In the news today: Canadians facing extreme weather, major projects bill on track

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed...
Extreme weather affected 1 in 4 people: poll
Almost one in four Canadians were directly affected by extreme weather events over the past year, a new poll suggests.
The Leger poll — released as Canada copes with its second-worst wildfire season on record — says 23 per cent of Canadians who responded said they were personally affected by extreme weather events like heat waves, floods, fires and tornadoes over the last 12 months.
Among those who said they had felt the impacts of extreme weather, almost two-thirds reported being forced to stay indoors because of air quality concerns, while 39 per cent reported suffering emotional stress.
Twenty-seven per cent of those who reported experiencing extreme weather said they had to postpone travel plans, while one-fifth said they suffered property damage.
CO2 budget for 1.5 C could be exhausted in 3 years
The world is on pace to emit enough greenhouse gas emissions over the next three years to blow by an international target to limit global warming to 1.5 C, according to a new study co-authored by a Canadian researcher who says the finding underlines the need for urgent transformational change.
The study by more than 60 scientists says the 1.5-degree carbon budget – how much CO2 can be released while staying below that limit – sits at about 130 billion tonnes as of the start of 2025.
At current levels, that budget would be exhausted in a little more than three years, the report said. Within the next decade, the budgets for 1.6 and 1.7 degree warming thresholds are at risk too, the report found.
Concordia University professor Damon Matthews said "every increment matters" in the effort to avoid increasingly severe climate impacts, from thawing permafrost to raging wildfires.
Major projects bill on track to soon clear House
Running roughshod over the environment. Spawning the next Idle No More movement. Picking economic winners and losers.
Prime Minister Mark Carney's Building Canada Act is anything if not a magnet for criticism.
The Liberal government's controversial legislation that would let cabinet quickly grant federal approvals for big industrial projects like mines, ports and pipelines sailed through committee in the early hours of Thursday.
A House of Commons panel sat from Wednesday afternoon to after midnight reviewing Bill C-5 in a hurried study, as the Liberal government seeks to pass it through the chamber by week's end.
Disabilities groups ask Liberals to amend tax bill
Advocacy groups are asking the federal Liberal government to adjust its proposed tax bill to ensure people with disabilities don't end up paying more to the Canada Revenue Agency.
Inclusion Canada says it favours Ottawa lowering the lowest marginal tax rate from 15 to 14 per cent, as proposed in the bill that passed first reading earlier this month.
However, the group says the unintended result of the change is that tax credits for people with disabilities will decrease in many cases.
That's because the credit — used to reduce taxes payable — is generated by a formula that is tied to the marginal tax rate, and by dropping that rate to 14 per cent, the credit shrinks.
Affordability challenges plaguing renters: report
A new report suggests Canadian renters continue to face affordability challenges even as asking rent prices have fallen this year, while those considering the leap to home ownership are taking a wait-and-see approach.
Royal LePage's 2025 Canadian renters report, which includes results from a survey conducted by Burson, found 37 per cent of renters in Canada spend between 31 and 50 per cent of their net income on monthly rent costs.
The survey of more than 1,800 renters in early June indicated that 15 per cent of respondents were spending more than half of their income on rent, while 37 per cent were spending 30 per cent or less.
Rents have eased for eight consecutive months, but remain well above historical norms, according to the report.
Families fear memories of Air India bombing fading
Rob Alexander's father wasn't supposed to be on Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985.
"My mother had actually booked him on an Air France flight to go see his mother in India," recalled Alexander, who was in his teens at the time.
"One of the guys that we knew, he worked for Air India and he wanted to sell my father a ticket very badly to get the commission or something.
"Eventually, he agreed."
Alexander recalled the small argument that ensued between his father and mother, and how she had to cancel his Air France ticket.
An Ontario surgeon, Dr. Anchanatt Mathew Alexander boarded the flight in Toronto on the evening of June 22.
Early the next morning, about 200 kilometres off the Irish coast, a bomb exploded, sending the Boeing 747 plunging 31,000 feet into the ocean and killing all 329 passengers and crew. The majority were Canadians.
---
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 19, 2025
The Canadian Press

