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 Kate McKenna.
Breached data includes information about government employees, devices. The House of Commons and Canada's cybersecurity agency are investigating a significant data breach caused by an unknown "threat actor" targeting employee information. According to an internal email obtained by CBC News, the House of Commons alerted staff on Monday that there was an information breach. It said a malicious actor was...
Although streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video weren't straining the government's network, federal officials decided to block them because they were perceived to be a "people management" issue, according to internal documents obtained by CBC News. Last December, the agency responsible for IT services, Shared Services Canada (SSC), blocked access to paid subscription streaming sites, including Netflix, Hulu...
Canada's premiers arrived in Ontario cottage country on Monday eager to discuss Canada's ongoing trade crisis with the United States and settle into a plan for how they can work together with Indigenous leaders to strengthen the country's economy. On his way into the summit, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said it's becoming obvious Prime Minister Mark Carney's warning that it's...
Competitor warns criteria for night-vision binoculars dramatically limit who can bid. The federal government is set to proceed with awarding a major defence contract despite industry concerns that its requirements are written in a way that all but assures a single American company is eligible. A tender for night-vision binoculars — worth more than an estimated $100 million — is...
Caller claims 'media liberals' seek to 'scrutinize' the result of confirmed recounts. A caller raising money for the Conservative Party cast doubt on the validity of the recount process in the recent federal election, according to a recording obtained by CBC News. In the fundraising call, which happened on Saturday, an official identifying herself as being from the Conservative Party's...
PM served as Bank of Canada governor when Harper was in power. During a visit to Ottawa to watch the King deliver the speech from the throne, former prime minister Stephen Harper met privately with Prime Minister Mark Carney, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The Prime Minister's Office declined to comment on the meeting, with spokesperson Audrey...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's team has reached out to Ontario Premier Doug Ford's office to arrange a call between the two, an apparent bid to ease tensions after Poilievre's party lost the federal election. The move follows weeks of conflict within Canada's conservative movement, including public criticism from Ford. "I think he's asked everyone across the country for a meeting...
Sources say a top Conservative adviser reprimanded Houston’s team last year. For the first time this campaign, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre made a stop in Nova Scotia on Thursday — the second province he's visited led by a Progressive Conservative premier conspicuously absent from the federal party's events. Poilievre's sole campaign trip to Nova Scotia ended without meeting Premier Tim...
Conservatives eye NDP seats, but Trump threatens to upend everything. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre spent much of the first week of this election campaign targeting NDP-held ridings that could be up for grabs now that polls suggest New Democrat support is in free fall — but the recent Liberal surge has upended those plans. The big political story of the...
How did Canada's premiers end up hiring a Washington lobbying firm for $85,000 US a month? The story involves a meeting with Donald Trump Jr. It was at an encounter with the president's son that one of them met the head of a lobby firm that helped organize the premiers' visit to Washington this week.
Senior government sources expect the reprieve will be short-lived. Despite winning a month-long reprieve from potentially devastating U.S. tariffs, there is a deep sense of anxiety hanging over some of the most senior Canadian government officials who manage the relationship with President Donald Trump.
Jenni Byrne, an influential Conservative organizer who worked in the Harper PMO, is a key Poilievre strategist. Some of Canada's most prominent Conservatives are defending Pierre Poilievre adviser Jenni Byrne for criticizing former party leader Erin O'Toole on social media. On Sunday, O'Toole wished Liberal MP and cabinet minister Anita Anand well, following her announcement that she would not run...
Federal government employees are no longer able to stream Netflix, Disney+ and other streaming services while at work. The government agency responsible for providing IT services, Shared Services Canada (SSC), confirmed in an email that it blocked the streaming sites on all networks it manages late last year. Though there are some exceptions, Shared Services Canada oversees the majority of...
From coining "Justinflation" to saying Justin Trudeau is "not worth the cost," Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been unafraid to target the prime minister directly in his messaging. But following Trudeau's bombshell resignation, it will now be a different Liberal leader facing off with Poilievre in the federal election, which is likely to be held sometime this spring.
On the day the House of Commons adjourned for the holidays, hundreds of Liberals packed the annual caucus party to hear what could be Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's last public speech until the new year — but many partygoers left the event talking about another star guest. Wearing Liberal red, the now-former finance minister Chrystia Freeland strode into the gathering...
Employment minister says he’s not Indigenous — experts say past statements appear contradictory. Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault is set to face a new round of questions over his business dealings and family history at a parliamentary committee in the wake of a report that his former company claimed to be "Indigenous owned" when bidding for federal contracts in 2020. The...
