Latest news with #Boudreau
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Nova Scotia Eyes Return to Offshore Natural Gas Exploration
As LNG Canada shipped its first LNG cargo from the newly completed facility in Kitimat, on the northwest coast of British Columbia, activity is ramping up on the East Coast especially offshore natural gas. LNG Canada consists of an export plant that cools the natural gas to a liquid using a combination of hydroelectricity and natural gas, states LNG Canada — a consortium of Shell, Mitsubishi Corporation, Petronas, PetroChina and Korea Gas Corp. The accompanying pipeline, called Coastal GasLink, is a partnership owned by affiliates of TC Energy, Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), and US private equity firm KKR. Simultaneously, the Maritime province of Nova Scotia is getting back into petroleum exploration for the first time since 2018, when its last offshore natural gas project ended. According to CBC News, The joint provincial-federal offshore energy regulator announced Monday it's issuing a call for bids for offshore oil and gas exploration on 13 parcels totalling more than 3.3 million hectares… The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator is advertising exploration licences around the Scotian Shelf and Scotian Slope, which are close to but exclude the Sable Island National Park Reserve and the Gully Marine Protected Area. A government news release says there is a known reserve of at least 3.2 trillion cubic feet of offshore natural gas on the Scotian Shelf. Companies have the better part of a year to submit bids. The deadline is April 28, 2026. Nova Scotia Energy Minister Trevor Boudreau said offshore natural gas presents a 'major economic opportunity'. Although Boudreau said the province is committed to reaching 80 percent renewable energy consumption by 2030, he maintains natural gas is key to the transition. Nova Scotia still burns a lot of coal but 2030 has been set as the year for Nova Scotians to stop using the carbon-emitting fuel for fossil fuels-to-renewables strategy features offshore wind. Premier Tim Houston has been pitching upwards of 60 megawatts. The CBC quoted Boudreau saying he believes offshore wind and offshore petroleum can operate in tandem — a claim that NDP leader Claudia Chender questions. It was in 2022 that the regulator last put out a call for offshore petroleum. An exploration license was issued to Inceptio Limited in 2023, but within two months Nova Scotia and the federal government vetoed the regulator's decision and the license was withdrawn. According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), about 4 percent of Canada's oil production comes from four projects offshore Newfoundland and Labrador: Hibernia, Terra Nova, White Rose and Hebron. Hibernia was the country's first offshore oilfield to come online in 1997. Hebron was the latest in 2017. Hibernia is currently Canada's second largest oilfield, with cumulative production about half that of the largest field, Pembina in Alberta. The four offshore fields produce an average 240,000 barrels per day. The offshore oil industry of Nova Scotia accounts for about 0.07% of Canadian petroleum production. The majority of its offshore industry is located on the Nova Scotian continental Shelf, within the Sable Island offshore natural gas fields. (Wikipedia) New discoveries Norwegian oil giant Equinor started the ball rolling in January on a project to develop its Bay du Nord oil project off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador by awarding front-end engineering design work. The project is located in the Flemish Pass basin, about 500 km northeast of St. John's, in waters approximately 1,170 meters deep. Equinor received approval from the Canadian government to develop Bay du Nord in April 2022. However, in 2023, the project was shelved for three years due to a rise in costs. Offshore Energy reports Bay du Nord, once developed, is expected to be among the world's lowest-carbon projects per barrel of oil. Equinor says the company made the first discovery in 2013, followed by additional discoveries in 2014, 2016 and 2020. The later discoveries, lying about 650 meters deep, are in an adjacent exploration license and are potential tie-ins in a joint project development. The $12 billion Bay du Nord field will be developed using a floating production platform for storage and offshore loading. US-based oil major ExxonMobil said in June it has discovered 75 million barrels of oil at its producing Hibernia and Hebron fields. Upstream Online says the news will be welcomed by Newfoundland and Labrador following a number of high-profile exploration failures in recent years. Located in the Jeanne d'Arc basin, the Hibernia and Hebron complexes are largely exploited by huge concrete gravity based (GBS) platforms - designed to deflect icebergs - from which