Statistics Canada says retail sales rose 0.3 per cent to $70.1-billion in April, helped by gains in sales at new and used car dealers.
However, the agency says its preliminary figures for May point to a drop of 1.1 per cent for that month.
Good morning. After a heavy week of news, we offer some ideas to lighten up your summer. More on that below, plus how Ottawa is causing a stir about the digital sales tax and why Canada’s national housing agency is moving a benchmark. But first:
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Victor Fedeli, Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, is following the money, and the money is gushing into defence.
Defence spending in the Western world is set to climb fast. Even Canada, a perennial laggard on the weapons front, is getting into the game. At the NATO summit in The Hague, which starts Tuesday, the 32 member states will be asked to commit 5 per cent of their GDP to defence, up from the alliance’s decade-old spending target of 2 per cent – a target Canada and seven other countries have never met.
Mike Pemberton has been named the new leader of the Yukon Liberal Party and will be the territory’s 11th Premier.
A local businessman and longtime party insider, Pemberton won the leadership race by 13 votes over former Kwanlin Dun First Nation Chief Doris Bill.
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Residents of Flin Flon will be able to start coming home next week as officials in the northwestern Manitoba city lift its mandatory evacuation order.
A social media post from the city says the order is expected to be lifted at 9 a.m. on June 25, exactly one month after the city’s 5,000 residents were forced out by a massive wildfire.
Eight months after receiving a complaint that a group of former world junior hockey players sexually assaulted a woman in a downtown hotel, London police detective Stephen Newton had reached the end of his investigation.
In a phone call with E.M., as the complainant is known because of a publication ban on her name, he told her he didn’t have enough evidence to continue his probe.
The Quebec government is scaling back its projections for greenhouse gas emissions reductions due to the Trump administration.
A report published Thursday by the province’s Environment Department says the current U.S. government has created a “challenging environment for advancing climate action.”
The judge presiding over the trial of two men facing criminal fraud charges stemming from the $300-million redevelopment of Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital says the bidding process was “tainted.”
Vas Georgiou, former chief administrative officer of St. Michael’s, and John Aquino, the former president of Bondfield Construction Co. Ltd., are each charged with two counts of fraud over $5,000. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
The City of Victoria has endorsed a community safety and well-being plan aimed at tackling the complex and “entangled challenges” of homelessness, addiction and mental illness playing out on city streets.
The report contains dozens of recommendations aimed at all levels of government across eight sectors, including housing, health care, service delivery, and policing and justice.
A rock slide killed at least one person and injured others on a popular hiking trail in the Canadian Rocky Mountains on Thursday, according to authorities.
The RCMP and Parks Canada, in a joint statement Thursday evening, confirmed one person was found dead at the scene of the slide, near Bow Glacier Falls in Banff National Park. Two people were airlifted to hospital and another was transported by ground ambulance, the statement said.
RCMP and parks officials say hikers have been caught up in a rock slide in Banff National Park.
The nature and number of injuries have not been determined. The disaster occurred in a remote area with limited cell service.
British Columbia’s chief coroner is taking the unusual step of not calling an inquest into the death of Lisa Rauch, who died after being hit by two plastic bullets fired by a Victoria police officer.
While an inquest is mandatory after deaths in police custody, Coroner Dr. Jatinder Baidwan said in a statement that Rauch wasn’t considered in custody at the time of her death.
Ron Taylor’s major-league debut as a pitcher was so spectacular as to make the record books, even though he lost the game.
The right-hander went on to win World Series championships with two different teams, the only Canadian ever to have done so.
Two of the three most significant wildfires in British Columbia have been downgraded and are no longer considered fires of note.
They include the 263-square-kilometre Kiskatinaw River wildfire in northeastern B.C., which was deemed on Wednesday to be no longer out of control.
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A climate activist group says one of its supporters sprayed pink paint this morning on a Pablo Picasso painting at a Montreal museum.
Last Generation Canada says an activist smeared washable paint on the 1901 painting L’hétaïre at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
British Columbia’s Forest Practices Board says a two-year investigation has found outdated rules and unclear responsibility are stopping forestry from becoming a wildfire prevention tool.
