Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro says the cost of building two proposed expansion projects at Baie D’Espoir and on the Avalon has almost doubled to what was first expected. NTV’s Rosie Mullaley reports.

Un deuxième lot de restes humains découvert dans une décharge de Winnipeg a été officiellement identifié.

Cinq individus arrêtées lors d’une opération policière sur le territoire Mohawk de Kanehsatake.

Deux communautés abénaquises indemnisées par le gouvernement pour empiètement.

Et en entrevue, Monika Ille, PGD d’APTN, discute avec nous l’importance des médias locaux.

The post Nouvelles Nationales d’APTN – 21 mars 2025 appeared first on APTN News.

Watch the U Sports men's hockey quarter-final between the Queen’s Gaels and Saskatchewan Huskies from TD Place Arena in Ottawa.

Veteran journalist Don Bradshaw is throwing his hat into the political ring.

The Corner Brook native, who spent 24 years as NTV’s west coast reporter, was confirmed Friday evening on the federal Liberal party’s web site as the nominee in Long Range Mountains. Bradshaw had already formally ended his employment with NTV.

The seat is currently held by cabinet minister Gudie Hutchings. She confirmed earlier this year that she wouldn’t be seeking re-election.

Carol Anstey is running for the Conservatives in Long Range Mountains. The NDP do not yet have a candidate.

Newfoundland Power has submitted a report to the PUB on February’s higher-than-expected power bills. The company attributed the increases to colder temperatures, higher wind speeds, and recent rate hikes. The company will hold a news conference on Monday.

There's another new measles case in Swift Current.

After announcing one confirmed case last week, the Saskatchewan Health Authority said today they have an additional confirmed case at the Cypress Regional Hospital in Swift Current, and another suspected case in the southwest area of the province.

The cases don't appear to be connected.

"They are not spreading from the Swift Current case," said SHA Medical Health Officer Dr. Dravid Torr. "The second one did present to the Swift Current hospital. The third under investigation presented elsewhere and also is not related to these two. Measles is spreading across the country. Any other new case could appear anywhere right now. I really need everyone in the province to be on alert for this. Come forward and get your vaccinations up to date."

The cases involve two adults and one child.

Dr. Torr noted the adults were not sure of their vaccination status, while the child is unvaccinated.

"With the two cases we are investigating there seems to be an association with international travel from areas where there are much higher numbers of measles," he said. "We have measles to the south of us in the US and Mexico, to the east of us in Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec, and to the west of us in Alberta. Probably it's going to increase. It's just a question of time."

The SHA is asking due to the highly contagious nature of measles, if you exhibit any symptoms (fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, fatigue, small white spots in the mouth or red blotchy rash on body), please call HealthLine811 for symptom assessment and care advice, or call your Physician or Nurse Practitioner and identify to them that you may have been exposed to measles. If you are in medical distress, present to emergency or call 911, and identify that you may have been exposed to measles.

Joanne Thompson spoke to reporters in Newfoundland and Labrador Friday for the first time since being named federal fisheries minister in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet. NTV’s Ben Cleary reports.

Lorne Thurston and Joseph McIntyre were planning to get an up-close look at the Wayne Gretzky statue in downtown Edmonton on Friday, when they realized it had been smeared with what appeared to be — and strongly smelled like — feces.

Wearing in a white Oilers jersey, McIntyre was visiting from Nova Scotia and had hoped to get a photo with the Great One’s likeness.

“Disappointing,” he said. “It shouldn’t have been done.”

Thurston, who hails from British Columbia, also said he was disheartened by the desecration.

“I thought people had more class.”

The pair were part of a group of friends who stopped to watch as an employee walked out of Rogers Place and wiped Gretzky’s face with a towel doused in cleaning product.

The statue, which stands outside the current home of the National Hockey League team, was first unveiled on the grounds of Northlands Coliseum in August 1989. It was relocated in 2016 for the start of the Oilers’ inaugural season at the new arena.

Gretzky has recently drawn the ire of many in Canada for his public support of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has expressed his desire for Canada to join the U.S and become its 51st state.

The Ontario-born Gretzky’s ties to Edmonton are deep, as he led the Oilers to four Stanley Cup victories and set multiple scoring records that stand to this day. A trade in August 1988 sent him to Los Angeles.

