Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Farmers in Atlantic Canada are growing increasingly worried about drought, as many regions on the east coast have been classified as drier than usual for this time of year, with little rain in the forecast.
According to the Canadian Drought Monitor, as of the end of April, numerous parts of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador were “abnormally dry,” with some areas in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. marked as experiencing “moderate drought.”
The lack of rain is having an effect: in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, food producers are using their water reserves two months earlier than expected.
William Spurr has been doing what he can to keep his fields from drying up, with much of his crop still in the ground. But he says a hot, dry spring and unusually cold nights have made growing conditions difficult.
“We’ve just been irrigating non-stop,” Spurr, president of Horticulture Nova Scotia, told CTV National News. “The last two and a half weeks, we’ve been irrigating probably as much as we normally would in like July and August, and it’s not even June yet.”
Spurr says he planned to install a costly irrigation system later this summer but was forced to do it now to ensure he wouldn’t lose a batch of young apple trees.
“I’m a little worried about what could come if we don’t get any rain,” he said. “If this keeps up, then we’re going to be in a lot of trouble.”
Greg Donald, potato board general manager for P.E.I., says many potato producers in the province only got a quarter of the rain that they usually get in both April and May.
“If we get rain, like good rain, over the next couple weeks, we’ll be fine, but if we don’t, it will be very concerning,” Donald said.
According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, parts of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia experienced the driest April on record.
A mild winter followed by a sudden cold snap that plunged temperatures to -20 also took its toll on many farms, including those in Wolfville, N.S.
“That killed all the blossoms in the peaches and nectarines — 90 per cent of the cherries and 80 per cent of the plum blossoms are affected,” Andrew Bishop, of Noggin’s Farms, told CTV National News.
Researchers continue to point to climate change as the leading cause of these unpredictable weather events.
Increasingly, extreme weather events have become more erratic as the planet heats up, with weather events swinging from one end of the pendulum to the other, experts say.
“It’s either the coldest June temperature — in 2018 we had that frost — or its the coldest winter temperature we’ve had in the last 25 years, or its been one of the warmest winters we had,” Harrison Wright, Agriculture Canada researcher, told CTV National News.
Farmers say they’re relieved to see that there is some rain in the forecast, but they will need a lot more in the coming weeks to improve growing conditions on the surface.
With files from CTVNews.ca's Alexandra Mae Jones
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
A group of demonstrators were kicked out of the legislature after a second NDP motion calling for unanimous consent to reverse a ban on the keffiyeh failed to pass.
The RCMP says it has uncovered a plot by two men in Montreal to sell Chinese drones and military equipment to Libya illegally.
The U.S. Justice Department announced a US$138.7 million settlement Tuesday with more than 100 people who accused the FBI of grossly mishandling allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016, a critical time gap that allowed the sports doctor to continue to prey on victims before his arrest.
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
A 35-year-old man wanted in connection with the murder of Toronto resident 29-year-old Sharmar Powell-Flowers nine months ago has topped the list of the BOLO program’s 25 most wanted fugitives across Canada, police announced Tuesday.
The Canadian Medical Association is asking the federal government to reconsider its proposed changes to capital gains taxation, arguing it will affect doctors' retirement savings.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.