National Post (Politics) Archives - Page 4 of 355

OTTAWA — Canada’s financial crime watchdog is warning that the “horrendous crimes” related to online child sexual exploitation, including the growing trend of imported child sex dolls, are escalating, while urging financial services companies to do more to help catch perpetrators.

The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) said Thursday that the number of online child sexual crimes is rising each year in Canada and throughout the world, but so is the severity of the crimes, the images and the videos involved.

The warnings are expected to add pressure on the federal government to step up its efforts to deal with the growing threat of online crime, particularly as it pertains to the safety of children.

In a new operational alert called Laundering the Proceeds of Online Child Sexual Exploitation, FINTRAC is urging businesses to do everything possible to help authorities crack down on the money laundering and other financial crimes that are typically part of the business model of these illegal online businesses.

Sexual extortion schemes that target Canadian children, the watchdog’s alert warns, are also on the rise and are often linked to organized crime.

Sarah Paquet, FINTRAC’s chief executive, said the alert is designed to support the efforts of Canada’s financial services sector and other businesses to protect the most vulnerable. “The exploitation of children is one of the most appalling crimes imaginable and it’s enabled by financial payments,” she was quoted as saying in a press release.

In the alert, FINTRAC also warns of the trend of child-like sex dolls, often imported from China or Japan, that can include children’s clothing and accessories. While the empirical evidence is incomplete, there is concern among some behavioural psychologists that the use of these dolls could be a gateway to even more serious, deviant acts.

The agency is asking financial services companies and other businesses to be on high alert for suspicious transactions that could be signs of illegal purchases or money laundering.

Transactions often involve money being sent, for example, to countries such as Thailand, the Philippines, India, South Africa, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Cuba, where the legislation to protect victims is weaker.

Another characteristic is that these online criminal organizations are increasingly turning to virtual currencies to hide and launder their profits, particularly instant exchanges, mixers, tumblers and privacy coins. The transactions are often relatively small amount of money, less than $200.

Joseph Iuso, executive director of the Canadian Money Services Business Association, said online crime has shown no signs of slowing down and likely warrants more guardrails, including regulation. “It’s getting worse and will keep getting worse until something changes.”

Iuso, whose organization is a non-profit that
fosters payments compliance,
suggested that Canada could look more closely at Australia and the United Kingdom for how to use fines and other disincentives to encourage banks, casinos and other businesses to be more aggressive in monitoring questionable customer behaviour. “It seems to have slowed it down.”

The FINTRAC warning is the latest evidence that Canada — like virtually all other countries — is struggling to keep up with the growing problems of online crime and the money laundering that often accompanies it.

In its latest annual report, FINTRAC reported last month that it easily set a new mark last year in the number of cases that it sent to police for possible criminal investigation. The record-setting year reflects huge jumps in fraud, cyber ransomware, online child sexual exploitation and a range of other online crimes.

Just a week earlier, the agency announced that it had imposed its largest penalty ever on a Vancouver crypto currency company, more than nine times as much as the second largest ever.

Ottawa is trying to crack down on the growing problem.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said last month that the government will open a new Financial Crimes Agency to improve Canada’s ability to tackle online scams, money laundering and other types of fraud.

Prime Minister Mark Carney also vowed during the recent federal election campaign to criminalize and increase penalties for the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. Justice Minister Sean Fraser has said those changes will be part of an upcoming bill to fight online crimes against children.

The government is also expected to propose legislative changes to the Bank Act this spring to require banks and other financial institutions to play a larger and more proactive role in detecting and fighting various types of fraud.

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OTTAWA — The five contenders to lead the NDP will meet in Montreal on Thursday evening in what could be a critical opportunity for candidates to build buzz in

a wide-open race

NDP insiders are also hoping the first official debate of the party leadership campaign will help the NDP revitalize its brand in Quebec, with

the 2011 Orange Crush

now a distant memory.

“Engaging Quebecers in this leadership race is essential to building a strong and united NDP,” said the party’s lone Quebec MP Alexandre Boulerice

in a statement announcing

the debate’s location.

“As we look to the future of our Party, we must continue to connect with members from across the country, while recognizing the crucial role Quebec plays in our movement,” said Boulerice.

