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Top National Stories

- Coyote being tested for rabies after Oakville girl bitten

- Quebec judge hearing case of accused Rwandan war criminal

- Manitoba father charged with firearm offence after son shot dead by brother

- Toronto constables to be charged in G20 arrest

- Direct Energy quits Toronto for Houston

- Former Toronto mayor, ‘Degrassi’ creator named to Order of Ontario

- How Harper seized control of pipeline and health-care debates

- Minister praises premiers but leaves no wiggle room on health funding

- Sarah Burke’s death leaves a deep scar in the sport of freestyle skiing

- Accused in break-in at mayor’s house says he went to get belongings

- Management has warmed to work stoppages

- The politics of Harper’s medicare decision

- The last thing we need is another foreign policy review

- Lower Mainland shelters crowded in ‘extreme’ weather

- Maleks buy new property listed at $4.9-million

Coyote being tested for rabies after Oakville girl bitten

Kaleigh Rogers

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 1:04PM EST

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The body of a coyote that bit an eight-year-old Oakville girl on Thursday is being tested for rabies, according to the Oakville and Milton Humane Society.

“That’s the basic protocol because it was very unusual behaviour,” Brenda Dushko, spokesperson for the OMHS, said.

Ms. Dushko explained a portion of the adult female coyote’s body has been removed and sent for testing at the Canadian Food Inspections Agency and they are now awaiting results. The humane society has inspected the body, but said the coyote appeared to be in good health.

Police shot and killed the coyote on Thursday after a coyote jumped the fence of a backyard and bit eight-year-old Julia Couto. Though the girl was not seriously injured, she is receiving treatment for rabies.

Ms. Dushko said police aren’t completely sure if the coyote they killed was the one who bit Julia, but it’s likely to be the same animal.

Earlier this week, two small dogs were attacked and killed by coyotes on separate occasions. This time of year is mating season for coyotes, which may explain the recent peak in sightings, Ms. Dushko explained. She said the humane society is asking the public to not leave food or garbage outside their home, as it attracts the animals, and to keep an eye out.

“We’re also recommending to people to be vigilant, to be careful walking their dogs if they have small animals, to be aware and keep them safe,” she said.

“We’re taking it very seriously.”

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 1:04PM EST

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Quebec judge hearing case of accused Rwandan war criminal

Montreal - The Canadian Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:55AM EST

Leon Mugesera is shown in Montreal on Federal Court Monday, January 9, 2012 in Montreal. Rwanda's chief prosecutor says a Quebec court's decision to delay the deportation of a man accused of helping incite genocide is a "stinging insult" to survivors. (Paul Chiasson/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

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Federal lawyers are arguing today that Quebec Superior Court doesn’t have jurisdiction to decide the fate of a Rwandan man who faces deportation.

A Montreal law firm that has taken up Leon Mugesera’s case says Canada is obliged to keep him here while a UN body examines his claims he will be tortured if he’s returned to Rwanda.

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The United Nations Committee Against Torture has requested Canada give it time to examine Mr. Mugesera’s case, a process that could take a few months.

But the federal government is arguing that the UN committee’s request is not binding.

And it says the Federal Court is the only court that can hear immigration cases.

Mr. Mugesera is wanted in Rwanda on charges of inciting genocide and crimes against humanity, stemming from an inflammatory anti-Tutsi speech he gave in 1992.

The speech is considered a key propaganda tool during a 100-day massacre of between 800,000 and one million Rwandans in 1994.

Mr. Mugesera and his supporters say it will be impossible for him to have a fair trial in Rwanda where he is considered an enemy of the current government.

He was originally scheduled to be deported last week, but a last-minute hospitalization and the new legal challenge stalled that attempt.

Mr. Mugesera is currently being held in an immigration detention centre near Montreal after being deemed a flight risk.

A week-long reprieve on the deportation that was granted by Quebec Superior Court ends today.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:53AM EST

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Manitoba father charged with firearm offence after son shot dead by brother

Powerview, Man. - The Canadian Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:50AM EST

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The father of a boy shot dead by his brother has been charged with unsafe storage of a firearm.

RCMP laid charge against the 34-year-old man from Sagkeeng First Nation after the November shooting of his nine-year-old son.

The boy was shot accidentally by his 14-year-old brother at their home, about 145 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

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The young boy was shot once and taken to hospital with upper body injuries, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

The shooting shook the close-knit reserve and prompted a serious discussion about hunting safety.

RCMP say no further charges are anticipated.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:35AM EST

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Toronto constables to be charged in G20 arrest

Tu Thanh Ha and Adrian Morrow

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:51PM EST

Adam Nobody poses in Queen's Park on November 29th, 2010, in the spot where he claims he was chased, arrested and then repeatedly beaten by police on Saturday, June 26th, 2010, during the G20 protests, in Toronto. (Ian Willms for The Globe and Mail)

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Five Toronto constables will face disciplinary charges under the Police Services Act for allegedly using excessive force during the arrest of G20 protester Adam Nobody, a police watchdog has concluded.

The recommendations come from an arm’s-length watchdog agency, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, and were handed to Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, who will have to appoint a prosecutor and an adjudicator to handle the cases.

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The 174-page report by the OIPRD identifies for the first time several of the officers involved in the now infamous arrest of Mr. Nobody on June 26, 2010.

A Toronto police spokesman confirmed that, by law, disciplinary charges would be laid. He said the force would make no further comment, as the case is still open.

“I’m happy that more truth is coming out,” Mr. Nobody said of the report. “It’s a great relief having the officers named and up for review.”

One of those officers whose name is now made public, Constable Michael Adams, was involved two months before the G20 protests in another controversial incident, the arrest of 18-year-old Junior Manon, who died after a struggle while officers tried to arrest him.

In light of Mr. Blair having to withdraw some dismissive comments he once made on radio about Mr. Nobody, “it’s probably appropriate he should appoint a non-police officer as the person to preside over the hearings, preferably a retired judge,” said Mr. Nobody’s lawyer, Paul Copeland, who released a copy of the report with the agreement of his client.

Mr. Copeland asked why Constable Adams was working during the G20 summit, seven weeks after the May 5, 2010, death of Mr. Manon. At the time, the Manon case was still being investigated by the Special Investigations Unit, which only cleared the officers of criminal wrongdoing in January, 2011.

“It seems to me that, while that is going on and until he is cleared, one might consider to not have him interact directly with the public in street,” Mr. Copeland said.

The Manon case is currently before a coroner’s inquest and findings from the OIPRD report may be invoked there. Lawyer Julian Falconer, who represents Mr. Manon’s family, is expected to file a motion at the coroner’s inquest to cross-examine Constable Adams.

“While I don’t represent Mr. Nobody on his police complaint, the Manon family and I are very concerned that there is, on its face, a pattern of conduct on the part of the officer,” Mr. Falconer said.

The OIPRD report says that constables Adams, Babak Andalib-Goortani, David Donaldson, Geoffrey Fardell and Oliver Simpson committed misconduct when they tackled, punched and kneed Mr. Nobody outside the Ontario legislature.

“The conduct of these officers was discreditable as they acted in a manner that would likely bring discredit upon the reputation of the Toronto Police Service,” the report said.

Constable Andalib-Goortani already faces a charge of assault with a weapon in connection with the same incident, following an investigation a year ago by the SIU, which probes cases of death or serious injury.

However, the report said it could not substantiate Mr. Nobody’s complaint that his arrest was unlawful or that four other constables used too much force or abusive language while dealing with him.

Unlike the SIU, which probes cases of death or serious injury, the OIPRD doesn’t have the power to order criminal charges. Instead, it makes reports on such incidents and makes recommendations on more systemic cases of alleged police abuse of power.

The SIU learned the identities of several officers who were involved in Mr. Nobody’s arrest, but could not gather enough evidence to charge them. With the exception of Const. Andalib-Goortani, the SIU did not release the names of any of the officers it investigated in the case.

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An SIU spokeswoman said the agency had just received the OIPRD report from journalists Friday and was still reviewing it to determine whether to re-open the investigation.

A 28-year-old stage builder, Mr. Nobody suffered a broken nose and cheekbone after he was wrestled to the ground by a group of officers on June 26, 2010, at Queen’s Park. Witnesses interviewed by the SIU described police in riot gear moving in a line towards protesters and Mr. Nobody, who was holding a sign, appeared to be singled out and tried to run away but was caught up by officers.

A review of video evidence detailed by the report says that Constable Fardell and Adams punched Mr. Nobody and also kneed him, along with Constable Simpson.

Constable Andalib-Goortani, who arrived after the others, was seen on video winding up his baton to strike the protester.

In a statement he gave the OIPRD, Constable Adams denied kneeing Mr. Nobody but said he punched him with a gloved fist because the complainant tried to bite him.

Constable Simpson said he had trouble grabbing Mr. Nobody’s hands and the knee blows were “a series of distractionary strikes, to get his hands.”

One ranking officer, Sergeant Jeffrey Alderdice, told the OIPRD that they singled out Mr. Nobody because he was agitating the crowd and tried to retrieve a container holding what smelled like a flammable liquid.

Mr. Nobody, however, says he was trying to get back a drinking bottle filled with water and “a little bit of whisky” that police had knocked off his hand.

He also maintains he didn’t taunt police, resist arrest or try to bite the officer’s hand. When he was taken to the ground, he said several officers were restraining and beating him.

“It would be physically impossible for me to [resist],” he said.

The report also cleared two plainclothes police officers whom Mr. Nobody says beat him further behind a parked police van while taunting him and challenging him to a fight.

The report quotes a higher-ranking officer testifying to the police’s lack of preparation for the protests that weekend.

“Intelligence information leading up to the G20 summit was ‘somewhat sparse’ as Toronto was not the original location,” the report said, quoting Toronto police Inspector Gerhard Meissner, who was one of the group commanders for public order.

The OIPRD received about 275 complaints related to the G20.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:38AM EST

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Direct Energy quits Toronto for Houston

Staff

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:40AM EST

Chris Weston, CEO of Direct Energy in Canada. (Peter Power/The Globe and Mail)

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Direct Energy is moving its head office from Toronto to Houston, citing “thriving” and competitive energy markets in Texas and the northeastern United States and the failure of Ontario to open up.

The company, which has been based in Toronto for more than a decade, said it will take a year to 18 months to complete the move. About 500 jobs will be affected, said spokeswoman Hillary Marshall. About 300 of those jobs will be recreated in Texas, and some Canadians will be asked to relocate but “that will be limited.”

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Many of Direct Energy’s operations are already based in Texas, where the company now employs more than 2,000 people.

“The relocation of our corporate head office to Houston will allow us to focus our attention on growth opportunities in the U.S. where competitive energy markets are thriving, particularly in Texas and the U.S. northeast region,” chief executive officer Chris Weston said in a statement.

“Over the last decade, Direct Energy has successfully pursued both acquisitive and organic growth in the U.S., entering more than 20 new markets in the last 12 months, and we will continue this strategy into 2012.”

Ms. Marshall did not mince words in an interview Friday, saying the company has advocated for change in Ontario for a decade.

Direct Energy wants the wholesale market opened fully to competition, and consumers allowed to make a choice, she said.

“The rates are regulated and the market still is utility-dominated,” Ms. Marshall said.

“We've invested over $1-billion in acquisitions over the past 18 months, and that's capital that's going to continue to follow competitive energy markets,” she added.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:16AM EST

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Former Toronto mayor, ‘Degrassi’ creator named to Order of Ontario

Toronto - The Canadian Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:04AM EST

On Sept 17 2010, David Crombie was one of four former Toronto mayors gathered at the Globe and Mail to discuss the upcoming Toronto municipal elections. (Fred Lum / The Globe and Mail)

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A co-creator of the “Degrassi” TV franchise and a three-term Toronto mayor are among 27 people who'll be receiving the province's highest honour.

The Order of Ontario appointees are chosen for their contributions to the arts, law, science, medicine, history, politics, philanthropy and the environment.

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“Degrassi” producer Linda Schuyler, former Toronto mayor David Crombie, politician turned broadcaster John Tory and the other nominees will be invested at a ceremony on Jan. 26.

Lt.-Gov. David Onley says the Order of Ontario recognizes the greatest minds, forward-thinkers, humanitarians, activists and pioneers in the province.

Others being invested next Thursday include Thunder bay volunteer Catherine Colquhoun, Kingston physicist Arthur McDonald and retired Superior Court judge Ray Stortini of Sault Ste. Marie.

The Order of Ontario was created in 1986 and nominations are made by members of the public.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:00AM EST

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How Harper seized control of pipeline and health-care debates

JENNIFER DITCHBURN

OTTAWA - The Canadian Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 1:05PM EST

Prime Minister Stephen Harper holds a photo opportunity in his Parliament Hill office on Jan. 18, 2012. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

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Building a storyline that sticks helped the Conservatives sink two successive Liberal leaders and they are using the same strategy early in 2012 on a pair of major policy debates facing Canadians.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's team has attempted to leap out in front of its opponents and shape the narrative on the hot-button issues of health-care funding and oil pipeline construction.

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When Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver came out guns blazing over “environmental and other radical groups” and foreign interests who he said were trying to hijack the domestic debate, discussion immediately shifted away from the very concerns environmental groups have been voicing.

Critics and stakeholders were left struggling to poke holes in the government's logic – the involvement of Chinese interests in the process, for example – rather than leading the debate themselves.

Jim Armour, a vice-president at Ottawa public relations firm Summa and a former communications director for Mr. Harper, says the government cannily played a Canadian sovereignty card.

“I think by making this about foreign interests, U.S. money, not allowing ourselves to be held hostage by the U.S, the government's been very smart and been able not only to take advantage of an opportunity, but also take advantage of something Canadians are thinking anyway,” Mr. Armour said.

On the issue of federal health-care funding for the provinces, Mr. Harper caught the premiers flat-footed. Without warning or consultation, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced a new formula for health transfers into the future. Then, Mr. Harper really put the premiers on defence as he rejected their baleful, uncoordinated pleas for additional funds.

As they began a first ministers meeting this week, they were left reacting to Mr. Harper rather than setting the agenda for the debate themselves.

“I think it was incredibly well handled. The federal government and Minister Flaherty pretty well took health care off the agenda before any of the health stakeholders or even the provinces got to the table,” Mr. Armour said.

“If it was a bar fight, it was all over before anyone got their coat off.”

Ottawa lobbyist Geoff Norquay, who also once worked for Mr. Harper, agrees.

“[It] completely sidestepped everybody's expected narrative, and everybody's expectations as to how this particular issue would play out, and over many years,” Mr. Norquay said, noting Mr. Harper put the division of provincial-federal powers front and centre in the discussion.

The communications strategy bears some similarity to how the Conservatives handled the more strictly political issue of how to critically maim their opposition opponents.

Former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion was hobbled by the “Not a Leader” ad campaign, and his successor Michael Ignatieff was never able to recover from the “Just Visiting” motto that labelled him an arrogant dilettante.

Those portraits were painted by an ad campaign funded by the formidable Conservative Party war chest before Mr. Dion or Mr. Ignatieff ever had a chance to make their own first impressions on voters.

Mr. Armour says the Conservatives have put three main principles at the centre of their communications strategy: message discipline, acting on insight and opportunity.

The message control has been well documented. The insight comes from properly reading and analyzing the landscape and the players, and the opportunity is the moment that presents itself to act.

Mr. Harper's summit next week with Canada's first-nations leaders will be another big communications challenge for the Conservatives on a complex, sensitive policy issue.

Unlike with the pipeline and health-care funding stories, Mr. Harper was forced to react defensively to the crisis in Attawapiskat after it exploded in the media. The unified message that emerged from government was that it was dealing quickly with financial mismanagement on the reserve.

Human-rights lawyer Paul Champ, who represents some first-nations communities, said that despite some key underlying facts about Attawapiskat, the Tories managed to shape the story about the situation.

“Even those Canadians who don't see themselves as being racist or having racist stereotypes, I think the are definitely susceptible to that frame that first nations mismanage money, or that first-nations bands are irresponsible or are wasting money,” Mr. Champ said.

“I think those are regrettably very deeply rooted stereotypes in Canada. This government played on that.”

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:33AM EST

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Minister praises premiers but leaves no wiggle room on health funding

GLORIA GALLOWAY

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:36AM EST

Health Minister Leonoa Aglukkaq speaks at a Toronto news conference on March 10, 2011. (Peter Power/The Globe and Mail)

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Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq has responded to calls by provincial and territorial leaders to find innovative ways to make health-care work by listing the investments the Conservative government has made in medicare.

In letter sent Thursday to the premiers, Ms. Aglukkaq praises their efforts to work together but holds out no hope Ottawa is willing to contribute more than it has already promised to ensure the sustainability of the public health system.

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Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and Prince Edward Island Premier Robert Ghiz agreed while meeting with other premiers earlier this week to co-chair a working group to draft standards that will ensure innovations are shared between the country’s 13 separate health-care systems. It is an effort that will focus heavily on reducing labour costs.

Ms. Aglukkaq said in her letter that she welcomes the effort to form the Health Care Innovation Working Group and she agrees that more can be done together. She also reiterated her commitment to work with the provinces and territories to address shared priorities.

But she went on to point out that her government invests more than $1-billion in innovation through the Canada Institutes for Health Research, Canada Health Infoway and other programs supporting research and health human resources.

“This is in addition to our recently announced long-term, stable funding arrangement that will see transfers reach $40-billion by the end of the decade,” Ms. Aglukkaq wrote. “This stability and a shared commitment to innovation and accountability provide a solid foundation for our efforts to optimize the results of our health care investments.”

Some of the premiers had hoped to unite behind a call for a health-care innovation fund on top of the transfer payments mentioned by Ms. Aglukkaq in her letter. But Prime Minister Stephen Harper swiftly rejected that appeal on Monday, delivering the message through a television interview that the premiers learned about while they were meeting.

Ms. Aglukkaq writes that she would be pleased to “engage in intergovernmental discussions” with regard to innovation and improved accountability as well as a co-ordinated approach to measuring performance across the country.

But it is clear from her letter that the funding formula unilaterally determined by the federal government has no wiggle room.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 7:59AM EST

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Sarah Burke’s death leaves a deep scar in the sport of freestyle skiing

David Ebner

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:56AM EST

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It was sunny, the sky mostly blue, and warm - upwards of 20 C. July 4, last summer, not a day you expect to go skiing.

But on the Horstman Glacier atop Blackcomb Mountain at Whistler, July 4 was a perfect day to ski.

Among all those with big smiles on the snow in the sun was Sarah Burke, the pioneer of women’s freestyle skiing, four-time winner of gold in the halfpipe at X Games. Burke was on the Horstman, as had been her practice in recent years, not as competitor but as coach, mentor and big sister to hopeful teenagers.

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“What do you feel like doing today?” Burke asked her troupe of teenage girls, standing atop a 22-foot superpipe, much like the one in Utah where Burke fell on Jan. 10.

“Pipe,” one girl voted.

“Halfpipe,” another agreed, “and airbag,” adding a vote for the training ground for new tricks where the landing is softer than hard snow.

Burke then reminded the teens of some important basics, standing strong on skis forward in the knees, a good bend in the knees to exert edge control on the skis, arms out front.

And then they were off, into the pipe, the girls dreaming of pulling tricks like one of their heroes. Among Burke’s many accomplishments was the first 1080 - three 360-degree rotations - landed by a woman in competition.

The Horstman Glacier, for several decades, has hosted summer camps for skiers and snowboards, something of an Olympics incubator. When Sarah first attended at 14, it was not with Olympics dreams. Her friends were going but she ended up on a different week. “I came alone, very scared and very shy,” she told me in an interview in the early afternoon, the snow soupy, the day of training over.

She was a moguls skier, from Midland, Ont., skied at the nearby Horseshoe Valley Ski Club. She made numerous trips to the summer camps out west and, at 17, she showed some of the spunk that eventually made her a pioneer in her sport. Burke eschewed the bumps to sneak over to the halfpipe, a place then not especially welcoming to women, never mind girls. But she was good- and caught the eye of Mike Douglas, a Whistler freeski legend.

Her singular career ascended from there, not only winning competitions but fighting, lobbying, cajoling organizers to take women’s halfpipe skiing seriously and include it at events.

She loved coming back to the Horstman to teach teenagers. Burke had an easy, warm smile, a glow.

“It’s always good to come here and remember why,” Burke told me. “The kids are so excited when they do their first 360.”

Summer days skiing on a glacier are festive.

“It’s so much fun, the atmosphere, the vibe for the kids,” Burke said. Channeling her memory of her summers as a camper: “All the best skiers are in one spot, and you get to ski with them. You don’t get that anywhere else.”

As camp was ending, word had gone around that the International Olympic Committee finally decided to add slopestyle, skiing and snowboarding, to the 2014 games in Russia. Burke’s sport, women’s ski halfpipe, had been given the nod in April, the culmination of her efforts to push the sport.

The Sochi Olympics - she would have been 31- were Burke’s main focus if, she said, “everything goes according to plan.”

Burke’s death cuts a deep scar, from the stretch of Pemberton-Whistler-Squamish-Vancouver in British Columbia, through a whole sport, and through all of Canada. Many Canadians have been affected by her widely reported/broadcast crash, hospital stay and death, and there has been an international outpouring of support online.

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For those who knew her directly, and for those who love adventures in mountains in winter, it is a difficult death. When avalanches kill, it is terrible, but the circumstances are relatively clear. When Shane McConkey died, it was awful but not completely shocking, considering the extent of his extremities - skiing down radically steep faces, jumping off cliffs, then parachuting to the ground. It was amazing, until some equipment malfunctioned in Italy and he died, plummeting from the sky to the ground.

Burke’s crash wasn’t a particularly harsh one but it ruptured a vertebral artery, one of four that supply blood to brain. There was a brain hemorrhage, which caused cardiac arrest, which cut off oxygen to the brain and caused severe and irreversible brain damage. She died Thursday morning. She was 29.

After Burke and I spoke, she pulled some tricks in the pipe for the lens of my colleague, photographer John Lehmann. The story and picture ran Saturday, July 16, the photograph splashed big on the page, the image of Burke flying above the lip of the pipe, a pioneer in her prime, a halo of clouds in the sky.

She was the star of a niche sport. Few people had heard of her before her crash. My story about the summer camps was only the sixth time her name had ever been in The Globe and Mail. It is a testament to the extent of her accomplishments, and her quality as a human being, that her story has resonated so much in the past ten days.

A report released on Tuesday reported that skiing and snowboarding are the most hazardous of winter sports. Some 2,300 people were sent to hospital last winter in Canada with injuries bad enough to require at least a night’s stay. The numbers are double those of hockey, which had about 1,100 hospitalizations, about the same as snowmobiling.

Thankfully, most people on mountains now wear helmets. Of skiers and snowboarders 18 and younger, four out of five wear a helmet, double the rate of a decade ago. And there is a new push to make it mandatory, at least for kids.

Still, there is no absolute safety. And, despite risks, some people love to race down mountains and pull impossible-looking flipping, spinning tricks, because it’s rad, a jolt of joy. The rush is often described by adherents as drug-like, an addiction.

But death lurks. It may be rare, but it lurks, in the halfpipe, in the backcountry, or on any ordinary intermediate-rated run on any ski hill anywhere.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 7:36AM EST

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Accused in break-in at mayor’s house says he went to get belongings

CARYS MILLS

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 3:08AM EST

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford spoke briefly to the media outside of his home after exiting the residence with some police officers. (Peter Power/The Globe and Mail)

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The man accused of threatening the Toronto mayor’s life says he went to Rob Ford’s home early last Wednesday only to ask for help getting some belongings, including a television, back from his ex-girlfriend, Mr. Ford’s sister.

Scott MacIntyre said in an interview at the Toronto detention centre where he is being held that he received a call from someone saying that Kathy Ford was selling his stuff. He had been living with Ms. Ford, but moved out when they broke up a couple of weeks ago, he said.

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“I just wanted my stuff,” Mr. MacIntyre said Thursday. “I want nothing to do with these people.”

But Ms. Ford called Mr. MacIntyre’s version of events “absolutely not true.” She said he didn’t have many belongings in the first place, that what they shared for years during their volatile relationship was hers. “It was my home. ... I took care of him, that’s the bottom line,” she said.

Police were called to the mayor’s home last week by a neighbour who said there was a suspicious vehicle outside.

In front of his home, speaking to reporters hours later, Mr. Ford declined to say whether he knew the man who allegedly tried to force his way in. Before Mr. MacIntyre’s identity was known, the mayor described him as an “unwelcome visitor” who “took off.”

On Thursday, the mayor’s office declined to comment on the nature of Mr. MacIntyre’s visit or why the mayor didn’t immediately explain to the public that he knew the 45-year-old alleged intruder.

“The issue ... was handled by the appropriate people, which was the Toronto police,” said Sunny Petrujkic, the mayor’s interim spokesman. “It was a breach in security at the mayor’s house and that’s the end.”

Mr. MacIntyre has been charged with two counts of uttering death threats, and one count each of forcible entry, possession of heroin and possession of cocaine.

It isn’t the first time he’s been in trouble.

He pleaded guilty in the United Kingdom to trafficking cocaine in 1992 and served two years in an English jail. It wasn’t long before he was back in front of a judge. In 1999, he pleaded guilty after a police sting uncovered his role in a plot to traffic more than 50 pounds of hashish.

In 2005, he found himself back in police custody after Ms. Ford was shot in the face at her parents’ home in Etobicoke, where the mayor hosts his annual summer barbecue.

She was rushed to hospital. Mr. MacIntyre and another man were arrested shortly after and charged with a variety of gun offences plus the theft of Ms. Ford’s mother’s Jaguar. All of the charges against Mr. MacIntyre were later withdrawn by the Crown’s office. The other man was convicted of possession of a handgun.

Ms. Ford, who has had a long struggle with drug addiction, was back with Mr. MacIntyre three years after she was shot at her parents’ home.

In 2008, the couple were arrested in Vaughan and accused of stealing licence plates, as well as possessing stolen baby formula, razor blades and tools for the purpose of executing break-ins. All charges against Mr. MacIntyre were withdrawn. Ms. Ford was sentenced to 15 days in jail after she pleaded guilty to stealing the licence plates and possessing the stolen baby formula.

Mr. MacIntyre said Thursday that in recent years he’d been getting his life back on track and had been working.

About two weeks ago, he said, he began staying in a Toronto-area hotel after he and Ms. Ford split.

With reports from Greg McArthur, Patrick White and Shannon Kari

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 3:00AM EST

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Management has warmed to work stoppages

JIM STANFORD

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 4:01PM EST

Canadian Auto Workers economist Jim Stanford.

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Business lobbyists used to express grave concern about the economic impact of strikes. Those concerns were always overstated; time lost in work stoppages has declined by 90 per cent from the 1970s. Nevertheless, companies traditionally complain that work stoppages damage sales, productivity and, of course, profits.

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Recently, however, business leaders have warmed to work stoppages. In the current bargaining environment, companies (especially multinational firms) hold the best cards. And executives are increasingly willing to precipitate their own work stoppages – through management lockouts – to enforce demands for lower wages and benefits.

Two New Year’s Day lockouts highlighted this strategy. U.S.-based Caterpillar Inc. locked out 450 locomotive builders in London, Ont., demanding wage cuts of more than 50 per cent. The same day, Rio Tinto, the U.K.-based mining giant, locked out 755 smelter workers in Alma, Que. That company’s demand to outsource all future bargaining-unit openings would ultimately achieve an even larger reduction in wages. In both cases, the future of middle-class incomes in our manufacturing and resource sectors is at stake. And in both cases, executives are willing to lock the doors until workers swallow their pill.

These are just the latest in a growing trend by employers to lock out their own workers. U.S. Steel used a 50-week lockout to dismantle the defined benefit pension plan for workers in Hamilton. Canada Post played the lockout card to precipitate back-to-work legislation from an obliging Harper government. And the City of Toronto is contemplating a lockout of thousands of civic employees to wrest concessions from the union.

Suddenly, business rhetoric about the costs of long work stoppages has been silenced. In the eyes of many employers, work stoppages – even long ones – are a small price to pay for driving down labour costs and boosting profit margins.

The popularity of lockouts reflects the dramatic tilting of the labour relations playing field in recent years. With unions on the defensive, management is eager to go for the jugular. Government has stood back or, worse, egged on the lockouts (as Ottawa did with Canada Post). Multinational firms are especially aggressive, given their ability (underwritten by free-trade agreements) to shift production and capital seamlessly between jurisdictions.

This trend is troubling, for macroeconomic as well as ethical reasons. As employers ratchet down compensation, income shifts from consumers (who spend every penny) to corporations (which sit on a growing pile of uninvested cash). That undermines aggregate spending and weakens the recovery. And the more employers succeed in driving down wages, the greater the danger of setting off a cycle of deflation in wages and prices (such as the one that bedevilled Japan for a decade).

So how should politicians respond to employers ready to lock out workers to slash compensation? Pushing the companies to treat Canadian workers fairly would be a start, rather than ratifying their actions with regulatory approvals, tax cuts and silence.

Labour law reforms could also play a role. Manitoba, for example, implemented an innovative provision in 2000 giving its labour board the authority to intervene in long disputes, including imposing arbitration when there’s an impasse. It’s been rarely invoked but has helped prevent all-out industrial warfare of the sort we’re seeing at Caterpillar and Rio Tinto. This would be a good time for other jurisdictions to consider similar legislation.

Jim Stanford is an economist with the Canadian Auto Workers, which represents the locked-out workers at the Caterpillar plant in London.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 2:00AM EST

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The politics of Harper’s medicare decision

JEFFREY SIMPSON

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:44AM EST

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A decade before medicare, the federal government financially supported hospitals across Canada; that came in 1957 under John Diefenbaker’s government. Ottawa used its spending power to bring in medicare in the late 1960s, negotiating conditions with the provinces for the money.

The 1984 Canada Health Act outlined five medicare principles that provinces had to respect; failure to do so could result in Ottawa’s withholding money. The prospect of losing federal money (and flying in the face of public opposition) enjoined provinces to end extra-billing by doctors and user fees for services.

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In recent decades, Ottawa always tried to tie some of its health-care money to certain objectives, usually with only fitful success. The last major money-tying effort came under the Paul Martin government, whose $41-billion in transfers over 10 years, indexed at 6 per cent annually, had a welter of federal-provincial commitments. When Stephen Harper was campaigning for the first time, he proposed a Patient Wait Times Guarantee linked to federal money.

Now, however, Mr. Harper is going to give money to the provinces (they got federal tax points for health care a long time ago, a transfer they never mention) without any strings, conditions or demands. It’ll be the first time since medicare began that a federal government has handed money over carte blanche.

Broadly speaking, two reasons explain his decision – one theoretical, one political.

Mr. Harper believes, when it suits his purposes, in a kind of classical federalism wherein the two levels of government more or less stay out of each other’s jurisdiction. He thinks Liberal governments abused Ottawa’s constitutional “spending power” to intrude into provincial jurisdiction, especially in social policy such as health care and daycare. Conservatives would rather use the federal tax system, or unconditional grants to the provinces, thereby respecting classical federalism.

The politics of his decision have been almost completely ignored, but they’re important for those who think about political angles all the time.

Health care is a political hornet’s nest. Governments can never spend enough money to satisfy those who want more health care in the form of more doctors and nurses, equipment, hospitals, community care, drug plans, research and so on. The less Ottawa has to do with health care, the easier the politics. Moreover, Conservatives have issues they think they own (crime, the economy, defence) and issues owned by others (health care, the environment) on which they essentially play defence. In these areas, they do enough to protect themselves but expend no political capital trying to persuade people to their point of view.

By offering health-care increases of 6 per cent for five years to the provinces, Mr. Harper has provided himself with a strong defence. He can say right through the next election that his government is spending at exactly the pace of the Paul Martin government. Who can complain about that?

The anticipated drop in indexing from 6 per cent to 4 per cent or 5 per cent thereafter won’t figure in the next election, since the decline is hardly momentous. Put simply, Mr. Harper is trying – and he’s likely to succeed – to take health care off the federal political agenda for the next four years, or at least give himself a plausible line of defence should it unexpectedly arrive.

Mr. Harper’s view of federalism has a flip side: a stronger federal role shaping the national economy. This necessary imperative underpinned his government’s attempt to create a national securities commission of the kind other industrialized countries use.

Provinces, except Ontario, rose up against the idea. Their Little Canada view of such matters hardly surprised anyone. They preferred the defence of their jurisdiction above the good of the national economy. The Supreme Court, made up of lawyers, looked at the issue after a federal reference as one of jurisdiction rather than the functioning of the national economy, and agreed with the Little Canadians.

In the space of a few weeks, then, Canada got a political decision from Ottawa to abandon all attempts to influence the country’s most important social program, and a judicial decision to abandon an effort to improve the functioning of its internal economy.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 2:00AM EST

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The last thing we need is another foreign policy review

DEREK BURNEY and FEN OSLER HAMPSON

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:26AM EST

Prime Minister Stephen Harper waits to greet foreign leaders at the G8 summit in Huntsville, Ont., on June 25, 2010. (REUTERS)

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Canada’s foreign policy is being subjected to yet another “review,” and an announcement of this government’s priorities may be imminent. Nothing has been reviewed so relentlessly over the years with so little in the way of revelation, impact, direction or useful purpose as this country’s foreign policy. To some extent, it betrays a reluctance to accept the reality of what we are and where we are. At the very least, the government should make a virtue of simplicity and precision, offering a clear-headed view of what our priorities need to be and why, while avoiding “feel good” nostrums about how we’d like others to see us.

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The cornerstone of our foreign policy must be the management of relations with the United States, not for reasons of sentiment but because that’s how we preserve our most vital economic and security interests and our capacity for global influence. When we get this part of the equation right, our relevance and influence on global issues increases accordingly. When we don’t, our influence and relevance wanes.

We’re an Arctic and a Western Hemisphere nation, and our foreign policy priorities should anchor these dimensions as well, especially since the economic potential of both is likely to increase in the decades ahead.

The dramatic shift in economic power to rising stars such as China, India, South Korea and Brazil should also dictate a change of focus for Canada, especially since trade is a major component of foreign policy and many of these countries need commodities, which are pivotal to Canada’s growth prospects.

What needs to be recognized, however, is that conventional rules for trade and investment don’t apply as much to those emerging markets whose production and investment fall largely under government control. Canada would benefit more from a strategy that leverages our resource base as the means to secure better access for our exporters and investors in markets currently enjoying high rates of growth.

Maintaining an effective, agile military capacity will ensure that Canada can continue to play a selective role on behalf of the United Nations or NATO in combatting threats to global peace. But we shouldn’t pretend to be a universal donor. Future involvement should be calibrated against judicious assessments of our capacity and our interests, and not a Boy Scout inclination to be helpful fixers everywhere.

The hard lesson from Afghanistan and Iraq is that military options have limited long-term effect. “Muscular diplomacy,” the use of sanctions, and carrot and stick negotiations offer a needed complementary role and should be given greater emphasis.

The Middle East is a quagmire where the earnestness of Canada’s desire to be involved exceeds any rational analysis of our direct interests or our capacity for influence. But the same can’t be said for our relations with Turkey and Persian Gulf states such as Qatar that are playing constructive regional roles and with whom our ties need strengthening.

Nuclear non-proliferation is an issue on which Canada has real expertise. As the major flashpoints for global insecurity are likely to come from unstable nuclear powers such as Pakistan and North Korea or wannabes such as Iran, Canada should bolster its efforts with allies to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

Development assistance is also an instrument of foreign policy, but more analysis is needed for what works and what doesn’t. Rather than identifying priority sectors or countries for concentration, we need to target contributions in ways that underscore Canadian strengths and make a demonstrable difference to those in need.

Attention must always be given to fundamental principles of our political system – democracy and human rights, gender equality, religious freedom etc. – but these are best espoused by the model we present at home and by collaboration with those whose values we share.

G8 and G20 summits are the pinnacle of Canada’s global involvement. Our solid financial and economic record gives us credentials better than most to articulate and influence action contributing to stability and growth. As our economy continues to grow, while those in Europe sputter, our voice and our influence should increase accordingly. And less emphasis should be given to summits of marginal value, such as the Commonwealth and Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation.

Canada has indulged in more foreign policy reviews than any country of comparable size. More navel-gazing may simply magnify particles of lint. Ultimately, the effect of Canada’s role in the world will be determined more by what we do than what we say we should do.

Derek Burney, senior strategic adviser for Norton Rose Canada LLP, is a former Canadian ambassador to Washington. Fen Osler Hampson is Chancellor’s Professor and director of the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 2:00AM EST

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Lower Mainland shelters crowded in ‘extreme’ weather

STEPHANIE LAW

VANCOUVER - Globe and Mail Update

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:52AM EST

A man is blanketed with snow in downtown Victoria, B.C., on Jan. 18, 2012. (Chad Hipolito for The Globe and Mail)

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Not a single homeless person looking for shelter from record-low temperatures on the streets of Lower Mainland has been turned away the past few days, according to the Greater Vancouver Shelter Strategy.

Treacherous conditions on the streets have forced more people into shelters, and in Vancouver, the 1,150 shelter spaces available on a year-round basis have been filling up quickly every night. But temporary shelter spaces have opened up to absorb the overflow.

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The First United Church, which operates one of the city’s largest shelters with approximately 200 beds, has diverted more than 20 people between Monday and Wednesday to emergency shelters.

“We have been having to turn some people away,” said Stephen Gray, the church’s acting co-executive director. “But fortunately, because of the emergency shelter response being open during this cold spell, we’ve been able to find other shelters that can accommodate them if they’ve come to our doors.”

Mr. Gray said that the overnight manager at the shelter has found over the past few nights that “the streets are quiet and people are finding their way out of the cold.”

Environment Canada issued a winter storm warning for B.C.’s south coast Wednesday that covered areas including Vancouver Island, Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Overnight, a storm moved into the southern part of the province. The storm is estimated to generate between 2 to 15 centimetres along the coast, and up to 10 millimetres of freezing rain throughout Friday.

The emergency shelter response is run by the Greater Vancouver Shelter Strategy under the extreme weather response program. The program funds temporary extra shelter spaces where people can use a mat and stay warm for the night in church basements and community centres. There are 240 of these temporary shelter spaces in Vancouver available.

Irene Jaakson, co-ordinator for Vancouver’s extreme weather response program, said the past few days have more than surpassed the criteria for extreme weather.

So far, the program has not had to turn anyone away. “I’m fairly optimistic that we won’t have to turn anyone away moving forward,” Ms. Jaakson said.

Since the temporary shelters opened in November last year, they’ve served more than 500 shelter-seekers in Vancouver.

“I think any number of people who has to sleep outside under these conditions is too many,” she said. “Truly, this is just an emergency measure, the only way to deal with this issue of homeless is to expand the range of housing options that people have access to.”

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 10:59PM EST

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Maleks buy new property listed at $4.9-million

FRANCES BULA

VANCOUVER

From Friday's Globe and Mail

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 11:09PM EST

A cyclist rides through the Millennium Water development which was the athletes' village during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday Oct. 7, 2010. (DARRYL DYCK/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

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The Malek brothers made a place in history in Vancouver after their Olympic village development ran head-on into a financial crisis during the world economic meltdown, which forced the city first to bail them out, then take over their near-$1-billion loan.

Just over a year ago, the village was placed into receivership. In the early days of the development deal, the Maleks had pledged every asset associated with their company, Millennium Development, as security. The city, trying to minimize what some fear could be a $200-million loss on the village, seized every asset that it could find from the company.

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The Globe has learned Peter and Shahram Malek, through new companies incorporated last fall, have bought a major piece of property on East Hastings for $4.9-million, an area that is mostly zoned industrial, but has seen some gentrification lately.

The property, a former Morrey Mazda car lot near the recently renovated Waldorf Hotel, was listed by the real estate firm Avison Young for $5.9-million.

Some developers have previously looked at it and decided to take a pass because they were not sure they could get the necessary rezoning for the land, which is classified as mixed commercial and industrial.

According to corporate-registry documents, the Maleks created two new companies, WH Commercial Corp. and Woodland Hastings Development Corp., in October and November.

Those companies are listed as co-owners of the property bought on Dec. 12.

Land-title documents list their mortgages as being held by the Royal Bank and Realtech Capital Group, a well-established company in Vancouver that promotes itself as one that “specializes in the financing of multi-family apartment buildings.”

The city’s planning office has received a preliminary inquiry about the property, but nothing official.

Shahram Malek declined to comment on the purchase or the companies’ plans for the property.

Sources say senior city officials found news of the purchase disturbing. They plan to review it carefully to see if there is any sign that the Maleks did not comply with their agreement to turn over all of the assets they had pledged as security for the city’s Olympic-village loan.

In April, the city announced it had taken over 32 properties owned by the Maleks, with a net value of $45-million.

That was far less than city officials had been told over the previous three years that the Maleks’ pledged assets were worth when they were used to guarantee city loans.

In spite of that financial mess, an experienced development consultant in the city said it is good news that the Maleks are back on their feet.

Gordon Harris, president of the Simon Fraser University Community Trust developing the UniverCity residential area on Burnaby Mountain, said the Maleks have developed many exceptional projects throughout the Lower Mainland, including at SFU.

“Because one project didn’t go well, the Olympic village, we shouldn’t condemn them or banish them. They do very good-quality work and they should be allowed to continue with what they do well.”

The area near the Hastings and Clark intersection where the Maleks have bought land, once mostly industrial and run down, has been showing signs of new development life recently.

The developer PCI Group has bought the old Canadian Tire store on the next block from the Maleks’ site and is planning a commercial development with a small amount of residential.

Wall Financial, which builds mostly condos, has bought a property on the north side where the zoning allows some residential.

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 10:43PM EST

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Business

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CP’s Green promises results to ward off Ackman

JACQUIE McNISH and BRENT JANG

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:55AM EST

Fred Green president and chief executive of Canadian Pacific Railway. (TODD KOROL/REUTERS)

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Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. chief executive officer Fred Green said the company is accelerating its strategic overhaul and expects to sharply improve the freight carrier's operating performance within three years.

In a letter to employees Friday, Mr. Green said the company’s board met recently with a number of its shareholders to reassure them that it is “holding all employees accountable” to deliver on a plan to bring the Calgary-based railway’s operating performance in line with its peers.

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CP ranks as the least efficient of North America’s Big Six railways with operating costs equalling 82.4 per cent of its revenue in the first nine months of 2011. Mr. Green said in his letter that “we have the right plan in place to achieve an operating ratio in the low 70s in the next three years, with further benefits to be realized in 2015 and beyond.”

New York activist Bill Ackman and his hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management LP have launched a proxy contest to elect a minority of new directors at CP and replace Mr. Green with Hunter Harrison, the former CEO of Canadian National Railway Co., the industry’s most efficient freight carrier.

Mr. Green said “contrary to what Pershing Square has stated,” it is not possible for the CP to lower its operating ratio to 65 per cent by 2015.

“This pace of improvement, from this starting point, has never been achieved by any railway management team. In fact, it took Hunter Harrison seven years to lower CN’s OR from 75 to 65 during a strong economic period and one in which CN significantly grew revenues through acquisitions,” he said.

Mr. Green said his views have been endorsed by Ed Harris, a former top CN executive who joined CP’s board of directors last month.

In a testimonial contained in Mr. Green’s letter, Mr. Harris said Montreal-based CN has “twice the proportion of sidings and double track,” while “CP has to contend with greater geographic challenges” because of steeper grades through the Rockies.

Sidings, which are sections of track located to the side of main rail lines, give workers more flexibility to repositioning trains quickly.

Mr. Green said CP’s customers have been receptive to the railway’s efficiency plans. “These productive relationships are key drivers of our company’s growth, as demonstrated by the progress we have achieved in our grain, coal, potash, crude oil and merchandise businesses,” he wrote.

His letter also carried testimonials from Jim Prokopanko, CEO at potash producer and marketer Mosaic Co., and Don Lindsay, CEO at coal miner Teck Resources Ltd.

“As CP’s largest customer, we’ve been pleased with their dedication to ensuring that we get the rail service we need and their deep understanding of our current and long-term needs,” Mr. Lindsay said.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:23AM EST

Companies mentioned in this article ( 1)

Company Price Change Volume

Canadian Pacific Railway

CP-T 71.37 -1.23

-1.69% 328,485

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Mega Brands drops Lego suit

BERTRAND MAROTTE

Montreal - Globe and Mail Update

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:25AM EST

A photo illustration of Lego vs. Mega Blok photographed in the studio at the Globe and Mail in Toronto. (Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)

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Canadian toymaker Mega Brands Inc. has withdrawn its lawsuit in a California court alleging that Danish rival Lego AS was using trademark laws in the U.S. to protect its famous mini-bricks from competition.

Montreal-based Mega Brands said Friday it has reached a “satisfactory conclusion to legal matters” and pulled its legal action against Lego in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California.

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Mega Brands said its decision came after it received formal assurances from U.S. authorities that there will be no interference with the importation of any Mega Brands products into the U.S.

One week ago, Mega Brands filed its suit, seeking to invalidate Lego’s 1999 functional U.S. trademark, after the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency advised it that it could be subject to restrictions on the importation of some of its products.

Mega Brands alleged in the suit that its exports to the U.S. are crucial to its business and that customers – including giant Toys-R-Us – were warned this month that some Mega Brands products could be held by U.S. Customers “because of a complaint by Lego.”

Mega Brands had been seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in order to ensure its products sold in the U.S. are not affected by Lego’s trademark claims.

Lego’s patents to the iconic eight-studded plastic construction block expired more than 20 years ago, with courts in several countries striking down its claims that the construction toy is protected and that no one can make interlocking bricks using the same pattern.

Privately held Lego has been fighting off a commercial challenge from Mega Brands and other construction-toy makers in the building-block sector for years.

It lost its patent protection in 1978 but has continued to assert its legal rights using trademark and other laws.

In September 2010, the European Court of Justice said Lego cannot use trademarks to protect the shape of its colorful blocks.

The two rows of studs on the top of the bricks serve a “technical function” and thus cannot be trademarked, the court ruled.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:59AM EST

Companies mentioned in this article ( 1)

Company Price Change Volume

MEGA Brands

MB-T 8.35 0.50

6.37% 17,902

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Connacher hires Goldman to review strategic options

CALGARY - The Canadian Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:55AM EST

Richard Gusella resigned recently as president and CEO of Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd. (Chris Bolin/for The Globe and Mail)

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Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd. announced Friday that U.S. investment banker Goldman Sachs has been hired to help the company explore its strategic options.

The move by the Calgary oil sands developer comes in the wake of the abrupt departures in recent weeks of many of Connacher’s top executives, including CEO Dick Gusella just over a week ago.

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Those changes came less than a month after the firm rejected an unsolicited takeover offer from an unnamed company.

Some of Connacher’s biggest shareholders had urged the sale, but Mr. Gusella was against it and there has been speculation the earlier management shake-up was the result of a disagreement over the sale.

Meanwhile, Connacher says it continues to experience strong financial results and has sufficient liquidity to meet all of its current financial obligations and to fund its 2012 capital program.

However, it says the board has initiated a process to review Connacher’s business plan and to consider all strategies available, both near and long term.

As far as the strategic review is concerned, the company said it does not intend to make any further announcements until the board has approved “a particular course of action or otherwise deems disclosure of developments is appropriate.”

“In the meantime, the company would like to reassure shareholders and other stakeholders that the company’s day-to-day operations are stable with no compromise in operating activities,” it said.

Connacher’s primary asset is its 100 per cent ownership of bitumen reserves and production from two steam-assisted gravity drainage, or SAGD, projects – Pod One and Algar, at its Great Divide oil sands lease block in northeastern Alberta.

Connacher also owns and operates a profitable 9,500 barrels per day heavy crude oil refinery in Great Falls, Mont., and conventional lands, reserves and production in central Alberta.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:48AM EST

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Soft CPI data silence roars of the inflationistas

KEVIN CARMICHAEL

WASHINGTON - Globe and Mail Blog

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:49AM EST

An Atwater Market bakery in Montreal. The rise in food prices abated as 2011 came to an end. (Christinne Muschi/The Globe and Mail)

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The year 2011 was marked by loud shouting on the part of inflationistas over how loose monetary policy was destined to stoke a spike in prices. That shouting should continue this year because that destiny has yet to arrive.

Canadian headline inflation plunged in December, to an annual rate of 2.3 per cent in December from 2.9 per cent in November. The drop was the result of significantly lower prices for gasoline and automobiles, Statistics Canada said in its monthly report Friday. The acceleration in the price of food also slowed at the end of 2011, to an annual increase of 4.4 per cent from 4.8 per cent in November.

