Voters in two Canadian ridings, one of which Quebec and another in Manitoba — will go to the polls in September, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday as he announced that the campaign period for the two by-elections had begun. THE by-elections will take place on September 16. In Quebec, the Liberals hope to keep the riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, which became vacant when former Justice Minister David Lametti resigned from politics. The riding has been red since its creation in 2013 and since its first election in 2015, which brought the Liberals to power. Lametti has held on to it in every subsequent election with more than 40% of the vote. The Liberals have put forward Montreal city councillor Laura Palestini as their candidate, though her nomination sparked controversy last week after Trudeau personally handpicked her to run despite three other contenders campaigning for months in a nomination race that never happened. The story continues below the advertisement 1:17 Freeland meets with Toronto MPs to discuss byelection defeat Soraya Martinez Ferrada, the party’s campaign co-chair, said at the time that it was Trudeau’s decision to prevent party members from choosing the candidate and instead choose Palestini, who represents the LaSalle borough on Montreal city council. The email you need for the day The top news from Canada and around the world. Receive daily national news Get the day’s top political, business and current affairs news delivered to your inbox once a day. By providing your email address, you have read and agreed to Global News’ Terms of Use. Terms and conditions And Privacy Policy. The Conservatives chose Louis Ialenti, whom they describe as a “no-nonsense small business owner.” The NDP chose another city councillor, Craig Sauvé, while the Bloc Québécois has yet to name its candidate. Fashionable now Farmers markets, business groups clash with Loblaws over derogatory text ad An evacuation order has been issued for Slocan, B.C., and surrounding areas due to wildfires The byelection could be a major challenge for the Liberals, who lost the Ontario riding of Toronto-St. Paul’s to the Conservatives by a narrow margin last month in what was seen as a sure victory for the ruling party. In Manitoba, the NDP is hoping to keep the Elmwood-Transcona riding in orange hands after the resignation of three-term MP Daniel Blaikie. The story continues below the advertisement The party has held the riding in every election but one since 2004, when Conservative Lawrence Toet briefly held it during the party’s majority government in 2011. Blaikie returned it to the NDP – and his family – in 2015. His father, Bill Blaikie, held the seat from 2004 to 2008 and from 1988 to 2004, when the riding was Winnipeg-Transcona. Blaikie resigned in March 2024 to accept a position in the office of Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew. In the upcoming byelection, the NDP nominated Transcona BIZ general manager Leila Dance, the Conservatives nominated construction electrician and union member Colin Reynolds, and the Liberals chose former teacher Ian MacIntyre, who also ran for the Manitoba Liberals in last year’s provincial election. © 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc. Source link

“Kids for Harris.” “We need a Kamalanomenon.” Generation Z feels the Kamalove. Since President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala HarrisGen Z voters rushed to social media to share memes about coconut trees and “brat summer” — reflecting a dramatic shift in tone for a generation that has expressed feelings of being left behind by the Democratic Party. Progressive youth-led organizations have been warning for months that Biden has a problem with young voters, pleading with the president to work more closely with them to refocus on the issues that matter most to younger generations or risk losing their votes. With Biden out of the race, many of these young leaders are now hoping Harris can overcome her flagging support among Gen Z and harness a new burst of energy among young voters. Since Sunday, statements from youth organizations across the country, including in Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, California, Minnesota, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, have been rife. Leaders have thanked Biden for stepping down and celebrated the opportunity to organize around a new candidate. On Friday, a coalition of 17 youth-led groups endorsed Harris. The story continues below the advertisement “It changes everything,” said Zo Tobi, communications director for the Movement Voter Project, a national progressive fundraising group focused on youth-led organizations, when he learned Biden was dropping out of the race and endorsing Harris. “The world as it is suddenly became the world as it could be.” As the campaign enters a new phase, Harris and her Republican rival, Donald Trump, are both expected to target messages aimed at young voters, who could prove decisive in some of the most contested states. Trump spoke Friday night at a Turning Point USA conference, and Harris plans to