Canada

100 grams lmao

As one southern Alberta community welcomes the crackdown on border security unveiled Thursday by Premier Danielle Smith, some experts question the need for the investment.

Randy Bullock is the reeve of Cardston County, which sits on the 298-kilometre border Alberta shares with Montana. He said a two-kilometre-deep border zone that will be policed by the province's new Interdiction Patrol Team (IPT) is an important announcement.

"We need to be proactive and have safe measures in place to protect from that illegal activity," said Bullock, who added that the mayors of the communities of Cardston and Magrath are in agreement.

But even as Bullock supports the effort, he admits that incidents of trafficking illicit drugs, weapons or people across the border isn't something he's familiar with in his community.

In over 30 years of practice, Dr. Errol Billinkoff rarely saw a man without kids come into his Winnipeg clinic to get a vasectomy. But since the pandemic began, he says it's become an almost daily occurrence.

And he's not alone.

"At first, I thought I was the only one who was noticing this," Billinkoff, who brought a no-scalpel vasectomy procedure to Winnipeg in the early 1990s, told CBC News in a November interview.

"But I am part of an international chat group where doctors who do vasectomies participate and the topic came up, and it's like everybody notices it."

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says using the notwithstanding clause to shield her government's transgender health restrictions is on the table as a "last resort."

A provincial law will ban doctors from providing gender-affirming treatment such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy for those under 16. A surgical prohibition already in effect will halt gender-affirming "top" surgeries for minors.

Speaking on her radio call-in show this weekend, Smith said she is willing to invoke the notwithstanding clause, a measure that allows governments to override certain Charter rights for up to five years.

"Because I feel so strongly about protecting kids' right to preserve their fertility until they're adults, we would, as a last resort, have to use the notwithstanding clause."

Rob Eedson of Ottawa figured he'd spring for a small upgrade when he purchased Air Canada tickets for a week-long family trip to San Diego in October.

He bought the tickets online and paid extra for three "economy flex" fares — for himself, his wife and four-year-old son — because they included one checked bag per passenger on the outbound and return flights.

The tickets were on a "codeshare" flight — meaning an airline is selling seats operated by a different carrier. In this case, Air Canada sold the tickets but the Eedsons were travelling on United Airlines.

When they showed up at the United check-in counter, an agent insisted on charging for luggage — again — $40 per bag, despite Eedson showing him an Air Canada receipt for three checked bags.

On their return flights, a United agent charged the family for baggage again.

Even before flying home, Eedson submitted a claim to Air Canada to be reimbursed for the extra luggage costs, but it was denied.

But that response violates baggage rules, laid down by the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), for flights to and from Canada when passengers have a ticket that involves more than one airline.

An Air Canada spokesperson declined to answer most of Go Public's questions about Eedson's case, but wrote that the airline's policy is "to abide by all applicable laws and regulations."

On Thursday, Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault announced Canada will aim to cut 45 to 50 per cent of emissions from 2005 levels by 2035. The new target is late — it was required to be set by Dec. 1 under the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act — and is expected to be formally submitted to the United Nations as Canada’s official commitment early next year.

The 2035 target is the smallest possible increase, given Canada’s current target is a 40 to 45 per cent reduction by 2030. Practically, that means if Canada were to meet its 2030 targets, it would have to do little else to hit its 2035 objective.

Right now, our political class is succumbing to pressure from oil- and gas-backed disinformation campaigns and some of the key political lackeys of that industry, which include President [Donald] Trump,” Caroline Brouillette, executive director of Climate Action Network Canada, said. “As a result, we're seeing a quite consternating race to the bottom when it comes to climate action.”

The 45 to 50 per cent emission reduction target is a far cry from Canada’s fair share of global climate action efforts, according to an analysis published earlier this year by Climate Action Network Canada. The country’s fair share would be an 80 per cent reduction from 2005 levels by 2035 — a target the organization landed on by taking into account what science requires to meet the Paris Agreement’s goal of holding warming to 1.5 C above pre-industrial temperatures.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/34926056

Canada has implemented a new tax savings from December to February for some things like taxable groceries, crafts, and gaming physical media. I wanted to get a new Xbox controller and found the best price at Walmart for $55 a week ago. The tax holiday starts today and I now see that the $55 has increased to $62 and change, which is about how much tax I should be saving. Great to see this thinly veiled attempt to help Canadians ( /s - win votes) is just going to be extra profit in the corporations' pockets.

Revel in the joy of our grand tax holiday! There will be no sales tax on thousands of items, to boost your solstice spending power! Video games, so long as you don't buy them the normal way. Some beverages, depending on size and ingredients. Pencil crayons, if they're bought as part of a package that contains blue ones. What spectacular benevolence!

To Florida to be specific.

Happy Friday!

Animal shelters across the country are still dealing with the aftermath of ‘pandemic pets’ – animals that were purchased during the pandemic.