MONTREAL — Floor-crosser MP Marilyn Gladu defended her move to the Liberals on Thursday evening, arguing the decision is what’s best for her riding, while also promising to vote with the party on social issues.

“This is actually the best thing for my riding, for the country and for myself,” she told reporters on the sidelines of the Liberal National Convention in Montreal.

“After 10 years and four elections, arguably even my strong Conservative supporters are saying to me, look we like you, you’ve worked hard, but we really need that support, we have infrastructure needs.”

Earlier Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived to the convention with the latest addition to his caucus, as party faithful attending the conference shrugged at her past social conservative ideas.

When she announced her intention to cross the floor to the Liberals on Wednesday, Gladu promised to “continue bringing” her perspectives into the government tent, but Carney said the anti-abortion ex-Conservative MP will now vote according to Liberal social policies.

“The Liberal party always will support the right of women to choose, always and without question,” Carney told reporters Thursday morning.

“She will vote with the government if there are votes relating to any aspect of that issue, as well as the rights of Canadians to be their whole selves, to love who they love, and to fully enjoy their rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” he said of Gladu.

The prime minister’s comments come the day after Gladu, who over the last decade as an MP has expressed social conservative views such as calling for a renewed debate on abortion and opposing a sweeping Liberal ban on conversion therapy, defected to the Liberals , writing to her former Conservative colleagues that she was bringing her values to her new caucus.

“All of you know what I stand for, and know that I will continue bringing these perspectives inside the government tent, particularly in growing a strong economy at this important moment for Canada’s future,” she wrote to Tory MPs shortly after announcing her moving to the Liberals.

During her time as a Conservative, Gladu was one of the Liberals’ fiercest critics both publicly and within her own caucus. She also espoused a number of views that were criticized by the Liberals , such as supporting the 2022 Freedom Convoy, promoting the unproved use of drug Hydroxychloroquine instead of vaccines to combat COVID-19 and opposing the Liberals’ legalization of cannabis.

Speaking from Contrecoeur, Que. on Thursday, Carney responded to numerous questions about Gladu joining his caucus by insisting that it is Gladu who will now adopt Liberal positions, not the other way around.

“There has been no change in the values of the Liberal party,” he began in French. “We’ve ran on a clear platform, clear values, defending the Charters of Rights and Freedoms, defending the right of women to choose, defending same-sex marriage, anti-conversion therapy,” he added in English.

“The (MPs) who are joining the Liberal party at this critical time and supporting us… recognize those clear policy positions, those values, that’s where we will go, that’s what we will support, that’s where we will advance.”

Gladu confirmed she will vote with the Liberal government on social issues.

“I agree with what the prime minister said,” she told reporters. “I will vote with the government, I will protect the rights and freedoms of women, for people to be who they are and love who they love.”

What Gladu brings to the table for the Liberals, Carney argued, is two decades of business experience, technical knowledge as a chemical engineer and an ability to work with colleagues of all political stripes.

But when asked if there were certain positions that an opposition MP held that he would refuse to accept into his caucus, Carney demurred.

As recently as January, Gladu supported a former a Conservative colleague’s petition that called for automatic byelections when a member of Parliament defects to another party.

When asked if she would resign her seat and call a byelection, she said that would require a change to the Elections Act.

“I also said that in order for that to happen, the Elections Act has to be changed,” said Gladu. “And the Elections Act has to be changed to make sure that people have to either sit as independents or call a by election, that law has not been changed.

Gladu has represented the Ontario riding of Sarnia—Lambton–Bkejwanong since 2015 and won her seat handily in the 2025 election with 53.1 per cent of the popular vote.

The new Liberal MP took the convention stage Thursday evening where she was greeted by a warm applause by the audience. She said Carney is building a big tent coalition.

Carney is expected to attend the full three days of the Liberal convention, which will run until Saturday, when he will deliver a closing speech to party members.

The party said it was record-breaking year for attendance, with 4,500 Liberals expected to gather this weekend. Other floor crossers are also in attendance, including Matt Jeneroux, Michael Ma, Chris d’Entremont and Lori Idlout.

When asked about the latest addition to Carney’s caucus, convention attendees shrugged at Gladu’s social conservative ideas.

“I will judge her actions going forward, and I believe that all of us are able to evolve and mature and work towards greater issues,” said Aaron Stafford, who has been a Liberal member since 2019.

Pooja Sinha, who has been a party member for seven years and canvased for several candidates in the greater Greater Toronto Area, said her party can reflect differences that exist throughout the country.

“What I pride so much about Canada is also how we are so different, and yet we make this work,” she said. “We make Canada work, and that’s amazing, and that reflects in the party and the different views that it’s showing at the moment.”

The general mood of the convention is one of optimism. The party is flying high ahead of three byelections on Monday that will most likely give the Carney government a majority in the House of Commons.

Two Toronto byelections in the ridings of Scarborough Southwest and University—Rosedale, which were previously held by Bill Blair and Chrystia Freeland, are heavily favoured towards the Liberals.

The third byelection will be held in Terrebonne, Que., where the Liberals won by one vote against the Bloc Québécois, before the results were nullified by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Carney spent the early part of Thursday campaigning in Terrebonne with Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste.

With Gladu’s crossing, the Liberals now hold 171 seats, one seat shy of a majority. The party needs two more seats to ensure a majority, because the Speaker of the House of Commons is a Liberal MP.

A Postmedia-Leger poll released last week puts approval of the Liberal government’s performance at 57 per cent, compared to 34 per cent who say they’re dissatisfied. Carney’s personal approval rating stands at 58 per cent, while 33 per cent said they disapprove of the prime minister.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was on the other side of the country on Thursday in British Columbia, where he defended his leadership after his party has lost four members of his caucus to the Liberals.

