U.S. measles cases still climbing, topping 800 for year

Canada, U.S. both say they made gains in new trade deal that averted tariffs

WASHINGTON - Canada-U.S. Minister Dominic LeBlanc smiled widely beside U.S. President Donald Trump's trade czar in Washington on Wednesday as they touted a draft deal which appears to have averted a new round of punishing tariffs on Canada.

United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said he feels confident that the agreement will protect American workers and jobs while strengthening the North American market, making the continent a manufacturing and energy powerhouse.

"We certainly, I think, have eliminated some of the irritants that we've had over the past year," he said, "We also are taking a strong foot forward."

Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement that the new deal reinforces and builds on Canada's existing trade advantages with the U.S. He was set to brief his cabinet and Canada's premiers Wednesday afternoon.

Elections Alberta asks Elections Manitoba staffers to help during referendum

Manitoba’s non-partisan elections management agency could play a role in Alberta’s fall referendum.

“Elections Alberta has asked Elections Manitoba to send staff to assist with the referendum taking place there in October,” said Tessa Vanderhart, a spokesperson with the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Manitoba.

The Oct. 19 referendum will ask Albertans 10 questions, including “Should Alberta remain a province of Canada, or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?”

Each of the referendum questions will be on separate numbered and colour-coded ballots. They will be counted by hand, the Elections Alberta website says. With an estimated 2,966,192 voters in the province — registered as of May 2025 — there could be as many as 30 million ballots to count.

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.

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?