The One-Time 'Toronto The Good' has Disappeared into a Maisma of Criminality

"These individuals trafficked, and conspired to traffic, more than 100 firearms from Florida to Canada in 2023 and 2024."

"Of those firearms, 29 were recovered from Canadian crime scenes, including homicides."

U.S. Department of Justice press release 

 

"[The victim was] beaten and tortured by his assailants for several hours."

"After succeeding in obtaining from the victim the details required to enable a cryptocurrency transfer, the suspects fled."

Montreal law enforcement

Police investigating after early morning shooting near Polson Street and Cherry Street in Toronto on Sunday July 12, 2026 (CP24 photo)

 

Toronto Police on Sunday announced that 25-year-old Omar Abdul Singateh was charged with reckless discharge of a firearm in connection with a 3:30 a.m. shooting outside the Rebel nightclub where he opened fire on the nightclub crowd, then ran over pedestrians in a stolen ride-share vehicle. This is the same man who had been arrested in a torture investigation last year and had been freed on bail. 

 

The police report described a man opening fire on patrons leaving the nightclub, then hijacking a ride-share vehicle "that had customers on board". 

 

In his getaway attempt Singateh "struck pedestrians and vehicles" with the four passengers trapped in the car with him. This at a time when he was awaiting sentencing for a home invasion and extortion case of singular brutality. Singateh and two other men broke into the home of a Montreal-area cryptocurrency entrepreneur in 2024. They beat and tortured their victim, forcing him finally to surrender to them $15,000 in cryptocurrency. 

 

A remarkably violent weekend in Toronto has left communities on edge and anti-gun violence advocates calling for action. Still from video/CBC

 

Seven months ago Singateh was named in a U.S. indictment respecting a smuggling ring specializing in transferring over 100 illegal guns into Canada. Some of those guns are known to have been used in various incident of criminal activity. This, at a time when gun crimes in Toronto have been on a rapid increase; law enforcement crediting a surge of smuggled weapons entering Canada through the United States.

 

During a gang war outside a recording studio, 100 shots were fired. Of 16 distinct firearms used in the shootout, all had originally come from the U.S. Another charge against Singateh is that of "causing bodily harm" through dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, in addition to four counts of forcible confinement in reference to the ride-share passengers who were trapped in the vehicle that Singateh had hijacked in his escape bid following the chaotic gunfire at the Toronto Rebel nightclub. 

 

"Non-life-threatening" injuries were sustained by those whom Singateh shot, or hit with the escape vehicle, while Singateh himself sustained "gunshot injuries" during the shooting spree. Simultaneous to the Rebel nightclub event other high-profile public shootings occurred in Toronto over the weekend. One being a "targeted" shooting during the city's Salsa event at the St.Clair street festival. There, two people were shot dead and four injured after two gunmen fired at one another, forcing crowds to flee the festival. 

 

A fatal shooting at Salsa on St. Clair in midtown Toronto has raised questions about how to keep street festivals safe in the city. (CBC)

 

"The point is, the location is not the cause of the violence. Period. A simple venue change for public mass festivals is not going to address the gun violence problem."

"[Street festivals, with an open-air environment, are known as] soft targets [for criminal activity]." 

"Basically, we try the best we can to make things as safe as we can [there was lots of visible security at Saturday's festival]."

"The [amount] of adaptations to make a perfectly safe environment would change the entire street."

Jack Rozdilsky, associate professor of disaster and emergency management, York University

WHO Guidelines on Dementia

"While there is no cure for dementia, up to 45 percent of the risks can be attributed to modifiable risk factors such as tobacco, alcohol use, social isolation, physical inactivity, air pollution and noncommunicable diseases [NCSs], including high blood pressure and diabetes."

"Dementia can be caused by several diseases which over time damage the brain, typically leading to deterioration in cognitive function beyond what might be expected from the usual consequences of biological ageing. The impairment in cognitive function is commonly accompanied, and occasionally preceded, by changes in mood, emotional control, behaviour or motivation."

