News

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Hydro One crews have made significant progress but there are still around 20,000 homes and businesses without power this (Tuesday) morning. Yesterday there were over 50,000. There are outages, big and small, spread throughout the Quinte region. Hydro One estimates that most of them won’t see the lights come back on until late tomorrow (Wednesday). However some residents, especially those here in Prince Edward County, could have power back by late today. Province wide there are over 281,000 Hydro One customers still without power. While crews work to restore power another round of freezing rain and rain is expected to hit the area starting later Wednesday. This storm won’t be nearly as severe as last weekend’s.

It’s official — the consumer carbon tax is over, starting today. Mark Carney cancelled the fee on his first day as prime minister last month, signing a directive for the fuel charge to be removed on April 1. The levy had been added to the sale price of carbon-emitting products by fuel type. For gasoline, it was 17.6 cents a litre, and natural gas was 15.25 cents per cubic metre. (The average Canadian home uses about 2,500 cubic metres of natural gas a year.) Carney initially supported the carbon tax, but reversed course while campaigning for Liberal Party leadership, saying it had become too “divisive.” Though the consumer price on carbon is gone, the industrial price for large-scale polluters remains.

Embattled Toronto-area Liberal candidate Paul Chiang is dropping out of the race just hours after the RCMP told CBC News it’s looking into whether he broke the law by suggesting people turn a Conservative candidate running in a nearby riding into the Chinese consulate to collect a bounty. It comes after Liberal Leader Mark Carney said on Monday that Chiang could stay on after apologizing for his “deeply offensive comments” and “terrible lapse of judgment.” Pressure mounted from opposition parties and more than 40 organizations demanding Carney immediately drop Chiang and for police to investigate. Chiang, a former police officer, called his own comments “deplorable” after news broke that he suggested to Chinese-language media at a news conference in January that people could hand over Joe Tay to the Chinese consulate for a reward offered by police in Hong Kong.

Aid groups in the worst-hit areas of Myanmar said there was an urgent need for shelter, food and water after an earthquake that killed more than 2,700 people, but said the country’s civil war could prevent help reaching those in need. The death toll had reached 2,719 and is expected to rise to more than 3,000, Myanmar’s military leader Min Aung Hlaing said in a televised address on Tuesday. He said 4,521 people were injured, and 441 were missing. The 7.7 magnitude quake, which hit around lunchtime on Friday, was the strongest to hit the Southeast Asian country in more than a century, toppling ancient pagodas and modern buildings alike.

Prescription drugs have been exempt from tariffs in the past. But Donald Trump looks poised to change that as early as April 2. That could result in shortages for critical drugs for Americans, warn experts. Bupropion, used to treat major depressive disorder; ibalizumab, for patients with multi-drug-resistant HIV; and sotalol, to treat a life-threatening heart rhythm problem: those are just some of the drugs mostly manufactured in Canada and sent to the U.S. that might be impacted by the tariffs. A research letter published in JAMA Monday looking into the potential impact on tariffs on Canadian pharmaceuticals identified hundreds of drugs made in Canada for the U.S. market. Dozens of those drugs are only, or predominantly, manufactured in Canada.

Sports

Andres Gimenez hit his third home run in five games and Bowden Francis gave up two hits in six innings as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Washington Nationals 5-2

In other baseball news Carson Kelly became the first Chicago Cubs player in 32 years to hit for the cycle. He tripled in the eighth inning of an 18-3 rout of the Athletics — ending the longest drought without a cycle by any team in the National League.

Yegor Sharangovich scored the only goal in the shootout and the Calgary Flames rallied from two goals down to beat Colorado 3-2 on Monday night, snapping a seven-game skid against the Avalanche.

Canada’s Brad Jacobs went with his gut over analytics in a showdown with Scotland’s Bruce Mouat on Monday at the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship. It was a decision that came a whisker away from paying off… The host side settled for a deuce and Mouat made a hit in the extra end for a 6-5 victory.