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Source: Canadian Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has issued a proclamation designating Thursday as a day for the United States to celebrate victory in World War II as countries in Europe already do.

Cities from London to Moscow are holding parades, flyovers and memorials this week as the world observes Thursday’s 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, when Nazi Germany surrendered to Allied forces, including the U.S.

Here’s what to know about Trump’s plans:

What is Trump doing and why?

The Republican president is designating specific days for the U.S. to celebrate being on the winning side in World War I and World War II. He complained in recent social media posts that Americans don’t spend enough time celebrating those achievements, which he said wouldn’t have been possible without the U.S.

“Many of our allies and friends are celebrating May 8th as Victory Day, but we did more than any other Country, by far, in producing a victorious result on World War II. I am hereby renaming May 8th as Victory Day for World War II and November 11th as Victory Day for World War I,” he said last week on social media. “We won both Wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything — That’s because we don’t have leaders anymore, that know how to do so! We are going to start celebrating our victories again!”

Can Trump rename an existing federal holiday?

No. Nov. 11 is already Veterans Day, a federal holiday in the U.S., and only Congress can create, rename or take it back. That could explain why Trump backed away from his “renaming” plan and said he’d instead be “declaring” national holidays instead.

“We won two World Wars, but we never took credit for it — Everyone else does! All over the World, the Allies are celebrating the Victory we had in World War II. The only Country that doesn’t celebrate is the United States of America, and the Victory was only accomplished because of us,” he wrote Monday on social media. “Without the United States, the War would have been won by other Countries, and what a different World it would be. Therefore, I am hereby declaring a National Holiday in celebration of the Victories of World War I, where the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, and World War II, where the Victory date was May 8, 1945.”

He signed a proclamation on Wednesday that designates May 8, 2025, as a “day in celebration of Victory Day for World War II.” He’s expected to issue a similar proclamation for World War I later this year.

Is Thursday a day off from work?

No, Thursday is not a federal holiday and therefore not a day off from work. Only Congress can create federal holidays, and Trump has complained that there already are too many of them.

What does he envision will happen around the U.S. on these days?

It’s unclear. Trump didn’t say what he envisions happening, and the proclamation didn’t include any details. But he said during an unrelated appearance Wednesday in the Oval Office that he noticed France and other countries were “all getting ready for Victory Day.”

“We don’t celebrate it and I think that’s a great disservice,” Trump said.

What happens in other countries?

On major anniversaries like this year’s 80th, Britain celebrates VE Day with parades, airplane flyovers and memorials. The British royal family traditionally watches the airplanes pass overhead from a balcony at Buckingham Palace.

Russia celebrates on Friday, and its Victory Day parades are a massive show of its armed forces, with thousands of troops, scores of heavy equipment rolling across Red Square and flyovers involving dozens of warplanes. Military parades, fireworks and other festivities are held in cities across the country.

What have veterans groups said about Trump’s plans?

Rob Couture, director of public affairs for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said they are encouraged by any steps that “bring attention to the service of veterans from that time.”

Just over 66,100 of the 16.4 million Americans who served in World War II were alive as of 2024.

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Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

Darlene Superville, The Associated Press



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EDMONTON — A former Alberta premier has a new job in the provincial courts.

The provincial government says David Hancock has been named assistant chief justice of the Alberta Court of Justice in the Edmonton Family and Youth Division.

Hancock, a long-time legislature member, served as interim premier and Progressive Conservative Party leader after the 2014 resignation of Alison Redford, later calling it the “best summer job that I’ve ever had.”

Hancock retired from politics after Jim Prentice was named as leader and was appointed in 2017 as a provincial court judge.

Before politics, Hancock received his law degree from the University of Alberta in 1979 and is a committee board member for the Alberta Law Reform Institute.

Chief Justice James Hunter says Hancock’s experiences and abilities will serve him well in maintaining access to justice for families in the Edmonton area.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2025.

The Canadian Press

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OTTAWA — Canada’s energy CEOs are calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to scrap the emissions cap on oil and gas producers and repeal industrial carbon pricing to help bolster the industry.

