In the news today: Quebec premier meets Carney, Ontario medical residency

Among Quebec’s demands from the federal government is a more equitable distribution of asylum seekers across the country.

The province also wants the Carney government to intervene and help ensure a massive hydroelectric deal is finalized with Newfoundland and Labrador.

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Ontario forging ahead with medical residency rule for international grads it recently rescinded

Ontario is embedding in legislation a policy that would give priority for medical residency positions to applicants with a connection to the province.

The proposal would ensure a dedicated first-round stream for international medical graduates who attended an Ontario high school or university, or who lived in Ontario for at least 24 weeks in the year preceding their application.

Health Minister Sylvia Jones says they want to give priority to Ontarians, including people who may have left to study medicine abroad but want to return home to practice.

She says the legislation would be in line with approaches in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

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Audit warns military procurement faces ‘persistent‘ hurdles

An internal federal government audit delivered last year warned that the work of buying and upgrading military technology was still being plagued by bureaucratic hurdles.

The audit said it found “persistent challenges” in the procurement system, even though it is “evolving rapidly” under Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government, which has forged ahead with reforms to speed up purchases of military equipment.

The audit warned that even uncomplicated purchases tended to take on average a decade to complete, and that more complex projects to add new capabilities took anywhere from one to three decades to close out.

Asked about the audit, Conservative defence critic James Bezan called the wait times “outrageous,” while a spokesperson for MP Stephen Fuhr, Carney’s point person on reforming defence procurement, did not return a request for comment.

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Rural B.C. communities ask province to support foreign worker program changes

Leaders in some of British Columbia’s rural communities are calling on the provincial government to support changes to the temporary foreign worker program, or businesses will have to start shutting their doors.

The federal government in March announced changes to the temporary foreign worker program meant to benefit employers in rural communities struggling to fill jobs, but provinces have to opt into the program.

Tiffany Hetenyi, with the Fort St. John and District Chamber of Commerce, says business owners tell her they will have to start reducing their hours, or close for good, because of staffing shortages.

B.C.’s Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills said it’s reviewing the changes because the province wasn’t consulted before the announcement, and that it would have more to say “in the coming days.”

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Montreal to display collection from iconic Chinatown noodle shop

The City of Montreal has acquired a collection of items from an iconic Chinatown noodle factory and shop that closed down last year after 128 years of service.

In 2022, Jean-Philippe Riopel co-founded a non-profit organization called Objets de mémoire, which dedicated itself to recovering artifacts from Wing Noodles Ltd.

The collection, which comprises more than 5,000 items, was donated to the city’s Centre des mémoires montréalaises and will be displayed in the coming years as part of various museum projects.

The goal is to preserve the heritage of the iconic site in Montreal’s Chinatown, which has been described as a pillar of Montreal’s history of migration, trade and neighbourhood life.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 17, 2026.

The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

In the news today: Quebec premier meets Carney, Ontario medical residency

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