platform rigs drill infill, development, appraisal and exploration wells. The exploration wells target untapped reservoirs and fault blocks where sub-surface mapping indicates oil is present. Kerry Moreland, president of ExxonMobil Canada, said two of these recent wells were successful: one discovering 50 million barrels at Hebron and another finding 25 million barrels at Hibernia. Apart from the Flemish Pass basin, the other area considered prospective for development is the Orphan basin. BP Canada has applied to drill it. In Nova Scotia one exploratory project and 22 production wells have come and gone: the Sable Offshore Energy Project and the Shelburne Basin Venture Exploration Drilling Project. The Sable Offshore Energy Project was Canada's first offshore natural gas project. It was comprised of seven offshore platforms in five fields with 22 wells and 340 kilometers of subsea pipeline. The development was spread over 200 square kilometers near Sable Island in the North Atlantic. The seven platforms were located in shallow water with depths between 22 and 76 meters. The Sable Offshore Energy Project was the most recent offshore petroleum project in Nova Scotia. Operations ended in 2018. Source: Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board. Interfield pipelines connected satellite fields to the central Thebaud complex, which included a processing facility and accommodations unit, a wellhead platform and a compression deck. The Thebaud complex was connected by a 200-kilometer subsea pipeline to a gas plant located at Goldboro, Guysborough County. There, liquids were removed and sent by pipeline to the Point Tupper Fractionation Plant for additional processing and with its end products such as propane and butane delivered to market by truck, rail and ship. Market-ready gas was then transported from Goldboro to customers via the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline. The decommissioning process started in 2017, with ExxonMobil taking two years to plug and abandon the wells. (ExxonMobil) Shell Canada proposed to conduct exploratory drilling in the Shelburne Basin, an area 250 kilometers offshore Nova Scotia. The project aimed to drill up to seven exploration wells from 2015 to 2019. However, the first well drilled was unsuccessful, and no further exploration has occurred in the area. By Andrew Topf for More Top Reads From this article on Sign in to access your portfolio
USA Today
06-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Alabama secures commitment from Big 12 transfer pitcher
Earlier this past week, the Alabama Crimson Tide baseball program landed yet another commitment via the NCAA transfer portal in right-hander pitcher Tyler Boudreau. Boudreau comes to Tuscaloosa after spending the 2025 season at Texas Tech, his lone in Lubbock. With the Red Raiders, the right-hander made a total of 13 appearances during the 2025 season, 10 of which were starts. Over that span, Boudreau owned a 1-4 record with a 6.65 ERA and a 49:23 K:BB ratio across 47.1 innings pitched, with opponents also owning a combined .254 AVG against. Following his commitment to the Crimson Tide, Boudreau joins the likes of John Lemm and Owen Sarna, among others, who have committed to Alabama out of the transfer portal in recent weeks. Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion.
Vancouver Sun
24-06-2025
- Sport
- Vancouver Sun
Canucks: Give Ryan Johnson his due credit for Abbotsford's Calder Cup triumph
There was a moment not long after the Vancouver Canucks ' regime change in the middle of the 2021-22 season when I told Ryan Johnson about how former NHL Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau had hammered down about the importance of the minor league team. Johnson's Abbotsford Canucks squad was dealing with a serious COVID outbreak and Boudreau asked about how much he was paying attention to what was going on with the AHL team, and was empathic about how much he viewed the minor leaguers as important members of the organization as a whole. Johnson had been running the Canucks' minor league affiliate since 2017, when then-Canucks GM Jim Benning put him charge of the Utica Comets, what was supposed to be a key development cog in the system. The team then was in Utica, N.Y., and moved to Abbotsford in 2021. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. In Utica, Johnson toiled away, doing everything he could for his charges, finding players in the ECHL to plug the gaps when needed, never once complaining about what the job entailed. Utica's development record was mixed in those years, as much because Benning rushed the organization's prospects to the NHL as anything, but Johnson earned a reputation as a worker. A guy who made a difference with the people he worked with. Who had the backs of those who worked around him. The broader recognition, though, was rare. Utica's lineups tended to be young. There wasn't always a lot of success. At times you would wonder if the 'draft and development' credo that Benning had long espoused was a little forgotten by those at the top. So when he replied to what I'd said about Boudreau's praise for the AHL squad, Johnson's choice of words said everything. 