An Austrian tycoon is giving away every penny of his $5 million CDN fortune after realizing that his riches were making him unhappy.
Karl Rabeder, 47, a businessman from Telfs near Innsbruck, is in the process of selling his 3,455 ft2 villa with lake, sauna and spectacular mountain views over the Alps, valued at $2.34 million.
Also for sale is his beautiful old stone farmhouse in Provence with 42 acres, on the market for $1 million. Already gone is his collection of six gliders valued at $586,417.
Mr. Rabeder has also sold the interior furnishings and accessories business, from vases to artificial flowers, that made his fortune.
"My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing," he told The Daily Telegraph. "Money is counterproductive - it prevents happiness."
He will move out of his Alpine retreat into a small wooden hut in the mountains or a simple bedsit in Innsbruck, surviving on $1,341 a month, while the proceeds go to a charity he set up in Latin America. He will draw no salary from it.
"For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness," he said. "I come from a very poor family where the rules were to work more to achieve more material things, and I applied this for many years."
But over time, a conflicting feeling developed. "More and more I heard the words: 'Stop what you are doing now - all this luxury and consumerism - and start your real life'," he said. "I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need.
"I have the feeling that there are lot of people doing the same thing."
For many years, he said, he was simply not "brave" enough to give up his comfortable existence. The tipping point came during a three-week holiday with his wife in Hawaii.
"It was the biggest shock in my life, when I realized how horrible, soulless and without feeling the five star lifestyle is," Mr Rabeder said.
"In those three weeks, we spent all the money you could possibly spend. But in all that time, we had the feeling we hadn't met a single real person, that we were all just actors. The staff played the role of being friendly and the guests played the role of being important and nobody was real."
Suddenly, he realized that "if I don't do it now I won't do it for the rest of my life".
Mr. Rabeder decided to raffle his Alpine home, selling 21,999 tickets at $145 each. The Provence house, in the village of Cruis, is on sale at the local estate agent.
All the money will go into his microcredit charity, which offers small loans and advice to self-employed people in El Salvador, Honduras, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Chile.
Since deciding to sell up, Mr. Rabeder said he felt "free, the opposite of heavy". But, he did not judge those who chose to keep their wealth. "I do not have the right to give any other person advice," he said. "I was just listening to the voice of my heart and soul."
Michael Jackson's doctor on today pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the sudden death of the pop star last year from a lethal cocktail of drugs. Dr. Conrad Murray, who has offices in Houston and Las Vegas, entered a Los Angeles courthouse to chants of "murderer" from Jackson fans gathered outside. Inside the courtroom, he faced members of the singer's family.
Dressed in a gray suit and red tie, Murray stood upright and spoke in a soft voice when addressing the judge. Murray has been the focus of a police probe for months since the Los Angeles coroner's office ruled that Jackson's June 25 death was a homicide, due partly to the powerful anaesthetic propofol, which Murray admitted giving the 50-year-old singer to help him sleep.
The coroner's report said Jackson's death was caused by propofol and the sedative lorazepam. Painkillers, sedatives and a stimulant also were found in his body. Authorities found bottles of propofol in Murray's doctor's bag and on the bedside table of Jackson's home, according to court records unsealed last year. They also searched Murray's offices in Las Vegas and Houston.
Prosecutors said Murray "did unlawfully, and without malice, kill Michael Joseph Jackson," according to a statement from the Los Angeles District Attorney's office.
Murray faces up to four years in prison if convicted, a sentence that some of Jackson's followers believe is relatively light given that his actions may have led to the singer's death. Murray has insisted he did nothing wrong and has told investigators he was not the first doctor to give Jackson propofol, according to court records.
Murray, a cardiologist, was hired in May 2009 to care for Jackson while he prepared for a series of 50 comeback concerts in London aimed at reviving a career sidelined by his 2005 trial and acquittal on charges of molesting a 13-year-old boy. The singer, dubbed the King of Pop, was a member of the legendary Motown singing group the Jackson 5 and was a hugely successful solo artist as an adult. His 1982 album Thriller is still the world's best-selling album.
Jackson's sudden cardiac arrest on the morning of June 25, which prompted a worldwide outpouring of grief, followed a late night rehearsal in Los Angeles for the planned concerts that were to have been called This Is It.
A documentary film, Michael Jackson's This Is It, made from video footage of the concert rehearsals, took in nearly $260 million at worldwide box offices.
When Jackson died, he left an estate worth hundreds of millions of dollars that went into trusts benefiting his mother, three children and various charities.
Jackson's family is said to be furious that Los Angeles police and prosecutors took months to file a criminal charge. His brother Jermaine Jackson, sister La Toya, mother Katherine and father Joe were in the courtroom on Monday.
Canada's history is being rewritten, online, at least, in terms so crude, that it could make any Canadian angry with a patriotic tinge. On his late-night TV show this week, 'satirist' Stephen Colbert took aim at Canadian magazine The Beaver, which announced last month it was changing its moniker after 90 years because some search engines were weeding it out, believing it was pornography due to its name.
The Winnipeg-based publication is rebranding itself as the less suggestive Canada's History, starting in April. But what Canadians don't know, the comedian joked Thursday on The Colbert Report, is in America "Canada's history" is a euphemism "for a sex act so depraved," it can't be described on television.
The unspeakable act, apparently, "involves moose antlers, a jug of maple syrup and the Stanley Cup."
The comedian then invited his audience, often referenced as the 'Colbert Nation' for their willingness to help with his pranks, to "redefine Canada's history in the most jaw-dropping terms imaginable," on urbandictionary.com, a Wikipedia-like web page that allows users to submit definitions for words and slang.
"Just put everything in there," said Colbert, who mockingly portrays a conservative pundit on his show. "Putting everything in there, by the way, is the hardest part of performing Canada's history."
Thirty-six hours later, there were 521 listed entries, each with increasingly vulgar descriptions that use more Canadian clichés than a 'Kids in the Hall' skit.
This isn't the first time Colbert has taken a slap-shot or two at Canada. He's responsible for dubbing us "syrup suckers," "iceholes," and "Saskatche-whiners," after the U.S. speed-skating team couldn't secure ice time for training at Vancouver's Olympic Oval.
But, Colbert and his fan base may not be the only ones getting their digs in with this most recent effort. One entry describes the U.S. version of the unspeakable deed "A night with Sarah Palin."
What do you do when you're a business owner that deals with a supposedly-obnoxious customer? Well, you use the law to ban them for life, if you can.
A man has been banned for life from two Tim Hortons outlets for complaining one too many times about burned coffee. According to the CBC, Jimmy Craig from St. Andrews, New Brunswick lodged three complaints about burned decaffeinated coffee at the popular restaurant chain.
"It was like brown, burned water," Craig told the CBC. "I almost, you know, got sick in the sink."
When Craig met with Edwin Dow, the owner of the St. Andrews franchise, Dow served him with a letter banning him under the province's trespass act. Craig, who is a paramedic, is forbidden from entering the St. Andrews store and another one in nearby St. Stephens unless he's responding to a medical emergency. He has hired a lawyer to have the ban revoked.
"I was baffled," Craig said. "It didn't make any sense at all. All I wanted to do was bring it to his attention that there was a problem with the consistency of his product."
"I don't see this is a way to treat people. Whatever happened to the customer is always right?"
Do you drink a can of soda every day? Maybe it's time to think again. Drinking two or more soft drinks a week may nearly double a person's risk of developing pancreatic cancer, researchers are warning. That is scary, and is definitely going to change my soda-drinking habits.
Cancer of the pancreas is one of the most rapidly fatal tumours in adults; only 6% of people are still alive five years after a diagnosis. The pancreas makes insulin, and scientists believe high concentrations of insulin can drive the growth of pancreatic cancer cells.
Eating too much sugar increases insulin levels in the body, and one of the leading sources of added sugar in our diets are soft drinks. The new study, by researchers from the University of Minnesota, was based on more than 60,000 men and women in the Singapore Chinese Health Study who were followed for 14 years. During that time, 140 people developed invasive pancreatic cancer. At the start of the study, as part of a food frequency questionnaire, people were asked to report how often they drank one glass of pop. A glass was considered 237 millilitres, or about the equivalent of one cup.
Those who reported drinking two or more soft drinks per week had an 87% increased risk of pancreatic cancer compared to those who didn't drink soft drinks. The pop drinkers were averaging five drinks per week. The finding held after researchers took smoking, obesity, diabetes, red meat intake, coffee consumption and a "whole myriad" of other nutritional factors into account, said lead author Noel Mueller, now a research associate at the Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington.
There was no significant association between juice consumption and risk of pancreatic cancer. Other studies have looked at the association between pop and pancreatic cancer, but the results haven't been consistent. One of the strengths of the new study is its size.
However, there were only 140 cases of pancreatic cancer, so the finding was based on a relatively small number of cases. Mueller also said caution needs to be taken when extrapolating the findings from the Singapore Chinese study to a western population. But other studies in American and European populations have found similar associations.
A study of 88,794 U.S. nurses and 49,364 male health professionals found that women who consumed three or more sugar-sweetened drinks a week had a 57% greater risk of pancreatic cancer than did women who drank no more than one soft drink per month. In that study, there was no association between sweetened soft drinks and pancreatic cancer among men. But a Swedish study involving nearly 78,000 women and men reported in 2006 that high consumption of sugar and high-sugar foods -- including soft drinks -- was associated with a greater risk of pancreatic cancer in both sexes.
An estimated 3,900 Canadians were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year. Known risk factors include smoking, diabetes and obesity, said Gillian Bromfield, senior manager of cancer control policy at the Canadian Cancer Society.
The new study is published this week in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Two and a Half Men actor Charlie Sheen was charged today with assaulting and threatening his wife Brooke Mueller in a heated Christmas Day argument. But, the couple left the court in the Colorado ski resort of Aspen hugging each other, hoping the charges will be dropped, and apparently planning to reconcile.
Sheen, who is 44, was arrested in the ski resort of Aspen, Colorado on December 25 after Mueller called the cops and told them that he pulled a knife on her during an argument and threatened to have her killed. Sheen spent the day behind bars before being released on bail.
Sheen and Mueller, the actor's third wife, married in 2008 and have infant twin sons.
Sheen was charged with felony menacing, misdemeanour assault and criminal mischief. The menacing charge entails the alleged use of a deadly weapon in a threatening manner. Sheen could face up to three years behind bars if convicted. He did not enter a plea and another hearing was set for March 15, 2010.
Judge James Boyd lifted a "no contact" portion of a restraining order that had barred Sheen from speaking to Mueller or having contact with her. Lawyers for both sides wanted the order lifted. Mueller, 32, told police in December that Sheen held a knife to her throat and threatened to have her killed when she said she would divorce him and take their children.
At the time, Sheen denied brandishing the knife but admitted crumpling his wife's eyeglasses and said both of them had slapped each other's arms, according to court records. Mueller embraced Sheen as the end of today's brief hearing and the pair left together.
"They hugged in the courtroom, they hugged downstairs and they are hugging in the car," Mueller's lawyer, Yale Galanter, told reporters after the hearing.
"It is Brooke's position that she would like the charges dismissed and this case to be over," he added.
His Christmas Day arrest is not the first time he has been accused of violence. He pleaded no contest to a 1997 battery charge on his then girlfriend, and his second wife, Denise Richards, obtained a restraining order against him in 2006.
Toyota will establish a global quality task force and implement other procedures to ensure customer safety and satisfaction, its president said at a press conference. Akio Toyoda expressed deep regret for the inconvenience and concern to customers, and announced that he will personally take the lead toward improving quality worldwide.
Once established, the global quality task force will conduct quality improvement activities region by region, using a six-point action plan:
1. Improve the quality inspection process by inspecting every process and verifying causes that led to the recalls, including quality in design, production, sales and service. 2. Enhance the customer information research offices in each region to collect information faster. 3. Establish an automotive centre of quality excellence in key regions to further develop quality management professionals. 4. Seek confirmation and evaluation from outside experts, in line with the industry's best practices, of its newly-improved quality control management, based on the above improvements. 5. Increased frequency of communication with regional authorities. 6. Improvement of the autonomy of its regional subsidiaries, listening to each and every customer to improve quality.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is also a serious hockey buff, played the role of interviewer Friday night as he quizzed NHL legends Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky at a Saskatoon charity event.
The trio's chit-chat emulated a Hockey Night in Canada feature, The Hotstove, as Howe and Gretzky answered questions ranging from the state of the game today, to their thoughts on career longevity.
"What's the secret to longevity?" Mr. Harper asked, as members of the audience chuckled.
"Maybe I'm asking [that question] personally," he added, sensing the knowing elbow-nudges from the crowd. "How do you stick around for a while?"
The question drew hearty laughs from the audience of 1,200, who paid $300 per plate to attend the 50th annual Kinsmen dinner. Unfortunately, the hockey legends' answers were not picked up by news microphones.
Mr. Harper appeared relaxed amid the superstar guests and genuinely engaged in the topic.
"What was your best single moment in hockey?" Mr. Harper asked.
Howe, 81, did not hesitate and answered: "When I met Colleen," his wife of 55 years who died in March 2009.
Mr. Gretzky, 49, recalled a number of fond memories from his playing days.
"The very first time I played in the NHL," Gretzky said, recalling he was on the ice against Stan Mikita, a hockey star of the day.
"And there's nothing like lifting the Stanley Cup for the first time," Gretzky added.
Mr. Harper also quizzed Mr. Gretzky about Canada's chances in hockey at the upcoming winter Olympic Games, in Vancouver.
"Going into the Olympic Games, it comes down to a couple things," Gretzky said.
"Goaltending," he said was one key element. "And secondly, your best players play at the calibre they are capable of playing at under high scrutiny. Then they will be fine."
Toyota Canada says that it has resumed sales and deliveries of the eight models of vehicle affected by a massive international recall. The company says that owners of affected vehicles can begin contacting their local dealership to get the defective pedal repaired.
Toronto dealership manager Dan Golightly says his service centre began repairing vehicles yesterday, and will have extended hours until the repairs are done. Millions of Toyotas, including 270,000 vehicles in Canada, were recalled due to a faulty accelerator pedal in several models, including the popular Camry, Corolla and RAV4.
To fix the affected vehicles, dealerships will install a steel reinforcement bar to reduce the friction that's been associated with the sticky pedal problem.
The company has also identified brake problems in its popular Prius hybrid but has not yet issued a recall for that vehicle.