More than a dozen Conservatives wrote to the federal government on behalf of communities in their ridings calling for them to receive funding through the Housing Accelerator Fund — a program Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has promised to cut. Poilievre's office released the names of the 17 Conservative MPs on Tuesday after Housing Minister Sean Fraser said about a dozen...
‘I am writing to ask you to match my common sense sales tax cut,’ Conservative leader says in letter. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on Canada's premiers to match his pledge to remove the federal sales tax on new homes under $1 million by doing the same with provincial sales taxes. "This is a significant step in fixing what...
A misinterpretation of federal rules may have caused tens of thousands of Canadian veterans to be overcharged for long-term care since at least 2005. Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) says it's investigating — and some lawyers have filed a new class-action lawsuit application — after an analysis by CBC News uncovered a possible error in how the department calculates what veterans...
Poilievre has said that if he's elected, his government would not support any legislation to regulate abortion. A former Conservative MP who says he left the party because of his "convictions" claims that the number of anti-abortion Conservative members of Parliament is growing, and that anti-abortion activists have influence within the party apparatus. Richmond-Arthabaska MP Alain Rayes made the comments...
CBC president and CEO Catherine Tait today refused to rule out accepting personal bonuses for the last two fiscal years if they're approved by the Privy Council Office. Speaking before the House of Commons heritage committee, Tait said Canadians expect CBC to honour its commitments to non-union managers and executives if they meet key performance indicators.
As rumours swirl around Parliament Hill about efforts within the Liberal caucus to urge Justin Trudeau to resign as party leader, Liberal MPs are saying publicly that it's still an internal matter for the party. Members of Parliament returned to Ottawa on Monday following a week-long pause in the House of Commons calendar. The Liberal caucus is set to meet...
P.E.I. MP Sean Casey says voters in his riding have 'tuned Justin Trudeau out.' A Liberal backbencher is publicly calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down as party leader as other MPs co-ordinate their efforts to force him out. Sean Casey, the MP for Charlottetown, told CBC News Network's Power & Politics that Trudeau's leadership has become one...
The government's pharmacare legislation has survived a key step on the way to becoming law and could pass the Senate next week. Bill C-64, a framework for the implementation of national pharmacare, passed through the Senate's social affairs, science and technology committee without amendments on Thursday. It now proceeds to a final vote on the floor of the Senate.
Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein says he has reviewed Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault's records and — in the absence of any evidence that Boissonnault broke the conflict of interest law — has again closed a probe into the minister's business dealings. The commissioner expressed new concerns following a July ethics committee meeting, when additional text messages from Boissonnault's former business...
First elected in 2004, Poilievre is set to receive more than $200K annually when he turns 65, experts say. For weeks, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been accusing NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh of supporting the government until February so he can become eligible for his MP pension. But experts estimate the size of Poilievre's own pension at more than three...
On the same day the Liberal government's House leader told reporters she was "confident" her party's governance agreement with the NDP would last until June 2025, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was busy recording a video in front of Parliament saying he was killing the deal. "I'm fairly confident that agreement is a good agreement, it's a strong agreement and we'll...
Canada's second-longest serving MP Lawrence MacAulay won't say whether he's planning to run in the next federal election. MacAulay, who will turn 78 next month, has represented the eastern P.E.I. riding of Cardigan for 35 years, first elected in 1988. He is currently the longest-serving Liberal member, having won 11 consecutive elections. When asked whether he's going for number 12...
Multiple Liberal MPs told CBC News that more needs to be done to salvage the party’s electoral hopes. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet with his ministers in Halifax on Sunday for the annual cabinet retreat, a gathering that comes after a year of dire polling for the government and disquiet among some Liberal MPs. Some of those MPs are...
A longtime conservative radio host and journalist has thrown his hat into the ring to win the Conservative Party of Canada's nomination in a London, Ont.-area riding, one day after the incumbent announced she was not seeking re-election. "An opportunity arose, and I reflected on it with family, I prayed on it, and I've reached the decision I'm sharing with...
Losing the ability to share news on Facebook has hurt Theresa Blackburn's bottom line and her newspaper's ability to serve her community — and as she works around the clock to keep her business afloat, she's pleading with lawmakers to make a deal with Meta so publishers can once again share their content. Blackburn's free newspaper, the River Valley Sun...
A Conservative MP with a reputation for being able to work across party lines has confirmed to a local radio station that she's planning to leave federal politics and will not run again in the next election.
