Category Archives: Canada

Backlash as Canada conservatives’ ‘our home’ video features other countries

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Party deletes video after viewers list gaffes, including scenes of US, Serbia and Slovenia – plus Russian jets

Canada’s Conservative party has deleted a social media campaign video with a heavily nationalist message after much of the video featured scenes from other countries, including Ukrainian farmers, Slovenian homes, London’s Richmond Park and a pair of Russian fighter jets.

The video, titled “Canada. Our Home” was initially posted to X on Saturday, with various scenes overlaid by a speech from the party leader, Pierre Poilievre. The Conservatives, who lead the governing Liberals in the polls, are preparing for what is widely expected to be a bitterly contested federal election.

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Canadian export agency ‘hit by big losses after lending to Thames Water’

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State-backed body EDC has reportedly sold at deep discount two loans made to debt-ridden UK utility

Canada’s state-backed export credit agency is reportedly nursing steep losses after lending debt-ridden Thames Water hundreds of millions of pounds.

The British utility, which has said it could run out of cash by next June, received two loans from Export Development Canada (EDC) in 2018 and 2019 at the behest of the Canadian pension fund Omers.

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Sicily yacht sinking: Morgan Stanley International chair Jonathan Bloomer among missing

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UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and daughter also among six unaccounted for after superyacht was hit by tornado and sank

Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer is among those missing after a yacht carrying UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch sank off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm, an Italian official has said.

Salvatore Cocina, head of the civil protection agency in Sicily, said Bloomer and Chris Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford Chance, were among the six people missing. Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, were also unaccounted for as of late Monday.

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‘We didn’t see it coming’: the tumultuous Sicilian night that took down the Bayesian

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Witnesses tell of ‘absurd tragedy’ and a mother describes how she fought to save her child from drowning

The 12 holidaying passengers had come from the UK, the US, Canada, New Zealand and Ireland, occupying six luxurious suites of Bayesian, a 56-metre-long superyacht boasting the tallest aluminium mast in the world. Among the 10 crew members were people from Sri Lanka.

The award-winning, British-flagged vessel, which was built in 2008 by the Italian shipbuilder Perini and managed by Camper & Nicholsons, left the calm blue waters of the Sicilian port of Milazzo on 14 August, sailing for a few days around the Aeolian Islands and off the historic coastal village of Cefalù.

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UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch among missing in Sicily yacht sinking

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One man dead and six people missing including Lynch and his daughter after superyacht carrying 22 sank in storm

The British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch is missing after a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm.

The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-metre sailboat, was carrying 22 people and was anchored just off shore near the port of Porticello when it was hit by a tornado in the early hours, the Italian coastguard said in a statement.

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Owner of 7-Eleven stores receives buyout offer from Canadian rival

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Proposal to Tokyo-based Seven & i by ACT could become biggest foreign takeover of a Japanese firm

The owner of the global convenience store chain 7-Eleven has received an offer from a Canadian rival to buy the company, in what could be Japan’s biggest ever foreign takeover.

The Tokyo-based Seven & i revealed on Monday that it had received a bid from the Canadian convenience store multinational Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) to buy its stake in the company.

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Canada’s 2023 wildfires produced nearly a decade’s worth of blaze emissions

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Fires made at least three times more likely by climate crisis and emitted about 2bn tonnes of CO2, data reveals

Canada’s “record-shattering” wildfires last year produced nearly as much greenhouse gas emissions in one season as would be expected over a decade of fires in normal circumstances, data has shown.

The fires, in Canada’s “wildest season ever”, were made at least three times more likely by the climate crisis, and produced about 2bn tonnes of CO2, about a quarter of the total global emissions from wildfires last year, according to data in the State of Wildfires report, published on Wednesday.

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UN envoy calls Canada’s use of migrant workers ‘breeding ground for slavery’

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Tomoya Obokata’s report finds power imbalances and discriminatory practice exploits workers from global south

Canada’s reliance on temporary foreign workers is “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery”, a UN special rapporteur has warned, amid growing calls to overhaul the controversial program.

The damning report from the UN investigator Tomoya Obokata found that deep power imbalances and discriminatory practice in Canada cuts costs for companies but exploits against workers from the global south.

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Canada owes First Nations billions after making ‘mockery’ of treaty deal, top court rules

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Court urges federal and Ontario governments to make payouts after ‘dishonourably’ neglecting 174-year-old deal

An “egregious” refusal by successive Canadian governments to honor a key treaty signed with Indigenous nations made a “mockery” of the deal and deprived generations of fair compensation for their resources, Canada’s top court has ruled.

But while the closely watched decision will likely yield billions in payouts, First Nation chiefs say the ruling adds yet another hurdle in the multi-decade battle for justice.

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Alberta premier fights tears over Canada wildfires despite climate crisis denial

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Danielle Smith and her government’s refusal to combat global heating is said to have made blazes more intense

When Danielle Smith, premier of Alberta, began her grim update about the wildfire damage to Jasper, the famed mountain resort in the Canadian Rockies, her voice slipped and she held back tears.

Hours earlier, a fast-moving wildfire tore through the community, incinerating homes, businesses and historic buildings. She praised the “true heroism” of fire crews who had rushed in to save Jasper, only to be pulled back when confronted by a 400ft wall of flames. She spoke about the profound meaning and “magic” of the national park.

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Australia, Canada and New Zealand leaders urge ceasefire in Gaza to end ‘catastrophic’ situation

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Prime ministers release joint statement saying they are ‘gravely concerned about the prospect of further escalation across the region’

The prime ministers of Australia, Canada and New Zealand have declared that a ceasefire in Gaza is “needed desperately” and urged Israel to “listen to the concerns of the international community”.

