There came a point during the pandemic, about nine months ago, when the staff at a pediatric clinic in Toronto was turning away at least 100 callers per day who were looking for a primary care provider. At the same time, Kindercare Pediatric’s rostered patients were waiting longer than they should to see their own doctors. The way Kindercare owner Dr. Dan Flanders describes it, the scene was one of desperation. “It became very, I don’t know, distressing for everyone. Like, here we are, we have doctors and there’s justRead more

Across the country, Canadians are turning up the thermostat as frigid temperatures and snow squalls creep in. According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, as of Thursday morning there were extreme cold or winter storm warnings active from coast to coast, with the harshest extreme cold warnings stretching from northern Alberta all the way to Nova Scotia. Regions of British Columbia are expecting significant snowfall, with Peace River set to receive 25-50 centimetres by Saturday morning. In Fort McMurray, Alta., the wind chill will make the air feel like -40 degrees CelsiusRead more

121 intact pieces stamped with hotel’s insignia found in Vancouver forest On a cold, wet day in late December, Christian Laub and Julien Hicks slogged their way through a Vancouver forest in pursuit of a hot tip. Hicks, an actor by trade and newcomer to the hobby of bottle digging, had learned of an old abandoned car in the area. Hicks had enlisted Laub, a film location scout with years of bottle digging experience, who knew that where there was an old car, there was often antique bottles to be found. OnceRead more

Dances offer something to look forward to in the winter Indigenous communities are celebrating being able to host in-person cultural dances after three years of online virtual events. COVID-19 meant no big public events — including cultural events — but round dances and kahomni dances are now coming back. Elder Pete Bigstone, who usually celebrates his birthday by hosting a kahomni, had to put plans on hold for the past two years. A kahomni is a dance where two people will two step to songs made specifically for the dance and sometimesRead more

Body of Susan Cadieux, 5, found in January 1956 after she left a schoolyard with an unknown man WARNING: This article contains content about child sexual assault and may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone affected by it. A group of amateur detectives in London, Ont., hopes their renewed interest and research into a 66-year-old cold case will shed new light on the death of a five-year-old girl. Susan Cadieux was playing outside St. Mary’s School at 345 Lyle St. on Jan. 6, 1956, with her two brothersRead more

Company says the pulp line at its Prince George Pulp and Paper Mill will be phased out by the end of March B.C. forestry giant Canfor Pulp says it is permanently closing the pulp line at one of its Prince George mills, which will result in about 300 jobs lost. The move comes as several forestry companies around the world are downsizing their operations due to changes in the market. Kevin Edgson says the lack of raw material for creating market pulp led to the decision. “In recent years, several sawmills have permanentlyRead more

Mounties acted ‘reasonably’ while enforcing injunction, B.C. legal defence says The RCMP denies it conspired with a natural gas pipeline builder and a private security firm in a campaign designed to harass Wet’suwet’en people off their unceded territory in northern British Columbia, court filings say. The RCMP, Coastal GasLink and Forsythe Security, named as defendants in a lawsuit three Wet’suwet’en members launched last June, all deny the allegations. The $6.6-billion Coastal GasLink pipeline project is designed to carry fracked natural gas to a $40-billion LNG terminal in Kitimat, B.C., for export toRead more

The federal Conservatives and NDP are calling on the Liberal transport minister to testify after hundreds of travellers were stranded over the holidays. The Conservative and New Democrat members of the House of Commons transport committee sent a letter to the committee’s chair on Wednesday requesting a meeting as soon as possible. “It’s not enough for the Liberal minister to tweet that the situation was unacceptable,” NDP transport critic Taylor Bachrach said in a media statement on Wednesday.   “He’s the minister charged with overseeing Canada’s transportation system and has specific powersRead more

U.S. House Republicans flailed through a long second day of fruitless balloting Wednesday before adjourning for the night, unable to either elect their leader Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker or come up with a new strategy to end the political chaos that has tarnished the start of their new majority. Yet McCarthy not only wasn’t giving up, even after the fourth, fifth and sixth ballots produced no better outcome and he was left trying to call off a night-time session. Even that was controversial, as the House voted — amid shouting —Read more

An Ontario cabinet minister called Russia a “terrorist state” this week, saying more than 39,000 Ukrainians displaced by the Russian war with Ukraine have come to Ontario to settle. Monte McNaughton, Ontario’s minister responsible for Ukraine, made the comment in an email to CBC Toronto on Monday that outlined the support that the provincial government is providing to Ukrainians in Ontario who have fled the conflict. McNaughton is also Ontario’s minister of labour, immigration, training and skills development. In April, the provincial government said it was spending $300 million toRead more