Court of Appeal awards full $240K to crypto broker in fraud dispute

The Canadian Press – Mar 26, 2026 / 8:45 am | Story: 605571

Photo: The Canadian Press

A Toronto Police Service logo in Ottawa, on Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

Toronto police say a man is dead after a stabbing in the city’s east end Wednesday night.

Police say they were called to the scene near Gamble Avenue and Donlands Avenue just before 10 p.m. after reports of an altercation.

They say when officers arrived, they found the victim outside the rear of a residential building and he was later pronounced dead.

Police say a suspect fled on foot, and early information suggests the incident was targeted.

They say a white vehicle was found at the scene that they believe was involved, and it had hit other cars parked on the road.

Police are asking anyone with information or video footage to contact investigators.

Lisa Joy / Lodestar Media – Mar 26, 2026 / 8:40 am | Story: 605572

Photo: Sask. Courts.

Saskatchewan Court of Appeal in Regina.

The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has overturned a lower court decision that split liability for a $200,000 cryptocurrency fraud, ruling instead that a Swift Current man must bear the full loss after he actively enabled fraudsters to access his computer and email accounts.

In a unanimous decision released March 13, a three-judge panel found that HoneyBadger Enterprises Ltd., a cryptocurrency broker, is entitled to the entire $240,000 at the centre of the dispute. The Court of Appeal overturned a lower court ruling that had awarded $100,000 of that amount to the customer, Norman Bue, while giving HoneyBadger $140,000.

“There can be no doubt in these circumstances that Mr. Bue’s naivete and ignorance is at the heart of this fraud,” ruled Justice Neal W. Caldwell, with Justices Jeffery D. Kalmakoff and Naheed Bardai agreeing.

“He was duped several times but nonetheless co-operated fully with fraudsters purporting to be the ‘FBI.’ Mr. Bue not only made purchases and deposited those purchases to a wallet willingly, he opened his computer and allowed the ‘FBI’ free access. Had Mr. Bue made mention of any of what was transpiring to HoneyBadger, the fraudulent scheme would have come to an abrupt end. Unfortunately, he kept his silence and thereby permitted the fraudsters to acquire $200,000 in cryptocurrency over and above the amounts he had already purchased on their behalf.”

Frauds spanned two years

The case stems from a series of frauds spanning 2022 and 2023 where Bue was repeatedly duped by individuals posing as various government and law enforcement agencies, including the “FBI” and a fictitious “Ministry of Justice at the United Kingdom.”

According to court documents, Bue first invested $53,873 in a fake company called “Main Bit Ltd.” after seeing an internet advertisement. When he tried to withdraw his investment, the company stopped responding.

A short time later, someone claiming to represent the “Ministry of Justice at the United Kingdom” contacted Bue, claiming the “ministry” had seized assets from the fraudulent company and would compensate investors, but Bue had to first transfer cryptocurrency. He sent $190,000 but received nothing in return.

The pattern continued when a supposed “Cybercrime agency” named “Funds Recall” offered to help recover his losses. Bue declined to make the requested payments.

Then individuals posing as the cybersecurity division of the “FBI” reached out, offering to recover all of his lost funds in exchange for an $80,000 fee payable in cryptocurrency.

Between April and June 2023, Bue contacted HoneyBadger, a cryptocurrency broker he had never previously dealt with, to facilitate Bitcoin purchases. He provided the company with two email addresses, his personal account and another that the “FBI” imposters had created and given to him.

Bue then granted the fraudsters remote access to his computer and gave them the password to his personal email account and gave them “unsupervised full control over them,” read court documents. He then instructed HoneyBadger to deposit all purchased Bitcoin directly into the fraudsters’ cryptocurrency wallet.

Bue personally authorized transactions totalling $40,000.

But the fraudsters, using the access Bue had given them, sent instructions from his email account for two additional purchases of $100,000 each on May 31 and June 1, 2023. HoneyBadger processed both, debiting Bue’s credit union account under a pre-authorized debit (PAD) agreement Bue had signed.

When Bue objected five days later, his credit union reversed the debits, prompting HoneyBadger to sue. The $240,000 was ultimately paid into court pending the outcome of litigation.

Lower court decision

In a judgment issued in 2025, a Swift Current Court of King’s Bench judge found that both parties bore responsibility for the loss. The judge ruled that Bue’s naivete and ignorance” was “at the heart of this fraud,” saying he had “co-operated fully with fraudsters” and “opened his computer and allowed the ‘FBI’ free access.”

But the judge also concluded that HoneyBadger had failed to comply with the PAD agreement by not issuing a password or security code or signature equivalent to verify transaction instructions. She said that had HoneyBadger complied, “the fraud would have been stopped before HoneyBadger parted with the cryptocurrency.”

The judge awarded HoneyBadger $140,000 of the funds held by the court and Bue $100,000, concluding that both shared responsibility for the $200,000 loss from the unauthorized transactions.

Sask. Court of Appeal reversal

Writing for the unanimous Saskatchewan Court of Appeal decision, Justice Caldwell, rejected this reasoning on multiple grounds.

He first dismissed Bue’s cross-appeal challenging the validity of the contracts for the $100,000 transactions, finding that Bue had voluntarily granted the fraudsters access to his email and computer, and “nothing in the parties’ contractual agreement prevented Bue from delegating specific tasks or responsibilities to another person while maintaining overall accountability.”

Justice Caldwell found that the lower court judge had made a fundamental legal error in analysis by relying on a Quebec case, Alfagomma Inc. v HSBC Bank Canada, which applied the Civil Code of Quebec.

“That principle is grounded in a civil law duty of care that banks [and everyone else] in Quebec owe under Article 1457 of the Civil Code of Quebec,” wrote Justice Caldwell. “Article 1457 of the Civil Code of Quebec does not apply in Saskatchewan.”

