‘The perfect storm’: Why food experts don’t think the price of beef is coming back down anytime soon.

Throwing a steak on the grill is something Anastasia Ginou considers a “treat” these days. As she’s looking through the selection of options at her local butcher shop, she’s now looking more at the price than the type of cut, eventually choosing one that’s much cheaper than the rest.

“The price of beef has gone so high that I can still get the nutrition with a lower cut piece of meat and not break the bank,” Ginou, who grabbed a bavette steak, known to be a more budget-friendly cut, told CTV News Saturday.

“I would say I’ve reduced my beef intake by about half, if not a little bit more,” Ginou added. “I’ve been adding, into my diet, more lentils and beans to get the protein. It’s almost like a treat nowadays to have a really nice piece of meat.”

Beef costs continue to soar across Canada, with March’s prices showing a 12.7 percent increase year-over-year compared to the same month last year, according to Statistics Canada. In comparison, the price of chicken went up 7.5 per cent and pork’s prices had increased 6.2 per cent compared to March of 2025.

“All proteins have gone up, mostly because beef prices have gone up so much,” Michael von Massow, a food economist with the University of Guelph told CTV News Saturday. He added that the price of chicken and pork going up is directly tied to the price of beef rising, since chicken and pork is now more in demand from those Canadians who find beef too expensive.

“Barbecuing this year is going to be more expensive than barbecuing was last year.”

The price of beef in the last five years has soared nearly 65 per cent, when comparing Statistics Canada data from March 2021 to March of this year.

Food experts say severe droughts have affected the pastures cows feed on, resulting in farmers being forced to buy more expensive grain and fewer cattle to offset the rising costs of feeding them.

The good news, according to von Massow, is that 2026 saw an increase in the number of cows being added to Canadian herds for the first time in years, with Statistics Canada showing the number of cattle and calves increasing 2.5 per cent compared to a year earlier.

The bad news is that the cattle and calves supply chain is not like other products and takes years to rebuild.

“It almost makes the situation worse, because instead of that animal going into the supply chain and becoming beef… it has been withheld, and raised, fed for a couple of years and bred,” said von Massow. “Then it’ll have a calf. That takes some time.”

“We’re seeing farmers get some optimism and say ‘well, we’ve recovered a bit of the equity we lost when prices were low, so we can maybe afford to keep that animal, reduce our revenue a little bit and start increasing the herd so that we have a larger breeding stock that that improves the supply in the future,’” added Massow. “What we’re seeing is female calves are being retained instead of sold.”

What does that mean for consumers who are looking to see beef prices go down? Von Massow’s best guess is that we won’t see a downward trend in prices until at least late 2027.

“As the cow herd grows, there will be more calves born, and as more calves are born, then sometime in the next year to 18 months, those calves will come to the market… So, we will have a slight increase in supply over the next year or year-and-a-half,” added von Massow. But Saskatchewan Cattle Association chair, Chad Ross predicts it could take even longer than that until prices go back down to what they were about five years ago.

“Over history, our industry has been on a seven-year cycle from the top of the cycle to the bottom, it’s been about seven years,” Ross told CTV News. “As we go into 2033, it will start that downward trend as far as the prices that we receive as cow-calf producers.”

Ross added that Canadian ranchers are steadily leaving the industry, adding to the national cattle herd to shrink and contributing to the increase in beef prices.

“There’s been a huge exodus of those producers in our industry that bring us back to cow-calf numbers that are equivalent to the 1950s,” said Ross. “We combine that with the huge world demand for protein. That has been the perfect storm to have the high prices that the consumers are seeing in the grocery store.”

#Rubio tries to tackle a trust deficit between Washington and Delhi on first official India trip

#Hungary’s new Prime Minister Peter Magyar said he was hoping for economic growth of about 2% this year but put voters on notice that the state of public finances left by his predecessor made it impossible to make firm forecasts.

White House locked down after reports of shots fired nearby

New U.S. green card policy could impact Canadians seeking permanent residency: lawyer.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Friday that foreigners living in the States on temporary visas, such as students, workers or visitors, must go through consular services in their home countries to apply instead of doing so inside the U.S., with some exceptions.

USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler said the policy aims for the immigration system “to function as the law intended instead of incentivizing loopholes.”

“We’re returning to the original intent of the law to ensure aliens navigate our nation’s immigration system properly,” he said in a press release.

“Our system is designed for them to leave when their visit is over. Their visit should not function as the first step in the green card process.”

Joel Guberman, a lawyer and partner at Toronto-based immigration firm Guberman Appleby, said the policy came “out of left field.”

He said the only U.S. consulate in Canada that processes green card applications is located in Montreal, which will likely be overwhelmed with cases as a result of this new policy, resulting in long wait times stretching months or even years.

“Montreal is one of the slower processing posts in the world,” he said in a phone interview Saturday. “If you add to that the thousands of Canadians that will have to go to Montreal, you can imagine how long it’s going to be.”

Guberman said the policy could indefinitely separate Canadians married to Americans and are seeking U.S. permanent residency or those running businesses in the U.S. who must leave them behind to apply for a green card.

But he added that to some extent, Canadians are the least affected by the policy because Canadians can go to the U.S. without a visa and the distance isn’t as far compared to other countries.

“There are a lot of things that we can do to get into the United States legally,” he said. “But if you have to go back to Islamabad, or if you have to go to Shanghai, the processing time, even when you have an interview, could be weeks or months and you’re stuck outside the country.”

Guberman added he has several clients who could be impacted by the change, and he anticipates his firm will receive more inquiries in the coming days from Canadians living in the U.S. seeking permanent residency.

