Dillon Whitehawk has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years after being found guilty of first-degree murder in a 2019 drive-by shooting in Regina.
A jury found Whitehawk not guilty in the killing of Jordan Denton, but guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of Keenan Toto, delivering a split verdict in a case tied to two shootings in the city’s North Central neighbourhood.
Following the verdict, the court imposed the mandatory sentence under Canadian law. The judge noted there was little discretion, calling the case a tragic situation for all involved.
Crown prosecutor Adam Brecker said there were “mixed emotions” following the decision, noting the prosecution believed it had presented a strong case on both counts.
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“We felt that we called a very cogent case in relation to two murders… we’re certainly very disappointed that he was not convicted of both counts, but we do respect the verdict of the jury,” said Brecker.
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Brecker also pointed to the challenges of retrying the case years after the incidents, including issues with witness memory and prior testimony.
During the trial, the Crown argued the shootings were linked to gang activity, suggesting Whitehawk was attempting to rise in rank within a Regina street gang. Court heard he allegedly disguised himself by wearing red associated with a rival gang and took steps to avoid being identified after the shooting.
In sentencing submissions, the Crown described the killing as “egregious and horrific,” arguing the victim was shot while going about his day and that the murder was planned and deliberate.
The court also heard emotional victim impact statements from Keenan Toto’s family made during the first trial, describing the lasting trauma and loss experienced by loved ones, including his children.
Whitehawk, who has an extensive prior criminal record involving violence and weapons offences, had already been in custody since his arrest in February 2020 and is already serving a life sentence for second-degree murder in the 2020 death of Keesha Bitternose.
It has been six years since a man went missing after leaving his Courtenay, B.C., home in 2020.
Michael Gazetas was last seen on Jan. 31 of that year.
The 51-year-old had left his red 2011 Ford Ranger pickup truck and gone into the backcountry as he was known to do.
His truck was last spotted in the Gold River area, about 140 km away, but Comox Valley RCMP said that despite extensive searches at the time and ongoing efforts, neither Gazetas nor his truck have been located.
RCMP said with many new residents who might be out exploring Vancouver Island’s backcountry, including hikers, hunters, campers, photographers and mushroom pickers, police are asking people to keep a lookout, especially in Northern Vancouver Island.
“It remains possible that Michael’s vehicle may be in a location not visible from the road or in terrain that is difficult to reach,” RCMP said in a release posted online.
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“Natural changes in the landscape over time — including erosion, fallen trees, and shifting vegetation — may reveal areas that were previously obscured.”
Palma’s Picks: A daughter’s search for her father and justice
Gazetas’ sisters, Calliope and Sophie, have not given up on finding their brother.
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“It would be really nice to know this in my lifetime, what happened to our brother,” Calliope Gazetas said.
“But you know, the main concrete thing we know is he left and he didn’t come back. Some days I can sit with that and be OK with that and some days I just really want to know what happened.”
Sophie Peerless said the anniversary of their brothers’ disappearance is always a challenging time.
“I think every January is always a little difficult, just to have that yearly reminder that this is when our brother disappeared and we still don’t know what happened to him,” she said.
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Anyone who sees a red Ford Ranger with licence plate HX4109, or has information related to the disappearance of Michael Gazetas is asked to call the Comox Valley RCMP at (250) 338-1321 and refer to file 2020-1779.
Prosecutors say there was not enough evidence to secure a conviction against self-proclaimed “Queen of Canada” Romana Didulo, offering new insight into why charges tied to a high-profile Saskatchewan compound raid were halted.
The explanation, provided by Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Justice, marks the first time officials have publicly detailed why the case did not move forward.
The case stems from an incident in which Didulo had been facing charges of failing to comply with an undertaking and intimidation of a justice system participant following a September 2025 RCMP raid in Richmound, Sask.
Police executed a search warrant at a decommissioned school where Didulo and her followers had been living since 2023, referring to it as the “Kingdom of Canada.”
Officers arrested 16 people and seized several imitation firearms during the operation.
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In a statement to Global News, the ministry said Crown prosecutors must meet a strict legal test before pursuing charges in court.
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“To move forward with a prosecution, Public Prosecutions must be satisfied that there is a reasonable likelihood of conviction and that it is in the public interest to continue with a prosecution,” the statement said.
