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More areas placed under flood watch in southern B.C., as province braces for return of storms – CBC.ca

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THE LATEST:

  • Rain has begun to fall on the southern parts of British Columbia on Saturday, threatening communities already ravaged by floods and mudslides. Up to 120 millimetres of rain is expected.
  • The River Forecast Centre has issued a flood watch for the South Coast, Lower Fraser Valley and the southern regions of Vancouver Island.
  • Evacuation alerts were issued Saturday for some low-lying properties north of Pemberton and in B.C.’s Southern Interior. Find more information here.
  • Three highways were proactively closed on Saturday afternoon as the province braces for more damage from storms. For all road closures see here.
  • More than 2,000 residents in Merritt are under a boil water advisory after being allowed to return home, following the evacuation of the city due to floods.
  • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that a new committee will be formed to manage the province’s recovery from the flooding disaster.
  • The provincial and federal governments will be matching all donations to the Red Cross’s flood fundraising campaign for one month, tripling the donation amount for each individual donation.
  • For a list of up-to-date flood warnings, visit the River Forecast Centre.

Communities throughout southern B.C. are preparing for an atmospheric river to strike on Saturday, even as federal plans to help the province recover from devastating floods and mudslides were announced.

Rain is falling in the region, but the heaviest precipitation is set to arrive on Saturday night, according to Environment Canada, which issued a rainfall warning on Friday and warned of another storm front arriving on Tuesday.

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More than 100 millimetres of rain will hit near the mountains in southern B.C., with 80 millimetres of rain set to fall on the Fraser Valley, an area southeast of Metro Vancouver devastated by floods two weeks ago.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the community of Abbotsford in the Fraser Valley on Friday, seeing flood damage first-hand and talking to local officials, first responders and First Nations leaders.

Hundreds of people remain away from their homes due to the disaster, with supply chains still constrained and communities still dealing with standing water.

Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun said the estimated 220 millimetres of rain falling on the city over the next five days would be a “situation they had never faced before.”

Trudeau said he saw “amazing” strength and resilience from first responders in Abbotsford, and he praised community efforts in the wake of the floods.

WATCH | The prime minister visits a community battered by floods: 

Trudeau tours flood-ravaged B.C.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made his first visit to B.C. since record-breaking rainfall caused widespread flooding and mudslides in the province. 2:54

Later on Friday, he announced a committee set to shape the province’s recovery from the widespread floods at a joint media conference with B.C. Premier John Horgan.

“It’s not going to be enough for us to be there now and in the coming weeks — we need to be there for each other in the coming months and coming years,” he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right, with Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun on Friday. Braun said the community is bracing for more than 200 millimetres of rain over the next five days, threatening a community already swamped by floodwaters. (Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters)

Highways proactively closed

The province closed some highways on Saturday as further damage from storms is anticipated.

The three highways affected are:

  • Highway 3 between Hope and Princeton.

  • Highway 99 between Pemberton and Lillooet.

  • Highway 1 in the Fraser Canyon.

Highway 1 and Highway 3 closed at 2 p.m. PT, and Highway 99 closed at 4 p.m. PT.

Reopening times will vary based on weather conditions, the province said.

B.C. Transportation Minister Rob Fleming urged residents not to travel unless they needed to over the weekend, and he said large-scale rebuilding operations will take extreme weather events into account.

“Consider restricting your travel because we have significant weather events,” he said on Friday. “We do need to have our highways functioning for the movement of goods and we need to be safe.”

B.C. Transportation Minister Rob Fleming asked residents of the province to avoid travel this weekend unless it was essential, with further storms on the horizon. (Mike McArthur/CBC)

Merritt evacuees to be allowed back in phases

In the community of Merritt in the province’s Interior, some residents are being allowed back to see how floods have impacted their homes, but others remain away due to damage to power lines.

Re-entry to the city of 7,500 is being done on a phased basis after it was entirely evacuated following floods on Nov. 15. Currently, residents in phases 1 to 3 of the plan can return.

Greg Lowis, an emergency public information officer in Merritt, said there has been “substantial” damage to the city’s infrastructure, including a collapsed bridge and damage to dikes.

More than 2,000 of the returning evacuees are under a boil water advisory as sewage systems in the city remain damaged by the floods.

Donna Ray’s home was placed in Phase 4 of the re-entry plan, meaning there is no estimated time for when she can return. She described her future as “uncertain,” as short-term forecasts threaten to bring more damage to the city.

