Another Ontario police force is turning to drone technology for use as first responders for certain 911 calls.

The Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS) announced last week its pilot project will see remotely-piloted drones being deployed to assist in unknown‑risk or high‑risk calls, missing persons investigations, natural disasters or sudden emergencies or any situation where rapid aerial intelligence improves safety.

These drones can arrive on scene within roughly 60 seconds, and will provide first responders with immediate, real-time situational awareness, the force said.

“This rapid-response capability allows officers to assess risks earlier, plan safer approaches, and coordinate more effectively before arriving on scene,” the force said in a statement.

“The pilot will be supported by drone dock sites strategically positioned through-out the Region to provide continuous overlapping coverage. Several launch locations are already fully prepared, with additional sites nearing to come.”

Durham police appear to be following in the footsteps of Peel Regional Police, which announced last year it would be “one of, if not the first police service in Canada” to use drone technology in that capacity.

Over the last several years, police forces across Canada have been increasingly utilizing drones.

Several police forces, including Halton Region and Peel, have utilized drones for search and rescue cases, collision reconstruction, tactical operations and disaster response.

In June, an Ontario Provincial Police drone was crucial in finding a three-year-old Quebec girl who was the subject of a frantic four-day search in both provinces.

The girl, who was reported missing in Coteau-du-Lac, Que., was spotted four days later by the police drone sitting alone in a ditch along the side of a highway near St. Albert, roughly 100 km from where she was reported missing.

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Even in Vancouver — where the Vancouver Police Department’s (VPD) 20 drones flew 1,826 missions in 2024 — drones have been described as critical to daily policing.

One of their drones was key in capturing murder suspect Brendan Colin McBride, accused of killing a man in downtown Vancouver in September 2024 and of slicing off another person’s hand.

McBride was found on Habitat Island by the police drone.

Durham police said its drones comply with Transport Canada authorizations, the approved Privacy Impact Assessment, and all provincial and federal privacy legislation. They will not be used for general surveillance, and do not contain facial recognition technology, it added.

“Public transparency is a core element of the project. DRPS will release public-facing materials—including previously collected video footage—to help the community understand how the system works and how privacy is protected. Presentation-style information sessions will also support community engagement,” the force said.

“Throughout the pilot period, DRPS will collect data on response times, operational efficiency, safety considerations, call types, and overall effectiveness. Findings will guide future decision‑making and inform upcoming funding applications.”

The force is holding a First Responder Community Information Night at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 26 at the Education and Training Centre for residents to learn more about the pilot project.

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• Are you a Canadian in Puerto Vallarta right now? Reach out to us at shareyourstory@globalnews.ca with information on what you are experiencing and how we can get in touch with you.

Canadian travellers impacted by violent conflicts in Mexico may be able to get a refund or modify their upcoming bookings as airlines begin to offer more flexibility.

Escalating tensions in and around Puerto Vallarta in the western Mexico state of Jalisco prompted a shelter in place order in the city over the weekend, leaving many travellers, including Canadians, locked in their hotel rooms.

Canada’s major air carriers say they are aware of the evolving situation and are notifying affected customers, some of whom described the city as a “war zone” on Sunday.

“People are mostly calm and just staying tight and sort of maybe a bit quieter than usual and trying to figure out what’s really going on,” said Jeff Willis, a Manitoba resident who is currently in Puerto Vallarta.

“But behind our unit, you can see multiple, multiple areas of smoke and it looks like a war zone.”

According to the Mexican embassy in the U.S., the military operation on Sunday was conducted to achieve the arrest of Ruben “N,” also known as Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes or “El Mencho,” the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

There are more than 26,000 Canadians on the ground in Mexico. The volatility comes as some universities are on reading weeks and as the spring travel season approaches, which typically sees an uptick in people flocking south.

If you are in Puerto Vallarta or a region experiencing unrest, Global Affairs Canada is urging Canadians to register with the government and to be in touch through SOS@international.gc.ca or +1 613 996 8885 for those currently outside of the country.

Air Canada and other carriers have cancelled flights into and out of Puerto Vallarta (PVR) airport scheduled for Feb. 23, with travel advisories expanding to surrounding regions in Mexico. Flights were also cancelled on Sunday.

