Global National: April 21

Volkswagen, the world’s biggest car company, said Friday it will build its first manufacturing facility in Canada near the southwestern Ontario town of St. Thomas. It’s expected that the factory will employ at least 3,000 and could help create 30,000 spinoff jobs. As the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) strike drags on, it’s plunging hundreds of thousands of immigration applications into uncertainty. And as Toronto-area police probe $20 million worth of stolen gold and other “high-value” items at Canada’s largest airport, experts say the heist has elements of an “inside job.” And finally, a forestry PHD candidate in B.C. says one way to understand the importance of forests is through the big tree registry, a community-driven initiative to record some of the province’s biggest trees.