The race to build Canada’s next submarine fleet is on its final lap as the federal government evaluates two rival bids for the lucrative contract.

The two qualified bidders, South Korea’s Hanwha Oceans and Germany’s TKMS, have fought tooth and nail in an unusually short competition to supply the Royal Canadian Navy with some 12 submarines — a large order expected to be worth tens of billions of dollars.

The federal government’s internal analysis of the competing bids is expected to be complete by now.

“Third quarter of the game and it’s still a draw, so let’s see who will win,” TKMS CEO Oliver Burkhard told The Canadian Press recently while he was in the nation’s capital for CANSEC, Canada’s largest defence trade expo.

“We’re ready.”

Ottawa hasn’t tipped its hand but Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is pushing the project along at an unusually fast pace for such a massive procurement. It also hasn’t made a secret of the fact that it sees the contract as a way to secure domestic economic benefits.

Secretary of State Stephen Fuhr, Carney’s point person for military equipment purchasing, said this past week the winner will be selected by the “end of June.”

“This could possibly be the biggest military procurement Canada has ever done … and Canada will have done a competitive process on submarines inside a year,” Fuhr told journalists on May 27.

“That is an unbelievable speed to do such a large procurement, so we’re really proud of that.”

Procurement projects for major navy combat ships typically take longer than five years. Burkhard said Canada is moving at “light speed,” something he’s not seen before.

“We have to accept as industry that this is maybe the new normal and Canada is maybe leading the pack maybe for other nations as well, to find out how much benefit (the country) can generate when (it) buys submarines,” he said.

The German sales pitch revolves around building up the NATO alliance. It’s promoting its subs as interoperable with German and Norwegian fleets which track Russian sub movements together and share knowledge, data and equipment.

The company is an established industry powerhouse that has supplied most of the NATO alliance’s conventional fleet.

“If Canada would choose us, then it’s a proven, not a promised, approach,” Burkhard said.

His rival is a dark horse that has never exported a submarine abroad but is hungry to establish itself as a major global player.

While TKMS has — like its submarines — operated stealthily throughout the competition by mostly targeting key government officials, the South Korean firm Hanwha launched a massive nationwide advertising blitz.

It plastered ads all around Parliament Hill and the Ottawa airport, and ran a TV and online ad campaign voiced by Peter Mansbridge.

Hanwha Defence Canada CEO Glenn Copeland said the company has aspirations to outfit the Canadian military with all kinds of hardware and wants to become a household name, like LG, Kia and Hyundai.

“Hanwha is just as big a brand back in Korea, but it’s not a known quantity from North America as a tier one defence provider. So in order to be successful, you really have to establish your brand,” Copeland told The Canadian Press.

Copeland said Hanwha sees its advantage in speedy delivery and its promises of economic development.

Hanwha said KPMG valued its bid at $60 billion in economic opportunities and said it would support 22,500 full-time jobs a year and generate $94 billion in GDP.

Ottawa is in a race against time to replace Canada’s current submarines, which are old, rusted and barely in operation.

Canada’s fleet of four Victoria class submarines is expected to be out of commission by 2035. Only one is currently functional and the government will likely find itself forced to cannibalize some of those remaining subs for spare parts.

Hanwha, which boasts a massive shipbuilding factory in Geoje, Korea, that makes heavy use of robotics, has pitched Canada an aggressive delivery schedule — four subs by 2034 and then one a year until they’re all delivered.

Germany and Norway are also ordering submarines from TKMS, so Canada would join a queue.

But while TKMS at first pledged to deliver Canada’s first sub by 2034, it amped up its offer this week to four deliveries by 2036. Germany and Norway would each bump back a submarine delivery.

“That would be the drumbeat: 2032, 33, 35, 36,” Burkhard said.

TKMS also put out its economic figures this week, which pledge $160 billion in economic activity, $86 billion in GDP and more than 650,000 jobs over the entire project.

Germany’s Defence Minister Boris Pistorius stumped hard for the German submaker throughout the week while at CANSEC.

“TKMS is unparalleled in terms of providing long-standing expertise in submarines,” he said while standing next to Defence Minister David McGuinty.

Hanwha recently sent one of its subs to Victoria, B.C. and brought Canadian navy sailors along for the ride.

The public campaigns have offered little on the actual capabilities of the subs and have instead emphasized geopolitical partnerships and domestic economic benefits.

The government earlier this year gave the companies a surprise extension on their bid timelines. Industry Minister Melanie Joly urged them to pony up offers to spin up an auto plant to help Canada’s tariff-battered auto-sector.

While both firms have signed agreements with Canadian firms, Hanwha has signed a long list of them and has targeted tariff-affected industries and support for LNG exports.

It signed an agreement with Sault Ste. Marie’s Algoma Steel promising to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in support and to use its steel in its submarines. It also reached an agreement with Canada’s Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association to work on military land vehicles together.

