News
Copy by Will Pearson
In local news, the municipality is hosting a public open house to share results from the Wellington Beach Improvement and Management Plan next Wednesday at the Wellington and District Community Centre from 4 – 6 pm. County Staff will present the recommendations from the Beach Plan, which builds on the community consultation completed in 2022.
The Canada-U.S. trade war could spark a crisis in Ontario’s landfills if Trump cuts off garbage shipments to the U.S. The province’s landfill capacity could be exhausted over the next decade, according to the province’s auditor general and the association that represents the province’s waste and recycling sector. Some of the blame for the landfill crunch falls on businesses and institutions provincewide. They generate 60 per cent of Ontario’s waste and 98 per cent don’t recycle. Ontario is in the process of shifting the cost burden of blue box recycling programs away from municipalities and onto companies that make and sell products that generate waste. But some of those companies are now asking Doug Ford’s government to change the plan, saying it’s too expensive. And there are concerns the government will use Trump’s tariffs as an excuse to push ahead with new or expanded landfills and to loosen environmental assessment rules for landfills.
In personal finance news, buy now, pay later apps like Klarna and Afterpay have grown in popularity since the pandemic. These apps allow users to make purchases in small instalments over time and are especially popular with young people without credit history. However, experts warn that the apps are so easy to use that people can easily lose track of their purchases and get into debt. As with credit cards, late payments come with extra fees for the user.
Paul Kershaw, a columnist for the Globe and Mail, identifies a trend driving a sharp divide among Canadians under 35. Record-low interest rates during the pandemic allowed many older homeowners to liquefy their housing wealth through re-financing. The data Kershaw examined from Stats Can and the Canadian Real Estate Association suggested that some of those older homeowners might have used that wealth to help younger family members enter the housing market. Kershaw says that entering the housing market for some under 35s depends less on how hard you work, and increasingly on how much housing wealth your family has accumulated, or being born into the right family, the textbook definition of a landed aristocracy.
Finally, the federal government has announced that persons with disabilities will be able to apply for the new Canada Disability Benefit as of this Friday. Persons with disabilities who are 18 to 64 can apply for the benefit if they have qualified for the disability tax credit, have filed their 2024 income tax return, and meet the benefit’s other eligibility requirements. The federal government will send letters to eligible Canadians inviting them to apply. Canadians will be able to apply online, in person at a Service Canada office, or by phone. First payments will begin in July for applications received and approved by the end of June.
Sports
Last night, the Florida Panthers repeated as Stanley Cup champions by beating the Edmonton Oilers 5 – 1 in Game 6. Thus ends Canada’s hopes after 31 seasons.
After being swept last weekend by the Philadelphia Phillies, the Toronto Blue Jays are in third place in the AL East, but at least they’re back in the win column. In their first of six games at home, the Jays beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5 – 4 last night. The second and third games in the series go tonight and tomorrow afternoon.
Fresh off his first ATP Tour title, Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo continued his winning ways with a first-round victory yesterday at the HSBC tennis championships in London, England. Diallo’s victory capped a successful day for Canadians at ATP 500 grass-court tournaments after Félix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov won their opening matches at the Terra Wortmann Open in Germany. On the women’s side, Bianca Andreescu was defeated in the first round of the WTA 500 Berlin Tennis Open.
Last night, the number-30-ranked Canadian men’s soccer team opened their Gold Cup campaign with an emphatic 6 – 0 over No. 75 Honduras in Vancouver. Canada completes group play against No. 90 Curaçao and No. 81 El Salvador on June 21st and 24th.
And in the 2025 Club World Cup of football yesterday, European heavy-weights Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan were only able to manage ties against Brazilian and Mexican opposition. Today, Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Juventus are all expected to win handily.