The prime minister is calling off a planned trip to the Caribbean this week. His office announced the cancellation less than 24 hours before Justin Trudeau was scheduled to fly to Barbados, where he was expected to sell Canada's bid to get a seat on the United Nations Security Council. Back home, the P-M has been facing harsh criticism in the wake of anti-pipeline protests that have disrupted rail service. He'd been accused of ''running around'' Africa and Europe as protesters opposed to the Coastal GasLink pipeline project blockade rail lines in B-C, Ontario and other parts of the country.

Former Conservative cabinet minister John Baird says he's not running to lead the federal Conservative party. His announcement puts an end to days of speculation that he could enter the race, talk that began late last month after both current MP Pierre Poilievre and former interim party leader Rona Ambrose decided not to run. Baird had been poised to run Poilievre's campaign, but Poilievre dropped out last month, saying his heart wasn't in it. The absence of what some in the party feel is a ``true blue'' voice in the contest a role some saw as belonging to either Poilievre or Ambrose _ put pr

Japanese authorities might soon allow people quarantined aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship near Tokyo, where 12 Canadians have contracted the novel coronavirus, to disembark and finish out their isolation on land. The 3,500 passengers on the ship have been under quarantine since last week, and so far 218 have tested positive for the disease, which the World Health Organization has dubbed COVID-19. Foreign Affairs Minister Francois Philippe Champagne says it's the biggest concentration of confirmed cases outside of mainland China. Champagne says emergency response teams and consular offi

Bombardier is selling its remaining stake in the A-220 jet for nearly 600 million dollars in a deal that involves Airbus and the Quebec government.The Montreal based company is transferring its shares to Airbus and the province as it tries to emerge from more than 9 billion dollars in debt.Quebec Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon calls the agreement a ``win-win'' for all partners.This morning Bombardier also reported a 2019 loss of 1.61 billion dollars.Rumours persist that it will sell one of its two main divisions later this year.

The contract dispute between Ontario's four major teachers' unions and Premier Doug Ford's Conservative government is about to escalate. The unions plan to stage a one-day walkout next Friday, a move that will leave more than two-million students out of class. One union president says the Ford government is decimating the education system. The education minister is calling the walkout an irresponsible choice.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Senegal today, wrapping up a trip through Africa, but he has been kept apprised of growing protests and blockades by opponents of the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline across northern BC. Freight trains bound for the Port of Prince Rupert have been stalled for days by a blockade near New Hazelton, and Via Rail and CN both say blockades in BC, Ontario and Quebec are affecting the movement of thousands of passengers and tonnes of goods. Trudeau says while the federal government respects the right to peaceful protest, the rule of law must also be respected.

Magsaysay Award winning journalist Ravish Kumar joined Vijay Saini in Sver Wala Show this morning.He said that Non Resident Indians (NRIs) living in Canada need to start asking relevant questions from Indian politicians when they visit and hold stadium-size events here.Kumar alleged that the BJP-led Indian government is treating Muslims the same way the Congress-led government treated Sikhs in 1984.

Former federal health minister Jane Philpott has a new job. She will lead the faculty of health sciences at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. Philpott represented the Ontario riding of Markham Stouffville from 2015 until last year's federal election. The former politician made headlines last year when she resigned from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet over the SNC Lavalin affair.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has run afoul of federal ethics rules yet again, this time missing the deadline for filing a financial disclosure statement with the ethics commissioner. Every MP is required to file a disclosure statement within 60 days of his or her election being published in the Canada Gazette; in Trudeau's case, the deadline was Jan. 13. Of the 338 MPs elected last October, only 13, including Trudeau, had failed to file their statements as of Feb. 5, the last time commissioner Mario Dion's office updated a status report on members' compliance with the disclosure requirement.