Byelection is coming – iPolitics

Happy Friday! We’re starting the newsletter with some byelection news for a Toronto riding.

Liberals in Beaches—East York will choose their candidate for the upcoming federal byelection later this month, with a nine-day nomination race now underway.

Party members will vote on July 18. To cast a ballot at the nomination meeting, voters have been registered Liberal members as of July 7.

The byelection was triggered by Nathaniel Erskine-Smith’s long-awaited resignation, which became official earlier this week.

The veteran Liberal MP had announced earlier this year he was resigning to run for the Ontario Liberal leadership. But he later pulled out of that race after losing the Ontario Liberal nomination for the Scarborough Southwest provincial byelection.

Sydney Ko has this writeup.

*Trainee pipe fitters learn their trade at a union facility in Calgary, Friday, May 15, 2026.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh*

A better start to the youth summer jobs market helped the economy record steady employment gains in June, Statistics Canada said Friday.

Employers added 18,000 jobs last month, the agency said, mostly in part-time and private sector work.

That pushed the unemployment rate down a tenth of a point to 6.5 per cent, back to where it stood in January.

Employment gains narrowly topped economists’ expectations heading into the release but mark a slowdown from the 88,000 jobs added in May.

Young workers have struggled in a tough labour market in recent years, but the group was a bright spot in the June jobs report.

StatCan said youth aged 15 to 24 added 33,000 jobs in June, mostly in part-time work. Workers aged 25 to 54 saw similar gains while older members of the labour market faced losses.

The Canadian Press has more.

*Construction continues on the Gordie Howe International Bridge, in Windsor, Ont., on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dax Melmer*A completed bridge linking Detroit and Canada is expected to open by the end of the month after U.S. and Canadian officials reached an agreement to resolve the dispute that delayed its debut, according to two people directly involved in the negotiations.

The sources were not authorized to publicly disclose the deal before a formal announcement.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled for early June was postponed after the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority said the two countries needed more time to resolve “outstanding issues.” The delay followed President Donald Trump’s earlier threats to block the bridge’s opening.

Commercial traffic is now expected to begin before Aug. 1, according to an official, though a date for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony has not yet been set.

The 1.5-mile-long (2.4-kilometer-long) Gordie Howe International Bridge spans the Detroit River and connects the Motor City with Windsor, Ontario.

The Associated Press has more.

In Other Headlines

Internationally

Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress hailed it as the biggest housing bill in decades. Republicans called it a win for families across the country. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described it on X as “one of the most significant pieces of housing legislation in American history.” And in June, both houses of Congress passed it with broad bipartisan support.

President Trump called it “a big yawn” and refused to sign it on June 24, shortly after it passed.

On Friday, the president again reiterated that he won’t sign.

In earlier Truth Social posts, Trump dismissed the bill — officially called the 21st Century Road to Housing Act — as “of minor importance” and canceled a June White House signing ceremony, stipulating that he would only sign if Congress passed a strict voter ID bill called the SAVE America Act. That bill would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast a ballot. It has stalled in the Senate, where it doesn’t have the 60 votes to pass.

NPR has more.

Elsewhere, a man is being held on suspicion of the murder of the former MP Ann Widdecombe as political leaders across the spectrum express shock and horror at her alleged killing.

Widdecombe’s body was found with “serious injuries” by the ambulance service at her home in Haytor, Devon, at 11.40am on Thursday, Devon and Cornwall police said.

Earlier on Friday, the force said it was seeking a white male in connection with the death but later confirmed a 26-year-old white British national had been arrested at an address in Newton Abbot, less than 10 miles from Widdecombe’s home. He remained in police custody while inquiries continued.

At a press conference in Exeter, the assistant chief constable Matt Longman said the force did not believe at this stage that the killing was politically motivated, and after an initial consultation with counter-terrorism officers, had ruled out a terrorist motive.