“If either piece of this standard is not met, the Crown cannot move forward with criminal proceedings.”
After reviewing the evidence gathered in the case, prosecutors concluded that threshold was not met.
“Based on the evidence gathered, there was not a reasonable likelihood of conviction,” the ministry said, confirming a stay of proceedings was filed on the intimidation charge against both Didulo and Ricky Manz, owner of the former school that was raided.
Officials added the decision does not impact other matters involving Manz that remain before the court.
Saskatchewan Justice Minister Tim McLeod said the decision reflects standard prosecutorial practice.
“We understand that public prosecutions has come to the conclusion that there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction,” McLeod said.
“When that’s the case, the proper thing to do is to stay the charge.”
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Didulo and the group have drawn national attention for promoting conspiracy theories linked to QAnon, while residents in the small farming community reported harassment and intimidation in the months leading up to the raid.
Christine Sarteschi, a professor at Chatham University in Pittsburgh who has followed the group’s online activity for several years, said uncertainty remains about what comes next.
“I know they’re currently asking followers for places to live,” she said.
“It might be that she ends up wherever anyone will take her… and I do think the Richmound folks are worried about that.”
Sarteschi added the group appears to have diminished in size since Didulo’s arrest, pointing to lower engagement in recent online activity.
Meanwhile, the Saskatchewan Health Authority confirmed that the former school remains unfit for occupancy.
In 2025, the agency issued an order requiring residents to vacate the property and fix deficiencies. Those orders remain in effect, with no further action currently planned.
A stay of proceedings halts the prosecution, but charges can be reintroduced within one year.
Waterloo’s police chief says tactical officers, including snipers, may continue to be used at large events as needed, following their deployment during an unsanctioned St. Patrick’s Day street party in the city’s university district.
Waterloo Regional Police confirmed that an officer seen in circulating photos and video monitoring the crowd from an elevated position was part of its operations over the weekend.
The city of Waterloo, known as a student hub due to its affiliation with the University of Waterloo and Laurier, is home to some of the largest public gatherings in Ontario.
In previous years, the city has tried to host “sanctioned” gatherings for safety and better control but was not effective.
Director of corporate affairs for Waterloo police, Cherri Greeno, said the deployment was part of a broader safety plan developed for the gathering, which was expected to draw large crowds based on prior events.
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“As with all operational deployments that involve large gatherings with mass casualty considerations, a comprehensive safety plan was developed that included members of our Public Order Unit and Emergency Response Team,” Greeno said in a statement.
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“Tactical officers were positioned in elevated locations to monitor the area and identify potential safety concerns that may not be visible to officers on the ground.” Greeno added.
Tactical officers were also positioned in elevated locations to allow them to monitor the entire area and identify potential safety concerns that may not be visible to officers on the ground.
Police also implemented other measures, including barriers to prevent vehicles from entering the area.
“The magnitude of unfortunate mass casualty events that have occurred across North America and around the world in recent decades have shaped emergency response strategies for all large gatherings,” Waterloo Regional Police Chief Mark Crowell said.
“In accordance with legislated standards for emergency response and public order deployment, our officers effectively managed a large unsanctioned gathering, upholding safety for all involved.”
Crowell indicated that similar tactics may be used again in the future, depending on the circumstances of the event.
Waterloo Mayor Dorothy McCabe said she was initially unaware of the specific measures.
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“I was surprised to learn that the Waterloo Regional Police preparations for the unsanctioned street gathering includes such extreme safety measures,” McCabe said in a statement.
While noting the city’s long-standing relationship with police, McCabe said oversight of the force falls outside her role.
“In our two-tiered municipal system, the chief does not report to me as mayor and I don’t sit on the police board,” she said.
McCabe added she has since spoken with Crowell and now has a better understanding of the plan, expressing confidence in police and emergency services to ensure public safety
The deployment comes as discussions around public safety and emergency preparedness continue more broadly, including increased focus on protective measures at large public gatherings.
The lawyer who represented Umar Zameer is calling for a public inquiry into how police handled his client’s case and the creation of a new investigation by Ontario Provincial Police that cleared three Toronto officers of potentially colluding.
