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Canada
Feb 10, 2012 / 10:17 am
A fugitive wanted for the attempted murder of two Mounties was arrested Friday without incident.
RCMP said Sawyer Clarke Robison, 27, was taken into custody in a rural area southeast of Edmonton.
More details on the arrest were to be released at a briefing later in the day.
Robison had been on the run since Tuesday afternoon when the officers were shot and wounded while executing a search warrant for a gun on his family's organic farm near Killam, about 160 kilometres southeast of Edmonton.
Robison's capture came less than 24 hours after his father made a plea through the media for his son to turn himself in and come home.
"I'm glad he's safe," family friend Leola Forester said after learning of his capture. "It's a heart-breaking situation."
She echoed the sentiment of many residents in the community who find it hard to believe the quiet, friendly family could be at the centre of such trouble. Robison works as a photographer and his mother is an artist who sings in a church choir.
"There's a lot of facts we don't know," said Helen Whitten, mayor of the nearby town of Sedgewick. "Hopefully (Robison) can shed some light...."
RCMP have said a domestic violence assault days earlier in a nearby town led them to the search for a gun at the family's farm.
Four officers arrived at the property and shortly after constables Sheldon Shah and Sidney Gaudette walked into the house, shots were fired. Both Mounties were hit in the torso but managed to make it back outside and were taken away.
Police said Robison was inside the house during the shooting. He drove away in a black pickup truck.
His uncle, Brad Clarke, was found dead inside following a lengthy standoff. Several weapons were seized from the property.
The two officers underwent surgery in Edmonton hospitals and are expected to eventually recover from their wounds.
Robison was initially considered a person of interest, but RCMP later charged him with two counts of attempted murder and issued a Canada-wide arrest warrant.
Sgt. Patrick Webb earlier explained the charges would allow officers to arrest Robison on sight. He may or may not have fired the shots that hit the two Mounties but can still be charged as a participant of a crime.
RCMP also considered him a high risk because they believed he was armed with long-barrelled weapons.
Feb 10, 2012 / 10:16 am
Canada's trade surplus for December grew to $2.7 billion, more than double the previous month and its best showing since the global financial crisis three years ago.
CIBC economist Emanuella Enenajor said the better than expected data should give a little lift to the overall fourth-quarter economic results, but will also carry over some momentum going into the first quarter of this year.
"It is a positive indicator for the start of 2012," she said.
Enenajor said a recent improvement in the U.S. economy is benefiting Canada's exporters, but that isn't expected to last as the U.S. government cuts spending.
"While exports will likely be stronger in the first half of the year, we're expecting a slow down in export activity as the year progresses," she said.
Statistics Canada said Friday merchandise exports rose 4.5 per cent in December and imports edged up 0.8 per cent, pushing the country's trade surplus with the rest of the world up from $1.2 billion in November.
The agency said exports grew to $42 billion in December as volumes increased 4.9 per cent, continuing a upward trend that began last July. Imports increased to $39.3 billion as volumes rose 1.2 per cent.
"The strong finish to the year provides a nice hand-off for 2012 growth," Bank of Montreal deputy chief economist Doug Porter said.
"It appears that exports are grabbing the growth baton just in time from fading domestic spending."
Both U.S. exports and imports posted their highest levels since October 2008 as the trade surplus with Canada's largest trading partner grew to $5.5 billion in December from $4.7 billion in November.
Exports to the United States rose 5.3 per cent to $30.2 billion with higher shipments of crude petroleum, aircraft and precious metals, while imports from south of the border increased 2.8 per cent to $24.7 billion.
Exports to countries other than the United States increased 2.5 per cent to a record high of $11.8 billion. Imports from countries other than the United States fell 2.6 per cent to $14.7 billion, a result of lower imports from the European Union.
The trade deficit with countries other than the United States narrowed to $2.9 billion from $3.5 billion in November. It was the lowest deficit since December 2010.
The report came as accounting and consulting firm PwC said more than half of Canadian manufacturers surveyed feel optimistic about the prospects for the Canadian economy over the next 12 months.
The firm said 90 per cent of those asked expected revenue growth for their own companies, with 10 per cent forecasting double-digit growth.
"Industrial manufacturing CEOs are now focusing on the upside rather than the downside," said Calum Semple, a consulting partner at PwC.
"Across the board we're seeing Canadian manufacturers with positive projections associated with company growth, international sales, and spending trends."
According to Statistics Canada, exports of machinery and equipment grew 9.2 per cent to $7.5 billion in December, the highest level of exports since March 2009. Shipments of aircraft, engines and parts led the gain.