The independent body says it examined forestry operations between 2019 and 2022 in areas where communities and forests meet, including the Sea to Sky, Cariboo-Chilcotin and Peace districts.
A commercial food processing company has been ordered to pay $330,000 after one of its workers became trapped in a smokehouse and died.
Ontario-based Sofina Foods Inc. was directed by a judge Thursday to put the money toward a workplace training program.
Nova Scotia’s child protection agency investigated the living conditions of Jack and Lilly Sullivan months before their mysterious disappearance from a rural part of the province in early May – a case file that has been reviewed by the minister responsible for child welfare.
Scott Armstrong, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Opportunities and Social Development, confirmed in an interview that the agency had a file on the children prior to their disappearance, but said it would be inappropriate for him to discuss the agency’s findings.
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Canada is cracking down on the dumping of cheap foreign steel into the country by imposing new trade restrictions aimed at helping domestic producers reeling from U.S. President Donald Trump’s punishing tariffs.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, in a news conference in Ottawa on Thursday, said the government will attempt to limit steel imports from countries that don’t have free-trade agreements with Canada to 2024 levels.
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A survey commissioned by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers shows oil and gas companies spent more than $14 billion procuring goods and services from Indigenous-affiliated businesses between 2021 and 2023.
Data science firm iTOTEM Analytics collected numbers from 12 members of the industry advocacy group that together represent half of Alberta’s oil and natural gas production.
The Nova Scotia government is offering a reward of as much as $150,000 for information about the disappearance of siblings Lilly and Jack Sullivan, who have been missing for nearly seven weeks.
The children, aged six and four, were reported missing May 2 from their mobile home in Lansdowne Station, in rural Pictou County. The case prompted one of the largest ground searches in Nova Scotia’s history, with hundreds of volunteers, aided by drones, helicopters and rescue dogs, scouring a densely wooded area marked by old mine shafts and lakes.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has apologized for warning that First Nations cannot “keep coming hat in hand all the time to the government” if they oppose mining or other resource projects – comments Indigenous leaders condemned as racist.
The Premier met on Thursday with chiefs from the Anishinabek Nation, which represents 39 of Ontario’s 133 First Nations chiefs, to discuss his government’s contentious legislation to speed up resource projects, known as Bill 5.
Summer in Ontario is getting off to a blistering start with the season’s first heat wave looming in the forecast.
Environment Canada says temperatures are expected to top 30 C Sunday through at least Tuesday across much of Southern and Eastern Ontario.
Canada won’t put a hold on the digital services tax on big tech companies set to take effect on June 30, the finance minister said Thursday.
Pressure has mounted on Ottawa to pause the tax ahead of trade discussions with the U.S.
A panel of judges has overturned a Federal Court ruling that directed the federal government to step up the pace of judicial appointments to address an “untenable” number of vacancies.
The Federal Court of Appeal allowed the federal appeal of the ruling, saying the lower court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.
Every year, Canadians across the country celebrate Canada Day in a myriad of ways — some blast The Tragically Hip and snack on s’mores at the cottage, others light fireworks and share popsicles at their local park. But this year, it could look a little different.
Angered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to turn Canada into the ‘51st State,’ Canadians are raising the Maple Leaf and getting more patriotic than ever, cancelling American vacations and buying local at the grocery store. Canadians are riding the red-and-white wave, and gearing up to have one of their biggest July 1 celebrations ever.
Nova Scotia’s Justice Department is offering a reward of up to $150,000 for information about two young children who were reported missing almost seven weeks ago.
Provincial Justice Minister Becky Druhan issued a statement Thursday saying the disappearance on May 2 of six-year-old Lilly Sullivan and her four-year-old brother Jack is being felt across the province and beyond.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says Ottawa is helping Canadians leave the Middle East once they reach countries bordering Israel and Iran.
With airports closed across the region, Ottawa has stationed consular officials on the other side of certain crossings on the Israeli and Iranian borders to help those fleeing either country to get home.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer said Thursday he can’t properly assess whether the federal government is on track to meet its fiscal targets because the Liberals’ new budget benchmarks haven’t been defined.
Without a spring budget, that means Ottawa’s budgetary watchdog is in the dark on how recently announced plans to boost Canada’s defence spending and cut income taxes will affect the government’s fiscal position.