The appeal court instead applied the common law principle from Isaacs v Royal Bank of Canada, an Ontario Court of Appeal decision that distinguishes between carelessness and active participation in fraud.

“The principle in Isaacs does not call for a relational approach to liability for a fraud loss based on each innocent party’s relative inattentiveness or recklessness,” said Justice Caldwell. “The issue under the Isaacs principle is whether the carelessness of an innocent party actively enabled the fraud to occur.”

Applying this principle, the court found Bue’s conduct amounted to active participation. He had been defrauded multiple times, kept his dealings with the fraudsters secret from HoneyBadger, gave them unsupervised access to his computer and email accounts, and instructed HoneyBadger to deposit purchased Bitcoin directly into their wallet.

Justice Caldwell, quoting the lower court judge’s own findings, said, “But for Mr. Bue’s carelessness in allowing the ‘FBI’ to access his computer which they utilized to request purchases, HoneyBadger would not have drawn on the PAD or released the cryptocurrency.”

PAD agreement misinterpreted

The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal also found the Court of King’s Bench had misinterpreted the PAD agreement’s clause requiring a “password or security code or other signature equivalent.”

Justice Caldwell said the clause required Bue, not HoneyBadger, to create or adopt a signature equivalent to authorize debits from his account. The credit union, as a third-party beneficiary of the agreement, was entitled to rely on that authorization without further verification.

Justice Caldwell also said there was “no foundation” in the lower courts findings to conclude that the fraud loss could have been avoided.

Since Bue had already given the fraudsters unfettered access to his computer and email accounts, “there is, respectfully, no reason to hope that he might not have given the ‘FBI’ the password or security code or other signature equivalent that was necessary to pay for those purchases.”

Cross-appeal dismissed

The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal allowed HoneyBadger’s appeal, dismissed Bue’s cross-appeal, and set aside the Court of King’s Bench judgment. HoneyBadger is entitled to the full $200,000 currently held by the Court of King’s Bench in Swift Current.

The $40,000 previously released to HoneyBadger following the lower court decision, is unaffected by the appeal. In total, HoneyBadger will receive the full $240,000. Bue will receive nothing.

The $200,000 held by the court will be released to HoneyBadger 60 days after the decision, unless Bue files an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

HoneyBadger was awarded costs for both the summary judgment application in the lower court and the appeal.

The Canadian Press – Mar 26, 2026 / 8:00 am | Story: 605568

Photo: The Canadian Press

A makeshift memorial is shown during a vigil and protest against gun violence in memory of Meriem Boundaoui in Montreal, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021. Boundaoui died in a drive-by shooting last weekend.

Salim Touaibi has been found guilty of first-degree murder and four counts of attempted murder in the drive-by shooting of a teenager in Montreal in 2021.

His co-accused, Aymane Bouadi, who was inside the car when Touaibi fired the shots, has been acquitted of all charges.

The Superior Court trial heard that Meriem Boundaoui, 15, was sitting in the passenger seat of a Volkswagen Jetta in Montreal’s St-Léonard borough on Feb. 7, 2021, when a white Mercedes with two men inside pulled up and one of them opened fire, hitting her fatally in the head.

The death of high school student shook Quebec’s Algerian community and prompted wider calls for stronger measures to stop gun violence. Montreal’s mayor and police chief later announced a new police unit targeting gun traffickers in the wake of her death and that of two other teens the same year.

Over the course of a trial spanning more than two months, the jury heard that Boundaoui was a bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time, caught in the crossfire of a conflict between two family businesses that did not concern her.

Touaibi said on the stand that he was the shooter, but testified he didn’t realize Boundaoui or anyone else was in the Jetta when he shot at it. He acknowledged being aware of the conflict between family businesses, but said his involvement was limited to trying to act as a peacemaker.

Bouadi’s lawyer argued during closing arguments that his client was just a “passive” passenger in the Mercedes who had gone to get food with his friend and should be acquitted. He said his client was aware of the conflict between groups but not involved.

The two men were arrested days apart by Montreal police in June 2022.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press – Mar 26, 2026 / 7:30 am | Story: 605561

Photo: The Canadian Press

File photo — NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Netherland’s Prime Minister Dick Schoof welcomes Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during the official greeting at the NATO Summit in The Hague, Netherlands on Wednesday, June 25, 2025.

UPDATE: 7:30 a.m.

For the first time since the end of the Cold War, Canada is spending roughly two per cent of its GDP on national defence — a key NATO alliance commitment Ottawa previously failed to meet.

NATO accounting estimates released Thursday suggest Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government met the key spending benchmark for 2025 by shelling out just over $63 billion.

Canada has come under pressure in recent years from its allies — and especially from the U.S. — to dramatically ramp up its military spending.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said every alliance member has met the spending target for the first time — all because of U.S. President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about free riders in the alliance.

“I don’t believe that without the present American administration the whole of NATO would have been meeting the two per cent at the end of 2025,” Rutte told reporters at a press conference in Brussels Thursday.

“Big economies like Spain and Italy and Belgium and Canada were far from the two per cent.”

Rutte said that for too long, Europe and Canada were “over-reliant on U.S. military might.”

Carney campaigned during the Liberal leadership race on setting an earlier deadline for meeting the NATO target — 2030, two years earlier than the target date set by Justin Trudeau’s government.

Carney abruptly announced last summer his government would meet it immediately, moving up the schedule by years.

Not that long ago, federal politicians spoke about the two per cent target as if it were almost out of reach.

Former defence minister Bill Blair said he wouldn’t have been able to get all of that money out the door in a year — even if the finance department gave it to him.

“Quite frankly, if the finance department had come to me and said ‘OK Bill, you can make two per cent this year, here’s $14 billion,’ there was no way to actually spend that,” Blair said after a military change-of-command ceremony in 2024.

“I couldn’t acquire the capabilities that the Canadian Armed Forces was identifying that quickly.”

At a separate event that year, Blair said it was “really hard” to convince his cabinet colleagues and Canadians that this “magical” spending level was a “worthy goal” at a time when affordability and housing were dominating the political agenda.

In July 2024, Trudeau dismissed the alliance target as a “crass mathematical calculation” that “makes for easy headlines and accounting practices but don’t actually make us automatically safer.”

At the 2014 NATO Summit in Wales, Ottawa committed to its allies that it would boost defence spending to two per cent within a decade, after falling to the back of the pack in the 32-member alliance.

The issue is not a new one. U.S. politicians have made headlines since the 1970s by accusing Canada of being a free rider on defence.

But the situation really started to change when Canada fell under sustained pressure from U.S. political figures to boost defence spending.

In 2023, a Pentagon document leaked to the Washington Post revealed Trudeau had told U.S. officials Canada would “never” meet the two per cent commitment.

Trump also has repeatedly warned NATO countries not to expect the U.S. to come to their aid if they don’t pay their share on defence.

Carney’s first federal budget laid out nearly $82 billion in defence spending over the coming years, and added an extra $9 billion to the fiscal tables last summer to achieve the two per cent goal.

Meeting the two per cent benchmark is only the first step in a long uphill climb to rearm Canada’s military — and to sustain such high military spending levels every year.

Carney also has committed to reaching the new NATO target — an even steeper spending level of five per cent of GDP — by 2035.

ORIGINAL: 5:50 a.m.

For the first time since 1990, Canada is spending roughly two per cent of its GDP on national defence.

Accounting estimates released by NATO say Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government met the key spending commitment to the alliance for 2025 by shelling out just over $63 billion.

Canada has come under pressure in recent years within the alliance — especially from the U.S. — to dramatically ramp up its military spending.

The previous Liberal government under former prime minister Justin Trudeau did not have Canada reaching the target until 2032 — six years from now.

Former defence minister Bill Blair had previously said he wouldn’t have been able to get all of that money out the door in a year — even if the finance department gave it to him.

But Carney campaigned on an earlier timeline — then suddenly announced last summer his government would meet it years ahead of schedule, and additionally committed to reaching an even steeper target of five per cent by 2035.

Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press – Mar 26, 2026 / 7:00 am | Story: 605567

Photo: The Canadian Press

The city of Whitehorse, surrounded by mountains, sits on the banks of the Yukon River (foreground) covered in snow on winter March day 2007.  

Representatives from all three Canadian territories say the need to improve their aging electricity grids has reached a critical level requiring billions of dollars from the federal government to update, and in some cases, keep the lights on.

Yukon’s energy minister says the need is “no longer theoretical” after a frigid week in December nearly required rolling blackouts in Whitehorse.

Temperatures nearing -50 C saw demand hit 90 per cent of what could be generated, at a time outside of peak hours, Ted Laking said.

Industrial consumers like mines were already disconnected and officials with the city and the territory were trying to decide what could go next.

In the end, the blackouts weren’t required, but Laking said the experience was a sign of problems on the horizon.

“We don’t have time to sit around and hypothesize about these things. It’s no longer theoretical. It is a real and serious risk for the North,” he said.

The Yukon’s power struggles are not unique.

Those in the territories describe aging infrastructure being pushed well beyond its life cycle and a tax base too small to cover the cost of critical improvements at a time when Prime Minister Mark Carney has promised a new national electricity strategy.

Last month, Laking sent a letter to federal Energy Minister Tim Hodgson warning that without immediate investment in new generation and transmission infrastructure, several exploration and development projects in the territory “will either be delayed or rendered uneconomic due to lack of affordable, reliable power.”

“To keep up with expected demand, we anticipate an additional $1.025 billion is required for critical remediation work, increased generation capacity and to support Arctic sovereignty objectives,” the letter said.

Laking said in an interview that while there is aging infrastructure across Canada, supply chain challenges put the North in a unique position.

“We’re further away from large centres, we are further away from port infrastructure. So, what we see is significant increases in the cost of doing business just to do with supply and shipping,” he said.

“But the other unique aspect is labour. Combined, the territories are smaller than many small-sized cities in the country. And that’s a population spread out over 40 per cent of Canada’s land mass.”

The largest piece of the Yukon’s $1-billion wish list is an estimated $520 million to build two new thermal power centres and the required infrastructure in Whitehorse, offering up to 150 megawatts through a mix of LNG and diesel.

“This is really to meet our existing needs but also our projected needs over the next five to 10 years,” Laking said.

“Even with the context of how close we were to the brink in December, we estimate that the demand in the Yukon is going to increase by another 40 megawatts in just five years. So that would put us over what we can actually currently generate. And so we need to move on these things really quickly.”

He said the territory is hoping to have the first phase of the Whitehorse project completed by 2027.

Other needs include improvements to hydro facilities built in the ’60s and a pitch for the federal government to support a hydro expansion in Atlin, B.C., that would feed into the Yukon grid.

Laking said they are hoping for “as much federal funding as possible,” adding that it would be unreasonable to put the cost on the backs of the Yukon’s approximately 19,000 ratepayers.

“Many of these projects actually have a nation-building component. They’re required for us to be able to live here in the North, to grow the North, to meet our Arctic sovereignty objectives, but also to help power industrial customers such as mines,” he said.

‘NOT AN INCONVENIENCE, IT’S AN EMERGENCY’

Ernest Douglas, president of the Qulliq Energy Corp. in Nunavut, said the territory has requested $987 million from the federal government to build six new scalable, modular, hybrid power plants.

Each of Nunavut’s 25 communities is powered on its own diesel-run system that is typically designed to last 40 years, he said. Ten have already exceeded that with the oldest, in Cambridge Bay, being 59 years old.

“If we lose one of these power plants because it’s not functioning properly, then that community becomes a state of emergency, especially this time of year,” he said.

“It’s not an inconvenience, it’s an emergency. So then we’re talking about relocating an entire community. The logistics of that are mind-boggling. So these are things that keep us up at night.”

Douglas said the new plants would continue to run on diesel but have the ability to integrate renewable energy “when and where it is available.”

Carney has promised a national electricity strategy “to provide clean, affordable and reliable power to Canadians,” but details of the plan have not been released.

Earlier this month, he announced $32 billion for northern defence projects including military forward operating locations in Yellowknife, Inuvik and Iqaluit.

Douglas said the territory made its request for funding before the defence plans were announced.

“Our projections do not include defence spending or activities in the North by the Department of National Defence,” he said.

Multiple electricity generation projects in the North have been referred to the federal major projects office for further assessment and accelerated approval.

The includes the Iqaluit Nukkiksautiit Hydro Project, a proposed 15-to-30-megawatt hydroelectric facility 60 kilometres outside of Iqaluit that could potentially remove the need for diesel generation from the city completely.

Douglas said the project is being led by the regional Inuit association and is not part of the energy corporation’s funding ask, but that the corporation is prepared to “purchase every drop of energy that we can get from them.”

Federal major project officials are also looking at the Taltson Hydro Expansion Project in the Great Slave Lake region of the Northwest Territories.

Cory Strang, CEO of the Northwest Territories Power Corp., said the 60-megawatt hydro facility and the transmission lines to connect the Northwest Territories’ two current power grids will cost “billions” but provide options for mines and customers that aren’t available with the current facility, which was built in the ’60s.

“There’s lots of lithium mining. There’s some old gold mining in that area. So once you get the power to that, then you can create a whole bunch of different opportunities,” he said.

Eight of the territory’s 33 communities are currently on one of two power grids while the others each run on their own “micro grid.”

Strang said when individual grids go down, the territory is forced to rely on diesel.

“It’s not like southern parts of Canada where you have big generation facilities, hydro, nuclear, wind, that are all connected with a web of grids or transmission and distribution lines. It’s all isolated,” he said.

Strang said he understands why Canadians in urban centres might question spending billions on a total population of fewer than 140,000 people across three territories.

He said the economic drivers make the money a good investment for the growth of the country as mining opportunities become available and the Northwest Passage opens up for more transportation of goods.

“If you want to move the country forward and really make your name with your colleagues in the world, investment in the North is definitely worthwhile for the rest of Canada.”

The Canadian Press – Mar 25, 2026 / 6:03 pm | Story: 605512

Photo: The Canadian Press

People congregate outside the Supreme Court of Canada as the court hears appeals regarding Quebec’s secularism law (Bill 21) in Ottawa on Monday, March 23, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Judges must have the legal right to issue non-binding judgments in cases where governments override sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a lawyer for the attorney general of Canada argued in Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Guy J. Pratte pleaded his case on the third day of hearings at the country’s highest court on the constitutionality of Quebec’s 2019 secularism law known as Bill 21, which bans some public sector workers from wearing religious symbols on the job.

The controversial law is protected from court challenges that it violates fundamental rights, like freedom of religion and expression, because it invokes a section of the Charter that allows governments to override those rights. Quebec invoked the override clause in Bill 21 pre-emptively — it included the section in the initial draft of the legislation, before it faced legal scrutiny.

Lawyers for the government said they are confident the top court will uphold its law. And while the court must decide whether Bill 21 is constitutional, the justices are also considering whether judges can issue non-binding opinions on laws that pre-emptively invoke the override clause — even if they can’t strike down those laws.

On Wednesday, Pratte responded to the Quebec government’s position, expressed a day prior by Isabelle Brunet, who said non-binding judgments on laws that pre-emptively override the Charter are “useless” and amount to meddling in provincial politics. If a judge issues an opinion stating that a law violates fundamental freedoms, citizens could feel they have the moral authority to ignore it, Brunet said.

“It could create confusion since the law could be perceived as illegitimate,” Brunet told the court on Tuesday. “This could actually lead a person to disregard the law, given this court’s opinion.”

Pratte said the override clause — also known as the Charter’s notwithstanding clause — doesn’t eliminate rights altogether or prevent judges from issuing opinions on whether legislation violates fundamental freedoms.

“We should not confuse the possible political consequences of a judicial decision with the fact that it remains a judicial decision,” Pratte told the court. “The rights and freedoms of which you are the custodians continue to live at the heart of our institutional conscience and are indispensable guiding principles.”

Non-binding judgments, according to Pratte, serve to guide the electorate and future legislators who are evaluating the law. A law that invokes the override clause must be renewed every five years.

The high-profile case is being watched across the country because of its deep implications on the balance between citizens’ Charter rights and the independence of provincial legislatures. The Coalition Avenir Québec says its Bill 21 is a reflection of the secular nature of the province’s culture and values, and the pre-emptive use of the override clause is essential to maintaining Quebec’s autonomy within Canada.

Lawyers representing the governments of Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta — all of which are interveners in the case and have pre-emptively invoked the notwithstanding clause in recent years — agree with Quebec that judges should not be able to issue non-binding declarations on laws that pre-emptively invoke that clause. British Columbia and Manitoba have sided with the federal government.

In August, Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal said it had the right to issue an opinion that the province’s gender identity law for schools violated the Charter, even though the law pre-emptively invoked the override clause and the court was blocked from declaring the legislation unconstitutional. The law requires students under 16 to get parental consent before they can change their pronouns in school.

Quebec’s Court of Appeal, however, took the opposite stance with Bill 21 in 2024, saying it was not permitted to issue a non-binding opinion on the law.

