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Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denied that he smokes crack cocaine and said he is not an addict, breaking a week of silence over reports of a video purportedly showing him using the drug. Critics were not appeased, with one city councilor questioning whether the mayor told “the whole truth” and another calling on him to resign. The mayor of Canada’s largest city did not say whether he has ever used crack. He did not take questions from reporters at a news conference at City Hall, held after close allies released a letter urging him to address the reports of the...

Broadcasting from Boston the day after the Marathon bombing, a correspondent for the French-Canadian TV channel LCN explained why Americans shouldn't be surprised when such atrocities occurred. It's the price they have to pay for being a superpower, Richard Latendresse told his viewers. It may be "un peu tragique," he conceded. But hey, that's what happens when a nation takes so much pride in its military power – and has inflicted similar suffering on others. Writing in The Guardian the same day, Glenn Greenwald noted that so far there was "virtually no known evidence regarding who did it or why."...

A parent in Dartmouth, N.S. says her child’s school is taking political correctness too far by deciding to eliminate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day celebrations. Astral Drive Elementary School has instead chosen to celebrate the International Day of Families, which takes place each year on May 15, to include non-traditional families. Michelle Allaby says she has no problem with the idea of a family day, but she feels Mother’s Day and Father’s Day shouldn’t be abolished at the school. “They weren’t allowed to make a card or a craft at Mother’s Day,” says Allaby. “So, I asked my friends that...

<p>TORONTO (AP) -- A man accused of plotting to derail a train in Canada with support from al-Qaida is asking to be represented by a defense attorney willing to use the "holy book" as a reference in his case.</p> <p>During a hearing Thursday Chiheb Esseghaier requested a court-appointed lawyer who will use the "holy book" as a reference. The Tunisian-born Muslim was apparently referring to the Quran.</p>

Toronto police are searching for a suspect accused of stealing the purse of a woman who jumped to her death in a subway station Wednesday morning. Police say the woman left her purse on the subway platform before jumping in front of a train at College station. She was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead. Police say they have not been able to identify her because another woman stole the purse and any identification that might have been inside.

The swarming of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is entirely understandable; the mayor, caught on video allegedly smoking crack, has a lot to clear up. But there are as many unanswered questions on the other side of this bizarre international confluence of drug dealers, politics, comedy shows, news media and blogging low-lifes such as gawker.com. Questions about the video, the role of newspapers, organized crime, crowdsourcing social media, and the implausibility of a shock-blog like gawker raising $200,000 in ransom money that will have to be run through a money laundering operation to reach the drug dealers. The ethics of it...

A major battle with big consequences for Canada’s labour movement is set to play out over the coming weeks in the Senate. While attention on the Red Chamber is largely focused on expenses, Senators are preparing to debate and likely pass Bill C-377, which would have big policy implications for Canada’s unions.

The federal blood donor agency is lifting its lifetime ban on gay men giving blood. Canadian Blood Services announced Wednesday it has received approval from Health Canada to reduce its restriction on men who have sex with men donating blood from indefinitely to five years. ... Both the United States and some European countries have kept their lifetime bans, while the United Kingdom and Australia have reduced the restriction to a one-year deferral.

                    FOSTERING COLLABORATION TO ADDRESS REAL- WORLD PROBLEMS IN THE AREA OF COGNITION         COGNITION CHALLENGE APPLICATION DEADLINE IS MAY 31ST AT 5PM - APPLY NOW     WINNERS OF THE COGNITION CHALLENGE WILL RECEIVE:   » Research Funding of up to $50,000 USD, which must be used to further their project or research     » Space at the Consulate General of Canada's Canadian Technology Accelerator in San Francisco for up to 6 months     COGNITION CHALLENGE INTERESTS:   » New directions in learning and...

For decades visitors to the D-Day beaches on the northwest coast of France have looked out at the English Channel, taking in the journey made by Allied troops that marked a turning point in the Second World War. The view from some of those sites — including Juno Beach where 359 Canadians died — could soon change if a plan succeeds to build an army of wind turbines some 10 kilometres offshore. Canadians now have a chance to voice their opinions on that plan as a French commission holds public consultations on the project. The body has made it a...

As head of the world’s largest bond fund, Bill Gross has the kind of voice that can move markets. For much of the last few years Gross, who runs the $2-trillion Pacific Investment Management Co., has been warning about the day of reckoning that would befall countries like the U.S. and Britain as they buried themselves under mountains of debt. In 2010, Gross declared British bonds were “sitting on a bed of nitroglycerine” and dumped his entire holdings of U.S. Treasuries with a prediction that soaring government debts would pose the greatest risk to bondholders. This year, Gross started buying...

