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Trucking firm TFI sees drop in second-quarter profit as market weakness continues

TFI International Inc. TFII-T has reported a drop in second-quarter profit as weak demand took a toll on the volume of goods it hauls.

Canada’s largest trucking firm reported net income of US$98.2-million for the three months ended June 30, down from US$115.7-million a year earlier.

That amounted to earnings of US$1.17 per diluted share, a decrease from US$1.36 during the same 2024 period.

© Christinne Muschi

A Canada Border Services officer looks over at a truck as it waits to be inspected at the Highway 55 Port of Entry in Stanstead, Que., Thursday, March 13, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi
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More women in B.C. opted for IUDs after province made birth control free, study finds

The B.C. government started covering 100 per cent of the cost of all IUDs on April 1, 2023.

A new study shows more women opted for long-acting birth control methods after British Columbia began covering the cost, which researchers say is strong reason for Ottawa’s pharmacare plan to do the same.

The study found prescriptions for all types of birth control jumped significantly after the province began covering contraceptives in April, 2023, with a 49-per-cent jump in prescriptions for intrauterine devices (IUDs) driving the increase.

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Canada pledges $30-million in Gaza aid, $10-million for Palestinian Authority to work toward statehood

While Canada is not joining France in recognizing a Palestinian state, it is funding the Palestinian Authority’s preparations to lead a globally recognized country that includes Gaza and the West Bank.

Ottawa is also adding $30-million to its humanitarian funding for desperate Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“The Palestinian question is at the heart of any hope for long-term stability in the Middle East,” Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand told a major United Nations conference Monday in New York.

© Jeenah Moon

Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand speaks during a High-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., July 28, 2025. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon
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Elections Canada to issue write-in ballot in Poilievre’s by-election, citing long candidate list

A campaign sign for independent candidate Bonnie Critchley next to signs for Pierre Poilievre and Darcy Spady in the riding of Battle River-Crowfoot in Camrose, Alta., on Tuesday.

Voters in an coming Alberta by-election, where Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is looking to win back a seat in Parliament, will use a special ballot after a record number of candidates put their names forward in the race, according to Elections Canada.

The ballot will no longer have the names of the more than 200 people running,Elections Canada said Monday. Instead, the ballot will be a single page where voters can write in the name and party of their chosen candidate.

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Crime ring exchanged stolen baby formula for drugs in Mississauga, Peel police say

Police say 11 people face charges after an investigation into drug trafficking in Mississauga that allegedly involved exchanging stolen baby formula and other products for drugs.

Peel Regional Police say the four-month investigation, dubbed Project Bengal, revealed an organized crime group responsible for trafficking of drugs and thefts from retail businesses in the city’s Meadowvale area.

Investigators say suspects were allegedly stealing high-demand baby products, including formula and vitamins, to exchange them for drugs.

© Cole Burston

Peel Regional Police livery is seen on a vehicle in Brampton, Ont., Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
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Lack of action on Gaza eroding Muslim-Canadians’ sense of belonging, envoy says

Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s special representative on combating Islamophobia, prepares to appear as a witness before the Senate Human Rights committee in Ottawa in March 2023.

Ottawa’s approach to the war in Gaza is eroding many Muslim-Canadians’ “sense of belonging” in this country, says the federal special representative on combating Islamophobia.

“This ongoing, horrifying situation is deeply, deeply damaging the sense of belonging that people feel,” Amira Elghawaby said in an wide-ranging interview with The Canadian Press.

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Ontario's Doug Ford walks back pledge to issue work permits to asylum seekers

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has walked back last week's pledge to issue work permits to asylum seekers. Mr. Ford and the rest of the country's premiers said last week they wanted more control over immigration, usually a purview of the federal government. The Ontario Premier vowed to issue work permits to asylum seekers after he and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith believed they found a workaround in the Constitution.

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Harper says he advised Carney team to look outside the U.S. on trade

Former prime minister Stephen Harper said Monday he’s urging Ottawa to find new trading partners outside the United States.

