Andrew Vaughan/CP
Nine stories in the news today, July 8:
B.C. PREMIER CLARK TO VISIT FIRE BASE
British Columbia Premier Christy Clark is expected to visit a community north of Whistler today to get a closer look at the province’s largest wildfires. Clark will be in Pemberton, which is 67 kilometres east of the 20,000-hectare Elaho fire that was sparked by lightening and first discovered on June 14. The Ministry of Forests says 184 fires are burning around the province.
WILDFIRE THREATENING SASK. TOWN IS STABLE
Emergency officials in Saskatchewan say a large wildfire threatening one of the biggest communities in the north was stable, but feared a shift in wind could change the situation. The blaze, which had come within 1.5 kilometres of La Ronge, a town of 2,700 people, was one of hundreds burning across Western Canada. About 360 of 600 soldiers from Edmonton were to join the fire lines today.
TORONTO HOSTING CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE
A major climate-change conference begins today in Toronto with hundreds of invitation-only delegates in attendance. The two-day Climate Summit of the Americas hosted by Ontario aims to bolster the fight against global warming. The emphasis is on the role provinces, states and other subnational governments can play in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
CINEPLEX: LESS SODA, SAME PRICE
Cineplex is shrinking soft drink sizes at its theatres and while the hulking large cup will disappear, moviegoers will be paying the large price for a drink that’s 12 ounces smaller. Company spokesman Michael Langdon says the move comes after Cineplex weighed raising drink prices to accommodate higher costs. Instead, the company decided to keep prices the same, but make the soft drinks smaller.
ALSO IN THE NEWS
Lindsay Kantha Souvannarath of Geneva, Ill., and Randall Steven Shepherd of Halifax, who face several charges related to an alleged plot to open fire at a Halifax shopping mall, are in court for their preliminary trial.
Chiefs from the Innu, Maliseet and Mi’gmaq Nations, who are in Montreal for the Assembly of First Nations meeting, will demand that federal leaders tell voters whether they will protect the Gulf of St. Lawrence from oil and gas development.
The journal Science and its publisher, AAAS, will hold a media briefing for a paper that reveals new evidence for the rapid decline in certain pollinator species.
In Calgary, the TD Bank will host its annual energy conference.
Greg Abel, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and Doug Suttles, CEO of Encana Corp., will speak about North America’s energy future at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.
