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"When it comes to action over Georgia, Russia has the European Union over a barrel. In fact, 1.2 million barrels. That’s how much Russian crude is pumped westward every day down the Druzhba pipeline to fuel Europe’s economies.” So began an article in The International Herald Tribune, one of many last week explaining why Europe — and the west — has little choice but to sacrifice parts of Georgia, and maybe a lot more, to Russia’s ambitions. “Russia knows that when it comes to conducting a serious foreign and security policy, Europe is all mouth,” says Lord Chris Patten, the...

Two Canadian teens were handed a year’s probation for trashing a home while the owners were on vacation, and leaving behind a nasty present, according to the Globe and Mail. Among the $10,000 in damages was writing scrawled on the kitchen window and cabinets: "You had a nice cat" and "it's in the microwave." Princess, the cat, "was screaming in the microwave for 10 minutes while it was essentially cooked to death," Prosecutor John Laluk reportedly told the court.

OTTAWA - A faith-based conservative family group said it would like the Harper government to intervene to block a broadcasting licence issued to a new Canadian porn channel. The Canada Family Action Coalition wants the Conservatives to quash last week's decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to grant a licence to adult film network Northern Peaks. The licence granted to Alberta-based Real Productions requires the new channel broadcast 50 per cent Canadian content. That means Canadian young people will be enlisted to work on and in some cases appear in porn films, says Charles McVety, president of...

The Greater Vancouver Zoo is re-evaluating its educational raptor show after a four-year-old boy who volunteered to take part was left scratched and bleeding after a hawk landed on his head. On August 31, during the 4 p.m. raptor show flying demonstration, veteran trainer Gary Worley asked a volunteer - the four-year-old boy - to grab a rope with a lure resembling a stuffed rabbit attached to the opposite end. The boy was then instructed to run with the rope behind him, a move that prompted a Harris hawk to swoop down on the rabbit as if it was prey,...

A few weeks ago, I wrote a column arguing that readers will miss the mainstream media when we’re gone. Oh sure, bloggers have a lot of spicy opinions. But when it comes to investigating important stories, they don’t hold a candle to big, deep-pocketed, old-fashioned newspaper writers and broadcast media outlets. Imagine my embarrassment, then, when it turned out this week that the flagship newscast on the biggest, deep-pocketeddest, old-fashionedest Canadian media outlet of them all — the taxpayer-funded CBC — got suckered into reporting a story that the blogosphere chewed up, debunked, and spit out two days earlier. The...

TORONTO – A chunk of ice shelf nearly the size of Manhattan has broken away from Ellesmere Island in Canada's northern Arctic, another dramatic indication of how warmer temperatures are changing the polar frontier, scientists said Wednesday.

WINDSOR, Ont. -A son with scurvy because he thought he could survive on chicken wings and beer got two moms thinking they should write a book. A guide to adulthood. A how-to book with things as simple as how to boil water and how to wipe your bum, and trickier tasks like tying a Windsor knot and managing your finances. Kim Zarzour, a Windsor-born journalist, and author Sharon E. McKay packed all their tips into the 514-page book Good To Go: A Practical Guide to Adulthood. It was one of McKay's sons who got scurvy but Zarzour said her own...

News ReleaseThree Canadian soldiers killed and five injured in AfghanistanCEFCOM NR–08.044 - September 3, 2008OTTAWA – Three Canadian soldiers were killed and five injured after an insurgent attack on their armoured vehicle while they were conducting a security patrol in Zharey district at approximately 9:30 a.m., Kandahar time, on September 3, 2008. The fallen soldiers are Corporal Andrew Paul Grenon, Corporal Michael James Alexander Seggie, and Private Chadwick James Horn. All three soldiers were infantrymen with the Second Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry based in Shilo, Manitoba. The injured soldiers were evacuated by helicopter to the Multi-National Medical Facility...