- Annual inflation falls sharply to 2.3%

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- Photo Gallery Food prices help pace drop in inflation

Inflation pressures also eased at the year in the United States, the Labor Department said Thursday. Combined, the reports are vindication for the Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve. As consumer prices rose through the middle of 2011, central bankers said the increase would be transitory, as it was rooted in a temporary jump in commodity prices. Things could change, but the initial data argues in the central banks’ favour.

Central bankers are confident that inflation will remain muted because there isn’t enough consumer demand to bid prices higher. Producers and retailers might like to charge more for their products to absorb higher input costs, and some have marked up prices. But there’s a limit to that in an economy marked by elevated unemployment and stagnant wages.

In Canada, the price of passenger vehicles dropped 0.2 per cent in December on an annual basis after jumping 1.8 per cent the month before. Clothing costs plunged 4.3 per cent, reflecting holiday discounting that was steeper than typical.

Declines of this magnitude might cause worry of deflation at first glance. Adjusted for seasonal factors, the plunge is less severe. Seasonally adjusted, the drop in clothing was 0.1 per cent. The headline consumer price index dropped 0.2 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis.

However, the overarching storyline remains the same: the only pressure on the Fed and the Bank of Canada is coming from the hecklers in the audience. Perhaps someday the inflationistas will be proven correct, but for now, the data just isn’t on their side.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:04AM EST

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U.S. postpones vote on anti-piracy law

Jim ABrams

Washington - The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:04PM EST

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Yielding to strong opposition from the high tech community, Senate and House leaders said Friday they will put off further action on legislation to combat online piracy.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he was postponing a test vote set for Tuesday “in light of recent events.” Those events included a petition drive by Google that attracted more than 7 million participants and a one-day blackout by the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

- Facing online protest, U.S. lawmakers retreat on piracy bills

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House Judiciary Committee chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, quickly followed suit, saying consideration of a similar House bill would be postponed “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”

The Senate's Protect Intellectual Property Act and the House's Stop Online Piracy Act have strong support from the entertainment industry and other businesses that lose billions of dollars annually to intellectual property theft and online sales of counterfeit products. But they also have strong opposition from Internet-related companies that argue the bill would lead to over-regulation and censorship of the Internet.

Mr. Reid has also seen at least a half-dozen senators who sponsored the bill announce they now oppose it.

Mr. Reid said counterfeiting and piracy cost the American economy billions of dollars every year and “there is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved.” He said he was optimistic about reaching a compromise in the coming weeks.

The main Senate sponsor, Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he respected Mr. Reid's decision to postpone the vote but lamented the Senate's unwillingness to debate the bill.

“The day will come when the senators who forced this move will look back and realize they made a knee-jerk reaction to a monumental problem,” he said. Criminals in China, Russia and other countries “who do nothing but peddle in counterfeit products and stolen American content are smugly watching how the United States Senate decided” it was not worth debating the bill.

The two bills would allow the Justice Department, and copyright holders, to seek court orders against foreign websites accused of copyright infringement. They would bar online advertising networks and payment facilitators such as credit card companies from doing business with an alleged violator. They also would forbid search engines from linking to such sites.

The Tuesday vote was on whether to move the legislation to the Senate floor for debate. With the recent desertions and a statement Thursday by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell that it is too early to consider the bill, it appeared supporters lacked the 60 votes needed to advance the measure.

Mr. McConnell on Friday applauded Reid's decision, saying it would “prevent a counterproductive rush toward flawed legislation.”

In the House, Mr. Smith said he had “heard from the critics” and resolved that it was “clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.” Mr. Smith had planned on holding further committee votes on his bill next month.

The bill's opponents were relieved it was put on hold.

Markham Erickson, executive director of NetCoalition, commended Congress for “recognizing the serious collateral damage this bill could inflict on the Internet.”

The group represents Internet and technology companies including Google, Yahoo! and Amazon.com. Erickson said they would work with Congress “to address the problem of piracy without compromising innovation and free expression.”

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who has joined Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in proposing an alternative anti-piracy bill, credited opponents with forcing lawmakers “to back away from an effort to ram through controversial legislation.”

But the CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, former Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd, warned that, “as a consequence of failing to act, there will continue to be a safe haven for foreign thieves.” The MPAA, which represents such companies as Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., is a leading advocate for the anti-piracy legislation.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:03AM EST

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Direct Energy quits Toronto for Houston

Staff

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:40AM EST

Chris Weston, CEO of Direct Energy in Canada. (Peter Power/The Globe and Mail)

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Direct Energy is moving its head office from Toronto to Houston, citing “thriving” and competitive energy markets in Texas and the northeastern United States and the failure of Ontario to open up.

The company, which has been based in Toronto for more than a decade, said it will take a year to 18 months to complete the move. About 500 jobs will be affected, said spokeswoman Hillary Marshall. About 300 of those jobs will be recreated in Texas, and some Canadians will be asked to relocate but “that will be limited.”

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Many of Direct Energy’s operations are already based in Texas, where the company now employs more than 2,000 people.

“The relocation of our corporate head office to Houston will allow us to focus our attention on growth opportunities in the U.S. where competitive energy markets are thriving, particularly in Texas and the U.S. northeast region,” chief executive officer Chris Weston said in a statement.

“Over the last decade, Direct Energy has successfully pursued both acquisitive and organic growth in the U.S., entering more than 20 new markets in the last 12 months, and we will continue this strategy into 2012.”

Ms. Marshall did not mince words in an interview Friday, saying the company has advocated for change in Ontario for a decade.

Direct Energy wants the wholesale market opened fully to competition, and consumers allowed to make a choice, she said.

“The rates are regulated and the market still is utility-dominated,” Ms. Marshall said.

“We've invested over $1-billion in acquisitions over the past 18 months, and that's capital that's going to continue to follow competitive energy markets,” she added.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:16AM EST

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Wholesale trade drops unexpectedly in November

Ottawa - Reuters

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:01AM EST

Ford trucks reflected on the windows of a mini van at a Ford dealership in Mississauga in this file photo. (Fred Lum/Globe and Mail)

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Canadian wholesale trade unexpectedly dropped by 0.4 per cent in November from October, ending six months of consecutive month-on-month increases, Statistics Canada data indicated on Friday.

Market analysts had predicted a 0.5 per cent increase. The figure contrasts with healthy merchandise trade and manufacturing data for November.

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- Factory sales rise 2% in November

Statscan said wholesale trade had been pulled down by a 4.4 per cent drop in the miscellaneous subsector, with agricultural supplies off by 8.2 per cent. Sales in the motor vehicles and parts subsector fell by 1.1 per cent.

Three of the seven subsectors, representing around 43 per cent of overall wholesale trade, posted declines. In volume terms, sales fell by 0.8 per cent from October.

Inventories fell by 0.1 per cent, the first decline in 11 months, while the inventory-to-sales ratio rose to 1.18 from 1.17 in October.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:44AM EST

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U.K. retailers get Christmas boost from discounting

David Milliken and Sven Egenter

London - Reuters

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:19AM EST

Shoppers hold Tesco and Sainsbury's supermarket carrier bags in London October 5, 2011. (LUKE MACGREGOR/Reuters)

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British retail sales rebounded strongly in December as stores slashed prices to get customers through the door, boosting hopes the economy avoided recession at the end of 2011 even if the outlook remains poor.

Before the data, economists were forecasting that British output contracted 0.1 per cent in the last three months of 2011 and the first three months of 2012, which would put the country in a mild recession.

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This would be a blow to Conservative finance minister George Osborne, increasing public doubts about the government’s five-year plan to largely erase Britain’s big budget deficit.

However, the figures from the Office for National Statistics on Friday increase the chances the economy skirted contraction at the end of last year. Retail sales volumes grew by 0.6 per cent in December after a 0.5 per cent drop in November, driven by rises in clothing and food sales.

On the year, sales were 2.6 per cent up -- the biggest rise since the start of 2011 -- and sales growth in the three months to December, the relevant period for fourth-quarter GDP, was the highest since August 2010.

“The increase in retail sales volumes in December boosts hopes that the economy avoided contraction in the fourth quarter,” said Howard Archer, the chief UK economist at consultancy IHS Global Insight.

Nonetheless, Mr. Archer and others warned December’s strong performance may prove to be a flash in the pan.

2011 has proven a grim year for many retailers, with well-known brands such as discount clothing chain Peacocks, shoe store Barratts and outdoor goods retailer Blacks Leisure all going into administration.

A consumer confidence measure from Nationwide showed morale was near the lowest in the survey’s 7-year history last month, as shoppers worried about the outlook for 2012, which is darkened by rising unemployment and the euro zone debt crisis.

A number of one-off factors pushed up retail sales in December, including earlier-than-usual discounting by clothing retailers and a favourable annual comparison with December 2010, when heavy snow disrupted trade.

“This modest spike in sales came at considerable cost to retailers, many of whom started aggressive price promotions as early as November,” said James McGregor, director of retail consultancy Retail Remedy. “Many clothing retailers have already been forced into clearance mode to shift unsold stock.”

December’s retail price deflator -- a measure of inflation -- slumped to an annual 2.4 per cent from 3.6 per cent in November, the lowest level since August 2010 and the biggest one-month drop since October 2008.

This will be some comfort to the Bank of England, which hopes big falls in inflation in 2012 will boost real household spending and also enable it to carry on with its program of quantitative easing asset purchases.

Most economists expect it to announce another 50 billion pounds of asset buys in February when the current £75-billion round is complete.

BoE policymaker Ben Broadbent said in an interview published just before the data that Britain’s economy was “broadly flat” and growth was likely to be volatile for much of 2012 .

Some retailers see grounds for optimism, due to lower raw material costs and BoE forecasts that inflation will fall sharply from its current level of 4.2 per cent.

The finance director of Associated British Foods, which owns discount clothing chain Primark, told Reuters on Thursday that inflation pressures were easing.

And on Friday, upmarket department store and supermarket chain John Lewis reported total sales in the week to Jan. 14 were 9.9 per cent up on a year earlier.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:17AM EST

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The top five Canadian office deals

Steve LadurantaYe

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:49AM EST

1) Commerce Court, Toronto (2000), $618-million Sold by CIBC to British Columbia Investment Management Corp. - Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail

How the Scotia Plaza deal compares to Canadian real estate history

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- CP’s Green promises results to ward off Ackman

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Officials suggest slashing VIA Rail service, partial sale

Michael Babad

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:25PM EST

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These are stories Report on Business is following Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. Get the top business stories through the day on BlackBerry or iPhone by bookmarking our mobile-friendly webpage.

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Changes eyed to VIA Rail

The Canadian government is studying the possibility of slashing services on VIA Rail, or selling part of the railway, Bloomberg News reports today, though officials say there are no immediate plans for privatization.

The news agency quotes a briefing note done for Transport Minister Denis Lebel, which it obtained under access-to-information laws, and notes that VIA chalked up an operating loss of more than $260-million in 2010. Revenue slipped and expenses climbed.

According to the note, officials are studying "several options for future support for passenger-rail services" that could include "significant reductions" in service and a partial sale. The briefing note also points out that VIA "regularly requires additional funding to cover shortfalls" and that "privatization and public sector partnerships in the Quebec City-Windsor corridor are being assessed."

The document was written by officials for the minister, and a spokesman for Mr. Lebel told Bloomberg there are no plans to privatize the rail services. Officials can offer suggestions, he said, but Mr. Lebel makes the decisions.

At the same time, there are suggestions to boost service between Quebec City and Windsor, Ont., though, given the high cost of a high-speed rail route, that's not a priority, the spokesman told Bloomberg.

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CP pledges better times

The CEO of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. says the company is accelerating its strategic overhaul and expects to sharply improve the freight carrier's operating performance within three years.

In a letter to employees today, Fred Green said the board met recently with a number of its shareholders to reassure them that it is “holding all employees accountable” to deliver on a plan to bring the Calgary-based railway’s operating performance in line with its peers, The Globe and Mail's Jacquie McNish and Brent Jang report.

New York activist Bill Ackman and his hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management LP have launched a proxy contest to elect a minority of new directors at CP and replace Mr. Green with Hunter Harrison, the former CEO of Canadian National Railway Co.

- CP's Green promises results to ward off Ackman

Inflation dips

Incomes may be stagnating and debts rising, but at least the pace of consumer price increases is slowing, driven down by holiday bargains.

Consumer prices fell 0.2 per cent in December from a month earlier, seasonally adjusted, Statistics Canada said today, slowing the annual inflation rate to 2.3 per cent, down from 2.9 per cent in November.

The so-called core rate, which excludes volatile items and helps guide the Bank of Canada, also eased, to 1.9 per cent from 2.1 per cent.

The biggest factors behind the decline were slower price hikes at the gas pump, lower car prices, and a slacker pace of increase in food prices.

"The bottom line is quite straightforward - this year’s holiday shopping season saw incredibly intense discounting, and almost across the board," said deputy chief economist Douglas Porter of BMO Nesbitt Burns.

"Even the auto dealers got into the act. Soggy consumer confidence clearly prompted some heavy duty price cuts in discretionary goods. On top of that, Canadians also got a slight break on food and gas prices. The question now is whether this is maintained – we suspect that this will prove to be a one-month wonder, and inflation will nudge back up next month."

There was little in today's report that would change the Bank of Canada course, which is basically one of wait and see while global developments play out.

Continue Reading

"We continue to expect the BoC to remain on hold for now despite the surprising ramp down in December inflation and the BoC’s recently pared down outlook for 2012," said senior economist Krishen Rangasamy of National Bank Financial.

"Assuming a European-led financial crisis is averted, a pause seems appropriate given the tighter output gap and the BoC’s repeated concerns about the ramp up [in] household debt."

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- Kevin Carmichael's Economy Lab: Soft CPI data silence roars of the inflationistas

Greek talks drag on

Greece continues to slug it out with its creditors today as markets watch anxiously as the clock ticks. If talks with the bondholders fail, a default is likely.

Reports from Athens indicate the two sides are inching toward a deal, after talks broke down last week.

The suggestion is that the two sides must reach agreement today, ahead of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday. But deadlines come and go in the 17-member monetary union, and we've been here many times before.

More important is a looming payout to holders of €14.5-billion in paper that matures in March.

"Weighing on [the euro] in the European session are reports of tensions between Germany and Italy, with the German finance minister reportedly asking Italy to stop avoiding a debt reduction strategy, and noting that there is no one simple solution to Europe’s problems," said senior currency strategist Camilla Sutton of Scotia Capital.

"The other major headlines are suggesting that there has been a voluntary agreement on Greek debt, with the new bonds carrying a 30-year maturity with a 3.1-per-cent coupon, which rises to 4.75 per cent over time."

- Greece, creditors edge closer to deal

Mega Brands drops suit

Canadian toymaker Mega Brands Inc. has withdrawn its lawsuit in a California court alleging that Danish rival Lego AS was using trademark laws in the U.S. to protect its famous mini-bricks from competition, The GLobe and Mail's Bertrand Marotte reports.

Mega Brands said its decision came after it received formal assurances from U.S. authorities that there will be no interference with the importation of any Mega Brands products into the U.S.

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Direct Energy moving to Texas

Direct Energy is moving its head office from Toronto to Houston, citing “thriving” and competitive energy markets in Texas and the northeastern United States and the failure of Ontario to open up.

About 500 jobs will be affected, said spokeswoman Hillary Marshall. About 300 of those jobs will be recreated in Texas, and some Canadians will be asked to relocate but “that will be limited.”

Ms. Marshall did not mince words in an interview today, saying the company has advocated for change in Ontario for a decade.

Direct Energy wants the wholesale market opened fully to competition, and consumers allowed to make a choice, she said.

- Direct Energy quits Toronto for Houston

Business ticker

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Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 7:38AM EST

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The top five Canadian office deals

STEVE LADURANTAYE

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:55AM EST

The Bank of Nova Scotia is looking at selling its iconic red headquarters in downtown Toronto, the 68-storey Scotia Plaza. (Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail)

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With Scotia Plaza hitting the block with an expected asking price of a billion dollars, many are wondering where the sale would stand in the history of Canadian office deals.

RealNet Canada Inc. sorted through its database, and dug up the following list of the five most expensive office deals in Canadian history.

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1) Commerce Court, Toronto (2000), $618-million

Sold by CIBC to British Columbia Investment Management Corp.

2) Royal Bank Plaza, Toronto (1999), $485-million

Sold by Royal Bank to Oxford Properties and OMERS Realty Corp.

3) Bankers Hall Complex, Calgary (2000), $437-million

Sold by TrizecHahn Corporation and Calgary Financial Tower Ltd. to Gentra Canada Investments

4) Brookfield Place - TD Canada Trust Tower, Toronto (2008), $429-million (half-stake)

Sold by Brookfield Properties to OMERS Realty

5) Gulf Canada Square, Calgary (2007), $382-million

Sold by O&Y, Brookfield, CGS to Great West Life and London Life

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 7:20AM EST

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Annual inflation falls sharply to 2.3%

OTTAWA - The Canadian Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:08AM EST

Buying vegetables at Luc Jasmin's veggie and fruit stand at Atwater Market in Montreal, January 19, 2012. (Christinne Muschi/The Globe and)

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Inflation in Canada fell sharply last month to 2.3 per cent, as prices for most major items – from gasoline and food, to cars and clothing – plunged in December.

The 0.6-per-cent decline both in the annual rate, and the actual decrease in consumer prices from the previous month, was among the steepest one-month decline reported by Statistics Canada since the summer of 2009, when the country was in recession.

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Analysts had expected prices to cool in December due to Christmas season sales, but not by this much. The consensus was for a 0.4 per cent falloff.

But it was only the scale of the decrease that was surprising, not the trend. The Bank of Canada this week predicted annual inflation would fall to about 1.5 per cent by the second quarter of this year.

As expected, pump prices saw the steepest decline, with the year-over-year growth falling to 7.6 per cent from 13.5 per cent in November as the cost of filling up fell three per cent in one month.

“Gas prices have declined steadily on a monthly basis since June,” the federal statistical agency noted.

Other major items that go into the inflation index also fell in December. Food inflation dipped from 4.8 per cent in November to 4.4 per cent in December, although common staples such as meat, bread and fresh vegetables saw bigger increases.

Purchasing a car was also less expensive in December, by 2.3 per cent, as manufacturers continued to offer discounts, including on new 2012 modes, the agency said.

And clothing cost 5.1 per cent less last month, likely as a result of Christmas season sales, than it had in November.

Overall, the agency said prices declined in five of the eight major components it tracks, bringing the inflation rate for 2011 as a whole to 2.9 per cent, just within the Bank of Canada’s broad one-to-three per cent range. Still it was the highest average rate in several years.

The central bank’s core index, which excludes volatile items such as gas and some foods, dipped below the two-per-cent target to 1.9 per cent.

Items that saw a price increase from November included electricity, fresh vegetables and fruit, homeowner replacement costs and financial services, although the gains on average tended to be modest.

Regionally, prices rose at a slower rate in every province except Prince Edward Island last month. New Brunswick posted the highest annual rate of price inflation at 3.3 per cent, while British Columbia was the lowest, at 1.7 per cent.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 7:07AM EST

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GE revenue lower than expected, Europe a worry

Scott Malone

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:39PM EST

A General Electric Company logo is seen on a toggle switch package in New York January 18, 2012. (SHANNON STAPLETON/Reuters)

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General Electric Co.’s fourth-quarter revenue fell short of Wall Street expectations, with Europe’s weakening economy and weak sales of appliances as the main culprits.

But the largest U.S. conglomerate held to its forecast of double-digit profit growth this year, saying that it would expand in rapidly growing economies and cut costs in Europe, particularly at its health care arm.

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Revenue fell 7.9 per cent $37.97-billion (U.S.), down from $41.23-billion and below the $40.03-billion analysts had expected. Factoring out the effects of last year’s sale of a majority stake in NBC Universal revenue would have been up 4 per cent.

In addition to general European weakness, the company said sales of appliances were off, with the home and business solutions division that sells them recording a 4 per cent revenue drop.

Sales at the company’s energy division, which makes products ranging from electric turbines to equipment used in oil production, were up 19 per cent in the quarter, slightly below the company’s expectations as some deliveries were shifted out of the fourth quarter into 2012, executives said.

“There are a few challenged markets, like Europe and appliances, but on balance we have a positive outlook,” Mr. Immelt told investors on a conference call, where he also reiterated the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company’s forecast for double-digit earnings growth this year.

The revenue miss concerned investors, overshadowing a penny-per-share earnings beat and sending GE shares down 1.4 per cent to $18.88 on the New York Stock Exchange.

“We’re concerned about the revenue miss,” said Oliver Pursche, president of Gary Goldberg Financial Services in Suffern, New York. “That’s really what we’re focused on this earnings season. We’re not so concerned about being a penny above or below expectations, because that can be handled with accounting.”

The world’s biggest maker of jet engines and electric turbines said net income from continuing operations rose 0.6 per cent to $3.93-billion, or 37 cents per share, compared with $3.90-billion, or 36 cents per share, a year ago.

Factoring out one-time items, profit came to 39 cents per share, above the 38 cents analysts had forecast, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Profit margins at the company’s industrial operations were better than expected, analysts noted, with the energy and aviation units showing improvement.

“We anticipated total industrial margin to be weaker overall,” wrote BernsteinResearch analyst Steven Winoker, in a note to clients.

Mr. Immelt also noted the prices its energy arm is able to charge for its equipment, particularly wind turbines, are stabilizing, which should boost profit margins.

“We see energy pricing stabilizing as we move through 2012 and into 2013,” Mr. Immelt said.

GE is less dependent on Europe than rivals Siemens AG and Philips Electronics NV, which earlier this month warned that the euro zone debt crisis would hurt their results this year.

GE noted that its industrial revenue in emerging markets was up 25 per cent in the quarter, with strong growth in Brazil, Russia, China and India.

GE kicked off a wave of earnings reports from big U.S. manufacturers, with blue-chip peers United Technologies Corp. , Caterpillar Inc. and 3M Co. all due to follow suit over the next week.

As of Thursday’s close, GE shares had risen about 2 per cent over the past year, lagging the 6 per cent rise of the Dow Jones industrial average.

“In December, GE indicated that it was managing Europe well. Now that’s what is pointed to for the light revenue. I think that’s kind of a weak excuse,” said Jack De Gan, chief investment officer at Harbor Advisory Corp in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 7:04AM EST

Companies mentioned in this article ( 1)

Company Price Change Volume

General Electric

GE-N 19.082 -0.07

-0.36% 56.51M

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Is Canada’s economy really dependent on global trade?

KEVIN CARMICHAEL

WASHINGTON - Globe and Mail Blog

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:44AM EST

The U.S. remains Canada’s biggest trade partner, but it accounts for 62 per cent of exports, compared with 69 per cent when using conventional data, according to a new Conference Board report. (Lyle Stafford for The Globe and Mail)

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Currency traders love the monthly import and export data, which provide an excellent guide of how much demand exists for dollars, euros, yen, francs and the like.

But for anyone seeking a more precise understanding of the dynamics of international trade, the data compiled by customs agents are about as about as relevant to a modern economy as carbon paper.

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The reason: supply chains. Virtually nothing is produced entirely within a single border anymore. Companies outsource everything from components to packaging. That means a good can cross a border several times on its way to becoming a final product. Each time, it’s value increases. That value is what the customs agent enters in his or her computer. But that inflates the actual contribution of that good to a country’s economy.

It is relatively early days, but some economists are trying to develop a more useful measure of international trade. Among them is the Conference Board of Canada, which Thursday released the first of three reports based on what it calls “value-added trade.” The report should be required reading in Ottawa. Its conclusions challenge much of what we think we know about the nature of Canada’s economy.

Conference Board economist Maxim Armstrong explains the concept this way: “Conventional trade measures record the value of a good or service when it crosses the border. In contrast, value-added trade measures would record only the amount by which a good or service has increased in value while passing through a specific country.”

This is no easy thing. There are no items branded “Made 40 per cent in the USA, 30 per cent in Canada, and 30 per cent in China.” The Global Trade and Analysis Project at Purdue University has created a database of input-output tables for the global economy. Input-output tables track the flow of goods and services as they pass through the value chain from raw materials to finished products. This data is compared with conventional trade data to estimate the import content of exports. The difference is the actual value derived in a particular country. (Mr. Armstrong recommends reading “Who Produces for Whom in the World Economy” for a thorough understanding of the concept, although his own explanation in the Conference Board paper is very lucid.)

Any interpretation of the Conference Board’s results must be tempered by the limitations of the GTAP database, which is only current to 2004. The world has changed a lot since then. Still, in Mr. Armstrong’s hands, the outline those data create of the Canadian economy is remarkably different from the one we think we know.

Canada is often described as a “small open economy” that is highly dependent on the vagaries of international trade. According to the Conference Board’s value-added analysis, that may not be so.

The value of trade shrinks for all countries when measured in value-added terms. But for Canada, the difference is more pronounced because it is one of the world’s bigger users of supply chains. Measured conventionally, trade represents 35 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product, 17th among the world’s 30 largest trading nations, according to the Conference Board. Measured on a value-added basis, that figure drop to 24 per cent of GDP, which drops Canada’s rank to 20th. That’s hardly the measure of an economy dependent on trade. Mr. Armstrong offers that as an explanation for why Canada withstood the global recession better than many expected it would.

Canada’s reliance on trade with the U.S. is diminished in the Conference Board study. The U.S. remains Canada’s biggest trade partner, but it accounts for 62 per cent of exports, compared with 69 per cent when using conventional data.

The value-added method also puts a stronger emphasis on services because it attempts to break out what went into the unit value captured in customs data. The Conference Board report estimates that services account for 40 per cent of Canadian trade when measured on a value-added basis, compared with 16 per cent when calculated using traditional methods.

“A clear understanding of trade patterns is necessary to make informed political and business decisions,” Mr. Armstrong writes.

The Conference Board findings reinforce the Harper government’s push for a free-trade agreement with the European Union that emphasizes services. But they also call into question whether a stronger U.S. economy is all that’s keeping Canada from stronger economic growth. If Canada is only the world’s No. 20 trader, then it might be more reliant on domestic demand than we realize. Something for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to consider as prepares for his next budget.

Economy Lab, winner of the 2011 Eppy Award for best business blog. Follow Economy Lab on twitter

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 6:40AM EST

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Commentary

- Management has warmed to work stoppages

- Before reforming pensions, MPs must tackle their own

Management has warmed to work stoppages

JIM STANFORD

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 4:01PM EST

Canadian Auto Workers economist Jim Stanford.

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Business lobbyists used to express grave concern about the economic impact of strikes. Those concerns were always overstated; time lost in work stoppages has declined by 90 per cent from the 1970s. Nevertheless, companies traditionally complain that work stoppages damage sales, productivity and, of course, profits.

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Recently, however, business leaders have warmed to work stoppages. In the current bargaining environment, companies (especially multinational firms) hold the best cards. And executives are increasingly willing to precipitate their own work stoppages – through management lockouts – to enforce demands for lower wages and benefits.

Two New Year’s Day lockouts highlighted this strategy. U.S.-based Caterpillar Inc. locked out 450 locomotive builders in London, Ont., demanding wage cuts of more than 50 per cent. The same day, Rio Tinto, the U.K.-based mining giant, locked out 755 smelter workers in Alma, Que. That company’s demand to outsource all future bargaining-unit openings would ultimately achieve an even larger reduction in wages. In both cases, the future of middle-class incomes in our manufacturing and resource sectors is at stake. And in both cases, executives are willing to lock the doors until workers swallow their pill.

These are just the latest in a growing trend by employers to lock out their own workers. U.S. Steel used a 50-week lockout to dismantle the defined benefit pension plan for workers in Hamilton. Canada Post played the lockout card to precipitate back-to-work legislation from an obliging Harper government. And the City of Toronto is contemplating a lockout of thousands of civic employees to wrest concessions from the union.

Suddenly, business rhetoric about the costs of long work stoppages has been silenced. In the eyes of many employers, work stoppages – even long ones – are a small price to pay for driving down labour costs and boosting profit margins.

The popularity of lockouts reflects the dramatic tilting of the labour relations playing field in recent years. With unions on the defensive, management is eager to go for the jugular. Government has stood back or, worse, egged on the lockouts (as Ottawa did with Canada Post). Multinational firms are especially aggressive, given their ability (underwritten by free-trade agreements) to shift production and capital seamlessly between jurisdictions.

This trend is troubling, for macroeconomic as well as ethical reasons. As employers ratchet down compensation, income shifts from consumers (who spend every penny) to corporations (which sit on a growing pile of uninvested cash). That undermines aggregate spending and weakens the recovery. And the more employers succeed in driving down wages, the greater the danger of setting off a cycle of deflation in wages and prices (such as the one that bedevilled Japan for a decade).

So how should politicians respond to employers ready to lock out workers to slash compensation? Pushing the companies to treat Canadian workers fairly would be a start, rather than ratifying their actions with regulatory approvals, tax cuts and silence.

Labour law reforms could also play a role. Manitoba, for example, implemented an innovative provision in 2000 giving its labour board the authority to intervene in long disputes, including imposing arbitration when there’s an impasse. It’s been rarely invoked but has helped prevent all-out industrial warfare of the sort we’re seeing at Caterpillar and Rio Tinto. This would be a good time for other jurisdictions to consider similar legislation.

Jim Stanford is an economist with the Canadian Auto Workers, which represents the locked-out workers at the Caterpillar plant in London.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 2:00AM EST

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Before reforming pensions, MPs must tackle their own

William Robson

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 9:03AM EST

William Robson, president, C.D. Howe Institute

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Debate over retirement income is hot. It’s partly that Canadians are getting older. But it’s mainly the growing realization that the next generation of retirees may live less comfortably than their parents have done. People are living longer, and returns on investment are lower. So hitting the targets their parents achieved means today’s workers must retire later and save more.

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Further raising the temperature is Canadians’ learning that the stresses affecting their own retirements do not affect the government employees whose pensions they backstop – federal employees heading that list.

Ottawa’s pension plans provide benefits far richer and earlier than the retirement incomes most Canadians can aspire to. They are also badly underfunded, exposing taxpayers to a potential liability approaching $250-billion. Worst of all is the pension plan for MPs – both because its exceptionally lavish benefits are totally unfunded, and because it’s the scheme for elected representatives who need to lead national reforms.

It’s not news that the MPs’ plan promises rich benefits (although it certainly raises eyebrows that its indexed entitlements accrue at the rate of 3 per cent annually to a maximum of 75 per cent of the best five years of pay and are available after only six years of service). What makes people lose their cool is comparing the wealth building in that plan with what an ordinary RRSP saver can achieve. Any non-federal employee earning the equivalent of an MP’s salary, who wants an equivalent inflation-indexed benefit backed by the federal government, would need to buy federal real-return bonds – to the tune of about 70 per cent of income! A stiff challenge, put completely out of reach for most Canadians by the federal Income Tax Act, which limits tax-deferred retirement saving to 18 per cent of income or $22,970 – whichever, in words the income tax form has made so familiar, is less.

What few realize, even MPs themselves, is that no actual saving happens in their plan. The federal government tracks its obligation to MPs with a mechanical formula that looks like an asset in the plan’s financial reports, but is actually just a bookkeeping entry. The contributions MPs notionally make to the plan vanish into Ottawa’s consolidated revenue fund, and the government’s contributions as an employer are a fiction. The total amount needed to meet the plan’s obligations at today’s yields is about $1-billion. The actual amount of assets in the plan is zero. So the unfunded liability – the money yet to be found to pay the plan’s promises – is also $1-billion.

Benefits this rich, backed by no assets, put MPs in no position to fix other federal employee pension plans – whose collective deficit around a quarter of a trillion dollars creates a serious burden for taxpayers, and lessens the urgency in Ottawa to make the changes other Canadians struggling for a secure retirement badly need.

The government feels the heat. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty have suggested that federal pensions – and MPs’ pensions particularly – are under review in the run-up to the 2012 budget. They should be, because there is plenty to do.

We need assets, not bookkeeping entries, backing federal pension promises. From now on, the MPs’ plan should put real money into real investments. And from now on, the promises should not exceed the saving that backs them. One option would be a target-benefit plan of the kind common in the provincial broader public sector. More attractive, because it would put MPs on the same footing as their constituents, would be a pooled registered pension plan such as the government has proposed for Canadians generally.

This does not mean cutting MPs’ total compensation. Canada should pay its MPs well, and increases in current pay can offset lower pensions. But not entirely – part of their loss would be the income tax MPs would have to pay on saving above the limits that constrain most Canadians. If MPs want that back, they should raise the limits for everybody.

Canada’s pension debate shows that Canadians realize they need better, and better funded, pensions. Reform should start at the top.

William Robson is president and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute and author of Fixing MP Pensions: Parliamentarians Must Lead Canada’s Move to Fairer And Better-Funded Retirements, available Thursday at cdhowe.org.

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 2:00AM EST

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Blogs

Facts & Arguments

- God believed to decide who survives shipwrecks

- Why my hip replacement was so humbling

- Virtual-reality exercise for pensioners beats going for walks

- Working from home isn't all it’s cracked up to be

God believed to decide who survives shipwrecks

MICHAEL KESTERTON

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 6:07PM EST

Young crew members of the replica HMS Bounty climb the rigging while preparing to set sail from Toronto harbour, Aug. 27, 1997. (REUTERS)

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Abandon ship? Who first?

“In her book Women and Children First: 19th-Century Sea Narratives and American Identity, English professor Robin Miskolcze chronicled the origins of our maritime evacuation priorities,” says Slate.com. “Until the second half of the 18th century, it was widely believed in England and America that God decided who would survive a shipwreck, so no one criticized men for climbing over whoever stood between them and safety. However, as Enlightenment thinkers began to emphasize human agency, and women came to be viewed as the holy protectors of the family, news reports grew critical of men who survived shipwrecks that killed female passengers.”

Mass hysteria in school

“Twelve teenage girls at a New York school who fell ill with Tourette’s-like symptoms of tics and verbal outbursts experienced mass hysteria, a doctor says. Dr. Laszlo Mechtler, a neurologist in Amherst, N.Y., says his diagnosis of the girls attending LeRoy Junior-Senior High School in upstate New York is ‘conversion disorder,’ or mass hysteria,” reports United Press International. “ ‘It’s happened before, all around the world … It’s a rare phenomenon. Physicians are intrigued by it,’ Mechtler told NBC’s Today show Wednesday. ‘The bottom line is these teenagers will get better.’… High school cheerleader and art student Thera Sanchez says her tics, stammer and verbal outbursts started out of the blue after a nap last October. ‘I was fine. I was perfectly fine. There was nothing going on, and then I just woke up, and that’s when the stuttering started,’ Sanchez said. The New York State Health Department has been investigating and says the school building is not to blame, ruling out carbon monoxide, illegal drugs and other factors as potential causes.”

Young love and passwords

“Young couples have long signaled their devotion to each other by various means – the gift of a letterman jacket or an exchange of class rings or ID bracelets. Best friends share locker combinations,” writes Matt Richtel in The New York Times. “The digital era has given rise to a more intimate custom. It has become fashionable for young people to express their affection for each other by sharing their passwords to e-mail, Facebook and other accounts. Boyfriends and girlfriends sometimes even create identical passwords, and let each other read their private e-mails and texts.”

No surfing in Chicago

“A Chicago man was arrested Tuesday evening after police reportedly caught him surfing near Oak Street Beach,” says The Huffington Post. “Rex Flodstrom, 40, was cited for disorderly conduct, two counts of violating a Chicago Park District ordinance and one count of being in a park after hours, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Chicago’s beaches are closed until May 25. … Flodstrom’s surfboard was also confiscated.”

Budgies yawn like us

“Budgies agree: a yawn is a difficult thing to resist,” says the New Scientist. “The highly social birds are the latest animals to join the contagious yawning club. Many animals yawn, but only humans and a few other primates are known to trigger cascades of yawns around a group. Andrew Gallup at Binghamton University in New York watched 21 budgies over 15 days and counted their yawns – a wide open beak and slightly closed eyes, followed by a brief stretch of the neck. Each bird yawned one to three times an hour, but was more likely to do so if their neighbour had just yawned. It’s the first good evidence for contagious yawning in a non-primate, says Gallup.”

Thought du jour

“Marriage, like a submarine, is only safe if you get all the way inside.”

Frank Pittman (1935- ) U.S. psychiatrist and author

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 6:07PM EST

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Why my hip replacement was so humbling

MERRIJOY KELNER

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 3:32PM EST

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I wasn't always so independent.When I was growing up in the 1930s and 40s, my parents stressed responsibility, integrity and obedience to authority, but certainly not independence. I suspect it was not a trait that suited their idea of how a young lady of that era should behave.

During the early days of my first marriage when I was in my 20s, I had just learned to drive and I bumped into another car. It was parked, with the owner nowhere in sight. I left a note on the window with my phone number and an apology. When the owner called, I was terrified. I pretended to be the housekeeper and said I was out. When my husband came home, I told him what had happened. “Please dear, would you call him,” I pleaded. I was shocked when my husband answered: “You were the one who had the accident. You should make the call yourself.”

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“I just can't face it,” I begged. Eventually my husband dealt with the matter while I cowered in the background.

Some years later I summoned up the courage to leave that husband to make a new life. At the age of 40, I had to learn quickly how to do many new things for myself. I had to rent a car, sell the house, find a place for me and my three children to live and try to balance my chequebook. I went back to university, completed my PhD and got a job as a professor. As I began to earn an independent income, develop a career, and look after my family, I felt each day I was becoming stronger. There were times when I wished some man would come along to look after me, but most of the time I was happy to rely on my own initiative.

I married again, this time as an equal partner. We bought our house together, we shared the family expenses, and I had a significant voice in decisions. I carried on with my career, did some travelling on my own, and developed friendships that were sometimes completely independent of my husband. Sadly, after we had been married only 12 years, he died of stomach cancer. I became a widow in my 50s.

For close to 25 years now I have lived alone, and have continued to work as a professor at the University of Toronto. I have developed a busy, satisfying life, with lots of friends and a marvellously interesting and vital lover who is equally self-reliant. We have been together for more than 10 years. I guard my independence jealously.

I am now 84, and a few months ago, when I complained that I had been having pain in my hips, my doctor informed me that I had severe arthritis and needed hip-replacement surgery. I was furious, and insisted that I was far too busy. I was planning to give a paper on my research at an international conference in Geneva and, over the Christmas holidays, I was looking forward to joining my lover on a vacation in Mexico. When the pain became worse, I gave in.

The operation took two hours and I was in hospital only five days. For much of the time since, I have been almost completely helpless and dependent on others to look after me. At first I couldn't even get out of bed without help, and as for cooking or cleaning or even bathing, there was no way. So I had to ask my family, my friends and my lover to sleep over, shop for me, do my banking, drive me, and even help me get into bed at night. I hated it with a passion.

And yet, I have acquired a little patience. Helpers don't always show up exactly when you need them most, and some are more capable than others.

But most of all, I have come to understand that helping out when a friend or family member is in need gives those who offer the aid a special kind of satisfaction. I have been touched by the kindness shown to me and, as I have begun to do things for myself again, I am resolved to accept help more graciously in the future.

While independence is wonderful, perhaps interdependence is even better.

Merrijoy Kelner lives in Toronto.

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 3:17PM EST

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Virtual-reality exercise for pensioners beats going for walks

MICHAEL KESTERTON

Last updated Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 5:35PM EST

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Virtual exercise for seniors

“Pensioners should play Wii Fit rather than going for walks because virtual-reality exercise slows mental as well as physical decline, a New York university study finds,” says The Telegraph. “Researchers from New York’s Union College claim that ‘exergames,’ such as Wii Fit, that combine exercise with virtual-reality environments and interactive video-game features provide more cognitive benefits for the older user than exercise alone. … Lead investigator Dr. Cay Anderson-Hanley said: ‘We found that for older adults, virtual-reality enhanced interactive exercise, or ‘cybercycling,’ two to three times per week for three months yielded greater cognitive benefit, and perhaps added protection against mild cognitive impairment, than a similar dose of traditional exercise.’ ”

Just a donor

“A 36-year-old California man who boasts he’s an ‘organic’ sperm donor and has fathered 14 children through his free donations has never had sex, he has revealed,” reports The Huffington Post. “Silicon Valley computer security specialist Trent Arsenault says he’s a ‘donorsexual’ who has committed ‘100 per cent of my sexual energy for producing sperm for childless couples to have babies. So I don’t have other activity outside of that.’ Arsenault adds: ‘I will probably be the 40-year-old virgin – except I’ll have 15-plus kids.’ ”

Some donors refused

“Obese people face rejection throughout their lives. Now they’re facing it in death, too,” says the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Some research hospitals and medical schools – including the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine – have been turning down donor bodies because they’re too fat. … Of more than 100 bodies offered in 2011, she adds, the Clinic said ‘no, thanks’ to two because of size. And they were carrying more than a few extra pounds. … Case Western Reserve University’s Charles Maier, who teaches anatomy to graduate and first- and second-year medical students, won’t say how many bodies that school has refused. But he and others who work with donated bodies say they have good reasons for passing on plus-size cadavers. One is that medical students can’t learn about the inside of the human body if they have to cut through a thick layer of what doctors often call adipose tissue.”

Seeing countries from space

“Contrary to conventional wisdom,” United Press International reports, “some international borders on Earth are, in fact, visible from space, a veteran U.S. astronaut says. Former NASA astronaut John Grunsfeld … told an astronomical gathering in Austin, Tex., that political demarcations between countries are sometimes visible in orbit in the form of environmental and infrastructure differences. ‘Wealthy countries are lined in green and then you see the country next door that has no water,’ Mr. Grunsfeld said last week. … Differences in the amount of electric lighting visible at night and variation in forestation patterns can also outline national boundaries, he said.”

Horse skiing postponed

“Organizers have postponed a popular horse skiing event in Minturn [Colo.] because of a lack of snow,” Associated Press reports. “The Rocky Mountain ski joring event will now be held in late February. During the event, skiers hold a rope with one hand and a wand in the other. As the horse careers up the street through the snow the skier is pulled along. Skiers use the wand to grab rings for points.”

Olympic sheep shearing? Unlikely

“A New Zealand farm lobby group says sheep shearing has the potential to become an Olympic demonstration sport,” says Associated Press. “… The ‘time has come to elevate shearing’s sporting status to the ultimate world stage,’ the New Zealand Federated Farmers said in a statement Monday, adding that the world’s top shearers were ‘athletes who take it to another level.’ While shearing is indeed a real sport, its chances of becoming an Olympic event – even a demonstration one – are probably next to nil. The Olympics sports program is decided a minimum of six years in advance of a scheduled games through a long and complicated process that includes strict criteria including global participation by male and female athletes.”

Thought du jour

“Shame is like everything else; live with it for long enough and it becomes part of the furniture.”

- Salman Rushdie (1947-), British Indian novelist

Published on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 5:33PM EST

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Working from home isn't all it’s cracked up to be

THOMAS KLASSEN

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 8:18AM EST

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When I started working from home some months ago, I had not anticipated the challenges involved.

The first was to tell people that I am working from home. I’ve had to explain my work arrangement to my neighbours, who wondered why I was raking leaves or shovelling snow in the midafternoon. I’ve described it to door-to-door canvassers, relatives, friends, the gas meter reader, the mail carrier and the parents of children in the kindergarten school yard.

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The people who’ve had the most difficulty in understanding my new work setup are my family. My five-year-old twins, Claire and Alexander, keep asking, with some apprehension, “Daddy, why don’t you go to work?” My response, “But I am working, just from home,” completely baffles them and they gaze at me with an expression unique to children: “Daddy says the funniest things.”

The second challenge has been the additional demands, mostly from my wife. Her phone calls from her office invariably begin with the four words I’ve come to dread: “Since you’re at home … .” Her assumption, and that of others, is that since I’m at home between 9 and 5, I can easily take care of last-minute shopping, arrange for deliveries and drop-offs, orchestrate play dates for the twins, and respond to financial, medical, educational and home maintenance matters for our family.

The result is that by working from home I’ve taken on a host of new duties, in addition to those mandated by my employer. Over the past six months, our home has acquired a new roof, an upgraded electrical system and a long list of interior and exterior home improvements.

The third and most complex challenge are the expectations of my children. Claire and Alexander seem unable to grasp that having a stay-at-home dad is not the same as having a gainfully employed stay-at-home dad. Invariably they need to consult with me on any disagreement or matter that arises after returning home from their daily 2.5 hours of morning senior kindergarten.

I imagined that a few words of wisdom from me would quickly settle them back to their routine with our caregiver. However, I came to realize that resolving a dispute over the ownership of a particular pencil, of the 200 in our home, is akin to taking a case to the Supreme Court of Canada. It takes a lot of time, and any outcome can and will be appealed.

The fourth challenge, at first trivial but less so as time passed, is that my basement office, which was to be my sacrosanct work space, became a storage room. My real office (as everyone in my family calls it) at York University is a marvel of cleanliness and organization. My home office – which I suppose everyone saw as not being real – is now a warren of not-quite discarded or returned items: boxes of old books and clothes, long-forgotten toys, diseased plants, sports equipment and sundry unused or defective home-repair materials.

Claire and Alexander see the space as an extension of their playroom, especially suited for hide-and-seek, with the added feature of expensive electronic equipment.

Over the months, I have met others working from home. We’ve crossed paths at the local coffee shop, seeking human contact after spending hours alone in our respective homes. From them, I learned different strategies.

One is to act as though you are still working at the “real” office. Those who practise this approach dress in business attire in the morning, carry briefcases and use their BlackBerrys at all times, making it quite clear to everyone in their vicinity that “I’m working, so don’t bother me.” I tried to ask them if this strategy was effective with family members, like young children, but they’ve never given me the opportunity for such idle chatter.

Although appealing, for me this strategy takes away one of the biggest advantages of working from home. Before starting this arrangement, I had imagined a host of benefits including increased productivity, more flexibility and fewer interruptions.

In reality, few advantages materialized other than being able to avoid commuting and spending less time on my personal appearance each morning. Therefore, I’m loath to switch from my old sweat pants and sneakers to a tie and suit, or to shave every day, in order to look like I’m working.

Another strategy is to begin any conversation with “I’m working from home.” This ensures the listener, and everyone around, knows. I tried this, but found it had unintended consequences. The follow-up question is always, “What are you working on?” I reply that I am writing a scholarly book on retirement and pension policies in South Korea. This swiftly terminates any conversation and leaves me standing alone.

I’ll leave this approach for those writing – at home – the next blockbuster Hollywood screenplay.

The strategy I’ve settled on is what many others working at home also gravitate toward; namely, a vague and generic, “Well, you know, I’m doing some work at home.” Any follow-up questions are skillfully deflected by witty observations about the weather, politics or sports. This leaves a mysterious aura around my activities.

Now that I’m preparing to return to my “real” office next week, the most important lesson I’ve learned is that when I'm next given the opportunity to work from home, I’ll make sure no one knows I’m working … from home.

Thomas Klassen lives in Toronto.

Published on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 5:31PM EST

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Technology

- Diablo III undergoes major pre-release modifications

- U.S. postpones vote on anti-piracy law

- Another legal setback for Samsung in German patent fight with Apple

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- Apple elbows into textbook market

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- Intel’s fourth quarter beats forecasts

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- U.S. Justice Department website attacked after Megaupload.com shut down

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- Video: iPad, iPad, iPad, scam made one out of clay

Diablo III undergoes major pre-release modifications

Chad Sapieha

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:49PM EST

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The perfectionists at Blizzard announced a slew of major changes to the company’s hotly anticipated action role-playing game Diablo III on Thursday, suggesting that the long-in-the-making project – which has already slid past one vague launch window – is still several months from release.

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Thousands of people have been playing the game in its beta test phase, and Blizzard’s developers are using their feedback to not just tweak the interface and balance difficulty – expected modifications resulting from any public testing – but also significanty alter core systems.

(Apologies in advance to my less nerdy readers if the following comes off as geeky gobbledygook.)

Some of the changes listed in a lengthy blog post by game director Jay Wilson involve little more than altered monikers. For example, the Stone of Recall – a magic rock that sends players back to towns – is now simply the Town Portal.

Others have a greater impact on play, but are still relatively minor. Rather than collecting magic scrolls to identify mysterious items found in the wild, for instance, characters can now identify these items at will. This frees up an inventory slot and means you need not wait to identify the items you find, writes Mr. Wilson, while still providing the unique satisfaction that comes from double discovery.

But in addition to these tweaks there are also changes that, one imagines, will subtly but fundamentally alter the game’s core experience.

In his post Mr. Wilson describes significant alterations to primary character attributes and their benefits, discusses the decision to eliminate the Cauldron of Jordan and Nephalem Cube (items that aided in the salvaging and selling of the thousands of objects players find on their travels), and talks about the removal of what would seem to be an important non-player character class, the mystic artisan.

