A House of Commons committee is unanimously urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to promise he won't call a federal election while the COVID-19 pandemic rages across Canada. In a report by the procedure and House affairs committee, even Liberal members supported a recommendation calling for a commitment that there will be no election during the pandemic, unless Trudeau's minority Liberal government is defeated on a confidence vote. The committee makes no similar call for opposition parties to promise not to trigger an election during the pandemic by voting non-confidence in the government. Ho

Canada is now recording an increase in new COVID-19 cases because of the spread of the variants. No province has been spared from these variants, but some continue to ease anti-pandemic restrictions. Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says more ground is being gained on the "vaccine-versus-variants leg of this marathon" every day. Federal Procurement Minister Anita Anand says a half-million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca's vaccine will arrive tomorrow. Three-hundred thousand of those doses expire in just a few weeks' time but Tam says all vaccines should be administered as soon as they

The federal Conservatives say they're worried about vaccine hesitancy among seniors because of conflicting advice on the use of the recently-approved Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Tory MP Michelle Rempel Garner says the advice is confusing. A national panel of vaccine experts says provinces should not use the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on seniors. But Health Canada says it can be used on Canadians aged 65 or older. Michelle Rempel Garner on Twitter: We have called for an emergency meeting to understand why Health Canada is recommending use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in seniors when the

The Canadian economy posted its worst showing on record in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the country, shutting down businesses and putting millions out of work.Statistics Canada says real gross domestic product shrank 5.4 per cent in 2020, the steepest annual decline since comparable data was first recorded in 1961. The drop for the year was due to the shutdown of large swaths of the economy in March and April during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that crushed the economy.Since then, economic activity has slowly and steadily grown. Statistics Canada says the economy grew

A lawyer for the Huawei executive facing extradition to the United States says there's evidence showing the case against her is "manifestly unreliable" and he wants that evidence admitted to the record. Meng Wanzhou's lawyer Frank Addario says emails between staff at the telecom giant and international bank HSBC show the bank was well aware that Huawei controlled another company called Skycom, therefore Meng wasn't responsible for any violation of U.S. sanctions again Iran by the bank. He told the B.C. Supreme Court hearing that staff at HSBC knew that Skycom was sold to Canicula, that Canicu

Health Canada has approved the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca, the third to be given the green light for national use.Canada has pre-ordered 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was co-developed by researchers at the University of Oxford.It will also receive up to 1.9 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the global vaccine-sharing initiative known as COVAX by the end of June.Vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna had already been approved by Health Canada.Approximately 1.7 million doses of those formulas have been administered in Canada.Health Canada sen

The Trudeau government is keeping mum on why the newly-minted chief of defence staff is being investigated for misconduct. Admiral Art McDonald has stepped aside for now. In the House of Commons today, Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole tried, but failed, to get answers about the investigation -- and whether there are any other probes going on in the military. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland acknowledged the investigation in the House of Commons, but revealed no details. She would only say the government takes misconduct allegations seriously. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan revealed lat

The Canadian Armed Forces is reeling this morning with news chief of the defence staff Admiral Art McDonald is being investigated for misconduct.Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan revealed late last night McDonald has voluntarily stepped aside while military police investigate.The stunning development comes just over a month after McDonald took over as commander of the Canadian military from Gen. Jonathan Vance, who is also under investigation after allegations of inappropriate behaviour.Vance has denied any wrongdoing and McDonald has not commented.Former naval reservist Marie-Claude Gagnon, who

The Opposition Conservatives are still hammering at the Liberal government over Canada's uneven vaccine rollout. In question period today, Conservative leader Erin O'Toole was incredulous about how many people would have to be vaccinated per day to get every Canadian vaccinated by the end of September as the Liberals say. He said it would be 300,000 per day. But Justin Trudeau says deliveries are ramping up and the government is committed to its September deadline. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is boasting some new numbers for COVID vaccine delivery. But he's facing continued criticism from