U.S. President Donald Trump's trade czar says if Canada wants a deal with Washington, it will have to accept "some level of higher tariff" and help to reshore American industries. United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CBC News' Katie Simpson on Tuesday that "if Canada wants to come in and participate in this type of reshoring we are trying...
As the Liberals post their largest lead since Prime Minister Mark Carney was chosen to lead the party, the Conservatives are feeling the pinch from multiple age brackets and a growing chasm among women voters, says Abacus Data CEO David Coletto. The Liberals’ polling fortunes are rising in nearly every demographic and province across the country as a growing gender...
A new poll indicates that the Quebec Liberals are experiencing a bump in support after naming Charles Milliard as leader. Polling by Pallas Data published today shows the Parti Quebecois leading with 30 per cent support, slightly ahead of the Liberals at 27.
Two federal ministers signalled today that Ottawa could act to improve online safety related to artificial intelligence as questions mount about OpenAI's decision not to warn police about Tumbler Ridge shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar. The company's handling of the issue has been under scrutiny since the Wall Street Journal reported that Van Rootselaar's OpenAI account was shut down over troubling...
MPs question Lena Diab's performance at question period and in committee. When Lena Diab was appointed head of Canada's Immigration Department, community expectations were high. The new minister is the daughter of immigrants, is trilingual and spent part of her childhood in Lebanon. Diab had also previously served in cabinet in her home province of Nova Scotia. "It seemed like...
A new Liaison Strategies of Ontario reveals a tightening provincial race, with the Progressive Conservatives (PCs) and the Ontario Liberal Party (OLP) nearly neck-and-neck among decided and leaning voters. The PCs led by Doug Ford would garner 40% of the decided and leaning vote, followed closely by the Ontario Liberals at 36%. The Ontario NDP sits at 17%, with the Green Party at 5%.
As American President Donald Trump addresses the union this evening, Canadians may have some interest in the chosen topics, which will likely reference the Supreme Court’s recent decision to strike down his tariffs, and even Canada’s heartbreaking losses in the Olympic hockey tournament, both men’s and women’s. If Trump’s speech is anything like his first year, Canadians will likely be...
If the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it, Prime Minister Mark Carney might consider visiting the Governor General in the coming weeks and asking her to dissolve Parliament. The latest polls are starting to show a seductive spread in his favour — both in the horse race, and as far as whom Canadians consider...
In a performance that clocked in at just under two hours on Tuesday night, Donald Trump turned the State of the Union address into an awards show — “You get a medal!”, “You get a medal!”…he even bemoaned not being able to award himself the Medal of Honor. Those who only read the transcript may miss the point that this...
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says he's not expecting Canada to make a trade deal with India ahead of his trip to the country with Prime Minister Mark Carney. Moe says he hopes the meetings this week will "reinvigorate" both countries to move toward establishing a better trading relationship. But the premier says he has concerns India might raise tariffs on...
Canadian and U.S. trade officials spoke Wednesday morning and will continue in-person talks in “a couple weeks,” according to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Greer made the comment on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” program. He said he spoke with his counterpart – likely referring to Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc – who shared that Canada has “a few...
While the terrible tragedy at Tumbler Ridge prevented Prime Minister Mark Carney from attending this year’s Munich Security Conference, echoes of his recent Davos speech could be heard throughout the meeting halls, hallways, and bars of the Bayerischer Hof Hotel. I was there again this year as a Canadian parliamentarian and Senate committee chair, so some of those conversations were...
The only person who could realistically benefit from Doug Ford’s appearance on CNN on Monday is Doug Ford himself. Ontario’s Premier decided to insert himself once again in the middle of international trade negotiations, an area he has no jurisdiction over, by appearing on American television.
There was a trigger warning included in the written decision handed down by B.C.’s Human Rights Tribunal last week. A caution – just in case someone was browsing the web, looking for tiramisu recipes or articles on the Northern Cricket Frog or something, and accidentally stumbled on the case of former Chilliwack, B.C., school board trustee, Barry Neufeld, who was...
A few days ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Tumbler Ridge shooter sent messages about gun violence to OpenAI’s ChatGPT over the course of several days last June. The posts were flagged by OpenAI’s automated review system and roughly a dozen employees debated whether the posts indicated the possibility of real world violence. Ultimately, however, OpenAI leadership decided...
Canada’s new Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) sends a clear signal that defence capability, economic security, and industrial capacity are inseparable. Investment will deliver tangible outcomes: a stronger domestic industry, sovereign capability, and cooperation with allies. Last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the first Canadian Defence Industrial Strategy at our CAE headquarters in Montreal. This marks an important first step...
