Premier Danielle Smith’s UCP government has introduced a new Alberta budget that promises more money for health and education but also an eye-popping deficit of $9.4 billion.

Finance Minister Nate Horner says coping with a rising population and lower-than-expected oil prices is putting the squeeze on Alberta’s bottom line.

Horner says the prudent course is to weather the economic storm and work to build the province.

The budget is the second consecutive multibillion-dollar deficit from Smith’s United Conservatives, and they’re forecasting more deficits through to 2029.

The taxpayer-supported debt is also going up and is expected to surpass $100 billion about a year from now.

1:57
Alberta budget deficit expected despite record resource revenue

While income taxes aren’t increasing to make up the shortfall, there are several other ways Albertans will be paying more through fees and changes to the education property tax.

Consumers will also pay more on a number of items, from dangerous driving tickets to registry fees and car rentals.

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There will also fewer provincial supports for the province’s growing motion picture industry, as the government has reduced the Film and Television Tax Credit by $35 million to $60 million.

It comes after last year’s budget 2025 committed $235 million over the ensuing three years to the FTTC program designed to attract large-scale productions.

Here are some of the highlights

— The government expects to take in $74.6 billion while spending $83.9 billion (including $2 billion set aside as a contingency fund).

— It predicts a $9.4-billion deficit, the largest since the COVID-19 crisis when the budget came in nearly $17 billion in the red for 2020-2021.

— This is the second deficit under Premier Danielle Smith, with a $7.6 billion deficit projected for 2027 and a $6.9 billion deficit for the year after that.

— Taxpayer supported debt is set to increase by nearly $17 billion, reaching almost $109 billion in 2026 and almost $138 billion by 2029.

— Spending on education and health care is boosted at rates higher than the rate of population plus inflation (pegged in the budget at 3.7 per cent).

— Big ticket spending on education at $10.8 billion (7.2 per cent more than last year) and health care at $34.4 billion (5.8 per cent more than 2025-2026).

— A tax is to be introduced in 2027 on personal rental vehicles. It’s to be set at six per cent of the price of the rental before other taxes are calculated. Long-term leases and non-passenger rentals, like moving trucks, are to be excluded.

— A mandatory tourism levy applied to hotel rooms and other short-term accommodations rises in April to six per cent from four per cent.

— Fees and penalties are going up for some driving offences, corporate registry filing and licensing, and registration for businesses and charities

More to come…

— With a file from Karen Bartko, Global News

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One of Quebec’s best-known coffee producers is bringing production back to Canada after shifting part of its operations to the United States during a period of steep tariffs.

Sherbrooke-based Café William says it has begun repatriating a portion of its production to Quebec following a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that led to the removal of tariffs on coffee exports to the United States.

The company had temporarily transferred some production south of the border after tariffs exceeding 35 per cent threatened the viability of certain contracts with American private-label clients.

In a statement, Café William said the move was a temporary measure designed to protect its Quebec operations and workforce.

“To mitigate these impacts while preserving jobs and operations in Quebec, Café William entered into a production exchange agreement with an American partner,” the company said.

“With the tariffs now revoked, we are able to bring this production back to our facilities in Sherbrooke and resume normal operations in Canada.”

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The company added that throughout the transition, all Café William products sold in Canada continued to be roasted in Sherbrooke and no layoffs occurred.

It says it is now hiring to support increased production capacity in Quebec.

The Sherbrooke Chamber of Commerce told Global News that the move reflects what other businesses in the region have also been facing.

In a statement, the chamber said tariff uncertainty has had a “tangible impact” on manufacturing and agri-food businesses across Sherbrooke and the Eastern Townships.

“Even when companies are not directly targeted by tariffs, the instability creates an unpredictable business environment,” the chamber said, pointing to fluctuations in input costs, pressure on margins, logistical delays and increased caution among American partners.

The chamber said businesses are responding strategically.

“Many are working to diversify their export markets, further secure their supply chains, or bring certain operations back to Quebec to reduce their exposure to tariff risk,” the statement said.

“Predictability in trade rules is essential to enable companies to invest, hire, and plan for medium and long-term growth.”

Café William, which has operated in Quebec for nearly 40 years, says the return of production to Sherbrooke marks a reversal of a strategy it adopted last year to navigate the trade dispute.

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A Conservative MP wants to identify federal public servants or members of the Canadian Armed Forces who sympathize with the left-wing antifa movement.

