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Brad Perry

About Brad Perry

Brad Perry is an award-winning news anchor and reporter and a 2013 graduate of the NBCC journalism program. Based in New Brunswick, he is also the assistant national news director for Acadia Broadcasting. Contact Brad at perry.brad@radioabl.ca.

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Amplifying Indigenous voices across Canada

Acadia Broadcasting will join hundreds of radio stations across Canada next week to help amplify Indigenous voices.

A DAY TO LISTEN is a 12-hour broadcast airing in recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

The inaugural broadcast took place in 2021 following the news of 215 unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Residential School.

Each year, listeners have the chance to hear stories and interviews with Indigenous community leaders, experts, artists, creators and Elders, among others.

This year’s theme — The Path Here, The Path Ahead — marks a decade since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released its Final Report and 94 Calls to Action.

Special guests will reflect on 10 years of reconciliation and share powerful insights on what brought us to this moment and where we can go from here, touching on topics such as:

  • Missing Children, Unmarked Graves
  • The Rise of Indigenous Economic Power
  • Call to Action 84 and media in Canada
  • Who is responsible for reconciliation?
  • Health is more than health care
  • The Next Generation of Reconciliation

“We are honoured to bring people across Canada together for the fifth year of A DAY TO LISTEN,” said Sarah Midanik, president and CEO of the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund, which produces the broadcast.

“We’re proud to work with our hosts and featured leaders to ensure Indigenous voices are heard, honoured, and amplified.”

The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund aims to build cultural understanding and create a path toward reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Through the Legacy Schools program, they provide tools and resources to over 9,000 educators in Canada.

Poet and media producer January Rogers and former reality TV star and motivational speaker Kiefer Collison will host the broadcast, joined by JUNO Award-winning singer-songwriter William Prince.

A DAY TO LISTEN airs from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 30. Extended interviews and conversations will also be available through the A DAY TO LISTEN podcast on all major podcast platforms.

canada flag

Canada’s economy grows 0.2% in July

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Canada’s economy has grown for the first time in four months.

Statistics Canada said real GDP grew 0.2 per cent in July after edging down 0.1 per cent in June.

The mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector led the growth at 1.4 per cent.

Transportation and warehousing, manufacturing and wholesale trade also expanded.

Meanwhile, a one per cent decline in retail trade tempered the growth in the overall economy.

Advance information indicates that real GDP was essentially unchanged in August.

Increases in wholesale trade and retail trade were offset by decreases in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction, manufacturing, and transportation and warehousing.

white medication pills on brown surface

Health Canada pushes back on Trump’s acetaminophen claims

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Canadian health officials are weighing in on the controversy surrounding a popular over-the-counter pain reliever.

Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump said evidence suggests a link between acetaminophen and autism.

“Don’t take Tylenol if you’re pregnant, and don’t give Tylenol to your child,” Trump said during a briefing at the White House.

But Health Canada said acetaminophen remains a recommended treatment for fever and pain during pregnancy.

“There is no conclusive evidence that using acetaminophen as directed during pregnancy causes autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders,” the agency said in a statement.

“It has been used safely by millions of Canadians for decades, including during pregnancy and while breastfeeding.”

Health Canada said the medication is a recommended treatment of pain and fever in pregnancy “when used as directed.”

“Do not take more than the recommended dose. Taking too much acetaminophen can cause harm, including serious harm to your liver,” it said.

The agency also noted that untreated fever and pain in pregnant women can pose risks to the unborn child.

Health Canada said its advice is based on “robust, rigorous assessments of the available scientific evidence.”

“Any new evidence that could affect our recommendations will be carefully evaluated,” it said.

Summer Sunshine

Climate change made summer heat waves more likely: scientists

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Climate scientists say recent heat waves in Canada were made much more likely by human-caused climate change.

Environment and Climate Change Canada recently analyzed 12 of the hottest Canadian heat waves from July and August.

Dr. Nathan Gillett, a research scientist with the federal agency, said Atlantic Canada saw the country’s most extreme event in August.

“On August the 13th, the temperatures there were made far more likely by human-induced climate change, or in other words, at least 10 times more likely by human-induced climate change,” Gillett told reporters on Wednesday.

Eleven other heat waves analyzed by climate scientists were at least two times more likely due to human-caused climate change, said Gillett.

