Jewish leaders across Canada remain committed to safety after a shooting outside a synagogue in Belleville, Ont. left a police officer injured.

The suspect of the Sept. 20 shooting — which occurred on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism — died Tuesday after succumbing to his injuries. He was identified as 29-year-old Sean Ward from Quinte West. The officer, Const. Jeff Smith, is in stable condition but “continues to face a significant road to recovery,” according to Belleville police’s Deputy Chief Sheri Meeks. A GoFundMe set up for Smith by Toronto’s Jewish community has reached more than $360,000.

None of the roughly 25 congregants inside the synagogue were injured.

Belleville police were only assigned to the synagogue because congregants had reported a suspicious vehicle parked outside a week earlier, according to Global News.

In an update from the Belleville synagogue, Sons of Jacob, shared with National Post on Wednesday, it referred to the shooting as a “targeted attack against Jews gathering together to pray and be in community.”

“Yom Kippur asks us to confront what is broken and consider how we can repair it,” the update said. “This week, our community is living that teaching in a very real way.”

A GoFundMe has been set up to raise money for repairs and security at the synagogue.

Rabbi Carnie Rose from the Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Winnipeg said what occurred in Belleville was a “very unfortunate situation” and he has been in talks with police.

Shaarey Zedek was the target of antisemitic graffiti in 2025 and in early 2026.

“The police have been outstanding, wonderful,” he said, as have local politicians. Many safety measures are being taken, he said, although he did not want to cite specific details out of caution.

He said it was sad that the community’s money had to be spent on security rather than education or charitable work, but it is a necessity at this time.

“The Islamic community has … reached out to tell us that we’re in this together,” he said, adding that other faith communities have also been supportive. “So, if there is a silver lining, it is a possibility of … coming together of people who have otherwise had some edges with one another, and maybe this will be the catalyst for a better day for us all.”

Rose said that past events have not dissuaded his congregation from attending synagogue.

“People are proud, and people are strong, and people are not going to be pushed around, not in a country that that is supposed to be about liberty and equality and democracy, and a cultural mosaic,” he said.

Winnipeg Police Service will be boosting patrols at gathering spaces and places of worship as a precaution, it said in a post on X .

In a separate incident, Durham Regional Police arrested a 19-year-old Whitby man for allegedly making threats online about shooting up a synagogue one day before the Belleville shooting.

Koren Kassirer is the vice president of a small congregation in Oshawa called Beth Zion Congregation, located in the Durham Region. She told National Post that the recent events have been “very concerning.”

“Living outside the GTA, we felt that the likelihood of these incidents was far lower,” she said. However, she said she did notice antisemitic incidents in Bowmanville, where she lives, including swastikas being graffitied outside over the summer and antisemitic flyers on the shelves of a local store earlier in the year.

Kassirer said the synagogue is in talks with local police and two congregants are taking a course to learn how to better secure the facility.

Durham Regional Police will continue with enhanced patrols, Const. Nicholas Gluckstein told National Post in a written statement. He said this was a “proactive” measure that reflects the police service’s “ongoing commitment to community safety, crime prevention, and support for faith-based communities across Durham Region.”

“We recognize the significance of all religious observances and want members of the Jewish community to know that their safety remains a priority,” said Gluckstein.

In Toronto, which is home to Canada’s largest Jewish population, Toronto Police Services said in a post on X it would increase visibility and patrols at synagogues and other places of worship although there was no known threat or connection to the city at this time.

In March alone, there were three overnight shootings at Toronto-area synagogues. No one was injured.

Phil David, the executive director of Toronto synagogue Beth Tzedec, told National Post that the Belleville shooting “reinforces what Jewish institutions across Canada already know: security can no longer be treated as an occasional concern.”

David said the synagogue is in regular contact with Toronto police and the Jewish Security Network (JSN), dedicated to the security needs of our Greater Toronto Jewish community. “Security is an ongoing responsibility for us, not a response to any single incident,” said David.

A new security fence is being installed around parts of the property, he said.

The JSN continues to “monitor developments through its 24/7 Integrated Security Operations Centre and share information directly with community institutions,” said Yonatan Belete from the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, a charitable organization dedicated to helping the Jewish community. The UJA launched the JSN in 2024.

The JSN has been working closely with police before and after the Belleville shooting.

“Synagogue is where our community gathers to pray, support one another and practise our faith,” said Belete.

“We want people to continue doing that with confidence, knowing that substantial work is being done to help keep them safe. Each person who stays aware, reports a concern or gets involved strengthens that effort.”

The Barrie Police Service told National Post in a statement that there was no “specific or immediate threat to Barrie,” but there would be an increase in patrols “around places of worship within the city out of an abundance of caution.”

Montreal police could not immediately respond to National Post’s request for comment about whether it would be increasing patrols near places of worship.

In June, a man was arrested after allegedly attempting to set a fire at a synagogue in the city’s Westmount neighbourhood.

• Belleville synagogue shooting suspect 'spouted' theory that blamed Jews for COVID: reports
• Vivian Bercovici: Belleville shooting is the inevitable result of unchecked Jew-hatred

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Two men set to face a jury trial together for the astonishing Toronto Pearson airport gold heist have had their hearings separated, and will each now have only a judge decide their fate.

Parmpal Sidhu, 56, who worked at the Air Canada warehouse from where the $22-million shipment of gold bars and currency was stolen in 2023, and Archit Grover, 39, who allegedly owned the truck used to haul the shipment from the airport, will face separate trials a month apart, likely in front of different judges.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Nancy Dennison agreed to separate the prosecutions for the men, both from Brampton, Ont., on Friday, at the request of Grover’s lawyer.

“Archit Grover stands in a different position than his co-accused who are going to trial or who are still on the run,” Grover’s lawyer, Andrew Furgiuele, told National Post. “The factual considerations relating to his co-accused have no relevance with respect to him.”

Grover was arrested May 6, 2024, at Pearson airport after he flew back to Canada from India. Peel Regional Police announced nine arrest warrants for the gold heist about three weeks before, on the first anniversary of the heist. At the time, Grover was named as a fugitive.

“Mr. Grover is looking forward to his trial with the same confidence he had when he immediately came back to Canada to face his charges after the police announced the arrest warrants. He was not guilty then, is not guilty now, and will remain so after his trial,” Furgiuele said.

Sidhu, by contrast, had been quietly arrested in Canada on April 5, 2024, almost two weeks before the splashy police announcement.

Shale Wagman, Sidhu’s lawyer, professed his client’s innocence.

“He’s pleading not guilty for sure. He’s doing fine. He’s taking it well. He didn’t do anything wrong and he’s anxious to clear his name,” Wagman told National Post.

Neither Wagman nor the Crown prosecutor, Jelena Vlacic, opposed the severance motion, according to court records.

Both accused men then switched their trial choice from a jury trial to being heard by a judge only.

They were to face a joint trial and had previously asked for it to be heard before a jury. Jury selection was scheduled to begin Oct. 1. Instead, the trial for Sidhu is now scheduled to begin Oct. 5 and run for two or three weeks, and the trial for Grover is set for two weeks in late November. Both trials are to be in their hometown of Brampton.

Sidhu and Grover face the same two charges.

Each is accused of conspiring with others to commit theft over $5,000, and of stealing gold and bank notes worth more than $5,000 that were the property of the Toronto Dominion Centre, the global headquarters for the TD Bank. Both charges are tied to the date of the airport heist: April 17, 2023.

It is a quaintness in Canada’s laws that the largest gold heist in Canadian history, and the sixth largest in the world — valued at more than $22 million gold and cash — is prosecuted at the top criminal code threshold of just a $5,000 loss.

Investigators thought that other men might be facing trial for the heist as well.

Two men are considered fugitives-at-large.

Simran Preet Panesar, who was a 31-year-old Air Canada employee at the time of the theft resigned after the heist and left Canada before he was named as being wanted. He is believed to have travelled to India.

Prasath Paramalingam, 35 at the time of his arrest in 2024 and also from Brampton, was arrested in the original police sweep but later disappeared after his release on bail. He is now considered a fugitive after failing to appear in court on Aug. 19, 2024. Paramalingam is also wanted in the United States in a related gun-running case.

While technically a fugitive in Canada, the alleged driver of the truck is not on the run. Durante King-Mclean, 25, of Brampton is in custody in the United States after police stopped a car in Pennsylvania with 65 handguns in the trunk that were being smuggled into Canada. Authorities said a portion of the stolen gold was used to fund a cross-border gun-running plot. He recently pleaded guilty to firearms trafficking charges while he is still wanted in Canada for the gold heist.

Grover is wanted in the United States for alleged involvement in the same gun-running plot.

In April, the man named as the ringleader of the heist, Arsalan Chaudhary, a 43-year-old man formerly of Mississauga, Ont., was sentenced to four years. He too had fled Canada after the grab, settling in Dubai. After negotiations by his lawyer, Chaudhary returned to Canada in January and surrendered to Peel police waiting for him at Pearson airport. He pleaded guilty to theft over $5,000.

Three other men who had been arrested for the heist have since had their charges dropped.

In April, Ammad Chaudhary, 43, from Georgetown, who had been charged with theft over $5,000 and being accessory after the fact, had his charged dropped by the Crown.

Last week, charges against two more of the accused were dropped.

Ali Raza, 39, of Toronto, who was originally accused of melting stolen gold in his jewellery store workshop, and Amit Jalota, 42, of Oakville, originally accused of helping move the stolen gold to be melted, had all charges withdrawn and left court as free men.

Vlacic, the prosecutor, said evolving evidence meant there was no longer a reasonable prospect of conviction in either of those cases. The details of the evidentiary changes cannot be published under a court-ordered publication ban.

The shipping container at the heart of the case was filled with almost-pure gold bars, weighing 400.19 kilograms, and stolen from an Air Canada cargo facility shortly after arriving on an Air Canada flight from Zurich, Switzerland.

Police said a man walked into the warehouse alone and presented an Air Canada waybill for a shipment of seafood that had already been picked up; bizarrely a warehouse employee loaded the gold shipment onto the man’s truck with a forklift.

The theft was so smooth it wasn’t noticed until three hours later when Brink’s security arrived to collect the container and nobody could find it.

Only a small fraction of the gold has been recovered.

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

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Trade tensions are becoming a familiar problem for Washington and this week President Donald Trump is putting his deal-making skills to the test as he hosts China’s president at the White House.

Xi Jinping arrived in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, and he and Trump will hold talks on Thursday. They are expected to discuss Iran, Taiwan, and AI safety standards , but the main focus will be on trade — and particularly U.S. access to Chinese rare-earth magnets and processed materials that also feed Canadian supply chains.

The summit comes nearly a year after Xi and Trump forged a trade truce in Busan, South Korea, suspending selected retaliatory measures — including some Chinese export controls on rare-earth magnets and critical materials — and reducing some U.S. tariffs.

Now, that truce is set to expire on Nov. 10, and Trump is seeking an economic victory ahead of November’s midterms. He also must ensure the continued flow of Chinese rare-earth exports to U.S. manufacturers.

Canadian leaders will be watching for any sign of a deal, but trade analysts say Ottawa is likely to lose either way, whether Xi and Trump fail or succeed in coming to an agreement. A collapsed truce could disrupt Canadian manufacturers that rely on Chinese magnets and processed rare earths, while an extension could bring short-term stability but leave Canada dependent on Chinese supply. An extended truce would also leave Canada exposed to a wider U.S.-China trade deal that diverts sales and investment to the U.S.

“No matter what happens, the Canadians are going to be in a position [where] they’re worried about how much of the piece of the pie they’re going to lose,” said Stephen Nagy, senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

China, pushing for greater stability, wants to extend the truce until the end of the Trump presidency, while the White House is pushing for just a six-month extension.

The rationale for the shorter extension, explained Dominic Chiu, a senior China and Northeast Asia analyst at Eurasia Group, is that the U.S. believes “it gives them more leverage to extract concessions and to continue the momentum to negotiate with the Chinese … in exchange for additional extensions along the way.”

The report on Washington’s Section 301 structural excess capacity investigation against China has reportedly been punted until after the summit, but that probe may be factoring into Trump’s timeline demands.

“Giving more than six months would effectively be indicating that the 301 investigation is null,” said China scholar Anna Ashton, of Ashton Intelligence.

“The U.S. side will want to have those 301 investigation findings as future leverage for the next round of talks,” she added, noting she expects a six-month extension of the truce to result.

Few expect major breakthroughs this week, but most of the trade watchers said a six-month to year-long truce extension is likely. Chiu said he’s mostly anticipating pomp and circumstance rather than tangible deliverables on Thursday. He expects a truce agreement to come closer to the November deadline. Neither Ashton nor Chiu, however, anticipate any concrete Chinese commitments on rare-earth licensing volumes, turnaround times, minimum supply levels, or enforcement.

If the truce lapses, Canadian manufacturers could face more costly and less reliable access to Chinese magnets and processed rare-earth materials. That could increase pressure for Ottawa to de-risk more quickly by building the infrastructure and industry Canada needs to mine and process rare earths domestically.

But there will be no quick Canadian replacement. Building rare-earth capacity takes years of sustained financing, permitting, infrastructure, and technical expertise. The Carney government has already signalled support for expanding the sector, but it will take several years.

“You don’t just open up supply chains in these rare earths quickly,” said Mark A. Smith, CEO of Colorado-based critical-minerals developer NioCorp Developments.

But Reza Hasmath, a politics professor at the University of Alberta, argues that a longer period of stability could be more useful to Canada’s industrial strategy than a supply crisis. A longer truce, he said, would give Canada more time to build the processing capacity and infrastructure it needs.

“From a strictly rare earth perspective, though, I would suggest that the greater the extension, the better it is for (Canada) because it gives manufacturers much more stability, but it also buys us time to develop that industry a bit more,” he said.

More broadly, however, he sees better U.S.-China relations as bad news for Ottawa.

“When Chinese-U.S. relations are terrible, that gives (Canada) the most leverage, and when they are less tense and when there is a greater truce, generally speaking, it’s not to (Canada’s) advantage,” he said.

Hasmath said a truce is still preferable for Canadian manufacturers, but he explained that Washington has more incentive to seek Canadian alternatives when its relationship with Beijing deteriorates.

According to Ashton, no truce or a shorter truce extension could give Beijing more incentive to preserve commercial options with Canada. That could boost Ottawa’s bargaining leverage as it seeks to extend Chinese tariff relief on Canadian canola meal, lobster, and crab, which is set to expire in December.

Nagy cautions, however, that if the U.S. administration takes a harder line on Beijing, Trump may demand Ottawa’s alignment under threat of more tariffs.

But the same stability that protects manufacturers could weaken the political case for building Canadian alternatives, some warned. More predictable Chinese supply could ease the political urgency — and public-financing momentum — to build Canadian processing capacity.

“On the whole, it’s beneficial to industry at large, but it could slow down the momentum for the critical minerals industry in Canada specifically,” said Chiu.

Smith said the underlying case for diversification should survive either way.

“We cannot sit here and be dependent on any single country for any single item. We have to have alternatives,” he said.

But Hasmath and Nagy agree an extended truce could pose another downside: a wider U.S.-China trade deal could undercut Canadian exporters.

Most trade watchers believe Beijing will agree — whether it’s this week or in the weeks to come — to buy more U.S. agricultural goods and Boeing aircraft and that the two sides will announce an intention to begin AI-related security talks. Washington may offer China limited relief on access to lower-grade semiconductors, and it may reduce tariffs on some Chinese imports.

Those possible U.S. commercial wins could hurt Canada, because if Beijing buys more U.S. products, Canadian exporters may lose share in those markets.

“The more the Chinese buy from the Americans, that’s less of our exports going to the Chinese,” Hasmath said, pointing to three sectors that could be hit hard: agriculture, aircraft, and LNG.

The tradeoff is a catch-22, he said. Canada benefits when a truce keeps Chinese rare-earth materials flowing to manufacturers, but it has more geopolitical leverage when Washington needs non-Chinese alternatives.

So this week’s summit will not provide Canada with a win or a simple choice. An extended truce would help manufacturers with rare-earth supplies, but it would also prolong their reliance on China — and possibly weaken Ottawa’s push to build domestic processing capacity.

The test will be how Canada uses any period of stability a truce might bring. Will it use the time to build the infrastructure and domestic processing capability it needs to supply rare-earth materials itself? How it responds will determine whether the next U.S.-China trade spat leaves Canada with more leverage — or bigger supply problems.

National Post

• U.S. and China extend trade truce by two months as Xi met by Trump for start of visit
• How China leveraged its critical minerals dominance over the U.S.

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NEWMARKET, ONT. — No matter what prison sentence is ultimately imposed on the suicide poison merchant Kenneth Law, Wednesday’s proceedings before Justice Michelle Fuerst had the deflated air of inadequate compromise.

No one will get what they want.

Rather, testimony from family members of people who died by suicide with Law’s poison during the pandemic was a heart-rending litany of grief and loss.

“My son is dead, he is gone, I am empty, hollow,” Cindy MacMinn said in an angry voice through tears. “If it hadn’t been for your offence, perhaps Clayton (Choquette, 32) may still be here … Your actions caused me to have no desire to live any longer, because Clayton is not there to share with. It is pointless. He was everything to me.”

“There are things you do not realize you are memorizing while your child is still alive,” like the sound of his “gallop” down the stairs to ask if the chicken and rice is ready, said Sarjit Kaur Rana, mother of Amrit Rana, 21. “Now it’s one of the most precious memories of my life.”

The Ontario Crown originally wanted Law to get life for murder, but a legal obstacle rose up unexpectedly in an unrelated case. So the plea deal agreed in May on assisting 14 suicides was the best the Crown could legally do.

Now, Law faces sentencing for a crime with a maximum sentence of 14 years, but the possibility that some penalties for his 14 admitted offences could be imposed consecutively. He is 60 years old.

Some of the people who delivered victim impact statements looked Law in the eye and said his name, with one man even warning Law that he would always be vigilant in case he ever tried to sell poison again. “He was ill and he needed help and I tried my best to give him that help,” said Stephen Mitchell, Sr., father of Stephen Mitchell, Jr., who died by suicide aged 21. “Mr. Law robbed my son of the chance to be healed.”

“Mr. Law broke all of our hearts,” said Greg Bryson, father of Tyler Bryson, 34, a professional commercial pilot. He “knowingly took actions to steal something so precious in all of our lives.”

Others determinedly did not say Law’s name, and walked past his prisoner’s box with their eyes on the back wall of the courtroom in Newmarket, Ont.

One dramatic moment came when a woman told court she had taken Law’s poison in an effort to end her life but survived thanks to medical care, and has been left guilt stricken as a survivor.

A striking commonality across the many victim impact statements on this first day of a hearing expected to last several weeks was how many people have taken stock of their own life through their grief, and found a new sense that it is broken into unfamiliar chapters, punctuated by absences.

Many took note of the numerical fact that some day will come when their loved one’s absence grows longer than their presence was.

Over and over again, people said there was a before, and now there is an after. Their health has changed, emotions, finances, values, responses to the stresses of life.

The loved ones of Maurizio Vadala, who dies aged 36 in 2023 spoke especially movingly. His sister Adrienne Dalli said she is left with not just his absence, but “the presence of a constant, unrelenting grief.” She is tormented by the words in his last letter to his family: “It’s time to face reality. I love and will miss you all. Goodbye.” In his emotional suffering, “he encountered guidance toward death instead of support, protection or intervention,” she said, and this has left her feeling “anger, confusion, and an overwhelming sense of injustice.”

Vadala’s long time close friend Daniel Calderone took the witness stand and unbuttoned his shirt to display a T-shirt with a picture of Maurizio, as he recalled camping trips and helping each other during difficult periods for both of them in the last months of his life. “I deeply wish I could have helped him more,” Calderone said. “I grieve the future experiences we will never have, the conversations we will never finish, the laughs we will never share.”

Law denied murder, but evidence suggests he was not personally bothered by the idea of assisting suicide, which he admitted in the plea deal. On a journalist’s secret recording that led to his downfall, he even seemed pleased with himself for offering this service to which he believed people had a right, even proud of himself for only profiting modestly.

His Ontario victims formally number 14, with details of 79 more shared by Britain to inform this sentencing hearing. But that does not include his American market, so the real number is likely higher, almost certainly more than 100.

He sent 431 packages to the U.S., 330 to the U.K., and 157 within Canada, all during the pandemic in 2021 until his arrest in 2023 sparked a panicked international search for packages already mailed. In addition to poison, he also sold more expensive kits for asphyxiation by gas.

One man who died by this manner made a donation before he died to a charity for first responders, and left cautionary notes to ensure those who found his body in a parked car were not injured or unduly traumatized.

Most of the suicides, however, were by poison ingested by dissolving it in water, purchased for less than $100 from Law online, who made $300,000 from his various schemes, roughly equally through PayPal and Shopify.

Thursday morning, Law sauntered slowly toward the central prisoner’s box in a black bomber jacket, khakis and brown leather shoes, making no eye contact with anyone. He sat impassively through all the proceedings as the Crown made its start on 74 victim impact statements, some read by their authors, others by prosecutors.

“I have no words for how cold the blood ran in my veins, the ice that dropped me to my knees and destroyed the world I lived in until that moment, to hear the words ‘He did it this time,’” said Kim Prosser, mother of Ashtyn Prosser-Blake, 19. He had just called her to say good night, and she thought he sounded tired. “I didn’t know he was making his last call goodbye,” she said. It lasted 38 minutes and 18 seconds.

She confessed that she has since made an attempt on her own life, not planned, after an unexpected emotional loss and the burden of the court process.

“I am still here and Ashtyn is not,” she said.

Her other son Drake Prosser, Ashtyn’s older brother, noted that Ashtyn spent 7274 days alive, and he knows there will be a day when he will have been gone longer than he was here.

He talked about the stages of grief, and how he was stuck in anger without feeling acceptance, but he has changed. “I wasn’t angry with him, I was sad that he would never do anything to anger me again,” he said.

“We are two people trying to survive the same loss while watching each other suffer,” said Leonardo Bedoya Forero, father of Jeshennia Bedoya-Lopez, 18, who gave a statement with his wife Maria Lopez, read out by a prosecutor due to language barriers. “It terrifies me to think what would happen if we both collapse at the same time.”

“We are two people clinging to each other because neither of us knows how to stand up on our own,” he said. “The future we had imagined as a family disappeared.”

He spoke of powerlessness, how could not protect his daughter, and now fears he cannot protect his wife.

“I saw my daughter, pale, bruised and cold,” a prosecutor read in Bedoya-Forero’s words. “That image became part of me.”

“The place she went for understanding led her to greater danger,” he said, to a man who “paves a path to death … How was I supposed to protect my daughter from something I didn’t even know I was supposed to protect her from?”

“There was a before, and then there is an after when we have gained membership in a club that nobody wants to be part of,” said Norson Harris, father of Ashley Harris, 26, who graduated in computer science and systems design.

“I still write to Ashley, message her, in the hopes there’s a small corner of the universe where she has written a system that is able to receive them,” he said. He said he leads a smaller life now and has become an introvert, and is not working at a similar level as in the past.

“We all feel we should have been able to prevent Ashley’s death, or to intervene in a way that would have changed the course of events”

Before she died, Ashley had just got into a new therapy program. But Law “sold her a chemical that Ashley ultimately used to end her own life.”

Her father Norson said it is a “small consolation” that Law has admitted his responsibility, and he said he hopes Law recognizes the answer he should have given his customers is “that they were loved, they were not alone, and that help is available.”

The hearing continues with dozens more victim statements expected.

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An Albertan who, along with six of his followers, donned skin-tight, lime-green spandex body suits with matching green hooded masks and handed out anti-gay pamphlets disguised as condoms at Toronto’s Pride Parade a decade back has been convicted of wilfully promoting hatred.

William Whatcott, who accessorized his parade outfit with a tutu and a rainbow-striped cape, was originally acquitted of the charge, but the Crown appealed because the trial judge refused to hear from an expert on the history of anti-gay discrimination. Ontario’s top court saw that as an error and ordered a new trial. The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear Whatcott’s appeal.

His new trial in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice heard that, on July 3, 2016, Whatcott marched with his followers in the parade after obtaining a permit by “falsely representing” the group as the “Gay Zombies Cannabis Consumers Association” using a fake name.

In his parade application, Whatcott “falsely told the organizers that his contingent consisted of ‘zombies who are gay and who smoke pot’ and that their message was ‘to have fun’ but to do so ‘responsibly and safely,’” said the recent decision. “He said they would provide ‘zombie safesex packets’ to ‘encourage zombies to be safe when having sex or when playing with blood sports.’”

Although Whatcott was “required to get advance approval for any handouts,” he didn’t provide a sample to parade organizers.

“Based on the evidence in the trial before me, I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the flyer distributed by Mr. Whatcott and his fellow Zombies promoted hatred of gay men, as defined in the case law, and also that Mr. Whatcott willfully distributed the flyer knowing this to be the case,” Justice Anne Molloy wrote in her Sept. 16 verdict.

Each of the people in Whatcott’s group “carried a large shoulder bag containing packages of what appeared to be condoms, but which instead contained a folded-up flyer printed on both sides with what is alleged in this case to be anti-gay messaging,” said the judge.

“As they continued along the parade route, the Gay Zombies handed out 3,000 of these packages.”

One recipient complained to the Toronto Police Service. Whatcott, whose name and contact information were on the flyer, was charged with inciting hatred against gay men.

“The content of the flyers is partly about the health risks associated with gay men, partly about their sinful ways and criminal conduct, and partly about government figures said to have been associated with the gay agenda in a negative way,” Molloy said.

“Gay men are portrayed as immoral and a danger to children. It is thinly disguised scare-mongering and loaded with toxic imagery. However, it also includes calls for sinners to repent and messages that God loves them.”

An expert on the history of anti-gay discrimination — Nick Mulé, a practising psychotherapist and an associate professor at York University — testified that Whatcott’s pamphlets include demeaning tropes that identify “gay men as carriers of disease,” and “references to the gay lifestyle as being sordid; the use of pejorative terms like sodomy and homosexual; references to pedophilia, recruiting children to become gay, and feeding false information to children who then change their genders; and repeated strong religiosity and references to sinful conduct.”

Whatcott, 58, who once worked as a registered nurse but now drives a school bus and cleans carpets part-time in Calgary, self-identified on the stand as a “‘conservative evangelical’ who believes the Bible to be the word of God and authoritative.” He said he believes that sex is “sinful unless between one man and one woman within a lifelong marriage.”

Whatcott “acknowledged he told lies in the course of getting permission for the Gay Zombies to participate in the 2016 Gay Pride parade,” said the decision.

When confronted with the statement “that there is a Christian duty not to engage in trickery and not to lie,” Whatcott responded: “It’s not an absolute prohibition, for a tactical purpose one can do it. Certainly in wartime, it’s used and I viewed this as a spiritual war and an act of activism.”

After the parade, Whatcott “gleefully posted photos of his group, with messaging to his followers that he conceded constituted gloating,” the judge said.

“Looking at the whole picture, Mr. Whatcott, by his actions, has demonstrated a deep animus towards members of the gay community, notwithstanding his testimony that he wants only to save their souls by having them repent their sins. He is far from a simple Christian missionary seeking to convert sinners. He is an activist and an attention-seeker. He loves the spectacle of what he did, he enjoyed the attention, and he continues to do so.”

Many of the “things included in his flyer, standing alone, are merely offensive and would not amount to hate,” said the judge.

“However, the combined effect of the whole flyer, the lengths to which Mr. Whatcott went to deliver his ‘message,’ the range of people he gave it to, and his gloating after the fact all support my ultimate finding that his intention in handing out the flyers at the parade was to vilify gay men. He knew that would be the effect of his actions.”

On top of that, “the carnival-like costumes he and his ‘commandos’ wore to conduct this ‘truth assault’ were a mockery rather than a genuine attempt to persuade sinners to repent,” Molloy said.

“These were not respectful Christians come to help guide people away from unhealthy sexual practices or to convince gay men to repent their sins and find God. These were ‘commandos’ on the attack against gay culture, with hatred and mockery.”

• How former ‘street kid’ William Whatcott became the ‘deliberately provocative’ spark behind hate-speech ruling
• Despite Supreme Court hate speech ruling, anti-gay activist plans to continue pamphleting

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OTTAWA — Two days after the legislation was tabled, federal Conservatives were still agonizing about their position on the Carney government’s omnibus bill that would speed up major projects but that critics say would undermine the right to strike.

While at least two Tory MPs from Quebec openly agreed with the idea of moving faster on big projects, labour critic Kyle Seeback said his party, which has been heavily courting unions, is sensitive to the labour movement’s criticism of the legislation.

