Duffy, Wallin, Brazeau may keep medical benefits

Procedural wrangling in the Senate means a vote on whether three senators should be suspended and lose their pay won't happen until at least Friday, but amendments proposed late last night may allow them to keep their medical benefits even if they're suspended.

There are three motions on the table to suspend Senators Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau, and strip them of their salaries, office use and benefits because of inappropriately claimed expenses. The suspensions would last for two years, when the general election is expected to be held.

Claude Carignan, the Conservative Senate leader, bears some responsibility for the delay because he introduced motions to suspend his three colleagues last week, and then brought in another motion to limit debate time on his own motions.

On Tuesday, Conservative Senate deputy leader Senator Yonah Martin took the next step of moving the closure motion, so that debate could begin.

Liberal Senator Joan Fraser immediately raised a point of order arguing the motion to limit debate is a government motion for time allocation, yet the three motions to suspend the senators were introduced as non-government motions. She contended that the two cannot be mixed, and trying to do so constitutes "a dangerous precedent."

Liberal Senate Leader James Cowan told reporters in the Senate foyer that the Conservatives are trying to end the debate because, he said, Harper's coverup is unravelling.

The motion to limit debate was supposed to be moved Monday, but for some reason was not, meaning the vote on the suspensions will take place well after the Conservative Party's national policy convention in Calgary has begun.

The Senate finally adjourned at 11 p.m. ET Tuesday after the government side tried to move amendments that would allow the three senators to keep their medical benefits during suspension. Unanimous consent to introduce them was denied, so those amendments will have to wait until debate resumes Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET.

Afterward, Carignan said he supported the amendments because it would be difficult for the three senators to obtain private medical insurance during their suspensions, which are intended to last only until the end of the session, about two years. Carignan said the amendments would not change the length of the suspensions.

But Conservative Senator Hugh Segal, who has defended Wallin in recent weeks, said the amendments don't address the "core question" of "a violation of due process.

"And while it shows a touch of humanity that people who might be ill or otherwise might be able to use their medical plan, the core violation of due process is unchanged by the amendment, therefore my view about the process and the degree to which it's a violation of natural justice is unchanged as well," he told reporters as he left the upper chamber late Tuesday.

The Senate is deliberating in the wake of Duffy's dramatic revelation Monday that he had received not one cheque related to ineligible expenses he claimed, but "at least two" via the Prime Minister's Office.

In a strongly worded speech earlier this week, Duffy explained that not only had the prime minister's former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, given him $90,000 to repay his housing claims, but the Conservative Party's lawyer had transferred $13,500 to Duffy's lawyer.

That second cheque, Duffy told the Senate, was to pay the legal fees run up as he finessed a cover story with the PMO that he was voluntarily repaying money using a personal loan from his own bank.

While question period in the House of Commons on Tuesday included opposition queries about the ethics of the PMO allegedly financing a legal deal for Duffy meant to deceive the public, the Senate is taken up with what to do with the three senators who have had to pay back inappropriately claimed expenses.

At a Conservative Senate caucus meeting Tuesday morning, senators discussed whether they could accept any compromises in the suspension motions. Topics ranged from whether some suspensions should be a year or a year and a half long, rather than two years, and whether health benefits should stay in place during the suspensions.

Up for discussion, as well, is a motion from the Liberals that would send the suspension issues to a Senate committee where Duffy, Wallin and Brazeau could make presentations, ask and be asked question and be represented by lawyers.

Meanwhile, Conservative Senator Larry Smith confirmed he and more than a dozen other senators were briefed by officials from the auditor general's office Tuesday morning about audits about to be conducted on all senators' spending.

It's not known whether Michael Ferguson will extend the audits back over a period of years, but senators who are contemplating cutting the pay of three of their colleagues as a penalty for making inappropriate expense claims must realize a precedent could be set that could apply to other senators in the future.

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Young politicians no longer a novelty in Canada

At age 30, David Joanasie is the youngest person to be elected to the Nunavut legislature, but by the current standards in the House of Commons and some of the country's provincial legislatures, the newly elected MLA who won a seat Monday night in the territory's fourth election is long in the tooth.

Entering politics at a young age is nothing new. Joe Clark was just 39 when he became prime minister of the country, having been first elected to Parliament at age 33 in 1972. Bob Rae won his first seat in the House of Commons at age 30 as an NDP MP in a 1978 federal byelection.

We take a look at some recently elected politicians who've attracted attention for their young age.

Who did we miss?

Let us know about the young politicians making news in your region: community@cbc.ca

Pierre Luc Dessault, NDP MP, Sherbrooke (Born: May 31, 1991) — The youngest MP in Canada's history, Dessault was part of the NDP's crop of young, fresh-faced MPs elected in the May 2011 election. He was a few weeks shy of his 20th birthday when he was elected and has recently been chosen to chair the government operation and estimates committee.

The McGill Four — Charmaine Borg (Born: Nov. 3, 1990), Matthew Dubé (Born: May 3, 1988), Mylène Freeman (Born: March 7, 1989) and Laurin Liu (Born: Nov. 13, 1990) got their nickname because when they were elected as NDP MPs in Quebec in May 2011, three of them were still enrolled as students at McGill University and the fourth had only just graduated. All were in their early 20s at the time. 

Andrew Scheer, Conservative MP for Regina-Qu'Appelle, Sask. (Born: May 20, 1979) — Scheer was elected in June 2004 at the age of 25 and made history seven years later when he became the youngest Speaker of the House.

Niki Ashton made her first failed bid for a seat in the House of Commons at age 23. She lost the 2006 election, but ran again two years later and became the NDP MP for Churchill, Man. (Liam Richards/Canadian Press)

Niki Ashton, NDP MP for Churchill, Man. (Born: Sept. 9, 1982) — Ashton was just 23 when she made her first bid for a seat in the House of Commons in 2006. She lost that election but was successful two years later. A mere four years after that, she made a bid for the leadership of her party, promising a new kind of politics that would inspire people of her generation. She lost the race to replace Jack Layton but earned a spot in winning candidate Tom Mulcair's shadow cabinet, heading up the portfolio devoted to women's issues.

Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP MP for Berthier-Maskinongé, Que. (Born: April 26, 1984) — Brosseau grabbed headlines not only for her relatively young age during the 2011 election campaign but also when her legitimacy as a candidate was questioned. The then 28-year-old was criticized for not living in the riding she was seeking to represent, going to Las Vegas on vacation during the campaign and accused of not having her nomination papers in order. She survived those scandals and continues to serve in Parliament.

Pierre Poilievre was 25 when he was elected as the Conservative MP for Nepean-Carleton, Ont. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Pierre Poilievre, Conservative MP for Nepean-Carleton, Ont. (Born: June 3, 1979) — Poilievre was 25 when he was first elected in June 2004 and has held several high-ranking positions since then, including parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, to the minister of intergovernmental affairs and to the president of the Treasury Board; and, currently, minister of state for democratic reform.

Chris Warkentin, Conservative MP for Peace River, Alta. (Born: Nov. 20, 1978) —​ Warkentin began his political career as a member of the Reform Party and the Canadian Alliance before being elected to the House as a Conservative MP at the age of 27 in the January 2006 federal election. He chaired the standing committee on aboriginal affairs and northern development from June 2011 to September 2013.

Young politicos thriving locally, too

There have also been some notable young faces at the local, provincial and territorial level.

Canada has its share of young mayors. Luke Strimbold was 21 when he was elected mayor of Burns Lake, B.C., in November 2011 and got a literal baptism by fire when, less than two months into his term, there was an explosion at the local sawmill that destroyed the town's main employer, killed two workers and injured almost two dozen people. 

La Ronge, Sask., mayor Thomas Sierzycki was also 21 when he was elected in 2009 and, like Strimbold, still holds the position.

By comparison, Edmonton's new mayor, Don Iveson, who was sworn in Tuesday, is an old fogey at 34, and Windsor's mayor, Eddie Francis, who was elected at age 29, is no longer such a standout.

Quebec saw youngest MNA elected last year

Provincially, there are quite a few 20- and 30somethings filling the seats in the country's legislatures. Below is a small sampling of some of them.

Léo Bureau-Blouin was just 20 and a leader of Quebec's student movement when he was elected to the province's national assembly in September 2012 as the Parti Québécois MNA for the Laval-des-Rapides riding. He became the youngest person to be elected to the Quebec legislature and took the shine off other young MNAs such as the PQ's Mathieu Traversy and Dave Turcotte, who were 24 and 25, respectively, when they were elected.

Léo Bureau-Blouin is the youngest person to be elected to Quebec's national assembly. (Mathieu Belanger/Reuters)

Residents of Hammonds Plains-Lucasville, N.S., took a chance on 26-year-old Ben Jessome earlier this month, giving the Cape Breton University graduate and Liberal Party member his first full-time job by electing him to the provincial legislature. The same riding in 2009 elected Mat Whynott of the NDP, who at 23 was the province's youngest MLA ever. 

Another young Nova Scotia lawmaker, Zach Churchill, who was 26 when he was elected Liberal MLA for Yarmouth in 2010, recently showed his age when he had his BlackBerry confiscated by the sergeant-at-arms in the legislature. He told the Halifax Herald newspaper rules that banned cellphones during sittings of the legislature were out of date and out of step with the work and lifestyle habits of his generation. He was also tossed out of the legislature for heckling NDP MLAs.

