in question
- More notes
May 10
- Danielle Smith’s happy about federal pipeline progress again Global News Article)
- Smith is also clear that Ottawa wouldn’t own a new pipeline, and she wants to include the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation, which is interesting
- province would underwrite a loan guarantee for First Nations that take equity stakes
- she likes the LNG Canada model that has both domestic and foreign owners; basically she just likes the private ownership model
- Smith is also clear that Ottawa wouldn’t own a new pipeline, and she wants to include the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation, which is interesting
May 9
- Ukraine’s mad Israel keeps buying grain that Russia stole from them (CBC)
- it’s pretty illegal so wtf
- Ukraine filed a criminal complaint
- EU threatens sanctions on Israel alongside Ukraine
- Israel’s being weird af because Russia’s backing Iran, so why are they chill with Putin?
- Russia may have helped Iran target Israeli energy sites
- Israel and Russia are the only two countries in the world whose leaders are wanted by the ICC for alleged war crimes
- CSIS says Alberta referendum vulnerable to foreign interference (CBC) ^23d818
- Dan Rogers - “rife for amplification or for the sort of disinformation or foreign interference that we’ve seen from players like Russia”
- there was some recent report about the range of threats, authored by DisinfoWatch, Canadian Digital Media Research Network and CASiLabs
- they call out Russia and China both
- Trump’s rhetoric has given it momentum too
- Danielle Smith denies
- CSIS also says the PMO may be a potential risk, that malicious states may target these projects
- Building Canada Act does require a national security review if state-owned or foreign investments from “hostile countries” in any national interest projects
- NOTE: No one in this article identifies the US as an actor
May 8
- Canada dropped 18,000 jobs in April (CBC) ^13c596
- unemployment at 6 month high at 6.9%
- gained 67,000 jobs YoY, but lost 112,000
- article has a really cool graph
- concentrated in full-time work (111,000) in the last 4 months
- average wage grew though, 4.8% YoY
- participation rate was basically stable, 64.9 → 65% MoM
- considers working-age people that are either employed or actively seeking employment
- (Employed+Unemployed) / (Working-Age population)
- part-time are considered employment, so this stat masks gig work
- so basically this isn’t about people retiring or leaving; the same number of people are looking for work but can’t find it
- in April, goods-producing sector lost 26,800 jobs, service sector gained 9,100 jobs
- health-care, social assistance, building sectors had gains
- counter to prediction that jobs would increase
- Russia’s fucking with our defence contractors (and Germany too) (CBC)
- Ottawa expands defence buying power by allowing 14 exceptions, flexibility to bypass cumbersome procurement systems (CBC)
- Slotkin warns us about getting cars from China (CBC)
- She’s from Michigan so makes sense
- Danielle Smith’s happy about federal pipeline progress (Global News) (Different Global News Article)
- contingent on carbon capture and storage
- imo carbon capture is stupid, idk why people keep chasing it
- Smith takes issue with the $130 per tonne industrial carbon price
- Explainer - per tonne industrial carbon price
- this shit stupid af
- every company is judged based on their historical emissions. a benchmark is set, and then they have to be a certain amount as much or more clean than that
- the rules aren’t clear, but you can think of it as “you have an allowance of X tonnes of CO2 per barrel of crude extracted”
- (simplifying) for each tonne of CO2 below the benchmark you are, you earn one credit
- companies are also fined if they go over their benchmark, that is the “per tonne industrial carbon price”
- BUT they don’t have to pay the fine if they instead buy a credit
- the problem is the benchmarks are hella lax, so lots of companies are easily beating the benchmark and earning credits, which they then sell to heavy polluters
- that way the heavy polluters don’t have to bother cleaning up
- because there are so many credits, the price is dirt cheap ($17-20)
- there is also a max fee per tonne extracted above the baseline (currently $95)
- you can improve the scenario by making the baseline stricter, making it harder to earn credits
- couple this with raising the per tonne industrial carbon tax, and suddenly even if carbon credits are cheaper than the fee, hopefully it gets expensive enough that companies start to care about pollution
- basically there’s a target emissions per
- oilsands companies have to pay a fee per tonne extracted (basically a pollution fee). Currently $95
- Smith is arguing she needs more time to get to that $130, saying it’ll hurt competitiveness
- Smith might be a bad actor here, saying he’s willing during the MOU and then weakening the industrial carbon price days later
- tangent - why the credits matter
- so the industrial carbon price doesn’t actually matter all that much, which is goofy
- what it is useful for is generating carbon credits
- simplified - Carney wants to build the $16 billion Pathways carbon capture project. It will earn money by removing CO2 from the air, which will generate credits, which it will sell to the dirty companies for profit. But if credits cost fuck all, who cares?
