What began as a simple video has become a boon for Nanaimo, a city on Vancouver Island with a population of 106,000.

Tod Maffin, a digital marketer, journalist and social media influencer living in Nanaimo, never imagined his

TikTok video

would spark a friendly American invasion of the city.

“I was bored on a Friday night waiting for an Xbox game to install, and so I made a stupid little video that said, ‘Hey, if you Americans who support Canada really want to put money where your mouth is, come on up to Canada, come to my hometown, and spend your money,’” said Maffin.

That post marked the beginning of “Nanaimo Infusion,” a weekend from April 25 to 27, where Americans are invited to visit.

Maffin set up a forum asking people to indicate if they were planning to attend. More than 2,000 people registered. The response was overwhelming. “I’m not an event planner,” Maffin said.

He eventually took the forum down and opened a Discord channel where Americans could confirm their attendance after booking accommodations. As of writing, more than 175 people have confirmed that they booked a trip.

One person attending is Andrew Kantor. He and his wife are coming from New York. Kantor first heard about “Nanaimo Infusion” through CKLR-FM, a radio station in Courtenay, B.C., that he started listening to because he was tired of American news. After watching Maffin’s TikTok, he joined the Discord and made new friends. He and his wife decided to visit Nanaimo to meet those friends and show solidarity with Canadians.

“We really just want to be part of something that’s showing Canada that most Americans are on their side. Most Americans don’t like what’s going on. And this is one way we can do a little bit to help,” said Kantor.

As part of the “Nanaimo Infusion” weekend, Maffin, whose birthday falls on April 26, worked with the city to organize a “family photo event” at 10 a.m. PT that day in Maffeo Sutton Park. Visitors are invited to gather for a group photo, and Nanaimo’s mayor, Leonard Krog, is expected to be in attendance.

Many local businesses are embracing the weekend’s excitement by organizing a variety of activities. These include a welcome gathering for queer American visitors at White Sails Brewery on April 25 and a nanaimo bar-making demo at Island-ish Lifestyle Boutique on April 26, with several other events planned throughout the weekend.

“The community has turned up for this,” Maffin said.

Mayor Krog is optimistic about the economic benefits this influx of tourists could bring. “If a few hundred people show up, it will have several hundred thousand dollars of economic impact in a very positive way at a time of economic uncertainty and concern,” he said. “And of course, the Americans will discover, if they haven’t before, that their dollar goes a lot further in Canada than it does back home. This will encourage longer-term tourism as well.”

Hotels might be in short supply for the weekend, but Krog remains confident the region can handle the influx of visitors. “I think we’ll be able to accommodate those who will choose to come.”

The mayor also sees the weekend as an opportunity to strengthen the bond between Canadians and Americans. “They will discover that their best friends are north of the border, and they would be very wise to work on that friendship instead of allowing, as I say, the mad king in the White House to destroy that long-standing relationship.”

It’s a message that resonates with many Americans planning to make the trip.

“I honestly think most Americans love Canada. You are our best friend. You’ve been our best friend for centuries, and this is awful, and we hate it. And we’re trying to show a little solidarity,” said Kantor.

Maffin believes the “Nanaimo Infusion” is already a success, even though the weekend hasn’t officially begun. “I genuinely believe that this has put Vancouver Island on the radar of people that had no idea it existed before.”

• B.C. woman captures battle between a sea lion and an octopus
• California governor appeals to Canadians to please come back

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

The good news for grocery shoppers is that the price of olive oil

has dropped substantially

 over the last year. The bad news is that almost anything you cook with it is going to be more expensive. That’s one of the takeaways from the latest

food inflation report

released by Loblaw Companies Limited.

The retailer operates more than 2,400 stores

across Canada

, including Loblaws, No Frills, Shoppers Drug Mart and Real Canadian Superstore. Its April food inflation report comes on the heels of Statistics Canada’s

latest monthly bulletin

, which reported that the Consumer Price Index — a measure of inflation calculated by the price of regular household purchases — was up 2.3 per cent year over year in March. StatCan also reported that the price of

food purchased in stores

was up even more, at 3.2 per cent year over year in March, up from 2.8 year over year the month before.

The Loblaw bulletin for the month of April lists a number of grocery staples, including chicken breasts, pork and beef trim, coffee and eggs. In each case (except olive oil) the price is higher than it was a year ago, although some of the items have decreased somewhat in the last quarter.

