Politics

By Dylan Robertson The Canadian Press Posted July 14, 2025 1:16 pm 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cuts to government spending will include the foreign service, just as Global Affairs Canada aims to expand its presence abroad. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne sent letters to ministers on Monday asking them to find savings of 7.5 per cent in their budgets starting next spring.Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says that will include Global Affairs Canada, adding that it is necessary to cut what she calls red tape and inefficiencies. ...

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s chief of staff and the country’s top public servant will be responsible for maintaining an ethics screen preventing him from making decisions that benefit his former employer, says a disclosure issued by the office of the ethics commissioner on Friday. The disclosure states that Carney and the commissioner have agreed to a conflict of interest screen “aimed at preventing any opportunity” to further Carney’s interests “or to improperly further those of Brookfield Asset Management, Brookfield Corporation, and Stripe Inc., and any company owned or controlled by them.”Carney worked for Brookfield Asset Management before he decided to run for the Liberal leadership in January.The screen is administered by Marc-André Blanchard, Carney’s chief of staff, and Privy Coun...

By The Staff The Associated Press Posted July 13, 2025 2:19 pm 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday announced 6.5 billion euros in extra military spending in the next two years because of new and unprecedented threats, from Russia to terrorists to online attacks. The French leader laid out the spending plans in a sweeping speech calling for intensified efforts to protect Europe. He said France will aim to spend 64 billion euros in annual defense spending in 2027, the last year of his second term; that would be double the 32 billion in annual spending wh...

By Staff The Associated Press Posted July 13, 2025 8:52 am 2 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size The EU will suspend retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods scheduled to take effect Monday in hopes of reaching a trade deal with the Trump administration by the end of the month. “This is now the time for negotiations,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels on Sunday, after U.S. President Donald Trump sent a letter announcing new tariffs of 30 per cent on goods from the EU and Mexico starting Aug. 1.The EU — America’s biggest trading partner and the world’s largest tra...

The Department of National Defence is looking at the possibility of complementing its incoming F-35 fleet with uncrewed combat aircraft. Unclassified documents obtained by The Canadian Press show the department is researching various options for acquiring the emerging technology.The documents suggest that purchasing a fleet of aerial combat drones that could fly alongside fighter jets could cost as much as $16 billion and would require hundreds of staff.That cost estimate is in the upper range. The price tag and other aspects of the emerging technology remain uncertain, and the fact that the government is researching combat drones doesn’t guarantee that Canada will buy any.David Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said Canada’s allies are already headed in this direc...

By Staff The Canadian Press Posted July 11, 2025 3:52 pm Updated July 11, 2025 3:56 pm 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size Alberta and Ottawa have signed off on $203 million for new affordable housing projects across the province. Provincial Social Services Minister Jason Nixon says the joint funding will go toward 25 projects and see more than 2,300 units built.Nixon says the projects range from housing for young adults and students in downtown Edmonton to units in Cal...

Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada will continue to defend its workers and businesses in negotiations for a U.S. trade deal with what he calls a “revised deadline of August 1” after President Donald Trump made his latest tariff threat.  “Throughout the current trade negotiations with the United States, the Canadian government has steadfastly defended our workers and businesses,” Carney wrote in a post on X on Thursday night. “We will continue to do so as we work towards the revised deadline of Aug. 1.”Carney’s post came only a few hours after Trump said a tariff of 35 per cent would be imposed on “Canadian products sent into the United States, separate from all Sectoral Tariffs.”Trump said the new tariff would take effect Aug. 1.The president’s letter once again referenced fentanyl all...

The federal government will explain Friday how it plans to reimburse auto dealers who were left hanging when Ottawa suspended its electric vehicle rebate program earlier this year. In January, Transport Canada paused its popular Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles program — iZEV — after its funding ran out. Ottawa spent nearly $3 billion on iZEV during its five-year lifespan.The program provided up to $5,000 toward the purchase of a new zero-emissions vehicle. But with the abrupt suspension of the program — only three days after the government suggested it would be paused when the funds were exhausted — hundreds of dealerships were forced to swallow the cost of any rebate claims they hadn’t yet submitted.“It was a shocking series of events in January when they shut down the program after...

Descrease article font size Increase article font size The federal government says it will “fight” tariffs on the copper sector after United States President Donald Trump threatened a 50 per cent tariff on imports of the metal into the U.S. from other countries. “We are waiting for the details of this decision by the White House and by the president,” said Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, speaking to reporters at an event in British Columbia.“But, we’ll fight against it — period.” 1:20 Trump vows 50% tariff on copper, 200% on pharmaceuticals Trump has also threatened pharmaceutical tariffs of 200 p...

Descrease article font size Increase article font size The Canadian government hasn’t yet seen an executive order on the tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump vowed against copper and pharmaceutical imports, Industry Minister Melanie Joly says. But Canadian officials in Washington, D.C., and Ottawa are following the vows “very closely,” she said, staying tight-lipped on any details of ongoing trade talks.“Every single journalist in the country wants to have more information about the negotiations, and my answer is always the same. We will let the prime minister do the negotiation, supported of course by our negotiator-in-chief back in Washington, Kirsten Holman, and we will not negotiate in public.” Get breaking Na...