Industry Minister Mélanie Joly says the federal government is talking to mining and metals giant Rio Tinto about helping the company with cash flow problems caused by the United States’ global steel and aluminum tariffs.
Author: Robert Wood
Relatives of Canadians detained by ICE in the U.S. say they’re furious and frustrated by the treatment of their loved ones and the battles they’re having to fight for even the most basic information.
OTTAWA — Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson did not commit to scrapping Trudeau-era climate policies that Alberta and Ontario want to see gone but said that the newly adopted major projects bill could pave the way to doing so “over time.”
Speaking in Calgary on Friday, Hodgson said the new legislation — which enables the cabinet to quickly approve projects of national interest by overriding federal laws — will empower the government to act swiftly and any legislative fine-tuning would come later.
“We need to move quickly. What the… One Canadian Economy Act does is allows us to move quickly under this framework,” he told reporters in a press conference.
“It allows us to do all the things we need to do in one centralized place, under one set of timelines, and to take those learnings to go back and deal with the other acts over time.”
Hodgson was indirectly responding to
a letter from the environment ministers of Alberta and Ontario,
made public this week, who requested that the federal government repeal the Impact Assessment Act, clean electricity regulations and emissions cap, among others.
In their letter, Rebecca Schultz and Todd J. McCarthy argued that those climate policies, implemented by the prior Liberal government, would “undermine competitiveness, delay project development, and disproportionately harm specific provinces and territories.”
“Canada is poised to be an economic superpower, but achieving that potential depends on strong, constitutionally grounded provincial authority over resource development and environmental management,” they wrote to Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin.
Dabrusin, who met with her provincial and territorial counterparts in the Northwest Territories this week, said that the environment remains a priority for Prime Minister Mark Carney even as his government is getting ready to fast-track major projects.
“We know it’s very important to Canadians that as we do this, we’re doing it properly and that we’re doing it in a way that actually supports a strong country as a whole that takes into account our nature and the like,” she said in a press conference on Wednesday.
“So, I very much see it at the centre of the work that I’m doing and that we’re doing as a government,” Dabrusin added.
When asked in Calgary if the federal government would be able to attract private investments dollars with the current climate policies in place, Hodgson said Carney was “focused on results” and that the government would “figure out how to get there.”
Hodgson said there is already a lot of interest in building projects of national interest but remained relatively tight-lipped when asked about the possibility of a new pipeline.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been pushing for a pipeline, built in tandem with Pathways Alliance, that would bring crude oil from Alberta to the Port of Prince Rupert, British Columbia. So far, B.C. Premier David Eby said that is unlikely to happen.
Hodgson said there has been “lots of discussions with various folks” around that project and that it is “something that’s being worked on actively.”
But he declined to spill more details about the lengths the government would go to to build a new pipeline. “In my previous life, I did a lot of deals. I never did a deal with the press. Those conversations are going on. They’re going to happen in private,” he said.
“When there’s a transaction, we’ll let everybody know, but you should assume that everyone is focused on trying to figure out how to make that happen.”
The major projects bill, known as C-5, was
adopted in the Senate on June 26
and given royal assent the same day, becoming law, after being fast-tracked through the House of Commons.
The rushed passage of the bill raised concerns from environmental groups, who fear the government will bypass environmental safeguards to approve projects, and Indigenous peoples, who said the government did not properly consult with them beforehand.
To alleviate some of those concerns, Carney has pledged to hold summits during the summer with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.
But there is more work to do, and more problems may arise in the process.
Hodgson said the federal government will be negotiating with each of the provinces and territories over the next six months to ensure major projects will be subject to one single environmental assessment, not two, in order to speed up the adoption of the process.
The perspective of possibly overriding provincial laws and regulations could prove to be a issue in Quebec and British Columbia, where 42 per cent and 32 per cent of people oppose the idea, according to recent polling from the Angus Reid Institute.
National Post
calevesque@postmedia.com
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REGINA — Saskatchewan’s justice minister says he wants answers on why the RCMP’s commanding officer in the province was abruptly removed.
A spokesperson for Tim McLeod’s office says the minister has requested Ottawa provide further information and rationale on the decision involving Rhonda Blackmore.
The minister’s office says Blackmore’s dismissal was “surprising and disappointing.”
Blackmore abruptly left the job in early June and was replaced by an interim commanding officer until a new one could be selected.
Media reports have cited an email from Blackmore saying she was removed due to anonymous complaints against her.
The same day she was relieved of her duties, she was hired as a national assistant commissioner of Indigenous and support services for the RCMP.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 4, 2025.
Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — The Carney government is poised to post a massive deficit of more than $92 billion during this fiscal year, a new report from a well-respected financial think tank projects, almost double what was forecast just a few months ago by a non-partisan arm of the government.
The report, from the C.D. Howe Institute, also forecasts deficits of more than $77 billion a year over the next four years, also huge increases over what had been expected.
If this fiscal year’s deficit turns out to be as hefty as projected, it would be the second-largest deficit in Canadian history, topped only by the $327.7 billion shortfall from the pandemic year of 2020-21.
Alexandre Laurin, C.D. Howe’s vice-president, said the federal government’s fiscal situation is getting worse. “The picture is definitely not pretty.”
The think tank attributes much of the government’s declining fiscal health to increased spending on defence and other items, the economic effects of the Trump tariffs, cuts to personal income tax and the GST for first-time homebuyers, and the elimination of the digital services tax.
Based on the most current and largely optimistic variables, the report says, federal deficits will remain above $71 billion during each of the following three years and in the fiscal year 2028-29 will be greater than three times what the government itself forecast in its most recent federal budget.
But more likely, the report says, it will likely be a bit worse than that because the report’s authors say that they’re skeptical that all of the government’s plans to increase revenue through promised higher fines, penalties and savings will actually occur.
“It is widely accepted that Canada’s economy is at a critical crossroads,” the C.D. Howe economists write. “So are Canada’s finances – beyond the economic drag of high deficits and rising debt, it is unfair to pass these burdens on to the current young and future generations.”
But the most recent federal budget was now well over a year ago. The government took the highly unusual step this year of waiting until the fall to release its annual budget, more than half-way through the fiscal year.
The report’s authors – William Robson, Don Drummond and Alexandre Laurin – call on Ottawa to improve its accountability by sharing its revenue and spending figures with taxpayers.
The gloomy fiscal forecast bolsters the argument that Canadian government spending at th
e federal, provincial and municipal levels is going from bad to worse.
Just four months ago, the Parliamentary Budget Officer projected that the federal deficit would fall to $50.1 billion during this fiscal year, a slight improvement over the $61.9 billion shortfall recorded in 2023-24. The PBO also said at that time that federal deficits would continue to fall in the ensuring years, unless there were new measures to cut revenue or increase spending.
The C.D. Howe report criticizes the government’s decision to wait until the fiscal year is more than half over before releasing its budget “Delaying a budget until the fiscal year is more than half over is never good, but Canada’s current high-spending trajectory makes this delay especially bad.”
Ottawa is making costly commitments, the report explains, without showing key numbers to the public such as how much more tax it expects to gather, the extent of its new spending and what the increased debt will mean for interest payments.
The report also makes policy recommendations to address the “runaway spending, perpetually high deficits and debt and vulnerabilities Canada should avoid at a time of severe economic challenges.”
C.D. Howe suggests that the Liberal government eliminate or forgo some of its costly platform promises, make deeper cuts in its operating spending, substitute some revenue from less harmful taxation such as the GST, and cut federal transfers to provinces and territories.
The report also criticizes the government’s plan to separate its operating and capital spending. “The large deficits projected in this update cannot be downplayed or disguised by dividing the budget into two new categories.”
National Post
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.
A British Columbia man whose Tesla was once found to contain more than $47,000 in cash and two kilograms of cocaine while he himself was carrying a bag containing 15.6 kilograms of fentanyl has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for trafficking.
Jason Thomas Howard Conrad, age 45, pleaded guilty on June 4 to two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking, contrary to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. One count was regarding fentanyl, the other cocaine. Justice Andrew Majawa sentenced him on June 17.
that Conrad had been under surveillance since January 2023. Police targeted a home on McLeod Court in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond, B.C., and confirmed that it was being used to produce fentanyl.
Conrad was first seen at the home on Jan. 25, 2023, and again in February, when he arrived empty-handed and left with a heavy backpack. Police followed his Tesla to an underground parkade in nearby Coal Harbour, where he met with an unknown male.
In March, Conrad was at the McLeod property again, this time leaving with a heavy reuseable shopping bag. He was arrested, and the bag was found to contain 15.6 kilograms of fentanyl that was 68 to 79 per cent pure. He was also carrying three cellphones.
His Tesla was also searched, and $10,000 cash in $100 bills was found in the centre console. In the trunk was another $37,800 in a shopping bag, and two one-kilogram bricks of cocaine that were 92 to 94 per cent pure. Also found in the Tesla were two more cellphones and a conducted energy weapon described as a jolt stun baton.
Conrad was arrested on March 21, 2023, but was released without charges. A year later, a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was arrested again on March 19, 2024, and has remained in custody since then.
