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EV chargers in Ottawa.

OTTAWA

— Less than two weeks after the Liberal cabinet was sworn in, the presidents of the five major automakers appealed directly to Prime Minister Mark Carney, requesting him to “urgently” repeal the federal zero-emission vehicle sales mandate, warning of industry-wide repercussions if it is not. 

More than two months later, and with no public indication as to whether the government will listen, frustration is only building, says Brian Kingston, president and CEO of the

Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, which sent the May 26 letter and represents Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis. 

The letter was signed by Ford Canada CEO Bev Goodman, General Motors Canada President Kristian Aquilina, Honda Canada President and CEO Dave Jamieson, as well as Stellantis Canada CEO Jeff Hines and Toyota Canada President and CEO Cyril Dimitris.

“If the mandate is not urgently repealed, it will inflict serious damage on automakers, the dealership network, and the hundreds of thousands of Canadians employed in the sector,” the letter reads.

Kingston said the fact that all five CEOs signed their names was noteworthy and speaks to how pressing they view the matter.

“When all five CEOs of the (original equipment manufacturers) that build and employ Canadians write in on a single issue, that signifies the level of urgency regarding the (electric vehicle) mandate.”

A response from the Prime Minister’s Office has not yet been returned. Back in July, Carney met with several of the auto CEOs to discuss the ongoing trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has targeted the auto industry with tariffs.

During the meeting, they raised the need to revoke the mandate.

In the private letter, which was sent to other ministers and government officials, and released to National Post under federal access-to-information legislation, the five automakers outline their commitments to electrification and cite the “tens of billions” of investments announced in Canada.

It points out that Canadians have access to more than 100 different types of zero-emission vehicles and that Transport Canada’s figures show the availability of these vehicles to be “meeting or exceeding” consumer demand.

The letter states that despite these efforts, electric vehicle sales have plummeted, referencing the latest available Statistics Canada figures for March, which showed sales fell to around 6.5 per cent of total vehicle sales.

In the first quarter of this year, 
Statistics Canada recorded zero-emission vehicle sales
 in Canada, representing 8.7 per cent of new vehicle registrations, down 23 per cent from the previous year.

The CEOs said the drop was “in direct response” to the federal and provincial governments either “weakening or eliminating purchase incentive programs that had been supporting demand.” Ottawa ended its program back in January, as did Quebec, which has since introduced a rebate.

Flavio Nienow, a

spokesman for Transport Canada, the department responsible for developing the rebate, said in a statement that the government “

understands that the higher purchase price of (electric vehicles) remains a key barrier to mass zero-emission vehicle adoption.” 

Laura Scaffidi, a spokeswoman for Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland, said the government was looking at ways to reintroduce a rebate of up to $5,000, but did not provide a timeline. 

In their letter from May, the CEOs cast doubt on the ability of a new rebate to cause electric vehicle sales to make a turnaround, citing other challenges such as “natural consumer demand,” as well as the lack of infrastructure and challenges around affordability and slow adoption by commercial and government sectors.

These factors combined “make the current targets unrealistic and unattainable.” The letter requests that the mandate be repealed, given there was “no longer a pathway” to reach its first target of seeing 20 per cent of new vehicle sales be zero-emission vehicles by 2026.

Transport Canada defines a zero-emission vehicle as a fully electric, plug-in battery hybrid, or one powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

The mandate, which the federal government formalized in 2023 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the transportation sector, sets out sales targets companies must hit, beginning with 20 per cent in 2026 and then rising to 60 per cent by 2030 before hitting 100 per cent by 2035.

“Given the impending 20 per cent requirement for 2026, the federal mandate is already forcing automakers to either limit combustion engine (ICE) and hybrid vehicle sales in Canada, or purchase credits from automakers like Tesla that do not produce vehicles in Canada,” the letter reads.

It warns that the regulation would result in lower vehicle sales and fewer jobs in the sector and higher prices for consumers.

“This will undermine consumer affordability and choice at a time of rising costs, limited demand, and growing uncertainty about infrastructure readiness.”

It argues that existing regulations for greenhouse gas emissions would drive the transition to electric vehicles and provide more flexibility.

Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin and other ministers have been meeting with industry to discuss their concerns, with Dabrusin’s office saying it was exploring “flexibility.”

Spokeswoman Jenna Ghassabeh reiterated that position in a new statement, saying the government was engaging with industry to ensure measures “reflect times we are in.”

Kingston, who met with Dabrusin last month, said the minister appears committed to the policy.

He said some at Environment Canada have been “pushing back” against their concerns that the matter is urgent.

“We need a clear public signal that it will be repealed, or automakers are going to continue to have to make disastrous choices, which is restricting vehicle sales and buying credits from Tesla.”

