A senior defence official says Canadian taxpayers are on the hook when it comes to fixing at least two of the Royal Canadian Navy's new Arctic patrol vessels. Defence Department deputy minister Bill Matthews says that is because the one-year warranty on those two ships has expired. The federal government is planning to buy eight Arctic patrol vessels from Halifax-based Irving Shipbuilding, including six for the Navy and two for the Canadian Coast Guard. Three of the ships are finished, though Matthews told a parliamentary committee today that it will be up to Irving to fix the problems in the

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says three members of his party who met with a German politician from a far-right party will stay in caucus. Speaking to reporters today in Ottawa, Poilievre otherwise ducked questions about the recent meeting between Ontario MPs Leslyn Lewis, Dean Allison, Colin Carrie and Christine Anderson. Anderson visited Canada as part of a tour organized by supporters of last year's "Freedom Convoy" protests around Parliament Hill, which she publicly supported. Anderson is a member of European Parliament representing the Alternative for Germany party, which has been

The RCMP says it has opened an investigation into possible violations of the Security of Information Act concerning recent media reports about alleged foreign interference. In a statement to The Canadian Press, the national police force says the probe is not focused on any one security agency. The Globe and Mail newspaper, citing classified Canadian Security Intelligence Service records, recently said China worked to help ensure a Liberal minority victory in the 2021 general election as well as defeat Conservative politicians considered unfriendly to Beijing. A Global News report cited anonymo

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says having an Indigenous person serve as the next commissioner of the RCMP is "an excellent idea." He made the comment in response to questions from reporters in Winnipeg today about a call from some First Nations leadership for the government to ensure the next top Mountie is Indigenous. RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki is set to retire from her post this month, slightly before the end of her five-year term. She was appointed in April 2018 and led the force during a chaotic few years that included the deadliest mass shooting in modern Canadian history, along with

The failure of a massive, multi-year money laundering investigation to yield charges is a "shocking" example of the shortfalls of federal financial crime law, British Columbia Premier David Eby said Thursday. Eby called for tougher laws a day after B.C.'s prosecution service announced no charges will be laid in the E-Nationalize investigation into millions of dollars that moved through B.C. casinos and Chinese bank accounts. "Obviously, there's a serious problem with federal criminal law that allows this conduct to continue in our province," he said.Special prosecutor Chris Considine issued wh

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and her Chinese counterpart had a testy exchange over allegations that Beijing's envoys may be interfering in Canadian matters. Joly spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang during a G20 meeting in New Delhi this week, telling him Canada will not accept China meddling in Canadian democracy. The Liberal government has been under pressure to explain what it's doing about alleged interference in the last two federal elections, which came to light in recent media stories based on leaks from security sources. Canadian officials who were there for the excha

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is "as surprised as" British Columbia Premier David Eby after a firm received Health Canada licence amendments to produce and sell cocaine. Trudeau says the federal government is talking to Adastra Labs of Langley, B.C., about changing the language of its statements, after the company said it is looking for ways to incorporate cocaine into its business plan. This comes as a second B.C. company says it is now licensed to produce, sell and distribute cocaine and MDMA, also known as ecstasy, although Health Canada says they cannot sell products to the general

The federal government has stopped shipping rapid COVID-19 antigen tests to provinces as millions are set to expire within the year, and experts say the once-essential tool has lost its importance in the pandemic. There are 90 million rapid tests in the federal inventory, Health Canada said in an email. About 80,000 of those are set to expire within six months and 6.5 million within the year. The rest expire within two years. “Canada has robust inventories and is well prepared for COVID response,” Anne Génier, with Health Canada, said in an email. Ottawa has ordered more than 811 million

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says February's home sales were up 76.9 per cent from January, but down 47.2 per cent from the year before. The board says sales for the month totaled 1,808, roughly 33 per cent below the 10-year February sales average. The board says the numbers reflect a continued reluctance from prospective home sellers to list their properties, pushing sales well below historical norms. However, the number of homes for sale in the region have continued inching upwards, moving up by 16.7 per cent from February 2022 and 5.2 per cent from January. Ther