Maple Express | October 9, 2026 — Canada Shed 68,300 Jobs in September, Erasing This Year's Employment Gains

1. Canada Shed 68,300 Jobs in September, Erasing This Year's Employment Gains

Source: CP24

Statistics Canada reported Friday that the economy shed a net 68,300 jobs in September, pushing the unemployment rate up from 6.4 per cent in August to 6.5 per cent and wiping out all the employment gains recorded earlier this year. The unexpected drop followed a decline of 41,700 jobs in August; analysts polled by Reuters had forecast an increase of 9,200 jobs and an unemployment rate of 6.5 per cent.

September was the first full month after a new round of U.S. tariffs took effect against Canada, but the largest job losses were in the public sector, particularly health care, social assistance and education, as the government cut international student permits. Manufacturing, a sector partly exposed to U.S. tariffs, lost a net 12,700 jobs. Job losses were split almost evenly between full-time and part-time positions.

With September's decline, Canada has lost a net 41,200 jobs so far this year, compared with a gain of 211,300 in the same period of 2025. The labour force participation rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 64.8 per cent, its lowest level in 29 years excluding the pandemic, and employment among youth aged 15-24 fell by 48,000. Average hourly wages for permanent employees accelerated to 2.3 per cent year on year. The Canadian dollar weakened 0.44 per cent to $1.4287 per US dollar, and two-year government bond yields fell 9.5 basis points to 2.410 per cent. Royce Mendes, head of macro strategy at Desjardins, said Canadian central bankers will likely need to keep rates unchanged this month given the recent deterioration in the labour market.

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2. Olivia Chow Unveils Four-Point Plan to Lower Grocery Prices as Rival Calls It Recycled

Source: CP24

Toronto mayoral candidate Olivia Chow announced a plan Friday to lower grocery prices, centred on an outright ban on surveillance pricing and property tax breaks for community grocers. "Right now, things are hard for community grocery stores and the families they serve. Food has become too expensive. We don't want to have mums and dads putting something back at the checkout because they can't afford it," she said at a news conference.

Surveillance pricing lets companies alter prices for customers both online and in-store based on their spending habits and demographics. As mayor, Chow previously put forward a motion directing the city manager to investigate all possible mechanisms to ban the practice, and the motion passed in July. "Two people could buy the same groceries, but one person pays more because the technology thinks they will. Your bill should not depend on what a company knows about you," she said.

The second plank of Chow's four-point plan would cut taxes for independent grocery stores, which she said could save a smaller business as much as $5,000 a year on its property tax bill — about 50 per cent of what a "big corporate chain" grocery store would pay today. She estimated there are about 450 independent grocery stores in Toronto. The plan also aims to help open more stores by connecting "mom-and-pop" businesses with vacant storefronts on main streets, and would target "restrictive covenants" that prevent grocers from opening at the former sites of competitors. In a statement to CTV News, rival candidate Brad Bradford's team accused Chow of re-hashing previously announced policies, some of them his own. Bradford made no announcement Friday morning, instead spending time with mothers of young children in East York to highlight his campaign tentpoles: affordability, traffic and public safety.

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3. Supreme Court Sets New Sentencing Framework for Cases Involving Indigenous Offenders and Victims

Source: CP24

In a 5-4 judgment Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada set out a new framework for sentencing in cases where an Indigenous offender commits an offence against an intimate partner who is an Indigenous woman. The court said a judge must apply sentencing principles related to both Indigenous offenders and victims of crime in a harmonious way, and provided guidance for doing so.

The court noted that Indigenous people are disproportionately and excessively imprisoned, while Indigenous women and girls suffer from unacceptably high levels of violence and abuse. It said both issues have been shaped by the experiences of colonization, and that addressing them together is central to the ongoing process of reconciliation.

The ruling comes in the case of a Mi'kmaq man with severe mental health challenges who was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated assault against his partner, a Mi'kmaq woman. A majority of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal reduced the sentence to three years, and the Supreme Court ruled the three-year sentence should stand. (The Canadian Press, by Jim Bronskill)

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4. Ontario Woman Discovered Her Used SUV Was a Former Rental Car; Dealer Refunded Part of the Price

Source: CP24

An Ontario woman says she bought a used vehicle recently and was shocked to discover after the purchase that it had been used as a former rental car. Brooke Shaw, of Simcoe, Ont., said that while buying a 2024 Volkswagen Taos she was led to believe the SUV was a lease return, but later found through paperwork in the glove box that it was a former daily rental. "The ownership was actually for an enterprise rental company, which had not been disclosed to me," she said.

