Gander, N.L., defends invitation to U.S. ambassador Hoekstra to 9/11 commemoration

ST. JOHN'S - The Town of Gander, N.L., says its invitation to United States Ambassador Pete Hoekstra to attend a 9/11 ceremony this month was protocol, not an endorsement.

Hoekstra is among a list of dignitaries attending the town’s commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

News of his attendance prompted strong reactions online, as well as an article in satirical news site The Beaverton, titled “Come from Away sequel will see Newfoundlanders put the friggin’ boots to Pete Hoekstra.”

“Come From Away” is a hit musical about how the people of Gander fed, clothed and cared for more than 6,500 air passengers who were stranded there for days after the 9/11 attacks.

PQ leader says his immigration comments were ‘distorted’ by opponents in campaign

MONTREAL - Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said comments he has made about immigration have been "distorted" by his opponents as Quebec's political parties wrapped up the second week of the provincial election campaign on Friday.

Immigration and anglophone rights took centre stage over the week as leaders continued to campaign ahead of the Oct. 5 provincial election.

The Parti Québécois, which has maintained its lead in the polls despite growing support for the governing Coalition Avenir Québec, is facing criticism after St-Pierre Plamondon stirred up controversy with comments about immigrants in schools.

In recent days, the PQ leader has linked immigration to overcrowded schools and the decline of the French language. On Saturday, he held a press conference outside a Quebec City high school where modular classrooms are being used to accommodate students.

Apple begins replacing Lake Ontario with ‘Lake America’ on maps app for U.S. users

WASHINGTON - Apple is changing its Maps app to rename Lake Ontario as "Lake America" for users in the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order to change the name of the Great Lake.

"Apple Maps has just announced that it has changed the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, so now that very important change of names, between Google Maps and Apple Maps, is complete, ratified, and binding" Trump posted on social media Wednesday. "Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told the Fox Business network Monday that Trump reached out directly to Apple to ensure the new name would be used on its service.

People in Canada who use Apple Maps still see the lake identified as Lake Ontario.

Local demand surges for Canadian-made food and household goods, but retailers lag

Food and household goods companies in Canada say they're seeing a surge in demand as Canadians prioritize shopping local amid the ongoing trade war, but they say some retailers are slow to give more shelf space to products from this country.

Despite the strain of higher prices at the grocery store, many shoppers are going out of their way to buy Canadian-made products, food and household goods, companies told The Canadian Press.

However, they say some retailers are slow to react to the shift in demand, leading to a rise in selling directly to consumers.

"We aren't really built for direct-to-customer sales but we're doing it because of the demand we're seeing," said Kathleen Chapman, president of aVenco Ltd., a Bowmanville, Ont.-based parchment paper company.

Author says Trump’s ‘Lake America’ order driving hits to guide on ditching U.S. tech

FREDERICTON - Canadian author Paris Marx says there's been a renewed interest in his list of alternatives to U.S. technology since President Donald Trump signed an order renaming Lake Ontario to "Lake America."

Marx, who hosts the Tech Won't Save Us podcast and is based in St. John's, N.L., maintains a catalogue of email services, mobile phones and other tech created by firms outside the United States.

For example, he suggests Switzerland's Proton for its email, cloud storage and password manager. There's also a phone alternative he recommends called Fairphone that runs on an open-source European operating system and was made in the Netherlands.

And, of relevance, Marx offers map alternatives in his "Getting off US tech" guide, such as Estonia's Organic Maps, OpenStreetMap out of the United Kingdom and the Dutch-made Here WeGo.

Trump contacted Apple directly to change name of Lake Ontario to Lake America: Burgum

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump contacted Apple directly to pressure the tech giant to change the name of Lake Ontario to "Lake America," a top administration official said Monday.

U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told the Fox Business network the body of water's name might soon change on Apple maps.

Trump signed an executive order last week to rename the Great Lake as tensions between the United States and Canada escalated following a breakdown in trade talks.

Google Maps updated its service to identify the body of water as "Lake America" for users in the United States over the weekend. The company said in a post on its corporate website Saturday the change was made because the U.S. government's geographic names database had formally renamed the lake.

Knowing history — and not repeating it

Prime Minister Mark Carney summed up the current bilateral trade predicament nicely: “We cannot accept what they’ve offered and we will not give what they’ve asked.”