Several of New Brunswick's MLAs are in their late 20s or early 30s. Progressive Conservative MLA Ryan Riordon was around 28 when he was first elected in 2010. Current Leader of the Opposition Brian Gallant was just 30 when he was chosen to head the New Brunswick Liberals at a leadership convention in October of last year. He won a seat in the legislative assembly in a byelection this past April.

Newfoundland and Labrador MHA Christopher Mitchelmore, who made news this week when he quit the NDP caucus to sit as an independent, was just shy of his 26th birthday when he was elected to the province's house of assembly in 2011 and is currently the youngest member of the province's legislature.

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Canada's uniforms for Sochi Winter Games to be unveiled

Canadians will get their first look Wednesday at the uniforms the country's Olympians and Paralympians will wear at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

Hudson's Bay Company is set to reveal the team uniforms at 2 p.m. ET in Toronto. Athletes will wear the uniforms at the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as in the Olympic Village and on the podium in the event of a medal win.

Star athletes including moguls skiers Chloe and Justine Dufour-Lapointe, figure skaters Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, and assistant chef de mission Jean-Luc Brassard, the former moguls skier, will attend the event.

The unveiling takes place 100 days before the start of the Games in Russia.

Hudson's Bay has managed to keep a lid on the uniforms so far. The same couldn't be said for the men's and women's hockey jerseys, photos of which leaked on Sept. 6.

HBC has outfitted Canada's winter athletes for the Olympics since 2006, as well as at various points throughout the history of the Winter Games dating back to 1936. It released the 2014 edition of the red Olympic mittens on Sept. 10, with some design tweaks made to the wildly popular items from the 2010 Vancouver Games.

Adidas is scheduled to unveil the athletes' training gear on Nov. 7.

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Parents of 3 both lose BlackBerry jobs in Waterloo

A family of five is now without stable income after another round of BlackBerry job cuts. Phil Ingram lost his job at BlackBerry on Monday as the smartphone maker announced its latest round of job cuts, just six months after his wife, Charity Bell, lost her job with the company. 

Both Bell and Ingram are optimistic, but admit it's a struggle right now for their family with three young children age 11, 6, and 1. 

'I need to be employed in order to pay my mortgage'- Charity Bell, former BlackBerry employee

"When you suffer job loss it gets you back to the basics. It peels away all the layers and you really start to focus on the things that matter. And the things that matter to me are my family and my marriage," said Bell. 

Bell was on maternity leave and just about to come back to work when she got the call. With a new addition to the family, she was anxious to find a job fast. 

She brushed up her resume and hit the pavement looking for work but despite 13 years in the information technology field and dozens of applications, she's had no luck so far.

"It's something that you can't give up on," said Bell. "I'm a working person, I'm of working class, I need to be employed in order to pay my mortgage, in order to financially look after my children and pay for my retirement. So every morning you pick yourself up." 

Despite reports that there are hundreds of jobs available in the tech sector in Waterloo Region, Bell says many of those jobs, particularly in start-ups, aren't for the skill set many former BlackBerry employees have. 

"When you're in the IT industry you're incredibly specialized," said Bell. "When I was at BlackBerry a lot of people did process jobs, administration jobs, project management jobs, that kind of thing. Start-up companies are looking for more programming, entrepreneurial people. Not everyone has that ability and capability to take on that skill set."  

On Tuesday, BlackBerry announced it would be cutting 300 local jobs for the second time in a month, bringing the total to 600 layoffs in October. 

Bell said her family's story isn't unique; many former BlackBerry employees are go through the same thing each time job cuts are announced. 

"Everybody who's lost their job we empathize with you," she said. "Be supportive to one another, you guys are not alone."

This information was compiled by Harpaul Sambhi of Careerify, a recruitment firm that uses social media to match employers and job seekers, for CBC Kitchener-Waterloo. Information is current as of October 14, 2013. 

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John Furlong calls allegations '17 months of living hell'

Former Vancouver Olympics CEO John Furlong says the police have cleared him of allegations of sexual abuse and he is looking forward to confronting his accuser in court.

Furlong made the statement during an interview with CBC News on Wednesday morning.

"It has been 17 months of absolute hell," Fulong said. "You can never imagine what this is like, until you're in it."

Earlier this week, Furlong issued a statement saying that RCMP had told him that they had found no evidence he sexually abused Burns Lake resident Dorothy Abraham while he was a teacher in the northern B.C. community in the late 1960s.

"The RCMP gave me what I've been looking for, for 17 months – my name back."

The RCMP confirmed no charges resulted from the investigation into Abraham's claims, but the file remains open. Abraham has filed a complaint against the RCMP claiming the investigation was biased.

Furlong also said he is dropping a lawsuit against the weekly paper that first published the allegations last fall, but that he is still suing the author of the article, Laura Robinson, for defamation.

"I decided it was time to take my life back …and I'm frankly looking forward to confronting Laura Robinson in court."

In the lawsuit he filed against Robinson last fall, he said she "maliciously intended to injure his reputation" with an article published in the Georgia Straight in September 2012.

"I decided it was time to release the Georgia Straight because my argument is with the media," he said.

"My goal now is that no person has to face this – that they can be so summarily trashed without any proof."

After the newspaper published the story, two women — Abraham and Grace West — who claimed to be former students of Furlong's filed lawsuits alleging physical and sexual abuse against Furlong.

Those allegations were denied in statements of defence filed with the court by Furlong in September this year. The same day, a third sex abuse lawsuit was filed in Vancouver by a man also claiming to be a former student of Furlong's.

None of the claims has been proven in court.

Reacting to Furlong's statement Tuesday, Robinson rejected Furlong's suggestion she maliciously intended to injure his reputation.

"Of course there was no 'campaign' – just due diligence," wrote Robinson.

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Who is Arthur Hamilton, the lawyer named by Mike Duffy?

When the Conservative Party finds itself in trouble, lawyer Arthur Hamilton is often the man tasked with the troubleshooting.

A soft-spoken figure in the courtroom, his quiet intensity hints at past achievements as a high-school athlete.

A former linebacker who was recruited to play for Greenville College in Illinois, Hamilton was hit from behind, which blew out his knee and left him unable to play competitive ball.

Instead, he returned to Canada, studied at the University of Toronto and became one of the top election law experts in the country, according to colleagues.

Now, the longtime Conservative Party lawyer has seen his name surface in connection with another scandal hitting the Conservative Party: on Monday, Senator Mike Duffy alleged that Hamilton is one of the people who helped negotiate payments to cover Duffy's expenses in the long-running Senate spending scandal. Duffy said Hamilton provided a cheque for $13,560 to cover his legal fees in the matter.

Hamilton's name has also come up over:

• Accompanying witnesses in interviews with Elections Canada for the agency's investigation into misleading robocalls in Guelph, Ont., in the 2011 federal election.
• A fierce defence of six Conservative MPs against a legal challenge that would have seen them removed from office over robocalls in their ridings. The federal court judge in the case said the respondent side of the case, led by Hamilton, engaged in "trench warfare" and made little effort to help Elections Canada investigate the allegations.

The married father of five-year-old twins still lives in his hometown in Toronto's east end. He has mainly kept a low profile, always declining interview requests, and politely refusing to go on television to summarize arguments made in high-profile but camera-free courtrooms.

Hamilton declined to comment on Duffy's allegations.

A spokesman for the Conservative Party suggested it's possible a cheque was cut to cover Duffy's legal expenses.

"At the time these legal expenses were incurred and paid, Mike Duffy was a member of the Conservative caucus. The Conservative Party sometimes assists members of caucus with legal expenses," Cory Hann said in an email to CBC News.

Long history with Conservative Party

Hamilton eschews coffee and alcohol, despite working punishing 16-hour days handling energy and resource regulation cases, as well as an increasing number of Conservative Party legal cases.

The Bay Street lawyer — Hamilton is a partner at Cassels Brock —  has been involved with the Conservative Party from its inception, Conservative MP Erin O'Toole said in an interview with CBC News.

Hamilton helped with the legal work of merging the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives, and represented the party against a legal challenge mounted by former PC cabinet minister Sinclair Stevens. 

"I think Arthur's strong ability to litigate the case well, and the results were very positive, that I think led to him becoming very well-regarded in the party and with the leadership of the party," said O'Toole, a friend of Hamilton's since 2002.

Hamilton went on to represent the party as an intervener at the Gomery Commission in 2004 and 2005, and has been visible in smaller controversies prior to now, including being named in a lawsuit by former cabinet minister Helena Guergis (that suit was thrown out of court).

His zealous commitment to his client, however, has raised eyebrows.

While colleagues from the party and from his law firm agreed to interviews, it was tough to find a lawyer on the opposite side of the courtroom to speak on the record.

'Trench warfare'

Last winter, Hamilton led the response in the Federal Court for six Conservative MPs who saw their seats challenged. Ted Frankel, a partner at Cassels Brock, worked with Hamilton on the case.

