Politics

EDMONTON – Dozens of students played hooky from school Monday to rally for teachers at Alberta’s legislature as a provincewide strike deadline nears. They shouted, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, where did the budget go?” and waved signs in solidarity with the 51,000 teachers represented by the Alberta Teachers’ Association.One student stood with a sign that said: “I would rather be learning, but instead I’m here teaching (the government) a lesson.”Nyla Ahmadzai, a rally organizer, said students from across Edmonton skipped classes to raise awareness about the difficult conditions teachers and students are learning in.“My class sizes range from 37 students to 42 students,” the 16-year-old said.“It really makes the teacher’s job harder, and it makes our job to learn even harder.” Story continues...

Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to meet with world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly on Monday after joining other nations in recognizing Palestinian statehood as the institution faces pushback from the Trump administration over efforts to condemn the turmoil in the Middle East. The United Kingdom, Australia and Portugal joined Canada in recognizing an independent Palestinian state on Sunday before leaders from around the world descended on New York City for the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly this week. Other nations are expected to join the internationally co-ordinated effort. 2:43 Canada, UK, Australia recognize Palestinian state; Israel, U.S. reject it ...

After an outgoing federal envoy denounced some politicians for using antisemitism as a “partisan” prop, Jewish Canadian leaders are now calling on political parties to stop using it to score political points. “It maddens me when they use Holocaust Remembrance Day as an opportunity to even advance positive actions for the Jewish people,” said B’nai Brith advocacy head Richard Robertson.“It becomes a form of tokenization.”In July, Deborah Lyons resigned early from her term as Canada’s special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism. Canadian Heritage published her final report the following month.In it, Lyons accused some political leaders of exploiting the threat posed by antisemitism for “political gain.”“Canadian political parties need to refrain from making a...

It has been nine months since Donald Trump returned to the White House, and in that time has upended the world order around trade, relentlessly expressed an “America first” mentality, and mused about annexing Canada as the 51st state. He also seems to have upended how Canadians see our southern neighbour.At the core of that shift is trust, which our data show Canadians have lost. When trust between neighbours breaks, proximity becomes the problem, and right now six in 10 Canadians say we can never trust the United States the same way again.That measure has remained remarkably consistent since tracking began in February, despite efforts made by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his team to preserve the relationship while defending Canadian interests.Canada’s relationship with America ...

Prime Minister Mark Carney will not be giving a major speech on foreign policy to the United Nations General Assembly when he visits New York next week. Instead, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand will address global leaders on the government’s behalf from the green marble podium.On July 11, the UN issued a provisional speakers list which had Carney slated to speak the morning of Sept. 27. An updated list issued Sept. 5 says Anand is Canada’s delegate and will address the General Assembly on Sept. 29.Carney’s office said he will be in New York from Sunday to Wednesday.In a Friday news release, Carney’s office said the prime minister will take part in events at the UN about “efforts to stabilize the dire situation in Haiti,” the work Canada is doing to facilitate the return of Ukrainian c...

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed a short-term spending bill to extend government funding for seven weeks and avoid a partial government shutdown on Oct. 1, but prospects looked dimmer in the Senate, where the two parties show no signs of budging on the matter. The bill would generally continue existing funding levels through Nov. 21. Democratic leaders are adamantly opposed and are threatening a government shutdown if Republicans don’t let them have a say on the measure, as some Democratic support will be needed to get a bill to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.The vote was 217-212.House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana had few votes to spare as he sought to persuade fellow Republicans to vote for the funding patch, something many in his conference have ro...

Descrease article font size Increase article font size The federal government is introducing new legislation that would create “a new crime of hate” in the Criminal Code, outlaw the promotion of hateful symbols like the Nazi swastika that cause harm, and protect religious institutions from “obstruction and intimidation,” Justice Minister Sean Fraser announced Friday. The long-promised hate crime bill is the first major legislative move by Canada’s attorney general for the fall sitting of Parliament, which is already being dominated by the issue of combating crime.“One of the great promises of Canada is the ability of our citizens to live freely in their communities, regardless of the colour of their skin, the god they pray to, or the person th...

By Dylan Robertson The Canadian Press Posted September 19, 2025 1:00 pm 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size The Carney government is barring the Irish rap group Kneecap from entering Canada, saying the group has endorsed political violence and terrorism. The group has denied supporting Hamas or Hezbollah. In a post on social media, the group called the accusation “baseless.”“No member of Kneecap has been convicted of ANY crime in ANY country EVER,” the group said in a social media statement.Jewish groups had been asking Ottawa since June to ban the group, along with the English punk-rap duo Bob Vy...

By Alessia Passafiume The Canadian Press Posted September 19, 2025 10:59 am Updated September 19, 2025 11:01 am 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size Dominic LeBlanc says consultations start Friday on the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) ahead of a planned review of the North American trade pact next year. The Canada-U.S. trade minister says Ottawa will hear from provinces, territories, industry and workers as it gears up to negotiate formally with the United...

Newly released documents show Ottawa has spent almost $1.3 billion on cloud services provided by U.S. companies, with most of the money going to Microsoft — and its uses include what it calls “mission-critical” defence applications. The information was shared in a government response to a question posed by Conservative MP Todd Doherty. He asked government departments and agencies how much they have spent since 2021 on cloud services provided by Amazon, Microsoft and Google, and to identify which of those cloud services cover critical government functions. 1:03 Canada developing defence industry strategy to create jobs, diversify trade: Joly “A...