Off the ice, Gretzky and his wife, Janet, were married at St. Joseph’s Basilica in Edmonton in July 1988 in a lavish service that garnered global attention.

His accomplishments, much like the statue honouring his likeness, still resonate with hockey fans, like Juanita Taylor.

“Why would someone want to do that?” said Taylor, standing with the group of friends at the statue.

“(The statue) might not mean much to some people, but it means something to other people.”

Oilers Entertainment Group did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the Edmonton Police Service said it hadn’t been made aware of any vandalism.

A local software company received some major funding to grow artificial intelligence in the province. CoLab Software got over $5 million from the Hibernia and Hebron projects. NTV’s Marykate O’Neill has more.

When Marc-Andre Breau left his hometown of Tracadie, N.B., for Ottawa as a young man, it was partly because he no longer wanted to live in a small town. 

When he moved back in 2015, a small town was the very thing he was after. 

“It’s a really cozy place to raise a family,” says Breau, 40, who is now a father of two.

Breau personally knows many of Tracadie’s nearly 16,000 residents. The predominantly French community is located on the Acadian Peninsula along the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

Breau thinks about these community bonds often. 

He joined Tracadie’s municipal staff in February as economic development manager. His job is to attract new businesses to the area — particularly those that could benefit the town’s young families, who are drawn to the region’s scenery and slower pace of life. 

Geographers say rural residents — especially ones with strong cultural connections and proximity to nature — are often happier than city dwellers. Tracadie fits that description. 

By the same logic, residents of Canada’s largest cities — Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver — would be the least happy. 

But data tell a different story. The least happy places to live in Canada may not be the urban centres, but the municipalities near them.

Rethinking ‘rural’ and ‘urban’

In January, Statistics Canada released a report that mapped happiness across urban and rural areas in Canada. Specifically, the report aimed to provide a more detailed and accurate way of describing municipalities besides the catch-all terms of “urban” and “rural.” 

“Rural areas differ quite a bit if you’re in a very remote area, or if you live in a rural area outside of a major city,” said Lauren Pinault, one of the study’s authors. The regular urban-rural distinction is “too simplistic,” she said.

The study’s team developed a new 21-point scale to classify how urban or rural a community is. The urban cores in Canada — such as downtown Toronto — are ranked 1. The most remote and rural areas, like parts of Labrador, are ranked 21. 

The researchers then looked at data from the Canadian Social Survey, a quarterly survey conducted since 2021 that asks Canadians to evaluate their quality of life. They wanted to see how individuals’ reported quality of life changed depending on where they lived. 

Nationally, only 50 per cent of Canadians report high life satisfaction. Residents of small towns in Quebec and throughout the Atlantic provinces were most likely to report life satisfaction rates above the national average. 

Tracadie, for example, ranked third in terms of high life satisfaction, with 68 per cent of residents ranking their life satisfaction as eight or above out of 10. Sixty-five per cent of residents said they felt strongly connected to their local community. 

‘Gravitational pull’ of cities

The story is significantly different in municipalities that are close to large urban centres. 

Airdrie, Alta. — a city of 86,000 just 38 kilometres north of Calgary — had the lowest percentage of residents reporting high life satisfaction. Only 33 per cent reported high life satisfaction, compared to 47 per cent of Calgary residents.

Pinault says the data indicate residents of commuter towns and cities report less connection to their local community. But she says people should not jump to conclusions about why some places report lower levels of high life satisfaction. 

Sociologists have studied how cities make people feel lonely for centuries, says Matt Patterson, a sociology professor at the University of Calgary who studies urban environments. 

Some people move to cities for a better life. “It could be part of the culture of some of those places that you have people who are just generally less satisfied with where they are, not necessarily because where they are is bad, but they are aiming to get even higher,” said Patterson.

Many people live in cities because they need the jobs, medical services or transportation that cities provide, he says.

“Cities have this kind of gravitational pull that pulls people into them, whether or not you actually want the urban life,” he said.

Congested commute

That gravitational pull often looks like a congested commute.

Take Airdrie. The fifth largest city in Alberta, Airdrie’s population has tripled since 2004. 

