Catholic nuns and bishops have squared off over it, a Republican lawmaker has referred to it as a "wet, smelly dog," and the president has shown himself to be uncharacteristically testy when defending it.
It's the latest seamy episode in U.S. President Barack Obama's healthcare reform soap opera, and after months of frequently hysterical debate about its merits, the twists and turns are off the charts this week as -- yet again -- healthcare legislation nears a possible finish line.
Obama cancelled a trip to Asia on Thursday in order to stay in D.C. for a potential Sunday vote in the House of Representatives on the $940 billion U.S. healthcare reform bill, while top Democrats work furiously behind the scenes to secure enough votes among undecided party members.
They snagged a live one earlier this week when Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio congressman, announced he'd support the bill just a few days after eviscerating it in an editorial in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
"Absent a strong public option or legal protection for states that wish to pursue single payer, the bill that the president is proposing is a step in the wrong direction," Kucinich wrote Sunday.
Fast forward three days and one Air Force One conversation with the president, and Kucinich changes his tune, telling CNN's Larry King Live: "We've moved beyond that. The things I want to see in healthcare we can move towards over the years."
The stress of the drama seemed visible earlier this week during a rare White House interview between Obama and Fox News. Obama, accustomed to giving lengthy and professorial answers to questions, grew irritable when interrupted by FOX's Bert Baier.
In a tense exchange about obscure parliamentary procedures that might be used by Democrats to push the bill through, Obama said he doesn't "spend a lot of time worrying about what the procedural rules are."
"What I can tell you is that the vote that's taken in the House will be a vote for healthcare reform. And if people vote yes, whatever form that takes, that is going to be a vote for healthcare reform."
He also likened healthcare reform to legislation aimed at fixing the financial system or pulling the economy out of a devastating tailspin.
"I knew these things might not be popular, but I was absolutely positive that it was the right thing to do," he said.
Republicans, meantime, continue to rage against the legislation that has become the defining issue of Obama's presidency. It would result in millions of Americans who don't have health insurance finally getting covered.
A Japanese-American lawmaker took offence after Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham likened the Democrats' push for healthcare reform to a Japanese kamikaze attack during the Second World War. Graham assailed Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, for her efforts to bring Democrats to heel.
"Nancy Pelosi, I think, has got them all liquored up on sake and you know, they're making a suicide run here," Graham said.
California Democrat Mike Honda, who spent part of his childhood in an intern camp because of his Japanese heritage, accused Graham of using "racially tinged rhetoric" and asked him to "show respect for our fellow Americans."
Another Republican congressman, Mario Diaz-Balart from Florida, described the bill this week as a "flea-infested, tick-infested, parasite-infected, special-interest infected, wet, smelly dog."
At so-called Tea Party rallies against healthcare reform in various U.S. cities this week, the rhetoric, not unexpectedly, has been equally colourful.
"My favourite sign that I saw is: 'Grandma isn't shovel-ready,'" Republican Michele Bachmann, a lawmaker from Minnesota, said during a raucous demonstration this week on Capitol Hill. "Because we know exactly what 'Obamacare' will lead to for the lives of innocent Americans, don't we?"
Bachman was apparently referring to the belief by some in the Tea Party movement that the bill contains provisions for "death panels" that will amount to the Grim Reaper showing up prematurely on the doorsteps of America's sick and elderly.
At an Ohio protest, a man who said he had Parkinson's disease and supported healthcare reform was heckled by the crowd.
"If you're looking for a handout, you're on the wrong side of town," a protester told the man. Someone else called him a Communist.
Democrats say support for healthcare reform is gaining momentum despite the right-wing rhetoric, pointing to the public backing they've secured from two Democrats this week: Kucinich and Dale Kildee of Michigan. Kildee had sought tighter restrictions in the bill on the financing of insurance that covers abortions.
"Voting for this bill in no way diminishes my pro-life voting record or undermines my beliefs," he said. "I am a staunch pro-life member of Congress, both for the born and the unborn."
Kildee's sudden support apparently gives the nuns the edge in their battle against bishops -- one of the more peculiar showdowns to erupt throughout the healthcare debate that's been raging for a year.
"Despite false claims to the contrary, the Senate bill will not provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions," said a letter signed by 60 leaders of women's religious orders in a stand against their own church's hierarchy. "It will uphold long-standing conscience protections and it will make historic new investments... in support of pregnant women. This is the real pro-life stance, and we as Catholics are all for it."
Not so, said the U.S. Conference of Bishops, who now apparently agrees with the 'pro-life activists' in their insistence that the bill would make it easier for women to get abortions. The bishops have long pleaded for universal healthcare.
"Despite the good that the bill under consideration intends or might achieve, the Catholic bishops regretfully hold that it must be opposed unless and until these serious moral problems are addressed," they said in a statement.
Britain is officially eating crow just a month after its sportswriters' unrestrained trashing of the Vancouver Games and Canada's controversial Own the Podium program for Olympic athletes.
The head of UK Sport -- the funding body for elite British athletes and a key player in preparing for the 2012 Summer Games in London -- says his country will emulate Own the Podium in a bid to match Canada's record-setting, host-nation performance at Vancouver.
"At first a lot of people were critical of Canada's Own the Podium program, saying that it wasn't very sporting, and it had some bad press," UK Sport chief executive John Steele told a media briefing last week as Britain unveiled its medal projections for the 2012 Games. "But as soon as it started to do well, then everyone thought it was a great idea and were a lot less critical," he noted. "We will probably use a different strap line but the idea for 2012 will be very similar, and it is something we definitely want to use as a tool for success."
Steele added: "Medals are the aim of our funding, as we have a responsibility to the British public."
The comments, UK Sport spokesperson Russell Langley said on Thursday, mainly indicate the agency is "just continuing what we started last year with Team 2012" -- and that, like Own the Podium, "a private investment stream is key in funding our athletes to supplement the public funding we already get."
But Steele's praise for Canada's medal-winning strategy for Vancouver 2010 -- which ultimately yielded a best-ever total of 26 medals for this country, including a Winter Olympics record 14 golds -- is sure to redden some faces in the British press corps.
Caustic columns by several U.K. journalists -- including one early in the Winter Games that claimed Own the Podium had offended all visiting athletes from around the world -- became one of the main storylines in the days following the opening ceremony at the Vancouver Olympics.
Canada's "highly unpleasant Own the Podium program, in which they seek to exploit home advantage to the last nanosecond," wrote Times of London correspondent Simon Barnes, "has alienated the world they are supposed to play host to."
He added: "Home athletes always have an advantage: getting ugly about it is neither necessary nor appropriate."