National Post

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Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau waits to appear as a witness before public hearings at the CRTC in Gatineau, Que., Wednesday, April 17, 2019.

OTTAWA — The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is taking so long to decide whether Quebecor’s online radio station can continue to broadcast on 99.5 FM in Montreal that Cogeco Communication is threatening to sue the federal agency to speed things up.

In a letter sent Monday to the CRTC’s secretary general and obtained by National Post, Cogeco accused the commission of “not ensuring the proper progress” in the file, not “assuming the responsibilities incumbent upon it” and “not fulfilling its duty towards the public and the Canadian broadcasting system.”

Moreover, it states that both companies involved in broadcasting the station are operating in an “illegal situation.” Quebecor replied in its own letter on Wednesday, accusing Cogeco of making “false and defamatory statements about Quebecor Media, baselessly accusing it of multiple violations and of operating illegally.”

It all started a year ago when Quebecor, Quebec’s largest media empire and owner of powerful news outlets such as Le Journal de Montréal and TVA, announced the broadcast of its QUB digital radio programs on 99.5 FM, owned by Leclerc Communication.

The deal raised some eyebrows at the time in the industry. When it launched QUB Radio in 2018, Quebecor announced it was “the new way to do radio.” The company had long been aiming for a breakthrough in Montreal’s lucrative and cutthroat radio market.

In fact, the CRTC had already blocked Quebecor from entering the Montreal radio market in the past. In 2008, it prohibited single companies from owning newspapers, television and radio stations in the same market.

So, Quebecor turned to an unregulated digital platform.

Until August 2024 when QUB’s most popular talk radio shows then became available on a conventional weekday radio frequency, resulting in the demise of music station WKND 99.5 FM.  This was without requiring regulatory approval.

“This agreement is solely a programming agreement providing for live, simultaneous rebroadcast of the QUB radio station’s programming on the 99.5 FM frequency, Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.,” said Quebecor’s vice president of regulatory and environmental affairs Peggy Tabet in a letter to the CRTC.

Leclerc Communication’s license stipulates that it is required to broadcast a majority of hours of French-language vocal music on weekdays. The company claims to be meeting its obligations but the CRTC recently challenged this claim in a letter after receiving complaints.

Quebec’s music industry

criticized the change while competitors argued that the move was outright illegal.

Cogeco and Bell Media, the two most important players in the market, asked the CRTC to enforce its regulatory requirements regarding concentrated media ownership and wants the commission to “recognize that the agreement between Quebecor and Leclerc contravenes the CRTC’s multi-media ownership policy” and that it “issues an order prohibiting Quebecor and Leclerc from broadcasting the programming of QUB Radio (…) in prime time.”

Since the complaint was filed, stakeholders from across Canada have taken an interest in this matter, generally in favour of Cogeco and Bell.

“As a smaller market private broadcaster operating AM and FM radio stations across the prairies, these developments are concerning to Golden West,” wrote Golden West Broadcasting Ltd. vice-president Robin Hildebrand 

in a submission to the CRTC.

“If the commission fails to act, it will shake the confidence of broadcasters in the fair, transparent and timely enforcement of the rules and regulations governing our private broadcasting system,” he added.

Gordon Rawlson from Rawlco Radio in Saskatchewan also supported Cogeco.

On the other hand, Quebecor Media “firmly believes that the programming agreement… is in the public interest of Quebecers and promotes diversity by adding a new voice to over-the-air radio in a largely globalized news market.”

The union representing the workers at Cogeco said it is “concerning to see a digital broadcaster whose current operations are not subject to CRTC regulation circumvent the commission’s regulatory framework.”

“Our position on this matter has been clear and consistent since the day this agreement was publicly announced: we rigorously comply at all times with all of our regulatory obligations and licensing conditions,” said Leclerc Communication’s spokesperson Stéphanie Friess.

These stakeholders are now awaiting a decision. In an email exchange with National Post, CRTC spokesperson Leigh Cameron said a decision would be issued in due course.

The application was filed in November and comments officially opened in December.

“Since then, the CRTC has received a series of extension and confidentiality requests from multiple parties,” added Cameron.

But Cogeco’s patience is running out. In the letter obtained by National Post, Paul Cowling, the company’s chief legal and corporate affairs officer, writes that competitors are losing revenue because of this business agreement and that the CRTC is taking too long to act.

“This inertia is unfounded, unreasonable and harms the entire Canadian media ecosystem, while Quebecor and Leclerc continue to blatantly ignore the regulations put in place by the commission,” he wrote.

The CRTC did not respond to National Post’s questions regarding a possible lawsuit.

