Immigration Minister Marc Miller is increasing the number of applications that will be processed under a much-criticized program to reunite Palestinians with Canadian relatives. The move comes as he testifies about measures introduced months ago that were meant to bring relatives of Canadians from conflict zones in the Gaza Strip and Sudan to safety. The Gaza program initially had a cap of 1,000 applications that could be "accepted into processing," but Miller is now increasing that number to 5,000, each of which can include multiple family members. Palestinian Canadians have complained about

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold another rally a day before the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab. He will address the rally in Hoshiarpur on May 30. On the same day, election campaigning will end at 5 pm and voting will be held for 13 Lok Sabha seats of Punjab on June 1. PM Narendra Modi will campaign for BJP candidate Anita Som Prakash in Hoshiarpur. Earlier last week, he addressed election rallies in Patiala, Gurdaspur and Jalandhar.

Treasury Board President Anita Anand says Ottawa is developing a new artificial intelligence strategy for government operations. She says the strategy will help make government more efficient and improve services for Canadians. The effort will include setting up a specific division to retrain existing public servants. Anand made the announcement at a meeting with experts who are convening in Gatineau, Que., to discuss developing the strategy. The federal government has already begun incorporating AI into its operations, using the technology in hundreds of different ways. These talks come as ei

Residents in Fort Nelson are able to go home today after being evacuated for more than two weeks due to wildfires. The Northern Rockies Regional Municipality and the Fort Nelson First Nation say they'll jointly rescind their evacuation orders at 8 a.m., lift roadblocks and allow people to return. About 4,700 residents were evacuated from Fort Nelson on May 10, when strong winds pushed the Parker Lake wildfire within a few kilometres of the town. The fire destroyed four homes and damaged six other properties in the area. Crews are also fighting the Patry Creek fire north of town, which is a hol

Mounties say two people have died following a plane crash near Squamish, B.C. A statement from the RCMP says police were able to access the remote crash site south of Squamish, on the west side of Howe Sound, by air on Saturday and confirm the two occupants of the plane did not survive. The plane crash was reported Friday evening after an automatic crash notification from a smartphone. The police statement says investigators are working with the Transportation Safety Board and the BC Coroners Service to determine the cause of the crash. The statement thanks Squamish Search and Rescue, Blackcom

Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal expelled his brother-in-law and grandson of former chief minister Pratap Singh Kairon, Adaesh Pratap Singh Kairon, who was a four-time MLA from Patti Vidhan Sabha constituency, from the party. Akali candidate Virsa Singh Valtoha from Khadur Sahib had complained against Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon accusing him of anti-party activities. According to Valtoha, Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon was involved in anti-party activities for a long time and was calling the workers and asking them to vote for anyone but not to vote for Valtoha. Valtoha said that I

Before voting for the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab on June 1, election campaigning is being done vigorously by all the parties in the state. Aam Aadmi Party supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is also on a visit to Punjab. Along with their security, heavy force is being deployed on the entire route. At the same time, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who arrived for election campaign in favor of Ravneet Singh Bittu from Lok Sabha constituency Ludhiana, hinted to make Bittu a minister. He also said that the AAP government is not going to last long in Punjab. Congress candidate from

Hansraj Hans, who is contesting from the Faridkot Lok Sabha seat in Punjab, is constantly facing opposition from farmers, today he became emotional during a public meeting in Daulatpura Niwan, Moga village. Addressing the people, he also apologized to the farmers. After yesterday's farmers' protest, he said that if he is alive till June 1, he will definitely meet. If something happens to me, keep my thoughts alive. He said that some people attacked my convoy yesterday and my request to the farmers' organizations is that I do not want any rifts in the villages, people fight among themselves, y

The leader of British Columbia's official Opposition says the BC Conservatives have rejected a proposal to avoid vote-splitting in the provincial election this fall. BC United Leader Kevin Falcon says talks between the two right-of-centre parties concluded with Conservative Leader John Rustad ultimately deciding against a proposed "non-competition" agreement. Falcon says in a statement that Rustad has "placed his own ambition" above B.C.'s interests and is risking the re-election of the governing NDP. He says there were talks between two representatives of each party this month, most recently