Twenty-three lawyers pleaded their case to the Supreme Court justices Wednesday, touching on a slew of issues related to the constitutionality of Bill 21 itself, how the override clause can be used, and the role of judges in such cases.

Some interveners, like the Public Interest Litigation Institute, have asked the top court to revisit its 1988 judgment and prevent governments from using the notwithstanding clause pre-emptively. Lawyer Lawrence David said the override clause should be invoked only after a law has gone through the courts, not before.

Pre-emptive use of the override clause “enables legislatures to systematically deprive Canadians of their rights and freedoms,” he said Wednesday, and “is contrary to the Charter’s purpose as an instrument of human dignity and national unity.”

Various rights and lobby groups will argue before the Supreme Court on its final day of hearings Thursday.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press – Mar 25, 2026 / 6:01 pm | Story: 605511

Photo: The Canadian Press

Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy speaks during Question Period at Queen’s Park in Toronto, on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Laura Proctor

Ontario should be prepared for “tougher times” amid global economic disruption, but the government won’t slash public sector jobs to buttress the budget amid uncertainty, the finance minister is signalling ahead of Thursday’s fiscal update.

Other provinces have recently braced against the economic headwinds by forecasting record deficits, raising taxes and cutting front-line jobs, but that will not be Ontario’s approach, Peter Bethlenfalvy says.

“The world has changed — and Ontario must be ready for what change may bring, even if that means being prepared for tougher times,” he said in a pre-budget speech earlier this month.

“As a government, we cannot eliminate uncertainty, but we can mitigate risks with a responsible, balanced fiscal approach that supports public services and infrastructure while maintaining flexibility.”

In that speech, he twice mentioned delivering government programs “efficiently and sustainably,” words that are sometimes used by politicians to signal belt tightening.

“I think it reflects the fact that we’ve got to make sure that the money, the significant investments we’re making in social services, health care, education, gets to the workers who are providing, whether it’s a social worker or a health-care worker or a teacher, and making sure all the money just doesn’t flow to administration,” he said Wednesday in an interview.

Ontario has already tasked hospitals with coming up with a three-year plan to balance their budgets, in a bid to get a handle on growing deficits in the sector, using an assumption of getting two per cent annual funding increases. That is half of the increase they received the previous year.

Some hospitals have already started making some “lower risk” cuts under that plan, the Ontario Hospital Association has said. The province would need to add about $2.7 billion to meet the full operating needs of the hospital sector, the association has said.

The province’s deficit, in the most recent fiscal update earlier this year, stood at $13.4 billion. Bethlenfalvy has been silent on whether the path to balance remains the same as his plan in last year’s budget to get into the black in 2027-28.

Balance, however, has been a moving target. The 2027-28 goal is a year later than Bethlenfalvy projected in the 2024 budget, which itself was a year later than he projected in the 2023 budget.

Ontario’s books are in a relatively good position to be able to stay on the province’s path to balance and lower the net-debt-to-GDP ratio, as long as it doesn’t use fiscal breathing room to announce new spending commitments, according to a budget preview from Desjardins.

“When the Government of Ontario releases its 2026 budget on March 26, we think it should capitalize on this tax tailwind by resisting the temptation to materially increase spending, as the federal government and some other provinces have done,” deputy chief economist Randall Bartlett wrote.

“Instead, it should keep some fiscal powder dry to contend with potential future shocks, such as the impending Canada?United States?Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) joint review.”

Bethlenfalvy has already announced some new spending ahead of the budget, including an additional $325 million toward primary care and $1.4 billion to cover the province’s share of the HST for some homebuyers.

Premier Doug Ford, along with Bethlenfalvy and Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Rob Flack, announced Wednesday that Ontario is planning to temporarily expand HST rebates on the purchase of new homes, in a bid to boost a struggling home construction sector.

The government previously introduced rebates for first-time homebuyers on new homes valued up to $1.5 million, with homes valued at $1 million or less qualifying for the maximum amount of $130,000 when combined with a federal rebate.

Ford said that in Thursday’s budget, his government is proposing to expand the rebate for one year, both in terms of qualifying home purchases and not limiting it to first-time homebuyers.

The temporary measure would see homes valued up to $1.5 million qualify for the maximum $130,000, decreasing proportionally to homes valued at $1.85 million, which would qualify for $24,000.

“My message to everyone from the building sector here today is very simple: start building,” Ford said at a press conference.

“To the great people of this province, if you’re in the position to buy a new home, no matter if it’s a condo or town home or a detached home, please get everything together. You have one year to see this $130,000 reduction in cost. Please go out there, talk to your bankers and start buying the homes.”

The province says the federal government is covering the five per cent federal portion of the HST, in a move Ontario says would provide nearly $2.2 billion in tax relief for housing in Ontario.

The Ministry of Finance estimates the measure will spark an additional 8,000 housing starts, at a time when the most recent government projections show the province building 70,000 new homes this year, far off the pace needed to meet a goal of 1.5 million homes in 10 years.

Bethlenfalvy a few months ago called that a “soft” target.

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press – Mar 25, 2026 / 5:55 pm | Story: 605502

Photo: The Canadian Press

Lt. Gen Michael Wright prepares to speak to reporters at a defence conference in Calgary on March 25, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Bill Graveland

The commander of the Canadian Army told a defence industry conference Wednesday that the Forces will be forging ahead with purchases and investments as the country works toward modernization.

In the 2025 federal budget, $81.8 billion in new spending was earmarked over five years to strengthen the Canadian Armed Forces.

“I definitely wouldn’t refer to it as a spending spree,” Lt.-Gen. Michael Wright told reporters at the DEFSEC West security and aerospace conference.

“Ultimately, we have to ensure that we are being responsible stewards of resources. And I can tell you every dollar that’s spent by the Canadian Army is going to make sure that our soldiers are ready.”

