A Public Schools Branch Committee has been formed to name the high school being built in Stratford, and it’s looking for public input. An online survey is available for you to provide a suggestion.  The deadline is Monday, October 23.

Some road construction notes:

Road work began Monday on Route 2 in the East Royalty area.  Work starts just west of the intersection of Route 2 and Route 25, York Road.  Delays can be expected.  Work is expected to be finished by November 3rd.

Road work also began Monday on Route 4 in Bridgetown.  Work includes installing new storm sewers. The project starts about a half-kilometre south of the intersection of Clay Road and Route 4 and proceeds northerly along Route 4 for about 800 metres.  Delays can be expected.  Work is expected to be complete by November 10th.

The province has developed code of conduct training for municipal leaders.  The province says it will strengthen local governments and benefit elected officials, municipal staff and the public.  The training is to help elected leaders address inappropriate behaviour, and increase their understanding of the procedures for filing a formal code of conduct complaint.  Code of conduct regulations were adopted April 1, and give municipal councils the framework to establish the expectations, rules and procedures they need to create and maintain a safe and respectful council environment.   Current municipal elected leaders will have until March 31, 2024 to complete the training.

Maritime Electric reported by 11:30am on Monday that power had been restored to a large area of western PEI.  Power was knocked out to more than 8,100 customers as a result of a motor vehicle accident. Prince District RCMP say it was a single vehicle crash into a power pole on Route 2 near Carleton at about 7 :45 a.m.   Prince District RCMP, along with Albany Fire Department and Island EMS, attended the scene of the crash.  The man driving the vehicle was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Alcohol and/or drugs are not believed to be a factor, and the investigation is still ongoing.  Maritime Electric had estimated that it might take until noon to restore power.

Due to the outage, the Public Schools Branch advised there would be early dismissal for O’Leary Elementary, Hernewood Intermediate, Bloomfield Elementary, Westisle Composite High, Alberton Elementary, St. Louis Elementary, M.E. Callaghan Intermediate, and Tignish Elementary.  The French Language School Board also decided on early dismissal for Ecole Pierre Chasson in Deblois.

The COVID-19 outbreak at Wedgewood Manor has been declared over.

Visitor restrictions had been in place since the outbreak was declared.

Health PEI is thanking staff for their dedication in managing and limiting the COVID-19 outbreak within the facility.

More than 8,000 Maritime Electric customers in western P.E.I. are without electricity following a motor vehicle accident.

PEI RCMP have launched an online crime reporting tool giving Islanders another option to report certain types of non-emergency crime. The tool can be found at www.report.rcmp.ca/pei and on the PEI RCMP website.  Officials say the tool is a fast, effective way to report crime available 24/7. The process takes about 15 minutes to complete and can be used to report crimes such as Mischief/damage to property under $5,000; Theft under $5,000, for example theft of bicycle and theft from vehicle under $5,000; and lost property.  It is not meant to replace other forms of reporting crime and the public should always call 9-1-1 in an emergency.

Three people, including an infant, have died in a highway collision between an S-U-V and a car in Nova Scotia’s Cumberland County.  R-C-M-P say an S-U-V carrying four people and a car carrying two people collided on Highway 2 in Fort Lawrence Saturday evening around 10 p-m.  A 21-year-old woman, a 26-year-old man, a 43-year-old woman and a two-month-old infant were in the S-U-V at the time of the crash.  The infant, the man and the 43-year-old woman were pronounced dead at the scene.

The Bank of Canada is expected to hold its key interest rate steady this week amid a sluggish economy.
This after the country’s inflation rate slowed to 3.8 per cent last month on the heels of two months of increases.
CIBC Executive Director of economics Andrew Grantham says that decline along with slower economic growth should convince the central bank to hold its rate steady at five per cent.   PEI’s inflation rate had slowed to 2.8 percent in September from 3.5 percent in August.

The proportion of Islanders at risk from gambling tripled between 2005 and 2019, according to a prevalence study delivered to the P.E.I. government more than two years ago.

Some advocacy groups are wondering what the P.E.I. government’s change to a cheaper variety of medications over the next year will mean for patients covered by provincial prescription plans. 

The North American Indigenous Games are still four years away in Calgary, but organizers were hoping to get children interested early with an event in Charlottetown on Sunday.

A new study says hurricanes are now twice as likely to progress from minor to major than they were decades ago.

The study, published in the journal “Scientific Reports,” looked at 830 Atlantic tropical cyclones since 1971.

It says that with warmer oceans serving as fuel, Atlantic hurricanes now have more energy to rapidly intensify.

The study found that in the last 20 years, storms intensified from a Category 1 storm to major hurricane 8.1 per cent of the time in just 24 hours, compared to just 3.2 per cent of the time from 1971 to 1990.

PEI was hit by Juan in 2003, Dorian in 2019 and Fiona in 2022 causing major damage. 

U-S authorities are warning people in certain states not to eat raw oysters imported from an Island company because they could be contaminated with salmonella and E. coli bacteria.

