Longtime cabinet minister Pablo Rodriguez will sit as an Independent MP after stepping down as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s transport minister and Quebec Lieutenant, CTV News has learned.
On Thursday, Rodriguez is expected to announce he will run for the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ).
First elected as an MP in 2004, he was defeated by the NDP’s Paulina Ayala during the Orange Wave.
Rodriguez won his seat back in 2015, and has since served as government house leader and heritage minister.
Federal MP Pablo Rodriguez pauses while speaking to reporters at the Liberal caucus retreat in Nanaimo, B.C., Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024.
An Ontario woman who just wanted to get some gutter guards to keep leaves out of her eavestroughs said she was convinced her home was going to collapse and handed over $158,000 in a roofing scam.
“It’s a lot of money. Looking back, I can’t believe it happened, but they use fear and intimidation to scare you,” said Sita Dubeau of Scarborough.
Dubeau said it was in July when she thought she would try to find someone to install guards on her eavestroughs and she went on Bark.com, a website that matches homeowners with companies looking for work to do.
She hired a company called Homebuild Roofing and Masonry and two men showed up at her house, but once they got up on her roof they said both her chimneys were about to fall over.
“They’re telling you how dangerous it is, that the chimney could come down on somebody,” said Dubeau.
They knocked down her chimneys and ripped off her shingles and then said her entire roof was rotten and showed her a photo of decomposed beams and told her that her house could collapse at anytime.
“I was extremely shocked, in a state of disbelief, but you’re scared about it so you do what you think is best,” said Dubeau.
The company told her the repairs would be $158,000 and that they could do the work right away but only if she could pay in advance.
“So I went to the bank and got wire transfers, e-transfer whatever they wanted. I paid the whole thing,” said Dubeau.
Her family became concerned and her son Dylan Dubeau decided to do a Google reverse image search and discovered the photo of the rotting beams was not from their home, but instead it had been taken from a roofing website in Texas.
“Immediately, I said to my mom, ‘this is a scam do not give them anymore money and call the police,’” said Dylan Dubeau.
When Debeau called the company to finish the job they said they weren’t coming back.
“The engineer and boss man said the house was too dangerous to return to work,” said Dubeau.
Her insurance company has covered her roof with tarps and protection, but before they did while the shingles were off there was a rainstorm and her house flooded.
Dubeau’s home is filled with water extraction machines trying to stop more damage.
“They’re drying out the water in my home that leaked in from the unprotected roof,” said Dubeau.
CTV News Toronto reached out to Homebuild Roofing and Masonry, calling and emailing the company. The phone number is no longer in service and our emails were not returned.
Dubeau said she paid the money to two men she identified as Charlie Mitchell and John McColley.
We reached out Bark.com where Dubeau found the roofers.
A spokesperson for the website said in a statement “Firstly, we want to express our sympathy to the individual affected by this unfortunate incident. We take these situations very seriously and continuously work to create a safer and more reliable platform. However, while Bark.com strives to connect customers with trustworthy professionals and monitors feedback closely, we also encourage customers to conduct their own thorough research to ensure the suitability and quality of the professional they choose.”
“Once we have made the introduction of a professional to an individual, the responsibility for the provision of services lies solely with the professional engaged by the customer and Bark does not have any visibility of this. However, upon receiving this complaint, we took immediate action to ban the company in question, Homebuild Roofing and Masonry, from our platform.”
“Additionally, we have spoken directly with the customer to provide support and assurance during this challenging time. Should the authorities become involved in investigating this matter, we are fully prepared to cooperate with their inquiries to the fullest extent possible to assist the customer within our capacity.”
Dubeau home’s remains a mess and she says the $158,000 was the all the money she had.
“My husband died a year ago and I felt really vulnerable. I felt there was no one there to help me,” said Dubeau.
A police report has been filed but at this point the roofers are nowhere to be found. If you’re having a job done make sure you know a company’s physical address and never pay in advance as once money is paid out it can be almost impossible to get it back.
A humpback whale was so entangled in fishing gear, ropes and buoys that it took four days for a Fisheries Department crew to unravel the mess, Paul Cottrell said.
