Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government is adding proof of citizenship markers to driver's licences and other forms of identification to streamline services and prevent election fraud. She says this will make it easier for students and the disabled to get funding given they have to prove their citizenship to do so. She says the goal is also to protect democracy to make sure that only citizens vote. Smith says non-citizens like permanent residents who can get a driver's licences will not have any notation on their IDs. Alberta Health Care numbers will also be added to driver'

Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney is painting a bleak picture of what will happen if Albertans are forced to vote on a referendum on separation, calling it a deeply divisive, non-violent version of a civil war. Kenney, Alberta's premier from 2019 to 2022, says a small minority of angry people should not be able to push a separatist agenda that impacts everyone in the province. He says it's deeply divisive and would divide families, friends and communities if it goes forward. Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservative government is officially lowering the required threshold for

Premier Danielle Smith's Alberta Next panel is in Airdrie tonight, as she marches through a final stretch of town halls surveying the public on the province's relationship with the federal government. It's the eighth of 10 in-person town halls scheduled for the panel, which has been travelling across Alberta since mid-July to address grievances Smith says are fostering separatist sentiment. The event in the Calgary bedroom community comes hot on the heels of a town hall in Lethbridge, where Smith met a mostly friendly crowd that cheered mentions of separation and widely supported th

A 14-year-old boy is facing weapons charges after police were called to a high school near Edmonton for a report of a student with a gun. RCMP say a teacher called 911 on Thursday afternoon, after a student was seen with a gun in a classroom at a high school in Sherwood Park, a suburb community east of Edmonton. They say a suspect was taken into custody and Mounties recovered what they think is an imitation gun. No injuries were reported. Police say the boy, who can't be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, has been charged with assault with a weapon, possession of a

Alberta RCMP have recovered the bodies of two boaters who disappeared last month after a canoe capsized on a lake in the Rocky Mountains. Mounties have identified them as a 33-year-old woman from Banff, Alta., and a 34-year-old man from Canmore, Alta. Four people were in the canoe when it overturned on Upper Kananaskis Lake, an area tucked behind several mountain tops near the Alberta-B.C. boundary. RCMP have said bystanders in boats and on paddleboards pulled a 30-year-old man and a 34-year-old woman from the water but the two others were unaccounted for. It was the second ti

Premier Danielle Smith's Alberta Next panel received a relatively warm welcome from a crowd in Lethbridge during the seventh stop of its provincewide tour taking the public's temperature on Alberta's relationship with Ottawa. The friendly audience was interspersed with pushback from people in attendance who voiced their displeasure with the government and many of the proposals being put forward. The town halls are aimed at addressing grievances Smith says are allowing separatist sentiments to fester and the results are to inform which questions may be put to a referendum next year.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her latest meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney has inspired optimism and he is demonstrating a ``real shift'' from the previous Justin Trudeau-led Liberals. Speaking in Edmonton, Smith says she found more common ground with the prime minister when she met with him this week than she has in any meeting with a prime minister. She also took to social media following her face-to-face to say that although there are details to be worked out, the concerns of Albertans are ``finally being heard.'' It comes as Carney announces five major projects set

With a provincewide teachers strike looming, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says their union has a stark choice between heftier pay hikes and more teachers. Smith suggests they can have one or the other, but they can't have both. Smith made the comments today to reporters when asked about stalled contract talks between her government and the Alberta Teachers' Association, the day after the union set a strike date of Oct. 6. Alberta has offered wage hikes starting at 12 per cent over four years, with a promise to hire 3,000 teachers over three years. The union says that's not e

Premier Danielle Smith's Alberta Next panel is in Lethbridge tonight as she continues to take the public's temperature on the province's relationship with Ottawa. The panel's town halls are aimed at addressing grievances Smith says are allowing separatist sentiments to fester and the results are to inform which questions would be put to a referendum next year. The panel was recently in Medicine Hat, in Smith's home riding, where the crowd gave overwhelming approval to the panel's six proposals. Those include taking greater control of immigration by withholding social services fr

At a press conference held at Surrey City Hall today to announce rewards for extortion cases, it was reported that a total of 44 files related to extortion are being investigated in the area. Meanwhile, it was also clarified that 27 of these cases were such, where shooting also took place. Connect FM asked SPS Chief, Chief Constable Norm Lipinski during a one-on-one conversation, “how many arrests have been made so far in these 44 cases?” The police chief said, “some warrants have been executed and some persons of interest have been identified but there have been no arrests related to th

Vancouver Police are investigating a single-vehicle collision that resulted in the death of a 58-year-old driver. VPD officers responded at 10:50 p.m. on Sunday, after a blue 2020 Kia Rio collided with a concrete barrier at the south end of Main Street, near East Kent Avenue. The lone occupant suffered grave injuries and later died. The cause of the collision is under investigation. Witnesses, or anyone with dash-cam video from the area around the time of the collision, are asked to contact the VPD Collision Investigation Unit at 604-717-3012.

