At the Toronto Blue Jays spring training home of Dunedin, Fla., almost nine years ago, a teenaged prospect walked into the front reception area of the team’s minor-league complex to meet a reporter.

He had medium-length dreadlocks poking out from under his Jays cap, didn’t look the least bit capable of growing a beard and was a little on the chubby side. But he was already one of the most fearsome would-be sluggers in the sport.

“Hello,” said Vladimir Guerrero Jr., in rehearsed English. “Nice to meet you.”

The Blue Jays of spring 2017 were in a bit of an odd spot. Two years earlier, a good Toronto team had exploded into a great one down the stretch, making baseball fans again out of a generation of lapsed supporters, who had lost interest over two moribund decades, and who now were bringing their kids along for the ride.

But while that team made it to the American League Championship Series twice, it couldn’t get back to the World Series, couldn’t add to the two championship banners, from 1992 and 1993, that hung in the Rogers Centre. The roster was also a little old and creaky, and the competitive window was closing fast, if it hadn’t slammed shut already.

Vladdy, as he has been known around baseball since he was toddling around the Olympic Stadium turf when his Hall of Fame-bound father was playing for the Montreal Expos, was the Blue Jays’ next big hope. An added bonus: he was Canadian, although as suggested by his halting English he grew up in the Dominican Republic.

Before he had even turned 18 he had gained a reputation for belting monster home runs. His coaches raved about his natural talent, the way he rarely swung and missed, the sound the ball made when it cracked off his bat.

A year later, still just 19, Guerrero ended a pre-season game in Montreal with a walk-off home run, circling the bases at Olympic Stadium, just like his dad did so many times during his playing career. Vladdy otherwise spent that year in the minors, where he would play one more season before getting called up to the big club in 2019.

The next era of Blue Jays baseball had arrived. Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., the north star of a roster that also included second-generation major leaguers like Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio, would be the guy to lead the club, finally, back to the World Series.

It would take a little longer than expected. Game One is Friday night.

——–

On Monday night, tears streamed down Guerrero’s face soon after the Blue Jays clinched the American League pennant after a truly preposterous Game 7 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

Guerrero had been relatively quiet on the night, ceding the spotlight to George Springer, whose three-run home run in the seventh-inning instantly became the stuff of franchise lore on the way to a 4-3 Toronto win. But it was one of the few nights in the 2025 playoffs where the Blue Jays offence wasn’t powered by Guerrero’s mighty, controlled hacks.

The story of Toronto’s postseason success has been similar to their regular-season success in many ways. They are a team that puts a lot of balls in play and gets contributions from the entire lineup; two home runs from Andres Gimenez, the ninth hitter in the lineup, sparked crucial wins in Seattle.

The big difference is that Guerrero has exploded. He hit six home runs against New York and Seattle, tying him with Joe Carter and Jose Bautista as Toronto’s franchise leader in playoff home runs — with all of his coming in the past 11 games. Guerrero’s numbers in 2025 are the stuff of video games: a .442 batting average and 1.440 OPS. In his seven playoff seasons with the New York Yankees, Babe Ruth hit .347 with a 1.285 OPS.

The Vlad-splosion, though, has been a long time coming. Guerrero’s time with the Blue Jays has mostly been a story of promise unfulfilled, for both player and team. He had a huge 2021 season, with 48 home runs, but hasn’t come close to that total since. The Jays made the playoffs three times with him before this season, but lost all six games to exit quickly each time. In 2024, the team sagged to a last-place finish in the AL East, even as Guerrero got back some of his old swagger at the plate.

By the team the 2025 season dawned, there were legitimate questions over whether Toronto’s baseball team would end up following the lead of its hockey team, failing to do much of anything with a crop of generational talent.

The front-office duo of president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins, brought in by Rogers to replace Paul Beeston, the last link to the World Series years, and Alex Anthopoulos, the (Canadian) architect of those fun 2015/16 teams, still couldn’t point to any playoff success, and were best known around the league for trying and failing to land big free-agent targets like Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto over previous summers. Guerrero and Bichette were also entering the final years of their contracts, raising the possibility that they could leave in free agency. It was a disaster in the making.

