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OTTAWA — The federal government will table its annual budget in the fall from now on and distinguish capital spending from operating costs, breaking with a longstanding tradition of presenting the annual spending plan in the spring.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the new budgetary cycle and presentation on Monday morning. He said budgets will be tabled in the fall for the following fiscal year while the fall economic update would move to the spring. Finally, pre-budget consultations would move to the summer.

In a background technical briefing, senior government officials explained that the new schedule aims to make the government’s fiscal year planning more predictable for the private sector and other levels of government.

They also noted that it would better align with construction season, announcing capital investments further ahead of the summer construction season. “In the old cycle, budgets didn’t allow projects to take full advantage of the construction season. A fall budget cycle changes that — giving builders and investors a real head start,” reads a background document published by Finance Canada.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government also made good on the campaign promise to separate capital investments and operation spending in future budgets.

Champagne said capital investments would be spending that falls into one of six categories: capital transfers, capital-focused corporate income tax incentives, amortization of federal capital, private sector research and development, support to unlock large-scale private sector capital investment and measures to grow the housing stock.

Remaining spending would be classified as day-to-day operating spending. That would include many major government expenditures including transfers to persons, health and social transfers as well as government operation spending (such as salaries and benefits).

During the briefing, senior officials promised that the budget document would still contain the traditional unified accounting information including total spending, revenues and budget balance (such as the total value of the deficit if applicable).

More to come

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“Ghosted”— ignored — by the surgeons who altered their bodies and ostracized by the communities that once embraced them, the largest study of detransitioners in Canada and the U.S. in decades is exposing a new form of stigma: detransphobia.

The survey of nearly 1,000 people suggests that many who halt or reverse a gender transition feel poorly supported by LGBTQ groups and gender-affirming care practitioners, and wish doctors “took a more neutral approach to care.”

“The mainstream gender-affirming care system largely presumes that gender identity/expression is immutable and that TGD (transgender) people will engage in only one gender transition,” the York University-led research team wrote in wrote in the

International Journal of Transgender Health.

“While this may be the reality for many TGD people, this presumption can create environments in which multiple transitions, gender fluidity, and detransitions are misunderstood or even stigmatized.”

While there’s no universally agreed upon definition, detransition “has been conceptualized as stopping, shifting or reversing aspects of an initial gender transition, often motivated by a shift in how one understands their sex/gender,” the researchers wrote.

It can mean changing names and pronouns, halting hormone therapy or seeking reversal surgeries such as breast reconstruction following a double mastectomy for masculinizing, female-to-male chest surgery.

“Some people who detransition may self-label as ‘detrans’ for short,” the research team wrote.

Estimates for detransition range from as low as less than one per cent, to as high as 30 per cent. Many studies only followed people for a few short years, meaning people can get lost to follow up.

Some who detransition may later resume the process — retransition — especially if the felt forced to detransition because of family pressures, discrimination or what one survey participant described as “the climate of fear around trans people.”

For others, the pressures are internal, the researchers wrote, including a shift in identity or a realization that their gender dysphoria was tied up in something else, “such as trauma or internalized homophobia.”

“Irrespective of their current gender identity, those undergoing a detransition often retain ‘atypical’ sex characteristics from prior hormonal and surgical treatments, leading to vulnerability to gender minority stressors and, potentially, an experience of ‘reverse dysphoria,’” the researchers wrote, meaning distress with the physical changes to their bodies.

Yet no formal health-care guidelines exist to help meet the medical and psychological needs of detrans people, who can also face social rejection and stigma from LGBTQ communities, said the research team, which is composed of a majority of LGBTQ researchers.

“I feel so alienated now, and super isolated from the rest of the queer community,” one study participant said.

“I lost every adult and friend in my life when I chose to detransition,” added another.

“I lost everything I had socially.”

The study is based on an anonymous survey, conducted between December 2023 and April 2024, of 957 people aged 16 and older living in the United States (704) or Canada (253) who self-identified with experiences of detransition, as well as one-on-one follow-up interviews with 42 selected participants.

In an effort to capture as wide a range of experiences as possible, the researchers advertised on Instagram, TikTok and other major social media platforms. The survey was sent to more than 615 trans and LGBTQ groups and gender clinics. Researchers also developed a protocol to spot and weed out scam, bot and fraudulent responses.

Respondents were asked to rank their degree of agreement (always, sometimes, never, not applicable) to a series of statements, like, “I needed health care but didn’t receive it.”

Most participants (79 per cent) were born female, reflecting the startling surge in biological girls being referred to gender clinics. One Canadian study found that, of 174 youth aged 15 and younger referred for puberty blockers to one of 10 gender clinics in Canada, 82 per cent were born female.

When asked how they describe themselves, 40 per cent of survey respondents were comfortable with “detransitioned,” 43 percent with transgender, 33 percent non-binary and about 20 per cent “cisgender”

About 42 per cent reported a history of discontinuing, and then later resuming transition.

Many people mentioned challenges getting access to medical care, or financial support to cover detransition procedures like voice training to deal with voice deepening, or laser hair removal for body and facial hair — side effects from testosterone therapy used in female-to-male transitions.

“I was turned down by four surgeons and ghosted by the one who did the mastectomy,” one participant described in the search for a surgeon for breast reconstruction.

Others said they would not have detransitioned “if I’d had any support whatsoever.”

About 60 per cent said they “sometimes” or “always” avoid doctors, which other research has put down to fears of being judged for detransitioning; 42 per cent reported that their health-care provider “never” seemed knowledgeable when discussing detransition. Some reported receiving no information at all about what to expect going off hormones and how to avoid the side effects of stopping cold turkey.

“I had no confidence in my providers when I stopped transitioning,” one said.

Some described wanting “non-trans-affirming care providers,” saying past therapists were too eager to encourage their transition in the first place, or to retransition after detransitioning, “despite no expressed desire to do so.”

“Many shifted from (transgender) to gender non-confirming lesbian, gay or detrans identities, and, in hindsight, wished they had access to providers who took a more neutral approach to care,” the researchers wrote.

That backs previous research “and carries implications for gender-affirming care delivery,” they said.

Many described a need for professional mental health support, such as grief counselling “for losing a life I thought was gonna make me happy.”

Some felt detransitioning is being politically weaponized. “Conservatives want us to speak to them to ‘prove’ that transitioning is ‘evil.’ Liberals want to silence us for fear that we’ll somehow ‘influence’ trans people to detransition,” one said.

