Greek bailout loan decision pushed to October

Greece's international rescue partners will delay until October their decision on paying out a batch of bailout loans needed to keep Athens from a disastrous bankruptcy, the head of the eurozone finance ministers' group said Friday.

The announcement at the meeting in Wroclaw, Poland, was yet another example of Europe's halting effort over almost two years to solve its crisis over too much government debt in some countries.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner had joined the meeting -- a first for the U.S. finance chief -- in a sign of how the U.S. is getting increasingly concerned over the global impact of the eurozone debt crisis.

But the participants appeared unable to make progress on any front.

The European finance chiefs ruled out providing more fiscal stimulus to get their lackluster economies growing again, saying high debts left no space for extra spending. Another sticking point in the aid for Greece, a Finnish demand for collateral for a second bailout now being put together, was not solved either.

The next€8 billion ($11 billion) installment of Greece's first bailout package depends on a review of the country's finances. The payout was originally scheduled for end-September and the Greek government has said that without the new loan it will run out of money next month, forcing it to stop paying public-sector salaries and eventually default on its massive debts.

But officials from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund have delayed their assessment until Greece has laid out a clear plan on how it will cut its deficits to targets agreed in its bailout program, said Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg who also chairs the regular meetings of eurozone finance ministers.

Juncker said officials welcomed "the renewed, firm commitment of Greece" to its austerity program and said they "would decide in October on the next tranche."

A delegation from the eurozone, the IMF and the European Central Bank unexpectedly left Athens on Sept. 2, delaying the much-awaited confirmation that Greece was meeting the terms of its euro110 billion ($152 billion) bailout agreed in May, 2010.

The country's struggle to keep a lid on its spending and raise enough revenue has also increased uncertainty about a second euro109 billion aid package agreed in July, when it became clear that the first batch of money would not be enough.

Fears that Greece might not get more rescue money and default have made Greek bond prices plummet, weighed on the euro's exchange rate with the dollar and roiled stock markets.

Austria's Finance Minister Maria Fekter, traditionally a hard-liner when it comes to sticking to the bailout conditions, said she was "very optimistic that the next tranche can be paid out to Greece."

She warned against a Greek default, which she said would be "very costly." Yet she did not rule it out as a possibility in the future.

"Should a situation arise, where this way (of providing rescue loans) suddenly becomes more expensive than the alternative, we will have to think about the alternative," Fekter said. "But at the moment this is not yet the case."

Friday's announcement fell short of a complete assurance Greece will get the money and hopes for tangible progress on another obstacle were quickly thwarted, when Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen said there was still no solution to her country's demand for guarantees to back its contribution to the second rescue package.

The small Nordic country's demand has triggered similar requests from several other states, including Austria and the Netherlands.

Fulfilling all the requests for collateral could shave off hundreds of millions of euros from the overall bailout sum, hurting Greece's prospects of recovery and angering other eurozone nations who would have to fund the guarantees.

"If collateral will be provided, this will be done at an appropriate price," Juncker said, without giving further details on where discussions were headed.

Friday's meeting comes after several turbulent weeks on global financial markets, triggered by fears over the impact of a potential Greek default as well as mounting evidence of a slowdown of the world economy. Some eurozone banks have been facing difficulties to obtain short-term funding in U.S. dollars as other lenders worry about their exposure of the debt of struggling countries like Greece, Spain or Italy.

Those funding issues pushed the European Central Bank, the U.S. Federal Reserve and three other major central banks to give banks easier access to dollars on Thursday, in the hope they can stop credit from seizing up like it did after the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers three years ago.

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Age of Consent Canada

Definition: Beginning May 1, 2008, the age of sexual consent in Canada is 16 years old.

The age of consent in Canada is the age at which the criminal law recognizes the legal capacity of a young person to consent to sexual activity. Under the Criminal Code of Canada anyone under the age of 16 cannot legally consent to any form of sexual activity, from kissing to intercourse. It means that adults are criminally liable if they have sex with someone under that age. The offence carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

The law has a "close-in-age" exemption of less than five years, which permits teens to engage in consensual sex with a partner who is less than five years older as long as the older partner is not in a position of trust or authority and the relationship is not exploitive.

The age of protection for exploitive sexual activity, such as sexual activity involving prostitution, pornography, or a relationship of trust, is 18. The age of consent for anal sex is also 18.

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\$5 Bill Upgrade in 2006

On November 15, 2006 an upgraded Canadian $5 bill went into circulation. It should take a few weeks to spread across the country. The $5 bill is the last in the Canadian Journey series of bank notes to get improved security features to make it harder to counterfeit.

The new security features on the $5 bill include: a metallic holographic stripea watermark portraita windowed colour-shifting thread woven into the papera see-through number

To make it last longer, the upgraded $5 bill is printed on heavier paper and coated with a varnish. The life of a Canadian $5 bill is about one to two years.

The design, colour and illustrations on the upgraded $5 bill are the same as on the earlier version of the $5 bill in the Canadian Journey series. The front of the blue $5 bill features a portrait of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the first French-Canadian prime minister who held office from 1896 to 1911. On the back of the bill are images of children playing in winter.

The Canadian Journey series of Canadian bank notes celebrates Canada's history, culture, and achievements. The series was first introduced in 2001 with the $10 bill. The new $5 bill was introduced in 2002, and was followed by the $100 bill, the $20 bill and the $50 bill in 2004. In May 2005, the Bank of Canada also issued an upgraded $10 bill with additional security features.

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IMF chief warns global recovery in danger

The head of the International Monetary Fund repeated Thursday her warning that the global economy is in a "dangerous new phase," and called for coordinated action by governments in the face of a slowing global economy and a deepening European debt crisis.

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde also called on European countries to get their spending under control and for banks in the region to ensure they have enough cash on their balance sheets for emergencies.

Her comments came after the European Central Bank unveiled plans to lend American dollars to banks in three operations to be conducted in October, November and December.

The ECB said it would collaborate with the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank in the lending operations.

The move was widely seen as a sign that the banks aren’t providing short-term lending to each other because of fears about the quality of their loans to debt-burdened countries such as Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy.

The program will likely prevent a panic for the next few months, but it's only a first step, said Mark McCormick, a currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman.

"You're warding off contagion and crisis, but it's not going to solve the problem, which is too much debt," McCormick said, but added it was smart for the central banks to address the problem early.

In her speech in Washington, Lagarde also pointed to the problem of high debt, not only across the world economic system and especially among governments and banks in Europe, but also in U.S. households.

'It's not going to solve the problem, which is too much debt.'—Mark McCormick, currency strategist, Brown Brothers Harriman

The uncertainty about their ability to meet their obligations slows economic recovery, a problem made worse by policy indecision by political leaders, she said.

Lagarde evoked memories of the financial crisis in 2008, and called on the heads of the major European economies to provide leadership.

“Exactly three years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the economic skies look troubled and turbulent as global activity slows and downside risks increase,” Lagarde said.

“Without collective resolve, the confidence that the world so badly needs will not return.”

Her warning came as the European Commission reduced its outlook for growth in the region in the second half of the year but predicted that it would avoid an outright recession.

Still, EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn said the economy was likely to come to a "virtual standstill," dragged down by the region's massive debt burden.

The EC kept its growth prediction for 2011 at 1.6 per cent, but said activity would slow to 0.2 per cent in the third quarter and just 0.1 per cent in the last three months of the year.

And the Greek finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, warned that the country must brace for a fourth year of recession, amid new data showing unemployment had hit a new high of 16.3 per cent. He said the Greek economy will contract 5.3 per cent this year.

Eurozone finance ministers will meet in Wroclaw, Poland, beginning on Friday to discuss how to deal with the debt crisis.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will take part on Saturday and is expected to plead for more decisive measures to prevent a Greek default that could threaten Europe's banks and even spread to the global financial system.

Lagarde said she welcomes U.S. President Barack Obama's job creation plan given what she called an unemployment crisis in the United States.

Lagarde will preside at her first annual meeting of the 187-nation lending institution next week.

The former French finance minister became director on July 5 after taking over from Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned in May to fight attempted rape charges. The charges were later dismissed.

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Montreal university students don blackface

Several students painted their faces black and dressed up as Jamaican sprinters for a frosh week event. YouTube

A frosh event at a Montreal university has come under scrutiny after students painted themselves in blackface.

Students at the University of Montreal's business school dressed up as Jamaican sprinters, with black paint covering their skin, for the event Wednesday.

One witness, who is of Jamaican descent, said he felt uncomfortable and was shocked to hear some students chanting, "Smoke more weed."

"They had reduced all of who I am and the history of Jamaica and culture of Jamaica to these negative connotations of weed smoking, black skin, rastas," said McGill law student Anthony Morgan, who happened to be on the campus at the time and filmed the group.

"In this instance, it was meant to be ridiculed and seen as something that was fun and acceptable."

Morgan says he is considering filing a human rights complaint.

The event, organized by the sports and leisure committee at U of M's Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) business school, was part of an annual athletic week to encourage students to take part in extra-curricular activities.

