Belgian party calls for investigation into deadly floods

Working together in a trade war

In the Second World War, a grand coalition, held together politically by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, succeeded in defeating Nazi Germany, after many bumps in the road. The rich history of this period reinforces the truism that coalitions — bringing together parties of divergent strength and interests to face together a common challenge — are fraught with many points of potential fracture.

Canada was not only a partner in the great international war effort but also fashioned a national coalition — presided over by Prime Minister Mackenzie King — necessitated by the federalist nature of our government. It worked after a fashion — conscription notwithstanding — and we emerged as a trusted friend and ally of our southern neighbour.

Oh, how times have changed. We are again faced with an existential threat; not to be compared to a world war, but serious enough given it’s posed not by a distant foe on another continent, but by the most powerful country in the world, with whom we share 8,800 kilometres of heretofore undefended border.

The unprovoked attack on Canada has been economic; tariffs, threats of tariffs, scrapped trade agreements and so forth — measures that have already had significant impact and promise to escalate. How does a country of 10 quasi-independent provinces with a national government constitutionally pre-eminent in international relations respond?

Pharmacist who failed to disclose addiction, couldn’t account for ‘staggering’ amount of drugs fined $100K by disciplinary panel

A June 9 disciplinary decision found more than 39,000 doses went unaccounted for while Glen Pauch, who worked at a Portage la Prairie pharmacy, was consuming drugs and improperly dispensing controlled substances — including opioids oxycodone and hydromorphone, and Concerta, a stimulant prescribed for ADHD — to 11 patients.

Everyone must play the long game

Today’s decision is just one small point on a continuum that will go on until Trump is no longer president or, as a nation, we manage to disentangle our economy from our nearest neighbour to the greatest extent possible.

Close to 5,000 net new health-care workers added since 2023 election, province says

More doctors and nurses are working in Manitoba than ever before but health-care challenges remain, Premier Wab Kinew says.

The province has added 4,725 net new health-care workers to the provincial system since the NDP won the October 2023 election, Kinew told reporters Tuesday.

The government’s total includes 370 doctors, 1,464 nurses, 2,152 health-care aides and 607 allied health professionals, a group that includes physiotherapists, dietitians, paramedics, medical lab technologists and others.

Kinew said more doctors and nurses are working in Manitoba than ever before.

An ambassador, a petition and 213,000 signatures

You have to admit, they have a point.

As of 7 a.m. on Monday, 209,909 Canadians had signed it. By 9:41 a.m., that number had reached 211,846. By 10:54 a.m., 213,124. And there are months left to sign.

It is an electronic petition to have the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, ousted and sent back to Trump’s America.

The reasons? Well, ambassadors are meant to represent the national positions of their governments and you could argue that Hoekstra is doing exactly that: his blunt pronouncements on things such as Canadian sovereignty sound very much like the words of one Donald Trump, President of the United States.