Canada

The parent company of American alcohol producers such as Jack Daniel's whisky and Woodford Reserve bourbon says sales to Canada dropped 62 per cent during the latest fiscal quarter compared to a year ago, as American alcohol remains off the shelves in many provinces.

After U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian goods in early March, a number of provinces retaliated, pulling American alcohol from store shelves. Alberta and Saskatchewan have since lifted the ban.

During a conference call with investors Thursday, officials with Brown-Forman — the parent company of brands such as Jack Daniel's and Woodford Reserve — noted other pressures, but said the boycott is causing a "significant impact."

A Burlington homeowner is fighting charges over her “naturalized garden” of native plants in her front and back yards. The city is taking Karen Barnes to Provincial Offences Court, seeking up to $400,000 in fines for violating a bylaw order to cut it down.

Barnes is challenging the case on constitutional grounds, arguing her right to freedom of expression through gardening is protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

She says her garden supports pollinators, biodiversity and wildlife, reflecting her environmental and spiritual beliefs. She appeared for a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday and is scheduled for a two-day trial in November, according to her lawyer, Vilko Zbogar.

Zbogar says the case is about more than the fine. “Courts have recognized since at least 1996 that freedom of expression under the Charter protects natural gardens as expressions of profound environmental values,” he said. “For Karen, it’s also a spiritual exercise — tied to her creed and beliefs. This falls under Sections 2(a) and 2(b) of the Charter: freedom of conscience and religion and freedom of expression.”

Experts say naturalized gardens and meadows can attract far more pollinators than regularly mown lawns, while also using less water and improving soil health.

Alberta recently directed schools to purge library books from shelves that fit its definition of “explicit sexual content” by 1 October. If the policy is applied precisely as outlined, a host of books face being purged, including George Orwell’s 1984 due to passages in the text that discuss sexual intercourse and rape.

Academics and researchers who examine censorship say the policy specifically targets books that affirm LGBTQ+ identities – which they say is the goal of rightwing parents’ groups.

Turk says he and his colleagues are following more than 25 socially conservative groups across Canada that have similar mandates.

Many of these groups emerged as anti-vax groups during the Covid-19 pandemic, and then used social media to widen their scope of causes, including strict parental oversight.

“It’s a major initiative right now that grows out of this notion that ‘our kids are our property’,” he said. “It’s a very backward-looking, reactionary way of understanding how children learn.”

Lobbying by some parents’ groups has also prompted Alberta to institute “opt-in” sex education in fall 2024, instead of “opt-out”, which means parents must now actively sign their children up for those classes.

In June, following advocating from the Alberta Parents’ Union, Alberta also introduced new rules that require all presentations focussing on gender identity and sexuality to be vetted by the provincial government.

Canada recently experienced two of its worst wildfire seasons on record.

Early signs point to another active wildfire season in 2025, particularly in Western Canada.

Here is an up-to-date look at the country's wildfire situation today.

This CBC page updates in real-time to the wildfires and smoke pollution each province is facing.

Dozens of the posts put the blame on environmentalists and the Liberals, suggesting the fires were part of a plot to justify authoritarian rule. The comments hint at a common conspiracy theory that posits a cabal of global elites are using climate action to justify controlling people and kicking them off their land.

"I see we’re back into arson season," commented one Facebook user, Brian Demyon. "Guess our governments need to have harsher penalties for the environmentalists who like to start fires. A little hard when there [sic] payed [sic] by the government."

"Got the crazies burning people out, they will evacuate and go take your guns," added Facebook user Deborah Madison.

"So the Liberals got in again, so I predict arson summer … Then they could call it Global warming and taxes [sic] even more," wrote an account under the name Glen Brewer.

Then, the comments stopped, as abruptly as they started. Facebook traffic data the BC Wildfire Service shared with Canada's National Observer shows that between April 30 and May 5 views on the service’s page jumped from an average of under 100,000 per day to over 1.5 million views around May 1 before falling back to under 100,000 two weeks later after May 15.

The concentration of traffic was unusual, but the content was familiar. "It was all the conspiracy theories that we usually get sprinkled through our comments — but hundreds, thousands for two weeks, and then it was done," said Strong.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/4310900

An unusually broad coalition composed of the United States, its traditional English-speaking allies and other nations including Germany, Italy and Japan is calling out three Chinese companies over alleged hacking activity.

In a 37-page advisory (open pdf) published on Wednesday, the countries accused the firms - Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology, Beijing Huanyu Tianqiong Information Technology and Sichuan Zhixin Ruijie Network Technology - of providing "cyber-related products and services to China's intelligence services, including multiple units in the People’s Liberation Army and Ministry of State Security."

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As always PP don’t know shit

"It's in a time slot that previously didn't have a DJ, so no staffing impacts," a spokesperson said in an email.

Legionella bacteria thrive on heat, humidity and rainfall

There's heightened emphasis on the role climate change may play in the spread of legionnaires' disease as London, Ont., deals with its second deadly outbreak since the summer of 2024.