The theme of this year's event was the Olympic Games and groups of first year students were each assigned a costume based on the first letter of their group, according to a written statement by committee director Frank Sciortino.

The group in question were assigned track and field.

"Usain Bolt, being on the front page of everything concerning track and field due to his multiple record-breaking performances, was [the group's] ambassador for the day," Sciortino said.

"Consequently, [the group] decided to costume themselves as Usain Bolt, emphasizing on the Jamaican colours, his native country."

Fo Niemi of the Centre for Research Action and Race Relations said he was shocked to see the level of "poor taste" exercised at the event.

But he also acknowledged there was likely a lack of understanding on the part of the students about the impact of their actions.

"When we look at the whole history of this, and also the fact that they're reinforcing stereotypes.... some people may find it humorous and fun, but some people may find it very hurtful and unacceptable in this day and age," he said.

A University of Montreal official said the school is looking into the incident.

While HEC is affiliated with the university, the schools have separate administrations. The HEC student group had to rent the football stadium from the university.

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Swissair crash speculation prompts anger, surprise

Allegations by an investigator who looked into the crash of Swissair Flight 111 near Peggys Cove, N.S., and says that it might have been caused by an incendiary device are sparking surprise and anger.

Retired RCMP sergeant Tom Juby, an arson investigator assigned right away to the Swissair file, told CBC's The Fifth Estate that high levels of magnesium — a key ingredient in an incendiary device — were discovered in the cockpit area of the plane. Several other investigators and a federal scientist who The Fifth Estate spoke to supported Juby's informed suspicions.

The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada said that it was an accident caused by a fire in the cockpit, likely sparked by an electrical fault.

"We settled in with the notion believing fully that this was indeed an accident and there was no foul play or anything sinister going on and we've, over the last 13 years, have come to deal with that as the reality," David Wilkins, whose 19-year-old son was on the flight, told CBC's Connect with Mark Kelley.

"Just the outside shock that there was more going on here than just a simple accident kind of unleashes the whole memory of this thing and causes you at least to experience the notions of dismay, maybe disgust, outrage that this could even be a possibility."

In an interview with The Fifth Estate, Lynn Romano, who lost her husband in the crash, said she stands behind the investigation

"I'm convinced with everything that I've learned that a wiring issue took this plane down," she said.

"It surprises me in the sense that it’s never ever been suggested before," said Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter. "Whether or not there is any basis for it or not it's not something you could imagine.

"I think everyone remembers those fateful hours following that event and the dissection that was done of the course of events over time and none of them ever seemed to suggest that. I think you have to leave it with the experts at the Transportation Safety Board to examine the evidence and decide what the actual cause was."

The flight from New York to Geneva crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Sept. 2, 1998, killing 229 passengers and crew. The plane carried a Saudi prince, a relative of the former shah of Iran and high-profile UN officials. A half a billion dollars of diamonds and gems were also never found.

Myron Ratnavale, who lost both parents and several friends on the flight, criticized Juby's theory.

"I just find it very, very far-fetched and I think it's an insult to the Canadian investigation team," he told The Canadian Press from his home in Geneva.

"I have full faith in them and I don't believe a word of it."

In response to an earlier request for an interview by The Fifth Estate, Chantal Laflamme, a TSB spokeswoman said the report is the board's final word on the investigation.

"The board will not discuss possible criminality as this did not, in the opinion of both the TSB and the RCMP, play a role in the tragic accident," wrote Laflamme.

In an email to The Canadian Press, Julie Leroux of the TSB, said that no one from the board was available for an interview on Juby's allegations.

But she said if there had been evidence of a criminal act in the crash, the RCMP would have taken over as lead investigator because the board cannot conduct criminal investigations.

Leroux said the board used a Natural Resources Canada laboratory to determine if arced wires recovered from the crash started the fire or were the result of the fire.

"During this analysis, the expert, Dr. Jim Brown, found magnesium and other elements on some of the wires. Dr. Brown concluded that the presence of a minor amount of magnesium was a result of long exposure to seawater," she said.

Brown told The Fifth Estate that a year into the investigation, using auger electron spectroscopy, he discovered suspicious levels of magnesium — 10 times the anticipated amount — and other elements associated with arson in melted wiring from the section of the plane that suffered the greatest fire damage.

"There was a lot of magnesium. More than I would have expected," he said.

Juby said the RCMP did not support his findings and that he was pressured to stop his own inquiries. He said the RCMP brass ordered him to remove any reference to magnesium or a suspected incendiary device from his investigative notes.

Sgt. Julie Gagnon said in an email statement to The Canadian Press that Juby's complaint was reviewed by the RCMP's ethics adviser and the Mounties stand by the findings of that review, which it will not make public.

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Hurricane Maria to drench eastern Newfoundland

Hurricane Maria is bringing heavy rain and high winds to southeastern Newfoundland, as the storm continues to churn northward.

The Category 1 hurricane had already prompted school closures and airport cancellations as it moved toward Nova Scotia's Sable Island, and was expected to become more powerful throughout the day.

CBC Newfoundland and Labrador meteorologist Ryan Snoddon said winds had already picked up before 9 a.m.

"Argentia is reporting wind gusts of up to 70 km/h as are Bonavista and St. John's. These are the areas where we are eventually expecting to see gusts well over 100 km/h. Heavy rainfall is expected to develop later," said Snoddon.

The centre of the storm was moving 85 km/h, Snoddon said, which may be good news, as a fast-moving storm is expected to drop less rain than a slow-moving one.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre said Maria is expected to make landfall as a hurricane Friday afternoon in southeastern Newfoundland.

The powerful storm is expected to dump up to 90 millimetres of rain with winds gusting to 120 km/h.

Environment Canada said toppled trees, widespread power outages and some damage to buildings were possible .

A hurricane warning is in effect for the southern Avalon Peninsula and a tropical storm warning is in effect for the northern Avalon, Burin and Bonavista peninsulas.

A city of St. John's crew prepares Thursday for rain that Hurricane Marie is expected to bring on Friday. (CBC)Rob Harris of the Gander weather office said the Burin Peninsula and south coast can expect the heaviest rain.

"It could be really heavy downbursts in a short period of time," he said.

Schools in the southern Avalon area began closing before 7 a.m.

Windy conditions are expected across Atlantic Canada Friday and Saturday as Maria is expected to merge with a storm front in Labrador.

Winds had picked up to 50 km/h in St John's by 7 a.m.

Rain has already begun with the systems ahead of Maria over Nova Scotia and southern Newfoundland.

Coastal Newfoundland is expected to see large waves Friday of up to seven metres.

Hurricane Igor is the most powerful storm to strike Newfoundland on record. It made landfall Sept 21, 2010, near Cape Race with winds of 140 km/h while still at hurricane force.

CBC reporter Zach Goudie on Thursday near damage that Hurricane Igor caused in Sept. 2010. (CBC)

More than 200 mm of rain fell, washing out roads, and taking out hydroelectric power and knocking over numerous trees.

The Canadian military was called in to help rebuild bridges and destroyed infrastructure.

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UBS rogue trader charged with fraud

London police say the UBS trader accused of losing the Swiss banking giant $2 billion in rogue trading has been charged with fraud and false accounting.

The City of London police department said in a statement that 31-year-old Kweku Adoboli has been charged on Friday with two offences.

Police said that Adoboli would appear at City of London magistrates' court later, and that investigations into the case were continuing.

More to come

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White Africville hire draws fire

Africville was razed from the northern part of the Halifax peninsula in the 1960s. (CBC Archives)

The hiring of a white person to lead the Africville Heritage Trust has angered some members of Nova Scotia's black community.

The trust is in charge of building a church and museum to document the destruction of the historic black community on the Bedford Basin in Halifax.

The successful candidate is Carole Nixon, an Anglican minister. She has extensive fundraising experience from 25 years as an economic development officer.

But Rocky Jones, a well-known black Nova Scotia lawyer and human rights activist, said it's wrong to hire a white person to head up the Africville Heritage Trust.

"You would never get a man hired as the executive director of a women's organization. It would be unheard of. It just wouldn't happen," he said Thursday.

"Yet to have a white person as the executive director of a black organization seems appropriate to some people. I disagree."

Africville was first settled in the 1830s when former American slaves and other black people moved to the area.

It was neglected by the former City of Halifax and became run-down over the years. In the 1960s, the city evicted the residents and bulldozed their homes so part of the land could be used for a new bridge over Halifax harbour.

The construction of a new church and museum is part of official restitution to surviving members of that community. That will cost $11 million, money that still needs to be raised.

Daurene Lewis, chairwoman of the Africville Heritage Trust, said race had no bearing on the hiring.

Daurene Lewis, chair of the Africville Heritage Trust, says they hired the best person for the job. (CBC)

"We required somebody with project management skills, financial management skills, plus fundraising skills and experience in all three areas," she said.

"And of all the people who applied for the position, she was the most qualified candidate."

But Jones said dwelling on those qualifications misses more important issues of identity and experience.

