Vue lecture

As Ottawa drops elbows, most provinces stand firm against selling U.S. alcohol

A half-empty shelf of American whiskey is pictured at the 100 Queen’s Quay East LCBO in Toronto on March 4, 2025. Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the LCBO will not be putting U.S. liquor back on shelves until Canada and the U.S. reach a trade deal.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent decision to lift countertariffs on U.S. goods has renewed questions about whether more Canadian provinces will allow liquor retailers to put U.S. alcohol back on their shelves.

U.S. industry associations have been calling for an end to U.S. booze bans, arguing that they harm Canadian consumers and businesses.

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PEI man facing terrorism peace bond prohibited from accessing internet or having passport

A Prince Edward Island man facing a terrorism peace bond has been ordered to follow a raft of conditions, including not accessing the internet and not holding a passport.

The RCMP in Prince Edward Island sought a terrorism peace bond for the 51-year-old man, fearing he may commit a terrorism offence.

Officers say they seized 3D printed firearm components and arrested the man at his residence in February.

© JASON FRANSON

An RCMP epaulette is seen in Edmonton, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
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Post-COVID, public servants are taking more sick days

Treasury Board says the average usage of sick days includes people who used no sick leave and people who used up banked sick leave before accessing long term disability benefits. 

Federal public servants were less likely to call in sick to work during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, new government data shows.

The figures shared by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat indicate that in 2020-21, when the pandemic had most office employees working entirely remotely, the average number of sick days for the public service was 5.9.

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44-year-old arrested for double homicide in Sudbury, Ont. as police seek additional suspects

Police in Sudbury, Ont., say they are looking for additional suspects after a double homicide in the city on Friday.

The Greater Sudbury Police Service says officers were called to a building on Paris Street just before 10:30 p.m. on Friday after gunshots were heard.

The bodies of a man and a woman were located in the building.

© Gino Donato

The Sudbury police are shown headquarters in Sudbury, Ont., Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Gino Donato
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The belief in the right to self-defence – and the legal limits of a reasonable response

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre called Canada's law on self-defence

In 2011, on the federal election campaign trial, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives promised Canadians “the right to defend their property.” The next year, after his party won a majority government, Mr. Harper rewrote Canada’s law on self-defence.

The previous version, dating back to the Liberals in 2003, stated that anyone who is unlawfully assaulted, without provocation, was “justified in repelling force by force” – but no more than necessary. The response also could not be intended to cause death or grievous bodily harm.

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Canadian motorcycle racer Michelle Duff risked death in pursuit of speed

Michelle Duff's final GP ride to 3rd in the Canadian 500GP at Mosport on an Arter Matchless G50 in 1967.

Michelle Duff was the first North American and, so far, the only Canadian to win a motorcycle race on the world championship grand prix circuit.

A triumph at the 1964 Belgian grand prix helped make Duff a popular figure among racing fans in Britain and on the Continent – where the sport enjoyed crowds numbering in the hundreds of thousands – but earned her little notice back home.

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Toronto to allow larger apartment buildings around some transit stations

Condo construction in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood in August, 2025. Within a 200-metre radius of transit stations, 30-storey towers are now permitted under certain circumstances.

The Ontario government, alongside Toronto City Hall, recently announced planning reforms in Canada’s largest city that would legalize larger apartment buildings around most transit stations.

Ontario Housing Minister Rob Flack and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow jointly announced the changes on Aug. 15. They alter Toronto’s official plan in 120 mass transit station areas, or MTSA, around transit stations or stops.

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Southwestern Ontarians leery as province proposes legislation to allow underground carbon storage

Destroyed buildings in the centre of Wheatley, Ont., in October, 2021, two months after a gas leak in the basement of a defunct pub caused a massive explosion.

When hydrogen sulphide − also known as sour gas − started bubbling up from underground behind the local library in Wheatley in late June and forced a brief evacuation of nearby homes, it was a stress-inducing déjà vu for this small Ontario town about an hour from Windsor.

Four years ago, a similar leak in the basement of a defunct pub caused a massive explosion that destroyed two buildings and injured 20 people − and drew attention to the danger posed by the thousands of old and often improperly capped oil and gas wells that dot much of Southwestern Ontario.

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Do school cellphone bans work? The results are mixed

Teacher Tina Somers prepares her classroom for her grade 8-9 English Language Arts students at John D Bracco School in Edmonton, Alta. Ms. Somers has seen firsthand the positive difference a cellphone ban can have on students.

Before last fall, when cellphones weren’t yet officially banned during classes in Orly Kaye’s Toronto high school, the students’ glowing screens were ubiquitous. They scrolled TikTok and Instagram Reels, made lunch plans via group chats, played games or watched YouTube videos. Some kids, the 16-year-old says, wouldn’t even turn down the volume or use earbuds. The refrain of “put your phones away, please” from desperate teachers was near-constant, and mostly ignored.

Orly wasn’t immune to their phone’s pull either. When they’d get bored during science class, they’d start scrolling. “I’d be half paying attention to class, and half paying attention to Pinterest and drawing,” says Orly, who is going into grade 12.

© Amber Bracken

Teacher Tina Somers prepares her classroom for her grade 8-9 English Language Arts students at John D Bracco School in Edmonton, Alberta on Thursday, August 28, 2025. Somers says cellphones are a distraction in the classroom. Amber Bracken for The Globe and Mail
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