News
In local news, Prince Edward County OPP are advising motorists of unexpectedly slippery road conditions affecting multiple areas of the county today. Officers patrolling local roads this morning are reporting unusually slippery road conditions, and are now currently responding to incidents involving drivers losing control.
Recent weather in Prince Edward County has created icy conditions on both primary and secondary roads. These hazardous patches can be difficult to see and may appear suddenly. Drivers are encouraged to remain alert, plan ahead, and allow extra travel time before heading out.
PLANES
President Donald Trump’s latest grievance threatening to upend the deeply integrated economic ties between the U.S. and Canada involves business jets.
Trump posted yesterday that the U.S. was decertifying Bombardier Global Express business jets and threatened 50 per cent import tariffs on all aircraft made in Canada until the country’s regulator certified four series models produced by U.S. rival Gulfstream.
Under global aviation rules, the country where an aircraft is designed — the U.S. FAA in Gulfstream’s case — is responsible for primary certification known as a type certificate, vouching for the design’s safety. Other countries typically validate the decision of the primary regulator, allowing the plane into their airspace, but have the right to refuse or ask for more data. In the Gulfstream case, there is concern about fuel freezing issues that were exempted by the FAA certification.
IAM, a union representing more than 600,000 workers in North America and thousands of workers in the air transportation and aerospace sector, said Trump’s threats would cause serious disruption to the North American aerospace industry and put thousands of jobs at risk on both sides of the border.
As with many Trump declarations on social media dating back to his first term in 2017, the post has elicited confusion and surprise from some industry players and even parts of his own administration. It does not appear the FAA has the legal authority to revoke certifications for planes based on economic reasons, as it can only do so for safety reasons under existing regulations. Bombardier’s aircraft flying in the United States have all been certified by the FAA
COLD
After days without power in sub-zero temperatures, residents in Montreal’s west end are dealing with widespread property damage, as two deaths possibly linked to the outage are now under investigation. Thousands of customers were left without electricity for more than three days after an equipment failure at the Hampstead substation on Saturday, Jan. 24.
Hydro-Québec has come under criticism for delays in restoring power, as well as what some residents and local officials described as poor communication during the event. Residents are now dealing with burst pipes and no running water.
At least two people died during the outage — though the cause of their deaths has not been confirmed by Quebec’s coroner who is conducting an investigation
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11TH PROVINCE
As anger grows over the deployment of federal immigration agents in Minnesota, some in the state are calling for a novel solution — becoming Canada’s 11th province.
Jesse Ventura, the former professional wrestler who served as the state’s governor from 1999 to 2003 pitched the idea this week.
“Instead of Canada becoming the 51st state of America and lose their health care … I’d like to see all of us become Canadians,” Ventura, said on a national podcast.
Ventura added that it is “obvious that Trump doesn’t want Minnesotans, and he’s sure Canada would be happy to take them. I think someone seriously should contact Canada and ask them if they’re open to this.”
The state shares a border with Ontario and Manitoba, its twin cities are farther north than Toronto and they have a similar accent, climate and love of hockey as Canada.
And finally, if your financial planning includes operating a lemonade stand this summer, you may have to revert to squeezing the fresh stuff. Minute Maid is discontinuing its line of frozen juices as consumer demand declines and tastes change, and it may have been the only company still selling the concentrated products into the Canadian market.
Coca-cola, the parent company confirmed that the Minute Maid fr5ozen juice brands will be discontinued by April in both Canada and the U.S.
Sports
In local Junior hockey, the Wellington Dukes have a home game tonight at 7:30 at the LeHigh arena. The 11th place Coburg Huskies come to town to face the 6th place Dukes.
Then it is off to Newmarket for a Saturday afternoon game against the 3rd place Hurricanes. Catch that 4:30 start right here on County FM with play-by-play announcer Craig Foster
The County’s other Junior team, the Picton Pirates have two away games this weekend. Tonight they will be in Napanee to take on the Raiders at 7:30. Then on Sunday, the Pirates are off to battle the Lakefield Chiefs. That game gets underway at 4:00 pm.
CURLING
In women’s curling the finals of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts to determine Canada’s national champion wraps up this weekend. First up this afternoon, the top two teams in each pool face off to see who goes directly to the 1-2 qualifier.
Pool A’s undefeated Manitoba’s Kaitlyn Lawes rink will compete against Pool B 2nd place Nova Scotia’s Christina Black. The other 1-2 game features two other Manitoba Teams. Pool B winner and also undefeated Lacey Peterson faces Pool A 2nd place Team Canada Keri Einarson. The winners move on to the 1-2 qualifier with the winner of that one going direct to Sunday’s final
Still in curling news, the opening ceremonies of 2026 Olympics are week tomorrow, but the curling competition starts this Wednesday. First up is the mixed doubles event. Canada is represented by by husband-and-wife team Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant. Gallant is also a member of Brad Jacobs Olympic men’s team that starts play on February 11th. Rachel Holman’s rink starts the women’s competition the following day, after which the men’s and women’s alternate days until the finals on February 21-22.
