Luka Magnotta had sparked worries among Toronto police

Toronto police saw alleged killer Luka Rocco Magnotta as a growing danger to society months before the grisly slaying of Chinese student Jun Lin in late May, according to correspondence obtained by CBC's the fifth estate.

Magnotta has been charged with first-degree murder in the killing and dismemberment of the Concordia University student in a case that drew international attention. The Toronto-born man pleaded not guilty. His preliminary hearing is slated to begin in March 2013.

Correspondence between the Toronto police and an online group investigating Magnotta, and later obtained by CBC's the fifth estate, shows that a detective expressed concerns about Magnotta nearly three months before Lin's death in Montreal.

"I want to find this guy more than anyone out there," a Toronto police detective told the online activists in one email dated March 9, 2012. "Trust me, I want to bring him before the courts even if just to get him psychiatric help."

Magnotta was never found or questioned by police, until he was arrested in a Berlin cafe on June 4 following a massive global manhunt.

The fifth estate also obtained exclusive interviews with members of the anonymous online group who were tracking Magnotta in late 2010 and notified authorities in early 2011 — more than a year before Lin's death — about their concerns regarding Magnotta.

The Animal Beta Project, an 11-member group of activists who pursue animal abusers, told the fifth estate and Radio-Canada's investigative program Enquete that they began investigating Magnotta in late 2010 after a video was posted on YouTube of someone killing two kittens by putting them in a sealed bag and sucking the air out with a vacuum.

Though the video was quickly removed, word about it spread and soon a hunt began for the man they dubbed the Vacuum Kitten Killer.

One member of the Animal Beta Project, who goes by the online alias Baudi Moovan, saw a post about the video in her Facebook news feed and was spurred to help try to find the killer. She joined a 4,000-strong Facebook group called "Find the Kitten Vacuumer … For Great Justice."

"I saw somebody with a complete lack of empathy," Moovan told the fifth estate's Mark Kelley about the person in the video. "And I saw somebody who wanted attention immediately."

Cat-and-mouse game

Moovan and the other Animal Beta Project members — who conceal their real names and locations because they are still in pursuit of online animal abusers — came to the conclusion that the kitten killer was Magnotta.

Jun Lin was a computer engineering student studying at Montreal's Concordia University when he was killed in late May. (Facebook/Canadian Press)

The group believes that Magnotta himself tipped off the online group by planting comments on message boards that he knew they frequented using a variety of online aliases or "sockpuppet" accounts.

"To him, this was a game," another Animal Beta Project member, who goes by the online alias John Green, told the fifth estate.

"When he initially posted the videos of the kittens in the vacuum bag, the YouTube profile name had 'liked' a video which was the opening credits to the [movie] Catch Me If You Can, which is about a person who is running away from the authorities," said Green. "And so to us, this was a cat-and-mouse game with him."

Green, Moovan and their colleagues began delving into the online trail left by Magnotta. The group was stunned to find dozens of profiles on Facebook, Myspace and Twitter, plus scores of blogs by the alleged killer painting himself as an international playboy escort and porn star. A vast number of aliases were used by Magnotta to act solely as online "fans" of Magnotta, the group says.

In seemingly desperate attempts to achieve fame and recognition, Magnotta auditioned for two reality TV shows, appeared on Naked News and was profiled in the gay bi-weekly Fab magazine. Magnotta had a clear fascination with serial killers, creating rumours he was dating Karla Homolka and then denying them.

Numerous posts appeared in online magazines and diaries about his dysfunctional childhood and struggles with mental illness.

Photo IDs location

The online sleuths suspect Magnotta joined the Facebook group "For Great Justice" under an alias, keeping an eye on the group as members tried to track him down.

The group scrutinized thousands of pictures Magnotta had uploaded to the web.

In early 2011, members of the Animal Beta Project believed they had finally caught a break with a photograph that showed Magnotta holding a cup of coffee inside a shop.

Because the cellphone picture was stamped with GPS locator data, the group was able to identify the location as Toronto's Eaton Centre and the date as Oct. 31, 2010, about a month before the kitten killing video was uploaded to YouTube.

Armed with reams of information about Magnotta and the latest find, the group contacted the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA), which reached out to the Toronto police.

In February 2011, Toronto police opened a file on Magnotta.

Though initially glad their concerns were taken seriously, the online sleuths quickly became frustrated when authorities seemed unable to find Magnotta.

"In our minds, why is it so difficult to find this person?" asked Moovan. "All they have to do is go to their system, type in the name and find them. It boggled us at times."

Authorities contacted again

Then, in late 2011, the kitten killer struck again, posting two new videos: one that showed a person feeding a live kitten to a python and another of a kitten duct-taped to a broom handle and drowned in a bathtub.

Details in this photo helped Animal Beta Project members track Magnotta to Montreal. (Flickr)

The new videos provoked a crisis of conscience among the online group investigating Magnotta.

"When the second set of videos came out again and I turned it on and I watched it, the first thing that came to my mind was 'Catch me if you can.' He was taunting us personally with these videos," says Moovan.

By early 2012, the online investigators had been tracking Magnotta for over a year and had become convinced he would move onto something much worse than killing kittens.

"We were having a conversation with what we believe was a Luka sockpuppet account on a website where videos are hosted," said Moovan. "He said, 'You guys better back off, this guy can snap on a dime and start killing humans.' "

By this spring, the online sleuths had honed their skills in tracking Magnotta down.

Using a recent photo that showed Magnotta posing outside near concrete steps below some distinct street lights, and acting on a tip that Magnotta was in Montreal, the investigators meticulously sifted through Google Street View images of the city's intersections.

The group managed to find the matching intersection in southwest Montreal.

The sleuths again contacted Montreal SPCA and police, pleading with them to act.

CBC News has also learned that the Toronto detective investigating Magnotta warned Montreal police about him months before his arrest in the Lin case.

"I still have the email I sent Montreal PD [police department] stating that yes he was only killing cats right now but that the next would be a human," the detective wrote in an email obtained by the fifth estate.

'Bigger' problem needs change

But in mid-May, someone on the web began promoting and asking questions about a new video called "1 lunatic 1 icepick." There's no evidence the video actually existed at that time.

By May 25, a video with that title appeared on an online gore site. Days later, packages containing a foot and hand arrived at the Conservative and Liberal parties' headquarters in Ottawa. Other body parts later arrived at Vancouver schools and were discovered in Montreal.

Moovan recalled her reaction to the discovery that the online video depicting the murder of Lin was real.

"When I came to the realization it was real, I was utterly devastated," she says.

An international manhunt for Magnotta led police on June 4 to an internet café in Berlin.

Members of the online group wonder if they could've done more to alert authorities, but they also worry about the future.

"When you look at the whole picture of what Luka had done, it's not just that he sucked the air out of a bag, he played with people, he manipulated his image, he was terrorizing people and he was killing defenceless creatures," says Moovan.

"It's not just some person on the internet calling the police and saying, 'Somebody killed a cat.' There's a bigger picture here that I don't think the system itself takes into consideration here and that needs to be changed."

Watch the fifth estate documentary, Hunting Magnotta, Friday. It airs on CBC-TV at 9 p.m. (9:30 in Newfoundland and Labrador).

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Critics ask why Canada learned about spy from U.S.

Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle, who pleaded guilty to espionage, is escorted from provincial court in Halifax. He worked as an intelligence officer in a top secret facility. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)

The news that Sub-Lt Jeffrey Delisle, the Canadian naval officer who pleaded guilty to spying in October, could have been caught earlier — as information from seach warrants obtained by CBC suggests — prompted anger from opposition parties on Parliament Hill on Thursday.

Opposition critics said the revelation that it was the FBI that tipped off the RCMP to suspicions about Delisle, as well as the news that Delisle's security clearance had expired, was disturbing and a "significant breach of security."

Delisle was arrested January 2012 for downloading highly classified documents onto a USB key and passing the information to Russia over a five-year period. He had been working at HMCS Trinity, a top secret naval intelligence facility in Halifax.

The documents were released to the CBC following a court application for three search warrants used to search Delisle's house, car and workplace. The warrants show that in Dec. 2, 2011, the FBI's assistant director sent a letter to the RCMP that implicated a Canadian military officer in espionage and named the officer. That information, however, wasn't given to the Royal Canadian Navy until Dec 20. Delisle wasn't arrested until Jan. 13, more than a month after the FBI warning.

During his time at Trinity, Delisle was going through a bitter marriage breakup and was having financial problems, two factors that would have sounded warning bells in any intelligence officer's security check. But the CBC-obtained documents reveal that Delisle's Level 3 security clearance, the second-highest possible, had not been reassessed when he went to work at Trinity.

'Spycraft 101'

"So what's missing here is some statement from the government recognizing that they had failed to do a proper job, and somehow or other that they are taking this seriously and reacting properly," NDP defence critic Jack Harris said Thursday.

Liberal defence critic John McKay said, "I would hope that [Defence] Minister [Peter] MacKay would have to do some very fast talking to our allies about A, how this happens, and B, that there will be no chance that it ever happens again." McKay added that spotting Delisle should have been "Spycraft 101."

In question period Thursday, Harris asked MacKay what steps he has taken to improve security since last January when Delisle was arrested.

MacKay replied: "The Department of National Defence takes the handling of secure information, secret information very seriously.... This is not something that I or anyone else should be discussing on the floor of the House of Common publicly." MacKay also pointed out that the matter is before the courts.

After question period, Harris said, "The court case is over except for the sentencing. There's no issues to be debated here except what has this government done to assure Canadians, to remind our allies, but to assure Canadians that they've got their act together. He's not saying anything."

Might have been a defector source

Wesley Wark, an intelligence expert at University of Toronto, said in an email that it's possible that "the Americans might have had a defector source of some kind, which is often how these cases are uncovered. It's not particularly surprising that there might have been a delay between the FBI warning and the arrest as steps would have to happen to gather Canadian evidence to lay charges."

