Prime Minister Mark Carney says he’s prepared to “very quickly” hold to account an American-owned steelmaker that has laid off hundreds of workers at its plants in southern Ontario.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Carney said Cleveland Cliffs has one more day to respond to a demand from the federal government to honour its 2024 agreement with Ottawa to purchase Stelco.

That deal, made under the auspices of the Investment Canada Act, included a requirement for the company to maintain the same employments levels until 2029.

“When you make a commitment with the government of Canada, you respect that commitment, and the government will hold companies to the responsibility,” he said at a press conference on a new joint Canada-Ontario financial aid package.

Marco Vigliotti has more. 

The federal government is matching Ontario’s $1 billion investment into roads to reach the Ring of Fire region in the province’s northwest.

This is a major win for the provincial government, which has long wanted Ottawa to pitch in and has pressed harder in recent months as it began construction.

Ontario has included money for the Ring of Fire roads in its provincial budget for years, including under former premier Kathleen Wynne’s government. But at roughly $2 billion, the network needed federal funding too.

Until recently, Ottawa maintained the roads were Ontario’s responsibility, as Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson told the Senate in a recent appearance.

It is not yet clear where the $1 billion will come from, but the federal government says the money will be spread over three years. A spokesperson could not immediately be reached to clarify this.

Read more from Aya Dufour. 

Canada is the only G7 country that can’t launch its own satellites. A Canadian rocket company says it will take a first step toward changing that, once regulators sign off.

NordSpace is preparing to launch its Taiga rocket from its spaceport in St. Lawrence, N.L. The suborbital test flight would be the first big test for a launch industry that Ottawa has spent the past year backing with defence contracts, grants and launch-pad deals.

CEO Rahul Goel told iPolitics on Tuesday the company was “on track” to launch, but is currently pending approval from Transport Canada.

If successful, it would be the company’s first launch, after a few attempts in 2025 that were scrubbed. NordSpace would also become the first Canadian-built commercial rocket launched from a Canadian spaceport.

Sydney Ko has more. 

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Internationally

Elsewhere, Vladimir Putin ordered the release of an American man from a Russian jail as he met Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg on Wednesday for fresh talks on ending the war in Ukraine, amid increasingly close relations between Moscow and Washington.

Trump had previously asked Putin to free Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old former teacher who had spent more than four years in Russian jails on charges of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine.

His release appeared to be Moscow’s latest calculated move to bring Trump further into line with Putin’s position on Ukraine, while offering the US president a diplomatic victory before the midterm elections.

Hubbard was released unilaterally by Russia, rather than as part of a prisoner exchange as has often been the case with previous releases of Americans held in the country.

The Guardian has more. 

Pope Leo XIV’s lung cancer surgery last week was a success and no further treatment is required, the Vatican press office said in a bulletin Wednesday.

“The final histological reports and molecular biology analyses of the tissue removed during the Holy Father’s surgery have been completed today,” said Dr. Luigi Carbone, the pope’s personal physician, and Dr. Stefano Margaritora, a thoracic surgery professor who led the surgical team.

“The results have confirmed that the condition was a pulmonary adenocarcinoma and that the disease was localized. A subsequent oncological evaluation has confirmed that no further therapy is required,” the bulletin added.

Pulmonary adenocarcinoma is the most common type of lung cancer, accounting for roughly 40% of all cases. It’s slow-moving and often affects non-smokers.

CNN reports. 

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The Kicker

SpaceBound wrapped up with a guest joining from well above Ottawa: Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, beaming in from the International Space Station.

After answering questions from the audience, Kutryk said that even in orbit, there’s no escaping the earthly chore of dealing with trash.

The timing also offered a nice touch. The station happened to be passing over Canada during the conversation.

“I’ll be looking over every time we fly over Canada,” he said.