In the news today: Green Party leader reflects on chaotic week

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Green Party leader reflects on chaotic week

Elizabeth May says in all her years on Parliament Hill she has never seen anything like the last week in Canadian politics.

In a year-end interview with The Canadian Press, May — now in her 13th year as the B.C. MP for Saanich—Gulf Islands — spoke about the bombshell events on Parliament Hill, the parliamentary stalemate that has paralyzed the House of Commons for months and her thoughts on the fate of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal leadership.

Ottawa was sent reeling last Monday as Chrystia Freeland resigned as finance minister, mere hours before she was scheduled to deliver the important fall economic statement in the House of Commons.

While the ongoing privilege debate isn’t, in May’s view, necessarily unprecedented, Freeland’s resignation and the ensuing chaos in the House of Commons is something she says she has never witnessed before.

“Chrystia Freeland’s resignation letter was the equivalent of pulling a pin out of a grenade, throwing it in the room, shutting the door,” May said.

“It’s, I think, quite plausibly the beginning of her campaign for Liberal leadership.”

Here’s what else we’re watching…

Line crossed when candidate’s kids targeted: Beck

Saskatchewan’s two main political leaders had agreed before October’s provincial election not to target the families of candidates during the campaign, says Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck.

It was a commitment she says was broken.

In a recent year-end interview with The Canadian Press, Beck said she and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe had promised one another they would keep families out of partisan attacks.

During the election campaign, the two transgender children of NDP candidate Jared Clarke were the subjects of a complaint over using a girls’ change room at a southeast Saskatchewan school.

Beck said she hopes the impacts on Clarke’s family are understood.

“I would expect to never see that happen again.”

Share of ECE child-care staff shrinking in Ontario

The percentage of staff in Ontario child-care centres who are registered early childhood educators has been declining over the past few years, moving the province further away from one of its goals in the national $10-a-day system.

A recently published Ministry of Education report shows that while there has been a net increase in the total number of RECEs in Ontario child-care programs, there has been a larger increase in the number of non-ECE staff in daycares.

In 2022, when Ontario signed on to the national program aimed at lowering fees for parents and expanding availability of care, 58.9 per cent of full-time staff in child-care programs were RECEs — not far off the 60 per cent goal that Ontario agreed to in its deal with the federal government.

But now, that share has declined to 56 per cent.

Alana Powell, the executive director of the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Ontario, said recruitment is an issue, but retention has been a huge challenge.

Inside Chinese diaspora’s rent-a-friend economy

Beijia Ge’s work duties change on an hourly basis.

The Kingston, Ont., resident might be chatting with Chinese students about their secrets and challenges, or helping someone pack a suitcase, or baking cakes with a senior citizen.

“If you are alone on your birthday but still want someone to sing birthday songs or take photos for you, I am here for you. If you are sick and need company, I am here for you,” read Ge’s ads in Chinese on social media.

Ge, 38, is part of Canada’s companionship industry that is growing among the Chinese diaspora.

Dozens of people are offering rent-a-friend services on Xiaohongshu, a social media platform also known as Little Red Book or China’s Instagram, in cities including Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto.

Sociologists and other experts suggest the phenomenon of paid companionship is due in part to a sense of isolation among some new immigrants.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 23, 2024.

The Canadian Press