National News

Hundreds of Canadians are stranded in Cancún, Mexico and don't know how they'll get home after their Sunwing flights were cancelled last week.

Passengers said they've been shuffled from hotel to hotel after sleeping on floors at the airport and in lobbies, saying there's no end in sight to their ordeal.

There is a complex, counterintuitive relationship between rising global temperatures and the likelihood of increasingly intense snowstorms across Canada.

Winters are becoming on average milder and warmer than they used to be, but there has also been a noted rise across the country in extreme weather events, such as intense snowstorms, said John Clague, a professor of geosciences at Simon Fraser University, in Burnaby, B.C. 

Weather warnings remain in place across the country as major storms continue to dump snow and freezing rain on Quebec, Ontario and B.C., and batter the Atlantic provinces with heavy rain and powerful winds.

Hundreds of thousands of customers have been left without power in the final hours before Christmas, with hydro crews working around the clock to get the lights back on.

A Hydro-Quebec spokesman said about 1,000 workers were repairing power lines to restore electricity to approximately 355,256 customers as of early Saturday morning.

A major winter storm bearing down on Ontario and Quebec cancelled flights, closed schools and threatened widespread power outages Friday, with an Environment Canada meteorologist warning of a possible once-in-a-decade weather event. 

Environment Canada predicted strong winds, heavy snowfall and possible flash freezing, issuing winter storm warnings for most of Ontario and Quebec. 

"We may only see one of these storms every five or 10 years," said Environment Canada meteorologist Mitch Meredith. "I've only seen a couple of storms like this in the last 20 years." 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is heading to Jamaica after Christmas for a one-week vacation with his immediate family.

The Prime Minister's Office says Trudeau will remain in constant contact with Ottawa during the trip and continue to be briefed and updated on issues.

The PMO also says it checked with the federal ethics commissioner in advance of the travel to make sure it follows guidelines.

Trudeau had been found in violation of conflict-of-interest rules in 2017 after a 2016 vacation he took to the Aga Khan's private island in the Bahamas.

WestJet proactively cancelled flights at airports in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec Thursday night as storm systems bore down on the regions, deepening a cascade of disruptions that have sent travellers scrambling.

Diederik Pen, WestJet's chief operations officer, said the decision to stand down 243 more flights was extremely difficult but necessary, in order to fly safely with as little disruption as possible when the weather improves.

Canada's chief public health officer says COVID-19 is still circulating at a "relatively high level" and other strains of influenza may surge in the new year.

At the same time, governments need to invest in preparing for and preventing future epidemics, Dr. Theresa Tam says.

A major winter storm bearing down on Toronto is adding to the calamity in Canadian airports already plagued by flight cancellations and delays set off early this week by heavy snow in Vancouver. 

Environment Canada says Toronto's storm will begin today with rain or snow followed by plummeting temperatures, a potential flash freeze and blizzard-like conditions Friday.

Toronto's Pearson International Airport has cautioned it could affect operations, while Environment Canada warns of possible extensive power outages and dangerous travel conditions.

Canada's ban on the manufacture and import for sale of some plastic items, including grocery bags and straws, has taken effect.

As of today, companies can no longer produce or bring into Canada plastic checkout bags, cutlery, stir sticks, straws and takeout containers — and in a year, it will also be illegal to sell them.

The manufacturing and import ban will extend to the plastic rings used to package six-packs of canned drinks next June and their sale will be prohibited a year after that.

Police north of Toronto are working to determine the motive in what they've called a "horrendous" shooting at a condo that left five people, plus the suspected gunman, dead.

York Regional Police say Francesco Villi's victims at the high-rise building in Vaughan, Ont., on Sunday night included three members of the building's condo board.

Court documents indicate the 73-year-old had a lengthy history of threatening members of the board and believed they had a conspiracy to "systematically murder" him.