Babcock, a weapons-handling equipment provider for Hanwha’s KSS-III and service contractor for the Victoria class subs, signed an agreement this week with COTA Aviation to locate some of its work on Korean weapons systems in Canada.

TKMS says its approach to corporate partnerships is to very carefully examine whether it makes sense to integrate companies into their supply chains.

“It’s not the number of MOUs that count. It’s the quality … and if you look at ours, it’s CAE, Cohere, Seaspan — they’re all the big ones,” said Burkhard, adding his company is opening a path for CAE to get into producing submarine training simulators.

The subs are expected to cost tens of billions of dollars and the economic benefits tens of billions more, with the biggest bang landing in the first years of the program.

The exact price tag of the overall order could vary heavily, depending in part on whether the Canadian government asks for modifications, said Deloitte’s Daniel Kerry, who worked on the U.K.’s submarine program.

“They’re going to be eye-wateringly expensive,” Kerry said in a past interview. “But they’re also going to bring an incredible amount of value to the Canadian economy.”

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Parts of eastern B.C. and much of Alberta are facing threats of heavy rainfall while portions of Saskatchewan and Manitoba deal with high heat and for some communities, poor air quality due to wildfire smoke.

Saskatchewan faces yellow heat warnings across much of the province – a concern as firefighters continue to battle multiple active fires.

According to Environment Canada, daytime highs could stay near 30 C on Sunday and people are urged to take action to protect themselves and others. Some communities in the central part of the province, including Prince Albert, are also under a yellow air quality warning due to wildfire smoke.

The agency says both air quality and visibility could fluctuate over short distances and vary hour to hour. People are asked to limit time spent outdoors due to the risk of wildfire smoke, and consider reducing or rescheduling outdoor sports and activities.

The Lobstick fire, near Prince Albert, recently forced a mandatory evacuation for those south of Shellbrook. Saskatchewan’s Public Safety Agency said in a Facebook post Saturday evening the fire sat at about 19,000 hectares and Type 1 firefighters were deployed on both flanks of the fire along with additional support. Aircraft were also able to successfully steer and anchor the head of the fire into Callaghan Lake.

As Saskatchewan deals with wildfires, the Regional District of East Kootenay in B.C. issued an evacuation alert Sunday for the Fairmont Creek area due to risk of debris flow and flooding, with people urged to be ready to leave on short notice.

The alert comes as sections of East Kootenay, including Yoho and Kootenay National Park, and Elk Valley are under special weather statements with the potential of nearly 60 to 80 millimetres of rainfall possible in some areas. Areas further west could see closer to 40 mm, but Environment Canada is warning of an elevated risk of flooding, landslides and washouts.

Next door, the western part of Alberta is under its own special weather statements for a long-lasting rainfall event with 40 to 60mm of rainfall likely by Tuesday. Higher level areas could also see between 10 to 20 cm of snow.

Central and eastern portions of Alberta, including Edmonton, Red Deer and Calgary, are under yellow rainfall warnings with heavy rain to continue through to Wednesday. Between 50 and 100 mm of rain are possible, but localized total amounts could exceed 100 mm.

In Manitoba, high heat is the challenge, with communities like Winnipeg, Thompson and Bissett all under yellow warnings. Temperatures are forecast to remain in the low 30s in the coming days, though Environment Canada says they are expected to moderate across the province’s south on Monday.

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

The federal government has ordered a financial audit into transactions and activities at a landmark Indigenous languages office after receiving anonymous complaints.

Canadian Heritage didn’t elaborate on the allegations against the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages, an arm’s-length office set up five years ago after it was recommended by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“Canadian Heritage has made the commissioner of Indigenous languages aware that we have received anonymous allegations and has contracted an independent third-party firm to conduct a special examination under the Indigenous Languages Act,” the department said in an email.

It said the review can look at whether the office’s “books, records, systems and practices” are complying with standards in the legislation. It didn’t give a timeline on when it might be complete.

Half a dozen sources, including former employees, say that in its five years, the commissioner’s office has failed to move the needle on strengthening Indigenous languages and supporting research.

Instead, they say, the office has focused on extensive travel and hosting one big conference.

Last year, the office spent $10 million hosting a four-day conference in Ottawa.

A well-respected Ojibwe speaker invited to the event says she was unimpressed.

“I don’t think they knew what they were doing. I think they had all this money, and so the showy thing to do is put on a big conference,” said Patricia Ningewance, an associate professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba.

She said the commissioner’s office paid all her expenses, although she’s not sure of her total.

Ningewance said the conference may have been more successful if groups were gathered by shared languages, so tangible recommendations could be made on how to preserve them. She didn’t receive followup information on what was accomplished, she added.

In the end, Ningewance said, the money could have been better spent elsewhere.

“Can you imagine, for that amount of money, how many students could have been made fluent?”

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which examined the history and legacy of residential schools, called for an Indigenous languages commissioner in its 2015 final report.

The federal government, under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, said there was an urgent need to prevent the loss of about 70 Indigenous languages.

