I’m sure you’ve heard someone use the phrase “Elvis has left the building” in some kind of humorous or ironic way, or maybe even as some kind of catchphrase. But what does it mean and where did the phrase come from?
Yes, the “Elvis” is Elvis Presley, and the phrase itself dates to December 1956, when Elvis appeared in front of an audience for a radio show called Louisiana Hayride at the Hirsch Memorial Coliseum in Shreveport. Elvis did his thing and then left the stage. But the crowd wanted more, and things started getting a little tense. People wouldn’t stop cheering, which made it impossible for the next act to perform.
To calm things down, concert promoter Horace Logan got on the mic and said, “All right, Elvis has left the building. I’ve told you absolutely straight up to this point. You know he has. He has left the building. He left the stage and went out the back with the policemen, and he is now gone from the building.” A portion of that plea is now an evergreen rock’n’roll meme.
How? Because Elvis heard about it and began using the phrase for all his shows.
Back in the days when radio stations played vinyl, the DJ was always switching between records that played at different speeds. One of the most embarrassing things that could happen to you—and I speak from experience here—is to launch a record at the wrong speed, resulting in music that is too slow or too fast. Cringey stuff. But sometimes there are unintended consequences.
In 1978, the Atlanta Rhythm Section, a Southern rock band, released a single called “Imaginary Lover.” A DJ played the song at 45 instead of 33 and didn’t pay attention. The listening audience did, though. To them, it sounded like Stevie Nicks was singing and that this was a brand-new Fleetwood Mac song.
For a while, the song was considered to be a “lost” Stevie Nicks track before everything was sorted out.
Let’s talk about the Imagine Dragons for a second, specifically their name. Where did that come from? This is tricky.
The name is allegedly an anagram, a couple of words scrambled to make sense from another couple of words. Okay, so what words were used to create the name “Imagine Dragons”? The band won’t say. The only clue they’ve ever dropped is that some apostrophes might be required. But then they walked back on that. Using an online anagram machine, we know there are about 107,000 different combinations for the letters in “Imagine Dragons.” Guesses include “Adoring Images,” “A Roaming Design” and “God is in the Manager.”
The band appreciates the effort, but they’re still not saying.
The Toronto Fire Services logo is seen in Toronto on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey
A teenager has been rushed to hospital with serious burns, while three other people have suffered smoke inhalation after an overnight fire in Toronto.
Around 3:20 a.m. Tuesday, firefighters were dispatched to an address near Dundas and Bloor streets for reports of a fire.
Toronto Fire said the blaze was reported in a basement, and everyone inside was able to get themselves out.
Paramedics told Global News they had taken a 16-year-old to a burn centre with second-degree burns to their legs. An adult man and two children — aged eight and 10 — were also taken to a local hospital with minor injuries.
Officials said the fire was knocked down and an investigation into its cause was underway.
WATCH: Premier Scott Moe and members of his cabinet are expected to speak with the media 1 p.m. on Wednesday in Prince Albert.
Saskatchewan’s government is set to slap its retaliatory tax on American booze today amid the ongoing Canada-U.S. trade war.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe announced last month his province would implement the 50 per cent fee on American alcohol on the same day Canada’s reciprocal tariffs take effect.
The move came after trade talks broke down between Canada and the United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump implemented a 50 per cent tariff on Canadian liquor and a range of other goods.
In return, Prime Minister Mark Carney promised to hit back with dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs.
Any U.S.-produced alcohol purchased through the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority’s online ordering system, used by retailers across the province, is being hit by the levy.
Unlike other Canadian provinces, Saskatchewan and Alberta do not have a ban on American alcohol products.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith hasn’t followed Saskatchewan’s lead by implementing a reciprocal tax. Following Moe’s announcement, she said her cabinet would consider it.
Moe has said U.S. liquor would remain on store shelves, because the province doesn’t want to limit the public’s ability to choose.
“That is a very important core value for this government,” he said in late August.
He added that residents have been showing support for Canadian products with their wallets, as American booze sales in Saskatchewan are down by about 40 per cent.
“I think that actually sends a much stronger message than any government-ordered ban,” Moe said. “The sale of Saskatchewan-made products has increased at the very same time.”
Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck called the Saskatchewan Party government’s move a “weak and gutless response” to Trump’s attack on Canada’s sovereignty and economy.