A video that appears to show Toronto’s mayor smoking crack is being shopped around by a group of Somali men involved in the drug trade. A cellphone video that appears to show Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine is being shopped around Toronto by a group of Somali men involved in the drug trade. Two Toronto Star reporters have viewed the video three times. It appears to show Ford in a room, sitting in a chair, wearing a white shirt, top buttons open, inhaling from what appears to be a glass crack pipe. Ford is incoherent, trading jibes with an...

<p>NEW YORK (AP) -- A controversial oil pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast "absolutely needs to go ahead," Canada's prime minister said Thursday, and he warned that the oil will be transported through America one way or another.</p> <p>Stephen Harper addressed the Keystone XL project, a flashpoint in the debate over climate change, during a visit to New York City. The long-delayed project carrying oil from Canada's tar sands would need approval from the State Department, and Harper's remarks - with the U.S. ambassador to Canada, David Jacobson, in the audience - were meant to apply some pressure.</p>

An earthquake has struck a wide area west of Ottawa. Earthquakes Canada reports the 4.8 magnitude quake was centred in Braeside, Ont., northwest of the capital. Twitter erupted with reports of buildings shaking in Ottawa for several seconds. The tremor was also felt at least as as far away as Toronto. Ontario Provincial Police in Arnprior, Ont., not far from the epicentre, say they have received no reports of damage.

Talk about a mind meld … a new brew is set to launch and it’s out of this world. It’s called Vulcan Ale, concocted by a trio of Albertans — Star Trek-crazy Canuks — and should land in most Canadian beer/alcohol outlets by early next year. Its official lift-off is slated for Alberta this week. “I’ve lived and breathed Star Trek my entire life, it’s a wonderful show and I guess this is just a way of contributing to the story,” says veterinarian Dr. Richard Weger of Calgary, one of the creators of the ale. “And yes, yes . ....

The Toronto Star has seen the video in question. Much more to come on thestar.com

WARNING: Story contains graphic language MONTREAL - A stolen iPhone and a sex tape that's been circulating for three years has left a young woman's military career in ruins. Alexandra-Kim Martin-Roberge joined the Canadian Forces in May 2009, dreaming of serving in the infantry. One of only two women in the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment, the Quebecer had planned to join the combat mission in Afghanistan. But one indiscretion destroyed her reputation, her self-esteem and her integrity in the eyes of comrades. In 2010, while on a 12-month assignment in Alberta, a fellow soldier stole her smart...

IT'S A SCENE that could be from a '70s horror movie: A wave of ice crystals relentlessly marching towards homes in Minnesota in the United States. The massive ice floes have also destroyed 12 homes and damaged another 15 in Canada, which boarders Minnesota. According to emergency officials, a total of seven homes in Ochre Breach were "literally crushed" by the ice that rose up within minutes pushed by strong winds, Winnepeg Free Press reports. A resident caught footage of a wave of ice that creeped off another lake in Minnesota - as foam froze and was pushed ashore by...

The Conservative government said Tuesday it would boycott a United Nations disarmament conference chaired by Iran — currently targeted by sanctions over its rogue nuclear arms program — on the grounds that it makes a “mockery” of the effort against arms proliferation. It is the latest sign of a new boldness in Canada’s stance against the Islamic Republic. Since late last year, Canada has recalled its diplomats from Tehran, expelled Iran’s from Ottawa, openly called for regime change, condemned next month’s Iranian elections as a “cynical charade,” expanded economic sanctions, and praised Israel for a bombing raid inside Syria against...

Canada has deported to Lebanon a “Palestinian” man who lived in the country for the past 26 years over a 1968 attack on an Israeli airliner, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced Monday, according to the AFP news agency. Issa Mohammad immigrated to Canada using a false alias in 1987, after being convicted by a Greek court of storming a civilian airliner and killing a passenger and later being released from jail in a hostage exchange.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (UPI) -- A man who beheaded a fellow Canadian bus passenger should be allowed to spend more supervised time in the outside world, his treatment team recommends.Two psychiatrists taking care of Vince Li at the Selkirk Mental Health Center told a review board that Li has stopped having hallucinations and has been a model patient, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported. The 45-year-old Li was confined to the center after he was found not criminally responsible for beheading Tim McLean, 22, on a Greyhound bus in July 2008. Li suffers from schizophrenia. Dr. Steven Kremer told the Criminal Code...

