Canada

A 78-year-old woman in Quebec's Eastern Townships was found in "unlivable" conditions and sleeping on the floor after her ex-partner allegedly controlled her life for 27 years, according to police.

At the end of February, Memphrémagog police found the woman in her home, which belonged to her and her ex-partner in Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley municipality.

Police initially entered to assist Quebec's society for the protection of animals in the removal of 13 cats, which were described as sick and dehydrated.

Although the woman's ex had not lived in the home for 27 years, police say he exercised financial and psychological control over the victim — isolating her from the outside world.

"The investigation revealed that the suspect took control of pretty much all aspects of her life and wouldn't provide her with the tools she needs to have a decent life," said Pépin.

The whole article is worth reading but I'd like to highlight a few paragraphs in particular:

For over two years, the Tory leader has travelled across the country, galvanizing voters around three devastating words: Canada is broken. In one video streamed on his Facebook page, Poilievre lined up with voters outside a passport office in Ottawa, making a show of solidarity to the people stuck waiting six hours just to drop off an application. In another, he stands near a homeless encampment in British Columbia, detailing the human suffering he’s witnessed.

For those of us old enough to remember Poilievre as the most vicious of Stephen Harper’s boys-in-short-pants, it was jarring to see him dominate the political discourse with such ease.

Because no matter how many million of dollars the Liberals spent on some version of “Yes, we’re bad but have you seen how fucking crazy this guy is?”, they had no answer to his message. The Canada we were promised — the one where you’ll get ahead if you just play by the rules and work hard — no longer exists.

Roughly half of Canadians report living from paycheque to paycheque, with that number jumping to 57 per cent for those aged 35 to 54, according to a Léger study published in October. Meanwhile, a generation of homebuyers has been priced out of the market and those who can afford a mortgage are being crushed under a mountain of debt.

Canada’s household debt to disposable income ratio is 180 per cent. That’s the highest of any G7 country. For every dollar Canadians earn, on average, they owe $1.80 in the form of mortgage payments, car loans and credit card fees. In the United States, by contrast, that ratio is 100 per cent.

Over 2 million Canadians turn to a food bank every month just to keep from going hungry. That’s a 90 per cent increase from 2019 numbers.

As rental prices across the country have nearly doubled in the past decade, homeless encampments are now a fixture of life in every major Canadian city. In some pilot programs, provincial governments have outsourced the lodging of homeless people to private condo developers.

Universal public healthcare, the crown jewel of this federation, is coming under attack in provinces across the country. Half of our healthcare system is funded by Ottawa, and the federal government has done little to discourage the provinces’ slide towards privatization.

I don’t think Poilievre will fix any of this but he sees it. And because he sees it, he can turn it into anger, political donations and to a victory on April 28.

Archived

Philosophy professor Jason Stanley announced this week that he will leave Yale, while history professors Timothy Snyder and Marci Shore, who are married, decided to leave around the November elections. The three professors will work at Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

PP wants to destroy CBC completely and force us to be reliant on american-owned Postmedia, Sun Media, Saltwire Network instead!

Instead, the longtime fan said he was “escorted out of the stadium by two big security guards” just moments after the game began due to his choice of headwear.

For today’s game, Begley, who is 70, wore a Blue Jays hoodie and a red ballcap with the slogan, “Canada is not for sale.”

“We have spoken with the fan to apologize,” (Blue Jays) spokesperson Andrea Goldstein wrote in an email.

“Our staff made a mistake, and we have addressed the issue to ensure it does not happen again.”

Xatśūll First Nation asked B.C. to order an environmental assessment of the Gibraltar mine’s expansion plans. The provincial government declined

Archive: [ https://archive.is/Ygjjs ]

Prof. Jason Stanley made decision after policy changes at Columbia University

A Yale University professor is leaving the U.S. and taking a position at the University of Toronto (U of T) due to what he says is a "far-right regime" under President Donald Trump.

"The United States is in the process of an autocratic takeover and it's directed by a regime that I don't think will want to leave power," said Jason Stanley, a professor of philosophy.

"Its not just Donald Trump. It's the machine behind Donald Trump."

Stanley, whose books include How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, said he was considering joining U of T's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy for over a year. But he decided to move after Columbia University made sweeping changes to its policies last week under pressure from the U.S. government.

PM will speak around 2 p.m. ET after Trump says he'll go ahead with 25% tariffs

Liberal Leader Mark Carney has paused his campaign and is back in Ottawa on Thursday to deal with the fallout from U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed auto tariffs, which would wallop the industry in Canada.

Speaking from the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump delivered a blow to the cross-border auto trade, vowing to bring in a new 25 per cent tariff on finished vehicles imported into the United States, starting next week.

Hundreds of thousands of Canadians jobs are connected to the auto sector — the largest manufacturing industry in Canada and second-largest source of exports to the U.S. after oil.

In a social media post Thursday, the president threatened to further punish Canada and the European Union with duties "far larger than currently planned" if they retaliate against his auto tariffs