Call for tougher sentences for immigrants who commit crimes; questions over Canada’s role in Iran war; and more

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner at a news conference in Ottawa on Aug. 11, 2026. Photo by Blair Gable/Postmedia

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It’s Tuesday, August 11. Here are the top stories we’re following today.

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Conservatives call for Liberals to block ‘candy sentences’ for immigrants convicted of crimes

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“Practices that let certain people commit crimes with impunity are corrosive to a high-trust society. It makes Canada unsafe, leading to a society that is less trusting to everyone, including immigrants who have come to Canada and work hard and play by the rules,” said Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner.

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Missiles and interceptors illuminate Doha, Qatar, after Iran’s attack on Al Udeid Air Base in June 2025. Photo by Getty Images

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Canadian colonel’s medal raises questions about Canada’s role in U.S. war with Iran

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The federal government recently announced that Col. David K. Turenne had been approved for the Meritorious Service Cross “for extraordinary leadership and diplomatic skill as director of the Combined Air Operations Center during the Israel-Iran conflict” in June 2025.

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Throughout Kramatorsk, Ukraine, mostly vacant buildings are already showing signs of damage from the war with Russia. Photo by Felicity Spector

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The slow, heartbreaking death of Kramatorsk, Ukraine

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Kramatorsk is preparing to become a battlefield as Russian forces close in, yet there are signs of attempts at normal life, this firsthand account explains. “I am torn in two over whether to leave. This cafe is my child, this city is my child,” says a 61-year-old cafe owner.

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Prime Minister Mark Carney gives out ice cream cones during the fête nationale Val-des-Monts celebration in Perkins, Que., on June 23. Photo by Hyungcheol Park/Postmedia

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Tasha Kheiriddin: Quebec the fly in the ointment to new U.S. trade deal

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Mark Carney “must weigh the implications of not getting a trade deal if he clings to supply management, against the costs to his party and the country if he does,” Kheiriddin writes. Sacrificing supply management, which is popular in Quebec, would hurt the Liberals in upcoming federal byelections in the province and help the separatist Parti Québécois in the fall provincial election.

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When accounting for both inflation and population, spending on subsidies has increased in every province and at the federal level between 2015 and 2024. Photo by Tony Caldwell/Postmedia

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‘Wasteful’ government spending on ‘corporate welfare’ could be replaced by business tax relief, says study

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When accounting for both inflation and population, spending on corporate subsidies has increased in every province and at the federal level between 2015 and 2024, the study found. The authors argue that “there is little connection between sustained, widespread economic growth or job creation and corporate subsidies.”

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The Mount Royal University campus on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. Photo by Gavin Young/Postmedia

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Jamie Sarkonak: Anti-abortion protests the new psychological ‘hazard’ in Alberta

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Sarkonak writes about an arbitrator who ruled that anti-abortion displays at Calgary’s Mount Royal University constitute a psychological hazard to a staff member who had a miscarriage more than a decade earlier. This despite years of the university taking steps to respect free speech while taking steps to accommodate those who did not wish to see the protesters’ posters.

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