National News

VICTORIA — The British Columbia government is expanding access to opioid treatment medications such as methadone by providing universal coverage to help people with substance use disorders, making it the first province in Canada to do so.

OTTAWA — A controversial Conservative private member's bill intended to make violence against pregnant women an aggravating factor during court sentencing was roundly defeated in the House of Commons, as other parties said they feared it would reopen

TSUUT'INA FIRST NATION — Police in Alberta say they anticipate more complainants will come forward after a former actor and self-described medicine man was charged with sexual exploitation and sexual assault in the province.

OTTAWA — Deportation orders for international students caught up in a fraud scheme have been put on hold while a task force investigates each case, the immigration minister announced Wednesday.

TORONTO — BCE Inc. announced Wednesday that it is cutting 1,300 positions, around three per cent of its workforce, and closing or selling nine radio stations as the company plans to "significantly adapt" how it delivers the news.

SAGUENAY, Que.

OTTAWA — Moscow is warning that relations with Canada are "on the verge of being severed" after the federal Liberal government moved to forfeit a massive Russian cargo plane.

MONTREAL — Quebec’s Health Department should do a better job of involving friends and family in the treatment of people suffering from mental health issues and addictions in order to prevent suicides, coroner Julie-Kim Godin said Wednesday.

KELOWNA, B.C. — The mother of a nine-year-old girl says her daughter has received an outpouring of love and support after a man wrongly suggested the girl was transgender and demanded proof she was born biologically female at a Kelowna, B.C.

OTTAWA — Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Wednesday that Canada will halt all government-led activity at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank after a Canadian citizen tendered his resignation from the financial institution.