New federal modelling data shows severity indicators and daily cases of COVID-19 are back on the rise, with incidents highest among young adults.Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says daily cases have increased more than 30 per cent over the past two weeks, with an average of 29 deaths reported daily.Tam says that indicates we're in a ``very tight race'' between vaccines and variants of concern, which make up an increasingly high proportion of new cases in several provinces.The data released today by the Public Health Agency of Canada shows that while the number of cases have declin

The federal auditor general is giving the Trudeau government a sort of back-handed compliment on how it handled the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Karen Hogan says the government moved as fast as it could to respond to the pandemic, but on the other hand it wasn't prepared for one in the first place. Hogan's report on the government's response found the Public Health Agency of Canada spent years letting elements of pandemic preparedness slide. She found the government's financial support programs rolled out well, but now extensive efforts will be needed to ensure the money went where it was

Health Canada's chief medical adviser says the three cases of blood clotting reported out of 300,000 Canadians who have received a Oxford-AstraZeneca shot have no apparent link to the vaccine. Dr. Supriya Sharma says none of the cases resemble the very rare brain blood clot seen in a small number of patients in Europe. She notes that blood clotting rates are the same or even higher among people who have not received the AstraZeneca vaccine than for those who have been jabbed. Warning of blood clotting on product label for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine Health Canada has updated the product l

A lawyer for Canada's attorney general says it was entirely reasonable for border officers to question Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou before her arrest in 2018. Diba Majzub told the B.C. Supreme Court that Meng's arrival at a port of entry created a unique context where both the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency had mandates to fulfil. He says there's no playbook or operations manual that spells out which organization should go first. Majzub made the comments as he disputed claims from Meng's legal team that Canadian and U.S. officials co-ordinated a covert criminal investigation under th

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says the federal Liberals will table a budget on April 19. It will be the first federal budget in over two years, after the government opted not to introduce one in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in Canada. It will also be Freeland's first budget as finance minister. She took on the portfolio last summer following Bill Morneau's resignation. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced the budget date in the House of Commons today during question period. The budget is expected to provide a full accounting of all government spending through the pande

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole says he's in charge. He's brushing off the idea that a weekend convention vote against a resolution that would have included the line "climate change is real" in the party's official policy document should colour opinions of his party. O'Toole is dismissing concerns that a vote by the party's grassroots on climate change should colour Canadians' opinion of his party. O'Toole says he and his caucus agree they need to take action to address climate change. Over the weekend, delegates to the Conservatives' policy convention voted against a resolution that would h

Cases of COVID-19 variants are on the rise, with Alberta, Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec reporting the highest numbers of the new, more contagious strains. Chief public health officer Doctor Theresa Tam says there have been more than 5,100 confirmed variant cases, the majority involving the strain first identified in the United Kingdom. The majority of those cases involve the B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the United Kingdom, which Tam says is responsible for 638 of the 655 cases of variants confirmed since March 18. The growing number is prompting concerns of a third wave of the p

Debbie Baptiste says she was never going to let the RCMP's response to the 2016 shooting death of her son be swept under the rug. A police watchdog's report into the death of the 22 year old Indigenous man on a Saskatchewan farm determined officers treated Baptiste so insensitively when they notified her of his death that it amounted to discrimination. Colten Boushie died in August of 2016 when the SUV he was riding in went onto farmer Gerald Stanley's property near Biggar, Saskatchewan. A review of the RCMP response by the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission found officers discriminat

There is silence out of Beijing on what happened to Canadian Michael Kovrig when he was put on trial on spying charges. The day ended with no announcement about the status of the proceedings, which are being held behind closed doors. Canadian Embassy officials were barred from the courthouse, as they were on Friday for the trial of Michael Spavor. Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau says the government is deeply troubled by the total lack of transparency. He also thanked diplomats from 26 countries who turned up at the courthouse to show their solidarity with Canada. Marc Garneau on Twitter