'It’s a dream come true': Holt, Liberal cabinet sworn-in to office
Susan Holt, the province's first female premier, and 18 cabinet ministers took the oath of office in the chamber of the legislative assembly.
Relations between India and Canada are at a low point as the countries expelled each other's top diplomats over an ongoing dispute about the killing of a Sikh activist in Canada.
Canada said it had identified India’s top diplomat in the country as a person of interest in an assassination plot and expelled him and five other diplomats Monday. India has rejected the accusations as absurd, and its foreign ministry said it was expelling Canada’s acting high commissioner and five other diplomats in response.
It’s the latest in an escalating dispute over the June 2023 killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar was fatally shot in his pickup truck in June 2023 after he left the Sikh temple he led in the city of Surrey, British Columbia. An Indian-born citizen of Canada, he owned a plumbing business and was a leader in a movement to create an independent Sikh homeland, which is banned in India.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in September 2023 there were credible allegations that India's government had links to the killing. India denied the allegations at the time but said Nijjar was involved in "terrorism.”
Canada expelled an Indian diplomat over the dispute last year, and in response India expelled a Canadian diplomat and froze consular services for Canadians for nearly two months.
Tensions boiled over again in May, when Canadian police said they had arrested three Indian nationals accused of involvement in Nijjar's killing and were "investigating if there are any ties to the government of India." India rejected the allegations, saying Canada had a "political compulsion" to blame India.
Now, Canada says that India's top diplomat in the country is a person of interest in the killing, and that police have uncovered evidence of an intensifying campaign against Canadian citizens by agents of the Indian government.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it had found evidence of the involvement of Indian agents "in serious criminal activity in Canada," including links "to homicides and violent acts" and interference in Canada's democratic processes, among other things.
Meanwhile, Canada's foreign minister, Melanie Joly, tied the Indian officials to Nijjar's assassination and said Canada had gathered "ample, clear and concrete evidence which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case."
She said India had been asked to waive diplomatic immunity and cooperate in the investigation but refused.
In a statement Monday, India's foreign ministry said that the Canadian government "has not shared a shred of evidence" with the Indian government, "despite many requests from our side." The ministry also called the accusations part of "a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains.”
Nijjar was a local leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland known as Khalistan. The Khalistan movement is banned in India, but has support among the Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada.
India designated Nijjar a terrorist in 2020, and at the time of his death was seeking his arrest for alleged involvement in an attack on a Hindu priest in India.
New Delhi's anxieties about Sikh separatist groups in Canada have long been a strain on the relationship, but the two countries have maintained strong defense and trade ties, and share strategic concerns over China's global ambitions. However, India has increasingly accused Canada of giving free rein to Sikh separatists.
Sikhs make up nearly 2% of Canada's population, and more than a dozen are members of the country's parliament.
Susan Holt, the province's first female premier, and 18 cabinet ministers took the oath of office in the chamber of the legislative assembly.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith received a dominating 91.5 per cent vote of support from her United Conservative Party members in a scheduled leadership review vote on Saturday.
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris has made an unannounced trip to New York to appear on an episode of 'Saturday Night Live,' briefly stepping away from the battleground states she’s been campaigning in with just three days to go before the election.
CTV News won four national news awards and a local news award from RTDNA Canada, the organization announced Saturday night at a gala event in Toronto.
The driver of a pickup truck who allegedly struck a police horse and rammed several cruisers on Queen Street West on Friday afternoon was out on bail at the time of the incident, Toronto police say.
CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at what you can buy for the average Ottawa home price of $729,000 in eight Ottawa neighbourhoods.
Calgary police issued a media statement Saturday reminding residents about the rules regarding personal fireworks after receiving over 150 complaints.
A woman who pleaded guilty to dressing as a clown and in 1990 murdering the wife of a man she later married was released from prison on Saturday.
On the same day Chip Wilson erected a controversial sign at his Vancouver mansion, the city was quietly honouring the billionaire and his wife.
A Vancouver man is saying goodbye to his nine-to-five and embarking on a road trip from the Canadian Arctic to Antarctica.
A Windsor teen’s social media post showing off a distinctive Windsor pizza topping has gone viral, drawing millions of views worldwide and sparking new curiosity about Windsor-style pizza.
Auston Matthews has come face to face with his look-alike. On Thursday, the Maple Leafs star met seven-year-old Grayson Joseph, who went viral for dressing up as an Auston Matthews hockey card.
A Halifax junk remover shares some of his company’s strangest discoveries.
When Leah arrived at work directing traffic around a construction site, she never expected to see a van painted in all sorts of bright colours, and covered in eclectic decorations, including a stuffed moose attached to its roof.
After 14 years of repairing and selling bicycles out of the garage of her home, a Guelph, Ont. woman’s efforts have ended – for now, at least.
Epcor says it has removed more than 20,000 goldfish from an Edmonton stormwater pond.
Witches and warlocks have been flocking to New Brunswick waterways this month, as a new Halloween tradition ripples across the province.
New Brunswicker Jillea Godin’s elaborate cosplay pieces attract thousands to her online accounts, as well as requests from celebrities for their own pieces.