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A timeline of B.C.’s record-setting extreme heat event in June 2021

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Environment Canada heat warnings covered most of British Columbia one year ago as a so-called heat dome settled in and became deadly.

The weather office described the heat dome as a strong ridge of high pressure, which trapped stagnant air like a lid over the province amid drought conditions.

The provincial coroners’ service linked more than 600 deaths to the extreme heat, with 93 per cent of them occurring during the week of June 25 to July 1.

The first warnings came as temperatures began to rise on June 24, 2021. The average daytime high for this time of year in B.C. is around 22 C, but temperatures soaring into the 30s were predicted.

June 24: Environment Canada issues warnings about extreme temperatures starting the next day for almost all of B.C. The weather office says the risk of wildfires and potential for illness linked to heat or poor air quality will likely rise.

June 25: B.C.’s Ministry of Public Safety releases a statement asking residents to take precautions over the weekend as Environment Canada predicts a “dangerous, long heat wave” with little relief at night. The ministry provides tips for staying safe and cool, including drinking plenty of water, staying in air-conditioned spaces or taking a cool bath or shower and regularly checking on vulnerable people.

June 26: An air quality advisory is issued for eastern parts of Metro Vancouver and thecentral Fraser Valley, prompted by high concentrations of ground-level ozone that form when pollutants from burning fossil fuels react with sunlight.

June 27: Sixty daily temperature records fall in communities across B.C. The mercury in the southern Interior village of Lytton climbs beyond 46 C, breaking the all-time Canadian high of 45 C set in Saskatchewan in 1937. Environment Canada describes the heat wave as “prolonged, dangerous, and historic.”

Power utility BC Hydro says it logged a new record for peak hourly demand during the summer over the previous night. It says peak demands are usually recorded on weekdays, making the overnight record even more striking.

June 28: Lytton sets another Canadian temperature record at 47.9 C, while more than a dozen school districts across B.C. cancel classes for the day due to the heat.

June 29: Environment Canada says 91 maximum daily temperatures and 181 warm overnight low temperatures are broken across B.C., Alberta, Yukon and the Northwest Territories. It says many daily records were shattered by five to 10 degrees.

The temperature in Lytton sets yet another Canadian heat record, which still stands today, reaching 49.6 C.

B.C.’s chief coroner, Lisa Lapointe, issues a statement saying there has been a “significant increase” in deaths, with heat believed to be a contributing factor.

June 30: A wildfire moves through Lytton “with ferocious speed,” giving residents minutes to get out, Mayor Jan Polderman later tells media.

The extreme heat eases for parts of B.C., Yukon and the Northwest Territories, but Environment Canada warns that conditions remain dangerously hot across southern and central B.C. and stretching east to Manitoba.

B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says the government would look at including heat waves in the Emergency Program Act, which guides responses to natural disasters. He defends the government response to the heat dome, saying the province had never seen such extreme heat and emergency management officials had warned communities about the need for cooling stations and other measures.

July 2: Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe says it’s believed two people died in the wildfire that swept through Lytton, and it wasn’t yet safe to search for their bodies. Lapointe also reports that the number of sudden and unexpected deaths during the heat wave was three times what it would normally be over the same seven-day period.

June 6, 2022: B.C. officials announce that a two-stage response system will be launched to help people stay safe as temperatures rise, with heat warnings and extreme heat emergency alerts.

The province also announces the development of an extreme heat preparedness guide to help people get their homes ready for heat waves, while adding more paramedics and vehicles to B.C.’s ambulance system to respond to expected increases in 911 calls during a heat emergency, Farnworth tells a news conference.

June 7, 2022: Thecoroner’s death review panel report into the extreme heat shows more than half of the 619 deaths happened on June 28 and 29, the days with the highest temperatures.

The review found there was a “lag” between the heat alerts issued by Environment Canada and the response by public agencies and includes a series of recommendations for the province to better prepare for extreme heat in the future.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2022.

 

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MEG Energy earnings dip year over year to $167 million in third quarter

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CALGARY – MEG Energy says it earned $167 million in its third quarter, down from $249 million during the same quarter last year.

The company says revenues for the quarter were $1.27 billion, down from $1.44 billion during the third quarter of 2023.

Diluted earnings per share were 62 cents, down from 86 cents a year earlier.

MEG Energy says it successfully completed its debt reduction strategy, reducing its net debt to US$478 million by the end of September, down from US$634 million during the prior quarter.

President and CEO Darlene Gates said moving forward all the company’s free cash flow will be returned to shareholders through expanded share buybacks and a quarterly base dividend.

The company says its capital expenditures for the quarter increased to $141 million from $83 million a year earlier, mainly due to higher planned field development activity, as well as moderate capacity growth projects.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:MEG)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Eby wants all-party probe into B.C. vote count errors as election boss blames weather

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Premier David Eby is proposing an all-party committee investigate mistakes made during the British Columbia election vote tally, including an uncounted ballot box and unreported votes in three-quarters of the province’s 93 ridings.

