How’s the smoke where you are? In some parts of the country, it’s like living on Arrakis. I won’t go outside because of the sandworms. (IFKYK).  Maybe if we turn up this week’s New Music Friday releases really loud, we’ll keep them away. It’s a single-heavy week, although a few new albums are on the shelves, too.

Singles

1. Beabadoobee, Switchblade (Dirty Hit/Interscope)

The British singer with the name that’s fun to say has just released the second single for her upcoming fourth album, Pylon, which will be out on September 18. This one is a little harder (shoegazey?) than some of her previous material. I’m good with that. In fact, this might be my favourite new single this week.

2. Beck, In the Night (Capitol)

Beck also has an album (Ride Lonesome) coming on September 18, which is two days after the start of a North American tour. He used the same band that appeared on his Sea Change album and Nigel Godrich (Radiohead’s favourite producer) twiddle the knobs. “Emotional textures” seems to be the buzzword here.

 

3. Violet Grohl, Bug in the Cake (Republic Records/Universal Music)

Dave’s daughter is having a nice run with her debut album, Be Sweet to Me. The first single, THUM, made it into the top ten on Canadian rock radio. Let’s see if she can keep the momentum going. Cool video.

4. Gym Class Heroes, Universal Language (Planetary Group)

It’s been a minute, hasn’t it, guys? Like fifteen years since your last single? Yeah, I thought so. There’s a new album coming? When? Oh, you don’t know. But you promise, right?

5. Mastodon, Snakes for Dinner feat. Josh Homme (Loma Vista/Concord)

Here’s the part of the list where Josh Homme takes over. The focus here, of course, is Mastodon, and the first single from their first album since 2021, which is due August 28. They’re kicking things off with a Josh Homme guest vocal.

6. Muse, Cryogen (Warner)

Muse is now on tour with their album, The Wow! Signal (Google the term) and Matt Bellamy is still very much into nerdy science things. A cryogen is a liquified gas (hydrogen, helium, argon) that is used to produce extremely cold conditions for various types of experiments, including those involving superconductivity. It’s also something used as a rocket propellent. Sounds like something Matt always has around the house. You know, for beer.

7. Nickelback, Rattle the Cage feat. John 5 (Virgin Music Group/Universal)

Funny, but I hadn’t heard about a new Nickelback album, but it has been four years since Get Rollin’, so I guess it’s time. Everything Under the Sun is set for release on October 30, and the first single features guitarist John 5, who has played with Motley Crue, Rob Zombie, David Lee Roth, and Marilyn Manson. So yes, it is a heavy song.

8. Queens of the Stone Age, Easy Street (Matador)

Back to Josh Homme, this time in his native habitat. Fans will remember this song from its debut during Queen of the Stone Age’s series of gigs in the catacombs of Paris. It’s the first new single to be properly released since 2023. Is there an album coming? Most certainly. They’re one tour with System of a Down, which will bring them to Rogers Stadium in Toronto on August 4, Regina on September 15, Edmonton, on September 17. and at BC Place in Vancouver on September 20.

9. Shania Twain, Faded Blue Jeans feat. Josh Homme (Republic)

Why would I include country star Shania Twain on a list of recommend rock records? Because Josh Homme is here, too, and I wanted to go for the New Music Friday trifecta. Listen for him on the chorus.

10. Twin Temple, Doomed Lovers (Pentagrammaton Records)

Twin Temple is having a great month. First, the husband-and-wife team (Alexandra and Zachary James) was kicked country star Charley Crockett’s tour for being too satanic. Great press. And the Jack White stepped in and offered Twin Temple a support slot. Even greater pres. Now the have a new album that everyone is curious about. Here’s the title track. By the way, they call their sound “Satanic doo-wop.”

11. Finn Wolfhard, Follow (Night Shift Productions/AWAL)

Yes, the Canadian actor best known for Stranger Things is diving even deeper into a music career. This is the new single from Fire from the Hip, his second solo album, which appeared last week. Shows are coming up in Toronto (July 24), Montreal (August 1), and Vancouver (October 20).

Albums

1. Quicksand, Bring on the Psychics (Equal Vision)

NYC’s Quicksand, one of the best post-hardcore bands out there, return with a new album in five years and reviews have been positive across the bored. That 90s sound is going to be with us for a while yet. This is a solid 138 seconds of what I’m talking about.

