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Income tax cuts expected as Quebec finance minister to table budget today

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:14:40 GMT

Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard is scheduled to table the first budget of the Coalition Avenir Québec’s second mandate this afternoon.Girard broke with tradition on Monday — instead of buying new shoes ahead of the budget, he announced a $5,000 donation to a Quebec City community centre.He said today’s budget will also include $50 million for the Dr. Julien Foundation, which provides pediatric care and other services to vulnerable children.Girard has previously said his budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year will keep the promises his party made during Quebec’s fall election campaign.A centrepiece of the party’s election platform was a promise for an income tax cut of one percentage point starting this year on the lowest two income tax brackets. The minister’s December update forecasted that the province would end the 2022-23 fiscal year with a $5.2-billion deficit and return to a balanced budget by 2027-28.This report by The Canadian Press was first pu...

Canadian MPs of all stripes condemn Punjab crackdown as some receive online threats

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:14:40 GMT

OTTAWA — A cross-section of Canadian MPs are calling out an Indian government crackdown in the state of Punjab, and those criticizing internet restrictions are receiving threatening responses online.For at least three days, authorities in Punjab have restricted communications and the size of gatherings as authorities search for Sikh separatist leader Amritpal Singh. The manhunt comes a month after he led a violent storming of a police station, according to international media reports.“As Canadian members of Parliament, we’re trying to ensure that there is some safety for Canadians who are visiting there,” Conservative deputy leader Tim Uppal said in an interview Monday.“We raised this as a concern. And the response was quite harsh — a number of threats in there as well, and by people who have a very large following.”The Edmonton MP was among a handful of parliamentarians, across party lines, who have voiced their concerns online this week — even as mill...

Saskatchewan First Nation comes to B.C. to talk about taking over child welfare

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:14:40 GMT

VANCOUVER — Leaders of a Saskatchewan First Nation are in Vancouver to launch plans to take over control of child welfare services for its members.It comes as the Key First Nation sent a letter to Premier David Eby expressing “heartbreak and outrage” at the loss of one of its teenage members while she was in British Columbia’s child welfare system. The nation says it chose to start consultations in Vancouver to honour Noelle O’Soup, a 13-year-old member of its nation who disappeared from a B.C. group home in 2021 and whose remains were found in the city nearly a year later. The letter says the nation has grave concerns about the B.C. government’s inaction on the teen’s disappearance and death, and it calls on the government to address systemic failures that compromised the girl’s safety and her family’s access to information.The girl’s body was found inside a Downtown Eastside rooming house and while the tenant of the room was found dead inside in February of...

The USMCA’s self-destruct button: review clause conjures fears of 2018 all over again

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:14:40 GMT

WASHINGTON — It’s been less than three years since the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement replaced NAFTA as the law of the land in continental trade, and there are already hints of the existential anxiety that preceded it.That’s because of the so-called “sunset provision,” a clause that reflects the lingering working-class distrust of globalization in the U.S. that helped Donald Trump get elected president back in 2016. Article 34.7 of the agreement, the “review and term extension” clause, establishes a 16-year life cycle that requires all three countries to sit down every six years to ensure everyone is still satisfied. That clock began ticking in the summer of 2020. If it runs out in 2026, it triggers a self-destruct mechanism of sorts, ensuring the agreement — known in Canada as CUSMA — would expire 10 years later without a three-way consensus.For Canada, the sunset provision “is a minefield,” said Lawrence Herman, an international trade ...

New Brunswick government to table budget today as province sees surge in population

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:14:40 GMT

FREDERICTON — New Brunswick’s finance minister is scheduled to table a provincial budget today as the government grapples with problems in health care and housing and the effects of a population surge.Last year, the budget featured $11.3 billion in spending, with $3.2 billion set aside for health care and a one-year cap of 3.8 per cent on allowable rent increases.Finance Minister Ernie Steeves said Monday this year’s version will be a “great budget” for the most vulnerable.But he concedes “it’s hard to plan in New Brunswick” because the province is unaccustomed to the population growth it has seen recently.A government news release from March 2022 says the province’s population topped 800,000, adding more than 40,000 people over the previous five years.Data from Statistics Canada showed New Brunswick’s retention rate dropped slightly from 48.7 per cent in 2010 to 48 per cent in 2015, which means that newcomers to the province don...

