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 Elizabeth Thompson.
It's a small change that risks cultivating a big debate. On one side is the principle of farmer's privilege — the traditional right of Canadian farmers to save seeds at the end of a growing season and reuse them the next year. On the other is the principle of plant breeders' rights — the right of those who develop new...
Tax that could hit Canadians comes with risk to U.S. revenue, investments. A controversial tax being proposed by President Donald Trump's administration that could cost Canadians and Canadian businesses billions is also likely to cost the U.S. government, according to an assessment by a non-partisan U.S. congressional office. It is also likely to cost American companies by prompting investors from...
Canadian residents will be asked about their sexual orientation in next year's national census, CBC News has learned. While Statistics Canada has asked about sexual orientation in past surveys, next year will mark the first time the question will appear on the long-form census questionnaire that will go out to 25 per cent of Canadian residents in May 2026.
Canada Pension Plan managers face the prospect of hearings by the House of Commons finance committee after MPs learned that only a small fraction of the public pension plan's billions of dollars of assets are invested in Canada. Liberal MP Karina Gould, the newly elected chair of the committee, said it is important for the CPP to be managed effectively...
As a former top Finance Department official, Susan Peterson played a key role years ago in creating the stable Canada Pension Plan that we see today. But even she was surprised by the numbers. A few weeks ago, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) revealed that 12 per cent of the CPP's assets are invested in Canada — its...
Section of Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill could hit Canadian investors with new tax. A small, obscure section buried in U.S. President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act could cost Canadians and Canadian companies billions of dollars, CBC News has learned. Moreover, it could hand Prime Minister Mark Carney's government yet another political hot potato from south of the...
Critics call for Carney government to implement foreign agents registry, commissioner. Opposition parties are calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney's government to quickly implement key provisions of the law adopted last year to counter foreign interference following new revelations that attacks on Chinese dissidents living in Canada and around the world are on the rise. Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael...
CBC/ICIJ investigations reveal increasing transnational repression here and around the world. For Yao Zhang, the news came as a shock. Sexually explicit, deepfake images of her were circulating widely online — an attack that Ottawa blamed on the Chinese government. It wasn't the first time Zhang had been targeted by China. Shortly after the Quebec-based accountant-turned-influencer travelled to Taiwan in...
In an election campaign plagued by misinformation, exaggerated claims and even lies, how can voters tell what's true? CBC's Election Fact Check Unit has looked into dozens of statements made by the leaders of the four largest federal parties. It found that each of the leaders — some more than others — has at times made statements or cited facts...
In the cut and thrust of an election debate, it's not uncommon for a political party leader to get a number or a fact wrong. But sometimes they repeat those erroneous statements — both on the campaign trail and the debate stage. The CBC News fact-checking team looked into some of the inaccurate claims that leaders have made more than...
It's an election centred on U.S. President Donald Trump's threats, Canada's sovereignty and the cost of living. From the start, however, Liberal Leader Mark Carney's past work in the private sector and the rules that govern the assets of political leaders have also been in the spotlight.
In one of its last acts in office, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government decided to give Canadians a break at the bank. According to an order-in-council dated March 12, two days before Trudeau resigned, banks won't be allowed to charge more than $10 if someone doesn't have enough money in their personal accounts to cover a cheque or a...
88 appointments take effect after former prime minister stepped down. Prime Minister Mark Carney should review a series of future appointments made by his predecessor's government and shouldn't automatically accept them, Green Party Co-Leader Elizabeth May said Friday. In an interview with CBC News, May said appointments have to be filled but it was "a huge mistake" to make so...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has stacked agencies and Crown corporations with dozens of "future appointments" and early appointment renewals, many of which would only go into effect weeks and months after the next election. A CBC News analysis of order-in-council appointments made since Jan. 6, when Trudeau announced he would step down as prime minister, found 88 future appointments...
Swearing-in date unclear, but work done now will speed up the timeline. Far from the political spotlight and prying eyes, the process has already begun. When the next Liberal leader is announced on March 9, it will mark the end of the leadership campaign triggered by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's decision to resign.
