WATCH: New poll finds possible snap provincial election might be a close race
British Columbia Premier David Eby will speak to local politicians at their annual convention Fjust as he contemplates disrupting their upcoming municipal elections with his own provincial vote.
The premier’s annual speech to delegates at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention comes days after he said he warned Elections BC and his caucus to be “election ready” amid disruptions posed by the U.S. trade war.
A vote just two years into the NDP government’s mandate could overlap with the municipal election campaign that runs from Sept. 19 to Oct. 17, and the union’s president, Cori Ramsay, says that would be a disservice to citizens.
The Prince George city councillor says provincial leaders must uphold the principle of separate periods for local and provincial campaigns, so residents can properly consider the issues as they choose among 3,500 candidates running in local races.
Eby’s speech comes a day after B.C. Conservative leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay told delegates that she wasn’t going anywhere after being asked to resign by two members of her Opposition caucus, which has suffered nine defections in recent weeks.
Findlay called the prospect of a snap election a “cynical move” by a premier who knew she would win a Sept. 26 byelection in Abbotsford-Mission.
WATCH: Indigenous groups outline Quebec election priorities
North of the 55th parallel, there are few indications that a five-party race is underway to elect Quebec’s next government. In several Nunavik villages, not a single campaign sign was on display just over three weeks before the election.
In the last Quebec general election, in 2022, voter turnout in the Ungava riding was 30.21 per cent — far below the provincial average of 66.15 per cent.
The northern riding is the largest in the province, covering an area larger than Alberta. In addition to Nunavik, the riding includes about twenty sparsely populated municipalities, including Chibougamau, Chapais, and the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region.
The average person in the riding is under 33 years old and more than two thirds of the people who live in the riding identify as Indigenous, according to riding data compiled by Élections Québec.
Several residents approached by The Canadian Press during a recent trip to Nunavik said they were unaware that a provincial campaign was underway and that they don’t generally follow provincial politics.
All five major parties have officially registered a candidate to represent the riding.
The absence of campaign signs does not mean there’s no campaigning in the north, Liberal candidate Sandrine Rioux said in an email. To reach voters, the party plans to run advertisements on northern radio stations, as does Québec solidaire and the Parti Québécois.
The Parti Québécois pointed out that its candidate, Sonia Caron, has met with a number of organizations in Nunavik, particularly in the health and education fields.
“Ms. Caron has already established strong ties with northern stakeholders, which allows her to adapt her methods for reaching voters, particularly by phone or video conference,” wrote a party spokesperson by email.
Unlike Caron, who was nominated in April, Québec solidaire candidate Antoine Côté was named late. For that reason, and due to the size of the riding, no campaign signs have been posted, the party explained in an email. However, Côté is still campaigning, it added.
“We also have a lot of content on our various pages to try to get people interested in our ideas, given that more and more people are consuming political content online,” a party spokesperson said.
The Liberal party also plans to run targeted digital campaigns on Facebook and Instagram that are adapted to the issues facing the riding’s various communities.
“The realities of Jamésie, Eeyou Istchee, and Nunavik are different, and our communication strategies must reflect that as well,” Rioux wrote. She has pledged that her first official trip, if elected, will be to Kuujjuaq in Nunavik.
Requests made to the Conservative Party and the Coalition Avenir Québec regarding its candidates went unanswered.
Numbers compiled over the past two decades reflect how Indigenous communities in Quebec have largely turned away from participating in Quebec elections.
In May, the province’s electoral oversight agency, Élections Québec, published data showing the average voter turnout for provincial elections in Indigenous communities in Quebec was at about 19 per cent since 2007, compared to close to 68 per cent provincewide. These rates vary from community to community.
Despite lower voter turnout, some residents expressed deep concern about the issues facing their communities.
One Friday morning in early September, about 20 residents gathered at the community centre in Puvirnituq, a village of roughly 2,000 people in Nunavik, chatting and enjoying sunshine, which was unusually warm for the time of year.
Residents say climate change and housing are among the concerns for the local population.
According to the 2021 census, Nunavik had just over 14,000 residents, with a natural growth rate of three to four times higher than the Quebec average.
A spokesperson for Élections Québec said recently that the agency isn’t campaigning to increase voter participation in Indigenous communities, but is focusing instead on making sure that voting is accessible.
Those efforts include sending out trilingual documents with voting information in French, English and local languages to post office boxes in Inuit, Cree and Naskapi communities, spokesperson Julie St-Arnaud-Drolet said.
