CNE raid collects $1M worth of counterfeit goods

An estimated $1 million worth of counterfeit goods was seized from the CNE grounds by Toronto police on Friday.

Three booths at the Canadian National Exhibition's Direct Energy Centre were raided by about 15 officers from the financial crimes unit, charging two owners and seeking a third.

Fakes of Luxury brands like Tory Burch, Michael Kors, Gucci, Prada and Rolex were found for sale at the vendors. Ray Ban, ERA baseball caps and other brands were found as well.

Police worked with a counterfeit goods expert Lorne Lipkus, who is trained to tell the difference between authentic and counterfeit goods, to spot the items. The raid happened after CBC News brought some items to police earlier this week to assess their authenticity.

If CNE visitors suspect they've purchased a counterfeit item, there's a chance to get a refund if a credit card was used. Lipkus says to call the anti-fraud centre, which then liaises with the credit card company to arrange a refund.

On top of that, if the investigation confirms that a vendor was selling fake goods, its electronic billing privileges are revoked.

This is the second post-cronut burger controversy to hit the fair. Earlier this week, two more food vendors, Bourbon St Grill and Bao Shanghai, were shut down by food inspectors for health violations.

The cronut burger, a much-lauded hamburger with a croissant-donut bun, caused more than 230 reports of food illness with bacteria in its maple bacon jam topping.

The CNE closes on Monday.

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Mother charged with attempted murder in boy's beating

The mother of an 11-year old boy who is in critical condition in hospital is facing multiple charges including attempted murder after an assault at a west-end Toronto apartment early Friday, police say.

Police said the boy had been beaten. His mother is now facing charges for aggravated assault and failing to provide the necessities of life in addition to the attempted murder count.

Police responded to reports of a fight from neighbours were called to an apartment building on Eva Road — near Burnhamthorpe Road and The West Mall in the west-end neighourhood of Etobicoke — at around 1:15 a.m. ET Friday.

They smashed through the glass door at the building's entrance to get to the 12th-floor apartment, and found the boy with cuts and bruises.

A neighbour told CBC News that her sister-in-law heard the commotion and called police, who were already en route to the building.

"She heard someone screaming, someone hurting," the woman told CBC's Trevor Dunn.

Boy to undergo surgery

The boy was taken by ambulance to the Hospital for Sick Children, where he is scheduled to undergo surgery on Friday.

Shortly after the boy was taken away by ambulance, two women — one of them the boy's mother — left the building in police custody. Only the mother remained in police custody as of 11:30 a.m. ET.

Neighbours say the boy lived in the apartment with his mother, an older sister and a younger brother.

Two other children in the apartment were also taken away.

Neighbours told CBC News that one of the women under arrest was behaving strangely as she was taken into custody.

"She was in the back of the cruiser and blowing kisses and smiling, like she was on drugs or something," a man told CBC.

The Children's Aid Society has also been contacted.

With files from CBC's Trevor Dunn

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Quebec man gets 4 months for beating puppies

A man in Quebec's Eastern Townships has received one of the stiffest jail sentences ever handed down in Canada in an animal cruelty case.

Jimmy Marchand will spend the next four months behind bars after pleading guilty to negligence and beating his two puppies.

Representatives of the SPA, the Society for the Protection of Animals, went twice to Marchand's home in Windsor, Que. in 2012.

Both times, a puppy was taken away from the home showing obvious signs of abuse, one of them so badly beaten it had to be put down.

Ewa Damianovitch of the Humane Society International said the sentence is good but could be better.

"Considering how the Criminal Code is written and how old it is — it hasn't been updated since 1892 — it is a good sentencing," she said.

"In Quebec, the harshest sentencing for animal abuse was six months jail time, a lifetime prohibition of owning animals, a fine and probation as well," she continued.

Cathy Bergeron of the SPA said she hopes Marchand's conviction will help change people's behaviours when they realize they can go to jail for hurting animals.

Lawyer and animal rights expert Lesli Bisgould said it's extremely difficult to get offenders sentenced in cases like these.

"Unless you have eyewitnesses who are willing to see it through, there's already limitations that prevent charges from moving along," she said.

She said animal cruelty has to be treated more seriously in Canada because violence against animals is sometimes a precursor to violence against people.

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Justin Trudeau's pot admission could show loosening taboo

Canadians are learning a little more about the drug habits of their politicians, thanks to a spate of recent admissions on past marijuana use. But that doesn't mean other aspects of their elected officials' personal lives are fair game in the political arena, experts say.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said in an interview last week that he smoked marijuana about three years ago — after he had been elected as an MP — and that he had used marijuana a handful of times in his life.

Trudeau's statement set off a cascade of similar admissions as reporters put the same question to other elected politicians. Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter said yesterday that he "would have tried it" while he was at university in the 1970s. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford both said this week they had smoked marijuana in the past. All four politicians made headlines for their remarks.

Parliament Hill has had its share of sex scandals, dating back to at least the Diefenbaker government in the 1950s, when a German prostitute and suspected Soviet spy named Gerda Munsinger had affairs with several cabinet ministers.

Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter says he tried marijuana in the 1970s. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)

But reporting on the personal lives of Canada's elected officials has been less common, compared to other Western countries such as the United States and Britain, said Ian Capstick, a communications specialist and former NDP strategist.

"Our media are not as obsessed with these types of questions. Nor do we, in specific comparison to the United States, have such a puritanical world view," he told CBC News. "You don't tend to see the details of people's personal sexual affairs tumbling out over the page of our newspapers and on our screens."

Shifting social mores

The issue of marijuana use has apparently become an exception to the rule, as attitudes toward its use have evolved. A poll released Saturday by Forum Research suggests that most Canadians support reforming federal marijuana laws, with 69 per cent of respondents indicating that they support either decriminalization "for small amounts of marijuana" or legalization as long as it is taxed.

A majority of every group, by age, gender, region, income, education, religion, ethnicity and party preference, favour one of those two options. That includes 62 per cent of Conservative supporters.

For 63 per cent of those polled, Trudeau's admission will have no impact on how they plan to vote. For those who say it will, 21 per cent are less likely to vote Liberal and 14 per cent say they are more likely.

The automatic telephone poll was conducted Aug. 23 and considered accurate plus or minus three per cent, 19 times out of 20.

"It's a little bit like going 120 [kph] on the highway. Almost everybody drives 120 on the highway. That's against the law as well," said Jaime Watt, executive chairman of Navigator, a political communications firm.

"What's changed is the influence of the baby boom," Watt said on CBC Radio's Metro Morning. "The largest cohort that we have now is pretty much agreed that it's OK to smoke marijuana once in a while. That group of people is exerting its influence. This is one of the knock-on effects that you're seeing."

Many areas of a politician's personal life still remain off limits, such as a politician's family life, or their sexual orientation, said Marcel Wieder, president and CEO of communications firm Aurora Strategy Group.

As social mores have changed, however, politicians seem to be less wary about admitting the truth on an issue that is now more mainstream.

"Boundaries change over time," Wieder said. "I think it's fair to ask politicians whether drugs, recreational or other, have been used."

Meanwhile, he said elected officials have more of an incentive to answer questions honestly about their personal life, including marijuana use. The advent of social media and the ubiquity of smartphones mean that it's easier to catch a politician in a lie today.

"If someone takes a photo or a video and posts it on YouTube it's there forever. Your political opponents will find it. Your potential constituents will find it," Wieder said.

"The issue is always, the cover-up is worse than the crime. If you take your medicine and you stand up and you admit your mistakes, the public tends to be more forgiving of you. If you try to hide and obfuscate, that's when you get in trouble."

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U.S. woman pleads guilty to killing 2 Ontario tourists

A homeless woman has pleaded guilty to two counts of murder in the fatal stabbings of an Ontario mother and daughter who were visiting Atlantic City.

The Press of Atlantic City reports 45-year-old Antoinette Pelzer entered her pleas Friday afternoon.

Authorities say Pelzer stabbed 80-year-old Po Lin Wan and 47-year-old Alice Mei See Leung to death during a robbery attempt in May 2012.

Pelzer allegedly attacked Leung with a butcher knife then turned on Wan when she tried to intervene.

The Scarborough, Ont., women both died in hospital.

Pelzer's public defender previously said her client had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

The Philadelphia woman could face two consecutive life sentences under the terms of her plea agreement.

Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 24.

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Air Canada passengers to receive up to $800 if they get bumped

Air Canada will have to compensate bumped passengers in cash for as much as $800, depending on the length of the delay, under new rules the Canadian Transportation Agency has handed down.

New rules that come into effect on Sept. 18, require that passengers be compensated $200, $400 or $800 per passenger depending on whether the delay is less than two hours, between two and six hours, or more than six hours.

The compensation structure only applies to passengers who do not volunteer to get bumped from a flight.

The CTA also imposed strict conditions on the carrier offering travel vouchers instead of cash, including a one-to-three exchange rate — for example, $1 in cash is equal to $3 in travel vouchers. Passengers can now insist on receiving cash as compensation for being bumped from a flight.

In May, CTA upheld a complaint from Halifax mathematician and air passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs, ruling that the current compensation of $100 for bumping passengers is unreasonably low.

Lukacs started investigating compensation in 2011 after discovering his flight was overbooked.