World Health Organization 

Dementia   World Health Organization

 

"Behind these numbers are individuals, families, and communities navigating profound challenges that affect not only health, but dignity, independence, and well-being."

"This is not a distant issue; it touches all of us."

Devora Kestel, director, WHO, NCDs and mental health department  

According to the World Health Organization, citing modifiable risk factors such as tobacco and air pollution, up to 45 percent of dementia risk could be prevented or delayed. As the seventh global leading cause of death, a major cause of disability and dependency among older people within the international community, this is no small thing, the caution that dementia can be caused by circumstances that can be altered in deliberate change of lifestyle geared to avoidance. 

 

Surrendering to physical lassitude, succumbing to a general disinterest in events around us, failing to remain cognitively engaged, to exercise brain and body, are all critical elements in wasting what we have. Worldwide over 57 million people live with dementia, while some ten million people are diagnosed with it annually. Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia is estimated to make up 70 percent of diagnoses.   

Early signs and symptoms are:

• forgetting things or recent events
• losing or misplacing things
• getting lost when walking or driving
• being confused, even in familiar places
• losing track of time
• difficulties solving problems or making decisions
• problems following conversations or trouble finding words
• difficulties performing familiar tasks
• misjudging distances to objects visually.

Changes in mood and behaviour sometimes happen even before memory problems occur. Common changes include:

• feeling anxious, sad, or angry about memory loss
• personality changes
• inappropriate behaviour
• withdrawal from work or social activities
• being less interested in other people’s emotions.

An updated WHO guide was published recently focusing on how health workers and policy-makers can organize themselves to help in the prevention or delay of dementia onset. The first such dementia recommendations by the UN health agency was issued in 2019; since that time new evidence and understanding of dementia has grown significantly. 

 

Early awareness and intervention are addressed as critical issues on the guidelines, for the purpose of reducing he burden of dementia in years to come. The WHO is convinced that the condition is not an inevitable outcome of aging, although its onset is more common after age 65. "We know more today than ever before about what drives dementia risk, and these guidelines translate that knowledge into action", stated WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.  

"Dementia is caused by many different diseases or injuries that damage the brain. Alzheimer disease is the most common form and contributes to 60–70% of cases. Other forms include vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies [abnormal deposits of protein inside nerve cells], and a group of diseases that contribute to frontotemporal dementia  [degeneration of the frontal lobe of the brain]."

"Dementia may also develop after a stroke, in the context of certain infections such as HIV, as a result of harmful use of alcohol, after repeated injuries to the brain, or because of nutritional deficiencies. The boundaries between different forms of dementia are not always clear and mixed forms often co-exist."

World Health Organization 

 Although age is the strongest known risk factor for dementia, dementia can also affect younger people, and young-onset dementia – in which symptoms begin before the age of 65 – accounts for up to 9% of cases.

Evidence suggests that people can reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia by adopting healthy behaviours and lifestyles, managing health conditions that are known to increase the risk for dementia, and reducing environmental risk factors.

Important actions include:

• being physically active
• not smoking
• avoiding harmful alcohol use
• eating a healthy, balanced diet
• staying socially and cognitively active
• maintaining a healthy weight
• managing blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels
• using hearing aids where needed
• reducing exposure to air pollution.

 

The Thrill of Murder at Age 14 Absent Parental Responsibility

"This was a completely unprovoked, random, extremely violent attack on an innocent woman cleaning up her yard on a spring day."

"This brutal attack occurred in Ms. Doney's yard in the middle of the afternoon, a place where she was entitled to feel safe and likely did feel safe."

Justice Lisa Wannamaker

 

"I used to enjoy working in the garden with my wife, with the flowers stretched over a couple of ponds and the songs of birds which returned to the birdhouse."