Environment Canada uses climate models to compare today’s climate to a pre-industrial one and demonstrate how greenhouse gases and other human influences impact the chances of some extreme weather events.

Dubbed the Rapid Extreme Weather Event Attribution system, it showed that the heat waves experienced during July and August would have been rare in a pre-industrial climate.

Scientists only analyzed heat waves when the temperature exceeded the typical hottest day of the year for that region. In some regions, including Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the temperatures did not exceed that threshold.

“If we look at the summer as a whole, we see that it was the 11th warmest summer on record. So it wasn’t exceptional, but it was still certainly warmer than average in a record stretching back to 1948,” said Gillett.

Heat impacted everyone differently

Jennifer Smith, the national warning preparedness meteorologist with the agency’s Meteorological Service of Canada, said while heat touched every part of Canada this summer, it did not all happen at once.

“Some regions saw early-season surges. Others faced long, persistent stretches. And in some areas, it was the overnight warmth that made the heat feel most oppressive,” she said.

“In some places, it was the drier-than-normal conditions that allowed temperatures to reach higher-than-normal values.”

That was especially prevalent in the Maritimes, where Smith said much of the heat was packed into a narrow window between early July and August, giving some the sense of a short summer.

Manitoba and northwestern Ontario saw the country’s first heat wave in early May, and the longest heat event was in northern British Columbia and lasted nearly three weeks.

“Heat is one of Canada’s deadliest weather hazards. Even just a few days of extreme heat can put real pressure on health systems, increase wildfire risk, and affect the daily rhythm of life,” Smith added.

“This summer reminded us that it’s not just about daytime highs. The duration of heat events and warm nights made them especially dangerous.”

Air Canada airline

Air Canada, flight attendants head to arbitration

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Air Canada and the union representing its flight attendants are heading to arbitration.

The airline said Tuesday it agreed to end the mediation process after a request from CUPE.

A tentative agreement was reached in August, but flight attendants rejected the wage offer.

Both sides agreed to refer the matter to mediation and, if needed, to arbitration, if that happened.

They also agreed that there would be no labour disruption during that time.

a close up of two gauges in a car

Inflation inches up to 1.9% in August

Canada’s inflation rate inched up to 1.9 per cent in August.

Statistics Canada said that was compared to 1.7 per cent the month before.

Gasoline prices fell to a lesser extent year over year last month, said the report.

On a yearly basis, prices for gasoline fell 12.7 per cent in August, compared with a 16.1 per cent decline in July.

Moderating the increase in inflation were lower prices for travel tours and fresh fruit.

Inflation was below the national average in Prince Edward Island (1.1 per cent), Newfoundland and Labrador (1.3 per cent), Alberta (1.4 per cent), New Brunswick (1.6 per cent), Ontario (1.7 per cent), Saskatchewan (1.7 per cent) and British Columbia (1.8 per cent).

Manitoba (2.0 per cent), Nova Scotia (2.2 per cent) and Quebec (2.7 per cent) saw inflation rates above the national average.

Mark Carney Housing

Ottawa announces $13B for new housing agency

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A new federal agency focused on building more affordable housing across the country.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced an initial $13 billion for Build Canada Homes.

“It will help fight homelessness by building transitional and supportive housing in close partnership with provinces, territories, municipalities and Indigenous communities,” Carney said during Sunday’s announcement.

“It will expand deeply affordable and community housing to low-income households. Build Canada Homes will partner with private-sector developers to build affordable homes for the Canadian middle class.”

The agency will deploy modern methods of construction as it catalyzes the creation of an entirely new Canadian housing industry, said Carney.

According to the federal officials, the initiative will also leverage public lands, offer flexible financial incentives and facilitate large portfolio projects.

Carney also announced the first four investments and initiatives under Build Canada Homes:

  • Prioritize six sites to build 4,000 factory-built homes on federal land, focused on affordable mixed-income communities. The first sites will be in Dartmouth, Longueuil, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg and Edmonton.
  • Launch a $1.5-billion Canada Rental Protection Fund to help the community housing sector acquire at-risk rental apartment buildings.
  • Deploy $1 billion to build transitional and supportive housing for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
  • Partner with the Nunavut Housing Corporation to build over 700 public, affordable and supportive housing units.

Carney said the goal of Build Canada Homes is to help double the pace of housing construction over the next decade.

