Police are investigating a suspected hate-motivated act following reports of several Israeli flags being set alight in Toronto on Wednesday morning.

Police have said that officers were called to the area of Sunrise Avenue and O’Connor Drive in North York at approximately 1:30 a.m., which is near Word of the Faith International Christian Centre.

A police spokesperson confirmed to National Post that the incident is currently being investigated by TPS’ Hate Crime Unit. There were no reported injuries and no arrests have been made at this time.

It comes on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.

Mayoral candidate and City Coun. Brad Bradford commented on the incident on social media, describing it in a post on X as “an act of intimidation.”

Early this morning, someone set Israeli flags on fire outside a church in North York. Police are investigating it as a hate-motivated offence. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

This was not a protest. It was an act of intimidation, aimed at the Jewish community and it seems,… https://t.co/0bKTE7mSM4

— Brad Bradford (@BradMBradford) October 7, 2026

“I’m thinking today of Jewish families across Toronto who have spent 3 years watching this kind of thing move closer to their homes, their schools and their synagogues, and who are tired of being told it’s being taken seriously while it keeps happening,” he wrote.

“Hate directed at any community is a threat to every community, and the people responsible for this need to be found and charged,” Bradford added.

• For Israelis, sexual atrocities of October 7 carry a long shadow
• Terry Newman: Three years of hate

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Three years after Hamas’s October 7 attacks, many Israelis continue to live with wounds that cannot always be photographed, fully described or easily discussed.

For survivors of sexual violence and those who witnessed the attacks, the task is no longer simply to compile a record of what occurred; it is to document the lasting harm. That is the focus of a new study expected from the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel (ARCCI) early next year.

The organization’s landmark February 2024 report – Silent Cry: Sexual Violence Crimes on October 7 – sought to assemble an early account of sexual and gender-based violence both during October 7, and after. The new research will examine the longer-term impact of trauma and the needs that remain unmet.

“We are trying to understand the impact of the sexual trauma — not only on direct victims, but also on first responders and other people,” said Orit Sulitzeanu, ARCCI’s executive director. “It is much wider than people may perceive.”

Sulitzeanu has led the independent NGO, an umbrella body for nine rape crisis centres, for more than a decade. She received the Rapport Prize in 2023 for documentation and advocacy following Oct. 7.

According to Sulitzeanu, the Canadian government has given her organization $1.5 million over three years.

The following interview with Sulitzeanu has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Q: Why does this work remain important three years later?

A: The process is very hard. You have to do it ethically when you approach survivors, relatives of survivors and first responders — everyone who was in touch with this trauma. It takes a long time.

For me, it is more important to get thorough, deep information. Some people find it very hard to talk about this issue. The first report was to understand what happened and the practices of Hamas. Now, the purpose is to understand the impact and the need.

Q: What does the public still misunderstand about the sexual violence of October 7?

A: Sexual trauma always raises the question: “Did it happen? Show me the evidence.” People ask for video clips or photographs. But that is absurd.

The survivors do not owe anybody anything. They only owe themselves the chance to recover. There was a clash between the well-being and mental health of survivors, and the demand — from foreign governments, journalists and others — for stories and evidence.

The stories belong to the survivors. Some survivors of sexual violence from Nova do not want to speak publicly. They do not want the stigma. That should be accepted and respected.

The public does not understand the scale, because it is not only direct victims, it’s survivors from captivity, Nova, the kibbutzim and the military. It is also first responders and people who handled bodies.

So what is clear, is the immense impact of the trauma on their lives. It’s not just sexual violence but what people saw. Things were severed and cut, like limbs, heads and breasts. Grenades were put in the intimate organs. It’s something that you can’t comprehend.

There are people whose lives have fallen apart. Divorce, suicide, unemployment, psychiatric hospitalization. Then there are relatives, their spouses and children, living with the consequences of post-trauma. It is hundreds of people affected.

Q: Has anything become clearer as more time has passed?

A: More stories have come out, particularly from people who were held captive, including men. At first, we were very worried about women, and did not speak enough about men. Over time, some men’s accounts of abuse emerged, too.

What has become clearest is the immense impact of trauma on people’s lives. We hear from survivors and witnesses who are in horrific mental situations and barely surviving. Human beings who saw such cruelty cannot simply return to themselves.

