Jermey Hansen and the rest of the Artemis II crew aboard the Orion spacecraft are “focusing on getting it all done right” ahead of re-entry Friday night, Chris Hadfield says.

Hadfield, a decorated Canadian astronaut who served as commander of the International Space Station, told Global News Friday that he has communicated with Hansen through email ahead of the crew’s return to Earth.

NASA said the four-person crew are set to splash down around 8 p.m. in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego, Calif., travelling at 38,000 kilometres an hour.

The astronauts looped around the moon this week in a six-hour lunar flyby that took them farther into space than any humans before.

Hansen is the first non-American to leave Earth’s orbit, while Hadfield was the first Canadian to perform extravehicular activity in space.

Here is what Hadfield told Global News on Friday. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What does this mission mean to you and how historic is this moment as the Artemis II returns?

A: I’ll take the second question first. It’s really historic. Nobody has ever left Earth orbit except Americans. No other country, no Soviet astronaut or Russian or Chinese astronaut has ever done it. The very first country after the United States to have someone leave Earth is Canada. And everybody should take pride in that and recognize what Jeremy Hansen has done on behalf of us all. But how I’m feeling about it, just really keenly interested and excited. So proud of how well Jeremy and his crew has done, what Canada has done to get us here, what it means for the future, and now all eyes and held breath turn towards their re-entry tonight.

Get breaking National news

Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.

Q: What will they be feeling during that fireball phase of re-entry and how has their training really prepared them for this?

A: Yeah, I was emailing back and forth with Jeremy. Pretty amazing to email with someone who’s on the way back from the moon. They’re so proud of the ship and the team and how this vehicle has done. And Jeremy just says, ‘I’m going to miss this, this is a great experience.’ But what they’re focusing on now is getting it all done right. First, they need to perfectly line up their vehicle to enter the atmosphere at exactly the right angle. If they come in a little too shallow, they’ll skip out and then that’ll make a real mess later on. If they come in a little too steep, it’ll burn them up, so they have to aim it just right. They’ll be watching that. They’ve got to jettison the service module, the life support system on the back, and then they need to expose the pristine belly of their capsule to the Earth’s atmosphere — it’s been protected from little meteoroids up until now — and then fly it down through the atmosphere. Hopefully, the computer will properly steer it as they fly down through and dissipate all that energy, and then get down to where they’re slow enough, they can pop little drogue shoots and then the three big parachutes and come down like a monstrous thistle down into the Pacific off the coast of California. It’s going to be an amazing half-hour ride.

Q: What do you think this crew will carry with them from this journey?

A: You know, the way it works is your emotions get sort of trapped in lag behind you because there’s so much amazing new stimulation. So unbelievably different things in your life and you just can’t keep up. You can’t see fast enough. You can hardly even feel fast enough for what those four people have been through. And they’ve been doing their best to share it but even they admit it, they’re just fumbling for enough vocabulary to let people know how this feels and how it actually looks. They’ll have taken tens of thousands of pictures, but they now have the rest of their lives in order to sort out what this means to them as a person and then how to share it with their family and their friends and the rest of the world and let people see where we are in history as a species. As we transitioned from exploring the moon, done by the Apollo astronauts to now to this very first flight of starting to settle on the moon, much as we did Antarctica a hundred years ago, and somehow Jeremy and his three crewmates need to get all that square in their heads immediately when they land and then with a lot of time to reflect later on.

Q: How are you feeling on this day as you await your friends to return home?

A: Well, I mean, Jeremy used to be a combat fighter pilot flying F-18s. I was a test pilot as well. Dangerous professions, but they’re part of society and there’s no guaranteed outcome. So what you do is you study it like crazy, you change who you are, you develop a huge, deep skillset for things to go wrong. But eventually somebody needs, if you want to, talk about the edge of the envelope and expanding the envelope. Someone has to test where the edges of the envelope are. That’s what Jeremy and his crew are doing. They are pushing the edge of the envelope. No human beings have ever flown this spaceship back down into the atmosphere before. We think we’ve done our math right. We did an unpiloted test, but it didn’t go perfectly, but we’re confident this is going to work today. But until someone is willing to risk really everything to go and test it, the rest of us won’t really know. So it’s extremely serious. And the crew takes it seriously. Everybody in all the space agencies is watching keenly and we’ll know whether we are right or wrong here after they’re safely back into the water of the Pacific. And I’m confident they’ll be OK, but there’s no guarantees on the edge of exploration.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Canada added 14,000 jobs in March, but the country’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.7 per cent, Statistics Canada said Friday.

