The next prime minister of Canada could be in a position to appoint four Supreme Court of Canada justices.

The next prime minister of Canada could be in a position to appoint four Supreme Court of Canada justices.



The nine-member court's mandatory retirement age is 75, and four will reach this milestone by the end of 2015. Morris J. Fish will be the first to turn 75 on November 16, 2013.



Ian Binnie and Louis LeBel will be 75 in 2014, and Marshall Rothstein reaches that age on December 25, 2015.



For years, conservatives have wanted to rein in the Supreme Court of Canada, which has issued numerous decisions over the years that have enraged right wingers.



Those rulings include striking down Canada's abortion law, "reading in" sexual orientation to the list of equality rights guaranteed under Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and requiring that the Crown provide full disclosure to the defence in criminal cases.



In 2000, University of Calgary professors Ted Morton (later Alberta's finance minister) and Rainer Knopff wrote a book called The Charter Revolution & The Court Party, which alleged that "university-based intellectuals" had embarked on an "astoundingly successful strategy" to promote an activist, rights-based agenda through the courts.



In their book, they took special aim at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, and the LGBT advocacy group Egale Canada for the role they played in advancing legal rights for minorities and women.



"Gay advocates (and postmodernists generally) view law as an important formative pedagogical force," Morton and Knopff wrote. "Just as the traditional family has been constructed by the law, so changing the law can deconstruct it."



Morton and Knopff, along with future prime minister Stephen Harper, were among six Albertans who signed a famous "firewall letter" in 2001 to then-premier Ralph Klein. The letter called on Alberta to withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan, create a provincial police force, and assert full provincial control over health care.



Meanwhile in late 2006, the national vice president of REAL Women of Canada, a right-wing women's group, told the Georgia Straight that her organization was considering joining other groups in a constitutional challenge to curtail the powers of the federal government.



At the time, Gwendolyn Landolt declined to identify which organizations were working together on this issue.



She specifically objected to the federal government funding women's shelters, daycare, and cultural activities, which she claimed were exclusively provincial domains under the British North America Act.



If such a challenge is ever filed, it will take years to wind its way through the courts.



It's likely that whoever is appointed to serve on the Supreme Court of Canada in the next four years would render a verdict in a case like that.



If Harper were to win a majority government on May 2 and later stack the court with judges who share the views of right wingers such as Morton, Knopff, and Landolt, this could have profound ramifications on the future of Canada.

Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan now 155 Sunday.

The death toll among Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan rose to 155 Sunday when 24-year-old Corporal Yannick Scherrer of Montreal was killed by a roadside bomb.




Cpl. Scherrer was on foot patrol near Nakhonay, southwest of Kandahar City, when he died.



He was a member of the 1st Battalion, Royal 22nd Regiment, based in CFB Valcartier in Quebec.



It was his first tour of duty in Afghanistan, an uncle of the slain soldier confirmed in a brief telephone Interview. The uncle declined to elaborate, saying any further information should come from Cpl. Scherrer's father, who was not immediately available.




Cpl. Scherrer was the first Canadian to die in Afghanistan since Dec. 18, when Cpl. Steve Martin was killed, also felled by an IED.



Cpl. Sherrer was on a security patrol with the Afghan National Army when he was killed Sunday.



In a statement issued in Kandahar Monday, Brigadier-General Dean Milner, Canada's top soldier in Afghanistan, expressed condolences on behalf of the military, adding that “Canadians can be proud of the progress our soldiers have accomplished for the people of Kandahar province.”



Prime Minister Stephen Harper also voiced sympathy for the corporal's relatives and friends.



Nakhonay, a war-battered village of about 1,000 people, has been a hot spot in counterinsurgency efforts. At least five of the 17 Canadians killed in the past year in Afghanistan died in Nakhonay, and many others have been injured there.



Canada's 2,800 troops stationed in Kandahar will end combat operations by the end of July, but up to 950 troops and support staff will remain in Afghanistan on the training mission until 2014.