The Guardian's Laurence Donegan also slagged Own the Podium and opined that Canadians, "in pursuit of their own Olympic dream, appear to have forgotten that national characteristic for which they are best known: politeness."
British sports officials, however, declined to join the Fleet Street bandwagon.
Sebastian Coe, the legendary middle-distance runner and head of the London Olympics organizing committee, applauded Canada's "very, very successful" hosting of the Games and expressed gratitude to Vancouver organizers for offering advice and an example ahead of London 2012.
"Our Games will be better for the help we have had here," he said last month.
Remember Maxime Bernier, the guy who left confidential documents at his ex-girlfriend's house?
Onstage at a swish Ottawa gala in a creamy-white tuxedo, the former foreign affairs minister jokes about his "lost script," which would be a cheeky reference to the lost briefing documents that led to his lost ministerial portfolio.
The political and diplomatic crowd love it.
Onstage in Calgary, before the federal budget, there he was, calling for a freeze on spending growth.
In Quebec's largest daily newspaper, the favourite son from the Beauce urges a go-slow approach to climate change, declaring no "consensus" around the science underpinning claims of global warming. And now here he is, alone on the podium at the Manning Centre's networking conference for conservatives, telling them how the party can do a better job of explaining its policies in Quebec.
Almost two years since his May 2008 resignation from cabinet after it was revealed he had left government briefing documents at the apartment of Julie Couillard, an ex-girlfriend with ties to Montreal bikers, Bernier is suddenly ubiquitous.
Bernier draws a big crowd at the Manning conference. He delivers a lengthy speech, entirely in accented but fluent English, reaching only now and then for the right words to tell the room that many Quebecers are just like them.
"Quebecers don't want the government to take care of them from the cradle to the grave," he says. "I think we have too much government on our backs."
It is classic small-c conservatism served up with a healthy dose of admiration for Reform Party founder Preston Manning, and his former policy writer and current Prime Minister, Stephen Harper.
Their prescriptions in the 1990s for smaller government, lower taxes, a decentralized federation, and less regulation in people's lives were "very courageous," says Bernier.
On climate change, Bernier draws applause when he says there is no "scientific consensus on the causes and extent of global warming," but denies being a denier. "I didn't say that I don't believe in global warming. I don't want global warming to be a religion."
It makes no sense to spend "billions and millions" on it without a scientific underpinning, he adds. It's a strong performance, laced with a shrug of the shoulders when asked by audience members what Quebec wants. How can Canadian conservatives show they care about Quebec and grow the party's fortunes there? Decentralization and smaller government, not token gestures of affection, he answers.
"What Quebecers want is constitutional peace and for us to focus on the economy," he says.
But conservative policies have to be sold to Quebec in French in a way that emphasizes "Quebecers' particularities and sensibilities" or risk alienating them for "negating Quebec's specific character."
"Whether you like this or not, this has been part of Quebec's political culture for two centuries, and it's not going to change anytime soon. To sell conservative policies in Quebec, you have to take this into account."
Later, he's got words of praise for how his federal Conservative party is faring. The party's disappointing results in the last election were due to the inability to correctly "communicate" the messages around arts funding cuts, says Bernier. And he denies his bullish stand on global warming will hurt the cause. He says Quebecers do not vote on single issues. Moreover, he says a number of his caucus colleagues have told him his climate-change comments "helped them in their riding."
Watching from the audience is Tom Flanagan, a University of Calgary political scientist and a former campaign director and top aide to Mr. Harper.
"I guess the campaign has started," Flanagan says with a smile after Bernier's speech.
In Dr. Flanagan's view, Bernier looks as if he is setting the stage for a future leadership bid, and he's seen a few of those. Dr. Flanagan wrote the book Harper's Team, which chronicled Mr. Harper's climb to power.
Even if Bernier's appeal to grassroots conservatives beyond Quebec is uncertain - dependent on who else is in the race, says Flanagan - there are lots of other reasons to run for the top job in any party: higher profile and more say in party policy and where the party goes from here.
But if he does indeed have leadership ambitions, a smiling Bernier is not about to wade into those waters. He shakes his head.
"I have a leader, I am proud of my leader," he says, when asked outright if all of this is about a future leadership bid. "It is only you journalists who write that."
Saskatoon's most-discussed real estate development may be revived by the University of Saskatchewan's largest-ever donor.
Karim Nasser, the man behind a $12-million property donation to the university last month, which is the institution's largest ever, says he is working on a plan to revive Lake Placid's $200-million River Landing megaproject.
"The project is a fantastic project for the city," Nasser said in an interview Wednesday. "We liked it from Day 1 and were disappointed when (Lake Placid CEO Michael Lobsinger) wasn't able to proceed with it."
Nasser, a retired civil engineering professor who heads Victory Majors Investment Corp., confirmed he has entered into negotiations with Lake Placid to restart the development. But he said everything hinges on whether city council decides Monday to consider reinstating an expired sale agreement with Lake Placid.
"If they agree, the money is available, whatever the city says is the amount... right away we will give them the cheque," Nasser said. "We'll be very happy to be able to do it."
Nasser, who said he would not go into details until negotiations are finalized, will speak to council Monday night alongside Lobsinger about their proposal for the site. A partnership agreement for the entire $200-million hotel-office-condo project is being negotiated, he said, and should be finalized by the end of the week.
"We'll be working together," Nasser said.
The city's agreement to sell the prime riverfront land to Lake Placid for $4.5 million ended in October, but many councillors said in November if Lobsinger was able to secure the money, they'd move to re-enter negotiations with the company.
At that time, Lobsinger told council he was "one signature away" from securing long-awaited funds for the entire project from overseas. He said the money had been tied up in regulatory limbo.
City officials have since begun crafting a new request for proposals for the land in an effort to make the requirements for developers more flexible.
That includes getting an updated appraisal on how much the land is now worth.
Sandi Schultz, special projects manager for the city, said regardless of what Lobsinger and Nasser propose, councillors "would not be in a position to accept outright whatever their proposal might be."
"The best their proposal could hope for is that it's referred to the administration to report back," Schultz said. "The proponents will make their case and answer any questions and councillors could accept it through a referral to administration or not entertain the proposal at all."
The proposal is different than others because it has already gone through the approval process once and could get moving faster, Schultz said.
"That puts this in a different light," she said.
Councillor Glen Penner, who backed selling the River Landing land directly to Lake Placid Developments in November if funding came through, said he's still interested in striking a deal but first needs assurances the money is actually coming.
"We would have to have the kind of assurance that is undeniable and absolutely secure and if that were the case, I'd be prepared to have another look," he said. "There can be no more playing around with this city or city council."
Nasser is not new to the city's development industry.
