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Canada’s new minister of artificial intelligence said Tuesday he’ll put less emphasis on AI regulation and more on finding ways to harness the technology’s economic benefits. In his first speech since becoming Canada’s first-ever AI minister, Evan Solomon said Canada will move away from “over-indexing on warnings and regulation” to make sure the economy benefits from AI.His regulatory focus will be on data protection and privacy, he told the audience at an event in Ottawa Tuesday morning organized by the think tank Canada 2020.Solomon said regulation isn’t about finding “a saddle to throw on the bucking bronco called AI innovation. That’s hard. But it is to make sure that the horse doesn’t kick people in the face. And we need to protect people’s data and their privacy.”The previous governm...

The federal government has made little headway on its pledge to get rid of unused office space and transform some of it into affordable housing. A report released Tuesday by Auditor General Karen Hogan found that Public Services and Procurement Canada has made “scant progress” on that commitment, reducing its office footprint by only two per cent between 2019 and 2024.The department planned to cut office space by 50 per cent by 2034, estimating it could save nearly $4 billion over the next decade.But Hogan says there has been little movement on the initiative, which could also alleviate the housing crisis. The auditor general blamed the inaction “mainly on a lack of funding.” 1:36 Report gives ...

Canada, alongside four other countries, is formally sanctioning two Israeli ministers for comments they say are “incitements of violence against Palestinian communities.” The sanctions were announced by the foreign ministers of Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Norway on Tuesday in a joint statement.Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich will both see their assets frozen and face travel bans.Both men face sanctions for being “responsible for, engaging in, inciting, promoting and/or supporting activity which amounts to a serious abuse of the right of individuals not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in particular acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals in the ...

Nearly 7,000 people joined Canada’s military over the last year, exceeding the Canadian Armed Forces’ recruitment goal and marking a 10-year high in enrollment. More recruits are enlisting at a time of heightened focus on Canadian sovereignty, and as Prime Minister Mark Carney vows to rebuild the military and reduce reliance on the United States.It’s a sign of some progress in a recruitment crisis the previous defence minister described as a “death spiral,” but government officials acknowledge significant problems with retention remain.The Department of Defence released numbers to Global News on Monday, showing that 6,706 recruits enrolled in the regular forces between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025, surpassing its target of 6,496. ...