By Canadian Press

In the news today, June 24

Jun 24, 2019 | 10:08 AM

Four stories in the news for Monday, June 24

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SAINT-JACQUES SET TO RETURN FROM SPACE MISSION

David Saint-Jacques is getting ready to head home today after more than six months in space. The Canadian astronaut is set to return aboard a Soyuz capsule along with a NASA astronaut and Russian cosmonaut, landing just before 11 p.m. Eastern. Saint-Jacques’ mission began on Dec. 3 and will be the longest single spaceflight by a Canadian — 204 days in orbit. His mission included milestones such as a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk in April and operating Canadarm2 to perform a “cosmic catch” of SpaceX Dragon cargo in May. He also oversaw numerous health science experiments and chatted from space with children across Canada.

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INDEPENDENT SENATORS GROWING MORE ASSERTIVE

In the final hours of Justin Trudeau’s four-year experiment with a less-partisan Senate, Independent senators came within a whisker of biting the hand that feeds them. On Bill C-48, which follows through on the prime minister’s 2015 election commitment to ban oil tankers from the northern coast of British Columbia, senators voted 49 to 46 to accept the bill, even though Trudeau’s government had rejected one of two Senate amendments to the controversial legislation. Those voting against included all the Conservative senators plus more than a dozen Independent senators.

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SURVEY SUGGESTS CANADIANS HAPPIER AFTER AGE 55

A new national survey suggests Canadians are happier after age 55 and when they earn a higher income, but it also indicates that most don’t consider money to be a key factor affecting their happiness. The Happiness Index compiled by Leger, asked Canadians across the country to rate their level of happiness on a scale of one to 10 and note which factors they believe influence their happiness the most. The online survey, conducted between June 11 and 17, found about half of respondents ranked their happiness as at least eight out of 10, with almost no difference between rural and urban areas.

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MUST LOVE SNAKES: RATTLER WRANGLER ALWAYS ON CALL

One rattlesnake got caught in freshly laid tar under someone’s stairs. Others typically get trapped in garden netting. Ryan Heavy Head comes to the rescue of both the vipers and the terrified homeowners. “I call myself a rattlesnake wrangler,” says the 47-year-old, who runs a rattlesnake mitigation program in Lethbridge, southeast of Calgary. He’s also on call with the program’s rattlesnake hotline, which runs April to October. The line gets anywhere from 60 to 170 calls a year, and the number has been rising along with new housing developments on bluffs above the city’s river valley.

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ALSO IN THE NEWS:

— Finance Minister Bill Morneau in Kitimat, B.C. to announce the largest private sector investment in Canadian history.

— Release of BC Court of Appeal ruling on the government application to preserve indefinite solitary confinement in Canadian prisons.

— Conference in support of revitalization of Indigenous languages around the world opens in Victoria.

— Pro-choice rally at Edmonton Legislature featuring speakers on bodily autonomy and reproductive justice.

— Lethbridge, Alta., retrial of David and Collet Stephan who were convicted of failing to provide the necessaries of life in the death of their son.

— OPSEU members from the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa to hold a rally against the Ford government.

— Media invited to attend first crossing of refurbished Samuel De Champlain Bridge in Quebec.

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The Canadian Press