2. Tricky, Different When It’s Silent (False Idols)

The trip-hop pioneer is now up to 15 studio albums, and this is the first to be released under the name “Tricky” in six years. Marta Złakowska is a Polish singer whom Tricky met in 2017. Her history is worth checking into as well. Damn, what’s that sample/interpolation in the song? I know it but I can’t place it!

3. Yard Act, You’re Going to Need a Little Music (Republic)

When I first heard bits of this new album from Leeds’ Yard Act, I honestly thought I was listening to some new Sam Roberts Band material. Nope. But if you like Sam, you’ll love this.

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Here’s a fact about playing vinyl records. Do they sound consistently good all the way through? In other words, does the music sound as good nearer to the outside of the record as it does as the tonearm moves closer to the centre label? No.

The outer grooves move faster under the stylus, meaning it has to wiggle less per rotational inch. That translates into less distortion. But as the tonearm approaches the centre of the record, the available space for grooves is less, creating what’s known as “inner groove distortion”—and there’s not much anyone can do about it, because this is an inherent limitation of vinyl.

It also explains why some acts put what they consider their best songs as tracks one, two or three on the side of an LP. They want them to have the best sonic quality.

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The Arlington Bridge, Winnipeg’s century-old connector over a thousand-acre railway yard, is coming down.

Winnipeg City Council approved the $17 million decommissioning and removal project in 2025. The first piece of the bridge was dismantling at a news conference Thursday.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said the first step of the deconstruction process marked an “historic day” in the city.

“This bridge has been a very important topic of conversation. Especially for the residents of north Winnipeg and south Winnipeg that rely upon this route, and have relied upon this route for a long, long time,” he said.

With the first section of the bridge removed, the rest will be taken down piece by piece. The mayor said it’s time to prepare for a replacement structure.

“There’s over 50 (sets) of tracks that this bridge spans that are active. So, to take the bridge down, is going to take some time because it will have to be taken down in sections,” Gillingham said.

The City of Winnipeg said drivers in the area should expect traffic around Logan Avenue and Arlington Street to be “intermittently affected,” in a news release.

The process to decommission and remove the bridge will happen in two phases.

Phase one is estimated to last for six months. It will see the south portion of the bridge removed. Next year, the second phase will begin on the north side of the bridge, near Dufferin Avenue.

No cars have driven on the bridge since November of 2023, when a study showed the bridge was “in poor condition and could not be repaired or rebuilt on the same foundation,” the city said.

Since then, most traffic has been rerouted onto Salter Street and McPhillips Street.

The city has not set an exact timeline for the installation of a replacement bridge. Council allotted $5 million in January 2025 to begin designing a new bridge.

Gillingham did not speak to the amount of progress made but told reporters “there’s been a lot of design work” when asked for an update.

“We need to build a new Arlington Street bridge. That has been determined. That’s why the City of Winnipeg and our council put money into the budget to start with the design work,” he said.

Construction funding has not been determined yet but will be considered by the city council in the future, according to the city news release.

Once the funding is sorted, the city estimated construction of a new bridge will take four to five years. The mayor said he expects the city, province and Ottawa will all be involved in the effort.

The Arlington Bridge opened to traffic in 1912.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Volunteers in Nova Scotia are marking the Legion’s centennial anniversary and offering a glimpse into the work that goes into creating a cherished Remembrance Day tradition.

Armed with needle, thread, and deft hands, it takes three minutes for volunteers to sew handcrafted poppies onto netting for display.

“Oh, we can get through as a team a lot of poppies every week, and we really enjoy doing it,” said Lyn Kilroy.

The poppy project began in 2020 with a goal of making 2,000 poppies to be put on display at the cenotaph at Sullivan’s Pond in Dartmouth.

Now, six years later, volunteers work tirelessly year-round to repair and sew on the flowers with the goal of hitting 15,000 for this year’s ceremony in November.

“Oh, I feel proud and I bring my grandchildren down every year to take a look at what nanna does and it’s very rewarding to be part of this team and this project,” said Kilroy.

Residents of Oakwood Terrace, a nursing home in Dartmouth, are among those who take part in the project.

For Chantal Beaulieu, the recreation programmer at Oakwood Terrace, the volunteer work not only helps residents celebrate and remember veterans, it also creates a social group.

“We continue this project because it’s so meaningful to so many and it’s important that as a community effort that we remember together the sacrifices, because we are so blessed to live in a country we enjoy freedom and peace,” she said.

“I don’t ever want to take that for granted.”

With the Royal Canadian Legion celebrating 100 years, Oakwood took the opportunity to share Canada’s military history with residents.

