Category: United States

Nova Scotia Gas Prices Jump As Weather Rages In Texas – Nova Scotia – CBC News

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Storm weather in Texas may be miles away from Nova Scotia but it’s having an effect on the price of gas here. On Friday, regular gasoline in Nova Scotia jumped seven cents to $1.13 per litre; diesel is up two cents per litre at $0.99. Dan McTeague, a petroleum analyst with the website GasBuddy.com, said those spikes are just the start and there is “definitely more to come.” “The increases that we are paying today is about half of what we’ve seen in, say, other parts of eastern Canada,” McTeague…

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‘Data Is The New Oil’: Your Personal Information Is Now The World’s Most Valuable Commodity – Technology & Science – CBC News

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There was a time that oil companies ruled the globe, but “black gold” is no longer the world’s most valuable resource — it’s been surpassed by data. The five most valuable companies in the world today — Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Google’s parent company Alphabet — have commodified data and taken over their respective sectors. “Data is clearly the new oil,” says Jonathan Taplin, director emeritus of the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab and the author of Move Fast and Break Things: How Google, Facbook and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy. But with…

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Updating ‘Briefcase Law’: Defence Lawyers Try To End Warrantless Smartphone Searches At Border – Technology & Science – CBC News

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Imagine losing your smartphone or leaving your laptop behind on a train or bus. How much could someone learn about you — your interests, your lifestyle, your habits — based on what they could access on the device? What conclusions could someone make when the photos you’ve taken, the apps you’ve installed and the websites you’ve visited are laid bare? According to the Supreme Court of Canada: quite a few. Unlike a briefcase or a filing cabinet, judges have found, a smartphone can contain “immense amounts of information” that touch a person’s “biographical core.” Read…

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Canadian Co-Author Of U.S. Climate Report Says Findings ‘Flatly Contradict’ Trump Administration – Politics – CBC News

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A Canadian scientist who helped author an exhaustive U.S. draft report on climate change says the study makes it clear dramatic action is needed to stop global temperatures from rising, but that her team has no idea how the Trump administration will react to it. The report, written by scientists from 13 federal agencies, concludes that the United States is already feeling the effects of climate change, with a stark increase in the frequency of heat waves, heavy rains and other extreme weather over the last four decades. The report is now…

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Liberalizing Cross-Border Online Sales Is One NAFTA Request To Which Canada Should Yield: Neil Macdonald – CBC News | Opinion

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The lobbyist on the other end of the phone laughed. I’d just asked a question about Canada’s so-called de minimis threshold, a subject which, even in wonky Ottawa, provokes glances at heaven and condescending grins. As in: “Oh, that again. When will you understand that no one understands it and nobody cares?” Well, that might be true. Canadian media dislike complex trade issues, and Canadian consumers are largely a supine, uninformed, apathetic bunch, inclined to do whatever they’re told and behave like the milk cows they’re treated as, by government…

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‘Energizer Bunny’ Loonie To Peak Near 80 Cents US: Experts | CTV News

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Two leading Bay Street strategists expect the Canadian dollar’s steady climb over the last two months will start to top out at about 80 cents US, a level it flirted with on Monday amid signs of an increasingly robust economy. The loonie, which ended Monday with an average trading price of 79.92 cents US, up 0.23 of a cent, has packed on more than seven cents since early May — a surge largely fueled by the vote of confidence earlier this month from the Bank of Canada in the form…

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Trump Asked Ottawa To Drop Duties On e-Commerce Under NAFTA. Canadians Should Cheer, Say Experts – National | Globalnews.ca

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Canada has been fretting over U.S. President Donald Trump’s objectives for the upcoming NAFTA renegotiations. The administration published its wish list on Monday, ahead of the Aug. 16 date set for the start of the trade talks. But at least one of those asks should have Canadian consumers cheering. The U.S. requested that Ottawa raise the value of goods that Canadians can buy online without paying import duties and taxes to US$800 (C$1,011 ), up from its current level of C$20. That would be “unambiguously good for consumers,” Daniel Schwanen, vice-president…

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U.S.-Bound Travellers To Face ‘Enhanced Security Measures’ At All Canadian Airports – Toronto – CBC News

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Airline passengers travelling from Canada to the United States will face a new battery of “enhanced security measures” now required by the Department of Homeland Security. The new measures will be enforced starting July 19 and include: WestJet and Air Canada are advising passengers to arrive at the airport at least two hours before their scheduled departure to accommodate the enhanced screening process. Faster airport security? New automated checkpoints may have you sailing through Enhanced airport security could end U.S. laptop ban. Read full story here:  U.S.-Bound Travellers To Face ‘Enhanced…

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Are You Being Prompted To Tip 20%? Consumers Grapple With Tip Inflation – The Globe and Mail

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Are You Being Prompted To Tip 20%? Consumers Grapple With Tip Inflation – The Globe and Mail When Alexander Koury took his cats to get groomed a few weeks ago, he got a bit of a shock at the checkout counter. The Phoenix financial planner brought his five-year-old orange tabbies Frankie and Scotch in for bathing, clipping and shaving, which cost $150. But then the payment system asked whether he wanted to tack on a healthy tip: Either 20, 25 or 30 per cent. “Ridiculous,” says Mr. Koury, 36, who…

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Does Your Doctor Get Money From Drug Companies? It’s Not Easy To Find Out – Health – CBC News

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By invitation only, 300 Canadian doctors have a chance to earn $6,600 on top of their usual public health-care fees by taking part in some research. Here’s what they have to do: sign up 12 high-risk heart patients, see each of them three times as part of normal practice, and fill out forms describing what drugs were prescribed. The doctors get an additional $500 for attending a three-hour information session about the research. It’s called the Guidelines Oriented Approach to Lipid Lowering (GOAL). And it is one example of how…

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