Thirty-eight CEOs of Canadian energy companies signed a letter congratulating Carney on his election win and pitching policy measures they say would help the prime minister make good on his promise to build the fastest-growing economy in the G7.

“As a major contributor to the Canadian economy, with significant untapped potential, the energy sector must play a pivotal role in your pursuit of this ambition,” the letter reads.

“Your focus on fostering energy independence and enhancing Canada’s energy infrastructure and clean technology requires major sector investment and globally competitive energy and carbon policies. Over the last decade, the layering and complexity of energy policies has resulted in a lack of investor confidence and, consequently, a barrier to investment.”

The CEOs say they want an overhaul of the Impact Assessment Act — which sets out the process for assessing major projects — and of the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, which bans oil tankers carrying more than 12,500 metric tons of crude from stopping along parts of B.C.’s coastline.

Carney campaigned on expediting reviews of major energy infrastructure projects. He promised before the election to move forward with a “one project, one review” approach by recognizing assessments conducted by the provinces and territories.

The energy CEOs also called on Carney to repeal the industrial carbon pricing system. Carney campaigned on strengthening the policy after he scrapped the consumer carbon price.

“The current federal price and stringency trajectory results in uncompetitive costs compared to those we compete with to deliver our products to market,” the CEOs wrote.

“A solution is to revert to the functioning system where provinces administer the policies and pricing to enable emissions-reduction investments, improve emissions performance, and maintain competitiveness.”

The federal government unveiled its proposed emissions cap regulations late last year. They would compel upstream oil and gas operations to reduce emissions to 35 per cent below where they were in 2019 by sometime between 2030 and 2032.

Carney said before the election he wouldn’t be scrapping the regulations.

“We continue to believe the federal government’s cap on emissions creates uncertainty, is redundant, will limit growth and unnecessarily result in production cuts, and stifle infrastructure investments,” the CEOs wrote.

“Together, we can drive investment into emissions reductions by simplifying the regulatory regime, establishing an attractive fiscal environment, and ensuring carbon policies protect our export industries.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2025.

Nick Murray, The Canadian Press

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama will soon join the states that have banned or restricted the presence of cellphones in schools.

The Alabama Senate on Wednesday voted 30-2 for the bill to prohibit students in K-12 public schools from using phones during the school day. The phones must be “turned off and stored off their person in a locker, car or similar storage location” during the instructional day.

The bill now goes to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey for her signature. Ivey used a portion of her State of the State address earlier this year to urge lawmakers to pass the cellphone ban.

“In the school systems where this has been implemented, it has worked,” Republican Sen. Donnie Chesteen said.

Many schools already ban the use of the devices. The legislation will require all school systems to do so. The Alabama bill leaves it up to schools on how to store the devices.

A growing number of states are moving to ban or restrict cellphones in schools. The push has been fueled by concerns that phones are a distraction in the classroom and that screen time and social media negatively impact mental health.

Several states, including Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia, have enacted measures banning or restricting students’ use of cellphones in schools. Similar bills have been proposed in multiple statehouses across the country.

Republican Sen. Chris Elliott tried unsuccessfully to add an amendment to create an exemption for students to communicate with their parents.

“You are going to hear from parents back home if this passes, and they are not able to communicate with their child about practice being cancelled, a car breaking down,” Elliott said.

The Associated Press

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TORONTO — Pop musician Sara Quin says social media has “tragically torn the world to shreds” in recent years, and it’s time people consider ways to reestablish a more positive sense of community.

The Calgary-raised performer, who’s part of the duo Tegan and Sara, says while she’s certain some have found “beautiful connection online,” she fears it’s done more to “ruin the world” and stoke political divisions.

Quin was joined by her twin sister Tegan at Toronto’s Departure Festival for a conversation about the Tegan and Sara Foundation, which they created in 2016 after the election of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The foundation offers financial support to grassroots and community-based organizations such as youth summer camps, and helped create an LGBTQ+ health care directory.

The sisters say they want to back initiatives that help build stronger communities, something that’s become even more important to them in their mid-40s.

