In the news: Trade war ignites, Poilievre wants Parliament recalled, businesses brace

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed …

Poilievre wants Carney to reconvene Parliament

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling for Prime Minister Mark Carney to reconvene Parliament to get details on the proposed U.S. trade deal he rejected, and answers on how Canadians will be affected by his plans to hit back.

Poilievre, in a letter to Carney on Sunday, says it’s time for the prime minister to release the text of the deal because “Canadians must see it to judge what options are on the table.”

He also says Canadians need to know how much Carney’s trade and economic policies will cost them in higher groceries, gas and other prices.

In addition, Poilievre asks how Carney will protect steel, aluminum, lumber and auto manufacturing jobs threatened by tariffs.

Calgary jewelry maker affected by U.S. tariffs

Jewelry maker Cindy Baldassi says she is expecting to lose roughly half of her customers as the trade war between Canada and the United States heats up.

“I have to start looking on how I can increase my sales elsewhere or my income,” said Baldassi in a phone interview on Sunday from her home in Calgary.

Baldassi’s online shop, CindyLouWho2, is among the businesses across Canada that were hit by American tariffs on Saturday after trade talks between Canada and the United States failed the night before.

The 50 per cent tariff affects Canadian exports worth more than $20 billion, including various gold, silver, and imitation jewelry.

Baldassi said that 75 per cent of buyers purchasing her sterling silver, stone and dinosaur-fossil jewelry were American.

The Governor General of Canada Louise Arbour speaks at the 150th Commemoration marking the signing of Treaty 6 at Fort Carlton Provincial Historical Park, in Duck Lake, Sask., Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Matt Smith

150th anniversary of Treaty 6 commemorated

Standing in the same place where it was signed, politicians, Crown representatives, Indigenous chiefs and elders marked the 150th anniversary of Treaty 6 on Sunday by saying they hoped the future would be nothing like the past.

“This treaty recognized a shared relationship with the land, the waters, and the living things,” Gov. Gen. Louise Arbour told a crowd at Fort Carlton, about 100 kilometres north of Saskatoon.

“History, unfortunately, tells a very different story.”

The treaty was the sixth of 11 treaties signed in the years after Canada was established through Confederation. It covers most of what’s now central Alberta and Saskatchewan, though the treaty is older than both provinces.

Supporters of Ukraine rally outside the Embassy of Russia in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Protesters at Russian embassy in for long haul

Standing outside Russia’s embassy in Ottawa, retiree Karen Niven-Wigston is decked out in yellow and blue, holding a pink plastic flamingo as a sign of support for Ukraine.

“If Canadians knew exactly what Russia is doing, they would be as appalled as we are, and they would do everything they can to help Ukraine defeat Russia,” she said.

Four and a half years after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a group of protesters meets every weekday to show support for Ukraine, chide embassy staff and find colourful ways to remind people about the war.

The protests take place during weekdays over the lunch hour, when embassy staff pop out. Some hold Ikea umbrellas with the blue and yellow colours of Ukraine’s flag.

WestJet flight attendants strike at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, B.C., on Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

WestJet flight attendants wrap up contract vote

WestJet flight attendants are wrapping up a week-long vote this afternoon on whether to accept a contract deal struck between their union and the airline.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees says the tentative agreement includes a more than 18 per cent wage hike over three years as well as new compensation for work done on the ground.

The deal followed tough negotiations, particularly around boarding pay, that culminated in a one-day strike by some 4,400 cabin crew earlier this month.

WestJet’s flight schedule gradually ramped up after more than 900 flight cancellations at the peak of the summer travel period.

Shop and Play co-owner Barbarann Fall helps Jack Pickering don an Anne of Green Gables costume on Monday, July 20, 2026.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Eli Ridder

PEI teen goes viral as ‘Manne of Green Gables’

A 16-year-old dubbed the “Manne of Green Gables” has racked up over a million views on social media for a Prince Edward Island gift shop this summer, in what experts say is an example other Canadian small businesses should follow in order to grow their brands.

Jack Pickering works at Shop and Play in Borden-Carleton, P.E.I., a seasonal business just minutes from where Confederation Bridge touches down on the Island.

Towards the back of the shop, behind rows of P.E.I.-themed merchandise and postcards of Confederation Bridge, visitors can pay to dress up and take photos as the province’s main fictional export, Anne of Green Gables.

On May 24, the shop posted a video of Pickering giving a walkthrough of the parlour wearing an Anne costume consisting of a green dress, straw hat and a wig of her infamous red hair and braids.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 24, 2026

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