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Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during a press conference on the sidelines of the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on October 27, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Bank of Canada slashes staff, US flights grounded by shutdown, Mexico’s president groped in viral incident, Japan targets ursine enemies
10%: The Bank of Canada plans to lay off 10% of its staff. The move comes amid broader cuts of thousands of government workers as Prime Minister Mark Carney tries to streamline operations and gird the country against the longer-term impacts of Donald Trump’s trade war.
40: The US government shutdown will hit travellers this weekend, as the Trump administration plans to cut 10% of air traffic at 40 of the country’s busiest airports. Thousands of flights will be canceled. The move is meant to ease working conditions for air traffic controllers, who have been on the job without pay since the shutdown began more than a month ago.
501: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has filed a criminal complaint against a man who groped her breast and tried to kiss her on Tuesday. The incident was captured on video and went viral. “If I don’t file a complaint, then what message does that send to all Mexican women?” Sheinbaum said. The incident shines a fresh light on the country’s huge problem of violence against women – there have been 501 femicides in the country so far this year. Experts say that’s a vast undercount.
100: Japan hasn’t fought a war in 80 years, but the government has just deployed troops to deal with an internal enemy: bears. This year there have been more than 100 attacks by the animals – including at a hot springs, a bus stop, and inside a supermarket – leaving a record 12 people dead. Overpopulation and shortages of natural food is driving the bears more into settled areas to fatten up ahead of the winter hibernation.
20: Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s 20th term in Congress will be her last, as the 85-year-old representative for San Francisco and announced she would retire. A fierce leader who has politics in her blood, Pelosi was the first woman to ever serve as speaker, holding the gavel for eight years cumulatively. She was also the Democratic leader in the House for 20 years. Arguably her biggest legislative achievement was shepherding the Affordable Care Act through Congress – although she hated the final version of the bill.Hard Numbers: Typhoon rips through the Philippines, Europe wants more rail, Israel returns bodies to Gaza, Canada’s Carney unveils first budget
85: A typhoon ripped through the Philippines on Tuesday, killing at least 85 people and forcing roughly 400,000 people to flee their homes – many of which are now flooded. The typhoon is set to continue through other parts of Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.
€345 billion: Europe may be tightening its internal borders, but it’s still pushing its trains: The European Union on Wednesday laid out a €345-billion ($396-billion) plan to slash train times between major European cities over the next 10-15 years. Under the plan, there will be trains that run at 200 kilometers per hour (roughly 125 mph) between each major EU city.
15: Israel returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza on Wednesday, as part of ongoing exchanges required by last month’s ceasefire deal. Israeli authorities have now returned 285 bodies since the deal was signed, though it is not clear how many more they are holding. Hamas still holds the remains of seven Israeli hostages.
CA$78 billion: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled his first budget on Tuesday, which includes new infrastructure spending, funds for the military, and major immigration cuts. However, the budget shows a deficit of $78 billion, the second-largest in the country’s history.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks during a meeting of northeastern U.S. Governors and Canadian Premiers, in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., June 16, 2025.
What we’re watching: The subnational US-Canada relationship, Golden Dome’s leaden weight, MAGA Iran crackup
Premiers meet with governors to shape US-Canada relations
While the national level drama played out between Donald Trump and Mark Carney at the G7 in Kananaskis, a lot of important US-Canada work was going on with far less fanfare in Boston, where five Canadian premiers met with governors and delegations from seven US states. The groups talked trade and tariffs, reflecting a Canadian strategy of working through deep state-level relationships to help manage the broader tensions with Trump and his policies.
The double-price Carney would pay for the Golden Dome
As he left the G7 meeting in Alberta, Donald Trump said the price tag for Canada’s participation in the US Golden Dome missile defense project would come in at a hefty US$71 billion. Trump expects Canada to join.“They want to be a part of it,” he said. But Canadians themselves aren’t so keen. A recent poll found that 63% of respondents do not want Canada to join the shield, meaning Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has expressed openness to the idea, is caught between placating Trump or siding with the skeptical majority of his constituents.
