Federal government posts $43 billion deficit between April ’24 and March

OTTAWA - The federal government says it ran a budgetary deficit of $43.2 billion between April 2024 and this past March.

The deficit compared with $50.9 billion for the same stretch in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

According to the Finance Department's monthly fiscal monitor, revenue for the 10-month period totalled $494.8 billion, up from $444.8 billion a year earlier.

Program expenses excluding net actuarial losses amounted to $480.3 billion, up from $440.6 billion, boosted by increases across all major categories.

Hudbay Minerals staff evacuate Flin Flon, Man., due to wildfires

TORONTO - Hudbay Minerals Inc. says its non-essential staff in the Flin Flon, Man., area are evacuating because of wildfires in the region.

The company says it hasn't been actively mining at its Flin Flon site since 2022, but it still runs care and maintenance work and also has services there to support its Snow Lake operation.

Saskatchewan and Manitoba have declared provincewide states of emergency to deal with the wildfires that, in Manitoba, has forced 17,000 residents to evacuate including 6,000 in and around the northwest city of Flin Flon.

Hudbay says the evacuation order because of wildfires will likely affect production at Snow Lake because a large portion of its staff live in Flin Flon, which sits about 200 kilometres west, but it still expects to reach its guidance for the year.

Canada international Achini Perera takes to the street for Cricket to Conquer Cancer

TORONTO - Achini Perera gets to tick a few boxes Saturday, playing cricket and helping raise money for a good cause.

The Canadian international cricketer is taking part in the inaugural Cricket to Conquer Cancer, a street cricket fundraiser for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.

More than 40 teams will be participating at Celebration Square in suburban Mississauga, Ont., with celebrities including singer Jully Black, former soccer star Dwayne De Rosario and former Raptor Jamaal Magloire and West Indies cricketer Carlos Brathwaite.

Like many taking part, Brathwaite has a personal connection to the cause. His mother is a cancer survivor.

CFL, nine member clubs donate over $4.5 million to grassroots football programs

TORONTO - The CFL and its nine member clubs invested over $4.5 million into amateur football last year.

The league announced Friday that it and the nine franchises combined to donate $4,518,900 to grassroots football initiatives, projects and programs throughout Canada in 2024.

"The community involvement of the CFL, its clubs and players is something that sets us apart from other leagues," said CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston. "To be able, among all of the clubs in the league, to donate over $4.5 million is encouraging participation and exposure to the game and ultimately having kids fall in love with the sport.

"That's wonderful for a number of reasons, one of which is the game of football teaches such great skills that can be applied to life."

Flin Flon, Man., virtually deserted, thousands more evacuees expected as fires rage

WINNIPEG - Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says thousands more evacuees are expected and the city of Flin Flon is virtually deserted as wildfires continue to rage in his province.

Kinew told a Friday news conference that the mayor, councillors, health-care staff and other officials have had to depart Flin Flon.

"The only folks remaining on the ground are firefighters and folks in the office of the fire commissioner and RCMP, who are there to battle the blaze," Kinew said.

"We do expect some very, very challenging conditions in Flin Flon and in the surrounding community."

RioCan REIT asks court to put joint venture with Hudson’s Bay into receivership: docs

TORONTO - RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust is pushing to put a joint venture it owns with Hudson's Bay into receivership.

A motion filed late Thursday from the real estate firm asks the Ontario Superior Court to appoint FTI Consulting Canada Inc. receiver of the companies that span the venture.

“The proposed receivership proceedings will provide the appropriate forum to protect the interests of the stakeholders of the joint-venture entities and maximize value,” RioCan’s chief financial officer Dennis Blasutti said in an affidavit filed alongside the motion.

Receivers are empowered by courts to take control of a company’s assets, oversee their liquidation and repay creditors.

Tony Hawk, Mark McMorris help open skateboard park expansion in Smithers, B.C.

Tony Hawk and Mark McMorris wanted their presence at the Smithers Skate Park expansion unveiling to amplify skateboarding's importance in the remote, northern B.C. community.

