Extreme cold weather continues in the Prairies, but some relief is on the way, while both coasts are set to receive some messy wintry weather this week.
Much of Alberta, Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba remain under extreme cold alerts, but Environment Canada says temperatures are set to rise throughout the week.
Meanwhile, British Columbia could see freezing rain or ice pellets this week, while Newfoundland, Labrador, Quebec and New Brunswick brace for a winter storm or heavy snowfall.
Here’s a look at the winter weather alerts across Canada:
‘INTENSE’ STORM SET FOR QUEBEC AND N.L.
Parts of Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Labrador, as well as the entire island of Newfoundland, are under special weather statements or warnings as of Monday evening.
In Newfoundland, Environment Canada says it expects a “mix of wintry weather and strong winds” starting overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. Up to 15 centimetres of snow with wind gusts of up to 140 km/h are expected, creating conditions for blowing snow, in addition to freezing rain.
In eastern Labrador an “intense winter storm” is set to bring 15 to 30 centimetres of snow or more staring Wednesday afternoon until Friday, along with wind gusts of 70 to 100 km/h.
Similar conditions are expected in Quebec’s Côte-Nord and Anticosti Island starting Wednesday. Much of the Gaspé Peninsula is also under a winter storm warning, with 15 to 25 centimetres of snow expected between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.
In the Maritimes, snowfall warnings are in effect for large swaths of New Brunswick, with 15 to 25 centimetres in the forecast for Tuesday. Special weather statements are also in effect for parts of eastern New Brunswick due to freezing rain, with up to eight millimetres of accumulation possible. Meanwhile, Nova Scotia’s Lunenburg, Queens and Shelburne counties are under rainfall warnings, with up to 30 millimetres expected followed by snow, while Inverness county is also under a warning for strong winds of up to 110 km/h.
There are no alerts in effect for P.E.I.
SNOW SQUALL WARNINGS IN ONTARIO
Parts of northern, southwestern and eastern Ontario are facing snow squall warnings, with snowfall amounts of 10 to 20 centimetres expected from Monday morning into Tuesday and possibly Wednesday.
Some of the affected areas include the Niagara Region, the Bruce Peninsula, Manitoulin Island, Parry Sound, North Bay and Prince Edward County. Sault Ste. Marie and the surrounding areas are set to face up 40 to 70 centimetres of snow, with possibly higher amounts by Wednesday. Windsor-Essex was also facing a snow squall warning, but has since been lifted as of noon EST.
“Snow squalls cause weather conditions to vary considerably; changes from clear skies to heavy snow within just a few kilometres are common,” Environment Canada warns. “Travel is expected to be hazardous due to reduced visibility in some locations. Rapidly accumulating snow could make travel difficult over some locations.”
Meanwhile, parts of northwestern Ontario such as Kenora had been facing the same extreme cold warning as the Prairies, with wild chill values near -40, but these warnings were lifted by 11 a.m. CST.
EXTREME COLD IN THE PRAIRIES
The extreme cold warnings continue in the Prairies, although Environment Canada says temperatures are set to “moderate” on Monday and Tuesday.
Albertans woke up to a frigid morning, with wind chill values at or below -40 in much of the province. However, temperatures on Monday are set to rise to -11 C in Calgary and -21 C in Edmonton with mainly sunny skies. Ice fog patches are also set to dissipate this morning.
“Many areas will see temperatures moderate today and tonight. However parts of northern Alberta are likely to see extreme cold conditions continue until later in the week,” Environment Canada said on Monday morning.
In Saskatoon and Regina, wind chill values of -40 to -50 are expected until Tuesday morning, prompting an extreme cold warning that also covers much of Saskatchewan.
Extreme cold is also expected until Tuesday in communities in southwestern Manitoba, including Brandon, where wind chill values could reach -50.
LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM HEADS FOR BRITISH COLUMBIA
Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for large parts of British Columbia, including the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, and parts of the B.C. interior as a Pacific low pressure system is set to land in the West Coast on Tuesday.
“The moisture from this system will interact with arctic air already in place over the south coast to bring a messy mix of rain, freezing rain and snow on Tuesday evening into Wednesday,” the agency said.
The system will first bring snow on Tuesday followed by a “prolonged period of freezing rain or ice pellets overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning,” Environment Canada says. By Wednesday, the freezing rain is expected to change into normal rain.
Meanwhile, Prince George and other parts of northern B.C. are under snowfall warnings, with 15 to 20 centimetres of snow expected to start Monday evening. Much of the North Coast is also facing an arctic outflow warning, with wind chill values of at least -20 expected into Wednesday. Extreme cold warnings have additionally been issued for areas like East Columbia, East Kootenay, Elk Valley and Yoho National Park, with wind chill values of -35 expected.
SCATTERED WARNINGS IN THE TERRITORIES
Several communities in all three territories are also under weather warnings.
In Yukon, communities along the B.C. border are set to face a frontal system, which is expected to bring 10 to 20 centimetres of accumulated snow Monday.
The Yellowknife region in N.W.T. will see wind chill values near -50 Monday as well as patches of dense ice fog, but temperatures will slowly moderate by Tuesday. Other N.W.T. regions facing extreme cold warnings include Fort Resolution, Hay River, Lutsel K’e, North Slave, Thebacha and Tuktoyaktuk.
Blizzard conditions, with wind gusts of up to 80 km/h are expected in several Nunavut communities, such as Coral Harbour, Baker Lake and Arivat. Kugluktuk is also under an extreme cold warning, with wind chill values near -55.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