Light is being cast on two measures the Liberal government hoped to pass with little scrutiny this week but public outcry many not be loud enough for Prime Minister Mark Carney to change course. The first is on the extraordinary powers the Star first raised concerns about back in December. Hidden in the government’s 600-page budget bill is a measure...
Had Pierre Poilievre had won the last election, he would not have gone to Davos to address the World Economic Forum, as Mark Carney now famously did — to Donald Trump’s scorn and world acclaim. The Conservative leader has promised for years to steer well clear of the annual gathering in Switzerland, and committed once again in the 2025 campaign...
This week, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre released a video about the preferential treatment of asylum seekers in Canada. In it, he states that six million Canadians can’t get access to a family doctor and specialist wait times average 30 weeks. Then, he drops the kicker: rejected asylum claimants, who have never paid taxes, get free “deluxe supplementary heath care” such...
In the high-stakes political poker game that is federal politics, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre just dished out a resounding “tell.” Experienced poker players define a “tell” as a gesture, habit, expression or twitch that gives away the relative strength of his or her hand. Poilievre’s tell comes via an unprovoked video posted on social media Monday morning calling for major...
When it comes to where Canada is positioned regarding U.S. President Trump’s tariff and trade policies, it seems increasingly clear that time is on Canada’s side. That is a difficult thing to assert when I know that our business and investment interests, consumer confidence, trade-dependent firms and their workers are all craving stability in the Canada-U.S. relationship on trade and...
The headline that caught my eye late last week was this one: “Look how much Canadians hate the United States now.” It was on Politico and it was propped up by the results of a major new poll that suggests a “lasting chill” has settled over relations between our two countries.
Lost in the controversy around the substance of the referendum questions that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will put to voters next fall has been that the timing is nearly as striking. Less than three months ago, via a memorandum of understanding, Prime Minister Mark Carney gave Ms. Smith many of the concessions on energy and environmental policy – among them...
Danielle Smith isn’t blinking on her immigration stand. And she is not prepared to let things slide when utter and vile crap comes of the mouths of her political opponents.
Danielle Smith is getting desperate. She knows the provincial budget will be revealed Thursday and all indications are that it will have a whopper of a deficit: $5.2 billion to nearly $8 billion. Last year Alberta had an $8.3 billion surplus. She could just blame it all on low oil prices, which Alberta has no control over, yet still dictates...
Three weeks after a convention in Calgary seemed to put their leadership issues to rest, Conservatives again find themselves with a problem, and its name is still Pierre Poilievre. The Tory boss sailed through the required review of his performance with an overwhelming 87 per cent vote of approval. One would think so solid an endorsement would ensure Poilievre’s command...
The 6-3 majority U.S. Supreme Court decision on the unlawful nature of President Donald Trump’s emergency act tariffs suggests democracy is still alive in the Great Republic. Friday’s decision reaffirmed the basic constitutional principle about the separation of powers between Congress and the president, clarifying that Trump has no authority on his own to impose tariffs using the International Emergency...
After announcing months ago he’d be exiting politics last fall to focus “entirely” on his family — who live in Victoria — ex-Conservative Edmonton MP Matt Jeneroux flew to the airport just south of his riding on Wednesday to announce his new allegiance to the Liberals.
The Conservative Party of Canada is now in a pickle. The recent leadership review in Calgary, Alta., produced an overwhelming endorsement of Pierre Poilievre. It was a somewhat inscrutable result. Delegates gave the man who led them to defeat in the last election, and who lost his own seat, a support level of just over 87 per cent. Political parties...
When one of Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative MPs, Jamil Jivani, travelled to Washington to meet with Trump administration officials, he chose to chastise Canadians for having an anti-American “hissy fit” in an interview with MAGA site Breitbart News. It’s hard to imagine a more harmful piece of public relations for the Conservatives. And it is a golden opportunity for Mr. Poilievre...
To understand Premier Danielle Smith’s headline-grabbing and controversial attack on federal immigration policy last Thursday, you have to look ahead to the Alberta provincial budget being unveiled this Thursday. It’s going to be a doozy. A doozy of a government fiscal deficit, to be precise. We don’t know yet how much, but the current 2025-26 budget is expected to run...
On Jan. 9 in Saskatoon, Trevor Dubois died after an altercation with security at the Royal University Hospital. Dubois was receiving chemotherapy, and a security guard thought he had an imitation gun and so Dubois was restrained to the point of unconsciousness. He died. The 36-year-old was from Muskoday First Nation. His friends talked about his infectious laugh, and his...