The rescue off British Columbia’s coast between Prince Rupert and Haida Gwaii was one of the longest he had ever taken part in, he said.
It was clear the animal had been trapped for months, said Cottrell, a marine mammal co-ordinator with the department.
“We didn’t even know how to start on this animal because it was so constricted. Its mouth was closed with two wraps around the head, and there were ropes through the mouth, around the body,” said Cottrell.
He said the team had to make 50 cuts to get the ropes and gear off.
“This poor animal was showing evidence of being exhausted and hadn’t been feeding for quite a while,” said Cottrell, adding that the gear they removed came from Canada and the United States, indicating the long journey the whale had taken while wrapped in fishing gear.
Cottrell said there’s been “a real uptick in entanglements” like this one off B.C.’s coast, which he suspects is related to an influx of humpback whales in the area.
Whale conservation groups are calling for more training and equipment outside of the Department of Fisheries to allow others to help save the animals.
Cottrell said his team was in the Prince Rupert area on Sept. 3 doing a necropsy on a fin whale, when they got the call alerting them about an entangled whale in Hecate Strait.
When they found the whale, estimated to be about 10-metres long, it was “in very poor shape” and hardly able to get to the surface and breathe, said Cottrell.
He said the whale showed a burst of energy after being released, but it suffered many injuries so they’ll be watching the health of the animal.
Cottrell said his team has been running non-stop this summer, dealing with at least one entanglement a week.
Janie Wray, CEO of North Coast Cetacean Society, said northern B.C. has historically been a “hot spot” for humpbacks, where researchers sometimes meet 30 to 40 such whales foraging.
The society has been conducting a study, using drones and photography, to determine how many whales in the area have been entangled looking for scars from fishing gear.
One of their drones caught a photo of a whale with a long rope attached to its pectoral fin in 2022 and they reported it to the DFO immediately, Wray said.
She said she was relieved to see the same whale had survived when it revisited in 2023.
Jackie Hildering, a humpback researcher for the Marine Education and Research Society based out of Port McNeill, B.C., said many of the entanglements are never documented, the whales are never detected and therefore can’t be saved.
Hildering said their preliminary research shows that “50 per cent of humpbacks in B.C. have scarring left from being entangled.”
It’s unclear how many humpbacks have died, she said.
One example of such entanglements is a humpback they’ve called Catalyst that whale watchers have seen without a tail near B.C.’s Discovery Islands.
Catalyst’s entanglement around its tail was never documented, she said, raising questions about how many others die and sink to the bottom of the ocean without discovery.
Wray has also heard about Catalyst’s story and said they haven’t seen it since July 22.
She said more resources need to be added to saving these whales, and that means more teams in the water unravelling the animals.
Wray said she worries that if Cottrell retires in 10 years, there won’t be anyone left to do the work, “so other people need to be trained and know how to disentangle a whale.”
Fisheries and Oceans Canada says it has successfully freed a humpback whale off British Columbia’s coast after a four-day rescue operation as shown in this handout still image taken from a video. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Clouds hang over the snow-covered Dolomites mountains near Bolzano, in northern Italian province of South Tyrol, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2021
MILAN, Italy – A 56-year-old Canadian woman died after being caught in a sudden snowstorm in Italy’s Dolomite mountains and her companion was being treated for severe hypothermia, Italy’s Alpine Rescue Corps said Friday.
The two climbers, exhausted and suffering hypothermia, called for help Thursday evening after being hit by the snowstorm about two kilometres (more than a mile) from a mountain refuge. The hikers were not identified by name or hometown.
Rescuers reached them, but bad weather scuttled two attempts to evacuate the woman, whose condition was worsening, by helicopter. She died later on the mountain.
Rescuers put up a tent and shelter the 56-year-old male hiker overnight until the storm cleared and a helicopter could rescue him early Friday. He was being treated at a hospital in the northern Italian city of Bolzano.
Air Canada’s potential work stoppage could ground flights, halt cargo and leave travellers scrambling to reschedule next week.
