Latest news with #Lepine
Vancouver Sun
15-05-2025
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
Hey, Michelin! Ottawa restaurants deserve attention, too, city's top chefs say
Now that Quebec's best restaurants have received Michelin Guide stars and kudos, Ottawa's most celebrated chef-restaurateurs say the famously rigorous inspectors should consider eateries in Canada's capital. 'The challenge was bringing (Michelin) to Canada. Now that they're here, adding the nation's capital will be the natural next step,' says Marc Lepine, chef-owner of Atelier on Rochester Street and winner of the Canadian Culinary Championship in 2012 and 2016 . 'I'm glad Michelin is expanding within Canada, and I think it only makes sense for Ottawa to get the recognition it deserves,' adds Ottawa chef and restaurateur Briana Kim, winner of the 2023 Canadian Culinary Championship . 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. Both of these leading-light chefs have new restaurants in the works in Ottawa . Kim, who closed her acclaimed restaurant Alice in early 2024, is to open its successor, Antheia, which will similarly focus on Kim's plant-based, fermentation-forward cuisine. Lepine says construction of Sauterelle, his new restaurant featuring a year-round, indoor garden that will yield esoteric produce, is to begin in the next few weeks. 'When Sauterelle is open, along with Briana's Antheia, we will bring Michelin to Ottawa,' Lepine says. On Thursday, Michelin's inaugural picks for restaurants in Quebec were announced . Nine restaurants in the province received stars, including five in Quebec City, three in Montreal and one in Rimouski. Of those restaurants, only Tanière 3 in Quebec City received two stars, while the other eight each received a single star. In addition, Montreal had 44 Michelin-recommended restaurants, while Quebec City had 15. France-based Michelin, the tire company, began its guide to restaurants in its homeland in 1900 and started giving out stars in 1926. It grew to become a global arbiter of dining excellence and now awards stars and recommendations in 37 countries across Europe, Asia and North and South America. In early October 2022, Michelin touched down in Canada in Toronto , which has since seen updated annual assessments of its restaurant scene. Less than two weeks later, the Michelin picks for Vancouver were announced . But, if Michelin were to inspect and rate Ottawa restaurants, it would take one thing: significant monetary support from tourism boards and even levels of government. While Michelin does not discuss its funding agreements, some details and rumours make their way into the public domain. The Vancouver Sun reported last fall cited a rumour that Michelin's five-year agreement with Destination Vancouver, the city's tourism organization, was said to have cost $5 million, or a million a year. The story's writer, Mia Stainsby, then called the rumour 'overblown,' noting that 'the entire province of Quebec's recent deal reportedly cost $550,000 over three years.' However, in a September 2024 Montreal Gazette article , Lesley Chesterman, the newspaper's former fine-dining critic, said the province of Quebec's deal with Michelin cost $2.1 million over three years. Jérôme Miousse, director of public affairs for Ottawa Tourism, said the agency welcomed the idea of Michelin considering Ottawa's restaurants, but added: 'It's a complex process that would need thorough evaluation and significant investment to bring to Ottawa.' Michelin's picks for Quebec came a week after the prestigious Canada's 100 Best Restaurants list for 2025 was released. Four Ottawa restaurants cracked that list , including Lepine's Atelier (41st), Arlo (49th), Riviera (88th) and Perch (95th). Arlo on Somerset Street West enjoyed its highest ranking yet on the annual list, and its owner-sommelier Alex McMahon said the list's 'pat on the back' was great for both his staff's confidence and the five-year-old restaurant's business. 'We are seeing reservations for the next few months jump like crazy,' McMahon said. In past years, as many as eight Ottawa restaurants have landed on Canada's 100 Best list, and McMahon said it was too bad more Ottawa restaurants weren't listed this year. 'It's not lost on us how many peers that operate on a really high level were not recognized,' he said. McMahon says he doesn't expect Michelin to come to Ottawa any time soon. 'It doesn't appear to be on the radar of the city,' he said. 'I don't believe Ottawa Tourism is all that eager' to bring Michelin to Ottawa, agrees Justin Champagne-Lagarde, the chef-owner of the tasting-menu restaurant Perch on Preston Street. But Ottawa Tourism should do more to boost the city's culinary scene, especially with the threat of climate change weakening the Rideau Canal's appeal as a tourist attraction, Champagne-Lagarde said. 'They're going to have to pivot, and restaurants are a really good option.' Citing Lepine, Kim, Arlo and the Somerset Street restaurant Le Poisson Bleu, Champagne-Lagarde said Ottawa had 'great little spots that should get more recognition nationally.' phum@ Our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark our homepage and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed.
