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 Marina von Stackelberg.
The federal government has brought in major changes to how pesticides are regulated in Canada, granting cabinet the power to authorize their use — even pesticides Health Canada has deemed are unsafe.
Jobs minister says Canada Labour Code hasn't 'kept up with the times.' As Canada embarks on a massive plan to expand its infrastructure and exports, unions worry the federal government may be trying to fundamentally alter labour rights. Ottawa is currently consulting unions and employers on potential changes to the legislation that protects more than a million Canadian workers in...
Liberals vowed in 2021 to ban sweet flavours nationwide to curb youth vaping. Five years after the federal government announced it would restrict vaping flavours nationwide, Canada's health minister won't say when or even if it will still happen — despite widespread expert advice that a ban could help curb the country's staggering youth vaping rate. "I'm committed to keep...
Canada Post has announced 136,000 addresses in 13 communities will no longer receive door-to-door delivery, and instead get their mail through community mailboxes. The changes are part of the Crown corporation's restructuring efforts, an attempt to save money and stay financially viable under crushing debt. The majority of the new community mailboxes will be installed in B.C. and Ontario. Ottawa...
Premier Wab Kinew spoke at convention, but sources say Manitoba NDP has distanced itself from national party. When Manitoba NDP Premier Wab Kinew addressed the federal leadership convention Friday in Winnipeg, he spoke one line three times during his speech: "To have a strong Canada, we need a strong federal NDP." For the battered federal party at an all time...
Lewis touts 'tremendous momentum,' McPherson vows to continue rebuilding party. With one week until New Democrats choose a new federal leader, the front-runner in the race says he's preparing a transition team and hopes his campaign machinery can be used in the next election. "We've had tremendous momentum on our campaign, even as the party in Parliament is at an...
New Democrat membership hits 100k as race to replace Jagmeet Singh culminates with convention March 29. New Democrats can begin casting their vote online and by mail today for a new federal leader, with five candidates vying for the job to replace Jagmeet Singh. The NDP says its membership has increased to approximately 100,000 people, up from 60,000 in September...
New regulations were put forward a year ago, promised since 2023 budget. Updates to the air passenger bill of rights appear stuck on the tarmac more than two years after the federal government promised changes — something that may come as unwelcome news for Canadian air travellers facing their own delays. After promising to improve the air passenger protection regulations...
Montreal debate meant to be bilingual, but most read prepared statements. When a reporter asked him in French how he would evaluate his performance in Thursday's French-language NDP leadership debate, candidate Rob Ashton paused and shook his head. “I’m sorry. En anglais?” he replied. He didn’t understand the question. Fellow hopeful Tanille Johnston was asked the same thing, this time...
Canada’s public pharmacare program appears to be in limbo, with the federal health minister confirming Ottawa isn't in talks with the remaining provinces and territories to reach deals. This month's budget also did not include additional money to expand coverage nationwide — leaving advocates questioning the future of the public drug plan. More than a year ago, the Trudeau Liberals...
Municipal elections in Alberta, Quebec and territorial votes in Yukon and Nunavut all needed backup plans. Mail has slowly begun moving this week as the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) switches to rotating strikes — but it’s already too late for Canada Post to deliver voter cards and mail-in ballots for multiple upcoming elections across the country. Provinces, territories...
7 remaining MPs gathered on Vancouver Island as party charts its future. On the coast of Vancouver Island, the remaining NDP members of Parliament came to do some soul-searching. The seven survivors — the "mighty seven" as they sometimes jokingly call themselves — gathered in the quaint coastal community of Parksville, just north of Nanaimo, for a caucus retreat last...
More labour disputes have also led to more federal intervention. Canada is seeing a spike in strikes — and as tariffs and the affordability crisis continue to hit workers hard, unions warn of more action on the horizon. Some labour leaders say that includes a potential battle with a federal government that has repeatedly sent them back to work. "We're...
Dental association says government dealing with 'avalanche' of submissions. As federal dental care expands to cover most uninsured Canadians, providers say some procedures are being bogged down by paperwork and processing delays. Health Canada says 52 per cent of requests for pre-authorized dental work between November 2024 and June 2025 have been rejected. While the vast majority of claims don't need p
British Columbia New Democrat MP Jenny Kwan says she's been here before. In 2001, Kwan was a member of the B.C. legislature when the Liberals decimated the provincial NDP government, winning 77 of 79 seats. Kwan was one of only two New Democrats who kept their seats.
Party says it's a 'volatile' time as CBC Poll Tracker shows support under 12%. In a "get ready with me" video posted this week, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh twists his long hair under his turban and talks about his life before politics. "I went out and got three minimum-wage jobs … to put food on the table," he says to...
