In the news today: Tariff relief packages, Alberta referendum latest, Arctic sea ice.

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

The federal government pledged a $7.5B tariff-relief package. Here’s what’s in it.

In all, $7.5 billion is being put toward modifying and expanding existing programs and creating new streams of funding. The Liberal government said that is on top of the $25 billion in relief programs that have been created over the last 18 months.

$2 billion for the “Canada Strong Diversification Fund”

This new fund is meant to expand the flexibility of the existing strategic response fund to support companies with what the government calls “shovel-ready projects that support ongoing capital maintenance.” It includes medium-sized companies.

$3.5 billion for changes to employment insurance and support for workers

A new measure, effective for one year, will mean that workers who have voluntarily left a job in recent months are not penalized when they try to access EI as long as their most recent job loss is through no fault of their own.

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Trump threatens to change name of Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’

U.S. President Donald Trump continued his war of words on Canada Tuesday, first insisting the United States is “giving serious consideration” to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America and then accusing Prime Minister Mark Carney of lying.

In a post on social media about renaming the body of water, Trump said the U.S. does not expect to continue doing business with Ontario “much longer.”

The president followed it up with another post where he said he would “never interfere with Canadians speaking French!”

“This lie was made up by a weak and ineffective Prime Minister in an attempt to gain political support, which he has totally lost, from the people of Quebec,” Trump said. “I love French Canadians!”

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Alberta NDP urges Smith to cancel separation vote amid Canada-U.S. trade war

Alberta’s Opposition leader says now is not the time to hold a referendum on quitting Canada as the country wages a consequential trade war with its southern neighbour.

NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi says Premier Danielle Smith needs to cancel it or, at the very least, postpone it.

“It’s time to call off the referendum,” Nenshi told reporters Tuesday in Calgary.

Albertans are to vote Oct. 19 in a provincial referendum that asks whether the government should start the legal process to hold a future binding vote on separating from Canada.

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Canadian scientist leading mission to embed research vessel in Arctic sea ice

A Newfoundland-based scientist is leading an international team of researchers on a mission to deliberately embed their saucer-shaped vessel into the Arctic sea ice during months of total darkness.

The six scientists and six crew members will take the first eight-month shift aboard the Tara polar research station, an aluminum-clad saucer-shaped vessel specially designed to be frozen directly into the Arctic pack ice. It will then drift through the region as sea ice currents push it along.

Speaking recently from the platform’s final port of call in northern Norway, Geoffroy said the plan is to embed the vessel in the transpolar drift, which he says is a kind of conveyor belt of ice moving throughout the Arctic.

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An eroding Winnipeg neighbourhood looks to new foundations

The lot Jesse Bettcher lives on in Winnipeg’s north end used to be a pile of burnt rubble. Same with the one next door. And the one across the street.

But he’s now the proud owner of a two-storey house with blue-grey siding and white trim, so new the orange construction fencing is still out front.

It’s a dream home for Bettcher, and the latest hope for a city seeking to knock down, clean up and revitalize neighbourhoods that have seen hundreds of homes left vacant, leading to safety hazards and worries about the future.

He bought the house as part of a pilot project aimed at creating affordable home ownership. It let him and his family move out of a rental that he said was falling apart.

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‘Nina Roza’ selected as Canada’s submission for Oscars international film category

A film about a Bulgarian-Canadian art consultant’s investigation into a supposed child prodigy from his homeland is Canada’s submission for Oscars consideration.

Telefilm Canada announced Tuesday that “Nina Roza” is Canada’s pick for best international feature.

The movie from director Geneviève Dulude-De Celles premiered at Berlinale earlier this year, where it won the Silver Bear for best screenplay, and it had a theatrical release in Quebec in April.

The film follows Mihail, who returns to Bulgaria for the first time in decades to look into the authenticity of an eight-year-old artist whose abstract paintings went viral online.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 26, 2026