Lamar closes Glastonbury with call for women’s rights

The ‘Buy Canadian’ trade war challenge

“Buy Canadian,” they tell us, as trade tensions escalate between Canada and the United States. “Elbows up,” the pithy slogan advises again and again, in response to the latest daily affront from increasingly unbalanced U.S. President Donald Trump.

And there’s no question Canadians from coast to coast to coast have bought into the patriotic mindset that politicians, from Prime Minister Mark Carney right on down to elected officials at the municipal level, have implored us to adopt.

“We were attacked,” is how Carney described the Aug. 21 unraveling of trade talks, after U.S. negotiators reportedly inserted last-minute demands the Canadian side viewed as both unreasonable and unacceptable. “You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked.”

The breakdown led to the immediate imposition by Trump of steep new tariffs on $29 billion worth of Canadian goods headed to south-of-the-border markets. A targeted, dollar-for-dollar Canadian tariff response will take effect after the Labour Day weekend. In the meantime, Canadians are more motivated than ever to stand firm against Trump’s tyrannical tactics.

Canadians urged to remember all who served

OTTAWA - Thousands of Canadians braved sub-zero temperatures in the nation's capital on Monday to honour and remember all those — no matter their background — who offered up their lives to defend Canada, its values and its principles.

Reminders of that common cause among those who served this country and died for it figured prominently during this year's Remembrance Day ceremony alongside calls from spiritual leaders for peace instead of war, unity rather than division, and respect for diversity.

"Let us continue to make Canada worthy of their dedication and sacrifice, a country in which respect, harmony, inclusion, responsibility and kindness fill the air," Rabbi Reuven Bulka told the assembled crowd, speaking of those who had given their lives for Canada.

He went on to note that this year marked the 75th anniversary of D-Day, when Canada and its allies launched a massive amphibious assault on France that marked the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany in the Second World War, before suggesting every day should be a D-Day of sorts.

MMF threatens legal action over city’s handling of homeless camp

The Manitoba Metis Federation is threatening the City of Winnipeg with legal action over a homeless encampment next to its Henry Avenue office, which the federation claims poses an immediate danger.

Meanwhile, those at the centre of the conflict say the Point Douglas area is home to them. As nearby shelters fill up, they would like to see the city partner with the community to help keep the space clean rather than kicking people out.

“Where's everybody going to go? If they're comfortable here… and this has been an ongoing situation for how many years now?” said Leslee Cook, who lives at the Disraeli Freeway encampment.

"Being homeless — wouldn't you rather be together where everyone feels safe? If they kick us out, then what? Everyone's going to go scattering everywhere."

Watershed moment in the fight against misinformation

Alex Jones, arguably the world’s best known purveyor of toxic conspiracy theories, is in court this week facing a defamation lawsuit related to the vicious and inhumane lies he spread about the families who lost children in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The case could mark a turning point in the war against misinformation.

Insurance money spent, family waits for provincial flood aid

Three months after a once-in-a-lifetime rainstorm battered her home and caused extensive flooding, J’aime Killbery is still picking up the pieces while she waits for financial relief from the provincial government.

Killbery lives in Balmoral, north of Stonewall, in the rural municipality of Rockwood, one of the communities hardest-hit by the June 9 deluge. The RM declared a state of emergency after a record-breaking 250 mm of rainfall caused sewer backups and overland flooding.

The damage to the family home was immense. Their fully finished basement was destroyed by sewage water, meaning the walls and flooring needed to be ripped out and replaced.

While family is handling some repairs themselves to cut costs, every repair is expensive, Killbery said.