Canadian News

B.C.'s chief electoral officer says "extremely challenging weather conditions" and a new voting system factored into human errors that saw hundreds of ballots go uncounted in the provincial election — though none were large enough to change results. 

Quebec Mounties are gearing up for an influx of illegal border crossings should former President Donald Trump take the White House, an RCMP spokesperson told The Gazette Tuesday. Read More

The first meeting of Ottawa’s newly assembled nightlife council is sure to be a blast as 18 key players representing various aspects of the arts scene join forces to begin their fight for the city’s right to party.  Read More

BCE has signed a deal to buy U.S. fibre internet provider Ziply Fiber for about $5 billion in cash, using in part the profits from the high-profile sale of the company’s stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment earlier this fall. 

Kidnappings, burned-down homes, shootings, people tortured on video and attempted murders. These are some of the crimes plaguing different regions across Quebec that police believe can be traced back to one man. Read More

Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge says it’s 'not reasonable' to think Quebec could cut the number of foreign students without including universities and public colleges.

Conservative MPs want New York Consul General Tom Clark to appear again before a parliamentary committee after the release of documents that show he expressed concerns about the suitability of his official residence in the city.

A popular pedestrian bridge across the Ottawa River will again be closed for the winter. Read More

Earlier this year, Premier Danielle Smith said the province would begin efforts to attract those specialists so Albertans wouldn't have to travel out of province for care.

Police learned the 22-year-old victim had been delivering a parcel when he was attacked with bear spray and robbed of his vehicle.

This month on our Off the Hill political panel, we ask the question: how just is Canada’s justice system? Who is it serving and protecting – and who gets left behind? Does our justice system truly respect everyone’s rights and freedoms? 

From the ongoing federal Black Class Action lawsuit alleging systemic anti-Black racism in the federal public service, to a history of policing and silencing Palestinian voices, and more, clearly we can tell something isn’t working. 

Join us on Wednesday, November 20, 2024 as we dive into this discussion with poet and activist El Jones, policy analyst Chuka Ejeckam and rabble’s own parliamentary reporter Karl Nerenberg. Panel starts at 4:30pm PT / 7:30pm ET. Co-hosted by Robin Browne and Libby Davies. 

Register today to join us for this free political panel! Sign up today here.

Meet our guests this month

El Jones is a poet, author, journalist, professor and activist living in Halifax. She is the author of Abolitionist Intimacies (2022) and Live from the Afrikan Resistance! (2014).

Chuka Ejeckam is a writer and policy researcher. His work focuses on inequity and inequality, drug policy, structural racism, and labour. He is also a columnist for rabble.

Karl Nerenberg is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and filmmaker, working in both English and French languages. He is rabble’s senior parliamentary reporter.

About Off the Hill

Since 2019, Off the Hill has been rabble.ca’s live monthly panel. Through this series, we break down important national and international news stories through a progressive lens. 

This webinar series invites a rotating roster of guest activists, politicians, researchers and more to discuss how to mobilize and bring about progressive change in national politics — on and off Parliament Hill. Co-hosted by Robin Browne and Libby Davies.

Join us the third Wednesday of every month at 4:30pm PT / 7:30pm ET. The live, digital show is one hour long – 45 minutes of moderated discussion followed by 15 minutes of audience participation.

Want to help projects like this going? rabble runs on reader support! Visit rabble.ca/donate today. 

The post How just is Canada’s justice system? appeared first on rabble.ca.

Canada Post says the threat of a strike is “rapidly impacting” its revenue as customers who worry about their holiday packages not arriving in time switch delivery services.

Tim Hague competed in a boxing match licensed by the Edmonton Combative Sports Commission in June 2017 when his opponent, former CFL player Adam Braidwood, knocked him unconscious.

Remember, here in Alberta, if the oilpatch ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.

Still, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s theatrical extended temper tantrum in the Legislature Building’s media room yesterday in response to the federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s release of draft rules to cap oil and gas emissions 35 per cent below the level of 2019 was a remarkable performance by any measure. 

