CALGARY – With their CFL playoff fate out of their hands, the Calgary Stampeders can only try to beat the surging B.C. Lions in their regular-season finale and see where they land.

The Stampeders (8-9) host the B.C. Lions (10-6) at McMahon Stadium on Saturday, with a win setting up a potentially awkward bye week spent waiting for other results to determine their playoff fate.

Improving playoff chances, getting to a 9-9 record and producing a win at McMahon where they’ve gone 3-5 so far in 2026 were all compelling enough stakes for Calgary.

With kicker Rene Paredes set to retire after 15 years and George Hopkins about to step back after 55 years as equipment manager, there was the desire Friday to make the regular-season finale a memorable one.

“We want to let those guys go out with a bang,” said receiver Jalen Philpot. “What we can control is our effort and execution this weekend.

“We know it necessarily hasn’t gone our way this year, but we’re excited for another challenge. We know B.C. is a great team, so we are excited to come out here and play one, hopefully not our last game, but another home game for our fans.”

The Lions are firmly in the driver’s seat with a four-game win streak and nine wins in their last 10 after starting the season 1-5.

Playoff-bound for a fifth straight year, B.C. sought to lock in a home playoff date on the penultimate week of their season.

“We love playing in front of our own fans and certainly feel like we’re in a good position where we control our own destiny for the most part,” Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke said.

B.C.’s offence has rounded into among the league’s most balanced with multiple threats on the ground and in the air.

Zander Horvath leads the Lions with 18 rushing touchdowns and is closing in on 1,000 yards with 877. He and teammate James Butler (537 yards, five touchdowns) form a potent one-two punch on the ground.

The Lions are also closing in on having three 1,000-yard receivers, with Keon Hatcher Sr. (1,128) and Justin McGinnis (1,041) already there and Jermaine Jackson (878) within striking distance.

“We’ve got a great group. They’re very, very well-rounded, very selfless guys who want to play for each other,” Rourke said. “We’re willing to run downfield and get the extra block. If the run game is working, we’re not afraid of running it more. If the run is not working, and we’re not afraid to pass it more.

“That’s special to be a part of and certainly makes my job easier for sure.”

B.C.’s defence also tops the CFL in stopping the rush.

“They’re a good defence, man, very talented,” Stampeders quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. acknowledged. “A Rolodex of calls that (defensive co-ordinator) Mike Benevides does, so he tries to keep you on your toes as a quarterback.

“He tries to confuse you with his fronts and different personnel. We just have to be locked in, hear the call from the O-line and get these playmakers the ball, let them do the rest.”

The Stampeders and Lions split two previous meetings. Calgary beat B.C. 41-33 in June’s Apple Bowl game in Kelowna, B.C., before dropping a 30-26 decision at home to the Lions on Aug. 13.

“We’re just more of a complete team now,” Lions head coach Buck Pierce said. “We’ve been able to find ways to win football games, when in the past we might not have been able to overcome early mistakes and adversity.

“We’ve created a belief where we believe any time we go out there, we have an opportunity to win. It might look different week to week, but we’re going to find a way to get it done.”

The Stampeders’ receiving corps is thinner with the absence of Damien Alford (concussion). Ajou Ajou, who was limited in practice this week with a neck issue, draws back in.

Linebacker Derrick Moncrief returns to the defence after missing three games with a hamstring injury.

Win and hope was all the Stampeders had in terms of playoff prospects. Calgary is the host city of the Grey Cup on Nov. 15.

“We’re just going to try to not worry about predicting the futures market and just play a good game, do our part, control what we can control. The push is to get to nine (wins), definitely,” said Stampeders head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson.

“With Rene, we’d love to keep him kicking into November. It’s not in our hands, but let’s go play a good game against a great opponent, a hot opponent.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2026.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

On Sept. 22, Kyle Yrjola went paddleboarding with his girlfriend, Jaycee Martin, off Fintry Provincial Park on Okanagan Lake.

“It was a beautiful day, calm waters. The weather was perfect. Not even a single wave, just smooth sailing. It was beautiful,” said Martin, 23 days after the incident.

