Politics

Politics


Ministers’ responses on Afghan monument contract ‘pathetic’: design team

OTTAWA — An architectural group that lost out on building a monument to Canada’s mission in Afghanistan is accusing two federal cabinet ministers of giving a “pathetic” explanation for how the contract was awarded. The design by Team Daoust was selected by a jury, but the government overruled that decision to award the contract to […]

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White House lays out early framework for regulating AI development, growth

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden enacted sweeping new ground rules and guardrails Monday for the growth and development of artificial intelligence, leaving room for what Canadian experts hope will be a careful but complementary approach from Ottawa. The executive order, billed as the single most comprehensive government action on AI in the technology’s history, […]

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Feds ban WeChat, Kaspersky apps from government issued devices over security concerns

OTTAWA — The federal government is banning WeChat and Kaspersky applications from its phones over security concerns. WeChat is a social network, messaging and payments app from Chinese company Tencent, while Kaspersky was founded by Russian entrepreneur Eugene Kaspersky and offers cybersecurity and antivirus software. The government said both apps would be removed from its […]

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Inside Vancouver’s Decision to Scrap Its Living Wage Commitment

Internal emails suggest City of Vancouver staff felt “significant anger and disillusionment” after city council voted to scrap the municipality’s living wage policy this year. That’s how former chief equity officer Aftab Erfan described the reaction from staff after the city announced in March it would no longer guarantee a living wage, effectively cutting the […]

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New Brunswick’s Pride in Education day in May mobilized opposition to Policy 713

FREDERICTON — In the weeks before the New Brunswick government decided to change its policy on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, it received a deluge of emails and other communications critical of the guidelines. A Canadian Press access to information request to the Department of Education seeking all complaints about Policy 713 — […]

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Prison officials ‘intervened’ to stop Paul Bernardo from making public statement

OTTAWA — Newly released documents show that Correctional Service Canada stopped Paul Bernardo from having his lawyer make a statement to the media as controversy swirled around the notorious killer’s transfer to a medium-security prison. Bernardo was moved to La Macaza Institution, a medium-security prison about 190 kilometres northwest of Montreal, in late May from […]

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Inside Newfoundland and Labrador’s private, for profit homeless shelter system

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — A homeless woman says she’s been placed back in the very system she was trying to escape when she began living in a tent across the street from Newfoundland and Labrador’s legislature building. Karen Peddle, 43, said Wednesday that she had left the tent city in front of the government building […]

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Alberta regulator mulls reducing liability of old wells before cleanup certified

The Alberta Energy Regulator is considering allowing oil and gas companies to reduce their environmental liabilities on old well sites before the cleanup is certified complete. The regulator says the move would reward companies that remediate their old sites promptly, cutting the amount of environmental red ink on their books and making it easier for […]

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CBC mainly remains off X, citing low traffic six months after scaling back presence

OTTAWA — Six months after the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and Radio-Canada scaled back its use of the social media site X, the public broadcaster says it will mostly remain off the platform formerly known as Twitter because it doesn’t bring in a lot of traffic. Leon Mar, a spokesperson for the public broadcaster, said CBC’s […]

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Canada U.S. refugee pact changes expected to ‘exacerbate existing threats’: memo

OTTAWA — A newly released memo shows federal officials warned last spring that expanding a bilateral refugee pact to the entire Canada-U.S. border would likely fuel smuggling networks and encourage people to seek more dangerous, remote crossing routes. Officials feared the development would also strain RCMP resources as irregular migrants dispersed more widely across the […]

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TikTok denies it’s controlled by China as exec faces Canadian MPs over security fears

OTTAWA — A TikTok executive faced off on Wednesday with Canadian lawmakers who have concerns that data from the app could end up in the hands of the Chinese government. Steve de Eyre, director of public policy and government affairs for TikTok Canada, said at a House of Commons committee meeting that the video-sharing app […]

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‘Same old stuff’: Activists condemn government silence on animal care at Marineland

TORONTO — Two months after the deaths of 14 whales and a dolphin at Marineland came to light, Ontario has refused to make public any steps taken to improve animal safety at the park, as critics demand action and transparency. In August, The Canadian Press published figures on recent animal deaths at the Niagara Falls, […]

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