“We are monitoring the situation closely, and are in contact with local Mexican authorities as well as Transport Canada,” said Air Canada in a statement on Sunday.

“Customers are advised not to attempt to go to the airport unless their flight which they have a confirmed booking for is shown as operating on aircanada.com. We will contact customers with new flight information as soon as the situation allows it.”

WestJet, which includes applicable Sunwing Airlines flights, Air Transat and Porter Airlines, have all issued similar statements as of Monday.

Here’s what travellers need to know.

Travellers who have had their flights cancelled by an airline are almost always expected to receive a refund or alternative flight arrangements free of charge.

The Canadian Transportation Agency, or CTA, states that an airline has minimum obligations when a flight is delayed or cancelled, regardless of the reasons.

“When a flight is delayed or cancelled (including before the day of travel), an airline has minimum obligations to passengers that could include certain kinds of assistance (standards of treatment), rebooking or refunds, and up to $1,000 in compensation for inconvenience,” the CTA says on its website.

“Their obligations depend on whether the disruption is within the control of the airline, within the airline’s control but required for safety, or outside the airline’s control.”

The CTA adds that the airline must also offer customers accommodation if they are stranded overnight as the result of cancelled or delayed flights.

In these situations, accommodations must be free of charge to the passenger, be “reasonable” in relation to their location and the airline must provide transportation to and from those accommodations.

The Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada (THIA) issued a travel advisory to all Canadian travelers either in Mexico or heading to the country.

“Adhere to all government safety directives and contact travel suppliers to determine the soonest available options for alternative arrangements to return home once it’s safe to do so,” THIA said in a statement to Global News.

“Some travel insurance plans may provide benefits for delayed return due to covered reasons, so retain receipts for unexpected costs and contact your provider for coverage guidance.”

THIA also alerted travelers either heading to Mexico or had a flight turned around that “most airlines and travel providers are providing alternative arrangements for impacted travelers. Flight interruption benefits may also provide protection under some travel insurance policies.”

Canadians with pre-booked trips in the coming days or weeks are advised to “continue monitoring Government of Canada travel advisories for the destination in Mexico where your trip is scheduled. Travel insurance plans may provide coverage for trip cancellation if a level 3 (yellow) or 4 (red) advisory against travel is issued.”

If travellers are already at their destination, like affected regions of Mexico, those customers may have already been contacted by their air carrier about their upcoming flights back home.

Late Sunday, Air Canada said that six flights had been cancelled and roughly 500 customers had been impacted.

“Due to the security situation in Puerto Vallarta,  Air Canada has temporarily suspended operations there today [Sunday],” said Air Canada in a written statement.

“We have cancelled three flights to and three flights from PVR to and from Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, representing just under 500 customers in total each way.”

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Depending on the airline and type of booking, some customers may be able to modify or cancel their travel plans if they don’t want to wait to see how the situation in Mexico evolves.

Air travel bookings may include flexibility options for changes or cancellations, which often come at a higher price premium, while most basic fare options mean customers have to pay a penalty to make any changes or request a refund.

But some airlines are making exceptions to these policies, given the circumstances, by waiving change fees and penalties to offer more flexibility for customers — even for the most basic fares.

Although all flights scheduled for Feb. 23 into and out of Puerto Vallarta have been cancelled by major Canadian airlines, all have confirmed through statements that there are some flexible change options for flights scheduled through Feb. 25.

In most cases, this means customers with flights scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday into and out of Puerto Vallarta and some other Mexican destinations will be able to modify their bookings without having to pay a penalty.

“A flexible policy is in place until the 25th, meaning customers can change their ticket without incurring change fees (a price difference may apply), regardless of the fare they purchased. They can do that on the website or the app,” said Air Canada in a statement sent to Global News Monday.

Similar flexibility options are being offered through Westjet, along with Sunwing Airlines, Air Transat and Porter Airlines, according to separate statements sent to Global News on Monday.

“WestJet’s flexible/change policy has been put into effect for guests travelling to PVR, GDL and ZLO over the next two days. For guests currently in destination, WestJet and Sunwing are arranging extended stays so guests can comply with local official guidelines,” said WestJet in a written statement.

