LIVIGNO – Canadian snowboarder Laurie Blouin took some solace in finishing fifth on a difficult day in women’s slopestyle at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old from Quebec City, a two-time world champion (slopestyle in 2017 and big air in 2021) and slopestyle silver medallist at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, fell on her first two runs before landing her third run.

Changing conditions reduced the riders’ speed on the Livigno Snow Park course, making jumps difficult on the day.

“Honestly it was a hard day for everyone,” said Blouin. “The speed wasn’t there … I’m just happy I landed a run. It was not the cleanest one. I had to adjust after my second jump on my third run, I was going so slow.”

Japan’s Mari Fukada won the gold, improving on her second run score of 85.70 with a third run of 87.83. Defending champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of New Zealand moved into second with the final run of the day, scoring 87.48.

That knocked Japan’s Kokomo Murase down to bronze at 85.80 and Germany’s Annika Morgan off the podium at 78.78.

Murase won gold in big air earlier in the games while Sadowski-Synnott took silver.

Blouin’s third-run score left her fifth at 68.60.

Related Videos

4:30
‘Everybody had a shot’: Canadian women’s speedskating team humble in gold medal win

Previous Video

Next Video

“At least it’s not fourth, honestly. I’ve had too many fourths in my career,” Blouin said with a giggle. “I’m just happy I had fun.”

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Blouin was fourth in Beijing four years ago. She has also placed fourth at the world championships (in big air in 2023) and at the Winter X Games (in slopestyle in 2025, and big air in 2021 and 2019).

Blouin says she has yet to decide whether she will be back for a fourth Olympics.

“I’m going to go year by year,” she said. “I want to still keep competing because I love competing and I still have the tricks and my body feels good.”

Blouin said she will choose what competitions to enter and also wants to continue making her own snowboarding videos.

“So I’m going to try to and balance everything,” she said. “But I want to still compete. I’m not done.”

Juliette Pelchat finished ninth. The 21-year-old from Whistler, B.C., in her first Olympics, had trouble with a rail on her first run and fell on her second before recording a final run score of 51.76.

“Honestly I had a lot of fun and I really tried my hardest to get speed. But that was definitely the biggest issue,” said Pelchat.

In the earlier men’s final, an emotional Mark McMorris fell on his third and final run in a bid to keep his run of Olympic medals going. The 32-year-old from Regina, who won bronze in Sochi, Pyeongchang and Beijing, finished eighth in the field of 12 after going down hard.

Cameron Spalding of Havelock, Ont., was 10th with Yiming Su winning to collect China’s first gold of the games.

Pelchat’s first run was a throwaway Wednesday as she fell coming off the rocket rail while Blouin missed the landing on her second jump.

Pelchat looked to have completed her second run but couldn’t hold the landing on her third and final jump. Blouin also had issues, coming off a top rail early before failing to land her second jump.

Australian Ally Hickman crashed hard on her second run, hitting the snow face first after coming off the top rail. She kept competing and finished seventh.

Blouin had qualified ninth for the final with Pelchat 12th. Sadowski Synnott topped qualifying as she did four years ago in Beijing.

The 24-year-old Kiwi, who only returned to competition last month after being sidelined by bone bruising, earned her fifth Olympic medal, having also won big air bronze in 2018 in Pyeongchang and silver in big air in 2022 in Beijing.

Her slopestyle win in Beijing marked New Zealand’s first-ever Winter Olympic gold medal.

Canada can take a small piece of the credit. According to the New Zealand Olympic team, a family Christmas holiday in Whistler, B.C., is Sadowski-Synnott’s earliest memory of snow and “probably where her love of sliding began.”

The 650-metre slopestyle course at Livigno Snow Park, which featured a vertical drop of 165 metres, features rail and jumps with riders judged on the breadth, originality, and quality of their tricks. Fifty percent of the marks come from the rails.

—

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 18, 2026.

