Driver charged, drove onto Mountie’s lawn

YORKTON, Sask. (CP) — A Saskatchewan Mountie who specializes in drunk-driving investigations didn’t have far to go to arrest one suspect.

The alleged drunk driver was on the officer’s lawn.

RCMP say the constable was relaxing at his home in Yorkton on Tuesday night when he heard a noise outside and found a station wagon in his yard.

Police say the car was stuck and the motorist was trying to drive it out of a snow bank.

The off-duty constable, a qualified breath-test technician, placed the man under arrest and detained him until on-duty officers arrived.

RCMP say the suspect’s blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit.

Polygamist borrowed to prepare for final days

VANCOUVER (CP)— Polygamous leader Winston Blackmore says he took out a $25,000 loan to prepare for the end of the world.

During testimony in federal tax court, Blackmore says he was directed by a patriarch in the community to get the money to “prepare for the worst.”

The Bountiful, B.C., leader says the money was to be used to gather supplies, but the deadline passed without incident.

Blackmore later wrote in a website newsletter for members of his faith that another deadline had come and gone, marking 15 such predictions that had passed.

Child porn distributor gets six years in jail

MONCTON (CP) — A New Brunswick man caught distributing a collection of child pornography has been sentenced to six years in prison.

Roger Joseph Williams of Irishtown pleaded guilty in November 2011 to seven offences.

The charges included possession of child pornography, distribution of child pornography, making child pornography, touching for a sexual purpose and invitation to sexual touching involving two victims.

Police say Williams’s collection of pornography included images of children who ranged from infants to teens.

N.L. auditor decries government secrecy

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. (CP) — Newfoundland and Labrador’s acting auditor general says the province’s sweeping refusal to share documents will block value-for-money reviews in the future.

Wayne Loveys says government stonewalling of his review of a $5-billion infrastructure plan left him no way to trace spending decisions.

But Premier Kathy Dunderdale is defending her government’s protection of documents.

She told an open line radio talk show on VOCM Thursday that those documents could expose cabinet confidences.

Loveys says that’s an overly broad and inconsistent use of access-to-information exemptions.

He says similar documents were previously released for reviews of road projects and medical spending.

Territories’ crime rates far higher than average

OTTAWA (CP) — Statistics Canada says a 2009 survey shows that one in three residents of the northern territories over the age of 15 reported being a victim of crime at least once in the previous year.

It says 46 per cent of the 38,000 self-reported crime incidents were violent, with assault being the most common.

That contrasts with the rest of the country where 70 per cent of reported crimes were non-violent.

The survey says about one in five violent incidents in the territories was reported to have been committed by a current or former spouse or partner.

Rates of spousal violence were highest for people aged 15 to 34, aboriginal people and those in a low-income household.

Article source: http://thechronicleherald.ca/canada/56184-canada-brief

Fri Jan 27, 2012 5:09am EST

Jan 27 (Reuters) – The following are the top stories
from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified
these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL:

– The Conservative government is confirming what it’s been
hinting at for weeks: spending cuts in the upcoming federal
budget could be twice as deep as Ottawa’s original target.

Rather than aiming for a 5 percent cut overall and permanent
savings of $4 billion a year – as outlined in the 2011 budget -
the government is now clearly describing the 5 percent cut as
the low end of a targeted range.

Reports in the business section:

– Sino-Forest Corp the embattled timber company
facing fraud allegations, has failed to respond to requests by
the Ontario Securities Commission for information about its
assets and relationships with key business partners in China,
according to a senior OSC investigator.

NATIONAL POST:

– Addressing the World Economic Forum, Prime Minister
Stephen Harper signalled his government will bring forward
“major transformations” to the country in the coming months – in
areas such as the retirement pension system, immigration,
science and technology investment and the energy sector – while
making a forceful case for pro-growth economic policies over
entitlements.

– Federal justice and public safety ministers on Thursday
touted the progress they made over three days of meetings with
provincial and territorial representatives, but danced around
the total cost of new federal crime legislation that is expected
to place a heavy financial burden on the provinces.

Reports in the Financial Post section:

– Canada disassociated itself on Thursday from an
embarrassing official policy paper that said the country’s
independent energy regulator, now studying a controversial oil
pipeline, is in fact a government ally.

– Quebec’s ailing employment picture has suffered yet
another blow with the announcement by Mexican home appliance
maker Controlodora Mabe S.A. de C.V. that it is shutting down a
dryer manufacturing factory in Montreal’s east end.