Good morning. Our health team has been on the ground as measles cases surge in Ontario and Alberta – more on that below, along with a name change for Hudson’s Bay and the U.S. Supreme Court’s ban on youth gender-affirming care. But first:
Today’s headlines
The Liberal government’s controversial legislation that would let cabinet quickly grant federal approvals for big industrial projects like mines, ports and pipelines sailed through committee in the early hours of Thursday.
A House of Commons panel sat from Wednesday afternoon to after midnight reviewing Bill C-5 in a hurried study, as the Liberal government seeks to pass it through the chamber by week’s end.
Canadian physician Panid Borhanjoo woke up on Friday morning in Iran’s cottage country to an onslaught of messages from family and friends asking if he was safe.
He turned on the news in his relatives’ home in Mazandaran, a lush, coastal province on the Caspian Sea. Israeli missiles had destroyed Iranian nuclear facilities and killed high-ranking military personnel in Tehran, about 200 kilometres away. War had erupted.
Mounties in British Columbia’s Interior say human remains found last month have been confirmed as being a woman who went missing near Sicamous nearly eight years ago.
They say the remains were discovered on a rural property in Salmon Arm on May 5, and the BC Coroners Service has since linked them to Nicole Bell.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he is willing to give First Nations what they want for their support in developing mines, but they cannot “keep coming hat in hand all the time to the government” for more money.
Ford is set to meet Thursday with several dozen chiefs who are part of Anishinabek Nation, which represents 39 First Nations in the province.
The U.S. State Department said Wednesday it is restarting the suspended process for foreigners applying for student visas but all applicants will now be required to unlock their social media accounts for government review.
The department said consular officers will be on the lookout for posts and messages that could be deemed hostile to the United States, its government, culture, institutions or founding principles.
New data on the explosive growth of women’s sport in Canada underscores its rising popularity, but also reveals that its structural supports still lag behind.
Jessica Doherty, vice-president of strategy and growth at Torque Strategies, presented findings from a new national survey on Wednesday morning at the espnW Summit Canada at Toronto’s Evergreen Brick Works. One of the study’s main findings is that 60 per cent of Canadians believe perceptions of women’s sport have improved over the past three years.
A three-year-old Montreal girl reported missing on Sunday by her mother was found alive in Eastern Ontario on Wednesday afternoon, minutes after her mother appeared in court while facing charges of child abandonment.
The Sûreté du Québec and Ontario Provincial Police confirmed in a Wednesday evening press conference that the girl was found around 3 p.m. along Highway 417, near St. Albert, Ont. She was alone but conscious and able to speak with officers, and is now doing “well” after being examined by a medical team in hospital, OPP Staff Sergeant Shaun Cameron said.
An investigation into tow truck industry violence across the Greater Toronto Area has resulted in the arrests of 20 people who are facing more than 100 charges combined, police said Wednesday.
Toronto police said they launched a wiretap investigation dubbed Project Yankee last October to gather evidence of a group committing crimes to control the towing industry.
Quebec provincial police say a three-year-old Montreal girl who’d been reported missing on Sunday has been found alive in Ontario.
The girl had been reported missing by her mother on Sunday afternoon with little information about what had happened to her, sparking a massive police response.
The quiet streets of Taber, a small town in Southern Alberta, still hold reminders of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taped to the windows of the Taber town office and a local bank are posters that encourage physical distancing. Pinned to the fence of a home near the only major highway that runs through the town is an anti-Trudeau tarp expressing support for protestors who opposed vaccine mandates during the 2022 Coutts border blockade.
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Prime Minister Mark Carney will travel to Europe on Sunday to attend a pair of summits on NATO and Canada-EU relations.
The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed the travel plans today, after Carney wrapped up the G7 leaders’ summit in Alberta.
Quebec provincial police say a three-year-old Montreal girl who’d been reported missing on Sunday has been found alive in Ontario.
The girl had been reported missing by her mother on Sunday afternoon with little information about what had happened to her, sparking a massive police response.
Quebec’s corruption police are searching the headquarters of the province’s auto insurance board.
The auto board has been mired in a scandal for nearly two years over the botched rollout of its new online platform.
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