The seemingly unstoppable Canadian dollar posted its ninth straight winning session Wednesday and is destined for parity with the U.S. greenback this summer, says a top Canadian economist.
The loonie grew ever closer to that mark Wednesday, closing at 97.48 US cents and flirting with a high last seen five months ago. It has been on a tear since the government released data early this month showing the economy growing at a blistering five per cent in the most recent quarter.
The growth figures, combined with a slightly more hawkish tone from the Bank of Canada, have prompted traders to conclude the bank will soon raise rates to keep the economy from overheating.
Avery Shenfeld, the chief economist at CIBC World Markets, said Wednesday he expects a rate hike in July and growing demand for Canadian investments will drive the loonie beyond parity with the U.S. dollar.
It will climb as high as $1.02 US by September, before dropping to 97 cents US by year's end, he forecasts.
"If, as we expect, the (Bank of Canada) is out in front of the U.S. Federal Reserve by a couple of quarters (in raising interest rates), a higher Canadian dollar will help tighten monetary conditions," Shenfeld said in a report. "It's easy to see the Canadian dollar running a few cents through parity after the first hike."
Many consider the bank to be between a rock and a hard place. If it raises rates, it will push the dollar to parity and put a serious damper on exporters. But if it does not raise rates, then the bank would appear soft on inflation and also possibly damage the economy.
"I think it's an error. They will raise rates, but they shouldn't," said Benjamin Tal, also an economist with CIBC. "It will cool down the economy a little bit, so the hope is they will not do too much. They don't really have a clear target, so they will test the waters with maybe 50 to 75 basis points and take it from there."
The dollar's last dance with parity occurred in July 2008, when oil prices spiked above $145 US a barrel. The Bank of Canada made what it referred to as a conditional commitment almost a year ago to keep record low interest rates of 0.25% steady until the second half of 2010.
With an economic recovery now apparently taking root, many are banking on Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney acting sooner rather than later.
"Nobody should be surprised if the Bank of Canada begins hiking rates as soon as its June-end line in the sand has passed," said Shenfeld, adding he expects rate increases will be implemented at a measured pace. "There's the uncertainty that the Bank of Canada will still face regarding the global outlook after 2010. It's not just Canada that will be weathering a fiscal tightening; it's the U.S., Europe, Japan and China as well."
"Banking reforms could restrain lending room globally, and the U.S. housing market, the root source of the 2008-09 shock, is still a mess. Going full bore with rate hikes in the first year or so of recovery risks having to do an about-face if any of these minefields blow up," said Shenfeld.
The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, is turning for the first time ever to YouTube to put his political spin on last week's Speech from the Throne and is even taking questions at www.youtube.com/talkcanada.
The Office of the Prime Minister announced today that Mr. Harper's reaction to the Speech from the Throne will be streamed tomorrow morning from the House of Commons.
"Canadians, especially younger Canadians, are no longer getting their news from just television, radio and print media. They are turning to new media in increasing numbers," according to a PMO statement.
Politicians both in the Canada and the U.S. often complain they don't like their messages being filtered through the traditional media or having to answer questions from reporters.
"Social media is changing the way Canadians interact with politicians. It allows Canadians to have unfiltered and immediate access to information. Livestreaming compliments our Government's current use of social media," the PMO stated.
Mr. Harper will follow up his viral performance with another appearance on YouTube on Tuesday at 7 p.m. where he will answer selected questions that have to be in by Sunday at 1 p.m. EST.
A Windsor surgeon who performed two unnecessary mastectomies is seeking to have her privileges reinstated at Windsor's Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital in the midst of three investigations into her practice. Dr. Barbara Heartwell, who is under investigation by the hospital, the Ontario Ministry of Health and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, will make her case before a panel of hospital board members at a formal hearing today.
Heartwell's troubles began three weeks ago, when Hotel-Dieu announced she had misread a pathology report and performed an unnecessary mastectomy last fall on Leamington, Ontario woman Laurie Johnston, who never had breast cancer.
On February 23, Heartwell voluntarily stopped performing surgeries at Hotel-Dieu after it was revealed she also removed Janice Laporte's cancer-free breast in 2001.
But three days later, Heartwell "unexpectedly" withdrew her agreement and wanted to return to the operating room. In a rare move, Hotel-Dieu's interim chief of staff at the time, Dr. Kevin Tracey, immediately suspended her privileges, hospital officials said Tuesday.
Under the Ontario Public Hospitals Act and hospital bylaws governing professional staff, Heartwell was entitled to have her suspension reviewed by Hotel-Dieu's medical advisory committee -- comprised of leading physicians at the hospital -- within five days. The committee then makes a recommendation to the hospital's board of directors on whether to reinstate privileges.
A panel of board members will hear submissions Wednesday from the medical advisory committee and Heartwell, who will attend the hearing with her lawyer.
Hospital board chairman Egidio Sovran said the board will act as a quasi-judicial decision maker and "must act impartially in accordance with relevant legislation."
The board will make its decision after considering arguments from both sides.
Heartwell can appeal the decision to the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board, an independent tribunal that holds hearings concerning doctors' hospital privileges. Hotel-Dieu is currently reviewing all of Heartwell's past cases. The Ministry of Health also got involved recently, sending investigators to Windsor.
In addition, the ministry is also reviewing about 3,000 pathology reports following the January 4 suspension of another Hotel-Dieu medical official, pathologist Dr. Olive Williams, over errors in her work. Williams, who analyzed specimens for all three hospitals in the area, has since resigned from Hotel-Dieu.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons is investigating both Heartwell and Williams.
A weekend admission by former Alaskan governor and U.S. vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin over her family's use of the Canadian healthcare system while growing up in Alaska has critics of the outspoken hockey mom crying foul online.
"My first five years of life we spent in Skagway, Alaska, right there by Whitehorse," Palin said during a speech in Calgary on Saturday. "Believe it or not -- this was in the '60s -- we used to hustle on over the border for healthcare that we would receive in Whitehorse. I remember my brother, he burned his ankle in some little kid accident thing and my parents had to put him on a train and rush him over to Whitehorse and I think, isn't that kind of ironic now. Zooming over the border getting healthcare from Canada."
It was little surprise that Sarah Palin's first visit to Canada would be in Calgary. And there was little shock that she was able to curry favour with the local Albertan crowd by speaking at length and with much authority about the Alaska government's process of securing TransCanada for the Alaska Pipeline Project.
But given Palin's previous warnings about the ills of expanding government role in U.S. healthcare, American media and the general blogosphere were buzzing over the claim.
On the Daily Kos website, one post -- entitled Sarah "The Death Panel Queen" Palin Went to Canada for Healthcare -- called the former Alaskan governor "opportunistic" and "hypocritical."
"It's good enough for her, but not for the rest of the American people who don't have easy access to Canada and a system that isn't based on wage discrimination?" the post made on the left-leaning political blog stated.
And Gawker.com also pointed out Palin's comment, writing that her family put her brother on a train "and sent him to Canada for the socialism."
Palin has previously claimed Canada should dismantle its public healthcare system and called the push by U.S. President Barack Obama to nationalize the American system "irresponsible," suggesting the move would allow "death panels" to choose whether Americans would live or die.
The Yukon reference was the only time healthcare was mentioned in Palin's speech or in her subsequent interview with Conservative Senator Pamela Wallin, who is still best known as a veteran TV journalist.
Wallin instead pressed Palin on why she wanted to be a political leader if she was warning members of the Tea Party Patriots -- a disparate group of anti-tax, libertarian activists -- not to take someone on as their leader because "a politician will disappoint."
Palin also spoke about how, as governor, she significantly hiked state taxes for oil companies, or, in her words, "readjusted the value" of extracting a resource that belong to Alaskans.
Several conservative Alberta politicians were in attendance at the Calgary event, including former premier Ralph Klein, federal cabinet minister Stockwell Day, Calgary MPs Rob Anders and Lee Richardson, and Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith -- who has drawn many comparisons to the former U.S. vice-presidential hopeful.
U.S. President Barack Obama cast America's private health insurance companies Monday as the premium-hiking villains in the nation's healthcare crisis and hailed Canada's publicly funded healthcare as a system that "works."
But as he embarked on a spirited and far more partisan phase of his campaign to pass landmark healthcare legislation, Obama defended himself against liberal critics who feel betrayed the White House has abandoned plans to create a U.S. government-run insurance program.
"On one side of the spectrum, there were those at the beginning of this process who wanted to scrap our system of private insurance and replace it with a government-run healthcare system like they have in some other countries," Obama told an audience in Glenside, Pennsylvania. "Look, it works. It works in places like Canada, but I didn't think it was going to be practical and realistic to do it here."