The agency gave Air Canada 30 days to come up with an explanation as to why it should not restructure its compensation scale.

CTA's decision concluded that the airline failed to provide evidence that implementing a new compensation scheme for bumped passengers would be a financial burden to the company.

Lukacs said that the decision is an important first step to bring Canada in line with the rest of the Western world. Both the U.S. and the European Union have bumped boarding compensation schemes, which require airlines to pay substantial compensation to passengers who are delayed due to an oversold flight.

In the U.S. for example, the compensation is as much as $680 of the airfare for delays less than two hours, and as much as $1,360 for delays over two hours. In the European Union, the compensation ranges from $175 to $835, depending on the length of the flight and the delay caused to passengers.

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Vancouver airport strike 'chaos' averted

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The strike that would have seen more than 300 workers at Vancouver International Airport walk off the job has been averted, the Public Service Alliance of Canada says.

Shortly after 9:30 p.m. PT Thursday, an agreement was reached in last-minute contract talks between the union and the Vancouver Airport Authority, union spokesman Dave Clark said.

"After a marathon mediation, a tentative agreement was done that's a fair deal for the employer, the YVR airport authority, and a fair deal for the employees," he said.

Clark said details of the agreement will only be released once all union members have a chance to see them.

"This is quite new news, we've been working hard," said Anne Murray, spokeswoman for the Vancouver Airport Authority. "The negotiating team has been working quite hard over the last couple of days, but it has been months of negotiations."

'Chaos' averted

The unionized employees work in areas such as emergency response, international arrivals customer care, passenger loading, runway maintenance and lighting, and administration.

On Tuesday, the union issued a 72-hour strike notice and warned passengers to contact the airport or airlines and plan for delays and other potential disruptions in the event of job action.

Some travellers going through Vancouver International Airport changed their plans and either flew out or arrived Thursday in order to avoid delays or cancellations that a possible strike Friday might cause. (CBC)

The strike notice came just weeks after 83 per cent of the membership of the Union of Canadian Transportation Employees members voted in favour of a strike.

A union spokesman said flexible shifts and protection from contracting were two of the main issues needing renegotiation.

The B.C. Federation of Labour had warned on Wednesday that air travel into or out of Vancouver could be "chaos" Friday morning if a strike did go ahead; however, an airport spokesperson said repeatedly that the airport would be fully operational even if the strike occurred.

With files from The Canadian Press

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Road fatalities rise on long weekends, but not for the usual reasons

In the days before long weekends come the inevitable police campaigns with their dire warnings of deadly crashes. Don't be one of the many fatalities, they warn.

A recent Canadian study found that there's truth to the oft-repeated refrain that long-weekend travel can be more deadly, but some of the behaviours targeted in holiday campaigns might miss the mark.

Using five years' worth of Alberta provincial crash data, the study determined that holiday weekends see on average an 18 per cent higher rate of fatal collisions than non-holiday weekends.

What caused these deaths, however, didn't always match up with conventional wisdom.

In fact, regular weekends saw more crashes involving drunk driving and speeding than holiday weekends, the study published in the Accident Analysis and Prevention journal said.

While the study itself didn't delve into possible reasons for this, co-author Sabreena Anowar theorized it may be because, on regular weekends, people often drive solo while holiday travel tends to be with family.

"It has been shown in literature when people drive with family members they tend to be more conservative," suggested Anowar, who is now working on a PhD at McGill University in transportation engineering.

Less buckling up

Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Dave Woodford — whose force oversees some of the busiest highways in the country, which are also some of the safest — suggests the reason for fewer aggression-linked crashes might be simpler.

"There's a lot more vehicles on the road," he says. "Traffic's not moving as fast so those aggressive drivers, you may not see as many of them because of the heavier traffic."

What the study did find on holiday weekends was more passengers and drivers failing to buckle-up — a problem Alberta's traffic sheriffs have been targeting with success in recent years.

The three co-authors of the study recommend that policy-makers focus their seatbelt blitzes during these long weekends, when buckling up is lower, and then target other dangerous actions such as speeding on regular weekends.

In Alberta, at least, while more officers flood the roads on holiday weekends to encourage adherence to the rules, Traffic Sheriffs Supt. James Stiles says the aim is to target all bad behaviours.

"What we want to do is combat some of those poor driving behaviours that lead to the crashes. That's why we put a lot of emphasis on long weekends. Always have," said Stiles.

Fatality-free weekend

Road safety campaigns in Alberta, like many provinces, take aim at different driving behaviours each month. August's focus is impaired driving, says Stiles, because the summer months see more drinking-related collisions.

"It's inevitable when you have so many people on our roads that you'll have fatalities," he notes about the upcoming Labour Day weekend.

However, last month, during Canada's civic holiday, Alberta marked an unusual event: a fatality-free long weekend.

"Of course, that is very gratifying to our people working on the roads here," said Stiles.

Ontario also experienced one of the lowest death tolls on a civic holiday weekend in two decades this year, with just one road-related fatality, but that's a rare event.

Overall, collisions have been steadily falling across the country for the past two decades, but car crashes on holiday weekends — or the surprising lack thereof — inevitably garner much media attention.

Few studies, though, examine how long weekends differ from the majority of weekends.

One U.S. study found that six of the 10 deadliest road days occurred on major American holidays. On the other side of the world, though, two Australian studies found that differences between fatality rates between holiday and non-holiday weekends were too small to be statistically significant.

Authors of the Canadian study, which examined data from 2004 until 2008, decided to take a look at how the risks differed between public holidays compared to other weekends because so little was known on the topic.

Among the other findings in the study is that holiday crashes happened more frequently in rural areas and involved more out-of-province drivers than during other weekends, suggesting part of the cause is unfamiliarity with the roads.

Lessons to learn?

Rear-end and angular crashes — often indicative of driver distraction — were also more common during the holidays.

"People are using more gadgetry in vehicles nowadays: cellphones, Bluetooth," said study co-author Shamsunnahar Yasmin. "These kinds of things are really very important with respect to road safety."

If drivers take one lesson from the study, however, Anowar hopes they take it upon themselves to improve their own behaviour

"Even though the campaigns are enough, I think we still need to improve our behaviour as drivers," said Anowar.

Supt. Stiles agrees that "we see too much bad driving behaviour" in general and issues a reminder to all those heading out on the long weekend.

"The nature of long weekends is people are out visiting family, they might be camping or out doing things," he said, "and our message has to be very strong: Our folks are going to be out there en masse and we'll try and catch anybody who's breaking the law."

Comparison of crashes during public holidays and regular weekends (PDF)
Comparison of crashes during public holidays and regular weekends (Text)

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Justin Trudeau's pot admission could show loosening taboo

Canadians are learning a little more about the drug habits of their politicians, thanks to a spate of recent admissions on past marijuana use. But that doesn't mean other aspects of their elected officials' personal lives are fair game in the political arena, experts say.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said in an interview last week that he smoked marijuana about three years ago — after he had been elected as an MP — and that he had used marijuana a handful of times in his life.

Trudeau's statement set off a cascade of similar admissions as reporters put the same question to other elected politicians. Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter said yesterday that he "would have tried it" while he was at university in the 1970s. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford both said this week they had smoked marijuana in the past. All four politicians made headlines for their remarks.

Parliament Hill has had its share of sex scandals, dating back to at least the Diefenbaker government in the 1950s, when a German prostitute and suspected Soviet spy named Gerda Munsinger had affairs with several cabinet ministers.

Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter says he tried marijuana in the 1970s. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)

But reporting on the personal lives of Canada's elected officials has been less common, compared to other Western countries such as the United States and Britain, said Ian Capstick, a communications specialist and former NDP strategist.

"Our media are not as obsessed with these types of questions. Nor do we, in specific comparison to the United States, have such a puritanical world view," he told CBC News. "You don't tend to see the details of people's personal sexual affairs tumbling out over the page of our newspapers and on our screens."

Shifting social mores

The issue of marijuana use has apparently become an exception to the rule, as attitudes toward its use have evolved. A poll released Saturday by Forum Research suggests that most Canadians support reforming federal marijuana laws, with 69 per cent of respondents indicating that they support either decriminalization "for small amounts of marijuana" or legalization as long as it is taxed.

A majority of every group, by age, gender, region, income, education, religion, ethnicity and party preference, favour one of those two options. That includes 62 per cent of Conservative supporters.

For 63 per cent of those polled, Trudeau's admission will have no impact on how they plan to vote. For those who say it will, 21 per cent are less likely to vote Liberal and 14 per cent say they are more likely.

The automatic telephone poll was conducted Aug. 23 and considered accurate plus or minus three per cent, 19 times out of 20.

"It's a little bit like going 120 [kph] on the highway. Almost everybody drives 120 on the highway. That's against the law as well," said Jaime Watt, executive chairman of Navigator, a political communications firm.

"What's changed is the influence of the baby boom," Watt said on CBC Radio's Metro Morning. "The largest cohort that we have now is pretty much agreed that it's OK to smoke marijuana once in a while. That group of people is exerting its influence. This is one of the knock-on effects that you're seeing."

Many areas of a politician's personal life still remain off limits, such as a politician's family life, or their sexual orientation, said Marcel Wieder, president and CEO of communications firm Aurora Strategy Group.

