Canadian Press Archives - Page 20 of 1451

EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is facing calls to cancel a speaking appearance with conservative media personality Ben Shapiro at a fundraiser for Florida-based PragerU.

PragerU, a conservative content company, describes itself as an educational media platform devoted to furthering U.S. values.

Its content, which a number of U.S. states have approved for use in schools, has been criticized for downplaying the harms of slavery and climate change while distorting historic events.

Shapiro has referred to Canada as the 51st state of the U.S.

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi says it would be “despicable” for the United Conservative Party premier to speak at the March 27 fundraiser and is calling on her to cancel.

Smith’s office says the event gives her an opportunity to share Canada’s message with an influential U.S. audience as the trade war between the two countries continues.

Nenshi also says Smith’s trip to Florida, at a time when many Canadians are trying to keep their money in the economy of their home country, sends the wrong message to Albertans.

Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press

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OTTAWA — The Conservative candidate for a northern Ontario riding has dropped out just weeks ahead of an expected election, citing issues with the local electoral district board.

Cassidy Villeneuve, who was nominated to run for the Tories in Nipissing-Timiskaming, says in a letter posted to social media that she’s been working tirelessly on the campaign for the past 18 months.

Villeneuve says the challenges in politics are magnified for women and that she received pushback from some members of the local Conservative association.

In her statement, she says that she fought for “greater transparency and accountability” and she still thinks the Conservatives are the best choice for Canada’s future.

Her bio on the Conservative website says Villeneuve was raised in North Bay and is the chief of staff to MP Raquel Dancho.

The riding has been a Liberal stronghold for years and is currently held by former House Speaker Anthony Rota, who is not running in the next election.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2025.

Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press

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NEW YORK (AP) — Michelle Obama and her brother, Craig Robinson, will host a new weekly podcast series starting this month featuring a special guest pulled from the world of entertainment, sports, health and business.

“IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson” will address “everyday questions shaping our lives, relationships and the world around us,” according to a press release. IMO is slang for “in my opinion.”

Some of the guests slated to speak to the former first lady and Robinson, the executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, include the actors Issa Rae and Keke Palmer and psychologist Dr. Orna Guralnik.

Other guests include filmmakers Seth and Lauren Rogan; soccer star Abby Wambach; authors Jay Shetty, Glennon Doyle and Logan Ury; editor Elaine Welteroth; radio personality Angie Martinez; media mogul Tyler Perry; actor Tracee Ellis Ross; husband-and-wife athlete and actor Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union; and Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky.

The first two episodes — the first is an introductory one and the second features Rae — will premiere on March 12. New episodes will be released weekly and will be available on all audio platforms and YouTube.

“With everything going on in the world, we’re all looking for answers and people to turn to,” Obama said in a statement. “There is no single way to deal with the challenges we may be facing — whether it’s family, faith, or our personal relationships — but taking the time to open up and talk about these issues can provide hope.”

Obama has had two other podcasts — “The Michelle Obama Podcast” in 2020 and another in 2023, “The Light We Carry.” Her husband, Barack Obama, offered a series of conversations about American life between him and Bruce Springsteen.

The new podcast is a production of Higher Ground, the media company founded in 2018 by the former president and first lady.

Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press

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REGINA — The Saskatchewan government has signed a $16-million deal with Ottawa to expand school food programs.

The agreement will see the federal government invest the money over three years.

Ottawa says the initiative expands on Saskatchewan’s food program, allowing more students to benefit.

It says families in the province with two children are expected to save an average $800 a year on grocery bills.

School divisions and community organizations are to deliver the program and base it off need and capacity.

Ottawa says it wants to make sure children most affected by food insecurity have access to consistent and nutritious meals.

“When kids are hungry, they can’t focus — it’s that simple,” federal Families, Children and Social Development Minister Jenna Sudds said in a statement.

“Filling their bellies with nutritious food will set them up for success. It also helps parents save hundreds on groceries. It’s a game changer for everyone.”