The couple paddled out to the middle of the lake before deciding to turn back as the sun began to set. They were about two thirds of the way back when the weather began to change.

“The wind kind of started picking up. We thought, okay, we can get through this,” said Martin.

But the conditions quickly worsened.

“I said, ‘okay, hold on, babe. Like there’s some big waves coming,’” Martin recalled. “And sure enough, they just came and they just took him from me so fast.”

 

At this point, Yrjola was off the paddleboard and in the water. Martin tried to get the board to him, but with the paddles swept away, the board drifted out of reach. Within moments, she lost sight of her boyfriend.

Martin called for help as Yrjola disappeared from view.

“We called 911,” Martin said. “They told us to stay on our paddleboards.”

But by then, Martin was alone and doing her best to get to shore.

When police picked her up on the east side of Okanagan Lake, Martin thought Yrjola would be found somewhere along the shore.

“I didn’t even want them to pick me up at first, because I was so close to the shore. I kept telling them, ‘no, go find my boyfriend, like he’s out there.’”

For 23 days, family members were left searching for answers.

That changed when a volunteer Hutterite dive team from Manitoba arrived in the Okanagan to help with the search.

Led by Manuel Maendel, the team brought specialized sonar equipment to scan the depths of Okanagan Lake, searching for signs of Yrjola.

“As Hutterites, when someone is in trouble and we see them struggling, we want to reach out and help,” Maendel said. “It doesn’t matter where or how.”

The team drove for two days to reach the Okanagan. With a boat that is fitted with GPS guidance technology normally used in farming, the crew followed precise, straight lines across the water while scanning the lakebed.

Maendel said the idea came from using GPS systems to guide farm machinery through fields. The same technology helps the team methodically cover search areas.

The operation is volunteer-run and relies on donations and support from third parties to keep its equipment running to continue helping families searching for missing loved ones.

On Sept. 14, the Hutterite dive team arrived in the Okanagan and began developing a search plan with Martin, whose knowledge of where she and Yrjola had been paddling would help guide the search.

But the team arrived around sundown, meaning Martin would have to wait another day before the search could begin.

The divers also made it clear that finding someone in a body of water as deep as Okanagan Lake would be difficult. At depths reaching 600 feet, even specialized sonar equipment cannot guarantee a discovery. Sometimes, searches turn up nothing. Other times, divers may come across evidence of another person who had been missing.

The search began early the next morning, with Martin watching as the team scanned the depths of Okanagan Lake.

Then, something appeared on the sonar.

“My heart dropped immediately because it looked exactly like a body,” Martin said.

While the sonar picked up the anomaly, the team couldn’t know for certain what was beneath the surface.

Without sending a camera down or getting a diver to visually confirm the object, there was no way to determine exactly what they had found.

After hours on the water, the dive team sent a remotely operated camera down to investigate the anomaly.

It was Yrjola.

“He was very kind and always so cool and patient. Yeah, most of all patient. A really good boyfriend and a really good best friend. A good friend to everybody,” Martin said.

Maendel described the feeling as “overwhelming.”

“To be able to put my arms around a family that I’ve been able to help fuels me for the next one,” Maendel said.

In the past 10 years, the volunteer team says it has helped more than 30 families, offering its services free of charge.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

British Columbians have started voting in the provincial election without the release of a costed platform from the B.C. Conservatives, whose leader says it will be announced “imminently.”

Interim leader Lorne Doerkson said at a Metro Vancouver campaign stop on Friday that he has seen the platform but wants to make sure they’re aren’t going to promise anything the party “can’t make happen.”

“We’re working on it, but I want it to be right,” Doerkson said while in Port Moody, B.C.

“I want the numbers to be right and I want to know with an absolute clear conscience that the things that we are promising British Columbians in that platform, we will be able to achieve.”

Doerkson said earlier this week that British Columbians would see a “fulsome plan” from the party before voters go to the polls, although advance polls opened Friday through to Wednesday before election day on Oct. 24.