“We’re in a horrible space and it’s nearly more painful detransitioning for me than it was just suffering through an identity that didn’t fix my problems like everyone said it would.”

People expressed a need for detrans support groups and other community resources “to speak with other detrans people in person,” not online.

The study was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, a Canadian federal research funding agency.

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OTTAWA — As Prime Minister Mark Carney has often said, when it comes to his conversations with U.S. President Donald Trump, Canadians should not expect to see “white smoke.”

The “white smoke” he refers to is the long-sought-after deal he has been trying to negotiate to gain reprieve from the president’s tariffs, something that remains elusive as the prime minister departs Monday for another sit-down with the president.

A senior official, who spoke to National Post on a not-for-attribution basis, emphasized that the trip is more of a working meeting for both sides to sort out the specific issues before them, rather than an imminent announcement of a breakthrough or deal.

That means businesses and Canadians waiting for one are likely to have to keep waiting.

Carney’s government is dealing with higher steel and aluminum tariffs than when he entered office, with two summer deadlines come and gone. So far, expectations are being kept low for the prime minister’s latest meeting with the president.

The official said that no specific expectations are being attached to the trip, but that Canada views it more as an opportunity for both sides to have honest conversations behind closed doors, which only an in-person meeting can allow.

This week’s meeting will be the third official meeting Carney has had with Trump since he won the April federal election. His first trip to the White House was back in May, followed by a sit-down when Canada hosted the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta.

Both leaders also attended the UN General Assembly in New York last month.

Travelling with Carney will be Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who has served as his cabinet presence around the negotiating table, along with Industry Minister Melanie Joly and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand.

Carney is expected to sit down for a meeting with Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday and attend a working meeting with his U.S counterpart and other ministers.

A motivating factor for the trip, according to the official, was to have face time with the president and his team as both countries approach the starting line of what will be a critical review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade agreement, set for 2026.

Both Canada and the U.S. have launched their respective consultations on the deal, which is set to undergo its first joint review since it was inked in 2020, during Trump’s first term in office.

Carney recently met with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum during a trip to Mexico City last month, which offered similar face time to discuss reviewing the deal.

That agreement is what the prime minister points to as being the key to having what he refers to as the “best” situation of all the countries grappling with U.S. tariffs, given the fact that products covered by it are currently exempt, which equates to roughly 85 per cent of goods travelling across the Canada-U.S. boundary tariff-free.

The Canadian side is heading into its talks in Washington armed with a message about the importance of maintaining that deal.

As for Canadian sectors still feeling the brunt of tariffs, such as steel and aluminum, which remain subject to a 50 per cent levy under Section 232 of its U.S.

Trade Expansion Act,

as well as softwood lumber, which the Trump administration recently hit with a new 10 per cent tariff, the Carney government has focused on securing some sectoral reprieve.

Tariffs also remain on auto parts not in compliance with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade agreement, as well as on copper.

Speaking to National Post

after a Senate committee appearance last week

, LeBlanc said Canada was open to either striking a deal specific to those sectors still subject to tariffs or pursuing a broader arrangement.

“Both tracks are still in discussions,” LeBlanc said at the time. He also declined to say which option was more likely, but said it could also involve critical minerals, defence and energy security.

With no signs of a tariff deal, Carney is facing increasing pressure from Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who last week posted to X that the prime minister entered office on the promise of striking a deal with the president.

“No word on where the prime minister’s elbows have gone after he backed down again and again with nothing to show for it,” Poilievre wrote.

-With files from Simon Tuck

National Post

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The treatment meant to save Niibin Pahpeguish’s life began to feel like a prison.

After almost a decade battling an addiction that began with prescribed painkillers and later escalated to street opioids, she entered a treatment program in 2009. There, at a facility in Brantford, Ont., she was put on methadone, a drug prescribed to ease withdrawal symptoms and reduce cravings.

Part of a drug class called Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT), methadone is a critical and life-saving way to address addiction for many. Pahpeguish says doctors told her she could be on it for the rest of her life.

But after about two years, she felt like the drug was causing its own harm. Her body, she says, was breaking down. She suffered liver damage, bone density loss and gastrointestinal issues that affected her heart rate. These complications led to frequent hospitalizations and were linked to the mix of her opioid treatment and other medications.

“I said, ‘I want to be off of this now,’ ” she recalls.

Pahpeguish’s story is part of a devastating and costly crisis unfolding across Ontario, where OAT treatment among Indigenous people is 15 times higher than among non-First Nations people, according to a new report to be released today by the Chiefs of Ontario in partnership with researchers at the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network (ODPRN).

The opioid-related death rate among First Nations people is nine times higher than among non-First Nations people, the report says.

Finding the best possible treatment approach for First Nations people comes with high stakes.

Governments have thrown tens of millions of dollars at the ongoing problem.

The federal government has projected an annual investment of about $768 million over 2025-26 to support mental wellness services in Indigenous communities, including $28.3 million for extra services to support those receiving OAT treatment.

In 2021, the Ontario government announced a $36-million commitment to mental health and addictions support in Indigenous communities across the province.

The report connects the higher rates of opioid-related harm among First Nations to generational trauma, given its link to mental health struggles and substance use.

The alternative to funding access to OAT can be devastating.

“Up to 10 per cent of people, if they have to go through opioid withdrawal, would consider committing suicide if it’s not treated with medication properly,” says Dr. Chetan Mehta, an addictions specialist at Anishnawbe Health Toronto. “Opioid therapy helps to relieve that.”

But Pahpeguish’s experience illustrates a key question: While OAT treatment kept her alive, questions remain about how effectively it is addressing the long-term needs of First Nations people.

“Clearly there’s disproportionate harm among First Nations People, clearly they are accessing treatment, but perhaps not always in the best way or a way that is supportive of them,” says Tara Gomes, lead researcher on the report and principal investigator for the

Ontario Drug Policy Research Network

(ODPRN), an academic research group.

“I would say that the most urgent steps needed are to listen to what First Nations people are asking for, and develop community-specific services that will meet their unique needs.”

First Nations leaders say that while OAT is an important element of opioid addiction care, the unique challenges of living in remote communities make the solutions more complex.

Fort William First Nation, just south of Thunder Bay, has been under siege from an opioid crisis that

triggered a state of emergency

in the summer of 2024. A 2024 coroner’s report found that the opioid mortality rate in the Thunder Bay District — which encompasses Fort William — was the highest in Ontario, at five times higher than the provincial average.