“Exceptional flexibility conditions are offered to travellers with a scheduled flight to Puerto Vallarta on Feb. 24 or 25. They may change their booking without penalty, or cancel their trip and receive a travel credit valid for 12 months from the original return date,” said Air Transat in a written statement.

“Puerto Vallarta operations are currently suspended due to airport restrictions. Two round-trip flights from Ottawa and Toronto were cancelled today. Passengers are currently being offered complimentary flight changes through Feb. 25,” said Porter Airlines in a written statement.

Sunwing also shared a statement, citing WestJet’s flight cancellations.

Sunwing is owned by WestJet.

“Change fees will be waived or you may request a refund to your original form of payment. Customers with imminent travel plans are encouraged to check the status of their flight prior to heading to the airport. Please contact our Sales Centre or Group Sales team … for flexible booking options if you are scheduled to travel to Puerto Vallarta between February 22 and 25,” said Sunwing Airlines in a statement.

Are you a Canadian in Puerto Vallarta right now? Reach out to us at shareyourstory@globalnews.ca or using the contact form below to share your experience and how we can get in touch with you.

Now that the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympic Games have come and gone, Canada ended up finishing lower in the medal count than in previous years.

At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, Canada secured 26 medals, and at the PyeongChang Olympics in 2018, the country won 29, marking these Games as the most successful Canadian performance in terms of overall medals at the Winter Olympics.

Canada also took home 25 medals at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and 26 medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

With Canada waving goodbye to the 2026 Olympic Games with just 21 medals, many Canadians may be wondering what was different this year.

Canadian Olympic Committee chief executive David Shoemaker spoke at a press conference on Sunday, emphasizing the need for increased funding.

“Core funding for national sports organizations has not increased in 20 years,” Shoemaker said. “It needs to.”

“It’s the money these organizations count on to fund operations, athletes, coaches and support staff. They safeguard the pathway from playground to podium.”

Ann Rucklinger, CEO of Own the Podium, a non-profit organization that “assists national sports bodies in Canada with their investment and training strategies,” said to Global News last week that Canada usually starts off the Winter Olympics slowly.

“We didn’t set a real specific medal target. We’re always trying to improve on our previous performance, but we knew that our athlete pool was pretty shallow compared to previous games coming into Milan-Cortina, so that was certainly a concern for us,” she said

However, Rucklinger cites the real “challenge” for the decrease in medals this Olympics to be federal funding.

The Canadian Olympic and Paralympic committees have pressed the federal government on behalf of national sport organizations (NSOs) for an increase in core funding, with the latest ask a $144-million raise in 2025. However, the federal budget had not allocated new money for sport.

Core funding is money all NSOs count on to fund operations, athletes, coaches and support staff, and they say it hasn’t increased since 2005. The four revenue pillars for NSOs are registration fees, corporate sponsorship, hosting events and government funding.

Two Canadian federal budgets have passed without an increase, although athletes did see a $410 raise in their monthly athlete assistance cheques in the 2024 budget.

Looking ahead to the 2030 French Alps Olympics, Rucklinger believes that NSOs will feel the strain.

“When it comes time to 2030, they’re [national sport organizations] really challenged to be able to invest sufficient financial resources in coaching, daily training, environments, daily competition, opportunities for athletes as they gear up for 2030.”

When it comes to the correlation between funding and athletic results, Rucklinger said it is “very direct.”

“For the national sport organizations, they have not had an increase in their core support funding for 15 to 20 years,” she said.

“So just layer that up against inflation and so they are having to do more with the same amount of money — and in fact it’s less money because the cost of doing business in the high-performance program is higher.“

Added with other competing nations investing more than Canada, Rucklinger called this “a huge financial gap.”

“What that means for a national sport organization is they have not been able to focus on the development part of their high-performance programs.”

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Bruce Kidd, a professor emeritus in sport and public policy at the University of Toronto, says that there are many expenses at large that athletes need to think about, among them “living expenses, child care, tuition money for those in university.”

“You want to feel confident that you will be able to put bread on the table and a roof over your head,” he said.

Kidd also said that the competition aspect of training can also be costly and can include travel expenses, paying to train in facilities and equipment.

