OTTAWA

— Israel’s ambassador in Ottawa says his country is “quite taken aback” by Canada’s decision to threaten action alongside the United Kingdom and France, over its war against Hamas and believes Prime Minister Mark Carney ought to pay the Israel a visit. 

“This is unprecedented,”

Iddo Moed,

Israel’s ambassador to Canada, told National Post in an interview Tuesday. 

“This has never happened in the past and so this is why we are taken aback. That’s an understatement, I would say.”

On Monday, Canada, the U.K., and France released a joint statement to say they “strongly

oppose the expansion of 
Israel
’s military operations in Gaza,” calling its latest actions “wholly disproportionate.”

It came after Israel announced it was launching an “extensive” ground offensive in Gaza and would be allowing more basic aid into the area, where thousands are starving and the threat of widespread famine has only worsened.

The countries’ leaders took aim at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning that, should Israel not stop its military actions and restricting of humanitarian aid, they would take “further concrete actions in response.”

On Tuesday, the British government announced it was hitting settlers in the West Bank with sanctions and suspending talks about a free trade agreement with Israel.

Carney, who is spending the day meeting behind closed-doors with his cabinet, has not yet announced whether Canada would take further action.

Canada has previously levied sanctions against those responsible for settler violence in the West Bank and opposes further settlements.

In their statement, Carney, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President

Emmanuel Macron

cited the “intolerable suffering” unfolding in Gaza, calling the announcement Israel made the day before to allow basic quantities of food into the area “

wholly inadequate.”

They demanded Israel’s government halt its military operations and for Hamas to release the remaining hostages taken captive when militants stormed into southern Israel in October 2023.

Their statement said Israel must also “

immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza,” including by working with the United Nations. 

In a post on X,

Netanyahu said by asking Israel to stop its “defensive war,” the leaders were giving a “huge prize” to Hamas, a designated terrorist entity which governs the Gaza Strip and carried out the October 2023 attacks, which killed around 1,200 civilians and saw 251 people taken hostage. 

There remain 58 hostages in Hamas captivity.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre rejected Carney’s statement, pointing to how Hamas had thanked Canada for its statement on Israel by calling it a “step in the right direction.”

“Threatening Israel with sanctions and “further concrete actions” while a terrorist group on their borders holds their citizens hostage and refuses to stop attacking Israel is wrong,” Poilievre posted on X.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, a Canadian Jewish advocacy organization, said Carney’s statement undercuts earlier remarks he made that Hamas ought to lay down its weapons and have no role in governing Gaza.

Pressure from the international community has been mounting on Israel to cease its war with Hamas, with agencies like the United Nations citing figures from the Gaza Health Ministry that more than 53,000 Palestinians, including many women and children, have been killed since Israel began its offensive.

The Gaza Healthy Ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.

Moed said on Tuesday that no country will tell Israel how to conduct its war that it is focused on trying to eliminate the designated terror group and securing the release of the remaining 58 hostages.  

The ambassador declined to speculate on what Israel may do should Canada follow through on its threat of taking further action against Israel.

He said channels of communication between Israel and Canada remain open and that both countries spent the past weekend exchanging messages about efforts Israel is making to get aid to people in Gaza “and not into the hands of Hamas.”

As of Tuesday, Israel said dozens more trucks entered Gaza. It also said that Hamas is responsible for stealing aid that enters Gaza.

Tom Fletcher, U.N. humanitarian chief, has called the aid that has been allowed to enter a

“drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed.” 

While Moed said he has yet to speak to Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand since she was named to the post last week, he believes Carney should pay a visit to the country to see the situation for himself.

“I think that he should,” he said. “Seeing the reality on the ground brings perspective into opinions.”

Particularly, he said, to better understand Israel’s opposition to seeing a two-state solution, which has been Canada and other G7 countries’ longstanding position to bring peace to the region.

–

With additional reporting from The Associated Press

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Postal workers are

expected to go on strike

at the end of this week, after Canada Post received notice from the union on Monday.

The announcement comes more than six months after Canada Post workers went on strike in mid-November. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) said the decision to strike was due to a year of unresolved negotiations. The union said, in

a news release

at the time, that  workers wanted fair wages, safe working conditions, the right to retire with dignity, and the expansion of services at the public post office.