If the regulator does not issue a decision within 30 business days, Cogeco intends to file an application for a writ of mandamus with the Federal Court of Appeal, which would speed up the process and force a decision from the CRTC.

“As the Council shirks its obligations and responsibilities, this legal avenue seems particularly opportune to us,” wrote Cowling.

Meanwhile, Quebecor is asking the CRTC “to categorically and expeditiously dismiss the baseless application to prohibit Quebecor Media and Leclerc from broadcasting QUB content on 99.5 FM.”

National Post

atrepanier@postmedia.com

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Howard Stern at a basketball game between the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 27, 2011.

The Howard Stern Show, which has been on the air now for more than 40 years, first on terrestrial radio and since 2005 on SiriusXM satellite radio, is said to be on the verge of ending.

Reports in

Britain’s tabloid The Sun

and elsewhere say that the host’s latest five-year contract expires in the fall, but that it won’t be renewed.

“Stern’s contract is up in the fall and while Sirius is planning to make him an offer, they don’t intend for him to take it,” an unnamed insider told the paper. “Sirius and Stern are never going to meet on the money he is going to want. It’s no longer worth the investment.”

The insider added that Sirius may strike a deal for Stern’s library of content. “But as far as him coming back to doing the show, there’s no way they can keep paying his salary.”

A separate source said Stern’s political leanings may be a factor in the cancellation.

“If Sirius isn’t going to give Stern a good offer, I don’t think it would have anything to do with his ratings,” the source said. “It’s more likely everything to do with the political climate.”

The source added: “After you saw what happened with Stephen Colbert, it’s like they just can’t afford to keep him going.”

The comparison is an apt one. Colbert, host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, was told last month that the show would end in May 2026. It was a move that many — not least

Donald Trump himself

— suggested was influenced by Colbert’s criticism of the now U.S. president over the years.

Similarly, Stern has in recent years become openly critical of Trump. In 2020 he

called on Trump to resign

from his first term as president for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. When Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. mocked him, he sarcastically referred to the the younger Trump as a “wit” and a “genius.”

And in 2023, Trump

posted on social media

that “The real Howard Stern is a weak, pathetic, and disloyal guy, who lost his friends and MUCH of his audience.” He added: “I did his show many times in the good old days, and then he went Woke, and nobody cares about him any longer.”

Stern’s radio persona has evolved over the decades. Originally known as a “shock jock” broadcaster — his move to SiriusXM was in part a way to get away from the censorship regulations of terrestrial radio — he gradually became a more serious and politically savvy interviewer.

Guests

on his show

have included U.S. President Joe Biden, who gave his first on-air interview while in office to Stern in April 2024, and U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris, who spoke to him last October, just weeks before the nation went to the polls.

Stern, 71, got his start on radio in the late 1970s, with The Howard Stern Show beginning in 1981 on WWDC, a radio station near Washington, D.C. It moved to WNBC in New York the following year, and in 1985 landed at WXRK, where it stayed until its move to SiriusXM in 2005.

Stern signed a US$500-million contract with Sirius the following year, and his contracts with the platform over the last two decades are estimated to be between US$80 million and US$100 million a year.

Amid all the rumours, Stern

made a surprise

appearance (the show was on summer hiatus) on Wednesday to talk to Lars Ulrich of Metallica about the death of Ozzy Osbourne, and a new Metallica channel on SiriusXM. The topic of cancellation did not arise.

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


U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King waves to supporters 28 August 1963 during the

A Florida city got a surprise last week when a new statue of Martin Luther King Jr. was unveiled.

The responses have ranged from polite to outright dismissive. “It doesn’t look like him,” Winter Park resident Nora Koenecke told NBC News.

It was unveiled during the annual Heritage Unity Festival and the backlash has flooded social media, reports

The Root

, with residents saying the statue has a cartoonish vibe, awkward proportions, and a face that looks nothing like Dr. King.

“A Florida community is outraged after an unflattering statue of Martin Luther King Jr was unveiled in their city,” reads an Instagram post made on Tuesday.

“It looks awkward. It just didn’t look up to the standards that Winter Park is so well known for,” Jonathan Blount, co-founder of Essence magazine, told Florida TV station,

WESH 2 News

. Blount underscored local dissatisfaction, saying the statue appeared to be more of a caricature of Dr. King than a proper depiction of the iconic civil rights leader.

The artist who created the controversial piece is Andrew Luy of Huntsville, Alabama. He was selected by a committee of members from the city’s arts and parks communities. The design was approved by the King family prior to its installation, he said in his defence.

