Saskatchewan to end chronic wasting disease testing program
Saskatchewan's government is ending a program that tests for chronic wasting disease in deer and other cervids.
A bulletin on the province's website says the program is to be eliminated at the end of this month.
It says uptake from hunters on the program has been low and that ending it provides an opportunity to find efficiencies.
Chronic wasting disease affects the brains and nervous systems of cervids, such as deer, elk and moose.
Saskatchewan's program requires hunters to submit animal heads for voluntary or mandatory testing, depending on where the animals were hunted.
Health Canada says there's been no reported cases of the disease in humans, but it recommends people don't eat meat from animals known to be infected.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2026.
By Jeremy Simes | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Waterloo researcher uses microbes to eat methane
Imagine tiny organisms that eat our pollution and help reduce emissions. This might sound like something straight out of science fiction, but university researchers are making it a reality.Laura Hug, a researcher at the University of Waterloo, is turning to an unexpected ally buried deep within waste: microbes. These tiny organisms are proving powerful tools in helping in the fight against methane emissions from landfills, which account for roughly 17 per cent of national methane emissions.
In any given landfill, a microscopic war is underway. Some microbes generate methane, while others consume it. Hugs’ research explores ways to use methane-eating microbes to reduce “legacy” methane, the ongoing, long-term gas emissions produced by decades-old organic waste buried deep underground.
“We see organisms that are able to oxidize that methane [break down the molecule],” said Hug, adding that the microbes that produce methane and feed on it are very separate from each other.
“They never see each other. The organisms generating methane are buried in the waste”
Hug leads a research team called Mitigation of Methane Emission Hot-Spots from Municipal Landfills. Her work blends soil science and environmental microbiology to better map and understand emissions from Canada’s landfills. A core focus of the project is reducing legacy and poorly quantified methane leaks from older or active waste sites.
For more than ten years, Hug has been studying landfills across Ontario and the United States. Her lab maintains a decade-long collaboration with the Region of Waterloo’s Division of Waste to collect field samples. However, collecting data at a landfill is delicate; doing it incorrectly can accidentally release the very gas they are trying to track.
“What we do is we sample the liquid that builds up in the landfill. It’s called leachate, and it is developed by organic matter breaking down and rainwater infiltrating,” explained Hug.
Beyond methane, Hug and her team use these leachate samples to develop tools that can transform other pervasive environmental contaminants using natural microbial processes.
“There are organisms that can degrade chlorinated solvents. Things like dry cleaning fluid or degreasing fluid for planes, or [chemicals] electronics are dipped into before they’re sealed, and a lot of older landfills have legacy contamination of these solvents, and they’re toxic,” said Hug.
“They partially degrade pretty readily. But there’s only a few organisms that we’ve found that are able to degrade them to a completely non-toxic end product.”
A more precise understanding of these microbes allows Hug’s team to identify which species are most efficient at destroying methane. The goal is to use these organisms to engineer more effective landfill barriers.
“The idea would be that you would be able to mix these into cover soils and put them onto landfills as you were closing and capping them, so that you were kind of starting from a position of this is your enhanced capacity for methane oxidation at a landfill from day zero,” explained Hug.
When it comes to managing aging landfills, physical engineering options are often limited and expensive, which makes microbes all the more promising as a solution.
“They don’t have a lot of physical engineering options for reducing that methane, but that methane is going to be generated and it will work its way out of the system eventually. So, having more effective cover soils would be a really important layer for controlling methane emissions at these aging landfill [sites],” noted Hug.
Copyright 2026, Woolwich Observer. All rights reserved.
Meg Deak, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Woolwich Observer.
CPKC Holiday Train is travelling through Ontario and these are the stops across the province
You can see the festive train in Toronto and the GTA!
The magical CPKC Holiday Train will illuminate cities, towns and communities all over Canada with festive lights.
A lot of stops are scheduled in Ontario during November and December, so you might be able to see the lit-up train cars where you live.
There are actually two holiday trains, a Canadian train and a U.S. train, but each has a route that spans both countries.
