National News

With just three weeks to go until election day, Canada's federal party leaders are back on the road today.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is expected to make an announcement in Toronto today following weekend campaign stops on the East Coast, where he announced plans to impose national rent control and to get every Canadian access to a family doctor in the next five years.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is wrapping up a campaign sweep on the West Coast today before flying to Edmonton for a rally.

Protesters rallied in several cities across the country on Sunday to demonstrate against Donald Trump's threats to Canadian sovereignty, as backlash to an American president who appears bent on upending the global order gains momentum.

Despite softer-than-expected tariffs against Canada last week and a more cordial tone from the White House over the past week, the echo from Trump's repeated remarks about making Canada the 51st state continues to ring in Canadians' ears.

The NDP promised to protect tenants through national rent control while the Conservatives focused their campaign trail message on addictions treatment Sunday.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in Halifax in the morning that his party would tie federal housing funding for provinces and municipalities to tenant protection policies like rent control.

The NDP says housing and rent prices in Canada have doubled since 2015 and the average asking rent hit $2,109 per month in January.

Police say they've charged a 31-year-old Ottawa man with several offences following an incident that placed an area of Parliament Hill under lockdown on Saturday.

Ottawa police said in a media statement Sunday that a man entered East Block in downtown Ottawa at 2:40 p.m. Saturday and started issuing threats to those inside.

Security officials isolated the man in a security screening area while police evacuated the building, which mostly houses offices for senators and their staff.

Police said the man surrendered peacefully after hours of negotiations.

"Freedom Convoy" organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber have been found guilty of mischief for their roles in the 2022 mass protest in Ottawa.

Lich and Barber were key figures and organizers in the protest that saw hundreds of vehicles and thousands of people occupy downtown Ottawa and insist they would stay until COVID-19 public health mandates were eliminated.

Recruiters say there's been a surge of interest from American doctors considering moving to Canada since the election of U.S. President Donald Trump in November. 

Katrina Philopoulos, physician recruitment director for Nova Scotia Health, says 27 American doctors are in serious negotiations to move, talks that have so far resulted in one person being hired and a second who is expected to move to the province next year.

The economy shed 33,000 jobs in March, the biggest loss since January 2022, while the unemployment rate ticked higher, Statistics Canada said Friday.

The agency said the unemployment rate for March rose to 6.7 per cent compared with 6.6 per cent in February.

The hit came amid increased uncertainty caused by U.S. tariffs that have threatened economic growth.

The job losses reversed some of the gains made at the end of last year and into January.

"Freedom Convoy" organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber have been found guilty of mischief for their roles in the 2022 mass protest in Ottawa.

Lich and Barber were key figures and organizers in the protest that saw hundreds of vehicles and thousands of people occupy downtown Ottawa and insist they would stay until COVID-19 public health mandates were eliminated.

The New Democrats and Conservatives both pitched ideas on the federal election trail Thursday to make Canada and its workers more resilient in the face of tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh proposed tax-free savings bonds, while Pierre Poilievre said a Conservative government would remove the federal sales tax from Canadian-made vehicles.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney, in his role as prime minister, met virtually Thursday with Canada's premiers to discuss the U.S. tariffs as Canadian automakers started to feel the effects.

Freedom Convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber are set to hear a verdict today in the joint trial over their roles in the mass protest against pandemic health measures that rolled into Ottawa more than three years ago.

Lich and Barber were both charged with mischief, intimidation and counselling others to break the law in relation to their roles in the 2022 protest that drew thousands of demonstrators to Ottawa for three weeks.

Their trial wrapped up in September after hearing 45 days of evidence and legal arguments.