Topping the list are U.S. eggs, still up 65.3 per cent from a year ago, though they have come down 19 per cent in the last quarter. Loblaw notes that while Canadian eggs have remained much more stable in price, “Canada is a net importer of liquid eggs from the U.S., and that cost has increased substantially.”

It adds: “Aside from liquid eggs in the egg aisle, the biggest impact will be seen in baked goods, like muffins, cakes and cookies.”

Also high on the list is coffee. Coffee arabica prices are up 65 per cent from a year ago, and 6.6 per cent in the last quarter, while coffee robusta has gone up 33.7 per cent over the past year, but down 4.2 per cent in the last quarter.

“Tight supplies from the 2024 harvest means continued volatility for coffee prices.” the report notes. “Recent U.S. tariffs on coffee growing countries led to a minor sell off, then rebound when tariffs paused.”

The brief report mentions the word “tariff” a dozen times, and includes an explanation of how “stacking tariffs” could send some prices even higher.

On the subject of coffee, it notes that Vietnam is the second largest producer of coffee beans after Brazil, and that many American coffee producers buy their beans from there. However, a possible 46 per cent tariff on Vietnamese imports could raise costs, as could a further 25 per cent tariff on goods entering Canada from the U.S.

“As a result,” it notes, “every $1 spent on coffee previously could conceptually cost as much as $1.82 after tariffs.”

More generally, it says, “tariffs continue to impact inflation, challenging key sectors and lowering consumer confidence. While the impact of Canada’s counter tariffs was minimal on food prices in March, as retailers sell through existing inventories higher prices will begin appearing on shelf.”

Things are not great in the meat aisle either. “Pork prices have been rising with demand over the past few months,” the report states, adding: “Chicken remains high after ongoing supply challenges, and the beef herd is the smallest since the 1970s due to drought conditions and rising feed prices.”

As a result, beef prices have risen 17.3 per cent in the last quarter, while chicken breasts are up 25 per cent, and pork trim 36.5 per cent.

The one item of good news is on the olive oil front, where Loblaw reports that prices are down by almost half (46.9 per cent) from a year ago, with a drop of 3.2 per cent in the last quarter.

The so-called “liquid gold” had

hit record highs

and even spurred a crime wave last year thanks to two years of bad weather and poor harvests in Europe. With the most recent crop in better shape, prices have dropped again.

• ‘Liquid gold’ no longer? Olive oil prices could drop by half, says world’s largest producer
• Trump refers to groceries as an ‘old-fashioned term’ again, leaving people scratching their heads

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

YAMACHICHE, QUE — Liberals thought they were riding a wave toward a majority government, largely thanks to Quebec. That’s no longer the case. Sources within the party sense the grass is slipping from under their feet.

The Bloc, whose poll numbers plummeted following the resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, sees an opportunity.

The party is working feverishly to regain support in the ridings it holds.

Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet said he is very much “on the offence” and that he’s trying to save seats and flip a couple more in the greater Montreal area, while the Liberals “are worried that Isaac Newton may have been right after all and it has stopped going up.”

According to sources, the Liberals’ internal numbers are not as shiny as the polls suggest, and a majority result is fragile.

“Everything is extremely volatile in an unprecedented campaign. Everything could still be decided in the coming days. That seems to be true for the Liberals, and it’s true for us,” said Blanchet on Wednesday. “It’s going to be an extraordinarily interesting five days.”

Meanwhile, the latest

Leger poll

puts the Liberals 16 points ahead of the Bloc in Quebec.

The Bloc hasn’t recovered to the same level as the last election, according to Philippe J. Fournier, who runs the polling aggregator 338Canada, but the party is no longer on the floor with only 20 per cent.

“It looks like they’re back at 25 or 26, and that could make a difference for the Bloc. The Bloc will probably save the day if they can get out the vote,” Philippe J. Fournier told National Post.

The Liberals believe that 40 of the province’s 78 seats would help them in their quest for a majority government. And they’re not afraid to ask Quebecers directly for help.

“We know that in Quebec, we have a strong voice to be heard! We know that we are capable of having a majority government because Quebecers will respond,” Liberal candidate and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly chanted in the microphone at a party event Tuesday night.

She was introducing her boss, Mark Carney, at the end of a long day of campaigning in La Belle Province.

