OTTAWA — Conservatives will support sending the Liberal government's child-care bill for further study, party Leader Pierre Poilievre said Wednesday, but he's stopping short of endorsing the national plan. Speaking to reporters before his weekly caucus meeting, Poilievre said his MPs will back sending Bill C-35 — currently being debated in the House of Commons — to a parliamentary committee. "But our view is there should be affordable child-care spaces, and there should be support for parents re
MONTREAL — A private school west of Montreal is promising action after allegations that for years administrators ignored complaints about racist bullying targeting two Black students. Joel DeBellefeuille, the founder of Montreal-based anti-racism group Red Coalition, says two teenage sisters who attend Collège Bourget in Rigaud, Que., have been called the N-word, spit on and had their hair pulled by other students. He says the family, which approached his organization with their concerns, has at
OTTAWA — The head of the Canadian Labour Congress says new standards to improve the quality of long-term care are not enough to address the serious staffing issues that led to dismal and deadly conditions for seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts with the non-profit Health Standards Organization this week released updated guidelines for delivering high quality long-term care, stressing the need to attract and keep enough workers in homes to properly look after the residents. They recomme
OTTAWA — Canada's new special representative on combating Islamophobia said Wednesday that she is sorry that her words have hurt Quebecers. ''These are very difficult conversations and I would like to say that I am extremely sorry for the way that my words have carried, how they have hurt the people of Quebec," Amira Elghawaby said in English before she met with Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet. She said she would listen carefully and that is what dialogue is all about. Multiple poli
OTTAWA — Former Conservative interim leader and longtime Manitoba member of Parliament Candice Bergen announced Wednesday she is stepping down. Bergen said in a video posted to Twitter that she submitted a letter of resignation as the representative for Portage-Lisgar after meeting with her party's caucus. "I won't be going back into the House of Commons, I'm not really one for long goodbyes," she said in the video. She also thanked her family and colleagues in Ottawa, "regardless of your politi
Skyscanner is crunching the numbers with its Savings Generator to determine the best travel hacks to get the best price for flights.
OTTAWA — The federal government is expected to introduce a law as early as Thursday to delay the extension of medically assisted dying eligibility to people whose sole underlying condition is a mental disorder. Justice Minister David Lametti announced in December that Ottawa intended to seek the delay after hearing concerns the health-care system might not be prepared for an expanded regime, but he did not offer a timeline on the length of the delay. An update to assisted dying law that passed i
VANCOUVER — Members of an advocacy group for drug users have gathered to celebrate the start of decriminalization in British Columbia and discuss how they will "fight back" against any efforts to seize illicit substances that meet the 2.5-gram threshold allowed under the first such policy in Canada. The meeting at the office of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) on the first day of the new policy began with a man handing out "know your rights" cards. They say people aged 18 and ove
OTTAWA — The NDP is calling on a House of Commons committee to expand its study of federal contracts awarded to McKinsey & Company and include other consulting firms that have received large contracts. New Democrat MP Gord Johns is bringing forward a motion to expand the scope of the study to include other firms including Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Accenture, KPMG, and Ernst & Young. McKinsey has received attention in recent weeks after media reports highlighted the rapid growth of the co
Several residents and ministers are calling out Canada's largest grocery retailer, Loblaws—yet again—for "profiteering" amid rising food prices after they announced an end to its price freeze on its popular generic house brand products.
OTTAWA — Members of Parliament will vote this afternoon on whether Ottawa should start a refugee program to resettle 10,000 Uyghurs fleeing persecution in China. Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi proposed the motion last June, calling on the government to launch a program in 2024 to bring Uyghurs and other Muslims of Turkic origin to Canada. The UN Human Rights Office reported last August that China is committing "grave human rights violations" against Uyghur people, and that some who fled to other count
The federal Competition Bureau has started an inquiry into whether industry claims that vast stretches of Canadian forest are sustainably managed constitute false advertising. The inquiry comes in response to a complaint filed by the environmental law group Ecojustice, acting on behalf of eight environmental groups. Those groups allege that the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, which claims to set rigorous standards for industry, doesn't do what companies claim it does. The groups say the initiat
Barri Cohen reveals the tragic history of the Huronia Regional Centre in Orillia, Ont., in the documentary Unloved: Huronia’s Forgotten Children.
BRAMPTON, Ont. — Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Wednesday he hopes the provinces can reach a health-care deal with the federal government shortly after their meeting next week with the prime minister. Ford echoed recent comments from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that a deal will not be signed at the meeting set for Feb. 7. "But we should be striking a deal shortly thereafter," Ford said after making an unrelated announcement in Brampton, Ont. "We can't keep dragging this on when we're all feeli
Researchers say improved fisheries management and conservation are turning the tide on shark and ray population declines in the Northwest Atlantic. The study published last week in PNAS journal, titled "Conservation successes and challenges for wide-ranging sharks and rays," says the results show how well-enforced governance coupled with science-based fishing limits can help aquatic life recover. Lead author Nathan Pacoureau from Simon Fraser University says declines have been halted in three sp
The water is going pink to further science.
Continuous snowfall across the B.C. Interior and into northern Alberta will make for dangerous road conditions through Thursday. Extra caution while driving is necessary
Extreme weather triggered additional methane release, while the atmosphere lost some of its ability to break down the heat-trapping gas.
February is expected to deliver more winter weather than our lackluster January did, but for most of Canada, it will still lack any persistently cold weather.
Both the Columbia and Challenger's malfunctions were present during take-off.
In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what's on the radar of our editors for the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023 ... What we are watching in Canada ... Some days, Terrie Meehan goes long stretches eating just one meal a day to stretch out her food supply. The $1,100 a month she receives from the Ontario Disability Support Program just doesn't stretch that far. That won't change for Meehan — or the vast majority of the Ontarians who
In the 1800s, many Black Canadians used their skills to cultivate the land, build communities, and establish businesses.
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden is sitting down with his new Republican nemesis for the first time to talk about how to ensure the federal government can continue to pay its bills. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says he wants to avoid a U.S. default, and insists that cherished programs like Social Security and Medicare are off the table. But McCarthy's torturous, 15-ballot bid to become speaker required a deal with caucus holdouts that federal spending next year be capped at 2022 levels, an
The East Coast is set for a wild ride this week as a polar vortex takes a trip across Canada, bringing the region hazardous cold, sea-effect snow and even frost quakes
The polar vortex is back and it is bringing extremely bitter and dangerous wind chills to parts of Central and Eastern Canada, including much of Ontario.