Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig told MPs that Ottawa’s agreement with Beijing to open its markets to Chinese electric vehicles puts Canada at risk of “deeper economic entanglement” with China and dependency that could erode Canada’s sovereignty.
Kovrig made the comments as he testified on April 16 before the House of Commons science and research committee, which is studying the implications of the Canada–China preliminary joint arrangement on Canada’s electric vehicle sector.
For years, Canada’s housing crisis and its productivity slump have been treated as parallel emergencies. One was a matter of affordability and social equity, the other a question of economic competitiveness.
However a growing body of research, and a pair of Canadian experts who have spent years studying both, say that framing has always been wrong. They insist the country is paying a steep price for keeping the two conversations apart.
Researchers from Harvard’s Growth Lab contend Canada’s restrictive urban zoning is short-circuiting the normal mechanism by which productivity gains in major cities become national prosperity.
As many as eight more opposition MPs are being courted to cross the floor, three Liberal sources told The Globe and Mail.
Conservative and NDP MPs are in the mix, the sources said, though it remains unclear if any will make the jump – or when.
The sources are all veteran Liberal organizers, and two are directly involved in reaching out to potential recruits.
Imagine the damage Carney will do with a majority.
From the convention …
PM Mark Carney says support for the Liberal Party is growing, noting that Canadians who previously voted for other parties “now trust us with the future.”
He also points to MPs crossing the floor, arguing it shows “Canadians coming together to build a strong Canada.” pic.twitter.com/VxAjMnHaVM
— Juno News (@junonewscom) April 11, 2026
‼️Mark Carney says Canada was BETRAYED by the USA
and says that our old strengths of depending on the USA are now Canada’s weaknesses
“We must never forget the lessons”
Its obvious now. He wants this. HE WANTS a fight with the USA. pic.twitter.com/SFLT2VXHhm
— Tablesalt 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@Tablesalt13) April 12, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Grocery prices are elevated, gas prices are high, job markets are cooling, and U.S. President Donald Trump is sticking to his tariff plans while the world eyes a shaky ceasefire with Iran.
The two-week truce this week between the U.S. and Iran has raised hopes and markets while lowering oil prices somewhat — Brent is now in the mid-US$90s per barrel, down from a conflict peak of $120 — but there are already signs that peace may not last: There are disagreements over Lebanon’s inclusion in the ceasefire, Israel is vowing to continue hitting Hezbollah, and Tehran has said continued hits on Lebanon render any negotiations pointless.
BYD to open 20 car dealerships in Canada this year
BYD Co. is opening some 20 sales locations with partners in Canada this year as the country’s government is considering Chinese auto-industry investments to reduce dependence on the United States.
“The overture of Canada is a very important one,” Alfredo Altavilla, a former Fiat Chrysler Automobiles manager who now advises BYD in Europe, said in an interview in Paris. “We immediately took action to establish a sales network there.”
CALGARY — Canada’s navy raised a transgender flag at its morning colours ceremony, accompanied by a message online stating it will not tolerate “hateful online conduct,” which may be subject to the “criminal justice process.”
Last week, “Transgender Day of Visibility,” was observed by the Royal Canadian Navy, or the East Coast Navy, on Canadian Forces Base (CFB) in Halifax — Canada’s largest military base in terms of population.
One year after U.S. President Donald Trump levied tariffs on the Canadian auto industry, leaders in the industry say they are eager to see an arrangement that restores predictability to the Canada-U.S. trade relationship.
The president and CEO of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association (CVMA) said he was initially optimistic that the tariffs would be temporary and that Canada would arrive at a new trade agreement with the U.S. that would see them removed.
Now, he said, he’s concerned by the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a resolution in sight.
Retired Lt. Colonel David Redman, former head of Alberta’s emergency management, has accused federal authorities of the intentional erosion of Canada’s national security apparatus over the past 11 years.
“To go from calling China the largest strategic threat to Canada one year ago and now calling it a very significant strategic partner is a completely intentional act. You can’t say it’s not. And so from my point of view, each of the steps in the degradation of Canada’s 10 elements of national security have been thought through and are intentional.”
(Incognito)
Based on what Prime Minister Mark Carney, a Liberal cabinet minister, and a Liberal MP said publicly about China’s use of forced labour, the idea they are fiercely criticizing Chinese President Xi Jinping about it in private is laughable.
Indeed, watching the performance of Carney, Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson, and former Conservative, now Liberal, MP Michael Ma on the issue over the past week, would have been hilarious if their milquetoast responses weren’t so alarming.
OTTAWA — During my years in the RCMP, I dealt with organized crime, national security threats, and foreign actors who sought to exploit Canada’s openness. We understood something fundamental: threats rarely announce themselves plainly. They operate in the grey space—deniable, incremental, and often dismissed until it is too late.
What concerns me today is not just that foreign interference is happening. It is that Canada still seems reluctant to call it what it is—particularly when it involves the Chinese Communist Party.
The Conservatives have written to the Prime Minister to demand that he clarify his position on the forced labour of the mainly Muslim Uyghur minority in China after a Liberal MP was accused of attempting to cast doubt on the existence of the practice.
Michael Chong, the Conservative foreign affairs critic, wrote to Mark Carney Friday asking him if his assessment is “that Uyghur forced labour has and is being used” in China.
Food banks across the country are being forced to scale back services at a time when Canadians need them the most, due to limited supplies.
In southern Saskatchewan, the Moose Jaw & District Food Bank plans to limit households to just one visit a month instead of the usual two, beginning April 1. They will also reduce the amount of food handed out to each visitor.
“Our resources aren’t keeping up with the demand,” said executive director Jason Moore in an interview with CTV Newsthis week.
h/t Patti Jo
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney has gone to ground.
Two days after Liberal Member of Parliament Michael Ma used his time at the House of Commons industry committee to demand that a sanctioned China expert personally confirm she had witnessed forced labour before her evidence could be taken seriously — a performance celebrated by Chinese Communist Party state media as a propaganda victory and condemned by international Uyghur organizations as an affront to Canada’s own recognition of genocide — Carney has issued no public statement.
Abdallah Aban is taking a quiet weekday moment in the food court at his local mall, munching on a breakfast sandwich, sipping his Tim Hortons.
His wife and two of his eight children are at work in the nearby Amazon warehouse. But Aban, 60, lost his job there last year and has had no luck finding a new one.
The family is getting by, even though they’re no longer receiving the Canada Child Benefit now that the kids are older, and they’re finding food and rent expensive.
Abdallah Aban, his wife and eight children? “Economic migrant” I’m betting.
Only the Star could find a writer who features a primary cause of Canada’s economic downfall as the victim.
It’s a certainty the author is an open borders scammer having been a VP of the Business Council of Canada which advocates for replacement scale mass immigration. For the benefit of the economy of course.
Michael Ma is saying he was misunderstood, but you shouldn’t believe him. The Conservative MP who crossed the floor and joined the Liberals last December has not only had a change of heart politically, but he also now appears to be speaking up for China.