He built a real-estate portfolio of apartment buildings and commercial properties in Saskatoon during the 33 years he taught engineering at the University of Saskatchewan before forming Victory Majors Investment Corp., which went public in 1999, to manage the properties.
Last month, Nasser, his wife Dora and their five children donated $12 million worth of property to the university, the value of which will be channelled into student awards, two new campus buildings, the College of Engineering and the Edwards School of Business.
"We're basically very loyal to our university, as well to our community, and we would like to do all we can for both our university and our community whenever if there is chance," Nasser said.
Nasser said he hopes his involvement ends the 30-plus years of false starts developing the site and gives a needed boost to River Landing.
Saskatoon is ready for a megaproject of this scope, which he said has always reminded him of Rockefeller Center, which he recalls fondly from his time in New York City.
"It's something fantastic," he said. "The city has never had a project that has attracted everyone's attention like this."
Nasser's involvement "can only be seen as a positive," Penner said.
Toronto Transit Commission chair Adam Giambrone may be a champion of public transit, but he has nothing against taxis, as records of city councillors' 2009 office expenses show.
Giambrone expensed more than $3,000 in cabs last year, including a trip home after taping an episode of his Ride the Rocket TV show on a streetcar.
About $2,400 came from his office budget, with the rest billed to the Toronto Transit Commission.
Giambrone, like other councillors, has a city-provided Metropass. He also expensed $256 in tokens plus some weekly and monthly Metropasses for his staff, including $173.50 in July for "staff travel."
One cab ride is billed as a "ward survey during the strike," referring to last summer's garbage strike.
For a second year, he also expensed private French lessons, although the $2,299.50 he spent was down from almost $4,000 in 2008. He said last year the expense was justified because he's Toronto's representative at AFMO, an association of French municipalities in Ontario and does interviews with Francophone media.
In total, the TTC chair spent $41,801.90 of his maximum $53,100 budget.
Giambrone (Ward 18, Davenport) dropped out of the mayoral race last month amid a sex scandal in which he lied to the Toronto Star about his relationship with a university student. He has since been defending his chairmanship of the TTC.
In an emailed response to questions from the Toronto Star, Giambrone wrote: "I am on the TTC 4-5 times a day and this is my main mode of transportation. Many people see me on the system everyday and can attest to this."
He added that he walks, cycles, takes public transit and taxis to the many events he attends every day.
"Clearly there are not enough taxis bills submitted for this to be my main mode of transport. There are, however, sometimes when taxis are needed due to time constraints or what I am carrying with me (i.e. files). All expenses fit within the Council policy."
The biggest spender on council was Michael Walker (Ward 22, St. Paul's), who came within $48 of the limit. He announced last week that he is not seeking re-election in the October election.
The lowest spender was, as always in recent years, Rob Ford, who billed taxpayers for nothing, merely notifying city officials he spent $708.78 of his own money on council business.
On Wednesday morning, Ford (Ward 2, Etobicoke North) called Giambrone's cab expenses "ridiculous."
"I've taken two cabs in 10 years of politics and I think they were for fundraising dinners after council," said Ford, who is rumoured to be set to launch a mayoral campaign. "He's the TTC chair -- how does it look that he's taking cabs everywhere?"
Ford said the councillors' office budgets, which don't include $205,557.47 in another budget for the equivalent of three full-time staff members, is "nothing but a slush fund."
He said he doesn't expect other councillors to spend nothing but $20,000 would be more than enough to cover all legitimate expenses, saying the mail-outs, advertisements, skating parties and other similar expenses are "shameless self-promotion that don't benefit the public."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper waltzed through his first interview gig on YouTube on Tuesday and along the way he gave a thumbs-up to the seal hunt and the crackdown on "guns, gangs and drugs" and a firm thumbs-down to legalizing pot.
"The reason drugs are illegal is because they are bad," Mr. Harper said. "And even if these things were legalized, I can predict with a lot of confidence that these would never be respectable businesses run by respectable people."
Canadian Patrick Pichette, Google's bilingual chief financial officer, conducted the interview, and made a point of saying the question about marijuana, which he asked last, won the most votes from those who participated in the YouTube challenge.
"Well, it's a good question," Mr. Harper responded.
The 40-minute interview broke no new policy ground for the prime minister, who appeared relaxed as he gave long, uninterrupted answers to questions posed by Canadians and relayed by video or by Mr. Pichette.
The only hitch was that the interview, taped earlier Tuesday, was posted more than an hour later than was scheduled. A Google official later blamed technical problems for the delay, the problems in uploading an interview that was twice as long as expected.
The questions were straightforward and pressed Mr. Harper on such current hot topics as the $56-billion budget deficit and his government's current handling of the Afghan detainee issue.
Someone identified as B. Jonte of Waterloo, Ontario, asked Mr. Harper why the government was not more open on the Afghan prisoner issue and why it always responds to "legitimate" questions about the issue with "'support our troops' and look the other way."
Mr. Harper said he disagreed with the premise of the question and said that it's important to state there is no evidence Canadian soldiers have done anything wrong. He pointed to his appointment of Frank Iacobucci, a former Supreme Court justice, to review the contents of still secret documents to decide what can be released as proof of his openness on the issue.
Mr. Harper flatly rejected a questioner's appeal to cancel the 2010 commercial seal hunt, saying there is "no danger" of the seal population disappearing and that his government would continue to "vigorously defend our sealers" in the face of domestic and international criticism.
"There is no scientific evidence that says the seal population is in jeopardy," he said.
On mandatory sentencing, he said that although he didn't think crime was out of control in the country, there are "worrying growth areas, particularly if you look at the areas of guns, gangs and drugs, and this is a growth area, not just in Canada, but around the world."
Mr. Harper's YouTube appearance was a clear bid to try to connect with an audience that considers YouTube part of its daily online diet, which is sad for those who visit YouTube on a regular basis. The Prime Minister's Office described the move as a chance for "Canadians to have unfiltered and immediate access to information."
The interview was taped at Rideau Gate, the Government of Canada's elegant guest house situated across the street from the prime minister's Sussex Drive residence.
Google spokeswoman Wendy Rozeluk said that the tape was unedited, and that there was no vetting of the questions by the Prime Minister's Office.
However, Mr. Harper did not go into the interview blind. He and his staff, like anybody else with access to the Internet, were able to tap into YouTube's Talk Canada site to read the questions in advance to quickly ascertain the most popular subjects.
Mr. Harper's appearance was the finale of an arrangement made by the PMO and Google, which owns YouTube, to carry a live feed of the speech the prime minister gave in the House of Commons last Thursday in response to his government's throne speech.
U.S. President Barack Obama engaged in a similar YouTube event last month after his State of the Union address.
