National News

The House of Commons transport committee is launching an investigation into airport delays and flight cancellations.

The committee met virtually on Monday and voted unanimously to move forward with a study into the delays.

The committee will invite Transport Minister Omar Alghabra to testify and will hold its first hearing by the end of next week. 

Airlines and airports have been grappling with a surge in travel this summer, compounded by staffing shortages affecting both carriers and federal agencies.

Saskatoon police say a woman who had been reported missing is facing charges in the United States related to unauthorized use of identification and in Canada related to parental abduction and public mischief.  

Dawn Walker had been reported missing along with her seven−year−old son before they were found safe in Oregon last week.

Deputy Chief Randy Huisman with the Saskatoon Police Service says Walker remains in custody in the United States, where she is to appear in court on felony and misdemeanor charges related to false identification.

A parliamentary committee will begin exploring the RCMP’s use of spyware on Monday, diving deeper into an issue that's sounded alarms for privacy and civil liberties groups across the country.

The House of Commons ethics and privacy committee called for a summer study after the RCMP revealed its use of tools that covertly obtain data from devices like phones and computers. 

Matt Berry was driving home after golfing Monday evening when cloudy skies quickly turned into a rare storm that dropped hail the size of softballs, caving in his windshield and leaving about 150 dents in his car.

"I was getting covered in shards of glass," the graphic designer said as he recalled the moment he pulled over on a country road to take cover while driving from Innisfail, Alta., to his home in Red Deer, Alta.

"The noise was quite loud," he said. "It was just crazy. Scary at times, but really it was just shock and awe more than anything."

Jean Charest spent the last official debate of the federal Conservative leadership race on Wednesday stressing that his experience as a political leader is what the party needs to unite.

But with six weeks left in the contest, the former Quebec premier, who once led the erstwhile federal Progressive Conservative party, would not say whether he plans to remain within the Conservative Party of Canada if another candidate is revealed as the winner on Sept. 10.

Matt Berry was driving home after golfing Monday evening when cloudy skies quickly turned into a rare storm that dropped hail the size of softballs, caving in his windshield and leaving about 150 dents in his car.

"I was getting covered in shards of glass," the graphic designer said as he recalled the moment he pulled over on a country road to take cover while driving from Innisfail, Alta., to his home in Red Deer, Alta.

"The noise was quite loud," he said. "It was just crazy. Scary at times, but really it was just shock and awe more than anything."

Ottawa police arrested a driver after what they describe as an unauthorized vehicle drove into the front gates of Parliament Hill early this morning. 

Police say a vehicle rammed into the gates outside the legislature at about 3:30 a.m. and security infrastructure prevented it from entering the grounds.

An officer was nearby and took the driver into custody without further incident, the police statement says, and no criminal charges have yet been laid. 

Tears streamed down Kim Phuc Phan Thi's face as she stood at the entrance to a plane set to carry Ukrainian newcomers from Poland to Canada last month.

The aircraft was emblazoned with a famous black and white photo of Phan Thi as a nine-year-old child – an image that made her known as the "napalm girl" – showing her naked, screaming and fleeing an attack during the Vietnam War.

Fifty years after that photograph was taken, Phan Thi found herself drawn to helping Ukrainians escape the war in their country for the safe haven of Canada, just as she had done decades ago.

New statistics show that police-reported extortion cases in Canada rose by nearly 300 per cent in the last decade, as the crime swelled online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“These concerning increases are being facilitated by social media platforms and other electronic services providers," said Lianna McDonald, the executive director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, in a news release.  

"It should be a wake-up call."

For the first time since the start of a Canadian tour highlighted by apologies for the Catholic Church's role in Indigenous residential schools, Pope Francis on Thursday acknowledged sexual abuse inflicted on "minors and vulnerable people."

Speaking at a prayer service at Quebec City's Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral, Francis said the church in Canada is on a new path after being devastated by “the evil perpetrated by some of its sons and daughters.”