“I think it’s fair to say I’m probably the most pro-American prime minister in Canadian history,” Harper told Canadian and American legislators gathered for the annual Midwestern Legislative Conference meeting in Saskatoon.

“We’ve got to get something short-term worked out with the Trump administration. But this really is a wake-up call for this country to truly diversify its trade export markets.

© Blair Gable

Former prime minister Stephen Harper speaks ahead of the King delivering speech from the throne in the Senate in Ottawa on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Blair Gable-Pool
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Potential Alberta separation referendum question referred to judge for approval

A potential referendum question on Alberta separating from Canada has been referred to a judge for confirmation that the question doesn’t violate the Constitution.

The proposed question seeks a yes or no answer to: “Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?”

Alberta’s chief electoral officer Gordon McClure, in a news release Monday, said provincial laws require potential referendum questions to respect more than 30 sections of the Constitution, including the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

© Jeff McIntosh

An Alberta flag flaps in the breeze with Mt. Kidd in the background at the site of the G7 Leaders meeting in Kananaskis, Alta., Monday, June 2, 2025.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
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Ford walks back vow to have province issue asylum seekers work permits

Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks to the media during the meeting of Canada’s premiers in Huntsville, Ont., last week.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is retracting a vow he made last week to have his province issue its own work permits to asylum seekers in the face of what he said were federal government delays that have left refugee applicants in limbo for two years.

Last Wednesday, Mr. Ford had told reporters after a conference with his fellow premiers that his province would step into the federal government’s purview and issue its own work permits to ensure that refugee applicants could enter the labour force more quickly. But on Monday, he called a press conference and reversed himself.

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For some of Canada’s most prestigious university programs, mid-90s grades are not enough

17-year-old Lauren McGuire applied for the Health Sciences program at McMaster University, but missed the cut.

Lauren McGuire, a recent Grade 12 graduate from Oakville, Ont., had her sights set on applying to a university program in health sciences, a competitive stream that’s often a stepping stone to medical school.

She had top marks and impressive extracurriculars, but she still knew it would be a tall order to get one of the most sought-after spots in Canada.

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Globe Climate: Beauty is a thing of joy, and a driver for change

If you’re reading this on the web or someone forwarded this e-mail newsletter to you, you can sign up for Globe Climate and all Globe newsletters here.

Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.

Before he was known as the “One-Man Jukebox,” a summer of tree-planting made Ron Sexsmith a songwriter.

© Leon Neal

A visitor stops to look through a magnifying glass on the 'This Humid House' installation by Tabula Rosa on May 20, in London.
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Auto theft sees national sharp drop in first half of 2025, industry group says

Équité Association reports auto thefts are down 19.1 per cent year over year in the first half of 2025.

The pace of auto theft is dropping in Canada thanks to collective efforts to crack down on thieves, says an industry group focused on insurance fraud and crime.

Équité Association said in a report released Monday that the number of vehicles reported stolen nationally dropped 19.1 per cent in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.

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Morning Update: U.S. and EU make a trade deal

Good morning. The United States struck a trade deal with the European Union, as Canadians look ahead to the Aug. 1 deadline set for our own tariff agreement. More on that below, plus updates from Gaza and the rescue from a B.C. mine collapse. Let’s get to it.

U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in Turnberry, Scotland, July 27.
TOP STORY
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Report highlights connection between sex trafficking and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls

In the summer of 1991, Janice Randhile was coerced by her boyfriend into the sex trade on the streets of Ottawa when she was just 17 years old.

“We had been dating, we were in a relationship, and then he said, ‘I want you to go to work,’” Ms. Randhile, a member of Alberta’s Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, recalled in an interview. “I was like, ‘What?’ I wasn’t homeless, but I didn’t want to go home. So I did it.”

At the time, Ms. Randhile was living with her boyfriend in a rooming house, grappling with fear of abandonment and struggling to find her identity. She is among the Indigenous children who were apprehended from their families and placed in non-Indigenous homes as part of the notorious Sixties Scoop.

