Mental Health and Addictions Minister Ya'ara Saks says the federal government has granted British Columbia's request to scale back its drug decriminalization pilot program.Saks says the change takes effect immediately. The province requested that Health Canada amend an exemption allowing the decriminalization of small amounts of drugs such as heroin, fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine. B.C. Premier David Eby said his NDP government was looking to recriminalize the use of those drugs in public spaces such as hospitals and parks. Saks says she expects police to direct people who need help to

The federal Liberals are trying to crack down on a scourge of auto thefts across the country. Recently released data show the federal government, too, is struggling to keep its own vehicles away from thieves. Documents tabled in the House of Commons this week show 48 government vehicles were stolen between January 2016 and February of this year, most of them in Ontario. Vehicles from 14 departments and agencies were reported stolen, and the RCMP was hit hardest with 19 vehicles taken, mostly in the Prairies. Ministers are not immune, either: the government tracked at least three thefts of a ju

Canada's foreign minister says Israel's invasion of the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip is "completely unacceptable," and she's holding out hope that ceasefire talks will prevail. Israeli officials announced Monday that the country approved a military operation into the border city, and Israeli forces began striking targets in the area. The move came hours after Hamas announced it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal, which Israel says does not meet its essential demands. Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says the situation in the Palestinian territory is catastrophic, and t

Three Indian nationals accused of murdering Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar are due to face court today over the killing that triggered a major diplomatic rift with India. Karanpreet Singh, Kamalpreet Singh and Karan Brar were arrested in Edmonton last week and are scheduled to appear in Surrey Provincial Court at 9:30 a.m. All are facing charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder. Nijjar, an advocate for an independent Sikh homeland and president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, was shot dead in his pickup truck while leaving the Surrey temple's parking lot last June. In Septe

Three suspects accused of murdering British Columbia Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year are scheduled to appear in court in Surrey on Tuesday. Indian nationals Karanpreet Singh, Kamalpreet Singh, and Karan Brar are due to face charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder at Surrey Provincial Court. Their arrests in Edmonton were announced on Friday in the killing of Nijjar in June last year outside the Surrey gurdwara where he was president. The killing of Nijjar, who campaigned for a separate Sikh homeland known as Khalistan, threw Canada's relationship with India into di

A potential strike between WestJet and its mechanics union appears to have been avoided. A statement from the Calgary-based airline Sunday night says a tentative deal between it and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association has been agreed to. If the contract is ratified by both sides, it would mark the first approved collective bargaining agreement between WestJet and AMFA. WestJet had issued a 72-hour lockout notice on Saturday to the union, saying it was response to AMFA announcing a strike vote. The union, which represents around 670 aircraft maintenance engineers and skilled trade grou

After holding public hearings and gathering evidence in private, inquiry commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue has released an interim report into foreign interference in Canada's last two general elections. The public inquiry was established after a series of media reports in the Globe and Mail and Global News cited anonymous national security sources who alleged that China meddled in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Some key take-aways from the report: Foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections did not change who formed government Hogue had no difficulty concluding there was foreign

Canada’s financial intelligence agency says it has levied a $9.2-million penalty against The Toronto-Dominion Bank for non-compliance with money laundering and terrorist financing measures as the bank also faces compliance investigations in the U.S. The penalty by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada follows on a $7.5-million fine against RBC and a $1.3-million fine against CIBC announced in December. The agency, known as Fintrac, says it imposed the penalty against TD for a range of failures including not submitting suspicious transaction reports when there was r

Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says Canadian interest rates don't have to match U.S. or global rates, but there is a limit to how much they can diverge. Macklem made the comments while testifying before the House of Commons finance committee today. The governor says Canada is nowhere close to the limit when it comes to how much Canadian and American interest rates can differ. The Bank of Canada is widely expected to begin lowering its policy rate in the coming months, while forecasters expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to take longer. The Federal Reserve held interest rates on Wednesday an