Liberal "leader" Michael Ignatieff called on the Conservative government on Thursday to reveal just how much higher the federal deficit will climb this fiscal year.
Iggy's query came during question period in the House of Commons after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty disclosed earlier this week that Canada's deficit for the 2009-2010 fiscal year will balloon to more than $50 billion, which is more than $16 billion above the amount projected by Flaherty in the January budget.
"Canadians are tired of these sorry 'guesstimates' - they want to know the truth," Ignatieff told the House. "How much more, prime minister? How much more?"
Mr. Harper said that in the end, the deficit will depend on how the Canadian economy performs. He then again accused Iggy of hypocrisy for slamming the government for the rising deficit while simultaneously calling for more money to be spent.
"You know, he comes here, tries to criticize the deficit, but day after day he is here demanding literally tens of billions of dollars of new spending from this government, new spending, permanent spending, unavoidable spending that is paid for by tax increases," Harper said.
On Wednesday, Mr. Harper insisted that the deficit is "affordable" and small in relation to deficits being carried by other G8 countries. Iggy then ridiculed the Conservatives' claim that the deficit will be short-lived, saying that "there is not a single Canadian who believes that is true."
January's federal budget predicted five years of deficits with a shortfall of $64 billion over the next two years, which is a figure that will now climb to more than $80 billion.
In addition to that, Jack Layton, leader of the NDP, talked about some bullshit and the government giving bonuses to some people. Anyway, it's the NDP, and whatever it is, it's not important.
The town of Winner has produced a winner... who won $232 million.
The winning ticket for Wednesday night's $232 million Powerball jackpot was sold in that ranching and farming town of 2,800 people in the south-central part of South Dakota.
"How often does something like this happen - a winner in Winner, S.D.?" Norm Lingle, executive director of the South Dakota Lottery, said at a news conference Thursday.
It is the ninth-largest Powerball jackpot ever and the biggest ever paid out in South Dakota, he said. The ticket-holder has 180 days to claim the prize, and the lottery said it has not received any calls on the jackpot.
"There's certainly no hurry to come in and claim the prize. This is certainly a life-changing, life-altering experience and they need to seek professional advice," Lingle said.
A former school board trustee from southern California has been sentenced to two years of informal probation for stealing a bottle of ketchup from a college dining area.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Jacki Brown also ordered Steve Rocco to pay about $200 in fines and stay 100 metres away from the college.
Rocco was convicted by a jury last month of misdemeanour petty theft for stealing a bottle of ketchup from a Chapman University dining area.
That is one hell of a punishment for stealing ketchup!
Prosecutors say that a woman in a Detroit suburb has been accused of fatally stabbing her father over an argument over a dinner roll.
Man, that must have been one hell of a good dinner roll.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged 42-year-old Ava Maria Gordon of Melvindale, Michigan with second-degree murder yesterday in the death of her 62-year-old father.
Cops say that Gordon told investigators that she ate a dinner roll had been saving, even though it had a note telling her to do so.
So... the moral of the story is... listen to your daddy, or you may end up in prison...
An analyst at the Connecticut Police Academy says that a co-worker responded literally to her "bite me" remark and chomped on her.
Former Waterbury police captain Francis Woodruff was charged with disorderly conduct and released on a promise to appear in court. He is accused of biting academy licence and applications analyst Rochelle Wyler on April 24, 2009.
A police arrest report says that Wyler had teeth markers and bruising on the back of her left arm. Wyler's complaint alleges that Woodruff was annoying her by calling her a clerk. She says she responded by saying, "Bite me." In the end, she was bitten.
So, the moral of the story is... be careful what you wish for.
Remember that movie Slumdog Millionaire? Yeah, you should have at least heard of it by now. Well, two child actors from the Academy Award-winning movie are getting permanent homes after their shantytown dwellings were demolished, according to officials.
They said that the director, Danny Boyle, and producer Christian Colson, who set up a trust fund for the slum dwellers, asked officials of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences who manage the trust to fund the new homes.
Earlier this month, the ramshackle homes of nine-year-old Rubina Ali and 11-year-old Azharuddin Ismail at the Gareeb Nagar slum in central Mumbai were demolished by the civic authorities to get rid of illegal slum dwellings.
Canadian taxpayers are poised to town a stake in the General Motors Corp. under a reorganization plan that is being hammered out for the automaker as it edges towards a bankruptcy-protection filing by Monday.
Political and economic observers expect that the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario to take a portion of GM shares in exchange for offering the automaker an estimated $10 billion in financing to help it reinvent itself and pay its bills while it is under court protection.
The aid would represent roughly 20% of the $50 billion US that will be pledged to the automaker by the U.S. government of President Barack Obama, according to separate media reports in Washington. The United States' aid includes $19.4 billion US in loans GM has already drawn down.
In recent days, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty have been steeling Canadians in recent days for the possibility that aid for GM will be large. Sadly, Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement has said on Wednesday that it is possible that parts of the loans made to the car workers will have to be written down.
Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co. says that its Canadian operations are at risk unless the automaker can secure further concessions from the Canadian Autoworkers Union, according to a company spokesperson.
Canadian senators would be limited to terms of eight years under legislation introduced by the Conservative Party of Canada on Thursday.
Minister of State and Democratic Reform Steven Fletcher said that Canadians believe that it is time to modernize Parliament's upper chamber.
"Placing term limits on senators is one of the important steps to making the Senate worthy of a 21st century institution," Fletcher said Thursday.
Currently, senators have no fixed term limit and can serve until mandatory retirement age of 75, regardless of how old they are when they are appointed. Fletcher said that means a senator could serve for 45 years, because the minimum age for being appointed to the Senate is 30.
The bill was introduced in the Senate on Thursday, and it will be debated in the House of Commons only if it passes the upper chamber first. This would be the second time the Conservative Party of Canada has attempted to get term limits in the Senate.
Despite the attempt to modernization, several provinces, with Quebec being the most vocal, have threatened legal action...
Earlier today, cops found a loaded handgun in the home of two children in California. As it turns out, the three-year-old girl accidentally killed her brother.
According to a police spokesperson in Bakersfield, California, the tragic incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon.
The incident occurred after the girl found a .45 calibre semi-automatic handgun under her parents' bed. Sadly, the boy didn't survive.
"I don't know that there's another word to describe it - it's just a tragedy," Sergeant Greg Terry of the Bakersfield Police Department said. "It's so important that if you're going to have firearms in your possession you make sure they're stored safely."
Cops say the children's mother was at home at the time of the shooting, but was in a different part of the apartment. The father of the children was at work.
The Conservative Party of Canada, which currently forms the Government of Canada, is threatening to release more potentially damaging videotapes of Michael Ignatieff in an attempt to discredit the opposition leader.
During Question Period yesterday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the House of Commons that he had lots of dirt on Iggy.
"I cannot fire the Leader of the Opposition and with all the tapes I have on him, I do not want to," Harper said.
The Conservatives are currently said to be poring through old video clips of Iggy's speeches and interviews from his past career as a journalist, author and "public intellectual" to find potentially embarrassing remarks.
