National News

OTTAWA — An NDP lawmaker is tabling legislation to decriminalize drug use in Canada, seeking to treat it as a health issue amid a lethal opioid crisis.

MONTREAL — Quebec's ban on the sale of cannabis-themed products is too broad and inhibits legitimate freedom of expression, the lawyer for a head shop challenging the law argued Thursday.

EDMONTON — A committee that is supposed to consult Albertans on coal development in the Rocky Mountains won't be allowed to hear what people want to say about water and land use.

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole is pitching a loyalty-card style of carbon pricing where consumers would see what they pay on fuel stored into an account that can be used for green purchases later.

The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times Eastern): 5:45 p.m. Alberta is reporting 1,646 new cases of COVID-19. The province says 1,020 cases of variants have also been detected in the last 24 hours.

Homes in Whatì in the North Slave region of the Northwest Territories are to have access to high-speed internet by the end of this year.

SASKATOON — The owner of a grocery store in Saskatchewan says he was "beyond shocked and horrified' by a video circulating online showing a security guard in a physical altercation with an Indigenous woman accused of shoplifting.

OTTAWA — Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough says any changes to modernize the employment insurance system won't be done without considering the financial impact on workers and employers.

MONTREAL — Quebec and Ottawa have reached a $600-million deal to fund a link connecting the Montreal-Trudeau International Airport to the city's new light rail system.

OTTAWA — WestJet CEO Ed Sims says the federal government's aid package for Air Canada could be "problematic" unless his company gets equitable treatment, as talks over pandemic relief continue between Ottawa and Canadian carriers.