The Calgary Police Service (CPS) is preparing for a “significant” request for resources from city council in the upcoming four-year budget, according to the city’s police chief.

Chief Katie McLellan made the remarks when answering questions Wednesday after presenting the service’s year-end report to the city’s Community Development Committee.

McLellan said the service and Calgary Police Commission continue to work on what exactly the budget request will include.

“We haven’t got that number finalized quite yet,” McLellan said. “We’re close with what that number is.  I don’t want to share it pre-maturely without putting additional context into it, but it’s going to be significant.”

It comes as McLellan said CPS is facing significant staffing gaps with funding available for 830 positions, however, just 653 are currently filled.

In her comments to committee, McLellan said that figure includes a shortage of six detectives in the homicide unit, another six detectives in the sexual assault investigation unit and ten officers on the domestic violence team.

“There are numbers we need in each area because we’ve looked at the call load, we’ve looked at what’s required, so it’s not a number that was just dreamt up,” she told reporters.

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According to the police chief, the vacancies are due to attrition, turnover, and nearly 20 per cent of officers that remain on leave or in administrative duties; 13 per cent of officers are in accommodated roles and six per cent are on leave.

McLellan said hopes to hire an additional 660 officers over the next four years.

According to Doug King, a justice studies professor at Mount-Royal University, growth in the city’s population and footprint have also contributed to a strain on the police service.

“The Calgary Police Service was required to take fewer officers for the last five years while the city of Calgary has exploded,” King said. “It’s going to put some stress on recruiting.  One of the challenges with hiring more officers is can you get enough applicants? But one problem at a time.”

The net budget for the Calgary Police Service is grew from $541 million to $613 million in 2026, and included funding to increase staffing to 3,209 uniformed members and 3,242 civilian members.

Calgary mayor Jeromy Farkas placed blame on the provincial government, after a significant clawback on photo radar enforcement last year.

“This is an issue the province could erase in a single instant,” Farkas said. “The fine revenue that they defunded our Calgary Police by, $28 million, that fine revenue would accommodate for at least 200 of the positions the chief is asking for without raising a single cent or a single dollar of taxes on Calgarians.”

Alberta’s Transportation Minister has long said the province has “no plans to expand photo radar beyond the current framework,” while continuing to support police led enforcement and “data driven safety solutions.”

According to the Calgary Police Commission, the province did approve the use of speed cameras in 11 locations across the city outside the mandated construction and school zones.

“We’ve put cameras back up,” said commission vice chair Kelly Ogle. “It’s a proactive approach and hopefully they’ll see our light.”

Aside from personnel, McLellan added there would also be a request for capital funding to modernize the service and catch up on maintenance deferrals and vehicle repairs.

Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal, who chairs the Community Development Committee, said public safety was a big concern that councillors heard during the election campaign in October.

“Public safety, pedestrian safety, personal safety, and we will have an opportunity in November to put our money and send a strong message that the City of Calgary is a safe city and we as policy makers are serious about making sure that our residents feel safe,” he told reporters.

The next four-year budget will be released to the public in the fall.

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In early January, a bold telephone wire heist left about 135 people without phone services for about two weeks in Clarendon, a rural area of southern New Brunswick, between Fredericton and St. John.

Clarendon does not have reliable cell service and with no telephones, residents couldn’t call 911, said Sgt. Ben Comely with the local RCMP.

Police later found the wire split up in buckets at a nearby home, its black rubber coating melted away to reveal what the thieves were after: copper.

The officers seized 90 kilograms of copper wire and charged three people with theft of property over $5,000.

The case is just one example in a surge of telephone wire thefts across the country that have left people without phone or internet. Many are pointing fingers at scrap yard owners, including those who say they refuse to buy copper from thieves.

“The (social media) comments, they blame all the scrap yards,” said Daniel Rinzler, owner of D.R. Scrap Metals in Moncton, N.B. “We have to ask for ID … and that’s deterring a lot of people from stealing it and selling it to me. But there’s still other black markets they could sell copper to.”

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As copper prices hit record highs, Bell logged 1,275 incidents related to thefts of the metal from its network in 2025, said Éliane Légaré, a spokesperson for the company. That’s an increase of roughly 40 per cent over the year before.

Bell also recently touted a decision by a Quebec Court judge who awarded the company $24,000 in damages after it sued a man convicted of stealing copper in Chicoutimi, Que., in a crime that caused 94 customers to lose internet service for more than a day.

Rogers said the total number of outage hours related to vandalism in its networks, which includes attempted copper thefts, has increased by 400 per cent since 2022.

The rise in thefts prompted Connie Cody, the Conservative member for Cambridge, Ont., to push for a crackdown on scrap yards that buy stolen copper wire.

Last month, she introduced a private member’s bill in the House of Commons that would make it a crime for scrap metal dealers to trade, traffic or have for sale any scrap metal that was known to be stolen, punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and a jail sentence of up to two years.

Rinzler said salvage dealers know people are angry. But they are doing their best not to encourage crime while operating amid a patchwork of provincial laws, which may encourage thieves to steal in one province and sell in another, he said in an interview.

Although New Brunswick requires dealers to ask anyone trying to sell copper for identification, no such rules exist in neighbouring Nova Scotia or Quebec.

“They can drive 25 minutes, go across the border and they can sell copper there,” Rinzler said. “There’s guys coming through here that go to Quebec.”

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Ontario’s attorney general will neither condemn nor support Premier Doug Ford’s suggestion that a provincial judge should apologize for her instructions to the jury in the trial of Umar Zameer.

The high-profile case saw Zameer acquitted of first-degree murder in the death of Det. Const. Jeffrey Northrup, a plainclothes officer who was fatally run over in downtown Toronto in the summer of 2021.

During the case, the judge called into question the testimony of three central witnesses — all Toronto police detectives — in the Crown’s argument, suggesting they lied and colluded.

Then, last month, an Ontario Provincial Police investigation into the allegation cleared the Toronto officers. It was a conclusion Zameer’s lawyer vehemently contested.

After the investigation was published, both the Toronto police union president and Premier Ford said the judge should apologize for suggesting the officers had lied.

Ford, specifically, said the veteran judge “should apologize for accusing (the officers) of everything under the sun.”

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The comments came before MPPs returned to the legislature. Now, roughly two weeks later, Attorney General Doug Downey, who serves in Ford’s cabinet and oversees the judicial system, refused to be drawn on the issue.

Asked if the premier should have weighed into the issue, Downey said he was “not commenting on that.”

The province’s top lawyer also declined to say if the judge should apologize or if he had received complaints from legal groups.

“It sounds like a line of questioning that I’m not commenting on,” Downey responded when asked if the premier’s comments had made his job harder.

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the premier was putting his attorney general in a difficult position by weighing in on judicial decisions and process.

“It means the attorney general is stuck, once again, picking up the pieces for a premier who’s out of control,” she said. “And that’s what this government is always doing, right? Protect the king at all costs.”

The calls for the judge to apologize elicited a rare rebuke from Ontario’s chief justice, who said an independent judiciary is a “cornerstone of our constitutional democracy” in a statement.

“It would be inappropriate and unethical for judges to succumb to outside pressure to modify or qualify their decisions or reasons,” the chief justice wrote in a March 19 statement.

The Federation of Ontario Law Associations was among the legal organizations to issue a similar statement, pointing directly to Ford and the police union president’s calls for an apology.

“These statements are appalling and an inappropriate attack on judicial independence. These statements are an unconcealed attempt to subvert the justice system,” the group said.

Ontario Liberal interim leader John Fraser said the premier’s demand was wrong, and that the attorney general didn’t defend it because he may also be uncomfortable with the intervention.

“He’s the top lawmaker in Ontario; he knows it’s wrong. He knows it’s wrong,” he said. “His boss shouldn’t have said that… It was wrong. The attorney general knows that.”

