In the news today: Week 3 of the federal campaign kicks off

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Federal leaders enter week 3 of the election campaign

With just three weeks to go until election day, Canada’s federal party leaders are back on the road today. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is expected to make an announcement in Toronto today following weekend campaign stops on the East Coast, where he announced plans to impose national rent control and to get every Canadian access to a family doctor in the next five years. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is wrapping up a campaign sweep on the West Coast today before flying to Edmonton for a rally. Liberal Leader Mark Carney will spend the day in British Columbia, where he is scheduled to meet with B.C. Premier David Eby.

World markets plunge after the big meltdown on Wall Street

Shares nosedived around the world Monday as higher U.S. tariffs and a backlash from Beijing triggered massive sell-offs. European shares followed Asian markets lower, with Germany’s DAX falling 6.5 per cent to 19,311.29. In Paris, the CAC 40 shed 5.7 per cent to 6,861.27, while Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 4.5 per cent to 7,694.00. U.S. futures signalled further weakness ahead. The future for the S&P 500 lost 4.8 per cent while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 4.1 per cent. The future for the Nasdaq lost 5.3 per cent. On Friday, the worst market crisis since COVID slammed into a higher gear as the S&P 500 plummeted 6 per cent and the Dow plunged 5.5 per cent.

Here’s what else we’re watching…

Accused in fatal Quebec daycare bus crash in court

The man accused of killing two children and injuring six others when the transit bus he was driving crashed into a Montreal-area daycare is back in Superior Court today. Both the Crown and defence are expected to argue at the Laval, Que., courthouse that he was not criminally responsible for his actions. Prosecutor Karine Dalphond told the court in February that the Crown and defence would present the facts of Pierre Ny St-Amand’s case jointly, after two experts independently concluded he should not be held criminally responsible due to a mental disorder. The 53-year-old was arrested after the city bus he was driving crashed into the front of a daycare in Laval on Feb. 8, 2023, killing a four-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl.

Ontario consumption site case back in court today

In an unexpected move, an Ontario judge has asked lawyers to return to court today in the challenge to a new provincial law that bans supervised consumption sites within 200 metres of schools or daycares. The Neighbourhood Group, which runs a consumption site in downtown Toronto, took the province to court to argue the law violates the Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because the sites save lives. The Neighbourhood Group’s site stayed open but the nine others still closed down last week as part of planned conversions to government-approved homelessness and addiction recovery hubs.

Edmonton man to have piece of skull replaced

Not many people are able to say they can actually feel their brain, but Chase Delorme-Rowan can even see it pulsing. That’s because a piece of the Edmonton man’s skull was mistakenly tossed away during a brain surgery on Jan. 15. The day before, he cracked his skull from top to bottom after he was slammed to the ground in the Dominican Republic during a family trip to celebrate his 18th birthday. Delorme-Rowan says doctors on the Caribbean island removed a piece of his skull to give his swollen brain room to heal but didn’t put the piece back. He says Edmonton doctors will replace the missing skull piece later this month with plastic or titanium.

Canadian company claims first space X-ray

As four space tourists orbited the north and south poles earlier this month and marvelled at views of the Earth, a group of Canadians celebrated an X-ray image taken aboard the spacecraft. Amol Karnick, the CEO of the Waterloo, Ontario-based KA Imaging says the image is the first X-ray ever done in space, marking a first for Canadians in space. The three-and-a-half day trip of the SpaceX Dragon Capsule was chartered by bitcoin investor Chun Wang and blasted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on March 31 with three others aboard.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 7, 2025.

The Canadian Press