Q: Have Israel’s support systems caught up with the need?

A: There are many new NGOs that sprang up after October 7 to offer mental-health support and other assistance. But it is not enough.

The social-security system offers monthly payments and other support to people who cannot work, but it is not coping with the demand. Funds are limited. There are many people who cannot work, have divorced, have children, and are trying to survive.

Q: What have Israeli institutions done well — and what is still missing?

A: The health system — like therapists, hospitals, security personnel –- did sensitive work. They initially met and questioned released hostages. They were generally trauma-informed: they understood not to ask what did not need to be asked.

But three years later, what is hugely missing is a national initiative to help people navigate mental health, rehabilitation, employment and bureaucracy. If people do not have someone helping them through the system, they can hardly survive.

This will take a decade.

The forthcoming ARCCI study is intended to make that goal clearer. It’s not just what happened on October 7, but what happens afterward. It’s the effects on those who lived through it, those who witnessed it, and the systems now responsible with helping them.

Q: What do you make of the disbelief surrounding these accounts?

A: This story has become connected to bigger political arguments about Israel and Zionism. But atrocities are atrocities, whatever one’s politics. They should be examined first as human acts.

Sexual violence does not necessarily leave something a survivor can show the world. That makes it easier for people to place everything in apolitical context and say, “You are lying.” I think that is horribly sad.

• Israel’s referendum on October 7, Benjamin Netanyahu and much more
• ‘The war over the truth’: Documenting the rapes of October 7

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An advocacy group has released a dictionary full of terms that it says have been hijacked and misused, particularly for the past three years, since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

“The initiative emerges from a growing recognition that the erosion of language is not merely a semantic concern,” says Michal Cotler-Wunsh, the CEO of the International Legal Forum, the group behind the new online resource.

“When terms such as ‘genocide,’ ‘apartheid,’ ‘war crimes,’ and ‘crimes against humanity,’ are detached from their legal definitions and repurposed as political weapons, the consequences extend far beyond a specific conflict, article, post, or courtroom. The integrity of law itself is placed at risk.”

The dictionary not only defines the terms, but provides which countries the terms have been weaponized against. It provides real-world examples and examines how words have been misused. Its release falls on Oct. 7, the third anniversary of when Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 hostage.

Following the outbreak of the war, there has been an anti-Israel movement in the form of protests, antisemitic incidents and rallies to “honour martyrs” in Canada and across the world. Several university campuses in Canada housed encampments that demanded support for Israel come to an end and called the war a genocide.

The term genocide was coined in the aftermath of the Holocaust, when six million Jewish people were targeted and systematically murdered by the Nazi regime in Europe.

Genocide as defined in the 1948 Genocide Convention “requires the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group as such,” Cotler-Wunsh told National Post.

“That ‘intent’ is not a technicality. It is the legal distinction between genocide and other crimes.”

She said the attempt to “hijack” such terms is done to “demonize, delegitimize, and apply double standards to ‘the Jew’ among nations.”

“It has enabled the unleashing of this unconventional weapon, the ultimate lie in the ‘progressive’ antisemitism playbook: accusing Israel of genocide, even as it defends itself from openly declared genocidal intent launched with Hamas’s pre-meditated war crimes and crimes against humanity,” she said.

The term was used against Israel immediately after October 7, even before they responded to the attack, she added.

In a 2025 report and again in 2026, the United Nations accused Israel of committing genocide. Many experts and Jewish advocacy groups strongly denied that claim. In response, a statement from Israel said the report “relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others.”

The dictionary lists Canada as a country that the term genocide is weaponized against.

“Canada continues to embolden genocidal terror and tyranny,” said Cotler-Wunsh.

“War is hell. Tragedies occur, especially when that is the intent of those who deliberately and systematically hide amongst and below civilians. That is precisely why these terms and their equal and consistent application are vital.”

According to the International Legal Forum, the dictionary is intended to make vital legal principles and terms accessible to a broad audience.

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Americans once spent US$1 billion on prescription drugs from Canada, but new import rules might mean they no longer spend anything at all.

It’s the consequence of a new rule published in the U.S. Federal Register on June 24, which enforces an indefinite suspension of the de minimis exemption that allows imports valued at $800 or less to arrive through the international postal network without formal customs paperwork.

