In the news today: Carney in Australia, McGuinty talks Iran, Tumbler Ridge probe

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Carney in Australia to deepen trade, defence ties

Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Australia as Canada seeks to build on already strong intelligence ties by broadening collaboration in trade and defence.

The prime minister arrived in Sydney midday Tuesday local time and is expected to meet with business leaders and will travel to the capital Canberra on Thursday to address the Australian Parliament.

Carney will also meet this week with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has been in power since 2022. Both countries are Commonwealth nations and partners in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, along with the U.S., U.K. and New Zealand.

“Australia obviously is a natural partner for Canada in the Indo-Pacific,” Asia Pacific Foundation vice-president Vina Nadjibulla said in an interview last month.

Canadian military personnel in Middle East out of harm’s way: McGuinty

Defence Minister David McGuinty says Canadian military personnel in the Middle East are out of harm’s way.

He did not answer when asked how many Canadian military personnel are in the region, saying only there are “some.”

McGuinty said the weekend killing of Iran’s supreme leader in military strikes launched by the U-S and Israel is a positive development.

“Ayatollah Khamenei has been for many, many decades a very, very powerful force for evil in Iran and in the region,” he said.

McGuinty said the Canadian Armed Forces weren’t involved in the preparation or execution of the attack, and that Canada was not given advance notice of it.

US Embassy in Saudi Arabia hit by Iranian drones as Israeli military ramps up operations in Lebanon

Iran struck the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital with a drone early Tuesday as it kept hitting targets around the region, while the United States and Israel pounded Iran with airstrikes in what U.S. President Donald Trump suggested was just the start of a relentless campaign that could last more than a month.

The attack from two drones on the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire” and minor damage, according to Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound. It followed an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait, which announced Tuesday it had been closed until further notice. The U.S. State Department also ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Kuwait, as well as Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates as a precaution.

Across Iran’s capital, explosions rang out throughout the night into the early morning, with witnesses describing hearing aircraft overhead. It was not immediately clear what had been hit. And in Lebanon, Israel launched more strikes on Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia group. Explosions could be heard and smoke seen in a southern suburb of Beirut. Israel also said its soldiers are “operating in southern Lebanon.” Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the Lebanese army was evacuating some of its positions along the border.

The expansion of Iranian retaliation across the Gulf and the intensity of the Israeli and American attacks, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the lack of any apparent exit plan portend a possibly prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences.

B.C. coroner to make Tumbler Ridge announcement amid calls for mass shooting inquiry

British Columbia’s chief coroner is set to make an announcement about last month’s mass killings in Tumbler Ridge, amid calls for a public investigation.

Dr. Jatinder Baidwan will make the announcement this morning at the legislature building in Victoria.

Premier David Eby has said that his government will use “any tools available” to make sure all questions about the mass shooting are answered.

Jesse Van Rootselaar shot dead her mother and 11-year-old half-brother at their home, before killing five students, a teacher’s aide and then herself at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Feb. 10.

Conservative MPs have been among those calling for an independent investigation.

EverWind lands more than $240M in financing for N.S. wind and hydrogen projects

The company trying to build the first green hydrogen plant in Nova Scotia has landed $240 million in project financing.

EverWind Fuels CEO Trent Vichie says the money will be used to advance the first phase of the company’s project, which includes four wind farms and a hydrogen production plant in Point Tupper, Nova Scotia.

He says the project will create 100 long-term skilled jobs, 500 construction jobs and over a billion dollars in local contracts and procurement opportunities.

An Indigenous consortium led by Cape Breton’s Membertou First Nation holds 51 per cent ownership in the first phase of the wind portfolio.

Canada and the European Union are working together to bring Canadian hydrogen to the continent as a way to wean countries like Germany off Russian energy exports.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2026.

The Canadian Press