“Together, let’s make sure we have a Liberal majority government,” Joly added.

If the Bloc continues to climb in the polls and reaches 30 per cent, this majority would be “compromised,” according to Fournier.

In 2021, the Liberals won 33 ridings in the province and the Bloc 32. However, last September, the Bloc won a byelection in Montreal, creating a major upset. The Bloc was particularly strong among Francophone voters, while the Liberals dominated in Montreal and among the multicultural electorate.

“The aggregation sites predict a close fight, but that’s not what we feel on the ground,” Bloc Québécois candidate in Berthier-Maskinongé Yves Perron said.

Perron seems to have 

the edge in a tight race with NDP Ruth Ellen Brosseau,

and the Liberal candidate is not too far behind.

“I don’t really feel any surge (in the Liberal vote),” he said. “People come and argue with me sometimes, saying ‘well, we’ve always voted for the Bloc, but now we’re a little scared.’ It takes a few minutes to explain that if we’re not there, no one speaks for Quebec, and then people understand that very quickly,” he added.

Bloc candidates constantly repeat that polls don’t tell the whole story. That groundwork remains the key to success.

That’s exactly what Team Carney and Team Blanchet did on Tuesday.

Both the red and light blue caravans added kilometres to their odometers throughout Tuesday.

The Bloc leader started the day in Charlevoix, where he is trying to save a seat

from a Conservative surge

.

“We are trying to reach as many people as possible during five weeks, four of which are gone. There’s one left, and more the people hear about us and what we have to say, the best support we get,” Blanchet told reporters.

Meanwhile, the Liberal leader met with Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand in the Old Capital and took pictures in front of the Château Frontenac.

Old Québec today with good company. pic.twitter.com/iDOc0WoVvj

— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) April 22, 2025

Blanchet then went to Quebec City, while Carney was making an announcement on the protection of Quebec’s identity and economy

in the battleground of Trois-Rivières

.

“We (will) always protect Canadian culture, Quebec culture, and we are clear. But it’s the person at the table who will make those determinations and decisions,” said Carney, implying that the Bloc will never be at the table because it can’t mathematically form the government.

A new stop was added to Blanchet’s itinerary: a metal factory in Yamachiche, not far from Trois-Rivières, to visit a company affected by the U.S. tariffs.

It seemed as if the two campaigns had exchanged narratives.

Carney served poutine at the Ben La Bédaine canteen in Granby, then travelled to Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville. Both ridings are held by the Bloc.

Meanwhile, Blanchet enjoyed a quiet dinner with his team in Repentigny, a stronghold where the Liberals harbour ambitions.

Carney ended his day in Laval, where hundreds of Liberals were present. Like Joly, he called for a strong and positive mandate. He wore a Montreal Canadiens jersey, just as Blanchet had done the day before in Charlevoix.

While Blanchet is a Quebec Nordiques fan and Carney is an Edmonton Oilers fan, both are ready to hold their noses and wear the Habs jersey. Because at this stage of the campaign, it might well be a necessity to win this province.

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

Mark Carney and the Liberals have spent a lot of campaign time telling voters they’re best equipped to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump. But on Tuesday, the Liberal leader off-handedly compared himself to the contentious American head of state.

The Liberal campaign bus rolled into Bloc Québécois-held Granby, Que., for a brief photo op with local candidate Felix Dionne at Cantine Chez Ben, a third-generation family-owned restaurant which bills itself as offering the best poutine.

As seen in a video posted by CPAC, after posing for some photos out front, the former Bank of Canada governor gestured to an election sign featuring his image.

“What a handsome person,” he said. “Let’s do a little comparison.”

“Before the campaign. Now.” he remarked, motioning first to the image, then to himself.

Poutine and great conversations in Granby with Quebecers who are ready to build — and vote — #CanadaStrong. pic.twitter.com/GNvtL0aQI6

— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) April 23, 2025

Carney was quickly shuffled inside with Dionne and through a small throng of supporters, stopping to shake hands and sign autographs and then meeting with some customers enjoying a meal.

At the counter, the two owners invited him to try his hand behind the counter, but told him he needed a hat first. While a staffer was sent to fetch some headwear, Carney turned to the cameras.

“It’s just like Trump at McDonald’s,” Carney said. “Not really.”

