Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says the federal government will commit another $2 billion to help provincial health systems work through their surgical and diagnostic backlogs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding, contained in the newly tabled Bill C-17, follows a $4-billion top-up to the federal health transfer last summer and is expected to be a one-time payment. Throughout the pandemic hospitals across the country had to delay non-emergency procedures to make way for urgent COVID-19 cases. That's led to delayed care for millions of Canadians, on top of already lengthy wait lists

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is going to impose sanctions on 160 members of the Russian Federation Council. That brings the total number of sanctioned people with links to President Vladimir Putin to 964. Trudeau says Canada is going to increase its defence spending, but at a news conference in Brussels following NATO and G-7 leaders' meetings he wouldn't be pinned down on specifics. NATO's secretary-general says leaders have agreed to present plans by June on investing billions of additional dollars into their respective militaries.

Ninety of Canada's top climate scientists and forest researchers have written to the federal government urging protection for old-growth trees. A federal plan setting greenhouse gas emission reductions is expected to be announced soon and the scientists say ancient timber stands must be protected. They say old-growth trees store about 50 per cent more carbon than younger trees but old-growth is being harvested too quickly, releasing greenhouse gases and making forests less able to withstand wildfires. The letter also calls on federal watchdogs to do more to calculate the greenhouse gases rele

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is making a plea to European leaders to come together as democracies in the face of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Trudeau is addressing the European Parliament for the first time since 2017. He says Putin's attack on Ukraine is an attack on the values that form the pillars of all democracies. Trudeau says Western countries must provide more humanitarian aid, send military equipment and lethal aid to Ukraine, and further tighten economic sanctions on Putin. Trudeau says democracies face a new threat from Russian President Valdimir Putin. Trudeau will joi

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the Liberals have reached an agreement that would see the New Democrats support his minority government through to 2025. Trudeau says the deal is a ``confidence and supply'' agreement and it takes effect today. This kind of agreement, which is a version of the deal the B.C. NDP struck with the Greens in that province in 2017, generally involves an opposition party agreeing to support the government on confidence motions and budget or appropriation votes for a certain period of time. Trudeau says it is about focusing on what each party agrees on, rather than

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will address the European Parliament in Brussels this week before meeting with other NATO and G7 leaders about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Prime Minister's Office shared news of the coming speech to European lawmakers as Trudeau prepares to leave for his second trip across the Atlantic this month. Trudeau is set to arrive in Brussels Wednesday, where his speech will stress the importance of ties with North America and both continents working together to defend democracy. The prime minister will then join other NATO leaders on Thursday to co-ordinate the mil

Pressure is on the federal government to step in to resolve the work stoppage at CP Rail. Fertilizer Canada says Ottawa must take ``immediate action'' because disrupting rail service during spring seeding season will have devastating effects on farmers. But Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan is not ready to discuss the possibility of back to work legislation being tabled in the House of Commons. He says the company and the union are still talking.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says Canada will soon impose new sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.Joly made the comments to reporters today after delivering a speech to the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations.She says more economic sanctions are forthcoming against Russian nationals and Russian companies in an effort to further isolate the country.Joly says Russian President Vladimir Putin is unpredictable and his invasion of Ukraine is a threat to world stability.She saluted the courage of Russians who have dared to demonstrate against the war, and she says she apprec

A record high 2,669 hate crimes were reported to police in 2020. Statistics Canada says the figure shot up 37 per cent from 2019, as the overall rate of police-reported crime, excluding traffic offences, dropped 10 per cent. Hate crimes targeting East or Southeast Asian people soared 301 per cent, those against Indigenous people went up 152 per cent and hate crimes targeting Black people went up 92 per cent. The highest increase in police-reported hate crimes was in Nova Scotia, followed by BC and Saskatchewan.