COURT RULES PORTER MUST PAY MCGILL BACK

Last Wednesday, The Montreal Gazette reported that the Quebec Superior Court has ordered former Chief Executive Officer of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) Arthur Porter to pay over $252,000 back to McGill. The sum represents a loan Porter did not pay back in full to the university, as well as a salary overpayment. Porter, who claims he is undergoing treatment for lung cancer at his private clinic in the Bahamas, did not appear in court to defend himself.

Also last week, former Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe accused Philippe Couillard, the former Quebec Health Minister under the Liberal government, of negligence when appointing Porter as CEO of the MUHC in 2004. Duceppe pointed to Porter’s past as CEO of a hospital in Detroit, which he left deeply in debt, as an indication that Couillard either neglected to research Porter’s past, or willfully ignored it.

Duceppe has also criticized Prime Minister Stephen Harper for not conducting a proper security check on Porter before appointing him as Chair of the Security Intelligence Review Committee—an external review body that reports on the actions of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Porter stepped down from this position last November, after reports revealed his involvement with an international arms dealer in Montreal.

BILL C-30 SCRAPPED BY PARLIAMENT 

On Feb. 12, the federal government scrapped Bill C-30, the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act. The bill was intended to protect children from online stalkers and sex-offenders, but was ruled to violate online privacy rights.

If the government had passed Bill C-30, police at both federal and provincial levels would have been allowed to intercept some communication services. Furthermore, companies would have been required to facilitate access to information transmitted through telecommunications, and to provide basic private information about their customers to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the Commissioner of Competition, and provincial police.

The bill received opposition from both public and civil liberties groups—one of which, Open Media, drafted an online petition against the bill that received over 100,000 signatures.

Although Bill C-30 has been scrapped, other bills have been passed, or that await a vote, have also been criticized for potentially violating Canadians’ privacy rights. For example, Bill C-12, which remains before Parliament, would allow e-mail hosts, social media sites, and Internet Service Providers to voluntarily share personal information about their customers with the police.

CANADIAN CARDINAL COULD BE NEXT POPE

A Canadian Cardinal is considered to be a promising candidate for the papacy, following the announcement of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation last Monday.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, a former archbishop of Quebec City, has been speculated to be the frontrunner for the position, along with three other cardinals from Argentina, Nigeria, and Ghana. Ouellet is currently the Vatican’s top staff director, the same position that Pope Benedict XVI held when he succeeded Pope John Paul II in 2005.

Ouellet, 68, publically stated last year that he cannot see himself as Pope.

“I don’t see myself at this level, not at all … because I see how much it entails [in terms of] responsibility,” he said to Salt and Light Television, a Catholic news organization, last year.

Some Canadians have speculated that it would be very unlikely for Ouellet to become Pope, as Catholicism has been in decline in Canada for the last 40 to 50 years in comparison to Latin America, where more than half of the world’s Catholics reside. Ouellet has also faced criticism from Canadian politicians for calling abortion a “moral crime,” even in cases of rape.

NEW BRUNSWICK PUSHES FOR SHALE GAS DEVELOPMENT

On Feb. 15, the New Brunswick provincial government announced new regulations to allow the province to explore the use of shale gas—a natural gas that is formed when trapped between formations of shale rock. The plan has been proposed in order to create jobs and induce economic growth in a province that has recently faced financial difficulties.

The new government regulations have been designed to try to create a balance between environmental protection and economic development. Environmental concerns include the contamination of water sources with potentially dangerous chemicals used during the process of extracting shale gas. The Liberal party and environmental groups around the country have openly opposed the plan.

Conversely, several prominent politicians and businessmen have supported the exploration of shale gas in the province, including the former Liberal Premier of New Brunswick, as well as the current Deputy Chairman of TD Bank, who say that the province needs the economic growth.  Current Environment Minister Peter Kent has also supported the idea, saying that the environmental concerns are not as grave as stated in the media.

MOUNTIES ACCUSED OF ASSAULTING ABORIGINAL WOMEN IN B.C.

In a report released last Wednesday, Human Rights Watch—a non-governmental organization— accused officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) of physically and sexually abusing Aboriginal women and girls in rural British Columbia.

The human rights group published the report following a five-week investigation of neglected cases of missing and murdered women on the “Highway of Tears” in northern B.C., where several unsolved murders and disappearances have taken place. The allegations include the beating of teenage girls, the illegal strip search of women by male officers, and the rape of a homeless Aboriginal woman by four RCMP officers. In light of its findings, Human Rights Watch is pressuring the provincial and federal governments to perform a national inquiry.

The RCMP has stated that the allegations must be brought forward to the police for investigation before they can be dealt with. The federal Liberal and the NDP parties have both called on the Harper government to do more about the issue, although the government has yet to discuss the possibility of an investigation by another police force.