New projections suggest Ontario's surging COVID-19 caseload is likely to strain its health-care system to the point where surgeries will be cancelled, while Quebec's premier is raising the possibility of school closures around the holidays and Alberta is tightening restrictions.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says an inquiry into who is funding environmental opposition to the province's oil and gas sector will be completed some time next year.

RCMP are investigating after far-right protesters disrupted what was to be a peaceful anti-racism rally in central Alberta last weekend, but local advocacy groups say officers should have been better prepared to stop the violence.

COVID-19 has spread to Hutterite colonies in all three Prairie provinces, with five new cases of the virus reported on Friday, July 17, 2020, in one Manitoba community.