Search groups look for six-year-old boy missing from Manitoba First Nation

TORONTO – Experts are raising questions about the need for the federal government’s planned cap on international graduate students, and suggesting it may prompt some top talent to look elsewhere.

Students attending master’s, doctoral and postdoctoral courses were previously exempt from the overall cap on international students that Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced in January but they are now included in a further reduction of student visas he announced this week.

Miller’s office says those students are now being included so schools won’t try to avoid the cap by creating “fake programs,” and 12 per cent of permits issued will be reserved for graduate students in line with their historical share of the student population.

Internal estimates shared by U15 Canada, an association of 15 public research universities, suggest current levels of graduate students are already below the new cap — and they aren’t part of the ballooning population of temporary residents Ottawa is trying to address.

CEO Chad Gaffield says if the best and brightest get the impression that Canada is no longer welcoming, there could be major collateral damage for Canadian schools, and for research and innovation writ large.

Immigration lawyer Barbara Jo Caruso says the government needs to be seen to be doing something, but the caps create major uncertainty and could have an impact on Canada’s brand.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

OTTAWA – Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is convening female foreign ministers from a dozen countries to talk about women’s participation in governance and issues like online harassment.

Joly is co-hosting a two-day meeting in Toronto with her Jamaican counterpart, Kamina Johnson Smith, and foreign ministers from countries ranging from Ghana and Indonesia to Nepal and Romania.

The gathering follows a 2018 meeting in Montreal, as well as informal discussions on the sidelines of various global summits.

Joly’s office says the meetings are aimed at sharing ideas on how countries can promote more gender equity in public life, and how to tackle issues that prevent women from seeking office.

Those issues include misinformation as well as “online violence” such as the harassment of women in politics.

Joly is set to speak with reporters this afternoon as the meeting comes to a close.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

FREDERICTON – New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs has started his campaign for re-election with the lowest approval rating of any premier in the country, according to a new survey.

The latest quarterly Angus Reid Institute survey released Thursday suggested Higgs, who is seeking a third term, had an approval rating of 30 per cent, just below Ontario Premier Doug Ford at 31 per cent.

Higgs has shrugged off the survey results, saying “polls are what they are.”

Also bringing up the rear in the survey are Quebec Premier François Legault at 39 per cent, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston at 41 per cent and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe at 45 per cent. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew topped the list with a 66 per cent approval rating.

A provincial election will be held Oct. 19 in British Columbia and another vote will be held on or before Oct. 28 in Saskatchewan. New Brunswickers go to the polls on Oct. 21.

“In New Brunswick … Blaine Higgs faces by far the worst public opinion landscape of the three leaders seeking a new term,” the independent, non-profit Angus Reid Institute said in a statement.

“The race between the Opposition Liberals and governing Conservatives appears competitive, with the provincial Green Party also generating significant double-digit support.”

The online survey, conducted from Sept. 12. to Sept. 18, was based on responses from a randomized sample of 3,985 Canadian adults. The margin of error for the New Brunswick sample was plus or minus six per cent.

According to 338Canada, a website that aggregates polling results, the Tories and the Liberals, lead by Susan Holt, appear to be in a statistical dead heat in the latest seat projections. That suggests a minority government is likely if the numbers hold.

The data, however, also suggests the Liberals lead the popular vote, but 338Canada says the Tories have the greatest odds of winning the most seats.

In virtually every measure, the Green Party, lead by David Coon, was a distant third, followed by the New Democrats and the People’s Alliance of New Brunswick.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.