HALIFAX — One week after Nova Scotia’s premier asked Ottawa for more soldiers to help clean up the twisted mess caused by post-tropical storm Fiona, there were fewer troops on the ground Friday than there were earlier in the week.
Daniel Minden, press secretary to Defence Minister Anita Anand, confirmed in an email there were about 550 members of the Canadian Armed Forces in Nova Scotia last weekend, but that number had dropped to 400 by Thursday.
On Sept. 29, Premier Tim Houston said the province needed 1,000 members of the military to help with moving trees, clearing debris and other chores.
“In a province where we have something like 10,000 military personnel stationed here, it’s my personal belief that pretty much every single one of those people would drop everything to help their fellow Nova Scotians, should they be asked,” he said at the time.
Minden confirmed that the federal government had received a recent letter from the Nova Scotia government requesting more troops.
“We will continue to deploy the right number of personnel to accomplish the tasks asked of the Canadian Armed Forces, and we will be there for as long as it takes to restore critical services,” Minden said in an email.
The email did not mention anything about additional deployments.
Houston’s office issued a statement Friday saying the premier was disappointed with Ottawa’s response.
“As we enter Thanksgiving weekend, there are still thousands of Nova Scotians who are without power 14 days after the storm,” the statement said. “The damage was devastating, and the cleanup is extensive. More people supporting these efforts can make a huge difference for Nova Scotians.”
The email goes on to say there is “no shortage of tasks” for the military.
“Anyone who has spent time in the impacted areas can attest to our needs,” the statement said. “Had our request for more personnel been actioned, we could have been further along. It’s disappointing that the federal government didn’t see it that way.”
By Friday afternoon, about 2,300 Nova Scotia Power customers were still without electricity, about 90 per cent of them in northeastern Nova Scotia, where Fiona was particularly fierce. At the height of the storm, early on Sept. 24, more than 500,000 homes and businesses in Atlantic Canada were in the dark, including 415,000 in Nova Scotia. That’s about 80 per cent of Nova Scotia Power’s customers.
The largest communities still without power include homes and businesses in New Glasgow, Stellarton, Pictou and Trenton. And many of these include single-customer outages, which often require one or more work crews to fix.
“Progress is being made, although these outages do take more time to restore due to the level of damage that occurred,” Nova Scotia Power said in a statement.
“The majority of the customers across the province are expected to be restored by Sunday. It is possible there could be individual customers remaining who we will continue to work with one on one, given the extensive damage they’ve experienced.”
In Prince Edward Island, 82,000 Maritime Electric customers were without power almost two weeks ago. That’s about 90 per cent of the utility’s customers. On Friday, the number of P.E.I. homes and businesses without power appeared to be on the rise.
For much of the past week, Maritime Electric reported that about 9,000 of its 86,000 customers were still waiting to be reconnected to the electric grid — but that number jumped to 11,000 Friday morning.
There was no explanation on the utility’s website, and company spokesman Kim Griffin could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, the Manitoba government pledged Friday to send 15 emergency personnel and additional equipment to P.E.I. on the weekend. Among those headed to P.E.I. for up to two weeks are chainsaw-certified staff members from Manitoba Parks, as well as personnel and chainsaws from the Office of the Fire Commissioner.
Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson issued a statement saying, “Manitobans and Canadians are well known for helping our neighbours in times of great need.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2022.
Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Tyson Philpot has announced he will be out for the rest of the CFL season.
The Delta, B.C., native posted the news on his Instagram page Thursday.
“To Be Continued. Shoutout my team, the fans of the CFL and the whole city of Montreal! I can’t wait to be back healthy and write this next chapter in 2025,” the statement read.
Philpot, 24, injured his foot in a 33-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 and was placed on the six-game injured list the next week.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound receiver had 58 receptions, 779 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the league-leading Alouettes in his third season.
Philpot scored the game-winning touchdown in Montreal’s Grey Cup win last season to punctuate a six-reception, 63-yard performance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
NAPA, Calif. (AP) — David Lipsky shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday at Silverado Country Club to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Procore Championship.
Winless in 104 events since joining the PGA Tour in 2022, Lipsky went out with the early groups and had eight birdies with one bogey to kick off the FedEx Cup Fall series at the picturesque course in the heart of Napa Valley wine country.
After missing the cut in his three previous tournaments, Lipsky flew from Las Vegas to Arizona to reunite with his college coach at Northwestern to get his focus back. He also spent time playing with some of the Northwestern players, which helped him relax.
“Just being around those guys and seeing how carefree they are, not knowing what’s coming for them yet, it’s sort of nice to see that,” Lipsky said. “I was almost energized by their youthfulness.”
Patton Kizzire and Mark Hubbard were a stroke back. Kizzire started on the back nine and made a late run with three consecutive birdies to move into a tie for first. A bogey on No. 8 dropped him back.
“There was a lot of good stuff out there today,” Kizzire said. “I stayed patient and just went through my routines and played well, one shot at a time. I’ve really bee working hard on my mental game and I think that allowed me to rinse and repeat and reset and keep playing.”
Mark Hubbard was at 67. He had nine birdies but fell off the pace with a bogey and triple bogey on back-to-back holes.
Kevin Dougherty also was in the group at 67. He had two eagles and ended his afternoon by holing out from 41 yards on the 383-yard, par-4 18th.
Defending champion Sahith Theegala had to scramble for much of his round of 69.
Wyndham Clark, who won the U.S. Open in 2023 and the AT&T at Pebble Beach in February, had a 70.
Max Homa shot 71. The two-time tournament champion and a captain’s pick for the President’s Cup in two weeks had two birdies and overcame a bogey on the par-4 first.
Stewart Cink, the 2020 winner, also opened with a 71. He won The Ally Challenge last month for his first PGA Tour Champions title.
Three players from the Presidents Cup International team had mix results. Min Woo Lee shot 68, Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., 69 and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., 73. International team captain Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., also had a 69.
Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., had a 68, Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., shot 70 and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., had a 71.
Lipsky was a little shaky off the tee for much of the afternoon but made up for it with steady iron play that left him in great shape on the greens. He had one-putts on 11 holes and was in position for a bigger day but left five putts short.
Lipsky’s only real problem came on the par-4 ninth when his approach sailed into a bunker just shy of the green. He bounced back nicely with five birdies on his back nine. After missing a 19-foot putt for birdie on No. 17, Lipsky ended his day with a 12-foot par putt.
That was a big change from last year when Lipsky tied for 30th at Silverado when he drove the ball well but had uneven success on the greens.
“Sometimes you have to realize golf can be fun, and I think I sort of forgot that along the way as I’m grinding it out,” Lipsky said. “You’ve got to put things in perspective, take a step back. Sort of did that and it seems like it’s working out.”
Laird stayed close after beginning his day with a bogey on the par-4 10th. The Scot got out of the sand nicely but pushed his par putt past the hole.
Homa continued to have issues off the tee and missed birdie putts on his final four holes.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic is moving on to the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open.
The Mississauga, Ont., native defeated the tournament top seed, Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) in the round of 16 on Thursday.
Stakusic faced a 0-4 deficit in the third and final set before marching back into the match.
The 19-year-old won five of the next six games to even it up before exchanging games to force a tiebreaker, where Stakusic took complete control to win the match.
Stakusic had five aces with 17 double faults in the three-hour, four-minute match.
However, she converted eight of her 18 break-point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
