Maple Express | September 16, 2026 — EU Proposes Canada as Its First 'Associate Member'

1. EU Commission chief proposes Canada as first 'associate member' — what does that mean?

Source: CP24

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday she wants to open the door for Canada to become the European Union's first "associate member." Earlier this week, Prime Minister Mark Carney, who was in Strasbourg to hear von der Leyen's annual State of the Union address, said Canada is seeking a "unique alliance" with the EU — but not membership.

There is currently no such status as "associate member" set out in the EU's treaties. In her speech, von der Leyen said the two sides would create a "common prosperity and economic space," including joint work on manufacturing, a tech alliance, integration of defence industrial bases, the Arctic, AI, energy and critical minerals. She said implementing such a status would be unprecedented and may be legally complex, and that it would fall to EU member states to decide whether the idea flies.

Analysts note that entering the EU's Single Market without full membership could leave Canada a rule-taker with no say on policy — as is the case for Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, which belong to the European Economic Area. Full membership is only open to European states and provides access to the bloc's 18 trillion euro ($20.77 trillion) Single Market. Canada and the EU already have a trade deal, CETA, but more than a decade on, several EU countries still have not ratified it. (Reporting by Julia Payne)

Source

2. Ontario threatens to cut municipal funding if they fail to 'Buy Ontario. Buy Canadian.'

Source: CP24

Ontario municipalities could face cuts to provincial funding if they fail to comply with "Buy Ontario" procurement requirements amid a trade war with the U.S., Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack warned Wednesday. In a letter to 444 municipalities, the minister said local governments must maximize the use of Ontario and Canadian goods and services as the province responds to U.S. tariffs and other trade measures.

Ontario municipalities spend more than $22 billion each year on goods and services, and the province says those purchases should prioritize Ontario and Canadian products. "Failure to comply with Buy Ontario requirements will force us to reconsider provincial funding made available to municipalities, in addition to other consequences under the Buy Ontario Act," the minister wrote. Premier Doug Ford also shared the letter on social media, writing: "Buy Ontario. Buy Canadian. For governments across Ontario, it's not an option. It's the law."

At a separate press conference, the premier added that Ontario has given Toronto "more money than they've ever seen in their lives," estimating "over $9 billion." For now, municipalities have been directed to review their supply chains, procurement practices and upcoming purchases to determine whether products and services currently sourced outside Canada can be replaced with domestic alternatives. The Buy Ontario Act was first made law in November 2025 and was expanded to cover municipal spending in April.

Source

3. Frozen raspberries recalled in several provinces over possible norovirus

Source: CP24

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is urging people in several provinces to check their freezer for recalled raspberries. The agency has issued a recall notice for Alasko brand frozen, whole raspberries due to possible norovirus contamination.

The products were sold in several provinces, and the notice says they should be thrown out or returned to where they were bought. Norovirus symptoms can include diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and stomach cramps. The CFIA says anyone who thinks they have gotten sick from consuming a recalled product should contact a health-care provider.

Source

4. ER visits for gambling disorders nearly doubled after online betting expansion: study

Source: CP24

Visits to the emergency department for gambling disorders have nearly doubled since Ontario expanded its online gambling market in 2022, with a newly published study finding younger males are most at risk. The Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences published its findings Wednesday. The study covered a 14-year period ending in 2025 and analyzed patients aged 10 to 105 who went to Ontario hospital emergency departments for gambling disorders, comparing the impact before and after online gambling was opened to private companies in 2022.

In 2024, researchers noted there were 2.6 million player accounts across 83 betting sites operating in Ontario, collectively wagering $82.7 billion. "There was no immediate jump. You just see a gradual increase over time, it actually goes up seven per cent every three months," Dr. Daniel Myran, the study's senior author, told CTV News. Myran, who holds the Gordon F. Cheesbrough Research Chair in Family and Community Medicine at North York General Hospital, said emergency trips specifically for gambling disorders are now about 99 per cent higher than before the expansion, with a total of 952 visits recorded among 757 patients by the end of the study period. Nearly three-quarters identified as male, and visits among males aged 10 to 29 were 154 per cent higher than would otherwise have been expected had Ontario not opened the market.