"How can a white person, and a white person from outside of Nova Scotia, how can they possibly be able to understand and articulate what's happening to us, and what it means to us? Because they are not us. It's impossible," he said.

Nixon said she doesn't take the controversy personally. She hopes the negative publicity won't scare away potential donors.

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Blogger pleads not guilty to disturbance charge

Fredericton blogger Charles LeBlanc pleaded not guilty Friday to a charge of causing a disturbance and will stand trial in provincial court on Oct. 28.

LeBlanc was arrested for causing a disturbance outside of the city’s police headquarters on Wednesday and had been in provincial jail in Saint John since that time.

LeBlanc was released from custody Friday after agreeing to a condition that he not use a bullhorn or "voice-amplification device" in the downtown area of the city.

LeBlanc, who writes a blog on politics and social justice issues, had received warnings from the police that people were complaining about his use of a bullhorn outside the police headquarters.

The blogger has been protesting a ticket he received for riding his bike on the sidewalk in Fredericton.

Fredericton Police Const. Rick Mooney confirmed the blogger was arrested because of the complaints from people in a nearby office building.

"We had a number of complaints in relation to this in the area here, so we conducted an investigation and acted on that information,” Mooney said.

LeBlanc, however, is convinced that ticket was related to his long-running feud with officials at the New Brunswick legislature and the city police.

One municipal councillor is questioning the arrest of the well-known blogger.

Tim Scammell, a village councillor in New Maryland and friend of LeBlanc’s, said he's wondering why the blogger was arrested for loudly complaining about the Fredericton police force.

"I think he should be allowed to say what he wants to say, wherever he is,” Scammell said.

“As much as we may or may not agree with it, or find the method annoying, that's his rights."

LeBlanc has had a controversial past. He was banned from the legislature in 2006.

And LeBlanc made international headlines in November 2006 when he was acquitted on an obstruction charge.

He had been arrested when he was blogging coverage of a demonstration at the Atlantica business conference in Saint John in June 2006.

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Brothers unknowingly both adopt raccoons

Two P.E.I. brothers who recently discovered they had, unbeknownst to each other, each taken in orphaned baby raccoons, now face the difficult decision of letting the animals go.

Bill MacDonald of Stratford said when he found a baby raccoon left in a box outside the his family business three months ago, he didn't know whether to nurse it back to health or let it die.

Eric MacDonald and his raccoon Rascal. CBC

“So I took the cover off and there was a little baby raccoon, kind of on his last, you might say, in the box. So what were we to do with him?” said MacDonald.

MacDonald determined his mother had been killed by a car, so Rambo ended up at the home of MacDonald and his wife Joan.

Meanwhile, Rascal the orphaned raccoon was found across the road by Bill's brother Eric.

“I mean, what are you going to do? Just let him go get run over by traffic, killed by a coyote or whatever happens to be in the neighbourhood?” said Eric MacDonald.

But it was a week before the MacDonald brothers realized they were both caring for orphaned raccoon brothers.

Rambo wrestles with the MacDonald's dog. CBC

Wildlife officials say it's illegal to keep wild animals as pets on P.E.I., including raccoons, which can carry parasites and disease.

“A cute, cuddly, small raccoon will become a large raccoon,” said Brad Potter of the provincial fish and wildlife department.

"Even a small raccoon is capable of delivering quite a bite.”

The MacDonalds said they will get rid of the animals eventually by releasing them in the wild. But they said neither they, nor the animals are quite ready.

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Ford plant closure mourned by St. Thomas, Ontario

Ford plant worker Dennis McGee thought he had "died and gone to heaven" when he collected his first paycheque of $325 in 1978, but now McGee and hundreds of other employees are bidding farewell to the employer that has been the economic backbone of the southwestern Ontario community of St. Thomas for 44 years.

The last sedan rolls off the assembly line Thursday, throwing McGee and the last of the about 1,100 employees out of work at the factory that had 3,600 workers a decade ago. The closure was announced in 2009, as the North American auto industry was taking a battering, but hope prevailed that it would be avoided as auto bailout packages in the midst of the recent recession helped revive North American automakers.

McGee, for one, still has dependents, and is grappling with the forced retirement as the final sedan rolls out of the 2.6-million-square-foot factory where the Lincoln Town Car, Crown Victoria other vehicles have been built.

"My first paycheque I had rent money — $195 plus I had about $130 left over —and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven," he says. "I still got kids in university and I gotta figure out how I'm gonna pay for that.

"It's tough, it's emotional, there's a sense of numbness," McGee adds. "I met a lot of good people over the years and to see it shutting down, breaks my heart, it really does."

Heather Jackson Chapman, mayor of the community of about 35,000, says the plant isn't the only business casualty in the community, which is in for some tough times.

More than 3,000 manufacturing jobs have disappeared in the past three years, and St. Thomas now has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

"We're never going to see the big plants again that employ 2,000 at a time with the high-paying jobs we became accustomed to — it's just the new reality."

To help the Ford workers, the union and the automaker have worked out compensation packages that allow for early retirements and a limited number of transfers to other Ford factories.

The about 800 remaining employees who need to find new work get a severance package as well as three years of job-search and retraining assistance through a centre set up by the Canadian Auto Workers union. A Ford spokesman says the company remains committed to Ontario, having recently invested in its engine plant in Windsor and its assembly plant in Oakville.

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Toronto condo owners allege massive fraud

Hundreds of condominium owners across Toronto are reeling in the wake of an alleged fraud involving millions of dollars that could affect their properties.

Manzoor Moorshed Khan is alleged to be the mastermind of a fraud related to condominium loan documents. (CBC)

In a statement of claim they say Manzoor Moorshed Khan, director of Channel Property Management, was the mastermind of the alleged fraud that included falsifying documents to obtain loans in a condo's name and rigging tender processes to funnel contracts to companies he directed.

In his statement of defence, Khan denied all allegations. CBC News could not reach Khan or anyone at Channel Property.

Toronto police's financial crimes unit is investigating the allegations, but wouldn't confirm rumours that Khan has fled the country.

The lawsuit filed by the owners of 25 Grenville Street, a 200-unit downtown condo, alleges employees of Channel Property falsified papers by pretending to be condo board members to obtain a loan worth $3.1 million and then absconded with the money.

A lender who provided one of the loans, Equitable Trust Company, issued a press release saying it suspects fraud in at least four loans from its company, worth $14 million. "The amount of the total loss, if any, cannot be determined at this time," the company said.

But while experts say the owners of 25 Grenville may not be directly on the hook for the fraudulent loans signed in their name, another Toronto condo is already bearing the brunt of alleged misappropriations.

Margaret Buczko lives at 236 Albion Road, a 250-unit condominium in Etobicoke home largely to blue-collar workers. Khan’s company, Channel Property, began managing the condo in May 2007.

Since then, Buczko says the unit owners have been left footing the bill for a multimillion-dollar loan for renovations that were improperly done and now must be fixed.

Maintenance fees have increased from $340 to $780 a month, extra costs which Buczko, who is on disability, is struggling to pay.

“I'm 52 years old. My husband is 58. And it’s like our life is in ruins,” said Buczko. “We work hard and you know we were thinking to have some security for retirement. Now, nothing.”

The value of her property has also plummeted, says Buczko.

“Eighteen years ago I paid $152,000 for my condo and now it’s $70,000. Nobody wants to buy even at that price because maintenance fees are so high.”

Now, Buczko says unit owners have been told they may not be able to recover the money because Khan may have fled the country — and his alleged fraud was more intricate and indirect than falsifying loan documents.

A lawsuit filed by the owners claims that Khan directed five other companies that would bid for and win contracts with condos Channel Property managed. Those companies then allegedly subcontracted out the work and overcharged the condos.

The companies listed in the lawsuit include Canali Engineering Group, Mountview Canadian Enterprise, Lakewood Contracting, Reliance Electric Services, and PMP Canada.

Industry experts say Ontario’s decade-old Condominium Act needs to be changed to better protect owners in a burgeoning condo market.

As it stands, Dean McCabe, president of the Association of Condominium Managers of Ontario (ACMO), says there is no licensing or regulation of condo property managers.

“Mr. Khan could manage condominiums next week, next year, next month,” said McCabe. “There’s nothing to stop anyone involved in this from managing condominiums.”

The industry currently self-regulates property manager accreditation and company certification.

While Khan apparently did not have property manager certification himself, his company was listed online among several dozen companies who achieved an industry-regulated gold standard, the ACMO 2000.

McCabe says industry regulation is not enough and is calling for the Ontario government to enforce licensing or regulation.

“It’s terrible that this has happened and that it's raised the spectre and if any good can come of this, it will be that we take action at protecting homeowners by regulating or licencing our profession.”

If you have any tips related to this story, email amber.hildebrandt@cbc.ca

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NDP takes on Conservatives over jobs, Wheat Board

The NDP has set its sights on governing in 2015, and the party is taking on the Conservatives in some key areas.

The party has picked jobs and the economy as a major branch of its strategy for the coming year, fighting the Tories on the governing party's preferred battleground.

