Friday May 16, 2008
ACROSS CANADA 
Poor returns, tax jitters hurt sales of labour capital funds
Labour sponsored venture capital funds are losing traction.Sales of these investments, which do not include redemptions, plunged 58 per cent to $164-million in the first quarter from $396-million last year, according to figures from Thomson Reuters.
On Lion's Head, the livin' is easy
On the shores of Georgian Bay, in the village of Lion's Head, stands a two-storey cottage with tan siding, wooden front steps and a red door. A stroll around back in the early morning hours - with the waves lapping at the shore and the sun rising over the bay - reveals a basement walkout. In short, the cottage looks much like many others along the water.
A crowning achievement for a Canadian sweetheart
Those who know Autumn Kelly say she's the product of a commoner's upbringing in the heart of Canadian suburbia.But that's about to change as she is due to wed the Queen's eldest grandson, Peter Phillips, in a private ceremony tomorrow in the 15th-century St. George's Chapel in England.
Apologies: Ethnic votes or ethics?
When Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko arrives in Canada for an official visit this month, it will be on the heels of a gesture by the Conservative government to commemorate historical injustice against Ukrainian Canadians.
New Urbanism's Moses comes to Tsawwassen
The 13th of May brought several downer developments - and it wasn't even a Friday. First, huge layoffs were announced at Canadian auto plants, in large part because our factories turn out vehicle lines tending toward SUVs and light trucks, and Americans have stopped buying both.
Buildings designed to feed life into the city
Larry Beasley, Vancouver's planning czar until two years ago, and a key player in his city's famous (and controversial) downtown revitalization, remains one of the most influential urban thinkers in Canadian public life. Now in private practice, he is travelling around the world preaching the same message no matter where he goes.
Priced out of paradise
Just over 40 years ago, a struggling young artist named Ed Bartram found his muse: a 10-acre slab of granite and pine off Georgian Bay's serrated shore.The island was deserted but for the concrete forms of an old cottage leaching slowly into the soil.
Mother wins child brainwashing case
A 13-year-old boy whose domineering father systematically brainwashed him into hating his mother can be flown against his will to a U.S. facility that deprograms children who suffer from parental alienation, an Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled.
Study on native drug users brings elder to tears
A new public health study that looked at more than 500 young aboriginal drug users in two British Columbia cities produced such shocking data that people wept openly when it was first presented to a panel of elders.
Reduce salmon catches by 50 per cent, panel urges
A scientific panel reviewing management of the Skeena River fishery has concluded that the ocean catch of some salmon stocks should be reduced by as much as 50 per cent and late-season commercial netting near the estuary should be restricted.
Awaiting Stéphane Dion, the next iteration
Stephane Dion has been counted out before - several times. When, after the near-disastrous 1995 referendum on secession, he was introduced by Jean Chretien as the new minister-saviour for national unity, Quebec was in disbelief. Him? The professor who had urged that Quebec did not need and should not have extensive new powers? He rebuked Robert Bourassa and Daniel Johnson after Meech Lake failed, for saying that the status quo was worse than secession. Dion? Get serious.
Police accused of seeking some 'dirt' on taser victim
Robert Dziekanski's mother accused the police of looking for ''dirt'' on her son by travelling to his native Poland for background information on the newcomer to Canada who died last fall after being tasered by police at Vancouver International Airport.
Gazprom picks Quebec plant for LNG foray
The world's biggest natural gas producer, Russia's OAO Gazprom, is taking its first major step into the North American market by agreeing to become a partner in the Rabaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal near Quebec City and provide it with an assured gas supply.
Community relives its close calls
The fiery helicopter crash that killed four people Tuesday in Cranbrook could have been a lot worse.RCMP spokesman Corporal Chris Faulkner said that given the number of schools, apartment buildings and houses in the residential area, it's incredible the helicopter missed them all.
Think tank's funding tied to getting good press
The Department of National Defence sets quotas for how many times a year a military think tank it subsidizes must appear in the news media, a contract made public at the request of the NDP shows.
Leave young-offenders law alone, Ottawa urged
A federal bill aimed at toughening up sentences for young offenders will waste millions of dollars and undo years of success in rehabilitating wayward youths, a coalition of Child and Youth Advocates from across the country said yesterday.
Fate of mine hinges on definition of word
The fate of a proposed open pit mine in northern British Columbia may hinge on how three judges of the Federal Court of Appeal define the word ''project.''The proposed Red Chris mine would produce 30,000 tonnes of ore a day, and would turn fish-bearing streams into tailings impoundments laced with toxic waste.