And more critical changes are yet to come.

Without going into detail, Mr. Wilson explains that the game’s all-important rune and skill systems are currently the subject of substantial alteration, and that the game can’t possibly ship until these systems are finished.

Which brings us back to Diablo III’s oft-delayed launch, the date of which at this point is pretty much unknowable.

Mr. Wilson says “no one will remember if the game is late, only if it's great.” While I disagree that people don’t remember if a game is late (Blizzard’s well-established reputation for delayed releases suggests that its fans remember quite well many of the company’s late launches), I get the gist of what he’s saying, and I agree with him. Many games would be vastly improved if more studios had Blizzard’s patience – and the financial means – to let the development process run its natural and inherently iterative course, which includes proper testing and feedback from consumers prior to launch. Save those few of use claimed by sickness and accidents over the next few months (some super fans in online forums have voiced concern that they'll die before the game hits shelves), we'll still be here when the game eventually releases, and we may well be treated to an experience better than what would have come from a rushed effort.

Regardless of your opinion of when Diablo III ought to release, Mr. Wilson’s blog post is a good read. In addition to detailing the game’s most recent and upcoming modifications, it provides a neat look into Blizzard’s game design philosophy, offering explanations and reasoning for each change as well as a peek into how Blizzard views the gamer psyche and what it craves. Check it out here.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:49PM EST

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More posts from Controller Freak

- Indie game Q.U.B.E. recoups production budget in just four days

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U.S. postpones vote on anti-piracy law

Jim ABrams

Washington - The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:04PM EST

wikipedia.com

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Yielding to strong opposition from the high tech community, Senate and House leaders said Friday they will put off further action on legislation to combat online piracy.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he was postponing a test vote set for Tuesday “in light of recent events.” Those events included a petition drive by Google that attracted more than 7 million participants and a one-day blackout by the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

- Facing online protest, U.S. lawmakers retreat on piracy bills

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House Judiciary Committee chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, quickly followed suit, saying consideration of a similar House bill would be postponed “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”

The Senate's Protect Intellectual Property Act and the House's Stop Online Piracy Act have strong support from the entertainment industry and other businesses that lose billions of dollars annually to intellectual property theft and online sales of counterfeit products. But they also have strong opposition from Internet-related companies that argue the bill would lead to over-regulation and censorship of the Internet.

Mr. Reid has also seen at least a half-dozen senators who sponsored the bill announce they now oppose it.

Mr. Reid said counterfeiting and piracy cost the American economy billions of dollars every year and “there is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved.” He said he was optimistic about reaching a compromise in the coming weeks.

The main Senate sponsor, Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he respected Mr. Reid's decision to postpone the vote but lamented the Senate's unwillingness to debate the bill.

“The day will come when the senators who forced this move will look back and realize they made a knee-jerk reaction to a monumental problem,” he said. Criminals in China, Russia and other countries “who do nothing but peddle in counterfeit products and stolen American content are smugly watching how the United States Senate decided” it was not worth debating the bill.

The two bills would allow the Justice Department, and copyright holders, to seek court orders against foreign websites accused of copyright infringement. They would bar online advertising networks and payment facilitators such as credit card companies from doing business with an alleged violator. They also would forbid search engines from linking to such sites.

The Tuesday vote was on whether to move the legislation to the Senate floor for debate. With the recent desertions and a statement Thursday by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell that it is too early to consider the bill, it appeared supporters lacked the 60 votes needed to advance the measure.

Mr. McConnell on Friday applauded Reid's decision, saying it would “prevent a counterproductive rush toward flawed legislation.”

In the House, Mr. Smith said he had “heard from the critics” and resolved that it was “clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.” Mr. Smith had planned on holding further committee votes on his bill next month.

The bill's opponents were relieved it was put on hold.

Markham Erickson, executive director of NetCoalition, commended Congress for “recognizing the serious collateral damage this bill could inflict on the Internet.”

The group represents Internet and technology companies including Google, Yahoo! and Amazon.com. Erickson said they would work with Congress “to address the problem of piracy without compromising innovation and free expression.”

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who has joined Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in proposing an alternative anti-piracy bill, credited opponents with forcing lawmakers “to back away from an effort to ram through controversial legislation.”

But the CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, former Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd, warned that, “as a consequence of failing to act, there will continue to be a safe haven for foreign thieves.” The MPAA, which represents such companies as Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., is a leading advocate for the anti-piracy legislation.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:03AM EST

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Another legal setback for Samsung in German patent fight with Apple

Miyoung Kim

Seoul - Reuters

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:38AM EST

People compare the performance of Apple's iPad and Samsung's Galaxy Tab tablet. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

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A German court ruled against Samsung Electronics Co in a patent suit versus Apple , another leg in a long legal battle as the two technology giants jostle for top spot in the booming smartphone and tablet markets.

Samsung, which passed Apple in the third quarter as the world’s top maker of smartphones, is locked in a bruising patent tussle with the U.S. firm in some 10 countries from the United States to Australia, France and Japan.

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“This ruling related to only one of 13 patents that are currently in suit between those parties in Germany, and of dozens of patents on a worldwide basis,” said independent patent expert Florian Mueller.

“It’s not the first rejection of a complaint involving these two players, and barring a major surprise, it won’t be the last.”

Samsung said Friday’s ruling by a court in the German city of Mannheim covers one patent out of the three mobile technologies it claims Apple infringed. The German court will decide on the other two patents on Jan. 27 and March 2.

“We are disappointed that the court did not share our views regarding the infringement by Apple of this specific patent in Germany,” Samsung said in a statement.

The South Korean firm said it has yet to decide whether to appeal Friday’s ruling.

Apple first sued Samsung in April, claiming that the maker of the Galaxy range of smartphones and tablets “slavishly” copied Apple’s iPhone and iPad models.

The ruling on the first full hearing in Germany comes after Samsung won a round against Apple in early December when an Australian court lifted a ban on the sale of its Galaxy tablet computer in time for the busy Christmas shopping season.

That triumph was tempered by a setback the previous day in Paris where another court rejected its bid to block sales of Apple’s iPhone 4S in France.

The quarrel has triggered expectations that some of the pair’s $5-billion-plus relationship may be up for grabs. Samsung counts Apple as its biggest customer and makes parts central to Apple’s mobile devices including processing chips.

Samsung has spent some $60-million in Apple-related legal expenses so far since the legal battle in April, a senior Samsung executive said.

Apple is also involved in patent battle with other smartphone markers using Google’s free Android platform, the fastest growing mobile operating system that is also used on the Galaxy range.

Motorola Mobility Inc did not violate Apple’s patent in making some smartphones, a judge at the U.S. International Trade and Commission (ITC) said in a preliminary ruling earlier this month.

The ITC found in December that Taiwan’s HTC had infringed an Apple patent.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:34AM EST

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Video: U.S. online piracy crackdown hits New Zealand

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:34AM EST

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Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:34AM EST

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Google: investors are working blind

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:02AM EST

A woman walks past a tunnel of Google homepage logos at the Google campus near Venice Beach in Los Angeles in this January 13, 2012 file photo. (LUCY NICHOLSON/REUTERS)

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From the FT's Lex blog

Google is a hard company to understand. Not in the “so advanced and paradigm-smashing you can’t get your head around it” way, but in the “it doesn’t disclose very much about how its business works” way.

Investors can see revenues and profits, and a few operating statistics. Sometimes management deigns to toss ravenous investors a morsel of information about sales at the company’s newer businesses.

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On Thursday’s earnings call, it was announced that display advertising sales are headed for $5-billion a year (perhaps 15 per cent of Google’s total), and that there are now 250 million mobile devices running the Android operating system. Last quarter it was revealed that mobile ads were set to generate $2.5-billion in sales a year. How these pieces fit together is, alas, a matter of guesswork. How much of the display advertising comes from mobile? How much mobile revenue derives from Android devices as opposed to iPhones and iPads? How profitable are mobile ads?

The shortage of information give Google’s results a tendency to surprise, and on Thursday the surprise was, unusually, negative.

Google reported top- and bottom-line results that were short of expectations. Causing particular consternation was an unexpected drop in one of the stats Google does break out, the price advertisers pay every time an ad is clicked on, which fell 8 per cent.

Management said that currency effects and a change in mix toward lower-cost, higher volume ad formats drove the drop -- and an acceleration in growth of clicks bears this out. And while total revenue growth did decelerate for the first time in four quarters, it is still running at 25 per cent, pretty good for a company trading under 15 times forward earnings. And operating margins expanded a bit. Shares dropped nearly a 10th in the after-market. Investors working blind are flighty.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:19AM EST

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GOOG-Q 587.24 -52.33

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Video: Will the iPad kill off paper text books?

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:05AM EST

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Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 6:28AM EST

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Tech giants defy slump as corporate customers drive sales

SEAN SILCOFF

OTTAWA

From Friday's Globe and Mail

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:28AM EST

IBM offices in San Jose, Calif. IBM Corp. and many of its peers posted better-than-expected results Jan. 19, 2012, pointing to strength in corporate spending despite the uncertain global economy. (Paul Sakuma/AP)

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Strong quarterly results from three technology bellwethers suggest that corporate spending is holding up, despite an uncertain global economic climate.

Intel Corp., International Business Machines Corp. and Microsoft Corp. all reported revenues and earnings that were broadly in line or slightly ahead of expectations. Microsoft’s fourth-quarter results, including an unexpectedly strong showing from sales of its Office software, are a rare positive from a company that has failed to excite investors in recent years.

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But Google Inc. stood apart from its high-tech peers yesterday, reporting earnings that fell short of lofty Wall Street forecasts. The company’s stock fell about 9 per cent in after-hours trading after the company said it earned $9.50 (U.S.) per share in the fourth quarter, well short of the expected $10.49. The leading online advertising company still showed strong growth however, with revenues rising 25 per cent to $10.6-billion.

“It’s an issue of expectations,” said Colin Gillis, an analyst with BGC Partners in New York. “Expectations for Google were white-hot. The December quarter is typically Google’s best. They should be smashing records. For Microsoft, people were expecting a train wreck because of the market for personal computers.”

Microsoft eked out a modest profit gain, earning 78 cents per share – up just one cent from the year before, but two pennies ahead of expectations. But it still impressed investors by increasing its revenue 5 per cent over the same quarter a year earlier. Microsoft stock increased by 3 per cent in after-hours trading.

While demand for Microsoft’s core Windows products fell because of weak demand for PCs, sales in its business division, which sells Microsoft Office software to corporations, were $6.3-billion, up 2.8 per cent year-over-year. Operating income from the division was $4.2-billion, more than half of its total operating income.

“Office saved the day” for Microsoft, said Mr. Gillis. “It put up a monster quarter.”

For Microsoft – the one time 800-pound gorilla of the tech world that has seen its star fade in recent years as it has lagged others such as Google – it was a better-than-expected start to a year that CEO Steve Ballmer has said will be the corporation’s “reset moment.”

Analysts point to the company’s upcoming launch of its Windows 8 platform, which is designed to improve its weak position in the tablet and mobile market where it badly lags Apple Inc., and its strong product suite in other areas.

“Microsoft is at an interesting juncture because their product line has never been better,” said Roger Kay, a technology analyst with Endpoint Technologies in Wayland, Mass.

“They have a bunch of things doing very well. They still don’t have a lot of sex appeal, but I wouldn’t count them out. Their long-term franchises still have a lot of value.”

Meanwhile, computer services giant IBM reported a 4.4-per-cent increase in fourth-quarter profit on rising software demand and issued a bullish forecast for earnings in 2012. IBM has benefited from its command of the corporate market, and the fact its long-term contracts enable it to weather downturns better than other technology companies.

“IBM tends to be safer when the market is going through periods of volatility,” said RBC analyst Amit Daryanani.

The outlook for IT spending in 2012 remains tepid, but positive. Technology research firm Gartner recently forecast global IT spending would increase by 3.7 per cent in 2012 to $3.8-trillion, down markedly from the 6.9-per-cent increase registered last year.

Endpoint’s Mr. Kay said that during the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, “my sense was that for most companies, things were looking up, and on the mend a bit. They aren’t going gangbusters, but steady as she goes.

“[Corporate] buyers are back, and there’s a sense things are okay …There’s a sense we’re at the bottom, it’s not going down further and there’s positive growth ahead.”

With files from Bloomberg News

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 7:30PM EST

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Apple elbows into textbook market

OMAR El AKKAD AND TAMARA BALUJA

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:28AM EST

Marketing chief Phil Schiller introduces Apple's digital textbook service called iBooks 2. (SHANNON STAPLETON/REUTERS)

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Apple Inc. is leveraging its massive success in the mobile device market to disrupt the slow-moving but hugely lucrative textbook industry.

The world’s most valuable technology company announced Thursday a new version of its electronic book software, iBooks 2 for the iPad. The software comes with a new textbooks section, for which Apple has partnered with some of the biggest educational publishers in North America, including Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill Cos. and Pearson.

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Using iBooks 2, students will be able to purchase electronic, interactive versions of various academic textbooks for – in most cases – less than $15 (U.S.). In addition, Apple is releasing a free application that lets anyone with a Mac computer design their own textbooks, cookbooks or similar content.

Apple’s move comes at a time when the traditional textbook industry, although massive, is caught in a period of deep uncertainty. According to the Association of American Publishers, the textbook industry in the United States is worth about $10-billion. However, within the industry, fortunes have been deeply mixed. The Kindergarten to Grade 12 (K-12) category in particular has been hit hard. Between 2008 and 2010, net sales in the category dropped about 6.2 per cent, according to the AAP. McGraw-Hill, one of the largest educational publishers in the country, saw its third-quarter profit drop almost 4 per cent in October, largely owing to a slump in its education segment.

Much of the decline can be traced back to smaller state and federal education budgets. As a result of budget cuts, schools have been looking for ways to spend less on textbooks, presenting companies such as Apple with an opportunity to shake up the industry with cheaper digital textbooks.

In Apple’s view, the education market is ripe for disruption. The company is framing its new offering as a solution to the problem of static, bulky, expensive textbooks. But there are multiple reasons Apple stands to profit from replacing traditional textbooks with interactive versions designed specifically for the iPad.

For one thing, the new lower price point of Apple’s digital textbooks is likely to be offset by the boost in iPad sales, should schools buy into Apple’s ecosystem and adopt digital teaching materials on a large scale. In addition, a small number of publishers are responsible for a huge portion of the overall textbook market in North America, limiting the number of deals Apple needs to sign in order to reach a critical mass of content. Among them, the three big-name publishers with which Apple announced deals on Thursday produce about 90 per cent of textbooks sold in the United States.

“What Apple has announced today, it’s innovation,” said Robert Hayashi, chief executive officer of eBound Canada, a firm that helps independent Canadian publishers establish digital footprints. “And that’s always good for an industry.”

Coupled with Apple’s new iTunes U app – which lets educators manage entire courses and gives users access to free educational material from universities such as Harvard and Oxford – the iBooks software marks the company’s most potentially lucrative foray into the classroom since it began selling Macs to American schools more than 30 years ago. This time, however, Apple is leveraging the success of its tablet rather than its desktop computer. According to the company, there are already 1.5 million iPads in use at educational institutions.

“The vast majority of digital textbooks are not very innovative; they’re essentially print replicas with digital extensions like highlighting, search, and annotation,” noted Sarah Rotman Epps, a senior analyst with Forrester Research. “The iPad – which now outsells Macs in schools, according to Apple – is capable of much more than what has previously been produced, and Apple hasn’t been satisfied with the status quo.”

Rumours had spread for weeks that Apple would soon announce a product aimed at the educational market. Since the launch of the iPad, the company has repeatedly bragged about the tablet’s suitability for and adoption in classrooms. At the same time, traditional textbook publishers have been slow to transition to the mobile world at a time when publishers of other printed content – such as comic books and children’s books – have seized the opportunity to publish digital, interactive titles.

“I question why it’s taken so long to happen,” said Colin Harris, the curriculum consultant for the York Region District School Board. “But if anyone could open the gates and speed up the conversation with publishers, it’s Apple. People sit up and pay attention when such an influential company throws their weight behind this.”

But it remains to be seen whether all publishers and school systems are going to opt for cheaper digital books and – perhaps more important for Apple – agree to have much of their educational materials reside within Apple’s exclusive ecosystem.

“I’m sure there will be quite a few calls from our teachers who can’t wait to try it out and we’ll certainly experiment in small ways,” Mr. Harris said.

“But of course, there are some questions about cost, like do I need a device? If the cost of the textbook is $14.99 – which is way cheaper [than a standard printed textbook] – but then I need to also buy a $500 device, then I don’t know if it’s cheaper over all. School boards will need to have a very interesting conversation about that.”

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 7:02PM EST

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AAPL-Q 423.94 -3.81

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Video: Italian researchers see clean-up potential in oil slick robot

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:57AM EST

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Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 6:04PM EST

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Intel’s fourth quarter beats forecasts

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 5:41PM EST

A sign is posted at the Intel company headquarters on July 20, 2011 in Santa Clara, California. (Justin Sullivan/ AFP/Getty Images)

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Intel Corp’s quarterly results modestly beat Wall Street’s expectations as it faces a tough PC market, and the chipmaker said it was sharply increasing its capital expenditures in an apparent bid to speed up its entry into tablets and smartphones.

Intel warned last month that the damage wrought by flooding in Thailand – the world’s largest producer of computer drives – would curtail December-quarter earnings in a PC market already hit by a weak economy.

- Google results disappoint

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- Smart TV product launches set to grab trade show spotlight

Adding to its troubles, Intel has failed to find a foothold in smartphones and tablets, where processors based on ARM Holdings’ power efficient chip designs are widely used.

Rushing to speed up its development of competitive chips for smartphones and tablets, Intel said it would boost capital expenditures in 2012 to $12.5-billion, plus or minus $400-million. Last year its capital expenditures were $10.7-billion.

“The biggest surprise is the capex for the new year,” said Evercore Partners analyst Patrick Wang. “They’re investing to catch up and not only be at parity but exceed where the handset incumbents are.”

Lenovo and Motorola Mobility have agreed to use Intel’s new Medfield chip in upcoming smartphones, and investors are keen to see how the new devices do with consumers.

Intel’s main PC client group raised its revenue 17 per cent in the December quarter to $9-billion. Its revenues from selling server chips for data centers rose 8 per cent.

After flooding in Thailand ruined factories and sensitive machinery, shortages of the components are expected to persist through the first half of 2012 and disrupt PC production.

“Last quarter they underestimated the flood impact. I am wondering if they are still underestimating the Thailand flood impact, and the market’s ability to ramp back up to get to these numbers,” said RBC analyst Doug Freedman.

Upbeat earnings forecasts by Linear Technology, Xilinx and TSMC this week have made investors cautiously optimistic that a drawdown of inventories in the broader chip industry, including semiconductores used in automobiles, communications and factories, may be ending, clearing the way for higher sales.

SKINNY LAPTOPS

Hoping to safeguard its position in PCs, Intel this year will kick off its largest marketing campaign since 2003, with “Ultrabooks” – instant-on super-thin laptops it hopes can stand up to the likes of Apple’s Macbook Air, while giving off some of the technological chic the iPad and other tablets exude.

Fears of falling PC sales hurt the shares of Microsoft, Dell Inc and Intel for much of 2011. Intel’s stock has recovered over the past three months, partly due to the chipmaker’s relatively high 3.3 per cent dividend yield.

Still trading at a modest 10.8 times expected earnings, the shares recently hit a 52-week high.

Intel said revenue in the current quarter would be $12.8-billion, plus or minus $500-million. Analysts on average had expected current-quarter revenue of $12.770-billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The world’s leading chipmaker said revenue in the fourth quarter was $13.9-billion, up 21 per cent and slightly higher than the $13.718-billion expected.

GAAP net income in the fourth quarter was $3.4-billion, up 6 per cent. GAAP earnings per share were 64 cents. Analysts had expected 61 cents.

Intel had a gross margin of 64 per cent in the fourth quarter, with a non-GAAP gross margin of 65 per cent. Analysts on average expected 64.6 per cent.

Shares of Intel were unchanged after its earnings report from a close of $25.63, up 0.95 per cent on Nasdaq.

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 4:38PM EST

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Microsoft profit takes small hit

SEATTLE

SEATTLE - Reuters

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 6:55PM EST

Attendees at the National Retail Federation visit a Microsoft display earlier this month in New York. (Mark Lennihan/Associated Press)

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Microsoft Corp.’s fiscal second-quarter profit fell very slightly as lagging computer sales to cash-strapped consumers in the United States and Europe hurt its core Windows business.

Companies and emerging markets are still hungry for new PCs, according to the latest data, but customers in mature markets are ditching their Windows-powered netbooks in favour of Apple Inc.’s iPad, Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle or postponing a PC purchase until the economy improves.

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“There’s really three things that impacted the consumer side,” said Peter Klein, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, reflecting on the dip in computer sales.

“The supply chain from Thailand, there’s some macro [economic factors] and certainly some competition from alternative form factors such as tablets and readers.”

Tech research firm Gartner reported a 1.4-per-cent decline in global PC sales for the fourth quarter, aggravated by a shortage of hard disc drives caused by recent floods in Thailand.

Microsoft went further, estimating the PC market fell between 2 per cent and 4 per cent in the quarter, almost entirely due to the collapse in the market for netbooks, the small laptops which accounted for one in 12 PC sales last year.

As a result, Microsoft’s key Windows unit reported a 6-per-cent dip in sales to $4.7-billion. The situation shows no immediate signs of improvement.

The company warned that the disruptions in Thailand will continue to affect PC sales in the first part of this year, while it has yet to feel the benefit of new lightweight laptops – dubbed “Ultrabooks” by chip maker Intel Corp – which are just starting to hit stores.

There is also uncertainty over Windows 8, Microsoft’s new, tablet-friendly operating system, which is expected later this year but has no firm arrival date.

“The PC environment is tough and this is reflected in the results,” said Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry. “The question remains, what is going to be the growth catalyst? It’s still too early to say whether Windows 8 will be the answer because it won’t be released until later this year.”

Overall, the world’s largest software company reported net profit of $6.624-billion (U.S.), or 78 cents per share, compared with $6.634-billion, or 77 cents, in the year-ago quarter.

The per-share figure rose as Microsoft had fewer shares outstanding in the most recent quarter. It beat Wall Street’s average forecast of 76 cents.

Sales rose 5 per cent to $20.9-billion, in line with analysts’ forecasts, helped by its Office, server software and Xbox businesses.

The figure was also boosted by the first inclusion of revenue from Skype, the online phone firm Microsoft bought last year, and a one-time gain of $225-million from favourable foreign currency rates.

“The results are pretty much in line with my expectations. We all expected the PC market to be weak and the Windows business was down because of that. But the server and tools business is growing well,” said Sunit Gogia, an equity analyst at Morningstar.

Microsoft shares rose 3 per cent after hours to $28.95 after closing at $28.12 on Nasdaq. The shares are level with their price a year ago, compared with a 3-per-cent gain in the Nasdaq.

Microsoft’s other major units performed much better than Windows. The Office unit increased sales 3 per cent to $6.3-billion, helped by relatively strong business tech spending, which is holding up much better than consumer spending.

The server and tools unit, which provides the software and services behind Microsoft’s “cloud” – or Internet-centric computing platform – posted an 11-per-cent rise in sales to $4.8-billion.

The entertainment and devices unit reported 7 per cent higher sales, largely due to booming sales of the Xbox game console, which has been rejuvenated by its hands-free Kinect sensor add-on. Microsoft has yet to see any jump in revenue from the new range of Windows phones made by Nokia and others, which it is now rolling out.

Microsoft’s online services unit, a perennial money loser, posted a 10-per-cent gain in sales, as the Bing search engine grabbed more market share, now taking 15 per cent of U.S. Internet searches, just ahead of Yahoo Inc. but still well behind market leader Google Inc.

The online unit managed to cut its losses 18 per cent in the latest quarter to $458-million, helped by higher advertising sales. But Microsoft has lost more than $5-billion in the unit since it launched Bing in mid-2009, as it invests heavily to catch up with Google.

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 4:31PM EST

Companies mentioned in this article ( 1)

Company Price Change Volume

Microsoft

MSFT-Q 29.463 1.34

4.78% 102.26M

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Google results disappoint

Alexei Oreskovic

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 6:48PM EST

Google misses Street’s revenue target (AP)

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Google Inc. ’s quarterly results fell short of Wall Street’s heightened expectations for the holiday season as Europe’s economic malaise weighed, a rare miss that triggered a 9 per cent slide in its shares.

The No. 1 Internet search engine underperformed on both revenue and earnings in the fourth quarter, disappointing investors who had counted on record U.S. online-commerce to prop up results.

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Its shares dived to about $583 (U.S.) in after-hours trade. Several analysts zeroed in on an 8 per cent drop in cost-per-click, or money paid by advertisers to the company, versus analyst estimates of a slight increase.

“Expectations had got ahead of themselves for Google, largely because investors don’t have a good feel for what happens outside the U.S.,” said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan. “North America has remained strong, but there are parts of the world where there’s a lot of economic pressure.

“I would have to assume Europe – particularly Germany and some others undergoing austerity measures – the underlying demand in those countries is weak.”

Google’s net revenue, which excludes fees shared with partner websites, was $8.13-billion in the fourth quarter, against $6.37-billion a year earlier. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S were looking for $8.4-billion.

That shortfall marks an unusual slip-up for a company that has exceeded Wall Street’s revenue targets for eight consecutive quarters.

The number of clicks on Google’s search ads increased sharply during the last three months of the year, but the cost per clicks – the money that Google charges advertisers for the ads – decreased 8 per cent from the third quarter and 8 per cent from the year ago period.

Executives on a conference call blamed foreign currency effects and changes in ad quality formats.

Operating expenses increased to 32 per cent of revenue during the fourth quarter, from 30 per cent of revenue in the year-ago quarter.

Google said on Thursday it earned $2.71-billion, or $8.22 per share, in the fourth quarter, compared with $2.54-billion, or $7.81 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding certain items, Google earned $9.50 per share, lagging estimates for $10.49 a share.

Some analysts questioned whether Google was investing heavily on projects – such as its Android mobile software or Chrome Internet browser – at the expense of the bottom line.

Another new initiative – the fledgling Google+ – appeared to be gaining momentum. Executives said three-fifths of the service’s estimated 90 million users “engage” with it daily, and four-fifths do so weekly. User engagement or time spent on the social network, which Google hopes can eventually take on Facebook, is key to determining future revenue potential.

“Google+ investments are showing some results. They are investing in future revenue growth,” said Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry.

For now, Wall Street wants answers on Google’s mobile strategy as it dives into a fiercely competitive smartphone market through its $12.5-billion acquisition of Motorola.

Investors have been uneasy about Google’s plans to buy Motorola, a deal the companies expect to close early this year. Chief executive officer Larry Page has never fully detailed his long-term strategy for the asset other than saying it will be run as a separate company. Analysts say the company fears alienating Samsung Electronics and other Motorola rivals that helped Android become the world’s foremost mobile-software system.

Executives said more than 250 million devices powered by Android had been activated since its inception.

“Google got hit with the ugly stick,” said Fort Pitt Capital analyst Kim Forrest. “You’ve got to ask yourself, ‘Where is the money going? What are they spending it on?’ I have a feeling it is on platforms like Chrome and Android, and things like that.”

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 4:21PM EST

Companies mentioned in this article ( 1)

Company Price Change Volume

Google

GOOG-Q 587.27 -52.30

-8.18% 6.23M

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U.S. Justice Department website attacked after Megaupload.com shut down

MATTHEW BARAKAT

McLEAN, Va. - The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:41AM EST

This undated image obtained by The Associated Press shows the homepage of the website Megaupload.com before it was shut down by U.S. prosecutors. (AP)

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One of the world’s most popular file-sharing sites was shut down Thursday, and its founder and several company officials were accused of facilitating millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content.

A federal indictment accused Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders at least $500-million in lost revenue. The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to make it easier for authorities to go after sites with pirated material, especially those with overseas headquarters and servers.

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The news of the shutdown seemed to bring retaliation from hackers who claimed credit for attacking the U.S. Justice Department’s website. Federal officials confirmed it was down Thursday evening and that the disruption was being “treated as a malicious act.”

A loose affiliation of hackers known as “Anonymous” claimed credit for the attack. Also hacked was the site for the Motion Picture Association of America and perhaps others.

Megaupload is based in Hong Kong, but some of the alleged pirated content was hosted on leased servers in Ashburn, Va., which gave federal authorities jurisdiction, the indictment said.

The Justice Department said in a statement said that Kim Dotcom, 37, and three other employees were arrested Thursday in New Zealand at the request of U.S. officials. Three other defendants are at large.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which defends free speech and digital rights online, said in a statement that, “This kind of application of international criminal procedures to Internet policy issues sets a terrifying precedent. If the United States can seize a Dutch citizen in New Zealand over a copyright claim, what is next?”

Before Megaupload was taken down, it posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were “grotesquely overblown.”

“The fact is that the vast majority of Mega’s Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the DOJ said its web server for justice.gov was “experiencing a significant increase in activity, resulting in a degradation in service.” It was working to fix it and “investigate the origins of this activity, which is being treated as a malicious act until we can fully identify the root cause of the disruption,” the agency’s statement said.

A spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America said in an emailed statement that the group’s site had been hacked, although it appeared to be working later in the evening.

“The motion picture and television industry has always been a strong supporter of free speech,” the spokesman said. “We strongly condemn any attempts to silence any groups or individuals.”

Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.

The company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Ms. Keys in 2010, as its CEO. He was not named in the indictment and declined to comment through a representative.

According to the indictment, Megaupload was estimated at one point to be the 13th most frequently visited website on the Internet. Current estimates by companies that monitor Web traffic place it in the top 100.

The five-count indictment, which alleges copyright infringement as well as conspiracy to commit money laundering and racketeering, described a site designed specifically to reward users who uploaded pirated content for sharing, and turned a blind eye to requests from copyright holders to remove copyright-protected files.

Continue Reading

For instance, users received cash bonuses if they uploaded content popular enough to generate massive numbers of downloads, according to the indictment. Such content was almost always copyright protected.

The site boasted 150 million registered users and about 50 million hits daily. The Justice Department said it was illegal for anyone to download pirated content, but their investigation focused on the leaders of the company, not end users who may have downloaded a few movies for personal viewing.

A lawyer who represented the company in a lawsuit last year declined comment Thursday. Efforts to reach an attorney representing Dotcom were unsuccessful.

Megaupload is considered a “cyberlocker,” in which users can upload and transfer files that are too large to send by email. Such sites can have perfectly legitimate uses. But the Motion Picture Association of America, which has campaigned for a crackdown on piracy, estimated that the vast majority of content being shared on Megaupload was in violation of copyright laws.

The website allowed users to download some content for free, but made money by charging subscriptions to people who wanted access to faster download speeds or extra content. The website also sold advertising.

The indictment was returned in the Eastern District of Virginia, which claimed jurisdiction in part because some of the alleged pirated materials were hosted on leased servers in Ashburn, Va. Prosecutors there have pursued multiple piracy investigations.

Steven T. Shelton, a copyright lawyer at the Cozen O’Connor firm in New York, said opponents of the legislation are worried the proposals lessen the burden for the government to target a wide variety of websites. Shelton said he expects to see the government engage in more enforcement in the future, as technology makes it easier to catch and target suspected pirates.

“I think we’ll be seeing more of this,” he said. “This is just the beginning.”

Mr. Dotcom, a resident of both Hong Kong and New Zealand, and a dual citizen of Finland and Germany, made more than $42-million from the site in 2010 alone, according to the indictment.

Mr. Dotcom had his name legally changed. He was previously known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor. He is founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer of Megaupload.

Officials estimated it could be a year or more before Mr. Dotcom and the others arrested in New Zealand are formally extradited.

The others arrested were Finn Batato, 38, a citizen and resident of Germany, the company’s chief marketing officer; Mathias Ortmann, 40, a citizen of Germany and resident of both Germany and Hong Kong, who is the chief technical officer, co-founder and director; and Bram van der Kolk, aka Bramos, 29, a Dutch citizen and resident of both the Netherlands and New Zealand, who oversees programming.

The men appeared briefly in an Auckland, New Zealand court on Friday and were remanded in custody until Monday for a bail hearing.

“We have nothing to hide,” Mr. Dotcom said from the dock after his lawyer opposed media cameras in the court, reported New Zealand media.

Still at large are Julius Bencko, 35, a citizen and resident of Slovakia, the site’s graphic designer; Sven Echternach, 39, a citizen and resident of Germany, head of business development; and Andrus Nomm, 32, a citizen of Estonia and resident of both Turkey and Estonia, head of the development software division.

Several sister sites were also shut down, including one dedicated to sharing pornography files.

With a file from Reuters

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 2:46PM EST

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Cracking the Apple code of success

RICHARD WATERS

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:40AM EST

An iPad 2 displays Apple's website in honour of Steve Jobs. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)

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Inside Apple: The Secrets Behind the Past and Future Success of Steve Jobs’s Iconic Brand,

by Adam Lashinsky, Business Plus, $26.99 (U.S.)

How do you make a book about Apple Inc. interesting if it isn’t about Steve Jobs? Adam Lashinsky, a senior editor from Fortune magazine, has taken on that difficult-sounding mission, with somewhat predictable results. His effort to explain how the Apple machine really functions is like trying to lift the veil on a master conjuror’s secrets: the humdrum mechanics that lie behind the tricks can never be as interesting as the magic.

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Yet even if it doesn’t have the allure of Walter Isaacson’s recent best-selling biography of Mr. Jobs, Inside Apple still starts out with a worthwhile goal. The world’s second-most valuable company (after Exxon) has always fought hard to stay out of business school case studies.

Mr. Lashinsky, however, promises to “decode [Apple’s] secret systems.” If there is a formula here, it is surely something that is worth distilling and conveying for the edification of aspiring managers everywhere.

So let’s cut to the chase. There is, in the end, little mystery. The things that make Apple tick, according to this account, are deceptively simple to sum up: a single-minded focus on products, a relentlessly performance-driven culture that does not allow for failure, and a marketing and advertising function honed to send clear, simple messages, from the TV ads to the famous Jobs keynotes.

Many managers would lay claim to being inspired by the same or similar goals. The difference with the Apple that Mr. Jobs created is that it actually seems to have lived by them.

Mr. Lashinsky’s account rings true in its analysis of how Apple has been willfully oblivious to current management orthodoxies (there is none of the fashionable pursuit of employee “empowerment” in Mr. Jobs’ draconian management style). It is in the detail that the book disappoints. Without direct contributions from the company’s senior executives, and often stitched together from interviews with former executives and anonymous sources, it feels like snatching a glimpse through a half-closed blind.

Among the more interesting issues discussed here is how Apple has managed to maintain its ability to come up with bold products and create entirely new markets, even as it has grown to become a seriously big multinational concern.

The company has organized itself along functional lines, not into separate business units. No executive other than the chief financial officer has responsibility for a profit and loss account.

According to Mr. Lashinsky, that has produced a tight group of narrowly focused experts who each do their one thing really well. Such a system runs smoothly, of course, when there is a strong manager to keep the all-stars in line.

This points to the big question that hangs over the book, as it does over Apple itself: Can the company possibly continue its recent string of successes without Mr. Jobs at the helm?

The Apple described here is clearly the projection of his personality. The chapter titles that claim to distill the secrets of Apple’s success – Embrace Secrecy, Focus Obsessively, and Overwhelm Friends/Dominate Foes – sound like a litany of the co-founder’s own, most obvious character traits.

By comparison, the final chapters ring hollow. There is little evidence that Mr. Jobs devoted himself to building a legacy with anything like the intensity he gave to creating his company’s products. And the Apple co-founder had no interest in inspiring copycats.

Members of the latest generation of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have taken to holding up Mr. Jobs as an inspiration. Whether this homage amounts to anything more than a pixel-perfect stylistic imitation is impossible to tell.

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 1:44PM EST

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Video: iPad, iPad, iPad, scam made one out of clay

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 1:51PM EST

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Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 12:40PM EST

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Investing

- Video: GE’s miss is bad for markets

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- CP’s Green promises results to ward off Ackman

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- Video: BNN Market Call's top picks

Video: GE’s miss is bad for markets

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:42PM EST

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Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:37PM EST

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Suncor Energy stock enters period of seasonal strength

Lou Schizas

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:34PM EST

A pedestrian is reflected in a Suncor Energy sign in Calgary, Monday, Feb. 1, 2010. (Jeff McIntosh/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

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Hello,

What are your thoughts on Suncor? I am very intrigued by the current price per share versus its 52-week high. Any thoughts would be very much appreciated!

Thanks, Darryl

Hey Darryl,

I last ran the charts for Suncor Energy Inc. on Nov. 19, 2010. The assignment came from Ed and at the time the stock was trading for $33.59. It was suggested that the shares were building a base and that the stock was coming into its period of seasonal strength. In addition it was advised that $32.00 would be a good entry point.

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My mentor Steve Kalil taught me that the bigger the base the better the case for an investment. Once a stock breaks out above of its base, and building resistance, there is money to be made. In this case that is exactly what happened. However, this was not buy-and-hold investment but a case of capturing profits when available.

An examination of the charts will help inform the opportunities and risks associated with SU.

The three-year chart tells the tale of a stock that built a base in 2010 and ran from $32.50 in late November to a high of $47.50 by March of 2011. A sweet 46.15 per cent return in four months. But that was all that the shares had to give.

From the March high SU proceeded to shred capital all the way to $23.97. Ouch! That has to hurt! Once again an object lesson in capturing profits when available and not getting married to a story.

The MACD and RSI have both generated some nice buy and sell signals over the last six months. At this moment the RSI is moving into overbought territory and the MACD seems to be flattening out. The big test going forward is resistance along the 200-day moving average. If it gets and stays above that level then there is hope for a further advance.

With energy stocks entering a period of seasonal strength that will run until May, it’s a good time to make a move if you are so inclined. Just remember that the trend is your friend till it ends!

Make it a profitable day and happy capitalism!

Have your own question for Lou? Send it in to lschizas@globeandmail.com.

Visit his website Happycapitalism.com

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:31PM EST

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Video: Investors urged to consider emerging markets

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 1:01PM EST

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Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:30PM EST

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CP’s Green promises results to ward off Ackman

JACQUIE McNISH and BRENT JANG

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:55AM EST

Fred Green president and chief executive of Canadian Pacific Railway. (TODD KOROL/REUTERS)

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Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. chief executive officer Fred Green said the company is accelerating its strategic overhaul and expects to sharply improve the freight carrier's operating performance within three years.

In a letter to employees Friday, Mr. Green said the company’s board met recently with a number of its shareholders to reassure them that it is “holding all employees accountable” to deliver on a plan to bring the Calgary-based railway’s operating performance in line with its peers.

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CP ranks as the least efficient of North America’s Big Six railways with operating costs equalling 82.4 per cent of its revenue in the first nine months of 2011. Mr. Green said in his letter that “we have the right plan in place to achieve an operating ratio in the low 70s in the next three years, with further benefits to be realized in 2015 and beyond.”

New York activist Bill Ackman and his hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management LP have launched a proxy contest to elect a minority of new directors at CP and replace Mr. Green with Hunter Harrison, the former CEO of Canadian National Railway Co., the industry’s most efficient freight carrier.

Mr. Green said “contrary to what Pershing Square has stated,” it is not possible for the CP to lower its operating ratio to 65 per cent by 2015.

“This pace of improvement, from this starting point, has never been achieved by any railway management team. In fact, it took Hunter Harrison seven years to lower CN’s OR from 75 to 65 during a strong economic period and one in which CN significantly grew revenues through acquisitions,” he said.

Mr. Green said his views have been endorsed by Ed Harris, a former top CN executive who joined CP’s board of directors last month.

In a testimonial contained in Mr. Green’s letter, Mr. Harris said Montreal-based CN has “twice the proportion of sidings and double track,” while “CP has to contend with greater geographic challenges” because of steeper grades through the Rockies.

Sidings, which are sections of track located to the side of main rail lines, give workers more flexibility to repositioning trains quickly.

Mr. Green said CP’s customers have been receptive to the railway’s efficiency plans. “These productive relationships are key drivers of our company’s growth, as demonstrated by the progress we have achieved in our grain, coal, potash, crude oil and merchandise businesses,” he wrote.

His letter also carried testimonials from Jim Prokopanko, CEO at potash producer and marketer Mosaic Co., and Don Lindsay, CEO at coal miner Teck Resources Ltd.

“As CP’s largest customer, we’ve been pleased with their dedication to ensuring that we get the rail service we need and their deep understanding of our current and long-term needs,” Mr. Lindsay said.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:23AM EST

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Company Price Change Volume

Canadian Pacific Railway

CP-T 71.37 -1.23

-1.69% 328,485

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Mega Brands drops Lego suit

BERTRAND MAROTTE

Montreal - Globe and Mail Update

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:25AM EST

A photo illustration of Lego vs. Mega Blok photographed in the studio at the Globe and Mail in Toronto. (Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)

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Canadian toymaker Mega Brands Inc. has withdrawn its lawsuit in a California court alleging that Danish rival Lego AS was using trademark laws in the U.S. to protect its famous mini-bricks from competition.

Montreal-based Mega Brands said Friday it has reached a “satisfactory conclusion to legal matters” and pulled its legal action against Lego in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California.

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Mega Brands said its decision came after it received formal assurances from U.S. authorities that there will be no interference with the importation of any Mega Brands products into the U.S.

One week ago, Mega Brands filed its suit, seeking to invalidate Lego’s 1999 functional U.S. trademark, after the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency advised it that it could be subject to restrictions on the importation of some of its products.

Mega Brands alleged in the suit that its exports to the U.S. are crucial to its business and that customers – including giant Toys-R-Us – were warned this month that some Mega Brands products could be held by U.S. Customers “because of a complaint by Lego.”

Mega Brands had been seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in order to ensure its products sold in the U.S. are not affected by Lego’s trademark claims.

Lego’s patents to the iconic eight-studded plastic construction block expired more than 20 years ago, with courts in several countries striking down its claims that the construction toy is protected and that no one can make interlocking bricks using the same pattern.

Privately held Lego has been fighting off a commercial challenge from Mega Brands and other construction-toy makers in the building-block sector for years.

It lost its patent protection in 1978 but has continued to assert its legal rights using trademark and other laws.

In September 2010, the European Court of Justice said Lego cannot use trademarks to protect the shape of its colorful blocks.

The two rows of studs on the top of the bricks serve a “technical function” and thus cannot be trademarked, the court ruled.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:59AM EST

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Company Price Change Volume

MEGA Brands

MB-T 8.35 0.50

6.37% 17,902

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Connacher hires Goldman to review strategic options

CALGARY - The Canadian Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:55AM EST

Richard Gusella resigned recently as president and CEO of Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd. (Chris Bolin/for The Globe and Mail)

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Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd. announced Friday that U.S. investment banker Goldman Sachs has been hired to help the company explore its strategic options.

The move by the Calgary oil sands developer comes in the wake of the abrupt departures in recent weeks of many of Connacher’s top executives, including CEO Dick Gusella just over a week ago.

- Connacher CEO exits company after shakeup

- Connacher Oil’s strategy shift leaves shareholders fuming

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Those changes came less than a month after the firm rejected an unsolicited takeover offer from an unnamed company.

Some of Connacher’s biggest shareholders had urged the sale, but Mr. Gusella was against it and there has been speculation the earlier management shake-up was the result of a disagreement over the sale.

Meanwhile, Connacher says it continues to experience strong financial results and has sufficient liquidity to meet all of its current financial obligations and to fund its 2012 capital program.

However, it says the board has initiated a process to review Connacher’s business plan and to consider all strategies available, both near and long term.

As far as the strategic review is concerned, the company said it does not intend to make any further announcements until the board has approved “a particular course of action or otherwise deems disclosure of developments is appropriate.”

“In the meantime, the company would like to reassure shareholders and other stakeholders that the company’s day-to-day operations are stable with no compromise in operating activities,” it said.

Connacher’s primary asset is its 100 per cent ownership of bitumen reserves and production from two steam-assisted gravity drainage, or SAGD, projects – Pod One and Algar, at its Great Divide oil sands lease block in northeastern Alberta.

Connacher also owns and operates a profitable 9,500 barrels per day heavy crude oil refinery in Great Falls, Mont., and conventional lands, reserves and production in central Alberta.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:48AM EST

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Soft CPI data silence roars of the inflationistas

KEVIN CARMICHAEL

WASHINGTON - Globe and Mail Blog

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:49AM EST

An Atwater Market bakery in Montreal. The rise in food prices abated as 2011 came to an end. (Christinne Muschi/The Globe and Mail)

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The year 2011 was marked by loud shouting on the part of inflationistas over how loose monetary policy was destined to stoke a spike in prices. That shouting should continue this year because that destiny has yet to arrive.

Canadian headline inflation plunged in December, to an annual rate of 2.3 per cent in December from 2.9 per cent in November. The drop was the result of significantly lower prices for gasoline and automobiles, Statistics Canada said in its monthly report Friday. The acceleration in the price of food also slowed at the end of 2011, to an annual increase of 4.4 per cent from 4.8 per cent in November.

- Annual inflation falls sharply to 2.3%

- U.S. consumer prices flat, core inflation muted

- Global economy will take $700-billion hit, Bank of Canada predicts

- Photo Gallery Food prices help pace drop in inflation

Inflation pressures also eased at the year in the United States, the Labor Department said Thursday. Combined, the reports are vindication for the Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve. As consumer prices rose through the middle of 2011, central bankers said the increase would be transitory, as it was rooted in a temporary jump in commodity prices. Things could change, but the initial data argues in the central banks’ favour.

Central bankers are confident that inflation will remain muted because there isn’t enough consumer demand to bid prices higher. Producers and retailers might like to charge more for their products to absorb higher input costs, and some have marked up prices. But there’s a limit to that in an economy marked by elevated unemployment and stagnant wages.

In Canada, the price of passenger vehicles dropped 0.2 per cent in December on an annual basis after jumping 1.8 per cent the month before. Clothing costs plunged 4.3 per cent, reflecting holiday discounting that was steeper than typical.

Declines of this magnitude might cause worry of deflation at first glance. Adjusted for seasonal factors, the plunge is less severe. Seasonally adjusted, the drop in clothing was 0.1 per cent. The headline consumer price index dropped 0.2 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis.

However, the overarching storyline remains the same: the only pressure on the Fed and the Bank of Canada is coming from the hecklers in the audience. Perhaps someday the inflationistas will be proven correct, but for now, the data just isn’t on their side.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:04AM EST

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Direct Energy quits Toronto for Houston

Staff

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:40AM EST

Chris Weston, CEO of Direct Energy in Canada. (Peter Power/The Globe and Mail)

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Direct Energy is moving its head office from Toronto to Houston, citing “thriving” and competitive energy markets in Texas and the northeastern United States and the failure of Ontario to open up.

The company, which has been based in Toronto for more than a decade, said it will take a year to 18 months to complete the move. About 500 jobs will be affected, said spokeswoman Hillary Marshall. About 300 of those jobs will be recreated in Texas, and some Canadians will be asked to relocate but “that will be limited.”

- Direct Energy gains assets from Shell Canada

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Many of Direct Energy’s operations are already based in Texas, where the company now employs more than 2,000 people.

“The relocation of our corporate head office to Houston will allow us to focus our attention on growth opportunities in the U.S. where competitive energy markets are thriving, particularly in Texas and the U.S. northeast region,” chief executive officer Chris Weston said in a statement.

“Over the last decade, Direct Energy has successfully pursued both acquisitive and organic growth in the U.S., entering more than 20 new markets in the last 12 months, and we will continue this strategy into 2012.”

Ms. Marshall did not mince words in an interview Friday, saying the company has advocated for change in Ontario for a decade.

Direct Energy wants the wholesale market opened fully to competition, and consumers allowed to make a choice, she said.

“The rates are regulated and the market still is utility-dominated,” Ms. Marshall said.

“We've invested over $1-billion in acquisitions over the past 18 months, and that's capital that's going to continue to follow competitive energy markets,” she added.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:16AM EST

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Today’s small-cap stocks to watch

Damien Lynch

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:01AM EST

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, January 17, 2012. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

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Grande Cache Coal Corporation provided an update with respect to its previously announced plan of arrangement with 1629835 Alberta Ltd. Grande Cache Coal, which was the most actively traded on the TSX yesterday and closed down nearly 6 per cent at $9.35, said it has no reason to believe that there is any merit to the allegations made in a report recently issued by Jonestown Research in respect of Winsway and has been assured by Winsway that the report is entirely without merit. Grande Cache Coal continues to work with Winsway and Marubeni Corporation to complete the Arrangement.

