Daily News for October 08, 2026

Business & Politics

NAFTA Panel Reconfirms Canadian Softwood Lumber Industry Subsidized, Duties Appropriate Under U.S. Law

US Softwood Lumber Coalition
October 7, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

WASHINGTON — A binational NAFTA panel has again confirmed what the U.S. industry has known for decades: the Canadian softwood lumber industry receives numerous unfair subsidies from the Canadian government, and duties to offset those subsidies are appropriate under U.S. law. “The Coalition appreciates the significant work over nearly a decade by the Department of Commerce and the NAFTA Panel to render thoughtful, detailed decisions regarding all of the ways that Canada provides unfair financial support to its lumber industry,” stated Zoltan van Heyningen, Executive Director of the U.S. Lumber Coalition. …”As the Canadian government continues to double down on unfair subsidies to the Canadian industry, the Coalition will double down on its efforts to hold that industry accountable so that U.S. lumber producers, their workers, and their communities can continue to invest in making more American lumber to build more American homes,” added van Heyningen.

Read More

Finance & Economics

B.C.’s spending problem is now a fiscal crisis

Business in Vancouver
October 7, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, Canada West

B.C.’s fiscal situation is increasingly dire. Several years of substantial deficits have helped to propel accumulated debt sharply higher, while spending has continued to outpace revenues. The operating deficit for 2026-27 is now projected at almost $14 billion, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Finance. We believe the final tally will be higher. Together with record borrowing to finance the government’s sprawling capital plan, the return of chronic operating deficits has paved the way for a veritable debt explosion under Premier David Eby’s NDP government. Since 2022-23, debt has soared from $89 billion to $181 billion in the current fiscal year—more than doubling in four short years. As a share of gross domestic product (GDP), the province’s total debt now amounts to 38.6 per cent of GDP, up from 22.3 per cent when Eby became premier. The solid financial track record of former NDP premier John Horgan has been completely shredded by his successor.

Read More

Health & Safety

Event scheduled to monitor impacts of 2000s toxic leak at Dryden mill

By Maya Ekman
NWO Newswatch
October 7, 2026
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada East

THUNDER BAY – Workers who were exposed to toxic fumes during a specific project at Dryden’s Weyerhaeuser Pulp and Paper Mill in the early 2000s are being invited to a Thursday event to follow up on the impacts to their health. The Occupation Health Clinic for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) will be at the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union Hall, at 326 Memorial Ave. from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Oct. 8. Between 2002 and 2004, about 400 construction workers on the Recovery Boiler #4 project were exposed to untreated smog that came out of the plant, according to OHCOW’s executive director for projects, Andrew Zarnke. OHCOW issued a release regarding the event this week, “many workers were made ill and a number have died since.” The mill is no longer owned by Weyerhaeuser.

Read More