Beyond Local

The unemployment rate fell to 7.8 per cent for the month compared with 8.2 per cent in May, which the statistics agency says was the lowest of the pandemic since the 7.5 per cent recorded in March.

As of July 5, Canadians who have received a double dose of an approved COVID-19 vaccine no longer have to quarantine for two weeks upon their return home.

“It all wraps around planning— You have to be able to take care of yourself until we arrive,” Vonk said.

Early studies, including one from New York University published July 2, suggest Lambda, the latest variant of interest, may be a bit resistant to antibodies produced by the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, but concluded it is not by enough "to cause a significant loss of protection against infection."

Critics are suggesting Leela Aheer, the member for Chestermere-Strathmore, was booted in the cabinet shuffle because of how she publicly criticized Kenney a month ago for breaking COVID-19 health rules by having a patio dinner outside his temporary penthouse office.

In both countries, infection rates are highest among people under 30. Canada opened up vaccines to people as young as 12 by the end of May. The U.K. only began booking people as young as 18 in mid-June and still hasn't started vaccinating teenagers.

Troy Crosby, the assistant deputy minister of materiel at the Department of National Defence, says officials have since launched discussions with Sikorsky Aircraft, the American company building the Cyclone, to find ways to deal with the issue. He indicated that are no plans at this time to take legal action against Sikorsky, which is now owned by U.S. aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.

"We've never seen a jump in record temperature like the one in this heat wave," said Geert Jan van Oldenborgh of Oxford University. "These are incredibly high temperatures for these fairly temperate regions." 

Ground-penetrating radar will be used to search five sites in the community.

Karen Kuprys, secretary treasurer of the Alberta Federation of Labour, said in a statement that the proposed cuts would result in worsening shortages, increased wait times and difficulty attracting and retaining future nurses.