Skateboarding icon Hawk and Canadian snowboarding star McMorris travelled to the town of 5,000 people for Thursday's opening. They lauded the community's pluck in raising $1.8 million to increase the size of the street park and build a bowl for skateboarders next to the Yellowhead Highway that runs from Winnipeg to the West Coast.

"I don't go to many grand openings, to be honest, but this seemed like a really unique situation," Hawk said. "I don't want to say it's the most remote area, but in remote areas, skateboarding is still a valid option for kids to choose, and they want to do it. We need to provide facilities for them."

McMorris, a three-time Olympic slopestyle bronze medallist whose 24 X Games medals is the most among snowboarders, has a special place in his heart for skateboarding.

Heiltsuk Nation ratification feast brings written constitution into force

The Heiltsuk Nation has ratified its written constitution through a celebratory feast in Bella Bella, B.C.

Marilyn Slett, the nation's elected chief, called it a "monumental day" that comes after two decades of development and consultation.

"It's hard to put into words how big it is. It's definitely a day of celebration and reflection on everything that brought us to the day," Slett said of Friday's feast.

The Heiltsuk Nation approved the adoption of a written constitution for the First Nation on British Columbia's central coast in February. That followed six months of engagement with more than 2,000 Heiltsuk members in Bella Bella, Nanaimo and Vancouver.

Halting spy operation placed CSIS team in unnecessary danger, watchdog report says

OTTAWA - A new spy watchdog report says an overseas Canadian Security Intelligence Service operation was suddenly halted by government officials, "creating unnecessary danger for the CSIS team" and raising questions about ministerial accountability.

The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency found no written records indicating the decision to suspend the operation had been made by the CSIS director or the minister of public safety.

The review agency says that unlike typical operational matters, the case involved senior political-level actors from across the federal government.

The heavily redacted review agency report provides few clues about the actors in question or the nature of the overseas CSIS operation.

Quebec language office pressed transit agency for months before Habs playoff run

MONTREAL - Quebec's language watchdog contacted the Montreal transit agency at least six times in the wake of a complaint about using the word "go" on city buses to cheer on a local soccer team.

The watchdog — the Office québécois de la langue française — asked for multiple updates on the agency’s efforts to remove the word, and kept the complaint open for nine months until “go” had been scrubbed from more than 1,000 city buses in Montreal, according to emails obtained by The Canadian Press.

The correspondence contrasts with the office’s public comments responding to an April report in the Montreal Gazette that revealed how the transit agency had replaced the expression “Go! Canadiens Go!” on its buses with “Allez! Canadiens Allez!” to appease the watchdog.

The news report, coinciding with the Montreal Canadiens' first home game of the Stanley Cup playoffs, prompted a public outcry and elicited a declaration from French-language Minister Jean-François Roberge in support of the expression “Go Habs Go!”

Crown questions one of five hockey players accused of sexual assault about consent

LONDON - A hockey player believed a woman's offer to have sex with him and his teammates in a London, Ont., hotel room meant she consented to any sexual act with any of the men, prosecutors suggested Friday at a sexual-assault trial for him and four other players.

Carter Hart faced a series of questions from prosecutors on whether he took any steps to confirm that a "mystery woman" who was in a hotel room with him and several other members of Canada's world junior hockey team consented to sexual activity.

Hart agreed earlier in his cross-examination that he came to the hotel room hoping for and expecting a sexual encounter after teammate Michael McLeod texted a team group chat asking if anyone wanted a "three-way."

That message was followed up by a phone call in which McLeod indicated he was with a woman who "wanted to have sex with some of the boys" – the boys being their teammates, he previously testified.

Rent-free months and gift cards: How Toronto-area landlords are vying for tenants

TORONTO - Toronto landlords are trying to lure in tenants with rent-free months, complimentary Wi-Fi and $500 gift cards amid an unprecedented supply of condos and lower rents.

