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Shell sold millions of carbon credits for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that never happened, allowing the company to turn a profit on its fledgling carbon capture and storage project, according to a new report by Greenpeace Canada.

Under an agreement with the Alberta government, Shell was awarded two tonnes' worth of emissions reduction credits for each tonne of carbon it actually captured and stored underground at its Quest plant, near Edmonton.

This took place between 2015 and 2021 through a subsidy program for carbon, capture, utilisation and storage projects (CCUS), which are championed by the oil and gas sector as a way to cut its greenhouse gas emissions.

At the time, Quest was the only operational CCUS facility in Alberta. The subsidy program ended in 2022.

> Addressing a crowd of 500 members of Canadian tech during the BetaKit Town Hall the CEO of Shopify said the country suffers from a “go-for-bronze” culture.

> The Nanos Pocketbook Index fell to 50 last week, while gen Z respondents scored their lowest rating in at least 16 years. Read more.

The remains of a Newfoundland trucker who went missing in Ontario two weeks ago were found in the back of his truck's trailer in his home province, even though his rig was a key piece of evidence in the search and the place where he was last seen.

The Ontario Provincial Police confirmed Tuesday that Brian Lush's body was recovered inside the truck's trailer in Port aux Basques, N.L., after its return from Ontario.

The OPP refused to answer questions from CBC News about whether police thoroughly searched the truck and trailer before sending it back to the truck's owner in Newfoundland, and if so, how investigators could have missed Lush's remains inside it.

cackling laughter reverberating off of the walls of a secret cave by the river

Ontario's test is scheduled for next week

> Kamalpreet Singh, 22, and Karan Brar, 22, came to Canada as students from the Indian state of Punjab, their hometowns separated by roughly 100 km.

> Indeed, highly equitable and inclusive schools do a disservice to students and society at large.

Canada Post wants the federal government to consider changing the legislation that requires it to deliver letter mail daily— a mandate the Crown corporation says no longer reflects modern realities and is causing it to lose money.

"If you have a community mailbox, a lot of people check it once or twice a week," said Jon Hamilton, vice-president of communications at Canada Post.

"We need to work with government to ensure the regulatory framework aligns with today's needs."

The postal charter, which dictates how frequently Canada Post delivers mail, hasn't undergone any significant changes since it was created in 2009, Hamilton said.

"Recruitment and retention of doctors in Ontario is "not a major concern," the Ministry of Health suggests in arguments it is making in arbitration with the Ontario Medical Association over physician compensation.

The argument from the province comes as the OMA, which represents Ontario's doctors, has repeatedly warned that more than two million residents don't have a family doctor"

> Cost of milk used to make dairy products such as milk, cream, yogurt, cheese and butter for retail and restaurants up by an average of 1.77%

As Pierre Poilievre presents himself as both a prime minister in waiting and a champion of "the working-class people," he's headlined roughly 50 fundraisers at private venues since becoming Conservative leader in 2022 — some of them in Canada's wealthiest neighbourhoods and most exclusive clubs.

A CBC News analysis of fundraising reports the Conservatives submitted to Elections Canada show these fundraisers have attracted dozens of registered federal lobbyists who paid up to $1,725 each to attend events featuring Poilievre.

Business executives — including a billionaire oil tycoon, an airline executive and a vice president at AtkinsRéalis, formerly known as SNC-Lavalin — are on the lists of attendees.

These fundraisers are legal and have a long history in Canadian politics. In a statement issued to CBC News, a Conservative Party spokesperson said Poilievre makes himself available at events across the country and there's no need to attend a fundraiser to get access to him.

Protesters occupying a camp established by a First Nation in northern Alberta to defy drilling operations on its traditional lands have been ordered to vacate.

The camp — a tipi and tents flanked by rows of trucks lining the road 75 kilometres east of Peace River, Alta. — is Woodland Cree First Nation's latest effort to oppose Obsidian Energy's expansion plans.

The camp is the latest development in an increasingly tense conflict between Woodland Cree and Obsidian after the operator was blamed for a string of earthquakes in the region.