"Now it's like a little bird has flown into a closed window and was killed. I can only put it now in a place where it rests, is buried and marked."

"I'll never forget that little bird that I spent 63 years with."

Bruce Doney

 

"The loving relationship I enjoyed with my Mom was abruptly torn from me. I was violently robbed. Robbed of the chance to be with her at the end to say goodbye ..."

"I am crushed and recoil in horror that Mom was left alone to die and found in front of her home by a neighbour."

"She was robbed of her dignity as a greatly loved human being."

Judy Kirwin, Eleanor Doney's daughter 

Eleanor Doney is pictured with her husband, Bruce, in this undated Facebook photo. Photo by FACEBOOK

 

 

The murderer's identity/name has been withheld. For it was a 14-year-old boy obsessed with violent acts of killing who deliberately stabbed 83-year-old Eleanor Doney to death in Pickering, east of Toronto on May 29, 2025. The boy had costumed himself after a fictional character whom he admired, a serial killer out of a Japanese comic book. Ted Bundy, serial killer, was another admired figure for this 14-year-old who spent innumerable hours in his bedroom on his computer peering avidly into the dark corners of the Internet.

 

Psychopathy was his admired niche, acts of murder, and above all serial killings held him enthralled and he yearned to pattern himself after those he so avidly admired, to feel for himself just how emotionally elevating it felt to take another's life. He had garbed himself in copy of the Japanese character, in a shiny black trench coat, a black COVID-type mask, black gloves, too-large black dress shoes, and he carried a briefcase. That briefcase held a knife.

 

A neighbour's doorbell camera was able to capture what had occurred that fateful day; the boy stopping to talk with Mrs. Doney, then withdrawing his knife from the briefcase and repeatedly stabbing her, even as she attempted to escape the violent menace threatening her life by withdrawing into her home. When she collapsed, the boy continued down the street. When police arrived they issued a community warning. The boy was identified by school administrators and that night was arrested at  his home. 

 

Eleanor Doney was killed outside her Pickering, Ont., home by a teen attacker on May 29, 2025. Photo by Jack Boland/Toronto Sun/Postmedia/File

 

"The emotional impact of losing my mother has been profound and life-altering. Her death was sudden, violent, and hard to understand. She was attacked in front of her own home -- a place where she should have felt safe and protected."

"The fact that her life was taken by a young offender is something I still struggle to make sense of."

"My mother was a sweet, gentle person whom everyone loved. She had a strong Christian faith that guided the way she lived her life."

"Helping others wasn't just something she did -- it was who she was."

Jeff Doney  

Crown prosecutor Tammi D'Eri spoke of the appropriate sentencing for this child killer, that it was "highly concerning" he displayed little insight into his violent tendencies and his explanation for his attraction to lethal violence was incoherent in its reasoning. His continued preoccupation with violence and serial killers persists. There were behavioural incident reports from the penal facility where he is incarcerated. Among them a report of an altercation with another resident, following which he remarked that he "hasn't felt this alive" since he murdered Mrs. Doney.

 

The boy's lawyer, on the other hand -- Erin Dann -- while agreeing a horrific premeditated murder had been committed by her client, wanted him to be given a year's credit from time spent in custody to increase the likelihood he would remain in a youth facility until conditional release to aid his rehabilitation. Should he serve the additional year the Crown requested, he would turn 21 before release and transfer to an adult prison would be a likely outcome. 

 

She cited psychological assessments that his serial killer obsession and lack of remorse and empathy in all likelihood represented mental health problems, not fixed attitudes. "Because these risk factors relate to mental health concerns, there's real potential here for rehabilitation and reintegration if properly addressed"; the youth facility where treatment programming is available represents the best place to meet that need, she urged.  

