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Kyiv Rejects Pressure to Surrender More Donbas Territory

  The Ukrainian delegation on the first day of the third round of the trilateral talks (with the US and Russia) in Geneva. Ukraine has firmly dismissed suggestions that it should concede additional territory in the Donbas region, despite reported pressure from the United States to consider territorial compromises as part of potential negotiations with Russia. Ukrainian officials reiterated that any settlement requiring the country to relinquish more land is unacceptable and incompatible with the principles of sovereignty and international law. Kyiv maintains that yielding territory would reward aggression and undermine long‑term security not only for Ukraine but for Europe as a whole. Ukrainian leaders argue that Russia’s continued military operations demonstrate that concessions would not bring peace, only encourage further demands. The U.S. has not publicly confirmed any push for territorial compromise, though some American officials have reportedly floated negotiation scenari...

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Canada’s Population Growth and the National Bank of Canada’s Report

 

According to a report by the National Bank of Canada, Canada is caught in a “population trap” for the first time in modern history and needs to limit immigration to escape it. A population trap is when the population is growing so fast that all available savings are needed to maintain the existing capital-labour ratio, making any increase in living standards impossible. 

National Bank’s report joins the growing chorus of concern that the influx of newcomers over the past two years, many of whom are temporary workers or students, is too much for the economy to handle.

Canada’s population grew by 1.2 million in 2023, a “staggering” amount when you consider that the next biggest surge was when Newfoundland joined the nation in 1949. From a global perspective, Canada’s population growth of 3.2% last year was five times higher than the average of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development nations. 

The economists say that Canada currently lacks the infrastructure and capital stock to adequately absorb current population growth and improve its standard of living. The strain is most evident in housing, with National saying the shortfall has reached a record of only one housing start for every 4.2 people entering the working-age population. Government programs are underway to address this, but to meet demand and reduce housing inflation, Canada would need to double its housing construction capacity to about 700,000 starts a year.

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