National News
Minister miffed that head archivist billed taxpayers for Spanish lessons
The head of Library and Archives Canada has landed in agua caliente — hot water — after billing taxpayers almost $4,500 for personal Spanish lessons. Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore says he intends to speak “very soon” to Daniel Caron about the inappropriate spending. Moore says Caron’s spending on Spanish lessons is outside Library and Archives Canada’s mandate to preserve the country’s documentary heritage. READ
Toews denies charge that government muzzled Mountie
The Opposition leader in the Senate says an alleged attempt by the RCMP to prevent a British Columbia Mountie from testifying at a committee may amount to serious interference with the Senate’s ability to carry out its responsibilities. READ
Statcan braces for release
Has Statistics Canada — renowned around the world for its ability to take snapshots of Canadian life — lost some of its zoom? The answer will come Wednesday, when the agency’s National Household Survey reveals how much critical information was lost in the controversial transition two years ago from a mandatory long-form census to a voluntary questionnaire. Experts and observers say they expect the very specific, neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood information about certain types of Canadians — long a hallmark of the census — will be much more limited. READ
Most sexual assault victims lack confidence in system: Justice survey
A majority of sexual assault victims have little to no confidence in the police, the courts or the criminal justice system, according to a new government survey that echoes what advocates have been saying for years. The responses in the Justice Canada survey indicate that two-thirds of the men and women who took part had no faith in the justice system, the process of filing a complaint against their abuser and the prospect of seeing a conviction. READ
Police put the brakes on unruly gathering of motorcycle gangs
Vancouver Island cops put the brakes on a large gathering of the province’s most notorious biker gangs on Saturday. Police say hundreds of members of the Hells Angels and Outlaw Motorcycle Club took to the highway for their annual ride between Nanaimo and Victoria. READ
RCAF ordered to take another look at used choppers
Some helicopters from U.S. President Barack Obama’s cast-off fleet may yet find their way into the service of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The Canadian Press has learned Defence Minister Peter MacKay recently ordered National Defence to take another look at whether some of the nine VH-71 aircraft — purchased for spare parts to keep this country’s search-and-rescue choppers flying — can be made fully operational. READ
Tories team with PQ to keep ICAO
Canada’s big guns threw cold water on Qatar’s bid to lure away the International Civil Aviation Organization on Friday, ripping the Middle Eastern nation’s blistering year-round heat. Qatar has begun to woo the United Nations agency to get it to move its Montreal headquarters to Doha, with one of the country’s main complaints focusing on the city’s bone-chilling winters. READ
Anti-terror funding poorly accounted
The federal auditor general says he’s been unable to properly track as much as $3.1 billion in funding set aside to combat terrorism. Michael Ferguson’s spring report says the Conservative government must do a better job in reporting how taxpayer money is spent. READ
Ottawa seeks new supplier to notify gun licence holders renewal fee is due
The Harper government is seeking a new supplier to send out hundreds of thousands of gun licence renewal applications and reminders to firearms owners. READ
Victims of online bullying move Ambrose to tears
OTTAWA — During her seven years as a cabinet minister, some of them difficult, Rona Ambrose has rarely been anything but cool and detached. READ
More Conservative MPs say No to taxpayer-paid attacks against Trudeau
OTTAWA — A growing number of Conservative MPs say they won’t mail their constituents the party’s latest attack on Justin Trudeau, saying the negative, taxpayer-funded pamphlet is just not their style. READ
Tories reverse course on foreign workers
After weeks of public outcry over the scarcity of Canadian jobs, the Conservative government delivered a pink slip Monday to a series of controversial changes it made last year to the temporary foreign workers program. READ
Magnotta case going to trial in September 2014
The trial of accused killer Luka Rocco Magnotta will begin in September 2014, more than two years after his arrest in the death of university student Jun Lin. READ
B.C. crash leaves multiple fatalities
Five people are dead following what B.C. Mounties say is possibly the worst car crash witnessed in over 20 years. READ
Terror suspect almost deported in 2004
Fraud-related convictions almost led to the deportation of one of the men charged in an alleged plot to attack a Via Rail passenger train. READ
Canadian dies with aid of doctor in Zurich
A Manitoba woman won her battle Thursday for the right to die on her own terms, with the help of a doctor, before she could be completely consumed by a disease that was robbing her of control over her body. READ
Partisan politics not bullying, Harper says
Prime Minister Stephen Harper didn’t seem to see any contradiction Thursday between his government’s fondness for partisan political attacks while at the same time pledging to fight the scourge of online bullying. READ
Ottawa declines to investigate Suncor spill despite toxin findings
Environment Canada has ruled out any further federal investigation of a recent toxic spill from Suncor’s oilsands plant into the Athabasca River, despite suggestions from an Alberta investigation that laws may have been broken. READ
Criminal Code no ‘holy book’: terror suspect
A man charged in an alleged al-Qaida-directed plot to attack a Via Rail passenger train suggested in court Wednesday that he doesn’t recognize the authority of the Criminal Code because it is “not a holy book.” READ
Conservatives urged to use riding mail privileges to attack Trudeau
The Conservatives have declared a multi-front war on Justin Trudeau, including a bulk mail campaign at taxpayers’ expense — and a new poll helps explain why they’re going to such lengths to undermine the newly minted Liberal leader. READ