“The looming threat … isn’t going to affect me anywhere I am because my house is already ruined,” she said. “It can’t do any more damage.”

Water floods a street in a residential part of Merritt, B.C. Many residents of the city of 7,500 are unable to return to their homes due to damage to power and water lines. (CBC)

Premier admits dike management model flawed

The province says supply chains are getting back to normal after significant damage to road networks. 

Federal support to clear the backlog at the Port of Vancouver, as well as fuel shipments from the U.S., is said to have helped alleviate shortages.

Horgan told the news conference on Friday that neighbouring Washington state was also helping with water management.

The City of Sumas, Wash., said damage to levees during the previous storm event may lead to greater water flows, and the Nooksack River was expected to reach the “moderate flood” stage on Sunday.

Particular attention is being paid to the Nooksack and whether it will overflow its dikes. If that happens, floods may worsen in the Fraser Valley region.

Braun, Abbotsford’s mayor, said at a news conference on Saturday that he thought the city could handle the incoming precipitation after dike repairs were made.

But he also said the Nooksack riverbed had experienced sediment buildup during the last period of heavy rain, making forecasting a potential flood scenario tougher.

Crews repair the Sumas dike in Abbotsford, B.C., after heavy rains and flooding. Premier John Horgan says the current dike management system in the province, largely left to municipalities, is flawed. (City of Abbotsford)

“We’re going to watch the Nooksack like a hawk,” he told reporters. “We are not anticipating to lift any evacuation orders before the middle of next week.”

Braun said he appreciated provincial and federal help with rebuilding the dikes in the city.

WATCH | Metro Vancouver mayor calls for more uniform flood mitigation:

Port Coquitlam, B.C., mayor calls for more uniform flood preparation after ‘big wake-up call’

4 hours ago

Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West called on the provincial and federal governments to provide more funding for flood response and mitigation in British Columbia. 1:14

Horgan admitted that B.C.’s dike management system, which is largely left up to local municipalities, is flawed and needs changing.

“[The diking system] was a bad call,” he said. “There needs to be more than those local dollars at play if we’re going to protect communities going forward.”

The premier said he would be working with Trudeau to get provincial and federal funding and support communities with their flood management plans.

READ MORE:

  • The flood disaster has caused an unprecedented load on shelters throughout the province, with a co-ordinator in Abbotsford saying they were seeing record numbers of beds being occupied.

  • The B.C. Agriculture Council said some farms have lost acres of crops due to the floods, and it may take years for them to recover.

  • One of those farms was run by Avtar Dhillon, who lost his saffron crop to the floods in the Sumas Prairie region of Abbotsford. He says he has not lost hope and wants to grow the crop in B.C. again.

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Child care in Canada: Trudeau unveils new help for providers – CTV News

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The federal government is launching a new loan program to help child-care providers in Canada expand their spaces, and will be extending further student loan forgiveness and training options for early childhood educators, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.

The prime minister unveiled a trio of child-care-centric commitments that will be included in the upcoming federal budget, with the aim of opening up more $10-a-day child-care spaces across the country, as the Liberals continue to work towards creating 250,000 new spaces by March 2026.

Specifically, the Liberals are vowing to offer $1 billion in low-cost loans and $60 million in non-repayable grants to public and not-for-profit child-care providers, so they can build or renovate their care centres. 

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This funding will be administered through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMCH), which Trudeau called “a common sense approach that will help child care be developed alongside housing.”

An additional $48 million is being earmarked for the next four years to extend student loan forgiveness — similar to the program offered to rural doctors and nurses — to early childhood educators, in an effort to incentivize more teachers to work in smaller communities. 

The federal government is also promising $10 million over the next two years to train more early childhood educators.

The prime minister, speaking in Surrey, B.C., alongside the minister currently leading the file, Jenna Sudds, touted the bilateral child-care agreements in effect across the country for seeing thousands of children placed in affordable spaces.

However, in recent months Canadian parents and care providers have sounded alarms about increasingly long daycare waitlists. And, operators in some provinces have threatened to withdraw from the lower-cost program because they’re struggling to make ends meet. 

Trudeau said while the government has funded 100,000 spaces so far and is aware of the challenges in rolling out this new national program, not enough families have access and not all provinces are moving as fast as they should. 

“I want to take a moment to talk to young moms, many of you millennials. You’ve grown up with so many pressures in this economy, the 2008 recession, COVID, climate change … and we want to make sure that everyone — especially moms raising kids — has the best chance to succeed and thrive,” Trudeau said.

