Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press

Senior federal officials have been looking quietly for ways to bring together Canadians who don't see eye to eye on the economy, immigration and social issues.

With a general election looming, officials prepared to meet last November to brainstorm solutions to the problem of social fragmentation, according to an internal presentation drafted by the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Party leaders emphasized familiar themes Thursday as they criss-crossed the country to shore up support in the final stretch of the federal election campaign.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre began Thursday in Halifax — where he pitched a promise of change for Canadians struggling to afford life's essentials — before heading to Saskatoon.

In Coquitlam, B.C., Liberal Leader Mark Carney spoke about bringing Canadians together to build up the country to fight U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war.

The Supreme Court of Canada says a person must wait seven years after completely finishing their post-secondary studies before they can be released from student loan debt under the federal bankruptcy law.

The top court's decision came Thursday in the case of Izabela Piekut, who received government student loans in the course of three university programs from 1987 to 2003.

Piekut later returned to school and earned a master's degree in 2009 without the help of additional student loans.

The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed a challenge of a government ban on firearms that Ottawa considers fit only for the battlefield, not hunting or sport shooting. 

The Liberals outlawed some 1,500 firearm models and variants in May 2020, meaning they could no longer be legally used, sold or imported. 

The move was generally applauded by gun control advocates as a first step toward removing firearms used in mass shootings from circulation. 

The New Democrats and Conservatives both pitched ideas on the federal election trail Thursday to make Canada and its workers more resilient in the face of tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh proposed tax-free savings bonds, while Pierre Poilievre said a Conservative government would remove the federal sales tax from Canadian-made vehicles.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney, in his role as prime minister, met virtually Thursday with Canada's premiers to discuss the U.S. tariffs as Canadian automakers started to feel the effects.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney promised Monday to get the federal government back into the business of home building, while Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives pitched a national energy corridor to fast-track approval of key infrastructure.

The New Democrats rolled out their own national project — a promise to help retrofit 3.3 million homes and pay for it by cutting supports for big oil and gas companies. 

A federal judge has dismissed a legal challenge of Justin Trudeau's move to prorogue Parliament, concluding the prime minister did not exceed the bounds of his authority.

Two Nova Scotia men had asked the Federal Court to declare the current suspension of Parliament illegal because there must be a "reasonable justification" for hitting the pause button. 

David MacKinnon of Amherst, N.S., and Aris Lavranos of Halifax sought an order setting aside Trudeau's January decision to advise Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to exercise her power to prorogue Parliament until March 24. 

Police say they have made more than 100 arrests and laid more than 300 charges in a national child exploitation crackdown, with some help from device-sniffing dogs.

Representatives of the RCMP and other police forces provided an update Wednesday on a project aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse.

RCMP Insp. Matthieu Girard told a news conference the recent sweep, known as Project Steel, led to the identification of dozens of victims and 37 children being safeguarded from harm.

Canada's spy agency warns that colliding global developments make the Arctic an "attractive, strategic and vulnerable destination" for foreign adversaries seeking to establish a presence in Canada.

A newly released Canadian Security Intelligence Service assessment flags the environment, critical infrastructure, economic activity and geopolitics as converging factors making the region susceptible to threats from abroad. 

The Prime Minister's Office says Justin Trudeau spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump about the war in Ukraine on Saturday ahead of a virtual G7 meeting slated for Monday.

Earlier this week, Trudeau told reporters that Ukraine must have a seat at the table in any talks on ending hostilities ignited by Russia's full-scale invasion three years ago.

Russian and U.S. representatives met in Saudi Arabia this week, without Kyiv's participation, and agreed to work toward a resolution of the war.