In the eleventh hour of this council term, St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe has pushed forward a major initiative connected to the former General Motors (GM) lands that provides financial incentives for remediation and redevelopment.   Using the mayor’s own figures, it’s a plan that could cost residents hundreds of millions of dollars and will leave […]

Powerful winds with shifting directions and dry weather contributed to rapid expansion of the grass fire at a military base in Wainwright, Alta., that left four soldiers dead and 39 others wounded, a wildfire expert said. Environment and Climate Change Canada had issued a severe weather alert for swaths of Alberta on Saturday, warning of […]

October 10 marks three years since the RCMP launched a criminal investigation into the Doug Ford PC government’s decision to swap thousands of acres of protected Greenbelt land to spur new housing development. It’s not the only consequence of the scandal that has yet to be resolved. It makes Greenbelt architect and former Ontario planner […]

O’Leary Digital Limited (ODL), the company behind the proposed Wonder Valley data centre complex in northern Alberta, is appealing an Aug. 13 court ruling that barred it from blocking a legal challenge by Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation (SLCN). SLCN has called for a judicial review of a water license granted by the government of Alberta […]

Five days before Ontario’s new, weaker species-at-risk law took effect in March, members of the Environment Ministry team tasked with enforcing it were thinking about bats. In particular, a delayed permit that was keeping a developer from clearing trees before at-risk bats returned to them for the season.  The permit had been delayed because staff […]

For years, St. Catharines firefighters have answered call after call about the former General Motors property on Ontario Street, responding to fires, signs of smoke and medical emergencies at the deteriorating industrial site in the heart of the city.  Numerous reports detail a high level of risk to firefighters entering the crumbling buildings, confirming what […]

Most Canadians could be forgiven for assuming a mine in Nunavut pays corporate income taxes. After all, Baffinland Iron Mines is the third-largest employer in the territory, behind the Government of Nunavut and Agnico Eagle Mines.  But Nunavut News could not find any evidence of Baffinland paying a single dollar of corporate income taxes to […]

They are thousands of kilometres from their home country, but the Colombian diaspora in Canada remains connected to their roots and has coordinated efforts to help, sending money to local organizations in Colombia rather than sending supplies directly from Canada to speed the process. Montreal resident María José Contento’s family lives in Cali, one of […]

The Municipal District of Lesser Slave River’s public works and enforcement teams have had a busy spring and summer dealing with rogue beavers, towering weeds, and run-down vehicles. During the July 29 Committee of the Whole meeting, administration presented its second-quarter operational updates, highlighting the daily challenges of keeping the rural municipality running smoothly. Beavers […]

Staff at the federal Fisheries Department are worried the United States government is about to adopt legislation jeopardizing the survival of the North Atlantic right whale, according to an internal government memo. The memo was sent to senior officials in the federal department in May and released to The Canadian Press through an access to […]

The fight over coal mining near the headwaters of the Oldman River is headed to court. Corb Lund’s Water Not Coal campaign has asked a judge to overturn Elections Alberta’s decision that its petition, signed by more than 200,000 Albertans, fell just short of forcing a referendum. One of the two projects the petition targeted […]

For residents who have spent years demanding action on the abandoned former General Motors property in St. Catharines, the latest chapter will sound all too familiar. Just weeks after the City’s Property Standards Appeal Committee upheld sweeping compliance orders requiring the owners to repair or demolish dozens of deteriorating structures, the controversial numbered company that […]