Obama has set a difficult March 18 deadline for the U.S. House of Representatives to act on his demand for passage of a $950 billion healthcare bill that cleared the Senate before Christmas.
The White House is optimistic that Obama could then sign a final version of the legislation, incorporating a series of amendments proposed by the president, into law early this spring.
In the interim, Obama has some heavy lifting to do with the American public, which has become sceptical of a comprehensive bill amid persistent economic concerns and congressional inaction.
Several polls have shown a majority of Americans, though confused about what's in the legislation, want Obama to set aside healthcare reform or start over from scratch.
Obama's speech in Pennsylvania, the first of several he has planned in the coming weeks, was designed to try to turn public opinion around.
Gone was the Obama who sounded more professor than president when pitching healthcare during January's state of the union and his recent healthcare summit in Washington.
He delivered a campaign-style address targeting Republicans who criticize healthcare reform as too costly in a time of economic turmoil, but did not attempt change when they held the levers of power in Washington.
"My question to them is: 'When's the right time? If not now, when? If not us, who?'" Obama said. "You had 10 years. What happened? What were you doing?"
Obama was even less charitable toward private insurance companies that continue to raise premiums on middle-class customers even as they routinely deny coverage to Americans who have pre-existing health conditions.
"The insurance companies continue to ration healthcare based on who's sick and who's healthy, on who can pay and who can't pay," he said.
The president referred to a recent case in California, where Anthem Blue Cross attempted to raise premiums by 39%.
"Because there's so little competition in the insurance industry, they're okay with people being priced out of the insurance market... they'll still make more money by raising premiums on customers that they keep," Obama said. "And they will keep on doing this for as long as they can get away with it."
The White House health plan seeks to provide almost 31 million Americans with medical coverage by imposing an "individual mandate" requiring them to buy insurance, with federal subsidies provided to people who cannot afford a plan.
It would bar insurance companies from denying coverage to the sick, curb massive premium hikes and eliminate the practice of setting lifetime limits on coverage.
The legislation would also seek to lower the cost of private insurance for the middle class by creating a series of healthcare exchanges that would allow people to shop around for better deals.
John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, said Obama's latest healthcare sales pitch was "heavy on snake oil." Republicans contend Obama's plan would drive up the U.S. deficit and force cuts to existing entitlements, such as Medicare coverage to U.S. seniors.
But some Democrats believe Obama needed to regain control of the healthcare narrative by making a moral case for near-universal coverage. At times, Obama has made a more intellectual argument about the threat rising healthcare costs pose to the overall U.S. economy.
"That's the most fiery I've seen him since the early campaign," said Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, who attended Obama's speech. "When I was listening to him I wished that he had given that in the state of the union. If it's the state of the union he would have reached a lot more people."
With a sense of humour and a populist vision, Sarah Palin on Saturday evening brought her message of lower taxes, free markets and energy development to the heart of Canada's oil and gas industry. It was a receptive crowd in Calgary that listened to the 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate in her first public appearance outside the United States since she stepped down as governor of Alaska.
She drew on some Canadian connections in her family history, and recalled how when she was young, those who were ill went to Whitehorse for medical treatment. She lauded the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, noting the Canadian men's hockey gold medal win over the Americans, and the connection of her own family to the game.
But what she really struck on before an audience of more than 1,000 was a message of energy development, competition, smaller government and doubts that climate science is a settled thing.
"We've got to become more energy independent," she said.
Her concern, she said, is waiting for unfriendly regimes to develop their resources. Relying on those puts the United States in a less safe and less prosperous position, she said.
She also brought up the East Anglia climate change e-mail scandal, saying it made "settled science feel a little unsettled." And cap-and-trade proposals to reduce emissions would lead to job losses and a heavier tax burden, she said.
Lauding Canada's approach to the environment, she said that Canada has sought to balance environmental progress with economic concerns.
As she has been before, she was critical of some of the coverage she received when running with John McCain, and said her patience wore thin with the "mainstream media." She noted a reporter told her she had a Canadian accent. "So?" Palin said she responded.
"That interview didn't go very well," Palin told Saturday's crowd. "Not many of them did."
Her low-tax, small-government assertions went down well with a Calgary audience that appeared sympathetic to her vision. The massive debt the United States has incurred is "immoral," she said, as the bill will be left for today's children to eventually pick up.
In the audience were both Calgary business leaders and politicians.
One of those was Conservative MP Lee Richardson. "I thought it was impressive," he said.
Another in the audience was Gary Holden, president and CEO of ENMAX, an energy company. He said Palin is someone of high principal whose conservative views went down well there.
But he also noted the part of her speech in which she spoke of the Alaska pipeline. That pipeline, Holden said, can be viewed as competition to Alberta.
"That's an important thing for the United States to recognize, is that we see ourselves as within on our border being a supplier of oil and gas to the United States," he said. "We aren't necessarily going to benefit if the Alaska pipeline goes ahead."
Microsoft will officially launch Office 2010 to businesses at an event that is slated for May 12, the company announced on Friday.
Enterprises with volume license agreements will be able to obtain the finished product that same day, Microsoft added. Office 2010 is set to go on general sale to consumers and business without licensing deals sometime in June.
As expected, Microsoft today also unveiled a program that provides a free upgrade to Office 2010 for customers who purchase the older Office 2007 between now and September 30.
Earlier this week, Microsoft's chief financial officer had confirmed that the Office 2010 Technology Guarantee Program would launch this month. Last month, details of the free Office 2010 upgrade program leaked to the Internets when a Microsoft technology specialist briefly posted information to the firm's partner community site.
Customers who purchase an eligible copy of Office 2007 between March 5 and September 30 will be allowed to download a corresponding edition of Office 2010 for free when the new suite is available in June. Users who want a DVD installation disc will have to pay a small shipping-and-handling fee. Microsoft said fees would be announced in June.
Buyers of Office Home and Student 2007 will receive a free copy of Office Home and Student 2010, while buyers of Office Standard 2007 and Office Basic 2007 will be eligible for a free copy of Office Home and Business 2010, a new addition to the Office line-up. Purchases of Office Small Business 2007, Office Professional 2007 or Office Ultimate 2007 will be eligible for a free copy of Office Professional 2010.
Office 2010 is the first of Microsoft's suite line to drop less-expensive upgrade editions. Instead, Microsoft plans to sell single-license activation keys via its online store and select retail outlets to customers who want to upgrade from older editions, or from the bare bones Office Starter 2010 that will come pre-installed on new PCs.
There is a limit of 25 free upgrades per person, a standard Microsoft practice meant to push businesses with multiple copies to its volume licensing deals.
Microsoft has set up a website that spells out the upgrade program in detail. To see the website, click here.
Ronald Smith, the only Canadian on death row in the United States, is one step closer to Montana's execution chamber after an appeal court ruling that upheld his death sentence for the brutal murders of two American Indian men in 1982.
But Smith's 25-year fight to avoid a lethal injection for his crime, which has revived the Canadian debate over capital punishment, could ultimately gain a boost from parts of the ruling made Friday, which highlighted his rehabilitation in prison, the "pitiful" failings of his initial defence lawyer and the power of Montana's governor to grant clemency in the case.
In fact, the Seattle Ninth Circuit judges, who upheld Smith's sentence in a 2-1 ruling, nevertheless appeared to send a message directly to Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, who has the authority to commute the 52-year-old Canadian's death penalty despite the failed appeal.
"By all accounts, Smith has reformed his life," majority judges Sidney Thomas and Margaret McKeown stated in their decision.
"He has developed strong relationships with various members of his family and has taken advantage of the educational opportunities offered by the prison that houses him. He has expressed deep regret for his deplorable actions."
However, the judges noted that "the consideration of these issues are beyond our jurisdiction in this case. Clemency claims are committed to the wisdom of the executive branch."
Mark Warren, a Canadian human-rights specialist who has testified on Smith's behalf, said on Sunday that the "extraordinary" phrasing of the judges' ruling is a silver lining in the rejected appeal.
"In 20 years of reviewing death-penalty decisions, I've never seen more surprising language than the final paragraph in the Smith opinion," he said. "The court signalled as clearly as it could that Ron Smith should be granted clemency by the governor of Montana."
Smith, who is from Red Deer, Alberta, initially asked to be executed after confessing to the murders of Harvey Mad Man and Thomas Running Rabbit during a drugs-and-alcohol-fuelled hitchhiking trip to the United States with two Canadian friends.
Smith later claimed that depression, fear and bad legal advice had prompted his prison death wish, and he began trying to avoid execution with help from Canadian government officials.
The clemency issue shot into the Canadian political spotlight in October 2007 when it was revealed that the Conservative government was abruptly ending years of efforts by Canada's diplomats to convince Montana's top politician to commute Smith's death sentence.
