Canada & World

Passengers make their way through Montreal-Trudeau airport in Montreal, on Wednesday, December 1, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

Disease specialist says COVID-19 testing better than travel ban ‘whack-a-mole’

‘Look, I don’t think we’re going to be able to shut our border to this variant’

A bag of blood is shown at a clinic in Montreal, Thursday, November 29, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Blood Services to recommend asking donors about sexual activity, not orientation

Organization plans to submit its recommendation to Health Canada within the next two weeks

Public Services and Procurement Minister Filomena Tassi rises during Question Period, in Ottawa, Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. Tassi says Canada has signed agreements to buy up 1.5 million courses of oral antiviral treatment for COVID-19. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Canada buying up to 1.5 million courses of oral antiviral drugs to fight COVID-19

Some hail antiviral drugs as a game-changer since they are designed to block viral replication

A  locomotive and its cars that were knocked off of the train track by heavy rains and mudslides earlier in the week is pictured in the Fraser Canyon near Hope, B.C., Thursday, November 18, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

CN looks to reopen tracks in southern B.C. this weekend after second network shutdown

Some traffic has been diverted to the Port of Prince Rupert, which remains fully operational

A  locomotive and its cars that were knocked off of the train track by heavy rains and mudslides earlier in the week is pictured in the Fraser Canyon near Hope, B.C., Thursday, November 18, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
GM workers use human assistance automation to weld vehicle doors at the General Motors assembly plant during the COVID-19 pandemic in Oshawa, Ont., on Friday, March 19, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Jobless rate drops to 6 per cent in November as number of long-term unemployed falls

Gains didn’t take into account the flooding situation in British Columbia which happened after survey

GM workers use human assistance automation to weld vehicle doors at the General Motors assembly plant during the COVID-19 pandemic in Oshawa, Ont., on Friday, March 19, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
A football is left in honor of Tate Myre, one of the four victims who was killed in Tuesday’s school shooting, at a memorial where family, friends, students and relatives of victims put up bouquets of flowers, candles and personalized messages near an entrance to the Oxford High School on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021 in Oxford, Mich. A 15-year-old boy has been denied bail and moved to jail after being charged in the Michigan school shooting that killed four students and injured others.(Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)

‘Far beyond negligence’: Suspect’s parents charged in Michigan school shooting

Couple charged with involuntary manslaughter after 15-year-old son arrested in deaths of 4 students

A football is left in honor of Tate Myre, one of the four victims who was killed in Tuesday’s school shooting, at a memorial where family, friends, students and relatives of victims put up bouquets of flowers, candles and personalized messages near an entrance to the Oxford High School on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021 in Oxford, Mich. A 15-year-old boy has been denied bail and moved to jail after being charged in the Michigan school shooting that killed four students and injured others.(Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
A registered pharmacist technician carefully fills the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine at a vaccine clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on Tuesday, December 15, 2020. The National Advisory Committee on Immunizations is set to release new guidance this morning on the use of COVID-19 vaccine boosters as public health faces down the threat of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Canada’s vaccine advisory panel strongly recommends boosters for those 50 and up

Recommendations come after urgent federal request tied to fighting the new Omicron variant

A registered pharmacist technician carefully fills the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine at a vaccine clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on Tuesday, December 15, 2020. The National Advisory Committee on Immunizations is set to release new guidance this morning on the use of COVID-19 vaccine boosters as public health faces down the threat of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
A home has its foundation ripped away by the Coquihalla River near Hope, B.C., Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Disaster expert urges those affected by B.C. flooding to take care of mental health

Effects could include anxiety, depression or even post-traumatic stress disorder

A home has its foundation ripped away by the Coquihalla River near Hope, B.C., Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
A Tiger Dam is placed across all lanes of the closed Trans-Canada Highway near the flooded Sumas River, in Abbotsford, B.C., on Wednesday, December 1, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Worst of B.C. weather over; massive cleanup, rebuild ahead, says government

Restoring farms and transportation routes, getting people back in their homes now the focus

A Tiger Dam is placed across all lanes of the closed Trans-Canada Highway near the flooded Sumas River, in Abbotsford, B.C., on Wednesday, December 1, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Anthony Rota is escorted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative leader Erin O’Toole to the Speakers chair after being elected as the Speaker of the House of Commons Monday, November 22, 2021 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Board exceeded its authority in imposing vaccine mandate for Commons: Speaker

Anthony Rota says only the House itself can make a decision to restrict access

Anthony Rota is escorted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative leader Erin O’Toole to the Speakers chair after being elected as the Speaker of the House of Commons Monday, November 22, 2021 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
A traveller carrying luggage into the Edmonton International Airport on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. Confusion has been growing at some Canadian airports that say they want more direction from the federal government since it changed COVID-19 testing rules for travellers. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Confusion at Canadian airports: Few details on COVID-19 testing rules for travellers

Few details on when testing sparked by Omicron variant will start

A traveller carrying luggage into the Edmonton International Airport on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. Confusion has been growing at some Canadian airports that say they want more direction from the federal government since it changed COVID-19 testing rules for travellers. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
FILE— This booking photo released Monday, Oct. 12, 2020, by the Dover, N.H., Police Department shows Nicholas Mitchell, of Dover. Mitchell, who was accused of putting razor blades in pizza dough at a Hannaford supermarkets in Maine and New Hampshire, was sentenced Thursday Dec. 2, 2021 to four years and nine months in federal prison.(Dover Police Department via AP, File)