Defence lawyer Nadar Hasan panned the OPP report, saying it had relitigated evidence the jury had already settled on — and lambasting Toronto’s police union president and Premier Doug Ford, who said the judge in the case should apologize.
Hasan’s client, Zameer, was acquitted of first-degree murder by a jury in the death of Det. Const. Jeffrey Northrup, a plainclothes officer who was fatally run over in downtown Toronto in the summer of 2021.
The judge in that case called into question the testimony of central witnesses in the Crown’s argument — Det. Lisa Forbes, Det. Const. Antonio Correa and Det. Const. Scharnil Pais — suggesting they lied and colluded.
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Over the past two years, OPP has conducted an investigation into the suggestion, which cleared the officers this week.
After the report was made public, Toronto Police Association President Clayton Campbell said the judge should apologize for suggesting the police officers lied. Premier Ford echoed the call at an unrelated event.
Hasan said the demand was a “Trumpian” attempt to undermine the independence of the justice system.
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“The premier who loudly denounced Mr. Zameer being granted bail five years ago has shoved his oar in to say that the trial judge ought to apologize,” he said.
“If this sort of Trumpian interference with the court process happened in another country, we would be laughing at the absurdity of it all.”
Legal observers and civil liberties advocates have also condemned the call for an apology as an attack on the independence of the judiciary.
“Judicial independence is a cornerstone of our constitutional democracy,” Adam Weisberg, president of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association, said in a statement.
“Judges cannot and should not change or apologize for their decisions based on requests from other branches of government or from witnesses in a case.”
Shakir Rahim, director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s criminal justice program, said the calls for an apology are “wholly unacceptable.”
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Hasan raised concerns about the OPP report before it was even published, noting neither he nor Zameer had been consulted.
On Thursday, he was deeply critical of it for relying on evidence the jury rejected, including details of where Northrup was when Zameer’s vehicle struck him.
“This case was decided decisively by a jury two years ago, after a jury heard all of the evidence,” he told reporters on Thursday. “We expected the worst from a police investigation into other police. These kinds of reviews invariably range from the inadequate to outright whitewashing… But what we got was far worse.”
Hasan said he wants to see a public inquiry into what went wrong with his client’s arrest and charging, as well as a broader look into the new OPP investigation.
“It’s scandalous that these sister police agencies are now trying to pass this off as either an independent investigation or one that uncovered new evidence,” he said.
Hasan demanded the release of all communications between Toronto police, its union and OPP during the drafting of the investigation.
“We need to now set the record straight about this so-called OPP report that was released this week,” he said.
“We are here today because we are witnessing a chilling moment in the history of the Canadian justice system.”
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After the release of the report, Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw praised Forbes, Correa and Pais for their resilience.
“Their reputations were questioned publicly and repeatedly, their credibility was challenged and in the court of public opinion, some had convicted them,” he said at a news conference Tuesday.
“That is an extraordinarily heavy burden for anyone to carry.”
The Supreme Court of Canada agreed on Thursday to hear a challenge of a Liberal government ban on firearms models and variants it considers fit for the battlefield, not hunting and sport shooting.
The government banned the use, sale and importation of 1,500 firearms models and variants in May 2020. The move was generally applauded by gun control advocates as a first step toward removing firearms used in mass shootings from circulation.
In October 2023, a Federal Court judge dismissed a request to strike down the ban as unlawful and beyond the scope of the powers delegated to the federal cabinet.
A not-for-profit advocacy organization, firearm owners, businesses, hunters, and recreational and sport shooters appealed the ruling.
In April 2025, the Federal Court of Appeal rejected that challenge, saying the Federal Court delivered “thorough and persuasive” reasons.
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The list of guns outlawed by the Liberal government has grown to more than 2,500 varieties of what it calls assault-style firearms.
Government officials say some 19,000 unique makes and models of non-restricted firearms remain available for hunting or sport shooting in Canada.
Gun control: Canada adding 179 types of firearms to prohibited weapon list
The Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights said in a statement it was “thrilled” with the court’s decision to hear the appeal.
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“This is a pivotal moment not only for the hundreds of thousands of licensed firearms owners affected by the ban, but for the rule of law and the proper limits of executive power in our democracy,” the statement said.
The group said its challenge is focused on questions about the government’s authority to make decisions through orders issued by the federal cabinet.
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The coalition says such orders are “executive instruments meant for implementation and administration, not for enacting broad, permanent changes that affect thousands of law-abiding citizens and ban billions in private property.”
A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prohibited firearms and devices must be disposed of — or deactivated — by the end of an amnesty period on Oct. 30.
The government is implementing a buyback program that offers gun owners money for turning in or permanently deactivating firearms.
Gun buyback under scrutiny as costs and impact are debated
Individuals have until the end of the month to declare interest.
A key element of the case before the Federal Court of Appeal was whether the government adhered to a provision of the law forbidding it from using regulations to outlaw a firearm if it deems the gun “reasonable for use in Canada for hunting or sporting purposes.”
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Writing on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel, Court of Appeal Chief Justice Yves de Montigny said he was not persuaded that the government erred in considering public safety in assessing whether the prohibited firearms were reasonable for use in Canada for such purposes.
“It may well be that, from the sole perspective of a sensible hunter or sportsman, it makes no sense to ban firearms that are well suited or even specifically designed for hunting or sport purposes,” he wrote.
The federal cabinet is the most senior policy-making body in government and, because of its role at the apex of the executive branch, is best situated to develop government policy and to assess the public interest, de Montigny added.
“Surely, the inherent danger that some firearms pose to public safety because of their lethality and their ability to injure or kill a large number of people in a short period of time, the fact that they have been used in mass shootings in Canada and abroad, the fact that they are disproportionate for civilian use, and the increasing demand for measures to address gun violence are all valid considerations in determining whether their use is reasonable for hunting and sporting purposes,” he wrote.
Most Canadians want the government to ban or regulate algorithmic pricing, a new poll suggests — with half of respondents saying the practice is unfair because it can result in people paying different prices for the same product.
The Abacus Data poll, which was conducted online and can’t be assigned a margin of error, polled 1,931 Canadians on algorithmic pricing.
Around half (52 per cent) of those polled by Abacus said the practice should be banned and 31 per cent said it should be allowed but more strictly regulated.
David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data, said that while most people aren’t necessarily familiar with the term, most have felt the effects of algorithmic pricing.
“I would say most Canadians feel they have experienced this in some way,” he said.
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“The reason why there is so much sensitivity around it is … basic fairness. It goes to a core principle that … for the same product or the same service, the price should be the same for everybody.”
What is algorithmic pricing?
On Tuesday, the Manitoba government said it would prohibit retailers from using personal data to increase prices for specific consumers. The rule would apply both in person and online.
“Algorithmic pricing, otherwise known as dynamic pricing, is when companies use AI and data to set different prices for consumers, depending on whatever attributes they set up,” retail analyst Bruce Winder said.
This could be based on anything from the income levels and demographic details of the prospective customer to the demand for the good or service.
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“There’s a bit of a black box in terms of what are they looking at in that algorithm. Is it my income? Is it where I live? My postal code? Is it my race or ethnicity?” Winder said.
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Currently, there are no explicit regulations against dynamic pricing, but consumers can report unfair or discriminatory practices to the Competition Bureau, said University of Guelph food economist Mike von Massow.
“If people complain, then they will investigate,” von Massow said.
Charging people more on the basis of demographic differences might be seen as prejudice, he added.
Last year, the Competition Bureau also investigated the possible use of artificial intelligence-driven algorithmic pricing in Canadian real estate rental markets.
In November, it said that while it hasn’t found evidence that using computer software to recommend rent prices reaches the level of anti-competitive behaviour, it remains concerned about possible issues.
Some who took part in the Abacus poll expressed worries about the potential for discrimination, a lack of transparency, the effect on the affordability of daily essentials, and privacy and ethical concerns associated with consumer data collection.
While changing prices depending on demand or time of day is not new in retail, using AI or technology is, von Massow said, adding that some grocery stores are attempting to use algorithms to set prices for loyalty card holders.
“If you are a loyalty card member, on your app, on your phone, you will get offers for deals on specific things. That is algorithmic pricing. They’re looking at what you’ve bought before, they’re looking at where you are geographically and they’re offering you something that they think you might want,” von Massow said.
