Small plane crashed east of St. John's Tuesday morning, TSB says
Small prop plane crashed before 9 a.m.
A plane crashed east of St. John's early Tuesday morning, according to the Transportation and Safety Board of Canada.
The plane, an Air Tractor AT-802, crashed approximately 130 nautical miles, or 240 kilometres, east of St. John's, the TSB said in an email to CBC News just after 2 p.m. NT.
The crash happened around 8:40 a.m. on Tuesday, the board said.
The AT-802 is a single-engine propeller plane that Air Tractor bills as an agricultural craft, often used for spraying pesticides. It can also be adapted for firefighting purposes.
Schematics on the corporate website say the plane has a 60-foot wingspan.
The TSB said it did not have any further details. It's not clear how many passengers were on the plane, their conditions or what caused the crash.
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CBC
9 hours ago
- CBC
Here's how many people paid full price for the N.S. school lunch program
Packing lunches is the bane of Katie Armstrong's morning. So the Nova Scotia mother was "very excited" when she heard the provincial government was launching a lunch program at elementary schools across the province — including the school her son, Henry, attends. The program is a pay-what-you-can-model and started rolling it out to schools last fall. To make food affordable and accessible to all, the program never placed expectations on families to pay for meals. Armstrong opted to pay full price for her son's lunches, hoping to offset the cost of the program for other children. "I believe the very first time I did it, I paid the full six dollars," she said in an interview with CBC News. Henry tried but did not enjoy some of the meals like fish cakes and black bean tacos. He was disappointed by the pizza, which he described as "really wet" toppings toasted on top of bread. "When I saw the response from Henry and from others and that it wasn't really working for us, I reduced it to the four dollar amount." Armstrong isn't alone. Through surveys and declining payment amounts, some parents are sending a message they want changes as the lunch program enters its second year this fall. 2% paying full price Using the freedom of information act, CBC News asked the province how many school meals were paid in full for each two-week order cycle. At the beginning, about four per cent of meals received full payment of $6.50 each. A further 33 per cent of meals received partial payment. By late April, the meals with full payment dropped to two per cent, and partial payments dropped to 10 per cent. No one chose to make an extra donation to the program above and beyond the $6.50. Food variety and quality questions Armstrong believes in the importance of a school lunch for all children, regardless of ability to pay. But she and her son felt a little disappointed in the program, and hope the menu will be tweaked next year. Henry Armstrong, 7, liked the program "medium" well. "I kind of liked it, but not really that much," he said. "I liked the red sauce pasta, and some of the sides they had because they were all vegetables and fruit." Armstrong still packs lunches often, and hopes for some new options in the menu. "If a child doesn't like the majority of them, even if they try it and they still don't like it, there's not really any room for trying new things after that or finding the things they like," she said. Armstrong said Henry told her sometimes the food was cold and seemed to have been sitting in the package for a while. She feels this detracts from "an amazing program, in theory" which can provide for all children. "I think that's where the bigger issue lies," she said. "I want to make sure that the food is food that kids will want to eat and be happy to eat." 3 different food delivery methods Aimee Gasparetto is the executive director of Nourish Nova Scotia, a charity that works to ensure young people have access to healthy food. It doesn't deliver the lunch program, but is co-operating with the government on its development. Gasparetto thinks parents' concerns about quality and variety are valid, and some menu changes will come in the next year. But she says the concerns need to be considered within the huge scale of the program. "It's going to take time to really adjust both the menu, the quality of the food and really make sure that the program over time is being adapted to the unique needs of different students in different regions," she said in a recent interview. Gasparetto said although the menu is the same across the province, schools have three different ways of getting the food depending what facilities they have. Some schools make the food in their own kitchens with their own staff, and some have catering companies coming into the school to make the food. Others get food delivered from an off-site producer. Though the province is trying for consistency, she said it can be a challenge. But she's also been hearing from school staff who used to see kids going without food, and are now able to change that. "This program is fundamentally about easing financial and time pressures on families and also ensuring that every child at school has the opportunity to eat nutritious food in order to socialize, learn better and connect into the school environment in a much better way," she said. Surveyed parents felt nutrition fine, variety lacking Through freedom of information laws, CBC obtained 19,563 responses to a province-wide survey of opinions on the school food program conducted earlier this year. Not all respondents answered every question in the survey. 