The Liberal Party of Canada says it fundraised around $3.5 million during the first three months of the second year dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. A party spokesperson says the Liberal government is focused on fighting the virus, ``while other parties have pushed for an election.'' Because the Liberals hold a minority of seats in the House of Commons an election could happen anytime, and federal parties have started to prepare. The Liberals report more than 33,600 people donated around $3.5 million in the first quarter of 2021. It also says it set a new record for the number of grassroot

The prime minister says Ontario Premier Doug Ford has asked Ottawa to suspend the arrival of international students in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19. Justin Trudeau says Ontario is the only province to make this request. Trudeau says he's not considering barring international students from entering Canada at this point, but he's willing to work ``more narrowly'' with Ontario. Ford has repeatedly blamed the COVID-19 pandemic's third wave on``porous borders.'' The premier has also called on the federal government to institute hotel quarantines at land borders. Trudeau says there are alre

Two Montrealers are among the dead after a stampede during a religious festival in Israel early Friday. The Israeli consulate in Montreal identified one of the dead as Shraga Gestetner, a well-known singer, in a post on social media. Lionel Perez, the city's municipal opposition leader, wrote on Twitter that the other Montreal victim was Dovi Steinmetz. Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante also expressed her sympathy with the city's Jewish community and the friends and family of the victims in a post on Twitter. At least 45 people were killed and about 150 seriously injured during the celebration La

Ontario will send half its available COVID-19 vaccines to hot spots in the first two weeks of May to help fight the virus in those hard-hit regions. That will be an increase from the current 25 per cent allocation for hot spots and follows a recommendation from the province's science advisers to allocate shots based on transmission rate rather than age group. The government says it will return to a per capita distribution for vaccines across the province on the week of May 17. Officials say Ontario will also lower the age eligibility for mass vaccination clinics to 55 and older starting tomor

The Liberal government is tapping former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour to lead what it says is an independent review of the military's handling of sexual assault, harassment and other misconduct. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan announced Arbour's appointment today, nearly three months after the government and Canadian Armed Forces were rocked by allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour by the military's top commanders.Arbour, the former UN high commissioner for human rights, is being asked to help set up an independent system for victims and others to report incidents and also to re

Canada's first 300,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine are arriving today, a federal official tells The Canadian Press. The official, granted anonymity to discuss matters not made public yet, said that where the doses are coming from is not being disclosed because the government needs to ``protect this new vaccine supply chain.'' J&J has struggled with production problems and has been able to deliver very few doses, even in the United States. Canada purchased 10 million doses, and has the option to buy 28 million more. The doses are expected to be distributed to provin

Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk says both the provincial government and the long-term care home sector failed to heed lessons learned from the SARS epidemic and were poorly prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic. Her report into the deaths of more than 3,700 nursing home residents last spring finds concerns about systemic weaknesses that had been raised for years were never addressed. Among other things, Bonnie Lysyk says emergency planning was woefully inadequate. Bonnie Lysyk says vaccinations have now blunted the impact of the virus but the sector remains vulnerable given past neglect. Ly

Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau spoke with his counterpart in India earlier today about how Canada could best help the country struggling with a deadly surge in COVID-19 cases. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is ready to provide $10 million to the Indian Red Cross, through the Canadian Red Cross. He says this money would support everything from procuring more personal protective equipment locally to ambulance services. Trudeau says government in close contact with US about procuring more doses Canada is counting on a US promise to share surplus COVID-19vaccines

A Quebec woman in her 50s has died of a blood clot that occurred after she received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The province's public health director says officials always knew that rare complications were possible with vaccines. Dr. Horacio Arruda says the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine still far outweigh the risks. Arruda notes there have been four reports of complications out of 400,000 people who have received the vaccines. He says Quebec will continue to offer the vaccine to residents between the ages of 45 and 79. Health Minister Christian Dube a told a news conference that any de