Article content EDMONTON — Tre Ford not only has a new contract, he finally has a vote of confidence from the Edmonton Elks. The quarterback from Niagara Falls, Ont., met with the media at Commonwealth Stadium on Monday, three days after signing three-year deal with the Elks. “Clearly, this is the young man that we want leading our team moving forward,” Elks general manager, Ed Hervey said. “For all the things you’ve seen on the field, there’s so much off the field that he’s going to shoulder moving forward with this organization, especially with the long line of quarterbacks that have played here. This is an opportunity that we feel as an organization is well deserved.” The message from Hervey and head coach Mark Kilam was clear. The No. 1 job in Edmonton’s is now Ford’s to lose, not to win back. Since the end of the 2024 season, the Elks have brought in new president Chris Morris and added Hervey and Kilam. The house has been cleaned. The Elks made Ford a first-round draft pick in 2022. Since then, Ford has regularly been part of quarterback controversies in Edmonton. He’s been on many highlight reels, with his ability to scramble and improvise and use both his legs and arm to make big plays. But he was always on a short leash, no matter if it was Chris Jones or Jarious Jackson, who both coached Ford. “I think there’s been good things and bad things,” Ford said of his first three years with the franchise. “I think that happens with every professional sport. But, I think it’s done a good job of keeping me level-headed — not to get too high or too low. There’s going to be good things and bad things, it’s all about how you’re going to react to them and adjust.” Ford started 10 games in 2023, threw for 2,069 yards and rushed for 622 more. He became a fan favourite. But Jones signed veteran McLeod Bethel-Thompson to be the new starter in 2024, and relegated Ford to carrying a clipboard. “We want Tre!” was a chant regularly heard at Commonwealth Stadium in 2024 as the team got off to an 0-7 start. Ford got the job back, got hurt, didn’t get the job back when he was healthy, but then got a chance to play again once the Elks were out of the playoff picture. He threw for 1,137 yards and rushed for another 206. “Yeah, there were some things that were not so great. But it’s all behind me, now,” Ford said. The Elks have not made the playoffs since 2019. Ford is now the face of the franchise, but he knows that he has to work to repay the faith that the team’s new front office has placed in him. “The opportunity is right in front of me,” he said. “I have to be able to take full advantage of that in being able to grasp that opportunity, right? I need to take that next step as a leader and be that role model for my teammates, and go in the direction we want to go.” Kilam, who was an assistant with the Calgary Stampeders before taking over as Elks head coach, has faced Ford in the past. “It’s no question that Tre puts a ton of pressure on every defence that he plays,” Kilam said. “Sometimes, he gets mislabelled that he’s only using his legs. But he’s using his legs to open up the passing game.” Ford will remain in Edmonton in the off-season to work out and learn the new coaching staff’s system. He and his wife, Ani, are expecting their second child later this winter. Hervey and Kilam have preached that the new Elks philosophy will lean on the days when the team was the Cadillac franchise of the CFL. There will be roster stability. There will be accountability. And Ford’s words suggest that he’s buying in. “I feel like they are doing things the right way,” Ford said. “And I am confident they’re going to bring in the correct guys, talented guys who are capable of winning football games. A lot of that turnover happens when you lose. But I think we’re in a situation where we’re leaning more towards winning.”New study shows voting for Native Americans is harder than everNASSAU, Bahamas — Justin Thomas was long off the tee and made a few long putts on the back nine to overtake Scottie Scheffler with a 6-under 66 and build a one-shot lead Saturday over golf's best player going into the final round of the Hero World Challenge. Thomas is trying out a 46-inch driver — a little more than an inch longer than normal — that he previously used for practice at home to gain speed and length. He blasted a 361-yard drive to 8 feet on the par-4 seventh hole and led the field in driving distance. But it was a few long putts that put him ahead of Scheffler, who had a 69. Thomas was on the verge of falling two shots behind when he made an 18-foot par putt on the par-3 12th hole. On the reachable par-4 14th, he was in a nasty spot in a sandy area and could only splash it out to nearly 50 feet. He made that one for a most unlikely birdie, while behind him Scheffler muffed a chip on the 13th hole and made his lone bogey of a windy day. Scheffler never caught up to him, missing birdie chances on the reachable 14th and the par-5 15th. Thomas hit his approach to 3 feet for birdie on the 16th after a 343-yard drive. Scheffler made an 18-foot birdie putt on the 16th to close within one. Scheffler missed birdie chances on the last