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Dulcimer player Rick Scott helped establish B.C.’s folk scene

As a boy, Rick Scott was taken by his father to the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway in 1954 to see the original production of Peter Pan, with Mary Martin in the lead role.

Sitting first row in the balcony, the wide-eyed child witnessed Ms. Martin floating toward him on a harness, staring at him as she sang, “Look at me way up high, suddenly here am I, I’m flying, I’m flying.”

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Ontario plans to introduce changes to housing fund for municipalities

PC MPP Rob Flack told the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference that the province wants to 'extend and improve' the Building Faster Fund.

Ontario is planning to make changes to a housing fund for municipalities that many have said unfairly measures their progress on building, the minister signalled in a speech Tuesday.

Rob Flack told the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa that he is going to consult with mayors and the association to “extend and improve” the Building Faster Fund.

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Can renting really be as good as owning? The debate continues as home prices soar

As home ownership becomes a far-fetched dream for many young Canadians, can renting for life be a viable option?

The rent-versus-buy debate has long divided financial experts and aspiring homeowners, with no clear winner in sight.

The traditional argument holds: While buying a home can build long-term equity and stability, renting can provide flexibility and fewer upfront costs. But as home ownership becomes a far-fetched dream for many young Canadians, can renting for life be a viable option?

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Crews battling Vancouver Island wildfire take advantage of recent rainfall

A burned section of forest from the Mount Underwood wildfire near Port Alberni, B.C., on Monday. The fire measuring more than 36 square kilometres has triggered evacuation orders.

Crews fighting an out-of-control wildfire near Port Alberni, B.C., say they are taking advantage of recent rainfall to guard against the blaze flaring up again.

In a video message posted on its Facebook page, the BC Wildfire Service says there are 144 personnel working on the Mount Underwood blaze and they’re starting to “mop up” areas at the fire’s perimeter by extinguishing hot spots.

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Quebec City becomes Google’s first Green Light project partner in Canada, using AI to improve traffic, congestion

Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand says the city's partnership with Google has already yielded positive results.

Quebec City has started synchronizing traffic lights with the use of Google’s artificial intelligence, technology the city says will improve traffic flow, reduce congestion, and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

According to Google Canada GOOGL-Q, Quebec City is the first municipality in the country to partner with the web giant’s Green Light project, which the company offers free of charge to cities.

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Loblaw completes four-for-one stock split

Loblaw also said it wanted to improve the liquidity of the shares.

Loblaw Cos. Ltd. L-T says it has completed its plan for a four-for-one stock split of its common shares.

The grocery and drugstore retailer says its common shares began trading on a post-split basis as of market open on Tuesday.

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Apple launches do-it-yourself repair program in Canada

Canadians who want to repair their own Apple AAPL-Q devices can now get parts, tools and manuals from the tech giant, which brought its self-service repair program to the country on Tuesday.

The program gives customers free access to manuals and diagnostic software that help troubleshoot issues with iPads, iPhones and Macs. Customers are then able to purchase any parts and rent or buy the tools necessary to make repairs.

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Air Canada resumes flying after flight attendants’ strike ends

An Air Canada flight attendant walks through the Pierre-Elliott Trudeau International Airport yesterday in Montreal.

Air Canada AC-T resumed flying Tuesday afternoon after reaching an early morning tentative labour agreement with the union that represents its 10,000 flight attendants, who had been on strike since Aug. 16.

The four-year deal, which must be approved by a majority of union members in upcoming votes, provides hourly raises of about 16 per cent to 20 per cent over the life of the contract, depending on seniority and job type, according to people familiar with the matter.

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Morning Update: The Air Canada strike ends

Good morning. Air Canada flight attendants have reached a tentative agreement with the airline to end their strike – more on that below, along with the continued risk of wildfires and Cambridge Dictionary’s nod to Gen Z. But first:

Today’s headlines

© Sammy Kogan

Air Canada flight attendants picket at Pearson International Airport in Toronto yesterday.
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Inflation rate eases to 1.7 per cent in July, core measures stay firm

Gasoline prices dropped by 16.1% on a yearly basis in July, following a 13.4% decline in June.

Canada’s annual inflation rate eased to 1.7 per cent in July from 1.9 per cent in the prior month as lower year-on-year gasoline prices kept the consumer price index low, but core measures of inflation stayed sticky, data showed on Tuesday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast the annual inflation rate at 1.8 per cent and the monthly inflation rate at 0.3 per cent. The CPI increased by 0.3 per cent in July from 0.1 per cent in June on a monthly basis, Statistics Canada said.

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Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre wins Alberta by-election

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre secured a seat in the House of Commons late Monday, winning a by-election in Alberta's Battle River-Crowfoot. The riding was left vacant shortly after April federal election, when Conservative Damien Kurek stepped down to allow Mr. Poilievre a chance to seek a seat.

