BARDUFOSS - Canada and its allies are prepared to defend the Arctic, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday in Bardufoss, Norway, after observing NATO’s Cold Response exercises.

He held a news conference alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Asked by a German reporter whether the "conflict" over the Trump administration's demands for Greenland is settled, the leaders emphasized Greenland's independence.

"It's up to the people in Greenland and the King of Denmark to trace the future for the people in Greenland," Store said.

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration has expanded its trade investigations to 60 countries, including Canada, in an effort to shore up the president's tariff policies.

"We are trying to move very quickly," United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC Friday. "We are trying to move in a matter of months."

Greer's office announced Wednesday that it was launching investigations of excess industrial capacity in the European Union and a handful of other countries under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

A Thursday evening news release from the office expanded the list of countries targeted by the investigations, citing forced labour.

OTTAWA - Unions and MPs say a bureau at Veterans Affairs Canada which provides free legal advice to veterans who have been denied disability benefits is about to have its workforce cut almost in half.

Toufic El-Daher, national president of the Union of Veterans’ Affairs Employees, told a House of Commons committee this week that the Bureau of Pension Advocates is eliminating almost 100 temporary positions, including 24 lawyers.

The overall cuts amount to reduction of 44 per cent.

Veterans Affairs Canada spokesperson Marc Lescoutre says temporary funding granted to address a "significant backlog" at the bureau ends on March 31, and the bureau is transitioning back to "steady state operations in line with its permanent funding levels."

OTTAWA - Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Liberal Leader Mark Carney are shifting their campaigns to Quebec.

Poilievre, who held a rally in Hamilton on Tuesday night with an estimated crowd of about 4,500 people, is expected at a news conference in Montmagny, Que., around noon and at a rally in Quebec City in the evening.

Carney, who spent the first few days of the campaign in Atlantic Canada, will be in Ontario today, scheduled for an announcement and a facility tour in Windsor, a facility tour in London and a rally in Kitchener.  

The Liberal leader is then set to travel back east, telling reporters Tuesday morning that he would be in Quebec in two days.

OTTAWA - A new poll suggests Canadians are divided about what the key issue is in the federal election. 

The survey, conducted by Leger for The Canadian Press, reports that 36 per cent of respondents say the important question in this election is who is best to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump and aggressive U.S. trade actions. 

Another 33 per cent say the key question is who is best suited to change the direction Canada has taken over the last few years and improve life for Canadians.

Twenty-four per cent of respondents say the most important question is who is best to "strengthen and grow" Canada’s economy.

OTTAWA - Both the Liberal and Conservative parties have promised broad tax cuts as they work to win over voters in the early days of the federal election campaign.

Here's a closer look at how those proposals would operate — and who stands to benefit the most from them.

What are they promising?

The Liberals and Conservatives are both offering to reduce the lowest marginal tax rate in Canada, currently set at 15 per cent.