Canada has committed to increase defence spending to two per cent of GDP in 2025-26, rising to five per cent by 2035.

“Army modernization is about providing soldiers with the training, the capabilities and the structure that they need to fight and win on the battlefields of today and the battlefields of the future,” Wright said.

“That work begins at home with all of us. We need to be able to generate and sustain effects as part of an allied land force, and army modernization is essential in defending Canada in a more contested and uncertain security environment.”

Wright said the Armed Forces are pursuing nearly 50 major capital projects, including providing better weapons, long-range precision strike systems and a more lethal ground-based air defence system to defend critical infrastructure in areas such as the Arctic. He said the size of the Canadian Forces need to increase as well.

“The most important thing for us right now are people, bringing in more soldiers and making sure they’re getting the training they require. I think we’re looking at the equipment we want to bring in,” Wright told reporters.

“There’s a balance between those capabilities that come in over the longer term versus the capabilities we are going to be able to deliver over a shorter term.”

Wright said the Arctic is becoming increasingly important.

“We’re making sure that we are making the necessary investments in the North for national sovereignty, but what we do in the North is not only going to be the Canadian Armed Forces,” he said.

“It’s going to be ensuring we are tightly connected across the federal family, working with the Territories and working with the communities in the north.”

Nick Murray, The Canadian Press – Mar 25, 2026 / 2:27 pm | Story: 605366

Photo: The Canadian Press

Instructor Karina Vasylenko, front, shows media how the air traffic control simulator works at the CAE training facility in Montreal, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025.

Nav Canada said Wednesday that the country is short an estimated 200 air traffic controllers and is working on building its capacity.

The privately run, non-profit corporation is responsible for training and employing the specialized workers who play a critical role in the safety of Canada’s air travel system.

The role of air traffic controllers in the U.S. has been highlighted in discussions following the crash of an Air Canada jet on a runway at the LaGuardia airport in New York on Sunday.

The National Transportation Safety Board in the U.S. has warned that no conclusions can be drawn yet about the causes of the crash.

John Gradek, a faculty lecturer with McGill University’s aviation management program, said Tuesday he believed Canada to be short about 1,500 air traffic controllers.

Nav Canada declined repeated requests for an interview but followed up after The Canadian Press published a story Wednesday citing Gradek’s estimate.

A Nav Canada spokesman initially disputed the figure without disclosing their data on the shortfall, saying the corporation does not disclose vacancy rates. When pressed again, he relented.

“In the interest of putting this to rest: Nav Canada’s current estimated shortfall against our staffing targets is approximately 200 air traffic controllers,” spokesperson Gabriel Bourget wrote in an email.

“The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers estimates the U.S., which handles roughly ten times Canada’s traffic, is short 3,000 to 4,000 controllers. A Canadian shortfall of 1,500 would imply a proportionally larger workforce gap than that of the United States, which does not reflect the reality in any way.”

Following up with The Canadian Press Wednesday afternoon, Gradek said his 1,500 number may have been outdated and the figure released by Nav Canada was news to him.

In his interview Tuesday, Gradek said air traffic controllers are highly trained with a “special skill set.”

“We know three dimensions. The trick about controllers is they need a fourth dimension, and they have to understand the fourth dimension being time,” Gradek said.

“And so I make a decision to move an aircraft up 1,000 feet or down 1,000 feet, or turn left or turn right. I’m making that decision because I want this airplane to be in this location at this time and in the future.

“So that’s a special skill set. Not everybody has it.”

Bourget said Nav Canada is working to address air traffic controller staffing through a multi-year strategy.

“Canadians and travellers can be reassured, we are in solution mode: focused on strengthening service resiliency, supporting our people, working constructively with industry partners while upholding the highest standards of safety they rightly expect,” he wrote in an e-mail.

He said that since 2023, the agency has licensed more than 600 air traffic professionals, including more than 300 controllers. In 2025, the agency received 49,000 applicants and hired close to 500 students, Bourget said.

Gradek told The Canadian Press Nav Canada’s training of new controllers wasn’t keeping up with retirement rates.

Bourget disputed that claim, saying “operational staffing” growth at Nav Canada exceeded attrition by 26 per cent and the rate is projected to grow.

“We understand these are significant claims, which is why we’re putting them on the record,” Bourget said.

A number of different roles fall under the heading of “air traffic professionals.”

The term “air traffic controllers” covers area control centre controllers, or ACC controllers, who issue instructions to pilots and ensure that aircraft are kept a safe distance apart while airborne.

It also includes tower controllers, who give pilots clearances and instructions to maintain separation during takeoff and landing.

The total training time ranges from 10 to 18 months for tower controllers, and from 20 to 27 months for ACC controllers.

Applicants can also work toward becoming “flight service specialists,” who can sometimes manage traffic on the ground at smaller airports, but aren’t tasked with giving instructions to planes in the air. The training time for these professionals can range anywhere from eight to 17 months.

“Only about 10 per cent of the controllers that you in take into class make it out as a full-fledged controller,” Gradek said, adding the U.S. rate is about three per cent.

“It is a small number of people that are able to start the program, finish the classroom training and then spend two years exercising some of their skill sets and demonstrating their ability to do what they’re supposed to do in a complex world and graduate at the end.”

Bourget said success rates “vary by unit” and by training stream. He said that, historically, 50 per cent of trainees complete the program. He did not provide completion rates for recent years, saying the 50 per cent figure reflects “the best available national benchmark.”

Gradek said Canada’s training and air navigation systems are “second to none” in the world, but some graduates are still taking jobs abroad.

Nav Canada wouldn’t say exactly how many of the 300 air traffic controllers it has licensed since 2023 took up jobs in Canada. It would only say that the “vast majority” did so.