As social mores have changed, however, politicians seem to be less wary about admitting the truth on an issue that is now more mainstream.

"Boundaries change over time," Wieder said. "I think it's fair to ask politicians whether drugs, recreational or other, have been used."

Meanwhile, he said elected officials have more of an incentive to answer questions honestly about their personal life, including marijuana use. The advent of social media and the ubiquity of smartphones mean that it's easier to catch a politician in a lie today.

"If someone takes a photo or a video and posts it on YouTube it's there forever. Your political opponents will find it. Your potential constituents will find it," Wieder said.

"The issue is always, the cover-up is worse than the crime. If you take your medicine and you stand up and you admit your mistakes, the public tends to be more forgiving of you. If you try to hide and obfuscate, that's when you get in trouble."

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Abolishing Senate requires consensus, Ontario to argue

Ontario plans to intervene in the federal government's Supreme Court reference on the future of the Senate and will argue that support of seven provinces with 50 per cent of the population is not enough to abolition the Senate, according to a source who spoke to The Canadian Press. (Canadian Press)

Ontario is set to argue that the federal government needs the consensus of all regions of the country if it wants to abolish the Senate.

A provincial government source says the province will tell the Supreme Court of Canada that the consent of seven provinces, representing at least half of the population, is not enough to scrap the upper chamber.

The federal government argues that the so-called 7/50 rule is all that is needed to abolish the Senate.

Ontario will say that rule applies only if the federal government wants to set term limits for senators that are less than nine years, or to hold Senate elections. The province will take no position on whether senators ought to own at least $4,000 worth of land in the province they represent.

Newfoundland and Labrador and Nunavut, which filed their submissions Thursday, take similar positions.

Ottawa is asking the court for guidance on what it would take to reform the upper chamber and whether it can abolish the body without provincial consultation.

Ottawa says it plans to act

In its submission, the federal government argues "it is constitutionally permissible for Parliament to impose term limits, provide for public consultative processes on Senate appointments, and remove the archaic requirement that a senator" own at least $4,000 worth of land.

The federal Conservatives say they plan to move ahead with Senate reform — or even outright abolition — once the Supreme Court provides guidance over how they may do so.

The New Democrats, meanwhile, are calling for Senate abolition.

Newfoundland and Labrador, Nunavut and Manitoba have all filed submissions arguing Ottawa cannot act alone to set term limits, hold elections for senators or abolish the upper chamber outright.

Manitoba Attorney General Andrew Swan says the upper chamber is basically flawed and should be abolished, but he cautions that the federal government can't go it alone.

The province's submission argues that Parliament does not have the constitutional authority to enact significant unilateral changes to the structure of the Senate or to the selection of its members.

Swan says such changes require consultation and agreement with the provinces.

The rest of the provinces have until today to file their submissions to the Supreme Court.

As the court ponders the government's questions, a scandal over Senate expenses has cast the upper chamber in an unflattering light.

The RCMP is looking into the questionable expenses of former Conservative senators Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau, as well as former Liberal Mac Harb, who has since resigned.

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Rob Ford on pot: 'I've smoked a lot'

Rob Ford has stated he does "not use crack cocaine, nor [is he] an addict of crack cocaine," but he has smoked a lot of marijuana.

The Toronto mayor, who has been accused of having a substance abuse problem, casually announced he has used the drug as he left a luncheon event today. He is the third Canadian politician in a week to admit to marijuana consumption.

"Oh yeah, I won't deny that. I've smoked a lot of it," he laughed.

Reporters put the question to Ford because earlier in the day Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said she smoked marijuana 35 years ago, before she got into politics.

Wynne addressed marijuana use because her federal counterpart, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, told a reporter a week ago that he had smoked marijuana while serving as a member of Parliament.

Ford's lighthearted confession comes after months of speculation that the mayor may have a substance abuse problem. In March, a video was being shopped around to media outlets that allegedly showed Ford smoking crack cocaine. A few weeks ago, the mayor appeared to be intoxicated at a Toronto street festival and has made a few other appearances where his sobriety was in question.

In 1999, when Ford was visiting Florida, he was arrested for impaired driving. He was found with a marijuana joint in his back pocket.

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Trudeau defends pot revelation as caucus meets in P.E.I.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has defended his recent admission about smoking marijuana in a speech before hundreds of local supporters at his party's summer caucus in Prince Edward Island.

In a Wednesday evening speech, Trudeau acknowledged the controversy he set off last week. He disclosed in an interview that he smoked marijuana about three years ago, while he was an MP, at a dinner party he was hosting and that he's done that about five or six times in his life.

Earlier in the summer, Trudeau said he wants to see pot legalized, not just decriminalized. The Liberal party voted for that position at its last policy convention.

Trudeau told the huge crowd at the outdoor party held at local Liberal MP Lawrence MacAulay's home that the debate he set off "blew my mind."

"Only in Stephen Harper's Canada could people actually argue that being honest was a calculated risk," said Trudeau. He said he didn't talk about his past marijuana use because he wants to disclose "every little last detail, the public sphere is not supposed to be Oprah," but rather because of the position he backs when it comes to legalization.

"But I do believe that since I am taking a strong policy position on what is a mistake in our policy and in Stephen Harper's Canada that criminalizes hundreds of thousands of people needlessly and costs us hundreds of millions of dollars every year, I think its time to be able to be forthright and honest about the kinds of changes we need to bring," he said.

Trudeau took a few shots at Harper during his speech, calling him "unambitious" and accusing him of having no vision for Canada.

Trudeau mingled with the crowd before his speech, shaking hands and posing for photos, as a band entertained the crowd and people lined up for BBQ'd hamburgers.

Back to Ottawa

Earlier in the day, MPs decided at their caucus meeting to head back to Ottawa in three weeks even though Harper said last week that he wants to ask the Governor General to prorogue Parliament, and plans to return in October with a speech from the throne. Parliament won't sit until after the throne speech, which hasn't yet been scheduled.

Trudeau said MPs will be on Parliament Hill even if the House of Commons isn't sitting, and will meet with stakeholders, do the kind of work normally done at committees, work on developing policies and holding Harper's Conservatives accountable for "erroneous decisions and its poor judgment."

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, left, gives opening remarks at the party's caucus meeting in Roseneath, P.E.I., on Wednesday. Francis Scarpaleggia, the caucus chair, is seated next to Trudeau. (Meagan Fitzpatrick/CBC )

The Liberal leader said Canadians expect MPs to be back at work in Parliament in a few weeks and the Liberals won't disappoint them.

"The Liberal Party will be returning in the third week of September as expected, to get to work serving Canadians through the work in Ottawa that they expect us to do," he said.

Trudeau said the Liberal caucus spent much of their morning session discussing transparency and issues affecting the middle class, which is sure to be a primary battle ground in the next election in 2015.

The party is looking to take back some of the ground lost to the Conservatives and NDP over the past few years, in part by bringing in a fresh face to handle fundraising.

Speaking to reporters following the morning meetings, Trudeau said the party is looking for solutions to help young Canadians who can't find jobs, and the parents who have to support them for longer than in past years.

But, pressed for specific details on how to help young people get jobs and assist the middle class, Trudeau said the party needs to consult Canadians and experts.

"This is not something to take lightly, this is not something to reel off because people want answers," he said.

Wealthy Montreal businessman Stephen Bronfman, the party's new chief revenue officer, told reporters at the Liberals' caucus meeting in Prince Edward Island that his goal is get Justin Trudeau elected prime minister. (Meagan Fitzpatrick/CBC News)

Trudeau said he has a responsibility to put forward a robust platform for the next election in 2015, and he's not going to cut the policy development process short just because people may be getting "impatient." Liberals want to provide a good government for Canadians and aren't worried about dominating headlines, he said. They are going to take their time developing policies in preparation for the next election, said Trudeau.

Expenses will be online

Party members also spent part of their day talking about the commitment Trudeau made in the spring for the hospitality and travel expenses of Liberal MPs and senators to be posted online. He said that will start in late September and they'll use the model followed by cabinet ministers.

"I think Canadians demand a level of transparency from their governments and from their political parties that the Liberal Party is happy to step up to, and happy to take the lead on," Trudeau said.

"I know that the other parties will not take long to realize that they cannot operate in secrecy anymore from Canadians."

There was a new face in the Liberal caucus room Wednesday — Montreal businessman Stephen Bronfman. He's been named the party's new chief revenue officer, which puts him in charge of fundraising.

The Bronfman name is one of the biggest in Canadian business — Stephen Bronfman's grandfather built the Seagram liquor empire, making the family billionaires.

Bronfman runs the private investment firm Claridge Inc., and is a longtime family friend of Trudeau. Bronfman was one of the key players in Trudeau's leadership campaign, helping to bring in more than $2 million, and now he has signed on to help the whole party.

Bronfman told CBC News that he's excited for his new role and that in order for the party to be successful in fundraising, it needs to give Canadians a reason to donate.

"I think Justin is a reason but in this day and age, you have to offer more, so we have to rethink the way we do certain things," Bronfman said. The party has to build on what it's doing well but also do things differently, he added. "I think we're bringing a different group of people, a different level of professionalism. We've learned from the past and today is a new day. We've got a big job to do and I think everyone's pretty jazzed up to do it."