And it could result in millions of Americans who use foreign mail-order pharmacies, mostly from Canada, having their supply cut off, according to the Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA).

The text doesn’t specifically address prescription drugs, but it does say that formal entry is now required for any shipments regulated by Partner Government Agencies (PGA). This includes the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has historically used enforcement discretion for personal-use medicines, with the agency’s personal importation guidance explaining that some shipments of medication may be allowed if the quantity is no more than a three-month supply.

National Post spoke to Tim Smith, general manager at CIPA, which represents licensed Canadian pharmacies that ship to U.S. patients. He explained that the FDA policy “allows agents to use their discretion when a package is coming in for personal use in a quantity not exceeding 90 days,” and that this is the way the system has operated for the past 25 years. “What goes into effect on October 22 is a new system that is much more complicated,” he said.

This is because, in most cases, drugs purchased from other countries have not been approved for use and sale in the U.S. by the FDA, making them illegal to import. It means that, from Oct. 22, medications mailed from abroad will go through a customs process requiring a licensed customs broker and a financial guarantee.

“The understanding we have at this point is that the FDA is no longer going to exercise the discretion that they have done traditionally,” said Smith.

A 2020 study published in JAMA Network Open estimated that 2.3 million U.S. individuals who take prescription drugs bought them from outside the country to save money.

And while recent data on the value of these purchases is limited, a Congressional Research Report published in 2007 said that, in 2003 alone, U.S. consumers bought more than $1 billion in prescription drugs from Canada.

The demand is largely due to Canada having generally lower prices for prescription medication because of government price controls. Smith explained that Americans who purchase medication from Canada can expect to save 50 to 80 per cent on drugs like Eliquis, which prevents blood clots, and Crestor, which lowers cholesterol.

Meanwhile, the Campaign for Personal Prescription Importation (CPPI), an advocacy organization that campaigns for Americans’ access to prescription medications from Canada, recently published a price study comparing the cost of 10 commonly prescribed brand-name medications in the U.S. and Canada.

They found that American consumers could save an average of 65 per cent by purchasing these medications from licensed Canadian pharmacies. Savings were highest for Jublia, which is used to treat fungal infections and costs $2,422 for a 90-day supply, compared to $257.77 in Canada.

Xifaxan, which treats IBS, costs $11,919 for a 90-day supply in the U.S. compared to $2,325.78 in Canada, according to the CPPI study, while Rybelsus, which is prescribed for type 2 diabetes, cost $2,913 in the U.S. and $1,193.99 in Canada.

But Smith said that, following the rule change, CIPA expects the FDA to take a path of “complete enforcement” against all packages entering the U.S., meaning Americans should expect virtually all prescription orders mailed from Canada — and other international pharmacies — to be unable to reach them.

He is calling on the FDA, along with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), to assure the American public that their ability to purchase affordable medications for personal use will be maintained past Oct. 22.

Until then, CIPA is advising all U.S. patients to order refills before the deadline and start looking for alternative places to purchase their medication.

National Post has contacted the FDA and CBP for clarification, but did not receive a response before publication.

As for how the changes will impact Canadian online pharmacies, Smith says: “Because they’re in the mail order business for their service to the United States, some of our pharmacies have located themselves close to international mail facilities. As a result of that, they have less presence in neighbourhoods, shopping malls or areas where people live and would go to a pharmacy.”

He added that these pharmacies may need to make “adjustments” as a result of the change, but that all of CIPA’s members are licensed pharmacies in Canada and serve Canadians too, even if a large portion of their patients may be based in the U.S.

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After U.S. Customs and Border Protection was granted a temporary exemption allowing armed officers to move through Canadian waters, the leader of the First Nation whose territory abuts the Canada-U.S. border in the St. Lawrence River has served notice that they are “taking back” the waters.

“We’re not going to be asking permission,” Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (MCA) Grand Chief Leonard Lazore told National Post in an interview, noting work was underway to establish an internal framework and invest in the technology for the local police to protect the waters in partnership with the other Canadian and U.S. authorities.

“We’re taking over our waters. If we need any help, we’ll contact you. But until then, we have authority in here.”

