National News

The national price on pollution will rise by $15 per tonne today. Here's some questions answered about what this could mean for you.

Who pays the carbon price?

Canada has two different carbon pricing programs — one for big industry where companies pay the price on a share of their actual emissions, and a consumer carbon levy which is applied to fossil fuel purchases. The consumer levy affects individuals, small and medium-sized businesses, First Nations, as well as public-sector operations such as hospitals, universities, schools and municipalities.

A man accused of helping smuggle people across the U.S.-Canada border into Minnesota, including four members of an Indian family who froze to death in 2022, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to seven counts of human smuggling.

Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 28, who prosecutors say went by the alias “Dirty Harry,” entered his plea during a brief teleconference with U.S. Magistrate Judge Leo Brisbois of Duluth.

Canadian authorities tried to reassure the public about the safety of bridges in the country following the collapse of a bridge in Baltimore, Md., early Tuesday morning after it was rammed by a container ship.

Halifax Harbour Bridges, which operates the two spans across the harbour between Halifax and Dartmouth, said it has taken steps to mitigate the risks of collisions between ships and bridges. The Crown corporation says it is notified by the port authority every time a commercial vessel is scheduled to pass underneath the spans.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pushing back against premiers who are asking him to cancel an upcoming increase to the federal carbon price, saying they have not proposed better ideas to fight climate change. 

In a reply to the seven provincial leaders on Tuesday, Trudeau said the last time they discussed the issue in 2022, their governments either didn't propose alternative solutions or couldn't meet federal standards for reducing emissions. 

Canadians are wishing the Princess of Wales a speedy recovery after she announced she has cancer.

Kate says in a video that she has been diagnosed with an unspecified type of cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.

She asks for “time, space and privacy.” 

Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre posted on social media that he joins all Canadians in wishing her a "speedy recovery, and her family support in a difficult time."

Prince William and Kate first toured Canada as a couple in 2011 a few months after they were married.

A solemn parade of dignitaries and VIPs is offering condolences to the family of Brian Mulroney as the former prime minister lies in state near Parliament Hill. 

A guard of honour gingerly delivered Mulroney's flag-shrouded casket before Governor General Mary Simon entered to pay her respects. 

Simon was followed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who walked in alone before greeting family members and bowing his head at the casket. 

The Supreme Court of Canada has decided not to hear an appeal by several churches that fought Manitoba's COVID-19 restrictions.

Lawyers for the churches argued public health orders in 2020 and 2021 that temporarily closed in-person religious services, then permitted them with caps on attendance, violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

They lost that argument in two lower courts.

The Manitoba Court of Appeal ruled last year the restrictions were necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and allowable under the Charter.

A troubling rise in measles cases has a Toronto doctor remembering a little girl who became blind, noncommunicative and incontinent after contracting the virus.

Dr. Barry Goldlist was a medical student in 1973 when he saw the child, who was about 10, at the Hospital for Sick Children. She had developed subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, or SSPE, a rare and fatal nervous system disease that typically strikes those who were infected with measles before their second birthday.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has pledged that the government will meet its fiscal targets in the upcoming federal budget, but economists say achieving that goal will be challenging as the deficit tracks higher. 

Amid mounting pressure to rein in spending, the Liberals unveiled new fiscal guardrails in the fall that aim to limit deficits. Among the government's promises was that this year's deficit will not exceed $40.1 billion.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pushed back Wednesday on growing demands from premiers to dump the planned April 1 hike to the consumer carbon levy, saying leaders must tackle both affordability and climate change.

"My job is not to be popular,” Trudeau said, briefly pausing and adding with a wry smile, "Although it helps."

"My job is to do the right things for Canada now and do the right things for Canadians a generation from now."