Skip to main content

Featured

Churchill Falls: A 15% Power Bill Rebate, $10 Billion From Ottawa — What It Means for Your Wallet

  Thursday, August 20, 2026 Last Monday, Prime Minister Mark Carney stood on a pier in St. John's alongside Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Tony Wakeham and Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette to announce what Ottawa is calling the largest clean energy investment in North American history. Buried in the headline numbers — $273 billion in nominal contract value, $10 billion in federal financing, 14,000 megawatts of new hydro capacity — is a much simpler story for ordinary Canadians: who pays what for electricity, for the next 50 years. Here's what actually changed, and what it means for your bills whether you live in St. John's, Montreal, or Ajax, Ontario. The deal it's replacing was historically lopsided To understand why this is a big deal, you need the old one. Under the original 1969 Churchill Falls contract, Quebec locked in the right to buy the vast majority of the plant's power from Newfoundland and Labrador at roughly 0.2 cents per kilowatt-hour — a price th...

article

Israel Approves New Parcel of West Bank Land for Settlement

 

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has declared 800 hectares in the occupied West Bank as state land. This move aims to facilitate the use of the ground for settlement building. The announcement comes on the same day that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Despite growing international opposition, the Israeli government remains determined to press ahead with settlement construction in the West Bank.

The designation of 1,976 acres of land in the Jordan Valley as state land follows a similar decision regarding 300 hectares (740 acres) in the Maale Adumim area of the West Bank. The latter area is crucial to the Palestinians’ vision of a future independent state.

Last month, the United States stated that Israel’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank was inconsistent with international law, aligning with the global consensus that considers these settlements illegal. Israel, however, disputes this view, citing historical and Biblical ties to the land. Meanwhile, the Palestinians view the expansion of settlements as a deliberate Israeli policy aimed at undermining their aspiration for an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned this latest move, describing it as “a continuation of the extermination and displacement of our people from their homeland.”

Despite the controversy, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s declaration underscores the government’s commitment to settlement building in the West Bank. The situation remains highly contentious, with implications for regional stability and peace efforts.

Comments