Alberta murderer gets Canada's stiffest prison term since the death penalty was repealed

   Canada column for Sunday, Sept. 15/13

   THE CANADIAN REPORT

   (c) By Jim Fox

   The toughest prison sentence since Canada’s last execution was given to an Alberta armored car guard who shot four of his fellow workers, three fatally.

   Travis Baumgartner, 22, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 40 years.

   Associate Chief Justice John Rooke called it an “unspeakable, outrageous, cowardly and cold-blooded crime . . . all with the simple motive of robbery.”

   A new federal law allows consecutive parole ineligibility periods in multiple murders instead of the previous maximum of 25 years.

   The death penalty was repealed in 1962 and the judge in this case could have imposed a parole wait of up to 75 years.

   Rooke said Baumgartner showed “absolutely no compassion for life,” and shot the workers in the back of the head and ambushed a fourth guard waiting outside in a truck.

   They were filling a cash machine at the University of Alberta campus in Edmonton.

   Baumgartner pleaded guilty to murdering Brian Ilesic, 35, Eddie Rejano, 39, and Michelle Shegelski, 26, and the attempted murder of Matthew Schuman, 26.

   He was arrested in British Columbia at the Canada-U.S. border carrying $400,000 in cash the next day.

   (For more Canadian news of the week, click "Read More" below)

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Two Canadian warships back in British Columbia for repairs after a collision in the Pacific

   Canada column for Sunday, Sept. 8/13

   THE CANADIAN REPORT

   (c) By Jim Fox

   The Royal Canadian Navy has ordered an inquiry into what caused the collision of two warships in the Pacific.

   Something went “dramatically wrong” during a routine training exercise involving the HMCS Algonquin and HMCS Protecteur, said Commodore Bob Auchterlonie.

   It happened during a towing exercise while en route to Hawaii, with the Algonquin bearing the brunt of the damage.

   It had a large gash in the hangar along the port side while the Protecteur had damage to its front end.

   “There is an inherent risk of ships operating together at sea in close proximity, but this sort of incident I've not come across in my career,” Auchterlonie said.

   There were no injuries among the 300 sailors on board each of the ships that have returned to Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt, near Victoria, for repairs.

   The incident has compromised Canada’s naval readiness on the West Coast as a third ship, the frigate HMCS Winnipeg, was rammed by an American fishing trawler last spring and is still out of service.

(To view more of the Canadian news roundup, click "Read More" below)

Canadian senator resigns and repays $231,649 in "improper" expense claims

   Canada column for Sunday, Sept. 1/13

   THE CANADIAN REPORT

   (c) By Jim Fox

   Mac Harb, one of four senators accused of submitting improper expense claims, has resigned and paid back $231,649 to the Canadian government.

   The veteran Liberal politician refunded all of the living-related expenses in question in a scandal that has reopened a debate of whether to abolish the non-elected Senate.

   “My dispute with the Senate committee on Internal Economy made working effectively in the Senate unrealistic,” he said.

   The Mounties continue to investigate Harb’s expenses concerning compensation paid because he said his main residence was outside the capital region.

   Attorney Paul Champ said an independent audit did not determine that Harb violated any rules but the rules themselves weren’t clear.

   Harb, 59, could have remained in the Senate until age 75 and was earlier a Member of Parliament for 15 years.

   Three other senators named in the inappropriate claims’ audits are also being investigated by the police.

   Mike Duffy has paid back $90,172 while Pamela Wallin has returned $38,369 and must repay another $100,000 for improper travel expenses and Patrick Brazeau has been asked to pay back $48,745.

 (For more Canadian news of the week, click Read More)

Canada's Conservative government presses the reset key by taking a break

   Canada column for Sunday, Aug. 25/13

   THE CANADIAN REPORT

   (c) By Jim Fox

   Canada’s government is taking a time-out as Prime Minister Stephen Harper prepares to lead his Conservative party into the next election.

   Harper said his decision to prorogue, or suspend, the current session of Parliament until mid-October is to prepare a new economy-focused agenda.

   The action effectively ended the parliamentary session and killed legislative bills not yet enacted to await a new direction for governing.

   By pressing the reset button, Harper is buying time to deal with stalled political support after a recent shuffling of Cabinet positions and to prepare for his fifth election campaign as leader.

   In the election, expected in 2015, Harper will face a reinvigorated opposition with new leaders – Justin Trudeau for the Liberals and Thomas Mulcair of the New Democratic Party.