"There aren't many who do elections law in Canada. Arthur is one of the leaders in that field," said Frankel, who previously worked with Jack Siegel, a lawyer who has represented the Liberals on election law issues.

"Arthur is incredibly hard-working and he has an intensity that I think is pretty much unmatched by any other lawyer I've ever encountered."

That intensity led to some heated moments in the courtroom after Hamilton questioned the political leaning of a polling expert and accused the lawyer for the applicants of launching the case for political "payback." 

Federal Court Judge Richard Mosley didn't overturn the election results, although he found that voter fraud occurred. But he did use the ruling to take to the Conservatives to task, represented by Hamilton.

"These proceedings have had partisan overtones from the outset. That was particularly evident in the submissions of the respondent MPs," Mosley wrote.

"In reviewing the procedural history and the evidence and considering the arguments advanced by the parties at the hearing, it has seemed to me that the applicants sought to achieve and hold the high ground of promoting the integrity of the electoral process while the respondent MPs engaged in trench warfare in an effort to prevent this case from coming to a hearing on the merits." 

Frankel describes Hamilton as a social person and someone who's a "very, very strong proponent of the associates" (the more junior lawyers).

Identifies 'very strongly with the Conservative Party'

It may not surprise his detractors to hear that Hamilton is close to Jenni Byrne and Fred Delorey, respectively Prime Minister Stephen Harper's deputy chief of staff and the party's director of political operations. Both senior officials are known as staunch partisans.

Frankel says the zealous approach to defending his clients is one lawyers are taught to adopt on behalf of every client.

"But I think it comes even easier because he does identify very strongly with the Conservative Party and with the things that the prime minister wants to accomplish," Frankel said.

"He's always working hard, whether it's a big or a small file. He's not one of those people who's going to be caught napping on any sort of file. He's always working every possible angle."

O'Toole and Frankel both praised Hamilton as principled and loyal.

Hamilton could have kept his athletic scholarship to Greenville, O'Toole said, even after his injury, but felt he would be taking a spot away at a small college that could have offered it to someone else. 

"So he stepped away and returned to Canada. He's very much a person that will make decisions on principle and stand by them, which is what I like about him," O'Toole said.

As described by Frankel and O'Toole, Hamilton is a born advocate with a long memory. Those things fuel him more than anything else.

"Especially when people will be on one side or the other in a political argument or debate or in a courtroom, he has a long memory," O'Toole said.

"He doesn't take things personally, like a loss or anything like that, but I think he holds onto these things and probably finds motivation from them."

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Premier loses seat in Nunavut election

Two of 22 constituencies are tied, many new faces have been elected as MLAs and Premier Eva Aariak has lost her seat as the votes have now been counted in Nunavut's fourth territorial election.  

All in all, only six of the 22 MLAs in the last legislative assembly were re-elected.

The biggest news of the night was that George Hickes beat Aariak in the constituency of Iqaluit-Tasiluk. Hickes, 44, is the son of George Hickes, the former speaker of Manitoba's legislative assembly. 

"I wouldn't say I'm surprised," Hickes told CBC News. "I worked very hard." In her concession speech, Aariak thanked her team for all their hard work.

Outside of the premier losing her seat, two other races also had particularly unexpected results.

Elections Nunavut reported that Alexander Sammurtok and Lorne Kusugak tied with 172 votes each in Rankin Inlet South. 

Another tie was called in Uqqummiut, where Samuel Nuqingaq of Qikiqtarjuaq and Niore Iqalukjuak of Clyde River both got 187 votes.

According to Elections Nunavut, a tie calls for an automatic judicial recount within the next 10 days. If there is still a tie after the recount, the chief electoral officer will order a new election.

Speaking to CBC News, Kusugak said he has now won one election to become a Nunavut MLA, but he's also lost one and tied one. "I've got a Gordie Howe hat trick," he told CBC News with a smile Monday night.

Youngest candidate a big winner

One surprise in the night was a landslide win by David Joanasie in South Baffin. At age 30, Joanasie was the youngest candidate to run in the election and will be the youngest ever to serve in the legislature. Joanasie took 409 votes, followed by 160 for Tommy Akavak of Kimmirut. The controversial incumbent, Fred Schell came in fourth with 43 votes. 

Former premier Paul Okalik was elected in Iqaluit-Sinaa with 180 votes. Okalik has been out of territorial politics since running for the federal Liberals in 2011. Leesee Papatsie was the runner up in Sinaa with 97 votes, followed by Solomon Awa with 69. 

Pat Angnakak was elected in Iqaluit-Niaqunnguu, a race where nobody could predict the outcome. Anne Crawford was the runner up there, behind by just 20 votes. Methusalah Kunuk came third, with Jack Anawak in fourth place. 

Elsewhere in the capital, Monica Ell won her seat again by a landslide in the constituency of Iqaluit-Manirajak. 

In western Nunavut, Keith Peterson was elected by a huge majority in Cambridge Bay. This will be his third term in the legislative assembly. ​

Only 3 women elected

Nunavut's fourth legislature will include three women. That's the same number as the last legislature, but the overall percentage of women has dropped, because there are now 22 seats instead of 19.

In the high Arctic, Isaac Shooyook was elected to represent Quttiktuq. Shooyook, 74 and a unilingual Inuktitut speaker, beat Ron Elliott, who had hoped for a second term and a shot at cabinet, by 80 votes.

Tom Sammurtok was elected in Rankin Inlet North-Chesterfield, and Joe Enook won again in Tununiq. 

Joe Savikataaq was elected in Arviat South. Allan Rumbolt was re-elected in Hudson Bay.

Steven Mapsalak was elected in Aivilik. This will be a return to politics for him—Mapsalak was the MLA for Nanulik from 2004-08. His win ousted Johnny Ningeongan, who represented Nanulik in the most recent legislature.

Newcomer Simeon Mikkungwak was elected in Baker Lake. 

Tony Akoak is the new MLA for Gjoa Haven and Johnny Mike won in Pangnirtung, pushing aside incumbent Hezekiah Oshutapik. 

Paul Quassa won a seat in Aggu, just ahead of John Illupalik. George Qulaut won in Ammituq. George Kuksuk won in Arviat North-Whale Cove, narrowly beating Elizabeth Copland 160 to 147. 

Two people were acclaimed ahead of the Monday vote because nobody else ran in those constituencies. Peter Taptuna will represent Kugluktuk, and Jeannie Ugyuk will represent Netsilik.

With no political parties, the premier won't be known until the 22 members vote on a leader next month. And then that person will name his or her cabinet.

The last time Nunavut went to the polls in 2008, 71 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots — far higher than the Canadian average.

This time just under 70 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot.

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Patrick Brazeau says RCMP haven't contacted him over expenses

Senator Patrick Brazeau, who is being investigated by the RCMP over allegations of breach of trust, says he has not yet been contacted by the force.

In an exclusive interview with CBC's Power & Politics, Brazeau told host Evan Solomon that he has not been approached by the RCMP nor have they taken any of his documents or contacted his office. 

According to court documents filed, the RCMP allege Brazeau committed breach of trust by filing inappropriate living and travel claims since April 2011. Brazeau maintains he has not broken any rules.

The former Conservative senator left the caucus following charges of assault and sexual assault that are before the courts.

Brazeau also reaffirmed to Solomon that he was offered what he called a "backroom deal" by Claude Carignan,  the government leader of the Senate, if he stood up in the chamber and apologized for his actions. 

Brazeau claimed that Carignan said sanctions against him would be modified. Instead of being suspended without pay for two years, the term would be reduced to one year, Brazeau claimed.

Carignan has denied that he offered Brazeau a "backroom deal," instead saying that he spoke to Brazeau out of friendship and that his words had been misinterpreted. Brazeau dismissed this suggestion as an "outright lie."

Brazeau claimed he lost favour with the PMO when he started questioning the government as to why it hadn't called a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women. He said that caused a rift in the Conservative caucus and began his "political downfall."

Brazeau also slammed Conservative Senator Marjory LeBreton's comments that Brazeau was "an experiment gone wrong."

"I've always known that Senator LeBreton is not one that favours the aboriginal agenda or likes aboriginal people," Brazeau said.

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Pipeline safety: Canada lags U.S. on making data public

After a long day tending his expansive canola farm near Swan Lake, in central Manitoba, Dan Hacault turns on his computer to try to find out more about what's buried below his cash crops — eight pipelines.

The veteran farmer says he spends hours looking at the website of the federal pipeline regulator, the National Energy Board, but finds it a confusing labyrinth that leads him in circles.

"Sometimes you luck out" and you find what you are looking for, says Hacault, who is also a director with the Manitoba Pipeline Landowners Association. "Usually, it's just by accident."

Hacault may not be the only one frustrated. When it comes to being transparent about pipeline data, a U.S. pipeline watchdog says Canada lags far behind its southern neighbour.

"I was kind of shocked how little there is available in Canada," says Carl Weimer, executive director of Pipeline Safety Trust in Bellingham, Wash., a non-profit group focused on improving pipeline safety.

The group publishes annual reports ranking pipeline regulators across the U.S., at both the federal and state levels.

This past summer, Weimer came to Canada to speak at a safety forum organized by the NEB.

