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Morning Update: Plant-based meat has lost its sizzle

Good morning. Meatballs built IKEA’s food empire but its plant balls failed to make a dent in the MAGA era – more on that below, along with Jimmy Kimmel’s indefinite suspension and Donald Trump’s state visit. But first:

Today’s headlines

© Kyle Berger

Comedian and actress, Sarah Hillier at the IKEA store in Etobicoke on September 12, 2025.
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CRTC begins hearing on Cancon requirements for music streamers

Music streamers Spotify, Apple and Amazon, as well as radio broadcasters Rogers, Bell and Corus, filed submissions ahead of the CRTC hearing.

The federal broadcast regulator begins a hearing today to look at which Canadian content obligations should apply to music streamers like Spotify.

Streaming services argue their current efforts to promote Canadian culture – and the royalties they pay – are good enough. Radio broadcasters, meanwhile, say their sector is in serious decline and they want the CRTC to take a lighter regulatory touch for traditional players.

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Alberta schools are overcrowded as province struggles to keep up with population growth

Kira Schulz and her daughter Skyelar Schmidt walk through the grounds of École Edwards Elementary School in Airdrie, Alta., on July 4. Ms. Schulz is concerned about overcrowding in schools after learning that her daughter Skyelar's school will convert its library and music room into classrooms to accommodate rising enrolment.

Kira Schulz is standing in the field behind her daughter’s elementary school in the Alberta city of Airdrie and trying to make sense of space.

If the school adds modular classrooms to accommodate new students – the local school division has asked the government for several – where will the children play, Ms. Schulz wonders.

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B.C. creating new police unit to tackle extortion of South Asian businesspeople

The windows of Kap’s Cafe in Surrey, B.C., which is owned by Indian celebrity Kapil Sharma, riddled with bullet holes on Aug. 7. Police are investigating at least 27 such cases of extortion that involve shootings of businesses, homes and vehicles.

British Columbia is creating a provincial police unit to crack down on the wide-scale extortion of South Asian businesspeople, including a wave of shootings in recent months that echoes similar violence seen across Alberta and Ontario.

Assistant Commissioner John Brewer, with the British Columbia RCMP, and provincial Solicitor-General Nina Krieger announced the new 40-member team at a news conference Wednesday flanked by police leaders from around Metro Vancouver. They said this unit will lead new investigations as well as help local RCMP detachments and other municipal forces with their open cases.

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Quebec to scale back free COVID-19 shots this fall after Alberta limits eligibility

It will cost between $150 and $180 to receive a shot if an individual is not eligible for free COVID-19 vaccination, according to AQPP.

Quebec has become the second Canadian province after Alberta that will no longer provide free vaccination against COVID-19 for all its population.

Instead, only certain categories of people will still receive the shot at no cost: seniors, health care workers, residents of remote regions and medically vulnerable patients.

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Toronto police arrested man accused of smuggling Indian family to U.S. out of fear he would flee Canada

Jagdish Patel, 39; his wife Vaishaliben Patel, 37; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and their three-year-old son, Dharmik in a handout photo.

A Minnesota court requested the arrest of a Canadian resident this month so he can stand trial in the U.S. after he allegedly helped with the 2022 cross-border smuggling of an Indian family of four who froze to death in Manitoba.

U.S. authorities were concerned that Fenil Patel, 37, who also goes by the name Fenilkumar Kantilal Patel, would flee Canada – possibly to India – according to new court documents filed in Ontario and Minnesota, verified by The Globe and Mail.

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Ottawa calls on Supreme Court to clarify the law around use of Charter’s notwithstanding clause

The federal government detailed its arguments in a legal filing at the Supreme Court on Wednesday as part of the landmark case on Quebec’s secularism law.

Ottawa is calling on the Supreme Court of Canada to clarify the law around governments’ use of the Charter’s notwithstanding clause, arguing that courts should have a bigger role in such cases than previously granted by legal precedent.

If the Supreme Court accepts Ottawa’s arguments, it will mark the first substantive limits on governments’ use of the notwithstanding clause to override the rights of Canadians since the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was enacted in 1982.

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B.C. Premier David Eby travels to Ottawa to lobby Carney for major projects funding

Prime Minister Mark Carney with British Columbia Premier David Eby, April 7. Eby is leading a mission to Ottawa that will last until Thursday.

British Columbia Premier David Eby is off to Ottawa to lobby the federal government for more investment in major infrastructure projects in the province.

The Premier’s Office says in a statement that Eby is leading a mission to Ottawa that will last until Thursday, and the itinerary includes a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney on priorities for B.C.’s economic growth.

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