What happens to the parcels Canada Post has already accepted?

As the strike approached mid-December, many small businesses

were struggling to get their goods delivered

, said Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) executive vice president of advocacy Corinne Pohlmann. Canada Post said it missed delivering roughly

12 million parcels in early December

.

On Dec. 13, former minister of labour Steven MacKinnon, who is currently the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, said in a post on X that he had asked the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) “to assess the likelihood of the parties reaching negotiated agreements by the end of 2024 under the current circumstances.”

Statement on the dispute between the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and Canada Post. pic.twitter.com/smxBvQveHq

— Steven MacKinnon (@stevenmackinnon) December 13, 2024

If the CIRB found that the union and the corporation could not reach an agreement by the end of the year, MacKinnon said it would order Canada Post’s employees back to work. The union called the government’s involvement an “assault” on the constitutional right to collectively bargain and strike.

“Small businesses have written off Canada Post for this holiday season,” said CFIB president Dan Kelly in a

news release on Dec. 13

. He added that it would take weeks to clear backlogs in the system. According to CFIB data, 73 per cent of small business owners said

they would be using Canada Post less in the future because of the strike.

CFIB called for an “immediate truce” and for Canada Post and its employees to “resume operations while continuing to work through their differences.” Despite CFIB’s pleas and MacKinnon’s announcement, negotiations continued unsuccessfully.

The union condemned government involvement. “This order continues a deeply troubling pattern in which the government uses its arbitrary powers to let employers off the hook, drag their feet, and refuse to bargain in good faith with workers and their unions,”

the union said

.

However, MacKinnon said the ongoing conflict had reached a “critical point” that was affecting Canadians, including those who needed essential parcels such as medications and official documents.

The CIRB held two days of hearings. It made the decision to order Canada Post employees back to work on Dec. 17, after a 32-day-long strike.

Canada Post

reasserted its commitment

to reaching negotiated agreements with CUPW that would help the company “better serve the changing needs of Canadians and provide good jobs to those who provide the service.” Meanwhile,

the union called the decision “disappointing.”

The terms of the collective agreement were extended until May 22.

Following the order, the union and the corporation have continued negotiations. “When the parties met in December, January, and March, many of our issues remained unresolved,” the union said on May 2. Just over 10 days later,

Canada Post said

it was taking a “temporary pause in discussions.”

On May 16, after hearings held this year between the union and Canada Post, a final report from the Industrial Inquiry Commission was released. It was presented as an “

objective assessment of the challenges

facing the postal system and the fundamental obstacles in the negotiations between Canada Post and CUPW.”

The commissioner of the report, William Kaplan, provided recommendations such as revising the Postal Charter’s delivery standards and ending the moratorium on post office closures and conversions to community mailboxes.

The union said the recommendations amounted “to service cuts, contracting out, and major rollbacks to important provisions in our existing collective agreements” and that Canada Post had still not presented them with concrete plans.

Canada Post said it received strike notice on Monday, and that operations will continue as usual at this time.

“The potential for another strike comes at a critical moment for the postal system,” it said in a news release on Monday. “Canada Post  Since 2018, the Corporation has recorded more than $3 billion in losses before tax, and it will post another significant loss for 2024. In early 2025, the Government of Canada announced repayable funding of up to $1.034 billion for Canada Post to prevent insolvency.”

• ‘We’ve lost Christmas’: Canada Post won’t be able to deliver holiday packages, experts say
• Canada Post strike: What happens to the parcels already accepted?

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.

Postal workers could go on strike as early as midnight on Friday after a notice from the union was received by the Crown Corporation.

The Canada Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), which represents more than 55,000 postal workers, informed the management of its decision on Monday.

Canada Post said the corporation is accepting no new items until the end of the strike. “All mail and parcels in our network will be secured and delivered as quickly as possible once operations resume,” per

a May 19 news release

from Canada Post.

The corporation said it has had more than a $3 billion in losses before tax since 2018. There will be another significant loss for 2024. The federal government announced this year that it would offer repayable funding of up to $1.034 billion for Canada Post to prevent insolvency, per the news release.

Postal workers went

on strike ahead of Christmas last year

, delaying the deliveries of millions of holiday packages for Canadians. The possibility of a strike at the end of this week comes after recommendations from a report of the Industrial Inquiry Commission by Commissioner William Kaplan.

