Ottawa Star - Volume 1 Issue 8

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Ottawa Star www.OttawaStar.com • October 10, 2013 • Volume 1, Issue 8

In Israel you can be a Jew, Arab, Druse and more but not Israeli

YouTube stars headed for inaugural Buffer Festival for web videos

Grace Helbig of the popular YouTube Channel DailyGrace See Page 9

By Tia Goldenberg, The Associated Press

J

use its current charter plan as a central theme in an election campaign.

The PQ government responded by saying that it welcomes Parizeau’s suggestions, as it does the contribution of any citizen.

But as some political commentators suggested, Parizeau is not just any citizen. He co-founded the PQ in 1968 and has been its leader—both literally, and figuratively, over the years.

Parizeau is now urging the PQ to draw back, after a political lifetime spent urging it to push forward.

He repeatedly gained the admiration of the party’s more hawkish wing by fighting its leaders whenever he felt they strayed too far from the independence goal, as he did when he quit the Rene Levesque cabinet in 1984.

And, unlike almost all other PQ leaders who took a go-slow approach

ERUSALEM—Israel’s population registry lists a slew of “nationalities’’ and ethnicities, among them Jew, Arab, Druse and more. But one word is conspicuously absent from the list: Israeli.

Residents cannot identify themselves as Israelis in the national registry because the move could have far-reaching consequences for the country’s Jewish character, the Israeli Supreme Court wrote.

The ruling was a response to a demand by 21 Israelis, most of whom are officially registered as Jews, that the court decide whether they can be listed as Israeli in the registry. The group had argued that without a secular Israeli identity, Israeli policies will favour Jews and discriminate against minorities.

In its 26-page ruling, the court explained that doing so would have “weighty implications’’ on the state of Israel and could pose a danger to Israel’s founding principle: to be a Jewish state for the Jewish people.

The decision touches on a central debate in Israel, which considers itself both Jewish and democratic yet has struggled to balance both. The country has not officially recognized an Israeli nationality.

National and ethnic loyalties are often layered in Israel, a country founded on the heels of the British colonial mandate and initially populated by Jewish immigrants along with a small indigenous Jewish population and a larger Arab community.

There are Jews and Arabs. But the Jewish majority distinguishes itself between those from eastern Europe and those whose families originated in Arab countries. These communities are further divided based on the country, or even the village, their ancestors came from.

The 20 per cent Arab minority also has Israeli citizenship, and many identify themselves as either Christian or Muslim. Israel is also home to a smattering of other minorities.

The national population registry lists a person’s religion and nationality or ethnicity, among other details. Any Jew, no matter what his country of origin, is listed as a Jew. Arabs are marked as such and other minorities, such as Druse, are listed by their ethnicity.

Continued on page 10

Continued on page 12

Photo: Gage Skidmore

Call for Parti Quebecois values charter to be watered down

By Alexander Panetta, The Canadian Press

MONTREAL—A politely worded bit of prose from a prominent part-time writer has recommended that the Parti Quebecois values charter be softened in a second draft.

The author is Jacques Parizeau, eminence grise of the Quebec sovereignty cause and hero to the movement’s grassroots.

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The former PQ premier, who organized the 1995 independence referendum that nearly took Quebec out of Confederation, offered his views in a column in Le Journal de Montreal.

He appeared on the cover of the tabloid beside the all-caps headline: “IT GOES TOO FAR.’’ The headline font was, however, far louder than the column’s tone.

In a carefully worded piece, Parizeau suggested the headwear ban be narrowed to apply only to people in positions of authority, like judges and police, which he says is what a provincial inquiry on the issue recommended a few years ago.

“I wouldn’t go any further for the moment,’’ Parizeau wrote in the column.

That approach happens to be closer to the position of the Coalition party, which holds the swing vote in the legislature. That would place Parizeau at odds with his old party should it choose to

Community

PAGE 2 • www.OttawaStar.com

Ottawa Star • October 10, 2013

‘Spicy’ dance fitness fuses Bhangra and Bollywood

By Ellen O’Connor

A

s the sounds of Bollywood ring out across the studio dance floor, the thin silver bangles on Giselle Bergeron-Raganold’s wrist lightly tinkle as she sweeps her arms and swivels her feet in time to the music.

