December, 2023
Speaker Greg Fergus ‘deeply sorry’ for controversial video, vows to regain MPs’ trust
Most MPs on House committee want Speaker to stay as new allegations emerge Embattled Speaker Greg Fergus said he made a “serious mistake” filming a video for the Ontario Liberal convention, a move that spurred calls for his resignation from a role that’s meant to be impartial. “I am deeply sorry. I want to reassure members that nothing like this will ever happen again,” he told the House of Commons Friday morning. Fergus has been at the centre of controversy since the beginning of the month after filming a 105-second videoRead more
Public Health Agency of Canada confirms 6th death from cantaloupe salmonella outbreak
53 people have been hospitalized and there have been 153 lab-confirmed cases so far The Public Health Agency of Canada on Friday confirmed a sixth death tied to a salmonella outbreak caused by the consumption of contaminated cantaloupes. PHAC said in a statement that 53 people have been hospitalized and there have been 153 lab-confirmed cases so far. “Based on the investigation findings to date, consumption of Malichita and Rudy brand cantaloupes have been identified as the likely source of the outbreak,” PHAC said. “Many of the individuals who became sickRead more
P.E.I. oil painting from 1890s being restored to its former lustre
‘I knew that we would be able to really bring it back to life,’ says restoration expert The Canadian Conservation Institute is restoring a P.E.I. painting from the 1890s, by a “bosom friend” of Lucy Maud Montgomery, that was donated to the Bideford Parsonage Museum. The artist, Edith England, met the Anne of Green Gables author in the late 1800s when Montgomery began teaching at the Bideford school in western Prince Edward Island. The two remained close friends for many years, as documented in Montgomery’s journals. A few years ago, England’s family offered herRead more
From soul to soreness, the Island Walk will make you question everything
As challenging as it is serene, the 700-kilometre P.E.I walk is an emotional, exploratory journey As gentle-sounding as it is, the Island Walk is a test. The roughly 700-kilometre roundtrip walk around P.E.I., which takes many people more than 30 days to accomplish, will weigh on the joints and muscles as much as it does the mind. The journey will make you question just about everything. The answers are found somewhere along the way. Half the trek takes place on the Island’s hard-packed Confederation Trail, the other half takes walkersRead more
‘They just don’t care’: Palestinian-Canadians plead with Ottawa to help them get families out of Gaza
It’s hard for Shouq Alnajjar to hold her anger in check when she talks about the the family she left behind in Gaza. “They’re living in hell,” she said. “It’s so dangerous there.” Alnajjar, a Palestinian-Canadian, was living in Gaza City with her Palestinian husband when Israel declared war on Hamas following Hamas’s brutal Oct. 7 attack on Israeli civilians. After weeks of waiting and anxious phone calls to Global Affairs Canada, Alnajjar was able to get herself, her husband and her mother on the approved list to leave Gaza through theRead more
MPs pass 24-hour mark of marathon voting session
MPs have been voting for more than 24 hours straight as the Opposition Conservatives fulfil a promise to stall the Liberal government’s legislation with an avalanche of votes unless it agrees to scrap parts of its carbon tax. The Tories are forcing delays by prompting 135 votes in the House, most of them on the government’s budgetary estimates. The party said this will result in round-the-clock voting that likely will last until late Friday night and stall the Liberal agenda. As proceedings moved into Friday evening, Deputy Speaker Chris d’Entremont hinted at how MPsRead more
It’s not just COVID anymore, or a triple-demic. Welcome to the ‘new norm’ of seasonal illnesses
It’s another busy fall in Canadian hospitals, with emergency department closures, long wait times, and ongoing staff shortages all making headlines. The situation can turn deadly: Two people died while waiting for care at the Anna-Laberge hospital in Châteauguay, Que., just last week. And as health-care teams remain dangerously overstretched, they’re also grappling with the pressure of what some physicians are calling a “new norm” for seasonal illnesses — a range of viral and bacterial infections all back in circulation, with COVID-19 still chief among them. “This is probably the first year since COVID started where weRead more
Former Afghan interpreter for Canadian Armed Forces arrested by the Taliban, family says
Bashir Ahmad Azizi’s family in hiding while awaiting immigration paperwork for trip to Canada A former Canadian Armed Forces military interpreter has been arrested by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, CBC News has learned. “One morning I went to the [gym] with my father,” said Basir Ahmad Azizi, the son of Bashir Ahmad Azizi, who worked as a CAF interpreter until at least 2007 at Kandahar Airfield when the Canadian military was posted there with other western coalition forces. Azizi says Taliban gunmen showed up while his father was taking a breakRead more
With anti-Muslim occurrences on the rise, schools in Canada urged to address Islamophobia
Just a handful of school boards, all in Ontario, have developed a classroom strategy As tensions from the Israel-Hamas war continue to ripple through Canada, and officials across the country report an alarming rise in anti-Muslim occurrences, some experts say Islamophobia must become a classroom priority addressed now, in practical ways and on multiple fronts. Although there have long been calls for more attention on combating Islamophobia in Canadian schools, it’s been an infrequent topic of discussion, with just a handful of Ontario school boards beginning work in recent years on developing an anti-Islamophobia strategy.Read more