Interim NDP Leader Nycole Turmel laid out the New Democrats' primary focus Thursday at the party's caucus retreat in Quebec City ahead of Parliament's return next week, sticking tightly to the message she set out a day earlier at a press conference.

"We are going to focus on jobs. And we are going to focus on retirement security. And finally, we are going to ensure Canada continues to invest in the critical infrastructure we need to get this economy rolling," Turmel said.

She touched on a familiar theme, playing off the Conservative party's mantra of a "strong, stable, national, majority Conservative government," which Tories repeated over and over throughout last spring's election campaign.

"I am surrounded by a strong, national, united team, ready to fight for families," Turmel said.

The NDP is also targetting Prairie farmers who support the Canadian Wheat Board and Montrealers fed up with crumbling bridges, picking those two issues on which to push the government.

MPs and party officials say, aside from parliamentary strategy, they want to reach out to the voters who gave them Official Opposition status, and to new supporters who could take them all the way to government.

Quebec voters were a major part of the party's rise in status, giving the NDP 59 of 75 seats in the province. Many in Montreal are frustrated with the state of the city's roads and bridges, with Mayor Gérald Tremblay demanding the federal and provincial governments pony up cash to help.

People on Montreal's South Shore, Turmel says, literally say their prayers when they drive to work.

"Mr. Harper, no more excuses. Build a new bridge now," she urged.

As for the Canadian Wheat Board, wheat growers gave the board 60 per cent support in a vote earlier this week, following a promise by the federal government to dismantle it. Barley growers voted 51 per cent in favour of maintaining the board's monopoly. Some 55 per cent of wheat growers and 47 per cent of barley growers voted in the plebiscite.

"New Democrats are going to ensure that Prairie farmers are heard loud and clear. We are going to fight for the Prairies. We are going to fight for the family farm. Mr. Harper, we are going to take you on every day and fight to save the wheat board," Turmel said.

Despite the party's Prairie populist roots, the NDP has no MPs from Saskatchewan, just one in Alberta and two in Manitoba.

MPs return to the House of Commons Monday after the summer recess. It will be the NDP's first session without late leader Jack Layton, and the second month in Parliament for many of the party's newly elected members.

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Review supports Nalcor's Muskrat Falls plan

Muskrat Falls on Churchill River in central Labrador is the site of the proposed Lower Churchill Hydro Project to be developed by the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. (REUTERS /Greg Locke)

Proponents of the controversial Lower Churchill hydroelectric project say a consultant's report released Thursday resolves doubts raised by an environmental review.

Nalcor, Newfoundland and Labrador's Crown energy corporation, released a report prepared by the international consulting company Navigant that found Nalcor's plans for Muskrat Falls on the Churchill River are better than other energy alternatives that it could have explored.

"They've concluded that our analysis is robust and they support our recommendations, and we find that to be very useful," Nalcor president and chief executive officer Ed Martin said.

Nalcor maintains that the Navigant report, which it commissioned, represents the independent analysis that was recommended in August by an independent environmental panel that found the Muskrat Falls proposal lacking.

That review also questioned Nalcor's claims that Muskrat Falls is the best option it has to generate power, and said that further study should have been given to alternatives, including wind power. The Navigant report said Nalcor was right to exclude those options because they're impractical.

Martin said the Navigant report was thorough, and examined the research that Nalcor had prepared.

"Our assumptions, our calculations, our rate analysis, our cost estimates — all the things that we do normally, we ask them to take a deep look," Martin said. "If there is something we've missed, we'd like to know now."

The report is released just days before the official launch of the campaign leading into the Oct. 11 election. The Opposition Liberals have raked the governing Progressive Conservatives over the coals for the Muskrat Falls proposal, calling it shortsighted and bound to drive up domestic electricity charges.

Premier Kathy Dunderdale welcomed the report.

"I'm not surprised at that conclusion," Dunderdale told reporters. "It's hard to relate to people the amount of work and planning and analysis that's gone into the preparation of this project."

However, Liberal Leader Kevin Aylward said the review process was rigged from the start.

"They basically said, Go and look at what we did, Nalcor themselves, and please pretty well justify what we did," Aylward told reporters.

"That's basically what this report is about."

Newfoundland and Labrador aims to generate 824 megawatts of power at Muskrat Falls on Labrador's Churchill River and export all of it to Newfoundland and then move as much as 40 per cent to Nova Scotia and other markets.

Dunderdale said Navigant was brought in to identify potential hazards.

"We don't want to go down the same path as we've gone before," she said, referring to the Upper Churchill power project developed in the 1960s, in which Quebec purchases power at guaranteed low prices from Newfoundland and Labrador, and is able to resell the power at great profit in other markets.

The Muskrat Falls proposal is being developed by Newfoundland and Labrador, Nalcor and Halifax-based Emera Inc., the privately-owned parent of Nova Scotia Power.

The federal government said in August it will help with the costs of the Lower Churchill hydroelectric project in Labrador with a loan guarantee.

The loan guarantee will mean Newfoundland and Labrador and its partners will be able to finance much of the $6.2-billion project at a lower cost.

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Child porn and superhero costumes found in Gatineau

Police in Gatineau, Que., have charged a 62-year-old man with possession of child pornography after a raid revealed hundreds of videos and CDs, as well as various superhero costumes.

Officers stormed into the man's home at 110 du Château Road in Gatineau, Que., Thursday and confiscated his computer and a camera.

As they searched the home, police discovered some superhero costumes they believe were involved in the creation of child pornography. Police found what they said were various "incriminating" pictures.

The man was arrested and appeared in Gatineau court Friday morning.

Police continue to investigate and the man could face more charges.

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Home prices show August increase

Canadians paid 7.7 per cent more for sales of existing homes in August than they did in the same month last year, a real estate group said Thursday.

In its monthly report, the Canadian Real Estate Association said the average sale price for an existing home rose to $349,916 last month from $324,992 in August 2010.

CREA president Gary Morse said the market remained on a "firm footing in August when compared to volatile financial markets."

CREA said the national average price has actually moderated compared to earlier this year, with Vancouver's sales activity — and more recently Toronto's — exerting less influence on the average. Vancouver and Toronto's share of provincial and national sales activity reached "unusually elevated" levels earlier this year, but has since pulled back into normal seasonal variations, the group said.

“Once again, economic and financial market headwinds outside Canada are keeping interest rates lower for longer,” said CREA chief economist Gregory Klump. “Those headwinds will likely persist until, and indeed after, fiscal quagmires in the U.S. and Europe are resolved. In the meantime, the Bank of Canada will have ample reason to delay raising interest rates further, which is supportive for the Canadian housing market.”

Nationally, overall year-over-year sales for August were up 15.8 per cent, the largest year-over-year increase since last April, CREA said, but added that the big increase was mainly due to weak activity in 2010.

Between July 2011 and August 2011, sales eased by a seasonally adjusted 0.5 per cent.

The real estate group also said that a record 70 per cent of all local markets across the country are considered to be in balance. CREA says a market is considered to be in balance when the seasonally adjusted ratio of sales to new listings is between 40 and 60 per cent. Below 40 per cent is considered a buyers' market, while over 60 per cent is considered a sellers' market .

CREA also said the number of months of inventory on the market stood at 6.2 months at the end of August on a national basis. That was relatively unchanged from the 6.1 months seen at the end of July. National inventory figures have been stable at about six months since April. Inventory — a gauge of market health — refers to how long it would take to sell of the current supply of houses on the market at the current rate of sales.

Economists said housing markets remain healthy for now despite tumbling consumer confidence and weak global growth.

"Extremely low interest rates appear to be just the medicine as Canadians continue to borrow, and a number of the banks lowered their five-year fixed rates again in recent days, which could continue to lend support," BMO Financial Group economist Robert Kavcic wrote in a commentary.

However, some observers said the market is eventually headed for a drop.

Fannie Fong of TD Economics said a peak-to-trough drop of roughly 10 per cent for both home sales and prices is expected, though that change isn't expected until the Bank of Canada begins hiking interest rates in earnest in early 2013.

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Ex PQ leader joins Questerre Energy

Canada's shale gas industry is turning to another Quebec political heavyweight to bolster its case for further exploration.

Alberta-based Questerre Energy has appointed former Parti Québécois leader André Boisclair as an advisor to its board.

The company was running shale gas exploration projects in Quebec when the province's Liberal government, under growing public pressure, announced a two-year moratorium on new developments.

Boisclair's "knowledge of Quebec culture" makes him a valuable advisor on "socio-political considerations" in the province, Questerre Energy said in a news release.

Boisclair said that Quebec's energy independence remains a priority for him, noting the moratorium offers time to engage in a "constructive dialogue" about shale gas.

Boisclair served as Quebec environment minister under PQ premier Bernard Landry a decade ago.

Opposition to the controversial energy source is based largely on concerns about groundwater contamination during extraction.

The extraction process known as "fracking" can lead to underground leaks.

Another ex PQ leader is already heavily involved in the shale gas industry.

As president of the Quebec Oil and Gas Association, former premier Lucien Bouchard is entrusted with selling skeptical Quebecers on the merits of shale gas exploitation.

