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Canada Post says negotiations with its workers’ union have come to a grinding halt on important issues as a nationwide strike drags into Day 13. A special mediator, appointed by the federal government, has been guiding the talks between the two sides since Nov. 18, but the Crown corporation says  “progress has been limited to minor items.”“Canada Post is considering its options to move negotiations forward as talks with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) have ground to a halt on key issues critical to the Corporation’s future,” Lisa Liu, a company spokesperson, said in a statement on Tuesday evening.Liu said  the union has not been responding to the proposals that Canada Post has put forward over the past several days and the mailing service was informed by the special mediator th...

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government is eyeing a number of steps to challenge the proposed federal greenhouse gas emissions cap. Announcing an upcoming motion under her Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act on Tuesday, Smith said the government plans to challenge the cap in court when or if it becomes law, and that it will take the steps necessary to give the province exclusive authority and ownership of emissions data, ban federal employees from designated oil and gas facilities, and more.“We’ve been very clear that we will use all means at our disposal to fight back against federal policies that hurt Alberta, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” she said.Under the sovereignty act, the government must first put a motion forward in the legislative assembly identifyi...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to meet with the country’s premiers Wednesday afternoon, after they asked for an urgent meeting on U.S.-Canada relations ahead of the incoming Donald Trump administration. That request came Monday, before the U.S. president-elect threatened to impose a 25-per-cent import tariff on goods coming from Canada and Mexico.Trudeau and the premiers will hold a virtual meeting at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.Trump said in a social media post Monday night that he would keep the tariffs in place until Canada and Mexico stop illegal border crossings and prevent drugs such as fentanyl from entering the U.S. 2:49 ‘We need to be strong’: Calls for Canadian unity over Trump’s tariff...

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says while he supports the Liberal plan to give Canadians a GST break during the holidays, he won’t back the $250 rebate proposal unless the government expands eligibility to the most vulnerable. The Liberals announced a plan last week to cut the federal sales tax on a raft of items such as toys and restaurant meals for two months, and to give $250 to more than 18.7 million Canadians in the spring.Speaking after a Canadian Labour Congress event in Ottawa, Singh said he’s open to passing the GST legislation, but the rebate needs to include seniors, students, people who are on disability benefits and those who were not able to work last year.Singh said he initially supported the idea because he thought the rebate cheques would go to anyone who earned under $150,000 l...

An independent senator is calling evidence the Chinese government “targeted” MPs Michael Chong and Jenny Kwan “cavalier and flimsy,” downplaying Beijing’s efforts to collect “human intelligence” on Canadian parliamentarians. Sen. Yuen Pau Woo, whom the Liberals appointed to the Senate in 2016, has been a vocal critic of the federal government’s response to Chinese interference operations and skeptical of allegations that Beijing is meddling in Canadian affairs, was denied standing during the second phase of the federal inquiry into foreign interference after participating in the first round.Standing would’ve allowed Woo to participate in the second round of testimony, and the senator requested the commission cover his legal costs. Both requests were denied.But Woo still offered some closin...