National News

VANCOUVER — British Columbia is asking for a federal exemption to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use after more people died from overdoses in 2020 than any other year.

HALIFAX — The spouse of the gunman who killed 22 people in Nova Scotia told police that on the night he began his rampage she was beaten and shot at, and she begged for her life before she managed to escape.

OTTAWA — The Conservative election platform will contain a climate-change plan that could cut greenhouse-gas emissions faster than the Liberals' plan will, party leader Erin O'Toole said Thursday.

MONTREAL — A former gymnastics coach facing assault and sex assault charges received a stay of proceedings Thursday due to major issues with the notes of a police investigator.

IQALUIT, Nunavut — Lawyers for Inuit hunters who blocked an airstrip and road at an iron ore mine in Nunavut say they will end their protest for now.

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Amid climbing COVID-19 case numbers, Newfoundland and Labrador election officials have postponed voting in Saturday’s provincial election for nearly half the province's ridings.

Montreal's police chief announced a new investigations unit on Thursday that will target weapon traffickers, following a rise in gun-related crime across parts of the city and the recent shooting death of a 15-year-old.

TORONTO — The Conservative party's use of CBC news footage in a partisan attack ad and tweets was a copyright infringement damaging to the public broadcaster's integrity and impartiality, Federal Court heard Thursday.

WASHINGTON — The panel that evaluates international trade disputes in the United States has squashed a complaint about Canadian blueberries.

EDMONTON — Alberta is to expand the world's largest connected stretch of boreal forest preserve.