When Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government drastically cut student assistance grants earlier this year, it cited “unsustainable” costs, but new figures show nearly all of the recent growth was among career college students.

Data obtained by The Canadian Press through a freedom-of-information request shows that between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years, the province spent $465 million more on Ontario Student Assistance Program grants, and 95 per cent of that went to private career college students.

That points to a problem of the government’s own making and the solution did not have to penalize students at universities and publicly funded colleges, opposition critics said.

“Doug Ford used the rising cost of OSAP as his excuse to gut student aid, slashing the grant portion from 85 per cent down to 25 per cent and leaving students to take on more debt,” Liberal critic for colleges and universities Tyler Watt wrote in a statement.

“These numbers show that excuse doesn’t hold up.”

When students apply for Ontario financial aid they are also assessed for federal assistance, and the new data shows that while overall both the Ontario and federal portions of what students have been receiving are on the rise, one category stands out.

University students received about $370 million in Ontario Student Grants in 2023-24, an amount that actually decreased the following year to about $354 million. Students at publicly funded colleges received $349 million in 2023-24 and $386 million the next year. Canada Student Grants rose at relatively similar paces.

Career college students, however, received about $554 million in Ontario Student Grants in 2023-24, and the following year they received about $994 million.

That is more than the amount of Ontario Students Grants for public college and university students combined.

During the same time period, the amount of Canada Student Grants those same students received was far lower, and was a smaller relative increase, from $201 million in 2023-24 to $338 million the next year.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said with most of the increase coming in career college usage, it looks like the government was just looking for an excuse to cut all OSAP spending.

“I think they were unwilling to only make cuts that impacted their friends at the private career colleges,” she said.

“It just shows me that they never actually explored options that would have saved the program, and it’s students that are going to pay the price.”

When Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government drastically cut student assistance grants earlier this year, it cited “unsustainable” costs, but new figures show nearly all of the recent growth was among career college students.

Data obtained by The Canadian Press through a freedom-of-information request shows that between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years, the province spent $465 million more on Ontario Student Assistance Program grants, and 95 per cent of that went to private career college students.

That points to a problem of the government’s own making and the solution did not have to penalize students at universities and publicly funded colleges, opposition critics said.

“Doug Ford used the rising cost of OSAP as his excuse to gut student aid, slashing the grant portion from 85 per cent down to 25 per cent and leaving students to take on more debt,” Liberal critic for colleges and universities Tyler Watt wrote in a statement.

“These numbers show that excuse doesn’t hold up.”

When students apply for Ontario financial aid they are also assessed for federal assistance, and the new data shows that while overall both the Ontario and federal portions of what students have been receiving are on the rise, one category stands out.

University students received about $370 million in Ontario Student Grants in 2023-24, an amount that actually decreased the following year to about $354 million. Students at publicly funded colleges received $349 million in 2023-24 and $386 million the next year. Canada Student Grants rose at relatively similar paces.

Career college students, however, received about $554 million in Ontario Student Grants in 2023-24, and the following year they received about $994 million.

That is more than the amount of Ontario Students Grants for public college and university students combined.

During the same time period, the amount of Canada Student Grants those same students received was far lower, and was a smaller relative increase, from $201 million in 2023-24 to $338 million the next year.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said with most of the increase coming in career college usage, it looks like the government was just looking for an excuse to cut all OSAP spending.

“I think they were unwilling to only make cuts that impacted their friends at the private career colleges,” she said.

“It just shows me that they never actually explored options that would have saved the program, and it’s students that are going to pay the price.”

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Durham regional police say 46 people have been arrested following a years-long investigation into international organized crime groups who were travelling to Canada for the purpose of executing high-profit crimes.

The investigation, dubbed Project Jetsetter, has linked more than 200 incidents across the Greater Toronto Area since 2019, according to a news release from Durham regional police.

Police say they have since laid more than 1,440 charges and confirmed more than $2.6 million in losses to victims in Durham Region alone.

Investigations identified a wide range of organized criminal activity, including large-scale retail theft operations, vehicle purchasing scams, vehicle financing fraud, staged collisions for insurance fraud, jewelry distraction thefts, and the theft and exportation of vehicles and other goods.

