BREAKING Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney begins his two-day blitz in Washington today, hoping to convince U.S. lawmakers his province is best positioned to strengthen North American energy security.
"It is deeply frustrating to us that we don't even show up on the radar screen when it comes to [energy] discussions," Kenney said at a roundtable with journalists.
"If the U.S. is serious about this energy problem, all I'm saying is we've got the supply. We just need more infrastructure."
On Tuesday, Kenney will appear before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, where he plans to promote Alberta's oil sands and make the hard sell for Americans to import more energy from Canada instead of "conflict nations."
"Why is the instinct in the [Biden] Administration to call Riyadh, Tehran, and Caracas, and not Calgary? No one has ever given a good answer to that question," he said.
Kenney’s invitation to the committee was extended by the committee's chairman, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a unpredictable Democrat who visited Alberta's oil sands in April.
Manchin has been a vocal critic of U.S. President Joe Biden's decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline expansion, which would have transported oil from Alberta to refineries on the Gulf Coast.
"The Keystone XL pipeline is something we should have never abandoned. Now we wish we hadn't," Manchin said during his visit to Alberta last month.
Alberta's government recently launched a $6 million advertisement campaign to brand itself as a reliable energy supplier for Americans struggling with soaring gas prices and supply disruptions caused by a ban on Russian oil.
Kenney said he will also urge committee members to oppose Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's push to shut down Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline, which could disrupt energy supplies from Midwest states into Ontario.
"If you think people are paying high prices right now, I wouldn't want to be a Congressman or a Senator from a Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, if Line 5 got shut down," he said.
But Kenney's moment under America's spotlight comes on the eve of a critical vote on his leadership of the party. He returns to Alberta on Wednesday, where he will learn the results of a United Conservative Party referendum on whether he should stay on as leader and premier.
Kenney said a confidence vote of 50%+1 is enough of a mandate for him to remain in power.
"I've never lost an election and I don't plan on doing so now," he said.
With files from the Canadian Press
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
A 4.2-magnitude earthquake was recorded west of Vancouver Island early Friday morning.
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
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.
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
If you're cruising down a highway and realize you have a flat tire, you may want to think twice before stopping to fix it on the side of the road.
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.
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.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.