From April 2020 to June 2022, Masse received more than $41,000 in government benefits — only to later get a letter from the Canada Revenue Agency saying he wasn't eligible for the money, and that he had to pay it back.

According to the CRA, Masse did not meet the minimum net earnings of $5,000.

"I was stunned. I couldn't believe it," said Masse. "I would have never applied for anything that I did not qualify for."

In early 2024, after months of back and forth, the CRA agreed he was entitled to some of the money. But he remains on the hook for about $27,000.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Saturday announced an additional $2.5 billion of economic aid for Ukraine.

The assistance will help Ukraine unlock financing from the International Monetary Fund, Carney said during an appearance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

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The year that saw the remains of two First Nations women brought home from a Manitoba landfill and a search get underway for the remains of a third showed how far reconciliation efforts have come — and how far they still need to go, the families say

Melissa Robinson, whose cousin Morgan Harris’s remains were among those recovered earlier this year, says she feels at peace now that the chapter of her life focused on searching the Prairie Green landfill outside Winnipeg is over.

Robinson said after having an initially tense relationship with Winnipeg police when they decided not to search for her cousin’s remains, her family feels they’ve now built trust with new police Chief Gene Bowers, who she says listens and has shown he’s “committed to the families.”

As Prime Minister Mark Carney puts trade and security at the centre of Canada’s foreign policy, observers say Ottawa is also shifting how it asserts its values on the world stage.

The Liberals insist they are still standing up for human rights globally while seeking investment from China, India and Gulf countries. But a change in priorities is prompting some criticism — and changing how Canada trains its diplomats.

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Canada should be doing this too or maybe start accepting Euros to pay taxes. We have to get away from control of US institutions controling our lives.

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While most Canadians support developing the country’s critical minerals, they don’t want to see it done by foreign companies, according to a new survey by the Angus Reid Institute.

Nearly 60 per cent of respondents said they considered losing sovereignty over such resources to be a larger threat to Canada than “missing out on development and jobs because of a lack of investment.”

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“Three-in-five (60 per cent) Canadians believe Canada should limit foreign investment; one-quarter (25 per cent) would welcome it, in general. But even among those who welcome foreign ownership only one-third (35 per cent) say they would do so without restricting what resources are available for investment,” reads the study.

“There are also many countries Canadians would ban from ownership in critical resources outright. The top of the list are countries already under various levels of global embargoes – Russia (69 per cent would restrict ownership), North Korea (67 per cent) and Iran (60 per cent), as well as China (59 per cent), where investment has been discouraged by Ottawa in key areas for a number of years.”

Over a third of Canadians would also “bar the U.S. from investing in critical resources in Canada” at 37 per cent, even as the trade war persists between the two countries.

However, 66 per cent of Canadians said they would “prioritize lowering tariffs and guaranteeing value-added jobs (64 per cent) in exchange for U.S. access to critical minerals.”

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Five of the 11 nation-building projects announced by Prime Minister Mark Carney for fast-tracking include critical minerals, such as nickel, graphite, and copper.

If approved by the Major Projects Office, the projects would be funded by both public and private dollars, with the majority coming from the private sector

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Sitting in Ottawa's Rainbow Bistro, preparing for his band to play a gig, former MP Charlie Angus was reflecting on the past year. His plan to quietly retire and write a book turned into creating viral videos viewed around the world and a cross-Canada tour to fight Donald Trump.

A few months ago, Angus was preparing to wrap up a run of nearly 21 years as NDP MP for the northern Ontario riding of Timmins-James Bay and had begun researching the 1930's era in towns like Timmins, Kirkland Lake and Rouyn-Noranda for a book. He had just gotten to the end of 1938 and the rise of fascism when U.S. President Donald Trump was re-elected.

"I think I was one of the first people to come out and start using terms like the fascist threat," Angus recalled. "I've been living this in my research and suddenly it was there before me."

Angus knew that his time in Parliament was coming to an end so he decided to use his final speeches to talk about the threat he saw to democracy.

"I decided very quickly that I wasn't going to spend any more time in Parliament. I didn't know how much time I had, but I wasn't going to spend another minute asking dumb questions about bills that nobody was paying attention to. I was going to start to try and put on the record what was happening because I felt the threat was very, very serious, given what was happening with Putin, given what was happening in Europe, and then Trump."

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