B.C. Indigenous scholar Margo Greenwood appointed as senator

SHERBROOKE, Que. – National Revenue Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau will run for mayor of Sherbrooke, Que., in the municipal elections slated for next fall.

The Liberal MP for the Quebec riding of Compton-Stanstead confirmed Monday morning that she will complete her current term in Ottawa, but will not seek re-election.

Bibeau, who has been national revenue minister since July 2023, was first elected in 2015 and has since spent time as minister of agriculture, international development and la Francophonie.

Bibeau said her campaign has not officially begun and she will continue to focus on her work as an MP, but she plans to run as an independent candidate to replace outgoing Mayor Évelyne Beaudin, who has already confirmed she will not seek re-election.

Quebec’s municipal elections are scheduled for Nov. 2, 2025, while the next federal election must take place no later than Oct. 20, though the minority Liberal government could fall before then.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to shuffle his cabinet soon to replace Bibeau and three other ministers who have informed him they don’t plan to run in the next election.

Bibeau’s spouse, Bernard Sévigny, was mayor of Sherbrooke from 2009 to 2017.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.

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DEER LAKE, N.L. – Police in western Newfoundland say a 77-year-old man visiting the province from Kansas is missing after a fire at a hotel in Deer Lake, N.L.

RCMP say they have confirmed Eugene Earl Spoon was a guest at the Driftwood Inn, which was destroyed in a fire on Saturday morning.

A news release says Spoon was last seen the evening before the fire and efforts are underway to search the burned area.

Meanwhile, the province’s Progressive Conservative Opposition is calling for an investigation into the fire.

Chris Tibbs, the party’s critic for fire and emergency services, says in a news release that he spoke with hotel guests who said there were no alarms or fire systems going off as the building burned.

Nobody from the hotel management responded immediately to requests for comment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

MONTREAL – Eleven Montreal teachers who were suspended for allegedly creating a climate of fear and intimidation inside a primary school are being paid pending the outcome of disciplinary hearings.

Their union says it hasn’t yet filed any grievances to challenge the suspensions, adding that it doesn’t have all the information for each case against the 11 teachers at Bedford school in the city’s multicultural Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood.

Quebec’s largest school service centre announced the suspensions on Saturday night, after a government investigation found a “dominant clan” of teachers imposed strict, autocratic rule over students and intimidated colleagues who opposed them.

The investigation revealed that the teachers were allegedly influenced by the local mosque and subjected children to physical and psychological violence, and refused to teach or paid little attention to subjects such as science and sex education.

The service centre has said the 11 teachers will remain suspended for the duration of another investigation mandated by the education minister to determine whether they committed serious misconduct or dishonoured the teaching profession.

Catherine Beauvais-St-Pierre, president of the teachers’ union, says its possible it will file grievances challenging the suspensions.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.