PM says he’s trying to get Poilievre names of Tories linked to foreign interference

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador’s auditor general cautioned the Liberal government Wednesday about the province’s financial position as the finance minister announced the 2024-25 fiscal year would end with a higher-than-expected deficit.

The province finished the previous fiscal year with a net debt of $17.7 billion, an increase of more than seven per cent from the year before, said a news release from auditor general Denise Hanrahan’s office.

“Our net debt per capita is double the rest of Canada,” Hanrahan said. “Even with an increasing population, these financial indicators and the challenging demographic and economic risks we face suggest that the province’s financial position is worsening.”

Her comments came after the provincial government delivered a fiscal update that painted a far rosier picture of the province’s financial outlook.

“We are meeting expectations fiscally and exceeding expectations economically,” Siobhan Coady, the province’s finance minister, said in a news release. “Employment is up, household income is up, population is up, and inflation has eased.”

The update forecast a deficit of $218 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year, which is higher than the $152 million estimated in the March budget. Revenues are down because of a drop in oil prices and production, both of which were partially offset by a lower exchange rate, it said.

However, it said housing starts are increasing, unemployment is at a near-historical low and the province’s real gross domestic product is expected to grow by 3.3 per cent.

As of July 1, the beginning of the third quarter of the year, the province was home to 545,247 people, which is the highest quarterly population reported since 1998, the update said.

Newfoundland and Labrador has struggled with a dwindling population, particularly in its rural areas. There are four oilfields operating off its southeast coast.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2024.

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TORONTO – The keynote speaker at a series of lectures hosted by artificial intelligence luminary Geoffrey Hinton says the technology will get better than humans at cyber offence by the end of the decade.

The views Jacob Steinhardt has are based around his belief that AI systems will become “superhuman” with coding tasks and finding exploits.

Exploits are weak points in software and hardware that people can abuse for their own gain.

To find these vulnerabilities, the assistant professor at UC Berkeley in California says humans would have to read all the code underpinning a system.

While people might not have the patience for that kind of drudgery, Steinhardt says AI systems don’t get bored, so they will not only undertake the task but be very meticulous with it.

Steinhardt’s remarks concluded the Hinton Lectures, a two-evening series of talks put on by the Global Risk Institute at the John W. H. Bassett Theatre in Toronto.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2024.

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Montreal police say a 53-year-old man was allegedly stabbed by a fellow hospital patient early this morning.

They say the victim suffered serious injuries but is expected to survive following the incident, which hospital officials say took place in the emergency room.

Police were called to the downtown Université de Montréal hospital known as the CHUM at about 1:15 a.m.

Const. Véronique Dubuc says a 35-year-old male suspect attacked the other with a sharp object and hospital staff intervened.

The victim was seriously injured in the upper body but was quickly stabilized by hospital staff.

Police are investigating and don’t yet know the motive for the attack.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2024.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version cited police saying the suspect and victim were hospital roommates, but in fact the stabbing is alleged to have happened in the emergency room.

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