Cabinet minister who is quitting voices confidence in Trudeau
One of four Canadian cabinet members who are stepping down said on Friday that he has confidence in Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and he played down polls predicting the Liberals will badly lose in the next election.
Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal said he wanted a break after 30 years in politics. He and three other second-tier ministers in the 38-member cabinet will soon leave their posts after announcing they would not run again for office.
"It does not mean that I've lost confidence in our party or the prime minister," Vandal told reporters in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
"In fact, I'm very confident that the polls are going to tighten up as time goes on, and I think it would be foolish to vote against the Liberal Party."
Canadian media outlets say a group of Liberal legislators is planning next week to ask Trudeau to step down amid increasing voter fatigue after nine years in power. Polls indicate the opposition right-of-center Conservatives will easily win the next election, which must be held by end-October 2025.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, pressed about reports of internal division, said that while there was a range of views inside the caucus, she was confident the vast majority of Liberal legislators backed Trudeau.
The Conservatives blame the Liberals for inflation that spiked during the COVID pandemic and prompted the Bank of Canada to raise interest rates to 20-year highs.
"That was really, really hard, and it's still hard," said Freeland, who noted that inflation was now below the central bank's 2 per cent target. The bank is expected to cut rates by a larger-than-usual 50 basis points next week.
"There is real relief already, and more relief coming, and that is important for Canadians," Freeland said, adding that she was 100 per cent committed to running in the next election.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Leslie Adler)
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'You are not my king,' Indigenous Australian senator yells at visiting King Charles
An Indigenous senator told King Charles III that Australia is not his land as the royal visited Australia's parliament on Monday.
opinion Seven ways to help you save on everyday expenses
In his column for CTVNews.ca, personal finance contributor Christopher Liew shares some of the best ways to save on everyday expenses, to help you keep up with life and get back on top of your financial health.
How an off-duty lifeguard found a missing 17-year-old in the ocean
It was a typical Wednesday evening for Noland Keaulana, who was fixing his truck at his grandparents’ house when he received an alert on his phone about a 17-year-old missing off the Honolulu coast.
Cubans struggle with an extended power outage and a new tropical storm
Cuba's widespread blackouts stretched into their fourth day as Hurricane Oscar crossed the island's eastern coast with winds and heavy rain.
Crowd in Egypt attacks a railway guard after 2 children are run over
Angry residents attacked a railway guard and his post in a town outside Cairo on Monday after a train ran over and killed two children crossing a train intersection that was closed to pedestrians, officials said.
'It was a good choice': This U.S. couple say their living costs dropped by nearly US$3,000 a month when they moved to Italy
The retired elementary teachers, Tony and Francine Smarrelli, originally from Syracuse, New York, resolved to leave the U.S. and move to Italy for good. They say they’ve cut back nearly US$3,000 per month on expenses, which amounts to US$36,000 a year, since moving there permanently.
Jennifer Lawrence expecting second child with husband Cooke Maroney
Jennifer Lawrence will soon be a mom of two. The Oscar-winning actress is pregnant with her second child, a representative for Lawrence told Vogue on Sunday.
Minimum wage of some temporary foreign workers set to change
The federal government is expected to boost the minimum hourly wage that must be paid to temporary foreign workers in the high-wage stream as a way to encourage employers to hire more Canadian staff.
A sentencing hearing will resume today for the Saskatchewan man who withheld his seven-year-old daughter from her mother for more than 100 days in 2021 and 2022 in an attempt to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine.
Local Spotlight
A Springfield, Ont. man is being hailed a 'hero' after running into his burning home to save his two infant children.
Hortense Anglin was the oldest graduate to make her way across the platform at York University's Fall Convocation ceremony this week. At the age of 87, she graduated with an Honours degree in Religious Studies.
Looking for a scare with good intentions this Halloween season? The ghosts and ghouls of Eganville, Ont. invite families to tour the Haunted Walk at Lekbor Manor.
The image of a sleepy Saskatchewan small town with 'not a lot going on' is a well-known anecdote. However, one Saskatchewan company is hoping to change that – and allow communities both on and off the beaten path to share their stories and advertise what they have to offer.
A Moncton, N.B., home has been donated to the Friends of The Moncton Hospital Foundation and will be transformed into a resource hub for people living with cancer.
A Nova Scotia man crossing Canada on foot is passing through southwestern Ontario. Trevor Redmond is perhaps better known as the ‘Fellow in Yellow.’
John Cantin vividly remembers opening day for his Victoria diner. Stress levels were high, tables were full, and one of the most popular menu items couldn’t be freed from the unyielding grip of the waffle maker.
A Manitoba professor is warning the public after a book on regional mushrooms that he suspects is AI-generated was delisted from Amazon.
A B.C. judge has issued a decision in a years-long dispute between neighbours that began with a noise complaint over barking dogs, crowing roosters and quacking ducks – awarding $15,000 in damages to the plaintiffs in the case.