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A small town 200 km north of Edmonton is losing its only pharmacy. The drug store will be closing, leaving community members scrambling over what this could mean for their medication.

The Rexall Pharmacy is a staple in Swan Hills, Alta. The town has a population of around 1,400 people, and the pharmacy is the only place for community members to get their prescriptions and pick up some essential items. Now they’ll have to find somewhere new.

Employees of the drug store and residents have been told the pharmacy is closing on April 30. Rexall says prescriptions will be transferred to other locations around the region. Those drug stores are up to an hour away.

This is a tough pill to swallow for local families and community members.

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“There are a lot of seniors living here with minimal transportation opportunities and a lot of young families that rely on the pharmacy for even just basic needs,” said Fraser Pollock.

The town and its residents say they’ve been left in the dark about why this is happening. Dean LaBerge is a town councillor and is worried about what this will do for attracting health-care workers in the region.

“Keeping them in our community can be a significant challenge, like it is for many smaller Alberta municipalities. If we were to lose our pharmacy, that would just compound what we’re already facing,” LaBerge said.

“I’m not even sure, to tell you the truth, at this point how we’d go about trying to attract a new pharmacist and a new pharmacy outlet, however that might look.”

Global News reached out to Rexall to ask why they are closing the pharmacy, but they did not provide a reason.

“For many years, it has been our privilege to be part of the Swan Hills community. We understand how concerning this news is, and we want to emphasize that this decision was not made lightly,” said Erica Hung, communications director at Rexall.

Watch the video above for more information. 

2:04
High winds blow roof off school, wreak havoc across Alberta

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Anglers in Saskatchewan are going to see a bit of an increase in their fishing licence this year as the angling habitat certificate is introduced into the province, adding a mandatory fee.

“That fund is used for things like fisheries enhancement, restoration of fish habitat, and also for our fish stocking program, which is all done through our Saskatchewan fish hatchery,” said Matt Tyree, director of fisheries for the Ministry of Environment.

“It’s going to benefit the fishery overall. It’ll just allow people to have more options and more fish to catch in the long run,” said The Fishin’ Hole LTD manager, Brian Dygdala.

The certificate adds a fee of $20 to annual licences and an extra $5 for the one- to three-day passes.

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Other jurisdictions in North America have the same type of fee, including Ontario and Alberta. Tyree says those provinces have seen some positive impacts.

He says when residents hear what the money is going into, people don’t seem to mind paying the extra amount.

“Fish stocking is really important to anglers in Saskatchewan and knowing that the entirety of this fee is going to go to continuing to help support that program, as well as address some of the current needs at the hatchery,” he said.

“Yeah, we’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback about it to this point.”

Dygdala says this may not have a big impact on people who fish all season, but possibly the people buying day passes.

“For a person that fishes all year long and loves fishing, they’re going to pay it. They might complain about it, but they’re still going to fish and they’re still going to buy a licence,” he said. “But it might hamper the person that doesn’t fish a lot.”

The habitat fee goes into effect the start of the angling season on May 5th. Anglers who purchase their licence prior to the start of the season will be exempt from the fee.

Watch above for more on where the money will be going and residents’ reactions.

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It may be tiny but the happiness a 400-square-foot home in Okanagan Falls brings its owners is anything but small.

“It’s been a dream of mine to have a tiny home,” said Emily Kogel. “I was fascinated with the concept of living in a smaller square footage and having a smaller environmental footprint.”

The home was manufactured by Vernon Tiny Homes.

Kogel said it’s fully serviced with clean well water and a septic system and built like standard home.

“The outside is 100 per cent cedar siding. Those are double pane Ply Gem windows, the roof is a steel roof and it has a 40 pound per square foot snow load,” Kogel said.

The tiny home also enabled the young professional couple to achieve first-time home ownership.

“That was the deciding factor,” said Keith Balisky. “When we were looking at the housing market, it was just unattainable for where we are.”