The airline and its pilots are at a negotiating impasse over wages. The union, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), seeks to narrow the gap between Canadian and American salaries.
In late August, its members voted 98 per cent in favour of a strike.
“We continue to negotiate in good faith,” said union leader Charlene Hudy at the time of the vote. With a US$5 million fund available to sustain a potential work stoppage, the union says it’s “prepared for any outcome.”
Meanwhile, Air Canada has asked the federal government to step in and force arbitration. It would be the second time Ottawa decided to to take the reigns of labour negotiations in as many months after trains on Canada’s two largest railways halted in August.
Arbitration is a powerful tool for the government to force a resolution during an impasse, but it’s also controversial – some see it as a necessary step to maintain operations vital to trade and tourism, others call it over-reach.
Outside the boardroom, travellers are anxiously checking the status of their scheduled flights. Air Canada said earlier this week that a 72-hour strike or lockout notice could be issued as early as Sunday, Sept. 15.
Here’s the latest information we have on the potential aircraft halt:
10:20 a.m. EDT: Air Canada has already stopped accepting certain cargo, such as perishables and live animals, in case the airline grounds its fleet. Certain aircraft have been rerouted, should a disruption happen and they require maintenance.
Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick told CP24 the airline has not cancelled any flights in anticipation of the stoppage, but preparations are underway.
“Customers will be notified if there are any changes to their travel,” he wrote in a statement.
This article will be updated through the day. Check back for updates.
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Air Canada pilots stand during an informational picket at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, B.C., on Tuesday, August 27, 2024.
As contract negotiations continue, passengers face potential headaches from cancelled flights and trip disruptions as early as Sunday.
While Air Canada has shared advice for travellers ahead of a possible pilots strike, an airline passenger rights advocate has more tips for Canadians who may be affected.
Gabor Lukacs, president of Air Passenger Rights, an independent non-profit advocacy group in Halifax, advises travellers to avoid cancelling flights themselves so they can hold Air Canada liable for extra expenses. The airline must refund your airfare, in the original form of payment, if you choose not to travel after the airline cancelled your flight, he said.
“So my recommendation to passengers is always to wait until the airline cancels and then you have far more rights,” Lukacs said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday, noting Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations, also known as the APPR, apply once the airline cancels flights. “If you cancel as a passenger, then you are at your Air Canada’s mercy as long as they are operating the flight. …
“Whatever the airline’s policy says, that’s what (a) passenger has to follow if you decide to cancel just because you’re chickening out from the travel.”
Pre-emptive cancellations
If the airline pre-emptively cancels flights before a strike, it should be responsible for passengers’ expenses, Lukacs said.
“As long as the pilots have not actually walked off the job, any cancellation that occurs is within Air Canada’s control,” Lukacs said. “(Airlines) are responsible for meals, accommodation and they also have to pay passengers a lump sum compensation up to $1,000 per passenger for these cancellations based on how long (of a) delay the cancellation causes.”
But once the strike officially happens, not including the strike notice, the airline doesn’t owe passengers any lump sum compensation, he said.
Getting refunds
Don’t accept the airline’s refunds of your airfare if your flight is affected by a strike and you still want to travel, Lukacs said.
“What airlines love doing is tell you we’re going to refund your airfare and then you can go and buy yourself a ticket on a different airline,” he said. “But in most cases, that new ticket is going to be way more expensive. So by accepting a refund, the airline may be able to wash its hands from the expense of your new alternate transportation. And under the law, it is the airline which is supposed to buy you a new transportation, not you.”
Collect evidence, such as recording audio conversations, in case of disputes. If the airline refuses to pay for the ticket, then buy the ticket yourself and after you finish travelling, send the bill to the airline, Lukacs said.
“And if they refuse to pay, take them to small claims court,” he said, noting it won’t require big fees, you won’t need a lawyer and the judges will be impartial. “Stand your ground. Don’t be a pushover.”
Rebooking options
If an airline cancels a flight because of a strike, it must always offer you two choices, according to the Air Passenger Protection Regulations, or APPR.