Third parties loudly boo legislation to tone them down
In fixing something that wasn't broken, the B.C. government has united lawyers, civil libertarians, unions and business in opposition to proposed changes to election spending.Attorney-General Wally Oppal yesterday defended Bill 42 as a pre-emptive move to ensure that the next provincial election won't get ''hijacked'' by third-party interests with deep pockets.
Padded cell restraint violated teenager's rights, jury says
A weeping Willow Kinloch hugged her mother in the courtroom moments after a jury returned a verdict yesterday that found Victoria Police Department officers violated the teen's rights when they restrained her in a padded police cell.
PM to apologize for residential school abuses, minister says
Prime Minister Stephen Harper will strive to begin closing one of the darkest chapters in Canada's history by formally apologizing to survivors of residential schools on June 11.Mr. Harper will make the long-awaited apology from the floor of the House of Commons, where he will speak directly to the survivors of the residential schools. Many of them continue to struggle with the painful legacy of the schools.
ADQ stands by Dumont despite losses
The question was on most people's minds. After Monday's disastrous showing in three by-elections, is Action Democratique du Quebec Party Leader Mario Dumont still up for the job?
Region unanimous in rejecting proposed marina
Officials with the Columbia Shuswap Regional District have soundly rejected a controversial hotel and marina project proposed for a former campground near the mouth of the Adams River.Regional district directors voted 6-0 yesterday against a rezoning application that would have cleared the way for West Beach Village, a 218-unit condominium and restaurant development on the shores of Shuswap Lake, about 40 kilometres south of Kamloops.
Parts of B.C. face avalanche, flooding risks
Avalanche and flooding risks have increased significantly in time for the May long weekend due to spiking temperatures in the southern half of British Columbia and an unusual late-winter storm dumping more than 100 millimetres of rain along the northwest coast.
Project near conservation lands more than half sold
Ravines of Buckingham GateLOCATION: Pickering BUILDER/DEVELOPER: Glen Rouge HomesSIZE: 2,929 to 3,560 square feet PRICE: $559,900 to $724,900SALES CENTRE: 2265 Brock Rd., south of Rossland Road. Open Monday to Thursday, 1 to 8 p.m.; weekends, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Model homes on Southcott Road, also south of Rossland, open weekends, noon to 5 p.m.
Seized hash likely Canada bound
Trucked in from the nearest commercial harbour, the containers marked GLDU 7367200 and WHLU 5086522 arrived in a bonded warehouse in the Vietnamese frontier town of Mong Cai, waiting to be taken to Guangxi province in China.
Genocide book pulled from high school reading list
A book about genocide has been pulled from the recommended reading list of a new Toronto public school course because of objections from the Turkish-Canadian community, the author says.
Enforcement could forestall racism
Fishing Without Fear, a report issued this week by the Ontario Human Rights Commission, is intended to address numerous incidents over the past few years, in which Canadian anglers of Asian origin have been victims of ugly racist abuse, both verbal insults and physical assaults, in some rural areas of Southern Ontario.
BLUES NOTES: THE WEEK IN QUOTES
The following is a snapshot of activity in the B.C. Legislature this week, with excerpts from ''blues,'' the first draft of Hansard, the official record of all that is said on the floor of the House.
Land-claim deadline necessary, Strahl told
The Ontario government kicked off a new round of federal-provincial bickering yesterday, this time over a long-running land-claim dispute in the province.Ontario Aboriginal Affairs Minister Michael Bryant called on the Harper government to live up to its responsibilities to aboriginal Canadians by setting a deadline to resolve the dispute between native and non-native protesters in Caledonia.
A psychologist speaks out
Someone had to state the obvious, and the police psychologist Mike Webster was the right man at the right time. ''I'm embarrassed to be associated with organizations that taser sick old men in hospital beds and confused immigrants who are arriving in the country,'' the adviser to the RCMP told a judicial inquiry into police taser use in British Columbia.
Canada's new provincial powerhouses
Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador have stepped into a new era of prosperity, a study has concluded.Statistics Canada says the commodity boom offered a unique opportunity for the two provinces to tap into their natural resources as never before.
Official haunted by errors in cancer testing, probe hears
A former high-ranking medical official in Newfoundland told a public inquiry into botched breast cancer tests yesterday he is still haunted by the debacle.''I can never forget it. It just, it's with you all the time,'' said Bob Williams, retired vice-president of medical services for the Eastern Health authority.