Saskatchewan Education Minister Everett Hindley said basic nutrition helps students perform better.

“This funding will make a difference and allow us to continue to support the well-being of children and families who need it most across our growing province,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2025.

Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press

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The Trump administration has unveiled an overhauled cellphone app once used to let migrants apply for asylum, turning it into a system that allows people living illegally in the U.S. to say they want to leave the country voluntarily.

The renamed app, announced Monday and now called CBP Home, is part of the administration’s campaign to encourage “self-deportations, ” touted as an easy and cost-effective way to nudge along President Donald Trump’s push to deport millions of immigrants without legal status.

“The app provides illegal aliens in the United States with a straightforward way to declare their intent to voluntarily depart, offering them the chance to leave before facing harsher consequences,” Pete Flores, the acting commissioner for U.S Customs and Border Protection, said in a statement.

Moments after Trump took office, the earlier version of the app, CBP One, stopped allowing migrants to apply for asylum, and tens of thousands of border appointments were cancelled.

More than 900,000 people were allowed in the country on immigration parole under CBP One, generally for two years, starting in January 2023.

The Trump administration has repeatedly urged migrants in the country illegally to leave.

“The CBP Home app gives aliens the option to leave now and self deport, so they may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on the social platform X. “If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return.”

Some people living in the U.S. illegally chose to leave even before Trump’s inauguration, though it’s unclear how many.

Associated Press, The Associated Press

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A nonprofit that was awarded nearly $7 billion by the Biden administration to finance clean energy and climate-friendly projects has sued President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency, accusing it of improperly freezing a legally awarded grant.

Climate United Fund, a coalition of three nonprofit groups, demanded access to a Citibank account it received through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a program created in 2022 by the bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act and more commonly known as the green bank. The freeze threatens its ability to issue loans and even pay employees, he group said.

“The combined actions of Citibank and EPA effectively nullify a congressionally mandated and funded program,” Climate United wrote in a Monday court filing.

Last April, then-Vice President Kamala Harris announced that EPA had selected eight groups, including Maryland-based Climate United, to receive $20 billion to finance tens of thousands of projects to fight climate change and promote environmental justice. The money was formally awarded in August.

While favored by congressional Democrats, the green bank drew immediate criticism from Republicans, who routinely denounced it as an unaccountable “slush fund.” Former EPA Administrator Michael Regan sharply disputed that claim.

The bank was quickly targeted by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who was confirmed to the role in late January. In a video posted on X, Zeldin said the EPA would revoke contracts for the still-emerging program. Zeldin cited a conservative journalist’s undercover video made late last year that showed a former EPA employee saying the agency was throwing “gold bars off the Titanic” – presumably a reference to spending before the start of Trump’s second term.

Zeldin has repeatedly used the term “gold bars” to accuse the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund’s recipients of misconduct, waste and possible fraud.

According to the lawsuit filed in federal court, Citibank cut off access to Climate United’s bank account on February 18 — an action the bank did not explain for weeks.

The cutoff took place as Zeldin made multiple public appearances accusing Climate United and other groups of misconduct, eventually announcing that the funds were frozen, according to the lawsuit. Climate United said the EPA has refused to meet with the group.

Several Democratic lawmakers slammed Zeldin’s attacks on the green bank.

“The Trump administration’s malicious and unfounded attacks on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund have resulted in a sham investigation and unsubstantiated funding freeze,” Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey and Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell said in a statement. The three Democrats pushed for creation of the green bank.

Citibank said it was reviewing the lawsuit.

“As we’ve said previously, Citi has been working with the federal government in its efforts to address government officials’ concerns regarding this federal grant program,” the bank said in a statement Monday. “Our role as financial agent does not involve any discretion over which organizations receive grant funds. Citi will of course comply with any judicial decision.”

The EPA declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

In its court filing, Climate United pointed to the resignation of a former prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Washington office after refusing demands from top Trump administration officials to freeze the group’s assets.

