Poilievre pledges to use the notwithstanding clause, Carney talks defence procurement

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising that a government led by him would use the notwithstanding clause to override Charter rights to implement his tough-on-crime agenda — something no prime minister has ever done.

Poilievre was campaigning in Montreal on Monday, where he announced he would pass a law to allow judges to impose consecutive life sentences in cases of multiple murders. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2022 that imposing consecutive life sentences violates an offender's Charter rights.

Trump says Liberal government would be easier, says Poilievre is 'no friend of mine'

With polls suggesting U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration's use of punishing tariffs are a top-of-mind issue for Canadians ahead of the upcoming federal election, Trump has now offered his thoughts on which political party he would rather work with.

"I'd rather deal with a Liberal than a Conservative," Trump said in an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham Tuesday.

During the interview he reiterated his call for Canada to become a U.S. state and his false claim that the U.S. subsidizes Canada by $200 billion a year.

Prime Minister Mark Carney's government terminates consumer carbon price

Prime Minister Mark Carney's first move after taking office on Friday was to eliminate the consumer carbon price, undoing Justin Trudeau's signature climate policy.

Carney addressed members of the media after the Friday afternoon cabinet meeting, saying the government is "focused on action."

"We will be eliminating the Canada fuel charge, the consumer fuel charge, immediately, immediately," he said.

The order-in-council Carney signed in front of cabinet ministers and the press actually stipulates that the "the fuel charge be removed as of April 1, 2025."

Mark Carney set to become prime minister and name his cabinet this morning

Mark Carney will be sworn in as prime minister this morning at Rideau Hall, where he will also reveal his new cabinet.

Carney won the Liberal leadership race last weekend with an overwhelming 86 per cent of the votes from Liberal members.

He officially takes over from Justin Trudeau as prime minister in today's ceremony.

His first cabinet is expected to be smaller than Trudeau's 37-member team, and some ministers are set to lose their positions.

The Liberals are about to choose the next prime minister. What happens next?

The Liberals will choose a new leader Sunday, marking the end of Justin Trudeau's decade as prime minister.

He will step down officially in the days to come. On Tuesday, Trudeau said he will have a conversation with the incoming leader to determine exactly when that will happen.

"It should happen reasonably quickly, but there's a lot of things to do in a transition like this, particularly in this complicated time in the world," Trudeau said.

Here's a look at what comes next.

Manitoba becomes first province to join national pharmacare program with $219M deal

Manitoba became the first province to officially join Ottawa's pharmacare program on Thursday, giving it access to federal funding to cover the cost of birth control and diabetes medications as well as hormone replacement therapy for menopause.

"This is the beginning of a journey that cannot end," Health Minister Mark Holland said at the announcement in Winnipeg.

"There's no room for politics in this. It's just logic. It's the thing we must do for this country."

Polls suggest a close race as federal election approaches

Multiple polls now suggest the next federal election will be a tight race, and at least one major pollster has the Liberals leading the Conservatives for the first time in nearly four years.

A survey from Ipsos released this week suggests that if an election were held today, 38 per cent of Canadians would support the Liberals and 36 per cent would back the Conservatives.

That's a major shift from just six weeks ago, when the Conservatives held a 26-point lead in Ipsos polls.

Opposition parties call for Parliament's return after Trump hits pause on tariffs

The federal Conservatives and New Democrats say the government needs to recall Parliament within the next month to act on U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threat.

On Monday, Trump agreed not to impose punishing tariffs on Canadian imports until March 4 after striking a deal with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over two phone calls.

Trudeau says he presented Trump with the federal government's plan to secure the border and tackle fentanyl production and trafficking.

Trudeau says U.S. tariffs on Canada will be paused for 30 days

U.S. President Donald Trump has agreed not to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico for another month, pulling back from a plan that would have tipped North America into a trade war on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with Trump twice on Monday, their first discussions since the president took over the White House on Jan. 20. After what Trudeau described on social media as a "good call" in the afternoon, the two leaders agreed to pause tariffs for at least 30 days.

Foreign interference probe calls on party leaders to get security clearances

The federal public inquiry into foreign interference is calling on the leaders of all political parties to get top-secret security clearances — a recommendation that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is not following.

In her final report, commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue said party leaders should seek such clearance as soon as possible after they are elected. She recommended that all parties in the House of Commons ensure at least two of their members have top-secret clearance.