The long weekend awaits, but before you go, here’s what you should know.

Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon is set to travel to Norman Wells next week to announce millions for the Mackenzie Valley highway, which would connect Yellowknife to Inuvik.

The federal government is set to announce millions in funding, according to a source with knowledge of the matter. iPolitics is not naming them because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

A government advisory suggests MacKinnon and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty will make the announcement in Norman Wells, N.W.T., Tuesday morning.

The territory’s Deputy Premier, Caroline Wawzonek, is also set to attend the announcement.

Late last week, Ottawa published a notice in the Canada Gazette for the Mackenzie Valley Highway, the next step in considering whether to list the project under Schedule 1 of the Building Canada Act as a project of national interest.

Aya Dufour has the story.

Five legislators who quit the B.C. Conservatives will be part of a new party they say offers a “stable, serious alternative” to the governing NDP, after weeks of upheaval in the official Opposition.

Rosalyn Bird, Bruce Banman and A’a:liya Warbus said Friday in a joint statement that they’re joining the yet-to-be-named party being formed by Peter Milobar and Ian Paton.

They are all among nine legislators to have quit the Conservative caucus over the past three weeks, citing ideological and strategic differences with Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay.

“The support we’ve seen from across the province has been overwhelming, and people are stepping up to help us bring this party to life in a very short time,” interim leader Milobar said in the statement.

“The appetite for it is undeniable.”

The Canadian Press has more. 

A new government report says the impacts of climate change in Canada are now largely irreversible and average temperatures are expected to rise by at least 3.5 C by the end of the century.

The report is the second released by Environment and Climate Change Canada examining changes to Canada’s climate and was authored by nearly two dozen government and climate science experts.

It says even if the world reaches net-zero emissions by 2075, Canada will see nearly a 50 per cent increase in the area burned by wildfires, and glaciers in Western Canada are expected to lose more than 75 per cent of their mass.

Under current policies, average temperatures in Canada are expected to rise five degrees by the year 2100, with a 50 per cent chance winter temperatures will increase by more than 10 C in much of Nunavut.

CP’s got this one too. 

From auto theft and bail reform to extortion and police staffing, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown has increasingly pushed beyond city hall to press Ottawa and Queen’s Park for action on public safety.

A survey conducted earlier this year by Queen’s Park Briefing ranked Brown as the Ontario mayor seen as having the greatest impact on public safety in his community.

READ MORE: Queen’s Park Survey 2026: Most influential and safety-minded mayors

One of the most visible changes has been within Peel Regional Police, which is in the midst of what Brown has described as the largest expansion of frontline policing in the country, with plans to add 750 officers over four years.

Adrian Woolley, the president of the Peel Regional Police Association, said the additional staffing has already eased some of the pressure on officers in a region that had fallen behind some major Canadian police services in officers per capita.

Sydney Ko reports. 

In Other Headlines

Internationally

The judge has declared a mistrial in the case of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts woman charged with murdering her three young children in 2023. This came after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court denied the request of Clancy’s defense attorney for an emergency appeal Friday.

After deliberating for six days, the jury told the judge they could not reach a verdict because one juror did not agree with the 11 others.

The judge said the jury’s note read, “It is with a heavy heart that we report we are unable to come to a unanimous decision, and we will not be able to.” as WBUR reported.

The Supreme Judicial Court heard the case early Friday afternoon. The appeal asked that the court either excuse the juror who is allegedly refusing to follow instructions or inquire further to determine whether the juror can in fact follow the judge’s instructions to correctly apply the law.

NPR has more. 

People in Kuhestak, a predominantly Baloch city in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, are mourning after a strike on a wedding killed at least four people, including a child, and injured more than 60, according to local authorities.

The blast hit at around 9.30pm on 1 September, turning a night of celebration into one of devastation for the small coastal community, which is on the strait of Hormuz.

In the aftermath, videos shared on social media by friends and relatives of the wedding couple showed rubble, flower garlands and decorations scattered among debris and bloodied shoes.

Asked about the strike on Thursday, the US vice-president, JD Vance, said the US would never target civilians in combat but that “sometimes things happen”, adding that he was sceptical of Iran’s reports. He did not acknowledge that the killings had been confirmed by an internationally recognised humanitarian body.

Read more from The Guardian. 

In Other International Headlines

The Kicker

Finally, here’s a nice travel story to commemorate the end of summer.

German Artist, Katharina Kneip is taking the long way around the world… on foot.

Kneip left home more than three years ago and has since walked, skied and sailed through Northern Europe. She is now making her way across Saskatchewan, where she’s taking in the vast Prairie landscape and occasionally relying the kindness of strangers for a place to sleep.

Where the journey takes her next is still up in the air, with geopolitics and bureaucracy complicating her planned route through Alaska and Russia.

More from CBC. 

Have a great weekend!