Bergeron-Raganold, a personal trainer and fitness instructor, is demonstrating how to do a Masala Bhangra workout at her home studio, Ellefitness, in preparation for her first preview class that evening.

Fusing the power and energy of the traditional folk dance Bhangra with the glamourous flare of Bollywood, Masala Bhangra is a full-body cardiovascular workout that has you work up a sweat through an East Indian dance fitness experience.

“It’s really energetic, you can burn a lot of calories, and it’s very fun,” said BergeronRaganold, who held her first preview class Wednesday, Sept. 25 at her studio, located near Bayshore Shopping Centre. “It really is designed to make you feel like you’ve stepped into an Indian wedding.”

The Masala Bhangra Workout is suited for men and women of any age and fitness level. It provides overall toning and body conditioning, can build endurance, stamina and balance, and is all based on the foundation of Indian dance.

In her lessons, she uses terms to help people associate a name with a dance move, such as Gidda, Bhangra Slide, Bollywood Twist, and Dhol beat, a move that cues people to “hit the Dhol,” a drum used in Indian music, then “raise the party.”

All of the different moves are seamlessly built onto each other one-by-one, making it easy to follow, so after an hour session, you’ve completed a full dance routine and burned between 500 to 1000 calories.

Bergeron-Raganold opened her home studio to clients in 1998 and has since been

offering her services as a personal trainer, as well as classes in muscle conditioning, core work, and Zumba. Her class sizes range anywhere from 10 to 20 people and take place in her home studio, rented spaces and even outside at Britannia Park.

It was in 2009 at a Zumba convention in Orlando, Florida that she discovered Masala Bhangra and was instantly attracted by the energy in the room.

“I love to dance and have always been drawn to a variety of ethnic cultures,” she said. “Indian is one of my favourites; I love the food and dance, and take every opportunity to dress up like an Indian princess, but movement is what fuels me.”

In the fall of 2012, she travelled to New York City for an intense three-day training session with Sarina Jain, founder and creator of Masala Bhangra, and coined as the Indian Jane Fonda.

Back in Ottawa, she gradually began incorporating bits of the dancefitness workout into her Zumba classes as well as previewing it at different events around the city, including the Indo-Canada Ottawa Business Chamber holiday party last winter.

“The ICOBC holiday party last year was such a slow one—it looked more like a business dinner meeting,” said Jack Uppal, chair of the ICOBC. “Then Giselle took to the floor and invited everyone to gyrate to the Bhangra beats. Within seconds she made it into mayhem!”

Giselle Bergeron-Raganold

Some facts and figures on changing medical marijuana rules in Canada The Canadian Press

OTTAWA—Facts and figures on the medical marijuana regime in Canada, which is changing rules by March 31, 2014, to encourage large private-sector growers: Current number of medical marijuana users approved by Health Canada: 37,359, up from 477 in 2002.

Number of patients with personal licences to grow marijuana for themselves: 25,600 (ends March 31, 2014) Number of growers licenced to produce marijuana for a maximum of two patients each: 4,200 (ends March 31, 2014)

Current number of entrepreneur applications to grow medical marijuana under new rules allowing larger facilities: 156 Health Canada’s current price for medical marijuana produced under contract: $5 a gram (government sales end March 31, 2014) Health Canada’s projection of profitable private-sector price in 2014 after the new free-market kicks in: $7.60 Projection of average price as market matures in several years: $8.80 Advertised price of products of CannaMed, the first licensed distributor in the new system: $9 to $12 a gram

Running to remember fallen officers

By Aaron L. Pope

Standing in front of a crowd of hundreds of police officers with her young son by her side, Erin Ochakovsky, the widow of Constable James Ochakovsky, delivered her short yet poignant message.

“We think you are all heroes, running for heroes,” said Ochakovsky. “There’s nothing we want more than for their names to be remembered, and all of you do that, so thank you very much.”

Every year since 2005, a growing group of police service members have been participating in the annual Run to Remember, a three-day 460 km relay run from Toronto to the Police Memorial on Parliament Hill in an effort to raise money for the families of the fallen.