The provincial New Democrats led by David Eby and Emily Lowan’s BC Greens both released their costed platforms earlier this week.

Doerkson said he wants to avoid what Eby’s New Democrats did by breaking promises after the last election, such as a doctor for every resident who wants one and giving people a $1,000 rebate.

“None of those things happened, and our deficit is now $14 billion,” he said, explaining the delay on his party’s costed platform.

The B.C. campaign is entering its last full weekend before the election, and all three major party leaders made pitches to voters on Friday to secure votes in key swing ridings.

Doerkson’s stop in Port Moody included doubling down on his party’s plans to build a women’s and children’s hospital in Surrey, along with scrapping the Massey Tunnel replacement between Delta and Richmond in favour of a bridge.

The Conservatives have also pledged to cut income taxes by up to $1,000 a year “for nearly every working British Columbian,” Doerkson said, as he criticized the former NDP government on a range of topics, from emergency department wait times and affordability to small businesses being “strangled by taxes and red tape.”

“It doesn’t have to be this way, you guys,” Doerkson told the gathering at the campaign stop. “David Eby has a record of devastating this province. We have a plan to build British Columbia, and we have a plan to build it back so that people can afford to make life in this place where we are so lucky to call home.”

Eby, making an NDP campaign stop nearby in the Metro Vancouver city of Coquitlam, said Friday that the Conservatives are unwilling to share their plans to make cuts by not releasing a costed platform.

The New Democrat Leader said the Conservatives’ promises would cost $5 billion and they have not explained how they would pay for it.

“Now, you might think to yourself, ‘Well, that’s weird, why wouldn’t he explain it?'” Eby said, referring to Doerkson.

“It’s not that he doesn’t know the answer. He knows the answer of how he’s going to pay for that $5 billion. He is going to pay for it the same way that conservative parties in B.C. have always paid for these promises, by cutting the services that you and your family depend on.”

The NDP made a series of promises Friday on what a re-elected Eby government would do, including bringing in urgent primary care centres in Greater Victoria and Port Hardy, expanding involuntary care to the Okanagan Correctional Centre in Oliver, and building a new middle school in Coquitlam’s Burke Mountain neighbourhood.

Eby also criticized a Conservative candidate in the swing riding of Juan de Fuca-Malahat for comments about B.C.’s treaties with First Nations.

Video appeared to show Mike Hicks saying “in law, we have to conquer or sign a treaty with the First Nations.”

“We just arrived, we settled in, and we didn’t do any of it,” he appeared to say, explaining the need for treaties.

Hicks said his comments were being taken “out of context.”

The Conservatives had one day earlier removed another candidate, Jordan McIntosh in Vancouver-Strathcona, for alleged online comments about Hitler and the Holocaust.

Eby said Hicks’ comments show Conservatives’ extremism, with Hicks responding that he “inartfully” explained B.C.’s need “for developing modern treaties” as time was running out on his answer.

Green Party Leader Emily Lowan scored a major endorsement on Friday as Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs president Grand Chief Stewart Phillip stated his support for her in the Saanich North and the Islands riding.

Phillip’s wife Joan was elected and served as an NDP member of the legislature before she died this summer, and he had been a strong supporter of the New Democrats in the 2024 provincial campaign.

Later in the day, Phillip announced he is endorsing Eby as “the best choice as leader of this province.”
“I’m deeply honoured to have the support of my friend Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, one of our strongest champions for justice,” Eby said in a statement.

“I look forward to continuing our shared work toward a future rooted in respect, true partnership, and meaningful reconciliation.”

Lowan also became the first major party leader to vote in the race, casting her ballot in the Vancouver Island community of Saanichton, B.C., on Friday.

–

© 2026 The Canadian Press

The Manitoba government has declared its almost 20-month measles outbreak over, following weeks without a lab-confirmed case.

The outbreak officially ended on Friday, after no lab-confirmed cases of the highly contagious disease were identified in recent weeks. The last confirmed instance of measles was reported in August, the Manitoba government said in a news release. It said the province is following the guidance of public health officials and Manitoba Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care.