YouTube users were encouraged to post their questions for Mr. Harper, with a promise the most popular questions would be asked at the virtual town hall on Tuesday night.
By the time voting was cut off on Sunday afternoon, a total of 5,128 people had cast 170,000 votes on 1,797 questions, according to the tally posted on YouTube's Talk Canada site.
A Conservative member of the Ontario legislature says that Toronto should form its own province because communities outside the metropolis are not being heard.
Bill Murdoch, who represents the riding of Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, says the idea came to him at an agriculture meeting where recurring complaints brought him to the conclusion "we're never going to change this as long as we have a Toronto-driven government running Ontario."
The "straw that broke the camel's back" is the current spread of coyotes in his parts of the province, he said, a matter locals would like to settle by placing a bounty on them.
"They'll never let you do that in Toronto," he said.
He says the sheer size of the city, and its voting power, means that Queen's Park is more likely to cater to Toronto's every whim.
Murdoch admits the goal has little to no chance of success, but says the suggestion would at least launch a debate.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty boasted about Canada's relative fiscal strength Tuesday as Britain and other members of the European Union face intense political divisions and social unrest over massive debt problems.
Mr. Flaherty, who is on the second leg of a two-day trip that began in New York, said Canada is on track to balance its budget, while also enjoying renewed business confidence and consumer demand and has the world's strongest and best-regulated banking system.
"Our nation fully intends to build on that crisis-tested advantage," he told the Canada-United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce.
He acknowledged there has been "upward pressure" on the Canadian dollar, which closed near parity Tuesday at 98.62 U.S. cents, its highest finish since July 25, 2008.
But Mr. Flaherty, who along with Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney warned only months ago of the dangers of a high-flying currency, seemed more sanguine about it on Tuesday.
"Canada's relatively strong fiscal position is assisting the rise of the dollar," he said.
The Government of Canada, he said, is "not worried, but watchful," with regard to real estate prices, Mr. Flaherty told a business audience, noting his recent decision to toughen requirements for government-insured mortgages.
"One has to watch this to make sure that one does not have borrowers who cannot afford higher interest rates, because as we all know interest rates are historically low and they have nowhere to go but up."
Nevertheless, Mr. Flaherty, who acknowledged less flattering statistics such as the 8.2% unemployment rate, said the Canadian and global economies remain vulnerable due to the huge indebtedness of many countries, particularly the U.S. economy.
"I think we're all concerned about... the size of the U.S. deficit," he said, citing the economy's dependence on Canada-U.S. Trade.
He also noted concern about massive debt problems in a number of European countries, including Greece.
"We look forward to other developed nations of the world showing their plans to move out of deficit, towards balanced budgets over time," he said.
"That is necessary for the firm restoration of confidence in developed countries, that we all have a plan to exit from the stimulus" spending programs launched after the global crisis broke out in the autumn of 2008.
While Canada's $53.8-billion federal deficit sounds huge, it represents 3.5% of the country's gross domestic product, and less than a third of the current U.S. and British deficit-to-GDP ratios.
Mr. Flaherty's budget, released March 4, announced reductions in planned spending that the finance minister said would bring the deficit down to $1.8 billion by 2014-15.
Kevin Page, Canada's independent parliamentary budget officer, has labelled Mr. Flaherty's projections too optimistic, and has projected the deficit will be down to just $12.3 billion by 2014-15.
But that higher figure would still represent just 0.6% of Canada's projected GDP.
Honda Canada announced Tuesday that it will recall thousands of vehicles after fielding owner complaints involving brake pedals. The recall involves 24,680 Odyssey and 4,137 Element vehicles in Canada from the 2007-2008 model years. The company plans to modify the vehicle stability assist modulator, which is connected to the ABS braking system.
The announcement in Canada coincides with a recall of more than 400,000 vehicles in the United States involving similar models.
Honda said the complaints reported that the brakes felt "soft" or "gradually exhibit a pedal height that gets lower (closer to the floor) before the vehicle stops." In vehicles reporting this, the condition increased over time.
"It's not something that suddenly happened" but occurred over time as customers reported "my brake pedal feels funny," Richard Jacobs of Honda Canada Inc., said Tuesday.
No confirmed accidents were reported in Canada as a result of the brake pedal concern, but some have been reported in the United States.
"There have been a few accidents and several minor injuries (in the U.S.)," said Jacobs. "But it's mostly been just from consumer concern over the feel of the pedal; it seems to be a little more 'spongy.'"
Honda said some modulators could allow small quantities of air in, which over time, could accumulate and result in the "soft brake pedal" or "low brake pedal" being reported by customers. The fix will remove air from the units and seal it so as to prevent it from coming in, something Jacobs described as "a very quick in-and-out procedure."
Honda said not all recalled models reported these issues, but the company was recalling all units to "assure all customers that their vehicles will perform correctly." The company plans to notify customers beginning at the end of April, so can they bring their vehicles in to Honda dealers.
Jacobs said people concerned with their vehicle's current performance would be asked to bring them in immediately.
"There are things we can do right now but there's a specific process that will be ready," in the next few weeks, he said.
The recall was announced as the chief executive of competitor Toyota Canada was expressing regret at the "anxiety and inconvenience" that the company's recent recalls have caused its Canadian customers.
"Over the past few months, many Canadians have wondered whether Toyota vehicles are safe, and we regret that this has caused our customers both anxiety and inconvenience," Toyota Canada CEO Yoichi Tomihara told the House of Commons transport committee.
Toyota Canada executives were summoned to testify before the committee to explain why the company has been forced to recall millions of vehicles worldwide.
Toyota has recalled more than eight million of its vehicles since November 2009 because of instances of unintended acceleration.
Marijuana activist Marc Emery's battle to avoid going to a U.S. prison got a boost this week in the House of Commons for some apparent reason.
Three MPs -- Libby Davies of the New Democratic Party, Ujjal Dosanjh of the Liberals and Scott Reid of the Conservatives, presented a petition asking Justice Minister Rob Nicholson not to sign extradition papers that would send Emery south to serve a five-year sentence for selling marijuana seeds online in 2005.
More than 12,000 Canadians signed the petition.
"In Vancouver, everywhere I go, people make a point of expressing good wishes that I don't get extradited," Emery said Monday.
His removal order has been sitting on the justice minister's desk since January 8, 2010.
"Nine weeks have passed and he hasn't made that decision, so something is keeping him from doing it," said Emery, who noted the Conservatives could score political points, especially with young voters, if his extradition is halted.
All three MPs told the Commons that Emery's extradition smacks of unfairness.
Canadian courts have established a person convicted of selling marijuana seeds should face a fine of $200. In the U.S., a person could be sentenced to life in prison for the same crime.