“Our mandate, and my leadership, does not come from dirty backroom deals,” he said, during a press conference in Richmond, B.C. “It comes from the people of Canada.”

Poilievre said constituents should be able to petition to force a byelection if their MP crosses the floor.

While a majority is expected, Liberal party members acknowledged that it will be a “razor thin” majority, unless Carney can secure more floor crossers.

“Because it’s not as easy, even though the Conservatives are and have been working with the Liberal government, time will tell,” said Sheila O’Gorman, longtime Liberal member.

National Post

cnardi@postmedia.com
jgowling@postmedia.com

• Risks and rewards: Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu on her defection to the Liberals
• Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu crosses floor to Liberals

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our politics newsletter, First Reading, here.

The desire among Canadians to have children is increasing according to new study from Statistics Canada.

Leading this overall upward shift from 2021 to 2024 were Canadians without any current biological children, residents of Ontario and the Prairie provinces, women aged 15 to 24 and never-married Canadians, say the study’s authors Victoria Jordan and Maire Sinha.

Making plans for the future: Canadians’ intentions to have biological children ,” states that 64 per cent of Canadians aged 15 to 24 years want at least one child, or another one. That’s up from 53 per cent in 2021.

“Having a positive future outlook is linked to a higher likelihood of wanting biological children,” write the study’s authors. “In 2024, half (50 per cent) of people who always or often had a hopeful outlook wanted children in the future, compared with 36 per cent of people who rarely or never had a hopeful outlook on life.”

The authors note that in recent years, Canada’s fertility rate has been decreasing, reaching a record low of 1.25 children per woman in 2024. That meets the criteria of an “ultra-low” fertility country, they say. And it means that such a country could face challenges that come with aging populations such as strains on the labour force and pressure on the public health care and pension systems.

In part, the decline has been due to shifting fertility patterns since the 1960s, in particular, because women have been delaying having children till their 30s.

The COVID-19 pandemic was also hard on fertility, say Jordan and Sinha. Economic uncertainty, public health measures and issues related to social connections and relationships got in the way. In 2021, 41 per cent of Canadians wanted their own children in the future. Three years later, that percentage rose to 46 per cent.

In 2021, Quebec held the top position in Canada — with the greatest proportion of people wanting children compared with all other regions. By 2024, the share of people in Quebec wanting children remained high (47 per cent), but people in Ontario joined them in the top spot (48 per cent), up from 41 per cent in 2021.

Young people are leading the increase in plans to have biological children, Jordan and Sinha note. In 2021, just over half (53 per cent) of Canadians aged 15 to 24 reported that they intended to either have a child for the first time or have additional children. This figure increased by more than 10 percentage points to 64 per cent in 2024. The increase was exclusively due to an increase among young women, from 50 per cent in 2021 to 63 per cent in 2024.

Canadians aged 15 to 24 who reported that they plan to have children also intended to have the most children of any age group, at 2.4 intended children in 2024. People aged 25 to 34 who intended to have children wanted 2.0 children, while those aged 35 to 49 planned to have an average of 1.6 children.

Never-married people were consistently more likely than people in a married or common-law relationship to either want children for the first time or have additional children. They also planned to have more children than their married counterparts: 2.3 versus 1.8 children, respectively, in 2024.

• How to change Canada's baby bust into a baby boom
• Older, 70% white, plunging fertility and lost faith: Who Canada is now

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

OTTAWA — Three sidelined executives from component units of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) have filed an urgent appeal to an Ontario court to get their union memberships reinstated before next week so that they regain their jobs and their rights to run again in union elections.

According to a notice of application filed this week in Ontario Superior Court, the three sidelined union officials would need to be reinstated by April 14 in time to apply to be delegates — and therefore eligible to run for office — at a union convention in September.

The three sidelined component executives, whose suspensions have already expired, say PSAC is using delay tactics with the courts so that they won’t be reinstated in time to challenge the incumbents. They also argue that some PSAC executives are also trying to eliminate anyone seen as a critic or whistleblower.

”They’re going to do everything in their power so that I don’t ever get to attend (the convention),” said Eddy Bourque, one of the sidelined component executives, during an interview last month. “They’re blocking.”

In January, the court allotted about an hour to deal with the short-term elements of two of the three cases but a judge decided last month that the matter would take longer than that, a decision that triggered more delay and this week’s appeal. The urgent appeal of the third case was denied straight away in January, court documents say, despite the similarities of the three cases.

The component union executives argue that they have the right to return to their jobs and run again for office. There’s also a financial incentive for many in the union movement who can earn up to two or three times more while working in high-ranking union jobs compared to their government positions. Bourque, for example, said he made about $180,000 a year as CEIU president, more than twice what he made in the public service.

The sidelined union officials say the parent organization needs to follow the democratic principles it claims to support.

“(PSAC) can’t treat members like this,” said Sargy Chima, the suspended executive vice-president of the Canada Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU), during a recent interview. “It goes back to our democratic rights.”

PSAC, including national president Sharon DeSousa, chose not to comment.

Ottawa-based PSAC represents nearly 240,000 workers across Canada and in other countries who work for the federal government, universities, casinos, community services agencies, Aboriginal communities, airports, and the security sector among others. According to PSAC’s 2024 audited financial statements, the union had a total budget that year of 172.8-million, the vast majority of which ($164.4-million) was derived from membership dues.

The CEIU, one of 15 PSAC components, represents the majority of employees at a number of federal departments, including Service Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada and the Immigration and Refugee Board.

