Probe International has learned from internal documents obtained
through an Access to Information request that Canada´s aid agency,
the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), was caught
completely off guard by the corruption scandal and had no knowledge
or ability to detect that its funds were being used inappropriately.

The documents paint a picture of an agency incapable of determining
if and how its money is being used to line the pockets of corrupt
officials. And while the documents obtained by Probe International
relate to the Zambian corruption case, they also show that Canadian
foreign aid programs in Kenya´s education sector have suffered a
similar fate.

Eventually, CIDA determined that $880,000 of Canadian taxdollars were
diverted by corrupt officials. In total, more than $7-million, including
money from other donors such as Sweden and the Netherlands, was stolen.

The documents also show that Canadian aid officials never laid out
strong procurement guidelines when they handed the money over.
According to one email, an official said, "effective performance of
public procurement is not an explicit condition of the CArr
(Condition Agreement)...nor is it a specific condition of payment."

By Rob Tripp

The number of penitentiaries listed for expansion in a $2-billion federal prison-building boom will rise to more than two dozen Monday as Conservative MPs make announcements on eight prisons in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec.

By Jason Markusoff

By Jayme Poisson

Brendan Latimer was knocked down by a herd of fellow protesters during a G20 demonstration at Queen’s Park.

Lying on the ground, police moved in and arrested the delivery worker. That’s when one of the officers allegedly struck him in the face, causing a fracture.

the FIFA World Cup?

By David J. Climenhaga

|

June 21, 2010

Remember the successive scandals about $640 toilet seats, $7,600 coffee pots and $436 hammers made for the U.S. armed forces?

The overcrowding of prisons remains a major concern and challenge in Canada. As a result, the safety of inmates and staff alike is threatened and, ultimately, that of the public. The Canadian Criminal Justice Association is calling on all jurisdictions and the public to address these issues with a view to bringing about necessary and pressing changes, and to defusing a potentially explosive situation.

http://www.ccja-acjp.ca/en/overc3.html

by John Clarke

 Cheap garlic imported from China has discouraged Canadian garlic growers. But garlic doesn't produce seeds which can be stored for future use; so our special garlic must be grown from the bulbs year by year if they're to be available in the future. 

A public art installation depicting Russian Communist leader Vladimir Lenin and a feminized Chairman Mao Zedong in the heart of Richmond's business district has the whole town talking.

“When I went to the gym at 5:30 this morning it’s all people were talking about,” said Richmond city Coun. Derek Dang, who saw the piece for the first time Wednesday. “People just can’t believe it.”

Three undercover officers accused of inciting protesters to attack riot police at the 2007 North American leaders summit in Montebello are being summoned to testify before Quebec's independent police ethics committee.

The decision from the committee released this week overrules an independent review that exonerated the officers. It also comes more than two years after the black-clad trio were first exposed on YouTube.

Dave Coles, the union leader who confronted the men at the time and filed a complaint against the police, said a public inquiry is needed to determine whether they were acting on orders from federal officials.

 The revelation that the recently resigned Bishop of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Raymond Lahey, is an “alleged” node and purveyor of “kiddie porn” should, if nothing else, finally shock all those slavish adherents of the Roman Catholic Church into the reality of the human experience.

Once again, government bureaucrats are attempting to remove the services of Lightkeepers from the Canadian people. They are working quickly to implement a plan to de-staff the remaining 27 staffed lightstations on the west coast and the remaining 9 on the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The distinct possibility that precious metals may have been stolen from the Royal Canadian Mint is "inexcusable," the federal minister responsible for the Crown corporation said Monday.

The findings of a long-awaited external audit, released earlier in the day, concluded that $15.3 million in missing gold is not the result of accounting or bookkeeping errors, raising even more questions about the whereabouts of the metals from what has been touted as one of the most secure facilities in Canada.