The passing of the Indigenous Languages Act in 2019 paved the way two years later for the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages.

It’s mandated to support efforts of Indigenous Peoples to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen their languages; promote public awareness of Indigenous groups; and support research, innovation and the use of new technologies.

“This is like a once-in-a-generation opportunity for languages, and they’re squandering it,” said a source familiar with the inner workings of the office.

The source and others spoke on the condition they not be named due to fear of job reprisal.

They allege a toxic work environment, bullying, uncompleted projects and staff quitting in frustration.

Documents including emails and letters as well as audio recordings obtained by The Canadian Press say commissioner Ronald Ignace, the directors and other senior officials were notified several times by former employees of the organization’s allegedly flawed human resources processes.

The documents allege harassment claims went unresolved and staff perpetuated a toxic workplace by micromanaging and undermining junior employees and workplace investigations.

The commissioner and directors were urged to examine allegations and take concerns more seriously.

“It was very much an eggshell environment,” said another source. “What this organization created is this spiral of chaos.”

Canadian Heritage, which provides funding to the commissioner’s office, said it isn’t involved in organization or management of the office’s employees.

Canadian Heritage Minister Marc Miller’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The commissioner’s office said in a statement that it received three formal complaints of bullying, which were investigated last year. Personnel changes were made, it said, and there have been no new complaints since.

It said it’s also hiring an adviser to review its governance and human resources practices, “with a focus on ensuring a safe, inclusive, respectful and effective workplace.”

It said Ignace and directors Robert Watt, Georgina Liberty and Joan Greyeyes were not available for interviews.

Ignace said in a statement that the office’s evolution has had challenges, but “we succeeded in laying the foundation for an office capable of carrying forward this significant work.”

The office said about $10 million was spent over two years to organize and hold WAVES 2025, a Global Indigenous Languages Summit, last August.

More than 2,000 people from about 20 countries attended.

A Facebook post at the time said the conference featured cultural performances by First Nations, Inuit and Métis artists and dozens of keynote speeches, workshops and panels.

Documents show the commissioner was advised to scale back on the conference’s budget, initially estimated at $8.9 million. The amount included registration, flights and accommodation for 500 guests.

“The cost of the conference is estimated at close to 100% of the commission’s annual operating budget,” says a memorandum from senior officials in the office, dated April 25, 2024.

“There have already been several international language conferences in recent years, and none comes close to the scale and costs being forecasted.”

The documents recommend the scope of the conference be changed to reduce costs and a strategy implemented to reflect the commission’s mandate.

In audio recordings from October 2024, a senior official expresses concern that the rising cost of the conference could affect the organization’s ability to pay salaries and rent.

The commissioner’s office said in its statement that it considered the information but didn’t say if it followed any recommendations.

Former employees said they were told to prioritize the conference above all other projects.

“Any sort of ongoing activity that’s part of the commission’s regular sort of mandate and duties were deprioritized in favour of this massive gathering,” said a former staffer.

The commissioner’s office said that wasn’t the case and that some research projects were simply deferred.

The first source said Ignace bragged about his work travels and that he was racking up Aeroplan points, nearing million-mile status.

“This isn’t helping the elder in her community in Norway House, who’s making $20,000 a year teaching her language,” the source said.

The office said that characterization is unfounded and significant travel is required to meet with Indigenous communities across the country.

It added that Ignace travels in business class “in consideration of his age, elder status and health issues, including sciatica,” and that travel represents just over five per cent of the organization’s overall budget.

Canadian Heritage said it provided the office with a $51.6-million, multi-year funding agreement when it opened in 2021. The department later entered into a five-year contribution deal with the office from 2024-29, totalling $16.3 million.

It also provided a 10-year grant until 2034, totalling $172.3 million, to support research, operations and studies on Indigenous languages.

It is not clear how many staff are employed by the organization. A notice detailing head positions from 2021 shows the commissioner could make between $183,600 to $216,000 per year while the director salaries could be from $130,700 to $153,700.

Canadian Heritage said an independent review into the office is also underway, as it’s required under the Indigenous Languages Act every five years.

The five-year term for the commissioner and directors is set to end July 11. Ignace committed to serving only one term.

“I am extremely proud of the work undertaken to establish this office and advance its mandate,” said the statement from Ignace.

His office points to successes of last year’s conference and a one-hour documentary it produced, “Rhythms of the Land,” featuring Indigenous artists performing in their mother tongues.

“Protection, revitalization and advancement of Indigenous languages in Canada is of utmost importance,” said Ignace.

UNESCO considers nearly all Indigenous languages spoken in Canada to be at risk or endangered. Part of that is due to residential schools, where Indigenous children were barred from speaking their own languages.

In 2021, roughly 240,000 Indigenous people reported to Statistics Canada that they could speak conversationally in an Indigenous language — a drop of about four per cent from 2016.

In British Columbia, many Indigenous languages had fewer than 1,000 speakers. Tlingit, for example, was spoken by 20 people.

