Here’s what you need to know this Friday before the long weekend kicks off: A microbead ban in Canada; funding coming to Ontario’s Toyota operations; a Canadian pastor detained in North Korea; more funding for fight against ISIS; and the host city of the 2022 Winter Olympics has been announced.
Plus, we revisit a devastating 1987 Edmonton tornado in this week’s Flashback Friday.
1. Microbead ban: The federal government says it will ban microbeads used in personal care products after studies found the particles can be harmful to the environment. Microbeads—commonly found in products such as shampoo and toothpaste—are so small they can’t be filtered out by water-treatments systems and end up contaminating lakes and rivers.
2. Funding for Toyota: More than $400 million will be pumped in to Toyota’s operations in southern Ontario, CTV Toronto has learned. The deal will secure about 8,000 jobs at Ontario’s Toyota plants.
3. Detained pastor: A South Korean news agency is reporting that an Ontario pastor detained in North Korea has confessed to "subversive plots" against the Communist state during a televised news conference. Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim of the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Mississauga, Ont., was on a humanitarian mission to North Korea when he was detained in early February. A Foreign Affairs spokesperson said the government is "deeply concerned" about Lim.
4. Anti-ISIS conference: Canada will contribute up to $8.3 million to Iraqi authorities for defence programs and non-lethal equipment to fight Islamic State militants, Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson announced Thursday at an anti-ISIS coalition meeting in Quebec City. The money will go towards humanitarian aid, strengthening borders, explosives detection and helping prevent the spread of ISIS’s influence in the Middle East.
5. Host city for 2022: Beijing has been selected as the host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Only two cities were in the running by the end: Beijing and Almaty, Kazakshtan. With the announcement, Beijing will become the first city to host both Winter and Summer games.
And one more thing for Flashback Friday…
We look back at the afternoon of July 31, 1987, when a devastating twister ripped through Edmonton, leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake.
