In the news: Canada’s premiers to meet with PM, Heated Rivalry creators visit Ottawa

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

Carney meeting with Canada’s premiers today

Canada’s premiers meet with Prime Minister Mark Carney later today with the renewal of North America’s trilateral free trade agreement casting a shadow over the meeting.

Canada, the United States and Mexico are entering into a review of the trade pact this year and U.S. President Donald Trump is already threatening new tariffs.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt both said Wednesday they agree with Carney’s recent suggestion that “almost nothing is normal” right now with the United States.

Premiers are looking to present a united “Team Canada” front, though ongoing interprovincial tensions are causing some tension.

B.C. ostrich movement persists, months after cull

Melody Leinweber’s latest tattoo is a stylized portrait of an ostrich with a colourful beak, pink and turquoise stars around its head and a twinkle in its eyes.

The mother of four from West Kelowna, B.C., said the inspiration was twofold — her daughter had wanted an ostrich for Christmas, and Leinweber never wanted to forget the 314 ostriches culled by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency last November after an outbreak of avian influenza on a British Columbia farm.

“I still haven’t been able to tell my kids that the ostriches aren’t here anymore,” she said.

Leinweber is not alone in mourning the flock at Universal Ostrich Farms, shot by marksmen on a night of cold, drenching rain.

Holt to deliver State of the Province address

Premier Susan Holt is expected to lay out the priorities and challenges facing her government in the year ahead today as the premier delivers her second State of the Province address in Fredericton.

The first woman to serve as the province’s premier recently said her government put a lot of effort into building a foundation for health care in 2025 and patients will start seeing results from new investments in 2026.

Holt has kept a campaign promise to open 10 collaborative care clinics and reached a new $270-million agreement that offers incentives for doctors to work in team-based-clinics.

The premier has also spoken about the challenges the government has faced, including the fact that New Brunswick’s forestry sector makes it one of the most at-risk provinces to U.S. tariffs.

Pattison firm says it didn’t know ICE wanted site

A gigantic warehouse across the street from an outdoor equipment store has become a flashpoint in Virginia as the U.S. grapples with the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown — and a British Columbia company has been pulled into the fray.

Hundreds of people gathered at the Hanover County Administration building in Virginia Wednesday evening where local leadership said they didn’t support the conversion of a warehouse into a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding facility.

“The board opposes the purchase of this property,” said Hanover Board of Supervisors Chair Sean Davis in front of a room packed with residents.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, is set to purchase the facility from the property arm of Vancouver-based Jim Pattison Group. The Canadian firm said in a statement that it did not know the warehouse was intended to become an ICE holding facility at the time it agreed to sell the site.

Netflix series riles Humboldt Broncos families

The story of a small-town hockey team reeling after several of its teenage players are killed in a bus crash would probably seem familiar to Canadians, but Netflix says its new series has nothing to do with the Humboldt Broncos.

Sixteen people were killed and 13 were injured when a truck driver went through a stop sign and into the path of the junior hockey team’s bus at a rural intersection near Tisdale, Sask., in 2018.

The truck driver, Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, was sentenced to eight years in prison for dangerous driving offences. Last week, Sidhu, who had permanent resident status, was ordered to be deported to India.

The new eight-part Netflix series takes place in the small working-class town of South Dorothy, Minn., where hockey is everything and the high school hockey team has been churning out state championships.

Heated Rivalry creators in Ottawa today

The creators of hit TV show “Heated Rivalry” will address a Canadian media production industry conference in Ottawa today.

Jacob Tierney and Brendan Brady co-created “Heated Rivalry,” the Canadian TV show that has become a global phenomenon in recent weeks.

They will speak Thursday morning about what the success of the show says about the potential for the Canadian media sector.

The show was developed for Bell Media’s Crave streaming platform, but was then picked up by HBO Max — leading its main actors to appear on stage at the Golden Globes, on the runway at Milan Fashion week and carrying the torch for the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 29, 2026

The Canadian Press