He told an audience made up of oil and gas company heavyweights as well as government representatives that the NEB would rank a "pretty low" — nine out of 30 in the transparency rung — if he used the trust's criteria.

Maps, data in U.S.

Over at the NEB, the head of business operations, Patrick Smythe, acknowledges that its information may not always be available online.

"But if anyone wants any information on any Canadian pipeline that we regulate they can come to us and ask us for that information and we'll provide it," he said.

In Canada, general maps are available from individual pipeline companies, but there is no comprehensive one showing all the systems and their exact locations.

The difference in the U.S. is that any member of the public can go online and view maps of pipelines accurate to about 150 metres right across the country.

The National Pipeline Mapping System allows citizens to search by operator, pipeline name or even the status of the pipeline, whether it's in service or abandoned.

U.S. pipeline maps first went online in 2000, though security fears prompted the government to pull them down after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, says Weimer.

They came back online about two years later. "We kind of came to the realization that it was more important for the public to know where the pipelines were than to worry about the terrorists," says Weimer.

Reams of pipeline data are also available about incidents and much of it is downloadable.

A homeowner can look up a company to see how many barrels of oil or gas it spilled in a year, what the associated property damage cost and even details about how often the company was inspected.

U.S. a 'little further ahead,' says NEB

"Once a person realizes that they have a pipeline near their house, the questions they want to know is 'What's the potential impact, am I far enough away from it if something fails?'" says Weimer.

The federal regulator oversees about a tenth of pipelines in the country. Provinces monitor lines within their own borders. (John Rieti/CBC)

"The second thing they often ask is 'How well has this pipeline been operated, how many incidents has this company had on this pipeline in the last 10 years?'"

Most importantly, the U.S. data covers pipelines and incidents across the country. Nowhere in Canada can the public find out details about pipeline incidents across the country. That's part of the reason why the CBC has produced a map of federally-regulated pipeline incidents over the past decade, gained from access to information data, and is looking to expand it.

At the NEB, Smythe acknowledges that the U.S. is "a little further ahead," and noted that it has a different structure, with a tighter relationship between the national regulator and state counterparts.

"We don't have that same relationship here in Canada," he said.

The NEB only oversees 71,000 pipelines that cross borders and are run by about 90 companies, about a tenth of the overall network. Provinces monitor the remaining 760,000 kilometres that are contained inside their borders.

This past August, the Senate energy committee recommended that the NEB and the Transportation Safety Board, another body that probes pipeline issues, give the public more detailed information about safety issues. 

The committee called for the regulators to produce an interactive map, which would not only tell Canadians about spill amounts but also what caused each incidents.

Smythe says the NEB agreed with the Senate committee recommendations for a website and understands the need for greater transparency. The board plans to consult with Canadians about "what it is they need and how to get it to them."

More demand for raw details

In June, Alberta Energy Regulator, the new body watching over the province's vast internal network of pipelines, took the bold step of posting all pipeline incidents that affect the public.

A unique trust

The Pipeline Safety Trust is a unique advocacy group with no Canadian equivalent. 

It was born out of a catastrophe in Bellingham, Wash., in 1999 when three young people died after a pipeline ruptured and was set ablaze. 

The first victim was an 18-year-old who was fishing in a creek and drowned after he was overcome by noxious fumes. Two 10-year-old schoolmates also died after suffering burns to 90 per cent of their bodies in the explosion.​

After that, the community vowed to fund an oversight agency. And when criminal fines were imposed on the company in 2003, the judge ordered $4 million of that to go to the trust. 

Source: Pipeline Safety Trust

"The NEB doesn't have that," said Barry Robinson, a Calgary-based lawyer with Ecojustice. "You kind of have to hear through the grapevine that there might have been an incident."

Robinson says that some of the key information the public should have access to is the specific location of a spill and what action regulators took against the company involved.

Canadian Energy Pipelines Association (CEPA), a group representing some of the largest companies, says that the industry strives to present accurate data about their members' 99.999 per cent safety record.

"What has changed is an expectation for the public to be able to parse that data themselves and we welcome that," said CEPA president Brenda Kenny.

At the Pipeline Safety Trust in Bellingham, Weimer says pipeline data should be as transparent as possible so that the public can make informed decisions about the oil and gas lines crisscrossing their neighbourhoods.

"We feel that we can really help strengthen pipeline safety regulations by getting more people aware that they do have these pipelines and what the impacts can be," he says.

Filling the gaps

The data that the CBC collected for our searchable map suggests that the rate of pipeline incidents has doubled, from one to two incidents for every 1,000 kilometres, between 2000 and 2011.

It was difficult to do much analysis with the data set since some reports were incomplete or had inconsistent information.

NEB said the database provided through access-to-information was a "snapshot in time," and that while its employees didn't always update the records, there are supporting documents in other files.

Weimer notes that the move to more transparency can involve growing pains. When the U.S. began publishing pipeline data, similar holes appeared.

"Because of the transparency, people were able to push to fill in those gaps," he says.

Now, he says, the conversation between industry and interest groups has turned to more important issues, such as the best way to measure pipeline safety and how to make all the data easier to understand.

"That can't happen in Canada at this point because there really isn't any data to argue about," he says.

If you have any pipeline-related stories, please email us at pipelines@cbc.ca.

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5 new questions after Mike Duffy's Senate bombshell

As the Senate continued to mull over motions to suspend Senators Mike Duffy, Patrick Brazeau and Pamela Wallin over the expense controversy, Duffy unloaded another series of bombshell revelations Monday afternoon. 

He claimed that there were actually two cheques arranged by the prime minister's former chief of staff, Nigel Wright. The first for $90,000 to pay back Senate expenses and a second for $13,500 to pay his legal bills. 

He also claimed the Prime Minister's Office concocted a story to explain how he repaid the $90,000. The revelations raised a whole new set of questions about the ongoing scandal.

• Midday - Conservative Senate caucus meets and is expected to discuss possible compromise motions on suspensions for Senators Brazeau, Duffy and Wallin.
• 1:30 p.m. ET - Government to table Canada-EU trade deal agreement in principle in the Commons.
• 2 p.m. ET - Senate reconvenes for question period and then to debate motions and amendments on suspension motion. CBCNews.ca will livestream audio and live blog the debate.
• 2:15 p.m. ET - House of Commons question period. NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau expected to attend. Follow live here.

1. Who in the PMO and outside the PMO were involved in the negotiations to repay Duffy's expenses?

When the $90,000 cheque scandal first broke, Prime Minister Stephen Harper insisted Wright acted alone in paying back Duffy's expenses and that Wright's decisions "were not communicated to me or to members of my office."

But Wright himself later informed the RCMP, which is investigating the expense controversy, that he told four people, including three members of the PMO, about the cheque he was going to write to Duffy. Those people are Conservative Senator Irving Gerstein; Wright's assistant, David van Hemmen; Chris Woodcock, then director of issues management in the PMO; and Harper's legal adviser at the time, Benjamin Perrin. 

However on Monday, Duffy alleged that another top Conservative was involved.

He told the Senate that Wright arranged to have his legal fees paid and that his lawyer received a $13,500 cheque, paid by Arthur Hamilton, the Conservative Party's top lawyer. Duffy also revealed emails and the cheque stub to back up his claims.

2. Why were Conservative party funds used to pay Duffy's legal fees?

Later on Monday, the communications director for the Conservative Party told CBC News it had paid Duffy's legal fees. 

"At the time these legal expenses were incurred and paid, Mike Duffy was a member of the Conservative caucus," Cory Hann wrote.

"The Conservative party sometimes assists members of caucus with legal expenses."

Duffy himself said the funds for his legal fees came from party donors to make an embarrassing political situation go away.

3. Did Harper know about the legal fees repayment?

Harper has insisted he did not know about Wright's $90,000 payment to Duffy. 

Jason MacDonald, a spokesman for the prime minister, issued a statement reacting to Duffy's revelation about how his legal bills were paid: "Nigel Wright is on the record naming those he informed of his arrangement with Mr. Duffy, and he's assumed sole responsibility for his actions. The prime minister was not aware of the arrangement and had it been presented to him he would not have approved of such a scheme."

But while Duffy said that the $13,500 legal fee repayment was negotiated by Wright, he suggested on Monday that the prime minister had his "legal bills fully paid."

He questioned why the prime minister would do that if he believed that Duffy's expenses were improper.

"He did this because, as I have said from the start, this was all part of his strategy, negotiated by his lawyers and the Conservative party's lawyers, to make a political situation, embarrassing to his base, go away," Duffy said. 

4. Did the PMO coach Duffy on how to explain the source of the $90,000? 

Duffy claimed that the PMO, anticipating that the media would ask where he got the $90,000 to pay his expenses back, concocted an explanation. He said when the PMO heard he had been using a line of credit to renovate his home in Cavendish, P.E.I., they suggested he go to the Royal Bank of Canada and borrow the cash to pay off that line of credit.

He alleged the PMO said that he could then tell the media that he took out a loan at the Royal Bank to pay the $90,000.

"Well, that's technically correct, we took out a loan, but that loan wasn't to repay money, the $90,000 that the PMO agreed I didn't owe," Duffy told the Senate. "That line was written by the PMO to deceive Canadians as to the real source of the $90,000."

