Consumer

A new survey suggests many Canadians are staying close to home this summer, which is welcome news for Tourism Saskatoon.

The survey by RetailMeNot.ca says the high price of gas, accommodations and high air fare means 23 per cent of Canadians will not be travelling this summer.

There may be truth to folklore when it comes to repelling blood-sucking mosquitoes.

The pests are on the rise in Saskatchewan this year, reaching almost record levels following the heavy rainfall. If you are having bad luck trying to keep mosquitoes away with scented candles, nets and bug spray, here's some interesting information to sink your teeth into.

WestJet is apologizing for an incident that dropped oxygen masks and forced a Saskatoon-bound flight to turn around Friday.

Shortly after take off, flight 323 from Toronto turned back after the pilots noticed a warning light that suggested there might be a problem with the cabin pressurization system.

"So they followed the check-list that they have for all problems and they were unable to solve it themselves," WestJet Spokesman Robert Palmer said.

The solution to a lack of parking downtown doesn’t need to cost us $5 million, according to Dave Denny, board chair of Saskatoon’s Downtown Partnership.

“A lot of cities will build a large parkade on one block and that will be all of their money for 10 years for parkades, but that doesn’t distribute parking all around downtown,” Denny said, adding the City of Saskatoon can get more bang for their buck by buying up a couple of floors of parking in new buildings.

Property restoration specialists have arrived from across western Canada as the cleanup from the flood continues.

About 60 workers have come to southeastern Saskatchewan from Vancouver, Calgary and Saskatoon to help the Winmar office in Yorkton keep up with calls to deal with many flooded basements.

Jason Thibodeau is one of the co-owners and said the extra crews have kept them from falling behind but they're still working 12-14 hours, doing four to eight jobs per day.

The City of Warman is looking to expand by about a third by acquiring around 900 acres of land to the south and north.

The land will expand the Traditions and Southlands neighbourhoods with mostly residential development, two new elementary schools in Traditions and a small, light industrial and commercial area in Southlands.

"We're looking at probably about seven to seven-and-a-half units an acre and it will about double our population," Brad Toth, manager of planning and development with the City of Warman, said.

Business is in Grace Mbuekor's blood.
 
Ever since she was a child she knew she wanted to run her own business. She immigrating to Saskatoon from Nigeria 17 years ago, but decided now was the time to open her own restaurant.
 
"My dream would be my business growing to support my community and my family, to be able to give to a little to my community and have a little for my family."
 
She is now is the process of opening Mama G's Authentic Nigerian Cuisine.
 

A national investigation into child pornography has resulted in additional charges for a Saskatoon man.

Russell Dennis Wolfe, 55, now faces three charges of making child pornography, two charges of sexual assault and one charge of breaching his release conditions.

In June, Wolfe was originally charged with possessing, accessing and distributing child pornography. However, after further examination of evidence seized at his home, officers were able to lay more serious charges.