OTTAWA - A Canadian Food Inspection Agency document on culling birds describes how ostriches should be killed, by methods that can include breaking their necks, lethal injection, gassing or shooting.

While the CFIA has repeatedly said it will not discuss its procedures in relation to a possible cull at an ostrich farm in British Columbia, an internal manual from 2016 describes various strategies.

These include lethal injection to the head in a method involving three people, "one to hold the bird by sitting on its back, one to hold the head, and one to inject the drug."

Such "intercranial injection" is said to be "quick and minimally stressful to the bird, though may be emotional for owners to watch."

OTTAWA - Nova Scotia MP Chris d'Entremont surprised many on Tuesday when he left the Conservative caucus to join the Liberals, bringing the government caucus to within two votes of a majority.

While switching parties between elections — a practice known as floor crossing referring to physically crossing the floor of the House of Commons to sit with a different caucus — is a controversial practice. More than 300 members of Parliament have changed parties while in office since 1867.

The first known MP to cross the floor was Stewart Campbell, a Nova Scotian who, in 1868, left the Anti-Confederates for the Liberal-Conservatives under Sir John A. Macdonald. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography says Campbell was later pelted with eggs at a "social occasion."

Library of Parliament data shows in the last 25 years, there have been 80 MPs who changed party affiliations between elections. Often times it came following a change in leadership, or sometimes a complete overhaul of the party itself.

OTTAWA - Global Affairs says a Canadian is one of the seven killed in an avalanche in Nepal earlier this week. 

A spokesperson says Canadian officials are in contact with local authorities to gather more information, and further details can't be disclosed due to privacy reasons.

The avalanche pounded the base camp at Mount Yalung Ri, located at 4,900 metres, on Monday morning. 

Snowstorms prevented rescuers from reaching the site the same day, but the weather cleared Tuesday and a helicopter landed with rescuers.

OTTAWA - The Liberal government says it will restore a privacy provision to the Online Streaming Act, more than two years after it was accidentally deleted.

The federal budget released this week says the government will make a legislative amendment to "restore the right to privacy of individuals to the interpretation provisions and remove a duplicative provision relating to official languages."

In 2023, the Online Streaming Act updated Canada’s Broadcasting Act to capture online streamers like Netflix.

The Senate included an amendment stating the bill would be construed and applied in a manner consistent with individuals’ right to privacy. Sen. Julie Miville-Dechêne introduced the amendment based on a recommendation from the federal privacy commissioner.

A British Columbia regulator has ordered Amazon to pay a $10,000 penalty over a failed delivery, ruling that it's not good enough to leave a package on a doorstep or with another person unless the buyer consents.

Consumer Protection BC issued a decision last month on a complaint that alleged Amazon failed to deliver an order for electronic equipment under a "distance sales contract" in August 2024. 

The decision issued on Oct. 14 says the unnamed consumer alleged Amazon failed to deliver the "portable dual display and portable digital storage unit" within 30 days, then denied a refund of about $580. 

Amazon told officials at the regulator that it suspected "return abuse" because the customer had requested three refunds in the past year, pointing to evidence the goods had been handed over to someone who lived at the address. 

TORONTO - More than 5,000 researchers have signed an open letter pushing back against a parliamentary committee order that they say draws parallels with the U.S. government's crackdown on equity, diversity and inclusion funding in health and science research.

The Standing Committee on Science and Research adopted a motion on Oct. 1 requiring health and science grant institutions to share disaggregated data on all student and faculty grant applications submitted between 2020 and 2025. 

The span of data requested was later expanded by the committee from five years to the last 25 years.

The information requested includes applicant demographics and equity, diversity and inclusion questionnaire responses, which the committee says is needed for its study into federal funding criteria.

HALIFAX - The lead researcher of a new study assessing microplastics in lobsters says the research can serve as a warning that plastic pollution is landing on people's dinner plates.

The study, published in the scientific journal Regional Studies in Marine Science, confirmed the presence of microplastics in the tails of lobsters caught off the coast of Nova Scotia.

Co-author Amber LeBlanc, a researcher at Dalhousie University in Halifax, said she and her colleagues found a variety of microplastics in edible meat pulled from all of the lobsters they studied. 

In an interview Wednesday, she said the findings are raising questions about the future of the lucrative industry and the long-term impact on human health.

MONTREAL - Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante delivered a message against political polarization and cynicism on Wednesday as she met her successor at city hall during her final days in the city's top job.

After meeting with mayor-elect Soraya Martinez Ferrada, the outgoing mayor spoke with media for a final time before she steps away from the role she has held since 2017. 

Martinez Ferrada defeated Luc Rabouin — Plante's successor as the head of the Projet Montréal party — on her way to a convincing victory in Sunday's mayoral race.

Plante, who announced last year she would not seek a third term, said she was feeling "serene" about the decision to leave as she waited to greet Martinez Ferrada with a handshake.