The federal government is extending its commercial rent-relief program one last time.The Liberals say the program that aims to help small businesses with their rent or lease costs will be extended for this month, unveiling the details one week after rent was due.In a release, the government says the one-month lifeline is a "final extension" for the program and that officials are looking at other options to help small businesses.The rent-relief program provides forgivable loans that cover half of rent for eligible small businesses, and also requires landlords to waive a further one-quarter of w

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole is naming his shadow cabinet, including his predecessor Andrew Scheer as the party's infrastructure critic.O'Toole is keeping Ontario's Pierre Poilievre as finance critic and promoting Alberta's Michelle Rempel Garner to health critic and New Brunswick's Rob Moore to justice critic.Critics are government ministers' main questioners in the House of Commons and are supposed to be ready to move into their offices if the Opposition took over governing.Ontario MP Michael Chong is taking a big step up to become the Conservatives' critic for foreign affairs.Alain Ray

The leader of New Brunswick's Progressive Conservatives has ditched a candidate who reposted a Facebook message that suggested violence against a transgender person. Blaine Higgs says he was disturbed by the reposting of the meme by Roland Michaud, the party's candidate in Victoria-La Vallee.Higgs said he only became aware of the repost today.The post suggested a transgender woman should be punched for trying to use a woman's washroom.Michaud wasn't immediately available for comment.

One of the country's largest labour organizations is launching a campaign to coincide with Labour Day to push for changes to the federal social safety net.The Canadian Labour Congress is hoping the government widens planned changes to the employment insurance system to provide jobless benefits to any worker in the country. President Hassan Yussuff says the changes are practical steps the federal government can take to better prepare the country for future economic crises. Congress president Hassan Yussuff says many workers and families would not have survived financially so far had it not been

Canada's chief public health doctor says a slow but steady increase in the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 is a cause for concern. Dr. Theresa Tam says today the average daily number of people testing positive over the last week is 545 — a 25 per cent increase over the previous week which saw a daily average of 435, and 390 a week before that.That number increased every day over the last week prompting Tam to remind Canadians not to get complacent about their risk of contracting the novel coronavirus. Overall, in the last week, 3,955 people tested positive across Canada, and

There are 131,124 confirmed cases in Canada. Quebec: 63,117 confirmed (including 5,767 deaths, 55,724 resolved) Ontario: 42,834 confirmed (including 2,811 deaths, 38,741 resolved) Alberta: 14,474 confirmed (including 242 deaths, 12,799 resolved) British Columbia: 6,162 confirmed (including 211 deaths, 4,706 resolved) Saskatchewan: 1,638 confirmed (including 24 deaths, 1,578 resolved) Manitoba: 1,273 confirmed (including 16 deaths, 835 resolved) Nova Scotia: 1,085 confirmed (including 65 deaths, 1,015 resolved) Newfoundland and Labrador: 269 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 265 resolved) New Bru

BC Jobs Minister Michelle Mungall says there have been positive employment gains for four months in a row after the pandemic shut down the economy. BC's jobless rate last month was 10.7 per cent, slightly higher than the national average of 10.2 per cent. The BC rate for August has improved from the July unemployment rate of 11.1 per cent. Mungall says BC has now recovered almost 247,000 jobs and total employment now stands at 94 per cent of the pre-pandemic level in February.

British Columbia has recorded another 121 cases of COVID-19 and one death related to the virus. In a joint statement on Friday, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix say there has been a total of 6,162 cases since the pandemic began. COVID-19 has claimed 211 lives in the province. Almost 2,800 people in the province are under active health monitoring after being identified as being exposed to someone who has tested positive, and 4,706 people have recovered. KinVillage long-term care home in Delta is the latest facility with an outbreak after a worker tested

A new 377 million dollar hospital has been announced for Dawson Creek. Health Minister Adrian Dix says it became clear during the business planning stage of the upgrade on the current hospital that a new, modern hospital was needed. Dix says the new hospital will bring jobs to the region and help retain health-care professionals. There will be 70 beds and the new emergency department will be double the size of the one in the current hospital with the expectation of about 25,000 visits a year.