In the News

SOURCE: Kathleen Ruff Special to The Star

Thumbing their noses at appeals from the Canadian Cancer Society and Quebec's 9,500 doctors, both the Charest and Harper governments are backing a last-ditch, desperate effort to revive Quebec's deadly asbestos industry.

Thanks to rapid approval by the Quebec government of a $3.5 million guaranteed line of credit, plus political support from Ottawa, the Jeffrey mine in Asbestos, Que. - one of the biggest open-pit asbestos mines the world has known - will reopen for the month of September.

SOURCE: Dave Sulz
The Lethbridge Herald

There was obvious irony in the latest round of federal government job cuts announced Friday.
In a move aimed at balancing its budget, Service Canada will cut another 600 employees across the country, on top of the 600 who lost their jobs in May. Many of those workers who will find themselves on the unemployment line are involved in processing employment insurance claims.
The Service Canada cuts will also mean fewer people to help the public with passport applications and pension difficulties.

SOURCE: Jennifer Campbell
Citizen Special

At this point, it's hard to say what, exactly, the undecided Australian election means for the country both domestically and internationally. The same goes for Canadian-Australian relations according to the Australian high commissioner to Canada.

Source: Bryn Weese, Parlimentary Bureau

The Liberals have once again doled out their Conservative Patronage Awards, this time lashing out at two recent Senate appointees, who they say bought their way into the upper chamber, and a handful of ministers who appointed party operatives to high-ranking posts.
Since the last election in 2008, the Liberals say the Conservative government has appointed 386 "Conservative insiders" to the Senate, courts and government boards and agencies. Together, the appointees have donated $572,000 to the party.

Source: Mark Kennedy, Postmedia News

Former P.E.I. premier Pat Binns, awarded a diplomatic posting to Ireland after losing a provincial election in 2007, is on his way back to North America -- this time to fill another plum post in Boston.
The Harper government announced a change Friday that will see Binns become consul-general in Boston, a city which has become a favourite landing spot for Canadian governments to reward their political loyalists.

Source: National Post

The penny--love it or lose it?
According to a recent poll, most Canadians say: lose it.

The poll, conducted by Ipsos Reid for canada. com, reveals that 60% of Canadians want to abolish the 1¢ piece, a four-point increase over the last two years.

Source: Winnipeg Free Pess
Mia Rabson

A conference of U.S. and Canadian legislators unanimously agreed Wednesday to lobby the White House and Prime Minister Stephen Harper to cut passport fees to bolster tourism.

The Midwestern Legislators Conference, which represents legislators from 11 U.S. states and Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, pushed through a resolution urging Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama to make passports cheaper, including possibly a two-for-one passport renewal or new-application fee to make it easier for families to travel.

Source: Bob Sass, The StarPhoenix

Following is the viewpoint of the writer, chair of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour's ban asbestos committee.

The Quebec government proposes to subsidize that province's asbestos industry with a $58 million loan guarantee to complete an underground mine in order to save a dying industry.

Source: King Township Sentinel

Simcoe — Grey MP Helena Guergis and her husband, former Edmonton — Strathcona MP Rahim Jaffer, have been cleared in an investigation by the RCMP.

Guergis’ lawyer, Howard Rubel, confirmed July 21 that the RCMP had concluded its inquiries, and that no charges would be laid.

SOURCE: WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Mia Rabson

ASBESTOS has been called Canada's deadly secret and medical experts from practically every corner of the country have called for an end to its mining and export.

Last week, Canada's asbestos industry was hit with a damning documentary aired by the British Broadcasting Corp., which has a global audience of more than 240 million people.