Friday, January 30, 2026

News roundup, 30 Jan 2026

- Sources who spoke to the Financial Times allege that leaders of the separatist Alberta Prosperity Project held secret meetings with officials from the Trump regime, and are trying to negotiate $500 billion in credit in the event that the province votes to separate. BC premier David Eby did not hold back on what he thinks about that. Whether it meets the legal definition of treason is debatable, of course, but I have little doubt that those people would commit literal treason or even high treason (specifically the part about assisting an enemy at war with Canada) if it were to come to that. It's also notable that this is being reported in Ukrainian media, and the very fact that they have taken note of that given all the other stuff they're dealing with should be taken as a serious warning.

- The Ontario Progressive Conservative party has banned reporters from its convention in Toronto this weekend. I have to assume they're worried about what moderate voters would think about the kind of thing delegates might be recorded saying.

- Donald Trump is threatening to decertify Canadian-made aircraft in the US, specifically naming Bombardier's business jets, in response to Transport Canada's reluctance to certify certain models made by the competitor Gulfstream. The models in question had been exempted from certain rules about fuel system icing by the FAA, and EASA went along with the exemption shortly thereafter.

- Ontario's Conestoga College is now looking to rent out space at its newly opened satellite campus in Stratford. Like many postsecondary institutions in this country, the college has taken a big hit from the caps on international students, though it's big enough that it probably won't go the way of the Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology.

- A scientist with Echoes Ecology, which surveys populations of endangered species, had been off work on mental health leave due to severe social anxiety. Accordingly, she was not invited to the company's Christmas party; this led her to sue for discrimination. She lost; the court ruled that while it may have constituted discrimination, this was justified by her mental health at the time.

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