The Conservative Party of Canada is a well-oiled fundraising machine, and Bronfman said he knows the Liberals have their work cut out for them to compete at their level. But there are a lot of committed Liberals across the country, he said, and Trudeau is "able to light their fires."

Online fundraising a growth area

A quarter of Trudeau's leadership campaign donations were raised online, and Bronfman said that's a growth area that needs investment. While donating online might appeal more to younger Canadians, Bronfman said the party will try to raise money from all demographics.

"The older Canadians have been amazing, they vote, they give. I think what we're able to do is we're able to tap into younger Canadians and then sort of blend it in," he said. "We've got work to do on all fronts: young, middle, old. We've got to get them all. It's a big country, it's a big fight and we're ready to do it."

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Bronfman said the party is "staffing up" and working hard to catch up to the Conservatives, a party with a "very solid machine." His is a volunteer position but the party will be hiring a full-time staff person to execute Bronfman's ideas.

"We're going to build this and I know we're going to be successful," he said with confidence. He said Canadians are interested in finding out more about Trudeau and "sticking with it and they're following him and in turn we're getting them to support him."

"The goal is to raise a lot of money and to help Justin become the next prime minister. Simple goal," he said.

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Trudeau's Liberals wrap up meeting with focus on middle class

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says his party will focus on addressing the economic challenges facing the middle class as it prepares to fight the next election.

He also told reporters in Prince Edward Island that he doesn't regret speaking out against a proposed Quebec "charter of values."

At a barbecue Wednesday night, Trudeau noted the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech at a rally in Washington and then made reference to Quebec's proposed ban on the wearing of religious symbols or headwear by public workers.

Asked Thursday whether he was drawing a parallel between segregation and the proposed Quebec charter, Trudeau said no, but added that he was proud of Canada's "open society," and would fight to protect it.

Trudeau spoke to reporters after wrapping up a summer caucus retreat with his MPs. The get-together included a full day of discussions Wednesday and the evening rally that attracted hundreds of people.

Trudeau heads now for Nova Scotia for more touring and events later in the day.

On Thursday morning, the caucus heard from finance critic Scott Brison and held a discussion about the struggles facing the middle class.

Heading into the meeting, MP Irwin Cotler said the mood at caucus had been "very positive."

"The discussions have been good. I think Justin inspires an approach of transparency and frankness," he said. Cotler said the party is demonstrating that it offers an open, transparent, accountable alternative to the Conservatives.

In Trudeau's nearly 20-minute speech Wednesday night at the Liberal event, he addressed the controversy he prompted last week with his admission about smoking marijuana about three years ago.

"Only in Stephen Harper's Canada could people actually argue that being honest was a calculated risk," Trudeau said.

The Montreal MP said he wanted to be honest because of the policy position he's taking that calls for the legalization of marijuana.

Trudeau pumped up the crowd and said that through his travels across Canada this summer, he has learned people are open and hopeful about the Liberal Party, but that they still have work to do to win back Canadians' trust and confidence.

He also took a few shots at Prime Minister Stephen Harper, saying people are tired of his leadership. "He's unambitious, he lacks hopes and dreams for this country," he said.

Harper's office, when asked for comment, rejected Trudeau's assessment.

"Prime Minister Harper has a proven plan for the economy that is creating jobs and growth right across Canada. In contrast, Mr. Trudeau openly admits that he has no economic policy or plan," Andrew MacDougall, Harper's director of communications, said in an email.

The big crowd drawn to local MP Lawrence MacAulay's home for the BBQ wasn't a surprise given that Prince Edward Island is mostly Liberal territory — the party holds three out of the four federal seats — but organizers said attendance surpassed their expectations. People arrived on buses from different parts of P.E.I. and MacAulay's lawn was packed with cars.

Trudeau 'building a movement'

Beth Butland had never been to any kind of political event, but when she heard Trudeau was going to be on the Island, she wanted to come see him. She said she's tired of the way politics is being done in Canada and that "we need a change."

"He is building a movement," she said. "We need fresh and we need new, and we need accountability."

Trudeau's admission that he smoked marijuana since getting elected as an MP didn't bother her. "He gave a direct answer instead of a direct lie."

It didn't bother Butland's mother, who is in her 80s, either. "Oh no," Frances Hanscome said, shrugging it off.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, left, was asked by a young man at a Liberal rally Wednesday night in Prince Edward Island for tips on training for boxing. (Meagan Fitzpatrick/CBC News)

Hanscome brought a book to the event that she wrote about her brother, a fighter pilot who died in the Second World War, and planned to give it to Trudeau as a gift. She wrote a message inside telling him he hopes it will one day be on his bookshelf at 24 Sussex Dr.

Liberal MPs said Canadians are enthusiastic about the hope and hard work that Trudeau has been showing since he took over the leadership in April.

"I feel that we've been rejuvenated by the expressions of confidence from Canadians to us over the summer," said Frank Valeriote, MP for Guelph in Ontario.

Kevin Lamoureux, MP for Winnipeg North, credited Trudeau for generating excitement among Canadians. "People love the guy, they want pictures with him. Trudeau Mania 2, whatever you want to call it, it's great to see," he said.

The MPs said they have no problem with the decision to post their expenses online, and they have nothing to hide.

The Liberals will begin doing that this fall on the party's website. They also announced Wednesday that they would be back at work in Ottawa the third week of September, as scheduled, despite Harper's plan to ask the Governor General to prorogue Parliament until later in October.

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Lac-Mégantic victim identified as 4-year-old girl

The Quebec coroner's office has identified four-year-old Alyssa Charest Bégnoche as the 39th victim of the Lac-Mégantic, Que., rail disaster in July.

Alyssa's sister, Bianka, is also presumed dead.

The death of their 30-year-old mother, Talitha Coumi Bégnoche, had already been confirmed by the coroner.

Officials are still working to identify the remains of eight people.

A total of 47 were killed when a train carrying crude oil derailed and set of a series of explosions at the centre of Lac-Mégantic.

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Kip sisters welcomed home after Bon Echo rescue

Two sisters from New Hamburg who went missing for nearly two days in Bon Echo Provincial Park returned home Wednesday night to cheers and hugs from friends and family.

"I don't know what else to say other than I am ecstatic, I am over the moon, I don't want to stop hugging them," the girls' father, John Kip said.

Jenna, 16, and Emma Kip, 12, were missing for over 30 hours after taking a walk in the forest near their Hardwood Hills campsite last week. The sisters became disoriented during a thunderstorm.

The pair survived by building a lean-to and wringing out moss for drinking water. They were found by provincial police search teams last Friday.

Family members, neighbours and friends of the sisters made signs, honked on noisemakers, and gave Jenna and Emma hugs.

A sign welcomes home Emma and Jenna Kip. (Matthew Kang/CBC)

"This is amazing to see everyone here again and just be with everyone. This is so surprising, I did not expect this much," said Jenna Kip.

"I thought it would be less dramatic, I had no idea the whole, entire nation knew, it's incredible," she said.

"I just wanted to get home, I was thinking about everybody," said Emma Kip.

"Now I am home and I'm so happy."

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Owning a home becoming less affordable

Home ownership has become less affordable for the average Canadian, but that hasn't stopped many from jumping into what may already be an overpriced market, suggests a new report from the Royal Bank.

Royal Bank says its housing affordability index reversed course in the second quarter of this year in two of the three categories it measures — bungalows and two-storey homes — after generally improving over the past year.

That means that on average, Canadians were paying more of the pre-tax income to service their homes compared to the first quarter of the year, although the index is still down from a year ago.

The quarterly increase was not spectacular — 0.3 points to 42.7 per cent on a detached bungalow and 0.4 points to 48.4 per cent on a standard two-storey home. The index on a condo was unchanged at 27.9 per cent.

As with past samplings, Vancouver and Toronto continue to stand out as the least affordable cities. During the second quarter, Vancouver's affordability reading rose 2.2 points to 82.1 on a detached bungalow, while Toronto's edged up half a point to 54.5.

By contrast, other major municipalities were far more tame and below the national average. On a detached bungalow, Montreal slid slightly to 38.1 per cent, Ottawa was mildly higher at 37.1, Edmonton was at 34.0 despite a 1.8 point gain, and Calgary held steady at 33.0.

Sales on the rise

The affordability index measures the cost of servicing a home, including mortgage payments, utilities and taxes, in relation to a household's pre-tax income. The higher the reading, the less affordable is a home to a particular family.

RBC chief economist Craig Wright noted that the deterioration in affordability did not scare many Canadians from jumping feet first into the housing market during the second quarter as sales actually surged by 6.4 per cent, following a general slowdown since last summer's introduction of stiffer mortgage lending rules.

"We saw a bit of a bounce-back in prices," said Wright. "We had a series of regulatory changes, but now it looks like the market has adjusted and now seems to be recovering somewhat."

The report is for the April to June period and does not capture this month's announced increases of between 0.1 and 0.2 per cent — 10 or 20 basis points— in posted mortgage rates at several major banks. A 20-basis point hike in rates will increase monthly payments up to $100 on a typical $500,000 mortgage.

"Mortgage rates will be the next challenge," Wright added. "The move upward we've seen probably suggests that affordability will be a little more challenging [in the third quarter]."

But he noted that despite what has been a hot housing market in Canada, with prices hitting new highs almost monthly, affordability remains close to historic levels in part because interest rates are so low.