To support those seeking treatment, the community purchased an off-reserve facility where individuals, including those who have completed detox, can stay while they wait up to eight weeks to enter an intensive residential treatment program. Without that respite, many risk relapsing during that waiting period.

The facility, however, is not yet up and running, because of a funding shortage.

It is intended to provide cultural resources, for example access to an elder, to support people emotionally in the early stages of recovery, says Chief Michele Solomon.

“By itself, I don’t believe (OAT) made a significant impact” in helping people break their addiction, says Solomon, who had a 14-year background in the mental health and addictions field before becoming a leader in the community.

She believes creative solutions such as this facility, that take into account the community’s specific needs, may help the odds of success for those on OAT.

“Not to say that it’s going to fix everything. I’m saying it would afford more people an opportunity to get well.”

***

Another challenge is that OAT treatment often requires frequent in-person visits, which can tie people to the area in which they receive care and make life difficult for those who need to travel regularly. Medications such as methadone are usually dispensed daily under the supervision of a health professional.

Pahpeguish, a former nurse, was living in Brantford where she worked and received methadone treatment, while regularly travelling more than 500 kilometres to visit her home community of Wikwemkong First Nation on Manitoulin Island.

“When people are seeking healing they need to come home (to their First Nation community). This is what my heart wanted,” she said. “I said, ‘This is really shackling me.’ ”

Methadone prescribing has declined in recent years, partly due to changes in prescribing guidelines and the increasing complexity of the illicit drug supply, especially fentanyl. It also carries a higher risk of toxicity and side effects, as Pahpeguish experienced.

Suboxone is a less toxic pill taken daily and requires less oversight from medical professionals. And a monthly injectable called Sublocade offers logistical advantages for those who travel.

Leonora Regenstreif, a physician specializing in substance-use disorders in remote First Nation communities in the Northwest Territories, said she has significantly reduced prescribing methadone in favour of the newer alternatives.

“(Suboxone) is a game changer,” says Regenstreif. It acts quickly and is easier on the body, she says.

“Sublocade even more so, because people don’t have to think about taking a pill every day.”

While it’s not uncommon to be on OAT treatment long-term, tapering off is possible, she says.

“I don’t agree with telling people they’re gonna be on it the rest of their life. That’s kind of like saying, there’s no hope for you.”

***

Pahpeguish, 50, has been clean since 2012 after about 12 years of addiction.

Her recovery began not with an immediate change of heart, but with the cold reality of a police arrest in 2009. That moment started her on the long path through OAT.

“Ever since I made up my mind … that was it,” Pahpeguish says of her decision to seek help. “It’s a holistic decision, mind, body and spirit.”

Pahpeguish, who is part of the Lived Experience Circle that helped inform the new report, now works in prevention where she helps people in her community struggling with addiction. She serves as a resource, even after work hours, connecting people with traditional cultural supports and a caring community.

“I provide that human connection,” she says. “I say: you know, you’re loved. I love you.”

The struggle continues within her own family. While one daughter faces a severe addiction on the streets, her 29-year-old son, Cody, recently began his own recovery journey at a land-based treatment program, which draws on the connection First Nations People feel towards their land and heritage to improve mental wellness.He has been sober since February.

“I got clean pretty much because my mom picked me up,” he says.

For Pahpeguish, sharing her story has been a cathartic part of her recovery. She says the journey has not only been about quitting drugs, but about reclaiming what was lost.

“I’ve slowly regained things,” she says. “Myself, especially, and my voice.”

Wendy-Ann Clarke is an award-winning multimedia journalist with the Investigative Journalism Bureau, based in Toronto. The IJB, at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, is a collaborative investigative newsroom supported by Postmedia that partners with academics, researchers and journalists while training the next generation of investigative reporters.

BY THE NUMBERS: OPIOID HARM AMONG ONTARIO FIRST NATIONS

The rate of opioid-related deaths is nine times higher among First Nations people than among non-First Nations people in Ontario;
The annual rate of opioid-related deaths among First Nations People between 2019 and 2022 nearly tripled, climbing from 4.3 to 12.8 per 10,000 people;
People aged 25 to 44 had the highest rate of opioid-related death, with rates of 20.6 per 10,000 among First Nations people and 2.4 per 10,000 among non-First Nations.
People aged 25 to 44 had the highest use of Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT) across the province and First Nations were roughly 16 times more likely to access treatment than were non-First Nations.
The annual rate of hospital visits for opioid-related toxicity among First Nations was roughly 10 times higher than for non-First Nations People.

— Source: Report, Opioid Use, Related Harms, and Access to Treatment Among First Nations in Ontario, 2025

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Two Canadians are being detained in Israel after participating in the flotilla bound for Gaza last week, Global Affairs confirmed to National Post on Sunday.

Citing privacy laws, the agency did not identify the individuals, but said consular officials have contacted local authorities and “are providing consular assistance to those who request it.”

“Canada urges the Israeli authorities to ensure the safety of participants and facilitate their timely access to Canadian consular services to support their swift return,” a spokesperson said in an email.

The Global Sumud Flotilla, made up of 42 vessels carrying humanitarian aid, was sailing for the Gaza coast in an effort to break through Israel’s blockade.

Volunteers on the voyage consisted of activists, lawyers and doctors.

According to the

Canadian Boat to Gaza

, which was sailing under the name Conscience, the Canadians on board included Mskwaasin Agnew and Khurram Musti Khan from Toronto, Devoney Ellis, Nikita Stapleton, Sadie Mees from St. John’s, and Montreal’s Nimâ Machouf, a former federal NDP candidate.

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was also on board one of the vessels and is also

being detained in Israel

. In a news release, the flotilla group said an estimated

443 volunteers were taken from their vessels

According to the

Jewish News Syndicate

, 137 were deported to Turkey over the weekend, but Israel’s Foreign Ministry reported that some have deliberately obstructed the legal process,

“preferring instead to linger in Israel.”

A week before stopping it in the Mediterranean, Jerusalem said that the flotilla was organized by Hamas for its own purpose and said it would not be allowed to breach the “lawful naval blockade.”

“Israel urges the participants not to break the law and to accept Israel’s proposal for a peaceful transfer of any aid they might have,” the ministry said in a

statement

Last week, t

he ministry published documents found in Gaza

which allegedly indicate that the flotilla was linked to the Palestinian Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), a wing of the Hamas terrorist movement already labelled a terrorist organization in Israel since 2021.

