A U.S. Republican senator says she doesn’t think President Donald Trump’s past comments about making Canada the 51st state are helpful as the two countries are locked in negotiations to reach some sort of trade agreement. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was in Ottawa as part of a bipartisan delegation meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday morning. Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Murkowski was asked about Trump’s taunts about Canada becoming part of the U.S. “I cannot explain President Trump’s rhetoric about the 51st state. That is his statement [and] I think it has been made very, very clear…

Unionized workers at Canada Post begin voting on the Crown corporation’s latest contract offer on Monday. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is urging they reject the proposal. Canada Post is at an impasse with the union representing roughly 55,000 postal service workers after more than a year and a half of talks. The vote comes after federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board to step in and put the Crown corporation’s latest offer to a vote. The offer includes wage hikes of about 13 per cent over four years but also adds part-time workers that…

A federal deportation appeal on Monday that will decide whether an alleged Mafia boss must return to his native Italy is raising questions about foreign interference and constitutional rights in Canada. At stake is the question of whether a foreign government should be able to arrange warrantless surveillance of a person on Canadian soil, and then use evidence obtained in a Canadian legal proceeding. Vincenzo “Jimmy” DeMaria was born in Siderno, Italy, but has resided in Canada for most of his life. Siderno is in the poor, southern region of Calabria — the toe on the boot of the Italian peninsula. The…

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, Apple TV+, Prime Video, Disney+ and Crave for 45 government departments and agencies. At the time, a spokesperson for SSC said “streaming services are not considered work tools and offer no business value for the Government of Canada.” Documents released as part…

Canada’s premiers are kicking off a three-day summit in Ontario’s cottage country at a time of heightened anxiety over tariffs and trade with Canada’s closest trading partner, the United States.  Ontario Premier Doug Ford is hosting all 13 provincial and territorial premiers in Huntsville, Ont., about 220 kilometres north of Toronto, with meetings getting underway on Monday. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to join them to provide an update on trade negotiations. Carney announced his attendance shortly after Donald Trump threatened a 35 per cent tariff on Canadian goods that are not compliant with the existing Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on…