Nova Scotia failing to properly oversee addictions, mental health care, says auditor

HALIFAX - Nova Scotia's auditor general says the Office of Addictions and Mental Health has failed to provide effective oversight of mental health and addiction services and its staff were not aware of all provincially funded centres offering care.

In response to a rise in mental health needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government created the office with a dedicated minister in 2021. Five years later, auditor general Kim Adair said the office has insufficient oversight and responsibility for mental health and addiction services — despite its role in setting policy direction and care standards.

"We're concerned that five years in, some of these fundamental aspects which we would expect to be in place by now are not there," Adair told reporters Tuesday.

The audit found the province has spent close to $1 billion on mental health addiction services over the past three years; however, Adair found that the office did not set up standards for access to services to ensure consistent and equitable mental health and addictions care.

AI companies should release environmental impact, commit to clean energy, says UN chief

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday called on artificial intelligence companies to release information about the carbon pollution they create, along with the water and land used to power their operations.

While urging action in an address at London Climate Action Week, Guterres proposed the AI Environmental Transparency Initiative, arguing AI companies should measure and disclose the impact of their increasingly in-demand technology — impact which has been cited by opponents as reasons to curb the rapid growth of data centers. These companies have faced mounting pressure, both from governments and locally in areas with data centers that support AI, for increased transparency and more standardized reporting across the industry.

Guterres said AI companies should also commit to powering their facilities with electricity produced with renewable technologies, such as wind and solar, by 2030.

“No more hidden costs,” Guterres said at Europe’s largest independent climate conference. “No more shifting the burden onto those least able to bear it. It is time to come clean.”

May food inflation outpaces overall inflation as fruits and vegetables get pricier

Rising food prices continued to outpace headline inflation for the 16th straight month, Statistics Canada data showed, with no relief in sight for consumers as higher gas prices weigh on grocery bills.

Manitoba government unveils findings of grocery price study

On Monday, Finance Minister Adrien Sala unveiled a report and three new measures government is taking, including restoring a food basket tool to regularly measure the cost of food per region and introducing legislation to mandate unit pricing in grocery stores.

Iran war ripple effects drive inflation to its highest level since 2023

OTTAWA - Inflation accelerated to its highest level in more than two years in May as price pressures from the war in Iran started to crop up outside the gas pumps.

But most economists weighing in Monday saw little cause for panic in Statistics Canada's latest consumer price data with oil prices already receding and the Bank of Canada unlikely to move from the sidelines anytime soon.

Statistics Canada said Monday that the annual rate of inflation jumped to 3.2 per cent in May, up from 2.8 per cent in April and notching the highest headline inflation rate since December 2023.

StatCan said gas prices rose 33.2 per cent year-over-year last month as conflict in the Middle East continued to shutter the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers. The agency said last month marks the most consumers have paid for gasoline since June 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove supply uncertainty.

Not just a blip in the news cycle

It wasn’t, as is said, “a good look.”

When the U.K. tabloid newspaper the Daily Mail published a report on its website last week that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had issued a travel advisory for visitors to Manitoba, warning of a hepatitis A outbreak, there were likely audible groans in several Winnipeg offices.

The dailymail.com website gets over 35 million unique monthly visitors in the U.S. alone, making it one of the most popular news sites in the world.

So, when America’s leading public health agency issued a notice telling people to be mindful of their interpersonal interactions in Manitoba and to be vaccinated against hepatitis A before visiting, officials with tourism agencies and government ministries knew they had a job to do.

As school year ends, thank an educator

As the long days of summer approach, many Manitobans are preparing to hit the out-of-office button. But before the school year fades into memory, I’d like you to take a moment to thank the more than 17,000 Manitoba public school educators who have gone above and beyond to support kindergarten to Grade 12 students across our province.

Confronting the scourge of polio

From 1928 to 1953, polio epidemics occurred in Manitoba every three to five years. The pain for the young victims was often excruciating. The vast majority of children recovered, yet many experienced lifelong disabilities from the disease.

FDA panel backs first-of-its-kind flu vaccine using mRNA technology

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new kind of flu vaccine moved a step closer to the U.S. market Thursday as federal health advisers recommended approval of the first made with the same mRNA technology that was key to ending the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Food and Drug Administration is evaluating Moderna's new shot, dubbed mFlusiva, for older Americans ahead of the winter flu season. Moderna is seeking full approval for the vaccine's use in people ages 50 to 64 — along with authorization for use in those 65 and older while it conducts additional testing.

