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OTTAWA • WEEKEND MARCH 6-8 2009
Vince Li was found not criminally responsible for the killing and beheading of fellow passenger Timothy McLean on a Greyhound bus last summer. Manitoba Judge John Scurfield said Thursday that Li could not be found guilty of murder and that he is not criminally responsible for the act because he was mentally ill during the time of the killing. At Li’s trial, psychiatric evidence suggested he is a schizophrenic who suffered a major episode when he fatally stabbed McLean, 22, ate some of the body parts, and cut off McLean’s head.
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PETER EDWARDS/TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
Li not criminally Family grieves Canadian soldier’s death responsible in beheading case
METRO NEWS SERVICES
Riding the Recession Now through the end of March, Metro will share advice on how to cut down on expenses and navigate your way through the recession. • How are Employment Insurance offices dealing with an increased number of people applying for EI payments? pg 4
Next Week • Anne Hines offers some odd money-saving tips. • How to deal with recession stress.
Don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead one hour on Sunday.
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A council in ‘chaos’ Task force levels criticism and chaired by the mayor. The task force also recommended an audit and finance committee to ensure Under the current system, city funds are managed in city council is “dysfunction- accordance with the overall al” and headed toward plan. Rideau Goulbourn “chaos,” according to the Coun. Glen Brooks said Mayor’s Taskforce on Gov- members of an executive committee would have a ernance. After conducting exten- huge advantage over their sive interviews, task force fellow councillors. “They have the power to chairman David Zussman said there was an over- influence,” he said. “It dewhelming sentiment that pends how you wield that the current governance sys- power. That concerns me tem was not working and somewhat.” The recommendations needs to be changed. were inte“In essence, grated and we heard that would not Ottawa suf- “We have a city be effective fered from not government by a implehaving a coher- committe of 24 indi- if mented in ent government because viduals who ... lack half measures, said today, we have a citywide view.” Zussman. a city governDavid Zussman, “If we do ment by a comnot adopt mittee of 24 in- task force chairman this or somedividuals who, for a number of reasons, thing like this, we will end lack a citywide view,” he up having the same system we’ve had for the last said. The report also states that decade,” he said, which the city lacks a proper split would eventually lead to between legislative, execu- “chaos (and) an inability to tive, and administrative deal with the big issues that functions; that the mayor, the city has been trying to the only official elected by deal with in the last few the entire city, has only one years.” Bay Ward Coun. Alex vote on council, meaning that he has limited ability Cullen said there are eleto lead and manage strate- ments of the report worth gic agenda; and that council looking at, but took excepmicromanages projects bet- tion to the evaluation that no change would lead to ter left to city staff. Among the recommenda- chaos. “Just the notion that we tions in the report titled Governing Ottawa: Strate- have to adopt this report or gic Thinking for a Winning it’s chaos does a disservice City, the task force called to how we’ve developed for council to create an ex- this city through the comecutive committee, com- munity and the generations posed of committee chairs of city councils,” he said. TIM WIECLAWSKI tim.wieclawski@metronews.ca
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Mishelle Brown, whose husband, Warrant Officer Dennis Brown, was killed Tuesday near Kandahar City in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb, wears his military dog tags as she speaks to reporters Thursday from her home in St. Catharines, Ont. Story, pg 4
Romeo Phillion no longer ‘a killer’ Justice and redemption were the big themes Thursday after the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned his conviction for a 42-year-old murder, but Romeo Phillion was busy revelling in the practical implications. “I’m happy. I’m no longer ‘a killer.’ So that’s good,” the diminutive 69year-old said Thursday. “The bail (conditions are) off … I don’t have to go to the police station and re-
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No acquittal • Stopping short of entering an acquittal, the court instead ordered a new trial, saying the undisclosed evidence must be considered against a murder confession Phillion uttered in 1972, which he quickly recanted.
port. I can make my own decisions,” said Phillion, who is believed to have served more prison time
than any wrongly convicted person — 31 years. “Nobody’s going to stop me.” In a 2-1 judgment, Justice Michael Moldaver said there was “overwhelming” evidence a police report that could have affected the verdict was not disclosed to Phillion’s lawyer at his trial, where he was convicted of the Aug. 9, 1967, murder of Ottawa firefighter Leopold Roy. TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
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