 

Unusual images of the 14-year-old killer were captured on a neighbour's security video before and after the stabbing of Eleanor Doney and provided to National Post. Photo by Courtesy of John Meloche

 

At the court hearing it was revealed that police had seized two cellphones and a computer from the boy's home that revealed his wide online activity and intense fascination with murder, serial killers, psychopathy and obsession with the fictional Yoshikage Kira. On the day before the fatal stabbing, school officials caught the boy with a knife and suspended him for five days. Two medical assessments prepared for the court appearance prior to his guilty plea, revealed that, as he informed psychologists, he had a fluctuating "urge to kill" in the weeks leading up to his attack.  

"By the heinous act committed it not only shattered Eleanor's life but so many Eleanor had deeply impacted."

"This was all taken away in an instant for the  utter senselessness of murder. The fear/worry/terror that was caused lasted, and still lasts, to this day."

"Safety and peace were stolen, not just from us who knew Eleanor but to all of our community and beyond."

"What is left is anxiety, stress, pain, hurt and fear."

Brian Kirwin, Eleanor Doney's son-in-law 

Ukraine Unsettling Russia in Crimea

"There's no place to hide in Crimea."

"The Ukrainians have the ability to touch every single place where there's an air defense weapon or a logistics hub or an airfield."

Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, retired commanding general of U.S. Army Europe 

 

"To achieve the final objective, this blockade must be intensified."

"This situation must be maintained for a sufficiently long period of time."

Kostiantyn Mashovetz, Ukrainian military analyst

 

"According to announcements by Ukraine’s drone forces, the USF (Unmanned Systems Forces), dozens of electrical substations or other power infrastructure have been hit by Ukrainian robot aircraft across Crimea in recent weeks, with 38+ strikes claimed in the first week of July and 45+ in the second week of July. Besides power transmission and generation infrastructure, attacks have hit gas distribution stations and compressor stations."

"Most of the strikes have been carried out by Ukraine’s workhorse FP-2 push propeller drone, a slow-flying plane roughly the size of a large sofa. USF commanders have said attacks against the Russia-run power grid in Crimea are succeeding because of months of preliminary attacks that hit and destroyed Russian air defenses. The top Ukrainian target in those preparatory drone attacks has been Russia’s Pantsir gun/missile system, an air defense weapon designed to shoot down drones."

Stefan Korshak, Kyiv Post Senior Defense Correspondent 

Temporarily occupied Crimea (Photo: Reuters)

 

Crimea, annexed by Vladimir Putin in 2014 is being given very special attention at this point in time, a dozen  years later by the Ukraine military, where attacks in recent weeks have been increased substantially for the dual purpose of returning the critical geography to its rightful owner, as well as depriving the Russian military of its supply lines. The Kerch Strait Bridge is in Ukraine's crosshairs, the sole direct link to Russia. Ukraine has targeted bridges and roads in its bid to transform the peninsula from its current status as a Russian-occupied fortress into a military nightmare for the Kremlin.

 

This most recent wave of attacks saw Ukraine targeting air defense and radar systems across the peninsula. The energy grid and fuel reserves have also received attention from the Ukrainian military, battered to the extent that blackouts occur, shaking life in Crimea. Causing Russian forces along the southern front to shift into defensive mode. 

 

In the last week alone, Russia bombarded Kyiv, killing 30 people, in its own show of retaliatory force; its usual tactics, targeting civilian enclaves claiming they were aiming at military targets. A stark contrast in military priorities, where Kyiv focuses on military installations or fuel depots to deprive Russia of its critical fuel lines, and Moscow's response is to hit civilian areas.

 

Moscow's special attention toward its prize restoration of Crimea as part of Russia saw to it that years were spent fortifying the geography with advanced air defenses and coastal batteries, fighter jets and bomber-packed airfields -- while on land, missile launch systems abounded. Russia gave itself direct access to Crimea when it built the $3.7 billion Kerch Strait Bridge. 

