Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. CEO Lourenco Goncalves said Wednesday he hopes to bring back laid-off Stelco workers before Christmas if a plan to increase Canadian sales succeeds. He said the company is now counting on increased purchases of Canadian-made steel, rather than tighter import restrictions, to restore jobs at its Ontario operations. "It will depend on Canadian customers buying Canadian steel, made...
In our latest Spark Advocacy polling we found that 74% give Mark Carney and his government a good or acceptable rating for handling Canada-US relations, a number which has held steady from our last measurement, when negotiations had broken off.
Carney says it's the substance of Canada-EU relationship, not its name, that matters. The European Union is backing away from the idea of making Canada an associate member of the 27-nation bloc, sources tell CBC News. A joint statement expected to be released at the 21st Canada-EU summit in Montreal on Friday will instead use softer language promising closer ties...
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada is not yet in a position to reach a trade deal with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, even with the congressional midterms just days away. On his way into the weekly Liberal national caucus meeting on Parliament Hill today, Carney said Ottawa is prepared to make a deal only when it suits Canadians' interests...
Cabinet ministers briefed on the increased pace of talks between Canada and the United States remain skeptical U.S. President Donald Trump will make the necessary concessions to secure a deal. However, many who spoke to CTV News are convinced he wants one, given the political pressure he faces in the midterms. One minister, who is not authorized to speak publicly...
In our latest Spark Advocacy polling we found that 74% give Mark Carney and his government a good or acceptable rating for handling Canada-US relations, a number which has held steady from our last measurement, when negotiations had broken off.
Despite, or because of, these uniquely challenging times, Carney has drawn support from left, right and centre; and polarization has eased. Our latest Spark Advocacy survey wrapped up 3992 interviews on October 21. Confidence in the Carney government remains at quite elevated levels by historical standards. With a voting intention advantage over the Conservatives of 49%-28%, the Liberals have built...
Some days it feels as if Canadian democracy is a complete farce. Provincial governments elected with near majorities on the strength of 28 per cent of the vote – the same 28 per cent that in another province is worth just two seats. Referendum ballots with 10 loaded questions, none of them binding. Party leaders elected by children, non-citizens, and...
David Eby, the outgoing premier of British Columbia, must regret his decision to call a snap election after being soundly defeated this past weekend by an interim party leader few people outside of his immediate family and constituents knew six weeks ago. Say “hello” to Lorne Doerkson, the leader of the B.C. Conservative Party who is now the province’s premier-designate...
The Liberal government has voted to keep the B.C. oil tanker ban place, defeating a Conservative bill that would have repealed it. MPs voted along party lines during second reading in the House of Commons today, with only the Conservatives voting to move the bill forward to the committee stage. Prime Minister Mark Carney, who made a rare appearance after...
U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra told a closed-door meeting on Tuesday that Ottawa could be blamed if key races in next week’s midterm elections go against U.S. President Donald Trump’s Republican Party. According to three sources with knowledge of the discussions, Hoekstra delivered the message at a private business lunch hosted at his official residence in Ottawa. The sources...
Canada’s telecommunications networks are critical national infrastructure. They connect our businesses, governments, emergency services and citizens. As we expand 5G, artificial intelligence, data centres and digital infrastructure, we must ask a fundamental question: are the networks connecting all of it secure?
As Conservative MPs gather for their weekly caucus meetings, some are attempting to read the tea leaves from last week’s Alberta referenda and British Columbia’s big Conservative win. Saturday, David Eby’s early election gamble — two years into his NDP government’s mandate — failed spectacularly. B.C. interim Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson won a majority after running a disciplined campaign and...
Apart from Alberta’s no vote on separation, this month’s elections and referendums have given progressive Canadians who care about climate little to cheer about. The country’s biggest oil and gas booster, Premier Danielle Smith is still ruling Alberta and her recent anti-immigrant referendum win, as narrow as it was, hasn’t totally dampened her intent to make new arrivals pay for...
If Mark Carney was anticipating a quiet, even raffiné Canada-EU Summit this week in this most European city of non-European cities in our most European country of non-European countries, he may already be disappointed. The Prime Minister, who recently accepted compliments from a reporter on his vastly improved French and credited his teacher for his fluency, may want to add...
British Columbians elected David Eby as their premier on Oct. 19, 2024. They elected New Democrat MLAs in 47 of 93 seats, giving his party a third term in government and a second consecutive majority government on that day. He was given a majority mandate to govern until 2028 if he wanted to. Speaking on election night, a freshly re-elected...
