New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has called a snap election, saying the campaign leading up to the September 14th vote will be unlike any other. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, candidates will not be going door to door or leaving any pamphlets in mailboxes. Higgs says candidates will have to be creative and innovative. Last week, Higgs threatened to trigger a vote unless opposition parties agreed to keep his minority government in power until 2022. On Aug. 10, Higgs invited opposition leaders to talks to reach a formal agreement not to trigger an election until September 2022, or no earlier t

The CFL has cancelled its 2020 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, dashing hopes of a shortened season in the hub city of Winnipeg. It marks the first year the Grey Cup won't be presented since 1919. Commissioner Randy Ambrosie says the league governors decided it is in the best long-term interests of the CFL to concentrate on the future. The league couldn't secure financing from Ottawa which it said was necessary to stage a shortened season. The move comes after the CFL couldn't solve a number of issues in an effort to try to salvage a season. The league was unable to secure financing f

A Calgary woman has died after slipping into a river and being swept away in B.C.'s Kootenay National Park.The RCMP say in a statement they were called Sunday and told a water rescue was underway in Marble Canyon. Police say they learned that a 34-year-old woman was being photographed near the river when she lost her footing and fell into the water.Cpl. Jesse O'Donaghey says the woman was pulled out of the water about a kilometre downstream and bystanders, including a medical professional, attempted resuscitation but she died at the scene. A 29-year-old Calgary man who also tried to save the

The BC government has announced a four month extension to its temporary crisis supplement for people on income or disability assistance. The funds also cover low-income seniors affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Poverty Reduction Minister Shane Simpson says B-C's restart plan is beginning to help some sectors affected by the pandemic, but low- or no-income people remain disproportionately affected. Payments will continue to be automatically added to assistance cheques through to December 16th and those eligible for the three-hundred dollar per month supplement must not be receiving other pand

The health authority in northern British Columbia has issued an alert after more than a dozen people tested positive for COVID-19. The alert says the outbreak is linked to a religious gathering held between July 30 and Aug. 2 in Deadwood, Alta. Anyone who attended the It Is Time event is asked to monitor themselves, self-isolate and seek testing if any COVID-19 symptoms develop. Northern Health says 17 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been identified so far, with 12 related to attendance at the event and the other five linked to secondary exposures. Most of the cases are in Fort St. John,

The Canadian Real Estate Association says home sales in July hit a record high as they continued their rebound from the lows of earlier this year when the COVID-19 pandemic froze the market.CREA says the 62,355 sales in July 2020 marked the highest monthly sales figure on record, with data going back more than 40 years.Sales in July were up 30.5 per cent compared with the same month a year ago.On a month-over-month basis, sales were up 26 per cent.The jump in sales came as the number of newly listed homes climbed by 7.6 per cent in July compared with June.CREA says the actual national average

The Canada Revenue Agency expects online services to be fully restored by Wednesday after hackers used thousands of stolen usernames and passwords to fraudulently obtain government services.About 5,600 CRA accounts were targeted in what the federal government describes as "credential stuffing" schemes, in which hackers used passwords and usernames from other websites to access Canadians' revenue agency accounts.Officials say the RCMP is investigating the breaches.The suspension of CRA's online services comes as many Canadians are using the revenue agency's website to access financial support

There are 121,652 confirmed cases in Canada. Quebec: 61,004 confirmed (including 5,718 deaths, 53,598 resolved) Ontario: 40,459 confirmed (including 2,788 deaths, 36,772 resolved) Alberta: 12,053 confirmed (including 221 deaths, 10,796 resolved) British Columbia: 4,358 confirmed (including 196 deaths, 3,533 resolved) Saskatchewan: 1,541 confirmed (including 20 deaths, 1,347 resolved) Nova Scotia: 1,072 confirmed (including 64 deaths, 1,007 resolved) Manitoba: 628 confirmed (including 8 deaths, 389 resolved), 15 presumptive Newfoundland and Labrador: 268 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 263 reso

British Columbia's health minister and provincial health officer are urging people to follow physical distancing guidelines amid a rise in COVID-19 cases across the province. Adrian Dix and Dr. Bonnie Henry issued a joint statement on Friday urging residents to stick together and keep a safe distance from people they may not know or who aren't in their social bubble. They say the province has the ability to bend the pandemic curve back down, but only if everyone takes part in measures related to the fight against COVID-19. Dix and Henry warn that transmission of the virus has forced nightclub