One option is to rebook your flight free of charge, whether your destination is in Canada or internationally. If an airline can’t rebook you on one of its flights or through a partner airline, then it must place you on a competitor’s flight.
As contract negotiations continue, passengers face potential headaches from cancelled flights and trip disruptions as early as Sunday.
While Air Canada has shared advice for travellers ahead of a possible pilots strike, an airline passenger rights advocate has more tips for Canadians who may be affected.
Gabor Lukacs, president of Air Passenger Rights, an independent non-profit advocacy group in Halifax, advises travellers to avoid cancelling flights themselves so they can hold Air Canada liable for extra expenses. The airline must refund your airfare, in the original form of payment, if you choose not to travel after the airline cancelled your flight, he said.
“So my recommendation to passengers is always to wait until the airline cancels and then you have far more rights,” Lukacs said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday, noting Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations, also known as the APPR, apply once the airline cancels flights. “If you cancel as a passenger, then you are at your Air Canada’s mercy as long as they are operating the flight. …
“Whatever the airline’s policy says, that’s what (a) passenger has to follow if you decide to cancel just because you’re chickening out from the travel.”
Pre-emptive cancellations
If the airline pre-emptively cancels flights before a strike, it should be responsible for passengers’ expenses, Lukacs said.
“As long as the pilots have not actually walked off the job, any cancellation that occurs is within Air Canada’s control,” Lukacs said. “(Airlines) are responsible for meals, accommodation and they also have to pay passengers a lump sum compensation up to $1,000 per passenger for these cancellations based on how long (of a) delay the cancellation causes.”
But once the strike officially happens, not including the strike notice, the airline doesn’t owe passengers any lump sum compensation, he said.
Getting refunds
Don’t accept the airline’s refunds of your airfare if your flight is affected by a strike and you still want to travel, Lukacs said.
“What airlines love doing is tell you we’re going to refund your airfare and then you can go and buy yourself a ticket on a different airline,” he said. “But in most cases, that new ticket is going to be way more expensive. So by accepting a refund, the airline may be able to wash its hands from the expense of your new alternate transportation. And under the law, it is the airline which is supposed to buy you a new transportation, not you.”
Collect evidence, such as recording audio conversations, in case of disputes. If the airline refuses to pay for the ticket, then buy the ticket yourself and after you finish travelling, send the bill to the airline, Lukacs said.
“And if they refuse to pay, take them to small claims court,” he said, noting it won’t require big fees, you won’t need a lawyer and the judges will be impartial. “Stand your ground. Don’t be a pushover.”
Rebooking options
If an airline cancels a flight because of a strike, it must always offer you two choices, according to the Air Passenger Protection Regulations, or APPR.
One option is to rebook your flight free of charge, whether your destination is in Canada or internationally. If an airline can’t rebook you on one of its flights or through a partner airline, then it must place you on a competitor’s flight.
“Air Canada cannot wash its hands and say, ‘Sorry, we don’t have any flights. It has to take out its corporate credit card and buy you a WestJet or a Porter ticket even in business class if that’s the only thing available.”
Air Passenger Rights recommends consulting other websites.
“It may be beneficial to consult a flight booking website to determine what the next available flights in fact are, as some airlines may try to put you on flights departing many hours or days later, in contravention of their rebooking obligation under the APPR,” Air Passenger Rights says on its website.
A second option is to get a refund in the original form of payment within 30 days of “all unused flight segments and segments that no longer serve any purpose.” As well, you are entitled to complimentary transportation to your point of origin if you are not there already and there’s no longer any point to travel because of the cancellation.
What’s more, you may be compensated for out-of-pocket expenses, such as meals, hotels and lost wages, and inconvenience, for international travel, the group wrote on its website.
Itinerary in Canada
If your destination is entirely within Canada, your only protection during a strike is Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations(opens in a new tab), though you may have additional rights under other legislation. APPR applies to all flights to and from Canada.
According to APPR, a strike of an airline’s employees is considered “outside the carrier’s control,” but the airline must offer you the two options mentioned above.
What if you have an international flight?