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Hamilton Spectator

9 minutes ago

• Hamilton Spectator

Carney travelling to Europe for security, defence talks with EU, NATO

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney will depart for Europe on Sunday for back-to-back summits where he is expected to make major commitments for Canada on security and defence. Carney will be joined by Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, Defence Minister David McGuinty and secretary of state for defence procurement Stephen Fuhr at the EU and NATO summits, where military procurement and diversifying supply chains will top the agendas. The international meetings come as Canada looks to reduce its defence procurement reliance on the United States due to strained relations over tariffs and President Donald Trump's repeated talk about Canada becoming a U.S. state. Carney will fly first to Brussels, Belgium, starting the trip with a visit to the Antwerp Schoonselhof Military Cemetery where 348 Canadian soldiers are buried. He will also meet with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. At the EU-Canada summit, Anand and McGuinty are expected to sign a security and defence agreement with the EU in what one European official described Friday as one of the most ambitious deals Europe has ever signed with a third country. The agreement will open the door to Canada's participation in the ReArm Europe initiative, allowing Canada to access a 150-billion-euro loan program for defence procurement, called Security Action for Europe. An EU official briefing reporters on Friday said once the procurement deal is in place, Canada will have to negotiate a bilateral agreement with the European Commission to begin discussions with member states about procurement opportunities. A Canadian official briefing reporters on the summit Saturday said the initial agreement will allow for Canada's participation in some joint procurement projects. However, a second agreement will be needed to allow Canadian companies to bid. At the EU-Canada summit, leaders are also expected to issue a joint statement to underscore a willingness for continued pressure on Russia, including through further sanctions, and call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. After Brussels, Carney heads to The Hague in the Netherlands for the NATO leaders' summit on Tuesday and Wednesday. There, Carney will meet with the King of the Netherlands and later with leaders of Nordic nations to discuss Arctic and transatlantic security. At the NATO summit, Carney will take part in bilateral meetings with other leaders. The summit agenda includes a social dinner hosted by the king and queen of the Netherlands and a two-and-a-half hour meeting of the North Atlantic Council. NATO allies are expected to debate a plan to hike alliance members' defence spending target to five per cent of national GDP. NATO data shows that in 2024, none of its 32 members spent that much. The Canadian government official who briefed reporters on background says the spending target and its timeline are still up for discussion, though some allies have indicated they would prefer a seven-year timeline while others favour a decade. Canada hasn't hit a five- per- cent defence spending threshhold since the 1950s and hasn't reached the two per cent mark since the late 1980s. NATO says that, based on its estimate of which expenditures count toward the target, Canada spent $41 billion in 2024 on defence, or 1.37 per cent of GDP. That's more than twice what it spent in 2014, when the two per cent target was first set; that year, Canada spent $20.1 billion, or 1.01 per cent of GDP, on defence. In 2014, only three NATO members achieved the two per cent target — the U.S., the U.K., and Greece. In 2025, all members are expected to hit it. Any agreement to adopt a new spending benchmark must be ratified by all 32 NATO member states. Former Canadian ambassador to NATO Kerry Buck told The Canadian Press the condensed agenda is likely meant to 'avoid public rifts among allies,' describing Trump as an 'uncertainty engine.' 'The national security environment has really, really shifted,' Buck said, adding allies next door to Russia face the greatest threats. 'There is a high risk that the U.S. would undercut NATO at a time where all allies are increasingly vulnerable.' Trump has suggested the U.S. might abandon its mutual defence commitment to the alliance if member countries don't ramp up defence spending. 'Whatever we can do to get through this NATO summit with few public rifts between the U.S. and other allies on anything, and satisfy a very long-standing U.S. demand to rebalance defence spending, that will be good for Canada because NATO's good for Canada,' Buck said. Carney has already made two trips to Europe this year — the first to London and Paris to meet with European allies and the second to Rome to attend the inaugural mass of Pope Leo XIV. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2025.

Hamilton Spectator

4 hours ago

• Hamilton Spectator

What is the Lawrence Bishnoi gang? And why do Canadian politicians want them labelled terrorists?

