Canada’s place in the world? There’s very little we agree on

America’s best days are behind it; the future belongs to China and India. On that Canadians can agree, but not much else. An assessment of Canadians’ world view finds a country riven by fault lines of politics, ideology, education and age. We can’t agree whether our foreign and environmental policies leave us embarrassed or proud, or whether the country is headed for salvation or perdition. We’ve put fears of terrorism behind us, but we can’t agree which threat takes its place. “On issues of international relations, foreign policy and our place in the world, we really have two different Canadas here now,” says Frank Graves, president of EKOS Research Associates, which surveyed 2001 Canadians between March 6 and 11. “We don’t seem to have the same level of unanimity or consensus that would have existed a decade ago, when Canadians were relatively common-minded, thinking, ‘Okay, we’re good guys, everyone likes us out there.’ ”

The poll, Rethinking Canada’s Place in the World, was financed by the Donner Foundation. The full results will be released March 20 at the Walter Gordon symposium on public policy, organized by graduate students at Massey College and the School of Public Policy and Government at the University of Toronto. The symposium’s theme is multilateralism and global governance, and in these areas the poll discovered a profound loss of faith. Just 14 per cent had confidence in the International Monetary Fund, and only one in four were confident in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Austerity budgets in Ottawa, Ontario raise risk of labour unrest

A coast-to-coast spring of labour unrest is poised to escalate next week as Ontario and Ottawa deliver budgets that aim to save billions by shedding thousands of government jobs.

Many Canadians are already feeling the effects of public-sector labour disputes involving Halifax bus drivers, Toronto librarians and B.C. teachers. Next week’s budgets from Queen’s Park and Parliament Hill are expected to heighten the tension that ensues when governments cut back.

Public servants were largely shielded from the recession as governments boosted spending and ran up debt to prop up the faltering economy starting in late 2008. While Ontario has enjoyed relative labour peace until now, there is little love between federal unions and the Conservative government.

Ottawa is clearly expecting that many Canadians will have little sympathy when cuts are made to the federal public service, which is viewed by some as coddled and overcompensated.

NDP holds fast to Layton’s old seat in Toronto-Danforth by-election

It wasn’t even close. The New Democrats won a federal by-election in the riding of Toronto-Danforth by a landslide Monday night, easily holding on to the seat left vacant by the death of former party leader Jack Layton.

With all the polls reporting, NDP candidate Craig Scott had close to 60 per cent of the vote in the left-leaning constituency just east of the city's downtown. Liberal candidate Grant Gordon finished a distant second at 28.5 per cent, and conceded the race. Voter turnout was 43.4 per cent.

Mr. Scott, who garnered more than 19,200 votes to Mr. Gordon’s roughly 9,200, congratulated the other candidates when it became clear he was going to win but said the riding had spoken.

“My friends, it looks like the Orange Crush is here to stay. It’s not going anywhere,” he said during the NDP victory party at The Opera House music venue.

The riding, he said, sent a “message to Ottawa that will be heard across the country” that the party will take on Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Glencore strikes deal for Viterra

Glencore International PLC has made a friendly cash bid for Viterra Inc. (VT-T15.92-0.05-0.31%) for $16.25 per share.

The Swiss conglomerate is making the offer in conjunction with Canada’s Agrium (AGU-T88.202.462.87%) and Richardson International.

“Viterra employees created a world-class agribusiness, of which I am very proud. This has been recognized by Glencore and its partners, and this transaction creates value and opportunities for employees, our communities, farmers and customers in all the markets we serve,” Viterra chief executive officer Mayo Schmidt said in a statement.

Glencore, already in a merger deal with Xstrata, isn’t swallowing Viterra whole. It announced plans to sell the bulk of Viterra’s retail business to Agrium for $1.8-billion, and an almost one-quarter stake in its grain-handling assets to Richardson for some $800-million.

“The acquisition of Viterra reflects our strong belief in the importance and future potential of the Canadian and Australian grain markets,” said Chris Mahoney, Glencore’s director of agricultural products.

Mayor Rob Ford should hike taxes for subway, Chong says

Mayor Rob Ford should consider a property tax hike along with other possible ways of funding his multi-billion dollar subway vision, says his transit adviser, Gordon Chong.

Chong said Ford shouldn’t reject any funding source at this stage. On Wednesday, city council is to debate whether it favors high-cost subways over much cheaper road-based light rail on Sheppard Ave. E. in Scarborough.

The main obstacle is funding, Chong said.

“It always boils down to money,” he told reporters at city hall. “I think it’s time he (Ford) opened his mind to all the possibilities for building what everybody says they want on Sheppard and everybody would love to have.”

“The argument has always been we can’t afford it. Well, let’s figure out a way to afford it because not only is it what people want, it’s what I think the entire GTA needs.”

