Five dead, two injured in northern Saskatchewan school shooting

 

Five people are dead and two in critical condition after a school shooting in the northern Saskatchewan community of La Loche.

One person has been arrested, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed from an emergency press conference in Davos, Switzerland.

“We all grieve with and stand with the community of La Loche and the province of Saskatchewan on this terrible and tragic day,” Trudeau said.

Full list of Canada's New PM Justin Trudeau's Cabinet

The full list of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's new 31-member cabinet(including 15 women), in order of precedence, being sworn in today at Rideau Hall in Ottawa (with their province in parenthesis):

Justin Trudeau (Quebec) - Prime Minister, Intergovernmental Affairs and Youth.
Ralph Goodale (Saskatchewan) - Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.
Lawrence MacAulay (P.E.I.) - Agriculture and Agri-Food.
Stéphane Dion (Quebec) - Foreign Affairs.
John McCallum (Ontario) - Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.
Carolyn Bennett (Ontario) - Indigenous and Northern Affairs.

Goodnews! PM expands eligibility for Canada Student Grants program

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces changes to the Canada Student Grants program at Seycove Secondary School in North Vancouver. (CBC)

CBC
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a change to the Canada Student Grants program Tuesday, which will expand the number of training programs eligible for government help.

Until now, post-secondary training programs had to be longer than 60 weeks to qualify for the grant program, which was started in 2009, Harper said at a press conference in North Vancouver.

Harper called the cutoff arbitrary.

British PM says Pope Francis is wrong to say people who mock Islam should 'expect a punch'

UK Prime Minster David Cameron doesn't approve of the comment Pope Francis made following the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Speaking about freedom of expression and its limit, the Pope said 'you cannot insult the faith of others and if you do, you can expect a punch'.

But opposing what the Pope said, Cameron said freedom of speech is important in an open society;

'I think in a free society, there is a right to cause offence about someone's religion. I'm a Christian; if someone says something offensive about Jesus, I might find that offensive, but in a free society I don't have a right to wreak vengeance on them. We have to accept that newspapers, magazines, can publish things that are offensive to some, as long as it's within the law. That is what we should defend.'

Photos: Former Canadian PM Brian Mulroney’s $5.8m Montreal mansion

Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his wife, Mila Mulroney, have listed their Montreal mansion for $5.8 million, saving prospective buyers $2 million on the original asking price.

Located in the city’s swanky Westmount neighbourhood, the seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom home has been on the market since September 2013 when it was initially listed at $7.95 million. See more 
pics after cut

PM Warns 'Jihadists Have Declared War On Canada'

A woman holds a poster reading 'Je Suis Charlie (I Am Charlie)' during a tribute for victims of a terror attack on French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris that left 12 dead, at the Restauradores square in Lisbon on January 8, 2015. Getty Images

Torstar News Service
The jihadist movement has declared war on Canada and other democratic countries and there’s no option but to “face that head on and deal with it,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in response to the massacre in Paris.

“They have declared war on anybody who does not think and act exactly as they wish they would think and act,” Harper said of the jihadists Thursday.

“And we may not like this and wish it would go away, but it is not going to go away and the reality is that we are going to have to confront it,” he told the media after an announcement on apprenticeship programs in British Columbia.

Toronto illustrator sends portraits of missing, murdered aboriginals women to PM

Evan Munday's illustration of Elaine Frieda Alook, the subject of his first portrait posted to Twitter of missing or murdered aboriginal women.

A Toronto illustrator has started drawing portraits of missing or murdered aboriginal women and plans to send a new one to Prime Minister Stephen Harper every day to bring more attention to the issue.

“Let’s make it higher on his radar. Let’s make it higher on everyone’s radar,” Evan Munday, 34, said in a telephone interview after he launched the project on Twitter Monday.

Chosen largely at random from an online RCMP database, the subject of his first portrait posted to Twitter is missing woman Elaine Frieda Alook.

The mother of four was 35 years old when she was last seen outside Fort McMurray, Alta. on May 11, 2004, when news reports say her brother dropped her off at a shopping mall.

Drawing the portrait first in pencil and then going over it with ink, Munday scanned it into electronic format at a photocopying shop and then posted it to Twitter.

PM proposes to buy additional C-17 Globemaster heavy-lift transport plane

Army personel walk next to a Boeing C 17 Globemaster freight transport airplane from Canada at the Kabul International airport, in Kabul, on August 19, 2012. AFP/Getty

Murray Brewster The Canadian PressThe Harper government has signed off on a proposal to buy an additional C-17 Globemaster heavy-lift transport plane, bringing to five the number of the hulking airborne workhorses in the air force fleet.

Multiple defence sources say the decision to acquire the aircraft was made recently, but has not yet been announced as officials are still hammering out the contract details.

The Canadian air force has been pushing for the deal for over two years, telling senior officials that there is “a strong operational and business case” for a additional aircraft given how much use the fleet has gotten since it was introduced in 2007.

Earlier this year, The Canadian Press reported that National Defence believed it could afford the estimated US $169-million price tag because it had not spent all of the funds made available for the initial purchase of four C-17s.

PM Stephen Harper touts Alberta model for climate change

Prime Minister Stephen Harper answers a question during question period in the House of Commons, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014 in Ottawa. The Canadian Press 

The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the Alberta approach to pricing and controlling greenhouse gas emissions could serve as a model for all of North America.

In a year-end interview with CBC News, Harper insisted that Canada can’t impose new rules on its oil and gas sector unless the United States does too.

But he added that he is actively proposing to the U.S. and to Mexico that they work with Canada to cut emissions “on a continental basis,” and the Alberta model is one that could work for all three countries.

“The Province of Alberta itself already has a (model); it’s one of the few GHG regulatory environments in the country….” Harper said. “I think it’s a model on which you could, on which you could go broader.”

PM Stephen Harper offers condolences to Australia

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, right, shakes hands with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott as he arrives at the G20 Summit in Brisbane, Australia, on Saturday, Nov.15, 2014. CP

The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has sent Canada’s condolences to Australia after the deadly hostage-taking in Sydney.

Australian police ended a 16-hour standoff today when they rushed a downtown coffee shop where a man had been holding 17 people.

The clash left two hostages and the gunman dead and four others wounded.

The prime minister offered condolences to the family and friends of the hostages who were killed.

He also wished a speedy recovery for the injured.

He says Canada mourns with Australia.

PM Stephen Harper Says He Won't Drop Ukraine Whether It Takes 5 Months Or 50 Years

Stephen Harper said Sunday it's important to keep up the pressure on Ukraine as he discussed his celebrated showdown with the Russian president at the Group of 20 summit in Australia.

Speaking to the Canadian media at the end of the meeting, the prime minister grinned when asked about his admonishment to Vladimir Putin to get out of Ukraine, though quickly checked himself.

"It is necessary for all of us to keep the pressure on Mr. Putin and his regime and to do so over the long term, to make it clear that it will not be business as usual," he said.

"We cannot have a major power in this day and age seize the sovereign territory of another country, and simply move on as if nothing's happened."

If the world community eases up on Russia for its annexation of Crimea earlier this year, he added, it will only whet Putin's appetite for similar aggression.

"We send the message, as I think we have in Canada, that whether it takes fives months or 50 years, we're not going to drop the subject until Ukrainian territory is returned to Ukrainians."