But then the team announced in early April that it had signed Guerrero to a monster contract extension of US$500-million over 14 years. Manager John Schneider has said that the deal lifted the mood around the team, as it showed that ownership intended to field a competitive team well into the future. The doomsday scenario of a Vladdy departure had been avoided, and the team wouldn’t have to spend the season listening to questions about where he might go.

And then they started winning. A lot. After trailing the Yankees by 5.5 games on June 1, they were up by 3.5 games two months later, keyed by a four-game sweep of New York over Canada Day weekend. Former bit players like Ernie Clement, Nathan Lukes and Addison Barger were playing significant roles, while several players who had rough 2024 seasons — Bichette, Alejandro Kirk and especially Springer — had bounced back at the plate.

As the Jays ripped through the summer months, the vibes of 2015 returned. For the first time in the Vladdy era, the team was leading its division, having a bunch of fun, and packing the Rogers Centre with multi-generational crowds. Dreams of a long playoff run no longer sounded crazy.

But first they had to win a playoff game.

——-

The road to that long-awaited postseason victory began even before October, as the Jays won the last four games of their regular season to hold off the hard-charging Yankees and secure the AL East crown.

That gave them a first-round playoff bye, and allowed them to open the American League Division Series at home, where they hosted New York. And the Jays, who had built their success on steady offensive performance, suddenly exploded, scoring 23 runs over two games. Guerrero homered in his first at-bat, the first home run of his playoff career, which now seems like a signal of intent.

Toronto dispatched New York relatively easily, and moved on to the ALCS against Seattle. That series gave Jays fans a lesson in one of the realities of playoff baseball, which is that it often makes you want to throw up.

Toronto lost two at home as the offence cooled off, then won two after it came alive in Seattle. The Mariners struck what seemed like it might be a death blow in Game 5, hitting a pair of late home runs in a comeback win, but the Jays’ bats woke up again in Game 6, another Guerrero home run included. Cue Game 7, and the Springer dinger that takes its place among the Blue Jays other immortal swats: Jose Bautista’s 2015 bat-flip homer against Texas and Joe Carter’s World Series-winning shot against Philadelphia in 1993.

The Blue Jays will return to the World Series on Friday night, at home, against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It’s their first time getting that far since “touch-‘em-all-Joe” Carter sent what was then called SkyDome into pandemonium 32 years ago. Back then, the Jays were a model franchise, and few would have imagined it would take this long to make the final series again.

But that is the thing about team sports: this stuff isn’t easy. Toronto is the only Canadian city with more than one franchise in the big four North American leagues. The Raptors have made the NBA Finals once in their 30 seasons. The Maple Leafs, infamously, haven’t been to the Stanley Cup Final in 58 years. And now the Jays are back in the Fall Classic for just the third time in their 48-year history.

For some, it will bring back memories of Carter, and guys like Devon White and John Olerud. Older fans will think back to those first great teams — Dave Stieb, Jesse Barfield, George Bell — who never made it this far.

But for many more, all of this will be new. The final stage of baseball’s terrifying playoff high-wire act.

As he wiped the tears from his eyes on Monday night, Guerrero told a delirious Rogers Centre what he was thinking about: “Four more,” he said.

Wins, that is.

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Canada’s military appeals court has ordered a new trial in the case of a former master corporal who was found guilty of sexually assaulting his then-partner and fellow soldier.

In June 2022, a court martial found Claude Houde, an aircraft structural technician, guilty of two charges of sexual assault. He was sentenced to two years less a day in prison and was discharged from the Canadian Armed Forces in 2023.

The alleged assaults took place while the couple lived together in Canadian Forces Base Bagotville between 2013 and 2018. Houde was acquitted of a third charge, sexual assault causing bodily harm. Houde allegedly engaged in acts of unsolicited sexual contact with his partner between 2015 and 2017, in the bathroom and in the bedroom of their shared home.

Houde’s appeal centred on the claim that the judge had failed to properly apply the principles used to ensure the burden is on the Crown to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Houde argued the judge’s instructions to the panel focused heavily on the prosecution’s evidence and had a potential influence on the panel.

During the trial, the judge made several comments instructing the panel to take the credibility of the witness’s testimony into account.