Duffy claimed that he had "reluctantly agreed" to go along with the scheme, that the script was written and emailed to him by the PMO and that the lines he would use with the media were "rehearsed with me right up until minutes before I went on television."

CBC's Power & Politics obtained an email exchange allegedly between Duffy and former PMO staffer Chris Woodcock, a note that seemingly attempts to undermine Duffy's credibility. 

"Can you confirm whether you advised the Senate Ethics Officers of any loans/gifts involved in the March 25th repayment? Trying to cover off all the angles," Woodcock, who Wright has said knew about the $90,000 payment, wrote to Duffy on midnight of May 14, the same night the Duffy-Wright $90,000 cheque story went public.

"No," Duffy replied the next morning, "Anyone who asked was told the truth: that I paid with a personal cheque on my RBC account. Did I have help? Yes from the RBC and my wife who co-signed for the extension of my line of credit."

The email raises questions about what Duffy meant when he said he "told the truth" about the RBC loan and whether he was just sticking to the story he said was created by the PMO.

5. What's in the so-called email trail that Duffy alleges will back up his claims?  

Duffy claimed on Monday that the Senate leadership, under the direction of the PMO, wanted to destroy his credibility if he ever went public about the real source of the $90,000.

"You wait until Canadians see the email trail in the hands of my lawyers and, I hope, in the hands of the RCMP," Duffy said.

Duffy said the emails between his lawyer and the PMO and its lawyers prove that "this was a setup from the start and that I am innocent."

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Pipeline safety incident rate doubled in past decade

Pipelines regulated by the federal government — which include some of the longest lines in the country — have experienced a swell in the number of safety-related incidents over the past decade, documents obtained by CBC News suggest.

In recent months, a spate of oil and gas spills both from train derailments and pipelines have raised questions about what mode of transport is the safest.

The pipeline industry has touted its record as it seeks support for numerous controversial projects across the continent, including TransCanada's Keystone XL to the U.S. Gulf Coast and Enbridge's Northern Gateway to the B.C. coast.

However, according to figures from a National Energy Board (NEB) data set obtained under access-to-information by CBC, the rate of overall pipeline incidents has doubled since 2000.

By 2011, safety-related incidents — covering everything from unintentional fires to spills — rose from one to two for every 1,000 kilometres of federally-regulated pipeline. That reflects an increase from 45 total incidents in 2000 to 142 in 2011.

Pipeline watchers like Pembina Institute associate Nathan Lemphers suggest the rise may be a worrisome sign of aging infrastructure.

"The pipelines that are in the ground are getting older and in some cases there's more products flowing through them so you're going to see increasing incidents and increasing defects in those pipelines unless they're properly maintained," Lemphers said.

The NEB documents give detailed information about 1,047 pipeline safety incidents from Jan. 1, 2000 until late 2012.

The federal regulator oversees any pipeline that crosses provincial or international borders, which includes about 90 companies that own about 71,000 kilometres of pipelines. The data does not include smaller pipelines monitored by provinces.

The National Energy Board attributes the rise in incidents to heightened awareness among companies about what they need to report.

"We've been out there talking with industry associations and the companies themselves to ensure that they are fully aware of what the reporting requirements are and I think that's why we're seeing an increase right now," said NEB's business leader for operations, Patrick Smythe.

Leaks, spills triple

Each company overseen by the NEB must report safety issues including the death or serious injury of a worker, fires, explosions, liquid product spills over 1,500 litres and every gas leak.

Among the other findings based on NEB's pipeline database is that there's been a three-fold increase in the rate of product releases spills and leaks — ranging from small leaks and spills  to large — that have been reported in the past decade.

B.C. saw the most reported incidents for a single province, followed by Alberta and Ontario (John Rieti/CBC)

More than four reportable releases happened for every 10,000 kilometres in 2000, or 18 incidents in total, according to NEB data. By 2011, that rate had risen to 13 per 10,000 kilometres, or 94 incidents.

Those numbers include any oil or natural gas releases companies are required by law to report.

Carl Weimer, executive director of U.S. advocacy group Pipeline Safety Trust, says each small leaks may not  be significant on its own, but taken together they provide a better picture when looking at safety trends.

"It shows how really carefully they are taking care of the pipelines," said Weimer.

British Columbia experienced the most pipeline safety incidents for a single province, with 279 recorded events from 2000 to 2012 in the data set. Alberta came in second with 244 incidents, followed by Ontario with 146.

The community with the highest number of incidents in its vicinity is the remote town of Norman Wells, Northwest Territories, which has seen 71 events.

NEB concerned about severe incidents

CBC News turned the NEB data set into a user-friendly map that allows Canadians to explore pipeline incidents using filters such as the nearest community, year, company, pipeline or substance spilled.

It provides an unprecedented bird's eye view of safety issues plaguing pipelines over the past decade and also gives users the ability to drill down into the details of each report.

NEB's Smythe says that the regulator has not seen an alarming increase in the "significant, serious or major incident over the last little while."

Recent documents published by the NEB show that they have expressed some concern over rising numbers.

"Notwithstanding the safety record of NEB-regulated pipelines, the board has noticed an increased trend in the number and severity of incidents being reported by NEB-regulated companies in recent years," one 2012 report states. 

Another 2011 document citing the same concern also notes the need for NEB to "enhance data collection" in order to tackle that problem and other troubling trends in the industry.

It goes on to say that a reduction in the numbers ultimately "depends on actions taken by the industry."

Brenda Kenny, president of the Canadian Energy Pipelines Association, which represents major companies, says there's an industry-wide commitment to "get to zero incidents."

"We're driving that out very hard through our risk-based management approach at the industry level that involves a lot of best practices, integrity, management, technology and these indicators," said Kenny.

"The Canadian pipeline industry is one of the very safest in the world second to none in terms of actual results," said Kenny.

Pipelines have faced unparalleled attention in recent years as global demand fuels a production boom across the continent, resulting in a rise in pipeline proposals.

"Pipelines were very much out of sight out of mind until recently," said Ian Goodman, a U.S. energy consultant who works with regulators and community groups across North America.

The pipeline debate is not generally "front-page news day after day … the way it now is. That's a new development."

If you have any pipeline-related stories, please email us at pipelines@cbc.ca.

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Drivers fined for parking when not parked

A company that says it's the world's largest privately-owned parking firm is again under fire from drivers, who complain they were slapped with unjustified $110 fines.

"If they are doing this over and over — they are probably making quite the profit," Jade Messiah, 20, who was hit with the fine from Diamond Parking in September.

"I think maybe it's just a money scam."

Diamond patrols 1,000 private parking lots in B.C., Alberta and several U.S. states.

Diamond Parking says it manages 1,000 parking lots in B.C., Alberta and several states. (CBC)

Go Public has received several complaints from people who believe the company fined them unfairly, over the last two years.

Messiah's complaint stands out, because she has hard evidence showing she was nowhere near the Diamond-patrolled parking lot, when it claimed she was parked there.

"I was like, there's no way I am paying this. I know I wasn't in the city," she said.

Proof she wasn't there

Messiah is a student who lives in White Rock, B.C., but spends much of her time in the city of Richmond.

The morning she got the parking ticket, she said she left home after 10:30 a.m. and stopped for gas.

Diamond Parking ticketed Jade Messiah's car for being parked a time when she was nowhere near the parking lot. (CBC)

Messiah then drove to Richmond, a 35 to 40 minute drive away.

She parked in a Diamond-patrolled lot, which has two hour parking for mall customers.

"I knew there was a two hour parking time limit so I made sure to get out before two hours," said Messiah, who said she was back at her car around 12:30 p.m.

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She said she was shocked to find a $63 ticket on her windshield, suggesting her car was there almost an hour before she'd arrived.

"There's no way it was possible at all," she said.

Diamond attendants place chalk marks on vehicle tires then write tickets if they find the vehicle still parked there beyond the lot's posted time limit.

Messiah's ticket said her car was 'chalked' at 10:27 a.m.

She has a bank records to prove she was actually buying gas, at a Husky station at 10:38 a.m. The station is in White Rock, near her home.

The ticket left on Messiah's car by a Diamond attendant is time stamped 10:27 a.m., almost an hour before she said she parked in the lot. (CBC)

 "I really do think they need to be brought to justice about this and I would like to see it stopped," said Messiah.

Fine jumps, told to pay

She later got a past due notice in the mail from Diamond, which stated that her fine had jumped to $110.

"I did call [Diamond] and I explained my situation. All the supervisor said to me was, 'No I'm sorry we can't listen to you. Our patrol officer says he was there, therefore you were there. You have to pay the ticket.'"

Kevin Roman of Maple Ridge, B.C., is another driver who was upset when a $110 fine from Diamond arrived inexplicably in the mail.

Messiah's bank records show she bought gas at 10:38 a.m., a 40-minute drive from the lot where her car was ticketed. (CBC)

"He got a past due notice. And he was like — 'wait a minute, from what?' He didn't even know what it was about," said Roman's brother-in-law John Leonard, who then complained to Diamond on his behalf.

Roman didn't park in the local mall's parking area. Instead, he pulled up curbside for a few minutes, in a no-stopping area, where he said he'd seen couriers stop many times.