If you bought a ticket in Canada but the flight is outside the country, you have additional rights to get your expenses and damages reimbursed under the Carriage by Air Act, Lukacs said.
The situation is different for passengers travelling internationally since they are covered by the Carriage by Air Act(opens in a new tab). The airline will need to compensate passengers for meals, accommodation, lost wages and other expenses, but not the lump sum that applies for Canadian destinations.
“It’s their own pilots and Air Canada is responsible for its own labour affairs,” Lukacs said. “There are several decisions from the European top courts interpreting the law and it’s clear that strikes are part of the normal business in an airline so they have to handle it. … It is not something that is outside their control in the eyes of the international law in Canada.”
Perhaps Saskatchewan’s most famous encounter with Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP/UFO) – “The Langenburg Event” is now being immortalised in the form of a collective coin.
On the morning of Sept. 1, 1974, Langenburg area farmer Edwin Fuhr was swathing on his land when he witnessed an incredible scene – five saucer-shaped objects on the edge of a nearby slough.
Believing someone was playing a prank on him, Fuhr left his swather to get a closer look, being sure to keep his distance.
According to the Town of Langenburg’s website, Fuhr recalled that the saucers were floating a foot off the ground and rotating at a high rate of speed.
Going back to his swather, Fuhr noticed it would not start. Too scared to move, Fuhr continued to watch the mysterious saucers as they hovered.
After 15 minutes, the objects took off – disappearing into the sky at an incredible speed while emitting a grey vapour from underneath.
The objects made no sound.
According to an RCMP incident report, the saucers left behind five distinct circles with grass left standing in the centre of each. The rest of the crop was flattened out in a clockwise direction – as if caused by something exerting heavy air or exhaust pressure over the area.
According to the town’s website, each landing site became extremely radioactive following the sighting.
The Royal Canadian Mint is now immortalizing “The Langenburg Event” with a one ounce pure silver glow in the dark coin as part of its Canada’s Unexplained Phenomena series.
The coin depicts the sighting from Fuhr’s point of view – featuring his silhouette with five saucers in the distance. The coin features a glowing colour effect, activated via blacklight, which displays the saucers leaving radioactive circular patterns in the grass below.
The Royal Canadian Mint has unveiled a collectible silver coin depicting the famous Langenburg UFO sighting in 1974.
A Hamilton police cruiser can be seen in this undated filed photo.
Hamilton police say that they have arrested a 34-year-old woman who allegedly escaped custody after ramming a cruiser in the city’s east end earlier this week.
Police issued a public appeal for information on the whereabouts of the suspect on Wednesday, noting that she was last seen headed east on Barton Street from Hamilton General Hospital and was wearing a hospital gown.
At the time, they said that she was wanted on six charges, including flight from police, escaping from lawful custody and operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drug.
In a news release issued on Thursday, police confirmed that the suspect was arrested in the area of Augusta Street and John Street South the previous day.
The suspect has been identified as Mary Curran, 34.
“Thanks to timely tips from our community she was arrested without incident,” the news release notes. “Hamilton Police would like to extend our gratitude to the community for their continued cooperation and support in this matter.”
The July 2023 crash that killed Abbey Bickell occurred at the intersection of Hastings Street and Willingdon Avenue.
It’s been 420 days since 22-year-old Abbey Bickell was killed in a car crash in Burnaby, a stretch full of heartbreak for her family as they not only grieved her death, but anxiously waited for progress in the police investigation. Wednesday, they finally got some good news.
The B.C. Prosecution Service approved seven charges against 32-year-old Kolton Lockyer, including criminal negligence causing death, criminal negligence causing bodily harm, operation at or over 80 milligrams causing death, operation at or over 80 milligrams causing bodily harm, impaired operation causing bodily harm, and impaired operation causing death.
“We’re really pleased with the work and diligence that went into that,” said grieving mother Amanda Bickell.
Police say Lockyer was behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck that crashed into a Toyota Supra near Hastings Street and Willingdon Avenue in July of 2023.
Abbey Bickell was in the passenger seat of the sedan and was killed instantly, while two others were injured.
