Already a notoriously tough industry, Canadian restaurants are expected to be under pressure in 2026. After a "bloodbath" saw 7,000 restaurants shutter in 2025, a forecast from Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab (AAL) predicts that Canada will lose 4,000 restaurants on a net basis this year, with closures outpacing openings due to rising costs, reduced demand and falling alcohol sales. Read More

Freedom is the right to make your own decisions and guide your life as you please (for good or ill) in the absence of outside interference — in particular, without government meddling. Freedom applies in different areas of life, and we know that economic freedom leads to better outcomes including higher income, lower unemployment, reduced poverty, and greater overall wellbeing. So, Albertans should be proud that their province was recently ranked as the economically freest in Canada. Unfortunately, that only puts it in 30th place among the provinces and states of Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. Read More

A Turkish citizen who lost his refugee status in Canada after allegedly depositing counterfeit cheques at a Canadian bank and moving home for nine years has won another shot at regaining his status here as a protected person. Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday wades into the hot-button issue of transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports. Read More

Finance ministers from the Group of Seven nations, along with officials from other countries, met Monday in Washington to discuss a path forward to “address vulnerabilities in critical minerals supply chains,” the Treasury department said in a statement. Read More

Canada is offering to contribute military assets to a multilateral force being proposed by Germany and Britain to boost NATO’s presence in Greenland, government sources said. Read More

The Canadian federation for the sport of skeleton is defending a decision to withdraw athletes from an international event on Sunday, a move a former U.S. Olympic athlete and two-time world champion alleges torpedoed her chance of attending a sixth Games. Read More

President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States would be "screwed" if the Supreme Court rules that some of his tariffs are illegal. Read More

Less than 40 per cent of CBC's reporting on the Israel-Hamas conflict was "balanced or neutral," finds a new study by a Jewish advocacy group. Read More

We’ve seen it before: mass demonstrations, demands for the fall of the Iranian regime, burning flags, falling statues. Protesters fill the streets, appearing to shake the foundation of the regime, but thugs loyal to the mullahs react with obscene violence, vague promises of reform are heard, and the incipient revolution fizzles out. But it is different this time. Read More

The U.K. is considering a ban on the social media platform X and is trying to gather international support for such a move. But Canada has said it won't be part of that, at least for now. Here's what to know. Read More

In King of Kings, his recounting of events leading to the 1979 fall of Iran's Pahlavi dynasty, author Scott Anderson depicts the crisis as a catastrophic mix of  failures: on the U.S. side hubris, ignorance, incompetence, and a fierce determination to ignore the obvious; on the Iranian side corruption, inequality, megalomania and a leader catastrophically blind to the impending storm. Read More

A B.C. judge has decided that a woman who believes Jesus Christ will help her fight allegations of recklessly discharging a gun is mentally fit to stand trial. Read More

One of the fugitives wanted for the high-profile $20-million Toronto airport gold heist was arrested Monday at the same airport from where the gold was stolen in 2023, after flying from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Read More

Cuba's leader on Monday reacted defiantly to President Donald Trump's threats to "make a deal" or pay the price in the aftermath of key ally Nicolas Maduro's ouster in a US military raid. Read More

An Air Canada crew member was trapped in the cargo hold of a flight that was scheduled to take off from Toronto's Pearson Airport last month, the airline said. Read More

President Donald Trump said Sunday the United States would take Greenland "one way or the other," warning that Russia and China would "take over" if Washington didn't act. Read More

The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome H. Powell, the central bank said Sunday, tied to the renovation of the Fed's headquarters along the National Mall. Read More

Emilio Figueredo and Freddy Guevara understand better than any western analyst the Venezuelan reality, the regime of dictator Nicolás Maduro and the aftermath of his capture by U.S. President Donald Trump. Figueredo, editor of independent Venezuelan news outlet Analitica, talks to Brian Lilley from Caracas and explains what it’s like there now, why Maduro was foiled by his reliance on Cuba and why Trump needed to leave the Bolivarian regime in power — for now. Guevara, an exiled opposition politician once imprisoned by Maduro, tells Lilley about support among Venezuelans for the military operation and why foreign complaints about Trump violating international law carry little weight there. Both describe Venezuelans’ hopes as higher than they’ve been in a long time, although freedom hasn’t come yet. (Recorded Jan. 8, 2026.) Read More

Iran's foreign minister said on Monday the Islamic Republic is ready for both war and talks after repeated threats from U.S. President Donald Trump to intervene militarily over a crackdown on protests that activists fear has killed hundreds. Read More

Canadians are increasingly concerned about rising crime in their communities, according to a new Angus Reid Institute poll. Read More

First Reading is a Canadian politics newsletter curated by the National Post’s own Tristin Hopper. To get an early version sent directly to your inbox, sign up here. Read More

Pierre Poilievre is surely looking forward to what 2026 will bring. But while the new year may still be in its infancy, there are two pressing matters he needs to deal with right off the bat. Read More

There is something perverse about a government that once claimed there is "no business case" to sell natural gas to Europe so our allies don't have to rely on Russia, but whose prime minister is happily going to China to talk energy exports. That energy, by the way, could very well end up powering a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The Liberal party's disreputable habit of siding with authoritarian enemies of the West aside, the government's position on whether there is a "business case" for an energy project has nothing to do with the market, and everything to do with politics. Read More