On Wednesday morning, Gérard Deltell, who is the party’s critic for One Canadian Economy, raised eyebrows when he hinted that Conservatives agreed with the bill.

“We have to be careful before saying yes, no, maybe, we don’t know…”

“It’s true that, on the principle, we agree,” he continued.

“What we know is that this bill attempts to erase the Liberal government’s ten years of inaction,” he said as he entered a caucus meeting. “That is the legacy of Justin Trudeau and of three-quarters of the people sitting across from us (in the House of Commons.)”

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s office afterwards contacted National Post to stress that Deltell was not, in fact, endorsing the Building Canada Strong Act.

In a statement received late Wednesday afternoon, Deltell said that he was supporting “the principle of reversing the anti-development policies of the last Liberal decade.”

“For us, the best way to grow our economy is for the government to get out of the way.”

His colleague Gabriel Hardy, another Conservative MP from Quebec, said he agreed with the idea that Canada needs to move faster to approve projects.

“We certainly need to take action as an economy. We must diversify and ensure that our major projects come to fruition. That is a very conservative position,” he said.

Hardy he also said, like Deltell, that the party needs to take the time to flesh out this “enormous” piece of legislation before coming to a clear position on the bill.

“But we can’t move forward with our eyes closed and without paying attention to the details. And that is precisely the danger of moving too fast. So, we’re going to take the time to analyze it thoroughly,” he added during a scrum with reporters in French.

Seeback was just as enigmatic when asked if there were enough red lines for the Conservative Party to oppose the bill based on the criticism of the labour movement. He simply said that Canadians will have “to wait and see.”

The Building Canada Strong Act, or Bill C-39, tabled on Monday proposes sweeping changes to fast-track approvals for major projects across the country and curtail labour disruptions in federally regulated workplaces citing the “national interest.”

The bill has been criticized by climate activists who say it guts environmental protections, and the labour movement who say it restricts their right to strike. The government has denied that the legislation does either of these things.

“When we look at the legislation that we just tabled, it’s about being able to build projects that are really important for our country,” said Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin, who noted that it includes a lot of clean energy projects.

“None of them reduces the environmental reviews that we had previously, but they do make the process more simplified in a way, I would say. That doesn’t skip the steps.”

Conservatives were conspicuously tight-lipped about the legislation after the tabling of the legislation. In the last two days, they did not ask any questions about it in question period, instead focusing on cost-of-living or crime issues affecting their constituents.

It was only on Wednesday afternoon, when the debate in second reading started on Bill C-39 in the House of Commons, that Poilievre said it’s “deja vu all over again.”

“A year and a half ago, the prime minister came storming into the Commons with a cape on his back, saying that he had a new bill, Bill C-5, that was going to bring in sweeping legislative changes to build at speeds not seen in generations,” he said.

“Today they’ve come in and they’ve announced another sweeping bill, which the media has regurgitated, unfiltered, as though it were gospel truth, and this time they’re repeating exactly the same promises.”

Poilievre said the legislation is “all talk, no results.”

“Gushing media headlines aside, there has been nothing in 18 months. The previous bill was called the Building Canada Act. It built nothing. Today we have a bill. It’s called the Building Canada Strong Act. So, in 18 months, they’ve managed to add one word.”

The sponsor of the bill, Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon, described Poilievre’s speech as “yet another very Justin Trudeau-obsessed piece of rhetorical flourish.”

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said she took the time to read through the entire text of the legislation before commenting it. She shared her views on Wednesday.

“It is a monster — in every sense of the word,” she said. “I can’t say that I’ve completely absorbed it yet, mostly due to sloppy drafting and the weirdness of the whole thing.”

National Post
calevesque@postmedia.com

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As the thunder of gunfire erupted outside the Sons of Jacob synagogue on Sunday evening, Sharlene Weitzman, one of roughly two dozen congregants inside, thought first of protecting her son, Finn Luke Weitzman, who had accompanied her to mark the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest day for the Jewish community.

“I wasn’t going to let my child be killed at 19 years of age for being a Jew,” she told National Post in an exclusive interview three days after the shocking shooting near the modest shul in a quiet Belleville, Ont., neighbourhood.

“You can kill me, I’m 59, but you’re not killing him.”

Weitzman pushed her son down against concrete and used her body to shield him, with her arms wrapped around him. So determined was she to safeguard his life, she said if a shooter had come through the close-by doors of the synagogue at that moment, she was “ready to pounce.”

Thankfully, Weitzman, her partner Jennifer Aronson, nor any of the others sheltering from bullets hitting the stained glass of their synagogue that evening were forced to act.

Const. Jeff Smith of the Belleville Police Service was already on the scene and returned fire when suspected shooter Sean Ward of nearby Quinte West arrived and opened fire with a shotgun, according to the Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU). The 13-year veteran officer was struck during the shootout, but was joined by another responding officer not yet identified, and both were able to stop the shooter.

Smith remains in Kingston General Hospital in critical but stable condition while Ward, a 29-year-old former member of the Canadian Armed Forces, died there on Tuesday. Ward had been released from the CAF in 2022, with a source telling Global News it was over his refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, adding that Ward also “spouted” antisemitic conspiracy theories, including one that blamed the Jewish community for the pandemic disease.

Weitzman said another jarring thought came to her mind amid the chaos, one that she’s not been able to shake: a vision of what it would look like if it turned out like the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks on Israel.

“That ‘what if’ is the real killer, and that to me is what I need to fight against because there’s a literal war of hatred and I believe that the people, the institutions, the systems running that war want Jews to live fearfully and I refuse to,” she said.

Weitzman said it had been about 10 years since the family had attended a service at the Sons of Jacob and returned now because it seemed as if new life had been breathed into the assembly and they wanted to show their support.

But not without hesitation.

“I sensed it before we went. I asked my partner if we should go,” she said, highlighting an ever-present and yet intangible sense of danger they were inherently aware of as Jews.

“Every Jew who went to shul on Yom Kippur around the world, I tell you, was worried that it would be their shul that was shot at.”

Determined not to lose their faith and give in to fear, especially on Yom Kippur, they ventured out. At the synagogue, they were among the first arrivals and acted as unofficial greeters, re-introducing themselves as other congregants arrived.

As people began to make their way inside the sanctuary for Rabbi Oded Peles’s service, a few minutes later than anticipated, Weitzman said they heard “three enormous banging noises” that at first sounded like someone using a battering ram to gain access, but what she now believes was the first of the shotgun blasts.

Weitzman shielded her son, Aronson went to assist an elderly woman and everyone else lay down on the floor or found shelter somewhere else as a gunfight ensued for the next few minutes.

Someone inside called 911 and stayed on with dispatchers throughout the ordeal, but it did little to quell immediate fears inside the temple.

“I think what was most terrifying for everyone, beyond the fact that the gunfire was hitting the window, was that there was a shootout and we didn’t know if there was a shootout towards us and it was two or three shooters shooting at us and they were going to come in or if it was the police defending us,” she said. “We just didn’t know.”

Weitzman believes at least one bullet came through into the sanctuary because one of the candles on the Yahrzeit wall, a memorial installation honouring deceased congregants, was extinguished.

Photos from the scene shared by congregants Eva and Doug Lobel show well over a dozen bullet holes in the windows along one side of the sanctuary wall. Peles later told The Canadian Jewish News that 50-year-old stained glass behind the pulpit where he would have been leading prayer was hit with 23 bullets.

“Thank God we were a few minutes late and we took extra time lighting the Yontif candles,” he told the outlet. “We got extra candles and maybe by lighting the candles, extra four candles, saved our lives.”

Peles, the CJN reported, is from Israel and was visiting the synagogue for the second straight year. Asked if the incident would deter him from returning, Peles said it wouldn’t.

“It’s like almost asking, ‘Are you not going to come to the Holy Land because we have rockets?’”

After the cacophony of gunfire ended, synagogue president Norm Weddum bravely ventured to a window and saw a significant police presence, Weitzman said. It was another 25 minutes before they had contact with police, who kept them in the security of the sanctuary while sweeping the building and neighbourhood, during which time “they gathered around the table and held hands and prayed.”

They were soon bused to the local police station for interviews before being sent home.

Weitzman and Aronson are both experienced social workers who sometimes “do trauma work with veterans and active soldiers” at nearby Canadian Forces Base Trenton.

“So unfortunately, we now have that connection, particularly since” Ward was a former military member, she said.

Days later, with the adrenaline well out of her system, Weitzman said she believes that Ward came there to “massacre all of us” and they would not have survived but for the “grace of God and the police.”

The investigation is being led, at this stage, by the SIU, which is mandated to look into the circumstances of a police shooting. Spokesperson Kristy Denette wouldn’t speculate on whether it was a targeted attack against Jewish people during a Monday press conference, but said “common sense would say that probably was the case.”

“Let me be very clear, hate and violence have no place in our community. Every person deserves to feel safe when attending a place of worship, gathering with loved ones, or participating in community life,” added Belleville police deputy chief Sheri Meeks.

For Weitzman, however, there’s no doubt in her mind that “this was a premeditated, full-on terrorist attack.”

“Stop telling us Jews that we’re overreacting. Stop telling us it’s not antisemitism, ‘It’s not all about you. Oh, where there’s smoke, there must be fire. If people hate you, there’s a reason,’” she said.

“But I’m not Benjamin Netanyahu. I’m not the leader of the government. I’m not Mark Carney. I’m just a Jewish mom trying to raise my family in the community that we’ve been in for 25, 30 years.”

This wasn’t Aronson, Weitzman and her son’s first scary incident related to their Jewish roots. While in Jerusalem for an educational event with Israeli scholars last year, the couple were forced to briefly take cover in a bomb shelter as Houthi missiles were defeated by Israel’s Iron Dome. Her son had to do the same last year while visiting Eilat during his Reverse Shinshinim, a gap-year service that gives non-Israeli-born high school graduates a chance to immerse themselves in Israeli life.

“I don’t think he has any false beliefs about his safety anymore,” Weitzman said.

She commended police for their heroics Sunday, especially Smith, whose injuries she said “brought a great deal of attention” to the seriousness of the situation.

“I am hopeful that people, especially those who can protect us, as we just evidenced, do now understand the gravitas that this is a real threat and it’s everywhere.”

Weitzman said they plan to return to the synagogue in the future.

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A social media post by CBC National Radio News Reader Neil Herland has been widely shared, with some outraged responses from outside the country.

Herland had recounted the intimidation he faced when trying to enter a building to attend a Yom Kippur service in Toronto on Monday night, adding that he may have to leave Canada amid rising antisemitism.

“On Yom Kippur I went to a synagogue service in Toronto and was met by protesters trying to taunt and intimidate me from entering the building,” he wrote in a post on X, where he identifies himself as a journalist and a Jew.

Florida Congressman Randy Fine, a Republican, responded yesterday, noting: “Try this in Florida, and you go to prison for five years.”

He added: “Proud to have sponsored the bill to make that happen.”

Try this in Florida, and you go to prison for five years. Proud to have sponsored the bill to make that happen.

Muslim terror is not welcome here. https://t.co/ma4ayUQY4v

— Congressman Randy Fine (@RepFine) September 22, 2026

Meanwhile, Kyle Smith, a columnist, novelist and film critic for the Wall Street Journal, asked simply: “How did we let it get this bad for Jews?”

And the X account of the U.S. Israel Education Association posted: “We have seen where unchecked hatred can lead. History has taught us that silence in the face of antisemitism comes at a terrible cost.”

The group added: “On Yom Kippur, Jews should never have to face intimidation simply for walking into a synagogue to pray. We cannot normalize this. We cannot look away. And we cannot allow hatred of Jews to manifest itself in our communities unchecked. We stand with you!”

We have seen where unchecked hatred can lead. History has taught us that silence in the face of antisemitism comes at a terrible cost.

On Yom Kippur, Jews should never have to face intimidation simply for walking into a synagogue to pray.

We cannot normalize this. We cannot…

— U.S. Israel Education Association (USIEA) (@USIEducation) September 22, 2026

Herland’s post came a day after a synagogue came under attack in Belleville, Ont., a city about two hours to the east.

Herland’s post shows a group of about 20 people milling about, blowing horns and waving Palestinian flags in front of the Meridian Arts Centre at Yonge and Sheppard, where The Song Shul holds annual events to mark Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, known as the Day of Atonement. The synagogue doesn’t have its own building but rents different locations to hold services.

“My late father was an Austrian Jew who survived the Holocaust in Romania,” Herland wrote. “And came to Canada as a refugee. This year I got an Austrian passport, in case Canada becomes unsafe for me as a Jew. I fear that moment is approaching, here in Canada and elsewhere.”

The Belleville shooting happened Sunday night outside a synagogue in the city of 55,000, where worshipers had gathered to mark Yom Kippur. Const. Jeff Smith, a nearly 13-year veteran of the Belleville Police Service, was in critical but stable condition after exchanging gunfire with a shooter outside the building. No one else was injured in the attack. The gunman later died in a hospital.

“Jewish Canadians are living in a parallel world,” Herland wrote in his post. “Where police stand guard with guns outside synagogues. And Jewish schools, religious sites and businesses are targeted with bullets. And most Canadians have no awareness or understanding.”

Multiple synagogues in Ontario, and specifically the Greater Toronto Area, have been targeted in shooting attacks in recent years. In March, three GTA synagogues were struck by gunfire in the space of five days — Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto in Thornhill, and Temle Emanu-el and Shaarei Shomayim in North York. York Regional Police have charged three suspects in connection with two of the shootings .

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Canadian resident return trips to the U.S. by air have increased for the first time in 34 months, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.

The figures, which reveal travel trends between Canada and other countries in July 2026, show that return trips to the U.S. by air edged up 0.6 per cent year over year to 567,000, marking the first increase since August 2023.

Combined with 2.2 million trips by automobile (a year-over-year increase of 12.6 per cent) and 26,400 by cruise ship, total return trips to the U.S. by Canadian residents reached 2.8 million in July, up 10.1 per cent year-over-year. This marked a fourth consecutive month of year-over-year growth, following 15 consecutive months of decline.

April 2026 marked the first year-over-year increase in overall return trips from the United States since December 2024, when return trips by automobile rose by 5.8 per cent compared to a year earlier. Although return trips by air had fallen 8.1 per cent, the figures meant overall Canadian-resident return trips from the U.S. rose by 1.4 per cent that month compared to April 2025.

But despite this recent shift in travel trends, Canadian resident return trips from the U.S. remained 25.6 per cent below their July 2024 level.

Political tensions between Canada and the U.S. contributed to the drop in travel in early 2025, following tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump and his repeated suggestions that Canada could become the 51st state . Meanwhile, heightened security at the border also discouraged many from travelling south.

While the July figures suggest the decline in travel to the U.S. may be easing, the data covers a period before the latest escalation in the Canada-U.S. trade war.

In August this year, Trump threatened to impose new 50 per cent tariffs and, after talks between the two countries broke down, the levies on $28 billion worth of Canadian goods came into effect on Aug. 22.

Canada retaliated, introducing counter-tariffs on U.S. imports earlier this month. Since then, Trump and other members of his administration have aimed insults and threats at Canada , including comparing Ontario Premier Doug Ford unfavourably to his late brother and sharing a photo of a bald eagle standing on the neck of a Canada Goose from the White House’s official X account.

On Aug. 27, Trump signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” ordering the Department of the Interior to update maps and databases with the new name.

https://t.co/OYaldd4UhI pic.twitter.com/7jQXwWW26K

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 26, 2026

These events have fuelled a renewed ‘Buy Canadian’ movement, with one Made in Canada Facebook group seeing views increase roughly 300 per cent in August compared to June this year, according to administrator Jayne Little.

That sentiment may extend to travel to the U.S., and it remains to be seen whether the recent increase in Canadians heading south will continue.

Meanwhile, travel to Canada by U.S. residents also increased in July. There were 3.5 million trips made that month, up 9.1 per cent from the same month in 2025 and marking the sixth consecutive month of year-over-year growth. Arrivals by automobile rose 7.5 per cent to 2.1 million, while arrivals by air increased 5.3 per cent to 832,100.

StatCan also highlighted the number of trips made via the Gordie Howe International Bridge , which opened on July 27 and connects Windsor, Ont., and Detroit, Michigan.

From July 27 to 31, 23,500 returning Canadian residents and 19,600 U.S. residents entered Canada via the Gordie Howe International Bridge by automobile, bus, motorcycle and other land vehicles.

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Sean Ward, the 29-year-old suspect of a shooting that took place outside a synagogue in Belleville, Ont. served in the Canadian military and was discharged after refusing a COVID-19 vaccine, according to reporting by Global News and The Globe and Mail .

One source told Global News that he “spouted” antisemitic conspiracy theories, including one that blamed the Jewish community for COVID. According to the World Jewish Congress , myths about Jews being responsible for the pandemic spread online and at demonstrations around the world. “While some of these bigoted messages appeared new, they were repackaged antisemitic tropes,” the congress said.

Two sources from the Department of National Defence told the Globe and Mail that after five years, Ward was released because he was unsuitable for service.

His release, the sources said, was categorized as 5F. According to the National Defence website , 5F is when a person is deemed “unsuitable for further service.”

One source told the Globe and Mail and Global News that his release was due to his refusal to get a COVID vaccine.

It is believed that Ward arrived near the synagogue in a truck and was armed with a shotgun on Sept 20. There were roughly 25 congregants inside the building for evening prayers on Yom Kippur, the holiest day for the Jewish community.

Ward allegedly opened fire on Belleville police Const. Jeff Smith, who was stationed there due to safety concerns from the community. According to Global News, Belleville police were only assigned to the synagogue because congregants had reported a suspicious vehicle parked outside a week earlier. Smith and other officers who were called to the scene fired back at Ward, Special Investigations Unit spokesperson Kristy Denette said at a news conference.

Ward was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries. He died on Tuesday. An autopsy is set for Wednesday.

Smith is in critical but stable condition. A GoFundMe set up on behalf of Toronto’s Jewish community for the officer has reached more than $350,000.

The Canadian Armed Forces confirmed to National Post on Tuesday that a man named Sean Ward joined the forces in July 2017 and was “released in June 2022 at the rank of corporal.”

He was part of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, and was never deployed.

In the 2018 issue of The Patrician , a publication by the Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, a member named Sean Ward was listed as being part of the regiment’s 3rd battalion, based in Edmonton.

The PPCLI Regimental Headquarters and the Department of National Defence did not immediately respond to National Post’s request for comment about Ward.

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OTTAWA — Former prime minister Justin Trudeau said the U.S. is an “extremely unpredictable” partner because President Donald Trump’s administration is “no longer working” in the best interest of Americans.

The former prime minister shared his thoughts on the current Trump administration as part of a question and answer session with Brown University President Christina Paxson in Rhode Island on Tuesday.

Asked by Paxson where he sees the current “trade tensions” between Canada and the U.S. ending up, Trudeau said that there are differences between the current administration and when he negotiated with Trump during his first term.

One of them is the increased unpredictability as Trump seeks to sign “win-lose” deals, rather than “win-win” deals, with other countries, even if it has a negative impact on Americans.

“The U.S. for decades behaved in its own interest, but in a predictable way,” Trudeau told the American crowd. “You got to say, ‘no, no, if we’re going to do something, it has to be in our interest.’ That’s fine, and the world figured out how to make sure that your interests and our interests could be served.”

“Suddenly, the unpredictability is the U.S. administration is no longer working in the best interest of the American people, and that makes it extremely unpredictable and difficult for countries to navigate through, for friends to rely on, but also for businesses to invest,” he added.

To prove his point, Trudeau cited Trump’s latest tariffs on Canadian aluminium and softwood lumber as self-harming policies by the U.S. administration.

The U.S. does not produce enough aluminium and has long relied on Canadian product to meet its domestic demand, Trudeau said. So, when Canadian aluminum costs more due to U.S. tariffs, a myriad of American products like beer cans become more expensive without local production increasing.

“So you have raised prices on the cost of your own beer and everything else, and you are substituting buying aluminum from Canada from buying aluminum from Bahrain,” he said.

“You’re making it more difficult for consumers and producers and manufacturers in America to get aluminum from a reliable supply.”

The same goes for Canadian softwood lumber, the former prime minister said. Since the U.S. can’t produce enough of it locally to support a major housing boom, it still needs to turn to Canadian product… which now costs more because of Trump’s new tariffs since 2025.

“That means home builders pay more for their wood in the United States than you would need to, just so that the few companies that actually make and harvest wood in the United States can charge higher prices,” he said.

“There is a pattern here of doing things that are driving up prices for your consumers, and not necessarily making anything better for America by fighting with one of your oldest and best allies,” Trudeau said.

Trudeau told the crowd that they are not alone in staring into the unknown abyss that is the future in these tumultuous times.

“Over the past 10 years, leaders have been sort of trying to figure it out on the fly,” Trudeau said.

National Post

cnardi@postmedia.com

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OTTAWA — NDP Leader Avi Lewis defended his social media post made on Yom Kippur saying his fellow Jews had “failed” to do enough to stop a “genocide,” referencing the war between Israel and Hamas, and accused critics Tuesday of trying to “score partisan points” after he was assailed for the comments.

Lewis’s message was posted on Sunday evening, as the Jewish holiday was beginning and just before news broke that a police office had been critically injured when a gunman opened fire at a Belleville, Ont. synagogue where worshippers had gathered for the evening. The gunman, a 29-year-old former Canadian Armed Forces soldier, later died in hospital after an exchange of gunfire.

“Holding Canadian Jews and Jews across the world collectively responsible for events over which they have no control is despicable,” Liberal MP Anthony Housefather said on X in response to Lewis’s post.

Lewis, who like Housefather is Jewish, had posted: “This year I’m reflecting on the fact that we failed to do our part to stop an ongoing genocide committed in our name. There are many other fronts where I have to do the work of repair. But nothing on this scale.”

Liberal MP Ben Carr, who is also Jewish, told reporters on Monday that Lewis’s post was “naive, it was miscalculated, irresponsible, and dangerous.”

On Monday, Lewis accused them of his distorting his comments.

“I did not blame Jews for the actions of the Israeli government, that’s simply untrue,” said Lewis at a press conference on Monday. “Holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the State of Israel is antisemitic. I’ve never done it. I think it’s dangerous and that’s absolutely not what I did.”

“I think it’s pretty ugly to see this occasion being used to score partisan points. I won’t be doing that. It was a personal reflection that I know is shared by many people,” said Lewis.

Carr said he couldn’t comprehend how Lewis could offer that response, given what he had written.

“I didn’t quite understand how he was able to come to (that) conclusion that that’s in fact not what he was doing,” said Carr. “When … In fact, he was saying that we as Jews, had not done enough to prevent what was happening.”

National Post

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Hamed Shafia, at the age 18, helped his father kill three of his sisters and his stepmother by drowning them in the Rideau Canal in a so-called “honour killing” because his “cultural upbringing outweighed any moral obligation,” but now, 17 years later, he says his views have softened.

Shafia’s account of his development since the four horrifying murders in 2009 and details of his prison life since his arrest in Kingston, Ont., are revealed in a written decision released Tuesday by the Parole Board of Canada on his request for a series of visits outside his prison.

Shafia, now 35, was given a life sentence for four counts of first-degree murder in January 2012.

He asked the parole board to approve two escorted temporary absences for personal development. One was to visit a minimum-security prison, the other to attend a mosque to speak with an imam. The prison visit was approved at Friday’s hearing, but the mosque visit was denied.

The board members said at the hearing their reasons would be released in writing. Their decision reveals much about a deeply shocking crime and the family behind it.

On the morning of June 30, 2009, a Nissan Sentra was spotted submerged in the water of a lock on the Rideau Canal near Kingston, Ont. The bodies of four females were found inside, identified as Hamed Shafia’s three sisters — Zainab Shafia, 19, Sahar Shafia, 17, and 13-year-old Geeti Shafia — and his stepmother, Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, who was his father’s first wife.

Police investigators found the car was registered to Hamed Shafia’s father, Montreal businessman Mohammad Shafia.

Three hours later, Hamed Shafia went with his father and mother, Tooba Mohammad Yahya, to the Kingston police station to report the Nissan missing. The father told police three of his daughters and his “cousin” were also missing. He said the family, who had immigrated to Canada from Afghanistan, was returning from a trip to Niagara Falls, travelling in two cars.

The police investigation, however, disclosed that neither the missing Nissan nor the missing women were really a mystery to the father. Nor was the oldest victim his cousin, but one of Mohammad Shafia’s two wives.

Both of the family’s cars were at the lock when the Nissan, with the four passengers inside, was pushed into the water. Police deemed the deaths planned and deliberate murders and all three of the Shafias were charged with four counts of first-degree murder.

The killings were deemed so-called “honour killings” in the context of the family’s “strict Afghan culture.” The case caused shock and alarm and led to headlines around the world.

Hamed Shafia and his parents were found guilty at trial. Their parole eligibility was automatically set at 25 years.

“It is difficult to conceive of a more heinous, more despicable and more honourless crime,” the trial judge, Robert Maranger, said at the time. “The apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your twisted notion of honour — a notion of honour that is founded upon the domination and control of women, a sick notion of honour that has absolutely no place in any civilized society.”

In the parole board’s 11-page decision on his leave requests, the panel addressed their comments directly to Hamed Shafia.

“Following the dismissal of your appeal, you eventually admitted the murders were planned and deliberate, that you and your parents tried to disguise the murders as an accident, and confirmed the victims were conscious when the vehicle entered the water. You admitted to being in the vehicle with your mother and father while your father drove the vehicle to push the other vehicle into the water,” the board wrote.

“You acknowledged that months prior to the murders, three of your sisters started to push back against following the extremely strict Afghan culture where women were subservient, that you and your father did not like the western values your sisters were expressing, and you felt embarrassed and ashamed of their actions, believing it brought shame to your family.”

Hamed Shafia was born in Afghanistan but raised in Dubai from the age of five until he was 16, when the Shafia family moved to Canada. He never became a Canadian citizen and now has a deportation order issued against him and an arrest warrant from Canada Border Services Agency on file with the prison to be activated upon his release.

“You described your childhood as stable, denying any form of abuse. You acknowledged being raised with problematic beliefs that were cultural and not part of the Islamic culture,” the board said.

“At the time of offending, you were living with your mother, father, stepmother, and six siblings. You maintain regular contact with your mother and three living siblings and have little contact with your father. You have never been married and do not have children. You reported dating before and during your incarceration, but you are currently single.

“You did not complete your high school education prior to your arrest. You have no employment history, other than collecting the rent on your father’s commercial properties. You denied ever using alcohol or drugs,” the board said.

He was in involuntary protective custody until July 2012 because of the nature of his crimes. He was transferred to a medium-security prison in 2015.

He has several in-prison incidents in his prison record, the board heard. In 2013, he was involved in an altercation with another prisoner; in 2014, he refused to remove his window coverings on his cell, and he and other prisoners refused lock-up. In 2017, after a private family visit with his brother he was found with 10 items of unauthorized clothing; and he and other prisoners entered the school area when not permitted.

Since 2016 he has been living in the most sought-after living unit at the institution, where offenders have single cells and are responsible for ordering their own groceries, managing a budget and cooking for themselves.

While he has had family visits with a brother and sister and video visits with his mother, he has had little contact with his father.

“Your father has reached out to you through a letter, and you asked your sister to pass on a response to him that you are well, and this is the extent of your contact with him,” the board said.

Hamed Shafia was denied a request for a compassionate escorted absence to visit family in 2019 to honour his maternal grandmother.

He speaks regularly with the prison’s imam, was described by prison officials as treating all prison staff (male and female) with respect and has continuously accepted in-prison employment.

While incarcerated, he completed his high school diploma and taken in-cell post-secondary courses. He has completed prison programs, including a violence prevention course.

His escorted absence request to visit a minimum-security prison is part of a plan to help him transfer to a lower security facility. The prison he wants to be transferred to didn’t support his arrival without him showing compliance with escorted absences. The visit would include a tour of the facility and a question period with staff.

His requested private visit to a mosque was to give him an opportunity to discuss “the beliefs you held at the time of the index offences, including honour, the role of women in a family, and your responsibility to restore honour to the family, with another authority from the Muslim faith, outside of just the Imam who you see at the institution.” The prison’s plan was to escort him to the mosque in a prison vehicle while he wore restraints.

Psychological risk assessments deemed him at low risk for general recidivism, and low to low-moderate range of risk for violent recidivism.

At his parole hearing, Sharif was questioned about his crimes.