While there has long been friction between PSAC and some of its component unions, the recent history of these specific battles between the parent union and at least two of the sidelined component executives can be traced back to May 2023 when the component executives initially decided to support a campaign to vote against a tentative labour agreement reached between PSAC and the federal government.

PSAC responded to the ”no” campaign by suspending the component union bosses, even though they said they didn’t realize that they had broken a union rule by pushing back against the contract agreement. The “no” campaign was an effort to support union members who wanted to continue working from home.

As National Post reported in December, PSAC accused the pair of breaching the broader union’s constitution, court documents show, and later conducted investigations of their actions. The ensuing punishment included suspensions of their PSAC memberships for one and two years, which meant that they couldn’t do their union jobs.

In separate legal actions, Bourque and Chima accused PSAC of negligence and defamation and asked for compensation of more than $1 million apiece, and full reinstatement of their PSAC memberships and their jobs.

In the Bourque claim filed a month later, he accuses PSAC’s leadership of “abuse of power” for, among other things, announcing his suspension to members across the country and saying that members could be disciplined or dismissed if they communicated with him.

According to a statement of claim filed in June, Chima is accusing PSAC of “malicious, oppressive and high-handed behaviour.”

In the third case between PSAC and one of its component union executives, Alisha Kang, who was president of the Union of National Employees (UNE) until being effectively stripped of her role last fall, said in court documents that that she was set to expose “significant financial irregularities” and other union problems before being suspended.

Those irregularities, according to Kang’s claims, included a scheme involving union staff making “spurious or artificially substantiated” classification grievances, which were then settled informally by granting “general damages for human rights.”

National Post

• Public sector union facing at least three lawsuits from executives it suspended
• Sidelined union executive sues PSAC, accusing bogus pay scheme

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney may be surprised by the blowback he’s getting over a recent photo-op friendly announcement in Gatineau Park.

Carney was in the jewel of the National Capital Region in late March to announce a new federal initiative to more than double the amount of Canada’s protected land over the next four years, bringing it to roughly 3 million square kilometres, or 30 per cent of the country’s landmass. He also said his government would protect up to 700,000 square kilometres of ocean over the same timeframe.

It didn’t take long for chatter of a government “land lockup” to start online. The province of Alberta voiced its own discomfort with the federal conservation push this week, saying it crossed into provincial jurisdiction.

Here’s what you need to know about the prime minister’s plan to protect Canada’s biodiversity, and why it’s getting a surprising amount of flack.

Why 30 per cent of land?

The goal puts Canada in line with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework , announced in late 2022 at the end of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Montreal. The third target of the framework is to: “Ensure and enable that by 2030 at least 30 per cent of terrestrial and inland water areas, and of marine and coastal areas” are “effectively conserved and managed.” This target is often referred to as “30×30” in shorthand.

Canada is one of 196 countries that signed onto the framework in 2022. The Trump administration terminated the United States’ participation in early 2025.

What counts as “protected” land?

Protected lands may include geographically defined areas , such as national parks and wildlife preserves. A second category under the framework is “other effective area-based conservation measures” (OECMs). Examples of OECMs include designated greenspaces on military bases , protected watersheds around major metropolitan areas and Indigenous conservation zones.

Rachel Buxton, a biodiversity expert at Carleton University, says there’s still a lack of clarity over what qualifies as an OECM.

“The idea behind OECMs is that they’re mechanisms for land to be protected without having to be bought by the government and owned publicly,” said Buxton. “This can be effective but, in some global analyses, we’re seeing a lack of transparency around things like how we’re defining an OECM and whether they’re meeting certain thresholds of conservation.”

OECMs will account for about eight per cent , or 800,000 square kilometres, of the newly protected land.

Can protected land be privately owned and developed?

Yes, but private development may only take place on certain protected lands, with stringent restrictions in place to protect biodiversity. A small number of protected areas are so-called “working landscapes,” where farming, forestry and other resource-based work may take place. Some working landscapes are also OECMs.

A common type of working landscape is protected grassland where a limited number of cattle are permitted to graze. A more exotic example is British Columbia’s Salt Spring Island Natural Cemetery, Canada’s first 100 per cent eco-friendly burial cemetery open to the public. (A fully “green” burial ceremony can be yours for $4,800.)

What happens if Canada misses the 30×30 target?

Probably nothing. The last round of global biodiversity targets, set in 2010 in Aichi, Japan, didn’t meet a single goal by its 2020 deadline. Buxton estimates that most signatories met “not even one” of the 20 Aichi targets.

Why is 30×30 controversial?

Critics have raised concerns about the implications of 30×30 for both private property and Indigenous land rights. Survival International, a global NGO that campaigns for the rights of Indigenous peoples, has called the UN-led initiative the “the biggest land grab in history.”

Alberta has objected on jurisdictional grounds , expressing concerns that a doubling of federally protected land could threaten a “proven made-in-Alberta model” of land management. The province has also pointed out that land use is a clear area of provincial jurisdiction under Canada’s Constitution.

Buxton says that Canada’s nature strategy does a good job of addressing some of the concerns that have been raised with respect to Indigenous sovereignty.

“I think the thing that I like most about this nature strategy is the strong emphasis on Indigenous leadership,” said Buxton. “I think that has been a place where the Canadian contribution has been really strong.”

National Post
rmohamed@postmedia.com

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

Tumbler Ridge shooting survivor Maya Gebala will be heading to Los Angeles for private rehabilitation care, according to social media post made Thursday by her mother.

“After many nights of research, questioning, and fear of the unknown, we decided to say yes to an opportunity for an aggressive approach to her rehabilitation through privatized health care,” Cia Edmonds wrote on Facebook.