“If you believe the witness’s testimony, it should not be very difficult for you to answer the questions I will list later on concerning the essential elements of the offences,” the judge’s transcript reads. The judge also reminded members of the court that the complainant had “sworn to tell the truth,” something which Houde argued strengthened the complainant’s credibility in the eyes of the panel.

The judge also reminded panelists that during a complainant’s testimony, they will rarely describe events in the same way they did in a police report, months or years earlier. The appellant argued that this minimized any inconsistencies found in the complainant’s case.

Houde called into question the justice’s instructions regarding two pieces of photographic evidence where he told the panel to consider whether they accepted the evidence prior to analyzing it, something which Houde argued influenced his ability to appear innocent before proven guilty.

Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada Justice Guy Cournoyer called the comments made by the previous justice “highly problematic” and criticized the characterization of the photographs as “inappropriate.”

“It is recognized that a judge may comment on the evidence, although this might not be advisable,” Cournoyer said. “That said, when a judge comments on the evidence, he or she must do so fairly.”

In his rationale, Cournoyer cited the Ontario Court of Appeals case R v Miller, which, according to the ruling, established that “evidence which is neither rejected nor accepted should survive to the final stage of the jury’s determination on the crucial application of reasonable doubt.”

In a decision delivered in Ottawa on Oct. 14, Cournoyer ordered a new trial with respect to the charges Houde was convicted of, citing the judge’s misguided advice to panelists on the prosecution’s evidence.

A new trial date has not been set.

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OTTAWA — U.S. President Donald Trump says he has “terminated” trade talks with Canada, taking issue with an anti-tariff ad taken out by Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government featuring former U.S. president Ronald Reagan that the president says was “fake.”

Trump announced the move in a post on Truth Social late Thursday.

“The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs. The ad was for $75,000,” Trump wrote. 

“They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts. TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT.”

Donald J. Trump Truth Social Post 10:39 PM EST 10/23/25 pic.twitter.com/qbvOeThsee

— Commentary Donald J. Trump Posts From Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) October 24, 2025

The move comes after Ontario paid to run a new ad against U.S. tariffs, using parts of a 1987 speech Reagan delivered.

Ontario started running the $75 million ad campaign in U.S. markets targeting Republicans two weeks ago.

The ads include audio from a radio address by Reagan in 1987 saying, “High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. Then the worst happens. Markets shrink and collapse. Businesses and industries shut down and millions of people lose their jobs.”

In a post on X, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation (and) Institute directed users to listen to the former president’s unedited remarks, which include several sentences in the middle of the excerpt that were not included in the Ontario ads.

The foundation, in a statement that Trump included in his post, said that it was “reviewing its legal options.”

“The ad misrepresents the presidential radio address, and the Government of Ontario did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks,” it said.

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The development comes as Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to depart for a nine-day trip to Asia, and turns on its head any progress his government felt it was making with the Trump administration to secure some sector-specific relief for U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs.

Carney and Ford appeared alongside each other earlier on Thursday, where both leaders said they were aligned in dealing with the Trump administration, despite their different public approaches.

Ford has repeatedly called for Canada to hit the U.S. with additional countermeasures in the face of Trump continuing to increase tariffs on products such as softwood lumber. Carney has so far ruled out doing so, in favour of sticking with negotiations, and has dropped some retaliatory counter-tariffs.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Ford admitted it might be “a little easier” for him to criticize from the sidelines as opposed to having to deal with Trump directly. 

The

original text appears on a site hosted by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library here

.

Listen to President Reagan’s unedited remarks here: https://t.co/1gQUcbR4eZ pic.twitter.com/iqmjSuypp0

— Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute (@RonaldReagan) October 24, 2025

National Post, with files from Catherine Lévesque

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The Ontario government is looking to reform the way that development charges are collected from homebuilders in a bid to get more homes built faster in Canada’s largest province.

On Thursday, Rob Flack, Ontario’s minister of municipal affairs and housing, announced the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act.

The bill tackles a huge swathe of development and housing-related issues in the province, including streamlining approvals, ensuring a single, consistent building design standard and removing Toronto’s ability to require new builds to have a green roof. The bill also tackles other aspects of development, particularly around roadway construction, such as barring municipalities from reducing car and truck lanes in favour of bicycle lanes.