Exports of industrial goods and materials rose 3.8 per cent to $10.5 billion in December. Shipments of precious metals and alloys, other fabricated materials, as well as iron ores, concentrates and scrap led the gain.
Shipments of auto products were up 6.7 per cent to $5.8 billion, the highest level since November 2007.
Passenger autos and chassis led the overall increase, posting a fourth consecutive monthly gain as a result of higher volumes.
Energy exports rose 1.7 per cent to $10.3 billion, with crude petroleum exports hitting as record high of $6.9 billion.
Imports of industrial goods and materials grew 2.6 per cent to $8.6 billion in December. Imports of automotive products rose 3.6 per cent to $6 billion on higher volumes. Imports of machinery and equipment increased 1.3 per cent to $10.9 billion.
Energy imports fell 7.5 per cent to $4.3 billion, the only sector to decrease in December. It was the second consecutive monthly decrease in the sector.
Feb 10, 2012 / 8:30 am
A man wanted in the shooting of two Alberta RCMP officers has been arrested without incident.
Police say Sawyer Clarke Robison, 27, was taken into custody in a rural area southeast of Edmonton.
He faces two charges of attempted murder.
Robison had been on the run since Tuesday afternoon when the officers were shot while executing a search warrant for a gun on his family farm near Killam, about 160 kilometres southeast of Edmonton.
He was initially considered a person of interest, but late Wednesday RCMP charged him with two counts of attempted murder and issued a Canada-wide arrest warrant.
Robison's capture came less than 24 hours after his father made a quiet plea through the media for his fugitive son to turn himself in.
"We want to have you back and we know how hard it may be for you to come back to us," Ray Robison said.
"Swallow your hurt and listen to the quiet world."
RCMP said a previous domestic violence call in a nearby town led them to the search for the gun on Tuesday.
Four officers arrived at the property and shortly after constables Sheldon Shah and Sidney Gaudette walked into the house, shots were fired. Both Mounties were hit, but managed to make it back outside where they were taken away.
Police have said Robison was inside the house during the shooting. He drove away in a black pickup truck.
His uncle, Brad Clarke, was found dead inside following a lengthy standoff. Several weapons were seized from the property.
Several people who live in the area have described the entire family as artistic, friendly and quiet, "normal farm people."
And they're shocked they could be wrapped up in such a mess.
"All I know is if that family was involved, something had to go terribly wrong," said resident Cheryl Stewart. "None of this makes sense."
Sawyer Robison worked as a professional photographer for his business, Warthog Photography, specializing in the arts and portraiture. He also played drums in a band with his family and they often jammed with other musicians and played at family functions.
Feb 10, 2012 / 5:54 am
Stephen Harper laid bare the tension between Canada's desire to export more oil to China and the country's approach to human rights in his most direct speech during his trip to China.
He says Canada wants to sell its natural resources to people who want to buy them and it's clear that China has the need.
But he says there are obstacles to moving forward with a strategic partnership between the two countries.
He says Canadians expect their government to uphold fundamental freedoms in their business dealings.
"Therefore, in relations between China and Canada, you should expect us to continue to raise issues of fundamental freedoms and human rights," Harper told the dinner, according to a prepared text.
"And to be a vocal advocate for these just as we will be an effective partner in our growing and mutually beneficial economic relationship."
While Harper has said he's raised human rights issues in his bilateral talks with Chinese leaders, the speech Friday night in Guangzhou marked his first explicit public remarks on the subject.
But he stopped short of directly addressing what some observers say is a gradual deterioration of personal freedoms in China.
One local newspaper reported Friday that officials in Tibet were told to prepare for war as monks continued to light themselves on fire in protest China's crackdowns there.
Harper told the dinner that he can't claim to understand the challenges China is dealing with in the face of its exploding economy nor can he ignore the country's differences.
"However, as Canadians our history has taught us that economic, social and political development are, over time, inseparable," he said.
Feb 9, 2012 / 9:34 pm
The so-called house of sober second thought witnessed the kind of contest normally associated with first-grade birthday parties, as a showdown erupted over seating arrangements this week.
The newly elected chair of the Senate banking committee, Conservative Irving Gerstein, didn't want the vice-chair, Liberal Celine Hervieux-Payette, sitting next to him.
When he asked her to step away from the head table, she refused.
So Gerstein, elected this week as chair, called a vote to kick Payette out of her seat.
With a Conservative majority on the committee, the motion passed Wednesday and the game of partisan musical chairs ended with Payette being forced to sit farther away.
The Quebec senator remains vice-chair of the committee. Payette said she couldn't understand what Gerstein's problem was, and suggested that as his seatmate she could have helped him sometimes with translation, because he doesn't speak French.