“You were able to discuss what was going on in your life at the time of the index offences. You spoke about being young and to the influence that your parents had over you, which you did not question. You were new to Canada, and you had not had the chance to grow and mature,” the board summarized his answers.

“Your lifestyle was predominately focused on being with your family and you stated that you had not yet adjusted to Western culture. You spoke about the views and beliefs that were held by your culture regarding women and control, that were not questioned or challenged.

“The option of choosing murder as a consequence for your family member’s behaviour was questioned (by board members), which you explained was an accepted and common result of dishonourable behaviour.

“You noted that while you struggled with the actions that your family took towards the victims, you felt that your cultural upbringing outweighed any moral obligation you may have had and followed through with the plan. Your loyalty and closeness with your father also influenced your behaviour, in comparison to the relationship you had with the victims. You wanted to live up to expectations of your father and did not want to disappoint him.”

He said his views have since changed.

“You noted that your siblings are not religious. You also shared how your views have changed over time with respect to your culture and now align more with your siblings’ views. It was clarified that you are not religious, but you are/were influenced by culture. You do not think about religion much in your life,” the board said.

The board said the “horrific nature” of his crime could not be overlooked: “The fear and panic that the victims would have experienced at the time of their deaths has not been lost on the Board and the profound harm and trauma caused to other members of the family will be lifelong.”

The board said prison visits would help his rehabilitation but took a different view of a trip to the mosque.

“You currently attend mosque consistently within the institution and work with the Imam. Further exploring this work in the community is not assessed as offering a different form or benefit of rehabilitation from what you are currently doing now. You noted that getting a different perspective from a different Imam is one of your goals, however the Board was unable to determine how this would be of benefit in any significant way in your change process.”

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

• Hamed Shafia, convicted in honour killings, claims he was too young to be tried as adult
• Startling revelations from relatives as Shafia trial jury deliberates

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A Hamilton, Ont., man who followed a 15-year-old down a dark trail just before midnight, grabbed her by the hair from behind, then showed her an explicit video and exposed himself has failed to convince a judge to tailor his sentence so he can avoid deportation.

Harpreet Singh, 30, was convicted in the Ontario Court of Justice for sexual interference, making sexually explicit material available to a child for the purpose of facilitating sexual interference, and exposure to a person under the age of 16 years for a sexual purpose. The permanent Canadian resident, who was born and raised in Punjab, India, argued unsuccessfully for 182 days in jail followed by two years of probation.

“Mr. Singh, a permanent resident of Canada, asks the court to impose a sentence that would preserve his right to appeal a deportation order arising from his convictions,” Justice Joe Patrick Paul Fiorucci said in his Sept. 15 decision.

“I find that such a sentence would be neither fit nor proportionate.”

Instead, the judge sentenced Singh to more than double that: 15 months behind bars, followed by three years of probation.

Reducing Singh’s “sentence to 182 days would materially understate both the gravity of the offence and the offender’s moral culpability,” said the judge.

“Such a sentence would fail to adequately reflect the seriousness of the offence, the significant harm suffered by the victim, and Parliament’s direction that denunciation and deterrence receive primary emphasis in cases involving the sexual abuse of children.”

Fiorucci accepted that Singh faces potentially significant immigration consequences. “However, those consequences do not justify reducing the sentence to a level that would otherwise be demonstrably unfit. While immigration consequences are entitled to serious consideration, they cannot be permitted to dominate the sentencing exercise or create a separate sentencing regime for offenders facing possible removal from Canada.”

The court heard that Singh sat across from the teenage girl on May 1, 2023, as they travelled on the same city bus.

“During the ride, Mr. Singh watched a sexually explicit video on his phone,” according to the decision.

The two — who were strangers to each other — both got off at the bus at the same location at 11:23 p.m.

“He followed her onto a dark trail, grabbed her by the collar (and hair) from behind, then moved in front of her holding his erect penis in one hand and his phone in the other while displaying the sexually explicit video to her,” said the decision.

The teen, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, elbowed and pushed Singh away, then fled.

She “describes the offences as humiliating, terrifying, and deeply violating,” said the decision. “She states that they fundamentally altered her sense of safety and security within her community. Before the offences, she felt comfortable travelling independently and using public transit. Following the offences, she experienced anxiety, panic, and fear in places that had previously provided her with a sense of comfort and familiarity.”

Singh’s immigration lawyer wrote to the court, explaining “that a sentence of six months (183 days) or more on any individual count would have significant immigration consequences. In particular, Mr. Singh would lose the right to appeal a removal order to the Immigration Appeal Division and would thereby lose the opportunity to seek discretionary relief on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.”

The Crown was asking for 12 to 15 months of imprisonment and three years of probation.

The judge “considered the potential immigration consequences that may flow” from the sentence he handed Singh.

The circumstances of Singh’s offences are “highly aggravating,” said the judge.

“These were deliberate and predatory acts directed at a vulnerable child. Mr. Singh’s degree of moral blameworthiness is high. Conduct of this nature seriously undermines both the victim’s sense of personal security and the community’s expectation that children may move about safely in public places.”

Singh is single and has no children. “His family was in the process of arranging a marriage for him, but those plans have been deferred pending the resolution of his criminal charges.”

He was unemployed at the time of the sentencing hearing, but he was seeking work, particularly in the electrical field. “He has also volunteered within his religious community for several years.”

Singh’s sister and a friend wrote letters of support for him to the court “in which they described him as honest, hardworking, respectful, dependable, and supportive of others in both his personal and professional life.”

Singh “benefits from strong family and community supports, which weigh in favour of rehabilitation,” said the judge. “However, I note that several of his supporters continue to maintain that he did not commit the offences. As a result, I place somewhat less weight on these expressions of support than I otherwise might.”

Singh got counselling from a social worker that’s helped him form “a greater understanding of the seriousness and consequences of his conduct, accepted responsibility for his offending behaviour, developed insight into relevant risk factors and decision-making, and increased his awareness of boundaries and the need for ongoing self-monitoring,” said the decision.

“Although historical factors placed Mr. Singh in an above-average relative risk category compared to other sexual offenders, (the social worker) concluded that Mr. Singh presently poses a low risk of sexual reoffending, having regard to his status as a first-time offender, his treatment engagement, low dynamic needs, very low general recidivism risk, and current presentation. Continued therapeutic intervention was recommended.”

• Judge sends Hamilton fentanyl dealer to prison despite 'immigration consequences'
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OTTAWA — The Carney government’s latest round of counter-tariffs may weaken the legal case against the Trump tariffs, because they directly discriminate against American imports, a new think tank report says.

In a report to be released Wednesday, the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI), wrote that U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent tariffs against Canada may rest legally on 1930 legislation that is often blamed for almost immediately fuelling the Great Depression.

But that legislation, the Smoot-Hawley tariff, states that American tariffs are to be used to fight back against discriminatory tariffs from another country, perhaps such as those launched earlier this month by Canada.

Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University in Arlington, Va. and one of the authors of the MEI report, said he understands the political pressure to fight back against the Trump tariffs against Canada, but that the counter-tariffs are not without risk.

Counter-tariffs are by definition discriminatory, he said, which could legally justify Trump’s tariffs and therefore threaten the legal argument against them.

“Ideally, they shouldn’t do this but i do recognize there are political advantages,” said Somin, who is also a senior fellow at the MEI.

U.S. opponents could certainly still win a legal argument against the Trump tariffs, Somin said, but it’s far from certain.

“It is hard to predict how a court would handle this particular point,” the report concludes.

In July, Trump imposed 50 per cent tariffs on a range of Canadian imports and then expanded the list a month later. Canada responded earlier this month with counter-tariffs at the same rate on a basket of American imports.

While Trump hasn’t directly invoked Smoot-Hawley to justify any of his various tariffs, that legislation from 96 years ago did establish a precedent of sorts in allowing a president to adjust tariff rates that had already been approved by Congress if discrimination were involved.

The MEI report acknowledges that these latest rounds of Trump tariffs could be struck down in court despite the Canadian counter-tariffs because the 1930 legislation has since been supplanted by more recent legislation. The document describes the Trump tariffs, which have caused harm to a number of Canadian businesses and sectors, as “harmful, illegal and indefensible.”

The MEI isn’t alone in questioning the Carney government’s counter-tariffs.

Economists have said that tariffs and counter-tariffs cost both sides because they raise prices and make both economies less efficient.

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly has said Ottawa’s counter-tariffs will help Canadian negotiators in future talks with the U.S.

National Post

• Even this U.S. tariff advocate is urging Canada and the U.S. to drop retaliatory duties
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that he was going to the United Nations to “fight for the truth about our heroic soldiers” and to “expose the truth” about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Netanyahu also said Jerusalem was working closely with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to expand the Abraham Accords. “I believe we can achieve broader peace,” he said in a Hebrew-language clip posted to X. “I think it could be even much more than people think.”

Mamdani told CNN on Monday that he still believes Netanyahu should be arrested during his upcoming visit for the UN General Assembly.

The interview followed Mamdani’s meeting with Trump at Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence. Mamdani said the issue was discussed during the meeting.

“When it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu, I have described him as I believe him to be — a war criminal and an architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people,” the mayor said.

Mamdani cited the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip during the war against the Hamas terror group. “I do believe that that is something that should be honoured,” he said.

“If the International Criminal Court deems someone worthy of an arrest because of a violation of those laws, then who are we to say that anyone should be above that?” he added.

Mamdani has vowed for months to arrest Netanyahu if he came to New York, though he recently acknowledged lacking the authority to do so.

Ofir Akunis, Israel’s consul general in New York, said on Monday that “after nearly 10 months of intimidation” by Mamdani, Netanyahu will “proudly stand at the General Assembly podium on behalf of the Jewish state.”

“Israel is working with the New York City Police Department and federal agencies to ensure the prime minister’s safety, as well as that of Israeli and Jewish New Yorkers,” Akunis wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

Akunis in the piece thanked “the many New Yorkers standing with Israel and supporting democratic values.”

• David Kaufman: Political tensions come with Zohran Mamdani to 9/11 memorial
• No chance Netanyahu will be arrested in New York, Trump says, as mayor Mamdani explores options

Former Canadian Armed Forces member Sean Ward, the 29-year-old Ontario suspect in a shooting incident outside a Belleville synagogue on Sunday evening, has died in hospital, according to the province’s Special Investigations Unit.

Police have said little about the Quinte West man accused of exchanging gunfire with and shooting active-duty Belleville Police Service officer Const. Jeff Smith stationed outside the place of worship as congregants inside began a service to mark Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

Ward was hit with multiple bullets and reportedly needed to be resuscitated on the scene, Ontario Special Investigations Unit spokesperson Kristy Denette said in a Monday news conference. At that time, he was listed in life-threatening condition at Kingston General Hospital, where a post-mortem is scheduled for Wednesday.

National Post also confirmed Tuesday that Ward is a former member of the CAF.

A CAF spokesperson said its records show a Sean Ward who “matches the description provided” joined the forces in July 2017 and was “released in June 2022 at the rank of corporal.”

“He served as an infantry soldier with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry and did not deploy during his service,” they told National Post in an email.

“We remain ready to provide assistance to the investigation if required.”

The Patricia’s is based in Edmonton.

A photo of Ward in Canadian military fatigues that is circulating online was shared by his father, Doug Ward, in 2017.

“ Follow your dream son love you,” he wrote, replying in the comments that his son was stationed in Alberta.

National Post has contacted Doug for comment.

At last report, the injured officer, Const. Smith, is in stable condition at the same facility where Ward was treated. A GoFundMe benefiting the 13-year member of the Belleville police has raised more than $90,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.

After arriving in a pickup truck and armed with a shotgun just after 7 p.m., Ward opened fire at Smith, who was parked in an unmarked police vehicle, according to Denette, based on preliminary evidence. Smith returned fire and was joined by another responding officer who also returned fire.

Denette said Ward suffered “multiple strikes from the officer.”

Police were at the Quinte West home where he lived with his mother on Monday, according to CBC .

• FIRST READING: Yet another Canadian massacre prevented at the last minute by police
• Police officer shot outside Belleville synagogue identified, faces 'significant road to recovery'

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A GoFundMe for the police officer who was injured while stationed outside of a Belleville, Ont. synagogue on Sunday has raised more than $75,000.

Const. Jeff Smith was critically injured after a 29-year-old gunman opened fire on the place of worship on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in the Jewish faith. Smith was stationed outside. He remains in stable condition at Kingston General Hospital.

The fundraiser was started on behalf of the Jewish community in Toronto. Organizer Derek Kreindler said the initial goal of $18,000 was reached within 12 hours.

“When members of a vulnerable community needed protection, he put himself in harm’s way,” it says in the GoFundMe’s description.

The fundraiser was set up for the Jewish community to express its “profound gratitude to Const. Smith and to support him and his family during what may be a long and difficult recovery.”

The fundraiser is also intended to convey a message to those who protect the Jewish community, the description said. “We will not forget what he did outside Sons of Jacob Synagogue.”

In a post on X, former Bay of Quinte MP Ryan Williams shared a photo of Smith and called him a hero. Belleville police confirmed to National Post that the picture in Williams’ post was Smith.

Jeff Smith is a real hero.

A Belleville Police officer who put himself in harm’s way protecting our community.

Please pray for Jeff, his family and his fellow officers.

Our community is behind you, Jeff. Stay strong. Keep fighting. Come home to your family. pic.twitter.com/7tBeWH0C4T

— Ryan Williams 🇨🇦 | The Competition Guy (@Ryan_r_Williams) September 21, 2026

“While he continues to face a significant road to recovery, his condition has stabilized, and we remain hopeful and encouraged by his progress,” said Belleville Police Service’s Deputy Chief Sheri Meeks, who spoke to media on Monday.

“Our thoughts are with Const. Smith, his family, his friends, and his colleagues. Supporting them has been our top priority.”

Smith was stationed outside the synagogue because of safety concerns, especially on a night where there would be many congregants in attendance, the synagogue’s president Norman Weddum told National Post.

Belleville Police Deputy Chief Sheri Meeks says the shooting suspect has been identified as Sean Ward, 29, of Quinte West.

Belleville Police Constable Jeff Smith, who was stationed outside the synagogue, sustained serious injuries. His condition has since stabilized. pic.twitter.com/qZxiGSe76R

— Toronto Crime Watch (@CrimewatchTO) September 21, 2026

Weddum said that before entering the building, he thanked Smith for being there. Soon after the evening prayer service started, around 7 p.m., dozens of shots rang out.

A 29-year-old suspect armed with a shotgun opened fire at Smith, who then is believed to have shot back, said Kristy Denette on Monday. She is a spokesperson for the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the province’s police watchdog that is leading the investigation.

Denette said it is currently believed that the man drove to the area in a truck. A second officer got to the scene shortly after and fired back at the suspected shooter before more officers arrived.

During the incident, Smith sustained serious injuries, said Meeks.

Smith joined the Belleville Police Service on Dec. 27, 2013. Meeks said he served the community with distinction for nearly 13 years.

“He is a longstanding and highly respected member of our emergency response unit, known by his colleagues as a dedicated officer, trusted teammate, and committed public servant,” she said.

The suspect was hospitalized in life-threatening condition. There were an estimated 25 people gathered inside the synagogue, Weddum told National Post, but no one in the congregation was injured.

While the SIU is involved because police officers discharged weapons at a person, the Belleville police are leading the criminal side of the investigation.

Meeks said the Belleville police are “committed to being as transparent as possible and keeping our community informed” but would not be commenting on the investigation further at this time.

• 'Bang! Bang! Bang!': Witnesses recount confusion, gunshots during Belleville synagogue shooting
• 'Jewish people must be able to worship safely': Carney, Poilievre and others condemn Belleville synagogue shooting

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OTTAWA — Another legal battle may be brewing between the labour movement and the federal government over its proposed changes to the Canada Labour Code.

Canadian Labour Congress President Bea Bruske said that after thorough examination of the Building Canada Strong Act introduced Monday and meeting with the heads of Canada’s unions, “we’re looking at all of our options legally and otherwise.”

“I can’t speak for every single union. Obviously, we’ve had many meaningful conversations with all of our union partners over the last 24 hours. We will take that one moment at a time. It’s only day two, so stay tuned,” she told reporters on Tuesday.

Speaking in New York, Prime Minister Mark Carney said his government’s bill “absolutely reinforces the right to strike” and creates transparency around negotiating processes in some of the most strategic parts of our economy, like railroads and ports.

“We want to build Canada strong. That’s what Canadians elected us for, and that’s what we look to do,” he said on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly.

Bruske said Canada’s unions are all in favour of doing their part in the midst of a trade war with the United States by creating more jobs and safeguarding those they already have. But the legislation introduced by the government goes too far, she said.

“Make no mistake, this is an attack on the workers’ rights to be able to meaningfully get to the bargaining table and to leverage the only power that they have, which is to withdraw their labour,” Bruske said in a press conference on Parliament Hill.

“Each union is going to make a decision in terms of how they navigate their upcoming rounds of bargaining. But this is clearly putting the lever on the side of employers.”

The country’s unions had already filed applications for judicial review with the Federal Court system to challenge the government’s use of Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to end strikes across the country and refer all matters to binding arbitration.

Labour leaders were hoping to see Section 107 removed from the labour code in the new legislation.

Instead, the Building Canada Strong Act, or Bill C-39, creates what Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu called “clear guardrails” around when the controversial tool can be used by the federal government to put an end to a work stoppage in federally regulated areas.

The legislation states that the minister would have to be of the opinion that the strike or lockout that is underway is adversely affecting the “national interest” — either by having a “significant impact” on the economy or causing “serious social disruption.”

The minister would also have to consider a report from a new special mediator role who will have 21 days to mediate the work dispute between the parties.

By adding these changes, the bill is essentially circumventing the existing court challenges on the use of Section 107, said Mark Rowlinson, a lawyer at Goldblatt Partners LLP invited by the Canadian Labour Congress to speak to the media.

“Such legislation is the clearest possible violation, not only the Canadian Constitution but the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” he said of Bill C-39.

Rowlinson said the bill offers a clear roadmap for employers who want to avoid a strike: persuade the minister to appoint a mediator, get a report indicating the parties are too far apart to reach an agreement and then quash a strike in the “national interest.”

“It provides the complete and unlimited discretion to the federal minister to decide who gets to go on strike, and who does not,” he said.

Rowlinson also said the new bill completely removes the need for any government to introduce, debate and pass back-to-work legislation in the House of Commons.

“In a democratic society, respectfully, it is the workers who should get to decide whether or not they want to go out on strike, and maybe it is the legislature that should have to debate back-to-work legislation,” he said.

“It should not be entirely within the discretion of the minister.”

Bruske said there are important measures in Bill C-39 that workers and unions have long fought for, including protections against contract-flipping and wage theft, and she welcomes more funding for the Canada Industrial Relations Board to do its work.

But she said unions are united in opposing any new restrictions on the right to strike, and are asking the government to remove powers relating to Section 107 from the bill.

The United Steelworkers’ National Director Marty Warren echoed her comments.

“We were clear: the right to strike is a red line. Section 107 should be repealed, not rewritten to make it easier for the government to intervene in legal strikes,” he said in a statement. “The government didn’t listen.”

“Instead, it’s giving the labour minister extraordinary discretion to override workers’ fundamental right to strike without a vote or prior approval by Parliament.”

Hajdu said after the introduction of Bill C-39 that any suggestion that the government is weakening the right to strike is “incorrect.”

“In terms of workers’ rights, we’re actually strengthening their rights,” she said.

Bruske said she is “100 per cent in opposition” to that assertion.

National Post
calevesque@postmedia.com

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“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Norman Weddum recalled the sound of bullets hitting the stained glass at the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ont., on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for the Jewish community.

Weddum, who has been the synagogue’s president for the past eight years, attended the Sunday-night service with around 25 congregants.

When he first arrived, he said he spoke briefly to the police officer who was stationed in front of the building. He said he thanked him for being there. “We (request an officer) when we have a lot of people in the building, just for safety concerns,” he told National Post.

The choice to proactively have an officer at Sons of Jacob comes after several targeted shootings at synagogues across Canada. One person at the scene, a security guard, told Belleville publication The Intelligencer that he believed it was that officer who intercepted the suspect.

By the time Weddum walked into the building, it was 6:45 p.m.

Congregants were ushered into the inner sanctuary of the synagogue around 7 p.m. for the prayer service to start.

“At that point, that’s when the first, ‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’ started, and we all kind of stopped in our tracks,” he said.

And then another round of shots.

A handful of congregants, including Weddum, went out into the main lobby to see what had occurred. Again, they heard the same noise. “And this time it was so loud and deafening … that there was no question that was shot being fired.”

They ran back into the area where the service was being held and shut the doors.

“I yelled for everyone to get on the floor, to crouch right down,” said Weddum. The shots were still being fired and they could hear it hitting the stained glass windows that decorated the outer part of the synagogue.

The shooting stopped eventually, after what felt like hours. “We waited and waited,” said Weddum.

He could see a heavy police presence outside.

“There were two officers who were tending to an injured officer that was sitting on the ground,” he said.

While Weddum said he never expected such an incident to occur in Belleville, another congregant and Belleville resident Doug Lobel told National Post he “almost predicted this was going to happen.”

Lobel was also at the synagogue on Sunday night, with his wife, Eva.

He was walking into the service when he heard loud noises. He said it was confusing because they heard “a lot of shots” but had no idea what was going on outside.

“Sitting there, we hear, ‘Pop! Pop! Pop!’ We don’t know if there’s only one shooter. For me the biggest concern was … are they going to get into the building?”

He said when the shooting stopped, police entered to do a sweep of the building. Congregants were taken by bus to the police station and then dropped off at home.

Lobel said he felt like an incident like this could happen because of past events held in Belleville where the hosts used antisemitic rhetoric. He expressed concern to Belleville Mayor Neil Ellis in an email.

“(The mayor’s) response was really tone deaf because he said if you don’t feel safe contact the Belleville police,” said Lobel.

In a statement to National Post, Ellis said that he could not comment on the details of an individual interaction, but the “concerns about safety and antisemitism are taken seriously.”

“The safety and security of everyone in our community is our highest priority,” the mayor’s statement continued. “The Belleville Police Service is responsible for public safety and for responding to incidents such as this, and I have the utmost confidence in their professionalism and their ability to keep our community safe.”

Lobel said he is especially grateful for the officer who was stationed in front of the Sons of Jacob Synagogue. He’s not sure what would have happened if he wasn’t there.

Belleville resident Justin Gannon told National Post that his daughter was walking home on Sunday night when she heard the gunshots. She texted him anxiously just after 7 p.m. He decided to go to the scene to see what was going on and arrived near the synagogue around 7:20 p.m. He saw officers with their guns drawn.

One yelled at him: “Get out of here! Get out of here! There’s an active shooter!”

Gannon said he could still see smoke in the air and smell gun powder. He saw an officer on a stretcher being carried into the back of an ambulance. The officer was awake but seemed like he was in pain, he said.

“We’ve never had anything like this. This is like a first for Belleville,” he said. “Small town. Everybody’s friendly here. We’ve had shootings before but nothing this major.”

On Monday, he said police continued to scour the area.

“It just seems like there’s so much hate out there right now in the world,” he said. “You can just sense it. If you go online, it’s everywhere.”

A woman identified by her first name, Jose, was at home nearby when she heard a total of 25 to 30 gunshots, she told The Intelligencer . She said it sounded like two different kinds of weapons, perhaps a shotgun and a handgun, exchanging fire.

“I stepped out on the porch to kind of see like where is it coming from … and I saw a truck driving off of the road onto the sidewalk,” she said.

She eventually called 911 after hearing more shots.

Another resident, identified by his first name, Sheldon, told the publication that he heard the shots at Meyers Pier. The pier is roughly 2.5 kilometres away from the synagogue. He went to the area where police lights were flashing to see what was happening. On two occasions, he said he saw people telling officers that their mothers were in the synagogue.

The synagogue remained closed Monday to the roughly 100 families who are members, Weddum said.

“We should have had all-day service and concluding tonight at sundown. But we can’t do that,” he said. “We’ll have services again. We will continue on. This is not going to stop us.”

On Monday, Belleville Police Service’s Deputy Chief Sheri Meeks identified the officer who was stationed outside the synagogue as Const. Jeff Smith. He is in critical but stable condition.

Because Smith and another officer discharged their weapons, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ontario’s police watchdog, is leading the investigation.

SIU spokesperson Kristy Denette said it is believed that the 29-year-old suspect drove to the area in a truck and opened fire on Smith with a shotgun. A second officer arrived at the scene, followed shortly after by multiple other officers.

The suspect remains in hospital in life-threatening condition.

Belleville police said it could not comment further on the criminal side of the investigation at this time.

This comes nearly a year after a deadly terror attack at a synagogue in Manchester, England, on Yom Kippur. On Oct. 2, 2025, two people were stabbed to death and a third was killed by police after being caught in the crossfire.

Later that year, in December, members of the Jewish community were celebrating Hannukah, known as the Festival of Lights, at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, when more than a dozen were shot to death .

• Police officer, two people injured after Yom Kippur shooting at Belleville synagogue; suspect, 29, hospitalized
• Eli Rubenstein: Avi Lewis' wrongheaded defence of anti-Zionism

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Prime Minister Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, along with other politicians and police forces across Canada, have condemned antisemitic violence following a shooting that took place outside the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ont., on Sunday night.

Two people, including a police officer, were wounded in the incident that occurred as worshippers gathered for Yom Kippur , the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. No one inside the synagogue was hurt, according to a social media statement by the Sons of Jacob Congregation . A police officer and suspected gunmen were injured and taken to Kingston General Hospital after exchanging gunfire outside the synagogue.

“Jewish people must be able to worship safely. To live free, open, proud Jewish lives,” Carney wrote in a statement on X . “Canada’s government will do everything in our power to support law enforcement in ensuring that the perpetrator is held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. My thoughts are with the injured officer and his family, and the entire Jewish community.”

Poilievre echoed Carney’s support for the Jewish community, but called on the government to take action. “This vile antisemitic violence in Canada must end, and this Liberal government must act now to protect our people,” the opposition leader wrote in a statement on X.

“Jewish Canadians must once again be able to live in their communities and pray in their places of worship without fear of being shot at or attacked.”

On the holiest day of the Jewish year, a police officer was injured, a man suffered life-threatening injuries, and worshippers at the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville were forced to take cover as gunfire erupted outside.

This vile antisemitic violence in Canada must end,…

— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) September 21, 2026

Belleville Police said on social media that one of their officers “encountered an individual in the area at about 7:10 p.m.” and “the officer and the individual sustained injuries and were transported to hospital,” adding that there was no further threat to public safety.

The province’s Special Investigations Unit said the “exchange of gunfire” involved a 29-year-old man “armed with a shotgun” who is now in life-threatening condition. The officer is listed as critical but stable.

Laryssa Waler is on the board of Allies for a Strong Canada, an organization dedicated to mobilizing non-Jewish Canadians in the fight against antisemitism in Canada. She told National Post that she wants decision-makers and policy leaders to understand that “it’s not the responsibility of the Jewish community to solve antisemitism.”

“Jewish people can’t make non-Jews not hate them,” she said. “They can’t be nicer. They can’t be more giving. They can’t be more polite. It’s on us not to hate them and to defend them and to say loudly, ‘We live in Canada. You can’t hate another group of people.'”

Meanwhile, other political leaders have also expressed sorrow and support for the Jewish community following the shooting. Tyler Allsopp, Progressive Conservative MPP for the Bay of Quinte riding, representing Belleville, said in a statement on X that he is “heartbroken” by news of the incident.

“My thoughts go out to all members of our Jewish community, and to the police officer who was wounded and his family,” he said. “This attack was a disgusting act and it has no place in our society. It is my sincerest hope that the individual responsible feels the full weight of justice.”

My statement on the senseless shooting attack last night at Belleville's Sons of Jacob Synagogue. pic.twitter.com/TJPrS8tEIq

— Tyler Allsopp (@tylerallsoppPC) September 21, 2026

And Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he is “disgusted” by the shooting.

In a statement shared on X , Ford wrote: “My thoughts are with the Jewish community in Belleville and across Ontario, who have every right to gather and worship safely and without fear. I expect that all those responsible are arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

He added: “My thoughts are also with the police officer who was shot, along with their family and loved ones. We owe an immense debt of gratitude to this brave officer and to all the first responders who acted so quickly to keep the community safe.”

The Ontario Liberal Party released a statement in which the party’s interim leader, John Fraser, called the shooting “a horrific act of antisemitic violence.”

“For years, we have seen a growing number of Jewish centres targeted by gunfire,” he said. “In most cases, they were empty, but these attacks have instilled fear and dread in the Jewish community. It was only a matter of time before someone was brazen enough to do something like this.”