 

Even in the conflict's first years, Ukraine had targeted Russia's naval headquarters in Sevastopol, driving Russian warships from Crimean ports. They were limited however, by the weapons in Ukraine's possession at that time. According to Ukrainian officials now, their arsenal is capable of inflicting more pain, in essence sufficiently so, to convince Moscow it needed to return to the negotiating table. 

The view from a Ukrainian drone during what the military says was a strike against Russian tankers in the Sea of Azov. (Commander of Unmanned Aerial Systems Force/Reuters)

 

Videos were posted by Ukrainian military units in June of their Crimean strikes. The clips are a vital part of Ukraine's wartime propaganda, illustrating battlefield successes against Russia. Russian forces were increasingly attempting to counteract Ukrainian drone strikes by patrolling critical southern routes with drones and interceptor units, according to Kateryna Stepanenko, analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. "But they need more mobile air defense to blunt the impact of Ukrainian strikes" she noted. 

 

Ukrainian commanders anticipate that Russian troops would adapt, to shift their tactics in turn: "Adaptation can take days, weeks or months, but we consistently find new ways to strike in any direction, at any depth, with whatever assets we have", stated Artem Bielienkov, chief of staff of Ukraine's 412th Unmanned Systems Brigade. 

 

Widespread blackouts in Crimea have resulted from strikes on fuel facilities. Local authorities have declared a state of emergency, gas stations have run out of fuel, and thousands fled the peninsula since the latest strikes began by Ukraine. There were Ukrainian strikes on oil and gas storage facilities, compression stations and power plants.  

 

"The occupiers' attempts to fix the  damage to key facilities -- like the Tavria and Balaklava thermal power plants, major substations and fuel terminals -- are running into complex technical and logistical problems."

Hennadii Riabtsev, Ukrainian energy analyst 

China's Love for 'Harmony' and Dread of 'Splitism

"It [Beijing's new 'ethnic unity' law] risks deepening restrictions on freedoms of language, education, practice of religion, culture, expression and assembly [of minorities in China]."

"[Eight human rights experts stated that the law could have] serious implications for Tibetans, Uyghurs and Mongolians]."

Volker Turk,  United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

A delegate in ethnic minority costume holds a document following the closing session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China March 12, 2026. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang

 

"This new law is the culmination of a policy trajectory that has been building for over a decade, dating back to the 2014 Central Ethnic Work Conference. Under Xi, Beijing is steering away from the post-1949 legal framework of nominal ethnic autonomy (albeit under tight Party control) imported from the Soviet Union. In its place, officials have steadily been pivoting towards what scholars have termed “second-generation ethnic policies”—an aggressive assimilationist approach that emphasizes a common Chinese national identity over accommodation of ethnic differences. Provincial and municipal authorities across China have enacted a wave of local “ethnic unity and progress” regulations in recent years, such as those in Xinjiang (2015) or Inner Mongolia (2021). The new national legislation elevates this approach to the level of a national statute governing all of China."

"The new law’s core concept is captured in the term zhulao (铸牢) – to “forge” or “cast” metal – and its instruction that “forging the communal consciousness of the Chinese nation” is core to the Party’s ethnic policies.  As James Leibold has pointed out, this phrasing reflects a hardening of Beijing’s political line under Xi Jinping – explicitly written into the Party’s Charter at the 19th Party Congress in 2017 – aimed at “melting” subnational and ethnic identities into a shared collective one."

Council on Foreign Relations  

China is in the throes of a wide-ranging propaganda campaign in the promotion and defence of its new "ethnic unity" law, a prime target of critics who contend that this law will continue to add to undermining the rights of Tibetans, Uyghurs and other minorities in the vast country where Han Chinese predominate. With this new law Beijing has granted itself sweeping powers in pursuit of groups and individuals living overseas viewed by the Chinese Communist Party as undermining national unity. It is these groups, claims Beijing that incite ethnic division, and not China's strict totalitarian laws.