The environmentalist activist community has a new Public Enemy No. 1: Keystone XL. That’s the proposed 1,200-mile pipeline linking Canadian oil fields to Texas refineries. The project is up for debate at the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology this week – the latest in what is now a four-year-long national debate on the project. The facts have become nearly smothered by the small but vocal opposition, but the fact is the Keystone XL pipeline offers a safe, efficient and affordable means of transporting the resources our nation needs. Block the Keystone XL pipeline and Americans are going...

LINDSAY, Ont.– Kawartha Lakes police are all abuzz as they investigate the theft of beehives from a producer near Lindsay, Ont., near Peterborough. Eight hives worth about $1,600 disappeared sometime between last Thursday and the weekend.

TORONTO — A Palestinian terrorist who fought the Canadian government’s attempts to expel him for 26 years was finally deported to Lebanon on the weekend aboard a flight chartered by the Canada Border Services Agency. Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced the deportation of Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad, a former Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine member, in Ottawa on Monday. The case of the terrorist known to some as “Triple M” had become symbolic of the flaws in Canada’s immigration system, often cited as an example of the government’s inability to control its own borders. Despite being...

In an interview with the Globe and Mail, former U.S. vice-president Al Gore referred to Canada’s oil and gas riches as a “resource curse” and said the Alberta oilsands add “to the reckless spewing of pollution into the Earth’s atmosphere as if it’s an open sewer.” Gore speaks as winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his efforts to educate the world on climate change. This would be the same Al Gore who recently sold his cable TV network, Current, to al Jazeera for $500 million. Al Jazeera, of course, would be the same network owned by Qatar,...

TORONTO - Peter Worthington, the legendary founding editor of the Toronto Sun, has died. He was 86. One of Canada's most prolific and well-known journalists, Worthington witnessed history unfold during a career that spanned many of the wars, conflicts and seminal news events that shaped the 20th Century. Along with J. Douglas Creighton and Don Hunt, he founded "The Little Paper That Grew" with 60-plus former staffers from the defunct Toronto Telegram. Worthington was admitted to Toronto General Hospital last Thursday and diagnosed with a serious staph infection that compromised his heart, kidneys, and other organs. He passed away around...

A wall of ice that was pushed out of a lake and across snow-covered ground by strong winds has destroyed 12 homes and damaged 15. The 9m (30ft) high slab took about ten minutes to rise up out of the water and slide across the beach before crashing into properties near the shoreline of Dauphin Lake in Canada. Resident Doug David described how it pushed furniture around and threw his bath into the hallway when it ploughed through his two-storey home, propelled by 55mph gusts in Ochre Beach, Manitoba. The wall of ice destroyed 12 homes in CanadaThe wall of...

For a man with a carbon footprint the size of a dwarf planet, Al Gore takes the hypocrite's cake for his ignorant statement that there is "no such thing as ethical oil." He was in Canada this week to sell his new book, of course, so what better way to get media attention than to insult both the host country and one of its major resources? If you want to know the name of his book, look it up. We're not going to shill for him, even if he is a former vice president of the United States as well...

It's a good bet the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has never investigated such a bizarre air accident. On Friday, an airborne car crashed near Ellison Elementary School in Vernon, B.C., after the parachute it uses to stay afloat collapsed. The pilot and a passenger were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, the RCMP told Global News. The Maverick LSA Flying Car was made in the Florida by I-TEC and is certified by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. On its site, I-TEC says the powered parachute's "design has been developed as an easy-to-operate – air, land, and snow craft....

Famed Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz ranks Sen. Ted Cruz among the school’s smartest students, adding that the Canada-born Texan can run for president in 2016. Cruz was a “terrific student,” Dershowitz told The Daily Caller. “He was always very active in class, presenting a libertarian point of view. He didn’t strike me as a social conservative, more of a libertarian.” “He had brilliant insights and he was clearly among the top students, as revealed by his class responses,” Dershowitz added. Dershowitz also gave a high estimate of Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren — who has decidedly different political...

A Canadian couple are coining it in after changing the name of their breakfast cereal to 'Holy Crap'. Brian and Corin Mullins developed their gluten-free, vegan, organic cereal to address Mr Mullins' allergies. It was originally called 'Hapi Food' cereal and sold only at the Sechelt Farmers Market on the Sunshine Coast, British Columbia. But after one of their very first customers said: "Holy Crap... this is amazing!", they changed the name to Holy Crap. Sales increased 1000% - from ten bags a day to over one hundred.