“The Legion is there to help support you … you should look up the history of those who served and gave us the freedom we have today and that’s what the Legion represents,” said David Crocker, president of the Atlantic Canadian Red Ensign History Association.

While Remembrance Day is still months away, Beaulieu has her eyes set on the future. She hopes volunteers will one day be able to create 20,000 poppies in the years to come.

“I think we’ll reach it. I just want to continue growing it, but also finding new ways to share it.”

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday plans to introduce a new military screening program that will test troops for “testosterone deficiency.”

In an announcement posted on X, Hegseth said the tests will become part of a mandatory health assessment undertaken by troops every year and that testosterone screening will be compulsory for soldiers over the age of 30.

“If treatment is recommended, it’s entirely your choice to receive testosterone replacement therapy,” he said.

https://x.com/SecWar/status/2077425458430230838

 

“This initiative, it’s not about artificial intelligence or any other type of artificial enhancement, it’s about restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities, protecting your longevity and ensuring you have the biological foundation required to sustain the fight,” he said.

Both men and women have testosterone, though women have lower levels of the sex hormone, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

While the announcement did not specify if it would test both male and female soldiers, or only males, the move comes as other Trump administration officials have begun advocating for men to have easier access to testosterone replacement therapies.

When asked by The Associated Press what conditions Hegseth was looking to address with the new policy, the Pentagon referred to his remarks in the X post, which mentioned keeping troops “strong, resilient and capable” and noted that the rigours of the modern battlefield demand “maximum psychological and mental readiness.”

The Pentagon did not respond to the AP’s questions about what research or academic studies underpinned the move. It also did not say if female troops would be able to be evaluated for estrogen-based therapy as they entered perimenopause.

Testosterone levels naturally decline with age and in men are tied to issues such as erectile dysfunction, drops in libido, mood swings and weight gain, though there is longstanding debate among experts about how to diagnose those issues and whether they should be treated with hormone replacement therapies.

In women, testosterone naturally decreases after the age of 30 and lower levels can cause drops in libido, mood issues, and bone health problems.

Hegseth’s announcement comes as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moves to make testosterone more readily available for doctors to prescribe; in June, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed loosening prescription limits on testosterone products.

Currently, the FDA specifies that testosterone replacement therapies such as pills, gels and patches are only available for men “who lack or have low testosterone levels in conjunction with an associated medical condition.”

According to several studies cited by the AP, including a series by the National Institutes of Health, taking testosterone improved erectile dysfunction, libido and other sexual measures and had a small effect on mood in older men. But there was little or no improvement in other measures such as fatigue, memory or overall well-being.

Other studies have shown potential improvements in muscle building, strength and bone density, it added. Still, Hegseth’s messaging that the use of testosterone can help as a way to stay strong and mentally sharp for combat is not a use accepted by some medical experts.

According to an article published by the Canadian Urological Association in the National Library of Medicine, “concerns relating to prostate and cardiovascular health, performance enhancement via steroid abuse, and the perception that TD is simply part of the ‘normal’ process of aging have resulted in reluctance of many health-care providers to diagnose and treat the condition.”

— with files from The Associated Press

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Nova Scotia’s premier is continuing his speaking tour across the province, one day after a protest turned violent in Wolfville, N.S., as political experts say the incident only highlights how negative politics has gotten.

RCMP are now asking for the public’s help in identifying the protesters who are alleged to have prevented the premier and his staff from leaving an event, as well as damaging a vehicle.

“Individuals have a protected right to lawfully, peacefully, and safely assemble,” RCMP said in a Thursday release.

“Those who unlawfully interfere with or threaten the safety of any person or property will be held accountable. Acts of violence will not be tolerated and will be investigated fully by police.”

While leaving a speaking engagement at Acadia University on Wednesday, protesters confronted Premier Tim Houston and his staff while they were in their vehicles.

The Premier’s Office says they were “swarmed by rioters” and that protesters smashed the windshield of the vehicle where Houston was a passenger.

“This was not the Nova Scotian way,” Houston said in a video posted on social media.

“It was violence.”

Houston says he respects the right of the public to share their opinion and peacefully protest but that he doesn’t believe that’s what happened on Wednesday.

“In trying to leave the venue, my vehicle and my team’s vehicles were swarmed by rioters. They blocked us in. They were pushing law enforcement, climbed on top of the car I was in,” he said.

Video from the incident shows RCMP arresting one person and an emotionally-charged scene.

