Courtrooms and lawyers’ offices in Alberta are set to become less busy next year, when changes to the province’s auto insurance market take effect.

The province is moving to what it calls a “care-first,” or no-fault, system from its current tort model starting Jan. 1, 2027. That means insurers will be required to bolster medical and income support as well as other benefits for those injured in collisions, regardless of who is at fault, instead of parties having to battle it out in the justice system for compensation beyond the limited amount insurance now covers.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada has welcomed the change, saying it will drive down legal costs for its members and in turn lower premiums for drivers.

“The care and benefits that are provided to those injured in collisions are going to increase. They’re going to be the richest in the country,” said Aaron Sutherland, vice-president for Western Canada and Pacific at IBC.

“That’s a win for drivers and anyone injured in collisions and we’re keen to work with the government to see this new system come to fruition.”

But a legal advocacy group has warned it takes away a crucial avenue for recourse and puts too much power in the hands of insurers.

Auto insurance premiums and delivery models vary province by province. Some, like British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, deliver mandatory coverage through Crown corporations, whereas in Alberta, Ontario and elsewhere, it’s left up to private insurers.

Albertans pay among the highest premiums for auto insurance in Canada and the provincial government has said the changes would shave off up to $400 per year of those costs. IBC has said rising legal expenses make up one fifth of what drivers pay.

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While “care-first” will be a help, Sutherland said more needs to be done to cure what’s ailing the province’s insurance market.

The 2024 annual report from the Superintendent of Insurance published last month painted a grim picture. It found a substantial majority of Alberta auto insurers were unprofitable that year, with private passenger automobile insurance taking the biggest hit.

Auto insurers’ expenses that year exceeded revenues by a collective $1.2 billion, the report said, with claims and expenses outpacing premiums by 18 per cent.

It forecast that escalating claims costs would continue to exceed the province’s Good Driver Rate Cap, which limits premium increases to 7.5 per cent a year for drivers without at-fault claims in the previous six years, criminal convictions in the previous four years or other convictions in the previous three years.

The rate cap, which is meant to be temporary, is set to last at least until the end of this year.

“In any industry, if you are forced to sell a product below the cost of providing it, that’s not a recipe for success or a healthy competitive marketplace,” Sutherland said.

A handful of companies, including Sonnet and Zenith, have exited the Alberta auto insurance market, while others have scaled back their offerings.

“I don’t expect anyone to shed a tear over the financial plight of the insurance industry in Alberta. But what does it mean for drivers? It means less choice, fewer options, more expensive premiums,” Sutherland said.

“We’ve got a competitive market that’s been in crisis, that’s been pulling back, and it’s been drivers that are footing a higher bill as a result and facing significant challenges securing the coverage they need.”

Adding to the pressures in Alberta is the fact that it’s been “the disaster capital for Canada” over the past several years, Sutherland said. For instance, a 2024 hailstorm in Calgary caused more than $3 billion in insured property damage within a single afternoon.

Vehicle theft is also a growing problem, with claims 76 per cent higher in the first half of 2025 than they were in 2021.

Once the “care-first” changes take effect, there will be no other system like it in Canada, said Owen Lewis, past-president of the Alberta Civil Trial Lawyers Association.

Lewis, a partner at KMSC Law in Grande Prairie, Alta., said he’s concerned about what checks and balances there will be in a system dominated by for-profit players, even though the province is planning an independent tribunal to resolve disputes over benefits.

“You’re going to have individuals who are required to navigate a system that, quite frankly, is extremely confusing for me,” he said.

“And they’ll be required to try to navigate that on their own to go against insurance companies that are well-funded, will have their own lawyers, have their own specialists to argue against the individual claim.”

Albertans would still be able to sue if the at-fault driver is convicted of a serious Criminal Code or Traffic Safety Act offence. But it would be “extremely rare” for someone to collect under those circumstances, Lewis said.

Lewis agrees that the status quo is not tenable for insurers in Alberta, but disputes that legal costs should bear so much of the blame.