“The report provides an objective assessment of the challenges facing the postal system and the fundamental obstacles in the negotiations between Canada Post and CUPW. It also offers a series of recommendations for a sustainable path forward for our company,”

per the Canada Post

.

The union said the report “skews heavily” in favour of the corporation in

a May 16 news release

.

“These recommendations amount to service cuts, contracting out, and major rollbacks to important provisions in our existing collective agreements. There is also no guarantee that if these changes are made, Canada Post will increase its parcel business,” the union said. “Canada Post’s proposals have not been fully costed, nor have we been provided with concrete actionable plans. The recommendations also run counter to the demands you put forward and our years of campaigning to preserve and expand the public post office.”

What happened the last time Canada Post workers went on strike?

Postal workers went on strike at midnight on Nov. 15, 2024. The

union said it had been bargaining for a year

without results, therefore decided to strike. The union said its demands included fair wages, safe working conditions, the right to retire with dignity, and the expansion of services at the public post office. Although a strike was a “last resort,” it said that Canada Post “must be willing to resolve our new and outstanding issues.”

Bargaining continued with the help of mediators; however, no agreement was reached. After weeks of striking, Minister of Labour

Steve MacKinnon announced

that the government was asking the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to order postal workers to get back on the job.

The union called the government’s involvement an “assault” on the constitutional right to collectively bargain and strike.

After two days of hearings, the CIRB confirmed that the corporation and its workers would not be able to come to an agreement. Employees were ordered back to work on Dec. 17.

• Empty mailbox: What will be lost if Canada Post goes out of business?
• Canada Post receives strike notice, workers set to walk out on Friday

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.

EDMONTON — With fentanyl smuggling cited by U.S. President Donald Trump as a central motivation behind tariffs slapped on Canadian goods, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has listed fentanyl “super laboratories” in Canada as a “growing concern” to American authorities.

“These operations have the potential to expand and fill any supply void created by disruptions to Mexico-sourced fentanyl production and trafficking,” the report says.

On Thursday, the DEA released its 2025 report detailing threats posed to the United States by illegal drugs and the actions of drug traffickers and cartels. Between October 2023 and October 2024, more than 84,000 Americans died from drug overdoses.

In addition to noting Canada’s production of fentanyl, the report covers the actions of major Mexican drug cartels and China’s role in exporting the ingredients needed to manufacture fentanyl in North America.

While the report doesn’t specify the precise drug bust it was referring to, in late October, the RCMP broke up the “largest and most sophisticated fentanyl and methamphetamine drug superlab in Canada,” which was in Falkland, B.C., a community between Kamloops and Kelowna, and is otherwise known for hosting one of the largest Canadian flags.

The RCMP said the lab could have produced 95 million doses of fentanyl. Investigators seized 54 kilograms of fentanyl, “massive amounts of precursor chemicals,” and hundreds of kilograms in other drugs, including methamphetamine, cocaine and MDMA, better known as ecstasy.

Police also found 89 guns, including 45 handguns, 21 “Ar-15-style rifles” and submachine guns. Nine of the weapons were stolen.

The data on drugs flowing from Canada to the United States show that while there are drugs flowing north to south, the overwhelming majority of drugs smuggled into the U.S. come from the southwestern border with Mexico. In 2024, U.S. border officials seized 21,000 kilograms of fentanyl, 158,000 kilograms of methamphetamine and more than 56,000 kilograms of cannabis.

By comparison, American authorities seized 43 kilograms of fentanyl and 72 kilograms of heroin flowing from Canada to the United States in 2024, statistics from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show. So far in 2025, 26 kilograms of fentanyl have been seized, as has less than one kilo of heroin. Rates of cannabis smuggling are far higher: nearly 7,000 kilograms were seized last year, and this year more than 2,500 kilograms have been seized.

Additionally, more than 2,000 kilograms of cocaine have been seized at the northern border this year.

National Post asked the RCMP for comment on the DEA’s threat assessment, but the agency was unable to provide comment by press time. Public Safety Canada referred the Post’s inquiry to the Privy Council Office, where Canada’s new fentanyl czar, Kevin Brosseau, a former Mountie and national security adviser to the Prime Minister’s Office, works.