"I was in my half-ton with a trailer and we were going camping," said Roman. "Because of my over-length vehicle, I pulled over there."

He stayed in the vehicle, while his wife ran in to use the nearby bank machine.

Roman said a security guard tapped on his window and told him he couldn't park there, because it was a fire lane, so he left immediately and parked on the public street. 

A Diamond parking attendant took this picture of Kevin Roman's vehicle in front of the bank. Roman said he had stopped briefly and moved his vehicle when he was told to. (Diamond Parking)

"And I didn't get any parking ticket," he said.

What Roman didn't know was, a Diamond attendant patrolling the lot also snapped a picture of his licence plate. Diamond then mailed him the fine for a parking violation.

Diamond attendants record vehicle licence plates, then B.C.'s provincial licensing agency gives the company the address of the registered owner. The Insurance Corporation of B.C. has said this is perfectly legal. It is how Diamond knows where to mail its violation notices.

Fines cancelled after complaints

The company acknowledges what happened in these cases and told Go Public it has cancelled the fines for both Messiah and Roman. In the second case though, Diamond maintains the fine was justified.

John Leonard is a bylaw enforcement officer who went to bat for his brother-in-law to fight a violation notice sent out by Diamond. (CBC)

"We are under contract with the mall property manager to enforce this exact form of infraction for the safety of the general public," said Diamond's Vancouver manager Michael Murray. "This area is clearly marked as a fire lane."

Roman's brother-in-law, who is a bylaw enforcement officer, questions how Diamond can issue tickets and fines when there is no law explicitly giving it authority to do so.

"I don't see anywhere in legislation that says a private parking company can even write those tickets in the first place," said Leonard, who said the company said if his brother-in-law paid $40, the fine would be cancelled immediately.

"He's being told we'll give you a deal if you just pay… As a bylaw officer, when I write a ticket, I have to prove that in court."

Diamond says it has sought legal opinions on its practices and it points out, in most cases, it is working for private clients on private property.

"We can designate any area as, 'no parking' for any reason and enforce it accordingly," said Murray.

It also says it cancels many of the fines when people complain.

"Inevitably, a small percentage of consumers that are issued notices are going to feel that they have been wrongfully ticketed and will contact us," said Murray.

"I can tell you that we void a significant percentage of the notices we issue as a courtesy to those that receive them, or on behalf of our client that we have been contracted to serve."

Others still pay 

Messiah and Leonard suspect many more people simply pay, because they're intimidated by the official looking fines and they fear the bill will be sent to collections, which Diamond does regularly.

"People are afraid. They don't want the hassle. They go, 'what is this? Oh I'm just going to pay this because I don't want my credit ruined'," said Leonard. "It's just bonus money in [Diamond's] pocket."

"It's rare that people will go to this extent to get something taken care of," said Messiah.

Hamilton, Ont., lawyer David Thompson tried unsuccessfully to mount a class action against Impark — another large private parking company — for issuing similar parking fines in Ontario. 

He is calling on provincial governments to bring in consumer protection laws to govern the practices of these private parking companies.

"Consumers have no bargaining power to negotiate or alter the terms of [private parking] agreements. Consumers typically do not realize that they will be charged significant fines if they overstay at a lot," said Thompson.

"They might enter a lot with a maximum daily parking rate of $5.00... If the consumer overstays, even let's say by half an hour, they could face a violation fee of close to $70.00... [which is] 14 times the maximum daily rate."

Consumer Protection B.C. said it has had 55 inquires about Diamond Parking in the last five years. In Washington State, regulatory authorities have adjudicated 64 complaints against the company since 2009.  

A handful of claims have been filed in B.C. small claims court, but it appears all were settled before trial.

The common theme among all complaints is that when the driver pushes back, Diamond cancels the fine.

Submit your story ideas to Kathy Tomlinson at Go Public 

Follow @CBCGoPublic on Twitter

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Canadian researchers use bees to drop pesticides on crops

The survival of the struggling bee population could soon be doubly important to agriculture.

While bees pollinate crops, Canadian researchers have found they can also be used to control pest insects and manage disease by dropping off pest control agents while they work.

"We thought we can give added value to the bees by having them deliver microbial control agents," said Les Shipp, a federal senior research scientist based in Harrow, Ont., outside Windsor.

Shipp found that bees leaving their hives could be forced to walk through a tray of organic pest controls. The pest control sticks to the bee's legs and hair. Through pollination, the bees then deliver a fungus, bacterium or virus to its intended destination.

Both bumblebees and honeybees have successfully distributed the fungus Beauveria bassiana to greenhouse sweet peppers and field canola. The fungus kills pests like whiteflies, aphids and Lygus.

According to Shipp, the Beauveria bassiana spores attach to the body of the pest, germinate and penetrate the body of the insect, eventually killing them.

Bees are forced to walk through a tray of organic pesticide when they leave the hive. (Courtesy of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)

"We've been able to use these to control pest and fungal diseases. We're able to reduce some diseases by 80 per cent," Shipp said.

The method is called "bee vectoring." Research was initiated at the University of Guelph years ago and continued in Harrow.

Bee vectoring of Beauveria bassiana received government approval in early 2013. Interest in the method is growing.

'Excitement' among greenhouse owners

Leanne Wilson, science co-ordinator for the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, said bee vectoring was emphasized at the Canadian Greenhouse Conference in Niagara Falls earlier this month.

"There was a lot of excitement about it. I think it's definitely a growing option," Wilson said.

She said greenhouse operators currently spray their peppers for pests. Bees already pollinate the greenhouse crops, so giving them double duty would save operators time and money..

"For larger greenhouses of, say, 50 acres, that's a lot of area to cover [with spray]," Wilson said.

Another advantage is that the bees deliver the pest control directly to the flower Sprays on the other hand cover the entire plant, from flower to leaf to stem.

According to the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the benefits of vectoring biological insecticides with bees include:

• Use of reduced-risk pest control products to control insects and diseases that are potentially devastating to greenhouse crops.
• Considerable savings in labour costs for greenhouse operators.
• Targeting of very small volumes of product precisely to where it is needed, so less product is used.
• Environment benefits, as the bio pesticide replaces older chemical pesticides.

'Hope it reduces spray'

"They're out there working seven days a week. You're getting continuous introduction of control agents," Shipp said. "If you sprayed, you're only spraying at one point in time, but the bees are there constantly delivering this.

"I wouldn't look at it as a silver bullet. It's another tool to control pests and diseases. We hope it drastically reduces sprays."

The cutting-edge research led to the creation Bee Vectoring Technology in Brampton, Ont. According to Bloomberg, Bee Vectoring Technology was purchased last month by CT Developers, a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Bee Vectoring Technology is actively working across Canada to produce and commercialize the new pest management technologies.

A call to Bee Vectoring Technology wasn't immediately returned.

Shipp said bee vectoring can be used on indoor and outdoor crops, including strawberries, sunflowers, blueberries, canola, peppers and tomatoes.

"There's work being done now on outdoor crops, and the potential there is huge," Shipp said.

Is using bees to deliver organic pesticides to crops a good idea?

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Budget watchdog affirms 2015 surplus despite slower growth

Canada's budget watchdog predicts the Harper government will be able to balance the budget in 2015 despite slowing growth, but concluded it will be a close shave and that subsequent surpluses will be smaller than Ottawa projects.

The latest fiscal and economic report card from the parliamentary budget officer shows the surplus in 2015-16 a razor-thin $200 million — lower than the March budget estimate of $800 million.

As well, the office sees the following year's surplus at a mere $1.7 billion, less than half the budget's prediction of $3.9 billion.

The moderately lower fiscal track may turn out to be significant because the prime minister is counting on a balanced budget — and preferably a modest surplus in the March 2015 budget — in order to be able to fulfil his 2011 campaign pledge to introduce income splitting for tax purposes in time for the Oct. 15, 2015 election. The promise was contingent on having eliminated the deficit.

The report notes that the calculations may be subject to adjustments. The office notes that it did not attempt to include the impact of the throne speech promise to freeze operating budgets going forward.

The estimates, however, do incorporate last week's surprise announcement that the deficit in the just-completed 2012-13 fiscal year was $7 billion lower than projected at $18.9 billion. As a result, the budget office says this year's shortfall will come in at $14.7 billion, about $4 billion lower than forecast in the government's March budget.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who is being briefed Monday on the state of the economy by private sector analysts, is expected to issue his updated fiscal projections in the next few weeks.

Slower economic growth next year and lower-than-projected commodity prices are the key reasons for the tempered fiscal projections, says the budget office report.

"These developments have led PBO to revise down the outlook for the Canadian economy relative to its April (forecast)," the report says. "As a result, PBO's outlook for nominal GDP — the broadest measure of the government's tax base — is lower, by $25 billion annually, on average, than the projection based on an average of private sector forecasts."

The report says the economy will likely grow two per cent in 2014, not the 2.5 per cent predicted in the March budget.

As well, Flaherty's decision to freeze employment insurance premiums is expected to cost the treasury about $700 million over the next two years, the report states.

In its economic outlook, the budget office says it expects the unemployment rate to rise slightly and that the Bank of Canada will keep its key interest rate at one per cent through the first quarter of 2015.

