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OTTAWA – Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is calling out Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre for holding a fundraising last year in Banff, Alta., with oil and gas sector executives.

An Elections Canada filing shared by the Liberals shows that a number of executives, including one from a major oil and gas company, attended a Conservative fundraiser advertised as “An Evening with Pierre Poilievre” on April 11, 2023.

Records show Alexander Pourbaix, executive chair of the board of directors at Cenovus, donated $1,600 to Conservative Party of Canada the next day.

Guilbeault says Poilievre’s pledge to do away with carbon pricing is about helping his “rich friends.”

Poilievre has promised to “axe” the consumer carbon price, which was brought in by the Liberals to encourage consumers and small businesses to reduce carbon-emitting consumption.

The Conservative leader has not made his position clear on the industrial carbon pricing system, which makes big polluters pay on a portion of their emissions.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2024.

Note to readers: A previous version of this story identified Alexander Pourbaix as the CEO of Cenovus. He now holds the title of executive chair of the board of directors.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Health Canada has approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s updated COVID-19 vaccine that protects against one of the most recently circulating variants of the virus.

The mRNA vaccine, called Comirnaty, targets the KP.2 subvariant of Omicron, replacing the previous version which targeted the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant.

Health Canada recently asked provinces and territories to get rid of their older COVID-19 vaccines to ensure the most current vaccine will be used during this fall’s respiratory virus season.

Comirnaty is the third updated COVID-19 vaccine approved by Health Canada for this season, following its authorization of Moderna’s Spikevax mRNA vaccine and Novavax’s protein-based vaccine, Nuvaxovid, last week.

Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are approved for adults and for children six months of age and older.

Novavax is approved for adults and for children 12 years and older.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2024.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

OTTAWA – The federal Fisheries Department says it has reached an agreement with France allowing fishers from the tiny archipelago near Newfoundland a portion of the annual Atlantic halibut catch.

In a new release Monday, the department said fishers from the French territory of St-Pierre-Miquelon will be allowed three per cent of the total allowable catch, which is set each year by Canada.

The release says the agreement was reached after months of negotiations and that it “supports the health and sustainability” of the fishery, whose landings in 2022 were worth about $70 million.

Most Atlantic halibut is found in Canadian fishing waters, though a small percentage lives within the French maritime zone off the coast of St-Pierre-Miquelon.

The department says the halibut agreement allows French harvesters to fish in French waters and the high seas, but not in Canadian waters.

Earlier this year, fisheries officials warned Canadian harvesters they could lose their licences if they were caught assisting French vessels to fish Atlantic halibut within areas governed by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.