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

In Canada, when a doctor hands you a prescription, you trust that what's been recommended is the best drug for your health. What you can’t know is whether your physician has benefited financially from a relationship with the company that made the drug — and whether that relationship has affected the drug advice you got. Read More

A few eyebrows raised earlier this year when Toronto-area MP Jamil Jivani, long heralded as an essential younger voice in the Canadian conservative movement, wasn’t offered a critic role by party leader Pierre Poilievre. There are 74 official Opposition critics, which is more than half the Conservative caucus. And if Poilievre and Jivani don’t see eye to eye, one might still have thought Jivani’s relationship with U.S. Vice-President JD Vance would be a useful resource. Read More

The government gets to keep stacks of cash found by police on an Ontario man’s property — including $1.2 million buried in a tub under the floor of his garage — even though the owner was found not guilty of possessing the proceeds of crime and other charges. Read More

SHEJAIYA, Gaza City —  On the desolate edge of Shejaiya, where kilometres of concrete rubble, blackened window frames and twisted steel still divide Gaza from Israel, the international agreement meant to end hostilities is instead interrupted by daily incursions that test the fragile ceasefire. Read More

Much in politics is unpredictable, but some things are very predictable. For example, when Mark Carney unveiled his “Spend Less, Invest More” slogan and proposed to separate federal finances into an “operating budget” which he would balance in three years and another “capital budget,” it was entirely predictable that he would actually spend more but try to disguise it by re-categorizing spending as capital investment according to criteria invented by him that does not conform to any sort of accepted accounting principles. Read More

Since the October 7 pogrom by Hamas in southern Israel, Canada has seen a staggering surge in antisemitism, up 670 per cent in 2024, and in terrorism charges, up 488 per cent from April 2023 to March 2024. In both cases, the salient factor is Islamism. Read More

You can reject a budget. It’s not an inevitability, as much as the presiding government wants it to be. And on Monday, it would have been worth it, based on numbers alone. Read More

New parents quickly develop a keen understanding of the gains to be had from anything that helps avoid waking the baby. Peace and quiet for one thing. A period of calm. A moment to think. Read More

NOWA DEBA, Poland -- Polish troops on Tuesday launched a drone from the back of a pick-up truck as they trained some 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the Ukrainian border to use a new U.S.-made system designed to counter the threat from Russia. Read More

NANTERRE, France -- A French court on Tuesday said Perrier can keep selling its famed sparkling beverage as "natural mineral water", rejecting a case brought by a consumer rights group that said the label was misleading and urged the suspension of sales. Read More

U.S. President Donald Trump said Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “knew nothing about” the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, as the pair met to announce a deepening of economic ties at the White House. Read More

A fugitive wanted for murder in India who tried to sneak into Canada on Sunday has been caught by U.S. border guards. Read More

Margaret Thatcher once said that she was told her election campaign wasn’t sufficiently slick, “which we regard as a compliment”. Read More

OTTAWA — After a nail-biter vote that nearly plunged Canadians into a snap election on Monday evening, the minority Liberals survived yet another confidence vote on Tuesday. But the sequence of events was not nearly as dramatic as the night before. Read More

Donald Trump’s firm control of Washington showed signs of weakening Tuesday as Congress voted to compel the Justice Department to release its files on sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, whose earlier ties to the president have been the subject of intense scrutiny. Read More

OTTAWA — The cost of the federal bureaucracy increased last year by $6 billion — or nine per cent — over the previous year, new government figures show, and has now jumped 80 per cent over the last decade. Read More

The national director of a Jewish charity says he was told by the Canada Revenue Agency that it was audited due to being "pressured" by "outside sources." This week, Herut Canada became the third Jewish charity to have its status revoked since last year. Read More

A Canadian Christian group is suing Quebec City under the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms after the municipality cancelled a show by U.S. Christian musician Sean Feucht. Read More

The 1960s were a time of rose-coloured optimism, when the idea of a better life swept in with cultural change and new-found convenience. In North American homes, we saw new products in bold colours and innovative materials — and relying on them became a way of life for many. Read More

Métis leader Louis Riel was hanged 140 years ago on Nov. 16, 1885. Prime Minister Mark Carney took time out of being booed at the Grey Cup for a nation-to-nation hug with David Chartrand, president of the Manitoba Métis Federation. Relying on Liberal talking points, Carney said that Riel wanted a “more inclusive Canada.” Now that the festivities are over, let’s think about Riel’s true impact upon the Métis and upon Canada. Read More

A flight from Dallas to Chicago was forced to make an emergency landing in St. Louis on Sunday morning due to an alleged bomb threat, according to reports and authorities. Read More