Ambassador Kirsten Hillman leading campaign to persuade Trump, U.S. lawmakers. Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds has said some unkind things about Canada. But when the Trump ally welcomed Canadian Ambassador Kirsten Hillman into his Capitol Hill office, it started out all smiles. "I hear that you have just announced that you're running for governor," Hillman enthused. "Congratulations!"
An online petition calling on the Canadian government to revoke Elon Musk's citizenship is on track to become one of the most popular in the history of the House of Commons. There's just one problem — Canada can't revoke Musk's citizenship.
Report says antisemitic commentary is used to gain both support and new members. Ideologically motivated violent extremist groups are using antisemitism in a bid to recruit followers and inspire violence, according to a report from Canada's spy agency. The report dated May 2024, released under the access to information law by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), said the extremist...
The call to Angela Rasmussen came out of the blue and posed a troubling question. Had she heard the rumour that key data sets would be removed from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website the next day? It's something Rasmussen had thought could never happen. "It had never really been thought of before that CDC would actually...
It could get more complicated — and potentially more expensive — for Canadians to cross the border or send packages to the United States, if President Donald Trump's executive order on tariffs goes into effect. Businesses that export products to the U.S. have warned that Trump's plan for 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian goods could lead to losses...
Federal political parties should work together to quickly adopt recommendations made by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue's inquiry into foreign interference before the next election, says Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. In her report made public Tuesday, Hogue made 51 recommendations — 24 of which she said should be adopted before the next federal election.
MP says Musk has the power to 'easily impact our electoral integrity.' New Democrat MP Charlie Angus is calling on Elections Canada to launch an investigation into Elon Musk and his social media platform X, saying he is concerned about potential interference by the tech billionaire in the next federal election. In a two-page letter to Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane...
Canadian refugee advocates, federal government departments and immigration lawyers are bracing for a potential influx of asylum claimants following U.S. President Donald Trump's executive orders this week.
Speaking to journalists in Toronto on Friday, Chrystia Freeland didn't want to talk about the whispers around Parliament Hill that tensions between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were running high. "I'm proud and grateful to be able to serve in the cabinet of the prime minister," Freeland said. "I really don't spend a lot of time focusing on Ottawa...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's meeting with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump last week likely violated a 225-year-old U.S. law, but experts say it's highly unlikely that Trump will face any consequences. On Friday, Trudeau surprised Canadians by making an unannounced trip to Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in West Palm Beach, Florida. Over dinner, Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc and the prime...
Parliament's Natural Resources committee voted unanimously Monday to call on Paper Excellence owner Jackson Wijaya to testify, following news that he is assuming sole control of controversial pulp and paper giant Asia Pulp and Paper from his father. New Democrat MP Charlie Angus said he wants the committee to hear from Wijaya as well as Canadian government officials who said...
The Canadian government will monitor Canada's largest pulp and paper company to ensure it respects the promises it made the federal government as the company's owner takes over his family's controversial Indonesian-Chinese pulp and paper conglomerate, Natural Resource Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told a parliamentary committee Wednesday.
New Democrat MP Charlie Angus decided he had enough. "I have tried three times to get off X because it is a dismal, toxic, hole of disinformation," said Angus, who used to regularly post to his 47,200 followers on X, formerly known as Twitter. "After seeing what went down with the Trump election, the belligerent role of Elon Musk in...
Opposition MPs are expressing concern that after buying up two major Canadian companies, the foreign owner of one of Canada's biggest forestry businesses is now also formally taking over an Indonesian-Chinese pulp and paper conglomerate from his family — a company he has long denied operating in tandem with. A half-page notice quietly published by the European Union on Monday...
Internal document says Mounties will use fake online profiles to pursue extremist activity. The RCMP is planning to conduct undercover surveillance online using fake personas to investigate ideological extremists in Canada, says an internal strategy document. Experts in ideologically motivated violent extremism (IMVE) in Canada say the strategy is overdue at a time when online extremism threatens to spill over...