In an email to National Post, a Public Safety Canada spokesperson said the temporary ministerial Firearms Act Exemption Order issued on Sept. 16 “will support the safe and effective management of a geographically and jurisdictionally complex border area while maintaining Canada’s commitment to strong border security and public safety.” They stressed that it does not authorize the U.S. officers to act as law enforcement in Canadian waters.

It does allow CBP officers “carrying firearms, which are to remain secured and covered,” to traverse approximately 2.8 kilometres of the St. Lawrence on the Canadian side of the border west of Kana:takon (St. Regis Village, Que.) to “the mouth of the St. Regis River for the sole purpose of reaching the U.S. portion” of the waterway in upstate New York, according to the PSC spokesperson.

While the waterway extends well into the state, Lazore said only the first couple of kilometres are deep enough and wide enough to be navigable by boat.

MCA consists of three northern districts — Kawehnò:ke (Cornwall Island, Ont.), Tsi Snaihne (The Snye) in southern Quebec, and Kana:takon, a Canadian exclave bisected by the border. It’s part of the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation on the U.S. side.

The order requires CBP to notify Canadian officials in writing two hours before the transit and stay within a “safe transit corridor defined by Canada, and at applicable speed limits.”

The spokesperson said these conditions “go well beyond those associated with standard U.S. transit arrangements elsewhere along” the border, noting 70 existing exemption orders that allow U.S. officers to travel over Canadian land or through waterways to reach U.S. land and execute their duties. PSC failed to provide a list of where those orders exist along the border, as requested.

Canadian law enforcement has “similar arrangements with the U.S.,” they explained.

“This interim approach is tailored to the specific circumstances of Akwesasne and should not be viewed as a broader change to border-management practices elsewhere along the Canada-U.S. border,” the official wrote.

The exemption began Oct. 1 and is due to expire on Dec. 31, which the spokesperson said “provides additional time for continued discussions with Indigenous partners throughout the winter.”

A CBP spokesperson wouldn’t divulge any details about their operations this fall, but said the ministerial order “underscores the advances the United States and Canada are making to further safety and security.”

Lazore alleged that community residents have reported that U.S. Coast Guard and border agents have long used the water to access the American side, but said both agencies deny the claim when challenged.

“They transit through all hours of the night,” he insisted. “They’re not authorized to do it, but they do.”

According to the House of Commons , while Canada has no legal requirement to obtain First Nations permission for government transit through shared waterways, the Navigable Waters Act requires the minister “to consider any adverse effects that decisions made under the Act may have on the rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

Lazore said the MCA and its members feel differently because they don’t consider themselves Canadian or U.S. citizens.

“We are citizens of our own nation,” he said, noting they’ve never relinquished that belief, even as Canada and the U.S. have been “trying to strip that away” through legislation and policies.

Lazore said the MCA wants the federal government to treat it like an equitable partner, not a patsy in conversation about tackling illegal entry, the trafficking of drugs, guns and people, and other border issues that have come to the fore as Canada and the U.S. have stepped up enforcement and patrols.

“The way we’ve seen it is Canada and the United States are not doing a good job,” he said.

He also accused Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree of folding “like a cheap Wal-Mart lawn chair” to the U.S. request at a time when Canada and the U.S. are at odds over a variety of issues.

“Then (he) turns around, throws us under the bus, allows border patrol in here, and when you give them an inch, they’re going to take a mile.”

Lazore said their situation should be a warning to other Canadians that “Canada just allowed Trump and his goons in our waters, in our territory, and you could be next.”

PSC consulted with MCA leadership multiple times since the exemption request was first announced in 2025, but the Indigenous group feels it was not engaged in “meaningful consultations … about decisions affecting the territory and its waterways.” It said in a statement earlier this month that neither were AMPS, the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, its police force, nor the overarching Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs.

MCA said it had put forth “Akwesasne-led alternatives that would strengthen local policing and requested additional time, until March 31, 2027, to undertake broader community engagement before any decision was made.”

A boat-based protest against armed U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers travelling through Canadian waters within a First Nations territory took place the day the order went into effect. The “peaceful” protest was not “organized, sponsored, or sanctioned” by the MCA, it said in a statement this week, but AMPS officers were dispatched to monitor.

