Candian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland speaks to journalists outside the U.S. Trade Representative’s office in Washington on Aug. 28. (Photo: Reuters/Chris Wattie)

Trump, Trudeau upbeat about prospects for NAFTA deal by Friday

Washington | Reuters — The leaders of the U.S. and Canada expressed optimism on Wednesday that they could reach new NAFTA deal by a Friday deadline as negotiators prepared to talk through the night, although Canada warned that a number of tricky issues remained. Under pressure, Canada rejoined the talks to modernize the 24-year-old North […] Read more






The former Conservative government cited safety concerns around home-grow operations — such as this illicit operation discovered by RCMP in the McCreary, Man. area in January — when it overhauled federal medical marijuana rules in 2013. (Photo courtesy Ste. Rose du Lac RCMP)

Court rules medical marijuana users can grow their own

Vancouver | Reuters — A federal court judge in Vancouver on Wednesday ruled that medical marijuana patients have the Constitutional right to grow their own cannabis, striking down a ban introduced by Canada’s previous Conservative government. The court suspended its decision for six months to give Ottawa time to respond. A group of British Columbia […] Read more




B.C. resident positive for H7N9 avian flu

Vancouver | Reuters –– A British Columbia resident has tested positive for the H7N9 avian flu virus in the first documented case of the infection in a human in North America, the federal government said Monday. The person had returned to Canada from China and is recovering from the illness in self-isolation, the Public Health […] Read more


Canada’s West Coast ports offer little relief from U.S. delays

Vancouver | Reuters — Gridlock at U.S. West Coast ports that has forced McDonald’s to ration French fries at its Japanese restaurants and interrupted supplies to retailers such as Lululemon is unlikely to be alleviated by routing cargoes through Canada, whose Pacific ports face their own problems. Capacity is already limited at Canada’s largest port, […] Read more

Maple syrup expected to hit the black market

Reading Time: 2 minutes Thieves in Quebec may have pulled off the sweetest heist of all time, siphoning off a reservoir of maple syrup from a warehouse and cleverly covering up their caper to evade detection, an industry group said Aug. 31. The warehouse in rural Quebec held more than $30 million worth of maple syrup, a whopping 10 […] Read more