Consumer prices rose in January, including a record monthly increase in some meat prices.
Statistics Canada reported on Tuesday that the price of an average bundle of consumer goods went up by 0.5% in January – driven mostly by rising gas prices, mortgage interest costs and meat prices.
Meat prices set a record of nearly 20 years, rising by 3.4% between December and January. The rise included a 37-year-record set for chicken prices, which rose by 9%.
Gas prices rose by 4.7%, and mortgage interest costs rose by 2.5%, breaking a 41-year-record for the mortgage cost – rising by more than 21% year-over-year.
Statistics Canada reported the price of food was not just rising, but accelerating – prices rose 10.4% year-over-year in January, compared with 10.1% year-over-year in December.
The yearly rise for an average bundle of consumer goods was up 5.9%.
On Friday, Public Order Emergency Commission Commissioner Paul Rouleau ruled that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act to quash Freedom Convoy protesters last year was justified. However, upon further inspection of the report, there are a lot of caveats in Rouleau’s ruling – particularly the fact that the commissioner made the ruling “reluctantly.”
As Anthony Furey explains in his latest video, Rouleau’s ruling wasn’t a full endorsement of the government’s actions but because the commissioner ruled that the use of war-time measures was justified, there will be no review of the act like there was during the October Crisis in 1970.
Anthony says Rouleau’s ruling may have set a dangerous precedent for future governments and the potential for future abuses.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with provincial leaders in Ottawa to negotiate additional healthcare spending. An agreement was reached, which would see the provinces receiving $46.2 billion in new funding. Former Ontario Medical Association president Dr. Shawn Whatley joined True North’s Andrew Lawton to discuss how the additional funding could be used, whether it’s enough, or if it even matters.
With a surge of migrant foot traffic at Roxham Road – the illegal crossing south of Montreal – the Quebec government is ramping up the pressure on Washington to address the border crisis, circumventing potential federal involvement.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault met with the U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Cohen the morning of Feb. 14 to discuss making changes to the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), which ensures that any migrant who comes to a Canadian border checkpoint seeks asylum in the first “safe place” they arrived. The accord was codified in 2002 as a safety initiative following the 9/11 attacks.
Good to see Premier @francoislegault today and discuss areas of collaboration to advance U.S.-Canada goals on clean energy, trade, and our shared borders, including the Premier’s advocacy for modifying the Safe Third Country Agreement. pic.twitter.com/AJ31ZVwQZR
The STCA applies only to official land border crossings, making Roxham Road, at the Quebec-New York frontier, a loophole. At an illegal border point, migrants are not returned to the place they originally came from, they can freely claim refugee status. In the meeting with Cohen in Quebec City, Legault’s proposed amendments to the STCA would extend agreement provisons to all entry points.
“I said to him, ‘I don’t understand why it’s taking this long to settle with the United States. What we’re asking is that the Safe Third Country Agreement be applied to all ports of entry, including Roxham,’” said Legault.
News recently broke that New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, has been using taxpayer dollars to fund one-way bus tickets to Quebec for migrants who have arrived in New York City. Once in the sanctuary city, migrants take the bus to Plattsburghwhere taxis furnish the tail end of the transport to Roxham Road in Champlain, NY.
Estimates suggest that as many as 250 migrants now use the illegal Roxham Road crossing each day, with the majority settling in Montreal. In the face of a rampant housing shortage, as well as reduced capacity in both schools and hospitals across the province, the upward trend in illegal migrant crossing has been difficult to manage on the ground.
The CBC reported that in a letter obtained by Radio-Canada, Legault asked Adams to “‘immediately’ put an end to ‘all forms of assistance’ to people that cross the border where it is ‘strictly forbidden.’”
“The situation has overwhelmed Montreal’s ability to provide housing and other public services, with the flood of new students alone equivalent to the opening of 13 new schools,” Ewan Sauves, a spokesperson for Legault, said. “Last year, 39,161 people used Roxham Road to illegally enter Canada, comprising 99.1% of all such illegal border crossings.”
A recent poll by Justice pour le Québec found that 68% of Quebecers are in favour of sealing the illegal Roxham Road entry to Canada.
