Which brings us to today’s recipe. Just when I thought I was finally over quinoa and moving on to fregola sarda, boom, I discover black quinoa, therein putting quinoa back into the healthy grains rotation for at least another month. Quick to cook and nutty and wholesome to taste, black quinoa is a lot like regular quinoa, albeit with a smaller grain and perkier bite.

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Here’s a little something I whipped up that could be made for a main on Meatless Mondays or for lunch on any old Wednesday. To make quinoa-stuffed tomatoes you will need six medium tomatoes, cored with a knife and pulp hollowed out with a teaspoon and reserved, ½ cup black quinoa cooked with one cup water for 15-20 minutes, or until all water is absorbed and quinoa is tender (regular quinoa is also fine; follow package directions), ¼ cup grated Parmesan, 1 tbsp fresh snipped chives, 2 tbsp breadcrumbs or panko, 1 tbsp chipotle mayo (or regular mayo and a good shot of hot sauce), ½ block halloumi cheese sliced into six even slices, and salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 400F. Place prepared tomatoes in a baking dish and season with salt and pepper. To the pot of cooked quinoa add tomato pulp, Parmesan, chives, breadcrumbs and spicy mayo. Stir to combine, season with salt and pepper, and stuff into hollowed-out tomatoes. Top with a slice of halloumi cheese and bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, then set under broil to brown cheese for one to two minutes. It’s delicious sided with a salad and crusty bread.

Amy Rosen is acting food editor at Chatelaine.

A: The previous owner would be entitled to sell the locker unit unless such a sale is restricted by your condo declaration. The declaration could provide that the original ownership of the locker and of the residential unit must remain the same. If this is the case, the locker could only be sold to the purchaser of the residential unit.

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On the other hand, the declaration might state that a locker unit may be sold to any owner of a residential unit within the condo building. That would explain why the seller of your condo unit was able to sell the locker to another resident.

If the declaration/condo documents are silent on the sale of lockers, the owner could sell the locker to someone who isn’t even an owner of a residential unit. It could be someone who lives nearby and does not have locker facilities in their condo building. Of course this would not be an ideal situation because it would allow strangers entry to the building in order for them to access the locker.

It is best to gain the assistance of your condo lawyer to find out if the locker has been sold according to your condo documents. Condo buyers should always complete their homework prior to any purchase so there are no unexpected surprises or disappointments.

Marilyn Lincoln is a condo owner, director and author of The Condominium Self Management Guide 2nd ed. Send questions to marilyncondoguide@hotmail.com.

The 64-year-old who once notoriously compared himself to Jesus was sentenced to 50 years in jail Wednesday for a gruesome list of acts comitted by Sierra Leone’s rebels, which he aided and abetted during that country’s 1991-2001 civil war, one of the most brutal in modern history.

Testifying at the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Sierra Leone in July 2009, Taylor had called the 11 charges of murder, rape, conscripting child soldiers, enslavement and pillaging against him “lies.”

“This whole case is a case of deceit, deception, lies,” Taylor said. “I am not guilty of all of these charges, not even a minute part of the charges.”

The court outside The Hague decided otherwise, with presiding judge Richard Lussick saying Wednesday, “the trial chamber unanimously sentences you to a single term of imprisonment for 50 years on all counts.”

With his close-cropped salt and pepper beard, tailored suits and gold cufflinks, the former rebel had cut an elegant figure in court as he listened impassively to witnesses recounting the atrocities he was accused of.

His eyes were closed and his face drawn as the sentence was read.

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The trial topped a life marked by deep involvement in conflicts that blighted several African countries, driven according to prosecutor Brenda Hollis by Taylor’s “greed and lust for power.”

He is widely seen as the most powerful figure behind a series of civil conflicts in Liberia and its eastern neighbour Sierra Leone, between 1989 and 2003, which left some 400,000 people dead.

It was not enough for Taylor to plunder his own west African state of Liberia, encourage rebellion in neighbouring Ivory Coast and make Guinea anxious about its own potential for revolution.

The “intelligent, charismatic manipulator,” in the words of the prosecution, also chose to arm and help the notorious Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone.

He did so in exchange for illegally-mined “blood diamonds,” fuelling a deadly decade-long conflict, where the RUF struck terror killing, raping, killing and chopping off the limbs of thousands.

A thrice-married lay preacher with an economics degree from Bentley College in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, Taylor rose to power on the back of the rebellion he launched in 1989 against Liberia’s then military ruler Samuel Doe.

PASCAL GUYOT/AFP/Getty Images

He had joined the Liberian civil service under Doe — who himself seized power in 1980 and opted for an authoritarian regime — but was sacked in 1983 for embezzling nearly one million dollars in government funds.

He skipped the country, returning to the United States where he was jailed on an extradition warrant. But he escaped 16 months later and disappeared, resurfacing in December 1989 at the head of a rebellion backed by Libya and reportedly by Burkina Faso.

His National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) earned a reputation for extreme violence and was among the first to force children, some as young as 10, to carry guns.

“Jesus Christ was accused of being a murderer in his time,” he once told the BBC in an interview.

Seven grim years of war wearied the Liberian people, who in 1997 elected Taylor president, but his rise to power brought little relief to the country of 3.3 million.

Two years later, a second rebellion took place, this time against Taylor. Fighting — with the capital Monrovia encircled — ended when Taylor fled to Nigeria in 2003.

He remained out of reach there until Nigeria in March 2006 bowed to international calls to extradite him.

An AFP reporter who visited his villa and met him briefly days before his arrest found that he had access to a luxury Jaguar car with blacked out windows and diplomatic plates, and carried a battery of cellphones.

GEORGES GOBET/AFP/Getty Images

Or so I thought, until I stumbled across a little case called Pet Valu that might offer a wee escape clause to Ontario’s otherwise ironclad class-action regime.

Ontario is an “opt-out” jurisdiction. That means if a representative plaintiff succeeds in getting an action certified, potential members of the class are given a window of time during which they can declare that they want out. After this “opt-out” period expires, qualified members of the class action are in, whether they like it or not. Cue the Eagles … and welcome to the Hotel California.

I’ve wondered whether there could be circumstances where some might meet the criteria for membership in the class, but might not discover until after the expiry of the opt-out period that they’re stuck in some litigation that doesn’t fit their personal circumstances.

If you take a step back and look at the broader context, what originally seems like a very narrow, academic question on class action procedure can easily blossom into a larger debate over the substance of what we want the class action law to accomplish.

“There is a bit of a grey area, but I think the gist of this is going to come down to something between the procedural protections of the Class Proceedings Act on the one hand, and the right to effect your own rights on the other,” says John Callaghan of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP. “If you can make an informed decision as a putative class member, then I don’t think the courts ought to intervene, even in the face of a class action.”

Class actions lump together all those who might meet the stated criteria for the class. A certified action has two phases. A first phase sorts out the “common issues” for all the class members, and the second looks at the individual circumstances for each class member. So while class actions do eventually look at an individual’s situation, this doesn’t happen until much later in the case. That “common issues” phase can take a long, long time. The controversy is whether it’s fair, post certification, to make all class members wait until that common issues phase wraps up before individual class members can settle their own claims.

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Jeff Galway, a partner in the Toronto Office of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, says: “In settling their claim, a putative class member would be dealing with both the common issues and their individual issues. So the controversy is: Why shouldn’t they be allowed to get out of the class action, to resolve their individual claim, at any stage in the litigation?”

Ontario’s position on individual settlements is addressed in a 2011 decision called Berry v. Pulley. Mr. Justice Paul Perell makes it pretty clear that once you’re in the class, you’re in for good. To allow side deals would enable a defendant to “eviscerate” a class action by letting them do an end-run around representative plaintiffs and deal directly with other class members:

If parties could circumvent the representative plaintiff or representative defendant by making offers directly to class members, it is unlikely that putative representative plaintiffs would have class counsel willing to prosecute the class action. Defendants could eviscerate the size of the class and diminish the recovery of the class counsel so as to make the risk of proceeding with the litigation unbearable and class counsel would be unwilling to take on the burden.

Yet class action counsel believe the case law doesn’t completely slam the door on individual settlements. Patricia Jackson of Torys LLP says she would not interpret Judge Perell’s decision to mean there are no circumstances where a side-deal would fly. “If a class member has personal or compelling reasons to settle with the defendant, especially if those reasons are largely unrelated to the class action, there are going to be circumstances where they will be able to do it.”

Indeed, there’s an Ontario case called Pet Valu, in which Mr. Justice George Strathy allowed a settlement outside the class. He distinguished Pet Valu from Berry because he said the settlement offer was made to a “fraction” of the class, because he saw no evidence that the purpose the side deal was to undermine the class action, and because the side deal was made for legitimate business reasons. He wrote:

A case might be made, in such circumstances, that an individual class member should be permitted to settle individually with the opposing party, if the court is satisfied that there is no unfairness to the individual or to the class at large and no threat to the integrity of the class proceeding.

What’s striking to me about Pet Valu is that the judge could have made things easier. The case had been certified, but the formal notice had not yet gone out to the class. So Judge Strathy might have allowed the individual settlement simply because it looks like the opt-out period was still in play.

Yet he seems to have gone a little farther. He noted that the settlement in Pet Valu flowed from a contract that had been reached prior to the class-action certification. This contract gave the defendant the right to buy out the individual plaintiff. While he actually went on to deny the settlement on other grounds, his remarks suggest a willingness to approve of such a settlement in the future.

This suggests judges might allow individual settlements in circumstances where there is a special relationship between the class member and the defendant, says Lawrence Thacker of Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP in Toronto. “The door is open, but probably only in situations where there is a pre-existing, independent relationship between plaintiff and defendant.”