Protesters appeared to take issue with budget cuts to the arts, impending library closures in the area, Indigenous rights and environmental concerns.

According to RCMP, no injuries were reported and a man was arrested but later released without charges.

Political hostilities ‘ramping up’

The Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities has recently been raising concerns about increasing hostility towards public officials.

Bridgewater Mayor David Mitchell, who is the federation’s president, says he knows all too well how negative the climate can be.

“I’ve had threats made against me. I think you can probably go to most municipalities and hear from someone. And it’s scary, especially for local politicians where people know where we live, we’re here on the ground every day — but it is ramping up,” he said.

“There should be no violence in any protest.”

Political scientist and Dalhousie University professor, Lori Turnbull, says what happened with the premier is unacceptable.

“We typically don’t see that kind of a violent attack,” she said.

“Those sorts of things are on the rise, but still, every time you see it, it’s kind of shocking and nobody goes into political office because they want to be the subject of that and it’s got to be really scary and it is not acceptable.”

Turnbull says this kind of violence could deter people from running for office, but it can also hurts civil political conversation.

“If there’s a sense that the premier can’t move about in a way that is peaceful and safe for him and the people around him, who is going to want to run for office if this is what you’re signing up for,” said Turnbull.

“This sort of thing makes it look like politics is not really a place where solutions come through, where there’s meaningful dialogue. It kind of puts a cloud over the whole thing. And so it does affect us. It hurts the rest of us.”

The premier is meeting with chambers of commerce and Nova Scotia business owners in July and August. Wednesday’s event in Wolfville was the first stop in the series of events.

The next scheduled meeting was Thursday with the Yarmouth and Area Chamber of Commerce, followed by stops to visit the chambers of Bridgewater, Pictou County, Truro and Colchester, Strait Area and Cape Breton.

— with files from Skye Bryden-Blom

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

As U.S. President Donald Trump heads into the halfway point of his second term, a new poll suggests more Canadians hold a favourable view of China than they do of the United States.

Recent polling by the Pew Research Center shows that two in five (44 per cent) Canadian respondents held a favourable view of China, while just one in three (33 per cent) said the same about the U.S.

Last year, Canadians were found to be “equally” favourable toward both countries.

Canada has for years been part of an international effort to condemn China for human rights violations against Uyghur people, a largely Muslim minority group that has faced a long-term campaign of detention, and later incarceration, by China.

There are about 12 million Uyghurs living in Xinjiang, which is officially known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The United Nations (UN) estimated in 2018 that as many as one million Uyghurs were being held in what resembles a “massive internment camp that is shrouded in secrecy.”

Canada imposed sanctions on four Chinese officials and one entity on March 22, 2021, with former prime minister Justin Trudeau saying a “gross and systematic human rights violations” was taking place.

China’s nearly three-year arbitrary detainment of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig also blew up diplomatic relations between the countries. At the time of their release, 115 Canadians remained in custody in Chinese prisons, Global Affairs Canada told Global News on Sept. 26, 2021.

China also executed four Canadian citizens in early 2025, with Beijing saying at the time all four were dual citizens and had been prosecuted on drug charges.

Abbotsford, B.C., native Robert Schellenberg has been on death row in China since 2019.

The federal government said at the time that it “strongly condemns” the executions, but Prime Minister Mark Carney has made repeated outreaches to Beijing to thaw relations and increase trade since coming into the role last year.

The poll asked 1,020 Canadians via phone between Feb. 8 and May 13 about their views on both the U.S. and China, including the respondents’ foreign policy stances, rating respective presidents of each nation and respect for personal freedoms.

Surveyed Canadians were not the only ones who came to the conclusion of favouring China over the U.S., with the poll stating that “China is now seen more positively than the U.S. in most of 36 countries surveyed.”

“During the first two years of Trump’s second term, ratings of the U.S. president worsened significantly. While many people still lack confidence in Xi , positive views of him have become more widespread, and more overall now say they have confidence in Xi than in Trump,” the poll reads.

The U.S. is viewed more positively than China in just six countries, including four in the Asia-Pacific region: India, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea.

Tensions between the U.S. and Canada have been fraught since the American administration’s tariffs on Canada in early 2025 and repeated threats by Trump to make Canada the “51st state.”

A letter sent by U.S. Republicans to Carney on Wednesday regarding Canadian wildfire smoke blowing into the U.S. states that “sovereignty comes with responsibility, and the responsibility to prevent a foreseeable disaster from crossing into another country’s airspace has not been met.”