Boissonnault’s former business partner blames autocorrect for nine references to business partner’s name. New text messages unearthed by Conservative MPs on the Commons ethics committee show Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault's former business partner Stephen Anderson citing the name "Randy" in multiple text messages — more than a year after he claims he stopped working with the minister. The Conservatives are...
Despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's promise to rid the Senate of partisanship and patronage, most of the senators appointed to the upper house over the past year have ties to the Liberals. Since July 2023, Trudeau has nominated 12 senators, eight of whom — 66 per cent of the total — have donated money to the federal Liberals or have...
Canada's ethics commissioner will not be investigating claims that Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault broke conflict of interest rules and a preliminary probe turned up no evidence the minister acted improperly, according to a letter obtained by CBC News. "I no longer have concerns that you may have contravened your obligations under the Act and will take no further action at...
Changes to the capital gains inclusion rate take effect today — and while some real estate experts say the changes are causing anxiety within the industry, a leading real estate association says it hasn't seen a bump in sales of secondary residences. As of today, the inclusion rate — the taxable percentage — goes from 50 to 66 per cent...
The Conservatives have filed a motion requesting that the "other Randy" allegedly employed by a company co-founded by Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault appear in front of a parliamentary committee. The motion calls for the individual to testify before the House ethics committee, along with the other co-founder of Global Health Imports.
Québecor's Pierre-Karl Péladeau claims deal between grocery and telecom would take consumers 'hostage.' The head of telecom and media firm Québecor is calling on the federal government to intervene in a deal between Loblaw and a company owned by Rogers and Bell that would see his company and others pushed out of 180 Loblaw-owned stores. In a letter Pierre Karl...
A former Conservative is accusing party brass of blocking him from running to be nominated as a candidate in the next election. Anthony Yacub, 24, said he believes the party made him ineligible for the nomination in order to run a "star" candidate in his riding, currently held by Liberal MP Jennifer O'Connell.
The next federal election could be more than a year away but political parties are already deep into planning their next campaigns — and recruiting new candidates. Well ahead in the polls and reporting record-breaking sums in political donations, the Conservatives are also leading the pack on nominating candidates new to federal politics.
Conservative leader headlines fundraisers at private homes and exclusive clubs, CBC News analysis finds. As Pierre Poilievre presents himself as both a prime minister in waiting and a champion of "the working-class people," he's headlined roughly 50 fundraisers at private venues since becoming Conservative leader in 2022 — some of them in Canada's wealthiest neighbourhoods and most exclusive clubs. A...
One of Canada's top civil servants asked that a false article about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau be removed from Facebook during the 2019 election, according to Friday testimony and documents tabled at the public inquiry into foreign inference. The article in question was published by the Buffalo Chronicle. It contained uncorroborated claims involving Trudeau and was spreading online during the...
The party member behind 2021 petition for a leadership review, Bert Chen, vehemently denies allegations. Former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole believes foreign interference may have led to his removal as party leader, according to documents tabled before the foreign interference inquiry. In a document containing notes from an interview between O'Toole and lawyers acting for the Foreign Interference Commission earlier...
A number of government assets — including government employee security and entry passes and an office key — were stolen and were not recovered when the justice minister's government-issued vehicle was stolen in November 2023. A spokesperson for Justice Minister Arif Virani didn't say what key was taken or whether the lock has been subsequently changed.
Plans for King Charles III's first visit to Canada as head of state are on hold following his cancer diagnosis, CBC News has learned. Although the visit was never confirmed officially by Buckingham Palace, Canadian government sources told CBC News King Charles III and Queen Camilla were set to visit in May 2024. The planned visit also has been reported...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling on the leader of the opposition to clarify his position on grocery prices after news emerged that a top Conservative adviser's consulting firm has lobbied on behalf of grocery giant Loblaw. The Ontario lobbyist registry lists six employees of Jenni Byrne + Associates as registered lobbyists for Loblaw Companies Limited. The CEO of the...
Canadian authorities are investigating a prolonged data security breach following the "detection of malicious cyber activity" affecting the internal network used by Global Affairs Canada staff, according to internal department emails viewed by CBC News. The breach affects at least two internal drives, as well as emails, calendars and contacts of many staff members. CBC News spoke to multiple sources...
The federal government will not appeal a court ruling that found part of Canada's Citizenship Act to be unconstitutional. Last month, an Ontario Superior Court justice found the federal government violated Charter rights with its "second-generation cut-off" rule, which denies automatic citizenship to children born abroad if their Canadian parents were also born abroad.