Emery, 52, and two employees were arrested in 2005 by Canadian police acting as agents for the U.S. department of justice. He is not facing a charge in Canada.
Reid, an Ontario MP, told the Commons that the Extradition Act states the justice minister "shall refuse to surrender a person when that surrender could involve unjust or undue or oppressive actions by the country to which he is being extradited."
Davies, the MP for Vancouver East, said she has found broad support for Emery.
"People don't understand why Marc Emery should be extradited. He was never prosecuted in Canada for these crimes, and I think people see it as a question of Canadian sovereignty," she said.
Dosanjh, MP for Vancouver South, said: "It appears to me that we have assisted a foreign government arrest a man for doing something that we wouldn't arrest him for doing in Canada."
"As a former premier and a former attorney-general, I sense a certain degree of unfairness in the process."
Congressional Democrats took the first step on Monday toward a quick final vote on a healthcare overhaul and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed to muster the votes needed to pass it.
With a close vote expected later this week, House Democrats hustled to line up support and President Barack Obama hit the road in Ohio to push his case for a sweeping overhaul of the $2.5 trillion healthcare system.
Republican opponents promised to make Democrats who support the healthcare bill pay in November's congressional elections, when Democratic control of Congress could be threatened by political fallout over the issue.
But Democratic leaders counselled nervous lawmakers to hold firm and pass the bill, which has been the focus of a political battle that has mired the Congress in legislative gridlock for nine months.
"We need courage," Obama told a crowd in Strongsville, Ohio, during his third road trip in the past week to rally support for his top legislative priority. "This debate is about far more than politics."
The House Budget Committee began the drive toward a final vote, advancing changes sought by House Democrats and Obama to the Senate-passed healthcare bill. Democrats Chet Edwards and Allen Boyd, who opposed the House-passed bill in November, broke with their party on the largely party-line 21-16 vote.
House Democratic vote-counters say they are still short of the votes necessary to pass the overhaul but Pelosi was confident they will hit the magic number by week's end.
"When we bring the bill to the floor, we will have the votes," Pelosi told reporters.
The overhaul would constitute the most dramatic changes to the healthcare system in more than four decades, extending coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans and banning insurance practices like refusing coverage to those with pre-existing medical conditions.
Health insurer shares were mixed on Monday as the broader market was little changed. The Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor index was up 0.2% and the S&P Managed Health Care index dropped 1.1%.
Obama also maintained the upbeat tone put forth by the White House during the weekend, telling ABC News: "I believe we are going to get the votes. We're going to make this happen."
Republicans condemn the health bill as a costly government takeover that would lead to higher insurance premiums and less consumer choice. They plan to launch a series of television ads against House Democrats who support the overhaul.
Wow, attack ads... not surprising.
"If there's one thing the American people didn't want, it was for us to make healthcare more bureaucratic and expensive," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Republican leader John Boehner said in a joint commentary in The Wall Street Journal.
Democrats are waiting for final cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office and more advice from the Senate parliamentarian before unveiling a final package and deciding the exact process for passing it. In a two-step procedure, House Democrats want to approve the Senate's version of the bill and make changes sought by Obama and House Democrats through a separate measure passed under budget reconciliation rules.
Those rules require only a simple majority in the 100-member Senate, bypassing the need for 60 votes to overcome Republican procedural hurdles.
Pelosi said it was undecided whether the House would take a direct vote on the Senate-passed bill or include it in a separate vote on the reconciliation package. The House Rules Committee will meet on Thursday to determine the process.
House Democratic leaders met in Pelosi's office on Monday to discuss their options but announced no final decisions. "When we have the substance then we will decide on the process," Pelosi said.
The changes in the reconciliation bill include expanding subsidies to make insurance more affordable and extending more state aid for the Medicaid program for the poor.
They also would eliminate a controversial Senate deal exempting Nebraska from paying for Medicaid expansion costs, close a "doughnut hole" in prescription drug coverage for seniors and water down a tax on high-cost insurance plans.
Republicans want Democrats to vote directly on the Senate bill, which includes unpopular provisions like the Nebraska Medicaid deal, so they can use the vote against them in November.
"To resort to these kinds of tactics to deal with this is just plain wrong," Representative David Dreier, the senior Republican on the House Rules Committee, told reporters.
Now that mixed tapes have disappeared from today's lexicon, it's time consumers cough up a little cash for a private copying levy for iPods and other MP3 players, according to a private member's bill tabled in the House of Commons Tuesday.
The Government of Canada, when run by the Liberals, first introduced private copying provisions in Canada's Copyright Act in 1997 so musicians could be compensated when consumers purchased blank tapes or compact discs to make mixed tapes or CDs.
The levy, set by an independent board, is charged to manufacturers and importers and passed on to retailers and consumers. The money is then distributed to musicians and other copyright holders.
Charlie Angus, the NDP's digital affairs critic who is also a musician, coincidentally, says it's time the copyright law is updated so the levy is extended to the next generation of devices that consumers using for copying music for personal use.
"Digital locks and suing fans are not going to prevent people from copying music from one format to another," he said. "The levy is a solution that works. By updating it, we will ensure that artists are getting paid for their work, and that consumers aren't criminalized for moving their legally-obtained music from one format to another."
Angus' proposed amendments to copyright act also include a "fair dealing" to permit the reasonable use of copyrighted materials in some circumstances. This would expand the exemption to non-commercial copyright infringements for researchers, innovators, educators and artists when copyrighted material is used appropriately.
The move on Tuesday by the NDP copyright critic is a direct challenge to the Conservative government, as the Conservative government is expected to introduce a copyright reform package in the current session Parliament.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday that Canada's record-setting performance at the Vancouver Olympics should be an inspiration to MPs and all Canadians as they face the challenges of recovering from the recession.
Mr. Harper made the remark in the House of Commons but was hopeful that it was heard by more than just MPs. Mr. Harper's speech was broadcast live on YouTube, the online video service owned by Google, part of a new initiative his staff said was intended to reach out to Canadians who don't normally pay attention to politics.
"Because the Vancouver-Whistler Games... showed that when the challenge is understood, when the goal is clearly defined and when Canadians are given the tools, Canada can get things done," Mr. Harper said in the House of Commons as part of his reply to the speech from the throne. "And Mr. Speaker, getting things done is the trademark our country is starting to be known for."
But just as Mr. Harper saw the Olympics as inspiration for his government's agenda, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe, in response to Harper, cited the Olympics as one more reason why Quebec must declare its independence.
There was significant criticism, even from some cabinet ministers, that the opening ceremony did not include enough French or references to Quebec culture.