ST. PAUL–A Canadian politician who has met Sarah Palin – Republican Senator John McCain's vice-presidential choice – says her pro-family values and pro-life beliefs have energized the Republican base. In the United States, issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion are hot buttons in elections, and through Palin, they've jumped to the top of the radar. "She believes in social conservative values, family values – she lives it," said Yellowhead, Alta., Conservative MP Rob Merrifield, referring to Palin giving birth to her fifth child, Trig, knowing he had Down Syndrome. Palin's 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is five months pregnant and intends...

Sarajevo, 2 Sept. (AKI) – A Canadian firm will begin exploring potential oil reserves in northeastern Bosnia worth an estimated 80 billion dollars, Sarajevo daily Oslobodjenje said on Tuesday. Preliminary research has indicated that some 50 million tonnes of crude oil may be lying near the northeastern town of Tuzla and further research will start this month. Representatives from the Canadian company, Seedrock Capital Partners, are due in Bosnia this month to seek agreement on the terms of an exploration agreement with the government, the paper said. The company is reportedly ready to invest 40 million euros in initial research...

News ReleaseCanadian Forces Continue Assistance with U.S. Hurricane Response EffortsNR#08.008 - September 1, 2008OTTAWA - The Government of Canada, in response to a request from the United States Government, deployed additional aircraft today to Florida to assist with search and rescue efforts in the wake of Hurricane Gustav. Two CC-130 Hercules aircraft deployed from 14 Wing, Greenwood, N.S. and 17 Wing, Winnipeg, to provide assistance with the next phase of hurricane relief efforts. The two planes were sent to the United States under the provisions of the Civil Assistance Plan as part of Operation UNIFY, the official designation for the...

OTTAWA — The Harper Conservatives will enter a federal election campaign with a polling lead that puts them within striking distance of winning a majority government, according to a new survey taken on the eve of an expected vote. The new poll for The Globe and Mail-CTV News finds Canadian voters satisfied with the direction of the country and significantly more confident in the leadership abilities of the Tories and Prime Minister Stephen Harper than they are in those of his main rival, Stéphane Dion and the Liberals. According to the poll, conducted by the Strategic Counsel, 37 per cent...

August 28, 2008 Natalie Dagenais Canadian “Human Rights” Commission 344 Slater Street Ottawa, ON K1A 1E1 Dear Natalie, Re: Rob Wells v. Ezra Levant I received your letter dated August 8, 2008. At first I wasn’t sure it was yours, because you didn’t write your name on it, and your signature was illegible. I can understand your shyness. It has become an embarrassment to publicly admit to being a “human rights investigator” in Canada, because Canadians have caught on to what you really do: you don’t actually protect human rights, you violate them. At least you didn’t sign it as...

A Canadian Forces C-17 carrying a military medical team and emergency supplies was expected to arrive from CFB Trenton Sunday to assist U.S. forces preparing for Hurricane Gustav, which is expected to hit land here as early as Monday with a force comparable to the devastating Hurricane Katrina. The massive Globemaster left CFB Trenton at 12:42 p.m. Sunday afternoon bound for Louisiana, where thousands of people in New Orleans and across the U.S. Gulf Coast fled their homes as Hurricane Gustav barrelled through the Gulf of Mexico packing a punch potentially as powerful as Katrina, the storm that devastated the...

OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- 08/31/08 -- The Honourable David Emerson, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Honourable Peter Gordon MacKay, Minister of National Defence and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, today announced that Canada is providing assistance with the evacuation of those in the path of Hurricane Gustav. At the request of the United States government, a Canadian Forces CC-177 aircraft left Canada earlier today for the southern U.S. Gulf Coast. The Honourable Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, indicated that he had spoken with U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff to offer further assistance. "Canada and the United States...

WINNIPEG — A Jewish human rights organization says it is being unfairly targeted in a discrimination complaint that it can’t possibly defend. Legal counsel for B’nai Brith Canada said the organization has been dogged by a four-year-old complaint to the Manitoba Human Rights Commission where specifics of the alleged wrongdoing have not been spelled out and the complainant never witnessed the alleged incident. ‘‘We’re involved in shadow-boxing,’’ lawyer David Matas said Thursday of B’nai Brith’s attempts to defend a complaint of discrimination. ‘‘It’s been 4 1/2 years and we don’t understand why this (complaint) hasn’t been dismissed as frivolous,’’ he...