Statistics Canada set to release its latest inflation reading this morning

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:14:40 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada is set to release its latest report on how much the cost of living is rising this morning.  The federal agency will release its consumer price index for February.The overall annual inflation rate was 5.9 per cent in January, but the year-over-year increase for food prices was 10.4 per cent.The inflation report comes ahead of the federal budget on March 28.The Bank of Canada is working to bring the annual inflation rate back to its target of two per cent.The central bank left its key interest target unchanged at 4.5 per cent earlier this month, the first time it did not raise the rate since it began increasing it last year.This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2023.The Canadian Press

Nordstrom Canada liquidation sales expected to begin today as store prepares for exit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:14:40 GMT

TORONTO — Nordstrom is expected to begin liquidating its stores across Canada today.The start of the department store chain’s closing sale comes a day after the U.S. retailer’s Canadian branch got permission from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to start selling off merchandise.Nordstrom’s liquidation efforts are being led by Hilco Merchant Retail Solutions ULC and Gordon Brothers Canada and are expected to be complete by late June.Furniture, fixtures and equipment will be liquidated alongside most of Nordstrom’s merchandise, but goods from third parties aren’t part of the sale because they were removed from stores over the weekend.Nordstrom required court approval to liquidate because it is winding down its Canadian operations under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, which helps insolvent businesses restructure or end operations in an orderly fashion.As part of the wind down, Nordstrom will close its six Canadian department store locations ...

Daily horoscope for March 21, 2023

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:14:40 GMT

Moon Alert: Avoid shopping or making important decisions from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. EDT today (8:45 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. PDT). After that, the Moon moves from Pisces into Aries.Happy Birthday for Tuesday, March 21, 2023:You are adventurous, honest and direct. You have strong opinions, and you tell it like it is. Simplicity is the key to life this year. It’s time for you to create solid foundations, metaphorically and even physically. Martial arts and yoga will be wonderful tools for self-discipline.ARIES(March 21-April 19) ★★★★★This is an excellent day for new beginnings! (After the Moon Alert is over.) You are perfectly poised to initiate things, because the Sun, the New Moon, Mercury and lucky Jupiter are all in your sign. It doesn’t get better than this! Tonight: Communicate!TAURUS(April 20-May 20) ★★★★This is the perfect day for quiet contemplation. Very soon you will enter into a busy window of about six weeks, so use this time to think about what you want to achiev...

Britain ready to fill Warsaw's air defence gaps after MiG-29 delivery

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:14:40 GMT

Britain is ready to help Poland fill its air defence gaps caused by Warsaw sending some of its MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine but Poland has not yet made such requests, British Armed Forces Minister James Heappey (pictured) was quoted as saying on Monday (20 March).Poland last week said it would send Ukraine four MiG-29 fighter jets in coming days, making it the first of Kyiv's allies to provide such aircraft and possibly creating a need to ramp up Poland's air defence equipment.Britain would be able to help fill such gaps, as it previously did when Poland sent T-72 main battle tanks to Ukraine, providing Warsaw with Challenger 2 tanks, Heappey told German newspaper Welt."We will look very positively at a Polish request to fill in the gaps that have arisen," Heappey said.

Harriette Cole: Is this a bad way to deal with a co-worker who doesn’t like me?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:14:40 GMT

DEAR HARRIETTE: One of my male friends is close to a woman who is part of a project I just joined. I have seen them out together twice, and it’s really awkward.He and I are cool. I have considered him a friend for many years. His companion, however, has a negative attitude toward me. We don’t really know each other, but her business partners and I are friends from years back, and they don’t get along.I’m wondering if I should confide in my friend that I don’t know how to break the ice with my new colleague — or even if that’s a good idea. I can tell they are close. I don’t want to make things worse.Should I reach out to him or just keep my mouth shut?Forging a LiaisonRelated ArticlesAdvice | Harriette Cole: When I got home, I saw he had read my journals and he was mad Advice | Harriette Cole: How can I stand up to my stony co-worker? Advice | Harriette Cole: Is this too much to ask of my ex-ad...