“We are excited. As well as nervous, away from family and resources, an opportunity we couldn’t refuse. We wait for all the moving parts to line up and create a path to pursue. until then, we live somewhere in the middle.”

The family can’t move on the opportunity until Maya is able to handle a transfer from the B.C. Children’s Hospital.

Edmonds announced the rehabilitation plan in a previous Face book post on March 25.

She said that Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White contacted the family after Maya had been in intensive care for a week. He offered fully paid medical attention for Maya “in one of the world’s most top tier hospitals in LA California,” Edmonds wrote.

He also offered to pay for the family’s accommodations in Los Angeles.

The specific hospital was not named.

“Its incredible really … For anyone who watches UFC, they put my babes name in the ring. Super cool.”

At a UFC event in Houston on Feb. 21, there was an addition to the octagon, according to Cagesidepress.com. Maya’s name was emblazoned on one of the upper supports of the cage structure.

Edmonds posted a photo of a UFC match with Maya’s name in the background.

Edmonds noted in her May 25 Facebook post that the B.C. Childrens Hospital has an extensive brain trauma clinic and more resources. “However,” she wrote, “Maya hadn’t been stable enough to travel. Until now. Still tentative!”

Her hope for the family going forward is: “Stability and recovery.”

In Thursday’s post Edmonds wrote that her “hope is when we land in LA we will be able to build routine and relationships, that will hopefully feel normal(ish)? Until then, her and I stay in airbnbs, so she can have a room, and we can have breakfast together.. right now, this feels like the best i can do for her.”

She added: “A new chapter starts soon and we welcome it.”

Maya suffered significant brain damage after being shot by Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, during a mass shooting Feb. 10 in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., when six people were killed at a school and two others in a home.

The Vancouver Sun spoke with Dr. Judy Illes, University of B.C. medical ethicist with expertise in neurosciences, after the rehab plan announcement. While Iles said she couldn’t comment on specific hospitals in the U.S., Canada or elsewhere, she described the Canadian health-care system as “absolutely superb” and care for paediatric patients as “world-class.”

She said the U.S. has specialist doctors who have expertise for rare cases, but Canada’s neurosurgery and neurology care are “top-of-the-line” and equivalent to what’s available in other countries.

• Tumbler Ridge shooting survivor Maya Gebala given a 'brain holiday' by neurosurgeons, her father says
• Tumbler Ridge shooting survivor Maya Gebala moved from ICU to rehab, reports her father

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

Analysis

Two months after it began, the controversial sexual assault case against auto parts magnate Frank Stronach is now in the hands of his judge.

Justice Anne Molloy of the Superior Court of Ontario retired Thursday afternoon with two pressing questions to answer based on the extensive evidence and arguments she has heard. She reflected to the court offhand about how difficult these reasons will be for her to write.

Did Stronach, 93, sexually assault three women more than 40 years ago, when he was about 50 and they were in their 20s, in similar fashion, by leading then from dinner to a private apartment and then abruptly initiating an unwanted sexual encounter?

And did police improperly coach his accusers in advance of their testimony here at Toronto’s main courthouse, indeed just a few days before the trial began, to such a degree that it tainted their testimony and violated Stronach’s fair trial rights?

If Judge Molloy’s answer to the second question is yes, it could almost force her to answer the first with no. In that case, as with much in this sordid proceeding that has already seen most original charges abandoned midtrial, it would mark a major failure for the Ontario Crown. It would mean that a sexual assault prosecution that brought the full weight of criminal justice and public scrutiny against a prominent and powerful man has been scandalously mishandled to the point of complete failure, regardless of the underlying facts.

If disgraced former CBC host Jian Ghomeshi’s 2016 acquittal on similar charges marked the beginning of the MeToo movement in Canada, Stronach’s possible acquittal would mark something like the end. Indeed, many of Stronach’s accusers came forward because they had learned of Ghomeshi’s charges, and court has already heard defence claims that the modern political imperative to “believe all women” caused police to unfairly invert Stronach’s presumption of innocence and investigate with “tunnel vision” on his guilt.

At issue on this final day of legal arguments were preparatory meetings between police and all seven original complainants, some of them mere days before trial. Stronach’s defence counsel Leora Shemesh said all seven of these interviews revealed new evidence, and this cannot possibly be coincidence, but rather must reflect that the women were “guided,” whether on purpose or not.

But police made no meaningful attempt to record these new statements, and as a result they have not been preserved or shared with the defence, as required by law. In some cases, one complainant revealed she had read details in the media of a different complainant’s story, details that would later turn up in the testimony of both. In other cases, new details emerged for the first time, such as one woman having regarded Stronach as a “fatherly figure.” Police asked the women about worrying inconsistencies and omissions that might trip them up under cross-examination. But rather than making a video and audio record of this crucial aspect of the investigation, all that remains for disclosure to the defence, Shemesh argued, are a few vague notes made by police that reflect simply what they took notice of, but not the context of any questioning.

The result, Shemesh said, is Frank Stronach has lost the opportunity to challenge those new memories.

“Valuable, critical pieces of disclosure are gone forever,” Shemesh said, not because they were accidentally lost or inadvertently destroyed, but because police decided not to capture them. The conduct was “unacceptably negligent,” she said, and it violated Stronach’s rights to make a full answer and defence to the charges against him.

One witness, for example, said in a preparatory meeting she had seen media coverage of another complainant’s story, but then denied it on the witness stand, and was only corrected when the Crown agreed to that fact despite their own witness’s testimony.

