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Canada will send $5 billion in aid to Ukraine using funds from seized Russian assets, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday at a peace and security summit in Kyiv. Trudeau and a dozen other world leaders are in the Ukrainian capital to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, where support for Ukraine to end the war on its terms and with its territory intact remained strong.“This is not a conflict Ukraine wanted, provoked or asked for in any way,” Trudeau said at the summit table.“This is a war started for one reason and one reason only: Russia‘s desire to erase Ukrainian history and expand their empire.”Trudeau also pledged 25 additional light armoured vehicles for Ukraine and a grant to help with energy security as Russia attacks the country’s power grid. Story contin...

The candidates in the race to be the next leader of the Liberal Party of Canada will square off tonight in the first of two live debates. With just two weeks left until the winner is announced and two days until voting begins, the two events are the only chance Liberal supporters will have to see the candidates together.Former central banker Mark Carney, former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, former House leader Karina Gould and former MP Frank Baylis are the only candidates still in the contest.The party disqualified former Ontario MP Ruby Dhalla on Friday afternoon alleging she broke the rules, though she announced yesterday she had filed an appeal for reinstatement.Former TVA-Québec anchor Pierre Jobin is expected to moderate the French language debate tonight.The winner of the race...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will join world leaders in Kyiv on Monday as Ukraine marks the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as a Ukrainian diplomat urged Canada to “step up” its support. Zelenskyy confirmed during a news conference in Kyiv Sunday evening that he will meet with Trudeau in person – one of 13 foreign leaders attending a summit on peace and security for Ukraine.“Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be here with a visit tomorrow,” Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian.“He is chairing the G7 at the moment so he will tell me what is happening with the relationship with the U.S.”The news conference was translated into English by Ukrainian broadcaster UATV.The Prime Minister’s Office has not publicly confirmed Trudeau’s...

Descrease article font size Increase article font size Multiple cities across Canada are holding rallies at city halls, museums and community centres this weekend as part of a global day of action marking the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Rallies spanning across the country in cities including Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver will be held today.Rallies began in cities across the country yesterday, and a handful of other cities have rallies scheduled for Monday.Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022 in a major escalation of a conflict that began in 2014.The invasion is the largest and deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, and has caused hundreds of thousands of military casualt...

Organized crime cartel activity is “very prevalent now” compared to at least a decade ago, says a former national security advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and listing those groups as terrorist organizations may help prevent a “national crisis.” Jody Thomas says the government’s move to list seven transnational criminal organizations, including multiple drug cartels, as terrorist entities under the Criminal Code will give law enforcement more tools to go after cartel-affiliated criminal groups in Canada — particularly their finances — that will be “enormously helpful.”“Organized crime, no matter what shape it takes, is a threat to us, and we’re seeing an increase in it,” she told Mercedes Stephenson in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block.“I would say that 10, 15, 20 y...

German opposition leader Friedrich Merz’s conservatives were on course for a lackluster victory in a national election Sunday, while Alternative for Germany nearly doubled its support, the strongest showing for a far-right party since World War II, projections showed. Chancellor Olaf Scholz conceded defeat for his center-left Social Democrats after what he called “a bitter election result.”Projections for ARD and ZDF public television showed his party finishing in third place with its worst postwar result in a national parliamentary election.It wasn’t immediately clear how easy it will be for Merz to put together a coalition government.The election took place seven months earlier than originally planned after Scholz’s unpopular coalition collapsed in November, three years into a term that ...

Archpriest Cornell Zubritsky sometimes hears the loud wailing of air raids thousands of kilometres away in Ukraine. The sirens screech from the cellphones of congregants at the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Edmonton.“A lot of them have the air raid siren app on their phones here in Canada, and it will go off. They do that so that if it’s their city, they get on the phone immediately to see if their relatives are OK,” Zubritsky said in a recent interview.“For them, this is real. And then it makes it real for me because they’re connected. They are fighting the war every day.”Zubritsky said most of his 150-person congregation are immigrants from Ukraine. The church’s membership declined during the COVID-19 pandemic but has grown again with families from Ukraine. ...