Here are five things to know before tuning into the debate:

It will be a (60 per cent) French debate

The all anglophone crop of contenders will be given a bit of grace, with debate organizers announcing an official language breakdown of 60 per cent French and 40 per cent English. Contestants have also been given the option to wear earpieces translating the French bits to English. A party spokesman told National Post that the earpieces were okayed after “after a number of contestants specifically asked for (them).”

The 60:40 ratio will be strictly enforced. “If a contestant chooses to answer in English in a section designated to be in French, they will be cut off by the moderator,” read debate rules circulated to the media.

Media coverage is pay-to-play

It’s not just the candidates who need to fork over an entrance fee to take part in the debate. Members of the press covering the event must pay for technical accommodations. These range in cost from $100 for basic hardline internet access to $2,000 for the full broadcast package.

The deluxe package also includes access to a “dedicated media space” for “unilateral hits” and on-site coffee and tea services.

The ‘Big Three’ will jockey for position

All eyes will be on the three early favourites: Edmonton MP Heather McPherson, documentary filmmaker Avi Lewis and union leader Rob Ashton. A

recent first-impressions survey

from Pollara showed all three in the mix, with McPherson holding the early edge in name recognition at 20 per cent.

McPherson also made a good first impression with white-collar workers, degree holders and immigrants. Ashton excited blue collar workers, lower income earners, and those without university degrees.

Pollara Chief Strategy Officer Dan Arnold told National Post these early impressions are far from set in stone.

“I don’t think any of the candidates are well known, so it’s a chance for all of them to kind of to introduce themselves to voters at this point,” said Arnold.

Also on hand will be Campbell River, B.C. city councillor Tanille Johnston and organic farmer Tony McQuail.

McPherson’s ‘purity test’ test

While the race has seen few fireworks so far, McPherson did ruffle some feathers by calling for the party to

relax ideological purity tests

at her Sep. 28 campaign launch. Fellow NDP MP Leah Gazan

said soon after

that she was “appalled and deeply disappointed” by McPherson’s framing, calling it dismissive of marginalized voices within the party.

Lewis echoed this sentiment at an October candidates’ forum in Ottawa, telling reporters that McPherson shouldn’t be “using language that the right uses to slam the left.”

Johnston recently told National Post that she’d voiced concerns about McPherson’s “word choice” at an event with other leadership candidates in Saskatoon, adding that she was “disheartened” that the language was later “doubled down on.”

Johnston said she hadn’t had a chance to raise the issue directly with McPherson but hoped to do so soon.

A huge endorsement could be at stake

One keen debate watcher will be host Alexandre Boulerice, who will kick off the evening’s agenda with a welcome message. Boulerice, the sole surviving MP from the NDP’s 59-seat Quebec haul in 2011, has been cited in the province’s media as a

highly sought-after endorser

and possible leadership race kingmaker.

Boulerice told National Post last month that the Montreal debate could go a long way in determining which candidate he puts his support behind.

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OTTAWA — Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette says his goal is

not to unilaterally declare Quebec independence

with his recently tabled draft constitution.

In an interview with the National Post, Jolin-Barrette, who is also minister responsible for Canadian relations, said that his intention is to give Quebec the necessary tools to increase its autonomy so that the Canadian federation can work better as a whole.

“Sovereignty is a project that is legitimate,” he said. “However, that is not the objective of the CAQ (Coalition Avenir Québec) government. Our project is (to stay) within Canada.”

“When federate states, of which Canada is composed, acquire more autonomy, the federation wins.”

Jolin-Barrette is the CAQ minister who piloted Quebec’s controversial Bill 21 prohibiting religious signs in the public space and the equally controversial Bill 96 to restrict the use of English in businesses and public services, in the government’s first mandate.

With less than one year to go before the next election, and with the Parti Québécois (PQ) surging in the polls, the “true blue” minister tabled last month a constitution containing elements that are sure to please the CAQ’s nationalist base, but also a number of PQ supporters.

Bill 1, the Quebec Constitution Act, is a dense 40-page legislation seeking to amend over 20 existing laws, including the Constitution Act of 1867 and the Civil Code of Quebec.

Jolin-Barrette said this bill is the result of an “evolving process” meant to consolidate the CAQ’s work to assert secularism in Quebec and the predominance of the French language.

Adopting a provincial constitution was also a key recommendation from an advisory committee in 2024. Quebec Premier François Legault named Jolin-Barrette as minister of Canadian relations in early 2025 and gave him the task of crafting such a constitution.