Canadian government officials at the time said they were "not going to seek clemency in cases in democratic countries, like the United States, where there has been a fair trial."
But the new hands-off policy, defended at the time by Prime Minister Stephen Harper as consistent with his government's tough-on-crime policies, was ruled "unlawful" last year by the Federal Court of Canada, which ordered federal officials to restart their lobbying effort to prevent Smith's execution.
The Government of Canada later agreed to re-launch the clemency bid, but Smith's lawyers indicated last year that a renewed push to convince Schweitzer to commute the death sentence would likely only begin in earnest after the Ninth Circuit appeal was decided.
Now, because of the court's split decision and the life-and-death issues involved in the Smith case, his legal team is expected to seek an "en banc" review of Friday's ruling by a wider panel of Ninth Circuit judges.
A further appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is also an option, but history suggests Smith stands little chance of winning there.
For now, only Schweitzer's intervention could halt the momentum toward Smith's execution.
The publisher of a Texas newspaper that ran a column equating Canada's patriotic Olympic fervour with Nazi-era Germany has apologized.
Gary Wortel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram said Friday that although he believes in "great flexibility" in terms of what opinion writers can say, sports columnist Gil LeBreton went too far by equating Canadians' flag-waving festivities with Germany having "swastikas everywhere" during the 1936 Olympics.
In a letter posted online, Wortel called LeBreton's comparison of the 2010 Vancouver Games to the Berlin Games "insensitive."
"As publisher of the Star-Telegram, I apologize to readers and all Canadians who were offended by sports columnist Gil LeBreton's insensitive comparison of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games to those that occurred in Berlin in 1936," he wrote.
"We reacted quickly to the column with an online apology from LeBreton late Monday and an in-paper version the next day."
"Some have accepted the apology; others have not. I want to personally say that I'm sorry the column appeared in my newspaper, and I know LeBreton sincerely regrets his comments."
"I, like many Americans, have strong ties to Canada," he wrote.
"I was born in Canada and my Dutch parents were liberated by Canadian soldiers after WWII. Canada should be very proud of what its athletes accomplished in Vancouver and for the gracious, enthusiastic way it hosted the 2010 Winter Games."
The article, as it appeared online, is below:
By Gil LeBreton
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- After a spirited torch relay ignited pride in every corner of the country, the Olympic Games began and quickly galvanized the nation.
Flags were everywhere. The country's national symbol hung from windows and was worn on nearly everyone's clothing.
Fervent crowds cheered every victory by the host nation.
But enough about the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
At the opening of these Olympic Winter Games more than two weeks ago, Vancouver organizers expressed the hope that they could show the world a truly "Canadian Games."
That they succeeded in that, there is little doubt.
For 17 days we were barraged with Canadian flags, rode buses and trains with people in sweatshirts and jerseys adorned with Canadian maple leafs, and were serenaded at venues by Canadian spectators, lustily cheering for Canadian athletes.
The first Olympics I ever attended were also in Canada, the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal. For a kid not long out of college, it was a profound experience, seeing Lasse Viren, Alberto Juantorena, Nadia Comaneci -- the athletes of the world -- on the sporting world's grandest stage.
One of the speakers at that Olympics used a phrase that lingers with me still: the family of man.
There is no earthly event that reinforces that notion as well as an Olympic Games. For all of the latter-day Games' inherent commercialism, that ideal persists. I truly believe that.
It persists, despite the overwhelming chauvinism of the past two weeks.
They showed us Canadian Games, all right. And in most cases, nothing but Canadian Games.
I'm not talking about TV coverage. I have no idea what Bob Costas and NBC were televising back in the States.
But from the opening ceremony to Sunday's closing, from the tragic death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili to Sunday's gold-medal hockey game, on the streets of Vancouver and at the Olympic venues, only a token nod was given to the rest of the world's athletes.
I was as surprised as I was disappointed.
Had the classic Canadian inferiority complex finally decided to bite back? Or was this a dark consequence of the Own the Podium program?
At the Games' outset, Canada's obsession with finally winning its first gold medal as a host nation was understandable -- quaint, almost.
But that story swiftly swept the luge tragedy off the front pages. There were no follow-up stories about investigations, memorials or retributions to the family.
Kumaritashvili himself was blamed for the fatal accident. The luge competition went on. Some Canadian lugers even callously complained about the shortening of the track.
And so the tone for these Games was set.
It was Canada's party, and no dead luger, no critical British tabloid and no visiting Americans were going to spoil it.
That attitude is regrettable, because a good, if not especially memorable, Olympics followed.
U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn won her cherished gold medal in the women's downhill, validating all the product endorsements and cover shoots she will have between now and 2014.
Evan Lysacek struck a blow for U.S. men's figure skating, giving legendary coach Frank Carroll an Olympic champion for the first time.
Texas-based Olympians fared well, winning five medals, which is as many as Finland, Japan and Italy.
Speedskater Chad Hedrick of Spring earned silver and bronze medals, Denton's Jordan Malone won a relay bronze in short track, and the Dallas Stars' Brenden Morrow (gold) and Jere Lehtinen (bronze) are going home with hockey medals.
But a lot happened that didn't make the front pages of the Vancouver newspapers or find its way into the Canadian TV network's opening montage.
Norway's Marit Bjoergen won three gold medals, a silver and a bronze in cross-country skiing to become the ninth athlete to win five medals at a single Winter Olympics.
Skier Maria Riesch finished in the top 10 in all five Alpine events. Her native country, Germany, won at least one medal on every day of this Winter Olympics.
American short track speedskater Apolo Ohno won three medals, giving him eight and making him the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian of all time. But that's nothing -- Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, at age 36, won two biathlon medals and now has 11.
Canada's rush to the victory stand over the Games' final week resulted in a Winter Olympics record for a single nation, 14 total. The U.S. hockey team can take solace that its silver-medal finish Sunday was the Americans' 37th medal, also a record for one nation.
But for the most part, the most underappreciated soul at these Olympics was an American or a European on the medals stand.
Yes, every host nation cheers lustily for its native Olympians. But never in my experience to the extent that we saw here, where the rest of the world's athletes were little more than drink coasters at the party.
South Korean Kim Yu-Na's dazzling gold-medal performance in women's figure skating, for example, was overwhelmed here by the attention given to Quebec's Joannie Rochette, whose mother tragically died.
Chief organizer of the Games, John Furlong, mentioned Kumaritashvili briefly in his Closing Ceremony remarks. But the hosts' insensitivity had long ago been duly noted.
At a news conference Saturday, for example, someone asked Ken Melamed, mayor of Whistler, where the luge run was located, if the village planned some sort of memorial to the luger from Georgia.
Why, yes, the mayor said, "We have to find a way to acknowledge Nodar . . . and the Canadian athletes that have done well."
See? They don't get it.
The Vancouver Games' ticketing policy didn't help the partisan scene at the venues. To order Olympic tickets through the Vancouver 2010 Web site, a buyer had to have a Canadian address.
China sold 6.8 million tickets to its 2008 Summer Olympics. Vancouver only made 1.6 million available. The Canadians wanted to "Own the Podium," but organizers made sure that they owned the grandstands at each venue as well.
I'm still mystified that Canada fans were able to grab what seemed to be 98 per cent of the tickets at the hockey venue. Olympic crowds have always been more inclusive.
In his closing news conference Sunday, IOC president Jacques Rogge acknowledged that there were "teething pains" as the Vancouver Games began.
"There was an extraordinary embrace by the city of Vancouver," he said. "Something I've never seen before."
There was embracing, all right, but then Canadians have always had the reputation for drinking a lot of beer. The loose marijuana laws only added to the nightly revelry in the downtown streets -- which, frankly, seemed to have little to do with the Olympics.
Canada wanted to hold a party, and the Canadians did. The gold medals only seemed to fuel them.
Team Canada hockey jerseys became the uniform of the streets. Maple leafs were either hanging or on clothing everywhere.
One thing I never saw: a simple flag or shirt with the five Olympic rings. Not anywhere. After 15 Olympics, that was a first.
I didn't attend the '36 Olympics, but I've seen the pictures. Swastikas everywhere.
No political reference is meant, just an Olympic one. What on earth were the Canadians thinking?
An Olympic host is supposed to welcome the world. This one was too busy being (their word) "patriotic."
"Now you know us, eh?" chief organizer Furlong said.
We thought we did two weeks ago. Now, I'm wondering if Canadians can even recognize themselves.
One day after Avatar was disappointed at the Oscars, a Vancouver restaurant owner plans to file a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court today claiming copyright infringement against director James Cameron and other makers of the highest-grossing film of all time.
Emil Malak, 57, says the similarities between his Terra Incognita and James Cameron's Avatar are too striking to simply be a coincidence.
