National News

OTTAWA — A veteran Liberal backbencher took a Liberal cabinet minister to task Tuesday for failing to give real teeth to a new watchdog who is supposed to investigate human rights abuses by Canadian companies operating abroad.

The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times eastern): 8:45 p.m. Alberta reported 465 new cases of COVID-19 and three more deaths. The province identified 197 new variant cases, bringing the province's total to 1,908.

PENTICTON, B.C.

VANCOUVER — There was "nothing nefarious" about the Federal Bureau of Investigation's request that Canadian officials seize Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou's electronic devices, a lawyer for Canada's attorney general said Tuesday.

REGINA — Saskatchewan's premier says he has yet to read the full report by a complaints commission that found RCMP discriminated against the mother of Colten Boushie -- an Indigenous man who was shot and killed on a farm.

OTTAWA — Health Canada is reassuring Canadians the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective, even as it works to add a warning about blood clots and reacts to a new controversy over the company's preliminary data results in the United States.

OTTAWA — The federal government will release a highly anticipated budget in about four weeks, giving Canadians a detailed accounting of pandemic spending and how the Liberals plan to spend billions more on the road out of COVID-19.

VANCOUVER — A newly approved pilot project will allow electric kick scooters to legally cruise the streets and bike paths of six British Columbia municipalities.

The Transportation Safety Board says the death of a young Quebec pilot in September 2019 was likely due to spatial disorientation and is highlighting the danger of nighttime flights in poor weather.

OTTAWA — New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh says he does not agree with accusations that Quebecers are racist, after one of his MPs applauded controversial remarks on the subject by a University of Ottawa professor.