Pet Valu appears to nibble away at the rule in Berry v. Pulley — but only modestly so. In a paper presented last December at a class-action colloquium organized by the Ontario Bar Association, Peter Howard of Stikeman Elliott LLP pointed out that U.S. case law allows individual settlements, even if doing so makes it impossible to maintain a class action. Canadian courts are likely to be far more conservative, Mr. Howard writes: “[T]he Courts will have to develop this area by inches in individual cases rather by overriding fiat.”

Financial Post

It is unfortunate for all of us, police and civilians alike, that quite possibly the only people in Canada who might consider this punishment sufficient were in charge of meting it out. I have this crazy notion that indecent exposure is not just grounds for dismissal, but a criminal offence. And yet a three-member adjudication board spared now-sergeant Ray, on the strength of some “strong” support from his colleagues (which itself is somewhat alarming) and his “sincere expressions of regret and remorse.”

“It wasn’t so long ago that police officers and other law enforcement members were held to a higher standard than the average citizen,” a recent Calgary Herald editorial lamented. That seems to be a widely held opinion. But in a refreshing open letter to Canadians released on Monday, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson suggests the problem here is actually old, not new.

“I am trying to run a modern police force with a discipline system that was current 25 years ago,” he complained. Specifically, he noted an “administratively burdensome and bureaucratic decision-making process” that keeps some discipline cases dragging on “for years.” And while he didn’t mention Sgt. Ray specifically, he did declare it “unsatisfactory that we have to continue spending … tax dollars to pay individuals that don’t deserve to be in the RCMP.”

It’s nice that the head honcho recognizes the problem, just like everyone else. At the risk of being glib, the solution is to fix it. Very few policy changes that Canadian police forces and their legislative overseers will ever undertake would meet with less public resistance. Should an officer suffer more than a few days of lost pay if he waves his junk around at work; fires his gun into the ceiling of a hotel room in a fit of anger; stalks an ex-girlfriend using a police databank; conducts an affair with a subordinate officer and has sex in a police cruiser, then lies about it; or runs into a parked vehicle, leaves the scene, then lies about his alcohol consumption both to police and the government-run insurance company? (Those incidents are real examples of police misconduct in B.C. over the past three years or so.) That’s a resounding “yes,” surely. So let’s get on it.

Just 38% of us have high confidence in the RCMP, according to an Angus-Reid poll conducted last month, and just 27% of British Columbians. But the problem is more existential than misbehaving officers and lenient punishments. From Vancouver’s Stanley Cup celebration-gone-wrong to Toronto’s G20 fiasco to (to some extent) the student protests in Montreal, police continue to fall short of expectations in fraught situations. In part, that’s a matter of poor decision-making. But it’s not altogether clear what society’s expectations are anymore: The police’s role in safeguarding both public and private property and the right to protest is just one Big Question out there nowadays.

And in the background is another Big Question the Herald implicitly raised in its editorial: Hopefully there was, in fact, a golden age of honourable policing to which we can aspire to return — but what if there was really just an age before camera phones and CCTV cameras in cell blocks? What if a small but ever-present minority of police were always bad boys, and we just didn’t know about it?

It seems terribly old-fashioned to call for something like a royal commission. But police are too integral to a properly functioning society, and not nearly trusted enough, to let the current climate fester — and the causes and solutions are enormously complex. We need a fundamental reassessment and restatement of the roles, responsibilities and proper accountability mechanisms both for the police and for the policed.

In the meantime, however, let us by all means fire some terrible cops.

National Post

Gillam was hired as a supervisor by Saskatchewan-based Waschuk Pipeline Construction Ltd. to lay a pipeline from Fort McMurray, Alta.

His son, Dustin, also worked at the camp, Gillam reported to an office staffed by three women, including Lorill Waschuk and Debbie Hyde. Lorill was part owner and office manager. As well, conspicuously, she was the daughter of Waschuk’s major shareholder, William Waschuk.

Gillam became concerned that Dustin was drinking excessively with Lorill. He also suspected that Dustin was spending time with Hyde.

In Gillam’s mind, both of these were affecting his son’s marriage and his ability to work and keep a job.

Unable to control Dustin, Gillam became increasingly upset. He also maintained that some of the drivers reporting to him were drinking with Lorill at night, impairing their capacity to drive the following morning.

Gillam’s distress translated into the repeated use of gendered slurs and foul language when referring to the three women working in the camp. Although he never insulted them directly, he referred to them in that fashion in front of other employees. He also publicly complained that Hyde had transmitted a sexually transmissible disease to another of his sons, Christopher.

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Upon receiving reports from Lorill of the language used to describe her and the other women, William Waschuk intervened. Warning Gillam that his behaviour was unacceptable, Waschuk ordered him to apologize, adding that, if it recurred, he would be fired. Gillam apologized.

After the project ended and Gillam was laid off, Dustin was badly hurt in an accident, leaving him permanently disabled. Although the company had no plans to recall Gillam, it did so when work materialized on another project out of compassion for his situation.

The return was short-lived.

Gillam repeated to Lorill’s brother how upset he was that Hyde had allegedly infected his son with a communicable disease.

The company’s response was to terminate Gillam, who, in turn, sued for wrongful dismissal.

Rejecting Gillam’s arguments that his comments were not particularly serious, Madame Justice EJ Gunn of the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench found that the nature of the statements made about the female staff, although not stated directly to them, amounted to sexual harassment. It showed an utter disregard for his responsibilities as a supervisor. Having repeated the very behaviour for which he was warned, the employer had just cause to dismiss him.

The lawsuit was dismissed and Gillam was ordered to pay the employer’s costs.

This decision is a stark reminder to employers as to how they deal with harassment issues and reduce their legal risk:

- Understand the exposure The liability for a poisoned work environment encompasses statements made outside the presence of the affected employees. Even if they do not hear it directly, they can still complain of sexual harassment;

- Importance of a policy Waschuk was fortunate that Gillam had conceded that his statements were wrong. Don’t roll the dice — ensure that you have a strong policy that defines acceptable and unacceptable behaviours;

- Written warnings Considerable time was spent at trial as to the content of the warnings that Gillam had received. Had they been in writing, there would have been no debate;

- Acting promptly Waschuk waited seven weeks before responding to Gillam’s last offence and was consequently forced to deal with the defence of condonation. The court stated that it would have been preferable had the employer addressed the misconduct immediately; and

- Zero tolerance An employer must impress on his or her staff that this type of misconduct will give rise to discipline, including termination. A warning that conveys no consequences for miscondcut is insufficient as it does not commmunicate the desired message.

Howard Levitt is senior partner of Levitt LLP (levittllp.ca), employment and labour lawyers. He practises employment law in eight provinces and is author of “The Law of Hiring in Canada.”

Our narrowed eyes locked: the Senior and the Millennial (a.k.a Gen Y or Echo Boomers). I was thinking: Your teflon complacency comes from a lifetime of helicopter parents and teachers ensuring you were failure-proofed to protect your precious self-esteem. He was probably thinking: Why aren’t you dead yet so I can get a decent job and afford the meal I’m serving you.

He would have a point.

We’re witnessing an unprecedented generational social tussle. In 1950, people my age were doddering retirees. Today, we’re healthier longer, enjoying still-productive lives. By clinging to our jobs, or starting new ones, we’re blocking the natural economic pipeline. Yet we’re also hanging on to our untenably expensive government benefits, because politicians genuflect before our massive voting numbers, not to mention our tendency to vote in higher proportions than the already far less numerous 18-34s.

But I have a point too. Cossetted, self-satisfied millennials lack humility and competitive drive. They think real life will echo their easy ride through high school and the artificially inflated grades they got for their dumbed-down university courses. An October 2011 National Report Card on Youth Financial Literacy polled 3,000 recent high school grads on their expectations. More than 70% erroneously assumed they’d own their own home in 10 years. The average respondent over-estimated his future earnings by 300%.

In his new book, Beyond Age Rage: How the boomers and seniors are solving the war of the generations, marketing maven and ZoomerMedia vice-president David Cravit deconstructs our unique demographic moment, as the culturally dominant boomers continue to re-order the world millennials are inheriting.

If this were a real war, millennials wouldn’t have a prayer. Oldies’ greatest fear — realistically — is outliving their money, because many boomers didn’t save for their retirement as previous generations did. They won’t cede their entitlements willingly. Almost a third have no savings, almost a quarter are $50,000 in debt upon retirement. Some are supporting aged parents. Many have to work, many more who are financially secure just want to work, and most are surprisingly adaptive. The number of self-employed Canadian 55-plus “BoomerPreneurs” doubled between 1990-2008.

Millennials — unrealistic, under-adaptive, often debt-burdened and, unlike the Boomers in 1967 (when the median age was 27, not 42, as today), are coming of age in hard economic times. They’re mad as hell, venting on websites. “Why won’t the Baby Boomers step aside?” rants one. Response: “Because many of us are too busy supporting our college graduate kids who won’t shop at Walmart … and BTW, you are NOT getting my job, Crybaby.”

Cravit’s evenhanded analysis is evidence-based, but one occasionally senses his irritation with millennials’ immaturity. In one chapter, for example, he compares the goals-focused sobriety of the Tea Party movement (70% boomers and seniors) with the feelings-drenched, violence-prone Occupy movement (70% under 39).

To illustrate his point — and to hilarious effect — Cravit contrasts the Tea Party website, a model of on-message clarity detailing principles and practical strategies, with the inchoate, juvenile Toronto Occupy website: “[We are] fed up with the current political and economic systems in this nation and all over the world. … We have not yet put out a unified message but be sure it will come.”

