Defence minister says Canada supports U.S. downing of Chinese balloon
Defence minister says Canada supports U.S. downing of Chinese balloon
The federal defence Minister says Canada "unequivocally supports" the United States government's decision to shoot down a high-altitude surveillance balloon that was suspected of spying for China, noting the balloon violated Canadian airspace.
Fighter jets downed the balloon off the Carolina coast on Saturday afternoon after it had travelled over sensitive military sites across North America.
Anita Anand issued a statement hours later saying she and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were briefed on the operation by the national security and intelligence advisor and the chief of the defence staff beginning on Friday night and continuing Saturday
She said Canada has been closely engaged with its American counterparts on the decision and went on to thank the U.S. for its close collaboration.
A Pentagon official described the object as a manoeuvrable surveillance balloon flying at an altitude of about 18,288 metres, with a "payload" or basket underneath.
On Friday, Anand's office declined to comment on whether the balloon flew over Canadian airspace, but her Saturday statement says it "violated U.S. and Canadian airspace and international law."
“Officials in the national security community have been working bi-nationally and Canada has been closely engaged with its U.S. counterparts on the decision and unequivocally supports the actions taken," Anand said in the statement.
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Saturday he ordered U.S. officials to shoot down the balloon earlier this week and that national security leaders decided the best time for the operation was when it moved over water.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has said the balloon was a civilian airship used mainly for meteorological research that "deviated far from its planned course" because of winds.
Global Affairs Canada said Friday that officials summoned Chinese Ambassador Cong Peiwu to express disapproval over the balloon's appearance.
U.S. officials also announced Secretary of State Antony Blinken was postponing a planned high-stakes weekend diplomatic trip to China.
Pentagon officials have said one of the places the balloon was spotted was over the state of Montana, which is home to one of America's three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base.
Anand noted Saturday that NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, had been "tracking and analyzing the trajectory and actions" of the balloon.
"The cooperation between Canada and the United States through NORAD ensures the security and defense of North American air sovereignty, and we thank its members for having the watch," she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2023.
More than 130,000 people have signed an e-petition calling on Canada to give transgender and non-binary people fleeing harmful laws in their home countries the right to claim asylum, but that's already possible in this country. Advocates say the popularity of the proposal shows politicians that Canadians want the government to affirm its welcoming position.
The Public Order Emergency Commission has concluded that the federal government met the threshold for invoking the Emergencies Act to bring an end to the 'Freedom Convoy' protests and blockades.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
Governor of the Bank of Canada Tiff Macklem says he thinks Canada is 'turning the corner' on inflation, but he isn't ruling out that the country could enter a 'mild recession.' In an English-language broadcast exclusive interview with CTV National News Ottawa Bureau Chief Joyce Napier, Macklem encouraged Canadians to prepare a 'buffer' to withstand 'tougher times.'
Joe Biden comes for a sleepover next week to make Canada the 18th country he has visited since being sworn in as U.S. president, quite the protocol slippage from that fading, if not forgotten, tradition of Canada being the first foreign presidential pitstop, writes Don Martin in a column for CTVNews.ca.
After weeks of refusing to look further into foreign election interference, Justin Trudeau surrendered to intense pressure and appointed a 'special rapporteur' to review China's actions. In his exclusive column for CTVNews.ca, Don Martin writes this 'startling change of heart' suggests the PMO is in panic mode and reflects badly on the prime minister's decision making.
The Trudeau tipping point is within sight. The moment when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau knows he has to quit for the good of the party or the Liberals realize they can't survive re-election with him at the helm is almost upon us, Don Martin writes in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca.
Bombshell revelations that suggest Chinese agents actively, fraudulently and successfully manipulated Canada's electoral integrity in the last two federal elections cannot be dismissed with the standard Justin Trudeau nothing-to-see-here shrug, Don Martin writes in his exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca.
The chances Trudeau's health-care summit with the premiers will end with the blueprint to realistic long-term improvements are only marginally better than believing China’s balloon was simply collecting atmospheric temperatures, Don Martin writes in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca, 'But it’s clearly time the 50-year-old dream of medicare as a Canadian birthright stopped being such a nightmare for so many patients.'
The parents of young Ontario hockey player Ben Teague have been searching for answers since he died while at a team retreat in 2019. The mystery about what happened and the code of silence in hockey culture is explored in CTV W5's 'What Happened to Ben,' on CTVNews.ca and W5's official YouTube channel.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's calls for protests ahead of his anticipated indictment in New York have generated mostly muted reactions from supporters, with even some of his most ardent loyalists dismissing the idea as a waste of time or a law enforcement trap.
In an effort to keep the foreign interference story at the forefront, and to do an apparent endrun around the Liberal filibuster blocking one study from going ahead, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is forcing MPs to debate and then vote on a motion instructing an opposition-dominated House committee to strike its own review.
Officials are still looking for victims after a fire ripped through a building in Old Montreal last week, killing at least one person. At a press conference Monday morning, spokespersons for the Montreal police and Montreal fire department said six people are still missing. They come from various locations in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S.
Some of the world's largest central banks came together on Sunday to stop a banking crisis from spreading as Swiss authorities persuaded UBS Group AG to buy rival Credit Suisse Group AG in a historic deal.
