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Verified brief

Verified brief — 25 October 2026 (covers 23–25 October, with catch-up items from the past week)

B.C. Conservatives lead the preliminary count as mail ballots wait. The Ninth Circuit hears DOJ v. California today. The U.S. reshuffles its 50% tariff list on Canadian goods for 30 October. Plus new softwood duty deposits, Ottawa’s draft stablecoin rules, two U.S. AI-security moves, and Colorado’s 3 November sex-based measures. Clocks: U.S. v. California TRO hearing 27 Oct; Alberta official results 29 Oct; Section 338 change 30 Oct; Colorado and U.S. votes 3 Nov; Budget 2026 on 5 Nov; B.C. final count 6–10 Nov.

Published

  1. Item 1

    B.C. election (preliminary, 10:01 p.m. PT on 24 October (1:01 a.m. ET on 25 October), 80.97% of ballot boxes): Conservatives lead in 62 of 93 districts (47.81%), the NDP in 29 (37.70%) and the Greens in 2 (11.04%). Forty-seven make a majority. Mail and absentee ballots are counted about two weeks later. Final count 6–10 November, Return Day 18 November. No seats called.

    Read the article →Elections BC preliminary results

  2. Item 2

    Alberta (unofficial, 10:46 p.m. MT 24 Oct, 5,535 of 5,536 locations): remain 74.9%, start-process 25.1%. Q1–Q5 pass and Q6–Q9 trail. Elections Alberta says some voting places used one set of ballot boxes for several voting areas, so ballots are being separated by hand, but all votes are included. Official results 29 October.

    Read the article →Elections Alberta feed; news release 24 Oct

  3. Item 3

    United States v. California: the Ninth Circuit (26-7070) hears DOJ’s emergency motion by Zoom today, 25 October, at 1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET), before Judges Bennett, Bumatay and Sanchez. Los Angeles County has moved to dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. Judge Carter keeps the 27 October TRO hearing and says he will rule promptly after it.

    Read the article →C.D. Cal. Dkts. 76, 78, 79, 85; 9th Cir. orders

  4. Item 4

    Section 338: from 12:01 a.m. ET on 30 October, 22 tariff lines (thin plywood, some paperboard, packing machinery) come off the 50% U.S. duty on Canadian goods and 96 go on (carpets, valves, window ACs, chest freezers, MDF, flooring, soap, paints). No USMCA exemption, and it stacks on Section 232.

    Read the article →Proclamation and Annex I, 23 Oct; WH fact sheet

  5. Item 5

    Softwood lumber, final 2024 reviews (19 Oct): AD Canfor 17.00%, West Fraser 4.71%, Resolute 13.13%, others 10.64%. CVD Resolute 12.42%, West Fraser 15.31%, others 14.11%. New cash deposits apply from 19 October.

    Read the article →FR 2026-21296; 2026-21286

  6. Item 6

    Ottawa’s draft Stablecoin Regulations (Canada Gazette I, 24 Oct): Bank of Canada registration, daily 1:1 reserves in high-quality liquid assets, redemption in three business days with a 1% fee cap, no yield for holding, and national-security review. It is not a CBDC. 60 days for comment.

    Read the article →Canada Gazette Part I, Vol. 160, No. 43

  7. Item 7

    DHS FASCSA order 2026-01 (published 20 Oct): DeepSeek and products built on DeepSeek are barred from federal civilian IT and procurement. National security systems are excluded, and it does not cover private users.

    Read the article →91 FR 66346

  8. Item 8

    Treasury COINS Act proposal (22 Oct): would ban U.S. investment in country-of-concern firms developing any “SI” (AI) system, and adds hypersonics and biotech. Comments close 7 December. “SI” wording follows EO 14434.

    Read the article →Treasury fact sheet; FR 2026-21786

  9. Item 9

    HUD and Multnomah County (Portland) agreement: points for “culturally specific services” come out of the homeless-housing screening tool within 7 days, and households are rescored within 30. The county denies the allegations, and HUD made no finding.

    Read the article →HUD VCA, Inquiry 886542

  10. Item 10

    Federal Scholarship Tax Credit: 30 states have opted in for 2027 (IRS, 22 Oct). Credit up to $1,700 ($3,400 joint). Proposed rules bar states from limiting school type, with comments to 1 December.

    Read the article →IRS FSTC page; Treasury sb0641

  11. Item 11

    Colorado, 3 November: Prop 134 (school teams by biological sex) and Prop 135 (bans surgery on minors to alter sex characteristics, and its public or insurance funding). Statutory, effective 1 January 2027 if passed. Prop 135 covers surgery only.

    Read the article →Colorado SOS; Initiative #109/#110 texts

  12. Item 12

    Netherlands: the Senate passed the return-and-detention law on 13 October, ending court-ordered penalty payments on the IND for late asylum decisions and adding a 23-hour lockdown power in detention.

    Read the article →Eerste Kamer, 34.309 / 35.501

  13. Item 13

    New Mexico AG (21 Oct): a court ordered Meta to pay $25 billion after a jury found 43,899,725 Unfair Practices Act violations over privacy and moderation claims. We have not yet obtained the order itself.

    Read the article →NMDOJ release

  14. Item 14

    EU data-centre rating scheme (C(2026) 3472): A–G energy (PUE) and water (WUE) classes for sites over 500 kW, with first labels expected in 2027. Currently in the two-month Parliament and Council scrutiny period.

    Read the article →European Commission; Council doc. 13444/26 ADD 1