National News

VANCOUVER — British Columbia is expanding the power of pharmacists to renew and issue some prescriptions as part of a wide-ranging plan to relieve pressure on the province's struggling health-care system.

OTTAWA — The former head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission says the argument Ottawa made in 2015 that the Catholic Church was unlikely to raise the money it promised to residential school survivors is "blatantly dishonest.

OTTAWA — The federal government will extend its matching of donations to help people dealing with catastrophic flooding in Pakistan in hopes the crisis doesn't fall off the public radar.

VANCOUVER — Gas prices in Vancouver hit a new high of more than $2.39 a litre at some stations Thursday, blowing past the previous peak set this summer.

MONTREAL — Despite his widely denounced comments about immigrants, Quebec Immigration Minister Jean Boulet could keep a seat in cabinet if the Coalition Avenir Québec is re-elected Monday, leader François Legault said Thursday.

HAVRE-AUBERT, Que. — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Quebec's Îles-de-la-Madeleine Thursday, promising federal support for the archipelago hammered by post-tropical storm Fiona last weekend.

OTTAWA — The federal privacy watchdog says a data breach at a contractor for Canada's border agency involved as many as 1.38 million licence plate images and associated information.

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear an appeal of a decision that ordered a third trial for a woman who has twice been convicted of killing her two daughters.

REGINA — Gov. Gen. Mary Simon told high school students gathered in a football stadium ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation that she hopes Canada can be a place where all young people are free from judgment.

HALIFAX — It will be Sunday or Monday before all communities in Prince Edward Island are reconnected to the electricity grid — more than a week after post-tropical storm Fiona yanked down power lines across Atlantic Canada and eastern Quebec, officia