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 Kristy Kirkup.
Nearly a decade ago, on my first day working at the national wire service, I was given an important assignment: cover the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report. The stakes were high and my stomach was in knots. I could not mess this up. After the report came out, I recall reporters having a chance to speak to...
A decade ago, Martin Magnan was walking in downtown Ottawa near the National War Memorial when he heard three gunshots and began to run.While others were fleeing, Mr. Magnan’s reaction was the opposite. “I started running, towards the gunfire, towards the scene,” he recalled.
Senators should pass pharmacare legislation as soon as possible without amendments, says the former chair of an advisory council who put forward a roadmap on the path to universal pharmacare in Canada. Eric Hoskins, a former Ontario health minister who chaired an advisory council that reported on the implementation of national pharmacare, said a new letter from federal Health Minister...
Health Minister Mark Holland has written a Senate committee studying the pharmacare legislation to confirm that the government intends for the diabetes medications and contraceptives involved to be paid for and administered through a public plan. Mr. Holland wrote Ratna Omidvar, the chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, on Friday to say that as...
It was supposed to be a routine rally for Justin Trudeau during the 2021 election campaign – an outdoor event in Bolton, Ont., about 50 kilometres northwest of Toronto. But it quickly turned ugly. Protesters, many of whom opposed COVID-19 vaccination mandates, surrounded a hotel parking lot. Local police had difficulty keeping the angry crowd back from a cordoned-off area...
Voters in a hotly contested Montreal federal by-election will find themselves holding the longest ballot in Canadian history, which could make for a lengthy period of waiting for results. There are 91 candidates on Monday’s ballot for the LaSalle-Émard-Verdun district, a race prompted by the departure of David Lametti. He served as justice minister under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will underscore the importance of economic reconciliation and recognize that the historic relationship between First Nations and the federal government has been destructive when he addresses chiefs gathered in Montreal on Thursday for a general assembly. Mr. Poilievre’s address is a marked departure from the approach of then-prime minister Stephen Harper who never delivered a speech...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing calls from two Chrétien-era Liberal cabinet ministers to step down as party leader, with the former MPs pointing to this week’s midtown Toronto by-election defeat as further evidence of a strong desire for change among Canadian voters. Wayne Easter said in an interview Wednesday that Mr. Trudeau and his team of senior advisers in...
The Liberal Party of Canada apologized Tuesday afternoon to one of its MPs, Greg Fergus, who also serves as the Speaker of the House of Commons, over an advertisement that appeared on its website that included language it says was partisan in nature. In a post on X, the party’s national director Azam Ishmael published a letter to Mr. Fergus...
House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus is facing criticism over language used in an advertisement promoting a coming event that a Conservative MP says is partisan and inflammatory and shows Mr. Fergus is not fit to serve in his role. In a four-page letter being sent to Mr. Fergus Tuesday morning, Conservative MP Chris Warkentin says an advertisement for “A...
Air Canada says it is reviewing its policies as a result of a “regrettable incident” that involved airline staff taking the headdress of the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations from the cabin of a plane. Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, who was named the national chief of the AFN in December, says she was flying from Montreal to Fredericton...
An internal review of federal contracting has found nearly $5-million in fraudulent billing by three private subcontractors, prompting the government to refer the cases to the RCMP, announce a new Office of Supplier Integrity and Compliance and tighten conflict of interest rules for public servants.
Dalian Enterprises, one of the vendors hired by the federal government to work on its troubled ArriveCan app, was awarded a contract from the Defence Department the same day its founder started working at the department as a full-time public servant. Dalian founder David Yeo told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that he started leading an IT project team as...
A statement of claim was filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Tuesday that alleges the arrest of Rebel News reporter David Menzies early this year is part of a pattern of “intimidation and exclusion” by the RCMP against the organization. The statement says the claim by Mr. Menzies and Rebel News is for false arrest, false imprisonment...
The Liberal government has not agreed to fully fund diabetes medications, which remains an outstanding issue in negotiations on pharmacare, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says. Mr. Singh held a news conference in Toronto on the issue Wednesday as time is running out for the two parties to reach an agreement. The Liberals and the New Democrats have a working arrangement...
The federal government is strongly considering covering the costs of birth control as part of its negotiations with the NDP on new pharmacare legislation, according to sources with direct knowledge of the secret talks. Three sources told The Globe and Mail that the possible birth control funding is in addition to coverage for diabetes medications, which is also being discussed...
Health ministers from seven provinces and all territories have signed a letter to their federal counterpart urging Ottawa to indefinitely pause the implementation of medical assistance in dying criteria for individuals whose underlying medical condition is mental illness. Ministers from B.C., Ontario, Alberta, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Yukon sent the letter...
The federal Conservatives say other political parties have blocked their call for a parliamentary committee to examine how a Rebel News commentator was treated by the RCMP this week when he asked Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland a question.
Health experts are urging the federal government to impose a lifetime ban on cigarette sales to anyone born after 2008, a proposal inspired by a New Zealand policy being shelved by that country’s new Prime Minister. Andrew Pipe, a clinical scientist at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute who specializes in smoking cessation, said the New Zealand policy merits a...
The former chair of an advisory council that put forward a roadmap on pharmacare says he has been trying to impress upon the NDP and the Liberals the importance of taking time necessary to get legislation right. Eric Hoskins, a former Ontario health minister who chaired a council that called for Ottawa to work with provincial and territorial governments to...
The NDP is willing to waive a key deadline contained within its working agreement with the Liberals that states pharmacare legislation must be passed by the end of the year. Since March, 2022, the New Democrats and the Liberal minority government have had a supply-and-confidence agreement in place to work together on priority issues.