Staffing at Canada's embassy in Moscow has dropped to a level so low that if Canada were to expel any Russian diplomats from this country, it could result in the Moscow embassy's closure. Documents made public by the inquiry into foreign interference in Canada reveal that, as of July, Canada had only 17 diplomats left at its embassy in Russia...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has the names of Conservative parliamentarians who are involved in foreign interference. In explosive testimony before the foreign interference inquiry today, Trudeau said he has instructed the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to warn Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and protect the party's integrity.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre still has not obtained clearance. One of the best ways to fight foreign interference in Canadian politics is for all party leaders to be security-screened so that intelligence that could affect their parties or candidates can be shared with them, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's chief of staff said Tuesday. Testifying before the inquiry into foreign interference...
China's foreign interference extends beyond elections to other key areas of Canadian society, the public inquiry on foreign interference was told Monday.
The federal government plans to convene a meeting of foreign ambassadors next month to warn them not to interfere in the next election. Testifying before the inquiry into foreign interference in Canada, David Morrison, deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, said his department is preparing for the next federal election and wants to make sure that diplomats from other countries know...
An RCMP official appearing before the foreign interference inquiry today refused to say whether any Chinese government "police stations" are still operating in Canada. Asked by lawyers and later by journalists whether any of the so-called police stations are still active here, RCMP Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn cited an ongoing investigation. "That again falls into part of our ongoing investigation...
A foreign government tried to get a Liberal candidate defeated and a former MP is suspected of having worked to influence parliamentary business on behalf of a foreign government, the public inquiry into interference in Canadian politics was told Friday. Officials from the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) unveiled two new examples of such foreign interference, in addition to...
Loopholes in election financing rules could allow money from foreign countries to influence Canadian elections, the chief electoral officer told the inquiry probing foreign interference Tuesday. Stéphane Perrault noted that, under the law, only citizens and permanent residents are allowed to donate to a party or candidate and that those donations are supposed to be made from personal funds. Foreign...
The federal government needs to do more to prevent misuse of visitors visas by people coming to Canada, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said. "We've taken a number of measures throughout the summer, particularly to deal with the flow of people coming into the country," Miller told CBC News last week.
Three months after it was tabled in Parliament, the Liberal Party of Canada's national director says he still hasn't read a bombshell report that concluded one of his party's nomination races had been affected by foreign interference by China. Testifying before the public inquiry into foreign interference Friday, Azam Ishmael initially told the inquiry he didn't think the Liberal Party...
Former Conservative leader says he was told senator was advocating for a Chinese state-controlled company. Former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole said Wednesday he contemplated expelling a Conservative senator from his party's caucus over concerns that the senator was involved in foreign influence.
The Chinese government tried to influence Chinese Canadian voters in the last election but its actions didn't violate elections law, the office charged with policing Canada's elections has concluded. In a report dated Aug. 19 and made public Tuesday by the inquiry into foreign interference in Canadian politics, investigators for the Commissioner of Canada Elections concluded that the Chinese government...
U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it recorded a record-high number of encounters with migrants between border posts on the Canada-U.S. border between October 2023 and July of this year. It's a pattern experts say could be a problem for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government as the question of illegal immigration heats up in a close-fought U.S. election.
Canadian residents who require a visa to visit the United States face the longest wait times in the world. A CBC News analysis of wait times for appointments to obtain U.S. tourist visas shows that while wait times in countries like India and Mexico have been improving since November 2022, wait times in Canada have been getting worse.
A controversial American government decision to impose new requirements on dogs entering the U.S. was prompted by a "dramatic increase" in falsified documents and fraud — including cases of people using Canada to bring dogs from countries with high rates of rabies into the U.S. A lengthy notice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the...
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet says he will ask for a legal opinion on whether the U.S. government has any legal grounds to impose trade sanctions on Canada in response to Quebec's controversial language law Bill 96. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Blanchet said records that show the U.S. Trade Representative's office has discussed possible sanctions don't correspond with what the...
