| Tuesday, December 3, 2024 |
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Court report • News • Weather • Opinion • Sports |
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New Brunswick will see at least 240 new nursing home beds come online over the next two years.
Half of these beds are set to open in Oromocto and in Moncton in December 2025, while the remainder are to come online in Bathurst and in Saint-Antoine in June 2026. Each of the four communities were awarded 60 new beds as part of the province’s 2018-2023 Nursing Home Plan, according to the Department of Social Development.
Despite the five-year timeframe of that plan now over, department spokesperson Kate Wright told Brunswick News there isn’t a delay around opening these 240 new nursing home beds. “These projects are on track,” Wright said in an email. “The construction of new facilities takes some time after contracts are awarded for service.” |
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Riverview Fire & Rescue will be getting two new trucks worth over $3 million and expanding its services in 2025. The town’s capital budget, which was approved by council last week and will be ratified Dec. 9, includes $3 million to replace two fire trucks that have been in service for 20 years. Photo: Contributed |
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Feds made errors in COVID relief to small business: AG report |
In a rush to provide emergency loans to small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government pushed out a program that doled out more than $3.5 billion to ineligible recipients, gave too much control to a single private contractor, and failed to ensure public money was not wasted, according to a new report from the auditor general. The program, reported the Toronto Star, doled out $49.1 billion in loans to almost 900,000 small businesses. In a new report tabled Monday, Auditor General Karen Hogan concluded the program moved quickly in response to the crisis, disbursing loans in a matter of days when health measures forced hundreds of thousands of businesses to shut down.
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Biden pardons his son Hunter Biden |
Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden on Sunday night, a reversal for the president who repeatedly said he would not use his executive authority to pardon his son or commute his sentence. "I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice — and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further," Biden said in his statement, NBC News reported. Hunter Biden was scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 12 for his conviction on federal gun charges. He also was set to be sentenced Dec. 16 in a separate criminal case in which he pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges in September.
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Canada Post presents union with 'framework' to reach deal |
Canada Post has presented the union representing some 55,000 striking postal workers with a framework to reach negotiated agreements, the corporation said. A statement issued Sunday said the framework includes proposals to bring greater flexibility to the Crown corporation’s delivery model and shows "movement on other key issues" in the labour dispute, reported The Canadian Press. "It is our hope that these proposals will reignite discussions and, together with the support of mediators, help the parties work toward final agreements," said the statement, which was provided to the media over email.
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Across the 27 illicit samples tested for pesticides, 31 different pest control products were found above the Health Canada limits, with some testing orders of magnitude above the limit. For example, (one product tested) had myclobutanil (a chemical used as a fungicide) present at ... more than 3000 times above the Health Canada (limit). |
Research and Productivity Council study |
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Cannabis NB has launched another salvo at New Brunswick's marijuana black market, saying a study shows that what's being sold illegally often contains "chemical contaminants," including pesticides.
The focus of the study, conducted by the Research and Productivity Council, was on vape cartridges. Thirty-one black-market weed products - 24 vape cartridge and extract products, three flower samples, and four edible samples - were tested, as were 10 legal vape pens.
"None of the legal vape samples had pesticides detected at the Health Canada limits," the study reads. "The majority of illicit extract and flower products tested had pesticides detected above Health Canada limits, in some cases three orders of magnitude above the limit." Also, most of the THC claims made on illegal vape pens weren't true. |
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The owners of The Devil's Halo Cheesecake have announced they are closing their storefront on Mountain Road because of rising utility and ingredient costs. Photo: Submitted |
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