POILIEVRE CALLS FOR EMERGENCY GAS TAX PAUSE AMID MIDDLE EAST WAR PRICE SPIKE — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is demanding the Carney government temporarily lift the GST and federal excise tax on gasoline and diesel for the rest of the year, citing surging fuel costs driven by the conflict in the Middle East.

CANADIAN JEREMY HANSEN HEADS TO THE MOON IN HISTORIC ARTEMIS II LAUNCH — NASA's Artemis II lifted off Wednesday evening from Kennedy Space Center with Ontario-raised astronaut Jeremy Hansen on board, marking the first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years and the first time a Canadian has ever left low-Earth orbit.

CANADA HAS NO FISCAL PLAN TO HIT NATO'S 5% SPENDING TARGET, CD HOWE WARNS — The CD Howe Institute says the Carney government's November budget contained zero long-term strategy for reaching NATO's new defence benchmark, with the $150 billion annual price tag rivalling all federal health and education transfers to provinces combined.

ALBERTA SEPARATISTS PLAN TO BYPASS COURTS AND GO STRAIGHT TO SMITH — Stay Free Alberta leader Mitch Sylvestre says if a First Nations injunction halts the independence petition process, he'll bring the signatures directly to Premier Danielle Smith and ask her to call the referendum herself, a path the UCP government has already quietly left open.