Indigenous Peoples had high expectations for the commissioner’s office. Ningewance was one of them.

“I was happy that something was happening,” she said.

“Learning our language is a sacred activity, teaching our language is a sacred activity. The whole language is sacred, because it was given to us by the Creator.”

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to hold an emergency debate on the economy after Canada slipped into a technical recession by some definitions.

Statistics Canada said Friday that the country’s GDP fell 0.1 per cent on an annualized basis in the first quarter of 2026, which follows a revised one per cent annualized decline in the fourth quarter of 2025. A technical recession is most commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.

“On Friday, you became the only leader in the G7 to have taken your country into a recession,” Poilievre wrote in a letter to Carney published on Sunday. “You promised you would deliver the fastest-growing economy in the G7. You delivered the only recession in the G7.”

Poilievre went on to say “excuses” about U.S.-imposed tariffs on various Canadian industry sectors and the Iran war  “do not work either.” The Conservative leader noted other G7 countries have not fallen into a recession even under tariffs and the effects of the war in Iran.

Global News has reached out to the federal government for a response to Poilievre’s call.

Following Friday’s report, some economists argued the weakness in the economy may not necessarily qualify as a recession.

The decline in real GDP last quarter was basically zero, TD economist Marc Ercolao told The Canadian Press. He also noted unexpected weakness in government spending, which was strong through 2025, explained the lower result seen in the first quarter.

BMO chief economist Doug Porter said in a note to clients the institution would say “no, not really,” if asked whether the recent declines in GDP equal a recession, but he backed the argument the economy has struggled to “make any headway” in the past year.

While debate continues on whether Canada is in a recession, Poilievre pointed to other issues facing Canadians.

Among them, he pointed to an Equifax report showing insolvency volumes up nearly 19 per cent year-over-year, thousands of job losses in the first three months of 2026, and a report from Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank saying one-tenth of GTA residents are now using a food bank.

“As you can see, the two back-to-back quarters of declining GDP are not a fluke, anomaly or technicality. It is one of an avalanche of proof showing a collapsing economy with fast-rising costs,” Poilievre wrote.

“The recession is real.”

Sunday’s letter echoes comments Poilievre made on Friday after Statistics Canada released its data, saying his party was calling for Carney to introduce a bill to “reverse all of the economic policies his party has introduced over the last decade.”

Friday’s data further cemented predictions from economists such as Porter that the Bank of  Canada will likely keep interest rates where they are for the foreseeable future.

In his note, Porter also said the soft first-quarter GDP figures will likely put a “wet blanket” over rate-hike talk in financial markets, “as the economy is in no condition to deal with higher rates.”

—with files from Ariel Rabinovitch and The Canadian Press

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

Kizzy’s macaron recipe ♡:

For the shells:
● 180g Finely ground almond flour (Costco almond flour works best!)
● 170g Icing sugar
● 130g Burnbrae Liquid egg whites (room temperature is best!)
● 15g Cream of tartar
● 150g Granulated sugar
● For chocolate shells add in 5-10g of cocoa powder to the sifted dry ingredients

Note: The flavor of the macaron is generally always in the filling, unless using a dry addition, such as spices or cocoa powder.

Adding dry decorations to the shells as soon as they have been piped out works well, as long as they can withstand the high temperature during baking time. Examples: Sprinkles, gold flake & sanding sugar.

To start: Weigh out dry ingredients.

1. Using an electric kitchen scale, weigh both the almond flour & icing sugar into a Tupperware container. Once both are weighed together, secure the lid. ( Make sure it is securely on as the next part can get quite messy if not!)

2. Shake the Tupperware for 5 to 10 seconds to mix up almond flour and icing sugar. Next, using a big bowl & handheld sifter pour dry ingredients into the handheld sifter and sift through into the bowl.

1. There should be no large pieces of almond flour left visibly in the sifter once completed, however smaller bits that may not fit through the mesh are fine to add into the dry ingredient mix!

2. Once sifted, pour dry ingredients back into tupperware. This step should always be completed before beginning to mix up the egg whites. You also may sift multiple batches at a time and have them sit, but never let them sit in the container for more than a day or two, as the icing sugar can start to absorb the moisture of the almond flour & produce a different end result!

Next step : Weigh out wet ingredients

1. Using the electric kitchen scale, place the mixing bowl on scale and tare weight to 0. (Always make sure the mixing bowl is clean and free of any oily residue.

2. Pour egg whites directly into mixing bowl until scale reads 130g.

3. Tare scale to 0 & pour 150g of granular sugar directly into mixing bowl.

4. Tare scale to 0 & pour 15g of cream of tartar into mixing bowl.

Note: Granular sugar & cream of tartar can be overweighed by up to 10 g & will not alter final result if over poured.

Now we have both our dry and wet ingredients ready to go, we can start to whip up the egg whites.

When whipping egg whites, it is always best to use a stand mixer. Using a handheld mixer may result in an inconsistent meringue base.