In the final weeks of the 2024 U.S. election, Republican nominee Donald Trump showed up at a McDonald’s franchise outside Philadelphia, where he wore an apron, made fries and worked the drive-thru window. He did so, he said, because he’d always wanted to and to prove that Democratic nominee Kamala Harris never worked there, despite her claims.

“There’s no one with a hat?” Carney then asked, still waiting.

When a Chez Ben hat is handed to him, he adjusts it, noting, “I have a big head.”

Behind the counter, as Carney is prepping an order of poutine, a reporter at the canteen window outside asks him what the cheese sounds like. “Squish, squish,” he replied.

“It’s tiring,” he said, while doing a mock brow wipe after serving up one dish.

After a quick chat with one of the owners while Dionne makes a plate, Carney starts making another.

“I’m a bit like Trump. Trump at McDonald’s,” he said again, speaking to someone through the canteen window.

After chopping a few potatoes and having a private conversation with Dionne and the owners, Carney was out the door with a takeout plate in hand.

“I’m keeping this,” he said of the hat.

A few more photos and autographs, and the Liberal leader was off to his next stop.

• Trump mocks Harris by working at a McDonald’s drive-thru
• The Bloc leader says Mark Carney will win. He doesn’t seem upset about it

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

After the death of Pope Francis on Monday, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau posted about an interaction she had with the leader of the Catholic Church.

In 2017, she accompanied her then-husband and former prime minister Justin Trudeau to Italy.

They met Pope Francis

for the first time at the Vatican. Grégoire Trudeau revealed what their brief exchange was about in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

What happens now that Pope Francis has died?

She included a photo of her next to Pope Francis with a caption that began: “When do you ever have the Pope’s ear?”

She said in the “rare moment” she leaned in to whisper to the pope, “I hear you have a vice?”

“He looked at me with the wide, curious eyes of a child. I added: ‘Maple syrup.’ He burst into laughter,” Grégoire Trudeau continued. “But what stayed with me most was what he said at the end. He looked at me intently and asked, ‘Please pray for me.’”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sophie Grégoire Trudeau (@sophiegregoiretrudeau)

In the Instagram caption, she goes on to explain that she is “deeply spiritual” but “not religious.” She said that she does “pray that we human beings continue to see our truth and our capacity to learn, to forgive, and to evolve.”

“I will always devote myself to gathering, nourishing, and amplifying the better angels of our nature. Rest in peace Pope Francis,” she ended the post.

Grégoire Trudeau also wrote about meeting Pope Francis in

a Facebook post in 2017

.

At the time, she said: “What an enriching experience it was to meet with Pope Francis. I cherish our common belief that people of all faiths and backgrounds must stand united for peace.”

Although the pope has not publicly proclaimed his love for maple syrup, he did seem enthused when it was gifted to him by a young boy from Winnipeg in 2016. The boy, identified as Ryan, was selected to meet Pope Francis after he contributed to a children’s book by the Catholic leader,

CBC News reported

.

Ryan travelled with his father to the Vatican, where he gifted the pope with a bottle of maple syrup. Pope Francis laughed and responded: “This is good.”

In 2015, B.C. couple Joseph and Marion San Jose gifted the pope with a custom Vancouver Canucks hockey jersey while they were honeymooning in Rome,

per CBC News

. Their gift, they said, was meant to differentiate themselves from other Canadians, including some of Joseph’s co-workers who had previously given the pope maple syrup.

“We started thinking what we should give the Pope that’s just as Canadian, but isn’t maple syrup…Because we feel like he gets a lot of maple syrup from Canadians,” he said.

• Sophie Grégoire says she knows about sacrifices ‘first-hand’ after Trudeau’s Liberal leadership ends
• Pope Francis in movies, from A Man of His Word to Conclave

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

A Jewish Conservative candidate in Winnipeg said he won’t be intimidated after several of his election signs were defaced in what he considers a targeted antisemitic crime.

Seven or eight of Winnipeg West incumbent Marty Morantz’s signs on private property — some belonging to Jewish constituents — and two bus bench placards in the Tuxedo neighbourhood were vandalized with graffiti conveying hateful and offensive messages. One of the signs was within blocks of the Asper Jewish Community Campus.