Although it began with just a small group of 24 officers nine years ago, this

Photo: Ellen O’Connor

Police officers and service workers in a “run to remember”

year hundreds of people, including twelve of Ottawa’s own police officers, turned up to walk, run or simply pay their respects to Canada’s law enforcement officers who had died in the line of duty.

Staff superintendent Randy Patrick of Peel Regional Police and chair of the National Police Officers’ Memorial Run spoke about how important it is to take the time to remember fallen comrades and thanked everyone who took the time to help out.

Photo: Aaron L. Pope

“You’ve done what we’ve asked those runners to do,” said Patrick. “Go out and make a little bit of a sacrifice and show that you will never forget the heroes that are listed on the wall behind this pavilion. You’ve kept that pledge, the promise to those officers that you won’t forget them.”

Ochakovsky lost her husband almost three years ago and has since started weremain.ca, a national orga-

Current estimated cost of blackmarket dried marijuana purchased on the street: $10 to $15 a gram Projected total additional cost to all approved patients as a result of the new system: $166 million a year for 10 years Health Canada projection of number of approved medical marijuana patients in 2014: up to 58,000 Projection of number of patients by 2024: Up to 450,000 Sales projections for the new industry by 2024: $1.3 billion a year.

—Sources: Health Canada; CannaMed nization of law enforcement survivors who know only too well what it means to serve and protect.

Whether it’s a crime in progress, a domestic disturbance or a roadside checkpoint, police officers have a job that requires them to sometimes put their own lives on the line.

Since 1961, 133 police officers have been murdered in the line of duty in Canada, and that isn’t including fatalities, which are considered on-the-job accidents.

At the end of the run, participants and their families gathered to commiserate on the journey and on the memory of those fallen officers whose names adorn the National Police and Police Officers Memorial on Parliament Hill.

The message these runners want to pass on is simple: Do not forget the ones who died in service to their communities, and do not forget the families they have left behind.

To make a donation please visit npomr.org.

Ottawa Star • October 10, 2013

Community

www.OttawaStar.com • PAGE 3

Syrian Association of Ottawa raises funds to help war-torn homeland

By Ellen O’Connor

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or 19-year-old Carleton University student Yaman Marwah, making a difference is not about sitting around and talking about the problems at hand, but rather taking action personally to ensure that the work gets done.

Marwah is the president of Syrian Association of Ottawa, a non-profit cultural organization focused on delivering humanitarian aid to the Syrian people and refugees during their time of crisis.

The SAO was originally called the Syrian Student Association in Ottawa when it was formed two years ago by Marwah and other board members, but this year has broadened to a non-profit organization of close to 100 members that welcomes everyone in the community.

Over the past two years, they have raised almost $100,000 through various fundraising initiatives such as comedy shows, plays, online donations, the Keep Us Warm campaign, and most recently the Ramadan Fundraising Gala held in early August, which raised $15,000.

All of the funds have gone to help the Syrian people, through donations of blankets and food supplies to refugee camps, and by establishing a bakery on the ground in the city of Aleppo in partnership with Watan Organization.

Marwah, his brother Anas Marwah, and SAO Vice President Rama Imadi, travelled to the Aleppo and Idleb suburbs this past April with a group of activists from Morocco, Turkey, Egypt and England on a Hayat Convoy to deliver $3,000 they raised through the SSAO2Syria fundraiser. During their visit, they discussed how the bakery would run and ensured that it opened at the end of April.

“The bakery gives out 15,000 bags of bread for free a day, and then whoever wants more can buy more. That’s how we generate a small profit so it can run the next day,” said Marwah, who is currently in his fourth year of school studying economics and law.

Although born in Syria, Marwah moved to Saudi Arabia with his family when he was three-years-old, and then came to Ottawa in 2009 to study at Carleton University. He had not returned to Syria for 15 years until his trip last October when he went on a media mission to relay to Canadians, and the world at large, the extent of what was happening in his wartorn homeland through photos and video.

“I went very deep inside Syria,” said Marwah, “I experienced living in war.”

Along with sharing his footage from the front lines and documenting his delivery of $7,000 in humanitarian aid, Marwah also narrowly escaped a deadly bomb blast that left 15 dead and 50 injured in Binnish, Syria only 200 meters away

from where he had been seated at a cafe.

Although he said it was one of the craziest experiences of his life, witnessing the effects of war first-hand is what drives him to continue his efforts back home.