“You can’t revamp an entire system and take rights away from innocent injured individuals to try to resolve a problem that isn’t created by injured Albertans.”

&copy 2026 The Canadian Press

It was an early morning in January 2024, when five people boarded a Northwestern Air Lease plane at Fort Smith airport, heading to work at the Diavik Diamond Mine. 

The flight crashed moments after taking off. Two crew members and four passengers died. One person survived. 

Family members of the passengers who died, as well as the sole survivor, Kurt MacDonald, are now taking the airline to court — as first reported by Cabin Radio.

They claim Northwestern Air Lease Ltd. did not train its crew properly and that crews did not follow standard operating procedures. 

“Among other things, the flight crew did not properly configure the aircraft for takeoff, or clear accumulated ice and snow from the wings,” the statement of claim reads. 

The lawsuit, filed Jan. 16 in the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories, claims accumulated snow and ice impacted the plane’s ability to gain altitude.

“After takeoff, the flight crew did not properly determine the reason the aircraft was unable to climb. The flight crew was distracted from other possible examinations for the aircraft’s performance by the snow and ice they had left on the wings,” the document reads. 

The airline company has not filed a statement of defence and did not respond to CBC’s request for comment. The allegations have not been tested in court. 

Victims claim ‘negligence’

The four passengers who died in the crash were Shawn Krawec, Howard Benwell, Joel Tetso and Diane Balsillie. 

Family members of those passengers claim the crash happened because of the airline’s “negligence.”

The court document also claims the captain and first officer — who both died in the accident — did not meet the standard of care expected of commercial pilots, such as following training, applying anti-icing fluids to the wings and aborting takeoff.  

The lawsuit does not mention a dollar amount but family members are claiming damages such as loss of financial support, loss of companionship and funeral costs. 

WATCH | Fort Smith, N.W.T., 1 year on from the fatal plane crash:

Fort Smith, N.W.T., 1 year on from the fatal plane crash

There were seven people on that Northwestern Air Lease Plane, community members whose presence is missed by family and friends. Carla Ulrich tells us how Fort Smith is remembering them.

MacDonald, who was working as an electrician at Diavik before the accident, is claiming damages for physical and psychological injuries. 

MacDonald has not been able to return to work because of his injuries and has limited prospects because of the accident, according to the lawsuit. 

It also says his wife has lost income because she changed jobs so she could stay at home and provide care for MacDonald.  

Northwestern Air Lease Ltd. has 25 days to appear before the court or file a defence statement from the time the claim was filed Jan. 16. 

A convicted sex offender is headed back to prison after the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal found that his original sentence was improper.

Michael Lynn Wentzell was sentenced in August 2024 to four years in prison to be followed by three years of probation. The Crown appealed the sentence, arguing that the trial judge made a mistake because probation is not an option for a prison term longer than two years.

The Appeal Court agreed and substituted a sentence of six years, ordering Wentzell to return to prison. He had been out on day parole since August of last year.

One of the factors the court weighed in its deliberations was the harm the victim experienced in the original assault.

“The crime perpetrated upon a 13-year-old child had an enduring impact,” Justice Ted Scanlon wrote for the majority of the three-member appeal panel in a decision released this week.

The girl was assaulted in 1982. She told her mother who went to the police, but nothing came of the complaint at the time. She came forward again as an adult, resulting in the charge and trial in the fall of 2023. 

Wentzell, 73, has a prior conviction for sexually assaulting another young girl.

And he has been targeted in his home community of Voglers Cove, N.S., with someone shooting at his house and tagging his garage with graffiti.

The Court of Appeal decision on Wentzell was not unanimous. Justice Anne Derrick issued a dissenting opinion, saying that while she agreed the original sentence was improper, she did not feel it necessary to send Wentzell back to prison.

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Pharmacists on Prince Edward Island can now test and treat Islanders for strep throat — something for which patients previously had to be referred to a doctor or nurse practitioner.

That change is part of an expansion of the province’s Pharmacy Plus program, which expands the scope of what kind of care pharmacists can provide. 