 

Beijing watchers have been alerted to the potential of Chinese authorities seeking to accuse activists living abroad of crimes that would merit Beijing authorities' intimidation of those it suspects, to force them to repatriate to China with the knowledge that their family members back in China will become vulnerable to 'special notice' that could degenerate into arrest. Alternatively those who are suspect would become subject to extradition requests back to China, of the host country.

 

China's vice minister of justice, Hu Weilie, blames criticism of its new unity law legislation on "distorted interpretations" by Western media. The law, he emphasized, effective from July 1 is "legitimate, legal, necessary", fully in line with international norms. Guo Jiakun, a spokesmen for China's Foreign Ministry, singled out the United States and European Union for "maliciously slandering" China's policies. 

 

Free Tibet protest against China’s Ethnic Unity law and in honour of activist Pawo Lobga Rangzen, Chinese Consulate General, Camperdown, Australia, 8 July 2026. Credit: Alexandra Buxbaum/Sipa USA

 

The Chinese Communist Party under the leadership of President Xi Jinping has become increasingly sensitive to any criticism regarding treatment of ethnic minorities. The imposition of heavy crackdowns on such groups, targeting Tibetans in particular, to erode the influence of the Dalai Lama in Tibet and the Uyghurs, a Muslim Turkic minority in Xinjiang province, should be immune, according to Beijing from foreign interference.

 

According to Chinese government authorities, the new legislation will protect the traditions of all of the 56 officially recognized ethnic groups in China. While in point of fact, assimilation is the goal the new law is meant to achieve, for the minority groups to be swallowed whole into the culture of the majority Han Chinese. The state-operated Global Times published an editorial accusing "some Western countries and media outlets" of maligning China's ethnic policies. These reactions from outside sources "amount to nothing more than one-sided rhetoric". 

 

Restrictions on the use of Mongolian in local schools in Inner Mongolia prompted widespread protests in 2020. With this new legislation, any acts that "undermine ethnic unity or create ethnic divisions" among Chinese people inside or outside of China and requires all of Chinese society to participate in the mission of ethnic integration are banned. Mandarin Chinese is mandated as the sole language of school instructions as well as in official communication. Parents are ordered by the legislation to "educate and guide children to love the Chinese Communist Party". 

 

Protesters in London's Piccadilly Circus gather in support of Tibet   Getty Images

 

Four Years and Counting...Putin's War

Firefighters try to put out a fire at a city marketplace following a Russian missile and drone attack in Kyiv, 15 June, 2026 AP Photo

"To intercept ballistics, we need the means for interception."

"Russians are certainly using the fact that there is a serious deficit of interceptor missiles now, in Ukraine and the world."

Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat

 

"As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies' stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep 'vanquishing' residential buildings."

"The United States and Europe have enough strength to stop this terror."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 

 

"When we were leaving the building, bodies were lying there."

"When we got downstairs, cars started exploding, and we came out from under the rubble straight into the fire."

Khrystyna Piatetska, 20, Kyiv's Darnytskyi district 

Rescuers use a crane to remove debris while they work at the site of an apartment building, which was hit during Russian missile and drone strikes in Kyiv. (Oleksandr Ratushniak/Reuters

 

 It goes on and on. So far, Vladimir Putin's 'special military operation' has been the death of 15,000 Ukrainian civilians. The Russian military claims it aims its missiles and drones only at military targets. The reality is Moscow considers civilian infrastructure to be 'military targets' in its campaign to demoralize Ukrainians and place pressure on Ukraine's government to collapse its resistance against Russia's goals of annexing as much Ukrainian territory into Greater Russia as can be accomplished before Mr. Putin is satisfied that what he set out to accomplish has been achieved -- perhaps less than more -- but satisfactorily to the extent that he can rest on his land-grab laurels and agree to a Russo-advantaged 'peace' agreement. 

