Six stories in the news for Friday, May 5
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MANY CANADIANS BRACING FOR WEEKEND FLOODING
Residents on both coasts and in waterlogged central Canada are bracing for flooding due to forecasts calling for heavy rain throughout the weekend. Environment Canada has issued a rainfall warning for much of southern and eastern Ontario, where some areas could receive up to 90 millimetres of rain. A special weather statement also covers a large swath of southern B.C. due to the potential for severe thunderstorms. Heavy rain is also expected in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick starting Friday night.
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STRANDED CLIMBER RESCUED FROM MOUNT LOGAN
A climber from Argentina who was stranded on Canada's highest mountain after an earthquake in Yukon has reportedly been rescued. Natalia Martinez, 37, began a solo climb of Mount Logan April 22, but two large earthquakes on Monday caused avalanches near her camp. A message posted on a climbing website late Thursday said Martinez was rescued in a three-hour operation and brought to southwest Yukon.
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CANADIAN DETAINED IN DEATH OF CANADIAN IN BELIZE
Police in Belize say a Canadian man remains in custody as a "person on interest" in connection with the deaths of a Toronto woman and her American boyfriend this week. Police have said Francesca Matus, 52 and her American boyfriend, Drew DeVoursney, died of strangulation. A Belize police sergeant told The Canadian Press late Thursday that the man was still in custody and "still very much a person of interest" and that no one else was in custody in connection with the murders.
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LATEST JOBS NUMBERS DUE OUT TODAY
Statistics Canada will release its job survey for April today. In March, the agency reported a gain of 19,400 net jobs — and the vast majority of the new work was full-time. But Statistics Canada noted that the bulk of those new positions were in the self-employment category, which can include people working for a family business without pay. The agency says the unemployment rate crept up in March to 6.7 per cent from 6.6 per cent because more people were looking for work.
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CALGARY JURY TO RESUME DELIBERATIONS IN GAS-AND-DASH TRIAL
A Calgary jury determining the fate of a man charged in the hit-and-run death of a gas station worker will continue its deliberations for a second day. Joshua Cody Mitchell, 22, is charged with second-degree murder in the 2015 death of gas station attendant Maryam Rashidi. She tried to stop a driver from leaving a Centex station in Calgary without paying for $113 in fuel. She climbed onto the hood of the stolen truck before it swerved, which caused her to fall off and be run over.
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FEDS ADVISED TO BEWARE UNSOLICITED PROJECT BIDS
An internal federal document is raising red flags for Ottawa over unsolicited, non-government proposals for infrastructure projects. The warning comes as the Trudeau government designs a new arm's-length infrastructure bank that will seek to lift the country's economy by using billions in public dollars to attract billions more in private investment. The Finance Department briefing note describes unsolicited infrastructure proposals as the kinds of offers presented to governments from outside public authorities, typically from the private sector.
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ALSO IN THE NEWS TODAY:
— Companies reporting results today include Air Canada, Enerplus, TransAlta, TransCanada and Interfor.
— Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Heritage Minister Melanie Joly and the Youth Council will take part in a Facebook Live event. (4:30 p.m. ET).
— A pretrial conference will be held in Halifax for a taxi driver accused of sexually assaulting a female passenger.
— A statue honouring missing and murdered indigenous women will be unveiled in Saskatoon.
The Canadian Press
