No fans allowed at Canada’s figure skating championships due to COVID-19 concerns

No fans at Canada's figure skating championships

OTTAWA - Canada's figure skating championships will have no fans in attendance as the national sports organization adapts to surging COVID-19 numbers.

Skate Canada said on Thursday all purchased tickets for the event at Ottawa's TD Place Arena for Jan. 6-13 will be refunded. This change aligns with the Ontario government's decision to limit attendance at sporting and other event venues.

“The health and safety of all participants in the championships is of paramount importance. We understand this is disappointing for our fans and stakeholders," said Skate Canada president Karen Butcher and CEO Debra Armstrong in a joint statement.

"However, our priority is to preserve the competitions necessary for the selection of teams for the Olympic Winter Games and ISU Championship events.”

The election of our discontent: City at a crumbling crossroads, grumbling residents say in poll

There’s an undercurrent of unhappiness running through the Winnipeg electorate as the municipal election day approaches.

One-half of Winnipeggers believe the city is heading in the wrong direction, according to a new Abacus Data poll, with nearly one-third unsure if Winnipeg is regressing or progressing.

Only 21 per cent of residents believe the city is on the right track, the Free Press-commissioned poll found.

That discontentment extends to how the city spends its tax dollars, with four in 10 Winnipeggers believing they receive poor value for what they pay in property taxes.

Record participation, funds raised in 2026 breast cancer awareness race

It’s become a tradition for the West End Legends to gather, get dressed up in hot pink and gab about their late girlfriend on the first Sunday of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“Mary was a beauty, a brain, an athlete and a friend,” said Linda Opalko, a 67-year-old member of the fundraising team founded in honour of Mary Stawychny.

Stawychny’s last breath was taken the same day the group — made up of friends the career teacher maintained since she grew up on Ingersoll Street more than 50 years ago — got together for the 2022 CIBC Run for the Cure.

“We were walking as she was leaving us four years ago,” Opalko said as she and fellow fundraisers strolled down Wellington Crescent on Sunday morning.

Hydro Québec faces issue we should avoid

You might be tempted to call it a canary in an electric power generation coal mine.