&copy 2026 The Canadian Press

Today, the Department is taking action to promote accountability for the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship’s abuse of political prisoners by designating La Modelo prison Maximum-Security Director Roberto Clemente Guevara Gómez under Section 7031(c) for his involvement in a gross violation of human rights of a political prisoner. The United States calls for the immediate, unconditional release of all unjustly detained political prisoners in Nicaragua.

This public designation is made under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2024 (Div. F, P.L. 118-47), as carried forward by the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026 (Div. A, P.L. 119-37).

Ex-Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux has crossed the floor to the Liberals, Prime Minister Mark Carney says.

“I am honoured to welcome Matt Jeneroux to our caucus as the newest member of Canada’s new government,” Carney said in a social media post.

Jeneroux is now the third Conservative, after Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont and Toronto area MP Michael Ma, to switch to Carney’s Liberals.

Jeneroux’s crossing brings Carney’s government to the cusp of a majority, with the Liberals now at 169 MPs in the House of Commons. Three byelections are set to be held in ridings previously held by the Liberals. If the Liberals regain all three seats, this would bring them to 172 MPs — the majority mark, but reliant on the Speaker to break tie votes.

The MP for Edmonton Riverbend since 2015, Jeneroux was the Conservative critic for supply chains, innovation, infrastructure, health and housing before announcing that he was resigning , just ahead of a crucial vote on the federal budget in the House of Commons.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

“It was not an easy decision, but it is, I believe, the right one,” he said at the time.

1:39
Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux resigns, 2nd to leave caucus this week

Jeneroux said he had hoped Canadians would “put their faith” in a Conservative government led by Pierre Poilievre in the last federal election, but added he has “great admiration” for his fellow MPs “on both sides of the aisle.”

Carney on Wednesday said Jeneroux is being appointed as the “special advisor on economic and security partnerships.”

“Matt’s leadership will contribute to strengthening Canada’s alliances and trade partnerships, advancing Canada’s leadership in global security cooperation, and building our strength at home,” Carney said.

2:35
Edmonton Riverbend MP Matt Jeneroux resigns from House of Commons

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

A small black dog that was kicked in a “disturbing and upsetting” viral video has been removed from the owner’s care, Sudbury, Ont., police say.

Investigators said they first learned of the incident on Saturday. A resident contacted them over an incident in which a man was seen kicking his dog on Bruce Avenue.

A video of the incident was later circulated online, police said.

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

“We understand how disturbing and upsetting this video has been for many in our community and beyond, and we want to assure the public that we are actively investigating the incident,” police said in a news release Tuesday.

“The dog has since been removed from the individual’s care. Animal Welfare Services have been notified and are following up as part of the ongoing process.”

Police did not say if the owner was placed under arrest or if charges would be laid. An investigation is ongoing.

Investigators are appealing for witnesses to come forward.

Police are also reminding community members not to call investigators unless they have first-hand information related to the incident.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux has joined the Liberal cacucus, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on social media Wedneday.

MP had earlier said he was resigning from the House of Commons

Listen to this article

Estimated 1 minute

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.

Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux has joined the Liberal caucus, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on social media Wednesday.

I am honoured to welcome Matt Jeneroux to our caucus as the newest member of Canada’s new government. <br><br>Building a stronger, more resilient, and more independent country will require ambition, collaboration, and occasionally, sacrifice. I am grateful to Matt and his family that…

&mdash;MarkJCarney

More to come.

A 52-year-old man has died following a two-vehicle crash Tuesday evening, Hamilton police say.

In a news release Wednesday morning, police said the crash happened just after 7:30 p.m. on Wilson Street at the Highway 403 eastbound exit ramp. 

Police said their investigation determined that a 2025 Jeep Compass, driven by a 29-year-old woman, was travelling westbound on Wilson Street.  

According to the release, a 2022 Acura MDX, driven by a 52-year-old man, had exited Highway 403 and was attempting to turn left onto Wilson Street when the two vehicles collided. It said a 43-year-old woman was seated in the front passenger seat of the Acura.

Police said the two drivers and the passenger were transported to hospital where the 52-year-old man was pronounced dead.

