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The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — SNIPPET: "Khaled Nawaya, a flight instructor, was arrested by Canada Border Services agents when they found $800,000 in gold coins and other currency in his car and pockets on Oct. 6, as he crossed into Surrey, B.C., near Vancouver." SNIPPET: "He'd been living in the U.S. since he was 17 and had gained approval for permanent residency in Canada. Besides the gold, Canadian agents found a ring bearing the insignia of Hezbollah, which has been listed as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government since 2002. They also seized 9/11 conspiracy theory-themed DVDs and a...

SNIPPET: "Would-be migrants who were found aboard a vessel headed for British Columbia may have each paid $45,000 for the trip. The men, believed to be Tamils from Sri Lanka, remain in custody as Immigration Canada determines their identity. The ship, called the Ocean Lady, was seized by RCMP last Friday. Another vessel carrying Sir Lankans was caught off the coast of Australia last week, and the passengers said they had paid smugglers $15,000 to board the ship. One man told a reporter about the Ocean Lady, and said he had wanted to board that vessel instead, but it was...

Just starting... get interested!

Health Care Systems: A return to private health care is rising from the grass roots north of the border. While we rush headlong toward socialized medicine, Canadians are saying, "No, thanks — been there, done that." We recently told the story of Ava Isabella Stinson, born 13 weeks premature at St. Joseph's hospital in Hamilton, Ontario. She weighed all of two pounds and had no time to be put on a waiting list. But there were no open neonatal intensive care beds for her at St. Joseph's or anywhere else in the entire province of Ontario it seems. Canada's perfectly...

Medical Care: A leaked report shows that Vancouver's health authority is considering cutting thousands of surgeries to balance the budget. However organized, government-run health care inevitably leads to rationing.Defenders of ObamaCare continually point out that their plan is not like Canada's, that holding that country's system up as an example of impending medical doom is invalid. Canada's system is different. Instead of having a single national plan, Canada's national health insurance, a kind of public option, is composed of 13 interlocking provincial and territorial plans, all framed under the Canada Health Act. But based on a report leaked to the...

Health Reform: A critically ill premature baby is moved to a U.S hospital to get the treatment she couldn't get in the system we're told we should emulate. Cost-effective care? In Canada, as elsewhere, you get what you pay for.Ava Isabella Stinson was born last Thursday at St. Joseph's hospital in Hamilton, Ontario. Weighing only two pounds, she was born 13 weeks premature and needed some very special care. Unfortunately, there were no open neonatal intensive care beds for her at St. Joseph's — or anywhere else in the entire province of Ontario, it seems.

Note: Photo included. "2 Canadians slain in Mexico tied to drug trade: police 3 gunmen believed responsible for shootings" Last Updated: Monday, September 28, 2009 | 9:56 PM ET The Associated Press SNIPPET: "Gang investigators in British Columbia say two men gunned down in Mexico were involved in the drug trade, and had been on the radar of gang investigators before they were found shot to death in a Puerto Vallarta condo complex."

SNIPPET: "SPOKANE -- Authorities in North Idaho are reporting that sometime early Tuesday morning a small airplane was stolen from the Boundary County Airport. The Boundary County Sheriff confirms they received a report regarding the theft of a 2005 Cessna T182T aircraft around 7 AM Tuesday morning. The aircraft, with tail number N2183P, is a white and blue fixed wing single engine aircraft. It is believed the aircraft was taken from the airport around 5:45 Tuesday. They're not sure in what direction the plane was flown from the airport." SNIPPET: "Authorities are working to confirm if the theft is related...

A toddler has miraculously survived after he drove his toy jeep into a river and then floated nearly eight miles downstream. Demetrius Jones, who turned three yesterday, let himself out of his grandmother's holiday trailer while his family slept and took his battery-operated truck down to the Peace River in British Columbia, where he was swept away by the current. The red miniature Chevrolet Silverado truck flipped over but the boy - who was only wearing a nappy and T-shirt - floated on it, along swirling waters. When his family woke up and realised he was missing police were called...

Three cougars that appeared to be stalking people were shot in Princeton, B.C., during the last two weeks, and a veteran conservation officer says he's never seen anything like it. The first cougar was spotted lurking near a campground in the southern Interior town on July 3... B.C. conservation officer Al Lay shot the big cat out of concern it may have been stalking people. "It was close to residences and campsites on the other side, and it was just one of those situations where it is better safe then sorry.… We just can't take the chance of someone being...