These offences are structured, repeatable and designed to maximize financial gain.

Police allege the suspects used co-ordinated distraction techniques, such as offering assistance, gifts or conversation, before stealing jewelry and other valuables. Police say these incidents have risen dramatically, especially with seniors.

Project Jetsetter involved more than nine investigations and 5,000 hours of work, according to Durham police.

“Criminal tourism is a recent, borderless form of organized crime that impacts the daily lives of Canadians,” Mario Panizzon, director general of RCMP National Intelligence, said in a statement.

There are still 164 suspects wanted.

Chief Peter Moreira added that by “recognizing the warning signs and reporting suspicious behaviour, residents can help reduce opportunities for offenders and support ongoing investigations.”

Project Jetsetter remains active as investigators work to identify and apprehend the other suspects.

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

Anthony Head, the suave, smooth-voiced British actor known for roles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Ted Lasso, has died, his family said Friday. He was 72.

Head’s daughters, actors Emily and Daisy Head, told the Press Association news agency that the actor passed away due to complications from pneumonia.

The performer became known to British TV audiences in the 1980s as one half of a will-they, won’t-they romantic couple in a series of ads for Nescafe instant coffee.

Head achieved U.S. fame as librarian Rupert Giles, mentor to the title character in the cult-favorite supernatural series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which ran from 1997 to 2003.

He most recently played Rupert Mannion, the villainous ex-husband of Hannah Waddingham’s character Rebecca, in Ted Lasso.

“Our grief is far greater than the hole he has left behind, but we know his legacy will live on, in the shows he was a part of, and in the audiences that love them,” his daughters said. “How lucky we are to know we are able to watch him doing what he loved, even when he is no longer with us.”

 

© 2026 The Canadian Press

More than 600 acres of English farmland in the western county of Herefordshire, owned by Prince William, has been put up for sale.

The farm belongs to the Duchy of Cornwall, a historic private estate dating back to the 1300s, established by King Edward III to provide income to the eldest living son of the reigning monarch. Prince William became the owner when his father, King Charles III, ascended the British throne.

The estate spans 12,000 acres across 20 of England’s 48 counties and includes the Highgrove Estate, one of the King’s private residences, as well as parts of Wales, and provides 20 million pounds (CAD$37 million) of private income to Prince William every year, according to its website and the BBC.

The heir to the throne is selling the vacant plot in Cradley, near Ledbury, in western England for 6.65 million pounds, according to British property consulting firm Fisher German.

According to the listing, the property includes an eight-bedroom farmhouse set on 617.40 acres (249.85 hectares) of productive pasture and arable land.

A duchy spokesperson told Global News: “We are in the process of aligning and rebalancing our portfolio so that our places and assets deliver the greatest possible social and environmental impact. This means making careful, long-term decisions about where we focus our resources.

“Where a sale could affect tenants, we are speaking to people directly and supporting them through the process with care and respect. We recognise that each of our tenant’s circumstances are different, and we are taking a careful, case-by-case approach. Existing tenancy terms are central to these discussions, and we have support in place for tenants as they consider what is right for them and their families,” it concluded.

Last month, the duchy confirmed it would sell off 20 per cent of its property — valued at more than 1 billion pounds (CAD $1.8 billion) — over the next 10 years.

Will Bax, the chief executive of the Duchy of Cornwall, revealed the organization’s strategy to consolidate its holdings and invest the proceeds in environmental and social projects in an interview with The Times of London in May, The Associated Press reported.

William has decided that the duchy “shouldn’t just exist to own land,” Bax told the Times. “It should first and foremost exist to have a positive impact on the world.”

The initiative comes as the British Royal Family, in general, and the Duchy of Cornwall, specifically, face pressure to be more transparent about their finances and to show that the monarchy provides value for money for taxpayers.

The duchy now plans to focus on five “heartlands” in the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, Dartmoor and the Bath area, all in southwestern England, as well as the Kennington area of London, Bax said.