In another case, a complainant said in the preparatory meeting that she felt she should only be a witness, not a complainant, but because of the sketchy note taking, the defence is unable to challenge this in any detail, or to pursue this clear opportunity to impeach a prosecution witness with her own words.

“Surely Crown counsel must have said something about the difference between witness and complainant, or why do you feel that way?” Shemesh told Judge Molloy.

In another case, a witness appears to have been prepped to gloss over gaps in her memory by saying things such as “I would have …” rather than “I don’t remember.”

“It wouldn’t be a stretch to believe that this type of preparation occurred in every case,” Shemesh said.

The stakes on this “abuse of process” motion about coaching and tainting witnesses are slightly lower than they originally seemed.

When the trial began, this motion was to be an application for a judicial stay of all charges. That means that if it succeeded, all charges would be thrown out never to be prosecuted again, a drastic remedy reserved for the clearest cases of prosecutorial misconduct. A judicial stay is not a verdict of not guilty. It has been described in case law as a remedy that does not mean the accused is entitled to an acquittal, but rather that the Crown is disentitled to a conviction.

Judge Molloy agreed there was at least an air of reality to the claim of abuse of process, and that she would hear the arguments at the end of the trial proper.

Much has happened since then. A witness apologized for lying under oath, another had a full emotional meltdown on the witness stand. Both saw their charges abandoned. Some charges were abandoned by the Crown as having no reasonable prospect of conviction, others rejected by the judge herself who said she could not possibly convict on the evidence of another particularly troubling complainant. So now instead of 12 charges involving seven women, there are five charges and three women.

But on Thursday, defence counsel Shemesh said she was no longer seeking a judicial stay. Instead, she has “come to appreciate that the Crown was in the unenviable position of having to probe new memories (during trial) because the police did not.”

She no longer alleges gross negligence on the part of the Crown, rather that the manner in which police tried to capture evidence in the trial preparation meetings was careless and “unacceptably negligent.”

As a result, she is not asking Judge Molloy to stay the charges, but rather to make this finding of negligence and use it in her analysis of the credibility of each of the remaining three complainants.

It might be a distinction without much of a difference. Crown attorney David Tice, who has not prosecuted this case but appeared to argue this abuse of process motion, closed out the day. Before rising around 4 p.m., Judge Molloy said court will return on June 19 for a verdict or at least an update.

Regardless what happens in this trial, Stronach also faces a possible second prosecution in the future in York Region with similar charges, more recent allegations, and a similar defence strategy involving claims of collusion and witness tainting.

• Stronach had pattern with women that led to sex assault charges, Crown alleges in closing arguments
• Imperative to 'believe all women' turned Frank Stronach's case upside down, defence argues

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here.

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre offered a defiant defence of his leadership of his party on Thursday, one day after losing a fourth MP to the Liberals in almost as many months. 

Marilyn Gladu’s stunning defection to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals has raised fresh questions about his grip on the Conservative caucus and suggestions that his leadership has been weakened in the wake of another MP leaving the party’s ranks.

Speaking in Richmond B.C., Poilievre dismissed any notion that the latest turn of events warrants reflection on his future.

“That reflection comes from the record-smashing 8.3 million Canadians who voted Conservative in the last election, and the 87 per cent of grassroots Conservatives who backed up my leadership less than 90 days ago to fight for an affordable, safe and strong Canada,” he told reporters.

“Our mandate and my leadership does not come from dirty backroom deals. It comes from the people of Canada.”

Amid swirling speculation that more Conservative MPs could leave the party’s ranks, Poilievre slammed the act of floor-crossing as betraying the will of voters, adding that he believed constituents of representatives who do so ought to be able to petition for a byelection .

That’s what voters in Gladu’s riding of Sarnia —Lambton—Bkejwanong ought to be able to do, he said. 

Poilievre also suggested his former MP had him to thank for her success in the last election, where she captured slightly more than 50 per cent of the vote, compared to the Liberal candidate, who garnered almost 40 per cent.

“In fact, and if I can be blunt, under my leadership, she had a massive increase in the Conservative vote in her riding.”

Dan Robertson, who during the party’s 2021 federal election campaign worked as its chief strategist, said a fourth defection undoubtably weakens Poilievre. 

“That can’t be hand-waved away,” he said.

He says the number of exits were reaching the point where questions needed to be asked regarding leadership, not the motives of the MPs who had left.

“You can dismiss one or two, but it’s much harder to dismiss, you know, four or five and possibly more.”

Gladu told the Sarnia Observer that she had been thinking about the move since last summer and characterized her decision as reflecting the feedback she says she has received from constituents who approve of Carney’s government, even among Conservatives.

She outlined to the newspaper how she hoped the move would lead to more government spending in the riding, saying she had observed through her more than decade in Parliament that those on the “g overnment benches tend to get more for their ridings and their projects.”

Chris d’Entremont, Michael Ma and Matt Jeneroux, the three former Conservative MPs who individually joined the Liberals in the past six months all pointed to Carney’s leadership and focus on the economy and getting more major infrastructure projects as reasons why they joined his caucus. Nunavut MP Lori Idlout also left the New Democrats for the Liberals back in March.

d’Entremont also told CTV News on Wednesday that he has “absolutely” fielded questions from some his former caucus colleagues who are “unhappy.”

Ginny Roth, who served as Poilievre’s communications director during his 2022 leadership campaign, suggested Gladu’s defection does not change much and chalked up concerns being expressed within Poilievre’s caucus, including by MPs who may worry about losing their seats as the Conservatives trail Carney’s Liberals in the recent public opinion polls, as “still just grumbling.”

“The circumstances right now are challenging for Conservatives. They would be under any leader, and there’s no other leader I can think of who would do a better job,” she said.