Connacher Oil and Gas Limited , which rose 3 per cent on Thursday, today announced its future plans. The company said its Board of Directors has initiated a process to review its business plan and to identify, examine and consider all strategies available to the company, both near and long term, in order to prudently determine the optimal course of action for the company. Goldman Sachs has been engaged to assist the Board of Directors in connection with this strategic review.

OceanaGold Corporation , which gained 1.5 per cent yesterday on the TSX, released its fourth quarter report for the quarter ended 31 Dec. 2011. Fourth quarter gold production was up 11 per cent on the previous quarter to 65,750 ounces bringing the total for fiscal year 2011 to 252,499 ounces. Fiscal year 2012 production guidance has been set at 230,000 to 250,000 ounces of gold at cash costs of $900 (U.S.) to $980 per ounce (assumes NZD/USD exchange rate of $0.80). With the start of production at Didipio, preliminary FY2013 production guidance is estimated to be 300,000 to 350,000 ounces of gold at cash costs of less than $500 per ounce (net of copper credits).

Fibrek Inc. announced that a hearing before the administrative tribunal with statutory jurisdiction in securities law and regulatory matters in the Province of Qubec, will be held on Feb. 1, 2, 3, 7 and 8, 2012 to consider the application filed by AbitibiBowater Inc. (Resolute Forest Products) and one of its affiliates for an order to cease trade Fibrek's shareholder rights plan, which was adopted on Dec. 19, 2011. Fibrek is preparing its submissions to the BDR to oppose Abitibi's application, which follows Abitibi's hostile insider bid for all of Fibrek's outstanding shares launched on Dec. 15, 2011.

Colorado Resources Ltd. announced it has received results from the 2011 exploration program completed on its 11,324 hectare Hit Property located approximately 27 kilometres north of Princeton, B.C. It reported Hit trench sampling returns values up to 11.9 g/t Au and 154.0 g/t Ag Over 0.75m. Colorado this week also announced that it has received the final results from its 2011 exploration program and planning is underway for an expanded 2012 exploration program on its Oro Property, MacMillan Pass, Yukon.

Compliance Energy Corporation reported the assay results of 17 diamond drill holes from the company's drilling program at NIC project, approximately 10 kilometres southwest of Port Alice, British Columbia. Highlights of the 2011 drilling program include hole NICS-04 which returned an intercept of 0.747 per cent Cu (copper) and 0.213 g/t Au (gold) over 18.4 metres including 2.532 per cent Cu and 0.666 g/t Au over 4.4 metres.

Maker of major airframe structures Avcorp Industries Inc. announced late Thursday the delivery of the first F-35 Carrier Variant Outboard Wing production unit intended for in-service operation. Avcorp President and CEO Mark Van Rooij said: "This first delivery marks a critical milestone for the Company, our suppliers, the F35 Program and the Canadian Aerospace Industry here in lower mainland. The Outboard Wing is regarded as one of the most complex assemblies that the Canadian aerospace industry contributes to the F-35 program."

Mitec Telecom Inc. , which closed yesterday's session touching ayear low $0.005, announced today that it has signed a letter of intent for a combination with Optiway Inc. Jeffrey Mandel, President and CEO of Mitec, said: "The combination of Mitec, a TSX listed company with Optiway, a privately held Israeli company, has the potential to result in a successful global company with strong patented intellectual property, engineering capability, sales and marketing reach and capital market experience."

Abitex Resources Inc. announced today summary results of a preliminary economic assessment for the Lavoie uranium-gold deposit. Yves J. Rougerie, President and CEO of Abitex, said: "The results of this PEA confirm the robust nature of the resource at the Lavoie project and its excellent potential return on investment at this early stage of development and evaluation. These results support our view that the Lavoie project is a viable project with very good upside."

Entertainment solutions provider Amaya Gaming Group Inc. today announced that it has entered into a development and licensing agreement with a subsidiary of Australia-based gaming company Aristocrat Leisure Limited. The company said the 3-year agreement allows Amaya, through its wholly owned subsidiary Chartwell Technology, to adapt a number of Aristocrat gaming titles for use in online and video lottery terminal applications.

Guerrero Exploration Inc. announced it has now successfully staked an additional 42,682 hectares of highly prospective land known as the Cibola property in the Guerrero Gold Belt.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:01AM EST

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Wholesale trade drops unexpectedly in November

Ottawa - Reuters

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:01AM EST

Ford trucks reflected on the windows of a mini van at a Ford dealership in Mississauga in this file photo. (Fred Lum/Globe and Mail)

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Canadian wholesale trade unexpectedly dropped by 0.4 per cent in November from October, ending six months of consecutive month-on-month increases, Statistics Canada data indicated on Friday.

Market analysts had predicted a 0.5 per cent increase. The figure contrasts with healthy merchandise trade and manufacturing data for November.

- Annual inflation falls sharply to 2.3%

- Bouncing back from recession, Toronto leads Canada’s growth

- Factory sales rise 2% in November

Statscan said wholesale trade had been pulled down by a 4.4 per cent drop in the miscellaneous subsector, with agricultural supplies off by 8.2 per cent. Sales in the motor vehicles and parts subsector fell by 1.1 per cent.

Three of the seven subsectors, representing around 43 per cent of overall wholesale trade, posted declines. In volume terms, sales fell by 0.8 per cent from October.

Inventories fell by 0.1 per cent, the first decline in 11 months, while the inventory-to-sales ratio rose to 1.18 from 1.17 in October.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:44AM EST

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Google: investors are working blind

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:02AM EST

A woman walks past a tunnel of Google homepage logos at the Google campus near Venice Beach in Los Angeles in this January 13, 2012 file photo. (LUCY NICHOLSON/REUTERS)

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From the FT's Lex blog

Google is a hard company to understand. Not in the “so advanced and paradigm-smashing you can’t get your head around it” way, but in the “it doesn’t disclose very much about how its business works” way.

Investors can see revenues and profits, and a few operating statistics. Sometimes management deigns to toss ravenous investors a morsel of information about sales at the company’s newer businesses.

- Tech giants defy slump as corporate customers drive sales

- Google results disappoint

- Former RIM executive joins tech startup Desire2Learn

On Thursday’s earnings call, it was announced that display advertising sales are headed for $5-billion a year (perhaps 15 per cent of Google’s total), and that there are now 250 million mobile devices running the Android operating system. Last quarter it was revealed that mobile ads were set to generate $2.5-billion in sales a year. How these pieces fit together is, alas, a matter of guesswork. How much of the display advertising comes from mobile? How much mobile revenue derives from Android devices as opposed to iPhones and iPads? How profitable are mobile ads?

The shortage of information give Google’s results a tendency to surprise, and on Thursday the surprise was, unusually, negative.

Google reported top- and bottom-line results that were short of expectations. Causing particular consternation was an unexpected drop in one of the stats Google does break out, the price advertisers pay every time an ad is clicked on, which fell 8 per cent.

Management said that currency effects and a change in mix toward lower-cost, higher volume ad formats drove the drop -- and an acceleration in growth of clicks bears this out. And while total revenue growth did decelerate for the first time in four quarters, it is still running at 25 per cent, pretty good for a company trading under 15 times forward earnings. And operating margins expanded a bit. Shares dropped nearly a 10th in the after-market. Investors working blind are flighty.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:19AM EST

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Google

GOOG-Q 587.27 -52.30

-8.18% 6.18M

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U.K. retailers get Christmas boost from discounting

David Milliken and Sven Egenter

London - Reuters

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:19AM EST

Shoppers hold Tesco and Sainsbury's supermarket carrier bags in London October 5, 2011. (LUKE MACGREGOR/Reuters)

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British retail sales rebounded strongly in December as stores slashed prices to get customers through the door, boosting hopes the economy avoided recession at the end of 2011 even if the outlook remains poor.

Before the data, economists were forecasting that British output contracted 0.1 per cent in the last three months of 2011 and the first three months of 2012, which would put the country in a mild recession.

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This would be a blow to Conservative finance minister George Osborne, increasing public doubts about the government’s five-year plan to largely erase Britain’s big budget deficit.

However, the figures from the Office for National Statistics on Friday increase the chances the economy skirted contraction at the end of last year. Retail sales volumes grew by 0.6 per cent in December after a 0.5 per cent drop in November, driven by rises in clothing and food sales.

On the year, sales were 2.6 per cent up -- the biggest rise since the start of 2011 -- and sales growth in the three months to December, the relevant period for fourth-quarter GDP, was the highest since August 2010.

“The increase in retail sales volumes in December boosts hopes that the economy avoided contraction in the fourth quarter,” said Howard Archer, the chief UK economist at consultancy IHS Global Insight.

Nonetheless, Mr. Archer and others warned December’s strong performance may prove to be a flash in the pan.

2011 has proven a grim year for many retailers, with well-known brands such as discount clothing chain Peacocks, shoe store Barratts and outdoor goods retailer Blacks Leisure all going into administration.

A consumer confidence measure from Nationwide showed morale was near the lowest in the survey’s 7-year history last month, as shoppers worried about the outlook for 2012, which is darkened by rising unemployment and the euro zone debt crisis.

A number of one-off factors pushed up retail sales in December, including earlier-than-usual discounting by clothing retailers and a favourable annual comparison with December 2010, when heavy snow disrupted trade.

“This modest spike in sales came at considerable cost to retailers, many of whom started aggressive price promotions as early as November,” said James McGregor, director of retail consultancy Retail Remedy. “Many clothing retailers have already been forced into clearance mode to shift unsold stock.”

December’s retail price deflator -- a measure of inflation -- slumped to an annual 2.4 per cent from 3.6 per cent in November, the lowest level since August 2010 and the biggest one-month drop since October 2008.

This will be some comfort to the Bank of England, which hopes big falls in inflation in 2012 will boost real household spending and also enable it to carry on with its program of quantitative easing asset purchases.

Most economists expect it to announce another 50 billion pounds of asset buys in February when the current £75-billion round is complete.

BoE policymaker Ben Broadbent said in an interview published just before the data that Britain’s economy was “broadly flat” and growth was likely to be volatile for much of 2012 .

Some retailers see grounds for optimism, due to lower raw material costs and BoE forecasts that inflation will fall sharply from its current level of 4.2 per cent.

The finance director of Associated British Foods, which owns discount clothing chain Primark, told Reuters on Thursday that inflation pressures were easing.

And on Friday, upmarket department store and supermarket chain John Lewis reported total sales in the week to Jan. 14 were 9.9 per cent up on a year earlier.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:17AM EST

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Officials suggest slashing VIA Rail service, partial sale

Michael Babad

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:25PM EST

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These are stories Report on Business is following Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. Get the top business stories through the day on BlackBerry or iPhone by bookmarking our mobile-friendly webpage.

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Changes eyed to VIA Rail

The Canadian government is studying the possibility of slashing services on VIA Rail, or selling part of the railway, Bloomberg News reports today, though officials say there are no immediate plans for privatization.

The news agency quotes a briefing note done for Transport Minister Denis Lebel, which it obtained under access-to-information laws, and notes that VIA chalked up an operating loss of more than $260-million in 2010. Revenue slipped and expenses climbed.

According to the note, officials are studying "several options for future support for passenger-rail services" that could include "significant reductions" in service and a partial sale. The briefing note also points out that VIA "regularly requires additional funding to cover shortfalls" and that "privatization and public sector partnerships in the Quebec City-Windsor corridor are being assessed."

The document was written by officials for the minister, and a spokesman for Mr. Lebel told Bloomberg there are no plans to privatize the rail services. Officials can offer suggestions, he said, but Mr. Lebel makes the decisions.

At the same time, there are suggestions to boost service between Quebec City and Windsor, Ont., though, given the high cost of a high-speed rail route, that's not a priority, the spokesman told Bloomberg.

- VIA Rail puts seats on sale for January

CP pledges better times

The CEO of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. says the company is accelerating its strategic overhaul and expects to sharply improve the freight carrier's operating performance within three years.

In a letter to employees today, Fred Green said the board met recently with a number of its shareholders to reassure them that it is “holding all employees accountable” to deliver on a plan to bring the Calgary-based railway’s operating performance in line with its peers, The Globe and Mail's Jacquie McNish and Brent Jang report.

New York activist Bill Ackman and his hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management LP have launched a proxy contest to elect a minority of new directors at CP and replace Mr. Green with Hunter Harrison, the former CEO of Canadian National Railway Co.

- CP's Green promises results to ward off Ackman

Inflation dips

Incomes may be stagnating and debts rising, but at least the pace of consumer price increases is slowing, driven down by holiday bargains.

Consumer prices fell 0.2 per cent in December from a month earlier, seasonally adjusted, Statistics Canada said today, slowing the annual inflation rate to 2.3 per cent, down from 2.9 per cent in November.

The so-called core rate, which excludes volatile items and helps guide the Bank of Canada, also eased, to 1.9 per cent from 2.1 per cent.

The biggest factors behind the decline were slower price hikes at the gas pump, lower car prices, and a slacker pace of increase in food prices.

"The bottom line is quite straightforward - this year’s holiday shopping season saw incredibly intense discounting, and almost across the board," said deputy chief economist Douglas Porter of BMO Nesbitt Burns.

"Even the auto dealers got into the act. Soggy consumer confidence clearly prompted some heavy duty price cuts in discretionary goods. On top of that, Canadians also got a slight break on food and gas prices. The question now is whether this is maintained – we suspect that this will prove to be a one-month wonder, and inflation will nudge back up next month."

There was little in today's report that would change the Bank of Canada course, which is basically one of wait and see while global developments play out.

Continue Reading

"We continue to expect the BoC to remain on hold for now despite the surprising ramp down in December inflation and the BoC’s recently pared down outlook for 2012," said senior economist Krishen Rangasamy of National Bank Financial.

"Assuming a European-led financial crisis is averted, a pause seems appropriate given the tighter output gap and the BoC’s repeated concerns about the ramp up [in] household debt."

- Annual inflation slides to 2.3 per cent

- Kevin Carmichael's Economy Lab: Soft CPI data silence roars of the inflationistas

Greek talks drag on

Greece continues to slug it out with its creditors today as markets watch anxiously as the clock ticks. If talks with the bondholders fail, a default is likely.

Reports from Athens indicate the two sides are inching toward a deal, after talks broke down last week.

The suggestion is that the two sides must reach agreement today, ahead of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday. But deadlines come and go in the 17-member monetary union, and we've been here many times before.

More important is a looming payout to holders of €14.5-billion in paper that matures in March.

"Weighing on [the euro] in the European session are reports of tensions between Germany and Italy, with the German finance minister reportedly asking Italy to stop avoiding a debt reduction strategy, and noting that there is no one simple solution to Europe’s problems," said senior currency strategist Camilla Sutton of Scotia Capital.

"The other major headlines are suggesting that there has been a voluntary agreement on Greek debt, with the new bonds carrying a 30-year maturity with a 3.1-per-cent coupon, which rises to 4.75 per cent over time."

- Greece, creditors edge closer to deal

Mega Brands drops suit

Canadian toymaker Mega Brands Inc. has withdrawn its lawsuit in a California court alleging that Danish rival Lego AS was using trademark laws in the U.S. to protect its famous mini-bricks from competition, The GLobe and Mail's Bertrand Marotte reports.

Mega Brands said its decision came after it received formal assurances from U.S. authorities that there will be no interference with the importation of any Mega Brands products into the U.S.

- Mega Brands drops Lego suit

Direct Energy moving to Texas

Direct Energy is moving its head office from Toronto to Houston, citing “thriving” and competitive energy markets in Texas and the northeastern United States and the failure of Ontario to open up.

About 500 jobs will be affected, said spokeswoman Hillary Marshall. About 300 of those jobs will be recreated in Texas, and some Canadians will be asked to relocate but “that will be limited.”

Ms. Marshall did not mince words in an interview today, saying the company has advocated for change in Ontario for a decade.

Direct Energy wants the wholesale market opened fully to competition, and consumers allowed to make a choice, she said.

- Direct Energy quits Toronto for Houston

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Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 7:38AM EST

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Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 7:37AM EST

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Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 7:34AM EST

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Top Polical Stories

- Former Toronto mayor, ‘Degrassi’ creator named to Order of Ontario

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Former Toronto mayor, ‘Degrassi’ creator named to Order of Ontario

Toronto - The Canadian Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:04AM EST

On Sept 17 2010, David Crombie was one of four former Toronto mayors gathered at the Globe and Mail to discuss the upcoming Toronto municipal elections. (Fred Lum / The Globe and Mail)

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A co-creator of the “Degrassi” TV franchise and a three-term Toronto mayor are among 27 people who'll be receiving the province's highest honour.

The Order of Ontario appointees are chosen for their contributions to the arts, law, science, medicine, history, politics, philanthropy and the environment.

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“Degrassi” producer Linda Schuyler, former Toronto mayor David Crombie, politician turned broadcaster John Tory and the other nominees will be invested at a ceremony on Jan. 26.

Lt.-Gov. David Onley says the Order of Ontario recognizes the greatest minds, forward-thinkers, humanitarians, activists and pioneers in the province.

Others being invested next Thursday include Thunder bay volunteer Catherine Colquhoun, Kingston physicist Arthur McDonald and retired Superior Court judge Ray Stortini of Sault Ste. Marie.

The Order of Ontario was created in 1986 and nominations are made by members of the public.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:00AM EST

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How Harper seized control of pipeline and health-care debates

JENNIFER DITCHBURN

OTTAWA - The Canadian Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 1:05PM EST

Prime Minister Stephen Harper holds a photo opportunity in his Parliament Hill office on Jan. 18, 2012. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

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Building a storyline that sticks helped the Conservatives sink two successive Liberal leaders and they are using the same strategy early in 2012 on a pair of major policy debates facing Canadians.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's team has attempted to leap out in front of its opponents and shape the narrative on the hot-button issues of health-care funding and oil pipeline construction.

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When Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver came out guns blazing over “environmental and other radical groups” and foreign interests who he said were trying to hijack the domestic debate, discussion immediately shifted away from the very concerns environmental groups have been voicing.

Critics and stakeholders were left struggling to poke holes in the government's logic – the involvement of Chinese interests in the process, for example – rather than leading the debate themselves.

Jim Armour, a vice-president at Ottawa public relations firm Summa and a former communications director for Mr. Harper, says the government cannily played a Canadian sovereignty card.

“I think by making this about foreign interests, U.S. money, not allowing ourselves to be held hostage by the U.S, the government's been very smart and been able not only to take advantage of an opportunity, but also take advantage of something Canadians are thinking anyway,” Mr. Armour said.

On the issue of federal health-care funding for the provinces, Mr. Harper caught the premiers flat-footed. Without warning or consultation, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced a new formula for health transfers into the future. Then, Mr. Harper really put the premiers on defence as he rejected their baleful, uncoordinated pleas for additional funds.

As they began a first ministers meeting this week, they were left reacting to Mr. Harper rather than setting the agenda for the debate themselves.

“I think it was incredibly well handled. The federal government and Minister Flaherty pretty well took health care off the agenda before any of the health stakeholders or even the provinces got to the table,” Mr. Armour said.

“If it was a bar fight, it was all over before anyone got their coat off.”

Ottawa lobbyist Geoff Norquay, who also once worked for Mr. Harper, agrees.

“[It] completely sidestepped everybody's expected narrative, and everybody's expectations as to how this particular issue would play out, and over many years,” Mr. Norquay said, noting Mr. Harper put the division of provincial-federal powers front and centre in the discussion.

The communications strategy bears some similarity to how the Conservatives handled the more strictly political issue of how to critically maim their opposition opponents.

Former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion was hobbled by the “Not a Leader” ad campaign, and his successor Michael Ignatieff was never able to recover from the “Just Visiting” motto that labelled him an arrogant dilettante.

Those portraits were painted by an ad campaign funded by the formidable Conservative Party war chest before Mr. Dion or Mr. Ignatieff ever had a chance to make their own first impressions on voters.

Mr. Armour says the Conservatives have put three main principles at the centre of their communications strategy: message discipline, acting on insight and opportunity.

The message control has been well documented. The insight comes from properly reading and analyzing the landscape and the players, and the opportunity is the moment that presents itself to act.

Mr. Harper's summit next week with Canada's first-nations leaders will be another big communications challenge for the Conservatives on a complex, sensitive policy issue.

Unlike with the pipeline and health-care funding stories, Mr. Harper was forced to react defensively to the crisis in Attawapiskat after it exploded in the media. The unified message that emerged from government was that it was dealing quickly with financial mismanagement on the reserve.

Human-rights lawyer Paul Champ, who represents some first-nations communities, said that despite some key underlying facts about Attawapiskat, the Tories managed to shape the story about the situation.

“Even those Canadians who don't see themselves as being racist or having racist stereotypes, I think the are definitely susceptible to that frame that first nations mismanage money, or that first-nations bands are irresponsible or are wasting money,” Mr. Champ said.

“I think those are regrettably very deeply rooted stereotypes in Canada. This government played on that.”

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:33AM EST

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Minister praises premiers but leaves no wiggle room on health funding

GLORIA GALLOWAY

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:36AM EST

Health Minister Leonoa Aglukkaq speaks at a Toronto news conference on March 10, 2011. (Peter Power/The Globe and Mail)

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Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq has responded to calls by provincial and territorial leaders to find innovative ways to make health-care work by listing the investments the Conservative government has made in medicare.

In letter sent Thursday to the premiers, Ms. Aglukkaq praises their efforts to work together but holds out no hope Ottawa is willing to contribute more than it has already promised to ensure the sustainability of the public health system.

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Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and Prince Edward Island Premier Robert Ghiz agreed while meeting with other premiers earlier this week to co-chair a working group to draft standards that will ensure innovations are shared between the country’s 13 separate health-care systems. It is an effort that will focus heavily on reducing labour costs.

Ms. Aglukkaq said in her letter that she welcomes the effort to form the Health Care Innovation Working Group and she agrees that more can be done together. She also reiterated her commitment to work with the provinces and territories to address shared priorities.

But she went on to point out that her government invests more than $1-billion in innovation through the Canada Institutes for Health Research, Canada Health Infoway and other programs supporting research and health human resources.

“This is in addition to our recently announced long-term, stable funding arrangement that will see transfers reach $40-billion by the end of the decade,” Ms. Aglukkaq wrote. “This stability and a shared commitment to innovation and accountability provide a solid foundation for our efforts to optimize the results of our health care investments.”

Some of the premiers had hoped to unite behind a call for a health-care innovation fund on top of the transfer payments mentioned by Ms. Aglukkaq in her letter. But Prime Minister Stephen Harper swiftly rejected that appeal on Monday, delivering the message through a television interview that the premiers learned about while they were meeting.

Ms. Aglukkaq writes that she would be pleased to “engage in intergovernmental discussions” with regard to innovation and improved accountability as well as a co-ordinated approach to measuring performance across the country.

But it is clear from her letter that the funding formula unilaterally determined by the federal government has no wiggle room.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 7:59AM EST

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Is Canada’s economy really dependent on global trade?

KEVIN CARMICHAEL

WASHINGTON - Globe and Mail Blog

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:44AM EST

The U.S. remains Canada’s biggest trade partner, but it accounts for 62 per cent of exports, compared with 69 per cent when using conventional data, according to a new Conference Board report. (Lyle Stafford for The Globe and Mail)

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Currency traders love the monthly import and export data, which provide an excellent guide of how much demand exists for dollars, euros, yen, francs and the like.

But for anyone seeking a more precise understanding of the dynamics of international trade, the data compiled by customs agents are about as about as relevant to a modern economy as carbon paper.

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The reason: supply chains. Virtually nothing is produced entirely within a single border anymore. Companies outsource everything from components to packaging. That means a good can cross a border several times on its way to becoming a final product. Each time, it’s value increases. That value is what the customs agent enters in his or her computer. But that inflates the actual contribution of that good to a country’s economy.

It is relatively early days, but some economists are trying to develop a more useful measure of international trade. Among them is the Conference Board of Canada, which Thursday released the first of three reports based on what it calls “value-added trade.” The report should be required reading in Ottawa. Its conclusions challenge much of what we think we know about the nature of Canada’s economy.

Conference Board economist Maxim Armstrong explains the concept this way: “Conventional trade measures record the value of a good or service when it crosses the border. In contrast, value-added trade measures would record only the amount by which a good or service has increased in value while passing through a specific country.”

This is no easy thing. There are no items branded “Made 40 per cent in the USA, 30 per cent in Canada, and 30 per cent in China.” The Global Trade and Analysis Project at Purdue University has created a database of input-output tables for the global economy. Input-output tables track the flow of goods and services as they pass through the value chain from raw materials to finished products. This data is compared with conventional trade data to estimate the import content of exports. The difference is the actual value derived in a particular country. (Mr. Armstrong recommends reading “Who Produces for Whom in the World Economy” for a thorough understanding of the concept, although his own explanation in the Conference Board paper is very lucid.)

Any interpretation of the Conference Board’s results must be tempered by the limitations of the GTAP database, which is only current to 2004. The world has changed a lot since then. Still, in Mr. Armstrong’s hands, the outline those data create of the Canadian economy is remarkably different from the one we think we know.

Canada is often described as a “small open economy” that is highly dependent on the vagaries of international trade. According to the Conference Board’s value-added analysis, that may not be so.

The value of trade shrinks for all countries when measured in value-added terms. But for Canada, the difference is more pronounced because it is one of the world’s bigger users of supply chains. Measured conventionally, trade represents 35 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product, 17th among the world’s 30 largest trading nations, according to the Conference Board. Measured on a value-added basis, that figure drop to 24 per cent of GDP, which drops Canada’s rank to 20th. That’s hardly the measure of an economy dependent on trade. Mr. Armstrong offers that as an explanation for why Canada withstood the global recession better than many expected it would.

Canada’s reliance on trade with the U.S. is diminished in the Conference Board study. The U.S. remains Canada’s biggest trade partner, but it accounts for 62 per cent of exports, compared with 69 per cent when using conventional data.

The value-added method also puts a stronger emphasis on services because it attempts to break out what went into the unit value captured in customs data. The Conference Board report estimates that services account for 40 per cent of Canadian trade when measured on a value-added basis, compared with 16 per cent when calculated using traditional methods.

“A clear understanding of trade patterns is necessary to make informed political and business decisions,” Mr. Armstrong writes.

The Conference Board findings reinforce the Harper government’s push for a free-trade agreement with the European Union that emphasizes services. But they also call into question whether a stronger U.S. economy is all that’s keeping Canada from stronger economic growth. If Canada is only the world’s No. 20 trader, then it might be more reliant on domestic demand than we realize. Something for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to consider as prepares for his next budget.

Economy Lab, winner of the 2011 Eppy Award for best business blog. Follow Economy Lab on twitter

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 6:40AM EST

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Management has warmed to work stoppages

JIM STANFORD

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 4:01PM EST

Canadian Auto Workers economist Jim Stanford.

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Business lobbyists used to express grave concern about the economic impact of strikes. Those concerns were always overstated; time lost in work stoppages has declined by 90 per cent from the 1970s. Nevertheless, companies traditionally complain that work stoppages damage sales, productivity and, of course, profits.

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Recently, however, business leaders have warmed to work stoppages. In the current bargaining environment, companies (especially multinational firms) hold the best cards. And executives are increasingly willing to precipitate their own work stoppages – through management lockouts – to enforce demands for lower wages and benefits.

Two New Year’s Day lockouts highlighted this strategy. U.S.-based Caterpillar Inc. locked out 450 locomotive builders in London, Ont., demanding wage cuts of more than 50 per cent. The same day, Rio Tinto, the U.K.-based mining giant, locked out 755 smelter workers in Alma, Que. That company’s demand to outsource all future bargaining-unit openings would ultimately achieve an even larger reduction in wages. In both cases, the future of middle-class incomes in our manufacturing and resource sectors is at stake. And in both cases, executives are willing to lock the doors until workers swallow their pill.

These are just the latest in a growing trend by employers to lock out their own workers. U.S. Steel used a 50-week lockout to dismantle the defined benefit pension plan for workers in Hamilton. Canada Post played the lockout card to precipitate back-to-work legislation from an obliging Harper government. And the City of Toronto is contemplating a lockout of thousands of civic employees to wrest concessions from the union.

Suddenly, business rhetoric about the costs of long work stoppages has been silenced. In the eyes of many employers, work stoppages – even long ones – are a small price to pay for driving down labour costs and boosting profit margins.

The popularity of lockouts reflects the dramatic tilting of the labour relations playing field in recent years. With unions on the defensive, management is eager to go for the jugular. Government has stood back or, worse, egged on the lockouts (as Ottawa did with Canada Post). Multinational firms are especially aggressive, given their ability (underwritten by free-trade agreements) to shift production and capital seamlessly between jurisdictions.

This trend is troubling, for macroeconomic as well as ethical reasons. As employers ratchet down compensation, income shifts from consumers (who spend every penny) to corporations (which sit on a growing pile of uninvested cash). That undermines aggregate spending and weakens the recovery. And the more employers succeed in driving down wages, the greater the danger of setting off a cycle of deflation in wages and prices (such as the one that bedevilled Japan for a decade).

So how should politicians respond to employers ready to lock out workers to slash compensation? Pushing the companies to treat Canadian workers fairly would be a start, rather than ratifying their actions with regulatory approvals, tax cuts and silence.

Labour law reforms could also play a role. Manitoba, for example, implemented an innovative provision in 2000 giving its labour board the authority to intervene in long disputes, including imposing arbitration when there’s an impasse. It’s been rarely invoked but has helped prevent all-out industrial warfare of the sort we’re seeing at Caterpillar and Rio Tinto. This would be a good time for other jurisdictions to consider similar legislation.

Jim Stanford is an economist with the Canadian Auto Workers, which represents the locked-out workers at the Caterpillar plant in London.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 2:00AM EST

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The politics of Harper’s medicare decision

JEFFREY SIMPSON

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:44AM EST

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A decade before medicare, the federal government financially supported hospitals across Canada; that came in 1957 under John Diefenbaker’s government. Ottawa used its spending power to bring in medicare in the late 1960s, negotiating conditions with the provinces for the money.

The 1984 Canada Health Act outlined five medicare principles that provinces had to respect; failure to do so could result in Ottawa’s withholding money. The prospect of losing federal money (and flying in the face of public opposition) enjoined provinces to end extra-billing by doctors and user fees for services.

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In recent decades, Ottawa always tried to tie some of its health-care money to certain objectives, usually with only fitful success. The last major money-tying effort came under the Paul Martin government, whose $41-billion in transfers over 10 years, indexed at 6 per cent annually, had a welter of federal-provincial commitments. When Stephen Harper was campaigning for the first time, he proposed a Patient Wait Times Guarantee linked to federal money.

Now, however, Mr. Harper is going to give money to the provinces (they got federal tax points for health care a long time ago, a transfer they never mention) without any strings, conditions or demands. It’ll be the first time since medicare began that a federal government has handed money over carte blanche.

Broadly speaking, two reasons explain his decision – one theoretical, one political.

Mr. Harper believes, when it suits his purposes, in a kind of classical federalism wherein the two levels of government more or less stay out of each other’s jurisdiction. He thinks Liberal governments abused Ottawa’s constitutional “spending power” to intrude into provincial jurisdiction, especially in social policy such as health care and daycare. Conservatives would rather use the federal tax system, or unconditional grants to the provinces, thereby respecting classical federalism.

The politics of his decision have been almost completely ignored, but they’re important for those who think about political angles all the time.

Health care is a political hornet’s nest. Governments can never spend enough money to satisfy those who want more health care in the form of more doctors and nurses, equipment, hospitals, community care, drug plans, research and so on. The less Ottawa has to do with health care, the easier the politics. Moreover, Conservatives have issues they think they own (crime, the economy, defence) and issues owned by others (health care, the environment) on which they essentially play defence. In these areas, they do enough to protect themselves but expend no political capital trying to persuade people to their point of view.

By offering health-care increases of 6 per cent for five years to the provinces, Mr. Harper has provided himself with a strong defence. He can say right through the next election that his government is spending at exactly the pace of the Paul Martin government. Who can complain about that?

The anticipated drop in indexing from 6 per cent to 4 per cent or 5 per cent thereafter won’t figure in the next election, since the decline is hardly momentous. Put simply, Mr. Harper is trying – and he’s likely to succeed – to take health care off the federal political agenda for the next four years, or at least give himself a plausible line of defence should it unexpectedly arrive.

Mr. Harper’s view of federalism has a flip side: a stronger federal role shaping the national economy. This necessary imperative underpinned his government’s attempt to create a national securities commission of the kind other industrialized countries use.

Provinces, except Ontario, rose up against the idea. Their Little Canada view of such matters hardly surprised anyone. They preferred the defence of their jurisdiction above the good of the national economy. The Supreme Court, made up of lawyers, looked at the issue after a federal reference as one of jurisdiction rather than the functioning of the national economy, and agreed with the Little Canadians.

In the space of a few weeks, then, Canada got a political decision from Ottawa to abandon all attempts to influence the country’s most important social program, and a judicial decision to abandon an effort to improve the functioning of its internal economy.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 2:00AM EST

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The last thing we need is another foreign policy review

DEREK BURNEY and FEN OSLER HAMPSON

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:26AM EST

Prime Minister Stephen Harper waits to greet foreign leaders at the G8 summit in Huntsville, Ont., on June 25, 2010. (REUTERS)

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Canada’s foreign policy is being subjected to yet another “review,” and an announcement of this government’s priorities may be imminent. Nothing has been reviewed so relentlessly over the years with so little in the way of revelation, impact, direction or useful purpose as this country’s foreign policy. To some extent, it betrays a reluctance to accept the reality of what we are and where we are. At the very least, the government should make a virtue of simplicity and precision, offering a clear-headed view of what our priorities need to be and why, while avoiding “feel good” nostrums about how we’d like others to see us.

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The cornerstone of our foreign policy must be the management of relations with the United States, not for reasons of sentiment but because that’s how we preserve our most vital economic and security interests and our capacity for global influence. When we get this part of the equation right, our relevance and influence on global issues increases accordingly. When we don’t, our influence and relevance wanes.

We’re an Arctic and a Western Hemisphere nation, and our foreign policy priorities should anchor these dimensions as well, especially since the economic potential of both is likely to increase in the decades ahead.

The dramatic shift in economic power to rising stars such as China, India, South Korea and Brazil should also dictate a change of focus for Canada, especially since trade is a major component of foreign policy and many of these countries need commodities, which are pivotal to Canada’s growth prospects.

What needs to be recognized, however, is that conventional rules for trade and investment don’t apply as much to those emerging markets whose production and investment fall largely under government control. Canada would benefit more from a strategy that leverages our resource base as the means to secure better access for our exporters and investors in markets currently enjoying high rates of growth.

Maintaining an effective, agile military capacity will ensure that Canada can continue to play a selective role on behalf of the United Nations or NATO in combatting threats to global peace. But we shouldn’t pretend to be a universal donor. Future involvement should be calibrated against judicious assessments of our capacity and our interests, and not a Boy Scout inclination to be helpful fixers everywhere.

The hard lesson from Afghanistan and Iraq is that military options have limited long-term effect. “Muscular diplomacy,” the use of sanctions, and carrot and stick negotiations offer a needed complementary role and should be given greater emphasis.

The Middle East is a quagmire where the earnestness of Canada’s desire to be involved exceeds any rational analysis of our direct interests or our capacity for influence. But the same can’t be said for our relations with Turkey and Persian Gulf states such as Qatar that are playing constructive regional roles and with whom our ties need strengthening.

Nuclear non-proliferation is an issue on which Canada has real expertise. As the major flashpoints for global insecurity are likely to come from unstable nuclear powers such as Pakistan and North Korea or wannabes such as Iran, Canada should bolster its efforts with allies to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

Development assistance is also an instrument of foreign policy, but more analysis is needed for what works and what doesn’t. Rather than identifying priority sectors or countries for concentration, we need to target contributions in ways that underscore Canadian strengths and make a demonstrable difference to those in need.

Attention must always be given to fundamental principles of our political system – democracy and human rights, gender equality, religious freedom etc. – but these are best espoused by the model we present at home and by collaboration with those whose values we share.

G8 and G20 summits are the pinnacle of Canada’s global involvement. Our solid financial and economic record gives us credentials better than most to articulate and influence action contributing to stability and growth. As our economy continues to grow, while those in Europe sputter, our voice and our influence should increase accordingly. And less emphasis should be given to summits of marginal value, such as the Commonwealth and Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation.

Canada has indulged in more foreign policy reviews than any country of comparable size. More navel-gazing may simply magnify particles of lint. Ultimately, the effect of Canada’s role in the world will be determined more by what we do than what we say we should do.

Derek Burney, senior strategic adviser for Norton Rose Canada LLP, is a former Canadian ambassador to Washington. Fen Osler Hampson is Chancellor’s Professor and director of the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 2:00AM EST

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Digital intruders have been warned

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 4:39AM EST

The Ontario Court of Appeal says information is being generated and stored at a staggering rate, but legislation has not kept pace – leaving aggrieved parties no recourse against those who violate their privacy. (Pedro Nunes)

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The Ontario Court of Appeal's decision on Wednesday recognizing a right to sue for damages for outrageous violations of privacy is a good example of sensible judicial innovation. It is an adaptation that reflects life in the digital age.

Laws against trespass, breaking and entering, burglary, and unreasonable search and seizure – protecting bricks-and-mortar rights, one might say – remain very important, but the same principles that underlie those older rights need to be complemented, in order to deal in an analogous way with what Mr. Justice Robert Sharpe – who wrote the three-judge panel's decision – calls informational privacy. The result is a new tort – that is, the civil-lawsuit equivalent of a crime – by the name of “intrusion upon seclusion.”

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In this case, a Bank of Montreal employee called Winnie Tsige broke repeatedly – 174 times – into the bank accounts of Sandra Jones, the former wife of a man with whom she was in a relationship; Ms. Jones worked for a different branch of the same bank. When confronted, Ms. Tsige acknowledged that she had no legitimate purpose in spying on Ms. Jones.

Mr. Justice Sharpe is a prudent judge, by no means one to seek novelty for the sake of making a splash. The decision is well grounded in various more or less tentative judicial opinions about privacy, and in Charter jurisprudence.

Above all, his reasons are measured. The damages for violations of privacy are not to be more than $20,000, except in very unusual circumstances. Perhaps most notably, the decision shows full

respect for freedom of the press and freedom of expression, prin-

ciples that had no relevance to Ms. Tsige's prying.

There is every reason to hope that, after the Jones v. Tsige case, hacking such as was undertaken by some employees of News of the World – happily, now defunct – would be subject to private lawsuits for damages, but that ethical and responsible journalism will not be affected.

Back in 1979, the Ontario of Appeal tried and failed to create a tort of discrimination, with little grounding in the evolution of the law; the Supreme Court overturned that decision. This week, Mr. Justice Sharpe and his colleagues have shown how to apply old principles in the age of high technology.

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 11:21PM EST

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Probe into air ambulance deaths looks at choppers’ interior

KAREN HOWLETT AND ADAM RADWANSKI

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:58AM EST

A woman is air lifted to Sunnybrook Health and Sciences Centre by Ornge air ambulance. Officials are investigating design problems with a fleet of ambulance helicopters (not pictured here). (John Hanley)

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An investigation into at least two deaths involving Ontario’s embattled air ambulance service is looking at whether a design problem that places patients too close to the ceiling in the helicopter cabin played a role.

The air ambulance service, Ornge, is seeking permission from Canada’s transportation regulator to take steps to resolve the design flaw, which restricts paramedics from performing life-saving CPR on patients.

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Officials from Ornge and the Health Ministry, including senior investigator Rick Brady, met with Transport Canada on Wednesday at the Oshawa airport, according to a source familiar with the session. Ornge was seeking to demonstrate that patients can be repositioned aboard the helicopter without compromising their safety, the source said. Inspectors from the transport regulator examined one of the helicopters at the hangar.

A Transport Canada spokeswoman confirmed that the meeting took place, but referred further questions to Ornge.

The ambulance service replaced its Sikorsky S-76 helicopters with the AgustaWestland model from Italy. Swiss company Aerolite built the medical interiors. The first one went into service in December, 2010.

Ornge vice-president of operations Steve Farquhar said that despite initially being satisfied with the design plans, Ornge realized once the interiors were delivered that the pedestal where the stretcher rests was too high.

“When we took the measurement between that and the S-76 Sikorsky, it was only a matter of inches,” Mr. Farquhar said in an interview. “But it was enough to make it difficult to get above the patient when your elbows are locked in the CPR position to do chest compression.”

The Globe and Mail has reported that the Health Ministry is investigating 13 Ornge-related incidents, including three deaths, related to complaints about either response times or the adequacy of the agency’s recently purchased helicopter fleet. (Ornge officials initially said the probe involved four deaths, but later revised that figure to three.)

Ornge saystwo of the three deaths under investigation were related to the helicopter’s interior.

In at least one of the 13 cases, concerns about the on-board facilities led paramedics to decide against using the air ambulance – opting to transport a patient to a nearby hospital by land.

“It’s always the prerogative of the paramedics to do what they feel is in the best interests of the patient,” Mr. Farquhar said. “And the decision was made by the paramedic at the scene to use the land option.”

Mr. Farquhar said Ornge believes the problem with the design of the cabin can be solved by placing the stretcher in an unconventional position, across the cabin rather than lengthwise. Paramedics often turn the stretcher so they can perform CPR when the aircraft is on the ground or in the air. But under Transport Canada rules, they must return a patient to the lengthwise position during takeoff and landing, regardless of the patient’s medical condition.

Ornge is seeking an exemption the regulations to allow the stretcher to be in a transverse position for taxi, takeoff and landing. The exemption would resolve the current issues related to clearance for performing CPR.

An additional problem posed by the proximity of the stretcher to the ceiling is that larger patients sometimes must lie flat when they should be positioned more upright. As with the CPR constraints, Ornge says the exemption from Transport Canada would resolve the issue.

The regulator, whose main concern is the safety of the travelling public, issues operating certificates stipulating how an aircraft is used. Ornge is awaiting the regulator’s approval to make the design change.

Mr. Farquhar said he is “very confident” Ornge will get the waiver.

“They’re fast-tracking it,” he said. “They understand the implications of this.”

He noted that it was not always possible to perform CPR in the helicopters operated by the Health Ministry before Ornge assumed responsibility for the province’s air ambulance service in 2006.

Ornge is a not-for-profit agency that provides transport for ill and critically injured patients. It has also created several for-profit companies, including an airline.

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 10:15PM EST

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Ottawa expels Russian diplomats in wake of charges against Canadian

STEVEN CHASE , OLIVER MOORE AND TAMARA BALUJA

OTTAWA, HALIFAX AND TORONTO

From Friday's Globe and Mail

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:18PM EST

The official graduation photo of Jeff Delisle -- a naval officer arrested and charged with espionage -- who finished Sackville High School in suburban Halifax in 1990 (Oliver Moore/ The Globe and Mail)

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The Harper government has expelled staff at Russia’s embassy in the wake of charges filed against a Canadian military intelligence officer for allegedly passing secrets to a foreign power, The Globe and Mail has learned.

The names of two Russian diplomats – including a defence attaché – and two technical staff at the embassy have been dropped from the Department of Foreign Affairs’ official list of diplomatic, consular and foreign government representatives recognized by Ottawa.

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The Canadian government has not officially confirmed news reports that Russia was the recipient of secret information that Sub-Lieutenant Jeffrey Paul Delisle now stands accused of giving to a “foreign entity.”

He was charged under Canada’s Security of Information Act on Monday and is now in custody in Halifax awaiting a bail hearing on Jan. 25.

The matter risks casting a chill over Canada-Russia relations as the two nations jockey for position in the race for Arctic resources. The accusation that there was a spy in the ranks of the Canadian military has the potential to damage this country’s standing among defence allies.

The Russian embassy in Canada dismissed the suggestion that its diplomats or staff were expelled in reprisal for the Delisle case, saying any departures were part of a normal rotation of employees on foreign postings. They say the staffers in question returned home at the end of 2011.

“Their term of contract has expired. That’s all,” a Russian embassy official said. “It’s a planned shift of the diplomatic staff.”

The Globe and Mail has learned, however, that a number of Russian embassy staff – more than one – have left Canada in connection with the alleged spy affair.

A Russian embassy official acknowledged the following three staffers have recently left Canada, saying, however, that all departures were routine:

- Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry V. Fedorchatenko, assistant defence attaché.

- Konstantin Kolpakov, attaché.

- Mikhail Nikiforov, with the administrative and technical staff.

The embassy did not provide a clear explanation for the fourth name now gone from Canada’s official list of diplomatic, consular and foreign government representatives: Tatiana Steklova, who had been described as “administrative and technical staff.”

All four of these names were part of the official Foreign Affairs daily list as of Jan. 18 and were also part of a monthly January, 2012, list the department recently published.

The four names disappeared from the daily list as of Jan. 19.

Christian Leuprecht, an associate professor of political science at Royal Military College, said Canada has tremendous incentive to keep any expulsions low key and avoid reprisals and diplomatic spats that might escalate.

“The Canadian government does not want to get into the sort of tit-for-tat that the British and the Russian governments have been in for the last almost three years with constantly expelling each other’s diplomats in retaliation,” he said.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird declined comment when asked if Canada had any hand in the fact four Russian embassy staffers were dropped from Ottawa’s official list of diplomatic, consular and foreign government representatives.

“The matter is before the courts and on a national security file; I am just not inclined to comment at this time,” he said in an interview.

Geoffrey O’Brian, a former director-general of counterintelligence at CSIS, said operatives pay close attention to military attachés at Russian embassies, trying to discern who is a member of the GRU, Russia’s largest foreign intelligence agency.

“The military attachés are classically the group from which GRU officers come, so part of the spy game – the equivalent of Where’s Waldo? – is to find out which of the military attaché staff are GRU officers and which aren’t,” Mr. O’Brian said.

SLt. Delisle – now the centre of what could be Canada’s biggest spy scandal in more than half a century – had started to bounce back in the years after declaring bankruptcy in his late 20s, moving from the reserves to the regular forces and starting his climb up the ranks of enlisted men.

But starting late in 2004 the serviceman suffered a series of new setbacks.

Two young daughters aged 10 and 11 were hit by an SUV while walking near their home in suburban Halifax, an incident that put one in the hospital and sparked a years-long battle for money. The serviceman dealt with the fallout of his girls’ injuries with his wife at his side. But court documents filed in the last 13 months indicate their union had since broken down and that they were now living in separate provinces.

It was in this period, the RCMP allege, that the serviceman started spying for a “foreign entity.”

The charges came after another attempt to rebuild his life. When arrested, he was living with a different woman, maintaining shared custody of his two daughters and had graduated from Royal Military College and moved to a job at an important intelligence unit in Halifax. But even then the echoes of his former problems continued to reverberate.

Court documents show that he was continuing to have difficulties securing money – a total of $10,500 that was to be held in trust for his daughters – from the man who hit his children.

With reports from Jennifer MacMillan and Daniel Leblanc

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 9:59PM EST

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Really now, why would Robert Redford be meeting Stephen Harper (or vice-versa)?

ROD MICKLEBURGH

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:47AM EST

Actor Robert Redford on Thursday, May 31, 2007, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, NY. (Adam Rountree/ The Associated Press)

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“Redford questions pipeline hearings credibility,” the headline read.

There he goes, again, thought I. Robert Redford in high dudgeon over the Northern Gateway pipeline, lecturing Canadians as yet another of those – in the measured words of Joe Oliver – “jet-setting celebrities with some of the largest personal carbon footprints in the world” this side of Peter MacKay. Okay, he didn’t mention the high-flying, newly wedded Defence Minister.

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And “Redford” wasn’t the aging Sundance Kid, at all. It was, of course, Alison Redford, still so freshly on the national stage as Premier of Alberta that an editor at one newspaper, after seeing an earlier “Redford” headline, wondered why Robert Redford was meeting Stephen Harper in Ottawa.

Which brings us to this week’s gathering of the premiers in surprisingly wintry Victoria. Ms. Redford, alone among them, embraced Ottawa’s unilateral decision to base future federal health-care transfers strictly on per-capita. No adjustments.

In other words, provincial coffers will get just as much Ottawa cash for a healthy young buck of 25 as for someone in their so-called “golden years” (yeah, right), despite the fact that geezers cost the health-care system so much more.

Guess which province has, by far, the lowest percentage of Canadians over 65. Resource-rich Alberta, of course.

And which province also stands to reap an annual windfall of $900-million or so from the funding switch, starting in 2014? Yep, Alberta again, the only province wealthy enough to have no need of a sales tax.

Talk about piling on. But Ms. Redford sees nothing wrong with any of this.

