Good morning. Let’s enjoy this long weekend, ahead of what tensions countertariffs will bring on Tuesday. More on that below, along with data-centre guidelines and prepping for TIFF.
Programming note
There will be no newsletter on Monday, Sept. 7 as the team takes a break for Labour Day. However, our website will be staffed throughout the long weekend so please visit us online. We’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday. Enjoy your long weekend. Open this photo in gallery:
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at the Alstom Plant in Thunder Bay, Ont., on Thursday.David Jackson/The Canadian Press
TOP STORIES
Via Rail cars shift to domestic production
While the trade war continues to simmer, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that the federal government will spend $4.7-billion to build and maintain more than 300 Via Rail passenger rail cars in Canada, using facilities in Quebec and Thunder Bay. Carney says the move represents a shift away from importing trains from south of the border.
The context: The trains currently operating outside of the Windsor-Quebec City corridor have an average age of 77 years. The replacements are scheduled to begin entering service in 2031. They will include sleeper cars, dining cars and cars with panoramic views.
Up next: Trade tensions between Canada and the United States could further escalate next week as Ottawa plans to impose new countertariffs on Tuesday. Senior U.S. officials have said that Canada should expect an additional response if the Sept. 8 countertariffs go ahead.
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Bell Canada is building what’s expected to be Canada’s largest Canadian-owned data centre outside Regina.Jeremy Simes/The Canadian Press
Ottawa issues guidelines for building data centres
More than 20 artificial-intelligence and digital-infrastructure companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic PBC, have signed on to a new federal framework for data-centre development announced by AI Minister Evan Solomon. But local opposition to these facilities grows and could prove to be a political vulnerability (or opportunity) for some elected officials.
The principles: Five broad principles for building data centres were shared. Developers must minimize water use and other environmental effects, be transparent about the impact on the local area, and not shift electricity costs on to Canadians. Developers must also create lasting local benefits and bring “strategic value” to the country. The framework is not legally binding.
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The Bald Range wildfire, in the south Okanagan region, burns in Summerland, B.C., on Aug. 8.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
A quiet, milestone climate report
A comprehensive federal report was released with little fanfare yesterday. Canada’s latest climate assessment charts a country changing faster than predicted, as Ottawa defends its decision to abandon its emission targets.
The details: The report documents how climate change has already transformed the country and details how those trends are likely to become more evident and challenging for Canadians if greenhouse-gas emissions remain on their current trajectory – from floods and heatwaves to vanishing glaciers and permafrost.
Brace for thousands in unexpected university costs
A surprise for many families is that tuition – which last year averaged $7,734 for Canadian undergraduate programs, according to Statistics Canada – isn’t the full cost of enrolment when you attend university. Students are also hit with a long list of fees, and these charges are climbing, even when tuition isn’t.
The numbers: In the 2025-26 school year, the average undergraduate student paid $1,214 in mandatory fees, up $215, or 21.5 per cent, from four years earlier. Those fees cover student services, athletic facilities, transit passes, student associations and more. Plus, many programs come with extra costs that students may not discover until classes begin.
Behind the numbers: Here’s why students are still choosing Quebec schools despite soaring out-of-province tuition fees.
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Zorga Qaunaq and Anna Lambe in In the Heart of the South.TIFF/Supplied
Getting ready for TIFF
With almost 300 titles to choose from at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, ticket-buyers need to know which movies to keep on their radar. To help, The Globe and Mail has been busy digging through this year’s slate to bring you our most anticipated TIFF 2026 prospects.
Behind the scenes: While TIFF fans have grown accustomed to tickets edging up by a few percentage points every festival, this year was the first time in recent memory that films, other than the opening and closing night galas, cracked the $100 mark.
The Take
To say the knives are out for Ms. Findlay wouldn’t quite capture the moment. It would be more apt to say she’s surrounded by a seething army of critics, skeptics and full-on haters who want her gone – yesterday.
— Gary Mason, National affairs columnist
Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s shambolic reign has handed the B.C. NDP a gift, writes Gary Mason.
The Shot
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Françoise Labelle performs as a heron in the River Clyde Pageant.Vanessa Tignanelli/The Globe and Mail
PEI’s River Clyde Pageant blends the theatrical and the natural, and marked its 10th edition this summer.
The Wrap
What else we’re following
In memoriam: Gloria Steinem, a feminist icon for more than five decades and celebrated writer, has died at 92.
At home: Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives held on to two seats in Thursday’s Ontario by-elections while the NDP retained a third.
On the ballot: Elections Alberta says results from the separation question will be reported before other ballot questions.
Abroad: Iran held a funeral for the victims reportedly killed by a U.S. bomb during a wedding, and Tehran launched missiles and drones overnight at a U.S. base in Kuwait.
Watching: The NHL announced a new 12-year French-language broadcast arrangement in Canada, with TVA Sports securing rights through a sub-licensing agreement between Rogers and Quebecor.
Searching: The federal court ordered the government to declassify more of a report about the resettlement of Nazi war criminals in Canada after the Second World War through a secret CIA program.