The Tyee: Audio Edition

The Tyee

We’re an independent, online news magazine from B.C. founded in 2003. We’re devoted to fact-driven stories, reporting that informs and enlivens our democratic conversation. This feed features our stories, read by AI narration. Our reporting has changed laws, started movements and garnered numerous awards.

  1. 7 hrs ago

    Young People Want Better Sexual Health Care

    A new report found respondents across the province wanted to see more inclusivity and less stigma. By Michelle Gamage. Sexual health care providers in B.C. need to switch things up to improve care for young people aged 15 to 29, according to a new report. The report was produced by Options for Sexual Health and the University of British Columbia, with funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Researchers spoke with 91 young people and 47 sexual health-care providers and focused on rural, remote and underserved communities. Over the last decade B.C. has made some big strides towards improving services for sexual and reproductive health, including introducing mail-order cancer screening, making medication for abortion more widely available, making all contraceptives free and able to be prescribed by a pharmacist, and introducing GetCheckedOnline, which allows people to access screening for sexually transmitted infections without providing their ID. Still, rates of sexually transmitted infections, sexual violence, unplanned pregnancies and early-age parenting remain disproportionately high in rural, remote and mixed urban-rural settings and equity-deserving communities, the report said. Young people today do not know more about sexual health than their peers did 10 or 20 years ago, Rachel Bergen, who led the report as sexual health evaluation project lead at UBC, told The Tyee. And while sex education in schools is provincially mandated, it remains spotty or even non-existent, often centred on heterosexual relationships and focused on fear and stigma, the report said. Young people also reported not knowing what services were available or how to access clinics, especially in small towns where privacy and transportation are a challenge. Access to the wealth of information on the internet also isn't as helpful as it may seem: young people are unsure about what online sources to trust. "Youth spoke a lot about being overwhelmed by information and how hard it can be to find reliable information," Bergen said. "We heard a lot about misinformation and scary stories and anecdotes that you might see on social media that warp youth's perspectives on sexual health." That's a problem because sexual and reproductive health are a fundamental part of well-being — especially for young people, for their development and life trajectories, she added. Sexual health care can include information; education; contraception; STI prevention, screening and treatment; cancer screening; abortion care; and pregnancy care. To figure out how to better serve this young demographic, researchers spoke with young people and sexual health providers in Fernie, Vernon, Whistler, Maple Ridge, the Comox Valley, Salt Spring Island, the Clayoquot Sound region and newcomer communities in the Lower Mainland. Bring the services to where young people already spend time The main takeaway from the report is that young people want safe, inclusive and youth-centred sexual health care, with providers who understand their lived experiences, take time to build relationships, and create spaces that feel culturally safe, inclusive and designed around the needs of young people. It could be possible to provide that by slightly shifting how already existing services are delivered, Bergen said. For example, bringing sexual health services to youth spaces such as schools or youth centres makes them more accessible. This is already happening in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, where public health nurses visit high schools and Foundry youth clinics once a week for a couple of hours, she said. So long as a patient doesn't need an exam and is not symptomatic, sexual health-care providers can meet them anywhere, said Nicole Pasquino, a registered nurse, Options for Sexual Health's clinical director and a contributor to the project. Pop-up clinics can support patient confidentiality, which can be difficult in small towns if, for example, the only pharmacist in town is your...

  2. 7 hrs ago

    As AI Data Centre Backlash Builds, What Will Smith Do?