It’s time for the separatist factions to bring some intellectual honesty to their avowed separatism. There are lots of ways to do that, but the simplest and most effective way is that both parties to this never-ending debate resolve this situation one way or the other.
It may be the most Canadian ad of the U.S. midterms and it’s for a Republican. A man settles in at a neighbourhood bar with a Labatt Blue and the Red Wings game and tells us it doesn’t get any more Michigan than that. Then comes a line you wouldn’t expect: “Canada is not our enemy. We need to end...
British Columbians took a huge political gamble this weekend, handing power to someone they barely know who leads a party that looked like it was imploding only a few weeks ago. But such was the level of anger and disgust over NDP Leader David Eby’s move to call a snap election – amid provincewide municipal elections no less, and with...
Monday, a trial begins in Vancouver whose outcome could significantly alter climate change policies across the country. A group of youth are taking the federal government to court for failing to adequately address climate change, arguing that their Section 7 Charter rights — to life, liberty and security of the person — have been breached.
Jerry Andres watched the results roll in Monday night from his usual perch — at his computer, in his living room in Eckville, Alta., windows open to podcasters livestreaming on YouTube and Rumble. Anders, a retired oilfield worker, wasn’t surprised by the outcome, but he was disappointed. “To be honest with you, I’m more anti-Carney and the Liberals than I...
Are Canada and Europe really “besties”? That is certainly the message that Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Union President Ursula von der Leyen hope to convey when they meet for their much-anticipated Canada-EU Summit in Montreal this Thursday and Friday. But whether this budding romance between Canada and Europe becomes a serious relationship will depend on a host of...
Partisanship may have finally peaked. It’s about time. It can be hard to hear anything over U.S. President Donald Trump’s bluster. But look closer. A fascinating trend is emerging ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, with wider implications. A handful of candidates are galvanizing voters by ditching their party’s jersey altogether.
Mark Carney’s government was perhaps an hour old when he first laid out an intimate shared narrative of Canada and Europe that he has returned to and refined, again and again. “The ceremony we just witnessed reflects the wonder of a country built on the bedrock of three peoples: Indigenous, French and British,” he said as he began his first...
Referendums tend to raise as many questions as they answer. And so it may be for the 10-part questionnaire that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith put to her province — although with a series of no's Albertans have seemingly foreclosed on a number of possibilities. "I am well aware that not every grievance Alberta has with Ottawa has been resolved," Smith...
Danielle Smith wanted to walk into the coming first ministers meeting armed with the tools to start prying open this country’s lock on the Constitution. Alberta voters didn’t give her those tools. With almost all the votes counted, the referendum results show that all of Smith’s proposed constitutional reforms have been rejected. On Senate abolition and on giving the province...
It wasn’t all bad for Danielle Smith Monday night. True, Albertans voted massively to “remain” a province of Canada, thus depriving her of the bad cop for whatever good-cop, bad-cop routine she might have hoped to play with the rest of the country. And yes, Albertans voted to reject all four of the constitutional proposals the Premier had also put...
Pete Hoekstra, U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Canada, is apparently ticked off that no one took his warning about alleged Canadian meddling in the U.S. midterm elections seriously. So he had his embassy issue a profoundly unserious “fact sheet” this week backing up his claim. It’s tempting to brush off the document — a list of nine “FACTS” in...
If Canadians focused solely on recent commentary from union leaders and their lawyers, they’d be forgiven for thinking the current Liberal government has been engaged in a long battle against workers’ rights, culminating in a final charge against the right to strike.
The decisive, pro-remain result of 75% in the Alberta referendum has prompted two questions, one in that province and the other in Ottawa. The Alberta question is whether Premier Danielle Smith can remain in office after telling separatist members of her United Conservative Party (UCP) to “join a different party” if they can’t accept the referendum results. “The United Conservative...
Using her toughest words yet, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith decreed to United Conservative Party members Wednesday: get on the federalist train or get off the platform. No candidate, provincial board or constituency association board member would be permitted to publicly argue for anything other than a stronger Alberta within a united Canada, she said. But a parsing of Smith’s words...
Amid all the attention paid to her mildly salacious revelations about Justin Trudeau, Chrystia Freeland has been saying stuff that’s much more relevant to our current moment. At every tour stop to promote her new book “Unreliable Boyfriend: An Insider’s View of Dealing with a Chaotic Superpower, Plutocrats, and Other Complicated People,” the former federal cabinet titan has been going...
