Social Development Minister Karina Gould says Service Canada has eliminated 98 per cent of the massive backlog of passport applications. Most new passport applications were being processed on time by October, but thousands of applications before then were backlogged, with would-be travellers facing excessive delays. Gould expects more Canadians to apply for passports in the next few years because the first ones issued with a 10-year expiry date will come up for renewal in July. She is in Hamilton, Ontario for a three-day cabinet retreat, which is also focused on the war in Ukraine and inflati

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says Canada is working with allies to help Ukraine, but refused to say whether that means sending along battle tanks to Kyiv. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland also wouldn't say whether Canada wants to send tanks. Speaking at a cabinet retreat in Hamilton, Ontario, Freeland only said that Ukraine winning the war with Russia would boost the global economy. Her remarks come after Germany and the U-S said they are taking steps to send tanks to Ukraine.

Brooke Henderson is off to a flying start in the new LPGA Tour season. The Canadian went wire-to-wire to win the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at Lake Nona. It's her 13th career victory. Henderson wasn't under too much stress in the final round of the season opener. She handled the par 5s and kept any challengers from having too much hope. Henderson won by four shots. Maja Stark started her second year on the LPGA by finishing second with Charley Hull of England. Nelly Korda wound up in fourth place. The LPGA Tour resumes in a month.

The lawyer for six Canadian women and 13 children being held in Syrian camps says Ottawa has agreed to help bring them home. The Canadians are among many foreign nationals in Syrian camps run by Kurdish forces that reclaimed the region from extremists. Family members of the Canadians have been arguing in Federal Court that the government must repatriate them, saying that refusing to do so violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But the case of four men is still before the court.

Defence Minister Anita Anand has sidestepped questions about whether Canada is prepared to donate modern battle tanks to Ukraine. The issue came up repeatedly as Anand paid a surprise visit to the capital Kyiv, where her Ukrainian counterpart stressed the need for tanks to help in his country's war with Russia. Earlier today, Anand announced that Ottawa is sending another 200 armoured vehicles to help the Ukrainian military. Ottawa is buying the vehicles from an Ontario company at a cost of 90-million dollars.

Wauzhushk Onigum Nation in northern Ontario says it has uncovered 171 ``plausible burials'' in studies of cemetery grounds at a former residential school site. The First Nation says with the exception of five grave markers, the rest are unmarked. In a news release Tuesday afternoon, the First Nation says the site linked to the former St. Mary's Residential School in Kenora, Ont., has been secured in accordance with Anishinaabe protocols. The First Nation says the anomalies, which it also calls ``plausible burials,'' were found during studies conducted by its technical, archeological and ground

Ontario is expanding the private delivery of public health care, by funding clinics to perform more cataract surgeries as well as MRI and CT scans. Announcing a three-step plan today, Premier Doug Ford says he laments debates over who should deliver health care and cares only about getting it delivered quickly and safely. Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones say the procedures will still be covered by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan. But critics are concerned about what the plan will do to hospital staffing and say patients are sometimes pushed to pay for out-of-pocket add-ons at private c

Three people are still missing after an explosion and fire rocked a propane business north of Montreal. The local fire department responded to calls yesterday morning about the blast at Propane Lafortune but were forced to retreat for several hours due to the risk of further explosions. Crews were able to bring the blaze under control in the evening. The propane business is located about 50 kilometres north of Montreal.

Alexandria Loutitt has reached unprecedented heights for a Canadian female ski jumped. The 19 year old from Calgary became the first Canadian to win a World Cup women's ski jump event, taking gold at a normal hill competition in Japan. It's just the third time a Canadian ski jumper has won a World Cup event, and the first time in 40 years.