OTTAWA — Former senator Don Meredith was found not guilty of all charges of sexual assault and criminal harassment that were brought forward by a former employee, according to a decision read by Superior Court Justice Narissa Somji on Wednesday.

The complainant, who is protected by a publication ban and therefore cannot be named, alleged that she was subject to constant fondling, unwanted touching and threatening remarks by Meredith over a period of six months when working for him over a decade ago.

When delivering her decision in Ottawa, the judge said she found “inconsistencies” which undermined the reliability of the complainant’s account, whereas she found Meredith’s evidence “to be straightforward and clear” and “not shaken” during cross-examination.

“The primary issue at trial is whether the Crown has proved beyond a reasonable doubt whether the offences occurred,” said Somji. “The law is clear that I cannot decide the case by determining which conflicting version of events is preferred.”

Meredith, a Pentecostal minister from Toronto, was appointed to the Senate by former prime minister Stephen Harper in 2010 and resigned from the upper chamber in 2017 after it was revealed that he had a sexual relationship with an underage girl.

He also faced allegations of harassment, including of a sexual nature, to abuse of authority including were the object of two separate reports. Ultimately, the Senate paid nearly half-a-million dollars to nine of his former employees, including the complainant.

During the trial, she alleged that Meredith hugged her, kissed her, and touched her buttocks and breasts with her consent in his Senate office. She also described three incidents which happened outside of the office — including exposing his erect penis.

Meredith denied all of the allegations of sexual nature brought forward during the trial.

Somji argued in her decision that there were contradictions that arose from the complainant — whom she described as a “very fragile witness” who was at times “very emotional and distressed” — which put in question the reliability of her testimony.

In describing an incident in a hotel room in Toronto, the complainant testified that she rejected Meredith’s advances by asking him if it was the first time he was unfaithful to his wife. However, in a statement to police in 2018, she said she feigned to be on her period.

During cross-examination, the complainant said that many thoughts were running through her mind as an excuse to get out of that alleged interaction “should things go further.”

The judge also noted that a Senate security guard who testified on trial recalled that the complainant had been neglecting her appearance when working for Meredith, contradicting testimony that she felt forced to wear skirts and dresses to please him.

Another time, the security guard testified that the complainant had confided in him that Meredith had touched her vagina, but the complainant said she did not recall saying that.

The complainant also alleged that the former senator made inappropriate and threatening remarks — including one instance where he allegedly said he would “stab” her in the back is she leaked information — that made her feel like she was at risk of losing her job.

The Crown argued during the trial that the alleged sexual misconduct, coupled with his remarks, caused the complainant to fear for her psychological safety, resulting in criminal harassment, but the defence argued the elements of criminal harassment were not met.

“While Mr. Meredith acknowledges that he did provide (the complainant) job-related directives, he denies he ever threatened her physical or psychological safety,” said Somji.

Speaking to reporters after the verdict, Meredith thanked his family, God and his lawyer Paul Lewandowski. He expressed relief that this “cloud has been lifted” on him.

“It’s been several years of testing me and my family, and I’m glad that this day is finally over,” he said, adding that he would continue his work in his community.

Meredith said he did not have a message for the former employee who testified against him. He was standing next to his wife, who was in the courthouse for the verdict.

The Crown did not offer any comments immediately after the judge’s ruling.

National Post

calevesque@postmedia.com

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A plane from Chicago to Germany was diverted after a man allegedly stabbed two teens with a metal fork.

The Lufthansa flight took off on Oct. 25, and was en route to Frankfurt when the incident occurred, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. After the in-flight meal service, the man — a 28-year-old from India — allegedly stabbed a 17-year-old male passenger in the shoulder with a fork. The passenger had been sleeping lightly in a middle seat and woke up to see the man was standing over him, the attorney’s office said.

🚨 Indian man charged with allegedly stabbing two minor victims with a metal fork while on board a Lufthansa flight from Chicago to Germany.https://t.co/VIGfyP9pzi

— U.S. Attorney Massachusetts (@DMAnews1) October 27, 2025

Then, the man allegedly lunged toward another passenger, also a 17-year-old male, who was in a middle seat in the centre row of the plane. He struck the 17-year-old in the back of the head with the same fork.

The man slapped a female passenger while flight crew members tried to subdue him. He also tried to slap a flight crew member. During this time, it is alleged that the man made a gun with his fingers, put it in his mouth and pulled an imaginary trigger, the attorney’s office said.

While he was handcuffed after being subdued, he yelled phrases such as “I am the reason for COVID” and “I am a sinner in the eyes of Siddhartha,” according to a criminal complaint obtained by National Post. (

Siddhartha Gautama

was the fifth-century founder of Buddhism. He was later known as the Buddha.)

The plane diverted to Boston approximately two hours into the flight, after the pilot was alerted to the incident. The 28-year-old man was taken into custody upon landing in Massachusetts.

The first victim, who was struck in the left clavicle, did not suffer from any visible injuries as he was wearing a large hoodie, the complaint said. The 17-year-old told authorities that he had “exchanged pleasantries” with the suspect while the flight was boarding, but otherwise they had no other interactions.