Cravit attributes the Tea Party’s success to boomer perseverance and a strong work ethic. He attributes Occupy’s failure to their education, which “put[s] a premium on rewards detached from results.” He recognizes that because of boomer guilt amongst cultural elites, “the meme of boomer selfishness and greed will likely overcome the meme of millennial immaturity and dysfunction” in the media. Indeed, we’ve witnessed exactly this joust played out in these pages over Quebec’s endless street protests. But Cravit also predicts that boomers will win in the marketplace.

The book concludes optimistically. It’s an unusual war where the victors refuse to let the losers lose, offering generous shelter, sustenance and mentorship to the vanquished. But that’s what is happening. Cravit’s elaboration on the boomers’ “Marshall plan” for their vulnerable progeny shows that it isn’t the nanny state, but spontaneous kinship altruism — plus, hopefully, a practical revamp of a superannuated university system — that will ensure that Canada’s presently unlucky millennials land on their feet.

National Post

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Aries (March 21-April 19)
Cool your jets because feelings of irritation and impatience could create an accident. This doesn’t have to happen. It’s all up to you. In addition, be careful about lipping off to someone without thinking because you’ll be tempted to do this, too. (Oy vey.)

Taurus (April 20-May 20)
Disputes about money, earnings, possessions and possibly a purchase could easily arise today. Naturally, you’re not going to take this sitting down because you take your money, earnings, assets and possessions very seriously. Don’t overreact.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)
Mercury is in your sign today at odds with fiery Mars, which is the classic set up for arguments, disputes and nasty little retorts. They just seem to leak out of your mouth. (“What did I do?”) Demonstrate some mental self-control by thinking before you open your clever yap.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)
You might be doing a slow burn about something but you feel you can’t speak up. Naturally, this frustrates you even more! Far better to channel this energy into some kind of research or working behind the scenes; this way you come out ahead.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)
It’s easy to end up fighting with friends or people in group settings today. Naturally, you don’t start your day intending to do this. You don’t look in the mirror and say, “Who can I really annoy today?” It will happen in a split second if you don’t remember to zip your lip. Forewarned is forearmed.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
This is a very poor day to deal with authority figures: parents, teachers, bosses and VIPs. Don’t make your pitch. Don’t ask for permission. Don’t try for approval. And above all, don’t argue with them because things will go South so fast your head will spin.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
Avoid controversial subjects like politics, religion and racial issues today. This is the kind of day where people are looking for a fight. Although you’re an excellent debater, true arguments destroy your peace of mind. Protect yourself and just walk the other direction.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
Disputes about shared property, bills, insurance matters, inheritances and anything you own jointly with others might arise today. Watch my lips. (Sort of.) This is a very poor day to discuss these subjects! Friday is a much better day. Much, much better.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
Difficulties with parents, partners, bosses and close friends (have we left anyone out?) will likely arise today. Knowing this ahead of time, you can demonstrate grace under pressure. Use your breezy humour to sidestep prickly conversations. (That way everyone stays happy, including you.)

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
Be patient with co-workers and customers at work today because nothing is to be gained by arguing. Anger only makes everyone miserable. It actually accomplishes nothing! Furthermore, you might end up looking like a dork and who wants this? Not you.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
Parents will have to be extra-patient with the kids today, no question. In fact, angry feelings – even if unexpressed – could trigger accidents around children, so be careful and be vigilant. This is also a rocky day for romance, so don’t push buttons with loved ones.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
Disputes at home with family members are likely today. But why even go there? It just ruins how everyone feels at home. Instead, be the voice of peace in your family. Use your aggressive energy to move furniture or tackle some major repairs.

If Your Birthday Is Today
Hockey player Aaron Volpatti (1985) shares your birthday today. Routine always stifles you because you need freedom of action. Because of this, freelancing is a good choice for you. You are fast-moving, fast-talking and you make fast decisions. Despite your speed, you can be careful with details and are often skilled with your hands. In the year ahead, you will build or construct something valuable to you. Your rewards will soon follow.

But the local councillor isn’t sold on the project that would see a 277-metre skyscraper developed on Bloor Street West between Yonge and Bay streets.

Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam of Ward 27 says the development team met with her to discuss the idea in March, but submitted its rezoning application without implementing any of her proposed changes.

“We had told the applicant not to submit, and they went ahead,” said Ms. Wong-Tam, who worries that the project’s proposed driveway could impede flow on Bloor Street’s manicured pedestrian walkway. “I can tell you that the planning staff, the urban design staff, no one is ready to approve this project. It’s got a long way to go.”

The lawyer representing the development team says he proceeded with the proposal without heeding Ms. Wong-Tam’s warning in order to avoid a hike in application fees scheduled for April 1.

“If the councillor says it’s not going to be approved as is, I think one might almost assume that from the beginning,” said lawyer Dennis Wood, who spoke to the National Post on behalf of Morguard, the property and asset management firm spearheading the development.

“We acknowledge when you place a building of this intensity into that location, there are going to be points where you’re going to show sensitivity and come up with creative solutions,” said Mr. Wood, who could not disclose how much the project is expected to cost.

Developers are looking to have the three-storey property rezoned to increase limits on height and density — a process expected to take over nine months to complete. City planning staff will seek input from community members and various city departments and make a recommendation to city council.

The project would maintain the Holt Renfrew location, while adding an eight-storey podium for commercial and office space as well as a tower with 600 residential units. Ms. Wong-Tam expects community members and local businesses will be quick to uphold Bloor Street’s strategic vision of being Toronto’s premier shopping and dining destination.

“This project will be very much scrutinized not just by the city, but by the public,” she said, adding that another concern would be the skyscraper’s potential to cast a shadow on the nearby Jesse Ketchum park.

The tower at One Bloor was originally planned for 81 storeys under Bazis International, but the property was later sold to Great Gulf Homes and the project reborn as a 70-storey tower.

The area has seen more than 30 developments in just over a decade and the Bloor-Yorkville Business Improvement Area (BIA) has been diligent to ensure new building projects adhere to the neighbourhood’s urban design principles and that the skyscraper-intensive Bloor strip does not cast shadows over the area’s parks.

Mr. Wood said Morguard has managed the existing property “for decades” and understands the community concerns when it comes to development in the area.

“[Morguard has] a very successful retail entity and they’re not going to screw with that,” said Mr. Wood. “Most developers don’t know diddly about retail … This is different than people who buy a piece of property, put in an application and say, ‘OK maybe this will work or maybe it won’t.’ ”

If built as planned, the 50 Bloor condo would be the tallest in the country, but Mr. Wood says his clients were looking to capitalize on the intersection of the city’s two main subway lines, not to set a record.

“Where else would you want to locate intense residential? It’s the ideal location.”

National Post

The leaders convened just days before New Democratic Party leader Thomas Mulcair was scheduled to tour the oil sands and meet with local business leaders.

Mr. Mulcair has maintained a hard-line stance against the oil sands, claiming a petroleum-fuelled dollar has led to hundreds of thousands of lost jobs in Ontario and Quebec.

[np-related]

However, the premiers seemed quick to drop the subject of the feud with the federal leader.

Alberta’s Alison Redford said Mr. Mulcair’s remarks had dominated very little of the premiers’ time during the meeting. The federal leader dismissed Western premiers’ objection to his analysis by calling them “messengers” of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Ms. Redford said most of the premiers had already responded, but “there wasn’t really an awful lot more attention than that paid to the comments.”

Ms. Redford said she would be at an economic forum in the United States during Mr. Mulcair’s visit. Alberta’s deputy premier, Thomas Lukaszuk, is expected to meet with him.

On several topics, the premiers said they were firmly in line with Mr. Harper’s agenda. They said they supported his recent moves toward EI reform, which would make it more difficult for seasonal and occasional users to obtain benefits. The changes favour the West, where unemployment rates are typically lower, and there are fewer seasonal workers.

The premiers said they also supported the Harper government’s plans to streamline environmental assessments — a move that has been criticized by progressives as an attempt to water down environmental protections.

“This part of the world is growing,” said Saskatchewan’s Brad Wall. “We need to be stewards of that growth and continually seeking to remove unnecessary barriers to growth.”

Both B.C. and Alberta are embroiled in environmental reviews around the construction of the Northern Gateway pipeline, which would ship Alberta bitumen from the oil sands to an Asia-bound shipping port on the West Coast.

The project has proven unpopular in B.C., where Premier Christy Clark is facing an election next year. Ms. Clark was absent Monday, citing a need to do budget estimates.

Ms. Clark was represented by Patrick Bell, B.C.’s minister of jobs, tourism and innovation, who re-iterated the province’s support for the Harper government’s plan to harmonize environmental reviews.

Ms. Redford said the conference was in no way hindered by Ms. Clark’s absence.

Manitoba’s NDP premier, Greg Selinger, would not comment specifically on Mr. Mulcair’s comments. Instead, he said he was on board with the plan to create a national energy strategy, particularly a pan-Canadian electricity grid.

“We want to make sure we’re developing sustainable energy across Western Canada. We want to make sure manufacturing goes well. Manitoba looks at itself as a microcosm of the Canadian economy. We have small amounts of oil. We have hydro-electricity. We have a very significant manufacturing sector,” he said. “We want all sectors to do well.”

Ms. Redford has been advocating for such a strategy since October, she said. Critics have so far pointed out the notion seems vague and ill-defined.

However, the Alberta premier said that wasn’t a problem. She said the plan could look at ways sustainable energy could benefit Manitoba, for example, or research initiatives between Nova Scotia and Alberta.

