While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Christian Paas-Lang.
Document appears to be a poorly-edited fake version of a real government webpage about filing taxes. Three Conservative candidates have shared online images of what purports to be a government document aimed at influencing inmates to vote against their party — but the document appears to be a poorly-edited fake version of a real government webpage. In posts on social...
Hand-counted images of rallies yield significantly smaller numbers. Political campaigns may be significantly off-base when it comes to the number of people they say are present at campaign rallies across the country, a CBC News investigation shows.
Fake CBC News articles that link to sketchy investment schemes are flooding social media with sensational headlines about the Canadian election and other recent political developments. CBC's visual investigations unit reported on a similar scam in late January, where fake articles lured victims to Quantum AI, a well-known scam. But this latest generation of fake content has been updated to...
Growing sophistication of AI causing people to be increasingly skeptical of online images, video, expert says. In online posts that were collectively viewed hundreds of thousands of times, some social media users have claimed that a photo of a Mark Carney campaign event was AI-generated. Several social media users claim the image, which shows an event held last week at...
More than five years after she was expelled from caucus in the fallout from the SNC-Lavalin affair, former Liberal health minister Jane Philpott is leaving the door open to a possible return to politics. Philpott was asked about her future in an interview airing Saturday on CBC's The House. "If a door ever opened that was the right one, that...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with former U.S. president Donald Trump on Sunday, a day after the Republican candidate survived an assassination attempt.According to a summary of the call provided by the Prime Minister's Office, "Trudeau condemned yesterday's appalling assassination attempt and reiterated there's no place for political violence."
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc says top Canadian security officials have assured him that they have upped their vigilance following Saturday's assassination attempt on former U.S. president Donald Trump. In a series of posts on social media on Sunday, LeBlanc said he met with RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme, David Vigneault, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, and Public Safety...
On the surface, last week's Canada's Farm Show in Regina was all about exciting new equipment — massive tractors and other heavy duty tools. Under the surface, however, farmers were also expressing serious feelings of frustration with the federal government. In interviews conducted for a special episode of CBC's The House focusing on politics in Saskatchewan, farmers spoke about perceptions...
Immigration Minister Marc Miller says the federal government is continuing to investigate options for giving status to some undocumented people in Canada — but he doesn't see consensus on the issue in the country or in the government caucus. In an interview airing Saturday on CBC's The House, Miller spoke positively about the idea but cautioned that the ongoing debate...
Cabinet ministers are spending a lot of time in a key Toronto riding ahead of a byelection later this month — part of an attempt by the Liberals to hang on to a key stronghold as the Conservative Party rides high in the polls. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and at least 13 of his ministers have dropped into Toronto-St. Paul's...
A week of political debate over a shocking report alleging that some parliamentarians aided foreign meddling in Canadian politics has solidified one point of consensus: the need to pass an anti-foreign meddling bill before the next federal election. Bill C-70, dubbed the "Countering Foreign Interference Act," was introduced in early May and is currently under consideration by a parliamentary committee...
The head of the United Nations this week called for the end of fossil fuel advertising — an international twist on an existing domestic fight.Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a speech Wednesday in New York that some in the oil and gas industry have "shamelessly greenwashed" their activities.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says a Gaza ceasefire proposal outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday is an "important step," as parties wait for an official response from Hamas. Freeland was asked about the proposal, which envisions three stages of actions aimed at a permanent end to the Israel-Hamas conflict, at an event in Toronto...
The Supreme Court of Canada heard arguments last week in a case concerning third-party political advertising, highlighting what experts see as an evolving trend of election spending by groups such as unions, corporations and industry advocates. In two days of hearings in Ottawa, the justices mulled over arguments in a case that arose out of an Ontario law that seeks...
Liberal MP John Aldag has announced he'll resign his seat later this month, with the intention of securing a nomination as an NDP candidate in the next provincial election in British Columbia. Aldag, who represented the riding of Cloverdale—Langley City from 2015-19 and then from 2021 to the present, plans to resign on May 27. He was defeated in the...
Catherine Tait says payout of bonuses will have little real effect on broadcaster’s financial woes. The head of the CBC says that while the public broadcaster must prepare for "all possible outcomes," it doesn't have a specific plan in the works for the possibility of a future Conservative government cancelling all or part of the Crown corporation's public subsidy. In...
Canada's top envoy in Moscow says relations with post-Soviet Russia are likely as bad as they've ever been, as the war in Ukraine grinds on and Vladimir Putin enters his fifth term as president. In her first media interview as ambassador to Russia, which aired Saturday on CBC Radio's The House, Sarah Taylor said the combination of the war in...