Unless you were living in a cave during the last few weeks, you would know that the Super Bowl was on television yesterday, and the Colts lost to the Saints.
Well, something we always enjoy watching are the Super Bowl ads, after the game, because we live in Canada and aren’t allowed to watch the ads that are shown in America.
Well, after some archiving, here is the Simpsons Coca-Cola commercial we got all excited about. Enjoy!
Toyota Motor Corp's president apologized today for safety problems and said the company would bring in outside experts to review quality controls, an unusual action for a company that has enjoyed a reputation for high standards.
"I would like to take this opportunity to apologize from the bottom of my heart for causing many of our customers concern after the recalls across several models in several regions," Akio Toyoda, the grandson of Toyota's founder, told a news conference in Nagoya, Japan.
Toyoda's comments were his most extensive since the latest recall began in January. Toyota has issued two recalls since last November. The company's shares, which have taken a beating in recent sessions, rose as much as 4.1% to $74.73 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. Since January 21, Toyota has lost $30 billion or a fifth of its market value.
Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's put Toyota and some of its suppliers on watch for a possible downgrade citing "increased concern over the potential negative impact on Toyota's business profile of unfolding developments related to recent quality issues."
Toyota, the world's largest automaker, has recalled more than 8 million vehicles around the world for problems with accelerators. Episodes of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles have been linked to up to 19 crash deaths in the United States over the past decade. Toyota is also mulling a recall of Prius, its top-selling hybrid, for a braking problem.
The company has estimated that lost production, lost sales, parts to fix problems, staff training and repairs to recalled vehicles will cost Toyota $2 billion from January to the end of March. The news conference came after U.S. competitor Ford Motor Co readied a solution for braking problems on two of its hybrid models, the hybrid Fusion and Mercury Milan.
Toyoda apologized for safety problems that have left the Japanese carmaker "in crisis". He said Toyota would strengthen its inspection process, respond faster to customer complaints and seek input from outside experts.
Toyoda also pledged to set up and oversee a quality improvement task force involving external experts monitoring quality management. It was not clear how the global quality management committee would function.
Turning to independent experts is "about as good as you can expect," said UBS analyst Philippe Houchois.
"I've seen a lot of recalls, but I don't remember seeing that step of getting an outside expert. That's quite an innovative or aggressive approach to try to solve the problem," he said.
Toyota Europe's spokeswoman Maria Mack said, "This is not the first time we have consulted with external parties, but this is a more structural approach."
"It is a new idea in the way it is conceived. It is the first time there will be a really formalized approach."
The crisis generated by the recalls and the way the 77-year-old company has handled itself publicly have led to widespread criticism.
Toyoda, 53, bowed in apology after addressing the news conference and answered other questions, some in English, after an official tried to end the late-night session. He asked investors to "continue to support us with a long-term view."
Kazutaka Oshima, president of Rakuten Investment Management, said investors needed answers. "Toyoda is responsible for explaining to shareholders since they have lost a significant part of their assets."
Toyoda became the company's president last year, promising to steer it out of its worst downturn in history and bring greater transparency to its corporate culture.
Safety regulators in the United States and Japan are investigating a braking problem with Toyota's latest version of the Prius, Japan's top-selling car last year and an icon of green design that has lifted the public image of the whole company. Japan's transport minister said he had heard from ministry officials that Toyota would recall or voluntarily fix the automobiles affected, including those shipped overseas.
"Toyota's response came up short from the perspective of its customers," Transport Minister Seiji Maehara said.
Since its launch last May, Toyota has sold more than 300,000 units of the newest version of the Prius worldwide, including around 200,000 in Japan, 103,200 in the United States and 29,000 in Europe. Toyota's and Ford's hybrids capture the energy from braking to recharge an on-board battery to boost mileage from its gasoline engine.
Toyota Prius owners have complained that on bumpy roads and on ice, the regenerative brakes of the vehicle appear to slip and it lurches forward before the traditional brakes engage. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it has received 124 complaints from drivers of the third-generation Prius. The agency said that motorists have blamed four crashes on this problem.
Toyota and Ford have said that they have come up with software fixes for the problems. Toyota said on Thursday that it started fixing a problem in the Prius last month.
Ford's roll-out of a software patch to address braking problems on its Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan models came after Consumer Reports magazine reported that one of its test engineers had experienced what appeared to be a loss of braking power with a Fusion hybrid. Ford, the #2 U.S. automaker by sales, said it was aware of one minor accident related to the braking problem, but no injuries.
Ford has said that it notified its dealers in October and sent them a notice, a copy of which was made public by Consumer Reports.
The cops paid Charlie Sheen a visit today. But the twist is, it's not for something that he did.
Charlie Sheen's SUV was discovered by police early Friday, smashed, and upside down... in a ravine, People reported.
"Charlie was not in the car," the Two and a Half Men star's publicist told the magazine. And as police explain to People, they're treating the case as the result of auto theft. Sheen reported his Mercedes Benz SUV stolen shortly before they discovered the vehicle below a cliff near his Sherman Oaks, California home.
Though police are in the process of investigating the crash site, they so far have yet to turn up evidence suggesting anyone was in the car at the time of the crash, Us Weekly reports.
In any case, a smashed SUV is the least of the actor's troubles.
"It was nice to have police come to my house and for once I didn't have to leave with them," Sheen joked in an interview with The Insider.
Although he has committed endless crimes against good taste through his on-going sitcom Two and a Half Men, Charlie Sheen has recently found himself facing charges for an actual misdeed. On Christmas Day, a fight between Sheen and his wife, Brooke Mueller, led to the actor being charged with assault. He's also under a restraining order that keeps him away from his wife, who recently checked in to a rehab centre in North Carolina. Sheen, who's set to attend a hearing in Aspen, Colorado on Monday, and is expected to face felony charges for assault, Aspen's assistant district attorney told Us Weekly. According to their reports, Charlie Sheen allegedly threatened his wife with murder, and held a knife to her throat.
Previously unpublished black and white photos of a laughing, stylishly-dressed Marilyn Monroe visiting the poet Carl Sandburg in New York almost half a century ago went on sale Friday. The pictures, shot by photographer Len Steckler at his apartment in December 1961, had spent 45 years in a private archive.
They show Monroe, aged 35 and only nine months from death, relaxing with Sandburg, a Pulitzer-prize winning poet. The four single images and two triptychs -- a series of three pictures each -- are listed for sale at between 1,999 dollars and 3,999 dollars.
"On a wintry afternoon, Sandburg and Steckler patiently awaited Monroe, who arrived three hours later than planned, claiming she was at the hairdresser's trying to get her hair white to match Sandburg's," dealers Eagle National Mint said. "The two spent the rest of the afternoon bonding over conversation and cocktails, fostering a new friendship while Steckler quietly observed, his Nikon loaded with black and white film, nothing more than natural Northern light pouring through the windows."
Each print is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and is signed by Steckler. The sale is online at www.thevisitseries.com and by phone.
NDP Leader Jack Layton has been diagnosed with a treatable form of prostate cancer. How unfortunate. Mr. Layton said today that he will step away from an active political role for "several months" in order to undergo treatment, but will not step down as leader. Aside from his political beliefs, I do believe that he is a decent guy, and I wish him well.
"I'm a fighter and I'm going to beat this," he told a Toronto press conference.
Mr. Layton, whose father, who was a Progressive Conservative cabinet minister, also had prostate cancer and beat the disease. He added: "I have his genes on my side."
Mr. Layton said that the treatment plan for the disease "is now underway and everything is on track. In the coming weeks, the schedule of my treatment regime means I may have a bit more time to catch the Olympics."
"The hard work and drive of our Canadian athletes will be an inspiration," he said.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff immediately issued a news release wishing Layton a speedy recovery.
"Jack Layton has fought many battles in his life, but none will be as demanding as the fight he now faces," Ignatieff said. "We all know how combative Jack is and we know that he will face this challenge with his usual determination. I wish him strength and courage on the road to recovery, and I know all Canadians stand behind him in this fight."
Mr. Layton has been the leader of the federal NDP since 2003.
Montreal MP Thomas Mulcair is the party's deputy leader. The NDP currently have 37 seats in the House of Commons, short of the mark set by former leader Ed Broadbent in the 1980s. In a leadership review vote held last August, nearly 90% of delegates voted against holding a leadership convention to replace Mr. Layton.
A former member of Toronto's city council, Mr. Layton was elected MP for Toronto-Danforth in 2004 and is married to fellow Toronto MP Olivia Chow.
A Winnipeg man at the centre of a preset Virgin Mobile text message fallout is apparently speaking out.
Darren, who is 49, lived with his common-law wife up until earlier this week when she found suggestive factory-installed text messages on his cell phone placed there by Virgin.
Now, Darren apparently has been misplaced from his own home, and has a protective order against him for yelling at his partner trying to explain what had happened.
Well, if this is true, I have a few questions of my own...
First off, why is a 49-year-old buying a phone from Virgin Mobile anyway? I would think that with their retarded advertising, it would appeal only to younger weirdoes.
Troubled Japanese automaker Toyota said today that it had begun repairing sticky accelerator pedals in the United States behind the recall of millions of vehicles worldwide.
The carmaker's U.S. branch, Toyota Motor Sales USA, said that repairs were underway after dealers across the country had received the necessary parts, information and training to repair the accelerator pedals. It also announced that it had begun mailing letters to owners of recalled vehicles to inform them of when they can bring their cars to a dealership for repair.
According to Toyota, mechanics only need 30 minutes per vehicle to complete the repairs. The company had announced on Monday that the simple fix involves installing a precision-cut steel reinforcement bar into the accelerator pedal assembly to eliminate the excess friction that has caused pedals to stick in rare instances.
But the automaker has also faced a litany of complaints about other technical problems, including brake failure and floor mats trapping the accelerator pedals.
"Nothing is more important to us than the safety and reliability of the vehicles our customers drive, and we are determined to live up to the high standards people have come to expect from Toyota over the past 50 years," Toyota USA president and chief executive Jim Lentz said in a statement. "Everyone at Toyota is focused on making this recall simple and trouble-free for our customers."
However, the car's troubles escalated further as Toyota looked set to recall several hundred thousand Prius hybrids and was slapped with a U.S. lawsuit alleging it covered up safety problems. The Nikkei business daily said that Toyota had decided to recall an estimated 270,000 Prius cars in Japan and the United States to fix a brake problem affecting the newest version of the hybrid.
"We're working hard to ensure that our dealers have the resources and support they need to make sure our customers get their cars fixed quickly," Lentz said.
"The parts have been shipped, the dealers are trained, and they are already making the repairs," he added noting that many dealers were working extended hours. Some have even opened around the clock to deal with the impact of the massive recall.
Toyota said it was sending cheques of $7,500-$75,000 to its dealers to help them with any additional costs related to the repairs.
Repairs are expected to begin here in Canada today as well.
Recently, former Reform-and-then-Canadian-Alliance MP and chiropractor Jim Pankiw announced at the Saskatoon Inn that he would eventually return to federal politics and would run against incumbent Conservative MP Brad Trost as an independent in the next federal election in the riding of Saskatoon-Humboldt. Well, good luck on getting elected.
Anyway, along with the press conference at the Saskatoon Inn, Pankiw launched his campaign website, located at www.jimpankiw.ca, which is riddled with spelling errors or terrible grammar. If you head on over there, you will find it hilarious.
Anyway, if you actually give a crap, you can watch a video of Pankiw announcing his return to politics at the link below.
And if you look at his Twitter page, located at www.twitter.com/jimpankiw, it's just as retarded.
Lastly, if you've watched enough Two and a Half Men over the years, you will know that chiropractors aren't real doctors, according to the show's cast.
So, is Pankiw a phony? That's up to you to decide.
With Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams recovering from heart surgery in the United States yesterday, his deputy premier railed against the negative reaction to his having sought treatment outside the country.
"The premier hasn't done anything that anybody else in the same circumstances wouldn't have considered and acted in the same way," Kathy Dunderdale told media, adding that the criticism is "completely unacceptable."
"To have to undergo the battery that he's undergone these last few days... not only across the country but now being the poster boy for the debate in the United States... is a bit much," she said. "I believe it goes beyond the pale."
Williams had the surgery at an undisclosed U.S. hospital Thursday and is recovering in intensive care, Dunderdale said. The first 24 hours were "critical," she said, but she expected Williams, who she described as a workaholic, to be back on the job in early March.
"Given what I know of the premier, he'll be chafing at the bit to get back to work. The challenge for all of us will be getting him to slow down," she said.
Earlier this week, Dunderdale said the option of having surgery performed in the United States was chosen after weeks of consultation with Williams' doctors, and because the particular procedure isn't available in the province.
"He was able to have his preferred option in terms of the procedure that was used," Dunderdale said Thursday.
She would not release any details on the type of procedure that was performed, saying the 60-year-old premier and his family requested their privacy be respected, and that Williams would speak when he feels well enough. She said that the questions have been tough on Williams' family and added to the stress he was under.
"You forgo a lot of privacy when you put your hand up to do this job, but there are certain areas that are sacrosanct," she said. "This has been extremely frustrating for him, I believe, and extremely frustrating for his family."
The premier's decision to travel to the United States for surgery sparked debate across the country about confidence in Canada's healthcare system. Conservative nuts (which is very different from Canadian conservatives) in the U.S. also pounced on the news, suggesting it proved that U.S. President Barack Obama's proposed health insurance reforms wouldn't work.
Medicare advocates said that cases such as Williams' represent only a tiny fraction of all Canadian patients who receive medical care. Meanwhile, Williams has also been inundated with support from well-wishers, with several Facebook group pages started up, to wish him a speedy recovery.
"When we first heard the story break on the news, our sympathies went out to him," said Erin Skinner, one of two administrators on the group site "Get Well Premier Williams," which had about 4,200 members as of Thursday evening.
There were 43,000 more Canadians working in January, Statistics Canada said Friday, which is about three times more than what economists were expecting.
The unemployment rate fell to 8.3% from a revised 8.4% in December. The results were better than the expectations of economists polled by Bloomberg, who were calling for 15,000 additional people working last month and a jobless rate of 8.5%.
This comes after a revised loss of 28,300 people from the job market in December, but it was the fourth employment gain in six months. The employment growth in January was largely driven by women and youth. It was the first notable increase in employment among young people since the jobs slump started in the fall of 2008, Statistics Canada said.
The private sector was responsible for all of the job gains, and it was mostly from part-time positions. The number of people employed full-time was flat, and there was a decline in the number of people self-employed.
Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist with BMO Capital Markets, called the concentration of job gains in the part-time category "a big but," adding that "part-time jobs are better than none."
"While the details of this report were less impressive than the headline results, there is little doubt that the job market is grinding forward," Porter added in a research note.
The president of the Canadian Auto Workers said the fact that January's job gains came almost exclusively from part-time work shows that there is not, in fact, a true economic recovery underway.
"Instead it means that more Canadians are ending up in precarious employment, characterized by irregular hours, little job security, low wages and few benefits," CAW president Ken Lewenza said in a statement. "This is really nothing to cheer about."
By sector, the biggest increases in January came in the categories of business, building and other support services, and retail and wholesale trade. That was offset to some degree by declines in professional, scientific and technical services, as well as in agriculture. More than half the job gains were in Ontario, while British Columbia and Manitoba also saw gains. There were fewer people working in Nova Scotia, while all other provinces saw flat employment trends between December and January, Statistics Canada said.
Statistics Canada said the level of employment in Canada remains 280,000 less than the peak in October 2008. But Porter pointed out that the current job numbers are just 0.1% less than a year earlier, calling it "an amazingly quick turnaround from the dismal conditions of early last year, all things considered."
The Conference Board of Canada on Friday issued a report saying the recent recession only delayed the coming worker shortage in the country due to a coming onslaught of retirements among baby boomers.
"Job losses have resulted in temporary slackness in Canada's labour market, and boomers may be temporarily delaying their retirements due to the plunge in equity markets," Pedro Antunes, the board's director of forecasts, said in a statement. "However, even if some baby boomers decide to delay retirement, it will likely be for only a short period of time.
"If organizations fail to adequately plan for tightening labour markets, they could lose out on employees with the required skills, which could dampen their future growth prospects."
Millan Mulraine, economics strategist with TD Securities, said: "This was a very strong report, with the pace of employment growth outstripping the market expectations by a factor of three, and it suggests that the Canadian economic recovery picked up considerable speed in the first month of the year."
However, he added that "the pace of job growth may be overstating the true extent of the recovery in the Canadian economy."
A Toronto Transit Commission bus driver has been suspended after the driver was caught on camera visiting a doughnut shop, and apparently mid-route.
Local 113 of the Amalgamated Transit Union confirmed the suspension in a release Thursday, saying only: "A TTC bus operator has been suspended pending an investigation into the circumstances surrounding a video purportedly recording the operator taking a seven-minute washroom break and buying a coffee at a doughnut shop at 3 a.m. last Friday."
The video was posted on YouTube by a rider named Reuven Politi, who said that the delays in his nightly commute home on the route have become routine.
Well, we'd be angry too. Besides, some Saskatoon Transit drivers do that too!
The Government of Canada confirmed today that it has struck a deal with the Obama administration that would protect the Canadian industry from Buy American provisions. International Trade Minister Peter Van Loan and Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon made the announcement at a news conference in Ottawa.
"Preserving and creating jobs is the Canadian government's top priority," Van Loan said. "Our government stood up for Canadian businesses and workers in resolving this issue with our U.S. partners."
The catch behind the deal will see Canada agree to provide U.S. suppliers with access to a range of construction contracts across Canada's provinces and territories, as well as in a number of municipalities. In return, the United States has agreed to provide Canadian suppliers with access to state and local public works projects in a range of programs funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Canadian and U.S. officials hope to have a final deal signed by February 16, 2010. The two sides have also agreed to continue negotiations on a broader deal governing procurement. Further, there is a "fast-track" provision that would help resolve disputes should similar Buy American provisions be applied to future legislation. Experts say that the pact marks an "important breakthrough" in stopping the spread of protectionism and acknowledging Canada's importance to the U.S. economy.
The deal will be structured to allow the White House to use executive power to treat sectors of the Canadian economy as American by claiming supply chains are so integrated they cannot be separated. This has been done because U.S. President Barack Obama cannot rely on Congress to pass legislation exempting Canada from Buy American provisions.
"We are very happy," said Veso Sobot, director of corporate affairs at IPEX Inc., which is a Toronto-based pipe manufacturer. IPEX gained notoriety after the introduction of Buy American rules for having its pipe fittings pulled out of the ground in California because they had the 'Made in Canada' designation on them.
"This will allow us to compete again," Sobot said. "We are tickled pink and we are going to be aggressive about trying to compete for business in the United States. And I hope this can help bolster our 2010 and bring back jobs to Canada."
American officials were also touting this agreement as a success.
"(The United States) has won that access for American firms, and I look forward to signing the agreement soon," U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a statement Friday. "For years, U.S. firms have sought market access to Canadian provincial procurement under the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), which Canada resisted."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has accepted an invitation from British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell to speak at the British Columbia legislature as British Columbia gears up to welcome the world to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
Dimitris Soudas, spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister, has said that Mr. Harper will address the legislature on February 11, which is the day before the Games' opening ceremonies in Vancouver.
"The prime minister will salute Vancouver, Whistler and British Columbia for its magnificent work in organizing and hosting the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games," Soudas said.
A prime ministerial address to a provincial legislature is a rare event. It last happened in 1990 when Brian Mulroney spoke to the legislature for Newfoundland and Labrador. Mr. Mulroney's speech back then was part of his attempts to save the doomed Meech Lake Accord.
Mr. Harper's speech to the British Columbia legislature is unlikely to be fraught with such serious political overtones. He is likely to congratulate British Columbians on their work preparing for the Olympics and would draw attention to the positive benefits of the Games for the people of British Columbia and all Canadians.
In Ottawa, Mr. Harper's political opponents pointed out the irony of the prime minister speaking to another legislative assembly in Canada after proroguing or suspending the one in which he normally speaks, the House of Commons, until March 3.
"We're a little worried he might go out to B.C. and try and prorogue that legislature, too," Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff told reporters in Ottawa. "It does seem a little odd that he's prepared to address a working legislature while he's closed down his own. Go figure."
The Los Angeles County coroner announced their findings yesterday in the death of actress Brittany Murphy. According to CNN, the coroner determined that her death was an accident caused by a combination of pneumonia, an iron deficiency and "multiple drug intoxication."
The coroner did not reveal which drugs were involved in the actress' death, but added that the official autopsy report would be available in the next two weeks.
The actress was found unconscious in her shower on December 21, 2009. And despite performing first aid, paramedics could not revive her. She was 32 at the time of her death.
Despite Prime Minister Stephen Harper's talk about slaying the deficit, the Government of Canada has no plans to cut any spending before the spring of 2011 because of the weakness of the economic recovery. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty confirmed that the Conservatives will wait until the current two-year, $46 billion economic stimulus plan ends on March 31, 2011, before looking for ways to begin trying to balance Ottawa's books.
"The first thing to do is make sure that the economy recovers, that's absolutely imperative," Mr. Flaherty said Tuesday after pre-budget discussions with business economists.
Referring to the meeting of government leaders and CEOs in Davos, Switzerland, on the weekend, Mr. Flaherty said, "We're all agreed internationally that we need to continue with our economic stimulus, that there is a lack of evidence of sustained private-sector demand."
"So we will continue to provide public-sector demand in the Canadian economy in 2010 and into the first quarter of 2011," he told reporters Tuesday.
In an update for the March 4 federal budget, a dozen of private-sector economists said the outlook for Canada's business conditions has improved a bit. They now predict 2.6% economic growth this year, up slightly from the 2.3% they predicted in September. In 2009, the economy retracted by 2.5%. But, the economists see unemployment continuing at an unusually high 8.5% in 2010.
On January 19, Mr. Harper and his aides trumpeted the need for budget restraint when the Prime Minister put fiscal conservative Stockwell Day in a position to hold the line on spending as president of the federal Treasury Board. The government has also set up hundreds of meetings across the country to initiate public debate on how to end Ottawa's budget deficits, now set to hit a cumulative $160 billion by 2014.
But Mr. Flaherty said Tuesday that trimming federal spending will have to await consistent economic growth, lower jobless rates and more investment by private business.
"Once we see a sustained recovery, then we'll start moving back toward deficit reduction and then balanced budgets," the finance minister said.
After the meeting, the business economists agreed that it's too early to focus on restraint.
"There's still lots of risks in the global economy, so to take away the stimulus that is promised would probably be premature right now," CIBC World Markets economist Avery Shenfeld told reporters.
While talking up restraint, the Conservatives appear to have added big new cost factors to their budget-making. Harper has recently committed to billions of dollars in additional spending initiatives to help Haiti and improve conditions for women in children in developing nations. The government is also moving toward significant reductions in greenhouse gases, a plan that may lead to hefty federal spending.
Mr. Flaherty was unable to say how much those programs would cost taxpayers and how the promises would impact budget planning. But Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff poked fun at the Conservatives' recent talk about fiscal belt-tightening.
"Poor Mr. Flaherty. I absolutely love it, when a guy who's dug us into a $56 billion hole is talking to me about financial responsibility and prudence," Mr. Ignatieff told reporters. "I mean, these guys have no credibility at all on this."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper plans to cancel two weeks of parliamentary breaks this spring to try to make up for the six weeks of work lost when he decided to prorogue Parliament after Christmas. Conservative MPs were told yesterday that the government plans to alter the parliamentary calendar because of what is expected to be a heavy workload.
"Once Parliament resumes there will be a lot of work to do," Gordon O'Connor, the government whip, wrote in an e-mail that was sent to all Conservative MPs, and obtained by Canwest New Service, whose article we are stealing today.
"Members should expect that the House of Commons will sit during the week of March 15 to 19 and during the week of April 12 to 16. Please arrange your schedules accordingly."
During those weeks, MPs would leave Ottawa for their respective ridings.
"Stephen Harper is showing his arrogance and contempt. He shut down Parliament with a phone call and now wants to change the parliamentary calendar through an internal memo leaked to media," said Jean-Francois Del Torchio, a spokesman for Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, late yesterday. "After weeks telling Canadians that prorogation was not important and they were using the time to do the work in their ridings, the Conservatives are now admitting they were wrong," he added. "This is nothing more than the Conservatives scrambling to save face after the public backlash from their decision to shut down Parliament."
MPs were originally planning to return to the House of Commons on January 25, but Mr. Harper prorogued (or suspended) Parliament until March 3, saying the government needs to recalibrate its agenda. Opposition MPs have accused Mr. Harper of trying to hide from Parliament, including from an ongoing inquiry into the issue of Afghan detainee abuse. The parliamentary calendar can only be changed with the consent of all parties.
"There is no reason for the House of Commons to take constituency breaks during these weeks," O'Connor wrote. "Quite frankly, we would be surprised if the opposition disagreed."
NDP Leader Jack Layton said that Mr. Harper could make up for those lost weeks by calling the House of Commons back to work right away.
"Instead of playing silly games, the prime minister should recall Parliament right away to deal with all the important issues facing Canadians," Layton said in an email statement.
Mr. Harper and the Conservatives have seen their popularity plunge in the wake of the prorogation of Parliament because Canadians who had nothing better to do than complain suddenly gave a crap that the Prime Minister decided to prorogue Parliament to recalibrate his agenda. While they had a 15-point lead in some polls heading into Christmas, they now find themselves in a statistical tie with the Liberals, which is a drop pollsters attribute to dissatisfaction with Mr. Harper's decision to shut down the House of Commons until after the 2010 Olympics have wrapped up.
Blockbuster Inc.'s main American rival, Movie Gallery, filed for bankruptcy yesterday and plans to close a " significant number" of stores.
This is the second time in less than three years that Movie Gallery has been forced to run from creditors.
The prospect of a thousand stores being eliminated from Movie Gallery's portfolio, which includes Hollywood Video stores, could be consolations for investors who have been watching Blockbuster suffer.
As a result, Blockbuster (BBI) climbed 7% to $0.46 in morning trading.
A 74-year-old woman from Hamilton, Ontario, who attempted to cross the border into New York earlier this week learned the hard way that the United States does not take kindly to drug charges, no matter how long ago the charges were filed against you.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection say Homenella Cole advised border officers at the Lewiston-Queenston border crossing Monday that she was inadmissible to the U.S. because of previous criminal convictions in Canada.
"She said she wanted a waiver to enter the U.S., which is not uncommon," said CBP spokesman Kevin Corsaro.
A routine criminal record check revealed that Cole was the subject of active felony warrant issued on April 1, 1980 by the New York City Police Department. Cole was arrested on the outstanding warrant and was extradited to New York City, where the senior citizen will face the charge of possession with the intent to distribute marijuana.
"Apparently these warrants don't run out. But a 29-year-old warrant is definitely rare," Corsaro said.
Taylor Lexus Toyota in Regina is trying to soften the blow for customers who can't take delivery of their newly-purchased Toyota vehicles due to a sales embargo on vehicles recalled to fix defective gas pedals.
Taylor is paying $50 a day to those customers who ordered a new Toyota vehicle but can't take it due to the recall notice, which was issued on January 21 and affects 270,000 vehicles in Canada.
"We currently can sell, but not deliver, the models affected by the recall," said Dale Kane, general manager of Taylor Motors. "So, it's an offer to consumers (who) give us the honour of still buying the affected vehicles. We'll reduce the sale price by $50 for every day we can't deliver it."
Kane said he knows of ten customers who purchased Toyotas in January, but were unable to take possession of their vehicles. They will receive the $50 a day reduction in the sales price once the sales embargo is lifted and the vehicles are available to be picked up, he said.
"It's an inconvenience payment," Kane said. "Anybody that's bought a vehicle, I want to try to acknowledge their patience with a little consideration."
As for the pedal replacement parts, Kane said the "spacer plates" were being sent out Tuesday and should be received today, with the repairs to begin today or Friday.
"We've been informed that we should be looking after those customers with greatest concern or those customers that, on inspection, actually have a problem," Kane said.
Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Corp. was scrambling Wednesday to deal with yet another problem: reported brake failures on the company's best-selling Prius hybrid vehicles, and comments by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood that people should "stop driving" Toyotas. He later clarified the comments.
On Wednesday, Toyota reported dozens of complaints in North America and Japan about brake failure on its popular Prius hybrid. Japan's Transport Ministry said it had received at least 13 complaints about Prius brakes in the two months to January alone. Another Prius driver complained that his brakes failed last July, leading to a collision that slightly injured two people, a ministry official said. In Washington, Lahood stepped up his pressure on the Japanese automaker one day after saying the massive recall came only after pressure from the U.S. government.