two holes from the 10-foot and 15-foot range, while Thomas missed an 8-foot birdie attempt at the last. "I had a stretch at 13, 14, 15 where I felt like I lost a shot or two there, but outside of that I did a lot of really good things today," Scheffler said. Thomas hasn't won since the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills, and a victory at Albany Golf Club wouldn't count as an official win. But the two-time major champion has made steady progress toward getting his game back in order. "I'm driving it great. I've had a lot of confidence with it," Thomas said of his longer driver. "I feel like I've been able to put myself in some pretty good spots going into the green. I'm still not taking advantage of some of them as much as I would like, but that's golf and we're always going to say that." Thomas was at 17-under 199 and will be in the final group Sunday with Scheffler, who is trying to end his spectacular season with a ninth title. Tom Kim put himself in the mix, which he might not have imagined Thursday when he was 3 over through six holes of the holiday tournament. Kim got back in the game with a 65 on Friday, and then followed with 12 birdies for a 62. He had a shot at the course record — Rickie Fowler shot 61 in the final round when he won at Albany in 2017 — until Kim found a bunker and took two shots to reach the green in making a double bogey on the par-3 17th. Even so, he was only two shots behind. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley (68) was four back. "Feel like I've been seeing signs of improvement, which is what you want and that's all I can do," Thomas said. "I can't control everybody else or what's going on, I've just got to keep playing as good as I possibly can and hope that it's enough come Sunday." Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!
12 Countries where purchasing property will grant you citizenshipPresident-elect Donald Trump called his meeting with Justin Trudeau productive and says the prime minister made a commitment to work with the United States to end the drug crisis amid the threat of stiff tariffs. Trudeau flew to Florida Friday evening to attend a dinner at Mar-a-Lago, where Trump’s transition team is based. The in-person meeting came at the end of a rocky week in which Trump threatened to impose stiff tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico, unless the two countries stop illegal border crossings and prevent illicit drugs from entering the U.S. In a post on Truth Social, Trump says he and Trudeau discussed the drug crisis, particularly fentanyl, illegal immigration, as well as trade, energy and the Arctic. Trump’s post did not directly mention tariffs. Trudeau told reporters in West Palm Beach Saturday morning that he had an excellent conversation with Trump’s transition team.
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The Biden administration last week announced that it granted Ukraine permission to use American weapons to hit Russian military targets inside Russia. Great. But a less risk-averse administration committed to enabling its ally to repel Russia and end the war quickly would’ve done that from the start. And the move follows a frustrating pattern of delays and denials, helping Ukraine just enough so it doesn’t collapse but bringing us no closer to the war’s end. All of which has only fueled Russian (and Chinese) aggression. Predictably, Team Biden’s announcement elicited a Kremlin condemnation — and a warning that Vladimir Putin lowered the country’s threshold for deploying a nuclear weapon. Russia also fired an intermediate-range missile at a Ukrainian city and warned it could fire one at any country that helped Ukraine strike Russia. By making a public announcement of the new policy, the Biden team permitted Russia to blame the United States, its NATO allies and Ukraine for prolonging the war and ratcheting up the aggression. But that blame goes to Russia, with the notable help of China. On Tuesday, something cut two undersea fiber-optic data cables — one between Lithuania and Sweden’s Gotland Island, the other between Finland and Germany. Officials in the affected countries are suspecting Russia. The Danish navy detained a Chinese-registered container ship, which may have cut the Finland-Germany cable as it attempted to leave the Baltic Sea. This is not the first such incident: In 2023, the Chinese container ship Newnew Polar Bear dragged its anchor across the seabed, breaking a key undersea gas pipeline and two cables connecting Finland and Estonia. China insists it was an accident, and there has been no official statement by other nations contradicting China’s claim. But privately, Central and Eastern European officials believe it could’ve only occurred intentionally. Worryingly, a Russian cargo ship was in the area at the same time the Chinese ship cut the cable, signaling possible complicity in or endorsement of the act. Although the Europeans are unwilling to name China publicly as a potential culprit, they’ve broadly blamed Russian hybrid warfare. The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Britain issued a statement: “Moscow’s escalating