In the news today, Nov. 26

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BILL TO END ROTATING POSTAL STRIKES BACK BEFORE SENATE

Senators are to resume a special sitting today to examine a back-to-work bill that would force an end to rotating strikes at Canada Post as the walkouts enter their sixth week. Bill C-89 was debated in the upper chamber on Saturday after the Liberal government fast-tracked it through the House of Commons. But despite an initial plan to continue debate — and possibly hold a vote — on Sunday, senators chose instead to take an extra day to digest hours of witness testimony on the labour dispute.

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GROUPS SAY FEDS HAVE GONE COLD ON RIGHT TO HOUSING TALK

Housing and homelessness advocates say the federal Liberals aren’t living up to a promise to legislate a right to housing, and that’s threatening the objectives of their own $40-billion housing strategy. The Liberal strategy, released a year ago, promised to progressively implement a right of every Canadian to have adequate housing and remove government roadblocks to getting it. But after a year of consultations, groups such as the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness say the Liberals have gone quiet on the issue.

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CALGARY DOUBLE MURDER TRIAL TO BEGIN TODAY

A trial is to begin today for a man accused of killing a Calgary woman and her five-year-old daughter in July 2016. Edward Downey’s case is to be heard before a judge and jury. The 48-year-old is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Sara Baillie and Taliyah Marsman. Baillie, who was 34, was found dead in a suburban home after failing to show up for work at a restaurant. Her daughter’s remains were found in a rural area east of the city days later.

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PARENTS WANT MORE RESOURCES FOR OPIOID-ADDICTED KIDS

A Calgary woman whose son died of an opioid overdose says reforms are needed to both the health-care and criminal justice systems to help deal with the scourge of addiction. Jill Cory says she and her husband David watched paramedics revive their son Ben from near death on six different occasions before he suffered a fatal overdose in 2015 at the age of 23. Ben’s story, among those of others caught in the cycle of addiction, is told in the Telus Health documentary “Painkiller: Inside the Opioid Crisis.”

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INJURED BRONCOS GOALTENDER SAYS HEALING A SLOW GRIND

Jacob Wassermann says there have been some unexpected side effects following months of physio after being paralyzed from the navel down in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash. The 18-year-old has been hard at work since coming out of an induced coma following the April 6 accident which claimed 16 lives and injured 13 others. He says he’s regained partial feeling in some of his short-circuited muscles, but getting them to work again is a long, slow, and often frustrating grind. Even so he says the goal — if possible — remains to one day walk again.

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CANADIAN KIDS RANKS LOW IN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Canadian kids continue to rank low in a global report on physical activity. The latest release from the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance finds children in Slovenia and Japan to be the most active among 49 countries studied. Canada scored D+ in categories that measure overall physical activity and sedentary behaviour, and a D in the newest indicator, physical fitness. The report blames Canada’s dismal showing on too much screen time, the urbanization of communities and the increasing automation of domestic chores.

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CANADA WINTER FORECAST A “MIXED BAG”

The Weather Network says Canadians can expect a “mixed bag” of winter weather in the coming months. The network is predicting Western Canada will have warmer than normal temperatures, while eastern Canada will experience a long-lasting and colder than normal season. Chief meteorologist Chris Scott says Quebec and Ontario, Canada’s two most populous provinces, are in for below-normal temperatures, but that doesn’t mean every week will see a deep freeze.

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ALSO IN THE NEWS:

— N.S. Environment Minister Margaret Miller will make a protected areas announcement.

— The Commons’ health committee releases a report on its study of federally funded health research

— Twenty-four golden retrievers rescued from Cairo, Egypt, arrive at Toronto’s Pearson Airport.

— Alberta government announces new support for the province’s craft beer industry.

— Gov. Gen. Julie Payette makes her first official visit to Manitoba.

— Federal Finance Minister Bill Mourneau speaks to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade about the state of the economy.

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The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

In the news today, Nov. 26

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