Politics

The upcoming federal byelection in Battle River-Crowfoot has Jennifer Fossen in unknown territory. Fossen is the president of the Camrose & District Chamber of Commerce. In the April federal election, it held a candidate forum. Only one nominee showed up to speak to a half empty room.Three months later, Fossen is hosting another candidate forum, this time in a byelection race featuring Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, and the response is, well, off the hook.Fossen said phones at her office have been ringing constantly with people inquiring about the July 29 candidate debate.But all seats are booked and 10 candidates have signed up to speak.“(It) has definitely taken everything to the next level,” Fossen said this week in an interview. Story continues below advertisement ...

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says Canada’s new Arctic ambassador will play a key role in preserving sovereignty in the region as the military closely watches the movements of a Chinese icebreaker. Iqaluit resident Virginia Mearns will be Canada’s senior Arctic official on the world stage, following a career with local Inuit governments.“Canada’s Arctic ambassador is going to advance Canada’s polar interests in multilateral forums,” Anand told The Canadian Press in an interview from Inuvik, N.W.T.She said Mearns will “engage with counterparts in both Arctic and non-Arctic states” and “serve as a representative in our diplomatic core.”Anand said Canada will follow through on its $35 million Arctic foreign policy and its commitment to open new consulates in both Alaska and Greenland, ...

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Thursday he’s feeling “encouraged” after meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and American lawmakers in Washington ahead of next week’s tariff deadline. But LeBlanc also suggested that a new economic and security arrangement with the United States may not materialize in time for U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest deadline of Aug. 1.“Canadians expect us to take the time necessary to get the best deal we can in the interest of Canadian workers,” LeBlanc said outside the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington.“So we are only going to be in a position to accept a deal when the prime minister decides that it is the best deal we can get in the interest of Canadian workers and the Canadian economy.”Trump has sent letters to mu...

The U.S. Justice Department’s No. 2 official met Thursday with Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned former girlfriend of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The meeting in Florida, which Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Tuesday he was working to arrange, is part of an ongoing Justice Department effort to cast itself as transparent following fierce backlash from parts of President Donald Trump’s base over an earlier refusal to release additional records in the Epstein investigation.“Ms. Maxwell answered every single question. She never stopped, she never invoked a privilege, she never declined to answer. She answered all the questions truthfully, honestly and to the best of her ability,” attorney David Oscar Markus told reporters outside the federal courthouse in ...

Descrease article font size Increase article font size U.S. President Donald Trump signed a bill Thursday canceling about $9 billion that had been approved for public broadcasting and foreign aid as Republicans look to lock in cuts to programs targeted by the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency. The bulk of the spending being clawed back is for foreign assistance programs. About $1.1 billion was destined for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which finances NPR and PBS, though most of that money is distributed to more than 1,500 local public radio and television stations around the country.The White House had billed the legislation as a test case for Congress and said more such rescission packages would be on the way.Some R...

By Staff The Canadian Press Posted July 24, 2025 9:23 am 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size Algoma Steel says it is seeking $500 million in federal support as the company faces continued uncertainty from U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel. The Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.-based steel producer says it applied for the funding under the Large Enterprise Tariff Loan program, announced by Ottawa in March to support companies affected by tariffs and countermeasures.The company says in a press release it remains concerned with the “significant impact” that U.S. tariffs are having on its operations and outlook. In...

Professional interpreters are warning that the federal government’s plans to cut its procurement costs could compromise the public’s access to parliamentary, Supreme Court and other official proceedings in both official languages. Jeremy Link, a spokesperson for Public Services and Procurement Canada, said the department recently began a process to replace the federal government’s existing freelance interpretation contracts.As part of that process, the government is seeking to make several major changes to the procurement of services for Parliament and other institutions like the Supreme Court.The Canadian branch of the International Association of Conference Interpreters, AIIC-Canada, said those changes include eliminating measures to protect interpreters’ hearing and adopting a “lowest b...

By Aaron Sousa The Canadian Press Posted July 24, 2025 7:14 am Updated July 24, 2025 7:16 am 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet with Inuit leaders Thursday to discuss his government’s controversial major projects legislation. The meeting of the Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee will be co-hosted by Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, in Inuvik, N.W.T.Obed says Inuit have many questions about Bill C-5 and are hoping the...

By Jack Farrell The Canadian Press Posted July 23, 2025 2:43 pm 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size Alberta’s immigration minister says he’s concerned about the federal government’s plan this year to accept thousands of parents and grandparents of immigrants who are already in Canada. Joseph Schow says he understands the importance of reuniting families, but provincial health-care systems don’t have the capacity and could be overwhelmed.This year Ottawa plans to approve just over 24,000 parents and grandparents of newcomers this year before reducing its target for the next two years. ...

Now that the British government has vowed to lower its voting age to 16 by the next general election, one Canadian senator says it’s past time for Canada to do the same. The U.K. announced last week that it would lower its voting age from 18 to 16 in a bid to strengthen British democracy and restore trust in politics. Story continues below advertisement Sen. Marilou McPhedran said the issue has been her “top parliamentary priority” since she joined the Red Chamber. She said lowering the voting age to 16 would be good for democracy and that the only arguments against it are “based on stereotypes.”McPhedran said decisions being made in Canada now will affect younger generations and that extending voting rights to younger people is “logical” and “about fairness.”...