But for developers, one big future change, depending on the outcome of a pilot project launching in the Peel Region, could be to the development charges.

The bill will transfer jurisdiction over water and wastewater from Peel Region to the municipalities of Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon and create a new public corporation model for funding infrastructure costs.

“These changes would … provide broader financing opportunities to reduce reliance on development charges for water and wastewater growth-related infrastructure,” according to a technical briefing on the bill.

“Simply put, it takes too long and it costs too much to build infrastructure and homes in Ontario,” said Flack at a Thursday afternoon press conference. “We are changing this today.”

National Post spoke to Flack about the changes and what they’ll mean. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

What is happening with development charges?

So, development charges have been building up for decades. It started off to pay for infrastructure, and now it’s become a punitive cost in terms of getting a home built. I have met with literally hundreds of home builders this summer throughout the province, and what I’ve heard time and time again is that it costs too much and it takes too long to build a home, and part of the “cost too much” are these inflated development charges, and we’re working closely with municipalities to get them lowered.

In Bill 17 (the

Protect Ontario by Building Smarter and Faster Act, which passed in June),

development charges got postponed until occupancy. We eliminated them for the long-term care homes. What we’re doing now is taking a further look at getting them reduced.

There’s a pilot project happening in the Peel region, too. Tell me about that.

Really what it is, is getting a municipal service corp. in place to help fund the over $200 billion of infrastructure we need — water and wastewater. In this province, we need close to $250 billion to replace aging infrastructure and new infrastructure. Without the infrastructure, you don’t build homes. But if you charge the development charge on the new home buyer, growth no longer pays for growth, it makes the affordability of a new home too much.

So, what we’re going to do is set up this pilot project, and hopefully, over time, you can amortize the cost of this infrastructure. Municipalities can borrow from the service corporation and get the needed infrastructure in the ground.

This is a way, not unlike your power utility, that we can put in place to help fund the needed infrastructure, get more homes built faster.

Throughout the province, 31 per cent or more — I’m going low here, it goes up well into the 40s — of a new home construct comes from HST, development charges and the cost of studies, iterations to the building code. A third of the cost of a new home is related to these fees and taxes, and we have to lower them. And development charges is a big one. And I think the answer, or part of the answer, is to implement this municipal service corp. right across the province. We’ll get it in place for Peel Region, but when it works there, it’s going to be a model to use throughout the province.

Who would borrow from this municipal service corporation?

It would be the municipality. And then then they could amortize it over decades. Like, right now, a development charge, a new homebuilder, they pay it all up front.

You buy a new home today, and you pay a big fat development charge. When prices are going up exponentially, you don’t see it, but now the prices have softened and you go to sell your houses in two or three years, you’re likely not going to get the value for that development charge back.

What we’re trying to do is amortize it over a longer period of time.

Where would the money come from to fund this municipal service corp. model?

We’re in exploratory stages right now, but I think you’d see a lot of pension funds want to invest in this. It’s a conservative investment by them. It’s long term, it’s safe. It makes sense. There’s going to be people living in these homes. So, that’s where we see the bulk of the funding coming from, not necessarily government coffers. We don’t want to raise taxes to do this.

Municipal partners are looking forward too because, guess what? They don’t want to raise taxes. We don’t want to raise taxes. The feds don’t want to raise taxes. We’ve got enough tax, so let’s find another way. It’s got to be funded. People are going to ultimately have to pay for it, but let’s just find the best way to get it done.

What else is happening. There will be a standardized building code, right?

No. 1, the code is king. There should be no iterations to the code. One standard across the province is what we want.

But in this bill, we’re also going to look at ways to improve or simplify the building code without ever compromising safety. I want to emphasize that. I also want to say we have a great building code in this province today. It works as long as there’s no iterations. In some cases, you’ve got municipalities that added to the building code in terms of what they require. We’re saying no more. You can’t do that. The code is king.

We’re also going to be launching a section-by-section review to see where efficiencies can be gained, cutting some red tape, but never at the expense of safety. I think it’s overdue. It’s time to do it.

Anything else we haven’t talked about?

