Politics

The U.S. and some other Western embassies in Kyiv said that they would stay closed Wednesday for security reasons, with the American delegation saying it had received a warning of a potentially significant Russian air attack on the Ukrainian capital. The precautionary step came after Russian officials promised a response to President Joe Biden’s decision to let Ukraine strike targets on Russian soil with U.S.-made missiles — a move that angered the Kremlin.The U.S. Embassy said its closure and attack warning were issued in the context of ongoing Russian missile and drone attacks on Kyiv and anticipated a quick return to regular operations.The Italian and Greek embassies also shut to the public for the day, but the U.K. government said that its embassy remained open.The war, which reached i...

Governance in Yukon’s second-largest municipality has been at a standstill since its newly elected mayor and council refused to pledge allegiance to King Charles during their swearing-in ceremony. Stephen Johnson, the mayor-elect of Dawson City, said he and the four-member council refused to take Canada’s official oath to the monarch on Nov. 5 because of the Crown’s history with Indigenous populations.He said council hasn’t been able to proceed with municipal duties and is eagerly waiting for the territory’s Department of Community Services to respond to its request to take an alternative to the Oath of Allegiance.“We can’t do anything legally required of us under the Municipal Act … so we are sort of, kind of council, and I’m sort of, kind of the mayor,” Johnson said.“It’s a bit of a stic...

A significant increase in the number of refugees and asylum seekers in Canada has prompted some cities to start building temporary housing for new arrivals. The city of Ottawa is working to establish what’s known as a sprung structure that serves as both a temporary shelter and a centre to provide settlement services such as language training and employment assistance.These centres are meant to house refugees only for their first few weeks in the city before they move on to more suitable housing in Ottawa’s settlement infrastructure.The city has identified two potential locations for these centres, both in the city’s west end. Planning documents describe them as “modular tension fabric buildings.”The planned locations for these structures have been a point of tension in the affected neighb...

A new report is warning youth unemployment has reached a “troubling” high, hitting a level not seen since 2012, and it could cost the Canadian economy billions in the next decade. The report by Deloitte, commissioned by The King’s Trust Canada, a national youth charity founded by King Charles III when he was Prince of Wales, noted youth unemployment hit 14.5 per cent in August — the highest since 2012.Failure to address the issue could cost the country $18.5 billion in real GDP growth by 2024, it found.“The report is troubling on several levels,” Farah Mohamed, CEO of the King’s Trust Canada, said in an interview. “What it comes down to is I think we really have to understand that if we do not invest in young people, if we do not create pathways to employment, how is this country going to ...

Treasury Board President Anita Anand is warning that if the House of Commons doesn’t get back to regular business, some government departments might be in financial trouble. On Monday, Anand tabled a supplementary estimates request for $21.6 billion to fund programs including housing, dental care and the national school food program.One of the biggest-ticket items is $970.8 million for compensation adjustments for civil servants as a result of collective bargaining agreements.But some of the money requested by the government is to repay departments for what they’ve already spent, and it must be voted on by Dec. 10 in line with House procedures. 2:27 Conservatives say Liberals ‘paralyzed Parliam...

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...