Tuesday May 13, 2008
Ottawa ready to apologize for Komagata Maru incident
Gurcharan Singh Gill's grandfather was a stout man - and could just barely see over the rails of the Komagata Maru when it docked in Burrard Inlet 94 years ago. From Print Edition, 13/05/08
Long-term defence plan set out
It will cost up to $30-billion over the next two decades to re-equip the Canadian Forces, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said yesterday as he announced long-term procurement goals that combine several previous promises. From Print Edition, 13/05/08
Minister defends crackdown on safety of natural health products
Health Minister Tony Clement is taking on the manufacturers of natural health products who object to his government's attempts to subject them to the same type of oversight proposed for pharmaceuticals, food and consumer products. From Print Edition, 13/05/08
Port workers and their spouses face more scrutiny than cabinet ministers
New rules are forcing Canadian port workers to reveal details about their current and ex-spouses to obtain security clearance, which is a more stringent requirement than the one faced by the country's ministers. From Print Edition, 13/05/08
RCMP asked daughter about bribe allegations
The daughter of MP Chuck Cadman says RCMP officials have interviewed her about explosive allegations that the federal Conservatives offered her dying father life insurance in exchange for his vote. From Print Edition, 13/05/08
Ontario's not in the driver's seat of the auto sector
At breakfast time, Jim Flaherty was flush with optimism, telling a Toronto audience that the Canadian economy was doing well and that the federal government wants to see Ontario prosper. By midmorning, that rosy view seemed unwarranted when Premier Dalton McGuinty acknowledged that the province was losing hundreds more of the solid, well-paying industrial jobs that had made it wealthy. From Print Edition, 13/05/08
Tories in court to battle access law
Federal government lawyers were in court yesterday to fight against a principle that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives pledged in the last election campaign to protect: that cabinet ministers and their offices are covered by the country's access-to-information law. From Print Edition, 13/05/08
Williams says lawyers prolonging cancer inquiry
Premier Danny Williams stoked allegations he's interfering with a judicial inquiry into flawed breast-cancer tests yesterday, suggesting the commission's lawyers are prolonging the probe by being too aggressive in their line of questioning. From Print Edition, 13/05/08
By-election results confirm ADQ's dramatic slide
The Action Democratique du Quebec suffered a major setback in three by-elections last night, with voters passing severe judgment on party leader Mario Dumont's brand of populism. From Print Edition, 13/05/08
By-election results confirm ADQ's dramatic slide
The Action Democratique du Quebec suffered a major setback in three by-elections yesterday, with voters passing severe judgment on party leader Mario Dumont's brand of populism. From Print Edition, 13/05/08
Hard to find downside to city selling off Enwave
What's next for Mayor David Miller, tax cutter? The new script, called Agenda for Prosperity and written by a blue-ribbon panel of fiscal experts, calls for Mr. Miller to prove his free-market stuff by selling off an unnecessary utility or two. As it happens, plans to do just that are well under way. From Print Edition, 13/05/08
Privacy Commissioner comes to Moscoe's aid
The plight of Toronto Councillor Howard Moscoe, who complained to social networking website Facebook last week that someone had created a phony page in his name, attracted some high-profile help. From Print Edition, 13/05/08
Port Authority vote 'unlawful'
The Toronto Port Authority, often at odds with the city, is facing fresh controversy over the ouster of its former chairwoman. The replacement of provincial Liberal appointee Michele McCarthy with Mark McQueen, a leading Toronto financier and a former aide in the Prime Minister's Office of Brian Mulroney, occurred with little public fanfare in March. From Print Edition, 13/05/08
Minister won't get involved in truck dispute
Ontario Transportation Minister Jim Bradley said yesterday he ''sympathizes'' with dump-truck drivers who are refusing to haul loads in the Toronto area until their pay and working conditions improve. From Print Edition, 13/05/08
WISE CHANGE OF COURSE
Rarely does the federal NDP, let alone the Bloc Quebecois, serve as a model of restraint. But with some healthy skepticism toward the ethanol fad, those two parties have set an example that the Conservatives and Liberals would do well to follow. From Print Edition, 13/05/08
The ethics commissioner goes too far
A pesky Member of Parliament is looking into your affairs and you want it to stop? Sue him. That's right, just file a statement of claim. Once you do that, according to Federal Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson, the MP must formally disclose the lawsuit's existence and then skedaddle. From Print Edition, 13/05/08
Relief cash arrives today in embattled lumber town
A troupe of bureaucrats will arrive in the town of Mackenzie today to help residents figure out how to spend a sack of cash.It's an unusual but welcome sight in a town that is, more than any other in the province, dependent on the troubled forestry sector for its survival. From Print Edition, 13/05/08
