National News

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today...

British Columbia grain farmer Malcolm Odermatt says all he can do is pray for rain this spring after repeated droughts sabotaged his harvest last year.

OTTAWA — There aren't many issues that garner support across party lines in Ottawa these days.

SURREY, B.C. — Protesters calling on city councillors in Surrey, B.C.

RICHMOND — The City of Richmond in British Columbia is urging the federal government to provide more temporary housing for refugees and asylum seekers or pay for their use of the city's homeless shelter, where the newcomers took up about a third of a

OTTAWA — Canada's ambassador to the United Nations says a looming military intervention is the best chance Haiti has of uprooting gangs that have wrought escalating chaos on the Caribbean nation for years.

When Patrick Hare of Red Deer, Alta., visited a mall or a store he was the man who always held the door open for everybody, said his son Ron Hare.

VICTORIA — British Columbia is looking to put the brakes on crashes into highway overpasses by imposing the highest fines and penalties in Canada. Penalties for crashes into overpasses or other highway infrastructure by commercial vehicles in B.C.

VANCOUVER — Residents in Vancouver's only legal tent encampment are wary of a city plan to force them to temporarily move while it cleans up the site, an advocate said.

Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard on Tuesday tabled his sixth budget, with big spending increases for health and education. Here are some highlights. - Deficit of $11 billion, which includes a $1.5-billion contingency reserve and a $2.