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Many Canadians have already experienced one form of dynamic or algorithmic pricing – when they book a ride on an app like Uber, Winder said.
“If you book an Uber, and there’s not many drivers on the road during a snowstorm, your rates are going to go way up. But if you book an Uber on a nice sunny day, the weather’s great, there’s lots of drivers on the road, your rate will be a little less,” he said.
“We have something similar to this across airlines, hotels and ride sharing. And it’s not about someone’s demographics, or wealth, or income. It’s about time of day and capacity.”
For example, an airline or hotel may automatically raise prices during peak travel season.
While customers have come to expect wild price swings for ride-sharing services and travel, Winder said brands will have a harder time selling it for more basic items, such as groceries or toilet paper.
“Brands can’t have that wide a swing for basic items that we use every day or else their consumers are going to resent them for that,” he said.
“I remember during the pandemic, one store increased the price of hand sanitizer to an incredibly high amount, and consumers just brutalized them on social media. You can’t be seen as a brand or retailer of taking advantage of your customers; that never works in retail.”
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Does food cost more with algorithmic pricing?
Algorithmic pricing has caused a stir in food retail as well, with fast-food chain Wendy’s facing backlash from some consumers in 2024 when it tried to introduce dynamic pricing.
In December 2025, online grocery platform Instacart said it was ending a program where some customers saw different prices for the same product ordered at the same time from the same store when using the delivery company’s service.
For the report, researchers conducted an independent experiment involving 437 shoppers in live tests across four cities in the U.S. It found that dynamic pricing would mean price swings of around US$1,200 on groceries for the average American family.
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“When prices are no longer transparent, shoppers can’t comparison-shop. When prices are no longer predictable, shoppers can’t properly budget,” the report said.
— with files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
Two Quebec men accused of fathering hundreds of kids have been banned from donating sperm in the province while a court case against them unfolds.
Justice Simon Chamberland granted an interlocutory injunction Wednesday against Philippe Normand and his son, Dominik Seelos.
Normand and Seelos have been accused of fathering hundreds of kids through sperm donations in the province and misleading potential parents about the number of children they’ve fathered.
“The number of children conceived through the defendants’ sperm donations far exceeds recommended limits and poses serious risks,” Chamberland wrote in his decision.
“The defendants intend to continue donating sperm during the proceedings. The interlocutory injunction sought must therefore be granted.”
The injunction was brought forward by a woman who is the mother of four children using sperm from Normand and Seelos.
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According to her, at the time the agreements leading to the donations were concluded, the defendants made false representations concerning the number of children previously conceived through their sperm donations and undertook to cease donating sperm for third‑party parental projects once certain limits were reached.
Normand allegedly undertook to limit his donations to a maximum of 10 families, except to complete families already begun, and Seelos to a maximum of 25 children, also except to complete families already begun.
Those promises were decisive in the woman’s decision to use their reproductive material, the judgment reads.
The children were conceived between 2009 and 2012, and in 2022 or 2023, she learned Normand is the biological father of Seelos, which she claims the defendants knowingly concealed from her. She also suspected they may have lied to her regarding the number of children resulting from their sperm donations.
She then began communicating with other women who had used their services to find out how many children they may have fathered. On Nov. 6, 2024, she counted 162 children or ongoing pregnancies resulting from Normand’s sperm donations and 451 children or ongoing pregnancies resulting from Seelos’s sperm donations.
She filed her original application – an order permanently prohibiting the defendants from providing their sperm to any person wishing to resort to procreation involving a third‑party contribution – two days later.
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The defendants contested the application, saying that while they acknowledge the number of children they fathered greatly exceeds the contractual limits claimed, they deny having undertaken such obligations toward her. The defendants also admitted they have no intention of ceasing their donations, the judgment noted.
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With the interlocutory injunction now in place, Normand and Seelos can’t donate sperm in Quebec until a final judgment is rendered.
Normand, who represented himself, told Global News he was “surprised and sad” at the ruling.
He claimed the woman is making up how many children they have fathered.
“For now, I am shutting down in Quebec, and eventually, what will I do? I’m thinking of my options,” Normand said when asked if he would move elsewhere in Canada to donate sperm.
