News

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Prime Minister Mark Carney is hosting a meeting with Canada’s premiers at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa on Friday, with interprovincial trade on the agenda. The Prime Minister’s Office and the office of Ontario Premier Doug Ford confirmed the details of the meeting. The gathering comes two days before a federal election is likely to be called. U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war escalated last week as the country imposed 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports entering the country, prompting Canada to effectively double its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. Trump has also repeatedly suggested that Canada should become the 51st state.

The premier of New Brunswick is calling on the other three East Coast premiers to join her in making Atlantic Canada a “free trade area” with a single market operating with one set of rules governing trade and labour mobility. Premier Susan Holt sent a letter on Thursday to Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, P.E.I. Premier Rob Lantz and Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey. In it, she said all provinces are working to loosen up regulations and strengthen interprovincial trade, but warns the provinces “must ensure that we don’t create a new patchwork of trade rules, especially within Atlantic Canada.”

Britain’s Heathrow Airport said it would be closed all of Friday after a huge fire at a nearby electrical substation wiped out power, disrupting flight schedules around the world. The London Fire Brigade said around 70 firefighters were tackling the blaze in the west of London, which caused a mass power outage at Heathrow, Europe’s busiest and the world’s fifth-busiest airport. Huge orange flames and plumes of black smoke could be seen shooting into the sky from a power station roughly three kilometres from the airport. It took firefighters about seven hours to get the blaze under control, the London Fire Brigade said. By early morning the roads around Britain’s biggest airport were largely deserted, except for some passengers walking away with their luggage.

Canada has slipped to 18th place in the global World Happiness Report, down three spots from last year and placing it among the “largest losers” in happiness rankings over the last two decades, according to the annual report released Thursday. At its peak, in the 2015 report, Canada had placed fifth. Now, in 18th, Canada has dropped to its lowest-ever position since the polling began in 2005. The United States has also dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24th, having previously peaked at 11th place in 2012. The U.K. fell to 23rd. Finland once again came out on top, named the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row in the annual report published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford.

Sports

Raul Jimenez stunned Canada with a first-minute goal and added another on a spectacular 75th-minute free kick for a 2-0 Mexico win Thursday in a frenetic, hot-blooded CONCACAF Nations League semifinal.

Cecilio Waterman scored a stunning goal in the fourth minute of second-half injury time, and Panama beat the three-time defending champion United States 1-0 on Thursday night to reach the CONCACAF Nations League final.

John Tavares scored twice and an added an assist, and Anthony Stolarz made 27 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the New York Rangers 4-3

Kyle Connor scored the overtime winner as the Winnipeg Jets came away with a narrow 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. Cole Perfetti, Josh Morrissey and Brandon Tanev also scored for the Jets (48-18-4), who have won four of their last five.