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.

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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.

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

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Ontario’s solicitor general — the minister responsible for policing in the province — is declining to speak about the arrest of multiple officers during an organized crime investigation that is rocking law enforcement in and around Toronto.

A York Regional Police investigation into organized crime led to the arrest of seven Toronto police officers and has now spread to neighbouring Peel Regional Police, where three officers have been suspended.

Claims against the Toronto cops related to alleged corruption, leaking information to an organized crime group and bribery. The charges have not been proven in court.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said Friday if the officers are guilty, they “deserve to be thrown in jail.” Premier Doug Ford said “bad actors” would be “held accountable.”

The man responsible for Ontario’s policing, however, has declined to comment on the scandal.

Global News approached Solicitor General Michael Kerzner’s office for a statement on Thursday and an interview on Friday. On both occasions, his staff declined, offering no comment on the police scandal.

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“Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate this interview. The Premier was asked a number of questions about the matter this morning, and yesterday. Those comments stand as response from our government,” a spokesperson said in a brief statement.

They said questions should be directed to local police.

2:07
Ford, Chow weigh in on shocking Toronto police corruption investigation

As solicitor general, Kerzner is responsible for public security, law enforcement and policing in Ontario. His ministry enacted a major overhaul of police rules last year, including allowing for some officers to be suspended without pay.

Ontario Liberal MPP Karen McCrimmon said that Kerzner should come out and take questions on the arrests, addressing the organized crime investigation to reinforce public confidence.

“This is serious, this cuts right to the heart of the relationships between the people and the police,” she said.

“It’s his job to address these kinds of serious issues; otherwise, why bother having it? I think we need full transparency, full acouuntability and we need to start rebuilding that trust.”

McCrimmon is calling for a judicial inquiry to independently establish how seven Toronto police officers were allegedly corrupted.

Ford, however, suggested he didn’t believe there was a broader problem to investigate.

“I love our police,” he told reporters. “Do we have a few bad actors? Yeah, they’re bad actors, they’re going to be held accountable, sure as I’m standing here. It’s an ongoing police investigation.”

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

WASHINGTON — With the last remaining Israeli hostage finally returned home, the real work of rebuilding Gaza is now beginning, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee exclusively told The Post.

“It’s just now really starting to take hold. Things will start moving much more rapidly now that the hostages are back,” he said. “Quite frankly, the Israelis were in no mood to start building a new life for people in Gaza until Hamas was finally held responsible for the last of the hostages.”

Israel on Jan. 26 recovered Israeli police officer Ran Gvili’s body, which Hamas had taken to Gaza after killing him on Oct. 7, 2023. With that final return, Huckabee said, Gaza is entering a new and daunting phase: the slow, incremental resurrection of a territory left in “absolute ruins” after years of war.

“This isn’t going to be an event; it’s going to be a process,” he said. “People will begin to move out of areas that are really dangerous — the red zones — into the green zones. Housing is being constructed. Utilities will be restored.”

Materials and now flowing into the territory with the first steps involving the installation of pre-fabricated homes “so people can start a new life and maybe have a future in Gaza,” he said.

“People will be able to access not just housing, but utilities that work — rebuilding a society pretty much from the rubble of a war that never should have lasted this long,” he said.

“Rebuilding from scratch”

Huckabee cautioned that the rebuild won’t be an overnight fix; the extent of the destruction could stretch out the timeline — especially depending on global commitment and funding.

“We’re talking years,” Huckabee said. “It could be two, three years. It could be 10 years. A lot of it depends on how many nations actually step up.”

Oversight of Gaza’s reconstruction will fall to a technocratic governing committee tasked with the gritty, real-world work of restoring Gaza’s infrastructure.

“This is the heavy lifting,” Huckabee said. “Electricity. Water. Sewer. Roads. Cell towers. Internet. These are not political appointees looking for an office and a badge — these are people with real skills who know how to make things work.”

Most of the technocrats, he said, will come from Arab and Muslim states in the region, chosen for technical expertise rather than politics.

“If you’re rebuilding a society from scratch, you need people who actually know how to run things,” Huckabee said. “You need people who can build sewer systems, water systems, power grids, communications networks.”

The committee falls under President Trump’s international “Board of Peace,” which Huckabee said is focused more on the funding and enforcement of standards. To date, the board’s members include 25 member states — but European Union countries have so far refused to sign on.

“I find it interesting that some of the nations that criticized Israel the most — saying they weren’t doing enough humanitarian work — you’d be hard pressed to find them doing the heavy lifting right now,” Huckabee said. “A lot of them have talked. They haven’t walked.”