Let’s talk about collecting rare vinyl records. How much is any given record worth? It depends on two things. First, demand. You may have a one-of-a-kind recording, but if no one else cares, it’s not worth anything. The second criterion is the condition of the record. Collectors use a grading system with “mint condition” as the top grade. A “mint” record looks like it just came from the store and might even still be sealed or unplayed. Below that is “excellent,” which indicates that the record has been played but is still in great shape.
From there, we have “very good,” which means the record shows signs of being played a number of times but still looks and sounds good. Then we descend to “good,” “fair,” “poor,” and “bad.”
Who determines the grade of any record? The seller can try, but it’s the buyer who makes the ultimate call.
An RCMP epaulette is seen in Edmonton, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
JF
Mounties in Manitoba say four teens died and four other victims, including two children, were taken to hospital after two vehicles crashed and landed in a ditch near a resort town over the weekend.
RCMP say they responded just after 9 p.m. on Sunday to an intersection near the town of Winnipeg Beach, located about 80 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
Police say a car with four occupants was westbound on Highway 229, and was crossing Highway 8 when it was hit by a southbound van.
Both vehicles went into a ditch, with one of them rolling over on to its roof.
Police say the three 18-year-olds from Manitoba — including the female driver — and a 17-year-old from Ontario who were in the car died at the scene.
The four people from Winnipeg who were in the van, including the 49-year-old man who was driving, a woman and two children, were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Mounties say in a news release that the intersection has stop signs, and a traffic reconstructionist is assisting in the investigation.
WATCH: Job losses, economy dominate Quebec election campaign on Day 9
Orphée Dubé-Gervais expects to spend a lot of time studying on the train in the coming weeks.
Dubé-Gervais is one of several candidates balancing university studies with door knocking, attending partisan events and seeking to win over voters ahead of the Oct. 5 Quebec election. Candidates from three parties tell The Canadian Press that running requires careful planning but comes with the rewards of participating in the democratic process.
Dubé-Gervais says she’s used to a busy schedule with a job, classes and community engagement, including a position as a coordinator with a school-based legal clinic that supports people experiencing homelessness. She believes she can manage this newest commitment by taking a break from her job and spending less time on social activities.
“I go to class, but I’ll spend less time on the university campus. I do my readings on public transit or late at night at home, but I have less time to participate in student life,” the Québec solidaire candidate said.
Clément Mireault, a 19-year-old Coalition Avenir Québec candidate and accounting sciences student, also has his schedule figured out.
He spends his morning in class at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières campus south of Montreal. Early afternoons are for lunch and studying, then at around 3 p.m., he heads out to door-knock around the La Pinière riding south of Montreal. Some days, mostly when it rains, he tries to fit in a few hours of working for the party.
Mireault, who said he has already knocked on over 1,000 doors, says people who answer are often surprised at his age.
“Often people find that I’m young, but I explain and they often agree that it’s important to have young people in politics because we bring a different vision, and we represent an age group that is under-represented at the National Assembly,” he said in an interview at a party office.
Despite his age, he’s already a seasoned Coalition Avenir Québec member. Like Dubé-Gervais, he took his membership card at 16, which is the minimum age.
Recently, he’s served as secretary-treasurer of the party’s youth wing, where he says he has seen first-hand how young people can make a difference.
“We make propositions to the government, and they listen to us,” he said, noting that the government’s ban on cellphones in class and the development of a museum dedicated to Quebec history both originated with the youth wing.
Naima Indira Som, who is 26, got involved in formal politics about a year ago. After jobs such as working as an insurance adviser and teaching children with autism, she decided she wanted to be “at the forefront” of developing solutions to help people.
Indira Som, who is studying international relations and international law at UQAM, said she burst into tears the first time she saw her election posters advertising her as the Quebec Liberal candidate for the Pointe-aux-Trembles riding in east-end Montreal.
“I cried because it’s really a memorable experience and I think every young person should live it at least once in their life,” she said in a phone interview. Her campaign has been filled with special moments, including being invited for coffee by a woman in her 90s.
All three student candidates are facing tough challenges in their ridings. Mireault’s riding is a Liberal stronghold, while Dubé-Gervais is in a riding that has flipped between the Coalition Avenir Québec and the Parti Québécois. Indira Som’s opponents include Chantal Rouleau, a longtime Coalition Avenir Québec minister who has represented the riding since 2018.
However, Indira Som rejects the notion that student candidates are being forced to pay their dues by running in tough-to-win ridings.
“I think it’s the same challenge (for everyone),” she said. “You have to be out on the ground all the time. You have to do your door-to-door.”
There’s a precedent in Canadian politics for electing university students. In the 2011 federal election, Laurin Liu was one of several McGill students who were elected as part of the so-called “orange wave” in Quebec that propelled the NDP to Official Opposition status.