The walls of Parliament shook this week with yet another floor-crossing of Edmonton MP Matt Jeneroux to join Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal caucus. This wasn’t just a procedural shift in the halls of Parliament, it is a stark symbol of a new, unsettling reality in Conservative politics. While floor-crossing is a historical reality and, let’s be honest, Liberals have...
As we mark the fourth anniversary of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a few points strike me as most important. The first is that this war has been — its geopolitical, political, and military characteristics aside— a battle of truth vs. lies. President Vladimir Putin has never accepted Ukraine’s separate identity, borders, national identity, language, culture, or sovereignty. Putin articulates...
Canada is sending $8 million in food aid to people in Cuba, where a U.S. oil blockade has triggered a humanitarian crisis. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and MP Randeep Sarai, secretary of state for international development, say the funding is aimed at addressing urgent needs. The funding will be delivered through United Nations agencies instead of the Cuban government.
One of Canada’s largest Indigenous groups says it won’t participate in consultations with Ottawa on potential changes to the second-generation cutoff, accusing the government of working to delay ending the controversial law that designates who can be awarded Indian status. In an email sent last week and shared with iPolitics, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs called the justification for...
During the 2011 federal election, an “orange wave” crashed over much of Quebec and parts of Canada, electing the largest contingent of NDP MPs in the party’s history. In 2026, the last of the wave’s MPs is expected to leave as the party faces a drought in Quebec.
The federal Conservative Party is limiting access to its databases for the duration of the B.C. Conservative Party leadership race after a federal riding association appeared to be using its mailing list to promote a candidate. The letter from the Conservative Party notified riding associations of the move a day after the Vancouver Centre Conservative Association sent an invitation to...
Light is being cast on two measures the Liberal government hoped to pass with little scrutiny this week but public outcry many not be loud enough for Prime Minister Mark Carney to change course. The first is on the extraordinary powers the Star first raised concerns about back in December. Hidden in the government’s 600-page budget bill is a measure...
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was aware of oil company South Bow's plans to revive parts of the canceled Keystone XL pipeline to the United States when he floated the idea to U.S. President Donald Trump in October, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
With the appointment of former top bureaucrat Janice Charette, Prime Minister Mark Carney has bucked tradition by picking a chief negotiator for Canada-United States trade who doesn’t have an abundance of trade experience. In the past, chief trade negotiators have had extensive experience with the technical side of trade policy, having served in Global Affairs Canada’s (GAC) trade policy bureau...
As American President Donald Trump addresses the union this evening, Canadians may have some interest in the chosen topics, which will likely reference the Supreme Court’s recent decision to strike down his tariffs, and even Canada’s heartbreaking losses in the Olympic hockey tournament, both men’s and women’s. If Trump’s speech is anything like his first year, Canadians will likely be...
OTTAWA -- Canadian airlines resumed flights in and out of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Tuesday after widespread violence led them to temporarily suspend service on the weekend.
Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon says his party's fourth consecutive byelection victory is a sign that Quebecers are ready for profound change. PQ candidate Marie-Karlynn Laflamme won the byelection in the Chicoutimi riding on Monday with more than 45 per cent of the vote, compared to about 26 per cent for second-place Conservative Catherine Morissette.
The costs of the program have ballooned from $226 million in 2019 to $1 billion in 2025. A Conservative motion to restrict health-care benefits to failed asylum claimants was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, with the projected cost of a federal health program for refugees expected to increase to $1.5 billion by 2030. “Under the Liberals, the Interim Federal Health...
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is once again joining Prime Minister Mark Carney on a trade mission. The trade mission is set to depart on Thursday and continue to March 7. Moe is part of the Canadian delegation set to attend meetings in New Delhi and Mumbai, according to the Prime Minister's Office. It's not the first time that Moe and...
The Liberal government’s newest MP — Conservative defector Matt Jeneroux — will travel with Prime Minister Mark Carney on his upcoming trip to India, Australia and Japan. Carney’s office announced Tuesday that Jeneroux will join the prime minister on the three-country trip in his capacity as “special advisor on economic and security partnerships.” Jeneroux was given that title last week...
Prime Minister Mark Carney promised another $2 billion in military aid and more sanctions on Moscow on Tuesday, as Ukraine marked four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion "Four years on, Russia is failing militarily, strategically and economically, and we are in it for the long term," Carney told reporters before the weekly cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill. "Russia...
