Air quality advisories issued in 5 provinces, 1 territory
Air quality advisories are in effect across Western Canada as smoky conditions plague some areas, according to the latest forecasts. Here's where.
Canadians and small businesses sending parcels this holiday season may be surprised to see a steep surcharge on domestic shipping due to the high price of diesel.
One small business owner from Surrey, B.C. said she was shocked by the cost of a recent shipment with Canada Post.
Deb Baldry creates reusable face masks and bags made out of sustainably sourced material such as cork for her business, Deb's Bags.
While Baldry is satisfied with Canada Post as a service, she said "it's the costs associated with it, it's shocking and all of us makers are trying to find something else we can do."
This week, Baldry shipped a $75 bag for $18.97, including a fuel surcharge of $5.12.
The Canadian postal service's package surcharge rose to nearly 40 per cent last week on domestic parcels and fell slightly to 37 per cent this week.
The fuel-based surcharge has been a standard company practice for more than 20 years and is based on the average price of diesel as measured by Kalibrate Technologies Ltd., said Phil Rogers, spokesman for Canada Post in an emailed statement.
"Fuel surcharges are applied year-round as a standard industry practice for parcel shippers," he said.
Baldry is among the many who started operating her small business full-time during the pandemic.
Rogers said that Canada Post services thousands of small businesses across Canada that saw a particular spike in e-commerce after the pandemic.
"We expect that to continue this holiday season," he said.
However, Baldry said she has shifted her business model to accommodate for the postal fees, opting to sell the majority of her merchandise at local markets rather than online.
"I actually dread when people purchase things from my website," said Baldry.
Despite the higher-than-normal prices, Canada Post anticipates a busy holiday season as Rogers said the postal service has hired 4,500 additional staff and 1,550 more vehicles to accommodate the holiday shipping surge.
Deadlines for domestic shipping vary on priority, but regular parcels shipped in Canada should be sent between Dec. 9 and 19 to arrive in time for Christmas.
Even sooner is the deadline to ship internationally, which varies depending on the country.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2022.
Air quality advisories are in effect across Western Canada as smoky conditions plague some areas, according to the latest forecasts. Here's where.
After receiving a DNA kit one Christmas from his son-in-law, Hugh McCormick soon discovered that he had six unknown siblings, with whom he shared the same birth parents.
Four years on, the controversy over whether airlines owed refunds to passengers after cancelling hundreds of thousands of flights during the pandemic continues to simmer, aggravated by a sluggish, opaque complaints process.
Many foods fall under the category of ultraprocessed foods, depending on their exact ingredients. This type of food has been studied a lot lately, and the results aren’t great.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
A new study projecting declining rates of cancer cases and deaths in Canada demonstrates the success of prevention and early detection programs, but also highlights areas where more work is needed to save and prolong lives, researchers say.
The star prosecution witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial is set to take the stand Monday with testimony that could help shape the outcome of the first criminal case against an American president.
Millions of Indians across 96 constituencies began casting their ballots on Monday as the country's gigantic, six-week-long election edges past its halfway mark. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third straight term with an eye on winning a supermajority in Parliament.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.