''I found it unfortunate, I'd say even a bit indecent,'' she said in an interview Thursday.
''We're supposed to work in a non-partisan way on the banking committee. I've been here 17 years; he's been here three. We have traditions....
''There was always a synnergy between the chair and vice-chair.''
Gerstein stayed mum, calling it a procedural issue.
''This was just a procedural matter that was dealt with by the committee. Thank you very much,'' he said, brushing off additional media questions: ''I gave you my answer.''
The chair fracas was just the latest in a series of incidents which prompted Liberals to demand assurances that partisanship won't be injected into the supposedly impartial process of redrawing electoral riding boundaries, which is about to get under way.
"We don't trust this Conservative party," said Liberal House leader Marc Garneau. "This Conservative party will stoop to anything to try to give itself an electoral advantage."
As examples of the Tories' hyper-partisanship, Garneau pointed to the government's penchant for imposing limits on debate in the House of Commons and conducting the business of parliamentary committees behind closed doors.
He also pointed to the Tory phone campaign against Montreal Liberal MP Irwin Cotler and the so-called in-and-out scandal, in which the Conservative party and its fundraising arm, which Gerstein heads, pleaded guilty to exceeding the spending limit in the 2006 election campaign.
Gerstein, along with three other top party officials, were initially charged in the in-out affair but those charges were eventually dropped as part of a plea bargain.
Feb 9, 2012 / 9:31 pm
Premier Alison Redford's Alberta Tories delivered a pre-election budget Thursday that increased spending to record levels and raided billions from the piggy bank, but promised the province will be out of the red within a year.
There are no tax hikes, no new taxes, no significant program cuts and no job layoffs. And there is more money to pay for everything from new police officers to smaller class sizes to student loans.
"We've delivered a budget that Albertans said they would support," Finance Minister Ron Liepert told reporters before delivering the 2012-13 spending document.
"That's our job: to listen to Albertans."
The plan is predicated on the price of oil staying high and even soaring to an average of US$108 a barrel by 2014, prompting the opposition Wildrose party to label the premier "Alison in Wonderland."
It currently sits close to US$100 a barrel.
The bottom line amounts to an $886 million deficit, the fifth in a row after 14 years of surpluses.
The budget boosts government spending by 3.3 per cent to a record $41.1 billion.
Program spending is up almost seven per cent, with substantial raises for education, health, cities and money for the most vulnerable.
The bills are to be paid for with rising oil revenues, higher taxes from a growing population and a $3.7-billion drawdown from the $7.5-billion Sustainability Fund.
The budget projects that with oil revenues and population growth, there will be a $952-million budget surplus next year and a $5.2-billion surplus the year after that.
Liepert denied the government is doing a pre-election bait-and-switch by tabling a feel-good budget that will be followed after the election by job and program cuts when the Tories conduct a government-wide financial review.
"There is no hidden agenda here," said Liepert.
"If somebody is trying to draw a scenario that somehow after the election we're going to come up with all these bogeyman theories, well, let them go ahead, because they're going to be wrong."
Redford has promised to pass the budget, then drop the writ on a general election, with a campaign likely to begin in mid-March. The Tories currently hold a huge majority of the seats in the legislature and have been in power for 40 years, but are being challenged on the right by the Wildrose.
Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith said the Tories are budgeting on a wish and a prayer.
"It's an Alison in Wonderland budget," said Smith.
"We're going into a budget with fantasy land projections so (the Tories) can manufacture a surplus. There's no possible way these numbers are going to work. They have no discipline on spending."
Brian Mason, leader of the NDP, agreed that the Tories are handing out "goodies" based on unrealistic projections. He said if Redford's team wins the election it will then either hike taxes or cut jobs.
"This budget is a little bit of dust in the eyes of Alberta citizens," said Mason.
Raj Sherman of the Alberta Liberals said the only way to be realistic about revenue is to move from the province's 10 per cent flat tax to a progressive one targeting the wealthy.
Sherman said his team will do that.
"The tough question is: Which leader has the political cojones to be honest to the people and bring in a fair, progressive tax for those earning over $100,000 a year?" he said.
However, the Alberta School Boards Association said it was pleased with more education spending, saying it will give school boards the flexibility they need to respond to community needs.
"We are cautiously optimistic but the reality is that only a portion of that increase is in base student funding," said president Jacquie Hansen. "As a result, school boards will be challenged to do more than just maintain the programming and services they have."
The Alberta Federation of Labour criticized the budget for giving away too much in taxes and oil royalties, and Public Interest Alberta said while it was pleased about AISH increases, it noted cuts to funding for new affordable housing.
