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AS IT HAPPENED Wildfire reaches Jasper Wednesday night, causes 'significant loss'
One of two wildfires threatening Jasper National Park reached the townsite Wednesday night and caused 'significant loss.'
A new poll conducted by Research Co. has found that the majority of Canadians support reinstating the death penalty for murder.
According to the survey, 54 per cent of Canadians support relying on capital punishment on murder conviction, up three points since a similar survey conducted by the group in February 2022.
Research Co.’s data shows that Albertans are more likely in favor of the death penalty with the highest percentage of 62 per cent.
Support for capital punishment in Saskatchewan and Manitoba are also high at 60 per cent while 58 per cent of Ontario and B.C. residents feel the same way. Over half (55 per cent) of Atlantic Canada and 43 per cent of Quebec residents said they welcome the return of the death penalty.
“Almost three-in-five Canadians aged 55 and over (59 per cent, up four points) would welcome the return of the death penalty,” Research Co. President Mario Canseco said in a news release. “The numbers are slightly lower among those aged 35-to-54 (54 per cent, up three points) and those aged 18-to-34 (50 per cent, up three points).”
Conservative Party voters are most likely to welcome the punishment with 71 per cent support (up eight points) while the support is lower (49 per cent, down three points) among those who voted for the NDP in 2021 and the Liberal Party (48 per cent, down one point).
When it comes to the type of punishment, 53 per cent (up one point) said they prefer murderers should be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole while 37 per cent would prefer the death penalty.
Fewer Canadians (25 per cent) stated the death penalty is “never” appropriate and fewer than that (9 per cent, down two points) deem it “always” appropriate.
However, the majority of Canadians (58 per cent) believe that the death penalty is “sometimes” appropriate, which is up four points from last year.
According to the data, 66 per cent of Canadians, who oppose the return of the death penalty, worried about the possibility of a person being wrongly convicted and executed.
The report said 42 per cent think that it is wrong to take a convicted murderer’s own life while 41 per cent in favor to do their time in prison as indicated by a judge.
In addition, most supporters of the death penalty, (57 per cent) believe it will serve as a deterrent for potential murders while 55 per cent say it fits the crime because a convicted murderer has taken a life.
Almost more than half of respondents (51 per cent) believe that the death penalty will save taxpayers money compared to the costs associated with keeping a person behind bars.
Likewise, 46 per cent of supporters of capital punishment think it would provide closure to the families of murder victims while 30 per cent believe murderers cannot be rehabilitated.
The death penalty in Canada was abolished in 1976, but even before that, federal governments had regularly commuted death sentences to life imprisonment. The last executions in Canada took place in 1962.
METHODOLOGY
The results are based on an online survey conducted from March 10 to March 12, 2023, among 1,000 Canadian adults. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region. The results are considered accurate within +/- 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
One of two wildfires threatening Jasper National Park reached the townsite Wednesday night and caused 'significant loss.'
Alberta has called in the Canadian Armed Forces to help assist with the worsening wildfire situation in the province.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a solemn call to voters to defend the country's democracy as he laid out in an Oval Office address his decision to drop his bid for reelection and throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska Wednesday in what appears to be the first time the two countries have been intercepted while operating together.
An analyst and an assistant coach with Canada Soccer are being removed from the Canadian Olympic Team and 'sent home immediately,' according to the Canadian Olympic Committee.
After a handful of Australian water polo players tested positive for COVID-19 this week, questions have emerged around how the spread of the disease will be mitigated at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
A B.C. man who was hired to help a non-profit build a food hub but instead spent the money on personal expenses – including travel, restaurants, booze and cannabis – has been ordered to pay more than $120,000 in damages.
Two people are dead and two others suffered serious injuries following a shooting that police have described as a 'gun battle' outside a plaza in Scarborough, Ont. early Wednesday morning.
A local First Nations elder and veteran is helping to bring the Ojibwe language to a well-known film for the first time.
A cat who fled her Montreal home nearly a decade ago has been reunited with her family after being found in Ottawa.
A woman in Waterloo, Ont. is out thousands of dollars for a car crash she wasn’t involved in.
A swarm of bees living in a lamppost in Winnipeg’s Sage Creek neighbourhood has found a new home for its hive.
Around 100 acres of Manitoba Crown Land near the Saskatchewan border is being returned to the Métis community.
Nova Scotia is suspending the licensed Cape Breton moose hunt for three years due to what the province is calling a “significant drop” in the population.
A well-known childhood prank known as 'nicky nicky nine doors,' or 'ding dong ditch,' has escalated into a more serious game that could lead to charges for some Surrey, B.C. teens.
It's been more than a month since their good friend was seriously hurt in an accident and two teens from Riverview, N.B., are still having a hard time dealing with it.
Halifax bridges have collected thousands of coins from around the world.