On Aug. 1, the same day the call for a vote on drilling began on the House floor, the Alaska state Senate approved a package of measures to license a new natural gas pipeline. ... The legislature had been trying for 30 years to authorize something like this and, up until now, had blown it. Palin got it through...

INUVIK: Canada is seeing an increase in Russian flights near its airspace in the Arctic as it seeks to strengthen its sovereignty in the vast resource-rich region, Defense Minister Peter MacKay said on Thursday. “There have been a certain number of incidents recently that indicate a greater degree of activity on the part of Russia,” MacKay told reporters in the Arctic community of Inuvik. He declined to disclose the number of such flights. MacKay said Canada had asked Russia to notify it in advance when it was planning military flights near Canadian airspace. MacKay was in Inuvik for a meeting...

  Last female veteran of the First World War dies aged 109 Last updated at 20:19pm on 29.08.08    Gladys Powers, 109, died this month in Canada. She was thought to be the last female veteran from WW1. The last female First World War veteran has died aged 109.British-born Gladys Powers died at her home in British Columbia, Canada, on August 14, the Ministry of Defence said.She was born in Lewisham, south London and joined the Women's Auxiliary Corps aged 15, after fibbing about her age and later served with the Women's RAF.  All but a few of the...

Jack Layton attends Obama nomination in Denver DENVER – NDP Leader Jack Layton arrived at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado this morning. Layton will be attending the convention for three days. "Democrats here are talking about the same kind of change we’re talking about in Canada," said Layton. "Whether it’s real action on climate change, forging trade policies that work for working families or standing up for jobs and better health care, there’s a real desire here to put the concerns of the kitchen table ahead of the boardroom table." Layton will also be attending the National Democratic...

6.1 magnitude earthquake off coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia Updated: Aug 28, 2008 06:34 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia - An earthquake off Canada's west coast has shaken the area around Vancouver Island. The quake Thursday is the latest in a series of coastal tremors since Monday. The latest quake had a magnitude of 6.1 and struck 97 miles west of Port Hardy, off the north coast of Vancouver Island.

News ReleaseCanadian frigate ensures delivery of food to SomaliaCEFCOM NR 08.031 - August 26, 2008HMCS VILLE DE QUÉBEC, INDIAN OCEAN – On Sunday, August 24, 2008, a World Food Programme ship escorted by Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Ville de Québec arrived in Mogadishu, Somalia with a cargo of more than 5,400 metric tons of corn and soy meal. This single load is enough to feed more than 54,000 people for six months. “With every successful delivery of food to Somalia, lives are saved. The feeling of pride and satisfaction that comes with the accomplishment of this task is enormous,� said...

OTTAWA–Prime Minister Stephen Harper is sending his clearest signal yet that Canadians will be heading to the polls this fall, saying that "fundamental differences" with the opposition parties make it impossible for his government to tackle looming economic woes. "The country must have a government that can function during a time of economic uncertainty. If it's not this ... Parliament, the public will have an opportunity to decide whom," Harper told a news conference yesterday. A national campaign could kick off next week, before three federal by-elections on Sept. 8, Harper suggested. "We'll have to judge whether it's appropriate to...

MONTREAL - An Air France Boeing 747 skidded off the runway at Montreal's Trudeau International airport after it landed Tuesday afternoon. Early indications are there were no serious injuries and video of the airplane shows no signs of major damage, Montreal police confirmed. Emergency vehicles surrounded the jumbo jet at the airport as crews worked around the aircraft, which was stuck in the grass beside the runway. The airport remains open and television footage shows planes continuing to take off and land. More to come © Canwest News Service 2008

The throttle has been jammed to the stop for several minutes, the engine is screaming above 9,000 rpm and I’m tucked in tightly, desperately seeking every last mph of top speed as I flee Detroit on I-75 south. That’s when the SUV in the left lane sedately passes me at about 75 mph. The kids in the back seat turn to stare at me, then point and laugh. Glancing at the gauges, I see the tach needle on the 1996 Suzuki GN125 start its slow descent once again and I nervously check the mirrors for inattentive drivers coming up fast...

