Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson left chaos in his wake Saturday after quitting Parliament with a blast at fellow lawmakers he accused of ousting him in a "witch hunt."
As opponents jeered, the Conservative government absorbed the shock of yet another Johnson earthquake, while a band of loyal supporters insisted Britain's divisive ex-leader could still make a comeback. Two Johnson allies joined him in quitting the House of Commons, piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Less than a year after he was forced out as prime minister by his own Conservative Party, Johnson unexpectedly stepped down as a lawmaker late Friday -- "at least for now," he said in a self-justifying resignation statement.
Johnson quit after being told he will be sanctioned for misleading Parliament over "partygate," a series of rule-breaking gatherings in the prime minister's office during the coronavirus pandemic. Johnson was among scores of people fined by police over late-night soirees, boozy parties and "wine time Fridays" that broke restrictions the government had imposed on the country.
Johnson has acknowledged misleading Parliament when he assured lawmakers that no rules had been broken, but he said he didn't do so deliberately, genuinely believing the gatherings were legitimate work events.
A standards committee investigating him appears to see things differently. Johnson quit after receiving the report of the Privileges Committee, which has not yet been made public. Johnson faced suspension from the House of Commons if the committee found he had lied deliberately.
Johnson, 58, called the committee "a kangaroo court" that was determined to "drive me out of Parliament."
"Their purpose from the beginning has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts," Johnson said.
The committee, which has a majority Conservative membership, said Johnson had "impugned the integrity" of the House of Commons with his attack. It said it would meet Monday "to conclude the inquiry and to publish its report promptly."
The resignation will trigger a special election to replace Johnson as a lawmaker for a suburban London seat in the House of Commons. Two allies of Johnson, Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams, also quit, sparking three near-simultaneous by-elections -- an unwanted headache for Sunak.
Johnson is a charismatic and erratic figure whose career has seen a series of scandals and comebacks. The rumpled, Latin-spouting populist with a mop of blond hair has held major offices but also spent periods on the political sidelines before Britain's exit from the European Union propelled him to the top.
A champion of Brexit, Johnson led the Conservatives to a landslide victory in 2019 and took Britain out of the EU the following year. But he became mired in scandals over his ethics and judgment, and was forced out as prime minister by his own party in mid-2022.
By quitting Parliament, he avoids a suspension that could have seen him ousted from his Commons seat by his constituents, leaving him free to run for Parliament again in future. His resignation statement suggested he was mulling that option. It was highly critical of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who served as Treasury chief in Johnson's government before jumping ship with many other colleagues in July 2022 -- resignations that forced Johnson out as prime minister.
Conservative poll ratings went into decline during the turbulent final months of Johnson's term and have not recovered. Opinion polls regularly put the opposition Labour Party 20 points or more ahead. A national election must be held by the end of 2024.
"Just a few years after winning the biggest majority in almost half a century, that majority is now clearly at risk," Johnson said in a statement that sounded like a leadership pitch. "Our party needs urgently to recapture its sense of momentum and its belief in what this country can do."
Johnson allies expressed hope that the former prime minister was not finished. Conservative lawmaker John Redwood said Johnson "has made it very clear that he doesn't regard this as the end of his involvement in British politics."
But many others questioned whether a politician who has often seemed to defy political gravity could make yet another comeback.
Others compared Johnson to Donald Trump, who has similarly claimed persecution by a host of enemies after being indicted on federal charges over his hoarding of classified documents after leaving office.
"It all feels very Trumpian," said Will Walden, who worked for Johnson when he was mayor of London and U.K. foreign secretary.
"He has one song to play, and that is `I was robbed,"' Walden told Sky News.
Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said Johnson often drew inspiration from his political hero, Winston Churchill, who led Britain to victory in World War II only to be ousted from power in 1945 -- and then to return to office several years later.
"I believe that he thinks that he can spend some time in … the wilderness before the Conservative Party and the country calls upon him once again in its hour of need," Bale said.
"Frankly, I think that is unlikely. I think partygate has ensured that he is toxic as far as many voters are concerned. And I think the way he has behaved over the last two or three days -- and some people will say over the last two or three years -- probably means that most of his colleagues would rather he disappeared in a puff of smoke."
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A lawyer who negotiated a pair of hush money deals at the centre of Donald Trump's criminal trial recalled Thursday his "gallows humor" reaction to Trump's 2016 election victory and the realization that his hidden-hand efforts might have contributed to the win.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.
Montreal police are facing pressure to move in and dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment on McGill University campus on Thursday, as a growing number of universities across this country grapple with the tough decision of how to handle the protests.
A pro-Palestinian activist group says its international co-ordinator, who was arrested in a Vancouver hate-crime investigation, was released with an order not to attend any protests for the next five months.
A Conservative MP is challenging claims by House of Commons administration that a China-backed hacking attempt did not impact any members of Parliament, because the attack was on his personal email.
Loblaw chairman Galen Weston and the company's new CEO are pushing back against critics who blame the grocery giant for soaring food prices, as a month-long boycott of the retailer gets underway.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.