In the news today: federal byelections, Google renames Lake Ontario, GM deal ratified

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed …

Voting to begin in federal byelections in Toronto, Vancouver and Chicoutimi ridings

Voting gets underway today in byelections in three federal ridings, including what could be a close race in rural Quebec.

Conservative Richard Martel resigned his seat in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord to sit in the Senate, while former cabinet minister Nate Erskine-Smith left the Toronto riding of Beaches-East York to later run for Toronto council.

McGill University political science professor Daniel Béland says if the Tories can’t hold onto Martel’s old seat, it will add to the narrative that Pierre Poilievre’s leadership is in trouble.

Former cabinet minister Jonathan Wilkinson gave up his seat in North Vancouver-Capilano to become Canada’s ambassador to the European Union.

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Google Maps to display Lake Ontario as Lake America in U.S.

Google Maps has updated to show Lake Ontario as “Lake America” for users in the United States after President Donald Trump signed an executive order this week to rename the Great Lake.

Users in Canada, however, will still see it displayed as Lake Ontario on Google Maps, and users outside Canada and the U.S. will see both names.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford told American television viewers over the weekend that the name change won’t stick, and said the executive order was akin to something out of “Saturday Night Live.”

Meanwhile, Ontario’s power utility Hydro One issued an apology after the third-party mapping service used for its outage map labelled the body of water as “Lake America.”

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Unionized GM workers vote to ratify new agreements with automaker

The union representing workers at General Motors says its members have voted overwhelmingly in favour of ratifying new contracts with the automaker.

Unifor and GM agreed Aug. 22 on tentative labour contracts for more than 4,600 autoworkers in Ontario, and union members voted on them over the weekend.

The union said Sunday the three-year collective agreements increase wages for full-rate production members to $50.20 an hour and skilled trades workers to $62.71 an hour.

Unifor National President Lana Payne said the agreements also commit more than $1 billion in investments to Canadian GM facilities.

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Bank of Canada set to grapple with renewed trade war pressures in rate decision

The Bank of Canada will grapple with fresh tariff headwinds as it prepares for its next interest rate decision on Wednesday.

Statistics Canada reported last week that the economy grew at its fastest pace in more than three years in the second quarter, though many economists believe new American tariffs of 50 per cent will cut that momentum short.

The Bank of Canada has held its benchmark interest rate steady at 2.25 per cent in six straight decisions and most economists don’t expect the bank to change its stance now.

Tony Stillo of Oxford Economics says the new tariffs won’t push Canada into a recession, though the central bank will likely wait to see how the duties affect the economy before adjusting its key lending rate.

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Saskatchewan prosecutors seek forfeiture of truck belonging to Mountie killer

A man in prison for killing two Mounties in Saskatchewan 20 years ago is set to have a court hearing today over the fate of his pickup truck.

Prosecutors have filed an application to have the blue 1986 GMC 1500 belonging to 61-year-old Curtis Dagenais forfeited to the Crown.

In 2009, a jury convicted Dagenais of first-degree murder for shooting constables Robin Cameron and Marc Bourdages, and also convicted him of attempted murder for wounding a third Mountie.

Dagenais was in his GMC truck when officers went to arrest him in Spiritwood, 175 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, in July 2006, leading officers on a police chase on country roads that ended with a shootout.

Dagenais received three life sentences without eligibility for parole for 25 years.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2026.

The Canadian Press