News publishers launch copyright suit against AI company Anthropic in Ontario

OTTAWA - A coalition of news publishers that includes Canada’s largest newspapers is suing the AI company Anthropic in an Ontario court.

Postmedia, Torstar, The Globe and Mail and The Canadian Press say Anthropic infringed on their copyright by using their content to develop its large language AI model Claude.

"Anthropic has capitalized on the commercial success of its AI models, building an expansive suite of services, and raised significant capital — all without obtaining a valid licence from any of the News Media Companies," says the statement of claim.

"In doing so, Anthropic has been substantially and unjustly enriched to the detriment of the News Media Companies."

Advocates planting the seed of a tree protection law in Winnipeg’s election

WINNIPEG - The giants that Diane Poulin used to live among are all dead, but she's hoping to protect the ones still left in Winnipeg.

“I had five mature elm trees right in front of my house that leaned over the street and formed a beautiful canopy, and they're all gone now,” she says.

In her backyard was the biggest of the bunch.

"He was like the grandfather of the neighbourhood … his canopy filled our backyard, and he’s gone."

Bank of Canada’s Macklem warns global resilience ‘under strain’

Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem is warning that persistently high global energy prices will drive up the outlook for inflation at home.

While Macklem said global resilience is being tested after a series of shocks, he also expressed some confidence in Canada's ability to weather the storm.

The head of the Bank of Canada spoke to reporters on Saturday in a press conference from the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund meetings in Bangkok.

He said the prevailing message from his peers at the summit is that the global economy has been performing better than expected in the face of ongoing wars in Iran and Ukraine, sweeping trade disruptions and higher borrowing costs from rising bond yields.

Diesel bill adds to cost-price squeeze on farm

Blessed with a week of good weather, most Manitoba farmers are now in the home stretch of harvest and beginning to assess whether their crop will earn enough to cover the cost of growing it.

Commodity market prices have surged well above the numbers used to prepare production budgets earlier this year, with the price of top-quality milling wheat up 27 per cent over a year ago. Canola and soybeans are up 36 per cent and oats by 14 per cent.

That’s a significant boost for the crops harvested in good shape before rainy weather shut down operations for a couple of weeks during the critical harvesting window. However, upwards of half of the province’s crop overall was affected by the bad weather, resulting in yet-to-be calculated yield and quality losses.

Then there’s the cost side of the balance sheet.

Prominent extremist organizations in Canada come and go, but the danger of violence remains

For Blood and Soil: Far-Right Extremism in Canada is a brief and broad survey of far-right movements in Canada.

Written by Amarnath Amarasingam, associate professor in the School of Religion and the department of political studies at Queen’s University, and Stephanie Carvin, associate professor of international relations at Carleton University, the book is an academic text and so the writing is clear and straightforward, but somewhat dry, offering information without commentary or colour.

The authors state they have made conscious choices as to what to include. However, these choices come with limitations. Their decision to begin the survey of violent hate groups in the 1920s means the book lacks a grounding in the ways in which white supremacy was instrumental to the founding of Canada and has permeated so many of our institutions.

The pair does remind us that violent right-wing extreme groups have killed more people in Canada than have extreme Islamic movements. This fact cannot be repeated enough, as it often fails to make it into the discourse on extremist violence in this country.

Ottawa adding new express entry points for immigrants in ‘high-wage’ jobs

OTTAWA - Ottawa is adding new express entry points for some permanent residency applicants in "high-wage" jobs, Immigration Minister Lena Diab said Friday.

The government also plans to remove the requirement for an employer to prove they can't find a qualified Canadian for those jobs.

The policies, which will take effect on Nov. 3, will apply to applicants who already have Canadian work experience, or who have a job offer in a high-wage field such as engineering.

The government considers a high-wage job one that pays at least 1.3 times the national median wage. The new policy offers more points for an occupation's wage level, with higher paying jobs being worth more express entry points.