British Columbia's forecasted deficit has hit a record high of almost $11.6 billion for the first quarter of the 2025-2026 fiscal year, largely due to the elimination of the carbon tax and amid ``global trade uncertainty.'' Finance Minister Brenda Bailey is also projecting higher deficits than she previously forecasted through to 2028 as growth slides, while the province's debt is predicted to spike by almost $60 billion over the next two fiscal years. Bailey's fiscal update revises gross domestic product growth down to 1.5 per cent from 1.8 per cent in 2025, and to 1.3 per cent fro

Today, Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke and Chief Constable Norm Lipinski (Surrey Police Service chief) announced a reward of up to $250,000 for tips on the increasing number of extortion incidents in Surrey. Mayor Brenda Locke said the money will be given to those whose information is useful and leads to arrests, prosecutions and convictions in cases. The money will only be given after and in accordance to the value of the information (based on assessing the value of information). A separate Surrey Extortion tip line has been set up to provide tips. Chief Constable Norm Lipinski said, “the tip li

British Columbia's Finance Minister Brenda Bailey says the first quarterly update for the 2025/26 fiscal year will update B.C.'s economic landscape and her government's three-year-fiscal plan. Bailey, who will present her update this morning at the provincial legislature in Victoria, says the update will also include reporting on revenue and spending in the first quarter of the fiscal year. The final update for the last fiscal year pegged B.C.'s deficit at $7.3 billion, $564 million lower than original projected number in budget 2024, and $1.8 billion lower than the third-quarter forecast. Bai

Canada's Camryn Rogers defended her women's hammer throw world title in dominant fashion. Rogers, from Richmond, B.C., broke her own Canadian record with a throw of 80.51 metres on Monday to take the gold medal at the world athletics championships. Silver medallist Zhao Jie of China was well back of Rogers with a throw of 77.60 metres. Another Chinese thrower, Zhang Jaile, was third at 77.10 metres. The 26-year-old Rogers now has two world championship gold medals to go with her Olympic title at the 2024 Paris Games. It was Canada's second gold at the world championships after E

Prime Minister Mark Carney has appointed Chrystia Freeland as Canada's new special envoy for the reconstruction of Ukraine. While Freeland announced her resignation as transport minister on social media today, she will remain in the House of Commons as an MP until the next election. She left today's regular cabinet meeting smiling and talking with Carney, but neither answered questions from reporters stationed outside the room. Freeland has been one of the most prominent government advocates for Ukraine on the world stage, and spearheaded efforts to seize Russian financial holdi

Surrey Police Service (SPS) officers have arrested a man wanted by Peel Regional Police Service on a Canada wide warrant for extortion and firearms offences. On July 11, 2025, a complainant contacted Peel Regional Police Service (PRPS) to report that they had allegedly been a victim of an extortion and shooting. Through the course of their investigation, Peel Regional Police investigators subsequently obtained a warrant for the arrest of Gurdeep Shergill. On September 7, 2025, SPS frontline members became aware of Shergill’s presence in Surrey. Working in conjunction with PRPS investigat

Justice Minister Sean Fraser says he will introduce new hate crime legislation in the coming days, with reforms on bail and violent crime sentencing to follow. Fraser says the legislation will go beyond campaign commitments of protecting religious institutions from "obstruction and intimidation" and include measures for the broader community. During the election, the Liberals promised to make it a criminal offence to obstruct access to or threaten people visiting a place of worship, school or community centre. Police reports of hate crimes have been on the rise since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas att

Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland is expected to leave cabinet for a special envoy role with Ukraine, according to multiple media reports. The announcement could come as soon as later today. Freeland joined Prime Minister Mark Carney's cabinet meeting this morning in Ottawa but blew past the TV cameras and did not answer any questions about her political future. Freeland shook up Canadian politics late last year when she resigned as finance minister to former prime minister Justin Trudeau, a major blow that led to his resignation in January. Freeland sought Liberal Party leadership earlier

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc says the government's new major projects office will work to get construction underway on the Alto high-speed rail line within four years. He says the work would determine the final route for the planned high-speed rail project between Toronto and Quebec City. Former prime minister Justin Trudeau announced in February that the government had awarded a $3.9-billion, six-year contract to a consortium to design the project. The 1,000-kilometre high-speed rail network would take passengers from Montreal to Toronto in just three hours on trains travelling