A spectre is haunting the United States — the spectre of Canada. At least, that’s according to the American embassy in Ottawa. In a new memo published Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. has directly accused Canada of meddling in their domestic affairs.
Former senator Pamela Wallin criticized the co-chair of a special joint committee on MAID while testifying at an inquiry into a leaked confidential report, calling him "dismissive" and describing the process as "chaotic and exclusionary." "It was the worst that I've seen it," Wallin said, testifying from Saskatchewan on Tuesday about the committee and its leadership. Wallin resigned from the...
A stronger alliance between Canada and the European Union would only include a financial commitment if either side joins specific programs in either jurisdiction, a senior government official said Wednesday. The next steps in that alliance are expected to be finalized and announced Thursday and Friday, during the Canada-EU Summit in Montreal. In a briefing for reporters ahead of the...
Canada has again voted at the United Nations to oppose the U.S. embargo on Cuba as Havana accuses Washington of running a campaign of coercion to sway the vote. In a vote of 130-17 with 25 abstentions, the UN General Assembly today condemned the economic embargo for the 34th year in a row. The number of countries voting against the...
The leader of Alberta's Opposition NDP says Premier Danielle Smith's governing United Conservatives are cooking the riding boundaries for their own advantage ahead of next year's election. Naheed Nenshi says a report now before an all-party committee gerrymanders ridings in Lethbridge and Calgary to dilute NDP support in favour of the UCP in multiple constituencies. "This is a shocking and...
British Columbia’s incoming Conservative premier is already showing signs he may not follow the same policies proposed by federal Conservatives, with his lukewarm response to their proposed tanker ban reversal. On Tuesday, leader Pierre Poilivre repeatedly stood in the House of Commons to urge Mark Carney’s Liberal government to reverse the moratorium on the ships off B.C.’s north coast to...
The effort to raise $50-million in donations to renovate the prime ministerial residence at 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa has hit $5.7-million, according to new figures released by the Rideau Hall Foundation. Although the newly released figure is only about 11 per cent of the goal, foundation president and chief executive officer Teresa Marques said she is pleased with the...
Six Canadians are among the injured and a seventh remained unaccounted following a high-speed rail crash in central Spain Wednesday morning. The deadly accident occurred just before 9 a.m. local time, when one train slammed into another that had stopped on the tracks. Spanish officials reported at least 68 people killed, and another 58 were receiving treatment at local hospitals...
The Bank of Canada raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time in more than three years on Wednesday as it tries to get ahead of looming price hikes. The central bank's policy rate now stands at 2.5 per cent following a quarter-point hike. That key rate, which influences the cost of borrowing for banks, businesses and consumers alike...
Prime Minister Mark Carney will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Antigua and Barbuda next week. Carney and other Commonwealth leaders are set to meet in the Caribbean nation's capital of St. John's from Nov. 2 and 4. Topics on the agenda include collaboration on climate change, renewable energy and security, according to a news release issued by...
At the Oakwood Café, people aren’t shy about telling you who they’re voting for in the midterms. “Republican Party across the board,” said Mike Hales, a lifelong Republican who supports his country’s aggressive tariff stance and tariffs on Canada. “They’ve leaned on the United States to a point it’s time to stop it,” Hales said of Canada. “If I order...
Officials are working to claw back funding given to organizations under the Online News Act after the independent decision-making body opted to issue payments before verifying applications. In a CRTC report published last week, an auditor found several news publishers or broadcasters did not qualify for the level of funding received during the first round of payments under the Online...
Today, I report on the wrangling over how to name the EU-Canada romance, and our energy correspondent reports on the campaign against a gas-price cap.
British Columbia's premier-designate Lorne Doerkson says he and Prime Minister Mark Carney are aligned on the need to supercharge the economy, attract investment and create good-paying jobs. Doerkson posted on social media that he had a productive conversation with the prime minister on Tuesday, just days after his B.C. Conservatives won two-thirds of the seats in the provincial election. He...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith appears to have fended off a leadership challenge and is looking to smother discord within her United Conservative Party by requiring those seeking a seat on its provincial board to pledge they will respect the province’s majority vote against holding a separation referendum. In an e-mail sent to UCP members on Tuesday evening, party president Rob...
Canadians need to resist the temptation to weaponize concerns about foreign interference and online bot activity to delegitimize their real-life political opponents, says digital misinformation researcher Aengus Bridgman after claims Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centres led to an alleged drop in right-wing activity online earlier this month. “Sometimes these moments can actually be very helpful because they can give...
