Advertisement 2AdvertisementThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article contentThe comment was likely a reference to Cait Alexander, who testified in 2024 to the Status of Women Committee.Article contentAlexander, founder of the group End Violence Everywhere, was brutally beaten by an intimate partner who was freed on bail the next day.Article content“All eight charges, five in the provincial and three in the federal, were stayed against my ex. I can’t say his name, because it will forever be known as ‘alleged’
abuse,” Alexander, who now lives full time in California, told the committee.Article contentAlexander added, “I can’t live in Canada anymore, because it’s not safe for me.”Article contentIn her interview with The Elevate Report, where she was introduced facetiously as the “fake airport woman,” Welyki did not detail the nature of the incident that caused her to move to Mexico, but said that she would gladly return if she felt able.Article content“I left the country for certain reasons and I’m upset about it. I love my
country,” she said.Article content“Do you think this would be my first choice? Or do you think I would rather be at home with my friends and family?”Article contentWelyki said her encounter with Poilievre had lasted no longer than a minute. After spotting the Conservative leader at Vancouver International Airport on June 5, Welyki said she blurted out ,“You’re my favourite Canadian,” before saying she had left Canada for Mexico for safety reasons.Article contentArticle contentThank you @PierrePoilievre for taking the time to chat. I would have
loved the opportunity to share in detail why I left Canada and how I believe it can be fixed. I’m rooting for you…Make Canada, safe, prosperous and GREAT again. pic.twitter.com/FKgXrpF3Hz— Lioness (@lioness0817) June 5, 2026Article contentArticle content“I said I’d like to come home, and he said, in return, ‘We’re going to get you home,’” she said.Article contentLast week, Poilievre’s anecdote was also brought up with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum. After a CBC reporter described Poilievre’s account of a woman leaving Canada for Mexico, Sheinbaum replied,
“What you experience in Mexico, you don’t experience in the U.S. or Canada.”Article contentArticle contentIN OTHER NEWSArticle contentLast week, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his official plans for 24 Sussex Drive, the gutted and rat-infested official prime ministerial residence that has lain dormant since 2015.Article contentIt’s not clear if he’s going to bulldoze or renovate it, but the design is going to be decided via a national architectural competition. And he’s going to attempt to pay for it via donations.Article contentA price tag hasn’t been
set, although no single donor will be able to contribute more than 10 per cent of the total. And according to the Rideau Hall Foundation, the weekend already saw $100,000 in collected donations.Article contentThe most immediate criticism of the donor plan is that it could transform the project into a carousel of influence-peddling, with major lobbyists attempting to curry favour with Carney by cutting cheques to what is effectively a legacy project. Article contentAnd if all of this sounds familiar, it’s possibly because it’s a
scaled down version of something currently happening in the United States.Article contentU.S. President Donald Trump is currently overseeing the construction of a massive ballroom to complement the White House, the official residence of the U.S. presidency.Article contentAnd as with 24 Sussex, the cost is primarily being shouldered by private donations which have also been accused of functioning as backdoor influence payments. According to an analysis by the nonprofit Public Citizen, for instance, corporations who donated to the ballroom project have subsequently racked up a combined
US$50 billion in federal contracts.Article contentCarney’s donor plan for 24 Sussex is also somewhat following a lead set in the 1970s by then prime minister Pierre Trudeau, although the elder Trudeau was much more opaque in his plan.Article contentIn 1972, Trudeau requested that a pool house be built at the residence, declaring it a “biological necessity.” Wary of public scrutiny over the expenditure, Liberal Party organizers quietly arranged for the project to be completed with undisclosed private funds.Article contentArticle content It’s been two and half
years since Toronto’s Yonge and Dundas Square was renamed to Sankofa Square. The name change was ostensibly because Scottish namesake Henry Dundas was pro-slavery, despite the fact that he was actually the opposite; an abolitionist. The word Sankofa, meanwhile, originates in an African kingdom that actually was an enthusiastic participant in the slave trade. Anyway, Brad Bradford, the main challenger to incumbent Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow in the October mayoral election, has a suggestion to fix all of this: Call the place Toronto Square.Article contentArticle
contentFirst Reading is a Canadian politics newsletter curated by the National Post’s own Tristin Hopper. To get an early version sent directly to your inbox, sign up here.Article content Latest from Shopping Essentials Is this set of sherpa chairs for under $650 too good to be true? We found out Does the comfort level match the high-end look? 13 hours ago Home Living Canadians can now get their hands on Subway’s new footlong hot dog — would you try it? Hot diggity dog 18 hours
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Pierre Poilievre, Welyki, Cait Alexander, End Violence Everywhere, Status of Women Committee, Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, Vancouver International Airport, 24 Sussex Drive, Mark Carney, private donations
So basically bail doesn’t work?
Wait I’m confused—what does Poilievre have to do with some woman getting beaten? Like is this the same story or different one? Also why is everyone talking like it’s politics when someone’s safety is involved.
They said the charges were stayed, but “freed on bail the next day” sounds like the system is just letting dudes walk. I don’t know who Cait Alexander is though, maybe she’s the airport lady everyone keeps mentioning? If she says Canada isn’t safe, I mean… that’s pretty damning, but then I keep hearing it’s a “clash with a story” so now I’m like, who benefits from this?
None of this makes sense to me because I swear I saw a different headline that said she moved to California for job reasons or something. Now it’s Mexico?? And then “fake airport woman” like ??? That whole thing feels like tabloids, but also if her ex really got bail then yeah that’s insane. I’m just saying, maybe we shouldn’t stay charges if someone’s still a danger, and also stop dragging Poilievre into every tragedy.