Please read the Ontario Liberal Party’s Statement on Yom Kippur and the shooting at the Belleville synagogue this weekend. pic.twitter.com/GMmxQvpLZD

— Ontario Liberal Party | Parti Libéral de l'Ontario (@OntLiberal) September 21, 2026

Ontario Liberal Party leadership candidates Lee Fairclough and Eric Lombardi also commented on the shooting.

Fairclough called it “horrifying” and said her thoughts are with the Jewish community and the injured police officer in a post on X , while Lombardi said the incident “comes amid an alarming rise in antisemitism and threats against Jewish institutions across Canada.”

He added : “Jewish Canadians deserve to live without fear and to gather and worship in safety and peace. We must stand unequivocally against antisemitism and ensure our Jewish communities are protected from rising hate.”

Elsewhere, Toronto mayor Olivia Chow wrote in a statement : “My thoughts are with the Jewish community and the injured officer in Belleville,” adding, “The Jewish community will see an increased police presence as we take precautions to keep people safe.”

She said: “Jewish Torontonians should not need police presence to observe Yom Kippur, or to simply live their day-to-day lives. As long as we contend with rising antisemitism and hate, we will spare no expense keeping the community safe.”

Brad Bradford, a Toronto city councillor and Chow’s main contender in the upcoming mayoral race, also shared a statement on social media. “Gunfire outside a synagogue hurts a community that has already carried far too much this year, in Toronto, in Montreal, and across Canada. No community in this country should have to live like this,” he wrote.

Bradford added: “An attack on a place of worship is an attack on all of us.”

Tonight, on Yom Kippur, shots were fired outside the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, and early reports indicate a police officer was shot responding.
Kathryn and I are keeping Belleville’s Jewish community, first responders, the officer who was injured, and everyone near…

— Brad Bradford (@BradMBradford) September 21, 2026

Meanwhile, former Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole called the incident “horrific” in a social media post , adding: “A reminder that the troubling rise in antisemitism leads to real risks to the Jewish community & our entire society.”

And Senator Leo Housakos, who serves as the leader of the Opposition in the Senate, said he is “horrified and beyond angry” by the shooting in a post on social media , adding: “We are failing Jewish Canadians. This violence persists and escalates because we allow it to. Governments in Canada can no longer pretend that antisemitism is anything less than an emergency.”

Conservative MP Shelby Kramp-Neuman said she is “deeply concerned” by the incident, Liberal MP Evan Solomon called it “horrific and despicable,” and fellow Toronto MP Leslie Church said : “A police presence should never be necessary to gather for worship in Canada, yet this is a terrible daily reality for Jewish Canadians.”

Elsewhere, Mark Baxter, president of the Police Association of Ontario, called the act of violence “deeply troubling” in a statement shared on social media.

“I am outraged by this attack on the Jewish community and their sacred space,” he added. “Those responsible must be brought to justice and held fully accountable.”

Absolutely appalling news out of Belleville. A Belleville Police Service officer was shot while bravely guarding the Sons of Jacob Synagogue and the Jewish community during Yom Kippur. Our thoughts are with the officer, their loved ones, and everyone affected by this horrific… pic.twitter.com/akdE8TEUuF

— Mark Baxter (@PresidentPAO) September 21, 2026

The Durham Regional Police also released a statement on social media in which it said its membership is “saddened by the senseless violence” that took place in Belleville. “We join all in condemning senseless acts of violence,” it said.

Police services that have commented on the shooting include York Regional Police, which said in a message to the community that “officers will continue to be visible in the areas where people gather to worship, and we remain in close contact with community and faith partners.”

And Winnipeg Police said it will be increasing its presence at gathering spaces and places of worship as a precaustion, adding: “Our thoughts are with the Jewish community across Canada during this time, as well as with the officer in Belleville who remains in hospital.”

The Bay of Quinte’s pro hockey team, Belleville Senators, also shared a statement on social media, writing: “The Belleville Senators family is deeply saddened to learn about the shooting at the Sons of Jacob Synagogue on Sunday evening. Our thoughts are with the Jewish community in Belleville, as well as the injured officer and first responders and who attended the scene.”

The Belleville Senators family is deeply saddened to learn about the shooting at the Sons of Jacob Synagogue on Sunday evening. Our thoughts are with the Jewish community in Belleville, as well as the injured officer and first responders and who attended the scene. pic.twitter.com/xCn6lMzf0T

— Belleville Senators (@BellevilleSens) September 21, 2026

Multiple synagogues in Ontario, specifically the Greater Toronto Area, have been targeted in shooting attacks in recent years as antisemitism grows in Canada. This March, three separate GTA synagogues were hit by gunfire within a five-day span — Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto in Thornhill, North York’s Temle Emanu-el and Shaarei Shomayim. York Regional Police have charged three suspects in connection with a pair of the shootings.

The shooting comes two months after Statistics Canada data showed that Jews were targeted in 71 per cent of religious hate crimes in Canada last year. While this represented a 16 per cent decline from the previous year, it remained 50 per cent higher than in 2022.

“In Canada, we would not tolerate any other community being shot at, being harassed,” Waler told National Post. “We would lose our collective minds if a Catholic girls’ school was shot at three times,” she added, making a comparison to Bais Chaya Mushka Girls Elementary School in Toronto’s North York, which was shot at for a third time in December 2024 .

“Are Canadians going to continue to be tolerant of other Canadians being shot at, harassed and made victims of violence for the crime of their religion?”

• Police officer injured after Yom Kippur shooting at Belleville synagogue
• 'Bang! Bang! Bang!': Confusion, gunshots during Yom Kippur service at Belleville synagogue

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OTTAWA — Business groups applauded the Liberal government’s omnibus bill on Tuesday, which they say will provide the regulatory and labour changes needed to make Canada a competitive place to invest.

“The legislation takes direct aim at two longstanding barriers to Canada’s prosperity: slow and unpredictable project approvals and labour instability affecting critical supply chains,” said Adam Legge, president of the Alberta Business Council, during a press conference on Parliament Hill.

“It’s one project, one review, one decision, one-year framework will reduce timelines, bring greater certainty and accountability to federal project reviews, with each review led by the lifecycle regulator best equipped to do the job,” Legge added.

Legge was joined by business representatives from British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Bill C-39 is aimed at ensuring that any proposed project, like a pipeline, an offshore renewable energy project or designated power lines, get one review and a decision within one year.

It also removes the responsibility of conducting impact assessments for major energy and nuclear projects away from the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada and puts it into the hands of specialized bodies: either the Canada Energy Regulator or the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

It also addresses the federal government’s use of the controversial Section 107 in the Canada Labour Code, which the Liberal government has used to end work stoppages and refer employers and unions to binding arbitration.

Section 107 was used to end several strikes over the last several years, including at Air Canada, Canada Post, CN and CPKC Rail, and ports in British Columbia and Quebec.

The bill aims to provide a process the minster must follow to invoke Section 107, including taking into account a special mediator’s report on the matter and if the minister is of the opinion that the strike adversely affects the national interest.

Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce CEO Prabha Ramaswamy said in 2025 alone, Canada lost 4.3 million person working days.

“Transportation-related disputes accounted for almost 36 percent of those disruptions, with 60 work stoppages over two years,” she said. “This is why we welcome these measures designed to encourage earlier intervention in labour disputes.”

In a recent report, University of Calgary professor and economist Trevor Tombe quantified the economic impact of Canada’s recent work stoppages, noting that the driving up of costs due to inflation post-pandemic, has led to increase in strikes in the past several years.

Tombe found that recent patterns of work stoppages across transportation and warehousing are associated with an estimated $511-million reduction in annual GDP.

A recent report by the Business Council of British Columbia found that Canada has one of the highest rates of working days lost due to industrial action among its peer economies, including France, with 108 working days lost per 1,000 employees.

Canadian unions, including Unifor and the Canadian Labour Congress, argue the Section 107 changes threaten the constitutional right to strike and would like this part of the bill removed.

When asked if they are worried about a union backlash to the legislation, the business leaders said the bill does not take away the right to strike and includes measures to keep both employers and unions at the bargaining table.

“We’re going to be encouraging labour groups to support it because it keeps Canadians working,” said Legge. “It keeps Canadians and our goods moving, it keeps confidence in the ability for Canada to deliver goods to international markets.”

The bill’s introduction comes on the heels of the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto last week. The Liberal government is aiming to attract $500 billion in private capital investment by the end of the decade.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne was asked if international investors told his government that labour disruptions were an obstacle to their willingness to invest in Canada.

“I would say [we] don’t need anyone to tell us that,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “Canadians understand that, Canadians have seen that in this country we need stability and predictability.”

Pascal Chan, vice-president of strategic policy and supply chains at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said he looked forward to engaging with the government on Bill C-39.

“Reliable transportation gets Canadian products to market, something Canadians know is increasingly essential for our economic security,” he said, in a statement.

“When they are interrupted, the consequences reach far beyond the workplace involved in the dispute, exposing businesses to the risks of losing access to supplies and customers, while workers and communities with no say in the negotiations ultimately pay the price,” Chan added.

In a statement, Business Council of Canada president and CEO Goldy Hyder said the bill addresses the structural weaknesses that have held back Canadian competitiveness for years.

“For too long, we have made it harder than it needs to be to invest in our resources and reliably transport them to our allies and partners,” he said. “We now have an opportunity to change that.”

National Post

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The Toronto mayoral election is now just over a month away, and the latest polls show Councillor Brad Bradford closing the gap with Mayor Olivia Chow after a drop in her support.

A recent Liaison Strategies survey shows Chow currently leading Bradford by seven points, down from her 11-point lead in early September. She receives support from 47 per cent of voters, compared to 50 per cent earlier in the month, while Bradford’s share of support has increased from 39 per cent to 40 per cent.

This picture varies, however, across different parts of the city. The Liaison Strategies data reveals that the most competitive areas in Toronto are North York and Scarborough, where Chow leads Bradford 46 per cent to 41 per cent and 46 per cent to 43 per cent respectively.

Those are much closer results than Etobicoke, where Bradford leads 54 per cent to 33 per cent, or Downtown, where Chow leads 60 per cent to 27 per cent.

Meanwhile, there is also a sharp age divide among younger age groups. Bradford has 47 per cent among decided and leaning voters aged 18 to 34, compared with 41 per cent for Chow. Among those aged 35 to 49, however, Chow leads 57 per cent to 33 per cent.

Despite Chow’s smaller cushion compared to previous polls, David Valentin, principal at Liaison Strategies, said the latest survey results are “not enough to establish a new trend.”

“ Bradford has gained some ground without overtaking the mayor,” he said.

Though Valentin doesn’t make suggestions about the reasons for the closing gap between Chow and Bradford, the survey did ask voters about the issues that matter most to them in the mayoral race.

Cost of living came first at 23 per cent, followed by housing affordability at 19 per cent, crime and public safety at 17 per cent, and traffic and congestion at 13 per cent. Together, cost of living and housing account for 42 per cent of responses.

Meanwhile, the latest Mainstreet Research survey also reveals what it calls “a tighter race” post-Labour Day and following the first mayoral debate, which took place on Sept. 14.

Among those surveyed, 38.8 per cent said they would vote for Chow, while 31.4 per cent said they would vote for Bradford. But 13.5 per cent said they might change their vote before election day and 16.8 per cent remain undecided.

In contrast to Valentin’s assessment, Quito Maggi, president and CEO of Mainstreet Research, said the latter two figures make the Toronto mayoral race “too close to call.”

Elsewhere, Chris Alexander, who was once Canada’s ambassador to Afghanistan and an immigration minister under former prime minister Stephen Harper, comes in third in both polls, with 10 per cent support in the Liaison Strategies survey and 8 per cent support according to Mainstreet Research.

Alexander joined the mayoral race on July 29 and, at the time, Valentin noted this might pose a problem for Bradford, because he “no longer has the centre-right lane entirely to himself.”

However, Alexander’s support remains unchanged from the previous Liaison strategies survey.

Instead, Valentin suggests Bradford’s main challenge lies in his personal approval ratings. Though the share of voters who view him favourably has increased from 31 per cent to 33 per cent, so has the share who view him unfavourably, which is now 37 per cent, up from 34 per cent.

It comes as the share unfamiliar with him has fallen from 24 per cent to 19 per cent, with another 11 per cent unsure.

Meanwhile, the latest polls coincide with Ontario Premier Doug Ford appearing to endorse Chow last week, before taking back his comments a day later.

At a press event in North York on Sept. 17, a reporter asked Ford for his thoughts on the mayoral race, to which he responded that he had “a phenomenal relationship” with Chow. “We’re going to continue supporting the mayor. She’s doing an incredible job,” he said. “So, read between the lines.”

The Bradford campaign, having positioned itself as the conservative alternative to the left-wing Chow, later released a statement to the media which said “of course the premier endorsed Olivia Chow” because “she’s the easiest negotiation he has ever had.” It went on to say that she “handed over on a silver platter” things she had vowed to oppose.

Then, on the evening of Sept. 18, the Premier’s Office released a statement of its own, which read: “We would like to clarify that Premier Ford did not endorse Olivia Chow and will not endorse any candidate in the Toronto mayoral race.”

Ford explained during an appearance on Newstalk 1010 the following morning that “read between the lines” was meant as a message to say, “we’re going to work things out” and “get through this.”

“When I endorse someone, which I’m not, you come out and fully endorse them. You don’t say, ‘read between the lines,'” he said.

Liaison surveyed a random sample of Toronto residents from September 19 to September 20, 2026, and the resulting data was weighted to match targets based on the 2021 Census. For the total sample, the margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The Mainstreet Research poll was conducted between September 14 and 17, 2026 and also has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

• Scott Stinson: Doug Ford says he's not endorsing Olivia Chow for mayor, and if it sounds like he did, he's taking it back
• Howard Levitt: Olivia Chow owes Toronto's Jewish community some answers

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CBC National Radio News Reader Neil Herland recounts the intimidation he faced when trying to enter a building to attend Yom Kippur service in Toronto on Monday night, adding that he may have to leave Canada amid rising antisemitism.

“On Yom Kippur I went to a synagogue service in Toronto and was met by protesters trying to taunt and intimidate me from entering the building,” wrote Herland in a post on X, where he identifies himself as a journalist and a Jew. His post came a day after a synagogue came under attack in Belleville, Ont., a city about two hours to the east.

Video taken by Herland shows a group of about 20 people milling about, blowing horns and waving Palestinian flags in front of the Meridian Arts Centre at Yonge and Sheppard, where The Song Shul holds annual events to mark Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, known as the Day of Atonement. The synagogue doesn’t have its own building but rents different locations to hold services.

“My late father was an Austrian Jew who survived the Holocaust in Romania. And came to Canada as a refugee. This year I got an Austrian passport, in case Canada becomes unsafe for me as a Jew. I fear that moment is approaching, here in Canada and elsewhere.”

In the video by Herland, the shouts of the group are hard to make out, but at one point someone yells: “Palestine will be free.” As Herland moves through the crowd, someone shouts in his face several times with a megaphone: “You’re going to hell!”

At another point he turns to look behind him — some distance away are two individuals with a placard that says “Where’s your humanity?” One of them shouts “Zionist alert” through a megaphone before waving at the camera.

I'm a journalist. And I happen to be Jewish. On Yom Kippur I went to a synagogue service in Toronto and was met by protesters trying to taunt and intimidate me from entering the building. 1/5 pic.twitter.com/2eH3MaC9QB

— Neil Herland (@NEWSneil) September 22, 2026

He added that the cantor (singer) at the event revealed that his nephew had been murdered on Rosh Hashana in Ukraine, in a suspected hate crime. The event listed Simon Spiro as the cantor.

“And this morning the Toronto synagogue announced there had been an attack outside a synagogue in Belleville,” Herland continued.

The Belleville shooting happened Sunday night outside a synagogue in the city of 55,000 where worshipers had gathered to mark Yom Kippur. Const. Jeff Smith, a nearly 13-year veteran of the Belleville Police Service, was in critical but stable condition after exchanging gunfire with a shooter outside the building. No one else was injured in the attack.

“Jewish Canadians are living in a parallel world,” Herland wrote in his post. “Where police stand guard with guns outside synagogues. And Jewish schools, religious sites and businesses are targeted with bullets. And most Canadians have no awareness or understanding.”

Dedicated police protection has become commonplace at synagogues across Canada, particularly during Jewish holidays, in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks in Israel.

Multiple synagogues in Ontario, and specifically the Greater Toronto Area, have been targeted in shooting attacks in recent years. In March, three GTA synagogues were struck by gunfire in the space of five days — Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto in Thornhill, and Temle Emanu-el and Shaarei Shomayim in North York. York Regional Police have charged three suspects in connection with two of the shootings.

Toronto police were present at Monday’s protest, and kept protesters about five metres away from the door.

Herland noted that the guest speaker was an Australian-born university teacher who lives in Israel, identified by the Song Shul as Mark Regev, former Israeli ambassador to the U.K. A Canadian group called Just Peace Advocates had submitted a complaint demanding that Regev be barred from entering Canada. National Post has reached out to the group for more information.

“His speech was about making peace in the Middle East. Let’s hope that happens this year,” Herland wrote.

• FIRST READING: Yet another Canadian massacre prevented at the last minute by police
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On average, about 20 homicide cases every year in Canada wind up with the killer being found not criminally responsible, and sentenced to mental health treatment instead of jail.

But how are these cases decided, and what is the fallout for families of the victims when the perpetrator isn’t sent to prison?

Emma Jarratt, a reporter with the Investigative Journalism Bureau, joins me to discuss key factors that are frequently present in cases where an accused is designated NCR, why the designation is seen as controversial, and what changes people are proposing.

Background reading:Not Criminally Responsible: The broken system behind the killers who don’t go to jail

Subscribe to 10/3 on your favourite podcast app

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A 19-year-old man in Durham Region was arrested for threatening to shoot a synagogue. He was charged just a day before a gunman opened fire outside Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ont., injuring Const. Jeff Smith stationed outside.

Alexander Parfitt, a resident of Whitby, is accused of posting about carrying out a shooting on an online message board, according to Durham Regional Police . Officers received information about the threats from a law enforcement partner.

Police were able to identify the user and executed a search warrant at the man’s Whitby home on Sept. 19.

He was charged with threats motivated by hate.

The shooting in Belleville, roughly 140 kilometres west of Whitby, took place around 7 p.m. on Sunday evening, when a 29-year-old suspect Sean Ward fired shots at the synagogue.

At the time, there were roughly 25 congregants inside the building for evening prayers on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for the Jewish community. None of the congregants were injured. Smith was rushed to Kingston General Hospital where he remains in critical but stable condition.

Meanwhile, the suspect is in life-threatening condition.

Durham police said it had increased patrol during the Jewish high holidays at community centres and places of worship.

Synagogues across Canada have become the target of antisemitic attacks.

In January, a synagogue in Winnipeg was graffitied with swastikas . In March, three synagogues in the Greater Toronto Area were hit with bullets. In June, a suspect was arrested after an attempted arson at a synagogue in Montreal.

• FIRST READING: Yet another Canadian massacre prevented at the last minute by police
• 'Jewish people must be able to worship safely,' Carney says about shooting at Belleville synagogue

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Ontario food banks, meanwhile, recorded 8.7 million visits in 2024–2025, a 13 per cent increase over the previous year and a 165 per cent increase since 2019–2020. Food bank use in Canada has doubled since 2019, according to informational handouts.

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While most Canadians reject collective blame and sweeping claims about religious and ethnic groups, younger Canadians are substantially more likely to accept them, according to a new poll.

Data collected by the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS) found that more 57 per cent of Canadians find it unacceptable — not very or not at all — to suggest that a particular religion has harmful beliefs. The only outlier among the age groups was 18-24-year-olds, 56 per cent of whom felt it was somewhat or very acceptable to say that.

Nearly seven in ten respondents (69 per cent) think it’s either degree of unacceptable to say that members of a specific ethnic or religious group cannot be trusted. The youngest cohort was the only one with observable conflict, with 42 per cent of on the accepting side.

When it comes to holding members of a religious group collectively responsible for the actions of a foreign government, three quarters (75 per cent) deemed it unacceptable, but, again, nearly a third (32 per cent) under 25 were more accepting.

People in the 25-34 age group (30 per cent) and the 45-55 demographic (31 per cent) also registered above the overall net acceptable number (25 per cent).

“There needs to be some increasing thought and sensitivity about the extent to which people make those connections,” ACS president Jack Jedwab told National Post in an interview, noting that none of that should ever be acceptable “in democracies like ours.”

Without ascribing any symmetry to the subjects, the poll sought to understand which religious or ethnic groups Canadians feel should be apologizing for the one they are perceived to be affiliated with outside of Canada.

It found that 43 per cent of respondents are most likely to think that Muslims should be expected to publicly condemn terrorist acts carried out in the name of Islam. Meanwhile, 36 per cent suggested Russian Canadians should be expected to publicly condemn actions of the Russian government with which they disagree, and 32 per cent felt the same about Jewish Canadians and the Israeli government.

“I’m not comparing the acts of the Israeli government to the actions of terrorism in the name of Islam,” said Jedwab.

“But what is common about it is the accusation of responsibility for such actions, because I sometimes get the impression that some people feel that some of this is okay, but the other sort of expression of it isn’t.”

ACS’s data also showed that the people most likely to say that members of a specific ethnic or religious group are responsible for the actions of a foreign government are the ones who expected to publicly condemn acts “over which they have no individual control or responsibility.​”

A plurality of people who feel that’s very (73.2 per cent) or somewhat acceptable (54 per cent) who feel that way said Muslim Canadians should be expected to publicly condemn terrorist acts carried out in the name of Islam.

Asked if Jewish Canadians should be expected to publicly condemn actions of the Israeli government with which they disagree, the majority (52.7 per cent) from the very acceptable ranks agreed, as did 38.2% among those on the somewhat acceptable side.

“People who make that statement, who support those views, think that it’s okay for Muslim Canadians to publicly condemn terrorist acts carried out in the name of Islam — it’s not okay,” Jedwab said, noting the same holds for Jewish and Russian Canadians.

“These aren’t free expression issues. They’re a threat to free expression.”

The poll of 1,538 respondents, conducted by Leger on behalf of the Association for Canadian Studies, was conducted Sept. 4-6. A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey for comparison purposes. However, a probability sample of this size would have a margin of error of 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.​

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OTTAWA — The Quebec election is two weeks away and the separatist Parti Québécois is well on its way to form government, with new polling showing they remain in the lead.

While the Liberals either remain mum on the issue or claim that the situation can still change, Bloc Québécois MPs are already cherishing the idea of working with their provincial cousins to hold a third referendum for Quebec to separate from Canada.

“The election of the Parti Québécois will bring us closer to Quebec’s independence. And in that sense, for me, it is fantastic news, because it is a way to move toward our goal,” said Bloc MP Alexis Deschênes in an interview with National Post.

The PQ has promised to hold a referendum on separation in a first mandate, but only after U.S. President Donald Trump leaves office in January 2029. That means that the party would have a small window to hold one if it stays in power for a four-year term.

Deschênes said the last time the PQ took power with a promise to hold a referendum in the first mandate was in 1994 under Jacques Parizeau. He ended up holding a vote on separation a year later and nearly succeeded in Quebec seceding from Canada.

But for the moment, PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is not campaigning on independence, instead insisting on good governance and slashing taxes. He even refused to say the word “referendum” in the first debate of the campaign.

Despite support for Quebec independence being at historical lows, Deschênes believes the PQ will respect its commitment to hold another referendum in a first mandate.

“What we see coming is the election of a Parti Québécois government with a mandate to achieve independence. So, it is a vitally important mandate,” he said.

Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet has been busy campaigning this summer with some PQ candidates in the suburbs of Montreal. His MPs have been doing the same, giving a helping hand to their local candidates in events and meeting stakeholders.

“It’s an organic relationship, I’d say. We’re part of the same family,” said Deschênes, who represents the riding of Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj.

The federal Liberals are carefully not endorsing any of the provincial parties in the Quebec election to avoid any accusations of political interference from Ottawa.

Whilst there was speculation Prime Minister Mark Carney was backing incumbent premier Christine Fréchette because of their many joint announcements in the lead-up to the election, he has refrained from interacting with her since the writ dropped.

On Friday, Carney’s Quebec lieutenant Joël Lightbound said he was closely following the election in Quebec, but he said it is “too early to speculate on the election result” because there is still lots of time left and a large portion of voters are undecided.

“We will see what Quebecers decide, and then we will act in Quebec’s interest with the Quebec government,” he said.

But two more polls published on Monday are cementing the PQ’s lead as the frontrunner in Quebec, as has been the case for the last three years. Fréchette’s Coalition Avenir Québec and the provincial Liberals are still several points behind.

St-Pierre Plamondon is well on track to form a minority government as things stand right now, but he is now calling on voters to give him a majority mandate on Oct. 5.

Many federal Liberals questioned by the National Post would not comment on the scenario of another separatist threat looming in Canada, adding to the referendum in Alberta that could pave the way to another vote to secede from the rest of the country.

“My focus is here in Ottawa,” said Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, on his way to the first question period of the fall session on Monday. “There are so many things to do. It will be a very busy session,” he added.

Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi, from Montreal, simply said he will be casting his vote in the Quebec election and is encouraging every Quebecer to do the same.

The PQ has vowed to pull out of federal priorities, such as the Alto high-speed rail project between Toronto and Quebec City, and possibly review others, like the Churchill Falls energy deal between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.

His Liberal colleague Jean-Yves Duclos, from Quebec City, said that the federal government will do everything in its power to work collaboratively with the party that will form government in Quebec on Oct. 5, including working on those two priorities.

But he admits that, depending on the colour of the next government in the National Assembly, the federal level might have to “work harder” than with others.

On Monday, the federal Liberals were cheering in the House of Commons as they welcomed one of their newest additions to caucus, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord MP Daniel Gobeil, who won the byelection in Quebec with more than 50 per cent of the vote.

In the coming months, three more federal seats in Quebec will be up for grabs. And with Carney’s popularity in the province, Lightbound already sees more room for growth.

“I never take anything for granted, but you can see that people are satisfied.”

National Post
calevesque@postmedia.com

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OTTAWA — The federal government tabled legislation that fundamentally reorganizes how it approves major projects, promising a “one project, one review, one year” process all the while implementing sweeping changes to Canadian labour rules around collective bargaining and work stoppages.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government tabled a new omnibus Bill C-39, the Building Canada Strong Act, on Monday afternoon.

“Today we introduced our most significant piece of economic legislation yet,” Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said in a press conference with other federal ministers after the bill was tabled. “This legislation will give our country the tools we need to build more, better, and more efficiently.”

“Our objective today is straightforward: to make it easier for Canadian businesses to build, invest, grow, and get their products to market, while creating an economy that delivers certainty, prosperity, and opportunity for all Canadians,” MacKinnon added.

The bill aims to designate yet-unspecified areas as “regions of national interest” in which major infrastructure projects would receive the same fast-track approval process as those deemed to be “projects of national interest” under legislation (Bill C-5) passed last year.

It also removes the responsibility of conducting impact assessments for major energy and nuclear projects away from the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada and puts it into the hands of specialized bodies: either the Canada Energy Regulator or the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

“This will provide a better look at the project as a whole, and lead to more efficiency and less consultation fatigue in the consultation process,” said one senior public servant during a background technical briefing for reporters.

The government adopted almost all the proposals it included in a series of discussion papers published through the spring, with consultations extending throughout the summer.

One Canadian Economy Minister Dominic LeBlanc said the government held nationwide engagement with Indigenous peoples, provinces and territories, investors, municipal leaders, and Canadians over the past few months.

“While we are working quickly, Canada’s government is also doing its part to listen to Canadians,” he said.

The bill also proposes significant changes to how federally-regulated industries — transportation, telecommunications and banking, for example — negotiate union contracts, mediate disputes and resolve work stoppages.

The bill would mandate parties to begin renegotiating a union contract six months before it expires if the previous negotiations were acrimonious or if the expiring deal lasted five years or more.

It also proposes yet-undefined monetary penalties for parties found to be negotiating in bad faith by a labour arbitrator, and compels union and employer representatives to attend the labour version of couples therapy (“relationship development work”) at the end of negotiations that included work stoppage or binding arbitration.

Unions have been vocally opposed to how the Carney Liberals wielded a controversial section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to prematurely end multiple strikes in the transportation sector, including one by Air Canada flight attendants in the summer of 2025.

