Politics

As calls mount for Liberal cabinet minister Randy Boissonnault to resign over conflicting claims about his family’s Indigenous heritage, Global News has learned Edmonton police are investigating an allegation of fraud made against Boissonnault’s former company and business partner. Michael Weber, a Florida-based lawyer who is the legal counsel for medical supply procurement company 4M Medical LLC, said he submitted a police report on July 31 regarding 4M Medical’s failed transaction with Global Health Imports.The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) confirmed that the complaint is under investigation.Boissonnault co-founded medical supply company Global Health Imports (GHI) with Stephen Anderson, a former hockey coach, in early 2020.The Edmonton Centre MP said he resigned from the company after h...

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday tapped Dr. Mehmet Oz, a former television talk show host and heart surgeon, to head the agency that oversees health insurance programs for millions of older, poor and disabled Americans and selected Wall Street executive Howard Lutnick to lead the Commerce Department. “Dr. Oz will be a leader in incentivizing Disease Prevention, so we get the best results in the World for every dollar we spend on Healthcare in our Great Country,” Trump said in a statement. “He will also cut waste and fraud within our Country’s most expensive Government Agency, which is a third of our Nation’s Healthcare spend, and a quarter of our entire National Budget.”Oz, who ran a failed 2022 bid to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate, has been an outspoken support of ...

Ottawa removed 1,100 organizations from a list of Indigenous-owned businesses that were not eligible for a multi-billion-dollar procurement program that has been criticized for lax oversight and loose rules. The Indigenous Business Directory (IBD) is a government database intended to list First Nations, Inuit or Métis-owned businesses eligible to access “set aside” contracts only accessible to Indigenous companies.Indigenous Services Canada Minister Patty Hajdu told MPs Tuesday that in 2022, 1,100 companies were removed from that list. Hajdu was not pressed on why the companies were removed, and gave no indication which companies were not eligible.As of Tuesday, there were a total of 2,945 companies listed on the IBD.“Every two years the department audits the Indigeneity of businesses, jus...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday expressed support for his embattled Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Brazil. Reporters at the summit pressed Trudeau to explain why he maintains confidence in Boissonnault in light of new fraud allegations made against Boissonnault’s former business partner and other accusations that Boissonnault misrepresented his family’s Indigenous ancestry.“Minister Boissonnault has addressed these and will continue to answer directly for those,” Trudeau told reporters.“In the meantime, I’m happy that he is continuing to lead on issues around jobs and employment and represent Alberta in our government.”Trudeau’s remarks in Rio de Janeiro come a day after Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre suggested in the ...

Members of Parliament returned to Ottawa on Monday after a weeklong break with no sign of a resolution to the House stalemate, tempers ramped back up, and renewed calls for a Liberal cabinet minister to resign — or be fired. The House of Commons has been mired in a filibuster for nearly two months now, as the Conservatives demand the government hand over documents to the RCMP in a case of alleged government misspending on a green technology fund. That continued Monday but in question period Conservative attention shifted to Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault, who three days ago apologized for not being more clear about his Indigenous identity.He previously referred to himself as a “non-status adopted Cree” and said his great-grandmother was a “full-blooded Cree woman.”He said he’d conf...

Canada’s inflation rate rose to two per cent in October, up from 1.6 per cent in September, Statistics Canada said. The annual rate of inflation, which fell below the Bank of Canada’s target of two per cent in September, beat the analyst expectation of 1.9 per cent slightly. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Price hikes at the grocery store rose at a faster pace in October, at 2.7 per cent, compared to 2.4 per cent year-over-year in September.The spike in grocery prices was led by the 7.3 per cent increase in the prices of fresh vegetables and 7.6 per cent increase for preserved fruit and fruit preparations. Trending Now ...

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a revised nuclear doctrine declaring that a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on his country. Putin’s endorsement of the new nuclear deterrent policy comes on the 1,000th day after he sent troops into Ukraine, on Feb. 24, 2022.It follows U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russia with U.S.-supplied longer-range missiles.The signing of the doctrine, which says that any massive aerial attack on Russia could trigger a nuclear response, demonstrates Putin’s readiness to tap the country’s nuclear arsenal to force the West to back down as Moscow presses a slow-moving offensive in Ukraine.Asked whether the updated doctrine was deliberatel...

Descrease article font size Increase article font size The House of Commons on Monday condemned an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler. MPs in the House unanimously supported a Bloc Québécois motion saluting Cotler’s human rights work and recognizing his political contributions, and condemning what it termed death threats orchestrated by agents of a foreign regime.The Globe and Mail first reported that the RCMP warned Cotler on Oct. 26 that there was an imminent threat of assassination within 48 hours, and then later said the threat against him had been significantly lowered.It said Cotler, a vocal critic of the Iranian regime, has been under RCMP protection since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on I...

The Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) is changing the hours you can cross the border at dozens of crossings between Canada and the United States, starting next year. The CBSA said in a statement Monday that it “intends to adjust hours of service at 35 land ports of entry across Canada” starting midnight on Jan. 6, 2025.The changes are being brought into effect in collaboration with the United States, the CBSA said.“It will allow the CBSA to use its resources more efficiently by deploying officers at busier ports of entry. This will support the CBSA’s ability to process travellers and goods as well as to manage enforcement activities,” the agency said in a statement.CBSA said the adjustments are based on “an analysis of operational pressures, peak periods, and services required at the por...

The latest child benefits are going out to Canadian parents this week amid a postal disruption as thousands of Canada Post workers remain on a nationwide strike. Eligible families who have children under the age of 18 years will receive November payments of the Canada child benefit (CCB) on Wednesday.Parents who are expecting payments via mail will still get their cheques delivered, Canada Post and the Canada Revenue Agency has said.“Canada Post has agreed to deliver benefit cheques for the Canada child benefit and related provincial and territorial benefits (including the Alberta child and family benefit) for November 20, 2024,” the CRA says on its website.The Crown corporation says it has a “special agreement” with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) so that socio-economic cheque...