The budget invests heavily in core areas.
There will be an almost eight per cent increase in operating funds for the Health Department and a six per cent increase in operating funds for Alberta Health Services, which delivers front-line care.
Operating budgets for grade schools are going up 3.4 per cent to $6.2 billion. There will be more money for smaller class sizes and for busing.
Post-secondary institutions are to see a 2.7 per cent boost to their operating funds to nearly $2.9 billion. An extra infusion of cash will buttress bursaries, grants and help students with their loans.
Payments under the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped are to go up by one-third to $1,588 a month along with a rise in how much someone on the program can earn before clawbacks kick in.
Income support rates are to go up five per cent for Albertans in 34,000 homes who are training for work, looking for work or unable to work.
About $16.5 billion is to be allocated over the next three years to build schools, hospitals, roads, and other infrastructure.
This year, 14 new schools are expected to come on line, along with new medical facilities in Calgary and Edmonton. Work on a cancer-care centre in Red Deer continues.
Money is also to go to municipalities to hire 90 more Mounties and 55 more sheriffs. There will be 180 additional correctional officers and staff for a new Remand Centre in Edmonton.
There's also $11 million to boost environmental monitoring in the oilsands region.
All the bills are to be paid for by a roaring petro-powered economy expected to grow by 3.8 per cent in 2012.
The government is budgeting revenues at a record $40.3 billion.
Feb 9, 2012 / 7:06 pm
Internet service providers should not be treated as broadcasters under the law, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed Thursday.
The Federal Court of Appeal found in 2010 that ISPs are not subject to the Broadcasting Act, and the top court dismissed an appeal of that ruling.
At the heart of both decisions was the concept that an Internet service provider is not involved in broadcast content.
"When providing access to the Internet ... (the ISPs) do not take part in the selection, origination, or packaging of the content," the justices wrote in a unanimous judgment.
They emphasized that an entity or company actually had to do more than simply provide access to broadcasting for it to fall under the Broadcasting Act.
The issue of whether Internet service providers have responsibilities to the broadcasting industry writ large has been debated since 2008, when the federal telecom and broadcasting regulator reiterated it would not subject ISPs to regulations.
Some groups argued that ISPs should be contributing financially to the creation of Canadian content.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission referred the matter to the Federal Court of Appeal.
When that court said no, groups representing actors, producers, directors and writers appealed to the Supreme Court.
The major cable and satellite companies, such as Bell Canada and Rogers Communications, opposed the idea in court of their ISPs being considered broadcasters.
But there is one caveat for the ISPs: the Federal Court of Appeal warned that if ISPs begin to actively make content decisions and lose their neutrality, they might indeed be subject to regulation.
Feb 9, 2012 / 6:52 pm
A collision between an SUV and a tractor trailer outside a small central British Columbia community killed multiple people and sparked an intense blaze that reduced both vehicles to shells after burning for hours, say police and a local resident.
RCMP Corp. Madonna Saunderson said the collision killed at least three and as many as six people and occurred Thursday morning on a rural stretch of Highway 97 north of McCleese Lake, which is located between Quesnel and Williams Lake
Original reports said five were killed, but Saunderson said there are conflicting numbers.
"We do know that the SUV crossed the centre line and collided with the semi," said Saunderson. "The crash resulted in a fire, we're not sure what sparked the fire. We do know that both vehicles were engulfed in flames."
She said police are unsure of how many people were inside the van.
The roads were bare, the sky, cloudy and overcast, but Saunderson said police don't know the cause of the crash.
Greg Foster, a local pub owner who is among a group of people trying to organize a volunteer fire department in McCleese Lake, said he heard about the crash while listening to a police scanner.
Foster said he jumped in his vehicle and drove to the scene, arriving at around 9:30 a.m.
Foster said he thinks emergency officials may have taken as long as 40 minutes to get there because the tiny town of 300 has no RCMP detachment or volunteer fire department.
He said junk was spread over an area of 55 to 65 metres, the semi was sprawled half onto the north-bound lane and half into a ditch and the SUV was invisible, either trapped under the semi or in front of the semi and out of view of passersby, said Foster.
"The trailer had burned up," he said. "The truck was still on fire at that time, and like I say, the materials and that kind of stuff were just (scattered) all over the highway."
The air reeked of the smell of burning oil and tires, he added.
After spending some time on scene, Foster went to an area where the community keeps a fire truck, even though it doesn't yet have a volunteer fire department, he said.
The vehicle was snowed in and inaccessible, a fact he reported to police.