 

In the latest attacks on Ukraine, civilians have been killed and wounded as is usual for Russian attacks. Ukraine, on the other hand, has tasked its forces to damage over two dozen Russian tankers and other such shipping vessels in the Sea of Azov. Ukraine's achievements have been a world of difference from Russia's. Its intention is to hit Russian oil refineries across Russia in a bid to undercut its war plans. Ukraine's Russia infrastructure hits have succeeded to a considerable degree, triggering a widespread fuel crisis of notable gasoline shortages. 

 

The Kremlin's rather less-than-honourable response has been to intensify Kyiv bombardment along with other cities, knowing full well Ukraine's vulnerable state in fending off ballistic missiles. According to Ukraine's General Staff, 21 tankers meant to transport oil and petroleum products were most recently damaged overnight as well as four tugboats, two cargo ships and a dredging vessel. Russia reported a single individual dead as well as their count of ships having been struck as being no more than four in total.

 

A local resident inspects a damaged car after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 6, 2026. (Efrem Lukatsky/The Associated Press)

 

Two Russian aerial glide bombs struck a crowded area in Ukraine's northeast Sumy region killing four, a child included, wounding many others. Another eleven civilians were wounded in missile and drone attacks overnight on Kyiv -- while in Odessa, two people were dead following a building struck by a Russian missile. Across Kyiv's Solomianskyi, Darnytskyi and Dniprovski districts, according to the emergency service, explosions and fires were reported.

 

A dozen missiles, among them six ballistic missiles, as well as 121 drones were launched by Russia overnight, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who went on to state that most of the drones and some of the missiles had been shot down. The ballistic missiles, however, reached their targets, a reflection of dire air defence gaps in Ukraine's defensive armaments. 

 

Two missiles and 111 drones were shot down or electronically suppressed according to Ukrainian air defences, while according to the air force, direct hits were recorded at 11 locations. Russian forces, according to its Defence Ministry, targeted drone production facilities in Kyiv. The ports of Izmail and Chornomorsk in the Odesa region were also targeted. 

 

Although Oleksseandr Syrsky, Ukraine's commander-in-chief spoke of a turning point in the war with Russia was "still a long way off" in spite of a string of recent successes for his troops, Kyiv's military has stopped the Russian advance in recent months across much of the front line, while delivering a string of major long-range attacks on Russian oil refineries. In Ukraine, many observers, along with some of their European backers feel that the Ukrainian troops are now on the front foot in the four-year war.

 

A Ukrainian serviceman of K-2 brigade of the Unmanned Systems Forces operates a midrange drone during a flight towards Russian positions at the frontline, 21 June, 2026 AP Photo

 

  

Canada-U.S. Trade Insecurity

"Taken together, size does not change the direction of travel, but it does influence the pace."

"Larger, more globally integrated firms are responding earlier and at greater scale, while smaller firms remain earlier in the cycle."

"This highlights both the potential scale of the shift and the likelihood that similar patterns may emerge across other sectors."

KPMG Canada 

 

"While most manufacturers are staying, many are reassessing where future investment, growth and production will occur. The decisions made today will shape Canada's manufacturing sector for years to come."

"Businesses can only operate in endurance mode for so long."

"At some point, uncertainty begins to shape long-term decisions about where investment, production and growth will occur."

"[While Canadian manufacturing still has a part to play in North America], the question is how strong that position will be." 

Anamika Gadia, KPMG Canada partner/national leader, industrial markets

Trade uncertainty is prompting more Canadian manufacturers to shift production to the U.S. and delay investments in Canada, a new survey finds. Photo by Peter Power

 

Ongoing and worsening trade uncertainty with Canada's largest trading partner across the long 'undefended' border with the United States is creating an atmosphere of economic destabilization in Canada the likes of which have never in anyone's living memory ever before been seen. The situation has led a growing number of Canadian manufacturers to move their enterprises or to plan to move a portion of their production to the U.S. A majority, responding to a recent survey, plan to restrain themselves in their Canadian investments.

