Toronto, John Tory found himself having to defend his choices for the Executive Committee and deputy mayors on his first day as mayor of Toronto. At a press conference after meeting with Premier Kathleen Wynne, Tory was asked why there are no meaningful key positions for left-leaning councillors. He respondedRead More

Toronto’s new mayor begins his term Monday repairing a politically divided city, asking council to appoint four deputy mayors, one from each region of the metropolis. The group, combined with the mayor’s picks for his cabinet-like executive committee, draws on left, right and centrist voices at city hall, setting aRead More

Ottawa, Statistics Canada says the country’s homicide rate fell last year to 1.44 victims for every 100,000 people, its lowest level since 1966. The agency says the 2013 rate was eight per cent lower than in 2012. It says police reported 505 homicides in 2013, down 38 from the previousRead More

Toronto— The Ontario government says a glitch with social assistance transfers that queued up $20 million in overpayments has been fixed — though efforts are underway to retrieve $300,000 that did end up being received. A spokeswoman for Social Services Minister Helena Jaczek says the bug with the new softwareRead More

  Dakar, Senegal — Former governor general Michaëlle Jean has become the first woman leader of la Francophonie and will oversee the organization of 57 member states for the next four years. Jean, who was named by consensus on Sunday, was up against four other candidates at the summit ofRead More

Vancouver, A blast of winter weather caused chaos for commuters Saturday morning, with one crash temporarily shutting down eastbound lanes on the Trans-Canada Highway. The crash happened at the Gaglardi Way onramp and backed up traffic for hours. DriveBC said at around 2 p.m. that the highway had reopened butRead More

Dakar Senegal, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is urging countries in la Francophonie to do all they can to put an end to forced marriages involving children. Harper told the opening ceremony of the summit of French-speaking nations in Senegal today that 100 million females were forced into marriage between 2004Read More

Toronto, The former Conservative staffer convicted in the 2011 robocalls scandal will have to spend another few days in jail before learning if he’ll be granted bail pending an appeal of his conviction. The Crown is contesting Michael Sona’s bail application, but agrees it would be worthwhile for Ontario’s CourtRead More

Ottawa, The federal government posted a $400-million surplus for September compared with a $3.8-billion deficit in the same month last year. According to the monthly fiscal monitor, the improvement came as revenue was up by $1.1 billion or 5.4 per cent, helped by higher personal and corporate income tax revenue.Read More

Ottawa, A Conservative backbencher who issued a bizarre warning to colleagues against “consorting without protection” in the wake of Parliament Hill misconduct revelations retracted his statement late Wednesday. “Earlier today I issued a press release that I now recognize was completely inappropriate,” Edmonton MP Peter Goldring said in his secondRead More