“The feedback I got from the committee and also the majority, actually all of the attendees that came to the unveiling, was greatly positive,” Luy told

People Magazine

. “I didn’t have direct contact with the King estate, but from what I heard, they were very happy with the representation of the sculpture of Dr. King.”

“Do it over,” insisted Blount. “I mean, it just isn’t good enough for a permanent lifelong representation of someone who is so important to our history,” he said, even suggesting he would help raise money for a redo.

Winter Park’s mayor, Sheila DeCiccio, acknowledged the concerned feedback from residents during a city council meeting and also highlighted the funds that have already been spent.

“Maybe it just didn’t come out the way everybody had hoped it would,” she said. “I don’t know that there’s anything we can do about it at this point, because it was a very big investment.”

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 pile of pistachios is shown in this image.

Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens more became sick with salmonella in Canada after consuming pistachios or products containing pistachios.

Between early March and mid-July, a total of 52 cases of salmonella were confirmed in Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec, according to

a notice published this week

from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Salmonella

is a foodborne bacterial disease that affects the intestinal tract.

Many of the people who became infected said they ate pistachios or food with pistachios in it, like Dubai-style chocolate — a chocolate bar with a filling made of pistachios and kadayif, or chopped filo pastry. Those who became sick ranged in age from two to 89 years old. A third of them were female, per the agency.

Dubai-style chocolate bars gained

popularity over the summer

, with videos of people enjoying the treat showing up on social media. They became so ubiquitous that they were even blamed for causing a global shortage of pistachios,

The Guardian reported

earlier this year.

“The outbreak strains of Salmonella that made people sick were found in samples of the recalled Habibi brand pistachios,”  per the health agency.

Pistachios from

Habibi

were recalled on July 24 due to salmonella. Five days later, products from

Al Mokhtar Food Centre

were recalled due to possible contamination. Then, on Aug. 4, pistachio and knafeh milk chocolate bars from the brand

Dubai

, were also recalled for the same reason.

 52 people have fallen ill in a nationwide Salmonella outbreak linked to pistachio and pistachio products, said the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Although the products were distributed in Ontario and Quebec, some of the items were available for purchase online and some of the recalled pistachios may have also been used in baked goods.

Salmonella may not cause an infected person to feel sick. However, for those who do get sick, symptoms typically start between six to 72 hours after exposure, according to Public Health, and stop after four to seven days. “For this outbreak, the illness reporting period is between 15 and 55 days after illness onset,” the health agency said.

Symptoms include chills, fever, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach cramps and a sudden headache.

Most people recover on their own, but some require hospitalization. Salmonella can have long-lasting effects on health and can even lead to death.

 A salmonella outbreak in Canada has been linked to three products including Habibi brand pistachio kernels, Al Mokhtar Food Centre pistachios, and Dubai brand Pistachio and Knafeh milk chocolate.

It can be transmitted from person to person several days or several weeks after infection, even without symptoms.

Those who are most at risk for serious illness are older adults, young children, pregnant women, and those with weakened immune systems.

Public Health advises individuals, retailers, distributors and other establishments, including grocery stores, pharmacies, bakeries and cafes in Canada, to throw out any of the recalled products. They can also be returned to the location where they were purchased.

Those who have been infected with salmonella should not cook food for others, Public Health says.

The agency said the number of Canadians infected is likely much higher than the 52 cases that have been confirmed. Those with mild symptoms who don’t go to the doctor would not be tested, and therefore not included in the data.

For each case of reported salmonella, researchers estimates there are 26 more cases that go unreported.

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Palestinians struggle to obtain donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 9, 2025.

Jerusalem — During a visit to Tallinn, Estonia, on Wednesday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog used a joint press appearance with Estonia’s president to call out what he described as Hamas-led propaganda efforts, citing recent investigative reports from leading German newspapers that revealed “staged” images from Gaza.

Herzog contrasted these fabricated scenes with the very real suffering of Israeli hostages, exposing what he called Hamas’ “hypocrisy and manipulation.”

Standing alongside President Alar Karis at the Estonian Presidential Palace, Herzog held up two photos: one of Israeli hostage Eviatar David, a Nova music festival attendee now emaciated after months in captivity; and another of Rom Breslavsky, who appeared in a recent Hamas video. Herzog juxtaposed these with a now-controversial image from Gaza showing Palestinians holding empty pots in front of a food distribution centre.

“It was all staged,” Herzog said. “There was food in the next room — the hostages who escaped from tunnels told us this. The captors are not starving. Our people are.”

His remarks follow revelations from the Süddeutsche Zeitung, which published an exposé on Hamas’ use of staged imagery to sway international opinion. According to the investigation, professional photographers — some working with international news agencies — were found directing civilians to pose with empty pots and in fabricated scenarios meant to convey starvation. “At least some of the images were presented in a false or misleading context,” the paper concluded.