“What I hope this becomes is part of a living process in Canada. I don’t think it would be appropriate today to be able to stand here and say we have a definitive strategy or plan that we expect everyone to be buying into,” she said. “I’m really heartened to hear is that when we talk to leaders across the country, there’s an understanding that what a Canadian energy strategy can be is going to be a set of principles where we can talk about interprovincial co-operation.”

All the leaders re-iterated their request to raise the caps on immigration for the west.

National Post

At a news conference in Ottawa, the government was to name the first six projects it will fund under the Kanishka Project, a $10-million program that aims to better understand Canada’s national security challenges.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and Jason Kenney, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, were expected to unveil the details, part of a national security strategy unveiled in February.

Among those receiving grants is the Mosaic Institute, for a study on conflicts imported into Canada by ethno-cultural communities. Ryerson University and the University of Toronto are being funded for the first study of its kind on how to make ethnic communities more “resilient” to violent extremism.

But the largest grant will be awarded to the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University and the University of Waterloo to establish the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society, which aims to bring together researchers and policy analysts interested in the study of terrorist radicalization and security responses to it.

Carleton University and Laval University will also get grants, and the Association of Canadian Studies will receive funding to study the awareness and perspectives of Canadians on security, terrorism and counter-terrorism.

Canada has long faced criticism that it has been slow to respond to the threat of terrorism, particularly in the area of academic research. Funding terrorism research was one of the recommendations of the Air India commission.

The bombing of Air India flight 182 was the work of Sikh-Canadian terrorists based on British Columbia. Most of those killed were Canadians. More than 25 years later, foreign conflicts with origins in such countries as Sri Lanka and Somalia continue to be imported into Canada.

At the same time, Canada continues to deal with problems caused by the radicalization of youths who have bought into the al-Qaeda ideology and have either gone abroad to join terrorist groups or have planned attacks in Canada, such as the Toronto 18.

National Post
sbell@nationalpost.com

Matthew Hayday remembers singing along to Angele Arsenault’s Bonjour, My Friend as it spun on his Fisher Price record player as a child. His parents had brought the album home for him, along with a bilingual boardgame he used to play with his sisters.

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The record and the boardgame were both part of an educational kit called Oh! Canada, produced by the country’s first Commissioner of Official Languages and doled out for free somewhere in the order of two million copies. It was 1974 — five years after prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s government passed the Official Languages Act and enshrined Canadians’ rights to access government services in the language of their choice. The act tasked the commissioner with protecting the status of both English and French and, most explicitly, with conducting investigations into language-related complaints.

Lynn Farrell/National Post file

But Canada’s inaugural so-called language ombudsman, Keith Spicer, the charismatic journalist who today lives in Paris, said he interpreted the act more broadly: that he should do more than simply defend institutional bilingualism prescribed by law, that he should “actively, if indirectly, help promote it” by spurring schoolchildren’s interest in second-language learning.

Decades have passed since Prof. Hayday learned French phrases with his sisters, and today the University of Guelph associate history professor is researching what he calls the “unconventional activities” undertaken by Canada’s first three language commissioners from the 1970s through the 1980s.

“I wouldn’t say the commissioners overstepped their mandate, but I think they were creative in the way they interpreted it,” said Prof. Hayday, who will on Wednesday present his findings at this year’s Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Kitchener-Waterloo.

His research hinges on the historic role of the Commissioner of Official Languages, but his account highlights the contemporary reality that Officers of Parliament could interpret their mandates in ways that some Canadians find unsettling. Although Prof. Hayday argues these appointed officers are today restrained by a more muscular political executive, recent headlines prove there is opportunity for these unelected officers to overstep their parameters — or at least for onlookers to seek clarity on what, exactly, those parameters are.

Chris Wattie / Reuters

According to the Parliament of Canada website, there are eight positions traditionally designated as Officers of Parliament, including the Auditor General, the Chief Electoral Officer, the Access to Information Commissioner, the Commissioner of Lobbying, and, of course, the Official Languages Commissioner.

Perhaps no one is more in the limelight these days, though, than Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, who was the first to take on the “senior officer” role created by the Conservative government in 2006 and who has been criticized by some for running amok of his prescribed mandate.

Just two years after his post was created under the Library of Parliament, the speakers of the House of Commons and the Senate asked the parliamentary librarian to rein in Mr. Page because he was “exceeding” his mandate by taking requests from MPs and publicizing his oftentimes controversial reports. More recently, Mr. Page’s office reportedly began a pool to predict when he would be fired for saying he believed Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government purposefully withheld information about cost overruns on Canada’s F-35 fighter jet purchase.

Chris Wattie / Reuters

The mandates of other appointed Officers of Parliament have come under scrutiny, too. Earlier this spring, the opposition parties pressed the Conservative government to give the Chief Electoral Officer more power to audit party expenses, and last year the Federal Court of Appeal ruled the CBC had to hand over documents to the Access to Information Commissioner, despite the broadcaster’s argument that the commissioner had no right to review files related to journalistic, creative or programming activities.

Prof. Hayday contends these officers have less freedom to help shape public policy today than they did back in the 1970s and 1980s — a time when they were “granted a rather wide scope of latitude for action, which far outstripped the more explicitly defined parameters of the office as described in legislation,” he wrote in his prepared remarks.

From crafting bilingual education kits that made their way into Canadian schools, to encouraging university presidents to instate second-language entrance or graduation requirements, to asking Air Canada and Via Rail if they would offer reduced-cost tickets to Canadians looking for a cross-cultural travel experience, Canada’s first three commissioners “became rather creative and used their position to agitate for shifts in Canadian attitudes towards languages,” Prof. Hayday wrote.

He said today’s Official Languages Commissioner, meantime, has been notably “diplomatic” in his role — far less likely to make headlines for generously interpreting his mandate or making risque remarks, as Mr. Spicer did decades ago.

In his 1973-1974 report, Mr. Spicer noted that Ottawa-Hull was “blessed with a rich selection of television, radio, theatre and splendidly racy French movies — not to mention soothingly bilingual body-rub parlours.”

“You wouldn’t ever hear [Official Languages Commissioner] Graham Fraser using that kind of language,” Prof. Hayday said. “It wouldn’t fly today.”

National Post
• Email: kcarlson@nationalpost.com | Twitter: KBlazeCarlson

Buoyed by a peer review panel of transit professionals, the TTC, in a new report, urges Metrolinx to set a “realistic target” of getting the Crosstown in service by 2022 to 2023. It also recommends starting construction of the Sheppard East LRT immediately, instead of in 2014. The two remaining lines funded by the province of Ontario on Finch Avenue and the tracks of the Scarborough RT should commence in 2015, as proposed.

But Metrolinx’s president and CEO made it clear Tuesday evening that the agency has no intention of changing its schedule, or its approach to building the lines, which cuts the TTC out of managing the project.

“We still believe a 2020 deadline is achievable for the Eglinton Crosstown,” said Bruce McCuaig. “We think people accept and want to see some outcomes as quickly as possible, so we want to drive towards that.”

The TTC’s “observations” are contained in a document that will be discussed at a meeting of the commission on Wednesday. It comes about a month after Metrolinx endorsed city council’s preference to proceed with a part-surface, part-underground light rail line along Eglinton as well as surface lines on Finch and Sheppard, and to convert the Scarborough RT into light rail. The provincial government has earmarked $8.4-billion to pay for the four projects. Metrolinx plans to launch tunnel boring machines for the Eglinton line this summer.

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It has also confirmed it intends to take a different tack on construction, squeezing the TTC out of delivering the project in favour of an alternate model, led by Infrastructure Ontario, that would award management, design and construction to a single private sector contractor and could save money. Mark Towhey, the mayor’s policy director, says Rob Ford supports this approach.

The TTC still plans to run the new lines.

In its report, which includes the conclusions of a panel struck by the American Public Transit Association, the TTC raises concerns about private funding models, and questions whether Metrolinx has budgeted enough time to build the underground stations along Eglinton. It also casts doubt on the new management approach, suggesting that if the TTC were in charge, it would be able to better manage community concerns raised by the major traffic and transit issues that will come along Eglinton, especially at station construction sites.

Mr. McCuaig maintains there are tangible benefits to the alternative finance model Metrolinx has picked, among them “discipline” to construction and costs. In a press release issued Wednesday, Metrolinx says it will only proceed with an alternative finance model if it saves money.

TTC chair Karen Stintz said the commission thought it important to raise these questions now.

“It’s one thing to build a project out on a green field, on a vacant lot, it’s another thing to build in the middle of a city,” said TTC commissioner John Parker, noting that residents, community groups, and businesses will be watching every move.

He said the TTC wants to make absolute certain that Metrolinx “understands the challenges that one encounters when one is performing open heart surgery on a living breathing organism.”

National Post
• Email: nalcoba@nationalpost.com | Twitter: NPHallMonitor

On Tuesday night, investigators carried out the second package in a brown paper bag from a Canada Post sorting plant through which every letter or package sent to or from Ottawa travels.

Police X-rayed the bag before they opened it to find a hand. Police said the package with the hand was not destined for the Conservative Party of Canada, but wouldn’t say where it was to be sent.

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Earlier in the day, police and paramedics had been called to the Conservative headquarters, not far from Parliament Hill.

The first officers to arrive on the scene spotted blood splattered on the package and immediately called in the hazardous-material unit.

When the specialists opened the package, police found the severed appendage inside.

“Upon arrival, officers noted that the [box] package possibly had blood stains on it,” Ottawa police said in a statement.

“The Hazmat Unit and Emergency Operations Section were called and upon further inspection of the package it was determined that there was possibly a human foot in the box.”

Police said the package was addressed to the Conservative Party of Canada and not to a specific person.

