National News

OTTAWA — Black Conservatives energized by the rising star of Leslyn Lewis hope to use her unexpectedly robust leadership bid to bolster Black representation in the party's ranks.

The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. There are 681,328 confirmed cases in Canada. _ Canada: 681,328 confirmed cases (79,293 active, 584,652 resolved, 17,383 deaths).

OTTAWA — Canada has obtained an agreement to allow greater family and consular access for Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, the two Canadians detained for more than two years in China.

Canada's largest province laid out its plan Wednesday to administer the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in all nursing and high-risk retirement homes by the middle of next month as it works to boost its immunization capacity.

VANCOUVER — A British Columbia Supreme Court judge reserved his decision Wednesday on whether bail restrictions will be loosened for Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou as she fights extradition to the United States.

The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times Eastern): 8:15 p.m. The B.C. Centre for Disease Control's website says the province is reporting 519 new cases of COVID-19 and 12 deaths.

NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — A lawyer for a man convicted of stabbing two high school students in Abbotsford, B.C., said his client didn't have the capacity to understand what he did was wrong because of a mental disorder.

The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 7:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. There are 681,328 confirmed cases in Canada. _ Canada: 681,328 confirmed cases (79,293 active, 584,652 resolved, 17,383 deaths).

MONTREAL — A major Montreal synagogue was vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti Wednesday afternoon.

VICTORIA — Racist comments directed towards a British Columbia Indigenous community fighting a COVID-19 outbreak were denounced Wednesday by federal Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller.