National News

"You're too honest," Donald Trump allegedly told Mike Pence on the first day of 2021, six days before supporters of a defeated yet defiant president stormed Capitol Hill and tried to subvert the outcome of a free and fair presidential election.

That assessment of the former vice-president and his commitment to democracy is just one of the revelations in what is the third — but perhaps most explosive — indictment of Trump to come down in just the last four months. 

A fresh set of Health Canada regulations that will require warning labels on individual cigarettes is set to come into effect Tuesday.

The move, announced earlier this year, makes Canada the first country in the world to take that step in the ongoing effort to help smokers kick the habit and deter potential puffers from picking it up.

As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reorganized his front bench Wednesday in a massive federal cabinet shuffle, he also created a single new job: minister of citizens' services.

But when the minister appointed to the new role was asked what exactly citizens' services is, he wasn't entirely clear. 

"This is really where the rubber hits the road in providing services to citizens right across the country," newly appointed cabinet minister Terry Beech said Wednesday, less than an hour after he was sworn in. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a significant change to his cabinet, signalling that his Liberal government will focus on housing and affordability heading into the next election.

Two-thirds of cabinet portfolios have switched hands, with seven rookie ministers coming in to replace the seven ministers who are leaving. Five of the new ministers represent constituencies in Ontario, one is from British Columbia and one from Quebec.

The Liberal government is selling the reset as a renewal that centres on the middle-class, growing the economy and creating jobs. 

Alberta-based advocacy organization Friends of Medicare says the province needs to put a stop to a Calgary clinic planning to charge annual fees for faster access to a physician.

Friends of Medicare executive director Chris Gallaway says the province also has a responsibility to help family doctors struggling to keep their heads above water as costs of running these clinics continue to rise.

Starting next week, the Marda Loop Medical Clinic has told patients it will switch to a new care model. 

With Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expected to shuffle his cabinet as early as Wednesday, a string of Liberal ministers have confirmed they will not run in the next federal election. 

Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, Public Services and Procurement Minister Helena Jaczek and Mental Health and Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett all announced this week that they will not seek re-election. 

A wildfire in southeastern British Columbia that was first spotted Monday afternoon has charred three square kilometres in less than 24 hours and is threatening more than 1,000 properties, including a ski resort, west of Invermere.

The BC Wildfire Service says smoke and challenging flying conditions have prevented accurate mapping of the blaze in mountains 10 kilometres west of Invermere and seven kilometres north of Panorama Mountain Resort.

The Regional District of East Kootenay ordered evacuations late Monday for 25 properties and several recreation sites.

Mental Health Minister Carolyn Bennett says the government is putting $156 million over three years toward a new three-digit suicide-prevention hotline.

Starting on Nov. 30, people in crisis will be able to dial 988 anywhere in Canada to be connected with trained responders 24 hours a day by phone or text message.

The free service will be offered in English and French.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health will receive the money to launch and operate the hotline.

Before the sun broke through the sky Monday morning, members of a Manitoba First Nation planned to start a critical month-long search in a good way. 

Spiritual advisers were to lead a pipe ceremony in Minegoziibe Anishinabe while a sacred fire was to be lit near where potential graves of children forced to attend residential school may be. 

The sacred fire is expected to burn for the entirety of the estimated four-week-long excavation of an area underneath the Catholic church where 14 anomalies were detected using ground-penetrating radar last year. 

A fast-moving wildfire that has prompted evacuation orders and alerts in and around the Kamloops area expanded rapidly to 18 square kilometres in size on Sunday as it moved closer to the city limits. 

The Ross Moore Lake fire, first discovered Friday afternoon, is now about 13 kilometres south of the city and more than doubled in size overnight.