Shaw said a former daily rental was not something she wanted to buy. "The fact that it was a daily rental, I just feel like there is more that could go wrong with it," she said. When she contacted the dealer, they apologized for what they called confusion or miscommunication but told her she had initialled the contract where it said "previous daily rental." Shaw agrees she signed the contract but said that in the heat of the moment she signed where she was told to and no one mentioned it was a former daily rental car. When she complained, the dealer said that since she had signed, it was a done deal.

The Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council (OMVIC) told CTV News that under the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act, dealers "are required to disclose certain information about a vehicle's history and condition before a sale," and that mandatory disclosures, including whether a vehicle was previously used as a daily rental, must be provided in writing on the bill of sale. Other disclosure requirements include whether a vehicle was used as a police cruiser, emergency services vehicle, taxi or limousine. After Shaw told the dealer she had contacted CTV News, the dealer agreed to review her case and refunded a portion of the cost of the SUV. Shaw said she was pleased to get some money back and feels her case has been resolved.

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5. Deadly Shooting in Port Colborne Leaves One Dead, One in Custody: Niagara Police

Source: CP24

Homicide detectives are investigating a fatal shooting in Port Colborne on Thursday night. It happened in the area of Fares Street, north of Rodney Street, at around 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Police said they arrived to find a man suffering from an injury "consistent with a gunshot wound."

The victim, a 31-year-old Niagara Falls man, was rushed to hospital but later died. With the assistance of the Emergency Task Force, the scene was secured, police said, and a 30-year-old man was arrested. Investigators identified him as Tyler Haas, of Port Colborne, who has been charged with one count of second-degree murder.

Police said they believe the shooting is an "isolated incident," confirming that the victim and accused were known to one another. "There are no outstanding suspects being sought in this investigation. Details on the circumstances around the motive for the shooting remain part of the active investigation," police said in a news release issued Friday. The victim is not being publicly identified as police are still working to notify next of kin.

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6. Halton Police Use AI in Hiring and Training 911 Call Takers, Call It a Canadian First

Source: CP24

Halton regional police in Ontario say they are using artificial intelligence in the recruitment and training of 911 call takers and dispatchers. They say American AI firm GovWorx provides the technology to create emergency call simulations that help 911 applicants improve their decision-making, communication and crisis management skills.

Halton police say the use of AI in hiring 911 communicators reduces candidate evaluation time by 50 per cent. They say the force is the first in Canada to use AI in training for 911 call takers and dispatchers. (The Canadian Press)

Halton police have also started using another AI technology, called SARA AI, to take certain types of non-emergency phone calls. They say the bot has answered 95,367 calls so far this year and sent more than 2,470 text messages to people to report events through alternate means such as websites or the collision reporting centre.

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7. Taxi Driver Charged With Sexual Assault in Northwestern Ontario; Police Concerned About Other Victims

Source: CP24

Ontario Provincial Police say a 19-year-old taxi cab driver in Kenora, Ont., has been charged in connection with a sexual assault that took place while he was on duty, and officials are concerned there could be other victims. In a news release dated Oct. 9, police said the investigation began Oct. 3 when officers received a report of an incident involving a driver with a local taxi company in Kenora.

Police told CTV News the attack took place overnight Oct. 2-3 and that the suspect was arrested around noon Oct. 4. He has been charged with sexual assault. Police are asking anyone who may have additional information or who believes they were a victim of a similar circumstance to contact the Kenora OPP Detachment at 1-888-310-1122. To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS). Victims of sexual assault are not alone; support is available through Victim Services of Kenora and Area, and anyone in an immediate crisis should call 911.