The DEA declined to comment on the report, but noted that Canada has been mentioned in previous threat assessments. Canada received no mention in the 2024 report, but in 2020, Canada was identified as a major source of high-quality cannabis. The report also

identified Indigenous reserves

on both sides of the border as significant routes for drug smuggling.

Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. Vice President JD Vance, both in Rome for the Pope’s inaugural mass on Sunday, discussed border security, a crackdown on fentanyl and increased investments in defence, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a  statement.

Carney said on X he had a “good conversation” with Vance.

“Canada and the United States share a common goal of saving lives and protecting communities from the devastating impacts of the illegal fentanyl trade,” said Pierre-Alain Bujold, a spokesperson with Canada’s Privy Council Office, in an email. “Canadian law enforcement agencies at all levels — municipal, provincial, and federal — are focused on dismantling organized crime networks and shutting down illegal drug production operations.”

I had a good conversation with Vice President JD Vance while in Rome. 
 
We spoke about building a new economic and security relationship between Canada and the United States — one that addresses immediate trade pressures, strengthens our defence cooperation, and… pic.twitter.com/wTjStCLoqa

— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) May 18, 2025

In February, Trump declared a state of emergency on his country’s northern border, using that to justify the imposition of tariffs on Canadian imports.

“I determined that the failure of Canada to arrest, seize, detain, or otherwise intercept drug trafficking organizations, other drug and human traffickers, criminals at large, and illicit drugs constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” the

president said in a press release

.

In response to Trump’s comments on fentanyl made last year before the emergency declaration, Ottawa amped up drug-enforcement along the border. The

federal government announced

a $1.3-billion border security plan, including appointing Brosseau as fentanyl czar and starting aerial patrols and a special intelligence unit to track down precursor chemicals. The government says that a 56-per-cent increase in the number of RCMP officers and targeted enforcement operations by Canada Border Services Agency officials have increased the number of investigations.

A further crackdown on fentanyl trafficking within Canada, the federal government says, has taken 46 kilograms of fentanyl, and 15,765 fentanyl and other

opioid pills off Canadian streets

.

“The DEA report reinforces what we already know — the fight against fentanyl must be relentless, coordinated, and evidence-based. Canada will continue working closely with our U.S. counterparts to secure our shared borders and safeguard our communities,” said Bujold.

National Post, with additional reporting by The Canadian Press

• $1.3B federal border security plan to have 24-hour aerial surveillance, anti-crime ‘joint strike force’
• David McGuinty says Canada has answered U.S. demands on border security

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.

TEL AVIV — The international spokesman for the Israeli Defence Forces has clapped back against Foreign Minister

Anita Anand’s criticism of the Gaza war

, even as the Liberal government broadened its messaging to call for Hamas to disarm and cede power.

In a scrum with reporters after being sworn in last week, Anand described Israel’s post-October 7 war on Hamas as “aggression,” accusing the Jewish state of using food as a political toll. She cited a death toll of 50,000 in the war, a

figure released by the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.

Asked about the comments in a briefing with Canadian reporters in Tel Aviv, Lt. Col Nadav Shoshani said Hamas figures do not distinguish between civilians and non-combatants. Israel works hard to limit civilian deaths, he said, often issuing warnings beforehand so they can get out of harms way.

When we say we take steps to minimize harm to civilians—this is what we mean.

Several days before striking infrastructure sites belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime in Yemen’s Hudaydah and Salif Ports, the IDF issued repeated warnings to evacuate like this one, posted by… https://t.co/sk846M9ccS

— LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) May 16, 2025

“Israel is only country in the world that could be attacked on seven fronts and described as being the aggressor,” he told the reporters on Sunday, travelling in Israel on a trip sponsored by the Exigent Foundation. The seven fronts he named include

Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran,

the Houthis and other enemies.

On the X social media platform on Monday, Anand revealed that Prime Minister Mark Carney had spoken to Israeli President Isaac Herzog and “discussed the urgent need” for Hamas to release the remaining 58 hostages, “lay down its weapons and have no role in Gaza.”

Today PM @MarkJCarney and Pres. @Isaac_Herzog discussed the urgent need for:
•Hamas to release all hostages
•An immediate ceasefire
•The resumption of urgent life-saving humanitarian aid for civilians
•A two-state solution
•Hamas to lay down its weapons and have no role in…

— Anita Anand (@AnitaAnandMP) May 19, 2025

The two leaders also discussed a ceasefire,

“a two-state solution”

and the resumption of humanitarian aid to Gaza, she said. On Sunday, Israel announced a resumption of aid.

