Montreal police say they've arrested 17 people in connection with an alleged real estate fraud scheme worth more than $5 million.Police say members of the alleged fraud ring used fake IDs to borrow against the value of five properties they didn't own.They say the fake IDs were used to sign legal documents and open bank accounts in the names of the real owners.The financing obtained from private lenders was withdrawn soon after it was deposited in the bank accounts.Police say the real owners of the properties have found themselves tied to mortgages they never took out and the lenders have lost

No Canadian citizens have been included in a list of more than 400 foreign nationals who would be permitted to leave Gaza for the first time since Israel launched its retaliatory war on Hamas militants more than three weeks ago.An agreement appeared to have been reached Wednesday to allow hundreds of foreign passport holders, along with some wounded people, to leave for Egypt.The General Authority for Border Crossings in Gaza published a list of those who would be permitted to leave that included citizens of Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Indonesia, Japan and Jordan

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to be in Washington on Friday as part of US President Joe Biden's push for greater economic integration across the Western Hemisphere.U.S. Ambassador David Cohen says Trudeau will be part of meetings in to help shape the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, a Biden-backed trade framework.The project aims to create more jobs and restore faith in democracy by having roughly a dozen countries bolster the region's economic competitiveness.Biden announced the program at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles in June 2022.Cohen says Canada shares

Immigration Minister Marc Miller is laying out the federal government's priorities for improving Canada's immigration system today with a newly released report.The federal government's report outlines key actions intended to strengthen the immigration system, based on consultations with stakeholders.It says Ottawa plans to take housing, health care, infrastructure and other services into account when planning immigration levels.The report proposes creating a chief international talent officer position to better align immigration programs and pathways with the labour market.It says the federal

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem says fiscal and monetary policy are rowing in opposite directions, making it harder to bring inflation down.Macklem is appearing before MPs on the House of Commons finance committee after the Bank of Canada's recent rate decision and quarterly economic projections.In response to questioning from Conservative MP Jasraj Singh Hallan, the governor says government spending is working at cross purposes with the central bank's efforts to bring inflation down.The governor says that according to federal and provincial budgets, government spending aggregate will gro

A group of more than 30 British Columbia retailers, trade associations and other organizations is calling for a co-ordinated government response for repeat offenders they say are behind a wave of theft, vandalism and violent crime.The Save Our Streets coalition says the need for immediate action is "critical" to meet threats to staff safety, rising security costs and the community impact.The group says federal and provincial governments can't succeed by addressing "singular aspects" of the problem, such as drug decriminalization, policing resources or mental-health reform.Members of the group

Protesters are marching in downtown Montreal to condemn the Quebec government's plan to double university tuition for students from other provinces.Protest organizer Alex O'Neill, who grew up in Montreal and studies at McGill University, says out-of-province students can't afford to pay the $17,000 the government wants to charge them next year.Many participants at the protest, which stretched the length of two city blocks, wore purple, the colour of Bishop's University, in Sherbrooke, Que., the province's only English-language university outside Montreal.Sophia Stacey, president of the univers

The federal government is expanding its drug and substance use strategy to try to save more lives and provide more services to people disproportionately affected by Canada's overdose crisis.The Public Health Agency of Canada says the drug landscape has changed with an increasingly toxic supply since the strategy was first developed in 2016.It also says the COVID-19 pandemic revealed gaps in the government's approach and the need for a more holistic, integrated response.The strategy's priorities include funding more community-based programs for prevention, treatment and support.It also includes

The Federal Court today dismissed a legal challenge to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's May 2020 regulations banning some 1,500 styles of firearms.Justice Catherine Kane says in a decision released today that the applicants raised issues around the matter of guns and public safety but the court only explored the question of whether Trudeau's cabinet went beyond its powers in passing the regulations.A few weeks after a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 22 people in April 2020, the Liberals announced they were banning 1,500 models of firearms that it considered too dangerous to be society.The Canadian