In a week that featured a focus on US tariffs and an MP defection, last week was not a great week for Pierre Poilievre. He now trails Mark Carney in the preferred PM tracking by 31 points. The Liberals have opened a lead in the Nanos tracking outside of the margin of error for the research: LPC 41, CPC 34, NDP 11.
Hyundai Motor Co. has proposed building hydrogen fuel-cell infrastructure in Canada as part of South Korea’s bid for a contract to build a new submarine fleet, according to an executive at Hanwha Ocean Co. Hanwha Defence Canada Chief Executive Officer Glenn Copeland said Hyundai briefed Canadian officials during their recent visit to Korea, presenting early plans for three or four...
As Prime Minister Mark Carney heads to India this week for trade talks, police have warned a Canadian Sikh leader about a “credible threat” to his life. Moninder Singh, who heads the Sikh Federation of Canada, said a member of the Vancouver Police Department delivered the caution on Sunday. The tip about the threat came from a confidential informant, the...
Alexandre Boulerice says he's mulling run with pro-independence left-wing party. Quebec NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice said Monday that he's seriously considering running for Québec Solidaire in this year's provincial election. French-language media had first reported last week that Boulerice was looking into running for the progressive sovereignist party this fall. "Right now I have a mandate. I am a federal...
Jocelyne Bourgon, who led the country’s public service during the deep cost-cutting of the mid-1990s as the first female clerk of the Privy Council, is urging current leaders to learn from the past as they aim to reshape the federal bureaucracy. Spending should be reined in by eliminating lower priority programs, rather than relying on attrition and across-the-board cuts that...
A Crown corporation alerted Canada's international trade minister about the sale of artillery ammunition to the U.S., some of which was destined for Israel, CBC News has learned. The CEO of the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), which oversees international arms transfers, wrote a letter to Dominic LeBlanc on March 20, 2025. "As a trusted industry partner, General Dynamics Ordnance [and]...
People opposed to the federal government's firearms ban and compensation program are planning a rally Saturday in Quebec City to accuse Ottawa of unfairly singling out law-abiding gun owners. The event will come about six weeks into the sign-up period for gun owners to declare interest in a federal program offering them money for turning in or permanently deactivating firearms...
As Ottawa continues to vow it will send aid to Cuba at some point, the island nation's ambassador to Canada is set to testify before the House foreign affairs committee this afternoon. Ambassador Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz is scheduled to address the committee after it hears from the officials at Global Affairs Canada responsible for regional issues and humanitarian response.
Public trust in Canada's key institutions is on the rise as the country navigates unprecedented tensions with the United States, a new poll suggests. The annual CanTrust Index published by Proof Strategies -- which was conducted online and can't be assigned a margin of error -- surveyed 1,501 Canadians between Jan. 7 and 15. Canadians' trust in others and in...
British Columbia Premier David Eby says it "looks like" OpenAI had the opportunity to prevent the recent mass shootings in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., in which nine people died, as pressure piles on the artificial intelligence firm over its handling of interactions with 18-year-old shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar. Eby said Monday there would be a public accounting in which the company...
A staffer and volunteer for MP Nate Erskine-Smith, a presumed frontrunner in Ontario’s Nov. 21 Liberal leadership race, has been hit with $2,400 in fines for violations under the Canada Elections Act. The administrative monetary penalties against Andrew Goodridge were for failing to comply with political financing and reporting requirements.
NDP leadership hopeful Heather McPherson ruffled some feathers on Sunday evening when she appeared to shoehorn progressive virtue signalling into a social media post addressing the sprialling cartel violence in the Mexican tourist destination of Puerto Vallarta. Article content “Many Canadians, especially members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, are in Puerto Vallarta, where violence has quickly escalated. A shelter-in-place order is...
As officials in some parts of Mexico continue to urge tourists and locals to shelter in place to escape widespread violence, more than 26,000 Canadians in the country have registered with Ottawa. Global Affairs Canada says it has resolved technical issues that initially prevented Canadians from signing up with the department for safety advice. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is...
Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon has called representatives of OpenAI to Ottawa to discuss safety concerns after learning the killer in the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., was banned from using the company's ChatGPT platform months before the murders The company banned Jesse Van Rootselaar's account in June but said the activities on the account didn't meet the threshold...
Donation came less than a month before U.S. president's threat to block bridge's opening. The wealthy owner of a nearly century-old bridge connecting Michigan and Ontario gave $1 million US to a Trump-aligned political action committee (PAC) less than a month before the U.S. president unleashed an online tirade against a new, competing bridge, records show. Matthew Moroun, whose family...