As of 2026, there are something like 250 million songs available to the streaming music services. How do we even begin to wrap our heads around a number like that? Well, the first thing we do is attempt to put things in some kind of order.
That begins by sorting things into piles. Everything in each pile has something in common when it comes to sound, aesthetic, style, feel, and so on. [e’ve just taken our first step toward classifying songs into genres.
These piles are still too big. Each pile itself needs to be sorted into smaller sub-piles as our organization project continues. Then those smaller piles need to become even smaller, and more targeted and specific. Rinse, repeat until we have thousands of piles. We can get infinitely granular.
There’s a website called “Every Noise at Once” that tried to do this with a scatterplot diagram. It was created by a former employee at Spotify named Glenn McDonald, using all the names Spotify gave to songs to educate its music recommendation algorithm.
Glenn was laid off from Spotify at the end of 2023, so he no longer has access to Spotify’s classifications. But the site is active, featuring somewhere around 6,500 different individual and specific genres of music from around the planet.
I love these names. Truck-driving country. Swamp pop. Cantautor (no idea what that is, but it’s something Latin). Cavernous death metal. Finnish tango.
I was poking around “Every Noise at Once” the other day. You know, just looking for something interesting.
Buried in the upper third of this amazing website is trip-hop. It’s next to Indonesian hyperpop, Cape Town indie, and C-pop girl group. Click on the arrow next to it, and another scatterplot opens up, featuring an array of artists who have been tagged as being part of the trip-hop universe. Portishead was here, of course. So was Massive Attack.
But the more I looked around, the more I realized that there was more to this genre than I thought. This deserves some exploration.
Doesn’t it feel like the May long weekend was just yesterday? TIme to prep for Q4, the big one for the recorded music industry. Things start to pick up this week with single and albums. It is a busy one.
Singles
1. Alkaline Trio/Rise Against, split single (Independent)
This is strangely interesting. These two bands are great friends and are currently on tour. For this split single, Alkaline Trio covers Re-Education (Through Labour), a Rise Against song. Meanwhile Rise Against covers Private Eyes, which is an Alkaline Trio track. I can’t think of another situation where this has been done.
2. Blue October, She’s My Ride Home (Up/Down Records)
The press release that accompanied this single described Blue October as a “romantic ambient art rock band.” Um, okay. This is the third brand new video that celebrates the 20th anniversary release of their Foiled album.
3. Editors, Seriously (PIAS)
Birmingham’s Editors have been flying a Joy Division(ish) flag but with more flair since 2002. Now about to release their seventh album Surface, Echo & Sound on October 30, They say that this record is the most “organic” thing they’ve done in years. I never know what to make of a description like that, but this single is another indication of what we’ll get next month.
4. Nix Ironstone, Sincerely Me (coady./Patriam Records)
The first Canadian song on today’s list. Nix (once known as country singer Nicole Raye) now blends alternative with goth pop in a way that might make you think of The Pretty Reckless and Evanescence. Now that’s a pivot.
5. Jordan Klassen, Fall Apart (Fontana North)
More Canada. This song is built around a sample found on a CD-ROM catalogue that dates back to before the internet. Over the years, Klassen has toured with Dear Rouge, Half Moon Run and Silversun Pickups. A full album is coming early next year.
6. The R.E.S.E.A.R.C.H., Go! (The R.E.S.E.A.R.C.H.)
I have no idea if their name stands for anything, but I can tell you that these are three guys out of Vancouver. none of whom are identified by anything more than their first initial and their last names. Everyone works out of Echo Plant Studios. They also say “Our commitment is to provide a platform where artists can collaborate with our writers and producers and bring their next music vision to life.” Okay, then.
7. Royal Bomb, Swallow the Bomb (Black Mammoth/Warner)
The return of Royal Blood continues with another single leading up to the November 13th release of Dead Company.Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher entered the studio to start work on this album eighteen months ago. What did they come up during that time? Well, this for one.
Albums
1. beabadoobee, Pylon (Dirty Hit/Interscope)
The woman with the funnest name to say is back with her fourth album, which features guest appearances that include Hayley Williams, Chino Moreno, Turnstile’s Brendan Yates, among others. If you hear plenty of 90’s style alt-rock, you’re not imaging thing. It’s the decade that just keeps on giving.
