National News

Veterinarians in Canada say they are experiencing extreme burnout and plummeting mental health due to staff shortages, a booming number of animal patients and the round-the-clock stress of the job.

Neil Pothier, a veterinarian since 1985 who runs an animal hospital in Digby, N.S., said caring for animals has never been easy, but it’s a job he’s always loved.

“But now, all day long, people are talking about burnout and thinking of quitting," Pothier said following a meeting with veterinarians from across Nova Scotia. "We are struggling to try and make it.”

The new president of the Alberta Medical Association says doctors are apprehensive about expected changes to the province's health-care delivery system as they deal with ongoing pressures in clinics and hospitals.

Dr. Paul Parks, also an emergency room doctor, has been touring the province to hear from other physicians about their concerns.

"Our system is having some serious difficulties," Parks told reporters Thursday during an online news conference.

The New Democrats intend to back the Conservatives on a motion to pull the carbon price off all home heating until after the next election, NDP House Leader Peter Julian said Thursday.

"The reality is we need to make sure that affordability is available to all Canadians and that's why we're supporting this motion," said Julian.

The decision delivers another political blow to the Liberals, who have been scrambling for days to defend their decision to pause the carbon price on home heating oil for the next three years.

A woman accused of faking her death and that of her child before they crossed the border into the United States has been given a one-year conditional sentence that she can serve in the community.

Dawn Walker was also given 18 months probation and ordered to perform 300 hours of community service. She cannot have contact with her child without supervision and must stay in Saskatchewan.

The Conservative party is maintaining a steady lead over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals, a new poll suggests, at a time when Canadians are reporting limited trust in their institutions. 

Pierre Poilievre's Tories are 14 percentage points ahead of the governing party, with 40 per cent of respondents in the survey saying they would vote Conservative, 26 per cent Liberal and 17 per cent NDP if an election were held that day.

Chris Holopina called his mom in Manitoba every single week while he was deployed in Bosnia in 1996. 

At 23, he was doing exactly what he'd always wanted to do: serving in the Canadian Armed Forces as a combat engineer. 

Gloria Hooper remembers how grateful she was that he was able to find time for those weekly calls. 

"I couldn't believe it," she said in an interview on Tuesday from her home in St. Claude, Man. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says there will be no further carbon price carve-outs, including for natural gas heating, as criticism mounts of his decision to temporarily exempt home heating oil from the policy.

The promise is landing with a political thud, with both Conservative and NDP leaders accusing Trudeau of regional favouritism to save his political skin in Atlantic Canada, and former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney saying he would have found a different way to ease the rising cost of living.

The federal government's priorities for improving Canada's immigration system include better aligning the number of people welcomed to the country with what the labour market needs, as well as services and infrastructure, says a report released Tuesday.

"With an aging population, people living longer, families having fewer children, Canada imperatively needs immigration to rebalance our demographics and support the growing need for workers," federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Tuesday.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the Liberals to exempt all forms of home heating from the carbon price, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a temporary exemption that only applies to home heating oil.

The federal government announced last week that it is increasing the carbon price rebate for rural Canadians and lifting the carbon price off home heating oil entirely for the next three years.

The son of a Canadian woman believed to be among those held hostage by Hamas in Gaza wants the world to push for an end to the fighting, and says he fears Israel's escalating offensive could end all chance of bringing his mother safely home. 

"My basic belief is that the military actions don't solve anything," said Yonatan Zeigen.

His mother, Vivian Silver, is one of an estimated 229 hostages taken by Hamas during its bloody Oct. 7 rampage in Israel.