PRINCETON, British Columbia, July 15 (UPI) -- Three cougars shot in the past two weeks after being spotted apparently stalking people is a rare occurrence in Canada, a conservation officer says. One of the big cats was killed by a conservation officer July 3 near a campground in Princeton, British Columbia, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Tuesday. The second was shot by a Princeton area man after being seen following two girls tubing down a river. The next day, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer killed a third cougar spotted hanging around a softball tournament.

Vancouver — Two citizens of Pakistan, one of whom had a British Columbia driver's licence, are being held by U.S. authorities in Seattle after their names showed up on an antiterrorist "no-fly list" when they tried to book one-way flights to New York. They were nabbed at the Sea-Tac International Airport on Saturday night, less than 12 hours after a curious incident in Vancouver in which a drug suspect plunged to his death from a seventh-floor apartment balcony as he tried to flee a police raid. The RCMP confirmed yesterday that its antiterrorism unit is investigating whether the dead man...

Mounties have shot a woman in a wheelchair dead after she gunned down two people inside a Gibsons nursing home. One of the woman's victims is dead and the other has been taken to St. Paul's Hospital by helicopter. The incident occurred at about 4:30 p.m. at Good Samaritan Christensen Village nursing home after two employees approached the wheelchair-bound resident. The woman allegedly shot them with a rifle. She may have also had a handgun on her, according to witnesses. Residents identified the woman to The Province as Linda, 40. They said she had been acting erratically after being served...

"On Monday evening Melvina's mother heard an awful racket/strange and loud noise coming from the back of her property. It certainly did frighten her as the sound was so very unusual and the dogs certainly were going wild over what was happening. She contacted her daughter and Melvina came down the next day to look into what took. She put on a set of snow shoes and headed out into the forest. In the open areas, (not under any trees) the snow would have been approximately a foot and a half in depth. Under the trees the snow pack was...

January 23, 2009 Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel09/fugitive012309.htm Possible Sighting of FBI Fugitive in British Columbia The FBI is working with Canadian authorities to confirm the possible sighting of one of its Domestic Terrorism fugitives. Last November, the Bureau announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of four eco-terrorists known as “The Family.” Rebecca Rubin, one of the four fugitives, was spotted by a tipster who may have seen her near her hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia. We received several tips about all of the fugitives as a result of the publicity. Some of...

When dozens of white sturgeon began washing up dead on the banks of British Columbia's Fraser River in the mid-1990s, some feared that North America's largest freshwater fish could be headed toward extinction. Once plentiful in the river, the sturgeon population had dropped below 40,000, and scientists were unable to explain the die-offs of mostly female fish. That's when an alliance of government agencies, environmentalists, aboriginal groups, and commercial and recreational fishers came together to save the sturgeon, spurring a robust recovery of the lower Fraser River population.

The teenager behind a "Kick a Ginger" group on Facebook is being investigated by police after reports of attacks on redhead children. Nearly 5,000 people joined the online campaign which urged members to "get them steel toes ready" for a day of booting this week. The website appears to have been inspired by a recent episode of the cartoon South Park, in which a young character called Cartman describes people with red hair as evil and soulless. Dozens of children left messages on the page claiming to have carried out attacks on "National Kick a Ginger Day" on Thursday,...

British Columbia Harry had a large UFO incident which took place on August 31, 2008 at approximately 1:30 a.m. when he was on a week's holiday. All of a sudden the object jumped from a stationary position it appeared to rise up and drop down again. He said the object went from a stop, then made about a 20 foot jump into the air in a split second, it jumped again and this time it made an estimated jump of approximately 50 to 60 feet and then it kept jumping at greater distances.

Having tolls removed from a major route in British Columbia, Canada, has taken some of the sting out of the cost of operating a trucking business in that province, but there’s still plenty of sting to go around. In late September, the government removed a $20 truck toll and $10 passenger vehicle toll from the Coquihalla Highway, which connects the city of Hope to Kamloops, B.C., in the Canadian West. Provincial officials said that truckers were pleased with the move, and they were. “Given the price of fuel, truckers are very happy with this,” Bridgitte Anderson, spokeswoman for British Columbia...

Bear jumps on boat, mauls man Published Thursday September 11th, 2008 A7 By SCOTT SUTHERLAND The Canadian Press VICTORIA - Salmon fishermen are no longer throwing fish guts on shore for black bears around Port Renfrew, B.C. after one climbed onto a dock, jumped into a man's boat and mauled him. "All the bears in Port Renfrew are pretty docile," said fire Chief Dan Tennant. "They're more afraid of people than people are of them and normally turn and high-tail it when they see people.'' He said he first thought the bear attack call received by his department and an...

