Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rose in the House of Commons Thursday, one year after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, and said March 11, 2020 will always be marked by a before and an after. Since the pandemic began, 2.5 million people around the world have died due to COVID-19, with more than 22,000 of them in Canada. ``For families and close ones, each death has a before and an after,'' Trudeau said.``Since the great wars of the 20th century, there is a sentence we often evoke, and it's a sentence that we can bring back for those that we lost this year during the pandemic: We will rem

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his office knew there was an allegation of sexual misconduct against then-defence chief Gen. Jonathan Vance in 2018. But Trudeau says he and others in government did not know the specifics of the allegation until a Global News report last month. The prime minister made the comments this afternoon in the House of Commons, confirming that then-military ombudsman Gary Walbourne spoke to Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan about an allegation against Vance in March 2018. Trudeau says his office knew that Sajjan had directed Walbourne to take the allegation to "indepe

Health authorities have stepped up COVID-19 vaccination efforts as a consistent spread of new infections and related deaths continue. As a result, the Public Health Agency of Canada urges caution in the lifting of anti-pandemic restrictions. Dr. Theresa Tam, the country's chief public health officer, has repeated a warning that the vast majority of Canadians can still get COVID-19. She says infections had been declining nationally from mid-January through mid-February, but have now levelled off. She says "with the continued increase of cases and outbreaks associated with more contagious varia

A Manitoba man who rammed a gate at Rideau Hall before arming himself and heading on foot toward Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's home last July was sentenced today to six years in prison. Corey Hurren, a 46 year old sausage-maker and military reservist, had faced 21 weapons charges and one of threatening the prime minister. He pleaded guilty last month to seven weapons charges related to possession of prohibited or restricted firearms "for a purpose contrary to the public peace" and one charge of mischief by wilfully causing $100,000 worth of damage to the Rideau Hall gate. In delivering the

Health Canada expects more than two million doses of vaccine to be delivered from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna in two weeks. Pfizer alone will ship more than a million doses a week itself between March 22 and April 18. Pfizer recently said it would increase its planned shipments to Canada by 1.5 million doses before the end of March, and send an extra million doses in both April and May. The company has now confirmed its delivery schedule through mid-April, shipping 1.2 million doses the weeks of March 22 and March 29, and one million doses the weeks of April 5 and April 18. To date, Canada ha

The Bank of Canada is keeping its key interest rate target on hold at 0.25 per cent, saying economic conditions still require it even if things are going better than anticipated.In a statement, the central bank says it expects economic growth in the first quarter of 2021 to be positive, as opposed to its previous forecast in January for a contraction to start the year.The bank's senior decision-makers say resilience in the economy has to do with consumers and businesses adapting to new rounds of lockdowns and restrictions.The statement also points to a stronger-than-expected housing market as

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to comment on the Meghan and Harry interview, but said he's not interested in conversations about getting rid of the British monarchy. Asked how he reconciles his support for the monarchy with his stated desire to rid Canada of a legacy of colonialism, Trudeau said many institutions in Canada are built around colonialism and systematic racism, including Parliament, and said the answer is to listen Canadians who face discrimination so that institutions can be fixed. "The answer is not to suddenly toss out all the institutions and start over," Tru

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the pace of vaccination in Canada is "accelerating significantly." Trudeau told an Ottawa news conference the government is working tirelessly every day to acquire and distribute more doses.Trudeau says half-a-million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine were delivered last week and are being distributed to provinces. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says there's still no firm date for when Johnson & Johnson will send its COVID-19 vaccine to Canada. Health Canada approved the vaccine for use last week but the company has reported production delays could t

Canada's expert panel on immunization didn't contact Pfizer before its recommendation that the second dose be delayed up to four months. Pfizer Canada's president, Cole Pinnow, made that point today when he spoke to the House of Commons health committee. The advice came from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization because real-world data on one dose shows it is highly effective and with limited supplies, more people could get vaccinated with one dose sooner. Pinnow says one reason is that Pfizer believed the vaccine wouldn't get approved here until well after the New Year. Cole Pinnow