The Parti Quebecois proposed a motion, tabled on Feb. 2, which suggests that Quebec should take Roxham Road matters into its own hands by forcefully imposing the road closure through provincial police presence.
Legault’s international appeal has also been reinforced by a domestic memo to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, urging him to discourage migrant crossings into Canada.
According to Quebec Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette, the 380 migrants who entered through Roxham Road on the weekend of Feb. 11-12 were transferred to other provinces, though mainly Ontario. She said that these are the “results” of a “new approach to border management” that the province’s administration is “happy” with.
A newly formed watchdog group is taking aim at wasteful governance — one municipality at a time. Municipal Watch founder Stella Ambler joined True North’s Andrew Lawton to discuss the “damage” being caused by local governments, and what can be done to stop them. Plus, why local politics is more important than ever.
BC Liberal MLA and former leadership candidate Ellis Ross said in a recent interview that he welcomes a diversity of opinions in the province’s Legislative Assembly after a former colleague announced he was joining the province’s Conservatives.
While speaking to Global News, the MLA for Skeena also said that he would “currently” remain with the BC Liberals under the leadership of Kevin Falcon.
Last week, former BC Liberal MLA John Rustad announced that he would represent Nechako Lakes as a member of the Conservative Party of BC.
“I think the more opinions we get in this house, I think the better discussion and debates we have,” said Ross.
“But you feel that your best place to express those opinions is as a BC Liberal?” asked Global News journalist Richard Zussman.
Rustad was kicked out of the BC Liberals last year by Falcon after a series of tweets criticizing climate change orthodoxy.
Falcon claimed that Rustad’s views, which included criticisms that carbon dioxide doesn’t contribute to climate change, did not align with the party’s.
“While a diversity of perspectives are encouraged … they cannot exist without that important foundation in place,” said Falcon at the time.
Rustad told True North on Thursday that his former party has become too closely aligned with the ruling NDP and there’s little to differentiate the positions of the two.
“I consider myself one of thousands of British Columbians who are fed up with the false choice between the BC NDP and the BC NDP-lite or so-called ‘BC United’,” said Rustad.
“As a British Columbian, I believe in what our province has to offer, but we are going to need to fight for it. I believe in a more self-sufficient BC, ripe with economic opportunity, compassion for those in need and a protection for our most personal freedoms. Only one party offers this vision – the Conservative Party of BC.”
Rustad has also been vocal in his criticisms of how the province handled the Covid-19 pandemic and has called for the reinstatement of unvaccinated healthcare workers.
After the Public Order Emergency Commission determined that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act was appropriate, Justice Tyler Shandro said Alberta maintains that the act’s invocation “sets a dangerous precedent.”
According to Commissioner Paul Rouleau the federal government’s invocation “was appropriate” and in accordance with the requirements set out by the emergency legislation.
But Shandro says the federal government’s consultation with provinces was inadequate “and that unnecessarily invoking the Emergencies Act set a dangerous precedent.”
“The decision to invoke the act violated the constitutionally guaranteed rights of Albertans and gave the federal government the ability to seize property without due process of law,” he said.
“As a result, the conclusion reached by the inquiry does not affect Alberta’s decision to participate in legal challenges initiated against the federal government by the Canadian Constitution Foundation and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association last year.”
Trudeau invoked the act for the first time in Canadian history in February 2022 to forcefully remove freedom convoy protests who descended on the nation’s capital for three weeks to protest Covid-19 restrictions.
In his five-volume analysis, Rouleau said what originally began as a mass protest with legitimate concerns eventually became a national emergency. Lawful protest descended into lawlessness, culminating in a national emergency, he said.
“In my view, there was credible and compelling information supporting a reasonable belief that the definition of a threat to the security of Canada was met.”
Rouleau also added that he arrived at the conclusion “with reluctance.”
“The state should generally be able to respond to circumstances of urgency without the use of emergency powers,” Rouleau wrote.
Rouleau’s report included several dozen recommendations including a review of the Emergencies Act to ensure “the threshold remains high, the invocation of the Act remains exceptional, and all appropriate safeguards are put in place to maintain Parliament’s ultimate and effective control over the steps taken by the Government in response to a public order emergency.”
