'Immoral depravity': Two men convicted in case of frozen migrant family in Manitoba

A jury deliberated for about an hour Friday before convicting two men on human smuggling charges in a case where a family from India froze to death in Manitoba while trying to walk across the Canada-U.S. border.

Steve Shand of Florida and Harshkumar Patel, an Indian national arrested in Chicago, were each found guilty on all four counts they faced related to bringing unauthorized people into the U.S., transporting them and profiting from it.

Prosecutors say alleged smugglers at Manitoba border cared more for money than lives

A prosecutor urged a jury Thursday to find two accused human smugglers guilty, saying the men cared more about money than people's safety and their actions led to the deaths of a family of four in a prairie blizzard.

"They knew they were risking people's lives," Michael McBride said in his closing arguments after three days of testimony in U.S. district court.

"To them, all of those people were nothing but dollar signs."

RCMP issue Canada-Wide arrest warrant for semi-driver in Manitoba fatal crash

A Canada-wide warrant has been issued for the semi-driver involved in last weekend's fatal crash south of Plum Coulee.
    
According to RCMP, officers have been unable to locate 25-year-old, Navjeet Singh.
    
On Wednesday, authorities charged the Brampton, Ontario man with two counts of Dangerous Operation of a Motor Vehicle Causing Death and Obstructing a Peace Officer related to the crash at the intersections of highways 201 and 306 that killed a 35-year-old mom and her 8-year-old daughter.
    

Federal government plans to give $250 cheques to millions of Canadians, cut GST

The Liberal government plans to temporarily lift the federal sales tax off a slew of items just in time for Christmas and send cheques to millions of Canadians this spring, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Thursday.

"Our government can't set prices at the checkout, but we can put more money in people's pockets," Trudeau said at a press conference in Toronto alongside Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. 

Trudeau expected to announce temporary GST break on some items, NDP says

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to announce on Thursday a temporary GST break for certain essential items to help ease affordability pressures.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says in a statement that the announcement is in response to his party's demands to permanently lift the goods and services tax on a range of expenses.