Third person dies in Ontario in Listeria outbreak linked to plant-based milks
By: Nicole Ireland
TORONTO (CP) – A third person from Ontario has died in a Listeria outbreak connected to Great Value and Silk plant-based milks, the province’s Ministry of Health said Monday afternoon.
The statement followed an update about the outbreak published Monday by the Public Health Agency of Canada, which said there were 20 confirmed cases of people sickened by listeriosis — the illness caused by the Listeria bacteria — in four provinces.
The affected products include Silk brand oat milk, almond milk, coconut milk, almond-coconut milk and almond-cashew milk, as well as Great Value brand almond milk with best before dates up to and including Oct. 4 and containing the number 7825 in the product code.
The Listeria contamination originated on a dedicated production line at Joriki, a third-party beverage packaging facility in Pickering, Ont., used by plant-milk manufacturer Danone Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said last week.
People became sick between August 2023 and mid-July 2024, the Public Health Agency of Canada said. Thirteen of the cases were in Ontario, five were in Quebec, one was in Nova Scotia and one was in Alberta.
The people sickened range in age from seven to 89 and 70 per cent of the cases were 50 years of age and older. Fifteen people have been reported hospitalized in the outbreak, the agency said.
Parliamentary committee to probe how Toronto terror suspect was admitted to Canada
OTTAWA (CP) – A House of Commons committee will investigate how a man facing terror charges was admitted to Canada and obtained citizenship.
Members of Parliament on the national security committee voted unanimously to launch a study on the terror suspects arrested in the Toronto area last month.
Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, and his son Mostafa Eldidi, 26, were arrested in Richmond Hill, Ont., and face nine terrorism charges including conspiracy to commit murder on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The RCMP announced the charges on July 31 and said the two men were “in the advanced stages of planning a serious, violent attack in Toronto.”
Most charges relate to activities that allegedly happened in Canada but the elder Eldidi, who the RCMP says is a Canadian citizen, is also charged with one count of aggravated assault outside the country.
The committee will begin its study later this month and will invite Immigration Minister Marc Miller and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc to testify.
Indigenous nation closes B.C.’s Chilcotin River bridge, citing riverbank cracks
By Dirk Meissner
WILLIAMS LAKE (CP) – A bridge over British Columbia’s Chilcotin River was closed to traffic Friday after new cracks were discovered along the hillside near a massive landslide that had blocked the river for days before a breach sent torrents of water and debris downstream.
The bridge at Farwell Canyon on Farwell Canyon Road south of Williams Lake was closed due to concerns for public safety, the Tsilhqot’in National Government said in a notice posted on social media.
The notice included two photos showing what appeared to be large and lengthy cracks in the landscape above the river, and a statement saying the nation has placed security officials at the bridge.
Chief Joe Alphonse, Tsilhqot’in National Government tribal chair, and Nathan Cullen, B.C.’s water, land and resource stewardship minister, said Thursday there were concerns about future slides and unstable banks along the river near the landslide site.
Alphonse said there were concerns that rainfall could trigger new slides.
Final chapter of ‘Freedom Convoy’ organizers’ trial begins with closing arguments
OTTAWA (CP) – The criminal trial for “Freedom Convoy” organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber has entered its final chapter as the Crown began final submissions today.
Lich and Barber were among several organizers who brought a huge number of demonstrators and big-rig trucks to Ottawa two years ago to protest pandemic-era public health restrictions and vaccine mandates.
Their criminal trial began in September 2023 and has been plagued with delays that have dragged the proceedings on for nearly a year.
Lich arrived at the Ottawa courthouse to some fanfare from a small gathering of supporters who chanted “Freedom!”
Both are accused of mischief, intimidation and several charges related to counselling others to break the law.
Barber also faces a charge of counselling others to disobey a court order.
As part of its closing arguments, the Crown says the two conspired in lockstep to organize an illegal protest and that evidence against one of them should apply to both.
Lich and Barber’s lawyers have argued throughout the trial that organizing a protest is not an illegal activity and is protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Suspect arrested, second sought in Alberta manhunt
CALGARY (CP) – RCMP in Alberta say one of two suspects wanted in a deadly shooting east of Calgary last week has been arrested, but the search continues for the other.
With assistance from the Edmonton Police Service, Mounties announced Monday night they arrested a 35-year-old suspect in the Alberta capital on August 8. Arthur Wayne Penner is charged with first-degree-murder in the death of Airdrie resident Colin John Hough, as well as attempted murder of another individual.
RCMP are asking for the public’s help in the search for a second suspect, 28-year-old Elijah Blake Strawberry. A warrant has been issued for his arrest on a charge of second-degree murder in Hough’s death. A manhunt began for the suspects on August 6 following the noon-hour shooting of two men who were doing work along a roadway in Rocky View County, and a county truck was stolen from the scene.
Racialized workers less likely to be unionized
(CP) – Black and racialized workers in Canada are less likely to be represented by a union, according to a new report. The report released Tuesday by the Centre for Future Work found that a quarter of racialized workers are covered by a union contract, compared with one third of non-racialized workers. The gap was even wider for racialized women. Statistics Canada only recently started collecting the more detailed labour force data that made this report possible, said Stanford.