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6 ways parents can give kids a healthy 'media diet'

Parents should limit the total entertainment screen time to less than one to two hours per day, pediatricians recommend. (Marcus Donner/Reuters)

Concerns about children's use of media are increasingly urgent in the digital age, say U.S. pediatricians who now recommend that parents establish a media consumption.

The American Academy of Pediatrics released its revised policy statement on children, adolescents and the media on Monday at a conference in Orlando.

In 2010, a U.S. study showed the average eight- to 10-year-old spends nearly eight hours a day with different media, such as TV, cellphones, iPads and social media. Older children and teens spend more than 11 hours per day.

"A healthy approach to children's media use should both minimize potential health risks and foster appropriate and positive media use — in other words, it should promote a healthy 'media diet,'" Dr. Marjorie Hogan, a co-author of the policy, said in a release.

Co-author Dr. Victor Strasburger,  a University of New Mexico adolescent medicine specialist, said that for nearly three decades, the academy has expressed concerns about the amount of time that children and teenagers spend with media and about some of the content they are viewing, which is more pressing in the digital age. 

"I guarantee you that if you have a 14-year-old boy and he has an Internet connection in his bedroom, he is looking at
pornography," Strasburger said.

Two-thirds of children and teenagers report that their parents have "no rules" about time spent with media. In another study, more than 60 per cent of teenagers send or receive text messages after "lights out," and they report increased levels of tiredness, including at school.

Tips to help guide parents

The academy said pediatricians should recommend that parents:

• Limit the amount of total entertainment screen time to less than one to two hours per day. Online homework is an exception.
• Discourage screen media exposure for children under two  years of age.
• Keep the TV set and internet-connected electronic devices out of the child's bedroom.
• Monitor what media their children are using and accessing, including web site and social media sites.
• Co-view TV, movies and videos with children and teens, and use this as a way of discussing important family values.
• Establish a family home use plan for all media that includes enforcement of a mealtime and bedtime "curfew" for all media devices, including cellphones. Set "reasonable but firm" rules about cellphones, texting, internet and social media use.

The authors said there's considerable evidence that a bedroom TV increases the risk for obesity, substance use and exposure to sexual content. Given that, they encouraged pediatricians to ask two media questions during every visit:

• How much recreational screen time does your child or teenager consume daily?
• Is there a television set or internet-connected device in the child's bedroom?

Curbing web use could be 'catastrophic'

Strasburger said he realizes many children will scoff at advice from adults they consider "media-Neanderthals," but he hopes the policy statement will lead to more limits from parents and schools as well as more government research on the effects of media.

The group said shows like Sesame Street can help children learn letters and numbers, and the media can also teach empathy, racial and ethnic tolerance, and interpersonal skills.

For teens, listening to positive rather than neutral song lyrics can foster helping behaviours, and positive information about adolescent health is increasingly available available on YouTube and cellphone text message campaigns. 

Mark Risinger, 16, of Glenview, Ill., who is allowed to use his smartphone and laptop in his room, said the two-hour limit on internet use "would be catastrophic," adding children will find a way around it.

His mother, Amy Risinger, said she agrees with restricting time on social media, but that parents should be able to take their children's maturity level into account when setting media limits. 

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Alberta school bus crash 'not about pointing blame,' says mayor

It will be important for residents of a small Alberta town near Calgary to support each other as they heal from a horrific school bus crash that sent nine children and the bus driver to hospital on Friday, said the town's mayor.

Crossfield Mayor Nathan Anderson was in Calgary Saturday to visit with families of the injured children, who are being treated at the Alberta Children's Hospital.

He says the town's priority going forward will be to make sure its members recover.

The scene of the accident at the intersection, that is northeast of Calgary, on Friday morning. (CBC)

"It's not about pointing blame," said Anderson. "My goal and our community's goal is to make sure everyone heals wholly and completely."

Three of the children were listed as being in critical condition Friday, but Anderson says he understands that has now changed.

He told CBC Calgary he has heard that eight of the nine children "seem to be doing reasonably well, on the mend," while the ninth is still being evaluated day-by-day.

Three boys remain in hospital but two, who are roughly 10 or 11 years old, are set to be released soon. 

Both have minor cuts, broken bones and are sore, Anderson said.

The third is in more serious condition but has improved since yesterday. 

Alberta Health Services has not confirmed the changes to the children's conditions.

Anderson says one of the young victims is friends with his son, and they have been focused on letting the families know that they are supported by the town.

"We're a big family and like any family, we're pulling together and using each other's strength to lean on," he said.

Bus driver's son most badly injured, say police

Police said Saturday the son of the bus driver sustained the most severe injuries of the nine children injured in the crash.

Ten people were on the bus, nine students and one driver. All were taken to hospital. One child, a five-year-old boy, was airlifted to the Alberta Children's Hospital in critical condition. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)

The five-year-old boy was listed Saturday morning as being in critical condition and doctors are keeping him sedated to prevent him from moving around too much.

"He's doing better," said Anderson. "I mean, he's not out of the woods but things are looking up."

The female bus driver, who had at least one other child on the bus at the time of the crash, was also taken to hospital but there has been no word on her condition. 

The crash happened just after 8 a.m. MT on Friday near Crossfield, Alta., which is roughly a 40-minute drive northeast of Calgary.

All of the nine children who were injured either attended Crossfield Elementary School or WG Murdoch School in Crossfield, part of the Rocky View School Division. 

There is still no word on the cause of the crash, although RCMP have said the school bus did have a stop sign when it collided with a one-tonne truck on Highway 791 at Township Road 290.

A collision analyst was sent to the scene to investigate how the accident happened, but officials say it will take time to determine what went wrong.

Donations pouring in

Donations have been pouring in since the crash happened and Anderson says everyone is working together to help the families.

"It's been a roller-coaster," said Anderson. "It's been up and down but today is up."

His wife is in charge of distributing meals to the families and Anderson says he is making sure all of the families' parking, grocery and gas expenses are paid for during this time.

No official fundraiser has been planned yet.

However, Anderson says people who want to help can get in touch with the Crossfield town office.

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Thousands march in Montreal for values charter

Thousands of supporters of the Parti Québécois government's proposed charter of values took to the streets of downtown Montreal Saturday in a demonstration organized by "Les Janettes," a group founded in mid-October by the influential author, radio and TV personality, Janette Bertrand.

Noisy but peaceful, the marchers braved cold winds and rain to back Les Janettes, a group that grew from a letter published by Bertrand that argued progress on equality between men and women was taking a back seat to religious freedoms in Quebec.

The group has now collected 39,000 signatures for a petition that, among other things, calls for the charter to be renamed the "Secular Charter of Quebec" and for a clear line to be drawn between church and state in order to promote equality between women and men and defend women's rights.

Supporters in favour of Quebec's proposed charter of values gather in Montreal, on Saturday, October 26, 2013, prior to taking part in a march. If implemented, the charter would ban the wearing of religious clothing and symbols in public institutions. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

Organizers of Saturday's event said the fact people felt compelled to attend the march despite the cold and rain is proof of how deeply Quebecers feel about the issue.

"It's very touching for us to see that people feel our message and feel that they have to stand up for their rights," said Julie Snyder, one of the founders of Les Janettes. "I think it's the silent majority that is here today."

Demonstrator Mariette Aubé-Gagnon pointed to the banning of a protest organized by women drivers in Saudi Arabia that same morning as the reason why she came all the way from Boisbriand for the march.

"You have to get out and show your support," she said. "We can't go backwards. You have to stand up for women's equality."

Marchers were joined briefly by topless representatives of the group FEMEN Québec, who made headlines in early October for protesting the crucifix hanging in Quebec's national assembly. Police quickly sequestered the FEMEN protesters and the march continued without them.

Quebecers remain deeply divided over the proposed charter of values. 

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Trudeau challenges Harper to testify under oath

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is renewing his call for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to testify under oath, about what he knew and when he knew it, in the Senate expenses scandal.

In an interview with CBC Radio's The House, Trudeau said Parliament is "getting bogged down with scandal and conflict." 

"It's really frustrating to see the level of mistrust and disgust that Canadians are having towards Parliament, towards the prime minister right now. It's time the prime minister showed some leadership and actually came clean on everything he knew, and the only way we're going to be able to do that, unfortunately, is if everybody testifies under oath."

Trudeau earlier this week said Harper should testify under oath. Harper has not responded. 

The Liberal Leader offered no specifics about what kind of probe he's advocating. "The RCMP's already investigating what's gone on in the Wright-Duffy affairs. They're trying to get to the bottom of this issue. There are lots of different ways of getting to testimony under oath. There are inquiries, there are various ways of doing it," Trudeau said.

Trudeau's challenge to Harper followed new claims by Senator Patrick Brazeau that he'd been offered "a back-room deal."

Brazeau said Claude Carignan, the government leader in the Senate, approached him Friday morning.

Senator Patrick Brazeau, above, claims he was offered a "back-room deal" by the government leader in the Senate, Claude Carignan. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

​"And the back-room deal was that if I stood in [the Senate]

, apologized to Canadians and took responsibility for my actions, that my punishment would be lesser than what is being proposed," Brazeau said. 