City’s drug, homelessness crises overlooked on campaign trail, front-line groups say

Those on the front lines of coping with the city’s deepening homelessness and drug crises express concern at civic election candidates’ lack of attention to the issues

Bank of Canada set for pair of important data drops ahead of ‘live’ rate decision

OTTAWA - The Bank of Canada will get a raft of fresh data to start next week as it weighs what could be a pivotal interest rate decision at the end of the month.

Statistics Canada is set to release its September inflation data on Monday, giving the central bank a look at how energy price pressures are influencing other parts of the consumer basket.

A Reuters poll of economists expects the annual rate of inflation rose to 3.2 per cent in September, up from three per cent in August, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

RBC assistant chief economist Nathan Janzen said he expects inflation held steady at three per cent last month. Persistently high gasoline prices tied to the ongoing war in Iran will remain the biggest fuel for inflation, he said.

Hoekstra says U.S. watching Canada for signs of interference in midterm elections

OTTAWA - U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra says American officials are "closely watching" Canadian politicians for signs of election interference ahead of pivotal midterm elections next month.

During an interview on "The Really Big Show" podcast that was posted last week, Hoekstra said political ads run by the province of Ontario last year could be interpreted as political interference.

U.S. President Donald Trump ended trade talks with Canada in October 2025 after Ontario aired an ad during the World Series using clips of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs and supporting free trade.

Hoekstra also cited recent comments by Industry Minister Mélanie Joly and former prime minister Justin Trudeau and suggested they also could amount to interference.

Low-cost grocery store initiative in Elmwood neighbourhood seeks to fill accessibility, security gap

A new grocery store in Winnipeg’s Elmwood neighbourhood aims to improve the lives of community members by offering food at low prices.

The Chalmers Neighbourhood Renewal Corp. recently opened the CHARM Hub. Located at 301 Ottawa Ave., the store offers canned goods, dry goods, dairy, frozen foods and a limited amount of fresh produce.

Food security has long been a priority at the renewal corporation, said executive director Leilani Esteban-Villarba. She described Elmwood as “a food desert” and noted one of the grocery stores nearest to the community her organization serves is more than a kilometre away.

“(The distance makes it) harder to access, and especially hard to access for people who have mobility challenges or who are older,” she said. “It’s hard to take a bus or take a cab or find transportation … and if you have children in strollers, it’s even harder.”

Japanese journalist arrested in Russia’s Sakhalin region on spying charges

MOSCOW (AP) — A Japanese journalist suspected of spying has been arrested on Russia's Sakhalin Island, the top Russian domestic security agency said Tuesday.

The arrest comes amid a spike in tensions between Russia and Japan following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s August trip to the Kuril Islands, the Moscow-controlled Pacific archipelago that is claimed by both countries.

The Federal Security Service, or FSB, said in a statement that the Japanese man, who worked for the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper, was suspected of gathering information related to Russia’s defense capability on behalf of a Japanese intelligence agency.

The FSB, the main successor agency to the Soviet KGB, said the Japanese man, whom it didn’t name, was arrested as he was preparing to leave Russia. The agency said the suspect was flown to Moscow where he was put behind bars.

More damaging AI hacking incidents to come unless changes are made, scientists warn

OTTAWA - Dozens of Canadian academics are among an international group of scientists calling for better containment measures for AI models.

"Multiple organizations have disclosed high-profile security failures: their AI models bypassed insufficiently sandboxed environments to compromise the systems of external organizations," they say in an open letter.

The letter, released Tuesday, says that unless immediate changes are made to how AI is developed and deployed, "such incidents will continue to occur, and future incidents will be far more damaging to our exposed critical infrastructure."

They say there is a need for more research on AI safety as well as emphasis on containment technologies and procedures. The scientists also want to see an international body that standardizes best practices.

