National News

REGINA — Saskatchewan's two main political leaders hammered each other Wednesday on health care, crime and the economy in their first and only debate in the lead-up to the Oct. 28 provincial election.

B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad says he has no plan for user-pay health care in British Columbia, after the rival NDP released a recording of him calling the Canada Health Act "silly" for not allowing such a system.

VANCOUVER — Environment Canada is warning of an incoming atmospheric river weather system that will bring "prolonged heavy rain" to British Columbia's south coast this election weekend.

OTTAWA — The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations is urging chiefs to vote in favour of a landmark child welfare deal with Ottawa, saying she doesn't think a better agreement would be possible under a different federal government.

IQALUIT — More than 200 Air India passengers have landed in Chicago after a bomb threat forced their flight to be diverted to Nunavut.

TORONTO — Canada needs to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic and take action before the next health emergency strikes, an expert panel of doctors and researchers say in a new independent report.

CALGARY — Canada's economic productivity crisis can only be solved if the federal and provincial governments come together to address issues like major project approvals and inter-provincial trade barriers, Alberta's premier said Wednesday.

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre refuses to seek the security clearance necessary to be briefed on a list of people in his party who are involved in or vulnerable to foreign interference, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday.

Claude Lepage spent 22 years in the Canadian Armed Forces, including as a member of a special unit known as Joint Task Force 2. But his career ended on a sour note, culminating in a "mandatory" medical release in 2012.

Nineteen people were charged in criminal cases and 18 people were convicted during the 12 months ending March 31, 2024, while 265 individuals or companies were fined during that same period.