U.S government officials have discussed behind closed doors the possibility of imposing trade sanctions on Canada over Quebec's controversial Bill 96 language law, CBC News has learned. Documents obtained by CBC News under the U.S. freedom of information law also reveal that American government officials are being told that the implementation of Bill 96 could result in fewer American products...
A former member of the Parole Board of Canada breached government codes of conduct by making "unwanted advances" toward female employees, Canada's public sector integrity commissioner has ruled. In a report tabled in Parliament Tuesday, Commissioner Harriet Solloway said that the Parole Board committed gross mismanagement and endangered the health and safety of employees when it failed to respond to...
Clause in rules has allowed MPs to bill Parliament for $538,314 over the past year. The House of Commons has launched a study of a clause in its spending rules that has allowed MPs travelling to caucus meetings connected to party conventions to claim hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses over the past year. Officials are also being asked...
Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen is calling on the House of Commons to close a loophole that allowed MPs travelling to political party conventions to expense hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel costs in the past year. In a letter to Speaker Greg Fergus obtained by CBC News, Gerretsen said the loophole is allowing some MPs to bypass a House...
Two advocacy groups are calling on the House of Commons to close a loophole that has allowed members of Parliament travelling to party conventions to expense more than half a million dollars over the past year. They are also calling for the money billed to the House of Commons through the loophole to be reimbursed, in whole or in part.
Commons picked up $84,000 tab for travel by 'designated travellers,' often MPs' spouses. A loophole in the House of Commons' spending rules has allowed MPs travelling to party conventions to bill taxpayers for more than half a million dollars over the past year — even though House of Commons rules normally prohibit MPs from charging expenses linked to partisan political...
Fareed Khan sometimes becomes overcome by grief when he talks about the growing death toll in the Israel- Hamas war. When he talks about how Canadian politicians have reacted to the conflict, grief gives way to anger. "I will never help another Liberal in this government," said Khan, a human rights activist and founder of Canadians United Against Hate. In...
The federal government is cracking down on potential tax cheats by introducing new measures to track cryptocurrency transactions and giving the Canada Revenue Agency more teeth to penalize taxpayers who refuse to disclose information it wants. The budget tabled Tuesday also includes provisions to hold tax planners who help clients engage in tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance as well...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should convene an emergency meeting with the country's premiers to discuss the federal carbon price, Conservative Pierre Poilievre wrote in a letter Tuesday. Poilievre circulated the letter following the $15-per-tonne increase to the consumer carbon price that kicked in on Monday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's controversial vacation to Jamaica last Christmas cost Canadian taxpayers far more than his trip to the same destination a year earlier, CBC News has learned. According to the government's answer to questions posed by Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer, tabled this week, Trudeau's 10-day vacation with his family to Prospect Estate near Ocho Rios cost taxpayers...
The "crises" rocking national and international affairs are likely to get worse over the next few years and could have a significant effect on the federal government and Canada's federal police force, says an internal report prepared for the RCMP. "The global community has experienced a series of crises, with COVID-19, supply-chain issues, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine all...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government says it has started a process to name a new ethics commissioner — but it's not clear whether a new commissioner can be appointed before the current one leaves office. Interim commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein's mandate will end Thursday. It has been a year since Canada's previous ethics commissioner, Mario Dion, retired. Conservative ethics critic...
Canada's senators have been issued panic buttons as concerns about the safety of members of Canada's upper house pile up, CBC News has learned. Senators have been targeted by online harassment campaigns and threatening phone calls in recent weeks. In November, Conservative Sen. Don Plett's car was surrounded by pro-Palestinian protesters who banged on the windows and climbed onto the...
Parliament spent nearly $600,000 on luxury hotel rooms it didn't use when nearly half of the listed delegates for a conference of European parliamentarians it hosted either didn't show up or chose less expensive hotels. Parliament expected 700 delegates to attend the annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly, which took place in Vancouver...