Outside of the Commons, Iggy described Mr. Harper's remarks as "Nixonian," referring to disgraced former President Richard Nixon who secretly recorded Oval Office conversations, and who was famous of digging up dirt on his political opponents.
"Every day that goes by, he's more like Richard Nixon," Ignatieff said. "The public finances of our country are in freefall and he's wasting time with tapes of me? It's a joke."
Iggy says that he won't be intimidated by the Prime Minister, and that it is his job to hold Mr. Harper to account.
His remarks followed a particularly heated session in the House of Commons, in which Iggy called on the prime minister to fire Finance Minister Jim Flaherty over the ballooning, but temporary federal deficit.
Mr. Harper shot back that the issue at hand should be the credibility of Iggy.
Currently, Iggy is the subject of several well-thought-out Conservative attack ads, which focus on comments he made before entering politics, and the decades he spent outside of Canada. In fact, one ad features an old video interview in which Ignatieff refers to America as "his country." And in another ad, Iggy is quoted as saying that the only thing he missed about Canada was Algonquin Park.
Remember that guy named Vincent Li? Remember when he chopped the Tim McLean's head off of his body? Yeah, I think you do.
Well, he was eventually found "not criminally responsible" and was sent to a hospital. Well, the public may never learn if he is being hospitalized or is being released.
Manitoba's criminal code review board meets on Monday to decide whether Vince Li, who was found not criminally responsible for killing Tim McLean last July, should now be institutionalized or given a conditional sentence or absolute discharge.
"Our current practice has been to treat the decisions as being private and only available to the parties involved and to the treatment team," said John Stefaniuk, the chairman of the review board. "However, we are aware that information in other jurisdictions is readily made available, particularly in Ontario and British Columbia."
Testimony from two doctors said Li was suffering from a major mental illness. Dr. Jonathan Rootenberg agreed with Dr. Stanley Yaren that, despite committing one of the most gruesome crimes in Canadian history, Li could one day be rehabilitated and returned to society.
Yesterday, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty revealed that the federal deficit will soar to more than $50 billion this year, which is the highest budget shortfall ever recorded in Canada.
Mr. Flaherty cited several reasons for the surge in red ink, including lower tax revenues, higher payouts for Employment Insurance, and Ottawa's share of a multimillion-dollar bailout for the auto sector.
"As a result of all of that we will run a substantial short-term deficit this year, which I would estimate at more than $50 billion," the finance minister told reporters outside the House of Commons.
What? Don't you remember that? Later that day, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that Dion had nothing to offer to Canada but a carbon tax. He also said that Dion was unfit to take care of the economy!
Under fierce questioning, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that the latest round of numbers of Canadians receiving employment insurance benefits show that those who have lost their jobs are already benefitting from the Government of Canada's changes to the EI system.
According to figures released yesterday by Statistics Canada, the number of Canadians collecting regular employment insurance benefits grew by 65,300, or more than 10% in March.
Despite that, Liberal "leader" Iggy has accused the Conservative government of "failing to help Canadians who have lost their jobs during the recession, only to find they don't qualify for EI benefits."
"Perhaps this is news to the government but not to the unemployed, but if the recession is deeper than expected, then we need more economic stimulus," Ignatieff told the House. "And what better way to stimulate the economy than to improve the EI system?"
Mr. Harper says that the current global economic recession has led the government to spend more this year on the EI system, including an extra five weeks of benefits for recipients in the January budget supported by the Liberals.
Yesterday, Transport Minister John Baird dismissed an opposition plan to sweeten Employment Insurance benefits as a "socialist scheme."
The man attacked the proposals in the House of Commons daily question period, as Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the government is not considering easier access to benefits.
The political battle intensified as Human Resources Minister Diane Finley revealed details of a previously announced plan to help retrain workers who are laid off.
According to the opposition, the changes don't go far enough.
The heightened political tension fuelled election speculation, but Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff insisted he simply seeks to help the unemployed. Yeah, right...
And as for NDP Leader Jack Layton, he said he too is looking for results in Parliament and hopes a compromise could be negotiated by all parties on the basis of the NDP bill that is scheduled for a vote next week.
All opposition parties are currently urging the government to create a cross-Canada standard of 360 hours of work for EI eligibility.
"It would hurt an economy that is struggling," Baird said in response to a question from Layton. "Those of us on this side of the House will not buy into that socialist scheme to raise taxes purported by the leader of the Liberal party."
Ignatieff reacted with laughter when speaking to reporters later: "I love (the term) 'socialist scheme.' You do something for the unemployed and suddenly you're a socialist? Come on, let's get serious here. We think that this is good, sensible, practical politics."
The Liberals said the 360 rule would provide some benefits for up to 150,000 people who are out of work and can't get benefits even though they paid into the EI fund. Yeah... right.
Although this is boring, I thought it was kind of funny. According to CIBC, Canadian, American and European consumer spending is expected to contract by $600 billion a year over the next decade as the population begins to build up their savings after being whacked by the financial crisis. Now, that might not be the funny part.
What's funny is that CIBC said that Asia's growing middle class would whittle down their traditionally high savings rate in the coming years, leaving more money to spend on consumer goods.
So, are they saying that while North Americans and Europeans continue to save, Asians will start spending their savings?
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty dismissed questions about boosting employment insurance benefits on Sunday, saying that Canadians want retraining programs to get them back to work rather than extended benefits.
Speaking on CTV's Question Period, Mr. Flaherty said that automatic stabilizers built into the EI (employment insurance) system already ensure that more money goes to parts of the country that report higher unemployment rates.
On Friday, Human Resources Minister Diane Finley announced that the federal government signed new agreements with nine provinces that will provide funding for skills training for laid-off workers. Finley said that the money will also help workers who do not qualify for EI. The federal government recently extended EI benefits by five weeks.
Of course, earlier this month, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff threatened that he would topple the current Conservative government if it does not make further EI changes before Parliament rises in June.
"We're a minority government," Flaherty said Sunday. "That's up to the opposition parties if they want to have an election over an issue like that."
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, or Iggy, says that he is ready to "mess" with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but that it won't include personal attack ads.
So where's the fun in that? Iggy, who has faced a barrage of true Conservative attack ads aimed at him in recent weeks, insists that the government's record is so poor, personal attack ads are unnecessary.
"There's enough on the record that we can attack: record unemployment, record bankruptcies, record deficit," he said in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia on Sunday. "That should give us enough to be getting along with."
"Don't trifle with me. Don't try this rough stuff with me," he added Sunday.
Iggy claims that the Conservative Party of Canada is smearing all new Canadians with the attack ads.
Well, what pisses me off is that he said the only thing he missed about Canada was Algonquin Park.
The number of Canadians receiving regular employment insurance benefits jumped 10.6% in March from the previous month, Statistics Canada said today.
EI beneficiaries rose by 65,300 to 681,400 during the month, with the biggest gains recorded in Alberta and British Columbia.