   The break also comes when the government deals with the Senate expense-claim scandal.

   Former Conservative Senator Pamela Wallin, now an Independent and Harper appointee, has been told to pay back $138,970 for ineligible travel expense claims.

   The Mounties are investigating Wallin’s claims and those of senators Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy and Mac Harb.

   (For more news of the week from Canada, click "Read more")

Senator's "questionable" travel expenses being investigated

   Canada column for Sunday, Aug. 18/13

   THE CANADIAN REPORT

   (c) By Jim Fox

   The Mounties are now investigating Senator Pamela Wallin’s “questionable” travel expense claims amounting to more than $140,000.

   Wallin, a former TV broadcaster named to the Senate in 2009 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said it was a “fundamentally flawed and unfair” audit of her claims.

   A former Canadian consul general to New York, Wallin has been told to pay back tens of thousands of dollars plus interest from among $321,000 in expenses under review.

   The audit, which cost taxpayers $126,998, flagged $121,348 in inappropriate expenses and called for further review of nearly $21,000 in additional claims.

   “I never intended to seek, nor sought, reimbursement for travel expenses in any situation where I did not believe such a claim was proper," she said.

   “Where I made mistakes, I have already paid money back (amounting to $38,000),” said Wallin, a former Conservative senator who is now an Independent.

   Former TV news broadcaster, Senator Mike Duffy, who also left the Conservative caucus and became an Independent, has repaid $90,000 in disallowed claims through a “loan” from former Harper chief of staff Nigel Wright.

   The Mounties are also looking at Duffy’s claims while audits showed improper housing claims by Senators Patrick Brazeau and Mac Harb.

(For more news of the week, click)

Huge python that killed two boys was being kept illegally, New Brunswick authorities say

   Canada column for Sunday, Aug. 11/13

   THE CANADIAN REPORT

   By Jim Fox

   New Brunswick authorities say a pet store owner was illegally keeping a 15-foot-long African rock python that killed two children.

   The snake managed to squeeze out of its enclosure and smother Connor Barthe, 6, and his brother Noah, 4, who were sleeping in an apartment in Campbellton.

   The 100-pound snake escaped from its glass tank and made its way into the living room where the boys were during a sleepover with the store owner’s son.

   They were in the apartment above Reptile Ocean, an exotic pet store, owned by the friend’s father, Jean-Claude Savoie.

   Police said he had taken the boys to farm before the sleepover and it is suspected the snake was attracted by animal scents on their clothing.

   The snake has been euthanized and other animals, including four large alligators, six crocodiles, tortoises, turtles and snakes, were seized and sent to Magnetic Hill Zoo in Moncton and the Indian River Reptile Zoo near Peterborough.

   Mountie Sgt. Alain Tremblay said preliminary results of autopsies showed the boys were asphyxiated.

   “We recognize that this has touched the hearts of people across the world and that people want to know how this could have happened,” he added.

(For more Canadian news of the week, click)

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Proposed pipeline would ship Alberta oil to Canada and U.S. east-coast ports and overseas

   Canada column for Sunday, Aug. 4/13

   THE CANADIAN REPORT

   (c) By Jim Fox

   TransCanada Corp. plans to ship western Canadian oil to east coast markets in Canada and the United States through a proposed new pipeline.

   The company announced the $12-billion project as environmental protests and U.S. political delays continue to stall its proposed Keystone XL pipeline to carry crude to Texas from Alberta.

   The Calgary-based company said the Energy East pipeline would deliver up to 1.1-million barrels of crude oil a day to Quebec by late 2017 and to New Brunswick a year later.

   Plans call for converting a portion of TransCanada's underused natural gas main line to ship the oil to near the Quebec-Vermont border from Alberta.

   There would be new pipe built to Saint John, New Brunswick to feed Irving Oil's to-be-expanded refinery and shipped overseas to energy-hungry markets such as India.

   It would also allow shipments to refineries along the U.S. eastern seaboard, an 800,000-barrel-a-day market, as well as to Europe.

   TransCanada chief executive Russ Girling called it “historic” for the company and Canada, comparing it to construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Trans-Canada Highway and the company's cross-country natural gas mainline.

   The project will free eastern Canadian refineries from expensive oil imports from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Libya.

   Environmentalists say they plan to challenge the proposal that requires Canadian government regulatory approval.

   More news of the week . . . click below