Canada: Latest News

The major storm Manitobans have been preparing for over the last two days blew into the province overnight, and is expected to keep blowing until Friday.

The Bank of Canada is likely to hike its key overnight rate by half a percentage point on Wednesday, the Conference Board of Canada’s chief economist says, as the think tank’s economic forecast predicts home prices could start to drop next year.

Ultra low-cost carrier Flair Airlines could lose its right to fly in Canada over concerns that too much of its operations are controlled by a U.S.-based partner, according to a preliminary review from the country’s transportation watchdog obtained by Global News.

Citing safety concerns, Canada Post has stopped delivering mail to businesses along a two-block stretch of East Hastings Street, with those items being diverted to a depot 15 blocks away. Rumina Daya reports.

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations is taking a toll on health-care workers across the country.As provinces grapple with a sixth wave of the pandemic, a growing number of doctors, nurses and other hospital staff are calling in sick with COVID-19, raising concerns about the availability and quality of care for patients.Dr. Gerald Evans, infectious disease specialist at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., said hospitals across the province are struggling with staffing levels, despite government officials, including Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Christine Elliot, saying the province is equipped to handle the surge.

Canada’s top doctor is confirming our country is in fact in the sixth wave of COVID-19. Legislative bureau chief Keith Baldrey has the latest from Dr. Theresa Tam Tuesday.

From March 2020 to the emergence of the Omicron variant in late 2021, about 3.8 billion COVID-19 infections and reinfections occurred, with nearly 44% of the world's population infected at least once but with wide regional variations, estimates a statistical analysis of 190 countries and territories published late last week in The Lancet.

Canada’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Theresa Tam said Tuesday during a COVID-19 update that mask-wearing is recommended despite provinces ending their mandates, calling it a “transition period.” Tam said “we are in a difficult period, we call it the transition period, not only is the virus trying to find its way in the world and transitioning – and we’re transitioning from what I would hope is the acute crisis phase but into the somewhat unknown, uncertain territory of viral evolution.

Kinder brand chocolate products have been recalled in Canada over fears of salmonella contamination.Last week, Kinder recalled several products due to possible contamination. On Monday, Health Canada announced several more items are being pulled from store shelves across Canada.Over 20 products are now on the recall list, ranging from Kinder Easter egg hunt kits to Christmas advent calendars.Health Canada confirmed in the recall notice that so far there have been “no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of these products in Canada.” Canada’s food industry making adjustments amid large bird flu outbreak Kinder brand chocolate products have also been recalled in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the U.K., Norway, Sweden, Spain and the United States.Among the recalled products (all with best before dates ranging from June 19, 2022, to Nov.

COVID-19, Canada’s top doctor has confirmed.The latest rise in cases across the country is fuelled by the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, Chief Public Health Officer Dr.

Flair Airlines could lose its right to fly in Canada over concerns that too much of its operations are controlled by a U.S.-based partner, according to a preliminary review from the country’s transportation watchdog obtained by Global News.The decision, for which Flair is seeking an exemption, could see the airline’s operating licence suspended on May 3, leaving Canadian air travellers with summer travel plans stranded at the gate.Some air industry observers are watching the proceedings skeptically, wondering about the lack of transparency around the review, while others say the airline has long been playing too loose with Canadian ownership requirements.“If you’re buying a ticket for travel beyond May 3rd… buy insurance and make sure you’re ready for some turbulence along the way,” says John Gradek, a professor with McGill University’s aviation management program who’s following the case.Flair Airlines is based in Edmonton, Alta., but operates routes connecting many smaller markets in Canada to other North American destinations.Though it technically began operations in 2005, it was in 2018 that Flair formally joined the emerging crop of ultra low-cost carriers (ULCC) in Canada including WestJet’s Swoop and Lynx Air. Flair offers a no-frills travel experience but appeals to consumers with eye-grabbing deals such as $69 flights from Toronto to Vancouver.Flair currently operates a fleet of 13 Boeing 737 aircraft, but has stated plans to scale up to 50 aircraft by 2025.

COVID-19 hospitalizations and cases are on the rise once again across Canada, according to public health data, as the reality of a sixth wave of the pandemic begins to take shape.As of Monday, the seven-day average of daily lab-confirmed cases sits just above 9,843, a nearly 50 per cent jump from just two weeks prior.Hospitalizations are also rising, with 4,876 people currently receiving care, up 17 per cent since last week and about 30 per cent above the number two weeks ago. Of those patients, 394 are in intensive care, a slight uptick since late March.Although every province except Ontario and Quebec has moved from reporting COVID-19 data daily to now posting weekly updates, a majority of jurisdictions in Canada is seeing a rise compared to last month.Canada’s chief public health officer Dr.

