Canada

Author: Robert Diab | Professor, Faculty of Law, Thompson Rivers University

While inflation has eased since 2022 and is now trending around two per cent annually, the actual cost of essentials hasn’t gone down. The overall price of the typical basket of goods and services for the average Canadian household rose by a hefty 17.4 per cent between 2019 and 2024. The increase was even higher for food (23.3 per cent), shelter (24.0 per cent) and transportation (21.6 per cent)—notably for gasoline (55.6 per cent).

Has mainstream media's coverage of affordability issues or price-gouging (e.g., grocery stores) slowed or stopped?

Tropicana orange and other fruit juice used to come in 2L containers, about $3 or so. I was at a Loblaws-owned discount grocery store yesterday, and saw the container had shrunk even more, to 1.65L, from 1.75L at the time of my previous purchase. They were also selling it for $7.49 😳

My reactions were 1) what outrageous unchecked corporate greed, 2) mainstream media doesn't cover this any more, and 3) companies seem so confident nowadays that they can do whatever they please

Bill 5, also called the Protecting Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, empowers the government (among other things) to create special economic zones, where cabinet can exempt companies or projects from having to comply with any provincial law, provincial regulation or municipal bylaw.

Ford pitches Bill 5 as a way of shoring up Ontario's economy in the face of Donald Trump's tariffs by speeding up major infrastructure and resource projects.

Ford's officials insist the government won't exempt any company in a special economic zone from Ontario's minimum wage rules or other labour laws.

But the wide-open way the legislation is written would allow cabinet to hand out exemptions from any law, whether labour, environmental or operational.

Outside the London, Ont., courthouse where five former world junior hockey players are on trial on sexual assault charges, supporters of the complainant — carrying signs reading, "I believe you E.M." and "We Believe Survivors" — have been confronted by #HimToo movement backers with signs of their own: "5 careers ruined" and "E.M. cheated."

"Inviting guys for a three-way with a woman might not be the right thing. It might not be something you want your sister to partake in," said the man, giving his take on a text message entered as evidence. "However, it is not illegal when a girl is consenting to this. It is not criminal when a girl consented to this. Michael McLeod has had his career ruined. Hopefully, [McLeod's lawyer] David Humphrey can go and exploit what this girl's lies are."

(McLeod has pleaded not guilty to a second charge, of being a party to the offence for allegedly inviting players to his hotel room to engage in sex.)

Doctors, nurses and allied health professionals in the U.S. are now seeing targeted advertisements encouraging them to follow their hearts to B.C., as the Province launches a recruitment marketing campaign in Washington state, Oregon and California.

New Prime Minister, new relationship with China.

China's playbook seems to consistently follow this pattern. If they get in a spat with anther country, the grudge continues until a new state leader comes into play, then all past grievances are reset. Sort of like Union-management - when a new collective agreement is signed, past active grievances tend to be voided.

Given that Carney is devout Catholic, we shall see if his dedication to the Pope, given the very tumultuous relationship between the Roman Catholic Pope and China, gets in the way of Good Governance in Canada's policy decisions towards China.

Antivaxxers in Ontario have now helped kill a baby.

Who and how much:

Consider an annual tax on the net wealth of families with rates of one per cent above $10 million, two per cent above $50 million and three per cent above $100 million.

This means the first $10 million of any family’s wealth is entirely unaffected by the wealth tax. Based on modelling of the first year of this wealth tax, the bottom 99.4 per cent of Canadians would pay nothing, while only the richest 0.6 per cent would pay any amount. This means that only about 100,000 families across the country would pay any amount under the wealth tax, with 10,000 wealthy enough to fall into the second-highest bracket and 3,700 in the highest bracket.

This narrow tax on the wealthiest few would raise an estimated $39 billion in its first year, $62 billion by its 10th year and $495 billion cumulatively over a 10-year window.

How:

an effective wealth tax must make use of extensive third-party reporting of assets, particularly from financial institutions, rather than relying too heavily on self-reporting as in the case of some older wealth taxes.

For the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of Nova Scotians dying from influenza exceeds the number of COVID deaths.

According to the province's latest respiratory watch report, 124 Nova Scotians have died from influenza during the 2024-25 respiratory season, which runs from Aug. 25, 2024, and will go up until Aug. 29, 2025. There have been 108 COVID deaths so far this season.

"Some people have said, 'Oh, thank goodness, we're back to normal,'" (Dr. Lisa Barrett, an infectious diseases doctor) said. "And I'm like, 'Well, now we've got two viruses — not just one — that are still in the really important category for hospitalizations, bad lungs and deaths."

Ottawa says it has banned the largest contractor that worked on the ArriveCan app from entering into contracts or real property agreements with the government for seven years.

Public Services and Procurement Canada has announced that GC Strategies Inc. has been deemed "ineligible" after an assessment of the supplier's conduct.

Last year, the department suspended the security status of GC Strategies, which the auditor general says was awarded more than $19 million for the project.

A report by Canada's Auditor General Karen Hogan found the government's record-keeping was poor and its reliance on outside contractors allowed the cost of the project to balloon to $60 million.

The first ArriveCan contract was initially valued at just $2.35 million.

What Canadians can do

We don’t control U.S. policy, but we do control our response.

• Speak up: When Pride visibility is under attack—even elsewhere—we need to be louder in our solidarity. Local businesses, schools, and governments should reaffirm their support explicitly.

• Support queer media and organizations: From Rainbow Railroad to The 519, Canadian orgs are doing frontline work that often fills in the gaps left by political inaction.

• Challenge imported rhetoric: Whether it’s book bans or “parental rights” bills, we must recognize when American talking points show up in Canadian debates—and push back accordingly.

A University of British Columbia Okanagan campus student who raised more than $3,000 for a pro-choice billboard is stumped on where to post her message.

Sophie Harms says she wants to create a billboard that says “Abortion is safe, normal and common” to counter the anti-abortion billboard messaging that peppers the Okanagan region.

Harms’ request to purchase a pro-choice billboard has now been turned down or ignored by all four billboard companies in the region.

Harms points out that though abortion has been decriminalized in Canada, there are still issues with stigma and access that prompt a need to counter anti-abortion messaging.