Alberta government fires AIMCo board, citing rising costs and poor performance

WINNIPEG – Bills to ban employers from using replacement workers, enact tax changes, and set new rules around the sale of machetes were among those passed into law Thursday as the yearlong session of the Manitoba legislature wrapped up.

But the NDP government, elected with a solid majority last year, did not get some bills through, including ones to further limit rent increases and require new judges to undergo training on sexual assault and racism.

The biggest legislation for the NDP was its omnibus budget bill, which enacts tax changes announced in the spring budget.

The government added several non-budget items to the bill. One bans employers from using replacement workers during strikes or lockouts. Another makes it easier for workers to join a union without holding a formal vote. A third increases the rebates for political campaign expenses to 50 per cent from 25 per cent.

The inclusion of the non-budget items had the Opposition Progressive Conservatives accusing the government of ducking debate, as budget-related bills are exempt from public hearings that are mandatory for others.

“These are major legislative changes that the NDP is undemocratically forcing through,” Progressive Conservative legislature member Lauren Stone said Thursday.

The NDP said it was acting on its election promises.

“We’ve got a job to do and … these are things that Manitobans have asked for,” NDP house leader Nahanni Fontaine said.

Also passed into law Thursday night is a series of new restrictions on the sale of machetes and other long-blade items, in an attempt to crack down on crime. Vendors will soon be required to record the names of buyers, restrict sales to people aged 18 and up, and have the instruments stored away from easy public access.

Yet another new law will see child and family services cases involving Indigenous people transferred to Indigenous service providers. Fontaine, who is also the province’s minister of families, said the change will decolonize child welfare.

“We now have the legislative means to ensure that … children are with their families, in their communities, in their nations,” she said.

The NDP did not get its full legislative agenda through, however.

A bill to set down stricter conditions for landlords who want to raise rents above the rate of inflation was introduced in May but was not called for a vote.

Another bill not passed would have bolstered judges’ training. It was initially put forward by Liberal Cindy Lamoureux in the spring but revamped by the NDP and introduced last week with just six sitting days left in the session.

The bill would have required new provincial court judges and justices of the peace to undergo training on sexual assault law, intimate partner violence, systemic racism and more.

The NDP wanted the Opposition to waive normal timelines to rush the bill into law, and the Tories offered to do so only if the NDP agreed to pass a Tory bill that would have set a reduced age for routine breast cancer screening. The two sides didn’t reach a deal before the session ended.

All bills that failed to pass during the session are expected to be reintroduced, at square one, shortly after the start of the next session, expected on Nov. 19.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

ORILLIA, Ont. – Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating after a police shooting left a 26-year-old man dead in Orillia.

Ontario Provincial Police responded to a report of a fight at a residence just before 2 p.m. Thursday, with a man who was believed to have been involved found by officers nearby.

The Special Investigations Unit says one officer was stabbed and suffered serious injuries.

The agency says the officer fired their weapon, while another officer discharged a conducted energy weapon at some point.

The man was pronounced dead in hospital and a post-mortem is scheduled for Friday.

Ontario’s police watchdog handles cases involving police in which someone is killed or injured.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

TORONTO – Three weeks after the death of another beluga whale at Marineland, the Ontario government is speaking publicly about its ongoing investigation of the park, saying water troubles are under control after a recent investment.

The province’s chief animal welfare inspector told The Canadian Press that to her understanding, marine mammal deaths at the tourist destination in Niagara Falls, Ont., have not been related to water quality.

That’s despite the fact the water did not meet the standard of care until recently, Melanie Milczynski said in a rare interview.

She offered the first glimpse inside the government’s four-year-long probe of Marineland, the only place in Canada where whales are still in captivity.

Five belugas have died at the park in the last year and 17 have died since late 2019, government records show. Three other belugas sold to a Connecticut aquarium in 2021 have since died.

Kiska, the country’s last remaining killer whale in captivity, died in April 2023. One dolphin, one harbour seal, one grey seal, two sea lions and two Magellanic penguins have also died at the park in the past five years.

The most recent whale death has prompted renewed calls from opposition politicians for the province to explain what is happening, with the leader of the Ontario NDP saying the park should be shut down entirely.

Marineland did not answer questions about the animal deaths, and instead twice responded to recent queries with accusations that journalism published by The Canadian Press was driven by its reporter’s “personal animal rights beliefs and activism.”

The park has previously said that the animal deaths are part of the cycle of life, and defended its treatment of the animals. It has also said that water has nothing to do with the deaths.

The province’s “proactive team” of inspectors, which is a specialized unit of 10 inspectors that examine zoos and aquariums, test Marineland’s water weekly, Milczynski said.