Chrystia Freeland says the inability for young people in Canada to afford a home is an “intergenerational injustice” that must be fixed.Speaking in Montreal on Monday to tout last week’s federal budget which includes several initiatives targeted towards first-time homebuyers, Freeland suggested housing is “the current economic challenge today.”“One of the things that I am most concerned about as someone who — it shocks me to say this — is 53 years old, is the intergenerational injustice,” Freeland told reporters.“We had a better shot at buying a home and starting a family than young people today, and we cannot have a Canada where the rising generation is shut out of the dream of home ownership.” Budget 2022: Tax-free savings account coming for first-time homebuyers Freeland said the “core problem” is a lack of housing stock across the country. The budget, she said, is aimed at addressing that.“We cannot have the fastest growing population in the G7 without also having the fastest growing housing stock,” she said.The Liberal government is planning to spend $10.14 billion on housing over the next five years, according to last week’s budget.

fiber cable, which will be the width of a garden hose, is expected to be completed next year. It will run from Vancouver to Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, then across the floor of the Pacific Ocean to Japan’s Mie and Ibaraki prefectures.

Tech giant Google is planning to build an undersea data cable linking Japan with a transmission site near Port Alberni, the first trans-Pacific cable of its kind. Kylie Stanton reports.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday during a post-budget announcement in Montreal that the federal government is committed to doubling new home starts in Canada over 10 years, but added that the housing shortage would not be solved “overnight.” She talked about the difficulty many young people face when trying to buy a home, calling it an “intergenerational injustice.”

The COVID-19 vaccines reduce the risk of serious illness and death, but don’t stop people from catching the illness, or getting it more than once.

Imagine, Julian Lennon has released a cover in support of Ukraine.Lennon, 59, performed the rendition as a part of Global Citizen’s social media rally, Stand Up For Ukraine, which is working to raise money for the war-torn country amid Russia’s invasion.In a dim, candlelit room, Lennon sang the ballad originally sung by his father, John. He was accompanied by Nuno Bettencourt on guitar.In the description of the YouTube video, Lennon very clearly outlines his reasons for singing Imagine. “The War on Ukraine is an unimaginable tragedy… As a human, and as an artist, I felt compelled to respond in the most significant way I could,” he wrote.

PHILADELPHIA, PA - MARCH 07: Matisse Thybulle #22 of the Philadelphia 76ers reacts against the Chicago Bulls at the Wells Fargo Center on March 7, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 76ers defeated the Bulls 121-106.

Dumping day - Lobster fishing season opens in southwestern Nova Scotia Sales of live and processed lobster rebounded following the first wave of COVID-19.Prices started to go up with demand and have continued climbing since.Canadian lobster exports reached a staggering $3.26 billion last year, beating the previous record of $2.59 billion, set in 2019, by more than 25 per cent.With many consumers saving money during the pandemic and limited travel or restaurant dining, the crustacean long considered a luxury item for special occasions became a top seller in the U.S.“Americans bought lobster during the pandemic like they never did before and that drove up demand and price,” says Geoff Irvine, executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada.While processed lobster — meat and tails — was in high demand in the U.S., sales of live lobster increased in Asia.“There is unlimited demand in Asia for Canadian lobster,” Sproul says. “It’s a top quality product and we have a good trade relationship.”Strong demand, coupled with smaller catches in winter months, sent shore prices spiralling as high as $19.50 a pound.“The highest wharf price that I’ve ever heard of for lobster in my life was a few weeks ago at $19.50 a pound,” Sproul says.Prices have since dropped to around $14.50 this week and could ease further during the spring lobster fishery.The opening of several lobster fishing areas across Atlantic Canada in the coming weeks is expected to boost supply.Thousands of extra fishing boats will hit the water setting traps.

FILE IMAGE - A person holds a U.S. passport and an American flag.

