National News

Edmonton Oilers fans crowd around Mary Loewen in a plaza outside the team's home arena during every playoffs game, asking to have their pictures taken with the superfan who's dressed as the Stanley Cup.

Loewen dons a sequined blazer, wears silver gloves and glasses, and covers her face in silver makeup. Then she puts on her "crown" which is meant to imitate the bowl of the famous trophy.

It has 3,500 sequins, and they were all put in by hand.

Before he launched a campaign that would see him take over as leader of Alberta’s New Democrats, Naheed Nenshi worried politics had become too polarized, too toxic for him.

But ultimately that was why the man known for espousing “politics in full sentences” decided he had to return.

“The players make the game. And if we abandon the game because it's so awful, then the game will get worse,” Nenshi said in an interview before winning the party’s leadership vote on the first ballot on Saturday.

“We need a new government very badly, and we're not a debating society.

Provinces are reaching out to Democrats and Republicans alike to make their case for co-operation, bolstering efforts by the federal government to ensure Canada is prepared for any outcome in the upcoming United States election.

"I see provinces and Team Canada both ramping up their efforts," said Laura Dawson, an expert on Canada-U.S. relations and the executive director of the Future Borders Coalition.

Former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi’s appeal to new members outside the traditional fold of the Alberta NDP has propelled him to the helm of the party.

Nenshi becomes the first from Calgary to lead the New Democrats, easily securing the win with 86 per cent of the vote on the first ballot of the party's biggest leadership contest.

The race was pegged as a battle between the NDP's ideological roots and political pragmatism in the traditionally conservative province.

Alberta's Opposition NDP is set to announce its new leader today.

Outgoing Leader Rachel Notley gave a farewell speech to party members Friday night.

She says the party is the strongest it's been in its history.

Notley's New Democrats swept to power as a majority government in 2015, ending a four-decade Progressive Conservative dynasty.

She announced in January she was leaving the job, after the party lost its second consecutive election to the United Conservative Party.

Thousands of deliriously happy fans of the Edmonton Oilers roared as one Friday as the hometown blue and orange ran over the Florida Panthers to set up a winner-take-all Game 7 in the Stanley Cup final.

“We want the cup! We want the cup!” chanted fans inside Rogers Place, while the Oilers circled at centre ice with sticks skyward saluting all after the 5-1 win.

If the Edmonton Oilers can show off their trademark resilience just one more time, they will make Stanley Cup history.

Depth forward Warren Foegele had a goal and an assist as the Oilers forced a decisive Game 7 in this year's Cup final with a 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers on Friday in front of a raucous Rogers Place crowd.

The win moved the Oilers closer to breaking Canada's Cup curse and has Edmonton on the cusp of becoming just the second team to come back from a 3-0 deficit in the final.

Cheryl Oates learned that she needed to lace up a good pair of running shoes to keep up with Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley.

“When I think about her turning me into a runner, despite the fact that I didn't want to be runner, it’s an interesting parallel to her politics,” says Oates, who was head of communications when Notley was premier.

“Given the chance, she will either wear you down or convince you."

On Saturday afternoon, the party will be Notley’s crew no more. It's set to announce a new leader.

Canada needs to meet NATO's minimum defence spending target, and present a plan on how it will reach it as a way to show authoritarian regimes that Western allies are aligned, said the alliance's secretary general on Wednesday.

Numbers NATO released this week show Canada is expected to spend 1.37 per cent of its gross domestic product on defence this year, well below the two per cent target.

Health Minister Mark Holland says he hopes to launch a national pharmacare program by April 1, 2025. 

A pharmacare bill drafted by the Liberals and the NDP has made its way through the House of Commons, but still needs to be studied by the Senate.

The idea is to make birth control and diabetes medication available to anyone with a health card as part of a universal, single-payer program. 

The Liberals budgeted $1.5 billion for the program over five years.