“Traitor” was painted in black across his name and “men” over Conservative to create “Con men.” They also create a slur for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Larger signs showing Morantz’ face were marred with black hair and a moustache reminiscent of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

The Winnipeg Police Service has already

opened an investigation

into the incidents that are believed to have occurred on Sunday evening, but has not explicitly labelled it as a hate crime.

“The riding is massive,” Morantz told the National Post. “This didn’t happen in the parts of the riding where there’s no substantive Jewish community. This happened in the part of the riding where a large portion of the Winnipeg Jewish community lives.

“It was clearly an attempt to attack and intimidate the Jewish community, and I won’t be intimidated by people who traffic in hate.”

He explains that “traitor” is meant to imply that Jewish people are somehow not loyal to Canada.

“Traitor” has also been used on other federal candidates’ signs this election, including

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh

and the

Liberals’ Brian May.

Refusing to be “rattled” by the indecency, Morantz has continued to show up on doorsteps in the neighbourhood — one where he also resides — and said people have expressed to him how upsetting the news was.

All the signs have since been replaced.

Morantz said he and Melissa Lantsman, the only other Jewish Conservative MP, have been fighting back against a rising tide of antisemitism in Canada since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the vandalism during a federal election campaign is the latest example of it manifesting in Canadian neighbourhoods.

“Historically, when antisemitism was on the rise, it was really the canary in the coal mine for society’s breakdown,” Morantz said.

Of the 1,284 incidents of hate crimes related to religion reported to police in 2023, 900 involved Jewish people,

per Statistics Canada

. Meanwhile, A

Toronto Police Service report

on hate crimes for 2023 shows 36 per cent were labelled “anti-Jewish” and that they were most frequently the victims of mischief to property occurrences.

“Silence is complicity when it comes to these kinds of things,” said Morantz.

“We just have to speak out against it. We have to stand up for the community and not be intimidated.”

Liberal opponent Doug Eyolfson denounced the crime in

a statement

, saying antisemitism “has no place in Canada, full stop.”

“This cannot be how we conduct ourselves when we disagree with a candidate’s platform,” he wrote.

“There is no room for hate in politics, I know Winnipeg West is better than this.”

Meanwhile in the Quebec riding of Mount Royal, Conservative candidate Neil Oberman took matters into his own hands when both he and his Liberal opponent’s signs were vandalized.

In

a video posted to X

, Oberman, standing next to a pole where his and incumbent Anthony Housefather’s signs are attached, holds a spray bottle and calls it “all-purpose hate cleaner.”

He’s not there to remove the Liberal sign, he says, but to “strengthen democracy” for both parties.

“Sometimes it takes a lot to get hate off, but we’re working on it,” he says as he sprays and scrubs his own placard, which is spray-painted with the words “PRO BABY KILLERS” and “IDF.”

He does the same for Housefather’s sign, which is plastered with “PRO-GENOCIDE.”

This hate will take more cleaning. Stay tuned we will be back!!

———

Cette haine demandera plus de nettoyage. Restez à l’écoute, nous serons de retour!! pic.twitter.com/BOytzwx8JX

— Neil G. Oberman (@NeilOberman) April 19, 2025

“Here’s a message to all my friends: it doesn’t matter what hate tries to do. Hate will not be successful as long as we stand up and we’re heard. Today, we’re being heard,” Oberman says.

A spokesperson for Winnipeg police told National Post in an email that “taking or damaging election signs” is against the law and can lead to charges such as property damage or theft.

When sentencing convicted parties, police said the court “may also take into account things like whether the act was motivated by hate.”

• ‘Disruptive’ man challenges Poilievre’s promise to ‘put an end to antisemitic riots’ in Canada
• Dara Solomon: Fight online antisemitism by stopping and thinking

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

Even before his first day as leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis was a notable pontiff. He was the first pope from the Americas, and the first in almost 600 years to succeed a pope who stepped down (rather than die), as Benedict XVI did in 2013.

That unusual transfer of power became the subject of a 2019 movie, The Two Popes, starring Anthony Hopkins as Benedict XVI, and Jonathan Pryce as the future Francis; his pre-papal name was Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

It’s a drama (and fictionalized), but not without its moments of levity, crafting an “Odd Couple” vibe by contrasting the grumpy and elderly Benedict with the relatively spry and jovial Jorge. Both actors were Oscar-nominated for their roles, as was Anthony McCarten for best adapted screenplay.