National News

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is heading to Jamaica after Christmas for a one-week vacation with his immediate family.

The Prime Minister's Office says Trudeau will remain in constant contact with Ottawa during the trip and continue to be briefed and updated on issues.

The PMO also says it checked with the federal ethics commissioner in advance of the travel to make sure it follows guidelines.

Trudeau had been found in violation of conflict-of-interest rules in 2017 after a 2016 vacation he took to the Aga Khan's private island in the Bahamas.

WestJet proactively cancelled flights at airports in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec Thursday night as storm systems bore down on the regions, deepening a cascade of disruptions that have sent travellers scrambling.

Diederik Pen, WestJet's chief operations officer, said the decision to stand down 243 more flights was extremely difficult but necessary, in order to fly safely with as little disruption as possible when the weather improves.

Canada's chief public health officer says COVID-19 is still circulating at a "relatively high level" and other strains of influenza may surge in the new year.

At the same time, governments need to invest in preparing for and preventing future epidemics, Dr. Theresa Tam says.

A major winter storm bearing down on Toronto is adding to the calamity in Canadian airports already plagued by flight cancellations and delays set off early this week by heavy snow in Vancouver. 

Environment Canada says Toronto's storm will begin today with rain or snow followed by plummeting temperatures, a potential flash freeze and blizzard-like conditions Friday.

Toronto's Pearson International Airport has cautioned it could affect operations, while Environment Canada warns of possible extensive power outages and dangerous travel conditions.

Canada's ban on the manufacture and import for sale of some plastic items, including grocery bags and straws, has taken effect.

As of today, companies can no longer produce or bring into Canada plastic checkout bags, cutlery, stir sticks, straws and takeout containers — and in a year, it will also be illegal to sell them.

The manufacturing and import ban will extend to the plastic rings used to package six-packs of canned drinks next June and their sale will be prohibited a year after that.

Police north of Toronto are working to determine the motive in what they've called a "horrendous" shooting at a condo that left five people, plus the suspected gunman, dead.

York Regional Police say Francesco Villi's victims at the high-rise building in Vaughan, Ont., on Sunday night included three members of the building's condo board.

Court documents indicate the 73-year-old had a lengthy history of threatening members of the board and believed they had a conspiracy to "systematically murder" him.

Eleven metres below the surface of the Northwest Passage, deep within the wreck of one of Capt. John Franklin's doomed ships, something caught the eye of diver Ryan Harris.

Harris was in the middle of the 2022 field season on the wreck of HMS Erebus. The team had been hauling dozens of artifacts to the surface -- elaborate table settings, a lieutenant's epaulets still in their case, a lens from someone's eyeglasses. 

But this, sitting within the steward's pantry, was something else.

A lone gunman opened fire and killed five people at a Toronto-area condo building on Sunday evening before he himself was shot by police, the regional force's chief said. 

Jim MacSween, head of the York Regional Police Force, offered few details in the hours immediately following the shooting in Vaughan, Ont. But in a hastily called news conference outside the building, he said police immediately realized a complex situation was unfolding. 

"Once the officers arrived they were met with a horrendous scene," he said. "Numerous victims were deceased."

After several months on the run, four cows from a herd of runaway cattle were captured on Saturday night in St-Sévère, Que. 

The regional chapter of the Union des producteurs agricoles says the cows were transported back to their original farm on Sunday morning. 

Specialists examined the cows after their capture and confirmed the animals were in good shape. 

The union says weather conditions over the last few days prevented the entire herd from being captured, so another operation will take place soon to catch seven or eight animals that remain at large. 

Some called it "Justinflation." Others called it "greedflation."

But reality might be a lot less catchy than the wordplay that has taken off in Canadian politics this year.

After enjoying decades of a relatively low and stable inflation rate, Canadians spent 2022 grappling with the highest levels of inflation seen in nearly 40 years.

With the rising cost of living exacerbating pre-existing affordability concerns, politicians raced to point fingers at what — or who — they thought was really causing the problem.