In the news today: Byelections, Quebec premier, N.S. strike, New cancer study

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed:

Voters head to the polls in federal byelections expected to hand Liberals majority

Voters head to the polls today in three federal byelections widely expected to give Prime Minister Mark Carney a majority government.

Two are Liberal strongholds in Toronto, while the third is a tight race in the Montreal suburb of Terrebonne between the governing party and the Bloc Québécois.

The Liberals stand at 171 seats in the House of Commons after attracting five opposition MPs to cross the floor in recent months.

Carney needs 172 MPs for a technical majority, but 173 to effectively govern with one.

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Christine Fréchette awaits swearing-in as premier after winning CAQ leadership

Quebec will soon have a new premier after former cabinet minister Christine Fréchette was named leader of the governing Coalition Avenir Québec on Sunday.

She is to be sworn in before the Quebec legislature resumes early next month, but a date has not yet been set.

Fréchette defeated Bernard Drainville in the race to replace François Legault, who announced in January he was stepping down as premier after polls showed low party popularity.

The former political staffer focused her leadership campaign on economic issues, including reopening the debate around shale gas and hydraulic fracturing.

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Hundreds of Nova Scotia long-term care workers expected to strike this morning

Hundreds of workers from almost two dozen long-term care homes in Nova Scotia are expected to hit picket lines this morning after contract negotiations reached an impasse.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees has said more than 2,200 staffers from 22 facilities will be on the picket lines, but more are expected to follow in the coming days.

Affected workers run the gamut from continuing-care assistants and licensed practical nurses to housekeeping staff and physiotherapists.

Bargaining between the Nova Scotia government and CUPE is for long-term care agreements that expired in 2023.

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Young adult cancer survivors at higher risk of getting another cancer later, study says

A new study suggests people who survived cancer as adolescents and young adults are twice as likely as the general population to get another cancer later. 

The research published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal counted the development of new cancers in Alberta patients who had first been diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 39.

Senior author Miranda Fidler-Benaoudia, a cancer epidemiologist at the University of Calgary, says radiation used to treat the first cancer can cause another cancer over the years.

The researchers suggest patients who got cancer at a young age should have access to high-risk screening programs to catch subsequent cancers early. 

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Montreal streetcar tracks still pop up from pavement decades after last tram retired

Pieces of Montreal’s old streetcar tracks are still resurfacing on city streets, more than 65 years after the city last had a tram system.

Benoît Clairoux, a historian with Montreal’s transit agency, says the rails are a reminder of a streetcar network that once totalled about 500 kilometres of track and ferried millions of passengers a year to their destinations.

Clairoux says the trams were gradually replaced by cheaper buses, with the last streetcars retired in 1959, but the city only paved over the tracks as they were deemed too expensive to remove.

Transportation historian Pierre Barrieau is among those who would like to see streetcars come back to some parts of Montreal, as he says they’re faster and more comfortable than buses.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2026.