Lahood caused a brief panic when he told a congressional panel that owners of millions of defective Toyota vehicles, which erratically accelerate, should "stop driving" them. He later sought to tone down his remarks, telling reporters: "What I meant to say and what I thought I said was if you own one of these cars or if you're in doubt, take it to the dealer and they're going to fix it."
Lahood repeated his agency was studying the possibility of civil penalties on Toyota for safety violations, which could mean fines of millions of dollars, and will "continue to investigate all possible causes of these safety issues."
The Japanese giant, who overtook General Motors in 2008 as the top-selling automaker, has been hit by a series of safety issues that have dented its coveted reputation as a producer of safe and reliable vehicles. The company is recalling almost eight million vehicles worldwide, which is roughly equivalent to its entire 2009 global sales, due to problems with accelerator pedals that could cause the car to speed up unintentionally.
Winter Olympics staff and volunteers working frantically to get one of the primary venues ready for competition got more bad news yesterday: the weather forecast.
Snow-shapers have been transporting in loads of the white stuff by truck and helicopter to Cypress Mountain to compensate for the region's freakishly-warm weather. The latest 14-day outlook continues to call for warmer-than-usual temperatures, meaning that whatever precipitation falls during the day won't be snow.
The staff is currently hoping that cooler overnight temperatures will allow snow to fall, or at least allow them to manufacture enough snow to make up for the dearth of natural snow. A few centimetres fell on the slopes overnight on Monday. The temperature during the day Wednesday was hovering around 0°C.
Controversial Saskatoon chiropractor and former MP Jim Pankiw is planning on staging a return to the political arena.
" I'm Back!" the 43-year-old announced in a news release distributed to media outlets Wednesday.
The release, inviting reporters to attend a press conference this morning at the Saskatoon Inn, says the launch of his new website, www.jimpankiw.ca, " will coincide with an announcement of his future political intentions."
" After a brief (but very direct and explicit) statement, Dr. Pankiw will answer any questions provided that they are not of a personal or disingenuous nature," the release states.
The release was distributed by Austin Thomas, a friend of Pankiw who works for a local website development firm. When asked for clarification about the release's implied warning to journalists, Thomas said it was written by Pankiw himself.
" I think he just doesn't want to go down a road where he's labelled as something that he probably isn't. Because he's had some bad press in the past. I think he just wants genuine questions asked, that are related to whatever he's going to be talking about," Thomas said.
" Here's an example, OK? He said to me once, he goes, 'Austin... sometimes reporters report the news in a different way because they're always looking for a great headline.' I mean, who isn't, right? He said, 'Here's an example. Let's say that I went and rescued my dog and he was drowning or something. It wouldn't be, Jim Pankiw Saves His Dog, it would be, 'Jim Pankiw's Dog Can't Swim.'"
Pankiw served as MP for Saskatoon-Humboldt from 1997 until 2004 (first as a member of the Reform Party, and later as a member of the Canadian Alliance). He was eventually expelled from the party along with several other MPs who opposed the leadership of Stockwell Day. Pankiw applied for readmission to the party after Day was replaced by Stephen Harper, but he was rejected on the grounds that his style was too confrontational. He served the remainder of his last term as an Independent, and then lost his seat to Conservative MP Brad Trost in the 2004 election. During his time as an MP, Pankiw repeatedly drew media attention and public complaints for provocative statements concerning government policies such as employment equity, which he considers " race-based privileges."
In 2002 and 2003, he distributed an inflammatory series of " householder" pamphlets to his constituents, calling for a stop to " Indian Crime" and depicting aboriginal protesters at Oka, Quebec, as " terrorists." The pamphlets sparked complaints to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, which were dismissed by a tribunal last year on the grounds that MP's " householders" are not covered by the federal Human Rights Act.
Pankiw pleaded guilty to 14 charges of professional misconduct before a discipline committee of the Chiropractors Association of Saskatchewan in 2005, for making a series of profanity-laced, threatening and disparaging remarks about professional colleagues. However, he continues to work as a chiropractor in Saskatoon.
Pankiw unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Saskatoon in 2003. During the campaign, criticism and questions about his eligibility arose when media outlets reported that he was living on an acreage outside city limits, despite having claimed a house in the Forest Grove neighbourhood as his principle residence. The provincial Local Government Elections Act requires municipal candidates to live in the municipality in which they are running.
Pankiw's last bid for political office was in the 2006 federal election in the Battlefords-Lloydminster constituency. However, he lost to Conservative incumbent Gerry Ritz, who has occupied the seat since 1997. Ritz won the 1997 Reform Party nomination for the riding by defeating Pankiw's father, George.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper should support safe-abortion programs abroad if he's serious about improving the lives of women, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says. Mr. Ignatieff threw down the challenge as a test of Mr. Harper's resolve on his new foreign-aid commitment to maternal health in the face of a Conservative party with significant pockets of anti-abortion sentiment.
"We don't want to have women dying because of botched procedures. We don't want to have women dying in misery," Mr. Ignatieff told reporters Tuesday after Parliament Hill meetings on international development. "We've had a pro-choice consensus in this area for a couple of generations and we want to hold it."
The Prime Minister announced in the Star and at Davos, Switzerland, last week that the health of mothers and children would be the focus of Canada's attention at this summer's G8 meeting in this country. Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for Mr. Harper, said Tuesday that it was "sad" and "pathetic" for Mr. Ignatieff to be trying to turn the health of women abroad into a "political football."
"This has nothing to do with abortion. This has nothing to do with gay marriage. This has nothing to do with capital punishment," Mr. Soudas said, listing several other hot-button issues within Conservative ranks. "This is about saving lives of vulnerable children and mothers in the developing world."
Mr. Soudas would not say, however, whether access to safe abortions was included in the maternal-health problems Mr. Harper wants to address, nor did he rule it out.
Mr. Harper also has not specifically said what his new "top priority" would entail in terms of aid dollars, but increased support for access-to-abortion programs could be a tough sell for him within his own Conservative caucus, some of whom strongly oppose abortion.
The Liberals issued a release following Mr. Ignatieff's news conference, listing more than a dozen Conservative MPs and ministers speaking out against abortion. In the release, Liberals asked Mr. Harper to "keep ideology out" of his new foreign-aid priority and Mr. Ignatieff hinted strongly he feared that the Conservative government, like Republicans in the U.S. over the past decade, would ban aid to abortion-related programs in the developing world.
As well, the Liberals believe any help for abortion abroad would raise questions about the Conservatives' support at home for organizations that support abortions. For instance, it was revealed this week that the Canadian Federation for Sexual Health, a pro-choice group, has seen its federal funding drop under the Conservatives, from more than $1 million in 2006 to $9,381 in 2009. Officials with the federation, formerly known as Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada, downplayed suggestions they are the victim of a pro-life agenda in government. Instead, they say they've been hit by a funding crunch that has squeezed many organizations.
But, they said a greater focus, and money, aimed at family planning is essential to making Mr. Harper's maternal-health agenda succeed. Jolanta Scott-Parker, the federation's executive director, said their funding from Health Canada and the Canadian International Development Agency was aimed at specific projects, mostly overseas, such as sexual and reproductive health services, education and information for youth. She said that most of those projects wrapped up in the past few years, accounting for the drop in government money.
"Would we like to see the federal government investing in sexual and reproductive health in a much more comprehensive way in Canada? Absolutely," she said.
Saskatoon-based lawyer Tara Dionne Chornoby pleaded guilty yesterday to tax evasion related to $25,000 of undeclared income and was fined $5,000.
Don't lawyers make enough money to want to declare all of their income? This is a bad example that the lawyer has set.
Chornoby, who is 36, must also pay more than $15,000 in outstanding taxes, penalties and interest in relation to the income received in the tax years between 2004 and 2007, said Kathy Ager, spokesperson for the Canada Revenue Agency. The fine represents 100% of the tax sought to be evaded. The civil penalty was for knowingly making a false statement in a tax return.
Chornoby failed to report income totalling $25,007, which she collected in her capacity as a lawyer employed by a Saskatoon law firm, Ager said. Criminal charges of fraud and theft were stayed, but Chornoby and her former employer, lawyer Dean Rask, continue a dispute in civil court, where they are suing each other.
Now, lawyers suing each other sound hilarious!
Anyway, Chornoby is also subject to a law society disciplinary hearing in March in relation to the same matter, According to the law society's website, Chornoby allegedly took payment from a client but didn't remit it to the firm. Now, will a lawyer need a lawyer for this one? Only time will tell.
Well, she says the firm owed her the money, while Rask says it didn't, her lawyer, Morris Bodnar, said Tuesday. Well, it looks like a lawyer needs a lawyer in this case. Isn't it funny when lawyers need lawyers?
Individuals who have not filed returns for previous years, or who have not reported all of their income, can voluntarily correct their tax affairs. They will not be penalized or prosecuted if they make a full disclosure before the agency starts any action or investigation against them. These individuals may only have to pay the taxes owing, plus interest. More information on the voluntary disclosures program can be found on the CRA's website, located at www.cra.gc.ca/voluntarydisclosures.
The Lancet, which is a medical journal, decided to formally retract a paper on Tuesday that caused a 12-year international battle over links between the three-in-one childhood MMR vaccine and autism.
The paper, which was published in 1998 and written by British doctor Andrew Wakefield, suggested the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot might be linked to autism and bowel disease.
His assertion, which has since been widely discredited, caused one of the biggest medical rows in a generation and led to a steep drop in the number of vaccinations in the United States, Britain and other parts of Europe, prompting a rise in cases of measles.
"It has become clear that several elements of the 1998 paper by Wakefield... are incorrect," the internationally renowned scientific journal said in a statement.
Canadian gasoline prices fell over the last week, and nowhere more than Saskatoon, says a report issued Tuesday by petroleum consulting firm MJ Ervin & Associates.
But prices in Saskatoon, and across Canada, are staying stubbornly close to an average near $1 a litre, as they have since last spring.
MJ Ervin's weekly report said the average Canadian gas price was 98.7 cents a litre, down 1.1 cents from a week earlier.
A year ago, the average price of gasoline was about 85 cents a litre. At that time, crude oil was going for $40 US a barrel. It has since risen to the mid-$70 US range.
Saskatoon and Quebec City were tied for the biggest weekly decline of four cents a litre, which put their average rates at 96.9 cents and $1.024, respectively. The highest price among the 60 local markets surveyed was in Yellowknife at $1.186 a litre, unchanged from last week. The previous week's most expensive market, Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador, was second highest after its average price fell 2.2 cents to $1.181 a litre.
The cheapest gasoline among the communities profiled was in Edmonton at 87.8 cents a litre, down 1.1 cents from a week earlier. The biggest gain over the week was in Kingston, Ontario, where the average price increased by three cents to 93.8 cents a litre.
Looking at other major markets across the country: Victoria's average gas price was even at 97.9 cents a litre; Vancouver was down 0.3 cent to $1.086; Calgary was down 1.4 cents to 88.8 cents; Regina was down 2.4 cents to 96.9 cents; Winnipeg was down 0.3 cent to 98.7 cents; Toronto was down 1.7 cents to 96.1 cents; Ottawa was down 1.4 cents to 92.7 cents; Windsor, Ontario, was up 0.1 cent to 90.2 cents; and the average price of gasoline in Montreal increased 0.2 cent to $1.036 a litre.
On January 28, in a security filing, video rental chain Blockbuster Inc. said that the company's director Carl Icahn has announced his intention to resign from the company's board. Is it true? Man, that guy seemed like a real troublemaker. Remember his public conflicts with John Antioco?
Icahn reportedly said in a letter to Blockbuster CEO James Keyes that he was resigning because of Institutional Shareholder Services guidelines regarding the number of directorships a person can hold.
In May of 2005, at the company's Annual Meeting of Stockholders Carl Icahn, Edward Bleier and Strauss Zelnick, a dissident group of nominees up for election to the Blockbuster Board of Directors, won election as Class III directors with terms expiring in 2007. They replaced incumbent Blockbuster Directors Linda Griego, Peter A. Bassi and Chairman John Antioco.
Currently, Icahn is reported to own about 16.9% of Blockbuster's Class A shares and about 7.7% of its Class B shares. Icahn has seen the value of his stake falling drastically over the years. Blockbuster's stock was worth just under $10 when the advocate investor started building his stake and is now trading around 45 cents, reports noted.
On January 20, Blockbuster said it now expects GAAP net loss for 2009 to be in the range of $183 million to $193 million, excluding any impairment of goodwill and other long-lived assets. The company said its expectation for fiscal 2009 results were based on current information related to lower than expected results for the fourth quarter, particularly the 2009 holiday season.
BBI shares increased $0.03 or 6.67% and closed Monday's regular trading at $0.48. After hours, BBI shares declined $0.02 or 4.17% and traded at $0.46. The stock has traded between $0.13 and $1.56 during the past year.
A nine-year-old girl from China gave birth to a baby boy last week, becoming one of the world's youngest mothers, according to Chinese media. That's twisted...
The Chinese newspaper City Evening News reported that the mother, who was eight and a half months pregnant, gave birth via caesarean section on January 27 to the six-pound boy at a hospital in Changchun, a city in the northern Chinese province of Jilin. The report said the girl's family, from the nearby city of Songyuan, had contacted police, who are trying to ascertain who the father might be.
The youngest mother on record was Lina Medina of Peru, who was just five years old when she gave birth to her son, Gerardo, in 1939. Four other cases from around the world of nine-year-old mothers and one of an eight-year-old giving birth have been reported in the last decade.
Think that muffin labelled as low-fat won't get to your ass? Well, think again! Muffins billed as low-fat at your favourite coffee shop may not be so free of fat. And that low-fat sandwich or pizza slice on the menu of your fast-food joint may not be as "lean" as advertised.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency found that fat claims were often exaggerated when chain restaurants provided nutrition information to their customers. That's a shame. The agency launched its menu verification program at coffee shops and quick-service restaurants after many of the big chains began to make fat-related claims and to provide nutrition numbers for their standard menu items, usually on their websites or in brochures.
The government tests, drawn from samples from across the country and conducted over the last two years, found only six of 11 baked goods labelled to be either low in fat or trans-fat free lived up to their billing. The tests involved muffins, doughnuts, bagels and cookies. Twenty-eight samples of sandwiches, pizzas, burgers or fries labelled as low in fat or free of trans-fats were tested, and the claim held up in 18 cases. Of the 10 with bogus fat-related claims, the inaccuracies were "in large part" due to saturated fat levels, according to CFIA.