Along with fundraising efforts, Marwah and the SAO also try to raise awareness and inform the public through rallies on Parliament Hill and the Syrian Embassy in Ottawa, organized flash mobs in Toronto and Ottawa, and through peti-

tions to ask the Canadian government to take more action in Syria.

“All we’re asking for right now is for the Canadian government to help refugees reunite with their families,” said Marwah. He also encourages the Canadian people to donate anything they can, saying that just $10 can feed a Syrian family for a month.

To find out more about the event and the SAO visit syrianassociation.ca.

Yaman Marwah, president of the Syrian Association of Ottawa Photo: SAO

PAGE 4 • www.OttawaStar.com

Community

A glimpse of fusion of three styles of dance for Ottawans

By Tharanga Weerasooriya

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ery recently, Ottawans had a very rare opportunity to enjoy a show of dance blending three of its styles: Classical Sri Lankan; Classical Indian and Contemporary Dancing. The show made its appearance in Ottawa at the Kailash Mital Theatre at Carleton University on 14th, Saturday of September, 2013 in aid of the Hilda Jayewardenaramaya Buddhist Monastery, one of the leading spiritual development and meditation centres in Ottawa.

The show was rightly named Thriveni meaning ‘three rivers’ in Sanskrit and it was not after the third item in the show had been on stage that the name Thriveni began to make total sense. Right from the very first item it enthralled the audience with its Kandyan and Low Country dancing forms native to Sri Lanka, kathak, Odissi and Bharatanatyam dancing forms of India, and modern dancing form of contemporary dancing styles. It was very fascinating to see at least five of these dancing styles combined and performed in one item by Nilantha Karunarathna.

Sunitha Bhatiya from the “Upasana the Spirit of Dance” group in Ottawa gave a stellar performance. They performed Bharatha Natyam, Kathakali, the Indian Dance tradition in the concert which was the highlight of the evening with their mesmerizing dances, music and costumes. “Upasana the Spirit of

Naomi and her son, 3 year old Nathan, recently emigrated from Kenya. An agricultural group in Ontario sponsored the family. Naomi was pregnant, so she had to come before her husband. It had been a busy time before they left.

No one had noticed that Nathan’s upper front teeth had turned brownish.

One month after arriving in Canada, Naomi gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

She and Nathan were living with a retired couple who were very supportive. Breastfeeding went well, and the baby gained weight quickly. When the public health nurse called to offer a home visit, Naomi said she didn’t need one. The nurse said

RCMP, prosecutor investigate B.C. Liberal government’s ethnic vote plan The Canadian Press

Nilantha Karunarathna and Sunita Bhatia Photo Courtesy: Smile Photography

Dance” actually electrified the evening with their stunning performances. They were given a standing ovation for their contribution.

The talents and professionalism shown by artists as young as eight years were amazing and held the audience in one breath until the very end of some of their items. Many of the audience who commented on the show said they were leaving with a sense of accomplishment not only because they contributed to a worthy cause but also because they had enjoyed a ‘really good’ dancing show after a long time.

The show was an honorary presentation by Nilantha Karunarathna and Roosara Dance in collaboration with Upasana the Spirit of Dance. Talking about the show, its main organiser Nilantha Karunarathna commented that the purpose of the show was not only to raise funds for the Buddhist monastery, but also to increase public awareness and understanding of these cultural dancing forms by bringing together Sri Lankan, Indian and Contemporary dancers and their styles. He also commented that it gave an opportunity for the new artists to show and improve their talents.

“Children in Need of Treatment” dental program a boon for many

By Janet Allingham, RN

Ottawa Star • October 10, 2013

that she could also discuss Nathan’s health, so Naomi agreed to a visit. During the visit, the nurse noticed Nathan’s discoloured teeth. He said “they hurt sometimes.”

The nurse told Naomi that Nathan would need to see a dental hygienist as soon as possible. Once Naomi gave her consent, things moved very fast. The dental hygienist at the Health Department took a quick look at his mouth, and said “He needs to see a dentist right away”. She told Naomi not to worry, because Nathan qualified for the CINOT dental program. “CINOT” stands for “Children in Need of Treatment.” Not all dentists work under this program, so the hygienist gave Naomi a list of the ones to call. Nathan had to go to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) for some of the dental work. Soon Naomi noticed that her son had more energy. He also ate and slept better.