Sara Quin says she used to subscribe to the mindset that it was better to “silence, shun or push out” people who didn’t agree with her views, but she found it only left her feeling isolated.

“We have got to be willing to listen to each other, make space for ideas and opinions that don’t line up with ours, and figure out if there’s a consensus,” she said Wednesday.

“I just want to see people be civil with each other,” she added.

“I don’t want to see politicians dismissing, chastising and brutalizing each other for fun, likes (or) bits on the internet. I just want to see people be kinder.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2025.

David Friend, The Canadian Press

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a plan Wednesday to use medical data and records from people on Medicaid and Medicare to help study autism although experts say it’s unlikely to help reveal the condition’s root causes.

The program will involve a data sharing agreement between the National Institutes of Health, the government’s health research arm, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which has access to claims data from nearly 150 million Americans across the country.

“We’re using this partnership to uncover the root causes of autism and other chronic diseases,” Kennedy said in a statement.

The agreement will be “consistent with applicable privacy laws to protect Americans’ sensitive health information,” the HHS statement said. The health department did not respond to additional questions about the program.

Using the data, the agency said researchers will focus on autism diagnosis trends, health outcomes from medical or behavioral outcomes, access to care based on demographics and geography as well the economic burden of autism on families and health care systems.

The problem is that this isn’t the kind of data needed to answer questions about autism’s causes, said Helen Tager-Flusberg, professor emerita at Boston University who leads a new Coalition of Autism Scientists pushing back on Kennedy’s characterizations of the condition.

“Enough research has been done at this point to know there is no simple magic bullet,” she said, cautioning that this type of dataset won’t help with the type of research most needed — into genetics and other prenatal, preconception and early infancy factors.

Kennedy has directed the health department to undertake a far-reaching research effort to identify the causes of autism, a complex disorder that impacts the brain. Announcing his plans last month, Kennedy said he plans to provide answers as to what causes autism by September. He has since said the department will determine at least “some” of the causes.

His research directive comes as autism rates in the U.S. are rising, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention releasing a report that an estimated 1 in 31 U.S. children have autism, a marked increase from 2020. Scientists and researchers who study autism have said that increase in diagnoses is the result of increased awareness about the disorder, especially among people who exhibit milder symptoms of autism.

Kennedy has rejected that explanation in public appearances, instead describing autism as a “preventable disease” that is caused by environmental factors.

Autism is not considered a disease but a complex brain disorder. Those who have spent decades researching autism have found no single cause, although genetic factors are associated with it. In addition to genetics, scientists have identified various possible factors, including the age of a child’s father, the mother’s weight and whether she had diabetes or was exposed to certain chemicals.

Kennedy’s comments have sparked alarm among autism researchers, who fear he will use the study to support a discredited theory that vaccines cause autism. Kennedy, a longtime vaccine critic has pushed that theory before, although decades of research has found no link between vaccines and autism. President Donald Trump has also suggested that vaccines could be to blame for autism rates.

The new platform that HHS plans to launch around autism will be a “pilot,” that will be used to study chronic conditions and treatments, the agency said.

Associated Press writer Lauran Neergaard contributed reporting.

Amanda Seitz, The Associated Press


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OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney held a phone call with premiers Wednesday afternoon to brief them following his apparently successful first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

The virtual briefing with provincial and territorial leaders also came after Alberta’s premier publicly raised the spectre of the province separating from Canada amid concerns about western alienation.

Carney and Trump spent about two hours together Tuesday at the White House, including about half an hour in front of the cameras in the Oval Office.

It was their first face-to-face discussion of U.S.-Canada relations and Trump’s ongoing trade war.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew sent a letter to Carney on Wednesday sharing the province’s aim to partner on several nation-building projects.

They include creating a trade corridor through the Port of Churchill, establishing Indigenous “fair trade zones” and developing critical minerals infrastructure, with Kinew writing that “Manitoba is the Costco of critical minerals.”

Kinew said Manitoba “stands ready to collaborate” with the prime minister as well as all provinces and territories to “build a stronger Canada on projects of national interest.”

“We will always be the true, north, strong and free,” Kinew said.