At least 18 carriers are asking the federal government to extend their pilots' maximum flight duty period by an hour a day, saying the current rules prevent them from managing the frequent delays that disrupt air travel in the North. Their request faces staunch opposition from the country's main pilot union, which says it could lead to further exemptions and...
No exemptions for Canada despite adopting carbon pricing. Canada is facing a carbon tariff threat from the European Union within months as the economic bloc fully implements its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). According to internal documents CBC News obtained through an access to information request, Canadian iron, steel and aluminum are not exempt from the carbon tariff even with...
With two-thirds of the seats in the next legislature, the B.C. Conservatives may have a resounding mandate to follow through on their election promises to cut taxes, reduce the deficit and grow the economy at 3.2 per cent -- but some economists say the challenge will be doing it all at once. Cutting tax and simultaneously fixing the budget "are...
Despite, or because of, these uniquely challenging times, Carney has drawn support from left, right and centre; and polarization has eased. Our latest Spark Advocacy survey wrapped up 3992 interviews on October 21. Confidence in the Carney government remains at quite elevated levels by historical standards. With a voting intention advantage over the Conservatives of 49%-28%, the Liberals have built...
Alberta is looking to end public sector hiring practices aimed at diversity, equity and inclusion. A government bill tabled Tuesday, if passed, would prohibit a number of public bodies from using DEI policies to make hiring decisions. Premier Danielle Smith said hiring needs to be based on merit and qualifications so that everyone has a fair chance at getting jobs...
A Canadian official says there has been "limited progress" made in recent trade talks with the United States. Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday acknowledged talks had intensified slightly in recent days and President Donald Trump and his officials have suggested a deal could be possible before next week midterm elections in the United States. But a Canadian government official...
New Alberta legislation seeks to stop the provincial government and other public entities from considering diversity, equity and inclusion in hiring decisions. Justice Minister Mickey Amery tabled legislation Tuesday that would prevent the provincial public service, provincial Crown corporations, publicly funded post-secondary institutions, schools board and municipalities from hiring employees based on “personal characteristics,” according to a government news release.
Comments come as Trump administration accuses Canada of U.S. election interference. While he's fully engaged in a tight midterm election battle in his own country, U.S. President Donald Trump is still finding time to step into politics north of the border by congratulating the newly elected premiers of Quebec and British Columbia. Praise for the sovereignist premier of Quebec, Paul...
Associate membership expected to be main topic at summit this week in Montreal. European Union officials say the details and exact title of Canada's possible associate EU membership are still being internally debated — but the 27 countries are united in wanting the "closest possible association" with Canada. Canada will host the EU at a summit in Montreal this week...
Ahead of the upcoming Canada-EU Summit in Montreal, European officials say the exact details of an agreement will not be finalized this week, but that they’re hoping to hammer out those details of Canada’s “associate membership” in the 27-member bloc to make an official announcement next year. The officials made the comments in a background briefing to reporters ahead of...
Canada and the United Arab Emirates signed a free trade deal on Tuesday they say was reached in a "record" time of 47 days, and have also agreed to start talks on an extradition treaty. The trade deal was one of a handful of trade and infrastructure agreements signed during the crown prince of Abu Dhabi's visit to Ottawa on...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is facing another call for a leadership review from one of her United Conservative Party constituency boards. Scott Cyr, a backbencher in Smith's caucus, says the board of his constituency association northeast of Edmonton passed the motion Monday. It's a vote Cyr says he does not agree with, and he says it's time to rally behind...
The European Union is working more closely with Canada on creating, stockpiling and researching vaccines as the United States pulls back, says a senior official from Brussels. "Our production, research and development capabilities, and how we communicate about our existing (vaccine) stock, are extremely sensitive matters," European Crisis Management Commissioner Hadja Lahbib said in a French-language interview Monday in Ottawa...
Prime Minister Mark Carney says a process to review the Indian Act won't necessarily lead to the controversial legislation's termination. The Indian Act gives Ottawa sweeping powers over First Nations communities and people, including the authority to determine who qualifies for recognition and what reserves can and can't do. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew called for the repeal of the Indian...
If you ask Georgia cattle farmer Scott Craig about who has been impacted by the trade war and what costs have gone up, he’ll tell you just about everyone and everything, especially in agriculture. “I classify [it] as our three F’s. The fuel, the feed and the fertilizer.” Craig has been a cattle farmer in McDonough, Ga., about an hour...
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Conservative activists James O'Keefe and Cam Higby were charged Wednesday with unlawful voting and identity theft after a Minnesota prosecutor said they gave false names to poll workers during the state's primary election. The men recorded the exchanges for a video to expose what they say are vulnerabilities in the state's voting laws.
