| Keystone will have little impact on climate, U.S. study finds Posted: 31 Jan 2014 09:13 AM PST  We might have inched closer to a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. On Friday afternoon, the U.S. State Department issued what some are calling a favourable environmental impact report about the controversial mega-project that could transport up to 830,000 … Continue reading →
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| Chinese New Year means big business in Vancouver Posted: 31 Jan 2014 09:02 PM PST Chinese and non-Chinese alike rang in the Lunar New Year on Friday while businesses throughout Metro Vancouver reaped the financial benefits.  |
| Mexico "angry" with in-custody death of citizen, says consul general Posted: 31 Jan 2014 08:39 PM PST VANCOUVER - The Mexican government is "quite angry" after one of its citizens died last month while in the custody of the Canada Border Services Agency, the country's consul general in Vancouver said Friday. Claudia Franco said her government is also calling for a thorough investigation into the tragedy. Lucia Vega Jimenez, 42, was found hanging in a shower stall in a holding cell at Vancouver's airport on Dec. 20, and died in hospital a week later. During an interview, Franco said her government was informed of the suicide attempt the same day, one day before Vega Jimenez was to be deported from Canada.  |
| Conrad Black loses Order of Canada, stripped of privy councillor status Posted: 31 Jan 2014 04:04 PM PST  OTTAWA - Conrad Black, who was convicted in the U.S. and served a prison sentence there, has been removed from the Order of Canada effective immediately, says the Governor General. Black has also been stripped of his honorary position in the Privy Council of Canada, at the recommendation of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The announcement came in a terse release by Gov. Gen. David Johnston late Friday. A spokeswoman for the Governor General, Marie-Pierre Belanger, says an advisory council met Friday afternoon to make its recommendation to Johnston.
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| Death toll in Quebec seniors' home fire rises to 24, eight still missing Posted: 31 Jan 2014 02:01 PM PST  L'ISLE-VERTE, Que. - Quebec provincial police said Friday that 24 people have been confirmed dead in a fire that ripped through a seniors' home last week. Another eight people were still listed as officially missing Friday following the early morning blaze at the Residence du Havre in L'Isle-Verte on Jan. 23. Eight of the 24 dead have been officially identified by Quebec coroner's officials. Quebec provincial police said on their Facebook page they were working on a part of the seniors' residence that could be where the fire began.
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| Natural resources minister 'not surprised' by Keystone report Posted: 31 Jan 2014 03:30 PM PST  The final environmental impact study from the U.S. State Department says the Keystone XL pipeline would not significantly add to greenhouse gas emissions. Canada's natural resources minister says the report is a "positive step."
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| Harper government, unions spar over veteran office closures as protests continue Posted: 31 Jan 2014 02:53 PM PST  The Harper government and the unions have had some epic battles over the years. But this latest exchange seems a little wacky. The government — and Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino specifically — is accusing the Public Service Alliance of … Continue reading →
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| Engineer Robert Wood charged in fatal Elliot Lake mall collapse Posted: 31 Jan 2014 08:41 AM PST  An engineer who declared an Elliot Lake, Ont., mall structurally sound before it collapsed in 2012 has been charged with criminal negligence in connection to the death of two people. Ontario Provincial Police announced on Friday that Robert Wood, 64, of … Continue reading →
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| Trudeau attempts to square Senate decision with pledges of consensus Posted: 31 Jan 2014 04:17 PM PST  VANCOUVER - Justin Trudeau's decision to expel his party's senators from caucus caught pretty much everyone on Parliament Hill off guard — even the senators themselves — but the Liberal leader insisted Friday the move doesn't contradict his own promises not to rule from the top. Trudeau announced earlier in the week that all 32 Liberal senators had been kicked out of caucus, in what he described as the first step toward removing partisanship from the upper chamber. He won the Liberal leadership race, in part, on a pledge to focus on building consensus within his party, particularly when it comes to crafting major platform policies, rather than issuing edicts from on high. "We have had over a year of non-stop debates and discussions across the country about the Senate," Trudeau told reporters in Vancouver after attending a Chinese New Year event.
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| Justin Bieber released after jet searched for pot in New Jersey Posted: 31 Jan 2014 02:22 PM PST  Justin Bieber has been released from federal custody without charges after no pot was found on his plane at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on Friday, Page Six reports. Bieber was believed to be arriving from his native Canada to attend the Super Bowl festivities over the weekend, according to the news source. Bieber is also due in Miami court on February 14 for a DUI case.
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| Two bodies found in Windsor home after furnace breaks, say police Posted: 31 Jan 2014 02:35 PM PST  Windsor Police are investigating two dead bodies found in an extremely cold home on Moy Ave.