“It’s an anomaly that Quebec does not have a constitution,” said Jolin-Barrette.

Bill 1 reads in its legislative text as the “law of laws” and is deemed to have “precedence over any inconsistent rule of law” — including federal laws. For instance, Quebec’s more permissive medical assistance in dying regime prevails over the federal regime.

It also enshrines into the constitution Quebec’s civil law tradition as well as “distinct social values,” such as equality between women and men.

However, the bill has been criticized for state overreach, including vowing to protect “women’s freedom to have recourse to a voluntary termination of pregnancy.”

Medical experts have raised the alarm

over enshrining the right to abortion in the constitution, arguing that that clause will necessarily be challenged in court by anti-abortion groups and that the government could end up eroding women’s right to choose.

Jolin-Barrette said he hears those concerns and wants to reassure those groups that the constitution simply ensures an “obligation” for Quebec to defend abortion rights, should those rights come “under attack,” but it is not a way to legislate the issue.

Another source of criticism is prohibiting publicly funded organizations, such as school boards, from using taxpayer dollars to pay for court challenges of laws that protect the “fundamental characteristics of Quebec.” That includes secularism of the state.

Earlier this month, the Quebec Bar Association also

took the unusual step of denouncing Bill 1

and other recent legislation by the CAQ, explaining in a press release that restricting court challenges could erode the “rule of law.”

Jolin-Barrette said the bar association’s reaction lacked some nuance. “This doesn’t mean that a (publicly funded organization) would not be able to challenge a law,” he said. “It could do it, but not with the money — taxes, income tax, government transfers — from citizens.”

Opposition parties at the National Assembly of Quebec have criticized Jolin-Barrette’s lack of consultation, including with Indigenous peoples, prior to tabling such a foundational document for the province.

Even PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon criticized the bill before it was even tabled, saying that adopting a law with the word “constitution” written on it would not generate any additional autonomy for Quebec, nor would it change the current legal reality.

“In a nutshell, a ‘constitution’ has no sense if it is not the constitution of a country, because it will be a simple law that is subordinate to an absolutely dysfunctional and outdated Canadian constitution,” St-Pierre Plamondon said on Oct. 7.

The PQ leader dismissed it as a “gadget” that would be used for electoral purposes, going even so far as calling it a “decorative” constitution.

Jolin-Barrette did not mince words when asked about St-Pierre Plamondon’s criticism.

“My entire political commitment, in recent years, has been to give more tools and autonomy to Quebec. The constitution is an additional tool,” he said.

“If the Parti Québécois is disagreeing with this, it is disavowing its past.”

Consultations on Bill 1 are set to start next week, and clause-by-clause study is expected to happen in the spring. Quebec could find itself with a constitutional law before the end of the CAQ’s mandate.

Jolin-Barrette said there is a movement within Canada where provincial governments are seeking to obtain more autonomy, like in Alberta and in Saskatchewan, and that Quebec is simply following that path. He also said he is hoping other provinces will follow their lead.

“When provinces win, it’s the entire federal union that wins.”

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OTTAWA — MPs will likely have to find a new spot to sign their Christmas cards and prop up their speaking notes when they return to sit in the Centre Block building, as the House of Commons is seriously considering swapping their desks for U.K.-style benches.

Among the myriads of challenges planners of the herculean, multibillion-dollar restoration of Parliament’s Centre Block still face is one about buttocks: how do you ensure seats for an ever-growing number of MPs in the renovated House of Commons?

The most likely answer is to swap out the 343 (and counting) iconic desks for rows of benches like in the U.K. House of Commons.

Darrell de Grandmont, director of the Centre Block Rehabilitation Program for the House of Commons, said various teams and a working group of MPs are currently looking at options for the benches.

The goal is to make them, or at least the first few rows which would be most visible, “look as heritage as possible,” he explained to National Post during a media visit of the Centre Block restoration Wednesday.

Eventually, mockups will be set up for MPs to test and provide feedback before Parliament returns to Centre Block in 2032, he said.

No final decision has been made, de Grandmont noted, but there are only so many ways to fit more people into a room that cannot be expanded. He said planners are working on a scenario where there will one day be 400 MPs in Canada.

