Experts, Liberal MP hope for full ban on sports betting ads as advocates cite mental health decline

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Source: CBC Politics
Date: 2026-10-30 14:50:39.0
Tags: [National, Ontario, Alberta, Quebec, Healthcare, Social Services, Governance]

Bill S-211, introduced in May 2025 by Senator Marty Deacon and sponsored in the House by MP Bardish Chagger, is currently before the House standing committee on Canadian heritage to restrict sports betting ads across Canada. Supporters including Liberal MP Michael Coteau and public policy think-tank Cardus cite a University of Toronto study showing gambling-related emergency room visits nearly doubled in Ontario, alongside a 161 per cent increase in helpline calls among males aged 15-24 since single-game betting was legalized in 2021. Provincial officials from Ontario, Alberta, and Quebec, along with the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, have raised concerns regarding provincial jurisdiction, overlapping regulations, and economic impacts on commercial operators like FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM.

Canada Post starting weekend parcel delivery in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa this fall

Source: CBC Politics
Date: 2026-10-22 19:44:37.0
Tags: [National, Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, Labour, Transportation, Finance]

Canada Post has launched weekend parcel delivery in Ottawa and Montreal, with plans to expand to Toronto in late November 2026 and to Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary the following year, aiming to reach seven million households by the end of 2027. The Crown corporation reported a pre-tax loss of $482 million in the first half of 2026 and continues to rely on federal loans, though parcel revenue grew by 20.7 percent year-over-year in the second quarter. This operational restructuring follows a month-long national strike in December 2024 and the signing of a new collective agreement with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) that remains in effect until 2030.

MPs moving to restrict gambling ads in Canada amid mounting harms

Source: CBC Politics
Date: 2026-10-22 08:00:00.0
Tags: [National, Ontario, Alberta, Public Safety, Governance, Social Services]

Federal MPs and Senators are advancing Bill S-211, a national legislative framework sponsored by MP Bardish Chagger and Senator Marty Deacon to restrict widespread sports betting advertisements and gambling promotions across Canada. The legislation follows findings from an analysis conducted by the University of Bristol during the 2026 NHL playoffs that revealed up to three gambling messages per minute on televised broadcasts featuring Canadian teams. The push to curb online gambling marketing comes amid rising rates of gambling addiction and a tripling of gambling-related suicides in Ontario following the province's 2022 expansion of private online casinos and sports betting. The provinces of Ontario and Alberta, along with the Canadian Gaming Association representing 80 industry operators, have opposed the federal bill, arguing it infringes on provincial regulatory authority over gaming frameworks.

Minimum wage hikes set to begin across 5 provinces

Source: Nova Scotia - Halifax & Regional News
Date: 2026-10-01 12:34:05.0
Tags: [National, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Labour, Economy, Affordability]

Minimum wage increases ranging from 25 to 40 cents take effect in Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, bringing their respective rates to $17.95, $17.30, $17.00, $16.40, and $15.70 per hour. Ontario has tied its adjustment directly to the rising cost of living. With these changes, Alberta maintains the lowest minimum wage in the country at $15.00 an hour, having not increased it since 2019, while Nunavut leads the country at just over $20.00 an hour following an increase at the beginning of September.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford comes to Calgary, urges Albertans vote to remain in Canada

Source: CBC Politics
Date: 2026-09-28 16:46:40.0
Tags: [Alberta, Ontario, National, Governance, Energy, Economy]

Ontario Premier Doug Ford traveled to Calgary on September 28, 2026, to join Alberta Premier Danielle Smith at an Enserva industry conference, urging Albertans to vote in favor of remaining in the Canadian Confederation during the upcoming October 19 referendum. The vote, encompassing 10 distinct questions including a potential second binding separation referendum and whether provincial laws should supersede federal ones, follows years of regional estrangement over federal environmental and energy regulations. Meanwhile, former United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron spoke at a separate Calgary conference, differentiating the Alberta debate from the 2016 Brexit referendum and emphasizing the structural risks of national fragmentation based on his experience with the 2014 Scottish independence vote.

Canada’s airports saw record improvements in delays, NAV Canada says

Source: Global News Politics
Date: 2026-09-28 15:26:44.0
Tags: [National, British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Quebec, Transportation, Infrastructure, Governance]

NAV Canada reported that the number of scheduled flights impacted by delays across Canada's four major airports—Toronto Pearson, Montréal-Trudeau, Calgary, and Vancouver International Airports—fell by 85 per cent from May 1 to Aug. 31, 2026, compared to the same period in 2025. Specifically, delayed flights dropped from 4,996 (1.54 per cent) in 2025 to 769 (0.24 per cent) in 2026, while total flight volume across the four hubs increased by 0.9 per cent to handle 394,919 flights. Vancouver recorded the sharpest improvement with delays dropping from 4.42 per cent to 0.64 per cent, Toronto Pearson had the lowest share of delayed flights at 0.04 per cent, Calgary dropped to 0.05 per cent, and Montréal-Trudeau dropped to 0.28 per cent. Additionally, NAV Canada noted that national air traffic controller staffing shortages narrowed from a deficit of 200 staff in the spring to 170 by August. Concurrently, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that the federal government is moving ahead with plans to attract private investment in Canada's four largest airports under a model where the federal government retains ownership of underlying land and assets.

Want to build a data centre in Canada? These are the federal government's new expectations

Source: CBC Politics
Date: 2026-09-03 15:30:00.0
Tags: [National, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Technology, Energy, Infrastructure]

The federal government announced a new framework outlining five core expectations for responsible AI data centre development, responding to public pushback over electricity and water consumption. Signatories to the framework include major corporations such as Amazon Web Services, Anthropic, Bell Canada, Cohere, eStruxture, Hypertec, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Telus. The policy follows major regional developments, including Meta's planned $13-billion AI data centre and $4.6-billion natural gas-fired power plant in Alberta, a contested Telus project in Vancouver, and provincial initiatives like Ontario's Data Centre Playbook and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew's cancellation of a facility south of Winnipeg.