Opinion – Brandon Sun

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday January 14, 2026

Doug Ford's plan to boycott Crown Royal risks national unity and economic stability by targeting a Canadian product amid U.S. trade tensions.

Ford's Crown Royal Gamble: A Misstep in Unity

Doug Ford, Ontario's Premier, has cultivated an image as "Captain Canada," using bold rhetoric to counter the adversarial stance of the Trump administration. His approach, characterized by dramatic gestures and an anti-protectionist advertising campaign invoking GOP icon Ronald Reagan, has resonated with many Ontarians. This strategy even secured him a third majority government during a politically uncertain period in Canada.

However, Ford's recent threats to remove Crown Royal from Ontario shelves in response to Diageo's decision to close its Amherstburg bottling plant reveal a troubling disconnect from the broader interests of national unity and economic stability. This move, though perhaps intended to showcase his protective stance for Ontario jobs, fundamentally misfires by targeting a Canadian-made product at a time when Canada needs cohesion in the face of U.S. economic aggression.

News: Ford vows to ban Crown Royal from LCBO over plant shutdown https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-crown-royal-lcbo-ban-ontario-plant-doug-ford/

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew's response has been measured and rational. He urges Ford to reconsider, emphasizing the importance of a unified Canadian front against external pressures. Kinew's approach underscores the need for collaboration among provinces, rather than divisive actions that penalize Canadian workers.

Reader comments have echoed this sentiment, criticizing Ford for resorting to theatrics instead of addressing pressing issues such as healthcare, education, and infrastructure in Ontario. His rhetoric may shine a spotlight on Diageo's decision, but it obscures the larger economic implications and the need for constructive dialogue.

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Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday January 14, 2026

Doug Ford's plan to boycott Crown Royal risks national unity and economic stability by targeting a Canadian product amid U.S. trade tensions.

Ford's Crown Royal Gamble: A Misstep in Unity

Doug Ford, Ontario's Premier, has cultivated an image as

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Canada should prepare for war against Russia

By Brian McQuinn and Marcus Kolga 5 minute read Preview

Canada should prepare for war against Russia

By Brian McQuinn and Marcus Kolga 5 minute read Yesterday at 9:57 PM CST

In the fog-softened half light of the morning of Oct. 14, 2023, security cameras along Finland’s eastern border with Russia captured dozens of figures crossing the frontier.

After being detained, migrants told Finnish authorities they had been lured to Russia and later bused to Finland’s border by people they described as Russian border guards. By November, the number of crossings had risen to 500, prompting the Finnish government to close its border with Russia.

Weaponizing migration is just one tactic Russia is using in its expanding hybrid war — a form of conflict that seeks to undermine societies through chaos, coercion and disinformation without formally declaring war.

Over the past year, we’ve spent considerable time in the region and have been struck by a shift: leaders no longer talk about whether there will be war in the Baltics, but how to prepare for it.

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Yesterday at 9:57 PM CST

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking during his annual news conference and call-in show at Gostinny Dvor, in Moscow, on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

Carney, ministers need to stay wary of China

4 minute read Preview

Carney, ministers need to stay wary of China

4 minute read Yesterday at 10:01 PM CST

Prairie farmers can be forgiven if they seem more than a little irritated at the slow pace of Canada’s government to address China’s tariffs. It has been nearly a year since China imposed a 100 per cent tariff on Canadian canola oil, canola meal and peas, in addition to a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian pork and seafood products.

And since August, producers have also had to deal with an added 76 per cent Chinese tariff on canola seed.

As it stands, Rick White of the Canadian Canola Growers Association told The Canadian Press this week that Beijing’s steep levies on canola will cost producers at least $2 billion this year if the issue isn’t resolved.

For provinces like Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which grow approximately 50 per cent and 14 per cent of Canada’s total canola acreage, respectively, these are difficult financial pressures that will impact many farm operations, particularly those who still have canola in the bin with spring seeding only a few months away.

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Yesterday at 10:01 PM CST

Prime Minister Mark Carney meets with President of China Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China on Friday. (The Canadian Press)

Unreasonable hypotheticals beginning to feel very real

4 minute read Preview

Unreasonable hypotheticals beginning to feel very real

4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 12:00 AM CST

“I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way. But if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way.”

— U.S. President Donald Trump, talking of making Greenland part of the United States

“It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland.”

— Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen

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Updated: Yesterday at 12:00 AM CST

President Donald Trump during a bill signing Wednesday in the Oval Office. MUST CREDIT: Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post

Unreasonable hypotheticals beginning to feel very real

4 minute read Preview

Unreasonable hypotheticals beginning to feel very real

4 minute read Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026

“I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way. But if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way.” — U.S. President Donald Trump, talking of making Greenland part of the United States

“It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland.” — Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen

What a surreal moment in history.

The world is watching in disbelief as a wayward American president talks openly of annexing Greenland, an autonomous territory, away from Denmark.