Grace Ramos, chief of compliance in CFIA's labelling and fraud branch, said the results for the fat claims were of concern.
"The purchasing decision of consumers will be based on the signage that they see. That's why we are looking at the way advertisements are being made -- because people buy based on what they perceive as healthy for them, so low fat or reduced fat is something that consumers will look for," Ramos said in an interview.
The good news for consumers is the compliance rate was much higher when the agency checked calorie counts and other nutritional facts, such as the number of grams of fat or sugar in a menu item; variances of up to 20% on declared values are allowed to account for the inherent variability of nutrients in foods and the variability of laboratory methods. Fifteen out of nineteen baked goods tested for nutritional information were compliant.
Meanwhile, the calorie count held up in 13 of 15 samples listing the number of calories in main dishes, such as a burger, pizza slice, submarine sandwich or wrap. Nine out of ten samples tested for sodium levels also were accurate.
"One of our major focus of this project is to make sure that all the declaration in the menus and the nutrition information specifically for these products are accurate and truthful and not misleading," said Ramos.
CFIA refused to provide a list of chain restaurants included in its survey or reveal which items failed to live up to their fat claims. According to minutes of an internal meeting about the project released under Access to Information regulations, in the case of "unsatisfactory lab results," CFIA officials planned to conduct follow-up inspections with companies "to ask for the basis for the nutrition information they provide consumers, what kind of quality assurance procedures are taken to ensure they are within declared values, and if they conduct tests to verify accuracy of the information."
Without providing any specifics, Ramos said, "in most instances, they will correct or remove their signage."
Public-health advocate Bill Jeffrey said it's good to see CFIA is testing claims made by restaurants trying to cash in on health-conscious customers.
"If they're providing nutrition information in brochures, it becomes an advertisement and it becomes information that's subject to verification. So the food inspection agency should be checking out those numbers. People just need numbers that they can count on," said Jeffrey, the Canadian director of the Centre for Science in the Public Interest.
In the next round of testing, scheduled for later this year, CFIA will focus on net quantity, method of production and type of cut. For example, if the restaurant promotes a fish dish as Pacific Salmon, it can't be Atlantic. And if the menu says the item is a six-ounce grade A Alberta beef, it can't be five-ounce beef from Ontario. The newly released test results come as mandatory menu labelling continues to gain steam in North America as part of an effort to reduce obesity.
In the United States, some of the country's larger cities have passed menu-labelling laws, including New York City, Seattle and Philadelphia. The state of California also requires menu labelling and the U.S. health bill currently before Congress would take the California initiative national. Lawmakers say consumers make smarter choices when they know at the point of sale the nutrition facts for snacks and meals.
In Canada, if a private member's bill sponsored by an NDP member of the Ontario legislature passes, fast-food restaurants in that province will be required to limit trans fats and to provide nutrition labels on menus. A similar federal bill drafted by a Liberal MP in Ottawa was voted down in 2007.
U.S. housing prices are headed for a double-dip decline, which will hurt related companies that have already assumed there will be a recovery in the sector, CIBC has warned.
"Many companies will be affected," said economist Benjamin Tal, who declined to mention specific names, but argued sectors from forestry to banking could be dragged into the downturn.
The reason, he said, is that any current stabilization in U.S. housing is more a function of a badly damaged market and the distorting affect of temporary tax incentives than evidence of a sustainable rebound.
"We anticipate further weakness ahead as supply continues to outpace demand, mortgage rates head higher and the government's generous homebuyers' tax credit finally expires," Tal said.
The "shadow inventory" of housing is what worries Tal most, and has him calling for another decline in prices of five to 10% over the next two years.
While conventional inventories are trending lower, there are close to two million mortgages that are more than 90 days delinquent, nearly half of which will end up in foreclosure. Add another 2.3 million properties that are already in foreclosure to existing properties on the market, and there will be inventory totalling more than eight million units, a record high 16 months of supply.
Even more staggering is the fact that 10 million households now find themselves in a "negative home equity" position of worse than minus 20%. In other words, many people's homes are worth at least one-fifth less than they paid for them during the subprime-led housing bubble. Considering the ease with which U.S. homeowners can walk away from their mortgages, "strategic defaults," or failing to pay when one could, are a very real option, Tal said.
"In six months from now nobody will be asking what a strategic default is. Everyone will know."
With 24 million Americans now out of work or underemployed, "it's crazy to call for a recovery in the housing market in this kind of environment," Tal said.
"Our advice would be to be defensive at the moment. I would definitely go with defensive big names that pay dividends. Anything that is related to the housing market directly or indirectly will disappoint in the second half of this year."
Despite a chorus of concern that a federal budget balance can't be achieved without tax hikes, private-sector economists said yesterday that the Government of Canada's fiscal plan is workable, as long as policy-makers live up to their pledge to restrain spending growth.
After a meeting with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in Ottawa as part of pre-budget consultations, analysts said that the Government of Canada might have to wait an extra year or two before the country returns to surplus, as uncertainty remains over the pace of growth once stimulus measures from around the world are removed.
But a budget balance is doable, a number of them added, and might not require the "draconian" measures, such as tax hikes, that some have feared.
"I would put a very low priority on tax increases," said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, after the meeting ended. "I think that should be almost a desperation move."
The outlook from economists led Flaherty to bump the government's forecast for economic growth this year to 2.6% from the previous expectation of 2.3%. That's still below the Bank of Canada's projection for expansion of 2.9% this year. This comes on the heels of GDP data released Friday that indicated growth last November surpassed market expectations, putting Canada on pace to record expansion of roughly 4% for the final three months of 2009.
More importantly, the revised federal outlook includes a significant jump this year in nominal GDP levels, which is key as this is the base from which government taxes. The higher the nominal GDP level, the more revenue the government can collect. The government now anticipates a 4.9% increase in nominal GDP in 2010, compared to the previous expectation of a 4.1% jump.
"Once you get a good initial year (on nominal GDP), you can build upon that," said Glen Hodgson, vice-president and chief economist at the Conference Board of Canada. "As long as spending is kept under control over the three- to five-year period, we think fiscal balance is achievable."
Mr. Flaherty has pledged to return to budget balance without raising taxes or cutting transfers to the provinces or individuals. He plans to target roughly $100 billion in program spending, which has increased at an average annual pace of 8% since the Conservative Party of Canada formed the government in early 2006.
Stefane Marion, chief economist at National Bank Financial, said Canadian efforts to return to surplus would be less daunting than those faced by other industrialized countries. Canada's deficit this fiscal year is expected to be roughly $56 billion, or 3.8% of GDP, while the United States is looking at a $1.5-trillion US shortfall for 2010-11, or 10.6% of GDP.
He also added that the government should demonstrate caution before embarking on spending cuts, and might want to look at a five-to-eight year timeframe.
"There is tremendous uncertainty going two to three years down the road as there are some structural changes that will happen in the global economy in the aftermath of the global credit crisis," he said. "In the Canadian context, we have to be careful not to be overly aggressive."
The Government of Canada has said the deficit will shrink from $56 billion this fiscal year to about $5 billion by 2015. In announcing its pre-budget consultations last December, the Department of Finance said it wanted to hear from Canadians as to what time period should the government bring the budget back to balance.
"The first thing to do is make sure the economy recovers -- that's absolutely imperative," Flaherty told reporters in outlining his priorities for the March 4 budget.
Supporters and critics of Canada's healthcare system have found themselves in a new debate sparked by the decision of a provincial premier to seek heart surgery down in the United States. The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador said yesterday that Premier Danny Williams would be absent for a few weeks after his doctors recommended that he travel to the United States for a heart procedure.
As ultra-conservative weirdoes in the United States quickly pounced on the news, suggesting it proved that U.S. President Barack Obama's proposed health insurance reforms wouldn't work, some Canadian analysts agreed that it highlighted the weaknesses of Canada's health-care network.
"Think about the absurdity about Canadians spending their income on medical treatment outside the country because it's not provided here at home," said Brett Skinner, president of the Fraser Institute, the Vancouver-based free-market think-tank.
Newfoundland and Labrador Deputy Premier Kathy Dunderdale told reporters that Williams' doctors recommended he seek treatment in the United States after weeks of consultations, but did not give details about his condition or the procedure he would undergo. However, medical advocates said cases such as Williams or the late former Quebec premier Robert Bourassa, who sought cancer treatment in the United States, represent only a tiny fraction of all Canadian patients who receive medical care.
"I think it is really premature and unfortunate for any group or individual to interpret the fact that he's having something done outside the country as a judgment on the Canadian health-care system when we don't know what he's having done or his reasons for going south," said Dr. Danielle Martin, a family doctor and board member of Canadian Doctors for Medicare, in an interview.
But Skinner, who has a PhD in political science and public policy, said that Williams is just one among thousands of Canadians who seek healthcare services every year down south because of long waiting lists and poor access here.
"It's not like we lack the medical knowledge and technology and science to provide these things -- we just don't have a system that allows our providers to meet market demands. Our ban on private finance and our ban on competitive for-profit delivery of publicly funded goods and services is a huge barrier to doing those things, to providing for the needs of Canadian patients."
A recent analysis by the Fraser Institute estimated 41,000 Canadians were forced to seek healthcare services for non-emergency treatments in 2009. But, some say that those figures are misleading, arguing many can get reimbursed by the Canadian system while the vast majority of patients get the services they need at home.
Maude Barlow, national chair of the Council of Canadians, a social democratic advocacy group, noted that members of her own family have recently undergone heart surgery and cancer treatments in Canada and received the best services available.
"The Fraser Institute consistently fails to remember that close to 50 million Americans have no access to healthcare at all," she said. "You get sick, you lose your job, you lose your healthcare, you lose your house. Half the bankruptcies in the United States are because people cannot pay their medical bills."
Michael Jackson's doctor may surrender to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) tomorrow to face a charge in connection with Michael Jackson's death.
Celebrity gossip website TMZ reports that Dr. Conrad Murray will be charged with involuntary manslaughter and prosecutors will file a criminal complaint against Dr. Conrad Murray in court, rather than go through a secret grand jury.
Mr. Jackson died from an anaesthetic overdose on June 25, 2009 at the age of 50. The death was ruled a homicide, which was mainly caused by an anaesthetic. Dr. Murray has always maintained that he did not prescribe or administer anything that killed Jackson.
CNN's Ted Rowlands said that Dr. Conrad Murray is expected to be charged in connection with Mr. Jackson's death this week.
"Murray flew from Houston to Los Angeles over the weekend, anticipating the charges coming. His lawyers are also in Los Angeles. Now it's just a question of how and where they will take him in to custody," said Rowlands.
If Dr. Conrad Murray is charged, he would face a hearing at which the judge would consider the evidence and decide if he should go on trial.
Man, Toyota's misfortunes won't seem to disappear these days. First, there is a lawsuit for those who were apparently "inconvenienced." Then, another lawsuit by a bunch of people who want their resale value back (these people are pathetic). And now, there are complaints about brake problems with the company's 2010 Prius hybrid.
In the United States, more than 100 complaints alleging poor brake performance have been lodged with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration against the 2010 Prius, which is a newly-designed version of the car that was introduced last summer.
In Japan, 14 complaints about brakes in the Prius have been lodged since July. Japan's Transportation Ministry has asked Toyota to investigate brake malfunction complaints in Japan on the Prius, according to the Japan Automobile Dealers Association.
"The complaints received via our dealers center around when drivers are on a bumpy road or frozen surface," Paul Nolasco, a Toyota Motor Corp. spokesman in Japan, said. "The driver steps on the brake and they do not get as full of a braking feel as expected."
A search of NHTSA's complaint database turned up many similar-sounding complaints in the United State.
"I have been driving my 2010 Prius for 6 months and have experienced the following nearly 10 times," wrote one owner, "When braking, if a pothole or bump in the road is hit, the car seemingly jerks forward/accelerates for a split second."
The Prius is Toyota's third best-selling model in the United States, ranking behind only the Camry midsized sedan and the Corolla compact car. Toyota's public image and its sales, have been hit by recent recalls involving unintended acceleration.
Toyota recalled 2.3 million vehicles on January 21 due to problems with sticking gas pedals and later halted the sale of the eight models involved in the recall. Toyota's U.S. sales decreased by 16% in January as a result, even as sales of other automakers increased. About 4.2 million vehicles were recalled in November for a problem in which the cars' gas pedals could get stuck in some floor mats. The last-generation version of the Prius was included in that recall, which was expanded to include another 1.1 million last week.
Brakes in hybrid cars like the Prius operate differently from brakes in most cars. In addition to standard brakes, which use friction from pads pressed against drums or rotors, hybrid cars use their electric motors to help slow the car, which is a process that generates electricity to recharge the batteries in the vehicle.
Start-up cell phone company DAVE Wireless Inc. Yesterday introduced the consumer brand name it will use once its network is complete and can begin offering services.
John Bitove, the chairman for Data & Audio Visual Enterprises Wireless Inc., introduced Mobilicity and said that wireless users in Toronto can expect a launch this spring.
"There's three words [in the brand name], mobile, simplicity and city-based services," he said in an interview. "It's an everyday value offer for everyday Canadians."
After Toronto, Mobilicity will launch in other major cities, such as Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa later this year, he said. The new carrier paid $243-million during the Government of Canada's wireless spectrum auction in 2008 for airwave licences that allow it to operate in 10 of Canada's 13 biggest markets.
"We're looking for customers that live, work and play in the communities that we have networks," added Dave Dobbin, the fledging carrier's chief executive.
He said that there was room to grow in each market that Mobilicity will operate in, despite the fact that seven in 10 Canadians already own a cell phone or smart-phone.
"Thirty percent of customers don't have mobile phones today so our customers will come from there. Only 8% of Canadians have replaced their landline phones [with wireless], so our customers will come from there," he said.
He also said that Mobilicity will target customers dissatisfied with their service from the current three companies that dominate the market.
"We will get customers from that segment as well," he said.
Mobilicity will compete against Canada's three major cell phone firms in Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc. and TELUS Corp. alongside rival start-up WIND Mobile, which launched in Calgary and Toronto in December and plans to have services Ottawa and Edmonton as soon as this month. Rogers, TELUS and BCE are preparing to report their financial performances for the final quarter of fiscal 2009 in the coming two weeks beginning Thursday when BCE reports.