"That means that Canada can continue to impose its multicultural ideology, the old Trudeau ideology, on Quebec," Duceppe said in the House of Commons. "Canadian federalism has nothing to offer Quebec."
Duceppe's speech was also broadcast on YouTube and caught the attention of a thousand or so who saw it on a special YouTube site set up by Google.
The site, found online at www.youtube.com/TalkCanada, also lets visitors post a question to the prime minister. Visitors can then vote on the question they'd most like Mr. Harper to answer.
Within an hour of the conclusion of the speeches by Duceppe and Mr. Harper, the most popular question was from "Warren from Red Deer." He asked: "With regards to the Bloc Quebecois party, how can we justify having so much of the federal vote controlled by what is essentially a provincial party?"
More than 600 questions had been posted by curious Canadians as of mid-day Thursday and 37,000 votes had been cast for those questions.
Mr. Harper is expected to answer those questions which attract the most votes from the online visitors.
The popularity of the Bloc Quebecois question was later eclipsed by other topics, but one issue that stayed among the top three all day was the decriminalization of marijuana.
U.S. President Barack Obama used the same YouTube system last fall and a question about marijuana legalization was the top vote-getter. The topics for Mr. Harper's questions ranged from the government's record on climate change to the Middle East to prorogation to the troubles of gay teenagers.
One person asked Mr. Harper for a job. Another asked if Harper really had an economics degree. The answer to that one: yes, he has a master's degree in economics which he earned at the University of Calgary.
In his speech in the House of Commons, Mr. Harper reiterated what Governor General Michaelle Jean had said in the Senate a little more than a week ago, that creating jobs will be the government's chief objective this year.
"It is true that our unemployment rate is still too high. That is why it is our chief priority," Mr. Harper said Thursday.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff argued in the House that the government appears to be doing little to reduce unemployment.
"On jobs and innovation, this throne speech doesn't hold water, it treads water," Ignatieff said. "The throne speech will only be remembered for one of the most remarkable flip-flops in the history of throne speeches -- a promise to change O Canada that lasted approximately 48 hours."
NDP Leader Jack Layton, in his House of Commons speech, said the NDP could support neither the throne speech nor the budget.
"This was a long throne speech, a voluminous budget, more free-flowing giveaways for big banks and oil companies," Mr. Layton said. "And precious little hope for the victims of the recession. That's not an approach New Democrats can support."
Five couples wed at the Municipal Palace in Mexico City, which legalized same-sex marriage in December. The law authorizing such unions has been challenged by the federal government.
Mayor Marcelo Ebrard was on hand to witness four of the five couples signing their marriage certificates at the end of a 20-minute ceremony. The fifth couple, flying in from another state to take advantage of the new rule, arrived late and was married after the others.
Mexico City's left-leaning legislature approved gay marriage and opened the way for adoptions by homosexual couples on December 21, provoking a wave of uproar from religious groups in the Catholic nation and conservatives, including President Felipe Calderon.
The attorney general has lodged an appeal against the move at the Supreme Court and a string of states are seeking to apply measures to specifically prohibit gay marriages. Two men were recently married in Argentina, the country's second gay marriage, after a judge approved the union ahead of possible legislation there, too.
Lol Kin Castaneda, 33, and Judith Vazquez, became the first gay couple to marry. They wore matching ivory dresses as they led the multiple ceremonies.
The couple met nine years ago, when Miss Castaneda was already an activist for gay rights and Miss Vazquez was planning to become a nun.
"They're now a family recognized by the law, with rights and obligations," said Hegel Cortes, the judge, as the couple kissed.
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.
Remember when Brian Mulroney was the Prime Minister of Canada? Well, I can't say that I can, as he became the Prime Minister of Canada before I was born, and stopped being the Prime Minister when was I was about three years old. Well, he is one of the masterminds behind the North American Free Trade Agreement, which saw free trade between Canada, the United States and Mexico, or NAFTA, as it is called.
Well, the Conservative government sought Tuesday to fend off a new trade threat from U.S. lawmakers pushing legislation to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement. The anti-NAFTA bill, which has 28 Democratic and Republican sponsors, comes only a month after Canada and the U.S. reached a deal to end a protracted dispute over Buy American provisions in the $787 billion economic stimulus package.
With U.S. midterm elections coming in November and the American economy still losing jobs, the legislation could portend another wave of protectionist sentiment on Capitol Hill.
"We are closely following this bill, of course," International Trade Minister Peter Van Loan told reporters in Ottawa. "Our evaluation is that this is certainly inconsistent with the direction that the Barack Obama administration has chosen."
At issue is legislation introduced last week in the House of Representatives by Representative Gene Taylor, a Mississippi Democrat who cited America's near-10% unemployment rate as the motivation for trying to kill the trade agreement involving Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.
Taylor, a member of the influential Blue Dog caucus of conservative Democrats, is a 10-term congressman who voted against passage of NAFTA in 1993. He blames the treaty for a 29% drop in U.S. manufacturing employment over the ensuing 17 years.
"At a time when 10 to 12% of the American people are unemployed, I think Congress has an obligation to put people back to work," Taylor said when introducing the bill. "Timing is everything in life and it's the right time to pass this legislation. Proponents have had more than enough time to make this work. It didn't."
The legislation proposes the U.S. withdraw from NAFTA within six months of the bill's passage.
Taylor has assembled an eclectic crew of Democratic and Republican co-sponsors for the legislation. On the political left are Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich, a perennial presidential candidate, and Pete Visclosky, the Indiana lawmaker responsible for inserting the Buy American language into last year's stimulus bill. Obviously, someone has too much American pride.
Among the three Republican backers of the bill is Texas Representative Ron Paul. Yeah, how did we know that Texas would come into the picture?
Paul, a former GOP presidential candidate, has stoked fears of a NAFTA superhighway "the width of several football fields" that would stretch from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico.
The anti-NAFTA lawmakers face a tough challenge in advancing their legislation at a time when Congress is focused on passage of a healthcare bill. They also face significant resistance from President Barack Obama, who used his state of the union address in January to champion free trade as a way for the U.S. to grow its way of the recession.
The Buy American deal struck in February between the Government of Canada and the U.S. government was a "demonstration of the Obama administration's commitment to free trade," Van Loan said.
"And as such, we are optimistic this (anti-NAFTA legislation) will not come to pass."
Still, Canadian officials are wary because anti-NAFTA sentiment tends to spike ahead of elections. One national U.S. media outlet has described an "outbreak of protectionist fever" in Congress as the November midterms approach.
"NAFTA has become a moniker for anxiety about globalization and worries about the economy," said Maryscott Greenwood, executive director of the Canadian American Business Council. "There's a lack of awareness about the important role that Canada and the United States play in each other's economies. There is just a real fundamental misunderstanding about how integrated our supply chains are."