The horror was not confined to Ottawa. Ottawa police were consulting with their counterparts in Montreal after they discovered a severed torso in a suitcase.

Montreal police sifted through a heap of garbage in the city’s west end to see if they might turn up any missing limbs.

Authorities in both cities are trying to determine if there might be a link to the body parts found in Ottawa.

By late afternoon, a coroner confirmed the foot found in Ottawa was indeed human remains.

The package was taken from the scene in a yellow bag and escorted by police into a minivan waiting by the curb.

Steve Hodgson, a police sergeant who arrived at 130 Albert Street, just three blocks south of Parliament Hill, said the package was delivered by Canada Post and had been partially opened by a receptionist at the party’s 12th floor headquarters, who then called police.

“It wasn’t opened any further. It was our Hazmat Team that eventually took a look at it.”

A Conservative MP who showed up later at his party’s headquarters was horrified by the discovery.

“It’s just awful,” said Brad Trost, who first learned about the incident from TV. He said it was probably someone’s “sick idea.”

“I don’t think any of us are thinking this necessarily has anything to with politics,” he said.

Mr. Trost showed up for a meeting but was told by police it was best to leave.

A woman on the 14th floor of the building said police wearing special protective suits were seen in the building and that employees on her floor were told not to go to the 12th floor. Other workers were also told to stay in their offices.Outside the party’s headquarters, the intercom rang for hours as police wouldn’t hang up the phone inside until they had finished assessing the scene.

The Canadian Press with files from Postmedia News

The 2011 census offered us a showstopper of a statistic, a number that injects new life into our greying population while shattering the notion that Canadians are not having kids anymore.

We are having kids, lots of kids. The number of Canadian tots aged four and under increased by 11% between 2006 and 2011, a baby boom not seen since the Baby Boom.

Boom 2.0 marks the highest five-year rate of growth among the Mini-me crowd since 1956 to 1961.

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And the birthing trend is national in scope. Fertility rates nudged to within a whisker of 1.7 kids per family, up from 1.5 in 2001.

Albertans, with a robust economy and young families aplenty, are the nation’s most productive reproducers with a birth rate of 1.8, reflected by a 20.9% jump among kids under four.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Saskatchewan (19.6%) and Quebec (17.5 %) are likewise beefing up on tots.

Why the boom? Demographics. Baby Boomers’ kids, the so-called Echoes, may not have jobs for life but they have a zest for creating new life and an army of potential new Moms to do it. The number of women in the 21-34 age bracket is ballooning, a numeric reality any parent hoping to secure a daycare slot in a major Canadian city without putting their name on a waiting list at the moment of conception can fill you in on.

There is more at play here, though, a deeper societal shift, a reawakening of a yearning to go forth and multiply. It ebbed away in the 1960s when women joined the workforce in ever-greater numbers, the cost of living increased and family photos featuring three or four or more kids became the preserve of the rich and the nanny-supported, or poorer immigrant families bound by custom and kept afloat by social welfare.

“Women were doing more paid work, so they didn’t have time to have children,” Roderic Beaujot, a demographer at the University of Western Ontario, said. “Having children has become more positive.”

And practical. Things like parental leave, $7-a-day daycares in Quebec, RESPs and the Universal Child Care Benefit have softened the economic blow of feeding a growing brood. Another factor is the changing nature of work.

“With the way that technology is advancing, it is increasingly easy to seek out alternative work arrangements like working from home, starting your own online business, and so on,” says Amber Strocel, a Vancouver-based writer/Mommy blogger. “With more flexibility around work-life balance, it becomes easier to have children. The same technology also makes it easier to stay connected with friends and family, which means a better support network.

“That also makes it easier to have children.”

Doug Norris, the former director of social and demographic statistics with Statistics Canada, cautions against reading too much into the numbers. We are getting older, he says, not younger as a country, and our current baby blip is a passing bump, an accident of demography that will not save us from our greying selves — from skyrocketing healthcare costs — postponed retirement parties and underfunded Canadian pension plans.

“In 20 years, one in four of us is still going to be up over the age of 65 almost inevitably,” he says. “There would have to be a substantial increase in the fertility rate and I don’t see that coming.”

Instead of taking over, Canada’s army of tots appears to be just passing through town. Marching through the statistics, celebrating first birthdays, making mornings foggily perfect for a new generation of Moms and Dads.

National Post, with files from news services
• Email: joconnor@nationalpost.com | Twitter: oconnorwrites

CLICK TO ENLARGE

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That extra pitcher in his bullpen might seem to be a luxury. Not for Farrell, whose recurring nightmare kept taking him back to Texas, where his relief pitchers served as galley slaves on the weekend.

Farrell was counting on Ricky Romero to help him escape that ghastly merry-go-round. With a good, long, walk-free start from Romero, perhaps he could take a deep breath and make some important decisions about how to set up his rotation over the next week.

Romero obliged. Bouncing back from four rickety starts in which he walked 21 batters, he found his groove again in an 8-6 win over Baltimore Orioles at the Rogers Centre.

The Blue Jays’ ace was solid in all but the sixth, his final inning, when Chris Davis hit a three-run homer. Romero allowed six hits, four runs and struck out seven. Perhaps best of all, he walked only one after issuing seven free passes in his previous start.

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But he was not satisfied. He should have pitched deeper into the game, he said. In fact, he has beaten himself up all season, he added.

“Guys tell me to kind of tone it down a little bit and get that confidence back up,” he said. “But I expect so much of myself and I work so hard to go out there and have long outings and get deep in the game. When I don’t, I kick myself in the head.

“I’m my worst critic and I’m always going to be like that. I’m a competitor. I like to win, I hate losing. It’s just getting back on my own side. Coaches can only do so much and talk to me about it. It’s on me to go out there and do it.”

Brett Lawrie contributed three hits, drove in three runs and, after a long run from an over-shift against Davis,  made a slick sliding catch of a foul pop-up in front of the third-base dugout with two runners aboard in the ninth inning. Rajai Davis, replacing the departed Eric Thames in left field, also had three hits and drove in two runs.

The Jays’ bullpen still looked wobbly. Farrell had to use four relievers, who faced 18 batters to get nine outs.

Working for the second straight night, closer Casey Janssen gave up a two-run homer to Adam Jones in the ninth.

The Jays won their second straight over Baltimore after losing five in a row on the road. The Orioles have dropped four straight.

Afterward, Lawrie kept mentioning that he was simply lucky to make that catch, lucky to get those hits. But it took some speed and athleticism as well to make that clutch catch with Baltimore threatening in the ninth.

“We had a little bit of a shift on just because [Davis is] not going to shoot it down the line,” Lawrie said. “Obviously he’s a pull hitter. I just got lucky. I just took off and didn’t know if I was going to get there or not. I ended up being there in plenty of time.”

With Thames gone, Davis is relishing the chance to play every day.

“It’s tough, if you feel like you have to go out there and be great just to play another day,” Davis said. “A lot more pressure on yourself as opposed to knowing you’re going to be out there, knowing you’re going to go out there and play every day.”

His bunt single forced a throwing error and set up a two-run third inning. Davis’s speed turned a sacrifice bunt play into a “pivotal” play, Farrell said.

If Brandon Morrow can follow Romero’s example on Wednesday night, Farrell might be ready to shed that extra reliever (Aaron Laffey, who was warming up at the end), and decide whether to use two upcoming off days to skip one starter. Morrow, Toronto’s best starter this season, is coming off the worst start of his career in Texas, where he retired only two batters and allowed six runs.

“We just want to be sure we don’t have one of those games where we’re right back into it, where we’re overusing guys,” Farrell said before the game when asked how soon he can revert to a seven-man bullpen and free up a roster spot to bolster his bench.

“The off-day Thursday is certainly going to help some of this, followed by the off-day on Monday. My guess is we’ll look to make an adjustment here shortly.”

Laffey was called up from Las Vegas on Monday for long relief after a series of short stints by the starters. That left only three men on the bench, with new arrival Mike McCoy doubling as a backup infielder and outfielder.

The off-days come immediately before and after a weekend series against the Boston Red Sox. Farrell has said he would prefer not to force six days’ rest on Romero and Morrow, so sometime in the next few days, he will decide whether another pitcher will skip a start.

Skipping either Kyle Drabek or Drew Hutchison on Saturday would allow Romero to work on his normal four days’ rest on Sunday and Morrow to start Monday after a five-day break.

Drabek has been battling control problems. Hutchison pitched a masterpiece Monday night, but faces a 160-inning limit for the season as a 21-year-old in his third season of pro ball.

Farrell said all such decisions are suspended for the moment.

“We’ll just wait and see how we get through the series and sit down and plan accordingly,” he said.

• Email: jlott@nationalpost.com | Twitter: LottOnBaseball

An Ontario judge this month decreed “a short but sharp jail sentence” was needed to curb his enthusiasm for practising law after being disbarred. But if jail was meant to change his ways, it did not.

“The very thing they want to stop me doing is giving legal advice, so among 32 inmates what do you think happened?” Mr. Fingold told the National Post, emerging from jail displaying derision for the legal machine in which he was once a rising star.

“I gave legal advice to pretty much everyone there. When they hear there’s a lawyer in custody, they all want to know what they should do,” he said, laughing.

“I don’t go by the law society’s rules. I hold the law society in high contempt,” he said. “They protect lawyers, not the public.”

That attitude has made Mr. Fingold the law society’s Public Enemy Number One. And vice versa.

He is not an imposter masquerading as a lawyer, he claims, but rather insists he can use his legal knowledge to help people represent themselves without high lawyer’s fees.

For its part, the Law Society of Upper Canada declined to debate Mr. Fingold’s case outside of court.