1. Place the mixing bowl on a stand mixer and begin to whisk wet ingredients on medium-high speed. I use an 8 speed on a kitchenaid mixer. Never whip at high speed.

2. Whisk egg whites until stiff, glossy peaks begin to form. Turn off the mixer and pull up the whisk attachment. If egg whites are nice, glossy and hold their shape, color can now be added. For white macarons, skip this step. If the mixture runs off the whisk attachment, egg whites are under whipped and need to be whipped for longer.

3. If using color add desired drops of gel based color & whisk color in quickly on medium high speed for 5 seconds. Whipping longer can over whip the egg whites so it is best to keep this step short.

4. Pour all the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl & use the preferred method to fold in dry ingredients into the egg whites.

5. Make sure that all dry ingredients are fully incorporated & that the macaron batter has a grainy lava like consistency. If the batter is very runny and is not holding its shape, the egg whites have been underwhipped.

6. Once desired consistency is achieved, transfer batter to a piping bag or piper & begin to pipe out the shells onto the silicone baking mat.

7. Make sure to keep the piping tip at the same height and straight up when piping out shells. I recommend holding the tip about a cm above the silicone mat and keeping it at the same height while pushing the batter through the tip. If using the macaron template, always aim to fill the first circle as the shells will slowly spread to the second outer circle after a few seconds.

8. Once the silicone baking mat has been filled, tap the bottom of the tray to release any air bubbles. Do not over tap as this can cause the shells to spread even more and may cause them to spread into each other.

9. Now that we have our glossy shells, if desired this is the time to add any dry decorations to the shells. Shells will begin to rest and change from glossy to matt looking & become dry to the touch. This is when we can see the macaron ‘skin’ has formed and the shells are now ready to be baked. Resting macarons can take between 20 minutes to an hour. I find it best to work in a warm kitchen so shells dry quickly.

10. During the resting period, pre-heat over to optimal temperature. This can be between 300-350 degrees. Temperatures for baking can be extremely different for every oven. You may need to find a good baking temperature for your oven through trial and error. It’s best to use an oven thermometer to see if your oven is baking at the temperature it is set to. Some ovens may be set at 325 degrees but actually have an internal temperature of 350 degrees. Hot and cold spots can also be found in many ovens, so it’s best to use the convection setting to make sure the over air is circulating & not stagnant.

11. Bake macarons for 15-20 minutes, depending on oven temperature. Some trays may need to be turned 180 degrees mid-baking & switched from the top to the bottom rack to achieve a good macaron shell consistency.

12. Once macaron shells have been fully baked remove the trays from the oven and let the trays cool completely before removing the silicone mat & macaron shells. This can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours.

13. To remove the shells, peel them off the silicone mat, do not pull them straight up as they may stick.

14. Once all shells have been peeled off & matched up with a buddy shell, fill with desired flavor(s)!

15. Place filled macarons in an airtight container and place in the fridge for 24 hours so the filling can seep into the shells and become soft and chewy.

16. Macarons should be enjoyed at room temperature.

17. Once baked, they will keep fresh for about 7 to 10 days refrigerated. Macaron shells & filled macarons can also be frozen; they freeze very well.

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

Flipping through the radio the other day, my scanning landed on a top 40 station. I decided to leave it there for a while to check out today’s hot hits. Without sounding like Grampa Simpson, I found the exercise disheartening. Was it my imagination, or did almost every song have a sameness to it in terms of production, tempo, timbre and vocal performance?

I decided to listen a little longer. Sadly, the more I listened, the stronger my initial impression.

This wasn’t the top 40 of my youth, a time when all sorts of different music made the charts. I randomly went back through the years and ended up with a list of the biggest singles in May 1985. The number one song that month was Don’t You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds, followed by Everything She Wants by Wham! and Madonna’s Crazy for You. Also getting substantial airplay that month were Walkin’ On Sunshine from Katrina and the Waves, Smooth Operator from Sade, and Don’t Come Around Here No More by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

I tried again with May 1980 and found even more variety and sonic textures. The biggest hits that month were Call Me by Blondie, Funkytown by Lipps Inc., and Ride Like the Wind by Christopher Cross. A little further down the chart, we had Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) from Pink Floyd, Workin’ My Way Back to You Girl from The Spinners and The Seduction, the sax-heavy James Last instrumental from the American Gigolo soundtrack.

By comparison, today’s big pop hits are simplistic and unoriginal. What’s behind the obvious homogeneity of today’s pop songs? I gave it a good think and here’s what I came up with.

Songwriting by committee

Record labels are risk-averse. No one wants to invest money in a song that’s going to be a stiff. To reduce that, multiple writers are brought in, each with their own specialty: beats, lyrics, topline melodies, instrumentation, programming and arrangement. Drake’s new Iceman album features dozens of writers and producers for its 18 tracks. When you have that many people working on a musical project, individuality goes out the window.

