Saskatchewan not planning to decriminalize drug possession

Saskatchewan won't be following British Columbia's lead when it comes to decriminalizing drug possession.

"We're focused as a government here on treatment and recovery. Ultimately, we want to make sure that we are providing people with access and avenues to long-term treatment recovery," - says Saskatchewan's Mental Health and Addictions Minister.

📈In 2022, a record 421 people in Saskatchewan died due to drug overdose, according to a Drug Toxicity Report.

#Saskatchewan

Canadian farmer forced to dump 30,000 liters of milk because of quotas

“Right now we are over our quotum, um, it’s regulated by the government and by the DFO (Dairy Farmers of Ontario). Look at this milk running away. Cause it’s the end of the month. I dump thirty thousand liters of milk, and it breaks my heart.” - says Jerry Huigen, a farmer from Southern Ontario.

Meanwhile, milk prices have reached $7 per liter.

This milk can't be donated to a food bank, or to a hospital, or to a homeless shelter.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

Quebec’s groundhog Fred la Marmotte was found dead hours before he was expected to make his winter prediciton

Fred la Marmotte gave a Quebec crowd a real surprise Thursday when he was found dead moments before the annual weather forecasting ceremony.

Fred, 9, was found dead overnight, but officials believe he could have died during hibernation several weeks before. Groundhog Day.

#Quebec

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Federal government spent more than $6M on a single Calgary quarantine hotel

In 2022 the Westin Calgary Airport hotel has only housed 15 people, which equates to a cost of more than $450,000 per person.

By comparison, just over $11 million was spent the previous year to house 1,356 travellers at the Westin and $8.9 million for rooms and meals for 119 people in 2020-21.

#Alberta

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Canada is slowly losing its status as one of the least corrupted countries in the world

Canara ranked 14 out of 180 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index for 2022 and scored 74 CPI points, which is similar to 2021.

CPI measures how corrupt each country’s public sector is perceived to be, according to experts and businesspeople on the scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

▪️Compared to 2012, Canada lost 10 points and dropped 5 ranks. It seems that corruption in the country is slowly increasing with every few years (or at least that's how society feels) but the most significant changes have happened over the last 5 years, as Canada lost 7 CPI points.

▪️Of course, these assessments are somewhat subjective and can vary from time to time. But with this downward trend, Canada is slowly losing its status as one of the least corrupt countries in the world. The gap between rank 1 and Canada is slowly growing: in 2022 Denmark is in the lead with 90 CPI score.

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💉Canada moves to extend exclusion of mental illness from assisted death

Canada's federal government introduced a law that would exclude people suffering solely from mental illness from pursuing assisted death for an additional year.

A 2021 legislation temporarily excluded people whose only underlying condition is a mental illness from accessing assisted death — a provision that expires on March 17.

If the bill passes, it will extend that until March 17, 2024.

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Canada confirms more than 50,000 COVID-19 deaths

Canada has renewed its number of total COVID-19 cases and deaths to 4,550,256 and 50,380 respectively.

The Public Health Agency of Canada states the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to evolve and is still circulating widely across Canada. The government will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation.

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Saskatchewan will spend more than $5 million to expand training for future healthcare workers

The Government of Saskatchewan is pledging to spend $5.5 million to create more than 550 spots for 18 post-secondary healthcare programs.

Medical laboratory assistant, continuing care assistant, primary care paramedic, licensed practical nurse, pharmacy technician, clinical psychologist, physical therapist and mental health and addictions counsellors are just some of the programs seeing an increase.

The largest increase in any program is for continuing care aides, which will see 181 more spots allotted in Saskatchewan. The paramedic program offered at Sask. Polytechnic will increase from 152 to 252 spots.

#Saskatchewan #healthcare

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Thousands of Nova Scotians without electricity during record low temperatures

Nova Scotia Power said it expected to have power restored to “the majority” of people without electricity by the end of the day. At mid-morning, there were 189 outages affecting 3,363 customers.

NSP did not say where most of the people still without power lived, or if it knew how many people had been forced to leave their homes because they had no heat. The Weather Network says the wind chill at Stanfield International Airport got as low as minus 43, an all-time record.

#NovaScotia

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🩸73 percent of Canadian blood donors have had COVID-19

Tests for COVID-19 antibodies in donated blood show about 73 percent of donors have contracted the virus at some point. The numbers were much lower among seniors and higher among 17- to 24-year-olds.

Most of them have caught the highly contagious but less virulent Omicron variant.

Blood donors reflect a wide range of age and socioeconomic groups, suggesting that immunity to the virus is now at a high level.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

Toronto city council considering keeping warming centres open for the rest of winter

Councillors in Toronto are set to consider keeping warming centres open 24-7 for the rest of the winter amid growing calls for homelessness to be declared a public health crisis in the city.

Advocates have increasingly been asking to keep warming centres open around the clock, saying the city policy to open them once temperatures reach minus-15 is cruel, not based in evidence and could be causing preventable cold-related injuries.

Councillor Alejandra Bravo, who helped introduce a motion that recommends the city provide 24-7 indoor warming locations until April 15, says a lack of places to take shelter from the cold means those experiencing homelessness are taking refuge in unsuitable public spaces.

#Ontario

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Canada deploys military aircraft over Haiti to assist police force with gangs

The Canadian government is escalating efforts to help Haiti’s national police, deploying a long-range military aircraft to provide intelligence on the country’s menacing gangs.

The Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft, a CP-140 Aurora, was observed patrolling Haiti’s airspace on Saturday much to the surprise and curiosity of many Haitians.

Canada’s Minister of National Defense Anita Anand and the Minister of Foreign Affair Mélanie Joly confirmed the presence of the long-range patrol aircraft. Its deployment, they said, is part of Canada’s efforts to support the Haiti National Police and to “disrupt the activities of gangs in Haiti and demonstrate Canada’s commitment to the Haitian people.”