Diesel-fuelled price hikes could stoke food inflation this fall, experts warn

Food experts and economists expect the global run-up in diesel prices will have consumers bracing for a tough winter at the grocery store.

The ongoing war in Iran has driven a global energy shock that has spurred higher prices on regular gasoline as well as diesel. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is disrupting oil shipments from the Gulf region, as well as other critical inputs such as fertilizer.

The diesel that fuels trucks and ships is a key input for Canada's food supply chain, where high transportation costs feed directly into the price consumers see on store shelves.

Statistics Canada's dashboard tracking cost hikes across the food supply chain shows that diesel prices were up 75 per cent year-over-year in August.

Orphaned polar bear cub has new home at Winnipeg zoo, but life in captivity speaks to complicated challenges facing species

It’s a grey September afternoon and a small group is gathered for a special behind-the-scenes visit with Assiniboine Park Zoo’s newest resident.

“Heeeeere, bubba,” animal-care specialist Caitlin Gordon-Hall hollers from between a double layer of chain-link fencing.

After a beat, a small white face appears at the entrance of the private enclosure. The polar bear cub sniffs the air before trundling toward the fence, where his keepers have been working to encourage calm behaviour around humans ahead of his public debut on Thursday.

Gordon-Hall offers sing-song affirmations while the cub, who is nearly 200 pounds and 10 or 11 months old, observes the fawning strangers with guarded curiosity.

Justice minister to announce next steps for MAID in Canada

Justice Minister Sean Fraser says the government is nearly ready to reveal its long-awaited decision on the next steps for medical assistance in dying in Canada, which is expected to address whether the procedure will be available to people who solely suffer from mental illness.

A press release from the Justice Department said the announcement will be made with Health Minister Marjorie Michel in Ottawa on Wednesday at noon.

It will be the first time the federal government communicates the direction it plans to take on MAID in the wake of a parliamentary committee recommending in June that it should "indefinitely pause" an expansion of the end of life procedure to people with mental disorders.

Fraser said he will be putting the "final touches on the path forward" over the next 24 hours, and that his office solicited a variety of views in the wake of the report's release.

French riot police fire tear gas as more than 250,000 rally nationwide for school funding

PARIS (AP) — Police fired tear gas to control crowds in Paris and elsewhere in France on Tuesday as more than a quarter of a million people rallied nationwide to support high school students demanding more education funding, according to government figures. The protests increased pressure on the administration of outgoing President Emmanuel Macron.

As pupils blockaded high schools, large crowds waving flags and placards gathered in Marseille, Strasbourg and other cities. The demonstrations showed how protests that began at a high school in the Paris region in mid-September have grown into a nationwide movement — the latest of many that have marked Macron’s nearly decade-long tenure.

“We need to listen to them,” said Léa Monimart, an adult demonstrator in the northern city of Lille. “They are 17 years old; they are not completely clueless, and they know what they are talking about. It’s important to show that there are adults who support them.”

The Interior Ministry estimated that 266,000 people took part in demonstrations across the country on Tuesday, including 56,000 in Paris, where small groups of protesters clashed with riot officers at a city square at the end of a largely peaceful march.

Real journalists matter in an AI world

An algorithm can decide what you see, but it doesn’t report the news. Nunatsiaq News, an award-winning newspaper in Nunavut, recently reported that a so-called “news” website was posting AI-generated articles about the north by stealing real news stories produced by real journalists.

The articles were supposedly written by Nunavut correspondent Leah Qammaniq — a fake journalist, with a fake photo and a fake bio.

Governor General Louise Arbour warned us of fake news in her installation speech in June. She said, “We must continue to protect the public space in which our national debates take place: from schools and universities to the media, political parties, unions and civil society organizations …With instant access to vast amounts of information, it is very tempting to pay little attention to the reliability of sources. The lines between knowledge and belief, between truth and falsehood, between facts and assumptions, are increasingly blurred. AI could be threatening not only the way we live and work, but also the control we exercise over our own destiny.”

