Politics

The Alberta government on Monday invoked the notwithstanding clause in legislation ordering 51,000 striking teachers back to work. Premier Danielle Smith said it was needed because of the size of the strike — the largest in Alberta history — and the need for labour stability in schools.Here is a look at the rarely used clause:What is it?The notwithstanding clause — or Section 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms — gives provincial legislatures or Parliament the ability, through the passage of a law, to override certain portions of the Charter for up to five years. The Constitution’s notwithstanding clause gives provincial legislatures or Parliament the ability to pass legislation that effectively overrides provisions of the Charter for a five-year period. ...

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called on other parties Tuesday to support a private member’s bill he said would combat intimate partner violence — just as a new report tracks how the problem has grown in recent years. “There are countless who have lost their lives because Liberal laws have turned their perpetrators loose on our streets,” Poilievre said outside the House of Commons.“We want to work with any party to get this bill passed to protect people. We encourage every party to join with us. It doesn’t matter who gets the credit — let’s do the right thing now.”Poilievre’s statement came after Statistics Canada released a report showing reports of intimate partner violence increased 14 per cent between 2018 and 2024.The report also notes women and girls remain overrepresented in t...

Descrease article font size Increase article font size Canada Post said Tuesday it has cut an unknown number of positions as part of its government-mandated restructuring efforts and a goal to “align our management team.” The company said the changes “will align with the government’s expectation that leadership and structural change from within the Corporation is essential,” alongside a series of reforms to the financially struggling company’s mail delivery service announced last month.“This is part of our corporate-wide restructuring efforts to better align our management team with the future needs of the organization,” Canada Post told Global News in a statement.“Canada Post must take decisive action to deliver the services Canadians need in...

By Fakiha Baig The Canadian Press Posted October 28, 2025 1:51 pm 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size Thomas Lukaszuk, a former deputy premier of Alberta who has circulated a petition to make it official policy for the province to stay in Canada, says it has just over 456,000 signatures. The final tally is far greater than the 294,000 signatures required over the course of three months to initiate a possible referendum in Alberta.The Forever Canadian petition started as a counter to separatists who want a referendum on Alberta independence and asks: “Do you agree that Alberta should remain within ...

Premier Danielle Smith’s government introduced a bill Monday using the Charter of Rights and Freedoms notwithstanding clause to order 51,000 striking teachers back to work to end the largest walkout in Alberta history. If the bill passes, students would be back in classes Wednesday, and Smith has promised fast-tracked passage in the house.The move puts Smith’s government on a potential collision course with more than 350,000 workers in other provincial unions, which promised an “unprecedented response” if the government invoked the clause to override teachers’ constitutional rights to assemble.Some teachers and supporters were in the legislature chamber gallery and there were shouts of “Shame!” as Finance Minister Nate Horner formally introduced the bill.Smith earlier told reporters the si...

The Trump administration must release millions of dollars in grants meant to address the shortage of mental health workers in schools, a federal judge ruled Monday. Congress funded the mental health program after the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The grants were intended to help schools hire more counselors, psychologists and social workers, with a focus on rural and underserved areas of the country. But President Donald Trump’s administration opposed diversity considerations used to award the grants and told recipients they wouldn’t receive funding past December 2025.The preliminary ruling by Kymberly K. Evanson, a U.S. District Court judge in Seattle, applies only to some grantees in the sixteen Democratic-led states that challenged the Education Department’s decision. In Madera...

British Columbia Premier David Eby said Monday his province will go ahead with an American ad campaign targeting U.S. President Donald Trump’s “unfair and absurd” lumber tariffs, despite Trump blowing up trade talks with Canada over Ontario’s anti-tariff ad. “It is absolutely essential that we talk to Americans about the implications of tariffs, about the fact that trade policy in the United States right now is governed not by logic, not by economics, not by relationship, but by something else entirely,” Eby told reporters in Victoria, B.C.“We are going to exercise all of our ability to get the word out, including advertising. We reserve the right to do that.”Eby announced last Thursday that B.C. will roll out digital ads in the U.S. next month “to explain who wins and who loses” after Tru...

The Liberals should move “immediately” to fix eligibility rules around the federal government’s $1.6 billion annual Indigenous procurement program, a cross-partisan committee of MPs says. In a report tabled Friday, the House of Commons’ Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee noted longstanding concerns that non-Indigenous companies are gaming the system to gain access to federal contracts meant for First Nations, Métis and Inuit companies.Last year, Global News, in partnership with the First Nations University of Canada, revealed widespread concerns that non-Indigenous companies were finding ways to circumvent lax verification rules to convince the government they were at least 51-per cent owned by Indigenous people — opening the program up to fraud and abuse.The alleged schemes range f...

Canada’s automotive industry is sounding the alarm that it would be “very damaging” if more tariffs are put into place — and also that some vehicle manufacturers are voicing concern about being seen as “too American” in the tense climate. This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly cut off trade talks and declared he would add a 10 per cent tariff on top of current levies in place on Canada — a move Trump said was because of an anti-tariff commercial produced by the Government of Ontario.A panel of representatives from Canada’s automotive sector met with a federal standing committee in Ottawa Monday to discuss the “challenging” environment that tariffs and the trade war have created.“It would be extremely challenging if more tariffs go into place, particularly if they apply to al...

By Catherine Morrison The Canadian Press Posted October 27, 2025 1:59 pm 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size The Conservatives are pressing the federal government over the rising cost of living as new reports show more Canadians are turning to food banks and community organizations. A new Food Banks Canada report says monthly visits to food banks came close to 2.2 million in March 2025, five per cent higher than the year before and nearly double the rate in 2019. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news...