Here’s a roundup of tales from The Canadian Press designed to deliver you up to the mark…
Ontario snow strands automobiles, knocks out energy
Intense snow squalls battering Ontario moved south Sunday after burying some elements of the province underneath greater than a metre of snow, stranding folks on roadways and prompting one city to declare a state of emergency.
Gravenhurst, a city in Ontario’s Muskoka area hit with round 140 centimetres of snowfall, declared a state of emergency early Sunday.
An impassable, snow-covered stretch of Freeway 11 inundated by collisions had separated elements of the city from plows and emergency providers on Saturday, prompting the state of emergency declaration, she mentioned.
The shifting winds provided reduction to hard-hit communities however threatened to ship snow squalls to areas additional south, towards the Bruce Peninsula and London areas.
Premier Doug Ford mentioned the province was working carefully with native authorities to assist them reply to the storm. Ford mentioned he was relieved no accidents or deaths had been reported.
Here is what else we’re watching…
Canada Put up presents ‘framework’ to succeed in deal
Canada Put up has offered the union representing some 55,000 hanging postal employees with a framework to succeed in negotiated agreements, the company mentioned.
An announcement issued Sunday mentioned the framework contains proposals to deliver larger flexibility to Canada Put up’s supply mannequin and exhibits “motion on different key points” within the labour dispute that is stretching into the vacation season.
It mentioned the framework was offered to the union earlier on Sunday.
The Canadian Union of Postal Employees mentioned on its web site that its negotiators are reviewing the framework paperwork, and famous the union and Canada Put up have each adjusted their calls for within the hope of restarting talks.
Nevertheless, the assertion mentioned there was no phrase from the mediator that talks will resume. And whereas it mentioned the union is prepared for a re-start, it mentioned the framework didn’t seem to take note of the labour minister’s feedback in regards to the settlement needing to be “ratifiable.”
Federal electrical energy guidelines would add $35B: Ontario
Ontario is urging the federal authorities to amend proposed electrical energy rules after an evaluation by the province’s system operator concluded the principles would imply $35 billion in further prices by 2050.
A brand new evaluation by the Unbiased Electrical energy System Operator taking a look at upcoming rules round restrictions on emissions from electrical energy technology discovered that Ontario must add twice as a lot new technology as it’s already planning, which is “not possible” in that time-frame.
But when the province had been to one way or the other accomplish that, constructing sufficient new electrical energy technology to make up for restrictions on pure gasoline would add $35 billion in prices by 2050, growing residential bills by $132 to $168 per yr beginning in 2033, the IESO mentioned.
Ontario Power Minister Stephen Lecce has written to the federal ministers of the surroundings and power, urging them to make modifications to the principles.
Guilbeault and Wilkinson say they’re additionally maintaining affordability prime of thoughts whereas designing the brand new guidelines, set to quickly be finalized.
Anti-gay invoice in Ghana threatens tribal identities
Conventional healer Naa Busuafi used to really feel empowered when leaving tribal ceremonies held on the outskirts of Accra, proud to be residing out practices that colonists sought to eradicate.
However that pleasure has been changed by concern and dread as a authorities invoice supposed to stamp out homosexuality has contributed to a violent backlash in opposition to LGBTQ+ folks.
Busuafi’s friends join folks with spirits or with long-lost kin. In TikTok movies of ceremonies, bare-chested girls channelling male spirits chant and dance. Males put on a protracted gown with jewellery when the spirit dominating them is feminine.
These ceremonies would seemingly be banned underneath the proposed invoice, which might criminalize cross-dressing. MPs tabled the laws in June 2021 as a “family-values” invoice. It was accepted by Ghana’s parliament this previous February, however has been tied up in court docket challenges forward of the December 7 nationwide election.
The Canadian Press travelled to Ghana as a part of an investigative sequence trying into a world backslide in LGBTQ+ rights and the results for Canada, together with the function of pre-colonial gender identities.
Ghana’s proposed legislation would jail these selling same-sex relations for as much as a decade, coerce jail time or power what’s known as conversion remedy for these caught having homosexual {sex}. It additionally would ban sure medical therapies reminiscent of hormone remedy.
On-line purchasing mania: Cyber Monday
As we speak is Cyber Monday, anticipated to be among the many largest on-line purchasing days of the yr.
Buyers are scouring the web for offers as Cyber Monday marks the top of the retail mania that started on Black Friday.
Shopify Inc., an Ottawa-based firm whose e-commerce software program powers 1000’s of retail companies, says as of Saturday, the typical cart in Canada totalled $210.91 over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend.
The agency’s figures present Canada ranked fifth amongst top-selling international locations, behind the USA, United Kingdom, Australia and Germany.
Cyber Monday is a time period coined by the Nationwide Retail Federation in 2005, and it routinely rings within the largest on-line purchasing day of the yr, because of the offers and the hype retailers have created to gasoline it.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Dec. 2, 2024.
The Canadian Press