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Twelve people have now died out of 26 confirmed cases of food poisoning linked to deli meats produced at a plant owned by Maple Leaf Foods Inc, Canadian health officials said Monday. There are another 29 suspected cases of listeriosis, officials told reporters, and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said the government expected more cases in coming days. Maple Leaf Foods, one of Canada's biggest meat processors, had said it hoped to reopen the Toronto plant associated with the outbreak on Tuesday, but health officials said they will test and hold all meat produced there until they...

Canadians are being told to dig through their fridges and freezers for any of the 220 Maple Leaf Foods products recalled by the Toronto-based company after test results linked a plant in north Toronto to a nationwide listeriosis outbreak. The recall is one of the biggest in Canadian history, federal officials said yesterday. Michael McCain, president and chief executive officer of the 100-year-old company, said the expanded recall will cost the company an estimated $20 million in refunds to consumers and in plant cleanup. In the wake of four deaths, "we had to take the most conservative approach possible," McCain...

Two Toronto-area men are behind bars in a Buffalo detention centre after a dramatic rescue from the Niagara River resulted in them being charged with making an "illegal" entry into the U.S.. Jason Haist, of Scarborough, along with his cousin Edward Haist, were riding Sea-Doos up and down the river Saturday evening when they were knocked into the water after hitting strong currents near Devil's Hole State Park. Edward washed up on the U.S. shore while Jason was pulled out of the river -- unconscious and suffering from a head injury -- by personnel on a tour boat. The United...

Mark Steyn: Lights Out on Liberty - Mark Steyn’s column appears in the New York Sun, the Washington Times, Philadelphia’s Evening Bulletin, and the Orange County Register. In addition, he writes for The New Criterion, Maclean’s in Canada, the Jerusalem Post, The Australian, and Hawke’s Bay Today in New Zealand. The author of National Review’s Happy Warrior column, he also blogs on National Review Online and appears weekly on the Hugh Hewitt Radio Show. He is the author of several books, most recently America Alone: The End of The World as We Know It. Born in Toronto, Mr. Steyn lives...

Link only. Naked Butt Head Arrested By Vancouver PoliceWere they wearing helmets?

Precipitation exasperationEnough with the stinking showers already ... and has anyone seen the darn meteorologist?Is it summer yet? Or did I miss it back in April? I know it's August, but here comes yet another rainy day. What a surprise. Oh sure, the sun is shining as I write, but it's early yet and the grey clouds are already starting to pile up on the western horizon. Our house guests from British Columbia are puzzled. When they left home, it was hot and sunny when it should have been rainy and awful. Now here they are in what's supposed to...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Coalition forces and the Afghan National Army say they have struck a "major blow" against insurgents operating in Afghanistan's volatile Zhari district, west of Kandahar City. In what is being hailed as the biggest show of force this year in the Taliban stronghold, Canadian and Afghan forces pushed through the central part of Zhari, battling with insurgents and confiscating weapons caches and a "significant amount" of materials used for building improvised explosive devices. The three-day campaign, code-named Op Timis Preem, kicked off Thursday morning with a pre-emptive early-morning air strike on a known insurgent command-and-control centre in...

Sen. Joe Biden – Barack Obama’s eagerly anticipated running mate – should be named an honorary soldier in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). We’re all familiar with the IRGC: Iran’s unique corps of Islamist fighters who have been directly involved in deadly attacks against U.S. soldiers in Iraq – even Afghanistan – threatening our ships in the Persian Gulf; and organizing, training, equipping, funding, and providing direct operational support to Lebanon-based Hezbollah (perhaps the most dangerous terrorist army on earth). And that’s just for starters. Also known as the Pasdaran, the IRGC is not Iran’s conventional territorial armed force,...