In Ontario, children up to and including age 17 years do not need to suffer dental pain or disease just because

their families cannot afford the treatment. They are eligible if: – they have dental conditions that could cause pain or infection; – they are not covered by a dental insurance plan; – they do not qualify for assistance under a provincial social assistance program that already includes dental coverage; – the cost of treatment would be a financial hardship to the family.

The CINOT program covers the cost of services like fillings, X-rays, extractions, and root canals. Dental hygienists at local health departments do cleanings, fluoride treatments, and provide oral hygiene education.

For more information about the CINOT dental program, call the dental department at Ottawa Public Health: 613-580-6744 # 23510.

Janet Allingham practices as a nurse/ lactation consultant and writes on health issues.

VICTORIA—The outgoing leader of British Columbia’s New Democratic Party says information he provided to the RCMP last month has prompted an Election Act investigation and the appointment of a special prosecutor who has since been tasked with helping police probe the Liberal government’s failed plan to woo ethnic voters.

B.C.’s Criminal Justice Branch issued a statement that special prosecutor Donald Butcher was appointed to assist police.

It stated that the RCMP launched an investigation into matters arising out of the Liberal government’s review of the Draft Multicultural Strategic Outreach Plan.

Last February, the NDP said the release of 10,000 pages of documents connected to the government’s own review of the scandal revealed conversations suggesting a former Liberal be offered a job in exchange for her silence on potentially damaging information about Clark and the Liberal government.

The leaked B.C. Liberals’ ethnic vote strategy detailed an internal government plan that included government workers, some of whom were paid by the Liberal Party, to appeal to multicultural communities ahead of the May election.

The premier’s deputy minister, John Dyble, concluded in a review ordered by Clark that government resources were misused.

Dyble’s review caused Clark’s popularity ratings to plunge, forced John Yap out of cabinet and cost two Liberal insiders, Kim Haakstad and Mike Lee, their jobs.

Dyble’s report included 10,000 pages of supporting documents, but the documentation wasn’t released until after the May 14 election.

Dix said in July that emails contained in the documents indicate at least one person with the potential to damage the Liberals was not interviewed as part of the review.

The email in question involves communications suggesting a disgruntled former Liberal worker should be offered money to do non-public work before May’s provincial election.

Before the election was called, the NDP led the Liberals in opinion polls by double-digits.

But the New Democrats barely mentioned the failed Liberal multicultural plan during the campaign.

They chose instead to stick to their positive message strategy, even though the Liberals frequently mentioned Dix’s past episode with cheating during the 1990s where he admitting altering a memo to protect former NDP premier Glen Clark.

Canada

Ottawa Star • October 10, 2013

Elections Canada doesn’t have Quebec’s powers to dig up illegal financing

Canada news in brief The Canadian Press

Mandatory minimum penalty for shooter called “excessive and harsh” BRANDON, Man.—A Manitoba judge says a mandatory prison sentence for a bullying victim who lashed out against his abusers is excessive and harsh.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice John Menzies slammed the federal government for imposing mandatory minimum sentences in the case of Bryce McMillan of Carberry, Man. The 21-year-old man pleaded guilty to reckless use of a firearm when he admitted to shooting six rounds from .22-calibre rifle into the home of a person he claims had been tormenting him.

Nobody was hurt in the Sept.

2011 shooting, although two people were inside the residence at the time.

Menzies says sentencing McMillan to the mandatory four years—on top of the 18 months of house arrest he has already served would violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He sentenced McMillan to a year in jail and two years of supervised probation.

Menzies says mandatory minimum sentences for gun crimes are

intended to address the scourge of drive-by shootings and gang turf wars—not put a remorseful bullying victim behind bars with hardened criminals.

‘Blacklist’ for stolen and lost phones takes effect in Canada TORONTO—A so-called “blacklist’’ for phones that are reported as stolen or lost took effect on Monday, preventing those devices from being activated in Canada by someone else.

When consumers tell their mobile carrier that their phone has been stolen or lost its unique IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number will be added to the database.

Those phones won’t be able to connect to the networks of Canadian service providers that are participating in the program.