However, Wark said he can't understand how Delisle's security clearance was allowed to lapse. "TS [top security] clearances are meant to expire automatically if not renewed after five years. It is pretty hard and fast as any TS holder will tell you. A little lag might be allowed if the renewal was in progress, but not months [long] lag. I always felt that something had gone wrong with the security process in the Delisle case."

Delisle will be sentenced Jan. 12. He could get a life sentence.

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Canadian economy stuck in neutral

Canada's economic expansion slowed to a crawl in the third quarter, growing by 0.1 per cent in the three months ended September and expanding at a pace of less than one per cent for the year as a whole, according to data released today.

Statistics Canada said Friday the country's gross domestic product expanded at a 0.6 per cent annualized pace, down from 0.8 per cent during the second quarter because of less investment by businesses and slumping exports.

For comparison purposes, the U.S. economy is currently expanding at a 2.7 per cent annual pace.

Canadian exports shrank by two per cent during the period, the largest decline since the second quarter of 2009.

Emanuella Enenajor, an economist at CIBC World Markets, says the domestic demand helped offset Canada's weak exports during the quarter.

"Growth in the quarter was almost entirely driven by household consumption," Enenajor wrote in a note.

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Harper's Muskrat Falls announcement clears hurdle

An expected announcement Friday on a federal loan guarantee for the controversial Muskrat Falls plan will clear the final important hurdle to launching the hydroelectric project.

Stephen Harper pledged to support a Muskrat Falls loan guarantee during an election campaign stop in St. John's in 2011. (CBC)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is travelling to Labrador to unveil details of what is expected to be the loan guarantee that he pledged during the 2011 federal election campaign.

The guarantee effectively is the last piece of a complex puzzle that the Newfoundland and Labrador government has been assembling for years to generate power on the Churchill River and launch the $7.4-billion project.

The loan guarantee will substantially lower the costs of borrowing for the project.

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Kathy Dunderdale has said final approval of the guarantee will clear the way for what is called sanctioning of the project, or the formal green light.

But even without the loan guarantee, Newfoundland and Labrador has been plowing ahead with Muskrat Falls, to the consternation of opponents who see the project as financially ruinous or environmentally risky.

Earlier this year, Nalcor — Newfoundland and Labrador's Crown energy corporation — began clearing forests to build roads and infrastructure for the Muskrat Falls site outside Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Nalcor has argued that costs would mount substantially if it waited a year before launching that preliminary work.

It will take several years to dam Muskrat Falls and build a generating station, which will pump out 824 megawatts of power. Much of that will be funnelled by subsea cables from Labrador to Newfoundland, with as much as 40 per cent of the power marked to head to Nova Scotia by an additional set of subsea cables.

Nova Scotia connection vital

Halifax-based Emera Inc. is a partner in the Muskrat Falls project, and will be responsible for marketing its share of the energy.

Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter, right, appeared in St. John's with then Newfoundland and Labrador premier Danny Williams to announce a tentative agreement on Muskrat Falls. (CBC)

Harper and Dunderdale will be joined by Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter. While Nova Scotia is not a partner in Muskrat Falls, Dexter's support has been critical in the development of the project.

Muskrat Falls has come in for steady criticism from a number of groups, some alleging that it has not undergone an independent review through the Public Utilities Board, which ruled this winter it could not proceed because Nalcor had turned over too little information in time for it to meet a government-imposed deadline.

Other concerns have been raised about whether Newfoundland and Labrador, which is poised to launch the most expensive project in its history, can afford the debt load that will come from the project, and whether ordinary ratepayers will in effect be footing the costs of the project.

As well, the leaders of Newfoundland's Liberal and New Democratic parties have threatened to filibuster technical legislation that will need to be introduced to clear the way for Muskrat Falls.

They have also criticized Dunderdale for setting only a couple of hours for formal legislative debate of Muskrat Falls, and at that through a private member's bill.

Cheapest option available: Dunderdale

But Dunderdale, who has said Muskrat Falls has undergone intense scrutiny by experts and the public, has consistently said Muskrat Falls represents the cheapest option to supply power to Newfoundland and Labrador consumers.

The government has launched a public relations campaign to help persuade the public that Muskrat Falls represents a stable source of renewable energy that will be cheaper than relying on alternatives, including burning oil at the Holyrood generating station the government would soon like to decommission.

Muskrat Falls has been more than three decades in the making, and is a key part of what is known as the Lower Churchill energy project. The current plan does not involve another site at Gull Island, which if developed could generate substantially more power.

Interprovincial politics have played a key role in Muskrat Falls, as Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia have partnered to find a way deliver power to other markets while bypassing Quebec.

Newfoundland and Labrador has had a strained relationship with Quebec for decades, due largely to the 65-year contract with Hydro-Quebec over the Churchill Falls generating station. Under that deal, which expires in 2041, Newfoundland and Labrador sells power at a flat, inexpensive rate to Quebec, which has been able to resell the power to other markets while keeping the profits.

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Rob Ford cleared to run in byelection for Toronto mayor

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was cleared today to run again for mayor in a byelection, should one be held ahead of the 2014 municipal election.

Lawyers for Ford, who earlier this week was ordered out of office by an Ontario judge in a conflict of interest case, asked the judge to clarify his ruling to clear up confusion about whether the order bars him as a byelection candidate.

The issue was clarified to lawyers in a conference call on Friday, and clears the way for Ford to re-seek the mayor's chair if the city opts to hold a byelection.

Ford is also appealing the judge's decision in the conflict of interest case in a motion expected to be heard next week.

On Monday morning, Ontario Superior Court Justice Charles T. Hackland ruled that Ford had violated the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act by speaking and participating in a council vote regarding a financial penalty he was ordered to pay after he was found to have violated council's code of conduct by soliciting donations to his football charity using city materials.

Ford was given 14 days to vacate his office.

Following Hackland's decision, the city's solicitor issued a legal opinion, saying she believed Ford was not eligible to run ahead of 2014.

By law, Hackland could have barred Ford from running again for office for a period of up to seven years, but his ruling said Ford was clear to run in 2014.

Ford has said he will seek re-election at the earliest opportunity.

The mayor's press secretary said Ford will not be available to comment Friday about the judge's decision.

Friday's decision will add to what has been a chaotic week at Toronto City Hall, with speculation stirring about who would seek the mayor's chair should Ford be ruled in eligible to run.

There was even speculation that Coun. Doug Ford would run if his brother was ruled ineligible.

The city's budget process got underway this week with heated debate and on Thursday night Rob and Doug Ford got into a yelling match with left-leaning Coun. Adam Vaughan.

More to come

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Injunction against Suncor drug tests upheld on appeal

Suncor Energy has lost an appeal of a temporary injunction that prohibits the start of random drug and alcohol testing on its employees.

The Alberta Court of Appeal turned down the request in a split decision Wednesday after hearing arguments from the oilsands giant.

The ruling means that no testing can take place before the matter is considered by a labour arbitration board. The hearing is scheduled to start on Dec. 10.

Suncor announced in June that it would start the random tests on Oct. 15, 2012.

But that was halted on Oct. 12 after Alberta Court of Queen's Bench Justice Eric Macklin granted a temporary injunction that was requested by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union over concerns about worker privacy.

Suncor asked that the injunction be overturned so the testing program can go ahead. Lawyers told the court that there have been 100 incidents involving drug and alcohol use on the Suncor worksite over the past two years. .

They argue that the tests should be allowed in the interest of safety. There have also been three deaths linked to employee drug and alcohol use since 2000.

But lawyers for the union called the testing an intrusion on the privacy of workers because they have to submit their bodily fluids.

"The union believes that the random testing is asking people who are otherwise innocent, who have never given the employer any reason to believe that they have come to work impaired, to be subject to these tests, is unreasonable," said CEP lawyer Ritu Khullar.

Lawyers for Suncor declined comment.

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Canadian scientists look for quicker E. coli, Listeria tests

Canadian scientists are being asked to find faster ways to test for two dangerous bacteria that can be found in our food — E. coli and Listeria.

Possible E. coli contamination was the reason behind a recent beef recall in Alberta. Listeria was the bacteria behind the outbreak that killed 22 people in 2008 in seven provinces.

Genome Canada awarded one contract for a new Listeria test in October. The one for E. coli will be finalized in January.

Pierre Meulien is the president and CEO of Genome Canada.

"Hopefully we can do this much more rapidly," he said. "We're talking about what would be useful is less than an hour, maybe 15 minutes."

That's a dramatic contrast to the current sitation. It now takes 10 hours for a lab to confirm E. coli, five days for Listeria. And Meulien pointed out that a genetic test can be done on site.

"So that you could many times in any particular food processing operation test a carcass, cheese, milk whatever kind of product you're in the process of making," Meulien said.

Dr. David Chalak is a veterinarian in Alberta. He's also chair of the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency, which is chipping in for part of this research. He says better testing helps industry find more foreign markets.

"Consumers in foreign countries have the same concerns as Canadians," Chalak said.

He was involved in the latest recall in Alberta, with XL Foods, and he said getting timely results can be difficult.

"When the plant is in Brooks [Alberta] and you've got to take the samples to Calgary, there is travel time. I mean a 10-hour test is when it goes on the Petri dish. So 10 hours? Don't take that literally. You're basically looking at 24 hours."

Both projects have tight deadlines. The scientists must finish their project within 18 months. Meulien hopes one day there will be similar tests for other harmful bacteria, such as C. difficile in hospitals.

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Early clues to navy spy Delisle's guilt overlooked

Canada's most active spy might have been caught almost a year sooner if the military and CSIS had followed their own mandatory security check rules, documents obtained by CBC News show.

And Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle might still be swapping secrets with the Russians for cash if not for a tip from the FBI in the United States, suggests information contained in three search warrants that were executed on Delisle's home, car and the ultra-secret navy intelligence facility in Halifax where Delisle worked, HMCS Trinity.

The first hint that Delisle was the central figure in a spy scandal that would rock the Canadian and allied military establishments came in the form of a letter sent to the RCMP from the FBI on Dec. 2, 2011.

"The RCMP gets a letter from Frank Figliuzzi, the FBI's Assistant Director, REDACTED implicating a Canadian military officer. His statement is corroborated by Anthony M. Buchmeier, the FBI's counter-intelligence expert witness," states one of the warrants. (Some portions of the warrants obtained by CBC have been redacted by Canadian security officials.)

The FBI makes it clear that there is one suspect: Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Delisle.

When the FBI tipped off the Mounties, Delisle was the threat assessment officer for the Canadian navy based on the East Coast. His job came with a level 3 top secret security classification — the second highest possible — that gave him access to secret information gathered by the CIA, the FBI, CSIS and British, Australian and New Zealand intelligence services.

But the warrants show that Delisle's top secret security clearance had lapsed before he was transferred to Trinity in August 2011. The transfer came after Delisle was promoted to an officer, giving him access to more classified material.

"Jeffrey Delisle's security clearance is Level III — TOP SECRET and is currently being updated. The last information request made to approve this clearance was completed on March 22, 2006," the warrants state.

A ban on publication of the warrants was lifted in Nova Scotia provincial court on Thursday after an application was made by CBC News.

The Defence Department has confirmed to CBC that level 3 security classifications are supposed to be updated every five years. Delisle's should have undergone the rigorous security process in March 2011, five months before he moved to Trinity. But that check never happened, and the warrants don't explain why.

Might have uncovered problems

If Delisle had been subjected to the mandatory screening process, his loyalty to Canada would have been tested, his devotion to the Canadian military assessed and his financial and emotional health scrutinized.

The process might have uncovered unsettling facts about Delisle that should have triggered a security review long before the five-year mandatory check.

The warrants say that Delisle was in debt in 2009, owing thousands of dollars on a government American Express card. It was a debt he couldn't pay.

"He understands that he has to repay the amount of $3,242.72 and commits to do so," states the warrant. The information came from Delisle's commanding officer at Trinity.

The documents confirm Delisle claimed he incurred the debt because his marriage was falling apart. Debt coupled with a disintegrating marriage often triggers a security review for people involved in intelligence.

But Delisle remained undetected and untested: a man responsible for providing Canadian warships around the world with daily alerts about possible terror attacks and other risks.

23 payments to Delisle

The warrants also show that Delisle's four and half years of betrayal only paid the 41-year-old sailor enough to keep his head above water.

"Between July 6, 2007, and August 1, 2011, funds of US$71,817, split in 23 payments, were transferred to Jeffrey Paul Delisle," state the warrants, which have not been tested in court.

The money was transferred via Western Union and cashed by Delisle at Money Marts. The documents say the money was sent by people in Russia and in Ireland.

The warrants name Sergey Shokolov, Fedor Vasilev, Andrey Orlov and Mary Larkin as the people who sent Delisle money orders. The warrants don't explain who they are or who they work for, state that Larkin is using a fake name.

Despite his known money problems, Delisle gave notice to his commander that he was going to vacation in Cuba and Brazil in September 2011. Even these expensive sojourns didn't raise a red flag to the military.

Delisle travelled to Brazil to meet with his Russian spymaster, who paid him $50,000. His Russian handler also offered him a new job as a go-between with other Russian agents in Canada.

Walked into Russian Embassy

When Delisle returned to Canada, a border services agent in Halifax thought the five-day trip and the amount of money Delisle carried on his return was odd. The border guard reported his suspicions to his superiors, but there is no information in the warrants to suggest the navy took action.

It had been in 2007 that Delisle walked into the Russian Embassy in Ottawa on a summer afternoon. He agreed to supply Russia with secret information for money. On the 10th of every month he would upload untold megabytes of information he had downloaded onto a USB stick while at work in Trinity.

It was only after the FBI alerted the RCMP about Delisle that the navy began his overdue security clearance check. CSIS is responsible for conducting the security on military personal.

In a surprise move, Delisle pleaded guilty in October to passing secrets to the Russians. His guilty plea means that the whole story behind the leaks will never be heard in court.

Delisle, who still holds his rank and receives a salary from the navy, will be sentenced for his crime on Jan. 12, almost a year to the day he was arrested.

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Lions Gate Bridge reopened after fatal crash

Metro Vancouver's Lions Gate Bridge was closed for several hours early Thursday morning after two young men were killed in a collision with a transit bus, but the bridge has now been reopened to traffic in both directions.

Vancouver's Lions Gate Bridge was closed overnight after two young men were killed when their car slammed into a bus. (CBC)

The bridge was closed after a northbound car spun out of control and slammed into a southbound West Vancouver transit bus, killing the two young men in the car and injuring three passengers and the driver of the bus, just before midnight on Wednesday.

A third car also slammed into the pile-up and the jaws of life had to be used to remove the young men from their car. None of the people on the bus suffered life-threatening injuries, police said.

The bridge was reopened around 6:40 a.m., PT but bus transit is expected to be affected for several hours while service returns to normal.

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Canada Reads 2013 panellists and books revealed

The regional battle of the books continues as CBC's Canada Reads: Turf Wars releases the names of its panellists and book choices for 2013.

Canada Reads panellist Carol Huynh, an Olympic wrestler, is defending Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese. (CBC)

This year, each book was chosen by a different region of Canada and that will result in an Olympic wrestler representing B.C. and the Yukon going head to head with a historian from Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador comedian in the annual book debut.

Here's the Canada Reads list revealed on CBC Radio One's Q cultural affairs show Thursday:

• Olympic gold-medal wrestler Carol Huynh (B.C. and Yukon), Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese.
• Ron MacLean, sportscaster (Prairies & the North), The Age of Hope by David Bergen.
• Charlotte Gray, historian and biographer (Ontario), Away by Jane Urquhart.
• Actor and filmmaker Jay Baruchel (Montreal, Two Solitudes by Hugh MacLennan.
• Comedian Trent McClellan (Atlantic provinces), February by Lisa Moore.

Q host Jian Ghomeshi will once again host the book debate.

Each panellist chose a book from among the top five selected by Canada Reads fans in their region. It makes for some unusual matchups – including a Canadian classic such as Two Solitudes, a 1945 book examining the divisions between French and English Canada, being defended by one of Canada's finest comic actors and the host of Hockey Night in Canada defending a book about the life of a woman who came of age in the 1950s.

Winnipeg-based writer Bergen said he was thrilled that MacLean chose his book, The Age of Hope, which tells the story of a seemingly conventional woman called Hope Koop.

Bergen's The Age of Hope

"The character is a surprise in the sense that for all of her appearance of being passive, she has a deep and rich interior life that will surprise the reader. She's not exactly an anti-hero, but there is something very heroic about how she pushes implacably through life," Bergen told CBC News.

Bergen said writing about the "interior" life of a woman was a departure for him, and he's not immune to the irony that another man, also in his 50s, has chosen to defend it. Still, he believes his book is in good hands with MacLean.

"I don't think he'll need tips from me," he said.

Huynh admitted that, as an elite athlete, she is quite competitive. Her choice, Indian Horse by Ojibwa writer Wagamese, has a minor theme of hockey – but she says it was not the sports angle that appealed to her.

Huynh read seven of the top 10 chosen by Canada Reads fans in B.C. and Yukon before making her choice, and said Indian Horse was her favourite. It's the story of a native man, Saul Indian Horse, a former hockey star undergoing treatment for alcoholism.

"It starts with the character at a detox centre – and he tells his life story ... from the time he was with his family living a traditional life and when he goes away to residential school, he describes his time there and describes how hockey helped him survive residential school," Huynh said.

Huynh, the child of Vietnamese immigrants who grew up in Hazelton, B.C., said the spirit of the book appealed to her.

Comedian Trent McClellan, from Corner Brook, N.L., will champion February by Lisa Moore. (CBC)

"I think it was the way that the author described the pain and suffering of this one kid that tried to make a life despite what was happening to him. It's a good reminder to people of the residential schools."

Olympic medallist and big reader

Huynh, who won a bronze medal in wrestling at the London Olympics this summer and a gold in Beijing four years earlier, says she is a lifelong reader.

"When I was a kid, I remember going to the library with my older sister, coming home with a big stack of books and going back two weeks later."

St. John's writer Lisa Moore is a veteran of Canada Reads, having served as a panellist. She says she found it a "bruising experience" to have the book she championed, a collection of Mavis Gallant short stories, voted off early in the running.

Her book, February, tells the story of a woman suddenly widowed when the Ocean Ranger offshore oil rig goes down in 1982, a tragedy that shook Newfoundland and Labrador.

"When I was researching the Ocean Ranger, I was overwhelmed by what I learned, which was how easily that tragedy could have been avoided. How many corners were cut in terms of safety," Moore says.

"It became clear to me that it would be good for people to understand that."

McClellan, who has had gigs on The Comedy Network and The Debaters, will be championing a book that is more than a tragedy in February.

"Really it's a story about loss and grief. There are funny moments in it – it's about love and the redemptive powers of love," Moore said.

Moore said she knows how heated debate can get, but hopes panellists know why people identify with stories, especially those that hit close to home.

"I guess because stories really matter to people. It's not as though you're defending your own work. You're defending the stories that have shaped who you are, the stories you think really matter."

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Budget Rent a Car fraud claims probed by RCMP

B.C. Attorney General Shirley Bond says provincial agencies are investigating allegations of fraud at Budget Rent a Car locations in the Vancouver area.

CBC News has spoken with Budget customers and former employees who accuse the company of grossly overcharging customers for minor repairs that sometimes aren't even done.