Central bank warns of rising interest rates

The Bank of Canada has long warned Canadians to take a forward-looking approach to home ownership and calculate what will happen to monthly payments once interest rates begin to rise, which it says is inevitable.

But Wright said the situation of affordability is more complex than simply interest rates. A sharp spike in rates will cause problems, yet most, including the Bank of Canada, currently anticipate the increases will be modest and gradual and won't likely start occurring until late next year. The central bank has kept its short-term trendsetting rate at one per cent for now.

As well, Wright points out that the bank will likely only start a monetary policy tightening phase once the economy starts improving, so the higher rates might be offset by an improvement in employment and in incomes, which could offset the negative impact on household finances. Higher rates might also lead to lower real estate prices, which also improves affordability.

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Budget 'mistake' more than doubles tax on credit unions

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The NDP is calling on Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to acknowledge a mistake in last spring's federal budget that more than doubled the corporate tax rate for credit unions and bring in a fix immediately.

The government had signalled it was raising the tax rate for credit unions and caisses populaires to 15 per cent from 11 per cent, to bring them in line with Canadian banks.

But a recent Deloitte report found the budget implementation bill passed in the spring will effectively raise the credit unions' tax rate to 28 per cent over the next five years. Deloitte's report said the increase was due to a "technical deficiency" in the budget legislation and that the Finance Department was working to correct it.

"However, our contacts would not provide any assurance that the legislative fix would be enacted prior to the end of 2013 or whether the fix would be retroactive to budget day. Any legislative change is subject to parliamentary approval," the Deloitte report said.

NDP finance critic Peggy Nash said the government needs to address the error imediately.

"We've not heard from the finance minister on how he is going to fix this, we haven't even heard him acknowlege it," Nash said at a press conference in Ottawa Tuesday.

Nash said if the increase was an error, it shows the danger of using omnibus bills to push through a raft of legislative changes and avoid debate.

"If it isn't a mistake, it is a massive penalty on Canada's credit unions," Nash said.

Nash said the NDP was opposed to the planned increase of four per cent, to be phased in over five years, because many credit unions are not-for-profit or serve a particular role in a community and higher taxes could hinder their ability to fulfill that role. She said some credit unions might not even be aware of the accidental tax hike.

Asked if the NDP would support a fix if the government brings one forward, Nash pointed to the dificulty posed by prorogation, which has delayed the return of Parliament until at least mid-October.

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Is the Big 3 telecom 'Fair for Canada' campaign working?

For several weeks now, the big three telecommunication firms — Bell, Rogers and Telus — have joined forces and waged a public relations blitz to win the hearts and minds of Canadians.

Their 'Fair for Canada' campaign seeks to rally the public to their side and "stand up for fair competition in Canada." And they warn of the consequences of the federal government giving U.S.-based companies like Verizon Communications an unfair advantage to bid on valuable wireless spectrum.

But some telecom analysts question the effectiveness of the campaign, charging that their message is a tough sell to many wary consumers who have little love for their cellphone providers.

"[The telecom providers] haven't paid attention to the fact — whether it's reality or not — that the perception is they're taking advantage of Canadian customers in the pocketbook and taking liberties with customer service," said Mark Blevis, a digital public affairs analyst.

"So they haven't built a relationship with the Canadian public. They've now turned to the Canadian public to come to their aid."

The three companies have launched full-page newspaper ads, radio spots and a Fair for Canada website, that includes an array of facts, figures, editorials and columns along with an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper signed by the CEOs of the big three.

Their beef is that the government limits how much of the spectrum the three incumbent companies can buy up. And that changes to rules in foreign ownership mean a company like Verizon could snap up the spectrum that is off limits.

"The Government of Canada is risking the future of the Canadian wireless industry," the website states. "The policy loopholes, which give giant American corporations an advantage in the wireless spectrum bidding process, are unfair and will have massive consequences for Canadians. This policy could undermine Canadians' ability to connect to one another, threaten Canadian jobs, and raise significant concerns regarding privacy and security."

But the incumbents' concerns about competition may instead be sparking a consumer backlash.

Blevis did some analysis on the online response to the campaign and found that an "overwhelming number of people" have been critical of the campaign. It has given an excuse for those to complain about their providers' service and many welcome Verizon, hoping a fourth carrier will provide lower prices.

The website and Fair for Canada slogan has been mocked. And a two-minute video showcasing the concerns of Bell, Telus and Rogers employees has been parodied and criticized.

Meanwhile, a poll by Forum Research a found that 57 per cent of Canadians support Verizon entering the Canadian market, and a majority believe its presence will lead to lower rates and better service.

"Canadians have sniffed this one out. They can tell what the big three are trying to do and it's not going over well," Blevis said.

Blevis believes the timing of the campaign was bad, coming during summer vacation when people either aren't around or aren't interested in telecom issues. He said the campaign also erred by sending out a mixed message.

"If they had inspired Canadians to protect the Canadian marketplace, that may have worked. Instead what they tried to do is get Canadians to protect them. And by all accounts, Canadians are not prepared to do that for the big three."

'They haven't been convinced'

Iain Grant, an analyst with The Seaboard Group consulting firm, said that if effectiveness is measured by shifting public policy and by changing minds of the people who have the ability to change the policy, this campaign "has been one of the least effective lobbying/PR campaigns in history."

"Since the print campaign was launched, we've had the minister of industry say 'Ok, thank you, I've heard you — NO. And then a week later we heard the prime minister... say, 'You didn't understand the minister? The answer is NO.

"Now those are the two Canadians whose opinions count the most. And they haven't been convinced."

John-Kurt Pliniussen, an associate professor in innovation, sales management and e-marketing at Queen's University school of business, said instead of trying to appeal to a sense of patriotism, the incumbents should have been contrite, admitted that their service has been subpar in the past, and promise to improve over the next couple of years.

"They could have done something that makes the consumer, the user of their services more pleased," he said. "They say this might happen, or this might happen. They say nothing about our service, nothing about what our costs are."

Four or five years ago, the CRTC would receive about 900 complaints a year about telecom companies, Pliniussen said. Now it's over 7,000.

"I don't think the trigger is Canada. I think the trigger is service. Service and value. Because that's all we care about is great service," he said.

With files from The Canadian Press

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Canada 'way behind' on home-care help, patient advocates say

When patient advocate Donna Davis helped a friend navigate the transition from hospital to home care, she encountered a vexing problem.

Hospital and home-care workers "just tell you what to do," Davis recalls. "It's that paternalistic: 'We will make the decision for you. We will tell you when to go home. We will tell you how to go home'."

Davis, a Saskatchewan nurse and the co-chair of Patients for Patient Safety Canada, said that experience reinforced her belief that patients and their caregivers need to be front and centre in the health-care continuum instead of, often, on the sidelines, especially while transferring between the different parts of the system.

"As a patient you need to know: What have you done?" she says, particularly when moving from a hospital to a home-care situation.

Last year, an estimated 1.4 million Canadians used home care, a 55 per cent rise from three years earlier. Home care is largely provided by a variety of for-profit and non-profit private agencies, and is not without its problems, as CBC News documented on Monday in the story of Lynn Burkitt, 52, of Medicine Hat, Alta.

Burkitt has been suffering for most of the past year after two rolls of festering packing tape left a gaping abscess in her chest following surgery. The packing tape was left in to treat an infection following a double mastectomy, but due to communication problems between the hospital and the home-care agency looking after her it was not changed as it should have been.

"I had no clue [there was packing inside]," said Burkitt. "And I've had surgeries before. If I would've known that, I would've told them" what to look for.

'Not prepared' for influx

Communication between the different sectors in the health-care system is one of the key trouble spots identified in a recent Canadian report. Published last month, the Safety at Home study found about one in 10 home-care patients experience an adverse event of some kind, and that more than half of those incidents are preventable.

Two rolls of packing gauze were discovered in Lynn Burkitt during a third surgery. Before it was discovered, she says the wound smelled rotten and her entire right side felt like it was burning. (CBC)

Advancing technologies and an aging population are fueling the push toward home care.

Plus, overcrowded hospitals are under immense pressure to free up beds, which can contribute to the types of communication breakdowns like Burkitt experienced, says Davis.

"When you're trying to relieve pressure at one end, sometimes it has a ripple effect and it causes pressure on another end" of the system, she says. "The staff are very conscious that we need to get this bed empty so we can get patient A in here for their knee replacement."

These kinds of pressures are not likely to let up soon. "The increase in demand is going to continue and the fact is we're not well prepared for it," said Dr. Sholom Glouberman, president of the Patients' Association of Canada.

'Kaleidoscope' of care

Diane Doran, the scientific director of the University of Toronto's Nursing Health Services Research Unit, notes that patients often deal with a rotating cast of nurses and personal-care workers, each with their own style of delivering care.

Patients can "encounter this kaleidoscope of different care providers," she says, and this can increase the risk of communication breakdowns.

Diane Doran is the Scientific Director of the Nursing Health Services Research Unit at U of T, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, and an Adjunct Professor at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. (University of Toronto School of Nursing)

Doran was one of the co-leads on the two-year Safety at Home study, which found that the most serious adverse events experienced by patients in the home are falls, medication errors and infections — which are many of the same risks encountered in hospitals.