“Australia is hiring controllers like crazy and New Zealand is hiring, the U.S. is hiring, the U.K. is hiring. So it’s not … as if this is a Canadian-only job,” Gradek said.

Nav Canada says the salary range for a Canadian controller can top $200,000 a year after they’re fully certified, while controllers in training earn about $60,000. The median pay for American controllers in 2024 was $US144,580, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“So the equipment you’re working with is leading edge — or I would say bleeding edge — equipment when you’re working here in Canada as a controller. So there’s a lot of incentives to stay,” Gradek said.

“But we’re not putting handcuffs on these people. They are Canadians, and they’re free to move. So, that’s a risk we take as well.”

The union representing air traffic controllers declined several requests for comment on air traffic controller shortages in Canada, citing Sunday’s crash of Air Canada Flight 8646 which left its two pilots dead.

“To protect the integrity of the investigative process, it would be inappropriate to speculate on the causes of the accident before all relevant facts and contributing factors have been established,” the union said in a statement.

“Safety remains the foundation of aviation, and that includes allowing investigators to carry out their work thoroughly, independently, and objectively.”

Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said Monday he is working with Nav Canada to find solutions to the shortage of controllers.

“I’ve asked Nav Canada to continue to come up with solutions for recruitment so that we can reduce the undue reliance we have on a smaller number of air traffic controllers than we would wish to have,” MacKinnon told reporters before Nav Canada publicly confirmed the shortfall of 200 air traffic controllers.

As for Canadians going through the rigorous training system only to take jobs abroad, MacKinnon said he wasn’t aware of that being a problem.

“I’ll take a closer look at that,” he said.

MacKinnon said Tuesday Canadians can have a high degree of confidence in the security of Canada’s transport systems, including aviation.

“I do want to be very reassuring that we take every precautionary measure and make sure that Canada continues to perform at the highest levels of security,” he told reporters on his way into a cabinet meeting in Ottawa.

“The Americans have very high standards, and we have a very collaborative relationship with the U.S., and I know they’ll be as eager as we to find the answers.”

Liam Casey, The Canadian Press – Mar 25, 2026 / 12:51 pm | Story: 605435

Photo: The Canadian Press

A sharps collector containing used needles sits on a wall in the consumption room at the Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre in Toronto on Friday, March 21, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his health minister said Wednesday they will not reverse course on their decision to shutter more supervised drug consumption sites, after a letter from six former Toronto mayors urged them to do so.

Two weeks ago, the province notified seven supervised consumption sites that it would be pulling their funding, with sites set to close by mid-June. This came after the province forced the closure of nine other such sites last year that it deemed were too close to schools and daycares.

“I want to help these people, but I’m not going to sit back as you put these injection sites in the middle of communities,” Ford said at an unrelated news conference Wednesday.

“There’s needles all over the place. It’s dangerous for kids and communities. They’re in the parks. It’s terrible, and we’re closing them down.”

Health Minister Sylvia Jones was adamant the government will not change course as it moves to an abstinence-based model known as homelessness and addiction recovery treatment, or HART, hubs.

“We’re not going to reverse, we’ve been very clear: our focus is on the HART hubs to make sure that people have access to treatment,” Jones said.

“We want to ensure that there is a pathway out of addictions, and you can’t do that when you continue to fund, frankly, illicit drugs.”

The province has funded 28 new hubs with all but one now operational, Jones said.

Health-care workers, advocates and homeless people have decried the closures and said they will lead to more deaths.

Six former mayors of Toronto wrote to Ford and Jones on Tuesday, urging them to change their minds.

“These decisions to close sites, which provide integrated health and social services as well as facilities to test drug supply, have caused much physical harm and death and have resulted in increased public expenditures, without resulting in any positive impacts,” wrote former mayors David Crombie, Art Eggleton, Barbara Hall, David Miller, John Sewell and John Tory.

Current Mayor Olivia Chow did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The former mayors pointed to an increase in non-fatal opioid overdose calls received by Toronto Paramedic Services.

The data show an 82 per cent increase in suspected opioid overdose calls between April 1, 2025, when those nine other sites closed, and January 2026. There were 160 such calls in April last year and 350 this past January.

That’s a reversal of the downward trend in non-fatal opioid overdose calls that the province had been seeing between 2023 and early 2025.

Fatal opioid overdoses have also generally fallen year over year since reaching a high during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, the mortality rate for opioid toxicity hit its high point with 19.4 deaths per 100,000 people, which was more than double the rate of 9.1 deaths in 2017.

By 2025, the mortality rate had dropped by half from the pandemic high, with a rate of 8.5 deaths per 100,000 people.

Yet more than 2,200 Ontarians died by opioids in 2024, the latest full year of data available, down from more than 2,600 who died from those drugs in 2023.

Fentanyl and related substances are a factor in the vast majority of drug overdose deaths in Ontario.

The latest data from the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario show there were 206 suspected drug-related deaths across the province in February of this year compared to 209 in February 2025, though the recent data remains preliminary.

The Liberals said there is a place for supervised consumption sites if they are attached to hospitals or community clinics.

“I think that we want to see a system of care in place for people with addictions, and this is a part of it. Harm reduction is an evidence-based approach,” said Lee Fairclough, the Liberal mental health critic and a former health-care worker who later worked as an executive at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the decision to close supervised consumption sites has created a problem.

“The minister of health and any government decision should be led by empathy and evidence, and unfortunately this decision does not seem to be following that at all,” she said.

“I would also add that taking away supports and programs without replacing them with anything else comparable is a real problem.”

Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press – Mar 25, 2026 / 10:18 am | Story: 605404

Photo: The Canadian Press

New homes are constructed in Ottawa on Monday, Aug. 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

If lower interest rates can’t push homebuyers off the sidelines, perhaps a year’s worth of free borrowing costs will.

