National News
May 9, 2008OTTAWA - Brenda Martin is finally a free woman.
Martin was released from a Kitchener prison Friday after being granted full parole. She had been held at the Grand Valley Institution for Women since returning to Canada last week after spending more than two years in a Mexican prison on fraud charges. Sitting in the passenger seat of longtime friend Debra Tieleman's car, Martin told reporters she'd been on pins and needles all day.
OTTAWA - The link between Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier's ex-girlfriend and the Hells Angels is more than enough to warrant a national security probe, says the Bloc Quebecois, noting that organized crime gangs use "infiltration tactics."
The Conservative government continues to dismiss security concerns over Bernier's relationship with Julie Couillard, and accuse the opposition of unfairly opening up his private life.
EDMONTON - The mother of a 13-year-old girl who was raped and bludgeoned to death on a golf course rocked back and forth, shaking her head in disgust, as a young woman was sentenced Friday for her role in the gruesome killing.
Stephanie Bird, 20, showed no emotion as the judge handed her a 12-year prison term for manslaughter, kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault in the slaying of Nina Courtepatte.
FREDERICTON - The four Atlantic premiers say it's time for the federal government to kick in some cash for the Atlantic Gateway initiative - and a number of other projects as well.
Newfoundland's Danny Williams, New Brunswick's Shawn Graham, Nova Scotia's Rodney MacDonald and Robert Ghiz of Prince Edward Island are meeting Friday in Fredericton.
FOLEYET, Ont. - Ontario's top medical official says the elderly woman who died on a quarantined Via Rail train mostly likely didn't have an infectious disease.
Nor did the passenger who was airlifted to hospital with flu-like symptoms. Dr. David Williams, Ontario's acting chief medical officer of health, says the death and several illnesses on the train were unrelated and passengers are expected to continue their journey later Friday.
OTTAWA - Nicolas Sarkozy's stirring declaration of love for Canada this week surprised Quebec separatists who saw it as an abrupt about-face from France's longtime neutrality on the issue of Canadian unity.
But sources in the Canadian government say the French president made it abundantly clear where he stood in his first meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper a year ago.
OTTAWA - The Defence Department lifted a media gag order Friday on suppliers interested in providing new radar equipment to military airfields across Canada.
But it's only one of a growing number of contracts in which people who want to do business with federal or provincial governments must agree not to talk to the reporters.
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Premier Danny Williams, accused of undermining a judicial inquiry into botched breast-cancer tests, was unrepentant Friday about making controversial comments this week on the tone of the probe.
The province's opposition parties and an independent expert on public inquiries questioned why Williams would call the inquiry a "prosecution" and "inquisitorial."
VANCOUVER - A heart specialist has told a public inquiry in Vancouver into the use of Tasers that a shock from the energy weapon can be deadly.
San Francisco cardiologist Zian Tseng says a Taser shock at a vulnerable period in the heartbeat can produce a fatal rhythm. He says the heart could be even more vulnerable if there is high adrenaline or drugs, such as cocaine, present in the person's system.
VANCOUVER - The president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs says the freezing death of an aboriginal man in a Vancouver alley has created an opportunity to examine systemic racism within police departments and the criminal justice system.
"The Frank Paul inquiry has opened many doors and created a shocking and growing awareness about systemic racism, about how people of colour, about how indigenous people, are victimized and continue to be victimized by the system," Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said Friday at a public inquiry into Paul's death.
TORONTO - A retailer who claimed a $21.5-million winning lottery ticket and sparked a two-month internal investigation at Ontario's lottery corporation initially said the ticket belonged to a customer who had left the store, documents released under order of the province's privacy commissioner revealed Friday.
Store owner Eun Chul Shin "panicked" and told lottery officials in July 2006 that the winning ticket wasn't his because he was afraid that if he claimed it his information would be released to the media, according to internal documents from the Ontario Lottery Corp.
MERRITT, B.C. - The B.C. mother who found her three children murdered in their home has commented publicly for the first time, thanking the local community for their support.
A letter sent to the Merritt Herald said members of the public have shared in the "horrendous tragedy." The letter, signed Darcie Clarke and family, says the family has received support from all over.
OTTAWA - The House of Commons has passed a private member's bill which requires that foreign aid be focused solely on relieving poverty and promoting human rights.
Aid groups have welcomed the legislation, saying it will ensure that the fight against global poverty gets the attention it deserves. It also sets new reporting requirements for foreign aid, which supporters say means better accountability and transparency.
LONGUEUIL, Que - Federal Industry Minister Jim Prentice says lack of market access shouldn't be a reason for Canadian companies like MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (TSX:MDA) to sell their businesses to foreigners.
He made the statement at the Canadian Space Agency on Friday, just hours after blocking the sale of MDA's space division to American firm Alliant Techsystems Inc.
TRENTON, Ont. - The body of the 83rd Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan has returned home.
The remains of Cpl. Michael Starker, 36, were returned to CFB Trenton Friday aboard a military aircraft. Starker was a Calgary-based medic and reservist who died Tuesday in southern Afghanistan when his patrol was ambushed.
OTTAWA - The Commons unanimously adopted a resolution Friday urging Myanmar's reclusive military regime to accept international relief teams in the wake of last weekend's catastrophic cyclone.
The government acknowledged how hard it is to deal with the "very difficult regime" and said it will do all it can to help the storm victims. The xenophobic Burmese junta has said it will accept aid, but is leery of allowing foreign aid workers into the country.
OTTAWA - The last surviving Canadian veteran of the First World War will become a Canadian again, just in time for his 108th birthday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed Friday.
John Babcock, who has been living in Spokane, Wa., is to be granted Canadian citizenship in recognition of his military service to Canada and his expressed desire, Harper announced.
EDMONTON - A Toronto man is pushing off on a voyage of discovery with 200 other people to honour the explorer David Thompson and re-enact his epic 1808 canoe trek along the rivers of Western Canada to the Great Lakes.
Lavern Thompson has a personal stake in the 63-day, 3,600-kilometre journey in which a brigade of 16 replica fur trade canoes will paddle from Rocky Mountain House in central Alberta to Thunder Bay, Ont.
