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Canadian Premier League launches anti-match-fixing training

admin — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 22:49:29 +0000

The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) and Professional Footballers Association Canada (PFA Canada) have announced a preventive training program to safeguard against potential match-fixing and betting breaches.

The Canadian Soccer Players’ Association has announced the successful completion of a second year of training for the professional football league’s anti-fraud education programme.

Canadian Premier League anti-match-fixing training

In a statement from the IBIA, the body said that the player education program aims to inform more than two hundred players and staff across all eight Canadian Premier League (CPL) teams.

The training is said to be centered on sports betting-related match-fixing and the perils it can pose for athletes who may not recognize the signs or have a way to flag an illegal approach.

The IBIA and PFA Canada ran the sessions based on three key pillars: Rules, Responsibility and Reporting under the ‘Protecting the Integrity of the Game’ course.

Marco Carducci, President of PFA Canada and Cavalry FC captain, said, “With the growth of sports betting across Canada, this training has progressed PFA Canada’s goal of supporting athletes and keeping integrity and fairness at the heart of our sport.”

The training, according to some of the league’s prominent figures, was beneficial in underscoring the real dangers that interaction with any form of illegal betting can pose to a player’s career.

Captain of Vancouver FC, Callum Irving, said, “The training was super informative for our players, providing essential information on the rules of sports betting, the consequences of being involved, and ways to report any illegal activity. Resources like the IBIA are beyond integral to safeguarding our sport and locker rooms from sports betting-related match-fixing.”

bet365, Betway and FanDuel fund education program

Some of the biggest hitters in global gambling are sponsoring the program, including Bet365, Betway and FanDuel.

Their CA$300,000 ($214,500) backing of the IBIA is part of a three-year deal. It aims to offer “Canadian athletes and sports organisations can access free, in-person integrity education, helping safeguard Canadian sport against match manipulation and corruption.”

Sports betting in North America and the darker side of gambling, like match-fixing, prop bet tampering and sensitive information being released for the benefit of betting, has been a prominent storyline across the latter half of 2025.

As we reported, the NBA betting scandal has rocked the sports world and led to a domino effect, with other sports put under an intense media spotlight.

Dana White has also been vocal across sports media and has threatened athletes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) with internal investigations linked to the FBI in an attempt to dissuade any fighters linked to illegal betting.

The Commissioner of Major League Baseball (MLB), Rob Manfred, also publicly promoted the sport’s transparency amid the United States Senate’s broader gambling inquiry.

The litany of sports figures now under investigation shows a growing, costly trend for sports teams, making education like the IBIA’s and the CPL’s approach all the more important for Canadian athletes looking to avoid the same fate.

Featured image: PFA Canada/IBIA

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Canadian gift card sports betting investigation leads to two arrests

admin — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 07:04:35 +0000

Two men have been charged after Ontario authorities investigated suspicious betting activity and gift card fraud.

Two men have been charged by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Investigation and Enforcement Bureau (IEB) in connection with suspicious Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) PROLINE sports betting activity. The investigation was sparked when thousands of gift cards were compromised across various gas bar locations in Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay.

Further investigation from the IEB revealed fraud amounting to CAS $400,000 ($290,000 USD), where gift cards were used to pay for PROLINE bets. The two men allegedly would bet on both teams to guarantee a win.

“The OLG purchases and wagers were made at the gas bars using the fraudulently obtained gift cards,” OPP Corporate Communications Bureau spokesperson Gosia Puzio said in an email seen by CTV News. “The gas bars and their employees were unaware the gift cards were fraudulent.

“The betting pattern was consistent with money laundering, where individuals place large wagers on both sides of a sporting event to ensure minimal gain or loss. Further investigation confirmed that the wagers and purchases at gas bar locations were made using fraudulently obtained gift cards.”

From gift card to fraud

This style of operation has been seen by law enforcement officials before. However, the OPP has said that the investigation is still ongoing, keeping some details like how the gift cards were obtained, private as the authorities’ examination continues.

36-year-old Joshua Silver of Thunder Bay has been charged with fraud over $5,000, laundering proceeds of crime, conspiracy, identity theft, forgery, utter forged document, and possession of property obtained by crime. He has been remanded into custody and appeared before the Ontario Court of Justice on September 22.

He was arrested alongside 45-year-old Montgomery McMahon, also of Thunder Bay and similarly charged with fraud over $5,000, laundering proceeds of crime, conspiracy, utter forged document, and possession of property obtained by crime. He will face court on September 23.

Featured image: Pexels

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Canadian small businesses are taking Trump’s tariffs personally

admin — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 02:00:06 +0000

Close-up of ‘Shop Canadian’ poster displayed in a local storefront in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on April 4, 2025.

Artur Widak | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Just across the U.S.-Canada border, some small businesses are taking tariffs personally.

President Donald Trump has said his wide-sweeping tariffs, even on some of the country’s closest trade partners, will rebalance international trade and bring manufacturing back stateside. But for the U.S.’s northern neighbors, tariffs may mean an erosion of trust.

The country’s trade relationship with Canada has historically been integral to both national economies. In 2024, the trade of goods between both nations totaled $762.1 billion. According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, Canada exported over three-quarters of its goods to the U.S. last year, and U.S. imports accounted for almost half of all goods it brought in.

Starting in March, however, the Trump administration implemented a 10% tariff on Canadian energy and 25% tariffs on other imports from Canada and Mexico, a levy he’d promised on Inauguration Day. But he exempted many imports covered under the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement.

Trump also put a 25% tariff on vehicles not assembled in the U.S. that took effect earlier this month, a move that affects both Mexico and Canada, two major auto production hubs. In addition, a 25% tariff on auto parts is set to take effect next month.