“In the case of winter sports, it involves the costs of summer training camps,” said Kidd. “Most of these sports are very specialized, so there are only so many places where they can train. That’s a huge area of costs.”

Part of this process is trying to attract top coaches and support staff to Canada.

“[It’s] tough [trying to] attract the quality of coaches and retain some of our top coaches because there’s not significant enough resources for us to be able to do that. Athletes are having to pay more fees in order for them to be able to fully commit to the high-performance program of their national sport organizations. So, all those things add up,” Rucklinger said.

Kidd said if he had to pick one area to invest in for ” high-performance development,” it would be coaching.

“Canada has been lucky as a country that attracts immigrants to be able to attract coaches from other countries, but it is also important for us to develop our own coaches,” said Kidd.

“At a time when sport is underfunded, it’s not a terrific time to encourage young Canadians to become high-performance coaches.”

However, despite the financial setbacks, the desire to come out victorious in Milan was still palpable.

“It goes back to that core message, that this feeling of patriotism, pride in country, the aspiration to do great things on the world stage, to sing ‘O Canada,’” Shoemaker said.

Yet he said these Olympics also posed difficult questions.

“These Games brought us together, as they always do. In return, they provided an opportunity to ask ourselves, ‘How do we want to show up on the world stage? What kind of country do we want to represent? Who do we want to be?’” Shoemaker asked.

“In some ways, I think waiting eight days for a gold medal emphasized this point.”

Before he’d even been prime minister for a week, Mark Carney was in the air, en route first to Paris, for a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and then over to London to sit down with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Since then, Carney has hardly stopped, and by the time he marks his first anniversary as prime minister, he will have spent one of every five days in office out of the country.

Global News analyzed the itineraries of Carney and former prime ministers Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau and found that Carney has been on the road more than his two predecessors, a reflection of Carney’s promise, made during last spring’s election campaign, to diversify and strengthen Canada’s trade and security relationships beyond the United States.

“This prime minister has made trade diversification a real centrepiece of his time in office. And so it makes sense that he’s going out there trying to make deals,” said Roland Paris, a University of Ottawa professor who briefly served as a foreign policy advisor to Trudeau.

On Monday, the Prime Minister’s Office announced Carney will be wheels up again this week.

The Royal Canadian Air Force CC-330 Husky aircraft that carries the prime minister, aides, the media and others on these delegations will, beginning on Thursday, circumnavigate the globe, flying east from Ottawa to touchdown in Mumbai, New Delhi, Canberra, Sydney and Tokyo before returning to Ottawa.

And it will be Carney’s second circumnavigation in as many months.

In January, Carney flew west to Vancouver and then kept going to Beijing, Doha, Davos and back to Ottawa.

By the time he returns home on March 7, Carney will have spent 68 days abroad in his first year, which, when you subtract the 36 days of the 2025 general election, represents more than 20 per cent of his time in office. By comparison, Trudeau was abroad for 34 days, or 9.3 per cent of the time, while Harper was abroad for 54 days, or 15 per cent of his first year.

Liberals say Carney’s travel is paying off.

“We live in a world where Canada continues to develop trading relationships, other strategic partnerships right around the world, and if I look at the job numbers, it’s sure yielding dividends,” said government House leader Steven MacKinnon.

But the pace — and cost — of Carney’s travel has been a frequent target for opposition MPs.

“He has flown enough kilometres to circle the earth four times, but after all that globetrotting, Canadians still get no deals, no relief, higher tariffs and higher bills,” said Carole Anstey, the Conservative MP for Long Range Mountains, in the House of Commons on Nov. 21.

“Every time the prime minister steps off a private jet, Canadians get hit with another tariff hike. After the U.S., there were higher tariffs. After China, there were new tariffs on seafood and grain.”

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Mark Strahl, the Conservative MP for Chilliwack-Hope, told the House of Commons on Nov. 19: “What does he have to show for all of his gallivanting around in a private jet? He just has expensive photo ops, empty announcements and no real results for Canadian workers. Not only have these trips failed to get the deals he promised but tariffs and costs for Canadians seem to go higher each time he takes off.”

Carney does not, as the Conservatives claim, fly on a private jet. Just as Harper and Trudeau did, Carney flies on a Royal Canadian Air Force plane.