While the employment was “little changed” last month, it comes on the back of a loss of 84,000 jobs in February, which raised the unemployment rate from 6.5 per cent to 6.7 per cent.

Job growth was led by a category the agency calls “other services,” which includes repair and maintenance work in the economy, as well as the professional, scientific and technical services and natural resources industries.

Canada’s natural resources sector saw a three per cent increase, adding 10,000 new jobs. Nearly half of those jobs came from Alberta alone.

The tariff-sensitive manufacturing industry eked out a few thousand job gains in March, while the finance, insurance, real estate and leasing sector led last month’s losses.

While employment in health care was little changed compared with last month, the sector added 94,000 new jobs compared with the same time last year. Over the same period, Canada shed 44,000 manufacturing jobs.

Get breaking National news

Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.

Canadians earned higher hourly wages in March compared with the same time last year, with average hourly wages rising 4.7 per cent — a jump from 3.9 per cent in February and the fastest pace in 18 months.

2:44
Canada lost 84,000 jobs in February as unemployment rate ticked up, Statistics Canada reports

The unemployment rate was steady across age groups.

For people in the “core working age” group – ages 25 to 54 – the unemployment rate was largely unchanged at 5.8 per cent.

While youth unemployment rose 1.3 percentage points in February, to 13.8 per cent, it was unchanged for youth between the ages of 15 and 24. The figure was below the recent high of 14.6 per cent recorded in September 2025.

For Canadians over 55, the unemployment rate was 4.9 per cent in March.

Canada’s economy “still faces headwinds” in the future, RBC economist Nathan Janzen said in a note Friday.

“Trade uncertainty remains ahead of negotiations to extend CUSMA this summer, and higher energy prices are cutting into household purchasing power,” Janzen said.

— with files from The Canadian Press

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Two suspects remain on the run nearly three years after the infamous gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport, police say.

To date, nine individuals have been charged or are wanted, and more than 21 charges have been laid after more than $20 million in gold and $2.5 million in cash was stolen from Pearson in April 2023.

A Peel Regional Police spokesperson told Global News in an email Thursday that 33-year-old Simran Preet Panesar and 36-year-old Prasath Paramalingam are still wanted.

Panesar, a former Air Canada employee who is believed to be in India, is wanted on charges of theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. Paramalingam, a Brampton, Ont., resident, is wanted on a bench warrant after failing to appear in court on Aug. 19, 2024.

Police arrested the majority of the suspects a year after the heist unfolded. Arsalan Chaudhary, 44, who was arrested this January at Pearson after arriving on a flight from Dubai, was sentenced to four years in prison Wednesday and ordered to repay $22 million.

The April 17, 2023, heist, which made international headlines at the time, involved 6,600 gold bars and cash stolen from Pearson.

Get breaking National news

Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.

The gold and currency were ordered from a refinery in Zurich, Switzerland, and were transported in a container through an Air Canada flight that landed in Toronto.

1:10
Toronto Pearson gold heist: Ontario man arrested at airport after arriving from India

That flight landed at 3:56 p.m. The cargo was then offloaded from the plane to an Air Canada cargo facility at 6:32 p.m.

Police alleged a suspect arrived at the facility with a “fraudulent airway bill” and gave it to an attendant.

A short time later, a forklift arrived with a container of gold and foreign currency, which was loaded into the rear of the suspect’s truck.

At around 9:30 p.m., Brink’s Canada employees went to the Air Canada cargo site to pick up the shipment of gold and currency. Police were contacted the following day and an investigation was launched.

Video surveillance obtained by officers showed that the truck drove west into Halton Region to the north of Milton, Ont. That region is more rural, and eventually the truck was lost.

2:23
What led to a breakthrough in the Toronto airport gold heist?

On April 17, 2024, police announced that 37 search warrants were issued, along with 70 production orders. Officers seized $430,000 in Canadian currency during the search warrants.

Also seized were six crudely made gold bracelets resembling bangles that were sent off for expert examination. They were pure gold and the total value was more than $89,000.

In addition, officers seized smelting pots, casts and moulds. The truck allegedly used to steal the gold and cash was also seized by police.

The investigation into the theft remains ongoing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is on the verge of turning his minority government into a majority, a possibility that lies in the results of three byelections Monday.

It’s been seven years since the Liberals enjoyed a majority of seats in the House of Commons, when then-prime minister Justin Trudeau — who came into power with a majority government in 2015 — lost seats in the 2019 federal election and was reduced to a minority.

Since then, the party has had to rely on opposition votes and confidence agreements to survive and pass legislation, which under Trudeau was often shaped by compromise with parties like the NDP.

