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U.S. federal regulators have ordered the Calgary-based operator of the Keystone Pipeline to take several corrective actions after a rupture caused more than 556,000 litres of oil to spill onto farmland in North Dakota. South Bow, the pipeline operator, hopes to return to operations in the next few days. 

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he would not expand eligibility for medical assistance in dying, but pledged that Canadians would continue to have access to that right, should his party form the next government.

Poilievre made the statement during a campaign stop in his Ottawa-area riding on Saturday.

“People will continue to have the right to make that choice, the choice for themselves. We are not proposing to expand medical assistance in dying beyond the existing parameters,” he told reporters.

“That said, we believe that we also need better health care so that people have all sorts of options.”

Medical assistance in dying has been legal in Canada since 2016, following a landmark Supreme Court of Canada decision that struck down previous Criminal Code provisions that made it a crime for a physician to assist someone in ending their own life, saying it violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

When it became legal, someone’s natural death had to be determined to be “reasonably foreseeable” in order to be eligible.

That rule was challenged in a Quebec court, which found it to be unconstitutional. The Liberal government accepted the court’s finding and introduced an updated law, removing the requirement.

Expanded eligibility for medical assistance in dying took effect in 2021. The updated law was met with swift backlash from disability advocate groups, warning removing the provision could lead to an increase in deaths from individuals living with disabilities due to a lack of access to other supports.

Federal data also shows an increase in individuals seeking assisted death since it became legal.

Krista Carr, CEO of Inclusion Canada, said in an interview Saturday that while she welcomes Poilievre’s commitment not to expand assisted dying any further, she hopes he means that Canadians who are terminally ill would continue to have access, not those whose deaths are not deemed “reasonably foreseeable.”

She wants all federal parties, including the Conservatives, which Carr noted fought against widening access when the bill was before Parliament, to change the law to return the eligibility criteria to require that someone be determined to be close to death to qualify for an assisted death.

The current law is “very discriminatory” towards the disabilities community, she said.

“It’s a situation for people with disabilities where intolerable suffering for them is caused by poverty and lack of opportunities and lack of disability supports and lack of housing options … not the disability itself,” she told National Post.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s campaign has not yet responded to a request about whether it would make changes to the assisted-dying law or expand it any further.

According to the Conservative Party of Canada’s policy handbook, last discussed by members at its 2023 convention in Quebec City, the party opposes assisted dying “in principle,” including for individuals who are “not terminally ill” and when their death is “not reasonably foreseeable.”

Poilievre, who as party leader is not bound to adopt members’ policies, appeared to strike a different tone on Saturday.

The most controversial part of the 2021 law was how it proposed opening the door to assisted dying for those seeking it solely on the basis of mental illness. The change had been initially scheduled to take effect in March 2023, but was delayed until March 2024.

Several months before the expansion was set to happen, the Liberals announced another delay, this time pushing it back until March 2027, saying doctors and provinces needed more time to prepare.

That followed vocal criticism from psychiatrists and others about the difficulty of determining whether someone living with severe mental illness could improve and whether an individual’s suffering was related to factors such as poverty and a lack of other social supports.

The federal Conservatives were the staunchest critics of the proposed expansion, which Poilievre has previously vowed he would not do .

Dying With Dignity Canada, an organization that advocates for end-of-life care and access to assisted-dying, has said there remains strong public support for Ottawa to expand eligibility to allow individuals with neurocognitive diseases, like dementia and Alzheimer’s, to make advanced requests.

Earlier in the week, Poilievre confirmed that a Conservative government would not pass any law restricting abortion. While he has said he is “pro-choice,” many social Conservatives call the party home, making abortion and other issues like assisted-dying the subjects of debate within the party.

Poilievre campaigned Saturday near where Carney hopes to win a seat in the House of Commons, in the riding of Nepean.

Barbara Bal, a former reservist in the Royal Canadian Artillery, who is the Conservative candidate hoping to flip the Liberal seat blue, introduced Poilievre on Saturday.

The leader announced that, if elected, Conservatives would increase supports for veterans, including by approving disability applications if they are not processed within 16 weeks, handing over control of their medical records as well as making an education and training benefit immediately available to members upon leaving the service.

“What I hear from veterans is they want services for themselves and their families. They want direct services, not more bureaucracy,” Poilievre said.

“I have not encountered a single veteran that says that he needs more bureaucracy … what they need is to have immediate benefits day one of their departure.”

Poilievre on Saturday also said Carney has been “hiding” from the campaign. Carney said on Thursday evening he was suspending his campaign in order to return to Ottawa to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade war with Ottawa.

Carney did not make an announcement on Saturday, with the party only releasing a press release promising that if re-elected, the Liberals would make entry into national galleries and museums free for children under 18 from June to August, as well as reduce prices for national parks.

Leaders are set to begin preparing for next week’s English and French-language debates in Montreal on April 16 and 17.