    Across North America, opposition is growing. But Alberta wants up to 40 projects. By David Climenhaga. Now that voters everywhere in North America are turning against artificial intelligence data centres hard and fast, what's Alberta's United Conservative Party going to do? They've spent two years planning to woo data centres to Alberta as if they were the greatest industrial development since the invention of the steam engine. They even quietly created a special "concierge service" to make it easy for as many as 40 massive AI data centres to set up their noisy, polluting shops in rural Alberta. Unsurprisingly, as journalist Andrew Nikiforuk described the burgeoning opposition to data centres recently in The Tyee, "rural Albertans, like working people everywhere, are asking why their communities should become sacrifice zones for multinational corporations hell-bent on constructing ugly windowless boxes to house computing power that will toss many out of work while sucking up capital, fossil fuel and water." So, now that the UCP is alienating significant parts of its own voting base, you have to wonder, will the party change course or double down? The history of Premier Danielle Smith's government suggests they'll stick to trying to gaslight us into believing AI data centres are just "digital refineries" that will magically turn natural gas from clapped-out and otherwise uneconomic wells into big money. South of the U.S. border, the impact of the "data centre backlash" on the crucial midterm elections is becoming serious enough it was considered worthy of a front-page story in the New York Times Saturday. "The fight over data centres is suddenly at the epicentre of the midterm elections," the Times reported. "Politicians are racing to tap into the backlash — or inoculate themselves — as political strategists in both parties described the issue as an unusually fast-moving force that is already reshaping races for the House, the Senate and governor's mansions." The problem for American Republicans in particular — and maybe for the UCP too — is it's becoming increasingly obvious AI data centres are a disaster for communities where they're built and the argument for building them sucks. In a nutshell, as is increasingly understood by American voters, regardless of their political identities, that argument is that AI data centres may kill your job, ensure your kids never work, destroy the value of your property, keep you awake at night, make you sick, poison your land, suck up all the water and make your energy bills go up, but... "There Is No Alternative!" All of this will sound familiar to Albertans who are starting to pay attention to the UCP's plans, as will the promises that water won't be wasted because of closed-loop cooling technology and power prices won't go up because data centres will have to generate their own electricity — claims that upon closer examination come with many caveats. Since the argument for AI data centres isn't an appealing one, there needs to be a sales pitch that can get the locals to go along with such schemes long enough to make them impossible to block, and that was a topic at a community meeting in St. Albert Saturday about Meta Platforms Inc.'s planned hyperscale AI data centre in nearby Sturgeon County. "There is a playbook that these guys follow," retired Simon Fraser University finance professor Carol Edwards told about 100 people at the Edmonton-area city's curling club at the event organized by the local Give Voice group. "Sneak in under cover of darkness," said Edwards, who retired in Olds three years ago and played a prominent role in the successful fight against a massive data centre there that was kiboshed last week by the Alberta Utilities Commission. "Keep as much hidden as possible. Co-opt the politicians. Throw around enormous numbers... everything done in secret." Sound familiar? Others make similar observations. Financing details for the facilities are usually cloaked in corporat...

  3. 7 hrs ago

    The Tough Road to Rebuilding a Business After a Fire

    Expect snags getting funding and years-long delays, say business owners affected by previous wildfires. By Isaac Phan Nay. When Kelly Mitchell bought La Punta Norte Guest Inn in 2021, she and her husband thought it might be their retirement property. Even as the Bald Range wildfire approached, they kept the inn running right up until they evacuated all their guests on the night of Aug. 14. Within hours, the wildfire destroyed the Mexican-inspired inn on the west side of Okanagan Lake. Mitchell remembers heading back about a week later. "It was gut-wrenching," she said. "It looked like somebody dropped a bomb on it." Mitchell is still in disbelief. She said the disaster has thrown her future plans into disarray and she's not sure what the path ahead will look like. "I was kind of blank, to be honest with you," Mitchell said. "It's so shocking what happened, and we just weren't expecting it." Now, she's considering rebuilding — a challenge that's becoming increasingly common as wildfires grow more intense and frequent. According to BC Assessment's latest assessment, the buildings on Mitchell's property are valued at about $2.7 million. With the loss of the inn, Mitchell joins dozens of other British Columbians who have lost their businesses, jobs and livelihoods to extreme weather over the past decade. But the road to reopening is bumpy. Rob de Pruis, the Insurance Bureau of Canada's national director, consumer and industry relations, said small businesses are often insured for less than the cost of rebuilding and restarting their business. The provincial and federal governments offer some support. Bernie Fandrich, president of the Lytton chamber of commerce, said that even with the needed money, getting shovels in the ground to replace small businesses can take years. Five years after a wildfire destroyed most of the village's structures — including a museum, part of his rafting company's facility, the local grocery store and three hotels — only one business has reopened. Fandrich said employers should expect years of delays. "We're going to rebuild," he said. "Hopefully it'll be sooner rather than more postponing." The Bald Range fire was devastating. It has destroyed more than 150 buildings, displaced about 20,000 people and killed at least one person. So far this year, wildfires have destroyed more than 500 structures in British Columbia. According to de Pruis, it's too early to estimate the cost of this year's wildfire destruction. But in 2023 wildfires destroyed about 600 structures. According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, that amounted to about $720 million in insured damage. Meanwhile, the 2024 wildfire in Jasper, Alberta, caused $660 million in insured damage to commercial businesses. And the cost of wildfires will continue to climb. Human-caused climate change will make extreme weather increasingly destructive and more likely. About half of the structures lost this year are homes. Others include farms, hotels, shops and other small businesses. For towns affected by wildfires, the loss of local business is costly. Fiona Anderson, secretary at the Lytton chamber of commerce, said that five years after a wildfire devastated their village, it remains largely vacant. That's partly because the fire destroyed essential businesses in town, she said, including AG Foods — an independently owned grocery store that supported the community. "People were asked, 'Do you want temporary housing?'" Anderson said. "And a lot of them said, 'Well, not if there's no grocery store. Where will we shop?'" According to de Pruis, the first place business owners turn after a wildfire is often their insurer. When he spoke to The Tyee, he had just returned home from Penticton, where he had been meeting with residents affected by the Bald Range wildfire. "The insurance industry is the primary funder of the recovery for the homes, businesses and vehicles that were impacted by any type of a wildfire," he said. Still, insurance payments often f...

