Politics

The Department of National Defence has awarded an $8-billion deal to Irving Shipbuilding to start building three new destroyers for the Royal Canadian Navy, the Liberal government said Saturday. Defence Minister Bill Blair said the new destroyer project will be the largest and most complex shipbuilding effort undertaken in Canada since the Second World War. It will create more than 5,000 jobs in Halifax and across the country, Blair added.The $8 billion pays for only the first six years of construction work on the three new ships, however.Military planners now estimate the total cost to outfit and launch the three “River-class” destroyers will eventually hit $22.2 billion, the government announced.“By investing in our own industry, Canadian workers are helping to build the fleet of the fut...

World-famous Canadian murder mystery writer Louise Penny has cancelled a U.S. tour for her latest book, citing President Donald Trump’s repeated threats of a trade war against Canada and annexation. Penny announced the move on social media, saying it was “a painful decision” because of the many friends and professional acquaintances she’d made in the U.S. after touring there for 20 years.“Please understand this decision is not meant to punish Americans. This is about standing shoulder-to-shoulder with my fellow Canadians,” Penny stated in a long, thoughtful message to her fans.Penny is the author of the beloved Chief Inspector Gamache police murder mystery novel series, which is set in her own home province of Quebec.Her latest book, called The Black Wolf, is the 20th tome in the Inspector...

As longtime Liberal MP Pam Damoff prepares to leave politics when the next federal election is called, she is wistful but open about what is driving her to leave a career she has had for more than a decade. Vocal about the misogyny and threats she faced during her time in government, she wants public safety officials to take these threats more seriously.“We’ve seen a shift in how people treat politicians, and I really worry that at some point, someone will be injured or killed,” Damoff said in an interview.Damoff said harassment escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic.“You have to have tough skin to be in politics that’s a given, but really it was after the pandemic and it really started to cross the line to be angry aggression, moving to where people sent me death threats,” she said. ...

By Catherine Morrison The Canadian Press Posted March 7, 2025 6:39 pm 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size With just days to go until Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leaves federal politics, his office says five new appointments have now filled all the vacancies in the 105-seat Senate. The Prime Minister’s Office says in a news release that the Governor General has appointed former Moncton mayor Dawn Arnold for New Brunswick and former MLA Tony Ince for Nova Scotia. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news ...

U.S. President Donald Trump created a task force Friday to prepare for the 2026 World Cup, which will bring the globe’s premier soccer tournament to North America at a time when his on-again, off-again tariffs have ratcheted up tensions across the continent. Story continues below advertisement “I think it’s going to make it more exciting,” Trump said of playing the World Cup amid sharp rhetoric between leaders of the host nations. “Tension’s a good thing.”The task force, which Trump will chair, will coordinate the federal government’s security and planning for the tournament, which is expected to draw millions of tourists to the United States, Canada and Mexico.“It’s a great honor for our country to have it,” Trump said of the World Cup after meeting with off...

Descrease article font size Increase article font size The federal government is unveiling new support measures to mitigate the impact of the U.S. trade war on Canadian workers as fears of layoffs and economic impact grow. The announcement came moments after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he plans to put new tariffs on Canadian dairy and lumber within the coming days.Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon announced new “temporary work-sharing measures” that will go into effect Friday, calling the trade war that Trump launched this week a moment of “maximum peril.” Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they ha...

A federal judge has dismissed a legal challenge of Justin Trudeau’s move to prorogue Parliament, concluding the prime minister did not exceed the bounds of his authority. Two Nova Scotia men had asked the Federal Court to declare the current suspension of Parliament illegal because there must be a “reasonable justification” for hitting the pause button.David MacKinnon of Amherst, N.S., and Aris Lavranos of Halifax sought an order setting aside Trudeau’s January decision to advise Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to exercise her power to prorogue Parliament until March 24.Federal lawyers argued that Trudeau’s advice to Simon was not subject to review by the courts, and that the ultimate judgment rested with the voting public.In a ruling made public late Thursday, Federal Court Chief Justice Paul Crampt...

References to a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan and the first women to pass Marine infantry training are among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion as the Defense Department works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion content, according to a database obtained by The Associated Press. The database, which was confirmed by U.S. officials and published by AP, includes more than 26,000 images that have been flagged for removal across every military branch. But the eventual total could be much higher.One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that have not been made public, said the purge could delete as many as 100,000 images or posts in total, when considering social ...

J.P. Cormier, the award-winning musician from Nova Scotia, has made the decision to cut ties with the United States, saying he will no longer be touring the country for as long as President Donald Trump’s tariff threats stay alive. Cormier, who has family south of the border and has been traveling to the U.S. for over 40 years, said his decision comes from what he describes as an “ongoing attack on Canada’s economic well-being.”Cormier emphasized the importance of national solidarity in the face of these challenges.“I’m going to conduct myself at this point in time as a Canadian and nothing else,” Cormier said. “And that’s the only way we’re going to survive this if it gets worse. Even more importantly, we must band together as a nation,” he told Global. Get ...

Descrease article font size Increase article font size Tariff and annexation threats by U.S. President Donald Trump combined with a weak Canadian dollar have Canadians crossing the United States off their list of travel destinations. Flight Centre Canada spokesperson Amra Durakovic said interest in U.S. travel began to wane in November. That trend saw explosive growth in February, with leisure travel bookings to the U.S. plunging 40 per cent year over year. 1:41 ‘Pissed off’: B.C. premier delivers fiery message to Americans over Trump tariffs “A lot of that has to do with the U.S. administration’s...