Prime Minister Justin Trudeau views damage to lobster boats from Hurricane Fiona at Stanley Bridge, P.E.I. on Sept. 27, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Phil Matusiewicz)

Trudeau tours storm-hit Atlantic Canada as power outages persist

Flooding may hit P.E.I. potato crops

Port aux Basques, N.L. | Reuters — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday started a tour of Atlantic Canada, where thousands were still without power after record-setting storm Fiona ravaged the country’s east coast, tossing homes into the sea and killing at least three people. Fiona recorded the lowest barometric pressure ever for a storm […] Read more

RCMP officers near a building destroyed by Hurricane Fiona at Port aux Basques, N.L. on Sept. 26, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/John Morris)

Fiona batters Eastern Canada’s farms, fishery

'You'll hear me swearing in Saskatchewan'

Winnipeg | Reuters — Powerful storm Fiona slammed into Canada’s eastern fishing and farm industries over the weekend, smashing wharves, food processing plants and barns that will take months to repair. One of the worst storms Canada has ever faced left more than one-third of customers in Nova Scotia without power, swept homes into the […] Read more


Wrecked structures float in the water in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona at Rose Blanche, N.L., about 45 km east of Port aux Basques, on Sept. 25, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/John Morris)

Cleanup work begins for Eastern Canada after Fiona

Five provinces assessing damage from 'unprecedented' storm

Port aux Basques | Reuters — It will take several months for Canada to restore critical infrastructure after the powerful storm Fiona left an “unprecedented” trail of destruction, officials said on Sunday, as crews fanned out in five provinces to restore power and clean up fallen trees and debris. One 73-year-old woman died during the […] Read more

A composite satellite view of Hurricane Fiona nearing Nova Scotia at about 6 p.m. local time on Sept. 23, 2022. (U.S. National Hurricane Center image, NOAA.gov)

Fiona pounds Bermuda as Canada braces for major jolt

Up to eight inches of rain expected along path

Hamilton, Bermuda/Halifax, N.S. | Reuters — Hurricane Fiona pounded the Atlantic island of Bermuda with heavy rain and winds on Friday as it tracked northward toward Eastern Canada, where it threatens to become one of the most severe storms in Canadian history. Fiona had already battered a series of Caribbean islands earlier in the week, […] Read more


File photo of wild horses running on grasslands in Nova Scotia’s remote Sable Island National Park Reserve. (Photo by Sarah Medill/Parks Canada/Handout via Reuters)

Wild horses face unruly storms as Fiona nears East Coast

Damages feared to buildings, utilities, crops

Ottawa | Reuters — Shaggy, long-maned wild horses grazing freely on the sandy grasslands of the crescent-shaped Sable Island in the North Atlantic are expected to come under the swipe of a powerful storm forecast to hit Eastern Canada this weekend. Hurricane Fiona, tracking northward after carving a destructive path through the Dominican Republic and […] Read more

A man stands inside his destroyed house in the rural zone of Cuey, in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona, in El Seibo in the Dominican Republic on Sept. 20, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Ricardo Rojas)

Atlantic Canada on Hurricane Fiona’s path, broad impact expected

Parts of Nova Scotia more vulnerable to flooding

Reuters — Hurricane Fiona is headed toward Eastern Canada and is expected to reach its Atlantic region by Friday in what could be a severe weather event as the storm continues to gain strength, Canadian meteorologists said Wednesday. Fiona powered up to a Category 4 storm on Wednesday, packing winds as high as 215 km/h, […] Read more


Pacific Ocean sea surface temperature anomalies (in degrees Celsius) for the week centred on Sept. 14, 2022. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

La Nina set to continue for third year

Other weather patterns may override temporarily

MarketsFarm — With fall soon upon North America, there’s nothing overly unusual with the continuation of La Nina, according to Drew Lerner, president of World Weather Inc. at Overland Park, Kansas. Going into its third year, some people might think this is the third consecutive La Nina — but Lerner said it’s the same one, […] Read more

File photo of chicks on a genetic map of a chicken. (Peggy Greb photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Avian flu returns to southwestern Ontario

More cases also turn up in western provinces

Highly pathogenic avian influenza has circled back to Ontario for the first time in four months with an outbreak in a commercial poultry flock in Oxford County. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on Friday confirmed the outbreak at a farm in the township of Zorra, about 20 km east of London. Details on the […] Read more


(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Avian flu circles back in Western Canada

All western provinces book new cases in commercial birds

A relatively quiet summer for highly pathogenic avian influenza in Canada has turned for the worse, with outbreaks on commercial poultry farms in all four western provinces in the past week alone. Cases of high-path avian flu in domestic birds in Canada confirmed and reported by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency since Aug. 31 include: […] Read more

AgSafe Alberta offers a free and easy-to-complete online course that covers common farm workplace hazards.

Preventable farm accidents continue to take a grim toll in Alberta

Farm workplaces are dangerous places — thousands suffer injuries every year and some lose their lives

Reading Time: 3 minutes Editor’s note: This story contains graphic content. Farmers and their family members keep getting hurt or killed for the same reasons, so a 14-year veteran of rural medicine is sharing accident stories as a warning during harvest. Dr. Andrew Swinton was one of the foot soldiers on the front line who dealt with serious injuries […] Read more