After the measles outbreak was announced in February 2025, there were 1,038 cases reported in Manitoba. Of those, 931 were lab-confirmed and 107 were probable, according to the province.

Fifty-two measles-related hospitalizations occurred in that time, with six of those requiring treatment in the intensive care unit. Half of the patients who needed hospital treatment were younger than 10 years old, and most had not received the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.

No measles-related deaths were reported in the province during Manitoba’s outbreak, according to the provincial government.

The number of vaccines administered since the outbreak began increased by 15 per cent in 2025 when compared to the year prior, the province said.

In response to climbing case counts, Manitoba expanded vaccine eligibility for people living in measles-afflicted areas. The loosened guidelines allowed babies as young as six months old in areas, including Prairie Mountain Health and the Interlake Eastern Regional Health Authority, to be immunized early. This system is no longer in effect, the government said.

Instead, it pointed parents to the province’s current, routine immunization schedules.

“Although no measles outbreaks are currently occurring in Canada, measles transmission remains high in some parts of the world and outbreaks continue in the United States,” the Manitoba government cautioned.

The province said people should ensure they are fully vaccinated and advised residents to stay up to date with the current public health recommendations.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Nearly half of Canadians support federal funding for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, according to a new study, which experts say would help harmonize the patchwork of public provincial funding available across nine of the 10 provinces.

Data collected by Ipsos for Fertility Matters Canada (FMC) found that 46 per cent of Canadians with an opinion on it support the proposed federal IVF funding program.

During his 2025 campaign, Prime Minister Mark Carney promised Canadians up to $20,000 for a single round of IVF treatment.

While that campaign promise has yet to materialize, Carolynn Dubé, executive director of FMC, told Global News she has had conversations with the federal government and they seem to be listening.

“There is certainly a keen interest in really understanding what this looks like for Canadians and how to get the right program in place so that it’s done well,” she said.

Nine out of ten provinces provide some sort of IVF programs, grants or tax credits, which the industry says are working.

According to the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society (CFAS), 5,466 patients in Ontario and 3,606 patients in Quebec received provincial funding for IVF treatment in 2025.

“This is actually life-changing. Not everybody can afford fertility treatments and so these funded programs are what provides that hope and that pathway to build a family,” Emily McIntosh, executive director of CFAS, told Global News.

The Ontario Ministry of Health told Global News in an email that 132,900 women have received publicly funded fertility support since 2015.

One round of IVF treatment costs around $20,000, but McIntosh said the average heterosexual couple will require three rounds before they have a successful outcome.

“What that tells us is that provincial funding programs are not enough. They are an important, critical start, but we need federal support. We need insurance programs to be stepping up because the financial barrier is massive and this should be an opportunity for every single Canadian that wants to build a family,” she said.

Support for a federal IVF financial program is highest among Canadians aged 18 to 34, according to the survey, with 26 per cent saying it would affect their families’ building plans or those of someone close to them.

This is also one of the age groups hardest hit by the cost-of-living crisis.

“Fertility care is health care. It should be accessible to everybody,” McIntosh said

Dubé said education and awareness are also an important piece of the puzzle. As she speaks to patients across the country, she said they express how they didn’t know about the costs and barriers to IVF until they found themselves needing fertility treatments.

She said this not only creates a financial burden, but a mental toll as well.

“Research shows that being diagnosed with infertility has the same negative impact on one’s mental health as a diagnosis of a more significant health concern like cancer or heart disease. And we don’t treat it the same,” Dubé said.

“Anytime we can have an opportunity to drive public awareness about the issue is certainly helpful for tens of thousands of Canadians who are still waiting to take their baby home.”

A spokesperson for federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel told Global News in a statement that the ministry recognizes that fertility treatments come with many challenges, including financial burdens.

“We recognize the importance of this issue for many Canadians, and we’ll have more to say on this in due course,” they said.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Police were working Friday to determine the cause of a fiery bus crash in Calgary that killed three passengers and injured 16 others, including a police officer who helped save a child.