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8. Quebec's Outgoing Premier Fréchette Pushed Off the 'Glass Cliff'; Wynne Draws Parallels

Source: CP24

Christine Fréchette stepped down as leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) after her party failed to win any seats in Monday's election. Former Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne said that when she watched the results, she couldn't help but draw parallels between herself and Fréchette. Fréchette took over the party in April, replacing its founder, former premier François Legault, who resigned after tanking in the polls. The CAQ, founded in 2011, governed for eight years and held 79 seats before Fréchette triggered the election campaign in August, but the Parti Québécois capitalized on voters' desire for change and won enough seats to form a minority government. In a fractured landscape, no party won more than 28 per cent of the overall vote, and the CAQ received 13 per cent, down from 40 per cent in 2022.

Wynne said she too was thrust into a leadership position when the risk was high, and that women in Canadian politics often face a "glass cliff" where they are given power with a high likelihood of failure. "I wasn't surprised," Wynne said in a phone interview after the Quebec election. "There's a definite pattern if we look at the situations that women have stepped into as leaders of parties both provincially and federally." Wynne succeeded Dalton McGuinty as Ontario premier in 2013, when the provincial Liberals were unpopular due to a slew of scandals; she led the party to a majority victory in 2014 but lost in 2018 to Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives. She also compared Fréchette to Kim Campbell, Canada's only female prime minister, who won the 1993 Progressive Conservative leadership after Brian Mulroney's retirement and was in office for 132 days before the party suffered what is considered the worst defeat for a federal governing party.

Université Laval political professor Thierry Giasson said gender is only one factor in the CAQ's defeat. He noted Fréchette gained some momentum in the first half of the 40-day campaign, due in part to the trade war with the United States, but quickly lost steam and struggled in debates; about a week before election day, she requested an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney over allegations of American interference before walking her comments back hours later. After she acknowledged there was no evidence of foreign interference, the CAQ sank in the polls and faced a crushing defeat. In her resignation speech on Tuesday, Fréchette denounced the lack of political opportunity for women and said she hopes her time as premier will open more doors for them. "Quebec was led by women for a total of 25 months in 159 years," she said. "It's too little." (The Canadian Press, by Erika Morris)

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9. Fredericton: Illegal U-Turn Led to Crash With Ambulance; Police Urge Drivers to Yield

Source: CP24

Police in Fredericton are reminding drivers to yield to emergency vehicles following a collision in the city last week. Emergency crews responded to a single-vehicle rollover in the 2500 block of Woodstock Road on Oct. 2. A video taken at the scene and posted online by the Fredericton Police Force shows an EMS vehicle approaching with its emergency lights and siren on when a Ford Escape makes a U-turn and an EMS vehicle crashes into it.

Both the driver of the SUV and the EMS operator suffered minor injuries. Police say the two incidents required a "significant emergency response" and closed a section of Woodstock Road for several hours. The driver of the Ford Escape was charged under the New Brunswick Motor Vehicle Act.

Drivers who fail to yield can also face a fine of $292.50 under the New Brunswick Motor Vehicle Act. "The Fredericton Police Force reminds motorists that emergency lights and sirens signal that emergency personnel are responding to urgent situations where every second matters. Yielding helps ensure emergency personnel reach those in need quickly and safely," police said.

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10. Céline Dion Falls on Stage During Paris Residency Show, Then Carries On

Source: CP24

Canadian legend Céline Dion proved the show must go on after the singer fell on stage during her comeback residency in France. A video circulating on social media showed the singer apparently getting her pants caught in her heel while singing "Dans un autre monde" during a show on Wednesday, People reported. Dion, 58, didn't appear to have any serious injuries; she gave a thumbs up as she stood back up and resumed singing.

The Grammy Award-winning artist publicly shared in 2022 that she suffers from stiff-person syndrome. She returned to the stage last month with a sold-out five-week residency at Plenitude Arena in the Paris suburb of Nanterre — her first full concert since 2020. "I am everything I am because you loved me," Dion told fans during the show.

The rare autoimmune disorder can bring about strong muscle spasms and body seizures that cause injuries. Before her comeback Paris residency, the Quebec-born singer had been receiving intense physical and voice therapy. In a June 2024 interview with NBC News, she described the pain that comes with the condition: "It's like somebody is strangling you. It's like somebody is pushing your larynx/pharynx."

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