Carney was sworn in as prime minister March 14 and soon after plunged Canada into a general election, winning a minority mandate for the Liberals on April 28.

Carney and Trump appeared to emerge from the White House meeting pleased with how it had gone. Trump indicated he liked Carney and that there had been no tension during their talks.

Carney said while the leaders are now “fully engaged,” there’s “a lot more work to do.”

International Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who attended the meeting with Trump, was expected to join the call with premiers Wednesday.

Carney said he and Trump agreed to talk further in the coming weeks and will meet in person again in June, when Carney hosts the G7 leaders at a summit in Alberta.

“Really, today marked the end of the beginning of a process of the United States and Canada redefining that relationship of working together,” Carney said.

“The question is how we will co-operate in the future. How we can build an economic and security relationship built on mutual respect, built on common interests that delivers transformational benefits to our economies.”

Carney said he and Trump met as the leaders of “sovereign nations” and he told the president more than once that Canadians will never be interested in becoming Americans.

He said Canada must focus on what it can control.

“We are going to reinforce our strength at home,” Carney said, adding that his government will reinforce security and boost the economy.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s government recently introduced legislation that would lower the bar petitioners need to meet to trigger a provincial referendum on separation.

When asked about the legislation during a press conference in Washington on Tuesday, Carney said Canada is stronger when the provinces work together.

“As an Albertan, I firmly believe that,” he said. “You can always ask a question, but I know what I would respond clearly.”

On Tuesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford criticized talk of Alberta separating and said Canada must be united in its fight against the United States.

“This is a time to unite the country, not people saying, ‘Oh, I’m leaving the country,'” Ford said.

Fen Hampson, a Carleton University professor and co-chair of a group of experts on Canada-U.S. relations, said Carney has to manage a “two-track set” of negotiations.

First, he faces coming negotiations on the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement. CUSMA is scheduled to be reviewed in 2026 but Trump has indicated he wants it reopened sooner.

Then there is the “more immediate” negotiating challenge of persuading Washington to lift recently imposed tariffs against Canada, Hampson said.

“That’s the first order of the day because I think he recognizes, our government recognizes, that you can’t be renegotiating (a trade deal) when essentially the Americans have broken the back of the agreement with these very punitive tariffs,” he said.

Carney said Tuesday that with respect to re-establishing a constructive relationship to negotiate a new economic and security partnership, he looks “forward, not back” and thinks he and Trump established a “good basis” to proceed.

While Trump said Tuesday there was nothing Carney could say to get him to lift the tariffs immediately, Hampson said the president is “quite capable” of changing his mind.

“We’ve seen that before in many cases,” he said. “We’ve even seen it with tariffs. He’s imposed tariffs and then lowered them or delayed them.”

Working in Canada’s favour, Hampson said, is the fact the American economy is “about to tank” as a result of tariffs imposed on Canada and other countries, including China. The challenge will be to get Trump to understand the importance of Canada’s market, he added.

Carney is expected to name a new cabinet next week, ahead of the return of Parliament at the end of the month.

Hampson said he suspects the prime minister will be making some changes to his core team and that he’s going to have to pick people who are “tough and good negotiators.”

“As he looks to potential cabinet appointments, he really needs to look at them not just in terms of their management and ministerial skills, but in terms of their negotiating skills because they’re going to have to do some of the negotiating.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2025.

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press

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MONTREAL — Asylum claims doubled at a Quebec border crossing in April as the Trump administration seeks to strip legal protections from hundreds of thousands of migrants.

The Canada Border Services Agency says there were 2,733 asylum claims in April at the St-Bernard-de-Lacolle port of entry, south of Montreal, up from 1,356 claims in March and 755 in February.

That’s a fourfold increase over the same period last year, when there were 670 asylum claims at the Quebec border crossing in April.

The steady increase coincides with U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to revoke temporary protected status for 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians living in the United States.

But the overall number of asylum claims across Canada so far this year has dropped by half compared to the same time last year, and the border agency says it has increased removals of people who are inadmissible to Canada.

