'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
The new plan to encourage Americans to buy more electric vehicles built in North America, instead of just the United States, has cleared its tallest hurdle.
After a marathon voting session that lasted more than 24 hours, the U.S. Senate finally approved the new Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
Vice-President Kamala Harris had to break a 50-50 tie to pass the legislation, a dramatically smaller version of President Joe Biden's signature $2-trillion climate and social spending package.
The original proposal reserved the richest tax credits for vehicles assembled in the U.S. with union labour -- a plan experts say would have kneecapped Canada's auto industry.
But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reached a deal with holdout West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin on a version of the bill that extended the credits to vehicles built in Canada and Mexico.
The bill is expected to win approval in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives next week before heading to the president's desk.
"It's been a long, tough and winding road, but at last, at last we have arrived," Schumer said Sunday when the outcome was no longer in doubt.
"I am confident the Inflation Reduction Act will endure as one of the defining legislative measures of the 21st century."
The bill devotes $389 billion to measures to combat climate change, while also capping drug costs for seniors, extending health insurance benefits and lowering the deficit.
The climate measures also include incentives for building clean-energy equipment like solar panels and wind turbines, lowering pollution levels in minority communities and expanding greener factory-farm operations.
Republicans, whose barrage of proposed amendments were swatted down throughout Saturday night and into Sunday, framed their defeat as a win for higher taxes, more inflation and continued dependence on foreign energy.
"Democrats have already robbed American families once through inflation," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. "Now their solution is to rob American families a second time."
The tax credits -- which also require eligible vehicles to have a percentage of North American critical minerals in their batteries -- have barely been part of the U.S. debate. Critics say it will be years before consumers can benefit.
But for the Canadian auto industry, the stakes were enormous.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Auto Parts Manufacturers' Association, was just one part of an all-hands, year-long effort by the industry, the Ontario government and Ottawa to convince U.S. lawmakers and Biden administration officials to stand down.
"It's a cigar. It's always a cigar," Volpe said when asked how he would mark the occasion.
"In trade wars, by the time it's officially over, everyone else has moved on to the next issue of the day. I've had so many quiet cigars it's become my ritual."
Manchin, a Senate swing vote from a state where Toyota is a major manufacturer, had long been opposed to the idea of leaving foreign automakers out of the EV incentives -- but it wasn't clear until just last week whether that would pay dividends for Canada.
The surprise agreement he forged with Schumer marked the culmination of an aggressive lobbying effort that began with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's visit to the White House back in November.
Federal government officials say it was rivalled in scope only by the 2017-18 NAFTA talks, the high-stakes Trump-era negotiations that forged the diplomatic flood-the-zone strategy now known as the "Team Canada" approach.
It targeted a wide array of U.S. officials and lawmakers, and involved at least one face-to-face meeting in recent months between Manchin and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 7, 2022.
With files from The Associated Press
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.