One such photographer identified by Bild was hired by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency. The photographer, according to the report, regularly posts anti-Israel content on social media, including expletive-laden messages and calls to “Free Palestine.” His photographs have been published in major outlets such as the BBC and CNN.

“Why are German and international news agencies continuing to use his images when many are clearly biased or staged?” Bild asked.

The manipulation of war photography triggered alarm within Germany’s press circles. The German Journalists’ Association (DJV) issued a statement warning of “manipulation attempts through professionally produced press photography.”

DJV Chair Mika Beuster noted that “all parties involved in this war — including media and intelligence services — are using the power of imagery like never before to shape public perception.”

A historian and visual documentation expert interviewed by Süddeutsche Zeitung added that while not all such images are outright fakes, they are often “positioned a certain way or paired with misleading captions that tap into our visual memory and emotions.”

Herzog urged the international community to resist falling for such distortions. “We do not deny the humanitarian need in Gaza,” he said, “but we ask the world not to fall for Hamas’ lies. Condemn Hamas and tell them: You want to move forward? Release the hostages.”

He emphasized that Israel has drastically increased its humanitarian aid efforts, saying: “In the last week alone, we’ve brought in 30,000 tons of aid — 30 tons by air yesterday alone. The UN has almost 800 trucks they could distribute — and failed to do so. So a lot could have been done.”

special report

by The Press Service of Israel on Thursday found that according to the UN’s own numbers, a staggering 85 per cent of the aid entering the Gaza Strip by truck since May 19 has been stolen. The investigation found that a combination of black market profiteers and inflation have made much of the aid in Gaza markets unaffordable for most Palestinians.

Palestinian sources inside Gaza told TPS-IL that much of the food in the markets originated from international aid for months — including American shipments — but is resold at inflated prices, sometimes 300 per cent. Basic staples like flour and rice, originally meant for free distribution, are reportedly diverted to private vendors.

One Palestinian in Gaza City told TPS-IL: “The flour — when it enters Gaza, they steal it. And now they’re going to raise the price from 30 to 60 shekels ($8.80 to $17.70). It’s unbelievable.”

Professor Eytan Gilboa, an expert in international relations and media at Reichman University in Herzliya, told TPS-IL, “There is some hunger in Gaza, and it exists only in places Hamas is pursuing it, not in other areas.”

In 2024, experts told TPS-IL that two Gaza-based Palestinian freelance journalists committed war crimes by entering Israel during Hamas’s October 7 massacres.

Approximately 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage, in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 50 remaining hostages, around 30 are believed to be dead.


Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages Steven Guilbeault walks behind Prime Minister Mark Carney.

OTTAWA

— As the federal Liberal government publicly rejected the idea of splitting CBC and Radio-Canada, Canadian Heritage officials pondered whether it was worth exploring, a newly released document shows. 

The controversial question was raised when officials prepared a set of worksheets for members of an advisory committee appointed by the former minister to provide input on the future of the public broadcaster.

The document, released to National Post under federal access-to-information legislation, contains around 40 preliminary “discussion questions” that were drafted by officials to “serve as a point of departure for developing these worksheets,” which centred around the themes of CBC/ Radio-Canada’s funding, mandate, and governance.

It contained four “other potential questions,” which included the one about splitting its structure.

“Is there a case for considering a structural separation between CBC and Radio-Canada (e.g., with distinct funding, boards and leaders, etc.)? Why or why not? What would be the benefit and drawbacks of such a model,” officials wrote in the undated document, prepared between December 2023 and May 2024 for Pascale St-Onge, the former minister of Canadian Heritage, who did not seek re-election.

In a statement, a department spokeswoman did not directly say whether that issue was ultimately proposed or why officials raised it, but said the former minister met with the advisory committee to discuss “a range of questions” dealing with the public broadcaster, from its funding to transparency and programming.

Those meetings informed a set of reforms the former minister proposed back in February, where she did raise the need to better emphasize the separation between CBC and Radio-Canada, at least editorially.

Other “potential questions” included how often the corporation’s mandate should be reviewed, whether “public-value tests” were necessary to assess the impact of new initiatives over concerns about competing for audiences, and how timely it was to still have a “single national public broadcaster,” versus a more decentralized model.

The current CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, Marie-Philippe Bouchard sat on the advisory panel before she was appointed to her role, but spokesman Leon Mar said in an email they understood that advisory committee members “

committed to keeping their discussions confidential — it was a condition of their participation.”

He deferred questions to Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault’s office. 