Since the Canadian mission in Afghanistan began in 2002, the great majority of deaths have resulted from what are termed improvised explosive devices, which commonly take the form of bombs concealed beneath the surface of roads or hidden by other means.



Four Canadian civilians have also been killed: a diplomat, a reporter and two aid workers.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May kicks off her national election campaign

Elizabeth May will seek seat in B.C. riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands

Green Party leader Elizabeth May kicks off her national election campaign bright and early as the sun rose at Sea Cider Farm and Ciderhouse in near Victoria, British Columbia.







SAANICH, BRITISH COLUMBIA—The Green Party’s Elizabeth May, the only party leader without a seat in the House of Commons, said she would focus her campaign on once again trying to become the country’s first elected Green Member of Parliament.



In the Greens campaign launch in the pastoral setting of a cider house winery at sunrise, May set out a two-pronged message that her party could change the negativity coming out of Ottawa and that voters on B.C.’s west coast could make history by voting her into a federal seat.



“Across Canada, Canadians look at Parliament and think we’ve had enough, we have enough of attack ads,” said May to a crowd of about 250 supporters who arrived before dawn. “We cannot stand by and allow our democracy to be abused.”



Residents who choose not to vote because of the negative ads are only rewarding the people whose cynical tactics have been devised to keep voters at home, said May, encouraging voters, especially young voters, to vote for the Green Party.



May, who lives in the riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands after moving to the west coast in 2009, had unsuccessfully run for a seat in the 2008 election when she faced off against Defence Minister Peter MacKay, in a Nova Scotia riding and in an earlier by-election in London, Ontario in 2006.



In this campaign, she is trying to unseat Conservative Gary Lunn, the current Minister of State for Sport who first won his seat in 1997.



Hampered by less funding than the Conservatives, the Bloc, the Liberals and the NDP, May said the Green Party will run a campaign using social media tools. She will do whistle-stops by rail for some cross-country campaigning but will spend most of her time in the riding, a vast area where some parts are reachable only by float plane or by ferry.



May will have a tough fight for a seat in the diverse Saanich-Gulf Islands riding which is located on Vancouver Island and on islands located between Vancouver and Victoria. Lunn won handily with 43 per cent of the vote in 2008.



“We are in one of the greenest ridings in the country,” said riding resident and Green Party supporter David Haughton who showed up at the campaign launch. “I think most Canadians would like to see a Green Party MP and we can do that here in this riding by sending Elizabeth to Parliament.”



In 2008, nearly 1 million Canadians voted for the Green Party, slightly less than 7 per cent of the popular support.



The Green candidate in 2008 won about 10 per cent of the vote in the riding with much of the environmentalist vote cast for a well-known Liberal candidate who took 39 per cent of the vote.



While the Gulf Islands may be territory where May could grab votes away from Lunn, the mainland seaside community of Sidney in the riding remains staunchly Conservative, according to a campaign worker for Lunn.



The volunteer, who asked not to be identified, showed polling numbers to the Toronto Star indicating that the riding’s heavily populated areas on the mainland of Vancouver Island will vote Conservative.



“This remains an area with many retirees who moved out here from Alberta. They are going to stick with the Conservatives,” said the Conservative volunteer.



May is counting on voter cynicism to make inroads into the riding and promises that the Green Party will not use negative ads to divide Canadians. The party is launching what May calls a space for other parties to agree on the things they have in common.



“Let’s replace fear and mistrust and cynicism with hope and compassion,” said May. “Let’s replace self-interest with the common interest of service for the common good.”



May said there are things in common that all the parties can agree to and she thanked Prime Minister Stephen Harper for calling an election on May 2, a strategic date for her which has already become part of her slogan.



“He has given me a gift,” said the Green Party leader. “In May, vote May.”

another minority: EKOS.

The Liberal Party that pushed the government to defeat Friday trails the Conservatives by seven points as it heads into an election, according to a new EKOS poll.



Prime Minister Stephen Harper said after the non-confidence vote he would meet with the Governor General on Saturday, setting in motion a campaign that would end at the polls in May.



