The Canadian Press

A new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is dismissing moves by the federal government and Canada's premiers to break down internal trade barriers as little more than "political theatre."

It lands just ahead of the country’s internal trade ministers meeting in Quebec City this week, where they are expected to talk about their next steps as they rush to remove rules hampering cross-provincial trade.

A wildfire in northern Manitoba has destroyed seven homes in a day the chief and council of the local First Nation are calling "horrendous."

Officials of Tataskweyak Cree Nation say in a Facebook post that a fire that ignited northwest of the community on Friday was fanned by strong winds, and that approximately 175 residents have been evacuated east to Gillam, Man.

Tataskweyak was evacuated earlier in the fire season and had lifted the order in mid-June, but then had to push back the date when people could return due to problems with its water system.

The 600 residents of Lynn Lake in northern Manitoba are being told to leave town for the second time this year due to wildfires.

Town officials say a fire is threatening Manitoba Hydro transmission lines and, if those lines are damaged, the community could be without power for a month.

The town is offering transportation for evacuees and a reception centre has been set up in Brandon, about 1,100 kilometres by road to the south.

A third person has died following a highway crash that killed the bassist for a well-known Winnipeg band.

Mounties responded to the crash Tuesday afternoon north of Swan River in western Manitoba.

They say a vehicle travelling south had crossed the centre line and hit a vehicle facing north that was parked on the edge of the road.

A 42-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman in the parked vehicle were transported to hospital, where they died.

The bassist for a Winnipeg band and his partner are dead after a Canada Day crash on a Manitoba highway.

Indie pop band Royal Canoe says bass player Brendan Berg died in the crash a day before his 43rd birthday, along with Olivia Michalczuk.

RCMP say they responded to a head-on crash on Tuesday afternoon north of Swan River, in western Manitoba.

They say a southbound vehicle veered over the centre line and hit another vehicle that's believed to have been parked, causing it to roll over.

Wildfires are currently raging in several provinces across Canada. 

The BC Wildfire Service reports that crews are battling more than 70 wildfires in British Columbia, with one particularly intense wildfire near the community of Lytton, having led to a local state of emergency and several evacuation orders.

In Yukon, the territorial government has lifted an evacuation alert for the area surrounding Ethel Lake, located approximately a four-hour drive north of Whitehorse. 

Despite this change, the wildfire that prompted the alert on June 24 remains out of control.

Alberta's government is seeking advice to address violence and aggression in schools.

Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides says it's a serious problem as learning disruptions and mental health concerns are becoming more and more common.

Nicolaides says a team of 20 education system officials and teachers will develop potential policy options and solutions over the next six months.

He says some of the recommendations could be implemented as soon as the fall.

The Manitoba government is moving closer to changing a highway intersection where a bus crash killed 17 people, but there is controversy over the plan.

The province is holding an open house tonight in Carberry, west of Winnipeg, not far from where a minibus carrying 24 seniors tried to cross the Trans-Canada Highway and was struck by a semi-trailer in 2023.

The province has discussed three options: widening the median, turning the intersection into a roundabout, or banning left turns onto the highway, which would force people to turn right before making a U-turn.

The second person killed in a rockfall last week in Banff National Park  has been identified as a 33-year-old man from Surrey, B.C. 

RCMP did not provide a name and say no more information will be provided.

Two people were killed and three more injured when a slab of mountain gave way last Thursday, raining rock down on hikers at Bow Glacier Falls.

The three injured were later listed in stable condition.

The second deceased person has previously been identified as 70-year-old Jutta Hinrichs, a retired university professor from Calgary.

One of the two people killed in a rockfall in Banff National Park has been identified as 70-year-old Jutta Hinrichs of Calgary.

The University of Alberta, in a statement, says Hinrichs was an educator in the department of occupational therapy in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine. 

She retired last summer.

Her body was found shortly after a slab of mountain suddenly gave way Thursday afternoon, collapsing on hikers at a popular trail near Bow Glacier Falls, about 200 kilometres northwest of Calgary.