Ontario to ban use of cellphones in school classrooms starting in September
Ontario is introducing a suite of measures that will crack down on cellphone use and vaping in schools.
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
Ontario is introducing a suite of measures that will crack down on cellphone use and vaping in schools.
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.
Anyone who has a Gen-Z person in their life is likely familiar with the popular social media app TikTok, but a new bill in the U.S. may soon take it off of the American market.
U.S. President Joe Biden is out to win votes by scoring some laughs at the expense of Donald Trump, unleashing mockery with the goal of getting under the former president's thin skin and reminding the country of his blunders.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued a recall for a specific chocolate brand sold in Ontario and Quebec.
Quebec is investing $603 million over the next five years to counter what its French-language minister describes as the decline of the French language in the province.
One person has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of a man who fell from a balcony following an altercation inside a Toronto apartment building.
Ukraine's troops have been forced to make a tactical retreat from three villages in the embattled east, the country's army chief said Sunday, warning of a worsening battlefield situation as Ukrainian forces wait for much-needed arms from a huge U.S. aid package to reach combat zones.
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”