Edmonton MP Garnett Genuis has asked federal departments and agencies, as well as the military, if any of their employees are now, or have ever been, members of the decentralized protest movement that stands in opposition to fascist and far-right ideologies.

“Antifa” is not a formal organization, but an umbrella term for political movements that oppose far-right, racist and fascist groups.

Antifa has become a fixation for U.S. President Donald Trump, and a lightning rod for right-wing websites and commentators, who depict the counter-protesters as violent mobs. The administration has controversially declared antifa a domestic terrorist organization, although the designation does not appear to have a basis in U.S. law.

Genuis has asked the Canadian government for a formal response on whether it permits “membership or involvement” with antifa for public servants or members of the CAF, and how many “people active in Antifa activities” Ottawa employs.

The Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan MP also wants to know if any bureaucrats or CAF members have been “disciplined … for Antifa-related activities.”

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Bernie Farber, a longtime social justice and anti-hate advocate, noted that going back decades, most CAF members would be considered anti-fascist.

“The vast majority of Canadians who helped build this country in the last century were [anti-fascist],” Farber said in an interview.

“[Antifa is] not a card-carrying organization … it’s a concept. It’s a concept that has been strong ever since democracy has been strong; it’s society’s way of saying strongly and clearly that they are against dictatorship, against hatred and against racism.”

The U.S.-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies noted that violent acts connected to antifa have typically involved groups counter-protesting fascist and far-right groups.

But according to a 2025 study by the think tank, while broadly “left-wing” political violence has risen in the U.S. over the last decade, it remains at a lower level than “right-wing” or “jihadist” extremist violence over that same period.

With Trump’s extreme unpopularity in Canada, most Canadian Conservatives try to avoid any appearance of ideological overlap with U.S. Republicans. At the same time, antifa has not become the mainstream political target in Canada to the extent it has south of the border.

On Parliament Hill Monday afternoon, Genuis declined to answer questions about what prompted the antifa probe, suggesting Global News contact his office, which had not responded to Global’s questions as of Thursday morning.

Genuis put his questions to the government via the Order Paper, a process that allows any MP to submit written queries to federal departments and agencies. The written questions are typically used by opposition MPs to get factual and detailed responses about government programs, policy or spending. The government has 45 sitting days to reply, meaning Genuis can expect his response in April.

Public servants are permitted to participate in “any political activity so long as it does not impair, or is not perceived as impairing, the employee’s ability to perform his or her duties in a politically impartial manner,” according to federal law.

That would include peaceful demonstrations against fascist movements and groups, although the government cautions that public servants’ political activity “must be balanced with [their] responsibility to maintain the political impartiality of the public service.”

Regular members of the Canadian Armed Forces are more limited in their extracurricular political activities, requiring permission to participate at the municipal level and being barred from participating in provincial or federal politics.

Reserve members are not restricted from political activities, although they are still subject to the CAF’s general rules when engaging in civilian activity.

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Ontario Provincial Police are investigating a suspected “swatting” incident in Barry’s Bay after officers responded to a report of a shooting that turned out to be unfounded.

Officers in Ottawa with the OPP said they received a call that someone was shot in the area on Wednesday.

Multiple police resources, including members of the emergency response team, were deployed as officers conducted a search and investigation.

Officers eventually confirmed that everyone was safe and that there was no risk to public safety.

The incident is now being investigated as a possible swatting.

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Swatting is the act of deliberately making a false or misleading report to trigger a large, high-risk response from police forces and first responders.

The OPP said officers respond based on the information available at the time and deploy significant resources to ensure community safety until a situation is confirmed to be secure.

“The safety of our communities is the OPP’s top priority in every case,” OPP said in a statement.

Police emphasized that false emergency calls divert critical resources away from real emergencies where lives may depend on a timely response.

Individuals responsible for such incidents can face significant charges, both in Canada and internationally.

The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact authorities.

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Swatting incident prompted heavy police presence on George Street in Peterborough

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There were three unemployed Canadians for every job vacancy in December, according to a report from Statistics Canada released Thursday.

That marks a slight increase from a year earlier as the job market tightens and competition grows amid the trade war and U.S. tariffs, which will hit the one-year mark in March.

There were 514,600 job vacancies in December 2025, which was down 3.8 per cent from a year earlier and the highest number of vacant positions since March of last year.

At the same time, the number of unemployed Canadians increased in December by 49,100, according to the Labour Force Survey released separately.

