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Stéphan Perreault and his team have been helping restore power in North Carolina since Hurricane Helene hit in late September, and they don't expect to be heading home any time soon.

They are some of the hundreds — possibly thousands — of Canadian line workers who have been called into service to help rebuild power grids after Helene and now Hurricane Milton have left millions of Americans in the dark.

Former public safety minister Bill Blair told a federal inquiry Friday he had no knowledge about delays in approving a spy service warrant in 2021 that may have included references to people in his own government.

A commission of inquiry into foreign interference has heard that it took 54 days for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service warrant application to be approved by Blair.

The average turnaround time for such applications is four to 10 days.

Here's a look at some of this week's top news photos as selected by editors.

This drone image provided by Kairat Kassymbekov shows flooding from Hurricane Milton in Tampa, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Kairat Kassymbekov via AP)

A former public safety minister says he is very worried the unfolding conversation about some parliamentarians being complicit in foreign interference is becoming a "kangaroo court." 

Marco Mendicino told a commission of inquiry into foreign meddling Thursday it is important to follow due process under the law before jumping to conclusions about the conduct of parliamentarians. 

A Toronto artist based in Florida says he's anxiously waiting to ensure the safety of his friends in the state and assess the potentially catastrophic damage to his property as Hurricane Milton barrels towards his community just outside Sarasota.

He's just one of many Canadians who own homes in the state. Like him, many have fled because of this hurricane or its predecessor Helene, which unleashed devastation across several southern states just a few weeks ago. 

Roughly half a century ago, Mikhail Baryshnikov dashed into a waiting car after a series of Toronto performances, defecting from the Soviet Union in a move that made international headlines.

On Tuesday Baryshnikov, one of the most renowned ballet dancers of the 1970s and '80s, paid tribute to the man who helped orchestrate his escape in 1974 – the late Canadian politician Jim Peterson, who was a lawyer at the time.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was not allowed to speak in the House of Commons Tuesday as his public feud with Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly spilled into a second day.

House Speaker Greg Fergus delivered the penalty to Poilievre in the morning, a day after he asked the leader of the opposition to withdraw a remark accusing Joly of pandering to supporters of the terrorist organization Hamas.

Federal political parties appear to be locked in a game of chicken in an increasingly precarious Parliament over a debate that has stalled almost all business in the House of Commons.

The Conservatives have vowed the debate will continue until the Liberals hand over unredacted documents to the RCMP about a green-tech foundation that was found to have misspent government money.

The debate has now stretched into its second week.

A newly released document shows federal cabinet ministers were warned in May 2022 that hostile states were targeting Canada's strategic interests, the integrity of Canadian institutions and democratic processes, and the ability of the public to exercise Charter-protected rights and freedoms.

The document is a summary of one of four memorandums to cabinet, generally considered closely held confidences, that were provided to a federal commission of inquiry into foreign interference as part of its terms of reference. 

The Oct. 7 attack by Hamas fighters on Israel last year, and the immediate Israeli retaliation that followed, sent shockwaves throughout the world that have shaken Canada culturally and politically.

Here is a look at some of the major developments in Canada related to the conflict.

Oct. 7, 2023 — Hamas-led militants launched air and ground attacks on Israel, killing nearly 1,200 and taking more than 250 hostages. The attacks, followed hours later by Israeli counterattacks in the Gaza Strip, marked the beginning of the current Israel-Hamas war.