Among its leadership, the ministry said, is a CEO for a Spanish front company that owns dozens of ships in the flotilla.

“Thus, these ships are secretly owned by Hamas.”

Global Affairs Canada had previously advised that Canadians should avoid travel to the region due to the Israel-Hamas war and that safety and protection cannot be guaranteed.

“The decision to travel is personal, and individuals are responsible for their own safety abroad,” the spokesperson wrote.

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Noa Tishby, one of Israel’s best-known advocates, is waging a narrative battle that she says is aimed as much at defending Western values as the Jewish state.

With an Instagram following of nearly a million and an X following of almost a quarter million, she has fought misinformation in real time since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, against the TikTok bots, campus protests, and celebrities tilting the court of public opinion against Israel and the West.

She is a Hollywood actor (The Affair, Big Love, Nip/Tuck, NCIS, Dig) and producer (HBO’s In Treatment, which won 14 Emmy and Golden Globe nominations and a Peabody). She has also written two best-sellers, Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth, and Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew, with Emmanuel Acho.

In 2022, Tishby was appointed Israel’s first-ever Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and Delegitimization, but was dismissed after Benjamin Netanyahu was re-elected as prime minister, after she spoke out against his proposed judicial reforms.

Dave Gordon interviewed Tishby for National Post ahead of the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks:

Q; What’s your perspective on the newly proposed ceasefire plan that came from President Trump and Israeli PM Netanyahu?

I pray to God that Qatar will convince Hamas to say yes to this plan. What’s extraordinary about it is that for the first time, Hamas is isolated by the Arab world. For the first time, they’re kind of acknowledging — some fully, some kind of half — an acknowledgement, from Saudi Arabia to the UAE to Turkey to Indonesia, that the war has to end, and they have isolated Qatar and Hamas.

To bring all these Arab countries together to stand as a united front against Hamas and to kind of acknowledge, to some extent, that Hamas simply took it too far and they cannot continue to rule Gaza, is absolutely extraordinary. Yes, Hamas needs to come to the table. If Hamas doesn’t agree, then I don’t even know how much more hell can break loose for the Palestinian people, but it is an absolutely extraordinary plan.

Israel defended itself. Israel didn’t start this war. Didn’t want this war, but has to win this war. And nobody wins in wars. Everybody loses. But what Israel wanted the entire time was return the hostages and get Hamas to not rule Gaza anymore. And effectively, this is the plan.

So look, Hamas is a Jihadi terrorist organization that is committed to destroying Israel, killing the Jews, and dying as martyrs for their 72 virgins. That’s who they are. They don’t hide it. So who knows what’s going to happen? But this was an extraordinary step.

Q; As a communications person online, I want to ask you about what you thought of Charlie Kirk’s letter to Netanyahu, which was recently made public, suggesting that the Israeli government ought to set up a real-time fact-check website, rather than have Israel’s allies scramble for answers?

Look, this is way before October 7. Israel’s too slow. I’ve been doing this since I started the first digital advocacy and rapid response organization dedicated to Israel in 2011. I was like, “Why are we not there?” I’ve been talking to government officials throughout the years, and NGOs and Jewish organizations. They’re not open to hearing anything about this. The reason that got me to do this to begin with was because of the first flotilla that came out of Turkey (2010). I saw that Israel’s (clarifying) facts, that took them 48 hours.

Whereas on Twitter at the time, the message was that Israel killed nine peace activists, out of nothing, and that came out in 48 seconds.

Why is there no IDF spokesman press conference every single day? Why isn’t there an Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs press conference every single day? Why? I don’t know, but there isn’t.

We’re very late to the game.

But it’s a bigger problem than that. What’s happening on TikTok is that we have kind of outsourced our children’s education to social media and an agent of an algorithm that isn’t even human, that is feeding to our kids something that we have no control or no knowledge over.

Yeah, it’s very dangerous. So not just for Israel or the Jewish people. This is very dangerous for Western values, for liberal democracies around the world.

Israel is just a piece or a pawn when we talk about the threat against Western values. They’re using Israel as a proxy to fight against America. Everything that’s happening on TikTok, all this feeding of this propaganda, it’s all paid and sponsored by entities and countries that want not just to see Israel down, but wants to see America fractured. It’s the undoing of the West’s social fabric.

Q; Is Israel losing the PR war, and what can it do better?

It’s already lost.

It neglected the PR front 30 years ago, and this has been going on specifically in the last 15 years actively. Israel did not see this coming. There had been a war waged on Israel, except one side knew that they’re at a war, and the other side was asleep, which is us.

They’ve been preparing the ground for this for 30 years. Literally, we know where that language started, and how it started, and how they infiltrated all these social justice movements, and what their plan was. Their plans were on college campuses, and it worked better than they probably have expected, right?

So Israel arrived at October 7, already losing, but not knowing it. I think that Israel, as a country, and to some extent, the Jewish communities around the world, we didn’t think we needed this. Like, why would a country think that it needs to justify its existence, right? But the reason that we need this is because the other side was trying actively to dismantle the State of Israel by delegitimizing its existence.

Israel is not committing crimes; Israel

the crime to those people. Its mere existence. They’re not building a case against occupation ‘67; they’re building a case against occupation ‘48.

And what had happened was that Israel turned into the only country that its existence and creation is litigated again and again and again and again. And it’s completely astonishing. Because when you look back at the creation of every country on Earth, they were all created in a war.

No country was created on a bed of like, you know, unicorns and cupcakes.

And still, some people think that it’s about the so-called genocide libel, or the so-called starvation libel. That then turns out to be completely fabricated. It’s a bigger game, the game to delegitimize Israel’s existence.

Q; And what can Israel do, moving forward?

First of all, acknowledging that this is what’s happening. Second, actually actively work towards building peace and regional alliances in the Middle East. Deradicalize the entire region through textbooks.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants peace and quiet as well. He doesn’t want the Wahhabis, the jihadists and Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. He doesn’t want them to have power. They’re threatening him too, meaning safety, security, stability, quiet, prosperity of Saudi Arabia. They’re threatening everybody, but they’re getting support on college campuses.

It’s the blindness of the Westerners and the Hollywood activists, and all these idiots; really, it’s heartbreaking, but it’s also specifically just very dangerous, because they don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t know what it is that they’re supporting, and how they’re helping these horrible forces.

Q; Speaking of Hollywood, why you think there’s so much quiet with the big voices in the entertainment industry?

This is not new, that people don’t want to put themselves out.