Zeldin raised questions in a letter to the agency’s watchdog about the EPA’s use of Citibank to hold the money, a structure that allowed the eight entities to be used as “pass throughs” for eventual grant recipients. The process undermined transparency, Zeldin alleged.

He also questioned the qualifications of some of the entities overseeing the grants and said some were affiliated with the Biden administration or Democratic politics, including Stacey Abrams, a former Democratic nominee for Georgia governor. Trump singled out Abrams over her ties to the green bank in his address to Congress last week.

In a letter to EPA officials on March 4, Climate United disputed Zeldin’s allegations. The group’s lengthy application material is publicly available and the EPA used a rigorous selection process, Climate United said, adding that its spending is transparent.

In addition to Climate United, the new fund has awarded money to other nonprofits, including the Coalition for Green Capital, Power Forward Communities, Opportunity Finance Network, Inclusiv and the Justice Climate Fund. Those organizations have partnered with a range of groups, including Rewiring America, Habitat for Humanity and the Community Preservation Corporation.

The EPA’s former inspector general had urged more oversight of the green-bank program.

“The rapid implementation of the program, combined with the relatively narrow window of availability for such a significant amount of funding, may lead the EPA to expend the funds without fully establishing the internal controls that mitigate the risk of fraud, waste, and abuse,” then-inspector general Sean O’Donnell told Congress in 2023.

Trump fired O’Donnell in January, along with more than a dozen other inspectors general.

Acting Inspector General Nicole Murley has said she is looking into the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

Phillis reported from St. Louis.

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The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

Michael Phillis And Matthew Daly, The Associated Press

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VICTORIA — A group of three former B.C. Conservative legislators have announced they will sit as Independents in the provincial legislature.

Dallas Brodie was kicked out of the party on Friday over her comments about residential schools, and Jordan Kealy and Tara Armstrong left the party saying Leader John Rustad had abandoned the truth.

Armstrong told reporters outside the legislature today that Rustad “caved to the woke liberals who have infiltrated the party.”

She says no one was surprised when New Democrat Premier David Eby attacked Dallas Brody for telling the truth about Kamloops, but Rustad’s “cowardly decision stabbed her in the back revealed just how corrupt he has become.”

More coming.

The Canadian Press

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MONTREAL — The Quebec government is creating a committee to make recommendations on how to strengthen secularism in the province.

Announced this morning, the committee will study whether Quebec’s secularism law, Bill 21, is being respected.

The government says it will also document alleged religious infiltration of Quebec institutions.

The committee will analyze measures in place elsewhere in the world to reinforce state secularism, and will deliver a report by Aug. 20.

Quebec has already announced it plans to table new legislation to strengthen the province’s secularism rules, which ban public employees like teachers and police officers from wearing religious symbols on the job.

The government has suggested it may extend the ban on religious symbols to school staff other than teachers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2025.

The Canadian Press

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TORONTO — Ontario’s surcharge of 25 per cent on electricity exported to the United States goes into effect today, and the government says it could raise that amount even higher in response to further American escalation.

Premier Doug Ford has announced the price increase on the electricity the province sends to 1.5 million homes in three U.S. states as one of Ontario’s retaliatory measures against tariffs imposed on Canadian goods by President Donald Trump.

Ontario estimates that the surcharge will generate $300,000 to $400,000 in revenue for the province each day.

The province has also taken American alcohol off Liquor Control Board of Ontario shelves and banned U.S. companies from government procurement contracts, in addition to the federal government’s initial round of retaliatory tariffs on $30 billion worth of American goods.

Ontario says it could increase or decrease the electricity surcharge amount at any time in response to actions by the U.S. government.

The premier has also threatened to shut off power completely to Minnesota, New York and Michigan if the tariffs remain.

The electricity surcharge is being imposed by a directive from Energy Minister Stephen Lecce to the Independent Electricity System Operator, which will require any generator selling electricity to the U.S. to add what’s being called a Tariff Response Charge.

