National

EDMONTON — The powerful hail storm that pounded homes, vehicles and crops across parts of southern Alberta last month caused almost $1.2 billion in insured damage.

OTTAWA — Fixing the social and economic gaps that left women, young people and racialized Canadians to suffer the biggest economic blows from the COVID-19 pandemic is a top priority in the recovery effort, Finance Minister Bill Morneau says.

OTTAWA — Canada's border agency has failed to promptly remove most of the people under orders to leave the country, and in tens of thousands of cases it has simply lost track of them, the federal auditor general says.

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump promised an absent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau some in-person presidential face time Wednesday as the U.S.

OTTAWA — Dozens of groups and individuals working to protect privacy, human rights and civil liberties want the Trudeau government to ban the use of facial-recognition surveillance by federal law-enforcement and intelligence agencies.

MONTREAL — A new Montreal police street check policy aimed at curbing arbitrary and discriminatory stops was described by the police chief as "an important change to the culture," but critics said it will do little to reduce profiling.

OTTAWA — Estimated federal deficit for 2020-21: $343.

OTTAWA — If the Rideau Hall intruder had been a person of colour, the outcome of last week's events in Ottawa would have been very different, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Wednesday.

TORONTO — A once-prominent Canadian who strangled his child cannot sue the maker of the antidepressant he was taking because he waited too long to file his claim, Ontario's top court ruled on Wednesday.

A Canadian Forces base in Alberta is recruiting a new battalion of lean, mean, eating machines for a mission that will require limited action this summer.