The Ontario Liberal Party says it will select a new leader on Nov. 21, an announcement that kicks off its third leadership race since 2020.

Several politicians, both provincially and federally, have been weighing bids and assembling teams in the background but have been waiting for the date and rules of the upcoming leadership race before making any official announcements.

Party president Kathryn McGarry said in a statement that the race is an opportunity for the party to build momentum and bring Liberals together

The winner of the leadership contest will replace Bonnie Crombie, who officially resigned earlier this year following lukewarm support in a vote at the party’s annual general meeting in the fall.

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Crombie led the provincial Liberals back to official party status and increased their seat count in last year’s snap election, but she failed to win her own seat and the party did not form the Official Opposition despite receiving nearly 600,000 more votes than the NDP.

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Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith, who finished second to Crombie in the 2023 leadership race, has strongly suggested he will give it another go, and has said he will seek the provincial party’s nomination for an upcoming byelection in the Toronto riding of Scarborough Southwest.

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Ontario Liberal caucus members Lee Fairclough, Adil Shamji and Rob Cerjanec have also said they are seriously considering jumping into the leadership race when it is called.

Former Liberal party president Mike Crawley is said to be weighing a run, as is housing advocate Eric Lombardi.

Ontario Liberal leader hopefuls have until July 31 at 5 p.m. to submit their nomination papers.

Party members will cast their votes electronically between Nov. 9 and Nov. 20 using a ranked ballot system.

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A psychiatrist with British Columbia’s Northern Health authority has called for a new mental health hospital in B.C. in her testimony to an inquest into the deaths of a Prince Rupert family.

The coroner’s inquest has heard that Christopher Duong was suspected by police to have killed his wife Janet Nguyen, their two young sons and then himself on June 13, 2023, three days after he was detained under the Mental Health Act but then released a few hours later.

Dr. Barbara Kane was asked on Friday if resources at Prince Rupert Regional Hospital, where Duong was assessed, could have influenced the decision to release him, with inquest counsel Steven Liu saying the hearing had heard that the locked detention room at the hospital was “akin to torture.”

Liu questioned whether keeping someone under such conditions could damage a doctor-patient relationship, noting that the doctor who released Duong was also his long-term family physician. Kane said that was a judgment call and was “not easy.”

She said there was nowhere for general purpose hospitals in the north to send potentially “dangerous” people with severe, ongoing mental illness.

“They used to go to Riverview,” she said, referring to the psychiatric hospital in Coquitlam. B.C., that was closed in 2012. “We don’t have that anymore. So, they stay with us and it backs up the whole system.”

She said the difficulty transferring people meant she was “pretty sure that there are people who get discharged before they should. Because we don’t have the right services.“

The hearing in Burnaby, B.C., has heard that Duong was released after an assessment by a doctor at Prince Rupert Regional Hospital who was also his longtime family physician, and who found him to be “friendly and calm” at the time.

James Wale, a deputy director of child welfare with the Ministry for Children and Family Development, testified later Friday that given the information available to the ministry at the time, “there is nothing that we saw that we would have done differently.”

A social worker previously told the hearing that he did not narrow a five-day window to contact the family to 24 hours after Duong’s apprehension, because of his belief that Duong was still in hospital, calling it a “big determinant.” Instead, the inquest heard, a social worker tried to call Nguyen on the day the family died at her parents’ home and was told they were napping.

Kane had said at the start of her testimony that safety plans for patients detained under the Mental Health Act normally aren’t done if they are subsequently released.

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Asked for recommendations about psychiatric care, Kane said doctors “need a psychiatric hospital in B.C., a real psychiatric hospital,” adding that maybe the province needed “a couple of them.”

She also said there should be someone with psychiatric training in all or almost all emergency rooms.

Police apprehended Duong after he was found driving around Prince Rupert at 2 a.m., with Nguyen and their boys aged two and four, saying they had to keep driving or they would be killed in a “hit.”

Duong was known to police and rumoured to be involved in the drug trade, while a notice of civil claim filed by B.C.’s director of civil forfeiture in 2015 describes him as a “violent gang member and drug trafficker.”