Lake Ontario now called Lake America on Google Maps for US users after Trump ordered name change

Google has updated its maps application to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America” for users in the United States, reflecting a recent order by President Donald Trump that changed the name of the lake, the global technology giant says.

The Google Maps update comes days after Trump’s order amid an escalating trade war with Canada that has led both countries to impose billions of dollars in added tariffs on each other’s goods. It echoes what Google did in 2025 when Trump issued an order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

Google said in a blog post Saturday that the decision was based on its practice of using names assigned by the U.S. Geographic Names Information System, also known as GNIS.

“People using Maps in the U.S. will see ‘Lake America,’ those in Canada will continue to see ‘Lake Ontario,’ and those outside of the U.S. and Canada will see both names,” Google said in a brief statement. “These updates follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country, and are starting to roll out now."

Immigration board asks feds to better track temporary residents

OTTAWA - Canada needs to make further cuts to the number of temporary residents in the country and generate better tracking data when they leave the country, the head of an expert panel on immigration said.

Parisa Mahboubi chairs the C.D. Howe Institute's immigration targets council, which includes former immigration minister Jason Kenney and top academics in the field in its membership. The council is preparing a submission for the government's annual immigration levels consultation period.

The report comes two years after Canada began moving to cut down on the number of temporary residents, including foreign students and workers, as soaring immigration contributed to significant issues, including housing shortages and overburdened social services.

In July, Prime Minister Mark Carney said immigration was too high when he took office in 2025, and specifically blamed a loss of control of the intake of international students and temporary workers.

U of M research role expands after $79-M federal injection

The University of Manitoba is playing in a new league.

A $79-million investment will bring five internationally recruited researchers to Manitoba to build “ambitious,” long-term research programs in areas of strategic national importance.

The five researchers will join the U of M thanks to the federal government’s $1.7-billion research talent initiative that’s designed to help Canadian universities compete globally for leading researchers.

The initiative’s flagship program, the Eddie Goldenberg Research Chairs of Canada, provides universities with the funding and resources to recruit world-class researchers, build research teams and pursue large-scale projects in fields considered important to Canada — from Arctic navigation and defence to sustainable mining, health equity and environmental law.

Carney’s defence of Lake Ontario carries enormous weight

Prime Minister Mark Carney's response to Trump's "Lake America" name change suggests something kind of new in the fight against the United States in this escalating trade war: pride in Canada’s Indigenity.

Trump’s tariff tantrum, geopolitical turmoil could be blessings in disguise for Manitoba’s diversified economy

It’s early July and Warren Luky’s second last day before he retires as president of United Steelworkers Local 6166. After a career at the bargaining table and in and around mineshafts, Luky speaks candidly as he fires up a barbecue at his Thompson home.

Luky, who represents 472 miners at Vale’s Thompson mining operation along with other northern labourers, is quite aware of the buzzwords currently attached to his trade and the region.

Phrases like “Arctic sovereignty,” “trade diversification,” “Indigenous-led” and “critical minerals” have caught on with politicians of all stripes over the past couple years as federal and provincial governments tout the need for greater Canadian sovereignty, with the push for major infrastructure projects declared a matter of national interest.

In light of the bitter collapse in trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S. on Aug. 21 — a historic blow to cross-border relations — these phrases are bound to become more contagious.

Premiers at odds over leveraging potash in Canada’s trade war with U.S.

OTTAWA - Premiers are sharply divided over whether to use Canada's natural resources as leverage in the trade war with the U.S., and potash has emerged as a key point of contention.

Canada is a major global supplier of potash, a key ingredient in fertilizers that are vital for the agricultural sector. The U.S. imports about 85 per cent of its potash from Canada.

While Ontario’s Doug Ford is pushing to pull the most damaging levers with the U.S., Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe and Alberta’s Danielle Smith are warning about a harmful long-term backlash.

Federal politicians are also weighing in. NDP leader Avi Lewis called for an export tax on "oil, gas, thermal coal, potash and other minerals to hit Trump where it hurts."

Using energy exports to punish U.S. would be unwise, Trans Mountain chief says

CALGARY - Disrupting southbound oil exports in retaliation for U.S. tariffs is not viable and would have serious consequences for Canada, said the chief executive of Trans Mountain Corp.

"Interdependencies between both countries are high," Mark Maki said in an interview Friday following the release of the Crown corporation's second-quarter results, which saw its pipeline to the Vancouver area running 94 per cent full.