© Todd Korol

Ms. Randhile says that in her experience working with Indigenous families, she believes the connection between missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and sex trafficking is real and deserves attention.
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Smithers, B.C., breathes a sigh of relief after safe return of three Red Chris miners

After three drillers were rescued from Red Chris mine this week in Smithers, B.C., residents are relieved but reminded of the safety concerns of the mining industry.

After two-and-a-half days locked in a northern B.C. mine, separated from the surface by a mound of rockfall, three drillers waved to their families from across the tarmac at Smithers Airport.

It was an emotional embrace for some on Friday afternoon, a more muted greeting for others. Harvey Tremblay, watching his employees reconnect with their families, felt a unique relief.

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Restorative justice could be path to healing for victims and offenders, experts say

Demonstrators in support of E.M. rally outside the London, Ont., courthouse on Thursday, after the not guilty verdict was delivered in the trial of five former Canada world junior players.

Some sexual-assault survivors and legal experts say that restorative justice could be an alternative for complainants to find closure and accountability, in the wake of the Hockey Canada verdict that left many advocates reeling.

Justice Maria Carroccia acquitted five former junior hockey players of sexual assault on Thursday after a trial that had the complainant, known publicly as E.M., spend seven days under cross-examination by the defendants’ lawyers.

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Two people, including 3-year-old, die in separate Ontario drownings Saturday

Two people, including a three-year-old, died in separate drownings in Ontario on Saturday.

Ontario Provincial Police are investigating after emergency services were called to Mille Roches Beach in Long Sault around 5:45 p.m. regarding a child with no vital signs.

Police say off-duty medical professionals were attempting to resuscitate the child who was rushed to the hospital and later pronounced dead.

© Spencer Colby

An Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) patch is seen in Ottawa, on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
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The Weeknd receives key to the city ahead of a four-concert run in Toronto

The Scarborough-born singer says he’s honoured to receive the key to the city where he found his voice.

Toronto has given “Can’t Feel My Face” singer The Weeknd a key to the city as the star returns to play four shows in his hometown. 

Toronto Mayor Oliva Chow presented the ceremonial honour to the Scarborough-born singer Saturday morning in recognition of how he has “reshaped modern music” and supported health and humanitarian causes in Toronto and abroad. 

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B.C. councillor’s motion proposes asking province for safe injection site closure

Injection supplies from the AIDS Vancouver Island safe injection site in Victoria, B.C.

A city councillor in Nanaimo, B.C., is expected to push the city to reach out to a B.C. health authority in a bid to close the overdose prevention site next to city hall.

The agenda for Monday’s council meeting says Councillor Ian Thorpe will bring forward a motion, asking council to “formally request” that Island Health close the supervised drug consumption site on Albert Street.

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Ottawa denounces Hong Kong arrest warrants targeting pro-democracy activists

The Confederation building on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Canada, the U.S. and UK have condemned Hong Kong's move.

The Canadian government is condemning Hong Kong’s law enforcement authorities after they issued bounties and warrants for 19 pro-democracy activists, some of whom live in Canada.

In a joint statement, federal Foreign Minister Anita Anand and Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said Saturday that Canada will not tolerate what it describes as an attempt for Hong Kong “to conduct transnational repression abroad.”

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Canada is hosting the world’s biggest dementia conference for the first time in a decade. What’s changed since then?

Dr. Jane Rylett, the scientific director of the CIHR Institute of Aging, announced $44.8-million in new funding for dementia and aging-related research Saturday.

This week, researchers from around the globe are descending upon downtown Toronto to attend the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, the world’s biggest and most influential meeting for dementia research.

The gathering is a chance for the international dementia community to discuss the latest research in the field; it’s also where significant breakthroughs are often unveiled. At a related event on Saturday, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) – Canada’s health research funding agency – announced $44.8-million in new funding for dementia and aging-related research initiatives, including the creation of 16 teams that will study everything from Alzheimer’s biomarkers to dementia in Indigenous populations.