The final survey by the polling company before the election call suggests the Conservatives have the support of 35.3 per cent of voters and the Liberals 28.1 per cent. The poll suggests the NDP have 14.2 per cent support, the Green Party 10.6 per cent and the Bloc Quebecois 9.7 per cent.



Voters were asked to indicate what party they would vote for if an election were held the day after they were surveyed.



The party standings in the survey are similar to what they were the last time Canadians went to the ballot box in 2008, according to a report accompanying the poll results.



"While the Liberals and Greens are poised to make some minor gains at the expense of the Conservatives and the NDP, there is little chance that we will see any major changes in the balance of power," the EKOS analysis said. "At these numbers, the Conservatives will retain their status as a minority government and it is doubtful that the Liberals will gain enough seats to form a legitimate coalition with the NDP, let alone the government."



The survey of 2,503 people was conducted between March 17 and March 24 and has a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points, 19 times out of 20.



Compared to an EKOS survey done the week before, the new poll has the Conservatives up slightly from 34.1 per cent support.



Between March 10 and March 16, the Liberals captured 25.7 per cent support, and the NDP's support dipped from 16.4 per cent. The EKOS poll suggests the Liberals are stronger than the Conservatives among younger voters, while the Conservatives are ahead of the Liberals with seniors.



"These age differences do not bode well for the Liberal Party in terms of voter efficiency, as younger voters are consistently less likely to vote," according to the firm's analysis.



Close to 42 per cent of respondents said the Conservative government was going in the right direction, while almost 48 per cent said they were headed in the wrong direction.



The analysis said the Conservatives have their support base locked in and have little room to grow.



When asked which party they would choose as their second choice, 20.4 per cent of respondents said the NDP and 15 per cent said the Liberals. The Conservatives are the second choice of 9.4 per cent of those surveyed.

Fewer Canadians trust the Conservative government than they did a year ago, according to a new Nanos Research public opinion poll.

Fewer Canadians trust the Conservative government than they did a year ago, according to a new public opinion poll.




A survey conducted by Nanos Research for CTV and The Globe and Mail found that 41 per cent of people said they trusted Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government less than they did one year ago.



Nearly half, 49 per cent, trusted it about the same amount, and six per cent said they had more trust for the Tories. Another four per cent were unsure.



Even among the Conservative voters contacted by the pollsters, more than a quarter (26.2 per cent) said they had less trust for the government.



"Even among core Conservative supporters, there's been an erosion of trust," Nik Nanos told CTV News Thursday night.



Trust in the government fell most sharply in Quebec, where 49.3 per cent of respondents said they trusted it less, and in Atlantic Canada, at 47.9 per cent.



With an election call widely expected within days, the poll also asked people whether it was more important to respondents to have a government working to manage the economy, or one with a good record of accountability and transparency.



Respondents to the survey were evenly split on the two priorities, with 48 per cent preferring accountability and 47 per cent leaning towards good economic management.



"It looks like one of those two issues is going to be the ballot box question," said Nanos.



"Depending on how these numbers play out, this could be a leading indicator as to who will have the upper hand. If it's about jobs, the Conservatives will have the upper hand. If it's about ethics and accountability, then the opposition parties will be able to take a run at the government."



Only five per cent of those surveyed were unsure which government priority they preferred.



Support for a government focusing on the economy was highest in Quebec (52.4 per cent) and transparency was most popular in the Prairie provinces (56.1 per cent).



The Nanos researchers contacted 1,216 randomly selected adults across the country by telephone, between March 12 and March 15.



The poll is considered accurate within 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.



The Conservatives have presented themselves as the top stewards of Canada's economy, ahead of Tuesday's budget and a potential election trigger expected Friday, as MPs respond to a report that found the government in contempt.



The Opposition parties have concentrated their attacks on the government over its spending and ethics.



A Nanos poll released last week found that 30 per cent of Canadians saw the Conservatives as the most trusted in terms of economic policy. Only 21 per cent chose the Liberals, and 16 per cent the NDP.