But an RCMP officer told the inquest on Thursday there was no evidence that anyone else was involved in the deaths of the family, who were all found in bed together, with an electrical cord around Nguyen’s neck, cuts to Duong’s arms and legs, and the two boys arranged with teddy bears at their feet.

The officer said a video “last will and testament” was found on the couple’s phones.

A forensic pathologist said the boys had died of asphyxiation.

If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, support is available 24/7 by calling or texting 988, Canada’s national suicide prevention helpline.

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The federal government says it is making more than $1 billion available to Canada Post in the form of a repayable loan to help the beleaguered Crown corporation remain solvent and keep its services running.

The $1.01 billion would be provided as needed and is described as a short-term financial bridge.

The new sum is in addition to $1.03 billion from Ottawa announced in January 2025.

Last November, the Crown corporation said it would need another bailout in short order as the January 2025 amount expected to carry it through to the end of the fiscal year in March would be used up by the end of 2025.

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Canada Post said it needed access to short-term financing for the next 12 months.

The federal government said the temporary support is to ensure service is maintained while the organization initiates reforms to make it viable long-term.

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“While Canada Post’s legislated mandate requires it to be financially self-sustaining, the corporation has accumulated significant losses in recent years, making clear that maintaining the status quo is not an option and that a clear plan is needed to restore long-term stability,” Public Services and Procurement Canada said in a statement on Thursday.

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The union representing thousands of front-line hospital workers in Alberta says its new collective agreement with the province has been ratified.

In a statement late Friday, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees says the deal with Alberta Health Services and Lamont Health Care Centre ensures more than 27,000 hospital support staff earn living wages by April 2027.

Highlights include a 12 per cent pay increase retroactive to April 2024, and a two per cent long service wage increase for staff with more than 20 years of service.

“General Support Services workers in Alberta’s hospitals finally have the new contract they deserve,” said union president Sandra Azocar in the statement.

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“They won these significant wage increases because of their strength and solidarity.”

The deal covers people working in administrative support, addictions and social workers, as well as food, laundry and housekeeping.

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Azocar said the contract recognizes the vital work that members do.

“While this collective agreement takes a significant step for our members, we look forward to making further improvements when we begin bargaining again in 2028,” she said.

Finance Minister Nate Horner, in a statement, said he was pleased by the deal.

“This new collective agreement provides fair compensation increases in line with the other public sector deals and improved benefits for GSS members,” said Horner.

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He also said the deal’s ratification means an end to collective bargaining with Alberta’s major health sectors for this round of negotiations.

In November, a deal reached one minute before more than 16,000 nursing care staff, which includes licensed practical nurses and health-care aides, were set to strike was approved.

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A prolonged blast of extreme cold continues to grip southern Ontario, with Environment and Climate Change Canada warning of dangerous wind chills and ongoing health risks.

A level-yellow cold weather warning issued early Saturday states wind chill values of -30 C to -35 C are expected through the morning and afternoon, with similar conditions likely to return overnight.

Extreme wind chills are also expected to bring in blowing snow, which can cause near-zero visibility in some areas.

Environment Canada warns that extreme cold puts everyone at risk, particularly young children, older adults, people with chronic illnesses, outdoor workers and those without adequate shelter.

Frostbite can develop within minutes on exposed skin, especially in windy conditions.

Officials are urging residents to dress warmly, limit time outdoors, monitor for symptoms such as numbness, colour changes in fingers or toes, chest pain or shortness of breath, and to check in on vulnerable family members and neighbours.

Drivers are advised to keep emergency supplies in their vehicles, including blankets and jumper cables.

The cold snap comes as municipalities also contend with hazardous wind conditions.

The City of Mississauga says Environment Canada issued a special weather statement for the weekend, warning of wind gusts up to 80 km/h Saturday afternoon and evening.

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Residents are being asked to secure loose outdoor items and report downed trees or blocked roads to 311.

According to Global News meteorologist Ross Hull, Friday marked Toronto’s 20th straight day of below-freezing temperatures; The longest cold stretch the city has seen in 11 years.

