National News

VANCOUVER - The average Canadian family is spending more on taxes than on food, shelter and clothing combined, according to a new study by the Fraser Institute, but at least one economist cautions that the findings need to be seen in context.

EDMONTON - Alberta's auditor general says former premier Alison Redford and her office used public resources inappropriately.

CALGARY - A liquefied natural gas project planned for Kitimat, B.C., faces an uncertain future after one of its U.S. partners announced plans to get out of the LNG business. Apache Corp.

MONCTON, N.B. — A New Brunswick man charged with fatally shooting three RCMP officers and wounding two others last month in Moncton has been found fit to stand trial.

VANCOUVER - Major development projects such as the Site C dam in British Columbia's Peace River watershed could threaten up to $8.6 billion in ecological values, suggests a report commissioned by the David Suzuki Foundation.

OTTAWA - The RCMP laid 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery against suspended Sen. Mike Duffy on Thursday.

CALGARY - Calgary police say two charges of first-degree murder and one charge of second-degree murder are pending in the disappearance of a five-year-old boy and his grandparents.

CALGARY - Calgary police expanded their search for a missing boy and his grandparents to a garbage dump Wednesday, as the man they consider a person of interest in the case learned he could be released from custody as early as Friday.

OTTAWA - Statistics Canada is asking people to provide their Social Insurance Numbers during test runs for the 2016 census, part of an effort to make the survey data more reliable.

LAC-MEGANTIC, Que.