Insistence on perfection with the recording process

Artists and producers are obsessed with making sure each record is perfect in every single way. Tempo is quantized to the nanosecond with no variation in speed whatsoever, meaning there is zero swing in the beat. Everything sounds robotic. With no live musicians jamming together in the studio, there’s no hope of locking into a groove. Compare any of today’s hits with the Motown classics of the ’60s and ’70s and you’ll hear it instantly.

Vocals are pitch corrected so that each note is unnaturally bang on. Many instrumental arrangements are electronically generated, devoid of the feel that comes with playing a real instrument. The result is something so polished as to sound unreal.

Where are all the bands?

A spin through this week’s Billboard Top 100 reveals exactly two hits from groups: Swim from BTS and Freakin’ Out from Dexter and the Moonrocks. The other 98 songs are from solo singers, although some feature guest vocals from another solo singer. Rock and pop groups, which once dominated top 40 radio, have been banished. In the first half of the 2020s, there were only three weeks on the British charts when a band held the number one spot. Why? Several reasons.

Streaming royalties are meagre. With multiple songwriters already taking their cut, it’s easier to just have only one principal artist. Home recording technology has advanced so much that it’s possible to create a hit record by yourself in your bedroom. A single person is easier to promote on social media, especially with TikTok and Instagram. Meanwhile, fewer bands are chasing corporate mainstream top 40 glory. Most pursue careers in their own niches, such as alternative, metal, hip-hop, and so on.

Singers are designed to be stars first, artists second

I blame TV talent shows like American Idol. The overriding goal for many of those pursuing a top 40 hit is fame, not being recognized as a musician and artist. They follow the method laid down by super-producer hit machines such as Sweden’s Max Martin. He literally has a mathematical formula for writing and producing songs and it has resulted in hits for everyone from Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, The Weeknd, Lizzo, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, NSYNC and, yes, Taylor Swift. Who’s going to argue with that kind of success?

Songs are written to game streaming rules and technology

No one gets paid for a stream unless someone listens to a song for at least 30 seconds. Every song is now written with that in mind. That means shorter intros, putting the choruses up front and jamming as many sugary hooks into that first 30 seconds as possible to bring a listener over that finish line.

Everyone is using the same plug-ins for songwriting and production

In the olden days, an artist would set up in a recording studio and spend days, weeks, months experimenting with getting the right sounds. Bruce Springsteen spent days just trying to get the right snare drum sound from Max Weinberg’s kit during the sessions for Born to Run. The Beatles’ catalogue is loaded with happy accidents discovered while messing around in Studio 2 at Abbey Road. The feedback that leads off I Feel Fine is just one example. It happened when John Lennon absent-mindedly leaned his guitar against an amp. This was probably the first use of controlled feedback on a recording.

Today, artists and producers rely on plug-ins for digital audio programs like Pro Tools and Logic. Need a guitar sound like it’s coming from a Marshall stack? Get the plug-in. Looking to emulate a snare drum sound? Get a plug-in. Can’t afford a real Bösendorfer grand piano? Get a plug-in. No need to go messing about in a studio for hundreds of dollars a day. Just buy the sound you want off the shelf and mess with it a little. And don’t get me started on overuse of samples.

So, yes, top 40 isn’t what it used to be and it’s unlikely to return to the old days when it was supposed to be an across-the-board survey of all the hit songs in all the popular genres. Is it any wonder that people are gravitating toward older songs?

Of all the music streamed in the U.S. and Canada, 50 per cent are older than five years. It also explains why your 14-year-old is spending time with Nirvana and The Cure.

 

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

The wife of an Alberta man gunned down in a roadside shooting east of Calgary shared an emotional hug with the prosecutor after a jury found two men guilty of second-degree murder Saturday.

Jurors deliberated for 14 hours before concluding Arthur Penner and Elijah Strawberry shot and killed Colin Hough, 45, an employee of Rocky View County, on Aug. 6, 2024 on a rural road.

“I love you,” Laurie Hough said to prosecutor Photini Popadatou as they embraced after the verdict.

Neither Penner or Strawberry seemed surprised at the court’s decisions, standing with their hands clasped in front of them as the verdicts were read.

Both men were also found guilty of two counts of armed robbery, including stealing Hough’s vehicle and attempting to take the vehicle of FortisAlberta surveyor Matthew Andres, who was shot through the arm at the same location.

Andres was approached by two men who were driving a vehicle that appeared to have a flat tire. One of the men shot him through the arm and then demanded his keys and pointed a gun at his head. Andres was able to flee and watched from a distance as the truck driven by the two accused was set on fire and Hough drove up to investigate.

He said Penner and Strawberry ran toward Hough’s vehicle and started firing at it. Hough was hit three times and was left on the road. His vehicle was stolen.

But Andres said the two men were masked and he wasn’t able to positively identify them as Penner and Strawberry.

The two men were originally charged with attempted murder as well, but Court of King’s Bench Justice Shane Parker withdrew the charge and acquitted them.