That finding spurred the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, an Edmonton-based non-profit agency that funded part of the study, to start adapting some of its safety tools for hospitals to the home environment.

The organization is now in the process of refocussing its campaigns on everything from washing hands to keeping medications straight so that both home-care workers and family caregivers can understand them better.

"It's crucial that we do everything we can to ensure that environment is safe," said the institute's CEO, Hugh MacLeod. "Because if we don't, the consequence will be we will have significant traffic to our ERs."

Canada 'way behind'

MacLeod says the organization has vowed to prioritize home-care safety issues over the next five years — a sign of the times.

"There has been a very significant shift from acute care to home care," he says. "The public is demanding this shift."

While more attention is being paid to how patients are taken care of in the home, Dr. Glouberman says that home care is one of the most underfunded parts of the health-care system and has traditionally received little support.

"We have a general problem in Canada: our health-care system was built around hospitals and doctors. That's its history. Because [of that], the development of care in communities has been rather poor, and has been slower than it should be."

Canada lags "way, way behind" other developed countries in providing support to patients being cared for in the community, Glouberman says, adding that we need to increase the range of services available in communities to include more physiotherapy, occupational therapy, transportation help and house support.

In Britain, for example, district nurses visit post-operative patients to assess safety needs in the house, which can include installing bars in bathtubs and adding ramps. These precautions can go a long way to preventing falls.

Doran says that their study of home care across Canada found that often that type of risk assessment wasn't done, but even when it was, it wasn't acted upon because of confusion over whose responsibility it was.

A key recommendation in the Safety at Home study is that home-care agencies turn their case managers into "quarterbacks" who will field patient calls, visit them regularly and liaise with other parts of the health-care system on their patients' behalf.

The use of electronic charts would also go a long way to making sure that details about a patient's care don't get lost between the multiple caregivers and transfers.

Dr. Glouberman notes it would also ease the heavey burden on caregivers by allowing them to do tasks such as accessing home-care schedules and booking appointments online.

Doctors, nurses and personal care workers also need to understand that patients are more knowledgeable than ever on health-care issues.

"Health-care providers have to be willing to accept that knowledge," says Davis. Patients "are taking more of an interest. They're not as complacent anymore."

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Ontario sisters must pay uncle $125K for false sex abuse claims

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WARNING: This story contains graphic details

By Adam Carter, CBC News

Posted: Aug 27, 2013 11:37 AM ET

Last Updated: Aug 27, 2013 11:29 AM ET

A judge has ordered two sisters from Ancaster, Ont., to pay their uncle $125,000 in libel damages for falsely accusing him of sexually assaulting them in a rural farmhouse when they were children.

"I find that the evidence adduced at trial was not of the clear and cogent nature required to substantiate the defendants' claim of sexual abuse," wrote Ontario Superior Court Justice Andrew Goodman in his decision in the case of Patricia and Sarah Vanderkooy.

According to court documents, the accusations ripped apart the Vanderkooy family — a large group from the Netherlands who were part of the Christian Reformed Church.

Patricia and Sarah Vanderkooy alleged Jack Vanderkooy sexually assaulted them when the two were staying at his Simcoe, Ont., farm in the early 1980s. Criminal charges were never laid.

The sisters were four and six years old at the time, court documents say. Now in their 30s, the two first came forward with the accusations in 2006.

"In the years including and between 1982 and 1986, when the abuse is alleged to have occurred, both Tricia and Sarah spent a lot of time at the farmhouse," Goodman said, adding that their uncle's farmhouse was like a "second home" to the girls.

During the court proceedings, Patricia testified that she had two distinct memories of being sexually abused by her uncle. In the first, she recalled feeling like she was being pinned down by her uncle, and she had pain in her legs or groin. Years later, she believed the pain was in her vaginal area, court documents say.

In the second incident, she recalled being pulled up onto a bed in her cousin's bedroom where the children often stayed and something soft being placed in her mouth, which "may have been his penis."

Sarah Vanderkooy also described two memories of being assaulted, which she described as a static image like "a snapshot" or "an out-of-body experience."

"Sarah testified that she does not see Jack's face but, as with the first memory, she knows it is Jack," court documents say.

Uncle denied allegations

The two sisters did not come forward until 2006. The two spoke about it for the first time and then went to their parents about it. "Her parents, Jim and Christine, were in disbelief," court documents say.

In August 2006, the sisters confronted their uncle about the allegations, which he denied.

The day after the confrontation, Patricia Vanderkooy, with her sister's input, sent an email to various family members and "other individuals" outlining the allegations. It also contained the line, "We do not want anyone else to be sexually abused." That statement was part of the crux of the judge's statement in the case. Goodman says it was intended to demonstrate "that Jack is a sexual predator, likely to reoffend and is not to be trusted or left alone with children."

"Jack is a man who comes from an extended family and indeed, cherishes family, church and community. As a result of these allegations, I am satisfied that Jack has been shunned by a number of his family members including several of his sisters," Goodman wrote in his decision. "Jack had to profess his innocence to his children. Jack had to face these allegations in the public and cope with their effect as it was felt throughout his close-knit religious community."

The judge also dismissed a counterclaim for sexual battery filed by the sisters after Vanderkooy sued for defamation, because their memories of the alleged incidents weren't "of the clear and cogent nature required" to back up their claims.

Damages include court costs

Goodman also called into question how Jack Vanderkooy could have had an opportunity to commit the assaults with two other male cousins in the same room.

"In order to commit the sexual assaults, Jack would have to stealthily and gingerly manoeuvre himself around the other children and not make a sound to avoid waking up the other children," he wrote.

The judge ruled that Jack is entitled to general damages of $125,000 with costs.

"In my opinion, it is the defendants who singularly and collectively set out on both covert and public course of action to tarnish an innocent man's reputation within and without the large Vanderkooy family, as well as in the community at large," Goodman wrote.

"Notwithstanding my judgment, Jack's reputation in the community may continue to be irreparably smeared."

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Wireless foreign ownership limits should end, report says

If the federal government really wants healthy competition in the wireless market, it should just do away with the limits on foreign ownership and other regulations, a new report says.

The analysis published Monday by the right-of-centre Fraser Institute is the latest input into the heated debate on the upcoming auction of valuable wireless spectrum.

The big three Canadian providers — Bell, Telus and Rogers — are furious that current rules might allow an American giant like Verizon to bid at the auction.

As the system works now, the government limits how much of the spectrum the big "incumbent" companies can buy up, in order to encourage smaller players to come to the table. That theoretically would stimulate competition across Canada and ultimately keep prices down.

But those smaller players — Wind Mobile or Mobilicity for example — could be bought up by a firm like Verizon, which would theoretically have an easy time snapping up the spectrum that is off limits to the incumbents. Because those big Canadian firms aren't allowed to bid on all the spectrum available, that could drive down the size of auction bids and give Verizon a potentially good deal.

The report, written by senior Fraser Institute fellow Steven Globerman, argues there is no evidence that handicapping the incumbent companies does anything to improve efficient competition.

'By setting up rules that handicap the three large Canadian telecoms and favour small or new players in the marketplace, the federal government is effectively subsidizing new entrants and promoting inefficient competition. This could make most consumers worse off, rather than better off.'—Fraser Institute fellow Steven Globerman

"By setting up rules that handicap the three large Canadian telecoms and favour small or new players in the marketplace, the federal government is effectively subsidizing new entrants and promoting inefficient competition. This could make most consumers worse off, rather than better off," Globerman says.

"Given conclusive evidence that the wireless sector in Canada is workably competitive, there would be clearly no conceptual case for competitive handicapping," writes Globerman.

He says that getting rid of the remaining barriers to foreign entrants in the Canadian marketplace would create fears of hostile takeovers of the big three companies, thus creating an incentive for them to be more efficient.

But since many telecom firms are in the broadcasting business, the report says that would mean also getting rid of the limits in that industry — a foray into the cultural realm that no Canadian government has wanted to make.

Globerman says the government already has good levers at its disposal for making sure the industry is competitive — namely the Competition Act. In the absence of handicaps in the auction, the Competition Tribunal would evaluate major acquisitions and mergers, and hear complaints about anti-competitive behaviour.

"The elimination of all foreign ownership restrictions ... and reliance upon the Competition Act to deter acquisitions of spectrum that threaten to reduce competition, as well as to discourage any abuses of market dominance that raise rivals' costs or otherwise suppress competition, seem quite adequate competitive safeguards," he writes.

Industry Minister James Moore has already signalled he will not be changing either the date or the rules around the auction, scheduled for January 2014.

The big three telecom companies have been taking out full-page ads and have launched a campaign called "Fair for Canada," arguing Verizon would be getting preferential treatment under the current auction rules.

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Topless women march in Vancouver for gender equality

More than 50 women marched through downtown Vancouver on Sunday, baring their breasts in the name of gender equality.

The march was part of a national campaign organized by GoTopless, a women's organization fighting for equal topless rights.

Organizers said similar marches were happening in 45 cities around the world.

"Being topless in B.C. is legal. We have the right to be topless and this is wonderful," GoTopless spokeswoman Denise Belisle said to a photo-snapping crowd that followed the marchers to Vancouver's Robson Square.

"What we need is respect. We need respect from society, we need respect from all of you."