“Parts of Western Canada have been basking in above-average temperatures because of a ridging pattern there, whereas much of Eastern Canada, including the Great Lakes, have been in the deep freeze,” Hull said.

The last comparable period was in early 2015, when temperatures stayed below zero for 32 consecutive days.

Environment Canada says conditions are expected to remain cold and potentially hazardous, and residents should continue monitoring forecasts and alerts as the prolonged winter weather persists.

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Canadian Tire has been ordered to pay just under $1.3 million after pleading guilty to 74 counts of violating sections of Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act related to false advertising.

Crown prosecutor Jérôme Dussault says the Canadian retail giant agreed to the settlement after initially pleading not guilty.

At the Montreal courthouse, Quebec court Judge Simon Lavoie approved the agreement, which includes fines and costs ranging from $15,625 to $18,150 per count.

The case stems from a six-month investigation by the province’s consumer protection office in 2021.

The office concluded Canadian Tire had attempted to convince consumers that sale items were on deep discount by including an artificially inflated regular price on its advertising material.

Analysis of sales data showed that the products in question were rarely sold or advertised at the so-called regular price.

The consumer protection office targeted seven products and verified their prices between April and October 2021 in Canadian Tire flyers, on the company’s website, and in three stores in the Montreal area.

Under the agreement reached between the parties, Canadian Tire admitted liability for five of the products under investigation, including Henckels and Cuisinart knife sets, Lagostina and Heritage cookware, and a Dewalt cordless drill.

In an emailed statement on Friday, a spokesperson for Canadian Tire wrote: “The OPC charges relate to five products over a six-month period five years ago. Importantly, no customers were overcharged and the matter is now concluded.”

Canadian Tire must pay the fines within the next 12 months.

Less than two years ago, a federal government report warned Canada should prepare for a future where, thanks to artificial intelligence, it is “almost impossible to know what is fake or real.”

Now, researchers are warning that moment may already be here, and senior officials in Ottawa this week said the government is “very concerned” about increasingly sophisticated AI-generated content like deepfakes impacting elections.

“We are approaching that place very quickly,” said Brian McQuinn, an associate professor at the University of Regina and co-director of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Data and Conflict.

He added the United States could quickly become a top source of such content — a threat that could accelerate amid future independence battles in Quebec and particularly Alberta, which has already been seized on by some U.S. government and media figures.

“We are 100 per cent guaranteed to be getting deepfakes originating from the U.S. administration and its proxies, without question,” said McQuinn. “We already have, and it’s just the question of the volume that’s coming.”

During a House of Commons committee hearing on foreign election interference on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s national security and intelligence advisor Nathalie Drouin said Canada expects the U.S., like all other foreign nations, to stay out of its domestic political affairs.

That came in response to the lone question from MPs about the possibility of the U.S. becoming a foreign interference threat on par with Russia, China or India.

The rest of the two-hour hearing focused on the previous federal election and whether Ottawa is prepared for future threats, including AI and disinformation.

“I do know that the government is very concerned about AI and the potentially pernicious effects,” said deputy foreign affairs minister David Morrison, who, like Drouin, is a member of the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol Panel tasked with warning Canadians about interference.

Asked if Canada should seek to label AI-generated content online, Morrison said: “I don’t know whether there’s an appetite for labelling specifically,” noting that’s a decision for platforms to make.

“It is not easy to put the government in the position of saying what is true and what is not true,” he added.

Ottawa is currently considering legislation that will address online harms and privacy concerns related to AI, but it’s not yet clear if the bill will seek to crack down on disinformation.

“Canada is working on the safety of that new technology. We’re developing standards for AI,” said Drouin, who also serves as deputy clerk of the Privy Council.

She noted that Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, who led the public inquiry into foreign interference, concluded in her final report last year that disinformation is the greatest threat to Canadian democracy — thanks in part to the rise of generative AI.

Addressing and combating that threat is “an endless, ongoing job,” Drouin said. “It never ends.”

The Privy Council Office told Global News it provided an “initial information session relating to deepfakes” to MPs on Wednesday, and would offer additional sessions to “all interested parliamentarians as well as to political parties over the coming weeks.”