They have visited the park 205 times since the province took over animal welfare enforcement from the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 2020, she said.

She said Marineland also tests its water regularly and the results match those of the government, which show a “significant improvement” in quality.

Milczynski said that at one point in time, the park did not meet the standards for water quality. She did not specify when that was.

In 2020, Animal Welfare Services launched an investigation into the park. The following year, it declared that all marine mammals in the park were in distress due to poor water quality and ordered Marineland to fix the issue. Marineland appealed the order while denying its animals were in distress, but later dropped that appeal.

Milczynski said she does not know what the rationale behind that order was at the time, but the marine mammal deaths do not appear to be related to the water problems at the park.

“From the information that I was given, I don’t believe so,” said Milczynski, who became chief animal welfare inspector in March.

She said “the standards are being met” when it comes to water quality.

“It really is a full time job to monitor the quality of water in a drinking water system that the municipality provides, in a swimming pool that’s open to the public and then similarly with the facilities that are at Marineland,” Milczynski said.

“They’ve invested in some significant technology that will help them do that, and we’ve been working with them and learning from them what that technology does. And because of that it’s within the acceptable limits, but because it’s a new system, we want to have the confidence that the system is going to do what it’s supposed to do every day.”

The Ministry of the Solicitor General, which oversees the animal welfare inspectorate, said 32 orders have been issued since 2020, and four of them are currently open.

An order related to water quality, or “life support systems” as Milczynski called it, remains open.

A second open order calls for proper record-keeping on “the treatment” of marine mammals, which the park is working on, Milczynski said.

She said Marineland knows the cause of death of the animals but the province is not at liberty to discuss its findings.

Asked for details about what caused the most recent deaths, Marineland said it would no longer communicate with a reporter from The Canadian Press.

“A fair disclosure of your personal animal rights beliefs and activism is entirely lacking from your stories,” the park said in an email.

“You have consistently displayed an inability to professionally ‘report,’ instead advancing inferences and false allegations in aid of your personal views. You have consistently failed to report known facts or make necessary inquiries if doing so does not advance your ‘position.’ This may be effective for your ‘purposes,’ but it leaves the public misinformed and uninformed. It is not reporting.”

The park went on to suggest that questions from The Canadian Press “appear to relate solely to ticking a ‘box’ to say you inquired.”

“We do not expect you will print any of this,” it said.

In March, Marineland responded to questions about the deaths of two belugas that month. They said both died due to stomach torsion and it was “not possible to operate on beluga whales to correct that issue.”

“Because Marineland’s population of whales is the largest in the world, greater than all in North America, health issues typical to the population happen here,” said a written statement from Marineland at the time.

“All the whales are under constant weekly supervision and oversight by the government regulator and cared for daily by in-house vets and numerous external consultants. The reality is that all animals eventually die from one cause or another whether in the wild or captivity.”

News of the latest beluga death prompted calls from opposition leaders and animal rights activists for the province to do more at the park.

“It’s disgraceful. They should have shut this place down years ago,” said New Democrat Leader Marit Stiles.

“I think the government should be taking action and I can assure everyone that if — when — we form government, we will.”

Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said the government needs to be held accountable

“This is a constant theme with this provincial government that there is no accountability because there is no transparency in anything they do,” Crombie said.

“Let’s have some transparency. What is the plan to ensure these beautiful mammals are being cared for properly and that they’re not dying?”

In the summer of 2023, a Canadian Press reporter and photographer visited Marineland. Staff said there were 37 belugas in the park at the time. Shortly after the visit, Marineland banned the reporter from its property.

After the deaths over the past year, it is believed that 32 belugas remain. Drone footage shot by advocacy group UrgentSeas showed 32 belugas at the park in mid-October.

Recent footage the organization published on social media shows one of the whales being transported by a crane and rejecting fish from a trainer.

“As soon as you need to start physically intervening to feed the animal, the situation is dire,” said the group’s co-founder Phil Demers, a former trainer at the park. He said he believes the whale is ill.

Marineland said in early 2023 that it was looking for a new owner, and has not said what it will do with the remaining animals once the park is sold. This past summer, the park was open for just two months, instead of a usual five-month run, with few animals on display.

Owner Marie Holer died last month. At the time, the park said a succession plan had been put in place, but it did not offer details.

Ontario has plans to turn the Niagara region into a “Las Vegas of the north.” The provincial tourism minister has said the park is not necessarily part of its vision.

“Whatever it is the government is doing there now, it’s not working,” said Demers.

“Are they just waiting for all the whales to die?”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.