"There will be a fair process to look at whether the allegations are true or not," Bond said.

"It is being taken very seriously and I don't accept the fact that consumers should be treated inappropriately in this province and I expect the processes to be rigorous and examine the allegations."

Vancouver area Budget franchises are owned by Syd Belzberg, a prominent businessman who has won awards for philanthropy.

But some of his former employees claim Belzberg makes money by systematically deceiving customers.

Former employees allege Budget Rent a Car locations in the Vancouver area intentionally rip off customers. (CBC)

"We would consciously lie to people," Dylan Paul told CBC News.

"I will use the word lie and I will use the word swindle. It was by design. I had personal meetings with the owner, with the general manager, and I know how I participated in that. And a lot of times I should have just said, 'No.'"

Former employee Martin Torres tells a similar story.

"It was a big grab of money, like unbelievable — lots of money being made on a daily basis dishonestly. And you were part of it. And finally I got out," he said.

Paul, who managed Budget's downtown location, says he feels terrible about what he did.

"I've had people cry … because they can't afford [the repairs] ... and we are charging $1,000 for a windshield and it doesn't cost that," Paul told CBC News.

"And if someone did that to my wife, it would just break my heart. That was the reason I left."

Bogus charges

According to Paul, the scam was to slap customers with a bogus charge of at least $300 for minor vehicle damage.

From left to right, former employees of Budget Rent a Car shared stories about duping customers with CBC News: Martin Torres, Graeme Darbyshire, Dylan Paul and Elie Daher. (CBC)

"A car would come in and we would charge the person $1,000 for the windshield and tell them we are going to send it to get repaired," Paul said.

"Thirty minutes after that customer has left, we will rent that car to someone else … without repairing it."

The repair shop that came up with the estimates and repair bills is also owned by Belzberg, but customers were led to believe it was independent.

"We are all operating under the same business concept, business idea, which is find damages and charge people," said Elie Daher, who worked as a customer service representative for Budget's downtown location for several months.

Graeme Darbyshire, the lead customer service agent in charge of a suburban outlet, says ripping off customers was mandatory.

"It's Budget's way or the highway with everything from top to bottom — more so Syd Belzberg's way."

Darbyshire estimates as much as 70 per cent of the additional charges were unfair.

Foreigners bilked

The former employees say bilking foreigners was Budget's specialty.

"We knew one, these are foreigners so the chance of them complaining is very unlikely and two, the language barrier they don't know," said Paul.

Daher remembers an incident when his manager spotted a wealthy customer from Hong Kong and flagged her to pay more.

"We charged the lady $4,000 a week for renting the car … for a Mercedes C class," he said, adding the rental would normally cost $199 a day, or about $1,400 for seven days.

The employees all worked on commission, so the more they overcharged customers, the more they made.

"If you add up what happened with the dishonest sales tactics, the damage, the stuff like the fuel, it's easily millions of dollars," Paul said.

Belzberg has declined repeated requests for an interview with CBC News.

But his manager said in an email to CBC News he was "shocked" by the allegations made by former employees.

"We take these allegations very seriously," the email said. "We take great pride in the excellent service we give to our customers. Under no circumstances would we condone any business practices which do not serve the best interests of our customers."

The company earlier said the employee commission system for repairs had been scrapped and vehicle damage would now be assessed by an independent appraiser and repaired at an independent shop, adding that anyone caught misleading customers would be fired.

No apology

David Klein, a well-known class action lawyer, says tracking down customers who may have been overcharged could be a challenge.

Lawyer David Klein believes Budget customers have a solid case. (CBC)

"Finding all those people from all over North America can be a challenge and could be an impediment to having the matter proceed," he said.

"There are, though, enough people who are local, enough people who are right here in British Columbia, that I think a case would be viable."

The former employees who spoke to CBC News hope things will get cleaned up — but they're skeptical.

"Even now, with all this coming to light, you don't have the owner or the [general manager] come out and apologize for it," Paul said.

Budget's corporate head office in the U.S., which has the power to enforce changes in the Belzberg operation, says the allegations are being investigated.

"When this process is complete, we will then review our options with respect to taking appropriate action," the company said in a statement.

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Alberta premier accused of conflict in tobacco case

Premier Alison Redford, while justice minister, personally chose her ex-husband's law firm for a government tobacco-litigation contract worth potentially tens of millions of dollars in contingency fees, a CBC News investigation has found.

One of Canada's top experts in conflict of interest says Redford was in a clear conflict and should have not made that decision.

Arthur Schafer, director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba, says Alison Redford should have recused herself from the decision-making process in the awarding of a contract to her ex-husband's law firm while she was justice minister. (CBC)

"The minister of justice, as she then was, Alison Redford, in my view behaved unethically and possibly illegally by not recusing herself from making a decision in which she had a private interest, and was in a conflict of interest situation," said Prof. Arthur Schafer, director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba.

Redford did not respond to repeated interview requests over the past few days. Questions were instead directed to current Justice Minister Jonathan Denis. In an email, Denis's executive assistant, Josh Stewart, said "there was no potential conflict of interest" for Redford.

"Ex-spouses are not included in the Conflict of Interest Act and Mr. Hawkes [Redford's former husband] will not be working on this file."

Legal action worth $10B

As CBC News first revealed in May, the Redford government awarded the tobacco litigation contract — at $10 billion, the largest legal action in Alberta's history — to International Tobacco Recovery Lawyers, a consortium of law firms from Florida, Ontario and Alberta.

The consortium includes the Calgary firms of Jensen Shawa Solomon Duguid Hawkes (JSS) and Cuming & Gillespie. The two firms have close personal and political ties to both Redford and the Progressive Conservative Party.

Lawyer Robert Hawkes, ex-husband of Premier Alison Redford, is a partner in the law firm JSS, and was her transition team leader on her road to the premier's office. (CBC)

Redford's former husband is Robert Hawkes, a partner in JSS, who served as her transition team leader after she won the Progressive Conservative Party leadership race in 2011 and ascended to the premier's office.

Schafer said Redford clearly still shared a close personal relationship with her former husband at the time she made the decision to award the contract to his firm. As a lawyer and justice minister, Schafer said she should have recognized she had a conflict.

"It's a shabby situation when the chief legal officer can't recognize such a clear-cut conflict of interest," Schafer said in an interview with CBC News. "She is responsible for setting the ethical tone for her entire department, and indeed for her government.

"And for the person who is responsible for guaranteeing the integrity and the legal soundness of decisions … for her failing to recognize, or failing to act after recognizing she was in a conflict of interest is worse than shabby — it is shameful."

Redford personally chose firm

Through Freedom of Information, CBC News obtained documents that show Redford knew any of the three firms interviewed for the contract was capable of handling the litigation.

The three firms were:

• Bennett Jones.
• The team of McLennan Ross and Field Law.
• The International Tobacco Recovery Lawyers.

The legal strategy of suing tobacco companies to recover at least some health-care costs associated with smoking began in the United States. The Florida firm that is part of ITRL has extensive experience in that area of law. Bennett Jones, headquartered in Calgary, is already suing tobacco companies on behalf of four provinces.

In a memo dated Dec. 14, 2010, Redford tells Justice Deputy Minister Ray Bodnarek: "I note that the review committee considers all three firms interviewed to be capable of conducting the litigation and believes that while no consortium stood above the others, all three have unique strengths and weaknesses.

"Considering the perceived conflicts of interest, actual conflicts of interest, the structure of the contingency arrangement and the importance of a 'made-in-Alberta' litigation plan, the best choice will be the International Tobacco Recovery Lawyers," Redford wrote.

The documents provide only a hint of what the potential conflict might be.

About a month before Redford's Dec. 10 decision, a senior official writes in an email: "Are any of these firms on our page one list of retained firms involved in significant matters against the Crown? That list should be part of the last briefing we prepared on outside counsel for the Minister." There was a list, but it was blanked out in the documents released to CBC.

CBC spoke, on condition of anonymity, with a lawyer whose firm had sought the tobacco litigation contract. He learned from CBC that Redford had made the decision on the contract. But he said he had no concerns about the objectivity of the process.

Province wanted experienced firm, said government

In an email, the executive assistant to Denis, Josh Stewart, said: "The focus was on acquiring the requisite experience and avoiding competing interests that might conflict with Alberta's litigation interests. Alberta was looking for an experienced law firm or consortium that would be focused on our lawsuit and the best litigation strategy based on Alberta's interests."

Schafer found it "somewhat ironical" Redford considered the other firms to have perceived or actual conflicts, "given that her conflict was the most blatant of all.

"At the time she was making the decision, if the premier of the province or other minister were aware that she was allocating a contract to a firm in which her ex-husband was a member, they should have tapped her on the shoulder and said, 'Alison, this is not a decision you should be making,'" Schafer said.

"'It looks terrible, and it looks terrible because it is terrible. You can't decide this impartially. The decision has to be made by someone who is not biased by a private interest.'"

The documents obtained by CBC News contain no mention of warnings from department officials about a conflict of interest. Schafer said senior justice officials should have recognized the conflict.

"Did none of them warn her that this wrong, that this was morally wrong, that it was unethical, wrong for the department, wrong for the government, wrong for the party, wrong for the people of Alberta?" he asked.

"If nobody warned her, then the failure was on her part as the minister and on their part as civil servants."

Winning firms hired lobbyist before legislation announced

CBC News also obtained documents that show the Florida law firm hired lobbyist Tim Wade, a former executive assistant to several provincial Tory cabinet ministers.

Wade lobbied the departments of Health and Justice — when Redford was justice minister — in relation to the Crown's Right of Recovery Act, the legislation that provided the legal right to sue the tobacco companies.

Lobbyist registry documents show Wade was also lobbying on behalf of the other law firms associated with the consortium: JSS and Cuming & Gillespie.