About 30 men joined the march on Sunday, wearing bras to show their support.

"Equal rights. No double standard, right?" said Bruce Wildorn, who took off his shirt but taped his nipples as he marched alongside the topless women.

"For the women who do want to go topless, they should have that option. They do here in Vancouver, that's great, but not everywhere."

A few dozen men also followed the march as spectators, many of them crowding around to photograph the topless women.

"It's an education for men. Men are learning and they're learning to be more respectful," Belisle said.

"Too many cities it is illegal to be topless and we are here to say that equality is for all. Men and women."

Earlier this week, a Vancouver columnist and radio show host took off her top during an interview with Kelowna Mayor Walter Gray. Lori Welbourne was asking the mayor if it was legal for women in that B.C. city to go topless.

Women in Canada won the right to bare their breasts in public in 1996 when the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned the 1991 conviction of Gwen Jacobs, saying "there was nothing degrading or dehumanizing" about her decision to take off her shirt in public.

With files from the CBC's Petti Fong

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Double mastectomy leads to 'calamity of errors,' review of home care

Lynn Burkitt asked for a double mastectomy, hoping to rid herself of worry after a scary bout with breast cancer.

But what the 52-year-old from Medicine Hat, Alta., got instead was a series of surgeries and mishaps that left her with a gaping, infected abscess in her chest. Two rolls of packing gauze were left rotting inside her, undetected by home care staff.

"You could've put your fist inside my chest," Burkitt said of the initial abscess. "They have made such a mess of my chest that I look like a freak."

The open wound is now the size of a poker chip, slowly healing but still debilitating the Alberta woman.

"If I had known what was going to happen, I would never have done" the double mastectomy, she says now.

Burkitt's case caused Alberta Health Services to review procedures at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital and institute new rules for communicating more clearly with home care.

It has also shed a new light on the burgeoning world of home care services. A recent study published last month by in the BMJ Quality & Safety journal estimated that one in every 10 patients in home care experiences an adverse event and that more than half of these events are preventable.

The number of patients recovering in their own homes instead of hospitals is exponentially rising as hospitals try to reduce overcrowding and expensive lengthy hospital stays. Last year, an estimated 1.4 million Canadians received home care, a 55 per cent rise from three years earlier.

'Felt like it was on fire'

Burkitt's woes began in 2010 when she underwent radiation therapy on her right breast following a diagnosis of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a common type of non-invasive cancer.

Less than two years later, in January 2012, her right breast became swollen and hot to the touch. Doctor after doctor examined it and suggested a myriad of possible causes from shingles to a return of cancer.

When Burkitt had a mammogram, there was no sign of cancer but still the pain persisted. With a strong family history of cancer, she said the fear weighed heavily on her.

"I just said, 'You know what, give me a double mastectomy because this way I don't ever have to worry about cancer coming back'."

On June 6, 2012, Burkitt underwent the operation at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital. Within days, she felt ill.

Burkitt underwent a second surgery to drain an infection. After that, she felt much better and recalls calling her doctor a hero. But in the coming weeks, more troubling issues began.

"My breast was very red, very swollen," she says. "The smell was just horrific. It's hard to even describe. It just smelled rotten."

"It was extremely painful. I could hardly move. I've never felt so terrible in my life. … My whole right side just felt like it was on fire."

Home care nurses took care of Burkitt every day, but "it was getting worse and worse," she says.

Hospital reviewed patient safety

She made multiple trips to the emergency room and doctors prescribed antibiotics, but it wasn't until she underwent a third surgery that the culprit was found.

Two rolls of packing gauze were discovered in Lynn Burkitt during a third surgery. Before it was discovered, she says the wound smelled rotten and her entire right side felt like it was burning. (John Rieti/CBC)

"When I came to, I found out the second surgeon had left two rolls of packing tape inside of me that rotted and they had to pull it all out," said Burkitt. "So I ended up with a big hole in my chest, which has not healed."

While it's normal procedure for a surgeon to leave packing gauze in an open wound, that packing must be changed on a regular basis.

Medical experts suggest that home care nurses should have seen the gauze sticking out of the abscess and replaced it daily as the wound slowly healed from the inside out.

But Burkitt says home care staff didn't see the gauze deep inside the wound because the surgeon stitched the sides of the wound together, obscuring it from view. Also, she says there was no documentation passed along to alert caregivers of the packing gauze.

In a letter dated Jan. 10, 2013, Alberta Health Services apologized for Burkitt's experience with the packing gauze and vowed to review its processes to prevent such a situation from happening again.

Burkitt said she asked the hospital months ago to detail what changes had been made, but never heard back.

Alberta Health Services told CBC News that it conducted a patient safety review at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital into continuity of care and communication among caregivers.

"A number of steps have been taken to ensure patient safety in similar circumstances," the written statement said.

'Calamity of errors'

The health authority says that among the changes being made at the hospital is a new "visual alert" on patient charts to alert caregivers to special needs. It is also educating employees on the need to document instructions when patients transfer between parts of the system.

Nadine Henningsen, executive director of the Canadian Home Care Association, said Burkitt's case sounds like a "calamity of errors."

"It seems that if anything could go wrong, it did go wrong," she said.

Home care brings the added benefit of helping patients avoid potentially dangerous hospital-acquired infections and recouping in their own surroundings.

But with acute-care patients discharged from earlier and earlier, workers in the home-care sector are dealing not only with more patients but also with more serious wounds. The combination has left many areas open to improvement.

Burkitt says that early on, a fist could fit into the wound. Now, it's the size of a loonie. (John Rieti/CBC)

Henningsen notes that, as in Burkitt's case, "communication is usually one of the biggest challenges that break down when you're transferring from one setting to another."

In fact, one of the biggest issues identified in the Safety At Home: A Pan-Canadian Home Care Study was lack of coordination across health-care sectors and failures in communication.

As for Burkitt, she says that lack of communication had a devastating effect for her.

Her relationship with her partner suffered, she's been unable to work for the past year and daily dressings prevent her from leaving town to visit family members.

Also, she can't wear a prosthesis or bra because of the hole. As she says, "It robbed me of over a year of my life."

Medicine Hat Regional Hospital's statement on Lynn Burkitt's case (PDF)
Medicine Hat Regional Hospital's statement on Lynn Burkitt's case (Text)

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NDP determined to abolish Senate, Mulcair says

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair today began a cross-country tour to spread his party's message that the Senate is full of unelected party hacks who have no business writing Canada's laws and should be abolished now.

Mulcair launched his "roll up the red carpet" campaign by delivering a speech on Parliament Hill, ahead of travelling to Halifax later Monday.

"Today we're here to mark the beginning of the end of a discredited, outdated and undemocratic institution," Mulcair said during the speech.

The NDP has long called for the Senate to be scrapped, and Mulcair said Canadians are now catching on to that idea and it's time to abolish it "once and for all."

"Unelected party hacks have no place writing or rewriting the laws of this country. It's as simple as that," he said.

Mulcair said he will consult with Canadians and work with the provinces and territories to get the upper chamber abolished.

'Drunk with entitlement and power'

"We're determined to get this done and we will get this done," he said.

Mulcair said the Liberals, when they were in power, and now the Conservatives have fostered a culture of entitlement when it comes to their Senate appointments, and the NDP is the only party that can fix Ottawa.

"It's hard to be a place of sober second thought when you are drunk with entitlement and power," he said about the Senate.

Speaking to reporters after his speech, Mulcair said the recent spending scandals involving senators Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy, Mac Harb and Pamela Wallin have prompted Canadians to reflect on the Senate.

"Canadians deserve better," he said.

Mulcair was also asked about the situation in Syria, and said that if Canada is considering intervention, Parliament has to be reconvened.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper plans to ask Gov. Gen. David Johnston to prorogue Parliament, which would mean MPs would not return to Ottawa on Sept.16 as scheduled.

"To see a government in the 21st century gasing its own citizens is an abomination, and the world has to move against that. That should be done through the institutions of international law, in particular the United Nations," he said, adding that it's a "tragedy" Canada doesn't sit on the Security Council.

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Canada giving $1.2M for religious freedom in Nigeria, Central Asia

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Andrew Bennett, Canada's ambassador for religious freedom, are announcing $1.2 million for projects to promote tolerance for religions around the world.

Bennett was appointed as religious freedom ambassador earlier this year.

CBCNews.ca is carrying Baird and Bennett's press conference live at 11:15 a.m. ET.

The office, which is modelled on a similar department in the U.S., aims to protect and advocate on behalf of religious minorities under threat, and oppose hatred and intolerance for religion, according to the website of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The government will provide:

• $553,643 over two years for the promotion of "intercommunity dialogue and conflict mediation" in Jos, Nigeria, and other parts of Nigeria's Plateau State.
• $672,000 over three years for national training events for government officials and civil society actors in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and South Caucasus, funding for up to 10 small-scale projects seeking ways to address violations of freedom of religion or belief at the national level, and the launch of guidelines on the recognition of belief communities.

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Stanley Park celebrates 125th anniversary this weekend

Stanley Park is celebrating its 125th anniversary this weekend with a two-day, family-friendly event.

More than 200 activities and performances are scheduled to take place between noon to 10:00 p.m. PT Saturday and Sunday.