  4. 7 hrs ago

    In the Sky with the Pilots Fighting a BC Megafire

    The Tyee joins a helicopter crew on a critical day in the battle to stop the Ainslie Creek wildfire. By Tyler Olsen. The helicopter tilts right, then banks hard to the left. Beneath it, dense white smoke billows from trees and over logging machines building a key fireguard. Somewhere below, firefighters haul hoses through the underbrush. It's just past noon in the smoky forests south of Merritt, and in the helicopter and on the radio, once-relaxed voices have become more clipped. There is an undercurrent of annoyance at a massive fire that, once again, just will not behave. Pilot Brandon Akeroyd peers out a window, trying to locate other aircraft. A firefighter on the ground reports seeing flames beyond the guard meant to stall the progress of the Ainslie Creek fire. He asks for help from above, but is met with bad news. In the passenger seat next to Akeroyd, Russ Robertson, a veteran firefighter turned helicopter co-ordinator, surveys the smoke. It's too thick for a helicopter to help, he tells those on the ground. They'll have to do their best to quell the flames. "It went from going great to going to shit, eh?" someone says into the radio. A battle in the sky Large, devastating fires like those B.C. has witnessed this year frequently spark complaints and questions from the public: Why are there helicopters sitting at the local airport while smoke billows from a nearby mountain? Why are no squadrons of water bombers coming to the rescue? While officials might compare fighting a firestorm to spitting into a campfire, it does little to dispel the complaints that more could and should be done — in particular as anxious residents are evacuated and wait to hear if their homes, farm animals and pets have survived. To better understand how aircraft are used as a tool in wildfire fighting, The Tyee climbed aboard a Bell 407 deployed to one of the province's largest wildfires. Flying above the Ainslie Creek wildfire, the massive 667-square-kilometre blaze south of Merritt, The Tyee witnessed the co-ordinated battle to keep the flames away from rural communities, First Nations and one of B.C.'s busiest transportation corridors. The aerial observations, radio conversations between ground and air crews and candid interviews with Ainslie Creek's air command shed new light on how B.C.'s wildfire officials use aerial resources at their disposal. We observed wildfire fighters' optimism about new technology and increased resources, but also the steep logistical, regulatory, physical and environmental challenges that come along with aerial firefighting. If you think you hate smoke, you should be thankful you aren't a pilot. 'Bingo!' It's a little after 11 a.m. and Akeroyd, a pilot with two decades and 9,900 hours of experience in the cockpit, is flying above a densely forested valley southwest of Merritt. Robertson, sitting left-seat shotgun, is happy, for now. As a helicopter co-ordinator and veteran firefighting tactician, Robertson's job is to supervise the pilots in the area and make sure the crews on the ground get the aerial support they need. "It's looking great," Robertson says into his headset. He likes what he sees here on the east side of the Ainslie Creek wildfire, despite the thick smoke clouding everything. Below Akeroyd's "ship," a red-and-white striped "heavy" helicopter hovers above a stream of white smoke. It's one of six "heavies" assigned today to the Ainslie Creek wildfire. As we look on, its pilot opens a hatch to allow hundreds of gallons of water to rain down on the fire. "Bingo!" Robertson says. The heavy machine pivots and heads to a nearby "dip," a water source accessible to helicopters, to refill. Robertson tells Akeroyd to point his helicopter to the south, toward another section of forest — and fire. Just a few minutes later, the pair — plus The Tyee in the back seat — arrive in a tight valley where a more complex and higher-stakes battle is being fought. At the bottom of the valley is a small creek punctuated...