The change also brings its lot of challenges, de Grandmont said. For example, there will be no more assigned seating for MPs. The House of Commons will also have to figure out how to ensure the bench layout remains accessible for those with mobility issues.

Many MPs will also miss having their own storage space in a reserved desk in the House of Commons for anything from the day’s speeches to piles of Christmas cards to be signed for constituents.

Other than the likely major change to seating, the goal of the dozen year restoration project of the iconic centennial building and the House of Commons and Senate chambers is for them to look like nothing had changed.

But those who hoped that the Commons would do away with the mustard curtains that famously drape the sides of the room behind MPs’ seats will be disappointed.

de Grandmont admitted that the colour of the curtains comes up frequently during discussions about the renovations, but the goal is to return the space to its original aesthetic.

“We’ve been asked to make sure that we retain the heritage value of that space, which includes all the colours… nothing is going to change,” he told National Post with a chuckle. “The curtain is always being discussed. It turns out, it’s whatever looks best on camera.”

Overall, planners’ and builders’ task is near-herculean. For the past six years, they have stripped a centennial building chock-full with known — and sometimes unexpected, like engravings hidden behind old coats of white paint — heritage pieces down to its bare skeleton.

At the same time, they’ve taken on a massive engineering endeavour: finding a way to build a whole new steel foundation for the building to rest on while workers dig up two additional basement floors under Parliament. In total, they’ve already removed 10,000 tri-axle truckloads of rocks.

“It’s all been transferred onto these steel piles. Our project requires us to go in and excavate underneath… and remove the rock in a gentle and delicate way as to not damage or cause any harm to Centre Block,” said Taggart’s Joe Farquharson.

All this while digging a massive hole in front of the building that will eventually house a modern underground visitors’ centre that should double Parliament’s capacity to welcome guests.

Public Services and Procurement Canada’s Siavash Mahajer, who led the media tour through the skeleton of the building, said the project remains on time despite the challenges of such a major and unique project.

Now, builders are focused on re-constructing the building, he said. That includes completely new flooring between most floors in addition to the two extra levels of basement.

Mahajer also said that, amid U.S. tariffs on steel imports, the government is pushing hard to ensure Canadian steel is sourced whenever possible throughout the project.

“Not everything is available from Canadian sources, but we want to make sure that if something is available, that we buy that,” he told reporters.

He said that likely by this time next year, the whole front of Centre Block will disappear behind scaffolding, including a purpose-built steel structure around the Peace Tower.

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The federal government announced a suite or new policies Wednesday to support the embattled steel and lumber industries, the latest measures to shift the Canadian economy away from reliance on the American market.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said the measures were designed to support two pillar industries of the Canadian economy that have been rammed this year by United States tariffs directed at Canada and many other countries.

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Carney said the Canadian economy is adapting to the new landscape, while shifting “from reliance to resilience.”

“The Canadian steel and lumber industries will always be at the heart of Canada’s competitiveness, our security and our strength.”

Ottawa has responded to those American policies, notably the steep tariffs against key Canadian sectors, by trying to diversify exports away from the U.S. and boost sales within Canada.

While the Canadian economy has showed some resilience in recent months, the targetted industries – steel, auto, aluminum and lumber – have been hit hard as exports to the U.S. have tumbled.

Trade talks between Canada and the U.S. were halted late last month

after Ontario ran an anti-tariff ad

on American television during the Major League Baseball World Series. The ad, which featured anti-tariff quotes from former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, reportedly infuriated U.S. President Donald Trump.

Carney said Wednesday that he spoke to Trump a day earlier but that the conversation produced nothing newsworthy. The two leaders are scheduled to speak in person next week at a World Cup draw event.

The flurry of new measures, which fall into three buckets, include efforts to:

Increase demand for Canadian steel by an estimated $1 billion by limiting foreign steel imports:

Reducing the tariff rate quota levels to 20 per cent from 50 per cent for steel products from countries with whom Canada doesn’t have a free trade agreement
Reducing the tariff rate quota levels to 75 per cent of 2024 levels from 100 per cent for steel products from non-CUSMA (the successor to the North American free trade deal)
Imposing a new 25 per cent tariff on some imported steel products such as wind towers, fasteners and wires
Using detectors and dedicated steel compliance specialists to tighten borders against foreign steel dumping

Make it easier to build with Canadian steel:

