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In Tim Burton’s stop-motion animated classic “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” three creepy, ghoulish children are ordered to kidnap Santa Claus.It’s not an explicitly malicious order — the film’s protagonist, Jack Skellington, is simply trying to meet Santa to learn how he makes Christmas so jolly. But the kids — Lock, Shock, and Barrel — can’t help but understand it in a nefarious way, and they detail their vicious plans in the ba

Welcome to HuffPost Canada’s (almost) daily guide to helping you pick up an easy, everyday ritual that can make your life a bit better, in a small but significant way.Canadians are stressed out, anxious, and are feeling disconnected from each other. Every Monday through Friday, we’ll share a tiny tip to help you feel good. We’ve got your back.Today’s habit: Try a new recipe at home.For whenever you’re feeling: Like you’re in the mood for learning somethin

TORONTO ― Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz wasn’t asked about climate change risks at a discussion about economic change and emerging risks on Thursday, so he brought them up himself.“It’s about the transition risk, right, as everyone’s portfolio and all their lending practices kind of converge on a different climate trend line ... that could have significant consequences for financial systems,″ he said.“So we need to model that and do stress testin

TORONTO — The Ontario government is partially retreating on its plan to require high school students to take courses online. Students will have to take two courses online to graduate instead of four, as the government had previously announced, Education Minister Stephen Lecce said in a press release Thursday.Minister Stephen Lecce also partially walked back his plan to increase class sizes. Story continues after video. Online learning will help students “learn and thrive in

The Somali government says a Somali-Canadian human rights activist and diplomat has been killed.The Somali ministry of information says Almaas Elman was murdered in the capital city of Mogadishu.The government said in a tweet that it is investigating and will bring those responsible to justice.A Global Affairs Canada spokeswoman said the department was prepared to help the family.“Our deepest thoughts and sympathies are with the family and friends of the Canadian citizen who died in a shoo

MONTREAL ― The evidence is mounting that Canada’s economy entered a slowdown in the final months of the year, and the job market’s two-year hot streak may be ending.The latest edition of the ADP Canada payroll report ― an alternative measure of the job market to the ones provided by Statistics Canada ― estimates Canada lost 22,600 jobs in October.That’s much weaker than StatCan’s labour force survey, which reported that Canada lost 1,800 jobs that month.

TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford will be meeting Friday in Ottawa with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.Ford says he will deliver a simple message that Ontario looks forward to working with the re-elected Liberal government.The province also announced Thursday that it is creating a council on provincial-federal relations, headed up by Ford.Ford says the team, which includes several senior cabinet ministers, will work with federal counterparts on priorities such as infrastructure, health ca

TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford says $231 million to cancel green energy contracts is not a waste of taxpayers’ money.“I am so proud of that,” Ford told reporters outside his Queen’s Park office Thursday. “They went into communities without their approval and just rammed them down their throats,” he said, referring to the previous Liberal government.His government announced they would rip up 758 contracts for renewable energy two weeks after tak

One of the fallouts from the federal election has been the re-emergence of Western alienation.This is hardly new. Western separation first emerged in the 1970s during a booming economy, unlike the current incarnation that comes at a time of a struggling economy.Separation is an unfortunate belief that Alberta can survive on its own. At best, it is highly questionable whether an independent West is actually viable. Of course, this supposes British Columbia remains part of Canada — in the pa

A newly published article says an Ontario teenager’s brush with death due to a lung disease highlights exactly how little the medical community knows about the effects of vaping.The article, published Thursday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, was written by six doctors who treated the 17-year-old boy during a 47-day hospital stay.They say the boy went from being in perfect health to being on life support after just five months of regularly using e-cigarettes.The article outline

TORONTO ― Lawyers for a group of Canadians affected by cancer they blame on exposure to a weed killer have filed three proposed class-action lawsuits against the product’s manufacturer, alleging Bayer and Monsanto knowingly endangered lives.The untested statements of claim filed in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia allege the German pharmaceutical giant and its subsidiary acted with reckless disregard for the safety of Canadians by selling Roundup, echoing claims in a string of i

QUEBEC ― Premier Francois Legault is open to the creation of a Quebec version of Amazon, which his economy minister described Wednesday as a way to serve nationalist customers.Legault and Pierre Fitzgibbon spoke Wednesday about an “Amazon Quebec” ahead of a meeting with representatives of the online giant’s Canadian division.The premier told reporters he is concerned about the lack of Quebec-made products available on Amazon and wants to make sure the company isn’t

Sure, presents are great, and seeing your kids’ faces light up when they open their stockings from Santa Claus is nice and all, but can we talk honestly about the best part of the holidays? It’s Christmas desserts. Delicious, coma-inducing treats that make us never want to leave the couch to help Junior put together their dollhouse. Nanaimo bars, gingerbread cookies, shortbread cookies, yule logs, butter tarts, sticky toffee pudding, candy bark ... we want to eat them all. Makin

John Mann, whose voice rang through countless Canadian celebrations as the lead singer of Celtic-inflected Spirit of the West, has died after a battle with early onset Alzheimer’s. He was 57.The Calgary-born singer and songwriter, who was perhaps known best for the boisterous pub anthem “Home for a Rest,” died peacefully in Vancouver on Wednesday from the disease with which he was diagnosed several years ago, said Eric Alper, the band’s publicist.“Surrounded by frie

Winter is basically here, we’re cold all the time, which means it’s time to start taking the Cadillac of comfort foods out for a spin: Chili!It’s been scientifically proven* that chili is the most superior winter comfort food. It’s hot, it’s hearty, it makes your whole house smell delicious, you can make it a variety of different ways, and you can top it with all the best things: sour cream, bacon, cheese, avocado ... use your imagination.*not actual sciencePlus, ev

Two more people are testifying Thursday during a public hearing in the impeachment investigation into U.S. President Donald Trump: Fiona Hill and David Holmes.Hill, former top policy adviser on Russia for the National Security Council, will argue that partisan politics have driven a “fictional alternative narrative,” according to NBC News.Holmes ― the political counsel at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine and an aide to Bill Taylor (the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who

Among the many changes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau brought with Wednesday’s cabinet shuffle, Chrystia Freeland is no longer in charge of foreign affairs. Instead, she is Canada’s new deputy prime minister as well as intergovernmental-affairs minister.But what does the deputy prime minister do?The role was first introduced when Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, was prime minister. The senior Trudeau named Allan J. MacEachen deputy prime minister in 1977 to commemorate his many