“I believe that every Canadian is entitled to the same amount of money through the Canadian health transfer as every other Canadian,” she declared, underscoring Alberta’s great political wisdom to entice the huge oil industry within its boundaries, when it might otherwise have gone, say, to Quebec or Ontario.

Whatever, it’s not much of a contribution to federalism and the concept of equal quality of health care across the country.

One is reminded of the words of a man who has never been mistaken for Robert Redford, former B.C. premier Mike Harcourt.

Quoth Mr. Harcourt long ago: “Albertans are essentially vampires living off dead dinosaurs. They just put their fangs into the ground and out comes the black gold [oil].”

He was kidding. I think.

***

It’s a tough job on occasion, but somebody has to do it. So off I went, through weather cold enough to freeze the bells off a Morris dancer, to an Adrian Dix news conference.

I barely recognized the guy. For one thing, he was in colour. His mouth was not off kilter, and, listen as I might, I could not hear anyone warning me in a deep, concerned voice that this was a real bad, tax-and-spend dude.

That’s the image the B.C. Liberals and their Tricky Dick, er Risky Dix ads have been imprinting into my susceptible hockey brain during recent telecasts of the local Canuckleheads.

Mr. Dix told the assembled throng (me and the Chinese-language media) that his first glimpse of the Liberals’ attack ad came at a local pub where he’d gone to watch an NFL playoff tilt. A couple of “tired and emotional” fans noticed him and clapped Mr. Dix on the back for being on TV during such a momentous occasion.

“It’s also increased my facial recognition on SkyTrain,” said the bemused NDP Leader.

Now, if he could just keep his pant legs rolled down and avoid that slice of exposed flesh a sharp-eyed reporter noticed, whilst checking if Mr. Dix’s shoelaces were tied.

What was it that St. Louis poet T.S. Eliot overheard some guy named Prufrock mutter? “I grow old … I grow old … I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.”

Coming soon, perhaps, to a Liberal ad near you.

***

Okay, pain aficionados. Which is worse?

Listening to fashion maven Stephen Harper speak about the importance of Chinese ties. Sitting in a classroom as 48 pairs of fingernails run down the blackboard. Or trying to find a solution to the latest intractable contract squabble involving the province’s teachers. It’s a close call.

Against all reason, the teachers seem to believe the government will be converted to generosity by the kind of midnight visitations that changed Ebenezer Scrooge.

Remember the no-longer-miserly Scrooge telling his deserving clerk Bob Cratchit that he had no alternative “but to raise [his] salary”?

Fat chance. Move on, teachers.

***

To finish on an even sillier note than usual, discover who’s really in charge at the PMO by accessing http://tinyurl.com/7tbk494. Tweet, Tweet!

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 8:55PM EST

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Lawsuit by disease-stricken women on parental leave takes aim at EI Commission

GLORIA GALLOWAY

OTTAWA - Globe and Mail Update

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 7:35AM EST

Staff cuts in the processing department of Service Canada have meant a longer delay for unemployed Canadians seeking unemployment insurance. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)

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Tens of thousands of Canadian women who suffered a serious illness or injury while they were on parental leave after the birth of a child have been unfairly denied sickness benefits from the federal employment insurance program, a Toronto lawyer says.

Stephen Moreau filed a class-action suit in Federal Court on Thursday on behalf of two Calgary women, both of whom were diagnosed with a debilitating disease while they were collecting parental EI benefits.

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If successful, the suit against Canada Employment Insurance Commission could mean additional benefits for 30,000 to 40,000 mothers who found themselves in a similar situation at some point in the past 10 years.

The federal employment insurance plan pays new parents up to 50 weeks of benefits after the birth of a baby. And it will pay as much as 15 weeks of benefits to someone with an illness or injury so severe that they cannot go to work.

Mr. Moreau argues that an amendment to the Employment Insurance Act that the federal government passed in 2002 allows women who are disabled by illness or injury while obtaining parental benefits to collect the sickness benefits and then get the remainder of their parental benefits when they have recovered.

That would stretch to 65 the potential number of weeks of benefits that could be claimed in such instances. But, according to the statement of claim, the EI Commission never fully implemented the amendment, which allowed women to collect the sickness benefits while they were pregnant but not after they had given birth.

“The government said we want women who get ill with post partum depression, for example, during their parental leave, we want them to be able to make this claim,” Mr. Moreau said in a telephone interview. “This was discussed in [a Commons] committee, it was discussed in the House of Commons. Nobody stood up and said, ‘Well, it seems unfair to me.’”

Mr. Moreau said the rightness of his case was established last year with a ruling in favour of one of his clients, Natalya Rougas of Toronto.

Ms. Rougas was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer a month before her parental leave expired. She underwent significant treatment and was unable to return to work. But her claim for sickness benefits was denied because, since she was still on parental leave, she could not prove that she would be working if she was not ill.

Justice R.J. Marin, an EI umpire who was acting as an independent arbiter, ruled that the 2002 amendment did indeed intend to allow women to claim the sickness benefits while on parental leave and that Ms. Rougas was entitled to an additional $6,000. Ms. Rougas said at that time that she hoped her case would set a precedent for other women.

Jennifer McCrea, who is one of the plaintiffs in the new class-action suit, said the additional sickness benefits would have given her more time to recover from the bilateral mastectomy that she had after a diagnosis of breast cancer that was made in July of last year, eight months after the birth of her son.

“When I did go back to work [in November], I was completely frazzled, and completely not ready and still healing mentally and emotionally. It was tough,” Ms. McCrea said in a telephone interview.

When Ms. Rougas won her case, a spokeswoman for Diane Finley, the federal Human Resources Minister, said the decision would not be contested and that changes would have to be made to ensure that women in similar circumstances are treated fairly.

The government refused to discuss the matter on Thursday because it is before the courts.

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 8:30PM EST

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Lunch with new RCMP chief? Speak to the Minister

MURRAY BREWSTER

OTTAWA - The Canadian Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 5:17AM EST

New Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Bob Paulson holds the Tipstaff during a change of command ceremony in Ottawa Dec. 8, 2011. (CHRIS WATTIE/REUTERS)

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Parliamentarians who want to have lunch – or even an informal chat – with the country's new top cop are being told they'll have to book an appointment through the Public Safety Minister.

The edict was communicated this week to Liberal Senator Colin Kenny, the former head of the Senate security and defence committee, when he tried to corral RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson for a private get-together.

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“I apologize for any delay but I've become aware of some guidelines from the Department of Public Safety in terms of engaging with parliamentarians and senators so I may have to respectfully ask you to route your request for a meeting through Minister's Office or the Department,” Commissioner Paulson wrote in a Jan. 16 e-mail obtained by The Canadian Press.

Mr. Kenny is a consummate Ottawa insider with deep connections in the defence, policing and intelligence community – associations that date back decades. He was stunned by the response, especially since the newly minted commissioner had been his guest before being promoted, and he'd had unfettered access to nine of Commissioner Paulson's predecessors.

“As a parliamentarian, I won't tolerate being muzzled and I'm surprised that you as the Commissioner of the RCMP, a supposedly independent organization, are telling me that you have been,” Mr. Kenny responded in an e-mail.

Commissioner Paulson, in an e-mail response to Mr. Kenny, denied being muzzled.

When he was chair of the Senate defence committee, Mr. Kenny was well known as a thorn in the sides of both the Harper and Martin governments. His outspoken criticism of the Afghan mission in recent years made him few friends among the Conservatives, even though he's sided with them on issues such as the F-35 fighter purchase.

It was clear in a further e-mail exchange that the senator was not being singled out, but instead had bumped up against a blanket government policy meant to apply to all parliamentarians.

A staffer in the office of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews weighed in the following day, telling Mr. Kenny's staff that it is the minister who does the talking for the RCMP when it comes to contact with MPs and senators, and the most appropriate forum for comments by the commissioner is before parliamentary committees.

“It is the Minister (and by extension, his staff) who are primarily responsible for addressing the concerns of parliamentarians,” wrote Mark Johnson in a Jan. 17 e-mail.

He went on to say that he could arrange a meeting for Mr. Kenny, but would have to invite members of other political parties in order “to ensure that all parliamentarians are given the same level of access to officials.”

Mr. Kenny was incredulous and warned in his response to Commissioner Paulson that accepting such restrictions was dangerous.

“I'm sorry, but when you tell me that you, the Commissioner of the RCMP, are required to have your meetings with parliamentarians, or anyone else, vetted by the Department of Public Safety, you are telling me the government has decided to take control of your discourse in a way it has never taken control of the discourse of any of your predecessors,” he wrote.

“I find it incredible that you would accept such a restriction given the arm's-length relationship between the government and Canada's national police force. Accepting any limitation on persons the Commissioner of the RCMP can speak with can only diminish the independence [of] your office and your institution, both of which are essential to the well-being of Canadians.”

He went on to note that none of Commissioner Paulson's predecessors “tolerated any interference in meeting with anyone they chose to meet with.”

No one in Mr. Toews's office – or the RCMP – were immediately available to comment.

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 8:20PM EST

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Out-of-control salaries the stuff of nightmares for health ministers

JUSTINE HUNTER

VICTORIA

From Friday's Globe and Mail

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:45AM EST

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An arbitration ruling last October involving Nova Scotia nurses is a real page-turner, guaranteed to keep you awake at night – if you happen to be one of Canada's 13 provincial and territorial health ministers.

The Nova Scotia government’s successful run with restraint – capping public-sector wage increases at one1 per cent annually – ended with that ruling. The arbitrators decided that nurses’ salaries in Nova Scotia ought to keep pace with those of nurses in other, richer provinces.

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“These nurses have always been the highest paid in Atlantic Canada and in the middle of the Canadian pack,” the arbitrators ruled. So the public in have-not Nova Scotia must pay to keep up with the “have” province of Newfoundland, which could afford to give its nurses double-digit salary increases.

Here’s the cliffhanger: Another bargaining unit representing health workers ranging from psychologists to porters is heading into contract talks next month. That group – represented by the same union as Nova Scotia's nurses – is threatening to strike if they don't get the same 5.1-per-cent increase in the first year. If they win, the rest of the 23,000-member Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union will doubtless demand the same raise.

Such whip-sawing by health-care workers is an old story. As the reality of the new Canada Health Transfers sinks in – a redistribution announced by Ottawa last month that cuts the rate of growth over the coming decade – the provinces are suddenly keen to craft a strategy to curb the interprovincial competition for health-care workers.

Labour costs are the single biggest factor in health-care budgets. In B.C. they make up 62 per cent of the $12.6-billion annual budget. In Nova Scotia, they make up 70 per cent of the health budget.

This week, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and Prince Edward Island Premier Robert Ghiz agreed to take a stab at the health human-resources challenge as part of their countrywide innovation working group. Every province has a stake in this question. Nurses in B.C. got around government wage controls in 2009 with a “labour market adjustment” because they argued B.C. couldn't recruit and retain nurses here when other provinces offered better pay.

The trick will be convincing wealthier provinces to abandon the practice of buying their way out of labour shortages. And B.C. ritish Columbia is one of the predatory provinces. Between 2006 and 2010, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), this province had the highest in-migration of physicians in the country. Hundreds of doctors have moved here from other provinces.

Doctors – in fact all health-care workers in B.C. – are in contract negotiations this year. It’s unlikely the premiers will be able to concoct a plan before the province settles, but the other provinces would welcome a firm hand to set the tone.

Premiers Wall and Ghiz have six months to draft standards to ensure innovations are shared between the country’s 13 separate health-care systems. But don’t be misled by the “innovation” label – there is a heavy focus on labour costs. Not only will they try to forge a pact to limit competition for unionized health workers, they are kicking around the idea of a Canadian fee structure for services, which would take aim at doctors.

Most doctors negotiate fees for service rather than salaries, and as a group they been successful in bucking the restraint trends in public-sector salaries. The cost of paying physicians has been among the fastest-growing health categories in Canada in recent years, another CIHI finding. Between 1998 and 2008, their pay has been increasing at an annual rate of 6.8 per cent each year.

Robert Evans, an economics professor at the University of B.C.’s Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, is skeptical about the ability of the provinces to tackle the problem so long as the Harper government refuses to get involved. “What you need to do is develop interprovincial agreements about how much you are going to pay - it has to be binding, with financial teeth.”

And it won’t be easy to break old habits.

“They can try that all they want, it’s not going to work,” vowed Joan Jessome, president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union. “There will be labour unrest from one end of the country to the other.”

$1,670: The difference in per-capita health-care spending across Canada

The premiers have launched a health-care working group to trade “innovation” tips, in response to the Harper government’s move to a new funding formula that will provide the same amount of cash for every Canadian.

But that formula doesn’t produce comparable health care, because the cost of delivering service depends on a variety of factors, including demographics and regional realities. Seniors require more costly health care, while rural and remote populations are more expensive to serve.

Here’s the current per-capita health-care spending across the provinces:

Newfoundland and Labrador: $5,077

Alberta: $4,528

Saskatchewan: $4,348

Manitoba: $4,266

PEI: $4,058

New Brunswick: $4,033

Nova Scotia: $3,972

Ontario: $3,645

B.C.: $3,604

Quebec: $3,407

Source: Canadian Institute for Health Information, 2011 forecast

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 7:42PM EST

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Aboriginal leader seeks conference on rights

GLORIA GALLOWAY

OTTAWA

From Friday's Globe and Mail

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 7:32PM EST

Derek Nepinak, Grand Chief, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, poses for a photo in Brantford, on January 19, 2012. (Glenn Lowson for The Globe and Mail)

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As Prime Minister Stephen Harper prepares to sit down next week with first nations leaders from across Canada, the chief who speaks for Manitoba says the problems facing his people cannot be solved in a one-day meeting conducted in the absence of the premiers.

Derek Nepinak, the Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said he will be asking Mr. Harper to schedule a conference of first ministers and first nations at which the loosely defined rights of indigenous people that are guaranteed in the Constitution are explicitly spelled out – especially the resource rights.

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As it stands, the participants at the five-hour meeting next Tuesday will discuss what Shawn Atleo, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), has called the need to “reset the relationship” with Ottawa. They will also talk about economic development in first nations communities and the more basic issues of water and housing that were highlighted this fall by the crisis in the remote Ontario community of Attawapiskat.

Many first nations leaders say the key to resolving all of these matters is an equitable sharing of resource rights, not just on reserves, but across all of their traditional lands. And, for the most part, the provinces and territories have control over those resources, whether it is diamonds in Ontario, oil in Alberta or minerals in Manitoba.

So “you need to have the appropriate decision makers at the table,” Mr. Nepinak said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “And without a first ministers meeting with the Prime Minister as well as provincial and territorial leaders, you’re not going to be able to make the decisions that need to be made.”

Mr. Atleo has not yet been available to speak to reporters before next week’s meeting. But Mr. Nepinak said he does not believe the action plan of the AFN goes far enough.

“Although it talks a big game, it doesn’t look like it could actually achieve the type of renewal or the type of resetting of the relationship that we are envisioning,” he said.

The Manitoba call for a first ministers’ meeting, on the other hand, is being endorsed by many chiefs across Canada, he said. “I can say there is broad support and it’s growing support.”

Mr. Harper has made his aversion to such gatherings quite clear.

And Tom Flanagan, a former adviser to Mr. Harper and a professor at the University of Calgary who has spent much time studying the property rights of aboriginal people, said in an e-mail on Wednesday that a first ministers’ meeting is “definitely out.”

Mr. Flanagan said constitutional gatherings between first ministers and the first nations that were held during the 1980s produced nothing.

“To judge from the Prime Minister's past behaviour, what will probably come after this meeting will be a list of governmental action items, perhaps partially endorsed by some elements of the AFN,” Mr. Flanagan wrote. “It will include, I am sure, something on native education and, I hope, something on better property rights for first nations. Beyond that, I'm not so sure.”

Mr. Nepinak said the fact that the meetings of the 1980s did not define the extent of the rights granted to first nations is all the more reason for new meetings to be held. “That’s why we have coined this process ‘unfinished business.’ ”

If Mr. Harper says no, the first nations will keep asking for a first ministers’ meeting until some future prime minister agrees, Mr. Nepinak said.

“We have to be really goal-oriented here,” he said, “because there’s too many tragedies happening in our communities and our people need optimism, they need something positive to look forward to and this one-day meeting, so far, is not hitting the mark, so we’ve got to build from it somehow.”

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 7:28PM EST

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Arts

- Video: Robert Redford kicks off Sundance 2012

- In pictures: A look back at Etta James's life

- Video: Singer Etta James dies in California

- Legendary blues singer Etta James dead at 73

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Video: Robert Redford kicks off Sundance 2012

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:54PM EST

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Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:53PM EST

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In pictures: A look back at Etta James's life

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:06PM EST

In this Sept. 22, 1974, photo, Muhammad Ali plays a few notes on the piano as singer Etta James looks on. James died Friday, Jan. 20 at the age of 83. - Horst Faas/The Associated Press

Etta James, the feisty R&B singer whose raw, passionate vocals anchored many hits and made the yearning ballad "At Last" an enduring anthem for weddings, commercials and even President Obama, died Friday. She was 73.

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Video: Singer Etta James dies in California

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:05PM EST

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Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:52AM EST

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Legendary blues singer Etta James dead at 73

ROBERT JABLON

Los Angeles - The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 1:00PM EST

Singer Etta James Handout

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Etta James' performance of the enduring classic At Last was the embodiment of refined soul: Angelic-sounding strings harkened the arrival of her passionate yet measured vocals as she sang tenderly about a love finally realized after a long and patient wait.

In real life, little about James was as genteel as that song. The platinum blonde's first hit was a saucy R&B number about sex, and she was known as a hell-raiser who had tempestuous relationships with her family, her men and the music industry. Then she spent years battling a drug addiction that she admitted sapped away at her great talents.

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In other words, she was one of music's original bad girls.

“The bad girls ... had the look that I liked,” she wrote in her 1995 autobiography, Rage to Survive. “I wanted to be rare, I wanted to be noticed, I wanted to be exotic as a Cotton Club chorus girl, and I wanted to be obvious as the most flamboyant hooker on the street. I just wanted to be.”

James' spirit could not be contained — perhaps that's what made her so magnetic in music; it is surely what made her so dynamic as one of R&B, blues and rock `n' roll's underrated legends. The 73-year-old died at Riverside Community Hospital, with her husband and sons at her side, manager Lupe De Leon said.

“It's a tremendous loss for her fans around the world,” he said. “She'll be missed. A great American singer. Her music defied category.”

Despite the reputation she cultivated, she would always be remembered best for At Last. The jazz-inflected rendition wasn't the original, but it would become the most famous and the song that would define her as a legendary singer. Over the decades, brides used it as their song down the aisle and car companies to hawk their wares, and it filtered from one generation to the next through its inclusion in movies like American Pie. Perhaps most famously, President Obama and the first lady danced to a version at his inauguration ball.

The tender, sweet song belied the turmoil in her personal life. James — born Jamesette Hawkins — was born in Los Angeles to a mother whom she described as a scam artist, a substance abuser and a fleeting presence during her youth. She never knew her father, although she was told, and had believed, that he was the famous billiards player Minnesota Fats. He neither confirmed nor denied it: when they met, he simply told her: “I don't remember everything. I wish I did, but I don't.”

She was raised by Lula and Jesse Rogers, who owned the rooming house where her mother once lived in. The pair brought up James in the Christian faith, and as a young girl, her voice stood out in the church choir. James landed the solos in the choir and became so well known, she said that Hollywood stars would come to see her perform.

But she wouldn't stay a gospel singer for long. Rhythm and blues lured her away from the church, and she found herself drawn to the grittiness of the music.

“My mother always wanted me to be a jazz singer, but I always wanted to be raunchy,” she recalled in her book.

She was doing just that when bandleader Johnny Otis found her singing on San Francisco street corners with some girlfriends in the early 1950s.

“At the time, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters had a hit with Work With Me, Annie, and we decided to do an answer. We didn't think we would get in show business, we were just running around making up answers to songs,” James told The Associated Press in 1987.

And so they replied with the song, Roll With Me, Henry.

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When Otis heard it, he told James to get her mother's permission to accompany him to Los Angeles to make a recording. Instead, the 15-year-old singer forged her mother's name on a note claiming she was 18.

“At that time, you weren't allowed to say ‘roll’ because it was considered vulgar. So when Georgia Gibbs did her version, she renamed it Dance With Me, Henry and it went to No. 1 on the pop charts,” the singer recalled. The Gibbs song was one of several in the early rock era when white singers got hits by covering songs by black artists, often with sanitized lyrics.

After her 1955 debut, James toured with Otis' revue, sometimes earning only $10 a night. In 1959, she signed with Chicago's legendary Chess label, began cranking out the hits and going on tours with performers such as Bobby Vinton, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis and the Everly Brothers.

“We would travel on four buses to all the big auditoriums. And we had a lot of fun,” she recalled in 1987.

James recorded a string of hits in the late 1950s and `60s including Trust In Me, Something's Got a Hold On Me, Sunday Kind of Love, All I Could Do Was Cry, and of course, At Last.

“[Chess Records founder] Leonard Chess was the most aware of anyone. He went up and down the halls of Chess announcing, `Etta's crossed over! Etta's crossed over!' I still didn't know exactly what that meant, except that maybe more white people were listening to me. The Chess brothers kept saying how I was their first soul singer, that I was taking their label out of the old Delta blues, out of rock and into the modern era. Soul was the new direction,” she wrote in her autobiography. “But in my mind, I was singing old style, not new.”

In 1967, she cut one of the most highly regarded soul albums of all time, Tell Mama, an earthy fusion of rock and gospel music featuring blistering horn arrangements, funky rhythms and a churchy chorus. A song from the album, Security, was a top 40 single in 1968.

Her professional success, however, was balanced against personal demons, namely a drug addiction.

“I was trying to be cool,” she told the AP in 1995, explaining what had led her to try heroin.

“I hung out in Harlem and saw Miles Davis and all the jazz cats,” she continued. “At one time, my heavy role models were all druggies. Billie Holiday sang so groovy. Is that because she's on drugs? It was in my mind as a young person. I probably thought I was a young Billie Holiday, doing whatever came with that.”

She was addicted to the drug for years, beginning in 1960, and it led to a harrowing existence that included time behind bars. It sapped her singing abilities and her money, eventually, almost destroying her career.

It would take her at least two decades to beat her drug problem. Her husband, Artis Mills, even went to prison for years, taking full responsibility for drugs during an arrest even though James was culpable.

“My management was suffering. My career was in the toilet. People tried to help, but I was hell-bent on getting high,” she wrote of her drug habit in 1980.

She finally quit the habit and managed herself for a while, calling up small clubs and asking them, “Have you ever heard of Etta James?” in order to get gigs. Eventually, she got regular bookings — even drawing Elizabeth Taylor as an audience member. In 1984, she was tapped to sing the national anthem at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and her career got the resurgent boost it needed, though she fought addiction again when she got hooked on painkillers in the late 1980s.

Drug addiction wasn't her only problem. She struggled with her weight, and often performed from a wheelchair as she got older and heavier. In the early 2000s, she had weight-loss surgery and shed some 200 pounds.

James performed well into her senior years, and it was “At Last” that kept bringing her the biggest ovations. The song was a perennial that never aged, and on Jan. 20, 2009, as crowds celebrated that — at last — an African-American had become president of the United States, the song played as the first couple danced.

But it was superstar Beyonce who serenaded the Obamas, not the legendary singer. Beyonce had portrayed James in Cadillac Records, a big-screen retelling of Chess Records' heyday, and had started to claim At Last as her own.

An audio clip surfaced of James at a concert shortly after the inauguration, saying she couldn't stand the younger singer and that Beyonce had “no business singing my song.” But she told the New York Daily News later that she was joking, even though she had been hurt that she did not get the chance to participate in the inauguration.

James did get her accolades over the years. She was inducted into the Rock Hall in 1993, captured a Grammy in 2003 for best contemporary blues album for Let's Roll, one in 2004 for best traditional blues album for Blues to the Bone and one for best jazz vocal performance for 1994's Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday. She was also awarded a special Grammy in 2003 for lifetime achievement and got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Her health went into decline, however, and by 2011, she was being cared for at home by a personal doctor.

She suffered from dementia, kidney problems and leukemia. Her husband and her two sons fought over control of her $1-million estate, though a deal was later struck keeping Mills as the conservator and capping the singer's expenses at $350,000. In December, 2011, her physician announced that her leukemia was terminal, and asked for prayers for the singer.

In October, 2011, it was announced that James was retiring from recording, and a final studio recording, The Dreamer, was released, featuring the singer taking on classic songs, from Bobby “Blue” Bland's Dreamer to Guns N' Roses Welcome To the Jungle — still rocking, and a fitting end to her storied career.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:51AM EST

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Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:42AM EST

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Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:42AM EST

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Video: Halle Berry's stalker pleads no contest

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:15AM EST

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Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:15AM EST

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Rushdie cancels India festival plans after threats

Jaipur - Reuters

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 4:12AM EST

Author Salman Rushdie in Manhattan, NY, on Nov. 12, 2010. (Jimmy Jeong)

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Salman Rushdie will not attend a literature festival in India after authorities warned the controversial author he was a potential target of assassins at the event, following threats of protests from Muslim groups at his planned appearance.

Opposition from some Indian Muslim groups erupted this month after Mr. Rushdie was invited to attend Asia’s largest literature festival, and senior Muslim leaders called on the government to prevent the 65-year-old author from entering the country.

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“I have now been informed by intelligence sources in Maharashtra and Rajasthan that paid assassins from the Mumbai underworld may be on their way to Jaipur to eliminate me,” Mr. Rushdie said in a statement read out by the festival producer.

“While I have some doubts as to the accuracy of this intelligence, it would be irresponsible of me to come to the festival in such circumstances.”

The British-Indian author, whose 1988 novel the Satantic Verses is banned in India, was due to speak on the first day of the five-day Jaipur Literature Festival but organizers removed his name from the schedule last week.

Mr. Rushdie would instead participate via a video-link, festival director William Dalrymple told Reuters on Friday.

“This is the result of a tragic game of Chinese whispers. The reality of Rushdie’s writings are completely different from the way they have been cartooned and caricatured,” Mr. Dalrymple told reporters.

The festival’s directors had previously asserted that the invitation to Mr. Rushdie still stood after rescheduling his planned appearance after Muslim leaders in Jaipur threatened to protest.

“The Muslims of Jaipur were planning a protest against Rushdie. Since he is not coming, we have cancelled it,” Abdul Haq Shamshi, member of the Jaipur Jama Masjid committee told Reuters.

“If he is deceiving us, and if he comes, we will protest at a minute’s notice,” he said, adding that thousands of protesters would take to the streets if the author arrived in the city.

Earlier on Friday, thousands of guests arrived for the first sessions of the festival, which aims to showcase the best of Indian, South Asian and international writing in one of the world’s fastest-growing publishing markets.

Michael Ondaatje, author of The English Patient, was the main draw on Friday morning, at a festival expected to draw around 70,000 visitors and world-famous names such as Oprah Winfrey, Tom Stoppard, Richard Dawkins and Ariel Dorfman.

Scores of police officers guarded the festival entrance on Friday morning, as visitors queued to pass through X-ray scanners, a new addition to the 2012 festival.

Some 560 officers were stationed in and around the festival site, Rajendra Jhala, Jaipur’s deputy commissioner of police, told Reuters, adding that hundreds of others had been deployed at major road junctions and locations across the city.

“I guess this is what you get for inviting Salman Rushdie,” remarked one delegate in the security queue.

The publication of Rushdie’s Satanic Verses over 20 years ago sparked a wave of protests and death threats around the world after Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini claimed that the novel’s portrayal of the prophet Mohammed insulted Islam.

The vice-chancellor of India’s Darul Uloom Deoband seminary said last week that Mr. Rushdie should be banned from the country, accusing the author of the Booker Prize-winning Midnight’s Children of offending Muslim sentiments.

“This festival at no point wants to offend any one religion, any one people. We stand by the freedom of expression,” festival producer Sanjoy Roy told reporters.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 4:10AM EST

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In the Land of Blood and Honey: Sermons and suffocating symbolism

Rick Groen

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 1:08PM EST

Zana Marjanovic, left, and Boris Ler in a scene from "In the Land of Blood and Honey." (Ken Regan/FilmDistrict)

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First the faint praise. In the Land of Blood and Honey, a.k.a. the writing and directing debut of one Angelina Jolie, is nothing if not ambitious. The thematic canvas is broad, a sweeping attempt to dramatize the Bosnian conflict on multiple fronts – the historical roots, the ethnic cleansing, the sexual violence, the war crimes, the ineffectuality of the West, the need for reconciliation.

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To that large end, her direction is competent yet the script is terribly schematic, the near-allegorical sort where ideas give birth to characters and not the other way around.

Consequently, although Jolie’s good intentions are easy to admire, those characters are hard to believe, and the bloody narrative has an oddly bloodless effect. But that’s not surprising – not when a film is so eager to double as a lecture.

The start is peaceful. It’s 1992, and Ajla (Zana Marjanovic) is a Bosnian Muslim living in a low-rise apartment. She shares the space with her sister, Lejla, the mother of a baby girl, and spends her days as a portrait painter. Nights are devoted to clubbing and a dalliance with her Serbian boyfriend Danijel (Goran Kostic). Indeed, it’s in that very club that the bomb explodes – the war has begun.

Cut to four months later, when armed soldiers force the tenants out of the apartment and select the prettiest women for transport to a field headquarters, where they’re systematically raped. Ajla is about to meet the same fate, when the officer in charge intervenes – yes, it just happens to be Danijel, in uniform now and serving under the command of a hard-ass general, who just happens to be his father. Already, the schematic design is troublingly evident.

What follows is, among other things, a symbol-laden tale of star-crossed love. When not out on patrol with his gun-sights focused, Danijel protects Ajla, who accepts his sanctuary, and furtively they consummate their passion. Of course, he has divided loyalties – a reluctant recruit literally in bed with the enemy (“I never wanted to be part of this war”), and a dutiful son sworn to obey his father (“Do your job. Make me proud”). Obviously, she’s no less torn, even as the country they share is torn apart. The symbols clank.

Meanwhile, as if to remind us of internecine warfare’s brutal realities, Jolie returns to the apartment complex and the ultimate barbarity. Lejla howls in grief, and her grief quickly becomes politicized: She joins a cadre of Muslims engaged in armed counter-attacks. But the script gives her plight short shrift and soon revisits the Ajla/Danijel relationship, where the general, having gotten wind of his son’s affair, is quick-marched himself into heavily symbolic territory. He’s the embodiment of historic enmities, the bellicose voice of the past that ravages the present and denies hope for the future.

Don’t expect any of this to conclude happily, although the climax is surprising if only in its sheer improbability. But give Jolie some credit. She occasionally generates suspense and, intermittently at least, creates an awful empathy through the tableaus of violence and abuse. Her use of the Bosnian language is wise (this is the subtitled version), and her casting of local actors is sensitive. Alas, she’s less sensitive in making them play walking/talking metaphors.

Speaking of which, I did enjoy the moment when Art lectures War and Politics. During a quiet interlude in an abandoned gallery, Ajla points up at a canvas on the wall and preaches on the aesthetics, and ethics, of painting: “It’s about the empty spaces. It’s the choice not to do something.” Jolie was smart enough to write that sermon, but not to heed it. Her picture is so glutted with spelled-out meaning that there’s no space to breathe – what tries too hard to be informing ends by suffocating.

In the Land of Blood and Honey

- Directed and written by Angelina Jolie

- Starring Zana Marjanovic and Goran Kostic

- Classification: NA

- 2.5 stars

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:00AM EST

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The Viral Factor: Fights in planes, trains and upside-down automobiles

STEPHEN COLE

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 5:49PM EST

The Viral Factor is tediously overwrought. (Zexin)

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Once upon a time, we’d be getting a knockabout family comedy with a tourist-brochure setting for Chinese New Year, a tradition that goes back to before the Second World War. Jackie Chan always had a madcap adventure to celebrate Spring Festival, usually with a drunken, elaborately choreographed dance through a collapsing set.

Not for the Year of the Dragon, apparently. This Friday’s holiday spectacular from Hong Kong is a hard-boiled crime drama, The Viral Factor. The film starts with a Chinese security agent and his fiancée taking two bullets to the head – in right above the brow and out the other side with a slow motion splash.

Yes, Happy New Year!

There is a family and travel angle. The security agent, Jon Won (Jay Chou) was at work in Jordan trying to rescue a pretty germ-warfare specialist. Recovering from his bullet wound, our hero is told by mom that he must again travel abroad and locate long-lost brother Wan Yang (Nicholas Tse).

The sibling just happens to be a crook involved in the very crime that left our hero with a whistling in his head.

Eventually the brothers connect and get caught up in a spiralling misadventure that takes them from Hong Kong to Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore. Along the way, they’re involved with fights on trains, inside an upside-down crashing car, on two boats and a pinwheeling helicopter.

All of this is important because if the bad guys, who speak English, get their way, the world will be decimated by a smallpox virus that wipes out billions.

The Viral Factor is deliriously far-fetched. And one wishes director Dante Lam (The Beast Stalker) could have at least had some giddy fun smashing all his toys around. But his new film is tediously overwrought and drably made, with scenes punctuated by synthesized drums out of eighties American TV drama.

Hurry back, Jackie Chan. Chinese New Year isn’t the same without you.

Special to The Globe and Mail

The Viral Factor

- Directed by Dante Lam

- Written by Dante Lam and Wai Lun Ng

- Starring Jay Chou, Nicholas Tse, Ling Peng and Bing Bai

- Classification: 18A

- 2 stars

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:00AM EST

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With Haywire, Soderbergh dutifully crunches the action formula

LIAM LACEY

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:28AM EST

Gina Carano in a scene from "Haywire" (Claudette Barius)

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There’s a popcorn-spitting funny slapstick moment in Steven Soderbergh’s mischievous trifle Haywire, where Gina Carano, the amazonian brunette, is in her cocktail dress, with Michael Fassbender’s head squeezed between her thighs so hard his face looks like a grape about to pop. It’s not clear whether we’re supposed to pity or envy him.

Anyone who has watched sixties and seventies exploitation flicks with stars like Pam Grier or Russ Meyer’s muse, Tura Satana, knows audiences enjoy powerful-looking women beating the stuffing out of bad guys. Haywire is Soderbergh’s 25{+t}{+h} film in a diverse career (though actually finished before last fall’s Contagion) and it’s such a self-conscious genre exercise it should probably be enclosed in quotation marks, as his “girl action” film.

Carano, a mixed-martial-arts star, makes her film debut as the lead in this all-star, all-male cast (Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Matthieu Kassovitz, Antonio Banderas, and Ewan McGregor as sundry spy types). She stars as Mallory Kane, a black-ops agent working for a private contractor (McGregor). Like so many agents in recent films, she gets betrayed by her superiors and is set on a path of vindication. Screenwriter Lem Dobbs (Kafka, The Limey) offers one clever twist on the formula with a flashback structure.

After being assaulted at a rural New York diner, a young woman demolishes her attacker and hijacks a car from a startled young owner named Scott (Michael Angarano). As she drives away, she tells the young man what has led her to this moment. It started with a job in Barcelona, where Mallory was contracted to rescue a Chinese dissident journalist. Directly thereafter, she was sent to Dublin, as the “eye candy” escort to a MI6 operative, Paul (Fassbender), posing as half of a jet-setting power couple.

After an elaborate set-piece in a mansion where Mallory finds evidence that the Barcelona assignment was a fraud, things between her and Paul culminate in the hotel-room battle. Realizing she has been set up, Mallory barely has time to demolish an Irish SWAT team before heading back to the United States to seek explanations and vengeance.

Then the flashback comes to an abrupt end during a police chase through the forest (along with an unfortunate woodland Bambi). She abandons Scott with instructions to get her story out, and heads off to join her father (Bill Paxton) in his sprawling modernist mansion. A former marine who’s now a Tom Clancy-style novelist, Dad lets Mallory use his home as the theatre for her next series of take-downs.

Serving as his own director of photography under the pseudonym Peter Andrews, Soderbergh picks his angles artfully and allows Carano to demonstrate her arsenal of acrobatic fighting tricks in extended, no-cheating single takes. The fight scenes are music free, the better to appreciate the thwacking and grunting. In between, David Gross’s funk-jazz score enhances the vintage feel.

Soderbergh has explained that his idea was to have Carano “beat her way through the cast” of men, who do what they can to lend juice to their two-dimensional characters. The question of whether Carano can actually act is moot. It’s enough that she has a commanding presence, and two good expressions – warily friendly or glaring, which makes her like a much prettier Charles Bronson.

Her one distinctive actress-like skill in the film is her smoky, cocktail lounge voice, though that turns out to have been digitally altered to sound more alluring. Hand it to a wily indie veteran like Soderbergh to find a fresh twist to an old genre: The fighting isn’t faked, but the acting is.

Haywire

- Directed by Steven Soderbergh

- Written by Len Dobbs

- Starring: Gina Carano, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas and Bill Paxton

- Classification: 14A

- 2.5 stars

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:00AM EST

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More stories from Movies

- In the Land of Blood and Honey: Sermons and suffocating symbolism

- The Viral Factor: Fights in planes, trains and upside-down automobiles

- Coriolanus: The conquering hero has mommy issues

- The actors fly, but Red Tails never soars

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TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: Jan. 20

Andrew Ryan

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 5:51PM EST

Kathy Bates stars in Harry's Law on Global.

A select viewing guide for Friday, Jan. 20

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Coriolanus: The conquering hero has mommy issues

LIAM LACEY

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 5:35PM EST

Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain in a scene from "Coriolanus." (Larry D. Horricks)

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Shakespeare’s poetic firepower gets amplified by the rattle of assault rifles and the detonation of grenades in Ralph Fiennes’s unsettling modern-arms version of the Roman-era drama Coriolanus. Updated to the era of 24-hour news cycle and the staccato rhythms of the contemporary battle theatre, it’s a film of vigorous performances and provocative modern resonances, though it sometimes struggles to grapple with a grim, politically ambiguous, 400-year-old play.

“Action is eloquence,” declares Volumnia, the mother of the Roman general Coriolanus, a maxim that might have appealed to Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini. The fierce Volumnia is played Vanessa Redgrave, who radiates a blood-thirstiness that makes the average hawk politician sound like Tweety Bird. Her sole offspring, Caius Martius (subsequently named Coriolanus), is played by Fiennes, who seems as grimly doomed as his mother is full of ardour.

Perhaps the film’s most spectacular special effects are Fiennes’ and Redgrave’s matching strong cheekbones and pale blue flashing eyes. Also unlike too many film adaptations, these actors can really speak Bard: Along with Brian Cox as the political adviser Menenius, the main players keep Shakespeare’s language chockfull of political rhetoric, and crackling with life.

The German novelist Gunther Grass noted that Coriolanus, with its open-ended politics, “is fated to be, at all times, a reflection of contemporary conditions.” Trimmed and adapted by John Logan (Rango, Hugo), this film has a ripped-from-TV antic buzz of foreign wars, economic troubles and pandering politics.

We begin, as many contemporary news stories do these days, with protesters in the streets. Famine in Rome has triggered the plebeians to protest against the patricians. Fiennes’ disdainful general quells their protests with glares and insults (“scabs,” “curs,” “fragments”). The more conciliatory senate offers a couple of tribunes to represent the rabble’s interests.

Before Caius can stir more trouble, he is called away to battle the neighbouring Volscians and face the man he loves to hate, Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler).The battle scenes are shot in rubble-filled streets (in Belgrade, Serbia) like shaky-cam news footage from the war front. Fiennes, who had a small part in Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker, enlisted that film’s cinematographer (Barry Ackroyd) and sound mixer (Ray Beckett) for verisimilitude. Dressed in camouflage gear, his bloody face frozen in a rictus of hate, Caius is the kind of monster you’d want on your side in battle, though perhaps not so much in peacetime.

When he returns home having triumphed over the town of Corioli, Caius earns the title Coriolanus. The political elite wants to use his fame to make him a consul, subject to the citizens’ approval. For Coriolanus to win their approval, he’s expected to put his wounds on display, like some latter-day John Kerry or John McCain. But Coriolanus is too proud and the crowd turns against him. Betrayed by two politicking tribunes, Brutus (Paul Jesson) and Sicinius (James Nesbitt), Coriolanus is banished from the city and soon allies with his old enemy, Tullus, to bring his home city to its knees.

The drama’s climax is not a battle, but a negotiation between the proud victor and his mother, a scene that’s teased out for its full emotional, overwrought, Oedipal implications before the dizzyingly violent conclusion. The politics of war and peace may be Coriolanus’s intellectual teaser, but ultimately it’s a story about a soldier who loved his mother far too much.

Coriolanus

- Directed by Ralph Fiennes

- Written by William Shakespeare, adapted by John Logan

- Starring Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler and Vanessa Redgrave

- Classification: 14A

- 3 stars

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:00AM EST

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The actors fly, but Red Tails never soars

JAMES ADAMS

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 5:42PM EST

An action scene from "Red Tails"

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If virtue was the sole or primary criterion for judging a movie’s worth, then Red Tails would score an easy four stars.

It’s a noble, “inspired-by-a-true-story” yarn, about the Tuskegee Airmen, plucky African-American fighter pilots, trained in Alabama, who overcame mountains of racial prejudice to serve with distinction in the European theatre during the Second World War.

The cast is almost entirely African-American, the sundry white characters largely cameos. Director Anthony Hemingway, best known for TV stints with Treme and The Wire, is African-American. Ditto jazz man Terence Blanchard who wrote the score and John Ridley and Aaron McGruder the screenwriters. It also looks good and feels epic, courtesy of a purported $100-million (U.S.) budget from Lucasfilms.

Virtue aside, however, Red Tails is a lousy film. Not wincingly bad, mind you, just mediocre. While the cast is almost uniformly fine, particularly Nate Parker as the anxious, alcoholic squadron leader Martin (Easy) Julian, and David Oyelwo as the rebellious, cocky ace Joe (Lightning) Little, the performances are hobbled by a script that assigns each character only one note which they’re forced to sound, with little variation, throughout the film’s 125-minute duration.

Meanwhile, the screenwriters’ idea of dialogue encompasses, it seems, just two idioms – locker-room-style banter (One pilot: “War is hell.” Another pilot: “Yeah and what we’re doing is boring as hell.”) and speechifying (intoned mostly by Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr., playing, respectively, a colonel and a major). That and the occasional foray into hoary cliché, personified most excruciatingly by Mark Doerr who, complete with facial scar, plays a nasty Nazi pilot prone to hissing lines like “Show no mercy!” and “Die, you foolish African!”

Unsurprisingly, Red Tails – the title refers to the colour of the rear markings on the P-51 fighter aircraft – is at its best when it’s up in the air, machine guns ratatatating, flak blasting. Of course, all the destruction and death are given the moral weight of a video game. And the various astounding aerial manoeuvres often seem to owe more to the warp-speed twists of Star Wars spacecraft than any Immelmann a propeller-powered Mustang may have accomplished in 1944. Still, it’s fun, in a “war is heck” sort of way.

The film’s at its worst when it’s pulled back by the surly bonds of Earth. Ridley and McGruder only caress the many issues inherent in a story about African-Americans serving in a segregated armed forces at the behest of a deeply racist nation. When Lightning proposes marriage to his sexy Italian girlfriend, Sofia, for example, the audience is given no indication as to what a radical, even transgressive act that would have been at that time. Interracial marriage wasn’t legalized in Alabama until late in the 20th century, Mussolini’s armies enslaved Ethiopia in 1935 – but Lightning and Sofia seem disingenuously, blissfully unmindful of these events and circumstances. Similarly, after Lightning responds with fisticuffs to a racial slur uttered in a whites-only officers club, we next see him reclining in the brig with nary a broken rib or swollen eye. In real life, he would very likely have been killed.

Possessing, as it does, all the heft of a Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos comic book, Red Tails in the end leaves you wondering what a good director armed with a more substantial script, such as Spike Lee or Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night, A Soldier’s Story), might have done with its premise and promise. Certainly we’d have a more issues-oriented and thoughtful film.

More adult, in short, and not this adrenalin fest for teenage boys and early twentysomethings. George Lucas has indicated that, if Red Tails is a success, he’ll consider bankrolling a prequel and a sequel. Based on what we have here, though, this would probably be too much of a bad thing.

Red Tails

- Directed by Anthony Hemingway

- Starring Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard

- Classification: PG

- 1.5 stars

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:00AM EST

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More stories from Movies

- In the Land of Blood and Honey: Sermons and suffocating symbolism

- The Viral Factor: Fights in planes, trains and upside-down automobiles

- With Haywire, Soderbergh dutifully crunches the action formula

- Coriolanus: The conquering hero has mommy issues

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The Divide: Viewers risk toxic levels of dumb

RICK GROEN

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 5:49PM EST

Michael Biehn in a scene from "The Divide" (Anchor Bay Films/The New York Times)

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Apparently, if you’re an apartment dweller in New York, and a nuclear attack has reduced your city to an ashen state of apocalyptic ruin, it pays to have a good super.

Of course, such valuable life lessons always come at a steep price, and this one is no exception. Sorry, but you’ll have to shell out for The Divide and then suffer through its nearly two hours of bloody inanities. Weigh the balance, make your choice.

Happily, the lesson plan is quick to start. Kaboom goes the nuke, dropped by some unspecified miscreant, leaving a group of the apartment building’s tenants to scurry into the dingy basement, which the helpful super (Michael Biehn) has already prepared as a bomb shelter complete with food supplies and a sealed iron door.

“Not exactly the garden of Eden,” he says caustically, although it should be noted that a woman in the group is named Eva. Close enough. The various Adams include a large black gentleman, a pair of half-brothers who look like potential trouble, and Eva’s mild-mannered hubby who looks like potential fodder. Completing the lineup is a little girl with her understandably concerned mother (Rosanna Arquette).

Of course, since the weather outside is frightfully radioactive, what we have here is an entrapment scenario, which invariably is hard to sustain over a feature’s length. So director Xavier Gens immediately fabricates a distracting bit of exterior action. Soon, a band of men, unrecognizable within their biohazard suits, are blowtorching open the iron door and rushing in to snatch that little girl, although not before the tenants slay one of the intruders.

Not much later, half-brother Josh dons the suit himself to engage in a bit of reconnoitering, where he discovers a large plastic tunnel that leads to some kind of makeshift scientific lab. This all looks quite intriguing; too bad none of it makes a lick of sense.

No matter. With the requisite stalling over, we’re back in the basement to continue the entrapment yarn. Since the opened door has let in fallout, the survivors start losing parts of themselves – their hair first and then their moral compass. That latter absence paves the way for an extended game of who-can-out-gross whom, a contest that kicks off with the ever-popular axe – chopping up the interloper’s dead body and stuffing the remnants down the toilet.

Oh, things are just beginning. The super gets tortured, finger by severed finger. The distraught mom decides that the best way to cure the blues is to offer herself up as a sex toy to the male contingent, and her choice of couture – strategically placed duct tape – makes for some compelling bondage imagery. Then the half-bros shave their heads completely, the better to denote their new status as twin despots in charge of food rationing and general misanthropy, not to mention the occasional act of sodomy. As gross-out competitions go, this is definitely not lacking in energy, with a climactic burst of self-immolation only adding fuel to the fun.

To be fair, there are a few spoilsports. Eva (Lauren German) traipses through her garden with more rectitude than most, hoping thereby to up her survival odds. Maybe, but my money is on another, seen at least twice in optimistic close-up. It’s a rare movie where the most likable character onscreen, and the feel-good hero of the damnable show, is none other than the hardy cockroach.

The Divide

- Directed by Xavier Gens

- Written by Karl Mueller and Eron Sheean

- Starring Lauren German, Michael Biehn, Rosanna Arquette

- Classification: 18A

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:00AM EST

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More stories from Movies

- In the Land of Blood and Honey: Sermons and suffocating symbolism

- The Viral Factor: Fights in planes, trains and upside-down automobiles

- With Haywire, Soderbergh dutifully crunches the action formula

- Coriolanus: The conquering hero has mommy issues

- The actors fly, but Red Tails never soars

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Not Since You: Cue the chick-flick clichés

STEPHEN COLE

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 6:07PM EST

A scene from "Not Since You"

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A chick flick for women on doctor’s orders to reduce excitement in their lives, Not Since You is the story of the three sorority sisters – the first two born to be mild professionals, the third a kooky children’s book author – who return to a sleepy Georgia suburb for a quiet wedding.

The writer is a chubby virgin. But fun. Her nickname is Doogs. By contrast, Amy and Victoria have too many men in their lives – two each. And all four show up at the wedding.