Canada Post is laying off dozens of managers in an attempt to save money after years of severe financial losses, CBC News has learned. The layoffs include firing three senior executives last month — most notably the company's chief financial officer. Two vacant roles have also been eliminated, resulting in an overall 20 per cent cut to senior management, Canada Post said.
Nicotine control groups that have waited years for a nationwide ban on vaping flavours say they've now been given indications it won't happen — despite the minister responsible vowing last fall that the restrictions were coming "soon." Cynthia Callard, executive director of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, said she and representatives from a number of anti-smoking organizations met this week...
More than a million Canadians have now received dental care under the new public insurance plan, with each patient receiving an average of $730 on oral health-care services. The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) helps cover the cost of dental visits for people who don't have access to private insurance and have a household income under $90,000.
The minister of mental health and addictions says the federal government will ban most vape flavours across Canada soon — more than three years after Ottawa first promised to bring in the regulations. "We have made a commitment from the start to restrict flavours. We haven't wavered from that," Ya'ara Saks told CBC News last week.
Dentists' rates of participation in the Canadian Dental Care Plan vary widely across the country. Nearly three quarters of dentists are accepting patients through the new Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) but dentist participation rates still vary widely from province to province. Data obtained by CBC News shows the CDCP participation rate for dentists is lowest in the Maritimes, Nunavut...
Flavoured nicotine pouches are now only available for purchase in Canada from a pharmacist — but some former smokers say the new national regulations also make it harder for adults to reach a product that was helping them quit cigarettes. "I think the government should be doing whatever they can to limit youth from getting addicted to nicotine, whether it's...
After multiple water main breaks and floods across the country this summer, municipalities and experts are warning that urban flooding could become more common as Canada's infrastructure ages. "We have good infrastructure in Canada. The challenge is it's aging and we're not keeping up," John Gamble, president of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies of Canada, told CBC News.
More than 70 per cent of dentists are now accepting patients through Canada's new public dental insurance program — a significant increase over the 50 per cent participation rate reported a month ago. The federal government attributes the higher uptake to changes it introduced on July 8 that allow dental clinics to submit claims without officially registering as providers of...
A group of oral health-care providers have banded together against what they call misinformation about the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) being spread in part by the associations representing dentists. "I don't understand how dentists are saying it's an administrative burden when they haven't even registered or tried to submit a claim," said Kelly Mansfield, president of the Canadian Dental...
The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) begins covering 1.7 million seniors today — but many patients may have to wait a while to get their dental visits covered. The massive public oral health-care insurance program will eventually cover one quarter of Canadian residents who don't have private dental plans, at a cost of $13 billion over the next five years...
Canada's health minister is promising "hundreds of thousands" of seniors will receive subsidized dental work next month under the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP), despite a low sign-up rate among the dentists who are expected to provide that care. "Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of seniors are going to be seen in May," Mark Holland said this week outside of...
The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) is set to start providing coverage next month — but it's not clear that enough dentists will enrol to provide care to the 1.6 million seniors that have signed up already. Health Canada would not provide CBC News with a figure for how many oral health care providers have registered for the CDCP since...
The federal government has posted updated information online on who is eligible for Canada's national dental care plan. The additional details come after seniors raised concerns about whether their existing private dental insurance plans disqualified them from the public plan.
Eligible seniors are now receiving letters inviting them to sign up for Canada's $13 billion national dental care plan — but there's a catch. Those who currently have private dental insurance do not qualify for the national plan. And according to a government website explaining the plan, anyone who opts out of "available benefits" is "still considered to have access...
Canada Post is selling off its IT and logistics departments, a move business experts say is an essential first step in saving a Crown corporation that lost more than half a billion dollars in 2022. "Canada Post is disappearing before our eyes," said Ian Lee, a business professor at Carleton University in Ottawa who has researched the decline of Canada...
Letters have started to arrive in the mailboxes of Canadian seniors inviting them to sign up for free dental care, but those who provide the services say they're concerned whether the program will be administratively and financially viable for them to take part. "If our questions aren't answered and our concerns aren't addressed, I don't know if dentists are going...
Canada's health minister says he'll act quickly to shut down a "loophole" after Health Canada approved the sale of flavoured nicotine pouches with no restrictions on how the product is advertised or sold. "There are very serious questions about what the tobacco industry is doing here and what their intention is. And it would seem that their intention is to...
The New Democratic Party of Canada has released its list of 60 "priority" resolutions up for debate at this weekend's party convention in Hamilton, Ont. — and none of them touch on the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Roughly 1,100 delegates voted to bring these resolutions to the convention. They cover everything from health care and affordability to worker's rights and foreign policy issues.