“The decision speaks for itself,” said Roy Thomas, the society’s director of communications. “Our mandate is to regulate legal services — both lawyers and paralegals — in the public’s interest.”

Once, Mr. Fingold was a real lawyer.

While being raised in a wealthy Jewish home in Toronto, he was a keen student of the Torah, representing his temple at a knowledge competition in New York City in 1964 and finishing first.

He studied law at York University, was called to the bar in 1977 and was recruited by a prestigious law firm.

“Things were going well. I was on the fast track to success. But … I encountered financial difficulties and I did some unethical things,” he said.

Between 1988 and 1990, he misappropriated $84,000 in client money; another $1,329,500 was borrowed from clients to invest in real estate in which he had an interest, including through a company named, perhaps coyly, Hideaway Holdings, according to court documents.

Courtesy of Lee Fingold

“The solicitor was a mortgage broker and land speculator with clients and other business associates. He improperly appropriated his clients’ funds for his own use,” the law society ruled in 1995. “The solicitor is now bankrupt and there are substantial losses.”

He accepted disbarment, then a criminal conviction for fraud over $5,000 and a year’s jail sentence.

While incarcerated, he went to a Christian service to get free coffee and doughnuts. The singing was terrible yet a piano sat unused. Bored, and a decent pianist, he offered to play hymns to juice the place up.

“Jail was the best thing for me; I met the Lord through that,” he said.

Mr. Fingold converted to Christianity with the enthusiasm of new-found faith. Despite his break with Judaism, his unorthodox views on Christianity removed him from traditional churches, leaving him seen as a heretic by both mainstream faiths.

“I am a rare Jew in the bride of Christ with the end-time message only the elect can receive,” he said, predicting earthquakes will sink California next year. He has written a 500-page book, The ABC’s of God.

Mr. Fingold blends religious fervour with his legal interests. His recent letterhead has a Christian cross and Jewish star next to each other with a footnote declaring: “The world is coming to an abrupt, Scriptural end – would YOU like to get off this doomed planet alive?”

His proselytizing, though, left time for giving legal advice, to the great annoyance of the law society.

In 2001, the society proved he was conducting real estate deals in Newmarket, Ont. A judge ordered him to stop.

The society brought contempt proceedings against him in 2002 for disobeying the order by doing more deals in Peterborough. He was fined $5,000. He fought that, unsuccessfully, to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Another contempt finding against him came in 2005. In 2009, the society pressed 12 counts of violating the Law Society Act, including four for unlawfully providing legal services after he appeared in Small Claims Court. He was fined $20,000.

In 2010, another judge prohibited him from representing himself as being able to practice law. Court documents say that year he was also found guilty of possession of property obtained by crime.

In 2011, Mr. Fingold sent a letter to a lawyer on behalf of a “golfing buddy” who was engaged in litigation. It was on his doomsday letterhead, perhaps flagging it for scrutiny. The lawyer forwarded it to the law society, sparking the latest court action.

The society’s patience was at an end.

Complaining he was “unrepentant and unapologetic,” filled with “arrogance and defiance,” the society sought six months in jail.

Justice Guy DiTomaso agreed with the sentiment but not the sentence, ordering 14 days instead.

“Financial penalties appear to be ineffective as Mr. Fingold simply does not pay fines ordered by the court,” wrote Judge DiTomaso. “A short but sharp jail term is necessary.”

Mr. Fingold was taken straight to jail on May 18. He insists the sentence was unfair.

What he learned, he said, was he needed to be smarter about how he did business.

National Post
ahumphreys@nationalpost.com

August 2000: A seagull is sucked into the engine of a Boeing 747 jet, sending debris onto a crowded Los Angeles beach without injuring any sunbathers. The crew of the 429-passenger plane flew over the Pacific Ocean to dump fuel before an “uneventful” emergency landing back at Los Angeles International Airport with no injuries, reported The Los Angeles Times.

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June 2007: Chunks of blue ice hit the roof of a British home, raining a urine-scented substance down on a couple sitting in their garden. The BBC reported the ice to be human waste from an airplane overhead, though local airport authorities in Leicester couldn’t determine which aircraft was responsible for the leakage. The couple stored the blue ice in their freezer in order to have proof to provide their insurance company. Apparently other instances of damage caused by falling waste have not been covered by insurance.

March 2008: A plane’s passenger window is cracked after a piece of aluminum breaks off from the wing and flutters to the ground over Maryland. The cabin pressure is not affected and no injuries are reported, said CNN.

February 2009: A mysterious chunk of metal crashes through the roof of a New Jersey warehouse. The debris, originally believed to have fallen off a plane, took almost half an hour to cool, ABC News reported. But investigators determined the debris wasn’t from an aircraft or satellite after all. It was catapulted 200 feet into the air by a machine at a local wood-mulching yard.

March 2011: Passengers watch a wheel fall off the plane as their domestic British flight takes off from Exeter airport. Officials said an outer bearing seized and the wheel detached as the landing gear was retracted, the Daily Mail reported. Passengers alerted crew to the malfunction and the plane landed without injuries to the 43 people on board.

National Post

“Quebecers are well aware that we’re a have-not province, and there’s no pride in this,” said Yourri Chassin, an economist with the Institute.

The four page note, released Tuesday, calls for Quebec to ramp up oil, shale and electricity development, while simultaneously calling on Ottawa to grant the province a five to eight year “grace period” before clawing back equalization payments.

“There’s a bit of incentive needed to kickstart this process,” said Mr. Chassin.

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Under the current equalization regime, Quebec stands to lose 50 cents in equalization payments for every dollar it collects in resource revenues. Mr. Chassin argues that the formula is subtly hindering the province’s willingness to approve mines and oil drilling projects.

Quebec is effectively stuck in a “welfare trap,” claims the report, referring to an economic conundrum in which welfare recipients have no incentive to find work, since a minimum wage job would pay just as much.

The issue came up during the Alberta election when Wildrose leader Danielle Smith joked that a “Quebec colleague” told her the province had imposed a moratorium on shale-gas development in order to keep its revenues low and its equalization payments high.

“Grace period” programs were implemented in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador to entice the provinces into developing offshore oilfields without seeing immediate clawbacks in their equalization cheques. Thanks in part to the arrangement, Newfoundland and Labrador became a “have” province in 2008 for the first time in its history.

Nevertheless, Sonya Gulati. a senior economist at TD Bank, suspects that a Newfoundland-style program for Quebec would be a hard sell to the rest of Canada, particularly since Quebec already takes such a large share of federal dollars. Besides, she said, “we’ve already seen a lot of money and interest in development, it doesn’t seem like they’re taking equalization payments into account.”

Quebec has received equalization payments consistently since the program was established in 1957, the only major province to do so.

The aim of equalization, as entrenched in the Canadian constitution, is to “provide reasonably comparable levels of public services at reasonably comparable levels of taxation.” When the rates are calculated, auditors focus on “fiscal capacity,” Quebec’s ability to raise revenues,” and ignores the province’s actual rates of tax revenue – which is among the highest in Canada.
Resource revenues are different, as the money is automatically counted towards fiscal capacity at a ratio of 50%.

In the 2012-2013 fiscal year, equalization payments constituted $7.4 billion of Quebec’s $70.1 billion budget, roughly accounting for 11% of all government spending.

In 2010, a paper by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy advocated scrapping equalization entirely, arguing that it allowed “have not” provinces to fund robust social programs at the expense of “have” provinces. “The evidence presented in this paper strongly suggests that, in many important areas, levels of government services in donor provinces such as Alberta and Ontario are significantly below those that exist in the major recipient provinces,” it read.

The province’s tuition fees, currently the focus of a massive three-month student strike, are the lowest in Canada. Quebec students pay only $8,672 towards a four-year university degree. Quebec taxpayers kick in $39,000 and, all things being equal, the rest of Canada is on the hook for the remaining $5000.

Mr. Chassin remained skeptical that without some form of austerity, energy and mining dollars would be enough to sustain Quebec’s gilded welfare state. “By itself, resources may not be enough to get Quebec totally out of the equalization payments,” said Mr. Chassin. “But it’s a good first step.”

National Post
thopper@nationalpost.com

The investigation was announced Tuesday, shortly after citizen video emerged showing the final moments of Boyd’s life as he crawled on the streets before he was shot and killed by Vancouver police.

B.C. Attorney General Shirley Bond said the Vancouver Police Department agrees with the need for an external investigation and will fully co-operate.

“It is essential that British Columbians have confidence in their police,” Bond said in a media release.

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The B.C. Civil Liberties Association released the video to media this week and called for the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner to reopen the case.

On Monday, deputy police complaints commissioner Rollie Woods said there had been a lengthy and thorough review of everything that transpired the night Boyd died.

“We are saying there was no misconduct,” Woods said of the fatal shooting.

The police complaint office has determined VPD Const. Lee Chipperfield did not use excessive force in the Granville Street shooting of Boyd — a 39-year-old animator diagnosed with bipolar disorder — on Aug. 13, 2007.

In 2009, the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch ruled there was insufficient evidence Chipperfield used excessive force.

Boyd had not taken medication for his bipolar disorder on the night he died.

Police were called to the scene by bystanders reporting an out-of-control man on Granville Street.

According to evidence reviewed by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, an officer seated in a police cruiser was approached by Boyd at the scene, who appeared to be holding a hammer.

A second officer drew his gun and ordered Boyd to drop the hammer and get on the ground.

Boyd complied, but when approached he jumped up and struck the officer several times with a bicycle chain, the commissioner’s office was told. Attempts were made to stop Boyd, but he ran into the street, swinging the chain.