The government looks to address that criticism by proposing two new “guardrails” to when it can invoke section 107’s power to order a federal labour arbitrator to end a work stoppage and resolve the dispute between employer and union.

“First, the consideration of a report from a special mediator, and second, the minister has to be of the opinion that a strike or lockout would adversely affect the national interest based on a national impact assessment,” said a senior government official during the briefing. The assessment would be conducted by the labour program at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC).

Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said any suggestion that the government is weakening the right to strike is “incorrect.”

“In fact, what it does is put a guardrail around a very contentious tool, Section 107, that many unions had said was used without transparency by the minister. And so, in terms of workers’ rights, we’re actually strengthening their rights,” she said.

With Bill C-39, the government also looks to reorganize the administration of Canada’s biggest ports and create “national trade corridors” and a new “corridor council.” Its goal will be to “identify what’s causing delays and bottlenecks in our supply chains and propose remedies,” the officials said during the briefing.

Speaking to reporters Sunday alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Carney described the upcoming bill as “the most consequential economic legislation certainly of this parliamentary session, arguably over the course of the next few years.”

NDP Leader Avi Lewis said it is precisely for that reason that he is making a public appearance on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, for the first time in 36 years of public life to respond to that consequential legislation.

“Prime Minister Carney is using our fear and disorientation around the trade war to push through a series of unpopular measures that he did not run on, has no mandate for, and would never get away with under normal circumstances,” Lewis said.

“This approach will create crises, not solve them. It will cause labour unrest, not bring peace to workplaces, and it will create a Canada where Indigenous rights, workers’ rights, and the protection of our precious natural environment will all be sacrificed on the altar of corporate profit.”

Union leaders said they were very worried about the new legislation introduced in Parliament.

“If this government thinks that they’re going to take away our fundamental rights, they’re in for a very big wake-up call,” said Mark Hancock, the national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, who joined Lewis at his press conference.

Bea Bruske, the President of the Canadian Labour Congress, said her organization has had a first look at the changes to the Canada Labour Code and while there are measures that are welcome in terms of protections for workers, she said the government broke its promise to workers on the right to strike.

“This bill gives government the new and expanded power to end a legal strike when it decides the strike is, or could be, against the national interest,” she said.

“We reject the idea that workers’ bargaining power is somehow contrary to the national interest.”

Before the bill was tabled, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet denounced any move by the Liberals to curb workers’ right to strike or mandate binding arbitration to parties in a labour conflict.

He said it was much better that the government be forced to “grow a spine” and table special back-to-work legislation if it wants to end a strike and face the music in Parliament.

“The State must be an mediator between the interests of the workers and large industry. What we fear is that the government will abandon that responsibility in one direction, to the benefit of industries that know that, in general, arbitrators… generally rule in favour of employers,” he said.

Asked whether the government is “flooding the zone” in a similar fashion to U.S. President Donald Trump, Hajdu said the government is making all these consequential changes to respond to the crisis of the trade war.

“We’re doing exactly what Canadians have asked us to, which is to stand up for them, to stand up for their families, to stand up for their jobs. We’re fighting every single day to save jobs, to grow jobs, and to make sure that we can actually build big things in this country and get our goods to market,” she said.

Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said Canadians want to come together and build Canada in a time of uncertainty.

“That’s what Canadians expect us to do.”

National Post

cnardi@postmedia.com

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A Belleville, Ont., police officer is in critical but stable condition today after being shot while exchanging gunfire with a shooter outside a synagogue where worshipers had gathered to mark Yom Kippur on Sunday evening.

In a Monday press conference near the scene outside Sons of Jacob Congregation in the city’s east end, Belleville Police Service deputy chief Sheri Meeks said Const. Jeff Smith, a 13-year officer, has a long recovery ahead, but they are “encouraged by his progress.”

The suspected shooter, meanwhile, was identified as 29-year-old Sean Ward of nearby Quinte West, who is in life-threatening condition, according to the province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) spokesperson Kristy Denette.

“It’s my understanding that he was very critical and was (vital signs absent), but was sort of brought back to life, so to speak,” she said, noting he sustained “multiple strikes from the officer.”

Both, according to The Intelligencer, Belleville’s newspaper of record, are being treated at Kingston General Hospital.

It’s unclear what charges he might face and Meeks said Belleville police would not release any further information while SIU investigates.

Denette said preliminary evidence suggests Ward arrived in a black pickup truck just after 7 p.m. with a shotgun, which he fired at Smith, who was already on the scene in an unmarked police vehicle. Smith returned fire and was joined by another responding officer who also fired at Ward, who was struck.

As they continue to gather body-cam and police vehicle camera footage, Denette said it’s too early to determine the exact sequence of events.

“I don’t have a sense of timing right now, but what I can tell you is there are dozens of bullet holes in the street behind me,” she said.

“And some homes have been hit and there are some vehicles with shot-out windows, that sort of thing. So it would have been quite the scene indeed.”

CP24 footage shows what appears to be a shotgun on the ground near the scene of the shooting. It also showed a black pickup truck left with multiple bullet holes.

Denette couldn’t confirm if the synagogue was damaged, but synagogue president Doug Weddum told National Post that stained glass windows decorating the outside were peppered with bullets.

The SIU spokesperson also couldn’t confirm if the place of worship was the target of the attack and refused to speculate, but said “common sense would say that probably was the case.”

Still, Denette stressed that the civilian-led SIU’s legislative mandate is to investigate police officers who have discharged their weapons in the line of duty, not Ward’s alleged crime.

No one inside the shul was hurt, according to a social media statement by the Sons of Jacob Congregation, but the situation was still quite alarming for those inside.

A security guard on site identified only as Mike told The Intelligencer the first shot sounded like it came from a “heavy rifle” and was met with rounds from a smaller gun.

“Sitting there, we hear, ‘Pop! Pop! Pop!’ We don’t know if there’s only one shooter,” congregant Doug Lobel told National Post. “For me the biggest concern was … are they going to get into the building?”

The roughly 25 congregants took cover on the floor until police came in to sweep the building, after which they went to the police station by bus and returned home later. The synagogue has cancelled all remaining Yom Kippur day services and will advise when they will resume.

Tactical officers, aerial drones to scan neighbourhood backyards, and an armoured vehicle were dispatched during Belleville police’s initial response, according to The Intelligencer.

Neighbourhood resident Scott Granville posted a video to X that he said was recorded “about a half a block away after the majority of the gunfire.”

“I was backing away and did record a large bang, followed by 3 more shots,” he wrote.

This was about a half a block away after the majority of the gunfire. I was backing away and did record a large bang, followed by 3 more shots. pic.twitter.com/9zb8cBnS89

— @DirectKicksSoccerTV (@directkicksTV) September 21, 2026

On Facebook, Granville said he heard about 50 shots and that an unidentified witness told him she saw “a full shoot out between 2 shooters” that ended with “one man down.”

“I was a half a block away so heard but did not see the event,” he wrote. “I was close enough to worry about stray bullets though especially with the houses nearby.”

Another neighbour, Chris Masterson, told CBC he heard about “25 shots back and forth” before a siren sounded and a police officer commanded someone to “stop.”

Denette said 20 to 30 gunshots “would be a fair estimate” based on early evidence.

A heavy police presence remained outside the synagogue on Monday, one which Denette said would remain for a couple of days.

“It’s quite a complex scene and there are a lot of cartridge cases to collect,” she explained. Reaction to another shooting incident near an Ontario synagogue was swift and widespread.

Premier Doug Ford said he “was disgusted” and expected all responsible to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

“My thoughts are with the Jewish community in Belleville and across Ontario, who have every right to gather and worship safely and without fear,” he said on social media.

“My thoughts are also with the police officer who was shot, along with their family and loved ones. We owe an immense debt of gratitude to this brave officer and to all the first responders who acted so quickly to keep the community safe.”

I’m disgusted by the shooting that took place outside the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville earlier this evening as Jewish community members gathered to mark Yom Kippur.

My thoughts are with the Jewish community in Belleville and across Ontario, who have every right to…

— Doug Ford (@fordnation) September 21, 2026

Multiple synagogues in Ontario, specifically the Greater Toronto Area, have been targeted in shooting attacks in recent years as antisemitism grows in Canada. This March, three separate GTA synagogues were hit by gunfire within five days — Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto in Thornhill and North York’s Temle Emanu-el and Shaarei Shomayim. York Regional Police have charged three suspects in connection with a pair of the shootings.

John Fraser, a Liberal MPP in Ottawa, called it “a horrific act of antisemitic violence.”

“Families were gathered in community and prayer when shots came pouring through the stained glass window of their local synagogue,” he said in a statement.

The Jewish community is on high alert as they mark the holiest day of the year. Police forces had announced security plans for the Jewish holidays amid a wave of antisemitism.

“For years we have seen a growing number of Jewish centres targeted by gunfire,” said Fraser. “It was only a matter of time before someone was brazen enough to do something like this.”

Toronto Police Services said in a statement on X that it was not aware of any threats or connection to Toronto, but would still increase “visibility and patrols and synagogues and other places of worship out of an abundance of caution.”

“Our thoughts are with the Belleville police officer who was injured and their loved ones and colleagues.”

Police in York Region north of Toronto, about 180 kilometres away, said it understood the Belleville incident would ​cause concern in its jurisdiction, and they remain in contact with their “faith partners.”

“Our officers will continue to be visible in the areas where people gather to worship,” it said in a statement.

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Maya Gebala, the Tumbler Ridge shooting victim who was so critically injured it was thought she might never see another birthday, has just turned 13 years old.

In her latest post to Facebook, Maya’s mom, Cia Edmonds, included numerous photos of Maya celebrating the big day.

They include the little girl bowling, playing air hockey and blowing out candles on her birthday cake (with a little help from mom).

In other pictures she is smiling at the camera and making rock-and-roll hand signs with her mom.

“Happy Birthday, my biggest baby girl,” Edmonds wrote in the post. “13 looks different, but you wear it well.”

She continued: “I am forever grateful for the time we get to share. I am constantly proud at all the new things you are learning to do. I am watching you become someone new, again and again. Thank you baby. Thank you for staying with us. Thank you for your strength, your courage, and your determination.”

Edmonds said that a year ago, Maya’s big birthday wish was to go with her best friend to visit “galaxy land,” an apparent reference to the theme park in West Edmonton Mall.

“This year is different, but we make it worth it,” Edmonds wrote, adding: “Many more to come my Maya Moon. All the stars in the sky, forever and always.”

The Tumbler Ridge shooting took place on Feb. 10, when 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar went on a murderous rampage that left eight other people dead, most of them at the secondary school in the small British Columbia town. Maya was shot three times in the head, cheek and neck.

Maya, who was just 12 years old when the shooting occurred, was taken to B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.

She has undergone at least five complex surgeries but has made remarkable progress since the shooting, which left her with severe brain damage.

Her mother, who posts on social media under the name “Cia Later,” and her father, David Gebala, have released regular updates over the months with news of her continued recovery.

Earlier this month Edmonds posted a brief video clip of Maya saying “mom” to her.

“Setbacks and victories,” she wrote in the post. “Her level of awareness is incredible and devastating at the same time. She still lives in a hospital, she cries because she wants to go home. Soon baby, soon.”

In July, Edmonds changed her Facebook cover photo and profile picture to include images of a small French bulldog, along with the sad news that their dog had died after being hit by a car.

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OTTAWA AND PENTICTON, B.C. — As the moon circles Earth, its gravitational pull moves the oceans back and forth, creating the cycle of high and low tides.

A similar law of physics applies to Canadian politics.

As U.S. President Donald Trump spins himself in and out of the news cycle, Liberal party poll numbers move up and down in accordance with the president’s shifting gravitational force. The latest breakdown of trade talks in late August, and the barrage of insults from Washington that followed, predictably delivered another “Trump bump” for Prime Minister Mark Carney who has positioned himself, and is widely perceived as, Canada’s most reliable defender.

That same cycle has been savage for Conservatives, who gathered as a caucus in B.C.’s Okanagan region this week, and are once again relegated to the sidelines while forces outside the party’s control manage its fate.

In a sign that people inside the party may be moving through the stages of grief since losing the 2025 election, Conservative MPs seemed more willing to acknowledge the steep hill they must climb, with their party and their leader trailing Carney and the Liberals by significant spreads.

“The popularity of Mark Carney is what it is,” said Bob Zimmer, who represents the northern B.C. riding of Prince George–Peace River–Northern Rockies, outside the party’s caucus retreat in Penticton, B.C.

Conservatives popularity is now in the low 30 per cents, according to polling aggregators. Having dipped below the psychologically important 30-point mark in a few single polls this year, even the Tory leadership has to admit that things don’t look rosy for the Conservative party these days.

“This is not the position we want to be in at this juncture,” said Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman, to reporters gathered at the caucus meeting.

Most Conservative strategists say that in the current environment, with Carney’s stature and popularity booming and Trump’s belligerence giving the prime minister a new boost every few months, it’s unlikely that the party will be able to close the gap with the Liberals anytime soon.

Trump is scheduled to depart the Oval Office in January 2029, which many Tories will have circled in their calendars. But that means the party is looking down the barrel of a gruelling couple of years. The party’s braintrust either needs to reverse Carney’s advantage on the trade war or grind out the rest of Trump’s term when it, hopefully, goes away.

“Hanging on for two years and hoping things get better, that’s not easy, right?” said Dan Robertson, a former chief strategist for the Conservative party. “You’re basically conceding that your strategy is just hope. And that’s a pretty poor basis for a strategy.”

Even the most optimistic Conservative strategists don’t see a clear path to any big gains for the party soon. Carney is simply too popular right now. And, despite the prayers of Tories across the country, the conflict with Trump hasn’t become any less salient in Canada since the April 2025 election, when Liberals successfully sold their leader as the best man to fight it.

___

The political backdrop of British Columbia is an ominous one for a Conservative party caucus retreat.

The province has become a cautionary tale. After narrowly losing the 2024 provincial election to the incumbent NDP, the B.C. Conservatives fired their leader. The new one, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, is just over four months into her tenure and has already lost up to 12 MLAs from her caucus, either through resignations or from being kicked out of caucus, as a result of a fierce internal battle, although one MLA is disputing the leader’s authority to expel her. There are echoes of skirmishes within the federal party.

Leader Pierre Poilievre even waded into B.C. politics earlier this year, congratulating Findlay for defeating the “Liberal lobbyists from out east” who he said ran her opponent’s campaign. It was widely interpreted as a shot at Kory Teneycke, who previously organized Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s three successful provincial campaigns and had become a fierce critic of Poilievre during the federal election. (Teneycke helped run the campaign of a rival to Findlay, but so had many Poilievre loyalists.) The remarks set off a flurry of unhelpful headlines about party infighting and frustrated Conservatives, who saw them as a distraction and a needless reopening of old wounds.

Other moves by Poilievre in recent months have also landed poorly. The public response was not kind to his October 2025 attack against the RCMP, calling the Mounties’ leadership “despicable” for what he claimed were cover ups of former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s scandals.

And there was his attack on the government in May over early reports that the economy had slipped into a “technical recession” after Statistics Canada reported a slight decline in the first quarter, following a previous decline. Poilievre called for an emergency debate in Parliament over the “full-blown recession,” as headlines focused on economists urging caution about the recession definition and the data’s accuracy. Later revisions by Statistics Canada showed it turned out to not be a recession, by any definition.

To Ginny Roth, a longtime political strategist who was Poilievre’s director of communications for his successful leadership run in 2022, it looked like the party not seeing the forest for the trees. Rather than a quick “gotcha” attack, the Opposition could have made a substantial case about the economy’s lack of growth over the last decade.

“The reason it’s unclear whether it was a technical recession or not is because we’ve been in this secular stagnation for years and will continue to be, which is obviously a much more compelling and bigger point to make,” she said.

Instead, the Conservatives were forced to wear an unforced error, being technically wrong by declaring a technical recession too hastily.

“I don’t think we should chase shiny objects in Parliament and think that we can land short-term, quick wins on corruption and ‘gotchas’ on the economy,” said Roth. In this unforgiving political environment, she thinks, the smartest approach is to stop reading snapshot polling and focus on the medium- and long-term future. Instead of getting into the weeds of technical recessions, she said, keep reminding Canadians that on cost-of-living, the government is failing Canadians.

But the party would have to get comfortable with the reality that the argument might not land today, or even a year from today. She admits that it will be difficult “from a caucus management perspective because it can feel ungratifying when you don’t score that quick win.”

Poilievre has waged this kind of disciplined campaign before, when he targeted the carbon tax with a dogged effectiveness. Even as conservative-sympathetic voices urged him to move on, he would not relent until a majority of Canadians shared his view — and the Carney government eventually did, too, cancelling the consumer tax last year.

“It requires a great deal of discipline. It will be very challenging. There could be tough moments,” said Roth. “But I think it still would be foolish to try to play Whac-A-Mole on the short-term wins.”

Coming out of the caucus meeting in B.C. this week, there are some indications that Poilievre is thinking the same way.

Even among his supporters in the party, the leader is not known as someone who will easily change course once he’s determined a path. But he has in recent days shown signs that he plans to make tweaks in his approach and messaging.

After frequent criticisms that he’s too quick to take easy political shots at the prime minister and government, Poilievre has lately been projecting something more statesmanlike, including his comment last week in New York that he wouldn’t criticize his government while on foreign soil. The Conservative leader told CNBC that Canadians were feeling “wounded” by U.S. tariffs and urging cooler heads to prevail. But, he said, “I’m not going to attack my prime minister on foreign soil. It’s just not something I’m going to do.”

He referred to that during a speech Wednesday to his caucus, saying that some U.S. media were “befuddled” that he wouldn’t criticize his opponents.

Poilievre has also emphasized in recent days that he would like the Liberal government to succeed in its trade war with Trump, despite what that would mean for his own aspirations.

“Our duty is country before party,” he told Conservative MPs.

The comments stood out for their willingness to disown a noisy, very online faction of conservative-minded Canadians who have taken Trump’s side against Carney. That has created a more complicated calculus for Poilievre, given a recent poll by the Angus Reid Institute found that 33 per cent of Conservative voters have a favourable view of the U.S. president, while 59 per cent of them have an unfavourable view. (By comparison, 95 per cent of Liberals disapprove of Trump, along with 92 per cent of NDP voters and 94 per cent of Bloc Québécois voters, making a fighting posture far more comfortable for those parties.)

Poilievre was criticized during last year’s federal election campaign for not being clear enough in condemning Trump and his attacks on Canada. But that looks to be changing, too. In his speech on Wednesday, the Conservative leader referred to Trump’s “trolling,” knowing full well that some of his caucus members and party supporters are Trump fans.

___

Patience and focusing on the long term is an easy strategy to recommend when there doesn’t seem to be any other one on offer.

But it’s not easy imagine it being carried out by a caucus this restless. The gathering in Penticton this week was an assembly of thoroughly grumpy MPs.

Two former high-ranking staffers confirmed that the mood is as bad as they can remember it in the party. People are depressed and, even a year-and-a-half after the election, they are still grieving a loss that they feel was unfairly imposed on them by outside forces.

Since then, Carney has successfully lured four MPs to join his caucus, and won six of seven byelections (the exception being Poilievre winning back a seat in Parliament in Battle River–Crowfoot last year). Conservatives have averaged just 24.6 per cent support across all seven byelections (that includes Poilievre’s 80 per cent victory), a shadow of the 41 per cent support they earned in last year’s election.

When Carney speaks to reporters lately, he almost never mentions Poilievre or the Conservative party by name. It’s a tactic that more than one senior Conservative said (with at least one adding some reluctant admiration) is driving Conservatives mad. Since Carney became Liberal leader, he has tried to convince Canadians his real opposition is the Trump administration, not the other party in the House of Commons, because the Trump contrast is the one that has propelled him to historic highs in the polls.

But that has also blunted Poilievre’s best political skill, which is hand-to-hand combat, and it has only fuelled the party’s feeling of irrelevancy.

The longer-term strategy also doesn’t reckon with the fact that most Conservative MPs fully expect Carney to go to the polls before Trump leaves the scene, although not even Liberals are sure about that. If they’re right, it means the slow-burn approach could still be unhurriedly sputtering along by the time the next election happens.

“Every available piece of public polling shows us that we’re getting absolutely obliterated if there’s an election anytime soon,” said a senior Conservative source.

Conservative members of Parliament, whose jobs are on the line if the party takes a beating in the next election, are as aware of that as anyone else. If projections by the current polls are mapped onto election scenarios, it’s possible that more than four in 10 Conservative MPs could be out of a job as the Liberals romp to a possible 228-seat majority .

The foreboding has fuelled questions in the media about Poilievre’s leadership, although on the ground it’s hard to find anyone who genuinely thinks he is in any imminent trouble.

Even Tories who would prefer to see a new leader in place point to Poilievre’s overwhelming endorsement at the party’s convention in January — from 87 per cent of party members — and the support he stills commands.

“I still don’t think Liberals and non-Conservatives and people who don’t pay attention understand just how dominant a force he has become in the national federal party,” said Ben Woodfinden, who was Poilievre’s director of communications until 2025.

At least half a dozen Conservatives made the point to National Post that if the Reform Act was used to topple the leader (as Conservative MPs had done with Erin O’Toole), Poilievre could simply run in the resulting leadership race to replace himself and win easily.

He is not seen as the kind of guy who would go quietly.

There is also a fear, now being made publicly by some longtime party operatives , that a leadership race in the Trump era would be massively damaging to the party. It would bring internal disputes about the direction of the party into the limelight and it would activate a legion of online influencers that more moderate members of the party believe have been too sympathetic to the U.S. president.

“I don’t see the value in going through a really bloody, nasty leadership race, rip each other apart, open up wounds that don’t need to be reopened up, so that we can throw somebody new in, so that he or she could get f-cking torched,” said Anthony Koch, a longtime Conservative adviser.

And the payoff with a new leader remains extremely questionable. David Coletto, who runs the polling firm Abacus Data, tried to quantify the effect of a hypothetical new leader on the national polls recently, and found that even with an ideal new leader, the Conservatives could gain all of about two percentage points from where they are now.

That would put the Conservatives 11 points behind the Liberals, rather than the current 13-point deficit per the polling average at 338Canada.

Coletto’s hypothetical also has some major caveats. It assumes a new leader with zero negative impressions among voters and it assumes that the new leader will hold all the voters that support the party because of Poilievre.

“What I take from this is that any Conservative leader, this one or the next, faces the same underlying problem: a prime minister who is liked, whose government is approved of, and who is seen as best able to handle the issues Canadians care most about right now: Trump and U.S. file,” wrote Coletto in early September.

The pollster argues that voters aren’t supporting the Liberals because they hate Poilievre, but because they are very impressed with Carney.

Canadians who are open to voting Conservative, but who won’t commit to casting a ballot for the party, actually like Poilievre. The problem for the Conservatives is that they like Carney even more.

Poilievre’s net favourability, which is the percentage of people with positive perceptions minus those with negative impressions, is plus nine. But Carney’s is plus-43.

Although most Tories don’t think Poilievre is under any immediate threat, some are looking ahead to a major test of his leadership that could change that.

On Friday, Conservative MP Larry Brock officially resigned from Parliament, as he promised he would several weeks ago. He won his Brantford—Brant South—Six Nations riding by 11 percentage points in the 2025 federal election. But pollsters are already warning that the Liberals have a chance to wrestle the seat away from the Conservatives in a byelection, which would be a crushing blow for a party that needs to gain and hold seats in the Greater Toronto Area and Southwestern Ontario to have any hope at forming government.

“If there is a movement to get rid of Pierre, it would probably massively intensify following a loss at Brantford. It would be driven by MPs out of just pure self interest,” said one senior Conservative.

One Conservative strategist estimated that losing Brock’s former seat in Brantford would be a sign that the party could be looking at a single-digit seat count in Ontario in a hypothetical federal election, compared to the 52 they hold in the province today.

Conservative MPs who see a threat brewing to their parliamentary salary may not be convinced by Coletto’s data that a new leader would be no saviour. Or they may accept it, yet consider a roll of the leadership dice to be as good an option as any in a desperation situation.

___

Anyone keeping track of all these possible scenarios for the Conservatives over the next two years will notice there is risk in every path that lies ahead.

Toppling Poilievre could spark an all-out civil war, or it could lead to a vengeful leader returning to regain his place at the top of the party.

Sticking with Poilievre and doing the hard work of holding the government to account could risk the party getting marginalized by the ongoing trade war with Trump. It could also demoralize the caucus and spark one of the most commonly heard fears of Tory insiders: an epidemic of “quiet quitting” among the best and brightest among them, who will begin planning for a future outside of politics rather than grinding out another decade in opposition.

And whatever happens, the Trump effect will loom large over any path the party chooses to take.

But like the ocean’s tides, Trump is a force of nature, impossible to control no matter how much a Canadian party leader might bay at the moon.

Instead, Poilievre may have to channel his experience with the carbon tax, building a case against a popular Liberal agenda and trusting that Canadians will be won over — eventually.

“As our skepticism proves to be correct, that more Crown agencies won’t drive growth, and countless other examples, Canadians will turn to the Conservatives and say, ‘Oh, you guys have kind of been saying this all along, haven’t you? Now it seems to be true’,” said Roth.

It might be a long shot requiring the perseverance and patience that seem hard to find among Conservatives today. But it could be the only shot they have.

Correction: An earlier version of this article said that 12 MLAs had resigned from the B.C. Conservative caucus. In fact, nine MLAs have resigned and three have been kicked out of caucus.

National Post

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OTTAWA — The 1943 Douglas C-47 Skytrain, or Dakota, transport plane was part of one of Canada’s biggest ever military missions, dropping troops into Normandy on D-Day.

Media were invited on Sept. 16 to ride aboard as it flew past Parliament Hill.

The C-47’s pilot, Bill Craig, is a member of Canadian Warplane Heritage, an organization that takes the public on C-47 flights out of Hamilton to Niagara Falls and back. They also fly other vintage planes out of Hamilton, including a Lancaster Heavy Bomber that adds a little jaunt across Lake Ontario, around the CN Tower, and then back to Hamilton.

Asked whether that meant flying over “Lake America,” Craig laughed and said a firm “No.”

Craig has been flying since 1966 and is a former commercial airline pilot who joined Canadian Warplane Heritage upon his retirement.

The media flight was arranged to help promote the Aero Gatineau-Ottawa airshow running at the Gatineau airport from September 18-20.

The airshow boasts a huge collection of both performing and static planes, jets and helicopters, and an appearance by Canada’s Snowbird acrobatic team.

After this season, the Snowbirds will pause operations.

“We understand the reasons for this difficult decision, and remain committed to our partnership with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and to showcasing its evolving fleet and capabilities in the years ahead. We also remain dedicated to supporting the Canadian Forces’ objectives in recruiting and community engagement,” said John Bennett, Director General of AERO Gatineau-Ottawa.

“AERO Gatineau-Ottawa is privileged to host one of the Snowbirds’ final public Canadian airshow performances before they pause operations,” Bennett said. “Though bittersweet, we will mark the occasion with a celebration befitting this iconic team.”

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Prime Minister Mark Carney was in Toronto this week selling Canada as a place that still builds things. The prospectus for his inaugural investment summit runs to 167 projects: mines, ports, LNG, data centres, powered by the usual nation-building adjectives.

Nobody in that room had to plow the roads that get the ore to the smelter. Paul Lefebvre does.

Lefebvre, Greater Sudbury’s mayor, is asking Ottawa and Queen’s Park a rude little question: if this city is going to carry a national industrial load, why does the profit leave town before the potholes are filled?

Sudbury is not a pit stop with a gift shop. It is Ontario’s largest city by land area — more than 3,200 square kilometres of Canadian Shield, lakes and rural road. Mike Harris-era amalgamation in 2001 glued seven municipalities into one; people live from one edge to the other. “We have roads going everywhere,” Lefebvre says, “rural roads that are very costly to maintain.”

A few weeks ago Doug Ford was on site at Glencore’s Craig Mine for first access to ore at the Onaping Depth project. To get that ore to the smelter, Lefebvre says, the trucks run about 70 kilometres, all of it on municipal pavement. Nine operating mines, more coming, two smelters — the whole circuit lies inside city limits. “This does not exist anywhere else in the world,” he says, meaning both mining and processing inside a 50-kilometre radius.

Ontario’s mining tax is 10 per cent of profit on non-remote mines and five per cent on remote ones. Sudbury’s camp is not remote so companies pay the higher rate. That revenue does not land at Sudbury’s Tom Davies Square; it goes to Toronto’s Queen’s Park. Corporate income tax goes to Ottawa. The city is left with property tax on the assessable surface land and buildings — to support a road network built for a national supply chain.

