You can bet that the newly minted Saskatchewan Roughriders coin will be popular.
On Thursday, the Royal Canadian Mint and the Roughriders unveiled a $1 in-circulation coin, issued to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the CFL team. Three million of the coins are to be released -- and fans are expected to "go loonie."
"I know three million sounds like a lot of coins, but we've got a lot of Rider fans and they're going to want five, 10 each, so I can see a run on the coins," Jim Hopson, the Roughriders' president and CEO, said after the coins were unveiled at the Northgate Mall in Regina. "Maybe we can get them to mint some more."
It's unlikely that will happen. Officials of the Mint on hand for the launch said the mintage was set at three million and won't be extended.
Coins can be ordered online (www.mint.ca/roughriders), and coin exchanges are planned in Regina, Moose Jaw and Saskatoon until Sunday to give the public an opportunity to obtain the coins, five at a time. That was the limit for each patron on hand for the initial coin exchange at the Northgate.
"We'll be finding some more," said Regina's Wayne Erne, a Roughriders season-ticket holder for 10 years. "I'm not going to spend them until I get a few more. I really want to get one of those gold ones."
The Mint also has produced a gold-plated, limited-edition version of the coin. There were 15,000 of those available for $19.95 apiece; they can be purchased by calling 1-800-267-1871 or by going online (www.mint.ca).
Erne noted he collects anything associated with the Roughriders. On Thursday, he was carrying a bag full of team gear he had purchased and admitted he recently bought a box of Fantuz Flakes -- the breakfast cereal named after Roughriders slot back Andy Fantuz.
Getting the coin, then, was a natural.
"It's a good idea," Erne said. "People will love it. They'll get anything to do with the Riders. It's just Rider Pride."
The coin is engraved with the Roughriders' logo and a stylized '100' framed by the years '1910' and '2010.' Hopson said there was some talk about using a different image -- he mentioned that Gainer the Gopher was considered -- but he noted it was an easy decision to go with the team's logo.
The decision to make a Roughriders coin wasn't difficult, either.
"One of the jobs that the Mint has is to celebrate Canada's heritage, history and traditions," said Jim Love, the chair of the Mint's board of directors. "When you're talking Saskatchewan, the Roughriders are certainly one of those things."
The Roughriders are just the second sports team to be feted on a Canadian coin. The NHL's Montreal Canadiens were honoured in 2009 on the occasion of their centennial.
"(Getting on a coin) speaks about national respect," said Hopson, who noted the idea of the coin as a keepsake was a key component of the campaign. "We know how important the team is to our fan base, but that fan base now is across Canada -- in fact, I think maybe around the world, around North America.
"The fact that it's the Montreal Canadiens and the Saskatchewan Roughriders having a coin, that's pretty special."
The first Roughriders coin struck is to be used during the coin toss Sunday prior to the Labour Day Classic between Saskatchewan and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Mosaic Stadium. Ironically, the Roughriders coins were produced at the Mint's Winnipeg branch.
Saskatchewan Roughriders Coin Exchanges will take place at the following places and times:
Today Saskatoon: Arts Building at the University of Saskatchewan, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.; PotashCorp Fireworks Festival, Rotary Park, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday Regina: Rider Pride Celebration in the Park, Victoria Park, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday Regina: Labour Day Classic, bricks on the west side of Mosaic Stadium, noon to 2 p.m.
Alex Chapman may have been given nude photos of a Manitoba judge by her husband and was paid $25,000 to agree to return or destroy them but, because he didn't, another judge has ordered him to give them back.
And now Chapman, the man in the centre of a sex scandal involving Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Associate Chief Justice Lori Douglas and her lawyer husband, Jack King, is being sued by King for breaching their agreement by giving the photos to the CBC and the Law Society of Manitoba.
It was all part of a court case on Thursday that Chapman -- and the public -- wasn't supposed to hear about until today.
It even had lawyers for the Winnipeg Free Press and CBC rushing down to court after King's lawyer said he wanted a publication ban on the matter so Chapman wouldn't hear about the motion before it was decided.
In the end, Justice Joan McKelvey ordered an injunction against Chapman to stop him from distributing all of the photos and emails about Douglas and King he has in his possession, ordered him to return them and to ask for their return from anyone to whom he gave them.
When Chapman -- who wasn't notified about the hearing, but somehow learned about it and showed up near its conclusion -- said the Canadian Judicial Council wanted him to send it some of the materials, both McKelvey and King's lawyer Bill Gange warned him the court order now prevented that.
Chapman was also told he could argue against the order next week.
"I am being given unfair treatment right now," Chapman said. "I think this order is very unfair."
After court, Gange said his main concern is to stop Chapman from spreading the nude photos of the judge and her husband's emails even further than they may have been spread.
"The concern is... what if this ends up on the Internet?" Gange said.
"How devastating to Lori Douglas. There was a promise these documents were destroyed in 2003. It is disappointing they weren't."
Unlike Chapman, who is suing King for $10 million, Douglas for $7 million and their former law firm for $50 million, King has not specified dollar figures for his damage claims.
After the scandal broke earlier this week, Douglas announced she was stepping aside from sitting in court until the matter had been dealt with by the Canadian Judicial Council.
She will continue to perform administrative duties.
Earlier in court, Gange told the judge "there's no question these documents have caused irreparable harm that cannot be compensated by damages.
"There's no question the invasion of privacy by Mr. Chapman has put a strain on the relationship in Mr. King's family.
"As horrible and untenable as today is for Mr. King and his family, to have these documents posted on the Internet would be ruinous."
The Court Rules allow motions to proceed without notice to the other side in certain circumstances. Gange told the judge, before Chapman showed up, he didn't want Chapman to know about the order before it was issued because of fears the man would ensure the photos were spread further before they were taken away from him.
