National News

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today...

OTTAWA — Parmod Chhabra is deeply invested in the Indian general election that gets underway on Friday, with almost a billion people eligible to vote, but he won't be casting a ballot.

MONTREAL — On warm days, Montreal's Lachine Canal can attract thousands of picnickers, cyclists and pedestrians.

COQUITLAM, B.C. — A hearing for AllanSchoenborn, who killed his three children in 2008, ended with an abrupt adjournment on Wednesday after his lawyer told the British Columbia Review Board he would no longer appear in front of its current panel.

OTTAWA — The Métis Nation — Saskatchewan is pulling its support for a federal bill that proposes to enshrine its self-government over concerns about the other two groups it recognizes.

OTTAWA — A 1970s Canada Post building in Alberta and stone Quebec City army barracks dating back to 1856 are just some of the public lands the Liberal government plans to turn into homes.

BURNABY, B.C. — The officer in charge when police in Surrey, B.C., killed a hostage taker and the woman he was holding says he believes he did everything possible to save her. RCMP Insp.

VICTORIA — Emerson the elephant seal is back in Victoria after defying attempts to relocate him and swimming more than 200 kilometres to return to his preferred urban habitat to moult.

Prisons have become "overwhelmed" by the surge in drone drops in correctional facilities, says the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers.

OTTAWA — Health Minister Mark Holland announced tweaks to Ottawa's new dental-care plan Wednesday in a bid to get more dentists, hygienists and oral-health care providers to participate.