Man who put razor blades in pizza dough sentenced to prison

Maine man tearfully apologized, said he was trying to get back at employer who fired him

FILE— This booking photo released Monday, Oct. 12, 2020, by the Dover, N.H., Police Department shows Nicholas Mitchell, of Dover. Mitchell, who was accused of putting razor blades in pizza dough at a Hannaford supermarkets in Maine and New Hampshire, was sentenced Thursday Dec. 2, 2021 to four years and nine months in federal prison.(Dover Police Department via AP, File)
Canadian Health Coalition’s Steven Staples, seen in an undated handout photo, says he is not surprised that the Nordorthopaedics Clinic in Kaunas, Lithuania, reported a 50 per cent increase in Canadian patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Steven Staples

Canada’s surgery backlog heightens inequities in health care: advocacy group

Lithuanian clinic has reported 50 per cent increase in Canadian patients during pandemic

Canadian Health Coalition’s Steven Staples, seen in an undated handout photo, says he is not surprised that the Nordorthopaedics Clinic in Kaunas, Lithuania, reported a 50 per cent increase in Canadian patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Steven Staples
Electrical transmission lines are seen south of Chesley, Ont., on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019. Investigators at the Alberta Utilities Commission want a probe into what they say is illegal behaviour by one of the province’s largest companies. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Colin Perkel

Alberta Utilities Commission investigators want probe of ATCO dealings on TMX camps

Investigators at the Alberta Utilities Commission are asking the regulator to look…

Electrical transmission lines are seen south of Chesley, Ont., on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019. Investigators at the Alberta Utilities Commission want a probe into what they say is illegal behaviour by one of the province’s largest companies. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Colin Perkel
A Tiger Dam has been placed across all lanes of the closed Trans-Canada Highway near the flooded Sumas River, in Abbotsford, B.C., as shown on Wednesday, December 1, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Relief for B.C. as weather warnings lifted; flood warnings and evacuations remain

River Forecast Centre also lifted all flood watches on Vancouver Island and the central coast

A Tiger Dam has been placed across all lanes of the closed Trans-Canada Highway near the flooded Sumas River, in Abbotsford, B.C., as shown on Wednesday, December 1, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Travellers pushing luggage on carts walk through Vancouver International Airport, in Richmond, B.C., on Friday, July 30, 2021. By early next week, Canadians and all other foreign visitors who travel to the United States by air will need to get a COVID-19 test no later than the day before their departure.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

U.S. to require all inbound foreign air passengers to get COVID test the day before

Move aimed at slowing the spread of the highly mutated Omicron variant

Travellers pushing luggage on carts walk through Vancouver International Airport, in Richmond, B.C., on Friday, July 30, 2021. By early next week, Canadians and all other foreign visitors who travel to the United States by air will need to get a COVID-19 test no later than the day before their departure.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
A woman walks past a person using a glass pipe to smoke drugs in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, on International Overdose Awareness Day on Tuesday, August 31, 2021. Researchers in British Columbia say the expansion of overdose prevention sites in Vancouver led to immediate behaviour changes among some drug users as they entered addiction treatment, decreased the number of times they injected substances in public and shared syringes. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

UBC study says more overdose prevention sites could mean fewer overdose deaths

Researchers says existing sites having positive influence on drug users’ behaviour

A woman walks past a person using a glass pipe to smoke drugs in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, on International Overdose Awareness Day on Tuesday, August 31, 2021. Researchers in British Columbia say the expansion of overdose prevention sites in Vancouver led to immediate behaviour changes among some drug users as they entered addiction treatment, decreased the number of times they injected substances in public and shared syringes. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
The Supreme Court of Canada is seen in Ottawa, on Thursday, June 17, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Supreme Court of Canada agrees to hear appeal in notorious ‘Surrey Six’ case

Earlier, B.C. Court of Appeal had quashed the convictions of Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston

The Supreme Court of Canada is seen in Ottawa, on Thursday, June 17, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole questions the government during Question Period in the House of Commons, Thursday, November 25, 2021 in Ottawa. Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole will once again allow his caucus to have a free vote on a government bill seeking to ban conversion therapy. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Liberals thank Conservatives who championed conversion therapy ban as it passes House

MPs unanimously adopted a motion presented by a Conservative MP to fast-track the passage

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole questions the government during Question Period in the House of Commons, Thursday, November 25, 2021 in Ottawa. Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole will once again allow his caucus to have a free vote on a government bill seeking to ban conversion therapy. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Michael Roper, an Oxford High School sophomore, listens to prayers during a vigil after the Oxford High School school shootings, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021, at LakePoint Community Church in Oxford, Mich. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)

15-year-old charged with murder and terrorism in Michigan high school shooting

Ethan Crumbley charged in shooting that killed 4 students and injured others

Michael Roper, an Oxford High School sophomore, listens to prayers during a vigil after the Oxford High School school shootings, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021, at LakePoint Community Church in Oxford, Mich. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)