Lefebvre will not join the bar-stool chorus that the mining companies should simply be shaken down. “Mines are paying their taxes and their royalties,” he says. The frustration is aimed at the split of revenues. “Help us help the province grow this,” he tells me. “We’re pro-mining here.” He even likes Carney’s new capital-cost break. He just cannot pave 3,600 lane-kilometres with applause.

Trying to squeeze more from the assessment roll has already failed. After the last big Municipal Property Assessment Corp. review a decade ago, the value of assessed mining properties in Sudbury was cut by about 47 per cent. The city spent years at the Assessment Review Board and lost in 2025. There is a provincial consolation prize; the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund is real money for small, rural and northern places. The funding available to a community is also capped at $10 million.

This startles me; I still think of Sudbury as the poster child for Big Nickel. In the last world war, International Nickel and the Sudbury workforce supplied on the order of 95 per cent of Allied nickel. In February 1942, C.D. Howe told Sudbury nickel workers that if production there stopped, “the whole character of the war will be changed.” In the early 1960s, the same city put up a ring of civil-defence sirens and sent kids under their desks at school. We are happy to call the place strategic; we are less eager to pay for the roads that still move the metal.

Lefebvre is not a naïf about the partisan map. He was a two-term Liberal MP under Justin Trudeau. Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford heads the provincial government and two NDP MPPs hold the local ridings in Sudbury. Lefebvre is running for re-election as mayor on Oct. 26. “My job as mayor is to develop good relations with the province,” he says, “and I’ve done that.”

The ask on the table is to designate Greater Sudbury as a special economic zone (SEZ) and park some of the mining-tax stream where the trucks actually roll. There’s an important distinction: Ontario’s new SEZ law is a permitting tool; it does not, by itself, redirect royalties. That part is still a negotiation, the mayor explains.

Lefebvre encourages Indigenous participation in the mining sector, and has taken his pitch to the chiefs of the two First Nations whose communities sit in and around the city. “They were shocked when I told them, ‘No, no, no. We don’t get direct benefits,’” from the province or the companies.

Operating Sudbury mines and smelters did not turn up among the named Investment Summit files. Yet Lefebvre is not wounded: Vale is Brazilian, with a Saudi slice; Glencore is Swiss; KGHM, working the Victoria Mine, is Polish and state-tied. “Why would they be on the list when they can fund themselves?” he posits.

The local name he wants noticed — for investment — is Magna Mining, a Canadian outfit bringing old mines back with people who used to work them. Frontier Lithium, on the Carney prospectus, is Sudbury-headquartered; the deposit is in the northwest of the province.

For a country that has spent a year talking about nickel as a weapon in an economic war with Washington, Lefebvre’s take on America is almost unfashionably calm. The only operating U.S. nickel mine, he says, is in Michigan. The ore is milled there; the concentrate still comes to Sudbury to be smelted. Sudbury metal has fed American armour and aerospace alloys since before the last world war. “It’s a strong partnership,” he muses. “I think sometimes we forget that.”

The summit will produce communiqués. Those ore trucks will still chew up the roads. Sudbury has to find money for that; for the homelessness and addiction that have hit the North, hard; and for everything else.

If Canada wants the minerals, it can decide whether the city that already has the mines, the smelters and the muscle memory is a partner — or just the struggling host city that keeps the roads open while the resource revenue leaves town.

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OTTAWA – Parliament is set to return after a three-month long summer break on Monday and the Liberal government’s agenda will be jammed packed this fall.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is running high in the polls, and his government maintains a majority of seats in the House of Commons, which gives the Liberal leader ample room to implement his policies.

Topping the legislative agenda for the fall session will be legislation designed to accelerate the federal approval processes around all major projects, changes to the Canada Labour Code and moves to strengthen supply chain certainty.

Government House Leader Steve MacKinnon would not elaborate further on Friday about what’s in the legislation, citing parliamentary privilege, but said the bill will help Canada “attract investment, create jobs, and trade with the world.”

Carlene Variyan, Liberal strategist and partner at Summa Strategies, said the bill is a follow-up to the investment summit last week in Toronto, where Carney pitched Canada as an attractive place to invest for global investors. The prime minister aims to attract $500 billion in private investment by the end of the decade. Carney also announced at the summit that Ottawa will seek private investment to operate the country’s four biggest airports.

“This supply chains bill will be a critical part of the prime minister’s ongoing efforts to ensure that Canada is viewed as a place that makes sense to invest in, that’s competitive to invest in, relative to other countries,” said Variyan.

Labour unions have already voiced their opposition to making changes to the Canada Labour Code, noting that the expedited consultations and review seem to be motivated by corporate interests.

Erin Morrison, NDP strategist and vice-president at Texture Communications, said Carney is walking into a fight with the country’s largest labour unions.

“(Jobs) Minister Patty Hajdu was doing a consultation, although I hesitate to call it a consultation because it was so short and surface level, that there is fear of the possibility of impacting the right to strike,” she said. “If that is the case, the NDP will be fighting tooth-and-nail this fall.”

Morrison said this could ultimately hurt Carney’s economic agenda, because he needs workers onside to build the infrastructure and projects his government is targeting.

“We’ve been out consulting all summer on this, we’ve listened, we’ve made some adjustments,” Carney told his caucus on Friday in Ottawa. “The bottom line, though, is this: for projects, federal projects, and supply chains, our standard will be simple: one project, one review, one year.”

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre huddled with his caucus this past week in Penticton, B.C., to talk about strategy for the upcoming parliamentary session.

Poilievre faces an uphill battle with Canadian voters, a recent poll published by the Angus Reid Institute showed that 13 per cent of respondents who voted Conservative in the 2025 federal election, would now vote for Carney if given the chance.

Even the deputy leader of the party, Melissa Lantsman, acknowledged that her and her caucus colleagues are “not in the position that we want to be in.”

The Conservative leader remains focused on affordability concerns, which runs a close second to the U.S. trade war in terms of issues Canadian voters care about.

On Monday, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne will table a bill that extends the holiday on the gas excise tax until the end of January, after the Conservatives called on the federal government make the pause on the tax permanent.

Yaroslav Baran, Conservative strategist and co-founder of Pendulum Group, said Champagne can expect the Conservatives to hammer the Liberals on their fiscal track record.

“One can argue that in broad strokes, Mr. Carney is this governing with a considerably more Conservative agenda than his predecessor,” he said. “But if you look at the public accounts, deficits and debt are skyrocketing, and that’s going to be a very obvious opening for the Conservatives.”

The federal budget will be tabled during the fall session, which will provide an update on the country’s finances.

Poilievre told his caucus members at his caucus retreat that he has found $150 billion in savings the Liberals can capitalize on, with proposed cuts to foreign aid, federal bureaucracy and government’s proposed high-speed rail project.

The federal government has made several new spending announcements over the summer months, including a national AI strategy, a food security strategy, a West Coast pipeline project and a cooperative prosperity agreement with the province of British Columbia.

Carney told his caucus on Friday that his government will “maintain its fiscal advantage” while also acknowledging the cost of borrowing for governments is increasing globally as bond yields rise.

Economists will be watching for how the government accounts for its new spending initiatives and how that impacts Canada’s deficit track going forward, though oil prices are expected to be an upside for government revenues.

Budget watchers will also be looking for the federal government’s NATO defence spending plan and how it plans to achieve a four per cent of GDP spending target by 2030, as outlined by Carney himself this past spring.

Champagne wrapped up his pre-budget consultations earlier this month. At the investment summit, the government announced a “Productivity Super-Deduction” which will lower Canada’s marginal corporate effective tax rate on new business investment from roughly 13 per cent to 6.4 per cent. Carney also announced his government intends to privatize the operations of Canada’s four largest airports.

“The big question mark to me, and what I think a lot of political watchers will be watching for this fall, is what the budget looks like,” said Variyan.

She noted that the government has already announced significant spending initiatives, including a $51-billion Build Communities Strong Fund for infrastructure and significant defence spending commitments.

“I don’t see very much left in terms of big-ticket spending items for this fall budget, which means they’ll need something else to put in the shop window to create that sense of momentum and of doing things,” she added.

The U.S. trade war will also continue to loom large on Canadian domestic politics. Carney decided pause negotiations on a deal on sectoral tariffs with the U.S. last month, citing several last-minute demands from American negotiators that made a deal untenable.

As a result, both countries have slapped each other with tariffs on nearly $28 billion worth of goods.

While polling suggests the majority of Canadians support Carney walking away from the deal, the economic fallout from tariffs on key sectors of the Canadian economy could persist and worsen.

Baran said the Conservatives will continue to pressure the government on achieving a good agreement with the U.S.

Mexico and the U.S. are currently in the process of negotiating a bilateral agreement, with Reuters reporting that the two parties are working towards a deal before the U.S. midterm elections on Nov. 3.

Variyan said Mexico reaching a deal before Canada will not sway the prime minister’s negotiation strategy with the U.S. administration.

“I think that the prime minister has shown this summer that he’s not afraid to walk away from the table when a deal is offered that isn’t in our best interests, and so the dynamic will play out in the news cycle as something that creates some pressure,” said Variyan. “But I don’t think that you’ll see this prime minister let himself be too swayed by that chatter, and he’s an eye on the prize kind of guy.”

In the meantime, the Liberal government will continue its trade diversification agenda.

Canada will host a summit with the European Union leadership in October in Montreal, which will be a forum to discuss the EU extending a potential “associate membership” to Canada. It remains unclear what this membership will consist of, but Carney has promised any arrangement will be subject to debate and a vote in Parliament.

Baran said the details will be very important, noting that Conservatives would be open to more trade with the bloc, more foreign direct investment deals and more opportunities for Canadian students to study in the EU.

However, the Conservatives would be opposed to the burdens of EU membership.

“The flags the Conservatives have already planted in the ground is no EU taxes, no EU regulations, and no EU immigration policy,” he said.

Canadians can also expect the government to finalize two free trade agreements by the end of 2026, one with Brazil and one with India, which could bring new opportunities and new markets in digital trade, agriculture and manufacturing.

The House of Commons returns on Monday with six vacant seats, three of which are in Quebec. Contests of interest will be the seats of former Liberal environment minister Steven Guilbeault and former NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice, both Montreal-area ridings.

“The Liberals’ advantage is, of course, that they have far more funds right now to run a by-election than the NDP does,” said Morrison. “It will be a challenge for the NDP to hold the seat if the Liberal juggernaut and financial giant really wants it.”

Still, Morrison said the NDP remains popular in that riding, and she said the NDP could still win.

Variyan said the Liberals are not under any illusions that Guilbeault’s seat will be an easy one to keep.

“My understanding is that it’s not a campaign that the Liberal party will be able to sleepwalk their way through in the byelection,” she said. “They will need to put effort and resources into (it) and have a candidate who is a strong campaigner in order to hold the seat.”

Conservative MP Larry Brock also officially resigned his Ontario seat on Friday, which means a seat in Brantford, Ont., is also up for grabs.

Historically, the seat has been a Conservative stronghold, but some pollsters have mused that the riding could become competitive under this political climate.

“I’ve seen speculation that this riding might be a fight,” said Baran. “I haven’t seen any polling myself, that says it will be a fight.”

Poilievre is expected in Brantford, Ont., on Sunday, where he will hold a rally.

Ultimately, opposition parties will be faced with the challenge of staying relevant during this parliamentary session, given Carney’s popularity in the polls and his government’s majority in the House of Commons.

Baran said given that Carney is governing on a centre-right agenda, the Conservatives have really only two options; either going more far right than Carney, which Baran does not recommend, or taking on a role as an accountability watchdog.

“You have set these lofty goals, are you delivering on them,” said Baran. “Frankly, there is plenty of space to be critical of the government on those measures.”

Morrison said there is an opportunity for the NDP to take up space on the left, now that Carney has abandoned some of those more progressive voters.

“For the NDP, they now have a wide road on the left side, occupying not just all of the traditional NDP voters, but the progressive Liberals as well, who will be having some sense of voters’ remorse over Mark Carney’s choices, particularly if we see things like attacks on working people and the privatization of major airports,” said Morrison.

“That is a huge challenge when you have a small caucus, smaller party budget, so (NDP Leader Avis Lewis) and his team really have to throw their back into it to make sure that if if the values are there, if the opportunity is there, that they’re able to capitalize,” she added.

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Israel’s new tourism representative in Canada has arrived in Toronto with a difficult assignment: persuading Canadians that Israel remains worth visiting at a time when war, security concerns and disrupted travel have reshaped tourism to the region.

Taimur Mansour, the Israel Ministry of Tourism’s director for Canada, is betting that Canada remains a promising market — not only because of the Greater Toronto Area’s large Jewish community, but also because of Christian pilgrimage travel, cultural tourism and interest in Israel’s history, archaeology, food and landscape.

Mansour brings an unconventional biography to the job. A Druze Israeli from Isfiyah, on Mount Carmel near Haifa, he studied social work and Asian studies, spent a year studying Chinese in China, taught Chinese in Israeli high schools, and later qualified as a tour guide. Before coming to Toronto in August, he oversaw the ministry’s media and campaigns department in Jerusalem and coordinated a network of public-relations managers.

His background, he says, allows him to present Israel both as the Jewish homeland and as a country of intersecting religious, linguistic and cultural communities.

Dave Gordon interviewed Mansour for the National Post:

Many Canadians are concerned about security and flight disruptions. What do you say to someone considering a trip now?

People from all over the world are coming. Flights are resuming. People still have understandable fears. But I think one of our best ways of working with the community is to show people and talk to them, telling them that Israel is safe.

Why is Canada, and Toronto in particular, an important tourism market for Israel now?

One is because the Jewish community here is one of the largest in the world, and among the most loving of Israel, positive toward Israel, and has a good relationship with Israel.

The Christian community here is also strong — Evangelical and some Catholic communities. I know they want to visit Israel. They may be worried about the security situation … but I know they want to go. For me, it was very clear potential that had not been tapped for years, at least since COVID, to bring people from Canada to Israel.

What can the ministry actually do to reboot travel?

The job is to bring more people to Israel — more tourists. That takes time and effort. It is not about a single number; it is about sustainability in tourism, building it for years, so people come to Israel.

Practically, first of all, it means having partnerships in Canada with the tourism industry: agents, wholesalers, online travel agencies, airlines. We work together, because this is the infrastructure you work with. We have them meet Israeli private industry and develop joint projects. That is the bread and butter of the work: meeting the industry here and connecting it to the Israeli industry so they can actually send groups.

Second, there is work with communities and potential travellers. It does not matter if they are Jewish. We want to bring everyone, as much as possible, to Israel.

What about your background gives you a different outlook?

I understand what it is to be a non-Jewish Israeli. I understand how people look at Israel from other places. It allowed me to understand how you can connect to Israel without only being Jewish.

Israel, first of all, is the homeland of the Jewish people, a wonderful place. It is the cradle of all (Abrahamic) faiths. It is a place where you can connect to spirituality of any kind.

Through 70-something years, it has managed to achieve amazing things in medicine, high tech and other areas. Even if you are just a person who wants to support something great or come and see something great, you can come to Israel. You do not need to be Jewish for that. You can come and fall in love with Israel.

For those unfamiliar with the Druze, how would you describe its place in Israeli society?

Most people do not know anything about the Druze. It is a religion. It believes that you need to live in harmony in the place where you live. Usually, this translates into being loyal to, or having a good relationship with, the country where you live.

Druze serve in the army in Israel, but Syrian Druze serve in the army in Syria. Lebanese Druze are Lebanese 100 per cent, and have been very important in the Lebanese government, army, and other places.

I think Druze are a great bridge between different countries because of that. Different Druze communities have good relationships with each other, even when they live in enemy countries sometimes.

Prior to your path in Israeli tourism, there was much professional emphasis on China. How did that shape the way you think about attracting foreign visitors?

I love Chinese culture. I was always a fan, even as a child — like a child’s fantasy of kung fu, calligraphy and other Chinese things. I decided to go because I loved it, but also because I knew it was the future. It was not only something in the past, or cultural. China was growing to be very central on the world stage, even over the last 10 years.

Then I went to study to become a tour guide. For me, that was natural, because I was already guiding people, even not in an official capacity, to those who came to the Jewish villages and to Mount Carmel. I love working with people. I love Israel, history, archaeology, everything to do with Israeli culture, and walking in Israel.

There were almost 150,000 Chinese tourists a year in Israel before COVID. I started working with them. I learned that Israel was fascinating to them. It is the Near East and an ancient culture, and they saw similarities, because theirs is also an ancient culture thousands of years old. In the Chinese outlook, Jewish people are very smart and technological; a small country that managed to achieve great things, which is true.

It is one of the markets still waiting for recovery.

After COVID, I decided to go into work where I could represent Israel and tell our story, but also the story of a Druze person: someone who is a minority, a proud Israeli, lives in Israel, and is integrated. I wanted people to see the culture of Israel that is not Jewish, because for many people outside, they do not know the other cultures living in Israel. So, I decided to apply for the program in the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, to bring tourists to Israel and represent Israel. That is what led me here.

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There’s no denying that digital and social media have only amplified the identity politics, erosion of trust and geopolitical shifts that have polarized mankind this century. New polling by the Association for Canadian Studies shows that polarization is emerging at the interpersonal level.

More than twice as many Canadians (52 per cent) think it’s getting harder and harder for people with differing opinions “on major international conflicts to remain friends” than those who feel it’s not more difficult (21 per cent).

“These issues are increasingly divisive and polarizing,” Association for Canadian Studies president Jack Jedwab told National Post in an interview.

More than a quarter (27 per cent) are unsure, a feeling expressed by a third of women (33 per cent) and close to a third of the oldest demographics — 55-65 (32 per cent) and 65-plus (31 per cent).

Respondents were asked about the reconcilability of four conflicts — Russia and Ukraine; Russia and the U.S.; Iran and Western countries; and Israelis and Palestinians.

It didn’t surprise Jedwab then that the latter conflict emerged as the least reconcilable (14 per cent) among respondents.

“The polarity is probably confirmed by the fact that very few people think it’s reconcilable, which is interesting, because you do hear from many people that seem to, in their own sort of spaces, feel that these issues can be reconciled if both parties would do this or that,” Jedwab told National Post in an interview.

“So if you think that’s the case, one can only imagine how challenging it is for reconciliation with people who are living the experience on the ground where they happen to be, in this particular case, the Middle East.”

Only the mostly dormant Russia-U.S. conflict is seen as more reconcilable (35 per cent) than not (29 per cent), but the largest percentage (36) are unsure.

Polling found a consistent pattern regardless of respondents’ language, whether anglophone, francophone or allophone, “suggesting that the polarizing effects of international conflicts cross linguistic boundaries,” Jedwab wrote in the poll.

That consistency is “something that we can all build as a consensus around the extent to which this thing is divisive,” he added in conversation.

Reducing polarization, he said, begins with “thoughtful” conversations about complex subjects that involve the realities of the people on the ground for whom reconciliation is most difficult and for whom the situation is evolving.

“We need to sort of identify parameters for how these conversations can be done in the most thoughtful way possible, recognizing that… many of us, even though we may have disproportionate degrees of connections to what’s going on there, we still need to engage and find thoughtful ways of engaging in dialogue.”

The poll of 1,538 respondents, conducted by Leger on behalf of the Association for Canadian Studies, was conducted Sept. 4-6. A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey for comparison purposes. However, a probability sample of this size would have a margin of error of 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.​

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A Toronto man who argued he was suffering from cannabis-induced psychosis when he choked a seven-year-old girl three years ago while naked has been acquitted of assault charges.

Ahmed Baig pleaded not guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice to assault causing bodily harm and assault by choking for the Aug. 2, 2023, attack in which he left his home wearing only a towel after vaping cannabis. His towel eventually fell off, and Baig started chasing a family he encountered in their driveway.

“He ran into the driveway and picked up a seven-year-old girl. He threw her to the ground, punched her and strangled her. He then abruptly left the driveway, and a short time later was arrested by police. At the time of arrest, he wore only a T-shirt,” Justice Mara Greene wrote in a recent decision.

The judge concluded that Baig’s attack was due to “nonmental disorder automatism.” She found him not guilty of both charges.

Baig didn’t “dispute that he attacked the seven-year-old girl,” said Greene. “He argued, however, that he should be acquitted of the charges because his actions were involuntary as he was suffering from a cannabis induced psychosis at the time of the attack.”

The Crown argued that “while Mr. Baig’s mental faculties may have been impacted by cannabis, his acts were still volitional,” said the decision.

In the alternative, the Crown recommended Baig should be found Not Criminally Responsible (NCR) due to a mental disorder.

The court heard Baig lived in a muti-generational home with extended family. On the day of the attack, he was left alone and got anxious.

“Home alone, Mr. Baig decided to consume cannabis to help with his feelings of anxiety,” said the Aug. 13 decision.

“He used a brand of cannabis recommended by the store, but one he had not used before. The cannabis was in vape form. Instead of relieving his anxiety, he felt more anxious.”

Baig called his wife, asking her to come home, then went to bed. “Mr. Baig testified that his next memory after lying down on his bed was being in a cell and then being fingerprinted.”

His victim’s identity is protected by a publication ban.

During the attack, which was captured on video surveillance, Baig “said both ‘I will kill you’ and ‘I won’t kill you,’” according to the victim’s mother.

“He also referred to Allah.”

He “sounded nonsensical at times and made comments about billionaires,” said the victim’s father.

When police asked Baig if he wanted a lawyer, he “stated that he wanted Neil Patrick Harris or a lawyer from a television show,” said the decision. “He also talked about bitcoin and lotteries.”

Baig answered some questions appropriately and obeyed a police command to drop to the ground, said the decision. “He also told the police that he was ‘mentally insane.’ Once at the police station he was able to answer questions posed to him and appeared more coherent.”

Baig, 38, testified about having a “history of sleepwalking,” and that he used cannabis in the past to help deal with anxiety.

A psychiatrist and sleep expert testified that Baig “was either suffering from cannabis induced psychosis, sleepwalking or a combination of the two.”

Sleep apnea led to Baig “being significantly sleep deprived,” said the psychiatrist, who opined sleep deprivation coupled with his history of sleepwalking and a new strain of cannabis caused the incident.

Another psychiatrist was brought in to determine whether Baig was NCR.

He testified that Baig “did not appreciate the nature and consequences of his actions at the time of the attack as he was suffering from a cannabis induced psychosis. He further testified that in his opinion, Mr. Baig’s actions were involuntary.”

The second psychiatrist determined that Baig “did not qualify for an NCR defence because he did not have disease of the mind. While Mr. Baig had a history of feeling anxious, he did not have an anxiety disorder, nor did he suffer form any other kind of mental illness.”

It was his opinion that, during the attack, Baig “was in a psychotic state that was different from mere intoxication.”

This psychotic episode “was so intense that his capacity for rational perception and his capacity to make a rational choice was grossly impaired,” the second psychiatrist testified. “Mr. Baig was rendered incapable of appreciating the nature, quality and wrongfulness of his actions.”

The Crown argued that the evidence, at its highest, established that Baig was intoxicated “but not to the point of being an automaton.”

Cases like this are difficult for trial judges, Greene said.

“An acquittal based on an absence of criminal (responsibility) for a violent act is rarely a satisfying verdict. Nonetheless, our law is clear, that accused persons who are not (criminally) responsible should not be convicted.”

The judge found that Baig “has proven on a balance of probabilities that he was acting as an automaton when he attacked the seven-year-old girl in her driveway. I am satisfied that Mr. Baig voluntarily consumed cannabis, had an unexpected reaction to the cannabis, that led to a state of psychosis where he acted in an involuntary state and attacked the young victim.”

He’s used cannabis before, but “never had a reaction like this,” Greene said.

The judge found that the risk of recurrence is relatively low. “This is because Mr. Baig has used cannabis intermittently since he was 15 years old without a similar incident, Mr. Baig does not have substance abuse issues, he has not used cannabis since his arrest and has found better methods of addressing his anxious feelings. In my view, this is not a case where oversight by the Ontario Review Board is required to protect the public.”

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The New York Times is reporting that Kash Patel temporarily halted some FBI cooperation with the RCMP this month after the CBC “reminded its journalists of a longstanding policy not to refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as ‘terrorism’ without attribution to experts.”

The story is attributed to “multiple officials with knowledge of the event,” who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity “to describe the sensitive law enforcement dynamics.”

It dubs Patel’s temporary cooperation halt as an “extraordinary move to punish the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.”

The source of Patel’s ire, according to The Times, was a memo CBC circulated to reporters and editors across its news platforms ahead of the 9/11 anniversary reminding them not to refer to the attacks that claimed 3,000 lives and changed the modern world as “terrorist attacks.”

The CBC quickly reversed its policy after the memo was leaked to the media and criticized by Canadian and U.S. officials, including the U.S. ambassador to Canada and Patel.

In a pointed critique, the FBI director referred to the language policy as a “bastardization of history.”

“Any agency in Canada that doesn’t publicly reject this bastardization of history, and an insult to the souls lost during our largest terrorist attack in US history will no longer have friend in this FBI… Not to mention our heroes that responded in the aftermath,” he wrote on X late last month.

The cooperation disruption between the RCMP and the FBI “appears to have been short-lived,” according to The Times, which notes “it was specific to the F.B.I. Other parts of the U.S. government involved in intelligence-sharing continued with their operations. And not every element of cooperation between the F.B.I. and the mounted police was halted.”

The RCMP said it cannot speak to the intelligence-sharing practices of other law enforcement agencies and instead highlighted five criminal cases where the force did work jointly with the Americans. The most recent was in July when the Mounties and Los Angeles office of the FBI announced the arrests of the leadership of three organized crime networks, including the Bishnoi gang.

“We value our relationship with our U.S. counterparts, as we work closely to respond to threats to national security and maintain situational awareness of emerging risks. We maintain strong relationships with Canada’s security and intelligence community and work closely with domestic and international partners, including members of the Five Eyes community,” said RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme in statement Friday.

A spokesman for Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree also didn’t answer specific questions about the impasse with the FBI, saying the Government of Canada values its “close and longstanding law enforcement and security partnerships” with the United States.

“The collaboration is essential to keeping Canadians and Americans safe, and we will continue to engage with our American partners constructively and respectfully,” said spokesman Simon Lafortune.

Patel’s “abrupt move,” The Times report said, “risked disrupting F.B.I. operations with Canada and jeopardizing the organization’s relationship with Canada’s national law enforcement agency, which works closely with the bureau on a wide range of issues, including terrorism and cybersecurity cases.”

The Times reported that FBI officials cancelled meetings with their Canadian counterparts during the halt in cooperation, saying “they would be out of touch for some time, leading to a chilling between the two agencies.”

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Josh Berman had reached a point where he was in so much pain he could barely sleep. He couldn’t work and was plagued by fatigue that made even simple tasks unbearable.

Diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2021, a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes inflammation and ulcers to form in the lining of the large intestine, he had lost blood and was stranded at home by his 20 to 25 daily trips to the bathroom.

“It really becomes kind of an all-encompassing disease at that point,” said Berman, now the president and CEO of Crohn’s and Colitis Canada. “It can be scary.”

The medication that has finally given him his life back has been available since his diagnosis. But Berman couldn’t access it until roughly six months ago. First, he had to show that the prescribed meds he was taking didn’t work.

Will Florence, a stagehand, has been forced out of the job he loves due to epilepsy that cannot be controlled with medications. He needs a costly procedure known as vagus nerve stimulator implant surgery, which involves inserting a pacemaker-like device that sends electrical currents to the brain to reduce seizure frequency and severity. He will only be able to obtain this once he can prove his current medication won’t keep his seizures under control.

Both have faced setbacks in treatment for two serious afflictions because of what are referred to as “fail first” drug policies — known in health care as “step therapy.”

They, and many others, want to see these policies change.

The principle behind step therapy is simple. When new drugs are developed they can come at a hefty price. Challenged by the high cost, provincial governments set rules under which older, conventional — and cheaper — therapies must be shown to “fail” before a patient can be covered under provincial health plans for anything newer and costlier.

“Government tries hard to provide access in the most sensible way possible with the resources we’ve got,” said Graham Statt, a former assistant deputy minister for Pharmaceutical and Supplementary Benefits in Alberta’s Ministry of Health.

“These are not easy decisions. Government payers aren’t cheap or mean, but they’re trying to make really rational decisions that include cost effectiveness and the broader sustainability of the health-care system, which is important,” said Statt, now a pharmaceutical consultant and former vice-chair of the Pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance.