“Previously, pharmacists were able to do a sore-throat assessment, but they were not able to test and prescribe for strep throat,” said Trevor Paynter, director of pharmacare with P.E.I.’s Department of Health and Wellness.

“Now, they’ll be able to handle that scenario in the pharmacy for the patients directly.”

Paynter also noted that the expansion will ease some pressure on other providers in the health-care system.

Since the Pharmacy Plus program was launched about three years ago, almost 250,000 assessments have been done at community pharmacies, he said.

That extra access point is also good news for patients, said Erin MacKenzie, the executive director of the P.E.I. Pharmacy Association. 

“Strep throat is very painful. It’s not something people would like to let go for several days,” she said.

“Certainly early treatment can help prevent spread to other household contacts and other folks in the community, so getting that treatment soon is quite important.” 

‘You want to help them on the spot’

For pharmacists, being able to provide that care to a patient in the moment is rewarding, MacKenzie said.

“When you have someone in front of you … and you have the tools and the knowledge on the best drug that will treat that issue, of course you want to help them on the spot if you possibly can.”

Despite a provincewide shortage of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, MacKenzie said the existing workforce has the capacity to manage the diagnostic tests. 

“Up until now, we have been doing the assessment for sore throats anyway,” she said, adding that having to explain to patients why they needed to be referred elsewhere for a strep throat diagnosis also took up pharmacists’ time. 

“To decide whether or not we need to treat would just be an additional add on to what we were doing.” 

Toronto Blue Jays announcer Buck Martinez has announced his retirement, ending a career that saw the former big-league catcher call over 4,000 Blue Jays games over four-plus decades in the booth.

Martinez made the announcement in a statement Friday, saying after conversations with his wife Arlene, that it was time to pass the torch.

The 77-year-old from Redding, Calif., first joined the Blue Jays as a player in 1981 and spent his final six seasons with Toronto.

Martinez first tried broadcasting in 1982 when he covered the all-star game and post-season play for the Telemedia Radio Network. 

His TV broadcast career began in 1987 as a Blue Jays colour commentator. He also worked for ESPN, XM Radio, TBS, and MLB International before joining Sportsnet in 2010.

Martinez served as an analyst with play-by-play announcer Dan Shulman on the network for the last 10 seasons. 

He also managed the Blue Jays in 2001 and part of the 2002 season, compiling a 100-115 record.

Martinez was diagnosed with cancer in 2022 and took a leave of absence from April 17 to July 26 that year while undergoing treatment.

Metro Vancouver drivers are being urged to plan extra travel time as both the Pattullo Bridge and its replacement, the new stal̕əw̓asəm (Riverview) Bridge, shutdown for roughly a week starting at 8 p.m. Friday. 

TransLink says the full closure is needed so crews can complete final connections to roadways on both sides of the river, including raising road grades, installing utilities, paving, and building the foundation for a multi-use path overpass. 

While drivers won’t be able to access both bridges, the Pattullo’s sidewalk will stay open for pedestrians and cyclists. Emergency vehicles will still be able to use the bridge if needed.

According to TransLink, the Pattullo Bridge typically handles between 60,000 and 75,000 vehicles per week. Those commuters will now be directed to use the Port Mann or Alex Fraser bridges instead.

Once the week of work is finished, two northbound lanes and one southbound lane will be open on the stal̕əw̓asəm Bridge. One southbound lane will remain open on the Pattullo Bridge.

A single northbound lane on the long-awaited stal̕əw̓asəm Bridge opened to traffic in December 2025, marking the first step in a phased opening process.

Once all four lanes of the new bridge are open, the province plans to begin dismantling the old Pattullo Bridge, a process, it says, that will take about two years.

The replacement project, now estimated to cost $1.67 billion, is intended to address long-standing safety concerns with the existing bridge, which was built in the 1930s.

