Author: Troy Patterson

Liberal leadership candidates will square off on the debate stage Monday and Tuesday nights in Montreal, as hopefuls try to convince Canadians they can lead the party to victory and take on U.S. President Donald Trump. The four contenders will try to make the case for why they should be the next prime minister during two debates — the first in French, the second in English — in a matchup that will feature a political “newbie,” a friendly rivalry and the Trump factor.The debate themes are:Canada’s place in the worldGrowing a strong economySupporting CanadiansClimate Action“I think everything almost is going…

The candidates in the race to be the next leader of the Liberal Party of Canada will square off tonight in the first of two live debates. With just two weeks left until the winner is announced and two days until voting begins, the two events are the only chance Liberal supporters will have to see the candidates together.Former central banker Mark Carney, former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, former House leader Karina Gould and former MP Frank Baylis are the only candidates still in the contest.The party disqualified former Ontario MP Ruby Dhalla on Friday afternoon alleging she broke the…

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will join world leaders in Kyiv on Monday as Ukraine marks the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as a Ukrainian diplomat urged Canada to “step up” its support. Zelenskyy confirmed during a news conference in Kyiv Sunday evening that he will meet with Trudeau in person – one of 13 foreign leaders attending a summit on peace and security for Ukraine.“Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be here with a visit tomorrow,” Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian.“He is chairing the G7 at the moment so he will tell me what is…

German opposition leader Friedrich Merz’s conservatives were on course for a lackluster victory in a national election Sunday, while Alternative for Germany nearly doubled its support, the strongest showing for a far-right party since World War II, projections showed. Chancellor Olaf Scholz conceded defeat for his center-left Social Democrats after what he called “a bitter election result.”Projections for ARD and ZDF public television showed his party finishing in third place with its worst postwar result in a national parliamentary election.Merz vowed to move quickly to put together a coalition government. But that’s likely to be a complicated task.The election took…

Organized crime cartel activity is “very prevalent now” compared to at least a decade ago, says a former national security advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and listing those groups as terrorist organizations may help prevent a “national crisis.” Jody Thomas says the government’s move to list seven transnational criminal organizations, including multiple drug cartels, as terrorist entities under the Criminal Code will give law enforcement more tools to go after cartel-affiliated criminal groups in Canada — particularly their finances — that will be “enormously helpful.”“Organized crime, no matter what shape it takes, is a threat to us, and we’re…

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday he would be ready to give up the presidency if doing so would achieve a lasting peace for his country under the security umbrella of the NATO military alliance. Speaking at a forum of government officials in Kyiv marking the three-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelenskyy said, “If to achieve peace, you really need me to give up my post, I’m ready.”Responding to a journalist’s question on whether he’d trade his office for peace, Zelenskyy said, “I can trade it for NATO.”His comment appeared to be aimed at recent suggestions by…

U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated calls for Canada to become the 51st state aren’t being echoed by other Republicans in Washington, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. says, though Trump’s allies aren’t disavowing the president’s rhetoric either. Ambassador Kirsten Hillman says her private conversations with members of the Trump administration and lawmakers on Capitol Hill remain focused on building the Canada-U.S. relationship under Trump and showing progress on border security in order to avoid looming tariffs.“For me here in Washington, (Canada’s sovereignty) almost never comes up in the substantive conversations that I’m having with the White House,” Hillman told Mercedes Stephenson…

Archpriest Cornell Zubritsky sometimes hears the loud wailing of air raids thousands of kilometres away in Ukraine. The sirens screech from the cellphones of congregants at the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Edmonton.“A lot of them have the air raid siren app on their phones here in Canada, and it will go off. They do that so that if it’s their city, they get on the phone immediately to see if their relatives are OK,” Zubritsky said in a recent interview.“For them, this is real. And then it makes it real for me because they’re connected.…

Alternative for Germany appears to be headed for the strongest showing by a far-right party since World War II in Sunday’s national election and is fielding its first candidate to lead the country. Other parties say they won’t work with the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, or AfD, and co-leader Alice Weidel has no realistic chance of taking the country’s top job. But AfD has become a factor other politicians can’t ignore and has helped shape Germany’s debate on migration.It has also become prominent outside Germany. The party has won enthusiastic support from Elon Musk, as well as attention from U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.AfD first entered Germany’s…

With Canadians – and even Quebecers – rallying around the flag in the face of threats from the Trump administration, the sovereigntist Parti Québécois is struggling to find its footing. The Quebec opposition party has been leading in the polls for more than a year, and leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has promised to hold a third referendum by 2030 if his party forms government in next year’s election.But U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs and annexation have shaken up the political landscape in Quebec. Support for independence is suddenly lower than it has been in years, raising questions about…