National

National


Federal privacy watchdog probing OpenAI, ChatGPT

OTTAWA — The federal privacy commissioner has launched an investigation into the company behind ChatGPT, an explosively popular artificial intelligence-powered chatbot. The watchdog’s office announced Tuesday that it is initiating the investigation into U.S.-based company OpenAI because it received a complaint alleging “the collection, use and disclosure of personal information without consent.” Privacy commissioner Philippe […]

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RCMP hopes to gain recruits with 150th anniversary, as N.S. inquiry casts new shadow

OTTAWA — The RCMP is hoping to boost recruitment numbers in marking its upcoming 150th anniversary — even as the national force’s structure and practices come under damning new scrutiny. The Mass Casualty Commission released its final report last week into the April 2020 shooting rampage that left 22 people dead in Nova Scotia. It […]

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MP on federal ethics committee disagrees with reduced cooling off periods for lobbyists

All but one MP on the federal ethics committee has agreed with a proposal to reduce cooling-off periods for lobbyists doing political work. Feedback from the committee on the proposed change was sent to lobbying commissioner Nancy Belanger on March 20. Belanger is in the process of updating the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct, which governs […]

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Budget 2023: Liberals add foreign interference office, new money laundering rules

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government plans to launch a National Counter-Foreign Interference Office, amid ongoing scrutiny of allegations that Beijing interfered in recent federal elections. Tuesday’s federal budget earmarked $56 million over five years for measures to combat foreign interference, threats and covert activities. The Mounties are slated to receive most of […]

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Bring title insurers under anti money laundering rules, former executive says

Title insurers need to be brought under anti-money laundering rules to fight against scam artists who impersonate homeowners to sell or mortgage their properties, a former insurance executive says. Tim Hyde, who spent years in the title insurance business in Ontario, said dozens of cases involving impersonators in Ontario and B.C. showed the need for […]

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Indigenous groups hope for infrastructure dollars and economic development in budget

OTTAWA — Funding for infrastructure and economic development are two of the main asks some prominent Indigenous organizations have put to the Liberal government in its upcoming budget. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has promised that the spending plan to be made public Tuesday will demonstrate fiscal restraint. It is also expected to include money to […]

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Disorganized foreign aid reporting means Ottawa can’t track feminist outcomes: audit

OTTAWA — Global Affairs Canada has no sense of whether development aid meant to help women and girls abroad is actually advancing gender equity, according to an audit tabled in Parliament on Monday morning. “The department was unable to show us how the money invested actually was improving the lives of women and girls,” auditor […]

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Security adviser warned PM of public concerns on foreign agent registry: memo

OTTAWA — A newly released memo shows the prime minister’s national security adviser warned him to expect some pushback from planned public consultations about a foreign agent registry, given that countries have used such registries as tools of control. In her memo last August, Jody Thomas told Justin Trudeau the discussions “may elicit a range […]

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How Medical Bills Can Slam a Newcomer to BC

Holly Noot had spent eight hours in excruciating labour at home in Courtenay before her midwife said she needed to go to the hospital. Despite frequent contractions, Noot’s baby wasn’t progressing into the birth canal. It was two in the morning and Noot, 34, was exhausted, stressed and in pain. But all she could think […]

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Trudeau stayed in $6,000 London hotel suite for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral

OTTAWA — The Prime Minister’s Office says Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, stayed in a $6,000 per night hotel suite while attending the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II. The stay at the Corinthia London hotel became the subject of public debate last fall when media honed in on the details of the […]

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Pope Francis’s tour came with a minimum $55 million price tag for Ottawa

A family member of residential school survivors says the minimum $55-million price tag for the Pope’s visit to Canada last year feels like another slap in the face for Indigenous people. “Think of all the money that could have gone to survivors, all of the money that could have gone to healing, all of the […]

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‘Nobody’s perfect,’ Joly says of Afghan evacuation, as Tories question plaque

OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says it was “a messy situation” trying to help Afghans escape the Taliban, as Conservatives questioned her department’s decision to install a plaque commemorating the August 2021 airlift. “I can’t turn back the clock,” Joly told the House of Commons immigration committee, where she was questioned about the […]

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