These are the 30 most read items on National Newswatch, from the last seven days.
Conservative MP Michael Ma, who represents the Ontario riding of Markham-Unionville, is crossing the floor to the Liberal Party, according to a statement released Thursday night. Ma, who was first elected in this year’s federal election, now brings the Liberals one seat shy of a majority with 171 seats. “After listening carefully to the people of Markham–Unionville in recent weeks...
Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., Kirsten Hillman, said Tuesday she will be leaving her diplomatic post in the new year, after serving as the top envoy representing Canada in Washington, D.C., since 2020. Her replacement will be Mark Wiseman, two sources close to the government say. Wiseman is a 55-year-old financier and is said to be a close friend of...
Like snow blanketing the country, a quieting has settled upon caucus rumblings over the leadership of Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. But as the days count down until the January Conservative convention, and his leadership review, is Poilievre standing on solid ground or skating on thin ice? New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds a majority (58%) of recent...
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday his government's plan to get public servants to spend more time in the office will come into "sharper view" over the next several weeks. The issue came up when Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe asked Carney about the prospect of public sector job cuts during the mayor's monthly breakfast event with the Ottawa Board of...
Opposition parties are warning Prime Minister Mark Carney against appointing a long-time friend and wealthy financier as Canada’s ambassador to Washington. The U.S. envoy post opened after Ambassador Kirsten Hillman announced Tuesday that she will leave Canada’s most important diplomatic position in the new year. A source has told The Globe and Mail that Canadian financier Mark Wiseman, a close...
The Liberal government’s budget bill is stuck in the opening round of debate with just one week to go before an increasingly acrimonious minority Parliament breaks for the holidays. As a result, it is highly unlikely that the bill will be studied in committee – let alone approved into law – this year. Liberal MP Karina Gould, the chair of...
Have you heard the one about the two Pierre Poilevres in the bank vault? While the punchline landed with a double shot of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre (Battle River–Crowfoot, Alta.) at this year’s Press Gallery Dinner on Nov. 29—after the leader skipped out on the last three—the set up began months prior and was executed in less than a week...
Hidden in the federal government’s 634-page omnibus bill C-15, the Budget Implementation Act, is a measure that has so far escaped scrutiny. Under the pretext of regulatory efficiency, Prime Minister Mark Carney plans to grant cabinet ministers the power to exempt any individual or company from any federal law on the books — except for the Criminal Code — for...
Bloc Québécois leader says Liberals agreed to remove religious exemption to hate crime laws. The future of the federal government’s anti-hate Bill C-9 is unclear after Justice Minister Sean Fraser’s office brokered a deal with the Bloc Québécois without getting it approved by the Prime Minister’s Office, sources tell CBC News. Bill C-9 proposes new Criminal Code offences, including one...
After first igniting romantic rumours with a lunch in Montreal in July, Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry looked to firm things up on Saturday. Perry posted images of the two of them on her Instagram, among other photos from a trip to Japan where she performed earlier this week on her Lifetimes Tour. She captioned the post "tokyo times on...
Government House leader Steven MacKinnon said Friday there are other MPs in the Conservative caucus who are "extremely frustrated" with the political direction being taken by their party. Questioned by reporters the morning after MP Michael Ma left the Conservatives to join the Liberal caucus, MacKinnon said a handful of Conservatives have shared their frustrations with Liberals privately. Several Conservatives...
In a break from its tradition, and for the first time in its history, the Conservative Party’s national council has authorized the party leader to appoint eight candidates in ridings across the country for the next election, say Conservative sources. “The council has agreed to eight appointments [by the leader],” a senior Conservative told The Hill Times. “Basically [there is]...
It’s a grand bargain that feels like a fire sale. That at least is how some have characterized the Memorandum of Understanding on energy that was signed late last month by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he may impose “very severe tariffs” on fertilizer from Canada “if we have to” in order to bolster domestic production. Trump made the comment while taking questions from reporters during a roundtable event at the White House where he announced a US$12-billion tariff relief fund for American farmers, who have been facing rising costs...
The Liberal government will vote against a Conservative motion on Tuesday that calls for the federal government to support a bitumen pipeline, a senior government source tells CTV News. The opposition motion, which is non-binding, explicitly calls for the support of “one or more pipelines enabling the export of at least one million barrels a day of low-emission Alberta bitumen...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s motion calling for the House of Commons to declare their support for a new Alberta pipeline failed Tuesday, after a day of considerable parliamentary wrangling. By a vote of 139 to 196, the motion – the official Opposition’s final opportunity of the year to force a vote on an issue they deem pressing – was defeated...
“The timing (of Ma’s decision) was catastrophically bad for Conservatives, because you can’t bring everyone in and (say), rah, rah, everything is OK,” said one senior Conservative source, granted anonymity to discuss internal party politics. The source predicted that Carney will have a majority by spring 2026 “one way or another,” meaning they expect at least one more Conservative MP...
Conservative MPs no longer have a lock on running as candidates in the next election under new rules adopted by the party’s national council. Two party sources told The Globe and Mail the new rules allow a majority of party members in a riding to force an incumbent MP into a nomination race in minority Parliament situations. In majority Parliaments...
Bill C-15, “An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget,” is 634 pages long. It creates four new Acts, repeals six more, and amends at least 45 others, on matters ranging from stablecoins to broadcasting to the marketing of freshwater fish. It is, in short, an omnibus bill, the sort with which we have grown all too familiar in...
The activist former environment minister's departure is great news for this country. Readers will recall that I was censorious of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s histrionic emulation of Winston Churchill during the election campaign, lacking only the siren-suit, the cigar and the eloquence, as he promised to lead Canada with raised elbows “in the fields and in the streets,” as he...
The polling done exclusively for the Toronto Star shows the Liberals and the Conservatives tied at 41 per cent. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s personal popularity took its first major hit in Abacus Data’s most recent polling, while the overall numbers still show a neck-and-neck race between the Liberals and Conservatives. The polling done exclusively for the Toronto Star shows the...
The weaponization of trade to “strengthen American power and pre-eminence” is entrenched in the new U.S. National Security Strategy recently released by the White House. In the prologue, U.S. President Donald Trump writes that the U.S. “will continue to develop every dimension of our national strength, and we will make America safer, richer, freer, greater and more powerful than ever...
Aaron Gunn, a Conservative MP first elected in April, says he is “seriously considering” a bid to seek the leadership of the British Columbia Conservatives. The job opened up last week when John Rustad, a former provincial cabinet minister, stepped down amidst intense pressure from members of his caucus. Mr. Gunn, who represents North Island-Powell River, said Wednesday he will...
Normally if people are down about the economy they are angry at government. It’s more complicated right now, as people see economic pressures from outside our borders. Other than tagging every scandal something-gate, It’d be hard to find a more overused phrase in modern political analysis than “it’s the economy, stupid”. In 1992, James Carville wrote it on a sign...
The House of Commons could rise as early as Thursday for the winter break -- without the Liberals passing their lengthy budget implementation bill. The House calendar officially has MPs in their seats until Friday but they could agree to break for Christmas before the end of the day. They are scheduled to return to the House on January 26...
The federal government has released few details when it comes to which departments and agencies will be shedding the most jobs in the coming spending review. In Budget 2025, around 30,000 public service jobs were detailed to be shed over the next three years, which adds to the 10,000 jobs already cut last year. The cuts amount to around 1...
Democrats point to Trump's policies hurting American businesses. The drop in Canadian tourism to the United States in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's actions is hurting American businesses in several states, a new report by a congressional committee has found. The report, prepared by the Democrat minority of the U.S. Congress's joint economic committee, warns that states along the...
The panel’s discussion focused on the ability of Mark Carney’s government to deliver on its agenda. Article content Lang, a former chief of staff to two Liberal defence ministers and now acting director at the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University, pointed out that Carney faces the frustrations of attempting to move at speeds the bureaucracy was not designed...
If there’s one person who won’t be receiving any Conservative MP Christmas cards, it’s Markham–Unionville MP Michael Ma. Article content In fact, if anything, Conservatives want the floor-crossing new Liberal MP to return a Christmas gift he already received.
Pete Hoekstra said any deal the U.S. strikes with Canada will include oil, expecting that ‘there would be more oil capacity, production and export opportunities down to the United States.’ The U.S. ambassador to Canada says he is “encouraged” by the energy deal Prime Minister Mark Carney struck with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, saying he believes it will lead to...