National News

The United Nations is bracing for a further increase in the number of refugees this year, as last month's earthquake in Turkey and Syria adds to a series of crises that has the world looking to Canada for more help.

"The need around the world is enormous," said Kelly Clements, the UN's deputy high commissioner for refugees, on a visit to Canada this week.

"It's the beginning of what we anticipate will be another very difficult year."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Manitoba will achieve an average of $10-a-day child care by April 2, which is three years ahead of schedule. 

Trudeau says it is a great reminder of what can be done when governments work together.

Manitoba signed onto the Liberal government's national child-care plan in 2021, which saw Ottawa commit $1.2 billion to the province over five years. 

Premier Heather Stefanson says hitting the milestone early is important for the future of Manitoba families. 

The RCMP is not investigating any allegations of foreign interference concerning the last general election, the federal deputy minister of public safety told a parliamentary committee Wednesday.

Shawn Tupper was appearing at the committee on procedure and House affairs, which is looking into accusations of Chinese meddling in the 2019 and 2021 elections.

The Liberal government has come under pressure in recent weeks to explain what Canada is doing about accusations of Chinese interference in the elections following leaks to the media from unnamed security sources.

The federal government has signed an agreement in principle with Saskatchewan to invest nearly $6 billion into the province's health-care system over the next 10 years. 

"This agreement in principle with the federal government is a positive step that will accelerate and enhance work already underway," Saskatchewan Health Minister Paul Merriman said in a news release Wednesday.

Some members of Parliament want to see Google in the hot seat over the tech company's move to temporarily block news access to some of its Canadian users.

The House of Commons heritage committee is meeting today and members are expected to discuss whether to summon leadership from Google to testify. 

Last week Google confirmed to The Canadian Press that it was limiting news access on its search engine to less than four per cent of its Canadian users. 

Alberta has become the seventh province to sign an agreement in principle with Ottawa on health-care funding.

The federal government said in a news release Monday that more than $24 billion is to be invested in Alberta's health-care system over the next 10 years.

Canada is imposing more sanctions against Iran for what it describes as gross violations of human rights. 

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced twelve senior Iranian government and law enforcement officials are being sanctioned for participating in "gross and systematic human rights violations," including through repressing demonstrations in the western part of the country.

The listed individuals will have their Canadian assets frozen and be barred from entering the country. 

Alberta is scheduled to introduce its budget Tuesday — the last before a spring provincial election — with political observers wondering what the province will do with all its billions of extra petrodollars.

“Any budget that’s leading into an election is always one that contains quite a few goodies,” said University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe.

“Combine that with a government with significantly higher resource royalties than planned, and you have a lot of scope for big announcements."

The federal government says in a news release that it has signed an agreement in principle with Manitoba to invest more than $6.7 billion in the province's health-care system over 10 years. 

That includes more than $1.2 billion for a new bilateral agreement focusing on shared health-care priorities.

It also includes $72 million in an immediate, one-time top up to the Canada Health Transfer paid to Manitoba to address urgent needs, especially in pediatric hospitals and emergency rooms and for long surgical wait times. 

Canada's Ambassador to Ukraine said she woke up with a sense of apprehension about what the day would bring, as the country marked the start of its second year of war since the Russian invasion. 

For most Ukrainians Larisa Galadza has spoken to, the anniversary of the invasion is not a day for reflection, as they're still living it day to day, she said. 

"There is no space for reflection," Galadza said, sitting in a boardroom in the Canadian Embassy in Ukraine's capital city of Kyiv on Friday.

"I find that for myself as well."