The Liberals under Carney won 169 seats in last year’s federal election. With the latest floor-crossing from the Conservatives by MP Marilyn Gladu this week, the party now holds 171 seats — just one shy of the 172-seat majority threshold.

While crossing that threshold could make Carney’s political life easier, experts say there will still be ways for the opposition, the public and even Liberal MPs to keep the prime minister in check.

“The same mechanisms of responsible government will still be in place,” said Stewart Prest, a political science lecturer at the University of British Columbia.

Here’s what that could mean in practice.

If the Liberals win just one of Monday’s three byelections, they would have 172 seats and meet the official threshold for a majority — one that is thin, but functional.

However, one of those Liberal MPs is Speaker of the House of Commons Francis Scarpaleggia, who only votes on legislation and motions in the event of a tie.

Because a functional majority would see both the Liberals and the combined opposition parties with 171 voting members on each side, the government would have to rely on the Speaker to break those ties.

Get breaking National news

Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.

Although Scarpaleggia is a Liberal, he’s not required to vote with the government as Speaker, who will normally vote to “maintain the status quo,” according to Parliamentary procedure. That could mean preventing the government from falling in a matter of no confidence, but also to keep debate open on legislation to allow for a majority of MPs to pass it in the future.

If the Liberals win two of the three byelections Monday, they will hold 173 seats, and 174 seats if they win all three byelections, which would let them pass legislation without needing to rely on the Speaker or on any other parties to support them.

1:53
3 byelections called as Liberals near majority

The Parliament of Canada website notes that “most majority governments finish their standard four-year term in office between federal elections.”

That doesn’t mean Carney can get fully comfortable, Prest said. Even if the Liberals reach 174 seats, that will still be a slim majority.

“Mr. Carney still has to keep that majority together, he still has to keep the votes within the Liberal caucus on his side,” he said.

“If Mr. Carney really seemed to be no longer serving the interests of the party and Canadians, then there would be conversations within that Liberal caucus, and at the extreme, there would a confidence vote.”

And, just as multiple MPs have crossed the floor from the Conservatives and NDP to the Liberals since December, that possibility exists in the other direction as well.

“There are some more independently-minded Liberal MPs,” Prest said. “And clearly, if a member was willing to cross the floor to the Liberals, if things don’t go the way that they expected, they may choose to cross the floor again, or perhaps sit as an independent.”

Dissent has already shown up in the Liberal caucus under Carney, such as when former heritage minister Steven Guilbeault left cabinet last year in protest over the memorandum of understanding with Alberta on energy policy.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Thursday warned Canadians against the possibility of giving Carney “unchecked power” through a majority, which he said was formed by “dirty backroom deals” with floor-crossing MPs.

One reason Prest said he disagreed with the “unchecked power” claim is the current makeup of parliamentary committees, which must review every piece of legislation that passes first and second readings in the House of Commons.

Currently, committees reflect the minority government in the House, meaning opposition members narrowly outnumber the Liberals.

That has allowed the Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois to band together and stall high-profile government bills on immigration, hate crimes and other issues over various concerns.

If the Liberals win a majority on Monday, however, that minority committee structure would remain the same. In order to change it, Carney would have to prorogue Parliament and start a new session that would restructure the committees with a majority of Liberals on each panel.

1:26
Carney ‘absolutely not’ considering proroguing Parliament 

Carney said he was “absolutely not” considering such a move when asked by reporters this month, adding the possibility “has never even entered my thinking.”

“As long as the committee membership remains the same … there is a real avenue for for influence to ensure that legislation gets through that committee phase of review before it returns to the House of Commons for the third reading of the vote,” Prest said.

Even if Carney does end up proroguing Parliament and changing the committee structure, Prest said opposition members can still collectively influence legislation in a “collaborative spirit.”

If the Liberals decide to ignore that collaboration, he said the opposition can still use the “ultimate check” on politics: public opinion.

“They can bring those kinds of issues up with the population and say the Liberal government is not doing what they promised to do, not doing what Canadians are expecting,” he said.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Trustees in Ontario are waiting to see if they’ll still be in place for October’s elections, as the education minister prepares to present his plans for school board reform.

Before legislators returned to their ridings ahead of the Good Friday long weekend, Education Minister Paul Calandra promised his long-awaited trustee-related legislation was finally ready.

“Just a few more sleeps and you’ll be able to see where we’re going,” he teased in a scrum with reporters at Queen’s Park on April 2.

For almost a year, Calandra has openly mused about the future of trustees, discussing the constitutional protections afforded to French and Catholic Trustees and highlighting the lack of cover for public boards.

An overhaul of school boards and the potential elimination of trustees was initially expected toward the end of 2025, and then pushed back.

