The Conservative leadership candidates who decided to show up for the last official debate of the race began by reflecting on what they've heard from Canadians throughout the contest. Former Quebec premier Jean Charest started his opening statement by commending candidates Scott Aitchison and Roman Baber for appearing at the event. Pierre Poilievre and Leslyn Lewis decided to skip, a decision Charest compared to a fish not wanting to swim in the ocean. Charest says Conservatives feel tired of losing federal elections and pitched himself as the only candidate who could change that record.

A driver has been arrested after what Ottawa police describe as an unauthorized vehicle driving into the front gates of Parliament Hill early this morning. Police say a vehicle rammed into the gates outside the legislature at about 3:30 a-m local time and security stopped it from entering the grounds. No criminal charges have yet been laid. The incident appears to be unrelated to another crash later this morning that saw an amphibious tour bus busting into the gates outside the unoccupied official residence of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Pope Francis has come face-to-face with a long-standing demand from Indigenous peoples during his Canada pilgrimage. They want him to formally rescind the papal decrees underpinning the so-called ``Doctrine of Discovery'' that seemingly legitimized the colonial-era seizure of Native lands and resources. Pope Francis was at Quebec's shrine of Ste-Anne-de-Beaupre to give the second mass of his Canadian tour. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says there is a lot of work to do to correct the deep wounds of the past for Canada's Indigenous people and the pope's messages on this trip is just the beginn

Hockey Canada continues to be under fire for the use of its membership-generated National Equity Fund to pay settlements related to sexual assault and abuse allegations. Hockey Canada says it has paid out 7.6 million dollars in nine such settlements since 1989. It says 6.8 million dollars of that was related to serial abuser coach Graham James. The fund was also used to pay for the services of a law firm that has been investigating an alleged sexual assault in 2018 that has Hockey Canada officials before a committee of MPs this week.

``Freedom Convoy'' organizer Tamara Lich (LEECH) has once again been ordered released from jail. The Ontario Superior Court found errors in the decision to revoke her bail two weeks ago. Lich was arrested on a Canada-wide warrant at the end of June for an alleged breach of her bail conditions, after she was photographed with a fellow convoy protest organizer at an awards gala in Toronto. Superior Court Justice Andrew Goodman says the justice of the peace made several legal errors. But he warned Lich the authorities are watching her every move and to abide by the letter of her conditions, beca

Michel Ruest, a senior director of Sport Canada, says the federal organization was made aware of an alleged sexual assault involving members of Team Canada's world junior hockey team in late June 2018, but did not follow up with Hockey Canada at the time. Under questioning at a House of Commons committee today, Ruest also tells MPs that Sport Canada, a branch of Canadian Heritage, did not make then-sport minister Kirsty Duncan's office aware of the allegations. Current Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge has said she did not know of the allegations until this year. Sport Canada officials have been

Priests, deacons and volunteers meted out communion wafers to tens of thousands of people at a public mass led by Pope Francis in Edmonton. Francis highlighted the importance of parents and grandparents as he delivered his homily to a packed Commonwealth Stadium. He says people should treasure and honour their elders and make sure they are not cast aside or treated with indifference. Pope Francis, who has been using a wheelchair, presided over a large public mass in Edmonton from a specially designed chair. Pope Francis is on a six-day tour of Canada aimed at reconciliation with Indigenous Pe

Pope Francis gave an address about reconciliation at Edmonton's Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples and received several gifts. Francis said he is happy to visit an Edmonton church that welcomes Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. He issued an apology earlier in the day in Maskwacis, Alberta, for the church's role in residential schools in Canada. Francis said in his apology that memories of the children who never returned from residential schools has left him with a sense of sorrow, indignation and shame.

MASKWACIS — Pope Francis says he is in Canada to express his sorrow and ask for forgiveness for residential schools. The Pope is giving an address before residential school survivors and elders in Maskwacis, Alta., where the former Ermineskin Indian Residential School was one of the largest institutions in the country. Francis says he feels sorrow, indignation and shame. He says the memory of children who attended the schools is painful and every child should be treated with love, honour and respect. An estimated 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools in Canada