That said, Paris, the foreign policy expert, agrees that it is incumbent on the government to show how Canadians are benefiting from Carney’s travel.

“It makes sense for people to look at these trips and to ask whether they’re advancing those objectives,” said Paris.

Carney himself has made the case for the value of travelling to have to have face-to-face meetings with foreign political and business leaders.

His trip to China, for example, resulted in an agreement by China to drop punishing tariffs on Canadian canola. Indonesia agreed to drop tariffs on 95 per cent of Canadian goods after Carney travelled to Jakarta. A trip to the United Arab Emirates won a commitment by Emirati interests to invest $70 billion in Canada (though details have yet to be released).

But the big deal — a renewal of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement and the end of tariffs on Canadian aluminum, steel and cars — has yet to be landed.

And of all the places Carney has visited in his first year so far, Washington has been the most frequent destination, with a total of five days spent by Carney in the American capital.

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Ontario Provincial Police say eight people were injured after a bus rollover on Highway 401 east of Napanee, Ont., on Sunday.

Police say the injuries were non-life-threatening and include cuts, broken bones and dislocations.

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OPP say emergency crews responded after a bus entered the ditch and rolled over in the eastbound lanes of Highway 401 in the area of Old Wilton Road around 7:15 p.m.

They say the bus was carrying 47 passengers and the driver at the time of the crash.

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The injured people were taken to two local hospitals for treatment and Highway 401 eastbound was closed for about four hours in the area.

Police say the investigation into the cause of the rollover is ongoing.

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Nova Scotia Finance Minister John Lohr is set to deliver the provincial budget today for the new fiscal year.

Residents can expect to see spending cuts, which will likely result in service cuts as well.

Some cuts have already started as the government announced last week it was closing three provincial museums as well as several tourist information centres.

Lohr asked all government departments in December to recommend ways to reach a 10 per cent rollback of programs and grants, though said it was unlikely all suggestions would be implemented.

Nova Scotia originally estimated a $700-million deficit, but that climbed to $1.3 billion in December.

In January, Premier Tim Houston said it had climbed to $1.4 billion.

N.S. opposition challenge PCs to sit for more than 8 days

As the budget is set to be delivered, Becky Druhan, Nova Scotia’s former justice minister who quit the governing Progressive Conservatives in the fall over differences with party leadership, hopes the session of the legislature that begins Monday is longer than the last one, which was only eight days.

Nova Scotia’s legislature doesn’t have a calendar, and its members sit at the whim of the party in power. Druhan, an Independent, said last year’s short session that wrapped in early October contributed to a “crisis of confidence” in the Tory government, which has a commanding majority.

“Eight days is not enough to do what we need to do, to voice our opinions, to voice our community’s experiences, to debate the legislation and the issues that are important to Nova Scotians,” she said.

As elected representatives return to the legislature from their constituencies, the government has major issues to address, including health care and affordability. And the official Opposition NDP says that can only happen if members are given enough time to ask questions and debate with the governing party.

“At the end of the day, this government has become expert at not engaging with Nova Scotians around hard questions, including in the legislative arena,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said in an interview.

“It’s a travesty. It is an insult to Nova Scotians that this is how we move legislation through the House,” she said of the recent eight-day sitting.

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It’s still unclear how many days politicians will sit in this new session. Premier Tim Houston’s office said in an emailed statement the House sits “as long as the opposition decides to debate the legislation.”

“Our government believes in a healthy democracy and when our MLAs are here in the city, they are ready to do the work,” spokesperson Catherine Klimek said in an email.

Chender also took aim at Houston’s government over its ballooning deficit and reliance on over-budget spending, which doesn’t involve a debate or vote in the legislature. Houston’s government has spent $6.7 billion outside the budget process since the 2020-21 fiscal year, including $1.6 billion in 2024-25.

“They’ve spent a billion dollars over budget every single year, it’s no surprise that we’re in a deficit now. And the fact that they have not been able to make good on any of those promises calls into question the choices they’ve been making,” she said, referring to the government’s commitments to improve access to health care and increase affordability.

The NDP and Liberals have both announced plans to introduce legislation to create a budget officer, a role that exists in some other provinces and at the federal level, in order to increase accountability around government spending.