Balisky is a registered clinical counsellor. Kogel is a locum family doctor working at clinics across the South Okanagan and Similkameen as well as Penticton General Hospital.

“We’re both early in our career coming into the housing market,” said Kogel. “We were looking at home ownership but the cost of owning or having a mortgage was so expensive, combined with our student debt. We just didn’t feel it was the right financial decision for us.”

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But their living situation is in limbo because their tiny home is not considered a permanent dwelling, classified instead as a recreational vehicle (RV), in which the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen prohibits year-round living without approval.

“Tiny homes are in that kind of weird in-between limbo where there’s no regulation, so they have to follow some sort of regulation,” Balisky said. “The builders typically go by kind of RV standards but our home is way above RV standards in that way.”

3:28
Open House: Exploring a tiny home

The rules could force the couple to move, a potential loss to the communities they serve amid a doctor shortage.

“I don’t expect exceptions as a physician,” Kogel said. “But I do think that the bylaws governing additional dwelling units probably could be updated and I think it’s time to do that in the midst of our housing crisis.”

In an email to Global News, the RDCO stated the Okanagan Valley Zoning Bylaw does not recognize “tiny home” as a dwelling type.

It added, “the only way for them to be permitted is through an approval by the RDOS Board (either in the form of a rezoning or a temporary use permit).”

The couple has submitted a request application for a temporary use permit. In the meantime, the couple has taken their plight to social media, asking for the public’s support of their temporary use permit application by signing an online form.

Kogel said the response has been overwhelming.

“We’re very grateful for all the positive support,” Kogel said.  “We’re not we’re not trying to skirt the rules. We’re very supportive of having land use regulations in place and we want housing to be safe for everyone, but unless there’s a safety issue here, I don’t see why it should be prohibited.”

The RDOS board is expected to vote on the permit application at its regular meeting on April 16.

“It would be pretty devastating,” Kogel said when asked how she would feel if the application is denied. “We love living in this community. We love working in this community.”

1:58
Affordable housing advocates condemn government decision to de-fund community housing

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As Premier Scott Moe floats the idea of engaging in conversations with Saskatchewan residents about banning social media for children under 16, experts say it may not be the best solution to address mental health challenges among youth.

“It’s time for us to have a conversation about social media use in our youth, in our students,” Moe told reporters Monday.

The premier pointed to a recent Angus Reid poll that suggests three-quarters of Canadians are in support of a full ban for children 16 and younger.

Australia became the first country to implement the ban last year, prohibiting youth under 16 from creating accounts on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and Threads.

Moe said he is not currently planning to introduce legislation, but wants to engage residents in a conversation about what such a ban would look like in his home province.

“What space should the government enter into, whether it’s representing their views within a potential federal government initiative in this space, or whether it is something that we should look at more at a provincial level,” Moe said.

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The driver behind the decision would be to protect youth, Moe said.

“Let’s open up a conversation in this space with the families of Saskatchewan. Is social media having a positive or negative impact on your children and on our students in the schools?” he said.

Madhav Sarda, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan, said social media presents many concerns for young people that impact their mental health, including cyberbullying and addiction.

But it is unclear if an outright social media ban will solve these issues, Sarda said.

“To say that suddenly youth mental health is going to be dramatically better if we ban youth social media, I think that’s too far to say,” Sarda said.

For social media expert Jesse Miller, the parameters and enforceability of a potential ban are a concern.

“Australia didn’t actually put in any consequences for parents or individuals. They put the onus on the companies, which in itself is very good, but then we find bypasses,” he said, citing virtual private networks or tricking facial identification software as ways to avoid restrictions.

Banning social media also risks severing the social ties and ways young people connect with others, said Miller, especially for those living in rural areas.

“The more rural you are in an area, the more that maybe you are relying on aspects of social media to not only connect you to good information, entertainment, or friends and family.”

The poll also suggests that many who support a full ban believe parents should be primarily responsible for regulating teens’ social media use rather than governments.

But Sarda disagrees, saying the best approach may be from a public health perspective instead.

“We have public health policy laws around smoking, drinking, and things we deem are sort of not great for teens and young children’s brains,” he said.

“I do think social media probably should be within that same blanket policy. Either we allow it, or we don’t, and we should have this sort of global guidance, because I think if that helps send a message, it also makes it easier to make those decisions.”

It is unclear when the conversations around regulation and their scope will begin in the province.

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The post-graduation job hunt is beginning for hundreds of thousands of students across Canada.

For many, it’s a frustrating cycle of looking for jobs without having experience yet — when that’s a minimum requirement.

“Employers now have a higher bar because they expect students to show up ready to work, but university is not necessarily preparing them to show up ready with both the AI skills and the human interpersonal skills,” said Venture For Canada CEO Steven Wang.

“There’s a disconnect and I call that an ‘experience gap’ that we need to bridge.”

Non-profit Venture For Canada works to bridge the gap between employers and students heading into the workforce.

According to Wang, one in five small businesses are closing entry-level roles — limiting opportunities for recent grads.

“We are seeing 14 per cent unemployment among youth, that’s double the national average,” said Wang. “In some ways, that could be a bigger impact in the longer term. This might be the beginning; we’re seeing the anticipatory impact of AI and other disruptions.”

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For recent University of Toronto graduate Serina Woo, the job search has been ongoing since she graduated in 2025.

Woo has taken on several part-time jobs while looking for her 9 to 5, but says competing with graduates of master’s programs for the same roles is challenging.

“A lot of the times I hear from employers saying, ‘You’re perfect, you’re such a great candidate, I know you’d be a really good fit for the team, but there’s someone else with several more years of experience,’” said Woo.

She is grateful for this period of time without a 9 to 5, as she gets to explore her other interests and options while still young.

However, finding jobs that provide the necessary income while being unable to work on a subject you’re passionate about is difficult.

“I would love to work in psychology and that environment, but I have decided to work in restaurants because it’s good money and often I can get jobs very easily without necessarily having decades of experience,” said Isabelle Malavoy Mundle.

The June 2025 post-secondary graduate has been working mostly part-time jobs since leaving school and said it’s hard to find good-paying, stable jobs without a master’s degree.

“So, I have come to the realization that it is going to be important for me to specialize and go back to school in order to find stable income that I am passionate about,” Malavoy Mundle said. “Making sure I can pay the bills.”

Wang wants all sectors, government, businesses and universities to work together to ensure the next generation is given its fair shake.

“They just want a chance,” Wang said. “I think they’ve done all the right things, they’ve gotten the good grades and jumped through all the hoops and now they feel like there’s no opportunities.

“What we need is to provide concrete, realistic pathways for them.”

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Two people have now been charged in connection with a fatal highway shooting south of Edmonton earlier this month in what Alberta Police described as a “senseless crime.”

In a news conference Wednesday afternoon, RCMP staff Sgt. John Brown said 22-year-old Barinder Singh was driving with two close friends on March 14 along the QEII Highway near Leduc when he was shot in the neck.

“Despite being shot, Barinder and his two friends were able to safely stop the vehicle. He died shortly after,” Brown said.

Police say that at around 2:50 p.m. on March 14, a witness saw a pickup truck pull up beside a black 2012 Honda Civic, owned by Singh.

According to investigators, there was a brief interaction between those in the two vehicles before the shooting, including a hand gesture resembling a peace sign, which was held up at the victim’s car.

The victims in the vehicle assumed it was a peace sign and Singh returned the gesture, according to his friends who were also in the vehicle.

Moments later, shots were fired from the suspect vehicle, hitting Singh in the neck. The truck sped away at a high rate of speed.

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A friend who had been in the car with Singh, and who does not want to be identified due to safety concerns, told Global News he doesn’t understand why anyone would do this. “We tried to put pressure on his wounds and call 911,” the friend said.

“There was so much blood loss. I tried really hard but could not save him.”

RCMP said both vehicles were travelling southbound side by side when the incident happened, and the groups had no prior connection.