Other recommendations include giving future commissions more power to force the government to disclose information. Additionally, Rouleau suggested prohibiting MPs from claiming “Parliamentary privilege to refuse to testify before a commission of inquiry into a public order emergency.”
Shandro said the report’s 56 recommendations in the report show that there were many issues with the way the federal government used the Emergencies Act. He said his department will be reviewing the report and its recommendations.
“One thing is clear: the federal government must involve provinces and territories in the decision-making process for future emergencies,” he said.
“Matters like infrastructure, policing and the economy have provincial impacts and Alberta must have a seat at the table when decisions are being made that affect our province and our people.”
By 2025, Gen Z will make up 27% of the workforce in advanced countries within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as well as one-third of the global population.
And, unless these now 24-year-olds or less find a way to either curb or cure their workplace angst, as in “too stressed to work”, it will be “devastating — economically, socially and much more.”
The instability, insecurity and relentless upheaval of the past several pandemic years has left workers anxious. And now, as layoffs proliferate, and pay fails to keep pace with rising inflation, they’re still worrying.
As reported by the BBC, according to Cigna International Health’s 2023 survey of almost 12,000 workers around the world, 91% of 18-to-24-year olds report being stressed out—compared to 84% on average.
This applies, as well, to the United States and Canada.
The global strain of what some call a “permacrisis” impacts workers of all ages, yet many researchers and experts believe that Gen Z are the most stressed cohort in the workplace overall.
Jumping into their careers in the past few years – with some only just entering the workforce during the pandemic – has put them in particularly difficult situations.
LinkedIn data from December 2022, shared with BBC, shows 18-to-25-year-olds to be the least confident out of all generations in their current job or role. Only 43% of Gen Z feel extremely confident – perfectly capable in every aspect of their role – compared to 59% of Gen Y (Millennials), Gen X and Boomers.
Additionally, in data from a 2022 global survey of more than 10,000 workers, conducted by the work-management platform Asana, Gen Z respondents said they were unable to switch off from work at a disproportionately higher rate than previous generations.
“I think that Gen Z is getting to see what Millennials dealt with when they graduated college during the Great Recession, which is very stressful and will add to their already heightened anxiety,” says Los Angeles-based Santor Nishizaki, an organisational leadership expert and author of Working with Gen Z: A Handbook to Recruit, Retain, and Reimagine the Future Workforce after Covid-19.
It has been cited that the fact that the youngest people in the workplace are struggling to keep their heads above water should alarm everyone.
In the short term, Gen Z’s stress is leading to ambivalence and withdrawal in their professional lives.
“We found that during the pandemic, a good portion of Gen Zers admitted to not giving a full effort at work, which is a symptom of burnout and other workplace behaviours, like disengagement, unclear communication, lack of manager support and loneliness,” says Nishizaki.
Taking the strain off the youngest workers, however, is a challenge for which there is no quick fix, say experts.
Whatever happens outside the office walls, leaders can begin by building what Nishizaki describes as a culture of purpose and impact.
“Gen Zers want to work for an organization that offers flexibility, a boss who is a coach and a mentor (rather than a technical expert), frequent communication and clarity on how their work creates a positive impact in the world,” he explains.
Easing Gen Z’s workplace burdens will be impossible without addressing their overall mental health too – which, like the economy, remains in permacrisis.
In the workplace, after a number of employees – specifically, knowledge workers – reaped the benefits of a more flexible approach to working, many employers are shifting course and demanding a full return-to-the-office. Economic instability still looms, and many companies are cutting thousands of jobs, or leaving employees worried that they’ll be next.
“In its essence, work is at a very uncertain time,” explains London-based Eliza Filby, a generational researcher, who advises companies on managing and recruiting people in their 20s.
“There’s horrendous stress about layoffs for everyone.”
Indeed, data indicates young workers are feeling ill-equipped within the workplace overall. LinkedIn data from December 2022, shared with the BBC, shows 18-to-25-year-olds to be the least confident out of all generations in their current job or role.
Only 43% of Gen Z feel extremely confident and perfectly capable in every aspect of their role, compared to 59% of Gen Y (Millennials), Gen X and the Boomers.
Until this changes within Gen Z, the future doesn’t look good.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to follow up on her request for the federal government to halt its “Just Transition” legislation, which has not yet been tabled but is currently in the works.
