Author: The Canadian Post
Ontario’s universities and colleges are asking the Ford government for billions more in the spring budget — $1.2 billion in added operating funding for universities next year and just over $1.5 billion for colleges — framing the investment as critical to the premier’s plan to “protect Ontario” from tariff impacts. A sector at ‘a breaking point’ The institutions say they are struggling after years of low operating funding from the province, an extended tuition freeze and severely curtailed revenue from international students due to federal policies. Universities project a budget shortfall of $1.3 billion by 2028-29; colleges foresee a sector-wide…
Marineland has presented the federal government with a plan to ship its 30 beluga whales and four dolphins — the last captive cetaceans in Canada — to four U.S. institutions, and sources say the shuttered Niagara Falls park gave Ottawa a deadline to issue export permits or it will euthanize the animals. An ‘urgent rescue solution’ Marineland confirmed in a statement to The Canadian Press that it presented “a definitive and urgent rescue solution for the whales” directly to Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson on Wednesday, Jan. 21, but it did not provide details. “This mission now hinges entirely on the…
Quebec Premier François Legault, speaking to reporters on Jan. 21, 2026 for the first time since announcing his resignation, said the Coalition Avenir Québec he co-founded remains the best party to grow the economy and protect the French language, and that it will stay relevant after a new leader replaces him. ‘It’s even more relevant than ever’ Legault told reporters in Quebec City on Wednesday that the CAQ remains the best party to balance the needs of the economy and protect the French language. “The CAQ, when you look at Article 1 … it’s prosperity within Canada, but while seeking…
Investors for Paris Compliance has written to the audit committee chairs of 14 major Canadian oil and gas companies warning of “material gaps” in how they disclose decommissioning liabilities, and threatening to withhold votes at this spring’s annual meetings if the 2025 financial statements do not improve. Letters to 14 audit chairs The investor advocacy group says its research found “material gaps” in the companies’ 2024 disclosures around the funds set aside for decommissioning operations — the wells, pipelines and facilities that must eventually be shut down, dismantled and remediated — potentially affecting billions of dollars in shareholder capital. Executive…
Two former Progressive Conservative justice ministers, Ken Rostad and Verlyn Olson, joined nearly 30 other Alberta lawyers in a public letter calling the United Conservative government’s conduct “unacceptable,” denouncing its repeated use of the notwithstanding clause, its retroactive referendum rule changes and its attacks on the courts. A letter meant to rally the public In a letter published this week in a newspaper in Camrose, the lawyers wrote that they felt it was important to call out the government’s behaviour and get the public involved. The letter covers the government’s invocation of the Charter’s notwithstanding clause four times last fall…
First Nations chiefs are demanding answers from Ottawa because the federal government’s pipeline memorandum of understanding with Alberta — which opens the door to a bitumen pipeline to the B.C. coast — makes no mention of the oilsands’ heavy water consumption or of the threat tailings ponds pose to fresh water sources downstream. A deal silent on water The memorandum of understanding does not touch on the high level of water consumption required to pull bitumen out of the oilsands. It also doesn’t mention the threat to fresh water sources posed by the tailings ponds that oilsands operations leave behind…
CF Montréal defender Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty posted screenshots of racially abusive messages to his Instagram account on Jan. 21, 2026, saying the abuse — including racial slurs and monkey emojis — has been going on “for a while” and that he will not let it continue. His club strongly condemned the comments. ‘Enough is enough’ Marshall-Rutty, 21, explained his decision in a lengthy Instagram story before sharing screenshots of the messages, with the accounts that sent them visible. He said he was speaking up not only for himself but for anyone who has to endure the same treatment. “As a footballer,…
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Jan. 21, 2026 that his cabinet would hold a two-day planning forum in Quebec City on Jan. 22 and 23, focused on the economy, affordability and security, days before Parliament resumes on Monday for the first time since Dec. 11, 2025. From a nine-day world tour to a domestic reset The private meetings begin the day after Carney returns from a nine-day overseas tour drumming up investment for Canada, with state visits to Beijing and Qatar and a stop in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum. In Davos, Carney urged middle powers to…
No candidate had officially declared when The Canadian Press surveyed the field on Jan. 21, 2026, but Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette, Economy Minister Christine Fréchette and Environment Minister Bernard Drainville were all openly weighing a run to succeed François Legault as Coalition Avenir Québec leader and premier of Quebec. A race the party has never held Legault announced on Jan. 14 that he will step down once the CAQ chooses his replacement, ending more than seven years as premier. Because Legault co-founded the party in 2011 and has been its only leader, the contest will be the first leadership race…
Wilma Derksen said her family was “shocked” after Mark Edward Grant — the man acquitted in 2017 of murdering her 13-year-old daughter Candace in Winnipeg in 1984 — was arrested in Vancouver in January 2026 and charged with sexual assault, unlawful confinement, assault with a weapon and uttering threats over an alleged Jan. 8 incident. ‘Grief, horror and more grief’ Derksen, whose daughter was killed more than four decades ago, said in an email that her family was “shocked” to hear of Grant’s arrest, and that the news reopened questions the family still carries about Candace’s death. “Our reactions were…
