Politics

Liberal candidate Nathalie Provost says she wants to see Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre call out “shameful” comments by a now-dropped Conservative candidate, Simon Payette, who accused her of playing the “victim game” in her quest for stronger gun regulations. A Conservative spokesperson confirmed to the Canadian Press that the party has now dropped Payette as a candidate — the latest in a slew of candidates shed by the Liberals and Conservatives this week over contentious comments, ahead of Monday’s nomination deadline in the federal election.Provost, who survived being shot in the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre and who was awarded the Governor General’s Medal of Bravery for attempting to dissuade the shooter, says she was left speechless by some of the comments that tarnish the ...

Federal party leaders and candidates in the upcoming election say they are committed to getting Canada to meet NATO’s current defence spending target but are resisting the Trump administration’s call on allies to more than double that commitment. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants NATO members to spend at least five per cent of their GDP on defence, which U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeated Friday at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.“I’m not saying overnight,” he told reporters, but “we think that’s what NATO allies need to be spending for NATO to face the threats that itself has identified and articulated.”“We are as involved in NATO today as we have ever been, and we intend to continue to be. But it has to be a real alliance. And that means that our all...

Descrease article font size Increase article font size Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he will toughen the penalties for intimate partner violence if his party forms government after this election. Poilievre took his campaign to Trois-Rivières, Que., Friday where he was joined by a number of women who are survivors of intimate partner violence.He thanked two of the advocates for sharing their stories at the news conference.A Conservative government is pledging to create a new criminal offence of assaulting an intimate partner, and pass a law to require the strictest possible bail conditions for anyone accused of intimate partner violence. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, e...

The Liberal Party has removed a candidate in Alberta, adding to a growing list of nominees exiting the federal election race. Liberal Leader Mark Carney told reporters in Montreal Friday that Rod Loyola, who was running in the newly formed riding of Edmonton Gateway, is “no longer a candidate.”Carney did not elaborate on why Loyola, who was a long-time Alberta NDP MLA in the provincial legislature before he joined the Liberal camp, was ousted.Carney’s confirmation comes after the National Post reported on Thursday that Loyola was one of the individuals in a 2009 video who can be heard praising Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Palestinian militant group Hamas. Both have been designated as terrorist organizations by Canada.Global News has reached out to the Liberals and to Loyola for confirmation, bu...

South Korea’s Constitutional Court unanimously removed Yoon Suk Yeol from office Friday, ending his tumultuous presidency and setting up a new election, four months after he threw the nation into turmoil with an ill-fated declaration of martial law. The verdict capped a dramatic fall for Yoon, a former star prosecutor who became president in 2022, just a year after he entered politics.In a nationally televised hearing, the court’s acting chief Moon Hyung-bae said the eight-member bench found Yoon’s actions were unconstitutional and had a grave impact.“By declaring martial law in breach of the constitution and other laws, the defendant brought back the history of abusing state emergency decrees, shocked the people and caused confusion in the society, economy, politics, diplomacy and all oth...

China announced Friday that it will impose a 34 per cent tariff on imports of all U.S. products beginning April 10, part of a flurry of retaliatory measures following U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” slate of double-digit tariffs. The new tariff matches the rate of the U.S. “reciprocal” tariff of 34 per cent on Chinese exports Trump ordered this week.The Commerce Ministry in Beijing also said in a notice that it will impose more export controls on rare earths, which are materials used in high-tech products such as computer chips and electric vehicle batteries.Included in the list of minerals subject to controls was samarium and its compounds, which are used in aerospace manufacturing and the defense sector. Another element called gadolinium is used in MRI scans. ...

Premier Doug Ford says a major auto assembly plant in western Ontario must quickly reopen after it announced a two-week shutdown in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs. Stellantis confirmed it would introduce a temporary shutdown of its auto assembly plant in Windsor, Ont., between April 7 and April 21 after Trump put 25 per cent tariffs on non-U.S. vehicles.The Windsor Assembly Plant produces the Chrysler Pacifica, Chrysler Grand Caravan, Chrysler Voyager and Dodge Charger Daytona.Ford said he remained hopeful the shutdown would only last the scheduled two weeks and not lead to job losses.“I hope it doesn’t come to retraining because hopefully this plant’s going to reopen — it’s a temporary shutdown,” he said. “I’ve mentioned my concerns to the CEO of Stellantis and h...

With less than two weeks into the federal election campaign, the Conservative Party of Canada has already ousted four candidates from the race. Three candidates in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia were removed on Tuesday, while a fourth was booted late Wednesday.Conservative party Leader Pierre Poilievre was asked about the removals on Thursday, and said that their “vetting process is stronger than all the other parties.”“That’s why we have a zero tolerance for anyone who acts unacceptably,” he said during a campaign stop in Kingston, Ont.The removal of candidates comes as some veteran Tory campaigners and strategists have said that the Conservative campaign needs a reset.Here is what we know so far about the ousted candidates and the reasons behind their dismissal. Story conti...

A new round of U.S. tariffs hitting Canada’s auto sector is now in effect as President Donald Trump escalates his global trade war that has rattled markets and threatened industries across the world. At the same time, automaker Stellantis announced that it is halting production on its Windsor, Ont., manufacturing facility for two weeks.“Please be advised that production for the weeks of April 7, 2025 and April 14, 2025 are cancelled. Production employees must not report to work unless directed by their supervisor,” said a notice from Stellantis to employees, posted to social media by Unifor Local 444.Stellantis said the primary driver behind the decision is the announcement of tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump, the union said in a Facebook post.As of Thursday, a 25 per cent tariff w...

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday is set to consider a measure to end the emergency justification used by President Donald Trump to impose sweeping tariffs on Canada — and enough Republicans may vote to ensure the resolution passes. The vote on the Democratic measure comes as Trump is due to announce his so-called “reciprocal” tariff plan that seeks to reorient global trade, an action the U.S. president has taken to calling “Liberation Day.”Wednesday is also the day when a temporary exemption on some products from the earlier 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods is set to expire. Yet it still wasn’t clear before Trump’s announcement if those tariffs — meant to address what the White House claims is a failure to stop the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. — will return.Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of ...