RCMP commissioner Mike Duheme says the police force has several open investigations into possible foreign interference in the last two general elections — probes that began only after the votes were counted. Duheme declined to elaborate Thursday on the number or nature of the probes, citing the integrity of the investigations, privacy concerns and public safety.
The Canada Border Services Agency says a man who got caught smuggling more than 70 kilograms of cocaine into Canada through the Pacific Highway border crossing has been sentenced to nine years in prison. Gerry Crawley, a commercial driver from New Brunswick, came through the Surrey crossing in March 2021 with a tractor-trailer of products from California.
The province has announced changes to the Police Act that it says would strengthen oversight of local police forces and improve their governance. The legislative changes would allow B-C’s police complaints commissioner to call a public hearing earlier into misconduct investigations, and give the commissioner the authority to conduct systemic reviews into causes or contributors of police complaints.
A global forest study says Canadian wildfires last year were "entirely" to blame for a worldwide surge in tree losses. The study released by researchers at the University of Maryland on the Global Forest Watch website says tree cover loss in 2023 reached 28.3 million hectares globally, a 24 per cent jump driven by Canada's loss of 8.6 million hectares last year.
NDP MPs Carol Hughes and Rachel Blaney have joined Charlie Angus in deciding that they won't run again in the next federal election. The federal New Democrats delivered the news in a joint announcement, saying all three want more family time after years of dedicated public service.
Attacks on aid workers are not just something that happens in war, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday, slamming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's defence of a deadly airstrike on aid workers in central Gaza on April 1. Canadian Army veteran Jacob Flickinger, 33, was among those killed while delivering food aid for World Central Kitchen.