In the news today: Extreme heat, humidity blanketing Ontario

By The Canadian Press on June 17, 2024.

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Extreme heat, humidity blanketing Ontario

Environment Canada says a heat wave descending on parts of Ontario this week is expected to bring dangerously high temperatures.

The weather agency has issued a heat warning starting Monday for an area that spans London to Ottawa, stretching up to Sault Ste. Marie and as far north as Fort Albany.

Temperatures in the Greater Toronto Area and Ottawa could feel as hot as 45 C with the humidity.

Regions further north are also forecast to see humidex values that could feel like the low 40s.

Environment Canada says the hot air will move eastward later in the week, and has issued a special weather statement starting Wednesday for much of southern Quebec.

Here’s what else we’re watching…

Minister defends sending patrol vessel to Cuba

National Defence Minister Bill Blair’s office is defending the decision to send a Canadian ship to Cuba where it docked alongside some of Russia’s fleet.

Spokesman Daniel Minden issued a statement on Sunday saying the visit to Havana’s port “was carefully and fulsomely planned,” and the minister authorized it on the advice of the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Joint Operations Command.

The Opposition Conservatives took to social media to criticize the move after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly told CBC News during a recent interview she was unaware that one of Canada’s patrol vessels was docked in Havana at the same time as Russian warships.

Michael Chong, the Conservatives’ foreign affairs critic, questioned why Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government sent a Canadian ship to “celebrate” relations “with a communist dictatorship at all,” referring to Cuba.

The visit to Havana marks the first for Canada’s navy since 2016 and comes at a time when Canada has sent billions in aide and military equipment to Ukraine to help it fight off Russia’s invasion, which began in February 2022.

Coutts conspiracy trial resumes in Lethbridge

The trial of two men charged with conspiracy to commit murder at the 2022 blockade at Coutts, Alta., resumes today.

Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert are on trial in Court of King’s Bench on charges surrounding the blockade, which snarled traffic at the Canada-U.S. border for two weeks to protest COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates.

Olienick and Carbert were arrested after Mounties found a cache of guns, body armour and ammunition in trailers in the area.

The two are also charged with mischief and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

Olienick faces a further charge of being in possession of a pipe bomb.

Five injured in Ontario float plane crash

Five people were injured, two seriously, after a float plane crash in northwestern Ontario.

The Ontario Provincial Police say the plane went down Sunday morning in Red Lake, a municipality about 430 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay.

Police say they received a report of a crash shortly before 7 a.m.

They say three people have minor injuries, and all were taken to hospital for treatment.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says the De Havilland DHC2 Beaver aircraft was operated by Canadian Fly-In Fishing Service.

The board says it will be deploying two investigators to Red Lake to investigate the crash.

World’s first weekly insulin shot coming to Canada

Many people with diabetes in Canada will soon be able to take insulin once a week instead of daily, drug manufacturer Novo Nordisk announced on Monday.

Insulin icodec, which will be sold under the brand name Awiqli, is the first once-a-week basal insulin injection in the world and it will be available across the country starting June 30, the company told The Canadian Press ahead of the announcement.

Canada is the first country to get the product, which was approved by Health Canada in March for the treatment of adults with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

Although the weekly insulin has Health Canada’s approval for treatment of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, endocrinologists say it will be mostly useful for Type 2 patients.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2024.

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