The study also found more than 70 per cent of gambling disorder visits involved another mental health condition or heavy substance abuse, with one third leading to admission. Myran said those with gambling disorders typically face a higher risk of suicide, calling the findings "the tip of the iceberg." Past research found that those with gambling problems seldom seek formal treatment due to stigma.

Source

5. 'Fabulous:' Ford welcomes airport investment plan, says Billy Bishop should be next

Source: CP24

Premier Doug Ford is voicing his support for a proposal to seek private investors for four Canadian airports, saying it "should have been done years ago." Ford made the comment during a news conference Wednesday, one day after Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled the plans in a keynote address in Toronto. In addition to Toronto's Pearson airport, the federal government is opening airports in Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver to private investment.

"I think it's fabulous. You know, I have to give credit where credit's due. The PM's on fire. He's moving. He's lowering taxes like we've done for years. He's privatizing airports that should have been done years ago," Ford said. Carney said Tuesday the federal government "will retain ownership of the underlying land and assets" as it seeks private airport investors while unlocking their "true value by bringing in new capital and expertise to their operations and their growth."

Ford also told reporters he would like to see Toronto's Billy Bishop Airport opened to private investment. In July, a proposal to expand the airport with billions in private investments was blocked by the federal government. "There is one airport that has to be private and that is Billy Bishop. It is shovel-ready. There is $5 to 7 billion of private investment not costing the taxpayers anything, creating thousands of jobs so I look forward to sitting down with him (Carney) when he gets back," Ford said.

Source

6. Mississauga approves one-year data centre moratorium

Source: CP24

Mississauga council voted unanimously Wednesday to put a one-year freeze on new data centre projects, the latest municipality to hit the brakes on the artificial-intelligence-fuelled build-out. The pause is framed as a chance to study what guardrails the city could place around new data centres, as local lawmakers grapple with residents' concerns about possible energy, water and noise impacts.

"We've heard your voice loud and clear," said Martin Reid, the councillor who sponsored the moratorium. Municipalities have found themselves on the front line of a debate over how to handle a new wave of data centre projects cropping up across Ontario. While Ontario has long hosted data centres handling digital services, from cloud storage to financial transactions, the AI boom has led to a surge in projects with far more intensive energy demands.

Mississauga joins neighbouring Oakville, which last month passed the province's first moratorium. Other cities, including Hamilton and Burlington, have directed staff to carry out data centre planning studies but rejected a moratorium. Mississauga's pause applies to data centres with energy demands over 10 megawatts — enough electricity to power roughly 10,000 homes. The vote appears to put in limbo a 40-megawatt data centre project in a business park in the city's northwest pursued by Prologis, a major U.S.-headquartered firm. In a statement, the company said it is disappointed by the vote and is considering its next steps, adding it "remains committed to Mississauga" and is "confident that a carefully planned data centre in Meadowvale Business Park can bring significant long-term economic benefits to the community." (Jordan Omstead, The Canadian Press)

Source

7. COVID vaccine injury victim says she felt 'duped' by inquiry

Source: CP24

Maria Dunning-Ballagh, a woman from Walkerton, Ont., lays out the multitude of pills she takes daily just to manage the chronic pain she lives with. She describes pain from her shoulders to her toes, electrical shocks throughout the day, restless legs and a diagnosis of Sjogren's Disease, which means she makes no moisture or saliva and can't cry; she has also lost most of her teeth. The normally healthy woman says the symptoms started three weeks after she received her first COVID-19 vaccine on April 27, 2021. She was working three jobs at the time but had to quit them all due to chronic pain.

Dunning-Ballagh applied to the government's Vaccine Injury Support Program in January 2023, but three years later hasn't progressed past Phase I. So when Conservative MP Dean Allison invited COVID injury victims to share their stories at an inquiry, she applied. She wasn't among the 50 picked to testify but tuned in, only to be disappointed by what she calls the anti-vaccine, anti-mandate politicization of her injuries — especially the testimony of an American anti-mandate, anti-vaccination politician and an American doctor recently stripped of his medical license. "I was more than disappointed, I was disgusted, I felt betrayed, and duped," she says.

