Picking up where we left off, the Opposition party continues with its dig on accusing Carney’s Liberal for Canada’s sluggish economy.

Statistics Canada said Friday that real gross domestic product declined 0.1 per cent on an annualized basis in the first quarter. That’s the second consecutive quarterly contraction to start the year, meeting some definitions of a technical recession.

Many economists have dismissed the recession label, arguing the recent slump doesn’t have the depth or breadth to meet that bar.

But Poilievre told reporters on Parliament Hill on Monday that there’s nothing technical about this downturn. He cited statistics about rising insolvency rates and food bank usage to show that Canadians are worse off after a year of Carney’s government.

He said Canadians need answers about why Canada has the only shrinking economy in the G7.

The Canadian Press has more. 

Also, data from an advanced electric vehicle that falls into the wrong hands could be used to track people or carry out surveillance, an internal government document warns.

The Public Safety Canada memo, prepared to address concerns about Chinese vehicles, urges Canadians to be mindful of the security and privacy risks of the digital devices they buy and use.

Earlier this year, Canada pledged to reduce its 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles to 6.1 per cent — with an annual cap of 49,000 vehicles — in exchange for lower tariffs on Canadian agricultural products.

The memo says Canada has to expand its economy in response to a changing geopolitical environment — a necessary step to ensure economic sovereignty.

CP’s got this one too. 

Some optimism on housing in Ontario…

The federal and Ontario governments officially opened an $8.8 billion infrastructure fund Monday aimed at encouraging municipalities to slashing development charges and lower the cost of homebuilding.

Housing Minister Gregor Robertson was joined with Ontario Housing Minister Rob Flack and Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy in Ottawa to announce the Canada-Ontario Municipal Development Charge Reduction Program.

The program, under a larger ‘Build Canada Homes’ umbrella, sets to remove 13 per cent HST on new homes in Ontario that are valued up to $1 million. It was first announced in late March, though the fund officially opened to applicants on Monday.

“By reducing these fees, we are bringing down the cost for a new home in Ontario up to $200,000 and this will be done through that combo of reduced development charges and HST relief for home buyers,” Robertson said.

Sydney Ko has the write-up. 

In Other Headlines

Internationally

Elsewhere, Iran has indicated it will suspend peace talks with the US in protest against Israel’s offensive in Lebanon, threatening the collapse of negotiations with Washington as the two sides skirmished amid a faltering ceasefire.

The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said: “The ceasefire between Iran and the US is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon. Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts. The US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation.”

A news agency aligned to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Tehran was suspending its participation in talks designed to end the blockade of the strait of Hormuz.

Donald Trump has said the US was not yet informed of Iran suspending talks but suggested he was not opposed to a halt in negotiations.

The Guardian has more. 

Meanwhile, rescuers in Laos are racing against time to find two men trapped in a flooded cave network, days after one person was rescued and four others crawled to freedom.

Earlier, rescuers said they were investigating a possible “knocking response” deep inside the cave network. “We still cannot confirm that the knocking sounds came from trapped victims. However, we can confirm that there were definite knocking sounds in response to the signals,” Thai specialist cave diver Kengkard Bongkawong told CNN by phone earlier Monday.

Later Monday, another member of the rescue crew downplayed reports of these sounds.

“There has been a lot of reporting suggesting that we heard knocking back. That is absolutely not true,” Josh Richards, an Australian diver, told CNN on Monday evening.

Read more from CNN. 

In Other International Headlines

Kicker

And finally… while MPs are in their final stretch before the House rises for the summer, but the realsummer session begins tomorrow night with the return of Love Island USA season eight.

From tomorrow night until mid-July, viewers will once again be serenaded by Iain Stirling’s delightfully deadpan Scottish commentary as attractive people greet new bombshells and make increasingly questionable decisions in Fiji.