Experts like McQuinn say such a briefing is long overdue, and that government, academia and media must also step up educating an already-skeptical Canadian public on how to discern truth from fiction.

“There should be annual training (for politicians and their staffs), not just on deepfakes and disinformation, but foreign interference altogether,” said Marcus Kolga, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and founder of DisinfoWatch.

“This needs leadership. Right now, I’m not seeing that leadership, but we desperately need it because all of us can see what is coming.”

Kolga also agreed there is “no doubt” that official U.S. government channels, and U.S. President Donald Trump himself, are becoming a major source of that content.

“The trajectory is rather clear,” he said. “So I think that we need to anticipate that that’s going to happen. Reacting to it after it happens isn’t all that helpful — we need to be preparing at this time.”

Morrison noted Tuesday that the elections panel, as well as the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) task force, did not observe any significant use of AI to interfere in last year’s federal election.

However, he added that “our adversaries in this space are continually evolving their tactics, so it’s only a matter of time, and we do need to be very vigilant.”

The Communications Security Establishment and the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security have issued similar warnings recently about hostile foreign actors further harnessing AI over the next two years against “voters, politicians, public figures, and electoral institutions.”

Researchers now say the U.S. is quickly becoming a part of that threat landscape.

McQuinn said part of the issue is the online disinformation that Canadians see is being spread primarily on American-owned social media platforms like X and Facebook, with TikTok now under U.S. ownership as well.

That has posed challenges to foreign countries trying to regulate content on those platforms, with European and British laws facing resistance and hostility by the companies and the Trump administration, which has promised severe penalties, including tariffs and even sanctions.

Digital services taxes that sought to claw back revenues for operating in foreign countries have been identified by the U.S. as trade irritants, with Canada’s tax nearly scuttling negotiations last year before it was revoked.

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Kolga noted the spread of disinformation by U.S. content creators and platforms is not new, whether it originates from America or from elsewhere in the world. Other countries, including Russia, India and China, are known to use disinformation campaigns and have been identified in Canadian security reports as significant sources of foreign interference efforts.

Russia has also been accused of covertly funding right-wing influencers in the U.S. and Canada to push pro-Russian talking points and disrupt domestic affairs.

What is new, McQuinn said, is the involvement of Trump and his administration in pushing that disinformation, including AI deepfakes.

While much of the content is clearly fake or designed to illicit a reaction — a White House image showing Trump and a penguin walking through an Arctic landscape suggested to be Greenland, or Trump sharing third-party AI content depicting him flying a feces-spraying fighter jet over protesters — there have been more subtle examples.

The White House was accused last month of using AI to alter a photo of a protester arrested in Minnesota during a federal immigration crackdown in the state to make the woman appear as though she were crying.

In response to criticism over the altered image, White House deputy communications director Kaelan Dorr wrote on X, “The memes will continue.” The image remains online.

“The present U.S. administration is the only western country that we know of (that) on a regular basis is publishing or sharing or promoting obvious fakes and deepfakes, at a level that has never been seen by a western government before,” McQuinn said.

He said the online strategy and behaviour matches that of common state disinformation actors like Russia and China, as well as armed groups like the Taliban, which don’t have “any respect” for the truth.

“If you don’t (have that respect), then you will always have an asymmetrical advantage against any actor, whether it’s state or non-state, who wants to in some way adhere to the truth,” he said.

“(This) U.S. administration will always have an advantage over Canadian actors because they no longer have any controls on them or restraints, because truth is no longer a factor in their communication.”

McQuinn added his own research suggests 83 per cent of disinformation is passed along by average Canadians who don’t immediately realize the content they’re sharing is fake.

“It’s not that they necessarily believe in the disinformation,” he said. “Something looks kind of catchy or aligns with their ideas of the world, and they will pass it on without reading in the second or third paragraph that the idea that they agreed with now morphs into something else.

“The good news is that Canadians are learning very quickly” how to spot things like deepfakes, he added, which is creating “a certain amount of skepticism that is naturally cropping up in the population.”