Right now, with all the libels about starvation in Gaza, it’s making people really afraid. People are legitimately scared. It’s more than they don’t want to risk their jobs. So that’s where we’re at, in 2025, when people in western civilization and Jewish people are afraid for their safety.

History is coming back, you know?

Q; Have you received pushback that your message might have less credibility, or more bias, because you’re Israeli?

I don’t see that as an issue at all. I’m a proud American, OK? And I was born, raised in Israel, and I have the perspective of both countries that are very similar. I have nothing to do with the Israeli government whatsoever. When I need to, I criticize the Israeli government, as I did with the proposed judicial overhaul that they attempted to do. I spoke up against it.

I get a lot of crap for it from like, very right-wing American entities. I always say that I’m pro-Israeli and a pro-Palestinian, and these two things are not mutually exclusive. I’m just against Hamas and against jihadists.

Q; I’m reminded of the quote from the Jewish sage Maimonides, who said to accept the truth, no matter the source.

That’s all 100%. And by the way, that’s one of the reasons probably why people are mum about the peace deal, because it came from Trump.

So instead of understanding that it actually has the backing of the regional countries in the Middle East, they’re ignoring it because it came from somebody that they didn’t like, which is unfortunate.

You have to separate yourself, and that’s how I see it. I’m a non-political entity. Nobody knows where my politics and policies are on anything. They just know that I’m pro-Western values.

Q; What do you find is the biggest difficulty in battling anti-Israel propaganda?

There’s always been the lie of colonialism and the lie of ethnic cleansing, and now there’s the lie of genocide. But honestly, I think that the biggest problem that we have right now are the bots.

The sheer amount of money that is put into platforms like TikTok to deliver horrific blood libel lies about Israel in a rhythm and amount and quantity that we cannot overcome. Qatari money, Iranian money, Chinese, Russian, Indonesian.

All this dark money that is going into actively poisoning young people’s minds against Israel and the Jewish people. Again, to fracture the West. Not just the Jews.

Young people’s minds, that’s the biggest problem. Their brains are being hijacked. It’s an orchestra, pushed in every platform, from the New York Times, all the way down to every single social media platform.

Q; Prime Minister Carney recognized Palestine at the United Nations last month. I’m wondering what you think of that?

Look, there’s no desire on behalf of Israelis to rule over millions of Palestinians. But if one thing became clear after October 7, and became clear with this proposed peace plan, is that the Arab world understands that the Palestinians need help. Because if they get a piece of land, what they come up with is October 7, and that cannot happen again.

There has to be many, many steps that need to be taken before a declaration like this can make any sense at all. It’s literally magical thinking.

It’s virtue signalling to their voters, their left-wing, brainwashed constituencies: Don’t vote me out! But it doesn’t mean anything.

This interview was edited for brevity.

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Alberta’s municipal election is set for Oct. 20, mere weeks away. The top jobs in Edmonton and Calgary are both in play and concerned citizens have been bending my ear about the stakes for the two big cities.

“This municipal election in Alberta matters,” I’m being told. “The province is the economic engine of Canada and as goes Alberta, so goes the country.”

Growth in both cities since 2020 has been double digit, with Alberta’s relatively healthy economy sparking a migration surge; the province is now home to over five million people.

“It’s a good problem to have,” agrees Adam Legge, president of the Business Council of Alberta (and the former lead pony guiding Calgary’s Chamber of Commerce).

But, he adds, it can be one of the most challenging things for a mayor and council to deal with. Edmonton’s mayor, Amarjeet Sohi is stepping down, leaving the field open to a crowded field of contenders. In Calgary, incumbent Jyoti Gondek is running on her record, in spite of very weak approval ratings.

In a rare move, Adam’s council of Alberta’s chief executives canvassed its members on the municipal election. They found that prosperity and livability are slipping, and warned: “Turning this around will take strong leadership and clear priorities from local leaders. Without it, we risk losing the very qualities that draw people here.”

Adam says ambitious projects — like Edmonton’s Ice District and Calgary’s East Village — will only reach their full potential as vibrant 24/7 locations when the development is supported by dedicated investments in safety and public services, to address social disorder.

“We were quite blown away,” Adam explains, when 94 per cent of the council’s members identified social disorder — a term that encompasses homelessness, mental health and addiction, physical crime, physical concerns for safety — as the biggest issue in this municipal election.

“If you want to keep me and my company in this community or in this downtown,” Adam reports, “you better do something about it, and it goes all the way to rural Alberta where we have members who have had their retail operations vandalized.”

As a member of Premier Danielle Smith’s Alberta Next panel, Adam has also been listening to folks across the province and he’s hearing the same concerns about crime and safety. “It’s a problem in big centres, small centres, rural centres, remote centres,” he says, “it is pervasive.”

And all three levels of government need to work together to fix this problem, Adam recommends. “This is no longer something that’s just up to the municipal government to tackle; it’s not just up to provincial, not just up to federal. There needs to be an all-of-government approach.

“The federal government,” Adam suggests, “needs to reform catch-and-release and bail legislation, so we don’t have those repeat people back on the streets within hours committing the same crimes.”

As for the province’s role, Adam reports: “We need the provincial government to work with the local governments to say, ‘We know you’ve got crime and safety, so we’re going to increase the support for physical presence on the street with police and sheriffs.’ We need wraparound supports for those that need help with mental health, addictions.

“And given that the municipal government is the one that faces this on the ground,” Adam concludes, “we believe that they need to take a leadership role in convening those other two levels of government to say, ‘We’ve got to fix this problem and fix it on the ground.’”

In most Canadian cities, he notes, mayors are just one vote on council, without the powers you see in American jurisdictions.

“Having said that,” he qualifies, “mayors have a strong role as an agenda setter … chief spokesperson, the chief marketing officer, to some degree even the chief strategy officer.” Adam acknowledges if that person doesn’t have the right priorities, and isn’t driving prosperity, “you see division and you see stagnation.”

Without that leadership, cities can struggle and languish, he observes, and “just get caught up in things that aren’t important and that are not priorities and the city suffers as a result.” One example: Mayor Gondek’s tone-deaf decision to declare a climate emergency as her council’s first item of business in 2021.

“What’s the business community looking for in civic leadership?” Adam asks. “They just want good, boring, solid government.

“They don’t want spice; they don’t want fireworks; they just want to know that whoever is going to take the helm of their government locally is going to do a good job of addressing their concerns. Because they feel that they just aren’t being addressed right now.”