  5. 1d ago

    Someone Sent Us a Video. Then Things Got Weird

    A leaked clip from a OneBC event shows the divided right in BC. By Jen St. Denis. The video shows a gathering of mostly senior citizens in the backyard of a house in Penticton. The back porch has been made into an impromptu stage for the fringe political party OneBC, which was prevented from booking other venues in town. Wandering around at the edge of the crowd is a man in a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words "White boy." Lighting a cigarette, he stands behind another man — who is one of the few people who appear to be under 40 in the small crowd — as the younger man asks questions about a prominent Canadian white supremacist. The video depicts an 11-month-old event, and it shows OneBC's only sitting MLA, Dallas Brodie, responding enthusiastically to the young man's urging that she think about connecting with fans of Jeremy MacKenzie and his organization Second Sons Canada. "It's a fraternal-type organization, but it's about building community and building, you know, amongst yourselves, and the idea that there's not anyone coming to help us any time soon," the man says about the organization founded by two men who frequently express racist and antisemitic beliefs. "And the idea of just being strong and rejecting degeneracy... just being a strong individual, being clean, and all that kind of stuff." In the video, Brodie responds warmly. "I really thank you for bringing this up, because one group that's really been left behind are our young men," she says. "They are being dumped on." OneBC communications director Wyatt Claypool told The Tyee that at the time Brodie wasn't aware of Second Sons' antisemitic, racist ideology and knew MacKenzie as a critic of COVID-19 restrictions — even though by the time the video was taken in October 2025, there had been multiple news stories about MacKenzie and Second Sons, including about comments MacKenzie had made on a livestream about sexually assaulting Pierre Poilievre's wife. "In October 2025 Dallas Brodie's knowledge of Jeremy MacKenzie and what he was doing at the time was based only on his anti-lockdown and anti-government mandate advocacy during COVID in 2020 and 2021," Claypool told The Tyee. "Since that time Dallas became aware of his activities with his Second Sons organization and... opposes their extremist views and racist/antisemitic rhetoric." Why The Tyee has this video and why it's being leaked now says a lot about the state of right-wing politics in British Columbia, where several factions are vying for control. The stakes are high. Socially conservative former MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay has just been elected leader of the Conservative Party of BC, which rose to prominence during the 2024 provincial election and is now the official Opposition. Since winning the party's leadership in May, Findlay has indicated she'll take the party further to the right. And while not saying yes, Findlay also hasn't said no to welcoming back three MLAs — Brodie, Tara Armstrong and Jordan Kealy — who were elected as Conservatives but left the party over ideological differences. Mainstream conservatives are also concerned about the new direction the party is taking, fearing it could make the B.C. Conservatives unelectable. High-profile Kamloops MLA Peter Milobar left the party this month because it no longer aligns with his values. Milobar had been attacked by Findlay in a leadership debate when she suggested he could not speak or vote on reconciliation issues because his wife is Indigenous. And on Monday Delta South MLA Ian Paton also quit the Conservatives over the party's direction under Findlay. Paton and Milobar plan to form a new party. The split, and then the other split Brodie was ejected from the Conservative Party of BC by former leader John Rustad in March 2025 after mocking residential school survivors in a video call, and Kealy and Armstrong left the party in support of Brodie. Brodie and Armstrong then formed OneBC. The party advanced a number of hardline positions on trans ri...