Despite some pressure from WIND and increasing competition among themselves, analysts expect each company to continue adding wireless subscribers without any significant pressure on profit margins yet. However, that may change through fiscal 2010 as more new entrants arrive, including regional cable TV players Shaw Communications Inc. in Calgary and Videotron Ltee. over in Quebec.
The host of new players, including Mobilicity, are not expected to wage risky price wars with the incumbents, instead offer more services like mobile Internets for less money, which could erode earnings at the major carriers if they are forced to match it in an effort to guard market share. Although Mr. Dobbin was mum on pricing, he said Mobilicity would attempt to attract subscribers through value-added services as opposed to aggressive price cuts. "Our strategy is not to attack the incumbents," he said.
It is expected though that Mobilicity will follow a strategy pursued by WIND of offering wireless devices from traditional voice-and-text cell phones to smart-phones such as the BlackBerry at lower costs and with no contracts. WIND, the only new operator in the market, offers cell phones and smart-phones as well as data sticks that plug into laptops and allow users to access the Internets through its wireless network. Its pricing model offers "unlimited" voice and mobile access to Internets for flat rates that are cheaper than what the incumbents charge.
Yet, with 10,000 subscribers, the demands on WIND's network are relatively mild compared with its larger rivals. Once it fills up, analysts suggest WIND could be hard-pressed to cope with network congestion if it continues offer unlimited data.
Mr. Bitove said Tuesday that Mobilicity is "fully funded" to build an advanced 3G network in each of the five markets it will introduce services in this year.
Ah yes... the competition in Canadian wireless markets are finally starting to heat up, and it's going to be an interesting war.
If Saskatchewan's favourite fur-covered weather forecaster is to be believed, Saskatchewan is in for another six weeks of winter weather. That absolutely sucks.
Watson Willow came out of her stack of hay bales on Tuesday morning and then promptly headed back inside, said owner Brian Lindsay. The groundhog has accurately predicted six more weeks since she was brought to Saskatchewan in 2006.
"It's a pretty safe bet," Lindsay said, admitting in Saskatchewan that the groundhog's predictions could have more to do with the frigid temperatures outdoors.
"They hibernate, so when they come back up and it's too cold, then they go back," Lindsay said.
Willow's predictions were reinforced by the predictions of Wiarton Willie in Ontario, Shubenacadie Sam in Nova Scotia and Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil. Though thousands of people converge in Puxsutawney to watch the world-famous rodent make his prediction each year, the Watson celebration is a bit more downplayed. Last year, Lindsay's wife, Tracey, checked on Willow and recorded her predictions. Unfortunately, Tracey died on January 12 after a long fight with cancer, and did not make it.
Although Lindsay is planning to downsize the private zoo that his wife created, he's thinking of keeping Willow around. Well, that's a great way of keeping her memory alive.
"There's just something about her," Lindsay said. "She's real friendly, too."
In the summer, the family lets Willow run around outside her cage, and she can even be picked up on occasion.
"She isn't a cuddly thing, but something different."
As legend goes, if the groundhog emerges from its den and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If it stays outside, then spring is on its way.
"I think it's just all a myth," said Lindsay.
Watson is located 150 kilometres east of Saskatoon.
Up until yesterday, Saskatchewan's major municipalities went to the polls to elect a new city council every three years, or in some cases, re-elect the exact same city council, which occurred in Saskatoon in 2009.
Well, those three years has now been changed to four years. As of yesterday, mayors, councillors and school board officials will serve four-year terms, starting with the next round of municipal elections in 2012.
However, the longer term lengths won't apply to rural municipalities, where reeves and council members are elected to two-year terms in office.
The Government of Saskatchewan's Municipal Affairs Minister Jeremy Harrison made the announcement Tuesday at the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association annual convention in Regina, saying a move to four-year terms was requested by several communities.
The change was welcomed by Regina Mayor Pat Fiacco and Saskatoon Mayor Donald Atchison, who had both been calling for four-year terms.
The legislative amendments to allow for the longer terms will be introduced later this year.
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams, who occasionally stands up to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and once launched an "Anything But Conservative" campaign in that province, will undergo heart surgery later this week in the United States.
Deputy Premier Kathy Dunderdale confirmed the treatment at a news conference Tuesday, but would not reveal the location of the operation or how it would be paid for.
"He has gone to a renowned expert in the procedure that he needs to have done," said Dunderdale, who will become acting premier while Williams is away for three to twelve weeks. "In consultation with his own doctors, he's decided to go that route."
Williams' decision to leave Canada for the surgery has raised eyebrows over his apparent shunning of Canada's health-care system.
"It was never an option offered to him to have this procedure done in this province," said Dunderdale, refusing to answer whether the procedure could be done elsewhere in Canada.
Williams, 60, has said nothing of his health in the media.
"The premier has made a commitment that once he's through this procedure and he's well enough, he's going to talk about the whole process and share as much detail with you as he's comfortable to do at that time," she said.
Dunderdale wouldn't say where in the U.S. Williams is seeking treatment.
A popular Progressive Conservative premier, Williams has also seen his share of controversy. During the 2008 federal election, Williams vigourously opposed the Conservative government, launching his "Anything But Conservative," which has been credited with keeping the Conservatives from winning any seats in the province. He has also drawn criticism for his support of the seal hunt.
North America's furry forecasters are making mainly frosty predictions. Thousands of people gathered today to watch as Punxsutawney Phil emerged to make his yearly Groundhog Day prediction in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
"As the sky shines bright above me, my shadow I see beside me, six more weeks of winter it will be," announced his handlers, dampening the hopes of an early spring. Man, that just sucks.
Canada's most famous groundhog, Wiarton Willie, was also spooked by his shadow Tuesday morning as he emerged from his Bruce County, Ontario burrow. And Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Sam also concurred. Sam, who calls Shubenacadie Provincial Wildlife Park home, was the first of the furry forecasters Tuesday to weigh in on the weather.
Six more weeks of winter would be great news for snow-starved Vancouver Olympic organizers who have been crossing their fingers for some of the white stuff. However, Alberta's Balzac Billy had another idea in mind. The mammal meteorologist predicted an early spring, contradicting his eastern-Canadian colleagues.
All the animals so far seem to be in line with Environment Canada's forecasters. The federal meteorologists are predicting colder than normal temperatures in the east, but warmer temperatures in the west.
Legend has it that if a groundhog emerging on Groundhog Day does not see its shadow, it will leave the burrow, a symbol that winter will soon end. However, if the groundhog sees its shadow, it will retreat into its burrow, meaning winter will continue for six more weeks. The holiday began in the 18th and 19th centuries, has its origins in ancient European weather lore.
In 2009, the groundhogs came to a clear consensus that winter would stretch six more weeks. In 2008, however, the animals were splintered over whether the weather would warm or stay chilly.
Combating a proliferation of knife crimes would be easier if the Government of Saskatchewan drafts legislation that edges Saskatchewan closer to a province-wide knife ban, says Saskatoon Police Chief Clive Weighill.
In meetings with provincial Justice Ministry officials about new legislation, Weighill argued for a provision that would allow police to seize a knife... or a sword or a machete, even if it hasn't been used in a crime or there's no discernible intention to commit an offence.
"People can walk around Spadina (Crescent) carrying a machete and an officer can't do anything about it unless someone walks up and threatens someone," said Weighill.
Cops want the power to seize that weapon before a crime, such as a threat or an assault, is committed. Because some people use knives legitimately, police would decide when a knife is a threat.
"I know it's controversial, but the flip side is more weapons on the streets," said Weighill. "If you see three known gang members walking down the street brandishing machetes, that would pique an officer's interest."
New anti-knife laws could give cops more power to prevent crimes involving bladed weapons, but some criminal law experts say anti-knife laws that give police more discretionary power are redundant and could lead to racial profiling.
From January to October 2009, the Saskatoon Police Service documented 299 incidents involving knives, such as assaults, attempted murders and robberies. Regina and Prince Albert law enforcement reported 238 and 75 incidents in the same period, respectively.
But those are only reported incidents, cautioned Weighill. "I couldn't even hazard a guess of what hasn't been reported," he said.
"We know these weapons are increasingly used for intimidation."
Cops say that bladed weapons, from kitchen knives to swords and machetes, are becoming more common on the streets. Violence and gang activity are a fact of life for some people and carrying a blade, more accessible than a gun and easy to conceal, gives a person a sense of safety, said Weighill.
In the spring, Saskatchewan Justice Minister Don Morgan revealed that the Government of Saskatchewan was considering legislation that could include knife bans in publics spaces, age restrictions on knife sales and new "tools" for police to combat what law enforcement officials call an upsurge of violent knife use on Saskatoon streets. However, new legislation has not been proposed. Although he hasn't read a draft of the legislation, Weighill has talked with government officials about the proposals and described some of the legislation's possibilities.
"I'm very happy with the amount of work put into this," said Weighill. "This is a progressive piece of legislation. In the legislation is a ban on the unlawful use of body armour."
But, the power to seize a knife not used in a crime is the most important change, said Weighill.
"On reasonable or probable grounds, if a police officer believes someone is carrying a bladed weapon that could be used dangerously, the officer could seize that weapon," said Weighill. "That allows us to diffuse a situation before it even gets started rather than coming after the fact when someone gets stabbed. It allows us to be very proactive."
The new law wouldn't affect recreational use of knives, said Weighill. Wait... so you can use knives recreationally? How is that possible?! Does this mean that plastic or rubber knives would be confiscated in public too unless you can prove to them that you were just playing "cops and robbers?"
"This is aimed at street weapons and people carrying weapons for the use of violence or intimidation," he said.
Weighill recounted an incident from 2009 when police were tipped off about a gang hit. The tip included the target and the people who would do the hit. When the hit was supposed to happen, officers stopped the vehicle they believed carried the suspects.
"The vehicle was full of knives and machetes in the back seat," said Weighill. "If it had been guns, we could've seized those. But in that case, we had no rights to do anything. And you know what those weapons were for, because we had the information the hit was going to occur."
But with no crime committed, officers couldn't seize the weapons or make arrests, said Weighill.
"All you can do is take down their names, see where they're going and check the driver for wants or warrants," the police chief said. "If the knives aren't concealed, there's no ban for those to be in the car."
Concealed weapons are illegal in Canada, and so is possession of dangerous weapons. The Criminal Code includes a large list of prohibited weapons, including sharp-edged throwing stars and the medieval mace, but not common knives.
A concealed weapon is illegal, but the law is ineffective when even a fraction of the weapon is showing, said Weighill.
"We're trying to stop people before any of those Criminal Code infractions occur," he said.
Councillor Myles Heidt had proposed a knife ban in 2006, leading to a city report that was ultimately referred to city subcommittees. In 2005, there were 401 incidents involving a knife or "other piercing instrument," said a Saskatoon Police Service report.
Federally and provincially, many politicians are eager to support tough-on-crime laws, but crime statistics show public fear of violence is a misperception, said Roe.
Statistics Canada reported in July 2009 that the country-wide crime rate has been steadily dropping since 1998. Rates have declined in Saskatoon, but the city remains well above the national average rate of severe crime reported to police.
"Hold it, boys -- the crime rate is dropping, like it or not," said Bill Roe, a criminal defence lawyer in Saskatoon. "Admittedly, there are stabbings in Saskatoon, but will the passage of a law by the provincial government change anything?"
New legislation doesn't have to create a new offence, but could still allow police to combat knife crimes, said Glen Luther, a University of Saskatchewan law professor specializing in criminal law, evidence and procedure.
"It's possible the province could create that power, to confiscate a knife in certain circumstances without creating an offence," said Luther. "If all (the province is) doing is trying to prohibit certain weapons, it seems to me that's not in their jurisdiction. But if they want to regulate licensed premises or carrying knives in public, maybe they could do it."
If civic and provincial governments are concerned about the proliferation of knives, they should lobby the Government of Canada for changes to the Criminal Code, which deals with these issues, added Luther.
"If police know there is an intention to use a knife for a criminal purpose, it seems to me they're totally within their rights to seize it," said Luther.
Legislation that broadly defines the powers of officers for determining who is and is not committing a crime, or who will be committing a crime in the future, could lead to racial profiling, he said.
"We prohibit something in a broad way and then we say the police will only charge the people that we actually think are doing something wrong, in other words give them the discretion to decide what's actually illegal," said Luther. "It's most likely the aboriginal kid who's not allowed to carry a jack knife. If that's what we intend, then that's absurd. What if we passed a law that said no aboriginal person shall carry a knife?"
Creating another offence to combat knives on the street is simply ignoring far more complex issues, said Luther.
"The roots of those issues surrounding why kids carry knives surely go much deeper," he said. "No doubt these are grounded in poverty and lack of education and so on. The province might be better off focusing on those issues."
Watson Willow is 3-for-3 in weather predications, according to the groundhog's owner, Brian Lindsay.
Today is Groundhog Day, when Watson Willow is the centre of attention in the Lindsay household, but the family will mark the occasion in a more sombre mood. Tracey Lindsay, the woman who brought the 31/2-year-old groundhog to Watson, Saskatchewan, which is a small community 150 kilometres east of Saskatoon, and dutifully recorded the Groundhog Day predictions, unfortunately died on January 12 after a long fight with cancer. She was 51. That is truly a young age, and my mom is not much older
"Tracy had a lot of fun with Groundhog Day," said her husband, Brian. "It was a joy for her."
Since February 2007, Tracey visited Willow in Willow's backyard pen and recorded the groundhog's weather prediction, which was broadcast over local radio and printed in The StarPhoenix. Today, Brian Lindsay will wake up and visit Willow as the sun rises sometime after 8:30 a.m., mark the prediction and then, like any other day, get in his truck and leave for work.
If Willow sees her shadow and heads back inside her stack of hay bales, that means it's going to be six more weeks of winter. If Willow remains outside her home ignoring her shadow, we should expect an early spring. Well, I'm seriously hoping for an early spring.
"I think she'll see her shadow," said Lindsay, after making a prediction. "It'll be another six weeks of winter. It's a sure bet."
No matter the prognostication, count on Willow's accuracy.
"She's been perfect," said Lindsay. "That's what Tracey used to say -- that women were always right."
Tracey brought Willow from Indiana to Watson in June of 2006. The groundhog is native to North America but is more often referred to as a woodchuck in Canada. Willow was added to Tracey's It's a Zoo, a privately run zoo that, in span of 10 years, turned from hobby to full-time job.
Since 1999, Tracey housed such animals as an emu, a moose, an alpaca, horses and donkeys. A full-time bank employee, Tracey cut down on her work hours to spend more time with the zoo when she was diagnosed with cancer about a year ago.