Article source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/27/pressdigest-canada-idUSL4E8CR3HT20120127

January 27, 2012, 8:40 AM EST

By Catarina Saraiva

Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) — Canada’s dollar rose, strengthening beyond parity with its U.S. counterpart for a second day, as speculation that Greece will reach an agreement with its creditors increased demand for riskier assets.

The loonie, as the currency is known for the image of the aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, headed for a third weekly gain after the Federal Reserve pledged to keep U.S. interest rates near zero through 2014. The Canadian dollar traded on a one-for- one basis with the greenback yesterday for the first time since Nov. 1. European Union leaders meet for a summit Jan. 30.

“There’s some optimism about the potential of a Greek debt deal, as well as the potential for the EU summit to be positive for market sentiment,” said Camilla Sutton, a Bank of Nova Scotia currency strategist in Toronto. “It’ll be positive for the Canadian dollar if we manage to have a close through parity.”

Canada’s dollar appreciated 0.2 percent to 99.98 Canadian cents per U.S. dollar at 8 a.m. Toronto time. It’s poised for a 1.4 percent gain this week. One Canadian dollar buys $1.0002.

EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said Greece was “very close” to reaching agreement with its private-sector bondholders on a debt swap.

–Editors: Greg Storey, Dennis Fitzgerald

To contact the reporter on this story: Catarina Saraiva in New York at asaraiva5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

Article source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-27/canada-dollar-rises-through-parity-amid-bets-on-greek-bond-deal.html

Canada’s dollar reversed an advance
against its U.S. counterpart as economic growth in America, the
nation’s biggest trade partner, expanded less than forecast in
the fourth quarter.

The loonie, as the currency is known for the image of the
aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, rose earlier beyond parity with
the greenback for a second day as bets that Greece will reach an
agreement with its creditors increased demand for riskier
assets. The currency was still poised for a weekly advance.

The Canadian dollar depreciated 0.2 percent to C$1.0038 per
U.S. dollar at 8:55 a.m. Toronto time. The decline pared its
weekly gain to 1 percent. One Canadian dollar purchases 99.62
U.S. cents.

U.S. gross domestic product, the value of all goods and
services produced, grew at a 2.8 percent annual pace following a
1.8 percent gain in the prior quarter, Commerce Department
figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 79
economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a 3 percent
increase. Excluding a jump in inventories, growth was 0.8
percent.

European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner
Olli Rehn said earlier Greece was “very close” to reaching
agreement with its private-sector bondholders on a debt swap,
boosting optimism that Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis is easing.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Catarina Saraiva in New York at
asaraiva5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

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Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-27/canada-s-dollar-rises-through-parity-as-greek-deal-bets-spur-risk-appetite.html

Canada’s single country exchange traded fund can offer a portfolio stable diversification benefits that also maintains exposure to natural resources and commodities from a developed nation.

“Unusually for a developed nation, Canada is a major commodity exporter. It’s confirmed oil reserves, including oil sands, are second only to Saudi Arabia, and it’s a major producer of minerals, natural gas and agricultural commodities,” John Gabriel wrote in an analyst report on Morningstar . “However, owing to its tight economic integration with the United States, over the past 40 years, its monthly correlation to the U.S. stock market was around 0.74. In recent years, commodities have started playing a bigger role and its trailing three year correlation to the GSCI, a major commodity index, spiked up to 0.80.”

Canada is a world leader in production of zinc, nickel, potash, gold, copper and lead and the country is a leading exporter of forest products. Furthermore, the country is a net exporter of energy. This all supports the fact that Canada has maintained its AAA credit rating throughout the global slowdown, reports Neena Mishra on Zack’s . [ ETF Chart of the Day: Canada ]

According to the IMF, Canada will grow 1.7% in 2012, followed by a 2% growth rate in 2013. As fiscal problems in the Eurozone continue, there are not many choices left for investors that want exposure to a developed market. [ Canada ETF Falls With Gold Miner Stocks ]

Yet the Eurozone debt crisis is one of the major threats to the Canadian economy, as well as growing domestic household debt. The latter is one of the largest threats to the Canadian banking system at this time, reports Mishra. [ Canada ETF Supported by Commodities ]

Meanwhile, a recent ETF outlook study by the Bank of Montreal found that capital is expected to continue to keep trickling into Canadian ETFs. More product launches and industry consolidation will support this, reports Evelyn Juan for Dow Jones Newswire .