Canada has responded with its own retaliatory tariffs, but national pride has sparked another kind of resistance.

Balzac’s Coffee Roasters highlights Canadian patriotism on its cafe menus.

Matthew Mikrut | CNBC

Balzac’s Coffee Roasters, a chain of cafes across Ontario and Toronto, has responded to trade tensions with a renamed menu item: the Americano — a commonplace espresso drink — is now a maple leaf-marked “Canadiano.”

Your Independent Grocers, a chain of independently owned supermarkets under the Canadian-traded Loblaw Companies, uses its own maple leaf badge to indicate products “prepared in Canada.” The grocer also indicates tariff-impacted items with a “T” logo in stores and online.

Aisles at Your Independent Grocer in Niagara-on-the-Lake in Canada.

Cameron Costa | CNBC

Corinne Pohlmann is the executive vice president of advocacy at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, of CFIB, which represents over 100,000 small businesses across 12 of Canada’s 13 territories and provinces.

About half of CFIB members are directly involved in either importing or exporting from the U.S., according to the organization’s December 2024 survey. That metric does not include reliance on suppliers and customers who are also trading with the U.S.

More than a quarter of CFIB members surveyed in late March reported seeing stronger demand for Canadian-owned products. More than half of the surveyed businesses agreed that the U.S. is not a reliable trading partner.

The trade tensions have extended to some long-standing relationships between U.S. and Canadian small businesses, she said, as entrepreneurs decide which side of the border will absorb the costs of new tariffs. Pohlmann recalled some CFIB members asking for guidance on how to renegotiate contracts with partners to the south.

Pohlmann said the tariffs are causing emotional distress, in addition to cost increases.

“For a lot of Canadians, it felt like a betrayal,” Pohlmann said.

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario halted its purchases of U.S. products starting on March 4. The LCBO retail store in Niagara-on-the-Lake displays signage that reads, “For the good of Ontario, for the good of Canada,” explaining the disappearance of U.S.-made products like California wines and Tito’s Vodka.

A worker removes bottles of American-made wine from a shelf at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) Queen’s Quay store in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Tuesday, March 4, 2025.

Christopher Katsarov Luna | Bloomberg | Getty Images

It’s not always clear cut, though.

A representative for LCBO press clarified via email to CNBC that any product made in Canada, like locally produced Coors Light beer, is OK to grace shelves, regardless of the company’s ownership.

Molson Coors has production facilities in both Canada and the U.S.

“While we are a global business, our beers and beverages are generally made in the markets in which they are sold,” said Molson Coors Senior Director of Communications Rachel Gellman Johnson.

Tariffs are typically a tool of “hard power,” prompting geopolitical change by coercion. The U.S.’s long-standing relationships with trading partners like Canada, Mexico and Japan have bolstered the country’s influence on the global stage.

Beyond the numbers, it’s U.S. influence, or so-called “soft power,” that may take a hit.

Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin this month that a hit to the country’s soft power is his biggest fear in today’s environment.

“The idea that we would not only see China try to develop more soft power, but that we would cede our own…not good for the country, not good for our interests,” Blinken said.

Even if President Trump lessens tariffs, Canadian businesses may be hesitant to rebuild trading relationships with U.S. partners. CFIB’s Pohlmann pointed to lost contracts and eroded trust.

“While we’d welcome a permanent reprieve from tariffs, the trading relationship between Canada and the United States has been fractured and may never be the same again,” Pohlmann said.

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18 Canadian performing arts organizations have joined the cultural boycott of Israel. ‹

admin — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 03:28:02 +0000

March 6, 2025, 2:31pm

As reported by Richie Assaly in the Toronto Star yesterday, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre—the largest queer theater company in the world—is among 18 theater and performing arts organizations that have joined a “cultural and academic boycott” of Israel:

On Wednesday, Buddies—the world’s largest queer theatre company—and other organizations including Theatre Centre, Aluna Theatre and New Harlem Productions, said that they had collectively joined the international Palestinian Campaign for the Cultural and Academic Boycott of Israel (PACBI). As part of the boycott, the organizations said they won’t accept funding from the Israeli state or any institutions that they say are complicit in the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories or other violations of international law.

The endorsement was organized by Theatre Artists for Palestinian Voices (TAPV).

In an email to the Star, ted witzel, the artistic director of Buddies since 2023, said: “(The violence in Gaza) has affected many members of our team deeply. We’ve tried to make Buddies a space for conversations and solidarity. We want to be part of a larger conversation about the way that art and cultural production are never apolitical.”

Witzel said that the decision to endorse the cultural boycott of Israel comes as the organization revises its values.

“Liberation means liberation for all,” witzel said. “There is no queer liberation without the liberation of Palestine.”

Launched in 2004 by a group of Palestinian academics, PACBI is the cultural arm of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), an international, non-violent movement that demands Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories, full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel, and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.

This collective boycott by Canadian theater companies marks another significant development in the Canadian literary sector’s ongoing response to the war on Gaza.

Last October, Canadian authors Miriam Towes, Rupi Kaur, and Dionne Brand were among thousands of writers and publishing professionals who signed an open letter pledging to boycott complicit Israeli cultural institutions.

In February of this year, the Giller Prize ended its decades-long partnership with Scotiabank, following months of sustained pressure from protesters, authors and publishers who pledged to boycott Canada’s most prestigious literary prize over its ties to Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems.

The pressure on the Giller Prize is likely to continue, however, as the Giller Foundation has yet to cut ties with Indigo Books (Canada’s largest book retailer, whose owners, Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reisman, fund scholarships for foreign soldiers with the Israel Defense Forces) or the Azrieli Foundation (the charitable counterpart to Israeli real estate company The Azrieli Group, which has investments in West Bank settlements deemed illegal under international law).

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