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National


Peel Region Health Coalition organizing referendum on private versus public healthcare

Across the province, the Ontario Health Coalition and its regional chapters are organizing a vote to ask residents if they want to keep intact the public healthcare model, as the Doug Ford PC government moves forward with Bill 60 to introduce more private options to the healthcare system. “This is the question we’re asking — […]

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Quebec man sentenced to prison for creating AI generated, synthetic child pornography

MONTREAL — A Quebec man has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for using artificial intelligence to produce synthetic videos of child pornography. Steven Larouche, 61, of Sherbrooke, Que., pleaded guilty to creating at least seven videos with so-called deepfake technology, which is used to superimpose the face of an individual onto […]

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B.C. Appeal Court sides with mom in case involving access to parental medical records

VANCOUVER — The British Columbia government has a year to fix its child protection laws after an Appeal Court panel found the legislation unreasonably gave social workers power to access parents’ highly sensitive medical information. The B.C. Court of Appeal struck down a section of B.C.’s Child, Family and Community Service Act, finding it allowed […]

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How Canada is trying to rein in Big Tech as data becomes more powerful

TORONTO — Whether you’re catching a flight, opening a new bank account or picking up groceries, a small group of big names takes up most of the market share. Competition Ltd. is a Canadian Press series that explores what this means for products — and prices — in the country. It’s been 20 years since […]

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Russian race car driver heads to Federal Court over Canadian sanctions

OTTAWA — A Russian race-car driver is taking Canada to court, saying sanctions imposed against him following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine are unfairly hurting his career. Nikita Mazepin, a former Formula One driver, wants the Federal Court to direct Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly to take immediate steps to remove him from the Canadian sanctions […]

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Defence Department expecting clarity on cost of new warship fleet later this year

OTTAWA — The Defence Department’s procurement chief is hoping to have a better sense by the end of the year as to how much Canada will have to pay to build a new fleet of warships for the Royal Canadian Navy. In an interview with The Canadian Press, assistant deputy minister of materiel Troy Crosby […]

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Minister’s sister in law steps down as ethics watchdog after committee launches probe

OTTAWA — The sister-in-law of a Liberal cabinet minister has stepped down as the interim ethics commissioner a day after a House of Commons committee agreed to investigate her appointment. Martine Richard, who has worked in the commissioner’s office as a lawyer since 2013, took over the top job last month for a six-month stint. […]

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Break in at N.W.T. government office results in privacy breach affecting 3,000 people

YELLOWKNIFE — The Northwest Territories government says a break-in at its Department of Education, Culture and Employment headquarters in Yellowknife has resulted in a privacy breach affecting about 3,000 people. The government says the break-in occurred early on Sunday and items including hard drives were stolen. Those drives contained personal information of people on income […]

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Federal workers are now on strike. Here are the services that may be affected

OTTAWA — More than 155,000 public servants are now on strike after the country’s biggest federal public-sector union and the government failed to reach a deal by a Tuesday evening deadline. Federal departments and agencies have released a list of services that may be disrupted during the strike. Here’s an updated list of what services […]

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Charities find loopholes in ‘broken’ terror laws to help Afghans as MPs study bill

OTTAWA — Humanitarian and development groups say Canada’s vague terror laws have forced them to find loopholes in the Criminal Code for aid workers to operate in Taliban-held Afghanistan, as MPs consider amendments to the law. “Every organization has a different risk appetite,” World Vision Canada’s policy director Martin Fischer told the House justice committee […]

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It’s not the end of privacy yet in Canada, but the threat remains

This article was originally published on The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. Disclosure information is available on the original site. Author: Robert Diab, Professor, Faculty of Law, Thompson Rivers University Despite early predictions that the internet would spell the end of privacy, it continues to be […]

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Ontario tells court of ‘unwarranted incursion’ into cabinet in mandate letters case

OTTAWA — The Ontario government is telling the country’s top court the disclosure of ministerial mandate letters would reveal the substance of deliberations of the premier and his cabinet — breaching a key tenet of Westminster-style government. In a written brief filed with the Supreme Court of Canada, the Ontario attorney general says cabinet confidentiality, […]

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