"The increase in March was the largest since the labour market started to deteriorate last October," the federal agency said, with beneficiaries climbing 36.2 per cent over the past five months.
"From October to March, labour market conditions in Canada deteriorated significantly and employment fell sharply. In April, employment increased, boosted by a gain in self-employment," the agency also said.
Meanwhile, the number of initial and renewal claims received in March were down 1.9% from the month before.
Here are what the changes look like across the country:
Canada, in general: +10.6% Newfoundland and Labrador: +1.2% Prince Edward Island: +2.6% Nova Scotia: +3.9% New Brunswick: +4.9% Quebec: +7.8% Ontario: +9.9% Manitoba: +10.6% Saskatchewan: +11.8% Alberta: +32.1% British Columbia: +26.7% Yukon Territory: +3.3% Northwest Territories: +5.9% Nunavut: +4.3%
About a year ago, the City of Saskatoon's transit management asked bus drivers to work longer shifts in a bid to save on escalating overtime costs. But now, the opposite situation has taken hold, according to the City's transit manager.
This month, at least seven bus operators per day are being paid guaranteed full-time hours but working far less because there aren't enough routes for them, sources from Saskatoon Transit said.
For instance, yesterday, eight drivers worked less than five hours, transit manager Mitch Riabko said. Several bus drivers said there have been around fifteen full-time bus operators on some days this month who aren't working close to full-time hours and as many as seven who don't drive on any given day.
This is funny. However, it is important to note that the City of Saskatoon has saved a tremendous amount of money on overtime. During the past several years, Saskatoon Transit was paying out as much as 16-18% of employee salaries or more than $700,000 annually, according to previous reports, in overtime.
Today, the Government of Canada said it is going to allow Canadians to work and draw on their Canada Pension Plan at the same time, which is a move analysts described as a "sea change" in pension policy.
The move was announced following a meeting between Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty and his provincial counterparts, in which pension issues emerged as a significant talking point.
"The more flexibility you build into pension arrangements, the better," said Jack Mintz, public policy professor at the University of Calgary. At the same time, Flaherty also used the meeting to warn Canadians that the budget deficit would be "substantially" larger than previously expected, due to weaker economic growth and tax revenue, with more detail to be provided next month in a special report to Parliament.
The Liberals' steady increase in public support under Iggy's leadership has apparently levelled off, but the party the remains in a tight spot with the governing Conservative Party of Canada, suggests a new poll.
Well, this sucks. Liberals suck.
Conservatives rule! Although the Conservatives may be higher in support, this doesn't mean they would win an election today. In fact, it could mean a small victory for the Liberals.
But meanwhile, in the west, Conservatives still rule!
Victoria entrepreneur Ian Layfield, who sells marijuana, is in Toronto this week to pitch his product to the sharp-toothed judges on the CBC's show, Dragon's Den.
He is hoping that the show's panel of successful businesspeople will like his idea of distributing medicinal marijuana through the mail, and will want to invest in it.
Layfield, who said he uses the locally grown marijuana on a daily basis to treat arthritis, will pitch his idea today.
"I think we have a very viable company and we would benefit from having at least one of the Dragons partners with us to make sure this company becomes the success we all want it to be," he said.
If you are like me, you probably have a credit card too! And if you have a credit card, you probably like to use it, a lot! Well, yesterday, the Government of Canada announced new regulations to force credit card issuers to be more family-friendly in tough times.
When Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty spoke of "timelier" disclosure of interest rate hikes when he unveiled new proposed regulations for the credit card business "to limit practices that are not beneficial to customers," he did not say banks are already required by law to provide 30 days advance notice when they plan to hike the rates.
The new disclosure rule is limited to cases involving new cards that come with a promotional or "teaser" interest rate. The higher rates, which usually kick in within six months, are already spelled out when consumers sign up with a new card, but banks will now have to send a reminder 30 days before the promotional rate expires.
Even though we won't be getting any breaks on high interest rates, what we will all see soon if the proposed regulations are enacted, after a three-week consultation period, is a summary box in each statement that will clearly spell out its key features, including the interest rate and how long it will take to pay off the balance if they only make the minimum required payment.
"The Conservative government understands the pressures Canadian families are facing during the global recession," said Flaherty during a news conference in Toronto. "The last thing these families need is a surprise on a credit card statement. With better information, Canadians will be able to make better decisions."
Plans for Saskatchewan's tallest building have come to a screeching halt as of lately. The assisted-living component of the proposed 95-metre tall complex in the police station's parking lot (which was to break ground this summer) is at least $10 million over budget, which places the project in jeopardy.
"We're in a holding pattern," said Tony Argento, CEO of Calgary developer Stoneset Equities, which manages the project.
The proposed $80 million, 28-floor tower had Lighthouse Supported Living Inc. managing 120 units of the first six floors for people with long-term disabilities or low incomes and Stoneset developing market-rate condominiums on the 22 floors above.
I knew something like Saskatchewan's tallest building would be too good to be true...
When it comes to the Olympic Games, athletes, coaches and organizers need to receive a lot of training. Well, apparently, those aren't the only people who need training. Hookers also need training.
A Canadian agency that provides support services for the city's sex workers is preparing a brochure and training to inform hookers about their rights and how to deal with the international media when they descend on the city to cover the Winter Olympic Games from February 12 to 28, 2009.
"It is a supportive tool that we are offering," said Natasia Wright, of the Prostitution Alternatives Counselling and Education Society (PACE).
The brochure will contain information and guidelines and how to handle requests for photographs and interviews.
Canada Post recently announced plans for its 2010 stamp series, which includes a stamp commemorating the giant roadside coffee pot and cup and near Davidson, which happens to be the world's largest.
July's release is the second set of four "roadside attractions" stamps, fearing photos of Davidson's coffee pot; Gladstone, Manitoba's Happy Rock; the giant Canada goose in Wawa, Ontario and the puffin in the Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan, Quebec.
The owner of Mountain Motor Products in Strasbourg, Saskatchewan was assessing his options yesterday, which is about a day after his dealership got an email from General Motors telling him that he was no longer needed.
"I'm not very happy," said Rod Schultz, who has been in the auto business for 35 years but received an e-mail from General Motors Wednesday indicating his company would lose its dealership as part of a reorganization of the GM dealership network across Canada.
About 250 auto workers across the country lost their GM dealerships but an exact breakdown was not provided about how many are slated for closure in Saskatchewan.
"I don't like the way it was done," Schultz said, adding an e-mail doesn't seem to be that good of a way to end a long business association.
You know... this email thing reminds me of that time RadioShack Corporation fired a bunch of their corporate employees by email...
Cops in Saskatoon are investigating why $220,000 in pension payments have been going into a bank account of a teacher who has not been with us in nearly seven years.
The man's son sent a letter to the Teachers' Superannuation Commission in March stating that his father passed away in September of 2002.
Education Minister Ken Krawetz says that nobody was notified of the death, so the pension payments continued. The money was deposited directly into account that had been set up in the late 1990's.
