Health authorities advise against swimming in Ottawa today, citing E.coli risk
Local
Ottawa Public Health has recommended that people not swim in Ottawa’s waters after the heavy rainfall recently. They’ve detected a dangerous amount of E.coli bacteria, which can cause infection, vomiting, fever or even Crohn’s disease.
Ottawa received 2.7 centimetres of rain over the past few days, due to a weakened remnant of Hurricane Beryl which caused so much devastation in the continent’s south.
The health authority updates its water quality advisories daily.
National
Canada’s housing sales remained slow in June despite an interest rate cut from the Bank of Canada at the start of the month.
There was no noticeable change in home-buying activity, which overall has been slow in the spring compared to normally.
Phil Soper, CEO of real estate company Royal LePage, told Global News that he thought rates are still too high for first-time mortgage buyers without a lot of capital, and that “[i]t probably will take an additional couple of rate cuts of that magnitude to start to make a real difference.”
The high interest rates were justified as a counter-inflation measure; Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem said that further rate cuts could be expected if inflation remains under control.
But others speculate that shortages of houses will keep prices high regardless of mortgages’ status, and that this could continue to shut first-time buyers out.
International
A fistfight broke out between Uruguayan soccer players and Colombian spectators at a semifinal of the Copa America tournament yesterday. This occurred after Colombia defeated Uruguay 1-0.
The cause of the fight is unknown, with the involved players claiming that their families were being threatened by drunk people. The fight was broken up by security, and no serious injuries have been reported.
CONMEBOL (Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol/Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol), the organization that runs Copa America, stated that they are investigating the situation and condemned “intolerance and violence on and off the field.” CONMEBOL has not announced any punishments related to the fight.
Uruguay’s team will face Canada for the bronze medal on Saturday, while Colombia will play Argentina for gold on Sunday. Both matches start at 8 p.m. EDT.