Shoshani said he had “a lot of respect for Canada,” but said Hamas started the war and could end it by laying down their weapons and releasing the hostages.

“We’re doing everything we can to fight a terrorist organization and we’re not going to fight it in a non-aggressive way,” he said.

“We’re differentiating and targeting terrorists who have said they want to kill us, kill my family. We have to act against these terrorists to make sure they can’t do that.”

The Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed about 1,200 people and saw

251 hostages taken to Gaza.

Most have since been returned to Israel or died. Many of the remaining hostages are believed to have died.

• Anand’s one-sided comments on Israel a strategic blunder
• Anita Anand debuts at foreign affairs by doing publicity for Hamas

Toronto Jewish community leaders are hopeful that the

2025 Walk with Israel

will build on the record-breaking attendance, fundraising and public support of last year’s march.

“The Walk with Israel really represents a moment of solidarity and togetherness and pride for the Jewish community in Toronto,” Sara Lefton, the chief development officer of the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Toronto (UJA), told National Post. “I think at a moment where there has been so much antisemitism and so much isolation of the Jewish community that it’s needed now more than ever.”

Last year, the UJA Walk with Israel down Bathurst Street in northern Toronto drew an estimated 50,000 participants, the

largest ever

in the event’s history. Noah Godfrey, a co-chair of the event alongside his wife, is similarly upbeat that this year’s walk will be a positive gathering for Toronto’s Jewish community and their allies supporting the Jewish state.

“We are big believers in the need for the State of Israel, for Jews, and for the need for self-determination. It’s been pretty important a role Israel has played for Jews, not only in Israel, but for the diaspora,” he told the Post.

While sporadic groups of anti-Israel protesters lined the walk’s path last year, some of them yelling antisemitic slurs, Lefton noted that UJA is taking safety precautions seriously ahead of this year’s march. “The Jewish security network is working on behalf of the community with Toronto Police to make sure that there’s a coordinated plan to deal with any counter-protesters and to make sure that we’re safe and secure.”

Godfrey agreed that organizers were taking any potential threats seriously, but emphasized it would not distract them from the importance of the event.

“We’re not deluding ourselves that the people will show up. But we also are not also going to let it ruin our day. We’re gonna have a wonderful day, a wonderful walk,” he said.

Upholding a peaceful environment in which Jews and non-Jews alike show their support for Israel is vitally important, Lefton said. “This is a celebratory march about pride,” she said. “We’re marching as Canadians who are standing with Israel.”

Another major goal of the walk is to raise money for Israelis. Lefton shared that the 2024 event fundraised over $1 million, which was earmarked to help “people in Israel who are suffering as a result of the current situation.” The UJA executive explained that some of the donations had been used to assist families in Sderot, a town which was attacked during the October 7 invasion by Hamas, who are struggling to find mental health and trauma support.

Last year’s walk was buoyed by the return of four Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas and held in Gaza, and this year’s event is equally timely, Lefton said. “It’s a scary time to be a Jew in Toronto and in Canada, in general. We have never seen this kind of hate targeted against our community before,” she said. “Our children are waking up and going to school knowing that there are very real threats that they’re facing. For the last year, our community has really been banding together to make sure that we stand up against this hate and use our voices, because we need to call attention to the fact that we’re facing this kind of hatred and antisemitism and that it’s not acceptable.”

The adversity Canadian Jews have faced throughout the days and months since the October 7 atrocities — swastikas graffitied on schools, bomb threats against synagogues, shootings at Jewish day schools — underscored for Godfrey the unending struggle of the Jewish people to never give up or be complacent.

“We can never take freedom for granted…. I think that is even more palpable today, post-October 7, than it has been in my entire lifetime,” he said.

“It’s even more important now to show our friends in Israel and around the world that they are not alone and that the Jewish diaspora is here and strong and supportive of what we’re fighting for.”

• Over 50,000 supporters march in Walk With Israel rally in Toronto
• ‘You can’t be openly Jewish at TMU’: Jewish students at Toronto Metropolitan University say they’re now isolated, harassed

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.