Carignan told reporters his remarks had been misinterpreted by Brazeau.

Asked what he thought of Brazeau's accusation and Carignan's denial, Trudeau said, "I don't want to get into the 'he said, she said.'"

What is apparent is the Conservatives are doing anything they can to try to minimize the damage that has been caused by this entire affair to their reputation, to their credibility, to their capacity to actually address the many challenges Canadians are facing," he added. 

The Senate is expected to vote next week on a Conservative motion to suspend Brazeau and fellow Senators Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin without pay or benefits — a proposal the Liberals have said they won't support without amendments.

"We're pushing for openness and transparency and an opportunity to hear from these three Senators at committee. We have Mr. Harper deciding that he's going to dump all the responsibility on the three of them and try to create a serious penalty here that, to my mind, needs to be at least reasonably discussed before we enact something that's going to create precedents," said Trudeau.

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Senate to consider changing suspension motion

The leader of the government in the Senate, Claude Carignon, says he is open to amendments to a motion that, as it currently reads, would suspend three senators without pay or benefits for two years over allegations of wrongdoing with their expense claims.

Carignon told Radio-Canada's television political program Les Coulisses du pouvoir that there is the potential to change sanctions that would be levelled against senators Pamela Wallin, Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau if the motion is approved.

He suggested there was merit to what Wallin and Brazeau said as they defended themselves in speeches to their colleagues over the past week.

Carignon said he believed Brazeau did not interpret financial administration documents properly, and that in his case there was an "element of good faith."

Carignon said Wallin "made an impassioned plea, a good plea" against the sanctions, but added that Duffy "chose to settle political scores rather than answer to the accusations."

The Conservative caucus will meet behind closed doors on Monday morning to consider possible changes to the sanctions. Carignon said there would have to be a consensus before any new motion is crafted.

All three senators left the Conservative caucus earlier this year. Brazeau, who now sits as an independent, together with Duffy and Wallin, said in his speech during the suspension debate that the Senate is "where due process goes to die."

Wallin said the entire process of determining her fate is flawed, the Senate is acting as "judge, jury and executioner" and that "due process is not possible" in the Senate chamber.

This past week's debate has revealed a rift among Harper's caucus with Senator Don Plett and Alberta MP Peter Goldring leading the charge against the motion.

On Thursday, the two Conservatives publicly stated they do not support the motion.

The RCMP is investigating the expense claims of Duffy, Wallin and Brazeau, but none of the three has been charged.

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1,500 Canadians held in foreign prisons, majority in the U.S.

For nearly two months all eyes were turned to John Greyson and Tarek Loubani, the Canadian activists held in an Egyptian prison before being allowed to return to Canada.

Two other detained Canadians, Greenpeace activists Alexandre Paul and Paul Ruzycki, have also been in the headlines as they remain held in a Russian prison and could face a lengthy prison sentence on piracy charges.

But there are other Canadians detained abroad who don't have such a network of supporters, and fail to capture similar public attention.

Overall, 1,590 Canadians are in prison outside the country, according to figures provided by Canada's Foreign Affairs department, accurate to Oct. 10.

The bulk of them — 1,097 — are behind bars in the United States. The rest are in prisons in more than 85 other countries.

Foreign Affairs wouldn't provide a breakdown on the circumstances or duration of detention, nor how many cases the government is actively contesting.

But human-rights groups continue to monitor a number of cases where they believe Canadians are being wrongly detained or have been the victim of human-rights violations.

Often, it can take years to bring a Canadian back home.

64 months in Iranian prison

Earlier this month, Hamid Ghassemi-Shall was finally able to return to Canada after 64 months in an Iranian prison, including a year in solitary confinement.

Ghassemi-Shall emigrated to Toronto, where he working as a shoe salesman, following Iran's 1979 revolution. He was arrested on espionage charges while visiting his ailing mother in 2008, and faced the death penalty.

International pressure, including a stream of letters from supporters to the Iranian government, may have been a factor in helping to keep him alive, according to Amnesty International Canada.

Each case "has a delicate strategy depending on the circumstances of the case," said John Tackaberry, a spokesman for the human rights group.

'All the Canadian government can do is ensure that the person in prison gets fair treatment under the laws of the country where they are.'- Eric Morse, Royal Canadian Military Institute

That can mean a public-relations blitz or, alternatively, working quietly behind the scenes.

Most cases don't get nearly as much attention as Greyson and Loubani did, Tackaberry said.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird took an active role in the weeks leading up to their release, saying at one point that "Canadians have got to know that their government at the highest levels is doing absolutely everything it can."

"They had a very well-orchestrated social media campaign and a petition with 150,000 signatures," Tackaberry said. Similar cases, meanwhile, can sometimes fail to resonate with the public, he said.

"It has been difficult, in terms of raising public awareness of the issue, getting some coverage of the issues, putting some pressure on behind the scenes, or encouraging the government to get involved."

Rochon said the federal government tries, in every case, to ensure Canadians receive fair treatment under the local criminal-justice system.

But she stressed that the government cannot "seek preferential treatment for you or try to exempt you from the due process of local law."

Travel horror stories

Often, there's not much more the federal government can offer in terms of assistance, according to one former Canadian diplomat.

"All the Canadian government can do is ensure that the person in prison gets fair treatment under the laws of the country where they are," said Eric Morse, now with the Royal Canadian Military Institute.

"Anything else is strictly informal."

Many of the arrests involve drug-related charges, Morse said, and the arrested are often in shock at the situation they find themselves in.

In an effort to dissuade others, the federal government has a collection of wrenching testimonials on its travel-advisory website from Canadians caught trying to smuggle drugs overseas.

Horror stories abound.

One man, who was sentenced to 15 years in a Cuban jail for importing marijuana, says the water was "milky colour and it made me really ill."

A woman who spent a year in a Jamaican prison for trafficking heroin described living in cramped quarters without running water where, as a foreigner, "inmates were constantly trying to pick fights with me."

In cases where Canadians are thought to be unfairly detained, the situation can be made much more difficult when Canada no longer has a diplomatic presence in the country, as in the case of Iran.

Greenpeace activists

Other times, detaining a foreign national can be used to make a broader point at home. Morse suspects that's the case in Russia, where the Greenpeace activists remain behind bars.

In a letter released by Greenpeace this week, Paul described the loneliness of being held in a cold cell with another inmate who doesn't speak any English.

Several of the 30 people arrested, including the captain, have already been denied bail.

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Berwick asks where RCMP were when Harley Lawrence died

Harley Lawrence was found dead following a fire at a bus shelter in Berwick. RCMP have called his death suspicious. (Courtesy of Debbie Saltzman )

Friends of the homeless man found dead earlier this week in the small Nova Scotia town of Berwick are raising concerns about policing.

Harley Lawrence, 62, died in a fire early Wednesday morning at a bus shelter. RCMP have called his death suspicious.

The building that once housed the Berwick RCMP detachment is right across the street from the bus shelter.

The detachment closed two years ago. Now some are questioning the town's decision to reduce police presence, as the nearest detachment is now 15 minutes away in Kingston.

"People around here know they have a certain amount of time before a police officer is going to be here," said Walter Dodge, who was friends with Lawrence.

"Fifteen to 20 minutes, they can do a crime and be out."

Another of Lawrence's friends said he believes the death could have been prevented had more police officers been on the streets of Berwick.

"I'd like to see somebod y... to have justice back and a cop station back in Berwick," Anthony Doucette said."The routine back, the cop station."

But Berwick Mayor Don Clarke defended the move, saying it was about reorganization, not budget belt-tightening.

The Berwick RCMP detachment, when it was open, wasn't staffed overnight, he points out. The fire at the bus shelter occurred around 2 a.m.

The town partnered with King's County as part of a regional police service. Clarke said it means the town now gets better response times in the evening and overnight.

"Officers are on duty at whatever time," he said.

"They arrive here in their car, they work out of their car, they go off duty. So we get them on the job the full shift, whatever that happens to be."

Clarke said he hasn't noticed an increase in crime in the town.

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Anger over Senate expenses scandal spills onto the streets

Video

CBC News Posted: Oct 25, 2013 8:07 PM CT Last Updated: Oct 25, 2013 9:06 PM CT

B.C. reaction to senate scandal 1:43

B.C. reaction to senate scandal 1:43

What do you think of the Senate expenses scandal? CBC News hit the streets on Friday to find out how people feel about the ongoing controversy on Parliament Hill.

Debate continued on Friday over whether to suspend senators Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin without pay and benefits because of inappropriately claimed expenses.

All three senators defended themselves this week with dramatic statements. On Friday, Brazeau said he was offered what he called a "backroom deal" by the government's leader of the Senate.

On Friday, CBC reporters held up signs in Winnipeg, Vancouver and Montreal, inviting passersby to talk about the ongoing Senate controversy.

While holding up a sign invited many strange glances from people, some were keen to voice anger at Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the senators at the centre of the scandal.

"There's no truth and honesty in there," Norman Twoheart said in Winnipeg.

Some also questioned the value of the upper chamber and demanded Senate reform.

"How can you have a chamber of sober second thought about democracy when the Senate's not even democratically appointed?" said Carl Habck.

Click on the video player above to watch Cameron MacIntosh's full report.

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