Malak's lawyer Suzan El-Khatib said the claim to be filed today will name, among others, Avatar writer and director James Cameron, his company Lightstorm Entertainment Inc., and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.
El-Khatib said there are both general and specific similarities in the two stories including the premise of humans going to mine precious minerals on a planet inhabited by indigenous people.
In both stories, she said, a tree is a focal point and contains the collective memories of the indigenous people. In Terra Incognita, it is a Life Tree. Cameron calls it the "Hometree."
Even the characters are similar, she said, with both incorporating spotted faces, long braided hair, flat noses and yellow eyes.
"They are quite alike," El-Khatib said yesterday.
She said the suit will make a claim against the defendants for "damages for copyright infringement for substantially reproducing, adapting and publicly presenting, or in the alternative authorizing such acts, the plaintiffs work as a literary work and a cinematographic work entitled Avatar."
Malak, who owns the Bellaggio Cafe at Hornby Street and Robson Street in Vancouver, began thinking about his sci-fi tale in 1996 at the suggestion of his then seven- and eight-year-old sons who wanted him to write something more exciting than the opera and historical fiction he'd been working on.
It was a turning point in Malak's life. In 1996 he had lost his Granville Island Hotel in a $5 million bankruptcy.
"I took a three-year sabbatical. I lived on about $2-300 a month. I stayed with my brother in Richmond and did nothing but write," said Malak.
He began putting pen to paper for what he calls his "children's story" in 1997 and in the end he figures he spent $100,000 on his script.
He hired a graphic artist to draw his character designs and a screen writer to co-write the script. He took a screen writing course and first copyrighted his work with the Writers Guild of Canada in 1998. He copyrighted it with the guild nine more times between 1998 and 2003, every time he advanced the story and characters.
In a February 27, 1998 note filed with his documents at the Writers Guild of Canada, he wrote that he was copywriting his work because he was "afraid of the big boys."
"I had just lost Granville Island (and) lost $5 million so you become very intuitive. You don't trust anybody," said Malak. "I was so scared someone was going to steal it."
Malak, who was born in Egypt, educated in England and moved to Canada in 1993, believes it was October 2002 when he sent his script and graphic designs to about twenty movie studios including Cameron and his company Lightstorm Entertainment Inc.
He got no response and the script was never returned to him. Malak was stunned to learn of the similarities between his story and Avatar when the movie was released late last year.
Malak told The Province newspaper he believes that James Cameron had an idea similar to his - to write about indigenous people on another planet - but there's no way to account for stories that are up to 60% similar in his opinion.
"Is it possible that two ends can come up with so much similarities? Life tree, same mining material just called different names, the tails?" said Malak. "The basic building blocks of both stories are very similar."
In the end, Malak believes Avatar was shaped in part by his story and he is filing the B.C. Supreme Court writ today because he wants it to be known. He insists it's not about the money.
"I eat three times a day. I have a great life," he said. "The big boys have to recognize you can't just take things and make it a part of yours and walk all over the small guys."
"In my own heart I'm very happy and very comfortable that my vision has become a blockbuster."
A massive asteroid was to blame for the demise of the dinosaur, and not a volcanic eruption, scientists have finally agreed. The team of 41 international scientists came to their conclusion after analysing the past 20 years of research.
The mass extinction wiped out more than half of all species on the planet, including the dinosaurs and some large marine reptiles, the scientists decided.
They concluded the impact, that happened around 65 million years ago, cleared the way for mammals to become Earth's dominant species. The 15-kilometre wide asteroid is believed to have hit the planet with a force one billion times more powerful than the atomic bomb at Hiroshima.
It resulted in the crater known as the Chicxulub crater buried underneath the Yucatan Peninsula.
The asteroid, about the size of the Isle of Wight, would have blasted material at high speed into the atmosphere. That set off a chain of events that caused a global winter, wiping out much of life on Earth in a matter of days, the review says.
Scientists had previously argued about whether the so-called Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) extinction was caused by the asteroid or by volcanic activity in India over 1.5 million years. For the new study, scientists analysed 20 years of work by palaeontologists, geochemists, climate modellers, geophysicists and sedimentologists.
They concluded that geological records show the event that triggered the extinction destroyed marine and land ecosystems rapidly, meaning an asteroid impact was the only plausible explanation.
Dr Joanna Morgan, co-author of the review from Imperial College London, said: "We now have great confidence that an asteroid was the cause of the KT extinction."
"This shrouded the planet in darkness and caused a global winter, killing off many species that couldn't adapt to this hellish environment."
Co-author Dr. Gareth Collins, also from Imperial College, added: "The explosion of hot rock and gas would have looked like a huge ball of fire on the horizon, grilling any living creature in the immediate vicinity that couldn't find shelter."
"Ironically, while this hellish day signalled the end of the 160-million-year reign of the dinosaurs, it turned out to be a great day for mammals who had lived in the shadow of the dinosaurs prior to this event."
"The KT extinction was a pivotal moment in Earth's history, which ultimately paved the way for humans to become the dominant species on Earth."
A group of Saskatchewan First Nations says it is partnering with the Seminole Indian Tribe of Florida to pitch a 55,000 seat stadium and hotel and casino project for downtown Regina.
However, the project, with an estimated cost of $1.2 billion -- hinges on the Government of Saskatchewan's willingness to sell its casinos in Regina and Moose Jaw, said Chief Rick Gamble of the Beardy's and Okemasis First Nation, one of ten First Nations in Saskatchewan backing the plan.
"If they say they don't want to sell the casinos, this proposal dies," Gamble said in an interview Thursday.
Gamble said the project has significant financial backing from the Seminole Tribe, which in 2006 purchased the Hard Rock chain. The parties would also be looking for the provincial government to contribute some money from the sale of the casinos toward construction of a stadium, as well as to the Government of Canada for infrastructure money, he said, adding that ongoing casino proceeds would help cover costs.
However, Enterprise Minister Ken Cheveldayoff told reporters Thursday that the money-making casinos operated by Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation are not on the auction block. Even so, he said he still looks forward to meeting with the proponents of the project to discuss the group's ideas further.
"I've always said right from the beginning that I don't want to cut any private sector proposal short. I want to hear it full out. I want to see the full proposal in its entirety," Cheveldayoff said.
He added that six other private sector groups have also come to the government with ideas for building a stadium or a related development. A feasibility study paid for by all three levels of government and the Saskatchewan Roughriders was released Monday, and found a covered stadium could be built downtown at a minimum cost of $386 million, and could operate without ongoing operating subsidies.
With that report now on the table, Cheveldayoff said the government wants to again have a discussion with interested private sector players to see how they might play a role.
Gamble said the project being pursued by the First Nations envisions a Hard Rock hotel and cafe being attached to a new stadium located downtown along Dewdney Avenue. The existing casino would eventually move into the hotel, and the old casino would become home to high-end shops, Gamble said. The First Nations and the Seminoles, along with involvement by the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan, would have joint ownership, he said.
Celebrated Canadian architect Douglas Cardinal has been commissioned to produce a potential design for a retractable roof stadium.
Regina Mayor Pat Fiacco said he previously met with the First Nations group and heard what they have to say, just as he has met with other groups pursuing stadium ideas.
"It's certainly big. There's no question their proposal goes far beyond the scope of a new entertainment facility. It is a major redevelopment of that entire property," Fiacco said.
No commitments have been made to any project, he said. But no matter what happens on that downtown property, the city will likely have a role to play because there is basic infrastructure work that will need to be done, Fiacco said.
"I think we have an obligation to do that. To what degree, that's a decision that council will make and we haven't spoken about dollars yet," Fiacco said
Saskatchewan Roughriders president and chief executive Jim Hopson said the club has no position for or against the proposal, but met with the group to hear its ideas.
"I saw it as just an informational meeting by a group of interested people," said Hopson, who said interest from the community and private sector is "great."
"But we really have no opinion on whether it's possible (or) could it happen."
Hopson did note that the size of the stadium being discussed by the group is larger than what the team feels is best suited to its needs, which is around the 33,000 mark and expandable to more than 45,000 for events such as the Grey Cup.
Gamble maintained that he hopes the provincial government will consider the casino sale to make the First Nations proposal happen.
"Quite frankly, (our proposal) was precipitated by the fact that we were made to understand that they were for sale, that they wanted to get out the gaming industry, they didn't want to be running casinos," said Gamble, who would not specify who in government had indicated the casinos could be sold.
He said a plus for the group's proposal is that it wouldn't saddle taxpayers with a big financial burden.
"Who is going to step up to the plate in the manner that we are prepared to do?" he said. "It involves First Nations and a lot of creativity and a lot of financial backing from very capable people."
Canadians will be using newly-designed money printed on polymer instead of cotton-based paper bills by next year as part of a plan to modernize the currency and crack down on counterfeiting, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced Thursday in the federal budget.
