Peter Zimonjic

Peter Zimonjic

Green Party dropped from leaders' debates for not running enough candidates

Leaders' Debates Commission says party's decision to remove candidates for strategic reasons led to decision. The Leaders' Debates Commission, which is tasked with organizing the French and English debates, has removed the Green Party from federal leaders' debates for failing to meet participation requirements. "Deliberately reducing the number of candidates running for strategic reasons is inconsistent with the Commission's interpretation...

Peter Zimonjic

Carney announces sweeping plan to crack down on crime, strengthen the border

Liberal Leader Mark Carney laid out his party's public safety plan on Thursday, promising to crack down on gangs, protect children, reduce intimate partner violence and tackle the illegal flow of drugs and guns coming from the United States. "Tariffs are not the only American policies that are threatening our economy and our society. They're also threatening the safety of...

Peter Zimonjic

Poilievre promises to raise $1B by cracking down on offshore tax havens

Conservative leader would offer whistleblowers up to 20% of recovered tax revenue. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising to crack down on the use of offshore tax havens and recover as much as $1 billion a year in lost revenues. In a video posted on X, Poilievre said the money recovered through the initiative will be used to help pay...

Peter Zimonjic

Fissure among Conservatives undermining Poilievre's pitch he's a national unifier: experts

'There is a fairly profound divide within the Conservative movement': University of Calgary's Lisa Young. Long-simmering tensions within the Conservative movement are bursting out into the federal election, experts say — undercutting Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's efforts to present himself as a unifier who can take on U.S. President Donald Trump. Those tensions materialized again after ex-Reform Party leader Preston...

Peter Zimonjic

NDP proposes reviving war-era Victory Bonds to raise money for trade fight with U.S.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says a government led by him will issue "Victory Bonds" to raise the money needed to strengthen the Canadian economy through the trade war with the United States. The plan would see the federal government offer five- and 10-year bonds that Canadians can buy through a payroll deduction. The NDP is promising that none of the...

Peter Zimonjic

Trump administration lists Quebec language law Bill 96 as trade barrier

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released its annual list of global trade barriers Tuesday, and it includes Quebec's controversial language law Bill 96 as a trade irritant between the two countries. The nearly 400-page National Trade Estimate Report lists in almost encyclopedic detail all of the tariff and non-tariff barriers present in countries that import U.S. goods and...

Peter Zimonjic

Poilievre announces capital gains tax cut for investors putting money in Canada

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced his second tax cut of the campaign targeted at investors Sunday, promising to exempt capital gains from taxes if the proceeds are reinvested in Canada."The current capital gains tax locks up investment in old assets, because selling them would force a big bill," Poilievre said in a statement.

Peter Zimonjic, Louis Blouin

Carney will ask Governor General to dissolve Parliament Sunday and call election, sources say

Voting day will either be April 28 or May 5, according to sources. Prime Minister Mark Carney will ask the Governor General to dissolve Parliament and call a federal election this Sunday, Radio-Canada has learned.The election campaign will kick off barely a week after Carney was sworn in as prime minister and appointed his cabinet.

Peter Zimonjic

Carney says Canada can stand up for its own sovereignty as European trip wraps up

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada can stand up for its own sovereignty in response to annexation talk from the U.S. administration as he wrapped up his first international trip. Carney met with King Charles and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London on Monday evening after meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris earlier in the day. Speaking...

Peter Zimonjic

Trudeau's final weeks strike balance between cementing his legacy and managing a crisis

Liberal government signs new deals with provinces, Indigenous nations. As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau works through what is likely to be his last week in office, he and his government appear to be moving to cement his political legacy. Trudeau and his ministers have been making significant announcements on infrastructure, social programs and reconciliation. Trudeau has also made recent international...

Peter Zimonjic

Liberals face challenge of securing the vote while keeping leadership race accessible

Experts say criticism that some members couldn't vote is better than the alternative. The problems some registered Liberals are having with online voting in the party's leadership race shouldn't be a surprise and may even be a good thing, say some experts. "You can't have a wide open, hardly at all verified process for selecting the prime minister of Canada,"...

Peter Zimonjic

Canada's foreign minister says she gave Europe a 'wake-up call' on threat Trump poses to Canada

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly concluded her recent tour of Europe saying she delivered a "wake-up call" to Canada's allies across the Atlantic about the economic and political threat the Trump administration is posing to Canada. "Based on my conversations with many European colleagues, many of them are not necessarily completely aware of what is going on, first in the...