“And I think when push comes to shove, if you press the complainers on that, they have yet to mount any strong argument for an alternative leader or an alternative path.”

Not only would overriding the vote of confidence party members cast for Poilievre back in January raise concerns, Roth said Poilievre stands as the leader who can speak to the range of voters within the Conservative voter coalition, from Western Canada and those who are more right-wing, to fiscal and social conservatives.

If Poilievre plans on using the current defection to look inward, he is showing no signs of doing so, at least publicly.

Dimitri Soudas, who worked as a communications director for former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, said that Poilievre in his remarks on Thursday appeared “calm, cool, collected and tone deaf.”

“He does not acknowledge the fact that he’s now lost four caucus members in six months, and the last one, albeit the fourth one, was also a true blue Conservative,” he said of Gladu.

Besides factors like the fact that the party is trailing Carney’s Liberals by double digits from before the 2025 election, where they had a massive lead in the polls over former prime minister Justin Trudeau before his exit, he said “caucus hemorrhaging is obviously a serious warning sign.”

He pointed to the recent email Poilievre’s policy director sent to parliamentary critics last week ahead of a potential shuffle asking to show the work they had done in their roles and to advise if they do not wish to continue in them, which was first reported by the Toronto Star.

“Don’t you pick up the phone, call your shadow cabinet members, check in how things are going?” Soudas said.

Robertson says as party leader, Poilievre has two roles to fill: leading the national party and its parliamentary caucus.

While he enjoys overwhelmingly support among its grassroots, that support must also come from his MPs.

“I do know that there’s been no caucus leader in my lifetime who survived the loss of even a fraction, the confidence of even a fraction of caucus.”

National Post

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

Artemis II is now on its way home, having broken the record for the farthest distance humans have flown from Earth by travelling around the far side of the moon.

Four astronauts are on board: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen, and are expected to splash down off the coast of San Diego at approximately 8:07 p.m. on Friday, April 10.

Given the hazards involved, along with the years of training and expertise required to journey into space, it would be reasonable to assume Artemis II astronauts are exceptionally well compensated.

Yet, despite the global attention, the Artemis II astronauts are likely paid the same as many of their lower-profile colleagues.

Like most government roles, NASA salaries follow a standardized pay scale, previously reported to top out at about US$152,000.

The space agency’s website stated that the annual salary for astronauts in 2024 was approximately US$152,258. It added that the rate would be adjusted to reflect any increases in pay schedules, meaning this number may have gone up over the past two years.

That salary remains the same whether astronauts are on Earth or in space, and they do not get extra pay for overtime or for going on missions.

For some, this amount might sound modest, considering the Artemis II mission broke records and pushed the boundaries of human space exploration.

As Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledged in a recent video call with the Artemis II crew, the mission carried significant risk.

“You said the other day that this mission is a risk for a good reason, which really struck me,” he told Hansen.

The astronaut replied: “Risk is necessary. But calculated risk, well-thought-out risk and risk that you balance with others.”

Jobs site Indeed lists average salaries for professions such as optometrists, software engineering managers and podiatrists in a similar range — roles that also demand extensive training, but not the same degree of personal risk as travelling more than 250,000 miles from Earth.

Canadian astronauts reportedly receive a similar salary, suggesting Jeremy Hansen earns roughly in line with his crewmates.

In 2023, the Canadian Space Agency revealed that the astronauts’ salaries range from $97,100 to $189,600.

The higher end of the scale is reserved for astronauts who have successfully completed a space mission.

Even from space, we can all agree that maple syrup belongs on pancakes.

Safe journey home to Colonel Jeremy Hansen and the entire Artemis II crew. pic.twitter.com/FqPD2FvsNr

— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) April 9, 2026

Artemis 2 marks Hansen’s first journey into space, and he is also the first Canadian to join a moon mission.

Carney highlighted the milestone during his call with the Artemis crew.

“Canadians are so proud of what you’re doing and the collaboration,” he said. “I’m thrilled. I’m absolutely thrilled to be speaking with you, Jeremy and the crew. We’ve all been watching and inspired by what you’re doing.”

The prime minister also probed Hansen on one burning issue: “A lot of Canadians just wanted one point of reassurance, that the preference is for maple syrup over Nutella on your pancakes in the morning.”

Carney was referring to a viral image of a jar of Nutella floating through the Orion space capsule, and his question had the crew in fits of laughter.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Carney said, also extending an invitation to visit Ottawa, the Canadian capital.

• Maple syrup or Nutella? Carney calls Canada's Artemis 2 astronaut Jeremy Hansen in space
• NASA releases picture of 'Earthset' shot by Artemis crew

An Indigenous B.C. man who shot his sleeping wife in the head after a 17-hour drinking binge has been sentenced to under seven years for her death.

The sentence is far below the Crown prosecutor’s request for 16 years and is partially the result of the judge finding the defendant’s Indigenous heritage a significant mitigating factor.

Brent McCook, 28, was convicted last June of manslaughter arising from the unlawful discharge of a firearm that struck and killed Rochelle Poole, the mother of their two young boys, on Jan. 24, 2023, in Kwadacha, a remote Tsek’ehne First Nations community in northern B.C.

Poole was also Indigenous.

McCook was initially charged with second-degree murder, but Supreme Court of B.C. Justice Sandra Sukstorf acquitted him of that charge following his trial last year because the Crown failed to prove he intended to kill Poole while in his drunken state.

She gave McCook a sentence of six years and nine months at his sentencing hearing in Prince George last month, but he has just two years less six days remaining on his sentence after receiving credit for time served.