The Bank of Canada is anticipating that it will start printing the new bills within the next 18 months.
"These new notes will have security features and they will be easy to authenticate," said Julie Girard, a spokesperson for the Bank of Canada. "People will know if it's genuine and (the new bank notes) will be hard to counterfeit. All of this will help us stay ahead of counterfeiters."
Loonies and toonies are also slated to undergo changes in their composition to reduce costs at the Royal Canadian Mint, but "will bear the same look and feel" as the existing ones, said Royal Canadian Mint spokesperson Christine Aquino.
Canadian nickels, dimes, quarters and half-dollars already switched to the patented multi-ply plated steel technology in 2000. It is less expensive than producing coins that are primarily made out of nickel or copper.
Girard said the government will be printing fewer notes since bills made of polymer can last up to two to three times longer than the cotton-based paper bills. The material is considered to be more durable and resistant to tears or damage.
The polymer-based bank notes have already been adopted in other countries, such as Australia. While the Finance Department indicated that there is only one manufacturer of the polymer material, based in Australia, Girard said that the notes would still be printed in Canada.
The bills are expected to have a revamped design, including a small window on the bill that prevents it from being photocopied. The budget also said that the changes would reduce the impact on the environment because the bank notes would last longer and can be recycled.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday decided to roll the political dice on healthcare reform, telling Congress it "owes the American people a final vote" on a $950-million bill aimed at providing insurance to 31 million people lacking medical coverage.
After failing last week to win Republican support for the long-stalled legislation, Obama told Democratic leaders in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives they have a responsibility to move ahead without backing from the opposition party. He asked that a final vote be held within the next few weeks, likely before lawmakers break for Easter.
"We can't just give up because the politics are hard," Obama said in a 15-minute White House speech.
"At stake right now is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem."
Obama's decision to force a conclusion to Washington's yearlong debate comes after a high-stakes healthcare summit with Republican leaders on February 25 collapsed without any significant compromise from either side.
Republicans demanded Obama scrap plans for a comprehensive healthcare bill -- calling it an unaffordable intrusion by the U.S. government -- and asked that Democrats start over with a more piecemeal approach that addressed the most egregious abuses in the system.
But Obama said Wednesday any effort to "tinker around the edges" of the country's $2.5-trillion-a-year healthcare system was pointless.
He argued such an approach would not address the biggest problems in the U.S. system -- lack of access to affordable care for the uninsured, the practice of denying coverage of Americans with pre-existing health conditions and skyrocketing out-of-pocket costs for companies and families.
"The fact is, health reform only works if you take care of all these problems at once," Obama said.
In deciding it's now or never for healthcare reform, Obama is taking the biggest risk of his presidency outside of his decision to launch a military surge in Afghanistan.
Support for Obama's signature domestic policy initiative has fallen steadily amid delays in Congress and as the American public's priorities shifted to concerns about stubbornly high unemployment.
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed separate versions of healthcare legislation before Christmas.
Plans to pass a final bill for Obama's signature, however, got shelved in January when Democrats lost their 60-seat, filibuster-proof "supermajority" in the Senate after the election of Republican Scott Brown to the late Edward Kennedy's seat in Massachusetts.
Now Democrats must use a complicated legislative fast-track process called 'reconciliation' that will force an "up or down" vote in the Senate, allowing passage of the legislation with a simple 50-plus-one majority.
The strategy is for the House of Representatives to pass the existing Senate bill, and then have both chambers adopt amendments to incorporate new proposals from Obama, including four ideas proposed last week by Republicans.
The completed legislation would then be presented to Obama to sign into law.
Obama is facing a potentially substantial hurdle in the House of Representatives, where passage of a revised healthcare bill is threatened by pro-life Democrats who want tighter restrictions on federal funding for abortion.
Other Democrats are nervous about polls showing a majority of Americans want healthcare put aside for a greater focus on the economy.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called Obama's legislation "politically toxic in the extreme" and predicted its passage would turn the midterm congressional elections in November into a national referendum on the issue.
"You ignore the overwhelming desires of the American people at your own peril," McConnell said.
But Obama cast the healthcare issue as a test of leadership.
"I know there's a fascination, bordering on obsession in the media in this town about what passing health insurance reform would mean for the next election and the one after that... that's not why we're here," Obama said. "I don't know how this plays politically, but I know it's right."
The White House health plan seeks to provide almost 31 million Americans with medical coverage by imposing an "individual mandate" requiring them to buy insurance, with federal subsidies provided to people who cannot afford a plan. It would also bar insurance companies from denying coverage to the sick, curb massive premium hikes and eliminate the practice of setting lifetime limits on coverage.
The legislation would also seek to lower the cost of private insurance for the middle class by creating a series of healthcare exchanges that would allow people to shop around for better deals.
Obama has rejected the idea -- favoured by many liberal Democrats -- of creating a government-run health insurance program to compete with private providers.
Three days after Canadians belted out "O Canada!" to celebrate Canada's Olympic hockey win, Stephen Harper's Conservative government is asking whether the anthem should be changed.
The phrase "In all thy sons command" has some women calling for a gender-neutral version, Industry Minister Tony Clement says, citing an email from a constituent.
"For 50 years... I've listened to our anthem and felt excluded by the line," Tina Prietz, 60, of Huntsville, Ontario, wrote to Mr. Clement. "Yes, you've guessed it, I'm female."
The Conservative government said in Wednesday's Speech from the Throne that it will ask Parliament to examine the original wording of the anthem. Officials said later a parliamentary committee will study whether the phrase "In all thy sons command" should be changed to "Thou dost in us command," which the Office of the Prime Minister says is the wording from the original version.
Mr. Harper's aide Andrew MacDougall said the government does not have a view on the change.
Prietz said she was proud to see so many Canadians win gold medals and hear the national anthem during the Olympics, but added some of the words stick in her craw.
"I would love to see the anthem slightly changed to 'In all of us command,'" Prietz said.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff doesn't object to a more "gender-sensitive" anthem, but said the government should take serious steps to improve the status of women. The anthem is based on lyrics penned in 1908, and slightly altered in the 1980 National Anthem Act. The original French version survives unaltered.
Nancy Charest, a Liberal candidate from Quebec (it is unknown if she is related to Quebec Premier Jean Charest), has suggested that Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff does not have the ability to push for what is in the best interest of Quebecers.
Charest, the party's candidate for the riding of Mitis-Matane-Matapedia in eastern Quebec, made the comments during a cocktail reception for the Liberal Party on February 18 in Matane, Quebec.
The event was held to bid farewell to former Liberal lieutenant Denis Coderre, who resigned after a dispute with Ignatieff.
"I believe Mr. Ignatieff understands our realities but he doesn't have the ability to give Quebec what it wants," Charest said during a speech.
Charest didn't hide her admiration for Coderre, who represents the Quebec riding of Bourassa.
"A person who allowed me to stay the course is Denis Coderre because of his authenticity and perseverance with these issues," she said. "He's my favourite!"
Asked about the state of his relationship with the Liberal leader, Coderre joked that the two likely wouldn't be heading off on a weekend getaway together anytime soon.
"It is clear, in my opinion... that people who once had hope with the arrival of Michael Ignatieff as the head of the Liberal Party of Canada will surely be better represented by the actions of the Bloc Quebecois in Ottawa," he said.
In its biggest investment of its kind to date, the Government of Canada announced on Tuesday that investments of up to $19 million for the creation of a canola cluster to bring together scientific expertise to research the crop.
Included in the funds is $4.6 million to research Club-root disease in canola, which threatens production. Work is already underway at this point in time.
The main factor in the decision on the funding was to make the industry more competitive and capture higher market percentages. The funding is going to the Canola Council of Canada to lead research in partnership with the Flax Council of Canada, industry scientists and universities.
"The oil seed industry is an important driver of Canada's economy and that's why our government is making strategic investments to keep our producers on the cutting-edge of innovation," said Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. "This research will help our producers protect their crops, build their operations and their profitability, expand their markets, and continue to provide a healthy product for consumers around the world."
Three areas are to be the focus of research: oil nutrition, meal nutrition and production. The cluster will also focus on nutritional benefits of flax for humans and animals.
A Leamington, Ontario woman who underwent an unnecessary mastectomy at Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital in Windsor, Ontario, has a prominent Toronto law firm and one of the most powerful public relations companies on the planet launching legal action on her behalf.
Laurie Johnston will hold a news conference Wednesday at the office of law firm Torkin Manes. In a media advisory, PR giant Hill & Knowlton said Johnston "will make a statement about the reasons for her legal action."
It will be Johnston's first public statement since she learned she wasn't the first patient at Hotel-Dieu to have a breast removed unnecessarily.