Foster said he returned to the crash scene about three hours later and the vehicles were still smoldering.
He said he didn't see any survivors but talked to a truck driver who was in the waiting line of traffic and she told him the driver of the crashed truck was taken away from the scene in an ambulance.
Less fortunate were the occupants of the SUV, said Foster.
"There would have been no way they could have gotten out of that situation," he said.
Another crash occurred there years ago, when a pickup truck and semi collided, killing two.
Foster said he's lived in the community for years and has never seen anything as bad as he saw Thursday.
"This definitely the worst scene."
Earlier this week, a crash between a passenger van and a flat-bed truck killed 11 in Hampstead, Ont.
van must have been under the vehicle or under the truck.
Smoke. smelled like oil and burned tires.
"Gone."
Nothing left.
The truck framing is there. Couldn't see the van or anything.
Feb 9, 2012 / 2:00 pm
EDMONTON - Premier Alison Redford's Alberta Tories delivered a pre-election budget Thursday that increased spending to record levels, raided billions from the piggy bank, but promised the province will be out of the red within a year.
There are no tax hikes, no new taxes, no significant program cuts and no job layoffs. And there is more money to pay for everything from new police officers to smaller class sizes to student loans.
"We've delivered a budget that Albertans said they would support," Finance Minister Ron Liepert told reporters before delivering the 2012-13 spending document.
"That's our job: to listen to Albertans."
The budget boosts government spending by 3.3 per cent to a record $41.1 billion.
Program spending is up almost seven per cent, with substantial raises for education, health, cities and money for the most vulnerable.
The bills are to be paid for with rising oil revenues, higher taxes from a growing population and a $3.7-billion drawdown from the $7.5-billion Sustainability Fund.
The bottom line amounts to an $886-million deficit, the fifth one in a row after 14 years of surpluses.
Liepert denied the government is doing a pre-election bait-and-switch by tabling a feel-good budget that will be followed after the election by job and program cuts when the Tories conduct a government-wide financial review.
"There is no hidden agenda here," said Liepert.
"If somebody is trying to draw a scenario that somehow after the election we're going to come up with all these bogeyman theories, well, let them go ahead, because they're going to be wrong."
Redford has promised to pass the budget, then drop the writ on a general election, with a campaign likely to begin in mid-March. The Tories currently hold a huge majority of the seats in the legislature and have been in power for 40 years, but are being challenged on the right by the fiscally conservative Wildrose party.
The budget invests heavily in core areas.
There will be an almost eight per cent increase in operating funds for the Health Department and a six per cent increase in operating funds for Alberta Health Services, which delivers front-line care.
Operating budgets for grade schools are going up 3.4 per cent to $6.2 billion. There will be more money for smaller class sizes and for busing.
Post-secondary institutions are to see a 2.7 per cent boost to their operating funds to nearly $2.9 billion. An extra infusion of cash will buttress bursaries, grants and help students with their loans.
Feb 9, 2012 / 11:15 am
KILLAM, Alta. - RCMP in Alberta have laid attempted murder charges in the shootings of two officers earlier this week.
Sawyer Clarke Robison has been on the run since the officers were shot on his property near Killam, about 160 kilometres southeast of Edmonton.
Police had previously named the 27-year-old as a person of interest in the case.
Both officers have undergone surgery at Edmonton hospitals and are expected to recover.
RCMP says they consider Robison a high risk because he may be armed with long-barrelled weapons.
Feb 9, 2012 / 10:00 am
OTTAWA - A controversial glacier-walk project in Alberta's Jasper National Park has been given a green light.
Environment Minister Peter Kent announced the approval for the project in Ottawa on Thursday.
Brewster Travel Canada plans to build a multimillion-dollar interpretive boardwalk and a glass-bottomed observation point 30 metres over the Sunwapta Valley on the Icefields Parkway north of Banff.
The minister said the project will be built largely on an existing parking lot and won't disrupt the local ecology.
He said Parks Canada will monitor the project for any environmental problems.
"The government of Canada's determination was made following a robust and inclusive review process, which included open houses, extensive consultation with the public and aboriginal stakeholders and careful consideration of public comments under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act," Kent told a news conference.
Opponents raised a number of environmental concerns, but Kent said he isn't worried about ecological fallout.
"As a world leader in conservation, Parks Canada would not approve this project if there were environmental concerns that could not be addressed," he said.
Kent predicted the project will eventually become an iconic tourism destination.
Brewster president Michael Hannan said his company has an impeccable environmental record and more than a century of experience.
"Brewster Travel Canada has been guiding and interpreting the mountain national parks to Canadians for over 120 years and over that time we've built a solid reputation for providing meaningful, world-renowned, Canadian national park experiences," he said.
