Provincial governments step up and pay for ice storm damage and future flood mitigation; tougher drinking and driving laws in British Columbia are showing results.
Alberta to flood proof Calgary, High River schools
The Alberta government is providing up to $2.5 million each for eight schools in Calgary and High River to protect against flooding.
Education Minister Jeff Johnson says the money will be made available if a school can show it needs flood mitigation not covered by insurance.
Such measures may include landscaping or site remediation, relocation of electrical equipment or flood-proof doors and windows.
All but three of the schools damaged in last June's floods have been repaired and are open to students.
Tougher B.C. laws reduce drinking and driving deaths
Drinking and driving-related deaths have decreased by 52 per cent in the few years since British Columbia passed tougher laws, according to the provincial government.
The Immediate Roadside Prohibition (IRP) program was launched in September 2010, inspired by four-year-old Alexa Middelaer, who was killed by a drunk driver in 2008. At that time, the B.C. set a goal to reduce drinking and driving deaths by 35 per cent by the end of last year.
The 52 per cent decrease represents 190 lives that have been saved since the legislation came into effect. Under the IRP program, drinking and driving fatalities have dropped to an average of 54 a year, from a prior five-year average of 112.
Research from the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C. also suggests that the drinking and driving laws have resulted in a 23 per cent decline in injuries and 19.5 per cent decline in property damage. (continued.)
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Ontario to pay $190 million for ice storm damage
The Ontario government will provide up to $190 million to help municipalities pay for the cost of cleanup and recovery from the pre-Christmas ice storm.
Municipal Affairs Minister Linda Jeffrey says the money will be divided up among the 32 towns and cities that requested financial help from the province, including Toronto.
Hard-hit municipalities across southern Ontario had said the recovery efforts could cost more than $250 million, including $106 million just for Toronto.
The storm downed trees and hydro lines, left hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without power for days and stalled road and air travel.
Mayors had asked the federal and Ontario governments to each cover a third of the cleanup costs from the storm, which left people shivering in the cold and dark for days until power was restored.
GM recalls more vehicles for faulty ignition switches
General Motors doubled to 1.6 million the number of small cars it is recalling to fix faulty ignition switches linked to multiple fatal crashes.
Just two weeks ago, GM announced the recall of more than 780,000 Chevrolet Cobalts and Pontiac G5s. It's now adding 842,000 Saturn Ion compacts, Chevrolet HHR SUVs and Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky sports cars.
The company was immediately lambasted by a well-known safety advocate who says GM knew of the problem for years and waited too long to recall the cars even though people were killed because of the problem.
GM says a heavy key ring or jarring from rough roads can cause the ignition switch to move out of the run position and shut off the engine and electrical power. That can knock out power-assisted brakes and steering and disable the front air bags. The problem has been linked to 31 crashes and 13 front-seat deaths. In the fatalities, the air bags did not inflate, but the engines did not shut off in all cases, GM said.
It was unclear whether the ignition switches caused the crashes, or whether people died because the air bags didn't inflate.