Subsidizing the cost of moving Canadian steel and lumber within Canada so that interprovincial trade of these products will be cut in half beginning this spring
Prioritizing projects under Build Canada Homes, a federal program to encourage home construction, that begin within 12 months and use Canadian wood

Protect Canadian workers and businesses:

Spending $100 million over two years to support training for employees in various sectors, including steel and lumber, working reduced hours
Providing $500 million to the Business Development Bank of Canada Softwood Lumber Guarantee Program to support restructuring companies
Providing $500 million to the Large Enterprise Tariff Loan program to support softwood lumber companies facing liquidity problems

Carney did not provide a total cost for the various new measures to support steel and lumber, but government officials pegged the cost earlier in the day at $146 million. The announcement did not provide any unique support for the auto or aluminum sectors, both of which were also hit by the Trump tariffs.

Many of the measures mark the latest protectionist steps in global trade policy, following the Trump tariffs launched earlier this year.

Those protectionist steps have followed decades of efforts to liberalize international trade, moves that were widely viewed as successful in boosting economic growth.

Leaders of the affected industries unsurprisingly lauded the government’s moves.

Ron Bedard, chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal Dofasco, the Hamilton, Ont.-based flat-rolled steel producer, told reporters at the press conference that the government’s moves will help level the playing field and get the Canadian industry to a more secure place. The steel industry has in recent months been asking Ottawa for more protection.

Kurt Niquidet, president of the British Columbia Lumber Trade Council (BCLTC), said he appreciated Ottawa’s recognition that urgent support is needed as a bridge.

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More than three quarters of Canadians disagree with U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra’s assertion that President Donald Trump’s call for Canada to become the 51st state is a compliment and a term of endearment,

according to a new poll.

Seventy-eight per cent of the Canadians surveyed earlier this month disagree with Hoekstra and “instead believe that such language is insulting to Canadians.” Only 11 per cent agree with him, according to the poll from Narrative Research and the Logit Group.

“Just one in ten agree that suggesting Canada should become the 51st state is a compliment and a term of endearment,” said a statement from the pollsters.

“One in ten are unsure or did not express an opinion.”

Asa McKercher, the Hudson Chair in Canada-U.S. Relations at St. Francis Xavier University’s Brian Mulroney Institute of Government, is not surprised by the results.

“Canada’s sort of very existence is due to people basically rejecting becoming American,” said McKercher, an associate professor of public policy and governance in Antigonish, N.S.

English and French residents of this country united “to throw back the Americans during their invasion in the American Revolution and the War of 1812,” he said Wednesday.

And they voted to become a colony “rather than joining or welcoming annexation in the 1860s,” McKercher said.

He pointed out that in the Newfoundland referendum of 1948 people living on The Rock opted to join Canada, even though “one of the options was to vote to appeal to become an American state,” he said.

“So, this is something that’s united Canadians basically through our entire existence on the northern half of North America.”

On the 11 per cent of Canadians who agree that Hoekstra’s comment is a compliment and a term of endearment, McKercher said it could be interpreted that way.

“It is a compliment, in a sense, I guess, in that Americans have this kind of typical view that everyone wants to be American. So, I suppose that is a kind of a compliment, if you like.”

For McKercher, “the interesting number” from the poll comes from Gen Z (people aged 18 to 24), with 27 per cent of them agreeing that Canada becoming the 51st state should be taken as a compliment.

“Maybe they have less attachment to what Canada is,” he said.

“Obviously the economy has not been kind to them — the cost-of-living crisis. I think there’s a sense, quite rightly, that per capita incomes in much of the United States are higher,” McKercher said.

The political scientist, who lives in Nova Scotia, noted that his province’s per capita income was below that of Mississippi in a recent study from the Fraser Institute. “So, for younger people, Canada hasn’t been the land of opportunity that it necessarily has been certainly for baby boomers and even Gen Xers,” he said.

“The other thing is Gen Z has really grown up in an age of globalization,” he said, noting first generation Canadians, who might not feel as much of an attachment to Canada, could skew that number as well.

In the new poll, 13 per cent of those aged 25 to 34, 12 per cent of people aged 35 to 54, and five per cent of Canadians aged 55 and older agreed Hoekstra’s comments were a compliment.

“Many Boomers probably remember the Vietnam War and all this ‘60s kind of nationalism and ‘70s kind of nationalism we had in Canada,” McKercher said.

