Good evening, readers.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says he’s prepared to “very quickly” hold to account an American-owned steelmaker that has laid off hundreds of workers at its plants in southern Ontario.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Carney said Cleveland Cliffs has one more day to respond to a demand from the federal government to honour its 2024 agreement with Ottawa to purchase Stelco.
That deal, made under the auspices of the Investment Canada Act, included a requirement for the company to maintain the same employments levels until 2029.
“When you make a commitment with the government of Canada, you respect that commitment, and the government will hold companies to the responsibility,” he said at a press conference on a new joint Canada-Ontario financial aid package.
The federal government is matching Ontario’s $1 billion investment into roads to reach the Ring of Fire region in the province’s northwest.
This is a major win for the provincial government, which has long wanted Ottawa to pitch in and has pressed harder in recent months as it began construction.
Ontario has included money for the Ring of Fire roads in its provincial budget for years, including under former premier Kathleen Wynne’s government. But at roughly $2 billion, the network needed federal funding too.
Until recently, Ottawa maintained the roads were Ontario’s responsibility, as Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson told the Senate in a recent appearance.
It is not yet clear where the $1 billion will come from, but the federal government says the money will be spread over three years. A spokesperson could not immediately be reached to clarify this.
Canada is the only G7 country that can’t launch its own satellites. A Canadian rocket company says it will take a first step toward changing that, once regulators sign off.
NordSpace is preparing to launch its Taiga rocket from its spaceport in St. Lawrence, N.L. The suborbital test flight would be the first big test for a launch industry that Ottawa has spent the past year backing with defence contracts, grants and launch-pad deals.
CEO Rahul Goel told iPolitics on Tuesday the company was “on track” to launch, but is currently pending approval from Transport Canada.
If successful, it would be the company’s first launch, after a few attempts in 2025 that were scrubbed. NordSpace would also become the first Canadian-built commercial rocket launched from a Canadian spaceport.
In Other Headlines
- Alberta referendum results show Canada does not work, says St-Pierre Plamondon (Montreal Gazette)
- Federal union announces strike votes for 120,000 federal public servants (CTV)
- Ottawa will ‘not budge’ from ‘sustainable’ immigration levels: Carney (BNN)
- More than 1.5 million Canadian Crime Stoppers tip leaked, CBC exclusive finds (CBC)
- PM Carney, Trump spoke this morning ‘for quite some time,’ addressed ‘some of the issues around trade’ (CTV)
- Accused Toronto airport gold heist gang turned on each other in nasty fight for loot (National Post)
- Treasury Board president issues new directive to cut regulation costs (Ottawa Citizen)
- Swiss tech-privacy company Proton says lawful-access bill makes expansion in Canada ‘impossible’ (The Globe and Mail)
- Smith tells UCP separatists to accept referendum result or leave the party (The Globe and Mail)
- Ontario career college students worry about impact of OSAP pause, extended to 2027 (CP24)
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Internationally
Elsewhere, Vladimir Putin ordered the release of an American man from a Russian jail as he met Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg on Wednesday for fresh talks on ending the war in Ukraine, amid increasingly close relations between Moscow and Washington.
Trump had previously asked Putin to free Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old former teacher who had spent more than four years in Russian jails on charges of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine.
His release appeared to be Moscow’s latest calculated move to bring Trump further into line with Putin’s position on Ukraine, while offering the US president a diplomatic victory before the midterm elections.
Hubbard was released unilaterally by Russia, rather than as part of a prisoner exchange as has often been the case with previous releases of Americans held in the country.
Pope Leo XIV’s lung cancer surgery last week was a success and no further treatment is required, the Vatican press office said in a bulletin Wednesday.
“The final histological reports and molecular biology analyses of the tissue removed during the Holy Father’s surgery have been completed today,” said Dr. Luigi Carbone, the pope’s personal physician, and Dr. Stefano Margaritora, a thoracic surgery professor who led the surgical team.
“The results have confirmed that the condition was a pulmonary adenocarcinoma and that the disease was localized. A subsequent oncological evaluation has confirmed that no further therapy is required,” the bulletin added.
Pulmonary adenocarcinoma is the most common type of lung cancer, accounting for roughly 40% of all cases. It’s slow-moving and often affects non-smokers.
In Other International Headlines
- U.S. envoy Witkoff meets with Putin in Russia amid report Musk throttled Starlink (CBC)
- Exclusive: Ramaswamy doubles down on explosive ad featuring rival’s mother, despite backlash (Axios)
- France’s Macron says protesters won’t be allowed to ’cause chaos’ (Al Jazeera)
- Super Typhoon Champi on path to impact China, Taiwan within days (Bloomberg)
- ‘I didn’t know it was theft’: Trials begin in Paris following October 17 violence (France 24)
- As Serbia votes, students emerge as greatest threat to Vucic’s long rule (Reuters)
- Ebola has spread from Congo to 4 other countries. A look at where things stand (CNN)
- Besieged Yemeni city on verge on ‘unmanageable’ crisis, aid workers warn (The Guardian)
- Indian court orders release of two leaders of Cockroach movement (The Guardian)
- North Korea says it will restart border propaganda broadcasts as tensions rise with the South (AP)
The Kicker
SpaceBound wrapped up with a guest joining from well above Ottawa: Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, beaming in from the International Space Station.
After answering questions from the audience, Kutryk said that even in orbit, there’s no escaping the earthly chore of dealing with trash.
The timing also offered a nice touch. The station happened to be passing over Canada during the conversation.
“I’ll be looking over every time we fly over Canada,” he said.