In a strongly worded joint statement issued on Friday, the three leaders said they were “gravely concerned about the prospect of further escalation across the region”, including between Hezbollah and Israel.

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Canadian Rockies town Jasper badly damaged by fast-moving wildfire

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More than 25,000 residents and tourists evacuated from national park region as firefighters forced into a retreat

A fast-moving wildfire has destroyed parts of Jasper, the old mountain town in the Canadian Rockies, with the mayor warning the damage was “beyond description and comprehension”. The blaze had forced more than 25,000 people to flee earlier this week.

Jasper national park officials said the fire entered the southern edge of the town on Wednesday evening. But, given the speed and intensity of the blaze, fire crews working to protect key infrastructure were ordered to retreat.

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Flights hit at Frankfurt and Oslo airports as climate protests continue

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Service at Germany’s busiest airport gradually resuming as ‘oil kills’ protests spread from Europe to North America

Climate activists have disrupted flights at Frankfurt and Oslo airports on the second day of coordinated “oil kills” protests across Europe and North America.

Demanding an end to fossil fuels by 2030, supporters of Letzte Generation (Last Generation) briefly suspended flights at Frankfurt airport on Thursday morning. The activists said they had cut a wire fence, entered on bicycles and skateboards and glued themselves to the tarmac.

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‘Inexcusable’: should climate hypocrites get the petrostates label?

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Suggestions definition of petrostate is too narrow as many rich countries that could phase out fossil fuels double down

“Drill, baby, drill!” Donald Trump’s ominous avowal to pump up the oil and gas production of the US has horrified many people around the world about the intentions of the Republican candidate, who has also declared he wants to be “dictator for a day”. Rather than the prospective leader of the free world, the election frontrunner sounds more like the tyrant of a petrostate.

That should not be entirely surprising given the country’s recent record: it has ramped up fossil fuel production to become the world’s biggest producer. As a Guardian investigation reveals, the total number of projected licences by the US for 2024 could lead to an estimated 397m tonnes of planet-heating emissions.

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Revealed: wealthy western countries lead in global oil and gas expansion

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The US and the UK among countries with low dependence on fossil fuels criticized for ‘hypocrisy’ on climate pledges

A surge in new oil and gas production in 2024 threatens to unleash nearly 12bn tonnes of planet-heating emissions, with the world’s wealthiest countries – such as the US and the UK – leading a stampede of fossil fuel expansion in spite of their climate commitments, new data shared exclusively with the Guardian reveals.

The new oil and gas field licences forecast to be awarded across the world this year are on track to generate the highest level of emissions since those issued in 2018, as heatwaves, wildfires, drought and floods cause death and destruction globally, according to analysis of industry data by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).

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Canada wildfires: 25,000 evacuate Jasper national park amid multiple blazes

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Alberta officials order residents, seasonal workers and tourists to flee as fires and smoke descend on Rocky Mountain community

Out-of-control wildfires near the Canadian town of Jasper have forced more than 25,000 to flee one of the country’s largest national parks as multiple blazes and thick smoke descended on the Rocky Mountain community.

Officials in the province of Alberta ordered residents of the Jasper townsite to leave immediately on Monday night, and soon after they called for the park, more than 4,200 sq miles (10,900 sq km) in size, to be fully cleared out. The town is home to 5,000 full-time residents, alongside 5,000 seasonal workers. The park also had roughly 15,000 visitors at the time.

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Large-scale and intense wildfires carrying smoke across northern hemisphere

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Late spring and early summer blazes in Canada, Alaska and eastern Russia add to carbon emissions

The northern hemisphere has had a large number of intense wildfires in the first half of summer, carrying vast amounts of smoke across Eurasia and North America.

Research by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (Cams) showed large-scale and intense wildfires had been developing throughout the late spring and summer, with numerous fires burning in Canada, Alaska and eastern Russia.

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Canada wildfires drive hundreds from homes as more scorching heat forecast

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British Columbia says fire crews are battling more than 300 blazes, with more than half classified as out of control

Wildfires have forced hundreds from their homes in Canada’s westernmost province and officials warn weeks more of scorching temperatures will add pressure to fire crews already in the parched region.

The British Columbia wildfire service said crews were battling more than 300 blazes, with more than half of the fires are classified as out of control. Thousands of residents are under evacuation alert, readying to leave their homes at a moment’s notice.

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Drake’s Toronto mansion seriously flooded amid record-breaking storms

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Rapper films muddy water pouring through 50,000 sq ft home, quipping ‘this better be espresso martini’

The Toronto mansion of rap superstar Drake has been seriously flooded following record-breaking storms in the city.

He shared footage on Instagram of ankle-deep muddy water rushing into an area of his home, with the caption “this better be espresso martini”.

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Canadian serial killer given life sentence for murders of Indigenous women

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Family members say justice has been served after Jeremy Skibicki convicted of four murders in Winnipeg

A serial killer who preyed on Indigenous women in Canada will serve decades in prison after a judge determined he was criminally responsible for four “jarring and numbing” murders, in a verdict celebrated by family as “justice being served”.

Justice Glenn Joyal ruled on Thursday that Jeremy Skibicki was guilty of first-degree murder in the killings of Rebecca Contois, Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and an unidentified woman, who was named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe (Buffalo Woman) by Indigenous leaders. Joyal rejected an argument from the defence that Skibicki’s mental health had prevented him from understanding his actions.

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