- So, Carney wants to enact policies that raise the price of carbon credits, which will lead to interest and therefore investment in carbon capture
- Carney has said that if there’s no carbon capture project, he won’t approve a pipeline. Which suggests that Smith has to be on-board with raising the industrial carbon price
- TODO: I need more info on this benchmark business, this feels like the most important part of the equation, even more than the $130 shit
- Smith is also clear that Ottawa wouldn’t own a new pipeline, and she wants to include the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation, which is interesting
- province would underwrite a loan guarantee for First Nations that take equity stakes
- she likes the LNG Canada model that has both domestic and foreign owners; basically she just likes the private ownership model
- contingent on carbon capture and storage
May 7
- Mexico trade mission to Toronto (CBC)
- over 200 Mexican companies came to expand commercial links
- includes high-levels talks on CUSMA
- largest that Mexico has ever sent
- follows LeBlanc’s February trip that lead to 20 new deals
- exports grew 17% last year
- Ortega (president of Mexico-Canada bilateral committee) said that during NAFTA negotiations, Mexico and Canada found common ground which helped to soften the positions the US took; basically this sounds like a similar precedent
- rent across Canada fell 5% in April (YoY) (CBC) ^c1197b
- average of $2,027, matching rates 3 years ago
- notably rent went up in NS, NL, SK, MN, it’s the dense/overpriced places that are correcting
- Carney met with President Myung (SK)
- general talk, but reaffirmed Canada-Korea Security and Defence Cooperation Partnership from October
- Canadian cities fighting it out over who will host the defence bank
- normally I’d say “who gives a shit”, but apparently Toronto is arguing MTL is a bad pick because the PQ might win in Quebec next cycle
- sovereigntist party, ahead in the polls, promised they’d hold a referendum in its first mandate
- At least the Liberal party of Quebec owns that the prospect of PQ is creating economic instability
- normally I’d say “who gives a shit”, but apparently Toronto is arguing MTL is a bad pick because the PQ might win in Quebec next cycle
- PP affirms he isn’t leaving
- favourability dropped from 88% to 76%
- “think he should leave” dropped from 68% to 57%
- “think he should be replaced” doubled from 18% to 30%
- Carney met with Abbas
- lowkey news that’s pretty significant, signals Carney supports the PA’s control over both the West Bank and Gaza
- Liberals might be willing to change environmental regulations to speed up resource projects (CBC)
- Impact Assessment Act, Fisheries Act, potentially others
- seems to be in response to Bill C-5 (Building Canada Act) not being fast enough
- it has a 5-year sunset clause
- “Government officials have already said that they expect environmental groups to not be happy”
- Ontario’s water is fucked, allows double the lead of the federal recommendation (CTV News)
May 6
- Carney’s gonna try to speed up pipeline, resource projects
- Bill C-22 lawful access bill is a little sus, but seems overblown. Way better than C-2
- Honda’s halting the $15B EV plant development in Ontario, citing reduced US demand
- big yikes. If you want to shit on Carney, his lack of ability to stabilize things with the US is leading to increasing harms to our market
- Airbus Canada secures multibillion 150-plane order with AirAsia
- sounds like Carney’s Malaysia trip paid off
- sounds like a pretty fucking big deal
- Canada’s choosing new radar planes
- if they go with Saab’s GlobalEye, they already work with Canada a lot (the Global 6500 jet is manufactured by Bombardier in Toronto, works with CAE in Montreal, Cohere in Toronto (AI), and says they’d share IP with Canada for domestic building/maintainance/upgrades)
- Other options are the American jets Aeris X (L3Harris) and the E-7 (Boeing)
- Ford’s jet controversy lost him voter support (CBC)
- $29 million jet that he had to walk back
- Ontario PC and OLP support is now tied (within 3%, depends on the source)
May 5
- Louise Arbour appointed GG. Insanely decorated woman, top tier pic
- Prosecutor for the Hague, Serbia and Rwanda, and the Supreme Court of Canada, and that’s just the surface
- Canada posts trade surplus in March (CBC)
- largely due to crude and gold surge
- $1.78 billion surplus, compared to previous months with a $5.11 billion deficit
- surplus with US reached highest in 6 months
- exports to non-US markets hit record high, rising 9.1%
- GTA home sales up 7% in April (CBC) ^800b48
- YoY rise, plus up from March (seasonally adjusted)
- selling price is down 4.9%
- worth noting: listings are down, inventory is down
May 4
- Trump increased steel/aluminum tariffs, Canada establishes $1 billion loan program through BDC plus $500 fund for “strategic pivots” (CBC)
- Melanie Joly
- in response to Trump’s “232 Tariffs”
APRIL
RECAP
- idk I wasn’t taking notes back then
- we got pipeline action in the south, Keystone XL’s back from the grave
April 30
- Trump authorizes Canada-Wyoming crude pipeline (CBC)
- a sort of revival of the Keystone XL pipeline
- Canada had already done some construction on our end, so at least that’s not wasted (Alberta and Saskachewan)
- Canadian company South Bow + US company Bridger Pipeline
- this would increase crude exports to the US by >12%
- we can reuse built pipe on the Canadian side (already 150 km laid in Alberta)
- evaluating a Prarie Connector project for additional flow
- apparently Carney had discussed Keystone XL during their October meeting
April 28
- Carney represents Canada at European Political Community Summit for the first time PM Office
- In Armenia
- discussions on collective security, defence, supporting Ukraine, investing, all the usual stuff
- the main thing here is that Canada’s been invited for the first time, signaling a strengthening of our bond with Europe
- Also, first time our PM has been to Armenia in nearly a decade