Johnston, who had a cancer-free breast removed by Dr. Barbara Heartwell in November of 2009, and Janice Laporte, a Sarnia, Ontario woman who underwent an unnecessary mastectomy by the same surgeon in 2001, have triggered probes by the Ontario Ministry of Health and the provincial body that regulates doctors. Hotel-Dieu is also reviewing cases involving Heartwell and pathologist Dr. Olive Williams.
Dr. Heartwell has voluntarily stopped operating last week after Hotel-Dieu officials learned through the media of the unnecessary mastectomies. At the time that Dr. Heartwell stepped down, the hospital announced it had suspended Dr. Williams on January 4 after reviewing her pathology reports since November.
Torkin Manes chairman Ronald Manes has been repeatedly named one of the best lawyers in Canada by his peers and is a governor of the Law Society of Upper Canada, which is the body that regulates lawyers.
Johnston's case is being handled by Barbara MacFarlane, who, according to the Torkin Manes website, is one of three lawyers at the firm who handle medical malpractice suits.
Harvey Strosberg, a Windsor lawyer who has litigated several medical malpractice suits, said there is no question Johnston has a strong case.
"This is a case where the doctor says, 'I made a mistake.' It's just a matter of damages. That's the kind of case that will probably never see the inside of a courtroom," Strosberg explained.
Strosberg predicted Johnston's lawyer will likely negotiate a settlement. Doctors are insured through the Canadian Medical Protective Association, a non-profit organization funded by doctors and the provincial government that pays damages in medical malpractice suits.
"Surgeons make mistakes from time to time. It's tragic when it happens," Strosberg said.
Did you know that it has been "illegal" to drive while texting or talking on your cellular phone (with the exception of a hands-free device) since January 1? Well, if you didn't, you had a grace period of up until March 1.
Now, cops are not going to be that lenient anymore.
"For the first couple of months we were issuing warnings in the hopes that people would break old habits and develop safer habits," said Saskatoon Police Service Staff Sergeant. Grant Obst.
Drivers who do not adopt safer driving habits risk getting a $280 ticket and four demerit points on safe driver programs. The legislation states that people cannot surf the Internet or send text messages or emails while driving.
Drivers are also not allowed to send or receive phone calls unless it is done with a hands-free device.
The Saskatoon Police Service will now be focusing more on drivers who violate the legislation.
"We think by telling everyone that we are out there in an undercover and high-profile capacity, then maybe they will think twice about engaging in that risky behaviour," Obst said.
Cops will be at location throughout Saskatoon in squad cars and unmarked vehicles. However, a problem that cops face is that people often use their handheld devices out of view, such as when they send a text with their phone in their lap.
To get a better view, officers will be in unmarked high-clearance vehicles such as trucks or SUVs. Obst said he believed 17 tickets were handed out Monday to people who were using their handheld devices while driving.
"Our goal is not to go out and write a whole bunch of tickets, our goal is to get motorists to comply," Obst said.
By saying that writing tickets isn't the goal of police officers, Obst may be taking the fun out of being a police officer.
Regina's residents seem to be turning into bookworms, thanks to the new single integrated library system (SILS), known as the Saskatchewan Information & Library Services Consortium, which allows users to order materials from any library in Saskatchewan and have them brought in to the branch of their choice.
So far, SILS has been in use at four public libraries. By the end of the year, all of Saskatchewan's 306 public libraries will be connected with the convenience of a single library card.
Already in the first month of operation, the Regina Public Library loaned 1,700 items to Saskatoon, which is a significant increase from the 100 items loaned to the same library all of last year.
"It seems to have caught on very well, for Regina in particular," said Jeff Barber, Regina Public Library director. "We've had very busy libraries."
The idea to integrate libraries was sparked five years ago, but it was brought to life in October 2008 when the Government of Saskatchewan committed $5.2 million for the system, the first of its kind in Canada.
Last December, Saskatoon became the first library to adopt the system, followed by the Palliser Regional Library, Southeast Regional Library and the Regina Public Library in early February.
The remainder of the six library systems will be phased in throughout the course of the year.
Barber said the potential of SILS is endless as new interactive modules are introduced to readers both off and online.
Users will have access to professional reviews of literature and add their own opinions as well. Online services can also be expanded further to allow users to pay fines and use systems from mobile devices.
Alberta and Ontario are already examining if they would like to place their libraries all under one umbrella, but Barber said expansion outside of Saskatchewan is highly unlikely.
But still, being the first to lead the way is something of which Saskatchewan can be proud, he added.
"Saskatchewan is used to leading, trying new things and being cooperative," said Barber. "We are the largest implementation that we know of in the world and it's a great feeling."
So far, the system has had a few minor glitches as administrators work on implementing some suggestions from the public. But for the most part, Barber said the transitions from old to new have been relatively smooth.
The project brings together members of the Saskatchewan Information and Library Services Consortium, made up of ten library systems and the Provincial Library, which is a branch of the Ministry of Education.
Governor General Michaëlle Jean will travel to her native Haiti next Monday for a two-day visit of the devastated country that was rocked by a powerful earthquake on January 12.
In making the announcement Tuesday, the Office of the Prime Minister said that Jean would also make a stop in the Dominican Republic, in what is being described as a "working visit."
"The Governor General will also use the opportunity to underscore the importance of education, culture, women and youth within the broader reconstruction and recovery," a news release said.
Jean was to commend the Dominican Republic for "its leadership in responding to the crisis in Haiti, and will encourage the Dominican Republic to remain engaged in the long-term reconstruction of Haiti, as well as in the development strategy for the Island of Hispaniola."
The trip will mark the first time Jean has visited Haiti since the earthquake killed more than 200,000 people and left tens of thousands homeless.
"We know that the island is experiencing terrible suffering, not only because of the earthquake, but also because of the poverty, which was already endemic before the disaster," said Jean in a news release.
Jean was born in the Haitian town of Jacmel, in 1957.
Several of Jean's family members still live in Haiti, but she has not said much publicly about any deaths among family and friends. She was expected to be accompanied by her husband, Jean-Daniel Lafond for the March 8-10 trip, the release said.
The Merchant Law Group is launching another class-action lawsuit against Toyota, which is the third such legal action by the Regina-based law firm. This time the vehicle in question is the Pontiac Vibe, a vehicle marketed by General Motors but manufactured by Toyota.
"These claims being issued across Canada yesterday and today -- Quebec and B.C. yesterday, today in most other jurisdictions -- are in connection with the Pontiac Vibe," lawyer Tony Merchant said yesterday.
Merchant said that the compact sport utility vehicle, despite bearing the Pontiac nameplate, is actually manufactured by Toyota and is a "veritable twin" of the Toyota Matrix. Wow... what a strange accusation, and retarded, I may add.
"It really isn't a General Motors product. It is virtually identical to one of the Toyota products. It's manufactured by Toyota at their Fremont, California, plant," he said.
The "product liability" class action is the third one launched by the Merchant Law Group against Toyota in recent weeks. In the first claim, Merchant claims that accelerator problems in Toyota products are due to a defect in the electronics systems of the vehicles, rather than a mechanical problem. So, wait... what proof does Merchant have?
Merchant also argues that the accelerator problems, which have caused Toyota to recall 270,000 vehicles sold in Canada, actually affect about 400,000 Toyotas and Lexus vehicles sold in the country since 1999. Again, where is his proof?
In the second action, Merchant claims defective electronics also caused braking problems in about 30,000 Prius and Lexus hybrid vehicles.
The third lawsuit, which was launched this week, claims that 28,000 Pontiac Vibe vehicles built in 2009 and 2010 share the same electronics systems with Toyota vehicles and consequently have the same accelerator defect. Wow... this is just getting retarded!
The class-action lawsuit also argues the "steel reinforcement bar" being installed on Toyota-manufactured vehicles to fix the accelerator problem "does not correct the design flaw" and "diminishes the value of the Pontiac Vibe." Again, where is his freaking proof?
"Low-tech solutions to high-tech problems simply don't work,'" Merchant said in a press release issued from his Regina office. "Toyota's problems are extremely difficult to solve."
The allegations contained in the statements of claim have not been proven in court and the class-action lawsuits have not been certified by any court.
According to recent news reports, the recall on 2009 and 2010 Vibes affects 1,357 vehicles in Canada. These Vibes were made by New United Motor Manufacturing, or NUMMI, a joint venture between General Motors Co. and Toyota that ended last year.
In Canada, the 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe models is included in two Toyota recalls related to unintended acceleration. One recall is for "sticking accelerator pedals" and one for "possible floor-mat entrapment."