Boisclair and Bouchard's involvement in shale gas is a betrayal to the sovereignty movement, according to one elected official in Quebec City.

Québec solidaire MNA Amir Khadir said it's sad to see public figures with clout and "knowledge of the workings of government" serving corporate interests.

Their work on behalf of shale gas interests contributes to general cynicism among voters, Khadir said, especially given Quebec's ongoing struggle with corruption allegations.

Quebec's Lower Saint-Lawrence region is rich in shale deposits.

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Stubborn unemployment must be tackled, OECD says

The head of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development is telling governments to do more about the problem of stubborn unemployment.

In a report released Thursday, the OECD said the risk of high unemployment becoming entrenched has increased with a steep rise in long-term joblessness.

"Of all the facets of the financial and economic crisis, high unemployment is the most visible manifestation of the challenge to restore sustained growth," OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurr?a said, calling it the "human face" of the economic crisis.

“Governments cannot stand still. The challenges of tackling high and persistent unemployment, improving job opportunities and ensuring adequate social safety nets should be at the top of the political agenda.”

The OECD noted that long-term unemployment in Canada is among the lowest in the group. Through the first three months of this year, about 13 per cent of the country's unemployed had spent more than a year hunting for work. That compared with an OECD average of almost 35 per cent.

Unemployment is expected to remain high among the 34 countries of the OECD with the job creation forecast to remain anemic in the near term, according to the group's report.

In mid-2011, the number of unemployed people in the OECD countries had declined to just over 44 million, but that was still more than 13 million higher than immediately before the crisis.

While the OECD said Canada's labour market is recovering faster than others, there is a risk that the recent faltering of the global recovery may temporarily slow the decline in unemployment in Canada back to its pre-crisis level

Last month, Canada's unemployment rate stood at 7.3 per cent as the country's lost 5,500 jobs.

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Prosecutor attacked outside Prince George court

A B.C. Crown prosecutor was attacked outside the Prince George courthouse on Thursday morning, following a disturbance at a nearby homeless shelter.

The unidentified man was taken away on a backboard by emergency responders around 9 a.m. He was conscious, with blood on his side, but police said his injuries were not life-threatening.

Police say the incident began around 8:20 a.m. PT with reports of a man causing a disturbance at the shelter.

Witnesses told police the man was violent to staff, but had left the area. People staying at the shelter said a man brandishing a chair had smashed the windows.

Shortly afterwards police were called about the assault on the front steps of the Prince George courthouse and they arrested a 40-year-old man in connection with the attack.

Witnesses said the man appeared to know the victim and spoke to him before and during the attack, police said.

Police say the suspect is known to police and will likely face charges including aggravated assault. They did not say what kind of weapon was used in the attack, but said it was not a gun.

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MPs line up behind early NDP leadership favourites

Four NDP MPs have come out in support of Thomas Mulcair in a leadership bid he hasn't actually declared yet.

At a two-day meeting with little news and few policy announcements, leadership quickly became the subject most people focused on.

The NDP's leadership nomination process officially began on Thursday.

Only Brian Topp, who is stepping down from his position as the party's president, has said he will run for the leadership.

On Thursday, Manitoba MP Niki Ashton added her name to the lengthy list of caucus members who are testing the leadership waters, including Nathan Cullen, Libby Davies, Paul Dewar, Peter Julian, Thomas Mulcair and Peggy Nash.

Pat Martin has also said he'll run if no other candidate is open to working with the Liberal Party, though he emphasized he's staying away from the word merger.

The NDP caucus was in Quebec City for planning and strategy meetings as they prepare to head back to the House of Commons next Monday.

Heading into Thursday's morning session, Quebec MPs Robert Aubin, Jamie Nicholls and François Lapointe stopped to say they support Mulcair for leader and hope he'll declare his candidacy.

"I'd like to encourage him to come out and declare because I think that there's a groundswell of support for him," Nicholls said.

Asked what constitutes a groundswell, Nicholls said he has "talked to a few people and they're ready to support Tom."

He said Mulcair did not ask him to declare his support.

Coming out of the morning meeting, Quebec MP Claude Patry also said he'll vote for Mulcair. Patry is a former union leader, potentially an important supporter for Mulcair, who leans to the right among NDP MPs.

Mulcair said Tuesday he wouldn't make an official announcement about his candidacy until he had lined up his campaign team.

"We're weighing all our options, we're looking at the types of people who can help us, we're getting a lot of support and encouragement across Canada. And when and if we do announce, it'll be with a full team capable of taking up the challenge of leading the Official Opposition," he said Wednesday.

Mulcair's declared supporters so far, however, are much lower profile than Topp's biggest booster, former NDP leader Ed Broadbent.

The Canadian Press is reporting that Romeo Saganash, an MP and Cree leader from northern Quebec who had been pondering his own leadership bid, is expected to throw his support behind Topp on Friday.

B.C. MP Peter Julian, who also is considering a leadership bid, picked up his first two endorsements Thursday.

"I think he'd make an excellent candidate," said Windsor, Ont., MP Brian Masse. "I think it's healthy to have a number of people in there."

Toronto MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan said she believes Julian would make "a good prime minister." She said the bilingual MP is personable, "brilliant and very articulate" and would be able to connect with folks at both the boardroom table and the kitchen table.

Turmel announced Wednesday rules requiring those with parliamentary or caucus functions to step down, although she left the deputy leader off the list of positions whose holders would have to give up their files during the race. That means high-profile critics, like foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar or finance critic Peggy Nash, would have to relinquish their titles while deputy leaders Mulcair and Davies could hang onto theirs.

At least two caucus members said they thought the deputy leaders were covered by that rule, leading to confusion as MPs left their morning meeting.

MPs, however, emphasized unity throughout interviews Tuesday and Wednesday, with officials saying they intend to focus on applying pressure to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government over the economy, and on outreach to hang onto supporters and win new ones.

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Bribery allegations 'over the top': Ghiz

Allegations of bribery and fraud over how his government administered an immigrant investment program are ridiculous, says Premier Robert Ghiz.

The federal government is asking the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency to investigate allegations of fraud and bribery in an immigrant investor program on P.E.I.

Three former provincial employees passed on the allegations regarding the program, which was part of the Provincial Nominee Program.

Cora Plourde on the steps of RCMP headquarters in Charlottetown. CBC

The allegations are contained in documents prepared by three former provincial employees:

Cora Plourd, who worked with Island Investment Development Inc., which administered the immigrant investor program.Svetlana Tenetko, who also worked for Island Investment Development Inc.Susan Holmes, who worked for the Department of Innovation and Advanced Learning, the department that oversaw Island Investment Development Inc.

CBC News received the documents earlier this week, but did not receive proof of the allegations. The story broke when the Globe and Mail learned from Canada Immigration that it was referring the documents to the RCMP.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney would not agree to an interview with CBC News Thursday.

The documents target senior bureaucrats in the Liberal government, which is in the midst of an election campaign. The Liberals say the case is being orchestrated by the provincial Progressive Conservative party.

In a news release, the party noted Plourd has Tory connections. She is a former president of the Malpeque Conservative Association, and ran unsuccessfully for a PC nomination in the 2007 provincial election.

CBC News has a copy of the documents, and one of them is witnessed by PC candidate Martie Murphy.

Ghiz said the allegations come from disgruntled employees, and many are ridiculous.

"It talks about a lot of different wild accusations in there," he said.

"Whether or not it's talking about the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island being corrupt, or talking about the CBC hiding things or talking about myself stealing $100 million. You have to put everything in context. I think a little bit of it is a little bit over the top."

Plourd spoke to CBC News outside RCMP headquarters in Charlottetown.

"I'm not going to say anything right now, but we will talk," she said after being asked about the documents.

"We wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't true."

The provincial Progressive Conservative Party took out a large ad in the Charlottetown Guardian Thursday morning, directing people to "See what the Globe and Mail had to report about this international embarrassment."

An ad in the Charlottetown Guardian from the provincial PC party directs readers to a Globe and Mail article. CBC

The story was on the front page of the Globe on Thursday.

The Progressive Conservatives said the Guardian ad was booked weeks ago, and was meant to lead readers to a site outlining previous Globe coverage of PNP. Its appearance on the same morning, said the party, was a coincidence. Given the story in the Globe, the party said it took down the material it had originally intended to present.

Leader Olive Crane said the ad was part of a plan to highlight an issue she has long had an interest in.

"Since 2008 I've asked questions in the spring and fall sessions on PNP in our legislature," said Crane.

"I had strong concerns then about the present administration's mismanagement and they're even stronger now."

The Provincial Nominee Program has been a political football on the Island for several years.

The immigrant investor portion of PNP allowed potential immigrants to invest in a local business as part of the agreement allowing them to immigrate. It ran from 2001 to 2008, and for the most part quietly, with a few hundred immigrants coming to the Island each year.

In 2008, Canada Immigration told the provincial government the program would be shut down in September, and almost 2,000 immigrants were rushed through the application process. There were widespread allegations of political connections being used to access the investment money.