The IESO will then collect the money generated by the surcharge on behalf of the government on a monthly basis.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2025.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press

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President Donald Trump is dismissing business concerns over the uncertainty caused by his planned tariffs on a range of American trading partners and the prospect of higher prices and isn’t ruling out the possibility of a recession this year.

Also, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday the Trump administration had finished its six-week purge of programs of the six-decade-old U.S. Agency for International Development, and said he would move the 18% of aid and development programs that survived under the State Department.

Here’s the latest:

China learned from Trump’s first trade war and changed its tactics when tariffs came again

The leaders of both Canada and Mexico got on the phone with Trump this past week to seek solutions after he slapped tariffs on their countries, but China’s president appears unlikely to make a similar call soon.

Beijing, which unlike America’s close partners and neighbors has been locked in a trade and tech war with the U.S. for years, is taking a different approach to Trump in his second term, making it clear that any negotiations should be conducted on equal footing.

China’s leaders say they are open to talks, but they also made preparations for the higher U.S. tariffs, which have risen 20% since Trump took office seven weeks ago. Intent on not being caught off guard as they were during Trump’s first term, the Chinese were ready with retaliatory measures — imposing their own taxes this past week on key U.S. farm imports and more.

After the U.S. this past week imposed another 10% tariff, on top of the 10% imposed on Feb. 4, the Chinese foreign ministry uttered its sharpest retort yet: “If war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end.”

Musk and DOGE try to slash government by cutting out those who answer to voters

For decades, conservatives in Congress have talked about the need to cut government deeply, but they have always pulled back from mandating specific reductions, fearful of voter backlash.

Now, DOGE is trying to do exactly that.

The dynamic of cutting government while also cutting out those who answer to voters has alarmed even some fiscal conservatives who have long pushed for Congress to reduce spending through the means laid out in the Constitution: a system of checks and balances that includes lawmakers elected across the country working with the president.

“Some members of the Trump administration got frustrated that Congress won’t cut spending and decided to go around them,” said Jessica Reidl of the conservative think tank The Manhattan Institute. Now, she said, “no one who has to face voters again is determining spending levels.”

Trump downplays business concerns about uncertainty from his tariffs and prospect of higher prices

Trump is dismissing business concerns over the uncertainty caused by his planned tariffs on a range of American trading partners and the prospect of higher prices, and isn’t ruling out the possibility of a recession this year.

After imposing and then quickly pausing 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada that sent markets tumbling over concerns of a trade war, Trump said his plans for broader “reciprocal” tariffs will go into effect April 2, raising them to match what other countries assess.

Asked about the Atlanta Fed’s warning of an economic contraction in the first quarter of the year, Trump seemingly acknowledged that his plans could affect U.S. growth. Still, he claimed, it would ultimately be “great for us.”

Though Trump’s early implementation of tariffs has been inconsistent — with him imposing them, then pulling many back — he has been steadfast in endorsing the idea of 21st century protectionism. There have even been suggestions that higher import tariffs on the country’s foreign trading partners could eventually replace the federal income tax.

Trump loves the Gilded Age and its tariffs. It was a great time for the rich but not for the many

In Trump’s idealized framing, the United States was at its zenith in the Gilded Age, a time of rapid population growth and transformation from an agricultural economy toward a sprawling industrial system.

The desire to recreate that era is fueled by Trump’s fondness for tariffs and his admiration for the nation’s 25th president, William McKinley.

Experts on the era say Trump is idealizing a time rife with government and business corruption, social turmoil and inequality. They argue he’s also dramatically overestimating the role tariffs played in stimulating an economy that grew mostly due to factors other than the U.S. raising taxes on imported goods.

And Gilded Age policies, they maintain, have virtually nothing to do with how trade works in a globalized, modern economy.

▶ Read more about Trump and the Gilded Age

The Associated Press