"We want the order to protect Mr. King and his family as best it can... Mr. Chapman has absolutely, immeasurably violated the privacy of Mr. King."
Meanwhile, Johanna Laporte, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Judicial Council, said she could not verify what, if any, materials had been received from Chapman, but the matter is being looked at by a member of the council's conduct committee.
But Laporte said the CJC will abide by any court order and, if necessary, would make a motion in court to get access to any materials it might need for its investigation.
Former Regina Leader-Post reporter Michelle Lang and two soldiers with links to Saskatchewan will have their names added to a plaque at the Saskatchewan War Memorial.
Cliff Walker, a member of the memorial's executive committee, said there was never any debate about inscribing the name of a journalist among the soldiers who have also died in Afghanistan.
"She is being treated certainly by the military and by ourselves as every bit as courageous as anybody else who's on that plaque who died in Afghanistan," said Walker, noting the military gave her full military honours after her death.
"She went and put her hand in God's hand and faced the same dangers as those soldiers faced -- and lost her life in the process," said Walker, who is retired from the military. "The fact that she wasn't wearing a camouflage uniform made her no less a great young Canadian in our eyes."
In addition to Lang, the names of soldiers Lieutenant Andrew Nuttall, formerly of Regina, and Lieut. Justin Boyes, 26, who was raised in Saskatoon, will also be added. The two soldiers were killed in separate roadside bomb attacks last year.
While a temporary plaque is currently in place at the memorial, located just west of the Saskatchewan Legislative Building, the formal, bronze plaque with the new names is to be unveiled by Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walt Natynczyk at a ceremony on October 23, 2010. Invitations have also gone out to the families of those whose loved ones appear on the Afghanistan plaque.
Lang, 34, and four Canadian soldiers were killed December 30 when an improvised explosive device struck the armoured vehicle in which they were travelling just outside of Kandahar City. Lang, then working for the Calgary Herald, had arrived in the war-torn country on December 11 on assignment for Canwest News Service. She was the first Canadian journalist killed in Afghanistan since the Canadian mission began there.
One of the last stories Lang filed was about the send-off ceremony for Nuttall, the 30-year-old former Campbell Collegiate student killed by a roadside bomb on December 23. Their names will now appear one after the other on the plaque since they are placed in order of their deaths.
The War Memorial contains the names of thousands of men and women who once lived in Saskatchewan and died in service to their country, through various wars and in peacetime operations. One plaque is dedicated specifically to those killed in Afghanistan. Walker said when the first plaque was erected for that conflict, there were five names. With the addition of Lang, Nuttall and Boyes, the number will stretch to 15.
While other civilians are named on the memorial, Lang is the only civilian on the Afghanistan plaque.
The unveiling ceremony is being held the same day as the national Support Our Troops Gala, taking place at Regina's Evraz Place. Money raised from the event will go to support services to assist wounded soldiers and families of those serving overseas. It's the first such event held in Regina. Tickets are available at www.supportourtroopsgala.ca.
An "unsung military hero" will also be recognized at the event. A U.S. man wrote to each province and state government and offered to purchase a commemoration for someone in the military who had gone above and beyond the call of duty, but hadn't previously received formal recognition, Walker explained.
Canada's most populous city also has the country's largest number of speed traps, according to an online survey from the National Motorist Association (NMA), which lists the "Worst North America Speed Trap Cities, by State and by Province."
Released on Wednesday, the NMA collected reports of speed traps from drivers all over North America. Toronto drivers reported 277 speed traps on the National Speed Trap Exchange, part of the NMA website.
"Toronto has the highest number of speed traps not only in Ontario, but in Canada," said Gary Biller, Executive Director of the National Motorist Association.
In comparison Calgary reported 122, Montreal 64, Mississauga 155, and Hamilton 104. Toronto even has more reports than major U.S. cities like Los Angeles (155) and New York City (29).
So is Toronto the worst in North America, according to this survey? Probably, but Mr. Biller said "We would need to spend more time with the raw data to make an accurate assessment."
Toronto Traffic Services Sergeant Tim Burrows says it's unlikely Toronto motorists are subjected to a disproportionate amount of speed traps.
"I really don't think that Toronto has more speed traps set than major U.S. cities like Los Angeles and New York," said Sgt. Burrows. "I think this is a compliment towards Toronto drivers and their ability to use internet crowd sourcing and community data."
Mr. Biller admits that the data collected is an open archive of public record and there is no formal process of standardization.
"In the case of New York, we see a discrepancy in the numbers because not all the boroughs were lumped together," said Mr. Biller.
For example, Brooklyn had 104 reported speed traps, Staten Island, 97, and Queens, 55. Motorists reporting New York City speed traps often weren't specific as to which particular area of the city they were in.
Another potential weakness in the data lies in the period of time over which it was collected. The first report of a speed trap in Toronto on the NMA website occurs on Aug 1, 2000 and the last was July 18, 2010, meaning the list of 277 reported speed traps was compiled from over 10 years of data.
Opposition critics say the decision by the Government of Canada not to fund Canada-wide clinical trials of a controversial multiple sclerosis treatment is a huge setback for the thousands of patients suffering from the debilitating neurological disorder.
"I think it's devastating for MS patients," said Liberal public health critic Kirsty Duncan. "This is a body blow to a lot of people that think this treatment really works."
Duncan said the hundreds of Canadians already travelling to get the surgical treatment in Bulgaria, Poland and India should be tracked to determine if the Italian-developed procedure works.
"If Canada wants to know if this works, why are we not tracking the patients that go overseas?" she said. "We have to have evidence-based medicine and we're not collecting the evidence."
