In the news today: 10 candidates in Alberta byelection to debate

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

10 candidates in Alberta byelection to debate

Ten candidates vying to represent Battle River-Crowfoot in the House of Commons are to debate tonight in the riding’s largest municipality.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s press secretary Sarah Fischer says he will be attending the event hosted by the Camrose & District Chamber of Commerce ahead of the Aug. 18 byelection.

Poilievre is looking to win in the sprawling eastern Alberta riding after he lost his long-held Ottawa seat of Carleton in the April general election.

The writ was dropped last month after Conservative Damien Kurek, who handily won the seat in the April vote, stepped down so Poilievre could run.

About 210 candidates were registered to run as of Monday on Elections Canada’s website, including Liberal candidate Darcy Spady, the NDP’s Katherine Swampy, Independent Bonnie Critchley and dozens of others sponsored by the Longest Ballot Committee protest group.

Here’s what else we’re watching…

‘Worst-case scenario of famine’ is happening in Gaza, food crisis experts say

The “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,” the leading international authority on food crises said in a new alert Tuesday, predicting “widespread death” without immediate action.

The alert, still short of a formal famine declaration, follows an outcry over images of emaciated children in Gaza and reports of dozens of hunger-related deaths after nearly 22 months of war. The international pressure led Israel over the weekend to announce measures, including daily humanitarian pauses in fighting in parts of Gaza and airdrops. The United Nations and Palestinians on the ground say little has changed, and desperate crowds continue to overwhelm and unload delivery trucks before they can reach their destinations.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said Gaza has teetered on the brink of famine for two years, but recent developments have “dramatically worsened” the situation, including “increasingly stringent blockades” by Israel.

A formal famine declaration, which is rare, requires the kind of data that the lack of access to Gaza and mobility within has largely denied. The IPC has only declared famine a few times in recent years — in Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and parts of Sudan’s western Darfur region last year.

But independent experts say they don’t need a formal declaration to know what they’re seeing in Gaza.

Businesses hoping for carveouts in potential deal

Business leaders and academics say they hope to see Canada and the U.S. maintain free-trade protections for most goods once an agreement is reached, even if the negotiations can’t stave off certain sectoral tariffs.

It’s unclear if the two countries will stick to the Aug. 1 deadline for wrapping up talks. Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday negotiations were in an “intense phase” but U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters last week that Canada wasn’t a priority for his administration.

Whether a deal is announced Friday or later, Canadian Federation of Independent Business president Dan Kelly says his organization’s members feel “a good chunk” of trade must remain tariff-free in order for talks to be considered successful.

He says it wouldn’t be a win for Canada if the trade agreement ends up looking similar to the deal struck by the U.S. with the European Union on Sunday.

That framework imposes a 15-per-cent tariff on most goods imported into the U.S., including European automobiles, and there are no carveouts for key products like pharmaceuticals and steel.

Motion on B.C. injection site closure deferred

City council in Nanaimo, B.C., has voted to defer a motion on asking the local health authority to close an overdose prevention site next to city hall.

The vote to defer Coun. Ian Thorpe’s motion passed with a 6-3 vote in favour of deferral during a special meeting of council on Monday night.

Had the motion not been deferred and instead passed a council vote, it would have resulted in the city formally requesting that Island Health close the site on Albert Street.

The motion came after a similar request this month by Victoria Coun. Marg Gardiner related to a safe consumption site that she says is plagued by crime, although councillors in that city delayed the motion until later this year.

B.C.’s Health Ministry says while overdose prevention services are vital programs, they are expected to take action to mitigate “street disorder within the immediate vicinity of sites during operating hours.”

Ex-MLA Chen draws deep for tale of gender violence

Former British Columbia legislator Katrina Chen sits on a couch in her Burnaby home, reading aloud from the children’s book she’s co-written.

The mother and son in the story, “A Stronger Home,” co-written with Elaine Su, turn their backs on a scene of domestic turmoil: a broken vase, furniture overturned, sofa cushions in disarray.

“I wrote this book as a survivor of gender-based violence with personal experiences about how violence has touched and impacted my whole life,” said Chen, B.C.’s former minister of state for child care.

Chen, who also has a young son, sees the problem as an urgent one, pointing to a recent spate of alleged intimate partner violence in B.C.

This month alone, there has been the killing of an 80-year-old Abbotsford woman and the death of her husband in what police consider a murder-suicide; the killing in a Richmond apartment of a 51-year-old woman whose partner has been charged with second-degree murder; and the death of Bailey McCourt, allegedly beaten to death in a Kelowna parking lot by her estranged husband, James Plover, also charged with second-degree murder.

Chen said it was “totally heartbreaking and unacceptable” to hear of such tragedies, and society needed to see the violence as an emergency. She and other advocates want changes to the legal and social justice systems to prevent it from continuing.

Artists reflect on colourful Toronto moose project

As people around the world welcomed a new millennium, Torontonians in the year 2000 were welcoming something even bigger – a herd of hundreds of life-size moose statues.

Twenty-five years ago, Toronto launched its Moose in the City campaign, a project featuring 326 colourful moose statues decorated by artists and placed all over the city in an effort to usher in the new year with a boost for local tourism and art sectors.

The project came at no cost to the city, according to council minutes from April 2000, and the statues were sponsored by various companies. The public could stumble upon the hoofed, herbivore masterpieces at locations including the CN Tower, Pearson Airport and city hall.

Some of the artists involved say the project was emblematic of the city’s culture and shows how municipalities can step up to support the art scene — even as some of the famed sculpted creatures have disappeared in the years since.

Moose in the City was a “great collaboration with the city” for artists, said Kelly Borgers, who was commissioned to do three of the statues. There was even a launch party for the project, with music and a sculpture parade.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2025.

The Canadian Press