Residents of a tiny Yup'ik Eskimo village in Alaska are preparing to become the United States' first climate refugees and flee their homes as the thawing permafrost beneath washes away. Residents of Newtok, a settlement of 350 people on the banks of the rapidly eroding Ninglick River in western Alaska, feel fortunate.
They are building a new village called Mertarvik, at an elevation of about 300 feet (91 metres) on adjacent Nelson Island, with help from military personnel under a U.S. Defence Department training program. Many residents expect to be living there by 2012.
"It's a rolling hill, with a good water source. It's really nice and high," said Stanley Tom, administrator of the Newtok tribal government.
Newtok, about 500 miles (805 km) west of Anchorage and far from the state's road system, is among the nearly 200 Native villages the federal government has found to have serious erosion or flooding problems, many linked to rapid warming. In the worst cases, softened permafrost is being eaten away by big waves unleashed in waters newly free of sea ice.
Newtok is not alone in its quest to move to safer ground.
At four sites, including Newtok, conditions are so perilous that entire villages have plans to relocate entirely, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps estimated in 2006 that those villages had as few as 10 years until their homes completely wash away. Several other villages have plans to relocate at least partially, moving homes and key facilities to safer ground.
But scant relocation progress has been made by any of the hard-hit villages except Newtok, the Government Accountability Office reported last year.
The GAO blamed the huge cost estimates -- as much as $200 million per village -- and the failure of any government agency to take responsibility for moving such tiny villages where, in some cases, the only local authority is tribal.
Sticker shock has been a big impediment in Kivalina, an Inupiat Eskimo village on the northwest coast of Alaska, where huge storm waves are carving chunks of land off into the sea.
Millie Hawley, environmental coordinator for the Kivalina tribal government, said villagers worry that their home will disappear before any replacement is found.
"Am I going to pass away before that happens?" she asked at a recent meeting in Anchorage of local, state and federal officials addressing climate problems in villages. "People have been planning for more than 20 years, and they have battle fatigue."
For Newtok, the cost of moving to a safer, more inland site was estimated several years ago to be as much as $130 million.
By collecting funds from a patchwork of sources -- from major federal departments to small Alaska non-profits -- and doing much of the labour themselves, Newtok villagers are striving to make the move much affordable.
Villagers have tackled the problem in phases and secured the help of U.S. Navy and Marine Corps personnel taking part in the Defence Department's Innovative Readiness Training program.
Servicemen arrived in Newtok last year, launching a construction program intended as training for rebuilding projects in war zones like Afghanistan and Iraq. Last summer they built a barge landing site. This year they will start building an evacuation road, a project that will make use of modular mats placed on the soggy tundra, and an emergency shelter.
Newtok villagers have done a lot of the labour, too, such as erecting houses funded through Bureau of Indian Affairs grants.
The campaign to move Newtok began decades ago. Villagers in the early 1980s convinced the state legislature to fund a detailed erosion assessment. In 1996, they voted overwhelming to relocate to Mertarvik. They convinced Congress in 2003 to authorize a land swap needed to acquire title to the new village site. And they are working through a multi-agency Newtok Planning Group set up in 2006 to get a variety of necessary relocation tasks accomplished.
As for why Newtok has been successful while other villages' relocations have stalled, part of the reason may be cultural, said Sally Russell Cox, an Alaska Department of Commerce planner involved in the Newtok project.
Newtok has been very isolated, with very little outside contact until recently, she said. "They've kept a lot of traditional cohesiveness," she said. "It's been really bred into the people of the Nelson Island area to be very self-sufficient."
Tom said he hopes the villagers will start to occupy the new site by 2012. The first homes built in Mertarvik -- which translates as "getting water from the spring" -- have been reserved for elders, so some young residents will have to accompany them when people make the move for good, he said.
As for the ultimate cost of the relocation, "I don't have any idea," Tom said. "Once we relocate, we'll come up with a figure."
The parent company of Real Canadian Superstore and T&T Supermarket has pledged to stop selling non-sustainable fish and immediately removed four at-risk species from Loblaw's 1,000-plus stores across the country.
Loblaw-controlled stores sell roughly one third of the seafood sold in Canada.
Loblaw has already delisted orange roughy, Chilean sea bass, shark and skate, all of which are overfished. The four species make up about one per cent of Loblaw's seafood sales, "having already become difficult to procure," said Paul Uys, the Loblaw executive responsible for the sustainable fish initiative.
All 52 of British Columbia's Real Canadian Superstore and Extra Foods stores have stopped selling the four species. Two stores, Coquitlam Westwood and Metrotown, are participating in a pilot public education project in which customers are being informed of the policy and the reasons for it, as well as being offered substitute species that are considered more sustainable. Signs announcing the policy are placed in empty trays in the seafood department and brochures explain the program.
The information campaign will roll out in more than 1,000 stores nationwide this June.
Loblaw is formulating policy in consultation with the Marine Stewardship Council and the World Wildlife Fund. The MSC conducts independent assessments of fisheries all over the world and awards eco-label certification to those it deems sustainable.
Loblaw group plans to stop selling pet foods and supplements that contain at-risk fish products as well. Company representatives say it will take several years to fully implement the program as many standards must be researched and drafted. When the program is fully in place, Loblaw plans to buy only sustainable canned, frozen, fresh, wild and farmed fish.
"It's a very intricate position we've taken and we have to educate our staff and obviously we want to see how consumers are going to react," Uys said.
Full implementation will take until the end of 2013.
T&T Market, purchased by the Loblaw group last year, has not yet delisted the species at-risk, but Loblaw has made it clear to T&T management that the Richmond-based chain of 23 Asian supermarkets will be expected to comply with the company standard for sustainable seafood products within the announced time frame.
Loblaw considers delisting a short-term position, according to Uys. "The intent is to work with organizations and manage seafood fisheries so that they are sustainable," he explained. "Some of the species that we have delisted -- the Chilean sea bass is one -- is already being caught under more controlled, managed sources. We just aren't comfortable yet that we can sell those fish. It is our intent, as we work with these management groups, to reintroduce those species."
Loblaw's decision to ally itself with the U.K.-based Marine Stewardship Council is not sitting well with everyone. The David Suzuki Foundation, the Watershed Watch Salmon Society and the SkeenaWild Conservation Trust formally objected this week to a decision by an MSC assessment team to designate BRITISH COLUMBIA sockeye as sustainable seafood. British Columbia sockeye has not yet been certified by MSC pending consideration of objections.
"Scientists have shown that many salmon populations, particularly in the Fraser River, are not only at very low levels, but at risk of extinction," Dr. Craig Orr, executive director of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, said in a release last week.
"[Loblaw] sources seafood from around the world and no one else has the global reach that the MSC has," Uys said. "We have no question about their ability."
Toronto filmmaker Charles Officer turned away from cameras Monday, overcome with emotion following the announcement of the 30th annual Genie Awards nominations.
Officer said he was "streak in the streets" ecstatic that his debut feature, NURSE.FIGHTER.BOY, had received nods for best picture and best direction.
And that was before a reporter informed him that he had received a total of ten nominations.
"We got how many?" he said. "Holy shoot! I didn't know that at all."
Esteemed actor Gordon Pinsent and actress Tatiana Maslany, who was recently honoured at the Sundance Film Festival, announced the nominations for the 30th annual Genie Awards on Monday at a Toronto hotel.
Polytechnique, director Denis Villeneuve's examination of the Montreal massacre in 1989, in which Marc Lepine killed 14 female college students, led the pack with 11 Genie Awards nominations. Other standout films include Before Tomorrow with nine nominations, Grande Ourse: La cle des possibles, The Master Key (eight nods) and Fifty Dead Men Walking (seven).
"This year's nominations reflect a national cinema that is courageous in its storytelling," Sara Morton, CEO of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, said in a statement. "They are films created from the wealth of cultures, communities and historical moments that make up the Canadian identity."
The acting contenders include Joshua Jackson (One Week) and Stephen McHattie (Pontypool) for best actor, and Madeline Piujuq Ivalu (Before Tomorrow) and Karine Vanasse (Polytechnique) for best actress.
Officer's indie film about a friendship between an ex-boxer, a boy and his ailing single mom stars Clark Johnson and Karen Leblanc, who are nominated for their leading roles.
"It's our community getting it out. I'm not just saying the black community; I'm saying the community of artists, people who are working on similar projects. We're all working together; we're trying to make movies. It's hard as hell. So to get recognized for doing something personal and sticking true to your guns is the ultimate thing," Officer told reporters. "I brought a lot of people in who've never worked in film. The boxers in it... these kids that I got to work with, when they see this film getting nominated, they're going to feel inspired."
The other best picture nominees are Polytechnique, Fifty Dead Men Walking, Before Tomorrow and 3 Saisons.
The 30th annual Genie Awards will take place on April 12 in Toronto.