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Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026

A woman walks near a church in Nuuk, Greenland, in March 2025. (The Associated Press files)

AI-aided sexual violence shows need for safeguards

By Kyara Liu 5 minute read Preview

AI-aided sexual violence shows need for safeguards

By Kyara Liu 5 minute read Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026

The new image and video editing feature for xAI’s chatbot, Grok, has generated thousands of non-consensual, sexually explicit images of women and minors since Grok announced the editing feature on Christmas Eve. It was promoted as enabling the addition of Santa Claus to photos.

The growing ease of perpetrating sexual violence with novel technologies reflects the urgent need for tech companies and policymakers to prioritize AI safety and regulation.

I am a PhD candidate in public health. My research has largely focused on the intersection of gender-based violence and health, previously working on teams that leverage AI as a tool to support survivors of violence. The potential and actual harms of AI on a such a wide scale require new regulations that will protect the health of mass populations.

'NUDIFYING' APPS

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Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI is under scrutiny due to the xAI chatbot, Grok, which includes image-generation features being used to create sexualized deep fakes. (Tribune News Service)

Interference concerns cloud petition process

4 minute read Preview

Interference concerns cloud petition process

4 minute read Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026

As the Alberta independence effort appears to be gaining steam, so too does concern over the integrity of the process and the prospect of interference by forces from outside the province.

Under Alberta law, the expense limit for a citizen initiative petition proponent — the person who is leading a petition effort — is $572,200. If expenses exceed $350,000, audited financial statements must be filed, showing how the money was spent.

Also under Alberta law, the maximum contribution a proponent can receive from any eligible person or organization is $4,600 during the official petition period. Eligible contributors include individuals ordinarily residing in Alberta, most Alberta corporations (other than those specifically prohibited by law), as well as Alberta trade unions or employee organizations. Contributions can be in monetary form and/or in the form of in-kind donations of goods or services.

Those legal facts are important to bear in mind, given the rise in allegations that non-Alberta residents, Americans in particular, are donating funds to boost the effort to have that province leave Canada and become an independent nation.

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Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026

The view of the Alberta Legislature on Friday March 28, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

ICE killing prompts obvious lies

By Jennifer Saul and Tim Kenyon 5 minute read Preview

ICE killing prompts obvious lies

By Jennifer Saul and Tim Kenyon 5 minute read Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026

By now, many of us have probably seen the video of a Minneapolis woman whose last words were a calm “It’s fine, dude; I’m not mad at you,” before she was shot three times in the head as she turned her car to drive away from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.

U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that Renee Good “violently, wilfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self-defence.”

Vice-President JD Vance declared “the reason this woman is dead is because she tried to ram somebody with her car … You have a woman who aimed her car at a law enforcement officer and pressed on the accelerator. Nobody debates that.”

These statements, and others that doubled down on them, were made even as videos showing they were clearly false were in wide circulation.

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Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026

Protesters gather on Saturday at the site in Minneapolis where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week. (The Associated Press)

Turbulent times in U.S. worth a travel advisory

4 minute read Preview

Turbulent times in U.S. worth a travel advisory

4 minute read Monday, Jan. 12, 2026

International sentiment regarding Donald Trump’s America has been growing increasingly negative over the last 12 months.

Widespread concern over the Don’s aggressive foreign policy actions — particularly toward historic U.S. allies such Denmark and Canada — coupled with the U.S. president’s self-inflicted economic instability through the imposition of tariffs on dozens of countries, has been driving much of that opinion.

Trump’s most recent comments regarding the pending invasion of Greenland, as well as Cuba and Mexico has put much of the world’s leadership on edge.

At the same time, there is growing domestic turmoil in the United States. Trump’s unhinged U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have reportedly been involved in dozens of shooting incidents, with the most high profile being the death of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis last Wednesday at the hands of an ICE agent.

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Monday, Jan. 12, 2026

Demonstrators march to the White House in Washington on Jan. 8 as they protest against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. (The Associated Press files))

How online communities help women stay in skilled trades

By Daniela Gatti and Mark Julien 5 minute read Preview

How online communities help women stay in skilled trades

By Daniela Gatti and Mark Julien 5 minute read Monday, Jan. 12, 2026

Canada is facing a significant demographic challenge. Between 2019 and 2028, approximately 700,000 skilled trades workers are expected to retire, leaving a major gap in the future workforce.

Governments have responded with more investments to increase interest in the skilled trades and support training, including a recent announcement by the Ontario government to invest $2.6 million in Skills Ontario.

Canada needs more people in the skilled trades, especially women. Yet despite many recruitment efforts, women remain significantly underrepresented in the skilled trades. Only 7.9 per cent of skilled trades workers are women in Canada.

Our recent research shows that the problem is not only whether women are interested in entering the skilled trades, but if they’re able to remain once they do.

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Monday, Jan. 12, 2026

January 16, 2026

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Today’s editorial cartoon