Saskatchewan NDP blasts Scott Moe for tax hikes while in office

KANANASKIS, Alta. – The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says a pilot of a small plane that crashed into a mountain west of Calgary, killing all six people on board, didn’t fully understand the weather conditions when he took off and kept flying with poor visibility.

The pilot and five passengers were killed en route from the Springbank Airport just outside Calgary to Salmon Arm, B.C., where they were all to attend a social function in July 2023.

The agency says its investigation found the pilot had flown that route several times before and had recently qualified to fly the Piper aircraft his father had recently purchased.

The flight, scheduled to leave at 7:30 p.m., had been delayed due to weather and the window was closing to travel to Salmon Arm before dark.

The safety board found the pilot did not receive a free weather briefing offered by Nav Canada, but garnered information from an unspecified internet source and from someone at the airport before deciding to take off shortly before 9 p.m.

About 15 minutes into the flight, the plane crashed into the northeast face of Mount McGillivray in Kananaskis Country in rainy conditions.

“The pilot’s decision to depart was influenced by an incomplete understanding of the weather, familiarity with the route, time pressure and a personal desire to complete the flight,” the board said in its report published Wednesday.

“When the pilot encountered clouds and reduced visibility, for unknown reasons, he decided to continue the flight toward the destination and, subsequently, the aircraft collided with terrain in the cruise altitude.”

The board did not make any safety recommendations.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2024.

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TORONTO – Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the province is planning to increase speed limits on 400-series highways across the province.

The government increased speed limits from 100 kilometres per hour to 110 kilometres per hour on six sections of provincial highways in 2022 after several successful pilot programs that first began in 2019.

Earlier this year, the province raised the speed limit on 10 more sections of highways across the province.

Ford says today that he has directed Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria to raise the speed limit to 110 kilometres on all 400-series highways “where it is safe to do so.”

Ford says he is leaving no stone unturned in his goal to help fight gridlock and reduce travel times.

The move comes as Ford has also directed transportation officials to explore building a tunnel under Highway 401 across the Greater Toronto Area.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

CALGARY – Market experts say the coming boom in artificial intelligence has the potential to spur large-scale investments in clean energy.

Much has been made of the negative impact AI could have on the climate, given the expected rapid rollout of energy-hungry data centres that will be needed.

The International Energy Agency says the world’s data centres consumed roughly 1.4 to 1.7 per cent of global electricity use in 2022, but projects data centre energy consumption will double by the end of 2026.

Ed Crooks, vice-chair for the Americas with international data and analytics firm Wood Mackenzie, said at a conference in Calgary in that the fastest way to meet AI’s growing electricity needs is to build new natural gas-fired power plants.

But he said that is extremely problematic given countries need to wean themselves off of natural gas usage in order to meet global climate targets.

Crooks says on the bright side, the electricity needs of AI could spur global tech giants to take a leading role in the energy transition. He pointed out tech companies are already investing in wind, solar, nuclear and geothermal and could become among the largest funders of clean electricity projects.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.