Agreement with Hoekstra is strongest in the Prairie provinces, at 17 per cent, according to the poll.

“There are more people of direct American ancestry in Alberta and Saskatchewan,” McKercher said. “As I said, part of Canadian identity has been resistance to America going back to things like the War of 1812. That’s not a thing in Alberta. Alberta didn’t exist in 1812. So, I think there’s less of that anti-American kind of identity.”

And if you’re working in the oil patch, “you might be working for an American company,” McKercher said, nothing those folks would be aware “of the integrated nature of the oil economy.”

There could be a partisan or “ideological identification going on, too,” he said. “More conservative people tend to be a bit more pro-American. I think there’s a polarization of pro-American and anti-American attitudes in Canada, to an extent.”

In British Columbia, 10 per cent of those questioned agreed with the U.S. ambassador to Canada. In Ontario, 11 per cent of those surveyed gave Hoekstra’s comment the thumbs up. That number dropped to eight per cent in Quebec and seven per cent in Atlantic Canada.

What would Hoekstra – who McKercher dubbed “a blunt tool” of the U.S. administration — have to say to win Canadian approval?

“I think he would have to say, ‘I’m resigning as ambassador,’” McKercher said.

“He’s effective at making the Trump position clear. He’s not necessarily effective at wooing Canadians.”

The online survey of 1,231 Canadian adults was conducted between Nov. 12 and 14. The data were weighted by gender, age, and region to reflect the population based on the 2021 census.

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Mélanie Joly, the federal industry minister, is denying rumours that she is set to be named Canada’s ambassador to France in a coming cabinet shuffle.

Citing “multiple sources, Liberal and otherwise,”

the Toronto Sun

reported this week that Joly is “looking to be appointed” to the role.

But a few hours later, asked if she had any interest in the job, Joly said “absolutely not.”

“I’m focused on my job right now, which is to be the minister of industry, and to fight for every single job in this country at a time of trade tensions, and so I’ll continue to do that,” she told Mackenzie Gray, a journalist with Global News, during a video press conference from Japan on Wednesday.

Industry Minister Melanie Joly says she has no interest in becoming the Ambassador to France, saying she feels a “strong sense of duty” to Canada and that she feels her knowledge of business and geopolitics would be very useful for the government right now #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/qN8fCUNt7T

— Mackenzie Gray (@Gray_Mackenzie) November 26, 2025

The posting to Paris, with its official residence next to the embassy in the chic 8th arrondissement, is among Canada’s most prestigious diplomatic jobs. It can be a reward for distinguished service in domestic politics, and also a safe place to quietly unload big names who have overstayed their time in federal cabinet.

It tends to be the francophone counterpart to the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in London, a job now held by former senior Liberal cabinet minister Ralph Goodale. Bill Blair, who was minister of national defence until this past May, is reportedly being considered to replace Goodale.

The present ambassador to France is Stéphane Dion, a former leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. Previous holders include Lawrence Cannon, who was Quebec lieutenant to former prime minister Stephen Harper.

Joly said she is keen to continue with her industry portfolio at a time of grave economic threats to Canadian industry.

“I have a very strong sense of duty towards my country, and I’m very much aware that we have to be able to engage with the private sector and also with governments, so two of my expertises, which is business and at the same time geopolitics, are actually very useful for Canada right now,” she said.

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Canadians who want to visit U.S. national parks like the Grand Canyon or Yosemite will need to pay more than three times the current amount starting next year. Beginning Jan. 1, the “America the Beautiful” pass, issued by the country’s National Park service, will remain the same price for Americans, but will be much higher for “nonresidents.”

A press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior this week announces “new digital passes, new annual pass artwork, America-first pricing and expanded motorcycle access … under President Trump’s leadership.”

The America-first pricing will affect Canadians and any other visiting foreign nationals. Currently the cost is US$80 (about $112 Canadian) for a year-long pass that covers one vehicle and up to four adults. Children aged 16 and under are free.

“Beginning Jan. 1, 2026, the Annual Pass will cost $80 for U.S. residents and $250 for nonresidents,” the department said in its release. The new rate is equivalent to $351 Canadian.

It adds: “Nonresidents without an annual pass will pay a $100 per person fee to enter 11 of the most visited national parks, in addition to the standard entrance fee.” Entrance fees at U.S. national parks average about US$30 per person.