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Before heading off on a Caribbean cruise, Dennis Murphy and his wife had a stopover in Florida. But they didn’t intend for it to be a proper Florida vacation.

“We kind of plan on spending as little of our money in the U.S., based on everything that happened,” Murphy said in an interview.

The couple are just two of the many Canadians who have modified travel plans to the United States, voting with their wallets to express distaste over the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump, including his trade war with his northern neighbour and his comments about making Canada the 51st state. And tourism hotspots are feeling the weight of Canadians’ displeasure.

Canadian visitation to Florida has dropped more than 18 per cent over the first two quarters of 2025 and other states, including Louisiana, California and Nevada have seen sharp drops in the number of Canadians willing to vacation south of the border.

Originally, Murphy and his wife were going to go to Las Vegas, but decided against it. The final straw for the couple was when, in late February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the Oval Office to finalize a deal for Ukrainian minerals in exchange for American military support. The meeting — with the media present and broadcast globally — ended with Trump and U.S. Vice-President JD Vance berating Zelenskyy for supposed ingratitude.

“When we saw that, we said, ‘There’s no way that we’re going to put any of our money into their economy.’ So we immediately canceled our trip,” said Murphy.

Hard data bears out that there are fewer Canadians travelling to the United States in 2025. Data from Statistics Canada shows that Canadian trips by car decreased by nearly 36 per cent in July 2025, compared to July 2024, and air travel to the United States dropped by more than 16 per cent.

Data from the west coast show

that at four border crossings from Canada into Washington state, there has been significant declines in vehicle traffic in 2025 compared to 2024. In September 2024, 322,024 personal vehicles entered Washington. In September 2025, 228,580 vehicles entered the state — a decline of 29 per cent. In August, there was a 27 per cent decline compared to 2024. In March, April, May and June, entrance figures had dropped by 30 per cent or more compared to the year prior.

In recent weeks, several politicians in the United States have noted that declining Canadian tourism numbers are hurting them. Both Florida and California, major wintertime destinations for Canadians, have seen declines in the number of Canadian tourists, as has Louisiana and the gambling hub of Las Vegas, which has seen such a decline in visitation figures — including Canadian — that one local union called the strip’s struggles the “

Trump slump

.”

Canada, says Louisiana Lt.-Gov. Billy Nungesser, is the largest international market for visitors to the state, and the state is noticing a drop in its tourism numbers from Canada.

“But to me, it’s more than just the tourism,” Nungesser said in an interview. “I really enjoy the friendships. Canadians are much like Louisianans. They treat strangers like family, and you leave there with a friend for life.”

“I don’t want the comments — the stupid comments — of a president and the tariffs to destroy those friendships.”

Nungesser, a Republican, recently visited Canada to promote tourism. His trip included meeting with travel agents and handing out tabasco ice cream — a little taste of home — in Canadian train stations.

“We were just up there to say … when you feel comfortable traveling again, we’d love to have you back in Louisiana,” Nungesser said.

He added that he heard from many Canadians who said they would not travel to the U.S. until Trump apologizes or is out of office. Nungesser also called on Trump to apologize for his 51st state comments.

“It’s how I feel, it’s how the Canadian people feel,” Nungesser said.

Does he think the president will apologize? “Not a chance in hell.”

“If the Canadian prime minister said he wanted to make America the 51st or make it Canadian, what would you think? It’s offensive. They can’t defend it, in my opinion,” Nungesser said.

In Las Vegas, where Murphy had intended to visit, Canadian air travel has dropped off precipitously. Data from Harry Reid International Airport show that the number of passengers travelling by Air Canada and Westjet to Vegas dropped by nearly one-third in June, compared to June 2024, and the number of passengers visiting Sin City on Flair Airlines flights dropped by 62 per cent.

“International travel is way down. People are not coming to the United States,” Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley said recently. “We have a rather large market with the Canadians. It’s gone from, you know, a faucet to a drip.”

In California, another major tourism destination for Canadians, Canadian visitation is projected to be down by 19 per cent compared to 2024, according to Visit California, the official state tourism organization, and spending is expected to be down by 17 per cent.

For California, Canada is the second-biggest source of tourists, after Mexico. Visit California attributes the decline in Canadian tourism to a number of factors, including economic conditions and an unfavourable exchange rate keeping Canadians away.

“At the same time, geopolitical tension also impacted Canadian visitation in the winter and spring,” Visit California said in an emailed response to questions from National Post.

All around California, there are signs that tourism has dropped off, the Los Angeles Times reported. Not only are Hollywood souvenir shops and sightseeing tours seeing fewer visitors, but towns such as Palm Springs, a frequent second-home spot for Canadians, particularly out west, have seen a drop in visitors from out of country (although Mayor Ron deHarte said that domestic tourism has made up the shortfall).

“We’ve hurt our Canadian friends with actions that the administration has taken. It’s understandable,” he told the Times. “We don’t know how long they won’t want to travel to the States, but we’re hopeful that it is short-term.”

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A permanent resident of Canada with multiple assault convictions under his belt who was ordered deported more than eight years ago after striking another nightclub patron with a bottle, breaking his tooth and injuring his face, is fighting for his release from the Toronto Immigration Holding Centre.

Ryan Anthon Fyfield, who used scissors to cut off an ankle monitor he was issued in the fall of 2023 and employed an axe in March of 2024 to tear up the basement where he was living, is slated for a detention review next week.

Fyfield, who was born in St. Kitts and Nevis in 1994 and came to Canada when he was 11, won a recent judicial review of the Immigration and Refugee Board’s Aug. 29 order keeping him at the Rexdale Boulevard detention centre. But the judge sent the matter back to a different detention panel for reconsideration in the last week of September.

The Canada Border Services Agency refused this week to divulge the outcome of that hearing, citing privacy reasons, but Fyfield has another detention review slated for Oct. 10 and that wouldn’t happen if he’d been released last month.

Legal Aid Ontario, which represents Fyfield, refused Friday to comment on his case.

Fyfield, who has struggled with a crack cocaine addiction since 2014, has been detained since this past June “on the grounds that he is unlikely to appear for his removal and that he poses a danger to the Canadian public. This finding has been upheld at each of his detention review hearings to date,” Federal Court Justice Angus Grant wrote in a recent decision.

Before leaving his Caribbean birthplace, Fyfield’s “mother had a series of violent and abusive partners,” according to Grant’s Sept. 19 decision, which notes that when Fyfield was seven, “he witnessed his mother’s partner beat her so severely that she was hospitalized and ultimately died from her injuries.”

