![](/polopoly_fs/1.6778341.1708561001!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
Greg Fertuck will spend life behind bars with no chance of parole until he is 90 years old, a judge ruled on Thursday at Saskatoon's Court of King's Bench.
U.S. President Joe Biden vowed to stay in the 2024 U.S. presidential race during calls with campaign staff and meetings with Democratic lawmakers and governors on Wednesday, as he sought to shake off calls for him to drop out after his shaky debate performance last week.
Biden dialed in to a call with worried members of his campaign team and told them he wasn't going anywhere, according to two sources familiar with the call.
"No one is pushing me out. I'm not leaving. I'm in this race to the end," Biden said in a separate email blast by his campaign, urging supporters to "pitch in a few bucks" to help defeat his Republican rival Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
The president met virtually and in person with 24 Democratic governors and the mayor of Washington, D.C., on Wednesday evening to reassure them he is up to the job of standard-bearer for the party after the faltering debate performance.
Only three of the governors - the leaders of New York, Minnesota and Maryland - met with reporters afterwards, vowing to stand with Biden after what they called an honest discussion about his bad performance in last week's debate.
"The president has always had our backs. We're going to have his back as well," Maryland Governor Wes Moore said.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, said Biden's Thursday night debate performance against former President Trump was bad, but added that he felt Biden was fit for office.
President Joe Biden speaks at a presidential debate watch party, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Concerns about Biden's age and mental acuity exploded after Thursday's debate with Trump, in which the president mumbled under his breath, lost his train of thought at times and, at one point, talked of beating Medicare. The president has said that he was tired after two foreign trips and the White House has said he had a cold.
Asked Wednesday if Biden was considering stepping down, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: "Absolutely not."
Soon after she spoke, two national polls suggested Biden's chances against Trump - who rattled off a series of well-worn falsehoods during the debate - had deteriorated.
A Wall Street Journal survey found Trump beating Biden by a margin of 48 per cent to 42 per cent, up one percentage point, while a New York Times and Siena poll found Trump's lead over Biden had widened by three points to 49 per cent to 43 per cent.
In a call among House Democrats on Wednesday, Arizona's Ra煤l Grijalva called for Biden to drop out of the race while Representative Seth Moulton from Massachusetts pointed to Biden's age as a liability.
鈥淭he unfortunate reality is that the status quo will likely deliver us President Trump,鈥 Moulton said in a statement. "President Biden is not going to get younger.鈥
While the campaign has highlighted fundraising successes with grassroots donors and held damage control calls with donors, Reed Hastings, a major Democratic Party donor and a co-founder of streaming platform Netflix, called for Biden to step aside.
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris has meanwhile gained support as his potential replacement.
Dmitri Mehlhorn, an adviser to LinkedIn co-founder and Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman, told Reuters his team would "enthusiastically support a ticket led by our tough and savvy vice president if Biden were to step aside for any reason."
Melhorn said Harris was the only serious national contender who had already been subjected to major attacks by Trump's "Make America Great Again" supporters.
"We would lose Joe's superpower brand, but we would gain other benefits and would still be competitive," he said.
Democrats and donors concerned about Biden's viability in the November election will be closely watching an interview with ABC News expected to be taped and aired Friday during a campaign visit to Madison, Wisconsin.
The White House said Biden has spoken with Democratic leaders in Congress as well as Democratic Representative Jim Clyburn, who was instrumental in Biden's 2020 win.
Clyburn, who has said he would back Harris as the presidential candidate if Biden stepped aside, told CNN on Wednesday that the party should hold a "mini-primary" if Biden steps aside, the first senior party member to talk publicly about how replacing Biden as a candidate could work.
Some of the governors who met with Biden on Wednesday could be potential rivals if pressure for him to step aside were to increase, but many of them also speak on Biden's behalf on the campaign trail.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear have all been mentioned as possible replacements to Biden.
Greg Fertuck will spend life behind bars with no chance of parole until he is 90 years old, a judge ruled on Thursday at Saskatoon's Court of King's Bench.
Thousands of employees with the Liquor Control Board of Ontario are set to walk off their jobs on Friday as the union says 'talks have broken down' and it is not hopeful that a deal will be reached to avert a strike.
Britain's Labour Party headed for a landslide victory Friday in a parliamentary election, an exit poll suggested, as voters punished the governing Conservatives after 14 years of economic and political upheaval.
Hourly minimum wages increased in several Canadian provinces this spring with more on the horizon, which economists say will likely impact workers and businesses differently.
In the first few weeks of summer, the real estate sector is experiencing an upturn marked by more housing inventory, a Canadian realtor says
As receipts tick ever higher for Canadians at the grocery store and shoppers continue to search for savings, one Canadian grocer has ended a perceived deal.
After leaving a trail of destruction across the eastern Caribbean and at least nine people dead, Hurricane Beryl weakened as it chugged over open water toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday, going from the earliest Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic to Category 2 by the afternoon.
David Vigneault says he is stepping down from his job at the head of Canada鈥檚 spy agency. The director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, who spent seven years at the helm, is leaving the public service altogether.
U.S. President Joe Biden told Democratic governors during a meeting at the White House on Wednesday that part of his plan going forward is to stop scheduling events after 8 p.m. so that he can get more sleep, according to three sources briefed on his comments.
Lacey may look like just another pet chicken on Emily Carrington鈥檚 B.C. property. But she has a title her coop mates don鈥檛: Guinness World Record holder.
Philip Kim, who competes as "B-Boy Phil Wizard," is set to make Canadian sports history this summer as the country's first-ever Olympic breaking athlete.
A new documentary filmed in Nova Scotia by marine biologist and veterinarian Dr. Chris Harvey Clark explores the increased number of white shark observations in Canadian waters.
A never-before-lived-in mansion in Whistler is on the market for $17.9 million 鈥 with the listing describing it as a 'steal for the international buyer' due to the current exchange rate, which puts the price in U.S. dollars at $13.1 million.
Irish singer Niall Horan had to ditch his car and walk to Scotiabank Arena where his concert was being held last weekend because the traffic was 'too bad' downtown.
A rave at the Ontario Science Centre was the place where Greg LeBlanc says his relationship first began with his husband Mark in 1997.
Travellers flying with WestJet continue to watch as the airline cancels more flights due to a sudden strike by its mechanics union.
The remains of a soldier from Newfoundland killed in the battlefields of France during the First World War will be laid to rest in St. John's Monday, bringing an emotional end to a years-long effort in a place still shaken and forever changed by the bloodshed.
The city is entering the final stages of resuming water service through its repaired feeder main, as water consumption continues to fall below the city鈥檚 threshold level.