On Wednesday, Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced that the Government of Canada has decided to accept the recommendations of its premier health research organization that there be no pan-Canadian clinical trials of the controversial new therapy because of the overwhelming lack of scientific evidence on the procedure's safety.
"I feel the most prudent course of action at this time is to accept the recommendation of the country's leading researchers," Aglukkaq told a news conference in Ottawa.
Backed by experts from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the MS Society of Canada, she said the government would wait for the results of seven Canadian research projects looking into the efficacy of the so-called liberation treatment before clinical trials proceed.
The procedure, developed by Italian researcher Dr. Paolo Zamboni, involves using balloon angioplasty to inflate the veins in a patient's neck to help blood flow from the brain to the heart. The theory is that the brain and spine can be damaged when blocked veins do not allow blood to freely flow.
Zamboni calls the condition chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency, or CCSVI.
Speaking in Baddeck, N.S., from a party caucus meeting, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said he had spoken directly with Aglukkaq, and he was urging the government to sponsor clinical trials that would allow the controversial procedure to be tested.
"It's not appropriate for a politician like me to pronounce which treatment's going to work," he said. "It's for medicine, for scientists, assisted by the federal government, to prove this thing up or down once and for all."
Ignatieff said the Liberal party has for months supported clinical trials of the new treatment.
Saskatchewan Health Minister Don McMorris said Tuesday his provincial government still plans to fund clinical trials for the treatment.
Currently, very little research has been conducted into Dr. Zamboni's work, but the MS Society of Canada and its U.S. counterpart are providing $2.4 million for diagnostic studies aimed at testing whether the theory behind the treatment is correct.
The studies, conducted over two years, will compare blood flow in the veins of healthy people to those with MS using several diagnostic tools, including ultrasound and MRIs.
Aglukkaq said if the studies show a clear link between Zamboni's theory and MS, then pan-Canadian trials involving the surgical procedure will be started quickly.
Alberta and Saskatchewan were the best performing labour markets in Canada between 2005 and 2009, while Eastern Canada lagged well behind its western Canadian counterparts, according to a study released Thursday by a Canadian public policy think-tank.
Alberta topped all provinces and American states in the ranking reported in Measuring Labour Markets in Canada and the United States: 2010 Edition, published by the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute. The province recorded the highest level of employment growth over the five year span, along with low durations of unemployment.
Saskatchewan recorded the second-best performing labour market in Canada and third overall in North America, an improvement from its eighth place ranking in the 2009 report.
British Columbia ranked third in Canada, and sixth in North America, with Manitoba ranking fourth in Canada and eighth overall. Both provinces moved up in the latest report, from ninth and 21st in North America, respectively.
"There's a clear delineation in the labour market performance of the western provinces compared to Eastern Canada," said Niels Veldhuis, Fraser Institute vice-president of Canadian policy research and co-author of the study.
New Brunswick had the highest ranking of the remaining provinces, 27th overall, followed by Ontario at 31st, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, tied at 39th; Quebec at 43rd, and Newfoundland and Labrador last at 49th.
"Ontario and Quebec's labour market performance continues to be very poor, underscoring the need for labour policy reforms," Veldhuis said.
Alaska was the top ranked American state, second overall behind only Alberta.
The report notes that while the recession negatively affected labour market performance in both Canada and the U.S., the deterioration in the U.S. was more severe.
The study assesses the performance of labour markets based on five indicators: total employment growth, private sector employment growth, unemployment rates, duration of unemployment, and labour productivity.
Tony Merchant, who is leading a lame class-action lawsuit against Toyota for "unintended acceleration," is in some trouble, again.
It was back in 2007 that a senior British Columbia judge slammed Tony Merchant for "reprehensible" conduct in trying to bill an accident victim for contingency fees.
In his decision, Justice Barry Davies of the British Columbia Supreme Court further denounced the supposedly-crooked lawyer for the "unethical and obstreperous" pursuit of a "fictitious fee account." Even worse, the Merchant Law Group "was prepared to offer false evidence to advance its own interests," Justice Davies found.
He ordered the Merchant firm to pay the victim $250,400 in damages for breach of fiduciary duty, plus $50,000 in punitive damages for conduct that was "both outrageous and scandalous," plus legal costs. The ruling was largely upheld by the British Columbia Court of Appeal, which likewise took a dim view of Merchant's conduct. Invoking in its final ruling last year a precedent that dealt with false evidence, the Appeal Court judgment included the following:
"'To give false evidence relating to the matters in question at any stage of the proceedings is a grave matter. By "false," I do not mean "erroneous;" I mean knowingly untrue.' The falsity of Mr. Merchant's evidence is commented on by the trial judge at several points in his judgment and is referenced by the majority judgment in this court."
Left unresolved, however, was the matter of Mr. Merchant's professional misconduct. Lawyers are expected to behave ethically. If they don't, they are subject to discipline from the presiding law society, the independent authority through which lawyers regulate themselves. Mr. Merchant has previously been disciplined six times by the Saskatchewan Law Society. The last time was in 2006, when he was suspended for two weeks, fined $2,500 and ordered to pay more than $58,000 in costs, for failing to disburse trust funds as ordered by the court in a messy divorce case. Instead, he had disbursed the funds as he saw fit.
In the British Columbia case, it is the British Columbia Law Society that has jurisdiction. Last month, more than a year after the case was finally resolved, the society quietly acted. For conduct variously described by the courts as grave and reprehensible, Mr. Merchant will be given a stern talking to.
In what the law society calls a conduct review, Mr. Merchant is required to meet with two senior lawyers to discuss the problems caused by his conduct and to ensure it will not be repeated. The review will take place in private, with all the particulars kept secret. It is not a formal hearing. About 70 such conduct reviews were held in British Columbia last year.
