Category Archives: Canada

Canada cancels joint bridge-opening celebration with US amid trade tensions

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The ribbon-cutting celebration of the Gordie Howe International Bridge is no longer taking place after Trump announced a 50% tariff on Canadian goods

A planned joint US-Canada ceremony Friday celebrating the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, is no longer expected to take place after Donald Trump announced a 50% tariff on most Canadian goods.

In announcing the tariffs, the president accused Canada of unfairly discriminating against US automobiles, alcohol and dairy products, escalating tensions with one of the United States’ closest allies.

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We received no alert, say leaders of First Nations communities razed by Canadian wildfires

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Chiefs in Ontario say they were left to self-evacuate before homes burned to ground, after being told there was no imminent threat

Fast-moving wildfires have burned two First Nations communities in Canada to the ground, as members said they were left to self-evacuate without government help or emergency alerts.

Thirteen communities in Ontario province have been ordered to evacuate because of wildfires, most of them First Nations. The Ontario premier, Doug Ford, told reporters on Monday that close to 2,000 people had been evacuated so far to cities including Toronto and Niagara Falls.

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Donald Trump to impose 50% tariff on most Canadian goods, White House says

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Turmoil likely as Trump officials say Canada unfairly discriminated against US autos, alcohol and dairy products

Donald Trump is imposing 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods, White House officials said on Monday, declaring Canada has unfairly discriminated against American autos, alcohol and dairy products.

The move could unleash a new wave of economic chaos, with risks of higher inflation and further fraying of relations between two nations that had been closely woven together before Trump’s return to the White House.

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Canada issues air quality warnings over US wildfire smoke after Trump tariff threat

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Officials say smoke from US fires has crossed border days after US president accused Canada of improper fire management

After days of acrid smoke from northern wildfires choking major US cities and inspiring Donald Trump to threaten Canada with tariffs, officials now say the reverse is also happening as parts of Canada issue air quality warnings caused by American fires to the south.

Officials in the Canadian province of British Columbia warned in an alert on Saturday evening that smoke from US fires, spurred on by thousands of lightning strikes in the north-east, was creating smoky conditions as polluted air drifted north.

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Flash flood warnings strike north-east US amid wildfire smoke from Canada

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Poor air quality from wildfires continues to plague New York City as several neighborhoods hit by thunderstorms

Saturday is delivering a double dose of dangerous weather across the north-eastern US, with smoky skies from Canadian wildfires giving way to severe thunderstorms that have already triggered a flash flood warning as torrential rain pounds parts of the region.

After a brief break on Friday, smoke from the wildfires moved back into New York City and surrounding communities on Saturday, sending air quality back into unhealthy levels.

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Air quality warnings remain in place across US as wildfire smoke continues to swathe country

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Rain could alleviate conditions in mid-Atlantic and north-east, with World Cup final expected to go ahead on Sunday

Warnings of dangerous conditions are expected to remain in place on Saturday across swathes of the US, amid uncertainty about where the heavy wildfire smoke swirling from the Canadian province of Ontario and the US state of Minnesota will head next.

Some parts of the US mid-Atlantic and north-east regions will continue to endure poor air quality until Saturday afternoon, where there is a high chance of thunderstorms, which could bring some reprieve from the poor air but come with other risks like flash flooding and high winds. Meanwhile, parts of the midwest and Great Lakes regions will continue to see dangerous air quality.

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More Canadian wildfire smoke shrouds US midwest, mid-Atlantic and north-east

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109 million people face another day of poor air quality as smoke from blazes in Ontario drifts over the US

Tens of millions of Americans are enduring another day of smoky skies, irritated eyes and bad air quality, as Canadian wildfire smoke spread again over huge swathes of the US, affecting about 109 million people across the midwest, mid-Atlantic and north-east.

The pungent smoke blanketed cities such as Chicago and Detroit, where residents on Friday were warned to stay indoors and reduce activity levels after the air-quality index reached a “hazardous” 361, according to the government website AirNow.

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Air quality plummets in 20 US states as smoke from Canadian wildfires spreads

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Millions of Americans face air quality alerts from Minnesota to New York as authorities urge people to stay indoors

Smoke from wildfires burning in south-central Canada and parts of Minnesota is spreading across the US, prompting air quality alerts in more than 20 states with millions of Americans expected to face unhealthy air conditions this week.

The smoke from the more than 180 active wildfires in northern Ontario made Chicago’s air quality the worst in the world on Thursday evening, followed by Detroit and Minneapolis, according to IQAir’s global rankings.

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Wildfires in Ontario make Toronto air quality worst in world

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Environment Canada has issued health warnings after sky over city turns yellow

Smoke from more than 100 active wildfires in northern Ontario have made Toronto’s air quality the current worst in the world and caused yellow, smoky air in cities across the north-east US.

Environment Canada issued health warnings on Wednesday after the sky over country’s largest city turned a sickly yellow and was ranked the worst in the world according to IQAir, the Swiss technology company that racks global air quality.

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Shipwrecks of Shackleton and Scott recreated in 3D digital form after deep sea expedition

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Canadian scientists visit remains of polar exploration vessels in ‘golden era for shipwreck investigating’

Moments after devouring the final glimmers of light, the seafloor offered nothing but darkness and silt. Then the bow appeared.

