In the news today, April 4

Seven stories in the news for Thursday, April 5

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PM TRUDEAU HEADS WEST TO TALK ENERGY, CLEAN TECH

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will address a business audience in Quebec City this morning, then fly west to Vancouver for a roundtable discussion on clean technology. Trudeau will appear at a party fundraiser in Vancouver, where he is expected to greeted by a large crowd of protesters opposed to the Trans-Canada pipeline. On Friday, Trudeau will visit an oilsands facility in Alberta owned by Suncor.

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FREELAND IN WASHINGTON TODAY TO TALK TRADE

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland will be in Washington today to meet with U.S. trade czar Robert Lighthizer as part of the ongoing efforts to complete a renegotiation of the NAFTA. Freeland and Lighthizer met last month in Washington and the minister said they made good progress. Speaking in Winnipeg yesterday, Freeland with a potential China-U.S. trade war gaining strength, the global trading order that Canada helped create faces its greatest threat since 1945.

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ALBERTA INFANT DEAD, 14 PEOPLE ILL IN HOSPITAL

Authorities are investigating the death of an infant and the hospitalization of 14 people from a rural home west of Calgary due to what officials say was an influenza-like illness. Cpl. Curtis Peters said Mounties went to a home in Morley, on the Stoney Nakoda First Nation, to check on a report of a child in medical distress and confirms the four-month old died at the home. Of the 10 children and four young adults rushed to hospital, one young child was in serious condition, while the rest were stable.

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FACEBOOK DATA BREACH HITS 620,000 CANADIANS

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has made a public apology for his company’s handling of users’ personal information — including more than 620,000 Canadians — as the social media giant faced a growing uproar over the use of personal data. The company estimates 622,161 users in Canada had their data improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica through apps used by themselves or their friends. Facebook says 87 million of its users worldwide were affected.

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ALBERTA TO REQUIRE ‘SAFE ZONES’ AT ABORTION CLINICS

The Alberta government will introduce legislation today to establish no-go zones for anti-abortion protesters around clinics that offer the procedure. Health Minister Sarah Hoffman says intimidation of patients is on the rise, and it won’t be tolerated. Alberta’s two main abortion clinics are in Edmonton and Calgary, and both have court orders requiring protesters to keep their distance.

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DOUG FORD SCRAPS MEDIA BUS FOR CAMPAIGN

A busload of reporters won’t be trailing Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford to his campaign stops ahead of the June 7 election. Media buses are a campaign tradition to make it easier for reporters to cover candidates at multiple daily events in different cities. But Spokeswoman Melissa Lantsman says Ford’s campaign events will be broadcast online since most media outlets have shifted to covering events from their office and relying on live feeds.

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WIND STORM LEAVES THOUSANDS WITHOUT POWER

Hydro repair crews continue working to restore electricity to thousands of homes and businesses affected by a powerful wind storm that raked Ontario and western Quebec on Wednesday. Ontario’s latest utility, Hydro One, said it about 38,000 outages by early Thursday, down from a peak of about 88,000. Environment Canada says some of the strongest wind gusts were along the Lake Erie shoreline, with Port Colborne recording gusts of more than 100 kilometres per hour.

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ALSO IN THE NEWS TODAY

— NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh will discuss discrimination in the criminal justice system in a Halifax speech.

— Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer participates in a question-and-answer session in Penticton, B.C.

— Statistics Canada will release the Canadian international merchandise trade figures for February.

— Court date to be set in the case of former news director Stephan Vogelsang, who is accused of robbing banks.

— Yukon government officials will present a briefing on what impacts carbon pricing would have on the territory.

— BMO Financial Group will hold its annual meeting in Toronto.

— Canada Post will celebrate five of Canada’s best illustrators with a stamp issue.