A spokeswoman for Guilbeault said the “close collaboration” between CBC and Radio-Canada was important to deliver programming and pointed to how they share resources.

“For these reasons, separating the two is not on the table,” Hermine Landry said in a statement.

“We are currently working on our plan to strengthen CBC/Radio-Canada, and will have more to say in the near future.”

Jeffrey

Dvorkin, a former CBC Radio managing editor and longtime public broadcasting executive, who is now retired, said the idea of splitting the corporation was “radical” and that many would likely see it as “an admission of defeat.” 

“On the other hand,” he said in an interview, “Radio-Canada is a much more acceptable and popular, and successful organization compared to CBC television.” 

He added that he would not outright dismiss the idea and thinks “it needs to be explored.”

I think that what’s necessary now is for a mandate to be more adventuresome and more creative than they have been. My sense is that the CBC is running scared.”

Discussions around the feasibility of splitting the corporation have emerged in light of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s pitch to “defund” CBC while promising to maintain Radio-Canada, which Liberals, including the former minister, said would lead to job losses.

The corporation has said that

changes would be needed to the Broadcasting Act,

which specifies that its mandate is to provide services in both official languages.

While Poilievre himself has never outright called for separation, one of his Quebec MPs, Joel Godin, told La Presse Canadienne at the time that it would be easier to cut CBC if Radio-Canada were its own Crown corporation.

In May 2024, the Bloc Québécois also sought assurances following a report by La Presse that a “modernization” plan the Crown corporation was advancing internally would not lead to a merger between the French and English programming wings.

Back in February, when St-Onge proposed her series of reforms, which were never advanced before Carney triggered an election in March, she called for “emphasis on the separation of French and English programming.”

A final report into her proposals elaborated that changes to the Broadcasting Act, “could emphasize the importance of the separation of editorial and programming decisions between CBC and Radio-Canada.”

It also argued that the English and French programming wings be “distinct” and meet the needs of the different communities, but underscored the need to keep the corporation as one.

“It is clear that a single organization provides a nationwide vision and a national approach while ensuring

administrative and operational efficiencies.”

Carney’s government has yet to advance the campaign promises he made to bolster the public broadcaster, which he emphasized was even more important for the Canadian institution in light of the ongoing trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly stated that he wants Canada to become its “51st state.”

While Carney adopted some of St-Onge’s ideas, he has dropped others. The spokeswoman for Canadian Heritage said efforts to modernize the broadcaster would be based on the Liberals’ platform. Nowhere in the document does it mention the issue of better emphasizing the separation between the French and English programming wings.

Carney during the platform panned Poilievre’s position on the broadcaster, saying “y

ou can’t split this baby.” 

While the former minister proposed bringing CBC/Radio-Canada’s per capita funding closer to the level that other countries fund public broadcasters — around $66 per year, up from the current $33 it costs Canadians each year — Carney has vowed to work towards that goal in the long term and pledged an “initial $150 million” upfront.

And while St-Onge proposed banning the corporation from running advertisements during newscasts, Carney’s plan would allow it to keep running ads

— generating another revenue source —

while also making it more difficult to unilaterally pull funding by enshrining in law that such changes would have to be approved by Parliament, not a government cabinet.

More stable funding has been a longstanding call of the corporation, which has said it is an outlier among its counterparts. It has seen declining revenues that led to a growing structural deficit of $36 million last year.

CBC/ Radio-Canada receives roughly $1.4 billion in annual funding, and in the 2024-25 budget, it received an extra $42 million, after warning it would have to cut jobs.

Trouble could still be brewing for the broadcaster under Carney’s request that all federal departments and Crown corporations come back with 15 per cent in “annual savings” over the next three years, which includes CBC/Radio-Canada.

“Such reductions will necessarily have an impact on programs and services, but we don’t have any information to share before the government’s decisions on potential reductions are announced,” said Mar.

-With files from La Presse Canadienne

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 politics newsletter, First Reading, here.


The unfortunate fish that is believed to have started a fire.

A fire that cut the power to a B.C. village has attracted international attention for its bizarre cause: a fish that fell from the sky.

Ashcroft Fire Rescue responded to a fire located six kilometres south of town last Wednesday, just before noon. With support from BC Hydro staff and local ranchers, firefighters were able to stop the fire from spreading and fully extinguish it.

The fire department said firefighters and ranchers used about 4,800 gallons of water to put out the fire.

After the flames were put out, crews discovered the unlikely source: a charred fish lying at the base of a utility pole.

“The only possible source of ignition out in this field was a Hydro pole, and so we went over to the pole, and there at the pole was a fish that had been charred,” said Josh White, Fire chief of Ashcroft Fire Rescue.