“As Canada grows, as families grow, we want to make sure more kids can access high-quality child care… That’s what fairness for every generation is all about.”

The prime minister also got political, accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of opposing the program, despite the Official Opposition voting in support of a recently passed Liberal piece of legislation meant to enshrine in law a commitment to the Canada-wide early learning and child-care system, and the long-term funding needed to maintain it. 

Reacting to the news, NDP MP and critic for children, families, and social development Leah Gazan said the announcement was a “direct result of advocacy” by her party, care workers, unions, and women’s organizations.

She also pointed the finger at the Conservatives, accusing them of trying to stall the program and push for a “for-profit private system that parents can’t afford.” 

Liberal pre-budget strategy

Similar to how Wednesday’s rollout of renter-fairness-focused pre-budget news went, cabinet ministers are making echo announcements of the new child-care affordability measures across the country Thursday afternoon. 

This is all part of a new communications strategy the Liberals are employing in the lead up to the release of the April 16 federal budget.

Practically every day between now and when Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland releases the massive economic document, the Liberals are expected to tease out bits and pieces of the budget.

In an effort to stretch out their ability to market the measures within it, Trudeau as well as members of his cabinet will unveil new initiatives over the next two weeks, to the point that the vast majority of the budget will be public prior to budget day.

Traditionally, governments have held budget news — save for some pre-tabling leaks — for the day the document is tabled in the House of Commons post-daylong reporter and stakeholder lockup.

Kicking off this strategy on Wednesday, Trudeau issued a video across social media platforms indicating the overall theme for the 2024 budget will be “generational fairness,” a message meant to speak to millennials and Generation Z.

“When I first decided to run for office, one of my biggest motivations was working to create a Canada that young people saw themselves… As prime minister, I’ve never lost sight of that,” Trudeau said in the clip.

“You as a young Canadian are the heartbeat of our economy. You power our growth and you deserve an economy that gives you a fair shot at success. But, this moment we’re all living in is throwing big challenges your way… So we’re going to roll up our sleeves and work like hell. And we’re going to tell you about what we’re doing to fix it, over the next two weeks.”

While Trudeau’s 2015 election victory was credited in part to a historic surge in young people turning up at the polls, Poilievre has been chipping away at that Liberal voting bloc of those aged 43 and under, seeking to appeal to their current struggles to get ahead with his “powerful paycheques” and housing affordability arguments.

In November 2023, Trudeau tapped Max Valiquette, a marketing guru with self-described expertise in understanding younger generations, as his new executive director of communications.

“We’re witnessing a different communication strategy from the government. They’re implementing something they’ve not tried before. We’re not going to have a budget day on April 16. We’re going to have budget days between now and April 16,” said political commentator Scott Reid in an interview on CTV News Channel.

“Frankly, this government knows that it needs to break through, it knows that it needs to connect with Canadians… Is it going to turn around the polls overnight? No. Might they get a little bit more of a hearing than they otherwise would have been? Probably.” 

With files from CTV News’ Vassy Kapelos and Annie Bergeron-Oliver

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Ontario releases 2023 Sunshine List, top earner made $1.9M – CBC.ca

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Five employees at Ontario Power Generation are in the top 10 earners on the province’s so-called sunshine list for 2023, with the province’s highest salary nearing $2 million.

The annual sunshine list documents public sector employees with salaries over $100,000. In this year’s edition, there are 300,570 names, more than 30,000 higher than last year.

Kenneth Hartwick, CEO of the electricity Crown corporation, is in the top spot again with a salary of $1.93 million.

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Two other executives at the organization — chief strategy officer Dominique Miniere and chief projects officer Michael Martelli — made nearly $1.2 million and nearly $1 million, respectively.

You can find a list of the top 100 earners below.

The presidents and CEOs of the Hospital for Sick Children and the University Health Network are also in the top 10, earning around $850,000 each. So is Phil Verster, who is president and CEO of the provincial transit agency, Metrolinx, with a $838,097 salary.

Caroline Mulroney, president of the Treasury Board, highlighted other high growth areas in a release.

“The largest year-over-year increases were in the hospitals, municipalities and services, and post-secondary sectors, which together represented approximately 80 per cent of the growth of the list,” she said.

The list shows 17 professors or associate professors at the University of Toronto had earnings of $500,000 or more.

A statement from a University of Toronto spokesperson said the school competes with top universities and private-sector employers around the world for faculty members.

“This occasionally results in salaries above the usual range for a small number of faculty members.”

