Canada welcomes King Charles against a backdrop of tensions with Trump
King Charles III and Queen Camilla have arrived in Canada at the start of a two-day visit widely seen as bolstering the country’s sovereignty amid threats by President Trump to turn the United States’ northern neighbor into the 51st state.
The King was met at the airport in the nation’s capital, Ottawa, by dignitaries, including Canada’s new prime minister, Mark Carney, and the country’s first indigenous governor general, Mary Simon, who is the king’s representative in Canada.
Carney, who was elected on an anti-Trump platform in April, asked the king to visit shortly after he became leader of the Liberal political party. At the time, Trump had imposed tariffs on Canada and was taunting to annex the country.
In a statement, Carney said the king’s visit was an historic honor that matches the weight of the times.
“It speaks to our enduring tradition and friendship, to the vitality of our constitutional monarchy and our distinct identity, and to the historic ties that crises only fortify,” Carney said.
Carney and the king are due to have a meeting during the visit.
On Tuesday, King Charles will read a speech from the throne to open a new session of Canada’s parliament, the first time a monarch has done that since 1977, when Queen Elizabeth addressed the senate.
It will be a largely ceremonial event, but it underlines a distinct difference in how the democracies of the U.S. and Canada differ. Canada is a constitutional monarchy and the king is the country’s head of state.
The speech from the throne lays out the Canadian government’s plans for the future. Although read by Charles, it will be written by Carney’s office and is expected to robustly defend Canada’s sovereignty — much as the prime minister did on the campaign trail.
This is Charles’ first trip to Canada since he was crowned king in 2023. An earlier trip planned for last year was cancelled after he was diagnosed with cancer. He has often spoken warmly about Canada and its people, calling them “outward-looking, big-hearted people” during a visit in May 2022.
Judge orders new Alabama Senate map after ruling found racial gerrymandering
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, issued the ruling Monday putting a new court-selected map in place for the 2026 and 2030 elections.
Construction on Meta’s largest data center brings 600% crash spike, chaos to rural Louisiana
An investigation from the Gulf States Newsroom found that trucks contracted to work at the Meta facility are causing delays and dangerous roads in Holly Ridge.
Bessemer City Council approves rezoning for a massive data center, dividing a community
After the Bessemer City Council voted 5-2 to rezone nearly 700 acres of agricultural land for the “hyperscale” server farm, a dissenting council member said city officials who signed non-disclosure agreements weren’t being transparent with citizens.
Alabama Public Television meeting draws protesters in Birmingham over discussion of disaffiliating from PBS
Some members of the Alabama Educational Television Commission, which oversees APT, said disaffiliation is needed because the network has to cut costs after the Trump administration eliminated all funding for public media this summer.
Gov. Kay Ivey urges delay on PBS decision by public TV board
The Republican governor sent a letter to the Alabama Educational Television Commission ahead of a Nov. 18 meeting in which commissioners were expected to discuss disaffiliation.
A proposed Bessemer data center faces new hurdles: a ‘road to nowhere’ and the Birmingham darter
With the City Council in Bessemer scheduled to vote Tuesday on a “hyperscale” data center, challenges from an environmental group and the Alabama Department of Transportation present potential obstacles for the wildly unpopular project.