Paxlovid COVID-19 antiviral pill for use against COVID-19 in January this year, but with a large supply of these pills available, experts say there is a lack of awareness among the public for who qualifies and how to access them.According to Health Canada, Paxlovid can be given to adults 18 and older who are positive for COVID-19 and experiencing mild to moderate illness and at high risk of becoming seriously ill.The agency currently recommends prioritizing severely immuno-compromised patients, people over 80 who haven’t had all their vaccine shots, and people over 60 living in remote and rural locations, long-term care homes and First Nations.The treatment, which has to be prescribed, involves taking three pills of two different drugs — nirmatrelvir and ritonavir — twice a day, for five days. It should be started after a positive COVID-19 test and within five days from the onset of symptoms, according to Dr.

“The West Block” host Mercedes Stephenson is joined by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to talk about Canada’s next steps in dealing with Russia. Freeland says that Ukraine will have to be rebuilt and wants to see seized Russia assets help cover that cost.

Chrystia Freeland says there is no better source of extra funds for Ukraine‘s recovery from the Russian invasion than from the assets of those backing the war.In an interview with The West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson, Freeland emphasized the proposal in the budget she tabled last week that would allow Canada’s minister of foreign affairs to not only freeze Russian assets, but seize them, too.“Right now, we can freeze assets. What we need to do is have the power to seize those assets,” she said.“Ukraine is going to need to be rebuilt.

Éric Duhaime arrived at a rally last Tuesday, he wore a mask, unlike most of the supporters he was greeting.In a province where opposition parties have generally backed the government’s COVID-19 restrictions, Duhaime has built support through his opposition to lockdown measures. His party, which received less than two per cent of the vote in Quebec’s 2018 provincial election when it was led by Adrien Pouliot, is now regularly polling in second or third place.“There’s a lot of people currently in Quebec who are upset, and I think we’re becoming the voice of those people,” Duhaime said in an interview last week.

With 10 days left for candidates to enter the Conservative party leadership race –and 20 before $300,000 worth in fees are due– what’s capturing the attention of those watching as of late are the crowds.

Over a month after Russia launched its first missiles at Ukraine on Feb. 24, 40-year-old Olha Rudenko and her two children have begun to ease into their new life in Canada after fleeing from the western city of Lutsk.

In his letter, sent Friday, Guilbeault says Nixon misread a graph and got his facts wrong.“I want to correct the record on what this plan does and does not do,” he writes.The first sentence of Nixon’s column, published Saturday, read “Alberta will not accept production cuts in the insane climate plan released by the Liberal-NDP coalition.”He backs that up with reference to numbers pulled from the federal document. He writes they prove the federal plan is an attempt to reduce oil and gas production and economic activity in Alberta that would destroy the province’s quality of life.That’s not what the numbers say, wrote Guilbeault.The reductions Nixon points to refer instead to the differences in projected production with and without the emissions reduction plan.

On today’s episode of The Morning Show: Highlights of the key money measures from the 2022 federal budget. Plus, our Hometown Heroes are an Edmonton dance troupe raises funds for Ukraine.

Recalled Bestar bed (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) More than 180,000 wall beds are being recalled after 60-plus complaints of beds detaching and falling on people, including an incident in 2018 that killed a 79-year-old woman.The beds were sold online at Wayfair, Costco, Cymax and Amazon from June 2014 through March 2022, according to the U.S.

Justin Trudeau, Canada's prime minister, left, and Chrystia Freeland, Canada's deputy prime minister and finance minister, hold copies of the federal budget in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Thursday, April 7, 2022. Freeland is imposing a one-time windf Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government announced Thursday it will ban foreign investors from buying homes in Canada for two years in a bid to cool off a hot housing market.Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland took a number of measures to tamp down speculation and demand amid record home prices in announcing the federal budget for the year.The government announced a two-year ban on foreign home buying as well as higher taxes for people who sell their home within a year, though both measures include multiple exceptions including for permanent residents and foreign students.RELATED: California home prices have more than tripled in these citiesThe budget also includes billions for new housing and measures to help Canadians trying to get into the market, including a new savings account and changes to the first-time home buyers tax credit.The government is under pressure to cool an overheated market after prices climbed by more than 20% last year, while rental rates have also been rising.The federal Liberal government is also promising $500 million Canadian (US$397 million) in additional military aid to Ukraine as well as more humanitarian and financial support to Kyiv in response to Russia’s invasion.RELATED: First-time homebuyer? Real estate experts offer advice in crazy marketCanada responded to months of pressure from the NATO military alliance and others by promising more than $8 billion Canadian (US7.2 billion) in new military spending over the next five years.

As Canada heads towards a sixth wave of COVID-19 with rising cases and hospitalizations across the country, experts say people can still test negative on a rapid test in the first few days they have symptoms.