Two months ago, the Canadian Human Rights Commission realized that it was losing the public relations battle badly. While they were still crushing their targets in their kangaroo courts, in the court of public opinion, their targets were becoming martyrs -- and the phrase "human rights commission" was turning into an Orwellian joke. More attention had been paid to the CHRC's corruption and abuses of process in the past six months than in the previous 30 years of its existence. They were beset by investigations of all sorts. The RCMP was conducting a criminal investigation into their conduct, as was...

Oil, the David Copperfield of financial market assets, pulled another impressive trick out of its hat yesterday. But it's getting harder to believe the illusion any more. Crude surged $5.62 (U.S.) to $121.18 a barrel in New York yesterday, storming back after dipping below $112 earlier in the week. The rebound has certainly caught the attention of the oil-fuelled Canadian stock market, which is up 3.6 per cent over the past two days. Sure, there were a few reasons tossed out there for oil's move: sabre-rattling by major oil producer Russia over a U.S. missile defence pact with Poland, jitters...

News ReleaseNames released of two Canadian soldiers killed in AfghanistanCEFCOM NR–08.039 - August 21, 2008OTTAWA – The other two soldiers killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan on 20 August 2008 were: Corporal Dustin Roy Robert Joseph Wasden, and Sapper Stephan John Stock. Both soldiers were combat engineers with 12 Field Squadron, 1 Combat Engineer Regiment from Edmonton, Alberta, and attached to the 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Battle Group. -30-

A man faces 10 years in jail for smuggling two illegal immigrants into the United States. Marek Jerzy Struzik was charged Thursday with one count of alien smuggling Wednesday. The 31-year-old Polish national was helping two men, from Poland and Slovakia, walk across the Pigeon River from Canada to the Grand Portage State Park earlier this month. He went back to retrieve his vehicle, and was supposed to pick the men up in Grand Portage State Park, however he was arrested at the Grand Marais Border Patrol Station. During his arrest, Struzik told police officers that he was contacted by...

KANDAHAR - Three Canadian soldiers have been killed in Zhari district in Afghanistan by an improvised explosive device. One soldier was also seriously injured after the device detonated near their vehicle at about 10:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday. One of the soldiers has been identified as Sgt. Shawn Eades, who was on his third tour in Afghanistan and is being described as a devoted father. The families have all been notified, but the Department of National Defence is not releasing the names of the other soldiers at this point. The three soldiers were combat engineers with 12 Field Squadron,...

For the families of soldiers on the front lines in Afghanistan, the announcement that Canada is sending helicopters and beefed-up unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into the theatre of operations must surely have brought a huge sense of relief. That aspect of the announcement was front and centre August 7 when Defence Minister Peter MacKay spoke to Air Force personnel and reporters inside the hangar at 438 Tactical Helicopter Squadron in Saint-Hubert, Quebec. “This equipment will improve the safety and effectiveness of our troops,� he said. “These helicopters will mean less use of convoys to move and re-supply our troops and...

The death of Prague Spring Reporter recalls Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in '68Forty years ago today, Russian tanks rolled through Czechoslovakia and into Prague with the sole purpose of eliminating what was called the "Prague Spring," and returning the country to the fold of communist subservience and lethargy. Today, with East Europe free and thriving, it's increasingly remote to remember how dispirited, resentful and helpless East Europe felt under the heel of the Soviet boot. And how few afflicted countries dared to resist. Twelve years before Prague 1968, the Red Army had moved into Hungary to crush that country's bid...

It never ceases to amaze us how once crusaders for fashionable causes get a particular bogeyman in their heads, there is just no shaking it. It becomes a symbol for all they distrust about the modern world: corporations, the marketplace and consumerism. In battling it, they see themselves striking a blow for the public good, the environment, social justice, fairness and more. The current trendy bete noir is bottled water, the evils of which are being blown all out of proportion. British Environment Minister Phil Woolas has recently insisted that drinking bottled water is "morally unacceptable." Giles Coren, restaurant critic...