It costs too much, it takes too long to get homes built. And that is what we’re fighting, and we’re going to relentlessly march towards taking away those costly barriers, the red tape, to get more homes built faster. Because ultimately, what is the quintessential Canadian dream? It’s home ownership. Home ownership has to be in the sight of everyone who wants it. It can’t be a dream that’s abandoned. It has to be there. So we create the conditions to get homes built, let the builders do what they do best and build the homes. Our job is to create those conditions.

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OTTAWA — Despite Ontario Premier Doug Ford saying it is time to “fight back” against U.S. tariffs and Prime Minister Mark Carney ruling out retaliation for now, both men claim they are on the “same page” when it comes to dealing with the Trump administration.

Speaking at an unrelated announcement on small nuclear reactors, Ford admitted it might be “a little easier” for him to criticize from the sidelines but said it is “a lot tougher” when sitting across from U.S. President Donald Trump yielding “a big hammer in his hand.”

“I can assure you we’re on the same page,” he told reporters on Thursday. “We have one goal which is to protect the people of Canada, protect the people of Ontario, protect their communities, their jobs or businesses. We’re 100 per cent on the same page.”

Ford raised Carney’s qualities as a dealmaker, saying that he is an “extremely bright businessperson” and said he has “all the confidence” Carney can come to a deal.

“I support the prime minister 1,000 per cent,” he emphasized.

Carney echoed Ford’s message that they are both on the “same page.”

This show of unity from both political leaders comes after

ramped-up rhetoric from Ford last week

who said he was “sick and tired of sitting and rolling over” while the U.S. continues to place new tariffs on Canadian products and drives investment out of the country.

His comments came as Stellantis, formerly called Chrysler, announced it would backtrack on its decision to produce its Jeep Compass in the Brampton Assembly Plant, in Ontario, and instead expand its manufacturing capacity in the Belvidere Assembly Plant in the U.S.

Ford said his message to Carney would be: “If you can’t get a deal, let’s start hitting them back.”

In response, Carney said now is not the time to start retaliating against the U.S.

“There’s time to hit back and there’s time to talk. And right now, it’s time to talk,” he said last week. “We’re having intense negotiations.”

On Thursday, Carney said he speaks regularly to the premiers about the ongoing trade discussions which are currently focused on a sectoral deal for steel, aluminum and the energy industry. He said they were “very detailed, specific, constructive negotiations.”

However, Carney did not weigh in on the possibility of coming to a deal anytime soon.

He recently said in French that it is “possible” to come to an agreement when he’ll meet Trump again during an economic summit in South Korea next week but added “we’ll see.”

Carney said on Thursday that “Americans are moving to an approach which is sector by sector, as opposed to global” and that “broader aspects” of Canada’s economy will be discussed during the review of the CUSMA free trade agreement in just a few months.

“But let’s be clear… if we ultimately don’t make progress in these various sectors, we’re going to do what’s necessary to protect our workers,” Carney said.

That could mean not giving “unfair access” to Canada’s market if the access is not reciprocal, he said.

“We’re not at that point, but we’ll do what’s right, in lockstep, together.”

Carney said the U.S. tariffs have been hurting hard many sectors of the Canadian economy, one of which is the auto sector in Ontario which has been taking more hits.

On the issue of General Motors, which confirmed this week it is ending its production of the BrightDrop electric delivery vans in its assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, Carney said that it was “as much about a model that didn’t work as it was about the tariff situation.”

The company had previously paused production at the plant in May, citing slowing demand in the EV market.

Ford said that the CEO of General Motors should think “long and hard” about its decision or they might lose the support and the business of the Canadian people in the long run.

“I have faith with General Motors that they may have a change of mind,” he said.

Carney and Ford were at the Darlington plant in Bowmanville to announce that their governments are contributing $2 billion and $1 billion, respectively, to build small nuclear reactors. The project was part of the first wave of Ottawa’s nation-building projects.

Carney called it a “generational investment” and said it would make Canada the first country in the G7 to have this new kind of nuclear reactor.

Ford said it was a “critical moment” for Ontario and for Canada amid the ongoing trade war with the U.S. He said the reactors built at Darlington would help create 18,000 jobs during construction and add more than $38 billion to Canada’s GDP over the next 65 years.

