Teenager abandoned by airline; Canadian plastic bags littering India: CBC’s Marketplace cheat sheet | CBC News

Her daughter is only 14. But Air Canada still left her to fend for herself at the airport

Diomerys O’Leary was already nervous about letting her daughter fly alone, but she never imagined Air Canada would abandon the girl in Canada’s biggest airport after cancelling the last leg of her trip home.

An email on Jan. 18 notified O’Leary that her daughter Eva’s flight from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport to St. John’s was cancelled due to a labour disruption at the Newfoundland and Labrador airport, and rescheduled for two days later.

Then came the flood of texts from her panicked daughter, saying Air Canada told her she was on her own to find a place to sleep, food and transportation. 

“She was crying and desperate, asking me ‘What do I do?’ … I just couldn’t believe it,” O’Leary told Go Public.

Like other airlines — WestJet and Air Transat among them — Air Canada offers a for-fee service subject to certain conditions, where staff help kids flying on their own. But that service is not available for multi-leg trips such as Eva’s.

That meant O’Leary was forced to try to get Eva’s travel plans sorted remotely, as her daughter worried about where she would stay that night, how she would afford dinner, and when she would be able to get home.

But even though her daughter’s now back home in St. John’s, O’Leary said she still isn’t satisfied. 

After hearing from Go Public, Air Canada offered her a $500 travel coupon “as a goodwill gesture,” which O’Leary says she declined, saying, “it was never about the money.” Read more

Why are plastic bags from Canada ending up as litter in India? 

A new investigation by Radio-Canada’s Enquête shows that while Canada has become one of the biggest exporters of recyclable paper to India, that’s not all we’re sending there. 

Journalists found that much of what is supposed to be paper being sent to the country actually contains tonnes of plastic bags, some of which litter the Indian landscape. They are often burned as a fuel source.

The city of Montreal is considered among the worst offenders when it comes to shipping off contaminated bales of paper. Read more

Back in 2019, Marketplace traveled overseas and found that some Canadian plastic recycling was being dumped and burned in Malaysia, polluting rivers and sometimes creating toxic byproducts that people say are making them sick.

Much ado about mittens as Team Canada fans call out high prices for Lululemon’s Olympic gear

A pair of red mittens emblazoned with the letters CAN over the fingers selling for $68 is drawing ire from some Canadians who are upset about the high cost of official Olympic merchandise at Lululemon.

The company purchased the exclusive rights to sell the official swag last fall, but many Canadians have taken their griping online, complaining the prices are well above what average Canadians can afford.

The mittens in particular are drawing unfavourable comparisons with the iconic red and white maple leaf mittens that were a runaway hit for previous Olympic sponsor HBC. They sold for $10 a pair during the 2010 Games in Vancouver. 

In a statement, Lululemon told CBC News the higher prices are due to their commitment to making the “highest-quality products.” Read more

What else is going on?

Convoy protest could change the way money is monitored, says watchdog agency
The use of American fundraising sites to support the anti-vaccine mandate convoy protest could lead to changes in the way financial transactions are monitored.

WestJet cuts 20 per cent of flights in March, calls for reopening timeline
February schedule cuts extended amid ongoing COVID-19 restrictions and uncertainty.

Finally ready to travel abroad? Returning home can get complicated
Travellers may face difficulty securing a PCR test, or proving that they recently recovered from COVID-19.

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