'It's nice to be recognized,' he said, after a pause. It was, you knew, a heartfelt response from a guy who you knew perhaps wasn't used to hearing feedback of any kind. Running the AHL squad can be a thankless task, especially when you are thousands of kilometres away from the big club. Think of how difficult the 2020-21 season was, for instance: that was the final season in Utica and he was practically marooned on an island, running a team that was on the other side of a very tightly-controlled border. We were deep into the pandemic, not yet in a universe with vaccines. Crossing the border meant a quarantine. That meant that players and staff sent to upstate New York were almost certainly being sent there for the season. On top of the public health hurdles, Canucks ownership had dialled back heavy on the hockey operations budget, which meant there wasn't any money to be spent on AHL veterans to fill out the Comets' roster. Instead Canucks AGM Chris Gear, who helped Johnson run Utica, struck a deal with the St. Louis Blues to share the affiliate. Both teams supplied players and staff. It was an unwieldy setup but somehow it worked. Gear throws all the credit Johnson's way for managing the team through a challenging time. And the character and leadership Johnson put on display that season is just his nature. It's who he is at his core, Gear explains. Surely Johnson's positive spirit, his care for others, is a huge part of the reason this year's Abbotsford Canucks are AHL champions. 'He's just a people person,' Gear, said who now runs Blackfin Sports Group along with another pair of ex-Canucks executives, Chris Beardsmore and James Douglas. 'He's a genuine guy who cares about your well-being,' Gear went on about his old colleague. 'He wants you to feel part of it, to know your role. That's what set him apart in the organization. He was able to forge relationships.' Gear looks at the Abbotsford roster this past season and sees a squad that was built to win as much as develop. That future NHL role players like Arshdeep Bains and Linus Karlsson had such strong seasons is very important to the organization, but none of this happens without veterans like John Stevens, Phil Di Giuseppe, Christian Wolanin, Sammy Blais and Jujhar Khaira. 'Those guys could sign anywhere,' Gear observed. 'You build a good culture and a good staff, that's what keeps guys around. Credit RJ for that.' All the talk lately has been about how the handful of mid-tier prospects like Bains, Karlsson and Victor Mancini might pan out as depth players for the NHL Canucks and about how Manny Malhotra has surely set himself for NHL head coach consideration. But there's also no doubt that Johnson's work and attitude and character is going to be noticed in NHL circles too. pjohnston@
Global News
18-06-2025
- Global News
Nova Scotia woman who killed daughter granted day passes from prison, but not parole
A Nova Scotia woman who murdered her 12-year-old daughter in 2008 has been granted unescorted day passes from prison for 60 days. But the Parole Board of Canada has denied Penny Boudreau's request for day parole, saying she wasn't ready to live in a community even though she would be required to return to a supervised setting at night. Boudreau was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the Jan. 27, 2008, death of Karissa Boudreau, after pleading guilty to second-degree murder for strangling her only child. Earlier today, the parole board decided Boudreau's unescorted single-day passes from prison will be supervised in a way that ensures the safety of the community she chooses, while contributing to her reintegration into society. 7:58 Former RCMP Sergeant Writes Book On One of Nova Scotia's Most Infamous Murders During a hearing at the Nova Institution for Women in Truro, N.S., the board heard Boudreau had completed correctional programs and had worked with a mental health team while working as an assistant to the prison's chaplain. Story continues below advertisement But the panel also heard Boudreau admit that, on a scale from 1 to 10, she considered herself a 6 or a 7 when it came to assessing the progress she had made in prison. 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. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'That means there's still work to be done,' a board member told the hearing 'The board thinks you're very conscious of the work that needs to be done on relationships, managing emotions and dealing with obstacles that can be highly stressful. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2025.
