Thursday May 08, 2008
ACROSS CANADA 
Woman who dated Bernier had links to biker gang
Julie Couillard, who dated Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier recently, was once a potential target of the Hells Angels kingpin Maurice (Mom) Boucher, who considered ordering her killing, court testimonies indicate.
France salutes the 'almost Queen of Canada'
In her first state visit to France, Governor-General Michaelle Jean has been extolled in the media as the ''almost Queen of Canada'' and a symbol of successful multiculturalism - and all in this decidedly anti-monarchist country where immigration is widely seen as a problem.
Dion touts carbon tax on fuels, billions in tax cuts
Stephane Dion is poised to unveil a carbon-tax scheme and attempt to neutralize any political damage by offering corresponding personal income tax cuts of between $10-billion and $13-billion to working Canadians, senior Liberal sources say.
Ad campaign leaves a bad aftertaste
The corn dogs of my youth entered my consciousness - and stomach - precisely once a year when the midway came to town. It all ended badly one summer with a turn on The Spider. It didn't matter that I'd been told a hundred times: I learned the hard way that breaded wieners fried in fat were best not consumed before the ride.
Vancouver organizers wage war on brokers
Vancouver Olympic organizers say they've wiped out plans by local ticket brokers to resell prized tickets to the 2010 men's gold-medal hockey game at inflated prices.''We've tracked down somebody's source of tickets and eliminated that source,'' Vancouver Organizing Committee ticketing head Caley Denton disclosed yesterday.
To Texas by sea? Enbridge revamps pipeline plans
Delays in the oil sands are forcing Enbridge Inc. to rethink its proposed $2.6-million pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast, as oil producers wrestling with technical hurdles hesitate to commit to the pipeline.
Judge bars battling parents from court
Mr. Justice Joseph Quinn has handled difficult divorce cases over the years, but he became so fed up with a couple from St. Catharines, Ont., that he issued an extraordinary order barring them from coming to court again without special permission.
Dobell had a role in disclosure of seized documents, NDP says
The NDP has raised questions about the role one of Premier Gordon Campbell's closest advisers played concerning sensitive documents seized by the RCMP in a political corruption trial.Leonard Krog, opposition attorney-general critic, said documents filed with the Supreme Court of British Columbia show that former deputy premier Ken Dobell was involved in discussions with government lawyer George Copley about confidential files taken by police during a raid of the legislature in 2003.
Trailer Park Boy throws winning paunch at maverick MPP's fundraiser
The guy walking around without a shirt was a tipoff that this wasn't a normal political fundraiser. Another sign that something unusual was afoot was that the politician at the centre of things was wearing a T-shirt that said ''Let's do the big dirty'' and quoted from a book titled On Bullshit.
Love affair led husband to kill wife, court told
A Brampton, Ont., chiropractor who staged-managed his wife's murder fell a few props short of committing the perfect crime, a jury was told yesterday.Closing the Crown case at Kirk Klymchuk's first-degree-murder trial, prosecutor Eric Taylor urged the jury to rely on common sense and logic to weigh evidence that, thanks to Mr. Klymchuk's deft planning, is wholly circumstantial.
Crown's appeal bid derails Lee inquest
The B.C. criminal justice branch is fighting a coroner's inquest decision that Crown lawyers must answer questions about their roles in freeing Peter Lee on bail just weeks before he killed his family.
Israeli envoy fears policy shift
Israel's ambassador says he is concerned that the growing number of Muslim Canadians might cause a shift in this country's Middle East policy.Israel marks its 60th anniversary today and still feels isolated in the world. But it counts Canada as one of its few staunch allies on matters like UN votes, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper will visit the country in June.
Terror 'wannabes' Canada's biggest threat
Canada's top counterterrorism policeman says that of the hundreds of national-security investigations he has open, a handful are keeping him from sleeping at night.RCMP Assistant Commissioner Mike McDonnell didn't delve into specifics of ongoing investigations, but he did tell a conference in Ottawa yesterday that terrorist ''wannabes'' in their teens and 20s are among the biggest threats to Canada.