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Canada is a cultural dichotomy. We are a collection of very singular and – dare I say? – distinct peoples who have very little in common, yet are feebly tied together through pseudo-patriotic themes such as beer commercials and donut shops. Confederation, that wonderfully impossible concept of complete and total Canadian national unity, has never worked and never will. One trip to a different part of the country proves that unequivocally. That is what became apparent to me during my camping venture in British Columbia.....

Parents seek to stop candy throwing at parades Some British Columbia in are trying to end the practice of throwing candy from floats during parades.   DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — Some British Columbia in are trying to end the practice of throwing candy from floats during parades.The campaign in Dawson Creek is the latest effort by people concerned about children bolting into the parade to scoop up the sweets. Efforts to end candy tossing have been adopted in Kamloops, Prince George and Fort St. John.A Fort St. John town council member and parade marshal, Larry Evans, says float drivers...

How are thing? I mean, really – how are things going for you? I’ve been hearing some…well, disturbing things lately and I just wanted to touch base and see if you were okay.....

 Human rights complaint over comic's lesbian remarksUpdated Thu. Jun. 26 2008 11:13 PM ETCTV.ca News StaffA Toronto comedian facing a B.C. Human Rights Tribunal hearing says offensive comments he made to two Vancouver lesbians were simply an attempt to stop them from heckling him on stage."I don't hate anybody based on their sexual orientation, or whatever, but I do hate hecklers and sometimes I get a little vehement," Guy Earle says in a radio interview posted on YouTube.Earle said he was hosting a weekly open-mic night in a restaurant on March 22, 2007 when the two women moved up...

Turbaned Sikhs in B.C. contest mandatory hard hat rule at sawmill Posted by Michael Rollins, The Oregonian April 01, 2008 06:59AM   Kalwant Singh Sahota Sikhs in Canada have won several key battles over religious attire. For example, Sikhs can wear turbans instead of the familiar Royal Canadian Mounted Police hats. But what about a sawmill? Isn't this easily a safety issue? It might be, except the two Sikhs who filed a human rights complaints have been working there for years without hard hats and have suddenly been required to don them. The Vancouver Sun's Kim Bolan is expert...

  Sturgeon goes on and on   Reel-y big ... Nick and George with their monster catch  Published: Today       TWO British anglers got a reel shock while boat fishing in Canada – when they caught a TEN FOOT long sturgeon. Nick Calleya, 36, and George Carstairs, 42, took an hour to land the 500lb fish – thought to be more than 100 years old. Nick, of Cubert, Cornwall, and George, of Aberdeen, caught it on Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada. Nick said: “It was so strong it was lifting George off his seat.”

Driving 11 miles over the speed limit cost one driver more than a quarter-million dollars this weekend — at least for now. A State Patrol trooper spotted a Honda Accord speeding southbound on Interstate 5 on Friday, according to State Patrol spokesman Jeff Merrill. It was raining, and the driver was cruising down the freeway at 71 mph. So the trooper pulled the driver over, Merrill said. The 35-year-old from British Columbia, who had a valid driver's license, struggled to tell the trooper where he was going and how long he had been in Washington, prompting the trooper to search...

The insistence of a Washington state couple that they have a right to build a four-foot concrete wall along 80 feet of the 1,270-mile-long U.S.-Canada boundary in the West has cost a U.S. member of the International Joint Commission his job, according to reports appearing last week in the Canadian news media. If the incident did nothing else, it gave Canadians (prone always to accept the dicta of officialdom) an inkling of how things work on the other side of the border. Apparently, it all started because Herbert and Shirley Ann Leu of Blaine, Wash., couldn't prevent dogs escaping from...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell signed a memorandum of understanding Thursday to jointly reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, as Schwarzenegger wrapped up a three-day visit to Canada. The pact, known as the Pacific Coast Collaborative to Protect Our Shared Climate and Oceans, commits the two jurisdictions to cap and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and work on the development and implementation of clean technologies, but is not legally binding. The deal commits both areas to work together to protect the waters off the Pacific coast of North America, a significant portion of...

Juanita Neidrauer got into the alpaca and llama business to feed her gentle art of weaving and spinning. Little did she know that six of her native South American animals would meet a violent end, victims of a male grizzly bear's one-night killing rampage on B.C.'s central coast. "What alpacas and llamas do, if there is a danger, they run towards it," explained Neidrauer, a 68-year-old resident of Hagensborg in the Bella Coola Valley. "They sort of attack it." That tactic might work in the high reaches of the Andes. But on the grizzly-laden B.C. coast? Not so much. "They...