Vancouver Sun
17-06-2025
- Vancouver Sun
Penny Boudreau, who strangled her 12-year-old daughter, tries for 'early' release
HALIFAX, N.S. — A parole board hearing scheduled for June 18, will give a Nova Scotia convicted killer a chance to persuade members and the public that she is not the same person who admitted to packing twine in the trunk of her car in 2008 before murdering her 12-year-old daughter. Now 51, Penny Boudreau is serving a life sentence at the Nova Institution for Women in Truro, Nova Scotia, where she works as a cleaner and orders groceries for her unit. Seventeen years ago, Judge Margaret Stewart sentenced Boudreau to 20 years without eligibility for full parole for confessing to killing her only child, Karissa. That would have meant a release date of June 13, 2028. However, under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, she is now eligible to apply for unescorted passes, including day parole, three years prior to completing that sentence. Because this is Boudreau's first application for unescorted time away from jail, it automatically prompts a review by way of a hearing. Under the Act, she is now eligible for day parole for rehabilitative purposes that allows an offender to participate in community-based activities in preparation for full parole or statutory release. Offenders must return nightly to a halfway house unless otherwise authorized by the Parole Board of Canada. In addition to standard conditions of day parole, the Parole Board may also impose special conditions that an offender must abide by during release. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Boudreau's decision to apply for unescorted release — viewed by the public as 'early' release — has provoked a backlash in a case that has gripped Atlantic Canada for almost two decades. Etched in many people's memory is the mother's televised pleas for the public's help finding her daughter as she concocted a story to make people believe her child was alive and may have been abducted from a grocery store parking lot. Emotions are already running high in Nova Scotia where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are still searching for two other local children, Lilly and Jack Sullivan, who have been missing since May 2, after their mother and stepfather reported the kids wandered off from home. The disappearance of those children without a trace stirred up memories of Boudreau who committed what many think of as an unthinkable rare crime: filicide. On Jan. 27, 2008, Penny Boudreau was a 33-year-old cashier living with her boyfriend who worked at the same grocery store in Bridgewater, a small town of less than 9,000 people on Nova Scotia's South Shore. Karissa had recently moved in with the couple in their small two-bedroom apartment after living with her father. But the new arrangement caused friction for all of them. Karissa's diaries revealed how she resented living with the boyfriend. That Sunday afternoon, the mother and daughter went for a drive to have a heart-to-heart chat about the house rules and conflict the pre-teen and her mom were having, said Penny at the time. A winter storm set in and shortly before 6 p.m., Penny Boudreau ducked into the grocery store to pick up a few things while Karissa stayed in the car. As she exited the store, she claimed Karissa had disappeared and, two hours later, called 911 to report her daughter missing. The grade six child could be out in a snowstorm in a hoodie, vest, jeans and pink Crocs on her feet. For 13 days, there was a frantic search involving helicopters, police dogs and worried people across southern Nova Scotia. People in Bridgewater raised money to help the family as they watched the young mother plead on TV for help finding Karissa. 'Karissa, we love you. We are all looking for you, just come home or call or something,' Boudreau urged. Police contacted Karissa's friends, including Courtney Sarty, to check their backyards to see if the child may be hiding. 'I thought she ran off,' Sarty recalled 17 years later. 'I was so afraid. I kept sending her messages on MSN back then urging her to let somebody know where you are and that you are OK.' Two weeks later, Karissa's frozen body was discovered on the LaHave riverbank less than five minutes from Boudreau's apartment. RCMP launched an undercover operation as they focused on Penny's boyfriend after receiving reports of yelling and fighting at their small apartment. In an elaborate plan that targeted Boudreau's boyfriend for months, investigators tried to determine whether the couple played a role in Karissa's death. By June 2008, they had cleared the boyfriend and set up a Mr. Big fake crime organization scenario to elicit a confession from Boudreau. Not realizing she was speaking to police, Boudreau re-enacted how she strangled her daughter on a deserted road. Initially, Boudreau was charged with first-degree murder but later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, giving up her right to a trial that spared family members who had already been through agony. During the sentencing, Judge Stewart told her: 'You can never call yourself 'mother' in conjunction with Karissa's name again, and the words 'Mommy don't' from a trusting and loving Karissa are there to haunt you the rest of your natural life.' At the June 18 hearing, parole board members will consider whether Boudreau is a risk to society. They will review her psychological risk assessments that have consistently found Boudreau was in a dysfunctional relationship at the time of the murder and feared being abandoned by her boyfriend. She's no longer in touch with him according to previous parole board decisions. Because of her model behaviour in jail for the past seven years, Boudreau has regularly been granted escorted temporary absences to leave jail for several hours under supervision to attend church services, Bible study meetings and, more recently, to visit a friend she met in the congregation. Personal development is part of her rehabilitation, according to the decisions. After a file review in March, two parole board members concluded Boudreau's risk to society is low and the board does not consider Boudreau as 'presenting an undue risk to society,' wrote the members in their March decision to let Boudreau attend church travelling in a Correctional Service Canada vehicle. However, they did comment on police opposition to any further 'liberal release.' 