In his ruling, Justice Majawa noted that Conrad had “a very challenging upbringing,” adding: “Both his parents suffered from addiction, and by age 11 he and his siblings had been apprehended by the Ministry. I am told that Mr. Conrad did not have a stable home after his apprehension, and it appears that he was separated from at least some of his siblings at this time. Mr. Conrad’s first engagement with the criminal justice system occurred at around age 11 when he was caught breaking into the group home where his sisters were residing.”
Justice Majawa also noted Conrad’s “significant criminal history” of 28 convictions: four counts of breaches, 10 of property offences, four of assaults or offences against a person, five driving offences and five counts for drug offences. The last stretched from 2001 to 2008, and “related to the trafficking of cocaine from British Columbia to New Brunswick and the purchase of multi kilograms of cocaine as part of a larger trafficking conspiracy,” he said.
The justice noted that, in addition to the record being an aggravating factor in the latest case, so too was the amount and purity of fentanyl.
“The quantity of fentanyl in this case can be fairly described as enormous,” he said. “The 15.6 kilograms of fentanyl was of a high purity and it would almost certainly have destroyed a very large number of lives.”
He added: “The highly pure fentanyl that Mr. Conrad was involved in trafficking would typically be diluted with cutting agents; and considering that the typical user would consume approximately 0.1 grams of fentanyl at a time, the number of doses to be produced from the nearly 16 kilograms of fentanyl that Mr. Conrad was involved in trafficking is nothing short of staggering. The pernicious effects of cocaine that erode the health and safety of Canadian communities should also not be overlooked, and the profit that would arise from the eventual street-level sale of the quantities of cocaine and fentanyl in this case are of a very significant magnitude.”
Conrad was sentenced to 11 years for the possession of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking, and seven years for the possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. The sentences are to be served concurrently. In addition, Conrad received a credit of 683 days for the 455 days spent in pre-sentence custody, at a rate of 1.5 days for each day in custody, to be applied against the 11-year sentence.
Justice Majawa concluded: “Mr. Conrad, I wish you success in your journey towards your rehabilitation.”
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.
Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson has announced $21.5 million in federal funding for five Alberta projects that aim to lower the cost of capturing and storing carbon dioxide emissions.
The federal minister of Indigenous services says her government plans to reintroduce legislation to ensure First Nations’ rights to clean drinking water — despite calls from Alberta and Ontario for it to scrap the bill altogether.
JERUSALEM — Life in Israel has returned to normal following the
. Yet, amid this abrupt peace, many Israelis are now demanding that their government go a step further and end the war in Gaza, too, so that the hostages held by Hamas can be brought home safely.
Two days after the ceasefire took hold, I wandered the streets of Jerusalem
and found them bustling, as though Iran’s missile barrages had only been a fever dream. Pop-up markets had already returned, with vendors hawking clothes, books and esoteric miscellanea in white tents beneath the withering sun.
“Everybody’s having fun. It’s amazing right now. You know, it’s getting back to normal,” said Obada, a 21-year-old service worker, as he smiled behind a pair of sunglasses: “You can come over here, give us a visit. You’re all welcome.”
Down the street, four young religious students were chatting over plates of food. “Two days ago, this place was empty. Everything was closed. It was basically a ghost town,” said Isaac Blau, one of the boys, gesticulating wildly. Although he was “extremely happy” with the ceasefire, he remained nervous about the possibility that Iran had retained some its enriched uranium.
“There was no point of the war if they didn’t destroy the nuclear sites,” he said, adding that, if Tehran was not properly defanged, then Israel’s soldiers “still have more work to do.”
Aran, a restaurant owner, was eager to see his business fully reopen. “I think it’s enough. We did the damage that we needed to do. We showed them that we won’t accept any nuclear program over there,” he said.
In contrast, Yair, a merchant who sells touristic trinkets, wanted the war to continue, arguing that it was shortsighted to prioritize economic revitalization if that allowed Iran to develop nuclear weapons. He emphasized that Iranians are “very good people” whom he loves, but condemned their fundamentalist government as “crazy.”
“It’s a ceasefire, not the end of the war,” said Elisheva Klein, a middle-aged Israeli-American woman, as she finished eating a hamburger. She was “shocked” and “not happy” about the ceasefire, and said that her grandchildren were finding it difficult to return to school after living in fear of Iran’s attacks. “I believe that we have to finish this, and we’re going to because we’re united and we’re strong, and we’re going to get rid of every evil that comes against us and the whole free world,” she said.
A group of teenagers hanging out on a restaurant patio were eager to share their opinions.