An Ontario woman has launched a lawsuit seeking $500,000 from Tim Hortons after she suffered major burns from an alleged ‘superheated’ tea. The company has denied all allegations and said she was ‘the author of her own misfortune.'
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is due to meet with Vladimir Putin in a political boost for the isolated Russian president after the International Criminal Court charged him with war crimes in Ukraine.
Officials are still looking for victims after a fire ripped through a building in Old Montreal last week, killing at least one person. At a press conference Monday morning, spokespersons for the Montreal police and Montreal fire department said six people are still missing. They come from various locations in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S.
The parents of young Ontario hockey player Ben Teague have been searching for answers since he died while at a team retreat in 2019. The mystery about what happened and the code of silence in hockey culture is explored in CTV W5's 'What Happened to Ben,' on CTVNews.ca and W5's official YouTube channel.
An Ontario woman has launched a lawsuit seeking $500,000 from Tim Hortons after she suffered major burns from an alleged ‘superheated’ tea. The company has denied all allegations and said she was ‘the author of her own misfortune.'
Canada will make it easier for temporary residents from Turkiye and Syria to extend their stay in the country and will prioritize the visa applications of people from these two countries, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said Saturday.
Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou will visit China next week in what a spokesman called a bid to ease tensions between the self-ruled island and the mainland. Ma presided over a period of warm ties with Beijing, but left office under a cloud after a trade deal with the mainland failed to win approval.
Thailand's Parliament was dissolved Monday by a government decree, setting the stage for a May general election, which has the potential to lessen the military's influence in politics.
Police on Monday charged the first Australian veteran for an alleged murder in Afghanistan three years after a war crime investigation found that 19 Australian special forces soldiers could face charges for illegal conduct during the conflict.
A Ukrainian charity tells CTVNews.ca how women on the front lines of the war in Ukraine do not have proper equipment and are struggling with the realities of being in a conflict zone. Here are their stories.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is due to meet with Vladimir Putin in a political boost for the isolated Russian president after the International Criminal Court charged him with war crimes in Ukraine.
North Korea said Monday it simulated a nuclear attack on South Korea with a ballistic missile launch over the weekend that was its fifth missile demonstration this month to protest the largest joint military exercises in years between the U.S. and South Korea.
In an effort to keep the foreign interference story at the forefront, and to do an apparent endrun around the Liberal filibuster blocking one study from going ahead, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is forcing MPs to debate and then vote on a motion instructing an opposition-dominated House committee to strike its own review.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling for a national standardized testing process to be created in order to speed up the licensing process for doctors and nurses who are either immigrants or were trained abroad.
Canadians' satisfaction with our country continues to decline, especially when it comes to perceptions of our political institutions, according to a new national survey by Nanos Research. And younger Canadians have the bleakest view of the nation out of all age groups.
No elected Republican has done more to restrict abortion rights in the U.S. than Donald Trump, but in the early days of the 2024 presidential contest, no Republican has worked harder to avoid the issue than the former president.
The parents of young Ontario hockey player Ben Teague have been searching for answers since he died while at a team retreat in 2019. The mystery about what happened and the code of silence in hockey culture is explored in CTV W5's 'What Happened to Ben,' on CTVNews.ca and W5's official YouTube channel.
A Pentagon study has found high rates of cancer among U.S. military pilots and for the first time has shown that ground crews who fuel, maintain and launch those aircraft are also getting sick.
A slight increase in UFO sightings in 2020 compared to pre-pandemic years may not be because of the pandemic itself, but because of Elon Musk’s new internet satellites, researchers found.
Engineers at the University of Arizona have developed a system they say could allow autonomous vehicles to scout out habitats for astronauts in caves and other underground features by leaving a trail of 'breadcrumbs.'
A host of comedic and entertainment royalty gathered at Washington's Kennedy Center to present comedy icon Adam Sandler with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
Some of the world's largest central banks came together on Sunday to stop a banking crisis from spreading as Swiss authorities persuaded UBS Group AG to buy rival Credit Suisse Group AG in a historic deal.
Many companies that emerged to manufacture and procure PPE in the early days of the pandemic have gone bust. But others with pre-existing product lines before pivoting to pandemic-related products have since managed to switch back, as supply lines and demand factors recovered and stabilized.
Global stock markets sank Monday after Swiss authorities arranged the takeover of troubled Credit Suisse amid fears of a global banking crisis ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting to decide on more possible interest rate hikes.
Bear lovers rejoice: The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is hiring for 'professional bear huggers' with an adorable job listing posted on Facebook.
The Rideau McDonald's Farewell March brought people from across the city, some dressed in costumes, who wanted to say goodbye to a part of what they say makes Ottawa Ottawa.
A week after breaking the record of Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark, American skier Mikaela Shiffrin extended the all-time best mark for most career wins to 88 by winning the last race of the season, a giant slalom at the World Cup Finals on Sunday.
San Jose Sharks goalie James Reimer won't take part in pregame warmups Saturday night, saying the team's decision to wear Pride-themed jerseys in support of the LGBTQ community runs counter to his religious beliefs.
Zlatan Ibrahimović's Instagram profile says he's a writer and on Saturday the Swede penned a new page in his remarkable career when he became the oldest ever goalscorer in Italy's Serie A.
Volkswagen plans to invest in mines to bring down the cost of battery cells, meet half of its own demand and sell to third-party customers, the carmaker's board member in charge of technology said.