Two Quebec men accused of fathering hundreds of kids have been banned from donating sperm in the province while a court case against them unfolds.
Justice Simon Chamberland granted an interlocutory injunction Wednesday against Philippe Normand and his son, Dominik Seelos.
Normand and Seelos have been accused of fathering hundreds of kids through sperm donations in the province and misleading potential parents about the number of children they’ve fathered.
“The number of children conceived through the defendants’ sperm donations far exceeds recommended limits and poses serious risks,” Chamberland wrote in his decision.
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“The defendants intend to continue donating sperm during the proceedings. The interlocutory injunction sought must therefore be granted.”
The injunction was brought forward by a woman who is the mother of four children using sperm from Normand and Seelos.
According to her, at the time the agreements leading to the donations were concluded, the defendants made false representations concerning the number of children previously conceived through their sperm donations and undertook to cease donating sperm for third‑party parental projects once certain limits were reached.
Normand allegedly undertook to limit his donations to a maximum of 10 families, except to complete families already begun, and Seelos to a maximum of 25 children, also except to complete families already begun.
Those promises were decisive in the woman’s decision to use their reproductive material, the judgment reads.
The children were conceived between 2009 and 2012, and in 2022 or 2023, she learned Normand is the biological father of Seelos, which she claims the defendants knowingly concealed from her. She also suspected they may have lied to her regarding the number of children resulting from their sperm donations.
She then began communicating with other women who had used their services to find out how many children they may have fathered. On Nov. 6, 2024, she counted 162 children or ongoing pregnancies resulting from Normand’s sperm donations and 451 children or ongoing pregnancies resulting from Seelos’s sperm donations.
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She filed her original application – an order permanently prohibiting the defendants from providing their sperm to any person wishing to resort to procreation involving a third‑party contribution – two days later.
The defendants contested the application, saying that while they acknowledge the number of children they fathered greatly exceeds the contractual limits claimed, they deny having undertaken such obligations toward her. The defendants also admitted they have no intention of ceasing their donations, the judgment noted.
With the interlocutory injunction now in place, Normand and Seelos can’t donate sperm in Quebec until a final judgment is rendered.
Normand, who represented himself, told Global News he was “surprised and sad” at the ruling.
He claimed the woman is making up how many children they have fathered.
“For now, I am shutting down in Quebec, and eventually, what will I do? I’m thinking of my options,” Normand said when asked if he would move elsewhere in Canada to donate sperm.
Jessica Lelièvre, the woman’s lawyer, disputed what Normand said, adding that fathering hundreds of children comes with consequences.
“If you think of a child, an adolescent who is starting to be interested in intimate relationships and knows that they have hundreds of half-brothers and half-sisters out there, what does that mean for a child trying to develop in relationships, in intimacy?” she said.
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“This [the ruling] is a temporary relief; we’re still going to need a trial on the merit of that case and during that trial, we intend to show the full picture of those consequences for our client, her children and what it means for the future.”
The federal government has tabled details of how it plans to cut billions of dollars from programs that support science, tourism, harbour improvements, journalism, foreign aid, and even the development of a Canadian-made lunar rover module.
The cuts are detailed in hundreds of pages of departmental plans tabled in the House of Commons last Friday as MPs were preparing to return to their ridings for March break week.
Together, those sets of documents paint a picture of a Carney government that has clearly set significantly different spending priorities from its predecessor, with a heavy focus on national defence — year-over-year defence spending will jump nearly 12 per cent, or $5.3 billion — while dialling back spending on health, the environment and funding for regional economic development.
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“We need to be ambitious in our investments and rigorous in our spending,” Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said as he tabled the 2026-27 budget on Nov. 4, 2025.
“That is why this budget charts a new course for Canada’s public finances. Canadians expect their government to achieve results. To get there, we must spend less on operations so we can invest more in Canada’s future.”
Canada spending $200M on space launch pad, cuts funds elsewhere
The spending plan, known in Parliament as the main estimates, shows that 85 departments will collectively receive about $31 billion less in the fiscal year that begins April 1 relative to the spending levels already approved for the current fiscal year.