“President Trump’s leadership always puts American families first,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “These policies ensure that U.S. taxpayers, who already support the National Park System, continue to enjoy affordable access, while international visitors contribute their fair share to maintaining and improving our parks for future generations.”

The Department also highlighted 10 “patriotic fee-free days” for 2026, including the Independence Day weekend, Veteran’s Day and Trump’s birthday, June 14. These days are free for residents only.

Trump signed an executive order in July to raise entrance fees at national parks for overseas visitors, while also ordering the Secretary of the Interior, working with the Secretary of State, “to encourage international tourism to America’s national parks and outdoor recreation areas, and especially wider utilization of America’s many such areas that may be underutilized.”

The BBC reported in March that the Trump administration’s steep cuts to staff at national parks, forests and wildlife habitats was resulting in longer park entrance lines, reduced hours at visitor centres, closed trails and unsanitary facilities.

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Iddo Moed says he is “extremely concerned” that a Palestinian tribunal was hosted by the Senate of Canada earlier this month.

Israel’s ambassador to Canada was in Ottawa on Monday evening, taking part in the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights. During the meeting, Moed was asked by Quebec Senator Leo Housakos how Israel viewed the Senate, in particular, after it

hosted the tribunal

“We are extremely concerned about such a phenomenon,” said Moed. “We understand the rules of democracy, the freedom of speech and all of that. But as I said earlier, we are in a new reality. In this new reality, these kinds of incidents have an impact, and so it’s different than just having a broad discussion and allowing people to come up with extreme views.”

The two-day tribunal took place on Nov. 14 and Nov. 15. It was condemned by Jewish advocacy group Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. It featured panelists who were not allowed into the country by Canada Border Services Agency, who denied the 9/11 terrorist attack, and who believed that the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in France in 2015 was committed by its own government, rather than the Islamic Brotherhood, said Housakos.

Moed said “such acceptance may give rise to expressions of hatred by other parts of the public and repeating messages that are inflammatory, that are hateful, that are discriminatory.” He said that although people should be able to speak freely “within the law,” there are ongoing discussions of how to conserve democracy while protecting “citizens from hateful speech, from brainwashing, from misinformation and disinformation.”

“This is one of the biggest challenges of these times, and we face that, and I would only say that the best way to do it is to do it together and share our experiences,” he said.

The committee on Monday also heard from Jewish women’s advocate Talia Klein Leighton. She is the president of nonprofit group Canadian Women Against Antisemitism. She responded to a question about whether or not public institutions, such as universities and governments and municipalities, were letting down Jewish people.

“I think that there is a total lack of law enforcement of these marauders who are on the university campuses, who are in the streets of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and so on,” she said. “And I think this lack of law enforcement, plus the statements that are made by faculty associations, by unions, has created an environment of absolute permissiveness, so that it is socially acceptable right now to be an antisemite.”

Rachel Cook, a Jewish law student at the University of Alberta, told the committee that there is “an institutional coddling of people who have views that the administration agrees with.” After October 7,

Cook asked the university to display a menorah

alongside a Christmas tree. Rather than displaying both, the university removed the tree. (A menorah holds candles that are lit during the eight nights of Hanukkah, a Jewish holiday which usually falls around the same time as Christmas. It is referred to as the Festival of Lights.)

“As a Jewish student on a university campus, I did not conflate my menorah with Zionism. My Institution did when they chose not to put it up. I’m a Canadian Jew. I’m not Israeli. I asked to display a menorah, and because the institution was worried about showing support for Israel, they took the trees down instead of doing it,” said Cook. “It wasn’t me that conflated Zionists and Jews. It was them.”

The

recognition of the Palestinian state

by the Canadian government in September is what has opened “Pandora’s box against Israel, against the Jewish community in Canada,” said Klein Leighton. She said it goes against the Canadian government’s foreign policy that has existed for years, “which is, we will recognize the state of Palestine when and only when there is a negotiated settlement, when there is a path toward democracy.”

“I’m not sure that (recognition) actually has any impact on foreign policy, or has any impact on what actually goes on in Israel or in Gaza. And it certainly doesn’t help the Palestinian people,” she said. “All it does is open up the Jewish community to greater hatred, to greater targeting.”