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2013/tunisian-man-charged-with-visa-fraud-related-to-terrorism-intended-to-remain-in-u.s.-to-facilitate-an-act-of-international-terrorism Tunisian Man Charged with Visa Fraud Related to Terrorism, Intended to Remain in U.S. to Facilitate an Act of International Terrorism U.S. Attorney’s Office May 09, 2013 Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; George Venizelos, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); and Raymond W. Kelly, the Police Commissioner of the city of New York (NYPD), today announced the unsealing of charges against Ahmed Abassi, a Tunisian citizen, for...

The recent mass shootings in Connecticut and Colorado have stirred considerable discussion and action about gun laws, as well as boosting firearms sales. A rush to action is often not the wisest move on such a complex subject, for as criminologist Dr. Gary Mauser of Vancouver, British Columbia observes, “gun laws are typically passed during periods of fear and/or political instability,” which leads to “the slippery slope of gun control,” which is based on emotional reactions rather than solid research.Dr. Mauser holds joint U.S. and Canadian citizenship and has taught at Simon Fraser for some 35 years. He has lectured...

The Canadian Coast Guard is also designing a new polar-class icebreaker, the CCGS John G. Diefenbaker, to replace its existing heavy icebreaker, the Louis S. St-Laurent (pictured), which is due to be retired in 2017.The Harper government is going to have to decide whether resupplying Canada’s navy or Arctic sovereignty is more important thanks to a looming collision at a Vancouver shipyard. The Royal Canadian Navy is designing new joint support ships to replace its 50-year-old resupply vessels, which were supposed to have been retired in 2012 and have become environmentally unsound and prohibitively expensive to maintain. The Canadian Coast...

Iran's Visual Media Institute in collaboration with the American-Canadian company Reel Knights Productions are producing the movie "Airbus"; a movie about the Iran Air Flight 655 , which was shot down by the U.S.S. Vincennes over the Persian Gulf on July 3, 1988.

Energy companies are lining up for their shot to drill in the Dakotas and Montana after a new government report revealed that a massive geological formation stretching across the states contains twice the oil and three times the amount of natural gas than was originally believed. While the new estimate is drawing smaller companies to the game, the larger players like Schlumberger, Halliburton and Continental Resources are pushing forward with ambitious multi-year plans to stake their claim in the industry. Continental recently announced a five-year plan to triple its production by 2017. The company’s growth is based on success in...

Terrorist William Plotnikov carries weapons in this undated photo released by Dagestani branch of the Russian Federal Security Service. Canadian jihadist William Plotnikov told Russian officials about American Tameraln Tsarnaev during interrogations two years ago. The Boston Herald reported: A slain Canadian jihadi gave Russian counter-terrorism agents the tip that put alleged Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev on their radar two years ago, Bay State U.S. Rep. William R. Keating confirmed yesterday — raising questions about whether Tsarnaev’s direct link to the known militant was ever passed on to the FBI or local authorities. Keating told the Herald yesterday his...

When Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced Canada would not be spending time and money pandering to despotic regimes in order to re-win a seat on the UN’s Security Council, the NDP once again displayed its abject ignorance of international reality. Canada’s next move should be to get out of this expensive and despicable club of dictators and fools altogether, and let the veto powers of Russia, China and the United States continue to do as they want. Canada’s principled voice only brings us grief. Because of Canada’s staunch support of Israel, for example, a pack of disgruntled Arab states...

TIMMINS -- A city employee who was drunk and sipping vodka from a thermos while operating a backhoe has lost his job, his driver’s licence, and is going to jail for 30 days. Richard Page, 56, who had worked for the City of Timmins for more than 24 years, was told in provincial court Tuesday he was lucky he didn’t kill anybody. “This piece of machinery weighs 10 times more than a small car and the accused was speeding,” Assistant Crown Attorney Wayne O’Hanley told the court. “This is beyond the pale,” said Judge Ralph Carr. “This is outrageous behaviour...

For seven minutes, five Dagestan rebels spoke into a video camera about killing infidels and how the “good deeds” they were doing would absolve them of “700 sins” committed during their lifetimes. Filmed by a Canadian jihadist fighter before he was killed by Russian security forces, the video offers a disturbing glimpse of the fanaticism of the rebels who may have inspired Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Tsarnaev does not appear in the footage, which was obtained by the National Post. But it was recorded and narrated by William Plotnikov, a Canadian whose alleged links to Tsarnaev are now under...

Straddling the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary, the fast-growing city of Lloydminster is surrounded by heavy-oil reserves. Oil field servicing jobs or work at the Husky upgrader is plentiful. Three hotels are under construction, as well as a mall and restaurants. But business owner and Lloydminster Mayor Jeff Mulligan said the city’s expansion plans would be diminished without temporary foreign workers – accounting for up to one in 10 Lloydminster residents – and that the federal government’s move this week to tighten rules in bringing them is an overreaction that will hurt the local hospitality and food services sectors. “It would create a...