“The attacks were 100 per cent right, because we want to be safe from Iran, and we also want the Iranian people to be free from their very oppressing government,” said 16-year-old Yotam. He had initially assumed that the ceasefire was “fake news,” given a
recent deluge of online disinformation
, and, although he was happy to see hostilities end, he nonetheless felt “very angry and sad that the war in Gaza is still going.”
14-year-old Tania also supported the strikes on Iran, but worried that they had made people “kind of forget about the war in Gaza.” She was concerned about the
hostages still being held by Hamas
, and was distressed about the well-being of Palestinian civilians who “are getting hurt and killed every day.” Her friend, Masha, concurred: “It’s not gonna be normal until the hostages will come back from Gaza.”
They directed me to a table crowded with older students, where I met 18-year-old Itamar, who will soon be commencing his mandatory military service. “We did what we have to did, and we did it fast. We did it quickly. We didn’t hurt that much people, and we stick to the mission,” he said proudly. Yet, he believed that the Islamic Republic would inevitably attack again — perhaps in 20 or 30 years.
“If Iran stops all the war all over the world, the civilians in Iran can live a wonderful life, and they can do whatever they want. They have a lot of money. They have a big space. They have good people — very smart people. If they want, they can live a wonderful life,” he said.
Two days later, tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in
to rally in support of Hamas’ captives. These weekly demonstrations had begun shortly after October 7th, but were paused during the conflict with Iran, when public gatherings were banned. The crowds this evening were noticeably larger than they
— an ocean of discontent that stretched as far as one could see.
“We were patient for two weeks, and now that the threat is gone, we know that this is the time to fight back as hard as we can and demand that all the hostages be back and to end the war,” said Lee Hoffmann Agiv, a social activist.
According to her, many volunteers who normally advocate for the hostages temporarily pivoted towards helping families impacted by the Iran war instead — for example: by gathering essentials for those who’d lost their homes. However, Agiv and her colleagues tried to keep the hostages on the national agenda during this period, often by using social media. “We did our best in making the families feel like they’re not forgotten, and to be with them and to send the message that we think about them all the time,” she said.
Or Keshet, another demonstrator, found it “depressing” that no Gazan ceasefire had been signed, and believed that “political, cynical motivations” were causing the Israeli government to unnecessarily prolong the war. “You know, the Iran war took 12 days, and after 12 days, the war was finished. The war in Gaza is lasting already, you know, 631 days. It doesn’t make sense,” he said.
Shai and Gil Dickmann — a brother and sister duo whose cousin remains in captivity — were similarly disapproving of the government’s prosecution of the war. They believed that if Israel could sign a ceasefire with Iran, wherein the Ayatollah remained in power, then
the same could be done in Gaza
, too. Perhaps fully eradicating Hamas was not strictly necessary.
“For 12 days, the square was empty, and people were focused on the war with Iran, and right now to see it full of people, that means that we hadn’t forgotten about the hostages, and they should know that we will not give up until they’re all home,” said Gil.
In the rally’s epicentre was a stage where the family members of the remaining hostages, bearing photos of their loved ones, gave speeches condemning the ongoing war in Gaza. Their words were broadcast on large screens dispersed throughout the area. Attendees watched intently, sometimes with tears in their eyes.
A father of one of the remaining hostages took to the stage, lambasting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “The history books will not forget if you do not bring back all the hostages, even if you think victory of Iran will supersede your responsibility to October 7th and the death of 1,000s of Israelis and hundreds of hostages. We want all of them now! Bring them home, now!”
The Trump administration has since
as well, which would see most of the hostages returned and control over Gaza transferred to a consortium of Arab states. While Israel has accepted these terms, Hamas reportedly remains undecided, lest it lose its grip on power.
National Post
A northern Ontario First Nation has completed a four-day demonstration that slowed down traffic on the Trans-Canada Highway, as it protests fast-tracked federal and provincial legislation designed to speed up mining and development.
Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg Chief Louis Kwissiwa says they demonstrated alongside Highway 17 to show their disapproval of the federal Bill C-5 and the provincial Bill 5.
The federal legislation that passed recently is designed to speed up major projects deemed to be in the “national interest.”
A provincial law goes further and gives cabinet the power to suspend provincial and municipal laws in so-called special economic zones in order to speed up projects such as mines.
Both levels of government want to mine the mineral-rich Ring of Fire region but the new laws have sparked outrage among many First Nations who say they trample their rights and ignore their concerns, and who have warned of blockades.
Kwissiwa says the community is pro development, but it does not feel respected by both levels of government in how they went about creating the two pieces of legislation.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 4, 2025.
Liam Casey, The Canadian Press