Despite other conflicts around the world, Housakas pointed out that the one that has most disrupted Canada’s social peace has been the war in the Middle East, sparked by Hamas terrorists killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 hostages on Oct. 7, 2023. He asked Moed where Canada stands on the global scale of combatting antisemitism.

“That’s a very tough question, because Israel is holding Canada to a very high standard, the same way that Canada holds Israel to a very high standard,” Moed said. “And the last few years, especially after October 7, when we’ve seen more and more incidents, those incidents are very quickly reported in Israel. They are reported because there is not only an interest, but an expectation from Canada to prevent that.”

He said the follow-up question in Israel when it comes to Canadian incidents of antisemitism is, “What is being done about that?”

Israel expects more from Canada, he said. It’s not a question of where Canada is on the global scale, he added, but rather “where our two countries see each other.”

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A top executive at Campbell’s has been placed on temporary leave as of Tuesday as the world’s largest soup maker begins an internal investigation into a scandal that broke last week.

The decision regarding putting Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer Martin Bally on leave was made after audio recordings of him were released to media outlets by former employee Robert Garza on Saturday. Just two days before that, Garza had filed a whistleblower lawsuit alleging wrongful termination in Michigan on Thursday.

Here’s what we know about the controversy involving the 154-year-old company.

What ignited the Campbell’s controversy?

The scandal kickstarted after the expletive-laden audio remarks were shared with NBC Detroit affiliate

WDIV

last week and later with

Business Insider

. The remarks were part of an hour-long recording Garza said he made at a restaurant where he was allegedly meeting with Bally in November to discuss his salary as a security analyst.

Garza told WDIV he recorded the encounter because his instincts told him

“something wasn’t right” with Bally.

“We have s— for f—ing poor people. Who buys our s—, ” a man’s voice is heard asking on the recording.

The man adds that he doesn’t purchase the company’s products anymore, saying he doesn’t consider it “healthy” knowing what’s in it, alleging cans of soup contain “bioengineered meat,” a product grown in a lab or genetically modified as opposed to being raised organically.

“I don’t want to eat a f—ing piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer,” he allegedly said.

At another point, the man is heard disparaging the intelligence of Indian employees.

“F—ing Indians don’t know a f—ing thing. Like they couldn’t think for their f—ing selves,” the man says.

National Post has not independently confirmed the audio’s authenticity.

Why is the former Campbell’s employee suing the soup company?

Filed Thursday in Wayne County Circuit Court, Garza’s suit alleges that he brought the recordings and his concerns from the meeting with Bally to his supervisor, JP Aupperle, in early January, only to be fired before the end of the month.

The statement of claim alleges that Bally and Aupperle, along with the company itself, are guilty of a civil rights violation by creating a racially hostile work environment.

“

This situation has been very hard on Robert,” Zach Runyan, Garza’s lawyer, wrote in an email to National Post that included a copy of the statement of claim.

“He thought Campbell’s would be thankful that he reported Martin’s behavior, but instead he was abruptly fired.”

National Post also requested the audio recording from Runyan, but it was not provided at the time of publishing.

The filing also claims that Bally repeatedly came to work high on marijuana edibles.

While the suit is centred largely on what was said in the recording, it is not included in the filing, Business Insider reported.

Garza is seeking recompense for legal fees, economic damages and non-economic damages, legal fees and “other damages to be discovered through the course of litigation.”

How has Campbell’s responded to the allegations?

Campbell’s Company,

which dropped “Soup” from its official name in 2024

, said if it were Bally on the recording, the comments “are unacceptable.”

“Such language does not reflect our values and the culture of our company. We do not tolerate that kind of language under any circumstances,” it wrote in

a statement on Tuesday.

The company also defended the quality of its products and said the accusations on the recording “are not only inaccurate — they are patently absurd.”

“The chicken meat in our soups comes from long-trusted, USDA approved U.S. suppliers and meets our high quality standards. All our soups are made with No Antibiotics Ever chicken meat. Any claims to the contrary are completely false.”

It also highlighted that Bally works in the company’s IT division and is in no way involved with how the food is made.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson also told

ABC News

that Garza, who’d only been with the company for under five months, was terminated for good reason.

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Source: National Post (Politics)

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What ignited the Campbell’s controversy?

Why is the former Campbell’s employee suing the soup company?

How has Campbell’s responded to the allegations?

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