The proposal comes after B.C.’s chief electoral officer blamed extreme weather, long working hours and a new voting system for human errors behind the mistakes in last month’s count, though none were large enough to change the initial results.

Anton Boegman says the agency is already investigating the mistakes to “identify key lessons learned” to improve training, change processes or make recommendations for legislative change.

He says the uncounted ballot box containing about 861 votes in Prince George-Mackenzie was never lost, and was always securely in the custody of election officials.

Boegman says a failure in five districts to properly report a small number of out-of-district votes, meanwhile, rippled through to the counts in 69 ridings.

Eby says the NDP will propose that a committee examine the systems used and steps taken by Elections BC, then recommend improvements in future elections.

“I look forward to working with all MLAs to uphold our shared commitment to free and fair elections, the foundation of our democracy,” he said in a statement Tuesday, after a news conference by Boegman.

Boegman said if an independent review does occur, “Elections BC will, of course, fully participate in that process.”

He said the mistakes came to light when a “discrepancy” of 14 votes was noticed in the riding of Surrey-Guildford, spurring a review that increased the number of unreported votes there to 28.

Surrey-Guildford was the closest race in the election and the NDP victory there gave Eby a one-seat majority. The discovery reduced the NDP’s victory margin from 27 to 21, pending the outcome of a judicial review that was previously triggered because the race was so close.

The mistakes in Surrey-Guildford resulted in a provincewide audit that found the other errors, Boegman said.

“These mistakes were a result of human error. Our elections rely on the work of over 17,000 election officials from communities across the province,” he said.

“Election officials were working 14 hours or more on voting days and on final voting day in particular faced extremely challenging weather conditions in many parts of the province.

“These conditions likely contributed to these mistakes,” he said.

B.C.’s “vote anywhere” model also played a role in the errors, said Boegman, who said he had issued an order to correct the results in the affected ridings.

Boegman said the uncounted Prince George-Mackenzie ballot box was used on the first day of advance voting. Election officials later discovered a vote hadn’t been tabulated, so they retabulated the ballots but mistakenly omitted the box of first-day votes, only including ballots from the second day.

Boegman said the issues discovered in the provincewide audit will be “fully documented” in his report to the legislature on the provincial election, the first held using electronic tabulators.

He said he was confident election officials found all “anomalies.”

B.C. Conservative Party Leader John Rustad had said on Monday that the errors were “an unprecedented failure by the very institution responsible for ensuring the fairness and accuracy of our elections.”

Rustad said he was not disputing the outcomes as judicial recounts continue, but said “it’s clear that mistakes like these severely undermine public trust in our electoral process.”

Rustad called for an “independent review” to make sure the errors never happen again.

Boegman, who said the election required fewer than half the number of workers under the old paper-based system, said results for the election would be returned in 90 of the province’s 93 ridings on Tuesday.

Full judicial recounts will be held in Surrey-Guildford and Kelowna-Centre, while a partial recount of the uncounted box will take place in Prince George-Mackenzie.

Boegman said out-of-district voting had been a part of B.C.’s elections for many decades, and explained how thousands of voters utilized the province’s vote-by-phone system, calling it a “very secure model” for people with disabilities.

“I think this is a unique and very important part of our elections, providing accessibility to British Columbians,” he said. “They have unparalleled access to the ballot box that is not found in other jurisdictions in Canada.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.



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Memorial set for Sunday in Winnipeg for judge, senator, TRC chair Murray Sinclair

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WINNIPEG – A public memorial honouring former judge, senator and chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into residential schools, Murray Sinclair, is set to take place in Winnipeg on Sunday.

The event, which is being organized by the federal and Manitoba governments, will be at Canada Life Centre, home of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets.

Sinclair died Monday in a Winnipeg hospital at the age of 73.

A teepee and a sacred fire were set up outside the Manitoba legislature for people to pay their respects hours after news of his death became public. The province has said it will remain open to the public until Sinclair’s funeral.

Sinclair’s family continues to invite people to visit the sacred fire and offer tobacco.

The family thanked the public for sharing words of love and support as tributes poured in this week.

“The significance of Mazina Giizhik’s (the One Who Speaks of Pictures in the Sky) impact and reach cannot be overstated,” the family said in a statement on Tuesday, noting Sinclair’s traditional Anishinaabe name.

“He touched many lives and impacted thousands of people.”

They encourage the public to celebrate his life and journey home.

A visitation for extended family, friends and community is also scheduled to take place Wednesday morning.

Leaders from across Canada shared their memories of Sinclair.

Premier Wab Kinew called Sinclair one of the key architects of the era of reconciliation.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sinclair was a teacher, a guide and a friend who helped the country navigate tough realities.

Sinclair was the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba — the second in Canada.

He served as co-chair of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba to examine whether the justice system was failing Indigenous people after the murder of Helen Betty Osborne and the police shooting death of First Nations leader J.J. Harper.

In leading the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he participated in hundreds of hearings across Canada and heard testimony from thousands of residential school survivors.

The commissioners released their widely influential final report in 2015, which described what took place at the institutions as cultural genocide and included 94 calls to action.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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