First Reading is a Canadian politics newsletter curated by the National Post’s own Tristin Hopper. To get an early version sent directly to your inbox, sign up here. Read More

Increasing global uncertainty is motivating Canadians to enlist in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), according to federal Minister of National Defence, David McGuinty. Read More

An Indigenous man who bragged to an undercover cop about the Gladue "discount" that would cut his penalty in half for helping to clean up after a Calgary murder has been sentenced to 6.5 years in prison, even though the Crown was looking for as much as 10. Read More

This month, the Supreme Court of Canada released its first, and likely only, major decision addressing COVID-era restrictions. The case, Taylor v. Newfoundland and Labrador, considered the fundamental constitutional question of whether Canadians have a right to move freely within their own country. Read More

Canadians woke up last Wednesday to the news that Matt Jeneroux, a Conservative MP, had decided to join the Liberal party. With the two other turncoats, Michael Ma and Chris d’Entremont, that makes three defections from Pierre Poilievre’s party since the federal election in April. Many pundits are predicting that the Liberals are going to achieve a majority through by-elections and possibly more defections. Fair-weather conservatives are continuing to wonder whether Poilievre is the right man to lead the party into the next election. Read More

Oh. Uh. Huh. How about that. Read More

Proponents of EDI too often overlook or downplay its essential feature: it is discriminatory and contrary to section 15(1) of the Charter and its equivalent in provincial human rights codes. Promoting diversity sounds better than practicing discrimination, but the two have gone hand in hand in our universities and other public settings. As the Post’s Tristin Hopper observed: Canadian universities have engaged in race-centric hiring and admissions, and in some cases, race-segregated student spaces and events. Read More

OTTAWA— Prime Minister Mark Carney departs Thursday on his first travels to India, Australia and Japan as prime minister.  Read More

OTTAWA — A gnawing dispute spilled into public view this month when the premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan publicly demanded an exemption to a federal ban on a deadly nerve toxin used to neutralize agricultural pests. Read More

OTTAWA — Canada's public safety minister says he believes the federal government's delays in launching its compensation program for banned firearms has partly contributed to the drop in support among police across jurisdictions and sowed confusion among Canadians. Read More

Many of us know the basics of the story. It’s 1992. John F. Kennedy Jr., son of a U.S. president, meets Carolyn Bessette, publicist for Calvin Klein. Sparks fly. Read More

Kim Jong Un said North Korea could "get along well" with the United States if Washington acknowledges its nuclear status, but dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, state media reported Thursday. Read More

Cuban forces killed four people who had opened fire from a speedboat with Florida tags, an incident with the potential to escalate an already tense standoff with the U.S. Read More

Tumbler Ridge massacre survivor Maya Gebala, 12, has received a show of support from Vancouver Canucks forward Evander Kane. Read More

Lest anyone foolishly think of sport as a reliable escape from politics and strife, recent events do away with that fantasy. A certain kind of Central Canadian is performatively furious with Auston Matthews and Brady Tkachuk, captains of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, respectively, for visiting the White House with their Olympic gold medals. Read More

OTTAWA — As Alto commences its plans for construction on a high speed rail line between Toronto and Quebec City, many in smaller Eastern Ontario communities are concerned about the proposal. Read More

It was quite the performance, you’d have to admit. After all, Donald J. Trump is nothing if not a showman, and his falsehood-strewn schoolboy encomium to himself Tuesday night, which lasted a full hour and 47 minutes, was quite the spectacle. The State of the Union event was punctuated by frenzied bursts of ovation from Trump’s sycophants in the U.S. Congress. Not quite Pyongyang, but close. Read More

If a worldwide catastrophe were to happen, one that threatened human civilization, would you have a better chance of surviving if you were alone or in a group? If shows like Man vs. Wild and Alone are any indication, you might be able to subsist solo for a while. But humans are social animals, and things like loneliness and depression could slowly sap your will to survive. Read More

SANTA MONICA, Calif. There’s nothing Jennifer Garner likes to do more on camera than get into a good slugfest. Read More

Bill Gates has admitted making a "huge mistake" in associating with Jeffrey Epstein, telling staff at his charity foundation that he had affairs with two Russian women but denying involvement in the disgraced financier's crimes. Read More

Fans of the hit hockey romance series Heated Rivalry will soon have the chance to step inside one of the show’s most iconic settings. Read More