The Government of Canada has recognized the problem as well. Its recent discussion paper, Enhancing trust in artificial intelligence through increased transparency, stated, “Canadians encounter news reporting, product reviews, and audio-visual content across the internet, often without any indication of whether it was written by a person, generated by an AI system, or produced through some combination of both … A particular concern within this broader landscape is that generative AI greatly enables the creation and dissemination of deceptive or misleading content.”

Budding food scrap pickup services across the US want your coffee grounds and eggshells

DETROIT (AP) — Every Monday, Ricky Blanding drives his Ford Ranger pickup truck around Detroit along a carefully planned route.

Blanding hops in and out of the truck, grabbing buckets of food scraps from porches and restaurants, piling those scraps into bins in the truck bed and driving them to a composting site.

Blanding is the CEO of Scrap Soils, one of the many budding food waste collection services across the country helping to divert food from landfills and make composting more accessible. It's especially important for those who can't compost at home, who live in cities without municipal curbside pickup or who can't get to a drop-off location.

Composting leftover coffee grounds, eggshells, carrot tops and more reduces the amount of food that goes into dumps where it produces the potent greenhouse gas methane. It also ultimately helps create healthy soil for gardeners and urban farmers.

The idea of Alberta separation viewed through a faith lens shows further fracture lines

CALGARY — One morning in May, John Pentland, a minister at Hillhurst United Church in Calgary, opened his newspaper and read about a group of Albertans who were trying to divide his country.

Something inside of him felt like it cracked open. He started to weep.

“I couldn’t stop, I couldn’t breathe,” he said. He called a friend and told him: “I think I’m losing my mind.”

Pentland has always believed in Canada — flawed as it might be — as a nation gifted with diversity and welcoming of asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants. But recently that belief has been shaken as he’s witnessed right-wing ideologies charged with anti-immigrant sentiment take root in his province. It makes him angry and embarrassed for the country he loves.

Time for AI guardrails is right now

The genie is most definitely out of the bottle.

Robot study gives seniors say in era of AI

It’s no longer the stuff of sci-fi: AI sidekicks that simulate emotional support and guide routines.

Robot companions are increasingly becoming part of everyday life for seniors, with certain U.S. states even subsidizing such devices for personal use through public health-care programs.

Among the many ethical questions this raises: what’s to be done with these robots, and all the secrets and personal data they carry, after the owner dies?

“We don’t know the answers. That’s why I’m running a study. It’s a participatory study with seniors,” said Clara Xi, a PhD student in computer science at the University of Calgary, who is conducting research at the University of Manitoba.

Indigenous groups given just two months to consult on pipeline project designation

OTTAWA - Indigenous communities along the route for the newly announced West Coast oil pipeline were given just two months for consultations on whether the pipeline should be designated a project of national interest — and that was still more than the government had planned.

At first, the consultations were to take place over one month. They were extended to two months after Indigenous leaders raised concerns about the tight timeline.

A summary of those consultations posted online by the federal government says Indigenous groups decried a lack of information about the project, which they said prevented them from fully assessing its impact.

Prime Minister Mark Carney promised his major projects agenda would not interfere with Canada's obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous leaders have warned his government risks violating their rights with "national interest" designations through the Major Projects Office and the controversial Building Canada Act.

AI agent attempted to hack Library and Archives Canada, says U.S. research group

OTTAWA - The website for Library and Archives Canada was one of the targets of a failed hacking attempt by an artificial intelligence agent, a San Francisco-based lab that monitors AI activity said in a report this week.

Transluce posted an incident report Wednesday detailing what it describes as "aggressive attempts" to access public data on Canadian and U.S. government web pages.

The report says the attempted hacks occurred on May 28 and June 9 and involved 899 search queries into divorce records between 1905 and 1911.

Thirteen of the requests involved "attack payloads" seeking vulnerabilities in the search parameters, the report says.