According to Wade's own declaration to the lobbyist registrar, he began lobbying on May 1, 2009. Hansard shows the first reading of the Crown's Right of Recovery Act was 10 days later, on May 11, 2009.

"I find it very troubling that there was a lobbyist who registered to lobby on behalf of the consortium that won, before the decision to proceed with the lawsuit was even announced," Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith told CBC News in an interview.

Law firm, lobbyist donated thousands of dollars to Tories

CBC News searched public records of political contributions and found JSS, Cuming & Gillespie, and Tim Wade, the lobbyist, gave tens of thousands of dollars to the PC Party, to Redford's riding, and to her leadership campaign before and after her December 2010 decision to award the tobacco litigation to the consortium.

She resigned from cabinet in February 2011 when she entered the Tory leadership race.

Between 2008 and 2010, Hawkes donated more than $4,000 to the PC Party and PC riding associations. Nearly $1,900 was donated to Redford's Calgary-Elbow riding, where she was first elected in March 2008.

Glenn Solomon, a senior partner at JSS, gave more than $3,000 to the PC Party, of which nearly $1,900 went to Calgary-Elbow between 2008 and 2010.

But Carsten Jensen, one of the lead JSS lawyers on the tobacco litigation file, donated more than $2,700 to provincial Liberal Party between 2004 and 2010.

James Cuming gave $875 to the PC Party and another Calgary Tory riding association. He gave nothing to Redford's riding. But during her 2011 leadership campaign, his firm gave Redford $13,000.

Tim Wade, or his consulting firm, gave nearly $29,000 to the PC Party and various riding associations between 2007 and 2010, including $800 to Calgary-Elbow in 2008 when Redford was first elected.

Firm has deep roots in PC Party

Hawkes and Glenn Solomon have long, deep roots in both the federal and provincial PC parties.

Provincially, Hawkes acted as the main organizer for five annual Calgary Leader's Dinners. He also served on the party's finance committee.

Solomon has served as a director of several federal riding associations and served on the executive of the Calgary-Elbow riding association when the riding was held by Ralph Klein.

The Wildrose leader told CBC News she will be filing a complaint with both the ethics commissioner and the lobbyist registrar.

"This is something that I think needs to be taken very seriously," Smith said. "We haven't had very many investigations in this province into conflicts of interest, into ethics violations, into violations of the lobbying registry, and I think this is something that needs to be investigated."

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Will a new Bank of Canada governor shake up interest rates?

Mark Carney's successor as governor of the Bank of Canada is not expected to implement a radical change in interest rate policy and most likely will hold the current underlying philosophy, which includes a hawkish attitude toward inflation.

Speculation has already begun about possible candidates to replace Carney, who announced on Monday that he will step down next June to become the next governor of the Bank of England.

But it's unlikely that the new Bank of Canada governor will diverge from Carney when it comes to setting interest rates here, says Louis Gagnon, a finance professor at Queen's University School of Business.

"In this business you're either hawkish or dovish. Hawkish people are very suspicious of inflation and dovish people are slightly more accommodating. [Carney] is in the hawkish camp," Gagnon said.

"I think the Bank of Canada as an institution, not only the governor, but the body, is hawkish. I'd be very surprised if they were to select someone who has a different philosophy, because that person would not sit well with that group of people."

The Bank of Canada has a two per cent target for inflation, which means that if inflation should exceed that level, interest rates would be increased to keep it in check. With the Canadian economy growing slightly — the OECD yesterday predicted moderate growth for Canada in 2013 — inflation might go up as well, which means the next governor could end up raising interest rates.

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said in its report the Bank of Canada may need to start raising interest rates from near record lows by the latter half of 2013.

However, Gagnon said that such a move shouldn't be interpreted as a new governor having a different policy objective than his predecessor.

"If [Carney] saw that inflation rose consistently above the two per cent mark, he'd most certainly increase interest rates."

As for governor contenders, Gagnon said there's no pecking order right now and that it will be a long time before a shortlist is created.

He said the candidate must have a deep and solid understanding of the macro economy, the capital marketplace, financial markets and the overall banking system.

"Monetary policy is so crucial. It's central to everything. It establishes the short-term interest rate, which itself is the starting point of the credit marketplace.

"So credit markets take their cues from monetary authorities. And so you have to have a very, very solid understanding of all these dimensions," said Gagnon.

The board of the Bank of Canada vets candidates for the governor's job and comes up with a short list, from which the government chooses.

Finn Poschmann, vice president of research at the C.D. Howe Institute, said that with Carney leaving after just over five years in a seven-year term, there may be an incentive for the board to look for continuity.

This is one of the reasons that Tiff Macklem, the senior deputy governor at the Bank of Canada, has been suggested as a leading candidate. Macklem has been with the Bank of Canada for a number of years, and also spent time in the finance department.

"There's of course no shortage of qualified possible contenders. But with continuity an incentive, if not an imperative, then you look inside for an experienced hand," Poschmann said. "They don't have to look very far for someone with the right set of experiences, both through Tiff's work on previous jobs, including the department of finance."

If continuity is important, then Bank of Canada deputy governors Agathe Côté and Timothy Lane could also be up for consideration.

Another possible contender is Jean Boivin, the associate deputy minister of finance and former deputy governor of the Bank of Canada.

Don Drummond, TD Bank's former chief economist, who spent years in senior roles at the department of finance, could also be a candidate. But Drummond said on Monday that he wasn't interested in the job, Bloomberg News reported.

Economic analyst Patti Croft said Julie Dickson, who heads the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada, would be her top pick.

"Her experience, expertise on the regulatory side would be a wonderful addition," Croft said. "It's something Mark Carney was very interested in. It was one of his comparative advantages and she has it in spades."

Croft also said Stephen Poloz, president and chief executive officer of Export Development Canada, who is an economist with global experience, would be a good choice.

"The important thing is there's a remarkable pool of talent they can draw from," Croft said.

With files from The Canadian Press

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Household flame retardants potentially ineffective, dangerous

Some chemical flame retardants used in home furnishings may not help in a house fire, and can pose health hazards, a CBC investigation has found.

A probe conducted by Marketplace tested the effectiveness of chemical retardants in upholstered furniture and also examined their potential health risks. Previous research has cast doubt on the retardants' ability to slow or stop fires, particularly in furniture foam.

Environmental and health researchers are also concerned that some of the chemicals are linked to a wide range of health problems.

Flame retardants are found in a wide array of household items, including upholstered furniture, electronics and children's toys. The problem, says fire scientist Vyto Babrauskas, is that these supposed lifesavers have no benefit for the average consumer.

"It's a really sad situation, because [consumers] get enough fire-retardant put in there to do toxic harm to the environment, to the people, and yet it's not enough to do any good in terms of quenching the fire," he says. "Flame retardants in the home do not help. That is regrettable, but true."

Chemical industry's 'blatant falsehoods'

The problem isn't that fire retardants don't work, Babrauskas says, but that household items typically don't contain enough retardants to do the job.

In 1987, Babrauskas led a study that found flame retardants can vastly increase escape time from a fire.

Chemical manufacturers point to this study as proof that flame retardants save lives, but Babrauskas says the claims are a "blatant falsehood" and that the industry is "totally misrepresenting what we had done."

The original test evaluated flame retardants for military use, meaning there was far more fire retardant than used in household items.

Flame retardants can work very well, but only when used in very large amounts, Babrauskas explains. The problem is that more retardants add up to a larger price tag.

'[Consumers] get an ineffective amount of fire retardant put into the furniture.'—Fire scientist Vyto Babrauskas

"If you are some sort of institution or military … you have a very deep pocketbook, and you can buy exceedingly wonderful fire retardants that completely stop the fire dead in its tracks," he says.

"That is not what Mr. and Mrs. Consumer get when they go to their local shop and buy some furniture or consumer articles. If they buy furniture which has fire retardants in it, they get an ineffective amount of fire retardant put into the furniture."

But even small amounts can create a big danger when they burn. Smoke from burning fire retardants can contain elevated amounts of carbon monoxide as well as dioxins and furans, toxic chemicals that can cause immune disorders, liver problems, skin lesions and certain types of cancer.

Dangers in dust

Toxic smoke is just one of the potential threats from chemical flame retardants, since tests have found they pose potential health risks even if they aren't burning.

"It's a tremendous problem … that these are really noxious chemicals that are being put in [furniture]," Babrauskas says. "If you have a sofa with that type of a foam, every time you sit up and down on it, you're basically beating some of the material out of the foam."

Flame retardants can end up in household dust, which researchers say is a major route of exposure. And some flame retardant chemicals bioaccumulate, meaning they gradually build up in the body.

Retardants are found on so many household products that they're nearly unavoidable.

University of Toronto chemist Miriam Diamond has found traces of chemical retardants all over Toronto homes.

"We found them everywhere, everywhere from the kettle, to the computer, TV, couches, chairs, the backing on your carpet," she says. "They're in every room, in every location."

A study released Wednesday also found that that chlorinated Tris, a retardant banned from baby pyjamas in 1977, was the most common retardant in couches tested in the U.S.

Some chemicals banned

Diamond was also surprised to find potentially toxic retardants in children's toys.

A recent U.S. study found that children with higher levels of an older class of flame retardant chemicals called PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers, showed lower IQs, shorter attention spans and weaker motor skills than those with lower levels.

Studies have found young children tend to harbour the highest levels of such chemicals since they tend to play on carpets and furniture, increasing their exposure. Some classes of toxic flame retardants, like many other chemicals, are also transferable through breast milk.

PBDEs and similar retardants are also linked to altered thyroid functions in pregnant women, as well as increased difficulty in conception.

The Canadian government has already banned two classes of PBDEs, but critics say that more action is needed. Environment Canada has announced it plans to ban a third class of PBDE by 2012, but legislation hasn't been introduced.