Hannan said the sweeping, 400-metre boardwalk and observation platform is an award-winning designed that will give visitors a unique experience.
Feb 9, 2012 / 9:30 am
MONTREAL - When the power-play stinks, the injuries are plentiful and the offense is anemic, there may be only one hope for a lacklustre NHL team to make the playoffs.
Help from God.
The Catholic church has placed an ad in Montreal newspapers today encouraging people to pray for an eighth-place finish - and a playoff spot - for the Montreal Canadiens.
The ad shows the Eastern Conference standings with every team listed except the Canadiens. In eighth place, the final playoff spot, it simply says, ''Let Us Pray.''
Faced with declining church attendance rates, the Archdiocese of Montreal is known for its clever collection campaigns, designed by a local ad firm, to solicit funds each year.
Bos advertising agency calls this ad campaign a one-shot deal; the spots appeared in French-language newspapers this morning.
The firm says it has long been considering an ad that combines Quebec's two major religions — Catholicism, and the secular passion of hockey.
Among the other teams slotted in a playoff spot in the advertisement are the Toronto Maple Leafs, in seventh. The Ottawa Senators are in ninth and the Winnipeg Jets are in 11th. The Habs are in 14th, just one point out of last place in the conference.
The ad reflects the standings before last night's games.
Feb 9, 2012 / 7:58 am
Environment Minister Peter Kent is giving a green light to a controversial glacier-walk project in Alberta's Jasper National Park.
The minister says the approval follows a robust environmental assessment and a review that included open houses and consultations with aboriginal groups.
Brewster Travel Canada plans to build a multimillion-dollar interpretive boardwalk and a glass-bottomed observation point high over the Sunwapta Valley.
The minister says the project will be built largely on an existing parking lot and won't disrupt the local ecology.
He says Parks Canada will monitor the project for any environmental problems.
Kent predicts the project will eventually become an iconic tourism destination.
Feb 9, 2012 / 6:00 am
HONOLULU, Hawaii - Three Canadians have been rescued from rough waters after their sailboat sank some 450 kilometres off the coast of Hawaii.
The U.S. Coast Guard says two men, aged 29 and 32, and a nine-year-old boy were aboard a sailboat which became disabled on Tuesday evening in "extreme conditions."
The coast guard says the vessel seemed to have suffered damage to its top forestay and it's engine overheated.
Those on board tried to rig a makeshift sail but completely lost their mast in the high winds.
The coast guard contacted a container ship - the Horizon Reliance - which was 240 kilometres away to come to the rescue of the stranded Canadians.
The ship reached the area at 1:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday but as it approached, a swell caused the sailboat to capsize and sink, throwing all three Canadians into the sea.
The ship lowered a ladder into the water and rescued the 29-year-old man from the sea around 2:30 a.m., but the two others, including the child, drifted away.
They were rescued nearly an hour later.
All three Canadians were wearing lifejackets with strobe lights which allowed the rescuers to keep them in sight.
The coast guard says they are all reportedly in good condition and are set to return to Honolulu later today, aboard the container ship.
The capsized sailboat was travelling from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to Hilo, Hawaii.
Feb 8, 2012 / 9:00 pm
All the clues pointing to a Port Coquitlam pig farmer as a killer were adding up for the first Mountie probing Robert Pickton when women were vanishing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, but the officer has told an inquiry he just couldn't gather the firm evidence required to launch a full-scale investigation.
In the days after the serial killer's arrest in February 2002, RCMP scrambled to explain why they weren't more aggressive in zeroing in on Pickton, notes presented Wednesday by a lawyer at the missing women's inquiry show.
The RCMP "terminated" the operation scrutinizing Pickton in the late 1990s because the province's major crimes unit thought it had "no validity" and a ranking officer determined it was getting too expensive, stated one account written three days after Pickton's arrest.
Mike Connor, now retired, agreed with remarks in the note that work on the file had petered out to his "great reluctance," but he also agreed with the suggestion of a lawyer for the victims' families that lack of resources was not an issue.
"Willie Pickton in your mind was the man responsible for the deaths of the sex trade workers who were going missing from Downtown Vancouver," said lawyer Cameron Ward.
"You sir, as the investigator here, you did put two and two together, and it made four for you."
Connor agreed, concurring that hypothesis only got stronger in his mind between August 1998 and July 1999.
By that time, he had received apparently credible, though second-hand, information from several informants. Connor had already attempted once to take Pickton down on the 1997 attempted murder of a sex trade worker. The charge was dropped.
