Good morning. Canada’s major airlines cancelled their flights to Cuba as the island’s oil crisis deepens – more on that below, along with a silver medal in Milan Cortina and a U.S. cabinet member’s Epstein ties. But first:

• At least 10 people are dead after a mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.
• Carney tells Trump that Canada paid the full cost of building the Gordie Howe bridge
• Ottawa is in talks with the Conservatives to amend the budget bill

More than 600 flights on Canada’s three major airlines were meant to depart for Cuba this month, carrying upwards of 100,000 passengers to cities across the Caribbean country. But on Monday, WestJet, Air Transat and Air Canada each suspended their service to Cuba, effective immediately. Empty planes will now take off from Toronto and Montreal instead, collecting thousands of Canadians currently visiting the island to bring them back home.

The problem for the airlines is that Cuba is nearly out of jet fuel, part of a crushing energy crisis triggered by the White House’s oil blockade. For decades, the island relied on Venezuelan oil to power its aging electrical grid – but U.S. President Donald Trump stopped that flow in January, after he ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Mexico, Cuba’s second-biggest oil supplier, followed suit under pressure of jacked-up U.S. tariffs. “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO,” Trump posted last month. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”

What that deal might actually look like remains fuzzy: Cuba doesn’t have much by way of resources to offer the United States. Rolling blackouts are common, stretching anywhere from 10 to 20 hours. In October, government officials said more than three million people – at least a third of the population – are without reliable access to water. Food and medicine is scarce and mosquito-borne illnesses are rampant, overwhelming hospitals. According to the Social Rights Observatory, a Spanish think-tank, 89 per cent of Cuban families live in extreme poverty.

Cuba routinely blames its difficulties on the six-decade-long U.S. trade embargo, though widespread domestic corruption and bureaucracy haven’t helped the state-run economy. Neither did the COVID-19 pandemic, which cratered its tourism industry. In 2018, a record 4.7 million people travelled to the island; last year, just 1.8 million did. Canada made up a huge share of that number – more than 750,000 of us visited in 2025. Now the airlines’ cancelled flights have cut off Cuba’s top source of tourists.

Last week, at a rare press conference, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said he was prepared to implement “Option Zero,” the strict austerity plan drawn up by Fidel Castro after the Soviet Union – and its support for the island – collapsed in 1991. Diaz-Canel recently introduced a series of emergency measures in response to the energy crisis: food rationing, a shortened work week, reduced school hours, limited transit and hospital services. Anyone who needs fuel for their cars now has to download an app, though the online queue for a turn at a gas station doesn’t seem to move.

Throughout his two-hour press conference, Diaz-Canel railed against Trump’s oil blockade, calling U.S. actions “criminal,” “vulgar” and “inhumane,” even comparing them to “those of Hitler’s hordes.” It’s unclear, however, who exactly the address was for. Trump doesn’t seem concerned about a collapsing Cuba: He’s already said the country is “going down for the count.” And most Cubans missed Diaz-Canel’s broadcast altogether. Their power was out.

In the last laps of the short-track mixed team relay, speed skater Félix Roussel spotted an opening, wedging himself past two competitors to deliver Canada’s first silver medal in Milan Cortina. Elsewhere on the ice, the Canadian women’s hockey team fell 5-0 to the United States in their round-robin match, as Marie-Philip Poulin sat out the game with an injury. For our latest Olympics coverage, go to tgam.ca/olympics-daily.

At home: Quebec has removed the Tudor crown from its coat of arms – but it’s not necessarily a harbinger of sovereignty.

Abroad: U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is facing calls to resign after he acknowledged travelling to Jeffrey Epstein’s private island.

Health: An oral, at-home HIV test that been used in the U.S. for well over a decade is finally coming to Canada.

Wealth: Ontario winemakers are