Instead, Calandra continued a widespread takeover of school boards. There are now eight boards in Ontario under the direct supervision of the government, many of them among the largest in the province.

Get breaking National news

Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.

The boards under supervision are:

1. Peel District School Board
2. York Catholic District School Board
3. Toronto District School Board
4. Toronto Catholic District School Board
5. Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board
6. Thames Valley District School Board
7. Near North District School Board
8. Ottawa-Carleton District School Board

At those boards, government-appointed supervisors have taken over running the boards instead of elected trustees.

6:01
Why Ontario education minister is determined to overhaul how school boards work

However, board takeovers are, theoretically, temporary measures. Calandra has said he will return boards to their trustees once they are going in a direction he approves of.

Speaking to reporters, he said he was pleased with the progress under supervisors but that boards “shouldn’t expect” to be under the control of trustees in the near future.

“I think we’re starting to see boards under supervision making the progress that we need,” he said.

“Certainly, in Near North we’re seeing some great progress with respect to the super build. Frankly, all the supervised boards, they’re doing what they need to do to put the boards back on track and we’re seeing the results of that.”

As for the details of his school board overhaul, which has now been through the cabinet process, Calandra said he would be “releasing the legislation as soon as we get back after the constituency week.”

Legislators return to Toronto on Monday morning.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

There is a sense of relief among faculty who work at Okanagan College after an arbitrator handed down an interim ruling, stating the post-secondary institution violated its employment contract when it laid off staff last year.

“This is the first time we had to fight for our job security and we won,” said Caroline Gilchrist, president of the Okanagan College Faculty Association.

“It is historical.”

The college laid off three Arts faculty members and restructured 14 positions amid declining international student enrolment following a federal cap on study permits.

“Since 2024, our total international student population has decreased by 50 per cent (from over 2,200 to 1,100 as of January 2026). We anticipate a further decline in Fall 2026,”  stated Kevin Parnell, associate director of college relations, in an email.

The union says while it understands the financial pressures, the college acted outside of the collective agreement, which allows layoffs only in cases of program cuts, redundancy or financial crisis.

“Our collective agreement has language that provides a path for the college to use in a situation like this,” Gilchrist said. “For some reason, the college chose not to use it.”

Get daily National news

Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.

According to Parnell, while the college is limited in what it can say as it awaits the full and final decision from the arbitrator, it is taking steps to reinstate the three faculty members at the centre of the ruling by May 1.

While the union is pleased the college respects the ruling, it says reinstatement shouldn’t be the only option.

It also argues remedies should be agreed upon by both sides.

“Reinstatement may not be the best remedy for every single one of these individuals,” Gilchrist said. “A year later, every one of these faculty members, they’re in a different point in their lives and they may be looking for a different type of damage.”

1:54
High school students banned from OK College

The labour dispute is just the latest sign of what appear to be growing tensions between college administration and the faculty association, which in June of 2025 held a no-confidence vote.

Gilchrist said that resulted in 82.9 per cent of the 211 members casting votes saying they have lost confidence in the leadership of college president Dr. Neil Fassina.

“It’s a continuation of our faculty really feeling like this administration doesn’t truly value what we do,” Gilchrist said.

Parnell said the College continues to consider all aspects of operations as it seeks to respond to the declining enrolment, adding, “our focus is on minimizing impacts to students across our region.”

5:10
International student cuts in B.C. drastically exceed target

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Marilyn Gladu crossed the floor from the Conservative caucus to join the Liberals because it was the “best thing” for her riding, the country and herself, the Sarnia MP said Thursday night in Montreal.

Gladu stole the opening show at the Liberal national convention after she stunned political circles across the country by unexpectedly crossing the floor from the Tories earlier this week.

After just a day in her new party, Gladu told reporters in a late-night scrum that she’s “super excited” to be at her first Liberal confab in Quebec, and she’s “proud to be part of the prime minister’s new government” at a “critical moment for the country.”

2:15
Liberals kick off convention after latest Tory defection

The former Conservative MP has come under scrutiny for her history of taking positions that clash with Liberal policy and for her past alignment with the Freedom Convoy and vaccine skeptics. But she showered praise Thursday evening on the Liberals’ economic agenda and pledged to promote the party’s core values.

“I will vote with the government, I will protect the rights and freedoms of women to chose, for people to be who they are and love who they love,” she said, and noted she’s “ready to support the rights of women in this country.”

Earlier in the day — in a scene carefully orchestrated for TV cameras — Prime Minister Mark Carney and an entourage of cabinet ministers walked recent Liberal convert Gladu through throngs of party members lined up in the convention hall for selfies and handshakes.