Mr. Merchant's conduct review will likely be held in Vancouver, at a place and time yet to be specified.
Deborah Armour, the law society's chief legal officer, said in a telephone interview that Justice Davies' denunciatory remarks with respect to Mr. Merchant's conduct were handled by the law society only as allegations, not as evidence. Even so, they were serious enough to warrant "an exhaustive investigation." The results of that investigation went to the society's disciplinary committee, which ordered the conduct review. If the presiding senior lawyers are satisfied with the review, that likely will be the end of it, at least in British Columbia.
However, here in Saskatchewan, that's not necessarily the case.
The Saskatchewan Law Society has indicated that it would review the case once the British Columbia Law Society was finished with it. Further sanctions could be imposed here in light of Mr. Merchant's record in this jurisdiction of six previous violations.
For the public to make sense of this is all but impossible. We don't know how the British Columbia Law Society's investigation might have diverged from Justice Davies' disparaging pronouncements. Maybe, in the view of Mr. Merchant's professional peers, his misconduct was not as egregious as the judge's ruling would indicate. Or... maybe the British Columbia Law Society has a different standard than the courts as to what, exactly, is reprehensible.
Be that as it may, this is the seventh time Merchant has been disciplined for professional misconduct. It doesn't seem to be working.
Please note that most of this story is exact wordings from Les MacPherson's column on The StarPhoenix, a local newspaper in Saskatoon owned by Postmedia News. However, this story was modified to remove Mr. MacPherson's opinions. If you would like to read his opinions, you may click on the link below.
Now, for our own opinions...
Well, this just reminds me of that crazy guy named Jack Thompson who went on a "crusade" against videogames and is no longer allowed to practice law in Florida.
A "supersized" crime caper in one Saskatchewan community has all the hallmarks of the "Hamburglar," or a Big Mac attack -- and it's certainly left a few people Grimace-faced.
Some punk teenagers with a taste for McDonald's have been waging a campaign of drive-by "foodings" in Swift Current, Saskatchewan.
In the early hours of August 21, a truck parked on Highland Drive had McDonald's burgers rubbed on the windshield. On Saturday this weekend, the same truck had pop thrown on the driver's side.
Someone had popped another victim in the early hours of August 10, throwing McDonald's cups filled with soft drinks at the picture window of a home on Laurier Drive.
Three days earlier, several youths were seen defacing the south side Co-op car wash with McDonald's hamburgers. The fast food culprits, who again struck in the early morning hours, made their getaway in a late model, white Ford 150.
To date, no one has had fries with their hamburgers and drink.
RCMP officers in Swift Current are currently looking for help in identifying those responsible for, in the words of a news release, "the recent mischief and littering involving McDonald's food and garbage in the city."
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), *8477 on SaskTel's crappy network, text TIP206 plus a message to CRIMES (274637) or submit a tip online at www.saskcrimestoppers.com.
Saskatoon Transit is adding three bus routes to provide service to Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport.
Starting on Sunday, buses will travel from Saskatoon's downtown to the airport (Route 40) and from the Mall at Lawson Heights to the airport (Route 31). The Blairmore-Hampton Village line (Route 23) will be extended to include the airport.
Currently, only one bus route loops through the airport, which is Route 11 (Airport/Exhibition).
More information on the airport routes can be found on the City of Saskatoon website or the airport's website (www.yxe.ca).
Rides at Kinsmen Park will be free on Monday between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
The City of Saskatoon announced the free rides as a "back-to-school customer appreciation evening" taking place on the park's last day of operation.
The regular cost of $1 per ride will still apply from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., with one adult receiving free admission per ride when accompanied by one child with a paid admission.
Nestled within Saskatoon's oldest park development, Kinsmen Park Rides includes rides such as the old-fashioned carousel and miniature train.
There used to be a ferris wheel there too, but it has since been removed, after it stopped working.
New regulations came into effect yesterday that the Government of Canada says will protect credit-card holders from unexpected costs and help them make better financial decisions.
"Our government has taken action to make financial products more transparent for consumers," Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in a statement.
The rules mandate a minimum 21-day interest-free grace period on all new credit card purchases when a customer pays the outstanding balance in full. As well, any customer payments made in excess of the required minimum must either be allocated to the balance with the higher interest rate first or distributed proportionally to each type of balance, such as cash advances or purchases.
Another change is that credit-card issuers must inform consumers on their monthly statement how long it would take to fully repay the balance if only the minimum payment is made every month. For example, a $1,000 balance with an 18% interest rate would take more than 10 years to pay off.
The new rules also require the disclosure of interest-rate increases prior to their taking effect, even if the information had been included in the contract.
Bruce Cran, president of the Consumer Association of Canada, said he agrees with everything in the regulation.
"There is a lot of benefit to the consumer. (The rules) are all things that we have been asking for," he said.
The only concern he has, he said, is that many Canadians aren't aware of the rules because the government hasn't publicized them aggressively enough. He said his organization has been fielding more calls than it can handle from consumers asking about the new changes.
Glee's Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Amber Riley are all set to guest on The Simpsons! The episode called "Elementary School Musical" will be the first episode of season 22 and air on September 26th.
In the episode, Lisa attends a performing arts camp where she falls in love with a new showbiz lifestyle.
Also guesting on the show will be Flight of The Conchords' Jermaine Clement and Bret McKenzie.
Within days of each other, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his main opponent, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, have now sketched out the themes each will likely offer up to Canadians in the next election campaign.
Mr. Harper wants a majority, while Mr. Ignatieff will take any kind of government.
There is one thing both men agree on: Canadians don't want a general election right now.
But beyond that, they are road-testing very different pitches for their own brands and are trying out new lines of attack they'll use on each other.
Mr. Harper, in a speech at a Conservative party event last Thursday in Whitehorse, said his party stands for a steady hand on the economy, providing more support to the Canadian Forces, senate reform, and more tough-on-crime legislation.
Mr. Ignatieff, addressing his MPs at their national caucus meeting here Tuesday, said "truth and transparency" would be the hallmark of the next Liberal election platform, which would focus on guaranteeing universal healthcare (how stupid), providing early learning and childcare, regaining Canada's reputation on the international stage, and improving pension plans and retirement security.
"These are the simple themes," Mr. Ignatieff said. "These are the themes that run through a thousand conversations that I've had this summer."
Mr. Harper's main line of attack on the Liberals will be to continue to link Ignatieff with the failed coalition attempt of early 2009, an initiative that polls at the time found was deeply unpopular with Canadians.
"When an election does come," Mr. Harper said in Whitehorse, "Canadians are going to face a pretty stark choice. The next election will be a choice between a Parliament with a majority made up of a Liberal-NDP-Bloc Quebecois coalition or it will be a stable majority Conservative government."
Ignatieff will paint Mr. Harper as an imperial ideologue who shut down Parliament twice when he didn't like the way it was working.
"We're up against the toughest and most ruthless machine in Canadian politics. Never forget that for a second," Ignatieff said.
Mr. Ignatieff, in the current version of his stump speech, is also making an explicit pitch for disaffected supporters of other parties, particularly those who were once Progressive Conservatives, one of the Conservative Party's predecessors.
Mr. Ignatieff said his party is reaching out to those PCs who "wondered where the progressive went in conservativism, who wondered where the accountability went, who wondered where the transparency went, and I said everywhere, come on in to the big red tent."
Indeed, the "big red tent", a phrase now on buttons worn on every shirt here, has become the metaphor around which Liberals are building their key pitches.
"We know where we stand," Mr. Ignatieff said. "Who are we fighting for? The answer's clear: The hard-working, hard-pressed middle-class Canadian family."
Long-time CBC news anchor and chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge will headline the late-September kick-off to the city's visioning, a long-term planning initiative intended to shape the future of Saskatoon.
Mansbridge, who will be paid $25,000 plus expenses, will give a talk on September 29 that will officially launch the five-month exercise -- dubbed Saskatoon Speaks -- geared toward getting input from residents on how the city should grow during the next 50 years.
"Peter (Mansbridge) is well recognized and certainly has had experience reporting on cities from across Canada and across the world," said Catherine Gryba, the city's manager of strategic planning. "We're interested in his comments and observations on what makes cities successful."
Born in London, England, in 1948 and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Mansbridge became anchor for CBC's flagship newscast The National in 1988 after more than 20 years of reporting, which included a stint in Saskatchewan. Saskatoon's fire chief, Brian Bentley, was Mansbridge's cameraman for a time, Gryba said.
The city was looking for a keynote speaker with broad appeal instead of an urban planning expert along the lines of Jan Gehl, who gave two sold-out talks last year, Gryba said.
Mansbridge's name is well-known among people of all age groups, she said.
"The challenge was to get the right mix," she said. "We wanted someone who would challenge and encourage us and put out ideas for our citizens."
The $25,000 fee was the going rate for a speaker of Mansbridge's calibre, Gryba said. The city is expecting an audience of between 800 and 1,000 people at Prairieland Park for the talk. In addition to the September 29 event, a two-day city summit is set for October 1 and 2 at Prairieland that will include sessions to gather opinions and ideas from residents.
Another summit is planned for late November on specific areas such as transportation and the economy before a document is presented to city council in early 2011 setting out the city's direction.
Saskatoon is becoming increasingly diverse, roads are becoming more congested and the city is growing at a pace not seen for decades.
The population of Saskatoon proper -- about 223,000 people -- is expected to double in 30 to 50 years if the same pace of growth continues, Gryba said.
One of the central questions is how people want Saskatoon to grow -- out through continued urban sprawl or up through a focus on infill developments and increased density, Gryba said.
"We want to find out what's important to people," Gryba said. "We're at a really critical point in our history. If we do attract that many people how are we going to move around the city? How do we grow and realize the benefits and successes while making sure we look after what we have?
The City of Saskatoon wants residents to "hold the mirror up to ourselves," Gryba said.
"What does a great street look like?" she said. "Take a look at 8th Street, Idylwyld Drive and 22nd Street. We drive them every day but sometimes we don't ask questions about them.
"This process can open our eyes to things that are right in front of us."
British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha were blessed with the birth of their fourth child, Florence Rose Endellion. Latest pictures of the newborn have been published by Hello Magazine. The bundle of joy, who weighed in at 2.7 kilograms, was born last Tuesday via caesarean-section at Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.
Little Florence was an early arrival as Mrs. Cameron had not been due to give birth until next month. The family was on holidays in the English seaside county of Cornwall at the time.
Mr. Cameron said he was thrilled at the safe arrival of the "unbelievably beautiful girl."
The newest addition to the Cameron family is only the third child to be born to a serving British Prime Minister since 1849.
The then opposition leader had hinted earlier this year that he wanted another child and news of his wife's pregnancy became known just a few weeks before the general election was called on May 6.
Only three months after forming government with the Liberal Democrats, Mr. Cameron has an extra responsibility to fit into his busy schedule.
Mr. Cameron said "It was very exciting, we were on holiday, thought we were going to get through the holiday and then have a baby, and then it just seemed to kick off a bit quickly."
"Samantha woke up this morning and thought she was having contractions and it was all beginning to get going, so we thought we would come to the hospital just to get everything checked out, and then things sort of sped up and it all happened very, very quickly and the baby popped out at about 12 o'clock."
