Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…
Carney settles in for Day 2 of cabinet retreat
Prime Minister Mark Carney and his cabinet will meet behind closed doors for a second day in a row today, as the Liberal government prepares for Parliament’s return in a little under two weeks.
Cabinet is discussing efforts to spur industrial investment, refocus Ottawa’s spending priorities for the coming fall budget and counter U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The federal government is expected in October to table Carney’s first budget since taking office.
Carney billed the budget on Wednesday as both an austerity plan and one that will ramp up investments to bolster the economy.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, meanwhile, is claiming that Carney will balloon the deficit and end up being more expensive for Canadians than his predecessor Justin Trudeau.
Empower NATO to fight global info war: report
A resurgent North Atlantic Treaty Organization should play a leading role in fighting the growing aggression of authoritarian states in the online battlespace, says a new report from civil society groups.
The report, released by the Montreal Institute for Global Security and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Canada, warns that China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are working to expand their strategic influence and reshape global norms.
Their shared objectives include undermining U.S. leadership, discrediting western alliances — NATO in particular — and framing the West as hypocritical and neocolonial, the report says.
“Recognizing the scope of the threat is no longer enough,” says the report Wired for War: How Authoritarian States are Weaponizing AI Against the West. “The authoritarian playbook is clear, and so too must be the democratic response.”
NDP pitches tighter Israel arms controls
NDP MP Jenny Kwan will be asking Parliament to close a loophole that could allow the U.S. to purchase Canadian weapons for Israel, despite a ban on arms exports to that country.
Kwan will be speaking this morning on Parliament Hill about a private members’ bill she plans to table later this month “to ensure Canadian weapons and military components are not used to fuel human rights abuses abroad,” according to a statement from her office.
While Ottawa has restricted arms exports to Israel since early 2024, the Liberals originally said the ban applied to lethal arms, before confirming that sales of arms to Israel used to defend civilians would still be allowed.
Advocates have pushed for a total arms embargo on Israel and argue Ottawa is already falling short on its promise to block sales of Canadian arms that might be used in Gaza, though the government insists it has held this line.
Teen workers hit hard by tough job market: report
A new report argues the rise of gig work, artificial intelligence and rapid population growth are souring job prospects for Canada’s youngest workers.
The Desjardins Economics report, released Thursday, comes as Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre cites decades-high youth unemployment levels to attack an immigration program for temporary foreign workers.
Statistics Canada’s latest labour force survey shows the unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24 hit 14.6 per cent in July — a nearly 15-year high outside of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Desjardins report said that the recent rise in youth unemployment is more typical of recessions.
Drilling down deeper into the youth cohort, StatCan said returning students aged 15 and 16 faced an unemployment rate of 31.4 per cent in July, the height of the summer jobs market.
Amherstburg, Ontario, plant closure blamed on cost cuts
The looming closure of an Ontario plant that bottles Crown Royal sparked political blowback this week, but a supply chain expert says the company behind the move faced pressing decisions on how to cut costs amid ongoing financial challenges.
Spirits maker Diageo found itself in Doug Ford’s crosshairs on Tuesday when the Ontario premier capped an unrelated press conference by producing a Crown Royal bottle and proceeding to slowly dump it out on the ground.
Ford was protesting Diageo’s announcement last week that it will cease operations at its bottling facility in Amherstburg, Ont., in February 2026, as it shifts some bottling volume to the U.S.
Ford said the company is “about as dumb as a bag of hammers for doing this,” as he encouraged others to dump out their Crown Royal whisky and instead support alternatives made within the province.
TIFF opens 50th edition with John Candy doc
The 50th Toronto International Film Festival kicks off today with the world premiere of “John Candy: I Like Me,” a documentary celebrating the late Canadian comedian.
Candy’s family will walk the red carpet alongside the opening-night film’s executive producer Ryan Reynolds, and director Colin Hanks.
Over the next 11 days, Toronto will welcome a wave of Hollywood heavyweights, with Angelina Jolie, Keanu Reeves, Sydney Sweeney and Dwayne Johnson among the A-listers set to attend.
U.K. pop star Charli XCX is making her film debut this afternoon with the world premiere of “Erupcja.” She stars in the indie drama as a British tourist caught in a volatile romance with a florist, played by Polish actress Lena Góra.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 4, 2025
The Canadian Press