MAGA-splits over US intervention in Iran
As the world waits to see if the US will join Israel in attacking Iran – and potentially pressing for regime change – the MAGA-Republican coalition is divided. Hardcore America First voices like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Steve Bannon, and Tucker Carlson say no way, while most establishment Republicans and Democrats are still in favor. A new poll finds that while nearly two-thirds of Americans would view a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to the US, a slim majority of Republicans want nothing to do with Israel’s current efforts to destroy Iran’s nuclear program militarily. Overall, 56% of those polled said they favor negotiations to rid Iran of nuclear weapons.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, on the day he is sworn in as secretary of Health and Human Service in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 13, 2025.
Hard Numbers: RFK Jr. cleans house at the CDC, K-Pop’s Chinese comeback, and more
17: In an unprecedented move, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 members of the vaccine advisory committee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday. While Kennedy defended the “clean sweep” as necessary to restore public trust, experts warn that changes to the panel could threaten public confidence in government health agencies.
$180 million: Chinese tech giant Tencent recently struck a deal with SM Entertainment, one of the leading K-pop production houses, to purchase almost a 10% stake for $180 million. The latest move signals a potential musical thaw in China-South Korea relations: Beijing has imposed an unofficial ban on K-pop ever since Seoul agreed to host US missile defenses in 2016.
2%: Citing the need to reduce reliance on the United States, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged to raise defense expenditures to 2% of the nation’s GDP by the end of the year. The accelerated spending will bring the country in line with NATO benchmarks five years ahead of Carney’s previous target of 2030.
499: Russia launched 499 drone and missile attacks on Kyiv last night, in one of the largest aerial assaults of the three-year-war. The latest attack coincides with a fresh Russian push into eastern Ukraine, and it follows Kyiv’s own large-scale drone attacks on Russian strategic bombers last week.
3%: Less than 3% of the world’s oceans are effectively protected from destructive activities like industrial fishing and deep-sea mining. But with the UN Oceans conference now underway in France, delegates are on track to ratify the High Seas Treaty, a landmark agreement that will allow countries to establish protected areas in biodiverse international waters.
US President Donald Trump appears onstage during a visit at US Steel Corporation–Irvin Works in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, USA, on May 30, 2025.
What We’re Watching: Trump doubles metal tariffs, Canada Liberals bid to secure the border, Wildfires spread
Trump doubles steel and aluminum duties
Days after a judge nixed Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, the US president signed an executive order doubling steel and aluminum duties to 50%. Trump hopes the tariffs will boost domestic steel and aluminum industries, but the higher duties are terrible news for Canada, which is the top exporter of both metals to the US. Canada’s US-bound exports of steel were already down before Trump doubled the tariffs. Now they’re set to drop further — and take jobs with them. Mark Carney must now decide if he’ll respond, and risk provoking Trump, or back down and betray the anti-Trump, “elbows up” rhetoric he ran on.
Liberals introduce border bill in new Parliament
On Tuesday, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree introduced the Strong Borders Act, which aims to strengthen border security, combat the trafficking of fentanyl and guns, and tackle money laundering. Anandasangaree said the bill was “not exclusively about the United States,” but admitted it aimed to remedy certain “irritants for the US.” The law would give the government sweeping discretionary powers — to open mail, for instance — so it is expected to meet a measure of resistance in Parliament.
Canadian wildfires send toxic smoke south
Wildfires in Canada have burned 2.1 million hectares (5.2 million acres) of land so far this year, sending hazardous smoke into the Midwest and East Coast of the United States, and even as far as Europe. Experts say the wildfire season in Canada is off to an extraordinary, and dangerous, start, reminiscent of the 2023 season, which was the worst in the country’s history. The flames are putting at risk the health of millions on both sides of the border.U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney meet in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 6, 2025.
There’s at least one area where Canada can thank Trump
Canadians might not like to hear this, but given President Donald Trump’s tariffs and threats, there’s at least one area of economic policy where the country owes the US leader a strange sort of thanks.