He testified he was so sure Pickton merited aggressive investigation that he got his all ducks in a row.
Connor went out on his own to conduct surveillance on Pickton's farm after midnight for upwards of 30 occasions hoping to catch the man committing a crime, the inquiry heard.
He also prepared a draft affidavit in summer 1999 to immediately trigger a search warrant, but the opportunity still failed presented itself.
Ward asked Connor why, with all the pieces stacking up, the RCMP "failed to stop" Pickton's killing spree from August 1998 until his eventual apprehension.
"It's certainly a difficult question to answer. I don't know that failed would be the correct word to use," Connor replied, adding many people tried "very hard" to gather the necessary evidence.
"We couldn't get that break, to have that definitive evidence that we could launch an investigation the size of what Evenhanded had done a couple of years later. As I mentioned, we just couldn't get that break."
Project Evenhanded was a joint RCMP-Vancouver Police that later investigated the missing women.
Connor, who continues to do contract work for the RCMP, left the case in another officer's hands when he was promoted in August 1999.
Considering the huge manpower that was plowed into searching Pickton's farm when police finally gained grounds related to an illegal firearms allegation, a lack of resources could not have been the reason the case went on the back burner, Ward suggested to Connor.
"Absolutely," Connor said. "If I needed more resources to do things when I was doing investigation, I would have got them."
The same would have been true for the officer who took over, he said.
"If they had a break to move that investigation forward, if she needed more resources, she could have got them."
The DNA of 33 women was found on Pickton's farm.
He was convicted of murdering six women, though he was charged with killing 26.
More than a dozen women disappeared between 1999 and the time Pickton was arrested in February, 2002.
Feb 8, 2012 / 6:28 pm
When Steve Murphy checked his Lotto Max ticket last Sunday at the Food Basket store in Atlin, B.C. he couldn't believe his eyes.
When it flashed up more numbers than he was used to — way, way more — he took the ticket to the cashier for further verification.
"I thought it was only about $16,000 at first," Murphy recalled in an interview Tuesday. "There was a lot of sixes in there. It was quite an ominous little ticket."
Indeed: it was worth $16.6 million. And then some.
"Sixteen million, six hundred and sixty-six thousand and six hundred and sixty-six dollars," Murphy said, recalling how he watched the numbers roll out as Food Basket clerk Leah Neilson ran the ticket through the main terminal at her cash register.
"It's almost surreal, is this really happening," he said.
Murphy's jackpot represents a third of the $50-million prize for last Friday's draw. Two residents of Quebec won the other two-thirds.
The assistant mine manager at the Tulsequah Chief mine project said he'll likely be retiring, but what the future has in store beyond a little travel he's not sure.
He'll probably buy or build his own house in Atlin.
He'll also help the community's assisted living organization because it helped the Murphy family when his mom passed away in 2010, he said.
Feb 8, 2012 / 6:23 pm
The Quebec government has ordered an independent investigation into information leaked to the media in the high-profile case of a retired officer alleged to have been collaborating with the Mafia.
Public Security Minister Robert Dutil said Wednesday that he wants provincial police to investigate circumstances of the Ian Davidson case and find out how the media learned about it.
The Crown prosecutor's office called for the probe announced Wednesday. It said an investigation into Davidson's activities had been underway when someone informed journalists, and said it wanted to know how that happened.
Such Crown requests are rare but, in this case, there are hints charges might be forthcoming.
"We allege ... that there were leaks of information that were privileged, sensitive and highly confidential that came out in the media and we need to know how they came out," said Jean-Pascal Boucher, a spokesman for the Crown.
"We allege that a criminal act might have been committed in divulging this information."
A recent example of such a Crown-triggered investigation was in March 2011, when the body ordered a probe into Boston Bruins defenceman Zdeno Chara for a bone-jarring hit on Montreal Canadiens Max Pacioretty. The hockey probe lasted months and resulted in no charges against Chara.
This latest case involves allegations that a Montreal police officer sold the names of police informants to the Italian Mafia.
Davidson, 58, committed suicide on Jan. 18, the day he was publicly outed as a mole in newspaper reports. Montreal police had not identified him as a suspect but did confirm that a 33-year veteran of the force was under investigation.
The alleged offences occurred after Davidson's retirement from the force in January 2011. He had been police watch since last spring and was actually arrested at the airport in October.
Even following Davidson's death, the media leaks haven't ceased: multiple stories have appeared about the so-called Davidson affair since he killed himself.
The endless stories have shocked Montreal's police chief, who welcomed the provincial police investigation. He said the leaks were harming the investigation into criminal ties.