A central responsibility of the group will be ensuring Hamas or other extremist networks do not infiltrate the reconstruction effort — whether through aid groups, contractors, or payrolls.

“You’ve got to make sure the people getting paychecks and doing the rebuilding don’t have ties to terrorists,” he said. “Israel has been through too much to be careless about that.”

Beyond rebuilding streets and buildings, Huckabee said Gaza must undergo a deeper transformation — including a complete overhaul of an education system he said has fueled hatred for decades.

“Education will be restored to something that no longer incites children to hate Jews or want to kill them,” he said. “That’s been part of the curriculum in Gaza for over 20 years. That’s got to stop. And it’s going to stop.”

A brighter future

Looking ahead, Huckabee pointed to Jared Kushner’s ambitious vision of transforming Gaza’s Mediterranean coastline into a thriving economic and tourism hub — a future he said investors are beginning to take more seriously as stability improves.

“People have scoffed at that vision,” Huckabee said. “But we’re in a very different place than we were a month ago. A year from now, we’re going to be in a much better place.”

He argued Gaza’s collapse was not inevitable — saying it could have become a Middle Eastern success story decades ago if not for Hamas’ grip on power.

“Gaza could have been Singapore,” Huckabee said. “Instead, they turned it into Haiti.”

To underscore the scale of Hamas’ militarization, he described Gaza as small in size but hollowed out by terror infrastructure beneath the surface.

“All of Gaza is about the size of Las Vegas,” Huckabee said. “And underneath it is a tunnel system larger than the London Underground — more than 500 miles — not to get kids to school or people to hospitals, but to shelter terror activity and hide hostages.”

Much of that underground tunnel system was destroyed in the war — along with most everything that sat above it outside of Gaza City, making the rebuild process exceedingly daunting.

“We’re rebuilding a society pretty much from the rubble of a war that never should have lasted this long,” Huckabee said, placing full responsibility for the war’s length on Hamas dragging out the conflict.

“I hope people never forget why this lasted this long,” he said. “It lasted this long because Hamas refused to let the hostages go. They held on and held on — killing people, torturing people, raping hostages, starving hostages.”

But with the war’s end and hostages now home, Huckabee said Gaza’s rebuild is finally moving in the right direction.

“It’s a gargantuan undertaking,” he said. “But we are in a better place than we were a week ago, two weeks ago, a month ago — and it’s moving forward.”

When soil testing machines were first rolled out on Eglinton Avenue around 2008 to prepare for a potential light rail line, local business owner Anita Dimitrijevic found them “pretty scary.”

But they were only the start. Work on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT would continue until early this year, spanning political parties, governments, construction firms and local mayors.

For more than 15 years, the key east-west road entered a funk, where local businesses closed, traffic snarled and the transit project at the centre of it struggled from one controversy to another.

Dimitrijevic’s business, Di Moda European Lingerie, is one of many along the route now ready to emerge blinking from the construction chaos when the Eglinton Crosstown LRT officially launches on Sunday.

They are ready for the prosperity the new transit line promised.

“Access to the area was more difficult, parking was limited. Many customers assumed that the whole street was closed and as a small boutique, we really rely on foot traffic,” Dimitrijevic told Global News.

“Seeing the LRT finally open feels like a reward, and we would like to enjoy that reward. We are expecting that our community will change. We’re expecting more people, we’re expecting more movement, more accessibility, more connections.”

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The idea of a major transit line on Eglinton Avenue predates even Dimitrijevic’s business, which has been in the area for 21 years. But it was former Toronto mayor David Miller’s Transit City vision in 2007 that breathed life into the plan.

Miller secured provincial funding for his plan to build light rail along Eglinton Avenue from the provincial government.

“It was our proposal, for the most part our design — our being the City of Toronto and the TTC — and we secured the funding,” Miller told Global News.

Then, his successor at city hall, Rob Ford, came to power in 2010 and scrapped the plan. Instead, he proposed an underground version of the route, kicking off years of debate and chaos.

Despite the wrangling at city hall, the route ended up being agreed upon in the image Miller had imagined, and it began to move forward. The TTC, however, was forced to release control of the plan, which would be led by the newly-created provincial transit agency Metrolinx.

Miller said taking control away from Toronto’s transit agency, which is accountable to residents, was a mistake. It made the Eglinton Crosstown LRT an Ontario-wide political hot potato.

“I’m very sad that provincial interference meant a decade delay and had some other pretty negative consequences, including massive cost overruns,” he said. “I’m angry about that, frankly. But it’s pretty exciting to have been there at the inception.”