4,011 people were "dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied" with food quality. 5,113 people were "dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied" with meal variety. 9,161 people were "neutral," "satisfied," or "very satisfied" with nutritional value. 6,205 people said financial situation was a main factor in their payment. Thousands of families also said their children were trying new foods, eating lunch more regularly, eating more nutritious food at lunch, and feeling more included at school. All public elementary schools in Nova Scotia are participating, and the program will expand to junior high schools in the fall. "We've got a year of data. That data is being worked on to incorporate feedback and really make program improvements," Gasparetto said. "We need a couple of years under our belt to really consider all of the impacts of this program." Combating child poverty By comparison, Prince Edward Island also has a pay-what-you-can school lunch program. Last year, P.E.I.'s government released numbers which showed about 13 per cent of meals were fully paid for, and there was partial payment on 18 per cent of meals. In Gasparetto's view, cost recovery isn't the most important thing; rather, the program is about building a "more equitable system." Research released late last year showed Nova Scotia has the highest child poverty rate in Atlantic Canada, with Feed Nova Scotia reporting a nearly 70 per cent jump in families going to food banks since 2021. "One of the things that school lunch programs have shown to demonstrate is it can really work to address some of those food insecurity issues," Gasparetto said. CBC News requested an interview with provincial Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Brendan Maguire. The department declined the request but shared a statement. "While payments have fluctuated, program participation has remained consistent — and what matters most is that no student is sitting in class hungry," it read. The department has previously told CBC News the program is offered to about 75,000 students and sees about 50 per cent participation. The statement went on to say the province is looking at "new menu options, quality assurance tools, sustainable packaging and other actions" to respond to feedback on the program. The province paid $18.8 million for the 2024-25 school year. The 2025-26 budget increased that to $61.2 million to account for the rollout to more schools. The federal government has committed $12.4 million as part of its goal for a national school food program. 'We definitely won't give up' Katie Armstrong plans to keep ordering meals her kids will eat. She has two younger children who will enter elementary school soon. "I 100 per cent think the program needs to stay," she said. "I think that this is the first year it's in play, and there's always room for change and improvement. "We definitely won't give up," she said.
CBC
a day ago
- CBC
Bridge's demise was obvious, but province was slow to admit demolition plan
The William Mitton Covered Bridge in Riverview was demolished in February 2025, but documents CBC News obtained show the province had decided its fate long before.
CBC
a day ago
- CBC
Province reluctant to admit rickety N.B. bridge was slated for demolition, documents show
When the William Mitton Covered Bridge in Riverview was torn down last winter, many were heartbroken. But its demolition was not surprising. Closed to traffic since 1981, the bridge developed a dramatic sag in the middle, its abutments looked ready to pop, and several beams hung lazily from the roof they once held up. Documents obtained by CBC News after a right to information request reveal the New Brunswick government's reluctance to publicly admit the bridge was slated for demolition, despite having made plans a year and a half earlier to get rid of it. The documents also show an official with the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure called for a provincial strategy to handle aging covered bridges in a less reactive way. "We are at a point in time when a discussion has to be made to invest in the covered bridge or dismantle," Glen MacDonald, the assistant director of bridge maintenance, wrote in June 2023. "There is no funding allotted for this bridge at this time." But when CBC reported on the bridge's rough condition the next month, a department spokesperson would only say the future of the bridge was "yet to be determined." Just days after the CBC story, a department superintendent, Jean-Marc Arseneault, wrote in an email that he concluded the bridge was beyond repair. "The structure should be removed before someone gets hurt," Arsenault said. That same day, Corey White of the planning and project development division wrote: "I know I am speaking to the choir here, but we really need direction from [the province] on these bridges as we will see lots more of these last-minute issues — and we can manage these in an orderly fashion if we were to get the strategy approved." By August, DTI was drafting diagrams of how to remove the bridge. WATCH | 'The structure should be removed before someone gets hurt.' Bridge's demise was obvious, but province was slow to admit demolition plan 40 minutes ago Duration 4:09 The William Mitton Covered Bridge in Riverview was demolished in February 2025, but documents CBC News obtained show the province had decided its fate long before. That November, the department received an inspection report from a hired consultant in Fredericton. "The structure should be demolished and removed as soon as possible," said the report from Hilcon Ltd., adding that it was too dangerous to have workers near it. "In our opinion, a complete structural collapse is imminent and controlled demolition is preferable to allowing the structure to collapse into the watercourse below." Most of the emails CBC received were written when Blaine Higgs and the Progressive Conservatives were in power. Despite the dire warnings from provincial officials and experts, the bridge remained for over a year until its removal in February 2025. Throughout 2024, emails show, the spokesperson for the department was withholding telling the media about the bridge's fate. "[CTV News is] looking for a definitive answer on DTI's plans for saving this bridge, but I know we've refrained from speaking to this point in both of our previous responses," spokesperson Jacob MacDonald wrote in August 2024. In October, staff from the Town of Riverview public works department also began send photos of the bridge to department officials. "Conditions are getting worse," a Riverview official wrote. By that November, the provincial officials were also getting impatient, with one writing, "We need to strike while the iron is hot … each day that passes makes it harder to remove safely." They were also drafting "communication plans" for two scenarios: either the bridge would be removed or it would collapse. Ray Boucher of the New Brunswick Covered Bridge Association said in an interview that his group has tried hard to save the bridge but that it ultimately came down to a lack of funds. He said the department was "more than fair" giving his group time to try to raise money for the bridge, and that's why the removal was so delayed. "They virtually gave me two years before they finally decided that it had to come down," Boucher said. "So under the Higgs government, I've got nothing but praise." Chuck Chiasson, who has been transportation minister since the Liberals were elected last fall, there was a "loose strategy" on managing covered bridges when he took over. "But I want something more comprehensive that's going to be more forward-looking that we can say which ones are going to be at risk, which ones do we need to start mitigating now , nd how are we going to do that?" Chiasson said, but didn't give an exact timeline. Boucher said that he believes the department looks at the covered bridges on a case-by-case basis, and if there is a strategy, "I've never seen it." Officials do the best they can with their budget, but "a covered bridge is not an asset, it's a liability," he said. "That's the way the province looks at it." "DTI, their mandate is to get you from one side of a river to the other side of the river," Boucher said. He added that it might make more sense to have the Tourism Department take over some of the covered bridges not actively carrying traffic. When asked about this, Chiasson said it could be discussed in the future. He also confirmed that another aging covered bridge near Fundy National Park had recently been torn down as well. In 1953, New Brunswick had 340 bridges, according to the covered bridge group. Today there are 57. How Vermont protects its covered bridges Not far away is New Brunswick's American cousin in terms of covered bridge fame. Vermont, with more than 100 covered bridges, adopted an official strategy to preserve them in 2003. The strategy outlines how bridges are prioritized as well as how they are to be maintained while keeping their historic character. "It's a very good document," said JB McCarthy, a covered bridge expert with the Vermont Agency of Transportation. "We've been using it for years." There's also a state covered bridge committee that monitors the bridges and highlights those in need of repair, he said. McCarthy said he's not aware of any case of a covered bridge in Vermont being taken down because of disrepair. When shown a photo of the Mitton bridge in its final years, he said he's never seen a covered bridge in Vermont get "quite that bad." The bridges are important for tourism, he added. "I think the state as a whole has an eye on these things and does the best we can to try to maintain them and squeeze them in for projects when we can." Watching the Wheaton Covered Bridge While the Mitton bridge is relegated to a memory, another covered bridge in southeast New Brunswick, the Wheaton Covered Bridge, still stands just outside Sackville. Standing high in contrast with the flat, windswept Tantramar Marsh, the bridge is beloved by locals. Mainly used by farmers to access their fields, the bridge was abruptly shut down last summer after a worrying inspection. Chiasson announced changes would be made to divert traffic around the Wheaton Covered Bridge, over a modular bridge, to preserve the older bridge's history while addressing farmers' need to use the road. Local Green Party MLA Megan Mitton has been advocating a fix for the Wheaton Covered Bridge and praised the proposal for both goals of preserving history and allowing farmers access. "In terms of just our local culture, people go get their prom photos and their wedding photos taken there," she said. "So there does need to be a strategy that's less reactive and actually plans out what's going to need to be done to deal with our bridges."