An anchor project for a sustainable community
WaterstoneDeveloper: HJ PropertiesPrice: Starting at $190,000Size: 581 sq. ft. to just over 1,000 sq. ft.Sales centre: 6474 194th St., SurreyContact: 604-530-5399 or www.waterstoneliving.ca
Sears stores to open for 'private' shopping on Victoria Day
Sears Canada Inc. plans to open some of its Ontario department stores on Victoria Day for select customers even though government officials say the move would flout legislation that bans most retailers from opening on holidays.
B.C. Place to get retractable roof
B.C. Place, the city's quarter-century-old domed stadium, will get a new retractable roof after the facility's spotlight role as the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Insincere demands
The tentative agreements reached yesterday by the Canadian Auto Workers with Chrysler and General Motors may take a bit of the sting out of the announcement by GM earlier in the week that it will be shutting its transmission plant in Windsor, Ont. But they are unlikely to appease a provincial opposition that has spent the week savaging Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty for providing hundreds of millions of dollars in public funding to GM without securing job security guarantees in return.
A shimmering look for revitalized AGO
In anticipation of opening its massively renovated home this fall, the Art Gallery of Ontario unveiled its new logo yesterday: three perpetually jiggly letters designed by Toronto's Bruce Mau.
Arts nominees announced for Premier's Awards
Six individuals and six organizations in Ontario are in the running for almost $100,000 in prize money courtesy of the 2008 Premier's Awards for Excellence in the Arts, it was announced yesterday in Toronto. It's the first year an organizational component has been included in the provincial awards.
Liberals could lose office over tax, councillor says
The Ch-ihl-kway-uhk Tribe Society says its officers will strictly enforce a beefed-up section of the Forest and Range Practices Act, setting $115 fines for anyone camping illegally. A northern B.C. politician is predicting the Liberals could lose next year's provincial election if they don't do something about the carbon tax that northern communities say unfairly penalizes them.
Native police prepare to combat illegal camping
The alert also covers fresh, lean ground beef sold at Eric's Meat Market in the Kootenay community of Kaslo in early March and between April 16 and May 11. Rowdy campers won't get a warm welcome this long weekend in a Metro Vancouver river valley traditionally known as a wild place to party.
Native icon battles chiefs over unpaid compensation
Aboriginal icon Donald Marshall Jr. is battling with Atlantic native leaders who have yet to pay their share of a promised $2-million in compensation for his landmark court victory over fishing rights.
Boy, 2, dies when thrown from overloaded ATV
A two-year-old boy has died after being thrown from an all-terrain vehicle that was overloaded with five people, including four children, RCMP said yesterday. A 32-year-old man driving the quad had stopped at the top of a steep hill on Wednesday night north of Taber when one of the children hit the accelerator. The machine lurched downhill, hit a rock and ejected the riders. The child died in hospital.
Skateboarder freed from New Brunswick jail
A New Brunswick man who chose to go to jail rather that pay a $100 fine for skateboarding on a Fredericton street is out of jail. Lee Breen was released yesterday. Mr. Breen says he plans to be back on the street with his long board once the sentence is over.
House reviews complaint over Tory ad campaign
House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken is reviewing a complaint from opposition MPs that the Conservatives broke Parliament's rules by launching an ad campaign about immigration changes that have not yet been passed into law. Government House Leader Peter Van Loan argued the ads were respectful of the rules because they stated the changes had not yet been passed.
Brush fire hits homes in northern Alberta
Several rural residences near this community northeast of Edmonton have been damaged due to a massive bush fire.High winds were whipping the huge blaze, which was spread across a large rural area and was heading toward the town, which has a population of 1,300.
In defence of Cranbrook
I am appalled by the blatant stereotyping of Cranbrook as redneck and racist (Helicopter Crash Kills Four In B.C. - May 14). I am a 28-year-old professional, raising a family in this beautiful, friendly place, which is far more open-minded than it has been depicted as being in your article.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
''I know that my son would not die if he would not be tasered, and I know that he did not deserve the treatment he encountered at the Vancouver airport.''
TORONTO
TTC hybrid bus batteries losing their power
The box-like batteries on top of the Toronto Transit Commission's brand new and premium-priced hybrid electric-diesel buses are lasting only half as long as their manufacturer promised.
OPP toughens water, highway patrols
For some, the long Victoria Day weekend means kicking back or heading for the cottage on traffic-clogged highways. At Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, it signals the onset of what's termed the trauma season.