The second victim suffered from a laceration. He was treated by paramedics at the gate.

The man was charged with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm while traveling on an aircraft in the U.S. jurisdiction. That charge could lead to a 10-year prison sentence, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to US$250,000.

The attorney’s office said the man was let into the U.S. on a student visa and had been enrolled in a master’s program in biblical studies. However, he currently does not have lawful status in the U.S.

He is expected to appear in federal court in Boston.

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OTTAWA — The upcoming federal budget will feature a broad new strategy to boost the performance of Canadian business, including measures to allow companies to write off their new machinery and other capital costs more aggressively, National Post has learned.

Government sources confirmed that the budget, to be unveiled next week, will take aim at Canada’s lagging productivity and competitiveness, while reducing the risk and uncertainty of corporate investment.

The new strategy, largely a response to Canada’s tariff battles with the United States and China, will include changes to the provisions for capital cost allowance (CCA). The CCA changes will allow businesses to be more aggressive in accounting for the depreciation of capital costs, such as the purchases of buildings, machinery, vehicles and other equipment.

Capital expenses affect many businesses and the budget changes will allow them to lower their costs and to improve competitiveness against foreign rivals, making Canada a better place to invest.

“A lot of what you’ll see in the budget speaks to that imperative,” a government source said. “You want to make Canada a destination for investment.”

The risk profile of many types of Canadian investments has changed since U.S. President Donald Trump launched a tariff war earlier this year against Canada and many other countries. Canada is also facing export tariffs from China and a slowing global economy.

Canadian business has been under even more competitive pressure since Trump’s so-called “one big, beautiful bill” introduced a number of provisions to reduce the costs of U.S. companies. Those changes included an “immediate expensing” provision that allows some capital investments to be depreciated immediately, instead of over a number of years.

Dan Kelly, the chief executive officer of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), said improving business productivity through accounting changes is important because it helps companies of all sizes in virtually all sectors without picking winners.

It’s also efficient, Kelly said, because it doesn’t add to the size of government. “It’s exactly what the doctor ordered.”

The federal budget’s efforts to reduce investment risk and improve competitiveness also marks another stark contrast between the Carney government and that of his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, who was widely viewed as unfriendly to Canadian business.

In the wake of the Trump tariffs, Carney’s responses have also included emphasizing trade diversification, using public procurement of housing, defence hardware and other purchases to buy Canadian, tax cuts, and major infrastructure projects designed to help Canadian companies export.

In what was billed as a pre-budget speech, Carney told a University of Ottawa audience last week that the government’s budget strategy will be “to catalyze unprecedented investments in Canada” over the next five years.

Canada’s “economic strategy needs to change dramatically” because the U.S. has changed its trade policies, he said, while adding that the government will make “generational investments” with the goal of building a stronger economy.

“Now is not the time to be cautious because fortune favours the bold.”

Tim Sargent, head of domestic policy at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute think tank and a former high-ranking executive at the Department of Finance, said he suspects the government’s budget efforts to improve productivity through business accounting changes would include suspending scheduled changes to the Accelerated Investment Incentive (AII). Those scheduled changes, announced in 2018, would make Canadian businesses’ purchases of machinery, property and other capital goods more expensive because they wouldn’t be eligible to be written off as aggressively.

The upcoming budget, to be unveiled on Nov. 4, is expected to be one of the most important in recent decades. Carney’s emphasis on bold strategies and his lengthy list of priorities suggest that the government will make a series of expensive, long-term investments designed to set the Canadian economy up for future growth. The budget is also expected to forecast one of the largest deficits in Canadian history.

This budget will also be politically important beyond the fact that it will set out the government’s plans for what’s left of this fiscal year. The governing Liberals are three seats short of the 172 needed to form a majority. That means the government’s budget bill will need either support from three opposition MPs, or for at least five MPs to abstain.

If neither of those things happen, the bill would fall, likely prompting another federal election. Budget bills are considered matters of confidence, which means that the government has lost Parliament’s confidence if they are not passed.

Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon has confirmed that the Carney government would fall if the budget bill is not passed.

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OTTAWA — The aunt of a Kelowna, B.C., woman killed in an intimate partner violence case is set to discuss a bill aimed at addressing such violence with Justice Minister Sean Fraser on Wednesday.

Debbie Henderson, whose late niece, Bailey McCourt, was bludgeoned with a hammer in a downtown Kelowna lot earlier this year, appeared in Ottawa on Tuesday, joined by Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre.

Henderson implored the federal government to pass Bill C-225 – also known as Bailey’s Law – a private member’s bill put forward by Conservative MP Frank Caputo.

Henderson, ahead of her meeting with Fraser, said she “hopes he listens to the cries of our family and that we have a productive conversation.”

The bill, if passed, would establish GPS monitoring and a registry for convicted domestic offenders. It would also automatically make the murder of an intimate partner a first-degree crime.

“It needs to be passed quickly. There’s no need to wait. The next person could be you or it could be one of your family members, and we don’t want to see any other family member go through the horror that our family has gone through,” said Henderson.

Henderson said “all parties should be on board” in fast-tracking the bill she believes “sets partisanship aside.”

