Canada

Conservative party, activist group ratchet up digital ads against Mark Carney
Pierre Poilievre’s team has had two years to prepare their digital outreach machine – a crucial component of modern election campaigns – and are flush with cash from record-setting donations from that period. Carney, once he becomes prime minister on Friday, is expected to have more like two weeks to get the Liberal campaign machine retooled and ready.

Cabinet de Mark Carney | Jean-Yves Duclos sera exclu, Steven Guilbeault perd l’Environnement
Mark Carney fera presque table rase en dévoilant son cabinet vendredi. L’actuel ministre des Services publics et de l’Approvisionnement, Jean-Yves Duclos, sera exclu de la table du cabinet et perdra aussi le poste de lieutenant politique du Québec.

Meet the candidates who want to oust Steven Guilbeault from Parliament
Contrary to the criticism levelled at him by Smith and other Albertans, Guilbeault is not criticized in his Montreal riding for his overzealousness, but rather for his lack of results on environmental issues. Welcome to Laurier-Sainte-Marie, the downtown Montreal riding represented for over 20 years by former Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe and by the NDP for eight years before Guilbeault’s election in 2019.

Health Minister Mark Holland won’t seek re-election: ‘Time to go home’
After nearly 20 years in federal politics, Mark Holland says 'it's time to go home,' announcing he will not run in the upcoming election.

Le Bloc québécois présente son équipe dans la Capitale-Nationale
Le chef du BQ, Yves-François Blanchet, était de passage à Québec jeudi pour présenter les cinq autres candidats de son équipe, dont certains ont déjà une certaine notoriété dans la région. Il en a aussi profité pour participer à une rencontre avec le maire de Québec, Bruno Marchand.

Great White Nothing: How Harper’s naval station became an Arctic white elephant
The Nanisivik Naval Facility still languishes unfinished more than a decade past its completion date, amid a flurry of Arctic announcements from the Liberal government.
EU foreign policy chief says that global trade war works in China's interests
"If the United States is having a trade war with Canada, Mexico or the European Union, then who is really benefiting from this is China," Kaja Kallas said in an interview Thursday with The Canadian Press. Kallas, the former prime minister of Estonia, is overseeing the EU's approach to an alarming new geopolitical climate — one where the U.S. hints at scaling back its commitment to defending NATO allies and pursues a trade war against Europe and Canada.
Vernon political assistant drops from Conservative riding race
Randhawa, former executive assistant to three provincial MLAs in Vernon, had hoped to win the riding nomination for the Conservatives in the 2025 federal election. But Randhawa has dropped out of the now four-person contest, and is endorsing former Vernon councillor Scott Anderson. I've said it here before but I'll say it again: This nomination race is the de facto contest to be the MP. V-LC-M is a certain CPC victory in the general election.
The Provinces

B.C. NDP seeks broad power to respond to U.S. tariffs and threats
remier David Eby said measures are needed to ensure B.C. is never again "at the whim of one person in the White House."
NDP power-grab law is the most far-reaching since the War Measures Act
Vaughn Palmer: Proposed law would give unprecedented power to Premier David Eby in the name of fighting Trump tariffs
Where’s Legault? Critics say Quebec premier ‘absent’ as Ford takes on Trump
Opposition parties and experts in Quebec are accusing Legault of being noticeably absent and not vocal enough amid U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war.
Elsewhere

Canadians talk tariffs with U.S., Ford says ‘temperature is being lowered’
Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman and Ontario Premier Doug Ford met with Howard Lutnick to discuss a road forward on trade and tariffs.

‘Canada is a sovereign state,’ Trump’s ambassador pick tells U.S. senators
Pete Hoekstra said Canada remains an important ally on intelligence and national security issues, which can be maintained while addressing concerns around trade.

Trump threatens to acquire Canada, Greenland while next to NATO chief
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said nothing about the possibility of the U.S. threatening a founding NATO member, after Trump called the Canadian border 'artificial.'

Putin lays out conditions for accepting Ukraine ceasefire
Russian President Vladimir is under growing pressure to accept an American-brokered ceasefire with Ukraine, which has approved the proposal. Redmond Shannon looks at what Putin says needs to happen before accepting the deal, and how Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump are reacting.
Reader Notes
A reminder that: The headlines, excerpts, and photos here are generated by the publishers of the clipping. The publisher is at the bottom left of the clipping. If I've got a comment, you''ll see that in italics. But if I've generated the headline and the excerpt, you'll see me taking attribution by finishing with -DA in bold. The stamp stuff at the bottom are scans from my collection and, if there’s a stamp blurb, I’ve written that bit. -DA
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Science and tech

The Road Map to Alien Life Passes Through the ‘Cosmic Shoreline’
Astronomers are ready to search for the fingerprints of life in faraway planetary atmospheres. But first, they need to know where to look — and that means figuring out which planets are likely to have atmospheres in the first place.