The database does not include phones that were reported as stolen or lost before Monday.

Consumers can also use a search tool at the website protectyourdata.ca to check that they’re not buying stolen property before completing a purchase of a used phone.

www.OttawaStar.com • PAGE 5

By Jennifer Ditchburn, The Canadian Press

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TTAWA—Elections Canada says under its current powers it would not be able to investigate fully the kind of illegal political donations being exposed in Quebec.

“They have the facility, the ability, they have the powers to do that, (but) we don’t have similar powers,’’ said John Enright, a spokesman for Elections Canada and its investigative arm, the commissioner of Canada elections. “(Commissioner Yves Cote) is asking for them now, clearly; he’s asking for the power to compel witnesses, which would go a long way to help speed up the investigative process.’’

Quebec’s chief electoral officer has been given extra latitude to study who has been giving donations to the province’s political parties.

That office can now cross-reference its files on political contributions with those of the provincial tax agency.

That’s allowed Quebec’s elections watchdog to identify industry groups where employees have contributed en masse, possibly signalling the use of the so-called “borrowed names’’ system. In that scheme, a donor asks family and staff to write cheques to a party, and then reimburses them afterward—a practice that is illegal

federally and provincially as it circumvents the personal donation limits.

“You’d have to have some kind of a match, some kind of ability to match the donor,’’ said Enright.

Earlier this week, former Quebec construction boss Lino Zambito told CBC News that in 2008 he collected nearly $30,000 in cheques from friends and staff for the Action Democratique du Quebec (ADQ), later reimbursing them.

Former party fundraising chairman Leo Housakos, now a Conservative senator, and former ADQ leader Mario Dumont have both denied knowing of such wrongdoing. Zambito responded by challenging the two men to testify before Quebec’s corruption inquiry to that effect.

A Canadian Press analysis showed staff from several engineering consulting firms donating to one federal Conservative riding association in 2009, helping to swell the coffers to $288,823 despite the party placing fifth there in the previous election.

There is nothing illegal about an individual employee making a contribution, but Quebec’s chief electoral officer told The Canadian Press this week that a pattern of several employees from one company pitching in would cause the watchdog to take a closer look at what’s going on.

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Opinion

Ottawa Star • October 10, 2013

Editorial

Empty nest not emptiness!

Canada’s Coping and thriving being a empty nester commendable support to Every Woman, Every Child Initiative

By Sangeetha Arya

P

rime Minister Stephen Harper demonstrated global leadership when he announced that Canada will contribute $203 million over 5 years on improving maternal, newborn and child health in developing countries. The event was organized in support of the United Nations SecretaryGeneral’s Every Woman, Every Child Initiative, which addresses the major health challenges facing women and children around the world.

This great global initiative began at the G8 Muskooka Summit in Ontario in 2010, where members pledged $7 billion by 2015.The program gained wide momentum with support from UN institutions like World Bank, various governments and private foundations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation with contributions totalling almost $20 billion.

Canada has been one of the largest contributors with an overall pledge of $1.1 billion.

“Canada is at the forefront of these efforts”, said Prime Minister Harper, “and I am proud that, through today’s support, more women and children will benefit from better nutrition, increased food security and access to important, lifesaving vaccines.”

This new aid will support nine specific projects that will help to pay for more immunizations, provide basic health care and set up community services to ease the dangers

of childbirth and pregnancy.

The goal of this initiative is to save 16 million lives by 2015.

The high mortality of mothers and their young children in poor and developing countries is very tragic and the worst thing about this is that it is entirely preventable.

Statistics reveled by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs show that in developing countries girls less than 15 years old are five times more likely to die in childbirth than women in their 20s, and children born to mothers under 18 years old are 60 per cent more likely to die in their first year of life. Childbirth is the leading cause of death for girls 15 to 18 years old. Girls living in poverty are twice as likely to be married before they turn 18.

Things have changed and improved, like, for instance, the child mortality rate in Ethiopia in 1990 was about one in five and now it is one in 15. The child mortality in poor countries has been reduced by half. Yet a lot still needs to be done.

More than ever before there is a deep need felt today for the world leaders to act swift and fast to save the millions who are dying every day and redouble their efforts to pursue the goal.