December’s unemployment rate was 6.8 per cent of Canada’s working age population, and up from 6.5 per cent in November.

A job vacancy can exist for a variety of reasons.

Some businesses may be facing a skills gap or sector-specific shortage, where employers may not be able to find candidates with specific qualifications or skills for the roles that are open.

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Employee departures can also lead to job openings that are counted as vacancies in the month if they haven’t been filled yet. This can include people who may have resigned, retired or taken a temporary absence, such as maternity/paternity leave or for sickness.

4:05
Robert Half Hiring Complexities

Job vacancies were up the most in accommodation and food services with 10,600 openings, while construction job openings increased by 6,000, manufacturing by 2,900 and educational services by 2,000.

Sectors where job vacancies fell in December, meaning vacant jobs were either filled or eliminated, included health care and social assistance with a 10,700 decline, while retail trade fell by 7,300 openings, and agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting fell by 1,700.

The Bank of Canada released a report in December after surveying more than 500 Canadian hiring managers the month before about their outlook for the first six months of 2026. Nearly a third of companies, or 29 per cent, said they have open positions they haven’t been able to fill.

The report from the Bank of Canada said one of the challenges for hiring managers appeared to be a skills gap, with 49 per cent saying applicants lacked relevant experience, 47 per cent cited a lack of hard skills and 44 per cent said it was soft skills.

Thursday’s report from Statistics Canada also included a measure of what it calls “payroll employment,” or the number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employer.

Unlike the Labour Force Survey, payroll employment does not include self-employed people, owners and partners of unincorporated businesses and professional practices and those employed in agriculture.

Payroll employment decreased in December by 0.2 per cent, or 35,400 from November, and down 0.2 per cent from a year earlier.

The decrease was mainly seen in manufacturing by 7,400, in wholesale trade by 6,300, and in transportation and warehousing by 5,900.

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Dan Payne struggles to raise money to feed the homeless population through his Montreal charity, DIFY.

“The first year I had to pay everything out of my pocket,” he told Global News from his home office in the city’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) neighbourhood.

So he was overjoyed when, a week ago, someone sent an email offering to make a $2,500 donation to the charity. With that amount, Payne said he could feed 3,000 people.

“I’m a good shopper,” he quipped.

After he replied to the would-be donor, the charity got a followup email from them with an offer of even more money.

“‘We’re gonna send you actually $5,000 and we’d like you to give the $2,500 to a needy mother with a sick child,’” Payne said, quoting the message.

The retiree said that’s when he became suspicious. A few days afterwards, the charity got a delivery via FedEx — a cheque for $5,000 supposedly issued by a company in Ontario. The document had the company’s name and address, but with a slightly modified logo.

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A company representative refused to be interviewed.

After the cheque was delivered, Payne recalled, the scammer contacted him numerous times expressing urgency. That’s a common technique fraudsters use, according to Terry Cutler, who runs cybersecurity company Cyology Labs.

“They use a sense of urgency to make you do stuff that you’re not supposed to do,” he explained. “That’s why it’s important you take a step back, breathe.”

Refusing to take the bait, Payne said he exercised due diligence and contacted a representative at the Ontario company named on the cheque.

“They got back to me and said it was fraudulent,” Payne recalled.

Cutler explained that these kinds of cheque fraud have been happening for years. The scammer issues a cheque to the target person or organization, then asks for a refund or, as in Payne’s case, asks for some of the cash to be given to a third party.

The problem is that it takes banks days to clear cheques after deposit, even if the account says the funds are available, Cutler pointed out.

“You go and refund the person, but then you realize shortly after that, that the cheque bounced,” he said.

So the victim loses the cash.

In their 2024 annual report, Montreal police state the number of fraud cases in their territory rose from 2,417 in 2019 to 11,617 in 2024.

“The increase in the number of frauds reported to the SPVM in 2024 can be attributed mainly to more incidents of card fraud (for example, bank card) and computer fraud,” the report states.

Organizations of all stripes are targeted. But community workers like David Chapman, executive director of Resilience Montreal, which serves the unhoused community, stressed that it’s their organizations that have the most to lose.

“Fraudsters picking on community organizations which are working with marginalized populations — it’s pretty much the low of the low,” he stated.

He told Global News that he’s seen a growth in the number of phishing attempts targeting his organization, which has forced staff to be more vigilant.

“You have to spend money to protect yourself from this,” he said.

Funds, he and others point out, that could be spent on potentially saving someone’s life.