But 25 per cent of those surveyed were unsure or would not answer that question.

Bruce Carson ex-adviser to Canada PMO has chequered past!.

Bruce Carson went bankrupt, with thousands of dollars of debt, before becoming one of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s closest advisers.




Documents obtained by The Canadian Press show Mr. Carson declared bankruptcy in 1993, then was hounded by creditors again in 2002 – shortly before going to work as then-opposition leader Harper’s director of policy and research.



He declared a debt of $103,359 in the 1990s, and $369,000 nine years ago, the records show. No further information is given in the bankruptcy documents.




Mr. Carson – who is being investigated by the RCMP over allegations of illegal lobbying – said his 2002 money woes ended as a “commercial proposal,” which lets a person or business pay back creditors, generally over an extended period.



“The second was not a bankruptcy but a proposal to creditors which I made and it was accepted,” he said in an e-mail Wednesday. He would not comment further.



The Prime Minister’s Office also declined comment.



Mr. Carson has a chequered past. He was disbarred by the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1981, and served time in jail after pleading guilty to two counts of defrauding clients.



Minutes from a July 16, 1981, meeting of the society's discipline committee shed light on why Carson was disbarred.



“He had forged the signature of the president of a corporation and misappropriated over $15,000 belonging to the corporation for which he acted,” the document says.



“[He] forged the signature of a client from whom he misappropriated over $4,000; and misappropriated $4,900 belonging to another client.”



Mr. Carson reinvented himself as a constitutional expert and became a political insider, working under Progressive Conservative prime ministers Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney, as well as Ontario Premier Mike Harris, before going to work for Harper when he became leader of the opposition.



Mr. Carson remained with Harper after the Conservatives won the 2006 election. Around political Ottawa, he was known as “the Mechanic” for his ability to fix tricky situations.



Senate Majority Leader Marjory LeBreton underscored Mr. Carson's worth to Mr. Harper's office during a November, 2006 Senate debate, calling him “a valued employee of the Prime Minister's Office.”



Mr. Carson left the PMO in 2008 to head the Canada School of Energy and Environment, in Calgary.



He later accompanied then-environment minister Jim Prentice to an April, 2009 meeting with the U.S. energy secretary, and he was part of Canadian government's delegation at the Copenhagen climate summit that year.



But the 65-year-old Carson apparently yearned for his old life. Those who know him say he lobbied cabinet ministers last summer to use their influence with the prime minister to get him appointed as Harper's chief of staff. That job ultimately went to Bay Street executive Nigel Wright.



Mr. Carson worked at the Calgary-based think-tank until he took a leave of absence from the job last week.



That abrupt departure came after an investigation by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network said Carson was allegedly lobbying Indian Affairs and the minister's office on behalf of an Ottawa-based water company that employed his girlfriend.



Michele McPherson, 22, stood to benefit from a plan to sell water-filtration systems to reserves with water-quality problems, APTN reported.



According to the network, McPherson signed a contract last Aug. 31 that would entitle her to 20 per cent of the project's gross sales in a venture Mr. Carson was pushing.



The company, H20 Global Group, released a statement Wednesday saying Mr. Carson never did any lobbying for the company.



“Mr. Bruce Carson has never lobbied for the company and has simply provided advice to assist us in understanding the process.”



The company added it cancelled McPherson's 20-per-cent contract last month.



Mr. Carson has said little since the first APTN story aired.



Businessman Patrick Hill incorporated a business called H20 Water Professionals on July 14. McPherson joined the company last year. On Oct. 22, the company formed another entity called H2O Global Group to deal with Indian Affairs on the First Nations water project.



Property records show Mr. Carson and Ms. McPherson paid $389,500 in December for a house in Mountain, Ont., about an hour's drive south of Ottawa. APTN also reported that Ms. McPherson drives a black Mercedes SUV that Mr. Carson purchased.



