Nova Scotia paves the way for Charter challenge to Health Authorities Act

Really?

Last year, the McNeil government passed the Health Authorities Act, ostensibly (and laudably) to streamline the province's health-care system, but also (and shabbily) to game that system. 

The legislation reduced the number of health districts from 10 to two, and the number of collective bargaining units from 50 to four. But the government's stealth agenda was to emasculate its union nemesis, the powerful Nova Scotia Government Employees Union, and cheat the province's 24,000 health-care workers of their Charter-given right to choose who should represent them.

Netanyahu Declines Invite To Meet With Senate Democrats

WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined on Tuesday an invitation to meet with U.S. Senate Democrats during his trip to Washington next week.

"Though I greatly appreciate your kind invitation to meet with Democratic Senators, I believe that doing so at this time could compound the misperception of partisanship regarding my upcoming visit," Netanyahu wrote in a letter to Senators Richard Durbin and Dianne Feinstein obtained by Reuters.

The fight for Canadians' right to vote continues

Believe it or not, the fight over Stephen Harper's Fair Elections Act is not over.

It is true that after persistent efforts by the Official Opposition's Craig Scott, and pressure from elements of their own base, the Conservatives changed some of the Act's obnoxious provisions.

But many still remain.

Among those are: the limits on the powers of the Elections Commissioner (the chief investigator of abuse) and the Chief Electoral Officer, the end of vouching and the added ID requirements that will bar many (especially among the young and the poor) from voting.

Canada pulls funding for Palestinian NGO after founder criticizes Baird

Canada has terminated a funding agreement for a project aimed at training women to participate in municipal politics in the West Bank following critical comments directed at John Baird by the founder of a Palestinian NGO.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development signed a $27,000 contribution agreement with a Ramallah-based NGO known as MIFTAH on Jan. 13, 2015 for the organization to provide training for women involved in municipal politics in the West Bank.

Li case exposes ugly truth about Tories

The ugly truth has been revealed.

Like many observers, I have always assumed the Conservative government's efforts to more harshly punish citizens found not criminally responsible for their crimes because of mental illness was part of a cynical but deliberate strategy to pander for votes.

The theory is pretty sound. There are many votes to be had by demonizing NCRs (which is unjust), portraying them as a threat to public safety (which is empirically untrue) and prescribing new, tougher sentences to make society safer (which they don't).

It makes sense for the Tories to play this card now, with a federal election expected this year. Yes, it's a bunch of hooey, but it's hard to deny the political benefits.

Egyptian Blogger Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Protest Role

ISTANBUL — A blogger who came to be one of the best-known faces of the 2011 uprising in Egypt was sentenced to five years in prison on Monday, part of the military-backed government’s continuing crackdown on dissent.

The blogger, Alaa Abd El Fattah, 33, comes from a prominent family of left-leaning activists and writers. He was convicted of taking part in an unauthorized November 2013 demonstration against military trials of civilians, as well as related charges like rioting and disturbing the peace. In addition to the prison sentence, he was fined $13,000 by the court in Cairo.

Wall Street's Terrible Argument Against A Rule That Could Save Americans Billions

It’s pretty hard to come up with a good argument against the White House’s Monday proposal to require brokers to act in their client’s best interest when it comes to retirement accounts. But the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) is a lobbying group thats gets paid to make such arguments, so it took a stab at it.

The new regulation, called the fiduciary rule, would apply to 401(K)s and other kinds of retirement savings, and it would require brokers to act in the best interest of their clients, rather than the best interest of their top line. Currently, brokers who work on commission can get paid extra to push people into high-fee funds, or encourage them to trade more often than they should. The White House said Monday that the Labor Department will release more details on the proposed plan in the coming months.

Illinois, Wisconsin Governors Propose Deep Spending Cuts To Universities

If proposals by two Republican governors are approved, public universities in Illinois and Wisconsin could soon experience sweeping layoffs, program eliminations and possible campus closures.

This month, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) unveiled budgets with deep spending cuts for public universities. Rauner's proposed 2016 budget contains a 31.5 percent, or $387 million, reduction in funding for public universities. Wisconsin's 2015-2017 budget would shrink state funding by 13 percent, or $300 million over two years, the largest reduction in the state's history.

Harper Calls Anti-Terror Bill Criticisms From NDP Ridiculous

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper is urging a House of Commons committee to study the government's anti-terror bill as quickly as possible, in spite of accusations the Conservatives are using their majority to rush the legislation onto the books.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair told the Commons on Tuesday it is essential to scrutinize the bill, and asked Harper to ensure that security and human rights experts are not only heard, but also heeded.

High mutual fund fees could delay retirement plans, CCPA says

High mutual fund fees could cause Canadians to delay their retirement by as much as 11 years or else leave them with 40 per cent less money for their retirement, says a report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

The think-tank published the report on Tuesday as Canadians were going through their annual tradition of trying to decide where to invest money before the RRSP deadline on March 2.

Since their creation several decades ago, RRSPs have become a major element in retirement planning. But that growth in importance has been accompanied by a decline in workplace pension plans. In 1997, about 43 per cent of workers were covered by some sort of pension plan. Today, that figure has fallen to 27 per cent.