In a phone interview from New York, Liu said her unexpected win forced a “major lifestyle change,” including postponing her studies as she moved to Ottawa. However, she believes that students are an asset to a legislature.
“I think students coming from a campus environment are primed to be curious and to ask questions,” she said. She also believes young people add diversity and can be seen as more approachable by their constituents. Liu returned to her studies after her term and completed a master’s degree in human rights.
The Quebec provincial parties did not provide an official tally of how many students are running in the election. The Liberals said they had 12 candidates under the age of 30, and the Coalition Avenir Québec said it had 26, including about 10 students.
Mireault, Dubé-Gervais and Indira Som are all aware that they’re part of a demographic with a lower rate of voting. All of them believe that one of the keys to engaging people of all ages is talking directly to them about issues that matter, such as the cost of living.
Indira Som’s message to other young people is to not wait until they feel perfectly ready before getting into politics.
“We learn by getting involved, and there are different ways to participate, whether in a political party, a community organization, a student association, or a board of directors,” she said. “Politics also belongs to young people, and we have to take our place.”
RELATED: Ford Government lifts freeze on freedom of information requests
Ontario’s transparency restrictions had been law for roughly three weeks when senior civil servants received a Microsoft Teams message telling them to put down their pens and institute a total freeze on processing all freedom of information (FOI) requests.
“This pause also includes key decisions and release steps in the FOI process, such as collecting records or advancing records for approval or disclosure,” part of the message read.
On April 24, the Ford government’s 2026 budget received Royal Assent, passing into law sweeping changes to how freedom of information works in Ontario. The changes excluded the premier, his cabinet and all their staff from disclosing records to the public.
The government implemented the new law, which the Information and Privacy Commissioner said at the time “would diminish the public’s right to information,” immediately.
The rush prompted widespread confusion, giving civil servants almost no time to get to grips with the first major changes to transparency legislation in four decades.
Then, three weeks later, on May 14, an unprecedented total pause on transparency work was implemented and kept in place for more than a week.
Using freedom of information laws, Global News obtained the Microsoft Teams conversations where the pause was communicated, leading to widespread concern and confusion among senior civil servants.
“We are at a complete standstill on ALL of our FOI requests even if they don’t include political staff records?” one senior freedom of information coordinator asked in response to the freeze.
They were told that was “consistent” with the messaging received from deputy ministers.
When news of the pause broke publicly, critics said it was evidence the government was changing transparency laws to “obliterate access to any information,” while Premier Doug Ford said nobody cared.
“You know who FOIs? The media party, they’re obsessed with it,” he claimed in May.
“We’re duplicating what the federal government is doing, simple. We were an outlier. I should have done this eight years ago, but I didn’t. The media party can focus on that, I’m going to focus on job creation.”
The request to pause freedom of information requests across government came on the afternoon of May 14, when the government’s director of privacy, access and cyber security said officials needed more time to come up with guidance on how the transparency changes would work.
“As you know, (the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement) is leading the development of centralized communications and guidance to support implementation of the Bill 97 amendments to FIPPA and MFIPPA,” the director wrote. “We expect the guidance to be finalized within the next few days.”
The message reveals the province was still working out how to implement the new freedom of information rules, which had been announced two months earlier and officially became law three weeks before the message was sent.
Before the law passed, the Ford government had opted to bypass debate and committee hearings on the changes, rushing them into force without traditional cross-party scrutiny and debate.
The messages seen by Global News show the total pause caught many senior civil servants by surprise. Some suggested the move was the opposite of what they had been told earlier, while others raised questions about how a total pause in freedom of information operations would work.
“This will significantly impact the entire (Ontario Public Service’s) compliance rate,” one official worried in a group chat. “Only two to four per cent of our FOIs include the records of political staff.”
Later, they followed up: “With all due respect, some ministries have dozens of requests due on any given day.”
Others said the direction was too broad, insisting there must be a mistake.
“I can’t believe this is the intent – to put a hold on all work in the FOI community,” another civil servant wrote. “Can you double-check… This doesn’t seem right … the impact across all ministries is too large.”
One official with the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, which deals with thousands of routine information requests, said the pause would be unsustainable.
“I have a huge concern with putting ‘all’ FOI request decisions on hold. I release an average of 150 decisions weekly. 40% of them have no records and the 60% have records,” they wrote.
“If we are looking at a hold of a couple of 1-2 days, that is doable, but longer than that will impact our operations.”