That’s the hope for one developer whose offer joins a growing list of incentives aimed at luring buyers, as hesitation lingers across most major housing markets in Canada.

The campaign announced last week by Mattamy Homes would see the firm cover mortgage payments for up to a year on its new builds located within six neighbourhoods in the Calgary and Edmonton areas. Eligible properties must be ready for occupancy by the end of 2026 and Mattamy has capped the total incentive at roughly $50,000, suggesting a home worth up to about $1.02 million.

“I’d be lying if I told you there wasn’t some degree of this being born out of a need,” said David Wan, vice-president of sales for Mattamy Homes’ Alberta division, in an interview.

“We’re seeing prices come down a touch and our competitors are also pulling every trick they can out of the bag to try to steal some market share and to just drum up sales themselves.”

Wan said lowering the actual price of a house only goes so far in motivating buyers, noting a $50,000 discount on the sale price might lessen monthly mortgage payments by around $100 over 30 years. Mattamy is banking on a belief that monthly payments are a major factor still holding back would-be buyers.

“The idea is that we are trying to help them with their cash flow, more so than just simply reducing the price,” he said.

“Because of this assistance program, it really enables a lot of people to not have to continue sitting on the fence, take action today when there’s so many interesting ways that you can buy a new home with incentives, with assistance from the government.”

The timing happens to roughly coincide with applications opening for the federal first-time homebuyers’ GST and HST rebate — valued at up to $50,000 for those eligible. That relief eliminates federal tax on a new home valued at up to $1 million for first-time buyers, and reduces the amount of tax they would pay on a new home valued between $1 million and $1.5 million.

On Wednesday, the Ontario government said it was planning to temporarily expand HST rebates on the purchase of new homes. The temporary measure would see homes valued up to $1.5 million qualify for the maximum amount of $130,000 when combined with the federal rebate, and it would not be limited to first-time buyers.

“In weak economic times or during periods of housing slowdowns — like the early 1990s, after the 2008 financial crisis and now — builders and developers get creative when it comes to creating incentives,” said economist Mike Moffatt, the founding director of the University of Ottawa’s Missing Middle Initiative.

But he said the trend is more often prevalent on the purpose-built rental side of the housing equation, where landlords offer perks such as covering a few months’ rent or a free parking spot. With sales of both new and existing homes continuing to lag, partly due to economic uncertainty, potential homebuyers are also being courted.

“We are seeing a lot more incentives on the ownership side now than we saw 12 months ago and definitely more than 24 months ago,” said Moffatt, noting Mattamy’s mortgage-focused offer is unique compared with others he’s familiar with.

“But having incentives — free upgrades or things like that — are relatively common in weak housing markets.”

Wan said Mattamy hopes its incentive can reel in somewhere between 200 and 300 buyers. He said he’s optimistic given recent signs of possible market stabilization in Alberta, but affordability is still a challenge for many hoping to make the leap to ownership.

“At the very early embryonic stage of conceiving this idea, we did think about maybe making it a little bit more modest, perhaps three months or six months (of mortgage payments),” Wan said.

“But the more I talked about it with our focus groups … the more I felt that if we really wanted to genuinely help people with home ownership, addressing affordability and especially looking at it from a cash flow perspective, doing the one-year payment holiday made the most sense.”

Other homebuilders are getting in on the action too.

Last year, London, Ont.-based developer Foxwood Homes launched its StartSmart program, which covers up to one year of buyers’ property taxes, utility bills and other related costs.

The offer, capped at $12,500, was originally limited to buyers who signed on the dotted line by last September, but Foxwood decided to extend it due to strong uptake.

“Essentially what we’re doing is offering a financial equivalent to what the average taxes and utility costs would be for our homes … just to make the purchasing process that much easier,” said Kevin Barry, Foxwood’s broker of record.

Barry said the developer is “responding to market conditions,” but the incentive is a brand new tactic for Foxwood.

“More than anything, what it’s doing is making the phone ring, having online inquiries, increasing the visits to our sales centres,” he said.

“It is certainly a creative solution to get buyers off the sideline … Obviously where we are with market conditions, I think buyers have hit the brakes or the pause button.”

Toronto-based broker Marco Pedri said he’s increasingly encountering various perks when navigating the market with his clients.

At a newly built townhouse complex in Burlington, Ont., one developer advertises an offer to cover maintenance and POTL fees for up to two years, he said. Others range from an extra free parking spot or locker to upgraded finishes and appliances within the home.

“Specifically, now in today’s market, developers are doing anything they can do to move inventory,” said Pedri, adding that goes for both houses and condos.

“The end user can now go around and see who’s offering the best incentives that really sweeten the pot.”

Pedri said savvy buyers are being swayed by offers that carry the most long-term value given ongoing uncertainty in the economy. Incentives that cover taxes or fees for up to a year or two are “nothing to scoff at” when it comes to improving affordability, he said, but buyers are more motivated by proposals “that really help appreciate the actual purchase.”

“A lot of buyers … are really more interested in saying, ‘I could get an additional parking spot, I can get an additional locker, I can get an upgraded kitchen with better countertops, better cabinet finishes and that is going to stick with me longer than two years, and that may actually help me on the selling side.'”

Moffatt said he anticipates these offers will only grow more commonplace.

While sellers of existing properties can reduce their prices to meet demand in a buyer’s market, he said new construction differs because it carries a price floor.

“There’s only so low the prices can go and then it just becomes economically not viable, whereas on resale, the price can theoretically go as low as buyers are willing to accept,” said Moffatt.

That means developers need to think outside the box to attract buyers.

“In any product category, whether it be cars or appliances or anything else, there is always a hesitancy to lower prices too much because then it’s seen as being reflective of the quality,” he said.

“I do think we are going to see more novel pricing strategies than we’ve seen in the past. A lot of it is just builders and developers catching up to the rest of the economy.”