It is not clear if the cash has been spent, but Krawetz says the commission will try to get the money back.
The Conservative Party of Canada is ready for an election whenever the opposition brings down their minority government, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in Montreal yesterday.
Mr. Harper told the largest Quebec Conservative gathering in five years that support for his party is growing in the province.
"They'll never again be able to say that I wrote off Quebec," he said. "Our party and our organization are getting stronger in all parts of Quebec, including Montreal. After the next election, our minister for Montreal will be a Montreal MP."
The Conservatives have not won a seat in the city for more than 20 years. Although recent polls have the Conservatives running third in the province behind the Bloc Quebecois and a resurgent Liberal party, Harper says that his party should inspire confidence in Quebecers.
"Thanks to our good management, Canada was the last country to go into recession and will come out of it with one of the strongest economies on the planet. We were not elected despite the crisis, but because of it, because no other party comes close to us in managing the economy," Harper told the 2,300 people at the fundraising event.
He then hammered the Liberals as reckless spenders who would saddle Canadians with endless tax increases and permanent budgetary deficits. He then slammed their proposal to extend employment insurance to people who have worked for as little as 45 days a year as a proposal to raise payroll taxes. He also went after the Bloc Quebecois for its opposition to his government's economic measures in the last federal budget and for voting against stiffer penalties for child molesters, saying that the Bloc is more concerned with protecting aggressors than victims.
This is a strange story. A 13-year-old boy who has refused treatment for cancer because of his religious objections was on the run with his mother Wednesday after a judge ordered his parents to take him to a doctor.
Judge John Rodenberg issued an arrest warrant for the boy's mother after they failed to appear in a Minnesota court on Tuesday. He also ordered that the boy, Daniel Hauser, be placed in foster care and evaluated by an oncologist as soon as he was found.
Apparently, chemotherapy treatments are poisonous, according to his religion.
Hopefully, his mother will do the right thing and turn herself in.
Currently, Minnesota law requires parents to provide their children with medically necessary care.
Did you know Prime Minister Stephen Harper crashes people's weddings now? Actually, it's a pretty cool coincidence.
Bruce Monaghan and Dianne Brister recently celebrated their wedding at the Glenerin Inn in Mississauga, Ontario this month with 85 of their closest friends and family... and one surprise guest: Prime Minister Stephen Harper dropped by with a congratulatory message.
Check out the interview/transcript and more with the link below!
According to the union, talks between them and GM are being hampered because federal and provincial governments are interfering with their "efforts."
"They continue to interfere in the process, making new demands all the time," the union's master bargaining committee said in an update to its membership. "Their lack of experience in labour relations, and their repeated threats to pull the plug entirely on GM Canada, have made this process all the more difficult."
The union has also complained about the presence of another party in the talks... the U.S. government. "Some of the new demands placed on the CAW in this bargaining clearly originated south of the border," the union said.
"Because the Canadian and U.S. governments are planning a joint effort to support GM's restructuring, we now face a dangerous attempt to enforce a 'cookie-cutter' approach on our bargaining."
GM and the union must reach an agreement that satisfies conditions outlined by the federal government in order for the troubled automaker to qualify for an additional $6 billion in financial aid, or risk liquidation. If no deal is reached, the federal and provincial governments have said they will cease providing financial support the company, which could then presumably move into bankruptcy protection.
It appears that the Tori Stafford case has come to an end. For weeks, she has been missing, and although the case has come to an end, it is not the ending that we have hoped for.
The quiet southwestern Ontario city of Woodstock was shocked to learn Wednesday morning at the news that a local man and woman were in custody, charged in the abduction and killing of Victoria Stafford.
And now... a massive search is underway for the body of the missing girl.
Do you drink litres and litres of cola everyday? Yeah... you probably do. It tastes great, right?
Well, a review of clinical cases showed that super-sized doses of pop loaded with processed sugars and caffeine can cause potassium levels in the blood to plummet, giving rise to a condition known as hypokalemia.
Typical symptoms include decreased muscle strength, cramping, palpitations and nausea. In more extreme cases, potassium deficiency can lead to heart trouble and profound paralysis.
The mayor of Georgetown, Prince Edward Island is asking Canadians to party East Coast style. Mayor Peter Llewellyn has sent messages to 1,750 communities across Canada, representing 90% of the population, outlining the trouble fishermen in his province are facing and encouraging them to host what he calls a "lobster party."
"We will help co-ordinate the event so that it will be an authentic East Coast party with music, lobster and all the fixings," Llewellyn said.
The mayor hopes that creating a demand for lobster across Canada will help to stave off the downward spiral of the industry that it has found itself in recently.
So... go to your local grocery store and get yourself a lobster... NOW!
Liberal "leader" Michael Ignatieff is repeating his threat to force an election if reforms to Employment Insurance are not made before the summer.
Iggy says that he cannot make Parliament work if substantive reforms aren't made to the federal program by the time it rises in June.
He also fired back at Conservative attack ads that depict him as a long-absent political opportunitist. He claims that they are "wrong" and "offensive."
So, just because a political party releases ads/commercials that reveal the truth, they're wrong and offensive?
This week, in American news... the White House will unveil an auto efficiency proposal today and accelerate the timeframe for sharply improving mileage performance, industry and other sources said.
The proposal, if accepted by California and a dozen other states that want to more aggressively target greenhouse gases, would effectively end legal and political battles with the struggling auto sector regarding the best way to cut fuel consumption and curtail tailpipe emissions.
This proposal would also put more pressure on struggling U.S. automakers like General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and bankrupt Chrysler LLC to accelerate development of more efficient gasoline engines, as well as new gasoline/electric hybrids and all-electric cars.
However, automakers are likely to support key elements of the Obama plan, industry sources said on Monday.
Cars and trucks must average 23.3 mpg by 2011, according to current federal regulations. Under the new plan for 2012-2016, annual mileage goals would top out at 42 miles per gallon (or 17.9 km/L) for cars and just over 26 mpg for light trucks, which include pickups, sport utility vehicles and vans. Vehicles would have also have to meet California's proposed standard of a 30% reduction in emissions.
The world's tallest dog, Gibson, who lives in California and stands one metre tall at the shoulder and is listed on the Guinness World Records, has lost a leg.
Currently, the brave little dog is battling bone cancer, and has a lost a leg as a result of the bone cancer.
The black and white dog from Grass Valley, California, stretches more than two meters tall when he stands on his hind legs.
Veterinarians found a tumour on Gibson's right front leg and had no choice but to amputate it. The dog will also undergo chemotherapy.
Gibson is currently a certified therapy dog and will soon return to work visiting veterans, sick children, burn victims and fellow cancer patients.
With more people becoming obese every day, it would stand to reason that attitudes toward obese people should be getting more tolerant, right? Wrong!
Scientists at Yale University who searched through medical studies on weight bias published between January 2000 and May 2008 found that more than half of 620 doctors surveyed view obese patients as "awkward," "unattractive," "ugly" and "non-compliant." A third went further, painting the obese as weak-willed, sloppy and lazy. Even dieticians, personal trainers and doctors who specialize in treating obesity exhibit fat phobia.
