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A number of doctors are concerned that some Canadians receiving medically assisted death don't actually meet Health Canada's criteria for the procedure.

A severely obese woman in her 60s who sought euthanasia due to her “no longer having a will to live” and a widower whose request to have his life ended was mainly driven by emotional distress and grief over his dead spouse are the latest cases to draw concerns that some doctors are taking an overly broad interpretation of the law.

The anonymized cases highlighted in the latest report from the Ontario Coroner’s MAID Death Review Committee include people whose conditions were declared “grievous and irremediable” — incurable — and their deaths reasonably foreseeable because they refused all forms of care or had stopped eating and drinking.

However, Health Canada states that people can’t refuse all or most interventions in order to render themselves eligible for a doctor-assisted death.

In all three deaths, hopelessness, isolation and loneliness were driving factors.

The grieving widower, a man in his 70s identified as Mr. C, had an essential tremor, a movement disorder that caused his hands to shake. His spouse had died in recent years and his tremor “impacted his self-esteem and self-confidence,” according to the panel’s report on MAID deaths in 2024, which was

first reported by Canadian Affairs

.

Mr. C felt he didn’t have much to offer in a new relationship because of his tremor and thus “had not been able to create a new life path with meaningful relationships” and a sense of purpose, the report reads.

“He requested to access MAID due to same.”

Mr. C had problems eating, and gait and mobility issues. He felt he couldn’t engage in meaningful hobbies. A neurologist confirmed his condition was incurable, however several members of the 16-member death review committee questioned whether an essential tremor fully met the legislative threshold for a grievous and irremediable condition, noting that an essential tremor “rarely progresses to cause severe disability” or incapacity.

Psychological stress can also exacerbate symptoms of essential tremor. Some committee members worried Mr. C’s request for MAID “appeared to be primarily motivated by social withdrawal, grief and hopelessness,” which they believed may have been potentially reversible.

“It’s very sad. This poor man.  I’m concerned that if he had still been in a relationship his essential tremor would be less bothersome,” said Dr. Ramona Coelho, a family physician and committee member.

While he was experiencing trouble eating, his basic activities of daily living weren’t significantly impacted.

“These kinds of cases highlight and validate what the disability community has been trying to point out: MAID is a risk to their right to life,” Coelho said.

Mrs. A, who had morbid obesity, was isolated and mainly housebound. She had high blood pressure, diabetes, severe shortness of breath, and chronic pain. MAID assessors said her condition could potentially improve with medical treatments such as government-funded bariatric surgery, as well as disability and social supports. However, she refused all care.

She hadn’t been to her doctor or diabetes clinic for several years and had stopped taking her medications. Her “re-engagement” with the health system appeared to be primarily for accessing MAID.

“The MAID assessors determined her death to be reasonably foreseeable due to Mrs. A’s decision not to pursue additional treatment,” the report reads.

But Coelho believes the woman was in a state of neglect. “And that to me, that is patient abandonment. ‘Oh, you want to die? Sure, you can die.’”

“I can understand how it can sound like it’s compassionate. It’s what she wants,” Coelho said.

Some members highlighted that a person’s decision to refuse all treatments is a personal choice, “shaped by individual values and lived experience,” and that the MAID provider was respecting Mrs. A autonomy.

“But does that make you eligible for MAID,” Coelho said. “If someone comes to my office and said, ‘I want MAID’ and has had no workup, I will say, ‘I’m here for you, I’d like to explore your suffering. But I cannot say in good faith that you’re eligible for MAID.’”

“When we agreed that MAID would be legal, we said we would give it to people who met certain criteria,” Coelho said.

Mrs. A also showed signs of catastrophic thinking and “profound psychological and existential suffering.”

Both MAID assessors documented that she didn’t have suicidal thoughts. However, loneliness, isolation and psychosocial suffering overlap with suicide risk factors, said psychiatrist Dr. Sonu Gaind, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto.

“We’re clearly providing MAID to some people who have all the risk factors for being suicidal, especially placing those who are lonely and most marginalized at risk,” said Gaind, who does not sit on the death review panel.