They say the 43-year-old woman sustained non-life-threatening injuries, while the 29-year-old driver of the Jeep was treated and is in stable condition.

Hamilton Police Service says it will not be releasing the name of the dead driver “out of respect for the family.”

Witnesses remained at scene

Police say there is no information at this time to confirm that speed, weather, or impairment were factors in the crash.

They say witnesses remained at the scene and have spoken with investigators, but anyone with additional information or dash camera footage should come forward.

Wilson Street was closed for several hours while investigators examined the scene and reopened at approximately 4:15 a.m., police say.

TV Newsletter

Sign up and tell us which TV shows you love to watch to get personalised updates every morning.

FIRST ON FOX: A newly proposed bill by House Republicans would cement President Donald Trump’s energy agenda by taking a sledgehammer to a vast array of his Democrat predecessor’s regulations.

Rep. Craig Goldman, R-Texas, is introducing legislation that would give all future energy-related regulations a five-year sunset window, while requiring many existing rules to be amended with a one-year expiry pending a review process.

It comes after Trump levied a similar executive order that would target energy red tape imposed by former President Joe Biden during his first year in office.

But if Goldman’s bill becomes law, it would significantly hamstring the ability of future Democratic administrations to impose new long-term energy policies like Biden’s, many of which Republicans have panned as burdensome and unnecessary.

TRUMP ADMIN TO REPEAL OBAMA-ERA GREENHOUSE GAS FINDING IN LARGE-SCALE DEREGULATION

President Donald Trump has moved to roll back a host of former President Joe Biden’s energy regulations. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

He argued to Fox News Digital that those regulations were compounding the rising costs Americans have seen in their daily lives.

“It is going through and looking at every single cost, basically from start to finish, of energy costs, and how it affects every single American taxpayer,” Goldman said of his legislation.

“All anyone has to do is look at where they were a year and a half ago with costs of certain things. It was all based on regulations passed by the Biden administration, and that’s exactly what we hope to cut and codify.”

The Texas Republican pointed out that increased energy costs, including prices at the gas pump, bled into other facts of Americans’ daily lives.

“My dad and I owned a wine and food store and, yeah, when gas prices went up, the guy who drove the 18-wheeler full of cheese from Chicago, Illinois, charged us an extra $2,000 for that delivery because his gas prices were up tremendously. And so we couldn’t afford to eat that cost, so the cheese prices went up,” he said as an example. 

“Everything that every single American taxpayer touches — whether they know it or not, when energy prices are high, their cost of living is in turn going to be high.”

Rep. Craig Goldman, R-Texas, leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, June 4, 2025.  (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

TRUMP ADMIN’S ENERGY AGENDA HAILED FOR CRUCIAL ‘WINS’ AS GREEN ACTIVISTS LASH OUT

His legislation would primarily target regulations issued under major energy and land laws overseen by the Department of Energy and Department of the Interior.

The House has already voted to roll back a number of Biden-era regulatory policies so far this term and with bipartisan support.

Last month, 11 Democrats voted with Republicans to overturn Biden administration regulations on showerhead pressure.

Both the House and Senate passed resolutions early last year to overturn Biden-era regulations targeting water heaters, with six Democrats joining Republicans in the House on that measure.

Rising energy costs have been targeted by both parties as they make competing arguments ahead of the November 2026 midterms.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

But Goldman is arguing that Democrats have less of a footing to talk about affordability with select goods like gas seeing a decrease in prices this year.

“We pushed back, and we made people realize, ‘No, wait a minute. Let’s talk about affordability. Let’s talk about where the cost of things were just over a year and two months ago, before Donald Trump came into office and before Republicans could push through good legislation that President Trump signed,” Goldman said. “I kind of find it quite interesting that all of a sudden the buzzword affordability isn’t much talked about anymore.”

Co-sponsors of Goldman’s bill include Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, and Reps. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, Randy Weber, R-Texas, Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., and Barry Moore, R-Ala. 

A Senate counterpart was introduced by Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho.