National News

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is ready to use the notwithstanding clause to protect a new rule requiring parental permission for transgender and nonbinary students to use different names or pronouns at school.

In the face of a court challenge brought against the new education policy, Moe announced late last week that his provincial government would seek to enshrine the changes in legislation to be introduced this fall.

He recently told reporters that his Saskatchewan Party government was prepared to use different "tools" to ensure that the policy remains in place.

Just over one year after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, a new poll suggests a growing number of Canadians believe it’s time to reconsider the country’s ties to the monarchy.

Data released Wednesday by Leger indicates that 63 per cent of respondents said it was time to rethink ties — a seven point increase from March. About 81 per cent of respondents said they didn’t feel attached to the monarchy, compared to 14 per cent who said they did, results similar to six months ago.

Canada's senior public health officials are urging Canadians to get an updated COVID-19 vaccine this fall following the authorization of the first shot targeting the latest variants Tuesday.

Health Canada's regulatory branch approved Moderna's new Spikevax shot, which is formulated for the XBB.1.5 lineage of the Omicron variant. 

Moderna said in a statement the first doses would be shipped to arrive in Canada on Wednesday.

The federal government has tapped a Quebec judge to head a public inquiry into allegations of foreign interference in Canada's affairs.

Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc says the probe will examine meddling by China, Russia and other foreign states and non-state actors.

LeBlanc, who is also the minister of public safety, says Quebec Court of Appeal Justice Marie-Josée Hogue will lead the probe starting Sept. 18.

For Emily Brown, it feels pretty good to be Conservative. 

"It's quite a time to be a part of this, honestly."

Buoyed by successive polls showing the federal party's message on the cost of living and housing resonating among a wider, and younger, swath of Canadians at the governing Liberals' expense, Brown will be among the thousands at the Conservative convention starting today in Quebec City.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says the federal government needs to review the mandate of the Bank of Canada to put people first.

Singh's comment today comes as the bank holds its key interest rate steady at five per cent after raising it 10 times since March of last year.

Singh says while interest rates won't rise, they're still higher than they have been in the last 20 years.

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber are not on trial for their political beliefs against COVID-19 public health orders, but for the means the two "Freedom Convoy" organizers used in trying to end them, a Crown prosecutor argued Tuesday. 

Tim Radcliffe used his opening remarks at the start of their 16-day trial to paint a picture of Lich and Barber at the heart of the protest that gridlocked downtown Ottawa near Parliament Hill for three weeks in January and February 2022, until police moved in to clear the streets.

As Tamara Lich was led away from supporters in handcuffs on the snowy streets of Ottawa in 2022, she threw a single phrase over her shoulder.

"Hold the line," said the petite figurehead of the "Freedom Convoy" movement as the officers at each of her elbows walked her to the waiting cruiser. 

She was echoing the words shouted by of one of her supporters in a scene that was captured on video and circulated online the eve before hundreds of police moved in.

Officers spent the next two days dislodging protesters from the streets around Parliament Hill. 

Canada's spy agency is leaning on Soviet imagery to help prime the public against disinformation but experts say Moscow is more likely to use images that make readers think the messaging is coming from North American sources.

Last month, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service started posting on social media about its efforts to counteract deliberately misleading information online.

Two different federal infrastructure programs have provided funding for more than 43,000 electric vehicle chargers since 2016, but fewer than one in five of them are actually operational, new data show.

The information provided by Natural Resources Canada came as Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson visited Quebec City Wednesday to announce another $25 million to fund 1,500 EV chargers in Quebec.

That announcement is the latest in a constant stream of EV charging announcements in local communities across Canada, as the government aims to help build 84,500 chargers by 2029.