00:00:00.000During a press conference on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that an upcoming
00:00:09.420trade agreement with the United States is expected to involve certain tariffs remaining on Canadian
00:00:15.260goods. Conservative leader Pierre Polyev has said Canada needs a reduction in net migration
00:00:20.200with fewer immigrant arrivals than departures to allow for Canada's infrastructure and services
00:00:25.600to catch up. A BC man previously convicted of strangulation and uttering threats is now facing
00:00:32.640murder charges for a hammer attack on his estranged wife just hours after his release.
00:00:39.620Hello Canada, it's Wednesday, July 16th and this is the True North Daily Brief. I'm Cosmin Jirja.
00:00:45.960And I'm Alex Zoltan. We've got you covered with all the news you need to know. Let's discuss the
00:00:51.020top stories of the day and the True North exclusives you won't hear anywhere else.
00:00:55.600Prime Minister Mark Carney told the media on Tuesday that a new trade deal with the United
00:01:04.360States will likely include tariffs. Speaking in French ahead of a cabinet meeting in Ottawa
00:01:11.080focused on escalating trade tensions, Carney told reporters, quote, there's not a lot of evidence
00:01:17.120right now that the US will agree to a tariff free deal, noting that Trump's prior agreements,
00:01:24.300including one with the United Kingdom, have tariff baselines 10% in the UK's case.
00:01:31.640The comments come the same day new polling showed Canadians are divided on Carney's ability to secure
00:01:37.620a favorable agreement. The number of Canadians confident that the Prime Minister can deliver a new deal
00:01:43.800versus those who think he can't is almost split down the middle at 46% and 45% respectively.
00:01:52.400Almost two-thirds, 63%, said the federal government should take a harder line in negotiations,
00:02:00.020while 37% preferred a softer approach. Carney did not say whether his government is prepared
00:02:06.080to accept tariffs in a final agreement, but emphasized that Canada is working to protect
00:02:11.240its national interests. The Prime Minister also pointed to Canada's almost free trade status under
00:02:17.680the Canada-US-Mexico agreement, though he acknowledged problems remain with ongoing sectoral tariffs applied
00:02:25.420by Washington on steel, aluminum, and automotive goods. The tariffs on sectors such as the Canadian
00:02:32.300automotive industry have been devastating, contributing to thousands of job losses as manufacturers
00:02:38.260shut down plants, and in some cases, prompting companies to relocate to the U.S.
00:02:44.700Last week, Trump announced his intention to increase the existing 25% border tariff to 35%
00:02:50.820on non-CUSMA-compliant goods beginning in August. The U.S. administration has tied the move to Canada's
00:02:58.940handling of fentanyl trafficking and supply management in the dairy sector as major blockades to free trade.
00:03:06.020During the election, Mark Carney sold himself to Canadians as the ultimate crisis manager. He called
00:03:14.320himself the guy who saved two economies, who could negotiate under pressure and make business work
00:03:22.100for the average Canadian. And right now, I'm paraphrasing him directly during the liberal leadership
00:03:29.440race when he was running to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Now that we're staring down the barrel
00:03:36.360of a trade war with the United States, tariffs on key industries, and no clear wins at the table,
00:03:43.000Alex, do you think he's actually delivering the results Canadians elected him for? Because that's
00:03:49.940why a lot of people voted for him, or at least the image he presented. Or was that campaign pitch
00:03:56.000just smoke and mirrors? Well, despite the promise to stand up to Trump's economic bullying,
00:04:02.680as Mark Carney would put it, the actual economic pressure from American tariffs remains largely
00:04:08.200unrelieved. Specifically, U.S. tariffs on Canadian auto, aluminum, and steel remain in force as of today,
00:04:16.100with no rollback commitments from Washington. Canadian manufacturers, particularly in Ontario and Quebec,
00:04:21.740have reported surging costs, as he had mentioned layoffs, and frozen investment plans directly
00:04:28.320contradicting Carney's promise to shield Canadian workers from Trump's tariffs. The Canadian Chamber
00:04:33.300of Commerce and Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association have also warned that the retaliatory
00:04:38.220tariffs are not having the desired deterrent effect. It may actually be entrenching a trade war that
00:04:43.420Canada probably can't win. So I would say that Carney's pledged plan for a dollar-for-dollar pain-for-pain
00:04:49.840strategy, in reality, is just not materially shifting U.S. trade policy. And Trump has, if anything,
00:04:56.020doubled down, threatening additional tariffs on Canadian lumber, EV batteries, and even food. He is
00:05:02.120also, Donald Trump, continued to take aim at Canada for what he perceives as its inaction on the fentanyl
00:05:08.340issue, and has also now brought up another issue, which is the 400%, as he calls it, dairy tariffs above
00:05:15.880quota. And so I would say that in terms of ending the crisis, Carney has not delivered on his promise,
00:05:22.020and I think that he may even be making it worse.