“Some of the newer ETFs will likely create further price competition,” the outlook said. Plain-vanilla market-capitalization funds will be displaced by alternative, less expensive ETFs in the long run.

Some Canadian ETFs trading in the U.S. :

• iShares MSCI Canada Index (NYSEArca: EWC – News )
• IQ Canada Small Cap ETF (NYSEArca: CNDA – News )

iShares MSCI Canada

Tisha Guerrero contributed to this article.

Article source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/canada-etf-developed-market-commodity-132537820.html

What does Friday’s game at B.C. Place mean to the Canadian women’s soccer team?

“It’s everything,” said centre back Carmelina Moscato. “I think, at this point, there is no future without this game.”

At least, not a future anyone cares to imagine.

“This game” is the CONCACAF women’s Olympic qualifying tournament semifinal. It’s for a berth into the 2012 London Olympics, and it will be against Mexico.

The top-ranked U.S. beat Mexico 4-0 on Tuesday night at B.C. Place, a victory that secured top spot in Group B for the U.S., and set up the semifinal matchups: Canada-Mexico; U.S.-Costa Rica.

This Canadian team has done its share of soul searching since last summer’s 0-for-3 Women’s World Cup in Germany. Now they have the matchup they wanted and it’s time to deliver at home.

“It’s huge,” keeper Erin McLeod said of Friday’s semifinal. “We’ve basically planned our next year around winning this game.”

Then she laughed the type of laugh that suggests there’s only one option, and said: “So, yeah, we better win it.”

Own The Podium, who identified this team as a London medal hopeful to the tune of $2.5 million in funding, would no doubt agree.

After a relatively relaxing walk through the group stage – 6-0 over Haiti, 2-0 over Cuba, 5-1 over Costa Rica – the competition, like the pressure, will be ramped up considerably for Canada in the semifinal.

Mexico was buried nine minutes into Tuesday’s game as Carli Lloyd and Heather O’Reilly struck for a rampaging U.S. side, despite Mexico playing a defensive 5-4-1 formation.

Lloyd later put the game to bed on a header off a free kick in the 58th minute. She completed her hat trick in the dying minutes and the U.S. basically qualified for London with the win; Costa Rica will be no match.

But, for the 45 minutes after Mexico went down 2-0, once they came out of their shell, they showed flashes of how dangerous they can be.

Jennifer Ruiz controlled the tempo from a deep-lying midfield position, and Maribel Dominguez and Monica Ocampo combined well up front, though all their build-up didn’t force Hope Solo into saves.

The Mexican fans, too, made their presence felt.

They belted out the anthem, chanted throughout, and set the stage for a charged atmosphere on Friday (8 p.m., SNET PAC).

Canada’s coach John Herdman joked after Monday’s win that he couldn’t bring himself to cheer for the U.S. on Tuesday.

But make no mistake, Mexico is the opponent Canada wanted, and the one they’ve kept a close eye on all tournament. All-time, Canada is 3-5-41 against the U.S.; they are 16-1-1 against Mexico.

Their only loss to Mexico was 2-1 in March, 2004, which decided who qualified for the Athens Olympics.

“They’re a strong side,” said Canadian forward Melissa Tancredi, whose goal in a 1-0 win over Mexico in the 2008 CONCACAF semifinal sent Canada to the Beijing Olympics.

“They’ve improved a lot, even after this past World Cup. It’s their attacking that’s very dangerous. But I think we can exploit them defensively.”

Added McLeod, who sat Monday in favour of Karina LeBlanc: “They have tricky strikers. They have smart midfielders. They’re compact. They’re hard-working and quick and move the ball around well.

“We have to keep bringing what we’re bringing; keep the speed of play up, the high pressure, and I think we’ll be fine.”

Canada will also have to cut out the mistakes that crept in during a sloppy finish to the Costa Rica win. Too many giveaways at the back, and a poorly-conceded goal.

And if Mexico sit back, Canada will have to do a far better job of breaking them down than they did against Cuba, when they played too often through the middle and ignored the wings.

Mexico’s Achilles’ heel could be their goalkeeper, Cecilia Santiago, who is just 17 and looked nervous early against the U.S.

“We have to make sure we don’t have any lapses,” said McLeod.

After a trying summer, only 90 minutes and Mexico stand between this Canadian team and London.

And as Herdman put it: “All their dreams are pinned on that.”