The message also raised concerns for civil servants because of how it was delivered.
Rather than being sent by email or through a memo, as direction is generally communicated in government, it was dropped into a cross-department Microsoft Teams group chat.
“Can you please provide this direction in an email,” one civil servant requested.
The request was echoed by their colleagues.
“Yes, I need this in writing to stop mine or my team’s work,” one wrote. Another said, “This will be critical for us since we have a decentralized approach to processing requests.”
The requests were flatly denied.
“There won’t be anything coming in email,” the director wrote the day after the Microsoft Teams message was first sent.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement told Global News in a statement that Microsoft Teams was an accepted, official communications channel.
“Microsoft Teams is an approved enterprise collaboration platform and is used across ministries. The platform meets the Ontario Public Service’s information management and security requirements,” they wrote in a statement.
“The government will continue to uphold the public’s right of access to records and ensure that we meet the highest standards in implementing the amendments to FIPPA.”
Despite the initial promise, the pause was not only in place for a few days.
“As we are now a week into the FOI pause, our staff are starting to receive voicemail and email messages from requestors (mostly media) asking for an update on their requests,” one coordinator wrote.
“Do we have any key messaging that can be given for staff to use to respond to these inquiries?”
The director of privacy, access and cyber security, however, told transparency staff the pause would continue.
“Folks – sit tight,” one reply read.
The freeze was eventually lifted on May 22, more than a week after hundreds of transparency requests across the government were frozen.
The government said in a statement it had always planned a “transition period” to the new system.
“Bill 97 updated Ontario’s access and privacy framework, including new complex provisions that required careful implementation,” they wrote.
“The amendments that introduced the FIPPA exclusion for Ministers, Ministers’ offices, Parliamentary Assistants, and Parliamentary Assistants’ offices contemplated a transition period.”
The assets of one of the leaders behind Alberta separatism will remain frozen for another month. A judge has granted an extension to the order to keep Jeffrey Rath's assets frozen in an escalating court fight over trust money from a First Nation Treaty settlement. Adam MacVicar reports.
An American litigation funder is threatening to call in more than $100 million in alleged debt from Alberta separatist leader and lawyer Jeffrey Rath and his firm, Global News has learned.
Delaware-based Diriba Investments LLC alleges in court documents that Rath and his professional corporation, RathPC, defaulted two years ago on a financing agreement tied to First Nations and COVID-19 litigation cases — a debt the lender now says totals nearly $109 million, plus interest and costs.
Rath and his corporation now face pressure on two fronts. As Global News reported last month, two former First Nations clients have filed separate court actions seeking the return of tens of millions in disputed trust funds, and now an American creditor is pursuing a nine-figure claim against the firm’s legal proceeds and other assets.
“If you are a law firm, these are very, very serious matters,” said Roderick Wood, a University of Alberta law professor who is an expert in insolvency and bankruptcy law.
“If you have a secured party in a position where they are enforcing their claim, any debtor, not just a law firm, is really in a situation you would rather not be in. It’s a very challenging situation.”
Rath declined to answer questions from Global News.
In addition to leading a successful legal firm, the Calgary lawyer has become one of the Alberta separatist movement’s most visible advocates in recent years, crisscrossing the province for town halls, travelling to Washington to meet with American officials, and appearing in national and international media.
But behind the scenes, his firm was pursuing cases bankrolled in part by litigation funding — an arrangement that has allegedly left the firm, and potentially the proceeds of some of Rath’s biggest cases, indebted to U.S. investors.
Litigation funding is a large and controversial industry, primarily in the U.S. It allows outside investors to pay a lawyer’s costs to pursue legal cases in exchange for a share of the compensation if the case is won.
In a 2018 agreement, Diriba and Western Springs Investments LP, another funder incorporated in Delaware, signed on to finance some of RathPC’s legal work. In return, the firm granted the funders security over a negotiated portion of its resulting fees and other compensation. Western Springs appointed Diriba to act as agent for both funders.
Rath is accused by a U.S. litigation funder of defaulting on a contract first signed in 2018.
Global News
Diriba alleges Rath’s firm breached the agreement by not submitting monthly reports, not keeping funders informed of material case developments, not reporting proceeds from covered cases, not responding to information requests, and not making required payments.
The funder also alleges Rath and RathPC failed to disclose that unnamed claimants had terminated their relationship with the firm.
Documents show that in November 2024 the company demanded an accounting and payment of money it said it was owed, formally warning RathPC that it intended to pursue assets pledged under the financing agreement.
