Many more dentists on board to provide care under dental-care program: Holland
OTTAWA (CP) – Health Minister Mark Holland says he has seen a large jump in the number of dentists who have agreed to provide care under the new dental-care program.
The government began accepting claims for dental services for seniors enrolled in the program in May, and has since expanded eligibility to qualifying children under the age of 18 and people with a disability tax credit.
While some 2.3 million patients have been quick to enrol, getting dentists on board to provide the care has been more challenging.
As of last month, roughly 11,500 dentists, hygienists and denturists were registered to provide care under the program, which represented less than 50 per cent of dental professionals in Canada.
Dentists appeared more reticent to enrol than other providers, as dental associations across the country expressed concerns about the design of the program and the administrative burden on dentists.
Holland says there are now 16,612 dentists participating, which represents roughly 75 per cent of all dentists and dental specialists in Canada.
Utility worker injured in shooting in rural area east of Calgary, another person dead
ROCKY VIEW, ALTA. (CP) – Fortis Alberta says one of its employees was shot and injured while performing routine work east of Calgary.
Mounties in Strathmore say they responded to a shooting in a rural area in Rocky View County around midday Tuesday and found one person dead and another superficially wounded.
The utility company says the worker was treated in hospital and released.
Fortis calls the shooting deeply concerning and says it will provide any support the employee, his family and his colleagues need.
An emergency alert went out after the shooting telling nearby residents to take shelter as two armed and dangerous suspects were on the loose.
The order was lifted more than three hours later, with police saying they were confident the suspects were no longer in the area.
Police say the suspects took off in a stolen Rocky View County work truck, dumped it in neighbouring Wheatland County and fled.
A statement from the county says one of its workers died in an incident Tuesday but did not provide details.
Tories reject allegation they are behind bot posts after Poilievre rally
By: Mia Rabson
OTTAWA (CP) – The Conservatives say they have no connection to a rash of conspicuously similar social-media posts that flooded the X platform following a Pierre Poilievre event in northern Ontario last week.
The Conservative leader held a rally at a conference centre in Kirkland Lake on July 31, to what appears in a video to be a packed room of several hundred people.
Three days later the platform formerly known as Twitter was awash in hundreds of posts from individuals claiming they “just got back” from the rally and were “buzzing from the energy.”
The posts came from accounts with less than five followers, many of which had joined the platform just this month. Very few listed a current location in Canada, and many had already been disabled by Tuesday morning.
NDP MP Charlie Angus, whose Timmins-James Bay riding includes the town of Kirkland Lake, says the deluge raises a question about whether the Conservatives hired an offshore bot farm to “create a false impression of momentum” for Poilievre in the riding.
Sarah Fischer, the director of communications for the Conservatives, accused the NDP of “spreading baseless conspiracy theories.”
Canada says travellers should exercise ‘high degree of caution’ in U.K. amid protests
OTTAWA (CP) – The Canadian government has updated its travel advisory for the United Kingdom amid a rash of ongoing demonstrations.
It says visitors should “exercise a high degree of caution” in the country and takes note of demonstrations and violent clashes between protesters and police over the past week.
The travel advice cautions that even peaceful demonstrations can turn violent at any time and can deteriorate quickly.
Violent disorder has been driven in part by misinformation on social media that whipped up anger over a stabbing rampage at a dance class that killed three girls and wounded 10 people.
False rumours spread online that the suspect was a Muslim asylum seeker led to attacks on immigrants and mosques.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said this week that he was setting up a “standing army” of specialist police and ramping up the justice system to prepare hundreds of arrests.
Second alleged victim of Alice Munro’s husband says parents must protect their kids
By: Maura Forrest
(CP) – The second woman to publicly accuse Alice Munro’s late husband of targeting her sexually when she was a child says she hopes her story will encourage parents to believe their children.
Jane Morrey was nine years old when she says Gerald Fremlin exposed himself to her while he was staying at her family’s Toronto home, several years before he married Munro. Fifty-five years later, she was inspired to speak publicly about it for the first time after learning that Fremlin had later sexually abused one of Munro’s daughters, Andrea Robin Skinner, when she, too, was nine.
Morrey, 64, says her experience was profoundly different from Skinner’s. Last month, Skinner described in an essay for the Toronto Star how for years after Fremlin assaulted her, she was sent back to her mother’s home every summer and continued to be abused by him. Her mother’s decision to stay with Fremlin after learning of the sexual abuse has tarnished the legacy of one of Canada’s most celebrated authors. Munro died in May, aged 92.
Boeing will spend $61M in B.C. as part of Canada’s military planes contract
RICHMOND, B.C. (CP) – Boeing Canada plans to invest $61 million in British Columbia for an aerospace manufacturing training facility as well as research and development.
The announcement is the latest from the American aviation giant as part of a multibillion-dollar deal with Ottawa on the purchase of new military surveillance planes.
Minister of National Defence Bill Blair welcomed the spending at the Boeing Canada facility in Richmond, B.C., saying that as the government invests more in defence, it’s ensuring it also delivers value for Canada’s economy and its workers.
Boeing plans to spend $48 million to build its research and development capacity at its Vancouver facility.
Another $13 million will be invested in the Indigenous-owned COTA Aviation, based in Parksville, B.C., to establish an aerospace manufacturing training facility to train 10 workers a year.
The more than $10-billion military plane agreement came with a promise from Boeing to provide $5.4 billion worth of business activities and investments in Canada over 10 years, which includes drawing on domestic suppliers and supporting 3,000 jobs.
Ex-adviser with the Coalition Avenir Québec pleads not guilty to electoral fraud
QUÈBEC (CP) – A former Coalition Avenir Québec political adviser has been charged with electoral fraud by the province’s elections authority.
Élections Québec says Étienne Boulrice helped or incited someone to take $100 that didn’t belong to them and donate it to the ruling party.
In Quebec all political contributions must come from a contributor’s own funds.
Boulerice was a political adviser to CAQ member Suzanne Tremblay, who represents the Western Quebec riding of Hull.
A spokesman for the chief government whip says integrity is a fundamental value for the party and that the CAQ can’t employ someone who is facing that kind of accusation.
Tremblay is not facing a citation from the elections oversight body and Boulrice, who has since resigned from his post, has pleaded not guilty.
If found guilty, he is liable to a fine of $5,000 to $20,000 and will also be banned for five years from doing partisan work, being a candidate in an election or voting.
Earlier this year, Quebec Premier François Legault announced the Coalition Avenir Québec would no longer accept donations amid mounting allegations that mayors were pushed to pay for access to cabinet ministers by attending party fundraisers.