In her recently published sentencing decision , Sukstorf said the Indigenous sentencing factors established in McCook’s Gladue report were “significant.”

“The record demonstrates that Mr. McCook’s life trajectory has been shaped by systemic and intergenerational forces, including early removal from his family, family disruption associated with the legacy of residential schools, and the normalization of alcohol misuse within his social environment,” the judge wrote.

“These factors provide important context for understanding his background and inform the Court’s assessment of proportionality and the appropriate balance between denunciation, deterrence, rehabilitation, and restraint.”

Established by the Supreme Court of Canada, the Gladue principles direct judges to account for Indigenous offenders’ specific backgrounds and the broader systemic factors that contribute to their over-representation in Canadian prisons.

The day before the shooting, McCook and Poole travelled 425 kilometres south to Mackenzie, where they spent more than $600 at the liquor store and began to consume their alcohol on the long drive home, where they continued drinking upon arrival, according to court documents from McCook’s trial.

Kwadacha is a dry community that prohibits the transportation and possession of alcohol on its lands.

The pair stayed up all night and drank into the following morning, during which time McCook “consumed extreme quantities of alcohol over many hours and became profoundly intoxicated,” the judge wrote.

Witnesses that day said they could tell McCook had been drinking and seemed off, but added that there didn’t seem to be any friction between the couple and “described their interactions as calm and affectionate.”

About mid-morning, after McCook and Poole had returned from a drive around town with two of his cousins, one of them, Jason McCook, heard shots fired from the defendant’s residence two doors away. He looked outside to see McCook standing next to his truck with a rifle in his hands.

When he approached, McCook fired a shot in his direction, missing, but prompting his cousin to flee inside his home, which was then hit with another bullet.

The local emergency response centre was alerted and, as people arrived, Jason McCook was eventually able to sneak up on his cousin, subdue him and wrestle the gun from his hands.

Multiple officers and witnesses all described the drunk man as “incoherent, erratic, confused, and severely impaired immediately before and after the offence.”

“It was like no one was home, like the lights were on but no one was there,” his cousin testified.

Poole, meanwhile, was seated in the front seat of the truck, thought to be in a deep sleep after a night of heavy drinking, and it wasn’t until after the RCMP arrived that her death was discovered.

When a police officer opened the passenger door to check on her, “he observed that Ms. Poole had a visible facial wound, and upon closer examination, he concluded that she was deceased.”

Police determined that McCook first fired the weapon toward the vehicle from inside the family home, with the bullet hitting Poole in the head.

A post-mortem toxicology report measured her blood alcohol concentration at 0.281 grams per 100 millilitres, “a level consistent with severe intoxication and significant cognitive and motor impairment.” The judge said Poole, found with alcohol still in her lap, was “likely asleep, unconscious, or otherwise incapacitated” at the time of her death.

Police also found no evidence of what occurred between when the truck was parked and the shots were fired, nor any evidence that McCook knew his wife was seated in the vehicle at the time he shot the gun.

They also couldn’t establish whether he could even see into the truck from inside the home.

“While the forensic evidence established the direction of fire, it did not demonstrate visibility into the vehicle, deliberate targeting, or purposeful aim at Ms. Poole,” the judge wrote.

Defence counsel was seeking a sentence of five years, which would have left McCook with virtually no time to serve. The Crown wanted 16 years and argued that the fatal incident occurred within “a broader pattern of intimate partner violence… rather than as an isolated event.”

Because those matters didn’t arise during McCook’s trial, the judge granted a Gardiner hearing, which requires them to hear evidence to resolve disputed facts, thereby ensuring aggravating factors are proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Two witnesses, both Poole’s cousins, testified that she’d made past remarks about him being abusive. One of them said Poole once said something to the “effect that if she ever died, Mr. McCook would be the one who killed her.”

Sukstorf found the witnesses credible and their testimonies sincere, but ruled Crown counsel hadn’t proven it beyond a reasonable doubt and therefore could not be used to increase the sentence.

“On the evidence before me, I am satisfied that the relationship between Ms. Poole and Mr. McCook was marked by alcohol-fuelled instability,” she wrote. “The fact that the offence was committed against an intimate partner remains highly relevant to the sentencing analysis. However, the Crown has not established that the offence itself was the culmination of a pattern of intimate partner violence.”

Despite the mitigating force of his Indigeneity, the judge said the sentence still had to reflect the seriousness of taking the life of an Indigenous woman and intimate partner.

Other mitigating factors that led the judge to a sentence at “the lower end of the applicable range” were McCook’s lack of criminal record before the shooting, his remorse in custody and during trial, his efforts to rehabilitate while in custody awaiting trial and sentencing and the Kwadacha reintegration plan upon his release.

• Bronwyn Eyre: The 'Gladue principle' has caused immense harm to Indigenous women
• NP View: Justice by skin colour

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

More than 10 years after his transnational cocaine smuggling plot crumbled and seven years after his arrest for orchestrating it, Ali Lalji has lost his epic campaign to stay out of prison.

Lalji, 37, was part of a sensational case that revealed abuse of the Toronto headquarters of the youth-oriented Vice Media to recruit interns, models and musicians as drug mules to smuggle bricks of cocaine glued into the lining of their luggage when they flew to Australia.

While five recruited mules — four Canadians and one American — languished for years in an Australian prison after they were caught at Sydney airport with cocaine valued at $22 million, and while Lalji’s partner, a former Vice editor, spent years locked up in Ontario, Lalji remained free, courtesy of a keen legal strategy and logistical delays.

On Wednesday, he ran out of runway.