Two transit buses and several other vehicles were involved in the chain-reaction crash just after 1 p.m. Thursday, along the 800 block of Saddletowne Circle N.E., a busy road in the city’s northeast.

Police said one Calgary Transit bus first struck a truck, which then side-swiped an SUV and hit the back of a box truck.

The bus then hit the back of a sedan, pushing the vehicle through the intersection. That car then hit a truck.

The bus eventually hit the rear of another City of Calgary bus running on compressed natural gas.

A large, fierce fire broke out on top of the bus as it also hit a sedan and then came to a stop, with flames and thick, black smoke shooting from the roof.

“During the collision, the natural gas tanks on the second bus ignited. The second bus continued forward before striking a sedan,” said a news release.

“Within seconds, the fire intensified resulting in an explosion and significant fire inside the bus.

“Three passengers on the second bus were found deceased.”

The driver of that bus was able to escape, police said, while the driver of the first bus was trapped, had to be extricated, and was taken to hospital with what police said were life-altering injuries.

“In the middle of the chaos, one brave Calgary police officer ran into a burning bus to save the life of a child,” Mayor Jeromy Farkas said Thursday.

Police said the officer was recovering at home and that she and the others who were hurt had minor injuries.

The three who died have been identified and their families notified.

The mayor said there would be a full investigation into what happened.

“At this time, it is too early to determine whether impairment, speed or distraction contributed to the collision,” added police.

“All possible factors remain under investigation.”

Mike Mahar, the head of Calgary’s transit union, said Thursday that it’s not clear why the fire was so extreme and that natural gas buses are generally safe.

Calgary Transit says on its website that it has nearly 250 compressed natural gas-powered buses, representing about 20 per cent of its fleet.

It says it acquired this type of bus in 2014 and since then the fleet’s emissions have reduced significantly.

The website says the city plans to buy 153 more natural gas buses this year to replace diesel buses.

With files from Karen Bartko, Global News

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Vancouver police are asking the public to help them identify suspects in three unprovoked stranger assaults that occurred across the city in one day.

The first incident happened at approximately 6:10 a.m. at Victory Square on West Hastings Street. A 73-year-old woman was waiting in line for a recycling cup program when a suspect approached and attempted to steal bags containing her recyclable cups.

When the victim tried to stop the theft, the suspect punched her in the eye, pushed her to the ground, and stole one of the bags before fleeing eastbound on West Hastings Street near Cambie Street, police said.

The victim was transported to hospital in stable condition.

The suspect is described as a woman in her 30s, with shoulder-length dirty-blonde hair with blonde highlights. She was wearing a black jacket, with a white sweater underneath, black pants, and white shoes, police added.

In the second incident, a 44-year-old man was talking on the phone around 12:30 p.m. near Commercial Drive and Adanac Street when a man approached him and began making racist remarks, police said.

The victim told the suspect to leave him alone, but the man elbowed him in the chin before punching and kicking him, police added.

Witnesses intervened and the suspect was last seen walking southbound on Commercial Drive.

The suspect is described as a man between 40 and 50 years old, approximately five-feet-seven inches tall, with a slim build. He was wearing a grey dress shirt, tan pants, white shoes, and a green crossbody bag.

The third incident happened at 6:20 p.m. near Burrard and West Georgia streets when a 33-year-old resident was walking westbound and a man walking in the opposite direction suddenly struck him on the back, police said.

They briefly exchanged words before the suspect fled eastbound on West Georgia Street, police added.

He is described as approximately five-feet-nine inches tall, with short black hair and a black beard. He was wearing a green winter jacket and carrying a black backpack.

“We are asking anyone who witnessed any of these assaults, has CCTV footage, or can help identify any of the suspects to contact Vancouver Police at 604-717-3321,” Supt. Phil Heard said in a release.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Sheep farming, while a smaller agricultural sector in Saskatchewan, is growing to meet national demand.

First-generation farmer Martin Catto moved to Canada in 1999 from Scotland, where sheep farming is commonplace. He recalls being one of the first people to ask for a loan to start a sheep farm, making him one of the pioneers of this sector in Saskatchewan.