“And then we’re sanitizing it with false reassurances to society from the white lab coat that the person is not suicidal.”

The third case involved Mr. B, a man in his 60s who was living with cerebral palsy in long-term care. He  stopped eating and drinking six to eight weeks before his first MAID assessment. “His intake during this period was limited to one-or-two glasses of a caloric beverage per day,” according to the panel’s report.

He used a wheelchair but could propel and get in and out of it himself.

Mr. B was experiencing “profound psychosocial suffering and loneliness due to limited social relationships and isolation from the community — a lifelong experience,” according to the report. He worried that he would become more dependent as he got older.

Cerebral palsy is an incurable condition, and Mr. B had lost weight and was in an “advanced state of decline,” including signs of kidney failure, because of his decision to stop eating and drinking.

However, his suffering was “mainly psychosocial and existentially oriented,” the report reads.

Some members worried that “self-facilitated decline” by not eating or drinking, instead of condition-driven decline, could undermine MAID safeguards “and create pathways for circumventing eligibility criteria.”

Other members said it’s important to respect a capable person’s right to make their own health decisions, “including the refusal of nutrition or hydration.”

According to

Health Canada’s regulatory guidance,

 “incurable’ means there are no reasonable treatments remaining where reasonable is determined by the clinician and person together.”

It doesn’t mean that someone must attempt every possible option. “At the same time, a capable person cannot refuse all or most interventions and automatically render themselves incurable for the purposes of accessing MAID.”

The death review panel was established in January 2024. Deaths selected are chosen to “generate discussion, thought and considerations for practice improvement,” according to a preamble.

Of 4,356 reported MAID deaths in Ontario in 2024, most, 88 per cent, met all legislative requirements, according to the report. About 602 required further in-depth review; 281 of those went on to require an investigation.

National Post

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A Hamas supporter argues with a supporter of Israel outside Roy Thomson Hall, where the documentary film “The Road Between Us:The Ultimate Rescue” was being viewed at the Toronto film festival on Wednesday, September 10, 2025.

The CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival apologized to the Jewish community at the world premiere of a documentary about the October 7 massacre, as anti-Israel protesters gathered outside to demonstrate against the film.

The screening of The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, a film about a man’s efforts to save his family during the deadly Hamas attack, was cancelled last month and then rescheduled following an international outcry. The only one showtime during the film festival

quickly sold out

after tickets were released in late August, but some complained about the limited seating and lack of additional screening times. The theatre was packed on Wednesday afternoon.

Before the film played at Roy Thompson Hall, director Barry Avrich spoke briefly about the importance of the film and received a standing ovation.

The audience reacted positively and strongly when TIFF chief executive Cameron Bailey expressed regret for earlier missteps he had made.

“I want to thank you, here today, to watch the powerful story that unfolds,” Bailey said to applause before the screening. “I want to apologize, especially to the Jewish community, for mistakes I made in the lead-up to this day. In an environment of rising, dangerous antisemitism, I want to apologize.”

There was a heavy law enforcement presence outside the venue, mostly along Simcoe Street, where a couple dozen anti-Israel demonstrators gathered with banners and loudspeakers.

At one point, a middle-aged white man jumped the barricades separating anti-Israel protesters from a pro-Israel contingent outside Roy Thompson Hall. Police quickly intervened and escorted him out of the area.

Anti-Israel speakers chanted over the din of the crowd as TIFF volunteers ensured attendees in a long line had a ticket.

“ How many of you have parents and grandparents who were victims of the Holocaust?” one male protester said. “How tragic, children, grandchildren of both victims of the Nazi Holocaust, are here to support a Holocaust in the 21st century?”

He condemned those attending the documentary, calling them “ fake Jews, the people that pretend to speak on behalf of Judaism, but you’re eating a pork sandwich on a Saturday afternoon, you have nothing to do with Judaism.”

The documentary follows retired Israeli general Noam Tibon as he races through Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, to save his family living on Kibbutz Nahal Oz, one of the hardest hit communities near the Gaza border. His son, Amir Tibon, is a prominent Israeli journalist and is featured heavily in the film.