  6. 1d ago

    Findlay Loses Another BC Conservative MLA

    Ian Paton leaves to join Peter Milobar in starting a new party. By Andrew MacLeod. The Conservative Party of BC lost another MLA Monday as Delta South's Ian Paton announced he is quitting to sit as an Independent, with plans to help form a new party. The Conservatives' direction under new leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay "is no longer aligned" with his beliefs, Paton said in a statement. "In 2024 I joined the BC Conservatives with the belief that it would become a broad coalition for British Columbians who wanted responsible, common-sense government," he said. "What united us was a broad belief in responsible government, private enterprise, fiscal discipline and building a strong economy." A spokesperson for Findlay didn't respond to a request for comment. "While I am disappointed by MLA Ian Paton's decision to sit as an Independent, I want to thank him for his contributions to our caucus and his service to the people of British Columbia," Findlay's account said on X. "The Conservative Party of BC remains firm and steadfast in our mission to defeat the NDP and restore prosperity, opportunity and accountability to British Columbia," she wrote. "There is important work ahead, and we will remain focused on delivering the change British Columbians deserve." Paton was first elected as a BC Liberal MLA in 2017. He became a candidate for the Conservatives during the 2024 election campaign after BC United, the former BC Liberal Party, folded its campaign. In that election the Conservatives won 44 of the legislature's 93 seats, just short of what they needed to form the government. Since then the party has fractured, with eight MLAs either resigning or getting ejected from the caucus. Late last year the caucus forced John Rustad out as leader. Findlay won the race to replace Rustad by promising to protect the party from a liberal takeover. In her victory speech she spoke about her focus on "faith, family and freedom." A former federal Conservative MP, she has promoted MLAs from the party's socially conservative wing to key caucus roles and has replaced several staff members and party officials. Last week Abbotsford-Mission MLA Reann Gasper announced she will step down so that Findlay can seek the seat in a byelection. Paton will sit as an Independent with Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar, who left the Conservatives earlier this month. Milobar sought the Conservative leadership and had strong support from MLAs, but was the first of the five candidates in the race to be eliminated. "I want to be clear that our intention is to form a new party in the B.C. legislature to give a home to those who feel politically homeless in this province and to stop the NDP from further destruction of British Columbia," Paton said. Just two MLAs are needed for official party status, which comes with pay increases for the leader and other positions, a budget to hire staff and increased opportunities to participate in legislative debates and committees. Andrew Reeve, a senior consultant for the government relations firm Earnscliffe and a former BC Liberal press secretary, said Paton will likely be happier in a new party than he was with the Conservatives under Findlay. "He's not a culture warrior. He never has been," Reeve said, adding that Paton's priorities include business, the economy and agriculture. "He cares more about talking about tractors than trans kids." There are several MLAs who may choose to join Milobar and Paton in the weeks ahead, he said. The group's options will include forming a new party and choosing a new name, or working with former BC Liberal MLA Mike Bernier, who is leading the CentreBC party. The BC NDP released a statement from Darlene Rotchford, the MLA for Esquimalt-Colwood. "Ian Paton and Peter Milobar deserve credit for not going along with Findlay's Trump-style culture war, but British Columbians don't need a repeat of their failed BC Liberal approach," she said. "The BC Liberal record worked well for the richest and corporate ...

  7. 1d ago

    Remembering My Friend barbara findlay

    She was one of Canada's most consequential lawyers for queer rights. By Wilbur Turner. We lost a hero and champion on Saturday. barbara findlay had a preference to stylize her name in lower case, which said something about how she saw herself in relation to the causes she fought for. She was a friend, an inspiration and an encouragement. I will miss her dearly. What I will recall fondly about her is her measured speech and soft tone that underscored a very sharp legal mind. I learned much about human rights law on our many phone calls. She loved to educate. barbara was a Queen's counsel, a human rights advocate and one of the most consequential lawyers in the history of LGBTQ2S(IA)+ rights in Canada. She was called to the bar shortly after homosexuality was decriminalized in 1977. During her first year of university she was involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric ward after she had shared that she was attracted to women. This had a profound effect on her work and focus on human rights advocacy. She wanted to make sure that other queer and trans people never had to face something similar. Her Facebook cover photo is the trans flag with the words "PROTECT TRANS KIDS" overlaid. barbara built her career around family law for LGBTQ2S+ clients and child custody cases, and from there she took on some of the defining human rights cases in the country. She represented Kimberly Nixon, a trans woman whose offer to volunteer as a rape counsellor was refused by Vancouver Rape Relief because Nixon was transgender. Nixon won at the BC Human Rights Tribunal, but Rape Relief fought the decision through judicial review, and the Court of Appeal eventually ruled against Nixon on the basis of a non-profit exemption. barbara called that outcome losing the battle and winning the war, because the case established the legal framework for how trans issues would be understood in Canadian human rights law going forward. She co-founded the December 9 Coalition, a working group of community leaders advocating for queer rights in the late 1990s, and she was a founding member of the Canadian Bar Association's queer lawyers group, the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Conference. She was also a founding member of Lawyers Against Transphobia. In 2001 she became the first openly gay lawyer in Canada to be recognized with a Queen's counsel designation. She later received an award of merit from the University of Toronto's sexual diversity studies department and, in 2013, a Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2023, Simon Fraser University awarded her the degree of doctor of laws, honoris causa, the university's highest honour. That's something we shared. I received the same degree from the University of British Columbia in 2025. barbara was one of the first people to congratulate me. 'Acknowledge, without embarrassment' If you look at her case history it reads like a history of queer rights law in Canada. She worked on landmark cases including same-sex marriage in B.C. and the right of two lesbian mothers to both be registered on their child's birth certificate. She also took on a municipality that refused to proclaim Pride, the Terrace Rainbow Committee's case against the City of Terrace in 2002, which she argued herself at the Human Rights Tribunal. On one of our calls, we discussed the similarity of that case with the one between Kelowna's Okanagan Rainbow Coalition and former mayor Walter Gray, who refused to proclaim Gay and Lesbian Pride. He balked at using the word "Pride." He also lost the case at the Human Rights Tribunal. In her own words, barbara's bio reads: "barbara findlay is a fat old white cisgender dyke lawyer with disabilities who was raised working class and christian on the prairies and all of those locations have informed her work as an activist and a lawyer." I remember last year when she was rightfully outraged that someone said they couldn't read those words to introduce her at a diversity, equity and inclusion event. She wrote about ...

