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OTTAWA — Few personal relationships are the subject of national media scrutiny, but NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and his new fiancee Gurkiran Kaur say they're up for the challenge.Singh, 39, publicly proposed to Kaur, a 27-year-old fashion designer, during a celebration Tuesday night at the downtown Toronto restaurant where the couple had their first date.The decision to make the proposal a public affair — and to invite media outlets to document the moment — signalled a different a

Ah, Valentine's Day.Whether you love it or loathe it, you don't want to be empty handed if your love interest comes through with a gift for you. Plus, there really is nothing nicer than showing your partner that you care by giving them a thoughtful gift.But what do you even get a guy for Valentine's Day, especially if you've run out of ideas? Sex? Sure, but we couldn't assemble a list for that, so here are 20 wrappable items that will make any man grateful you thought of them.(You can do that ot

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he and former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talked about the then-incoming Trump administration and the general state of the world when the two of them were on the Aga Khan's private island in late 2016.During an interview this week with The Canadian Press, Trudeau shed a bit more light on his direct interactions with Kerry, who happened to be at the spiritual leader's island in the Bahamas at the same time as the prime minister during his p

WASHINGTON — In his first foreign trip as leader of the official Opposition, Andrew Scheer avoided any criticism of the Liberal federal government, telling a Washington audience that Canada speaks with one voice on NAFTA.The Conservative leader was at the Wilson Center on Wednesday explaining that he and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have their partisan differences, but not when it comes to preserving the Canada-U.S. relationship.''On NAFTA, the Canadian Parliament ... is united,'' Scheer

Burger King's parent company is denying reports that foreign workers were found sleeping in the basement of a location in Alberta.An order from Alberta Health Services, dated Jan. 10, said inspectors found evidence of "sleeping/living accommodations for foreign workers" at a location in Lethbridge.The order said allowing sleeping or living accommodations in a restaurant is a health code violation.Burger King on 3 ave S in Lethbridge housing foreign workers in the basement of the restaurant, acco

BARRIE, Ont. — Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is defending her comments against hate crime following an alleged attack on an 11-year-old Toronto girl wearing a hijab that later turned out to be untrue.The Grade 6 student told school officials — and the media at a news conference — last Friday that a man approached her from behind and cut her hijab.Shortly after the alleged attack was reported, Wynne and Toronto Mayor John Tory called it a "cowardly act of hatred."But a Toronto

VANCOUVER — A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has struck down a law that permits federal prisons to put inmates into solitary confinement indefinitely.Justice Peter Leask says the practice of isolating prisoners for undefined lengths of time is unconstitutional.The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and the John Howard Society filed the legal challenge in 2015, calling solitary confinement a cruel and inhumane punishment that can lead to severe psychological trauma and suici

MOSCOW — Even thermometers can't keep up with the plunging temperatures in Russia's remote Yakutia region, which hit minus 67 degrees Celsius (minus 88.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas Tuesday.In Yakutia— a region of 1 million people about 3,300 miles (5,300 kilometres) east of Moscow — students routinely go to school even in minus 40 degrees. But school was cancelled Tuesday throughout the region and police ordered parents to keep their children inside.In the village of Oym

Spring might not be here just yet, but we can at least prep our wardrobe with the season's top trends of 2018.Florals will be a statement style this spring, but don't be afraid to mix and match patterns. Lavender is the colour that will dominate your wardrobe palette, as well as pastels and colour-blocked hues. And in the accessories department, layered necklaces and stacked rings will continue to be a true obsession.Read on for a more in-depth look at the top spring style trends for 2018.1. Ruf

A lot of kids think that their dad's job sucks. And I did, too.He's a fur trapper.Yeah, I know your dad is an accountant and the biggest risk he faces is an audit or a paper cut. By comparison, my old man's biggest fear is a widow maker — an old tree ready to collapse and crush anything on its way down. That and he routinely bare-hands steel traps in the crushing cold of a brutal Canadian winter, where seeing temperatures plunge to below -40 degrees Celsius is almost guaranteed.For as long

TORONTO — Loblaw Companies Ltd. and the Canada Revenue Agency faced off in a Toronto court today, the latest in an ongoing battle involving allegations that the grocery giant's Barbadian banking subsidiary was misused for tax avoidance.The case involving Barbados-based Glenhuron Bank Ltd. was the focus of the Tax Court of Canada hearing, which was largely procedural, ahead of a trial due to start on April 23.The dispute, which began in 2015 after Loblaw Financial Holdings filed an appeal,

TORONTO — The court appointed monitor for Sears Canada's insolvency says it is reviewing millions of dollars the company paid in dividends while its pension fund fell short.FTI Consulting Canada Inc. filed a report Monday with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that says it will review some transactions, payments and dividends entered into, made or declared by the company before they filed for protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.The monitor identifies a $102 millio

No one bats an eye when a male ob-gyn walks into a delivery room.And it's more and more common to be coached through labour by nurses who are men. But a male midwife? Chances are you've never seen one. Even the name "midwife" — the root of which means "with woman" — suggests that men need not apply.But Spencer Sawyer, a second-year midwifery student at Ryerson University in Toronto, is turning that notion on its head. Sawyer is set to become the program's first male graduate. When he

