Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau listens as President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference Friday, March 24, 2023, in Ottawa, Canada. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…
Trudeau to talk trade, migration in Washington
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in the U.S. capital today to represent Canada at the inaugural Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity summit.
The White House meeting, hosted by President Joe Biden, marks the first official gathering of all 12 countries in the hemispheric trade framework.
The partnership, known as APEP, marks the earliest beginnings of a north-south trade corridor meant to foster economic growth and strengthen supply chains.
The White House is hoping that in turn, more stability in South America and the Caribbean will help ease the pressure from irregular migration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
In addition to the U.S. and Canada, the framework includes Mexico, Chile, Barbados, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and the Dominican Republic.
It’s not clear whether Biden and Trudeau will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one on the margins of the half-day summit.
Work continues to get Canadians out of Gaza
Canada’s minister of foreign affairs is reconfirming that Canadians and their families will be able to leave Gaza beginning in the coming days.
Melanie Joly issued a late Thursday update on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, saying she has spoken with her counterpart in Israel, Eli Cohen, about the matter.
She says she also received confirmation of Egypt’s co-operation.
While the flow of foreign nationals leaving Gaza through the Rafah crossing since Wednesday has been slow, officials with Global Affairs Canada say they are working around the clock to evacuate Canadians from the war zone. They are asking Canadians to get their documents and “be ready to depart once we are informed that they can cross the border.”
Joly’s message also noted that G-A-C will communicate the latest information directly with Canadians.
StatCan to release October job report this morning
Statistics Canada is set to release its October labour force survey this morning.
RBC says it expects the economy added a modest 15,000 jobs last month, and that the unemployment rate ticked higher to 5.6 per cent.
Strong population growth has bolstered Canada’s labour force, but the pace of job creation is trailing.
The Bank of Canada’s aggressive interest rate hikes have dampened economic growth this year as people and businesses pull back on spending.
Economists are watching for more evidence that this economic softness is spilling over into the labour market.
St. Lawrence Seaway workers ratify agreement
St. Lawrence Seaway workers have ratified a new collective agreement.
A tentative agreement was reached on Sunday between the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. and Unifor, with help from federal mediators.
Unifor says the three-year deal includes annual wage increases of five per cent, four per cent and four per cent, retroactive to April 1, 2023, along with a $2,000 signing bonus.
The agreement covers about 360 workers on the St. Lawrence Seaway, a major trade route connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean.
A strike shuttered operations in the seaway for about a week in late October.
Convoy trial judge to rule on internal police docs
The judge in the criminal trial of two “Freedom Convoy” organizers is expected to deliver a ruling today about the admissibility of internal police documents as evidence.
Crown prosecutors and the Ottawa Police Service have argued the heavily redacted documents, which include emails and information about a software update for officers’ cellphones, are irrelevant or protected by solicitor-client privilege.
The software update for officers’ cellphones may have deleted messages between organizer Chris Barber and police liaison officer Const. Nicole Bach.
Defence lawyers are set to begin their cross-examination of Bach today, but they say they will not be able to complete their cross-examination of any police liaison officers until Justice Heather Perkins-McVey makes a ruling about the documents.
Barber and Tamara Lich face multiple charges, including mischief, counselling others to commit mischief and intimidation in relation to the 2022 protests against COVID-19 public-health measures.
Traffic too loud: Quebec residents win lawsuit
A Montreal suburb has been ordered to pay thousands of dollars to around 300 residents who say they’ve suffered from years of unreasonable traffic noise.
The residents, who filed the class-action lawsuit a decade ago, live along a stretch of a road – chemin Des Prairies – in the city of Brossard, where traffic has steadily increased over the years as the community has grown.
The neighbourhood used to be largely farmland, but now chemin Des Prairies connects to a major boulevard and a large shopping mall, and 10,000 vehicles travel on it every day, Quebec Superior Court Justice Dominique Poulin wrote in her Oct. 10 decision.
“The court has heard 11 credible, sincere, convincing and disheartened residents who are significantly affected by the traffic, which they consider excessive “¦ which causes them inconveniences that exceed, in the eyes of the court, by their severity and recurrence, the normal inconveniences they must endure as a result of living along the stretch,” Poulin wrote.
Brossard spokeswoman Colette Ouellet said the city is appealing the decision, but declined to comment further.
Ease pets into time change, say vet workers
In past autumns, when Jocelyn Rutgers tried to enjoy the extra hour of sleep offered by the end of daylight time, her cat would hold firm to his daily regimen and demand to be fed as usual.
“My cat in particular is extremely routine-based and likes to be fed at his preferred times,” said Rutgers, a registered veterinary technician based at the Ontario SPCA Midland Animal Centre.
“He tends to get quite loud and meow at me when he knows it’s breakfast or dinner time. Any changes from those times and he lets me know about it.”
While seasonal time changes have been associated with health complications like headaches and heart problems for humans, Rutgers says many owners of finicky pets may find them extra ornery when daylight time ends in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
That’s because, like us, pets have natural circadian rhythms and internal biological clocks tuned to cycles of light and dark. But their feeding, exercise and medication schedules are also closely linked to their owners’ daily routines, she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 3, 2023
