Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Canadians will continue to bundle up in the country's east this weekend as a recent bout of extreme cold persists in much of Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.
Extreme cold and snow squall warnings were in effect for many parts of Quebec, the Maritimes and Newfoundland and Labrador as of Saturday morning as a cold snap, brought in part by the Arctic's polar vortex, swept through the country this past week.
Thousands of people in the Maritimes have lost power due to the cold, while the opening of the Quebec Winter Carnival was postponed a day.
Although this blast of winter weather should be "short lived," Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips told CTVNews.ca previously, with temperatures expected to rise by the end of the weekend, experts say there are a number of signs of frostbite and others symptoms to watch for if exposed to extreme cold.
"If you start feeling unwell, that's a bad sign," Dr. Christopher Labos, a cardiologist at McGill University, told CTV Montreal on Wednesday.
"If you start losing the sensation in your fingers because they're getting cold, go inside and warm up. If you start seeing that you're neurologically a little bit sluggish, if you're stumbling a little bit, that's a sign that you've been out for too long. Get inside."
If you start hyperventilating or notice your heart is beating faster, Labos says that's another reason to get indoors.
Other cold-related symptoms cited by Environment Canada include shortness of breath, chest pain, muscle pain and weakness, numbness and colour change in fingers and toes.
Frostbite, the federal department says, can develop within minutes on exposed skin, especially with wind chill.
Labos says when exposed to extreme cold, the body tries to maintain its core temperature by increasing the heart rate and constricting the blood vessels to prevent heat loss.
After a while, the body is no longer able to maintain its core temperature and the opposite begins to happen — the heart rate slows, blood pressure drops, people start feeling sluggish and potentially fall into a coma, which Labos says is how people die from cold exposure.
"A lot of these things are reversible. All you have to do is warm up again and that's sort of the key point," he said.
While everyone can be affected by extreme cold, some people are at greater risk.
These include infants and children, older adults, people with pre-existing medical conditions, those who lack proper shelter, newcomers to Canada, outdoor workers and sports or outdoor enthusiasts, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit in Ontario says.
The Nova Scotia government adds that anyone with previous cold injuries, who suffers from fatigue, uses nicotine or certain medication or has a low calorie intake is also more vulnerable.
Labos says dehydration will put you at a higher risk along with drinking alcohol.
Despite popular belief that alcohol warms you up, Labos says it actually does the opposite and can make cold exposure even worse – the U.S.-based Mayo Clinic says alcohol causes your blood vessels to expand, resulting in more rapid heat loss.
A condition such as diabetes can "blunt" the body's response to cold exposure, Labos says, while anyone with cardiovascular issues that put more strain on the heart can also cause problems.
"If you have to do an outdoor activity like shovelling your driveway, the best thing to do is to break it up, go inside and warm up, because that's going to reverse all of these things before they start to cause permanent damage to your body, which happens in the later phases," he said.
With files from CTVNews.ca Writer Alexandra Mae Jones, CTVNews.ca Writer Daniel Otis, CTVNewsAtlantic.ca Digital Co-ordinator Stephen Wentzell and The Canadian Press
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.