National News

OTTAWA — A House of Commons committee examining the government's ill-fated deal with WE Charity probed deeper into the organization itself Thursday, but with partisan clashes over witnesses from a charity watchdog.

EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation says its server provider has increased capacity for its online 50/50 raffle for Friday's hockey game.

The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 6:08 p.m. on Aug. 6, 2020: There are 118,561 confirmed cases in Canada.

OTTAWA — Elections Canada says voter turnout in last fall's federal election was actually slightly higher than the 2015 election. The independent agency initially reported a slight decline in turnout, to 67 per cent from 68.3 per cent in 2015.

HALIFAX — During more than six years as Nova Scotia premier, Stephen McNeil earned a reputation as an ardent fiscal conservative who wasn't shy about taking on the province's public sector unions.

TORONTO — The crown prince of Saudi Arabia sent a hit squad to Canada in an effort to hunt down and kill a former top intelligence official who knows too much, a civil suit filed Thursday in court in the United States asserts.

OTTAWA — The federal government is being urged to rethink Canada's employment insurance program as millions of workers are moved off of an emergency benefit while the country's job market is still recouping heavy losses due to COVID-19.

CALGARY — A new paper suggests a federal program meant to buffer provinces against economic shocks is not up to the task — especially in the COVID-19 era.

BRANDON, Man. — Manitoba's largest increase in positive COVID-19 cases in months has prompted a union representing employees at Maple Leaf Food Inc.'s pork processing plant in Brandon to call for it to cease production.

OTTAWA — Canada is joining France and other countries in emphasizing the need for economic and political reform in Lebanon over the long term as it looks at immediate ways to help the country following this week's deadly explosion in Beirut.