That’s where the film is supposed to take off. Amy (Kathleen Robertson) is married to a handsome, kinda dull boarding-school teacher (Christian Kane), but never stopped loving Sam (Desmond Harrington), a handsome, painfully earnest seeker who went to Europe to find himself.

“I’ve spent a lot of time wandering around, being a tourist in other people’s lives.…”

Victoria (Sunny Mabrey) is being fought over by a fiancé and a former boyfriend. This being a romance, Doogs (Sara Rue) meets someone, too – an alcoholic who goes by Fudge (Elden Henson). Friends say he hasn’t bathed since 9/11. Not a great catch, maybe, but hey, chubby 28-year-old virgins can’t be picky.

Not Since You was made in 2009 for Monarch Home Video. We can guess it’s now in theatres to satisfy content requirements – filmmaker Jeff Stephenson and star Robertson are Canadian. But really, it’s a TV movie, safe as milk, with nothing to rattle prospective sponsors. No swearing. One chaste kiss – no probing tongues.

Though competently acted, the dialogue seems lifted from long-ago soap operas:

“You weren’t in love with me. You were in love with the idea of me.”

“I don’t want to lose you, but I don’t want to be the reason you’re unhappy for the rest of your life.”

Some films need script doctors. A slow, unconvincing cable-TV movie, Not Since You requires script hospice workers.

Special to The Globe and Mail

Not Since You

- Directed by Jeff Stephenson

- Written by Jeff Stephenson, Jane Kelly Kosek and Brent Laffoon

- Starring Desmond Harrington, Kathleen Robertson, Christian Kane, Sara Rue and Sunny Mabrey

- Classification: PG

- 1 star

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:00AM EST

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More stories from Movies

- In the Land of Blood and Honey: Sermons and suffocating symbolism

- The Viral Factor: Fights in planes, trains and upside-down automobiles

- With Haywire, Soderbergh dutifully crunches the action formula

- Coriolanus: The conquering hero has mommy issues

- The actors fly, but Red Tails never soars

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Life

- Party photos of the week: Walrus Foundation Gala

- Guess where to stay in Old Montreal

- A burger you can feel good about eating

- Hit the slopes for less this season

- The Northern Lights is on my bucket-list. How do I see it on a budget?

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- 4 tips to add elegance and interest to your bedroom

Party photos of the week: Walrus Foundation Gala

Laura Serra

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 1:09PM EST

Kate Subak, Margaret Atwood and Barbara Macdonald - Tom Sandler for The Globe and Mail

More than 400 writerly guests descended on the Distillery District’s Fermenting Cellar in Toronto to raise funds for the foundation’s internship program

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Guess where to stay in Old Montreal

WENCY LEUNG

MONTREAL

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:55AM EST

Lhotel is filled with contemporary art from the personal collection of Guess co-founder Georges Marciano.

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LHotel Montreal

262 rue Saint-Jacques Ouest; lhotelmontreal.com; 514-985-0019; 59 rooms from $160 a night. No eco-rating.

It's unthinkable for first-timers (or even second- or third-timers) to visit Montreal without checking out the historic district. Old Montreal was once the hub of the city and still maintains the spirit of the past with its cobblestone streets and 19th-century buildings.

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In the centre of the district is LHotel, an offbeat monument to pop art owned by Georges Marciano, co-founder of the Guess jeans label. The Victorian building, built in 1870, was originally a bank office and later housed the law firm of former Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau. By the time Marciano took over the building, it was operating as the luxury L'Hôtel XIXe Siècle. The denim baron renovated the property to display his pop art pieces, considered one of the largest private collections in North America. He turned the penthouse into his own private residence, and reopened the hotel (this time named LHotel) to guests.

Design

Like Guess's flashy, youthful brand image, LHotel's eclectic decor is anything but subtle. Vibrant lights and vivid colours collide with the hotel's Old World architecture and classic furnishings. In one corner, you'll find a modern, black lounge seat with zebra-print throw cushions. In another, an antique wooden desk.

But the main focus is the artwork installed throughout the building. About 250 pieces by some of the most celebrated names in modern art, from Roy Lichtenstein and Frank Stella to James Rosenquist and Marc Quinn, adorn its sunny yellow walls. Outside, a sculpture of Robert Indiana's iconic 1970 Love and Fernando Botero's plump Man On a Horse stand on either side of the entrance. And taking pride of place in the lobby is a 1986 portrait by the legendary Andy Warhol of the dashing, young Marciano himself.

Amenities

The greatest convenience of this hotel is its location, within a short walk of restaurants, cafés, shops and landmarks, such as the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal and the Marché Bonsecours.

LHotel has a modest, 24-hour gym, located in the basement, that consists of a basic set of free weights, a treadmill, stationary bicycle and a recumbent exercise bike. If you're desperate for a quick workout, it'll do. But better yet, consult the concierge, who will happily suggest a nice, scenic, outdoor jogging route.

Also in the basement is the hotel's humble business centre, a single computer and printer.

In the late afternoons, the neon-lit lobby bar, dubbed “Botero Bar,” hosts happy hour, with cocktails and live music. The lobby level also has three meeting rooms, which can accommodate about 50 people.

Rooms

The decor of the standard rooms and suites, with their Oriental rugs and patterned drapes, is more conventional than that of the funky lobby. High ceilings and large windows make a stately impression. All rooms have cable television and complimentary Wi-Fi. Suites also include sound systems and CD players. DVD players are available upon request.

Many of the suites are named after featured artists. For example, the massive Roy Lichtenstein suite, one of the hotel's finest, is decorated with several of Lichtenstein's works. An impressive painting hangs above the bed and another above the living-room sofa. There's also a gas fireplace in the bedroom, and in the bathroom, an ultra-modern glass shower. With the push of a button, the shower emits hot steam, turning the entire compartment into a luxurious steam bath.

Service

As a boutique hotel, LHotel lacks some of the amenities and finer qualities of a grand chain hotel. But it makes up for its shortcomings with warm, gracious service. At every turn, staff greet guests with a smile and a friendly “bonjour,” and they recognize that even the smallest gestures count. The moment guests walk through the door, staff offer a refreshing, chilled bottle of water – a welcome touch after a tiring journey.

Food

LHotel does not have a restaurant. However, you needn't wander far to find a great meal. On the corner of Saint-Paul Ouest and Rue Saint Pierre is Olive & Gourmando, a hot spot known for its comforting breakfasts, gourmet sandwiches and baked goods.

For dinner, splurge on a sumptuous meal at renowned chef Normand Laprise's Toqué! Restaurant, a couple of blocks away on Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle.

The hotel does offer a continental breakfast in its main-floor dining room, with a buffet of croissants, bagels, jams, cheeses, hard-boiled eggs, yogurt and fresh fruit. It also has a limited room-service menu of snacks, such as cheese platters, fruit plates and late-night comfort food: nachos with salsa and cheese

Verdict

Like the pop art movement itself, LHotel won't appeal to everyone. But if you've ever dreamed of spending the night in an art gallery, this may be the closest you'll get. Besides, how many people can claim they've bedded down next to the 20th century's leading artists?

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:14AM EST

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A burger you can feel good about eating

MERCEDEH SANATI

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:42AM EST

Find good fast food at LoKal in Miami, Fla.

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WELL-GROUNDED BURGERS

Miami - Burgers and craft beer are on the menu at LoKal, pictured at right, a down-to-earth burger joint that is the antithesis of the city's high-end maki and martini bars. Beef burgers at the Coconut Grove-based diner are made from locally raised grass-fed cattle (the meat is ground by hand, in-house) and come with unusual accompaniments like guava jelly, a fried egg or a glazed doughnut. Vegetarians can nibble on salads or a meat-free burger made from oat bran, brown rice, beets and prunes. And if you're out to impress a date, order Burger and Bubbles, a $300 (U.S.) combo that includes two burgers and a bottle of the best Champagne in the house. lokalmiami.com

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SPRITZ SERVICE

Vancouver - The Rosewood Georgia Hotel's list of luxurious amenities now includes scent service. The Fragrance Concierge comes to the rescue of guests who've forgotten to pack their favourite perfume or cologne by appearing at the door carrying a tray laden with such iconic scents as Chanel No. 5, Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gio and Terre d'Hermès. You won't be able to keep the bottles, but you can request as many spritzes as you'd like, day or night. rosewoodhotelgeorgia.com

NERDY CHIC AT SELFRIDGES

London - Bookworms and shop-aholics find common ground at Selfridges' new in-store “library.” With more than 15,000 books by publishing giants Penguin, Thames and Hudson, Faber and Taschen, this modern-day reading room features everything from fairy tales and photo-rich coffee table books to listening posts for audio books. Kobos and iPads are also available. Go for back-to-basics courses on Latin and Greek philosophy or a grammar tutorial by Etonian and Oxford graduate Nevile Gwynne. While you can stay and read all day, you won't be able to borrow a book. This literary project closes on March 1. selfridges.com

SPOT HOPPING

New York - Start connecting the dots of Damien Hirst's signature works at the Gagosian Galleries on Madison Avenue, West 24th and West 21st streets. The three Manhattan exhibition spaces are part of a simultaneous worldwide showing of more than 300 paintings in the famed Spot Paintings series, left, the first showing of a complete collection that took Hirst 25 years to produce. If you make it to the Gagosian Galleries in London, Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Athens, Geneva and Hong Kong too, you'll get a signed Hirst spot print as a reward. The New York exhibitions run until Feb. 18. gagosian.com

Special to The Globe and Mail

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:14AM EST

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Hit the slopes for less this season

Patrick Dineen

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:43AM EST

Vail Mountain in Colorado. (Associated Press)

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FAIRMONT PACKAGE DISCOUNTS

The buy: Ultimate Ski packages are being offered by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.

The savings: A minimum of 25 per cent compared to booking the room and buying lift tickets and breakfast separately.

The catch: Package rates are subject to availability and exclude taxes.

Why it's worth it: You have a wide range of resorts to choose from with the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu, Charlevoix, Que., selling from $219 a night; Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge from $249; Fairmont Banff Springs from $299; Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise from $299; Fairmont Tremblant, Mont-Tremblant, Que., from $349; Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, Quebec City from $375 and Fairmont Chateau Whistler from $419.

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Book it: Visit fairmont.com/ultimateski.

A THIRD OFF IN VAIL

The buy: Various upscale properties in Vail, Colo., are offering discounts during various weeks this winter.

The savings: 33 per cent.

The catch: The discount cannot be combined with any other offers.

Why it's worth it: Last weekend Vail and sister resort Beaver Creek got 38 centimetres of new snow. On the one lift ticket, you have access to more than 2,212 hectares of skiable terrain. The savings are available at properties such as The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Vail Feb. 26 to March 13 and March 21 to April 16; The Lodge at Vail, A RockResort April 9 to 16; The Arrabelle at Vail Square, A RockResort April 9 to 16; and Austria Haus, Vail March 28 to April 16, all centrally located.

Book it: Visit snowusa.com.

KICKING HORSE FOR $99

The buy: Bellstar Hotels & Resorts is offering its lowest rates of the season at its properties in Canmore, Alta., Kicking Horse Mountain Resort and Osoyoos in British Columbia, starting at $99.

The savings: Up to 55 per cent.

The catch: You have to book by Jan. 31 for travel by March 31.

Why it's worth it: Properties include Blackstone Mountain Lodge and the Solara Resort and Spa, both in Canmore, close to Banff's three ski resorts; the Palliser Lodge in Kicking Horse, B.C., where the ski hills were hit with 70 cm of new snow earlier this month; and the Spirit Ridge Vineyard Resort and Spa in B.C.'s Okanagan Valley, home to major ski resorts.

Book it: Visit wbellstar.ca/special-offers or call 1-877-737-6782 and use the promo code 99FUN.

FLY TO TREMBLANT

The buy: Time-saving packages to Mont Tremblant, Que., using non-stop flights on Porter Airlines from Toronto Island airport.

The savings: UltimateSki.ca offers a best-price guarantee (plus you’ll save the hassle of long drives on snow-covered roads).

The catch: The quick weekend getaway means a very early morning departure.

Why it's worth it: With the two-night package you are at Tremblant by 9 a.m. Saturday and have all day Saturday and Sunday to ski before returning to Toronto. Longer weekend and midweek packages are also available and all include roundtrip air, resort transfers, lift tickets and accommodation.

Book it: For more information, visit UltimateSki.ca or call 905-755-0999 or 1-866-440-1083

Special to The Globe and Mail

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:12AM EST

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The Northern Lights is on my bucket-list. How do I see it on a budget?

Karan Smith

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:10PM EST

Tjhe aurora borialis in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. (Northwest Territories Tourism)

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The Question: Seeing the Northern Lights in Yellowknife is on my bucket list. Can you suggest how to do this on a budget?

There are moments in the world of travel writing that require the word “magic,” and witnessing the aurora borealis is one of them. Iridescent yellow and green sweeps of light swirling in the cold midnight sky is, simply, unforgettable. The cost of travelling north, however, can put a damper on the moment.

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To make it more affordable, sign up for seat-sale alerts with airlines that fly to the Northwest Territories capital. This includes First Air (firstair.ca), Canadian North (canadiannorth.com), Air Canada (aircanada.com) and WestJet (westjet.com). Then find a hotel that suits your budget – search spectacularnwt.com.

“Anyone can see the lights; all it takes is patience,” says Julie Warnock of Northwest Territories Tourism. For a night of DIY viewing, she suggests packing a Thermos of hot chocolate and renting a car to get outside the city lights. (Pop into the Northern Frontier Visitor Association – northernfrontier.com – for directions to local viewing spots.)

Or you can sign up for a night-tour: Dene-run North Star Adventures (northstaradventures.ca) offers an “Aurora Hunting” expedition for $55 in which a guide will drive you to favourite spots and share the aboriginal beliefs behind the phenomenon.

Warnock suggests planning to stay at least three or four days to increase your chances for clear skies. NWT Tourism calculates that there's a 90- to 100-per-cent chance of seeing the display on clear nights between January and early April, thanks to Yellowknife's flatter, less-cloud-covered terrain and its position under the “Aurora Oval” that encircles the North Magnetic Pole.

Local operators can show you unique ways to enjoy the Northern Lights – from the enclave of a wilderness lodge with Enodah Wilderness Travel (enodah.com), or from heated tepees outside

Yellowknife with Aurora Village (auroravillage.com). Companies such as Yellowknife Outdoor Adventures (yellowknifeoutdooradventures.com) can offer airfare and hotel packages. Plus, local guides can keep you busy in the daylight with trips to the ice road, aboriginal beading workshops or dogsledding, as well as provide or rent the deep-cold gear needed to enjoy the winter waiting in comfort. A good investment!

Send your travel questions to concierge@globeandmail.com.

Follow Karan Smith on Twitter: @karan_smith.

Special to The Globe and Mail

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 11:12AM EST

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Video: That's cold: -20 in your underwear

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:59AM EST

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Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:59AM EST

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Video: The bark side: Watch pawesome Super Bowl ad

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:48AM EST

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Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:45AM EST

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Video: And the rudest city in America is...

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:32AM EST

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Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:32AM EST

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See inside a builder's home

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:10AM EST

Home of the Week, 5 Westgrove Cres., Toronto. The owners built the home from scratch with directions to the designer for a formal layout for the main level. - Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd.

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Home of the Week: What a builder builds for himself

DEIRDRE KELLY

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:13AM EST

Home of the Week, 5 Westgrove Cres., Toronto. The owners built the home from scratch with directions to the designer for a formal layout for the main level. (Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd.)

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THE LISTING

5 WESTGROVE CRES., TORONTO

ASKING PRICE: $2,678,000

TAXES: $16,009 (2011)

AGENT: Boris Kholodov (Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd; Johnston and Daniel Division)

THE BACK STORY

Elena and Yuri Kholodov (he owns the construction company, Keystone Group; she is a real estate agent with Forest Hill Real Estate Inc.) purchased this property five years ago after falling in love with it the day it hit the market.

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Not wanting anyone else to have it, the couple made a bully offer for $70,000 over asking, which the seller accepted. At the time, the Kholodovs had recently sold their North Toronto home and were looking to buy a lot with which to build their dream house.

Mr. Kholodov is an experienced custom home builder who has built 30 homes for multiple clients in Toronto; he was ready to take on a new challenge: building a house for himself.

“The location of this property was ideal,” he says. “The street is small and quiet and the lot itself picture perfect.

“The old house on that lot was deteriorating, which made it an easy teardown.” In fact, it took just one day for a single bulldozer to raze it.

WHAT'S NEW

No part of the original dwelling remains; everything about the present property is new and made to order.

At just over 3,500 square feet, it boasts four bedrooms, each with a bathroom ensuite, with an additional bedroom and a sauna in the lower level. Sabina Rotenberg of Integral Design Associates designed the home to blend seamlessly with the older homes in the neighbourhood, adding red brick and an elegant front elevation, for instance, to accomplish that goal.

The Kholodovs requested a formal layout for the main level, so Ms. Rotenberg created a main floor with five separate formal rooms: one each for living, dining, office, family and the eat-in kitchen.

The centre hall serves as the hub, with all the rooms fanning outwards from it. The Kholodovs also extensively landscaped the property both front and back, planting large trees to make the property look older than it is.

They are selling now because their children are grown and, as empty nesters, they want to move now to a smaller home that they will again build themselves.

THE BEST FEATURE

The home office has a library and is the most frequently used room in the house. “It is loaded with built-ins and wood panelling, which makes it very practical, yet elegant,” Mr. Kholodov says. “It is very much a place to relax and reflect, or to have an interesting quiet conversation. Every house has its special corner and this is it.”

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:08AM EST

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Small breasts are making a fashion 'comeback.' Seriously?

Wency Leung

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:33AM EST

Actress Rooney Mara from the film "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" arrives at the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California January 15, 2012. (REUTERS/Danny Moloshok)

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Are breast sizes like hairstyles or hemlines, whose trendiness changes with time?

If so, small breasts are set to make a comeback, according to British-born fashion commentator Simon Doonan.

On the news site Slate, Mr. Doonan makes the case that even though large breasts are now widely considered to be desirable, breast sizes are subject to the whims of fashion.

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“Despite the worldwide embrace of enormous knockers, I remain convinced that the pendulous pendulum will, at some point, begin to swing the other direction,” Mr. Doonan writes. “I know what you are thinking: Only a gay man could seriously posit the notion that big boobs might ‘go out of fashion.’”

However, he continues, he remembers a time when small breasts were in vogue.

During the late 1960s, he recalls, his straight male friends enthused about the “modest knockers” and “pert, little, no-brassiere-needed appendages” of actresses/socialites Anita Pallenberg and Michele Breton. And flat-chested women like Twiggy, Ali McGraw and Mia Farrow were regarded as cool and highly attractive.

Mr. Doonan says he began speculating that small breasts could become popular again after seeing actress Rooney Mara bare her modest, natural-looking pair in the U.S. film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Moreover, health concerns over leaky breast implants may force a shift away from large breasts, he suggests.

These days, even naturally well-endowed women are looking to downsize in the hopes of fitting in. Not convinced? Check out the BBC documentary “My Big Breasts and Me,” in which women express frustration over unwanted attention over and feelings of self-consciousness about their large breasts, not to mention physical problems like backpain.

In an ideal world, breast sizes, whether large or small, wouldn’t be deemed “fashionable” at all.

What do you think: Is breast size really comparable to a fashion trend?

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:50AM EST

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Fernie: the small mountain city with big ski dreams

TOM MALONEY

FERNIE, B.C.

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:45PM EST

Fernie's century-old buildings downtown are being turned into restaurants, boutiques and lofts.

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A decade ago, an acquaintance described Fernie as the next Telluride. It seemed a brazen prediction at the time; not so much today.

Telluride is located remotely in southwestern Colorado, set in a box canyon, characterized by Old West/Victorian architecture and a wide main street, overshadowed by a ski mountain in the Rockies, spooked by the legend of the bloody raccoon skin, home to a film festival that last September attracted the likes of Colin Firth, Laura Linney and George Clooney.

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Fernie is located remotely in southeastern B.C., set in a box canyon, characterized by Old West/Victorian architecture and a wide main street, overshadowed by a ski mountain in the Lizard Range of the Rockies, spooked by the legend of the Ghostrider, and home to a film festival in February that, well, gives free popcorn to kids and “is dedicated to filmmakers who spark awareness of mountain cultures.”

In other words, no Clooney, but who knows, the way Fernie is trending.

Trains hauling coal blast haunting bellicose horns while trudging through Fernie in the middle of the night, a reminder of the resource-based economy past and present. That economy has diversified from mining to tourism and recreation, driven by the skiing and spiced now by an emerging entertainment and shopping scene. Downtown, there's a growing sense of West Coast culture meeting Alberta petrodollars as Calgarians – three hours' drive and several radar traps away (watch out: the Longview, Alta., trap is notorious) – arrive in droves on weekends.

Fernie Alpine Resort, the tourist magnet owned by Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, celebrated its 50th year of skiing with the opening of the Polar Peak chairlift last week.

The chair takes skiers and boarders for the first time to Fernie's ridge line and drops them into Currie Bowl, one of five open bowls spread across the terrain. The lift extends the resort's vertical metres to 1,082, its skiable in-bounds acreage to 2,550, and number of marked runs to 140. The ski mountain offers plenty of everything – glades, bumps, wide-open bowls, skinny double-diamond chutes through craggy boulders.

To survive, though, ski resorts are increasingly installing infrastructure for families. Fernie is no different, with a terrain park in place, an aerial park and zip line to come this summer. Still, the snow is the resort's primary asset, with a dump of about 12 metres last winter. Nearly 150 centimetres of joyous, whoop-inducing powder dropped just this past week (43 cm in one night alone).

When our family visited just before Christmas, though, the conditions (grrr) ranged from hard-packed to windswept, and these office-softened legs were grateful one day to see how the downtown core, once deemed a lost cause for seasonal business, is gradually luring people from the slopes and cross-country trails.

I walked into the General Store building on Second Avenue, the main drag, to shop for souvenirs in a clothing store. But a shop tucked in the back caught my eye – especially a painting by Laura Nelson. Turns out the shopkeeper, Michael Hepher, moved his family to town this past summer and, in October, opened the

Clawhammer Letterpress and Gallery, showcasing works by local artists, as well as his own three-dimensional pieces. We chatted for a while about Fernie, I left, and later arranged to have the painting shipped to Ontario. Definitely a no-pressure sale.

“People here seem to love unique, one-of-a-kind merchandise and shopping experiences,” Hepher told me later. “Downtown Fernie is becoming a destination in and of itself.”

Fernie has twice burned to the ground, the last time in 1908 when a forest fire claimed 100 lives. It was rebuilt with stone and brick, and today entrepreneurs are gradually transforming the heritage buildings into restaurants, shops and lofts. You can walk through the downtown core in about 15 minutes. Highway 3 fissures through town on its way to the ski hill. On both sides, the old clapboard miners' shacks are gradually disappearing in favour of modern rebuilds, especially along the Elk River where fly fishing is popular in summer. Most remarkably, the old high school in a scuzzy-ish part of the downtown core was developed into 901 Fernie, a collection of luxury lofts and condos priced between $600,000 and $1-million, with some available for rent.

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“There's an invisible magical factor in Fernie with the combination of the people, place and determination,” says Nelson, the artist. “From all those hard times, a definite spirit lingers in the old Fernie-ites. People try to make a go of it in Fernie, and that means being creative.”

Several years ago, volunteers saved a crumbling railway building by moving it across the tracks and transforming it into the Arts Station, where paintings surround diners in the popular breakfast spot, the Blue Toque. The community effort triggered a movement that now appears full steam ahead as people migrate to Fernie to take up permanent residence. Once a meat-and-potatoes, rough-and-tough mining town, Fernie is in irrepressible transition.

At the Beanpod, raw cacao beans are stone-ground in a 1948 granite mélangeur and turned into $7 bars over five days. An individual melt-in-the-mouth bonbon tasted so incredible it made me yearn for a glass of Okanagan cabernet. Grand Fromage makes its own cheese, the Essential Yoga Studio offers more than 30 classes a week, and microbrewer Fernie Brewing Co. fills 1.98-litre “growlers” on the spot, European-style. (You won't ever go wrong with the Buck Wild lightly hopped golden blond.) The Yamagoya sushi restaurant still serves the “best rolls this side of Vancouver” (as deemed by aficionado Bruce Dowbiggin, The Globe and Mail's sports media columnist), the new Fernie Cattle Co. restaurant advertises grass-fed SPCA-certified meats and sustainable seafood, the Picnic Restaurant serves house-made elk chorizo, and the Northern Bar & Stage is a first-class sports bar with live keno and (eat your heart out, Ontario) a half-price wine night.

Aside from Albertans, the resort attracts skiers and riders from Britain and the American Midwest, and visionaries – led by eightysomething Heiko Socher, who took the first chair up this season at the resort he developed – who see even greater potential. Island Lake Lodge, accessed on the north side of town, already offers world-class cat-skiing and has received regulatory approval to install a chairlift and expand hilltop accommodations. Get this, though. Socher has proposed a development, Heaven's Gate, to transport skiers from a downtown gondola to Coal Ridge south of town, as you might experience in Italy or France.

While oil-and-gas companies dream of coal-bed methane production out in those hills, others, in this evolving ski village, see a different future, this one fuelled by a snow-white dream.

IF YOU GO

Getting there

From Calgary’s airport, it’s a three-hour drive southwest; from Cranbrook, B.C., it’s a one-hour drive east or you can take the Fernie Connector shuttle.

Where to stay

Cornerstone Lodge is a luxury condo at the base of the mountain with a Kelsey’s on the main floor. From $296 a night. 888-423-6855; cornerstonelodge.ca

Timberline Lodge has condos a short uphill walk away from the lifts. From $205 a night. 877-333-2339: skifernie.com/vacations

Skiing

Lift tickets are $76.95 for adults. 1-877-333-2339; skifernie.com.

Tired of skiing?

The Fernie Aquatic Centre (downtown on Pine Avenue) has a six-lane, 25-metre competition pool with a one-metre diving board and Tarzan swing, a 15-metre leisure pool with spray fountains, a 25-person hot tub, a 15-person steam room, and a 45-metre waterslide. 250-423-4466; fernie.ca.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 2:00AM EST

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January 20: Your daily horoscope

SallY Brompton

Last updated Monday, Jan. 09, 2012 5:35PM EST

Capricorn

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IF TODAY IS YOUR BIRTHDAY:

A Venus-Pluto link on your birthday will bring out your passionate side. This may surprise a few people, especially those who did not know you possess a passionate side, but they’ll learn soon enough – if they’re lucky!

ARIES (March 21 - April 20):

As from today you will find it so much easier to work with other people. More to the point, other people will find it so much easier to work with you. Yes, you can be a difficult partner at times.

- Your lookahead horoscope: What’s in the stars for you in 2012?

TAURUS (April 21 - May 21):

Now that the sun is crossing the career angle of your chart you must not allow yourself to get upset about things that require a practical rather than an emotional response. Your future success could depend on it.

GEMINI (May 22 - June 21):

You may not have been at your best of late but very soon you will look and feel like a million dollars. Everyone will want to get close to you so they can bask in your radiance. It’s called star quality.

CANCER (June 22 - July 23):

If you have been living beyond your means in recent weeks you will have to tighten your belt now that the sun is moving into the wealth area of your chart. Look for the cheap deal rather than the expensive one.

LEO (July 24 - Aug. 23):

You will make a lot of friends over the next few days, and most likely you will make one or two enemies as well. Does that prospect worry you? Not in the slightest, because you know your own worth.

VIRGO (Aug. 24 - Sept. 23):

You need to tighten up your working routine. The simple fact is you have wasted a lot of time on activities that are of no real importance, so draw up a schedule that focuses on long-term goals only. And stick to it.

LIBRA (Sept. 24 - Oct. 23):

The sun’s move into your fellow Air sign of Aquarius means the next four weeks should be truly special. But a lot still depends on you. Be adventurous. Be courageous. Be the one who makes things happen.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24 - Nov. 22):

Family matters will be even more important than usual today. Make allowances for loved ones and relatives who don’t share your level of self-control. It’s okay if they get emotional – it may even be good for them.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23 - Dec. 21):

Try not to see each and every situation in terms of winning and losing. You can quite easily turn potential foes into allies today, simply by being a bit less aggressive. Communication and co-operation are the keys.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 - Jan. 20):

The sun leaves your birth sign today but that does not mean you have to leave town or leave off what you are doing. You still have a lot of energy and momentum on your side, so make sure you use them.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 21 - Feb. 19):

Your very own new year begins today as the sun moves into your sign. Even if your birthday is not for a few weeks yet you should be making plans – and acting on them. It’s not about tomorrow, it’s about today.

PISCES (Feb. 20 - Mar. 20):

Make sure you look on the bright side of everything that happens over the next 24 hours. It can be all too easy sometimes to sink into negative thoughts, but you are always in control. Make your life a masterpiece.

Visit Sally at www.sallybrompton.com

Call 1-900-783-8333 for your extended forecast.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:01AM EST

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Just how stylish is the living room of two artists?

Deirdre Kelly

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:39PM EST

Deborah Moss and Edward Lam's living room (Handout | Edward Lam)

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In the run-up to next week’s Interior Design Show, which kicks off at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Thursday, Deborah Moss will have little time for lounging. She and Edward Lam, her husband and partner in the design studio Moss & Lam, are busy mounting an installation for the show; called Ursa Major, it is built around the connections between nature and art.

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When they do take pause, in the 4,000-square-foot house they share in the city’s west end with their two teenage daughters, Poppy and Charlotte, their favourite room to relax in is their living room, where natural elements prevail. The sunken room features objects and materials either inspired by or derived from the out of doors and boasts an unobstructed view of a stand of mature trees located just beyond the windows.

“It is an adult room in the sense that there is no TV or computer, just an audio system,” Moss says. “Sitting here when the sun’s shining in is blissful.”

The bear side table

“The cast-plaster Walking Bear Side Table is our own design. Nature is our ultimate design source and here we were inspired by a classic Canadian symbol that we interpreted as a fractal sculptural object.”

The chair

“This is a Diz Chair, made from imbuia wood by Brazilian designer Sergio Rodrigues, from [Toronto retailer] Avenue Road. It is super-comfortable and has a sculptural quality I could marvel at forever. It also works with some Danish teak pieces I have throughout the house that I inherited from my family.”

The Chinese armoire

“This we hauled home from a trip to Shanghai 15 years ago. It provides great storage.”

The antlers

“We ordered 600 elk and white-tail deer antlers for a ceiling-mobile project at the MGM Grand Detroit. These are the five that were left over. The antlers were all harvested as seasonal drop-offs, making it a palatable material for us to use.”

The coffee table

“This is one of the first purchases we made when we were starving art students. It’s from Quasi Modo Modern Furniture in Toronto.”

The couch

“This South Beach sectional was designed by Yabu Pushelberg. We sat on it at [designers George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg’s] Miami home and knew we wanted it. It is well-proportioned, which is what makes it comfortable. We had it upholstered in a wool boucle that is indestructible.”

The wall hanging

“The wall hanging is my own art piece, a version of which was commissioned by Holt Renfrew on Bloor Street [in Toronto]. It is made with hand-shredded Japanese papers. I have a bit of a paper obsession: the process behind it, its tactility, how it can be manipulated.”

The sculpture

“This is a piece of science-class apparatus that we found in Hudson, New York.”

The side table

“One of our own designs, this piece, called the Hex Table, is made of solid walnut. We source the wood from dead local standing trees, so it is harvested responsibly. The facets are cut according to the shape of each tree, so each table is unique.”

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:01AM EST

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4 tips to add elegance and interest to your bedroom

Sarah Richardson

Last updated Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012 7:09PM EST

Stacey Brandford for The Globe and Mail

As the temperatures dive downward and the world around us looks ever greyer and bleaker, the dark days of winter may be the best time to dream about (and execute) a master bedroom revamp After all, surrounding yourself with shades and elements that make you feel calm at the end of the longest of days allows you to rise feeling rested and ready to tackle the world yet again

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Real Estate

- See inside a builder's home

- Home of the Week: What a builder builds for himself

- Toronto home sellers are in a January state of mind

- Quick offer on an east-end Toronto townhouse

- Queen West loft has parking drawback

- Downtown condo overcomes obstructed view

- Forest Hill condo comes with a view of UCC

- Toronto townhouse does competition one better

See inside a builder's home

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:10AM EST

Home of the Week, 5 Westgrove Cres., Toronto. The owners built the home from scratch with directions to the designer for a formal layout for the main level. - Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd.

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Home of the Week: What a builder builds for himself

DEIRDRE KELLY

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:13AM EST

Home of the Week, 5 Westgrove Cres., Toronto. The owners built the home from scratch with directions to the designer for a formal layout for the main level. (Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd.)

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THE LISTING

5 WESTGROVE CRES., TORONTO

ASKING PRICE: $2,678,000

TAXES: $16,009 (2011)

AGENT: Boris Kholodov (Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd; Johnston and Daniel Division)

THE BACK STORY

Elena and Yuri Kholodov (he owns the construction company, Keystone Group; she is a real estate agent with Forest Hill Real Estate Inc.) purchased this property five years ago after falling in love with it the day it hit the market.

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- Photo Gallery See inside a builder's home

Not wanting anyone else to have it, the couple made a bully offer for $70,000 over asking, which the seller accepted. At the time, the Kholodovs had recently sold their North Toronto home and were looking to buy a lot with which to build their dream house.

Mr. Kholodov is an experienced custom home builder who has built 30 homes for multiple clients in Toronto; he was ready to take on a new challenge: building a house for himself.

“The location of this property was ideal,” he says. “The street is small and quiet and the lot itself picture perfect.

“The old house on that lot was deteriorating, which made it an easy teardown.” In fact, it took just one day for a single bulldozer to raze it.

WHAT'S NEW

No part of the original dwelling remains; everything about the present property is new and made to order.

At just over 3,500 square feet, it boasts four bedrooms, each with a bathroom ensuite, with an additional bedroom and a sauna in the lower level. Sabina Rotenberg of Integral Design Associates designed the home to blend seamlessly with the older homes in the neighbourhood, adding red brick and an elegant front elevation, for instance, to accomplish that goal.

The Kholodovs requested a formal layout for the main level, so Ms. Rotenberg created a main floor with five separate formal rooms: one each for living, dining, office, family and the eat-in kitchen.

The centre hall serves as the hub, with all the rooms fanning outwards from it. The Kholodovs also extensively landscaped the property both front and back, planting large trees to make the property look older than it is.

They are selling now because their children are grown and, as empty nesters, they want to move now to a smaller home that they will again build themselves.

THE BEST FEATURE

The home office has a library and is the most frequently used room in the house. “It is loaded with built-ins and wood panelling, which makes it very practical, yet elegant,” Mr. Kholodov says. “It is very much a place to relax and reflect, or to have an interesting quiet conversation. Every house has its special corner and this is it.”

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:08AM EST

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Toronto home sellers are in a January state of mind

Carolyn Ireland

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:17AM EST

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Why do people list their houses and condos for sale in the depths of January?

One good reason is that they’re trying to sell on a busy street. Canny agents will advise listing such a property during the coldest time of the year because buyers are less likely to open the windows and hear the streetcar rumbling by or noise from cars whizzing along the highway.

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Other catalysts include death and divorce, but if sellers have the option of waiting for better spring weather, they usually do. For the past several years, agents have been lamenting that more sellers don’t list in February when house hunters feel rejuvenated after the traditional market break during the holidays and can’t wait to get out and look again.

This year, there are early signs that sellers are listening to the agents who are pressing them to just yank the small appliances off the counter and get a “for sale” sign in the lawn. New properties began to trickle onto the market this week - and they’re not all on busy streets.

And sellers may have more reasons to listen this year: The latest numbers from the Canadian Real Estate Association show that the run-up in sales and prices is losing steam in Toronto. The Bank of Canada stood pat on its trend-setting interest rate this week.

Meanwhile, some banks dropped their mortgage rates to historic new lows last week and that action is likely to galvanize some potential buyers who will decide to grab the low rate while they can.

Risks to the Toronto housing market include an uncertain outlook for the U.S. and Canadian economies, a dwindling number of buyers who can afford the current lofty prices, and high consumer debt loads that could push a horde of homeowners to sell.

Are more sellers heeding the advice of agents and listing early this year? It’s too soon to know for sure, but it will be interesting to see if the trickle turns into a torrent over the next few weeks.

Join the discussion: How do you think the real estate market will play out in Toronto this year?

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 3:54PM EST

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Quick offer on an east-end Toronto townhouse

Sydnia Yu

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 10:21AM EST

Done Deal, 26 William Hancox Ave., Toronto

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26 WILLIAM HANCOX AVE., TORONTO

ASKING PRICE $629,900

SELLING PRICE $622,000

PREVIOUS SELLING PRICE $615,000 (2010); $298,526 (2002)

TAXES $3,762 (2011)

DAYS ON THE MARKET Three

LISTING AGENT Laura Golbeck, Royal LePage Estate Realty

The Action: Directly across from an east-end park in Toronto, this brick townhouse received an offer the evening after the second open house event.

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- What you can get in Toronto for $1 million

- Photo Gallery What you can get in Toronto for $1 million

What They Got: Within a row of more than a dozen townhouses, this nearly decade-old unit has an unconventional three-storey layout with several open-concept spaces.

There is a main-floor living room, dining area and a combined kitchen and family room with a gas fireplace, an island with breakfast bar seating, stainless steel appliances and a patio door to a fenced backyard.

The second floor was designed with two carpeted bedrooms and a central media room with cathedral ceilings, along with laundry facilities and one of three bathrooms.

A third-floor catwalk separates an open office area and master suite with a walk-in closet and covered deck.

For extra storage, there is an unfinished basement and a garage at the back of the 15- by 100-foot lot.

The East Toronto Athletic Field, GO and TTC stations and Danforth Avenue shops are within a ten minute walk.

The Agent’s Take: “This home has a fantastic layout – featuring three levels and a second floor, vaulted ceiling media room – with contemporary decor throughout,” says agent Laura Golbeck. “The layout really maximizes the living and entertaining space. Others have a very split layout and the rooms are much smaller.”

Its location is also ideal in several respects. “At 1,945 square feet, it's great value for the space, primly situated across from a park in the Upper Beach,” adds Ms. Golbeck.

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 10:06AM EST

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Queen West loft has parking drawback

Sydnia Yu

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 10:25AM EST

Done Deal, 183 Dovercourt Rd., Toronto

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183 DOVERCOURT RD., NO. 307, TORONTO

ASKING PRICE $479,900

SELLING PRICE $475,000

PREVIOUS SELLING PRICE $386,556 (2007)

TAXES $3,194 (2010)

DAYS ON THE MARKET 61

LISTING AGENT Edwin Brdlik, Toronto Lofts Realty Corp.

The Action: This two-bedroom loft in the Argyle Lofts lacked parking – like many hard lofts do in conversion projects – which was a drawback for many buyers. But three dozen buyers scheduled a showing to weigh its other assets in person.

- Downtown condo overcomes obstructed view

- What you can get in Toronto for $500,000

- Photo Gallery What you can get in Toronto for $500,000

What They Got: The Ideal Bread Co. first occupied this roughly century-old building in Beaconsfield before it was converted into residential lofts, including this roughly 1,050 square-foot unit.

Like many models, this unit was designed with a two-storey layout with a main floor bathroom, enclosed bedroom and an open kitchen and living space with hardwood floors, granite counters and stainless steel appliances, as well as warehouse windows, exposed ductwork and concrete ceilings that open to the space above.

Ceilings are over nine feet on the upper level where there is an open den and sleeping quarters with a walk-in closet and second full bathroom.

The monthly fee is $511. Street permit parking is an extra $10 monthly.

The Agent’s Take: “It’s location – being essentially in the middle of Dundas West and Queen West – is unusual, so you can walk up to Dundas or College or head out to Queen West,” agent Edwin Brdlik said. “It’s also one of the few designated heritage properties, so it has quite a bit of demand because of that. It’s a beautiful building.”

The loft itself also has rare attributes. “The bedrooms were on separate levels, as were the bathrooms, so it lends itself to some privacy, which many lofts – being open concept – don’t have,” Mr. Brdlik said. “It had 16.5-foot ceilings, so that’s unusual.”

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 10:01AM EST

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Downtown condo overcomes obstructed view

Sydnia Yu

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 10:27AM EST

Done Deal, 110 Charles St. E., Toronto

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110 CHARLES ST. E., NO. 4005, TORONTO

ASKING PRICE $489,900

SELLING PRICE $484,400

TAXES $2,791 (2010)

DAYS ON THE MARKET 23

LISTING AGENT Christopher Bibby, Sutton Group-Associates Realty Inc.

The Action: Upwards of 60 buyers pre-arranged a private tour of this two-bedroom corner suite in the X Condominium residence.

- Queen West loft has parking drawback

- What you can get in Toronto for $500,000

- Photo Gallery What you can get in Toronto for $500,000

What They Got: On the 40th floor of a relatively new high-rise, this northwest corner unit was given a wide and shallow layout with walls of floor-to-ceiling windows and dark hardwood floors in the bedrooms and central living, dining and cooking areas.

Other assets include six appliances and two four-piece bathrooms, including a master ensuite, plus parking.

The monthly fee of $409 covers the cost of water and heating and care of a gym, media and party rooms, as well as a rooftop garden with a pool, hot tub, barbecue station and fireplace.

The Agent’s Take: “Our north view eventually would be obstructed by another building, so it took a while to sell,” says agent Christopher Bibby. “But the west view was to be totally unobstructed … all the way to Mississauga, Etobicoke and the Financial District.”

Despite the unit’s open and airy feel, it offered privacy. “The floor plan was quite smart because the bedrooms were completely separated,” Mr. Bibby said. “It’s a great layout ideal for a couple or even a single guy.”

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 9:56AM EST

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Forest Hill condo comes with a view of UCC

Sydnia Yu

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 10:32AM EST

Done Deal, 619 Avenue Rd., No. 1402, Toronto

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619 AVENUE RD., NO. 1402, TORONTO

ASKING PRICE $635,000

SELLING PRICE $600,000

TAXES $4,867 (2011)

DAYS ON THE MARKET Three

LISTING AGENT Elli Davis, Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd.

The Action: More than a dozen buyers booked appointments to view this one-bedroom corner suite in the Lonsdale high-rise in Forest Hill across from Upper Canada College.

- Downtown condo overcomes obstructed view

- What you can get in Toronto for $1 million

- Photo Gallery What you can get in Toronto for $1 million

What They Got: A few years ago, a 40-year-old rental building was converted to house upscale condominiums, including this 1,338 square-foot suite, which is just one of four units on the 14th floor.

Designer finishes include hardwood floors and pot lights in the principal rooms and carpeting in the bedroom off the foyer, in addition to granite counters, mirrored backsplashes and stainless steel appliances in the galley kitchen.

Floor-to-ceiling windows facing north and east illuminate the open living room and adjacent dining area.

A three-piece bathroom and en suite laundry facilities are part of the package, as well as a locker and parking spot.

There is a monthly fee of $1,149, including heating costs and recent renovation of the lobby, elevators and gym. Residents can also use a heated outdoor pool, car wash facilities and 24-hour concierge services.

The Agent’s Take: “It was an oversized one-bedroom with over 1,300 square feet that had a beautiful view of Upper Canada College and Forest Hill,” says agent Elli Davis. “The building offers much larger units, so this is actually small for the building.”

The unit also benefits from having a sought-after address. “It’s in a luxury building that offers great amenities with valet parking,” says Ms. Davis. “It has easy access to downtown, right between Forest Hill Village and Yonge and St. Clair, so it’s really nicely located.”

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 9:52AM EST

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Toronto townhouse does competition one better

Sydnia Yu

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 10:30AM EST

Done Deal, 415 Jarvis St., Toronto

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415 JARVIS ST., NO. 330, TORONTO

ASKING PRICE $369,900

SELLING PRICE $380,000

PREVIOUS SELLING PRICE $180,797 (2005); $196,114 (2003)

TAXES $2,081 (2011)

DAYS ON THE MARKET Three

LISTING AGENT Anna Michaelidis, Royal LePage Urban Realty

The Action: In a stacked townhouse complex called The Central, another two-bedroom suite facing east sold for less than $360,000 in a week's time. However, three days later, this nearly identical west-facing unit sold in half that time for $380,000 in a bidding war between two buyers.

- Quick offer on an east-end Toronto townhouse

- What you can get in Toronto for $500,000

- Photo Gallery What you can get in Toronto for $500,000

What They Got: Less than a decade ago, this condominium suite was built with many similarities to a traditional townhouse, such as a street-level entrance, three-storey layout and private outdoor space.

The decor is urban and contemporary – as demonstrated on the main floor – with laminate floors in the open living and dining area and ceramic backsplashes and stainless steel appliances in the U-shaped kitchen.

Two carpeted bedrooms and a four-piece bathroom round out the second floor, which also has access to a rooftop terrace above.

Underground parking comes with the unit, along with a monthly fee of $355. Hydro and heating costs are extra.

The Agent’s Take: “One of the best parts of this one versus the other was that it had the fabulous 215-square-foot rooftop terrace with views of the downtown skyline,” says agent Anna Michaelidis. “The unit we sold fronts onto Jarvis, so you are on the busier exposure, but you get the beautiful views.”

The unit is also well situated in other ways. “There are a lot of new high-rises coming up, but nothing quite like this. It’s a very intimate complex with a nice community vibe,” Ms. Michaelidis said. “The new Loblaws at Maple Leaf Gardens just opened and it’s a block away.”

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 9:48AM EST

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Sports

- Bargnani, Bayless are game-time decisions for Raptors

- Rams to play NFL games in London for next 3 years

- Tiger-Cats hire new defensive co-ordinator

- Redknapp tells Spurs to go for goals at City

- Who will fill Patrick Chan’s skates?

- The minor altercation of Alberta

- Avs’ Mueller regains scoring touch in return from head injury

- Sarah Burke’s death leaves a deep scar in the sport of freestyle skiing

- Flames top Kings in shootout

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- Canadian women rout Haiti to kick off Olympic qualifying tournament

- Conference championship picks against the spread

- Just reaching final qualification stage a victory for earthquake-ravaged Haiti

- Dwane Casey endures growing pains

Bargnani, Bayless are game-time decisions for Raptors

ROBERT MACLEOD

TORONTO - Globe and Mail Update

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:29PM EST

Toronto Raptors forward Andrea Bargnani (CP)

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Andrea Bargnani is close and Jerryd Bayless is closer.

But whether or not either player is available for Friday night's game against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Air Canada Centre will be a game-time decision according to Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey.

Bayless, who has missed all but three of Toronto's games this season with a sprained left ankle, has two full practices under his belt and the point guard took part in the Raptors shoot-around session Friday morning.

- Dwane Casey endures growing pains

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Bargnani, Toronto's leading scorer and rebounder, has missed the last four games with a strained left calf and has yet to participate in practice since he was injured.

The 7-foot power forward was at shoot-around but concentrated primarily on conditioning drills.

While it appears Bayless is a better bet to play against Portland, Casey wasn't tipping his hand earlier in the day, saying he'll make the call shortly before game time.

“Andrea's more chomping at the bit that we are [to play],” Casey said. “We want to make sure that we go slow, he's fully ready to go.”

Casey said if Bargnani is held out of the Portland game there's a chance he'll be good for Sunday's game in Los Angeles against the Clippers.

Failing that Casey said Bargani should be ready for Tuesday's game in Phoenix against the Suns.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:27PM EST

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Rams to play NFL games in London for next 3 years

LONDON - The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:37AM EST

In this Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011 file photo Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Chicago Bears play during the first half of an NFL football game at Wembley Stadium in London. (Associated Press)

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The St. Louis Rams will play a regular-season NFL game in London in each of the next three seasons, first facing the New England Patriots in 2012.

The NFL said Friday the Rams and Patriots will play on Oct. 28 at Wembley Stadium, the sixth year in a row the league will play regular-season games in the British capital.

“We are confident that having the Rams host one game in the UK in each of the next three seasons will allow us to better serve the growing popularity of our sport beyond the borders of the United States,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement.

The NFL has been trying to bring two games a season to Britain, but the league said the Rams-Patriots contest would be the only one in 2012.

The NFL first played at Wembley in 2007, with the New York Giants beating the Miami Dolphins 13-10. Since then, seven other teams have visited Britain, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers making the trip twice.

The Patriots have already been to London, beating the Bucs 35-7 in 2009. The Bucs returned this season, losing to the Chicago Bears 24-18 in October — the first of the Wembley games that wasn't a sellout.

The Rams are owned by Stan Kroenke, who is also the majority shareholder in English club Arsenal.

“We've seen first-hand the increased popularity of the NFL not only in London but throughout Europe,” Kroenke said. “To play a role in that growth over the next three years will be incredible and is a testament to the many good things happening not only in the NFL but also in the St. Louis Rams organization.”

