Politics

By Staff The Canadian Press Posted March 25, 2025 12:46 pm 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says no Canadian would lose their federal dental care or pharmacare coverage under a government led by him. At a campaign stop today in Vaughan, Ont., Poilievre was asked whether he would cut these programs — a popular point of attack among his opponents. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Poi...

By Staff The Canadian Press Posted March 25, 2025 11:45 am 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size Toronto city councillor Jennifer McKelvie is running as the federal Liberal candidate in Ajax. The two-term city councillor and deputy mayor will face off against Conservative candidate and local talk radio host Greg Brady in next month’s election.The NDP have not announced their candidate in the riding east of Toronto.McKelvie says while she’s on a leave of absence from city council she will donate her salary to the Toronto and Region Conservation Foundation, the charitable arm of the local conservation...

Escalating U.S. tariffs and Canadian retaliatory duties could raise costs on items from aircraft components to engine repairs, according to aerospace trade groups in Canada, as a fresh round of the U.S.-led trade war looms. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is set to enact reciprocal tariffs on trading partners on April 2, widening a dispute that has already slapped 25 per cent duties on steel and aluminum imports to the U.S., sparking retaliation from Canada.While reports suggest some sector-specific goods would be excluded, counterstrikes are already being weighed, with Canada consulting domestic industries on proposed retaliatory tariffs on C$125 billion ($87.31 billion) of U.S. goods.Melanie Lussier, president of the trade group Aero Montreal, said Canada’s proposed counter ...

Descrease article font size Increase article font size By voting day, candidates in the riding of Halifax will have campaigned for almost two months, the longest campaign in the 2025 federal election. The candidates in the riding are making the most of the extra time by knocking on doors and canvassing across the city.“I think it’s actually a good thing,” says Liberal candidate Shannon Miedema, “Being new into politics, I get to get to more doors, I get to meet more people, do more interviews, all of the things. Yeah, we’re ready and we’re excited for the campaign.” Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. ...

On Friday, a group of mayors from border towns across Canada issued a plea to higher levels of government, asking for help for their communities as the threat of tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump had caused them to see traffic through their towns dwindle. One of the group was Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley, who earlier in the week had issued a letter to council members, which asked them to consider removing U.S. flags from municipal facilities.In his letter, Bradley said that he felt it was highly inappropriate for the American flag to be flying in municipal venues such as local hockey arenas as the U.S. government makes mention of turning Canada into the 51st state.“While many of us have cross-border friendships and respect for Americans individually, this action cannot be allowed to stan...

In the lead-up to most elections, pollsters and pundits usually have a good idea of what is most likely to happen. We rely on signals beyond the popular vote race to form our assessments — signals like historical precedent, the mood of the electorate, economic performance, incumbency, inertia, and the desire for change.If these all point in the same direction and are reinforced by popular vote polling, the election is generally easier to call. The recent Ontario election is a good example of this: beyond the double-digit lead for the Progressive Conservatives in the polls at the outset of the campaign, 46 per cent believed the Ford government deserved re-election, 57 per cent approved of Doug Ford’s performance as premier, and Ford was named as best to lead on all the issues that mattered ...

Some former members of Edmonton city council are speaking out about the mayor of Alberta’s capital taking a leave of absence to attempt a political comeback at the federal level. Amarjeet Sohi’s term as mayor does not end until municipal elections are held in the fall, but he is temporarily stepping away from that job to run federally for the Liberal Party of Canada in the Edmonton-Southeast riding.In 2015, Sohi stepped away from his role as an Edmonton city councillor to make a successful run at getting elected as a Liberal MP, eventually being named to former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet. However, he lost his seat in 2019 and then ran a successful campaign to become mayor in 2021.Stephen Mandel, who from 2004 to 2013 served three terms as mayor of Edmonton before becoming a pr...

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that he “may give a lot of countries breaks” from the so-called “reciprocal” tariffs he’s set to impose on foreign trade next week. Trump made the comment after Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported Monday that what is meant to be a global matching of tariffs imposed on U.S. goods starting on April 2 — which Trump has touted as “Liberation Day” — may be far narrower and exempt some countries and specific sectors.“I may give a lot of countries breaks,” Trump said at an announcement at the White House when asked about the reports, but did not say specifically which ones.“We’ll be announcing some additional tariffs over the next few days, having to do with automobiles, cars, and having also to do with lumber down the road — lumber and (semicond...

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Danielle Smith is “free” to express her opinions on the U.S.-Canada trade war after the Alberta premier was accused of soliciting Donald Trump’s intervention in the federal election. Speaking to reporters in Brampton, Ont., Monday, Poilievre was asked if Smith’s recent comments to U.S. right-wing network Breitbart were “appropriate.”“People are free to make their own comments. I speak for myself,” Poilievre said before launching into an attack on the Liberals under Mark Carney.Smith provoked controversy on the eve of the federal election campaign after the audio of her appearance on a Breitbart podcast made the rounds on social media. In the clip, Smith seemed to suggest she asked the Trump administration to pause tariffs during Canada’s federal el...

Officials monitoring Canada’s federal election for foreign interference say they are focused on covert and deliberate efforts to interfere in the campaign — and that doesn’t include the public opinions shared by U.S. billionaire Elon Musk on social media. This year’s general election is the first to be held since revelations of foreign interference efforts in past campaigns led to new safeguards and procedures to monitor for, and warn the public about, attempts to meddle in elections.While officials say they are monitoring attempts to sow discord through social media, they made clear in a briefing Monday there’s a difference between that and individual free expression — no matter how influential that individual may be.“Mr. Musk, or anyone else working under him, does not fall into the cate...