At the Oakwood Café, people aren’t shy about telling you who they’re voting for in the midterms. “Republican Party across the board,” said Mike Hales, a lifelong Republican who supports his country’s aggressive tariff stance and tariffs on Canada. “They’ve leaned on the United States to a point it’s time to stop it,” Hales said of Canada. “If I order...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump will be joined by one of his potential successors on Tuesday as he tries to keep Texas, which hasn't elected a Democrat to statewide office in 32 years, in the Republican column in next week's midterm elections.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Democrats and outside watchdogs are planning a massive presence at the polls on Election Day driven by concerns that President Donald Trump will further leverage the vast resources of the federal government to interfere with a midterm that could hobble his final two years in office.
Canada has again voted at the United Nations to oppose the U.S. embargo on Cuba as Havana accuses Washington of running a campaign of coercion to sway the vote. In a vote of 130-17 with 25 abstentions, the UN General Assembly today condemned the economic embargo for the 34th year in a row. The number of countries voting against the...
Carney says it's the substance of Canada-EU relationship, not its name, that matters. The European Union is backing away from the idea of making Canada an associate member of the 27-nation bloc, sources tell CBC News. A joint statement expected to be released at the 21st Canada-EU summit in Montreal on Friday will instead use softer language promising closer ties...
At the Oakwood Café, people aren’t shy about telling you who they’re voting for in the midterms. “Republican Party across the board,” said Mike Hales, a lifelong Republican who supports his country’s aggressive tariff stance and tariffs on Canada. “They’ve leaned on the United States to a point it’s time to stop it,” Hales said of Canada. “If I order...
Today, I report on the wrangling over how to name the EU-Canada romance, and our energy correspondent reports on the campaign against a gas-price cap.
Associate membership expected to be main topic at summit this week in Montreal. European Union officials say the details and exact title of Canada's possible associate EU membership are still being internally debated — but the 27 countries are united in wanting the "closest possible association" with Canada. Canada will host the EU at a summit in Montreal this week...
This brief is the second of two policy briefs analyzing the history, law and effects of the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA). It focuses on changes to U.S. asylum law and policy since the second inauguration of President Donald Trump in January 2025, their impact on the safety of the United States for asylum-seekers and refugees, and the implications...
Canada likes to imagine itself as a compassionate society that protects its youngest citizens, but the daily realities facing children and youth at risk belie the rhetoric. The child welfare system is broken (Trocmé et al. 2019) and many of its failings were documented in the December 2025 Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights report, Nothing to Celebrate (Senate of...
In a previous commentary, I suggested that the Bank of Canada replace its near-term inflation targeting framework (maintaining two per cent inflation over a horizon of approximately two years) with a macrofinancial stability framework. This new regime would focus on ensuring price stability over a longer-term horizon, allowing policy interest rates to “lean” against financial booms and busts. In this...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
Six years ago, a Burlington-made camera turned up on Turkish drones in the war over Nagorno-Karabakh, and Ottawa shut off arms exports to Turkey.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s ad-lib brought down the house at Thursday night’s Forever Canadian rally in Calgary. “They’re a little touchy down there at the moment,” he added, to roars from a crowd of about 5,000.
RCMP officers who responded to the April 2020 mass murders in Nova Scotia will receive bravery medals from Governor General Louise Arbour. An announcement is expected “imminently,” says an Arbour spokesperson. The medals follow 23 awards for excellence quietly distributed last year by RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme to RCMP members and employees who managed the grisly incident, in which 2...
The third book by the writing team of Bulgutch and Mansbridge comes out next week and today a preview. These are inspiring stories about the teachers who shape our world. My friend and colleague Mark Bulgutch is my guest as we discuss our new book, how it came about, how we wrote it, and what it tells us about Canadian...
Americans will vote for members of the U.S. Congress in the midterm elections on Nov. 3. But in a number of states, this year’s election will have a major factor: Canada. A combination of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on a range of industries, to threats of annexation and a loss of revenue from tourism – has made Canada and its...
How will the future of Canada be affected by voters from the two westernmost provinces last week? The BC vote threw out the NDP and elected Conservatives. The Alberta vote showed major support for Canada on the separation question. Former Harper cabinet minister James Moore and senior liberal strategist Gerald Butts with another of their conversations.
David Herle, Scott Reid, Jordan Leichnitz, and Kory Teneycke provide insights on the latest in Canadian politics.
