The Home Office’s handling of the UK’s skyrocketing modern slavery cases has been branded a “shambles” after MPs heard a new group set up to tackle the scourge has yet to meet. Safeguarding minister Sarah Dines faced a fiery backlash from the Home Affairs Select Committee after revealing stakeholders involved in the government’s new modern…

A Conservative MP was threatened by the Chinese consulate in Toronto ahead of the 2021 federal election, a House committee heard. At a Procedure and House Committee (PROC) hearing on April 14, Conservative MP Michael Cooper put that question to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s chief of staff Katie Telford, who was testifying in relation to recent…

A Tory councillor who said she didn’t want “Pride sex flags” along her local high street and that “sex is for the bedroom and private life” has been suspended by the Conservative party. On Saturday, Angela Kilmartin, an 81-year-old Conservative councillor in Essex, southeast England, was told by the Witham Conservative Association that she had…

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has ordered an investigation into Conservative Party Chairman Nadhim Zahawi, who is facing growing calls for him to quit after paying a penalty to resolve a multi-million-pound tax dispute. Zahawi, who attends Sunak’s Cabinet, has been under pressure since UK media alleged he had avoided tax by using Balshore Investments,…

An MP who has been calling for a halt to the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine on social media has been expelled from the Conservative Party after he was told he had “crossed a line.” On Wednesday Andrew Bridgen was suspended by the Tory chief whip for “spreading misinformation about COVID vaccines.” To lose a…

Former Conservative staffer Dion Ahwai has been charged with mischief to data related to an investigation of the alleged theft of materials from Erin O’Toole’s Zoom account during the 2020 leadership race, the RCMP said Wednesday. During the pandemic-era contest that elected O’Toole as federal Conservative party leader, his team accused rival Peter MacKay’s camp…

The federal government says it is open to MPs tweaking a bill that would subject streaming companies, such as Netflix, to the same rules as traditional Canadian broadcasters. Chris Bittle, parliamentary secretary to the heritage minister, says in the House of Commons there is room for MPs to amend the bill after it goes to…

A backbench member of Parliament who entered the Conservative leadership race on a promise to trigger an inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic says he’s aware of the “political realities” he faces. Marc Dalton, a two-term representative from British Columbia who is Métis and speaks French, says he entered the contest because he felt like it…

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says neither he nor his Progressive Conservative caucus members will be endorsing anyone for the leadership of the federal Conservative party. When asked about it Tuesday at an unrelated announcement in Brampton, Ont., Ford said both he and the people in his caucus have their hands full supporting the people of…

OTTAWA—Former Quebec premier Jean Charest says he’s waiting to see party rules before deciding whether he will run to be the next Conservative leader. Charest met Wednesday night with MPs and senators at a hotel in downtown Ottawa at a reception planned by two people who want him to run. On his way in he…