Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: Canadian Province Mulling Independence Vote
NEED TO KNOW
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: Canadian Province Mulling Independence Vote
CANADA
After Mark Carney won Canada’s elections in April, the prime minister-elect warned in his victory speech that “US President (Donald) Trump is trying to break us so America can own us.”
But Canada doesn’t necessarily need the US for that to happen.
Still in his honeymoon period, the prime minister now faces an emboldened secessionist movement within his own borders.
Observers of Canada might assume this movement originates in Quebec, the French-speaking province in eastern Canada that has long flirted with exiting a largely English-speaking country that evolved out of the British Empire in the 19th and 20th centuries.
But they would be incorrect.
Instead, the movement to split from the mothership is growing in Alberta – and to a lesser extent in its eastern neighbor, Saskatchewan – a western province dominated by the Rocky Mountains where conservative leaders want to export more fossil fuels, commodities, and conduct other trade to grow their economy. These voices for breaking away decry how tax authorities in the faraway capital of Ottawa are happy to collect their share of the province’s treasure in return for services most voters don’t notice.
Alberta, for example, contributed 17 percent to Canada’s gross domestic product in 2022 and $14.2 billion more to federal revenues than it received in federal spending. Only 10 percent of Canada’s lawmakers, meanwhile, are Albertans.
Now, populist Albertan Premier Danielle Smith, who says she doesn’t support secession, is likely going to allow a vote on independence in a move to show how sick and tired her constituents are with federal red tape and other rules they view as intrusive and counterproductive.
For example, as Canada’s CTV showed, Smith and other conservative province officials are currently battling progressive British Columbian officials who have rejected gas pipelines running from Alberta to the Pacific coast. British Columbian Premier David Eby says he has a right to oppose polluting infrastructure that his constituents don’t want. That angers some Albertans.
As a result of these and other grievances, Smith has initiated a process that would schedule a referendum if more than 177,000 Albertans signed a petition to do so within 120 days. Estimates said such a petition would collect 200,000 signatures easily.
“There will be a vote by Albertans on Alberta independence,” wrote Calgary Herald columnist Rick Bell in a recent opinion piece. “Everyone who has their ear to the ground agrees. They say you can bet the farm on it.”
That doesn’t mean that even if a vote were held, the ‘leave’ movement would win. According to recent polling by Canada’s Angus Reid Institute, support in Alberta to leave the confederation is still a minority, 36 percent. But those minorities shrink when assessing how serious the support is – few in Alberta (19 percent) say they would “definitely” vote to leave were a referendum to be held.
Still, the push goes on.
Opponents of independence say that Alberta is stronger within Canada and that Albertans, who define themselves as rooted in traditional conservative values, are not as culturally distinct from those in Ontario or other provinces as the secession camp claims. Jared Wesley, a political scientist at the University of Alberta who studies the province’s political culture, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation says the ideals expressed by separatist groups don’t represent the average Albertan in 2025.
“They’re absolutely dead wrong, and they’re projecting their own values on the rest of Alberta society,” he said.
But supporters say that isn’t true.
“We are ceaselessly told, with the smug assurance of Central Canadian punditry, that Alberta is ‘stronger within Canada’… This is the lullaby Ottawa sings to keep the West docile while siphoning its wealth and ridiculing its lifeblood industries,” wrote James Albers, a Calgary, Alberta-based management consultant in the Western Standard newspaper.
“The real question echoing across the Prairies is not ‘Why would Alberta leave?’” he added, “but ‘Why on earth would it stay?’”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Let’s Make a Deal: US and China Reach Tentative Trade Agreement
CHINA
The United States and China reached a provisional agreement Wednesday to implement a trade truce after two days of negotiations in London, signaling a potential de-escalation of tensions between the world’s two largest economies, CNN reported.
US and Chinese negotiators confirmed the deal “in principle,” noting that it now awaits final approval from the leaders of both countries before it can take effect.
While the specifics remain undisclosed, officials said the deal includes the easing of export controls and the lifting of restrictions on critical goods.
