The battle that made Canada bleed: Operation Medusa, 20 years later - CBC

Potentially a sign of things to come, the season’s first official -20°C of the year arrived a bit later than normal. Two areas in the Far North registered morning low temperatures in the minus-20s on Sunday, Oct. 4, marking the first time Canada has seen such a cold reading this season. DON’T MISS: With a 'super' El Nino, does that guarantee late-fall warmth in Canada? A pair of minus-20s on the boardMargaret Lake, Yukon, and Mould Bay, N. W. T., each dipped below the minus-20 mark on Sunday morning. Margaret Lake, which is about 275 km northeast of Dawson City, dropped down to -22.0°C to see this season’s coldest temperature across Canada. The site’s location at the foot of nearby mountains may have helped accentuate the morning’s chill. Mould Bay reached -20.9°C around the same time as Arctic air spilled over the island airport located in the Far North. The dual achievement arrived a little later than normal, and it’s the latest first -20°C reading we’ve seen in Canada since 2023. The country’s first minus-20 readings arrived in Nunavut during the past two years: in Eureka on Sept. 29, 2025, and in Alert on Sept. 27, 2024.

The 20th annual Cape to Cabot road race is taking place tomorrow. The grueling 20 km trek sees participants running from one historic landmark to another: From Cape Spear to Cabot Tower on top of Signal Hill. The race starts at 8 a.m., and because of that there are a few related road closures in St. John’s. Between 7:45 and 11a.m. there will be numerous road closures along the route. A full list can be found online at VOCM dot com. Expect traffic impacts from 7:45 a.m. to 11 a.m. on routes including Blackhead Road, Southside Road, Water Street, Harbour Drive, Duckworth Street, Temperance Street and Signal Hill Road.

On Monday, Albertans vote on whether to stay in Canada or hold another binding referendum on quitting Canada. If the vote goes as polls suggest, a majority of Albertans will mark an X to stay in Confederation, and Premier Danielle Smith has said if that’s so, she expects everyone to accept it and move on. Leaders of the independence movement contest that. And political watchers are divided about whether separation — previously a fringe sentiment — will now be a prominent, permanent feature of Alberta’s political landscape, as in Quebec. Julian Castro-Rea, a political-science professor at the University of Alberta who studies the separation debates in Quebec and Alberta, believes as long as Alberta feels alienated from the Canadian capital — feeling that Ottawa benefits from Alberta’s resource economy without giving back — the movement will have fuel. “Even if the referendum is lost, the westernization will still be around, because it’s kind of a way which, traditionally, Albertans have related to the rest of Canada,” says Castro-Rea, who believes western alienation may remain indefinitely. Story continues below advertisement

It’s no secret the long-held Canadian consensus on immigration has fractured — pulled apart by a rapid increase in new arrivals post-pandemic and growing affordability challenges. Now, that fracture is starting to show up at the ballot box. The Parti Québécois won a minority mandate in Quebec on a platform that included promises of tighter immigration controls, which the party linked to protecting French culture and easing pressure on public services and housing. And when Albertans head to the polls Monday to vote on whether to hold a future referendum on separation from Canada, they’ll also be answering five separate questions on immigration being pushed by the government of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. Those questions include:— Should the province should have more say over economic immigration?— Should provincially funded services should be restricted to citizens, permanent residents and those with “Alberta-approved” immigration status? Story continues below advertisement