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.

Carney gives Alberta pipeline special interest designation, to be called Pacific Link

FORT MCMURRAY - A pipeline to haul Alberta oil to tankers on the B.C. coast took a big step forward Thursday.

Prime Minster Mark Carney, with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith at his side, announced the line – to be known as Pacific Link — is the first project to receive national interest designation under the Building Canada Act.

The designation doesn't mean the line is a done deal, but it streamlines and simplifies rules, timelines and oversight to help make it a reality.

The goal is to get consultations, environmental safeguards, financing and Indigenous partnerships completed by Sept. 1, 2027, to clear the way for construction to begin and ensure startup by 2032-33.

Winnipeg’s challenge: preparing for weather extremes

A new United Nations report warns the world will exceed the 1.5 C Paris limit by 2030.

Province to acquire campground near former residential school

A burial site for dozens of children who died while attending the Brandon Indian Residential School will be acquired by the province, the Free Press has learned.

Premier Wab Kinew will announce the province’s plan to protect Turtle Crossing Campground at a news conference in Brandon Wednesday to mark National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The move is in partnership with the City of Brandon.

The graves of at least 56 children are located at the campground, the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation has said, pointing to a geophysical study conducted by an archaeology firm in 2018.

There have been longstanding concerns from Indigenous leaders and community members that people were camping on the resting place of children victimized by colonialism.

Legislation needed on vacant buildings

There is something deeply backwards about a system that lets a property owner keep a building boarded up indefinitely while neighbours are left to live with the consequences.

Canada resorting to its tried and true playbook

In 1846, Britain faced an emergency influenced by the Irish famine, so leaders repealed the country’s “Corn Laws” and restrictions on imported food and grain, transitioning to a system of free trade.

This created a crisis in the then Province of Canada, which had relied on British “preferential” status to prop up its agricultural and resource industries.

As a result, Canada looked south for new markets and eventually negotiated a free trade agreement with the United States.

This required land to be acquired and converted for industrial use quickly, so Canada quickly dispatched Commissioner William Robinson to negotiate with Indigenous communities along Lake Huron and Lake Superior for land.

Furby Street residents fed up with inaction on drug houses

Anxious Furby Street residents contacted the city and their elected officials Friday to — once again — report people coming and going from a boarded-up house they call a dangerous “drug centre” and “den of thieves” that’s just steps away from a house under construction.

Linda Zak, who was holding a yard sale with a group of neighbours Friday morning, described the trouble the home attracts, while a woman slumped on the front steps and a man standing in the yard yelled to someone inside it.

“It is a drug centre,” said Zak, 77. “We know that. A couple of days ago, a person lit the front on fire. Now, as you look at it, you can see where the facade was burning and they were trying to harm people inside.”

“We’re very concerned about it being next to the home this man is building,” she said, pointing to the two-storey that’s nearly completed. The boarded-up house is in the 500 block of Furby.

Wab Kinew as ‘communicator in chief’

Premier Wab Kinew and his party have been riding high in the polls longer than normal for a government one year or less away from its first re-election contest. One reason is his ubiquitous, dominating communications presence as NDP leader and premier.

The argument here is that Kinew has supplemented his prerogatives as premier and party leader (such as appointing cabinet ministers and approving party nominations) with the skilful use of communications to advance his policy agenda, boost his personal popularity and maintain the competitive advantage of his party over the opposition Progressive Conservatives.

Communications has always been a significant part of politics and policy making. However, in the contemporary political and media environments, communications considerations have moved from the background to the foreground of decision-making by political parties, including when they are performing in the role of government. Campaigning and governing now overlap in what has been described as a permanent election campaign.

Political parties use communications strategies for several purposes: to establish an image of the leader which makes a positive emotional connection with voters; to promote a coherent message and to keep party members on message; and to gain favourable media coverage for its policies and other actions on almost a daily basis.

Respectful separation: an obvious oxymoron

“We want a fair and respectful relationship with Canada,” Alberta separatist leader Keith Wilson told the CBC commentator. He paused. Briefly. “On our terms.”

Province invests $3.8M in culinary arts training facility for francophone high school students

A new dedicated culinary arts training facility will give francophone high school students a place to learn the trade in French.

Quebec voters bring issues like economy, language and health to advance polling

MONTREAL - Along the Saint-Lawrence River, with a view of the Montreal skyline, voters gathered at advance polling stations like one at the Montreal science centre to cast early ballots ahead of the province’s Oct. 5 general election.

Marc Fortin and Denise Tremblay, accompanied by their two grandchildren, were among the early voters headed to the first day of advance polling on Sunday.

“We wanted to take part in ‘Électeurs en herbe’ (a youth voting simulation program), to start preparing the civic action of the future,” said Fortin, who voted in the downtown riding of Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques.

