Looking for answers and extending the wage subsidy:In The News for July 20

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of July 20.

What we are watching in Canada …

COLUMBIA ICEFIELD, Alta. — An investigation is underway into what caused a bus carrying tourists to an Alberta glacier to overturn killing three people and sending two dozen others to hospital.

The crash happened Saturday afternoon as the giant off road vehicle was carrying visitors to the Athabasca glacier.

Alberta Heath Services said that of the 24 survivors, 14 suffered life-threatening head or pelvis injuries. Five others were in serious condition with broken bones while the remaining five suffered minor injuries.

Sergeant Rick Bidaisee, the commander of the Jasper R-C-M-P Detachment, said Sunday that the cause of the accident had yet to be determined. He noted the snow coach, called an Ice Explorer, will undergo a full mechanical inspection.

The big wheeled vehicle currently remains upside down near the glacier.

Dave McKenna is the president of the Banff Jasper Collection by Pursuit, which operates the tours and its fleet of 22 vehicles. He says his company has begun its own investigation and will look closely at any recommendations that are made once the investigation is complete.

—

Also this …

OTTAWA — The House of Commons meets today as the Liberals seek to pass a bill to extend their wage-subsidy program, send a special payment to people with disabilities and extend some legal deadlines for court cases.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau says the wage-subsidy program needs to be extended to December and have its criteria loosened a little, so business can re-open and employ workers even if trade is slow at first as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

The payments of up to $600 for people with disabilities and the court extensions were elements of a bill the Liberals couldn’t get through the House of Commons in June.

It would also have added new penalties for defrauding the Canada Emergency Response Benefit program and the Liberals couldn’t find another party to back it.

The Bloc Quebecois says its MPs will support this new bill, making its passage all but certain.

—

ICYMI (in case you missed it) …

ST-APOLLINAIRE, Que. — The mayor of a small Quebec town where an exhaustive provincial police manhunt for the missing father of two deceased sisters came to an end Saturday night says he’s confident authorities have done all they could to find him.

After 10 days of searching for Martin Carpentier, 44, provincial police announced they were  suspending their ground search in the St-Apollinaire area and surrounding towns.

Police said they were changing their approach to the investigation but remain determined to find Carpentier.

Bernard Ouellet, the mayor of St-Apollinaire, southwest of Quebec City, said there’s been a lot of stress and worry among residents in the area where sisters Norah and Romy Carpentier, aged 11 and 6, were found dead on July 11, triggering the manhunt for Carpentier.

Ouellet said he’s satisfied that Quebec provincial police have done everything they can to find Carpentier, who has been missing in the area since a car crash on the evening of July 8. An Amber Alert was triggered the following day.

—

What we are watching in the U.S. …

WASHINGTON — The renewed surge of coronavirus cases has Congress considering what to do next.

Top Republicans in Congress are expected to meet today with President Donald Trump on the next COVID-19 aid package.

The administration is stiffening its opposition to more testing money and interjecting other priorities, and that could complicate quick passage.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is prepared to roll out the $1 trillion package in a matter of days. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already passed a sweeping $3 trillion measure from Democrats.

Congress is returning to session this week as the coronavirus crisis many had hoped would have improved by now has only worsened — and just as earlier federal emergency relief is expiring.

—

What we are watching in the rest of the world …

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Weary and bleary European Union leaders temporarily broke up their summit at dawn on the fourth day of acrimonious haggling over an unprecedented 1.85 trillion-euro ($2.1 trillion) EU budget and coronavirus recovery fund to tackle the crisis. They committed to pick up the fight again later Monday.

In a two-day summit scheduled to have ended Saturday, deep ideological differences between 27 leaders forced the talks into Sunday and then through the night until the sun came up again over the EU capital. Grumpy, some leaders lashed out at each other when a common middle ground was still out of reach.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, defending the cause of a group of five wealthy northern nations seeking to limit costs and strict reform guarantees, came under criticism from Italy and Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban asked why the Dutchman had such “hate” toward him.

The leaders were teetering on the bring of collapse though, Rutte said, before things somewhat turned around before dawn Monday.

—

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 20, 2020.

The Canadian Press