Yet Trump’s repeated sharing of AI content online that imagines U.S. control of Canada — an homage to his “51st state” threats — as well as tacit support between U.S. administration figures and the Alberta independence movement has researchers increasingly worried.

“My real concern is that when Donald Trump does order the U.S. government to start supporting some of those narratives and starts actually engaging in state disinformation, in terms of Canada’s unity — when that happens, then we’re in real trouble,” Kolga said.

A nine-year-old’s goodbye echoed through a memorial service in January as she told her older sister she loved her. “Fly high my angel,” she said.

Lexi Blackwood was 12 years old when she took her own life.

Her father, Ryan Marshall, says Lexi was once confident and outgoing, but that began to change when she entered middle school.

“She was so confident until she started facing harassment and bullying on a daily basis,” Marshall said. “It basically chipped away her confidence until it was very well zero, and here we are today.”

According to her family, Lexi confided in her parents last October about ongoing verbal harassment, including comments targeting her appearance. Marshall says the bullying often came from students Lexi didn’t even know.

“No one she knew in her classroom,” he said. “She didn’t even know these people constantly putting her down, calling her names.”

The family said they contacted the school for help but were instead referred to a youth counselling centre. They question why the focus was placed on Lexi’s mental health rather than addressing the alleged bullying.

In a statement, Central Okanagan Public Schools extended its sympathy to the family as they cope with what it called an “unimaginable loss.” The district said it cannot comment on the specifics of the case and that it follows a provincial safety education framework.

Marshall says the family felt Lexi’s experience was not taken seriously enough.

Her grandfather, Dwight Blackwood, says some steps were taken, but they didn’t address the root of the problem.

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“They had a monitor in the hall for a few days,” he said. “But our little Lexi wasn’t even in the hallway anyway, they let her out five minutes early so she could avoid the crowds.”

Marshall says the situation became so severe that Lexi missed two weeks of school. When she returned, he says communication from the school was minimal.

Now, the family is calling for systemic change, including more proactive mental health resources and regular wellness checks, rather than relying on students to reach out on their own.

“We’re hoping for change in the school board,” Marshall said. “More direct resources. Not just two or three options that are completely reliant on the student to reach out themselves.”

For the family, sharing Lexi’s story is about preventing another loss.

“If we can stop one other family from going through this,” Marshall said, “that’s our goal.”

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Nearly 12 years after the death of his daughter, Gregg Perras still marks her birthday quietly, sitting in her chair in the Quinterra Legacy Garden while looking out over the Glenmore Reservoir in southwest Calgary.

“It was such a beautiful day. She would have loved that it was so sunny out,” Perras said.

“I like to come here on her birthday, so I came, and I sat in her chair, and I just looked out.”

The garden in South Glenmore Park honours the “Brentwood Five” — college-aged friends Jordan Segura, Josh Hunter, Kaiti Perras, Zachariah Rathwell and Lawrence Hong — who were killed at an end-of-year party in Calgary’s Brentwood neighbourhood in April 2014.

Matthew de Grood was found not criminally responsible for the homicides due to a mental disorder.

The garden, located at 90 Avenue and 24 Street S.W., opened in 2021. It features permanent outdoor musical instrument fixtures and a stage, which serves as a place to appreciate music and the arts, as well as to heal and remember those lives.

For the families of the massacre victims, the space has become a place of reflection and connection rather than closure.

“It gives me peace, not closure — not total closure — but a sense that we have done something for our five children,” said Marlene Hong, Lawrence’s mother.

The entrance to the garden is normally marked by an ornate bronze plaque depicting a tree, with one branch representing each life lost.

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But on what would have been Kaiti Perras’ 35th birthday, her father noticed the memorial sign was missing and presumed stolen.

“I’m kind of disgusted, to be honest,” Perras said.

“It’s kind of despicable that someone would take a memorial plaque from a park.”

Bronze plaque thefts have increased over the past five years as the value of metal has risen, according to the Calgary Police Service.

Acting Duty Insp. Shelby Stewart said it’s troubling when memorial items are targeted.