Insider trading probe focuses on U.S. law firm
Securities regulators in the United States and Ontario have launched a major insider trading investigation that centres on 11 Canadian takeovers during the past two years and the U.S.-based law firm that advised companies involved in each of the deals.
Man who shot Quebec police officer pleads guilty to second-degree murder
A man who shot a police officer through the door of his apartment after a dispute with his landlord pleaded guilty yesterday to second-degree murder.Francois Pepin was originally charged with first-degree murder. However, in an agreement between the Crown and the defence, he pleaded guilty to the lesser offence because his mental problems make it impossible to prove intent to kill or that he knew he was shooting at a police officer.
$1.1-million ad campaign sells reforms not yet passed
The Conservative government plans to spend more than $1-million on an ad campaign in ethnic newspapers to sell controversial immigration changes that are not yet law.The taxpayer-funded ads taken out in more than 100 ethnic community newspapers in a variety of languages have sparked criticism because the changes have not yet been passed into law, and they were included in a budget bill that, if defeated by the opposition, would trigger an election.
Police urged to talk more, use taser less
Police across North America have earned the moniker ''psychiatrists in blue'' for their constant intervention with people who have mental illnesses.It is for that reason that the Canadian Medical Health Association implored the head of the provincial taser inquiry to persuade police to talk more and use their stun guns less.
Skier escapes death after fall down crevasse
A skier near Whistler had a narrow escape on Sunday after falling nine metres down a backcountry crevasse.The 26-year-old woman, who was with two male friends, was uninjured by her fall but trapped in the ice. The Lower Mainland resident was ski touring through an area called the Spearhead traverse, a popular route of 12 peaks that connect Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.
GOING OUT: LIVE MUSIC
A Leg UpShortly after finding out that she didn't get into a prestigious drama academy, Britain's Kate Nash fell down a flight of stairs and broke her foot - and to keep herself occupied, she wrote songs. Now, she's selling out shows all over the world. May 8, 8 p.m. $20. Richard's on Richards, 1036 Richards St. Sold out.
Green groups urge upholding U.S. tar sands fuel ban
A who's who of major U.S. and Canadian environmental organizations is urging the U.S. Senate to keep in place a rule banning the United States government from buying fuel from Alberta's tar sands on the grounds that it is too environmentally tainted.
Pullout by key U.S. manufacturer thins ranks of drone bidders
The world's top manufacturer of aerial drones is pulling out of a $93-million competition to supply surveillance equipment that Canada must acquire by next February as a condition of keeping soldiers in Afghanistan.
Reserves targeted in battle against contraband tobacco
The RCMP and the Conservative government are targeting three of the most volatile native reserves in the country as part of a new effort to battle contraband tobacco and organized crime.
Supplying generic AIDS drugs called pricey process
Now that a Canadian pharmaceutical company has won the bid to produce and ship cheap, generic AIDS drugs to Rwanda, it says it will never participate in the goodwill program again unless the federal government simplifies the process.
Ignatieff steers clear of library fundraiser
Deputy Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff cancelled his appearance at a fundraising gala for a new library in Collingwood, Ont., over concerns his presence would jeopardize federal funding.Mr. Ignatieff's tour organizer, Alexis Levine, says he was advised by library board vice-chairman Paul Dulmage it would ''just make things a whole lot easier if he did not come anywhere near the place.'' The event was scheduled for last Saturday night.
Ottawa gets Imperial Oil's Kearl data
The regulatory review panel that approved Imperial Oil Ltd.'s $8-billion Kearl oil sands mine has submitted to Ottawa additional material called for by a Federal Court judgment made in March.
C. difficile exacts heavy toll at Ontario hospital
A deadly outbreak of a highly contagious superbug at an Ontario hospital claimed the lives of one-third of the patients afflicted with the disease, a far greater toll than previously believed.
Dion assails Harper over Khadr
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion kicked off Question Period yesterday by asking Prime Minister Stephen Harper why he is refusing to demand the return of Canadian citizen Omar Khadr from Guantanamo Bay - part of an effort by the opposition to paint the Conservatives as a government that picks and chooses which Canadians to assist overseas.
How many new jobs are we talking about here?
