The Opposition Conservatives say a new commercial rent-relief program offered by the federal government has taken too long to arrive, and there are still shortcomings in the related legislation that have yet to be fixed. Conservative small business critic Pat Kelly says December's rent is due in about a week, and today is the first day that businesses can apply for the new Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy. The Conservatives are accusing the Trudeau government of circumventing the will of Parliament by failing to push off audits of small businesses that have received the federal wage subsidy. He

Businesses struggling to pay the bills because of the COVID-19 pandemic will be able to start applying today for a long-awaited new commercial rent-relief program offered by the federal government.The new Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy replaces an earlier rent-support program for businesses introduced in the spring that saw little pickup because it relied on landlords to apply for help.The new program will cover up to 65 per cent of rent or commercial mortgage interest on a sliding scale based on revenue declines, with an extra 25 per cent available to the hardest-hit firms.Federal cabinet min

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says everyone's actions now could determine Canada's fate for generations to come. He is urging all Canadians to reduce their contacts and stay home to stop the spread of COVID-19. Grim new forecasts suggest Canada could see cases climb by 60,000 per day by year's end if socializing increases. The prime minister says his government is committed to helping businesses, and that lockdown measures are a better way to ensure long-term economic success than letting the virus run rampant. "Canada-U.S. border will remain closed until Dec. 21" Prime Minister Justin Trudea

Canada's chief public health officer says there's "urgency" to bring infections down as officials released dire new forecasts indicating that COVID-19 case counts have far surpassed levels seen during the first wave. Dr. Theresa Tam says COVID-19 cases could skyrocket to 60,000 per day by the end of the year if Canadians increase their contact rates. The modelling predicts that at current rates of contact, Canada is careening towards a surge of more than 20,000 cases per day by the end of December. But if socialization increases, the projections indicate that as 2020 draws to a close, Canada

An Ontario Provincial Police officer died Thursday after being shot in the line of duty on Manitoulin Island in an incident that left a second officer injured. Const. Marc Hovingh had been a member of the service for 28 years, OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique said in a tweet. "Our hearts are with his family, friends and colleagues at this tragic time," Carrique wrote. Hovingh was shot and killed while conducting a wellness check on Thursday, a spokesman for the Ontario Provincial Police Association said. Scott Mills said the officer worked out of the force's Little Current detachment. Premier

An independent report on harassment of women in the RCMP says fundamental change is needed to rid the national police force of a toxic culture that tolerates hateful and homophobic attitudes. And RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki says, as she has said previously, that such harassment must stop. A report on harassment of women in the RCMP says fundamental change is needed to rid the national police force of a toxic culture. Former Supreme Court of Canada justice Michel Bastarache says the national police force's culture is toxic and tolerates hateful and homophobic attitudes. He has drafted 52 re

The Liberals have introduced a bill in the House of Commons that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says cements his promise to mostly eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Bill C-12 promises both transparency and accountability to reach what Trudeau admits is an ambitious goal. He told a virtual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum that net-zero is as much about avoiding the worst impacts of climate change as it is about creating good jobs and a competitive economy for years to come. Trudeau told a conference of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum today that Canad

Ontario's health minister on Wednesday suggested Canada could start receiving millions of doses of COVID-19 as soon as January, providing a glimmer of hope on an otherwise dark day marked by rising cases and death counts in many provinces. Christine Elliott said in question period that the country is set to get four million doses of the Pfizer vaccine between January and March as well as two million doses of Moderna's vaccine. She said in question period that 1.6 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 800,000 of the Moderna vaccine are destined for Ontario. "Really exciting" that Canada is w

Health Minister Patty Hajdu is tapping a former national security adviser to lead a probe into whether Canada's pandemic warning system fell down just before COVID-19 reared up. Margaret Bloodworth will chair a three-member review panel studying what went wrong with the Global Public Health Intelligence Network. She will be joined by former deputy public health officer Dr. Paul Gully, and Mylaine Breton, Canada Research Chair in Clinical Governance on Primary Health Care at Universite de Sherbrooke in Quebec. The network, known commonly as GPHIN, was created more than two decades ago and help