"She battled (illness) for a year without knowing she had cancer and then she lasted another year when she knew," said Lindsay.
Without Tracey, the family will curtail the zoo's operation, he added.
"We're not shutting down, but we'll have to cut down."
The zoo became a popular attraction in Watson.
"So many kids remember visiting the zoo and always will," said Lindsay.
If you have driven around Saskatoon, you'll notice that a lot of people like to think they are cool by speeding. And some of those cool people end up being ticketed.
This past weekend, traffic officers handed out almost 150 speeding tickets.
In one case, the Saskatoon Police Service's air support unit caught a driver travelling at 160 km/h in a 90 km/h zone on Highway 16, just west of Saskatoon. Another motorist on Circle Drive was ticket for driving 141 km/h.
Cops also responded to 25 collisions over the weekend.
Canada gets a D in innovation, according to a report card issued today, ranking the country 14th among 17 industrialized nations for its ability to turn knowledge into money-making products and services. In a report from the Conference Board of Canada, this country ranked ahead only of Australia, Italy and Norway for innovation. So, it appears that the Conference Board likes to put down Canada, just like Dwain Lingenfelter putting down Saskatchewan.
Switzerland, Ireland and the United States supposedly topped the list.
"Canada is well-supplied with educational institutions and carries out scientific research that is well-respected around the world," said Gilles Rheaume, the Conference Board's vice-president of public policy.
"But with a few exceptions, Canada does not successfully commercialize its scientific and technological discoveries into world-leading products and services," he said.
Out of the 12 indicators used to compile these rankings, Canada was given a D in nine categories, two Cs and one B. Its highest grade was given for the number of scientific articles published relative to the population. Canada was eighth in that category. Canada was ranked particularly poorly in the area of international trademarks per capita, finishing ahead only of Japan.
As well, it was dead last in the technology-exchange category, which measures "the flow of technological know-how and technological services into and out of a country as a share of GDP." Denmark and the Netherlands, which were part of the overall study, were not graded in this category due to a lack of recent data.
Canada was noted for having much of its economy based on the trade of commodities, with little value added before export. "Canada sells raw materials to be processed elsewhere," the report said. The Conference Board said countries scoring higher than Canada in innovation spend more on science and technology, and also have public policies that drive innovation supply and demand.
It also noted the most innovative countries tend to be leaders in one or more areas. It cited Switzerland's dominant position in the development of pharmaceuticals, Ireland's leadership in making technology a bigger part of its economy, and the U.S. for having top science and engineering facilities along with large capital markets.
The board said Canada was once at the leading edge of biotechnology but has fallen behind due to a complicated and slow regulatory process, and a reluctance of domestic companies to buy products developed in their home country.
The bio-fuels sector, however, was singled out as an industry Canada could take a leadership role in due to its "relative success story with respect to the interplay between innovation and regulation" and "leading-edge research and technology demonstration." To build on this position, the board recommended regular reviews of renewable-fuel standards, harmonized regulations on such products between provinces, and resolving the conflict that exists between supporting the bio-fuels industry and "imposing stringent regulatory requirements."
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is accusing Prime Minister Stephen Harper of trying to sneak through a new environmental policy, comparing the announcement Saturday afternoon by Environment Minister Jim Prentice to the New Year's Eve phone call that Mr. Harper made to the Governor General asking to prorogue Parliament.
"Let's notice when they did it," Mr. Ignatieff told reporters today, as he is in Ottawa supposedly working although Parliament is shut down. "It's Hockey Day in Canada. It's Saturday afternoon. It's like the prorogation of Parliament. They hope Canadians won't notice that basically they backed away from their own target."
Mr. Prentice announced new environmental targets, saying the government will reduce carbon emissions by 17% from 2005 levels. This is in line with the targets announced by the Obama administration in the United States. Previously, the Conservative government had planned to reduce emissions by 20% over 2006 levels.
Mr. Ignatieff said he can't keep track of the number of times the government has changed its plan nor can he count the number of Conservative environment ministers (three).
"They haven't been credible in 2006. They're not credible in 2010," he said.
Mr. Prentice's spokesman, Bill Rodgers, said today there was plenty of warning for the news conference as "every major media outlet managed to get there."
"It wasn't exactly under the cloak of darkness," he said, pointing out that the deadline for announcing targets to the United Nations as required by the Copenhagen accord was January 31, 2010.
Meanwhile, the Liberal leader, repeated what he has said before that the government should not wait for the Americans to act to set its own policy. He says he understands the necessity of a continental approach but argues Canada can lead the way.
"The last excuse they had, which is we'll just wait for Barack Obama to give us our climate change plan, has been blown apart by the Massachusetts election [where the long-time Democratic Senate seat went to a Republican]. It's obvious to anybody who looks at American politics that Mr. Obama's got other fish to fry."
Mr. Ignatieff, who proposes a cap-and-trade system, says that the government risks waiting yet another "couple of years" before the American president overcomes his political difficulties and settles on a plan.
Toyota owners are hitting the auto giant with class-action lawsuits in response to problems that relate to possible sticky accelerator pedals.
Legal firms have filed statements of claim in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Texas against the automaker, supplier CTS Corp. and affiliated firms regarding the problem.
In Ontario, a driver, Steven Hamilton filed a claim 'on behalf' of owners across Canada on Monday, alleging that the automaker and supplier "knew or ought to have known" of inherent design defects in the pedal system and its components in models as far back as 2001.
The claim, which has not been proven in court, seeks compensation for losses and injuries as a result of the purchase or use of numerous Toyota vehicles. Hamilton said he only bought a Toyota model a few weeks ago and wants a full refund.
"Having only purchased a brand new car a few weeks ago, I simply cannot believe that Toyota would have sold me this vehicle," he said. "I can't even resell my car now."
The Toronto law firm of Rochon Genova LLP, which is representing Hamilton and proposed class members in the lawsuit, said it is concerned that recent Toyota announcements don't appear to resolve the problem or the issue of "a lack of a failsafe" to permit drivers to regain control of their vehicles.
"The consequences of these design defects, including the lack of failsafes used by other auto manufacturers, have resulted in numerous reports throughout North America of uncontrollable unintended accelerations, including cases of collisions involving severe injuries and death to drivers and passengers of these vehicles," the firm said.
Stephen Beatty, managing director of Toyota Canada, said he could not comment on the claim because he had not seen it yet.
In Regina, another lawyer has filed claims in different provinces against Toyota alleging unintended acceleration in the company's models have caused accidents. Meanwhile, a class-action lawsuit in Texas claims a family was in an accident after an Avalon suddenly accelerated through a stop sign. The claim attributes the crash to a faulty electronic control system.
This lawsuit sounds like it is... stupid. Good luck to Toyota, and we hope that they win.
Two Saskatoon city councillors say that yesterday's announcement by Premier Brad Wall that cities will receive the same amount of revenue-sharing money as last year will put further strain on a difficult budget year.
"This will make us pull in our horns a bit and go through the books closely," said Councillor Myles Heidt. "Now to me, what we have to do is sit down and take a real hard look at what core services we're going to be providing or raise taxes significantly."
Saskatchewan's cities, towns and villages won't see additional revenue-sharing money in the budget this spring as the government grapples with an anticipated $1.8 billion shortfall in potash revenue, Mr. Wall told delegates gathered in Regina for the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association annual convention. Saskatoon was in line to receive $38 million from the province but now will get $29.2 million because of the freeze, the equivalent difference of a 7.5% tax hike.
Councillor Darren Hill said the announcement from the Government of Saskatchewan "wasn't a surprise, but it was still disappointing."
"That is going to make for some very tough decisions at operating budget time," Hill said. "I don't believe we will see any cuts of service, but we have to be reviewing efficiency in operations."
"I don't believe that there should be any consideration to cutting staff, but maybe re-evaluating what staff are doing and how they're doing it."
Councillor Hill said his goal is still for a tax hike to come in at the inflation rate of 2.9%. The City of Saskatoon needs to begin to generate revenue from facilities such as River Landing and the Shaw Centre to offset their annual costs, Hill said.
"There's no revenue to offset the operating," Hill said.
Heidt proposed putting away $5 million in one-time capital funding in December to set up a rainy-day contingency fund in case provincial revenue sharing was scaled back, a controversial idea among his council colleagues because operating and capital grants are seen as separate entities in government budgeting. The money was eventually funnelled into road paving projects.
"This large snowstorm hits and that $5 million would look pretty good right now," Heidt said. "These are the exact things that can happen."
Expanding core city operations to include curb-side blue box recycling would be difficult given budget pressures, Heidt said.
"You've got a challenge just to maintain what you've got in core services," Heidt said. "We're going to really have to buckle up and take a real hard look at the businesses we're in."
The uncertainty from the Government of Saskatchewan has led to a "difficult year" for the city's accounting staff, who have re-jigged the operating budget projections on several occasions, said city comptroller Kerry Tarasoff. In 2010, the Shaw Centre pool will add an extra $1 million to the operating budget, a new fire hall and salaries will add roughly 3%, the contracts of all civic unions are being renegotiated, money is being socked away for a new police station and Saskatoon continues to expand.
"Growth is a good problem, but it is a problem," Tarasoff said.
Under the Saskatchewan Party government's 2009-2010 budget, urban and rural municipalities received 90% of one point of the provincial sales tax (PST), which worked out to about $167 million.
The government also promised a new, permanent revenue-sharing formula would begin this spring, so communities would, on an annual basis, get the equivalent of a full one point of the PST. But Mr. Wall asked for patience from community leaders, pledging his Saskatchewan Party government will fully implement the planned new revenue-sharing agreement in 2011-2012.
"I want to be very direct and tell you that you should be planning for an equal amount of revenue sharing to what you got last year," Mr. Wall said.
Despite the news, SUMA delegates gave the premier a standing ovation, with the organization's president, Allan Earle, saying he's confident the government will fulfil its revenue-sharing promise in another year, especially since that will be the last budget before a provincial election.
"I am going to remain optimistic that that's the way things will play out," Earle told reporters. "I think if for some reason the premier were to come back a year from now and say, 'We're sorry but we're just not going to be able to do it,' we'd be extremely upset."
Microsoft Corp., the world's largest computer software company, has an important reminder for those of you using Windows 7 Release Candidate. If you were too cheap to buy the final release when it was released back in October, the operating system will begin to shut down every two hours until June 1, 2010.
After that, the wallpaper of the desktop will be removed and a "This copy of Windows in not genuine" message will appear on the lower right corner of the screen. The users will not be able to obtain updates that require genuine Windows validation.
The company had launched the release candidate in May of 2009 for an early pre-launch preview of the popular operating system, which has now emerged as the fasting selling operating system in history.
The lawyer behind a class-action lawsuit against Toyota Canada says that the recent recall over accelerator problems has hurt the resale value of the vehicles, and owners deserve to be compensated.
Saskatchewan lawyer Tony Merchant, who specializes in major class-action suits, told CTV's Canada AM that his case, which has not yet been approved by a court -- is two-fold. Yeah, let's just hope the case doesn't get approved at all. I'd love to see this case get thrown out of court.
First, he said, Toyota Canada has apparently failed to deal honestly and openly with Transport Canada and has played down the problem that he says dates back to the early 2000s. Secondly, he said, it hasn't yet been proven that Toyota actually has a viable solution to the problem. While the company has blamed the sticky accelerator on the pedal assembly, and is repairing those parts, many suggest the problem is actually electronic in nature.
"But the real basis of the case, the most important part of the case is that this cloud over the value of Toyota and Lexus means people are going to lose a huge amount of resale value," Merchant said today. "It isn't just that people are having problems and some accidents, it's that their resale value has gone down, we think significantly, and we think they should be compensated."
Merchant estimated that as many as 400,000 vehicles in Canada could be affected by the recall problems. If the suit is successful, and each owner qualifies for $1,000 of compensation, and the price tag for Toyota would reach $400 million, he said.
"It's a loss of value that's very significant and everyone should contact us for that purpose because we think we're going to get $1,000 or $2,000 or $3,000 for everyone," he said.
Another class-action suit is also underway, launched by proposed plaintiff Steven Hamilton. His claim has been filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto. Toyota Canada, Toyota in the U.S. and parts supplier CTS are named as defendants. The claim alleges that Toyota and CTS either knew, or should have known, about the flaw that causes runaway acceleration in some of its vehicles.
Joel Rochon, a lawyer in Hamilton's class action lawsuit, says the lawsuit could potentially involve "tens of thousands" of claimants in Canada. That group also claims that the problem is related to faulty computer systems, rather than the accelerator pedal assembly.
Star-struck singers, rappers and actors, including Barbra Streisand, Kanye West and Miley Cyrus, checked their egos at the door yesterday to record a new version of "We are the World" for Haiti's earthquake victims, 25 years after the song raised awareness of the famine in Africa.
None of the singers of the original song were invited to participate in the update, which was recorded at the same Hollywood studio once again under the oversight of Quincy Jones and the song's co-writer Lionel Richie. In all, more than 70 stars lent their voices to the song, and they all seemed in awe of each other.
"As celebrities, we're fans of one another, so we're all looky-looing in there, and getting autographs and numbers," said Natalie Cole.
Streisand, Celine Dion and Tony Bennett appeared to inspire the most stares. Fifteen-year-old Canadian heartthrob Justin Bieber joked that he would ask his new friend, R&B singer Akon, to get the telephone number of Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls.
Streisand, a noted perfectionist, ran through multiple takes of the line originally sung by Diana Ross, each one seemingly better than the previous one. Jazz singer Patti Austin came into her recording booth to coach her. Guitar virtuoso Carlos Santana sang along, even though he is not a singer. Two members of the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson and Al Jardine, appeared to ignore each other.
Classical crossover tenor Josh Groban described the event as "inspired chaos."
"It's great to see so many legendary artists sweating it out. Everybody left their ego at the door," he said, referring to a request made by Jones at the original session in 1985.
"To be smack-dab in the middle of a sandwich between Barbra Streisand and Weezy (rapper Lil Wayne) was personally a creative experience I don't think I'll ever have the pleasure of having again," Groban added.
For his part, Lil Wayne said his mother asked him to get a photo of Gladys Knight. He was among a heavy quotient of hip-hop stars, including Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Drake, LL Cool J, and will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas as well as West.
"Hip-hop is rock 'n' roll to a lot of people around the world, right now," said Jones, explaining the absence of the modern-day equivalents of original performers Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan or Paul Simon.