In a letter to Trudeau on Thursday, Smith referenced her February 7 meeting with the prime minister in Ottawa in which she also requested the federal Emissions Reduction Plan must be halted.
Instead of these programs, Smith said a collaborative effort from both governments to attract investment and workers into Alberta’s emerging, conventional and non-conventional energy sectors would be a “much more productive alternative.”
“In that meeting, you expressed a willingness to pursue this course of collaborative action, but requested it be commenced promptly,” Smith said.
Smith said she met with her ministers immediately upon her return to Alberta. Following those discussions, she now suggests both governments coordinate an approach for a carbon capture, utilization and storage incentive program (CCUS) for the purpose of net emissions reductions in Alberta while attracting billions in new investments for Alberta-based oil and gas projects, electricity, manufacturing and other sectors.
“To this end, we propose coordinating a federal CCUS income tax credit with an expansion of our current Alberta Petrochemicals Incentive Program (APIP) to include CCUS projects,” Smith said.
“This new incentive program would be in addition to the over $1.8 billion already invested into CCUS projects across the province by the Government of Alberta as well as our province’s additional implicit contribution to CCUS made through our current royalty regime.”
She also wants both governments to discuss expanding this coordinated approach to incentivizing other emerging emission reducing technologies.
Trudeau has yet to respond to Smith’s open letter, but on Friday, the Trudeau Liberals released a plan to create sustainable jobs that aims to transition workers away from the fossil fuel industry and toward clean energy.
The interim plan, which will guide the government’s “Just Transition” approach from 2023-25, includes the establishment of a new training centre for sustainable jobs and a new government advisory body. The government will develop a full sustainable jobs plan every five years starting in 2025.
“Canada has what it takes to become the clean energy and technology supplier of choice in a net-zero world,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in a news release.
“With this plan, the federal government is taking yet another step forward to ensure that Canada’s workers have the skills and support necessary to seize this generational opportunity.”
Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley has also called on the federal government to drop its “Just Transition” legislation. Wilkinson has said the government plans to table such legislation in the spring.
Legacy media outlets amplified disinformation about Freedom Convoy protesters last year, according to Public Order Emergency Commissioner (POEC) Paul Rouleau’s report assessing the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act.
Rouleau’s report found that the news media’s portrayal of the demonstrations was an attempt to discredit the movement.
“I am also satisfied that there was misinformation about the Freedom Convoy, which was used as a basis to unfairly discredit all protesters. In one example, protesters were blamed for an act of arson in an apartment building, which the police later confirmed had no links to the protests,” wrote Rouleau.
“Where there was misinformation and disinformation about the protests, it was prone to amplification in news media. OPP Superintendent Pat Morris testified that, as the officer leading the collection of intelligence for the OPP, what he was seeing in the media did not always reflect what the intelligence was showing.”
The arson hoax was spread by legacy media outlets reporting on the incident and federal politicians including NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and a number of Liberal and NDP MPs.
Other false claims spread by media outlets about the Freedom Convoy included a fake poster shared by the far-left Anti-Hate Network. At the height of the protests, the organization’s chair Bernie Farber posted a tweet including a picture of an antisemitic poster that was later found to have originated in Miami, Florida and not Ottawa.
“The Freedom Convoy garnered support from many frustrated Canadians who simply wished to protest what they perceived as government overreach. Messaging by politicians, public officials and, to some extent, the media should have been more balanced, and drawn a clearer distinction between those who were protesting peacefully and those who were not,” wrote Rouleau.
Commissioner Rouleau also found that there was “no basis” to believe that the Freedom Convoy was part of a foreign disinformation campaign.
Despite a lack of evidence, CBC anchor Nil Koksal claimed last year during a live broadcast with Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino that the protest was driven by “Russian actors.”
“Evidence from the Government of Canada indicated that there was no basis to believe that the Freedom Convoy was the product of a foreign disinformation campaign,” wrote Rouleau.
The POEC report was released on Friday and ruled that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act to quash Freedom Convoy protesters last year was justified.
According to Commissioner Rouleau, the federal government’s invocation “was appropriate” and in accordance with the requirements set out by the emergency legislation.