—with files from The Canadian Press’ Lyndsay Armstrong

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The Parti Québécois is looking for its fourth consecutive byelection win today in the riding of Chicoutimi, north of Quebec City.

The riding had been a PQ stronghold before Andrée Laforest captured it twice for the Coalition Avenir Québec, first in 2018 and again in 2022.

Chicoutimi has been vacant since Laforest, a former cabinet minister, left provincial politics in September.

The Parti Québécois is high in the polls ahead of the provincial election in the fall, and leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon promises to hold a sovereignty referendum by 2030 if he’s elected premier.

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Francis Tremblay is attempting to the keep the riding for the CAQ, facing off against Marie-Karlynn Laflamme with the PQ.

Catherine Morissette is running with the Conservative party, Jeanne Palardy is with Québec solidaire, and Tricia Murray is representing the Liberals.

The byelection takes place with a leadership race underway for the CAQ, as Premier François Legault has announced he’s stepping down.

Meanwhile, the Quebec Liberals announced their new leader, Charles Milliard, on Feb. 13.

Polls will be open between 9:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. and early data from the province’s elections office indicated 11.67 per cent of electors had cast advanced ballots.

Atlantic Canada’s utilities and municipalities are bracing for another day of snow and strong winds, while weary residents get set for more shovelling.

Environment Canada has issued blowing snow and winter storm warnings for much of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and eastern New Brunswick, while gusts are predicted to reach up to 100 kilometres per hour in the Wreckhouse area of southwestern Newfoundland.

Nova Scotia Power says it will activate its Emergency Operations Centre at 8 a.m. today, and that it has crews positioned across the province to respond to any outages.

Some residents of Newfoundland’s capital were posting to social media on the weekend, looking for help getting out of their homes as massive drifts covered doors to homes and basement apartments.

The City of St. John’s says in a statement that all municipal facilities, including City Hall, will be closed Monday in order to give city crews the time and space they need to clear a deluge of snow that’s fallen in the past week.

Some parts of St. John’s were buried under 56 centimetres of snow, while the nearby communities of Mount Pearl and Paradise saw 65 cm and 74 cm, respectively.

“We will continue to monitor conditions closely and will take additional measures if necessary,” the city’s statement said.

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Environment Canada said nearly 330 cm of snow has fallen in St. John’s since Nov. 1, while totals in Gander, in central Newfoundland, have hit 434 cm.

The weather office says northwestern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island can expect to see as much as 25 centimetres of snow by Tuesday, while Bridgetown and Yarmouth in the province’s south can expect the same amount.

Nova Scotia Power said heavy snow and high winds are expected to impact the province throughout the day.

The utility said the mix of weather can weigh down trees and branches onto power lines. It also said high winds can affect safety for power line technicians, slowing restoration efforts when winds reach 80 km an hour.

&copy 2026 The Canadian Press

The federal government’s new defence industrial strategy wants to prioritize Canadian manufacturers and suppliers — but what exactly qualifies as Canadian is “complicated,” experts and the industry itself say.

The $6.6-billion plan unveiled last week aims to boost the number of contracts awarded to Canadian firms to 70 per cent, up from 43 per cent last year.

The strategy itself does not define what qualifies as a “Canadian firm.”

Instead, it focuses on “sovereign capabilities” like aerospace, ammunition and digital services that the government will aim to build in Canada where possible.

A government official told reporters during a technical briefing ahead of the strategy’s public launch that those capabilities “are not defined in terms of Canadian companies or by ownership.”

“They’re really about the capabilities that Canada is seeking to build in Canada,” the official said. “So we would fully expect that any company that is based in Canada with substantive operations here would be in a position to help contribute to the building of that sovereign capability.”

Some of the largest defence companies in Canada are actually subsidiaries of American multinational corporations like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. Although the global headquarters for those firms are based in the U.S., the subsidiaries have large production plants and offices in Canada that employ Canadian workers.

That would appear to qualify those companies under the definition of a “Canadian supplier” in the federal Buy Canadian Policy, which the defence industrial strategy seeks to extend into the military production and procurement space.

