The Ontario Provincial Police’s anti-rackets branch is looking into a company that has received more than $40-million from the provincial government, in order to determine whether to launch a criminal investigation.

The force confirmed on Friday that the government had referred “suspicious activity” related to transfer payments to the company, an online counselling platform called Get A-Head.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s chief of staff is warning employees not to have any contact with a company that received about $40-million from the province, after the government referred findings from a forensic audit scrutinizing the business to the Ontario Provincial Police, according to an e-mail obtained by The Globe and Mail.

The company, an online counselling platform, received more than $32-million from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities since 2020. It was also awarded $7.5-million in grants approved by Labour Minister David Piccini’s office from the Skills Development Fund.

Ontario is projecting a slightly smaller deficit for this year, despite the economic drag of U.S. tariffs, while pledging more money to help businesses find new markets – and quietly scrapping its obligation to set climate-change targets.

Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy released a fall economic statement on Thursday that said the province now expects a deficit in 2025-26 of $13.5-billion, down $1.1-billion from the $14.6-billion in red ink predicted in his May budget. The government does not plan to balance the books until 2027-28.

Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is criticizing the federal budget for lacking ambition and says it should have included support for some of the province’s key priorities, including a plan to build a tunnel under Highway 401 through Toronto.

Doug Ford says Prime Minister Mark Carney twice asked him to pull an anti-tariff television advertisement after it prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to break off trade talks, but the Ontario Premier said he declined.

Mr. Ford on Monday said the Prime Minister called him from his recent trip to Asia asking him to pull the ad, which featured a pro-free-trade address from then-president Ronald Reagan, but the Premier did not do so until days later after it had run during the first two games of the World Series.

Donald Trump says he won’t resume trade talks with Canada even after Prime Minister Mark Carney apologized for an anti-tariff Ontario government advertisement that raised the ire of the U.S. President.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on the way back from Asia on Friday, Mr. Trump said Mr. Carney apologized to him for the ad, which quoted part of a 1987 address from former president Ronald Reagan that warned of the dire economic effects of tariffs on the U.S. economy.

Premiers from across the country are pressing Prime Minister Mark Carney for a meeting to update them on the status of trade talks with the United States, saying the public needs more information about the federal government’s plan.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and Ontario Premier Doug Ford say it’s time for the Prime Minister to hold a First Ministers’ meeting, a call supported by the premiers of British Columbia, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Premier Doug Ford is calling on U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra to apologize to Ontario’s representative in Washington after Mr. Hoekstra reportedly subjected the official to an expletive-filled tirade over the province’s anti-tariff TV ad.

Mr. Ford, speaking to reporters Wednesday, said Mr. Hoekstra owes David Paterson, a former General Motors executive, an apology.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says Prime Minister Mark Carney previewed the TV advertisement that prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to scrap trade talks with Canada and threaten higher tariffs.

Mr. Ford also said he chose to continue running the ads even after the United States cut off negotiations.

U.S. President Donald Trump has ended trade talks with Canada over an Ontario government anti-tariff advertising campaign running in the United States, prompting Premier Doug Ford to pull the ad at the request of Prime Minister Mark Carney.

The abrupt break in negotiations follows mounting White House frustration with Ottawa, which so far hasn’t agreed to the sort of punitive trade deal that other U.S. trading partners have accepted.

U.S. President Donald Trump says he is terminating trade talks with Canada, citing a recent Ontario government anti-tariff ad featuring late Republican president Ronald Reagan.

In a late-night post to Truth Social on Thursday, Mr. Trump referenced the advertisement which Ontario launched last week and said the Ronald Reagan Foundation announced that the advertisement is “fake.” He wrongly claimed the ad cost $75,000, but Ontario has said it is spending $75-million on the campaign.

Ontario’s Solicitor-General is urging the federal government to reconsider a request from Marineland to export 30 beluga whales to China, saying it’s one of the only options to keep the animals alive.

Michael Kerzner, who oversees animal welfare in the province, told The Globe and Mail he has made his case directly to federal Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson about the fate of the whales currently living at the shuttered amusement park in Niagara Falls, Ont.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is standing by his embattled Labour Minister David Piccini, as the government faces mounting accusations that its billion-dollar fund for training workers is being used to reward friends and donors.

Facing reporters at Queen’s Park on Tuesday, Mr. Ford for the first time said that he will not replace Mr. Piccini in the role.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford was hammered with questions on Monday from opposition parties who accused the Progressive Conservative government of rewarding its friends with a billion-dollar fund for training workers, as the legislature returned from its extended summer break.

Mr. Ford faced the opposition benches on Monday for the first time since June, when his government announced the legislature would be returning in late October instead of its scheduled start in September. The government said at the time it needed more time to implement its new policies, such as a bill to fast-track mining development, and to assess the economic impacts of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Doug Ford is set to face pointed questions about unemployment rates, conflict-of-interest allegations and the state of core services such as health care and education when Ontario’s legislature returns on Monday, as opposition leaders look to find new ways to challenge the popular long-time Premier.

Ontario’s political parties are returning to Queen’s Park next week after Mr. Ford’s government extended the legislature’s summer break, which lasted almost five months.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is launching a $75-million advertising campaign in the United States featuring late Republican president Ronald Reagan’s dire warning about the impact of tariffs on the American economy.

It is the latest attempt from Mr. Ford’s government to reach American audiences – including Republicans – to put pressure on U.S. President Donald Trump to end his punishing global trade war.

A wealthy Canadian financier says that he put forward a multibillion dollar proposal to redevelop Marineland and save 30 whales facing death, but that Ontario Premier Doug Ford has not meaningfully considered the plan.

Marc Wade, a Canadian-born investor living in the Los Angeles area, said he and a real estate developer reached out to the government in the spring about their plan to buy Marineland and turn it into an entertainment complex with a sanctuary for whales and other wildlife.