2. Beck, Ride Lonesome (Capitol)
It seems like we’ve been talking about Ride Lonesome for at least six months. Beck’s “spiritual companion” to his 2002 album Sea Change is smooth, melodic, and in some spots, easliy mistaken for a David Gilmour solo album. Nothin’ wrong with that.
3. Echo and the Bunnymen, Apples for Isaac (BMG Rights Management)
I thought we’d lost them, but nope. Mac and the rest of the Bunnymen are still with us, even though it’s been twelve years since their last album. Clem Burke, the late drummer of Blondie, appears on 10 of the 11 tracks. This single will take you back to 1984.
4. Five Finger Death Punch, Legacy (Better Noise Music)
The early decision on the band’s tenth album are decidedly split. It runs just 36 minutes with some calling it “commercial gold” and praising the band for sticking to their trademark sound. On the other side, critics call it safe, pandering, and predictable. What say you?
5. Ozric Tentacles, Harmonic Mind (Kscope)
Here’s a name from back in the 80s and 90s. They focus on space-rock-style instrumentals and have released more than 30 albums, none of which have ever been on a major label. A cult band? Yes, but a really interesting one.
6. Team Dresch, Furthermore (Jealous Butcher)
The riot grrrl/queercore legends led by Donna Dresch are back with an album for the first time in 30 years. Let’s go back to what it was like in Portland in 1993.
14. Tove Lo, ESTRUS (Pretty Swede Records / Virgin Music Group)
She’s back with her sixth album. What’s an “ESTRUS?” An animal in heat. I’m afraid to ask what “DNH” stands for.
The Liberal caucus retreat comes just before the fall sitting of the House of Commons gets underway on Monday.
Among the Liberals’ first bills of the sitting will be legislation to enact the fuel excise tax extension that Carney announced on Sept. 2.
On Thursday, Carney returned from Strasbourg, France, where he looked to secure a stronger alliance with Europe focused primarily on trade, defence and people-to-people ties — the latest move in his campaign to reduce Canada’s reliance on the United States.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday she wants Canada to become the first “associate member” of the European Union.
In a historic address to the European Parliament on Thursday, Carney said he welcomes von der Leyen’s ambition to see Canada become the first associate member of the EU.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2026.
WATCH ABOVE: Warren Buffett stepping down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO, Canadian Greg Abel to replace him
Berkshire Hathaway said on Friday that Warren Buffett will step down as chairman and become chairman emeritus, effective immediately, nine months after handing the CEO reins to longtime lieutenant Greg Abel.
The company named his son, Howard Buffett, a director since 1993, as chairman.
Warren Buffett is credited with transforming Berkshire from a failing textile company into a US$1.1 trillion conglomerate while building an investment philosophy that influenced generations of investors and executives, making him one of the most consequential figures in modern corporate America.
“As Chairman Emeritus, Mr. Buffett will remain a member of the Board of Directors and will continue to offer his valued judgment and perspective,” Berkshire said in a statement.
A chairman emeritus is typically an honorary title given to a retired board leader or company founder to recognize their past service and lasting impact.
Shares of the company were broadly unchanged in premarket trading. Buffett’s reputation has also been reflected in Berkshire’s valuation, with investors for years ascribing a “Buffett premium” to its shares.
The conglomerate’s price-to-book value has fallen since Buffett announced he would step down as CEO, slipping from around 1.62 to 1.53, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Berkshire remains the only financial firm in the trillion-dollar market-value club dominated by technology giants.
“It was always a matter of when, not if. Buffett has made a graceful exit,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management.
“Berkshire has had years to prepare for this transition, so this feels more like the completion of a carefully planned succession than a sudden changing of the guard.”
“Father Time always wins. He has, however, been generous with me,” Buffett, 96, wrote in a letter to shareholders on Friday.
Buffett’s influence has extended far beyond Berkshire, shaping generations of corporate leaders and investors with his emphasis on long-term thinking, disciplined capital allocation and straightforward management.
“The culture Warren built and the values he championed will remain at the heart of Berkshire, and Howard will be their guardian,” Abel said in a statement on Friday.
CEOs have looked to him as a sounding board on everything from acquisitions and succession to navigating periods of market turmoil, while his annual shareholder meetings became a gathering point for investors seeking insight into the broader business landscape.
Buffett first announced plans to step away from the conglomerate in May 2025, surprising shareholders and analysts despite his age. After decades at the helm, he had become synonymous with the company, making his succession one of the most closely watched in corporate America.
