00:00:29.000We've got you covered with all the news you need to know.
00:00:32.000Let's discuss the top stories of the day and the True North exclusives you won't hear anywhere else.
00:00:40.000A woman who has become notorious in Ottawa for her erratic and sometimes violent behaviour at political protests
00:00:46.000has been found guilty of causing a disturbance and breaching bail conditions on Wednesday.
00:00:51.000According to court records, Deanna Sharif is accused of assaulting a police officer, assault with a weapon,
00:00:56.000hate motivated harassment, intimidation, and obstructing a peace officer, all of which will be addressed at her upcoming trial in early 2026.
00:01:05.000Months earlier, Sharif had been denied bail related to aid offences, including obstructing a police officer, two counts of assault with a weapon,
00:01:12.000possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon dangerous to the public, intimidation, and two counts of hate-motivated harassment.
00:01:18.000Sharif arrived at Ottawa's Ontario Court of Justice on Wednesday wearing a keffia patterned caftan dress and a keffia headband,
00:01:25.000according to Karima Saad, a lawyer and journalist who has been following Sharif's journey through the criminal justice system.
00:01:32.000The most recent leg in Sharif's journey through Ontario's criminal justice system began when she entered in Confederation Park in August 2024
00:01:39.000for using a noise device at a protest, despite bail conditions restricting her of such devices.
00:01:46.000She was out on bail for those charges, under conditions prohibiting the use of sound devices when she was arrested again in August.
00:01:53.000The more recent incident from August, including her interactions with police and her use of a noise device, was streamed live on social media.
00:02:00.000A video of the incident was later used as evidence in court.
00:02:05.000So, Alid, what else do we know about Deanna Sharif? What makes her so notorious around the Ontario protest circuit?
00:02:13.000Well, Isaac, what's important to understand about Sharif is that she's not just limited to Ottawa.
00:02:17.000She's shown up at protests in all across Ontario, in Toronto, Hamilton, and always with the same mix of provocation and performance.
00:02:25.000What makes her stand out is that she intentionally blurs the line between activism and antagonism.
00:02:30.000She doesn't just attend protests, she seeks the confrontations, and she documents every second of it for her online following.
00:02:36.000And that's the thing about her. The online presence is a big part of her story.
00:02:40.000She's managed to raise almost $9,000 on GoGetFunding.com since her April 27th arrest and denied bill in Ottawa recently.
00:02:50.000Her fundraising of around $9,000 Canadian, that's actually $8,999 on GoGetFunding.com.
00:02:57.000She's very active on social media and she's framing her issues as political persecution for pro-Palestine and pro-trans views as she's been frequenting pro-Palestinian and pro-trans protests for a very long time.
00:03:14.000Behind the scenes, some activists who go to those protests have actually distanced themselves from her.
00:03:20.000There's sometimes tension because of the fact that she always escalates situations.
00:03:26.000Some people, some of her supporters, see her as bold. Others worry that she undermines the broader movements that she's a part of.
00:03:34.000So, she's not just notorious for what she's done legally, but really where she is at right now is she's basically hijacked attention and essentially alienated everyone,
00:03:46.000both people who are supportive and not so supportive of the protests and movements she's a part of.
00:03:51.000A senior economist at the Bank of Montreal has joined the growing chorus of frustration with Prime Minister Mark Carney's lack of transparency with public finances
00:04:04.000and his government's failure to table an annual budget despite increasing public spending substantially.
00:04:11.000Robert Kovacic, senior economist at BMO, wrote a piece commenting on Canada's budget black box.
00:04:18.000And what's the state of the federal government's finances likely look like?
00:04:22.000Canada's fiscal picture is getting cloudy given that current government did not table a post-election budget
00:04:29.000and the cost of the platform has been rearranged by the evolving economic outlook and shifting policy priorities.
00:04:35.000Kovacic says that given the evolving nature of Canada's trade conflict with the United States and the country's overall economic outlook,
00:04:44.000the parliamentary budget officer and the Liberal Party platform have likely underestimated how large the budget deficit will be.
00:04:51.000Kovacic said, quote, all told, it wouldn't be surprising to see the federal deficit jump toward $80 billion,
00:04:59.000or about 2.5% of GDP, versus $48 billion, at last estimated for the current fiscal year.
00:05:08.000Kovacic points to Canada's weaker economy and tax cuts that will lead to the budget deficit growing beyond initial projections.
00:05:15.000Kovacic says the Carney government will add approximately $8 billion to the budget deficit
00:05:22.000with its current commitment to increase defending spending to 2% of GDP in fiscal year 2025-26.
00:05:31.000What other criticisms are being laid at the feet of Carney in regards to his lack of budget and financial management of Canada?
00:05:39.000Yeah, we'll lead. So, Prime Minister Mark Carney is facing growing criticism over his handling of Canada's public finances.
00:05:45.000For example, Conservative MP Michael Cooper recently accused him of using accounting tricks to hide the true size of the deficit.
00:05:52.000Just last Wednesday, Cooper said, quote,
00:05:54.000Carney has no real plan to reduce spending, no real plan to balance the budget.