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Wildland firefighters face increasing health issues, but struggle to get workplace benefits

Jasper Fire Chief Mathew Conte says members of his team were experiencing physical and mental health impacts after the 2024 wildfire. The department now offers increased health supports for its firefighters.

Most of Jasper’s firefighters, a small, mostly-volunteer crew in the Rocky Mountain community, had never battled a fire like the one that destroyed one-third of their Alberta town last summer.

The 30-person brigade helped fend off flames, protecting critical infrastructure and homes, even as some of their own residences began to burn to the ground. In the days and weeks that followed, as the damage laid bare a difficult road to recovery, other wounds began to emerge.

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Wikipedia editors, the internet’s nerdy unsung heroes, keep the website one of the last best places online

Andy Filipowich is a high school teacher by day, but a prolific Wikipedia editor by night.

The bronze bust of William Lyon Mackenzie sits on a tall plinth tucked away in Toronto’s Queen’s Park. He has a defiant expression, befitting the rebel leader against Upper Canada, and a swooping hairdo that looks like a bird perched atop his head.

Earlier this summer, Andy Filipowich was here to take in the statue. He’s a high school teacher by day, but a prolific Wikipedia editor by night.

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Analyzing Justice Maria Carroccia’s Hockey Canada verdict

Justice Maria Carroccia is shown in this courtroom sketch from London, Ont., delivering her ruling in the sexual assault trial for five former members of Canada's world junior hockey team, on Thursday.

A judge who found the complainant in the Hockey Canada trial to be untruthful in a ruling that acquitted five former junior players of sexual assault has come under strong criticism, after a judgment starkly at odds with a growing public emphasis on believing women.

But Ontario Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia is also being praised as brave for calling it as she saw it in her 91-page written decision on Thursday, despite a potentially hostile public reception.

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White House seeking fines from Harvard, other universities after Columbia deal, official says

The Trump administration is investigating dozens of universities over allegations that they failed to address campus antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war, and several institutions have faced federal funding freezes.

The White House is pursuing heavy fines from Harvard and other universities as part of potential settlements to end investigations into campus antisemitism, using the deal it struck with Columbia University as a template, according to an administration official familiar with the matter.

Fines have become a staple of proposed deals in talks with Harvard and other schools, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

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Norman Marshall Villeneuve was one of Canada’s greatest bebop drummers

The self-taught drummer modeled his exciting hard-driving style after Art Blakely, Elvin Jones and Max Roach.

Born and raised in Montreal, Norman Marshall Villeneuve was taught to tap dance by his older brother. As a preteen he studied piano with the great instructor Daisy Peterson-Sweeney, sister of Oscar Peterson. Another legendary jazz pianist, Oliver Jones, was a cousin who, like Mr. Peterson, lived nearby.

The tutoring in the other disciplines notwithstanding, he instead became one of Canada’s greatest bebop drummers.

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Former City of Ottawa lawyer who defaced Holocaust memorial pleads guilty to mischief, gets bail

Iain Aspenlieder's lawyer said the act was an attempt to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and was not motivated by hate.

A former lawyer for the City of Ottawa who desecrated the National Holocaust Monument by splashing it with red paint and scrawling the words FEED ME in large red block letters, has pleaded guilty to mischief and been released on bail to his parents’ house.

Iain Aspenlieder, who is expected to be sentenced later this year, last month vandalized the memorial to six million Jews killed by the Nazi regime. His lawyer said Friday that the act was an attempt to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and was not motivated by hate.

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At the bars lining London’s streets, the Hockey Canada verdict hits close to home

Twenty-six-year-old criminology student Lana Allan outside a bar on Richmond Street in London, Ont., a few hundred metres from the courthouse where the Hockey Canada verdict was read on Thursday.

A few hours after the verdict was handed down in the sexual assault trial of five former members of Canada’s world junior hockey team, a thunderstorm swept over London, Ont., soaking the streets and filling the darkening sky with bolts of lighting. But in the bar district a few blocks from the courthouse, the party continued. Groups of young men and young women trooped back and forth along Richmond Street, laughing, chatting and vaping as they went from bar to bar between bursts of rain.