The alleged debt and contractual breaches have not been adjudicated.
Global News could not confirm which specific cases Diriba funded or how much capital was advanced.
RathPC’s 2018 funding deal initially covered two unidentified cases, heavily redacted court documents show. But a 2023 amendment expanded the scope to all of his firm’s existing and future claimant-side work, explicitly mentioning First Nations treaty claims and COVID-restriction litigation.
Redactions obscure how Diriba arrived at the $108.8-million figure.
Diriba’s Calgary-based lawyer, Kelsey Meyer, declined to answer specific questions.
Questions to Burford Capital, a global litigation-finance giant closely affiliated with Diriba, also went unanswered. Paul Mysliwiec, who swore the affidavit as Diriba’s authorized representative, is Burford’s deputy general counsel.
On July 21, 2026 — nearly two years after issuing its notice of default — Diriba demanded records from RathPC, including its financial statements, a list of all active lawsuit claims, and a full accounting of money recovered in those cases, court documents show.
Six days later, Diriba followed up with a formal demand letter and separately served RathPC with a notice of intention to enforce security under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, describing RathPC as an “insolvent person” and alleging the firm may be unable to pay its debts as they come due.
Diriba also alleges that RathPC breached its financing agreement by granting a competing security interest to another company, Vance SPV LLC. Global traced Vance’s origins to Delaware, a popular destination for starting a company because it offers privacy – it does not require businesses to disclose their directors, shareholders, or executives.
Vance was incorporated in May 2020 — exactly one month before the company registered a lien over all of Rath’s and RathPC’s current and future personal property, on top of the claim Diriba already held. Court-filed financial records also show the company paid RathPC $13,682 in September 2024.
Global News could not identify or contact Vance’s owners because of Delaware’s limited public disclosure requirements.
Global News also could not determine why Diriba waited until July 2026 to begin formal enforcement of the default.
Wood suggested funders sometimes hold off if they expect payments to start coming in.
“If there is a lot of potential revenue, they might be saying, ‘Okay, you’re in default … but we may not be moving in immediately because … there may be further revenue coming in, which would alleviate the situation’.”
But as Global News has previously reported, Rath has been under increasing pressure from two First Nations over financial misappropriations.
According to court documents, Tallcree and Sturgeon Lake allege that RathPC misappropriated millions from their trusts, which held funds for beneficiaries who were minors, and which Rath’s firm administered after winning huge settlements for the bands. They say they fought for years to receive financial statements that would have revealed those disputed withdrawals.
Other court documents show that when Diriba issued its default notice in November 2024, Tallcree was still seeking its 2024 accounts, and financial auditor Grant Thornton was demanding proof that more than $12 million withdrawn from Sturgeon Lake’s trust was authorized.
Rath has denied wrongdoing in the Nations’ cases.
Though Rath declined to answer questions on this story, he previously told Global: “I’m responding through court proceedings at an appropriate time. I will not comment on personal financial matters that are not properly part of the public record or any other matter that is currently before the courts.”
Although Diriba has stated it will not seek funds belonging to Tallcree or Sturgeon Lake, its claim could still complicate the bands’ attempts to trace the funds they allege Rath has misappropriated, which are currently playing out in separate court actions.
“There is a potential … controversy over who has the higher-ranking claim – the secured creditor who is claiming the security interest in the property of the professional corporation, or the beneficiaries of the trust,” Roderick Wood, the insolvency expert, said.
Tallcree First Nation alleges that an $8.5 million refund should have been deposited in a trust and distributed but instead was deposited into RathPC's Bow Valley Credit Union account. Court records indicate that Rath said he was entitled to the funds.
Supplied.
Those Nations’ fights have now intensified. In July, Tallcree obtained an interim Mareva injunction — a court order freezing a person’s or company’s assets — prohibiting a defendant from hiding or moving funds that could otherwise satisfy a future judgment.
A court-ordered investigator, called a receiver, is also tracing the funds the Nation claims are missing. In particular, the receiver is investigating an $8.5-million refund RathPC had been ordered to repay its trust. Tallcree says the money instead moved into a new bank account and quickly turned into $8 million in bullion, plus a $500,000 draft payable to Rath.
Diriba wants to expand the receiver’s mandate to trace legal fees and other assets the funders say were pledged to them. It argues that Rath’s court-ordered financial disclosure in the Tallcree case also does not show where any remaining bullion – or the proceeds from bullion sales – ended up.
A hearing on Diriba’s application to expand the investigating receiver’s remit will be held on Sept. 14 in Calgary.
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