Real-estate market experts say the fierce competition – which extends beyond the Greater Toronto Area – is giving renters more negotiating power, echoing trends last seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two months of free rent, free parking and gift cards for food delivery or public transit are among thousands of dollars' worth of perks and discounts advertised on Toronto rental listing websites and apps.

While such incentives are ubiquitous in Toronto, landlords in other GTA cities and the Greater Hamilton Area are also locked in a tight contest that benefits renters.

Bank of Canada expected to hold key rate after surprise Q1 GDP jump

OTTAWA - The Canadian economy got a boost to start the year as businesses rushed to get ahead of tariffs, and some economists believe that lift will be enough to keep the Bank of Canada on the sidelines at its interest rate decision next week.

Real gross domestic product rose 2.2 per cent annualized in the first quarter of 2025, Statistics Canada reported Friday, up a tick from 2.1 per cent in the fourth quarter.

The first quarter figures topped StatCan’s flash estimate for annualized growth of 1.5 per cent and beat calls for 1.7 per cent from a Reuters poll of economists.

"We did get a better number, overall," said CIBC chief economist Avery Shenfeld.

Residents, advocates say trust issues, strict rules, red tape keep encampments up

Tents, tarps, and makeshift shelters line the beaten path along the Assiniboine River near Balmoral Street in West Broadway — a community hidden in plain sight.

2024 sees record warm temperatures, less sea ice cover in Gulf of St. Lawrence

MONT-JOLI - Last year, the Gulf of St. Lawrence recorded its highest maximum surface temperature and lowest seasonal volume of ice cover in decades, say researchers with the federal Fisheries Department.

Surface temperatures and ice cover are directly related to air temperature, said Peter Galbraith, a research scientist in physical oceanography at the agency's Maurice Lamontagne Institute in Mont-Joli, Que., northeast of Quebec City.

Last July, the surface temperature hit 16.7 C, a record since data started being recorded in 1981, and 2.4 C warmer than average. Between May and November, the warmest surface temperature was 11.6 C, also a record, and 1.6 C higher than average.

“So it was the warmest air temperature, which gave us the warmest sea surface temperature,” Galbraith said.

Class-action lawsuit filed in B.C. over 2009 Interior Health data breach

VANCOUVER - British Columbia's Interior Health Authority has been hit with a class-action lawsuit over a data breach in 2009 that allegedly compromised thousands of employees' personal information that ended up being sold on the dark web.

The lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Thursday says the data breach occurred in December 2009, exposing "highly sensitive" personal information belonging to people who worked for the health authority between 2003 and 2009.

Court documents say the information was accessed by "cybercriminals and other malicious actors," and the "full extent" of the hack still hasn't been disclosed by Interior Health in the 16 years since.

Former employee Rae Fergus, one of the lead plaintiffs, says her personal information has been used since 2022 to fraudulently get a car loan and a credit card, and to open a bank account without her "knowledge or consent."

‘We don’t get to discriminate’: How a Raleigh ministry decided to help resettle Afrikaners

RALEIGH, N.C. (RNS) — The 12×30-foot storage unit in a Raleigh, North Carolina, suburb is crammed full of chairs, tables, mattresses, lamps, pots and pans.

Most of its contents will soon be hauled off to two apartments that Welcome House Raleigh is furnishing for three newly arrived refugees. It’s a job the ministry, which is a project of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina, has handled countless times on behalf of newly arrived refugees from such places as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria and Venezuela.

But these two apartments are going to three Afrikaners — whose status as refugees is, according to many faith-based groups and others, highly controversial.

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First solo show in WAG-Qaumajuq’s flagship Qilak gallery

Since his last gallery show in Winnipeg, Abraham Anghik Ruben’s focus has shifted from introspection to cross-cultural exploration.

That personal and artistic arc is currently on display at WAG-Qaumajuq in a sprawling retrospective of the master Inuit sculptor’s 50-year career.

It’s a fitting full-circle reunion.

The Winnipeg Art Gallery hosted Ruben’s first solo show at a major institution in 2001 and now, nearly 25 years later, the artist’s work is featured in the first solo exhibit in Qaumajuq’s main Qilak gallery.

