National RSS
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Feds nix plan for Wiccan chaplain to serve inmates in B.C. prisons
VANCOUVER – The Correction Service of Canada won’t proceed with plans to hire a Wiccan to minister to inmates in British Columbia prisons. A spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews says he has conducted a review and concluded chaplains employed by the prisons must provide services to inmates of all faiths. Early last month,
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Teenager pleads guilty to murder in death of Delta, B.C., teen Laura Szendrei
SURREY, B.C. – A young man who struck fear into an entire Vancouver-area community two years ago has pleaded guilty to murdering a 15-year-old girl. The man, who can’t be named because of a publication ban, was just 17 when he killed Laura Szendrei. The now 20-year-old Delta, B.C., resident stood up at the end
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NDP tries shaming Tory backbenchers into giving up partisan trash talk
OTTAWA – The NDP is trying to shame Conservative backbenchers into abandoning their daily game of partisan trash talk in the House of Commons. Repeated rebukes by the Speaker have done nothing to stem Conservative use of members’ statements — the 15-minute interval preceding question period each day — to lob verbal grenades at the
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Police, border officials say organized crime involved in fake pills sent by mail
VANCOUVER – International organized crime is threatening the health and bank accounts of Canadians who have ordered counterfeit prescriptions online, say border officials and police. Samples of some of the hundreds of thousands of pills sent by mail but seized by Canada Border Agency Officials were on display in Vancouver Thursday afternoon. The presentation followed
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Conservative MP Rob Anders under fire for petition drive over transgendered bill
OTTAWA – The New Democrats are blasting a Conservative MP for attacking a private member’s bill that would give the transgendered greater protection under human rights law. Rob Anders has posted a note on his website that says the bill would give transgendered men access to women’s public washrooms. The Calgary MP is inviting Canadians
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Police raids at home, office of mayor in Montreal-area Laval
LAVAL, Que. – Quebec’s new anti-corruption squad launched its highest-profile raid against a politician, sifting through the personal residence and the offices of the mayor of a major Montreal-area municipality Thursday. The searches targeted Gilles Vaillancourt, the powerful mayor who has enjoyed a 23-year reign at the helm of Laval, Que., the third-biggest municipality in
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CNOOC takeover bid for Nexen raises ‘difficult policy questions,’ says Harper
OTTAWA – A $15-billion bid by China’s state-owned offshore oil company for Canada’s Nexen Inc. (TSX:NXY), “raises a range of difficult policy questions,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday. But Harper says cautionary signals from the United States about the takeover bid will not be a factor in whether the deal ultimately gets the green
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Quick nap in Kamloops, B.C., sparks fire, confrontation with freight train
KAMLOOPS, B.C. – A Kamloops, B.C., man is recovering from what RCMP in that southern Interior city call a bizarre sequence of events, after he was burned in a grass fire and then hit by a train. Staff Sgt. Grant Learned says the 51-year-old was drunk when he fell asleep Wednesday afternoon while smoking in
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YouTube video of autistic Toronto girl’s ballet dance a viral hit worldwide
TORONTO – A YouTube video of an autistic 10-year-old Toronto girl dancing along to a memorized 19th-century ballet has spun her into the spotlight online. The video, posted two weeks ago, shows Clara Bergs dancing step-by-step to the Coppelia comic ballet in her family’s living room, circling around a small footrest and positioning her body
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Privacy complaints skyrocket by 39 per cent; data breaches up: commissioner
OTTAWA – An RCMP and House of Commons security proposal to more than double the number of video cameras on Parliament Hill, without warning the public it’s being watched, alarms the privacy commissioner, who says it’s an ironic symbol of how pervasive government surveillance is becoming. The plan, part of a massive security overhaul, combined
