MONTREAL - Higher electricity prices may not discourage companies from building new data centres as demand for power continues to grow, a consultant hired by Hydro-Québec told the province's energy regulator on Friday.

The comments came as the first phase of hearings into the utility's proposal to nearly double electricity rates for large data centres wrapped up in Montreal, with lawyers representing Google and an environmental coalition questioning consultants about their study of electricity markets across North America.

Hydro-Québec is asking the province's energy regulator, the Régie de l'énergie, to approve a new rate averaging 13 cents per kilowatt hour for data centres requiring more than five megawatts of power, nearly double the average 6.82 cents currently paid by major industrial electricity users.

The utility has said the increased rate for data centres is not meant to slow down growth, but rather to ensure residential customers don't wind up seeing rate hikes to compensate for discounts offered to the rapidly growing industrial sector.

THE BERING SEA (AP) — The net rose from the heaving Bering Sea swells, packed so tightly with Alaska pollock that their heads squeezed through the webbing.

As the catch spilled onto the deck, other dead marine life came with it: a skate, crabs, jellyfish and, among the most consequential, salmon — the fish at the center of a growing political and cultural fight over industrial trawling in Alaska.

“This is a wild capture fishery so you do run into your nontarget species, and a lot of people have a problem with that,” said Maverick Blake, the boat’s captain. “But this is what it takes to put seafood on the table.”

Blake redirected the boat toward another fishing ground where he hoped to encounter fewer salmon.

NEW YORK (AP) — Florida's current dengue outbreak is the largest in several decades of any U.S. state.

State health officials reported this week that nearly 300 locally acquired cases of the mosquito-borne disease have been tallied so far this year. The vast majority of them were in Hillsborough County, home to Tampa.

Federal health officials say their data on dengue outbreaks is limited. But available information from state health departments and medical journals suggests the Florida outbreak marks the most cases in a calendar year for any state since at least the 1940s.

Puerto Rico is consistently hit hard by dengue, with numbers much higher than what's seen in any of the 50 states. But in the continental U.S., Florida usually gets the most locally transmitted cases. The state's previous worst year was 2023, when just under 200 locally spread cases were reported.

Halton regional police in Ontario are using artificial intelligence in the recruitment and training of 911 call takers and dispatchers. 

The force said American AI firm GovWorx provides the technology to create emergency call simulations to help 911 applicants improve their decision-making, communication and crisis management skills.

Halton police 911 communications bureau manager Brian Dodd said the new technology helps the force identify the right candidates from the beginning of the hiring process. 

He said the department has been facing a staffing crisis because not all candidates applying for 911 jobs succeed in their training after they are hired. 

OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada says in cases where an Indigenous offender commits an offence against an intimate partner who is an Indigenous woman, a judge must apply sentencing principles related to both Indigenous offenders and victims of crime in a harmonious way.

In a 5-4 judgment Friday, the top court provided guidance and set out a new framework for determining an appropriate sentence in such cases.

The court said Indigenous people are disproportionately and excessively imprisoned, while Indigenous women and girls suffer from unacceptably high levels of violence and abuse.

It said both of these issues have been shaped by the experiences of colonization, and addressing them together is central to the ongoing process of reconciliation.

We have an election coming up. With that in mind, the Free Press asked some of their columnists to write about the challenges ahead and how the city can become better.

For Tom Brodbeck, the main challenge is finances — and how candidates will pay for their many promises for fixing roads, improving public safety and making transit better.

Rebecca Chambers said that the concerns of inner-city residents need to be taken seriously by those who aspire to work at city hall.

Niigaan Sinclair said the most pressing issue in Winnipeg isn’t construction projects, light-rail transit, public safety, taxes or social services. For him, it’s the city’s relationship with Indigenous people.