Peter Zimonjic

Trump claims the trade deficit with Canada is a $200B subsidy. Experts disagree

Economist argues U.S. could be worse off if it had a surplus with Canada. U.S. President Donald Trump's claim that his country subsidizes Canada with hundreds of billions of dollars every year has become a key plank in his argument for annexing the country. But do his numbers add up? His argument hinges on a belief that the deficit in...

Peter Zimonjic

Canadian veteran sues government to pay for rehab after 2023 Invictus Games injury

As athletes from 25 countries gather in B.C. this week to compete in the seventh Invictus Games, a Canadian veteran who suffered life-changing injuries in the previous games is suing the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) for $2.4 million. Scott Snow, a poster boy for Team Canada in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 2023, was injured during...

Peter Zimonjic

Trudeau tells business leaders at economic summit Trump's 51st state threat 'is a real thing'

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told business leaders at the Canada-U.S. Economic Summit in Toronto that U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to annex Canada "is a real thing." "Mr. Trump has it in mind that the easiest way to do it is absorbing our country and it is a real thing. In my conversations with him on…," Trudeau said, before the...

Peter Zimonjic

Trudeau is unlikely to recall Parliament at opposition's demand. Here's why

Experts say Trudeau has the powers he needs to deal with Trump without sitting MPs. As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with Canada's premiers and works with cabinet to craft his government's response to an unpredictable Trump administration, he's also batting away repeated demands from opposition leaders to recall Parliament.

Peter Zimonjic

Poilievre pitches plan to boost internal trade to counter Trump tariffs

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Monday that if he becomes prime minister he will implement a plan to boost internal trade in Canada that he says will increase the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by more than $200 billion. Poilievre said Trump's decision to slap 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian imports, and 10 per cent on energy imports...

Peter Zimonjic

Liberal Party approves 6 candidates to run in leadership race

Six of the seven Liberal leadership candidates who submitted their nomination papers have now been approved by the party to run in the race to succeed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Former central banker Mark Carney, former finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, Nova Scotia MP Jaime Battiste, former government House leader Karina Gould and former Brampton, Ont., Liberal...

Peter Zimonjic

Poilievre won't say if he'll back tariffs on U.S.-bound oil to combat Trump's 25% threat

Conservative leader dodged question over whether he backs Alberta, or rest of provinces and federal government. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre won't say whether he backs the premiers and prime minister's threat to impose export tariffs or restrict the supply of oil and gas bound for the United States as a possible response to president-elect Donald Trump's promised tariff regime.

Peter Zimonjic

Mark Carney to launch bid for the Liberal leadership in Edmonton on Thursday

Carney soft-launched his campaign for the leadership on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Monday. Mark Carney will launch his candidacy for the Liberal Party leadership at an event in Edmonton on Thursday, according to a notice from Calgary Skyview MP George Chahal. The former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England will join Ottawa MP...

Peter Zimonjic

Elon Musk praises Poilievre, mocks Trudeau as he steps into Canadian politics

As a giant of industry and the world's richest man, Elon Musk wields influence across the global economy. He's now leveraging that success to extend his influence into the democratic process in Canada and elsewhere. In the past week alone, Musk has dipped into Canadian politics on his social media platform several times; endorsing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, showering him...

Janyce McGregor, Peter Zimonjic

Ontario strikes $108.5M school food program deal with feds to provide 9.8 million meals a year

Ontario has reached an agreement with the federal government that will see $108.5 million roll out over the next three years to help fund a school food program in the province.Officials said the money represents a first round of funding, with federal support for the program in the years ahead still to be negotiated.

Peter Zimonjic

Jagmeet Singh asks premiers to match his pledge to remove GST from daily essentials

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he has written to Canada's premiers asking them to match his pledge to remove the GST from daily essentials by doing the same with their provincial sales taxes. "Working people are being gouged every time they pay their cell phone bill or stop at the grocery store to grab something for dinner," Singh said in...

Peter Zimonjic

Trudeau flying in and out of Bermuda Wednesday to deliver eulogy for Peter Green

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is flying in and out of Bermuda on Wednesday, where he will deliver a eulogy at the funeral for Peter Green, a close family friend. Trudeaus have been friends with the Green family since the 1970s. Pierre Trudeau was godfather to Peter Green's son Alexander, who delivered a reading at Trudeau's funeral in Montréal. Pierre Trudeau...

