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Canada Post apologizes for mail not being forwarded

Canada Post has delivered a refund and an apology to a couple whose mail, including negative results of a cancer-screening test, wasn’t forwarded for months.

Ontario police watchdog says Toronto-area condo shooter was 73-year-old man

VAUGHAN, Ont. - A gunman suspected of killing five people in a Toronto-area condo before being shot by police was a 73-year-old man, Ontario's police watchdog said Monday as authorities worked to learn more about what happened.

The Special Investigations Unit said a York Regional Police officer shot the gunman, who died at the scene in Vaughan, Ont., Sunday night.

"There was an interaction between an officer and the armed man in the building. The officer fired his gun and struck the man," the SIU wrote in a statement. "Paramedics were called and the man was pronounced deceased at the scene."

As day broke over the condo on Jane Street north of Rutherford Road, about 15 police cars and a large forensic identification truck remained outside the high-rise. The main entrance to the building was taped off.

In The News for Dec. 19: Can the world save its own biodiversity?

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what's on the radar of our editors for the morning of Monday, Dec. 19 ...

What we are watching in Canada ...

Negotiators in Montreal have finalized an agreement to halt and reverse the destruction of nature by 2030, as the COP15 talks enter their final official day.

An announcement issued early Monday morning says the gathering nations at the biodiversity summit have agreed to four goals and 23 targets.

‘Glaciers can’t get a break’: How climate change is affecting Canada’s icy landscape

VANCOUVER - On a mountain high above the residents of Metro Vancouver, tucked inside a north-facing gully, the region's last remaining glacier is vanishing fast.

The Coquitlam Glacier has survived 4,000 to 5,000 years thanks to its sheltered location on the east side of the Coquitlam watershed.

However, scientists say it's among thousands across Canada that are shrinking more quickly than expected due to climate change, with consequences for everything from ecosystems and climate regulation to water supply and tourism.

"It's hanging in there, but it's certainly wasting away quite quickly at this point," said Peter Marshall, field hydrologist with Metro Vancouver's water services.

Air Force to add oversight after officers lose pay over ‘egregious’ pilot call sign

OTTAWA - While the Royal Canadian Air Force plans to add more control over how fighter pilots get their call signs, a senior officer says there are no plans to abolish the nicknames — or the social gatherings where they are handed out.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Maj.-Gen. Iain Huddleston said he is aiming to have a formalized process for assigning call signs in place by the end of January.

Yet he also defended such nicknames as important for morale and esprit de corps.

"They're a tool that's been used for many years to bring those teams that are focused on fighter operations together," Huddleston said. "So, I think it's important to have that team spirit, that esprit de corps, that camaraderie."

‘Perfect storm’ of inflation, high prices driving more into homelessness: advocates

CALGARY - Social agencies and advocates say rising interest rates and high inflation are pushing more Canadians into homelessness.

Chaz Smith, who was once homeless himself, said some of the clients of his BeTheChangeYYC street outreach group have been on waiting lists for affordable housing for more than five months.

He said with interest rates and inflation on the rise, it could make the rental market more difficult to enter.

"My fear is we're going to see people default into the rental market that's already crowded and we're going to see an increase in homelessness throughout all of Canada," said Smith, who founded BeTheChangeYYC.

Negotiators finalize nature deal ahead of final day of COP15 convention

MONTREAL - Negotiators in Montreal have finalized an agreement to halt and reverse the destruction of nature by 2030, as the COP15 talks enter their final official day.

An announcement issued early Monday morning says the gathering nations at the biodiversity summit have agreed to four goals and 23 targets.

The goals include protecting 30 per cent of the world's land, water and marine areas by 2030, as well as the mobilization, by 2030, of at least $200 billion per year in domestic and international biodiversity-related funding from all sources, both public and private.

There is also a pledge to reduce subsidies deemed harmful to nature by at least $500 Billion by 2030, while having developed countries commit to providing developing countries with at least US$20 billion per year by 2025, and $30 billion per year by 2030.

Shooting at condo building in Vaughan, Ont., leaves six dead including gunman: police

VAUGHAN, Ont. - A lone gunman opened fire and killed five people at a Toronto-area condo building on Sunday evening before he himself was shot by police, the regional force's chief said.

Jim MacSween, head of the York Regional Police Force, offered few details in the hours immediately following the shooting in Vaughan, Ont. But in a hastily called news conference outside the building, he said police immediately realized a complex situation was unfolding.

"Once the officers arrived they were met with a horrendous scene," he said. "Numerous victims were deceased."

MacSween said officers were called to what he described as an active shooting at around 7:20 p.m. In a separate news release, York Police said early reports suggested a man had shot multiple people.

Four cows have been captured in a small Quebec town after months on the loose

QUEBEC - After several months on the run, four cows from a herd of runaway cattle were captured on Saturday night in St-Sévère, Que.