As older chemicals have been banned or phased out, a new generation of flame retardant chemicals has come into increasing use. Environmental and health researchers worry that new chemicals have not undergone enough toxicological scrutiny to properly assess their safety.

Watch Marketplace's episode, Burned, Friday at 8 p.m. (8:30 p.m. in Newfoundland and Labrador) for more on the potential dangers of flame retardants.

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Ex-astronaut Marc Garneau launches Liberal leadership bid

Liberal MP and former astronaut Marc Garneau announced Wednesday morning he's "throwing his hat in the ring" and entering the Liberal leadership race. At a press conference in Montreal, Garneau said his goal is to restore integrity and principle to politics in Canada.

When someone tweeted to ask whether Garneau would be "window dressing" in a contest where he will run against Justin Trudeau, he answered, "Do you really think I would take on a huge personal commitment to be window dressing?"

Garneau adds another kind of celebrity to a race that's been dominated by Trudeau, who is often referred to as the "rock star candidate."

What other leadership contender has two high schools named after him, as Garneau does? Who else was once asked by the Montreal Alouettes to try out for their team, as he revealed on Twitter during the Grey Cup furor.

Garneau, born in Quebec City and a Royal Military College graduate, became a naval officer after getting his doctorate in engineering. In the mid-80s he became one of six Canadian astronauts (out of a field of 4,000 serious applicants) and flew his first shuttle mission in 1984. His biography on his website says he's logged 644 hours in space.

In 2001, he became head of the Canadian Space Agency and left in 2005 to enter politics. He lost his first election in 2006, but in 2008 won the riding of Westmount-Ville-Marie. He is the Liberal House Leader and the party critic for science, industry and technology. In his political career, he has championed the idea of a commissioner for children and young people.

Garneau becomes the third sitting MP to enter the race, after Justin Trudeau and B.C. MP Joyce Murray.

Garneau has 'intellectual heft'

One supporter says he is attracted to Garneau because of his "intellectual heft." A Liberal insider says that if Trudeau falls flat on his face, then Garneau will be there as a solid, credible candidate, and a household name to boot.

At 63, Garneau qualifies as an early boomer, a member of a political age-cohort that ranges from Bill and Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Bob Rae and a number of his seatmates on the Liberal bench. There is a sense of the headiness of what it was like coming of age in the 60s as he relates how he crossed the Atlantic in an 18-metre yacht with 12 others in 1969, the same year, he notes, as Woodstock and the moon landing.

His 8000 Twitter followers don't compare to Trudeau's nearly 170,000, but nothing humanizes him more than some of his tweets, as he obligingly answers questions about life in space. Is there a special space toilet, how does the shuttle's vacuum cleaner work when the shuttle's flying in a vacuum, is there a Velcro strip inside the helmet to aid in nose-scratching? (Answers: yes, it just does, and no).

The other candidates who have declared their leadership bid or their interest are former MP Martha Hall Findlay, Ottawa lawyer David Bertschi, Deborah Coyne, Vancouver lawyer Alex Burton, retired air force colonel Karen McCrimmon, senior government economist Jonathan Mousley, B.C lawyer David Merner, and Toronto lawyer George Takach.

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What's next for Toronto Mayor Rob Ford?

A ruling by an Ontario court judge that forces Rob Ford to vacate the Toronto mayoralty has opened up a legal and political quandary in Canada's largest municipality.

Having found that Ford had violated provincial conflict of interest rules for municipal politicians, Ontario Superior Court Justice Charles T. Hackland gave the mayor two weeks in office before the ruling takes effect, saying the decision "will necessitate administrative changes in the City of Toronto."

But if yesterday is any indication, those two weeks will be filled with intense legal speculation about whether Ford will seek a stay of the Hackland ruling while an appeal is heard, not to mention political intrigue as Ford opponents and supporters jockey to figure out how to replace him.

If he does go, there are currently two options on the table: appoint a caretaker mayor to fill the remaining two years of the term or call a byelection. And while it is early days yet, some councillors, including some previously loyal Ford supporters, are beginning to make their preferences heard.

As for the mayor, Ford has said he will appeal the decision at a divisional court. But in order to remain mayor while the appeal is going forward, he would likely also have to apply for a stay of proceedings.

Ford's legal team could either ask that of Hackland, the lower court judge who made the initial decision, or the court they are appealing to.

"They'd have to make the tactical decision, who's more likely to hear them out," Stephen D'Agostino, who specializes in municipal law, told CBC News. "Part of the consideration is going to be what are the chances on appeal.

"If it looks like it's a pretty iffy appeal, the court might say, 'We'll hear the appeal but you're out [of office].' On the other hand, if it's controversial but looks like it's a good appeal, a court might be more cautious."

Appeal could take months

If a stay was granted, Ford would continue to be mayor for the duration of the appeal and legal process, which could be several months. His term is supposed to end in December 2014.

Yet there seem to be differing opinions over whether such a stay would be granted. John Mascarin, a municipal law expert who had predicted the judge's ruling, suggested on Monday that Ford would get a stay.

But D'Agostino told CBC News that he believes granting a stay to Ford would be unprecedented.

"I've been involved in conflict of interest work for 15-odd years," he said. "I've never seen it done.

"The normal appeal rules would allow someone to apply to court to stay the decision that's being appealed, but I have never seen it done," D'Agostino said.

If a stay is not granted, the City of Toronto Act states that city council would have 60 days to either fill the vacancy by appointing somone to be mayor or by passing a bylaw requiring a byelection be held to fill the vacancy.

The Globe and Mail reported that council had earlier passed a bylaw that would ensure that only an elected councillor could be appointed mayor under these circumstances, but it's unclear whether that bylaw would supersede the provincial act governing municipalities should there be a challenge.

Confusion over when Ford can run again

Still, there seems to be some confusion surrounding part of the judge's ruling. In one of the last paragraphs, Hackland wrote that he would not disqualify Ford from running for or holding office "beyond the current term."

The question is what the judge meant by "beyond the current term" and whether that refers to Ford's term as mayor, scheduled to end in December 2014, or whether he could run again immediately if a byelection were to be called.

Mascarin said that he believes Hackland clearly meant to bar Ford from running for office until the current council term is over in 2014.

But Alan Lenczner, the lawyer who represented Ford in the conflict hearing, told CBC News in an email that he believes the mayor can run in a byelection if one is called ahead of the 2014 municipal election.

D'Agostino said that it's unclear what Hackland meant. "If I just read that one paragraph, I'd walk away saying that the court meant to the end of the term — as in an election term.

"But because I read the whole decision, I read that and it kind of jarred me because there's no real discussion about that, it just sort of comes out of the blue. It's really a well-worded, well-thought-out decision, and I would have anticipated some discussion on it. So that's what I'm left with, a bit of a question mark."

It is possible the two sides may call the judge's assistant to set up court time or a conference call with the judge for clarification.

As for council's option to appoint someone to fill the mayoral void, the provincial act doesn't specify who that person should be — meaning it could be anyone of voting age, and not necessarily someone from city council.

Adding another twist, if a stay is not granted, and Ford is booted out of office, it's possible he could be reinstated if the appeal court sides with him, meaning the person who had replaced him as mayor would in turn be replaced by Ford at some future date.

Byelection would cost $7M

Meanwhile, many city council members were cautious in their remarks about the possible mayoral vacancy and which option they might consider — a $7-million byelection or the appointment of an interim mayor until 2014.

Some took to Twitter to say that Ford was entitled to his appeal process, while others were raising names of those who might succeed the mayor.

Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday told CBC News that he'd favour an appointment if that person's agenda was similar to the mayor's. He later said he wouldn't rule out a run himself if a byelection were called.

Coun. Mike Del Grande, another Ford supporter on council, told the Globe and Mail that he would like to see the fiscally conservative Holyday in that post if council was to go the appointment route.

But Coun. Paula Fletcher told the Globe and Mail that she thought two years is too long for a "caretaker" to run the city.

The ruling has already prompted some to reconsider their political future. Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti, a loyal Ford supporter, quit the mayor's executive committee, saying his constituents have asked him to put some distance between himself and the embattled mayor.

With files from The Canadian Press

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'Useless' breast cancer test touted across country

Medical clinics across the country are touting the benefits of a diagnostic test for breast cancer that medical experts say is useless.

A CBC News investigation has identified dozens of clinics offering thermography for breast examinations.

Proponents of the test believe it can detect breast cancer years earlier than mammography.

Gillian Bromfield, senior manager of cancer control policy at the Canadian Cancer Society, says thermography tests fail to detect most cancers and generate false positives. (CBC)

But medical authorities worldwide say there is no proof that thermography actually works as a diagnostic tool for cancer.

They say false positives from thermography tests are gumming up the system, resulting in patients worrying about the results of tests that have no value. Alternatively, the tests may be giving others a false sense of security about their health.

"It's not effective at detecting breast cancers," said Gillian Bromfield, senior manager of cancer control policy at the Canadian Cancer Society.

"It misses the large majority of breast cancers and, on top of that, it also detects cancers when there actually are none."

Regardless, some Canadian clinics continue to make startling — and unproven — claims about the benefits of thermography.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has sent out warning letters to those making similar assertions south of the border, but there has been no such action in this country.

Heat-sensitive imagery

Thermography uses a heat-sensitive infrared camera to take images of the body.

Those images are then assessed elsewhere, often in the U.S. After a wait of several days, patients are informed of their test results.

The service is provided at dozens of facilities coast to coast in Canada.

Claims used to promote the service are not accepted by the mainstream medical community.

Health Scan Digital Thermography Clinic, for example, offers the test in Ontario.

The company's website makes a number of assertions about thermography:

• "Earliest method of possible breast cancer detection known."
• "Can detect a pathologic state of the breast up to 10 years before a cancerous tumour can be found by any other method."

Stamina Clinic in Lethbridge, Alta., says thermography is not a substitute for mammography, but "can be an invaluable tool for earlier detection of breast disease" — especially for women in their 20s and 30s.

