Start your day off right with five things you need to know this morning.
Five things you need to know
Employers have urged the Liberal government to give ministers permission to pre-emptively limit strikes in certain crucial industries, including railroads, ports and airlines. It comes after yet another high-stakes walkout on the weekend, with WestJet flight attendants downing tools and cancelling hundreds of flights. Federally Regulated Employers chief Derrick Hynes said Mark Carney's plans to revive Canada's economy will be "impeded if we continue to have labour instability in some of these key critical supply chain industries." Unifor President Lana Payne, however, did not agree, claiming: "It’s opportunistic of the employers to be pushing for sure to have these rights erode at a time when we’re trying to do everything we can to hang on to the industrial economy of Canada."
Employers are urging Mark Carney’s government to allow the labour minister to preemptively limit strike action in some sectors. Read here https://t.co/FvHHjJl8HK
— Financial Post (@financialpost) August 4, 2026
Canadian Jews should be offered refugee status in the US due to surging antisemitism in Canada, a former Ontario resident and a US think tank have said. Joe Roberts, the executive director of Jewish Tulsa, said: “With the urgency around the challenges and the inaction we see in Canada, an asylum pathway makes sense ... When a country — whether it’s a foreign dictatorship or an ally — is unwilling to take care of the challenges of a minority group, it’s one of the promises of America to extend a hand and provide a pathway." Separately, the American Enterprise Institute think tank said last month that the US "should offer asylum to Canadian Jews who, per US law, have a credible fear of persecution on account of their faith or ethnicity.”
"It's a pan-Canadian problem": Calls emerge for U.S. refugee status as group helps Jewish families flee Canada. https://t.co/dNlhALyVXM
— CityNews Toronto (@CityNewsTO) August 5, 2026
Beef from the other side of the planet has been helping lower prices for Canadian grocery shoppers, according to an analysis from Sylvain "Food Professor" Charlebois. Some beef products from Australia have been found to be more than $40 per kilogram cheaper than their Canadian rivals, with Charlebois explaining: "It may seem extreme and unfair to our cattle producers, but really, the supply chain economics are actually in favour of Australia and New Zealand." The antipodean climate, as well as cheap shipping, are the reasons for the cheaper produce, according to Charlebois.
Imported Australian beef, currently selling for well-below Canadian prices at grocery stores in Alberta, could foster competition and stabilize domestic meat costs, according to food industry experts.https://t.co/f9XLmIhzWl
— Global Lethbridge (@GlobalLeth) August 5, 2026
The Liberal government said last year that a cross-section of Canadian society had "voiced strong support for maintaining Canada’s supply‑management system for dairy, poultry, and eggs as a pillar of food sovereignty" – but that was rather misleading, according to a column published by the Globe and Mail. Matt Malone, an advocate for government transparency, said freedom of information requests show that about 90 per cent – 4,572 out of 5,143 – of the submissions the Liberals were referring to "came from dairy special interest groups or dairy farmers engaged in a letter-writing campaign to influence the federal government’s trade position." Malone added: "Those lobbying the government to take certain trade positions should do so in the open. Instead, the government has too often facilitated access in secret."
The dairy sector is lobbying hard in USMCA talks. The government didn’t want you to know https://t.co/dpj7s5Dg4T
— The Globe and Mail (@globeandmail) August 5, 2026
In another Globe and Mail article today, the newspaper reports that it has spoken to anonymous "sources" about ongoing trade talks between Mark Carney and Donald Trump. The article explains that the two countries are in discussions about reviving a plan to subject Canadian exports of steel and aluminum to a quota system in exchange for lower US tariffs. It also claims that "major hurdles remain" in the trade talks, with two separate sources telling the outlet that automobiles have "not been the subject of detailed negotiations."
Trade negotiators revive proposed steel and aluminum exports quota in return for lower U.S. tariffs https://t.co/AxWN74NXFb
— National Newswatch (@natnewswatch) August 5, 2026
Find out more at https://t.co/1zbPY5GAhV pic.twitter.com/kVD8sNciKQ