Canada hosted a virtual meeting of G7 finance ministers today to discuss further measures to increase the pressure on Russia. John Fragos, press secretary for the minister of finance and national revenue, says the group also talked about ways to limit Russia's "war machinery." Fragos says the G7 is united in its opposition to Russia’s "illegal and unjustified" war on Ukraine. He also says Canada is deeply concerned by Russia’s escalation of the conflict in the wake of Wednesday's Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace. The G7 group is made up of Canada, the United States, France, Ger

Schools across Quebec have been forced to cancel bus service after the government pulled all of the roughly 1,200 Lion electric buses in the province off the roads. The provincial government said it took the preventive measure after a Lion electric school bus caught fire in Montreal earlier this week. Several children and a driver were inside the bus when it caught fire but no one was injured. In response to the government's decision, some school service centres chose to cancel bus routes, and others cancelled the school day entirely. The Quebec government said it pulled the buses so that they

Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Khadoor Sahib constituency in Punjab, Manjinder Singh Lalpura, has been sentenced to 4 years in prison by a court in Tarn Taran in the case of beating and molesting a girl. A total of 11 accused, including Lalpura, were declared guilty in this case by the Additional Sessions Judge 2 days ago. Today, apart from Lalpura, the other accused have also been sentenced to 4 years each. All the accused were present in the court at the time of sentencing. Very strict security arrangements were made in the court. With this sentence, Lalpura's membership of the Vidhan Sabha has

In Punjab, 12 people, including Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Khadoor Sahib Manjinder Singh Lalpura, have been convicted in a case of beating and molesting a woman 12 years ago. The district court of Tarn Taran, while hearing the case on Wednesday, said that the convicts will be sentenced on September 12. The police have arrested 7 people, including the MLA, who have been sent to Goindwal Sahib jail by the court. Six policemen are also among the accused, but one policeman has died during the court proceedings. The case dates back to March 3, 2013, when the victim was openly beaten up and even h

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced financial assistance of Rs 1600 crore for flood-hit areas of Punjab. He said that the next of kin of the deceased will be given Rs 2 lakh each and the injured Rs 50,000 each. After conducting an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas of Punjab, PM Modi reached Gurdaspur, where he met flood victims and farmers. It is worth mentioning that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a one-day visit to both the states to assess the flood situation in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. He has announced financial assistance of Rs 1500 crore for Himachal.

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who reached Punjab, visited the flood-affected areas of Amritsar district on Thursday. During this, he met the local people and farmers and listened to their problems and took stock of the damage to crops due to flooding in the fields. Apart from Amritsar, Union Minister Chouhan also planned to visit Kapurthala and Gurdaspur districts, after which he was to hold a meeting with the officials in Amritsar. The Union Minister said that I want to assure my farmer brothers and sisters and other flood-affected people that the Central Government is

Amid the devastation caused by floods in Punjab, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday visited the affected areas of Ferozepur. The Chief Minister boarded a boat to reach the villages along the Sutlej River and interacted with the people to listen to their problems. At the same time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also spoke to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on the phone as soon as he returned from his foreign tour. He inquired about the situation arising due to rains and floods in Punjab and assured all possible help. 12 districts of Punjab are affected by floods. According to government da

Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann today reached the Beas River to review the rising water level in the Beas River in Punjab. He said that the Punjab government stands with the people to help the flood-hit people. All kinds of help will be provided to the flood-hit people. He reached near the meter gauge on the road leading to Dera Beas and reviewed the water situation. On this occasion, the Beas River was flowing slightly below the red alert. Due to the floods, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Amarinder Singh Raja Warring also visited some villages of Tarn Taran today. Where he

The anticipatory bail plea of former Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Bikram Singh Majithia has been rejected in Punjab. On July 31 this year, the Civil Lines police station had registered a case against the former minister on charges of obstructing the vigilance investigation, threatening the police, calling supporters and making them shout slogans. Majithia has said in his petition that this FIR has been registered against him by making it a political issue. It is worth mentioning that Bikram Singh Majithia is currently in jail in another case of possessing assets beyond his means registered by th

7 districts in Punjab are facing floods due to rain and continuous release of water from dams. On Wednesday evening, the flood gate of Madhopur Headworks in Pathankot broke due to the increase in the water level of the Ravi river. 50 people were trapped here and the help of an army helicopter was taken to rescue them. There is also news of a missing employee of the headworks. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's native village Satoj in Sangrur is also under water. The Chief Minister also visited the flood-affected villages of Pathankot and Gurdaspur today. Control rooms have been set up in all 23

