Jasper mayor says plan underway for residents to see homes in burned townsite
By: Aaron Sousa
JASPER, ALTA. (CP) – The mayor of Jasper, Alta., says a plan is in place for residents of the burned community to return to see the state of their homes, but fire and weather are not co-operating.
“They want to get back and see their homes,” Richard Ireland, alongside provincial and national counterparts, told reporters in Hinton, Alta., on Thursday.
“It is jarring, but it is also part of the healing journey that we will all have to go through.”
Ireland said people can only return when it is safe, noting there is still fire on the landscape.
“Weather like this — increasing temperatures, decreasing humidity and a forecast of increasing winds — are all prescriptions for fanning the flames,” he said.
“So we’re cautious, but we recognize the need and we’re working (toward) that.”
The fire that forced 25,000 people out of Jasper National Park 10 days ago, including 5,000 residents in the Jasper townsite, has been extinguished in the community but continues to burn in the park and poses a threat to the town.
About a third of all structures in the town were destroyed, but key infrastructure, including schools and the water treatment plant, was spared.
As of Thursday afternoon, an estimated 118 wildfires were burning in the province’s forest protection area, with 19 listed as out of control.
Town staff said the Jasper wildfire is estimated at 325 square kilometres in size.
Canadians urged to leave Lebanon as flights cancelled amid growing tensions
By: Joe Bongiorno
MONTREAL (CP) – Lara Salameh was supposed to be flying out of Beirut Thursday en route to Montreal with her husband and two daughters, but the night before, their flight was cancelled. She said Air France told her service out of the Lebanese capital was suspended because of the unstable security situation — one that Ottawa has been warning Canadians about as fears of war between Israel and Hezbollah grow.
Salameh is one of the 21,399 Canadians registered as being in Lebanon, a country the Canadian government is urging its citizens to leave. It says they can’t rely on government evacuation flights if war engulfs Lebanon.
Canada has been planning since October for a possible evacuation of its citizens and sent military personnel to Lebanon and Cyprus in preparation.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly has urged Canadians in the country to fly back to Canada immediately.
Hezbollah’s leader warned Thursday that the conflict with Israel has entered a “new phase,” as he addressed mourners at the funeral of a commander from the group who was killed by an Israeli airstrike this week in Beirut.
Massive B.C. landslide could mean new barriers for struggling salmon
By: Ashley Joannou
VANCOUVER (CP) – An expert on British Columbia’s salmon populations says the massive landslide that blocked off part of Canada’s largest sockeye salmon run has created an unprecedented situation potentially putting the already struggling fish at even more risk.
Scott Hinch, the associate dean at the University of British Columbia’s Pacific Salmon Ecology and Conservation Laboratory, said the debris piled 30 metres high and 600 metres long blocking the Chilcotin River could cause problems for chinook and sockeye populations both while the water is being held back, and when it eventually bursts free.
The Chilcotin is a tributary of the Fraser River and officials with the province and Cariboo Regional District say it’s uncertain if the lake building behind the dam will burst or if it will top over the debris. The B.C. government said a release could swell the Fraser River for hundreds of kilometres, potentially setting off dozens of emergency evacuations and alerts.
Hinch said the warmer Fraser River is already nearly lethal for the salmon, and if the fish get held back from entering cooler glacier-fed waters, that could be dangerous.
“So, what’s happening right now is, with the reduced water flow downstream, that water is going to be warmer as a start. It’s also going to possibly be less accessible. So, these fish are going to be holding in warmer water and low flows, either in the Chilcotin system or in the Fraser system, he said.
Google to charge new fee on ads in response to Canada’s digital services tax
By: Anja Karadeglija
OTTAWA (CP) – Google says it will pass on the cost of the Liberal government’s digital services tax to advertisers.
The company says it will implement a 2.5 per cent surcharge for ads displayed in Canada, starting in October.
“Digital service taxes increase the cost of digital advertising,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. They said the “surcharge is to cover part of the costs associated with complying” with the tax.
The tax, approved in Parliament in June, will add a three per cent levy on foreign tech giants that generate revenue from Canadian users.
The digital services tax has drawn opposition from trade associations and business groups in the United States, where many of the tech giants are based.
The Information Technology Industry Council, whose membership includes Google, Meta, Apple and Amazon, also urged the Biden administration to “immediately address Canada’s measure that targets U.S. companies and attempts to ring-fence the digital economy.”
It said in a statement last month the tax “sends a damaging blow” to Canada’s “partnership with allies, the business community and Canadian consumers who will likely bear the burden of this tax.”
Ottawa says Meta may still see Online News Act regulation — but CRTC wants more proof
OTTAWA (CP) – The Liberal government continues to insist that Meta may still be regulated under its Online News Act, as Facebook and Instagram users find loopholes to share articles despite its news ban.
But the regulator overseeing the implementation of the law suggests it doesn’t have evidence of that in hand.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission acknowledges reports that claim Meta still makes news available, but says it would “require further evidence to take further action.”
Meta began blocking news on Facebook and Instagram in Canada after Parliament passed a law last summer that would have required it to compensate media outlets for displaying their content.
A year into the ban, a new study shows local news outlets have seen a significant drop in their audience, while Meta itself has seemingly been unaffected.
The CRTC says it’s the company’s responsibility to inform the regulator if it falls under the law, and Meta hasn’t done so.
Canada finishes space launch negotiations with the United States
OTTAWA (CP) – Canada is a step closer to the final frontier after completing negotiations with the United States on an agreement with major implications for domestic space launches.
The agreement, which is yet to be signed, will establish the legal and technical safeguards needed to use U.S. space launch technology, expertise and data for launches in Canada.
“Canada’s vibrant and growing commercial space launch industry relies on its ability to collaborate across borders,” said Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly in a news release Friday.
She said this agreement, when in force, will position Canada as a global leader in commercial space launch.
Maritime Launch Services, the company developing Canada’s first commercial spaceport in northeastern Nova Scotia, said in a news release that the agreement is a major step forward for the industry.
Former fashion mogul Peter Nygard’s sentencing delayed again, now set for Sept. 9
By: Sonja Puzic
TORONTO (CP) – The long-delayed sentencing for former fashion tycoon Peter Nygard was postponed once again after prosecutors asked that it be adjourned to early September.
Nygard, 83, was set to be sentenced for his sexual assault convictions in a Toronto courtroom Friday morning, but instead appeared via video link from his detention centre bed as the judge and lawyers briefly discussed the postponement over Zoom.
Court heard that prosecutors sought the adjournment because one of the Crown attorneys, Neville Golwalla, is currently out of the country and wants to be present for the sentencing.
Crown attorney Ana Serban also said the presiding judge is not available for the rest of August.
