Author: The Canadian Post

Canada and China agreed on January 15, 2026, to expand cooperation across six economic areas set out in a joint road map, covering agriculture, energy, consumer goods and services, aerospace, advanced manufacturing and tourism, while signing side agreements on pet food, animal health, clean energy and lumber — but they reached no resolution on tariffs. What was actually agreed on January 15 Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to Beijing, his first trip to China and the first by a Canadian prime minister since 2017, produced a set of agreements on January 15, following talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang. The…

BlackBerry Ltd. says in new U.S. court documents that former chief marketing officer Neelam Sandhu has presented no evidence her departure was discriminatory, retaliatory or improper. The Waterloo, Ontario company maintains Sandhu was let go in a major restructuring, not because she reported alleged harassment by chief executive John Giamatteo. The allegations remain untested in court. What BlackBerry told the court BlackBerry is asking the court to reject the remaining claims in Sandhu’s lawsuit, arguing the record does not support her version of why she lost her job. In the company’s account, her position disappeared as part of a major…

British Columbia will not renew its drug decriminalization pilot, Health Minister Josie Osborne announced. The federal exemption that since 2023 has shielded adults from arrest for possessing small amounts of hard drugs will expire on Jan. 31. Osborne said the first-in-Canada experiment “hasn’t delivered the results” the province hoped for. A first-in-Canada experiment comes to an end The pilot began on Jan. 31, 2023, after Health Canada granted B.C. an exemption under the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. It allowed adults to possess up to 2.5 grams in total of opioids, crack and powdered cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA without…

Complaints to Canada’s telecom watchdog rose about 17 per cent in 2024-25, the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services reported on January 14, 2026. The commission accepted a record 23,647 complaints. Billing problems led the list, and complaints about Telus jumped 78 per cent to 4,904, moving it ahead of Bell into second place. Billing is still the biggest problem The commission, known as the CCTS, handles complaints from customers about phone, internet and television services when they cannot settle a dispute with their provider directly. Its annual report covers August 1, 2024, to July 31, 2025. Billing issues accounted…

Q Energy France and its South Korean sister company Hanwha Ocean said on January 14, 2026, that they had jointly entered the Canada-Nova Scotia offshore regulator’s pre-qualification process. The step comes before a call for bids for seabed licences to develop offshore wind projects off Nova Scotia, Canada’s first such leasing round. An early step, not a licence Pre-qualification does not award any seabed rights. The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator, known as CNSOER, uses the process to review companies and identify which ones are eligible to take part in the next stage, a competitive call for bids where licences…

First Nation leaders said on January 14, 2026, that only 668 of about 2,200 Kashechewan residents had been evacuated in the 10 days since the community declared a state of emergency over a water and sewage failure, and they demanded faster evacuations and permanent infrastructure fixes. Evacuations move slower than leaders say is safe Kashechewan First Nation, a fly-in Cree community on the western shore of James Bay in northern Ontario, declared a state of emergency on January 4 after damage to its water and sewage systems created what local officials described as an urgent public health and safety risk.…

Minister Patty Hajdu announced in Thunder Bay on January 14, 2026, that the federal government would invest more than $850,000 in 14 Indigenous economic development projects, funding engagement, capacity building and knowledge sharing tied to critical minerals clean energy and transportation infrastructure across the region. The announcement in Thunder Bay On January 14, Patty Hajdu, Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario, known as FedNor, announced a total investment of over $850,000 in 14 Indigenous economic development projects. Hajdu made the announcement in Thunder Bay on behalf of Tim Hodgson,…

The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization said on January 14, 2026, that about 750,000 Canadian investors were affected by a sophisticated phishing attack first disclosed in August 2025, which may have exposed social insurance numbers, investment account numbers, phone numbers and other personal information, with notification letters starting that day. What CIRO confirmed on January 14 CIRO, the self-regulatory organization that oversees investment dealers, mutual fund dealers and debt and equity trading in Canada, is based in Toronto. In an update dated January 14, 2026, it confirmed that as a result of a sophisticated phishing attack, first disclosed in August 2025,…

An independent panel reported in January 2026 that Calgary’s water system suffers from deep, systemic challenges dating back decades, finding that failure risk was identified in 2004 but feeder main inspections were repeatedly deferred for 20 years, and city council voted unanimously to act on all of its recommendations. A risk identified in 2004, then deferred for 20 years The panel’s review examined the June 2024 failure of the Bearspaw south feeder main, the key pipe that carries treated water from the Bearspaw treatment plant into much of Calgary. Its report, presented to council on January 13 and publicly released…

British Columbia has settled a class-action lawsuit over solitary confinement in provincial correctional centres for up to $60 million. The B.C. Supreme Court approved the settlement in October 2025. People held in segregation for 15 or more consecutive days, or while mentally ill, between 2005 and 2025 can claim up to $91,000 by January 11, 2027. What the lawsuit alleged The case was filed more than seven years before the settlement was announced. It challenged how provincial institutions used segregation, alleging the practice amounted to “cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment” and involved systemic mistreatment of inmates. The representative plaintiff, Neveah…