TORONTO — Ontario could be short 8,500 registered early childhood educators as the province adds tens of thousands more child-care spaces under the national $10-a-day program, the government estimates. The province is set to hold consultation sessions with people in the child-care sector starting next week. In slide decks obtained by The Canadian Press, officials say about […]

HALIFAX — The head of emergency medicine for Halifax and the surrounding area says ERs are under the most extreme pressure that he’s seen in his 23-year career, and he says it’s taking a toll on patients and health-care workers. Emergency medicine is in a state of “crisis” amid a shortage of nurses, physicians and […]

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Friday denounced a protest by Kurds in central Stockholm, where an effigy of Turkey’s president was hung from a lamppost, as an act of “sabotage” against Sweden’s bid to join NATO. The protest outside City Hall on Wednesday drew an angry backlash from Turkey, a […]

A second port on Canada’s West Coast is proposing a ban on cruise ships dumping contaminated and acidic wastewater while docked to protect the marine environment. The Port of Prince Rupert on B.C.’s north coast is taking public feedback until Feb. 5 on changes slated for 2023, including forbidding the open-loop scrubber systems that cruise […]

A report of a suspect vehicle in Saskatchewan’s capital hours after a stabbing rampage on a First Nation some 300 kilometres away suddenly pulled city officers into the investigation and kept residents on edge for days. The sighting “swiftly brought us into the unexpected storm,” Regina police Chief Evan Bray would later say in an […]

HALIFAX — Deaths in Nova Scotia emergency rooms were up 10 per cent in 2022 from the previous year, an increase that a Nova Scotia Health official says was “not unexpected” as more patients — and patients with more acute needs — visited ERs. Alyson Lamb, the executive director of health services with Nova Scotia […]

OTTAWA — The RCMP says many tips from Canada’s financial intelligence agency about possible crimes “may not get investigated” due to a lack of policing resources and conflicting priorities. The Mounties make the candid admission in a briefing note prepared for Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino on the working relationship between the national police force […]

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia’s Justice Department said Tuesday it won’t pursue legal action against a politician who posted information about a woman who died in hospital after a seven-hour wait for a doctor. The department sent an email Friday to Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin, the Independent member for Cumberland North, advising her to take down a letter […]

OTTAWA — The head of the RCMP Heritage Centre in Saskatchewan says that after it completed a round of consultations on how it can transform into a national museum, the ball is now in Ottawa’s court. “We really needed to hear from Canadians,” said Tara Robinson, the CEO of the Regina-based museum focused on the […]

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A former U.S. defense intelligence analyst who was convicted of spying for Cuba more than 20 years ago has been released from a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas. Ana Belen Montes, 65, was released Friday, Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman Scott Taylor said Saturday. Montes, an analyst for the […]

More than $3 million set aside to improve air quality in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic has been spent on duct cleaning — a measure not backed by research as an effective way to limit infectious-disease transmission. Manitoba earmarked nearly $11.3 million, including provincial and federal pots of about $6.8 million and $4.5 million, respectively, […]

EDMONTON — The Alberta government is refusing to release information on toxic contaminants in snowpacks downwind from mountaintop removal coal mines. The data was collected by two senior provincial government scientists who conducted research into the impact of windblown dust from mines in British Columbia on a pristine Alberta alpine lake. They recently published a […]