Environment Canada confirmed at least one tornado hit the Ottawa area just after noon on Thursday, damaging several dozen homes in a city suburb. Nicholas DeFazio, a spokesman for Ottawa Fire Services, said there were no injuries from the tornado, which damaged about 50 homes in the south-end Barrhaven neighbourhood. Monica Vaswani, a warning preparedness…

Environment Canada has issued a “multi–day” heat wave alert expected to continue until Thursday for most of Ontario, including the Greater Toronto Area. The heat warning says the actual temperature is expected to fluctuate between high 20s and low 30s, with a humidex of high 30s to low 40s. The weather agency warns while the…

Wildfire smoke is again hanging over vast areas of Ontario, with Environment Canada warning that the high levels of air pollution may affect vulnerable people. The weather agency has issued special air quality statements for southern and eastern Ontario including the Greater Toronto Area, London, Windsor and Ottawa due to smoke from forest fires in…

Smoke continued to billow from wildfires burning across northern Quebec on Monday, grounding water bombers and causing widespread smog warnings farther south. There were 114 fires burning across the province as of Monday morning, including  29 considered out of control, according to a spokesman for the province’s forest fire prevention agency. Nicolas Vigneault said the…

Environment Commissioner Jerry DeMarco said on June 13 that the Liberal government needs to implement more “realistic” initiatives, saying the 2019 promise of planting two billion trees can not be done without the provinces’ participation. “They need to concentrate much more on results,” DeMarco testified at the House of Commons natural resources committee. “This is a…

With its new report from Environment Canada and Health Canada on “forever chemicals,” which are deemed harmful to humans and the environment, the federal government has launched a 60-day public comment period, ending July 19, and indicated it will consider imposing regulations or other controls to limit people’s exposure to these substances and products that contain…

Environment Canada says smoke from wildfires in the B.C. Interior is expected to worsen in the coming days, bringing poor air quality and associated health risks. In a special air quality statement, Environment Canada and the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy say several Interior communities are likely to see worsening wildfire smoke…

Western Canada is bracing for an unseasonable heat wave and dry spell that will raise the risk of wildfires in Alberta and British Columbia over the coming days. Environment Canada meteorologist John Cragg says there’s little to no precipitation on the horizon, save for some potential for thunderstorms in parts of Alberta before temperatures heat…

Environment Canada says wildfire smoke from northern Alberta is causing poor air quality and reduced visibility in parts of northeastern British Columbia. Special air quality advisories are in place for the North Peace region and Fort Nelson, B.C. The weather service says wildfire smoke can be harmful and everyone should try and find a place…

The search is continuing for two missing firefighters who were carried away by floodwaters northeast of Quebec City. The firefighters were helping two residents near St-Urbain, Que., in Quebec’s Charlevoix region, when they went missing Monday afternoon. Charlevoix is one of several parts of the province hit hard by flooding after a period of heavy…