Prime Minister Mark Carney and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. have concluded negotiations on a Canada-Philippines free-trade agreement, signing a document in Manila, at the ASEAN summit, that formally ends the talks. The agreement itself has not been signed; Ottawa aims to sign it next year. Talks first began in 2015 and restarted a year ago. Two-way merchandise trade totalled $3.4 billion in 2025. During consultations, businesses broadly supported the deal, while civil society groups raised concerns about the Philippines' record on the environment, labour and human rights. Canada is also pursuing a broader agreement with the 11-member ASEAN bloc.
An arbitrator has imposed a three-year collective agreement covering about 800 Amazon workers in Delta, B.C., which their union, Unifor, says is the first binding contract for the company's workers in North America. Unifor says the deal raises hourly wages to $29 by its end, improves severance protections and adds a week of vacation for workers with 10 years of service. B.C.'s Labour Relations Board ruled in August that binding arbitration could settle the dispute. Amazon says the process was improper and unfair because workers could not vote on the terms, and that it would go to court if necessary.
Gunshot damage to a fibre-optic cable caused Thursday's telecommunications outage in the North West River area of Labrador, according to Bell. Internet was down about five hours and cellular service was also cut; Bell said service was restored Friday after a difficult repair that uncovered more gunshot damage along the cable. Lake Melville School in North West River and Sheshatshiu Innu School sent students home early for safety reasons, and the Sheshatshiu school said emergency services could not be contacted. RCMP also suspect a firearm was involved and are investigating whether the damage is criminal. No suspect has been named.
The P.E.I. Massage Therapy Association is welcoming a proposal in the recent federal budget to remove the GST/HST from qualifying massage therapy services. It is not yet law. Association president Stacey MacLeod said massage therapy is the last major regulated therapy still taxed, unlike physiotherapy and chiropractic care, and that dropping the 15 per cent tax would make treatment more affordable and stretch patients' health benefits. Therapists would lose input tax credits on business costs. MacLeod said therapists should keep charging the tax until legislation passes and the Canada Revenue Agency sets rules. P.E.I.'s 2019 regulation helped the profession qualify.
Nova Scotia Power and EverWind Fuels signed documents setting terms for connecting the first phase of EverWind's proposed $8-billion data centre campus in Point Tupper to the grid. Under the service contract, the utility or grid operator could order EverWind to cut its demand on 10 minutes' notice, which is meant to protect residential customers when the grid is strained. A letter agreement makes EverWind responsible for new system costs tied to its load; an early estimate puts needed upgrades at $74 million or more. Tracking and paying those costs needs Nova Scotia Energy Board approval. EverWind released the documents.
New Brunswick now projects a $1.31-billion deficit for 2026-27, nearly $350 million less than its first-quarter forecast of $1.66 billion, Finance Minister Rene Legacy said Friday. The March budget had projected a record $1.39 billion. Corporate income tax revenue is up $103.4 million and personal income tax revenue $63 million, while social development is $164 million over budget and health $78 million over. Net debt is projected to reach $15.7 billion by year end. Progressive Conservative Leader Daniel Allain said taxpayers, not the government, brought the deficit down, calling it the second straight year of a deficit around $1.3 billion.
A record drought forced Hydro-Québec to buy more electricity this summer to conserve reservoir water, the utility said Friday in third-quarter results. Regions with its dams have had their four driest consecutive years since records began in 1943, its chief financial officer said. Purchases cost $312 million more than a year earlier in the quarter, and the utility must reduce exports to keep enough water for Quebec demand. In the first nine months of 2026, it spent $3.6 billion buying power, about double its $1.8 billion in export revenue. Quarterly net income still rose five per cent, to $580 million.
Freedom-of-information data obtained by The Canadian Press show students receiving Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) aid at the Canadian College of Business, Science and Technology rose from 562 in 2021-22 to 17,157 in 2024-25. At one campus, the number rose nearly 6,000 per cent, from 74 to 4,481. Students at its four campuses received about $151 million in provincial grants in 2024-25, with over 97 per cent studying online. The college was not among six schools cut off from OSAP in May, which critics questioned. The college did not respond to comment requests. The minister has not flagged specific schools.
Premier Wab Kinew said Friday Manitoba may need to spend far less on new power generation than planned, after a Public Utilities Board report. Manitoba Hydro has said three natural gas-fired turbines, costing about $3 billion, are needed to meet peak winter demand within a few years. Kinew said the board concluded one 250-megawatt turbine, costing about $1 billion, plus transmission capacity is needed for now, and more can be added later, effectively rejecting Hydro's demand forecasting method. He said the government would likely follow the recommendations, but is still reviewing details. Hydro said it had not seen the report.
The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling that excerpts from reports by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls are admissible evidence in a proposed class action over birth alerts. The province had sought to exclude them. Birth alerts were flags social or health workers put on files of pregnant women considered high-risk. Government data show they were most often issued for Indigenous women, and babies were often later taken into care. The excerpts are admitted only for deciding whether to certify the lawsuit as a class action.
Alberta will require 47 core credits to graduate high school, down from 56, for students entering high school in 2028, the government says. Students will need only one senior-level course in either English or social studies, and senior-level math and science will remain optional. Physical education will become mandatory in all high school years, not just Grade 10, and a new mandatory wellness and financial literacy course for all three years is planned. Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said the change gives students more choice and time for hands-on skills, and that they must still write at least one diploma exam.
The federal government will invest $200 million over three years in the Woodfibre LNG export facility near Squamish, B.C., Energy Minister Tim Hodgson announced. He said the money would support a nearly 25 per cent increase in capacity, to 2.6 million tonnes a year from 2.1 million, and help diversify Canada's energy exports. The project, which Hodgson said was approved through an environmental assessment led by the Squamish Nation, is about 75 per cent built, with exports over a year away, its CEO said. An economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the BC Greens criticized the funding.
A 146-page report by researchers with Qupanuaq, a Nunavut children's advocacy group, and six universities says Nunavut remains in a food security crisis, with children most affected. Citing survey data, it says 7 in 10 Inuit children live in households that skip meals, eat less or eat lower-quality food to make ends meet. The report says a Hamlet Food Voucher program funded under the federal Inuit Child First Initiative appears to have reduced hunger before Indigenous Services Canada ended it in March 2025. Since then, it says, few grocery requests have been approved and young children have shown lower hemoglobin.
Fog over Yellowknife cancelled many flights Friday, extending days of weather disruption for Northwest Territories airlines. At least three Canadian North flights to the capital were cancelled, and WestJet and Air Canada also reported disruption. Air Tindi, which serves smaller NWT communities from Yellowknife, said about 85 per cent of its flights were cancelled or rescheduled; it had been trying to reach Wrigley for about six days straight. President Chris Reynolds linked the fog and low cloud to unusually warm weather and said small communities feel more impact. Once service resumes, clearing the backlog usually takes three or four days.
100 wordsSource: Cabin Radio, by Ollie Williams and Claire McFarlane
Complaints about Yukon RCMP officers rose to 59 in 2025-26 from 41 the year before, the highest in five years, according to a Civilian Review and Complaints Commission report. Of these, 34 were accepted for RCMP investigation and 24 were refused. Of 73 allegations in the 23 complaints the RCMP finalized during the year, 42 were for neglect of duty; the RCMP substantiated 11 of those and found 25 unsubstantiated. An RCMP spokesperson said neglect of duty is the most common allegation in most contract jurisdictions and warned against reading allegation data alone as evidence of causes such as staffing.
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