Carney visited China in January, meeting with Xi. Carney’s office had said his visit had a focus on “engagement on trade, energy, agriculture and international security.”

This marked the first visit by a Canadian prime minister to China in eight years.

As a result, Canada and China reached a preliminary trade deal in which Beijing agreed to lower or eliminate some tariffs on Canadian agricultural products and Canada agreed to reduce tariffs on some Chinese electric vehicles.

China’s foreign minister Wang Yi also conducted a three-day trip to Ottawa in June that included meeting with Carney.

The last time Wang was in Ottawa 10 years ago, he unleashed a tirade on a Canadian reporter who asked about human rights in China at a joint press conference with then-foreign affairs minister Stephane Dion.

During the visit in June, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said that the economic relationship between Canada and China is “significant.”

“We are committed to growing this relationship responsibly with a goal of increasing exports towards China by 50 per cent by 2030, while safeguarding Canada’s economic and national security interests and values,” she said at the time.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s chief of staff is cutting the size of the office by 10 jobs and about $1 million.

Ford has increasingly come under fire for the size of his office as its size and cost has grown at a rate his critics say does not fit with his mantra of finding efficiencies.

In 2025, salaries in Ford’s office topped $8 million, a more than 150 per cent increase since 2019, the first full year he was in office.

A memo today from chief of staff Travis Kann says since he was named to that job in March, he has been looking to “rationalize” the size of the office and lower costs.

He says he has implemented a hiring freeze and made changes to reduce the office’s head count by 10, including relocating staff, resulting in annual savings of more than $1 million.

The move also comes as Ford has told Toronto-area members of his caucus who were billing taxpayers for hotel stays in Toronto to reimburse all of the money.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

The expansion project at the Port of Vancouver, Canada’s largest port, has been referred to the federal government’s Major Projects Office.

“Around the world, supply chains are evolving, trade patterns are shifting, and competition for investment is intensifying,” Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said in Delta on Thursday morning.

“Now, Canada must and will respond by strengthening the infrastructure that connects our businesses to global markets, supports good jobs, and grows the economy. And that means investing in modern trade corridors that move goods efficiently and diversify Canada’s trade.”

MacKinnon said that the Port of Vancouver facilitates $350 billion in trade annually with 170 countries and they want to double its trade with 169 of them.

“It is Canada’s gateway to the Indo-Pacific region, connecting Canadian businesses to fast-growing markets across Asia and the Indian subcontinent,” he added.

“In 2025, the port handled a record 170 million metric tons of cargo, facilitating one in every three dollars of Canada’s non-U.S. trade and 40 per cent of our trade in goods beyond North America.

“At a time when Canada is diversifying trade and strengthening its economic security, this gateway has never been more important.”

The Major Projects Office is part of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s plan to get big, national projects fast-tracked through the approval process.

“We are moving at a speed not seen in generations to build ports, railways, energy grids — the major projects that will unlock Canada’s full economic potential and build Canada strong,” Carney posted on social media Friday.

The Liberal government rushed Bill C-5 through Parliament in June, creating a framework for a new approvals process for large-scale projects the government deems to be in the national interest and that could help grow the economy — including ports, energy and road infrastructure.

MacKinnon said that the Port of Vancouver expansion will include a three-berth container terminal that will increase the port’s annual container capacity by almost 2.4 million, which represents about 15 per cent of what Canada’s total container handling capacity will be.

“It supports Canada’s goal of doubling exports to non-U.S. markets by 2035,” he said.

“And just like the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the gateway strategy represents the kind of nation-building infrastructure that will diversify trade and strengthen our economy for decades to come.”

MacKinnon added that the port expansion will unlock more than $100 billion in annual trade capacity for Canada, while contributing more than three billion dollars to Canada’s GDP each year.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The United States’ top trade official says the Trump administration isn’t going to give Canada credit for its trade concessions.

Jamieson Greer says he’s glad Canada dropped its digital services tax and “rolled back” its Online Streaming Act but they “don’t really get credit for doing something bad and then undoing it.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney took those actions in an attempt to move trade talks with the United States forward.

Washington and Mexico have launched formal negotiations on the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement (CUSMA) on trade but no such talks have started with Ottawa.

Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in Washington Wednesday, Greer says he’s in weekly contact with his Canadian counterparts and he’s offered Ottawa proposals to “put us in a better position.”

He says if U.S. President Donald Trump and Carney reach an understanding, they can get over “the hump” to some sort of trade agreement.

© 2026 The Canadian Press