The Prime Minister's Office has called in the RCMP over the allegations in the APTN reports. The matter was also referred to the office of the conflict of interest and ethics commissioner and the commissioner of lobbying.



A spokesman for Environment Minister Peter Kent said Mr. Carson broached the topic of water issues in First Nations communities when he met the minister last month.



But the spokesman added Mr. Carson wasn't lobbying the minister on any company's behalf.



Before that, Mr. Carson met senior political staff in the office of Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan on Jan. 11 of this year to discuss a First Nations water filtration project and H20 Professionals, officials in Mr. Duncan's office said.



Mr. Duncan's office said the January meeting involved Kym Purchase, the minister's director of policy, and Ted Yeomans, his director of parliamentary affairs.



Mr. Yeomans is a former assistant to MP Pierre Poilievre, Harper's parliamentary secretary.



“Mr. Carson briefed the staff on the proposed water project,” Michelle Yao, Mr. Duncan's director of communications, said in an e-mail. “Staff provided publicly available information to Bruce Carson and recommended he work directly with First Nations.”



Ms. Yao described the meeting as standard practice. “Minister's staff regularly attend meetings with individuals and stakeholders,” she said.



Mr. Carson also met Indian Affairs officials four times between September and December, 2010. The department says it has not awarded any contracts to H20 Global Group, the company Ms. McPherson worked for.

University of Alberta Edmonton students go Google

make the switch and “Go Google” today as the university begins to utilize the Google Apps for Education suite.




“This is a huge project that we need to roll out in a staged fashion. Step one is get all the students switched over correctly,” said Jonathan Schaeffer, the university’s vice provost (information technology). “Students are Internet savvy; they’re leading edge. In many ways, today's students are driving change.”



More than 38,000 students—graduate and undergraduate—are the first to have the new suite available to them.



The U of A announced in December 2010 that it came to an agreement with Google to provide the university’s faculty, staff and students the use of the free education edition of Google Apps. The agreement means the university community will begin using Google mail, calendaring, document preparation and other tools.



“Most students are already living and working in a mobile, web-enabled world,” added Schaeffer. “Nearly all carry a cell phone and within the next five years almost all will carry a smart phone.”



Those students will benefit from the switch, said Joshua LaForge, a fourth-year PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who was part of the Google project’s beta testing group.



“I think if you're a student who mainly uses the webmail interface or is doing a lot of communication from a mobile device, there's a huge benefit to this new system,” he said. “The web interface for Gmail is just one of the best ones out there right now.”



And Gmail allows for larger file attachments (25 megbytes) and more storage space (7.5 gigabytes) than the U of A’s current webmail client, said LaForge. For those who just want their email to be email, the switch to Google shouldn’t cause too many ripples, he added.



“Functionally, the transition was really easy—seamless. Just point Outlook, or whatever you're using for email, at the new service and it just goes. You're probably not going to notice much of a change.”



But, in the testing phase, many of those who were resistant to change ended up embracing it, said Simon Collier, one of the project leads.



“We found a lot of people who had initially planned to stay with their original email client ended up switching over to the web client after a while, because then it's a consistent experience no matter where you are,” he said.



The U of A project team ran the project using the communication and collaboration tools in the Google Apps suite, to put the utilities to the test, said Collier. The team found that the Google video chat allowed for impromptu meetings that included team members at different U of A campuses, and even occasionally, different time zones. And Google Docs—the online documents and spreadsheets application—slashed the time needed for larger groups when editing documents.



“Instead of creating a document and passing it around—people making their edits and sending different versions of the document back to the first person—it can all happen at once. What might have taken us days is happening overnight,” he said. “It doesn't matter where you are, and it doesn't matter what time it is. That's transformed the way we do work.”



“This improves the email service for everyone at the U of A,” said Schaeffer. “The move to Google Apps for Education and uAlberta Gmail offer tools for collaboration and communication that the university community will embrace and benefit from.



“We are aiming to be transformational, not just transitional, as we roll out new tools and technologies,” said Schaeffer.