She says there is currently no place for people like her — among the 12,000 Canadians who suffered serious adverse effects from the COVID vaccine but who aren't anti-vaccine or anti-mandate. She says that when she hints to a doctor that it might be a vaccine injury, they automatically assume she is an anti-vaxxer, "but I am far from it." Because she is now immune-compromised, she and her doctor decided she should continue to get vaccines, and she has had no reactions to others. She fears the inquiry set back her cause and others' efforts to get government help. Data show about 28 million Canadians received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine; 58,000 reported adverse effects, 12,000 of them considered serious; 3,500 applied to the government's Vaccine Injury Assistance Program, and only 252 claims were approved for compensation, totalling $21 million.

Source

8. Ontario fines SeatGeek Canada $25,000 for allegedly breaking ticket resale law

Source: CP24

SeatGeek Canada, one of the biggest ticket resale companies in the world, is facing a $25,000 fine after it allegedly failed to abide by a new Ontario law that prohibits gouging customers. The province said the fine was issued on Aug. 28 following an inspection on Aug. 5. The U.S.-based company had 15 days to appeal the penalty to Ontario's Licence Appeal Tribunal, but chose not to, according to the ministry involved. As it did not file an appeal within that period, the company must pay the $25,000 within 30 days of receiving the penalty. The province did not say which event or events were involved.

In a breakdown of the penalty, the province alleged SeatGeek was fined $10,000 for failing to ensure that tickets offered for sale on the secondary market did not exceed the total price originally paid to the primary seller, and another $10,000 for failing to disclose the original total purchase price of tickets offered for resale. The company was hit with an additional $5,000 for facilitating the resale of tickets without obtaining proof of the total price originally paid to the primary seller. CTV News has reached out to SeatGeek for comment but has not yet received a response.

In the spring, the province made it illegal for tickets to any event in Ontario to be resold for more than their original cost. Ontario previously scrapped a 2019 law that would have limited resale prices at 50 per cent above face value, calling it "unenforceable." But sky-high resale prices for Blue Jays' 2025 World Series tickets (some in the tens of thousands of dollars per ticket) and other popular events prompted the government to revisit the issue. SeatGeek, along with StubHub Canada, is listed on the province's Consumer Beware list. The $25,000 fine is the maximum financial penalty ticket businesses can face under the new rule; businesses can also face fines of up to $250,000 if convicted by the courts.

Source

9. Small plane makes emergency landing on highway east of Edmonton: RCMP

Source: CP24

Mounties east of Edmonton say a small plane made an emergency landing on a highway early Wednesday. RCMP say the Cessna 172 was blocking southbound lanes of Highway 21, between Highway 16 and Baseline Road, in Strathcona County. They say traffic was to be re-directed until emergency crews could clear the scene.

Police say two people were on board the aircraft at the time of the landing, but no injuries were reported. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has been notified. The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is a popular single-engine aircraft commonly used to train student pilots. (Aaron Sousa, The Canadian Press)

Source

10. $2.8M in illicit cannabis seized on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in eastern Ontario

Source: CP24

More than $2.8 million in illicit cannabis plants and processed cannabis have been seized from an illegal grow operation on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in eastern Ontario. Ontario Provincial Police say the Tyendinaga Police Service launched an investigation in August into "an illicit cannabis production site involving a non-Indigenous criminal network." On Sept. 9, officers with the OPP and the Tyendinaga Police Service executed a search warrant at a property on the territory. Police say officers seized 5,560 illicit cannabis plants, 34 kilograms of cannabis shake, cash and 10 cellphones.

"This operation targeted an illegal cannabis cultivation site operating within our territory," said Acting Sgt. Nathan Leland of the Tyendinaga Police Service. "While a small number of community members may become involved in such activities, investigations have consistently shown that significant profits generated by these operations often benefit individuals and organized criminal interests from outside the community." Seven residents from Scarborough and a 41-year-old man from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory are facing charges under the Cannabis Act. Police say the investigation is ongoing. Last November, the OPP said an investigation into a cannabis production operation on the territory led to the seizure of $79 million worth of plants. Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory is located east of Belleville, Ont.

Source