In August, American entertainment outlet Deadline reported that TIFF leaders had pulled the documentary, citing its failure to meet “legal clearance for all footage.” The film’s director, Barry Avrich, a Canadian Jew from Montreal, expressed hope that the documentary could be shown but said TIFF’s decision left him “shocked and saddened that a venerable film festival has defied its mission and censored its own programming by refusing this film.”

The decision was

quickly condemned

by Toronto politicians and prominent Hollywood celebrities. A public letter signed by more than 1,000 people in the entertainment industry — including Amy Schumer, Howie Mandel, Debra Messing and Mayim Bialik – demanded that TIFF reverse course.

“This incident is not an anomaly — it is part of a disturbing pattern that has emerged since October 7th, in which Israeli and Jewish creatives in film, television, music, sports, and literature are confronted with barriers no other community is made to face. The deliberate effort to marginalize and silence Jewish voices in the arts worldwide is intolerable, and it cannot be allowed to persist,” the

letter

read.

TIFF soon after reinstated the film and festival chief executive Cameron Bailey apologized for the incident.

“First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere apologies for any pain this situation may have caused,” Bailey

wrote

 following the backlash. The next day, Bailey and Avrich 

released a joint statement

acknowledging that “a resolution to satisfy important safety, legal and programming concerns” had been overcome.

 An anti-Israel poster and Israel supporters outside Roy Thomson Hall, where the documentary film “The Road Between Us:The Ultimate Rescue” was being viewed at the Toronto film festival on Wednesday, September 10, 2025.

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A GoFundMe page has been set up for Ottawa woman, Hind Iguernane who lost her husband in the Lisbon funicular crash. She is recovering from extensive injuries in a Lisbon hospital.

A

GoFundMe page

has been set up for an Ottawa woman who lost her husband in the Lisbon funicular crash. She is in hospital, recovering from severe injuries.

Hind “suffered multiple serious injuries only to find out later that her husband had passed away from his traumatic injuries. While Hind focuses on health and wellbeing, we want to come together as a community to help ease some of the burden she must now carry,” the page says.

The fundraising goal is $20,000. In the two days the page has been live, over $13,000 has been raised. It will be used to help cover essential expenses, medical costs, and day-to-day needs for Hind and her family.

Colleagues of Hind Iguernane, including her brother Youness Iguernane, are the page’s organizers. Youness will be managing the funds on her behalf.

Hind’s husband

Aziz Benharref

, lived in Ottawa’s Orléans neighbourhood and was on vacation in Portugal with Hind. He was 42.

Benharref lived in Ottawa for six years with his wife and brother-in-law, Youness, and worked for a tech company, according to the CBC. Both Benharref and Iguernane are originally from Morocco. He was a Canadian citizen. She is a permanent resident.

Global Affairs Canada

has said it is aware of the death of two Canadian citizens in the crash. The department would not confirm the victims’ identities but extended its condolences to the families. A

Quebec couple

, also on vacation, were killed in the crash too.

Hind told

CTV news

that her husband was “one of the sweetest human beings ever.”

In recounting the tragic accident she said: “It was very scary. It crashed. I didn’t see him. I called him; I was calling Aziz and he didn’t answer.”

She has a fractured hip and shoulder, along with other injuries and was in and out of consciousness in hospital while trying to find out what happened to her husband.

“When they took me to the hospital, I kept asking and for like two nights nobody knows or at least he didn’t told me what happened to him. They were just telling me, ‘We’re all looking for him, we keep looking for him.’”

She will stay in hospital until she is able to travel to Morocco where her husband will be buried.

CNN

reports that a preliminary investigation indicates that a connecting cable broke, leading to the deadly crash, which killed at least 16 people and injured several others.

A probe conducted by the Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Accidents in Civil Aviation and Rail (GPIAAF) found that a steel cable connecting the historic funicular’s two carriages had “given way.” That resulted in the carriage at the top of the street increasing in speed down the slope and later derailing, the GPIAAF report found.