A request by Canada's biggest city to move forward on drug decriminalization is in limbo, facing significant provincial opposition and renewed political debate prompted by a partial rollback of B.C.'s existing policy. Toronto put forward a request to the federal government in 2022, and provided additional information in 2023, Dr. Eileen de Villa, the city's medical officer of health, said...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's suggestion this week that he would use the notwithstanding clause to push through criminal justice reforms would be a landmark moment in the history of the controversial mechanism, experts say. In an interview on CBC Radio's The House airing Saturday, defence lawyer Lindsay Board said federal use of Section 33 of the Charter of Rights and...
Parties to the massive Honda EV investment deal reached this week have tacitly acknowledged that foreign workers will be involved in setting up the proposed auto plants, while attempting to downplay an issue already seized upon by the federal Conservatives. In response to questions throughout the week, federal officials, their provincial counterparts and executives for the automaker have talked about...
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says she thinks unhappy premiers will come around on measures in the federal budget that touch on provincial legislation, even as they push back. At an event in Toronto on Sunday, Freeland — who presented the federal budget on Tuesday — said the national government needs to push ahead on such issues...
Federal officials and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith clashed again on Friday over steps Ottawa is taking to boost housing construction across the country, as Smith raised the spectre of a legal battle.Housing Minister Sean Fraser revealed Friday a revamped national housing strategy that he said will help create almost 3.9 million homes by 2031.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues to face resistance from the Conservative opposition and some provincial leaders as time ticks down to the federal budget on April 16. In a letter to the prime minister released on Sunday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre again articulated his critique of the government's handling of a range of issues — from housing, to the carbon...
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada's commitment to Ukraine has been an important contribution to NATO's strength at a time when the United States has been "unable to step up" on aid to the embattled country. Freeland was responding to a question about Canada's efforts to meet NATO's military spending target for member nations — two per cent of GDP...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pushed back Thursday on comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about an Israeli military airstrike that killed seven aid workers in Gaza, including one Canadian. In a video statement released earlier this week, Netanyahu expressed regret over the incident and called it a "tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the...
The federal government says it will launch a national school food program, hoping to deliver meals to an additional 400,000 children per year. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland made the announcement during an event in Toronto on Monday, the latest in a series of public appearances by the prime minister and his cabinet ministers ahead of...
Just off a country road in rural Ontario, a short drive from Barrie, Kerry McLaven’s decades-old machinery is revving up for the summer. The “machines” are trees — rows of white pines, cut and grafted from the best trees McLaven and her predecessors could find, now put to work in this eight hectare plot near Lisle, Ont. “They are beautiful...
Jonathan Wilkinson says 'there must be consequences' for Saskatchewan's refusal to remit tax. Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says provincial premiers who are calling on the government to scrap a planned increase on the carbon tax have their facts wrong. In an interview airing Sunday on Rosemary Barton Live, Wilkinson defended the federal government's landmark climate policy against a growing...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey's call to delay the carbon tax is a sign he is caving to political pressure. "I think Mr. Furey is continuing to bow to political pressure," Trudeau said in response to a question about Furey's stance during an event in Montreal on Friday morning. "I think Canadians in Newfoundland...
Federal Health Minister Mark Holland says he hopes some provinces will be able to have the government's new pharmacare plan in place by the end of the year. In an interview on Rosemary Barton Live that aired Sunday, Holland said that during his conversations with provincial colleagues, some had expressed major enthusiasm for the program unveiled this week that would...
A Toronto event where Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was scheduled to host his Italian counterpart was cancelled on Saturday evening due to security concerns as hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside the venue, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister's Office said. Justin Trudeau's office says neither he nor Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni were able to enter the Art...
Defence Minister Bill Blair says NATO countries like Canada must ramp up their aid to Ukraine as support from the United States languishes in a legislative quagmire. In an interview that aired Sunday on Rosemary Barton Live, Blair expressed optimism that the U.S. would eventually pass a significant aid bill to provide billions of dollars worth of military support to...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made his 81st Senate appointment this week — another Independent senator in a transformed Senate that Trudeau vowed to make less partisan. That effort began just over ten years ago, when Trudeau gathered his Liberal Senate colleagues together in Ottawa. "Mr. Trudeau was sitting there with all of the Liberal senators but no MPs," said James...
Canada's justice minister says he's looking at options for increasing the penalties for car theft, after the federal government convened a national summit on the issue. In an interview that aired Sunday on Rosemary Barton Live, Virani said solving the problem of rising car thefts was a priority for the government. "One of the principal aspects of the Criminal Code...
Digital policy experts say the Liberal government should be restrained when it comes to formulating its promised legislation governing online harms. In an interview on CBC Radio's The House that aired Saturday, Emily Laidlaw, an associate professor at the University of Calgary, said the federal government faced a major challenge in crafting a bill that was technically viable and did...
A federal byelection has been called in Durham, Ont. to fill the seat left vacant by former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole's retirement from politics. Election night for the Durham byelection will be March 4. Conservatives have nominated commentator and author Jamil Jivani to try to retain the seat. The governing Liberals have put forward local councillor Robert Rock, while the...