Peter Zimonjic

Poilievre pledges to remove GST from purchase of new homes sold for under $1M

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is pledging to eliminate the GST on new homes sold for under $1 million if his party wins the next federal election.The Conservative leader made the announcement early Monday morning in a campaign-style video released online and is holding a media event at 10:00 a.m. ET in Ottawa to provide more detail.

Peter Zimonjic

10 years after shooting, the debate over securing Parliament Hill continues

Ten years after a gunman died in a hail of bullets in Parliament's Centre Block, security on Parliament Hill is noticeably different — but the debate over how to safeguard Canada's national legislature is still going strong. The National Police Federation (NPF), the union that represents the RCMP, has been highly critical of the decision to end the RCMP's responsibility...

Peter Zimonjic

Health minister says he's on track to strike pharmacare deals with provinces by spring

It "absolutely is possible" for the federal government to strike pharmacare agreements with all the provinces by the spring, Health Minister Mark Holland said Friday. "I'm not saying this is going to be easy," Holland said from the G7 health ministers' meeting in Ancona, Italy. "Getting this bill adopted in the House and getting it through the Senate was incredibly...

Peter Zimonjic

Blanchet says Liberals have just days left to support the Bloc's demands

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet says the Liberal government has only days left to secure his party's support in the House of Commons by agreeing to boost to some pensions and shield supply management from concessions in trade talks. "The solution is so simple. It is so simple that I do not know what more I could explain," Blanchet said...

Peter Zimonjic

Trudeau says it 'bugged' him when Singh ended governance agreement without calling first

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it "bugged him" when NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh ended his party's supply and confidence agreement with the Liberals without calling first. "The relationship obviously wasn't what I thought it was," Trudeau said in a recent conversation with Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith on the Uncommons podcast. "I know that if I had chosen to end it...

Peter Zimonjic

France's Macron says leaders shouldn't 'abandon their values' in the face of bad polls

While French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledges that he — like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — is facing sliding poll numbers and pressure from the political right, he says this is no time for national leaders to abandon their "principles." In a wide-ranging interview with CBC News and Radio-Canada last week in Ottawa, before his meeting with Trudeau, Macron said "tough...

Peter Zimonjic

Canada considering following U.S. in banning vehicle software and hardware from China, Russia

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday she is "absolutely" considering following the U.S. move to ban vehicle hardware and software from China or Russia. "Our government has made it very clear that we take really seriously intentional Chinese overcapacity and we take very seriously the security threat from China," Freeland said in Ottawa. Freeland's comments come...

Peter Zimonjic

'From hell to limbo': Michael Kovrig describes more than a thousand days as China's prisoner

On the evening of December 10, 2018, Michael Kovrig was out for dinner in Beijing with his six-months-pregnant partner, unaware it was the last time he'd enjoy her company for more than two and a half years. Strolling home, the couple climbed a spiral staircase in front of his apartment building. "And boom … I come out of the stairs...

Peter Zimonjic

Veteran on Invictus team says he's out thousands of dollars after being injured on the court

A Canadian Armed Forces veteran who was a poster boy for Canada's 2023 Invictus Games team now says he is thousands of dollars out of pocket after learning he was not covered by medical insurance for injuries he sustained while representing his country. Scott Snow went to Dusseldorf, Germany to participate in archery, rowing and wheelchair rugby. During his first...

Kate McKenna, Peter Zimonjic

How the NDP's deal with the Liberals died

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...

Peter Zimonjic

The NDP is ending its governance agreement with the Liberals

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is terminating the supply-and-confidence agreement his party made with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government.The party made the announcement in a video posted to social media Wednesday afternoon. The deal was scheduled to run until June 2025.

Peter Zimonjic

Feds end exemption allowing visitors to apply for work permits from within Canada

The Liberal government is putting a stop to an immigration exemption that allows visitors to apply for work permits from within Canada.Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) introduced the policy during the pandemic for visitors who couldn't leave Canada due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions.

Peter Zimonjic

Supreme Court won't hear Maxime Bernier's appeal over vaccine mandates for air travellers

The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear People's Party Leader Maxime Bernier and former Progressive Conservative premier of Newfoundland Brian Peckford's appeals over the vaccine mandate imposed on air travellers during the COVID-19 pandemic.From Nov. 30, 2021, to June 20, 2022, all air and rail passengers travelling

Peter Zimonjic

Federal government can spend $46B more a year and remain sustainable over long term: PBO report

The federal government can afford to increase spending by $46 billion, or cut taxes by that amount, every year until 2098 and remain fiscally sustainable, according to a report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux's office. This year's fiscal sustainability report also says that taken as a whole, Canada's provincial governments are sustainable but cannot collectively increase funding nor...

