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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he wants to use the notwithstanding clause — which has never been used by a federal government before — to override the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to allow judges to impose consecutive life sentences for murderers. In 2022, Canada’s Supreme Court ruled that “the section of the Criminal Code that permits consecutive parole ineligibility periods of 25 years in cases involving multiple first-degree murders” was unconstitutional.Poilievre announced his plan Monday to use the notwithstanding clause to pass legislation that he says would restore power for judges to hand down consecutive life sentences for perpetrators who have committed multiple murders.If he follows through, this would be the first federal use of the controversial notwithstanding cl...

Descrease article font size Increase article font size Liberal Leader Mark Carney is calling the actions of two party campaign staffers who were reported over the weekend to have planted buttons that included “stop the steal” wording at a conservative event “totally unacceptable,” and says they’ve been reassigned within the campaign. “This is totally unacceptable to be absolutely clear,” he said. “I was unaware of this behaviour, but on behalf of my campaign I apologize for it. I’ve made it absolutely clear to my campaign that this behaviour, anything approximating it or in that spirit, is unacceptable and cannot happen again.”Carney said the two staffers have been “reassigned.”The buttons, which appeared to use language similar to that of U.S...

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising to tighten financial transparency rules for elected officials — and is using that promise to take aim at Liberal Leader Mark Carney. Poilievre told a press conference in Ottawa on Sunday that if his party forms government, he’ll ban what he calls “shadow lobbying.”“We will eliminate the lobbying loophole and require anyone who is acting as an adviser to government officials to declare themselves and register as a lobbyist, whenever they are advising on matters that touch upon their financial interests or that of their company,” Poilievre said.He said this rule would have forced Carney to register as a lobbyist when he advised former prime minister Justin Trudeau through the Liberal party.The Conservative leader also said he would require th...