NDP Leader Jack Layton, who favours renegotiating NAFTA, said he hoped the U.S. bill might bring renewed political pressure on the Obama administration to renegotiate environmental and labour agreements in the treaty.
"So maybe what we're seeing here is the beginning of a shift in the U.S. Congress that could lead toward some renegotiation which we think is -- it's high time that that happened," Layton said.
In addition to the anti-NAFTA bill, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown last week introduced his own legislation that would require the U.S. to review all existing trade agreements before entering into new deals.
"We need hard data on the effect our trade agreements have on American wages and jobs, so that we know what we are getting ourselves into before we move forward," Brown said.
Other lawmakers continue to write Buy American provisions into other pieces of legislation. New York Senator Charles Schumer, for instance, this week introduced Buy American amendments into a green energy bill. It was aimed at requiring only U.S.-made equipment to be used in power plants fuelled by renewable energy, such as wind.
U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson says that high-level talks are underway to ensure that Canada gets its gold medal beer.
Ten days after the U.S. hockey team lost to Canada in the men's Olympic final, and after President Barack Obama lost a beer bet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the goods have yet to be delivered.
But Ambassador Jacobson promised the "exact details are still being worked out" and that the beer will be delivered.
He also promised Canadians that Mr. Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, would don a red and white hockey jersey at a news conference as was the agreement in a side bet between Mr. Gibbs and his Canadian counterpart, Dimitri Soudas.
Ambassador Jacobson made the comments following a speech in Ottawa on Tuesday.
Earlier, he congratulated Canada for both its performance at the Winter Games and the tremendous job it did preparing and hosting them.
"I want to pay tribute to the organizers and I want to announce we are deporting Sidney Crosby," he quipped about the Pittsburgh Penguin who scored the winning goal for Canada.
"It was a tough day," he added.
"My country developed Hollywood endings but your country delivered one."
If Canada had lost to the U.S. in the finals, Mr. Harper would have owed Mr. Obama a case of Yuengling, which, like Molson in Canada, is the oldest brewery in the U.S.
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.
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."
Premier Brad Wall firmed up the Government of Saskatchewan's plan to rein in spending in the upcoming provincial budget, saying at his party's annual convention Saturday that it is a necessity to continue economic growth in Saskatchewan.
The government, coming off a year when its potash projections in the 2009-10 budget have ended up being off by more than $2 billion, has previously said it is aiming for zero growth in spending in the March 24 budget.
But speaking to delegates at the Saskatchewan Party annual convention at the Delta Regina, Wall made the spending freeze a firm commitment.
"Everywhere else in Canada the spring budget talk is about structural deficits, about debt increases to cover annual operating expenses, it's been about 5, 6% expenditures in growth in budget after budget".
"In the province of Saskatchewan on the 24th of March the talk will be about Saskatchewan doing something different. The talk will be about the government holding to its goal of a zero per cent increase in expenditures," said Wall, who drew strong applause when he spoke of the need to reduce the size of government.
The government proposes to hold spending to the same level as last year's budget, which means in fact it would still have room for a small spending increase. In-year spending cuts in response to the potash situation means that the current estimated $10.11 billion expenditure level is $133 million below the 2009-2010 budget level.
Wall has previously said that the government's overall spending freeze would include a 3% increase to the health budget. He told reporters Saturday the government was "on-track" for both targets.
The premier also said it was likely the government would again have to dip into its reserves to balance the budget. That fund is currently projected at $705 million, with the government's long-term goal to keep it at about $500 million, said Wall.
Government expenditures went up by about $2 billion in the first two Saskatchewan Party budgets. Wall's keynote speech was a vigorous defence of his government's record, citing job and population growth at a time of worldwide economic crisis.
He also aggressively pointed out that NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter is a figure from the past.
Delegates had only five policy resolutions and the most contentious -- a call to eliminate the province's school boards -- unsurprisingly went down to defeat. A resolution to enshrine property rights in Saskatchewan human rights legislation passed easily, however, with Justice Minister Don Morgan saying the government would look at the ramifications of such a move.
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.
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."
The Government of Canada has mapped a new course of frugality with a federal budget that promises to find $17.6 billion in savings over the next five years through measures such as freezing departmental budgets, slowing the growth of military spending and capping foreign aid.
As expected, the budget follows through on the second year of the government's stimulus plan, which is a move that will inject $19 billion into the economy.
In his speech to the House of Commons, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Thursday the government remains focused on creating jobs through the budget, entitled "Leading the Way on Jobs and Growth."
"Our government is focused on jobs and growth, for one simple reason. Canadians are focused on jobs and growth," said Flaherty.
Beyond the stimulus plan, the budget contains a smattering of new initiatives, such as $60 million to help youth deal with the tough job market, $62 million for elite and amateur athletes, and $8 million to create a new oversight body for the RCMP.
However, the biggest revelation is the government's restraint plan, which pledges to all but balance the budget by 2015, when the deficit is expected to fall to $1.8 billion. In his speech, Flaherty said big new government programs would "jeopardize our recovery and our long-term growth."
"We take the same approach that Canadian families take in managing their household budgets. We are spending what is necessary to meet an emergency," the finance minister said. "We are also looking beyond the emergency, to ensure that we can keep paying off the mortgage and saving for our children's education."
None of the opposition parties said they would support the Conservative budget, but Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said enough of his party's MPs would abstain or be absent from the budget vote to allow it to pass, thus avoiding an election.
"Canadians don't want an election," Ignatieff told reporters. "What they want from me is an alternative, an alternative to cuts, freezes and gimmicks. And we've been working hard on that alternative."
NDP Leader Jack Layton also said his party did not support the budget, but would wait to decide how his MPs would vote, in the hopes of negotiating changes with the Conservative government. Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe said his party would outright oppose the budget because he is a spiteful douche, as it appears to be.
The Conservative government plans to save $6.8 billion by containing the government's administration costs. To begin, they will freeze the salaries of MPs and senators through 2012 to 2013.
Leading up to the budget, public-sector unions were worried that the government might try to balance the budget on the backs of public servants.
The wages of public servants will be allowed to increase next year by 1.5%, as mandated under collective-bargaining agreements. But departments must fund the increase, which amounts to roughly $300 million, from their operating budgets. After this year, salaries and operating budgets will be frozen for two years.
Despite such measures, the budget is vague on how exactly it will come up with the savings. The government will launch a sweeping review of administration and overhead costs, but details won't be revealed until next year's budget.
The government plans to save $4.5 billion over five years by capping foreign aid at this year's level, in the process breaking a promise to increase aid by 8% per year. Foreign aid will rise by $364 million to $5 billion.