It’s hard for anyone to keep up with what’s changing these days with United Conservative Party (UCP) chaos muppets in charge of Alberta, but the transformation of Smith from ecstatic triumph after her party’s leadership review vote Saturday night to Monday’s unhinged fury was positively startling. 

If it was a performance, it deserves an acting award. If it wasn’t, it may require an intervention. 

At times profane – I’m pissed. I’m absolutely angry! she barked at one reporter – and unrelentingly hyperbolic, Smith looked as if she were ready to blow a gasket when she accused Guilbeault of pursuing “a deranged vendetta against Alberta.” 

Flanked by her like-minded cabinet colleagues – that is, her former leadership opponents Energy Minister Brian Jean and Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz, to use their official titles unironically – she appeared at times to be about to burst into tears.

“We will not stand idly by while the federal government sacrifices our prosperity, our constitution and our quality of life for its extreme agenda,” the trio jointly said in a screechy official statement on the government’s web page. 

The statement also trotted out as evidence the same old discredited studies by right-wing think tanks and consulting firms, one of them famously commissioned by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, used in the bumf accompanying the government’s Scrap the Cap advertising campaign, which uses taxpayer funds to campaign against the federal Liberals. 

In person, speaking from the Legislature Building’s media room, a snarling Smith claimed “ultimately this cap will lead Alberta and our country into economic and societal decline.” (Readers who doubt my colourful descriptions are encouraged to watch the video of the news conference.) 

“Once again,” she continued, hoarsely shouting, “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is putting reckless policy ahead of the needs and concerns of everyday Canadians.” (This can be disputed, but it’s a fair comment.)

“I made note that he would do this on his way out the door,” she went on. “It’s like a bad renter who’s burning the furniture on their way out.” (This is over the top.)

The presence of an official photographer, primed to get some good shots of the premier, eyes blazing, suggests this was a considered performance. 

If so, one supposes it makes a nice distraction from the way the UCP is burning the furniture over at Alberta Health Services, as it pursues its vendetta against anyone involved in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the problems the government encountered last week defending its cruel and unneeded anti-transgender legislation. 

If it was a genuine outburst, it is not exactly reassuring, especially with the premier threatening extra-constitutional use of her government’s unconstitutional Sovereignty Act as some sort of magical instant Notwithstanding Clause to block the federal regulations. 

Since all the auguries suggest Trudeau and Guilbeault are in fact on their way out the door, if not quite as quickly as Smith and the federal Conservative Party would like, this reaction seems overwrought to say the least.

Well, perhaps Smith overindulged a little when she celebrated her carefully managed leadership review victory Saturday and was still a bit under the weather. 

Or maybe she senses that this policy announcement, assailed by the oil industry and the federal Conservatives but also criticized by environmental groups and the federal NDP for not going far enough, might prove a boon to the foundering Liberals in parts of the country more concerned about global warming and less about oilpatch profits than Alberta. 

Well, the result of today’s events south of the 49th Parallel are bound to give Smith something else to be either infuriated or ecstatic about. This time, though, more of us are likely to feel the same emotions, one way or the other. 

The post Alberta government outraged at federal emissions cap appeared first on rabble.ca.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed his popular defense minister in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars.

A provincewide review found several errors in the provincial vote count, many related to out-of-district votes, however none were enough to affect the outcome in any riding.

The U.S. Capitol Police meanwhile said on Tuesday that a man was stopped during a screening process at the Capitol Visitor Center. He was carrying a torch and a flare gun.

The Bank of Canada's governing council worried that the 50-basis-point rate cut would spark concern about the health of the Canadian economy, deliberations show.

Nintendo, the Japanese video game maker behind the Super Mario franchise, said Tuesday that its profit fell 60 per cent in the first half of the fiscal year.

Paul Bernado, the killer behind some of the most disturbing murders in modern Canadian history, will be back before the parole board later this month.