According to White, about half a kilometre south of the pole, there was an osprey nest, and inside the nest there was “an unhappy camper” looking at what was going to be his dinner.

It was determined that the fish was dropped by the osprey, a fish-eating bird of prey common in the area, who was bringing back its catch from the nearby river, which runs about three kilometres from the fire site.

When it fell, the fish hit the hydro line, causing embers to fall onto the dry grass below, and sparking a fire.

“We do suspect the size of the fish and the heat of the day probably caused the rather tired bird to drop its catch. Or another suspicion could be that it’s tired of raw fish and wanted to give cooked a try,” Ashcroft Fire Rescue joked in a colourful Facebook post that has more than a thousand likes, leading to stories by The New York Times, The New York Post, the U.K.’s The Independent and others.

White said that upon discovering what caused the fire, he was in disbelief. “It was kind of just like, ‘Oh my goodness, I can’t believe this just happened.’ So I went and wrote a funny story about it on Facebook thinking, you know, my typical 10 to 20 people give it the old thumbs up. I didn’t expect this to really go as far as it did.”

The fire temporarily knocked out power for Ashcroft and, according to White, it could have been really serious if they had winds that afternoon or if the people in the area hadn’t stepped up.

“The quick actions of the Hydros, through the Ashcroft ranch and the highways department, really helped big time in keeping that fire contained,” said White.

“I just wholeheartedly can’t say enough about the people that stopped, along with my fire department crew and our dispatching team, all these people made this work and we were able to have a successful win here.”

As for the culprit, on Aug.1, Ashcroft Fire Rescue released an update via their Facebook saying, “The suspect osprey has been caught and is being held in custody for questioning. The judge has not granted bail as the suspect poses an extreme….flight risk!”

Update: August 1 2025 4pm The suspect osprey has been caught and is beeing held in custody for questioning. The judge…

Posted by Ashcroft Fire Rescue on Wednesday, July 30, 2025

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Prime Minister Mark Carney greets employees after touring the Gorman Brothers Lumber sawmill and making an announcement, in West Kelowna, B.C. on Tuesday, August 5, 2025.

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney suggested Tuesday he is considering substituting or rescinding the Online News Act to ensure local news is disseminated wider and faster two years after Meta banned access to news on its platforms.
 

Carney made the unexpected suggestion while announcing over $1 billion in loan guaranteed and long-term supports for the softwood lumber industry at a mill in West Kelowna, B.C.
 

At the start of the news conference, Carney highlighted the brutal impact of wildfires this summer, including one that recently forced the evacuation of roughly 400 properties near West Kelowna.
 

Asked if his government is considering an alternative to the Online News Act — previously known as C-18 — or simply rescinding it so that Web giant Meta would lift its ban on news articles being shared on its platforms, Carney suggested that was “part of our thinking around” improving the reach of local media.

“This government is a big believer in the value of … local news and the importance of ensuring that that is disseminated as widely and as quickly as possible. So, we will look for all avenues to do that,” he said.
 

The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to questions about which avenues specifically the government is considering to improve the dissemination of local news.
 

Meta controversially banned news articles
from its Canadian users two years ago in response to the federal government’s Online News Act, which compels social media giants to negotiate revenue-sharing deals with news publishers for the use of their content.

The bill specifically impacted Meta and Google, though both have taken diametrically opposing routes to get exempt from the Act. The former banned news content outright on its platforms when the bill became law, while the latter signed a $100 million annual deal with Canadian publishers last year.
 

Meta has argued against the “false premise” that it benefits from free online news articles and says that media companies are the ones that benefit from sharing their content to Facebook and Instagram audiences.
 

Shortly after Meta barred Canadian news articles on Facebook and Instagram, then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the web giant of “putting corporate profits ahead of people’s safety”.
 

“Instead of making sure that local journalists are fairly paid for keeping Canadians informed on things like wildfires, Facebook is blocking news from its sites,”
he said in August 2023
.
 

“Right now in an emergency situation where up-to-date local information is more important than ever, Facebook’s putting corporate profits ahead of people’s safety, ahead of supporting quality local journalism,” he added.
 

During his press conference, Carney also reiterated his government’s campaign commitment to boost funding for CBC/Radio-Canada and change its governance so that it could provide “unbiased, immediate, local information” during crises such the ongoing B.C. wildfires.
 

During the campaign, Carney committed to boosting the public broadcaster’s funding by $150 million yearly.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

National Post

cnardi@postmedia.com 

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Mitchell Gray, 29, of Bracebridge, is wanted for murder

A manhunt was still underway Tuesday for a suspect in a triple murder investigation in Ontario’s Muskoka district, as questions emerged around why police, in lifting a shelter-in-place order, said there was no threat to public safety after earlier warning a potentially armed and dangerous person they believed had just shot someone and burned a house down remained on the loose.