Catto acts as the director of Brimar Farms near Lipton, Sask., which produces 12,000 to 14,000 sheep a year.

The Catto family operates one of the more than 800 sheep farms in the province. There are roughly 8,500 sheep farms in Canada, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

“Raising sheep, it’s not easy. It does take quite a bit of management and there is quite a lot of manual labor involved. But if you do it right and you pay attention to the details, then it is very rewarding,” Catto said.

Saskatchewan’s industry is growing, with inventory up almost four per cent in a single year, according to Statistics Canada’s livestock estimates.

Sheep farming is still considered specialty farming, and remains a smaller sector of agriculture despite rising numbers.

Sheep have a lower investment cost compared with larger sectors of farming, leading to growth among younger producers who are continuing to develop sheep farming in Saskatchewan.

While lambs are being raised in Saskatchewan, the meat is processed out of province, typically in Alberta or Ontario.

Located in Innisfail, Westfine Meats is the largest federally-inspected plant in Alberta. It’s managed by Stéphane Beausolei, who said there is a year-round relationship with producers.

“We have a contract with them that they supply us all year long. So we operate 52 weeks a year. And we work with the producers. We get on a contract. They raise animals to our standard. We’re looking for a certain weight and then we process it,” Beausolei.

After processing, the meat is ready to put on grocery store shelves.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of another teenager in Winnipeg earlier this week, police said.

The victim, a 15-year-old boy, was found with gunshot wounds near Grove Street and Rex Avenue last Saturday shortly after 5 p.m., the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) said in a news release.

The boy was taken to hospital, where he died from his injuries, it added. He was from Peguis First Nation and living in the city.

Officers arrested a 16-year-old boy in relation to the shooting death.

The teen, who can’t be named due to the Youth Criminal Justice Act, is now charged with second-degree murder and remains in police custody.

The homicide unit will continue to investigate but WPS said it believes no outstanding suspects remain.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Hundreds of workers at the AV Nackawic Mill in New Brunswick are now less than three weeks away from losing their jobs, and their fight to save the mill has become part of a nationwide push for government action.

AV Group NB Inc. announced in September it would be temporarily idling its facility, located west of Fredericton. That shutdown is slated for Nov. 4.

The company attributed the decision to “prevailing market conditions” and other challenges.

“We’re devastated at the announcement of the idling of the Nackawic Mill. Hundreds of good paying jobs, hundreds of families living in great uncertainty,” said Jennifer Murray, Unifor’s Atlantic regional director.

“We will not stop fighting regardless of deadlines or whatever happens after Nov. 4.”

On Friday, forestry workers were joined by Unifor’s national leadership at a rally in Nackawic to call for government intervention to protect the industry.

The union says the shutdown will have an impact beyond the mill’s workers.

“It affects about 240 unionized workers and about 300 to 350 overall direct jobs plus thousands of spin-off jobs with truckers and woods workers and other contractors,” said Grant Charlton, president of Unifor Local 219, which represents some of the mill workers.

Amid trade pressures with the U.S. and soaring energy costs, Unifor is asking for a national forestry strategy.

Locally, it’s pushing for a joint government task force. Murray says a provincial review could help identify what it would cost to modernize the mill, create a long-term plan, and make a pitch to potential investors.

Lana Payne, Unifor’s national president, says she herself has been approaching potential buyers for the mill.

“I, myself, have contacted other players in the forestry industry to say, ‘Look, there’s a great mill there, there’s great workforce, would you go have a look at it and see if this is something that you would be interested in taking on?'” she said.

The local union is also asking for the mill to be heated through the winter in order to preserve the possibility of reopening.

The province says it is working with AV Nackawic NB Inc. and the municipality on options, while Working NB helps employees access federal and provincial benefits.

“We’re turning over every rock to see what the possibilities are for employment and a different use of either the facility, the land, all of the pieces. (We’re) engaging with the sector,” said Premier Susan Holt.

The province is also organizing job fairs for the workers.

The mill faced a similar situation in 2004, closing its doors for over a year before a different operator took over.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.