WASHINGTON — A Canada-U.S. women-in-business group created by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ivanka Trump released its first set of recommendations Wednesday, proposing more affordable child care and a new binational procurement initiative.It's the first of four anticipated reports from the Canada-U.S. Council for Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders, created during Trudeau's first meeting with President Donald Trump last February.It is delivering its findings to the

BERWICK, N.S. — A Nova Scotia regulator is investigating a bizarre mix-up at a funeral home that provided two wrong bodies to a grieving family before realizing their loved one had accidentally been cremated.Adam Tipert of the Nova Scotia Board of Registration of Embalmers and Funeral Directors says they are looking into how the Serenity Funeral Home in Berwick handled the remains of 65-year-old Sandra Bennett, who died at home on Dec. 20.Another deceased woman wearing her clothesTipert sa

OTTAWA — Supporters of Hassan Diab, recently freed by French authorities, want a public inquiry into his extradition on suspicion of murder.Diab's lawyer, Donald Bayne, says Canada never should have sent the Ottawa sociology professor to France.Diab, clearly relieved to be back in Canada, says he wants to ensure others do not face the same ordeal he has endured.French authorities suspected Diab was involved in an anti-Semitic bombing in 1980 that killed four people and injured dozens of ot

LONDON (Reuters) — Prince Harry's wedding to American actress Meghan Markle could provide a 500 million pound (C$850 million) boost to Britain's economy as tourists flock to the country and Britons celebrate, according to an estimate.Harry, Queen Elizabeth's grandson and fifth-in-line to the throne, will tie the knot with Markle on May 19 at Windsor Castle, the royal palace home of British kings and queens for almost 1,000 years.There were an extra 350,000 visitors to the UK in April 2011

PERRIS, Calif. — City officials could find no records that the fire department conducted required annual inspections at a California home that doubled as a private school where authorities say 13 malnourished siblings were kept captive in filthy conditions by their parents.In response to a public records request by The Associated Press, Perris Assistant City Clerk Judy Haughney said Wednesday that there were no records of any fire inspections conducted at the home. The city's fire marshal,

PERRIS, Calif. — Thirteen malnourished siblings allegedly kept captive in filthy conditions by their parents in a Southern California home lived a strict existence with no social lives and no contact with extended family, two of their aunts said Wednesday."They weren't allowed to watch TV. They weren't allowed to have friends over — the normal things that kids do," the children's aunt, Teresa Robinette, told NBC's "Today" show.Robinette is the sister of Louise Turpin, 49, who along w

Once you have kids, you realize that children misbehave in all kinds of ways. They explore their boundaries by disobeying us, their parents, to see what is OK and what is not OK. It's part of growing up and gaining independence. In our house though, there is one crime that supersedes all others: lying. To us it is the worst one, because it takes away trust. And without trust things deteriorate quickly.My kids know that if you do something wrong and tell the truth about it, we will go much easier

VICTORIA — Premier John Horgan says he has plans to tone down speculation in British Columbia's real estate market but they don't include banning foreign buyers.Horgan said Tuesday he rejects recent calls by Green party Leader Andrew Weaver to implement a New Zealand-style law that restricts the purchase of existing homes to residents of New Zealand and Australia.I just don't believe in an open economy that's an appropriate way to proceed.B.C. Premier John HorganThe government's February b

Earlier this month, the 2018 Golden Globes raised awareness of sexual assault, harassment and gender inequality in the workplace. Not only did Hollywood stars sport all-black ensembles in solidarity with victims, but eight stars also made powerful statements by bringing female activists as their dates.But now that the award show has come and gone, many people are left wondering, now what?You Wore Black To The Golden Globes...Now What? https://t.co/kPhk0flCih via @lappthebrand - now this is al th

OTTAWA — Justin Trudeau remains optimistic that Canada, the United States and Mexico can strike a deal to modernize NAFTA that benefits all three countries.In an interview this week with The Canadian Press, the prime minister said he still believes there's a good chance negotiations will result in what he calls a "win-win-win" — notwithstanding contradictory signals from the U.S. that have frequently left the impression that the North American Free Trade Agreement is doomed.U.S. Pres

MONTREAL — Quebec will raise the province's minimum wage to $12 an hour as of May 1.The 75-cent increase from the the current rate of $11.25 was confirmed today by Labour Minister Dominique Vien and is the largest hike in Quebec history.Vien says in a statement the rise is in line with a four-year plan to have the minimum wage equivalent to 50 per cent of the average provincial hourly wage by 2020, without exceeding that level.She also says Quebec's thriving economy has helped the average

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is a long way from "starting over or scrapping" the inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.The federal government is monitoring the work of the federally funded commission and its staff to ensure they have the ability to do their jobs, Trudeau said in an interview this week."We are a long way from ... starting over or scrapping it," Trudeau told The Canadian Press. "We are certainly alert to the challenges tha