In 2005, when he was 11, his father and stepmother brought Fyfield to live with them in Leamington, Ont. “He became a permanent resident of Canada in 2010, when he was 16.”

Fyfield left home at 18 “and began having regular encounters with the criminal justice system,” Grant said. “Between 2012 and 2014, he was convicted of assault on four occasions, as well as multiple counts of ‘failure to comply’” with court orders.

“Over the past many years, (Fyfield) has had numerous encounters with immigration authorities, and with the criminal justice system.”

His June 2014 conviction for the nightclub bottle assault “triggered a review of his immigration status,” said the judge.

In February 2016, authorities found Fyfield was “inadmissible to Canada for serious criminality.”

The Canada Border Services Agency issued a deportation order for him in April 2017.

He “appealed his deportation order to the Immigration Appeal Division and was granted a four-year stay of removal in 2017 on several conditions, including completing an anger management program, abstaining from drugs, and keeping the peace,” Grant said.

But after that, Fyfield “experienced episodes of homelessness, and continued to struggle with substance use and his mental health,” said the judge. “He failed to keep the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) up to date on his address, to attend all of his mandatory CBSA check-in meetings, and to report new criminal charges to CBSA.”

As a result, in November 2019 “the CBSA requested an early reconsideration” of his stay of removal, but Fyfield didn’t show up for the hearing and the agency issued a warrant for his arrest.

“Since that time, (Fyfield) has had multiple encounters with the criminal justice and immigration systems, largely related to his failures to comply with orders,” Grant said.

Fyfield has “cycled between periods of living in immigration detention, some periods living in the community, and periods living in community residential facilities,” said the judge. “His stays at these facilities ended because of drug relapses, expressing suicidal ideation, associating with people with criminal histories, erratic behaviour, and altercations with other residents.”

As the CBSA tried to proceed with his removal from Canada, Fyfield was provided with multiple opportunities to submit a pre-removal risk assessment, his last-ditch bid to stay in Canada.

The judge noted a decision on one was still outstanding last month, leaving Fyfield’s immigration status in Canada “unclear.”

Fyfield was released from the IHC this past March, Grant said, “and placed at Launchpad, a residential drug treatment facility in Windsor.”

But he was kicked out in June after two drug relapses.

Fyfield “made arrangements to stay at an alternative facility called Essex Manor,” but just after he got there, a CBSA agent arrested him and took him back to the IHC.

Fyfield argued he should be allowed to live at Essex Manor.

But an immigration official decided to keep him at the IHC instead, saying Essex Manor doesn’t provide “structured supervision” for residents “and that individuals are free to come and go as they please.”

The same decision maker “went on to observe that the home is ‘essentially an arrangement where (the woman who runs it) provides room and board to people at what I perceive to be low-market rent.”

After several disputes with IHC guards, Fyfield was transferred this past August to Maplehurst Correctional Complex.

He was assaulted twice by Maplehurst inmates in August, said the judge. One of the assaults left him with a broken leg.

At his Aug. 29 detention review hearing, Fyfield “explained that the other inmates at Maplehurst frequently asked him why so many ‘cops’ were coming to speak with him. They were referring to the CBSA officers who conducted routine check-in visits with (Fyfield) on the range, in the presence of other inmates. (He) had tried to explain to the other inmates that these were immigration officials, but he felt that the other inmates still suspected him of being an informant.”

He was transferred back to the IHC.

During a review of his detention, Fyfield argued for his release, noting there was a spot for him at Essex Manor where he could wait to get into a residential treatment program.

But the CBSA said Fyfield “was still a danger to the Canadian public and unlikely to appear for his removal; and that the proposed release plan was similar to what had been presented at prior hearings.”

An immigration official determined Fyfield should stay put, concluding “that although being in medical isolation at the IHC may be a ‘difficult experience,’ that the IHC would be able to provide adequate conditions for (his) recovery.”

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Former soldiers Richard Kemp and John Spencer are among the world’s leading experts on urban warfare. Kemp, a retired colonel who commanded a British infantry battalion, and Spencer, a retired U.S. major who serves as the chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute, spoke to Postmedia’s Brian Lilley for the Full Comment podcast ahead of the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks.

They discuss the groundbreaking lengths the Israel Defence Forces go to mitigate harm in Gaza, and wholeheartedly reject claims against Israel by Prime Minister Mark Carney and his confederates in the United Kingdom, France and Australia who last month recognized a Palestinian state. The West, Kemp and Spencer say, has “blood on its hands.”

Below are some edited highlights of their conversation:

Brian Lilley: Well, gentlemen, let me start with the simple question (on) the issue of genocide. This claim is being used over and over again to vilify Israel. You’ve both been there. What are your thoughts on genocide?

Richard Kemp:

I’ll let John speak more about the accusations of genocide against Israel. What I would say is that the accusations of genocide should be levelled against Hamas. Hamas is the genocidal entity in this particular conflict. They have, by the definition of their charter, which requires them to kill not just the Jews in Israel but Jews everywhere. By that definition, they are genocidal terrorists.

By their actions on the 7th of October, which itself was an act of genocide, by their words since the 7th of October, in which they promised to repeat the 7th of October again and again and again, those are genocidal words. Now, they’re not going to succeed in their genocide, but they certainly will have the best possible try they can. And the accusation against Israel is simply an obscenity. I’ll let John speak perhaps more about that.

John Spencer:

I don’t mind as much the useful idiots, the sheer ignorance of the man or woman on the street wearing a Hamas headband and advocating for Hamas. But I do mind when governments join the bandwagon. Even if you don’t go to Gaza like Richard and I have multiple times, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to say, OK, what’s the accusation? Because there is no evidence (or) information that you’re using to wage this libel against Israel, like genocidal specific intent.

And then the evidence if they can’t prove intent is the numbers, whether it’s the starvation claim, which is false, and they want to rule out everything Israel has done to feed the enemy’s population, to vaccinate everybody in Gaza. All of the information is an assault on critical thinking.

Lilley: Both of you are veterans of war. Have you ever fought in a war where you had to feed your enemy, provide them clean drinking water and electricity? Because I don’t think a lot of people know that, that Israel has been providing the power and the water and then the food and then told, well, you’re not giving them enough food. You’re committing genocide. I don’t know how you commit genocide against a people that you were feeding and watering.

