Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole refused to answer repeated questions this morning about how Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has handled the COVID-19 pandemic.Kenney declared a state of public health emergency last night in the face of a spiralling health emergency, the highest case count in the country, and overcrowded intensive care units.Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says conservative politicians haven't been as effective in fighting the pandemic.O'Toole would only say Trudeau should have tackling the fourth wave instead of calling an election.N-D-P Leader Jagmeet Singh told reporters in Toron

Federal leaders are united in their commitment to fight sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces, but not on how to do it. Campaigning in southwestern Ontario today, Jagmeet Singh promised a New Democratic government would act on the recommendations of retired Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps, who in 2015 called for an independent centre to hold the military accountable on sexual misconduct. Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole has committed to creating an independent watchdog, and to a freeze on promotions for senior leaders until the issue is addressed. Trudeau would not commit to an

The question of who will make life more or less affordable for Canadians hits the federal campaign trail as new figures show the pace of price increases is at its highest in two decades.The country's headline inflation figure registered an annual increase of 4.1 per cent in August, fuelled by rising demand as more parts of the economy reopened and eased supply-chain constraints for many goods.NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh speaking this morning in Essex, Ont., says he's concerned about inflation rates and that bringing down housing prices is one way to address it.In Halifax an hour later, Liberal Le

A mother, father and four children who perished in a fire inside their vacation trailer are being recalled as an active, boisterous family by a friend who rented them the Amherst, N.S. farmhouse where they lived. Colin Smith said he was close to the father, 30 year old Robert Jorge (R.J.) Sears, and his friend's life centred on working hard and enjoying his young family alongside his partner, 28 year old Michelle Robertson, at their home in Amherst, N.S. The 44 year-old recalls their bustling household included a cat, a dog and a bearded lizard, and he has strong memories of all four children

Justin Trudeau is making no apologies for losing his cool with a protester in Vancouver who screamed obscenities at him. Trudeau says the man crossed a line yesterday when he started saying derogatory things about his wife.The man called Trudeau a communist and screamed a misogynist comment referencing the Liberal leader's wife. Trudeau responded by asking the man if there was a hospital he should be bothering, a reference to the anti-vaccine protests that took place yesterday outside hospitals across the country.

A new poll shows a complete deadlock between Justin Trudeau's Liberals and Erin O'Toole's Conservatives with less than one week left in the federal election.The poll conducted by Leger in collaboration with The Canadian Press shows both parties tied with the support of 32 per cent of decided voters, with the NDP in third place with 20 per cent.A similar poll conducted two weeks ago had the Conservatives ahead with 34 per cent compared with 30 per cent for the Liberals and 24 per cent for the NDP.The polls cannot be given a margin of error because internet-based polls are not considered random

Six members of a family have died in a fire Sunday evening in a travel trailer in rural Nova Scotia. The RCMP say firefighters were called to Mountain Road in Millvale, N.S., Sunday evening around 6:30 p.m. A release says when they arrived, officers discovered the bodies of a 30-year-old man, a 28-year-old woman and four children, ages three, four, eight and 11. It will be up to the fire marshal's office to establish the cause of the fire, but police say after a preliminary investigation they do not consider the fire suspicious. The medical examiner's office will be determining the cause of th

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole focused his campaign on families this morning.He's announced a plan that would allow new parents to earn up to one-thousand dollars per month from remote or part-time work without it affecting their maternity or parental leave payments. N-D-P Leader Jagmeet Singh used a stop in northwestern Ontario to criticize anti-vaccine demonstrations planned in front of hospitals today.He says he'd beef up the Criminal Code to deter protests close to a hospital or health-care workers.Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau will speak later today in Vancouver.

Amazon Canada plans to hire 15-thousand new warehouse and distribution workers across the country and is boosting the starting pay for front-line, hourly employees by 27 per cent to $21.65 an hour.Current employees are getting raises immediately, regardless of how long they've been with the company.Amazon Canada has 25-thousand full and part-time workers in 25 communities across five provinces, and is growing rapidly due to the pandemic-driven explosion in online shopping.