hybrid activities against NATO and EU countries are also unprecedented in their variety and scale, creating significant security risks.” In June, Russian saboteurs tried to disrupt shipments of weapons to Ukraine by setting fire to a German metal factory. July reportedly saw a foiled attempt by the Russian government to assassinate the CEO of a German arms manufacturer. In October, Poland closed a Russian consulate , accusing Russia of arson. The attacks also send a troubling message to the Europeans: You’re on your own. America’s failure to respond to these incidents signals that the world’s superpower and Europe’s greatest ally is unwilling to help. Indeed, Roderich Kiesewetter, a member of the German Bundestag, told reporters, “Russia is testing the limits of Article 5” of the NATO treaty — which obligates members to come to each other’s aid if any is attacked — “to stir up uncertainty.” For all of the recriminations about how President-elect Donald Trump will abandon allies and surrender US global leadership, the Biden administration’s reluctance to even publicly attribute such acts of aggression to their likely culprits, let alone respond to them, has catalyzed more aggression and volatility. Of course, Europe needn’t wait for the United States. But the US has clear national interests in leading and collaborating with European allies to keep the peace. Allies must do more to carry the burden of European security, but a coherent strategy works much better with US leadership. The key is for Washington to both lead and delegate: The collective economic and military strength of the United States and Europe must be marshaled to resist authoritarian revanchism. Alas, there’s little evidence the Biden administration is even trying to compel its adversaries to cease its hybrid warfare aggression, apparently believing instead any response in this hybrid zone would make things worse. Yet again and again, we’ve seen this logic proven wrong. China and Russia take US inaction to mean permission to escalate to further their military and political aims. The Biden team’s tendency to disclose in advance what it will and won’t do to support allies, and its silence in the face of aggression, has exacerbated the mess. Perhaps Trump’s unpredictability, along with a willingness to use all tools of American power, will jolt our adversaries into believing their best interests are served by backing down. Rebeccah L. Heinrichs is the director of the Hudson Institute’s Keystone Defense Initiative.
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From Maui to the Caribbean, Thanksgiving tournaments a beloved part of college basketballA coalition of federal opposition lawmakers has alleged a conspiracy among some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors and 24 state party chairmen to extend the tenure of the party’s acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, until 2027. The lawmakers made the accusation during a press conference in Akokwa, Imo State, on Sunday evening. They claimed the move was a deliberate strategy to undermine the PDP and weaken its chances in future elections. The spokesman for the group and member representing Ideato North/Ideato South Federal Constituency, Imo State, Ikenga Ugochinyere, said, “Today, our nation is facing different challenges, both economic and political. But there’s something that’s missing in all these problems and that’s a vibrant and responsive and responsible opposition. “We have the PDP that’s supposed to lead the opposition, but what we have are political charlatans hijacking the heartbeat of the opposition party and turning it into an errand platform for the ruling party. “Some of you called me yesterday after the meeting the governors had in Jos and said it’s all over for the PDP. It’s very shameful that a party that was founded in 1998 by the great efforts of our founding fathers-the likes of Alex Ekwueme, Jerry Gana, Atiku Abubakar, Olusegun Obasanjo, and so many others, came together and ended 16 years of military rule. “That political party is what these guys are playing Akara with. Umar Damagun and Samuel Anyanwu are now messing up with and forgetting the sacred expectation of Nigerian people.” He alleged that plans had been perfected to prevent the National Executive Committee from selecting a substantive chairman from the North Central zone, as originally intended. He added, “They want Umar Damagum to continue to parade himself as the National Chairman and stay in office till 2027 so they can foist on us a weakling that will be presidential candidate. “We have impostors among us who have no honour and decency. The ruling party will be laughing at them now that they want to sabotage their own party. “First, they said there was a Sallah holiday, and they shifted it. Since last year, they kept on shifting the NEC meeting. Till now, no NEC meeting. They keep on giving different excuses. The national leaders of PDP are frolicking with APC leaders, going to London having meetings with APC leadership.” He accused the party leadership of nurturing a political alliance with the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike.