After two days of strategizing on how to respond to the trade war U.S. President Donald Trump is waging on Canada, the premiers sat down Wednesday to discuss violent crime, drug trafficking and health care.  They’re calling on the federal government to make good on its promise to introduce legislation in the fall sitting of Parliament that will make it harder for repeat violent offenders to get bail.  The provinces have “moved in every aspect that we feel we can,” Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said on his way into Wednesday’s morning meeting.  “The significant change that will have significant consequences…

Premier Danielle Smith wasn’t doing anything politically revolutionary when she demanded the repeal of Ottawa’s environmental assessments act during the federal election campaign. Then she demanded it again, many times, when the Conservatives who promised to do so lost and the Mark Carney Liberals won. It was a longstanding, years-old cry from Alberta leaders, ever since the moment that the Trudeau-era Bill C-69 — what former premier Jason Kenney dubbed the “no more pipelines act” — was first passed in 2019 (and became repealable). Then, a few weeks ago, Smith’s tune began to change about the legislation that has been…

It may not be the sunny ways government, but some premiers certainly seem to be feeling sunny about the future. And that’s despite troubled trade negotiations with the United States and the worsening effects of that country’s tariffs on Canadian businesses.  Still, provincial premiers have nary seemed so cheerful about their own relationships to each other — and the federal government. “First off, isn’t it great? Like, these are such important relationships for Canadians and we’re all kind of binding together and spending time together,” said Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston in response to a question about what has been achieved…

Several candidates contesting next month’s byelection in Battle River-Crowfoot have reported receiving negative and sometimes “potentially threatening commentary” on social media platforms in recent days, according to RCMP. “While Canadians are entitled to express their opinions, even those critical of political figures, threats or comments that cross the line into criminal conduct will be taken seriously,” RCMP wrote in a statement. Independent candidate Sarah Spanier is one of more than 150 candidates contesting the riding alongside Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre, who is running in the riding to regain a seat in the House of Commons.  But Spanier said she’s put a pause on knocking on doors for the time…

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the Liberal government to introduce changes to Canada’s election rules that would curb long ballot protests. Poilievre wrote a letter to government House leader Steven MacKinnon on Tuesday saying legislation should be brought before the House of Commons when MPs return to Ottawa in September. “This is not democracy in action. It is a deliberate attempt to manipulate the rules, confuse voters and undermine confidence in our elections,” Poilievre wrote of the protests in his letter. A group of electoral reform advocates known as the Longest Ballot Committee is currently signing up more than…

Politics·New The national statistics agency says the volume and severity of police-reported crime in Canada decreased four per cent last year, after three annual increases in a row. Agency says non-violent crime had a significant effect on the decline The Canadian Press · Posted: Jul 22, 2025 11:30 AM EDT | Last Updated: 23 minutes ago Statistics Canada says the crime severity index decreased four per cent last year after three annual increases in a row, largely due to a decrease in non-violent crime. (CBC) The national statistics agency says the volume and severity of police-reported crime in Canada decreased…

Several Conservative MPs and leader Pierre Poilievre are criticizing the Crown’s approach to prosecuting two key organizers of the Freedom Convoy protests, with the party’s deputy leader calling it an act of “political vengeance.” Tamara Lich and Chris Barber were convicted of mischief in April for their roles in organizing the demonstration, which blockaded streets around Parliament Hill in Ottawa for more than three weeks in early 2022. Barber was also convicted of counselling others to disobey a court order. They were found not guilty of several charges, including counselling others to commit mischief. A sentencing hearing for Barber and Lich is scheduled…

Prime Minister Mark Carney will sit down with Canada’s premiers in Huntsville, Ont., Tuesday to deliver a detailed briefing about his government’s ongoing trade negotiations with the Trump administration.  U.S. President Donald Trump and Carney agreed in June at the G7 summit to try and reach a trade deal by July 21, but Trump recently moved that deadline to Aug. 1.  Carney’s briefing on how those negotiations are going lands in the middle of the three-day first ministers’ meeting where the premiers are discussing their own response to the trade war. Carney said he was coming to the meeting shortly…

Canadian exporters across a wide range of industries have a way to escape U.S. President Donald Trump’s blanket tariffs.  That escape hatch is compliance with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), the three-way free trade deal signed by Trump back in 2018.  U.S. and Canadian officials have said the across-the-board tariffs Trump is threatening to impose on Aug. 1 won’t apply to goods that comply with the terms of CUSMA.  Trade policy experts say the vast majority of Canadian exports can qualify for this exemption, and that’s leading to a stampede of companies rushing to do the paperwork to get their products…

The Canadian military and possibly the coast guard appear to have been keeping tabs on a Chinese research vessel as it returns to Arctic waters off Alaska for the second year in a row. Data compiled by an independent researcher and ship tracker, Steffan Watkins, shows a Canadian air force CP-140 surveillance plane was flying in the vicinity of the Xue Long (Snow Dragon) 2 as it exited the Bering Strait on Sunday. The aircraft, according to Watkins’s research, relocated to Anchorage, Alaska, from its base in Comox, B.C., on July 9. It has conducted four patrols since then, including…