Setback leaves Royal Canadian Navy with just one fully operational subCBC News has learned there is more trouble for Canada's fleet of used British submarines. The Royal Canadian Navy has confirmed that HMCS Windsor – fresh from a $209 million refit – is unable to perform as expected because of a broken mission-critical diesel generator. "We have restricted her in range of operations and her endurance," Captain Luc Cassivi, director of Canada's submarine force told CBC in an interview. That means that the Windsor will only be able to operate in Canadian coastal waters until the diesel generator – a...

Oops! A casting call for a new host of a children's program on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the taxpayer supported, government-owned television and radio network of Canada, accidentally told the truth, when it specified "any race except Caucasian." See for yourself: Adrain Humphries of the National Post reports: A casting call to hire a new CBC host that specifically said white people need not apply has been withdrawn, with the casting agent offering apologies for the mistake. The original ad for the host of a children's show, posted on the casting agency's website under a CBC logo and on Craigslist,...

Anti-Semitic incidents in Canada rose by 3.7 percent in 2012, and Holocaust denial rose 77 percent, revealed the Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents released by the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada. According to the audit, there were 1,345 anti-Semitic incidents in Canada in 2012, up from 1,297 in 2011. …

Three U.S. lawmakers have launched a bid to scrap the “dysfunctional” binational agency that has overseen operation of the Peace Bridge between Ontario and New York for nearly a century, part of the escalating fallout from a dispute over planned improvements to the U.S. approach to the crossing that has pitted Canadian board members against their American counterparts. The Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority — commonly known as the Peace Bridge Authority — and the key international link it has administered since 1923 have been hailed as symbols of the enduring friendship between the U.S. and Canada after...

SNIPPET: "The Ottawa Muslim Women's Organization (OMWO) holds its 12th Annual Festival of Friendship Dinner Sunday evening." SNIPPET: "The keynote speaker will be Dr. Ingrid Mattson, Chair in Islamic Studies at Huron University College in London, Ontario, an institutional affiliate of the University of Western Ontario. Mattson, a convert from Christianity to Islam, was president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). The United States government designated ISNA an unindicted co-conspirator in the successful Holy Land Foundation terror-funding prosecution. ISNA is included in a key Muslim Brotherhood document as one of the "organizations of our friends." Other evidence abounds...

OTTAWA - Omar Khadr’s legal team will “absolutely” move to appeal his convictions of murder and terrorism within the month, his Canadian lawyer confirmed Saturday. Edmonton-based lawyer Dennis Edney said Khadr, who pleaded guilty in 2010 to charges including murder, spying and terrorism, will soon file an appeal to a U.S. civilian federal court that has already tossed out two Guantanamo military tribunal convictions. Khadr, 26, struck a plea deal in 2010 that led to him being sentenced to eight years in prison for five war crimes, including the murder of U.S. special forces medic Christopher Speer in a firefight...

Almost 150 years before the rail corridor between Toronto and New York City became the centrepiece to an alleged plot by Islamic terrorists to derail a VIA Rail train, it was the staging ground to terrorism of a different kind: An 1864 hatched-in-Canada conspiracy to burn down Manhattan and change the course of the American Civil War. But it would not be sharp-eyed Mounties or an alert Imam that would thwart this 19th century bid at cross-border sabotage — but the “bungling manner” of the Toronto-based men tasked with carrying it out. It was among “the most fiendish and inhuman...

It’s not exactly news that Canada ranks among the world's top five energy producers. Currently, it is the third largest gas producer and holds the third-largest proven oil reserves. What is new, however, is that Canada for the first time last year became the top destination for Chinese investments abroad, beating out its southern neighbor, the US, the world’s biggest economy. While Chinese firms spent more than $20 billion in Canada—almost all of it in the energy sector—the US received just more than $10 billion, according to finance data specialist Dealogic. … In contrast to Canada’s traditional stance of openness...

Energy: As the EPA snipes at the State Department's approval, Canada's natural resource minister says failure to approve the pipeline would seriously jeopardize our energy relationship and do nothing to save the earth. Joe Oliver, not amused by the continued delays in perhaps the most shovel-ready project since the pyramids, said Wednesday that rejection by the U.S. of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline "would represent a serious reversal in our long-standing energy relationship." This critical energy infrastructure project is also perhaps the most studied and approved. After a reroute at the behest of environmentalists allegedly concerned about the sensitive Ogallala...