Does Canada need more Mike Myers?
Mike Myers ignited a movement on Saturday Night Live with his 'elbows up' rallying cry in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump's 51st-state threats. In conversation with The National, the actor and comedian tells CBC's Paul Hunter what pushed him to that moment, revealing a deep gratitude for what Canada has given him.
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CTV News
23 minutes ago
- CTV News
Canadian flags selling fast in Montreal for July 1
With Canada Day approaching, Montrealers are snapping up flags and showing renewed national pride. Across the country, many people will be showing their Canadian colours on July 1, and it seems the maple leaf has been flying high since January for many Montrealers. At Le Flag Shop in Cote-St-Paul, owner Marc-Andre Bazergui said he's seen an increase in Canadian flag sales since the beginning of the year and a renewed pride for Canada Day amid the recent U.S. tension. 'A big rise in flag sales,' he said. 'People flying their flags in Quebec, the Canadian flag. It's always been a dilemma. Do I do I fly the Canadian flag? Fly the Quebec flag? So with everything happening in the South, the Canadian flag has kind of taken a new position.' Le Flag Shop customer Philippe Blais said buying and flying Canadian flags is his way to show unity. 'When they started talking about the tariffs and the whole bit, it was just very encouraging to see how the Canadians held together, how they basically mobilized in certain ways,' he said. 'How the premiers from the different provinces decided to work together.' One shopper came in to buy the Indigenous Canadian flag designed by West Coast Kwakwaka'wakw artist James Curtis Wilson. 'It's nice to have a flag that represents all Canadians, but also especially the people who have been the custodians of this land for a very long time, much longer than anyone in my family has ever been,' the shopper said. Curtis Wilson designed flag Kwakwaka'wakw artist Curtis Wilson designed an Indigenous themed flag, which is selling fast. (Christine Long/CTV News) In Pointe-Claire, Karen Robson and neighbour Dan Gelinas have been flying the flag since January. 'After a certain loud-mouthed, tiny, tiny-handed person started to threaten our sovereignty, so I thought, no, I'm not having it,' said Robson. 'First, they went up when Trump was saying that we should become the 51st state and we said, 'no way.'' said Gelinas. 'So we hung our Canadian flags up, and then we took them down, and now for July 1st, they're back up.' Canadians aren't usually known to be flag-waving patriots, yet, this year, there seemed to be renewed pride in this country. 'We're selling a lot of flags. I'm actually a little bit low on stock right now,' said Bazergui. All of his stock is made in Canada, of course.
Globe and Mail
37 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
U.S. Senate's long day turns to night as Republicans work to shore up support on Trump's big bill
The Senate's long day of voting churned into a long Monday night, with Republican leaders grasping for ways to shore up support for President Donald Trump's big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts while fending off proposed amendments from Democrats who oppose the package and are trying to defeat it. The outcome was not yet in sight. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota acknowledged the Republicans are 'figuring out how to get to the end game.' And House Speaker Mike Johnson signaled the potential problems the Senate package could face when it is eventually sent back to his chamber for a final round of voting, which was expected later this week, ahead of Trump's Fourth of July deadline. 'I have prevailed upon my Senate colleagues to please, please, please keep it as close to the House product as possible,' said Johnson, the Louisiana Republican, as he left the Capitol around dinnertime. House Republicans had already passed their version last month. U.S. Republicans agree to drop retaliatory tax from Trump's budget bill, citing G7 agreement It's a pivotal moment for the Republicans, who have control of Congress and are racing to wrap up work with just days to go before Trump's holiday deadline Friday. The 940-page 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act,' as it's formally titled, has consumed Congress as its shared priority with the president. The GOP leaders have no room to spare, with narrow majorities in both chambers. Thune can lose no more than three Republican senators, and already two – Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who warns people will lose access to Medicaid health care, and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who opposes raising the debt limit – have indicated opposition. Tillis abruptly announced over the weekend he would not seek reelection after Trump threatened to campaign against him. Attention quickly turned to key senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, who have also raised concerns about health care cuts, but also a loose coalition of four conservative GOP senators pushing for even steeper reductions. And on social media, billionaire Elon Musk was again lashing out at Republicans as 'the PORKY PIG PARTY!!' for including a provision that would raise the nation's debt limit by $5 trillion, which is needed to allow continued borrowing to pay the bills. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said his side was working to show 'how awful this is.' 'Republicans are in shambles because they know the bill is so unpopular,' Schumer said as he walked the halls. The Democrats have proposed dozens of amendments in what's called a vote-a-rama, though most were expected to fail. A new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill became law. The CBO said the package would increase the deficit by nearly $3.3 trillion over the decade. The White House said it was counting on Republican lawmakers to 'get the job done.' 'Republicans need to stay tough and unified during the home stretch,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. Few Republicans appear fully satisfied as the final package emerges, in either the House or Senate. Tillis said it is a betrayal of the president's promises not to kick people off health care, especially if rural hospitals close. Collins has proposed bolstering the $25 billion proposed rural hospital fund to $50 billion, and Murkowski was trying to secure provisions to spare people in her state from some health care and food stamp cuts while also working to beef up federal reimbursements to Alaska's hospitals. They have not said how they would vote for the final package. At the same time, conservative Senate Republicans – Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming – have proposed steeper health care cuts and filed into Thune's office for a near-midnight meeting. As the first few Senate amendments came up Monday – to strike parts of the bill that would limit Medicaid funds to rural hospitals or shift the costs of food stamp benefits to the states – some were winning support from a few Republicans, though none passed. Sen. Mike Crapo, the GOP chairman of the Finance Committee, dismissed