As Robert Frost said we need to remind ourselves that, “we have promises to keep and miles to go before we can sleep.”

Editorial by Sangeetha Arya

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Every effort is made by the Ottawa Star to ensure that information published is accurate. The Ottawa Star reserves the right to report unsolicited material being sent through to the publication. Reproduction in whole or in part of this publication is strictly prohibited without prior consent of the publisher.

Empty Nest Syndrome expresses the deep, permeating and intense feelings of sadness, ennui, and loss many parents experience when their kids who have grown up, leave their homes to pursue higher education, job or get married. Many parents find it very challenging to confront an empty nest and accept that all those years of a busy household are now a thing of past.

Raising children is one of the most intense and difficult tasks. The ultimate goal was to raise our children so they could leave without needing us.

After years of diapers, homework supervision, extracurricular activities, sports, we tend to forget that the ultimate goal was to raise our child in order for them to leave home, with their accomplishments to help them thrive in this world. While this is a bittersweet moment for most parents, instead of thinking of it as sad, they need to take a celebratory attitude reveling and rejoicing that they have done a fine job of raising children who are independent, who are prepared to leave home and fly confidently into their future and ready to take on the challenges of the world. Your little kid might be gone but in their place is an adult with whom you can develop an equally strong but more mature and possibly deeper connection.

Publisher: Chandrakanth Arya Chief Editor: Sangeetha Arya Editor: Ellen O’Connor

An empty nest-this paradigmatic shift also comes with its own joys. Change is good.

As with most transitions and changes in life, it’s a time when we’re most open to growth and personal discovery. It’s helpful to know what awaits us as we prepare for this part of our journey.

Celebrating your empty nester status doesn’t mean being in denial of your real feelings or putting on a façade. Indeed, it’s important to acknowledge our real feelings and deal with them gently, as well as find the upbeat and invigorating path to our new future.

Natalie Caine, founder of Empty Nest Support Services says the fun is finding new parts of yourself that you never knew were there—these dormant selves that you just didn’t have the time or energy to bring up.

“It’s empowering, it’s creative and it’s invigorating.” she says.

Production: Benoit Deneault Joey Sabourin Editorial Contact Editor@OttawaStar.com

Here is your chance to fulfill those dreams, indulge yourselves and pursue those activities that you, planned, wished and longed to do but in the stress and strive of life never go to do.

Of late we became empty nesters too. As I write about it I know what it feels like. What made the whole experience not very easy but happy one for us was to see him happy, confident and excited to start his new life.

He was smiling as we were saying good bye. We tried to do the same. So as he is flourishing there, we are trying to here.

I know it is easier said than done. But believe me it’s liberating to let go. Give your children roots and wings and love them enough to let them make their own mistakes It’s all in your attitude and what you want to make of your life. A nest is half empty or half full. Make your pick!

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Ottawa Star • October 10, 2013

Opinion

www.OttawaStar.com • PAGE 7

Will Greed make you richer? Or poorer

By Jane Harris-Zsovan

C

ALGARY, Troy Media— Want to keep money in your wallet? Avoid greed.

Despite the fact that greed robs your bank account quicker than an email from a Nigerian prince; the media and entertainment business sells us greed as the path to wealth and happiness.

Celebrity tycoons get even richer by telling us ordinary folks that greed is good. Canada’s own prophet of greed, Kevin O’Leary, who stars on CBC’s Dragon’s Den as well as the Lang and O’Leary Ex-

change, enjoys legions of Canadian fans. His celebrity is dwarfed by that of real estate mogul Donald Trump.

In a guest post on Evan Carmichael’s blog, Trump writes, “I believe that you have to be motivated by some sort of insatiability for success... .It’s worth it in the end when you work hard toward a long-term goal instead of only living in the present. So, yes, greed is good, because it inspires you and drives you to work hard so you achieve and win and succeed.”

When it comes to your personal finances, greed can impair

your decision-making ability.

Many in the financial services industry caution investors from being swayed by it, but the stock market banks on greed. According to Raymond James investment house, “The average individual investor is most bullish at market tops, and most bearish at market bottoms. This is due to investor’s emotional biases of “greed” when markets are rising and ‘fear’ when markets are falling. Logic would dictate that the best time to invest is after a massive sell-off—unfortunately, that is exactly the opposite of what investors do.”