Mitchell Gray, 29, a local man who knows the woods well, is wanted in connection with murder and arson after three bodies were discovered at a residence near Bracebridge, Ont., in the middle of prime cottage country, located about 185 kilometres north of Toronto.

When police responded to reports of shots fired at a home on Beatrice Town Line Road Friday night, they arrived to find one man dead in the driveway and the residence fully engulfed in flames, as well as outer buildings and vehicles.

Ontario Provincial Police issued a shelter-in-place order, advising local residents to get and stay indoors, lock all doors and windows and call 911 immediately if they encountered the suspect.

The OPP shared the advisory through social media and media releases.

An emergency alert system was not used, police told National Post Tuesday.

When the shelter-in-place order was lifted about four hours later, at 1:48 am Saturday, residents were advised that the “individual previously considered armed and potentially dangerous has not been located, but is not believed to pose an immediate threat to public safety.”

The next day, police reported that two more bodies had been discovered inside the torched house.

That left some concerned residents and cottagers alarmed. “Triple murder suspect is on the loose but there’s no threat to public safety? Do you even hear yourselves,” one person commented on an OPP Facebook page.

A law enforcement source, who spoke on the condition of not being identified, also said he found it “a little confusing” why police said there was no longer a threat to public safety when they did not have the suspect in custody.

“I don’t understand why the police said that. That doesn’t make sense to me. He’s not in custody, and they lifted it,” the source said.

“Was (the murder) a business thing? A family thing, and they don’t suspect he’s going to hurt anybody else?

“If that’s the case, that’s pretty weak, because when someone is running from police, they get desperate, and sometimes they do things that may not be really the kind of normal pattern,” the source said.

“Was the gun left there, so they’re not worried about him having a gun? Do they know he had only one gun? But that doesn’t mean he couldn’t get more guns. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a knife or an axe. I just find the whole thing bizarre,” the source said, adding that the incident, on the surface, has eerie echoes of Gabriel Wortman, the serial killer behind a devastating gun rampage in Portapique, N.S., in 2020, Canada’s deadliest mass killing. Wortman, who posed as an RCMP officer with a uniform and mocked up cruiser, killed 22 people; 13 were shot, and nine died in house fires.

In the Wortman case, police “kept finding more and more bodies, and people were hearing gunshots in neighbour’s houses,” the source said. Gray, the suspect in the Bracebridge homicides, “has just gone quiet since this occurred,” the source said.

“It’s not like Portapique. But it’s still weird. I’d be really interested to know what their thinking was when the dust settles on this.”

In a statement to National Post, an OPP spokesperson said the shelter in place order was initiated as a precaution while officers searched the area.

“It was lifted when the suspect was not found to be in the area,” Sgt. Joe Brisebois, of the OPP’s Central Region headquarters, wrote. “We never believed there were any threat to public safety since the incident was between individuals that were known to each other.”

The OPP “recognizes that major police operations can be concerning for those who live, work or travel in the area,” he said. “We understand the importance of keeping the public informed about police activity in their communities.”

Emergency alerts related to police are reserved for situations involving “an ongoing, urgent and significant threat to life that is neither isolated nor contained,” Brisebois said.

“Although the operation was active, it remained isolated and confined to a specific area under police control. As such, it did not meet the criteria for a broadcast intrusive emergency alert,” he said.

“While we were not authorized to issue a broadcast alert, the OPP shared timely updates with the public through social media and media releases,” Brisebois added.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Gray remained “outstanding,” he said, and the search was continuing. “We ask that anyone with information about this incident or his whereabouts to contact police or Crime Stoppers.”

On his Facebook page, last updated in April 2019, Gray described himself as a mechanic at Bracebridge Yamaha, but he hasn’t worked there since 2017. “It was before my time and actually the guys here never worked with him, either. The new owners never met him,” said service advisor Greg Williams.

“I was a bit shocked, to have that up here. Don’t usually get that stuff up here,” he said.

It could take weeks to identify the two bodies found inside the house gutted by fire. “Until the fire cooled off and they could get in there, they wouldn’t even know that there were more bodies inside,” the law enforcement source said.

“They’ve got the forensics around all three bodies. Who knows what else is in that outside scene, whether casings in the driveway, footprints in the mud. All that normal scene analysis would be occurring.

“And then the investigation into who he is and why this happened,” the source said.

“That’s part of the normal criminal investigation process: why, and who, and all the particulars around that to prove he did it. And then finding him.”

National Post

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