WestJet has sent layoff notices to 1,700 of its pilots amid an unprecedented reduction in air travel due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The Calgary-based airline said the layoffs affect pilots with WestJet, WestJet Encore and Swoop, and are effective either May 1 or June 1.  “These notifications are in response to the COVID-19 global crisis that…

A U.S. court on Wednesday ruled against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ use of a permit that allows new energy pipelines to cross water bodies, in the latest setback to TC Energy Corp.’s plans to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Keystone XL, which would carry 830,000 barrels per day of crude from Alberta…

Alberta public health officials are closely watching an outbreak of COVID-19 at the Kearl Lake oilsands facility north of Fort McMurray after three workers tested positive for the illness. Six more people at the Kearl work camp have been tested and are isolating while waiting for results, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief medical officer of health,…

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic could cost of the City of Edmonton $260 million if the crisis persists past December, councillors were told at a meeting Wednesday. That’s the worst-case scenario presented by Mary Persson, the city’s chief financial officer. But Persson said she is focusing on the city getting back to business by September. She…

One person has been killed in a collision in north Edmonton Wednesday.  Police attended the scene at 118th Avenue and 50th Street shortly after 11 a.m., where an Edmonton Transit bus sat parked next to the curb with a tarp covering a body at the rear of the bus. Several officers and the Major Collision Investigations Section were seen searching the roadway.…

Matt Greenshields never worried about COVID-19 until he found himself thinking about death as he was being wheeled down the empty, darkened hallways of a hospital on his way to intensive care. His condition was complicated because he had already contracted mononucleosis. He’s hoping his story will warn others to take the pandemic seriously. Greenshields,…