CBC
30-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
Hospital in Hay River, N.W.T., has no doctor on site this week
The N.W.T.'s Hay River Regional Health Centre will be without an on-site doctor for nearly a week. As of Monday, the emergency and outpatient departments at the hospital will only have two nurse practitioners on site. The Hay River Health and Social Services Authority (HRHSSA) made the announcement last week. The authority said residents who visit the emergency room from now until Friday, May 2, will be assessed and triaged by nurses. And if they need a doctor, they will be connected to one working remotely or they will be medevaced to Yellowknife or Edmonton if needed. Beatrice Lepine has lived in Hay River all her life. She said the lack of services in the community is worrisome, especially in the event of a critical incident during severe weather or if multiple people are injured at once. "I just worry about big accidents or something like that, where you'd need a doctor to help in the ER," she said. "I realize there's shortage of doctors Canada-wide, but we're kind of at the bottom of list." Lepine said her family has already experienced delays due to administrative gaps in the health-care system. Her brother recently missed a flight to see a specialist in Yellowknife because the clinic's paperwork was not processed in time. Lepine said she is concerned that staff shortages in health care are becoming normalized. "It almost seems like nothing's really been said or done about it," she said. "I don't think there's any kind of alarm over it. It seems like we are getting used to lower levels of service." The Hay River Health Authority said in its statement that it's working to recruit more permanent doctors and offering incentives to attract more nurse practitioners. However, according to Dr. Courtney Howard, an ER doctor in Yellowknife, the gaps are part of a broader staffing challenge affecting the health-care system across the Northwest Territories, and the current incentives are not enough. She said there is no longer a financial incentive for physicians to work in the North and that makes it difficult to attract and retain permanent medical staff who are making sacrifices, such as leaving their family support systems behind in the South. "When I signed on 15 years ago, we were going to make a little bit more in the N.W.T.," she said. "We could sort of justify to ourselves coming up there with all the student debt that we had. "That no longer really exists." She said the territory relies heavily on temporary locum doctors who fly in from other provinces. While she's grateful for their help in filling staffing gaps, she said this approach is financially unsustainable. "They spent an entire day on the plane that we've paid for," she said. "They're going to be working for one or two days … we also provide them with housing as well as often a car. "It's incredibly inefficient, from a health-care expenditure standpoint." Howard said improving incentives for physicians and creating more flexible work arrangements could help improve the system. She also mentioned using AI transcription tools to reduce the administrative burden, something that's already being used in other parts of Canada. "What we're hearing from people is that this is buying them hours back every day," she said. "They get to have lunch, they get to go home from the clinic at a reasonable hour and see their kids."
CBC
26-04-2025
- CBC
Woman found not guilty of manslaughter in Brandon man's 2020 overdose death
A woman accused of selling the drugs that killed a Brandon man nearly five years ago has been found not guilty following her trial for manslaughter in the southwestern Manitoba city. Hailey Lepine, 25, had pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter, criminal negligence and unlawfully trafficking a controlled substance in connection with the 2020 overdose death of 30-year-old Michael Crede. Justice Elliot Leven, who presided over the judge-only March 25 to 27 trial at the Court of King's Bench in Brandon, acquitted Lepine in an April 16 decision, ruling the Crown had not proved her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Crede died on July 25, 2020, after splitting a gram of MDMA, also known as ecstasy or molly, with his 33-year-old girlfriend, Chrissy Nepinak (who testified at the trial but is not identified by name in Leven's decision). In her March 25 testimony, Nepinak said Crede shook and foamed at the mouth after taking the drugs, and later became unresponsive. A toxicologist testified that Crede had "very, very, very high" levels of MDA in his blood. The body breaks down MDMA into MDA, a related substance within the amphetamine family that can have greater hallucinogenic and stimulant effects. There were no other apparent causes of death, Leven wrote, and the pathologist told court Crede's cause of death was a drug overdose. Nepinak testified she bought the drugs from Lepine, claiming Lepine knew the drugs to be dangerous but sold them anyway. Lepine told the court that never happened. "Have I ever sold a drug to anyone? No," Lepine said on the last day of her trial. In his decision, Leven wrote he did not find Nepinak to be a "credible or reliable witness," adding she demonstrated "extremely poor judgment" by not calling 911 or driving Crede to the hospital. Leven questioned Nepinak's claims that she arranged to buy the drugs from