Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press

Ottawa is putting $80.5 million toward a mission to improve security conditions in Haiti, where rampant gang violence has caused an ongoing crisis, Global Affairs Canada said Thursday.

The money will go towards a multinational security mission led by Kenya to support efforts by the Haitian National Police, the department said.

It's expected to support training, communications and logistics for police deployed to the mission and expertise in areas like human rights due diligence.

Ed Broadbent, the affable advocate of social democracy whose principled leadership helped build the modern New Democratic Party and made him a titan of 20th century Canadian politics, has died. He was 87.

Broadbent was "a fierce champion for ordinary Canadians," said a statement Thursday from the eponymous, Ottawa-based think tank he founded in 2011 to propagate his belief in social and economic justice. 

When George Stroumboulopoulos thinks back on his TV career, it's his time hosting The NewMusic in the early 2000s that resonates most.

Many Canadians remember how the gregarious host introduced them to bands and musicians on the MuchMusic program, and those years are part of the reason he is now being appointed to the Order of Canada.

"It was this golden era of television that I don't think could ever be created again," he told The Canadian Press in an interview.

A federal inquiry into foreign interference has asked to delay its first report by about two months in order to allow sufficient time for a public process and hearings on the issues.

Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue said in a press release Friday the requested postponement until May 3 is aimed at giving "meaning and purpose" to preliminary hearings, and to allow more time to maximize transparency.

Ensuring classified information is put into a form that can be released to the public is a long and complicated process, she added.