In the news today: Alberta schools ready to close as teachers strike looms

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Schools set to close as Alberta provides online curriculum ahead of teachers strike

Schools across Alberta are preparing to close their doors while the province readies a home curriculum for students ahead of Monday’s provincewide teachers strike. Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides says the province has already put online a curriculum that parents can use to teach their children should the 51,000 members of the Alberta Teachers’ Association make good on their promise to walk out. Nicolaides says it’s not fair that students would be forced to bear the brunt of the walkout, which would affect more than 700,000 students across public, separate and francophone schools. Earlier this week, nearly 90 per cent of union members who voted rejected the province’s latest offer, which included a 12 per cent pay hike over four years and a promise to hire 3,000 more teachers.

Gaza war could delay vote: Palestinian Authority

The Palestinian Authority says its commitment to holding elections in 2026 — which Ottawa has set as a condition for recognizing Palestinian statehood — won’t be fulfilled if the war in Gaza continues into next year. Omar Awadallah, the Palestinian deputy minister of foreign affairs, tells the Canadian Press it will need a full year after the end of the Gaza war before it can hold elections, and a vote will only happen if it’s held in all three occupied territories. Prime Minister Mark Carney said in July that Canada’s formal recognition of the State of Palestine is “predicated on” the Palestinian Authority undertaking reforms. Officials later said Canada’s conditions include revising the school curriculum so that Palestinian students aren’t taught antisemitic messages, and ending the Palestinian Authority’s payments to families of those imprisoned for killing Israelis.

Here’s what else we’re watching…

Yukon election campaign to officially kick off

Yukon’s territorial election is expected to be called today with Premier Mike Pemberton waiting until the last opportunity under the law. Pemberton told supporters on Thursday that he would be meeting with Commissioner Adeline Webber to formally bring the 35th Yukon legislative assembly to an end and trigger the next election. It will be held on Nov. 3, the last possible day under the territory’s fixed election legislation. The election will be the territory’s first with 21 ridings, up from the current 19, and 15 will have new boundaries after a commission recommended changes last year.

Major debt a minor issue in Newfoundland election

Business and taxpayer organizations are calling on Newfoundland and Labrador party leaders to stop making costly election promises without a plan to tackle the provincial debt. AnnMarie Boudreau with the St. John’s Board of Trade noted the province will spend more than a billion dollars in interest and debt repayments by the end of the current fiscal year. Devin Drover with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says every new promise on the campaign trail becomes a future tax hike or service cut. In a province of about 545,000 people, Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest provincial net debt per capita in the country.

New housing project reduces hospital, ER visits

A new housing program in Toronto run by a hospital network has seen dramatic improvements to its residents’ emergency room visits and hospital admissions. The University Health Network and housing operator Fred Victor teamed up on a unique permanent supportive housing model geared to homeless people who visit hospitals frequently. Dunn House now sits on an old hospital parking lot in a leafy neighbourhood in Toronto’s west end. Doctor Andrew Boozary says preliminary data shows the 48 residents who live at Dunn House made nearly 2,000 visits to an ER in the year before moving in.

Quebecers rallying behind Toronto Blue Jays

Louis-Philippe Guy wasn’t always a Toronto Blue Jays fan. As a young boy, his family would drive six hours south from his hometown of Chicoutimi, Que., to see the Montreal Expos play at the Olympic Stadium. Now, 21 years after the Expos moved to Washington, D.C., the minor baseball coach from Montreal’s South Shore and Blue Jays lover drives for hours to see the team play in Toronto and other Major League Baseball cities, and says his kids love the tradition just as much as he did growing up. With the Jays set to play against the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the American League Division Series this Saturday, Guy said he’s feeling hopeful more youth will take up the sport.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2025.

The Canadian Press