Students who filmed two suspended teachers performing a lap dance at Churchill High School and posted the event on the Internet could face serious disciplinary action.
The students appear to have violated the Winnipeg School Division's zero-tolerance policies forbidding the use of cell phone cameras and other devices in schools.
School board chairwoman Jackie Sneesby refused to rule out punishment for the students Monday.
"We haven't finished the investigation. It (disciplining students) hasn't been discussed yet," Sneesby said in an interview. "It isn't anything we would do without thinking about it."
Teachers Chrystie Fitchner and Adeil Ahmed have been suspended with pay after being filmed performing a lap dance, including simulated oral sex, at a school spirit event in the school gym two weeks ago.
Sneesby would only say the senior administration's investigation was not completed yet.
The policy on WSD's website forbids the use of cell phones, video cameras, and similar devices in schools. The only exception is for school projects, but even that use requires prior approval by the principal.
During the open portion of Monday night's regular school division meeting, trustees Mike Babinky and Kristine Barr asked that they be provided with an update during the subsequent closed session. Superintendent Pauline Clarke said she would be reporting behind closed doors on process, but there would be no update Monday night on the investigation into the lap dancing teachers.
Babinsky emerged from a closed-door meeting Monday night to tell reporters senior administrators had not given trustees any new information. Babinsky said he was told repeatedly his continuing to express his opinion about the Churchill situation could jeopardize the eventual outcome of the case.
However, Babinksy said he was assured in the closed-door meeting that unidentified division personnel have been talking to Churchill students about the impact of both the incident with the two teachers and a traffic accident that recently sent a Churchill student to hospital.
Despite being told not to express his opinion, Babinsky speculated the division could fire the teachers, could allow their contracts to expire or the teachers themselves could choose to resign. Babinsky suggested Education Minister Nancy Allan could even consider cancelling their teaching certificates.
Winnipeg Teachers Association president Dave Najduch said the two teachers have heard nothing yet from the division. They have been suspended with pay since February 19.
It looks as if the son of federal NDP Leader Jack Layton is going to dive into politics. Mike Layton is set to announce his candidacy for a seat on Toronto city council March 5.
Mr. Layton, who is 31, has planned a campaign-style launch party at a bar in Toronto's Little Italy and sent out an electronic invitation saying, "I have news to share."
Reached on his cellular phone, Mr. Layton wouldn't come right out with it and declare, but did tell CBC News, "I just want to pull everyone together and give them the answer at the same time."
He also said it's too early to talk platform, but his background as co-ordinator for the Green Energy Act Alliance will shape a "solid environmental agenda." In Toronto, each riding is represented by two councillors.
Earlier this year, one of the longest-serving members of city council, Joe Pantalone, decided to run for the mayor's job, leaving a vacancy in the riding of Trinity-Spadina. The riding is currently represented municipally by Pantalone and Councillor Adam Vaughan, who is the son of late Toronto journalist, and one-time city councillor, Colin Vaughan.
Mr. Layton said he's talked with his father about "the decision I have to make" and will draw on his "lifetime of advice." He said his dad knows better than anyone how hard it is just to run, as well the personal toll a public life can take.
Jack Layton was a Toronto city councillor for 17 years before being elected to lead the federal NDP in 2003. Federally, the riding is represented by Olivia Chow, who is married to Jack Layton.
Mike Layton is Jack Layton's son from his first marriage.
Trinity-Spadina is one of the most diverse ridings in the country. It encompasses the main campus of the University of Toronto, Kensington Market and Chinatown, as well as large swaths of new condominium developments near Lake Ontario and portions of the city's entertainment district.
While Canada will see more manufacturing jobs added to its economy in the coming months relative to our American counterparts, those gains may be fleeting as competition stiffens south of the border, a new report from one of Canada's major banks says.
In a report released Friday by CIBC World Markets Inc., the financial institution notes although manufacturing sectors in both countries are "showing signs of life," the gains in the U.S. are "not only stronger, but also much more capital intensive," which is likely to hinder Canada's competitive position in a post-recession economy.
The report, which was written by senior economist Benjamin Tal, says thay average capital intensity in Canada's manufacturing sector is 40% lower than that of the U.S., which means manufacturing employment will "probably" rise fast here in the near term.
"However, given the increased prevalence of better-capitalized and more efficient production facilities stateside, Canadian manufacturers will find it even more difficult to compete when the dust settles," Tal states.
The "radical restructuring" of the U.S. industry means that "much more is being produced with less labour," putting the U.S. on a strong, upward trajectory in spite the lack of a corresponding rise in employment.
The feisty, pint-sized 88-year-old mayor of Canada's sixth-largest city is an Internet star.
A YouTube video of Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion being interviewed by CBC funny-man Rick Mercer had more than two million views by Friday morning.
The interview, which was shot last year, has also dominated on online aggregator website Reddit.com for the past two days.
During the video, "Hurricane Hazel" and Rick Mercer hang out at Mississauga city hall, a skating rink where she dons a hot pink jersey and relives her days as a professional woman's hockey player and shows off her skills at a local bowling alley.
McCallion has won eleven consecutive elections in the city, which is about 20 kilometres west of Toronto.
Mississauga is also one of the few Canadian cities to be debt free.
The seemingly unstoppable Canadian dollar posted its ninth straight winning session Wednesday and is destined for parity with the U.S. greenback this summer, says a top Canadian economist.
The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, is turning for the first time ever to YouTube to put his political spin on last week's Speech from the Throne and is even taking questions at www.youtube.com/talkcanada.
A Windsor surgeon who performed two unnecessary mastectomies is seeking to have her privileges reinstated at Windsor's Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital in the midst of three investigations into her practice. Dr. Barbara Heartwell, who is under investigation by the hospital, the Ontario Ministry of Health and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, will make her case before a panel of hospital board members at a formal hearing today.
U.S. President Barack Obama cast America's private health insurance companies Monday as the premium-hiking villains in the nation's healthcare crisis and hailed Canada's publicly funded healthcare as a system that "works."
Microsoft will officially launch Office 2010 to businesses at an event that is slated for May 12, the company announced on Friday.
Ronald Smith, the only Canadian on death row in the United States, is one step closer to Montana's execution chamber after an appeal court ruling that upheld his death sentence for the brutal murders of two American Indian men in 1982.
One day after Avatar was disappointed at the Oscars, a Vancouver restaurant owner plans to file a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court today claiming copyright infringement against director James Cameron and other makers of the highest-grossing film of all time. 
A massive asteroid was to blame for the demise of the dinosaur, and not a volcanic eruption, scientists have finally agreed. The team of 41 international scientists came to their conclusion after analysing the past 20 years of research.
A group of Saskatchewan First Nations says it is partnering with the Seminole Indian Tribe of Florida to pitch a 55,000 seat stadium and hotel and casino project for downtown Regina.
Canadians will be using newly-designed money printed on polymer instead of cotton-based paper bills by next year as part of a plan to modernize the currency and crack down on counterfeiting, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced Thursday in the federal budget.
Three days after Canadians belted out "O Canada!" to celebrate Canada's Olympic hockey win, Stephen Harper's Conservative government is asking whether the anthem should be changed.
Nancy Charest, a Liberal candidate from Quebec (it is unknown if she is related to Quebec Premier Jean Charest), has suggested that Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff does not have the ability to push for what is in the best interest of Quebecers.
In its biggest investment of its kind to date, the Government of Canada announced on Tuesday that investments of up to $19 million for the creation of a canola cluster to bring together scientific expertise to research the crop.
Did you know that it has been "illegal" to drive while texting or talking on your cellular phone (with the exception of a hands-free device) since January 1? Well, if you didn't, you had a grace period of up until March 1.
There's a new craze among residents of Regina.
Governor General Michaëlle Jean will travel to her native Haiti next Monday for a two-day visit of the devastated country that was rocked by a powerful earthquake on January 12.
The Merchant Law Group is launching another class-action lawsuit against Toyota, which is the third such legal action by the Regina-based law firm. This time the vehicle in question is the Pontiac Vibe, a vehicle marketed by General Motors but manufactured by Toyota.
The parent company of Real Canadian Superstore and T&T Supermarket has pledged to stop selling non-sustainable fish and immediately removed four at-risk species from Loblaw's 1,000-plus stores across the country.
Toronto filmmaker Charles Officer turned away from cameras Monday, overcome with emotion following the announcement of the 30th annual Genie Awards nominations.
It looks as if the son of federal NDP Leader Jack Layton is going to dive into politics. Mike Layton is set to announce his candidacy for a seat on Toronto city council March 5.
While Canada will see more manufacturing jobs added to its economy in the coming months relative to our American counterparts, those gains may be fleeting as competition stiffens south of the border, a new report from one of Canada's major banks says.