Strawberry and Penner will face a mandatory life sentence of 25 years. The jury was asked for recommendations on how long each man should have to serve before being eligible for parole.

The results ranged from the minimum of 10 years up to 25 years.

A sentencing date will be determined Oct. 16. Strawberry’s lawyer, Rebecca Snukul, has asked for a forensic mental assessment and a Gladue report for her client.

Penner’s lawyer, Alex Seaman, also requested a Gladue report, often used in sentencing Indigenous individuals.

It’s expected sentencing arguments won’t happen until November at the earliest.

The trial saw video footage from a nearby semi-trailer driver that captured Hough’s final minutes. It showed a figure moving across the intersection and collapsing in the middle of the road.
A .45-calibre bullet was found where he collapsed and a nine-millimetre shell casing was found near where Andres was wounded.

Hough’s vehicle was later found abandoned. Penner, 37, was arrested five days later and Strawberry, 29, was found after a month hiding in a residence on the O’Chiese First Nation.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Kerry-Lynne Findlay has been voted the new leader of the BC Conservative Party.

In a tight race that came down to four rounds of voting, Findlay received 4,696.51 points, or 51 per cent of the vote, to win.

Caroline Elliott came a very close second with 49 per cent of the vote.

In a speech after her win, Findlay said that she wants “the generations now and to come to feel they can have a comfortable and happy life as British Columbians. Isn’t that what we all want?

“So what am I fighting for? I’m fighting for nothing less than the future of British Columbia. Our way of life. Mine is a grand vision of fundamental change.

Our homes, our individual rights, our properties are at stake. We need hope and prosperity. As Minister of National Revenue, I oversaw lower taxes, red tape cuts and a return to surplus from the worst recession since the 1930s. We can do this in British Columbia. Our province will become strong, good-paying jobs, modern infrastructure, resource, wealth and opportunity that has been blocked by the NDP.

“We can be a powerhouse in our nation, a powerhouse no longer denied by eastern and global elites, predatory foreign nations and our own constitution. NDP radical ideology has devastated property rights, backroom side agreements and the NDP’s economic vandalism has to end.”

In a statement released after Findlay’s win, the BC NDP said “The pro-Trump wing of the B.C. Conservatives has seized control of the party with Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s win, thanks in part to her racist attacks on her leadership opponents.

“Kerry-Lynne Findlay and her supporters in caucus have more in common with Donald Trump’s Republicans than they do with Canadian Conservatives,” said Jennifer Whiteside, MLA for New Westminster-Coquitlam. “Even B.C. Conservative MLAs say British Columbians should think twice before voting for her.”

The BC NDP said Findlay’s campaign included a direct racist attack on Peter Milobar, claiming he was in a conflict of interest on DRIPA because his wife and children are Indigenous.

“Milobar described her attack as “the worst side of politics possible” and said her victory would “give a lot of British Columbians pause for thought of whether they would actually vote for a party like this’,” the party said in the statement.

B.C. Premier David Eby did send out a congratulatory tweet after Findlay’s win.

https://x.com/Dave_Eby/status/2060906556024402064

There were five candidates for the leadership race: Iain Black, Caroline Elliott, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Yuri Fulmer and Peter Milobar.

“It is a race that has been shaped very much about articulating opposition to the direction of the NDP, but also opposition between one another,” Stewart Prest, a political science professor at the University of British Columbia, said on Friday, after the vote closed.

More than 25,000 party members cast ballots in the race.

Online voting on a secret ballot started on May 23 and wrapped up on Friday morning. The ballot is a preferential or ranked ballot. Voters were asked to rank the candidates in order of their preference.

Each of B.C.’s 93 electoral districts has been allocated 100 points, or one point per ballot cast, if fewer than 100 ballots were cast in that district

Points were distributed among contestants proportionally based on first-choice votes within each district and the province-wide total.

If no candidate got more than 50 per cent of the province-wide points on the first ballot, the candidate with the lowest number of points is eliminated.

Their supporters second choice votes are then redistributed, and this continues until a candidate exceeds 50 per cent of the province-wide points.

“This contest is really less about which leader and whose ideas, but more about what kind of conservatism is going to follow from this,” David Black, an associate professor at Royal Roads University, told Global BC earlier on Saturday.

“What does the centre-right look like in B.C. amid deep kind of philosophical currents and a lot of turbulence within the conservative movement in general?”

Under John Rustad’s leadership, the party emerged from obscurity to come within about 30,000 votes of winning the 2024 provincial election.

Infighting fractured the caucus and reduced Conservative members in the legislature by five, and eventually led to Rustad’s expulsion in December.

Speaking at the leadership vote gathering on Saturday, interim leader Trevor Halford said, “Not too long ago, our opponents were writing us off. They said there was no path forward, and they said that our party was finished.

“Well, I think we broke a few hearts tonight. I can tell you, this party is just getting started.”

Halford also thanked Rustad for his hard work and dedication to the BC Conservative Party.

“I am confident because I know that whoever we elect as our new leader tonight will be the next premier of British Columbia,” Halford added.

