News for August 14th, 2015

Satistics Canada reports on Thursday that the jobless rate in Montreal is much higher than the Canadian average, reaching 8,9%.

According to the Gazette, the creation of more than 20,000 jobs was not enough to counter multiple recent layoffs, especially when it comes to high-paying offers.

Analysts say that Quebec's focus on the primary sector may be a factor, as well as the slow rate of job creation compared to the increase in Montreal's population.

Quebec's Council of employers remains optimistic, noting that the current slump in oil prices should attract investors to the province.

--------
 

A First Nations Chief in British Columbia may be Canada's highest paid politician.

 

According to the National Post, the Semiahmoo First Nation, consisting of 90 members, paid their chief and one councillor roughly 460,000 dollars combined in the last fiscal year.

 

Chief Willard Cook alone was paid 267, 309 dollars, compared to B.C. Premier Christy Clark who has an annual salary of 193, 532 dollars.

 

The Semiahmoo Nation was one of over a dozen bands that had failed to file their financial disclosure documents last year, and only did so last month.

---------

Explosions in Tiajin, China set warehouses full of hazardous chemicals ablaze, causing fireballs to shoot across the sky and damaging buildings within a 3 kilometer radius on Wednesday.

According to CNN, the cause of the explosions is still unknown and 50 people have died while more than 500 people have been hospitalized.

The executives of the company keeping the dangerous chemicals in their warehouse have been taken into custody.

The magnitude of one explosion reach 2,9 on the richter scale, leaving entire areas of the city devastated, and citizens face the lasting consequences of the chemicals released by the explosions.