00:05:27.800Conservative leader Pierre Polyev said Canada needs fewer immigrants to come into the country
00:05:32.300than are leaving for the next couple of years until Canada's infrastructure and services can keep up
00:05:37.160with the increased demand. While in Ottawa discussing Prime Minister Mark Carney's recently released ethics
00:05:41.900disclosure, Polyev clarified what he means when he's previously called to limit population growth over
00:05:47.240the next couple of years. He noted that the millions of individuals whose study or work visas are set to
00:05:52.220expire in the next couple of years are set to leave and that many will. Hi, Mr. Polyev. So Paul Dutch,
00:05:57.040Global News. You previously called for severe limits to population growth in Canada. Can you clarify what
00:06:01.980you mean by that? So first of all, I'll tell you what I don't mean, which is natural population growth.
00:06:07.260That is almost non-existent in Canada. We have roughly the same number of people who die as who are born.
00:06:13.820So all of our population growth, in fact, in the last quarter, there were more deaths than births. So
00:06:19.080what I am referring to is migration, net migration. We have millions of people whose permits will expire
00:06:26.880over the next couple of years, and they will, many of them will leave. We need to ensure that more leave
00:06:36.220than come in over the next couple of years while we catch up. Well, housing, health care, and jobs can catch up.
00:06:44.340We've had population growth of roughly a million a year under the Liberals, while we barely build 200,000 homes.
00:06:53.520Our job market is stalled, and yet we are adding more people to the workforce. Our young people are facing
00:07:01.700generational highs in unemployment because the jobs are, the multinational corporations are giving jobs to
00:07:11.380low-wage temporary foreign workers, and that ultimately leave our young people without opportunities.
00:07:18.640Our country is divided, and we're not able to integrate people at this pace. So in order to fix the problem, we've got to
00:07:27.760have, we need to put very hard caps on immigration levels. We need more people leaving than coming for the next couple of years,
00:07:36.380and we need to, so our country can actually catch up. Our immigration policy should invite the right people and the right numbers in a way that puts Canada and Canadians first.
00:07:49.500He noted generational highs in unemployment for Canada's youth and student population, as jobs, particularly for multinational companies, are being given away to low-wage temporary foreign workers.
00:07:59.500He noted that more people should be leaving Canada than arriving for the next couple of years, so that Canada can actually catch up.
00:08:07.500Polyev's pledged to learn from the mistakes of the previous election, but affirmed that his party remains committed to the same vision of Canada that he outlined during the election.
00:08:15.620Cosman, in your opinion, where is immigration at currently in Canada, and have any liberal policy reversals fixed the situation or alleviated some of the concerns that Pierre Polyev addressed in his recent press conference?
00:08:31.800Alex, we've got to give credit where it's due. There has been some stabilization, and that's mainly thanks to the federal cap on student visas
00:08:41.340and some of the restrictions applied on temporary resident status. In fact, Statistics Canada reported that from January to April of this year, Canada's population grew by just 20,000 people,
00:08:55.800which is basically flat growth when you compare it to how many people the population lost. And it's not a coincidence. Immigration inflows slowed down, more temporary residents left,
00:09:08.760and most new permanent residents were already living here. And we're already seeing the benefits of that pause. In June, average rent in Canada actually fell by 2.7%.