The line was beset by lawsuits and delays, missing its target opening date. By 2023, it was three years delayed and Metrolinx had stopped even trying to predict when it might open to the public.

That dynamic continued until December 2025, when the provincial transit agency finally accepted the Eglinton Crosstown LRT as complete and handed it to the TTC. The TTC then took its time assessing the line itself, eventually confirming it would open on Sunday, Feb. 8.

Miller said, despite the long and winding road, it would be a momentous day for Toronto.

“It’s massively frustrating how long it’s taken. And I think people should be justifiably angry,” he said.

“But people should also be really pleased that we finally have rapid transit across an incredibly important avenue in Toronto. That connects so many neighbourhoods, rich and low-income people, into the fabric of the life of the city. It’s pretty exciting.”

That excitement is beginning to bubble along Eglinton Avenue, where the potential of easy access is being relished by businesses.

“It’s only been 15 years, it’s a very exciting day. And we’re excited that this project is moving forward,” Maureen Sirois of Vicky’s Jewellery, and president of the Eglinton Way BIA, told Global News.

“Now we’re optimistic. Our street’s looking great, it’s going to look greater, and people are going to be able to access all these neighbourhoods on Eglinton.”

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Toronto police knew it had a trust issue before seven serving officers were charged as part of an organized crime investigation.

A study completed by the police services board last year found public trust in the force was “strained,” with many concerned about misconduct and the uneven application of standards.

“From the public, we heard similar concerns about mistrust, systemic bias, and a lack of visible accountability,” part of a lengthy study found.

“Repeated incidents of misconduct and social media narratives reinforce skepticism, especially among youth and newcomer communities.”

Those concerns spiralled into a crisis on Thursday, when York Regional Police announced they had charged seven serving Toronto cops in a massive corruption and organized crime investigation.

The charges included allegedly leaking police information to an organized crime group that then carried out shootings, exortions and robberies. Other charges relate to alleged bribery.

Those charges have left police leadership in the difficult position of trying to explain and investigate what happened.

Global News crime analyst Hank Idsinga said the force had a lot of work left to rebuild already fragile public trust.

“I think you’ve got a lot of questions, I think you’ve got a lot of questions that haven’t been answered yet,” he said.

“Toronto, what the heck is going on down there? Especially if you take into consideration everything that has happened over the last few years in this city.”

Idsinga pointed out that, if the charges against the officers are proven, it could cast doubt on testimony they’d provided in other cases, potentially opening up a stream of appeals.

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“Maybe they’re involved in an armed robbery investigation from five or six years ago. And if they were a key witness to that armed robbery investigation and somebody was convicted and is doing jail time,” he said.

“I guarantee the defence lawyer from that case is going to look at that list of officers here involved and say, ‘Hold on a second, the credibility of this officer who was a key witness when my client was convicted is absolutely in question. I’m filing an appeal.’”

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow told reporters Thursday she would meet with Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw to resolve the issue.

During an event, the local police chief disavowed the accused officers, saying their alleged actions did not represent the service.

“The allegations against these individuals do not represent the Toronto Police Service,” Demkiw said. “They do not represent who you are. They do not represent what our organization is and stands for.”

Ian Scott, the former director of the Special Investigations Unit, said police had taken a “big step” in announcing the arrests and accepting there was a problem.

“But to some degree they are fighting a bit of a rear-guard action,” he explained. “The misconduct and alleged criminal offences have taken place, and they’re trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.”

There are those who say neither Demkiw, nor the police services board, nor the mayor can lead any investigation into how seven Toronto police officers were allegedly corrupted.

Ontario Liberal MPP Karen McCrimmon said the charges had shattered confidence in Toronto police — leaving the force at a delicate crossroads.

“These are very, very serious charges and it really does strike at the heart of the relationship between the police and the constituents. That trust and that bond,” she told Global News.

“I think this is very, very dangerous.”

McCrimmon said the provincial government must order a judicial inquiry into Toronto police and the officers to rebuild trust. Any investigation that isn’t open to the public, she said, would fall short.

“It’s not as important for justice to be done if it’s not seen to be done; it has to be both. It has to be fully accountable to the people and they have to have trust in the process so it can’t be manipulated,” McCrimmon said.

“For a full judicial inquiry, you’re before a judge and lawyers, there are guardrails … you know that the outcome is real. It’s valid, it’s legitimate. Anything else done behind closed doors or done informally will not have that same credibility with people.”

A spokesperson for Ontario’s Solicitor General Michael Kerzner did not address questions and said only local police would answer them.