Federal election: Newfoundland riding flips to Conservatives after judicial recount

ST. JOHN'S - A federal election riding in rural Newfoundland flipped to the Conservatives on Friday, netting the party another seat in the House of Commons. 

After a recount process that took nearly two weeks, Elections Canada announced that Conservative Jonathan Rowe had defeated Liberal Anthony Germain in the Terra Nova—The Peninsulas riding by just 12 votes.

The result reverses the first tally of the ballots after the April 28 election, which had Germain ahead by 12 votes.

Rowe's win gives the Conservatives 144 seats in the House of Commons, and brings the Liberals down to 169, which is three seats shy of the threshold for a majority government. The Bloc Quebecois has 22, the NDP has seven and the Green Party has one.

Toronto Zoo warns of extinctions if Ontario mining bill becomes law

TORONTO - Species could go extinct if Ontario passes a controversial mining bill that is set to transform its approach to endangered species and the environment, the Toronto Zoo warned the province.

Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, would strike a blow to the recovery of several species the institution has been trying to save, said Dolf DeJong, the zoo's CEO, at a committee hearing at Queen's Park on Thursday.

If and when the bill becomes law, DeJong wants the province to step up with funding so it can dramatically increase its biobank with Ontario species that could die off as a result of the legislation.

"We're concerned this act will result in the erosion of biodiversity and the loss of species at risk," DeJong said.

Inquiry must be called to get answers on sand mine scandal

It’s pretty clear by now that an inquiry should be called into the Sio Silica scandal.

Ethics Commissioner Jeffrey Schnoor released his long-awaited report into the matter this week. He found that former premier Heather Stefanson, then deputy premier Cliff Cullen and then economic development minister Jeff Wharton, violated the province’s Conflict of Interest Act by attempting to approve a licence for a controversial silica sand mining project after their government was defeated in the Oct. 3, 2023 provincial election.

All three ministers pushed to have a Class 2 licence under the Environment Act approved for Sio Silica, days before the new NDP government was sworn into office.

They did so even though they knew, or ought to have known, that it violated the “caretaker convention,” a longstanding constitutional principle in Canada that prohibits governments from making major policy decisions once a general election is called (unless it’s related to an urgent matter of public importance).

Alberta, Ottawa spending $7 million to fund six new urban wildfire teams

STRATHMORE - Nearly $7 million in provincial and federal spending will create six teams of urban wildfire crews, Alberta's public safety minister announced Friday.

Speaking in Strathmore, Alta., Mike Ellis told a news conference that having six more teams means Alberta will have up to eight specialized crews that can respond to fires threatening communities.

"We've witnessed the immense destruction wildfires can cause at home and in other parts of the world," Ellis said.

"That's why we're focused on building more skilled, specialized and ready to deploy teams that can work to ensure communities, businesses and critical infrastructure are protected in the event of a wildfire."

Leadership issues dominate opening session of teachers’ union AGM

Manitoba teachers want answers about how their top union officials plan to bring about stability at their Portage Avenue headquarters after “a rough year.”

More than 330 delegates are registered to take part in the 106th annual general meeting of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society this week.

Formal proceedings kicked off Thursday morning with an impromptu debate related to the organization being without a permanent executive director to oversee the day-to-day operations of supporting 16,600 members.

Three different people have served in that role over the last 18 months, a period during which MTS has grappled with infighting and low morale among support staff, as well as multiple workplace investigations.

Bloc Québécois files legal challenge of Terrebonne riding results after one-vote loss

TERREBONNE - The Bloc Québécois says it has filed a Superior Court challenge to overturn the election results in the federal riding of Terrebonne after losing by one vote.

In a news release, the party says there is doubt about who won the riding in the April 28 federal election because a mail-in vote from a Bloc supporter was returned to the sender.

Elections Canada has admitted that a misprint on an envelope used to mail a special ballot from Terrebonne led to one Bloc voter's ballot being returned to her.

Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste initially won the riding, but it flipped to Bloc candidate Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné after the votes went through a validation process.