A Canadian who served in an elite U.S. army unit was charged in a Washington bank heist and hopes to use his newfound notoriety to draw attention to atrocities he says he witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Luke Elliott Sommer, 20, is under house arrest in Peachland, B.C., where he is on bail and living with his parents and two-year-old son. Federal prosecutors in Washington state allege he was the ringleader of five masked men who stormed a Bank of America branch in Tacoma in August. The suspects were armed with pistols and AK-47s and stole US$50,000. A handful of...

Tribunal to rule on guide dog vs. religion Jane Seyd jseyd@nsnews.com A case potentially pitting rights of the disabled against religious beliefs will be heard by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal after a blind man from the North Shore who uses a guide dog to get around launched a complaint against North Shore Taxi. Bruce Gilmour filed the complaint after a cab driver from North Shore Taxi refused to let his guide dog into the cab in January of this year. Gilmour, who says it's not the first time he's been refused service by a taxicab, is complaining that...

Canada's nationalized health-care system, admired by the left all over the world and deplored by the right all over Canada, took another hit last week. The Canadian Medical Association, long its unfailing supporter, suddenly turned against it. The CMA elected as president Dr. Brian Day, a Vancouver surgeon and one-time supporter of state medicine, who is now an outspoken critic of Canada's "Medicare" system. In fact, he runs the largest private clinic in the country, offering an array of surgical procedures to people prepared to pay for them. In doing so, he challenges the Canada Health Act, which prohibits for-profit...

B.C. Health Minister George Abbott said taxpayers are on the hook for nearly $10 million in unpaid medical bills by hundreds of foreigners who have obtained hospital care in this province. He is urging health authorities to "look at every angle" for new methods to recover monies owed by those who have skipped out on paying. "B.C. is not a destination that is in the habit of providing free health care for the rest of the world. We have lots of demands for medical services by B.C. citizens, let alone serving the rest of the world," said Abbott. The health...

VANCOUVER, June 1, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A homosexual teacher and his same-sex partner who launched a human rights complaint with the British Columbia government have settled with the Government of British Columbia. According to the homosexual activist who launched a human rights suit, homosexual issues will soon be a mandatory part of school curricula taught in classrooms throughout the province, without the ability of students or parents to opt out. BC's Ministry of Education and Ministry of the Attorney-General agreed to review the province's curricula to ensure that the issue of homosexuality is included in all so-called 'social justice' discussions...

SEATTLE (AP) - The federal judge who sentenced an Algerian terrorist to 22 years in prison for attempting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on the eve of the millennium wildly abused his discretion, said prosecutors who had sought a much longer sentence. Customs agents in Port Angeles, Wash., caught Ahmed Ressam, 38, with explosives in the trunk of his rental car when he drove off a ferry from British Columbia in December 1999. The scare prompted the cancellation of millennium celebrations at Seattle's Space Needle. At Ressam's sentencing last summer, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour used the opportunity...

VICTORIA -- The controversial issue of polygamy and its links with a religious commune at Bountiful in B.C.'s Kootenay mountain region has produced a rare political alliance. The provincial Liberal government and Opposition New Democrats are saying they want to help women escape Bountiful. But the newly elected federal Conservatives appear to be adopting a hands-off approach to the community where allegations of child brides, sexual assaults and immigration scams abound. A spokesman for Kootenay-Columbia Conservative MP Jim Abbott said there is nothing new to say about Bountiful, which is located in his riding.

Updated Mon. Jan. 16 2006 11:41 PM ET With one week remaining before the election, the Conservatives have unleashed their own vicious television ad, but this time the target is Jack Layton and his New Democrat Party. The Tories have taken aim at Layton in the commercial, charging among other things that he is in favour of higher gas prices and legalizing drugs. The ad features a Jack Layton-style moustache and mouth digitally placed over the mouths of Canadians, with a male voice speaking. "I support legalized drugs," says the voice, speaking for a mother with her young child. "Who...

Handgun ban proposal draws more than 400 (Ron Gray, Christian Heritage Party candidate, questions Conservative candidate Chuck Strahl during a meeting at the Best Western Wednesday. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS) By Robert Freeman The Progress Jan 13 2006 It was billed as a non-partisan event to send a message to “whoever wins” the Jan. 23 federal election. But Conservative MP Chuck Strahl, who’s running for re-election in the Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon riding, clearly reaped the political benefits as guest speaker at a “special action” meeting called by the Chilliwack Fish and Game Protective Association in response to the handgun ban proposed by...

Given the incessant anti-Americanism from a majority opf Canadian people who are geographically unequally distributed, I'm thinking of proposals of dividing Canada into several regions so as to let the right-minded people able to control their own destiny, and more importantly for the US, to make it impossible for sworn enemies of the US to be able to control the giant landmass and hold Uncle Sam hostage ever again. I'm thinking of dividing Canada into several regions: 1) Coastal BC: they are American-style leftists. Either allow an independent nation or produce an ultimatum - move to Souther Ontario. 2) Interior...