  8. 1d ago

    Carney Got Tough. He Should Get Tougher

    We dodged a bad deal. Now the PM needs to take these steps to signal where Canadians really stand. By Christopher Holcroft. While it is a good thing that Prime Minister Mark Carney ultimately refused to sign an agreement with the United States, it is important not to mythologize that decision. According to knowledgeable sources, if Donald Trump's team had not added a couple of last-minute, absurd demands — including on bilingualism — Carney was on the verge of inking a bad deal for Canadians. It is a position the prime minister should never have been in to begin with. Carney was warned As negotiations with the Trump administration dragged on and more details leaked out, a chorus of voices on "Team Canada" warned, in increasingly blunt language, not to give in to American demands. These voices included premiers Wab Kinew of Manitoba and Susan Holt of New Brunswick, Mayor Matthew Shoemaker of the steel-industry dominated city Sault Ste. Marie, all federal opposition leaders and former Liberal trade minister Chrystia Freeland, as well as former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole. Even former prime minister Justin Trudeau was quoted as saying his government drew strength from Canadians' resolve to stand up to U.S. aggression and expected that the current government would be similarly guided, which sounded a lot like a hint for Carney. So, yes, Carney deserves credit for ultimately refusing to sign. But consider what we almost gave away. Carney and his negotiating team reportedly were very close to granting concessions on control over our critical minerals and oil and gas resources, digital policy, dairy supply management, dropping of retaliatory tariffs and returning U.S. alcohol to provincial liquor store shelves. There was also a widely speculated commitment to join Trump's "Golden Dome" missile defence scheme and complete the U.S. F-35s purchase. Together, these concessions amount to a capitulation on the protection of Canada's sovereignty. Who has Carney's ear? After more than a year and a half of living with Trump's America — its threats and unpredictability, its cruelty and ignorance — Carney should have known the folly of trying to appease an unpredictable bully. He should have at least been aware of his own citizens' intolerance for further concessions. This raises the question about who Carney is listening to most closely as he conducts negotiations: average Canadians or a tight circle of CEOs? For more than a year, much of the business community — as represented by groups such as the Business Council of Canada, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters — has been urging concessions in the hoped-for return to normal and "certainty." As national security expert Stephanie Carvin notes, however, "Canadian businesses must stop wishcasting for a world that no longer exists." Instead, accept that "privileged access to the American market can no longer be the organizing principle of Canadian economic policy." Labour leader Lana Payne, whose Unifor members are on the frontlines of U.S. trade tactics, has also sought to inject some reality into the debate, warning against a trade deal at any cost, stating "there is such a thing as bad certainty." Meanwhile, Canadians' repeated responses to public opinion polls have shown a steadfast unwillingness to concede to the bully, consequences be damned. And a new Angus Reid survey shows three out of four strongly support Carney's decision to walk away. Of course, real hardships will be faced by workers and businesses affected by Trump's trade war. Still, Canadians and their political leaders must guard against projections of economic doom. While a recent Canadian American Business Council report estimated Canada could lose 102,000 jobs if the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement ended, according to Statistics Canada, even with the existing economic uncertainty, Canada created nearly double that number of jobs (196,000) over the last year a...

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We’re an independent, online news magazine from B.C. founded in 2003. We’re devoted to fact-driven stories, reporting that informs and enlivens our democratic conversation. This feed features our stories, read by AI narration. Our reporting has changed laws, started movements and garnered numerous awards.

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