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Meanwhile, about 40 departments will collectively see their spending budgets jump by about $23 billion in 2026-27.
The departmental plans provide details on how each organization will carry out its business plans with the funding provided.
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Employment and Social Development Canada, for example, said it expects to save $1.4 billion “largely due to the sunsetting of temporary program funding, including the Early Learning and Child Care Program and Canada Summer Jobs.”
Global Affairs Canada will reduce its workforce by seven per cent, or 887 people, over the next two years and allow several overseas programs to “sunset,” such as Canada’s International Climate Finance Commitment. Sunsetting that program alone will save $812 million.
The Canadian Space Agency has had its budget cut by $400 million, or more than one-third, and cancelled further work on a lunar rover discovery vehicle.
But many of the other cuts are smaller as the government ends myriad support programs, including:
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada will end its Agriculture Climate Solution Living Labs program, a program set up in 2021 with an annual budget of about $18 million.
The government will not renew the $60-million-a-year Wine Sector Support Program.
The Local Food Infrastructure — which gave community groups grants of up to $500,000 for greenhouses, cold storage and processing equipment — will end.
The $36-million-a-year Tourism Growth Program will end. It provided grants to tourism businesses to develop new products and services.
The Department of Canadian Heritage will make reductions in the Canada Cultural Space Fund, Canada Media Fund, Canada Periodical Fund and Local Journalism, realizing savings of $76 million by 2028-29. Meanwhile, the CBC will get $192 million less next year, a seven per cent spending cut.
Library and Archives Canada will cut its spending by nearly $50 million over the next three years, partly by ending the Documentary Heritage Communities Program and reducing Access to Information and Privacy functions.
Almost all agencies and departments that have had their budgets cut plan to reduce their employee headcount and be more efficient with their reduced funding.
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Assessing Mark Carney’s first year as Prime Minister
The biggest losers, so far as having their budgets cut, are the Canada Revenue Agency (down $4.3 billion, or 41 per cent, versus spending approved so far for 2025-26); Fisheries and Oceans ($4.3 billion, or 69 per cent); Indigenous Services ($3 billion, or 11 per cent), Crown-Indigenous Relations ($2.7 billion, or 19 pere cent) and Global Affairs Canada ($2.1 billion, or 23 per cent).
The biggest winners are the Department of Finance (up $8.5 billion, or 5.7 per cent), Employment and Social Development ($5.7 billion, or 5.4 per cent) and the Department of National Defence ($5.3 billion, or 11.6 per cent).
The Ford government is beginning work to create a central, electronic system to manage medical records, a move it says is part of its broader plan to connect everyone with a primary care practitioner by 2029.
The policy is in its early stages, with officials reaching out to businesses and providers in Ontario to understand who might be interested in bidding on the proposal in the future and how much capacity they would have.
“We want to get rid of those cursed forms that you have to fill out every time you go to a different clinician,” Health Minister Sylvia Jones explained.
“[We want to] make sure we have a system that can communicate regardless of where we are. So, lab tests, hospitals, primary care providers, we need to make sure that all of those pieces together work. And that work will be ongoing with Supply Ontario.”
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She said the key to the new system would be allowing information and documents to be seamlessly shared between different health-care systems and providers. If realized, it would allow hospitals, doctors, home care and other providers to all merge records for continuity of care.
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Jones said the system would be voluntary for patients to opt into.
The government said it is currently seeking vendors who can help manage its new electronic system. Jones said a “number of businesses” would be interested in bidding on the contract, but wouldn’t comment on the cost.
The announcement comes some 20-plus years after the government launched a system called eHealth, which mutated into a scandal.
Ontario began trying to create integrated electronic medical records for patients in the early 2000s, but in 2009, the then-Liberal health minister was forced to resign after the auditor general said the eHealth agency had spent $1 billion but had little to show for it. A followup report from the auditor general in 2016 said $8 billion had been spent to that point on various electronic health record initiatives.
Jones said her new plan would not suffer the same fate, pointing to work she said will take place with the integrity commissioner and the information and privacy commissioner in drafting the plan.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy also announced Thursday that next week’s provincial budget will include another $325 million for primary care, as Jones said the government is so far on track toward its goal of attaching everyone in the province to a primary care provider by 2029.