US President Donald Trump posted on social media that the deal was “done,” pending Chinese President Xi Jinping’s approval. He added that China would begin supplying “full magnets, and any necessary rare earths,” while the US would permit Chinese students to study at American universities and relax certain tech-related restrictions.
Trump also claimed the US secured a 55 percent tariff advantage over China’s 10 percent, calling the bilateral relationship “excellent,” according to the BBC.
The agreement builds on commitments made during last month’s talks in Geneva, Switzerland, and follows a recent phone call between Trump and Xi that aimed to reduce tensions.
At the Geneva meeting, both sides agreed to a 90-day window to negotiate a broader deal, lower tariffs – 30 percent for the US, 10 percent for China – and resume key exports while lifting certain trade barriers.
However, tensions resurfaced after both countries accused each other of violating non-tariff pledges, leading to new restrictions on chip design software, AI technologies, and rare earth exports.
Export controls remain a central issue. Beijing, which dominates global rare earth supplies, imposed strict licensing rules in April that drastically reduced overseas shipments. In response, Washington tightened semiconductor restrictions and threatened to revoke visas for Chinese students.
The standoff has already impacted trade: Chinese customs data showed a 34 percent drop in exports to the US in May.
Despite the apparent breakthrough, analysts and officials remain cautious. The deal lacks detailed commitments and hinges on high-level political approval.
Israeli Allies Sanction Two Far-Right Israeli Cabinet Ministers for ‘Inciting Extremist Violence’
ISRAEL
The United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway on Tuesday sanctioned two far-right Israeli ministers for allegedly “inciting extremist violence” against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in what was considered a sharp rebuke of Israel’s settlement policies and settler violence there, the Associated Press reported.
The five countries sanctioned National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, key members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government. Both support the war in Gaza, advocate what they say is the voluntary emigration of Palestinians from the territory, and support the reconstruction of Jewish settlements in the enclave.
Ben-Gvir and Smotrich “have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights. Extremist rhetoric advocating the forced displacement of Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements is appalling and dangerous,” the foreign ministers of the five countries said in a joint statement.
The ministers now face asset freezes and travel bans. They will be denied entry to the UK and any of their assets in the UK will be frozen, according to the BBC.
The foreign ministries of Canada and New Zealand have specified that the sanctions are aimed at the two ministers and not at the state of Israel or Israelis in general.
Israeli officials criticized the move, with Foreign Minister Gideon Saar describing the sanctions as “outrageous,” “scandalous,” and “unacceptable,” the Washington Post reported. “This is a planned and coordinated pressure campaign…We will hold a cabinet meeting to decide on our response.”
In a post on X, Smotrich said he had been at the inauguration of a new Jewish settlement near the West Bank city of Hebron when he heard the news. “I heard that Britain had decided to impose sanctions on me because I am thwarting the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Smotrich wrote. “There couldn’t be a better moment for this. … With God’s help, we are determined to continue building.”
Ben-Gvir, also writing on social media, said “we overcame Pharaoh, we’ll overcome Starmer’s Wall,” referring to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
There are now more than 100 settlements spread across the West Bank, housing over half a million Israelis, as well as three million Palestinians in the territory.
The Biden administration had sanctioned Israeli settlers who carried out violence in the West Bank but the sanctions were lifted by US President Donald Trump. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the new sanctions.
Most of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, and the Palestinians see them as the biggest hurdle to a possible two-state solution.
Israeli human rights lawyer Eitay Mack called these new sanctions “historic,” adding that the move indicates that Netanyahu could be next to face sanctions.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, survived a vote to dissolve the government early Thursday, which would have triggered early elections, France 24 wrote.
The motion, brought by the opposition, initially gained backing from members of Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox coalition partners who sought to break with him over the failure to pass legislation exempting their community from military service – a long-standing and divisive issue in Israel.
However, lawmakers ultimately rejected the proposal after the ruling coalition reached a last-minute agreement on the conscription bill.