The FDA's independent advisory committee evaluated Moderna's studies of the vaccine and voted unanimously that its benefits appear to outweigh any risks for both age groups. The FDA will consider that recommendation in making a final decision by early August.

Tens of thousands of Americans die from influenza every year, and older adults are among the most vulnerable. There are various types of flu vaccines already available in the U.S., including three specifically recommended for people 65 and older. But vaccines made with the Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology are faster to manufacture than other types — something experts say might help if the shape-shifting flu virus mutates in a way that requires suddenly brewing new doses to match.

Eager to work, teens find a frustrating summer job search

NEW YORK (AP) — Jaelyn Chester will wait your tables or stock your shelves. She’ll wash your dishes or scrub your toilets. If only someone would give the 17-year-old a chance.

“I’ve been looking everywhere,” says Chester, an A+ student, high school basketball star and aspiring engineer who has blanketed her community with dozens of applications. “I’m not unemployed because I’m incompetent. I’m unemployed because nobody’s hiring.”

The summer job, a rite-of-passage for generations of American teenagers, isn’t so easy to come by.

About one-third of 16- to 19-year-olds in the U.S. were employed last summer, federal data show, down from a peak of about 60% in the late 1970s. Experts’ pessimistic forecasts are combining with reports from frustrated jobless young people around the country to form a seasonal outlook far from bathed in sunshine.

Radon in Newfoundland public housing a reminder of urgent national problem: experts

ST. JOHN'S - The Newfoundland and Labrador government recently found hazardous levels of a cancer-causing gas in some of its public housing units, prompting some experts to call for mandatory testing across the country.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corp. tested for radon in 172 of its housing units as part of a pilot program with Health Canada and found 23 had levels exceeding federal health guidelines and needing remediation, a spokesperson said.

The public housing authority included some of those test results in a post to the provincial procurement website last month, looking for tenders from contractors that could install mitigation systems.

Kelley Bush, manager of Health Canada's national radon outreach program, applauded Newfoundland and Labrador's efforts and said provinces are stepping up to test public housing for the deadly, odourless gas. But she said there is more work to be done.

Poll finds NDP much more popular than when elected

Support for Premier Wab Kinew and the New Democratic Party remains steady, while Obby Khan and the Progressive Conservative official Opposition are heading into the summer on a bit of a backslide, new polling results show.

Probe Research’s latest omnibus poll for June shows overall support for the NDP remains steady at 55 per cent, while the Tories have slipped to 32 per cent support — starting the legislature’s summer break in a slightly weaker position than when the last session began in March.

The results reflect the ongoing honeymoon for the New Democrats, who took power in October 2023 with 45 per cent support and have surged in popularity over more than two years. The Tories, meanwhile, entered the election cycle with 42 per cent support and have lost ground every step of the way since.

“We keep watching these numbers, wondering when the (NDP) bubble might burst — because it has to burst at some point, that’s politics — but it just doesn’t seem to happen. They seem to be just riding this incredible wave of political capital,” Probe Research partner Mary Agnes Welch said Wednesday.

MPs urge action to undercut ‘manosphere’ by tackling anti-women ideology

OTTAWA - MPs are calling on the government to tackle the rise of antifeminist ideology by funding programs that undercut the "manosphere" of online influencers who blame women for men's problems.

The House of Commons status of women committee tabled a report Tuesday warning "antifeminist ideologies are becoming increasingly prominent in Canada and internationally."

The committee says boys and young men who are isolated or struggling to find their place in society are being presented with extreme content online that glorifies dominating and dehumanizing women and amplifies gender-based violence.

At a news conference on Parliament Hill, Conservative MP Dominique Vien, the committee's chair, told reporters witnesses who spoke to the committee struggled to identify a single reason for the rise in antifeminism.

Liberal government tables new First Nations drinking water legislation

New legislation tabled by the government on Tuesday will create a legislative framework to protect drinking water in First Nations communities, Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty said.

Ebola stretches weakened global aid system

The WHO has declared the current outbreak an international public health emergency.

Inflation hitting Canadians where it hurts

Inflation bites. That’s especially true for a key element of a budget that’s challenging to go without: food.

