To ensure schools are ready to welcome students into classrooms for the week of Sept. 8-11, 2020, there will be a gradual restart to allow extra time to orient students and staff on the new health and safety measures in place."Schools are going to look different in September," said Rob Fleming, Minister of Education. "Staff, students and parents need time to get familiar with all the new health and safety procedures that are designed to keep them safe and confident in their school settings." Starting Sept. 8, all staff will meet with their school's joint health and safety committee to receive

Today's sitting of Parliament is expected to be the last one that will see Andrew Scheer in the role of Conservative leader.In addition to being an MP from Regina since 2004, he also served as the Speaker of the House of Commons from 2011 to 2015.It was after the Tories lost government in 2015, and the subsequent resignation of then-leader Stephen Harper, that Scheer decided to go for the leadership job.He won in 2017, eking out a very narrow victory over fellow MP Maxime Bernier.He spent the next two years trying to gain recognition across the country, while shoring up the party's war chest

Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, have issued a joint statement regarding updates on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) response in British Columbia. "Today, we are announcing 46 new cases, for a total of 4,111 cases in British Columbia. "There are 472 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 3,444 people who tested positive have recovered. "Currently, eight people are hospitalized with COVID-19, five of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation. "There have been no new COVID

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has full confidence in Finance Minister Bill Morneau and that any reports to the contrary are false.Trudeau's office has taken the unusual step of issuing a statement in support of Morneau in a bid to shut down speculation the finance minister is about to be fired.Opposition parties have been calling for Morneau's resignation over allegations that he had a conflict of interest in the WE Charity affair.News that Mark Carney, a former governor of both the Bank of Canada and Bank of England, is helping to advise Trudeau on the post-pandemic economic recovery

Two federal cabinet ministers and the country's top public servant will be grilled today about how a charity with close ties to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wound up administering a $912-million student grant program.The House of Commons ethics committee is scheduled to hear from Youth Minister Bardish Chagger, Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough and Ian Shugart, clerk of the Privy Council.The committee is ostensibly conducting a review of the existing safeguards in place to prevent conflicts of interest when the federal government is deciding how to spend taxpayers' dollars.But opposition M

British Columbia's provincial health officer says the public needs to do a better job at lowering the number of COVID-19 cases and encouraged younger residents to avoid large social gatherings. Dr. Bonnie Henry says a pandemic is a good excuse to skip a party. Dr. Henry says gatherings of young people, even if it is less than the 50 person limit, are a concern for health officials. She says when alcohol is involved, people often don't take the precautions they normally would. B.C. reported 131 new cases of COVID-19 since Friday, bringing the provincial total to 4,065. There have been no new d

Opposition MPs on the Commons finance committee want to know more about an agreement between Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and a company where the husband of the prime minister's chief of staff works.Katie Telford's husband Rob Silver is an executive vice-president at M-CAP, which the government tapped to administer a rent-assistance program for small businesses affected by COVID-19.The Prime Minister's Office says Telford established clear ethical walls between herself and M-CAP back in January. CMHC says it didn't have the internal capacity to quickly get the program running and t

Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, have issued a joint statement regarding updates on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) response in British Columbia. "Today, we are announcing 53 new cases, including three epi-linked cases, for a total of 3,934 cases in British Columbia. "There are 386 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 3,353 people who tested positive have recovered. "There are 11 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19, four of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation

Premier John Horgan says the decision by the US government to impose tariffs on Canadian aluminum is "disappointing for the people of BC". A statement from the premier's office says many people in BC earn their living from the province's aluminum industry and BC exports do no harm the US market. It says the 10-per cent tariff is "unfortunate" when countries should be helping each other recover from COVID-19 restrictions, and the Horgan government will fight for the industry and its workers. A newly modernized Rio Tinto aluminum smelter in Kitimat employs 1100 workers and contributed more th