DETROIT — Experts say a bright light and what sounded like thunder in the sky above Michigan was a meteor.The American Meteor Society says it received hundreds of reports of a fireball Tuesday night over the state, including many in the Detroit area. Reports also came in from several other states and Ontario, Canada.Some Michigan residents reported their homes shaking.More eyewitness videoThe society says the reports suggest a space rock penetrated deep into the Earth's atmosphere before i

Toronto police say they don't believe they'll lay charges against the mother of a newborn baby boy who was allegedly abandoned Tuesday morning outside a commercial building.Const. David Hopkinson says the mother is receiving medical care, but declined to provide further details.Police say they received a call just before 11 a.m. from someone claiming to be a passerby who found the infant behind a plaza in the city's west end.They initially said they received reports that the baby was found naked

Ask any parent about homework and the response is inevitably a passionate one. The question of too much or too little almost always comes up. Tears, threats and fits of anger leave most parents wondering whether homework is really preparing their children in any meaningful way, or if it's just added stress and drama for the whole family.Research corroborates these concerns, and leaves us wondering how to mindfully weigh out out the positive and negative impacts of homework on a child's overall d

Canadians are looking for sunshine and the best bang for their buck when they go travelling in 2018, according to travel search engine Kayak.After examining searches made on Kayak Canada between June 1, 2017 and Dec. 1, 2017, for travel from Canada from Jan. 1, 2018 to June 1, 2018, Kayak researchers found that Cartagena, Colombia is the No. 1 trending destination for Canadians, with travel searches for the location increasing 58 per cent year over year, according to a press release.This is due

Things are going to be a little harder for borrowers in Canada going forward.The Bank of Canada hiked its key lending rate to 1.25 per cent on Wednesday morning, from 1 per cent, raising it to its highest level since 2009, when then-bank governor Mark Carney dropped interest rates to historic lows to cope with the global financial crisis.Today's move confirms what many experts and analysts had been saying recently: That the era of super-low interest rates, that started with Carney's move in 2009

SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — South Korea says the rival Koreas have agreed to form their first joint Olympic team and have their athletes march together during the opening ceremony of next month's Winter Olympics in the South.Seoul's Unification Ministry says the Koreas reached the agreement during talks Wednesday at the border village of Panmunjom.It says athletes from the two Koreas will march together under a "unification flag" depicting their peninsula during the opening ceremony and wi

In the heart of the Ottawa political bubble is another bubble of active users of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram centered around Canadian politics (#cdnpoli if you will.)When I open my phone, I can't scroll through without finding dozens of tweets from Cabinet Ministers, Liberal Members of Parliament and commentators, and local supporters pulling from a crib sheet of positive economic stats. They note that under the Trudeau government, "Canada now has its lowest unemployment rate in over 40 year

SHANGHAI — An Apple Inc. supplier in eastern China has denied allegations by a New York rights group that its workers toil for ten-hour shifts in loud, polluted conditions, without proper overtime pay or adequate safety protections to make MacBook and iPhone parts, before returning to filthy dormitories with cold showers.The charges highlight the difficulty of managing complex global supply chains — even for companies, like Apple, that have publicly embraced ethical sourcing as a bus

HALIFAX — A Halifax man who pushed a young woman back into prostitution, and admitted threatening to chop her up and serve her at a dinner party, has been sentenced to 16 months in jail.Leslie Gray advertised the woman's sexual services on a classifieds website, setting up to 20 appointments a day, and then took all the money she earned."(She) was not given food to eat, so she resorted to stealing to feed herself," according to an agreed statement of facts presented at Gray's recent senten

OTTAWA — Justin Trudeau sees dark clouds on the political horizon: severe weather and income inequality begetting forced migration and a growing strain to feed the dispossessed, as well as the ever-present threats of terrorism and nuclear annihilation.But halfway through his mandate, the prime minister remains steadfastly confident that the agenda that won him power in 2015 — his "progressive approach" to global affairs, income disparity, globalization angst and populism — will

TORONTO — Federal New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh pulled back the curtain on his closely guarded private life, letting Canadians know Tuesday night that he is engaged.Singh, 38, proposed to girlfriend Gurkiran Kaur, 27, at a private party Tuesday night just blocks away from the Ontario legislature in Toronto where he served as a provincial legislator for six years.Singh surprised Kaur, an entrepreneur and fashion designer, with the proposal in front of several dozen friends and f

WASHINGTON — When the White House released the results of a test on Donald Trump's mental aptitude Tuesday, showing he aced it without signs of cognitive decline, there was one person out there brimming with pride despite not knowing the president.That person was Ziad Nasreddine — who designed the test.The Lebanese-Canadian neurologist learned from a reporter Tuesday afternoon that the White House had selected the Montreal Cognitive Assessment to test the president's faculties after

VANCOUVER — North Korea may have been the main target, but China and Russia were also in the crosshairs Tuesday as Canada huddled with some of its closest partners to discuss how best to put an end to Pyongyang's nuclear aspirations.The main complaint? That China and Russia were not doing enough to enforce United Nations sanctions against North Korea and strangle its nuclear and ballistic-missile programs.A call for all nations to enforce sanctions against North Korea was the main focus as