Cost of Marc Nadon appointment process? $250K

The federal government spent nearly $250,000 to review the aborted nomination of Marc Nadon to fill a Quebec vacancy on the Supreme Court of Canada — an appointment the court struck down last week.

Documents tabled in the Commons set out the costs of choosing and nominating Nadon.

The total includes $80,894 for legal services and another $152,294 for translation and other professional services.

Buyer beware: A guide to anti-choice advertising

Two pro-choice organizations in Nova Scotia recently ran a successful grassroots campaign to counteract anti-choice advertising on buses in Halifax, raising enough money to produce their own ads for the sexual and reproductive health services that they offer in their clinics. A petition is also calling to remove the anti-choice ads. Their campaign was driven by seeing an uptick in ads presenting misinformation and false claims about the risk of abortion on local transit. But who is behind the anti-choice ads in the first place?

Nova Scotia threatens to sweep away patient care with nurses' right to strike

Let me see if I understand this.

Capital District nurses have the legal right to strike. In February, they voted 90 per cent in favour of striking to back contract demands. But if they actually walk off their jobs, they will effectively -- and almost instantly -- lose that right. (See the McNeil government's legislation forcing striking home-care workers to return to their posts even before the ink on their picket signs was dry. McNeil will do the same if nurses down their stethoscopes.)

So what are their options?

The nurses could quit.

Oh… no, they can't.

Top five posts on the UnFair Elections Act

Today is the National Day of Action to stop the Conservatives' vote-suppressing election law, Bill C-23 the Fair Elections Act. Communities are speaking out and joining together to protest the UnFair Elections Act by delivering a joint petition to Conservative and Opposition MP offices.

Canada Blocking UN Support for Harm Reduction: Observers

Observers attending international drug control negotiations at the UN Commission for Narcotic Drugs last week in Vienna say Canadian negotiators helped block the inclusion of life-saving harm reduction health strategies within future international drug policies.

"It was clear that the delegation's hands were tied," said Don MacPherson, director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition and adjunct professor in the faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. "Our diplomatic delegation had instructions from Ottawa to not mention harm reduction and to get the term deleted from the statement."

Betting at the Copper Casino

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- British Columbia copper ends up in smartphones, in the cars we drive, in our plumbing and electrical systems, as well as in our scrap yards and landfills. But to understand how it gets there, you need to visit a nondescript office tower on Pender Street in Vancouver's financial district. Or perhaps more aptly put, Vancouver's mining district.

If mining capital were mineral ore, Vancouver would be the mother lode of all mother lodes. More publicly-traded mining companies are headquartered here (and in Toronto) than anywhere else on earth: 60 per cent of all mining corporations on the planet are found in Canada. Their collective market value in 2012 approached half a trillion dollars: an estimated $449 billion. (See sidebar.)

Housing Watchdog Slams Massive Property Inspection Industry

The inspectors who decide whether homes have been abandoned and are ready for foreclosure are doing such a terrible job that the whole system requires a major overhaul, and maybe should be scrapped altogether, a government watchdog warned on Tuesday.

Property inspectors hired by banks and other mortgage companies are routinely doctoring photographs to make it look as if they have visited a property when they actually haven't, among other serious record-keeping errors, according to a report by the inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the nation's top housing regulator.

Supreme Court Struggles In Hobby Lobby Case With Question Of Companies' Religious Rights

WASHINGTON -- Justices on the Supreme Court seemed to struggle Tuesday with the question of whether a private company can get out of a federal law by citing the religious beliefs of its shareholders.

Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., a Christian-owned crafts supply chain, and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp., owned by Mennonite Christians, are challenging the provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires for-profit companies to include all Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptives in their health insurance plans.

Harper: government respects Nadon decision

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The Conservative government intends to respect the Supreme Court's decision to deny Marc Nadon the chance to occupy the vacant Quebec seat on the high court bench, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

But the government is still reviewing the decision about Nadon's eligibility, which Harper admitted Tuesday left him "very surprised."

"What I can tell you is this: we're obviously going to respect the decision," Harper told a news conference following the conclusion of the two-day Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague.

Five Offenses That Can Land Kids (But Not Adults) In Jail

Supporters of the U.S. criminal justice system often justify locking people up in jails and prisons by saying that this promotes public safety. Given how many prisoners are serving extraordinarily long sentences for non-violent offenses, this line of reasoning is questionable to begin with. But what about people who are detained for something that's not even a crime? Across the country, thousands of children are removed from their homes and confined in juvenile facilities for offenses that would not be considered criminal if committed by an adult. A new report from the Texas Public Policy Foundation, "Kids Doing Time for What's Not a Crime," explores the nationwide phenomenon of "status offenses" and the long-term effects this treatment can have on already vulnerable young people.