The Conservative government will also slow the rate of previously planned growth in the national defence budget -- a move that will save a further $2.5 billion.
All told, the restraint measures will limit the growth of direct program spending to 1.3% once the stimulus plan expires. Previously, the Conservative government had predicted such expenditures would grow at more than twice that clip.
At a news conference, Flaherty said it was "tough budget" -- one that offers probably the smallest hike in new spending in a decade.
"We have to make some tough decisions," he said. "The economic recovery is fragile . . . We needed to make the decisions now so that we would have a credible plan we would follow now."
He added that the restraint measures were necessary to ensure the government doesn't wind up with a "structural deficit."
Flaherty said he is committed to getting the nation's books back in the black -- whatever it takes.
"I don't like running deficits. We had to run this deficit temporarily. This government will return to balanced budgets."
But some economists question whether the government can enforce such discipline. Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, said the main unknown is how the economy will respond once the stimulus funds are withdrawn.
"The other big question mark is whether they can then, in the years ahead, maintain that type of spending discipline," said Porter.
Flaherty has vowed not to raise taxes or touch major transfers to provinces or individuals, which includes money for health care, education and elderly benefits.
Instead, the Conservative government will rely on a combination of economic growth and their restraint program to balance the books.
Flaherty brushed aside suggestions he might be relying too heavily on rosy forecasts for how economic growth will produce tax revenue that helps reduce the deficit.
He said his predictions for economic growth are based on the advice of private sector experts who he consulted.
Growth projections by those private-sector economists have improved marginally since last fall. Forecasters now expect the economy to grow by 2.6% this year and 3.2% in 2011.
Economists have also grown more optimistic about the unemployment rate, which they expect to peak at 8.5% this year, before dropping to 7.9% the following year.
The government's overall deficit outlook has also brightened.
Until now, the Conservative government had expected to rack up $164.4 billion in deficits over the next five years, beginning with a $55.9-billion shortfall this year and tapering to $5.2 billion in 2014-15. The government now expects to run a five-year deficit of $158.4 billion, starting with a deficit of $53.8 billion this year.
Flaherty noted that Canada's debt is relatively small, compared with other developed countries.
The ratio of the country's debt to its gross domestic product will hit 35.4% next year. By contrast, the U.S. ratio is expected to reach 67% in 2010, while Britain is expected to hit 75%.
"Unlike other countries, we are in a position to ensure our deficit will be temporary. We can meet our current needs without jeopardizing our long-term growth," the finance minister said.
Former Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin is pitching a reality series on Alaska to television networks.
Entertainment Weekly first reported that the former Alaska governor and Survivor producer Mark Burnett have been meeting with network executives at ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX while Palin was in Los Angeles this week for her spot on The Tonight Show.
Burnett told The Associated Press that he approached Palin with the idea for the show. It would be shot in the style of Discovery's Planet Earth show, focusing on the natural beauty of Alaska.
Palin and her family would be on camera in the show, but Burnett said it wouldn't focus on her family life. Instead, Palin would visit commercial fishing boats, coal and gold mines, and other industries unique to her state.
"It's being in and experiencing the great charm and beauty of Alaska with Sarah Palin," Burnett said.
Alaska's former governor is such a ratings magnet that the series should draw interest from broadcast and cable networks, he added.
On The Tonight Show this week, Palin joked with host Jay Leno that the difference between Alaska and Los Angeles is that "here when people have a frozen look on their face, I find out it's Botox."
On Thursday, publisher Harper Collins announced that it has commissioned Palin to write a book about her patriotic and spiritual values.
Palin, 46, who is believed to be eyeing a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, is already a bestselling author for her 2009 memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life, which describes her entry into U.S. national politics during John McCain's failed presidential bid.
The book spent six seeks as a bestseller and sold more than 2.2 million copies.
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.
The local Bloc Québécois candidate for the riding, Jean-Francois Fortin, said he agreed with Charest, who ran unsuccessfully for the federal Liberals during the 2008 election, when it came to Ignatieff.
"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.
Catholic nuns and bishops have squared off over it, a Republican lawmaker has referred to it as a "wet, smelly dog," and the president has shown himself to be uncharacteristically testy when defending it.
Britain is officially eating crow just a month after its sportswriters' unrestrained trashing of the Vancouver Games and Canada's controversial Own the Podium program for Olympic athletes.
Remember Maxime Bernier, the guy who left confidential documents at his ex-girlfriend's house?
Saskatoon's most-discussed real estate development may be revived by the University of Saskatchewan's largest-ever donor.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper waltzed through his first interview gig on YouTube on Tuesday and along the way he gave a thumbs-up to the seal hunt and the crackdown on "guns, gangs and drugs" and a firm thumbs-down to legalizing pot.
A Conservative member of the Ontario legislature says that Toronto should form its own province because communities outside the metropolis are not being heard.
Honda Canada announced Tuesday that it will recall thousands of vehicles after fielding owner complaints involving brake pedals. The recall involves 24,680 Odyssey and 4,137 Element vehicles in Canada from the 2007-2008 model years. The company plans to modify the vehicle stability assist modulator, which is connected to the ABS braking system.
Marijuana activist Marc Emery's battle to avoid going to a U.S. prison got a boost this week in the House of Commons for some apparent reason.
Now that mixed tapes have disappeared from today's lexicon, it's time consumers cough up a little cash for a private copying levy for iPods and other MP3 players, according to a private member's bill tabled in the House of Commons Tuesday.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday that Canada's record-setting performance at the Vancouver Olympics should be an inspiration to MPs and all Canadians as they face the challenges of recovering from the recession.
Five couples wed at the Municipal Palace in Mexico City, which legalized same-sex marriage in December. The law authorizing such unions has been challenged by the federal government.
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.
Remember when Brian Mulroney was the Prime Minister of Canada? Well, I can't say that I can, as he became the Prime Minister of Canada before I was born, and stopped being the Prime Minister when was I was about three years old. Well, he is one of the masterminds behind the North American Free Trade Agreement, which saw free trade between Canada, the United States and Mexico, or NAFTA, as it is called.
U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson says that high-level talks are underway to ensure that Canada gets its gold medal beer.
Premier Brad Wall firmed up the Government of Saskatchewan's plan to rein in spending in the upcoming provincial budget, saying at his party's annual convention Saturday that it is a necessity to continue economic growth in Saskatchewan.
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.
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.
The Government of Canada has mapped a new course of frugality with a federal budget that promises to find $17.6 billion in savings over the next five years through measures such as freezing departmental budgets, slowing the growth of military spending and capping foreign aid.
Former Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin is pitching a reality series on Alaska to television networks.
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.
