Only 60 days remain until Albertans answer 10 questions that could shape the future of the province.
Nine focus on immigration and constitutional reform. But it’s the 10th question — whether Albertans want the province to remain in Canada or hold a second, binding referendum on separation — that is increasingly poised to animate town halls and rallies scheduled in the coming days.
Federal prosecutors have laid a new charge against the Halifax man accused of making a bomb threat against the United States Consulate in the city earlier this month.
A Crown lawyer confirmed in court on Aug. 18 that federal prosecutors had charged Ali Assakereh, 54, of Halifax, with threatening an internationally protected person.
The charge is under the Criminal Code provision covering threats involving internationally protected persons and their official premises.
Less than two hours before 50 per cent tariffs were scheduled to hit a range of Canadian goods, U.S. President Donald Trump announced he is pausing the levies for three days, based on a pending trade deal. And the development comes as Canadians weigh in on what should happen next.
Boufeldja Benabdallah says for the past year and a half, he’s witnessed a rise in vandalism and anti-Muslim rhetoric targeting mosques and cultural centres around Quebec — but he doesn’t understand why.
Still, the spokesperson and co-founder of Quebec City’s Islamic Cultural Centre says his community is responding the best way they can — with vigilance.
For the first time in his memory, his mosque issued a public warning this past week reminding its community of security measures to increase safety in light of recent incidents.
In the 1990s, a B.C. NDP government cabinet minister famously pronounced, “Remember, government can do anything it wants.”
That basic undemocratic ethos is alive today in the present B.C. NDP government headed by Premier David Eby, most particularly on the Aboriginal “reconciliation” agenda.
POV: You are an American citizen visiting Canada. pic.twitter.com/0zpef0zqm9
— Wall Street Mav (@WallStreetMav) August 19, 2026
h/t Mauser
Top global basic income experts in Toronto, senate bill top of mind
A bill to develop a national framework for a guaranteed basic income in Canada will be a focal point at an international basic income gathering happening in Toronto this week.
Bill S-206, which is currently being studied by a Senate committee, would direct the Minister of Finance to develop a national framework to give every person over age 17 in Canada access to a guaranteed livable basic income without work requirements.
It’s set to be discussed at length on Wednesday at the Basic Income Earth Network Congress (BIEN), which is holding its 25th annual international gathering at Toronto Metropolitan University this year.
The number of Americans seeking Canadian citizenship certificates continues to surge, with new data suggesting almost half of people approved for proof of citizenship since December were born in the U.S.
A recent update on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) website reads: “Applications for Canadian citizenship certificates are rising rapidly across the globe, driven in large part by thousands of requests submitted from the United States. Following a change in the law, the volume of submissions has grown substantially, putting pressure on federal processing streams.”
The world is quietly abandoning the fantasy that renewables alone can guarantee energy security.
The U.S.–Israel war on Iran exposed how vulnerable the global economy remains to disruptions in fossil fuel supply chains. Any disruption in the Strait of Hormuz quickly affects global fuel prices, inflation, and energy costs worldwide.
A little good news?
“Canadians have only access to eighteen per cent of all innovative medicines that are available around the world. Americans have access to over 90 per cent,” explains Dr. Bettina Hamelin, President and CEO of Innovative Medicines Canada, which represents Canadian pharmaceutical companies.
“Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, which are the richer countries in this world, have access to about 28 per cent [of innovative medicines]”, Hamelin says from her Toronto office, explaining that the big problems are time and money.
A Canadian man with alleged ties to terrorist organizations has been barred from entering Panama and returned to Canada.
According to Panama’s National Migration Service, the detection occurred during verification procedures.
The bomb scare at Halifax’s U.S. consulate that shut down much of the city’s downtown last week had its echoes in Clayton Park, the suburb established in the 1960s that in recent years has been a magnet for the port city’s burgeoning population of immigrants.
As downtown was swarmed by police, including bomb experts who found potentially explosive items in a car outside the consulate, the investigation took Halifax police to the quiet cul-de-sac home of the man charged in the episode.
…the rates of Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, USA and Italy?
Canada has roughly 420–426 housing units (dwellings) per 1,000 people in recent years, which is among the lowest of the compared countries and well below the OECD average.
According to the C.D. Howe Institute, Canada’s ratio stood at 431 units per 1,000 people in 2015 but fell to 426 by 2023 as population growth outpaced new construction. An IMF assessment cited about 419 in 2020 (below the then-OECD average of ~485), with further declines afterward. Other sources (including earlier Scotiabank and OECD-related figures) place it in the low-to-mid 420s around 2020–2023.
Approximate recent comparisons (dwellings/housing units per 1,000 inhabitants, mostly 2021–2025 data from national statistics, OECD Affordable Housing Database compilations, and secondary aggregations; years and exact definitions can vary slightly by source):Italy: ~600–603 (highest among the group; elevated in part by secondary/vacation homes).
France: ~550–559.
Germany: ~510–516.
Britain (UK): ~426–433.
USA: ~425–428.
Canada: ~420–426. cdhowe.org
Ireland: ~410–417.
Britain is facing a housing disaster – A sclerotic economy and an ever more restrictive planning system have brought us to the brink.
A package of cannabis that may have been purchased legally from a government-owned store became illicit when a detainee at a Quebec prison stuffed it in his anus, the province’s highest court has ruled.
The decision comes in the case of Vincent Tardif, who had appealed a conviction for possessing cannabis with the intent to distribute, arguing that the prosecution hadn’t proven that he knew the cannabis he possessed was illicit.
Norway, a land with more than 1,200 different road tunnels, has a world reputation for getting its projects done much faster, and at lower cost, than other jurisdictions — and that includes British Columbia.
Norway is a country of mountains, evergreen trees and ocean inlets, much like the west coast of Canada. The populations of B.C. and Norway are identical, at 5.6 million each.
(Incognito)