"It was a bit of a shock."
The couple's other children are Nancy, 6, and Arthur Elwen, 4. In February last year, they tragically lost their eldest son Ivan, who was born with cerebral palsy and severe epilepsy.
On Friday, Mrs. Cameron and baby Florence returned to the family's holiday home where they will continue their holiday. Mr. Cameron will now take paternity leave instead of returning to Downing Street immediately.
The coalition has pulled ahead in the two-party preferred vote as three key independents held more talks with party leaders in an effort to decide who to support.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard had been using Labor's two-party preferred lead as a reason why four independent MPs should back her party to form a minority government.
But that argument may have disintegrated, with the latest election figures showing the coalition now holds a lead of more than 1900 votes on a two-party preferred basis. The AEC says about 80% of the vote has been counted, with the final result not expected until Friday
A recalculation means eight seats have now been temporarily removed from the count.
Four of the removed seats - O'Connor, Lyne, New England and Kennedy - are broadly conservative, while the seats of Melbourne, Batman, Grayndler and Denison, are left leaning.
Three of those independents - incumbent MPs Tony Windsor, Robb Oakeshott and Bob Katter - held more talks with Ms. Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott tonight.
Mr. Windsor is upbeat about how the meetings went.
"I think they're both on the same page, they're both suggesting that they're keen to govern and I believe them," he said. "I know there's some background noise around on both sides so I think we're sincere about this and they are as well and there were a number of things discussed today in terms of meeting schedules... and they're very keen to address that."
Last week, the trio gave both leaders a seven-point list of demands which includes a plan for parliamentary reform, Treasury advice on the costing of election promises and briefings from the heads and shadows of 10 government departments.
"I think we've got to work through this fairly slowly and methodically," Mr. Windsor said. "A lot of people have a view but I've got to say I'm very proud that the overwhelming view I get is we trust you, you make the call."
The other independent MP, Andrew Wilkie, also held talks with Ms. Gillard and Mr. Abbott today to outline his policy priorities.
Mr. Wilkie's list of 20 issues include pokie machine reform, more funding for the Hobart Hospital and for the government to withdraw support for the proposed pulp mill in northern Tasmania.
NDP Leader Jack Layton said Monday that his party will table a bill in Parliament next month aimed at forging a compromise over the future of the long-gun registry to satisfy the legitimate concerns of rural gun owners and those of urban dwellers fearful of crime.
But Layton, faced with a divided caucus over the issue, reiterated that if his proposed compromise falls flat, he still won't force New Democrat MPs to vote down a Conservative MP's bill that would abolish the long-gun registry. And if that happens, he suggested he's ready take criticism that his party is responsible for the death of the registry because he refused to "whip" his caucus into voting as a solid bloc.
About a dozen NDP MPs are believed to be considering siding with the Conservatives. Several Liberal MPs had once been supportive of the bill, but Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has said he will "whip" his caucus into voting as a group against the private member's bill by Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner.
Layton, a Toronto MP, said that if Hoeppner's bill is not amended when it comes up for its scheduled Sept. 22 vote, he will vote against it.
"Stopping gun violence has been a priority for me through three decades of public life," he said.
At the same time, he said he understands that many Canadians dislike the registry.
"I have listened closely to the frustration of rural Canadians. I have heard the anger. I have heard from countless gun owners who say the registry treats them like criminals."
Layton said that he has heard that rural Canadians believe the registry discounts their way of life and ignores their regional roots. Additionally, First Nations hunters resent being told that they should just "get over it" and register their rifles, said Layton.
"The concerns of rural, northern and aboriginal Canadians are real and honest," he said.
"Today's caucus is democratically rooted in rural and urban constituencies -- equally valued. I'm underlining that today. Let me speak directly to rural and northern Canadians: We will not abandon you."
Layton said that when Parliaments resumes on Sept. 20, his party will table a private member's bill that does two things: it would address "legitimate complaints about the long-gun registry", and it would also "strengthen gun control".
Among the highlights of the NDP bill:
Penalties for non-registration should start as non-criminal fines.
Aboriginal treaty rights must be protected.
Gun-owners' privacy needs protection.
There should never be a charge for long-gun registration.
Layton was pressed by reporters on how he expects this bill to become a reality, when Hoeppner's bill is lined up for a vote so soon after Parliament resumes. He suggested that if all parties come onside, they could use the bill as a basis to reach a solution -- presumably meaning that Hoeppner's bill would either be amended or would die.
"There's no good reason why we shouldn't be able to sit down with goodwill and open minds. There's no good reason why we shouldn't be able to build solutions that bring us together."
Layton said Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in his support for Hoeppner's bill, has not been looking for solutions, and instead has been using the issue "to drive wedges between Canadians."
"Instead of reaching out, his party is running radio ads vilifying urban registry supporters as the enemy. They're stoking resentments as a fundraising tool to fill their election war chest. Mr. Harper is pitting Canadian region against Canadian region with his 'all or nothing showdown'. This is un-Canadian. This kind of divisiveness, pitting one group against another is the poisonous politics of the United States. Not the nation-building politics of Canada."
Layton was also critical of Ignatieff, who last April proposed many of the compromises that the NDP is now suggesting. The difference, said Layton, is that Ignatieff is saying he would make the conciliatory changes to the registry if the Liberals win the next election.
"But Liberal MPs are parliamentarians now," said Layton. "Not parliamentarians in waiting. They need to act now."
The fate of the registry has made headlines recently: the replacement of the RCMP officer in charge of the Canadian firearms program; a unanimous vote of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police to endorse new national firearms policing strategy; and Hoeppner's "Scrap the Long-Gun Registry" tour, which is heading to some NDP and Liberal ridings next month.