Premier Doug Ford appeared to brush off the suggestion, saying the investigation would be well-handled by local cops.

“The investigation is ongoing, so they’re going to continue their investigation,” he said on Wednesday. “I feel both chiefs are doing an incredible job, and they’re going to cross every ‘t’ and dot every ‘i.’”

Ford said the arrest of seven serving officers in a massive organized crime investigation should not shake public confidence.

“I don’t want to paint a broad brush or tarnish the police,” he said.

“We have phenomenal police officers … I don’t want the pubic to lose trust in our great trust, they are incredible. There’s always, (in) any organization, a few bad apples and the courts are going to decide.”

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Ms Cane was given two tickets to the Newmarket July Festival from the Jockey Club worth an estimated £800 altogether

An MP has apologised after failing to declare she had received hospitality from the Jockey Club when she asked Government departments about the impact of increased gambling taxes on horse racing.

Charlotte Cane, Liberal Democrat MP for Ely and East Cambridgeshire, apologised to Commons Deputy Speaker Caroline Noakes and MPs after failing to say she had attended the Newmarket July Festival as a guest of the Jockey Club.

The Jockey Club is the largest commercial horse racing organisation in the UK. It owns the country’s best known racecourses, including Aintree, home of the Grand National, and Cheltenham, which hosts the annual festival in March. It also owns the July course at Newmarket, near Ms Cane’s constituency.

Months after she got hospitality tickets from the group, she asked the Treasury and Department for Culture, Media and Sport about the potential impact of the harmonisation of gambling tax rates on the horse racing industry. She also asked the Treasury what discussions it had had with stakeholders in the horse racing industry before the Government’s consultation on gambling taxes was launched.

Ms Cane told the Commons on Thursday: “I would like to apologise to the House for failing to declare an interest, when tabling three Parliamentary written questions to the Treasury, and one question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

“When I tabled these questions, I inadvertently failed to declare a relevant interest, the receipt of hospitality from the Jockey Club. This was in breach of the rules, and I apologise to the House for this error.”

Her questions came amid mounting speculation that the Government was due to hike gambling taxes and introduce a single rate of online gambling taxes. There were concerns it could rise from 15% to 21%.

However, Chancellor Rachel Reeves later announced an exemption from gambling tax rises for the horse racing industry and it would stay at 15%.

The MPs’ register of interests showed Ms Cane was given two tickets worth an estimated £800 altogether. They included a buffet lunch and drinks.

She had added them to her register of interests, but did not declare them when she asked questions of the Government departments.

The federal government is ordering public servants to be in the office at least four days a week starting this summer, with executives expected to return to the office full time in May.

A Treasury Board message to deputy department heads published Thursday said executives will have to work on-site five days per week starting May 4. All other employees must be in the office four days a week as of July 6.

The directive applies to public servants working in the core departments and agencies under Treasury Board, though the government said other federal agencies, which would include the Canada Revenue Agency and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, are “strongly encouraged” to take a similar approach.

Remote work rules have been an ongoing issue in the public service since COVID-19 forced most federal workers to work remotely in 2020. After public health restrictions began to ease, the federal government moved in 2023 to have workers return to the office two to three days a week.

The current rule, in place since September 2024, requires public servants to work a minimum of three days a week in-office, with executives in office four days per week.
Thursday’s order updates that rule.

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“The Government has put forward ambitious plans to deliver on priorities for Canadians and to strengthen our country,” said the Treasury Board message. “Working together onsite is an essential foundation of the strong teams, collaboration and culture needed during this pivotal moment and beyond.”

2:03
Return-to-office rules for public servants set to kick in. What to know

The message was signed by Treasury Board secretary Bill Matthews, chief human resources officer Jacqueline Bogden and associate chief human resources officer Francis Trudel.

It said the government will engage with unions to implement the plan, with discussions to focus on issues like assigned seating and occupational health and safety.

The message also said Public Services and Procurement Canada will work closely with departments to ensure there is enough office space for all employees.

Sean O’Reilly, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, told The Canadian Press he finds the government’s decision “insulting and disrespectful.”

“I would like to say I was surprised but I’m not,” said O’Reilly, who was made aware of the move less than an hour before the message went out to employees. “I’m really beside myself on just why the decision is being made now.”

O’Reilly said he’s skeptical about the discussions the government will have with bargaining agents, adding that his union will be “vocal” about the issue and push back on the government.

“I don’t know how this helps the Government of Canada. It doesn’t save them money. This doesn’t increase productivity,” he said. “I don’t see how this helps my members or how it helps the Canadian people.”

The message to employees said more information will be shared “in due course.”

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