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:35AM EST

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Tiger-Cats hire new defensive co-ordinator

RACHEL BRADY

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:26AM EST

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George Cortez has made his first hire as new head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Cortez, who was just introduced by the Ticats last week, has hired Casey Creehan as the team's defensive co-ordinator. Creehan spent the last two seasons as linebackers coach with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, helping them to the 2011 Grey Cup.

“I'm very excited to add Casey to our staff as defensive co-ordinator,” said Cortez, who left his post as Buffalo Bills quarterbacks coach to join the Ticats. “He's been involved with an exciting style of defence in Winnipeg over the last couple of years and after working together in Calgary, I know that Casey is capable of leading an energetic, aggressive defence here in Hamilton.”

Creehan also spent one season coaching the linebackers with the Montreal Alouettes (2008) and four seasons (2004-07) as defensive line coach with the Calgary Stampeders.

“I'm honoured to have the opportunity to join the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and work with Coach Cortez, whose track record as a coach speaks for itself,” said Creehan. “We look forward to creating a fast, physical defence that is centred on fundamentals.”

Creehan also held various coaching positions at several U.S colleges, such as Eastern Michigan, James Madison University, Clarion University, Southern Illinois University and Lehigh University.

Creehan's departure from Winnipeg creates a third coaching vacancy on the Bombers staff. Receivers coach Chris Wiesehan left the Bombers to take a coaching position with the University of Hawaii. The team must also replace offensive co-ordinator Jamie Barresi, who was fired right after the 2011 season.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:26AM EST

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Redknapp tells Spurs to go for goals at City

KEN FERRIS

CHIGWELL, England - Reuters

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:09AM EST

Tottenham Hotspur's manager Harry Redknapp waits to watch Everton play Bolton Wanderers in their English Premier League soccer match at Goodison Park in Liverpool, northern England, January 4, 2012. REUTERS/Phil Noble (Reuters)

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Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp has dispelled any talk of playing it safe by telling his team to look for goals and a victory at Manchester City on Sunday as they bid to maintain their challenge for the Premier League title.

Leaders City, who won 5-1 at Spurs in August, are unbeaten at home in the league this season but third-placed Tottenham traditionally did well against the Manchester club before their vast riches helped Roberto Mancini assemble his current side.

“I think we can go there and play really well on Sunday. They will know they’ve had a game I’m sure,” Redknapp told reporters at Tottenham’s training ground on Friday.

“We will go there with a positive team. I wouldn’t want to go there and sit back. I think we have got people who can hurt them. I’m looking to go and take the game to them if we can. They have got outstanding forward players and they are a good team, but so are we.”

Redknapp will have to juggle his side on Sunday with striker Emmanuel Adebayor ineligible to play against his parent club while on loan at Spurs.

He is poised to start with forward Jermain Defoe, the club’s top scorer with 11 goals despite often being on the bench.

“I’ve got Jermain. He has been bursting for a chance... so he will get the opportunity to play. It’s another big game. We want to go there and get a result and play well and come away with something from the game,” he said

William Gallas and Sandro are not fit after suffering calf strains while skipper Ledley King is very doubtful.

Spurs, five points behind City, started this season under a cloud. Defeats by Manchester United and City followed their first home game against Everton being postponed because of the London riots that started in the Tottenham area.

Since then however, they have lost once in 19 league matches to rise from bottom to third and although they remain outsiders, a first title since their league and FA Cup double-winning year in 1961 is not out of the question.

Asked about the 5-1 City hammering, Redknapp said: “We lost goals early in the game. We had injuries. It was a difficult game. The midfield wasn’t what you would have expected us to start the season with in all honesty.”

Things are very different now.

“It’s a great time of the season for us to be involved where we are. Sitting two points behind (second-placed) Manchester United and 10 points in front of Arsenal at this stage of the season is not something that normally happens,” Redknapp added.

“It has been an amazing season for us after we lost the first two games. We had two bad beatings and to come back and be where we are has been fantastic but we have just got to carry that on now for the rest of the season and that’s what we aim to do.

“People keep saying Man United haven’t played well. They have got 48 points. God knows what’s going to happen if they start playing well. It’s frightening.”

Asked if a defeat would end Tottenham’s title hopes, he added: “I’ve said many times a six-point, seven-point, eight-point lead can evaporate very quickly.

“I will have one eye on Arsenal’s game (versus Manchester United) as well after. We want to make sure we keep pushing on and get that Champions League place. That’s the key.”

While Redknapp has troubles of his own - his court case on tax evasion charges which he denies starts on Monday - he still found time to joke about the controversy surrounding Mancini, who has been criticised for waving imaginary red cards recently.

“(If he does that on Sunday) I will set (coach) Joe (Jordan) on him. Joe speaks Italian, he can talk to him.”

More seriously, Redknapp added: “I don’t like it. Not for me. I wouldn’t do it. I don’t like to see it. I don’t think there’s any need for that really. But he has done a great job there and whenever I have met him I’ve found him to be a really good guy.”

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:08AM EST

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Who will fill Patrick Chan’s skates?

BEVERLEY SMITH

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:02AM EST

Kevin Reynolds during a practice session in Burnaby January 10, 2011 . (JOHN LEHMANN/THE GLOBE AND MAIL)

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News flash: Patrick Chan will probably win his fifth Canadian figure skating championship senior title this weekend in Moncton, N.B., unless he finds ice more slippery than usual, or decides to nip out for coffee at the wrong time.

But there will come a day when Chan, (still only 21), will leave the sport and perhaps ply a career in business or money management, and who will be left in Canada to pick up the pieces of a dominant world champion?

- Bold young skaters are picking up where Joannie Rochette left off

Or, to take a more myopic view, who will fill the second berth that Canadian men have for the world championships in Nice, France in March?

This Canadian championship is a qualifying event for the world championships, to which Canada may send two men, three ice dancing teams, two pairs and only one woman (so desperate have things become since Olympic bronze medalist Joannie Rochette went on her sabbatical).

Those who aspire to that remaining men’s spot are Canada’s quad king, Kevin Reynolds of Coquitlam, B.C., the world junior champion, Andrei Rogozine of Toronto, Jeremy Ten of Burnaby, B.C., a former Canadian bronze medalist, Liam Firius of North Vancouver, the 2010 Canadian junior champion and the tiny upstart Nam Nguyen, who is only 13 and the 2011 Canadian junior champion.

Reynolds has been a precocious jumper from the time he was a juvenile skater, but in recent years, the gold ring has always fallen beyond his grasp. He finished third at the 2010 Canadian championships, and because there were only two Olympic spots up for grabs, he missed his Olympic shot in his hometown.

Last year, with injuries, he could not show what he had.

This year, he got off on the wrong foot, when he fell sick at a Grand Prix event in Paris and had to withdraw from the freeskate, and then finished seventh at Cup of China. But you can’t ever count him out. He turned senior when he was 16. Chan made his debut at the senior ranks at the 2006 Canadian championships, when he was 15.

Rogozine, 18, made his senior international debut at the Skate Canada Grand Prix in Mississauga last fall, and his effort was better than his seventh-place finish indicates. In the freeskate, he fell on a triple Axel, a jump that is usually solid for him, but he fought back to land another one, and he has presentation, tools, too. And he proved that he was able to come back and deliver the rest of his program after a fall. He seems to be a good competitor, consistently delivering. It’s a big step from junior to senior and he’s taking it.

Ten was brilliant in 2009 when he won the bronze medal in this class, skating with great speed. But he’s fallen on hard times since. During Olympic qualifying season, he suffered from a sore ankle, and wasn’t getting anywhere, until he decided to step aside and have surgery to stop bone impingement. Then, just as he got back onto the ice, he broke his leg in a freak fall in practice. More surgery. His comeback this season has been slow, and it’s only in the past month that he’s added all of his triples back into the program.

But the Jeremy Ten that is emerging as a 22-year-old skater has matured beyond belief. He has a solid grasp on the artistry of skating.

Nguyen is a wild card, a boy fighting men. But that’s never stopped him before. When he won the junior title last year at age 12, he was dwarfed on the podium by the silver and bronze medal winners, standing a foot shorter.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:34AM EST

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The minor altercation of Alberta

ERIC DUHATSCHEK

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:06AM EST

Calgary Flames' Olli Jokinen (L) tries to get away from Edmonton Oilers' Theo Peckham during the first period of their NHL hockey game in Calgary, Alberta, December 10, 2011. The Flames won 3-0. REUTERS/Todd Korol (Reuters)

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Considering it’s a meeting between the Western Conference’s 11th and 14th place teams, it may be overstating matters to describe Saturday’s matchup between the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers as the Battle of Alberta. For now, call it the minor altercation of Alberta, which has a new oddball subtext, thanks to Calgary’s recent Mike Cammalleri acquisition.

The Flames now have three University of Michigan alumni on the roster - Cammalleri, plus the injured Brendan Morrison and David Moss. The Oilers, meanwhile, feature three of their arch rivals, former Michigan State stars Shawn Horcoff, Corey Potter and Jeff Petry. Maybe if no one’s paying attention locally, the TV numbers on Hockey Night In Canada can be bolstered by the overnights from the Windsor/Detroit area.

Still, rivalries - any kind of rivalries - always enhance match-ups and goodness knows, Calgary-Edmonton needs some enhancing these days, with the Oilers plunging fast, their top young players all injured, and all the early excitement of the season vanishing amid the hard reality of an 82-game schedule. In Calgary, there was some recent hope for improvement, as the Flames secured three of four hard-earned points on their California road trip before “returning to the cold weather,” which is how Flames’ coach Brent Sutter put it post-game Thursday following a 2-1 shootout victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

More good news: Injured left winger Alex Tanguay could be rejoining the Flames for the Oilers’ game, after missing 14 games with what is believed to have been a concussion. Tanguay’s return will partially offset the loss of Curtis Glencross, their most consistent goal-scorer, who is out indefinitely with a knee injury.

Cammalleri’s addition also mitigates Glencross’s loss somewhat, but overall, they just aren’t deep enough to overcome that many injuries. GM Jay Feaster went on an oddly timed rant about the reporting of injuries and the impact of injuries pre-game Thursday. Not sure if it was meant to distract attention from the team’s recent play, or to take some pressure off a team that has edged to within two points of the eighth-placed Colorado Avalanche, with two games remaining before the all-star break.

For Thursday’s date with the Kings, the Flames dressed eight forwards, who have scored three or fewer goals this season (Mikael Backlund, Roman Horak, Tom Kostopoulos, Tim Jackman, Blake Comeau, Matt Stajan, Blair Jones and Lance Bouma). Yikes, it doesn’t exactly conjure up memories of Gretzky and Messier vs. Risebrough and McDonald, but according to the Michigan man, Cammalleri, that’s what makes it fun.

“We’re all in it together and trying to come to a common goal,” said Cammalleri. “Hockey is the ultimate team game that way. You kinda submit yourself to a cause greater than you and that’s what makes it rewarding.”

Rewarding when you win, by however means necessary.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:00AM EST

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Avs’ Mueller regains scoring touch in return from head injury

Pat Graham

DENVER - The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:52AM EST

In this photo taken, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, Colorado Avalanche's Peter Mueller (88) celebrates after getting an assist on a goal by teammate Paul Stastny against the Florida Panthers during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Denver. Mueller scored twice Wednesday night, his first goals since returning last week from concussion symptoms that have plagued him for nearly two years. (Associated Press)

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Peter Mueller was in the spotlight and at long last the glare didn't make his head hurt.

The Colorado Avalanche forward scored twice in a 4-3 overtime win over Florida on Wednesday night, his first goals since returning last week from concussion symptoms that have plagued him for nearly two years.

These days, Mueller wears bigger shoulder pads along with a custom-fitted helmet that loops around his ears to better cushion his head and neck. He also dons a tinted visor that cuts down on the reflection from the arena lights, which at one point really affected him.

Not as much anymore as he's starting to feel like himself again.

Mueller certainly showed flashes of his offensive flair on Wednesday with two nifty scores and an assist on Paul Stastny's game-tying goal late in the third period.

“It feels unbelievable,” Mueller said.

Maybe even a touch surreal.

This has been an arduous road back for the gifted goal scorer, one full of false starts and hopes. He missed all of the 2010-11 season because of a head injury and then a chunk of games this season.

“What a battle it is to get back to where I am right now,” Mueller said. “I wish that would never happen to anyone.”

But it is — and to the game's biggest and brightest stars, too. Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby is sidelined indefinitely with a recurrence of concussion-like symptoms. That's the frustrating thing with this injury — there's simply no timetable for a return.

And even a return to the ice guarantees nothing.

Mueller thought he was well on his way to recovery at the beginning of the season, only to suffer a relapse and have to sit out 40 more games. It was tough to swallow.

“You don't practice, you don't see the guys — you almost feel like you're not part of the team,” Mueller said. “But now, coming in every day, being a part of everything, it's a great feeling. It's long overdue.”

His smirk after the game was proof of that. Ryan O'Reilly may have scored the overtime game-winner against Florida, but Mueller stole the spotlight.

“I can't tell you what this means to me,” said Mueller, who's from Bloomington, Minn. “I feel good, a little tired, but I felt great out there.”

Steadily, he's been getting his touch back, especially as his ice time increases. He played 13 minutes in his return four games ago at Nashville on Jan. 12 and logged nearly 20 minutes on Wednesday.

In the second period, Mueller broke a long scoring drought by lining a shot past Panthers goaltender Jose Theodore.

It was his first goal since April 4, 2010, against San Jose — a game he will never forget.

He also suffered a head injury in that contest, which has hindered him ever since. Mueller was tracking down a puck in the corner when he was smashed into the boards. He missed the rest of that season and the playoffs.

Mueller tried to return in the fall of 2010, only to hurt his head again in a preseason game.

From there, it's been a grinding march back to health with something as simple as stepping into the sunlight giving him instant headaches.

That is, until recently.

“Everything is coming back to normal,” Mueller said. “Slowly, but it's coming back.”

Here's an optimistic sign: Mueller isn't as fearful of hard checks any more. He's even learned to reposition his body in a way to better absorb the blows.

Not only that, but he's been dishing out some licks, too.

“And nothing has been bothering me, which is awesome,” Mueller said. “Every time I get touched or hit, there seems to be no problem. I'm looking to get right back into the play. Things have been great so far.”

The only real obstacle has been his conditioning. He still needs a few more games to get his hockey legs back.

“I'm right there,” Mueller said. “Just a couple of more notches and then it will be good.”

Not that his teammates have noticed any rust. He still resembles the player the Avs acquired in a deal that sent Wojtek Wolski to Phoenix in March 2010.

Right away, Mueller showed his scoring prowess, notching 20 points in 15 games.

And then came the head injury.

“It's been a tough year and a half for him,” Stastny said. “He's been through a lot of ups and downs, but he's been battling through that and his spirit has stayed high. To see him have a night like this, it's awesome for him.”

Mueller added his second goal of the night with a laser of a slap shot in the third period. Later, he nearly completed the hat trick as fans littered the ice with hats after believing Mueller, not Stastny, had tapped in the tying goal.

“Would have been nice if he got the hat trick,” Stastny said. “He was flying all night and it was long time coming for him. I think it was something special for him.”

Sure was, feeling right at home again in the glare of the spotlight.

“Nothing comes easy in this league, especially if you're dealing with your health,” Mueller said. “Everyone has been so supportive through this whole process. What a night to cap it off.”

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:49AM EST

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Sarah Burke’s death leaves a deep scar in the sport of freestyle skiing

David Ebner

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 10:56AM EST

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It was sunny, the sky mostly blue, and warm - upwards of 20 C. July 4, last summer, not a day you expect to go skiing.

But on the Horstman Glacier atop Blackcomb Mountain at Whistler, July 4 was a perfect day to ski.

Among all those with big smiles on the snow in the sun was Sarah Burke, the pioneer of women’s freestyle skiing, four-time winner of gold in the halfpipe at X Games. Burke was on the Horstman, as had been her practice in recent years, not as competitor but as coach, mentor and big sister to hopeful teenagers.

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- Celebrating a life on the edge

“What do you feel like doing today?” Burke asked her troupe of teenage girls, standing atop a 22-foot superpipe, much like the one in Utah where Burke fell on Jan. 10.

“Pipe,” one girl voted.

“Halfpipe,” another agreed, “and airbag,” adding a vote for the training ground for new tricks where the landing is softer than hard snow.

Burke then reminded the teens of some important basics, standing strong on skis forward in the knees, a good bend in the knees to exert edge control on the skis, arms out front.

And then they were off, into the pipe, the girls dreaming of pulling tricks like one of their heroes. Among Burke’s many accomplishments was the first 1080 - three 360-degree rotations - landed by a woman in competition.

The Horstman Glacier, for several decades, has hosted summer camps for skiers and snowboards, something of an Olympics incubator. When Sarah first attended at 14, it was not with Olympics dreams. Her friends were going but she ended up on a different week. “I came alone, very scared and very shy,” she told me in an interview in the early afternoon, the snow soupy, the day of training over.

She was a moguls skier, from Midland, Ont., skied at the nearby Horseshoe Valley Ski Club. She made numerous trips to the summer camps out west and, at 17, she showed some of the spunk that eventually made her a pioneer in her sport. Burke eschewed the bumps to sneak over to the halfpipe, a place then not especially welcoming to women, never mind girls. But she was good- and caught the eye of Mike Douglas, a Whistler freeski legend.

Her singular career ascended from there, not only winning competitions but fighting, lobbying, cajoling organizers to take women’s halfpipe skiing seriously and include it at events.

She loved coming back to the Horstman to teach teenagers. Burke had an easy, warm smile, a glow.

“It’s always good to come here and remember why,” Burke told me. “The kids are so excited when they do their first 360.”

Summer days skiing on a glacier are festive.

“It’s so much fun, the atmosphere, the vibe for the kids,” Burke said. Channeling her memory of her summers as a camper: “All the best skiers are in one spot, and you get to ski with them. You don’t get that anywhere else.”

As camp was ending, word had gone around that the International Olympic Committee finally decided to add slopestyle, skiing and snowboarding, to the 2014 games in Russia. Burke’s sport, women’s ski halfpipe, had been given the nod in April, the culmination of her efforts to push the sport.

The Sochi Olympics - she would have been 31- were Burke’s main focus if, she said, “everything goes according to plan.”

Burke’s death cuts a deep scar, from the stretch of Pemberton-Whistler-Squamish-Vancouver in British Columbia, through a whole sport, and through all of Canada. Many Canadians have been affected by her widely reported/broadcast crash, hospital stay and death, and there has been an international outpouring of support online.

Continue Reading

For those who knew her directly, and for those who love adventures in mountains in winter, it is a difficult death. When avalanches kill, it is terrible, but the circumstances are relatively clear. When Shane McConkey died, it was awful but not completely shocking, considering the extent of his extremities - skiing down radically steep faces, jumping off cliffs, then parachuting to the ground. It was amazing, until some equipment malfunctioned in Italy and he died, plummeting from the sky to the ground.

Burke’s crash wasn’t a particularly harsh one but it ruptured a vertebral artery, one of four that supply blood to brain. There was a brain hemorrhage, which caused cardiac arrest, which cut off oxygen to the brain and caused severe and irreversible brain damage. She died Thursday morning. She was 29.

After Burke and I spoke, she pulled some tricks in the pipe for the lens of my colleague, photographer John Lehmann. The story and picture ran Saturday, July 16, the photograph splashed big on the page, the image of Burke flying above the lip of the pipe, a pioneer in her prime, a halo of clouds in the sky.

She was the star of a niche sport. Few people had heard of her before her crash. My story about the summer camps was only the sixth time her name had ever been in The Globe and Mail. It is a testament to the extent of her accomplishments, and her quality as a human being, that her story has resonated so much in the past ten days.

A report released on Tuesday reported that skiing and snowboarding are the most hazardous of winter sports. Some 2,300 people were sent to hospital last winter in Canada with injuries bad enough to require at least a night’s stay. The numbers are double those of hockey, which had about 1,100 hospitalizations, about the same as snowmobiling.

Thankfully, most people on mountains now wear helmets. Of skiers and snowboarders 18 and younger, four out of five wear a helmet, double the rate of a decade ago. And there is a new push to make it mandatory, at least for kids.

Still, there is no absolute safety. And, despite risks, some people love to race down mountains and pull impossible-looking flipping, spinning tricks, because it’s rad, a jolt of joy. The rush is often described by adherents as drug-like, an addiction.

But death lurks. It may be rare, but it lurks, in the halfpipe, in the backcountry, or on any ordinary intermediate-rated run on any ski hill anywhere.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 7:36AM EST

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Flames top Kings in shootout

Eric Duhatschek

Los Angeles - Globe and Mail Update

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:19AM EST

Calgary Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff gets ready to stop a shot by Los Angeles Kings right wing Dustin Brown during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday. (Associated Press)

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Randy Newman’s iconic I Love L.A. plays whenever the Los Angeles Kings score a goal at the Staples Centre, something that happens with roughly the frequency of a lunar eclipse. Not often, in other words. Even after Darryl Sutter was installed as L.A.’s new coach some 15 games ago, the Kings mostly succeed because of their defence, where they’ve given up two or fewer goals per game (in 13 of the games thus far).

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Ultimately, those scoring woes caught up to the Kings Thursday night – or the second time in five days that Darryl Sutter’s Kings met Brent Sutter’s Calgary Flames. This time, the Flames turned the tables on the Kings, eking out a 2-1 shootout win, on goals from Olli Jokinen and Mike Cammalleri, two former Kings who were lustily booed by the Staples Centre faithful. L.A. won the first meeting up in Calgary last Saturday.

Under Sutter, the Kings are masters of getting to overtime, and locking up all those bonus points that come from extending the game beyond 60 regulation minutes. Nine of the 15 games have gone to extra time, the Kings having absorbed just one regulation loss since Sutter assumed control.

There was even a moment of controversy in the shootout, after video review overturned a goal that Kings’ Jack Johnson apparently scored. That turned out to be key. The Flames, meanwhile, may start to love L.A. a little more, having ended a four-game losing streak to the surging Kings. The win raised Calgary’s record to 22-20-6 on the season, heading into Saturday’s date with the Oilers in Edmonton.

Until overtime, which featured the best scoring chances of the game for both teams, the game was largely played in close quarters and brought new meaning to the term defensive battle. It opened up a little in the extra time, with Jonathan Quick forced to stack the pads to stop Scott Hannan in close in the final minute; and then Miikka Kiprusoff reaching back to rob a wide-open Dustin Penner in the goal crease seconds later. L.A. had a four-on-three overtime power play for the final 34.1 seconds, after Mark Giordano took a hooking penalty, but failed to convert on the chance, setting up the shootout.

L.A.’s scoring woes pre-date Sutter’s arrival as coach.

The Flames, meanwhile, played the game without left winger Curtis Glencross, who injured his knee two nights earlier against the San Jose Sharks and went home. Glencross is out indefinitely, and joins fellow forwards Alex Tanguay, Brendan Morrison and David Moss on the sidelines. As a result, eight of the 12 forwards in Calgary’s line-up last night had scored three or fewer goals in the NHL this season.

Darryl Sutter used one former Canadian Olympian, Drew Doughty, to check Jarome Iginla, another fellow Olympian, and once in the third period, Doughty wiped out Iginla along the boards with a hard, clean hit. Iginla usually doesn’t put himself in that situation.

“It was a gritty game,” said Iginla. “They played well defensively, especially after the first period. We only had a few shots. We just stayed with it. I thought in the middle of the first they just started getting some momentum there and I thought we did a good job of staying with it and not getting flustered and not letting them get more than one. They had a very good first and we only came out of that down one I thought was boost, we kind of got back in it from there.”

Dustin Brown scored the Kings’ only goal, 3:28 into the opening period, after finding a seam in the defence in front of Kiprusoff and whipping in a 10-foot wrist shot. Calgary seemed badly out of sorts early, getting just one shot in the first 14 minutes of play and registering only three in the entire first period.

But Kiprusoff kept them close and L.A.’s tendency to take one penalty after another finally caught up to them. After successfully killing off a 38-second five-on-three, the Kings were a little unlucky on Iginla’s tying goal, a one-timer from the left face-off circle, in which Iginla had all day to shoot because penalty killer Trevor Lewis fell and lost his stick. Iginla wired his shot past the Kings’ all-star goaltender, Quick.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 1:41AM EST

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Senators break through

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 1:15AM EST

Ottawa Senators goalie Craig Anderson (L) blocks a shot by San Jose Sharks Patrick Marleau during the second period of their NHL hockey game in San Jose, California January 19, 2012. (REUTERS)

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Colin Greening scored twice and Craig Anderson made 36 saves in the Ottawa Senators' 4-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.

Kyle Turris and Erik Karlsson also scored for Ottawa. The Senators have won six of their last seven games and have points in 11 of 12. They won for the first time in San Jose in eight years.

Anderson won his fifth straight road game and is 7-0-2 over his last nine road games.

Brad Winchester scored for the Sharks, who won the previous five meetings with Ottawa.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 1:14AM EST

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RCMP turns investigation into Len Barrie’s finance dealings over to crown

DAVID SHOALTS

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 1:34AM EST

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The results of an RCMP investigation into Len Barrie’s financial dealings with his former Bear Mountain golf resort and real-estate development were recently turned over to the B.C. Attorney general’s office, according to two sources.

Barrie is also facing a civil claim in the Supreme Court of British Columbia for $2.2-million from the Bellagio, an upscale casino and hotel in Las Vegas. The claim was filed Dec. 16, 2011, three months after the Bellagio was awarded a judgment by a Nevada court for more than $2-million (U.S.), which it was unable to collect from the former NHL player. No statement of defence could be found in the B.C. court’s records.

In its statement of claim, the Bellagio says Barrie was given $1.5-million through 11 credit instruments in May of 2008. That was one month before Barrie bought a 35-per-cent share of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning.

In the late summer of 2009, Barrie was accused by a member of Bear Mountain’s executive committee of improperly taking between $16-million and $20-million out of the company to help pay for his share of the Lightning.

Barrie admitted he used some money from Bear Mountain for the hockey club but denied any wrong-doing. However, he was later forced out of Bear Mountain as well as the Lightning, as financial problems engulfed both organizations.

The RCMP’s commercial-crime unit on Vancouver Island started an investigation of Barrie almost a year ago as the result of a complaint filed by Sean Burke, another former NHL player. Burke is one of 18 current and former NHL players who lost a total of more than $13-million when Bear Mountain went into bankruptcy.

The sources said the RCMP officers in charge of the case turned their information over to the crown attorney in late December. The crown’s office is to decide if any criminal charges will be laid against Barrie.

A spokesman for the RCMP said in an e-mail message that “this file remains under active investigation” and did not provide any further details. No one from the Attorney General’s office could be immediately reached for comment. Barrie did not respond to a request for comment.

Barrie is also facing numerous other civil actions connected to Bear Mountain along with the criminal investigation. The Canada Revenue Agency is in the picture as well. Bear Mountain Projects, a company Barrie controlled that is connected to the parent company of Bear Mountain, was charged under the Income Tax Act for not filing tax returns for 2008 and 2009.

Bear Mountain was taken over by its biggest creditor, HSBC Canada, in the fall of 2010. By then, the development owed more than $300-million to its creditors.

According to the civil complaint filed by the Bellagio, on May 16, 2008, Barrie received $1.5-million (U.S.) at 18-per-cent interest from the casino, which was backed up by his account at HSBC Canada in Vancouver. However, HSBC Canada later refused to pay the money to the casino.

Barrie did make a payment of $420,000 (U.S.) directly to the Bellagio. But on March 4, 2011, the casino filed a claim with a Nevada court seeking the unpaid balance of $1.08-million plus interest, costs and lawyers’ fees. Six months later, the court awarded the $2.1-million (U.S.) judgment against Barrie but the Bellagio was still unable to collect and decided to chase Barrie through the B.C. court.

With a report from Patrick Brethour in Vancouver

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 1:00AM EST

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Canadian women rout Haiti to kick off Olympic qualifying tournament

Monte Stewart

VANCOUVER - The Canadian Press

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:54AM EST

Canada's Christine Sinclair (12) celebrates her goal over Haiti with teammates Rhian Wilkinson (7) and Christina Julien (10) during the first half of CONCACAF Women's Olympic qualifying soccer at B.C. Place in Vancouver, B.C., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (THE CANADIAN PRESS)

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Christine Sinclair scored four goals and assisted on another as Canada opened the CONCACAF women's Olympic qualifying tournament with a 6-0 win over Haiti on Thursday night.

Christina Julien and Kelly Parker also scored as Canada, ranked seventh in the world, dominated the 62nd-ranked Haitians from start to finish.

- Just reaching final qualification stage a victory for earthquake-ravaged Haiti

Canada is looking for a Games berth as a prelude to a strong Olympic showing after making an early exit from last year's World Cup.

The top two teams in the eight-team tournament will qualify for this summer's London Games.

In earlier action, Costa Rica blanked Cuba 2-0.

Sinclair, a 28-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., quickly made an impact as she assisted on Julien's opening goal at the seven-minute mark and then added two goals of her own before half-time. She added two more in the second half, the last on a penalty-kick.

The Canadians got the strong start they were looking for in front of a crowd of 7,067 at BC Place Stadium.

Earlier in the week, Canadian coach John Herdman said he wanted his club to create more room for Sinclair, and it did not take his side long to achieve that target.

Julien opened the scoring as Sinclair passed the ball across to her on a two-on-none against helpless Haiti starting goalkeeper Ednie Limage, who made several stops in the first half to keep the score closer than it could have been. Parker triggered the play by giving Sinclair a short lead pass from near the corner of Haiti's 18-yard box.

The Haitian goalkeeper foiled Melissa Tancredi on hard shots twice to limit Canada's lead. But Sinclair put the hosts ahead 2-0 in the 25th minutes as, beating Haiti's offside trap attempt, she took a pass from Rhian Wilkinson and put in a shot off Limage's leg.

Haiti tried to get physical, often with Sinclair, earning several fouls. But the moves did little to help the overmatched Caribbean side. In the few times that Haiti did get the ball deep in Canada's zone, defenders quickly moved it back out.

Sinclair gave Canada a 3-0 lead in the 44th minute as she put home a left-footed shot from about 12 yards out off a flick from Julien. The goal came off a near broken play as Tancredi let Parker's pass from near the end line go by her and Julien had to scramble to get it to Sinclair.

The score might have been more lopsided, but Limage denied Tancredi on another shot, and the Canadian headed the ball over the crossbar on another dangerous chance.

Sinclair completed her hat trick with a highlight-reel goal in the 55th minute. Displaying Wayne Gretzky-like vision, Tancredi made an over-the-head backward pass to a charging Sinclair. She took the pass on her knee on the run, quickly grounded the ball and scored easily.

Shortly after the goal, Tancredi was hurt on a hard tackle by Kenci Marceille that earned the Haitian defender a yellow card. After briefly continuing to play, Tancredi subbed out.

In the 64th minute, Haitian goalkeeper Limage was injured as she collided with teammate Samantha Brand as they both went up in the air for the ball. After lying on the ground in pain for a few minutes and being tended by trainers, Limage was carried off the pitch on a stretcher to the Haiti bench area.

She was replaced by Geralda Saintillius, who gave up the last goal of the game.

Canada was awarded a penalty-kick in the 85th minute after Julien was pulled down in the box as Sinclair sent her a lead pass over the heads of three defenders that were marking her. On the penalty kick, goalkeeper Saitnillius just stood and watched as Sinclair rolled a shot into the left corner of the net.

Parker rounded out the scoring in injury time as she put in her own rebound off the post.

Canada will face Cuba on Saturday in the next game for both teams.

Notes: Before the game, a moment of silence was held for freestyle skier Sarah Burke of Midland, Ont., who died Thursday of head injuries sustained nine days earlier during a training accident in Utah. ... Canada's Lauren Sesselman was injured in a collision late in the first half and replace by Chelsea Stewart early in the second half.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:54AM EST

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Conference championship picks against the spread

PAUL ATTFIELD, SCOTT EMMERSON

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 11:15PM EST

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady reacts after throwing a touchdown pass against the Denver Broncos in the second quarter during their NFL AFC Divisional playoff game in Foxborough, Massachusetts, January 14, 2012. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

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Sunday

AFC Championship

Baltimore Ravens (13-4) at New England Patriots (14-3)

BALTIMORE plus 9

The Patriots have never lost an AFC title game at home, and given the way quarterback Tom Brady’s playing right now – six touchdown passes last weekend – unless linebacker Ray Lewis plans to literally tearing him limb from limb, which is always a possibility, the Ravens will be hard-pressed to punch their Super Bowl ticket.

The pick PATRIOTS

NFC Championship

New York Giants (11-7) at San Francisco 49ers (14-3)

NEW YORK plus 3

When their vaunted defence let them down late against New Orleans, the 49ers offence showed it can score points in a hurry, if need be. With San Francisco owning teams on the ground, the Giants’ hopes rest on quarterback Eli Manning’s capable shoulders; the 49ers’ likely on kicker David Akers’s leg.

The pick 49ERS

Last week 3-1

Postseason 4-4

Regular season 123-119-14

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 11:15PM EST

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Just reaching final qualification stage a victory for earthquake-ravaged Haiti

JIM MORRIS

VANCOUVER

From Friday's Globe and Mail

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:45AM EST

Haiti's Nadia Valentin, centre, tries to get a shot past Canada's Lauren Sesselmann, left, and Desiree Scott during the first half of CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying soccer at B.C. Place in Vancouver, B.C., Thursday. (The Canadian Press)

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If the Haitian women’s soccer team scores a major upset and qualifies for the Olympics in London this year, the B.C. soccer association should receive an assist.

When the Haitians arrived in Vancouver this week for the CONCACAF women’s Olympic qualifying tournament, they learned rules require each team to have two sets of uniforms. The team from the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean nation came with just one set.

Charlie Cuzzetto, president of BC Soccer, heard of the situation Wednesday and quickly called his office. A complete set of uniforms, valued at more than $2,000, was found and donated to the Haitian team.

“What really motivated us is wanting to help a team that clearly comes from a country that has been through incredible hardship over the last number of years,” said Bjorn Osieck, the association’s executive director. “It just seemed like the natural, proper, fair-play thing to do, to make sure they are properly equipped.’’

Haiti was to play its first game of the tournament Thursday night against Canada. Just getting into the eight-team competition was a victory.

“It was very difficult to arrive here,” coach Ronald Luxieux said through an interpreter. “We are playing for the love of the country, the love of world football.”

As Luxieux spoke to reporters in French, his players boarded a bus. Most were bundled up in several layers of clothing to protect them from the cold temperatures that have gripped Vancouver.

Two years ago, the improvised nation of Haiti was struck by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake. Government officials estimate more than 300,000 people died and more than one million were left homeless.

The earthquake and following aftershocks caused 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings to collapse or be severely damaged in the capital of Port-au-Price, the city of Jacmel and other settlements.

Among the casualties were 30 members of the Haitian Football Federation who died when a building they were meeting in collapsed.

“At first it was chaos,” said Luxieux, whose wife and infant daughter escaped harm. “There were human losses.’’

As the nation dug itself out of the rubble, soccer helped return some calm to the maelstrom.

“The people in Haiti quickly understood they had to do something with football,” Luxieux said. “As a country we love playing football.’’

International aid flowed into the country. The International Association Football Federation, the world governing body of soccer, known as FIFA, donated $3-million (U.S.) to Haitian soccer. Members of the Canadian women’s team also raised money.

Luxieux said his team trains at a national centre with artificial grass. The country’s national stadium in Port-au-Prince, the Stade Sylvio Cator, remained standing after the earthquake.

“We were able to start training there right away,” he said.

To come to Vancouver, Haiti needed to qualify out of the Caribbean region. The team had two wins and a draw in the earlier stage of qualifying, outscoring its opponents 13-1.

Earning a spot at the Olympics won’t be easy. Just the top two teams in the tournament qualify for the London Games. The defending Olympic champions Americans, Canada and Mexico are expected to battle for those spots.

Haiti plays in a group with Canada, Costa Rica and Cuba. Two teams advance from each group to the playoffs.

Canadian captain Christine Sinclair said she are her teammates had mixed feelings about playing Haiti.

“It’s a game you want to win,” she said. “Away from soccer there is a bigger picture. We can’t even imagine what they have been through. There is a lot of compassion going around.’’

The Haitians are hoping to duplicate what Japan did at the FIFA Women’s World Cup last year.

The Japanese women, motivated by the memories of the tsunami and earthquake that devastated their country last March, upset the United States in the final.

“I know it will be very difficult, especially with Canada [playing] at home,” Luxieux said. “Our goal is to win a ticket to the Olympics. We’ve been unable to do that before. That’s what we hope to do.’’

Special to The Globe and Mail

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 11:12PM EST

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Dwane Casey endures growing pains

ROBERT MacLEOD

TORONTO

From Friday's Globe and Mail

Last updated Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 12:28PM EST

Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey calls instructions from the sideline during the first half of their pre-season NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics Dec. 18, 2011. (Mike Cassese/Reuters)

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Coming from the highs he enjoyed as an assistant with the Dallas Mavericks, Dwane Casey could be forgiven for feeling like he’s at the wheel of an Edsel in his first year driving the Toronto Raptors.

The Raptors head coach was certainly spoiled during his time with the Mavericks, who averaged 54 wins over the past three seasons an earned an NBA title last year in a thrilling final over the Miami Heat.

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Although the ride has certainly been different this season with the 4-11 Raptors, who will try to snap a six-game losing skid Friday night against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Air Canada Centre, Casey said the team remains upbeat despite the continued setbacks.

“We’ve got so much to learn as a young team,” Casey said after conducting practice on Thursday, a luxury in a lockout condensed season where most of the days are consumed by either games or travel.

With a team that is doing about as well as many anticipated this season, Casey said it is imperative that he remain patient as he tries to instill a winning attitude on a rebuilding team that has missed the playoffs for the past three years.

And some days are easier than others.

“Coming from the last three years winning 50 and 60 games a year and a championship, it’s tough,” Casey said. “But we have a young team, a young talented team. And the fundamental mistakes that we’re making are teachable and correctable mistakes.”

Even still, Casey knows that a quick turnaround is not in the cards.

“I’m learning we have a ways to go, there’s no question about that,” Casey said. “I like our core talent. We have a lot more teaching to go. I’m not satisfied with losing whatsoever. Our fans are not satisfied. Our players are not satisfied. But there is a process, there is a direction and we’re going to stay the course.”

The Raptors have lost six in a row – the last four without Andrea Bargnani, their leading scorer (22.3 points a game, on average) and rebounder (6.5), who is recovering from a strained left calf.

It was hoped that Bargnani would be able to practise on Thursday but after consulting with the medical staff the decision was made to have him remain on the sidelines. His return to action remains unknown.

There is a bit of good news concerning backup point guard Jerryd Bayless, who has missed 13 games with a left ankle sprain.

Bayless had his second full practice with the team on Thursday and afterward proclaimed himself close to returning. It could be Friday night, depending on how his ankle feels in the morning.

“It’s almost there,” Bayless said. “But I’m kind of nervous if I get out there too early and I redo it and I’ll be out for another three weeks.”

The Raptors are returning home after a fruitless three-game trip that wound up in Boston Wednesday night with an 96-73 thumping at the hands of the Celtics.

The Raptors won’t get much of an opportunity to enjoy the comforts of home, however,

After the Portland game, the Raptors will head out for another five games in an eight-day excursion that will begin on Sunday in Los Angeles against the Clippers.

After that, Toronto will head to Phoenix, Utah and Denver before winding up in New Jersey for a game against the Nets on Jan. 29.

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 11:10PM EST

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Drive

- Electric car guinea pigs say goodbye to gas stations

- Living with the Leaf: Installing the charger

- Ignore your dealer, use the car maker’s tire pressure numbers

- German auto makers have the Midas touch

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Electric car guinea pigs say goodbye to gas stations

MICHAEL BETTENCOURT

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 5:50PM EST

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I honestly don’t know how I convinced my wife to join me in becoming electric car guinea pigs.

After all, she is the one who will commute with it everyday, grumble that it can only travel 120 kilometres or so before needing a recharge, and pick up the kids from school in it – with a heater that better work well in the winter, I was often warned.

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With no backup engine to rely on, she’ll likely be the one stranded by our new 2012 Nissan Leaf, if she pushes its range too far. After all, she has tanned by the low fuel light in her trusty but aging 2003 Pontiac Vibe.

She sees little value in being among the first drivers to own the first mainstream electric vehicle in Canada in modern times. Or that plug-in vehicles such as this one appear to be the four-wheeled bridges that will likely lead us to an eventual promised land of zero emissions sustainable mobility. Or that the Leaf is just the first in a growing wave of new plug-in vehicles that promise to turn streets around the world into quieter and easier-breathing electric avenues.

Luckily for this rather expensive experiment, she liked the Leaf in blue. And she appreciates that it’s quieter than a $450,000 Rolls-Royce, and that she won't have to stand in the frigid cold every week filling it up. Plus she’s always hunting for a deal, and the Ontario government provides a hefty mail-in rebate on plug-in vehicles, to the tune of $8,500 for the Leaf.

At least, we hope it does. We picked up our car Dec. 30, and as of mid-January, still no cheque. What, you thought that EV rebate was removed at point of sale? So did we, initially, but we’ve come to learn otherwise.

To be clear, this was not a car sold to us at any kind of special media rate, or a borrowed long-term vehicle from Nissan, or a test helped along financially by Nissan Canada in any way whatsoever. Outside of the (anticipated) government rebate, it’s one we paid full price for on our own, with no haggling room at all afforded us from our local dealer in Toronto’s west end.

Which is painful when you see $12,000 discounts on gasoline-chugging full-size pickup trucks being thrown around at the same dealership.

The rebate is available instantly when you’re leasing or financing through Nissan Canada Financial, at 5.9 or 6.9 per cent, respectively (these figures change regularly). From there, NCF will directly discount the provincial rebate, and then request the money back from the government, acting as an agent on your behalf. But it also means that you’ll pay about double the rate of interest of what you’d pay on a reasonable line of credit from your bank, with less flexible terms.

And on a vehicle worth $49,319, after options, taxes and a hefty $1,890 freight charge, this extra interest would have cost us a lot.

So it was time to write a big cheque, the biggest in my life, in fact, and I’m living in our second purchased house. Turns out that dealers are not quite so inclined to be as helpful in rebating this money directly, or at least ours wasn’t. It’s up to them whether to apply the $8,500 government discount right off the purchase price, and then chase the provincial government for it, or charge you full pop, and let you deal with the rebate process.

Our dealer helpfully scanned all our documents to make them easier to e-mail, but did not want to be left holding the bag if the government reduced or eliminated the rebate.

Continue Reading

We wouldn’t have known any of this had we not gone through the same buying process as any other consumer in the market for a Leaf. Having bought a new car before, it’s apparent that this is a very different process. And a very different ownership experience.

Which is why I’ll be writing a regular series here at GlobeDrive.com about living with an electric car, every day, all year round.

My wife and I will both drive and recharge it at home regularly, and hopefully at public stations in the not-too-distant future. I’ll detail the hoops involved to install an Eaton EV charger into our garage, how long it takes to receive government rebate funds (hopefully), and how the distance we can travel is affected by winter cold, summer heat, highways, hills or local blackouts – whether caused by our car or not.

Our EV life experiment, however, won’t be exactly the same as that of a typical consumer. Thanks to the installation of a separate meter by Toronto Hydro strictly for the charger in the garage, we’ll be able to track exactly how much electricity the Leaf is using, and how much this electricity costs, instead of just trying to guesstimate how different our bills are before and after Leaf.

Unfortunately, it also means we’ll soon receive two separate bills from Toronto Hydro: one for our home electricity, another for our Leaf’s fuel bill. And since we will be paying the exact same time-of-use rates we’re paying for home juice, there’s a financial (and environmental) incentive to restrict charging to off-peak times.

We realize it will affect family life, even though we’ll still have access to another vehicle. We can’t just leave it parked in our driveway every night any more. We likely won’t be able to drive it to the cottage, though I’m tempted to try, once the nicer weather hits and I hone my electric hyper-miling skills.

We won’t be able to fit all the grandparents, friends and Christmas gifts we could in a similarly priced new minivan or SUV. And though we’re happy about the expected 80 per cent reduction in our commuting fuel bills, we certainly didn’t buy it for the fuel savings, as our Vibe was plenty fuel-efficient already.

So why did we do it? It’s a question we’re asked all the time. It came down to my desire to really examine the key differences between electric vehicles and regular cars, many of which are tough if not impossible to report on comprehensively in a single road test. While borrowing an EV for a few days and charging it in a standard wall outlet may provide some worthwhile electric car observations, it is far different from how most owners will actually experience these cars.

So with 2012 promising to be a key year for plug-in vehicles in Canada, this series will not be an ideologically led exercise in either advocating for or railing against EVs, but will provide a balanced, in-depth look at the positives and negatives of living with a pure electric car.

globedrive@globeandmail.com

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:00AM EST

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Living with the Leaf: Installing the charger

MICHAEL BETTENCOURT

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 5:51PM EST

Charger for his Nissan Leaf installed. (Michael Bettencourt for The Globe and Mail)

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There’s often a sense of sticker shock when a single option pushes past the $2,000 mark. Perhaps that’s why auto makers like to dress up these big features as option “packages,” to make it seem like you’re getting more than just a rear DVD player or pricey GPS system. With plug-in electric vehicles, ordering up a $2,000+ charger (installed) for your garage is almost mandatory in pure battery electric vehicles, and a popular option for Volt buyers.

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Having bought a regular gas-powered, factory-fresh car in the past, and our new Nissan Leaf recently, I can honestly say that these processes contrasted almost as much as the vehicle’s powertrains. The home inspection needed before installing a charger, the scheduling and installation of the EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment), and the subsequent near-daily interaction with this ionic appliance in your garage is one of the biggest differences of the whole EV experience.

With a regular car, there’s a sense of finality about heading down to the dealership. You’re going there because you’ve done your homework, looked into the incentives on it and the others on your shortlist, and are ready to pick up your shiny new wheels, as long as the test drive or dealer staff doesn’t put you off enough to run out of there screaming.

Ideally, you’ll have test driven all of your short list, but we didn’t, and industry surveys suggest most buyers don’t either.

With a plug-in car, there’s less immediate gratification, since there are more hoops to jump through no matter which vehicle you’re considering. You’ll be lucky to find any available EV to test drive in Ontario, never mind take one home upon your first trip to a dealership. Even if an EV demo is on the lot, prying the keys for even a drive around the block is tough, as dealers in Ontario must keep the vehicles under a 500 km cap in order to qualify for the provincial rebate of up to $8,500.

But the ordering process, either at the dealer or online, gets more personal when you select your car’s colour, options and accessories. This makes it more typical of the car buying process in Europe or Japan than in “I’ll take that one NOW” North America.

Getting Ready

Some plug-in car buyers may not need an EVSE at all. For the upcoming 2013 Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid or Honda Accord PHEV, there’s not much point in investing thousands of dollars in a charger when a regular wall socket can top up their small batteries in three to four hours. GM estimates that its low-cost SPX chargers will cost about $1,100 installed, making it a tempting but not quite necessary investment, reducing recharge times to four hours from a still reasonable 10 hours on a regular 110V outlet. But it’s a must-have for any BEV owner in Canada.

Once you decide you need a charger, you’ll need to set up a home inspection with an electrician who will inspect your electrical panel and hardware and judge how big of a job it will be based on where you’d like the charger. Since someone has to be at home to wander around the property inside and outside, plan on half a day of missed work here, unless you can convince someone to come out in the evening.

After that came perhaps the toughest part of our transition to an EV world: cleaning out our tight single car garage to actually fit a car again. We had long become accustomed to parking our cars solely in the driveway, the garage becoming an increasingly full warehouse. This left us with a full storage room in the basement, and a shed in the yard that’s almost bursting at the seams.

From there, we hoped for good news on our price quote from partner AeroVironment on a Nissan-branded charger. Nissan estimates an average install price of about $2,000-$2,500, so we were hoping for a figure starting with a “1,” or in the low 2s. Final estimate: $3,187. Ouch.

Continue Reading

What makes the price vary? A number of things: whether you have the required 40 amp service (60-100 or higher is preferred), whether you’d like a basic 16 or 30 amp charger, and how far away your fuse box is from the EVSE – more than 30 or 50 feet, as mine was, and you’re paying more for a custom install. Unfinished basements are a plus, as it makes it easier to sneak wires from the electrical panel to the garage without tearing anything up.

