Immigration inflation. “Heartless Heather”. Odessa attacked. David Akin's Roundup

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Jul 18 2023

Immigration inflation. “Heartless Heather”. Odessa attacked.

Jul 18, 2023

David Akin's Roundup

Clippings of #cdnpoli, #media, and #tech content aimed at those with an interest in Canadian politics and policy. And sometimes Canadian postage stamps.

Canada

Rents dwarf minimum wage in every province. Rising interest rates aren’t helping

Minimum wage workers are increasingly unable to make ends meet in Canada's rental markets, a new report shows, a struggle only made worse by pressure from higher interest rates. [Global]

Immigration to Canada: BMO Sees Trudeau Policy Boosting Inflation in Short Term

Canada’s strong immigration-driven population growth is boosting consumption and housing costs, making inflation stickier — at least in the short term. [Bloomberg]

‘Significant progress’ in inference inquiry talks but no call yet: minister

Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he isn't ready to announce a decision on whether or not there will be a foreign interference inquiry, but there is progress. [Global]

From the provinces

Indigenous leaders say they do not accept premier's comments on landfill search

Indigenous leaders are "dispelling the narrative" a search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two First Nations women is unsafe after Manitoba's premier refused to fund the search due to health and safety risks. [CP]

Bonnie Crombie accuses Nate Erskine-Smith of ageism

The first major skirmish of the Ontario Liberal leadership race has erupted with front-runner Bonnie Crombie accusing rival Nate Erskine-Smith of ageism. [TorStar]

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Elsewhere

Russia targets key Ukraine Black Sea port of Odesa, a day after halting grain export deal

Ukrainian forces have shot down 25 exploding drones and six cruise missiles from a pre-dawn Russian attack on the port of Odesa. [AP]

Spain's early election could put the far right in power for the first time since Franco

A general election this Sunday could make Spain the latest European Union member to swing to the right. [AP]

The World Bank Is Failing on Climate Change

Scott M. Moore: Climate change already imperils communities around the world, especially in lower-income developing countries. As such, the fight against climate change can and should become the World Bank’s new reason for being. Although many leaders, including some in the Biden administration, agree in principle with this reorientation, making climate change the World Bank’s new, overarching priority will entail difficult tradeoffs that few policymakers have begun to grapple with. [Foreign Policy]

‘Millions’ of sensitive US military emails were reportedly sent to Mali due to a typo

Emails have been mistakenly routed to Mali for over a decade. [The Verge]

Artificial Intelligence: High-level Briefing

[Tuesday's Security Council] meeting is part of the broader campaign by the UK to bring more attention to the challenges posed by the rapid development of AI. On 29 March, the UK published a white paper with recommendations for the AI industry, outlining a holistic approach for regulating the use of AI. [Security Council Report]

Media

Corus joins growing Canadian boycott of Meta over news blocking

Corus Entertainment is the latest Canadian media company to boycott advertising on Meta platforms, like Facebook, over the company saying it will block Canadian news links. [Global]

Digital publication fights CRA finding that it does not produce 'original news'

A digital publication is asking the Federal Court to review a decision by the Canada Revenue Agency that prevents it from accessing incentives for journalism. [CP]

Things you need to know about Threads - Meta’s Twitter rival

While the platform may not look like what you’d typically expect from Facebook or Instagram, with all the bells and whistles, the app’s current status has been communicated as the starting point – simple, focused on conversation, a 500 character limit, with the ability to attach videos or photos as you’d expect, but leaves something to be desired. The biggest complaint so far appears to be the lack of a chronological, following-only feed, with users stuck looking at whatever content the Threads algorithm pushes their way. [Earnscliffe Strategies]

“Minimal” and “Biased”: An Intersectional Analysis of Female Candidates’ Perceptions of Their Local News Coverage

...participants perceived bias in their news coverage based on an identity intersecting with their gender, partisan affiliation, or both. Their experiences offered two potential ways forward for local news to reattain relevancy in local elections in countries of local news declines: through accountability journalism, and by diversifying staff to meet the needs of a diversifying electoral slate of candidates. [Intl Journal of Press/Politics]