Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is banning a range of assault-style guns, with an order that takes effect immediately. The cabinet order he described in a Friday-morning announcement doesn't forbid owning any of 1,500 "military-style" weapons and their variants but it does forbid them to be used and halts the trade in them
COVID-19 has now spread to every region in Canada, with Nunavut reporting its first case on Thursday, as Ontario reported its largest one-day climb in fatalities and the country's budget officer predicted a staggering $252-billion deficit. The case in northern Nunavut was identified in the 1,600-strong largely Inuit community of Pond Inlet on Baffin Island. The territory's chief public health officer, Dr. Michael Patterson, said a rapid response team was on its way to the community to help manage the situation.
The Canadian military is deploying a flight investigation team to look into the causes of a helicopter crash off the coast of Greece that has claimed the life of at least one service member and left five others missing. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed during a news conference that six people were aboard the Cyclone helicopter that went down in the Ionian Sea on Wednesday as the aircraft was returning to the Halifax-based frigate HMCS Fredericton from a NATO training mission.
Parliament's budget watchdog says that it's likely the federal deficit for the year will hit $252.1 billion as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and could go even higher if emergency measures remain in place longer than planned. The figure is an estimate based on the almost $146 billion in spending measures the government has announced to help cushion the economic blow from the pandemic, estimated declines in the country's gross domestic product, and the price of oil remaining well below previous expectations.
Canadian support for the principle of equal rights for women and men is among the highest in the world — but in practice, archaic attitudes towards gender roles are still alive and well both at home and around the globe, a new survey suggests. Respondents to the international Pew Research Center poll released Thursday expressed overwhelming support for the concept of gender equality — 93 per cent of Canadians surveyed ranked it as "very important," second only to Sweden at 96 per cent.
The federal government is poised to ban a variety of assault-style rifles, including the type used in the 1989 Montreal Massacre. During the fall election campaign, the Liberals said guns designed to inflict mass human casualties have no place in Canada.