For decades, Canada’s 13 provinces and territories have maintained trade barriers against each other, a bewildering arrangement of tariffs, quotas, and regulations that has boosted prices, reduced efficiency, and yielded some absurd stories: A New Brunswick man whose beer was confiscated as he crossed provincial lines after a trip to Quebec has taken his case all the way to the supreme court.
But in response to Trump’s economic warfare on Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney has promised to eliminate interprovincial trade barriers by July 1, Canada Day, a date that is equal parts symbolic and, let’s say, ambitious. The hope is that the economic impact of Trump’s tariffs can be at least partially mitigated by dropping Canada’s internal trade barriers.
Since 2017, Canada has had a Canadian Free Trade Agreement, but it was far from comprehensive and full of exemptions. The federal government is now talking about “one Canadian economy,” not 13. There’s even a minister in charge of it, Dominic LeBlanc, who will work with Chrystia Freeland, who is responsible for internal trade.
The cost of internal trade barriers is disputed. Ontario says they sap CA$200 billion (US$146.4 billion) of GDP a year. Other observers aren’t so sure. What’s certain is that barriers have long existed in Canada for a variety of reasons, including local protectionism for key provincial industries, such as fisheries in Atlantic Canada and timber in British Columbia, and industry-specific regulations, like where fish or lumber can be processed.
Doing away with trade barriers isn’t just a matter of lowering duties, but also of streamlining and harmonizing regulations across provinces. It’s a big lift, especially when one province, Quebec, tends to insist on greater protection for, among other things, its culture and its dairy industry, citing its distinctness.
To make progress, Carney this week held a meeting with provincial and territorial leaders, which ended with a commitment to “rapidly” reach an agreement on consumer goods, shipping, and harmonizing credentials. A nurse registered in Ontario, for example, should be able to practice in Saskatchewan within a month of moving there.
Some provinces have already struck their own bilateral trade deals. Ontario introduced legislation in April to lower barriers. It has since penned agreements with Alberta, Prince Edward Island, and Saskatchewan. In April, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador signed their own free trade agreement. Quebec says it’s open to deals and has a bill similar to Ontario’s. Ditto Manitoba. Nova Scotia is undertaking similar work.
These agreements and bills look like progress, and they are. But experts warn the hard part lies ahead in implementing what trade expert Diya Jiang and Canada expert Daniel Béland note are the “complex and technical” elements involved in trade liberalization, including various provincial regulations that account for local geography and climate. Driving a truck through the mountains of BC is different than cruising through the plains of Manitoba, for example.
As economist Trevor Tombe puts it, “Serious action requires provincial action,” and while he notes we’re seeing some of that, “much will depend on provincial follow-through.” That’s to say, for instance, that a province will have to be willing to give up industry protections, like laws in Newfoundland and Labrador that mandate local fish processing.
Still, even with all the obstacles, Tombe concludes, “We might be entering a new era for internal trade in Canada.” And for that, Canada, unexpectedly, has Trump to thank.
Calls for Albertan separatism are getting louder: Should Carney be worried?
King Charles III’s speech on Tuesday from the throne in Ottawa was like a family reunion for Canadian politicians.
Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper was there, joking around with his old opponent Justin Trudeau, who, playing to type, wore an inappropriate pair of running shoes. Justin’s mother, Margaret Trudeau, who has known the king for 50 years, embraced the monarch.
But one important person wasn’t there: Danielle Smith, premier of Alberta. Smith, who made a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago in January and skipped the last gathering of Canadian premiers in Ottawa, has shown mixed feelings about the Canadian federation.
As the king’s plane was en route back to London, Smith called on Carney to respond to a series of demands meant to boost Alberta’s energy industry: build a new oil pipeline, loosen emissions and regulatory rules, scrap a tanker ban, and drop net-zero electricity requirements.
“Albertans need to see meaningful action within weeks — not months,” she threatened.