“The timing is right to complete the transition,” he wrote in the letter on Friday.
In August, Berkshire said it began reducing its enormous stockpile of cash in the second quarter, investing billions of dollars in stocks such as Alphabet and repurchasing billions of its own, as it reported higher-than-expected profit.
Its quarterly operating profit rose 16 per cent to US$12.98 billion, topping analysts’ forecasts, while net income more than doubled to US$25.67 billion, including unrealized gains and losses on stocks that Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire still owns.
Howard Buffett is the chairman and CEO of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, a non-profit that focuses on global food security and conflict mitigation.
He has been a director of numerous public and private company boards, including Agro Tech, Archer-Daniels-Midland, ConAgra Foods, Coca-Cola.
“The company is in excellent hands, and I look forward to remaining a shareholder alongside you,” Warren Buffett said in his letter.
Hamed Mohammed Shafia is escorted by police officers into the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ont., on Jan. 18, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
skp
A man convicted of murdering his three sisters and another woman more than 17 years ago is set to have a parole hearing F.
It wasn’t immediately clear what type of release Hamed Shafia is seeking from the Parole Board of Canada.
Shafia and his parents were found guilty in January 2012 of four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his teenage sisters and his father’s first wife in a polygamous marriage.
The four bodies were found in a car at the bottom of the Rideau Canal in Kingston, Ont., in June 2009.
The trial judge had described the killings as being motivated by the Shafia family’s “twisted concept of honour.”
The family had immigrated to Canada from Afghanistan and settled in Montreal, where the father was a successful businessman.
After his conviction, the younger Shafia argued that he was too young to be tried as an adult in the case, but Ontario’s top court rejected his appeal.
The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear the case in 2017.
In January 1996, Bono and his family were on vacation as guests of fellow musician Jimmy Buffett. Buffett had been extolling the awesomeness of genuine Jamaican jerk chicken, so the decision was made to pick some up.
The fact they were in Miami was no problem because Buffett had a Grumman HU-16 Albatross flying boat he called Hemisphere Dancer. He got it cheap from the US Navy and could fly it himself.
Buffett, Bono, his family, Island Records head Chris Blackwell, and a co-pilot piled into the plane and set course for Montego Bay. But once they arrived, the water was too rough to land, so they diverted to Negril.
However, this diversion was unannounced and when local authorities saw the plane, they assumed it belonged to another drug runner. So they opened fire. More than 100 rounds were fired at the plane with several hitting the fuselage and shattering the windscreen. Fortunately, no one was hurt, no one was charged, and everyone soon hightailed it back to Miami.
There’s no word on whether Bono got his jerk chicken.
The first of three Siemens Venture train sets are pictured at the VIA Rail Toronto maintenance Centre, along with VIA and GO Transit trains. The Northlander train which was cancelled in 2012 by Kathleen Wynne's Liberal governmentwill be re-instated by Doug Ford's Conservatives in 2026 with new trains and stations between Toronto and Timmins. Toronto, Ont., December 24 2025.
THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Stephen C. Host
One of the new Northlander trains ordered by the Ford government to restart rail service to northern Ontario has been out of commission for two months, since it crashed into a tow truck near Bracebridge, Ont.
In early July, during a testing and commissioning run, one of the Northlander trains ploughed into a vehicle at the rail crossing on High Falls Road when the lights were active to stop cars entering the track.
Although nobody was injured in the collision, the train has been out of service and under repair for the two-and-a-half months that followed the crash.
“Repairs to the trainset will be completed soon and testing and commissioning activities are advancing as we prepare the service for launch,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation told Global News.
Reopening the Northlander train was a 2018 election promise by Ontario Premier Doug Ford. It is set to run from Toronto’s Union Station to Timmins and Cochrane.
The train route was originally decommissioned by the Ontario Liberals in 2012.
Although the Ministry of Transportation did not confirm if, or how much, the July crash had delayed testing and therefore the date for the line, Ontario NDP MPP Guy Bourgouin said locals were growing frustrated.
“The people of the north, we want the Northlander back, of course,” he told Global News.
“This is a service that we need in northern Ontario. We’ve been asking questions to the government, to the appropriate people; we can’t get an answer. We heard it was supposed to start at the end of August, then the end of September.”
The government has not set a specific opening date for the train line, but has said it will be operational in 2026.