deliver a virtual speech Saturday to Voters of Tomorrow, an organization focused on young voters. John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics who has worked with Biden, said the “burning energy” among young people was something he hadn’t seen since former President Barack Obama’s campaign. While there are no reliable polls yet, he described the dynamic as “a combination of the hope we saw with Obama and the urgency and fight we saw after the Parkland shooting.” Latest news from Canada and around the world sent to your email address, as it happens. Get the latest national news For news that impacts Canada and the world, sign up to receive breaking news alerts directly when it happens. By providing your email address, you have read and agreed to Global News’ Terms of Use. Terms and conditions And Privacy Policy. In many ways, it was the first time many young people felt heard and felt like their actions could have an impact on policy, they and several young leaders said. “It was a game changer in this election,” he said. “People, especially young people, have been discouraged for so long, for so many important reasons, by politics and by the direction the country is going. It weighed on them. And then they wake up the next morning and it seems like everything has changed.” The story continues below the advertisement About 6 in 10 adults under 30 voted for Biden in 2020, according to AP VoteCast, but his ratings among the group have fallen significantly since then, with only about a quarter of the group saying they had a favorable view of him in the latest AP-NORC poll, conducted before Biden dropped out of the race. Fashionable now Jasper wildfire site tour reveals destroyed homes, hotels Celine Dion is back! A spectacular Olympic performance marks her return to the stage This poll, along with New York Times/Siena and CNN polls conducted after Biden withdrew, suggests that Harris is starting with slightly better favorable ratings than Biden among young adults. Sunjay Muralitharan, vice president of College Democrats of America, said he felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest when Harris entered the race. Despite monthly calls for coalition between youth-led groups and the Biden campaign, Muralitharan spent months worrying about how Biden would fare with young voters as he saw young people leaving organizations like the College Democrats and Young Democrats to join more left-wing groups. College Democrats have issued statements and social media posts encouraging the party to prioritize young people and change course on the Gaza war and have “worked tirelessly to get a College Democrat lineup” at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago later this summer. But they’ve received little attention in return, Muralitharan said. A Harris campaign represents an opportunity to move in a new direction, he said. The vice president has shown support for issues that matter to young voters, like climate change and reproductive rights, Muralitharan said, adding that she might also be able to change course and distance herself from Biden’s approach to the Gaza war. The story continues below the advertisement “The ongoing problem we face is that Biden is the lesser of two evils and he’s impacting the crisis in Gaza,” he said. “For months, we were given this false narrative that made it difficult for us to mobilize young voters. But that’s changed now.” Santiago Mayer, executive director of the Gen Z voter engagement organization Voters of Tomorrow, said the Biden campaign “created an entirely new framework for working with youth organizations” that can now be used to support Harris’ campaign. “Gen Z loves Vice President Harris, and Vice President Harris loves Gen Z,” he said. “So we’re willing to work for her.” © 2024 The Canadian Press Source link

Russia The U.S. economy is showing signs of strain amid high inflation and a tight labor market, which G7 and European officials say is evidence that Western sanctions over the war in Afghanistan are a security threat to the economy. Ukraine working. Russia’s central bank, which is independent of the government, issued a fresh warning on Friday. Its governor, Elvira Nabiullina, said the economy remained “substantially overheated,” after its members raised its key interest rate to 18% – the highest level in more than two years – and said annual inflation had reached 9%. “For inflation to start to decline again, monetary policy needs to be tightened further,” the bank said in a statement, hinting at further rate hikes. The rate decision came days after eight European finance ministers written in The Guardian This week, Russia announced what it calls a “resovietization of the economy.” They say the GDP growth figures the Kremlin touts as evidence of the economy’s prosperity tell only one side of the story. The story continues below the advertisement “A closer look at the signals makes it clear that not everything is as rosy in the Russian economy as Moscow would have us believe,” reads the article attributed to the finance ministers of Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Poland.