Meanwhile, college students asked to rank to rank pictures of hypothetical sexual partners that included an obese partner or partners with various disabilities, including missing an arm or described as having history of sexually transmitted diseases, ranked the obese person as the least desirable sexual partner compared to the others.
Cops in North Carolina say that a teen who was thwarted as he tried to rob a store with a banana ate it before they could arrive.
Winston-Salem authorities say 17-year-old John Szwalla held the banana under his shirt when he entered the store on Thursday, saying he had a gun and started to demand money.
Owner Bobby Ray Mabe says he and a customer jumped the kid, holding him until deputies arrived. While they waited, Mabe says the teen ate the banana.
Mabe then said that deputies took pictures of the banana peel...
The kid faces a charge of attempted armed robbery. Weird story...
The Canadian Autoworkers Union, General Motors and government negotiators are still hard at work trying to craft a new labour agreement that satisfies the needs of all parties, including those douche-bag union representatives.
"I think we'll be able to get something done soon," said Bill Reeves, president of CAW Local 1973. "I don't know if it will be today."
"We should know something in the next couple of days."
While some issues have been resolved, the big ones including pensions and some benefits still remain outstanding, Reeves said.
Both the Government of Ontario and Government of Canada are involved in efforts to keep GM's Canadian operations afloat.
If no deal is provided, the Government of Ontario and Government of Canada have said they will cease providing financial support for the company, which would most likely result in bankruptcy protection, and possibly liquidation.
Blockbuster Inc. is paying $300,000 to resolve a lawsuit allegeging that the video rental chain overcharged some of its customers in California for candy, popcorn, movies and other merchandise.
The stipulated judgement announced on Monday ends a nearly five-year investigation into the way the company rang up sales in 14 California counties.
The probe found that more than 3,800 discrepancies between the final sales price and the prices that had been advertised or posted in the 82 stores where the problem surfaced.
You know what might be fun for people? Firing their employees. With just a couple of claims still outstanding though, the Government of Saskatchewan's severance bill for dismissing about 70 public servants sits at $10.7 million, Justice Don Morgan confirmed Friday.
One of the latest agreements reached was with former senior public servant John Wright, who received a settlement package of about $400,000 for being fired after the Saskatchewan Party took office.
The American feds have scolded the makers of Cheerios, claiming that the company made inappropriate claims about the popular cereal's ability to lower cholesterol and treat heart disease.
The FDA said in a warning letter to General Mills that language on the Cheerios box suggests the cereal is designed to prevent or treat heart disease by lowering cholesterol. It also says, "Shut up, Steve."
Think you need a vacation? You're not the only one!
As it turns out, nearly 25% of Canadians aren't taking the full number of vacation days that they have been allotted, according to an online Harris/Decima poll conducted for Expedia.ca, leaving 34 million vacation days unused every single year.
That amounts to employees handing back about $6.03 billion in wages annually to their employers, Expedia.ca, an online travel agency said.
Not surprisingly, 42% of poll respondents say they're feeling stressed, tired and vacation-deprived, which is up 33% from 2008.
"The stress associated with the current economy and impact on the workplace makes the need for time away from work even more important," said Beverly Beuermann-King, an Ontario stress and wellness expert who says taking a vacation is an investment in one's health.
The executive at Microsoft that is in charge of the Windows operating system urged some companies last week to dump Vista deployment plans and shift to Windows 7, the new operating system the company has promised to ship in the fourth quarter.
"If you're just starting your testing of Vista, with the [Windows 7] Release Candidate and the quality of that offering, I would switch over and do your testing on the [Windows 7] Release Candidate, and use that going forward," Bill Veghte, Microsoft's senior vice president for Windows business, said in a keynote speech last week.
Later that day, other Microsoft managers said that work on Windows 7 should wrap up in August, which would indicate availability on new PCs and at retail stores as early as mid-October if the company uses the same pace as Windows XP eight years ago.
Maybe this will be a step up for Microsoft?
Windows Vista truly is one the world's biggest technical disappointments.
The number of people who were killed in Saskatchewan in collisions involving alcohol increased last year to 74, which is a dramatic 63% increase from the previous three-year average, according to new data recently released from the Government of Saskatchewan's stupid auto insurance company, SGI.
"Drinking and driving has been a challenge for us. It's been one of the leading contributors to fatalities in the province, but the last year's numbers really indicate that we need to continue to step up our fight against this particular issue," said Kwei Quaye, assistant vice-president of SGI's traffic safety services.
Overall, in 2008, there were 156 deaths due to traffic collisions in Saskatchewan, which was an increase of about 9% from 2007. The 74 deaths that involved drinking and driving are very high compared to a three-year average of 46 deaths.
Talks resumed today as General Motors and the Canadian Auto Workers union try to agree to a deal to meet government-instructed cost reductions.
"Our CAW negotiating team continues to work hard to reach an agreement with General Motors," Canadian Auto Workers union president Ken Lewenza said in a news release. "We will continue our talks as we work toward reaching a tentative agreement that we can bring back to our membership for ratification."
Both the Government of Canada and Government of Ontario are involved in efforts to keep GM's Canadian operations alive.
The two sides must reach an agreement that meets cost-cutting conditions set by the government in order for GM to qualify for billions of dollars in additional financial aid, or risk liquidation.
It is now the end of an era in Saskatchewan politics. The final day in the legislature for former premier Lorne Calvert was yesterday.
Thursday was the last day of the spring session, which means it was the last time NDP Opposition Leader Calvert will take his seat in the legislative assembly.
Calvert, 56, is stepping down as an MLA and handing over the leadership reigns next month.
Later this year, he will take a new job as principal of St. Andrew's College at the good old University of Saskatchewan.
In many offices this week, a website has replaced Facebook in the time wasting/distraction category (at least in Saskatchewan): the Government of Saskatchewan's new website that allows people to view online reports of health inspections at major establishments in Saskatchewan.
That's pretty cool...
To check out the newly-launched website, click here.
Microsoft has disclosed more details on its timetable for finishing up work on the Windows 7 operating system. An official from the company said that the company hopes to release the OS to its manufacturing division by about mid-August.
"We expect to hit RTM in about 3 months or so," said Brandon LeBlanc, Microsoft's in-house Windows blogger, in a post Monday.
Microsoft Windows senior VP Bill Veghte on Monday confirmed what many in the computer industry have come to suspect - that Microsoft intends to ship a final version of Windows 7 to stores and PC makers sometime later in 2009.
"With early RC testing and extensive partner feedback we've received, Windows 7 is tracking well for holiday availability," said Veghte, in a statement.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has rejected a Liberal proposal to make it easier for unemployed Canadians to collect benefits, a decision that could spark a showdown in the minority Parliament.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, who has warned the issue could be an election trigger, quickly accused the Right Honourable Stephen Harper of being out of touch with unemployed workers.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is suggesting that the federal deficit, which is currently pegged at $85 billion over the next five years, could get bigger to fight the recession. Harper told Quebec mayors on Thursday that negative balance sheets will grow "as large as they have to" while the economy struggles to recover.
