Welcome to The Feed, your weekly resource to Canadian politics and policies broken down into itty bitty (super witty) bite-sized knowledge by Apathy is Boring.
Pun intended.

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ANNOUNCEMENT

Register for The FLIP Summit: Youth Leadership for the Environment in Canada's Next Election today! This year’s summit, hosted by Environmental Leadership Canada, will support  young individuals passionate about climate action and civic engagement through networking, skills-building opportunities, and more.

Our very own, Jennifer Block and Sydney P., will also be hosting the End-Of-Summit Networking Session!

Registration for the two-day summit taking place on May 14-15 is FREE! For more information and to submit your registration, visit the summit’s Eventbrite page.

WHAT'S THE SCOOP?

The ongoing war in Gaza continues to reverberate in North America, including on numerous university campuses. What's going on? Students from Concordia and McGill University in Montreal are camping out in solidarity with Palestiniains, following similar protests at major universities across the United States. Students are calling for a ceasefire and demanding their universities divest from Israel. In the U.S., there's a crackdown on student protestors — find out why with this pod. Meanwhile, the UN human rights chief says he is horrified by reports of hundreds of bodies in mass graves at two of Gaza’s largest hospitals, and he’s calling for an independent investigation. Amid all this, this pod takes a deeper look at Canada’s capacity for peacekeeping and asks: should Gaza compel a return to Canadian peacekeeping?  

PM Justin Trudeau has announced what he says is the largest auto investment in Canada’s history. Japanese automaker Honda is building four new manufacturing plants in Ontario, including Honda’s first electric vehicle assembly plant and a new stand-alone EV battery plant — all together marking a $15-billion electric vehicle investment. It’s a game changer for the industry, says Ontario Premier Doug Ford. This is just the latest in a string of major investments, all aiming to make Canada a major player in the global EV supply chain. Find out more here about all the other investments since 2020 (totalling more than $46 billion!), and listen to this pod to learn about the future of Canada’s EV industry. 

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NEWS NUGGETS

Help Wanted: A key member of the Ukrainian parliament is calling on Canada for more support, telling our Defence Minister and other politicians that both time and weapons stocks are running out for her country. The meetings in Ottawa with Oleksandra Ustinova, the head of Ukraine's special parliamentary commission on arms and munitions, came just before the U.S. Congress passed a sweeping foreign aid package — with billions of dollars for Ukraine — after months of delay.  

Risk of Conflict: There’s a big snag in Ottawa’s plans for a firearms buyback program, involving assault and military-style weapons banned in Canada since 2020. What’s up? So the Crown corp Canada Post is refusing to collect firearms, CBC reports, based on concerns about employee security. Ottawa had planned to have owners of banned guns send them back to the gov to be destroyed, via Canada Post, but now that’s uncertain. 

Plastics Pollution: A UN conference on plastics pollution took place in Ottawa last week, involving delegates from 174 countries working to develop an international, legally binding plastics treaty by the end of this year. Canada’s Enviro Minister Steven Guilbeault, who has previously been hesitant to call for production caps, now says an ambitious agreement demands some limits on plastic production.

WHAT ELSE WE'RE NIBBLING ON

First, there’s a big change in B.C., with the province announcing plans to recriminalize the use of drugs in public places. This means altering a pilot program aimed at addressing the toxic drug crisis. Next, after 12 years and $34 billion, the Trans Mountain pipeline is finally finished. Read this story to find out what happens next. Finally, Canada’s now-former “first lady” Sophie Grégoire Trudeau has written a new book. Described as part memoir, part self-help guide, it’s titled Closer Together: Knowing Ourselves, Loving Each Other. Check out this interview with Grégoire Trudeau on her new book and how she’s learning to embrace her fears and doubts after her divorce from Canada’s PM. 

CROSSWORD

And now it's time for dessert...your weekly crossword! A little hint for you: you can find all these words in last week's newsletter!

Click here to solve

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