Jimmy Gassner, 18, of Lloydminster, was arrested on March 21 in Canoe Lake, Sask., and charged with second-degree murder, according to police.

Investigators allege Gassner was a passenger in the truck and fired the shots. Gassner was already known to police for other charges as a minor.

A second suspect, 23-year-old Deon Libsekil, was arrested on March 26.

Brown said Libsekil was also known to police and already in custody on unrelated matters. He has now been charged with second-degree murder and accessory after the fact.

Libsekil has been remanded into custody and is scheduled to appear in court on April 2.

RCMP said they believe all suspects connected to the shooting have now been identified and charged.

While a motive has not been fully confirmed, Brown said, “it’s partially random.”

Police say there is no evidence the shooting was motivated by hate or racial bias and confirmed the victim and his friends were not involved in criminal activity or gang affiliation. “The victims were fully random,” Brown added.

RCMP also ruled out robbery, road rage and gang initiation as motives, though investigators say there may be some connection to gang activity among the suspects.

RCMP say Singh’s family is currently outside Canada, and officers have been in contact with them.

Investigators are also reassuring members of the Sikh community that the killing was not targeted.

“This was not racially motivated … this is not a pattern, it is a one-off event,” Brown said.

Brown added that these types of “random, senseless attacks” are very rare and thanked all detachments for their hard work in a successful investigation.

“The investigation team did an amazing job,” he said after explaining random incidents like this are usually the most difficult type of case to piece together.

– With files from Global News’ Karen Bartko

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The world has been collectively anticipating the launch of Artemis II but five university students in New Brunswick are keeping an especially close eye on the mission to the moon.

The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is the only academic institution in Canada tracking the astronaut’s spacecraft, Orion, alongside NASA.

The 10-day mission will carry NASA astronauts, including Canadian Jeremy Hansen, on a free-return trajectory around the moon — making it the first crewed mission to the moon since 1972.

In Fredericton, UNB electrical and computer engineering professor Brent Petersen says he and his students will soon learn whether their months of preparations have been successful.

“It will be encouraging to have the students involved and participate in this. Didn’t expect I’d be here one year ago,” he said.

4:31
Artemis II prepares for launch around the moon

The New Brunswick group is part of 34 companies, space agencies, individuals, and universities around the world that are officially tracking the mission.

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The volunteer program allows them to complement the data NASA is gathering to help the space agency better understand the broader aerospace community’s tracking capabilities.

Petersen and his students will be using their satellite dish at the UNB Earth Station atop Gillin Hall to track the spacecraft, saving data on computers so that it can be analyzed later and seeing from where signals are received.

“In fact, NASA would like the data to be uploaded as soon as possible. At least every day because that might give them information they’re looking for,” he said.

“I can’t speculate to what they’re doing, but they’re interested in date, time, and the frequency that we receive.”

Petersen says the UNB Earth Station was never designed for deep space, however it was able to pick up signals from the James Webb Space Telescope, which is located about 1.5 million km from earth.

“The moon is only 300,000 km from Earth’s surface so it bodes well for our Earth Station being able to pick up signals from Artemis II,” he said.

He says the students selected from the university to work on this project have amateur radio licences and have been working for eight months on the technical aspects of tracking Orion.

“I’m in my last year, so I’m taking every opportunity, getting my foot in the door, in the space industry (and) actually being part of a real space mission,” said Olivia Ferry Rice, a sixth-year software engineering student.

Chris Carson, a fourth-year electrical engineering student, shares that dream of having a career in space.

“I would love to go into a career in space, and mix that with what I’ve been learning in school,” said Carson.

“It’s nice to be able to help out with NASA and to be able to contribute to a real moon mission.”

For Petersen, the experience is both new and exhilarating, too. He says he realizes what an important role they have to play in this mission and the importance of their contribution.

“I feel like I’m a student again because I’m working hard to try and put everything in place and help everybody, and it’s like NASA will be grading me,” he said.

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