In the news today: Coutts blockade sentencing, oilsands decarbonization uncertainty

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Sentencing hearing for leaders of Coutts blockade

A sentencing hearing is set to start today for three men convicted of helping co-ordinate a blockade at the Canada-U.S. border at Coutts, Alta., in protest of COVID-19 rules and restrictions.

Alex Van Herk, Marco Van Huigenbos and Gerhard (George) Janzen were each found guilty in April of mischief over $5,000.

They were charged for their roles in the blockade that tied up cross-border traffic for two weeks in early 2022.

Defence lawyers didn’t call evidence during the trial, and the three accused didn’t testify.

Mounties told the jury that, as the protest dragged on, officers increasingly turned to the men to negotiate.

Political turmoil clouds oilsands decarbonization

The fate of Canada’s largest proposed carbon capture and storage project is even more uncertain after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation announcement this week amplified existing unknowns around the future of energy and climate policy in Canada, experts say.

The $16.5-billion high-profile project in question would capture harmful carbon dioxide emissions from the oilsands, Canada’s heaviest-emitting sector.

It would be built by the Pathways Alliance, a consortium whose members include some of Canada’s largest energy companies.

But industry watchers say the project’s future is cloudy due to current political turmoil and the likelihood that a new federal government will be elected this year.

More Ontario overdoses blamed on drug combinations

An increasing number of overdose deaths in Ontario involves the use of more than one drug, with the combination of opioids and stimulants proving to be especially dangerous, a new report says.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, attributing deaths to two or more substances rather than just one drug has become more common, new research from the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network and Public Health Ontario shows.

From 2018 to 2022, the monthly rate of overdose deaths involving one substance increased by 75 per cent, deaths involving two substances increased by 167 per cent, while the rate of deaths involving three or more substances increased by 186 per cent, the report released Thursday says.

Doug Ford safe, 18-year-old charged in collision

An 18-year-old from Oshawa has been charged with dangerous driving after a collision with an Ontario Provincial Police vehicle that Premier Doug Ford was travelling in.

Ford said he was all right but the vehicle he was in got “hammered” when it was hit by another car Wednesday on Highway 401.

The collision happened as Ford was on his way back from an announcement at Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. The vehicle got “sideswiped,” Ford said.

“I’m OK. This head’s like limestone. It’s hard as a rock.”

OPP say two people in the other vehicle were taken to hospital with minor injuries. They added that the driver has a court appearance scheduled in Oshawa on Feb. 20.

Booze-free liquor rises amid craft beer reckoning

Whatever your tipple, Angela Hansen’s liquor store on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive has stock to satisfy, from Prosecco to tequila — so long as you don’t want any actual liquor.

Hansen’s “alcohol-free liquor store” Mocktails opened last March, and just a few days into the new year, she was anticipating a “boom” for her business.

“Dry January, I think, is gonna be a big thing for the alcohol-free world,” she said, referring to the global movement to cut back on alcohol this month. “Some people are begrudgingly doing it, and others are very, very enthusiastic to do it, and they’re excited that they have this. You don’t have to do Dry January with a Coca-Cola or something like that.”

It’s not the only business catering to the market — just a block away is The Drive Canteen, a snack-bar that offers “sophisticated non-alcoholic beverages” in its store. In Port Coquitlam, B.C., there’s Bevees, a “booze-free bottle shop” that opened in November 2023.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 9, 2025

The Canadian Press