Top Stories – Apr 21 – High Level Summit

The state of the BC and Canadian cannabis sectors is among the topics of discussion at the BC Cannabis Summit underway in Kelowna. It started yesterday, 4-20, and is a 3-day, sold out event being held at the Eldorado. The slogan for this year: ‘Roll It Up. Hash It Out.’

There are more E bikes and E scooters on the streets of Kelowna. Spin and Lime are providing them along with new features for safety and accessibility. There are maximum speed settings, no downtown riding from 10:30 pm to 4am, helmets are provided and the units have double kickstands. They can also be detected when riding on sidewalks.

The Department of National Defence says fewer troops have been kicked out than earlier reported for refusing to get their vaccines. In February, DND said 58 members of the Armed Forces had been forced to hang up their uniforms after refusing to get their COVID shots. But now it says only 39 have been released, with another 206 in the process of being forced out.

While Canada’s inflation rate saw its biggest year over year jump in March since 1991… 6.7 percent… it wasn’t all bad news. Movin-on-up was gas at 39%, bacon at 18% and beef at 14%. However a couple of things were down compared to last March. Cellular services were apparently 3 percent lower while recreational cannabis was down 8 percent.

A Quebec judge has ruled a mother can have her son vaccinated against covid without the father’s consent and ordered the father not to take the child to anti-vax protests. The 10-year-old’s mother says she learned the boy’s father forcing him to lie about his age to avoid masking in public places. The judge found evidence the father submitted to defend his position against vaccines wasn’t corroborated by health experts.

A survey by the cybersecurity company NordVPN found as many as 65% of Canadians take their smartphones with them into the bathroom. And what do they do… besides their business? 60% say their time is mostly spent scrolling through social media, 40% are gaming and 35% are reading or listening to the news.

The BC Court of Appeal has ruled a former flight attendant’s class-action lawsuit alleging breach of contract against WestJet can proceed. The case centres on the allegation the airline failed to uphold the company’s anti-harassment promise. If the claims are upheld, WestJet flight attendants could be compensated from money the company allegedly saved by failing to live up to its contract.

Russian forces tightened the noose around the defenders holed up in a mammoth steel plant in Mariupol yesterday. A fighter apparently on the inside warned in a video plea for help saying “We may have only a few days or hours left.” Meanwhile, the number of people fleeing the country has topped 5 million.

Raymond, Alberta, will remain a ‘dry’ town… at least when it comes to serving alcohol in restaurants. The community about 240 kilometres south of Calgary has had that law for more than a century. A majority of councillors recently voted to keep it that way after just over half of the 890 residents indicated they were not in favour of changing it.

Sports

The West Kelowna Warriors were not able to seal the deal with the Silverbacks last night, losing their BCHL playoff game 5-1. The Warriors now have a 3 games to 1 lead and game 5 goes Friday night back in Salmon Arm.

In Boston, The Toronto Blue Jays took a 6-1 win over the Red Sox yesterday. They’ll play their 3rd game at Fenway Park this morning at 10:30.

The Canucks are on the road today for a 5pm face off in Minnesota against the Wild. To make it simple, Vancouver pretty much has to win all 5 remaining games to even have a chance at post-season play.

Russian and Belarusian tennis players have been banned from competing at this year’s Wimbledon tournament because of the war in Ukraine. The move means second-ranked Daniil Medvedev won’t be able to play at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.

In Toronto last night, the NBA’s Raptors went to overtime with the Philadelphia 76ers. The visitors got a 3 point buzzer beater with less than a second left to take a 104-101 win and a 3 games to none lead in the best of 7 playoff series.

The PGA Tour is a team event this week at the Zurich Classic begins today in New Orleans. The headliner is no doubt the pairing of World No. 2 Collin Morikawa and No. 5 Viktor Hovland. Between the two, they already have a combined eight victories.