Kemp:

I think the Israelis have been facilitating, sometimes by direct assistance, significantly more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip than is required by the population of the Gaza Strip, significantly more. In my knowledge and my experience, this is the first time in history that any army has facilitated the delivery of aid to the enemy population at the same time as they’re fighting that enemy.

Lilley: Normally, you lay siege to a place. You cut off the access to food and water as a way to try and get them to surrender. Here, they’re actively delivering more aid than the UN will pick up at times.

Kemp:

Absolutely and we’ve seen stockpiles of aid waiting inside Gaza that have been permitted in by the IDF, have been checked, searched, allowed in. And then it’s waiting there because the UN has a completely inefficient distribution system. And the UN itself has admitted that the vast majority of the aid that it has brought into Gaza has been hijacked and taken over by Hamas and used for Hamas’s purposes.

Hamas aren’t interested in the population being fed. In fact, they’d rather the population weren’t fed so they can perpetrate their own lies about starvation. What Hamas want (is) to control the population through distribution of aid, which is often sold — free aid given by U.S. taxpayers’ dollars. Free aid. They want to sell that. They’ve been selling that at vastly inflated prices to those that can afford it.

And this is one of the main reasons why they have opposed so strongly the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has been the most effective organization, a U.S. initiative supported by Israel as well, mainly made up of former American soldiers, distributing aid directly to the Gazans, bypassing Hamas. So Hamas don’t get control of it and don’t use it to raise funds or control the population.

Lilley: What should listeners make of the claims that Israel has used the aid being distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund as a lure to get people to show up so they can shoot and kill them?

Spencer:

I mean, it’s as false as all the other claims. It doesn’t stand up against evidence. And it rules out any information from anybody but Hamas. And people won’t even listen to what Israel says. OK, fine. You think that Israel is lying, but they won’t (listen to) the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, not Israelis, mostly American, who are on the ground.

Lilley: Has Hamas effectively weaponized food in this war as another front? I would say while Hamas is not winning the war militarily, they appear to be winning on the PR side. They get a lot of great PR. To me, it feels like they really weaponize this food issue to turn hearts and minds even as they’re losing in the battlefield.

Kemp:

That’s exactly what they’ve done. Some of the most outstanding examples in the media of famine, starvation, etc. have been proven to be people who are not starving. They’ve been proven in some cases to be unfortunate children who are suffering from pre-existing diseases which give them a skeletal type appearance, which is that —

Lilley: I think you’re talking about the New York Times front page.

Kemp:

Right, the New York Times front page and many many other front pages on the internet and in print of the media including the BBC, which is one of the worst offenders I might say. Now if they need to do that, if they need to falsify it to that extent, that tells you something I think that’s quite important which is, why aren’t they just using the real evidence of it if there is real evidence? Well the reality is there isn’t real evidence.

I’m not saying there isn’t hunger in Gaza. I’m sure there is hunger in Gaza, largely brought about by Hamas. But I’ve spoken directly to at least 100 Gazans, civilians. Not one of them that I saw showed any sign of starvation. The people I saw were active, were moving around, were happy to be receiving for the first ever time free aid since the war began, and that came from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. These are just some of the examples of the way that Hamas have been manipulating, weaponizing food and starvation against Israel. And it’s been swallowed up by a gullible media and obviously people who don’t know any better who watch that media.

Spencer:

To say that Hamas has weaponized the food that’s gone into Gaza since October 7th is almost putting it lightly. For some reason in this war, Hamas gets a pass on any atrocity they commit or any violation of the law of armed conflict (by) using the hospitals, using the humanitarian zones. Where was (Hamas strategist) Mohammed Deif killed? Right next to the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone.

Lilley: Israel’s offensive into Gaza City is getting a lot of attention now, gentlemen. And I’d like to get your thoughts. You know, I had a colleague say, why are they just going into Gaza now? Are they just trying to clear out remnants of Hamas?

Kemp:

Gaza City may not be the final stronghold of Hamas, but it’s certainly now, I think, the largest concentration of Hamas terrorists inside Gaza, although I’m sure many of have left or tried to leave. And of course, without taking Gaza City, without destroying Hamas inside Gaza City, then you don’t destroy Hamas at all. So very clearly, they’ve got to deal with Gaza City.

And that is a tough problem. It wouldn’t be so tough if it wasn’t for the civilian presence there. The IDF, I think, are estimating now that maybe even up to 900,000 Gazans have left Gaza City and the IDF have been warning them by leaflet drops and by other means, numerous other means, to get out to safety and telling them where they can go to safety, to the south along designated routes. And a large number have been doing that. But of course, meanwhile, Hamas have been doing their best to prevent them from getting out of Gaza City because they want them there as human shields.

Another complexity, of course, is the presence there of at least some of the hostages inside Gaza City. On top of all that you then have the massive complexity of the massive tunnel system underneath Gaza City, the booby traps of very many of the buildings. Obviously a large number of the buildings have been taken over by Hamas to be used as military positions to command operations to attack the IDF. That of course includes hospitals, mosques, apartment buildings, schools and all the rest of the stuff we’ve seen in Gaza City.

Lilley: We’re constantly hearing what the death toll is. When you’ve looked at civilian deaths, in this war as compared to others, what have you found?

Kemp:

Yeah, I mean, the first thing I’d say is, I don’t think anybody knows how many civilians have died inside Gaza. I certainly don’t. You hear these 65,000 figure or 100,000, wherever it might be. These figures all come from Hamas, the Gaza Health Ministry or whatever. Some people quote the UN’s figures but the UN’s figures come from Hamas everyone’s figures come from Hamas, so we don’t know the reality.

You have to deduct from those figures the number of fighters that have been killed, because obviously, IDF are going to have killed a lot of fighters. They’ve been targeting the fighters, not the civilians, and many fighters will have died.

Spencer:

Hamas has killed thousands of civilians. Twenty per cent of the 14,000-15,000 rockets that Hamas has launched have landed inside of Gaza killing Gazan civilians who go on the list. Everybody just blames Israel for this number. It’s not true. The number is not true. It could be more. It could be less.

I can tell you that I don’t mourn the death of Hamas combatants. I don’t. Israel views every civilian casualty as a tragedy. It’s awful. Hamas views it as their strategy and they state they want the death. They want the death of every child, elderly person, everything so they can achieve their goal in the afterlife.

Listen to the full podcast here.

Source: National Post (Politics)

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BY THE NUMBERS: OPIOID HARM AMONG ONTARIO FIRST NATIONS

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