Canada's premiers are again demanding Ottawa increase annual health care transfer payments to provinces and territories. The premiers are unanimous in their call for the federal government to hike the transfers by 28 billion dollars this year, and then by five per cent each year thereafter. They argue the federal government shoulders only 22 per cent of the cost of health care. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged that the federal government's share must eventually increase, but he's told premiers that will have to wait until after the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Manitoba Premier Bri

A panel of experts says up to 80 per cent of Canadians over 16 could get a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of June, if governments extend the interval between the two doses to four months. Deputy federal public health officer Doctor Howard Njoo says the move is based on the most recent data on how vaccines are working.Canada is now on track to receive a total of 6.5 million vaccine doses by the end of this month. That's 500,000 more than originally forecast. Health officials in Alberta, BC and Newfoundland and Labrador have said they are extending that interval to four months, while

Unifor president Jerry Dias says Air Canada is promising to refund passengers whose flights were cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic.Dias says the airline has made the commitment repeatedly during negotiations with the federal government over an aid package for the battered sector.He says he spoke with Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau last night, confirming the pledge.Dias says roughly 4,000 of the union's 15,000 aviation workers remain fully employed a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, lending urgency to discussions in Ottawa.Air Canada and the Finance Department did not respond immediately

A former military ombudsman says he told Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan about allegations of misconduct against former chief of defence, General Jonathan Vance three years ago, and was met with hostility. Gary Walbourne spoke to a parliamentary committee this afternoon, telling members he had a toxic working relationship with Sajjan. Walbourne says he told the minister that the person accusing Vance of wrongdoing did not want to issue a formal complaint. Sajjan at that time repeatedly refused to say what he and Walbourne discussed during their meeting on March 1, 2018, citing confidentiality

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expressing optimism that his government's timeline for getting a vaccine into the arm of every Canadian who wants one can be accelerated. He says the federal government's September timeline didn't factor in the arrival of new vaccines such as the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot, which was approved last week. Trudeau notes that a change in the public health guidance regarding the time allowed between the first and second doses of a vaccine could also affect Canada's rollout. Health officials in B-C and Newfoundland and Labrador have said they are extending that interva

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says this isn't the time to pull back on support for workers and business owners. This morning he announced announced an extension of programs to help workers and businesses make it to the finish line of the pandemic. The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy and the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy and Lockdown Support will continue at their current levels until June. Trudeau says we've come a long way in the fight against the pandemic, but we're not out of the woods yet. He has announced an extension of programs to help workers and businesses make it to the finish line.Tru

A Canadian judge has found guilty a man who admitted using a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto.Alek Minassian faced 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder.The April 23, 2018, attack drew attention to an online world of sexual loneliness, rage and misogyny.His lawyer argued he didn't know what he was doing was wrong because he has autism spectrum disorder, a stance that angled autism rights advocates.Justice Anne Molloy said Wednesday the man's lawyers failed to prove he was not criminally responsible.

A House of Commons committee is unanimously urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to promise he won't call a federal election while the COVID-19 pandemic rages across Canada. In a report by the procedure and House affairs committee, even Liberal members supported a recommendation calling for a commitment that there will be no election during the pandemic, unless Trudeau's minority Liberal government is defeated on a confidence vote. The committee makes no similar call for opposition parties to promise not to trigger an election during the pandemic by voting non-confidence in the government. Ho

Canada is now recording an increase in new COVID-19 cases because of the spread of the variants. No province has been spared from these variants, but some continue to ease anti-pandemic restrictions. Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says more ground is being gained on the "vaccine-versus-variants leg of this marathon" every day. Federal Procurement Minister Anita Anand says a half-million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca's vaccine will arrive tomorrow. Three-hundred thousand of those doses expire in just a few weeks' time but Tam says all vaccines should be administered as soon as they