The unstated threat is Smith’s plan for a referendum that could theoretically allow Alberta to separate, after which it could, in theory, join the United States.
Smith, whose political ideology veers toward libertarianism, warned during the recent election that if easterners replaced Trudeau with Carney, it could produce an “unprecedented national unity crisis.” The day after Carney won, she presented a bill that will make it possible for Alberta to hold an independence referendum, likely next year.
The best local polling suggests that if a referendum were held today, it would fail, with only 28% of Albertans saying they’d vote to separate, compared to 67% who’d want to stay.
Numbers often change during a campaign, though, and uncertainty about the province’s future is already damaging the investment climate, so Carney faces pressure to bring Smith onside. Even his ally, Conservative Ontario Premier Doug Ford, says it’s time to show her some love.
Carney will have an opportunity to do just that when he flies to neighboring Saskatchewan to meet with Smith and the other premiers on Monday.
Carney pledged, via the king’s speech, to speed regulatory approvals so Canada can become the “world’s leading energy superpower in both clean and conventional energy.” And executives in the oil patch were cheered by a boosterish speech from his natural resources minister, Tim Hodgson. They hope that Carney and Hodgson will help them find ways to get their petroleum to foreign markets, rather than selling it at a discount to the United States.
But it is unlikely that he can deliver on Smith’s demands. British Columbians and Quebecers are both apt to resist new pipelines across their provinces, and if he removes the emissions cap, Carney risks losing support among voters worried about climate change.
Even if he does make some concessions to Alberta, chances are he won’t take the steam out of the separatist movement entirely. Smith needs to keep the separatists in her corner, rather than risk losing those voters to the province’s upstart Republican Party. That means a referendum is all but certain to go ahead.
Like former UK Prime Minister David Cameron before the Brexit referendum, Smith is trying to buy herself some time. And even Albertans who don’t want to secede still hope the threat will improve her negotiating position with Carney.
The wild card in the mix is Donald Trump, who is widely admired among the Albertan separatists and who regularly says Canada should agree to be annexed.
Could Alberta’s secessionist movement provide an opening for Trump to stir up trouble? He must know the province sits atop the world’s fourth-largest oil reserve. Does Trump look at Alberta the way Vladimir Putin once looked at the Donbas?
The stakes are high and the pressure is on Carney. He has been a successful banker, business executive, and campaigner. After his trip to Saskatchewan, Canadians might get a sense of whether he can master the difficult regional-power politics necessary to be a successful prime minister.
A sign calling for the protection of ostriches at the Universal Ostrich Farms is displayed in Edgewood, B.C., Canada, on May 17, 2025.
HARD NUMBERS: Trump officials fight ostrich culling, Mark Carney wants to ReArm with Europe, Wildfires in Manitoba, Golden Dome price set
300: Senior Trump administration figures, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mehmet Oz, are lobbying Canada to spare over 300 ostriches set to be culled due to bird flu concerns at a British Columbia farm. The farm’s owners dispute the extent of the outbreak, arguing most birds are healthy. Oz has offered to relocate the ostriches to his Florida ranch. Canadian officials insist they must be killed to protect public health and the poultry industry, as avian flu outbreaks spread across both countries.
5: Currently, 75 cents of every dollar Canada spends on defense goes to the US defense industry. But Prime Minister Mark Carney says he wants Canada to join ReArm Europe — a major European defense initiative — by July 1, in order to reduce reliance on US military spending. ReArm Europe aims to increase member nations’ defense spendings to 5% of GDP and, crucially, to do so without heavily importing from US arms manufacturers.
17,000: Over 17,000 people are being evacuated in Manitoba amid the province’s worst start to the wildfire season in years. There are 134 active fires across Canada — half of them burning out of control — in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario, while the country braces for another deadly fire season.
$61 billion: US President Donald Trump says he has told Canada it will have to pay $61 billion to be part of his proposed Gold Dome missile defense system — or it can be included for free if it becomes the “cherished 51st state.”