By Canadian Press

In the news today: Anand and Rubio meeting in D.C., Air Canada close to full return

Aug 21, 2025 | 2:16 AM

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

Anand set to meet with Rubio in Washington

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is set to have her first official meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington today amid ongoing tensions in the bilateral relationship.

Anand and Rubio have previously spoken by phone, including in June ahead of the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis.

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc cycled through Washington in July looking for a tariff offramp, but instead, U.S. President Donald Trump boosted duties on Canada to 35 per cent.

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Those tariffs do not apply to goods compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade.

Most Air Canada domestic, U.S. flights operating

Air Canada expects most of its North American routes to be back up and running today after resuming operations Tuesday following the conclusion of a strike by its flight attendants.

An online dashboard tracking Air Canada’s service resumption said last night that 97 per cent of domestic flights were expected to operate over the next 24 hours, along with 99 per cent of U.S. flights.

But the airline’s ramp-up of international flights was moving more slowly, with 76 per cent of planned flights expected to operate.

Firefighters continue to battle N.S. wildfires

Officials say firefighters in Nova Scotia remain focused on tackling the northern side of the Long Lake wildfire in the Annapolis Valley, which is closest to homes.

Andrew Mitton, with Nova Scotia’s Department of Emergency Management, said during a news briefing on Wednesday that 61 structures in the vicinity have been outfitted with sprinklers as a form of fire protection.

The blaze near Long Lake is the largest in the province, and as of Wednesday afternoon, it measured roughly 32 square kilometres in size.

Scott Tingley, with the Department of Natural Resources, said staff were closely watching the weather forecast to see how winds from Hurricane Erin would impact firefighting efforts.

Moe, federal minister to meet on canola tariff

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is set to meet today with federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald, along with industry groups, to discuss the steep Chinese tariff on Canadian canola seed.

Kody Blois, the parliamentary secretary for Prime Minister Mark Carney, and Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Daryl Harrison are also to attend the meeting in Saskatoon.

A press conference is scheduled following the discussion.

China imposed a tariff of nearly 76 per cent last week, causing the price of one of Canada’s most valuable crops to fall and wiping out millions of dollars in its value.

B.C. anglers get rare chance for sockeye fishing

British Columbia fishing guide Dean Werk says he was getting calls last week from keen anglers wondering if this would be their year.

“Do you think there’s going to be a salmon opening, Dean?”

Now they have the answer.

Amid bumper returns of millions of prized sockeye salmon, Fisheries and Oceans Canada issued a rare notice on Tuesday opening recreational fishing for the species on a stretch of the Fraser River for 11 days, from Friday until Sept. 1.

The joint Canada-US Pacific Salmon Commission predicts a sockeye run on the Fraser of 9.6 million fish, which would make it the biggest return since 2018.

Anglers can keep two sockeye per day from a non-tidal stretch of the river from the Mission Bridge upstream to Hope.

Major Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine

Russia launched one of its biggest aerial attacks this year at Ukraine, firing 574 drones and 40 missiles overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said Thursday.

The attack mostly targeted western regions of the country, it said. The strikes killed at least one person and injured 15 others, according to officials.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia struck a “major American electronics manufacturer” in western Ukraine. He provided no further details.

Western parts of Ukraine are far from the battlefield’s front line in the east and south of the country. Much of the military aid provided by Ukraine’s Western allies is believed to be transported and stored there.

It was Russia’s third-largest aerial attack this year in terms of the number of drones fired and the eighth-largest in terms of missiles, according to official figures.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 21, 2025

The Canadian Press