It’s the first day of May and apparently Ottawa is having a main character moment. More on that later, here’s the news:

iPolitics sat down with the Ambassador Harry Tseng, Taiwan’s envoy to Canada, today and caught a real-time reaction.

On Thursday, the Globe and Mail published an interview with China’s ambassador, Wang Di, who said Beijing and Ottawa’s ties could be strengthened only if Canada deals with the self-governed island, Taiwan, with certain expectations.

Taiwan, a de facto autonomous island state, is regarded by the Chinese Communist Party as a rogue province that must be reunited with mainland China. Ottawa regards Beijing as China’s sole representative but still maintains trade ties with Taiwan.

In an hour long interview with iPolitics, Ambassador Harry Tseng said it’s a standing practice for the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada to organize a parliamentary delegation to visit Taiwan.

Wang told the Globe and Mail that Canadian Parliamentarians have official status, so conducting any “official engagement” with the Taiwan side would be “hurtful” to relationship with Beijing.

Sydney Ko has more. 

Also, parliamentarians are bracing for the final stretch of the spring sitting, and criticism is growing over the Senate’s handling of key government bills.

As iPolitics reported earlier this week, the Liberals are unhappy a Senate committee refused to speed up review of government legislation overhauling bail and sentencing laws that was broadly supported in the House. Because of this, Bill C-14 won’t return to the Upper Chamber until May 26.

The government’s anti-hate bill was only referred to committee on Thursday despite being introduced in the Senate on March 26. However, the delay may have been attributable to debate over what committee will review Bill C-9.  Sen. Scott Tannas said last week that Senate leadership was considering avoiding justice committee because of its ongoing study of C-14.

Senators on Thursday decided to give the bill to the human rights committee.

Marco Vigliotti has more. 

Back to some updates on trade talks.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is rejecting the notion that Canada might use energy or critical minerals as “leverage” in upcoming trade talks with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.

The prime minister made the remarks in an interview with The Canadian Press, his first since declaring he would enter federal politics more than a year ago.

Carney said he wouldn’t describe those sectors as “leverage” since Canada is not talking about stopping any sort of existing trade.

His comments come after United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told an audience in Washington that Canada should not attempt to use its energy and mineral resources as leverage in discussions about renewing the continental free trade pact.

Carney also defended former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s record on trade and his handling of Trump, crediting Trudeau with successfully negotiating the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement during Trump’s first term in the White House.

The Canadian Press has this one. 

In Other Headlines

Internationally

Elsewhere, Iran has passed a new proposal to Pakistani mediators in the latest effort to end the war with the US, but Donald Trump said he was not “satisfied” by it.

“Right now, we have talks going on, they’re not getting there,” he told reporters, adding that his options remained “either blast them away or make a deal”.

Trump did not elaborate on what he saw as the latest proposal’s shortcomings, but said: “They’re asking for things I can’t agree to.”

In Washington, Trump waved off a Friday deadline imposed by the war powers act, requiring the US president to seek congressional authorisation to continue hostilities beyond 60 days. In a letter to congressional leaders, Trump claimed that the White House did not need to seek approval from the legislative branch because the ceasefire agreement forged with Iran had in effect paused the 60-day clock – an interpretation disputed by many legal experts. Speaking to reporters, Trump suggested the Vietnam war-era law was “unconstitutional”.

Read more from The Guardian. 

Meanwhile, a court in eastern China’s Hangzhou city, an AI hub, has ruled in favor of a senior tech worker whose company replaced him with artificial intelligence (AI).

The decision is being hailed by legal scholars as a reassuring signal for labor rights protection at a time when the central Chinese leadership is pushing for industries to widely adopt AI technology.

The Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court upheld an earlier decision by a lower-level court that the tech worker’s dismissal was unlawful.

“The termination grounds cited by the company did not fall under negative circumstances such as business downsizing or operational difficulties, nor did they meet the legal condition that made it ‘impossible to continue the employment contract,’” the court said in a published article.

NPR has more. 

In Other International Headlines

The Kicker

Guess what, Ottawa city just got ranked for something positive…

A new global survey by Remitly ranks the capital as the top Canadian city for Gen-Z newcomers. It ranks eighth worldwide, making it the only Canadian city in the top 10.

It’s a rebrand that no one saw coming, but not bad for a place that once leaned so hard for its sleepy reputation that the city hired a Night Mayor to liven things up.

The National Post has more on this.