The U-S Food and Drug Administration issued a statement Friday saying restaurants and retailers should not serve or sell oysters from Future Seafoods Inc., based in Bedeque.

The federal agency says the oysters in question were purchased by restaurants and food retailers in Florida, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The  oysters were harvested on October 10th and may look, smell and taste normal, but the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed the presence of salmonella and E. coli, and contacted the FDA on October 18th.

Sewing has been a part of Colette Aucoin’s family for generations — and now she’s passing it on to her daughter and granddaughters. 

Some oysters from Prince Edward Island have been recalled in the United States due to the possible presence of salmonella and E. coli.

RCMP have launched an online tool for people to report non-emergency crimes P.E.I.

A city wide power outage in Summerside that had been scheduled for tonight has been changed to November 5th from 2-6 a.m. The outage is required for maintenance work on a substation with a predicted increase in demand on the electrical grid this winter.

Questions about the outage can be made by calling 902-432-1268.

The provincial government won’t submit an appeal to the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission after the City of Charlottetown decided to reject a proposed location for a supervised safe injection site in the east end of the City.

Charlottetown council voted against the proposed site on Park Street for one year. The vote was cast in September by council members.

There remains a challenge for both the city and the province to come up with a safe injection site that can be approved. 

The remnants of a Pacific typhoon that brought heavy rain to Vancouver this week has moved across the northern US and Canada bringing PEI and the Maritimes another wet weekend.

Typhoon Bolaven hit the west coast early in the week. About 10-20 mm of rain for PEI today and a little more Saturday night into Sunday. 

Through a craft they’ve spent decades perfecting, a group of P.E.I. seniors is helping École Evangeline raise money for a new playground.

An official opening was held Friday for a new Women’s Unit at the Provincial Correctional Centre.  It’s the province’s first dedicated correctional facility strictly for women.  The 22-thousand square foot addition to the Provincial Correctional Centre was first announced in 2019, and it features inclusive improvements.  There’s a new Admission and Discharge Unit; new space to offer healthcare and rehabilitation to address the level of care currently needed; and program spaces to offer group and individual rehabilitative programs and interventions focussed on women.

There are also four maximum-security cells; six medium security cells; three lock-up cells; two medical cells; and capacity for 24 women in minimum security.   It is expected that women offenders will be moved into the new unit at the PCC in November 2023,

The Federal Government contributed $8 million and the Provincial Government invested $10 million towards the expansion.

The province says steps are being taken to improve the building and development permit application process.  It says Permit Coordinators are now available across the province.  Permit Coordinators are the first point of contact for all permit and property related requests and will provide one-on-one support by answering people’s questions and assisting them with their building and development permit applications. To schedule an appointment with a Permit Coordinator, the province says you can visit LetsBuildTogetherPEI.ca

On Wednesday afternoon, a Charlottetown Police officer on patrol spotted a vehicle occupied by a man who had an outstanding warrant.  The officer conducted a traffic stop and the man was arrested on the warrant without incident.  The vehicle was seized and searched, which resulted in the seizure of 2.5 ounces of cocaine, brass knuckles, a baton, drug paraphernalia and $2000 in cash.

A 41 year old Charlottetown man has been charged with Possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, possession of a prohibited weapon and breach of a recognizance order.

He’s been remanded in custody and will appear soon in Provincial Court.

An $18-million addition to P.E.I.'s Provincial Correctional Centre will house female inmates only, with their own common areas, cooking spaces and visitation centre.

The Prince Edward Island government says it will not appeal the City of Charlottetown's decision to reject its latest proposed location for a supervised injection site, leaving the future of safer drug use on the Island in limbo.

Volunteer firefighters in Souris are being called on to respond to an increasing number of medical calls, and it's putting a strain on finances and the firefighters. CBC's Wayne Thibodeau has more.

The Marine Animal Response Society is teaching Islanders what to do when animals like whales get stranded on shore. CBC's Sheehan Desjardins has the details.

Volunteers are working to get a section of living shoreline in Charlottetown ready for the winter storm season. CBC's Nancy Russell has more about the lessons learned from the project.

The price of gas on P.E.I. is up a little Friday, with heating oil and diesel unchanged after increases on Thursday.

An increase overnight of 2.0 cents per litre in the price of gasoline on the Island.  IRAC announced approval and the increase took effect at 12:01am Friday.  Including taxes, pump prices for regular self-serve gasoline now range from 164.3 to 165.5 cents per litre.  After unscheduled adjustments that took effect Thursday, there’s no change Friday in diesel or furnace oil prices. Propane price adjustments ranged from a decrease of 1.0 cent per litre to an increase of 0.8 cents per litre.  Propane prices now range from 81.8 to 82.7 cents per litre.

Elected leaders in Summerside are telling P.E.I. MLAs they want to see the province take a different approach to homelessness than what was done in Charlottetown — in particular avoiding replicating the Community Outreach Centre.

