Latest news with #EasternCanada
National Post
12 hours ago
- Climate
- National Post
First heat wave of 'torrid summer' to hit Eastern Canada next week
The first heat wave of Summer 2025 is about to hit Eastern Canada, with temperatures climbing to the mid-30s early next week. Add the humidity from a wet spring and it will feel even hotter. Article content We'd better get used to it, as it is signalling 'a torrid summer ahead,' says David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. Article content 'We rarely go a year without a heat wave,' he says, 'but this will be the first one and people have to learn how to deal with it again.' Article content Article content The high pressure system will settle over southern and eastern Ontario as well as southern Quebec. It will edge into southeastern Manitoba on one side and western New Brunswick on the other. Article content Article content Contrasting this spate of heat with the renown 'polar vortex' of winter, Phillips refers to this phenomenon as a 'Bermuda High.' That's a semi-permanent, subtropical area of high pressure, which usually migrates east-west, back and forth across the North Atlantic, influencing weather patterns. Except this one is further west and further north than usual, says Phillips. Article content 'It circulates southern air further north.' Article content There's no doubt it will feel oppressive, says Phillips, adding that a heat dome squeezes air molecules, pressing them downward, creating heat from the friction. Article content How will a lot of spring rain play a role? Article content Moisture from a particularly wet spring will compound with the heat. There has been 30 to 40 per cent more precipitation than normal this year, he says. Article content Article content During the day the humidity may make it feel like 40 degrees Celsius or more. Article content Article content Another factor in the mix is the sunshine. Long summer days 'prevent the cool-off,' he says. At night, it will feel tropical, with temperatures above 20 C. Article content Normally, Eastern Canada would have several days in the 30s by now, says Phillips, but there were none in May and only one in June. Contrast that with Winnipeg, which he says has had nine or 10. Article content But now summer heat is arriving with a vengeance. It will be a three-day event with temperatures rising to the mid-30s in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, accompanied by nighttime temperatures in the 21-23 C range, with the humidex in the low to mid 40s. 'That's eight or nine degrees warmer than normal.'
Wall Street Journal
2 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Keyera Deal for Certain Plains NGL Assets Widens Reach, CEO Says
Keyera's KEY 5.70%increase; green up pointing triangle deal for Plains All American Pipeline's PAA 3.78%increase; green up pointing triangle natural gas liquids business in Canada will bolster the energy-infrastructure company's scale and widen its reach into Eastern Canada, while bringing flexibility in market access and driving growth, according to Keyera Chief Executive Dean Setoguchi. The 5.15 billion Canadian dollars (US$3.76 billion) deal also repatriates important energy assets in the country and means cash flows from the acquired operations are reinvested in Canada, Setoguchi said.
CTV News
3 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Drop in Canadian tourists hurting U.S., say northeast governors
FREDERICTON — New England governors say tariffs and anti-Canadian rhetoric by the United States government is taking a bite out of tourism, with some states seeing a drop of up to 60 per cent in visitors from north of the border. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said Canadian tourism to her state and others such as Maine, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont is down between 20 and 60 per cent compared with last year. 'We have seen impacts that you can't quite put a price on,' she told reporters Monday in Boston, following a meeting between New England governors and premiers from Eastern Canada. 'But there are real concerns about travelling to the United States, and safety concerns … and what might happen in terms of border activity.' Delegations from Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador travelled to Boston at Healey's invitation. Representatives from Maine, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Connecticut and New Hampshire attended as well. Maine Gov. Janet Mills said the meeting was a chance for the leaders to forge stronger ties and continue building relationships in the face of 'dangerous rhetoric coming from Washington.' Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said everyone is trying to deal with a situation that was 'thrust' upon them. 'Nobody here created this situation … this divide between our countries,' he said. 'And Canadians, you know when they hear the talk of the 51st state stuff, we're pretty ticked off about that. It kind of makes us really, really upset.' United States President Donald Trump has said he wants to make Canada the '51st state' and that he would use economic coercion to achieve it. Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods, including on steel and aluminum. Mills said Maine's tourism industry depends 'a lot' on Canada with at least one million Canadians visiting the state every year. 'I understand the hostility that people in Canada must feel from that rhetoric. I feel that too. It hurts all of us, and we want to make sure that Canadian citizens understand we want them to come .... We want Maine people to go to Canada as well,' she said. 'We value that relationship more than anything.' Between February and April, Mills said, tourism was down by about 26 per cent. 'It's not the tariffs that are affecting them so much as the hurt pride in Canadian citizenry. And boy, I understand that.' Healey said Massachusetts expects about a 20 per cent decline in Canadian tourists this year. Vermont reports that hotel reservations by Canadians were down 45 per cent during the earlier part of the year, while credit card spending had decreased by 36 per cent. In New York City, she said, bookings by Canadians are down 45 per cent so far. Some schools have suspended or cancelled trips to the United States since Trump came to power, she said. Robert Huish, associate professor at Dalhousie University's department of international development studies, said the hostility the Trump administration shows to anyone who disagrees or differs in opinion will be the 'undoing of America.' 'Never before has so much show of force been used against those who disagree with the government. It's hard to invite diverse investment while demanding unquestioning political loyalty. I'd expect that more of Saudi Arabia or North Korea,' he said. 'So it will be a tough time for Canadians working and dealing in the U.S. Doing business abroad should not come at the cost of undermining our national values.' Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he is encouraging Canadians to travel around the country instead of spend their tourism dollars in the U.S. 'Come to Ontario. It's massive. It's twice the size of Texas,' he said. New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt echoed her fellow premier, saying she can't tell Canadians to visit the U.S. right now. 'I'm going to tell them to go and see my neighbours in Nova Scotia,' she said. 'I'm going to tell them to spend some time at home, because the relationship has been challenged by leadership and we need to get back to normal.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2025. Hina Alam, The Canadian Press
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Canadian heat waves far more likely in the era of climate change
"When it's in the 40s outside, it's warmer in here. And, it just goes on for weeks," said Julie Leggett, a resident of Nee Glasgow, N.S., in an interview with The Weather Network in 2024. Heat waves can be especially dangerous for people without air conditioning. SEE ALSO: So, you might want to buy one soon, if you're in Eastern Canada, as another hot summer is in store, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). 'In the East, the probability for a warmer-than-normal summer, on average, is highest. It's definitely higher in the East than elsewhere," said Jennifer Smith, an ECCC meteorologist, in a recent interview with The Weather Network. Last summer, 37 heat waves across the country were analyzed as part of a pilot rapid extreme weather event attribution system. The goal is to quantify how human-caused climate change impacts the likelihood of heat waves shortly after they occur, in an effort to help inform adaptation planning. The system works by using climate models to compare the frequency of heat waves during the 1800s, when atmospheric greenhouse gas levels were lower before the Industrial Revolution. A colour-coded scale was created to indicate how much more likely an extreme weather event was to occur, specifically because of human influence on the climate. Last year, four events--all in Canada's North--were 'far more likely," while 28 events were much more likely and five were more likely. It's already been used this year to analyze a four-day heat wave that occurred in Alberta at the end of May. 'Averaged over all of Alberta, the peak temperature during the event was nearly 29 C, which is more than 11 C above normal for this time of year," said Bill Merryfield, a ECCC research scientist, in a recent interview with The Weather Network. The Alberta heat wave was at least two to 10 times more likely to occur in the climate of today, classified as 'much more likely to occur because of human activity.' The four 2024 Northern Canada heat waves were 10 times more likely--so, in other words, far more likely. 'We can expect similar events to occur more often as our climate continues to warm," said Merryfield.
CBC
11-06-2025
- Health
- CBC
How close are we to getting a vaccine for Lyme disease?
Diana Moser has, to the best of her knowledge, not contracted Lyme disease, a welcome status quo that might be credited to the tick-repellant clothing she wears in the yard of her East LaHave, N.S., home, or to the insect spray she squirts on herself, or to just plain-old luck. Or, it's possible the good fortune is due to what some are hoping is a "game changer" in the fight against the disease, which is caused by tick-borne bacteria and, if left untreated, can lead to severe heart, joint and nervous system symptoms. Moser is one of dozens of people in Nova Scotia, and more than 9,000 in the eastern United States, Eastern Canada and parts of Europe, who are taking part in clinical trials for a vaccine against Lyme infection. "I think it's incredibly important to have," she said of a vaccine, noting she knows at least four people who have contracted Lyme disease, including one who has had it multiple times. "It's such a tricky disease, like when you get Lyme, so many things can happen. It causes joint pain, it causes inflammation. It really affects your system in a deep and abiding way." There were more than 27,000 cases of Lyme disease recorded in Canada between 2009 and 2024, the majority of those in the last four years. Actual infection rates are higher, however, because cases go undetected or unreported, according to the federal government. In the United States, over 89,000 cases were reported in 2023 to the Centers for Disease Control. In one study, researchers used insurance claims data to estimate that nearly half a million people a year may be diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease. The vaccine furthest along the research pipeline is the collaboration between multinational pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and European vaccine company Valneva SE, with Phase 3 clinical trials scheduled to run to the end of December. WATCH | How close are we to getting a vaccine for Lyme disease?: As recorded cases of Lyme disease rise, so do hopes for a vaccine 6 minutes ago Duration 2:37 A Pfizer spokesperson said if trials are successful the