Land sales will help the duchy invest about 500 million pounds in housing, renewable energy and environmental projects, he said.

The duchy’s profits support the public and private life of the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children. It reported a profit of 22.9 million pounds in the financial year ending March 31, 2025.

— with files from The Associated Press

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

The long-delayed federal artificial intelligence strategy is here, and the federal government wants the youngest Canadians to get familiar with the new technology early on in life.

Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday unveiled Canada’s new AI strategy. The document lists six “pillars” of Canada’s AI strategy; the second pillar has to do with building AI skills among Canadians.

The federal AI strategy lays out the objective of building “foundational AI literacy” as a key priority for the Canadian government, with schools playing an important role.

The vehicle for school training will be the CanCode program, which funds initiatives for not-for-profit organizations to train both students and teachers from kindergarten to Grade 12 in digital skills.

“Canada will invest $30 million in CanCode to fund not-for-profit organizations to deliver free digital skills training — including coding, AI, and emerging technologies — to youth from kindergarten to grade 12 and their educators, with emphasis on reaching underrepresented groups,” the document says.

There’s little specific detail on what that AI training could look like in kindergarten in the strategy, and educational curriculums are under provincial — not federal — jurisdiction.

Global News reached out to AI Minister Evan Solomon’s office asking for more information on what types of uses the government envisions children learning in kindergarten.

This article will be updated when a response is received.

The proposals in the AI strategy were more a “message” to provinces rather than concrete policy proposals, said Elizabeth Dhuey, professor at the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

“It’s not about bringing AI bots into the K through 12, at least I hope not. That would be a bad choice. It’s more about teaching kids about safety, why there’s bias in AI, more overarching, broad kind of issues,” Dhuey said.

“It’s a little less scary than the actual headlines might tell you.”

While AI is already being adopted in some Canadian classrooms, teachers are generally playing catch-up with a rapidly evolving technology, she said.

“We’re more worried about reacting and trying to catch cheaters and look for academic dishonesty versus trying to figure out how to actually implement it in our classrooms,” Dhuey said.

The government will provide free AI literacy training, including “doubling K-12 teacher training to more than 3,000 educators.”

However, she added that using chatbots in early classrooms could lead to a “bad situation” for learning outcomes since it takes out intellectual friction from the learning process.

“You really need to actually suffer with the problem. You need to iterate and learn and struggle while you’re learning. And that’s where the learning process comes in,” she said.

The use of AI in classrooms has been associated with worsening social interactions and development among K-12 students.

According to a report by the Center for Democracy and Technology released in October 2025, more than half of students agreed that using AI in classrooms led them to feel less connected with their teachers and around half of teachers were worried about a decrease in peer-to-peer connections among students.

Three in four teachers were also worried that AI weakens critical thinking and research skills, while 71 per cent said AI use had increased their burden as they tried to ascertain whether a student’s work was their own.

An MIT study published in November 2025 found that using AI chatbots like ChatGPT erodes critical thinking skills, even among adults.

“Writing without assistance increased brain network interactions,” the study said.

“Writing with AI assistance, in contrast, reduces overall neural connectivity.”

The brain of someone using ChatGPT “might not go as deeply into the rich associative processes that unassisted creative writing entails,” the study said.

The consequences could be worse for kids, Dhuey warned.

“If these young kids are using it to do their coursework and they’re not learning how to do reading and writing, all that kind of stuff on their own, we’re going to be in bad shape,” she said.

A 2024 study published in Springer Nature journal found that children are “particularly susceptible to attributing human-like properties to AI, undermining their expectations of these technologies.”

The use of these technologies may hamper kids’ interpersonal and social interactions, the study found.

“When children engage in learning activities with AI, they may encounter inappropriate, inaccurate, or biased content,” it added.

As the negative impacts of social media use on kids become a topic of conversation, several jurisdictions are now looking to ban social media for minors. Dhuey said she hopes Canada has conversations on how to safely engage with AI sooner rather than later.

“What I think we need to do is have a reasonable conversation that we didn’t have about social media, about AI, saying, ‘OK, we’re here, we are doing it. Kids are going to be using it. How do we steer children and young adults appropriately so that they learn what they need to learn while having access to the tool?’” she said.