Many had just learned that a judge had found the players not guilty, and the news was starting to sink in. The whole affair began on this strip at a place called Jack’s, where one of the players met the complainant in the case and took her back to a nearby hotel. What went on in that hotel room became the focus of a national conversation, raising questions about power dynamics, hockey culture and what constitutes sexual consent.

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Hudson’s Bay reaches more lease deals across Canada for its locations

Hudson’s Bay put its leases up for sale earlier this year, after it filed for creditor protection and closed its 80 stores and 16 under its sister Saks banners.

Hudson’s Bay Co. has reached deals to sell the leases of six store locations as legal wrangling continues on work to close a deal to sell up to 25 leases to B.C. billionaire Ruby Liu.

Legal filings show clothing retailer YM Inc., which owns brands such as Urban Planet, Bluenotes, West49 and Suzy Shier, has struck a deal to buy five leases for $5.03 million. The documents show it was unable to secure landlord approvals for three other locations.

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'Goosebumps,' euphoria after trapped miners freed from B.C.'s Red Chris mine

Three workers who were trapped in a mine in a remote area of northwestern British Columbia were brought to safety after more than 60 hours underground. Bernard Wessels, the global safety chief for the mine's operator, Newmont Corp., says there were "goosebumps and happiness" when the contractors emerged from the Red Chris mine, about 500 kilometres northwest of Terrace, B.C. (July 25, 2025)

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Ontario adds virtual courtroom restrictions, law experts raise questions over transparency

Virtual court hearings on Zoom were first adopted in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic so court processes could continue amid government-mandated physical distancing rules.

Ontario’s lower courts are introducing restrictions on who can attend proceedings virtually after what they describe as an escalation of interruptions, a move that law experts and observers say raises questions about transparency.

The Ontario Court of Justice released a new policy last week that would stop observers from accessing court proceedings online unless they receive authorization from the judge or justice of peace overseeing the case.

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Murder case against father of Montreal girl moves to a grand jury

The case against the father of a nine-year-old Montreal girl found dead in Upstate New York will move directly to the grand jury stage.

The court in Ticonderoga, N.Y., and the secretary for the district attorney who is prosecuting the case both confirmed that the felony hearing scheduled to take place Friday for Luciano Frattolin was cancelled.

Instead the case will move to a grand jury, where its members will assess the prosecution’s evidence to decide whether there is probable cause that Frattolin killed his daughter Melina and should stand trial.

Luciano Frattolin is charged with murder and concealing of a corpse in the death of his daughter, Melina Frattolin.
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Trump says trade deal with Canada may not be reached

U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs the White House on Thursday. He is traveling to his Balmedie golf courses in Scotland this week.

U.S. President Donald Trump says he may not reach a new trade deal with Canada and is suggesting he might instead impose more tariffs on the country unilaterally.

Mr. Trump’s warning follows signals from Prime Minister Mark Carney that the two sides may not be able to reach an agreement by a self-imposed deadline of Aug. 1 to end a trade war that’s nearing the five-month point.

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Seniors don’t like downsizing, leaving fewer options for first-time buyers – here’s what could help

Data from CMHC indicates the proportion of Canadians older than 75 who are cashing out of their homes fell steadily between 1991 and 2021.

Realtor Barry Lebow specializes in helping seniors downsize – moving out of the family homes they’ve lived in for decades to a smaller place that’s a better fit for their aging lifestyle.

From the outside, that might look like the natural progression: feeding a healthy bit of turnover into the housing supply as move-up buyers seek their own family home.

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Morning Update: Hockey Canada trial ends in acquittals

Good morning. A judge has acquitted all five players in the Hockey Canada sexual assault case, after a trial that became a national flashpoint — more on that below, along with price hikes for U.S. shoppers and Hulk Hogan’s wrestling legacy. But first:

Today’s headlines

© Sammy Kogan

Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham speaks after the verdict yesterday.
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