Canadian MP: Mahmoud Abbas Purveys Anti-Jewish Incitement ArutzSheva Israel ...He also met with PA officials and told them that "hate breeds hate." Saying that Hamas, with "their charter with its genocidal objective, anti-Semitic ... http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127280

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, two of the world's richest men, toured Canadian Natural Resources Ltd's (CNQ.TO) Horizon oil sands project near Fort McMurray, Alberta, this week. < > With reserves of about 173 billion barrels, the oil sands are the largest oil reserves outside the Middle East. The region's producers plan to spend more than C$100 billion developing the resource and output is expected to nearly triple to 2.8 million barrels a day by 2015. < >

Who'd have ever thought the Taliban in Afghanistan would try to emulate Hanoi's strategy in the latter days of the Vietnam war. When Hanoi was losing the ground war against American soldiers in Vietnam, it switched to propaganda and capitalizing on war weariness in the U.S. itself. After the 1968 Tet offensive in Vietnam, when the Viet Cong staged simultaneous attacks on the Americans all over Vietnam, the U.S. media depicted it as a tremendous enemy coup when actually it was a huge military miscalculation and a disaster for the VC. Thereafter in the war, the Viet Cong gave way...

This month, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been tauntingly urging Liberal leader Stephane Dion to fish or cut bait -- to either pull the plug on Mr. Harper's minority government when Parliament returns this fall or to stop with the tough talk. Mr. Harper has also referred to the current Parliament as "dysfunctional," and suggested that if Mr. Dion does not bring the curtain down, he and his Conservatives might. The current Harper government is the longest-serving Conservative minority in Canadian history. By the time the House of Commons resumes sitting, Mr. Harper's minority will have outlasted all but two,...

OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada's Newfoundland province will sign a final deal Wednesday with a consortium led by US giant Chevron to develop its fourth offshore oil field, worth billions of dollars, the government said Tuesday. < > The Hebron field was discovered in 1981 about 350 kilometres (220 miles) offshore from St. John's, and is said to hold more than 700 million recoverable barrels of oil. < >

Ships from Canada, US, Poland to Enter Black Sea Waters: Deputy Chief of Russian General Staff 19.08.08 16:39 Russia, Moscow, 19 August/ TrendNews, corr R. Agayev/ The ships from Canada, US and Poland are expected to enter the Black Sea waters by the end of August to carry out a peacekeeping mission, Noqovitsin, deputy chief of the Russian General Staff said to in a briefing in Moscow. At the night of 8 August, large-scale military operations were launched in the self-declared South Ossetia republic. The Georgian troops entered Tskhinvali. Later the Russian troops entered the city and drove the Georgian...

Kandahar tourniquet developed to save livesMonday, August 18, 2008Project Number:08-0556Kandahar, Afghanistan – Afghan soldiers can now save lives thanks to a medical prototype developed by Coalition forces. The Kandahar tourniquet, created for the Afghan National Army (ANA), will improve the survival rate of soldiers suffering serious injuries and massive hemorrhage. Imagine a dismounted infantry company mentoring team moving through a village in the Zhari District of Afghanistan. The team is weighed down with weapons, ammunition, radios, night vision devices and personal protective equipment. Every soldier is trained to deliver tactical combat casualty care and is equipped with advanced wound dressings,...

Unexpected partnerships are forming among nations vying to extend their Arctic undersea territories as they join to counter Russia's aggressive Arctic claims. A United States coastguard icebreaker left port in Alaska last week to join a Canadian icebreaker to conduct a seismic survey of the Beaufort seabed north of the Yukon-Alaska border. Both countries are gathering research to support their claim to Arctic territories that may hold vast natural resources and potential new shipping routes. Canada and the US say a past land dispute over 12,000 sq km of seabed elsewhere in the Beaufort Sea is being put aside in...

BEIJING–Saeed Azarbayjani is one of Canada's wrestling Olympians and, in his day job, a handyman. But 13 years ago he was a refugee, a son of Iran on the run. Bent on fleeing the country of his birth, he and two friends stole away from their Tehran homes in the wee hours of a dark night. They told their families nothing, said goodbye to no one. Guided by paid human traffickers through the foothills of Mount Ararat, where an escapist named Noah is said to have washed up with his ark, Azarbayjani and his friends didn't always know where they...