National News

The parliamentary budget officer is projecting inflation will return to the Bank of Canada's two per cent target by the end of the year and the federal deficit will grow amid weakening economic conditions.

The budget watchdog's latest economic and fiscal outlook comes as the federal government gears up for its spring budget and Canadians eagerly wait for the central bank to begin lowering interest rates.

The report predicts the first rate cut to come in April, slightly earlier than financial markets expect.

Alan Holman says the carbon rebate he gets four times a year from the federal government is crucial for his household budget.

Without the funds, the Saskatoon resident, who is on disability assistance, says he'll have to scale back on spending for his everyday needs.

"It gets plugged in with the rest of my money for whatever's on my list," Holman said in a phone interview.

"I'm kind of a little screwed if I don't get the rebate."

Former prime minister Brian Mulroney was remembered by politicians of all political stripes Thursday as a "giant" and a "visionary," as the country absorbed the news of his death at the age of 84.

"Mr. Mulroney was one of the greatest prime ministers in Canadian history," said former Quebec premier Jean Charest, who served in Mulroney's cabinet.

Mulroney died peacefully while surrounded by his family, his daughter Caroline, an Ontario cabinet minister, said on social media. Her spokesman later said he had been hospitalized in Palm Beach, Fla., after a recent fall.

The Supreme Court of Canada says police need judicial authorization to obtain a computer's internet protocol address, calling the identification number a crucial link between a person and their online activity.

The top court's 5-4 ruling came Friday in a case that began in 2017, when Calgary police investigated fraudulent online transactions from a liquor store.

The store's third-party payment processor voluntarily gave police two IP addresses — numerical identifiers assigned by an internet service provider.

Community members hugged the mother of a mass killer after jurors at a Saskatchewan coroner's inquest determined he died from an accidental overdose following a high-speed police pursuit.

Myles Sanderson's family was devastated after he went on a stabbing rampage on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the nearby village of Weldon, said the killer's uncle Eddie Head. 

Eleven people were killed and 17 others injured as Sanderson went door to door attacking people.

The flag on Parliament's Peace Tower fluttered at half-mast Friday morning as Canadians paid tribute to former prime minister Brian Mulroney.

"Canada is in mourning," said Liberal House leader Steve MacKinnon inside a sombre House of Commons, where a book of condolences has been set up for members of Parliament to sign.

Mulroney died Thursday in a Florida hospital following a recent fall at his Palm Beach home. He was 84. He had been treated for prostate cancer almost a year ago and underwent a heart procedure in August.

There was no in-between with Martin Brian Mulroney.

Canadians loved him: In 1984, they handed the youthful charmer a blank cheque and the largest majority mandate in history so he could change the country.

Canadians hated him: When he announced his departure from politics in 1993, his charm was dismissed as blarney, his youth faded into a lugubrious middle-age.

He entered the job with massive support; he left with the lowest approval rating in the history of polling.

The federal natural resources minister says Saskatchewan residents won’t get a carbon rebate, after the province announced it would stop remitting the levy on natural gas to Ottawa.

Jonathan Wilkinson says the province’s move hurts lower income families in Saskatchewan, who would get more in the rebates than they pay in the levies.

Premier Scott Moe had announced the province’s gas utility would stop collecting the carbon price from customers in January, and the province had until Thursday to remit those dollars.

Five former members of Canada's world junior hockey team who are charged with sexual assault in a 2018 incident in London, Ont., have chosen to be tried by a jury.

Dillon Dube, Carter Hart, Michael McLeod, Cal Foote and Alex Formenton were charged with sexual assault last month. McLeod is also facing an additional charge of sexual assault for "being a party to the offence."

The Liberal government is planning to create a "digital safety commission of Canada" to regulate social media companies to take steps to reduce the risk of online harms to their users.

Justice Minister Arif Virani tabled the Online Harms Act today, and creating a new regulator is just one of the new measures being proposed.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has long promised to better protect against online harms, but his ministers have repeatedly said developing such legislation was complicated.