Toronto library strike: Job security the big issue again

The library workers’ decision to walk off the job surprised even the left-leaning councillor who leads the library board’s labour relations committee.

“I really thought they would stay at the table,” said Councillor Sarah Doucette, an opponent of Mayor Rob Ford. She called the strike, which forced all 98 branches to shut down, “the last thing” she had expected during weekend negotiations.

The talks collapsed Sunday over the issue of job security. Fortified by a library-loving public, union president Maureen O’Reilly is gambling that a strike will pressure the city into protecting a greater number of workers from potential future job cuts.

Under the collective agreement that expired on Dec. 31, no permanent library worker could be laid off in the event of outsourcing or technological changes. The city’s outdoor workers enjoyed similarly ironclad protection.

Mystery shrouds identity of worker at robocalls firm

A key employee of the company that was used to send out the misdirecting robocalls in Guelph on election day appears not to exist under the name he uses online.

RackNine, the Edmonton company that suspect "Pierre Poutine" used to send voters to the wrong polling locations, is operated by Edmonton businessman Matt Meier. Rick McKnight is identified variously as head of marketing and web developer.

But Postmedia News and the Ottawa Citizen were unable to find anyone who knows McKnight, even though he has a healthy online identity, including 551 Facebook friends, many of them prominent.

Meier and his lawyer declined Monday to clear up the case of the mysterious McKnight.

Until recently, McKnight was listed as web developer on the LinkedIn business website.

His entry says he studied computer science at Stanford University, and that he was born on Jan. 1, although it doesn't list the year.

Postmedia was unable to confirm that he attended Stanford.

Walking While Black: Florida Police Resist Calls to Arrest Shooter of Unarmed Teen, Trayvon Martin

The Justice Department and the FBI have announced they will conduct a criminal probe of the killing of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and the ensuing police investigation that allowed his killer to walk free. Martin, an African-American student at Michael Krop Senior High School, was visiting his father in a gated community in the town of Sanford, Florida, on February 26 when he walked out to a nearby convenience store to buy candy and iced tea. On his way back, Martin was spotted by the shooter, George Zimmerman, who had been patrolling the neighborhood. Zimmerman has told police he was attacked by Martin from behind. But in the tape of Zimmerman’s own 911 call to the police, Zimmerman tells the dispatcher he is the one following Martin. The Miami Herald reports Zimmerman had taken it upon himself to patrol the neighborhood and had called police 46 times since January 2011 to report suspicious activity or other incidents. We play excerpts of the 911 calls and speak with Jasmine Rand, an attorney who heads the civil rights division at Parks & Crump Law Firm, which is representing Trayvon Martin’s family. "I think we have all of the evidence in the world to arrest him. And I think what the state attorney is trying to do is to try the case and the investigation, and that’s not the state attorney’s job," Rand says.

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Liberals vow to ‘fight fire with fire’ over Tory ad attacking Bob Rae

The federal Liberals are vowing to “fight fire with fire” in response to a new Conservative ad attacking interim Liberal leader Bob Rae that will hit television screens this week.

The ad, posted to YouTube on Monday, criticizes Rae’s record when he was premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995 — a period marked by high deficits and one of the worst recessionary periods in the province’s history.

“If he couldn’t run a province, why does he think can run Canada?” says the announcer in the ad, which also claims that Rae turned Ontario into the “welfare capital of Canada.” The ad begins by stamping the word “failure” in red across Rae’s face.

On Monday, Rae defended his record as leader of the provincial NDP and as premier, compared with the Conservatives.

“I started subways; they destroyed them. I build social housing; they destroy it. I build people up; they tear them down,” Rae said. “Plus the Blue Jays won the World Series twice when I was premier.”

Can Elections Canada get to the bottom of election fraud allegations?

Lately, a lot of allegations have been made that there were election irregularities and some outright crimes committed in the 2011 election. What we do not know is who was responsible.

But we may be dealing with a serial offender, or offenders. When one thinks about the election skulduggery of the last six years, it is clear that Canada does a poor job of getting to the bottom of some serious crimes.

Here’s a short list of the ones that still bother me. They remain unsolved.

1. RCMP interference in the 2006 election. (Remember Zaccardelli issuing a press release about looking into NDP charges that the Liberals had leaked details about the income trust taxation issue? There was nothing to it, but it arguably changed the outcome of the election.) Issuing a press release in an election campaign was a violation of RCMP normal practice. Naming a Finance Minister in the release was unheard of. The Public Complaints Commission for the RCMP, under its director Paul Kennedy, tried to question former RCMP Commissioner Guiliano Zaccardelli. Zaccardelli refused to be questioned and Kennedy lacked subpoena powers. No one knows if there was any political involvement, inducement or pay-off involved. Zaccardelli is now a senior Interpol officer in Lyon, France.