“Especially ones that carry any memorial value,” Stewart said. “We’ve seen war memorial plaques turn back up. I think once they realize that they can’t take it to the recyclers, oftentimes we’ll see them.”

Police are investigating the theft, canvassing nearby security cameras and asking anyone with information to come forward. Officers say there is still hope the plaque can be recovered.

The families are also appealing directly to whoever took it.

“Just lay it by the rock, we’ll put it back up,” Perras said.

“Walk away. No one will need to know.”

Despite the loss and the recent theft, the families say the Quintterra Legacy Garden remains a symbol of healing and community.

“This place gives hope,” Hong said. “Not only healing, but connecting with the community.”

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Jamil Jivani’s solo mission to Washington has provoked confusion and consternation among some of his Conservative colleagues who want to avoid the party looking cozy with Donald Trump’s administration.

Jivani, a friend of U.S. Vice-President JD Vance since they attended  Yale Law School together, paid a visit to Vance’s office in what he described as an attempt to “build bridges” between Canada and the United States.

The MP’s office has not responded to repeated interview requests or a request for a list of whom he met with. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s office has also not responded to questions about Jivani’s trip.

Two Conservative sources told Global News Friday that some within caucus are upset with what they view as Jivani’s “freelance” diplomacy with the Trump administration.

“There’s no doubt people are trying to figure out why the separate set of rules [for Jivani] and why the freelancing, is this good for us?” one source, who agreed to speak about caucus dynamics on the condition they not be named, said in an interview.

It’s also not clear if Jivani’s trip was sanctioned by Poilievre’s office.

Jivani is not the party’s “shadow minister” for foreign affairs, international trade or Canada-U.S. trade. The party’s Canada-U.S. trade critic, Shelby Kramp-Neuman, also appeared to have recently visited Washington based on social media posts.

Highlighting ties to the Trump administration is a dangerous play for Canada’s Conservatives, given how deeply unpopular the U.S. president is with Canadian voters.

Data released by pollster Angus Reid last week found that 66 per cent of Canadians gave Trump an ‘F’ grade on his first year of the second term, while just 15 per cent graded him either an ‘A’ or ‘B.’

Further complicating matters for the Conservatives is that 50 per cent of their voters, according to Angus Reid, gave Trump a ‘C’ grade or better. So a strong majority of Canadian voters dislike Trump, but a significant portion of Conservative voters have a more positive view of the U.S. president.

In an interview with the American news outlet Semafor, Jivani said part of the reason for his trip is to tell the Trump administration “we’re all on the same team.”

“I think there’s a real opportunity to build something with the U.S. administration,” Jivani told the outlet.

“Maybe, in re-establishing that special relationship [between Canada and the U.S.], we could get to a point where the tariff regime imposed on us looks very different from that imposed on other countries.”

In a social media post Wednesday, Jivani said he had “productive meetings” with the White House and State Department – and told Semafor that he met with both his friend Vance and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

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He also said Trump asked him to “pass along a message” that he loves Canadians.

“I gotta tell you I’m feeling hopeful and optimistic that we can get something really good done for Canadians workers and businesses,” Jivani said in a video posted to his social media accounts.

It’s not clear who the “we” in that statement signifies, but Jivani – first elected in 2024 – said he’s “sick” of the politics surrounding the Canada-U.S. relationship and has attempted to reach out to the Liberal government about his bridge-building efforts.

His professed multi-partisan ambitions are apparently shared by Poilievre, who told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney this week that his party was willing to co-operate with the Liberals to fight against Trump’s unilateral trade war.

“My message [to Carney] is Conservatives are here to work with the prime minister and with the government to knock down these unjust tariffs and fight for our workers, fight for their jobs, and fight for our economic independence,” Poilievre said.

Roland Paris, the director of the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, told Global News that he doesn’t see a danger in Canadian politicians having meetings in Ottawa.

“But that’s within limits,” Paris said in an interview.

“Because I think that everybody, every Canadian, expects that Canadian political leaders will be operating in the Canadian interest. And so, in principle, I don’t think that there’s a problem with these trips [but] it really depends on what is actually said and what commitments are made.”

— with files from Global’s Jillian Piper and David Akin

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