FortSask

The Canadian soldier charged with speaking against federal vaccine mandates while wearing his uniform and who recently led a march to Ottawa is now facing a court martial.

Warrant Officer James Topp's lawyer says the army reservist was recently notified that he will be allowed to have his case heard in a military court instead of by his chain of command.

Phillip Millar says the decision represents a second about-face after the military initially offered his client a court martial, only to rescind the offer and send his case to his unit commanders.

Signal and communication workers at CN Rail are set to return to their jobs at 7 am on Wednesday ending their 17 day strike. 

The 750 workers are represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers  and install and maintain signals and trackside equipment, including the warning systems at railroad-highway crossings.

The two sides agreed to binding arbitration bringing the strike to an end.

The Heartland Petrochemical Complex in Fort Saskatchewan is now up and running.  

On Tuesday (Jul. 5), Inter Pipeline Ltd. announced it had successfully commissioned the polypropylene plant and has begun initial production. 

"A safe commissioning of our polypropylene plant is a crucial step towards commercial production of Heartland Polymers," said Jim Madro, senior vice president of petrochemicals. 

Canada has become the first country to ratify Sweden and Finland's request to join NATO, bringing the two countries closer to full membership.

The Prime Minister's Office says Justin Trudeau met with Finland's president, Sauli Niinistö, and Sweden's prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, at the NATO Summit last week. 

In a statement, Trudeau says Canada champions the alliance's open door policy for any European country in a position to "advance the commitments and obligations of membership."

Canada is about to toss more than half of its doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine because it couldn't find any takers for it either in or outside of Canada.

A statement from Health Canada says 13.6 million doses of the vaccine expired in the spring and will be thrown out.

A year ago Canada said it would donate almost 18 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to lower-income countries.

As of June 22, almost nine million doses were delivered to 21 different nations.

This summer, Strathcona County will have an art exhibition saturated with popular culture references.

Red Deer artist Jason Frizzell will be showcasing his miniature sculpture pieces called "We'll Build a Palace Upon the Ruins" at Gallery@501, Strathcona County's only public art gallery.

From July 8 to Aug. 20, the exhibition will be on display for all to enjoy. 

More charges have been unveiled after a 13-year-old went missing. 

41-year-old Noah Madrano will be charged in the States with kidnapping, rape and sexual abuse after a teenage girl from Edmonton went missing on June 24.

The teenager got off a school bus in north Edmonton and was later found in Oregon City on July 2.

In Canada, Madrano will be charged with child luring and may face more charges as the investigation continues.

Officials from the province gathered at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village in Lamont County Monday (July 4) to announce more support for Ukrainian refugees. 

Among the attendees were Premier Jason Kenney, associate minister Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk, minister of children's services Matt Jones, and president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress-Alberta Provincial Council, Orysia Boychuk.

A new spray deck is open in Strathcona County.

The attraction at McPherson Park has 14 spray features and was also designed with the environment in mind as solar panels will power the water. It has a push-on button and an automatic shut-off feature. 

To accompany the new deck at 400 Regency Drive, there is also a portable washroom, shading, seating and a rubberized non-slip surface. 

The Canadian Cattlemen's Association was one of many organizations that had an opinion on the recent decision to put saturated fat warnings on ground beef and pork products by Health Canada.

The label would have gone on all ground beef and pork, including lean and very lean varieties.

Their "Don't Label My Beef" campaign was one of the factors which ended up reverting that decision.

Reg Schellenberg, the president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association says that the change was helped out by all of the people who contributed their voices.