 

This is a scenario seen before in a much more prolonged manner when China in the process of becoming the manufacturing behemoth it now is, began flooding the international market with consumer goods to be sold at prices that appealed hugely to the purchasing public throughout Europe and North America. Cheaper goods, widely available, because of cheap Chinese labour and government support (subsidies) eventually convinced manufacturers throughout the Western world that since they were unable to match the pricing and wide range of Chinese-produced goods, it was best to fold their manufacturing and submit to the inevitable.

 

Under this volatile administration with a president who believes himself an expert on deal-making, and who has been accusing all countries globally that have or were doing business with the United States of taking 'advantage' of the most powerful economic force on the planet, and he wasn't going to take it any longer, so here's tariffs for you, and you, and you, the world is reeling. Try that on for size. And as much as global manufacturing had been altered by the world's premier production manufacturing in China, the world economy was far more immediately and deeply beleaguered and beggared by the new Trump-led upending of world trade alliances.

 

According to the 2026 KPMG Canada manufacturing poll, four in ten (42 percent) of Canadian companies have latterly adjusted their horizons by shifting or planning to shift production to the United States, 29 percent of whom had already taken the plunge in banking on the move to further their bottom line. Another 13 percent plan to do likewise, while 77 percent of that group anticipate committing within two years  under the operating environment as it is at present. 

 

Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

 

"I love Canada [but I'm] not going to bend."

"The United States can't subsidize a country for $200 billion a year, We don't need their cars. We don't need their energy. We don't need their lumber. We don't need anything that they give."

"We do it because we want to be helpful. But it comes a point when you just can't do that."

"[Canada, a longtime ally, would be much better off without tariffs -- as part of the U.S.]"

"[Not to use military force against Canada, only] economic force."

"That would really be something [taking control of Canada]."

"You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like. And it would also be much better for national security. They’re great, but we’re spending hundreds of billions here to protect it [subsidies include substantial military support while the United States loses out through trade deficits]."

U.S. President Donald Trump  

The majority (49 percent) represent businesses with over $300 million in gross revenue, mostly having made the move in full or in part. A third (34 percent) of companies generating less than $300 million have or are planning to move, leaving a mere fifth (20 percent) which have as yet chosen to take no action. "Higher margins when producing and selling within the U.S. than when exporting from Canada", reported a third (32 percent) of respondents, attesting to "stronger margins on international sales from the U.S."

 

Lower operating costs in some states, more favourable tax environment and easier supply chains when customers are already in the U.S. are cited by some firms choosing to migrate south -- outside of the tariffs issue. When queried what circumstances could alleviate the situation to the point where owners would prefer to remain in Canada, corporate executives and decision-makers representing 275 companies polled responded that certainty around free trade, continued tariff relief, lower corporate taxes, cheaper energy, better access to skilled workers and lower housing costs for workers. 

 

 The survey revealed capital investment projects have been "paused, reduced or cancelled" by 57 percent of firms, with 42 percent operating similarly with respect to their research and development.          Roughly half of those polled stated they were focused on weathering the economic tempests driven largely by U.S. President Donald Trump and his trade policies. The poll revealed as well that 61 percent felt they would be unable to remain in business lacking access to the U.S. market. Almost all (96 percent) stated their products qualified for tariff-free treatment under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement. An Agreement that is now lacking stability given the U.S. refusal to renegotiate.

 

U.S. President Donald Trump (left) and Prime Minister Mark Carney (right) attend a work lunch as part of the G7 summit, in Evian, France, June 16, 2026. Photo by Evelyn Hockstein / POOL / AFP /Getty Images

 

"While tariffs are an obvious factor, Canadian manufacturers are making long-term decisions about where to locate based on a broader assessment of where they are most likely to have a competitive advantage."

"Otherwise, Canadian exporters may have to depend on U.S. customers to act as importer of record, potentially straining key commercial relationships."

Joy Nott, KPMG Canada partner, trade and customs