Peter Zimonjic

Teamsters union serves CN Rail with 72-hour strike notice as CPKC stoppage ongoing

Developments follow federal labour minister's referral of dispute to Canada Industrial Relations Board. The Teamsters union has served Canadian National Railway (CN) with a 72-hour strike notice, hours after saying it was taking down picket lines and workers were returning to the job. "Please find this letter as official notice to the company of our intention to withdraw the services...

Peter Zimonjic

With a paddle and a pack, this B.C. MP meets his constituents where they live

Paddling solo for 174 kilometres down the Kispiox and Skeena rivers in northwestern British Columbia each summer, NDP MP Taylor Bachrach encounters rapids, storms, grizzly bears and a spectacular landscape in his unusual effort to connect with constituents. It's nothing like the summer BBQ circuit that occupies many of his parliamentary colleagues once the House of Commons rises. Bachrach said...

Peter Zimonjic

Officials didn't need Treasury Board approval to buy $9M New York apartment, committee told

GAC does not need approval to buy residences abroad for less than $10M, committee hears. The decision to buy a new luxury apartment for the consulate general of Canada in New York, and to sell the old one, was made by officials at Global Affairs Canada (GAC), a committee of MPs heard Tuesday. Samantha Tattersall, a senior official at the...

Peter Zimonjic

Sajjan defends request to use soldiers as backdrop for Diljit Dosanjh concert

Sajjan endorsed request because Dosanjh 'is the biggest Punjabi artist in the world,' spokesperson says. Canada's emergency preparedness minister is defending an official request he made to use Canadian soldiers as a backdrop for a concert by Punjabi pop star Diljit Dosanjh, one of India's biggest actors and singers. As first reported in The Globe and Mail, Harjit Sajjan received...

Peter Zimonjic

Privacy commissioner launches investigation into Ticketmaster data breach

Canada's privacy commissioner has launched an investigation into a cybersecurity breach at Ticketmaster after an attack by a hacker group compromised the personal information of millions of customers around the world. "The investigation will allow us to understand why this cyber incident happened and what must be done to address this situation and prevent it from happening again," Privacy Commissioner...

Peter Zimonjic

Crown made a 'mockery' of treaty with 2 First Nations for 150 years, Supreme Court rules

For the past 150 years, the governments of Ontario and Canada have made a "mockery" of their treaty obligations to the Anishinaabe of the upper Great Lakes, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday. In a unanimous decision, the top court said the ongoing failure to increase the annual per-head resource extraction revenues since 1875 for the residents of two...

Peter Zimonjic

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly met Chinese counterpart in Beijing in effort to ease tensions

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Friday as both countries appear to be taking steps to ease ongoing tensions that have strained bilateral relations. After the sit-down, a senior government source told CBC news the ministers held a "constructive and productive meeting" — the first face-to-face talks in Beijing involving a...

Peter Zimonjic

Human error caused 2022 Rogers outage, system 'deficiencies' made it worse: report

The 2022 Rogers outage that left 12 million people without wireless and hard-wired services was caused by human error and made worse by management and system "deficiencies," says an independent review conducted for Canada's telecommunications regulator. The review report also says steps taken by Rogers since the outage are "satisfactory to improve the Rogers network resiliency and reliability, as well...

Ashley Burke, Peter Zimonjic

As Trudeau insists he's staying on, one MP says some incumbents could sit out the next election

A Liberal caucus source tells CBC News a number of MPs might not run again if Trudeau stays. As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues to say he means to stay on as Liberal leader after last week's surprise Conservative win in the Toronto-St. Paul's byelection, one Liberal MP is telling CBC News some caucus members are thinking about calling it...

Peter Zimonjic

Embassy takes down AI-generated Canada Day social media post

Embassy used a stock image created by generative AI. Canada's embassy in Washington has taken down a social media post that included an image generated by artificial intelligence.In a media statement, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) confirmed its June 30 post on X (formerly Twitter) encouraging people to celebrate Canada Day did not cite generative AI as its source.

Peter Zimonjic

Elections Canada defends slow counting process for byelection, blames 84-candidate ballot

Elections Canada says the count in the Toronto-St. Paul's byelection that saw the Liberals lose a party stronghold went slowly but well, despite the challenges of managing a contest with 84 names on the ballot. "The unusual dimensions of the ballot itself meant that some steps took more time than normal," Elections Canada spokesperson Matthew McKenna told CBC News in...