Const. Chipperfield, one of several officers on scene, fired multiple shots from his service pistol, including one fatal shot to Boyd’s head.

There have been several probes into the shooting, including one by the RCMP Office of Investigative Standards to determine the quality of the Vancouver Police Department investigation. The RCMP office submitted an almost 6,000-page report to the Criminal Justice Branch, which determined no charge would be laid.

Following a coroner’s inquest, and after seeking independent expert opinion, police complaints Commissioner Stan Lowe concluded there was no evidence that Chipperfield used unnecessary or excessive force during the tense incident.

Postmedia News

On paper, there’s usually a clear winner and loser. Then, they play for real — with all the emotions and conditions of that particular moment in time. And just often enough, the underdog shreds that paper into tiny little pieces.

Tuesday at the French Open, Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano created such an unforgettable moment with a spine-tingling 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 upset victory over No. 5 seed Serena Williams.

She did it at her home-country Grand Slam, in the biggest tennis cathedral in her country, and against all odds over the player considered a major favourite — if not the top favourite — to win the women’s singles championship.

[np-related]

Razzano did it despite being down 1-5 in the second-set tiebreaker, surely on her way to an honourable but fairly routine defeat. She did it despite suffering from cramps in her legs. She did it despite coming oh, so close to allowing Williams to come all the way back from an 0-5 deficit in the third set. She did it despite failing to convert on her first seven match points in a 24-minute-long final game in which she also saved five break points.

And she did it despite losing points on two occasions when, having screamed out in pain, chair umpire Eva Asderaki judged the scream to be a hindrance and awarded Williams the point.

Yes, that Eva Asderaki, the one in the umpire’s chair for that infamous hindrance call against Williams in the U.S. Open final against Samantha Stosur last September.

“On this last game that was so long, I don’t know how many minutes, (Serena) never gave up. She knew I wasn’t able to run anymore. That is a time when I felt she was really a great champion,” Razzano said. “She was playing with her mind. She was playing with her understanding of the game. I knew I had to really fight until the end.”

This was first time in Williams’ career that she has lost in the first round of a Grand Slam. This is just not something that happens to her.

Even to find a second-round loss, you have to go all the way back to the 1998 Australian Open, where a very young Serena lost to her slightly older sister Venus.

“Well, I just started making a lot of errors. I mean, the whole match, I just didn’t play at all the way I have been practising,” said Serena, surprisingly serene. “I never really felt anything slipping away or anything. I just — I just felt I couldn’t get a ball in play. You know, when I did — I just felt like I was hitting late and, I mean, how can you hit late on a clay court? It was kind of odd.”

As first rounds go, this one posed a few challenges. Ranked No. 16 in the world in September 2009 before injuries and complications from those injuries hit, the 29-year-old Razzano had won four of her last six matches against top-five players.

She had the crowd behind her, a crowd that swelled as the match went on and Court Philippe Chatrier was opened up to fans still around the grounds who didn’t have stadium-court tickets.

Last year at this time, Razzano lost her long-time fiancé and coach Stephane Vidal, who died of a brain tumour only days before the tournament.

That day, a highly emotional day as she had decided to compete in his memory, she lost 6-3, 6-1 in the first round to Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia.

This was the match she probably would have loved to play that day, but there was probably no way she could have.

Razzano said she has mourned and worked hard to, if not turn the page, move on to try to build something new.

Perhaps this was the start of that “something new.” At the same time, it was the end of something that looked to be very special for Williams, who last won the French Open in 2002.

“It shows that you can always push a bit further the limits if you keep believing. I’m not saying it’s easy. But when you are determined, once you want something, you try to get it, and you use every means you have to make it,” Razzano said.

In the bigger picture, the ideal scenario is for a tournament favourite to have this kind of match, but pull it out in the end. Now, there’s a big hole in the draw — a big empty place where all the Serena buzz used to be.

Razzano may get past Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands in the next round; she may also have spent everything she had in those three hours on Court Philippe Chatrier Tuesday evening.

Ultimately, though, the match was everything that is compelling about women’s tennis when it’s played at this level, with these emotions.

The tennis isn’t always great; it certainly wasn’t in this match, with Williams spraying errors everywhere and Razzano, partly because of her physical issues, making quite a few of her own.

But you can’t beat it for compelling drama when it’s like this. And despite all that was happening on the court, the two competitors behaved impeccably.

When it was over, Williams walked over to the other side of the net to offer a sincere handshake to an over-the-moon Razzano.

She even offered one to Asderaki. And she walked off to arguably the best ovation she has ever received in Paris.

When Dutch elm disease decimated tree canopies from the 1940s into the 1980s, the Canadian urban landscape was transformed.

Among the victims were three large trees outside the Guelph, Ont., home of bird enthusiast Philip Gosling, 84. Every May, they had been home to orioles; when the trees were cut, the birds never returned.

University of Guelph handout

“They have been part of our family for dozens of years. Then suddenly, year after year, they weren’t coming back anymore and the trees were dead,” said Mr. Gosling, a retired commercial property developer. “We were very sad and distraught by this. But then, so many other people were. You could see it coming. It was happening throughout the area and there was a sense of hopelessness. What was there for us to do? Everyone was losing their trees. Everyone was losing their orioles.”

So, when he and his wife, Susan, a plant researcher, went looking for a cause to donate to in 2009, they wondered if scientists might be able to create a disease-resistant elm. Armed with their gift of $500,000, Prof. Praveen Saxena at the University of Guelph embarked on a mission to make genetically identical copies of a potentially disease-resistant elm tree on Guelph’s campus. It had survived, even as neighbouring trees did not.

After 18 months of failed attempts, Prof. Saxena and his team – Prof. Alan Sullivan and post-doctoral fellows Mukund Shukla and Maxwell Jones — succeeded in cloning the 100-year-old tree that had survived repeated onslaughts of Dutch elm.

“My first thought was that we are on to something very big, and this will lead to something that we all will be proud of,” said Prof. Saxena.

The American Elm, sometimes known as “the lady of the forest,” was a muse to Sylvia Plath and Robert Frost. Alfred Tennyson called elms “full-foliaged” and “immemorial.” Ancient Germanic tribes believed women descended from elms. The Mistress of Fire in the Mongol Wedding Prayer is also said to have come from elm trees on mountaintops.

Courtesy of Don Cameron

In Nova Scotia, the tree was so beloved that the wood from felled trees was used to make sculptures of local heroes.

“We have been hesitant to re-establish elm because when we did try it in the early days, they eventually succumbed to Dutch elm disease,” said Don Cameron, regional forester with the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources. “So, this gives us great encouragement to think that we can again re-establish this beautiful elm urban forest.”

Alberta and B.C. managed to largely stave off the disease by preventing infected firewood from entering their borders — but even in the west, Prof. Saxena’s work is being watched.

“Albertans are really excited about this sort of research,” said Janet Feddes-Calpas, executive director of the Society to Prevent Dutch Elm Disease in Alberta. “Since the American elm is one of the few species that can survive the extreme Alberta climactic conditions, we welcome any research that can give us hope to be able to plant an elm tree that is resistant to DED.”

Courtesy of Don Cameron

It’s not the first time a potentially Dutch elm-resistant tree has been cloned. Since the disease first came to Canada, many tolerant varieties, grown from cuttings of surviving trees, emerged over the years. However, many of these were only tested in their juvenile years. So, it is not known if they will survive into old age. Some of them still “harbour the fungus and display some reduced symptoms,” said Prof. Saxena.

As well, creating these disease-tolerant varieties is difficult because the cuttings don’t always grow well and the number of cuttings one can get from a surviving tree is limited. Prof. Saxena’s work also eliminates the need for a field in which to grow new varieties. His clones can be taken from the test tube to a pot in about 12 weeks, and then, to a greenhouse or nursery for sale.

Prof. Saxena has now created about 3,000 clones in his lab. They are currently being exposed to various strains of Dutch elm to test their resistance. The new technology is significant because it could also be used to propogate endangered trees. Moreover, other popular species like the maple and ash trees have also suffered from the fatal effects of invasive pests.

“I hope, at some point, we’ll be able to go to a nursery and pick up an American Elm variety of some kind with ease and confidence knowing that we can put it in the ground and that it’s going to be there for generations to come,” said Andrew Williams, urban forestry coordinator for the Town of Truro.

National Post
vkauri@nationalpost.com

Now, Ranford coaches Jonathan Quick.

“Yeah, our conversations are pretty much the same,” smiled the Los Angeles Kings’ goaltending mentor, the 1990 Conn Smythe Trophy winner who suddenly became a sought-after interview subject Tuesday, once reporters gave up trying to squeeze a helpful quote out of the Kings’ 26-year-old goalie.

It was shades of long-ago Maple Leafs coach Floyd Smith’s famous line: “I have nothing to say, and I’m only going to say it once.” Except Quick would rather not say it at all.

“How long do I have to be here?” he asked a National Hockey League media attache when the Kings trooped in for their pre-Stanley Cup final interview session, Quick wearing a ball cap under a hoodie, as if the layers could insulate him from the irritation.

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“Til 2:25,” he was told.

Twenty minutes. Torture.

“This probably eats him up,” Ranford said sympathetically, as Quick did hard time at a podium across the room. “It’s probably the thing he most regrets about coming to the Stanley Cup final.”

Come with me now, to the dentist’s chair . . .

“Uh, well, I don’t to be honest really enjoy this,” Quick said of the Cup spotlight. “When I think of the finals, I don’t think of being here in front of you guys. I think of going to play in a hockey game at the highest level, that’s all I think about.”