B.C. Lions Sean Millington (right) tries to break free from Calgary Stampeders Kelly Malveaux during the second quarter of CFL action in Vancouver, B.C. on Friday, October 11, 2002. (CP PHOTO/Richard Lam)
DPI
Sean Millington always saw himself as a journeyman player but he’ll now forever be remembered as one the CFL’s best.
Millington, affectionately dubbed, ‘Diesel” for his rugged running style, was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame on Thursday night. Millington and the other ’26 class members will be honoured Friday night during the Hamilton Tiger-Cats-Montreal Alouettes game at Hamilton Stadium.
“Surreal is exactly the right word for it, it sums this up perfectly,” Millington said. “I’ve been watching guys get nominated since I retired and I couldn’t help but kind of compare myself a little bit and think, ‘Yeah, that guy’s pretty good, I don’t know if I’m quite up there.’
“I always kind of looked at myself as a journeyman-type player who had some good stats but not earth-shattering like some of the guys do when they do their thing. I figured it was 50-50 if I’d ever make it in, I mean, I’d hoped to but to actually have it happen is a massive honour and I feel very blessed.”
Millington was enshrined with former players Brandon Banks, Charleston Hughes, Jim Evenson (posthumously) and Calvin Tiggle. Frank (Pop) Ivy, who led Edmonton to three straight Grey Cups (1954-56) over four seasons as head coach, was inducted as a builder, also posthumously.
But even at age 58, Millington still has a chiselled, muscular physique and looks as if he could immediately resume playing.
The six-foot-three, 237-pound Millington was selected first overall by Edmonton in 1990 and played 13 seasons with the then Eskimos (1991, 1997), B.C. Lions (1991-1997, 2000-02), Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1998) and Toronto Argonauts (2005).
The former Simon Fraser standout rushed for 6,086 yards (5.4-yard average) and totalled 9,322 yards from scrimmage while scoring 87 touchdowns. Millington won two Grey Cups (1994, 2000) and twice was named the CFL’s top Canadian (1997, 2000) while with B.C.
Millington also ranks fourth in CFL history with 176 special-teams tackles. The Vancouver native was a three-time league all-star (1993, ’94, 2000) and holds both the B.C. and Edmonton single-game rushing records (212 yards, 225 yards respectively).
Heady stuff considering Millington went to camp with B.C. in 1993 at the crossroads of his CFL career.
“The goal I always had was to be the best player I could possibly be,” Millington said. “But I remember in 1993 I was on the verge of washing out of the league and this was going to be my last training camp.
“That was the year Dave Ritchie (2022 Hall of Fame inductee) came in (as head coach) and I remember talking with him years later and he basically said, ‘Yeah, if you hadn’t shown us something that training camp we were (cutting Millington).”
Despite not having yet established himself, Millington still exuded confidence during that camp.
“I remember speaking to a reporter in the first few days and he asked what were my goals for the year,” Millington said. “I responded, ‘Well, I want to be the best running back in the CFL,’ and he just looked at me because this was from a guy who’s not even on the starting roster and was on the bubble.
“But by the end of the year I was a CFL all-star at my position. Why would you aim for anything else? You should never accept mediocrity.”
Millington was also part of two memorable CFL championships.
In 1994, the Lions defeated Baltimore 26-23 at B.C. Place Stadium in the first-ever Canada-U.S. Grey Cup. Six years later, Millington ran for 99 yards and was named the top Canadian in B.C.’s 28-26 win over Montreal.
B.C.’s ground game was paramount that day as Robert Drummond earned MVP honours with 122 yards rushing on 10 carries.
But Millington said it’s difficult to choose a career highlight.
“I look at that like trying to choose your favourite child in some regards because each one has unique attributes that you really love and cherish,” Millington said. “I’d say ’94 was special because of the dynamics that were at play … but the 2000 Grey Cup was also special because it was against the transplanted American team (Baltimore relocated to Montreal in 1996).
“We had a losing record that year (8-10) and somehow managed to get into the playoffs and run the table, which also has a special place in my heart.”
And although Millington has known since June that he was headed into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, he’s still getting used to it.
“I just went up to the level where all of the busts are and was looking at the names and it’s the royalty of the CFL,” Millington said. “Amazing, fantastic athletes and I definitely feel privileged and blessed to be counted among them.
“I’m really just trying to soak it all in because soon this day will be over and life will continue. But in the meantime, let’s enjoy it and really soak it all up.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2026.
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