WATCH | 1 lane opens on long-awaited stal̕əw̓asəm Bridge:

One lane opens on long-awaited Pattullo Bridge replacement

If you are commuting between Surrey and New Westminster, B.C., the new stal̕əw̓asəm Bridge, otherwise known as Riverview Bridge, is now partially open. The Patullo Bridge replacement project was expected to finish in 2023. But, as Sohrab Sandhu reports, significant challenges delayed opening day.

In 2016, a report presented to TransLink’s board of directors showed the bridge did not meet modern wind and seismic safety standards. The report to Metro Vancouver’s transit authority recommended the bridge be replaced by no later than 2024. 

The new bridge was originally expected to open in 2023, but the timeline was pushed back several times. The province has previously cited pandemic-related delays, inflation, global supply-chain issues and the complexity of building the bridge’s 167-metre tower.

The closure is scheduled to last about seven days, but officials caution that exact reopening dates depend on weather and construction progress.

У суботу, 7 лютого, в усіх регіонах України протягом всієї доби будуть застосовуватись графіки погодинних відключень електроенергії та графіки обмеження потужності для промислових споживачів.

Як повідомили в “Укренерго”, причиною запровадження заходів обмеження є наслідки російських ракетно-дронових атак на енергооб’єкти.

У компанії кажуть, що стан енергосистеми може змінюватися. Інформацію про час та тривалість відключень слід перевіряти на офіційних сайтах обленерго у вашому регіоні.

В “Укренерго” вчергове закликали громадян ощадливо споживати електроенергію, коли вона з’являється за графіком.

Ситуація в енергосистемі – головне 

Нагадаємо, нещодавно росіяни здійснили чергову масштабну атаку на енергетичну інфраструктуру в восьми областях України. 

Удар був спрямований виключно по об’єктах теплогенерації, щоб залишити цивільне населення без опалення. Лише у Києві від теплопостачання відімкнули 1100 житлових будинків.

Через атаку РФ Дарницька ТЕЦ тимчасово припинила роботу. Відновлення її роботи займе щонайменше два місяці.

За словами енергетичного експерта Геннадія Рябцева, опалення у будинках, що залишилися без тепла через атаку РФ на Дарницьку ТЕЦ, може бути відновлене протягом кількох тижнів шляхом переключення на районні або відомчі котельні. Однак наразі невідомо, скільки з цих котелень працює.

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A police oversight body in Ontario could soon be faced with the most high-profile test of its newly vested powers as it considers launching an investigation into alleged Toronto police corruption. 

The inspector general, a relatively new arm’s-length position tasked by the province with overseeing policing, was asked to investigate Thursday after eight current and retired Toronto officers were charged in an organized crime and corruption investigation.  

The case immediately raised questions about whether systemic issues contributed to organized crime’s alleged infiltration of the ranks, said Kent Roach, a University of Toronto law professor and contributor to several high-profile police inquiries. 

Those questions, he said, are best answered by a civilian-led investigation. 

“Most people have probably never heard of the inspector general before,” he said. 

“This will be this new institution’s biggest test of its ability to conduct a thorough systemic investigation that will gain public confidence and recommend any needed systemic improvements.” 

The criminal investigation led by York regional police uncovered allegations of bribery, conspiracy to commit murder and drug trafficking, among other offences, officials said. Some of the officers, who are mostly lower-ranked constables, are accused of leaking personal information to organized crime, who then used it carry out shootings, robberies and extortions.

It could take years for the criminal trial to play out. A 2004 corruption case against Toronto drug squad officers accused of beating up drug dealers and then lying to cover it up was only settled in 2015 when the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of their convictions. 

Calls quickly emerged on Thursday for an independent probe of the police service. The Ontario Liberals called for an independent judicial inquiry.

Toronto’s police chief and board chair both asked the inspector general to investigate. In a letter making their request, they suggested the inspector general may consider looking into supervision, recruitment and screening, access to police databases, evidence management and substance abuse. 