The regional chapter of the Union des producteurs agricoles says the cows were transported back to their original farm on Sunday morning.

Specialists examined the cows after their capture and confirmed the animals were in good shape.

The union says weather conditions over the last few days prevented the entire herd from being captured, so another operation will take place soon to catch seven or eight animals that remain at large.

Moscow accuses Ottawa of leading isolation effort, amid squabble over tweets, summons

OTTAWA - Russia's ambassador to Canada says Ottawa is at the vanguard of an effort to isolate his country, following a series of social-media squabbles and ongoing salvos where each country summons the other's top diplomat.

Oleg Stepanov told Russian state media that he's exasperated by Canada's foreign-affairs department tweeting unflattering information about the war in Ukraine, particularly recent tweets about Russian men fleeing a military draft.

"When there is no real diplomacy on the Canadian side, no ability or appetite to deal with matters serious to Russia, they turn on this Twitter megaphone," Stepanov told RIA Novosti last week, in Russian.

He added that Canada appears to be leading an effort by Western countries to isolate Russia.

Argentina fans delighted over thrilling World Cup win against France

TORONTO - Canadian soccer fans stood in chilly pre-dawn lineups, painted their faces and ultimately wound up on a wild ride on Sunday as they packed bars to take in a particularly tense World Cup final.

But it was Team Argentina's fans who ultimately got to celebrate after the squad headed by superstar Lionel Messi secured the win in penalty shots.

At Cafe Diplomatico in Toronto's Little Italy neighbourhood, fans in a packed tent screamed and jumped up when Argentina took the title, hugging each other and waving flags. Music filled the tent and fans danced in celebration, with many screaming Messi's name.

"That is a perfect representation of what this beautiful game is," Argentina fan Ian Saya said as he celebrated the win.

‘Hallowed space’: Divers pull 275 artifacts from 2022 excavation of Franklin ship

Eleven metres below the surface of the Northwest Passage, deep within the wreck of one of Capt. John Franklin's doomed ships, something caught the eye of diver Ryan Harris.

Harris was in the middle of the 2022 field season on the wreck of HMS Erebus. The team had been hauling dozens of artifacts to the surface -- elaborate table settings, a lieutenant's epaulets still in their case, a lens from someone's eyeglasses.

But this, sitting within the steward's pantry, was something else.

"It's probably the most remarkable find of the summer," said Harris, one of the Parks Canada team of archaeologist divers who have been excavating Franklin's two lost ships since they were found under the Arctic seas.

‘One side or the other’: Coutts, Alta. still a village divided after convoy blockade

COUTTS, Alta. - The sound of blaring horns that echoed through this village 10 months ago has been replaced by the steady hum of semi-trailer trucks filing through the border crossing between Alberta and the United States.

There is an undercurrent in the community of 250 people, belied by a smiley face on its water tower, that suggests an ongoing division dating back to three weeks in late January, when a convoy of truckers and their supporters shut the border in protest of COVID-19 restrictions.

There was hope that time and community events over the year would provide healing.

Keith Dangerfield, who operates the Hills of Home Cafe/Bed and Breakfast with his wife, was an avid supporter of the convoy. His restaurant became a regular gathering spot.

Pierre Poilievre thinks he can win over new Canadians. Here’s how he plans to do it.

OTTAWA - A young Pierre Poilievre sits in front of a room of Conservative faithful and explains their party's strategy for winning a majority mandate.

That hasn't happened yet. It's 2009 and while the Tories have won two federal elections, they've remained in minority territory for three years.

"We will win a majority if we appeal to naturally conservative-inclined voters and get them out to vote, and we turn small-c conservative immigrants into big-C Conservative voters," the MP says in a video posted to the website of the Cable Public Affairs Channel.

"That's the formula."

COP15 negotiators heading towards a global nature deal, environment minister says

MONTREAL - A global agreement to protect a significant percentage of the world's lands and waters will be reached by the time the COP15 nature convention ends on Monday, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said Sunday.

Guilbeault spoke on the second to last official day of the conference, as negotiators in Montreal pored over the draft of an agreement that would also include mobilizing hundreds of billions of dollars to fund the pledges.

Chinese Environment Minister Huang Runqiu released the new draft of the Kunming-Montreal Global biodiversity framework on Sunday morning.

It preserves the marquee goal of ensuring that 30 per cent of "terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services," be effectively conserved by 2030.

Feds, Northwest Territories to create Indigenous protected area for Great Bear Lake

MONTREAL - The federal government, the Northwest Territories and the Délı̨nę Got'ı̨nę government signed off on a plan Saturday to create an Indigenous protected area around Great Bear Lake.

The three governments signed a letter of intent at the COP15 biodiversity conference in Montreal in what the First Nation describes as a major win, having fought to have the lake declared an Indigenous protected and conserved area.