A wrestling championship was organized to celebrate India's Independence Day at the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Surrey on Sunday. Like the previous years, many wrestlers participated in the competition on this occasion. The competition saw good wrestling skills in both the men's and women's categories. The wrestling matches started at around 8.30 in the morning. Sucha Mann, a renowned wrestling coach from the area, said that the competition was a hit like every year and the players put in good effort and impressed everyone. He said that national and international level wrestlers not only part

Ethan Katzberg won gold with a competition-record throw at the world athletics championships today as Canada's recent dominance in hammer throw continued. Katzberg's second throw of 84.70 metres just stayed inbounds and shattered the previous championship record of 83.63. The 23-year-old from Nanaimo, B.C., also eclipsed his own Canadian record as he defended his world title and added to his Olympic gold from the 2024 Paris Games. Germany's Merlin Hummel took silver at 82.77 metres and Bence Halasz of Poland earned bronze at 82.69 metres. Katzberg's performance came a day after C

Robert Redford has died at 89. The Hollywood golden boy who became an Oscar-winning director, liberal activist and godfather for independent cinema died in Utah on Tuesday. His publicist didn't immediately provide a cause of death. After rising to stardom in the 1960s, Redford was one of the biggest stars of the '70s with such films as ``The Candidate,'' ``All the President's Men'' and ``The Way We Were.'' Redford played the wily outlaw opposite Paul Newman in 1969's ``Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,'' a box-office smash from which Redford's Sundance Institute and festival got its name.

Nepal's president has appointed former Supreme Court Chief Justice Sushila Karki as interim prime minister, the first woman to head the South Asian country's government, following massive protests that collapsed the previous administration. Karki, a popular figure when serving as the court's only female chief justice in 2016 and 2017, was to be sworn in later Friday. The appointment was announced by President Ram Chandra Poudel's spokesman Kiran Pokhrel. Street demonstrations starting Monday in Kathmandu over a social media ban turned violent, with protesters attacking government buildings a

The suspect in custody in connection with the assassination of Charlie Kirk is a 22-year-old from Utah. That's according to a law enforcement official who told The Associated Press. The officials says authorities have identified the suspect as Tyler Robinson. The official was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke Friday on the condition of anonymity. President Donald Trump said Friday on Fox News Channel a minister turned the suspect in to authorities. Federal and Utah state investigators had been appealing for the public's help in finding the person who killed

Law enforcement officials say the sniper who assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk has not been identified and is believed to have jumped off the roof and fled into a neighborhood after firing one shot. The FBI said Thursday officials have recovered a high-powered rifle from the scene. Kirk was killed with a gunshot from a distant rooftop at the Utah Valley University campus. Police say the shooter appears to be of ``college age'' and is believed to have blended in on the university campus where Kirk was shot in the latest act of political violence to befall America. Kirk was an a

Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was fatally shot Wednesday at an event at a Utah college, Turning Point said. Videos posted to social media show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogan, ``The American Comeback'' and ``Prove Me Wrong.'' A single shot rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators gasp and scream, and some run away. The AP was able to confirm the videos

Poland says that multiple Russian drones entered its territory over the course of several hours and were shot down with help from NATO allies. The military described the incursion as an ``act of aggression'' carried out during a wave of Russian strikes on Ukraine. Russia said it did not target Poland. But close ally, Belarus, said it tracked some drones that ``lost their course'' because they were jammed. However, several European leaders said they believe that the incursion amounted to an intentional escalation by Russia. Poland said some of the drones came from Belarus. Polish airspace has

Hamas has confirmed the killing of six people, including a member of Qatari security forces, in an Israeli attack on the Qatari capital, Doha. Hamas said its negotiating team survived the attack but the son of the group's chief negotiator, Khalil al-Haya, was among those killed. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump assured Qatari leaders in a statement that such a thing would not happen again on their soil. At the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the attack was carried out by targeting Hamas' senior leadership. Netanyahu said that our attack in Doha was in rev

Apple has rolled out its next generation of iPhones that includes a new ultra-thin model and a slight price hike for one of its high-end models, while the company feels the squeeze of a global trade war. The iPhone 17 line-up includes a new slimmed-down model that will adopt the ``Air'' name that Apple already uses for its sleekest iPads and Mac computers. The new iPhones are the first to be released since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and unleashed a barrage of tariffs, in what his administration says is an attempt to bring overseas manufacturing back to the U.S. _ a cr