The First Nation says it is owed meaningful consultation and final authority over what industrial development occurs on its traditional lands. Company officials say it has consulted with the WCFN and the Indigenous community has no such veto rights.

Anthony Housefather, an outspoken Jewish MP from Montreal, toyed with leaving his party to join the Conservatives after most of Trudeau’s Liberals voted in favor of a non-binding motion in the House of Commons that took direct aim at Israel. It’s the latest example of how the conflict is straining center-left politics across the globe — and challenging the place of Jewish leaders in mainstream progressive politics.

The progressive New Democratic Party had introduced a motion that called for the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state and a suspension of arms trading with Israel. Dozens of Liberals were said to be supportive. Up against a divided caucus, Trudeau’s government negotiated softer language, including support for a two-state solution and a halt to “further authorization and transfer of arms” to Israel.

> With five million square feet of available space across 47 office towers, downtown Toronto is becoming a tenant’s paradise - and an investor’s potential nightmare

A former Hamilton police officer will not go to jail for sexually assaulting the woman he was mentoring as she pursued her own career in policing.

Michael LaCombe, 54, will instead serve 12 months of house arrest followed by 12 months of probation after Justice Cameron Watson found him guilty of two counts of sexual assault in January, following a trial.

Watson sentenced LaCombe on Monday at the Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines, Ont., describing his crimes and the aftermath as "a spectacular and cataclysmic fall from grace" in his written decision.

"His life has taken an irreparable downward spiral. He is no longer the man he once was," Watson wrote.

Watson also described how LaCombe's conduct "devastated" the victim, who has felt isolated and suffers from panic attacks, among other impacts, in recent years.

Archived link

Conservative Canadian MP Michael Chong is again calling attention to secret Chinese police stations operating in Canada, prompted by a recent incident in France involving alleged coercion of a critic of the Beijing regime, who narrowly avoided forced repatriation to China.

In a May 5 post on X, Mr. Chong described the incident as “a chilling, frightening account of PRC [People’s Republic of China] repression in France.” He added that “this is happening in Canada too—and why the RCMP are justified in shutting down these PRC ‘police stations.’”

> An Ontario woman working in Edmonton has been convicted of defrauding newcomers of tens of thousands of dollars.

Persistent Chinese election meddling has the potential to undermine Canadian democracy, Canada's main spy agency said on Tuesday in the latest official warning about clandestine activity by Beijing.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) made its comments in an annual report issued days after an official inquiry found China had tried to interfere in the last two Canadian elections.

CSIS said China, known formally as the People's Republic of China, or PRC, used deceptive methods in a bid to influence policy-making at all levels of government as well as in academia and the media.

"Such activity, which seeks to advance PRC national interests, has the potential to undermine Canada's democratic process and its institutions," it said. China regularly dismisses such charges.

China and organisations linked to the ruling Chinese Communist Party "remain an enduring threat to Canadian information, technology, democratic institutions, and diaspora communities", CSIS said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government on Monday introduced draft legislation designed to counter foreign interference. It proposes a registry for people lobbying on behalf of another country and would allow CSIS more freedom to share information with the public.

Last week, CSIS Director David Vigneault told legislators that Chinese efforts to steal technology were "mind-boggling".

The official opposition Conservative Party, well ahead in opinion polls, regularly accuses Trudeau of not doing enough to combat Chinese interference.

Trudeau told the official inquiry last month that despite Chinese meddling in the last two elections, the results were not affected. The Liberals won both votes, in 2019 and 2021.

The Chinese embassy in Ottawa, asked for a response to the CSIS report, noted that a foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing said on Monday that "China has never and will never have any interest in interfering in Canada's internal affairs".

In January, the Federal Court found that the Trudeau government's use of the Emergencies Act to respond to the protests of the self-styled freedom convoy in 2022 was not properly justified — a decision the federal government is now appealing.

At the time, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre celebrated that ruling.

"Today, in a landmark victory for the freedoms of Canadians, the Federal Court ruled that Trudeau broke the highest law in the land," he said in a prepared statement, apparently referring to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"Common-sense Conservatives will protect the Charter rights of Canadians, and as prime minister I will unite our country and our people for hope and freedom."