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| Manitoba child welfare left murdered girl at mercy of mom, boyfriend: judge Posted: 31 Jan 2014 01:13 PM PST  WINNIPEG - An inquiry judge has found Manitoba child welfare fundamentally misunderstood its mandate to protect children and left a little girl who was murdered "defenceless against her mother's cruelty" and against the "sadistic violence" of the woman's boyfriend. Five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair was killed by the couple in 2005 after prolonged and horrific abuse. In his final report into her death, Commissioner Ted Hughes recommended Manitoba should take the lead to address the disproportionate number of aboriginal children in care across Canada. "At least 13 times throughout her life, Winnipeg Child and Family Services received notice of concerns for Phoenix's safety and well-being from various sources, the last one coming three months before her death," Hughes wrote in his three-volume report released Friday.
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| Memorial University student union upset over ‘rape and suicide’ computer science assignment Posted: 31 Jan 2014 12:46 PM PST  Too often from Canadian centres of higher learning we are reminded that the mightiest minds are not without their own loose screws. Comments, campaigns, missteps and mortifications all too frequently plunge university leaders and professors from their pulpit and down, … Continue reading →
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| Canadian security agency says airport Wi-Fi spying program isn’t a bad thing Posted: 31 Jan 2014 07:57 AM PST  There is an old saying that has become more prescient in this technological age that goes something like this: If you are not paying for something, then you are not the customer. You are the product. Once upon a time, … Continue reading →
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| Coroner's office identifies woman who died in Montreal subway tragedy Posted: 31 Jan 2014 03:20 PM PST  MONTREAL - The husband of a woman who was strangled by her own clothing on a Montreal subway escalator had just returned to Morocco to deal with his mother's death. A coroner's spokeswoman identified the woman on Friday as Naima Rharouity, 47. Thursday's tragedy was another blow to her husband, who had recently returned to their native Morocco to deal with a death in his own family. He was rushing back to Montreal on Friday to cope with his latest loss.
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| Canada budget deficit shrinks in November Posted: 31 Jan 2014 08:34 AM PST  Canada's federal budget deficit narrowed in November 2013 to C$614 million ($548 million) from C$1.67 billion a year earlier, with higher revenues outstripping a more modest increase in expenses, the Department of Finance said on Friday. The Conservative government ran a record budget deficit in nominal terms, though not in proportion to the size of the economy, in reaction to the recent Great Recession, but it has pledged to return to the black by 2015. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, in announcing that he will deliver his 2014-15 budget on February 11, said on Monday there was no doubt the federal deficit would be balanced in 2015.
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| Superbug outbreaks at Canadian hospitals not reported Posted: 30 Jan 2014 06:24 PM PST  A potentially deadly class of superbug has some Canadian hospitals stepping up screening, as infectious disease experts call for a reliable national warning system to report outbreaks.
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| Frustrated Quebec couple post online video of thieves after third burglary in a month Posted: 31 Jan 2014 01:47 PM PST  People often move to the country to get away from the crowded city and its crime-ridden streets. But small communities and rural areas aren't a haven from the world's bad guys. Just ask Nicole and Jean Groulx. The couple, who … Continue reading →
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| Veterans, supporters protest against closures of Veterans Affairs offices Posted: 31 Jan 2014 02:23 PM PST  OTTAWA - Hundreds of veterans and their supporters rallied Friday in several cities to protest Ottawa's decision to close eight Veterans Affairs offices across the country. About 200 people gathered outside a Veterans Affairs office in Windsor, Ont., including many veterans wearing medals. Andrew Grenon who was killed in Afghanistan, told the crowd that the government should be ashamed for taking the service away. Charbonneau said while the veterans are not a large group, they need the government's help.
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| Quebec town mourns blaze victims as probe reaches critical stage Posted: 31 Jan 2014 05:32 PM PST  By Louise Egan L'ISLE-VERTE, Quebec (Reuters) - Investigators sifting through the charred debris at a Quebec home for senior citizens may have found the spot where the fire started, police said on Friday, as the grief-stricken town prepared for a special ceremony for the victims on Saturday that will include Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Thirty-two elderly residents are presumed dead after a fire ripped through the three-story building early on January 23 in the tiny town of L'Isle-Verte on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, about 230 km (143 miles) northeast of Quebec City. It was the second calamity to hit a small Quebec town in the past seven months. Quebec police spokesman Michel Brunet said the search crews halted their work on Friday morning after finding what they believe could potentially be important evidence for the probe into the cause of the fire.
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| Keystone report raises pressure on Obama to approve pipeline Posted: 31 Jan 2014 07:53 PM PST  By Roberta Rampton and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pressure for President Barack Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline increased after a State Department report played down the impact it would have on climate change, irking environmentalists and delighting the project's proponents. But the White House signaled late on Friday that a decision on an application by TransCanada Corp to build the $5.4 billion project would be made "only after careful consideration" of the report, along with comments from the public and other government agencies. "The Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement includes a range of estimates of the project's climate impacts, and that information will now need to be closely evaluated by Secretary (of State John) Kerry and other relevant agency heads in the weeks ahead," White House spokesman Matt Lehrich said.
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