Four MLAs and several senior bureaucrats or their family members were found to have accessed immigrant money. One bureaucrat returned it. The provincial auditor general found there was an appearance conflict of interest, but no actual conflict of interest in the case.

Last week, Progressive Conservative Leader Olive Crane promised a full investigation into PNP if her party wins the Oct. 3 election.

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Mounties who used Taser on boy face no charges

RCMP officers in Prince George, B.C., will not be disciplined or charged after the use of a stun gun, commonly known as a Taser, on an 11-year-old boy at a group home earlier this year.

On Thursday, West Vancouver Chief Const. Peter Lepine told reporters that his department's investigation found that the RCMP officer's use of force was lawful.

Prince George RCMP Supt. Eric Stubbs, left, and West Vancouver Chief Const. Peter Lepine speak to reporters at the Prince George RCMP detachment Thursday. Betsy Trumpener/CBC

"We found their actions did not violate the Criminal Code of Canada and we are not recommending any charges," he said at a press conference in Prince George.

An open letter posted soon after on the West Vancouver Police Department's web site offered little more information.

"The scope of our investigation was whether the actions taken by the police officers involved in the file exceeded the powers granted to police under the Criminal Code of Canada," Lepine said the letter.

"My team spent much of this spring and summer interviewing witnesses, collecting and analyzing evidence and consulting with those in the legal profession as well as subject matter experts in topics like police use of force."

The RCMP said at the time of the incident on April 7 that the boy was shocked after he allegedly stabbed a 37-year-old caregiver at his government-run group home.

When Prince George RCMP officers arrived at the scene, they found the boy had barricaded himself in a nearby home. When he came out, an officer stunned him with a conductive energy weapon.

The boy's mother said her son has a heart condition — as well as bipolar disorder — and she believes the stun gun, intended to incapacitate people with an electric shock, could have killed him.

The RCMP officers involved had been assigned administrative duties since the incident.

Officials have now said those officers will be returned to regular duties.

The RCMP are releasing few details of what happened.

Officials said they can't give more information because several other investigations — including one by B.C.'s youth and child advocate and another by the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP — are underway into the incident.

Mary Turpel-Lafond, the B.C. Representative for Children and Youth, issued a statement following the announcement in Prince George, in which she expressed ongoing concern with the role of police officers in and around group homes.

"In reviewing this particular Prince George incident, I became concerned about a wider issue of police being called by group home staff to attend and act as a disciplinarian of sorts," Turpel-Lafond said.

Some group homes in the province appear to be repeatedly using police to help manage or discipline children with complex needs and behaviours, she said.

Her office will continue to work with the Ministry of Children and Family Development in ensuring that the needs of the boy involved in this incident are being met.

Turpel-Lafond has given no date for the release of her special report into group homes and the Prince George Taser incident.

She noted that legislation allows her office's investigations to proceed only when police investigations and criminal justice matters have concluded.

With files from the CBC's Betsy Trumpener and The Canadian Press Accessibility Links

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Elections Quebec keen on corruption probe

Quebec's chief electoral officer is requesting a copy of a leaked report that claims corruption and collusion in the construction industry, and could launch a separate investigation.

A spokesperson for the elections watchdog has asked to interview Jacques Duchesneau, the head of Quebec's anti-corruption squad, and author of the leaked report.

Elections Quebec could launch an investigation of its own, the spokesperson said Thursday — and prosecute individuals in the construction industry suspected of giving illegal donations to political parties in return for lucrative building contracts.

Quebec's transport minister has dismissed calls for a full-scale enquiry into the construction industry, despite a damning anti-corruption squad report that details a deeply rooted clandestine public tender system marked by cost overruns and bid-rigging.

Transport Minister Pierre Moreau calls the leaked report a "proper diagnostic" of ills plaguing Quebec's construction sector, which gives the government "a way to proceed, to make changes."

But there's no need for a wider inquest into the construction industry, said Moreau, rejecting opposition demands for a larger investigation.

The minister did say he hopes the report will assist police in making arrests.

He also said he wants to see changes within his own ministry.

"I would like to see, as far as I'm concerned as transport minister, measures that are implemented within the department to make sure that it won't happen again," he said.

Calls for a full-fledged construction industry inquiry were renewed this week, after Radio-Canada released troubling findings gleaned from a report prepared by Quebec's anti-collusion squad.

Squad leader Jacques Duchesneau details systemic irregularities in Quebec's Transport Ministry and construction sector that he says threaten the department's integrity.

Without naming any specific firms, the report documents a system massively infiltrated by organized crime elements linked to construction companies.

Some engineering firms regularly inflate costs for major projects without any scrutiny from the Transport Department.

Those firms then make large donations to provincial political parties.

The province's anti-corruption squad was created in February 2011 with a mandate of investigating and prosecuting cases of corruption, influence peddling and embezzlement in the province.

The government pledged $30 million a year to fund the squad, which it called the first of its kind in Canada.

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Canada seeks Buy American exemption

Canada is seeking an exemption from the new Buy American provisions in U.S. President Barack Obama's proposed jobs act, weeks before the exemption for the previous stimulus is set to expire.

Minister of International Trade Ed Fast, citing concerns over a potential "trade barrier initiative," has launched a round of consultations with Washington to negotiate an extension for a Canadian exemption before a Sept. 30 deadline.

Obama's proposed $447-billion US American Jobs Act is intended to give a much-needed jolt to a stalled U.S. economy, but in an interview with Evan Solomon on CBC's Power & Politics Wednesday, Fast characterized the bill as misguided.

"We believe that protectionism is counterproductive, especially during these difficult economic times around the world," the minister said, adding that 75 per cent of Canada's trade is with the U.S.

The measures contained in the bill echo Washington's original stimulus package in 2009 — a fight that Canada thought it had already won.

"I do know the last time this happened, which was back in 2009, we engaged with our American counterparts, and we were able to resolve the issue, at least on a temporary basis. Now we're back at the same place where we're now it's a new stimulus package that the U.S. has introduced," Fast said.

The minister said he was "very surprised and certainly disappointed" to learn of the provisions, adding that Canada is working "very aggressively" to raise the same arguments made two years ago with the Obama administration and to Congress.

The offending passage in the act is contained in Section 4, headed "Buy American — Use of American Iron, Steel and Manufactured Goods."

The section contains a directive that none of the funds made available under the American Jobs Act may be used for "the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of a public building or public work unless all of the iron, steel and manufactured goods used in the project are produced in the United States."

The "Buy American" section also notes that it "shall be applied in a manner consistent with United States obligations under international agreements," which offers Canadian businesses some protection under the North American Free Trade Agreement. But NAFTA doesn't apply to municipal contracts, and the bulk of spending in both the previous U.S. stimulus plan and Obama's proposed jobs plan is at the municipal level.

The bill calls for more than US$100 billion towards the renovation of schools, the construction of roads and bridges and improving transit.

Fast said history shows protectionist measures stall growth and kill jobs.

Canada is now asking for an extension for the previous NAFTA deal extending to sub-national governments, which is set to expire at the end of this month.

Ottawa is concerned about a "chill effect" that could take place as a result of the Buy American provision, as it has been noted that just because states and municipalities might be allowed to buy Canadian doesn't necessarily mean they will.

Even if the NAFTA agreement is renewed beyond Sept. 30, Canadian suppliers might worry they will still be frozen out by U.S. contractors, the CBC's Hannah Thibodeau reported from Ottawa.

"They have this box they tick that says, 'Buy American,' they tick that off and if they don't know and look at the fine print of any of these deals, then they won't know that Canada is exempt," she said.

Jayson Myers, the president of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, the country's largest industry and trade association, said the concern is that business owners in the U.S. may find the deal "tremendously confusing" if they don't understand Canadian companies can be included in bidding processes.

"But the bigger impact here is not just the direct opportunity that's lost for Canadian exporters; this has a chill right through the supply chain," Meyers told CBC News on Wednesday, noting that distributors may not be able to distinguish between what would be considered foreign, Canadian or U.S. goods.

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Canada seeks Buy American exemption

Canada is seeking an exemption from the new Buy American provisions in U.S. President Barack Obama's proposed jobs act, weeks before the exemption for the previous stimulus is set to expire.

Minister of International Trade Ed Fast, citing concerns over a potential "trade barrier initiative," has launched a round of consultations with Washington to negotiate an extension for a Canadian exemption before a Sept. 30 deadline.

Obama's proposed $447-billion US American Jobs Act is intended to give a much-needed jolt to a stalled U.S. economy, but in an interview with Evan Solomon on CBC's Power & Politics Wednesday, Fast characterized the bill as misguided.

"We believe that protectionism is counterproductive, especially during these difficult economic times around the world," the minister said, adding that 75 per cent of Canada's trade is with the U.S.

The measures contained in the bill echo Washington's original stimulus package in 2009 — a fight that Canada thought it had already won.