Eaton is the preferred EVSE partner for Mitsubishi with its i-MiEV, and like AeroVironment with Nissan, offers the convenience of rolling the cost of the charger into your car payment. Eaton estimates an average standard installation cost of between $2,300-$2,800. Both companies offer certified electricians trained on testing those particular units. Nissan’s Leaf owner portal puts you in direct contact with California company AeroVironment as well as their local installers, while Eaton directs consumers to its eatoncanada.ca/plugin site to see their charger lineup and find a local Eaton-certified installer.

This is the safest option, but likely the priciest too. Some buyers, especially ones who want to install EVSEs at both home and work, are going direct to the manufacturer and buying the units online (at anywhere from $500-$1,300), then finding their own licensed electrician willing to install it. From there, the electricians arrange the needed electrical inspection and permits for a couple hundred dollars. All in, some buyers have reported a savings of up to 50 per cent going this route, at the cost of some convenience and specialized training.

We ended up installing a 32 amp Eaton charger, which is a new stainless steel residential unit that will pump in up to 7.7 kW, compared to about half of that for Nissan’s AeroVironment one. It won’t make a difference on the Leaf, with a 3.3 kW onboard charger, but when press cars such as the Ford Focus EV with faster 7.7 onboard capability arrive, it should speed up charge times from empty closer to four hours from about seven now.

As an early EV adopter, we also qualified for a Toronto Hydro program that had them install a separate meter and associated wiring direct to the garage, which allows them to track exactly how the electricity pull from the EVSE impacts the grid, as well as how much its time-of-use rates affect charging patterns. It also means I have the privilege of receiving and paying for two electricity bills every billing cycle.

But the key benefit is that I can see exactly how much the Leaf and the occasional plug-in press car are costing me, instead of trying to decipher how much each bill has increased over the same period compared to last year’s bill. So I’ll be reporting on exactly how much my wife’s regular daily commute is costing in electricity, as well as whether the Leaf can hold a charge sitting in a cold airport parking lot for four days.

Toronto Hydro says it has plenty of capacity for even the most optimistic number of predicted plug-in sales in the city over the next few years, but what they’re more concerned about is clustering. If many EVs are charging up on the same planet-friendly street/neighbourhood simultaneously, there could be a need for local hardware updates to deal with the extra strain on the rapidly aging electrical infrastructure. So the utility is encouraging all plug-in owners to call them and let them know where they’re located, and where they usually plug in, to help them closely monitor those zones.

Now that we’ve had the Leaf for a few weeks, all that preparation for EV life seems a long time ago – and we’re actually looking forward to receiving our first “fuel” bill in the mail.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 8:00AM EST

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Ignore your dealer, use the car maker’s tire pressure numbers

RICHARD RUSSELL

Last updated Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 3:44PM EST

2012 Audi Q5 (Audi)

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I always use winter tires; however, I have been getting conflicting advice from my dealer (Audi) and Michelin. Michelin says to run the winter tires at the pressure shown in the car manual for the equivalent-size summer tire. My Audi dealer sets the pressure about 4 psi lower than the recommended summer tire pressure. Whose expert advice should I follow? – Greg in Kingston, Ont.

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The dealer is wrong. Follow the numbers suggested by the manufacturer.

The engineers who developed the vehicle know best what tire pressure to use. Michelin and other companies develop tires to substitute for factory-installed rubber and whether they are summer, all-season, winter or whatever, they should be inflated to the pressure recommended by the vehicle manufacturer.

Winter steel wheels

Do you have any updated information of the availability of winter steel wheels in the marketplace for 20-inch tires for a Toyota Venza V-6 AWD, equipped with P245/50R20 OEM tires (Michelin Latitude HP Touring)? I learned a great deal from your earlier article, but I am still undecided on the steel wheels from Toyota with P265/65R17 tires versus winter tires from Blizzak or Goodyear in size P245/50R20 on the OEM alloy wheels. My preference is to use the steel wheels and not corrode the alloys while driving here in Nova Scotia.

I purchased the 2010 Toyota Venza V-6 AWD in November, 2010, and drove the alloys and OEM 20-inch tires last winter. Answers from Toyota dealers on the winter tire options were either incomplete or non-committal as they seemed afraid to deviate from the OEM setup. It’s ironic that the Venza, a product made exclusively for the North American market, does not come with true winter driving options. I have been driving Toyota since 1992, but this “big tire” issue does not sit well with me. – Gary in Wolfville, N.S.

It is ironic indeed that the largest manufacturer in the world has created so much discussion/confusion over the winter tire issue. I get more queries about this tire/wheel issue than those regarding all other manufacturers combined.

The good news is that the Venza is a capable and popular vehicle. The bad news – as you point out – is that the V-6 AWD model comes with 20-inch alloy wheels. The FWD 4-cylinder is shod with 19-inch wheels but they too are alloy. Most Canadians interested in safety switch to winter tires and, as you point out, prefer to mount them on plain steel wheels to avoid damaging the expensive alloys.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no ready supply of inexpensive 19- or 20-inch steel wheels for the Venza. However, there are a number of 17- and 18-inch steel wheels available.

While the front brake rotors of the Venza are slightly larger than those on its platform mates Camry, Avalon, Solara, etc., 17- to 19-inch wheels for those models will fit the Venza. Of course, they should be checked for clearance before mounting the tires.

As for tires, there are a variety of sizes depending on wheel size. Generally speaking, the more narrow (smaller first number) the better they will be in winter as the thinner tire will cut through deep snow more easily.

The AWD Venza comes fitted with 245/50 X 20 tires and the FWD version 245/55 X 19. The other sized that are of the all important similar diameter to the factory tires are: 245/60 X 18, 235/65 X 18 and 245/65 X 17.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 7:00AM EST

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German auto makers have the Midas touch

JEREMY CATO

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 5:58PM EST

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Volkswagen quietly put together the best 2011 of any mainstream brand in Canada and we shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, VW is a German brand and the German car makers were stellar last year. Look for more of the same in 2012.

Consider: VW Canada’s sales were up 15.9 per cent thanks in large part to the Jetta with 26,749 sold – making the Jetta, which despite being something less than the darling of car critics, a Top 10 car seller. The Jetta had its most successful year since 1980. Impressive.

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Or consider: Audi’s sales surged 17.7 per cent, racing past Acura (15,272) and Lexus (13,364) in the annual sales race and almost doubling down on Infiniti (6,936). Audi is now setting its sights on the big premium auto makers, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Ah, those two. BMW combined with its Mini brand to sell 34,928 vehicles in Canada, compared to the combined sales of Mercedes Benz/smart at 32,914 units, according to figures from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. Case closed. So BMW is No. 1 in luxury sales. Not so fast.

“If I just look at individual brands,” says analyst Dennis DesRosiers, “then Mercedes Benz (31,063 units) outsold BMW (29,773 units). But the Mercedes-Benz numbers includes their commercial Sprinter van, and if you exclude this vehicle and only look at sales of luxury vehicles, then BMW (29,773 units) outsold Mercedes Benz (28,584 units).”

Or look at this rivalry another way, adds DesRosiers: BMW/Mini improved sales by 10.2 per cent and Mercedes/Smart improved by only 4 per cent. By brand, Mini was up 14.5 per cent, BMW 9.5 per cent, Mercedes Benz 4.8 per cent and Smart was down by 8.3 per cent.

Hair-splitting aside, the German car company story is all about being up, up, up. Indeed, if we include Porsche (sales up 8.7 per cent) in the bigger VW Group, the combined sales of VW, Audi and Porsche came to 71,683 (VW at 52,604, Audi at 16,867 and Porsche at 2,212).

“Actually,” says DesRosiers in a note to clients, “a purist would say that any review of performance of German brands should include VW/Audi who would easily come in at the top position by company (62,255 units) and by brand with VW (52,604 units). And Audi would be the clear winner if change in unit sales was the metric with a 17.7 per cent increase last year. And why not include Porsche whose sales were up 8.7 per cent?”

More remarkable, the Germans achieved all this in a Canadian market up just 1.8 per cent on the year. By any measure, this group collectively outperformed the market. The question is, why? The easy answer is that this is a global story of car companies whose products reflect an aggressive world view.

“VW is the standout in terms of exceeding expectations – in every region and every business. VW’s China mass market profits have moved even higher,” said Bernstein Research analyst Max Warburton in a Detroit News report, adding, “German manufacturers can still deliver robust levels of profitability” regardless of global economic conditions.

Profits are a byproduct of solid and smart investment and nowhere was this more on display than at last fall’s Frankfurt Motor Show. The German car companies put on the grandest, most lavish display of new models in auto show history. Audi, for instance, spent $14.4-million (U.S.) on a pavilion longer than a football field and wider than a hockey rink – 6,977 square metres or 75,000 square feet.

Audi was big, but Mercedes was bigger at 9,500 square metres or 102,257 square feet of display space over three floors. And then there was BMW at 10,000 square metres or 107,639 square feet.

These three premium car companies are consumed with the race to be the world’s largest luxury car maker. As Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche wrote to employees last July, “Some of our competitors are now growing faster and more profitably than we are. We can’t be content to be in a solid second or even third place: We are Daimler. We should be far ahead of the pack! And if that requires something that we don’t currently have, then we’ll identify and develop it.”

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As reported in Automotive News, Zetsche added in a later interview, “Our goal is to be No. 1 in profitability and sales in the premium segment.”

It is the same story at BMW.

“We have the clear objective to stay the most successful premium manufacturer,” BMW sales boss Ian Robertson told Automotive News Europe, echoing similar comments from Audi CEO Rupert Stadler, who also makes no bones about the goal of being No. 1.

Look for the ambitious plans of all the German auto makers to spill over into Canada in the form of more models competing in more segments and even niches at price points dipping below $30,000 for the premium brands and below $16,000 for VW, whose Jetta starts at $15,875.

Various reports point to BMW’s plan for annual sales of 2.6 million by 2020 (BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce inclusive). That would be an increase of 800,000 over current global sales. That suggests BMW Canada sales approaching some 50,000 within eight years. Stadler, meanwhile, announced last year that Audi plans to sell two million units annually by 2020, up from 1.5 million sales by 2014.

For car buyers, this means more models. Mercedes has new compact cars planned, as well as a sporty station wagon called the CLS Shooting Brake. As Automotive New reports, second-generation A- and B-class models will ride on a new platform called MFA (Mercedes Front-wheel-drive Architecture) and this is where the budget Mercedes cars will ride.

Also look for a C-Class cabriolet (in 2015) and if you believe Automotive News, a coupe version of the M-class called the MLC might be in showrooms by 2015. Without question, the S-Class flagship will be replaced within a year.

Last year, Robertson said BMW will expand its lineup dramatically in the coming years, with reports suggesting a 2-Series cabriolet and coupe to take the place of the current 1-Series convertible and coupe.

Naturally, BMW will introduce all sorts of variants of the current and all-new 3-Series. Interestingly, the next-generation coupe and convertible 3-Series will become the 4-Series line, says Automotive News Europe.

And then there is BMW’s push down-market based on its coming “lower vehicle class” architecture, which in German is called the Untere Fahrzeugklasse or UKL.

“With the UKL alone, there will be six to nine new models in the coming years,” Robertson said last year in Frankfurt, without going into details about this new front-wheel platform for smaller BMW and Mini brands.

Audi, of course, has its own plan to expand from the current 42 models offered globally to 50 by 2020, including R versions of various models. Automotive News reports that Audi is planning an A9 coupe for 2015 to go head-to-head with the Mercedes CL, and a Q6 slated for 2014 is coming to compete with the BMW X6. Audi’s biggest advantage lies in the fact that it’s part of the sprawling VW Group, allowing Audi to spread costs across multiple brands, from VW to Seat to Skoda.

The VW Group, in fact, plans to become the world’s biggest auto maker by 2018 or sooner and, to get there, the expectation is for sales of one million VW and Audi vehicles combined in North America. That suggests 80,000 VW brand models sold in Canada and at least 20,000 Audis if not more.

Audi Canada president Martin Sander says the company is aiming for sales of 22,500 in 2012. He says it’s possible Audi will grab the luxury sales crown by 2015, but it will take quite a lot of work and some luck, too.

As for VW, in Canada the Passat mid-size car is just now rolling into dealerships in big numbers and if the Jetta in 2011 is any indication, the 2012 Passat will be a strong seller – at least compared to its predecessor. The lineup will also be bolstered by a Beetle turbo-diesel and perhaps a Beetle convertible this year, as well as the racy Golf R and even a Jetta hybrid.

For the Germans, 2012 should be quite the year, better even than 2011 and by no small measure.

Published on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 6:00AM EST

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IndyCar driver Tagliani’s job much simpler now

JEFF PAPPONE

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 1:08PM EST

Drivers Alex Tagliani, left, and Jacques Villeneuve attend an autograph session at the NAPA Auto Parts 200 NASCAR Nationwide race Thursday, August 18, 2011, at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)

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After spending the better part of the last decade racing on shoe-string budgets and with an uncertain future, Canadian Alex Tagliani looks forward an IndyCar season where all he needs to do is drive the car.

“It's a luxury — I am really excited about it,” said Tagliani, whose deal to drive for Bryan Herta Motorsport was announced last week.

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“What fuels me is a new challenge: As a driver, you feel good when you are in the cockpit and when you are working with a team that needs you and wants you and you are the middleman between what they are trying to achieve and what you can give them.”

In the past four years, Tagliani spent most of his time away from the racetrack beating the bushes for sponsors, trying to find stability for his career.

That should change in 2012 because a week before announcing the Lachenaie, Que. driver’s signing, the Herta Motorsport team revealed a partnership with a Toronto company, Bowen & Bowers Motorsports, which will drum up all the sponsorship needed for the outfit. Within days of the commercial deal becoming public, the team announced Barracuda Networks would be the title sponsor for 2012.

The team’s arrangement means Tagliani won't need to find any additional money to keep him in the car, something that has consumed most of his free time of late.

That said, there may be a bit of uncertainty for Tagliani in other areas, mostly due to the new engines being used in IndyCar this season. Both Chevrolet and Lotus join Honda in 2012 as powerplant manufacturers.

“We are going to be very dependent on the engine, where in the past we showed up at the racetrack and the engine was the same for everyone,” said Tagliani, who will get his first crack at driving his Lotus-powered car next week on the road course at Florida's Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“Now the engine becomes a new piece of the puzzle. You can't just think it will be alright and it's definitely something we will have to manage carefully. It's nice to have three engine manufacturers in the series but we will have to ensure we are at the good end.”

IndyCar ditched the normally-aspirated 3.0-litre V-8 engine formula from the last seven seasons, mandating a new 2.2-litre, twin-turbo V-6 to go into the new Dallara chassis making its debut this year.

The Lotus motor is being manufactured by Engine Developments which produces Judd-branded powerplants. In addition to the engine, Tagliani's car will carry the iconic black and gold colours made famous by the 1970s Lotus Formula One team, sponsored by John Player Special cigarettes.

The new livery first used to mimic a cigarette brand brings things full circle for Tagliani who started out in style when he made his Champ Car debut with the flush Player’s/Forsythe Team in 2000. He raced in the blue and white Player's cars for three seasons before losing his seat to fellow Canadian Paul Tracy. After that, things didn’t exactly reflect the glamorous high life.

Stints with financially-challenged Rocketsports and Team Australia outfits over the next five seasons meant that he never knew if his next race would be his last. Things got worse after that, with Tagliani needing to find personal backers to keep a part-time career going and driving only when he had enough sponsor money to cover the bills. In 2008 and 2009 he made only 10 starts out of a possible 36 IndyCar races following the demise of Champ Car after the 2007 racing season.

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In 2010, he bought into the FAZZT Team with Montreal businessman Andre Azzi and former Kelley Racing co-owner Jim Freudenberg and brought home entertainment equipment company Bowers & Wilkins on board in a personal sponsorship deal. FAZZT was bought by Sam Schmidt Motorsports before last season and Tagliani departed the team at the end of the year, taking Bowers &Wilkins with him.

His new team owner, retired driver Bryan Herta, thinks Tagliani’s history of moving to new, inexperienced teams will help his outfit as it embarks on its first full season of IndyCar racing.

“His speed is well known, and honestly I think Alex has been looking for a home where he is fully supported and comfortable to perform at his full capability, we intend to provide that for him,” Herta said.

“Tag's speed in the car will help the team the most, but he has driven many miles in IndyCars and his feedback and experience will be something we will lean on heavily as the car and Lotus engine continue to develop.”

One event where the team may have high hopes is the Indianapolis 500, where it returns to the famed Brickyard as the defending champion team with the 2011 race winning engineer, Canadian Todd Malloy, on the timing stand and last year's pole sitter in the car. Herta Motorsport won last year’s race with the late Dan Wheldon at the wheel.

On the downside, the 2012 IndyCar schedule won't allow Tagliani to race at home in Montreal in August’s NASCAR Nationwide race, but that doesn't rule out a stock car start this year.

“There's a conflict in the schedule with China so I won't be in Montreal unless something magical happens with the calendar,” he said.

“I will still look at the possibility of doing a road course somewhere else and will talk to some teams to do a race like Watkins Glen [N.Y.] or Road America [in Elkhart lake, Wis.].”

Missing the annual stock car race in Montreal is a bit of a disappointment since the 39-year-old was looking to go back to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to improve one spot from his second place finish driving for the Penske team last year.

But with things looking busy in 2012 with a new chassis and engine to deal with in IndyCar, Tagliani will likely need to focus his attention on the job at hand anyway.

“It's not my first rodeo,” he said. “But it's going to be a bit challenging during the first part of the season to catch up to some of the other teams who have started their programs a bit earlier than we have.”

For more from Jeff Pappone, go to facebook.com/jeffpappone (No login required!)

Twitter: @jpappone

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 1:03PM EST

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Why are there so few diesel cars in Canada?

JEREMY CATO AND MICHAEL VAUGHAN

Last updated Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 2:43PM EST

2012 Volkswagen Golf Wagon (Darren McGee/The Globe and Mail)

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Hello: Last fall, we (two couples, plus baggage) rented a Volkswagen Touareg diesel in the United Kingdom for a couple of weeks. It got 55 mpg city/highway by our calculations and we got the same result from a Toyota diesel four-door sedan we also rented for a week. The engine was noisier than we are used to, but there was no noticeable diesel smell from the exhaust. We are getting a new car this year and were interested in a diesel, but find there is a limited selection available here. Any thoughts on why diesel has not caught on here given the great mileage results? Any suggestions on make and model, $30,000-$40,000 range? – Terry in Richmond Hill, Ont.

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Vaughan: Cato, there’s something familiar about this story. Oh that’s right – it’s my story, too.

I discovered the superiority of diesels on European rentals and bought one nearly 12 years ago. Fabulous fuel economy and they also drive better on the highway. So smooth, yet tons of torque.

Cato: You, Michael Vaughan, are not the typical new-car buyer. You are nothing like the typical consumer of anything, as a matter of fact. So-called “value” shopping is rooted in your bones.

And therein lies a lesson for you, Terry. If you shop for the best diesel value in Canada – like Vaughan – it’s the most basic diesel version of the Volkswagen Jetta sedan ($23,875). The cheapest VW Golf diesel is a four-door hatchback starting at $25,425.

Either has an engine that will easily last for 300,000 to 400,000 km with minimal maintenance. Maybe more. The car around your diesel engine will fall apart before the engine. Vaughan is willing to live with his diesel Golf for a lifetime. Are you?

Vaughan: Well, I’m glad Terry doesn’t want a Touareg because that thing is way too expensive. It’s on the same platform and shares parts with the Porsche Cayenne, so I guess that accounts for its high-falutin’ price tag, which is just shy of 54 thousand for the diesel version ($53,575 base). But he chose the right manufacturer. He wants a Volkswagen, but one in his price range. As you pointed out, Cato, there are two – the Golf TDI and the Jetta TDI.

Cato: VW also has launched a new mid-size Passat sedan with a diesel engine ($27,475). More like these are coming. Auto analyst Dennis DesRosiers notes that a flood of new diesel-powered vehicles is coming between now and 2016.

But, Terry, to answer your question about why diesels haven’t caught on in North America, the answer is that American car buyers think diesel engines are noisy, smelly and smoky. They belong in tractor trailers, not cars. Those who remember when American car companies tried diesels in the 1970s and 1980s think they are also gutless and unreliable.

Vaughan: Cato, today’s diesels are as clean as any passenger car. Car companies have added exhaust filters and urea injection systems and other tricks to scrub emissions.

Cato: But those moves add cost, weight, maintenance issues and complexity.

In Europe, governments nurtured diesels by monkeying with fuel prices and staggering emissions standards in ways that have allowed fuel-efficient diesels to compete effectively with gasoline-powered cars and even hybrids. No such thing here in Canada and the United States.

Vaughan: Cato, enough of the civics and science lessons.

The TDI engine is superb. I’d suggest Terry take a look at a Golf TDI, especially the Golf Wagon TDI.

This is a perfect little car for a diesel enthusiast. Solid as a rock and very comfortable. What great seats. You get the versatility of a small wagon ($27,025) in a nice compact form. If you’re going diesel for the first time, this is the one for you. And within your budget, too.

Cato: You’ve nailed it, Vaughan. My choice, as well.

But until all the coming diesels arrive, Terry has a couple of other options. One is to try something that attempts to mimic diesel performance and fuel economy. Try Ford’s Edge SUV with its EcoBoost engine ($27,025).

Vaughan: In the winter when the price of diesel goes through the roof – it’s basically heating oil and demand for that stuff in the U.S. is still enormous – I wonder if a really good gasoline engine wouldn’t make more sense.

The fact is, I simply don’t have enough driving experience in EcoBoost cars to know if they’ll give the same driving performance and economy as a diesel. I do know that if you drive an EcoBoost really hard, that turbo will go through a lot of gas.

Cato: Ford’s engineers say EcoBoost almost matches a diesel for fuel economy and performance, but at just a $1,000 premium – versus several thousand for a diesel.

And we should also steer Terry to a gasoline-electric hybrid. How about the all-new Toyota Camry Hybrid ($26,990 base) – efficient, affordable and nicely done.

Vaughan: Sure, try it. But the Golf Wagon TDI is my story. I know how it ends.

*****

HOW THEY COMPARE

2012 Volkswagen Golf Wagon 2.0 TDI

2012 Ford Edge SE FWD w/EcoBoost

2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid LE

Wheelbase (mm)

2758

2824

2660

Length (mm)

4556

4679

4805

Width (mm)

1781

1930

1820

Height (mm)

1504

1702

1470

Engine

2.0-litre four-cylinder, turbodiesel

2.0-litre four-cylinder, turbocharged

2.4-litre four-cylinder with hybrid electric motor and battery pack

Output (horsepower/torque)

140/136221 lb-ft

240/270 lb-ft

200 hp net power

Drive system

Front-wheel drive

Front-wheel drive

Front-wheel drive

Transmission

Six-speed manual

Six-speed automatic

CVT

Curb weight (kg)

1489

1813

1550

Fuel economy (litres/100 km)

6.7 city/4.6 highway

9.9 city/6.6 highway

4.5 city/4.9 highway

Base price (MSRP)

$27,025

$29,199

$26,990

Source: car manufacturers

Jeremy Cato and Michael Vaughan are co-hosts of Car/Business, which appears Fridays at 8 p.m. on Business News Network and Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. on CTV.

Published on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 7:00AM EST

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The CR-V: Honda gets its mojo back

JEREMY CATO

San Diego - Globe and Mail Update

Last updated Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 4:42PM EST

2012 Honda CR-V. (Honda)

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Smaller is bigger. That’s the start of the 2012 Honda CR-V story.

What’s more, this remade compact crossover is more powerful, has better fuel economy, a better all-wheel-drive system and a so-called “value” story.

Smaller is bigger? Honda’s engineers and designers are almost giddy talking about a lower and shorter overall CR-V with more cabin and cargo room. The secret? They moved the windshield forward and lowered the cargo floor. There is also an improved instrument panel and, unlike with the latest Civic, the cabin materials are pretty decent.

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The CR-V, of course, is Honda Canada’s second best-selling vehicle and one of Honda’s top sellers worldwide. This rig matters. A lot. Especially in the wake of the redesigned 2012 Civic.

The Civic, as you know, has been whacked by critics for shortcomings that start with an interior seemingly inspired by Filene’s Basement. A repeat of the Civic launch would be a major disaster for Honda.

But that doesn’t seem to be the case here, even though the CR-V and the Civic share the same basic mechanical base. Moreover, the 2012 CR-V is following in the tire tracks of the Civic in the most important way of all way: pricing.

The base model has dropped to $25,990 versus $26,290 for the 2011 starter wagon. At the other end, Honda Canada has a new top-of-line Touring model at $34,990. The 2011 CR-V topped out at $33,490. The 2012 Touring is the ritzy CR-V, loaded up with standard AWD, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, chrome door handles, roof rails and a long list of other standard features on all CR-Vs: Bluetooth HandsFreeLink yakking, a full-colour multi-information display, a multi-angle rearview camera with guidelines and heated front seats. air conditioning, cruise control, tilt/telescoping steering wheel, rear-seat heater ducts and a 160-watt AM/FM/CD player.

Honda is anxious to share all this, and to reclaim its mojo with a successful CR-V launch. That said, let’s give Honda credit for owning up to past Civic mistakes. At December’s Tokyo Motor Show, Honda Motor president Takanobu Ito took personal responsibility for the bad Civic reviews, noted Automotive News. The company’s global research and development chief said Honda simply took its eye off the two most important balls in the car business: the competition and the customer.

Yoshiharu Yamamoto, president of Honda R&D, told Automotive News that with the 2012 Civic, “our competitors, including Hyundai and Ford, set clear targets to make their cars better than the Civic. We probably did not pay close enough attention to where our competitors were at.” Confession is good for the soul, correct?

So is the realization that the CR-V is one of four core models for Honda and all will have been remade by the middle of next year. Honda is a car company with only a handful of high-volume offerings, so the pressure is on to make each one a winner. The relatively new Odyssey minivan is excellent, the new Civic, not so much. Next year we’ll get a new Accord mid-size car.

With the CR-V, the designers have delivered a wagon with a more aerodynamic design. Prettier? Not so sure, though the slicker sheet metal is a critical for fuel economy. Bake in a weight reduction and less engine friction and out pops a CR-V with slightly more horsepower (185 versus 180 before), quicker acceleration and better fuel economy – despite the mostly carryover powertrain.

The numbers: the 2.4-litre four-cylinder engine is rated at 9.0 litres/100 km city/6.5 highway (two-wheel drive) and 9.2 city/6.6 highway (AWD). Honda’s engineers are also touting the new “ECON” operating mode for those who want to squeeze out even more fuel efficiency. The four-banger is the only engine Honda offers with the CR-V; there is no V-6 or turbocharged option, as is the case with some rivals.

To improve the drive, Honda stiffened up the CR-V with a strengthened tailgate area and thicker gauge steel in certain areas. The AWD system now has electronic actuation of the torque split mechanism between the front and rear wheels, though the basic design is a carryover hydraulic system. The improvement is simple and important: the rear wheels always get some power at startup and 100 per cent of engine torque can be sent to the front or rear wheels. Also to save fuel, Honda has gone to full electric power steering.

The cabin is comfortable and tasteful and even clever in some ways. For instance, the split-folding rear seats will drop flat with the touch of a lever easily reached from the tailgate. A nifty space in the centre console provides excellent storage, where it’s often needed.

But Honda does need to remember the competition with rival models that offer more horsepower and lower pricing. The new CR-V’s ride also could be quieter at highway speeds, the five-speed automatic transmission is nothing special and the design at the very least gives this crossover a big rear end with some visibility issues.

Nonetheless, this Honda sells in big numbers for many good reasons – from an excellent quality story, to strong safety ratings, high resale values and overall functionality. That all remains for 2012.

jcato@globeandmail.com

Tech Specs

2012 Honda CR-V

Type: Compact crossover

Base price: $25,990 ($1,590 freight)

Engine: 2.4-litre, four-cylinder

Horsepower/ torque: 185 hp/163 lb-ft

Transmission: Five-speed automatic

Drive: front-wheel and all-wheel

Fuel economy (litres/100 km): 9.0 city/6.5 highway (two-wheel drive) and 9.2 city/6.6 highway (AWD); regular gas

Alternatives: Toyota RAV4, Mazda CX-5, Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, Jeep Patriot and Compass, Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain, Ford Escape, Subaru Forester, Volkswagen Tiguan, Mini Cooper Countryman

Published on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 2:28PM EST

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Tire life: Tread carefully beyond five years

JOANNE WILL

Last updated Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 5:39PM EST

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I just had my vehicle serviced, and the dealership tells me I need new tires. I think they’re just trying to make money. My tires look fine, they’ve got plenty of tread and I’ve only driven 24,000 kilometres since I bought them eight years ago. When I called them on it they said my tires are old and that tires are only good for a limited time period before they become too hard. Are they trying to rip me off? – Don in Dartmouth, N.S.

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Unlike port or a fine single malt whisky, tires don’t improve with age. Whether they’re attached to a vehicle or stored in the cellar, tires do degrade over time.

But how long do tires usually last? This, of course, depends on the type of driving you’re doing, the conditions and how much you drive. Are you a constant highway cruiser, an off-road explorer, a Sunday stroller or still racing around with a bout of Saturday night fever? If you’re burning a strip each time you leave the lights, then you’re going to be more of a regular down at the service centre.

Besides the more obvious degradation through use, under- or over-inflation, overloading your vehicle, climate, road hazards, improper maintenance, structural defects and improper installation, tire aging is something to be aware of. Even if your tires are only used occasionally, or they’re just sitting in the garage under cover, the structural integrity may be weakened over time even though plenty of tread remains. They may look completely fine on first inspection, but may need to be checked and possibly replaced.

So is anyone regulating this? Well, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which writes and enforce safety standards for motor vehicles and regularly studies the effects of aging on tires, says: “While tire life will ultimately depend on the tires’ service conditions and the environment in which they operate, there are some general guidelines. Some vehicle manufacturers recommend that tires be replaced every six years regardless of use. In addition, a number of tire manufacturers cite 10 years as the maximum service life for tires. Check the owner’s manual for specific recommendations for your vehicle. Remember, it is always wise to err on the side of caution if you suspect your vehicle has tires that are over six years of age.”

Transport Canada does not regulate the age, shelf life or useful life of tires. They do, however, require the date of manufacture to be moulded on the sidewall of every tire. Under the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, Transport Canada develops, maintains and enforces the Canada Motor Vehicle Tire Safety Regulations. These require that all tires have a Tire Identification Number (TIN). This is a string of letters and numbers that are moulded on the sidewall of each tire, and includes the tire date of manufacture.

The last four digits of the TIN correspond to this date. The first two digits represent the week of manufacture, and the last two represent the year. Note, however, that while the TIN appears on both sides of the tire, the manufacture date code appears on only one side.

I also talked with the owner of a tire shop. I know what you’re thinking, and of course his business is selling tires, but he gives some fair advice. “The rule of thumb for the lifespan of tires is five years,” says Al Premji, owner of Vancouver’s ABC Tire.

“After about five years, the rubber becomes hard and, even if the tires are looking good, the traction reduces and weakens quite dramatically, actually. Some people don’t realize that, they think their tires are fine just by looking at them, but they’re not.”

Perhaps the most interesting thing he mentioned is that, if new tires remain unsold on his shelves after two years, they’re sent back to the manufacturer. “Manufacturers are really careful these days with what they carry, and how long they’re left on the shelf.” These profit-thirsty manufacturers wouldn’t be replacing new stock if they didn’t have a shelf life.

When it comes to wheel safety issues, I wouldn’t take any chances. Replacing your tires may be pricey, but not as much as replacing your vehicle, or worse.

More generally, I would apply common sense for the first five years, watching the tread and overall state as you normally would, and replace if they are approaching the recommended limit of wear and tear, or have any major issues. After five years, and this obviously applies in your case, I would have them checked, and if necessary play safe and replace them. Don’t forget to have the service centre check your spare while they’re at it.

E-Mail your car questions to Ask Joanne atglobedrive@globeandmail.com

Published on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 2:13PM EST

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Canadian team conquers Dakar – on four wheels

PHILIPPE DEVOS

Last updated Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 1:56PM EST

The $150,000 custom-built Desert Warrior. (Maindru photo)

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What do you do after becoming the first Canadians to finish the gruelling Dakar rally in a car? If you’re driver David Bensadoun, you take a nap.

“I’m exhausted,” he said Sunday after 15 days, more than 8,500 kilometres of off-road endurance racing – and only a few minutes of shuteye.

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With co-driver Patrick Beaulé in the navigator’s seat, they overcame mud, rocks, rivers crossings and kilometres of massive sand dunes through Argentina, Chile and Peru to finish in 40th place among the cars in their first attempt at the Dakar, among the top rookie teams.

Over the previous 33 years of the rally that features motorcycles, ATVs, cars and transport trucks, only six Canadians had finished the race, all of them on motorcycles. Lawrence Hacking, the first Canadian to finish on a motorcycle, tried to repeat the feat in 2010 in a car, but didn't make it past the first day. Novice racer Connor Malone entered a car in 2010, but mechanical issues and conflicts with his co-driver ended his race on the eighth day.

Montrealers Bensadoun and Beaulé are the first Canadians to finish in anything but a motorcycle. Along the way were brushes with death, mental anguish, temperatures over 50 degrees C, mechanical breakdowns, improvised repairs in the middle of the desert, countless tire punctures; and lots of giving and getting help among the competitors.

“It really doesn’t have much to do with motorsports. It has to do with adventure, problem-solving and preparation,” said Bensadoun, a 41-year-old Montreal father of three, who’s a senior executive at Aldo shoes and the son of the company founder. “I think it has more in common with a mountain climbing expedition than it does with a car race.”

And the analogy is apt, as finishing the world’s most difficult and dangerous motor race is a rarer feat than climbing to the summit of the world’s highest mountain. Only 430 people reached the finish line of the 2012 Dakar, compared with 445 people who reached the top of Mount Everest in the most recent year that records are up-to-date.

Originally an African race from Paris to Dakar, Senegal, this was the fourth year it has been held in South America. Each day consists of a timed section as long as 600 km, bracketed by connections as long as 400 km to get from the previous night’s camp to the day’s race course, and then to each night’s rest stop. Instead of a map, competitors follow a list of turns, landmarks and compass headings to pass through checkpoints verified by a GPS tracker in each vehicle. Miss the start of the timed section or too many checkpoints, take too long to finish, and face disqualification.

Only a handful of elite racers are vying for a podium spot; most are just trying to finish. Of the 171 cars that entered the race this year, only 78 made it to the end. “It’s like they design every day to break cars,” Bensadoun said. “They’re totally diabolical.”

That day, for Bensadoun and Beaulé, came on the seventh stage with 419 kilometres of mountainous dunes to cover. “It’s like going up and down Mount Tremblant, made of sand, over and over again.”

They managed to complete almost 400 kilometres in 11 hours before darkness fell, but the last 20 kilometres of dunes had to be navigated in the night, and took them another four hours. “It was like war. Every crest of the dune we’d come over in the dark, we’d look down into the next valley and there were trucks flipped on their side. Cars on their roofs. Competitors shaking and crying, totally exhausted.”

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Faced with such adversity, Bensadoun and Beaulé sought humour amid the chaos, and on this day, the levity would be found in the packed lunch provided by race organizers to sustain competitors through the toughest day: a tiny tin of pale beans swimming in pork fat. “We were laughing in the car,” Bensadoun said, “because it was the day the organizers gave us the worst lunch.”

But there was more than sand and soggy beans to contend with. The Dakar is known as the most dangerous race in the world, and a motorcyclist who died on day one this year was the 25th competitor killed in the race’s history. Although both Bensadoun and Beaulé are accomplished motorcycle racers, the Dakar’s deadly reputation meant a car was the only option for them.

“I wouldn’t go on a motorcycle because of my daughter,” said Mr. Beaulé, 36 and also from Montreal, who is a sales manager with motorcycle maker KTM and recently retired from off-road motorcycle racing after winning most of the major Canadian events.

Even in the safety of the car, Beaulé suffered through the last four days in a neck brace and on pain killers after they struck a rock at speed, and they were lucky to dodge further injury when another competitor sideswiped them, and they nearly rolled twice going too fast over the top of dunes.

Their $150,000 Desert Warrior car, custom built for the Dakar with a Land Rover 4x4 system and a BMW six-cylinder, three-litre turbo-diesel engine, took the brunt of the damage but soldiered on, although it did require a mid-race steering arm replacement, and fresh power steering and water pumps due to the heat, dust and rigours of racing.

But what got them through the race was the help they provided others, and received in return. “If we could help someone without endangering ourselves or getting stuck, we would always help,” Bensadoun said. “It really paid off.” The team they assisted one day would be the one who would stop the next day when they were stuck.

The key to finishing, Bensadoun said, is avoiding what racers call downward spiral, in which one mistake leads to others that compound to end the race. A mechanical breakdown or driving error takes time and energy to overcome, so you drive faster to make up for it, and are less alert. That opens the risk of more mistakes, damage and delays. The team arrives later at the end-of-day camp, which means the mechanics have less time to repair the car, and racers have less time to eat, sleep and recover. The next day, more exhausted and with the car in worse shape, the likelihood of calamity is greater.

So the key to beating the odds, finishing the race and doing well isn’t about speed. “It’s not how much you go fast,” Bensadoun said. “It’s how much you don’t go slow.”

But the racer in Bensadoun is already thinking about how to go faster. He’s eyeing a return to the Dakar with Beaulé, perhaps in a faster car that would allow them to improve their position.

globedrive@globeandmail.com

Published on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 1:43PM EST

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Electric cars dominate ecoEnergy awards

MICHAEL BETTENCOURT

Last updated Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 9:56PM EST

A Nissan Leaf is plugged into a charging station during the dedication of Electric Avenue on the Portland State University campus in Portland, Ore. on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2011. One block of a street running through the campus features seven EV charging stations from six manufacturers, including a quick charge station where students and visitors can plug in electric cars, bicycles, trucks and motorcycles. (Don Ryan/AP Photo)

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The most fuel-efficient vehicles in Canada are now largely electrified, Natural Resources Canada says, with at least six of the federal department’s recently announced 11 ecoEnergy award categories won by either gas-electric hybrids or plug-in electric vehicles.

The arrival of three plug-in vehicles for 2012 that run mainly or solely on grid electricity has tipped the fuel-sipping balance in favour of electrification. Not surprisingly, the two battery electric cars on the market currently turned out to be the most fuel-efficient of all vehicles, with neither using a drop of gasoline, the smaller and lighter Mitsubishi i-MiEV (subcompact award winner) coming out slightly ahead of the Nissan Leaf (mid-size winner).

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Natural Resources Canada says that the full-electric and plug-in vehicles should be much closer to the listed government costs than regular cars, which use an older two-cycle rating system that even the United States has dispensed with as unrealistic.

“The estimated annual fuel (energy) use values for 2012 battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) are published with label values for these vehicles that more closely reflect ‘real-world’ driving results in comparison to two-cycle testing label values currently used for conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles,” said Stephen Akehurst, the head of the auto ecoEnergy program. “In terms of estimated annual fuel cost, estimated costs are based on an average electricity cost of 12 cents per kWh [times] estimated annual electricity use.”

The Leaf costs about $506 in “fuel” to travel 20,000 km, according to the government’s newly released figures, compared to $449 for the i-MiEV, at about a 55 city/45 highway driving mix.

The department had to devise a formula to compare such pure EVs with regular fuel vehicles, and so the Leaf now has a 2.2 litres equivalent/100 km city and 2.6 litres/100 km on the highway, compared to the i-MiEV’s 2.4 highway figure, as well as a super-low 1.9 litres/100 km in the city.

Other winners this year included the Smart fortwo in a tie with the Honda CR-Z hybrid with the CVT in the two-seater class, though it should be noted that the Smart costs more to fuel thanks to its premium fuel requirement. The plug-in Chevrolet Volt triumphed in the compact car class, the Toyota Prius V in the wagon class, Tacoma for pickups, Ford Escape Hybrid (SUV), Mazda5 (minivan), Hyundai Sonata (full-size car) and the Ford Transit Connect in the large van category.

The latter two are somewhat of a surprise, not because their four-cylinder engines aren’t fuel-efficient, but because both the Sonata and the Transit offer electrified versions for 2012. The Sonata offers a full gas-electric hybrid model that achieves better fuel economy, but its advanced lithium-ion battery eats up some trunk room, dropping it down to a mid-sizer in the government’s category classification, where it’s up against the zero emissions Leaf.

The Transit Connect Electric offers a pricey but zero emissions full-electric van – its powertrain produced by Azure Dynamics of Burnaby, B.C. – but it’s not listed in NR Canada’s annual Fuel Consumption Guide at all, because the government says the vehicle is available for fleet sales only in 2012.

Of 13 ecoEnergy award winners last year, four winners were electrified, all of them gas-electric hybrids. This year’s winners therefore bumped out various diesels, large-displacement V-6 work vans, and even some advanced hybrids such as the Toyota Prius, the previous overall fuel economy ecoEnergy champ for the past 11 years.

Montreal nabs North American debuts

The Montreal International Auto Show saw at least a couple of vehicle debuts that didn’t appear at the Detroit auto show, with the Mercedes-Benz B-Class hatchback and Nissan NV passenger van giving the Montreal show some international auto show sizzle.

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The Montreal show also had a full complement of luxury auto makers on hand that didn’t make it to Detroit, such as Land Rover, Jaguar, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lotus and the full Maserati lineup, among others, as well as mainstream brands Mitsubishi and Suzuki.

But it’s the novelty effect of world debuts that makes Detroit so newsworthy every year, though continental debuts are important second-place ribbons in the battle of auto shows.

The next-generation B-Class hatchback is set to arrive in November, and Mercedes says it will offer more new technical features than any other in the history of Mercedes-Benz. This will include an all-new 7G-DCT dual clutch transmission, standard ECO start/stop function and a new radar-based collision warning system that will reduce the risk of rear-end collisions.

It’s much more low-tech news on the Nissan NV side, where its NV3500 HD work truck now adds a four-row passenger version that seats 12.

New Boxster to arrive, as special Corvette departs

Just as Porsche has unleashed details about a new Boxster, Chevrolet has confirmed that the 2013 Corvette will be the last one of this C6 generation, with the convertible marking the famous nameplate’s 60th anniversary with the most powerful ’Vette drop-top.

The Corvette 427 Convertible Collector Edition will feature the 505-hp heart of the Z06 coupe, the first time this 7.0-litre (427-cubic-inch) LS7 engine has found its way under a drop-top’s hood. Like the Z06, it will only be available with a six-speed manual, combining various carbon-fibre and low-weight aluminum pieces from the Z06 as well as the King-of-the-Corvette-hill ZR1.

The combination of this lower-weight body and extra oomph will result in one of the fastest convertibles on the planet, says GM, estimating 3.8-second 0-100 km/h acceleration runs, an 11.8-second quarter-mile run and 305 km/h top speed.

Porsche has much less ambitious straight-line performance targets for the Boxster, its mid-engine flat-six tuned more for low weight, better fuel economy and, above all, sublimely balanced handling.

Both Boxster and Boxster S models receive slight power boosts, up to 265 and 315 hp respectively, with promised decreases in fuel consumption of up to 15 per cent, thanks to electro-mechanical power steering and a standard start/stop system, among other additions.

Don’t expect the 911’s industry-first seven-speed manual transmission to make an appearance here though. Transmission choices will be six-speed manual or Porsche’s seven-speed PDK dual-clutch unit, which makes the car both quicker (with the available Sport Chrono package and easy launch control system) and more fuel-efficient. With such aids, the base Boxster can make the 0-100 run in 5.7 seconds, or 5.0 for the S model.

BMW confirms X4 coming

The busy BMW plant in the U.S. South is about to get busier, after BMW announced a $900-million (U.S.) expansion that will see it add more capacity and a new model to the lineup, the X4.

The SUV plant currently builds the larger X5, mid-size X3 and X6 “sport-activity coupe,” with the X4 expected to be a similarly swoopy version of the popular X3.

BMW supplanted Mercedes-Benz as best-selling luxury brand in North America in 2011, and the Spartanburg, S.C., products were key to this success. The company says that 70 per cent of the products built there are exported, while the investment in the facility will add 300 jobs in 2012.

Published on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 1:40PM EST

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Drive-thrus, the naked truth

ANDREW CLARK

Last updated Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 1:57PM EST

Tim Horton's drive- thru in St. John's, Nfld. (The Canadian Press)

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Chalk up another victory for our kill-joy, car-hating justice system.

Last week, an Ontario court ruled that appearing nude at a drive-thru is not a form of free speech. That’s right, if you want that Double-Double on the double quick better keep your Y-fronts on.

The case involved a constitutional challenge by Brian Coldin, a Bracebridge naturist, who was found guilty of “partial nudity that offended public order” for incidents that occurred in 2008 and 2009. These included Coldin twice using two drive-thrus while naked behind the wheel (he claimed he was wearing a towel). Coldin maintained his bareness was meant as a form of public protest. The court disagreed.

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“Attending at the pickup of Tim Hortons, of A&W, without one’s pants expresses little meaning about naturism to others,” Justice Jon-Jo A. Douglas told the court. “And it is certainly not perceived as having important meaning.”

Well, I can’t speak for Mr. Coldin, but I can tell the court that any time my pants are removed I always perceive a great deal of important meaning. Still, the real issue here is not nudity. That’s easy stuff. The world can be divided into two groups: People you want to see naked and people you don’t want to see naked. Most of us spend our lives trying to find people we want to see naked who want to see us naked.

No. The problem here is the drive-thru and the strange, transgressive behaviour it seems to engender.

The drive-thru was popularized in 1948 when In-N-Out Burger opened its first restaurant in Baldwin Park, Calif. Customers drove up and ordered through a two-way speaker box. The California drive-thru hamburger was born. Today, almost everything can be purchased in drive-thru form: funerary services, weddings, prayer, banking, hospital emergency services. At the Ottawa Public Library, there is a drive-thru book return. The Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery unveiled a 2006 exhibit that let motorists view art via a drive-thru window. On North Carolina’s Outer Banks you can pull up to buy your beer at the “Brew-Thru.”

This proliferation of drive-thrus has led to a wave of automobile wrongdoing. Think of a crime. In the amount of time it took you to conjure up a mental picture of the act, someone somewhere has probably already committed it at a drive-thru. Doubt me. Take the Drive-Thru Quiz.

Ask yourself. Which of the following acts did not occur at a drive-thru in the past 30 days?

a) A naked couple arrested for ordering combos at an Illinois McDonalds.

b) A Californian man accused of robbing three drive-thrus (Sonic, Taco Bell and In-N-Out Burger) in the span of two hours.

c) A Tennessee man accused of threatening to blow up a drive-thru with a bomb.

d) Two Toronto men accused of stealing debit machines through the windows of Tim Horton’s drive-thrus.

The answer, of course, is that all these incidents occurred. Remember, these were the ones that were reported. In the last 30 days, there must be thousands of less egregious stunts pulled that never make the papers.

What is it about the drive-thru that triggers the Mr. Hyde in people? Perhaps it’s the time-crunch element. The drive-thru was created, after all, so that busy North Americans could be relieved of the troublesome burden of dragging their lazy butts from their cars for 20 feet. The first clue is in the spelling. It’s called the “drive-thru” not the “drive-through” – we’re in too much of a hurry to add those three extra letters.

Personally, I think that putting the words “drive-thru” before anything makes it a bit of a guilty pleasure. Try it. “Knitting” sounds boring but “drive-thru knitting” sounds a bit naughty.

It may be that the frustrating nature of the drive-thru can leave even the most rational person on the verge of performing a misdeed. You drive up, already gripped by shame because you are about to commit fast food in the first degree, yet you are at least optimistic that you’ll save time by “driving through.” Then it starts. The people in front of you have trouble with their orders. They stop too far from the pay window and then go through the awkward ballet of banging car doors and rifling for change.

When it’s your turn to place an order the person on the other end of the line is unintelligible.

“Hull weedcan dew muffle dose. Sprint and spray Mordor?’

“What?”

“Hello, Welcome to McDonald’s. May I take your order?”

When you talk the problem is reversed.

“I’d like a number three combo with Coke Zero.”

“Thank you. That’s four Filet-O-Fish and two apple pies. Please drive to the first window.”

“What? No!”

“Drive through to the next window please.”

By the time you do get your food, it’s decision time. Do you strip naked? Arm yourself? Or do you just pay your money, take your food and drive off into the sunset? Thankfully, most of us choose the last option.

Follow Andrew Clark on Twitter: @aclarkcomedy

Published on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 1:22PM EST

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Table of Contents

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Drive-thrus, the naked truth