An undercover informant helped investigators tape a conversation with one of the seven...radical environmentalists accused in a series of arson attacks and other crimes... Existence of the informant was disclosed last week by an investigator in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., during a bail hearing for Daniel McGowan, 31, who faces indictments that he and another man firebombed the office of a wood products mill in Glendale and the office and truck shop of a tree farm in Clatskanie in 2001. The Earth Liberation Front, an underground group that advocates economic sabotage to stop environmental destruction, took credit for...

Tories failing to make gains in Ontario, B.C. Three main parties virtually tied in Ontario, poll finds Chris Wattie, National Post Published: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 Canada's two biggest battlegrounds are proving treacherous for the Conservative party in the early days of the federal election. The Tories' hopes of gaining ground in British Columbia and Ontario -- where the Jan. 23 election is likely to be decided -- have yet to be rewarded, according to a new public opinion poll. While Conservative leader Stephen Harper has found support in the belt of suburban ridings surrounding Toronto, he is still struggling...

VANCOUVER — A transsexual who was fired by B.C. Ferries last year after she confused “starboard” and “port” and steered a ship in the wrong direction has accused the company of discrimination, saying she was held to a higher standard than other employees because of her sex. Deborah Magnone filed a complaint with the B.C. human rights tribunal and yesterday, the tribunal rejected a bid by B.C. Ferries to have the complaint dismissed. That means the case will proceed to a public hearing, unless the parties can resolve the matter. Magnone, who was hired as a casual deckhand on May...

  Although officials say the Canada/US border is well protected, the Minuteman organization has set up several 'observation posts' along the border between Sumas and Blaine.   Tom Williams, head of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps in Deming, Washington. Both American and Canadian protestors joined together in opposition of the Minuteman inititives, some critics allege that the group has racist motives behind their operations. Armed Americans patrol B.C.-Washington border CTV.ca News StaffA group of armed Americans began patrolling part of the 49th parallel Saturday, saying they'll be keeping an eye on those who illegally cross into the U.S. from...

http://westernstandard.ca/website/index.cfm?page=article&article_id=928 A nation torn apart An exclusive Western Standard poll shows more than a third of westerners are thinking of separating from Canada. What’s dividing the country--and can anything be done to save it? Kevin Steel - August 22, 2005 It wasn’t just what the bumper sticker said, but where it was placed and what it was stuck on. The white rectangle that read, "One hundred years is long enough," followed by the website address, www.separationalberta.com, was high up in the rear window of a shiny new, high-end SUV driving through supposedly Liberal downtown Edmonton-- not on a dusty old...

<p>CALGARY (CP)-More than one-third of Western Canadians surveyed this summer thought it was time to consider seperation from Canada, a poll suggests.</p> <p>In the survey, 35.6 per cent of respondents from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia agreed with the statement: Western Canadians should begin to explore the idea of forming their own country.</p>

Divers found no victims as they searched the water around a grounded B.C. ferry that missed the West Vancouver terminal and plowed through a crowded marina on Thursday. The operator, BC Ferries, promised a full investigation to determine why the 7,000-tonne vessel smashed through the marina beside the Horseshoe Bay terminal at about 10:10 a.m. local time. The 7,000-tonne ferry missed the Horseshoe Bay terminal and smashed through a marina. Witnesses said the Queen of Oak Bay seemed to have lost power before it veered into Sewell's Marina. But David Hahn, the president of BC Ferries, said it was too...

Leaders back electoral reform Lindsay Kines and Jeff Rud Times Colonist Thursday, May 19, 2005 The leaders of B.C.'s three main political parties have got the message: Voters want changes to the province's electoral system. In a rare show of harmony, Premier Gordon Campbell, NDP Leader Carole James and Green party Leader Adriane Carr agreed Wednesday that B.C. needs to keep working on the issue, even though a referendum on one suggested change failed to pass Tuesday. "There's a real hunger to move and look at ways of improving our system," Campbell said. "I've been a clear advocate of that...

Polls are closing at 8:00 Pacific (11:00 Eastern)! With Free Dominion down, I think this is the best place for the thread.

B.C. judge allows extradition in AIM killing Monday, February 21, 2005 Updated at 2:28 PM EST Canadian Press Vancouver — A B.C. Supreme Court judge has recommended that John Graham be extradited to the United States to stand trial in the murder of a woman in South Dakota almost 30 years ago. As Justice Elizabeth Bennett read her decision on Monday, Mr. Graham sat with his arms crossed, often leaning forward as he intently listened to the ruling.