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Category: Canada (Page 2 of 6)

Favourite luxury hotels in Canada

2023-07-17 /

Travel+Leisure released their list of their readers’ favourite city hotels in Canada. Montreal’s Hotel Nelliganl and Hôtel Place D’Armes top the list among the luxury travellers.

  1. Hotel Nelligan — Montreal, Quebec
  2. Hôtel Place D’Armes — Montreal, QC
  3. Auberge Saint-Antoine — Quebec City, QC
  4. The Ritz-Carlton — Toronto, Ontario
  5. Rosewood Hotel Georgia — Vancouver, British Columbia
  6. Pan Pacific Vancouver — Vancouver, BC
  7. Magnolia Hotel & Spa — Victoria, BC
  8. Fairmont Pacific Rim — Vancouver, BC
  9. Four Seasons — Montreal, QC
  10. JW Marriott Parq — Vancouver, BC

Source » Travel+Leisure

Increasing monopoly power poses a threat to Canada’s post-pandemic economic recovery

2023-07-16 /

The Conversation »

The grocery industry is dominated by five major players — Loblaws, Metro, Empire (the owner of Sobeys), Walmart and Costco. These five companies account for over three-quarters of all food sales in Canada.

The Bureau recommended four policies to encourage competition in the sector. These include establishing a grocery innovation strategy, encouraging new independent and international players, introducing legislation for consistent unit pricing and limiting property controls.

Hamilton bus ridership rebounding

2023-07-15 /

Hamilton Spectator »

Hamilton transit ridership is close to pre-pandemic levels for the first time since COVID-19 emptied HSR buses three years ago.

More than 1.5 million riders hopped on an HSR bus last month — or about 94 per cent of the pre-pandemic ridership recorded in June of 2019, which is considered the city’s “benchmark” year before COVID.

Canada’s safest cities

2023-07-15 /

A new report by Rentol.ca calculates that Ontario has some of the safest urban areas in the entire country, with Barrie securing the top spot. In fact, eight Ontario cities made up the top ten, according to the report.

The analysis looked at a number of different factors in order to compile the ranking, including the number of citizens per police officer, crime severity, the amount of violent and non-violent crimes, and the crime-solving rate.

Saint John, New Brunswick was the highest ranking city outside of Ontario, ranking in 5th overall.

Lethbridge, Alberta was the only other city outside of Ontario to rank in the top 10.  Alberta’s next safest cities, were Calgary in 20th, followed by Edmonton in 21st overall.

The reviewers concluded that while Québec City exhibits the lowest crime rate, it scored lower as “a significant portion of the crimes committed within the area are of a violent nature, and the ratio of its police force to the area’s population remains relatively small. Therefore, when compared to Lethbridge, which possesses the highest crime index, Québec City appears less secure.”

While Lethbridge has the highest crime rate among all Canadian metropolitan areas, “the majority of the offenses perpetrated are classified as non-violent.” The report goes on to state that, “Lethbridge maintains a sufficient number of police officers to ensure a high rate of crime detection.”

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Alberta oil refinery operating for 22 years without environmental approval

2023-07-14 /

An oil refinery in northern Alberta that started processing oil 22 years ago is facing an enforcement order for operating without regulatory approval.

CBC »

The Enerchem plant was never granted approval under Alberta’s Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act (EPEA), according to the order issued June 20.

The order states that no approval “has been issued to any person for the construction, operation and reclamation of the plant,” in contravention of the act.

Under the conditions set out in the order, the oil fractionation plant, 250 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, can continue operating while the owner, Calgary-based AltaGas, seeks approval from the province.

Experts in environmental law say the infraction is troubling evidence of cracks in Alberta’s complex regulatory system and undermines its approvals process.

Pollution » Elevated levels of cancer-causing compounds found in Steeltown’s air

2023-07-14 /

Air monitors installed on street poles across the city of Hamilton found concentrations of benzo(a)pyrene higher or much higher than health guideline recommendations. Long-term exposure to BaP can significantly increase cancer risk.

Residents of Hamilton, Ontario could be inhaling the BaP equivalent a couple of cigarettes per week, every week.

Hamilton Spectator »

The largest air-monitoring experiment in city history has found unhealthy levels of a cancer-linked contaminant across Hamilton — including in neighbourhoods kilometres away from polluting bayfront industries.

The results suggest coal-fired steelmaking pollutants like benzo(a)pyrene travel far beyond the lower city and pose “an even greater (health) impact than we may have expected,” said Matthew Adams, an urban air-quality expert who is co-ordinating the study alongside city staff.

