Humboldt

A new poll suggests the vast majority of Canadians are proud of their home and native land, but our sense of national pride is lower than it was a few years ago.

Polling firm Leger surveyed 1,607 people last weekend, asking how they're feeling about being Canadian ahead of Canada Day. The firm posed similar questions to a group of 1,003 Americans ahead of the Fourth of July.

The results suggest the vast majority of us — 76 per cent — would call ourselves proud Canadians. 

WestJet cancelled nearly 700 flights as of Sunday, upending plans for close to 100,000 passengers as an unexpected strike by plane mechanics entered its third day on the busiest travel weekend of the season.

Some 680 workers, whose daily inspections and repairs are essential to airline operations, walked off the job on Friday evening despite a directive for binding arbitration from the federal labour minister.

Since Thursday, tracking service FlightAware shows WestJet has cancelled 687 flights scheduled to fly between then and the end of the Canada Day long weekend.

With school officially out for the summer, the Saskatchewan government aims to remind river and lake-goers about provincial watercraft inspection stations.

Watercraft owners are advised to thoroughly clean their crafts and all equipment and drain all water. As well as allow time to dry, ideally for five days, and remove the plug before transporting, as it's mandatory. 

This includes boats, canoes, kayaks, jet skis, paddleboards, and more, even if the subject is just passing through. 

Heading into our peak severe weather season in the Canadian prairies we have seen quite a few tornado warnings issued in the province. But how common is it to get tornadoes in Saskatchewan? Saskatchewan averages around 14-18 confirmed tornadoes a year, with fluctuations year to year. 2023 saw the record low at only 1 confirmed tornado and 2012 saw a record high of 33 confirmed tornados.

Canada's unofficial national colours will be on full display Monday as Canadians don patriotic T-shirts, wave hand-held flags and hang bunting to celebrate their country. But while the red-and-white flag for the most part unites Canadians, the colours' meaning is open to interpretation.

Xavier Gélinas, a curator at the Canadian Museum of History, said there is no authoritative source that explains why the country drapes itself in red and white.

Across the border between Canada and the United States, officers from the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended nearly 2,000 people who were crossing illegally from Canada into the United States in April. Most of those were people crossing the border in the eastern part of the nation.  

Thousands of Canadians are having their long weekend travel plans upended and WestJet says it expects "significant disruption" after mechanics walked off the job Friday night despite the Minister of Labour ordering both sides to arbitration earlier this week.

The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association announced on Friday evening that mechanics would begin strike action at 6:30 p.m. CDT.

One Liberal MP who is not seeking re-election has sent an email to fellow caucus members calling for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down as party leader.

Another suggested it may be time to put that question to the party's membership.

But the prime minister showed no signs of blinking Friday as he was greeted by happy throngs of supporters at both a party fundraiser and a campaign-style stop at the Taste of Asia festival in a Toronto suburb.

Saskatchewan saw a 1.5 per cent increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in May 2024 compared to May 2023. This has continued the trend of the Saskatchewan ranking among the lowest CPI growth compared to 2.9 per cent across Canada. 

This weekend, the Watrous Whitecaps will hold their annual swim meet, drawing teams from corners of the province. Over 150 swimmers will be competing, including the local products from the Whitecaps swim team.  

President Tanya Jansen said the Whitecaps season began with practicing in the beginning of May, with the swimmers having to use the Aquatic Centre in Humboldt due Watrous only having an outdoor pool.