In this edition:
- Premiers meeting at White House amid Trump’s ongoing tariff threat
- Trump’s metal tariff threats shake up the Canadian can industry
- CarbiCrete, Canal Block team to bring low-carbon concrete to Ontario
- CCOHS launches new plain language workplace safety toolkit
- Most PC, Green candidates skipping Niagara’s televised debates
- Canada’s GDP level would take permanent hit from drawn-out trade war with U.S.
- Prime Minister signs joint leaders’ declaration on inclusive and sustainable AI
- Focus on Climate
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Picture credit: John / Adobe Stock
Premiers meeting at White House amid Trump’s ongoing tariff threat
On a mission to push back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threat, Canada’s premiers will have a meeting as a group at the White House this afternoon, CTV News has learned.
According to a statement from the Council of the Federation, the premiers will be meeting with senior advisors to Trump.
Picture credit: Kwangmoozaa / Adobe Stock
Trump’s metal tariff threats shake up the Canadian can industry
U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose sweeping metals tariffs is creating worry and opportunity in can manufacturing and packaging, an industry that relies heavily on the raw materials.
The 25 per cent tax on aluminum and steel coming into the United States starting March 12, and the possibility of retaliation tariffs, is expected to have cost ripples for buyers of beer, soup and everything else producers seal up in metal.
“It’s just another hit that the industry can’t take,” said CJ Hélie, president of Beer Canada.
Picture credit: nipol / Adobe Stock
CarbiCrete, Canal Block team to bring low-carbon concrete to Ontario
Montreal-based CarbiCrete, a pioneer in the development of decarbonized concrete, has announced its new Ontario manufacturing partner Canal Block will soon begin producing CarbiCrete blocks for the provincial market.
CarbiCrete’s carbon-negative process for the production of concrete masonry replaces cement with steel slag, a steel-making byproduct, and cures the product with carbon dioxide, permanently sequestering CO2 within the resulting concrete products.
Picture credit: visoot / Adobe Stock
CCOHS launches new plain language workplace safety toolkit
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) has launched Spell It Out, a new toolkit aimed at creating safer and more inclusive workplaces through the use of plain language.
In today’s diverse work environments, using acronyms, jargon, and complex words can create barriers and make it hard for everyone to understand important health and safety guidance, including people who are new to the workforce or those who speak a different first language. CCOHS’s toolkit highlights the need for clear and simple communication.
Picture credit: Jiri Hera / Adobe Stock
Most PC, Green candidates skipping Niagara’s televised debates
As of Wednesday morning, all four New Democrat candidates — Jeff Burch in Niagara Centre, Dave Augustyn in Niagara West, Jennie Stevens in St. Catharines, Wayne Gates in Niagara Falls — had confirmed their attendance for individual riding debates to be filmed this week.
Only one of the Progressive Conservative candidates has confirmed — Sam Oosterhoff in Niagara West.
Picture credit: JHVEPhoto / Adobe Stock
Canada’s GDP level would take permanent hit from drawn-out trade war with U.S., says BoC summary
The Bank of Canada’s governing council felt that a protracted trade conflict with the U.S. would permanently shrink the level of domestic GDP, the minutes of a policy decision meeting showed on Wednesday.
The central bank trimmed its key policy rate by 25 basis points to three per cent on Jan. 29, its sixth reduction in a row, but cited the risks to the economy should U.S. President Donald Trump go ahead with a threat to impose a tariff on all imports from Canada.
Picture credit: Office of the Prime Minister of Canada
Prime Minister signs joint leaders’ declaration on inclusive and sustainable AI
At the AI Action Summit, co-chaired by France and India, Prime Minister Trudeau signed a joint Leaders’ Declaration on inclusive and sustainable AI, which reinforces Canada’s approach to AI development and ensures it aligns with human rights, public interest, and environmental protection. The Prime Minister also met with over a dozen CEOs and leading AI business leaders to position Canada as an ideal partner for innovation and investment while helping deepen Canada’s commercial relations with its partners across the U.S. and the European Union (EU).
Click here to read more.
Focus on Climate
As global leaders, Canada and Norway’s co-operation is timely in the face of surging energy demand
In March 2023, Canada and Norway issued a joint statement on bilateral co-operation. Notably, the statement emphasized a commitment to “achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, to promoting research collaboration and to increasing trade and investment in clean technologies and renewables that help enable a green and just transition.”
Co-operation on energy transitions offers a timely way to strengthen this bond from 2025 onwards, more than ever in light of unfolding events on the global stage.
Canada and Norway have a long history of strong collaboration: they have had formal bilateral relations since 1942, were founding members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949 and the Arctic Council in 1996 and co-signatories to the Canada-European Free Trade Association’s Free Trade Agreement since 2008.
Through the Daily Updates, the GNCC aims to deliver important business news in a timely manner. We disseminate all news and information we feel will be important to businesses. Inclusion in the Daily Update is not an endorsement by the GNCC.