In many cases, however, older drugs don’t provide the same benefits as newer, more potent, more expensive therapy. And delayed access to newer drugs while a patient is stuck on an older one can cause long-term harm — to both the individual and the health-care system, some experts say.

The economy also suffers if people don’t get the best treatment quickly, they say. For people in Canada living with chronic disease, $122 billion is lost in indirect income and productivity each year, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Berman says he had to play the part of a lab rat with less effective, less expensive medications before he was finally placed on one that actually helped him.

Florence hasn’t gotten even that far in tackling his epilepsy.

“I always thought I was a bit of an active dreamer, and I was a long-distance runner as a kid, so my parents always used to think I was just running in my sleep. That’s what (epilepsy) looked like originally,” he said.

Until he began injuring himself while sleeping.

“It got so bad that the girl I was seeing at the time, she saw me have some really, really bad ones. I split my head open off the wall,” he said.

When he did finally get a diagnosis, he lost his ability to drive and work at his “dream job,” as he puts it. Even with several medication changes, he has yet to experience any relief from the frequency and severity of his seizures.

“My doctors are great, but it’s annoying that I have to go through each of these stages of different medications when I know there’s a surgery option that I could have had two years ago, but because we have this system where it’s like, ‘No, you got to do this first … then we can offer you surgery.’”

“It’s very demoralizing,” said Dr. Dalia Rotstein, a neurologist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, who specializes in multiple sclerosis (MS) and demyelinating disease — conditions that damage the protective layer around nerve cells known as the myelin sheath. “We want to provide compassionate care on a daily basis. These neurologic inflammatory diseases often come on in young adults just starting their careers and their families, so it’s a challenging point in life,” says Rotstein, who is also an associate professor at the University of Toronto.

“To be saddled with a chronic disease and diagnosis, it can be devastating, and often people are already living with difficult symptoms … then if they’re told they’re on a less effective drug, that’s hanging over their head. They’re living in fear that they might have another attack at any time.”

How fail-first policies work

Fail-first or step therapy policies were introduced in provincial health programs in the early 2000s and adopted by private insurers in the mid-2010s. These policies came into force just as more effective treatments began to emerge for many debilitating conditions. Exceptions to the step-therapy policies can be granted, but the process can be cumbersome.

In British Columbia, the policy that determines which drugs will be allowed is called the Special Authorization (SA)/Limited Coverage . In Alberta, it’s called Restricted Benefit/Automated Step Therapy ; in Saskatchewan it’s called Exception Status/Automated Adjudication . Both Alberta and Saskatchewan track drug products and claims to ensure that patients are prescribed lower-cost drugs before being offered more expensive, perhaps more effective, ones.

In Manitoba, patients and drugs are tracked using clinical markers to determine if they’ve tried and failed first on medications that have not adequately controlled disease. That policy is known as Part 3 Regular Benefits/Exceptional Drug Status (EDS) .

Ontario’s Limited Use (LU) codes and Exceptional Access Program (EAP) contain “Reason for Use” codes that apply to drugs when a patient obtains them from the pharmacy; the codes will be applied only after the physician makes it clear that the patient has failed on other drugs. Physicians must submit data about a patient’s failed attempts on other medications.

Atlantic provinces share resources from the Atlantic Common Formulary. New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island use Special Authorization ; Nova Scotia uses Exception Status/Criteria Codes ; and Newfoundland and Labrador offers a blend of Special Authorization and Coded Benefits. Each essentially states that if there is a similar drug with a lower price, it must be taken first. The Northwest Territories, as well as the Yukon and Nunavut, are also subject to these policies .

“Alberta’s drug benefit programs are designed to ensure Albertans have access to safe, effective treatments while supporting responsible use of public health care dollars,” said Jaye Lang, press secretary for Primary and Preventative Health Services with the Government of Alberta.

Kevin So, a spokesperson for B.C. Health, said in an email that “B.C. has a rigorous drug review process to help ensure publicly funded drug coverage is sustainable, fair and effective. Coverage decisions are evidence-based and consider a drug’s health benefits and cost-effectiveness compared with established treatments.”

Queries to the Ontario and Quebec governments weren’t answered.

Pharmaceutical companies, too, would like to see fail-first policies loosened. Regulatory approval from Health Canada is already slow, they say, and step therapy makes the entire process to get their new drugs to patients take even longer. Meanwhile, they can simply market their newer medications elsewhere.

“Canada, when you look at the globe, represents about two per cent of the market share for pharmaceuticals. It’s tiny. The two per cent could be shifted somewhere else,” said Bettina Hamelin, president and CEO of Innovative Medicines Canada, a national association that represents pharmaceutical and vaccine companies in Canada. “The decision is more and more, we go to those jurisdictions who are willing to pay for the innovation, who value the innovation, who provide access to their people.”

Which drugs work best?

What are some of the “better drugs” patients would like quicker access to? Drugs known as biologics, which really target ailments such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), multiple sclerosis (MS) and rare diseases, didn’t start reaching the market until between 1993 and 2017, with interferon beta-1b the first in 1993 for MS.

These inflammatory illnesses are driven by the immune system attacking various parts of the body. For example, rheumatoid arthritis occurs when immune cells attack the joints, whereas IBD attacks the gastrointestinal tract. Current drugs used for such conditions, such as corticosteroids, suppress the immune system entirely, so that the area of the body experiencing damaging inflammation shuts down, too.

Modern biologics, which are complex and therefore expensive to produce, work differently. Instead of shutting off all inflammatory pathways, some of which keep the body safe from infection and disease, they target the disorder at its source.

There are also biosimilar drugs, which have slightly different composition than the original biologic drug but are cheaper. These are often offered first.

“We are in a much better position to predict which drug might work better for a certain patient,” said Hamelin. Drugs being developed are now more tailored to individual patients’ needs, she said.

What about traditional, older drugs? One non-biologic drug, 5-ASA (5-aminosalicylic acid, mesalamine), was developed in the late 1930s and remains a first-line option for treating ulcerative colitis. Along with 5-ASA, corticosteroids and immunosuppressants carry annual costs ranging up to roughly $4,000 per patient, covered by provincial plans, insurance or the National Pharmacare program.

In contrast, newer biologics — often referred to as “blockbuster drugs” — can cost anywhere from $13,697 to $29,855 per year per patient, depending on the severity of illness, number of patients using the drug, and market competition between pharmaceutical companies.

In Will Florence’s case, the one-time cost of surgery could be upwards of $20,000, whereas standard epilepsy drugs can cost up to about $4,000 — if only they worked for him. But they don’t.

For another ailment, multiple sclerosis, starting treatment at the lowest drug level was once standard to avoid possible harmful side-effects from newer drugs. But fresh evidence about emerging drugs and earlier intervention is now seen by many experts as a better way to minimize disease activity and progression.

The more highly effective drugs used for MS can, in some cases, cost upwards of $40,000 to $50,000 per year, said Rotstein.

Rotstein uses the example of cladribine, one of the newer drugs to treat MS, and approved by the FDA in the United States in 2019. It is approved in Canada for two uses: relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), the most common form of MS, and hairy cell leukemia (HCL), a rare type of blood cancer.

It’s only taken for two years when used to treat MS “and then often patients can remain disease-free and off medication long-term after that,” Rotstein said. “So, there’s a higher cost up front, yes; the longer-term perspective is that you can be off medication and do very well.”

Unfortunately, “the decision-makers are usually just looking over the one to two years,” Rotstein said, adding that when patient care is delayed, disease progression worsens, and costs rise through more intensive and longer-term treatments, lost employment and wages, and disability needs.

“Fail-first” policies weren’t developed to hurt patients, Statt stresses. While in part they were designed to keep costs at a reasonable level, they also reflected caution at an earlier time when the clinical evidence didn’t yet support the case for funding more advanced, higher-cost medications.

“(Governments) want to say yes. The problem is, because you have a finite budget, any ‘yes’ decision you make, you say ‘no’ to somebody else,” said Statt. “That’s the hard part with the public payer. It’s figuring out what to say no to because of all the yeses that you decided. And so, if you can create a step therapy-type program, which isn’t necessarily a no, but a ‘not yet,’ that’s usually pretty attractive.”

Dr. Mina Tadrous, associate professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto, understands why hearing that you have to fail at one drug to be able to get a newer one can be frustrating, but says it’s not cut and dried. Society is conditioned to believe that new equals superior, and that can skew perspectives, he says.

“I can understand the optics of it, but the reality is in the machinery of all of that, it’s been found that usually that older thing works just as well, and I would just like to let people know that not all new drugs are better,” he said. “I think we need to be very careful that we don’t fall for the classic trap that new is always better.”

“I think our governments are generally trying to be good stewards of the health-care system, which means trying to treat patients who have disease with the most cost-effective therapy,” said Dr. Laura Targownik, division director for Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Toronto and a practising gastroenterologist and researcher.

Yet much modern research has shown the value of many newer drug therapies. So, advocates ask, should government funding policies focus mostly on less expensive drugs hoping they will help patients, or should they support more expensive options from the start, in the hopes that these help more people more quickly?

“In a lot of other settings internationally, years ago, there’s been access to these high-efficacy drugs from the get-go, but in Canada, there’s been a slowly evolving process,” said Rotstein.

In some cases, the slowly evolving process means spending much more money. For example, one specific drug for the neuroinflammatory condition known as neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMSOD), a central nervous system disease, can cost upwards of $500,000 per year per person.

“So, is that feasible to offer to every patient in a socialized system?” asks Rotstein. “Probably not, but I (also) don’t think physicians would necessarily choose that drug for every patient.”

Doctors would not prescribe more expensive drugs simply because governments loosened step-therapy policies, advocates argue.

“We’re asking the government to remove and to allow the doctors to have that informed decision with their patient, to have that discussion and see what the best treatment is in the interest of the individual,” said Kate Lee, vice-president of Research and Patient Programs at Crohn’s and Colitis Canada. “It may not be advanced therapies, but it will allow them not to go through that hurdle and for them to have that freedom to make a choice that makes the most sense to the person.”

“There should be more leeway in the system because we need to consider every patient and the person who’s best positioned to do that is a physician,” says Rotstein.

Does step therapy save taxpayers money?

Some question whether the current step-therapy approach actually saves the health-care system — and the taxpayer — money.

Targownik participated in research examining access to a commonly used biologic for Crohn’s disease. The research team aimed to find out who was able to access these drugs within two years of their diagnosis, who had to wait longer than two years, and what the outcome of both groups was in the following five years.

The study concluded the group that had earlier access to the newer (and more expensive) drug had lower rates of hospitalizations and surgery, by about half, when compared to people who experienced delayed care. This led to lower long-term costs for each patient, it concluded.

Delaying administration of the better drugs also harms patients in a different way, says Targownik.

Another study sought to find out whether delayed administration of more effective drugs could make a disease harder to treat later. It concluded that if people don’t get the right drugs in a timely manner, they can develop scar tissue and other problematic signs of disease progression that make treatment more challenging.

Data from Britain found that 75 to 82 per cent of people who got more effective and more expensive drugs from the outset for IBD were in remission by the end of the year. If 85 per cent of people on these more expensive drugs reach remission, total costs for care over time are likely to be significantly cheaper, says Targownik.

Biologic drugs account for $4.7 billion of public drug spending in Canada, and that number would rise if more people were prescribed these advanced drugs. But if the drugs lower disease progression, could they end up reducing overall health-care costs?

According to Lee, the answer is yes — in the long run. Health ministries need to think holistically.

“If you see just from a siloed perspective, just the drug budget, yes. It might increase. But if you see it from a systems level, it won’t increase. If anything, it might decrease because surgeries, hospitalizations are very expensive,” she said.

Patients who are unable to work during the time they go through fail-first steps with medications are also not able to contribute to society financially, as is the case with Florence. He’s been out of work for two years and now lives on disability benefits while he waits for proper treatment.

“I’d be contributing a lot instead of being a weight on the system,” he said. “It’s infuriating.”

Older drugs for many diseases are on the market because they do work in many cases. But for many, they’re often not long-term solutions.

“Some people get on prednisone (steroids), and then they feel better, but the prednisone is only temporary and then they’re back with another flare in four months,” said Targownik. “You’ve got to get sick twice to get treated properly.”

“I think we all know long-term use of steroids is definitely not good for us. There’s so many bad side-effects that can happen,” said Lee.

Berman is an example. He started on steroids to get a quick hit at the symptoms, and then a 5-ASA medication called Pentasa, which is designed to reduce inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract. The steroid medication helped reduce his symptoms at first, but had downsides.

Both he and his wife noticed personality changes from his medications. “It definitely impacted some relationships that I had.”

Berman described having a “shorter fuse” which damaged his interactions with his young kids and his spouse. He wasn’t there “nearly as much, both in mind and body” for his kids.

“You don’t get that time back,” he said.

At its worst, this kind of side-effect is called steroid-induced psychosis, and as many as 62 per cent of patients on prednisone suffer a version of it. These effects can impact relationships so heavily that patients plead with their doctors to be put on something else.

“There’s all these costs that we can’t really put our finger on, but our patients will tell us, ‘My spouse doesn’t want me to go on prednisone again,’” said Targownik. “These are the stories we hear.”

People on prednisone can also experience weight gain, weak muscles and bones, thinning skin and a reduced ability to fight infection.

When Berman was given a second medication, it also helped, but he “never got into full remission.”

“I was always struggling kind of day to day, hour to hour, week to week with symptoms,” he said. “There’s always this uncertainty of like, ‘Hey, I have this trip scheduled for two months from now. Will I be able to go, and will I feel good when I’m there?’ I have my daughter’s recital … It’s that significant level of uncertainty and those baseline, non-advanced therapies … don’t get you into that spot where you’re in deep remission.”

His lower-but-livable quality of life didn’t last. It exploded into suffering and symptoms spanning more than a month.

“The next thing you know, I’m going to the emergency room and saying, ‘Hey, I need some help here.’”

He was pumped full of steroids yet again to try to get the inflammation under control.

Wrong drug, worsening condition

According to some, physicians sometimes develop workarounds to get medications into the hands of patients they believe would benefit from quicker access to better drugs.

“They say, ‘You know what, I’m going to prescribe this for you just so the government thinks I’ve given it to you, but just put it in the closet and come back to me in two weeks and say it didn’t work, and then we’ll get on the drugs,’” said Targownik.

Meanwhile, if a person has to try a drug that’s only 20 to 30 per cent effective and doesn’t work while they wait weeks or months to see their specialist in order to finally get the better drug, disease progression can worsen significantly. But if you start a patient with something that’s 80 to 90 per cent effective, you can change the course of the disease for the better rather than the worse, says Targownik.

In conditions such as MS, people can experience an increase in brain lesions and symptomatic relapses, alongside permanent neurological damage, if not treated effectively from the start.

“If you put a patient on a less effective medication and there’s somebody with active disease, they could have a disabling attack, and at that point, they might be put on a more effective therapy, but they’re living with disability thereafter because we don’t have anything to reverse that disability,” said Rotstein. “For example, they might be living with impaired ambulation as a result, weakness in one of their legs … or loss of vision in one of their eyes.”

For Florence, continuing on a path of uncontrolled seizures could mean life and death.

“It gets worse and worse and worse, and it got to the point where I’m literally flailing around from one end of the room to the other, smacking off everything. I just wake up in a pool of blood,” he said.

He also has his liver health to worry about, because the drug he’s currently on isn’t easy on the body.

Special access can be tough

Programs such as time-limited compassionate access to advanced drugs are available to some patients through partnerships between drug companies, provincial health bodies, the federal government and health technology assessment agencies. Teresa Alfeld, a film director in Vancouver who lives with relapsing-remitting MS, is one of the people who have used such a program.

When first diagnosed, she was given special access to a new, more expensive drug immediately because she also has Type 1 diabetes and couldn’t take the traditional steroid treatment, which would affect her ability to control the diabetes. But later, her coverage was denied after she was already taking the effective MS drug, and the compassionate access program run by drug maker Novartis — which lasted for six months — ended.

Access to these programs often requires medical specialists to provide detailed letters to either drug companies or government programs.

Alfeld’s health team had fought to get her the correct drug right off the bat. But she and her team then had to fight again to maintain access to it.

The resources simply aren’t there for some medical professionals to fulfil compassionate access requests for patients, says Rotstein.

“That’s also dependent on the physician having time to do the appeal (to get access),” said Rotstein.

“If people are seeing a physician who’s a sole practitioner in the community, they don’t have those kinds of resources, and it’s very onerous to go through the appeal process,” she continued. “In our field, I don’t see many cases of compassionate access approved by the government … They don’t see these neurologic conditions as serious, although I can tell you in practice, they are extremely serious and they can cause lifelong disability and be life-limiting as well.”

Quebec takes the lead

Quebec has already eliminated fail-first policies for biologics use in the treatment of IBD. Ontario and many other provinces have not. Ontario and Manitoba did not respond to queries.

Alberta government spokesperson Lang said in an email: “Alberta regularly reviews drug coverage and listing criteria to ensure they reflect current evidence, clinical practice and patient needs. Clinicians can also submit feedback and evidence to support reviews of specific drugs or drug classes.”

“I think there’s a problem with the speed at which the programs are able to be responsive to changes in health care, which have really accelerated,” said Rotstein. “The pace is very slow in Canada, and that translates into the standard of care that we can offer our patients, with suboptimal results. So, if they can’t (move faster), to me, that’s a resource issue in terms of the review process and probably in terms of the funding that’s allocated from the provincial government.”

For Berman, finally getting on advanced therapy has meant he’s able to work and be a normal husband and father.

“When you’re in deep remission, IBD can kind of fade into the background of your life, and that’s a huge benefit to family life. But also economically, you’re not taking sick days, you’re able to get out there both to spend and to work. We can thrive in all aspects of our lives.”

Florence, who’s still in the waiting-game phase of his epilepsy treatment, hopes that he can access the surgery he needs soon.

“I’d love to have my life back. I’d love to be able to get a car and go about my normal life again. I’d love to be able to work again.”

Alfeld, meanwhile, had to fight tooth and nail to get ongoing access to the drug she needed. And while she has succeeded for now, the path toward getting there was nothing short of “exhausting.”

“First of all, I’m angry. I’m extremely angry, even though I had a successful outcome. I’m extremely angry that I had to out myself as having MS as part of my media advocacy because that does impact my career. It impacts the jobs I get. It impacts a lot of things,” she said.

“When I think back now, I’m really angry at all the time that was wasted, my time, my family’s time, my doctor’s time. I’m angry that the decision was possible. The coverage was possible. It was a matter of political will.”

Alfeld is still nervous that her coverage may be yanked out from under her yet again: she has only been preapproved for her medication for a year. But she knows that there are thousands of other Canadians who can’t advocate for themselves at all.

“I’m really sad for the other folks,” she said. “They’re not receiving the drugs they need, and that breaks my heart.”

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to clarify descriptions of biologics and biosimilars and to add more information about why patients sometimes experience delays for new drugs.

THE NUMBERS ON CHRONIC DISEASE

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD):

322,600 Number of people with diagnosed Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in Canada in 2023

1 in 140 Ratio of Canadians with IBD

1.1% Percentage of Canadian population predicted to be diagnosed with IBD by 2035

$5.4 billion Estimated medical costs to health-care system and patients in 2023

1 in 88 The number of Canadian seniors with IBD

Source: Crohn’s Colitis Canada, 2023 Impact of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Canada report

Epilepsy:

Data (fiscal year 2021–2022)

1 in 100 Number of Canadians living with epilepsy (2021-22)

13% Percentage of people with epilepsy who are 19 or under

63% Percentage of adults with epilepsy who are 20-64

24% Percentage of adults with epilepsy who are 65+

50 million Number of people worldwide diagnosed with epilepsy

Sources: Public Health Agency of Canada, Epilepsy Ontario

Multiple Sclerosis (MS):

90,000 Estimated number of Canadians living with MS

20-49 The ages between which most MS cases will be diagnosed

70-75% Percentage of Canadians with MS who are women

3.1 million Estimated number of people worldwide diagnosed with MS

Sources: Health Canada, Multiple Sclerosis Journal

OTTAWA — NHL hockey superstar Alex Ovechkin’s support of Russian President Vladimir Putin is sparking backlash in the halls of power in Canada, but federal ministers would not say whether the player should be sanctioned on Canadian soil.

“Terrific hockey player, terrible view of geopolitics,” said Justice Minister Sean Fraser on Friday, as he was heading into a Liberal caucus meeting.

“If you can look at what’s going on in Ukraine right now and turn a blind eye to the atrocities being committed by the Putin regime, then you are at best willfully blind.”

Ovechkin appeared in a commercial backing Putin’s political party, United Russia, which aired earlier this month. Russians are headed to the polls this weekend.

In the video, the Washington Capitals captain stands behind Putin’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov as he appears to threaten Western countries who oppose Russia. Lavrov said anyone who comes at his country “with a sword” can expect “no mercy.”

Ovechkin addressed the controversy on Thursday, saying that he accepted the Russian government’s request for him to appear in the video without hesitation. He also said that while he is pro-Russia, he is “for peace and love” and not in favour of war.

The Canadian government has steadfastly condemned Russia’s illegal occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and has sanctioned hundreds of individuals and entities that enable Putin’s regime.

Asked by reporters whether Ovechkin should be sanctioned too when he plays on Canadian soil, Fraser said he will leave “the formal process to play out when it comes to policy decisions taken by some of my colleagues.”

That being said, he thinks the hockey player’s position should be widely condemned.

“Not just as an elected official, but as a Canadian who cares about the values that Ukrainians are fighting for on the front lines of a war for the very idea of democracy, at minimum, we require a public condemnation of support for such a brutal regime.”

Ovechkin has a longstanding relationship with the Russian president and even launched a social movement called “Putin Team” in 2017 to publicly support him ahead of the 2018 presidential election.

This week, the Capitals winger attempted to downplay the backlash caused by the campaign advertisement, arguing that he is first and foremost Russian.

“As soon as I’m done playing hockey … I’m going to live there, my kids are going to live there,” he told reporters.

“I’m for peace and love, and I hope everything is going to be OK. My home is Russia; (the United States) is my second home.”

The NHL has explicitly avoided commenting on the campaign, saying it would leave that to his team.

Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said while there is no bigger supporter of Ukraine and Ukrainians than Canada, he is “not fond” of mixing sports and politics.

“But it’s pretty clear that Mr. Ovechkin’s actions will leave a lot of discomfort to many hockey fans,” he added.

Liberal caucus chair James Maloney said his Toronto riding of Etobicoke is home to one of the largest Ukrainian communities in his country.

“There’s significant unease — if I can put it mildly — with what he did, and a lot of people share that feeling,” he said.

In terms of sanctioning Ovechkin, Maloney said “those kinds of decisions are for others.”

“Look, I’m not happy about it for reasons that are plainly obvious,” he said.

“But what happens next is not up to me.”

National Post
calevesque@postmedia.com

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The growing saga of financial allegations around former MP and lawyer Raj Grewal has taken another surprising turn, as not only the former politician but two Sikh temples are named as defendants in a new lawsuit.

The case filed last week by a pair of non-bank lenders alleges that RSG Law, the firm Grewal founded, represented the temples in Toronto and nearby Brampton as they jointly obtained a $15-million loan last year from SSMT Management Inc. and Oculus Mortgage GP Inc.

The loan was guaranteed by Grewal, as well as by a man who is president of both “gurdwaras” and the treasurer of one of them, according to the lawsuit.

Despite repeated promises, the law firm never registered the debt against one of the two temples, a standard requirement that would provide security for the lenders in the event of a default, the lawsuit charges.

And, in fact, the seven-month mortgage had not been paid off by the end of the term in January, and the last monthly interest payment — which would have been about $300,000 — was made in April, the statement of claim filed by the lenders alleges.

No statement of defence has been filed and none of the allegations has been proven in court.

Simon Bieber, one of Grewal’s lawyers, told the National Post Wednesday that he understands “the issue is resolved.”

Maria Naimark, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, declined to comment when asked if the case had already been settled, just days after being launched.

The other defendants in the case did not respond to requests for comment.

Balpreet Singh, a spokesman for the World Sikh Organization — the faith’s main Canadian association — said he didn’t know enough about the case to comment on it or its impact on the community, noting that statements of claim tend to be very one-sided.

The case adds to a long list of legal actions that accuse Grewal, the firm he founded but no longer owns and associated lawyers of fraud, misappropriation of client funds and other wrongdoing in a series of real-estate transactions.

In some cases, defendants have been accused of borrowing money against clients’ property without the property owners’ authorization, providing fake title insurance that fails to protect lenders and misusing client money in trust funds. Recently filed lawsuits estimate that about $200 million is in dispute.

The Law Society of Ontario has also accused Grewal of financial transgressions, saying that to leave him practising law as its investigation proceeds would pose a “significant risk of harm to the public.” He has voluntarily given up his law licence pending a decision on the regulator’s request to suspend those credentials. The society has already suspended the licence of Davinder Khattra, the current head of RSG Law.

But the involvement of non-profit religious organizations — which are subject to strict federal tax rules and in this case are close to the hearts of the area’s large Sikh community — would seem to add a new complexion to the situation.

None of the allegations against Grewal and others has been proven in court. Lawyers for Grewal have said that the 41-year-old former politician had limited involvement in the RSG firm’s day-to-day operations after handing it over to lawyer Khattra, 29, in 2024 and that the various lawsuits are a result of the “falling out” that can happen in business transactions.

According to the new lawsuit, the Sikh Spiritual Centre Toronto and Nanaksar Thath Ishar Darbar — which runs a gurdwara in Brampton — jointly obtained a mortgage of $11 million, later increased to $15 million. About $12 million was forwarded and over $13 million, including outstanding interest, is still owed to the two lenders, the statement of claim says.

The loan was supposed to be secured against both temples. But despite promises from lawyer Khattra of RSG Law, the charge was never registered against the Brampton property, the lawsuit alleges.

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A Michigan credit union CEO has apologized following pushback online for a social media post showing her and her family wearing “Lake America” sweatshirts and stating that she is “not sure” Canada would like them. The family was preparing to embark on a trip to Halifax.

Jane Smith, head of the Family First Credit Union in Saginaw, Michigan has since explained that the photo in the post, which was shared on several social media platforms, was generated using ChatGPT.

And she has apologized for it. In a statement to ABC12 , an ABC news affiliate in Michigan, Smith said the image was in poor taste, an attempt at humour using AI gone wrong.

“Last week, when traveling with my family we decided to take a photo in the Detroit airport and used ChatGPT to generate an image to show what we would look like if we were all wearing ‘Lake America’ sweatshirts,” she said in the statement.

She admitted to sharing the AI-generated image on her personal Facebook page and stated “it was insensitive, distasteful, and in poor judgment. It should never should have been created or shared. Though the image did not depict a real event, I understand that the image was hurtful and offensive.”

Taking further accountability for the stunt, she confessed, “I made a mistake. I own that mistake, and I am committed to learning from it.”

The credit union board issued its own statement to ABC12, indicating its support for Canada and saying that despite the post being a personal one, it is reviewing appropriate steps for Smith.

“Although the post involved Ms. Smith in her personal capacity in connection with a family vacation, the post is unacceptable. … We support and respect our Canadian neighbors, and we completely disavow Ms. Smith’s actions, which were undertaken without the authorization or knowledge of the Credit Union.”

Smith’s Facebook post was reposted by news website, Breaking News Canada . That Facebook post stated that the group of Americans “apparently travelled to Halifax” wearing the matching Lake America sweatshirts. It went on to state that the post “has sparked backlash online from Canadians calling the stunt disrespectful.”

BNC also reposted Smith’s post on Instagram with the same commentary.

View this post on Instagram

And indeed, the backlash has been evident.

Instagram user, Chelsea Przygodzka wrote in response: “Imagine coming to another country to visit and shop and dine at our businesses while actively disrespecting them and expecting great service and kindness 😂 i wonder how many spit burgers and drinks they consumed.”

As previously reported by National Post, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order changing the name of the lake on Aug. 27, which directed the Department of the Interior to update maps and databases to reflect the new name.

Politicians on both sides of the border have condemned the name change, with Ontario Premier Doug Ford erecting a new Lake Ontario sign at a cost of $25,000 , soon after Trump signed the executive order. In the U.S., politicians including former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders have criticized Trump’s actions on social media .

Polling has shown that most Americans are against the name change , with Economist/YouGov research finding 68 per cent of Americans strongly or somewhat disapproved of the move. A poll conducted by Ipsos published a similar result, with 63 per cent opposing Trump’s executive order.

Another Instagram user, Cathy Wolters, took a direct shot at Smith’s post, stating that “American arrogance is a reason why American tourists are disliked. Just another example.” As National Post has reported , polling shows that Canadians are increasingly unhappy with Americans since the trade war began, even seeing them as the “enemy.”