In a major legal blow to residents of Seawatch, a Sechelt neighbourhood who were forced out of their homes in 2019 by slides and sinkholes, the Supreme Court of Canada has declined to hear their case. Aaron McArthur reports.

A Laval, Que. family is worried about soaring health-care costs after one member got gravely ill on vacation during March break.

housing over the next five years in its 2022 federal budget, looking to make homes more affordable by expanding supply and helping young Canadians save for their first home. Budget 2022: 4 things that will affect your pocketbook Ottawa’s spending document also includes plans to double the pace of homebuilding in Canada in the decade ahead, support those already struggling with housing and limit profiteering in the sector.Here’s what the government is proposing to try to make housing more affordable.The 2022 budget includes plans to create a new Tax-Free First Home Savings Account (TFFHSA) to help Canadians struggling to get into the housing market save for the cost of a down payment.Real estate hopefuls would be able to save $8,000 per year to a maximum of $40,000 per person towards the purchase of a first home.

A recall of certain Kinder brand chocolate products, including Kinder Surprise and Mini Eggs, linked to an outbreak of salmonella in Europe and the U.K. has been expanded to Canada.

The federal government’s 280-page 2022 budget document outlined a couple of measures to help with the cost of living for Canadians.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance MinisterChrystia Freeland’s second budget of the pandemic era marks what one expert called an effort to “translate geopolitical risk into economic policy.”

The federal Liberals have more than $85 billion in new spending room from a booming economic rebound and plan to spend some of the windfall on a series of measures aimed at keeping the good growth going.

COVID-19 around the corner, Health Canada confirmed there are at least six cases of the XE recombinant of Omicron in the country.“As of April 6, 2022, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is aware of six detections of the XE recombinant lineage of Omicron in Canada,” a PHAC spokesperson wrote in an email.COVID-19 XE is a recombination of Omicron’s BA.1 and BA.2 subvariants. A recombinant virus is a combination of genetic material from two or more different viruses, in this case, the original variant of Omicron and the more infectious “stealth Omicron.” No masks and 4th doses? Experts concerned about ‘mixed’ COVID-19 messaging The XE recombinant variant was first detected in the U.K.

A recall of certain Kinder brand chocolate products linked to an outbreak of salmonella in Europe and the U.K. has been expanded to Canada.

Ottawa will unveil Canada’s 2022 budget on Thursday, and new spending measures are expected. David Akin look at the demands, and how the Liberals’ deal with the NDP factors in.

Mattea Roach, a 23-year-old Nova Scotian now living in Toronto, won $38,000 on Wednesday night’s episode — bringing her two-day total to $70,801.She correctly answered 35 out of the 60 clues during the episode — a feat host Mayim Bialik called “very impressive.”Going into the Final Jeopardy! round, Roach could not be caught: she had $28,800 while her two competitors had $2,200 each.She was the only contestant who answered the final clue correctly. ‘Beyond excited’ - Woman from Nova Scotia wins on Jeopardy! Roach told Global News on Wednesday being selected to compete on the show has been “surreal.”Since news of her appearance was made public, Roach said people near and far have reached out to wish her luck.“I want to reiterate again how much the support from people all over Canada means to me,” she said.“It’s been a while since there’s been a Canadian winner on Jeopardy! — I think a couple of years.

FILE IMAGE - An adult golden eagle is pictured. (Photo by: Jaanus JŠrva/Focus/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) BILLINGS, Mont. - A subsidiary of one of the largest U.S.

Russia’s ambassador over the reported massacre of civilians Kyiv’s suburbs, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says.Joly told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday that the ambassador will be shown photos of what happened in the Ukrainian capital’s outskirts.“Canada is very seized with what happened over the weekend, like mentioned. I instructed my deputy minister to summon the Russian ambassador in Ottawa to make sure he is presented with the images of what happened in Irpin and Bucha,” Joly said.“There’s a level of inhumanity in what we’ve seen in Bucha.” What happened in Bucha, Ukraine? Here’s what you need to know Oleg V.

Air Canada says it is suspending its direct service between Vancouver and Delhi, India, this summer due to multiple factors that will make the route temporarily “unviable.”The suspension will begin June 2 and run until Sept. 6.

A number of provinces are preparing to give fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccines to older people after Canada’s vaccine advisory committee said it’s time for another booster.

Canada’s sixth COVID-19 wave is underway, as infections and hospitalizations creep up.