"I was concerned, and angry, to read, day after day, confidential information in the media," Marc Parent told a hastily called news conference on Wednesday.
"The release of confidential information in the media undermines police investigations."
News of an investigation into the source of the information had some media questioning whether authorities were going to use the mandate to crack down on journalism.
Brian Myles, a newspaper reporter and president the Federation of Professional Journalists of Quebec, said journalists were doing their job by reporting on the misuse of the informants' list and had a right to report on the stories.
"We're concerned with the scope of the mandate given by Mr. Dutil," said Myles. "We want some assurances that it's not going to be a fishing expedition into the sources of reporters."
Myles said protection of sources is of the utmost importance and he wants to know that the relationship between reporters and police sources is not under the microscope.
Parent said an internal investigation into the alleged Davidson leaks is on going with the assistance of the RCMP and the provincial police.
Police databases have also been secured in the wake of the leak allegations. Parent said senior police brass, in particular the specialized units, were reminded of their oath of discretion.
It's unclear whether the leaks actually came from inside the police force. Parent said some of the information that had appeared in the media was untrue, without offering specifics.
On Tuesday, the opposition Parti Quebecois had demanded a public inquiry into the Davidson affair.
Feb 8, 2012 / 6:19 pm
MONTREAL - Arianna Huffington launched Quebec's very own edition of the Huffington Post on Wednesday, making Canada the first country to have two versions of the online news website.
The American new-media mogul believes the province is distinct enough to have its own Huffington Post.
"For us to be able to cover Canada properly, we need to also cover Quebec, with its own identity, its own culture, its own language and its incredible vibrancy around creativity," she told reporters in Montreal after addressing a business luncheon.
The speech was part of Huffington's media blitz in the city to promote the launch of the French-only Le Huffington Post Quebec.
"We promise that Le Huffington Post Quebec is going to be all in French and is going to be all about the things that matter to Quebecers in terms of culture, identity," Huffington told around 500 people during a 25-minute speech to the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations.
The company, which opened the news site in 2005, says its Quebec website will be a powerful collaborator with the HuffPost's eight-month-old Canadian venture.
The provincial venture has already had to deal with one distinct headache.
The company's Quebec edition made headlines recently when several left-leaning politicians and activists who had signed on to write blogs for free reportedly quit amid controversy. The free blogs drew criticism that the contributions would weaken local journalism and drive down worker salaries.
On Wednesday, Huffington called this issue a misunderstanding about the interactive character of the Huffington Post, and blogging in general.
She said that millions of people around the world author opinion blogs for free, including contributors to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.
"This is just the nature of the Internet," said Huffington, who delivered an invitation to business leaders in the crowd — from the microphone, to write blogs for the outlet.
"People who want to express their views, who want to be heard, will use any platform. I was on multiple radio shows this morning, I'm here with you because you're providing me with a platform to express my views — you're not paying me."
This wasn't the first time the company's use of free bloggers has created a dispute.
AOL bought the Huffington Post last March for US$315 million, a deal that prompted one of its bloggers, Jonathan Tasini, to sue the companies for not paying freelance contributors while earning financial benefits from their work.
Tasini's suit, filed last April on behalf of the company's 9,000 writers and other content providers, seeks at least $105 million in damages.
The Quebec publication already has 120 bloggers in its stable, said editor-in-chief Patrick White.
The first-ever edition of Le Huffington Post Quebec featured blog posts by lawyers, activists and even Haitian President Michel Martelly. It also contained original work by a handful of journalists.
White predicted the venture would take off in Quebec much like it did in English Canada, where he said the Huffington Post started attracting more unique visitors than the National Post's website a couple of months ago.
"Our objective is to offer the best of the web to Quebecers regardless of where they come from and allow them to share and comment," White said before introducing Huffington at the luncheon.
Communication experts say while it's too early to know whether Huffington Post will succeed in a small market like Quebec, the website's success elsewhere has already triggered change among traditional media in a province that has lagged behind when it comes to online innovation.
"It's shaking up the media landscape (in Quebec) a little bit," said Colette Brin, a communications professor from Universite Laval in Quebec City.
"It pushes other media to do better, to be a little bit more proactive in their use of the web."
Le Huffington Post Quebec is the company's second foreign-language operation.
It follows a French edition unveiled in Paris last month, a version that is expected to share content with the Quebec edition. After launching Huffington Post Canada last year, Huffington went on to start a UK version. Others are planned for Spain, Italy and Brazil.
She said Wednesday that the response in Canada has so far been a pleasant surprise.
"The most surprising thing has been how willing people are to participate and engage, even though there are still people who don't understand the nature of our platform."
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