Alberta infrastructure minister says he accepted free NHL Oilers playoff tickets

TORONTO – Jessica Campbell stood behind the visitors bench watching that night’s opponent in warm-ups.

The Seattle Kraken assistant coach was focused on the Dallas Stars’ line rushes and defence pairs when she noticed a young girl in the stands.

“Just so excited,” Campbell recalled of the face looking back through the glass. “I locked eyes with her in that moment … it hit me that I’m looking at her and she can now see what she can become.

“I never had that.”

The 32-year-old is the first woman to hold an on-the-bench role as an assistant or associate coach in NHL history after getting hired in July following two seasons with Seattle’s top minor-league affiliate.

“Starting to really get to know the group and the team, them getting to know me,” she said. “The demands of the schedule, the vigorous push through it all, it’s just managing all that.”

It’s also about managing the attention as a trailblazer.

Campbell held a media availability with Montreal reporters Monday ahead of her first NHL game in Canada before doing the same Wednesday at the Kraken’s hotel in Toronto.

“As I go through these moments, I don’t take it lightly, the path that I’m on and charting,” said the product of Rocanville, Sask. “But I think there’s so much to this schedule, to this job, that I can’t take any moment for granted. I never do.”

Campbell, who played U.S. college hockey at Cornell University, professionally in the now-defunct Canadian Women’s Hockey League and with the national team, had one of those moments Tuesday before Seattle walloped Montreal 8-2.

She grew up cheering for the Canadiens and wore that iconic red, white and blue jersey — her mother, Monique, taught her how to skate — on those frigid outdoor prairie ponds in southeastern Saskatchewan.

“I played one game at the Bell Center at the very end of my career in the CWHL and went to the Habs game right after with my parents,” she said. “It was just a full circle moment where I really felt all the emotions of what this journey has been.”

Campbell, who played boys hockey into her teens, has risen through the game at a lightning-quick pace.

After retiring as a player and doing a coaching stint in Sweden, she started work as a power skating consultant in Kelowna, B.C., when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

That massive, worldwide wrinkle turned into a positive on the professional side when NHL players in the area needed ice time as the league prepared for its restart in the summer of 2020.

Brent Seabrook, who was working his way back from injury, along with Shea Weber, Luke Schenn, and Andrew Ladd, were among the elite talents eventually under her tutelage.

Those sessions in the Okanagan Valley got her thinking there was a path to the NHL.

“I proved it to myself on my own as they showed up and paid for my services,” Campbell said. “They gave me the permission to believe in this dream because I didn’t see it was possible.

“They allowed me to see that it was possible.”

Her power skating reputation subsequently landed her an assistant coaching role with Germany at the 2022 men’s world championship.

Seattle then hired Campbell, who also figure skated on the CBC’s “Battle Of The Blades” in 2020 and finished second with partner Asher Hill, to work alongside Stanley Cup winner Dan Bylsma with the Kraken’s American Hockey League team the same year.

And when Bylsma was promoted to Seattle’s top job in May, she packed up and followed just over a month later.

“They’ve been great, very respectful,” Campbell said of the players’ reception. “I’m potentially more different to them than they are to me … they’re very familiar now with how I operate. I believe I’m a very approachable person and compassionate.”

Her style is shaped by coaches she appreciated as a player — and those she didn’t.

“The power of positivity is real,” Campbell said. “Even the top players, sometimes they don’t even know how good they are. You give affirmations to certain players and they go out and they just get rolling even more.

“Care about them as human beings, get to know them, how they tick, how they operate.”

Campbell, who won silver for Canada at the 2015 women’s worlds and captained the 2010 under-18 team to gold, has also been keen to chart her path behind the bench.

“Good mentors and coaches and asked a lot of questions,” she said. “But I’ve focused on my own coaching style, my method, my approach, and that’s what’s given me the confidence and the conviction at this level.”

A level where Campbell knows she belongs.

“Focus on my work and hope that success or that impact’s a good one, and it can only lead to good for others,” she said. “It keeps me grounded and it puts a lot of meaning into the work that I do.

“I’m part of something a lot bigger than myself.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2024.

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TORONTO – Ontario has lowered projections for how many new homes will get built in the province over the next few years, putting the government further off the pace needed to meet its target.