Lil Wayne, for one, noted that he was not a singer, and thought organizers were joking when they asked him to sing the line originally sung by Dylan. Asked if he did a better job, Lil Wayne said, "Hell no!"
Country and Latino artists were notably under-represented. Organizers said they were turned down for various reasons by some stars. In fact, most of the big Grammy winners from the night before were absent, including Beyonce and Jay-Z, who returned to New York, and Taylor Swift, who flew to Australia straight after the ceremony.
Randy Phillips, one of the organizers, said his "one regret" was the absence of dance-pop star Lady Gaga. The song, which was still being worked on into the small hours of Tuesday, will make its world premiere during NBC's coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics on February 12.
Both the song and an accompanying video, shot by Oscar-winning "Crash" director Paul Haggis, will go on sale both through traditional and online retailers. Phillips said all proceeds will go to a newly established foundation that will carefully monitor disbursement. The January 12 earthquake killed up to 200,000 people in Haiti and devastated the already impoverished nation.
For the good of us all, step away from the Rolex. The mere exposure to luxury goods can have a corrosive effect on decision-making that pushes individuals to put their interests over the interests of others, according to a Harvard Business School study. That's interesting.
Researchers Roy Y. J. Chua, of Harvard, and Xi Zou, an assistant professor at London Business School, examined the psychological consequences that luxury goods can have on people in their research paper, "The Devil Wears Prada? Effects of Exposure to Luxury Goods on Cognition and Decision Making."
They concluded that luxury seems intrinsically linked to self-interest. The researchers studied students who were randomly assigned to either a "luxury goods" condition or a "non-luxury goods" condition, and viewed photographs of associated consumer products such as shoes and watches. The students were then asked to imagine various scenarios that might arise if they were CEO of a firm.
The students who viewed luxury goods were significantly more likely than the second group to endorse production of a new car that might pollute the environment, launch new software with bugs, or market a videogame that might induce violence, according to the study.
"Results... suggest that when primed with luxury, people endorsed self-interested decisions that could potentially harm others," the researchers said in the study. "Luxury-primed individuals tend to make decisions that are self-interested and arguably unethical."
A second, word-association experiment suggested that luxury does not necessarily induce "nasty" behaviour toward others, but more indifference toward them. The findings are sure to touch a nerve in an era of mega-sized corporate bonuses and the parallel currency of limousines, private jets and other pricey perks.
After all, it was John Thain's lavish $1.2 million office renovation, including an infamous $35,000 antique commode that is remembered more than his salary in the final days of the brokerage firm Merrill Lynch. The researchers said that, in practical terms, the same business meeting could reach different decisions when held at a fancy resort as opposed to in a modest conference room.
"Working in a business setting surrounded by money and luxuries might well have an effect on cognition and decision making," said Chua and Zou. "Perhaps limiting corporate excesses and luxuries might indeed be a step toward getting executives to behave more responsibly."
In 2009, the Conservative Party of Canada kicked its competitors' asses again, in terms of donations. Back in September, when Michael Ignatieff tried to trigger an unwanted election, one of his supporters claimed that the Liberal party was either ready for an election, and that the party was receiving donations that were either "matching or beating" donations. They were wrong.
The Conservative Party of Canada brought in $17.7 million from individuals in 2009. Their total in 2008 was a whopping $21.1 million. The amount of money raised is the largest ever raised in year that wasn't an election year.
The Liberal Party of Canada came in at a distant second, raising about $9.654 million. In 2008, when StÈphane Dion was the leader of the party, they raised about $5.9 million.
The NDP, on the other hand, raised $4.03 million and the Bloc QuÈbÈcois raised $621,526.
American auto sales figures for January, due later on Tuesday, are expected to show a sharp drop for Toyota after it pulled eight of its most popular models from showrooms last week following complaints over sticking accelerator pedals.
In the first public comment from an executive at Toyota's head office, the company's executive in charge of quality said he was expecting a sales hit from the recall.
"The sales forecast is something that we're extremely worried about," Executive Vice President Shinichi Sasaki told a news conference. The company will report its third-quarter earnings on Thursday.
On top of a separate recall for slipping floor mats, also linked to unintended acceleration, some 8.1 million Toyota vehicles are now being recalled, more than its total group sales last year.
Although Toyota says the occurrence of problems is rare, public confidence is being shaken by coverage of the saga, including the harrowing details of the crash of a Lexus, blamed on unexpected acceleration, which killed an off-duty California state-trooper and three members of his family last year.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company's founder, has not formally addressed the public or media on the recall problems. While in Davos, Switzerland last weekend, he appeared briefly on broadcaster NHK and apologized to consumers.
The company's U.S. head, Jim Lentz, appeared on TV on Monday and also expressed his regret as part of a public relations blitz in Toyota's largest market.
"We haven't had any accidents reported in our network," the spokesman stressed.
Toyota detailed its plans on Monday to fix the faulty pedals on at least 4.2 million vehicles in North America and Europe with a small metal spacer to prevent sticking.
Toyota said it would restart production on February 8 of the eight models including its popular Camry, Corolla and RAV4 models after an unprecedented one-week shutdown at six plants in the United States and Canada.
Sasaki said costs were not taken into account with the recall and said they would monitor sales before reviewing their 2010 forecast. Toyota last month forecast global auto sales would rise 6% this year, but has since said that did not take the impact of the recalls into account.
The costs for the recall and the shutdown now look to come to roughly 100 billion yen to 200 billion yen ($1.1 billion to $2.2 billion US), two analysts estimated.
"It's a positive that we now can grasp what the direct costs might be, but Toyota has yet to address uncertainties about indirect costs, such as litigation costs and costs of incentives to win back customers," said JP Morgan analyst Kohei Takahashi.
"The size of these indirect costs is of far greater importance" for Toyota's future, he said.
Shares in Toyota rallied 4.5% in Tokyo on Tuesday following the company's U.S. announcement on the fix and restart of production. The jump in its shares comes after about an 18% tumble over the last seven business days that wiped out more than $20 billion in market capitalization. A weaker yen also boosted shares, some investors said.
Toyota faces a growing number of lawsuits claiming it and its U.S. supplier CTS Corp endangered drivers by not acting sooner to fix problems with faulty accelerator pedals. Lawsuits announced on Monday in the U.S. claimed Toyota had ignored signs of trouble with some of its top-selling models.
The suits are part of what is expected to be a wave of litigation against the automaker for claims ranging from losses on car resale values to injury and death. Analysts and dealers said it would take months for the automaker to fix all of the vehicles at risk of having an accelerator pedal stick in the open position. Rivals such as General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. have been offering discounts targeting Toyota customers.
Now, if you are going to sue about the faulty accelerator pedals, we can kind of understand that. But if you are suing for lost resale value, you should be ashamed of yourself.
An Austrian tycoon is giving away every penny of his $5 million CDN fortune after realizing that his riches were making him unhappy.
Michael Jackson's doctor on today pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the sudden death of the pop star last year from a lethal cocktail of drugs. Dr. Conrad Murray, who has offices in Houston and Las Vegas, entered a Los Angeles courthouse to chants of "murderer" from Jackson fans gathered outside. Inside the courtroom, he faced members of the singer's family.
Canada's history is being rewritten, online, at least, in terms so crude, that it could make any Canadian angry with a patriotic tinge. On his late-night TV show this week, 'satirist' Stephen Colbert took aim at Canadian magazine The Beaver, which announced last month it was changing its moniker after 90 years because some search engines were weeding it out, believing it was pornography due to its name.
What do you do when you're a business owner that deals with a supposedly-obnoxious customer? Well, you use the law to ban them for life, if you can.
Do you drink a can of soda every day? Maybe it's time to think again. Drinking two or more soft drinks a week may nearly double a person's risk of developing pancreatic cancer, researchers are warning. That is scary, and is definitely going to change my soda-drinking habits.
Two and a Half Men actor Charlie Sheen was charged today with assaulting and threatening his wife Brooke Mueller in a heated Christmas Day argument. But, the couple left the court in the Colorado ski resort of Aspen hugging each other, hoping the charges will be dropped, and apparently planning to reconcile.
Toyota will establish a global quality task force and implement other procedures to ensure customer safety and satisfaction, its president said at a press conference. Akio Toyoda expressed deep regret for the inconvenience and concern to customers, and announced that he will personally take the lead toward improving quality worldwide.
Previously unpublished black and white photos of a laughing, stylishly-dressed Marilyn Monroe visiting the poet Carl Sandburg in New York almost half a century ago went on sale Friday. The pictures, shot by photographer Len Steckler at his apartment in December 1961, had spent 45 years in a private archive.
NDP Leader Jack Layton has been diagnosed with a treatable form of prostate cancer. How unfortunate. Mr. Layton said today that he will step away from an active political role for "several months" in order to undergo treatment, but will not step down as leader. Aside from his political beliefs, I do believe that he is a decent guy, and I wish him well.
With Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams recovering from heart surgery in the United States yesterday, his deputy premier railed against the negative reaction to his having sought treatment outside the country.
There were 43,000 more Canadians working in January, Statistics Canada said Friday, which is about three times more than what economists were expecting.
A Toronto Transit Commission bus driver has been suspended after the driver was caught on camera visiting a doughnut shop, and apparently mid-route.
The Los Angeles County coroner announced their findings yesterday in the death of actress Brittany Murphy. According to CNN, the coroner determined that her death was an accident caused by a combination of pneumonia, an iron deficiency and "multiple drug intoxication."
Despite Prime Minister Stephen Harper's talk about slaying the deficit, the Government of Canada has no plans to cut any spending before the spring of 2011 because of the weakness of the economic recovery. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty confirmed that the Conservatives will wait until the current two-year, $46 billion economic stimulus plan ends on March 31, 2011, before looking for ways to begin trying to balance Ottawa's books.
Blockbuster Inc.'s main American rival, Movie Gallery, filed for bankruptcy yesterday and plans to close a " significant number" of stores.
A 74-year-old woman from Hamilton, Ontario, who attempted to cross the border into New York earlier this week learned the hard way that the United States does not take kindly to drug charges, no matter how long ago the charges were filed against you.
Taylor Lexus Toyota in Regina is trying to soften the blow for customers who can't take delivery of their newly-purchased Toyota vehicles due to a sales embargo on vehicles recalled to fix defective gas pedals.
Winter Olympics staff and volunteers working frantically to get one of the primary venues ready for competition got more bad news yesterday: the weather forecast.
Controversial Saskatoon chiropractor and former MP Jim Pankiw is planning on staging a return to the political arena.
Saskatoon-based lawyer Tara Dionne Chornoby pleaded guilty yesterday to tax evasion related to $25,000 of undeclared income and was fined $5,000.
The Lancet, which is a medical journal, decided to formally retract a paper on Tuesday that caused a 12-year international battle over links between the three-in-one childhood MMR vaccine and autism.
Canadian gasoline prices fell over the last week, and nowhere more than Saskatoon, says a report issued Tuesday by petroleum consulting firm MJ Ervin & Associates.
On January 28, in a security filing, video rental chain Blockbuster Inc. said that the company's director Carl Icahn has announced his intention to resign from the company's board. Is it true? Man, that guy seemed like a real troublemaker. Remember his public conflicts with John Antioco?
A nine-year-old girl from China gave birth to a baby boy last week, becoming one of the world's youngest mothers, according to Chinese media. That's twisted...
Think that muffin labelled as low-fat won't get to your ass? Well, think again! Muffins billed as low-fat at your favourite coffee shop may not be so free of fat. And that low-fat sandwich or pizza slice on the menu of your fast-food joint may not be as "lean" as advertised.
U.S. housing prices are headed for a double-dip decline, which will hurt related companies that have already assumed there will be a recovery in the sector, CIBC has warned.
Despite a chorus of concern that a federal budget balance can't be achieved without tax hikes, private-sector economists said yesterday that the Government of Canada's fiscal plan is workable, as long as policy-makers live up to their pledge to restrain spending growth.
Man, Toyota's misfortunes won't seem to disappear these days. First, there is a lawsuit for those who were apparently "inconvenienced." Then, another lawsuit by a bunch of people who want their resale value back (these people are pathetic). And now, there are complaints about brake problems with the company's 2010 Prius hybrid.
Start-up cell phone company DAVE Wireless Inc. Yesterday introduced the consumer brand name it will use once its network is complete and can begin offering services.
If Saskatchewan's favourite fur-covered weather forecaster is to be believed, Saskatchewan is in for another six weeks of winter weather. That absolutely sucks.
Up until yesterday, Saskatchewan's major municipalities went to the polls to elect a new city council every three years, or in some cases, re-elect the exact same city council, which occurred in Saskatoon in 2009.
North America's furry forecasters are making mainly frosty predictions. Thousands of people gathered today to watch as Punxsutawney Phil emerged to make his yearly Groundhog Day prediction in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
Combating a proliferation of knife crimes would be easier if the Government of Saskatchewan drafts legislation that edges Saskatchewan closer to a province-wide knife ban, says Saskatoon Police Chief Clive Weighill.
If you have driven around Saskatoon, you'll notice that a lot of people like to think they are cool by speeding. And some of those cool people end up being ticketed.
Canada gets a D in innovation, according to a report card issued today, ranking the country 14th among 17 industrialized nations for its ability to turn knowledge into money-making products and services. In a report from the Conference Board of Canada, this country ranked ahead only of Australia, Italy and Norway for innovation. So, it appears that the Conference Board likes to put down Canada, just like Dwain Lingenfelter putting down Saskatchewan.
Two Saskatoon city councillors say that yesterday's announcement by Premier Brad Wall that cities will receive the same amount of revenue-sharing money as last year will put further strain on a difficult budget year.
Star-struck singers, rappers and actors, including Barbra Streisand, Kanye West and Miley Cyrus, checked their egos at the door yesterday to record a new version of "We are the World" for Haiti's earthquake victims, 25 years after the song raised awareness of the famine in Africa.
For the good of us all, step away from the Rolex. The mere exposure to luxury goods can have a corrosive effect on decision-making that pushes individuals to put their interests over the interests of others, according to a Harvard Business School study. That's interesting.
In 2009, the Conservative Party of Canada kicked its competitors' asses again, in terms of donations. Back in September, when Michael Ignatieff tried to trigger an unwanted election, one of his supporters claimed that the Liberal party was either ready for an election, and that the party was receiving donations that were either "matching or beating" donations. They were wrong.