Organizer Tom Thomas, one of four Kawehnò:ke chiefs on the MCA, said community members took to the water to show support for the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service (AMPS), the local police force he alleges Ottawa “has no faith in” to protect the waterways.

“We’re trying to help our AMPS, to let the Canadian government know that they can patrol our waters,” Thomas told National Post in an interview before the demonstration. “We don’t need border patrol here.”

He later told National Post that the CBP did not show up that day, but has been seen since.

Thomas and Lazore expressed the same concern about U.S. vessels moving through waters where kids swim and ride sea-doos, where people young and old fish. Both also stressed that this is about sovereignty as much as it is safety.

“They can spin it any way they want, but to me, it’s an invasion,” Thomas said. “They have no business here.”

For his part, Thomas wonders what will happen to CBP weapons during a chase that begins on the St. Regis River and spills into Canadian waters in the St. Lawrence. The 67-year-old fisherman also wonders about the machine guns he’s often seen bolted to the decks of border patrol and U.S. Coast Guard vessels he encounters on the water.

“And those are like M2-50S,” he said, referencing 50-calibre machine guns. “What are you going to shoot? There’s no tanks here.”

He also questions why the CBP can’t access the St. Regis River from the many roads leading to the relatively narrow tributary on the U.S. side. Lazore said CBP said it’s worried about leaving vessels unattended at public launches.

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New survey data from the Angus Reid Institute (ARI) is showing the Conservatives leading the B.C. election race over the incumbent NDP.

Half (48 per cent) of leaning and decided B.C. voters are saying they would vote for the Conservatives, says ARI, adding that 43 per cent indicate support for the NDP.

Overall, says ARI, almost half of British Columbians (46 per cent) say they are “very certain” about their voting intentions. That’s an increase from the one-third (35 per cent) during the first week of the campaign. This growth in certainty “is reflected much more among B.C. Conservative supporters than those who would support the B.C. NDP,” says ARI.

Back on Sept. 24, half (47 per cent) of B.C. Conservative supporters said they were “very certain” of their choice. Two-thirds (65 per cent) say that now. For the B.C. NDP, 44 per cent are firm in their voting intent, which is an increase of just three points since the beginning of the campaign.

When the writ was dropped at the end of September, B.C. NDP leader David Eby pointed to President Donald Trump and the U.S. tariffs as the key reason his party should be given a majority mandate. However, according to the ARI, this was not among the top six issues for voters, even at the start of the campaign. Since then it has fallen further down the list. Only 10 per cent of voters say the U.S. tariffs/Donald Trump/alcohol ban is the “most important” issue to them when deciding how to cast their vote.

That’s behind concerns such as cost of living (57 per cent), health care (42 per cent), the economy/jobs (26 per cent), housing affordability (24 per cent), the deficit (24 per cent) and public safety (24 per cent). It’s even behind secondary issues such as the opioid crisis (15 per cent), climate change (14 per cent) and poverty (13 per cent).

B.C. voters haven’t had much time to get to know Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson, but a growing number now have an opinion about him, says ARI. “There are as many who view him positively (38 per cent) as negatively (37 per cent),” says ARI. “That is better than Eby performs on the same question. Three-in-five (58 per cent) say they view the B.C. NDP leader unfavourably; one-third (36 per cent) favourably.”

Doerkson has a slight edge (36 per cent) over Eby (33 per cent) on the question of who British Columbians believe would be the best premier. Though, almost as many say neither is the best choice to lead the province (31 per cent), notes ARI.

There is a gender divide in party support, especially among voters older than 54. Three-in-five men in that age bracket say they are planning to vote Conservative, while a majority (54 per cent) of women plan to support the NDP. The Conservatives are preferred among both men and women aged 35-to 54, while the NDP have more support among voters under 35.

The NDP needs to convince the 2024 voters who elected them to return at even higher rates, states ARI. However, the survey shows that one-quarter of people who voted for the party two years ago say they are undecided or voting for the Greens (6 per cent) or Conservatives (8 per cent).

Meanwhile, the Conservatives are retaining 86 per cent of supporters from the 2024 election.

British Columbians go to the polls on Oct. 24.

The Angus Reid Institute conducted this online survey from Oct. 1-3, 2026, among a randomized sample of 1,013 Canadian adults who are residents of British Columbia. For comparison purposes only, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding. The survey was self-commissioned and paid for by ARI.

