As Hurricane Irma barrels toward southern Florida, what do Canadians who own property in the state need to know? Florida is the U.S.’s most popular destination for Canadian homebuyers, according to a 2017 report by the National Association of Realtors. More than half a million Canadians own property there, according to a 2013 tally by the Bank of Montreal. Many of those homes might be on Irma’s path, but Canadians who don’t have U.S. citizenship, permanent residence or a U.S. work visa don’t qualify for federally-backed mortgages, which require flood insurance.…
Read MoreCategory: United States
Taxpayer Deal Saves Cape Breton Rail Line For At Least One More Year | CTV Atlantic News
HALIFAX — The Nova Scotia government has bought a further one-year reprieve for a money-losing section of railway in Cape Breton, paying $720,000 in a deal that will help keep the tracks from being ripped up by the line’s U.S.-based owner. Business Nova Scotia Minister Geoff MacLellan said Friday the one-year “preservation agreement” would cover expenses on the line formerly operated by the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway. MacLellan said parent company Genesee and Wyoming has agreed not to apply to abandon a portion of the rail line…
Read MoreNova Scotia Gas Prices Jump As Weather Rages In Texas – Nova Scotia – CBC News
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…
Read More‘Data Is The New Oil’: Your Personal Information Is Now The World’s Most Valuable Commodity – Technology & Science – CBC News
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…
Read MoreUpdating ‘Briefcase Law’: Defence Lawyers Try To End Warrantless Smartphone Searches At Border – Technology & Science – CBC News
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…
Read MoreCanadian Co-Author Of U.S. Climate Report Says Findings ‘Flatly Contradict’ Trump Administration – Politics – CBC News
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…
Read MoreLiberalizing Cross-Border Online Sales Is One NAFTA Request To Which Canada Should Yield: Neil Macdonald – CBC News | Opinion
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…
Read More‘Energizer Bunny’ Loonie To Peak Near 80 Cents US: Experts | CTV News
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…
Read MoreTrump Asked Ottawa To Drop Duties On e-Commerce Under NAFTA. Canadians Should Cheer, Say Experts – National | Globalnews.ca
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…
Read MoreU.S.-Bound Travellers To Face ‘Enhanced Security Measures’ At All Canadian Airports – Toronto – CBC News
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…
Read More