He also said that at least 80 per cent of the project spending will go to Ontario companies, including using steel made in the province to build the new small modular reactors.

“With tariffs and economic uncertainty hammering Ontario’s workers and businesses, this is exactly the sort of investment our province needs.”

National Post

calevesque@postmedia.com

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The lease for a whale sanctuary in Nova Scotia has been approved as the fate of 30 belugas at Marineland in Ontario is still unknown.

Ontario’s Solicitor General Michael Kerzner told reporters this week that the whales should be transferred to Nova Scotia or China,

according to Global News

. He pushed the responsibility onto federal Minister of Fisheries Joanne Thompson to “take the lead and help the situation.”

Thompson had previously declined Marineland’s request to ship the whales off to China. Now that the lease for a whale sanctuary in Nova Scotia has been approved, here’s what to know.

What happened leading up to this moment?

The theme park located in Niagara Falls has been closed since 2024, but it is still home to 30 beluga whales and other animals. After a

back-and-forth between the federal government

, including threats to euthanize the whales, Marineland said it would work with Ontario to find a solution. It has come under fire in recent years due to alleged mistreatment of its animals. Since 2019, 20 whales have died in its care, the

Canadian Press reported

.

A request to transfer the 30 remaining belugas to a Chinese theme park, Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, was dismissed by Thompson, who said it would only lead to more suffering for the whales.

It would mean “a continued life in captivity and a return to public entertainment,” she said in

a statement

earlier in October.

She later denied Marineland’s request for federal funding. It costs around $1 to $2 million a month to feed and care for the belugas,

Global News

and

CBC News reported

.

“The Government of Canada previously approved the export of belugas from Marineland in 2021 and will consider any other permit requests that are in the best interest of the whales,” said Thompson, in a letter obtained by National Post, responding to Marineland.

Can the belugas go to a whale sanctuary in Nova Scotia?

Not yet. The Whale Sanctuary Project (WSP) is located in Port Hilford Bay, N.S. and will “occupy more than 100 acres of water space with depths up to 18 meters,”

it says online

.

On Oct. 21,

a lease for the area was approved by the government

for 20 years, with an option to renew the lease for another 20 years. The approval means that construction can begin. The sanctuary will continue to raising funds to complete it so that it can house its first whales.

The group has been

keeping tabs on the ongoing situation at Marineland

, but has not yet said if it could accept all or some of the belugas.

The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, along with other experts,

reviewed the situation

at the park and called for “a staged, veterinary-led triage and emergency-care plan for individual belugas to determine what is in the best interest of each animal.” It noted that the sanctuary was not ready to receive the whales.

The executive director of the sanctuary, Charles Vinick, has said that it would be able to

hold 10 belugas

, out of the 30 at Marineland, Global News reported.

How would whales be transported across Canada?

Whether the whales are being transported across Canada, or to other parts of the world, it’s no easy feat. It can be stressful for them, according to WSP.

“They can be transported in container baths by boat, road or plane,” the group said.

Sea Life Trust, a beluga whale sanctuary off the coast of Iceland,

used a cargo plane

via Cargolux Airlines to have two belugas transported there from Shanghai, China in 2019. It took around 30 hours for the belugas to be moved from Changfeng Ocean World to the sanctuary on Heimaey Island.

TOUCHDOWN ✈️🐳 Little Grey & Little White have arrived safely in #Iceland after their special @Cargolux_Intl flight from #China. The whales are in good health and our care team will continue to assess their well-being as they continue on their journey to Heimaey island! pic.twitter.com/8qpuyS9Loc

— Beluga Whale Sanctuary (@BelugaSanctuary) June 19, 2019

The process involved lifting each whale via stretcher into its own specialized transportation tank. The tanks were then driven by trucks to the airport. The tanks were placed onto the cargo plane and flown to Iceland. Once they arrived, in a similar process, the tanks were taken by trucks to the sanctuary.

The sanctuary has space for 10 belugas.

In 1998, the killer whale, named Keiko, who starred in the move Free Willy, was transported

on an American military aircraft, the C-17 Globemaster III

, from captivity in the U.S. state of Oregon and released off the coast of Iceland. Keiko had been

briefly transferred to Marineland in Ontario

before he was sold.

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