“I feel this bill is a non-partisan bill. It’s a human issue, it’s directly related to saving lives and justice for victims,” Henderson told media outside the House of Commons.

Henderson said the Liberal government’s recently introduced bail reform legislation has so far failed to address the urgency and scale of intimate partner violence.

While Fraser said B.C.’s lobbying on the McCourt case influenced several aspects of the government’s legislation, Premier David Eby acknowledged yesterday the law stops short of meeting all the family’s and the province’s goals. He said B.C. will continue to advocate for the McCourt family.

Poilievre told media that his party is still evaluating the bail reform legislation, but his focus Tuesday was on Bailey’s Law.

“The time to move is now. The time to set partisanship aside is now,” said Poilievre.

Caputo, appearing alongside Henderson and Poilievre, echoed this view.

He said he expects to achieve unanimous support for the bill.

“We have the victim’s family, and we have Premier Eby saying pass this law,” said Caputo. “This bill should move, and it should move fast.”

“The time to address this was yesterday. It was before July 4, when Bailey was killed. We have to move. We have to listen to Canadians. If we, as legislators, are not prepared to listen to Canadians and move rapidly, then why are we here?”

Henderson said her family will hold onto the hope that Bill C-225 will pass until she sees otherwise.

National Post

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OTTAWA — With one week to go before Mark Carney’s government tables its first budget with no clear partner in sight, the Liberals and opposition parties are pointing fingers at each other in an attempt to shift the blame in case of a snap election.

The minority Liberals have 169 seats — just three seats shy of a majority — which means that they need to find at least three MPs from the opposition benches to either support their budget or abstain to ensure that they survive the confidence vote on the budget.

If they don’t, Canadians could be headed to the polls during the Christmas season.

That is exactly the scenario that Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon has been threatening could happen in televised interviews over the weekend, claiming that his government does not currently have enough votes to pass the federal budget.

“Of course, they don’t have the numbers yet,” said Lori Turnbull, professor in the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University, in an interview. “Surely, they can’t expect the opposition parties to say they’re going to support (the budget) when they haven’t seen it.”

The budget will be tabled by Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne on Nov. 4 and MPs are expected to debate a Conservative amendment and Bloc Québécois subamendment to the budget before they leave for Remembrance Day break week.

That means that the first confidence vote on the budget could happen as early as mid-November, when MPs return to Ottawa.

“Budget 2025 is about meeting this hinge moment, building a stronger economy where everyone has a chance to get ahead, and empowering Canadians with new opportunities, better careers, and a lower cost of living,” said John Fragos, Champagne’s spokesman.

“There is no appetite for political games at this hinge moment,” he insisted.

On Tuesday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre declined to say if his party would be willing to bring down the government over the budget and spark an early election.

“Our message to the Liberals is that we want an affordable budget for an affordable Canada. We want the government to bring down the cost of its spending so we can bring down the cost of living,” Poilievre said during a press conference in Ottawa.

“So, it will be up to them. If they’re going to increase the cost of living for Canadians again with more inflationary spending, then Canadians will judge them accordingly.”

Poilievre also declined to say, when pressed by another reporter, if he and every one of his 143 MPs would be sitting in the House of Commons during the vote on the budget.

The opposition leader has been asking for the government to keep the deficit under the $42 billion mark and to scrap “hidden taxes” on food, which the Liberals deny exist.

Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet previously said his party would not be supporting the budget before his party presented a series of six “non-negotiable” demands that include higher Old Age Security transfers to seniors aged 65-74.

“It is the exclusive responsibility of the Liberals to find someone with whom (they can) reach an agreement in order to have their budget eventually adopted,” he said Tuesday.

“I believe that communication channels are still open.”

There are also seven NDP MPs and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May to turn to.

May told reporters on Monday that she’s made it “very clear” to the government that she would not vote for a budget that includes “fossil fuel subsidies.”

“That’s my one condition. Otherwise, I haven’t read the budget yet, so I haven’t decided how I’m going to vote,” she said.

An NDP source said the party has not presented a “shopping list” of demands of its own, nor will it come to a decision about the budget before it is tabled next week.

However, observers have pointed out it is unlikely that the NDP would support an “austerity” budget with cuts to the public service.

Carney met with all four party leaders earlier this month, and MacKinnon and Champagne have been having ongoing talks with representatives of all parties.

However, the NDP source said there has not been a “flurry of activity” from the government to convince opposition parties to support its budget until now. They described the ongoing talks with various parties, not as negotiations, but as “pro forma” discussions.

Former Liberal minister Marc Miller candidly admitted that things were easier when Trudeau’s minority government had a deal with the NDP, but he said “each vote was a negotiation” with higher stakes each time and the process “probably gave too much power” to the NDP caucus.

May said that there are options for the government to ensure that it doesn’t fall, whether it would be negotiating a new confidence and supply agreement with an opposition party or simply delaying the vote on the budget to make sure there are enough votes to pass it.

“We’re in a minority Parliament. There is no one, all powerful player here. We have to work together. That’s a good thing for democracy.”

National Post

calevesque@postmedia.com

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