More Canadians want to get rid of the gun registry than want to keep it, but support for eliminating the long-debated registry has fallen a bit in the last year, a new poll suggests.
Angus Reid released a poll last week reporting 44% of Canadians support scrapping the registry compared to 35% who want to keep it. Meanwhile, 21% of Canadians are not sure whether to get rid of it or not.
When Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff arrives for his party's summer caucus meeting in this picturesque Cape Breton town aboard his well-travelled bus Monday, he will have shaken countless hands, kissed dozens of babies, overdosed on Tim Hortons' coffee and worn out the shirts that have dominated his wardrobe for the past eight weeks.
Ignatieff set off on his cross-country bus tour in mid-July and more than 37,250 kilometres and 140 events later, he will join his fellow Liberals on Monday afternoon for three days of meetings that will most certainly have a different tone than they did last year.
At 2009's summer caucus meeting in Sudbury Ontario, Liberals were divided over whether to pull the plug on the Conservative government and plunge the country into yet another election campaign. Ignatieff emerged from that gathering with a declaration that "time is up" for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government. A year later, the Conservatives are still in power and leading in the polls but chances are slim that Ignatieff or other Liberals will be buzzing about a possible election this week.
"We go to Baddeck, I think, in a different frame of mind than we were in in Sudbury," Ignatieff said while aboard his bus Sunday. He hasn't changed his mind in substance, however: Ignatieff says he still wants to replace the prime minister.
Over the next three days, Ignatieff said, he will share with his fellow MPs what he heard from Canadians throughout the summer and plan for the fall session.
"It's been fun," the Liberal leader said of his lengthy road trip that has taken him to all 10 provinces and to two territories. "It's been a lot of listening to Canadians."
Ignatieff said the warm welcomes he's received in one town after another sometimes took him by surprise. The logistics of a cross-country tour where the bus rolls in to three or more events every day were no small undertaking, and not unlike the organization required during a campaign.
"It's been a great test of our team. I think they've really come through," said Ignatieff.
There was no talk from the Liberal leader, however, of wanting to test the team again soon in an election.
"We're not talking about an election this fall," said Anne McLellan, former MP and a co-chair of the Liberals' election readiness committee. "If there's an election this fall, that will be Mr. Harper's doing, no one else's."
McLellan said the party is focused on having a productive caucus meeting, finishing the Liberal Express bus tour in mid-September, then MPs returning to Ottawa to take on the Harper government over such issues as the economy, the long-gun registry and the census.
She said the mood among the caucus is decidedly upbeat heading into the fall session.
"I think there's a renewed energy, sense of purpose, and excitement about getting back into the House and doing the job that they were elected to do," she said.
A lot of Liberals are attributing that energy to the ongoing road trip which will pick up again later this week when Ignatieff heads to northern Ontario and up to Yellowknife.
Trying to shake his stuffy-academic image, Ignatieff set out to "connect with Canadians," and to push the Liberal party lines. He attended one BBQ after another, held town halls, posed for photos and danced in a conga line. His team is calling the undertaking a success.
But the tour hit some road-bumps along the way -- the bus broke down within hours of hitting the highway after its launch from Parliament Hill, and the tour was briefly interrupted when Ignatieff's director of communications, Mario Lague, was killed in a motorcycle accident, but on it went.
In addition to the blow dealt to the Liberal team by Lague's death, Ignatieff also had another senior aide, Jean-Marc Fournier, leave his office this summer and last week, long-time MP Maurizio Bevilacqua announced he won't seek re-election. Speculation he will take a run at the mayor's seat in Vaughan, Ontario, this fall is rampant.
While there were rough patches for the Liberals this summer, they say the Conservatives made one misstep after another and point to the G8 and G20 summits and the census as examples of files mishandled by the government.
This week's caucus meetings will include plotting how to capitalize on those controversial issues but there doesn't seem much appetite to bring the government down on them.
If there is an election, Ignatieff and the Liberals are in a much better position to fight one than last year, according to Senator David Smith, another election readiness committee chair.
The Liberal Express tour was a dress rehearsal for Ignatieff and his team, giving them a taste of the daily stump speeches, glad-handing and hectic pace that election campaigns bring. His experience on the road will serve him well whenever a writ is dropped, said Smith, and the party's platform is also well in hand, he said.
January's "thinkers" conference organized by the Liberals in Montreal kick-started new rounds of policy development, and they've been gathering feedback from within the party and outside of it since then, said Smith.
"We wanted to hear what people thought and we sat and we listened," he said. "I think in the fall you'll start seeing positions being taken on various things."
The summer tour also helped build support within the party, said Smith, which was important for Ignatieff because he's still a relatively new leader.
"It was an opportunity to meet grassroots Liberals and you can't do that sort of thing when Parliament is sitting, you can't be away for weeks," he said.
With the tour running until mid-September and Parliament resuming September 20, Ignatieff won't have much down time to recover, but his aides say he's energized and ready for another session.
Beauty has an ugly side when it comes to job applications: it prevents attractive women from even being considered for some positions, according to a study published Friday.
Researchers found that good-looking women were unlikely to be hired when they applied for jobs considered masculine -- like construction supervisor, prison guard, car salesperson or tow truck driver -- the study published in the Journal of Social Psychology says.
Good-looking women did, however, have an advantage over their less attractive female counterparts in jobs deemed feminine.
Men, on the other hand, face no such beauty-barrier: good-looking men always have an advantage over less good-looking men seeking work, regardless of whether the job they are after is a seen as masculine or feminine.
