By Canadian Press

In the news today: Statistics Canada to release GDP figures today

Sep 1, 2023 | 2:16 AM

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…

Statistics Canada to release June and Q2 GDP figures today

Statistics Canada will release its latest reading on how the overall economy is faring this morning.

The agency is expected to release its figures for gross domestic product for June and for the second quarter as a whole.

An early estimate by Statistics Canada pointed to a contraction of 0.2 per cent in real GDP for June, while growth in the second quarter was estimated at an annualized rate of one per cent.

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The decrease in June was attributed to the wholesale trade and manufacturing sectors, though the agency cautioned the numbers were preliminary and said they would be updated.

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Here’s what else we’re watching …

Heat and wind expected to worsen Hay River fire

A wildfire official says the town of Hay River will be at risk over the next few days with strong winds and high temperatures making a dangerous situation even worse.

About 70 per cent of the Northwest Territories’ population, including the 3,500 inhabitants of Hay River, have been out of their homes for nearly two weeks. 

Wildfire information officer Mike Westwick says while some good progress has been made in the Yellowknife area, the risk in Hay River remains severe, with winds expected to pick up and the heat to rise with very low levels of moisture.

Westwick says there’s the potential for some serious challenges.

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Higher COVID vaccine uptake urged this fall

Federal scientists will be monitoring global research to determine the effectiveness of updated vaccines against the latest COVID-19 variant, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada say.

Canada’s first known case of the Omicron variant BA.2.86 was detected this week in British Columbia as the country became the seventh in the world to report its presence.

Health Canada is currently reviewing applications for Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech’s new mRNA vaccines, developed against the dominant XBB.1.5 variant ahead of a vaccination campaign set for the fall.

As of this week, there were only 13 sequences of the highly mutated variant BA. 2.86 available to analyze across six other countries — four in Denmark, three in the United States, two in Portugal, two in South Africa, one in Israel, and one in the United Kingdom, Health Canada and PHAC said in an email.

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Poll shows almost half of Canadians living paycheque to paycheque

A new poll from Leger suggests the cost of living crisis has almost half of Canadians just getting by each month, and it’s hitting young people harder.

Forty-seven per cent of people polled say they are living paycheque-to-paycheque, and 36 per cent say their household finances are in poor shape. 

More than half of the respondents who are under age 35 say they’re paycheque-to-paycheque, and almost 50 per cent of them say they’re worried about losing their job in the next year.

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What happens when you give homeless people $7,500?

A University of British Columbia researcher says there’s a stark contrast between public perception and the reality of how homeless people spend money.

Jiaying Zhao led a study that analyzed spending habits of 50 homeless people living in Vancouver who were given a one-time cash transfer of $7,500 with no strings attached.

Zhao says the money boosted recipients’ spending on rent, food and clothing, but not on so-called temptation goods, such as drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.

The study found recipients spent 99 fewer days homeless over the next year and 55 more days in stable housing compared with those who didn’t receive the money.

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Ontario prof part of team supporting moon mission

An Ontario university professor has been named part of the NASA team that will develop the lunar surface science plan for the first people to walk on the moon in more than 50 years.

Gordon Osinski is the sole Canadian on the geology team recently announced by NASA for the Artemis three mission.

The team will plan the science tasks to be carried out by astronauts expected to land near the south pole of the moon as early as December 2025.

NASA’s Artemis missions will take humans back to the moon and explore more of the lunar surface with the goal of using the findings to inform an eventual mission to Mars.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2023.

The Canadian Press