The federal Liberals accepted a Conservative proposal Monday to put guardrails around proposed new cabinet powers as they debated the government's omnibus budget bill. The Liberal government's budget implementation legislation, Bill C-15, proposes to give federal ministers the ability to temporarily exempt individuals or corporations from some non-criminal federal laws -- an approach the government refers to as "regulatory sandboxes."...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump sought in his first State of the Union address to sell Americans on the idea of a booming economy, falling prices, and soaring jobs, yet he faces a skeptical public with a much gloomier view.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump has delivered the State of the Union. Now the challenge for him is to make that message stick.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump's State of the Union address, delivered on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, as transcribed by The Associated Press:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger offered a sharp contrast to President Donald Trump's depiction of the nation as being in a "golden age" during his State of the Union, arguing in her Democratic rebuttal that costs remain high for many Americans more than a year into his second term.
Canada is sending $8 million in food aid to people in Cuba, where a U.S. oil blockade has triggered a humanitarian crisis. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and MP Randeep Sarai, secretary of state for international development, say the funding is aimed at addressing urgent needs. The funding will be delivered through United Nations agencies instead of the Cuban government.
With the appointment of former top bureaucrat Janice Charette, Prime Minister Mark Carney has bucked tradition by picking a chief negotiator for Canada-United States trade who doesn’t have an abundance of trade experience. In the past, chief trade negotiators have had extensive experience with the technical side of trade policy, having served in Global Affairs Canada’s (GAC) trade policy bureau...
Prime Minister Mark Carney promised another $2 billion in military aid and more sanctions on Moscow on Tuesday, as Ukraine marked four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion "Four years on, Russia is failing militarily, strategically and economically, and we are in it for the long term," Carney told reporters before the weekly cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill. "Russia...
A Crown corporation alerted Canada's international trade minister about the sale of artillery ammunition to the U.S., some of which was destined for Israel, CBC News has learned. The CEO of the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), which oversees international arms transfers, wrote a letter to Dominic LeBlanc on March 20, 2025. "As a trusted industry partner, General Dynamics Ordnance [and]...
As Ottawa continues to vow it will send aid to Cuba at some point, the island nation's ambassador to Canada is set to testify before the House foreign affairs committee this afternoon. Ambassador Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz is scheduled to address the committee after it hears from the officials at Global Affairs Canada responsible for regional issues and humanitarian response.
Neepawa, a rural Prairie community of just over 6,000 people west of Winnipeg, has long been shaped by its agricultural roots. It is a place made famous by author Margaret Laurence, whose Manawaka novels drew inspiration from Neepawa and its landmarks, including the stone angel monument in the Riverside Cemetery. But today’s Neepawa is no longer the small, homogeneous town...
In January, Canada and China announced a new trade framework that will lift several Chinese tariffs on Canadian exports as well as Canadian tariffs on Chinese electric cars. Set to take effect March 1, the deal will significantly ease pressure on Canadian exports of canola, pulses and seafood. While the deal is welcome relief, significant damage was done. Saskatchewan’s canola...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has finally revealed his plan to turn Canada into a weapons-exporting global mega-power. “In total, the Defence Industrial Strategy is an investment of over half a trillion dollars in Canadian security, economic prosperity, and our sovereignty,” he announced this week, promising to create over 125 thousand “high-paying careers” building weapons and otherwise supplying the Canadian military...
Cuba has been plunged into darkness. Schools, hospitals and essential services are hit by rolling 12-hour blackouts. Foreigners, including Canadians, have fled. Even worse, infant mortality is climbing.
Lisa Banfield, common-law wife of the man who meticulously slaughtered 22 people six years ago, recently published a memoir of her life-on-eggshells with a controlling killer.
Prime Minister Mark Carney got a third floor crosser from the Conservatives, putting the Liberal seat count at 169 out of the 172 needed for a majority government-- exactly where it was on election day. But here's the kicker-- three byelections need to be called in seats the Liberals won just one year ago. Meaning Carney is on the verge...
Over the last week or so the debate over Canada’s immigration policy has come to the forefront. In Alberta, Premier Danielle Smith has promised to put a series of restrictive new immigration policies to a provincial referendum. In Ottawa, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has brought forward a motion that would compel the federal government to review and restrict the services...
Both the Liberals and the Conservatives suggested a few weeks ago that they would try to find ways to work together to advance the issues facing Parliament. We've heard that kind of talk before and nothing has happened, but what about now? A hint yesterday that maybe, just maybe, there could be progress. Rob Russo of the Economist and Althia...