Lisbon’s funicular railways

are popular among tourists. The bright yellow tram-like vehicles wind through the city’s narrow, hilly streets.

The Glória route, where the crash occurred, was opened in 1885 and electrified three decades later. It travels some 275 metres from a central city square through the scenic streets of the Bairro Alto neighbourhood. The journey takes about three minutes.

The two carriages on the route are attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable, which is operated by electric motors. As one carriage travels downhill, its weight lifts the other, allowing them to simultaneously ascend and descend.

One of them crashed but the second, fully intact carriage could be seen afterwards a few metres from the wreckage at the bottom of the hill.

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.


Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk speaking at a Turning Point in Sept. 2024.

Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during an appearance at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. He was a conservative youth organizer and founder of

Turning Point USA

, as well as a highly rated podcaster and frequent guest on Fox News.

“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” U.S. President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social late Wednesday.

The shooting drew

 reaction from lawmakers and politicians from both parties

, who condemned it and sent prayers to Kirk and his family.

Among them was Democratic Senator for Connecticut, Chris Murphy, who said on the Senate floor: “We are all horrified watching the images and following the news out of Utah, and we are sending all of our thoughts to Mr. Kirk, to his family, to survivors there.”

Republican Senate Leader John Thune of South Dakota said: “There is no place in our country for political violence. Period, full stop.”

“The murder of Charlie Kirk breaks my heart. My deepest sympathies are with his wife, two young children, and friends,” said Gabrielle Giffords, a former Democratic congresswoman who was wounded in a 2011 shooting in her Arizona district.

Kirk, 31, was the

founder and president

of Turning Point USA.

The

organization is described

as “a national student movement dedicated to identifying, organizing, and empowering young people to promote the principles of free markets, and limited government.”

He was at the Utah university kicking off his “

The American Comeback Tour,

” where he was hosting his “prove me wrong” table. During that event, audience members are invited to debate Kirk in a public setting.

According to

Deseret News

, more than 6,000 people signed a petition asking Utah State University to bar Kirk from coming to its campus.

A similar petition was circulated at Utah Valley University, but obtained less than 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.”

In 2024, Kirk

spoke at the Republican National Convention

in Milwaukee, where he gave a speech focusing on what he said he heard from young people around the U.S.

Turning Point USA has reportedly

raised tens of millions of dollars

to push pro-Trump campaigns across college campuses. The Arizona-based organization, jumpstarted in 2012 by a then 18-year-old Kirk, has grown in reputation. The group now says it is active on over 3,500 college and high school campuses in America.

According to

June 2023 tax filings

, Turning Point’s revenue leapt to $81.7 million in 2023 from $4.3 million in 2016.

Kirk’s work with Turning Point also landed him on the

2018 Forbes “30 under 30” list

, and has led to frequent guest spots on Fox News.

He also built a large following with his podcast, The Charlie Kirk Show. Over 750 episodes later, the show is ranked seventh in Apple news podcasts and 10th in Spotify news.

In January 2024, he came under fire for stating on the podcast: “If I see a Black pilot, I’m gonna be like ‘boy, I hope he is qualified.’” Those

comments

prompted strong responses from many, including Black pilots.

First reported by

RealClearPolitics,

Kirk’s comments made him enemies within the Republican National Convention, including previous RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, who in 2023 Kirk said was planted by the Democrats to “infiltrate” the Republican party.

However,

Trump was a supporter

. “Charlie Kirk is helping. He’s got his army of young people. These are young patriots,” Trump said while

speaking at the Turning Point Action Conference

in Detroit in June 2024.

National Post, with additional reporting from The Associated Press

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.


In Barry Avrich's The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, the story of Hamas's terrorist Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel is told through the experiences of journalist Amir Tibon (above) and his family, who lived in the Nahal Oz kibbutz, less than a kilometre from the Gaza border.

Leave your politics at the door for The Road Between Us. Despite hand-wringing when the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) seemed first to invite then disinvite and finally re-invite this documentary to host its world première, there’s nothing in the telling that should have either pro- or anti-Israeli factions crying foul.

Barry Avrich, a Canadian workhorse filmmaker (he has almost 60 directing credits in a span of just 30 years, including a short film about the history of TIFF that played on the festival’s opening night), sticks to the facts.

They’re pretty simple. Also, horrific. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists launched a coordinated attack from Gaza on Israel. More than 1,000 people were killed — most of them civilians, more than a quarter female, the youngest just 10 months old, the eldest over 80. The Road Between Us mentions a senior who was killed sitting on his sofa reading a book. More than 240 were kidnapped — 48 remain in captivity in Gaza, though not all are believed to still be alive.

One of the families caught in the attack was that of Amir Tibon, a journalist living in the Nahal Oz kibbutz, less than a kilometre from the Gaza border. When terrorists overran the kibbutz, he and his wife and two daughters took shelter in their safe room, which was plunged into sweltering darkness when the power failed.

Amir texted his father, retired general Noam Tibon, to tell him what was happening. The elder Tibon and his wife were in Tel Aviv, 85 kilometres away. They got in their Jeep and, as any parent and no one else in their right mind would do, drove directly into danger.

Avrich recounts what happened that day with straightforward, chronological simplicity. He cuts between interviews with father and son (at least we know they both survived) and a walk-through by Noam, revisiting the locations he visited on that fateful day.

This is further bolstered by dashcam and army footage of the events, as well as bodycam video that was live-streamed by the terrorists. Though thankfully for this squeamish viewer, Avrich avoids some of the more horrendous and bloody moments. There’s enough horror here with the “sanitized” footage of dead bodies lying outside their cars, without also seeing death being dealt.

 Barry Avrich.

You could make an excellent dramatic thriller out of the bones of Noam’s story. Rushing to see to the safety of his son, he and his wife came upon two survivors from the attack on the Nova music festival, wandering on the road.

They picked them up and turned around to ferry them to safety, then headed back toward to the kibbutz — only to be again delayed by the necessity of taking wounded Israeli soldiers to hospital. All the while, intermittent texts from Amir painted a picture of encroaching peril.

The Road Between Us chooses neither to demonize nor sanctify any participants in the events of the day. You will hear no mention of “monsters” or “innocents.”

What happened is simple: people armed with guns and hatred rained an attack down on Noam’s family, and he set out with a car, a pistol and a familial bond to stop them. Even before Oct. 7, his family nicknamed him “911,” the guy you called whenever you needed assistance. He more than lived up to the moniker that day.

Some of the interview subjects do cast blame on the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), though The Road Between Us is hardly the first to air such grievances. With Nahal Oz kibbutz surrounded by fences, gates and cameras, the IDF apparently decided that live patrols were less necessary, and they were cut back in the years preceding the attack.

On Oct. 7, hours passed without any sign of military intervention. To the people sheltering in place with little information from outside their homes, it must have seemed as though the terrorists had free rein of the area, and perhaps the entire country.

There can be no truly happy ending to this tale. No one in Nahal Oz kibbutz, Israel or indeed the world remains untouched by the events of Oct. 7. but The Road Between Us is not interested in digging deep into the geopolitical ramifications of the region. Avrich has a simple, singular story to tell here, and he does it well.

As a framing device, he opens with an old clip of famed journalist Edward R. Murrow, explaining the area to his TV viewers, decades ago. He returns at the end of the film with his signature sign-off, “good night, and good luck.” It’s a benediction we can all hope to share.

The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue had its world première at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 10, and it will open in theatres across Canada in October.

4 stars out of 5

cknight@postmedia.com


Daniel Senecal, seen here, is in custody and was scheduled for a court appearance Monday.

“No bail straight to jail” and “Canada stop freeing monsters” were just some of the phrases written on signs held by protesters in St. Catherines, Ont., today, ahead of a bail hearing for a

Welland man accused of breaking

into a home and sexually assaulting a three-year-old girl.

The 25-year-old suspect identified by police as Daniel Senecal is facing assault and breaking and entering charges, including aggravated sexual assault on a person under 16. The incident was reported on the morning of Aug. 31. Police

said in a statement

that it was a “tragedy that has deeply impacted our community and our investigators.”

 People protest in St. Catharines outside the courthouse hearing the case of Daniel Senecal, who is charged with the alleged sexual assault of a three-year-old girl in an Aug. 31 incident in Welland.

The protest, organized by a group on Facebook called Protest For Harder Sentences Against Violent Crimes, started at 9 a.m. in front of the St. Catharines courthouse, where the suspect was expected to appear via video at 11 a.m. He remains in police custody.

 People protest in St. Catharines outside the courthouse hearing the case of Daniel Senecal, who is charged with the alleged sexual assault of a three-year-old girl in an Aug. 31 incident in Welland.

The purpose of the protest was to raise awareness about implementing “stricter sentencing for violent offenders and child predators,” a description about the event says. “There needs to be change. Let’s be a voice for the victims and their families.”

Hundreds of people could be seen in photos and videos shared on the event’s Facebook page.

Posted by Senem Tümbek on Wednesday, September 10, 2025

A road in the area was temporarily closed after 9 a.m. for the demonstration but reopened after 11 a.m., Niagara Regional Police said on X.

 People protest in St. Catharines outside the courthouse hearing the case of Daniel Senecal, who is charged with the alleged sexual assault of a three-year-old girl in an Aug. 31 incident in Welland.

Conservative leader Pierrer Poilievre said it was “appalling” and that the suspect “wants to be transferred to a women’s prison.”

“Lock him up. Throw away the key. And ban biological men from women’s prisons. Period,” wrote Poilievre on X.

Police have not confirmed the gender identity of the suspect.

According to

a post on X

by Toronto Crime Watch, Senecal is being held “in segregation at the Niagara Detention Centre and has requested a transfer to the Vanier Centre for Women if he doesn’t get bail under the guise he is ‘transgender.’”

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.


Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at a press conference in Mississauga, Ont., on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025.

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a rare comment on the rise of separatist sentiment in Alberta, saying in an interview that he understands the “frustrations” of Albertans mulling an exit from Canada.

“I understand the frustrations … in the development of resources in the province, realizing the full potential of Alberta,” Carney told Ryan Jespersen, the host of the online radio show Real Talk.

He added that, despite the current tensions, he hoped Albertans wouldn’t lose sight of how fortunate they and other Canadians are by global standards.

“The world admires and respects our country. We’re not perfect (but) the world wants what we have … We’re stronger together,” said Carney, who is in Edmonton this week for the Liberals’

national caucus meeting

.

Carney, who grew up in Edmonton, has only talked about separatism in his home province on a few occasions since becoming prime minister in March.

He said during a visit to the Calgary Stampede in July that he was taking grievances

coming out of Alberta “seriously.”

During a May stopover in Washington, D.C., Carney spoke haltingly about the prospect of a referendum on Alberta independence next year.

“As an Albertan, I firmly believe you can always ask, but I know how I would respond,” Carney told reporters.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said she’ll

put an independence question

on next year’s referendum ballot if grassroots organizers collect enough signatures. A question proposed by the pro-independence Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) has

been challenged in court

.

Recent polls put support for independence in the

20 to 30 per cent range

among Albertans.

Jeff Rath, a lawyer with the APP, called Carney’s words “meaningless platitudes” that gloss over Alberta’s dire economic straits.

“(Carney) must think we’re pretty stupid if he thinks we don’t notice the correlation between his government’s policies and the fact that Alberta’s unemployment rate

is inching up on Newfoundland’s

,” said Rath.

Alberta’s unemployment rate ticked up to

8.4 per cent in August

, higher than any province other than Newfoundland.

Carney also told Jespersen on Wednesday that he had an “open” working relationship with Smith.

“We’re open about our perspective and we’re working constructively through them,” said Carney.

He said he’d be meeting face-to-face with Smith later in the day.

Carney was not asked about a report earlier in the morning that there will be

no oil and gas pipelines

on his first list of major projects, expected to be unveiled Thursday.

He said in July that

it was “highly, highly likely”

that a pipeline would make the list.

Smith said Wednesday that she was withholding comment on the matter until the list was made public.

Carney told Jespersen a second wave of major projects would be announced by the time the next Grey Cup kicks off on Nov. 16.

National Post
rmohamed@postmedia.com

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.


Prime Minister Mark Carney

Prime Minister Mark Carney said he will announce Thursday the first group of so-called nation-building projects his government will fast-track using the sweeping override powers passed by Parliament in June.

Speaking to reporters before a Liberal caucus meeting in Edmonton, Carney said the much-anticipated first tranche of projects focuses on proposals that connect regions and diversify the country’s products and markets.

“Projects that will increase our independence, boost our economy, align with the interests of Indigenous peoples, and advance our climate goals,” Carney said.

Carney will meet with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith Wednesday afternoon where projects put forward by the province will surely be discussed.

In the spring, the Liberals passed

the Building Canada Act, which gives cabinet sweeping powers to fast-track natural resource and infrastructure projects deemed in the national interest. 
Provinces then submitted lists of projects they wanted pushed forward using the new federal powers.

Last week, the Liberals announced the head of the Major Projects Office,

former TransMountain CEO Dawn Farrell

, who will help “national interest” projects get through government regulation to be built faster.

None of the projects submitted by provinces to the new office for fast-tracking have been revealed, though Carney has mentioned port expansions such as in Contrecoeur, about 40 kilometres northeast from Montreal on the Saint Lawrence, and the Port of Churchill in northern Manitoba with direct access to Hudson Bay.

On Wednesday, Carney also announced a new “Trade Diversification Strategy” this fall that will flesh out the government’s plan to reinforce non-U.S. trade relationships and open access to new foreign markets, particularly in Asia.

More to come.

cnardi@postmedia.com

National Post

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 politics newsletter, First Reading, here.


The moment before and after 23-year-old Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska was stabbed on a Charlotte, N.C., train on Aug. 22. The suspect is 34-year-old Decarlos Brown.

The murder of a Ukrainian refugee on a public train in North Carolina has led to political furore over “failed soft-on-crime policies” in the U.S.



A video of the vicious and unprovoked stabbing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska at the hands of ex-convict Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., 34, was released by the transit authority Friday and has been shared widely on social media.

According to an

FBI affidavit

using the surveillance footage from the Charlotte Area Transit System, on Aug. 22, Zarutska boarded the train around 9:45 p.m. and sat in a row near the back in front of Brown, who is seen wearing an orange hooded sweater.

About four minutes later, as Zarutska scrolls on her phone with AirPods in her ears, the man pulls a knife from his pocket, unfolds it, stands and proceeds to stab her in the neck three times from behind.

“Following the attack, suspected blood can be seen dripping onto the floor as BROWN walked away from the victim,” the FBI Agent Cameron Winchester’s signed affidavit reads.

Extended footage

released since shows the moments after the stabbing as an injured and frightened Zarutska doesn’t seem to realize the extent of her injuries. People around her also don’t seem to fully realize the magnitude of what just occurred and none immediately offer her assistance.

U.S. Donald Trump laid blame on the accused and the state’s democratic government.

“The blood of this innocent woman can literally be seen dripping from the killer’s knife, and now her blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail,”

Trump posted on X Monday

, naming former North Carolina governor Roy Cooper, who is currently seeking re-election as a state senator.

“North Carolina, and every State, needs LAW AND ORDER, and only Republicans will deliver it!”

On Tuesday, as

Trump posted a video

from the Oval Office about the murder,

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said

the woman’s death was a result of “failed soft-on-crime policies” and promised that Brown, “a repeat violent offender,” would face federal criminal charges.

“We will seek the maximum penalty for this unforgivable act of violence — he will never again see the light of day as a free man,” she stated.

FBI Director Kash Patel said his agency acted swiftly to assist in ensuring Brown “is never released from jail to kill again.”

According to the affidavit, police arrived not long after and found Zarutska dead inside the railcar, “next to a large amount of blood.” They located and arrested Brown on a nearby platform and recovered the suspected murder weapon covered in blood.