Peter Zimonjic

The House of Commons has adjourned for the summer — what did it accomplish?

The House of Commons has risen for the summer, sending MPs back to their ridings to meet with constituents and point to their legislative accomplishments over the past year.The Liberal government is hailing the recent sitting as a success. The Commons passed 15 government bills on such matters as medical assistance in dying, foreign interference, child care, pharmacare and cybersecurity.

Peter Zimonjic

Liberal MPs tell committee some Conservatives are driving the harassment they face

Two Liberal MPs provided a parliamentary committee with multiple examples Thursday of threatening abuse they say they have received from members of the public — some of which they claim was in reaction to public messaging by Conservative MPs. Pam Damoff and Iqra Khalid were testifying before the House of Commons procedures and House affairs committee as part of its...

Peter Zimonjic

Harassment of MPs spiked almost 800% in 5 years, says House sergeant-at-arms

The harassment members of Parliament experience from the public has jumped almost 800 per cent in the last five years, according to the person in charge of security in the House of Commons. Patrick McDonell, sergeant-at-arms and corporate security officer, told a committee of MPs studying the House harassment policy Tuesday that the spike was driven by incidents that are...

Peter Zimonjic

Extreme weather causing billions of dollars in damage, driving up insurance premiums: StatsCan

The increasing frequency of extreme weather events across the country has caused the sums paid out annually for catastrophic insurance claims to explode — and annual payouts for the last four years now rank among the ten largest on record, says a new Statistics Canada study. "Homeowners have been particularly affected by extreme weather claims, with recent hurricanes, floods and...

Peter Zimonjic

CBSA president says there's 'a lack of transparency' in ArriveCan contract relationships

The president of the Canada Border Services Agency told a parliamentary committee Tuesday that there was a lack of transparency in the contracting process used to create the controversial ArriveCan app.The CBSA has been under fire since Auditor General Karen Hogan's February report estimated ArriveCan cost taxpayers roughly $59.5 million, in part because of the agency's reliance on external contractors.

Peter Zimonjic

Number of antisemitic incidents reached record high in 2023, says B'nai Brith Canada audit

B'nai Brith Canada has released its Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents that found the number of antisemitic incidents in the country more than doubled from 2022 to 2023 and has now reached record heights. "If a physical barometer did in fact exist, the reading for 2023 would be off the chart," Richard Robertson, the group's director of policy and research...

Peter Zimonjic

Trudeau dismisses plea from doctors to reconsider capital gains tax change

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is rejecting a call from some doctors for his government to reconsider its planned capital gains tax hike.The doctors warn that the tax change could undermine efforts to recruit and retain physicians in Canada and threaten the stability of the health-care system.

Peter Zimonjic

PMO officials refute allegations against Han Dong at foreign interference inquiry

Canada's security services did not tell the Liberal Party to drop 2019 candidate Han Dong over concerns about possible campaign irregularities and links to China, the Foreign Interference Commission heard Tuesday. That testimony by Jeremy Broadhurst, the Liberals' national campaign director for the 2019 federal election, appears to contradict reporting by Global News in February 2023. That story, citing unnamed...

Peter Zimonjic, Janyce McGregor

Senior bureaucrats briefed Liberal Party on foreign interference in 2019 Don Valley North contest

5-member panel decided not to warn public about potential interference during the campaign. Top bureaucrats on a panel tasked with reviewing possible threats to the 2019 federal election warned the Liberal Party of concerns about the riding nomination contest in Don Valley North, the Foreign Interference Commission heard Monday. Nathalie Drouin, who was deputy minister of justice and deputy attorney...

Peter Zimonjic

Premiers Higgs, Smith call on MPs to abandon carbon pricing program

Conservative premiers continued their war on the Liberal government's carbon pricing policy Thursday, telling MPs on a parliamentary committee that the planned increase to the price should be scrapped along with the entire federal program. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs made their arguments before the government operations and estimates committee, a day after Saskatchewan Premier...

Peter Zimonjic

Auditor General's office fires 2 staff members for earning money from government contracts

The Auditor General has fired two employees and is investigating a third after it emerged the employees were earning money from Government of Canada contracts on the side. "The employees did not disclose this information to their managers. None of the employees involved were auditors," said a statement from the Office of the Auditor General (OAG). "In two cases, an...