Premier Doug Ford has pledged to get 1.5 million homes built over 10 years by 2031, but Ontario has not yet met any of its annual targets toward that goal, though it came very close last year after it started counting long-term care beds.

This year’s annual target is 125,000 homes, but the government’s fall economic statement tabled on Wednesday shows it expects just 81,300, based on an average of private-sector forecasts.

In each of the next several years, housing starts projections have been lowered from the forecasts at the time of the spring budget. The strongest growth is expected in 2027, with an estimated 95,300 homes.

Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said he is still working toward the 1.5 million target and is setting the province up for long-term success.

“High interest rates have had their impact, and that’s cyclical, but we’re not going to relent on putting in place the infrastructure necessary to get more built,” he said.

Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said there is “no conceivable way” the government can still meet its target.

“I think there was great hope and promise we would actually build housing,” she said.

“This government came in with a lot of fanfare, 1.5 million homes would be built – 150,000 a year…There are no incentives to build homes. Developers aren’t building homes. I’ll tell you what’s happening – construction workers are leaving the province of Ontario, and they’re going to Alberta and they’re going to B.C. because they are building homes there.”

Bethlenfalvy’s speech to the legislature while tabling the fall economic statement talked about building a potential tunnel under Highway 401, but didn’t talk about building housing, NDP Leader Marit Stiles pointed out.

“He’s always got money and time to talk about a fantasy tunnel or a luxury European spa in downtown Toronto (at Ontario Place) that nobody asked for, but when it comes to building actual homes? Nada. Nothing. Zip,” she said.

“This was supposed to be this government’s biggest priority. I can tell you, it is one of Ontarians’ biggest priorities. Nothing here addresses that problem. In fact, I see them backing away, really backing away, reversing the course in terms of addressing the housing affordability challenge out there.”

The government has established various funds worth several billion dollars to help spur home construction, including incentives for municipalities and money to get housing-enabling infrastructure such as water and wastewater lines built.

The spring budget contained $1.6 billion in new money for housing-enabling infrastructure. Municipalities have described a lack of new water lines and roads as a hurdle to building new housing, and they can use the funds for such projects.

But municipalities have complained about how their progress is being measured toward the Building Faster Fund, which gives extra funding to certain communities if they exceed or get close to targets the government has assigned.

Municipalities have asked Housing Minister Paul Calandra to base their eligibility for the fund on how many building permits they issue, rather than on the number of housing starts. Once a permit is issued, developers may not start construction because of high interest rates, supply-chain issues or labour shortages, big city mayors say.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2024.

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REGINA – A controversial Saskatchewan Party candidate who had been on track to win his seat in Monday’s election appears to have lost.

David Buckingham, the incumbent in Saskatoon Westview, was narrowly ahead of NDP challenger April ChiefCalf in voting on election night.

Elections Saskatchewan started counting mail-in ballots Wednesday, focusing on ridings with the closest races, including Saskatoon Westview.

ChiefCalf was put at 3,501 votes — 37 ahead of Buckingham.

Buckingham publicly apologized during the election campaign, after it came to light that he uttered a racial slur referring to a Black person a year ago in the government caucus office.

With the riding changing hands, Premier Scott Moe and his Saskatchewan Party have 34 seats, still enough to form their fifth consecutive majority government.

The Opposition NDP almost doubled their seat count, sweeping Regina and taking all but one seat in Saskatoon, and sit at 27.

The Saskatchewan Party and NDP did not immediately respond to requests for comment over the result.

On Wednesday, poll workers were to count more than 20,000 mail-in ballots that were received Saturday.

Saskatchewan’s chief electoral officer Michael Boda said remaining mail-in ballots would be counted Nov. 9, along with those from hospitals and remand centers.

Once that’s complete, candidates can request a recount through a judge, he added.

“The chief electoral officer is not the one who calls for a recount. It has to be the candidates that are doing that,” Boda said.

Voter turnout was above 53 per cent, a small improvement from 52 per cent in the 2020 election.

“When you fall below the 50-per-cent rate, then you have some challenges in your democracy,” Boda said.

“What we’re trying to do is reduce barriers so that people have access to the ballot. But we’ll need to work with other partners on that front.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2024.

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