These remarks follow forecasts from public and private sector analysts warning that the deficit will balloon because the economy and tax revenues have plunged more than expected.
Mr. Harper is now dropping hints that figures from the Government of Canada's Finance Department may get worse. He also said Canada can afford to run temporary deficits because of its relative fiscal strength compared with other countries.
"Our deficits will be large, but they will be temporary," Harper said. "In fact, in the short term they will be as large as they have to be, to help us weather the recession."
B.C. Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell has won a historic third-term as B.C.'s premier with a third majority government.
As the economy weighed heavy on the minds of B.C. residents, Campbell campaigned as the safe bet to steer the province through tough times, arguing NDP Leader Carole James was not up to the job.
The tactic eventually paid off, as the Liberals were projected late Tuesday night to take 49 of 85 seats in the British Columbia legislature. The NDP will form the Opposition with 36 seats.
Oh well... it's better to have a Liberal government than an NDP government.
Sales of new vehicles jumped in March by the largest amount in 14 months, led mainly by higher truck purchases, according to Statistics Canada.
"Preliminary industry data for April indicate that the number of new motor vehicles sold was essentially unchanged from March," the federal agency said.
Here's a breakdown of the month-to-month change in March from February in each province: Passenger cars +2% North American +3.1% Overseas +0.4% Trucks, vans and buses +11% Newfoundland and Labrador +7.8% Prince Edward Island +19.4% Nova Scotia +4.2% New Brunswick +9.6% Quebec +10.4% Ontario +5.8% Manitoba +5.4% Saskatchewan +5.2% Alberta +1.8% British Columbia +2.2%
USAOPOLY has decided to combine Seinfeld, the multi award-winning "show about nothing" with the world's most popular board game to create a hilariously entertaining edition of MONOPOLY. With the Seinfeld Collector's Edition of the board game, fans will revel in their favourite memories of remarkable show about nothing!
That's all I really need to say...
So... go out and buy it, punk! Otherwise, I'll be forced to piss on your house!
The future has apparently to come to Saskatchewan's provincial courtrooms.
Video-conferencing systems are being set up in some courtrooms around the province, allowing inmates to meet with lawyers, make court appearances and participate in proceedings such as bail hearings without having to get off their asses from their correctional facilities.
The Regina Provincial Court's video-link was officially unveiled by Justice Don Morgan on Monday, and is slated to be in use by June. The system is already in place at courts elsewhere in the province, and other courts are slated to receive the technology in the coming months.
"Green bitumen," an oilsands product that is acceptable to environmentally sensitive buyers, can be achieved but it will come at a very high cost, according to a study released overnight by the Canadian Energy Research Institute.
That cost would include the addition of four large nuclear power plants and around two dozen small nuclear energy facilities by 2030, under one of the scenarios painted by the Calgary think-tank.
The study from the energy economics and policy research institute, which is sponsored by governments, the University of Calgary and private companies, says that the oilsands must counter its "dirty oil" image or face losing key markets in the United States and Canada.
Shares of Blockbuster Inc. continued to inch upward for the second business day, prompting belief that the Dallas-based #1 DVD rental company is correcting its considered-beleaguered business model.
Blockbuster, which reports first-quarter financial statements on May 14, 2009, saw its shares climb by a whole four cents (five cents after hours) to close at $1.14 per share. The sock closed on May 8, 2009 at $1.04 per share, which is the first time it had ended above $1.00 since February 9, 2009.
Minister of Education Ken Krawetz on Monday said that the Government of Saskatchewan will review its practice of nudging up some high school grades to change a failing mark to a pass.
Basically, high school students who receive a mark of 45 to 49 as a failing mark often get their grade changed to 50, especially if it is in the way of graduating.
Basically, the government is going to review the policy...
The global economy is about to turn the corner, leading central banks said on Monday, but there are signs that recovery could be long and painful.
The White House pushed up its forecast for the U.S. budget deficit, General Motors Corp. said a bankruptcy filing had become "more probable," EU and U.S. businesses are set to cut more jobs and banks are still absorbing the impact of bad debts.
Six General Motors Corp. executives disclosed Monday that they sold almost $315,000 in stock and liquidated their remaining direct holdings in the struggling automaker.
In filings with U.S. securities regulators, the GM insiders led by former GM Vice Chairman and product chief Bob Lutz detailed stock sales on their behalf Friday and Monday during a trading window for such transactions.
Lutz, who is now an adviser to the automaker, sold $130,989 worth of GM stock at the closing price of $1.61 Friday.
So people who own the company have lost faith in their own company...
When former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney started testifying today at a federal inquiry charged with getting to the bottom of why the former prime minister took envelopes stuffed with cash from lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber, he took a cheap shot at Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Mulroney was being questioned by his own lawyer, Guy Pratte, about how letters to the prime minister were dealt with during his time. He spoke about a sorting system used to separate personal mail from political and public policy missives. He then stressed that the system may have changed by now.
"I can't tell you what the system is now because I haven't had very many calls lately from the Prime Minister's Office," he said, setting off a round of chuckles around the packed hearing room. The inquiry has exposed a fault line in the current Conservative government and some MPs have indicated they are fed up with Mr. Harper's order not to have contact with Mulroney as long as he is the subject of the inquiry that Mr. Harper had ordered.
Microsoft Corp. is on track to release its new Windows 7 operating system in time for the holiday shopping season, an executive said Monday, confirming talk it is ahead of its conservative schedule for replacing the unpopular Windows Vista operating system.
The company has so far been vague on specifying the timing of its new operating system, wary of disappointing customers. But, it has broadly targeted the end of this year or the beginning of next year.
"Windows 7 is tracking well for holiday availability," Bill Veghte, senior vice-president of Microsoft's Windows business, said at an event Monday, citing good test results on the early version of the system released to developers and the public over the past few weeks.
Last month, Microsoft said that Windows 7 was on track for launch in fiscal 2010, which could mean as early as July this year.
More than two years after Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a strategy to control cancer, Canadians are signing up for a lifetime of scientific investigation as parts of a decades-long study to determine who develops the disease and why.
So far, 31,000 Canadians (of the 300,000 expected) have agreed to participate in research that is not only examining ways to prevent and treat cancer, but is also probing the role of environmental contaminants in causing the disease and other chronic illnesses.
The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC), with a $250 million budget over five years, was announced in November of 2006 in the midst of a Globe and Mail project on cancer that catalogued the human toll of the disease and highlighted the inadequacies of the health-care system.
There will also be work on how to prevent, screen and detect cancer, as researchers want to better understand how patients navigate the cancer system, to monitor and measure how treatment is working, and to develop a national system so that the stages of cancer are uniformly defined.
Canada's "new" opposition leader Michael Ignatieff has denounced European animal rights activists including Sir Paul McCartney for their hostility to seal hunting.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Ignatieff hit out last week's vote by the European Parliament to ban the sale of seal products.
