Laura Osman, The Canadian Press

Health Minister Mark Holland urged a committee of senators Wednesday not to tweak the pharmacare bill he carefully negotiated with the NDP earlier this year.

The bill would underpin a potential national, single-payer pharmacare program and allow the health minister to negotiate with provinces and territories to cover some diabetes and contraceptive medications.

It was the result of weeks of political negotiations with the New Democrats, who early this year threatened to pull out of their supply-and-confidence deal with the Liberals unless they could agree on the wording.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has confirmed he will ask the other opposition parties to bring down the Liberal government next week with a non-confidence motion.

A Conservative spokesperson said the motion will simply say the House has no confidence in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government.

Now that the NDP has ended the supply-and-confidence deal with the Liberals, the minority government needs to shore up support from opposition parties on a vote-by-vote basis.

On Monday Parliamentarians will return to the familiar stone walls of West Block in Ottawa to find the political landscape has shifted significantly.

When they last gathered in the capital the Liberals knew their prospects were poor after languishing in the polls for more than a year, but they were secure in the knowledge the New Democrats would prevent them from toppling before they table the next budget, at least.

But the summer saw several seismic shifts that mean the government will now operate as a true minority that could fall to an election at any time.

After 45 days of evidence and legal arguments the criminal trial of "Freedom Convoy" organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber is finally at an end.

A verdict could be as much as six months away.

"I don’t know in this moment when I will be in a position to give my decision," Justice Heather Perkins-McVey said Friday.

She said "it's a little daunting," given the unusually great volume of evidence and legal questions associated with the case. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may be bracing for an earful from his caucus when Liberal MPs gather in Nanaimo, B.C. today to plot their strategy for the coming election year.

It will be the first time he faces them as a group since MPs departed Ottawa in the spring.

Still stinging from a devastating byelection loss earlier this summer, the caucus is now also reeling from news that their national campaign director has resigned and the party can no longer count on the NDP to stave off an early election.

In a contest between the Charter-protected freedom of expression and Ottawa residents' right to the enjoyment of their property, there is no contest, the lawyer for "Freedom Convoy" organizer Tamara Lich argued Friday. 

Lawrence Greenspon's final arguments in the criminal trial focused largely on the fundamental freedoms that protect protest in Canada, and the failure of Ottawa police to enforce the law during the 2022 demonstration.

"Freedom Convoy" organizer Tamara Lich wasn't part of any conspiracy to break the law when she helped organize a massive protest against pandemic restrictions in Ottawa, her lawyers argued in her criminal trial on Tuesday.

The Crown alleges Lich and fellow organizer Chris Barber, who owns a Saskatchewan trucking business, were in cahoots to block roads and disrupt locals in a bid to pressure the federal government to drop COVID-19 vaccine mandates in 2022.

Two prominent "Freedom Convoy" organizers "crossed the line" into criminal activity when they led a massive demonstration to Ottawa in 2022 and refused to leave, the Crown said in its final submissions on their criminal trial Tuesday.

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber were among several organizers who brought a huge number of demonstrators and big-rig trucks to Ottawa two years ago to protest pandemic-era public health restrictions and vaccine mandates.

Global Affairs Canada says it has approved the temporary relocation of the children and their guardians to a safe third country.

Embassy staff are expected to remain in Israel.

"The Embassy of Canada to Israel in Tel Aviv, the Embassy of Canada to Lebanon in Beirut, and the Representative Office of Canada to the Palestinian Authority, all remain fully operational and continue to provide essential services to Canadians, including consular services," Global Affairs Canada said in a statement Wednesday evening. 

Health Minister Mark Holland says he hopes to launch a national pharmacare program by April 1, 2025. 

A pharmacare bill drafted by the Liberals and the NDP has made its way through the House of Commons, but still needs to be studied by the Senate.

The idea is to make birth control and diabetes medication available to anyone with a health card as part of a universal, single-payer program. 

The Liberals budgeted $1.5 billion for the program over five years.