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Winning a minority government with just 28 per cent of the vote puts the Parti Québécois in uncharted territory.

“It’s exceptional; we’ve never seen that in Quebec, certainly, that a party can win enough seats to form government with such low numbers,” said Daniel Béland, a professor of political science at McGill University.

“It’s a relatively strong minority government, in a sense. But we know that minority governments have a lower life expectancy.”

Monday’s outcome means the separatist PQ likely won’t be pushing for a referendum on leaving Canada any time soon, say political watchers.

The party won 59 of the National Assembly’s 127 seats and will need support from some members of the three opposition parties to reach 64 votes and get legislation passed.

The PQ held just seven seats when the writ dropped.

Premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, or PSPP as he is known, has said he will wait to hold a referendum on Quebec independence until after U.S. President Donald Trump leaves the White House in January 2029.

“Considering the average life expectancy of a minority government in Quebec, or even in Canada in general, it’s not sure (the PQ will still be in office when Trump makes his exit),” Béland said. “And that’s an issue that will be front of mind” for the governing party.

“The minority government renders a referendum on independence much less likely,” said André Lecours, a political scientist at the University of Ottawa.

Sébastien Dallaire, chief insights officer with Leger Marketing, agreed that we’re unlikely to “see a push for a referendum, especially not in the near future.”

Would it be possible “to create the winning conditions in the current context?” Dallaire said. “Right now, it looks unlikely.”

It wouldn’t be “impossible,” for the PQ to “pull the trigger on a referendum with the support of the Québec Solidaire,” Béland said.

“But Québec Solidaire and the PQ, although they both support the independence of Quebec, they don’t see the process leading to independence in the same way.”

Dallaire pointed out that about half of those who voted for Québec Solidaire “are not in favour of sovereignty.”

It would “likely be very hard for Québec Solidaire to convince their voters and their base that now is the time to go into a referendum period,” Dallaire said.

“It would be very tricky for Québec Solidaire to form a formal alliance with the PQ to push for a referendum.”

Québec Solidaire won nine seats Monday, compared to 11 in the last election.

“Québec Solidaire is a left-wing party, they’re pro-immigration, they are critical” of Quebec’s Bill 21, Béland said, while the PQ wants to “double down” on the provincial law enforcing state secularism that prohibits some public-sector workers from wearing religious symbols at work.

“These are very different political animals, these two parties, so in some areas they could collaborate. But in other areas the most logical dance partner for the PQ minority government would be the Conservatives.”

Conservatives jumped from zero seats in 2022 to 19 on Monday.

“Conservatives could push the PQ even further to the right in terms of tax cuts and spending cuts,” Béland said.

“Because it’s a minority government Paul St-Pierre Plamondon will have to, as we say in French, put some water in his wine to compromise in order to get things done, in order to pass a budget.”

The Conservatives could prove “quite influential,” Béland said. “Because it’s unlikely that the official opposition, the Liberals, will collaborate that much with the PQ.”

The Liberals jumped from 19 seats to 40 in Monday’s election.

“They were able to regain a lot of their old strongholds” in the Outaouais, Montreal’s South Shore and Lavalle, said Lecours, pointing out they also took a Quebec City riding.

“They’re starting to make some headway in Francophone Quebec,” he said.

Under the leadership of Christine Fréchette, the Coalition Avenir Québec — which formed a majority government in 2022 with 90 seats under former Premier François Legault — was reduced to zero seats.

The CAQ had “a horrible night” on Monday, Dallaire said.

The “complete wipeout” is unheard of “for a party that had a super majority,” he said. “Is there a tomorrow for the CAQ? That’s a question that a lot of people are asking today.”

Conservatives may well replace the CAQ as an alternative to the Liberals and the PQ, who have dominated since the 1970s, Dallaire said.

“Could the Conservatives now really establish themselves as the third option? That’s the hope after the win (Monday) night. We’ll see how things evolve in coming months.”

He expects a “rocky political environment” as the National Assembly is flooded with “rookies.”

“Close to 80 per cent of MNAs are new in this assembly,” Dallaire said. “So, it’s going to be a lot of learning and it’s going to be learning on the fly in a minority government situation where you need to collaborate and you need to compromise.”

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