Some positive news for Marineland. The US government has formally approved an emergency rescue of most of the beluga whales from the now defunct amusement park. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada has endorsed the plan which will see the belugas transferred to 4 facilities in the US, including Chicago; San Diego; San Antonio, and Atlanta. The process will take a couple weeks as veterinarians need to evaluate the health of the whales before transport can take place. Marineland says it welcomes the relocation as they recognize that they can no longer provide the long-term care these animals require and believe the rescue is in the whales’ best interest. Marineland had threatened to euthanize the 30 belugas in January unless they were granted permission to ship them to the US.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has touched down in Saudi Arabia to meet with the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The meeting is an effort to seek economic partnerships and to bridge relations. A sitting Prime Minister has not visited the country in 26 years. After a diplomatic dispute in 2018 Saudi Arabia withdrew their ambassador in Ottawa. They were restored in 2023. Carney listed multiple “priority sectors” to discuss, including AI; agriculture; tourism; mining; and infrastructure. Global affairs Canada says that Saudi Arabia is a valued security and economic partner for Canada and its allies, and that Canada values its strong bilateral relationship, reinforced by high-level engagements.

A City of Ottawa committee has voted for an anti-renovictions bylaw that landlord groups are calling another layer of bureaucracy. Renovictions are the practice of pushing longstanding tenants out of apartments to replace them with new tenants paying higher rents, using minor repairs or renovations as the pretext. Councillors have asked City staff to draw up a bylaw to rein in that practice. The proposed bylaw would require landlords to seek a city licence and prove they have obtained a building permit within a week of issuing an eviction notice for renovations. Landlords will have to inform tenants of their right to return to the unit at the same rent once the renovations are complete. Tenant advocacy groups are worried there are too many loopholes with the bylaw, for example landlords are not required to get a report from a qualified engineer or architect to prove an eviction is required to do the work.