Former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour has been tapped to lead a yearlong review, but the prime minister said Ottawa is acting now with the creation of the military’s first-ever chief of professional conduct and cult

Former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour will lead a yearlong, comprehensive review into the problem plaguing the military, the second such assessment in six years. 

Plus, more than 2,000 travellers into Canada over the last three months tested positive for COVID-19, including a quarter with concerning variants.

Senators cancelled all but one ‘non-essential’ committee from meeting between April 21 until at least May 4, when the Senate next sits.

The federal government is working on presenting a ‘pathway’ as its part of the national action plan, but one organization says it’s clear Ottawa still has ‘some serious heavy lifting’ to do.

Plus, starting last night Canada has banned passenger flights from India and Pakistan for 30 days amid spiking COVID-19 cases.

Lobbyists filed 2,995 communications last month, pushing activity up 21 per cent compared to last March, when the pandemic started and Ottawa skipped presenting a budget.

Plus, Bloc MP Sébastien Lemire has apologized for taking a photo of Liberal MP Will Amos, who accidentally appeared naked during virtual Parliament.

Ottawa says it’s ‘accelerating’ a national action plan that’s almost a year behind schedule as it nears the two-year anniversary of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry.

‘We need to hang in there and hunker down for a number of more weeks,’ the prime minister told Canadians.

Last July, a landmark Federal Court ruling declared the 17-year-old refugee pact violated the Charter. Today, the appeal court disagreed, and so the treaty will remain in effect.

Requiring free, prior, and informed consent is not a veto, says a former judge, it’s about how the government ‘operationalizes’ its approach to projects early on.

It was more important for NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh to distinguish his offer from the Liberal government, say politicos, with both parties presenting resolutions that offered similar progressive policy solutions. 

Plus, Trudeau continues his pre-budget talks with opposition party leaders, and in a webinar China’s ambassador to Canada will discuss ‘the path forward’ for China-Canada Relations.

Plus, Justice Minister David Lametti gets his COVID-19 jab, while giving a nod to his alma mater, Oxford, whose researchers developed the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Remote staffing can be a ‘game changer’ to bring in diversity of skills and organizers for key roles are among the lessons learned by U.S. Democratic organizers during a pandemic election.

We’ve turned the corner,’ says outgoing party president Mathieu Vick, who acknowledged the financial constraints in recent years tested the NDP’s ‘collective mettle.’

‘The burnout and the pain is palpable and it should not be up to us to keep sending the same message year after year,’ says one survivor who called on the government to act.

Plus, CSIS Director David Vigneault has contracted COVID-19 amid ‘limited and contained’ outbreaks at some of the intelligence service’s offices.

Despite COVID-19 shifting its approach to data collection, the agency hopes to meet—or beat—2016’s 98.4 per cent response rate.

Plus, former House Speaker and eight-term Nova Scotia MP Geoff Regan says he won’t run for re-election.

Police-reported hate crime rose by seven per cent in 2019, with a 10 per cent rise in attacks based on ethnicity. Statistics Canada says this pre-pandemic data will mark a ‘key reference’ for 2020.

Plus, former House Speaker and eight-term Nova Scotia MP Geoff Regan says he won’t run for re-election.

In his pre-budget report, which doesn’t take into account up to $100-billion in expected budget spending, Yves Giroux projects a $363.4-billion deficit this fiscal year.