A few months later, Poilievre's support for the Charter rights of Canadians seems less than absolute.

Last week, the Conservative leader appeared before a meeting of the Canadian Police Association and outlined — or at least hinted at — his plans to use the notwithstanding clause to safeguard his government's laws from being overturned by the courts.

"All of my proposals are constitutional. And we will make sure — we will make them constitutional, using whatever tools the Constitution allows me to use to make them constitutional," he said. "I think you know exactly what I mean."

Would a Poilievre government use the clause to save mandatory-minimum sentences that the Supreme Court has found constitute cruel and unusual punishment? What if the court ultimately rules against the bail restrictions that Poilievre has said he would implement?

In 2011, the Supreme Court ruled that the previous Conservative government's attempts to block a supervised drug consumption site in Vancovuer — Insite — violated the Charter right to life, liberty and security of the person. Would the Poilievre government use the notwithstanding clause to implement elements of its response to the opioid epidemic?

A man has admitted in court that he killed four women in Winnipeg, but his lawyers are asking he be found not criminally responsible because of mental illness.

Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal said Monday the question of Jeremy Skibicki’s mental capacity and intent will now be the focus of the trial.

The Crown agreed the trial, which was supposed to be with a jury, will instead be heard by a judge alone because of complexities with this type of defence.

“Concluding this matter before a jury does pose some challenges,” said prosecutor Christian Vanderhooft.

The trial is to start Wednesday.

For years, cable TV has bled viewers and subscribers to streaming giants like Netflix, Apple and Amazon. Now, those same companies are vying to stream live sports, one of the last lines of defence when it comes to audiences paying big bucks for traditional cable packages.

AppleTV+ has a 10 year, multibillion-dollar deal to stream MLS soccer matches and also streams some MLB games. Netflix has paid to secure the rights to WWE wrestling.

But Amazon was among the first streamers to aggressively bid on broadcast rights for a range of sports, and just this week, it added Monday night NHL games to its offerings.

"We're committed to driving more innovation for fans as we bring the NHL into more Canadian homes and across more devices on Monday nights than ever before," said Magda Grace, head of Prime Video, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, in a news release.

When Premier Danielle Smith put forth the ambition of building a multi-city passenger train network to link Banff, Calgary, Edmonton, and many other points, the questions came quick: Are you setting up Alberta taxpayers for a multibillion-dollar boondoggle or two?

Her answer wasn't typical fare from a conservative politician, let alone one with a libertarian symbol tattooed on her arm. Smith replied with a strong defence of government intervention.

"This is why people elect governments: To do the things that they can't do in the private sector, and that includes building massive new infrastructure that connects cities and requires this kind of major investment," Smith told reporters.

Never mind that Canada's founding passenger rail service was privately run, or that the construction consortium that pitched an Edmonton-Calgary high-speed line said they'd do it as a private-sector investment.

Smith has a vision to master-plan all future intercity lines, and mused this week about managing her provincial train network with a local version of Metrolinx, the provincial Crown agency created in 2006 by an Ontario Liberal government to run Toronto-region transit.

That would, of course, be on top of the Crown corporation Smith created this spring to research drug addiction recovery, or when Smith proposed potentially Crown-run natural gas plants as a "generator of last resort."

Add in her ambitions to potentially wrest more provincial management for pension and police from Ottawa, and plans for stricter control over the affairs of municipalities and post-secondary schools, and you might wonder what happened to the Danielle Smith who had long believed in shrinking the size of government.

Nunavummiut from several communities say they're reeling from suddenly losing access to free Amazon shipping after Canada Post put an end to a loophole customers utilized to access the service.

For years, residents of small Nunavut communities shipped their Amazon orders to fake postal codes as a way to save hundreds of dollars a year on food and supplies. While these products are available at local grocery stores, their prices are significantly higher due to the cost of Northern transportation.

Iqaluit is the only community in Nunavut which qualifies for free shipping with Amazon Prime.

But last month, Canada Post began enforcing its long-held return-to-sender policy for any misaddressed mail. Because those Amazon shipments were addressed to incorrect and fake postal codes, dozens of Amazon orders have been sent back to the company — even after being flown in to local post offices.