Asylum seekers coming from the U.S. can only make claims in Canada if they meet certain exceptions to the Safe Third Country Agreement, and the agency says it has returned 1,439 claimants to the U.S. so far this year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2025.

The Canadian Press

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WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans have added a provision to their sweeping tax cut package that would authorize the sale of thousands of acres of public lands in Nevada and Utah, prompting outrage from Democrats and environmental groups who called the plan a betrayal that could lead to increased drilling, mining and logging in the West.

Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee adopted the land sales proposal early Wednesday morning. The initial draft had not included it amid bipartisan opposition.

The land sale provision put forward by Republican Reps. Mark Amodei of Nevada and Celeste Maloy of Utah would sell thousands of acres of public lands in the two states, and calls for some of the parcels to be considered for affordable housing projects. Rep. Joe Neguse , D-Colo., called the plan “deeply irresponsible.”

“Public lands shouldn’t have a price tag on them. But (President) Donald Trump and his allies in Congress are working like mad to hand over our public lands to billionaires and corporate polluters to drill, mine and log with the bare minimum oversight or accountability,” said Athan Manuel, director of Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program. The lands potentially for sale “belong to all Americans. They shouldn’t be given away to pad corporate bottom lines,” Manuel said.

The sales were approved as the Natural Resources committee voted 26-17 to advance legislation that would allow increased leasing of public lands for drilling, mining and logging while clearing the path for more development by speeding up government approvals. Royalty rates paid by companies to extract oil, gas and coal would be cut, reversing former Democratic President Joe Biden’s attempts to curb fossil fuels to help address climate change.

The measure is part of Trump’s big bill of tax breaks, spending cuts and beefed-up funding to halt migrants. House Speaker Mike Johnson has set a goal of passing the package out of his chamber by Memorial Day. All told, 11 different House committees are crafting portions of the bill.

Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, a Republican and former Interior secretary in the first Trump administration, had said before the vote that he was drawing a “red line” on public land sales.

“It’s a no now. It will be a no later. It will be a no forever,” said Zinke, whose state includes large parcels of federally owned lands.

Zinke and Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-New Mexico, are set to lead a new bipartisan Public Lands Caucus intended to protect and expand access to America’s public lands. The caucus was set to launch on Wednesday, hours after the resources panel vote.

Oil and gas royalty rates would drop from 16.7% on public lands and 18.75% offshore to a uniform 12.5% under the committee-passed bill, which still faces a vote in the full House and Senate once it is incoporated into the final legislative package. Royalties for coal would drop from 12.5% to 7%.

The measure calls for four oil and gas lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge over the next decade. It also seeks to boost the ailing coal industry with a mandate to make available for leasing 6,250 square miles of public lands — an area greater in size than Connecticut.

Republican supporters say the lost revenue would be offset by increased development. It’s uncertain if companies would have an appetite for leases given the industry’s precipitous decline in recent years as utilities switched to cleaner burning fuels and renewable energy.

Drew McConville, a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress, denounced the committee vote.

“The Trump tax bill was already a massive and historic sellout of U.S. lands and waters to corporate interests. This dark-of-night maneuver shows how shamelessly focused congressional Republicans are on sacrificing public benefits to pay for Trump’s reckless tax cuts. If this bill passes, the losses to America’s great outdoor legacy will be felt for generations,” McConville said in a statement.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner in March proposed using “underutilized” federal land for affordable housing. Turner said some 7 million homes are needed. Officials under Biden also sought to use public lands for affordable housing, although on a smaller scale.

The agencies have not yet released more details of the proposal.

Matthew Daly And Matthew Brown, The Associated Press



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Health Minister Sylvia Jones is defending the province’s record against measles as new infections rise sharply.

The latest public health data released last week shows 223 new infections across Ontario in the previous week.

That brings the total number of people in the province who have fallen ill from the virus to 1,243 since October. That includes 84 people who have been hospitalized, 63 of them children.

Jones says Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore has been helping local public health units where the outbreaks are occurring.

She says Moore directed health units to focus on vaccinating children more than a year ago.

Opposition parties and some health officials have slammed Ontario’s approach to the growing outbreak.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2025.

Liam Casey, The Canadian Press

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