00:06:00.000Carney's real plan is to rack up more debt than Justin Trudeau, while making it more difficult to track government spending.
00:06:06.000Let's call this for what it is. It's called budget trickery. It's called cooking the books.
00:06:11.000These are some serious claims, especially considering that during former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's tenure, he doubled the country's debt.
00:06:18.000When he took office, Canada's debt stood at $616 billion, and it reached $1.215 trillion on August 30th, 2024.
00:06:29.000So, one of the main concerns about Carney is that he has yet to table a formal budget, despite dramatically increasing spending.
00:06:36.000Canadian Taxpayers Federation Federal Director Franco Teresano reminded Canadians that a budget was tabled during the Great Depression, World War II, and so on.
00:07:10.000In other words, Carney's definition of capital spending includes government handouts, corporate welfare, no doubt to benefit liberal insiders.
00:07:20.000The C.D. Howe Institute also slammed the idea, warning that dividing the budget this way doesn't change the fact that Canada is heading towards a $92 billion deficit next year,
00:07:29.000and potentially $350 billion in cumulative deficits over the next four years.
00:07:35.000Meanwhile, Carney's government is asking departments to find sweeping cuts of up to 15%, prompting warnings from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives that this would lead to unprecedented job losses and deproductions in public services.
00:07:50.000So, all of this has raised questions about transparency, fiscal credibility, and whether Carney is being honest with Canadians about the country's economic future.
00:08:03.000Canada's job market saw growth for the first time in five months in June, however, the vast majority of new jobs were part-time positions.
00:08:10.000Statistics Canada's Labour Force survey was released Friday morning and highlighted that 70,000 of the 83,000 new jobs in June were for part-time work.
00:08:19.000The unemployment rate went down slightly, reaching 6.9%, which remains the second highest rate in the G7 behind only France, which posted a 7.1% rate in May.
00:08:30.000Among the provinces, Alberta led the way in job growth, adding 30,000 jobs, however, unlike the national trend, nearly all of them were full-time positions.
00:08:39.000Alberta's unemployment rate fell 0.6 percentage points to 6.8%, while Ontario's remained unchanged at 7.8%.
00:08:47.000Ontario saw some of the worst job growth in the nation.
00:08:50.000The province's poor employment growth was partially due to a job market crisis in Windsor, where the unemployment rate climbed to 11.2%.
00:08:58.000Ongoing layoffs in the automotive sector due to U.S. tariffs has negatively affected Ontario's job market, primarily in Windsor and Oshawa, home to the province's car part manufacturing industry.
00:09:08.000Canadian students who are struggling with unprecedented unemployment saw no relief in June.
00:09:13.000The unemployment rate for students aged 15 to 24 rose to 17.4% up from last year, which was at 15.8%.
00:09:23.000So, Waleed, what sort of impact can be expected with a 17.4% unemployment rate among students?
00:09:29.000What effect could that have on the Canadian economy in the long run?
00:09:33.000Yeah, Isaac, the 17.4% unemployment rate among students is a big, big red flag.
00:09:39.000And what makes it especially concerning is that this isn't just a temporary blip.
00:09:44.000This is now the highest June rate we've seen since the end of the Great Recession in 2009, if you exclude the pandemic years.
00:09:55.000Well, when students can't get summer or part-time work, it slows down their early career development.
00:10:02.000They're missing out on experiences, on income, on building up their resume against them the jobs they're looking for in the future, or support them in paying off their student loans.
00:10:12.000And it's not just bad for the students. Economically, if young people aren't earning, they're not spending.
00:10:17.000That hits consumer demand, especially in sectors like retail, hospitality, and the service industry.
00:10:23.000The very industries where students also work.
00:10:26.000It also delays things like moving out, buying a car, or paying off debt.
00:10:30.000Another stat from the report that ties into this.
00:10:33.000More than one in five unemployed Canadians in June had been looking for work for over six months.
00:10:39.000A clear sign that in Canada, long-term unemployment is becoming more entrenched.
00:10:45.000So, this student job crisis could bleed into broader youth underdevelopment.
00:10:49.000Especially if this group enters the workforce with less experience and more financial strain.
00:10:55.000Now, this is probably why back in March, we saw an Ambascus poll.
00:11:00.000Highlighting a stark generational divide between young Canadians under age 30 and seniors when it comes to priorities in the April election.
00:11:08.000For Canadian youth, affordability issues were the overwhelming concern.
00:11:12.000With 47% setting costs of living as a top concern, while 28% stress housing affordability.
00:11:19.000The truth is, if youth are moving towards Conservatives, probably something to do with the tough summers that students have been facing in recent years.
00:11:29.000We're looking at the risk of an entire generation falling behind economically in Canada, which could weigh down on our labour force and productivity for years to come.
00:11:39.000That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in.
00:11:43.000You can stay on top of new episodes every weekday by subscribing to The Daily Brief on iTunes and Spotify.
00:11:48.000Also, while you're at it, make sure to hit us with a 5-star rating and please leave a review.