In her annual State of the European Union address, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Canada and the EU would build on their existing free trade agreement, known as CETA, with a broader “Alliance for the Future” aimed at creating “a common prosperity and economic security space.” “Above all, dear Mark, Europe and Canada believe in democracy,” von der Leyen said to [Canadian PM] Carney, who received a standing ovation at the European Parliament in Strasbou

The Quebec government plans to enact a series of measures expanding its secularism rules across public institutions, including a ban on prayer rooms in universities and CEGEPs and restricting the offering of religion-based meals. Six years after the CAQ government adopted its landmark secularism law, known as Bill 21, and only a month after adopting a bill which expanded Bill 21’s prohibition of religious symbols, the province is once again taking aim at the intersection of r