Meanwhile, David Garson, managing partner of Garson Immigration Law in Toronto, added that he also wasn’t expecting the policy change and was in “absolute shock” when he learned about it.

It’s not yet clear what exceptions could be made in this policy and what discretion immigration officials would have, he said.

“It also would be very subjective, in the sense that if you’re going to look at it and say, this person can change status but this person may not be able to change status, and the facts may be somewhat similar,” he said in a phone interview Saturday. “A decision is only realistically as good as the person who makes the decision.”

Garson added his firm will be closely monitoring for any new information or developments in the policy and how it could affect their clients in the coming days.

“If it’s walked back or changed or interpreted differently, then I have a better opportunity to give more accurate information,” he said. “In this type of situation, I’m always cautious not to catastrophize.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23, 2026.

About $50 billion in wind-farm investments and 150,000 jobs are at risk from the Trump administration’s effective halt to approvals for new projects, a trade group said

#UN nuclear nonproliferation talks fail. Talks at the UN to reaffirm nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament goals failed on Friday, according to the leader of the talks, after four weeks of negotiations held amid low expectations.

Vietnam’s Do Hung Viet, the president of the conference, said that “despite our best efforts... it is my understanding that the conference is not in a position to achieve agreement on its substantive work.”

“I do not intend to put the document forward for adoption,” he added.

Negotiators were reviewing the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the cornerstone of nuclear weapons control, amid fears of a renewed arms race. Previous reviews in 2015 and 2022 were also unsuccessful.

With expectations low, participants negotiated over a repeatedly reviewed and watered-down text, which they ultimately failed to adopt.

Experts pointed out that even in the absence of a review agreement for the third time in a row, the treaty continues to exist, but with diminished legitimacy.

“The text keeps on becoming less and less anchored in the realities of current conflicts and proliferation risks,” including North Korea and Iran, analyst Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group said before the outcome was announced.

The latest version of the text seen by AFP on Friday merely stated that Tehran must “never” develop nuclear weapons.

The paragraph was in brackets, signalling persistent disagreement, despite the removal of the reference to Iran’s “non-compliance” with its obligations that appeared in the first draft.

Also gone were expressions of concern about North Korea’s nuclear program, or even any mention of the “denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula.

Gone as well was the direct call on the United States and Russia to begin negotiations on a successor to the New START treaty limiting Russian and American arsenals, which expired in February.

The diluted text still covered “the risk of a resumption of nuclear testing by Russia, China and the United States, the growth of arsenals, and attacks on nuclear infrastructure,” Heloise Fayet of the French Institute of International Relations said earlier on Friday.

Exactly why the review failed isn’t yet known.

“The majority of countries are indeed working in good faith for disarmament,” said Seth Shelden of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), commenting on the failure of the talks.

“But the small handful of nuclear-armed states, and certain of their allies, are undermining the NPT, frustrating disarmament efforts, expanding arsenals and provoking proliferation, and pointing the world toward catastrophe,” he added.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the nine nuclear-armed states -- Russia, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea -- possessed 12,241 nuclear warheads in January 2025, 90 per cent of which were in American and Russian hands.

Some countries are modernizing their arsenals or even increasing their stockpiles.

The NPT, which entered into force in 1970 and has been signed by almost all states -- with notable exceptions including Israel, India and Pakistan -- aims to prevent proliferation, promote complete disarmament and encourage cooperation for the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

#Energy: Rising energy prices are deepening anxiety for those whose livelihoods are tied to the ocean.

#Malaysia orders #TikTok to explain 'grossly offensive' fake content targeting king.

UALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia said Thursday it has ordered TikTok to explain and address what it described as the social media platform’s failure to act swiftly against offensive, defamatory and fake content targeting the royal institution.

The Communications and Multimedia Commission said the move followed the circulation of “grossly offensive, false, menacing and insulting” content, including AI-generated videos and manipulated images linked to an account falsely claiming association with king Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar.

Such matters fall within the sensitive issues of race, religion and royalty “which are highly sensitive and may undermine public order, national harmony and respect for constitutional institutions,” the regulator said in a statement.

Despite prior notifications and engagements, it said TikTok’s moderation response especially in ensuring the prompt removal of such content and preventing further dissemination was unsatisfactory.

It said TikTok — which has not publicly commented on the case — has been issued a legal notice that requires it to explain its moderation failures and undertake immediate remedial measures, including strengthening its content moderation mechanisms and improving enforcement against content that violates Malaysian laws and community standards.

The commission said social media platforms operating in Malaysia are expected to exercise greater responsibility in preventing unlawful and harmful activities on their services.

It warned it would continue to take “firm and proportionate action” to ensure digital platforms comply with their responsibilities in maintaining a safe and respectful online environment.

The move comes amid Malaysia’ s broader push to tighten oversight of digital platforms, with authorities in recent years stepping up enforcement against social media companies over harmful content, scams, online gambling and material deemed offensive or threatening to public order.

TikTok did not respond to a request by The Associated Press for comment.

The Associated Press

U.S. industry groups push to ban fresh P.E.I. potatoes after disease detection. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says potato wart was recently detected in soil samples collected from a single P.E.I. potato field. In response, the Washington, D.C.-based National Potato Council, alongside 13 U.S. state potato organizations, is calling for the reinstatement of a previous ban on fresh potato imports from P.E.I.

“That would be a huge hit to the industry,” said Bill Zylmans, chair of the Canadian Potato Council.

In 2024, P.E.I. exported about $153 million worth of fresh or chilled potatoes to the U.S.

While potato groups south of the border see the disease as a threat, Canadian regulators and industry leaders say the latest detection shows the system is working.