Observers noted that the vote marked Netanyahu’s most serious political challenge since the war began. Had it passed, polls indicated the governing coalition would have lost at the ballot box, as many Israelis remain deeply shaken by the security failures that enabled Hamas’ attack and kidnappings on Oct. 7, 2023.
Anti-Migrant Riots Break Out in Northern Ireland
NORTHERN IRELAND
Violent riots targeting migrants broke out this week in the Northern Ireland town of Ballymena over a sexual assault and the arrest of two teenage suspects, reportedly foreign-born, who were allegedly involved in the attack, Al Jazeera reported.
The unrest began on Monday following a vigil in a neighborhood in the town about 30 miles northwest of Belfast, where an alleged sexual assault took place over the weekend. Rioters attacked properties and damaged four houses, which police are investigating as racially motivated “hate crimes.”
Hundreds of demonstrators, many masked, took to the streets of Ballymena on Tuesday, throwing Molotov cocktails, fireworks, and bricks, and setting fire to homes and cars. The police responded with water cannons and fired plastic baton rounds to disperse the crowds.
More than 30 police officers were injured, along with more than a dozen protesters, Reuters wrote.
Two 14-year-old boys, charged with an attempted rape of a teenage girl, appeared in court on Monday and asked for a Romanian interpreter, according to local media.
Ballymena has a large migrant population, and tensions remained high on Tuesday after the protesters were dispersed. Residents said the scenes were “terrifying.”
One Romanian resident said she was hanging a British flag on her front window in the hope of not being targeted. Another put up a British and Filipino flag with the message “Filipino lives here,” the Belfast Telegraph noted.
Northern Ireland saw an outbreak of violence against migrants in August after the fatal stabbing of three young girls in Southport, England, which triggered similar riots across the United Kingdom.
DISCOVERIES
Salamander, Beloved
According to Aztec legend, the axolotl, an aquatic salamander native to Mexico, represents the god of fire and lightning, Xolotl, who transformed himself into a salamander to avoid being sacrificed.
Centuries later, the axolotl is beloved in the country, even as Mexicans worry because it is at risk of extinction.
“If we lose this species, we lose part of our Mexican identity,” study author Luis Zambrano told the BBC.
But now, researchers say they may have found a way to save it.
Currently, axolotls are thriving in captivity, where they serve both as pets and research subjects. Those at risk of extinction are their wild counterparts, endemic to Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City. Due to the degradation of their native wetlands, there are only as many as 1,000 axolotls left in the wild. Some say the real number is far lower.
A new study has found that introducing captive-bred axolotls to restored and artificial wetlands could be a promising solution for the conservation of this species.
“This is a huge step, because in conservation programs when you have animals in captivity and you take them back to the wild … there’s a lot of mortality,” lead study author Alejandra Ramos told the Washington Post.
The researchers found two possible habitats in southern Mexico City to reintroduce the axolotls. One is a restored canal, a chinampa, in Lake Xochimilco, while the other is a spring-fed pond in a manmade wetland. They placed transmitters on the 18 axolotls included in the study, releasing 10 in the chinampa and eight in the wetland.
With the help of volunteers, they used radio receivers to track the animals’ movements for 40 days, checking twice a day at the beginning of the experiment and every hour when nearing the end.
The entire sample survived the experiment and three of the axolotls were recollected and found to have gained weight, which indicates the animals are able to hunt in the wild.
“If they had been skinny or ill,” Ramos told Science News, “that would have been really, really bad for us.”
The tracking showed the axolotls explored the area upon reintroduction and then settled into hunting and hiding spots. They were more active where the temperature was around 60 degrees Fahrenheit, in line with previous studies that showed that these animals prefer cooler temperatures.
However, the researchers’ main goal is to safeguard the original habitat of axolotls already in the wild by making it more livable, therefore, reintroduction should remain a plan of last resort if all else fails.
“If we can restore this (wetland) habitat and restore the axolotl’s population,” Zambrano said, “I feel that we have hope for humanity.”