company could potentially apply in 2026 to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency for approvals to market the vaccine. There is no timeline for a similar application to Health Canada. The clinical trials have targeted areas where Lyme disease is endemic. Participants were chosen for their increased risk, including landscapers in tick-infested areas, people who do a lot of hiking or gardening, or who have dogs that routinely come home with ticks attached. Like all participants, Moser doesn't know if she has been injected with a course of the real vaccine and a booster, or simply been given a placebo, although she hopes to learn which it is once the trials end. Some, but not all, blacklegged ticks carry Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. The ticks are tiny, living in woods, shrubs and long grass, attaching themselves to humans or animals that brush past the vegetation and then feeding on their blood. When they bite, some of their stomach contents, including the bacteria, are eventually discharged into the bloodstream. In most cases, the tick must be attached for at least 24 hours before a person is infected. The Pfizer-Valneva vaccine prompts the human body to create antibodies to a protein on Borrelia burgdorferi, according to Dr. Joanne Langley, a pediatrician with the Canadian Center for Vaccinology, a Halifax-based group helping conduct the clinical trials in Nova Scotia. Ideally, if a Borrelia burgdorferi -carrying tick latches on to the skin, the vaccinated immune system will recognize the bacteria and attack and clear it, preventing Lyme disease, Langley said. "It could be really a game changer for how we try to deal with Lyme infection," she said in an interview, adding that half of people who contract the disease don't even remember being bitten by a tick. "It would be really great if we could be a little more carefree in the woods and just walking around our environment." Found widely in the eastern United States, the first colony of blacklegged ticks in Canada was discovered in the 1970s in an Ontario provincial park on Lake Erie. It has since become established in six provinces. In Nova Scotia, which has some of the highest tick numbers, populations are growing both in rural and urban areas, according to the provincial government. What has perplexed some people who ritually pick ticks off their pets or who have been infected with Lyme is why it has taken so long to develop a vaccine, especially given Lyme vaccines for dogs have been available for years. A Lyme vaccine for humans did hit the market in 1998, but was pulled in 2002 by the company that developed it, citing poor sales. Its reputation had been damaged by reports of adverse reactions, even though the FDA didn't find any evidence it was causing harm. Thomas Hart, a microbiologist who studies Lyme disease at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, said the controversy "just chilled the whole field." "That's part of why we're only now seeing momentum again and bringing the Lyme disease vaccine actually through clinical trials in to market," he said. Hart has not been involved with the Pfizer-Valneva work, but said it's a "real promising vaccine" and it will be a "big deal" if approved. But it's not the only vaccine research. For instance, Hart said, scientists are examining vaccines aimed at deterring ticks from simply feeding on humans, protecting people not just against Lyme disease, but from other tick-borne infections. Another strain of research attacks the problem from an imaginative angle — small food-like pellets coated in vaccine to inoculate, of all things, mice. It's an idea conceived by Dr. Maria Gomes-Solecki, a veterinarian and microbiologist at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Mice and ticks, she said, infect each other with Borrelia burgdorferi. Vaccinating mice attempts to break the cycle. That brings down the prevalence in an area of ticks that have the bacteria, which in turn cuts the risk of humans getting Lyme disease. "One strategy alone is not enough to control this disease," she said in an interview. The company US Biologic has been marketing the product for about a year and a half, according to president Chris Przybyszewski. Pellets can tossed using a scoop — at intervals at the sides of trails, for instance — or deployed near homes in small circular "stations." The product is aimed at homeowners, golf courses, summer camps, outdoor athletic facilities and pest-management outfits. The company is also working with governments to deploy it on public lands, he said. The pellets, shaped like acorns, don't provide any nutritional value and don't attract other animals, Przybyszewski said. But the mice will eat them, he said, and research shows they can cut the rate of infected ticks in an area by 75 per cent. There are plans to eventually bring the product to Canada, he said, with US Biologic likely to begin seeking approval this year or next. "I think it's just incredibly important that we pay more attention to this kind of concept, really focusing on products and programs that can make a difference and really create a new way of stopping infectious diseases," he said. For Colin Chase, a participant in the Pfizer-Valneva vaccine clinical trials, ticks are a fact of life, both as someone with a deep love of the woods, and as a volunteer search and rescuer who routinely clambers through dense Nova Scotia forests. Searchers take the full range of precautions, he said, examining each other for the tiny creatures, stripping down before they go inside their homes and throwing their clothes in the dryer and then the washer. Many have a favoured anti-tick spray they swear by. But even with those efforts, ticks can still sneak in and become embedded on the skin. If a vaccine is safe and effective, Chase said, why wouldn't someone take advantage? "Because otherwise the alternative is, 'Oh, I'm not going to go in the woods. I'm going to disconnect myself from the natural environment.' And there's so much beauty in the woods," he said.