Having more in-person learning and assignments and regulating the use of privately owned, for-profit AI can be a start, particularly since parents are worried about their kids being used like a data mining resource by big tech.

“It’s bad enough that we get tracked with our cellphones and they know exactly what I’m buying, but they don’t know a ton about my children. And they will, as soon as we start letting this stuff in,” Dhuey said.

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

Ontario Provincial Police has charged a man with first-degree murder in connection to a killing last year.

At roughly 5:30 p.m. on May 17, 2025, officers from the OPP’s Russell County detachment responded to a report of a body discovered in the Ottawa River, near Dallaire Street.

An autopsy confirmed the body was that of Robert Prevost, a 63-year-old Clarence-Rockland resident who was reported missing in early March 2025. He was last seen at his home on Laurier Street in early February 2025. Police ruled his death was a result of homicide.

On Thursday, 51-year-old Luc Decarie of St-Gabriel-de-Brandon, Que., was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, indignity to a body and conspiracy to commit murder.

He is scheduled to appear in court Friday.

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

One man has been arrested following an attempted arson at a Montreal synagogue, police say.

Officers responded to a place of worship at Sherbrooke Street and Wood Avenue shortly after midnight on Friday following reports of a fire.

No suspect was found at the scene, but police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant told Global News there was a broken window and that an “incendiary object” was found inside.

Brabant said firefighters responded quickly and the building sustained minor damage.

“With some information that was provided by witnesses, we were able to arrest a man who is 38-years-old in link with the arson,” he added.

The suspect has met with investigators and Brabant said an accusation will be filed with the Crown prosecutor later Friday.

No one was hurt, said Lisa Grushcow, the rabbi at the targeted temple, in a message to her congregation and the broader community.

“As I write, our building is fully open and functional. We are grateful for the dedication and courage of our community and our team,” she said.

But Grushcow said there is concern with the rise in antisemitism across Montreal and Canada.

In 2025, more than two-thirds of all religion-motivated hate crimes targeted the Jewish community, Prime Minister Mark Carney said in his address on combating antisemitism on Monday.

“Our government will always protect the inalienable right of the Jewish people to live openly in freedom, safety and dignity,” he said. “Protection is fundamental, but not sufficient.”

Carney announced the launch and membership of Canada’s new Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality, and Inclusion, with a mandate to reassess the drivers of antisemitism, develop a whole-of-government approach to target hate, improve the collection and data on hate incidents and measure the impact of government efforts.

On Wednesday, Bill C-9 passed third reading in the Senate. The bill directly addresses antisemitism and hate-motivated violence by amending the Criminal Code to create a hate crime offence as well as an offence for restricting access to places of religious worship.

Grushcow said actions from the government are needed, noting the arson attempt is the second time her synagogue was targeted. Last spring, a swastika was spray-painted on the temple, but Grushcow said these acts will not stop the community from gathering.

“Temple will do what we do best: live a thriving, inclusive, joyous Jewish life,” she said.

Friday Shabbat services will continue as scheduled, she added.

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

A Saskatchewan woman found guilty of starving to death a young girl in her care and abusing the child’s sister has been granted day parole.

The Parole Board of Canada says in a written decision that Tammy Goforth is to reside at an unidentified community residential facility in Saskatchewan for six months.

Goforth was convicted in 2016 of second-degree murder and criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

She was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 17 years.

The two sisters, who were in foster care with Goforth and her husband in Regina, were rushed to hospital in 2012 and found to be malnourished, dehydrated and covered with bruises.

The four-year-old died of a brain injury following cardiac arrest and her sister, who was two at the time, survived.

The parole board says Goforth is subject to a curfew and can’t have contact with children.

The woman struggled to provide insight into her attitude toward the girls, but the board says she’s at a low risk of reoffending.

It says Goforth recognizes the importance of asking for help and views herself as a changed person.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, made money subletting cottages at his royal residence, where he lived rent-free for two decades, according to a report on the Royal Family’s properties released by the U.K. public spending watchdog on Friday.