National Post
staylor@postmedia.com

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Provincial police says two youths had gone for a walk at the former Belgo factory and climbed to the top of a silo when the girl fell inside the concrete and metal structure and got trapped inside.

Quebec provincial police say a 15-year-old girl has died after a fall at the site of a shuttered factory in Shawinigan, northeast of Montreal.

Toronto Public Health is warning people who attended a recent concert at Coca-Cola Coliseum that they may have been exposed to the measles.

The Trump administration will exclude electronics like smartphones and laptops from reciprocal tariffs, which could keep prices down for popular consumer electronics in the U.S.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is announcing a plan to improve supports for military veterans during a visit his main rival's turf today on the federal election trail. 

Police say they've found the mother of a newborn boy left on a doorstep in London, Ont., earlier this week.

United States President Donald Trump had an annual physical Friday and concluded, “I did well,” praising his own heart, soul and cognitive ability.

The first three rounds of the 2025 OHL Priority Selection were held on Apr. 11.

Iran and the United States will hold more negotiations next week over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, Iranian state television reported Saturday.

Those hoping to have a strong cup of coffee with fewer beans should pour water from high up, says a new study.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania wanted to test how to make a great cup of one of the world’s most popular drinks. In a   research article published in April in the scientific journal Physics of Fluids , they wrote that “issues such as climate change threaten the growth of the temperature-sensitive Coffea arabica plant, more commonly known as Arabica coffee.”

The researchers wanted to find a way to become more efficient brewers, “using less coffee while still meeting the high demand for the beverage.” They decided on the pour-over method, which involves pouring hot water over coffee grounds in a paper filter that sits in a coffee dripper, or cone. The cone is placed over a vessel that catches the liquid — coffee — that has gone through the filter. “This brewing method primarily uses gravity to push water a single time through coarse, loosely packed coffee grounds,” the researchers explained.

They used Simply Nature Organic Honduras whole coffee beans, and ground them with a Eureka brand grinder.

One of the researchers, Ernest Park, told National Post over email that the team tested pouring water from up to around 50 centimetres above the filter. However, he said that people can realistically pour from about 20 to 25 centimetres above the filter, with a maximum of around 30 centimetres, because it can start to “get a bit dangerous with hot water” if it’s poured from too high up.

The researchers first did tests using silica gel particles (to mimic the coffee grounds), a glass filter that they could see through, a laser sheet and a high-speed camera. They discovered “an avalanche effect (where granules suddenly slide and form large-scale flows) that leads to strong mixing at various pour heights, even with a gentle pour-over jet” — or a thin stream of water. To achieve a gentle pour-over jet, the team used a gooseneck kettle.

Next, they tested the coffee grounds with hot water.

Increasing the height between the kettle used for pouring and the cone ended up maximizing the mixing of the grounds with water. It also reduced the flow rate of the water to increase extraction time. (As it pertains to coffee, extraction refers to when compounds like caffeine are pulled from the grounds when they are mixed with hot water.)

The findings suggest, per the researchers, that “instead of increasing the amount of beans, the sensory profile and the strength of the beverage can be adjusted by varying the flow rate and the pour height.”

Researchers recommend keeping a laminar water jet, or constant flow of water, when pouring. This allows the stream to create the avalanche effect.

“These alterations assist in extracting and dispersing the flavourful compounds in coffee grounds effectively while reducing the necessary mass of grounds,” the paper says. “In this way, the extraction efficiency could be better controlled to help alleviate the demand on coffee beans worldwide.”

The publication of the paper comes at a time when tariffs have been imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on countries around the world, including some of the biggest producers of coffee. Globally, coffee prices surged to   record highs in January .

Canadians may be particularly interested in finding ways to consume more caffeine for less.

In Canada, the cost of 350 grams of roasted or ground coffee has been on the rise in recent months,   according to Statistics Canada . That amount was sold for $7 in January, but increased to $7.32 in February. This is a significant increase since October 2024, which saw 350 grams of coffee sell for $6.72.

• What drinking 3 cups of coffee daily did to a study group of more than 170,000 people
• Canadiano replaces Americano: Inside B.C. coffee company's 'quiet rebellion' against Trump

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Mechanic Harminder Singh was also shorted wages by A J Boyal Truck Repair Ltd. of Richmond, B.C., according to an Employment Standards Tribunal determination.

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Scientists collecting wastewater samples gain access to a variety of sensitive information. At the University of Guelph in southern Ontario, researchers are working to protect that data.

The family arrived in Nova Scotia on a special work permit program, but now Pavlo needs 24/7 monitoring as he undergoes chemotherapy -- meaning both parents are unable to work. 

The 19-year-old Russian player will join the team on the ice on Monday evening in a highly anticipated first game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

CBC News obtained hundreds of submissions parents filed with the Education Department about the school lunch program. Food quality and safety, the ingredients used in the dishes and whether the meals cater to specific diets were frequent topics.