News roundup, 2 April 2026

- Donald Trump claims that the US has just about finished the job in Iran. Nobody with any sense believes him, of course.

- Chrysler's parent company, Stellantis, is reportedly in talks with Chinese automaker Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co to build EVs at a closed plant in Brampton. If this goes ahead, there might still be hope for an auto industry in Ontario.

- UCP MLA Jason Stephan, who represents the constituency of Red Deer South in Alberta's legislature, has written a column endorsing the idea of a referendum on Alberta separating from Canada. The actual column can be seen here if you're curious; he seems to be working from the same style guide as a certain prominent politician to the south. Yet Danielle Smith seems to think that disloyalty to Canada is not a reason to take disciplinary measures against a caucus member.

- The US Supreme Court has ruled that Colorado's law banning "conversion therapy" for LGBT* kids is unconstitutional. The court believes that prohibiting therapists from telling kids that they need the devil prayed or beaten out of them is a violation of said therapists' free speech rights.

- A Toronto doctor has had her licence revoked after writing nearly 1,500 letters purporting to exempt the bearers from mask and vaccine mandates during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (and incidentally charging the rubes up to $300 per letter). Dr. Celeste Thirlwell was found guilty of "dishonourable and unprofessional" conduct. Don't feel too bad for her, though; I'm sure she'll make a comfortable living off a GiveSendGo campaign and maybe a speaking tour or two.

- Canada Post plans to end home delivery for households that still get it (it ended for many households during the Harper era, of course).  

- Following a 2023 court ruling, millions of Americans may now be eligible for Canadian citizenship by descent. No doubt a number will take advantage of this in order to escape from the current regime down there.

- The Artemis II mission successfully launched from Cape Canaveral yesterday, marking the first time in more than half a century that humans have gone beyond low earth orbit. The mission is scheduled to last 10 days.

- Anthropic AI is using copyright takedown requests to try to suppress the circulation of the source code for their Claude chatbot, which was inadvertently leaked to the internet. Given AI companies' rather cavalier attitude towards other people's intellectual property, it's hard not to see an irony here.

News roundup, 1 April 2026

- NORAD's US commander, Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, has thrown cold water on the idea that the F-35 is essential for the defense of North America. Guillot says that the aircraft is better suited to assaults on overseas targets where its stealth and air-to-surface weapons would be more useful. Prime Minister Mark Carney is holding off on commenting on the matter pending a review.

- The Artemis II mission is scheduled to launch today. It will carry four astronauts, including Canada's Jeremy Hansen, in a loop around the Moon before returning to Earth, in preparation for Artemis III which is planned to actually land.

- Stephen Lewis has died at the age of 88, having lived just long enough to see his son Avi win the NDP leadership.

- Numerous airlines around the world, including Air Canada and Air Transat, are imposing surcharges to deal with the rising cost of jet fuel as a result of the Iran war.

- Pierre Poilievre is calling for the cancellation of the proposed high speed rail line between Toronto and Quebec City, using his usual simplistic populist slogans.

- A man in Niagara Region, Ontario has been sentenced to 20 years in prison on terrorism charges. Matthew Althorpe had created propaganda for the Atomwaffen Division, a white supremacist group, and an agreed statement of facts at the sentencing hearing showed that documents that he posted on the Telegram social media platform had inspired multiple terrorist attacks. This included an attack against the LGBT* community in Slovakia that killed two people, as well as a mass stabbing at a mosque in Turkey.

- French MEP Rima Hassan was invited by several organizations to speak at events in Quebec, but was denied entry to Canada. The official explanation was that she had "failed to disclose a previous visa refusal or denial of entry" as well as "an alleged criminal offence, arrest, indictment or conviction". Both of these appear to stem from her participation in one of the flotillas bringing aid to Gaza in June. B’nai Brith Canada has praised the denial, accusing her of "promoting terror"; presumably they think that if those kids in Gaza are given enough food to survive they'll surely grow up to be terrorists. 

- A teacher in Manitoba's Frontier School Division, which serves mostly remote communities in the northern part of the province, has been decertified after admitting to supplying a student with alcohol and cannabis. In other professional misconduct news, a lawyer who is already under suspension by the Manitoba Law Society has been accused of conspiracy to smuggle cannabis into Headingley Jail as well as conspiracy to obtain a prohibited or restricted firearm.