“The federal government will introduce legislation this fall that will indefinitely extend the ban on access to a medically assisted death for people who are only suffering from a mental illness, Justice Minister Sean Fraser said on Wednesday. ‘Canada has made a decision not to move forward with the expansion that is scheduled in the Criminal Code of medical assistance in dying in circumstances where mental illness is the sole basis,’ he said in the foyer of the House of Commons. Fraser said the government’s decision reflects the position expressed by a special parliamentary committee report released in June along with his own department’s probing of the issue. … Fraser said the promised legislation will also “open the door” for people to give advance consent for their own medically assisted death in circumstances where the illness they are suffering from will eventually eliminate their capacity to make that decision.” (10/07/26)
“There is something almost admirable about the Canadian government’s ability to respond to an American provocation with precisely the right number of carefully selected adjectives. Washington imposes tariffs. Ottawa expresses deep disappointment. Washington threatens Canadian sovereignty. Ottawa says the relationship is changing. Washington escalates again. Ottawa announces that Canada is entering a new era. Then everyone goes home. The problem is no longer simply that Canada’s foreign policy is too cautious. It increasingly appears to have no direction at all.” (10/07/26)
“Britain has a productivity problem, and it is one of our own making. Before the financial crash of 2008, output per hour grew by roughly 2 per cent a year. Since then it has crawled along at about half that rate, sometimes less. The gap with America, France and Germany has widened year after year. That matters more than almost anything else in economics. Productivity pays for higher wages, better public services and a comfortable retirement. A country that stops growing more productive stops growing richer. Its politics turn sour, because every gain for one group must come out of another’s pocket. The comforting story is that some deep mystery is at work, a curse visited on Britain by forces beyond anyone’s control. This is nonsense. Britain made it hard to build, costly to power and unrewarding to invest. The results were entirely predictable.” (10/07/26)
“President Donald Trump will not reimburse the federal government for taxpayer-funded advertisements promoting him and his administration ahead of the November midterms — and even dropped a new ad on Tuesday. Following bipartisan backlash to the more than $10 million spent on what the White House dubbed ‘Patriotic Ads,’ Trump announced Monday on Truth Social that his super PAC would cover the cost of the ads. But White House officials clarified on Tuesday to POLITICO that the president’s post did not mean the PAC would pay for the spots that had already aired. … In all, Trump has spent about $11.6 million on more than a dozen ads, according to an estimate from AdImpact, an analytics firm which tracks advertising. The advertisements were reportedly paid for with funds from a $20 million contract awarded by the Department of Homeland Security.” (10/06/26)
“In Jefferson City, legislative debates over school choice often turn into battles between special interest groups, union lobbyists, and trade associations. Lost in the technical jargon of funding formulas and accreditation benchmarks is the actual student sitting in a classroom where they are not learning. [Nikole] Hannah-Jones’s daughter saw clearly what many policymakers ignore. Adult political battles should never be waged at the expense of vulnerable children. When people demand that families stay put to support a district’s balance sheet, they are asking children to bear the burden of systemic dysfunction.” (10/06/26)
“Amid global public health concerns surrounding the death of an Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East worker, the World Health Organization noted in a statement issued Tuesday on the X account of Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that it had requested more information from Russia regarding the matter, including on ‘media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause.’ ‘The individual died on 2 October 2026 after being hospitalized with severe pneumonia. Initial media reports suggested pneumonic plague following an alleged accidental laboratory exposure,’ the WHO statement noted. … The U.S. State Department has formally requested more information from the Russian government regarding the death of the woman who worked at the anti-plague research facility, issuing what is known as a démarche, defined as a request or intercession with a foreign official.” (10/07/26)