Former justice minister David Lametti says a federal court judge made a bad call when he ruled that the federal government was wrong to trigger the Emergencies Act to break up the 2022 convoy protests. Lametti announced Thursday that he would be leaving political life on Jan. 31 after eight years as an MP — more than half of them...
Canada's ambassador to China says the coming inquiry into foreign interference in Canadian elections will be a difficult moment for Beijing, but Canada must move forward with a balance of co-operation and resilience in the bilateral relationship. In an interview airing Saturday on CBC Radio's The House, Jennifer May said the inquiry, which will hold its first preliminary public hearings...
Some small business owners in Canada are asking for the federal government to reckon with the challenges they face as they confront a looming deadline to repay a portion of emergency government loans issued during the pandemic. Businesses face a Jan. 18 deadline to pay back up to $60,000 in loans received through the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) program...
Liberal MP Steven MacKinnon will be sworn in Monday as the government's chief co-ordinator in the House of Commons, with Karina Gould departing for parental leave. MacKinnon, who represents the riding of Gatineau, Que., will be sworn in at Rideau Hall on Monday morning. He'll take on the role of government House leader, responsible for handling the government's legislative agenda...
A call for the House of Commons to vote no confidence in the Liberal government is now the most-signed e-petition ever to be launched in Canada — another sign of the increasing popularity of online petitions. The petition was put forward by a Peterborough, Ont. resident and sponsored by Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri. It calls on the House of Commons...
Canada's ambassador to the UN says Canada's decision to vote in favour of a humanitarian ceasefire was a necessary reaction to the increasingly desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza, as major international powers join the call for a ceasefire. In an interview airing Sunday on Rosemary Barton Live, Bob Rae said that Canada could not stand by and remain fixed in...
Canada's newest premier says that in an ideal world, Ottawa would provide his territory with a blanket exemption from the carbon tax."I mean, ideally, a complete exemption for the territory is what we would hope for," said R.J. Simpson, chosen this week as premier of the Northwest Territories, in an interview Sunday on Rosemary Barton Live.
A new 15-minute video produced by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is the latest salvo in the political fight over housing policy, which has dominated the second half of this year in politics. Poilievre made housing costs and affordability a key part of his message early in his leadership run, and housing has now become an issue that parties across the...
The federal Conservatives are crushing the governing Liberals in fundraising, helping the opposition party build up what could be a record-setting war chest to push their message before and during the next federal election campaign.Records filed with Elections Canada show that the Official Opposition has brought in $23.3 million so far this year, roughly $13.5 million more than the governing Liberals.
Opposing aisles in the House of Commons are said to be placed two sword lengths apart, a reminder that disputes in the chamber should be resolved peacefully.For Greg Fergus, two hockey stick lengths would probably be better. He prefers a more familiar analogy for his role in Canada's democracy as the new Speaker of the House of Commons.
Former tech executive Jim Balsillie says artificial intelligence should be regulated, but thinking about it as an existential threat distracts from the immediate challenges posed by other new technologies. Balsillie, who was co-CEO of Research in Motion (now known as BlackBerry Limited), said in an interview on CBC's The House airing Saturday that politicians do need to pay close attention...
Almost two years after reaching all-time highs in value, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have faded from prominence in Canadian politics.They also no longer appear on the public asset disclosure forms of several members of Parliament — including Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, once one of crypto's most prominent supporters in the political sphere.
Canadian special forces members are in Israel helping Canada's embassy there with "contingency planning," a Department of National Defence spokesperson confirmed to CBC News on Sunday. "As there is potential for the escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including at the border separating Israel and Lebanon, Global Affairs Canada has requested [Canadian Armed Forces] support to ensure a rapid...
Alberta's finance minister says he's looking forward to a future meeting with his provincial and federal counterparts on his province's potential withdrawal from the Canada Pension Plan. In an interview with Rosemary Barton Live airing Sunday, Nate Horner also said Alberta is within its rights to contemplate its own pension plan. "It's Albertans' right to have the conversation, but I...
Cross-border economy experts are warning that Canada's decision to strike out alone on a digital services tax could put it offside with its allies — and risk retaliation from the United States. "There are a number of Canada's allies that are anxious because Canada is breaking ranks when it's usually a consensus follower" and has been engaged in the development...
Canadian politicians from across the political spectrum gathered at solidarity rallies in support of Israel on Monday, as the country's war with Hamas rages on.In Ottawa, both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre attended a rally in support of Israel.
The federal Conservatives may be set to benefit from a shifting electoral landscape in Canada — but that potential boost has nothing to do with the polls, or the latest twists and turns in Ottawa. Across the country, independent commissions have finalized the process of drawing new federal ridings which will take effect in the next election, as long as...