National News

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada has clarified the legal interpretation of consent in restoring the convictions of a common-law couple for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl during a camping trip.

OTTAWA — The number of planes landing in Canada carrying passengers with COVID-19 was cut by more than half in the two weeks after the federal government barred incoming flights from India and Pakistan.

EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says he kept his distance in a debate over the fate of two outspoken backbenchers but believes his United Conservative caucus made the right decision to expel them. “I did not reveal which way I was voting.

EDMONTON — A criminologist says a recent court order that allows Alberta RCMP to arrest organizers of anti-lockdown rallies can limit or prevent future gatherings but does little to educate people who don't believe in the COVID-19 pandemic.

WASHINGTON — A U.S. lawmaker who has made a political crusade out of getting the border with Canada reopened is again pressing his case with President Joe Biden — and this time, he believes he has the Centers for Disease Control on his side.

TORONTO — Canadian residents should be able to head to the United States for COVID-19 vaccinations and be exempt from mandatory quarantine on return if health authorities here deem the shots medically necessary, a hospital CEO said on Friday.

OTTAWA — The head of the country's largest private-sector union says Parliament should raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, and possibly put future increases into the hands of an independent commission.

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said Friday he sees an opening to begin the next federal election campaign on Aug. 16 if the COVID-19 pandemic is under control.

WASHINGTON — Senior officials from Canada, the United States and Mexico will meet virtually next week for the first Free Trade Commission meeting of the USMCA era.

HALIFAX — Canada should respond to a UN committee examining whether it failed to protect Mi'kmaq fishers from racist violence, even though the independence of committee members can be questioned, a former human rights investigator says.