#Haiti

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Nova Scotia premier revives campaign promise to fix health care at party AGM

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston is reassuring his party faithful that he still intends to fix the province's health-care system at whatever it costs. During his keynote address at the Progressive Conservative annual general meeting, Houston said he will make whatever financial investment is needed to turn the health crisis around.

The premier says a lot of work is needed, "progress is too slow, and the stakes are very high."

Houston's government announced a plan to improve emergency care following the two deaths, which included creating doctor-led triage teams to focus on admitting patients more quickly in ERs and assigning extra physician assistants and nurse practitioners to staff emergency departments.

#NovaScotia #healthcare

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Study finds nearly 45% of trans-women inmates convicted of sex crimes

The study — entitled Gender Diverse Offenders with a History of Sexual Offending — reveals a troubling pattern of violence among the convicted.

The study was conducted in 2017-2020 and covered 99 gender-diverse inmates. The main findings are:

🔹44% of the trans women convicts are sex offenders

🔹82% of gender-diverse offenders were trans-women with an average age of 42 years old and almost half were serving “indeterminate” sentences

🔹66% had low reintegration potential

🔹94% committed their crimes while living as their biological sex

🔹85% were convicted of violent crimes that caused death “or serious harm” to their victims (58% of whom were children or women).

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦🇭🇹Canada deploys military aircraft over Haiti to disrupt gangs

The Canadian government deployed a military aircraft over Haiti to address what it called a “dire security situation” and to support efforts to disrupt the activities of Haitian gangs.

Canada said in a statement that it supports the Haitian National Police and deployed a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CP-140 Aurora long-range patrol aircraft in response to Haiti’s request for support as violence continues to escalate in the country.

The Canadian patrol aircraft will provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capability to bolster efforts to establish and maintain peace and will remain in the region “for a number of days.”

#Haiti

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Migrants abandon NYC for Canada

National Guard soldiers have been helping distribute tickets at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan to migrants who want to head upstate before crossing into Canada, several migrants said.

Mayor Eric Adams’s administration pays various companies that run programs for migrants that include “re-ticketing” so they can travel to other cities.

Destinations are limited to within the US due to restrictions that prohibit the migrants from leaving the country while on immigration “parole.”

But migrants routinely tear up their American immigration documents while traveling from Plattsburgh to the Canadian border.

#US

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Conservatives call on Auditor General to investigate $120 million in Liberal contracts to McKinsey

A group of Conservatives released the following statement:

“After 8 years of Justin Trudeau, Canadians are struggling. But well-connected Liberal insiders have never had it so good. While Canadians struggle to put food on the table or pay their mortgages, the high-priced consultants at McKinsey have enjoyed a massive increase in their federal contracts.

“So far, the Liberals have disclosed at least $120 million in contracts to McKinsey, an enormous amount of money that keeps rising. Yet despite this huge price tag, media reports have quoted senior public servants who say they have no idea what McKinsey did in return for these contracts.

“Canadians deserve answers. They deserve answers not simply on how much of their money was spent, but what exactly their money was spent on and what value they got from these contracts.

“We can’t trust the Liberals to investigate themselves, and we know the Liberals won’t be transparent about where this money went. That’s why Conservatives are calling for the Auditor General to conduct an investigation and performance and value for money audit of contracts awarded to McKinsey by any department, agency, or Crown corporation.”

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N.B. fish farm loses 95% of its stock during extreme cold

A northern New Brunswick fish farm lost 95 per cent of its Arctic char during the record cold over the weekend.

Pisciculture Acadienne, an aquaculture farm on the Acadian Peninsula, says the estimated 95,000 to 100,000 fish it lost were worth at least $600,000.

Owner Emmanuel Chiasson said the extreme weather caused a power outage, and the farm's generator failed. Without power, no water was circulating in the fish's tanks, so the fish ran out of oxygen.

#NewBrunswick

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💉Alberta euthanasia deaths increased by more than 40% in 2022 while Manitoba euthanasia deaths decreased

In 2022 the number of (MAiD) euthanasia deaths in Alberta increased by more than 40% to 836 deaths up from 594 in 2021.

Meanwhile in Manitoba there were 223 euthanasia deaths which is down from 245 in 2021.

#Alberta #Manitoba

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🇨🇳Opposition parties demand answers as Liberals say little about Chinese balloon

The commander of the North American Aerospace Defence Command revealed that “gaps” in the continent’s early warning system prevented officials from detecting such balloons in the past.

Defence Minister Anita Anand has confirmed the balloon violated Canadian airspace, but the government has otherwise declined to provide details about when and where the balloon flew in Canada, as well as whether there have been others.

“The Pentagon and the White House have been a lot more open in discussing what happened. As a country that had its airspace violated by the Communist Party of China, we deserve answers,” - Conservative defence critic James Bezan said.

Opposition parties also want to know why the public didn’t find out about the balloon until it had already left Canadian airspace, why it wasn’t stopped sooner, and what steps are being taken to prevent and punish Chinese espionage efforts.

#China

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Walk-in clinic wait time in B.C. is twice the national average

Last year, the average wait time at all walk-in clinics across B.C. was 79 minutes, while the national average was 37 minutes. Patients wanting to see a doctor at one walk-in clinic in North Vancouver waited an average of 160 minutes.

“Wait times in B.C. are bad, and they’ve been getting worse,” said Teddy Wickland, Medimap’s vice president of operations.

“One of the things that we are noticing is, frankly, there are fewer doctors going into family medicine, and there are a lot of walk-in clinics that we are hearing anecdotally that are closing their doors.”

#BritishColumbia

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