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Air Canada’s flight attendant strike disrupts travel for thousands of people, at home and abroad

A group of attendees from the Plast Canada National Jamboree prepare to board a bus at Easter Seals Camp Squamish in Brackendale, B.C., on Monday.

Near the Easter Seals Camp in Squamish, B.C., dozens of children from as far away as Toronto and Montreal passed the time on Monday kicking a soccer ball around a field and singing Ukrainian songs around a fire. These are some of the summer activities the camp’s staff were using to distract the young campers – a group that includes Ukrainian refugees – from the fact that they couldn’t return home.

About 150 scouts are stuck at the camp owing to the strike by flight attendants at Air Canada, which has grounded the airline’s flights and disrupted travel for an estimated 130,000 passengers a day.

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Eight-year-old victim of stray bullet was a budding anti-violence activist, family spokesperson says

Jahvai Roy, who was killed by a stray bullet on Saturday, was part of a youth council and worked on an anti-bullying campaign.

Jahvai Roy, the eight-year-old boy who was struck and killed by a stray bullet while he was in his bed with his mother early Saturday morning in Toronto, was a budding activist against violence, a family spokesperson said in an interview.

The child, whose death has sparked outrage and calls for action on gun crime, was the youngest member of an organization devoted to stamping out violence in Canada’s largest city, Marcell Wilson said Monday.

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War in Ukraine shaping Canada’s approach to Arctic sovereignty, Anand says

In a Monday call with reporters, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said NATO's gaze has to 'shift westward and north because of the changing geopolitical landscape.'

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Monday the federal government is leaving “no stone unturned” to defend Canada’s North as changes in the global order in recent years are having direct implications for Canada’s Arctic sovereignty.

But one expert in international relations says Canada is being left out of crucial talks, with Prime Minister Mark Carney not among the leaders who gathered Monday at the White House for talks on the future of Ukraine.

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Weather conditions complicating wildfire efforts in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick

The Kingston wildfire in eastern Newfoundland encompassed about 98 square kilometres on Monday – nearly the size of the city of Paris.

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says the weather is not co-operating in his province’s fight against a major wildfire burning out of control in the Annapolis Valley.

“Unfortunately, the weather this weekend was not in our favour. The dry conditions continued. The heat continued. The wind was blowing the wrong way. All terrible news when you’re facing a fire,” Houston told reporters on Monday.

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Air Canada strike focuses on flight attendants’ unpaid work

The union for 10,000 striking Air Canada flight attendants said on Monday they won’t return to work even though the strike, now in its third day, has been declared illegal. The job action at Canada’s largest airline is affecting about 130,000 travelers a day at the peak of the summer travel season.

The battle between Air Canada and its flight attendants – which has boiled over into an illegal strike, stranding travellers and grounding planes – includes a fight over unpaid work that could set a precedent for other major carriers in Canada and around the world, experts say.

A key demand of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents 10,400 flight attendants with Air Canada and its subsidiary Air Canada Rouge, is compensation for what is called “ground time.”

© DARRYL DYCK

Striking Air Canada flight attendants rally at Vancouver International Airport, in Richmond, B.C., on Monday, August 18, 2025. The Canadian Union of Public Employees says a strike by 10,000 flight attendants at Air Canada will continue, defying an order from the Canada Industrial Relations Board that it provide public notice by noon ET Monday that it had ended the strike. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
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Ford focuses on domestic issues amid ‘unpredictable’ Trump

Ontario Premier Doug Ford met with Prime Minister Mark Carney in Ottawa as trade talks with the United States show few signs of progress. Ford said after the meeting that the pair talked about how to make Canada more competitive and said U.S. President Donald Trump’s behaviour is difficult to predict.

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I Remember James Lovell

Capt. James A. Lovell, Jr., in December, 2013. Mr. Lovell was a commander on the Apollo 13 mission.

I once had the pleasure of interviewing Apollo 13 commander James Lovell when I was a reporter at The Globe and Mail.

It was in 2009 and I was writing a story to mark the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, the first moon landing.

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Anti-land-mine advocates urge European countries to remain in Ottawa Treaty

Shepherd Jalal Ma'rouf, 22, lost a limb to a land mine while herding sheep in farmland recently recaptured from regime forces at his home in Deir Sunbul village, Syria.

An expert who has disposed of bombs in some of the world’s most dangerous places says European governments pinning their security hopes on land mines are turning to an ineffective tool that will only spread misery and hunger.

“It’s an outdated technology that can quite quickly be rendered useless,” said Gary Toombs, a senior explosive disposal technician with the charity Humanity and Inclusion.

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