Police Chief Myron Demkiw said the allegations don’t represent the force but he acknowledged they struck at public trust in policing

“No corner of society is immune from the reach of organized crime. But when organized crime penetrates the Toronto police service, the harm goes far beyond the immediate wrongdoing,” he said Thursday. 

Roach, the law professor, said the inspector general would be well-placed to investigate and should decide whether other issues needed to be examined.  

“It really raises the question that this may not necessarily just be bad apples, there may be some more deeper problems in the police service,” said Roach, whose resume includes work on the Ipperwash inquiry and the investigation into Toronto police’s mishandling of LGBTQ+ missing persons cases. 

“But we won’t know if that is the case unless someone looks at it. The criminal trial process is really not going to look at that issue.” 

A spokesperson for Inspector General Ryan Teschner said he recognized the “seriousness of these matters and the public trust concerns they raise.” 

“The inspector general is actively considering this request, and once he makes his decision, he will announce it publicly,” read the statement. 

The inspector general role came out of Ontario’s sweeping 2019 bill, seen as a bid to address long-standing criticisms of the province’s reactive, opaque and fractured police oversight. There was one body to investigate cases of police violence, another to look at individual officer misconduct, but none to proactively oversee the system as a whole withthe power to issue binding directions. 

The bill took years to implement, and the position was only vested with its full powers, including the power to investigate, in April 2024. The inspector publicly released his first decisions less than two months ago. 

It included an order to stop Peel police from using “PepperBall,” a paintball-like projectile designed to burst on impact and release a powdered chemical similar to pepper spray. There is no provincially prescribed training for its use, and the report noted police had used it twice against people in crisis. 

Teschner was appointed as inspector general in 2023. He is a former executive director of the Toronto Police Services Board, the civilian body governing the police force, and worked on the review of police actions during the 2010 G20 summit in Toronto. 

Premier Doug Ford brushed off a question Friday about whether Teschner should lead the investigation given his previous ties to the police board. The premier affirmed his “unwavering” support for police and said any “bad actors” would be held accountable.

“But again, folks, I talk to a lot of people. They love our police,” he said. 

TORONTO – Brandon Ingram had plenty to reflect on before he trotted onto the court at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.

His strong 33-point performance in the Toronto Raptors’ 123-107 victory against the Chicago Bulls just happened to come on the one-year anniversary of his trade to Canada from the New Orleans Pelicans.

“Yeah, my brother mentioned the anniversary when I was talking to him,” the 28-year-old Ingram said. “But I also thought about my great aunt. It would have been her birthday (on Friday).”

Leatha Smith had a massive impact on Ingram’s development as a youngster. She raised him for seven years in North Carolina. She passed away in the summer before his freshman season at Duke University.

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But Ingram not only thinks about his great aunt on her birthday, but also at Christmas time. She gifted him his first mobile phone in one of their last holiday seasons together.

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“I think about her a lot,” Ingram said. “She raised me for seven years. I know she’s looking down at me, and she is proud of me.”

Tattooed on the back of his bicep is the quote, “Fear of suffering is far worse than suffering itself.” The words are from Brazilian philosopher Paulo Coelho in his book, The Alchemist. This became a mantra for Ingram because his great aunt repeated the line often.

So much so, Ingram decided to get the tattoo.

The hardest part about Ingram’s move from New Orleans to Toronto was waiting eight months to finally play in a Raptors jersey. He suffered a severely sprained left ankle on Dec. 8, 2024, and that injury forced him out of action for 10 months.

“Absolutely, that made the trade a little more difficult,” Ingram said. “But it also gave me time to sit and watch my new team. I got a feeling for my new teammates and where I was going to fit in.”

The six-foot-nine Ingram has fit in just fine. He’s made a big difference as the Raptors notched their 31st victory with 29 games still remaining. They won only 30 in the entire 2024-25 season.

His big game against the Bulls was the seventh time he scored 30 or more in a game this season.

“This has been a good move for me,” Ingram said with his whisper-like voice. “I needed a fresh start.

“I love this team, this city and my teammates. The coaching staff has been super.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2026.

&copy 2026 The Canadian Press