Lepine using Facebook Messenger, noting there was "no physical evidence (e.g. text messages) contradicting anything [Lepine] said." Lepine told court she occasionally used text messages to buy drugs herself, but claimed she didn't have any messages from 2020. She said she never texted or saw Nepinak the day Crede died. Nepinak told the court she deleted the messages about buying drugs out of habit. Leven also noted Lepine freely admitted to using marijuana, cocaine and magic mushrooms, which "bolstered her credibility to some extent." In his decision, Leven wrote he found Nepinak to be "dishonest" when she initially told police the drugs had come from a "friend of a friend," a response he wrote was "calculated to hide something from the police." She testified she didn't initially want to give police a name, but changed her mind when they told her she could help prevent more deaths by telling them where the drugs came from. Leven's decision, though, said "a more plausible explanation is that, when she realized that the police were intent on pursuing the subject, [Nepinak] realized that her 'friend of a friend' answer would no longer be sufficient, and she had to provide a name. "The first name that came to mind was that of the accused." Leven's decision noted that Lepine had dated Nepinak's brother but they had a bad breakup in mid-2020. Lepine claimed he had sold drugs at the time, and that she had previously shared drugs with him and Nepinak. "Providing the name of the accused was a convenient solution to a difficult problem," Leven wrote. "Considering the credible evidence of the accused along with the less credible evidence of [Nepinak], there is obviously a reasonable doubt about the guilt of the accused," he ruled, acquitting Levine of the charges.
CBC
27-03-2025
- CBC
Defence challenges credibility of key prosecution witness in Brandon overdose death trial
Social Sharing A Brandon woman charged with manslaughter in a 2020 overdose death testified on Thursday it's been months since she saw or spoke with the woman who has accused her of selling bad drugs, contradicting testimony from the key prosecution witness. "Have I ever sold a drug to anyone? No," Hailey Lepine, 25, said from the witness box on the third and final day of testimony at her trial in the Court of Kings Bench in Brandon. Prosecutors argue Lepine sold the drugs that led to Michael Crede's overdose death in July 2020. Crede's girlfriend, Chrissy Nepinak, 33, testified on Tuesday that Crede began to shake and foam at the mouth before becoming unresponsive after they split a gram of MDMA (ecstasy) sold by Lepine. Lepine, who has pleaded not guilty, is charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence and unlawfully trafficking a controlled substance, with prosecutors alleging she provided the drugs knowing it to be a dangerous substance that caused Crede's death. She testified that she had dated Nepinak's brother for five years before a bad breakup at the end of 2019 when she found out he had been cheating. She said she also had a falling out with Nepinak over an alleged drug debt. "We shared social, like, groups, but not, like, social drugs," Lepine said. Because of the hostility with Nepinak and her brother, she hadn't spoken with either of them in the months leading up to Crede's death, Lepine testified. She denied ever selling or providing drugs to Nepinak. Lepine told the court she was so removed from Nepinak's social circle she didn't learn about Crede's death until December 2020 when she was arrested by police. "I just remember getting threatened by the cops saying I was going in for murder," Lepine said. Sharply contrasting theories In his closing argument Crown prosecutor Rich Longstrup argued Lepine sold the drugs that led to Crede's death. He told the court the purchase of drugs wasn't about being friends, it was a transaction. "You don't automatically gravitate towards the drug dealer who has the highest Yelp review. You don't go running towards the person who happens to be your family member," Longstrup said. Lepine's lawyer argued his client had been wrongfully accused, and said the drugs came from Nepinak's brother. Defence lawyer Andrew Synyshyn told Judge Elliot Leven the case comes down to whose version of events to believe: "This is as basic as it can get. Miss Nepinak was lying, Miss Lepine was not." He argued Nepinak is the only person tying Lepine to Crede's death, arguing that made her a disreputable and unsavoury witness so her word alone was not enough to find Lepine guilty. Longstrup countered Nepinak was there to tell the truth, "warts and all." "She made the ultimate admission. She administered the drug that killed her boyfriend," Longstrup said."She is still living with this. She shared it openly and painfully." He argued that Nepinak gave a name to police after being told it could help save lives by getting the drug that killed Crede off the streets, and took the risk of being labelled a rat by providing the information. Synyshyn argued that Nepinak provided evidence that she used drugs regularly with Crede, had a sibling who is a drug dealer, was found with drug paraphernalia in her home and did nothing to help Crede when he was in medical distress. "It was only when she realized that either she would be in trouble because these drugs killed Mr. Crede or that her brother would be in trouble [that] she gave Miss Lepine's name," Synyshyn said.
