A highway crash kills 3 young hockey players

Tuesday, February 03, 2026

Written by Hanna Lee Copy Editor, Digital News

Good morning. Three teenagers are dead after a motor vehicle crash crash in Alberta last night involving a semi truck carrying gravel. They all played for the Southern Alberta Mustangs, a junior hockey team based in Stavely, Alta. We have the latest below.

THE LATEST

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton have agreed to testify in a House investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In 2014, Epstein visited Canada, despite having pleaded guilty to a crime that should have made him inadmissible — and federal officials are providing no answers on why he was allowed in.
Billionaire businessman Frank Stronach's sexual assault trial was set to start today, but it may be delayed due to additional pretrial motions.

3 junior hockey players identified in fatal Alberta crash

Three teenagers who played for the Southern Alberta Mustangs died in a motor vehicle collision yesterday.

What's happening: Cameron Casorso, 18, and JJ Wright, 18, were both from Kamloops, B.C., while Caden Fine, 17, was from Birmingham, Ala. The junior hockey players were heading to practice at the time of the crash, which took place near Stavely, Alta., where the team is based. A semi truck carrying a load of gravel collided with a small passenger vehicle heading east, RCMP said, and all three players were declared dead at the scene. The driver of the semi, a 40-year-old man from Stavely, escaped with minor injuries. The 2025-26 season is the Mustangs' inaugural year in the United States Premier Hockey League.

The reactions: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, as well as other hockey teams in southern Alberta, expressed their condolences. Both Casorso and Wright were playing in the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association last year, and had only moved to Alberta to continue pursuing their hockey dreams. "This is gonna hit hard for sure," said Nathan Bosa, head of the B.C. league. He asks Canadians to put a stick out in memory of the players, a callback to the practice of placing hockey sticks on the front porch after the 2018 Humboldt Broncos bus crash.

Read more here

Ottawa considers reviving EV incentives as it finalizes its auto strategy: sources

The federal government may bring back consumer incentives for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, CBC News has learned.

What's happening: It comes as Ottawa is finalizing its national automotive strategy. Expected to be released this month, it will also share the government's approach to the paused EV sales mandate, as well as infrastructure and investments from countries like South Korea and China, an official said last month. The incentive program, known as iZEV, was ended more than a year ago after it ran out of money due to high demand. It had offered customers up to $5,000 toward an EV purchase.

What else: Carney is under growing pressure from several provinces, industry leaders and the Conservatives to scrap the so-called EV mandate, where all new car sales will eventually be required to be electric. He had paused the 2026 targets in September. No decision has been made yet, industry sources said, though they also mentioned stakeholders had been consulted on improving federal passenger automobile and light truck greenhouse gas emission regulations. Ottawa is separately looking at partnerships to build more charging stations ahead of any boost in demand, considering referring them to the new Major Projects Office to speed up construction.

Ashley Burke and David Thurton have more

Costco's beloved rotisserie chicken gets roasted in lawsuit over preservatives

They're inexpensive, plentiful, delicious — and getting sued? A proposed class-action lawsuit in California is taking issue with how the retailer advertises its rotisserie chicken.

What's happening: The cooked chickens were sold with a label saying "no preservatives," though it's since removed those, saying it wanted to "maintain consistency." The suit takes issue with the presence of sodium phosphate and carrageenan in the product's ingredient list. These can be used as preservatives. Costco, for its part, says it uses the ingredients for moisture retention, texture and product consistency.

What else: Wesley M. Griffith of Almedia Law Group, which is representing the plaintiffs, said the legal team was pleased to see the "no preservatives" claims dropped, saying it validated their legal theory. But he didn't say whether he would continue to pursue the class action. In this country, the two ingredients are on Health Canada's list of permitted "emulsifying, gelling, stabilizing or thickening agents."

Natalie Stechyson has more