P.E.I.'s only artistic swimming club has a problem: not enough coaches and judges to grow their sport. They are pleading with anyone who has been involved in artistic swimming to come back and give them a hand.

Prince Edward Island could be one of the first provinces to offer at-home self-testing for human papillomavirus or HPV, according to the head of the obstetrics and gynecology department at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown. 

Provincial Health Minister Mark McLane has announced some steps being taken to help ensure a smooth transition in Health PEI’s leadership.   Current Health PEI Chief Executive Officer Dr. Michael Gardam gave notice this past July that he would be resigning his position effective March 31, 2024.  Minister McLane and Health PEI Board of Directors Chair Diane Griffin have appointed Corinne Rowswell as Acting CEO, effective January 1, 2024 until a permanent CEO is appointed. Rowswell is currently Health PEI’s Chief Operating Officer. Dr. Gardam has agreed to continue to work with Health PEI until March 29, 2024 in an advisory role to aid in the transition. In the meantime, an executive search firm has been engaged to lead the search for the next CEO of Health PEI.

P.E.I. government officials now say about 13 per cent of the Island’s forested area was affected by the extreme high winds that accompanied post-tropical storm Fiona in September 2022.

P.E.I.’s long-term care homes 'were not sufficiently prepared for a pandemic' when the COVID-19 crisis began, leading to the quality of care for residents deteriorating, according to an external panel appointed by the provincial government.

David Cohen, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, is on P.E.I. this week, part of a national tour to get to know the country better.

Having volunteer firefighters in Souris respond to a surge in medical calls is depleting town resources as well as keeping them from their day jobs: 'It could be 20 minutes. It could be a half an hour. It could be an hour. It could be two hours.'  

An historic milestone for the Charlottetown Airport as its passenger numbers soared to unprecedented heights this past summer. From June to September, YYG Charlottetown Airport saw more than 220-thousand passengers pass through its terminal building. That’s a 7.2% increase compared to the same period in the previous year, and an 11.2% increase over 2019.  Year-to-date traffic numbers are 19.5% ahead of 2022 and the Charlottetown Airport Authority is projecting that final numbers for 2023 will exceed the record year of 2019. The Airport Authority attributes the growth to the commitment of airline partners as this summer there were a record five airlines operating flights to seven airports from YYG Charlottetown. Meanwhile, this winter will see an increase in seat capacity over last year, as Air Canada operates larger aircraft, and Porter Airlines will provide service for the first time ever during a winter season. 

A 52 year old Charlottetown man has been charged with Possession of Fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking; and possession of a weapon for dangerous purposes.    He was arrested Tuesday night as the Charlottetown Police Street Crime Unit executed a search warrant at a home on University Avenue.  That search resulted in the seizure of a quantity of fentanyl, a replica firearm, other drug paraphernalia and $1300 in cash.  A woman was also arrested but then later released without charges.

The man has been remanded in custody and will soon appear in Provincial Court.

A 45-year-old Stratford man was arrested on Tuesday by Queens District RCMP after fleeing in his vehicle from both Charlottetown Police and an RCMP traffic stop.  Just after 4:00 p.m., the RCMP received a “Be On The Lookout” message for a man who fled from Charlottetown Police, along with a vehicle description.  RCMP Members set up a traffic stop in the Hunter River area and located the vehicle – but again the driver fled from police. RCMP later located the vehicle, identified the driver and arrested the man. Police found drugs as well as a prohibited weapon in the vehicle. Charges are pending and the incident is still under investigation.

The cost of heating oil and diesel is up on P.E.I. Thursday morning, in an unscheduled change from the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission.

For the second time in a week, Prince District RCMP executed a search warrant on another home in St. Raphael.  This time police recovered a stolen SUV that was originally reported missing on September 1st.  Information reported to police along with some investigation provided sufficient evidence for a search warrant to be issued for a property on Route 177 in St. Raphael. On Monday, PEI RCMP went to the home and located the vehicle, noting that it appeared to have parts stripped from it, as well as evidence that it had been hotwired. The vehicle was seized and police are continuing their investigation.

There’s no change in gasoline prices, but in an unscheduled adjustment, the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission has approved increases in diesel and furnace oil prices.  Diesel prices went up overnight by 7.0 cents per litre, while furnace oil prices rose by 6.0 cents per litre.  It means diesel now costs you 214.4 to 215.5 cents per litre.  The maximum price for furnace oil is 166.8 cents per litre. 

Liz Murnaghan says she has to walk too far to get to a bus route in Charlottetown.

The Marine Animal Response Society is hoping new training will help people better respond to emergencies involving marine wildlife on P.E.I.

The lack of a centralized dispatch system is a “misstep” in P.E.I.’s mobile mental health program that needs to be fixed immediately, Green MLAs told a standing committee on health Wednesday.

Islanders can expect a draft housing strategy from the province this fall, according to the CEO of the P.E.I. Housing Corporation.