"I do know the last time this happened, which was back in 2009, we engaged with our American counterparts, and we were able to resolve the issue, at least on a temporary basis. Now we're back at the same place where we're now it's a new stimulus package that the U.S. has introduced," Fast said.

The minister said he was "very surprised and certainly disappointed" to learn of the provisions, adding that Canada is working "very aggressively" to raise the same arguments made two years ago with the Obama administration and to Congress.

The offending passage in the act is contained in Section 4, headed "Buy American — Use of American Iron, Steel and Manufactured Goods."

The section contains a directive that none of the funds made available under the American Jobs Act may be used for "the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of a public building or public work unless all of the iron, steel and manufactured goods used in the project are produced in the United States."

The "Buy American" section also notes that it "shall be applied in a manner consistent with United States obligations under international agreements," which offers Canadian businesses some protection under the North American Free Trade Agreement. But NAFTA doesn't apply to municipal contracts, and the bulk of spending in both the previous U.S. stimulus plan and Obama's proposed jobs plan is at the municipal level.

The bill calls for more than US$100 billion towards the renovation of schools, the construction of roads and bridges and improving transit.

Fast said history shows protectionist measures stall growth and kill jobs.

Canada is now asking for an extension for the previous NAFTA deal extending to sub-national governments, which is set to expire at the end of this month.

Ottawa is concerned about a "chill effect" that could take place as a result of the Buy American provision, as it has been noted that just because states and municipalities might be allowed to buy Canadian doesn't necessarily mean they will.

Even if the NAFTA agreement is renewed beyond Sept. 30, Canadian suppliers might worry they will still be frozen out by U.S. contractors, the CBC's Hannah Thibodeau reported from Ottawa.

"They have this box they tick that says, 'Buy American,' they tick that off and if they don't know and look at the fine print of any of these deals, then they won't know that Canada is exempt," she said.

Jayson Myers, the president of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, the country's largest industry and trade association, said the concern is that business owners in the U.S. may find the deal "tremendously confusing" if they don't understand Canadian companies can be included in bidding processes.

"But the bigger impact here is not just the direct opportunity that's lost for Canadian exporters; this has a chill right through the supply chain," Meyers told CBC News on Wednesday, noting that distributors may not be able to distinguish between what would be considered foreign, Canadian or U.S. goods.

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Auction website still offering killers' items

A U.S.-based website that allows people to sell letters and art from murderers still offers items linked to notorious Canadian killers despite the correctional service's promise to investigate the situation.

Among the items being offered on MurderAuction.com are signed notes and photos from jailed B.C. killer Clifford Olson and artwork by cult leader Roch Theriault, who was killed in a New Brunswick prison earlier this year. The macabre website also offers a drawing of convicted killer Karla Homolka by an artist.

This item from Canadian serial killer Clifford Olson is available for purchase on the U.S.-based MurderAuction website.

Items from Robert Pickton, the B.C. pig farmer who was convicted of second-degree murder in the deaths of six women, have also been for sale on the site, confirmed MurderAuction's operator.

The 2008 revelation about the Olson material, reportedly offered for sale on the site by someone who corresponded with the serial killer, prompted the Correctional Service of Canada to investigate how his personal prison items wound up for sale in an online auction.

In a letter, the commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada, Don Head, told the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime in 2008 that officials were “investigating the matter fully and will take all necessary actions, within our power to protect the victims' interests and needs.

"If we find we are, somehow, constrained by the law we will identify options for discussion with the minister," said Head.

The victims group, which had written the correctional service about the items, still has not heard back from Head.

Despite the promise of an investigation into the Olson matter, more material from other criminals has shown up on the website, including from Theriault.

In 2009, the Correctional Service of Canada said it was preventing Theriault's work from leaving Dorchester Penitentiary, and Stockwell Day, who was then public safety minister, expressed concern that that killer was benefiting from work done in prison.

But the works are still on the site, along with other items from notorious U.S. killers such as Charles Manson and Ted Bundy.

One of the pieces of artwork reportedly by Theriault is a trace of his hand dated October 2007, when he would have been in prison.

This painting of Karla Holmoka, as seen on MurderAuction, is selling for $179.99 US.

There is no verification that these items are from Olson or from Theriault.

One of the items available regarding Olson has a signature, reportedly his, and shows him sitting on a clothes dryer in the common room of the Saskatchewan Penitentiary in early 1994. There were no bids and the auction on the item, which had a starting bid of $35 US, was set to close on Sept. 13.

The person offering that item is listed as being from Georgia. No other details are available about the seller.

Another item being offered on the site, from Bermuda, is a book written by famous FBI profiler John Douglas and signed by Clifford Robert Olson.

It is described on the website as a one-of-a-kind book —read and signed by Olson in prison.

"There is a section in the book were John Douglas talks about Clifford Olson in the book.....very scarce!"

It's available as a straight buyout for $299.

The Homolka item is a dark painting that shows her glowering. It's being offered for sale for $179.99.

It doesn't appear that there is much the government can do, despite its promises and assurances, to stop prisoners from sending material to people who then sell it on the MurderAuction site.

In an email response to CBC News, a correctional service spokesperson wrote that the department oversees prisoners under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, which prohibits and restricts material that may include: risk to a person's safety, risk to the security of an institution, interference with an individual correctional plan, display of offensive or discriminatory materials and criminal publications such as hate literature or obscene works.

If the material doesn't violate those rules, prisoners are free to mail letters.

Christa McGregor, a spokesperson for Correctional Service of Canada, said there was no formal board of investigation conducted into the Olson items on the MurderAuction site. She said the warden at the prison where he is housed would have looked into it but there is no formal report.

The service is aware the items exist, McGregor said, and doesn't condone them being posted for sale, but they "don't have jurisdiction when they get on a site."

Sharon Rosenfeldt, the mother of one of the children killed by Olson and president of the Resource Centre for Victims of Crime, said that she was "appalled at this going on."

She wondered how prisoners like Olson could get material out of prison. She has not heard back from the service or the government about the status of the investigation into the release of the materials, despite the promises that were made. Some in her group have talked to MurderAuction about the actual sale of items and were told that the site can legally sell the material.

William Harder, owner of MurderAuction, said prisoners have the right to send out material and his site has the right to be the conduit for sales.

Harder, who has corresponded with Olson in the past, said there are certain things he won’t allow to be sold on the site, including grave dirt and photos of kids, but the material from Pickton and other Canadians has been OK.

"It's not illegal," said Harder, who admitted he gets death threats every couple of months from people upset by the website.

He argued that it wasn't wrong for Canada's killers to make money from items like photos or letters. Some Canadian material has been sold recently, he said.

The Olson material on the site now may be from a few years ago, said Harder, who speculated the killer wants to lay low for a while.

What often happens, Harder said, is collectors will contact the prisoner and correspond with them and then put the material up for sale. Harder has no knowledge of whether money exchanges hands, and said prison guards often play a part in the exchange, knowing it is happening and sometimes helping.

Harder said he has no knowledge of that happening in Canada.

In Canada, a person cannot profit from a book or a film that is based on anything related to their crime.

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British PM David Cameron to visit Canada

Prime Minister Stephen Harper chats with British Prime Minister David Cameron in France during a meeting of world leaders to discuss the future of Libya. Cameron is scheduled to speak next Thursday in the House of Commons in Ottawa. Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press

British Prime Minister David Cameron will be returning to Canada next week, and is scheduled to address Members of Parliament and Senators next Thursday.

The last British leader to do the same was Tony Blair, who spoke before the Canadian Parliament a decade ago in Ottawa.

The fall session is set to resume sitting on Monday following the summer break.

Cameron, who was in Canada last year for the G20 summit in Toronto, will be speaking in the Canadian House of Commons following his address set for next week at the opening of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will also be attending the meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.

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Arctic research funding of $67M finally announced

The federal government formally announced $67.3 million for research on Arctic climate change Thursday, though the funding has already been flowing for months and an official website has long since divulged it.

Industry Minister Christian Paradis said the money would keep ArcticNet, a Canada-wide network of mostly university-based researchers, operating through 2018.

The 145 investigators run projects looking at topics as diverse as Inuit access to post-secondary education, to how global warming is affecting marine life on the floor of the Arctic Ocean.

ArcticNet's first round of funding came in 2003, and researchers have known it would be renewed since last fall, when the federal government quietly extended its financial commitment.

The exact amount of the second round of funding was later posted to the federal government's website for the Networks of Centres of Excellence, which supports national research collaborations.

But there was still no formal announcement from the government. The Prime Minister's Office said in August that Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver would make the official announcement in the fall, even as Industry Canada was already at work planning something for that month.

"It's a matter of opportunity," said Louis Fortier, a Laval University marine biologist and ArcticNet's scientific director. "We agreed with the Industry Department that we wanted to do the announcement in the North, and in the wintertime it's impossible, so the first favourable window was in August. We had something planned for the beginning of August in Resolute Bay, but things are always complicated in the North, and this is just one more example."

In the end, Paradis made the announcement Thursday alongside Fortier at Laval University in Quebec City, where he said the funding was the single largest amount Ottawa has doled out as part of the Networks of Centres of Excellence program.