A promised cut in coal use by Hamilton’s biggest steelmaker should eventually help clear the air — but not before 2028.

 

The Canadian Press via National Observer »

A University of Toronto professor says residents of Hamilton, Ont., could be inhaling the chemical equivalent of one or two cigarettes per week — at minimum — due to elevated levels of a cancer-causing compound in the air.

Elon demonstrably does not care who he hurts » B.C. government hit tweet limit amid wildfire evacuations

2023-07-14 /

This is yet another argument to keep AM Radio alive and vibrant. In times of emergency, they are ubiquitous, signals can travel great distances, they don’t need an internet connection, and best of all their signals are not controlled by self-serving, far-right, maniacal personalities.

Vancouver is Awesome »

A B.C. government Twitter account updating residents about driving conditions reached its tweet limit on a weekend it was sharing information about wildfire evacuations.

The incident, which occurred earlier this month, prompted the Ministry of Transportation’s DriveBC account to issue a warning.

“HEADS UP – As many others have this weekend, @DriveBC on Twitter and its sub accounts have exceeded the temporarily imposed post rate limit,” tweeted the ministry account July 2.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper vows to strengthen ties between authoritarian governments

2023-07-12 /

After his defeat in Canada’s 2015 federal election, and since 2018, Stephen Harper has chaired the Munich, Germany-based, far-right International Democrat Union.

The IDU’s membership consists of 84 full and associate members from 65 countries, including the Conservative Party of Canada, the US Republican Party (GOP), the UK’s Conservative and Unionist Party (Tories), the Austrian People’s Party, Israel’s Likud Party, Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the New Zealand National Party, India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Orbán’s Fidesz Party in Hungary, and others.

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Cogeco and Quebecor to pull its ads from Meta’s Facebook & Instagram

2023-07-11 /

Reuters »

Quebecor said on Wednesday it will pull its ads from Facebook and Instagram, following Meta Platforms’ (META.O) decision to stop access to news on the platforms in Canada over a law requiring payments to local news publishers.

Canada’s media industry has called for tighter regulation of internet giants to allow news businesses to recoup financial losses suffered in the years that Facebook and Google gained a greater share of the online advertising market.

Related » Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press | Gizmodo | Bloomberg |

Wilfrid Laurier, the seventh Prime Minister of Canada

2023-07-11 /

127 days ago, on 11 July 1896, Sir Wilfrid Laurier was sworn as the seventh prime minister of Canada, and the first French-Canadian prime minister. The McGill University educated lawyer is recognized as one of the greatest leaders Canada has ever enjoyed. Laurier’s unprecedented and unsurpassed tenure of 15 consecutive years as prime minister – from 1896 to 1911 – was marked by his sincere devotion to maintaining neutrality between English and French-speaking Canadians.

 

Canada and California absolutely must call Google’s and Facebook’s bluff on news

2023-07-06 /

Brian Merchant, LA Times »

California and Canada must absolutely not give in to the tech giants’ tantrum. This is a bluff, and not a particularly convincing one. For the sake of the beleaguered news industries in both places (yes, including this media outlet), the Canadian and Californian governments must absolutely call it.

For assurance, we should look to Australia, where a like-minded bill went into law in 2021, even after Google and Facebook made the same exact threats. Facebook did initially restrict access to news, but the ploy lasted barely a week before it backfired wildly, and Facebook agreed to comply, albeit after extracting some concessions.

That bill has already restored tens of millions of dollars in revenue to Australia’s troubled newsrooms, and, while far from perfect, has transformed the media environment dramatically.

Though he lacks Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s showmanship, New Brunswick’s Blaine Higgs has a hard-line conservative record to make right-wing ideologues giddy

2023-07-04 /

The Conversation »

However, Higgs has gone further than his Conservative counterparts in the region. In doing so, he has burned many bridges.

His relationship with the health-care sector is fraught. Emergency rooms have overflowed at times with residents dying in waiting rooms.

When it was reported a woman was unable to get access to a rape kit, Higgs blamed the nurses for “showing a lack of compassion.” He has also limited abortion access within the province.

Higgs has an equally contentious relationship with Indigenous Peoples. In 2021, New Brunswick directed government employees to halt territorial acknowledgements because the province is involved in a series of legal actions and land claims initiated by First Nations.

The province also tore up tax-sharing agreements with the Wolastoqey Nation, which Higgs argued were “unfair.”

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