National News
May 15, 2008OTTAWA - Trade Minister David Emerson is telling Europeans they are missing out on a great opportunity in the future development of the North by not moving aggressively to strengthen economic ties with Canada.
Emerson told a conference on transatlantic trade Thursday that Europe and Canada have not paid close enough attention to trade and investment links, and interest is especially lacking in Europe.
CRANBROOK, B.C. - The family of a Kenyan student killed this week in a helicopter crash in Cranbrook, B.C., were planning a big homecoming party for him when they received news of the tragedy.
Twenty-year-old Isaiah Otieno was on his way to the post office to mail letters to family and friends when the helicopter crash-landed on him, his father, Kenya's Public Services Minister Dalmas Otieno told Kenya's Nation newspaper on Thursday.
TORONTO - The Canadian Auto Workers has reached a tentative contract with General Motors of Canada that freezes wages for three years but will keep workers on the job at car and truck plants in Oshawa, Ont.
The agreement reached Thursday morning secures production commitments for the car plant and postpones the shutdown of a second shift at the facility from September until 2009. The union also said Thursday it was close to reaching a deal with the last of the Big Three automakers, Chrysler. Existing contracts between the CAW and the automakers do not expire until September.
OTTAWA - A new report estimates drug spending in Canada reached $27 billion in 2007 - up from $25 billion the year before.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says drug spending accounted for about 16 per cent of overall health expenditures last year. The institute says while overall health spending grew at an average annual rate of 6.5 per cent from 1985 to 2005, spending on drugs grew at an average annual rate of 9.5 per cent.
TORONTO - There is now convincing evidence that Canada's housing market has come off the boil, Bank of Nova Scotia economists say.
Home resales have fallen for four consecutive months, and the inflation-adjusted average resale home price registered its first quarterly decline in seven years during the first three months of this year, Scotia Economics noted in a report Thursday.
OTTAWA - Manufacturers gave back some of their recent gains in March as factory sales retreated 1.6 per cent to $49 billion, their first decline of 2008.
The scope of March's slowdown was extensive as 18 of the 21 manufacturing industries, representing 76 per cent of total sales, posted declines.
TORONTO - Ontario Aboriginal Affairs Minister Michael Bryant is slamming the federal government for not moving quickly enough to settle an aboriginal land-claim dispute in southern Ontario.
He says Ottawa should "accelerate" a resolution to the dispute in Caledonia, which erupted two years ago when Six Nations protesters blockaded roads and a rail line.
TORONTO - The Ontario Medical Association says there are still 850,000 people in the province who do not have a family doctor.
OMA president Dr. Ken Arnold says Ontario is short about 2,500 doctors, and notes that 2,600 physicians currently working in the province are over the age of 65. He says if those physicians decide to retire, Ontario would lose about 10 per cent of its family doctors and about 13 per cent of its specialists.
VANCOUVER - There is no uniform policy among municipal police forces in British Columbia on the use of the Taser, says the president of the B.C. Association of Municipal Chiefs of Police.
Bob Rich, who is also deputy chief of the Vancouver Police Department, told a B.C. public inquiry into the use of Tasers that steps are being taken to address that, but right now policies on the use of force are left to each municipal department.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Canada's painfully patient strategy of letting the fledgling Afghan army take the lead in the field is paying dividends and could soon expand to include more troops and territory, said the outgoing commander of Canadian troops in the region.
Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche said the development of Afghan National Army units has come along quicker than he expected during his 10-month tour.
VANCOUVER - Corrections Canada has launched an internal investigation to find out how prison pictures of notorious child killer Clifford Olson made their way onto the social networking website MySpace.
A profile on the popular website under the name Clifford Olson contains photographs, personal essays, and news stories, many of which are available on other websites devoted to the convicted murderer - including a letter that is almost 20 years old.
VICTORIA - Ottawa is suggesting B.C.'s children's ministry may become involved in a polygamy-related investigation in the United States on behalf of a teenaged B.C. girl who is currently being held by Texas authorities, Attorney General Wally Oppal said Wednesday.
The federal Foreign Affairs Department contacted the province regarding the 17-year-old girl apprehended by U.S. child welfare authorities last month at a polygamist community in Eldorado, Texas, Oppal said.
MONTREAL - The father of a 16-year-old girl can't believe a simple viral infection has ended up putting his daughter on a waiting list for a new heart.
"It is something I would not have dreamed of," Robert Seguin said Wednesday. "That same virus that can give you a runny nose can attack the heart."
TORONTO - The case of a Tim Hortons worker in Toronto fired almost nine years ago for allegedly stealing a toonie was put over again Wednesday as lawyers for the defendant lamented that the former employee's "frivolous" lawsuit continues to waste time and money.
Charlene Walsh, who was seven months pregnant at the time, and Amanda MacNeil were fired in June 1999 after store managers viewed surveillance video and alleged the workers were seen taking money from a cash register.
TORONTO - An expensive drug used to minimize severe bleeding during heart surgery actually significantly increased the risk that patients would die during surgery or in the 30 days following, a Canadian study comparing the drug to two far cheaper alternatives shows.
Called the BART trial, the study found people who received Trasylol or aprotinin (its generic name) were 53 per cent more likely to die than people who received the other anti-bleeding agents, tranexamic acid or aminocaproic acid.
HALIFAX - Gerry Wrigley was one of several drivers across the country who pulled up to the pumps Wednesday expecting to shell out for high gas prices but got an unexpected refund instead.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation surprised Wrigley and drivers at nine gas stations across Canada by reimbursing the amount of gas tax they paid to highlight what the group says is government "gouging."
TORONTO - Nearly one-fifth of the nurses in hospitals across the country acknowledge making errors when giving patients medications, with understaffing and working too much overtime primarily blamed for the likelihood of those mistakes occurring, a report by Statistics Canada says.
In its report released Wednesday, Statistics Canada said that in settings in which nurses ended up working beyond their regular shifts due to understaffing and inadequate resources, patients were more likely to receive the wrong medication or dosage.
OTTAWA - Quebec Premier Jean Charest said Wednesday the time is right for Canada to strike a free-trade deal with the European Union.
Charest, who was addressing a conference on transatlantic trade, said Canada represents a choice entry point for trade from the European Union, which has its eye on the huge U.S. market.