The Buy Canadian Policy says Canadian suppliers prioritized for federal contracts, in addition to maintaining a Canadian business presence and operations, “will not subcontract work to non-Canadian suppliers or individuals located outside Canada, in a manner that results in minimal value-added activities being performed within Canada.”

The Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI) pointed to that definition when asked about what should qualify as a Canadian firm under the defence industrial strategy, after acknowledging the question is “complex.”

CADSI — which has praised the “ambitious, landmark strategy” as a “historic turning point” — counts Lockheed Martin Canada and the four Canadian subsidiaries of General Dynamics, among other U.S.-related firms, as members.

“Moving forward under the DIS, figuring out what is a ‘Canadian supplier’ will be up to the Government of Canada,” spokesperson Monique Scotti said in an email.

“Industry will expect it to harmonize and be very clear on these definitions, in a way that aligns with degrees of national security and sovereignty that we want to have as a nation.”

Industry Minister Melanie Joly told the Montreal Chamber of Commerce during an event Wednesday that the government’s “objective” is to prioritize Canadian companies where “at least 70 per cent of what they create in Canada are Canadian components.”

She cited Bell Textron in Mirabel, Que., which is also a Canadian subsidiary of a U.S. aerospace manufacturer, as an example.

“The goal is that we don’t want to be a branch-plant economy on defence” where much of the industrial sector is controlled by foreign companies, she said in French.

But Wendy Gilmour, a former Canadian defence and foreign affairs official who served as assistant secretary-general for defence investment at NATO, said Canada is already in that position.

She said the decade-old Industrial and Technological Benefits Policy, which requires companies awarded defence procurement contracts over $100 million to reinvest the same amount in Canada, has incentivized foreign companies to buy up Canadian defence suppliers to meet that requirement.

The new strategy calls for attracting even more foreign investment by “promoting Canadian defence capabilities” abroad.

“The defence industrial strategy is trying for a pithy, readable document that incorporates this type of complexity,” said Gilmour, who now serves on the board of the CDI Institute.

“To set a one-size-fits-all decision right now would, I think, unduly tie the hands of the government and would not allow the real priority, which I will continue to say until the cows come home: the priority of defence dollars has to be the delivery of defence equipment. And some of that equipment we need yesterday.”

The strategy itself acknowledges that “Canada has a long history of working closely with the United States and looks forward to a continued strong Canada-U.S. defence relationship.”

That history dates back to the Second World War and into the 1950s, with Canadian manufacturers increasingly supplying American defence firms with components and raw materials like steel and aluminum.

The rise of multinational corporations in the 1980s and 1990s saw many of those firms establish Canadian bases of operation — or, in the case of General Dynamics, acquire existing Canadian companies — further blurring the line between what’s considered Canadian and American in the defence industrial space.

Defence industry and policy experts say the strategy’s framework of “build-partner-buy” gives the government “an out” from answering the tricky question of what counts as Canadian.

The framework says Canada will partner with the U.S. and other foreign firms on manufacturing where necessary and purchase outright what it can’t produce at home, with the overall goal of procuring equipment quickly.

“Even with all this new investment, and our domestic capabilities will enhance, there’s going to be limits on what we can do domestically,” said Alex Salt, a post-doctoral fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute’s Triple Helix program.

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“There’s still a role for these American-owned subsidiaries in Canada moving forward.”

Although Prime Minister Mark Carney has said 75 per cent of capital spending for defence has gone to the U.S., requiring Canada to pursue a new domestic industrial strategy, Salt said that figure includes contracts going to those Canadian subsidiaries.

“The operational costs of the manufacturing, that’s all staying in Canada,” he explained. “And then some degree of corporate profit on top of that, from what I understand, will then go to the United States.”

Gilmour pointed to the building of Canada’s new fleet of combat vessels at Irving Shipyards in Halifax, using a Lockheed Martin Canada design adapted from a British Royal Navy warship, as an example of the complexities at play.

“The ship design comes from offshore, and most of the battle management systems, the fighting systems, the weaponry on the ships is coming from offshore, but the hulls are being welded and created in Canada. Does that make it a Canadian ship?” she asked.

“It’s a lot of Canadian workers involved, so that’s a good thing. But the intellectual property that supports the design of that ship may or may not be Canadian, and all of the parts and components of it are very unlikely to be owned and operated by Canadian firms.”