Lalji surrendered into custody Wednesday morning in anticipation of the decision by the Court of Appeal for Ontario. He would soon hear the verdict: Appeals of his conviction at his 2023 trial and of his punishment were dismissed, leaving him with a nine-year prison sentence.

The actual time he will remain behind bars was previously reduced somewhat by credit for the brief time he spent in pre-trial custody and a longer period while out on a $1 million bail to his parents’ home while awaiting the conclusion of the legal rigmarole.

Lalji’s lawyer, Ravin Pillay, declined to comment to National Post without first consulting his client. A response was not received prior to publishing deadline.

Lalji became embroiled in the large-scale cocaine plot through his time at Vice, where he worked in advertising for the once mighty media brand. That is where he befriended Vice’s music editor for Canada, Yaroslav Pastukhov, better known by his pen name Slava Pastuk.

The pair recruited young people into a drug smuggling scheme that sent couriers on free trips to Las Vegas, where they were given suitcases with bricks of cocaine hidden inside, which they then took as their luggage on a flight to Sydney, Australia.

Neither man was the brains of the operation, nor its boss. That was the work of B.C.-based men who arranged with a cartel to supply the drugs and jerry rig the luggage, but Pastukhov and Lalji proved to be capable recruiters, convincing sometimes reluctant young people to risk becoming international drug couriers.

Lalji and Pastukhov had both successfully made the same journey themselves, court heard, which proved to be a powerful sales pitch.

It is unknown how long the network had been running or how many couriers made the trek, but the wheels fell off when a group of mules arranged by Lalji and Pastukhov were caught in Australia in 2015 with 40 kilograms of cocaine. Five were arrested, convicted and imprisoned.

The secrets behind the cocaine plot were revealed in an investigative feature by National Post , including the shocking role of Vice’s music editor.

On Jan. 31, 2019, RCMP officers arrested and charged both men with conspiracy to import cocaine into Australia. Pastukhov pleaded guilty and was sentenced that same year.

Lalji, however, took a different tact, leaning on support and resources from his wealthy, globe-hopping family; from his first court appearance to his last, he was represented by top-tier lawyers, seemingly with a mandate to do whatever legal maneuvering they could muster, all while Lalji was free on bail.

Much of the evidence against Lalji at his trial came from the phones of the drug mules that had been seized in Australia — including text messages and recordings that one mule had secretly made of his recruitment meetings — and testimony by Pastukhov, who was called as a reluctant witness.

In late 2023, Justice Russell Silverstein released his guilty verdict against Lalji. Lalji was immediately released on bail pending an appeal.

Every six months since, his bail was renewed while his appeal was perfected, as the court refers to completed appeal documentation.

Three appeal court judges finally heard Lalji’s appeal this January. Lalji’s case was argued by Pillay and opposed by Crown prosecutors Maria Gaspar and Sarah Malik.

Pillay had argued the secret recordings should not have been accepted as evidence because they were not adequately authenticated.

Justice Jonathan Dawe, writing on behalf of the appeal panel, said it was open for the trial judge to accept the recordings because the contents on them inferred the time they were recorded when compared to other evidence, and Pastukhov confirmed some of the voices. There was also no evidence of tampering or fabrication.

Pillay also complained of the trial judge’s handling of Pastukhov’s inconsistent testimony, some of which seemed to help Lalji’s case and some hurt it.

Dawe said it was reasonable for the trial judge to reject most but not all of Pastukhov’s testimony in accordance with other evidence in the case, and to conclude Lalji knew the contraband being smuggled was cocaine, or he was willfully blind to that fact.

Pillay’s argument that Lalji was convicted of a different conspiracy than the one he was charged with was trickier for appeal judges to parse.

Evidence at Lalji’s trial showed that Lalji and Pastukhov jointly recruited and organized trips for two of the five mules who were busted, while Pastukhov, at his own trial, pleaded guilty to recruiting four of them.

Pillay argued that because the men were charged together on a single count of conspiracy, it needed to be the same plot for both accused. And since evidence did not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Lalji was a part of the larger conspiracy, he should have been acquitted, even if evidence showed he was part of a smaller conspiracy.

“I agree that some of the underlying planks Mr. Lalji relies on to construct this argument are sound,” Dawe wrote. Pillay was right that the accused in a jointly charged conspiracy needs to be part of the same conspiracy.

In this case, however, the court found the two had the same objective — recruiting mules to smuggle cocaine into Australia — and it was reasonable for the trial judge to conclude they were members of a single conspiracy even if Pastukhov knew more specifics than Lalji.

The evidence suggested Lalji was aware there were other moving parts to the plot. He did not think his two couriers were “a stand-alone criminal venture that was not part of a broader overarching conspiracy,” Dawe wrote.

Lalji also objected to his nine-year sentence.

Pillay argued there was not sufficient evidence that Lalji had made a smuggling trip prior to recruiting the others, but the appeal judges disagreed. Pillay also said the 40-kg size of the load carried by the five mules should not have been considered an “extremely aggravating” factor against Lalji, arguing the two mules Lalji recruited only carried 17.3 kg of cocaine.

The judges disagreed: “There was evidence supporting the inference that Mr. Lalji knew that he was participating in a very large-scale ongoing importing scheme, even if he did not know exactly how much contraband was being imported on this one occasion,” Dawe wrote.

And while evidence showed Pastukhov played a larger role, Pastukhov also quickly pleaded guilty while Lalji definitely did not, meaning the two factors balanced out to both men being given the same punishment.

• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | Twitter: AD_Humphreys

• EXCLUSIVE: He grew up rich and joined the hottest media empire. Then came the cocaine mules
• How a former editor allegedly used Vice Canada to recruit drug mules for a global smuggling ring