Payne said he reported his incident to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

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Widespread return-to-work mandates are sparking “renewed demand” for office space in major Canadian cities, a new report indicates.

The report, released by Royal LePage on Thursday, indicates 2026 will be a year of revival for office real estate, which was impacted heavily during the COVID-19 pandemic that drove many employees to full-time remote work.

However, the report states that the dynamic is shifting, given major employers such as Royal Bank of Canada, Rogers Communications and Starbucks Canada have recalled staff to their corporate offices in 2025 and early 2026, implementing in-office work schedules of three, four and five days.

Federal employees will also be back in the office four days per week, beginning this summer.

“Employers are placing greater emphasis on how space can be used rather than how much space they take up, prioritizing layouts that support collaboration, flexibility and employee experience. That shift is increasingly shaping leasing decisions across the country,” said Matt Jacques, interim general manager of Royal LePage Commercial, in a news release.

“While hybrid work models will remain part of the equation long-term, rising in-office attendance and clearer workplace strategies are helping to bring greater stability to the market.”

1:56
Downtown Edmonton businesses welcome back provincial workers

Across the country, the office real estate sector is advancing at different speeds, the report showed.

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Some major centres, such as the Greater Toronto Area, are beginning to see renewed momentum, while others, including downtown Vancouver and Calgary, continue to lag or have already largely completed their transition back to in-person work environments.

In the GTA, major companies like Wealthsimple, Lyft and Nvidia secured significant square footage in 2025, the report said.

Companies are prioritizing environments that support worker collaboration, offer proximity to Union Station and provide access to desirable amenities. Office spaces that lack these are likely to face ongoing softness.

In Montreal, competition for larger, well-located and amenity-rich office space will be high, keeping pressure on the upper end of the market, the report showed.

Vancouver’s downtown office rental market has remained soft in the post-pandemic period, with the greatest pressure on larger office buildings as companies reduce their footprints and continue using hybrid working models.

“As a result, downtown landlords are increasingly offering incentives such as discounted rental rates and extended rent-free periods to attract tenants. In contrast, office markets outside the city core have seen more stable growth in rental rates,” said Raman Bayanzadeh, principal of the CRE investment and development team with Royal LePage Sussex.

“The silver lining is that current market conditions present a compelling opportunity for office tenants to secure high-quality space in desirable buildings. Many tenants are being selective and taking a measured approach, with more price-sensitive users waiting for clearer signals that the market has reached its bottom before committing.”

4:44
Navigating Ontario’s return-to-office mandate

Softness in Ottawa’s market will persist, but only in the short term, as federal public servants will be back in office come July, the report stated. However, the federal government’s commitment to reducing the size of the public service is expected to temper the pace of office recovery.

In Calgary, companies are focusing on rightsizing, optimizing and designing spaces that enhance collaboration and employee engagement, rather than a straightforward return-to-office mandate.

“This shift is evident in the increasing demand for premium, productivity-focused spaces, alongside the repurposing of older office inventory.  … At the same time, restrictive parking and accessibility challenges downtown are pushing some office tenants to look outside the city core, placing pressure on suburban vacancies,” said Maxine Morrison, executive vice-president and real estate advisor with Royal LePage Benchmark.

“Small businesses in particular are seeking space that allows them to grow their teams and strengthen company culture, while employees are increasingly valuing visibility to management and opportunities to collaborate in person.”

Calgary’s geographic advantages — particularly its proximity to the U.S. border — are expected to give it a competitive edge over Edmonton, the report added.

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GO Transit says one person is dead after an incident involving one of its trains, which has also caused significant service disruptions on the Kitchener Line on Thursday morning.

In an update, Metrolinx said the incident occurred at around 6:30 a.m. east of Guelph, where a person was struck by a GO train.

Guelph Police confirmed that it is a confirmed fatality.

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The said the investigation is ongoing and further updates will be provided later, they said in a statement.

The collision took place in single-track territory, and GO Transit said this is contributing to both the duration and scale of the disruption.

Passengers travelling on the Kitchener Line between Kitchener and Brampton should expect delays exceeding two hours, along with service cancellations.

GO Transit is advising customers to consider alternate routes, including the Milton Line or Bramalea GO station, where train service continues to operate.

Metrolinx said additional buses have been temporarily deployed to assist passengers travelling to Bramalea GO to connect with rail service and express bus service to Union Station.

For more information and updates, travellers are advised to check the GO Transit website.

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