Beyond Local

Like employment insurance, the guaranteed income supplement (GIS) is income-tested. That means the previous year's taxable earnings — including emergency benefits — factor into how much gets doled out in the next payment period (recipients are notified of their entitlements each July).

It is the first time Trudeau has openly supported any form of compulsory vaccinations.

Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu said recent modelling for Alberta forecasts a more serious resurgence in cases fuelled by the Delta variant, and all governments need to take reasonable steps to protect Canadians.

In an open letter earlier Wednesday, a group of 10 physicians from the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association said Alberta is going against advice from Health Canada, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization.

"The majority of our public-health resources have been directed to the COVID-19 response, as has been necessary, that has come at the cost of not fully working on other threats, like for example opioid deaths," Hinshaw said.

The new money will include $82 million to fund about 1,300 social-infrastructure projects to enhance workplaces and community spaces, and $14 million to help organizations build grassroots capacity

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is widely expected to pull the plug on his minority Liberal government later this month for an election in mid to late September.

Trees the farmers have been tending for up to seven years could now be damaged and seedlings for future crops have also been decimated because of the heat, said Sally Aitken, who teaches forestry at the University of British Columbia.

The backlog is creating overcrowding, he added, causing the animals to become aggressive, which isn't good for their health. If they can't be properly slaughtered and processed they will be euthanized instead, said David Duval, head of an association of pork producers.

"I'm very angry about what happened, I called for help and they killed my son," Marie-Mireille Bence, the victim's mother, said.