Those 500 new jobs at a high-tech centre Morgan Stanley is setting up in Montreal? Turns out it's at most 300 - or possibly only 100. Late last week, at a high-fanfare press conference, a ''jubilant'' Quebec Premier Jean Charest announced that the investment bank's arrival in Montreal would ''create'' 500 positions, heavily subsidized by the province through tax credits worth $20,000 a year for each job for six years. Two other senior government ministers, Monique Jerome-Forget from Finance and Raymond Bachand from Economic Development, were there for the hoopla, which was broadcast live on Quebec TV. The next day, the government's investment agency took out full-page newspaper ads proclaiming: ''All Quebec is proud of the arrival of Morgan Stanley. This great player in world finance will create up to 500 jobs right here thanks to a $200-million investment.''
Canada could be barred from Kyoto carbon trades
Canada could be barred from an international carbon-trading system if a United Nations investigation finds it broke Kyoto Protocol rules for greenhouse-gas reporting.The UN Climate Change Secretariat says Canada was notified on May 5 that it would be investigated for allegedly violating a Kyoto reporting requirement.
Monkey killed in Vancouver zoo break-in; staff hope its missing mate is still alive
Staff at a British Columbia zoo are devastated after a vicious vandal broke in and killed one of their resident spider monkeys.The monkey's mate is missing and zookeepers are hoping the female monkey may have escaped during the attack and was not taken by the vandal.
Cancer patients missed treatment due to pathologist's errors
Three cancer patients in Manitoba who had their prostates removed this year were not given follow-up radiation treatment because of errors made by a pathologist, the regional health authority said yesterday.
Police conduct DNA tests in case of stairwell baby
Toronto police are conducting DNA tests to determine whether a man and woman they have been questioning are related to a baby girl found abandoned in a cold stairwell in January, CTV Toronto reported last night.
Repair of N.B. roads expected to cost millions
New Brunswick's Transportation Minister says it will cost millions of dollars to fix flood-damaged roads across the province.Denis Landry got a first-hand look at the damage yesterday, travelling along a section of Route 105 in Maugerville where the Saint John River has removed large sections of asphalt.
Flurry of inspections halts PEI school buses
The discovery of corrosion on older school buses in Prince Edward Island has led to the 320-bus fleet being pulled from the road, leaving parents to get their children to and from schools across the province today and tomorrow.
Horn River Basin called 'world-class play'
Energy consultant Wood Mackenzie is calling British Columbia's Horn River Basin gas field ''a world-class play.'' In a new report, Wood Mackenzie says recoverable resource estimates in the basin could already average 37 trillion cubic feet of gas. That's comparable to the reserves held in the area that will supply the proposed Alaska Gas Pipeline. The consultants say a preliminary analysis suggests that at a natural gas benchmark price of about $6.50 (U.S.) per 1,000 cubic feet, a relatively high price, the return on investment would be about 10 per cent, which is in line with other major gas projects. That also factors in challenges such as the area's remoteness.
Teen dead after shooting in northwest Calgary
One teen is dead and another injured after a brazen drive-by shooting yesterday in Calgary's northwest end.Police were called to the 4500 block of Vandergrift Crescent, near Valiant Drive N.W., for sounds of gunshots about 2 p.m. When emergency crews arrived on the residential street, they found two men, ages 17 and 19, bleeding inside a parked SUV. Both were taken to hospital, where the 19-year-old died of his injuries. The 17-year-old was in stable condition last night.
New bridge planned for Windsor, report says
The United States and Canada will reportedly build a new bridge between Windsor and Detroit.Citing unnamed sources, Radio-Canada reports the bridge will be built at a cost of $5-billion alongside the existing Ambassador Bridge.
Police identify one victim in B.C. apartment fire
Police have identified one of the three elderly women killed in the fire that swept through a North Vancouver apartment building Tuesday night as 84-year-old Ilse Wilhelmine Dragossy.
Second World War soldier to get military funeral
Sixty-four years after he died in a bloody battle with German forces in northern France, a Canadian soldier's body has been identified and is being prepared for a military funeral.
Second man charged in woman's disappearance
A second man has been charged in the death of a young Saskatchewan woman who disappeared almost three years ago.RCMP say Gilbert Allan Bellegarde, 31, of the Little Black Bear native band is accused of first-degree murder in the case of Amber Redman.
