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.
“He haunts us still.” Those were the famous first words in a 1990 biography of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.
His son, Justin? He annoys us still. The modern Trudeau is too frivolous for haunting.
The book by Christina McCall and Stephen Clarkson was often elegiac in tone. Whatever one thought of Pierre Trudeau, he commanded respect.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada’s ties to the U.S. have become “weaknesses” that must be corrected, as workers in Canada’s auto, steel and lumber industries remain under threat due to U.S. President Donald Trump tariffs.
“The U.S. has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression,” Carney said in a video posted to YouTube on Sunday morning.
“Many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become weaknesses — weaknesses that we must correct.”
TORONTO — Canada’s Conservatives are ratcheting up attacks on Prime Minister Mark Carney for moving too slowly to secure a trade deal with President Donald Trump, opening a new political fight in a dispute with consequences on both sides of the border.
This is becoming a wedge issue in Ottawa because the closer the deadline for a review of the North American trade agreement gets, the easier it is for Conservatives to argue Carney is failing to shield Canada from a U.S. trade offensive he has repeatedly promised to stop.
CBC News has learned Prime Minister Mark Carney has invited 100 of the world’s biggest investors to a summit in Toronto this September. The conference aims to pitch organizations that control trillions of dollars in capital on investing in Canada.
The organizations include private investment firms such as Blackrock and some of the world’s biggest sovereign wealth funds, including Singapore’s GIC. Invitations were sent out this week, and none of the invited parties responded to CBC News before publication.
After almost four decades of climate alarmism the so-called “fight” against climate change has failed.
In 1990, the base year for the now long-forgotten Kyoto climate accord that was supposed to be the first step in saving the planet from catastrophic global warming, fossil fuels – oil, coal, natural gas – provided 87.38% of the world’s energy.
NEW YORK — In the final days of winter, in March 2019, Golden Imperial Court in Brooklyn staged a scene that carried extraordinary significance. At the head banquet table, raising a glass of red wine, was John Chan, the restaurant’s owner. Seated beside him was Li Qing, a younger man from China’s consulate in New York whose title was Overseas Chinese Affairs Officer. To Li’s right was the president of the Fuzhou Langqi Friendship Association, marked by a red sash across his chest.
OTTAWA — Political parties, particularly those that are close enough to smell power, are quick to describe themselves as “big tents.”
With the addition this week of Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu, the Liberal party’s new tent — to riff off a crack going around some Parliament Hill circles — is now big enough to drive a truckers’ convoy through.
OTTAWA—Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is going all-in on his fight to oppose the Liberal government’s vision for a high-speed rail network in Central Canada — a project that boasts support from younger voters, local political leaders and even some in western provinces.
To Poilievre, the project is a boondoggle-in-waiting with a $60- to $90-billion price tag that could spiral out of control, imperil existing transportation routes and raze through rural communities.
Senior executives from Lockheed Martin will be in Quebec on Tuesday to confirm that they plan to service Canada’s F-35 aircraft at the L3Harris facilities in Mirabel, which are currently used to maintain Canada’s CF-18 fleet.
The announcement will be their first major outing on Canadian soil since Prime Minister Mark Carney announced last year that he was reviewing the government’s plans to purchase 88 F-35s.
It isn’t possible to hate this evil man too much.[/caption]There is no great mystery behind why some nations are wealthy and others are not. The policy mix varies very little and is well understood. Countries with lower, neutral tax systems, minimal regulations, the rule of law and openness to international trade and foreign investment are wealthier than countries with higher taxes, more complicated regulations, and which are closed off to the world. Economies are the sum of the countless decisions made by people on what to buy or sell, where to invest, or where to work.
Where did this idea come from, of Canada joining the European Union? I know the Prime Minister likes to say that Canada is “the most European of the non-European countries,” whatever that means. (More European than, say, Argentina? Uruguay? New Zealand?)
And sure, we’ve all joked about it, at least once, in the heat of Donald Trump’s latest outrage (“that’s it, we’re joining Europe!”). But we are now well past a joke. Finland’s President, Alexander Stubb, is the latest world leader to appear to entertain the prospect, pronouncing it “a marriage made in heaven” that could be negotiated “faster than Finland joining NATO.”
OTTAWA — Criticism over Canada allowing Chinese electric vehicles access to Canada’s market is mounting, with industry and geopolitical analysts warning of the risks associated with increased engagement with China.
“It’s a massive risk,” said Brian Kingston, president and CEO of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association.
“Canada’s auto industry depends on our integration with North America and the U.S. specifically, that’s been the foundation of the sector, going all the way back to the auto pact.”
When Chrystia Freeland resigned as federal finance minister in December 2024, she left behind a sentence that now reads like prophecy.
Canada, she wrote, needed to keep its fiscal powder dry and eschew “costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford and which make Canadians doubt that we recognize the gravity of the moment.”
OTTAWA — Liberal Industry Minister Mélanie Joly pointed to changing demographics following her party’s performance in the Terrebonne byelection, as new figures show Ottawa has spent millions promoting immigration from French-speaking countries abroad.
“Very important community from Haiti, also from northern Africa… things are changing across the country,” Joly said when asked about the result.
So we're not supposed to talk about the people whose ancestors built this country as a distinct group with distinct cultural interests, but we can applaud new people who show up and change the political fabric of the country to suit their particular interests? ……. https://t.co/wQna6PXCbS
— Jamie Sarkonak (@sarkonakj) April 16, 2026