"We look at the culling of deer in Scotland and wolves in Europe by farmers and find it very frustrating to see this reaction to a carefully regulated and managed cull here, which is an economic mainstay of some of the poorest communities in Canada," he said. "Europe's inability or refusal to see the seal cull for what is smacks of hypocrisy and misunderstanding."
The crown of the Statue of Liberty will re-open to tourists, effective July 4, 200, the Interior Department said on Friday.
The crown was closed after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, for safety and security reasons.
The National Park Service closed the attraction amid worries that it would be difficult for visitors to evacuate quickly in the event of an emergency. Visitors must climb a narrow 168-step double-helix spiral staircase to get to the crown.
The federal government planned to give "America a special gift" by re-opening the crown, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said.
"We are once again inviting the public to celebrate our great nation and the hope and opportunity it symbolizes by climbing to Lady Liberty's crown for a unique view of New York Harbor, where the forebears of millions of American families first saw the world," he said in a statement.
Access to the crown will be limited to ten people at a time, guided by a National Park Service ranger.
"We cannot eliminate all the risk of climbing to the crown, but we are taking steps to make it safer," Salazar said.
The Statue of Liberty will be open for the next two years, then closed again for work on a long-term solution that will improve safety and security permanently.
Viruses are stupid and boring organisms, continually adapting and changing, while using a variety of ways to evade the immune system and cause damage.
Well, University of Saskatchewan masters student Brett Trost has won a prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, worth $50,000 a year for two years, which he hopes will help scientists stay one step ahead of viral evolution.
It's known that certain viruses use small molecules of RNA called microRNA to prevent cells from producing proteins that could help defend the body against the virus. If these microRNA molecules could be identified, it could help scientists answer very important questions.
Parliamentarians are considering whether the Conservative government should create a list of banned criminal organizations, starting with the Hells Angels, just as terrorist organizations are officially blacklisted.
The House of Commons justice committee has elected to study the prospect, proposed by the Bloc Quebecois, which says criminal trials in Quebec are being bogged down because the Crown must prove in each case that a suspect group meets Canada's definition of "criminal organization."
For the first time ever, the Bloc Quebecois has proposed something decent...
The City of Saskatoon is expected to begin work on a new bus barn in the north industrial early this week.
A special meeting of city council will be held today at City Hall, where councillors are expected to accept a $5.2 million tender for a new Access Transit facility. The sod will be turned at the new location tomorrow.
Council plans to accept a tender from Graham Construction and Engineering. Its bid was the lowest of eight received for the project, approximately $1.2 million less than originally expected.
The building will be adjacent to the existing Access Transit facilities. It will house both Access Transit and conventional Saskatoon Transit buses.
Most importantly, this facility will end the practice of buses being idled overnight by its existing bus barns when the barns run out of space.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that improving labour and financial markets may signal Canada's economic slump is nearing an end.
"We may not be in a recovery, but I think we might be in a position where it's not getting worse, where it's truly plateauing," Harper said in an interview with Bloomberg News, adding he'd like another month or two of data before coming to that conclusion.
Stephen Harper's Conservative government is charging ahead with another hiring spree of university and college graduates this year and will ratchet up efforts to recruit more mid-career professionals into the public service, according a report by Canada's top bureaucrat.
In his report to the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Privy Council Clerk Kevin Lynch said that the government will have offered jobs to more than 4,2000 graduates by the end of the government's fiscal year, which ends at the end of March and are committed to continuing our external recruitment efforts over the coming year.
"At no time has the government needed a professional non-partisan public service more than today, as we face the most difficult international economic circumstances in recent history," he wrote. "Public service renewal is about having a public service that can respond creatively to the complex challenges of today and tomorrow."
The Government of Canada has been on the biggest youth recruitment drive since the 1970s as it copes with waves of baby boomers retiring between now and 2012. During the 2007-2008 fiscal year, the government hired more than 4,000 graduates and another 4,200 for 2008-2009.
Sweet deal... I wonder if I can get a government job with a Computer Science degree, once (or if) I get one...
In a macabre scene straight out of, well, a horror video game, Matthew Pyke, who is an avid player of Advance Wars, was murdered, but managed to scrawl part of his alleged killer's name on his computer before dying of multiple stab wounds. The accused killer, David Heiss, from Limburg, Germany, met the victim through the Advance Wars internet forum.
The gaming angle and Web aspect of this story may be new, but the apparent motive for the crime should be familiar to anyone who's ever read a pulp detective novel: It was all over a dame. The dame in question, Joanna Witton, of Nottingham, was dating Pyke, and Heiss knew both of them online. Heiss apparently became obsessed with Witton, and then made several trips from Germany to see the couple.
"I started blanking him as if to say leave me alone. I was afraid he was going to turn up again and I didn't know what he was capable of," Witton told the court in England. "I was willing to smash my laptop up if it meant that I would never speak to him (Heiss) again. I was ready to run away."
Heiss says he flew to England to confront Pyke and Witton over disparaging remarks the couple allegedly made over the Advance Wars forum, but not to kill anyone.
"I thought that once he (Pyke) stepped outside I would give him a beating. It wasn't my intention to put him in hospital, it wasn't my intention to break any bones," Heiss told the court. "At some point we started to punch each other. He was on his back and I was sitting on him. The next thing I felt was something inside my knee. I didn't really feel any pain and I looked down and saw it was the knife. I was terrified. I was trying not to let him attack me. I grabbed his arm and shook it and smashed it against the wall. I was so afraid that he would stab me again but then I stabbed at him."
After arresting Heiss, police also found a fake suicide note, written from Pyke's point of view, among Heiss' possessions. Heiss says he wrote the note to "cheer himself up."
Liberal "leader" Michael Ignatieff called on the Conservative government on Thursday to reveal just how much higher the federal deficit will climb this fiscal year.
The town of Winner has produced a winner... who won $232 million.
A former school board trustee from southern California has been sentenced to two years of informal probation for stealing a bottle of ketchup from a college dining area.
Prosecutors say that a woman in a Detroit suburb has been accused of fatally stabbing her father over an argument over a dinner roll.
An analyst at the Connecticut Police Academy says that a co-worker responded literally to her "bite me" remark and chomped on her.
Remember that movie Slumdog Millionaire? Yeah, you should have at least heard of it by now. Well, two child actors from the Academy Award-winning movie are getting permanent homes after their shantytown dwellings were demolished, according to officials.
Canadian taxpayers are poised to town a stake in the General Motors Corp. under a reorganization plan that is being hammered out for the automaker as it edges towards a bankruptcy-protection filing by Monday.
Canadian senators would be limited to terms of eight years under legislation introduced by the Conservative Party of Canada on Thursday.
Earlier today, cops found a loaded handgun in the home of two children in California. As it turns out, the three-year-old girl accidentally killed her brother.
The Conservative Party of Canada, which currently forms the Government of Canada, is threatening to release more potentially damaging videotapes of Michael Ignatieff in an attempt to discredit the opposition leader.