'It is their opinion that you were issued a life sentence with no parole before 20 years served which needs to be followed,' they wrote of the unnamed police agency. The Parole Board of Canada has received victim impact statements and a host of letters (a signed petition at one point) opposed to any type of release. For those opposed to Boudreau being granted further freedoms, there is still a 'deep sense of loss and grief, be it family members, friends or the community at large. The grief and opposition to your release continues to this day,' the parole board members wrote. Whether jail is intended to punish someone convicted of a crime or a place to protect society until the inmate is rehabilitated is the thorny issue that divides not only the people of Nova Scotia, but politicians and Canadians. I think she should serve what she was sentenced to During the recent federal election, the Conservative party vowed to re-emphasize the rights of victims and safety of communities over the rights of criminals. 'The residents of the South Shore, Halifax and communities across Canada deserve to feel safe in their own neighbourhoods,' read a press release issued by Rick Perkins, the former Conservative MP for South-Shore-St. Margarets, who lost his seat. 'Like many Nova Scotians, I am appalled to learn that Penny Boudreau…has been on day passes from prison and could soon be granted unescorted leave from prison,' he said in the statement released April 25. There will be submissions at the June 18 hearing from those impacted by Karissa's murder. Courtney Sarty, who has the date Karissa died tattooed on her right arm, Until We Meet Again, above a yellow rose for friendship and a pink one, Karissa's favourite colour, is unequivocal: 'I think she should serve what she was sentenced to. I read that her assessment to reoffend is really low and that she's not probable to commit the same crime,' said Sarty. But she's not convinced that the counselling Boudreau received during her prison stay is a guarantee she would not react again in a similar situation. 'Killing Karissa was unprovoked, so who is to say it wouldn't take the right situation for her to do something again.' She urged the parole board to be fair. 'If she is given parole, I don't think she should have access to children whatsoever,' said Sarty, now a 29-year-old mother studying to become a licensed practical nurse. Boudreau is estranged from her family since the murder but has befriended a pastor at a church she attends in an undisclosed community. The pastor has confirmed Boudreau will receive continued support as she works her way towards proving she can successfully integrate back into society. The Corrections Conditional Release Act allows for an inmate to apply for day parole and unescorted passes as part of assisting the rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration into the community as law-abiding citizens through the provision of programs in penitentiaries and in the community. The Conservatives focused on toughening up the chance for early parole for criminals convicted of multiple murders. Leader Pierre Poilievre promised to use Section 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, known as the Notwithstanding Clause, to reintroduce the Protecting Canadians by Ending Sentence Discounts for Multiple Murders Act, which the Supreme Court of Canada struck down in 2022 because, in their opinion, it violates an offender's Charter rights. The Supreme Court's decision has impacted the sentences of some of Canada's most notorious killers like Alexandre Bissonnette, who was serving a life in prison with no chance of parole for 40 years for shooting and killing six people in a Quebec Mosque in 2017. After the Supreme Court's decision, Bissonnette will be eligible for parole after serving 25 years. The decision doesn't affect Boudreau, who was convicted of one murder (not multiple murders). She is required to provide her DNA and is prohibited from owning weapons for her lifetime. She has no previous offences that offer insight into her mindset at the time of the murder. She has referenced experiencing low self-esteem, a sense of inadequacy and fears of abandonment, according to her psychological risk assessments in her prison file. Her assessments described her overall risk for unescorted absences and/or day parole was 'generally low.' These ratings, it said, have withstood the test of many years of incarceration and would not be expected to change unless 'you were in an unhealthy relationship which is currently not a concern.' It also noted Boudreau has recently spoken of 'how you work through the many emotions that come with accepting the offence you committed, daily feelings of guilt and shame.' Boudreau toured a community residential facility — halfway house — last December and met with the director. The location remains confidential. In March, the Parole Board of Canada acknowledged recent threats made to Boudreau's personal safety increase the need for security and suggested any measures necessary will be taken when Boudreau appears before the hearing. Today, there is still a memorial for Karissa on the LaHave riverbank where her body was found. Sarty goes there when she is struggling to make sense of how her friend's mother, a woman she knew, could forsake her unconditional love for her daughter. 'I have my own son and my love is deep. He could curse me and put me down to the lowest, and I'm still going to look at him and say, 'I love you.' Sherri Aikenhead is a Nova Scotia author of Mommy Don't: From Mother to Murderer, The true story of Penny and Karissa Boudreau. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our newsletters here .