Tremblay proudly noted that their grandson, Louis-Samuel, 9, knew all the party leaders.

As Canada pivots to Arctic, experts wonder if Ottawa has enough regional diplomats

OTTAWA - As Canada plans an ambitious expansion of defence and economic activity in the Arctic, regional experts are asking whether it has enough diplomats to build the ties it wants in the North.

"The Arctic is a geopolitical hot spot," said Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. "The (Global Affairs) department does not have huge bench strength when it comes to Arctic diplomacy."

Here's a look at how the Liberals have both cut back and restaffed positions across the North in recent years.

Closing an expert centre

Gillingham outlines big plan for Seine River in a second term as mayor

Scott Gillingham promises to turn the Seine River into a permanent recreation and nature attraction, if re-elected as mayor.

At a riverside campaign announcement Friday, Gillingham said a long-term plan would be to create Rivière-Seine Historic Municipal Riverway encompassing the entire Winnipeg section of the Seine, building on past volunteer efforts to clean up the river and make it a paddle-friendly attraction.

The Seine, which winds through St. Boniface and St. Vital, originates in the Sandilands Provincial Forest, passes through southeastern Manitoba, crosses the Red River Floodway and joins the Red River in St. Boniface just north of The Forks.

“What we want to do, really, is to establish the permanence of this river and allow its beauty and the opportunity to enjoy it, to be something that we don’t just leave to volunteers alone, but come together and focus on establishing it as, really, a place that gets focused attention and investment,” said Gillingham.

Is a better Winnipeg on the horizon?

Four Free Press columnists weigh in on the challenges ahead and how the city can become better.

MPs split on whether AI should be used in House of Commons

OTTAWA - Members of Parliament are split on whether — and how — artificial intelligence should be used by lawmakers following a report that said the technology is being used to write a significant amount of what MPs say in the House of Commons.

The Economist reported this week that as much as 20 per cent of what was said on the floor of the House of Commons in late 2025 was flagged as AI-generated.

The publication studied comments, speeches and questions from MPs of more than 100 words, as recorded in Hansard, and ran them through the AI detector tool Pangram.

It compared the results from different countries, including legislatures in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the United States, and found Canada had the second-highest rate of AI use.

Ottawa takes next step in negotiations on possible GlobalEye radar plane purchase

OTTAWA - The Liberal government has taken another step forward in talks with the Swedish defence company Saab as it considers acquiring its advanced radar planes for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Ottawa and Saab agreed on a non-binding term sheet that supports more detailed negotiations on a fleet of GlobalEye aircraft.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced at the CANSEC defence expo in May that Canada had selected Saab as a preferred supplier for airborne early warning and control planes.

While Ottawa has made no binding commitment to purchase the platform, it has indicated a strong intention to reach a deal.

Positive anticipation is growing about major housing developments underway in Winnipeg’s downtown

If traffic is light and the wind is down, Somia Sadiq is able to hear the roar of Winnipeg Jets fans twice: first through her window, then on TV.

From her apartment view high above downtown, she can look out at Graham Avenue’s painted pedestrian landscape, see construction cranes and hear the heavy equipment at work as massive housing projects take shape at The Forks, at what used to be Portage Place shopping centre and at the former Hudson’s Bay building.

Sadiq has lived at 300 Main for 2 1/2 years, a few steps from the city’s famous, windy and reopened-to-pedestrians Portage Avenue intersection. At 42 storeys, it’s the tallest building in Winnipeg.

She is among 18,000 downtown residents who will soon be joined by thousands of others attracted to the city’s core by the new wave of major construction projects.

Mayor introduces charter change motion to remove council members charged with crimes

Mayor Scott Gillingham is urging council to move forward with his plan to force a paid leave of absence on elected civic officials charged with criminal offence.

‘Extremely disappointed’: hunters being turned away near Bloodvein First Nation, Manitoba Wildlife Federation says

The Manitoba Wildlife Federation says hunters are again being refused access to land near Bloodvein River First Nation, a year after leadership told court it would let them through.

City of Ottawa to rename Trump Avenue as trade war continues

OTTAWA - A residential street in Ottawa bearing the last name of U.S. President Donald Trump will be given a new monniker after the city council voted in favour of a motion to start the renaming process.

Coun. Riley Brockington introduced a motion that was carried Wednesday to rename Trump Avenue, in Ottawa's Central Park neighbourhood.

The area, just southwest of the city's core, was developed in the 1990s and 2000s with a New York City theme, and multiple streets pay homage to the city with names like Central Park Drive, Staten Way and Grammercy Park.

"Since I came to office, there have been a number of requests from Trump Avenue residents, residents within Central Park and across our city and frankly beyond that would like to see the City of Ottawa engage in a street renaming process," he said Wednesday.