Article source: http://www.canada.com/sports/Everything+line+Friday+Canada/6048024/story.html

MONTREAL — What unfortunate distinction does Olivier Le Jeune hold in Canadian history?

Le Jeune was the first recorded black slave in New France, brought to Canada from Africa in the 17th century when he was a child.

If you didn’t know the answer, you aren’t alone.

The story of blacks in Canada doesn’t form part of the national narrative and is outside the mainstream of what most people learn, says Lawrence Hill, author of the acclaimed historical novel The Book of Negroes.

Hill told students on Thursday at Ecole secondaire Antoine-de-Saint-Exupery in Montreal that he finds most Canadians and Quebecers know more about the history of blacks in the United States than they do about the topic in their own country and province.

As a teenager, Hill said he was never taught about the history of blacks in Canada. If it wasn’t for his parents, who had written books on the subject, “I wouldn’t have even known that slavery existed in Canada.”

Hill’s appearance marked the launch of Black History Month at the high school and also the launch of a French-language Black History in Canada Education Guide, a teaching tool that draws on The Book of Negroes.

The guide was developed by the Historica-Dominion Institute, a charitable organization dedicated to Canadian history and citizenship. It contains discussion questions related to Hill’s novel, as well as a black history in Canada timeline that notes key milestones, such as the abolishment of slavery in the British colonies, which took effect in 1834, and the election in 1866 of Mifflin Gibbs to Victoria, B.C.’s town council, making him the first black politician in Canada.

The English guide was sent to more than 3,000 schools across Canada last year. The new French guide has gone to 1,500 French and bilingual schools in the country.

“It’s an honour for the novel but more importantly, it’s a tool that hopefully teachers or students can use if they want to learn more,” Hill said in an interview.

Many teachers and educators have so little information about black history, Hill said. “Dozens of times in my life teachers have come to me and said ‘I’d love to do something about black history or talk about black literature but where can I find anything?’”

“As Mr. Hill said, it seems that Canadians know a lot about (American) black history but we don’t know enough about our own black history,” said Brigitte D’Auzac, senior manager of programming for the Historica-Dominion Institute. “So it was important for the institute to make sure that we talk about it,” D’Auzac said. “Let’s get every kid in school aware of this. And let’s talk about our history. It’s important and we need to know about it.”

Hill told students how he was born and raised in Toronto, the son of a black father and white mother who had emigrated from the U.S. Fluent in French, and a graduate of Universite Laval, Hill talked to students about his novel, weaving in historical information — such as the first big wave of black immigration in 1783 to Nova Scotia at the end of American Revolutionary War, and how, faced with racial discrimination, slavery and segregation in their new location, one-third of the Black loyalists ultimately left Halifax in 15 boats to create the colony of Freetown in Sierra Leone.

“The first big exodus of blacks from the Americas to return to live in Africa came from Halifax,” in 1792, Hill said.

He also read an excerpt from The Book of Negroes, which has been translated into French with the title Aminata.

Hill said it’s great to see more and more people in Quebec have learned about Marie-Joseph Angelique, a black slave who was accused in 1734 of setting fire to her master’s house, which also destroyed half of what was then Montreal. (Angelique was convicted and executed.)

For the longest time, people in Quebec seemed to know nothing about the history of slavery in Montreal or Quebec City, Hill said. “After all, the first slave in Canada is in Quebec City in 1628 — a boy from Madagascar, Olivier Le Jeune.”

Hill said he believes there is often an “unconscious resistance” to looking at our own history. Many Canadians know about the underground railroad, he said, which makes us feel good because we feel “we’re welcoming poor, fugitive American slaves and giving them their freedom here.

“So it’s convenient to know about that. And if a Canadian does know a tiny bit about black history in Canada they’re likely to trumpet the underground railroad,” Hill said. “But very few people can talk about, or know anything about the black Loyalists or them being so terribly mistreated in Nova Scotia that they left en masse 10 years later.”

bbranswell@montrealgazette.com

Article source: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Black+History+Month+Canada+slaves/6058286/story.html?id=6058286

The classic black bomber with all the bells and whistles from Moose Knuckles. Waterproof outer shell, duck-down filling, removable hood with fox fur trim, draw-cord hood and wind flap with snap closure. The Ballistic Bomber is $750 at mooseknucklescanada.com

As any luxury fashion brand will attest, when you achieve phenomenal success, along come the inevitable party-crashers, the counterfeiters.