The drive between Airdrie and Calgary is “not a pleasant drive,” said Byron Marion, a geography professor at the University of Calgary. Longer commutes mean less time for investing in relationships — and relationships have long been seen as key to personal happiness, he says. 

“The qualities of the places that we live in and the social relationships in those places are hugely important in terms of our happiness,” Marion said.

Municipal leaders dispute the idea that Airdrie’s growth means residents are less happy. 

“Airdrie is one the most sought-after destinations to live, raise a family or start a business,” Mayor Peter Brown wrote in an emailed statement. “We welcome thousands of residents each year to our community from all over the world.  We continually strive to ensure we meet the high standards our residents expect while balancing the challenges we face.” 

Airdrie resident Lori Reist says the city is a great place to raise a family. She and her husband are raising five children there. Often, it feels like she knows everyone she meets, she says.

However, she says it is important to make an effort.

“It’s really easy to isolate yourself,” she said, noting the design of many houses discourages socializing with neighbours. “But Airdrie, I can say with confidence, if you don’t do that, it’s very welcoming. There’s lots of opportunity to get involved and do activities and give back.”

Leaving and returning

Some cities with low rates of life satisfaction may be struggling with the loss of key industries — as well as the pressures of rising housing costs and an influx of commuters, says Doug Ramsey, a geography professor at Brandon University in Brandon, Man. 

He cites as examples southwestern Ontario cities such as St. Thomas, near London, and Brantford, which is an hour’s drive from Toronto. Both are close to larger urban centres. Both are also former manufacturing hubs. 

And both are in the bottom five of communities ranked by life satisfaction. 

“I think it’s that very, very long hangover of deindustrialization,” said Ramsey, who grew up in Simcoe, Ont., near Brantford.

In Tracadie, Breau is trying to facilitate ways for people to work and live in the community. Those who do love it. Residents can skate on Tracadie’s rivers in the winter and swim in them in the summers. It has beaches for relaxation and forests for exploration.

He suspects his children may also choose to move away for school when they are older. But if they do, he does not think it will be forever. 

“People are leaving,” he said. “But they’re coming back.” 

The post The surprising location of Canada’s unhappiest cities appeared first on CANADIAN AFFAIRS.

A project that aims to create Inuit-led child services in Nunavik has taken a step forward with the signing of an agreement with other institutions in the region. 

U.S. President Donald Trump awarded Boeing on Friday the contract to build the U.S. air force's most sophisticated fighter jet yet, handing the company a much-needed win and boosting its shares.

Federal New Democrats are criticizing Prime Minister Mark Carney over a First Nation in Ontario’s $100-million lawsuit against a second-tier subsidiary of his former firm, Brookfield Asset Management.

The provincial NDP have been voicing their concerns with the provincial budget that was tabled in the Legislature on Wednesday. 

Trent Wotherspoon, the NDP’s shadow minister of finance, said the budget has nothing to build for the future and is divorced from reality.  

“This is a government that chose not to put a plan together in any way for tariffs in this budget,” Wotherspoon told Discover Weyburn. “This is unlike every other province across Canada No contingency in the budget, no plan to support workers and industries and producers. No economic measure to build out some of the trade supporting transportation infrastructure that we so critically need in this province.” 

Wotherspoon also opined on the modest $12 million surplus included in the budget. He felt that while it was a balanced budget now, things will change as the fiscal year goes on.  

“They make all sorts of claims on budget day, pretend it’s going to be balanced, and time and time again their budgets go off the rails with mismanagement, scandal and waste, and we end up seeing bog deficits,” Wotherspoon said.  

The 2024-25 provincial budget had an initial deficit of $273.5 million. During the budget presentation Wednesday, the anticipated deficit for the 2024-25 fiscal year included a deficit of $660.6 million, more than double the initial projections.  

“We see that in this budget that our provincial debt has grown to $38 billion,” Wotherspoon added. “They’ve quadrupled the debt, and it’s Saskatchewan people that are left to pay for the cost to service that debt.” 

The Edmonton Oilers lost both a game and another superstar Thursday, falling 4-3 in overtime to the Winnipeg Jets after Connor McDavid left with a lower-body injury.

The Manitoba government's plan to balance the budget in two years will require tighter spending restraint, something the Opposition Progressive Conservatives say is unrealistic.