5 Things posted Jan 23, 2025 @ 08:00am by Iain Burns

5 things you need to know this morning: Jan. 23, 2025

Start your day off right with five things you need to know this morning.

Five things you need to know

1. Trump could target Online News Act amid US-Canada trade dispute

The new Trump Administration could be gunning for the Liberals' Online News Act – which attempts to force Facebook and Google to pay for linking to news articles – amid a brewing trade war between the US and Canada. Law professor Michael Geist said the controversial law could be "on the table" in trade negotiations, alongside the Online Streaming Act. The CEOs of both Google and Facebook attended Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday.

Canada’s digital services tax, online regulation bills a likely Trump trade target https://t.co/jEyGSOSjCP pic.twitter.com/H87CEYApst
— Toronto Sun (@TheTorontoSun) January 23, 2025

2. Liberals meet ahead of 5 pm deadline to officially declare leadership bid

The Liberal Party caucus meets today ahead of the 5 pm deadline for leadership candidates to declare that they will run. As of this morning, Mark Carney, Chrystia Freeland and Chandra Arya have all submitted their forms and paid the initial $50,000 deposit; others, including Karina Gould, Jaime Battiste, Frank Baylis and Ruba Dhalla have expressed their intention to do so.

The federal Liberal caucus is meeting today and tomorrow on Parliament Hill as the party searches for its next leader.

Candidates who want to run to replace Justin Trudeau as party leader are almost out of time to confirm their bids. https://t.co/3JSe6yUxPo
— CityNews Calgary (@citynewscalgary) January 23, 2025

3. Provinces unhappy about Ottawa's cuts to immigration program

Provinces across Canada have expressed dismay after being told by Ottawa that they must dramatically cut their economic immigration programs this year. Saskatchewan said the province is "quite reliant" on migrants, Ontario said the cuts could hurt the province's "ability to meet employer demands and support economic growth" and Alberta said the move was "completely hypocritical." The federal government said it will look at "additional allocation" for some provinces, particularly if they commit to "supporting asylum seekers."

Provinces warn Ottawa slashing immigration program in half will hurt economy | CBC News https://t.co/iTzFUxWN6Y
— Janet Thompson-Price (@JanetThompsonP4) January 23, 2025

4. Feds bracing for surge in asylum applications as Trump tightens rules in US

The federal government is reportedly bracing for a potential whirlwind of asylum applications following President Donald Trump's tightening of refugee rules south of the border. The former chair of the Canadian Bar Association's immigration section said: "We share a border with an elephant and he is talking about deporting 11 million people."

Canada is bracing for an influx of #refugee claimants following U.S. President Donald Trump's executive orders on #immigration and gender. #cdnpoli #polcan https://t.co/PaGWsfw9be
— Elizabeth Thompson (@LizT1) January 23, 2025

5. Activists call on feds to allow trans people from US to claim asylum in Canada

Activist groups have urged the federal government to exempt transgender people from the Safe Third Country Agreement between the US and Canada. Doing so would allow transgender refugees in the US, who according to one activist are "enormously less safe" under President Trump, to seek asylum in Canada.

"It's going to be extremely important for the 🇨🇦 gov to stand very clearly behind 🇨🇦's belief in international rights for refugees, in the fundamental right to asylum and in demonstrating that we have a different way in Canada," Sreenivasan said.https://t.co/gHgdD9190n
— Canadian Council for Refugees (@ccrweb) January 23, 2025