News

Copy by Lawrence Zwer

The headline news is of course the 25% tariffs that are due to be levied against Canadian and Mexico goods by the US starting tomorrow. The latest news is that there is now some uncertainty whether the US will open with a 25% tariff, or build to it. Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told Fox News: “There are going to be tariffs on Tuesday on Mexico and Canada. Exactly what they are — we’re going to leave that for the president and his team to negotiate.” Internal Trade Minister Anita Anand told the CBC “the sense across the system is one of needing to wait and see what happens” on Tuesday, when the tariffs are slated to go into effect. “We see numerous dates on different goods coming from the White House, and the only rational response from the Canadian government is the one that we are taking,”, referring to Ottawa’s earlier threat to impose $155 billion in countertariffs. “We will put that out if and when the Trump administration comes forward with its proposed 25 per cent tariffs,”

Heads of state from across Europe, along with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the weekend at a summit hosted by UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer in London. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss a new plan for peace, following the disasterous meeting between Zelenskyy and US President Trump and Vice President JD Vance at the White House last week. One key take-away was that the plan must have full US backing, with Starmer saying, while Europe would do the “heavy lifting”, backing from the US was needed. “We are working with the US on this point after my meeting with President Trump last week,” Starmer said. “We agree with the president on the urgent need for a durable peace, now we need to deliver together.” The US was not an “unreliable” ally, Starmer said when asked. It was a “strong and reliable ally” to the UK, adding that he had spoken with Trump on Saturday night. “The discussions we have had today, particularly on the coalition of the willing is on the basis that this is a plan that we will work on with the US. That is the purpose of the plan.” Prime Minister Trudeau took aim at Russian President Vladimir Putin at a press conference held yesterday at the Canadian High Commission in London, saying, “Vladimir Putin is a liar and a criminal, and cannot be trusted to keep his word in any way, shape or form. Because he has demonstrated time and time again that he will break any agreements,” Trudeau also said that Canada could join the new military coalition aimed at upholding an eventual peace in Ukraine, but the outgoing prime minister added that others will have to make such a decision.

Turning to the Middle East, Israel has cut off humanitarian supplies to Gaza in an effort to pressure Hamas into accepting a change in the ceasefire agreement to allow for the release of hostages without an Israeli troop withdrawal. The office of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday it was imposing a blockade on Gaza because Hamas would not accept a plan which it claimed had been put forward by the US to extend phase one of the ceasefire and continue to release hostages, and postpone phase two, which envisaged an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Hamas said it was committed to the originally agreed ceasefire that had been scheduled to move into a second phase, with negotiations aimed at a permanent end to the war, and it rejected the idea of a temporary extension to the 42-day truce. A senior Hamas official told Al Jazeera the group would release the remaining Israeli hostages only under the terms of the already agreed-upon phased deal.

Finally, the 97th Academy Awards were held in Los Angeles yesterday where film’s biggest and brightest stars gathered to celebrate each other and themselves. Among the winners were Kieran Culkin as Best Supporting Actor for A Real Pain, Adrien Brody as Best Actor for his work in the Brutalist, Zoe Soldana won Best Supporting Actress for Emilia Perez while the film Anora took home Best Director – Sean Baker, Best Actress -Mikey Madison, Best Original Screenplay AND Best Picture.

Sports

Austin Matthews scored the 390th goal of his career yesterday, passing Darryl Sittler to move into 2nd place in the Leafs all-time goals list. The goal came as part of a wild 6-5 overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins that saw the Leafs captain also bag his 700th career point, thanks to an assist on the winning goal by William Nylander. The win is the Buds’ 5th straight.

The Calgary Flames were the only other Canadian team in action yesterday. They lost a 2-1 nailbiter in overtime to the Carolina Hurricanes. Nazem Kadri was the Flames’ goal scorer.

Back to the Leafs and Penguins goal-fest, Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby moved past Gordie Howe for 10th on the NHL’s all-time assists list. Crosby set up Bryan Rust in the second period to collect his 1,050th career assist and second of the game. The 37-year-old achieved the milestone in 1,332 career games while Howe recorded 1,049 assists in 1,767 career games. Crosby also scored in the first period to move past Bobby Hull for 18th place on the NHL’s all-time goals list with 611 career goals.
Finally, the Toronto Raptors held off a late surge by the Orlando Magic to win 104-102 to snap a three-game losing skid.

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