- NewsCBC
Energy companies, Alberta government say Ottawa's $1.6-billion lifeline wrong solution
The federal government's $1.6-billion lifeline to Alberta's oil and gas industry is being thrown in the wrong direction and isn't enough to help struggling companies, say industry insiders after the funding announcement on Tuesday. "It's really looking at the wrong problem," said Tristan Goodman, president of the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada, which represents small and mid-sized oil and gas companies. "The problem actually is the market access issue.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
Wilderness Committee preparing new legal challenge to stop pipeline
A Vancouver-based environment charity is readying itself to go back to court if — or they believe when — the federal government re-approves the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion next year. Peter McCartney, climate campaigner for the committee, says the timelines are so short it underscores his belief the government is doing this just to fulfil the Federal Court of Appeal's concerns with the original review, rather than to seriously reconsider the approval given to the project. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said many times the pipeline is going to be built.
- NewsCBC
Provincial police union acknowledges tense relations with Indigenous citizens in Val-d'Or
The union that represents provincial police officers in Quebec is recommending better training and awareness programs to improve relations between officers and Indigenous people. The union submitted its observations in a written brief to Quebec's public inquiry into relations between government services and Indigenous people.
- NewsCBC
Halifax Grammar School celebrates 60th birthday with $14.5M revamp
The Halifax Grammar School celebrated its 60th birthday with a multimillion-dollar revitalization of the independent institution. Headmaster Steven Laffoley said work began in 2017 and finished this fall. The private school sold its Atlantic Street facility and moved all students into the Tower Road site.
- NewsCBC
'We need to keep watching': Meet Montreal's new inspector general
The city's new inspector general, Brigitte Bishop, was known for her damaging victories against the Hells Angels in the decades she spend fighting organized crime and corruption as a prosecutor. If you get the money, then you hurt [them]," she said in an interview Tuesday on CBC Montreal's Daybreak. "My job in Montreal is to make sure of the integrity of all the contracts, so if there are people who are fraudulent or who are trying to launder money, of course we're going to be there," she said, adding her office must refer any potential criminal cases to police.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
Jesse Wente poised to turn dialogue into action at Indigenous Screen Office
As director of Canada's fledgling Indigenous Screen Office, Jesse Wente has spent much of the past year travelling around the country, doing consultations for an initiative that's seen as a game-changer in the film industry and beyond. First announced by then-Heritage Minister Melanie Joly in June 2017, the ISO aims to support the development, production and marketing of Indigenous content. Since Wente started his position on Feb. 1, 2018, the Toronto-based Indigenous rights activist, broadcaster and cultural critic has been meeting with unions, funders and municipal organizations — and with as much of the Indigenous screen sector as possible — in order to figure out how the ISO should operate.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
Privacy watchdog says legal cannabis buyers should use cash, not credit
Canada's privacy watchdog is warning marijuana users to pay with cash rather than plastic if they're worried about the collection of their personal information. In a statement posted on his website, Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien says pot sellers and buyers need to better understand their privacy rights and obligations and has suggested a number of guidelines. "Cannabis is illegal in most jurisdictions outside of Canada.
- NewsCBC
Storm a week before Christmas 'devastating' to some Island businesses
Some P.E.I. businesses say the winter storm pounding the Island couldn't have hit at a worse time — the week before Christmas.
- NewsCBC
2 Sixties Scoop survivors relieved, excited as Sask. apology approaches
Two Sixties Scoop survivors say they are relieved a concrete date has been set for the Saskatchewan government to apologize for the province's role in the separation of Indigenous children from their families. The apology is set for Jan. 7. Robert Doucette, the co-chair of the Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of Saskatchewan (SSIS), said that date is sooner than was initially anticipated, but it will be a good start to the new year.
- NewsCBC
Shuttered Sydney call centre may reopen by Jan. 2
The former ServiCom call centre in Cape Breton could be reopen within weeks and operating under a new name, the U.S.-based company behind its planned resurrection said late Tuesday. In a news release, Marlowe Companies Inc. (MCI) said it hoped to have people working by Jan. 2 at The Sydney Call Centre Inc. — less than a month after ServiCom suddenly closed its doors Dec. 6, throwing some 600 employees out of work. MCI's holdings include several telecommunications and call centre support companies.
- NewsCBC
Tories loosen bilingual hiring requirements for paramedics in certain areas
The New Brunswick government plans to weaken the bilingual hiring requirements for temporary full-time paramedic positions in areas of the province where there is less demand for second-language service. In some heavily francophone areas in the north and heavily anglophone areas in the south, Ambulance New Brunswick is being told to no longer require bilingual paramedics when filling full-time positions with temporary hires. "This isn't a language issue," Health Minister Ted Flemming said at a Tuesday news conference.
- Rumble
Hidden camera exposes Basenji's master thief skills
Recently, the food has been disappearing from the kitchen counter, so a surveillance camera was installed to help figure out how this was happening. Now we have the answer!
- NewsCBC
Residential tax rate up, commercial tax rate down in 2019 Mount Pearl budget
The City of Mount Pearl is raising the residential property tax rate — and dropping the commercial one — in a slimmed-down 2019 budget that cuts overall spending by nearly $4 million. The $54.4 million budget, presented at city council's public meeting today along with the city's new five-year strategy, is $3.8 million less than the 2018 budget, representing a 6.5 per cent drop in spending.