As Canada’s premiers discussed housing, health care and their fractious relationship with Ottawa at their meetings last week in Halifax, many remained concerned about climate-related natural disasters that have only worsened since they returned home. “We recognize that emergency preparedness for natural disasters is more important than ever,” said Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston in his closing remarks on the final day of the Council of the Federation conference. 1:22 Toronto floods: Trudeau says ‘significant event’ highlights importance of fight against climate change Canada’s provincial and territorial premiers met for three days and discussions about ongoing natural disasters were a constant topic of discussion, Houston said. This summer has been marked so far by multiple flash floods, including one this month in Nova Scotia that killed a 13-year-old boy, and Forest fires across the country, which resulted in the destruction of property and the evacuation of thousands of residents. The story continues below the advertisement “We have several premiers around the table today fighting wildfires in their provinces. Of course, last week we had a flash flood that caused deaths,” the premier said on the second day of meetings. On July 11, Eli Young was swept into a ditch in a park in Wolfville, N.S., during a flash flood that caused significant damage in the western part of the province. “Of course, discussions about emergency preparedness take on added significance and importance at a time like this,” he said. Blair Feltmate, director of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo, says talk is not enough. He said in an interview Wednesday that all levels of government need to treat climate-related natural disasters as a crisis and move quickly to mitigate them before they get worse. 4:43 Alberta wildfires: 17,500 people evacuated so far in province, Ellis says Feltmate said governments could implement disaster mitigation strategies. “The problem is they’re not deploying the known solutions fast enough,” he said. The story continues below the advertisement “We are in a red alert situation. Not only is the risk extremely high, but we realize that this risk will only increase. The current situation, with floods, forest fires and extreme heat episodes, will get worse. Climate change is irreversible,” he said. Latest news from Canada and around the world sent to your email address, as it happens. Get the latest national news For news that impacts Canada and the world, sign up to receive breaking news alerts directly when it happens. By providing your email address, you have read and agreed to Global News’ Terms of Use. Terms and conditions And Privacy Policy. Northern Canada, which has also recently been plagued by wildfires, is suffering from a drought that has left the Mackenzie River so high that low-lying barges can no longer travel on it. “We’re facing a situation right now where climate change has resulted in the lowest water levels we’ve ever seen on the Mackenzie River — it’s basically our highway,” Northwest Territories Premier RJ Simpson said last week at the premiers’ conference. Simpson called for federal support for communities that rely on Canada’s longest river to access essential goods and food, as well as urgent funding to build the Mackenzie Valley Highway project to provide an alternative to river travel. “We now find ourselves in a situation where people are virtually stranded, we have to fly in goods, which is going to double the price that the consumer is going to pay at the grocery store… It’s delaying the construction of new infrastructure. It’s a serious problem that we’re facing,” the prime minister said. Fashionable now Prince William’s exorbitant annual salary revealed in royal report Jasper wildfire: Mayor expresses ‘pain and sorrow’ as flames enter town 1:36 Wildfires continue to intensify in British Columbia Since last week’s meetings, many wildfires in Western Canada have increased significantly. The story continues below the advertisement As of Wednesday, British Columbia had about 430 active wildfires, 107 of which started in the previous 24 hours, and residents of about 470 properties were forced to evacuate. About 20 buildings have been destroyed by the Shetland Creek fire, including at least six homes. Wildfire officials say 8,099 square kilometres of the province has burned since April 1. In Alberta, wildfire officials estimate that between 20,000 and 25,000 people have evacuated the community of Jasper since an order was issued Monday night. About 180 wildfires were burning in Alberta Wednesday night, and about a third of them were considered out of control. Feltmate said concrete measures to mitigate wildfires are included in the federal wildfire prevention and mitigation strategy, which was released by Ottawa on June 5. That report recommends “proactive” fire prevention techniques such as prescribed burns, removing hazardous fuels such as dry shrubs and grasslands and educating the public on how to limit human-caused wildfires. The Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation has also published guides to help individuals mitigate the risks of wildfires, extreme heat and flooding. These include removing mulch and plants from the immediate vicinity of your home if you live in a wildfire-prone area, checking for plumbing leaks and using heat-resistant curtains and fans to cool your home during a heat wave. More expensive recommendations include installing a sump pump, adding fireproof screens to exterior vents and replacing wooden fencing near the home with wire or metal fencing. The story continues below the advertisement “The good news is we know where the problems are, we know where the key areas are that are at greatest risk of flooding, wildfires and extreme heat,” Feltmate said. “Now we need to act urgently.” © 2024 The Canadian Press Source link