Higher prices always eat away at spending power, but food price increases have devoured household budgets in recent years, Statistics Canada’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) data show.

Food cost increases may have peaked in Manitoba in 2022 at nearly 14 per cent, year over year. But even recent data shows prices rising 4.8 per cent, among the highest in Canada.

Households have little choice but to endure higher food costs, given they cannot go without, or they are increasingly turning to food banks and other community supports. Since 2020, the province’s food banks have logged a 150 per cent increase in use, a 2025 Harvest Manitoba report found.

Storm insurance claims could set Manitoba record

Manitoba is on pace to set a record for insurance claims related to this week’s storms.

Insurance brokers have been inundated with calls to assess and process claims for flooded basements and properties. Local insurer ONE Insurance said it has received more than 700 claims and expects to issue millions of dollars to its clients.

“It is definitely the single largest event that we’ve experienced in our organization,” said interim CEO Rey Girardin.

Residents in the RM of Rockwood, including in Stonewall and Balmoral, have submitted the most claims, he said.

Winkler hosts first LGBTTQ+ celebration Saturday

Sebastian Saunders is both excited and nervous about returning to Winkler to tell his story at his hometown’s first Pride event.

To get through his anxiety, he imagines a younger version of himself in the audience. “I’m just imagining that kid being like: ‘Oh, I can be happy and healthy and be myself and find community and be OK,’” he says.

Growing up attending church in Winkler, Saunders internalized a lot of homophobia and transphobia. “I was indoctrinated to believe I was a giant abomination,” he says. At times he thought about taking his own life.

Saunders was diagnosed with cancer when he was 19. The experience forced him to ask himself hard questions. When he finished chemotherapy, he told his family and friends he was queer. “I was ostracized by most of the people around me,” he says.

Winnipeg police warn of nihilistic violent extremism targeting children

Winnipeg police have warned against the escalating threat of online nihilistic violent extremism that targets children and youth and said officers are investigating incidents in Winnipeg.

Police said Friday online predators, who reject societal values, are intent on causing destruction or chaos rather than achieving a defined ideological objective.

“It’s happening, it is real,” Const. Claude Chancy said. “That’s why we have this whole plan process in effect. But at this point, we just cannot speak to any type of specifics in regards to investigations.”

Const. Andrea Lefort, an expert in violent extremism, said the public must understand the scale of the problem, noting the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service are aware of cases across the country.

Ottawa moves to tighten rules barring forced labour products from Canada

OTTAWA - The federal government tabled a bill Friday to change the way Canada bars imports of products made with forced labour following an American tariff threat.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand was in Paris with Prime Minister Mark Carney as the legislation was tabled by her parliamentary secretary, Rob Oliphant.

"This will be a made-in-Canada solution to an international problem," Oliphant told reporters on Parliament Hill.

He said the bill would create a public list of products that have been linked to forced labour in specific regions, based on intelligence from embassies and other authorities.

Statistics Canada reports household debt outpaced income in first quarter

Statistics Canada says the amount Canadian households owe outpaced income for the sixth straight quarter.

Late start to season due to cold washed away in storm-powered flash for many Manitoba farmers

Torrential rains eroded Manitoba farms, flooded fields, isolated cattle herds and damaged longstanding rural properties.

The entirety of the damage from this month’s storms is still unknown. Many producers are waiting for water to drain.

The provincial government plans to assess the situation at the end of June by using crop insurance data and talking to producers. From there, it’ll determine whether more support is needed for impacted farmers, the agriculture minister said.

Meanwhile, the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. — which oversees crop insurance — has received an average 314 calls daily over the first three days this week.

Concerns from array of groups about prevalence of gambling ads during World Cup

TORONTO - The stage is set for Toronto's turn as FIFA World Cup host, and some government officials and advocates worry that the major sporting event will also spark intensified gambling advertising — and the public health problems that can follow.

Stan Cho, Ontario's minister of tourism, culture and gaming, is looking at further restrictions on gambling advertising in the province and is concerned in particular about the global soccer tournament.

"Any time there's a big sporting event, you see the spike in just gambling in sheer numbers," he said recently. "Of course that means that problem gamblers are going to be more susceptible to the problem that they have."

The Responsible Gambling Council reserves ad spots during events like the World Cup, Cho said, but advocates who oppose gambling advertising want to see the first province to bring in a regulated online gambling market go much further.