- NewsCBC
Convicted cocaine trafficker was not a key part of Yellowknife drug ring, N.W.T. judge rules
Tuesday, lawyers for the Crown and defence presented their cases on the scale of Serenus Bryan's drug dealing. In her ruling, N.W.T. Supreme Court Justice Karan Shaner sided with the defence, ruling the Crown failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Bryan was a high-level drug dealer.
- NewsCBC
P.E.I. investors better protected under new legislation, says regulator
Amendments to P.E.I.'s Securities Act provide the full toolkit that's needed to protect investors, says the regulator that oversees investment dealers in Canada. "Something that does happen from time to time across Canada, is that individuals go bad and they actually go so far as to steal from their clients," said Kriegler. A large percentage of clients who suffer from wrongdoing by investment dealers are seniors, he said.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
Pence misses launch but treated to new SpaceX crew capsule
Vice-President Mike Pence missed seeing a SpaceX rocket soar Tuesday. Pence joined members of the Air Force to witness the launch of the most powerful GPS satellite ever built, but a last-minute abort kept the Falcon rocket grounded. SpaceX will try again Wednesday.
- NewsThe Canadian Press
Romanian-Canadian singer dies after car plunges into Danube
Anca Pop, a Romanian-Canadian singer-songwriter, has died after her car plunged into the Danube River. Emergency authorities identified her body after divers found her car late Monday in southwestern Romania. Pop's style was a fusion of Balkan and mainstream pop.
- NewsCBC
Province's $1.5-billion tourism industry faces shortage of workers
New Brunswick's tourism industry is looking to immigrants and older people to alleviate worker shortages it suffered during the summer. "We saw it last summer with the industry, and a lot of segments of the industry reported a real challenge trying to hire workers for the full season," said Campbell, whose company did the study for the Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick.
- NewsCBC
All this toothless tenor wants for Christmas are his three front teeth
All Taylor Fawcett wants for Christmas are his three front teeth. Fawcett, an aspiring opera singer, has launched a lispy, impassioned campaign to repair his damaged mug. Part of his online campaign to cover the cost of dental surgery features Fawcett performing a particularly rousing rendition of the novelty Christmas classic.
NewsReutersU.S. agency to speed reviews of automaker self-driving petitions
Automakers must currently meet nearly 75 auto safety standards, many of them written with the assumption that a licensed driver would be able to control the vehicle using traditional human controls. On Tuesday, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it issued a final regulation streamlining the review process. NHTSA eliminated a requirement that calls for the agency to determine a petition is complete before publishing a summary for public comment.
- NewsCBC
Canadian Chamber of Commerce backs carbon pricing — but not for the North
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce endorses carbon pricing in Canada, but says the tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions won't work in the North. "A carbon price is ill suited to Northern Canada, where the problem is a lack of alternatives, not a lack of incentives, and the potential impact on climate mitigation is small," reads a report published last week by the group of 450 chambers of commerce and boards of trade. It goes on to say it costs two to 2.5 times more to build a mine in the North than in the south, and up to 60 per cent more to operate it.
NewsReutersUber gets approval from Pennsylvania to resume self-driving testing
Uber Technologies Inc received approval from Pennsylvania to resume self-driving car testing on public roads this week, state records show, nine months after it suspended the program following a deadly accident in Arizona. A company spokeswoman said on Tuesday Uber has not yet resumed testing. In November, Uber said it was seeking permission from Pennsylvania to resume testing more than seven months after a deadly self-driving crash in Arizona.
NewsReutersGeorge Lucas's film empire tops Forbes list of richest U.S. celebrities
Filmmaker George Lucas's "Star Wars" empire - the movie franchise, not Darth Vader's fictional galactic government - planted him firmly atop Forbes magazine's third annual ranking of the wealthiest U.S. celebrities which was released on Tuesday. The net worth of the 74-year-old writer, director, producer and creator of the enduring space saga was estimated at $5.4 billion, leading a list that also included athletes, musicians and one wealthy illusionist. Most of Lucas's wealth came from the $4.05 billion sale of the LucasFilm production company to Walt Disney Co in 2012, Forbes said.
- NewsReuters
Chaos on French highways as 'yellow vests' torch toll booths
France's biggest toll road operator, Vinci Autoroutes, said there were demonstrations at about 40 sites along its network and that some highway intersections had been damaged, notably in tourist towns such as Avignon, Orange, Perpignan and Agde. Protesters set fire overnight to the Bandol toll station, forcing the closure of the A50 highway between Marseille and Toulon, said Vinci, whose network is mainly in southern and western France. "Motorists should take utmost care as they approach toll gates and motorway access ramps due to the presence of numerous pedestrians," Vinci said in a statement.
- NewsCBC
Detroit-Windsor Tunnel construction pushed again, no new delivery date set
Construction on the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel was supposed to be finished by the end of December, but there's yet another delay. This time, there is no new delivery date. "We will be continuing with the work after Dec. 31," said Neal Belitsky, tunnel president CEO on the U.S. side of the border.
