Blog

A private surgical company at the heart of allegations the Alberta government interfered to secure overpriced medical contracts was billing taxpayers more than twice as much per procedure than it would cost in a public hospital, according to Alberta Health Services documents. An internal chart included in an email sent by the former head of Alberta Health Services to a Health Ministry bureaucrat, obtained by The Canadian Press, indicates estimates for hip replacements in Edmonton at the public health agency’s hospitals was just over $4,000 as of last fall.The chart says the firm Alberta Surgical Group was charging the government $8,300.The cost listed for another private competitor was just over $3,600.Rose Carter, a lawyer for the company, said its contract prohibits it from discussing de...

As Canada stares down U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated threats of devastating tariffs, roughly half of Canadians and Americans believe their countries are in an economic recession right now, a new poll suggests. The results of the Leger survey — which polled both Canadians and Americans — suggest that Canadian and Americans hold many similar views on the state of the economy and their personal financial status.The poll also suggests that 39 per cent of Canadians who are currently employed are worried about losing their jobs within the next 12 months — a three-point increase since last month.Sébastien Dallaire, Leger’s executive vice-president for Eastern Canada, said that the results “add up to a long series of difficult moments.”The poll was conduced between Feb. 14 and Feb. 17 and ...

President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of U.S. military leadership. Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former Lieutenant General Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer.The president will also replace the head of the U.S. Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the air force vice chief of staff, the Pentagon said. He is also removing the judge advocates general for the Army, Navy and Air Force, critical positions that ensure enforcement of milit...

If there’s one sector in the Canadian economy that has faced the particular focus of U.S. President Donald Trump‘s tariff threats, it’s Canada’s auto industry. Trump has said that he wants to “make the cars in Detroit,” indicating that he wants to replace Canada’s industry with a fully domestic American car industry.But experts say it could end up costing the U.S. tens of billions of dollars and in the end, the squeeze might not be worth the juice.åIn an interview with Fox News earlier this month, Trump said Canada “stole” the automobile industry from the United States.“If you look at Canada, Canada has a very big car industry. They stole it from us. They stole it because our people were asleep at the wheel,” Trump said.He added, “If we don’t make a deal with Canada, we’re going to put a b...

The Liberal party has kicked Ruby Dhalla out of the leadership race just days before the contestants were to face off in two debates in Montreal. Party national director Azam Ishmael says in a statement published late Friday that the decision was made unanimously by the Liberal Leadership Vote Committee.He says a “thorough investigation” concluded that Dhalla’s campaign had 10 violations of the national leadership rules, the vote rules and the expense rules.He said those include alleged violations of the Canada Elections Act, not disclosing “material facts,” inaccurate financial reporting and other election finance violations.The committee determined the violations were “extremely serious,” Ishmael added. 2:40 ...