The Canadian military could have modern satellite coverage in the Arctic a decade earlier than envisioned if the federal government is willing to follow the example of other countries and embrace commercial options in space, a House of Commons committee heard Monday.

Mike Greenley, chief executive officer of MDA Canada, told committee members Canada has fallen behind the rest of the globe from "a military space capability perspective" and is not effectively working with companies in the aerospace sector.

"As a result, our relevance in a rapidly changing geopolitical world is declining, and along with it, our ability to protect and defend Canadians," said Greenley, whose company is the largest in the country in the space sector, with over $1 billion in sales annually.

The risk assessments border officers have used for years to decide whether vessels entering Canadian waters should be searched have been based on outdated and inaccurate data, increasing the risk of high-risk goods and inadmissible people slipping into the country, a recently released audit says.

"Due to system limitations, the [Canada Border Services Agency] may not have a complete record of all individuals entering the country via marine ports," says the audit, posted online last week.

The review examined how the CBSA's national targeting centre identified people and goods bound for Canada that might have posed a threat between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2022.

According to the audit, the national targeting centre relies on risk assessments to determine if vessels that could be used for illegal activities, such as smuggling or illegal migration, need to be flagged for examination.

About a week after Canadian doctor Yipeng Ge returned from Gaza, he got several surprise emails: legal and human rights groups were getting in touch to take his witness testimony.

There was a reason they wanted to get information from him that they could have gotten from doctors still in Gaza, he told The Breach in an exclusive interview—doctors are afraid of being killed if they speak out.

“There’s a safety and security risk for any healthcare worker within the Gaza Strip,” he said. “You essentially have a target on your back simply for wearing scrubs.”

After returning from separate trips to Gaza in February and March, Ge and another Ontario-based doctor Ben Thomson, told The Breach they were contacted by lawyers and interviewers from UK-based groups, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, and Forensic Architecture.

Both had witnessed the impact of a collapsing healthcare system, as Thomson had seen an example of a patient’s wounds that indicated they had been tortured.

In the U.S., the growing role of private equity firms in health care is coming under heightened scrutiny, with Senate committee hearings and a cross-government public inquiry launched earlier this year.

In the U.S., companies backed by private equity firms manage emergency rooms and anesthesiology practices. Private equity firms are even buying whole hospitals in the U.S.

That's not happening in Canada, but private equity investment firms have bought up facilities outside of hospitals, starting about 25 years ago with long-term care homes. That arrangement didn't show up on the public radar until the COVID-19 pandemic emergency, which hit care homes exceptionally hard.

Canadian researchers have found a disproportionate number of deaths in long-term care residences owned by private equity firms and large chains.

As some provinces welcome private equity in public health care, the firms are increasingly involved in nursing homes and surgery clinics.

I’m going to be blunt in this piece. As a resident of Alberta and someone trained to recognize threats to democracy, I have an obligation to be.

The United Conservative Party is an authoritarian force in Alberta. Full stop.

I don’t come by this argument lightly. It’s based on extensive evidence that I present below, followed by some concrete actions Albertans can take to push back against creeping authoritarianism.

There’s no hard-and-fast line between democracy and authoritarianism. Just ask people from autocracies: you don’t simply wake up one day under arbitrary rule.

They’re more like opposite sides of a spectrum, ranging from full participation by all citizens in policy-making at one end (democracy) to full control by a leader and their cadre on the other (authoritarianism).

Clearly, Alberta politics sit somewhere between these two poles. It is neither an ideal Greek city-state nor a totalitarian hellscape.

The question is: How much of a shift toward authoritarianism are we willing to accept? Where do we draw the line between politics as usual and anti-democratic activities?

At a bare minimum, we should expect our leaders to respect the rule of law, constitutional checks and balances, electoral integrity and the distribution of power.

Unfortunately, the United Conservative Party has shown disregard for these principles. They’ve breached them so many times that citizens can be forgiven for being desensitized. But it is important to take stock so we can determine how far we’ve slid.

Here’s a breakdown of those principles.

> Immigration consultants and lawyers say they fear the scams may get worse with international students searching for other ways to stay and work in Canada