00:09:21.420And the Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation said the immigration cap played a role in cooling housing demand. So, obviously, there are already benefits showing.
00:09:32.760On top of that, the conference board, we just put out an article about this the other day, said that cuts are helping boost wages. After years of the legacy media and politicians insisting
00:09:48.220that it was a conspiracy theory, it was a myth that high immigration levels were depressing wages. Here we have the conference board saying that cuts
00:09:59.520to immigration levels to immigration levels are actually helping boost domestic wages are actually helping boost domestic wages. And it's obvious. It's because employers can't rely as heavily on cheap foreign labor,
00:10:10.180and they actually have to offer competitive wages to attract people here domestically to these jobs. So, yes, some policy reversals have had a real positive impact. But let's not kid ourselves, Alex,
00:10:24.180because it's not enough, and it likely won't be unless it's sustained in the long term. The damage from years of runaway immigration targets set by the Trudeau government has been untold.
00:10:39.720There's sky-high rents, overburdened services, wages get depressed, and that doesn't get fixed overnight. So, sensible immigration policy helps ordinary Canadians.
00:10:50.680We're seeing it help people at a very real level. And what we had before helped multinational corporations, not the average person. So, we just need to stay the course.
00:11:03.440James Edward Plover, previously convicted of strangulation and uttering threats, is now accused of murdering his estranged wife in a broad daylight hammer attack,
00:11:18.480just hours after being released from custody. According to police, two women were returning from their lunch break on the afternoon of July 4th,
00:11:27.440when the suspect allegedly attacked and beat both of them with a hammer in a busy Kelowna, British Columbia parking lot.
00:11:35.120True North has confirmed through community sources that Bailey McCourt, mother of two, was one of the victims.
00:11:42.180She tragically died from her injuries sustained in the attack.
00:11:46.460Plover was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection with the attack.
00:11:51.420Court records show that the 45-year-old had already been convicted of choking and making threats against an intimate partner.
00:11:59.460He was released just hours before Friday's deadly assault.
00:12:03.280It was not Plover's first run-in with the law.
00:12:06.300The B.C. Prosecution Service said he was initially charged in June 2024 with intimate partner violence.
00:12:13.160He was released on $500 bail, which the prosecutors described as, quote, extensive protective conditions.
00:12:22.120He was later charged with two additional counts of uttering threats.
00:12:26.900Last week, Plover was convicted of multiple offenses.
00:12:30.160However, due to a publication ban, the identity of the victim in that earlier case cannot be confirmed,
00:12:36.720leaving it unclear whether the woman he strangled is the same woman he is now accused of killing.
00:12:43.220Despite his history of repeat offenses, particularly related to intimate partner violence,
00:12:48.300Plover was released pending a feature sentencing hearing.
00:12:52.320His release, followed just hours later by the fatal assault, has stunned the Kelowna community.
00:12:58.860So, Alex, you're our top crime reporter, and you've got your finger on the pulse when it comes to what's happening across the country.
00:13:06.720In the courts, but especially in British Columbia, where you're posted.
00:13:11.500So, how big of an issue is this in B.C.?
00:13:16.160Just how often are we seeing violent repeat offenders, like Mr. Plover here,
00:13:22.660getting out on bail and re-offending to such a tragic degree?
00:13:27.960Well, in terms of how often, Cosmin, it's virtually daily.
00:13:31.100There is a story out of B.C., quite literally almost every day, of a repeat violent offender committing crimes.
00:13:39.080On the issue of bail specifically, we're actually, perhaps you could say, a little bit lucky in B.C.
00:13:45.440in the sense that B.C. prosecution services are unique in Canada,
00:13:49.680in that they actually record and make public data on bail hearings.
00:13:55.180About six months ago, True North reached out to the Department of Justice federally,
00:14:01.220and we're asking if they had any bail data.