350 new homes will be built at Calgary's Franklin LRT Station
An artists' rendering shows planned improvements to Calgary's Franklin Station area. (City of Calgary handout)
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CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Fishermen spot pod of killer whales off Cape Breton
Lobster fishermen in northern Cape Breton got an up-close glimpse of a pod of killer whales this week, a sighting that a marine biologist says is on the rise. Bernie Lamey was hauling lobster traps on Monday not far off Cape Smokey, a famous Cabot Trail landmark, when a couple of orcas started circling the boat. Within 10 minutes, the fishermen had spotted about a dozen. The orcas seemed to be in a playful mood. "They came around our boat, bumped into the boat, rolled around, showed their bellies, [came] up and had a little look at us," he told CBC's Information Morning Cape Breton. "They almost looked like they were more interested in us than we were of them. It was pretty spectacular." Lamey said he knew right away they were killer whales by their distinctive black-and-white colouring. "That's a pretty hard whale to miss," he said. "We get to see all kinds of marine life out there.... Looking down in the water and seeing something that's only three feet away from you that's the size of your boat is pretty impressive." At least one whale stayed several hundred metres away, but Lamey said he knew it was an orca, too, because its dorsal fin was nearly two metres tall. "The fact that they were killer whales and the fact that there was 10 or 12 of them there at one time and they decided to stay and play for a few minutes was just an experience that I'll never forget." Elizabeth Zwamborn, a marine biologist and a professor at Trinity Western University in B.C., runs an annual survey of pilot whales off northern Cape Breton. They're black like orcas, but don't have white patches on their cheeks and have smaller dorsal fins. It's possible to mistake juvenile white-beaked dolphins as juvenile orcas because they're both black and white, but Zwamborn said the videos and photos she's seen this week off Cape Breton are definitely killer whales. Zwamborn said only one orca has been seen inshore in the 27 years the study has been running. They're more commonly spotted farther out in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland and Labrador or in the Arctic. Climate change is affecting the ocean's temperature, bringing North Atlantic right whales into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Belugas have also left the Gulf and headed to Cape Breton, but it's not clear why they wandered so far from home. This year, orcas have been seen off Cape Breton near Money Point, Cape Smokey and Flint Island, Zwamborn said. It could be the same pod, or it could be more than one.
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Sherbrooke, Que., faces growing pains as it looks to expand its cycling network
On her daily rides through Sherbrooke, Que., Laurence Williams often finds herself cruising along a bike path — until it suddenly comes to an end. A self-described "utilitarian cyclist," who uses her bicycle for all her transportation needs, Williams says it's possible to get around the city by bike. But it's not always easy. "Sometimes you have a beginning of a bike path and then it just stops," Williams says, adding that this kind of interruption is common on the cycling network in the city, located 150 kilometres east of Montreal. Aside from being inconvenient to someone who is looking for the fastest route to a given destination, Williams feels that the variability in what kinds of infrastructure exist for cyclists also makes her commutes more dangerous, because it is harder to know what is coming up around the next corner. "When you use your bike on a day-to-day basis, you want your route to be quick, to be safe and predictable," she says. Williams argues that in a city like Sherbrooke where there appears to be political will for bike and environmentally friendly initiatives, she expects it to be easier to make progress. "In a context where ecological transition has been mentioned as a priority for the City of Sherbrooke and a context where more than 50 per cent of our citywide greenhouse gas emissions are directly related to transportation, we really need to go faster." 'A big challenge' for the city In May, Sherbrooke highlighted 16 areas where expansions to the cycling network have been planned. Over the next three years, the hope is to bridge a number of significant gaps in the existing system. According to Anne-Sophie Demers, a division chief for sustainable and integrated mobility with Sherbrooke's Strategic Territorial Development Service, the goal of these priority areas is to improve the connectivity between different parts of the network. "It is a big challenge for our team because the context and situation is never the same," Demers says. Demers and her team have been charged with trying to determine how best to implement safe and functional bike paths on existing roads without disrupting the needs of existing traffic. It is an urban planning puzzle, she said, because some roads are simply not large enough to accommodate both drivers and cyclists on fully protected bike lanes. Despite those difficulties, Demers says that the city has been in conversation with local cycling groups to try to find the best options available in the hopes that a more secure cycling network will open the door to more cyclists. The city is also trying to improve access to bikes in other ways. Demers notes that there is currently work underway for the installation of Bixi bike-sharing stations similar to the system that has been in place in Montreal for more than a decade "We think it has the potential to transform mobility in Sherbrooke." The initial Bixi system in Sherbrooke is expected to have 250 bicycles at 25 stations, with 80 per cent of the fleet being e-bikes. Although no official start date has yet been announced, Demers says the system should be operational by July. A city with a lot of potential "The arrival of e-bikes has literally changed the landscape of who's able to cycle," says Magali Bebronne, director of programs at Vélo Québec. The cycling advocacy group is one of the parties Demers's team has turned to for support and data in its planning process. Vélo Québec conducts regular research into the state of bicycle adoption in several different Quebec cities, including Sherbrooke. For a city as hilly as Sherbrooke, Bebronne says bikes equipped with an electric motor are a game changer for cycling accessibility. That, combined with the known benefits of public-access bicycle programs like Bixi, creates an interesting opportunity for increased adoption of cycling as a way of getting around in the city. Vélo Québec also publishes a portrait of cycling in the province every five years and, although the 2020 report was carried out in unusual circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic, research showed that just over half of all Quebecers were using a bicycle and 2.1 million people were using one as a regular mode of transportation. Bebronne says the group is currently in the process of preparing the 2025 edition. Bebronne also challenges the idea that using bikes in this way is uniquely a "big city" phenomenon. "In smaller cities, people actually live closer to where they work," Bebronne explains, noting that Vélo Québec's last study of Sherbrooke showed that about 44 per cent of the population live within five kilometres of their work.
CTV News
4 hours ago
- CTV News
Centennial Academy secures funding for future survival
It's been a stressful year for staff and students at Centennial Academy, with the threat of closure hanging over their heads. But thanks to a coalition of private donors, school will be back in session next year and the foreseeable future, according to the school's director, Angela Burgos. 'The Leger Family Foundation has initiated a coalition with the support of the Molson Foundation and with the support of these foundations. We have been able to regulate our situation and we are going to be good for next year and the years to come,' she said. The school caters to students with learning difficulties, including ADHD and dyslexia, and has developed models that aren't offered in the public system. It moved to its current location on 2075 Sherbrooke St. West in 2020, but the heritage building required significant renovations, and the school's debt grew to nearly $9 million. Burgos said the crisis drew the community together, including the students who demonstrated to save their school. Ellie Girard, 16, who suffers from mental health and learning difficulties, has only been at Centennial Academy for two years, but said it's the only school where she's thrived and she wanted to do whatever she could to support the effort. 'We did a protest recently where we were holding up a bunch of signs. We have no Plan B help because a lot of us, we don't have any Plan Bs,' she said. Girard said she's filled with relief now knowing the school will be open next year. 'I can finish everything without having the anxiety of being a new kid again at another new school. And I get to finish my year here with the teachers that I know and the system that works for me,' she said. But there are still future challenges facing the school, according to Burgos. With the help of Liberal MNA Jennifer Maccarone, they are currently lobbying Quebec for funding for its French sector. In 2008 the province stopped accrediting new francophone private schools, and Centennial launched its French side in 2016, and they make up nearly half of the 300-student body. They are asking for special status for the school since it serves a population with unique needs and has an 80 per cent graduation rate. 'What we're doing is unique and has for many years provided a solution for many families with great successes of students that have gone on to all kinds of careers,' she said, adding that they still have spaces available for the 2025-2026 school year.
