Ontario is expanding the private delivery of public health care, by funding clinics to perform more cataract surgeries as well as MRI and CT scans. Announcing a three-step plan today, Premier Doug Ford says he laments debates over who should deliver health care and cares only about getting it delivered quickly and safely. Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones say the procedures will still be covered by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan. But critics are concerned about what the plan will do to hospital staffing and say patients are sometimes pushed to pay for out-of-pocket add-ons at private c

Three people are still missing after an explosion and fire rocked a propane business north of Montreal. The local fire department responded to calls yesterday morning about the blast at Propane Lafortune but were forced to retreat for several hours due to the risk of further explosions. Crews were able to bring the blaze under control in the evening. The propane business is located about 50 kilometres north of Montreal.

Alexandria Loutitt has reached unprecedented heights for a Canadian female ski jumped. The 19 year old from Calgary became the first Canadian to win a World Cup women's ski jump event, taking gold at a normal hill competition in Japan. It's just the third time a Canadian ski jumper has won a World Cup event, and the first time in 40 years.

Police are offering a $100,000 reward to anyone with information that will lead to the location of a 37-year-old woman who was abducted from an Ontario home exactly a year ago. Elnaz Hajtamiri was abducted by three men dressed in police gear on Jan. 12, 2022, from a relative's house in Wasaga Beach, Ont. Investigators are still looking for the three men. The reward is being offered by Ontario Provincial Police and York Regional Police. Weeks before her abduction, police have said Hajtamiri was assaulted with a frying pan in an underground parking lot in Richmond Hill, Ont., in December 2021.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is looking to Canada to help his country wean itself off fossil fuels from places like Russia. Kishida is in Ottawa today for his first visit as Japan's head of government, as part of a tour of other G7 countries. Japan holds the G7 presidency this year and is set to host meetings with the leaders of some of the world's richest countries. Tokyo plans to use the year to co-ordinate with other states on economic management and punishing Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Kishida said at a lunch hosted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with numerous corporat

Canadian airlines are urging travellers headed to the US to check their flights ahead of time today after thousands of flights were delayed by a computer outage. WestJet says six flights were delayed this morning due to problems at the U-S Federal Aviation Administration, but none were cancelled. Meanwhile, Air Canada says it has put a goodwill policy in place for customers affected by the outage so they can change their travel plans. The FAA issued a grounding order this morning for all departing aircraft due to a problem with what is known as the Notice to Air Missions System. That order wa

An excess of expired hand sanitizer is proving quite costly for some provinces. The federal government spent 376 million dollars to get 20 million litres of hand sanitizer out to the provinces during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Saskatchewan says it will have to spend roughly 100 thousand dollars to dispose of more than 350 thousand litres of the expired germ killer. Manitoba says it spent more than 462 thousand to re-purpose its extra hand sanitizer. Both provinces say they received more sanitizer from Ottawa than was necessary during the pandemic because they'd procured their own su

A Nova Scotia politician has been threatened with legal action over a social media post about a woman who died in hospital after waiting to be seen for several hours. Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin, an Independent member of the legislature, says the province's justice department told her to take down a letter from her Facebook page that she had written to Health Minister Michelle Thompson. In the letter, Smith-McCrossin names 37-year-old Allison Holthoff, and describes her as a wife and mother of three who died on New Year's Eve. In an email dated January 6th, the Justice Department warned that th

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has told US President Joe Biden that Canada is buying a U-S surface-to-air missile system for Ukraine. The pair spoke today at a summit in Mexico City. Trudeau's office did not immediately provide a cost estimate or timeline on buying the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System. Ukraine Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba says his country welcomes the recent aid, saying it would help ward off Russia and bring about peace sooner.