Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling on provinces and territories to start negotiating pharmacare deals as soon as possible. Trudeau spoke to reporters this morning as he wrapped a visit to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Laos, where he touted the "real progress" made in Ottawa after the Senate passed the pharmacare bill. That legislation was central to the political pact between the Liberals and the NDP, who pushed hard for the bill to be introduced. Now that it is law, the pharmacare legislation allows the provinces and territories to cut deals with the federal gover

O'Reilly Oilfield Services Ltd. has been fined $90,000 after pleading guilty to one count of failing to protect the health and safety of workers under its supervision. The sentence comes after one worker was severely burned by a fire in July 2021 at an oil and gas site near Valleyview, in northwest Alberta. The Alberta government says it happened when liquid from a decommissioned pipeline ignited and overflowed from a portable flare stack. Crown prosecutors withdrew five other charges against the company. The Crown also withdrew 15 occupational health and safety charges against Canadian Natu

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has congratulated the prime minister of Thailand for her country's recent move to legalize same-sex marriage. Trudeau made the comments during a bilateral meeting with Thailand's new prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra while attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit hosted this year in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. The prime minister held back-to-back meetings with Asian leaders for much of the day. Trudeau said that at a time when rights are backsliding around the world, Shinawatra's leadership on gay marriage is "exceptional." Thailand’s

The Quebec government has introduced legislation to give itself new powers to cap the number of international students in the province. The bill tabled today is part of a larger push to lower the number of non-permanent residents in Quebec, which has increased to 600,000 from 300,000 in the last two years. Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge says there were 120,000 foreign students in the province last year, up from 50,000 in 2014, and Quebec is using all the tools at its disposal to reduce temporary immigration. The new bill would allow the government to fix the number of internationa

The Alberta politician who was removed from the United Conservative Party caucus after comparing transgender children to feces has been voted back in. Jennifer Johnson, the MLA for Lacombe-Ponoka, says she grew “personally and professionally” in the 17 months since being removed from caucus. “Now, I am eager to apply what I have learned to benefit everyone who calls this province home,” Johnson said in a news release. The MLA was kicked out last year after a 2022 recording surfaced of her comparing transgender youth to a batch of cookies laced with “a little bit of poop.” She has b

A federal inquiry into interference in Canada's affairs is slated to hear today from Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly. Former public safety minister Marco Mendicino is also scheduled to testify at the commission of inquiry. Officials from Joly's department, Global Affairs Canada, appeared late last week. The inquiry's latest hearings are focusing on the ability of agencies to detect and counter foreign meddling. Once the hearings conclude, there will be a week of policy sessions to help identify recommendations. A final report is due by the end of the year.

William Osler Hospital in Ontario apologized after its staff shaved a Sikh man's beard without permission from him or his family and in violation of his religious principles. The World Sikh Organization (WSO) brought attention to the August incident last month. Dr. Frank Martino, president and CEO of the William Osler Health System in Brampton, and Pardeep Singh Gill, board chair, issued a public apology Wednesday. "Recently, we failed to uphold religious and cultural care practices when a Sikh patient's beard was shaved without consent and without medical necessity. We take full responsibil

Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault has been tasked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to lead the federal government's share of the work to rebuild Jasper, Alta. In July, a wildfire destroyed one-third of the Rocky Mountain tourist town and displaced some 2,000 residents. Boissonnault, an Edmonton member of Parliament, will be responsible for co-ordinating federal resources with the Alberta government, the municipality and Indigenous groups. "This role that the prime minister has asked me to play in terms of ministerial lead is important, but it’s a whole-of-government approach," Boissonna

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says Canadians in Florida should leave and people planning to travel there should postpone as the state braces for the impact of Hurricane Milton. The storm was downgraded this morning to a Category 4 but is expected to bring deadly storm surge, rain and winds. It's expected to make landfall later today in the Tampa Bay area, which is home to more than 3.3 million people, and then move east affecting other populated areas including Sarasota, Orlando and Daytona Beach. Millions of people have been ordered to evacuate. Florida is a popular destination for C