An Ontario Power Generation building.
Five employees at Ontario Power Generation are among the top 10 spots of the annual sunshine list for 2023. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press)

Premier Doug Ford earned $208,974 last year. His chief of staff, Patrick Sackville, earned $324,675.

Matthew Anderson, CEO of Ontario Health, a provincial agency the Ford government created in 2019, earned $821,000. Meanwhile the public servant leading the Ministry of Health, deputy minister Catherine Zahn, earned $477,360, and Health Minister Sylvia Jones, $165,851.

There are more than 25,000 registered nurses on the list, including seven who earned more than $300,000 last year.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas, who was appointed to the top post in the province’s judiciary last May, earned $388,960.

The police chiefs of Thunder Bay, Daniel Taddeo, ($376,428) and Hamilton, Francis Bergen, ($374,492) were paid more last year than OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique ($373,472). Taddeo retired in April 2023. 

Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw, who took over the post in late 2022, earned $353,411. 

Organizations that receive provincial government funding are also required to disclose salaries for the sunshine list, so it includes top earners at some registered charities.

The chief executive of the True Patriot Love Foundation, Nicholas Booth, earned $421,149. The foundation funds support programs for veterans and military families. 

The president and CEO of the Canadian Red Cross Society, Conrad Sauve, earned $412,970, while the YMCA of Greater Toronto’s chief executive, Medhat Mahdy, earned $394,057.

Salaries of other key Ontario public figures include:

  • $826,539 for Ontario Pension Board CEO Mark Fuller.
  • $709,581 for Ontario Lottery and Gaming Association president & CEO Alfred Hannay.
  • $601,376 for Registered Nurses Association of Ontario CEO Doris Grinspun.
  • $596,392 for Dean of Ivey Business School, Western University, Sharon Hodgson.
  • $563,291 for LCBO president & CEO George Soleas.
  • $546,053 for Dean of the Faculty of Health Science, Queen’s University, Jane Philpott.
  • $533,112 for Royal Ontario Museum president & CEO Joshua Basseches.
  • $486,192 for University of Toronto president Meric Gertler.
  • $464,148 for Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore.
  • $455,091 for Chief Coroner Dr. Dirk Huyer.
  • $404,003 Art Gallery of Ontario director and CEO Stephan Jost.
  • $395,974 for former auditor general Bonnie Lysyk.

Adjusting sunshine list threshold

The sunshine list has been around for almost 30 years, always set at six figures and up. 

At Queen’s Park on Thursday, some members of provincial Parliament faced questions on whether the $100,000 starting point should be adjusted.

Green Party of Ontario Leader Mike Schreiner said it should be pegged to the rate of inflation, but others disagreed.

“I think that people think that $100,000 is still a lot of money, especially in an affordability crisis,” said NDP MPP Catherine Fife, who’s also the finance critic.

Government House Leader Paul Calandra said the government has no plans at this time to change the threshold on the sunshine list.

“I think it’s an important document that serves the people well in highlighting the salaries of our public employees.”

The Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, enacted by former Progressive Conservative premier Mike Harris in 1996, compels organizations that receive public funding from the province to report the names, positions and pay of people who make more than $100,000.

The interactive chart below shows the top 100 earners on the list, based on both salary and benefits.

Search the complete Sunshine List for yourself here.

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1 dead, 2 critically injured after car crash in Montreal

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Montreal

Three people are in hospital with critical injuries after their vehicle crashed into a tree. Police believe they might be connected to two drive-by shootings that took place early Thursday morning.

2 drive-by shootings also took place overnight

an SPVM car near a taped-off crime scene
Montreal police are investigating a car crash possibly linked to two drive-by shootings. (Mathieu Wagner/Radio-Canada)

Urgences-santé say one person died and two others were critically injured after their vehicle hit a tree in the Rosemont neighbourhood.

Montreal police believe the crash may be linked to two drive-by shootings early Thursday morning.

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The first happened around 5 a.m. on Pie-IX Boulevard. Police say a car was shot at repeatedly and the driver, a 41-year-old man, was injured in the upper body. He was transported to hospital, but his life is not in danger, say police.

Shortly afterward, shots were reported in the Plateau Mont-Royal borough, near the intersection of Saint-Joseph Boulevard and Henri-Julien Avenue. No one was injured.

Police say they are investigating to determine if there is a connection between the collision and the shootings. Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant says it’s possible those in the vehicle were involved in the shootings.

The province’s independent police watchdog is now involved.

with files from Chloë Ranaldi

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