Thermography is offered by dozens of clinics across the country. (CBC)

"Thermography is a vital screening tool for younger women (20-45 years) whose denser breast tissue makes it more difficult for mammography to be effective," the clinic notes on its website.

"There is a rise in breast disease in younger women and thermography offers a safe alternative without harmful effects of radiation for this age group."

Integrated Health Clinic in Fort Langley, B.C., says in promotional text that "thermography's role in breast cancer and other breast disorders is to help in early detection" and monitoring of physiology that is considered abnormal.

"It is used as part of an early detection program to give women of all ages the opportunity to increase their chances of detecting breast disease at an early stage," the company's website notes.

And thousands of kilometres away, in St. John's, Avalon Laser Health offers thermography scans at $215 a pop.

A CBC News undercover reporter went to the clinic to have the test, and was informed by the nurse of the benefits of thermography over mammography.

Avalon Laser Health later removed text on its website dealing with thermography's role in screening for breast cancer after being questioned about those claims by the CBC.

Contacted afterward, the clinic said the nurse provided the wrong information.

Test is 'actually useless'

Medical experts take issue with claims trumpeting the benefits of thermography in diagnosing breast disease.

Nancy Wadden, a St. John's doctor who chairs the mammography accreditation program of the Canadian Association of Radiologists, says women are paying big money for a test that is "actually useless."

Nancy Wadden chairs the mammography accreditation program of the Canadian Association of Radiologists. She says the "useless" thermography tests add to waiting times for women who actually need treatment. (CBC)

Wadden says that women who actually need treatment face longer wait times because of women who register false positives after thermography.

"These women have a significant number of false positives, so then they are coming and they are clogging up my ultrasound list and my mammogram list and then displacing the people who really need to have the test, who are waiting there," Wadden said.

"Their length of time to get a diagnosis is prolonged, because we've got people who have had this useless test that has given a false positive result."

Regulatory action south of the border

In the U.S., regulators have sent warning letters to those making unproven claims about thermography.

In April 2011, the Food and Drug Administration sent one of those letters to Peter Leando, president of Florida-based Meditherm Inc.

The FDA took issue with how the company was marketing its Med2000 thermography device, specifically objecting to the claim that it could "increase your chances of detecting breast cancer in its earliest stages."

The health regulator also took issue with the claim that the device was "FDA approved."

Peter Leando, president of Florida-based Meditherm Inc., says thermography provides an early warning. (CBC)

In an interview with CBC News, Leando downplayed the warning letter.

"That was in relation to some wording on a website which they weren't happy about," he said.

"And that wording was changed immediately. I think the wording was related to 'accurate,' and something else. And we just changed the words so that it wouldn't be likely to mislead anybody into thinking that it was accurate in the detection of breast cancer. We've got to make sure that nobody actually makes claims as far as a stand-alone diagnostic test."

Leando says the Meditherm system is used by roughly 100 locations in Canada, and about 4,000 worldwide.

Australia recently removed the Med2000 from the country's medical device registry. Leando, however, says the firm deregistered it voluntarily.

Leando says criticisms of thermography — such as those coming from the Canadian Cancer Society — ignore its role as a type of early warning system for "suspicious changes," and detecting abnormalities.

"So that's the whole role of thermography, in giving us the opportunity to intervene, to treat, to actually do something before there is a tumour that is dense enough to be seen with mammography or ultrasound," Leando says.

Meditherm's website continues to reference thermography's role in breast cancer and other breast disorders: "to help in early detection and monitoring of abnormal physiology and the establishment of risk factors for the development or existence of cancer."

Health Canada role

Asked about its role in the thermography debate, Health Canada says it approves medical devices and prohibits false or misleading advertising of health claims.

A federal spokeswoman says Health Canada takes action if a manufacturer makes misleading claims.

But she says it's up to the provinces to take action against clinics that are doing the same thing.

Breast cancer survivor Linda Venus believes there should be more stringent oversight of thermography. (CBC )

Meanwhile, there is no evidence that Health Canada has gone after any manufacturers producing devices related to thermography.

That's not good enough for breast cancer survivor Linda Venus, who says there should be more stringent oversight of thermography.

The Winnipeg woman calls the current situation "a vacuum in the regulatory structure of the health system that is supposed to protect us from scoundrels, basically."

Venus says the issue needs to be addressed.

"They are allowed to be there, and there is no governing body anywhere that can prevent them from being there," she said.

"And providing women with false information — and in some cases, false hope."

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Lawsuit against mining firm brings Guatemalans to Toronto

Five Guatemalans are in Toronto to sue a Canadian mining firm over allegations the security staff of one of its subsidiaries brought violence and death to their village.

The five, from the village of El Estor, are preparing for pre-trial questioning by lawyers for Hudbay Minerals Inc. in connection with three civil suits filed against the Toronto firm. They concern the alleged killing of community leader Adolfo Ich in 2009, a shooting that left another man paralyzed in 2009 and the gang rape of 11 women in 2007.

At San Lorenzo Church in north Toronto last week, Rosa Elbira choked back tears as she recounted the day in 2007 when she says she was repeatedly raped by nine men including police, soldiers and security officers for a mining company.

Beside her, holding her hand in support, sat German Chub Choc, 23, who's paralyzed from the waist down, a bullet still lodged near his spine. He admitted to moments despair since the day in 2009 when he says he was shot by the head of the same mining company's security detail.

"Look at me," he said through a Spanish translator, pointing to his wheelchair. "Look at what I've become. I'm not lying."

'Look at what I've become. I'm not lying'— Paraplegic shooting victim German Chub Choc

The Guatemalans allege a mining business called Compania Guatemalteca de Niquel, or CGN — acquired by Hudbay Minerals in 2008 — is to blame.

None of the allegations has been proven in court. Hudbay Minerals denies liability and suggests on its website the claims will not hold up.

"Based on extensive internal investigations and eyewitness reports, Hudbay believes that the allegations in these matters are without merit," the company says. "CGN security and other personnel showed extraordinary restraint and acted only in self defence."

Its lawyers are trying to stop the case in its tracks, arguing any trial should be held in Guatemala.

The plaintiffs are facing a major challenge, Audrey Macklin, a professor at the University of Toronto law school, told CBC News. Canadian judges have traditionally been reluctant to hear this kind of case, she said, even when the plaintiffs argue the justice system in their homeland is corrupt or ineffective.

However, that's the case the Guatemalans are expected to make, insisting their only route to justice for what they claim happened in Guatemala is through a Canadian courtroom.

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Canada's economy held back by slow global growth

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says weak global demand is keeping Canada's economy in the slow lane.

The Paris-based group said in a report Tuesday it expects Canada's economy to grow by only 1.5 per cent in the last three months of the year.

For 2013 as a whole, the OECD expects Canada's economy to expand by 1.8 per cent and increase to 2.4 per cent in 2014.

All those figures are under what the Bank of Canada and officials at the Department of Finance are projecting. Earlier this month, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said he expects two per cent growth next year.

The OECD also cites poor productivity and Canada's housing market for having the potential to knock the economy to its knees — which could throw a wrench in Ottawa's plans to get back to balanced budgets as soon as possible.

Two things the group says are working in Canada's favour are the booming natural resources sector and the ongoing turnaround in the United States, Canada's largest trading partner.

For the first time since 2007, economic growth in the United States is expected to surpass that of Canada this year.

But its outlook for Canada is still far stronger than for Europe, which is expected to remain in recession through most of 2013.

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Bombardier signs record $7.8B jet deal with VistaJet

Bombardier Inc. has made the biggest sale of business aircraft in its history, potentially worth up to $7.8 billion if all options are exercised, the Montreal-based company announced Tuesday.

VistaJet, a private European company that provides luxury chartered flights, has placed firm orders for 56 Bombardier Global jets valued at $3.1 billion and acquired options for a further 86 Global jets.

'We are thrilled VistaJet has again chosen to grow their fleet with the industry-leading Global family.'—Steve Ridolfi, president of Bombardier Business Aircraft

VistaJet currently operates a fleet of Bombardier aircraft based in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and West Africa.

The new purchase is part of VistaJet's goal of making business aviation more accessible to emerging markets, said VistaJet chairman Thomas Flehr, who founded the company in 2004.

"This order is the most significant milestone for VistaJet and is a testimony to our successful strategy that focuses on global coverage," Flehr said in a joint statement by the companies.

"Our customers need to fly point-to-point across the globe, and in many instances at short notice."

Steve Ridolfi, president of Bombardier Business Aircraft, said it was also a historic order for Bombardier.

"It goes without saying that we are thrilled VistaJet has again chosen to grow their fleet with the industry-leading Global family," Ridolfi said.

VistaJet has placed firm orders for 25 Global 5000s, 25 Global 6000s and six Global 8000 jets. Deliveries will begin in 2014.

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Cyber Monday, Black Friday sales could trump Boxing Day

As hype surrounding Cyber Monday and Black Friday spreads north of the border, experts say the burgeoning weekend-long holiday sales event could soon surpass Boxing Day as the busiest shopping period of the year.

With the frenzy of what could be Canada's biggest-ever Black Friday over, deal-seekers are turning their focus to Cyber Monday, a day of deep online discounts held the Monday after the busiest shopping day of the year in the U.S.

For years, both events were largely U.S. phenomena that had Canadians who wanted to participate visiting American websites or making cross-border trips on the day after U.S. Thanksgiving, which marks the start of the crucial holiday shopping season when retailers turn profits, or go "into the black."

But a combination of factors — U.S. competitors setting up shop in Canada, Canadian retailers trying to keep sales local, Canadians' shifting shopping habits and tight-fisted consumers with shaky confidence in the economy — are helping to establish the events on Canadian soil.