All the machinations haven't been detrimental to ArcticNet's researchers, however, several of them said.

"The research community knew, when we had our last annual scientific meeting in December, that the decision had been made," said David Hik, a University of Alberta biologist and ArcticNet project leader.

"The fact the official announcement was delayed isn't a big deal. It hasn't delayed the flow of the funds, and none of the investigators would have been adversely affected at all. Probably with the election in May, a lot of these timelines got set back."

Fortier agreed there has been no adverse effect. "This is something the 145 of them were expecting. We were confident we would get funding," he said.

He added that the federal contribution is only a part of ArcticNet's budget. The government cash has a "leveraging effect" that allows the program to raise further funds from universities, granting agencies and elsewhere, for a total over the next seven years of between $400 million and $500 million, he said.

About $2.7 million a year of that goes toward operating the Canadian Coast Guard ship Amundsen, a 98-metre-long icebreaker that Arctic researchers use every May to December to travel to the remote North to study Inuit communities and the environment. Accessibility Links

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Canadian Federal Government

Eugene Forsey's How Canadians Govern Themselves is an important introduction to how government works in Canada. It covers the origins of the Canadian parliamentary system and its day-to-day operations, and explains the major differences between the federal and provincial governments in Canada. It also highlights some of the differences between the Canadian and American systems of government.

For information on public policy and how it is made, try the Policy Research Initiative (PRI). The PRI was started by the Clerk of the Privy Council to strengthen public policy development and information sharing.

The Privy Council Office, the public service organization that provides support to the Prime Minister and Cabinet, is a useful source of online publications and information resources on a wide range of current Canadian public policy.

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat is another good resource for information on the inside operations of the Canadian federal government. Its Web site posts many of the policies and regulations covering human resources, financial management and information technology of the federal government. As an example, this is where you'll find information on the Government On-Line Project, the federal government's effort to put its most frequently used services on the Internet.

The Speech From the Throne opening each session of Parliament outlines the legislative and policy priorities for the government for the coming session of Parliament.

The Prime Minister's Office announces major public policy initiatives introduced by the federal government.

To get an overview of Canadian elections, start with Elections in Canada. You'll find additional reference information in Federal Elections, including the results of the last federal election, information on who can vote, the National Register of Electors, federal ridings and Members of Parliament.

Continue: Federal Government Services

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Cocaine dealer freed due to trial delay

An "unrepentant" Prince George cocaine dealer has been allowed to walk away from his conviction because the legal process took almost four years between his arrest and conviction.

In a scathing judgment, Provincial Court Judge Michael Brecknell blames a serious lack of court resources for the delay.

"The fact that an unrepentant drug dealer who has been convicted of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking; and while involved in the trial of this matter has been charged with further like offences; should now be able to be free of the consequences of this very serious offence because the judicial system could not accommodate his trial within a reasonable time should alarm and concern the community," Brecknell wrote.

"However, all citizens, even drug dealers, are entitled to the full protection of their rights under the Charter."

In October, 2007, Joseph Hammer and his brother were arrested after trying to sell cocaine for cash or firearms to an undercover police officer.

Hammer's brother, Jim Hammer, was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison on April 1, 2008.

But Joseph Hammer's case began a years-long meander through three scheduled, then cancelled, trial dates. The case was originally only estimated to take two and a half days of court time to be heard.

Among the evidence was Hammer's own statement outlining how he operated his drug distribution system, why he only sold powdered cocaine and his unwillingness to sell to children or pregnant women.

But Hammer's trial was delayed over and over, once because other matters at the court were given priority, again because Hammer's defence lawyer was ordered to finish off another trial and again over a disclosure matter.

Brecknell concluded in his ruling that the case was delayed by 42 months. Some of the delay was reasonable, he concluded, but much of it wasn't.

He noted that in an effort to address the backlog of criminal cases, scant judicial resources were being bled from civil and family cases.

Brecknell noted there are fewer Provincial Court judges now than there were on March 31, 2005.

As of March of this year, 59 per cent of the cases pending at the Provincial Court were taking longer than the 180-day limit the court has given itself to ensure an accused's rights to a speedy trial are protected.

Acting Attorney General Shirley Bond said the case is worrisome.

"We're always concerned when there is a stay of proceedings ruling — no matter what the specific reasons were for each individual case."

But she said in an emailed statement that in the past two years, the ministry has appointed 14 new judges into communities across the province, including adding two in Prince George. One of those will take his seat next week.

Bond said extra resources are being put toward court staff such as sheriffs in an effort to speed things up, the government is "streamlining procedures and using digital technology to get people to trial quicker."

"We need to encourage people to resolve disputes outside of court so they can be as efficient as possible and make room for those cases that require a courtroom," Bond said in the statement.

The shortage of B.C. provincial court judges has been in the news frequently over the last several months, with other judges complaining in their decisions about the lack of resources and warning that more offenders would be set free because of long trial delays.

This isn't the first case that Brecknell has dismissed over lack of court resources.

In July, Brecknell tossed out assault charges against two men after they waited more than two years to get to court.

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Who Can Vote in Federal Elections

To vote in a Canadian federal election you must be a Canadian citizen and be 18 or older on election day.

You must be on the voters list to vote.

Here's how to register to vote in a Canadian federal election.

The Chief Electoral Officer of Canada and the Assistant Chief Electoral Officer are not allowed to vote in a Canadian federal election.

You are also not entitled to vote in a Canadian federal election if you are imprisoned in a correctional institution serving a sentence of two years or more.

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UAW extends contracts with GM, Chrysler

The United Auto Workers union extended its contracts with General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC early Thursday after failing to meet a deadline to reach a new agreement.

GM broke off talks after midnight and said they would resume at 10 a.m. ET Thursday. Chrysler didn't say when its talks would resume.

The decision has little impact on the 71,000 U.S. factory workers covered by the GM and Chrysler contracts. In the past, workers might have gone on strike if the UAW hadn't extended their contracts. But as part of their 2009 government bailouts, GM and Chrysler workers had to agree not to strike over wages.

"We should continue to do the things we do until we receive official notification otherwise," a UAW local official at a GM factory in Lordstown, Ohio, wrote Wednesday in a message posted on the local's website.

The UAW extended its contract with Ford Motor Co. last week, as talks have progressed more slowly with that automaker. The Ford contract covers around 40,000 workers.

Up until the deadline, the negotiations that began over the summer appeared to be proceeding without the acrimony that plagued them in the past. But just before the 11:59 p.m. ET Wednesday deadline, the CEO of Chrysler fired off a letter to UAW President Bob King saying an agreement likely wouldn't be reached because King didn't come to the table Wednesday night to finish the deal.

"I know we are the smallest of the three automakers here in Detroit, but that does not make us less relevant," Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said in the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

Marchionne said he planned to travel out of the country for business and will return next week. He said he would agree to a weeklong extension of Chrysler workers' current contract. The UAW didn't set a new deadline to reach agreements.

UAW President Bob King wouldn't comment on Marchionne's letter when he was reached by phone early Thursday.

The UAW extended its contract with Ford Motor Co. last week, as talks have progressed more slowly with that automaker.

Marchionne said he and King met a week ago and agreed to finish work on the new contract before the deadline. He said not meeting the deadline hurts Chrysler's workers.

"You and I failed them today," he wrote. "We did not accomplish what leaders who have been tasked with the turning of a new page for this industry should have done."

Things appeared to be progressing more smoothly at GM. Joe Ashton, the UAW's vice-president in charge of the GM negotiations, told local union officials Tuesday night in a note that bargainers have made "much progress" in talks with the company. GM has taken the lead on the negotiations and its agreement may be used to set the pattern for the other two companies.

The contract talks will determine wages and benefits for 111,000 union workers at the auto makers, and they also set the bar for wages at auto parts companies, U.S. factories run by foreign automakers and other manufacturers, which employ hundreds of thousands more. The contract talks are the first since GM and Chrysler needed government aid to make it through bankruptcy protection in 2009.

GM nearly ran out of cash and needed $49.5 billion from the government to survive, but it's been making billions in the last two years because its debt and costs were lowered in bankruptcy and its new products have been selling well.

Ashton wrote that "difficult restrictions" have been placed on the union and company as a result of the bailout. To get the government funding, the union had to agree not to strike over wages at GM and Chrysler. Also, unresolved issues can be taken to binding arbitration, and the union's new contracts must keep the companies' labour costs competitive with Asian automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co.

"As you know, several difficult conditions were agreed to in order to obtain financing during the bankruptcy," Ashton wrote in the note to local union officials. "We are confident that we can reach an agreement that will meet many of the goals we set at the beginning of negotiations."

The union has been seeking bigger profit-sharing checks instead of pay raises, higher pay for entry level workers who make $14 to $16 per hour, signing bonuses and guarantees of new jobs as auto sales recover. Ford and GM want to cut their labour costs to get them closer to Honda and Toyota, while Chrysler wants to hold its costs steady. Health care costs are also an issue.

Once the contract agreements are reached, workers will vote on them.

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