the dire predictions of health care cuts as Democrats trafficking in what he called the 'politics of fear.' Explainer: What's in Trump's big budget bill? From cuts to taxes and Medicaid, here's what to know All told, the Senate bill includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, according to the latest CBO analysis, making permanent Trump's 2017 rates, which would expire at the end of the year if Congress fails to act, while adding the new ones he campaigned on, including no taxes on tips. The Senate package would roll back billions of dollars in green energy tax credits, which Democrats warn will wipe out wind and solar investments nationwide. It would impose $1.2 trillion in cuts, largely to Medicaid and food stamps, by imposing work requirements on able-bodied people, including some parents and older Americans, making sign-up eligibility more stringent and changing federal reimbursements to states. Additionally, the bill would provide a $350 billion infusion for border and national security, including for deportations, some of it paid for with new fees charged to immigrants. Unable to stop the march toward passage, the Democrats as the minority party in Congress are using the tools at their disposal to delay and drag out the process. Democrats forced a full reading of the text, which took 16 hours, and they have a stream of amendments. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, raised particular concern at the start of debate late Sunday about the accounting method being used by the Republicans, which says the tax breaks from Trump's first term are now 'current policy' and the cost of extending them should not be counted toward deficits. She said that kind of 'magic math' won't fly with Americans trying to balance their own household books.
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Alberta government will appoint 'action team' to address classroom aggression
Alberta's education minister will be assembling a group of superintendents, teachers and school trustees to study how to best tackle what the government says is a rising incidence of aggression in classrooms. Education and Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides announced an "aggression and complexity in schools action team" in Calgary on Monday, promising to consider some of the team's recommendations by fall. "Alberta's government believes that every student and every staff member deserves to feel safe, respected and supported at school, and we're taking concrete steps here today to make sure that that happens," Nicolaides said. The panel comes as Alberta's 51,000 public, Catholic and francophone school teachers belonging to the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) are in a legal strike position after voting 95 per cent in favour of job action. Among the top concerns are classroom conditions, including what they say are growing class sizes with more students who have labour-intensive or specialized needs. The complexities include a growing proportion of English-language learners, children with intellectual, behavioural or physical disabilities, and mental health challenges. "We recognize that this is a serious and growing issue, and that is why we are taking action today, immediately and in the long term, to ensure that every student and staff member has the supports that they need to thrive," Nicolaides said. The government is still finalizing a list of 20 team members, and their names will be publicly posted later. They will include school trustees from Edmonton and Calgary, ATA representatives, and the College of Alberta School Superintendents. The group's timeline for work will be six months. Nicolaides expects the team to submit to him a report with recommendations by fall 2025. Province wants 'practical' solutions However, the minister told reporters he doesn't have billions of extra dollars to invest in the system, and would not commit to acting upon costly solutions. "We really want to focus on what's really practical, what's really achievable," Nicolaides said. He said data gathering would be a part of the team's work, to get a better understanding of how often students act aggressively. He would not commit to restoring the collection of class-size data, which the UCP government eliminated in 2019. Speaking at the announcement, Alberta School Boards Association president Marilyn Dennis said her board, the Calgary Board of Education, has leaders and programs in place to address complex needs. The board needs more resources to roll them out to students, she said. ATA president Jason Schilling says he's pleased to see the government acting upon teachers' concerns about class complexity and violence. But he is concerned about the short timeline to find potential solutions. "Teachers are struggling to meet the needs of their students day in and day out," Schilling said. "We are seeing members leave the profession altogether." He said teachers know what they need to better meet student needs, and declining public funding granted per student is a major problem. Members who have experienced violence or aggression on the job say they need more teachers in schools, smaller class sizes, and mental health support for students with behavioural challenges, Schilling said. Failing to track class sizes will leave the government without a full picture of the challenges, he said. Advocate concerned about segregation The action team will also seek input from Inclusion Alberta, an organization that represents families of children and adults with intellectual disabilities. CEO Trish Bowman said in an interview Monday these students face barriers to accessing full-time classes with the general student population. Staffing shortages sometimes prompt schools to tell parents to keep their students home for part or all of a school day, she said. The government will have to go beyond boosting funds to hire more educational assistants, Bowman said. Success depends on leaders who get kids access to the right professionals, teachers having training and resources to help students with challenges, and having the time to understand and use those resources. "I'm not sure what can be more important than children and education and making sure that all children have access to a high-quality education," she said. Bowman worries the action team exercise will lead to more segregation of disabled students in specialized classrooms rather than shared classrooms with their more typical peers. She said research does not support this approach. "It's a concern for us that without access to the right training and resources, that the default answer becomes removing kids from the classroom and then, potentially, disciplinary practices that can be really harmful, like seclusion and restraint," she said. Premier Danielle Smith said last weekend on her Your Province, Your Premier radio show that some teachers rejected a contract offer from government because they do not feel safe on the job. Smith questioned whether there are places where integration of students with disabilities doesn't work. "We've gone down the path of inclusion for a very long time. I think most students can be included, but maybe some can't," Smith said.