More than 1,000ft (305 metres) below the surface of the Labrador Sea, off the coast of Canada, the skeleton of the final ship used by the famed polar explorer Ernest Shackleton appeared in its silty grave.

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Pilot killed fighting Colorado wildfire identified as Nicholas Dale

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The British Columbia pilot was the only person aboard the helicopter, which crashed during aerial firefighting

The pilot who died when his helicopter crashed while fighting a Colorado wildfire has been named as Nicholas Dale of Sooke, British Columbia.

Dale, 56, died when his helicopter crashed into the Silver Jack reservoir on Monday while fighting what authorities have named the Gold Mountain fire, the local Gunnison county sheriff’s office said. His body was later recovered from the submerged helicopter by divers.

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Toronto shooting: two dead and four injured at Salsa on St Clair street festival

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Police say two people exchanged gunfire in shooting that mayor called an ‘irresponsible act of violence’ in festival attended by families

A shooting near a Toronto street festival killed two men and wounded four other people on Saturday evening, police said, adding that what initially prompted an active-shooter warning was an exchange of gunfire between two people targeting each other.

Toronto police deputy chief Frank Barredo said investigators recovered two firearms after the shooting, which was reported at 8.12pm near St. Clair Avenue West and Arlington Avenue, where the Salsa on St Clair festival was underway.

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US charges Indian criminal gang leader with organising murder of Canadian Sikh activist

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Lawrence Bishnoi, who is in prison in India, is accused of orchestrating assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023

US and Canadian authorities say they have “dismantled” the leadership of a notorious Indian criminal group, charging dozens of operatives who have “inflicted pain and cruelty on people, victims around the globe”, including a high-profile murder in Canada that strained diplomatic relations between Canada and India.

At a press conference on Tuesday, members of the FBI and Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said as part of Operation Hard Ball – a multiyear federal investigation into murder-for-hire plots, shootings, extortion and drug trafficking – they had charged 37 people, some of whom were already in custody. Authorities are still searching for seven fugitives in the US, two in India and one in Europe.

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Canada to buy 12 hi-tech German submarines after bidding war

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TKMS beats South Korean rival to multibillion-dollar contract that will deepen Canada’s Nato ties

Canada has selected a German consortium to build a dozen cutting-edge submarines in one of the country’s largest-ever defence contracts that will further deepen its Nato ties before a crucial summit this week.

On Monday the prime minister, Mark Carney, announced the winner of a tightly contested battle for the lucrative government contract to replace its fleet of ageing, secondhand subs, most of which are undergoing maintenance.

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New pipeline in Canada to proceed after C$150bn pledged to ease BC and First Nations concerns

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Port expansion and protections for whales part of BC and Alberta plan to expand country’s presence overseas

The governments of Canada and the province of Alberta will move forward on a major new oil pipeline after the pair announced a plan to ease concerns of British Columbia and First Nations on the Pacific coast.

Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, shuttled between British Columbia and Alberta on Thursday to announce more than C$150bn in new investments in both provinces, part of a broader project of reducing trade with the United States and expanding his country’s presence in overseas markets.

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Canadian boy dies of rabies after waking to find bat on his face

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Eleven-year-old developed symptoms 19 days after encounter in Ontario in ‘exceedingly rare’ case

Doctors in Canada say a child who awoke to find a bat resting on his nose and mouth while visiting an Ontario cottage later died of rabies, in an “exceedingly rare case” that highlights the need for better public awareness.

In a report published this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, infectious disease physicians confirmed that the 11-year-old boy died from rabies, a fatality they said probably could have been prevented with greater awareness of how the virus is transmitted.

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Canada to ​join Eurovision song contest from 2027

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Country is first to join since Australia in 2015 as event director says it ‘continues to welcome the world’

Canada will ​join the Eurovision song contest in 2027, becoming the first new ⁠participant since Australia in 2015, organisers have announced.

Participation is not limited to countries in geographic Europe and instead is open to all members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which Canada joined last week. Australia is an associate member.

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Six feared dead after ‘bizarre’ sinking of charter boat off Canadian coast

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The vessel, thought to have been carrying 10 people, did not issue a mayday call before sinking in the strait of Georgia

Search teams in Canada have launched a recovery effort for six people believed to have drowned in a “bizarre” sinking of a fishing charter off the coast of Vancouver.

Police and rescue crews praised a couple who were passing in their yacht for making a critical mayday call and saving stranded passengers by pulling them onboard their craft.

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Weather tracker: North-west US hit by snow ahead of eastern heatwave

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Western states experience unseasonally low temperatures but New York and Washington DC could reach 40C by end of week

Unseasonal snow has fallen in some parts of the US, while other parts of the country brace for a heatwave this week.

A strong cold front spread into the western US from the northern Pacific over the weekend, bringing an abrupt change in conditions to a region that had been experiencing high summer temperatures amid drought. Temperatures from the Canadian border to California have widely been 5-10C below the norm since Friday, and more than 10C below in some parts farther north. The pattern is expected to remain for much of the coming week.

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Carney announces contest to revamp uninhabitable Canadian PM residence

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Various issues – including a rodent infestation and mould – have left the historic, sprawling Ottawa estate empty

10 Downing Street has two things: mice and a chief mouser. For more than a decade, an officially recognized feline has kept rodent infestation in the British prime minister’s residence to a minimum.

Over a similar period, the official residence of Canada’s prime minister has seen an unchecked explosion of rodents.

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