The National Audit Office report said the former prince had received income from renting out three cottages on the Royal Lodge estate, “with income generated payable to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor,” his home near Windsor Castle.

“These properties have been vacant since April 2026,” it added.

It also said his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, reside in rent-controlled homes, owned by the Crown, and paid for by their uncle, King Charles III.

The rents on Eugenie’s cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace in London and Beatrice’s home at St. James’s Palace, also in London, are set at a portion of the open-market value, which can vary significantly, the audit says. In both instances, rents are paid out of the Privy Purse, the King’s private funds.

The princesses are not considered “working” royals with public duties, and both work other jobs.

Eugenie is a director at the London branch of the international art gallery Hauser & Wirth. Beatrice is the vice-president of partnerships and strategy at the U.S. software and data analytics firm Afiniti.

A lease for Royal Lodge, signed in 2003, shows Mountbatten-Windsor paid only a nominal fee, known as a “peppercorn rent,” for the property, which included a 30-room mansion and eight cottages, three of which he was allowed to sublet.

The report shows that 11 royals are granted free housing on palace properties in exchange for their public duties, including King Charles and Queen Camilla, Prince William and his wife Catherine, as well as the king’s youngest brother, Prince Edward, and his wife Sophie.

William and Catherine also have a family home near Windsor, for which they pay 307,200 pounds (about CAD $571,000) a year, The Associated Press reported.

The amount the former prince made from the rental properties was not disclosed in the report, an omission noted by Margaret Hodge, a Labour member of the House of Lords, as a cause for concern.

“It’s shocking that the National Audit Office was not able to establish how much money Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor secured from the properties he let,” she said.

The audit was conducted at the request of lawmakers after Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his royal titles and forced to vacate his home amid revelations about his alleged ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Mountbatten-Windsor moved earlier this year to the Sandringham estate, a royal residence in eastern England.

He was arrested and questioned by police in February over allegations of misconduct in public office.

While Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied any wrongdoing in connection with his ties with Epstein and has not been charged, concerns about his links to the disgraced financier have dogged the Royal Family for more than a decade.

Buckingham Palace said the audit office report “is in line with the royal household’s commitment to transparency. We hope that the findings will help correct, clarify or contextualize a number of points regarding royal properties.”

— with files from The Associated Press

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

Artificial intelligence has now been used to create a “fundamental new vaccine technology” that could protect against large swathes of viruses and prevent pandemics, according to researchers.

A team at the University of Cambridge says this is the first time that a vaccine whose active component was “designed entirely by computer simulations has been tested in humans.”

The vaccine was designed to “provide protection against multiple Sarbeco coronaviruses – the large group of viruses that occur in nature including SARS-CoV-2, which caused the COVID pandemic,” according to a University of Cambridge press release.

Results from the trials published in the Journal of Infection state that the research, conducted between December 2021 and September 2023, involved 39 healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 50.

The vaccine “triggered immune responses in the volunteers not only to SARS-CoV-2 and SARS, but to related bat viruses that could potentially jump from animals to humans and cause future pandemics. ”

“The super antigen is compatible with most vaccine delivery systems,” the press release reads.

“In this trial it was administered as DNA vaccine through a micro fluid jet. This needle-free delivery method offers an alternative to those with a fear of needle-based injections. This could make vaccination faster and easier to carry out in large numbers of people, especially in settings where conventional injections are more challenging to deliver.”

Professor Saul Faust from the University of Southampton, the trial’s chief investigator, said in the press release that “Viruses like Influenza, Coronaviruses and the Ebola group are evolving continuously and by the time vaccines are rolled out, they may be poorly matched – the current ‘reactive’ vaccine system struggles to keep pace.”

“This new class of universal vaccines are future-proofed. They not only protect against many variants simultaneously, but potentially against related viruses that haven’t yet emerged and spilt over to humans,” Faust said.

The press release also states that “a larger Phase two trial will next assess the vaccine’s ability to induce immune responses in a wider and more diverse population, and confirm that it generates strong, broadly protective immune responses.”

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