Canada Goose, purveyors of highly covetable down-filled coats that are sold around the world, have found themselves in the position of having to fight off fake goods parading as their famous coats.

Puffy coats in identical styles and bearing strikingly good copies of the iconic circular patch logo are being sold online at deep discounts. Even more deceptive are websites posing as the official Canada Goose site. If you Google ‘Canada Goose,’ the first site that pops up is not the official site, despite bearing the logo.

So what is the down low on these doppelgangers and how can you avoid being duped?

The safest way is to check the official web page, www.canada-goose.com, says Spencer Orr, director of design and merchandising at Canada Goose.

“It lists all the authorized dealers plus websites to stay away from,” he says. “The authorized dealer is really the only way to go.”

Another obvious giveaway is the price. Canada Goose coats never go on sale. You’ll never find a bargain puffy from this brand.

“If it’s too good to be true, it’s probably not a real jacket,” says Orr. The company has also noticed that savvy counterfeiters are cluing into this giveaway factor and are jacking up prices to give their fakes the air of authenticity.

“Not only is the consumer losing out on a bad jacket, but they are being had for much more money,” he says.

As for those buyers who claim their fake jacket is just as warm as the real thing, brace yourself for the results of tests Canada Goose has conducted on some of the fake coats.

“We found bacteria and mould — it’s mulch,” says Orr. “They take remnants, which includes feathers, beak, feces, and ground it all up and call it ‘down fill.’ Sometimes they sweep the factory floor and they will take thread and leftover fabrics and use it as filling. You’re not getting warmth out of that and you can also get sick.”

The other thing to look for is a hologram tag inside the coats on the content labels. The shiny silver holographic logo — which is made from the same technology used in currency — is difficult to duplicate.

Article source: http://www.thestar.com/living/fashion/article/1121911--canada-goose-counterfeiters-a-sign-of-luxury-brand-s-success

BY NIRMALA MENON

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday said the country’s capacity to export energy is a national priority and pledged to speed regulatory approval of energy projects—a move that comes as Ottawa struggles with delays over an oil pipeline.

Mr. Harper’s government has recently championed alternative routes to export Canada’s oil after the Obama administration rejected for now TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL, a line that would have shipped oil-sands crude from Alberta to the U.S. …

Article source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203363504577185041293276370.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Keystone XL: Forget for a minute the sheer stupidity of stopping a pipeline that creates jobs at no cost to U.S. taxpayers. The harm done to Canada merits some attention as well.

Depending on your point of view, Barack Obama’s decision last week to block the Keystone XL pipeline is a triumph for radical greenies, a job killer, a potential boon to China or a cynical political ploy.

Actually, it’s all of these. One thing it’s not is good for Canada. That fact deserves more play than it’s getting. Canada doesn’t deserve to be the victim, as it is now, of election-year American politics.

There’s good reason why Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper (as his office put it) “expressed his profound disappointment” when President Obama told him about the Keystone XL decision.

Pipeline projects like this one are beneficial to the U.S., but for Canada they are more crucial. They give that nation a way to profit from Alberta’s vast tar-sands oil reserves, which are far larger than what our northern neighbor needs for its own uses.

Without a way to get that oil to seaports, refineries and global shipping, Canada is cut off from the world’s markets. It might as well leave most of the oil in the ground.

That’s exactly what environmental movements on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border want to see. For them, the Keystone XL issue is not about which route the pipeline would take from Canada to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Even rerouted around the Ogallala Aquifer, it still would be wrong from their point of view. They oppose Keystone XL because it would boost the extraction and consumption of oil.

Thanks to a sympathizer in the White House, the environmentalists won at least a temporary victory last week. TransCanada Corp., the company that would build Keystone XL, can reapply for the cross-border permit that Obama denied it, and it seems intent on doing so. But the delay — until at least next year — also gives time for opponents to regroup. What once looked like almost a sure thing is not so anymore.

In Canada, Harper’s Conservative government is pro-oil and pro-pipeline. In fact, it wants two pipelines to be built from the Alberta oilfields. One is Keystone XL. The other, Northern Gateway, would cross the Rockies to the British Columbia coast, where crude would be shipped to China. So even without Keystone XL, Canada has a Plan B to ship its oil, and China stands to benefit at the expense of U.S. refiners and consumers. That much has been widely noted.

Article source: http://news.investors.com/Article/599156/201201261856/stopping-keystone-xl-no-way-to-treat-canada.htm