-with files from The Canadian Press

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

TORONTO – Mario Anderson Jr. won’t be helping the Saskatchewan Roughriders defend their Grey Cup title.

The American running back was among 19 players released by Saskatchewan on Saturday as CFL teams made their final cuts ahead of the start of the 2026 regular season.

The five-foot-eight, 205-pound Anderson appeared in nine regular-season games with Saskatchewan last year. He ran for 134 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries (5.6-yard average) while adding four catches for 13 yards.

But Anderson finished his rookie CFL season on the one-game injured list for Saskatchewan’s 25-17 Grey Cup victory over the Montreal Alouettes.

He appeared in both pre-season games for Saskatchewan this spring when he ran 10 times for 65 yards while adding three catches for 18 yards.

CFL teams must get their active rosters down to 44 or 45 players, with a minimum of 21 being Canadian.

A maximum of 19 players, excluding quarterbacks, can be American with a minimum of one player from outside North America (global).

Canadian defensive lineman Benoit Marion was placed on the one-game injured list while offensive lineman Darius Bell and receiver Dylan Djete, also both Canadian, went on the six-game injured list.

Saskatchewan also placed 13 players on the practice roster, including global Tyron Vrede, who signed with the ‘Riders in February following five seasons with the Ottawa Redblacks.

The Riders begin their Grey Cup defence June 13 hosting the B.C. Lions.

The Montreal Alouettes also released 19 players, including quarterbacks James Morgan and Canadian Arnaud Desjardins.

Morgan appeared in 10 games last season with the CFL club, completing 55-of-93 passes for 547 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions. The six-foot-four, 229-pound quarterback from Green Bay, Wisc., also ran six times for 17 yards.

The six-foot-15, 215-pound Arnaud played collegiately at Laval and signed with Montreal on May 18. The Montreal native was the RSEQ’s most valuable player in 2024 and 2025.

The Alouettes also placed 13 players on their practice roster. Montreal kicks off the ’26 season Thursday on the road against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Receiver Jackson Tachinski’s bid to make the hometown Winnipeg Blue Bombers roster ended on a disappointing note as he was among 25 players released by the squad. The six-foot-four, 215-pound Tachinski played quarterback at Manitoba but was attempting to make the positional switch in the pro ranks.

He joined the Bombers earlier this month after being released by the Edmonton Elks. But a more surprising move was Winnipeg’s release of American offensive lineman Kendall Randolph, who started all 18 regular-season games last season.

Randolph spent two seasons with Winnipeg, starting 23-of-24 games. The six-foot-five, 306-pound offensive lineman played collegiately at Alabama and was a member of the Crimson Tide squad that beat Ohio State 52-24 in the ’21 American college championship game.

The Ottawa Redblacks released 16 players, including veteran American defensive lineman Dylan Wynn. The six-foot-one, 290-pound Wynn signed as a free agent following two seasons with Montreal.

Wynn, 32, also spent time in the CFL with Toronto (2017-19) and Hamilton (2019, 2021-23), winning a Grey Cup with the Argos as a rookie.

Ottawa placed 13 players on its practice roster. The Redblacks open their season Saturday hosting the Edmonton Elks.

Among the 20 players released by the Calgary Stampeders was receiver Kaylon Horton, who appeared in eight games last season, his first in the CFL. He had a catch for 21 yards but also returned 33 punts for 285 yards and had 19 kickoff returns for 446 yards.

American running back Deonta McMahon, who spent the previous three seasons with Toronto, was among 12 players to join Calgary’s practice roster. The Stampeders host Winnipeg on Friday night.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2026.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

A 27-year-old Toronto man is dead after a shooting in North York late Friday night, which police are saying is not believed to be targeted.

Toronto police say they were called to the area of Sheppard Avenue West and Magellan Drive at about 10:15 p.m. for reports of a shooting.

Officers found a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and began life-saving measures before he was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Police said the victim, identified as Hussein Elmi, 27, of Toronto, later died in hospital.

Speaking at a news conference Saturday, homicide investigators said it remains early in the investigation and have not ruled out any possible motives.

“I do not believe this was a targeted incident,” Sgt. Jason Davis said, adding it is too early to determine whether the shooting was gang-related.

Investigators said a dark-coloured vehicle pulled up before the shooting and the suspects were on foot when the incident occurred, with the victim just steps from his home.

“This gentleman was tragically almost home. I have no indication that he had any interaction with the suspects at this time,” Davis said.

Police are asking anyone with dashcam footage, surveillance video or other information to come forward.

“A 27-year-old man tragically lost his life last night and every little bit of information matters,” Davis said.

The family of the victim has been notified.

Davis said investigators are also aware of reports of gunshots in the area earlier this week and are looking into whether there is any connection.

“Our role right now is to find those responsible,” he said.

Officers remain highly visible in the area as the investigation continues and are asking anyone with dashcam footage, photos or videos to contact authorities.

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