OPSEU strike

Ontario college support staff officially on strike

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More than 10,000 full-time support staff at Ontario’s 24 publicly-funded colleges are now on strike.

This comes after the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and the College Employer Council (CEC) failed to reach a new agreement.

Both sides remained far apart on a number of important issues ahead of the 12:01 a.m. ET strike deadline.

The CEC had called on the union to withdraw its requests seeking a ban on college mergers and staff reductions.

CEO Graham Lloyd called the requests unreasonable, given declining enrollments and financial pressures the colleges are facing, and said they threaten the sustainability of Ontario’s college system.

“There remain many issues to address at the bargaining table. However, these are demands no college operating in Ontario could ever accept,” Lloyd said in a news release last week.

“OPSEU is ignoring the reality that college enrollment and revenues are down as much as 50 per cent. No organization managing a drop like this can commit to these out-of-touch demands.”

The colleges offered wage increases of two per cent in each year of the contract, enhancements to certain benefits, increased recall rights for employees with less than two years of service and enhancements to severance for laid-off employees.

They also suggested mediation and arbitration to help settle an agreement, which the union has rejected.

Among its demands, OPSEU is seeking wage increases of four per cent per year.

The union said the last counter-proposals by CEC included “minor movements” but nothing that keeps their work in-house and ensures that colleges remain adequately staffed and open.

“With no response from the employer since 4 p.m. yesterday, they have walked away from the table,” OPSEU said in a news release early Thursday.

OPSEU strikers picket at Thunder Bay’s Confederation College.

Owen Smith, president of OPSEU local 731, wants to draw attention to cuts at Ontario colleges. “There have been over 10,000 layoffs in the past year across the province, and approximately over 650 programs cut at Ontario colleges.”

Asked about the impact of these cuts, Smith said “The students are going to suffer unfortunately, because they’re not going to get the supports that they need. We’re not there. I’d rather be in the building helping students register – it’s still within the first ten days of classes, students want to make changes.”

“It’s going to be challenging for them to make those changes right now, because our managers, unfortunately, don’t know what we do,” Smith added.

Locally, picket lines are being set up at the Confederation College campuses in Thunder Bay, Dryden, Kenora, Marathon, Sioux Lookout and Fort Frances.

Classes are continuing and campuses remain open, but some student services may be delayed or reduced, said the college.

Fall Precipitation TWN

What can we expect weather-wise this fall?

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If you like warmer weather, you could be in luck over the coming weeks.

The Weather Network released its fall forecast for Ontario on Wednesday.

“As a whole, widespread above-normal temperatures as we head into September through to November, but we can expect a couple of cool shots,” said Meteorologist Nadine Powell.

Powell said precipitation is expected to be near-normal across the region.

“With regard to the number of fall storms, that could be fewer in general but a more active November season and a wetter end,” she said.

As we head into November, Powell said fall may come to an abrupt stop and transition into an early winter.

The Weather Network said nearly the entire country will see above-normal temperatures this fall with near-normal precipitation for most areas.

The fall 2025 temperature forecast from The Weather Network. Image: Submitted
Ken Dryden

Former Canadiens’ goaltender Ken Dryden dies at 78

Ken Dryden, a former Montreal Canadiens goaltender and federal cabinet minister, has died.

The hockey star passed away on Friday after a battle with cancer. He was 78 years old.

Dryden had been selected 14th overall by the Boston Bruins during the 1964 NHL Draft.

Just over two weeks later, the team traded the 16-year-old to the Montreal Canadiens.

But it would be several years later before he hit the ice with the Canadiens in 1971.

Dryden decided to pursue a college degree at Cornell University, where he played for the school’s hockey team.

He also took a break during the 1973-74 season to work for a Toronto law firm after being unhappy with the Canadiens’ contract offer.

Dryden helped the Canadiens win a total of six Stanley Cups before his final retirement at the end of the 1979 season.

He won the Vezina Trophy five times — the fourth most in NHL history — and was later inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Order of Canada.

Dryden was named president of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1997 and stayed on until 2004, when he successfully ran for the Liberals in the Toronto riding of York Centre.

He won the riding by more than 11,000 votes and was named social development minister by Prime Minister Paul Martin.

The hockey star was reelected in 2006 and 2008 before losing his seat to Conservative candidate Mark Adler in the 2011 federal election.

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