At noon both days, a Coast Salish traditional welcome at the Lumbermen's Arch will feature representatives from the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Free afternoon performances and activities feature children's entertainers, Canadian bands, walking tours, dance performances, face painters, sports demos and games, vintage car display, and more.

Visitors can cheer on Coast Salish canoe racers as they launch off Deadman's Island between 9 a.m. and noon Sunday.

About eight million people visit Stanley Park each year, enjoying 27 km of forest trails and the magnificent 8.8 km seawall.

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Ambitious space plan could put Canadian on the moon

Canada could be sending its first astronaut to the moon under an ambitious long-term plan being developed by a group of space agencies around the world.

A return to the moon within the next two decades is part of the recently updated Global Exploration Roadmap — a far-reaching plan developed by more than a dozen space agencies.

Canada is among the 14 space agencies participating in the International Space Exploration Coordination Group, which first started developing the strategy in 2007. The first roadmap was released in 2011 and the latest update was made public last week.

An early phase of the plan would put a new space station into orbit around the moon, and use it as a staging point to ferry astronauts back and forth.

It's part of a roadmap that lays out human and robotic missions in the solar system over the next 25 years, with the other components including a moon settlement and a proposal by NASA to capture a near-Earth asteroid.

Jean-Claude Piedboeuf, the director of space-exploration development at the Canadian Space Agency, says there's an agreement among space agencies that returning to the moon is a stepping stone to a more distant target: Mars.

There would be human missions in the lunar vicinity and on its surface until 2030, at which point sights would be set on the red planet.

"You need to master how to land on a planet — and the moon can be a test bed for that and how to live on the surface for a long time," said Piedboeuf, who noted that Canada is chairing the ISECG this year.

First moon visit since 1972

The CSA official suggested astronauts could again be moon-bound in about 15 years. It would be the first human visit to the shining orb since 1972, when NASA astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt spent 75 hours there.

This time, there could well be Canadian visitors.

Their specialty: robotics.

"We're proposing a vision where Canada could have an astronaut, effectively a Canadian who will be in lunar space, either in orbit or on the moon and could operate a Canadian rover in the same way that Canadians operate a Canadarm on the space station," Piedboeuf said.

"We can foresee in the future doing the same type of thing on the moon, with the Canadian industry building a rover — and a Canadian astronaut could be the operator of this rover."

The first stop on the pathway to Mars — the International Space Station — will continue to be manned until at least 2020.

Canada is working to get one of its two active astronauts, David Saint-Jacques or Jeremy Hansen, to visit the space station between 2016 and 2019.

"For the next 10 years, we can expect that human space flight will still be in an Earth orbit," Piedboeuf told The Canadian Press.

"But then, starting maybe in 2025 — that's really a guess because there's a lot of work — then we can start thinking about human orbit around the moon and basically doing some activity there, then starting back on the surface of the moon."

The plan would see a small human settlement established on the moon. Astronauts could use it to mine lunar resources while also learning how to survive away from Earth.

The scenario proposes the use of a "Deep Space Habitat," which would serve as a staging post. The habitat, a sort of mini-space station, could be placed at a so-called Lagrange point near the moon.

Lagrange points are locations where gravity balances itself out and where a space station could theoretically be stationary.

"We think that around the beginning of the '20s," Piedboeuf said, "we will have the capacity to send humans into lunar space."

Piedboeuf pointed out that Canada has been working with NASA and other space agencies to develop the next generation of rovers, which would go to the moon and Mars.

"In terms of human exploration, we are building the building blocks, the capability that we need to support human exploration," he said.

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Fredericton firefighters pull woman from burning house

A house fire in Fredericton early Sunday has sent one woman to hospital and displaced 11 others.

Firefighters were called to 379 Charlotte St. at about 5:30 a.m.

Mike Mizner, acting platoon captain with the Fredericton Fire Department, said a fire was raging at the back of the building.

"You could see flames coming through the doors and windows," he told CBC News. "There was smoke coming from pretty much all parts of the house."

Mizner said firefighters pulled a woman out of the building. He didn't know her condition, but said she was taken to Halifax.

Twelve people lived in the two-storey building, with 10 at the front and two at the back.

Mizner said two people are staying at a hotel while the Canadian Red Cross is taking care of the rest.

Residents were allowed back in Sunday morning to retrieve some possessions, the CBC's Jacques Poitras reported.

Mizner said it appears the fire began at the back of the building.

Poitras said resident Danielle Roy complained of a smell of gas in the last month.

The investigation into the cause of the fire continues.

Poitras said the owners of the building were watching the cleanup but declined to comment.

Fire officials continue their investigation of the blaze Sunday. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)

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Guys gather for My Little Pony convention in B.C.

Hundreds of fans, many of them grown men, gathered in Richmond, B.C., Saturday to show their love for the children's animated show, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

The event was the first national Canadian convention for the fans, who call themselves "bronies" — a portmanteau of "bros" and "ponies."

Nearly 800 people from across Canada and the United States attended the event, which featured a "Ponyville Idol" contest, a pajama party and various panels featuring voice actors, writers and musicians on the show.

"'What's going on? Why are you into a show for little girls?' And I say, 'you have to see it for yourself because I cannot describe it.'" —Brony Daniel Collins

The bronies, who came bedecked in costumes inspired by the show, say they hoped to spread the My Little Pony message of tolerance, inclusion and friendship to non-bronies who may not understand the show's appeal.

"Seeing a guy watching a show for little girls causes a lot of people to raise a red flag," said fan Daniel Collins. "'What's going on? Why are you into a show for little girls?' And I say, 'You have to see it for yourself because I cannot describe it.'"

The brony phenomenon began shortly after the first episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic aired in 2010, more than 20 years after the original My Little Pony television series.

Message boards and online community groups were formed where thousands of men revealed they were fans of the show.

A recent survey conducted by a Louisiana psychologist estimates the brony herd to be about 30,000 members strong.

Last year, 4,000 fans showed up for a brony convention in New Jersey, the Associated Press reported.

"As a man, you think to yourself: 'What am I doing with my life?'" said fan Alex Atley. "As I kept on watching it…my heart, so to speak, became lighter and softer and ever since then I cannot be happier."

With files from the CBC's Petti Fong

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Woman's nose severed in Toronto elevator attack

An elderly woman's nose was severed during an attack that occurred in a downtown Toronto elevator, police say.

Toronto police say the woman had just got off a streetcar, near Yonge and Dundas streets, when she was approached by a man at about 2 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Police say the woman was attacked by the man when she was on an elevator at nearby Dundas Square.

The man involved in the attack fled the scene.

Police say the suspect is a 40- to 60-year-old male, who is between 5'6" and 5'8" in height.

With files from The Canadian Press

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Bear stalks 2 women in 3-hour ordeal

Two Nova Scotia women say they had a close escape from a black bear while travelling in the Annapolis Valley.

The three-hour ordeal ended with the pair cowering in an old hunter's shack while the bear pawed the walls of the building outside.

Nikki Latta, 23, and Lindsay Jones, 25, headed into the woods near Port George on the Bay of Fundy shore Monday evening. Latta was familiar with the area, but Jones wasn't. The two joked about a bear attack — Jones is terrified of them.

Then a passing dog got spooked and ran away.

'It's following us. It's hungry, it's not scared. It's going to eat us.'—Nikki Latta

"I looked up at Lindsay and there's the bear, standing literally five feet behind her. Our hearts stopped. We couldn't believe what we were seeing," Latta said.

She gaped at the creature. Jones realized something was wrong.

"I turned around and there was my worst nightmare," Jones said. "I covered my eyes and stupidly hugged a tree."

Screaming didn't faze the bear. "I tried to sound aggressive, but it didn't scare it," Latta said.

Instead, the bear ambled over and sniffed Jones's purse. Latta bolted. Jones followed.

Barefoot vs. bear foot

The two women raced down a ravine, losing their flip-flops. Jones says they moved faster barefoot.

"We grabbed each other's hands and started running. After a few minutes we thought we were OK. We thought it had our purses, and that was fine," Latta said.

"It turns out it was right behind us that whole time, quietly following us. I thought that was it. It's following us. It's not scared, it's hungry. It's going to eat us."

The women ran again, uphill this time. But the bear stuck with them.

"It got a little more aggressive and started huffing and puffing and making a gurgling noise. I started running. I was falling and it was right behind me," Latta said.

Safety in a hunter's shack

Luckily, the pair stumbled upon a hunter's shack 40 minutes after first seeing the bear. Jones broke the window and dove inside. Latta crawled through the broken glass to reach sanctuary.

"It was the happiest moment ever," Latta said.

The bear strolled around the camp — the women say it even pawed at the door. At one point, it reached inside and grabbed the drapes.

The women called police, but couldn't tell them exactly where they were. The officers arrived and sounded their siren from a distance.

That finally scared off the bear. The armed officers found the women and escorted them to safety. The women say they'd been in the shack for about two hours.

The women estimate the incident stretched almost three hours. Latta and Jones suffered no injury more serious than a few cuts.

Both got matching bear paw tattoos to commemorate the encounter.

"It's my favourite spot in the world. I've never heard of black bears being there." Latta said.

Bruce Nunn, with the Department of Natural Resources, said the department has hired trappers to try and catch the bear.

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