In sweltering heat, Ottawa still rises. Here’s what we got on tap.

British Columbia has secured a sweeping package of federal funding under a new Canada-B.C. agreement signed Thursday, hours before Alberta is set to unveil details of its proposed West Coast pipeline.

The agreement delivers $10 billion for the Roberts Bank Terminal expansion, $3.5 billion for the North Coast Transmission Line, $500 million for the Red Chris mine, and $3 billion for the Massey Tunnel Replacement.

The $3.5-billion commitment to the North Coast Transmission Line is significant, covering nearly half the project’s total cost. The line is considered essential to electrifying industrial operations in the region, including the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG project and several mining developments.

How much of the cost B.C. ratepayers should bear has long been a contentious question, given that the new transmission line is set to primarily benefit industrial players and unlock resource projects in the region.

Aya Dufour has more. 

Thousands of people across Ontario and Quebec are without power after severe thunderstorms on Canada Day brought down trees and flooded homes in some regions during a stubborn heat wave that is now spreading further east.

Environment Canada has scores of heat warnings posted for most of Ontario and Quebec, and now stretching across to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

Much of Ontario is under an orange warning, an alert the agency says is uncommon and signals severe weather that is likely to cause significant damage or health effects.

Daytime temperatures in Ontario — from Windsor to Ottawa and Thunder Bay through Timmins and southern James Bay — have been in the mid-30s, with the humidex making it feel even hotter.

The Canadian Press has more. 

Canadian businesses say they were “not surprised” after the United States declined to join Canada-Mexico in extending the CUSMA agreement, but they warn the decision prolongs uncertainty that is already weighing on investment and growth.

The Trump administration opted not to renew the continental trade pact during its six-year review. The agreement remains in force until 2036 and can still be extended at any point for another 16-year term.

A new Deloitte economic outlook says low business confidence is keeping firms on the sidelines, making investment one of the biggest drags on economic growth. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says many firms continue to delay growth plans amid the ongoing tariff concerns.

“Nothing’s different today than it was on Tuesday,” Corinne Pohlmann, Executive Vice-President in Advocacy for Canadian Federation of Independent Business said in an interview with iPolitics. 

Sydney Ko has more. 

In Other Headlines

Internationally

Elsewhere, a man has been rescued from a collapsed building eight days after twin earthquakes devastated Venezuela.

The rescue on Thursday came as attention has begun to shift from finding survivors under the rubble to addressing the humanitarian needs of the thousands of residents displaced.

An estimated 60,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed in last week’s earthquakes, which hit magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, respectively. An estimated 13,000 people have been left homeless.

In its last official update, Venezuela’s government said that at least 2,295 people have been confirmed killed, with 11,000 injured. The death toll was expected to rise, with about 50,000 people reported missing.

But in a rare ray of hope, rescue workers were able to reach 43-year-old security guard Hernan Gil on Thursday, after days of trying to retrieve him from a collapsed seven-storey building where he worked in the hard-hit coastal area of Catia La Mar.

Al Jazeera has more. 

BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Moise Bulabantu is consumed by stress at the thought of contracting Ebola.

As a community nurse in an Ebola-stricken area of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, he is at high risk of getting sick. Ever since the government declared an outbreak on May 15, Bulabantu has been in daily contact with people suffering from the disease.

“We don’t have protective equipment,” says the 38-year-old, from his small clinic in a poor suburb of Bunia, the capital of Ituri province. “We’re extremely afraid.”

Bulabantu is the only state health worker for an area of about 40,000 people — and one of many hundreds of frontline health personnel in Ituri risking their lives to fight Ebola with limited means.

Congo is among the five poorest nations in the world, according to the World Bank, and health infrastructure is severely degraded across most of the country.

Bulabantu’s clinic consists of several rooms in a clapboard structure. Foam mattresses on rickety beds have no sheets on them. And there is one small entrance, with no way to isolate suspected Ebola cases who arrive seeking care or advice.

Read more from NPR. 

In Other International Headlines

The Kicker

Some people get engaged over a nice dinner, some through an elaborate planning in a foreign country, but what’s really romantic is getting engaged 1,454 feet above Manhattan.

Russian climbers, Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus scaled the Empire State Building’s antenna on Wednesday and put out a banner about the “power of love.” It was followed by a marriage proposal.

After some time, the couple climbed down and was face with a slew of charges by the NYPD.

More from the Associated Press.