Rachael Marsland pointed out that “Doing this over 9/11 in a city that a welcomed tons of planes on 9/11 is f***ing wild.” The comment is in reference to the terrorist attack in New York City, and how a total of 239 flights were diverted to 17 Canadian airports , with an estimated 33,000 displaced passengers.

A Reddit account, r/AmericansInCanada , posted commentary about Smith’s post from Culture Alberta , an Alberta news website.

The photo spread quickly, wrote Culture Alberta, pointing out the tone of online reaction: “Canadians are tired of the joke … It landed in the middle of a much bigger fight over Trump, tariffs, maps, and how far the United States can push a joke before Canadians stop laughing.”

Trump has consistently made derogatory comments at Canada’s expense , including a vague threat described humorously by Prime Minister Mark Carney that he might get shot at the White House, despite receiving an honorary key from the President.

• 'Our neighbours, our friends': 8 U.S. celebrities who've thrown support behind Canada
• American navigation company is not changing Lake Ontario to 'Lake America' after Trump's executive order. Here's why

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An Ontario truck driver who was caught at the border trying to smuggle cocaine from the United States into Canada — allegedly for Ryan Wedding, the Canadian Olympic snowboarder named as an international narco mastermind — was sentenced to nine years in a U.S. prison after court proceedings draped in secrecy.

Iqbal Singh Virk, 58, an owner-operator of a transport truck based in Brampton, Ont., admitted to a judge in Los Angeles that he helped knit a drug transportation network in Canada to an immense cocaine cartel in Mexico and the United States.

In keeping with the high stakes and high profile of the Ryan Wedding investigation — including the murder of a government witness who was cooperating with U.S. authorities in the case — Virk’s hearings featured more secretiveness than usual.

Several documents entered into the court record were ordered sealed by the judge and cannot be read or reported on.

Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett issued protective orders over court filings that could reveal the identities of confidential informants, cooperating witnesses and cooperating defendants “who participated in the government’s investigation and provided information relevant to defendant’s sentencing,” the order says.

The orders were to protect sensitive information from unauthorized dissemination while allowing defence lawyers with enough information to adequately represent Virk. The order also refers to material marked “Attorney’s Eyes Only,” which the lawyers cannot even show their client.

Garnett also granted a secrecy motion requested by Virk to have his response to the government’s sentencing position filed under seal and not available for public viewing.

John Hanusz, Virk’s lawyer, declined to comment on the case or on how Virk was taking the sentencing decision issued against him on Wednesday.

Virk signed a plea agreement last August admitting he was part of a cocaine conspiracy comprised of members of a drug-trafficking organization who arranged with a drug transportation network to move more than 1,800 kilograms of cocaine from the Los Angeles area into Canada.

Virk was part of the transportation network and drove his long-haul truck from Ontario to California specifically to collect cocaine and hide it in a secret compartment in his truck.

He and his partner, Ranjit Singh Rowal, shared the driving, then tried to mask the purpose of their trip by loading legal goods into the truck for the return to Canada.

Virk and Rowal, however, were caught in an elaborate sting operation the FBI was running after infiltrating the ring. The man with whom Virk was arranging the cocaine pick up was really a confidential source secretly working with the FBI.

When the pair pulled their tractor-trailer up to the customs post on the U.S. side of the Blue Water Bridge, connecting Ontario and Michigan, on Aug. 28, 2024, Virk was behind the wheel and Rowal in the passenger seat.

They didn’t stand a chance of getting across as authorities were waiting for them. Customs officers were soon pulling cocaine bricks wrapped together in cellophane from a hidden slot at the rear of their trailer just above their Ontario licence plate. Stacking them on the loading bay floor, they counted 115 bricks weighing slightly more than 124 kilos. An officer estimated it was worth close to US$4 million.

The arrests of Virk and Rowal were a sign of things to come.

It turned out that they were small fry in the scheme of things as U.S., Canadian and Mexican authorities targeted an international criminal enterprise — a violent and prolific cartel authorities said was headed by Wedding.

Wedding, who competed for Team Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics, was named the mastermind behind a deluge of cocaine flowing from Colombia to Mexico and then to California where it was loaded in trucks for the drive to Canada.

Two months after the arrests of the two drivers, Wedding’s name was the first on a long list of accused in a U.S. indictment. The FBI called Wedding a modern-day Pablo Escobar or El Chapo Guzman, naming two of history’s most notorious drug lords.

The last two names on the indictment were Virk and Rowal.

Both men pleaded guilty, 10 days apart, to two charges: conspiracy to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Rowal was sentenced in November to 37 months in prison.

In return for Virk’s guilty plea on two drug charges, prosecutors agreed to drop other charges and asked the judge to reduce his sentence. Since Virk faced a maximum penalty of life in prison and an $11-million fine, nine years and no fine might seem a good deal, despite it being significantly longer than his partner’s punishment.

Virk’s conviction makes it almost a certainty that he will be deported from the United States upon his release from prison. Both men are citizens of India and travelled on an Indian passport but had immigrated to Canada, where they had permanent resident status.

Wedding remains in U.S. custody, also in California, after his arrest in Mexico in January. He pleaded not guilty to multiple drug trafficking and murder charges and is awaiting trial.

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

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• Truck drivers were key pieces of giant jigsaw puzzle in Ryan Wedding's alleged narco empire

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Sweden and Canada operate publicly financed universal health-care systems, but access to care in the Nordic country is “markedly better,” according to a new report from the Fraser Institute.

In 2024, wait times leading to unmet medical needs affected two per cent of Swedes, compared with 9.1 per cent of Canadians, says the report’s author, Yanick Labrie.

The study argues that the difference between the two national systems can be found in the way they are organized. Labrie states that almost half (46.9 per cent) of primary care centres in Sweden are privately operated, while still fully funded by public dollars.

Labrie notes that private providers in Sweden perform more than 40 per cent of publicly funded hip and knee replacements and over 70 per cent of cataract procedures.

Private providers have also expanded surgical capacity, rather than displacing it, he suggests. Between 2001 and 2019, the share of cataract patients treated within 90 days increased from 36.9 to 88.2 per cent while median waiting times fell from 6.2 to 1.8 months.

More particularly, 85 per cent of patients receive a medical assessment within three days when needed, the study states.

Labrie states that European health-care systems have attracted an increasing level attention among Canadian policymakers. For example, he states that in May 2026, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith led a delegation to Sweden to learn more about the country’s approach to organizing and delivering health care within a universal system.

Labrie notes that similar to Canada, Sweden’s health-care system is founded on the principle that access to medically necessary care should depend on need rather than ability to pay. But discussions of health-care reform in Canada often become highly polarized when it comes to expanding the role of private providers, says Labrie.

“As a result, health-care policy discussions in Canada often focus primarily on preserving existing financing arrangements rather than examining alternative models for organizing and delivering care to Canadians.”

The primary responsibility for organizing health care falls under Sweden’s 21 regions, governed by local political assemblies. Regional authorities are responsible for organizing hospitals, primary care, specialist services, and provider-reimbursement systems. Municipal governments are primarily responsible for long-term care, home care, rehabilitation support, and services for older adults and individuals with disabilities.

In contrast, says Labrie, beginning in the early 2000s several provinces (Quebec, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Alberta) merged regional health authorities into larger provincial organizations, reducing the autonomy of intermediary bodies.

Meanwhile, in Sweden patients commonly pay modest co-payments for primary care visits, specialist consultations, emergency department visits and prescription drugs. Annual caps substantially limit total out-of-pocket exposure.

Sweden permits duplicate private health insurance for services already covered under the public system, whereas in most Canadian provinces, such insurance remains heavily restricted or prohibited. By the end of 2024 over 800,000 Swedes held duplicate health insurance coverage (15.8 per cent of the working-age population). Most insurance policies are financed by employers as part of workplace benefits.

“In Sweden, privately insured patients continue to contribute to the public system through income taxation. They do not opt out financially,” says Labrie.

One of the greatest health-care needs – physician access – seems to be better met in Sweden, which according to OECD data cited by Labrie, maintains a higher physician-to-population ratio than Canada, with 4.4 physicians per 1,000 population, compared with 2.8 in Canada. Sweden also has a national waiting-time guarantee aimed at improving timely access to care throughout the country.

Sweden’s Primary Care Choice Act was implemented between 2007 and 2010. The new legislation introduced patient choice among accredited primary care providers, whether publicly or privately operated. Private providers were allowed to establish new clinics and compete for patient enrolment under the country’s regional reimbursement systems.

Overall, says Labrie, the study’s findings indicate that greater private-sector participation necessarily reduces publicly financed health-care system capacity. “In several areas of Sweden, private providers expanded the overall volume of publicly funded services rather than simply displacing activity from public providers.”

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OTTAWA — The Quebec election campaign is already more than halfway done, with polls showing that the Parti Québécois is still in the lead while the incumbent Coalition Avenir Québec’s “Trump bump” thanks to the trade war is slowly fading away.

Still, with a large proportion of Quebecers who remain undecided, it’s no wonder that the leaders of all five political parties were banking heavily on national debates to either solidify their base or attempt to sway voters to go in another direction.

The first two debates, TVA Face-à-Face and Le Grand Débat des Chefs Noovo/Crave, took place Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.

Radio-Canada will hold the third and final debate on September 23.

With PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, CAQ leader Christine Fréchette, Quebec Liberal Leader Charles Milliard, Québec solidaire co-spokeperson Ruba Ghazal and Quebec Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime, the stage was quite crowded.

While Fréchette was attacked on all sides in the first debate, shots were directed to St-Pierre Plamondon, the frontrunner, the second night. But the PQ leader remained calm, his team says, in part because he had a picture of his children right in front of him.

Milliard, still a relatively unknown leader seven months into the job, managed to get in a few zingers about his main opponents, mainly about the debate on separation.

So, what did the public learn during these first two nights? And could any of this move the needle as a very volatile Quebec electorate prepares to go to the polls?

Change is increasingly becoming the ballot question

In the TVA Face-à-Face, Fréchette used her opening statement to draw the line between her predecessor and herself.

“I am not François Legault. I am Christine Fréchette, and I bring my own way of doing things,” she said, before following up with a plea to opt for stability and experience amid the “great uncertainty” of the trade war with the United States.

Unsurprisingly, her pitch did not convince her opponents who have all been trying to pin the controversies of the past eight years of the CAQ government on the new premier.

St-Pierre Plamondon even said during Le Grand Débat des Chefs Noovo/Crave that U.S. President Donald Trump isn’t the biggest threat to Quebec.

“The biggest source of instability for the next four years would be another four years of a bad government that squanders public funds recklessly,” he said.

St-Pierre Plamondon has been banking on Quebecers’ appetite for change, and polls are showing that it is a message that is percolating as Trump is less in the news cycle.

A Léger poll published before the first debate showed that more than 60 per cent of Quebecers want a change in government and a new party to govern the province. In comparison, only 16 per cent of respondents said they do not want change.

However, there is another sticky statistic that shows that 70 per cent of Quebecers do not support sovereignty. Despite this, the PQ is not budging from its pledge to hold a third referendum on separation — but only after Trump leaves office in 2029.

Fréchette had slightly adjusted her messaging in time for the Noovo debate.

“Let’s be honest: in recent years, the CAQ hasn’t been perfect. But we learned from that, and I have corrected past mistakes,” she said.

“Tonight, and in the days ahead, we need to ask ourselves a very important question: is this really the time to add uncertainty with Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s referendum? I will be working on your priorities, while he will be working on planning a referendum.”

The PQ leader is reluctant to say the word ‘referendum’

Milliard was the first person to note that St-Pierre Plamondon had pulled off the feat of not saying the word “referendum” one single time in the TVA Face-à-Face debate.

The PQ leader instead found some colourful ways to describe the consultation process. “We must carve out space to reflect on our future if we want to ensure our long-term survival as a people,” he said at some point.

Later, he said he is making “no secret” that he is in favour of Quebec separating from Canada, adding that he is a “proponent of independence.”

St-Pierre Plamondon ended up saying the word near the end of the Noovo debate.

“The Parti Québécois is committed to holding a consultation — a referendum — after the Trump era,” he said. The process is estimated to cost $130 million, he said.

The idea of a referendum caused most of the other leaders to roll their eyes.

“Let’s not waste $130 million just to suffer a third ‘Yes’ defeat on sovereignty,” said Duhaime, who has been in favour of separation in the past but now considers himself to be a Quebec “autonomist” within Canada.

Despite his plan to eventually attempt to separate from Canada, St-Pierre Plamondon said during the TVA Face-à-Face he was ready to “collaborate” with Prime Minister Mark Carney and other provinces if he becomes premier on October 5.

“That’s new,” chirped Milliard.

St-Pierre Plamondon shot back that Milliard wants Carney to become his “boss.”

The PQ leader claims that former PQ premiers were able to get many concessions from Ottawa during their time in office. That was notably the case for René Lévesque with Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Jacques Parizeau with Jean Chrétien, he said.

St-Pierre Plamondon said he will work with Carney if and when it is in Quebec’s best interest. He also openly wondered if Fréchette had been consulted before Ottawa announced its plans to partly privatize its four major airports.

Turns out, she wasn’t. But Fréchette said she’s not necessarily against the idea.

Liberal leader claims he is only federalist on stage

For days, Fréchette has been caught on the back foot on the issue of Quebec sovereignty. She has said she is not sovereigntist nor a federalist, but rather an “autonomist” who will fight against holding another referendum.

“In our party, there are people who voted ‘Yes’ and people who voted ‘No.’ And what unites them today is that they do not want a referendum — and Quebecers do not want a referendum,” Fréchette said during the TVA Face-à-Face on Tuesday.

“We need stability. A referendum would simply add a thick layer of uncertainty — on top of the economic uncertainty we are already immersed in because of Trump.”

Milliard took the opportunity to press her further. “Why are you unable to answer that question? It is unbecoming of the position you hold.”

“I am the only federalist here tonight,” he later claimed.

Political analysts in Quebec have observed that the Parti Québécois leader has not been attacking Milliard very much because the PQ wants the Liberals to rise in the polls and to divide the vote with the CAQ especially in crucial Montreal suburbs.

In fact, St-Pierre Plamondon, who is not the warmest politician of the bunch , went out of his way during the debates to agree with the other leaders, except the CAQ.

On the issue of sovereignty, the PQ leader told Milliard during the Noovo debate “at least the two of us aren’t hiding anything.” The Liberal leader agreed.

“We have two leaders here dreaming of driving — one the ‘No’ bus, the other the ‘Yes’ bus — but the majority of Quebecers want those buses to stay in the garage,” said Duhaime during the TVA Face-à-Face debate.

“I’m going to lock the doors, and the buses are staying in the garage.”

Quebec Conservatives vow to hold balance of power

St-Pierre Plamondon has vowed to cut taxes, red tape and wasteful spending, ideas that are very much music to the ears of Duhaime.

“I am very pleased to hear Mr. Plamondon tonight, because he is speaking somewhat differently than he did during the last debate four years ago,” Duhaime said during the TVA Face-à-Face debate on Tuesday.

“However, I want to ensure that the Conservatives are a strong force in the National Assembly, acting as a watchdog in case you veer off course and revert to your old habits,” he added.

Duhaime, who is aiming for a Conservative breakthrough in the Quebec City area , said it will be important for him to have a strong caucus to keep the PQ in check.

“I would respectfully submit that we share some common ground, as we are both criticizing the CAQ’s track record,” St-Pierre Plamondon replied.

But he said both their parties are very different since the PQ would still invest in people to help seniors, those struggling with mental illnesses and to combat homelessness.

Right now, the PQ is poised to form a minority government. But there are more than 20 ridings where the parties in first and second place are within three percentage points, according to Route127, a new projection website founded by a former CAQ aide.

Many of these close races involve the PQ and are in the greater Montreal area, which show just how crucial the suburbs will be in determining the next government.

Duhaime said, judging by the current polls, his party would hold the balance of power.

“Quebecers aren’t ready to hand over the keys to the car to anyone.”

National Post
calevesque@postmedia.com

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TORONTO — Frank Stronach will not go to jail for the crime of indecent assault, a judge said in surprise final comments at his sentencing hearing.

Judge Anne Molloy of the Ontario Superior Court said Stronach should return to hear his sentence in December. It will not be custodial but still could involve conditions on his freedom.

The news followed a dramatic day of argument Thursday in which the Crown argued the 94-year-old autoparts billionaire should go to jail for six months, surrender a sample of his DNA, and be listed on Canada’s sex offender registry for 10 years.

“Only a real deprivation of liberty will do,” said prosecutor Jelena Vlacic.

Stronach’s defence lawyer argued that he should be granted an absolute discharge, which means no conviction would be entered on the charge of indecent assault for which he was found guilty in June, and there would be no conditions on his release.

Stronach was originally charged with 12 offences involving seven women, but all other charges failed for various reasons.

The victim, now in her 70s, gave a short statement from the witness stand on Thursday, the only evidence called in the day-long hearing that was dominated by technical argument over precedent cases and the purposes of sentencing.

“I am 20 years younger than the defendant. I felt ambushed, I felt overpowered, I felt my physical privacy was violated without my consent. My body and my sense of security were instantly injured. My self reliance was wounded when by confidence in the defendants character was shattered.”

In her testimony earlier this year, the woman (whose identity is protected) testified that she knew Stronach socially and was with him at the Toronto bar he owned, Rooney’s. She accepted his invitation to a nearby apartment, where Stronach abruptly pushed her face down over the arm of a chair and pressed himself against her from behind while lifting her skirt. There was no direct contact with her skin and both remained clothed. She described it as “bizarre” and “pathetic.”

“I felt I deserved an apology, I was upset when none was forthcoming,” she said in her victim impact statement.

Both sides discussed comparable cases. There was argument over the Crown’s comparison of Stronach to Peter Nygard, 85, the fashion mogul who was sentenced in 2024 to 11 years in prison over historical sex assault charges.

Shemesh objected to this and other comparisons of Stronach to perpetrators of outrageous sexual crimes, such as home invasion sexual assaults and repeated predatory behaviour against vulnerable victims. Despite Stronach’s wealth and fame, the defence lawyer told the judge this case is not like Nygard, or Bill Cosby, or Harvey Weinstein.

But the Crown highlighted Nygard to emphasize the point that Stronach’s advanced age should not necessarily work in his favour. She quoted the judge in Nygard’s case: “Were I to punish him less harshly than his moral blameworthiness calls for because he is now an elderly man, it would, in effect, validate the immunity that wealth and power have given him. In my view, it would be contrary to public policy. It would significantly devalue the importance of denunciation and deterrence. It would send the message that if you are rich and powerful and your victims are vulnerable…, you can escape accountability if you can hold off the day of judgment long enough. That is exactly the wrong message for the court to send. Although age is a factor that I must consider, there is a limit to the amount of weight I will give it.”

Shemesh said she was unable to find any Canadian case of a 90-year-old person being sentenced at all, let alone sentenced to jail time. She said six months in jail would be “excessive” for a man who has “truly earned his place in Canadian history as a visionary” and has been “determined, over the course of his life, to really better society.”

Stronach is “quite a simple man,” she said, devoted to his children and his work, motivated by “goodness, kindness and charity.”

“He has learned to love simplicity,” she said.

Shemesh urged Molloy to find that Stronach has already been punished enough by the process of being charged and tried in the public glare. His name has been “dragged through the mud,” Shemesh said, and seen many of his lifetime honours revoked.

The Aurora Sports Hall of Fame removed his name, the Southlake Health Frank Stronach Cancer Centre removed his name, the City of Newmarket, Ont., renamed its Frank Stronach Park, as did a recreation centre in Aurora, Ont., and most “astonishing and shameful,” Shemesh said, was that the Automotive Hall of Fame had indicated it wants to revoke his induction.

Prosecutor Vlacic said this public reckoning should not minimize his sentence. “When you have a lot, you have a lot to lose,” Vlacic said.

It also emerged that, during his trial in March, Stronach was refused entry to the United States on his way to Tampa, Fla., on the grounds of having outstanding charges against him.

“Whatever punishment the Ministry of the Attorney General was trying to garner, that punishment has already been meted out,” Shemesh said.

She said her client has engaged with this process with “hope and determination,” but the experience has “chipped away at him mentally” and “affected him cognitively” such that it was “difficult to watch.”

Stronach is also charged with other sexual offences involving six women, including as recently as 2024, in a separate matter that is not yet set for trial. That cannot be used against him here because he is presumed innocent, but it came up in the hearing.

“Can I make a positive finding that there’s been no repetition?” Molloy asked Shemesh, when she emphasized Stronach’s “unblemished” life since committing the indecent assault in 1977.

Shemesh said this court knows nothing of those other charges. “He comes before you with an unblemished record,” she said. “There’s no way for your honour to dispute the claim that he has lived an unblemished life.”

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The University of Toronto has been called out by prominent leaders on social media for its “despicable” research group dedicated to anti-Zionism theories, as explained in its description.

The working group, titled Bridging Theories of Anti-Zionism, is comprised of grad students and faculty at the university’s Jackman Humanities Institute who conduct research and engage in scholarly exchanges.

In the group’s description online, it asks the question: “What does it mean to critique Zionism as a political ideology, and how have the last three years of genocide in Palestine changed the scholarly engagement with this question?”

It explains: “This working group seeks to map these varied streams of anti-Zionist thought and construct a critical genealogy that can inform contemporary scholarship across multiple fields.”

The webpage is no longer available online.

Dr. David Jacobs, part of U of T’s governing council and president of the Ontario Association of Radiologists, said in a social media post on Wednesday that he would be “remiss” in his duties if he “stayed silent on this latest working group.”

He pointed out that he would expect the university not to “indulge in this type of activity,” given the 2026 Canadian Heritage federal report that found 95.7 per cent of Jewish post-secondary students in Canada experienced or witnessed antisemitism on campus over the prior year.

I would be remiss in my duties as a University of Toronto Governor if I stayed silent on this latest working group.

After the 2026 Canadian Heritage federal report revealed that 95.7% of Jewish post-secondary students in Canada experienced or witnessed antisemitism on campus… pic.twitter.com/zOG3oPWrkc

— David Jacobs (@DrJacobsRad) September 17, 2026

Richard Marceau, author and vice-president at Canadian advocacy group Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, also posted on X.

“This is despicable, (U of T),” he wrote.

“Zionism is simply the modern expression of the connection between a people — the Jewish people — and a land — the Land of Israel. That connection has been central to Jewish identity and Judaism since antiquity,” he continued.

“This is not scholarship. It is anti-Jewish activism masquerading as legitimate academic work.”

This is despicable, @UofT.

Zionism is simply the modern expression of the connection between a people—the Jewish people—and a land—the Land of Israel. That connection has been central to Jewish identity and Judaism since antiquity.

This is not scholarship. It is anti-Jewish… pic.twitter.com/7unt5phXfQ

— Richard Marceau (@richardmarceau) September 16, 2026

Casey Babb, a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, said on X that he was “disgusted.”

“Less than 24 hours after I spoke at (U of T) about the civilizational dangers of antizionism, I’ve come to learn that the university has created a new working group to defend and actually legitimize this hate movement. Note the genocide reference on the page,” he wrote.

A spokesperson for the University of Toronto told National Post in an emailed statement that “the existence of a research group examining theories of anti-Zionism does not imply institutional endorsement of the views expressed by its individual participants.”

“The university takes persistent action to address discrimination and harassment against Jewish and Israeli members of our community, including conduct directed at individuals because they identify as Zionist,” said the statement.

The spokesperson did not provide comment on if the webpage had been intentionally taken down.

Director of the Jackman Humanities Institute, professor Randy Boyagoda, said in a statement that the institute “affirms the academic freedom of the individual faculty members involved with all of its working groups and does not endorse particular perspectives associated with any of them.”

“The JHI receives proposals from faculty members seeking to convene working groups on various subjects,” he said. “These proposals are assessed by fellow faculty members. As the new director, I have focused on the re-conceptualization and renewal of the JHI’s programming since taking up my appointment in July. This includes working groups, among other activities.”

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STRASBOURG, FRANCE — Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed the European Unions’ invitation to become its first ever “associate member,” and pitched it as deepening ties between two allies who face threats of retaliation from U.S. President Donald Trump.

On Thursday morning, Carney delivered a speech to hundreds of members of European Parliament (MEP) as well as EU chief Ursula von der Leyen at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

The prime minister confirmed Canada’s interest in becoming the first ever “associate member” of the union, an invitation extended the previous day by von der Leyen.

While what that means remains to be seen, Carney used his speech to pitch Canada as a natural ally for the block of 27 European countries in the face of international upheaval — a “tremendous storm,” in his words — and the creation of the next world order.

He sold Canada as a reliable partner in the face of increasing trade violence and volatility by U.S. President Donald Trump. To hundreds of European lawmakers, he proposed Canadian energy and critical minerals in exchange for knocking down trade and travel barriers as well as deeper integration on tech, defence and artificial intelligence.

The speech came on the heels of new tit-for-tat tariffs between Canada and the U.S. after trade negotiations between both countries once again failed to deliver a new deal.

On Thursday, the prime minister set out to make it clear to Trump that the budding partnership with the EU was not intended as a hostile effort to supplant the U.S., a fear expressed by the American president Wednesday evening that came with a threat of significant trade retaliation.

“I am not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great-power rival, only with better manners,” Carney said. Dozens of EU parliamentarians laughed and clapped in response.

“We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience, so no one, no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.”

Already close, Canada and the European Union should cooperate even more to build up their defence industrial bases, develop sovereign compute but also regulate artificial intelligence, and make it easier for students to move between them, Carney argued.

“We are not fair-weather allies. We do not pursue zero-sum deals,” he told hundreds of European lawmakers. “Our commitment to the rule of law and our unyielding defence of human dignity, individual freedom, and democracy share the same deep roots, the same unwavering dedication.”

Canada has loads of energy, including natural gas and hydrogen, and critical minerals that Europe will need for decades, he argued. On the flip side, Canada can contribute to Europe’s military procurement and development and would like to pool “sovereign compute power” to break away from foreign tech giant dependence.

He would also like Canada to join Erasmus+, a 26.2 billion Euro program student mobility and exchange program.

“Canada and Europe should consider exploring an integrated market for financial services to broaden choice and reduce costs for our citizens,” he added.

Despite all the buzz around the EUˋs associate membership offer to Canada, negotiations on the new alliance are in early stages, both parties say.

When the deal is done, Carney promised it would be debated in Parliament and put to a vote. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said it would be studied by European committees as well.

“That the overwhelmingly positive reaction of members in plenary just a few moments ago will be reflected in a similar reaction in the committees, that I have no doubt,” Metsola said.

Much like his headline-grabbing speech at the World Economic Forum at Davos in January, Carney’s speech repeatedly took aim at Trump’s administration without naming the president. This time, he focus his criticism on the U.S.’s growing use of tariffs and trade threats to ply longtime allies like Canada.

“Today, our societies are being shaken by new storms: the upheavals linked to climate change, the erosion of democratic norms, and the use of trade as a weapon,” said the prime minister.

“Economic integration is now being used as a weapon, and tariffs as a means of pressure. Financial mechanisms are being used for coercive purposes,” he added in French.

Carney’s star power in Europe was on full display before and after his speech. In fact, the start of his talk was delayed roughly ten minutes as dozens of European lawmakers huddled around the prime minister to shake his hand, exchange some words and, occasionally, take a selfie.

Terry Reintke, a German politician and co-president of the Greens–European Free Alliance Group, wore a Sidney Crosby Team Canada jersey and was all smiles as she posed for a picture with Carney before he spoke.

Then, as Carney took the stand, Siegbert Droese — one of the few MEPs from the populist right wing Europe of Sovereign Nations Group attending the speech — chanted “USA! USA!” earning himself groans from other lawmakers and a laugh from the prime minister.

His speech was frequently interrupted by applause and received a hearty standing ovation, hoots and hollers from nearly all MEPs in the room. Only members of the most right wing political group remained silent.

von der Leyen’s invitation for Canada to become an “associate member” of the EU attracted Trump’s ire Wednesday evening, with the president lobbing a bevy of threats against Europe if he perceives the new Canada-EU alliance as a “hostile act.”

“If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe,” Trump told reporters, calling the notion of an associate membership for Canada “laughable”.

In a press conference after his speech, Carney argued that the U.S. would in fact benefit from Canada deepening its ties to Europe.

“ It will make Europe stronger. It will make Canada stronger. It will make… Canada a better partner with the United States,” he told reporters.

National Post

cnardi@postmedia.com

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