"I hope people put down the shovels here pretty quick. We're hitting each other and we've got to stop that."

There have been calls to keep the option open of using Canada's natural resources as leverage in the latest trade flare-up. U.S. tariffs of 50 per cent on an array of Canadian goods worth $28 billion are in effect after Canada walked away from talks last week. Canada has since announced plans to hit back with countertarrifs and U.S. President Donald Trump threatened further levies.

Middle East war, oil prices expected to push Alberta’s budget back into the black

CALGARY - Alberta’s finances are swinging back into the black after war in the Middle East sent global energy prices surging.

The province’s latest fiscal update predicts a $2-billion surplus — a huge turnaround from the $9.4-billion deficit originally expected for the 2026-27 fiscal year.

It's the latest reversal of fortune for the oil-rich province perennially tied to international energy markets.

Finance Minister Jason Nixon welcomed the quarterly windfall as good news but warned the forecast could just as quickly take another turn.

Canada is bolstering its defense industry as US relations fray. A boom is on for local contractors

TORONTO (AP) — As Canada moves to reduce its dependence on American military suppliers, the push is on display inside a Toronto garment factory.

Hunched over sewing machines, two workers rapidly stitch together pieces of camouflage-patterned fabric and Velcro strips. In the next room, workers snip stray threads as they inspect the finished product: helmet covers for the Canadian military.

The factory is assembling uniforms for Wuxly, a luxury parka maker that is among a flurry of Canadian companies branching into defense contracting. As Canadian military spending surges, others are developing remote sensors for the country's vast Arctic region, making drones to resupply soldiers, and building autonomous robots.

The boom in the defense sector reflects Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's vow to strengthen the country's economic self-sufficiency amid fraying relations with Washington, including a fresh escalation this week with new rounds of tariffs.

Canadian Army looking for surveillance, cargo-drop drone suppliers

OTTAWA - The federal government has put out a small shopping list for new drones for the Canadian Army, which includes land and aerial drones that can deliver cargo and supply munitions to troops.

It's also looking for aerial surveillance and reconnaissance drones, including some specifically designed to operate in "extreme cold" Arctic environments.

Ottawa has issued a batch of five tenders under the army's Minerva initiative, a program designed to integrate drones into its operations.

“The Canadian Army soldier will face an increasingly complex and dangerous battlespace in the future," one of the drone tenders said.

Buy Canadian: Purchasing patriotism sees renewed push amid rising tariffs

Buy Canadian sentiment is seeing a resurgence across the country as backlash to U.S. tariffs grows.

Consumers eager to support local products and businesses are swapping shopping tips and resources online as some retailers renew labelling of tariffed or homegrown goods in stores.

The Canada List, a website that ranks thousands of products sold in Canada based on their contribution to the Canadian economy, has seen a dramatic rise in traffic in recent days, founder Matthew Shane said in an interview Wednesday.

"My back-of-the-envelope calculation is daily traffic is actually up 10,000 per cent since Friday," Shane said, adding thousands of people are signing up for the newsletter daily. "It's a strong indication that the Canadian public is increasingly engaged in these trade tensions."

Alberta’s Smith bucks NDP call to cancel separation vote amid Canada-U.S. trade war

GRANDE PRAIRIE - Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is continuing to buck calls to postpone a fall referendum she scheduled about the province quitting Canada.

Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi has said the vote projects an image of national weakness amid Canada's tense trade war with the United States.

When asked Wednesday about the risks to Canadian unity, Smith said holding the vote is a "separate process," and she pointed to the province's citizen initiative law, last changed by her government this spring.

The Oct. 19 referendum will ask Albertans whether they want the province to stay in Canada or to start the legal process to hold a future binding vote on separation.

Small businesses at front lines of tariff war, as many lose sales

Since the latest U.S. tariffs rolled in this past weekend, Bernard Hellen has been fielding order cancellations for 3D miniature models — all previously bound for his American clients.

"I've probably had about 50 order cancellations this morning alone," said Hellen, owner of Toronto-based Miniprints, which makes railroading hobby miniatures of animals and figurines.

For Hellen, Americans make up 85 per cent of his sales.

"A 50 per cent tax is more than the average American consumer can pay or is willing to pay," he said in a phone interview on Monday.

Manitoba honey industry buzzing as U.S. tariff clock ticks

Canadian product is being rushed to the United States ahead of a threatened 50 per cent tariff on the industry.