The strategy says Canada “will prioritize sovereign control and the development and retention of critical IP” of defence capabilities in partnership opportunities, including with the U.S.

Government officials said at Tuesday’s technical briefing that IP control can be negotiated and that Ottawa has already had some successes with recent procurement contracts, but did not provide details.

Gilmour said those negotiations will be a cost-benefit consideration, and that it will be critical for Canada to prioritize the IP that allows for domestic manufacturing of spare parts for equipment.

“We know this from experience,” she said. “When we sent our Leopard tanks to Afghanistan, we were in trouble for a period of time because we weren’t able to get access to the spare parts to fix them.”

Salt said it will be possible for Canada to negotiate IP control with the U.S., even with “an increased sensitivity about the entire relationship” under the more “reactionary” Trump administration.

That doesn’t mean Canada will have full control of that IP, he added.

“The U.S. has sometimes expressed concern with giving equipment or control of equipment to allies without strict reassurances that they won’t pass on that technology in some other way to a third-party country,” he said.

“The Americans like to keep their stuff in-house … but not to the extent, at least so far, that they would interfere with our military’s usage.”

Mexico is set to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup along with the United States and Canada in June-July. But recent violence after the death of cartel boss Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, widely known as El Mencho, has raised serious concerns among fans about whether World Cup matches in Mexico will be safe.

El Mencho, the leader of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG),
was wounded in Tapalpa, Jalisco, around two hours from World Cup host city Guadalajara, and later died while being flown to Mexico City. After news of his death spread in the country, cartel members reportedly started burning vehicles and blocking roads in several Mexican states, creating a huge law-and-order situation.

The violence also had an impact on sports in the country. Four high-level football matches were reportedly postponed on Sunday. Two top-tier games – Querétaro vs Juárez FC in the men’s league and Chivas vs América in the women’s league – were called off. Two second-division matches were also suspended as a precaution.

Mexico’s national team is scheduled to play a friendly against Iceland at the Corregidora Stadium in Querétaro on Wednesday. As of now, the Mexican Football Federation has not officially postponed the match, but if the violence persists, there is a high chance the match may be postponed, cancelled, or relocated.

Fans raise safety concerns

The unrest has triggered widespread reaction on social media, especially with Mexico set to host matches in the 2026 World Cup. Some users shared videos of smoke arising from the streets of Mexican cities, while others shared photos and videos of heavily armed cartel members dressed in what looked like military-style uniforms allegedly getting mobilised.

We have less than 4 months to the commencement of the FIFA world cup and there are chaos in Mexico already? Can FIFA assure football fans that are going to the US and Mexico that they’re safe?

Was it a mistake to host the World Cup in these countries?

We have little time… pic.twitter.com/W5CBgUXcMH

— JJC (@Johnniejustcome) February 23, 2026

Crazy man el mencho and the cartel may have ruined the fifa World Cup that was gonna be in Mexico what a shame 💔

— V2 (@V2MetaX) February 23, 2026

FIFA literally couldn’t have picked worse countries to host the world cup man. Mexico and the USA are a fucken mess😭😭😭

— Jangle leg (@kwets11) February 23, 2026

This is the country where $FIFA currently plans to hold the first match of the 2026 World Cup.
CA: rY8D3HGVffENSRwHa44tdWwJkU4g81UnGpVJyjipump#Mexico https://t.co/t5bzAr5C4U

— Cryptolou (@Cryptoloudev) February 23, 2026

And Mexico is expected to co host the forth coming FIFA world cup. It’s totally unsafe https://t.co/IjJ3T0NQmy

— Olujide Olusola 🇳🇬 (@Jide_Olusola) February 23, 2026

I suggest fifa cancel the Mexico from hosting the World Cup for the safety of the fans

— Desmond Des Des (@jk102801) February 23, 2026

Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco, is scheduled to stage four FIFA World Cup matches in June, including two involving South Korea. Mexico, Spain, Uruguay and Colombia are also expected to play there during the tournament.

Despite the tension, not all sporting events have been affected. The Mexican Open, an ATP tennis tournament, is scheduled to begin at the GNP Arena in Acapulco. Organisers have said that the tournament’s operations will continue as normal.