The seventh charge, failure to stop at an accident, was from a hit-and-run collision that occurred in Vancouver prior to the fatal collision in Burnaby.
“To lose a child to the selfishness of someone else, heartbreak doesn’t even begin to describe it,” said Amanda Bickell.
“We’ve spent these 420 days having all of these firsts, missing her first birthday when she’s gone, missing the first Christmas when she’s gone,” she said.
“She should be going back to school, she should be graduating, she should be here, but she isn’t,”
The coroner’s report into Bickell’s death shares details of the police investigation, which states the Supra was at a red light sitting in the left-hand turn lane. When the arrow turned green, the vehicle entered the intersection.
At the same time, the Silverado blasted through a red light entering the same intersection at a speed of 135 kilometres per hour, striking the Supra.
Bickell says her daughter lived life fiercely and to the fullest.
“She would be furious this is how her life ended,” said Bickell.
With both provincial and federal elections approaching, Bickell would like to see stricter laws around impaired driving put in place.
“How many more do we have to see die before we make a change?” she said.
A dirt path leads to a now dismantled Abbotsford homeless camp.
And not far from the garbage and discarded needles, there are flowers.
They mark the place where Brianna MacDonald, who had just turned 13, died last month of a suspected overdose.
“In a tent, by herself. I think it’s the hardest thing to stomach,” said her mom, Sarah MacDonald, as she wiped away tears.
In February, when Brianna was rushed to hospital because of a suspected overdose, her parents said they begged Surrey Memorial to keep her in the youth psychiatric ward because of her mental health and addiction issues.
“They are like, ‘No, that’s her choice, her body, her right,'” the grieving mom said, adding that her daughter was only 12 at the time.
“It is tragic. It is heartbreaking to hear this story,” said BC Conservative Leader John Rustad.
He said if his party is elected, they will bring in “compassionate intervention legislation” to allow involuntary treatment for those at serious risk due to addiction.
“We will be looking at putting in an option for involuntary care, especially for children,” he said.
Premier David Eby told CTV News that his government supports the right of physicians to provide involuntary treatment to those who are severely mentally ill.
“Health-care providers need greater support from the province to identify when they’re able to use involuntary care provisions to keep people in and provide them with the care they need,” Eby said.
Brianna’s parents told CTV News that Fraser Health provided their daughter with needles and other drug paraphenalia as well as pamphlets on how to use safely and naloxone kits. Fraser Health said it only has a record of providing the family with a naloxone kit.
“I found her a few times drawing blood from herself with the needles in the narcan kits because they were bigger needles and a couple times using them for shooting up,” said Sarah MacDonald.
“I am absolutely disgusted. I am absolutely disgusted with our system,” said Joseph Sikora, founder of Ground Zero Ministries.
He has spent years trying to help those are are homeless and addicted.
And he said B.C.’s harm reduction model is not working.
“They just keep throwing supplies at these drug addicts,” he said. “So now what they’ve created is community palliative care. They’re just keeping the individuals comfortable until they kill themselves.”
“There’s no such thing as a safe way to use a crack pipe,” said Rustad. “There’s no such thing as a safe way to snort cocaine. These drugs are dangerous and government is actually enabling this.”
Sikora said B.C. needs to decrease hurdles for getting into treatment and make the process less complicated.
“As outreach workers and as case workers … we experience a lot of trouble ourselves trying to navigate through the system trying to get an individual help,” he said. “Never mind a person who is hooked on drugs, who doesn’t have a phone and who lives in a camp like this or is struggling with major barriers like mental health crises.”
According to Fraser Health, there are just 20 child and youth treatment beds in the entire region and six detox beds.
Rustad said his party also promises to build secure facilities designed for treatment of people who pose a risk to themselves or others and establish units to provide targeted care for those experiencing severe addiction or mental health crises.
Meanwhile, Brianna’s parents say though they can no longer fight to help their daughter, they will keep battling to help other at-risk children.
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A dirt path leads to a now dismantled Abbotsford homeless camp. And not far from the garbage and discarded needles, there are flowers marking the spot where 13-year-old Brianna MacDonald died. (CTV News)