What does he admire about New Jersey Devils’ legendary netminder Martin Brodeur, who’ll be looking at him from 180 feet away when the Cup final opens Wednesday night in Newark’s Prudential Center?

“He wins,” said Quick. “He wins.”

Born in Milford, Conn., a couple hours’ drive from Manhattan, surely he has memories of Brodeur growing up.

“A bit, yeah, obviously. I was more of a Ranger fan, but they played a lot against each other, so I saw him a lot growing up. I was rooting against Marty then.”

Just think, though. The guy’s 40 years old, and still going.

“That’s uh . . . unbelievable,” Quick said. “But you know, we step out Wednesday, and anything that’s happened before means nothing. It’s about Game 1 and that’s it.”

No sense of awe or intimidation?

“No. It’s just the L.A. Kings against the Devils, we’re not thinking about individuals. It’s a team effort.”

Probably a lot of friends and family from southern Connecticut driving over to see you in the Cup final?

“There’ll be a couple. I had to cut off some people. Tickets are expensive,” he said.

OK, Mr. Quick. Rinse and spit. The freezing will be out soon. We’re all done here.

Ranford, charged with filling in the gaps, was asked what Quick is like outside the arena.

“To be honest . . . I . . . it’s . . . pretty much what you’re seeing,” said Ranford. “There’s not a whole lot. He comes from a small town, and he’s like a small-town kid living the dream right now.”

Well, nothing wrong with that. Not everybody is Marty Brodeur in the personality department. If all that matters to Quick is stopping the puck, it kind of matters to his teammates, too.

And he’s been doing that splendidly, to the tune of a 1.54 goals-against average and a .946 save percentage, compared to Brodeur’s 2.04 and .923.

“The thing he’s done in the playoffs is make the big saves at the right time,” Ranford said. “And if he’s under-appreciated, oh well. We know in the room what he’s done for us.

“He’s very, very competitive, and all he wants to do is stop the puck. It’s not about stats, he doesn’t care about that, it’s about winning hockey games. He knows when he doesn’t play well, he’s very analytical. And he hates to lose. He takes it personally. I was the same way. It’s a good thing to have.”

Quick wasn’t always so circumspect, Ranford said.

“The first time I met him was at UMass, and he was big man on campus, so he had a little bit of swagger to him,” he said. “You don’t really see that as much any more. He realizes how hard the game is, and he’s probably had a few humbling experiences.

“I’m sure everyone’s heard the stories about the multiple alarm clocks and how much he loves to sleep. One of his first trips up to the American Hockey League he missed a meeting with our assistant goalie coach, and Dean (Lombardi, Kings GM) sent him a nice present of a trip back down to Reading of the East Coast League. So he learned a hard lesson, but . . . yeah, he’s pretty laid-back now. What you see is what you get.”

On the ice, what you get from Quick is a guy who bends like Gumby, and plays so low to the surface, trying for the bottom part of the net is almost a waste of time.

“What I like about him, he’s an athlete,” said Brodeur, who is not your cookie-cutter butterfly goalie, either. “You know, he’s not a goalie that’s going to make saves and not move. The puck’s not just going to hit him. He’s going to go out and compete like crazy, and he’s spectacular to watch.”

In that way, the two are similar.

“Oh, I was never that flexible,” Brodeur said. “And it ain’t getting better at 40.”

“Marty’s a special person,” said Ranford, “and he’s dominated this league for years and he may go down as, if not No. 1, then no worse than a 1B as the best goalie ever to play in this league.”

But if Quick is not intimidated, it’s because, as Ranford says, “he went up against arguably the top goalie duo in the league the last two years in Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider, and then he went up against (statistically) the best goalie in the league this year in Brian Elliott, and then he went up against a guy a lot of people thought should be MVP of the league in Mike Smith, for what he did in Phoenix.

“(Quick) was brilliant in the Vancouver series, and then in the next two, made big saves that I think went unnoticed, at the right times. I mean big saves. Was he tested in the next two series as much as Vancouver tested him? Probably not. I think the bottom line is, he outplayed the other three goalies.

“That’s what the Stanley Cup is: You play head-to-head against the guy across from you, and if you’re better, you have a great chance of winning it.”

Vancouver Sun

The money is there at Gary Goodyear’s open cash window

Ottawa needs all the help it can get on corporate and trade policy, so we can only hope that the business panel announced Tuesday by Trade Minister Ed Fast is up to the challenge. Mr. Fast said the Global Commerce Strategy (GCS) Advisory Panel — including former politicians Perrin Beatty of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and John Manley of the Council of Chief Executives — will act as a “sounding board” and “provide advice with a view to ensuring that the next phase of the GCS maximizes economic opportunities for Canadian workers and businesses.”

OK, panel, let’s get started with a case study on what Canada’s global commerce strategy should not become: frozen pizza.

Few Canadians would think of frozen pizza as a national-champion industry or the focus of a global commercial strategy. But in Ottawa, where Ontario MP Gary Goodyear is Cabinet minister for the industrial pork barrel known as the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, $12-million is going to help a German food giant, Dr. Oetker GmbH, build a frozen-pizza plant to supply the North American market with the company’s Ristorante and Casa de Mama products.

The plant will be built — at a reported cost of $113-million — near London, in southwestern Ontario, a region Mr. Goodyear describes as “Canada’s kitchen” in recognition of the size of the region’s food processing industry. But if it’s Canada’s kitchen, a booming area of processors and food makers, why does a German pizza maker need government handouts — aside from giving Mr. Goodyear another opportunity to issue a press release with himself as the official redistributor of cash from taxpayers to corporate interests?

The Dr. Oetker handout is essentially another in a long list of corporate subsidies that should be heading for the chopping block, not the kitchen counter.

Instead of cutting back on government giveaways to business, the Conservatives are merrily doling out money. Another $6.6-million went out the door on Monday, with Mr. Goodyear again taking credit:

For immediate release

May 28, 2012

Guelph, Ont. • Thanks to help from a government of Canada investment, Hitachi Construction Truck Manufacturing Ltd. will expand its Guelph plant, increasing production capacity and creating 244 new jobs. The announcement was made today by Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).

The implication is that if Hitachi had not received FedDev Ontario money, all $6.6-million worth, the company would not be expanding its truck-making operation. In truth, from trucks to pizza, the FedDev Ontario spending project — budgeted at $212-million this year — is little more than a political slush fund aimed at winning local votes and scoring public relations hits with taxpayer money.

To make pizzas, Dr. Oetker will receive $10-million in what the government calls a “refundable contribution.” No business or financial institution has ever heard of such a concept. Is it a loan? A grant? Yes. A spokesperson for Mr. Goodyear, asked to provide information on the terms and conditions associated with a refundable contribution, said: “Regarding your question on the terms of the contribution, I can tell you that the FedDev Ontario contribution announced for Dr. Oetker is repayable and as such, the principal is required to be paid back by the recipient. Interest is not charged on the contribution.” The question about when or how the contribution is to be paid back was not answered.

In short, then, Ottawa has made an investment of taxpayers money that will produce no return.

The $10-million, cleansed of the need to generate ROI, will be used “to purchase equipment and secure engineering, planning and project management expertise to build its new frozen-pizza manufacturing facility and warehouse.” Another $2-million in repayable contribution, from the AgriProcessing Initiative (API), will “help the company buy food-processing equipment for its new facility. This equipment will include ovens, freezers and machinery for making toppings, preparing dough and packaging.”

Is taxpayers’ money really needed by Dr. Oetker to buy pizza ovens and pepperoni-slicing machines? That’s doubtful if the plant has a sound business plan. More than likely Dr. Oetker GmbH is getting free money because the money is there for the asking at Gary Goodyear’s open cash window.

The federal money, moreover, comes on top of $7-million the same Dr. Oetker plant received last July from the Ontario government in the midst of Premier Dalton McGuinty’s re-election campaign. The subsidy, announced in a burst of election fanfare, was also hailed by Joe Fontana, the Mayor of London, who said he wants to make London “the North American pizza capital.”

This is the kind of thinking the new panel should advise Ottawa to avoid. Even more pertinent, the frozen-pizza saga touches on another topic the new panel is sure to weigh in on: supply management.

On top of the direct help from two levels of government, Dr. Oetker and other makers of frozen pizza get a break on their cheese purchases, long a sore point with the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association. Under a special tariff built around Canada’s supply-management system for dairy products, frozen-pizza makers get to buy cheese below the price paid by restaurant owners.

Not surprisingly, the restaurant association pounced on the Dr. Oetker subsidies as another slap in the face of the restaurant business. Association president Garth Whyte said Ottawa’s “two-tiered pricing system” for pizza cheeses is a major drag on the restaurant industry.

There’s more: Frozen-pizza makers benefit from still another federal tax benefit. “To add insult to injury,” said Mr. White, “frozen-pizza manufacturers get a second break, as their products escape HST at retail stores, which gives them a double price advantage.”

The major claim behind the frozen-pizza industry regime is that jobs are being created. Numbers vary depending on the press release and news story, from 120 direct full-time jobs to up to 500 direct and indirect jobs. But restaurants have jobs too. Is a job flipping frozen-pizza dough at a factory better than a job making fresh pizzas at the corner pizza joint?

Ottawa’s FedDev Ontario program is effectively subsidizing competitive inequities. By favouring one sector or company over another, markets are distorted. The jobs gained in one sector of the economy are carefully tabulated, but the jobs lost in the out-of-the-money sector are never counted.

The new Global Commerce Strategy panel has a lot on its agenda as it looks at Canadian industrial and trade policy. The lessons in the frozen-pizza case study are many. Among them is awareness of the Conservatives’ inane claim to be fierce free traders with an unbending commitment to supply management in farm products.