Funnyman Peters to talk up Toronto
Watch out, Canada. Comedian Russell Peters has been anointed Toronto's tourism saviour, and he's willing to take on the entire nation if it helps boost his hometown's cred.
A lap closer to return of T.O. Indy
The squeal of Indy car engines will likely be heard again on Toronto streets in 2009, after Andretti Green Promotions announced yesterday its purchase of the rights to the race.
Deaths at nursing home prompt ban on admissions
A Toronto nursing home is barred from accepting new residents until it proves it is complying with Ontario law after the deaths of two residents prompted coroner's investigations, Health Minister George Smitherman said yesterday.
Asian fisherman attacked days before rights report
Provincial police in the city of Kawartha Lakes say an Asian-Canadian fisherman was recently assaulted, just days before a report was released on the issue.Police say a man approached a group of Asian people fishing on the Trent River on Sunday at about 12:30 a.m. and pushed one man into the water. Two days later, the Ontario Human Rights Commission released a report about a series of similar attacks that occurred last summer.
Calgary stingray deaths won't stop Toronto exhibit
A scaled-back version of a stingray exhibit at the Toronto Zoo will open today despite the deaths of 40 of the aquatic creatures at a similar display in Calgary.
Province to cover sex-change operations
Ontario will soon join other provinces in providing coverage for sex-change surgery under its health insurance plan, Health Minister George Smitherman confirmed yesterday.He said the details have not been finalized, but Ontario will start paying for sexual reassignment surgery for the first time in 10 years. ''[It would] probably affect between eight and 10 people in Ontario, who after having very, very sustained psychological evaluations would be deemed by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health as appropriate candidates to receive a surgical intervention,'' he said.
Man's body found in ditch at side of country road
Provincial police were probing the death of a man found in a ditch yesterday at the side of the road northwest of Toronto.Officers were called to Old School Road, between Dixie Road and Heart Lake Road, in Caledon just after 5:30 p.m., when a passerby noticed the body in a ditch about 50 centimetres deep, OPP Constable Linda Kennedy said.
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Another torch relay ... another chance to protest?
Tibetan-rights activists are split over whether to protest against the 2008 Paralympic Games torch when it arrives in Vancouver.One group says it's not ruling it out, while another says the Paralympic Games torch relay has no connection to the issue of Tibet and should not be the target of protests.
FLASHBACK: 15 YEARS AGO: 25 YEARS AGO
May 12-17, 1993:Teachers threaten widespread unrestStriking Vancouver teachers remained at odds with school trustees despite the union's overwhelming approval of a mediator's recommendations.Teachers voted 84 per cent in favour of an offer tabled by mediator Brian Foley, only to have school trustees reject the proposed deal by a 4-1 vote.
E. coli scare prompts recall of ground meat
Concern about possible E. coli contamination has prompted the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to issue a recall for packages of fresh and frozen ground meat sold at stores around B.C.
B.C. QUOTE
''The Komagata Maru tragedy is a huge black mark in the history of Canada. It's a powerful symbol of the injustices and racism that took place on our land and of the policy of exclusion that was designed to indirectly halt immigration from India.''
COLUMNISTS
The pointless proposition for a binational Israel
Palestinians released thousands of black balloons over the West Bank yesterday - one for each of the 21,915 days since Israel's creation.After 60 years of occupation and bloodshed, many are beginning to lose hope in the dream of an independent Palestinian state existing side by side with Israel in the Holy Land. Instead, they are turning to a different model altogether: a single, binational state, shared by Arab and Jew.
Harper's philistines hang Canada's portraits
In the centre of the Australian capital, Canberra, a new National Portrait Gallery is under construction, next to the High Court and not far from the National Gallery of Australia.
U.S. race hasn't been a class act
The class question - whither the workers - has been mesmerizing during the Clinton-Obama battle in the United States, far more than the horse race itself.Class issues never go away, yet rarely rise to view politically; in the 1990s, they virtually vanished under a blanket of identity politics. But candidates turn to workers when they need votes, often by dividing them rather than uniting them. In the 1930s, for example, populists such as Huey Long appealed to poor American whites. In Quebec, fascist Adrien Arcand used anti-Semitism to attract French-Canadian workers at a time when there were also many Jewish workers in the province. The rule: Divide workers even as you acknowledge them, then forget them once the election is over.
CRITIC'S CHOICE
TO STAND ABOVE THE CLOUDS OLN, 9 p.m.