The study researchers, led by Stefanie Johnson, a management professor at the University of Colorado's Denver Business School, asked participants to pair jobs ranging from lingerie salesperson to tow truck driver with photos of applicants they considered suitable for the job.
They had a stack of 55 male and 55 female photos, and the list of jobs.
In job categories like director of security, hardware salesperson, prison guard and tow truck driver, attractive women were completely overlooked, even though appearance was considered unimportant for the job.
Even in jobs where appearance was considered important -- such as car salesperson -- attractive women were ignored. Instead, they were slotted into positions like receptionist or secretary.
In a second study, participants were also given the resumes of the job applicants. But that changed nothing: the good-looking women were still ignored for the manly jobs.
The study's authors chided employers who let stereotypes and physical appearance influence hiring decisions, urging them to hire on merit.
But even though attractive women tend to miss out on some job opportunities, overall, it's good to be good-looking, said Johnson.
When they do get hired, beautiful people tend to get higher salaries, better performance evaluations, are more likely to gain admission to university, get better voter ratings when running for public office and more favorable judgments in trials, she said.
Embattled socialite Paris Hilton was wearing handcuffs instead of bracelets on Friday night when she was arrested for what media reports said was cocaine possession.
The hotel chain heiress was reportedly arrested in Las Vegas when the car she was riding in was pulled over. Police said they smelled marijuana and searched everyone in the car. Hilton was a passenger.
Police said they searched Hilton and found her to be carrying a "controlled substance."
TMZ reported police tested the substance at the scene and found it to be cocaine.
Public information officer Marcus Martin told reporters Hilton was booked into the Clark County Detention Centre. She was released on her own recognizance around 2:30 a.m. Saturday. Martin would not say how much of the controlled substance was found.
Hilton, who is known for keeping the world updated on her every move through her Twitter account, said nothing of the incident Saturday. After the time she was released, she apparently just went home and watched TV.
Shortly before 6 a.m. ET, she wrote "In bed watching Family Guy. Love this show.! So hilarious! Stewie is my favorite :) love his accent."
An hour after that she announced it was bed time.
"Going to bed. Sweet dreams everyone. Xoxo Paris :)"
Last Tuesday, Hilton and her boyfriend called the police about an armed intruder. She said Vegas nightclub owner Cy Waits saved her life by pointing a gun at a man carrying a knife.
The man was charged with burglary.
Hilton has had ongoing trouble with the law, including arrests for drunk driving in 2006. She served jail time for that in 2007. Earlier this year, Hilton was arrested for drugs while in South Africa, but the charge was later withdrawn against her after her friend pleaded guilty.
Hilton and former Playboy Playmate Jennifer Rovero, were taken into custody - authorities alleged because they were carrying a marijuana joint - at the Brazil-Netherlands quarter-final match in the southern city of Port Elizabeth.
In a post on Twitter after the incident Hilton wrote: "Hey guys, there's a lot of crazy rumors going around. Just want you all to know the truth. Everything is completely fiane."
"I was not charged or arrested, cause I didn't do anything. I was assisting the police with the investigation and answering their questions," she wrote in July.
You can bet that the newly minted Saskatchewan Roughriders coin will be popular. 
Alex Chapman may have been given nude photos of a Manitoba judge by her husband and was paid $25,000 to agree to return or destroy them but, because he didn't, another judge has ordered him to give them back.
Former Regina Leader-Post reporter Michelle Lang and two soldiers with links to Saskatchewan will have their names added to a plaque at the Saskatchewan War Memorial.
Canada's most populous city also has the country's largest number of speed traps, according to an online survey from the National Motorist Association (NMA), which lists the "Worst North America Speed Trap Cities, by State and by Province."
Opposition critics say the decision by the Government of Canada not to fund Canada-wide clinical trials of a controversial multiple sclerosis treatment is a huge setback for the thousands of patients suffering from the debilitating neurological disorder.
Alberta and Saskatchewan were the best performing labour markets in Canada between 2005 and 2009, while Eastern Canada lagged well behind its western Canadian counterparts, according to a study released Thursday by a Canadian public policy think-tank.
Tony Merchant, who is leading a lame class-action lawsuit against Toyota for "unintended acceleration," is in some trouble, again.
A "supersized" crime caper in one Saskatchewan community has all the hallmarks of the "Hamburglar," or a Big Mac attack -- and it's certainly left a few people Grimace-faced.
Within days of each other, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his main opponent, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, have now sketched out the themes each will likely offer up to Canadians in the next election campaign.
Long-time CBC news anchor and chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge will headline the late-September kick-off to the city's visioning, a long-term planning initiative intended to shape the future of Saskatoon. 
British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha were blessed with the birth of their fourth child, Florence Rose Endellion. Latest pictures of the newborn have been published by Hello Magazine. The bundle of joy, who weighed in at 2.7 kilograms, was born last Tuesday via caesarean-section at Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.
The coalition has pulled ahead in the two-party preferred vote as three key independents held more talks with party leaders in an effort to decide who to support.
NDP Leader Jack Layton said Monday that his party will table a bill in Parliament next month aimed at forging a compromise over the future of the long-gun registry to satisfy the legitimate concerns of rural gun owners and those of urban dwellers fearful of crime.
When Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff arrives for his party's summer caucus meeting in this picturesque Cape Breton town aboard his well-travelled bus Monday, he will have shaken countless hands, kissed dozens of babies, overdosed on Tim Hortons' coffee and worn out the shirts that have dominated his wardrobe for the past eight weeks.
Beauty has an ugly side when it comes to job applications: it prevents attractive women from even being considered for some positions, according to a study published Friday.
Embattled socialite Paris Hilton was wearing handcuffs instead of bracelets on Friday night when she was arrested for what media reports said was cocaine possession.