Remember that guy named Vincent Li? Remember when he chopped the Tim McLean's head off of his body? Yeah, I think you do.
According to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, CTV was unfair and unethical when it broadcast outtakes of an interview with then-Liberal leader Stéphane Dion.
Under fierce questioning, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that the latest round of numbers of Canadians receiving employment insurance benefits show that those who have lost their jobs are already benefitting from the Government of Canada's changes to the EI system.
Yesterday, Transport Minister John Baird dismissed an opposition plan to sweeten Employment Insurance benefits as a "socialist scheme."
Although this is boring, I thought it was kind of funny. According to CIBC, Canadian, American and European consumer spending is expected to contract by $600 billion a year over the next decade as the population begins to build up their savings after being whacked by the financial crisis. Now, that might not be the funny part.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty dismissed questions about boosting employment insurance benefits on Sunday, saying that Canadians want retraining programs to get them back to work rather than extended benefits.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, or Iggy, says that he is ready to "mess" with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but that it won't include personal attack ads.
About a year ago, the City of Saskatoon's transit management asked bus drivers to work longer shifts in a bid to save on escalating overtime costs. But now, the opposite situation has taken hold, according to the City's transit manager.
Remember when Circuit City closed their American stores and liquidated all of their merchandise? Well, that was a sad moment in American history.
Today, the Government of Canada said it is going to allow Canadians to work and draw on their Canada Pension Plan at the same time, which is a move analysts described as a "sea change" in pension policy.
The Liberals' steady increase in public support under Iggy's leadership has apparently levelled off, but the party the remains in a tight spot with the governing Conservative Party of Canada, suggests a new poll.
Victoria entrepreneur Ian Layfield, who sells marijuana, is in Toronto this week to pitch his product to the sharp-toothed judges on the CBC's show, Dragon's Den.
If you are like me, you probably have a credit card too! And if you have a credit card, you probably like to use it, a lot! Well, yesterday, the Government of Canada announced new regulations to force credit card issuers to be more family-friendly in tough times.
Plans for Saskatchewan's tallest building have come to a screeching halt as of lately. The assisted-living component of the proposed 95-metre tall complex in the police station's parking lot (which was to break ground this summer) is at least $10 million over budget, which places the project in jeopardy.
When it comes to the Olympic Games, athletes, coaches and organizers need to receive a lot of training. Well, apparently, those aren't the only people who need training. Hookers also need training.
Canada Post recently announced plans for its 2010 stamp series, which includes a stamp commemorating the giant roadside coffee pot and cup and near Davidson, which happens to be the world's largest.
Cops in Saskatoon are investigating why $220,000 in pension payments have been going into a bank account of a teacher who has not been with us in nearly seven years.
It appears that the Tori Stafford case has come to an end. For weeks, she has been missing, and although the case has come to an end, it is not the ending that we have hoped for.
Do you drink litres and litres of cola everyday? Yeah... you probably do. It tastes great, right?
The mayor of Georgetown, Prince Edward Island is asking Canadians to party East Coast style. Mayor Peter Llewellyn has sent messages to 1,750 communities across Canada, representing 90% of the population, outlining the trouble fishermen in his province are facing and encouraging them to host what he calls a "lobster party."
This week, in American news... the White House will unveil an auto efficiency proposal today and accelerate the timeframe for sharply improving mileage performance, industry and other sources said.
A woman in the Melbourne, Florida area has sued the owner of a pet cemetery over her pet squirrel monkey's grave.
The world's tallest dog, Gibson, who lives in California and stands one metre tall at the shoulder and is listed on the Guinness World Records, has lost a leg.
By now, you should have already heard of The Office. If not, where the fuck have you been, punk?
With more people becoming obese every day, it would stand to reason that attitudes toward obese people should be getting more tolerant, right? Wrong!
Cops in North Carolina say that a teen who was thwarted as he tried to rob a store with a banana ate it before they could arrive.
Blockbuster Inc. is paying $300,000 to resolve a lawsuit allegeging that the video rental chain overcharged some of its customers in California for candy, popcorn, movies and other merchandise.
The American feds have scolded the makers of Cheerios, claiming that the company made inappropriate claims about the popular cereal's ability to lower cholesterol and treat heart disease.
Think you need a vacation? You're not the only one!
The executive at Microsoft that is in charge of the Windows operating system urged some companies last week to dump Vista deployment plans and shift to Windows 7, the new operating system the company has promised to ship in the fourth quarter.
The number of people who were killed in Saskatchewan in collisions involving alcohol increased last year to 74, which is a dramatic 63% increase from the previous three-year average, according to new data recently released from the Government of Saskatchewan's stupid auto insurance company, SGI.
It is now the end of an era in Saskatchewan politics. The final day in the legislature for former premier Lorne Calvert was yesterday.
In many offices this week, a website has replaced Facebook in the time wasting/distraction category (at least in Saskatchewan): the Government of Saskatchewan's new website that allows people to view online reports of health inspections at major establishments in Saskatchewan.
Microsoft has disclosed more details on its timetable for finishing up work on the Windows 7 operating system. An official from the company said that the company hopes to release the OS to its manufacturing division by about mid-August.
B.C. Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell has won a historic third-term as B.C.'s premier with a third majority government.
Sales of new vehicles jumped in March by the largest amount in 14 months, led mainly by higher truck purchases, according to Statistics Canada.
The future has apparently to come to Saskatchewan's provincial courtrooms.
"Green bitumen," an oilsands product that is acceptable to environmentally sensitive buyers, can be achieved but it will come at a very high cost, according to a study released overnight by the Canadian Energy Research Institute.
The global economy is about to turn the corner, leading central banks said on Monday, but there are signs that recovery could be long and painful.
When former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney started testifying today at a federal inquiry charged with getting to the bottom of why the former prime minister took envelopes stuffed with cash from lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber, he took a cheap shot at Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
More than two years after Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a strategy to control cancer, Canadians are signing up for a lifetime of scientific investigation as parts of a decades-long study to determine who develops the disease and why.
Canada's "new" opposition leader Michael Ignatieff has denounced European animal rights activists including Sir Paul McCartney for their hostility to seal hunting.
The crown of the Statue of Liberty will re-open to tourists, effective July 4, 200, the Interior Department said on Friday.
Viruses are stupid and boring organisms, continually adapting and changing, while using a variety of ways to evade the immune system and cause damage.
Parliamentarians are considering whether the Conservative government should create a list of banned criminal organizations, starting with the Hells Angels, just as terrorist organizations are officially blacklisted.
Stephen Harper's Conservative government is charging ahead with another hiring spree of university and college graduates this year and will ratchet up efforts to recruit more mid-career professionals into the public service, according a report by Canada's top bureaucrat.
In a macabre scene straight out of, well, a horror video game, Matthew Pyke, who is an avid player of Advance Wars, was murdered, but managed to scrawl part of his alleged killer's name on his computer before dying of multiple stab wounds. The accused killer, David Heiss, from Limburg, Germany, met the victim through the Advance Wars internet forum.
A group of U.S. senators