An India-based criminal organization is drawing increasing political scrutiny in Canada, with some saying it needs to be declared a terrorist organization. This week, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown called on Ottawa to declare the Lawrence Bishnoi gang a terrorist organization, joining a chorus of other voices. 'We must take transnational crime seriously and that means giving law enforcement the investigative tools to combat these sophisticated criminal networks,' Brown said on X. Brown was joined by deputy mayor Harkirat Singh and regional councillors Gurpartap Singh Toor and Navjit Kaur Brar in the request to have the Lawrence Bishnoi gang declared a criminal organization by Ottawa. 'The Bishnoi gang, a transnational criminal network, led from India, has been linked to a growing wave of violence, extortion and intimidation targeting South Asian communities in Brampton and across the Region of Peel,' Brown said in a prepared statement. The statement did not give examples of specific violent incidents. The Lawrence Bishnoi group was also named in the murder of Brampton-based rapper Sidhu Moose Wala, when Wala was in India in 2022. Bishnoi, who is in his early 30s, is the son of a police officer and was educated in a convent school. Now in custody in India on more than two dozen charges, including murder and extortion, he awaits trial. He has been accused of using intimidation tactics to extort business owners in Punjabi diaspora communities in North America, Europe and the Gulf states. The gang is reportedly run by Bishnoi through encrypted cell messages, even though he is behind bars in India. Brown's comments follow similar ones earlier this week, when B.C. Premier David Eby urged the federal government to label the gang a terrorist organization because of extortion and other crimes against the South Asian community on the West Coast. Eby said Tuesday that he was going to write to Prime Minister Mark Carney, asking that the Lawrence Bishnoi group be labelled a terrorist group 'to enable police to be able to use the necessary tools to investigate.' Last fall, the RCMP stated the gang was targeting members of the pro-Khalistan movement who were on Canadian soil, allegedly acting for the Indian government. On the West Coast, the Lawrence Bishnoi group was accused this week of firing bullets into the home of a Punjabi music producer. Last year, shots were reportedly fired at the home of Punjabi music star A.P. Dhillon on Vancouver Island and in 2023, shots were fired outside the West Vancouver home of Bollywood singer and actor Gippy Grewal. Indian media said the Lawrence Bishnoi group claimed responsibility for both attacks. Moves to label the Lawrence Bishnoi gang a terrorist group throw complications into Carney's attempts to rebuild the Canada-India relationship. Eby's announcement on Tuesday was praised by the World Sikh Organization of Canada. 'Canadian law enforcement and intelligence agencies have linked the Bishnoi gang to assassinations, extortions, and intimidation carried out at the direction of Indian government agents including the 2023 murder of Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar and other violent crimes,' the organization said. With files from The Canadian Press

Yahoo

10 hours ago

• Yahoo

Canada-Europe security and defence pact to be signed Monday in Brussels

OTTAWA — A security and defence partnership pact Prime Minister Mark Carney will sign with European leaders in Brussels on Monday will be among the most wide-ranging agreements with a third country Europe has ever reached, a senior EU official said on Friday. Carney is flying to Europe Sunday for a Canada — EU Summit, planned for Monday evening with European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. At the G7 summit in Alberta on Monday von der Leyen confirmed that the agreement will be signed on Monday in Brussels, calling Canada a "key partner." 'This is also a moment where we can strengthen Canada's role in Europe's rapidly evolving defence architecture,' said Von der Leyen on June 16. In a briefing to Canadian and European reporters on Friday, a senior European official said there will be two main outcomes from the summit — a joint statement that expresses views on global issues, such as conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as the signing of the "EU Canada Security and Defence Partnership Agreement." "This is an ambitious one," the official said. "And actually we've had this with a number of global partners, but the one with Canada would be one of the most far reaching of its kind that the EU has ever signed with a third country. It will open up new avenues for joint work on crisis management, military mobility, maritime security, cyber and cyber threats, and defence industrial co-operation." Carney has been clear that he intends to expand Canada's ties with Europe as its relationship with the United States strains under the weight of tariffs and threats of annexation. Within two days of being sworn in as prime minister in March Carney flew to Europe, meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London. It was during those meetings that he seriously began talking about signing on to Europe's new defence procurement plan known as ReArm Europe. In the throne speech on May 27, Carney's government pledged to join that program, and he told the CBC in an interview that same day he expected Canada to do that by July 1. On June 9, Carney announced a massive investment in Canada's defence budget to push Canada above the two per cent of GDP NATO target this country has promised — and failed — to meet for more than a decade. Joining ReArm Europe is part of that plan, with Carney repeatedly saying Canada can no longer put all its defence spending into the U.S. "We are in close discussions with our European partners to join ReArm Europe," he said on June 9. "That will be an element of diversification. That's just smart. It's better to be diversified. It's better to have options. It's better to have different supply chains and broader partners." The agenda for the summit posted by the European Council says the security and defence procurement agreement will allow Canada to join a European loan program for joint defence projects. That 150-billion euro program — called Security Action for Europe, or SAFE — is part of the ReArm Europe initiative. The EU official said on Friday that once the procurement agreement is in place, Canada will have to negotiate a bilateral agreement with the European Commission to begin discussions with member states about procurement opportunities. Leaders at the EU-Canada summit are also expected to discuss global trade and the wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East. They will also commit to fully ratifying the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the Canada-Europe free trade agreement known as CETA. Fen Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University, said Carney also should put the "pedal to the metal" on ratifying CETA. The deal entered into force provisionally in 2017, but several EU member states still need to ratify CETA at the national level. "The real challenge there is to get Canadian businesses and also European businesses to take it up … and to start doing more business across the Atlantic, but that also requires political leadership," Hampson said. "It hasn't been fully ratified but that's something (Carney) can perhaps impress upon the Europeans." After Brussels, Carney will travel to The Hague for the NATO leaders' summit, where discussions are expected to push forward on increasing the NATO members' defence spending target as high as five per cent of GDP, from the current two per cent. — With files from Kyle Duggan, Dylan Robertson and The Associated Press This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2025. Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press