Willy Kruh, global chairman in retail markets at KPMG, said he wouldn't be surprised if the four days from Black Friday to Cyber Monday soon overtake Boxing Day, now expanded to Boxing Week, as the best period for retailers in Canada.

"On Boxing Day, Christmas is over and they've got to deep discount (merchandise), now you're selling to those who are looking for Christmas presents for deals," he said.

"I'd much rather kick start the season with significant sales this early and I know where my inventory's going to end up, I know where my margins are, I can calculate it more, I can create a greater excitement for the retail season doing it in November than when the season's over."

Cyber Monday growing faster than Black Friday

He says Cyber Monday — which cropped up in Canada just three years ago — is growing at an even faster pace in Canada than Black Friday, as retailers look for new ways to fight back against U.S. competitors eating into their profits.

Last year, Canadian Black Friday sales were up 8.5 per cent from 2010, while Cyber Monday sales grew at 15.4 per cent, according to KPMG research.

Cyber Monday emerged with the advent of online shopping in the 1990s as shoppers wanting to continue their Black Friday spree logged-in at home, as well as at work on the following Monday.

Retailers began to notice a spike in traffic on the day, which is now the busiest online shopping day in the U.S.

Experts and retailers expect this Cyber Monday to be the biggest Canada has ever seen.

"The level of awareness around Cyber Monday last year was fairly limited, savvy web shoppers would know about it, but in terms of mass appeal in the Canadian population…it was nowhere near where we expect it to be this year," said Thierry Hay-Sabourin, director of e-commerce for Future Shop and Best Buy Canada.

Cyber Monday is becoming nearly as popular in Canada as Black Friday, said Kelly Askew, managing director of retail management consulting at Accenture in Canada.

And while e-commerce penetration is lower in Canada than in the U.S., "we're seeing a bit of a tidal change in how Canadians regard internet shopping now," he said, adding that selection, security and shipping at Canadian retailers are improving.

And Canadian chains are seizing opportunities to pull some of their sales forward, he said.

"I suspect we may start to see some declines in the heavy reliance that Canadian retailers have traditionally had on Boxing Day to make their annual numbers."

10% of retail sales online

Kruh pointed out that online shopping makes up just 10 per cent of total retail sales in Canada, but he sees it growing at a much more rapid pace this year and over the next few years.

Canadian consumers are adopting the trend, in part by shopping at sites south of the border that ship across the border, and a growing number of Canadian retailers are realizing they need to offer similar promotions to keep their customers.

This year marks the first time Toys 'R' Us Canada is putting a big emphasis on Cyber Monday, as the company strives to be one of the first in Canada to jump on board in an effort to keep spending local.

"For the past three to four years, Toys 'R' Us, and Canadian retailers in general, have been upping the ante every year…to entice Canadian consumers to stay local and make purchases on .ca and not .com," explained Toys 'R' Us Canada spokeswoman Victoria Spada.

As both Canadians' shopping habits and retailers' online offerings evolve, e-commerce is becoming a real force that could threaten bricks and mortar shops that don't adapt.

A recent American Express poll found that 56 per cent of Canadians plan to shop online for at least some of their gifts this season, up five per cent from 2011. And 23 per cent of those surveyed appeared so averse to crowded malls, long lineups and busy parking lots that they would rather clean their toilets than visit a mall the week before Christmas.

I think it's indicative of the fact that Canadians are becoming more comfortable shopping online," says consumer technology expert Marc Saltzman.

Saltzman believes online shopping will eventually eclipse trips to the mall as a web-savvy generation of young people comes of age.

"I think its a generational thing and increasingly as the younger generation grows up shopping online they're going to be very comfortable doing it, and there's going to be less of a reason to go in and touch and feel the product."

With files from The Canadian Press

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Haida Gwaii earthquake yields new data

Scientists are installing new seismometers and highly precise global positioning receivers in the area. (Curt Petrovich/CBC)

A team of federal government scientists that descended on Haida Gwaii following last month's 7.7 magnitude earthquake is getting new insights into the fault that caused it — and the fear it generated.

Seismologist Alison Bird is one of about a dozen experts from Natural Resources Canada who were dispatched to the archipelago when the shaking started.

"My heart was in my throat until I started reading the reports, and started realizing that everyone's fine," Bird said.

There were no physical injuries from the most severe Canadian quake in more than 60 years, and Bird says the worst building damage may have been a cracked foundation and a crumbled chimney.

After spending the better part of three weeks debriefing Haida elders, school children, teens and adults about the experience, Bird says most handled it well — but it's clear not everyone came through the event unscathed.

"It really depended on the person ... There were some people who were extremely rattled. It's almost like a post-traumatic stress they're going through," Bird said after touring the region.

"Some people had to take time off work. Some children had trouble and needed to be comforted at school, and thankfully it's the kind of community [where] that was at their fingertips."

NRC seismologist Alison Bird documents how people felt the quake. (Curt Petrovich/CBC)

Weeks after the quake, Haida Nation Coun. Cindy Boyko is spooked by any creak or groan in her house in Skidegate.

She still has a bag packed by her door, and a truck in the driveway is loaded and ready to go.

"That night was terrifying," Boyko said. "It's the scariest thing I've ever been through in my life."

Boyko says she expected the shaking to stop after a second or two. When it didn't, she was paralyzed with panic.

"I knew I had to just move, so I did. I got up and made a run for the hallway, hanging on to the moving walls, walking on the moving floor. So I ended up in the doorway just hanging on, screaming for my husband. "

Boyko described the sound of the quake like a freight train coming from beneath her floor.

Human sensors

Bird is paying close attention to experiences like Boyko's.

She says they will help planners understand the psycho-social impact of natural disasters, and how they might play out in a more severe event in a more populated area.

But descriptions of how the quake felt are also giving scientists a clearer picture of the geological event itself.

"The information I'm getting from these people can actually be translated into intensity," Bird said.

"We've been doing intensity maps for decades, and what it does is it gives you an idea of the level of ground motion, or level of movement in those different communities. From that we can gain a lot of information about the characteristics of the earthquake."

She says the people of Haida Gwaii have become human sensors.

"We only have really a handful of seismometers around the Haida Gwaii region," Bird said. "But we've got 4,000 people so if they tell us how they experienced the earthquake, it's almost like they become another seismometer."

Thousands of quakes

Geophysicist Mike Schmidt was first on the ground after the initial quake.

Geophysicist Mike Schmidt installs GPS receiver on Hot Springs Island. (Curt Petrovich/CBC)

"It's exciting and I think a lot of us are saying this is probably a once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing."

Schmidt oversaw the installation of seven new seismometers throughout the island chain, which relay data in real time to scientists in Ottawa and Sidney, B.C.

As well, six new highly precise global positioning receivers Schmidt's team placed will measure every heave and sigh of the earth's surface as small as a millimetre.

"I mean people are feeling it," Schmidt said of the continuing aftershocks.

"Every day I come into the restaurant in Queen Charlotte City and people say, 'Well did you feel it last night?'. And so there are still earthquakes out there, people are feeling them. If you take all of them, including the tiniest ones, we're into well over two or three thousand earthquakes right now."

It wasn't easy finding suitable sites for the new sensors on short notice — the equipment had to be mounted on bedrock, and Schmidt and his team had to use helicopters to hop islands.

Schmidt also had to make sure the Haida Council was comfortable with the placement of satellite dishes, solar panels and other gear in places like Gandll K'in Gwaayaay, or Hot Springs Island, a sacred site in Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve that's also a carefully managed tourist attraction.

Hot Springs vanished

"Well it's funny," Schmidt said. "Right after the earthquake and laying out the preliminary plans, of course everybody was saying 'OK, let's go put one on Hot Springs Island.' Everybody was volunteering to go there."

Carey Bergman of Parks Canada stands in a once overflowing hot spring, now dry. (Curt Petrovich/CBC)

But right after the quake, the bathing pools which are fed by 30 C water heated several kilometres under ground abruptly dried up. Now the basins collect only cold rain water.

Some people have now taken to referring to the retreat as Not-Springs Island, and everyone's asking Schmidt if their measurements will tell them if the hot water will return.

"We just don't know," Schmidt said.

"The plumbing changed when the earthquake happened. We do know that after other earthquakes, other hot springs in other parts of the world have gone dry and have come back. We just don' t know what's going to happen here."

Predicting the next quake

Schmidt must also disappoint anyone looking for a definitive answer about when the next major quake will rumble through the region.

He says the data they're collecting won't yield any clues, but will ultimately help people prepare for the next one.

"All this work we're doing is to try to get a sense of the type of earthquake [it was] ... what kind of shaking, how long the shaking will take, what kind of G-forces we're likely to experience," Schmidt said.

"All of that information is then taken and we give it to the engineers and that goes into the building codes. From that we just get a better infrastructure."

The data is also helping researchers get a picture of what happened.

A GPS receiver at Sandspit that was active during the quake recorded a shift of 20 centimetres.

But seismologist John Cassidy says closer to the epicentre along the Queen Charlotte fault, the Pacific tectonic plate may have moved as much as four metres in a rare and violent collision, rather than a routine slipping of the plates against each other.

"Our thought at this point is that this earth quake represented the Pacific plate being pushed beneath Haida Gwaii," Cassidy said.

It's a theory that could take specialists with Natural Resources Canada several months to verify as they pore over the data flowing from the newly installed sensors.

Boyko had hoped all the science being done on her doorstep would ultimately find a way to give her increased warning time.

"So we aren't sitting around all scared, just waiting for the next shake to happen ... so we can be prepared and get out of the way if we do have a tsunami," she said.

There's not much earthquake scientists can do to predict the next big one but Boyko is still glad to see them study the last one so closely.

"I think Hot Springs was a small price to pay for what we went through," she said.

"I think it was a wake-up call. I have to evaluate what's important to me, and not take it all for granted. I love Haida Gwaii. I want to protect her. But in the end it's my family that's important — my family and the people we live with."

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