 This undated photo posted to Instagram on June 9, 2025, by Iryna Zarutska shows a picture of herself. (Iryna Zarutska via AP)

In addition to his federal charge of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system, Brown is also charged with first-degree murder at the state level. A conviction for first-degree murder in North Carolina can result in either a life sentence or death by lethal injection, however, none of the latter have occurred since 2006 following a moratorium. As of Sept. 10, the state counts 122 offenders on its

“Death Row Roster.”

Wednesday,

Trump said on Truth Social that

Brown should receive the death penalty following a quick trial.

“There can be no other option,” he posted.

As reported by

CNN

and multiple news media outlets, Brown has a lengthy criminal history in the state with 14 cases on record, including a five-year sentence for robbery with a dangerous weapon. Other offences include breaking and entering, speeding and shoplifting.

In January, he was charged with misuse of 911, but was released on a promise to attend his next hearing.

“What the hell was he doing riding the train, and walking the streets,” Trump asked on X, calling Brown “a mentally deranged lunatic.”

A GoFundMe benefiting Zarutska’s family in the U.S. said the newcomer came the country “seeking safety from the war and hoping for a new beginning.”

As of Wednesday morning, the fundraiser has reached over US$235,000 with a goal of $280,000.

A spokesperson told local TV station

WSOC

that she had just texted her boyfriend to say she would be home soon. Concerned when she didn’t arrive, they used her phone’s location to learn it was still at the train station. When they arrived there, they found out she was dead.

At the time of her death, Zarutska had just left her job at Zepeddie’s Pizzeria, where she worked part-time while also attending college to improve her English.

 This screengrab made from video provided by the Charlotte Area Transit System shows Iryna Zarutska, bottom right, before she was fatally stabbed on a commuter train on Aug. 22, 2025. (Charlotte Area Transit System via AP)

“We lost not only an incredible employee, but a true friend. Our dear Iryna left this world far too soon, and our hearts are heavy with grief,” the pizzeria posted on

Instagram

.

“Since her passing, we have kept a candle burning in her memory — a small reminder of the warmth, kindness, and light she brought into our lives every single day.”

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.


Vancouver Police on April 30, 2025, at the scene where 11 people were killed by a speeding vehicle at a Lapu Lapu Day block party in Vancouver, B.C.

A judge is expected to rule today on whether or not the suspect of a deadly attack at a Vancouver festival is fit to stand trial.

Adam Kai-Ji Lo, 30, was

arrested on April 26

, after a truck drove into a crowd of people attending the Filipino Lapu Lapu Day Festival. Among the 11 people who were killed was

a five-year-old girl and her parents

. Dozens more were injured.

Lo is facing 11 counts of second-degree murder.

He is expected to appear in court on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. PDT.

 Scenes on April 29, 2025, days after 11 people were killed by a speeding vehicle during a Lapu Lapu Day block party in Vancouver, B.C.

In July, the court heard from two psychiatrists in an effort to determine if Lo is capable, mentally, of standing trial,

Global News reported

. A person would be considered unfit during the trial if their “mental health declines to the point where they no longer can understand” what’s happening, lawyer in the community law program at Community Legal Assistance Society, Jonathan Blair,

told The Tyee

. That would result in pausing the trial until the person has recovered.

“In short: as long as a person can understand that they’re on trial, decide if they want to plead guilty or not and communicate that to the court, the trial can proceed,” said Blair.

 Memorials on the scene where 11 people were killed by a speeding vehicle during a Lapu Lapu Day block party in Vancouver, B.C.

At the time of the attack,

British Columbia’s Health Ministry said

Lo was in the care of a Vancouver Coastal Health team.

“I can tell you that the person we have in custody does have a significant history of interactions with police and health care professionals related to mental health,” said Chief Constable Steve Rai at

a news conference in April

.

Much of what was said during the hearing in July about Lo’s fitness to stand trial has remained under publication ban. However, a media consortium challenged the ban, which asserts that evidence cannot be published until the ban is lifted or the trial is over, The Canadian Press reported.

The judge is also expected to rule on the challenge to the publication ban on Wednesday.

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.