Visiting guru faces sexual assault charges
A Las Vegas self-help guru who claims to spread world peace and help people see God has been charged with three counts of sexual assault.Sixty-four-year-old Bijan Anjomi came to Toronto last week to lead motivational seminars. Police alleged that two women, aged 27 and 37, had personal coaching with Mr. Anjomi, and that each was sexually assaulted while alone with him in a hotel room.
Bad visibility, ice fog hamper search efforts
Poor weather is hampering searchers combing the tundra for a family of seven, including a one-year-old, who disappeared a week ago on a trip between two remote Arctic communities.
Band kept in dark over fuel spill, chief says
A native band near Prince Rupert is angry that its village wasn't notified after a diesel spill from a loaded barge.Chief Harold Leighton of Metlakatla said the diesel spilled in the middle of the band's shellfish harvesting area and during its seaweed harvest season.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
''The parties have gorged on court resources as if the legal system were their private banquet table. It must not happen again.''Mr. Justice Joseph Quinn on banning a warring divorced couple from court. A12
TORONTO
Dancap sues Mirvish in Toronto theatre battle
Sometimes, the best theatre in town happens off the stage.Claiming conspiracy, fraud, a breach of the Competition Act and irreparable harm, Toronto theatre impresario Aubrey Dan is seeking an injunction to block the sale of the Canon and Panasonic Theatres to his downtown rival, David Mirvish.
Spending by trustees at Catholic board spurs audit
In the wake of a scathing report about excessive spending by trustees of the Toronto Catholic District School Board, the province moved quickly yesterday to order in an auditor to examine trustee expense claims for the past five years.
Rolling dump truck protest will slow highways
As this morning's rush hour winds down, about 150 dump trucks will hit Toronto-area highways for a rolling protest, carrying complaints of low wages and high pressure on drivers to operate unsafely.
Tractor-trailer rollover
Rush-hour traffic on two of the city's busiest highways came to a standstill yesterday after a tractor-trailer rollover on a Highway 404 on-ramp.Ontario Provincial Police say the driver of the truck, which was carrying skids of paper, came onto the eastbound Highway 401 express ramp to the 404 too quickly and rolled onto its side at 2:55 p.m. The ramp was expected to be closed until midnight as crews worked to get the truck upright and remove the cargo. Nobody was injured, but the driver has been charged with careless driving.
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Elderly fire victims were steps from safety
Police have identified one of the three elderly women killed in the fire that swept through a North Vancouver apartment building Tuesday night as 84-year-old Ilse Wilhelmine Dragossy.
Two churchgoers suing over floor collapse
A lawsuit has been filed in the collapse of an Abbotsford church floor during a Christian rock concert almost two weeks ago.Two sisters, who were among about 40 people injured, are suing the B.C. Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Churches and United Productions, the promoters of the rock group Starfield.
Boy, 6, phones for emergency help
A six-year-old Kamloops boy dialled 911 while his mother was having a seizure this week.An-Jeanette Capham - who has Addison's Disease - had taught her son, Max, to dial 911 in case of an emergency, and that knowledge came in handy when her seizure hit.
Convicted abuser sought for contacting victim
Police are looking for a 32-year-old man with a history of violence after he contacted a woman who was the victim of a domestic abuse case five years ago.
COLUMNISTS
Why Clinton's arguments to carry on just don't hold water any more
Former Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern joined four superdelegates who endorsed Barack Obama yesterday, in his case switching support from the flagging campaign of Hillary Clinton.If that weren't bad enough, senior advisers disclosed yesterday that Ms. Clinton has lent her own campaign $6.4-million (U.S.) during the past month, on top of the $5-million she had previously injected.
Hey! Wanna buy my SUV?
I pumped 60 bucks of gas into our SUV the other day. That was a record. My husband and I are heavy users, so we can count on pumping in another 60 bucks before the weekend. Ouch! This is getting painful.
Tax cuts for business set to become the fiscal policy of city hall
The good news is that the city gained 22,000 jobs in 2007, a performance that brought total employment to a 10-year high and, for the first time, met the official goal of 17,000 new jobs a year.