During the 2026 holiday train season, 182 stops are scheduled in both countries, including more than 100 in Canada and 40 in Ontario.
Each train will travel thousands of miles throughout the 32-day journey, so some events will happen during the day. But the holiday-themed boxcar lights will stay on as the trains travel on the CPKC rail network, even during the day.
All of the CPKC Holiday Train events in Canada are free to attend, but food and monetary donations for local food banks will be accepted at each stop.
The stops in Ontario will also feature musical performances by American Authors, Tyler Shaw, Magic! and MARIS.
At each stop, the train arrives in front of the crowd, and the boxcar door lowers to reveal a stage for the musical performance.
The bands and artists perform classic and modern holiday songs and their original songs, then the boxcar door closes, and the train goes to the next stop on the route.
Now, let's get into the dates, times and locations of CPKC Holiday Train stops in Ontario if you want to see the festive lights and musical performances.
These are the stops on November 20:
- Milton — 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Glen Eden Ski & Snowboard Centre (5234 Kelso Road)
- Hamilton — 8 p.m. to 8:40 p.m. at West Kinnear Yard opposite Gage Park
These are the stops on November 21:
- Cambridge/Galt — 4:15 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. at 10 Malcolm Street
- Ayr, Ontario — 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Inglis Street & Willison Street
- Woodstock — 6:50 p.m. to 7:10 p.m. at 199 Winniett Street
- London — 8:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Richmond Street & Piccadilly Street
These are the stops on November 22:
- Chatham — 1:45 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. at Holiday Inn & Convention Center (565 Richmond Street)
- Windsor — 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Erie Street West & Janette Avenue
These are the stops on November 28:
- Finch — 2:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. at James Street between William Street & George Street
- Merrickville — 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the south side of the Broadway Street railroad crossing near By Street
- Smiths Falls — 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Smiths Falls Train Station (63 Victoria Avenue)
- Perth — 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Wilson Street Railway Crossing
These are the stops on November 29:
- Belleville — 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. west of the storage facility on Keegan Parkway
- Trenton — 10:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. at RCAF Road Railway Crossing
- Brighton — 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. east of railway crossing on Prince Edward Street
- Bowmanville — 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Scugog Road & Wellington Street
- Oshawa — 3:15 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. at 680 Laval Drive behind Walmart
- Toronto — 8:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 750 Runnymede Road
These are the stops on November 30:
- Vaughan — 10:15 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. at CPKC railway crossing on Nashville Road near the Old Grain Elevator
- Springwater (Midhurst) — 12:30 p.m. to 12:55 p.m. at 2231 Nursery Road
- MacTier — 3 p.m. to 3:20 p.m. at CPKC Station
- Parry Sound — 4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Festival Station (1 Avenue Road)
- Shawanaga — 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Village Road
- Rutter — 7:10 p.m. to 7:40 p.m. at Rutter Train Station
- Sudbury — 9:15 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. at VIA Train Station on Elgin Street
These are the stops on December 1:
- Cartier — 10:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. at 3 Spencer Avenue
- Chapleau — 4:15 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. at 50 Dufferin Street
- White River — 9 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at 102 Winnipeg Street
These are the stops on December 2:
- Mobert — 9:15 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. at Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg Band Office
- Heron Bay — 11:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. at ESSO Building
- Marathon — 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m. at Curling Club on Stevens Avenue
- Schreiber — 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at North Shore Harvest Food Cupboard
- Nipigon — 5:45 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. at 60 Front Street across from town hall
- Thunder Bay — 8:45 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. at 440 Syndicate Avenue
These are the stops on December 3:
- Ignace — 9:15 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. at CPKC Train Station
- Dryden — 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at Queen Street & Earl Avenue
- Vermilion Bay — 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Bay Street Railway Crossing
- Kenora — 3:20 p.m. to 3:50 p.m. at the wholesale store on 8th Avenue South
- Ingolf — 4:40 p.m. to 5:10 p.m. at Mile 31.3