Provinces are starting to announce their schedules for getting people vaccinated against COVID-19 by age group. Ontario plans to start vaccinating residents aged 80 and older in the third week of March, depending on vaccine supply. Retired general Rick Hillier, the province's vaccine czar, made the announcement today. The age bracket will drop by five years over regular intervals in the following months. Meanwhile, Alberta seniors born in 1946 or earlier can now apply for a shot. Manitoba is also starting to vaccinate people in the general population. Appointments are now available for people

Canada and Australia are banding together to ensure the revenues of web giants are shared more fairly with creators and media. A statement from Ottawa says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison have agreed to continue "co-ordinating efforts" to address online harm and ensure social media companies pay for journalism. The statement says the two leaders spoke Monday on a range of topics including the growing co-operation between Canada and Australia on the regulation of online platforms. The increasing alliance between the two countries on legislating interne

This week Canada is receiving its biggest combined shipment yet of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. Procurement Minister Anita Anand says most of the 643,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses arriving in the country this week have already been delivered. Anita Anand gave an update this afternoon.Anand says vaccine deliveries are starting to ramp up significantly, with 3.5 million doses expected to arrive in March. Dr. Tam is hopeful, relaxations will come soon in most invasive public health measures Canada's chief public health officer Doctor Theresa Tam says she is hopeful provinces and terri

The White House has released a fact sheet in advance of this afternoon's virtual meeting between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U-S President Joe Biden.This is Biden's first bilateral meeting as president.The fact sheet describes plans for a ``road map'' for progress in areas of mutual interest, like COVID-19, climate change, defence and social justice.It makes no mention of certain Canadian priorities, such as procuring more vaccine doses, freeing Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig from China or securing an exemption to Biden's Buy American plan.Experts want Ottawa to push hard for an exem

Canada's House of Commons voted unanimously in favour Monday of a Conservative motion declaring as genocide the atrocities committed against ethnic Muslim Uighurs in China's Xinjiang province. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and all of his Liberal cabinet ministers abstained from the politically charged vote, which took place mainly over video, and against the backdrop of all-but-frozen relations between Beijing and Ottawa. China has imprisoned two Canadian men, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, on what the government and dozens of its allies say are bogus charges in retaliation for the RCMP's

Some travellers returning to Canada today say they received a chillier welcome than the weather. They say they waited a long time to access the hotel-booking system for the mandatory three-day quarantine. A group arriving at Montreal's Trudeau International Airport from Belgium said there were disconnected calls and hours or even days on the line to make a reservation. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said the tighter border controls are meant to keep everyone safe, not punish travellers. He said Friday there had been issues with the phone lines, but said the problems would be cleared up by

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan is declining to talk about when he first became aware of allegations of sexual misconduct against the former chief of the defence staff, but the minister assured MPs today he has always promptly informed the appropriate authorities of such accusations. Appearing before the House of Commons defence committee, Sajjan indicated that any discussions he might have had with the military ombudsman about Gen. Jonathan Vance are confidential. The committee hearing follows a Global News report that Vance allegedly had an ongoing relationship with a woman he significantly o

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is adding 12 weeks of eligibility to two key benefits for unemployed workers and parents at home with children. The extra life for the Canada Recovery Benefit and the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit will raise the maximum number of weeks available to 38 from 26. Trudeau also says the federal sickness benefit will be expanded to four weeks from two so workers can stay home if they're feeling ill, or have to isolate because of COVID-19. And employment insurance eligibility is also getting stretched, allowing people who qualify to clai

The Trudeau government has tabled legislation to repeal mandatory minimum penalties for certain drug offences, saying they do not deter crime and unfairly affect Indigenous and Black offenders. The bill introduced today would also allow for greater use of conditional sentences, such as house arrest, counselling or treatment, for people who do not pose a threat to public safety. In addition, it would require police and prosecutors to consider alternative measures for cases of simple possession of drugs, such as diversion to addiction-treatment programs. The office of Justice Minister David Lam