Federal Election Update
Just a week to go before the federal election, and all the main party leaders are back on the campaign trail.
The NDP's Tom Mulcair is in the Vancouver area this morning before moving on to Saskatoon this afternoon.
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has the busiest Thanksgiving Day schedule, starting out in the Ottawa-area and then moving through eastern Ontario with stops in Napanee and Port Hope in the afternoon.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is also in Ontario, with an event on a farm near Waterloo.
Meanwhile, people are heading to the advance polls in droves this Thanksgiving weekend, with Elections Canada reporting a 34% increase over the first two days of advance polls in the 2011 campaign.
The agency says 780,000 voters cast ballots on Saturday.
That raised the total number of voters for the first two days of advance polls to just over 1.6 million.
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Windy Weather
Strong winds with severe and damaging gusts are expected to continue near the lakes throughout this morning.
Extremely powerful northwest winds will affect much of southern Manitoba today in the wake of a cold front which swept through the region overnight. Wind gusts up to 100 km/h can be expected this morning through the Red River Valley and southwestern Manitoba. Even stronger gusts to 120 km/h can be expected where winds blow onshore from Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba.
Numerous reports of power outages, fallen trees, damage to buildings and overturned vehicles were reported yesterday in Saskatchewan in association with this system, where winds gusted as high as 120 km/h.
Extremely powerful northwest winds will affect much of southern Manitoba today in the wake of a cold front which swept through the region overnight. Wind gusts up to 100 km/h can be expected this morning through the Red River Valley and southwestern Manitoba. Even stronger gusts to 120 km/h can be expected where winds blow onshore from Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba.
Numerous reports of power outages, fallen trees, damage to buildings and overturned vehicles were reported yesterday in Saskatchewan in association with this system, where winds gusted as high as 120 km/h.
Winds will gradually subside this afternoon from west to east as this system heads off into Ontario.
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Impaired Fatal
RCMP in the province say a woman is dead after a head-on crash with a suspected impaired driver who was allegedly fleeing police.
Mounties say they got reports about an impaired driver late Friday night, and they tried to stop him when then they spotted his vehicle at a gas station in St. Claude, west of Winnipeg.
They say they called off the chase due to excessive speed, but that the vehicle crashed with another about three kilometres east of St. Claude.
A 20-year-old female from the southern part of the province was pronounced dead at the scene.
The suspect -- a 27-year-old man from Winnipeg -- remains in critical condition.
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Girlfriends Fight
A woman has been charged with attempted murder in Winnipeg after allegedly stabbing her former boyfriend and his new girlfriend.
Police allege the 38-year-old woman showed up at an apartment on Saturday evening, and that she and the 55-year-old man began arguing.
They allege she got a knife from the apartment and stabbed the man and his current 32-year-old girlfriend multiple times. Both are in stable condition in hospital.
Marilyn Elanor Edwards faces two charges of attempted murder and one charge of possessing a weapon.
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Jail Expansion
A new unit at a Saskatchewan jail is about to open.
Unit 5 at the Prince Albert Provincial Correctional Centre will house 144 inmates, bringing the total that can be comfortably housed at the jail to 400.
It will be filled next week with only remanded inmates who have shown good behaviour.
The new section boasts a video court area, so inmates required to make appearances don't have to be transported to other cities.