Little more than a year ago, in the waning days of Justin Trudeau’s leadership, Liberals were gloomily contemplating almost certain electoral defeat at the hands of the Conservatives.

But as Liberals gathered for their national convention Thursday, the face of the party looked a lot more like it did when Trudeau’s father ran it: a brokerage party made up of people with disparate views.

That, at least, was the impression prominent Liberals were trying to convey.

5:18
Another floor crossing brings Carney’s government ever-closer to a majority

One day after Gladu left the Conservative benches to join the government side, Liberal House leader Steven MacKinnon told reporters outside the convention hall Thursday the party is “obviously extremely happy to welcome Marilyn” to the fold.

“Many people who live in Conservative ridings are responding positively to the kind of policies that Mr. Carney is putting forward, that the Liberal party is proud to put forward,” he said. “Obviously, Marilyn is one of those. We know there are others who want to be part of the positive building of the country that we’re undertaking.”

Get daily National news

Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.

Supporters were all smiles before the TV cameras, cheering on the fourth ex-Tory to join their ranks.

Cabinet ministers and party members defended her decision to cross the floor.

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said the “party of government” should be able to host “all perspectives within Parliament.”

“I welcome Marilyn Gladu with open arms, as I have with Lori Idlout and all the others,” he said, mentioning the former New Democrat who crossed the floor to the Liberals last month.

“Ultimately, we will keep expanding and make sure we’re an open and welcome place for Canadians of all political stripes to join.”

Health Minister Marjorie Michel said Gladu is welcome under the party’s “real big tent.”

“If people are coming to us, I think it’s because we’re more welcoming maybe than others,” she said.

Liberal MP Chris D’Entremont, the first of the four former Conservatives to cross the aisle since late last year, said it’s time to “put our political sides aside and actually focus on the things that are important for Canadians.”

“That’s what you saw in the floor crossings and I think that’s what you’re seeing in the Canadian citizenship where they’re looking across Canada and saying, ‘That guy’s got a plan that makes sense to me,’” he said.

Bill Kudla, a former supporter of the late NDP leader Jack Layton, ran in 2025 for the Liberals in a New Brunswick riding but was defeated by the Conservative incumbent Rob Moore. He said Canadians should be allowed to change their political views and that now is the time to band together in the face of American aggression.

1:48
Longtime Conservative Marilyn Gladu crosses floor, Liberals 1 seat shy of majority

“To have a stable government for four years while (U.S. President Donald Trump) is in power is extremely important. I’d rather not run again right now in lieu of having a stable government so that we can fight back,” he said.

The opposition floor crossers have brought a majority government within reach for the Carney Liberals — though MacKinnon and other cabinet ministers said they did not want to count their chickens before they hatch.

The convention kicked off just ahead of three byelections scheduled for Monday, two in Liberal strongholds. The results are expected to grant the Liberals a majority mandate without the need to call a general election.

The party is also riding high in the polls nationally. Polling aggregator 338Canada has the Liberals at 45 per cent support.

Zita Astravas, a consultant with Wellington Advocacy and Trudeau’s former director of issues management, said Liberals from across the country are “feeling pretty good” right now.

“There’s a spring in people’s steps being a Liberal in politics right now,” she said.

“It’s not about patting themselves on the back, but momentum and energy are important in a political party,” said Jonathan Kalles, a consultant with McMillan Vantage who formerly served as Quebec adviser to Trudeau. “Right now the Liberals have it, so it’s an opportune time to get everyone together.”

Carney is set to address the convention on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET — the first time he has done so since winning the leadership.

Kalles said many at the party level still know little about Carney and the convention offers a way for them to get to know him, and for party brass to check the pulse of the grassroots.

That’s going to become increasingly important for Carney as the caucus gets more diverse and more challenging to manage, he said.

“With people that have such diverse points of view and are fairly ideological, that becomes a challenge. Most Liberals may lean one side or the other, but I would say they are not particularly ideological,” Kalles said. “I don’t know that it’s sustainable in the long term.”

Cameron Ahmad, a former director of communications for Trudeau, said five months of floor crossers in Parliament sends “a really strong signal that the party is doing well” and shows the party remains an “inclusive and welcoming place.”

Ahmad said Carney has re-energized the party and he remembers feeling a similar electricity in the air when Trudeau was first elected leader.

“There was such a breath of fresh air into the party and people felt like there was a renewal,” Ahmad said.

Azam Ishmael, the Liberal party’s national director, boasted Thursday that the party expects a “record-breaking number” of supporters to attend the convention — around 4,500 members.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 9, 2026.

1:37
Longtime Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu crosses floor to Liberals

Previous Video

Next Video