Canada

27 October 2022; MEMO: Canadian police arrested two Canadian women who were repatriated from a detention camp in north-east Syria, subjecting them to court trials based on suspicions of terrorism.

Oct 21 (Reuters) - Regulations prohibiting the sale, purchase or transfer of handguns within Canada take effect on Friday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, adding that the measure builds on earlier efforts banning handgun imports.

The handgun freeze was announced in May alongside proposed legislation that would implement the nation's strongest gun control measures in 40 years as part of Trudeau's plan to tackle gun violence, his office said.

9 October 2022; MEMO: Canada on Friday said it would ban the senior leadership of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from entering the country, in a set of moves intended to punish the organisation and Tehran's leadership for the violent crackdown on protests and the downing of a plane two years ago.

TORONTO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said there is scope to slow the economy based on an "exceptionally high number" of job vacancies in the labor market.

In an interview aired on CBC Radio on Sunday, Macklem said the current inflation fight is the biggest test the central bank has faced since it started targeting inflation 30 years ago.

Oct 7 (Reuters) - Danielle Smith, the incoming premier of Canada's main oil-producing province Alberta, has set the stage for an antagonistic relationship with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after winning her leadership race with plans to push back against federal laws.

Smith, 51, was chosen by members to lead Alberta's ruling United Conservative Party (UCP) on Thursday, just seven months ahead of the next provincial election. 

MONTREAL, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Russia failed to win enough votes for re-election to the United Nation's aviation agency's governing council on Saturday, in a rebuke of Moscow for aviation-related actions taken after its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia fell short of the 86 votes needed to stay on the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) 36-nation governing council, during the agency's assembly which runs through Oct. 7 in Montreal.

OTTAWA, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Canada will drop all COVID-19 restrictions for travelers from Oct. 1, including vaccination and masking requirements for flights and trains, the government said on Monday.

The move is likely to boost the Canadian travel industry, already booming after months of lull during the pandemic.

Canadian carriers were also pressing for an end to mask mandates on flights, citing thousands of incidents of non-compliance this year alone.

TORONTO (AP) — The Canadian government announced Monday it will no longer require people to wear masks on planes to guard against COVID-19..

Transport Canada said the existing rules for masks will come off Oct. 1

“We are able to do this because tens of millions of Canadians rolled up their sleeves and got vaccinated,” Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said.

Government officials also confirmed Canada is dropping the vaccine requirement for people entering the country at the end of the month.

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian troops are being sent to assist the recovery from the devastation of storm Fiona, which swept away houses, stripped off roofs and knocked out power across the country’s Atlantic provinces.

After surging north from the Caribbean as a hurricane, Fiona came ashore before dawn Saturday as a post-tropical cyclone, battering Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Quebec with hurricane-strength winds, heavy rains and huge waves.

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) — Fiona washed houses into the sea, tore the roofs off others and knocked out power to the vast majority of two Canadian provinces Saturday as it made landfall as a big, powerful post-tropical cyclone.

Fiona transformed from a hurricane into a post-tropical storm late Friday, but it still had hurricane-strength winds and brought drenching rains and huge waves. There was no immediate confirmation of fatalities or injures.