"Our people have kept it that way for many generations, we believe that we have the responsibility to keep it that way for the future generations yet to come," Chief Danny Gaudet of the Délı̨nę Got'ı̨nę said via Zoom.

"It's our turn to have a responsibility to treat this place with respect, it is something that we have been told to keep alive (by elders) because it will be a place of refuge for the future of people, for all living things."

In crowded N.B. hospital, 88-year-old awaiting nursing home placed in supply room

SAINT JOHN, N.B. - The daughter of an 88-year-old woman who spent part of Thursday in a supply room at an overcrowded New Brunswick hospital says she's alarmed by the shortages of space and staff in the province's health facilities.

Karen Totten photographed her mother Irene MacNeill of Barnesville, N.B., lying in a supply room at the Saint John Regional Hospital, with a bed sheet hung up to give her some privacy and wearing dark glasses to help her rest in an area where lights couldn't be dimmed. The image shows the woman surrounded by boxes and medical supplies.

Totten, a 65-year-old resident of Upham, N.B., says she published the disturbing images because she's become alarmed by the staff shortages, the long wait time for her mother to receive a nursing home bed, and the lack of space in the hospital.

"Our system is really broken. How can (Premier Blaine) Higgs be reporting a surplus? If he has a surplus ... get us some nurses and doctors and fix this mess that we knew was going to happen years ago," she said, referring to the Progressive Conservative government's recently announced $135.5 million projected budget surplus for 2022-23.

Dignitaries, family and friends gather for funeral of Manitoba politician Jim Carr

WINNIPEG - Politicians of all stripes joined hundreds of mourners who gathered on Saturday to pay tribute to Jim Carr, the Liberal member of Parliament who died five days earlier at the age of 71 following a battle with cancer.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was among the cross-section of dignitaries at the memorial service, which also included former NDP and Progressive Conservative premiers of Manitoba, MPs from the government and opposition side of the House of Commons and prominent Indigenous leaders.

"He ... inspired me to continue doing difficult things in difficult moments," Trudeau told the service.

"And then this week, I discovered it wasn't just me, it was everyone ... it was a gift he had."

Grocery shoplifting on the rise in Canada amid inflation, industry insiders say

Shoplifting has surged to an alarming level across Canada, industry insiders say, with inflation and labour shortages cited as major factors behind the increase.

The uptick has triggered concern among Canadian grocers even as the rise in food prices helps pad their bottom lines. Grocery prices were up 11 per cent year-over-year in October and they're not expected to ease any time soon. The total cost of groceries for a family of four is expected to be $1,065 more than it was this year, according to the most recent edition of Canada's Food Price Report.

Inflation in food prices is one of the main drivers pushing more people to steal, says Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

“There is a correlation between the two, absolutely. Theft is an ongoing issue. But the intensity actually does increase when food prices go up," he said, noting that meat and dairy products are the top two stolen items.

As politicians played inflation blame game in 2022, what really drove rising prices?

OTTAWA - Some called it "Justinflation." Others called it "greedflation."

But reality might be a lot less catchy than the wordplay that has taken off in Canadian politics this year.

After enjoying decades of a relatively low and stable inflation rate, Canadians spent 2022 grappling with the highest levels of inflation seen in nearly 40 years.

With the rising cost of living exacerbating pre-existing affordability concerns,politicians raced to point fingers at what — or who — they thought was really causing the problem.

Friendly rivals: with EV tensions in past, Canada poised to compete with biggest ally

WASHINGTON - Friends, partners, allies — and rivals.

With cross-border auto tensions now in the rear-view mirror, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is talking about Canada's next big bilateral challenge: head-to-head economic competition with the United States.

From a Canadian perspective, the first two years of President Joe Biden's term were all about countering a persistent bout of U.S. protectionism by preaching the virtues of trade between like-minded partners.

Something sank in. Biden's panic-inducing plan to energize electric-vehicle sales brought Canada and Mexico into the tent at the 11th hour. And Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen even coined a new term — "friend-shoring" — to placate America's anxious allies.

Dreams of Chinese fame persist at Vancouver pageant, where stars are born

VANCOUVER - The eight women lining up to take questions included a pediatrician, a legal assistant and a piano teacher.

But standing on stage in their bikinis at the River Rock Casino in Richmond, B.C., they had one goal — to become the next Miss Chinese Vancouver.

The popularity of the 27-year-old pageant is testament to both the ongoing lure of celebrity in Hong Kong and Chinese show business, and what one expert called the "aura" surrounding Chinese Canadian entertainers across the Pacific.

Vancouver has long served as a talent source for the Hong Kong and mainland Chinese entertainment scenes, and the mutual attraction persists in spite of recent political tensions over the crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong and allegations of Chinese political interference in Canada.