Don’t let greed make you vulnerable to scams, poor investments, and broken dreams.

The celebrity greed gurus often confuse destructive greed with its wealth building cousin, ‘enlightened self-interest.’ Make sure you know the difference. Greed looks for quick profits, hoards, and steals from others. It is insatiable, addictive, and selfish. Enlightened self-interest, innovates, works hard, builds families and communities, and yields profits over the long-term. Avoid greed.

Pursue enlightened self-interest.

Protect your family from greed by educating yourself before you become a victim. Start by down-

loading the Little Black Book of Scams from the Canadian Competition Bureau. You’ll also find valuable information on the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre website.

Don’t spend money while you feel strong emotions, including greed or fear, or a sense of urgency. Do not be pressured into quick financial decision, whether it is purchasing a house or accepting a ‘loyal customer’ up-grade on your cable television package.

Jobs, growth, and prosperity are not built on greed, and neither will your bank account be over the long-term. Avoiding greed will make you richer and happier.

IPCC report shows action on climate change is critical

By David Suzuki VANCOUVER, Troy Media— The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently released the first of four chapters of its Fifth Assessment Report. It shows scientists are more certain now than in 2007 when the Fourth Assessment was released that humans are largely responsible for global warming —mainly by burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests—and that it’s getting worse and poses a serious threat to humanity. It contains hints of optimism, though, and shows addressing the problem creates opportunities.

The IPCC was set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and UN Environment Programme at the request of member governments. For the recent study, hundreds of scientists and experts worldwide combed through the latest peer-reviewed scientific literature and other relevant materials to assess “the state of scientific, technical and socioeconomic knowledge on climate change, its causes, potential impacts and response strategies.”

Scientists are cautious. That’s the nature of science; information changes, and it’s difficult to account for all interrelated factors in any phenomenon, especially one as complicated as global climate. When they say something is “extremely likely” or 95 per cent certain—as the latest report does

regarding human contributions to climate change—that’s as close to certainty as science usually gets.

Evidence for climate change itself is “unequivocal”.

According to the latest installment, which cites 9,200 scientific publications in 2,200 pages, “It is extremely likely that human activities caused more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010.” It also concludes oceans have warmed, snow and ice have diminished, sea levels have risen and extreme weather events have become more common.

The report also dismisses the notion, spread by climate change deniers, that global warming has stopped. It has slowed slightly in recent years, scientists say, because of natural weather variations and other possible factors, including increases in volcanic ash, changes in solar cycles and, as a new scientific study suggests, oceans absorbing more heat.

An increase in global average temperatures greater than 2 C above pre-industrial levels would result in further melting of glaciers and Arctic ice, continued rising sea levels, more frequent and extreme weather events, difficulties for global agriculture and changes in plant and animal life, including extinctions. The report says we’ll likely exceed that threshold this century unless we choose to act.

This means a strong, concerted global effort to combat climate change is necessary to protect the health of our economies, communities, children and future. That will cost us, but far less than doing nothing. Although governments of

almost 200 countries agreed global average temperature increases must be kept below 2 C to avoid catastrophic warming, we are on track for the “worst case scenario” outlined by the first assessment report in 1990. Research indicates it’s possible to limit warming below that threshold if far-reaching action is taken. We can’t let skeptics sidetrack us with distortions and cherry-picking aimed at creating the illusion the science is still not in.

The reasons to act go beyond averting the worst impacts of climate change. Fossil fuels are an incredibly valuable resource that can be used for making everything from medical supplies to computer

keyboards. Wastefully burning them to propel solo drivers in cars and SUVs will ensure we run out sooner rather than later.

Working with other nations to meet science-based targets to cut global warming pollution and create clean, renewable energy solutions would allow us to use our remaining fossil fuel reserves more wisely and create lasting jobs and economic opportunities. That’s why the David SuzukiFoundation is working with the Trottier Energy Futures Project to identify cleanenergy opportunities for Canada.

Shifting to cleaner energy sources would also reduce pollution and the environmental damage that

comes with extracting coal, oil and gas. That would improve the health of people, communities and ecosystems, and reduce both health-care costs and dollars spent replacing services nature already provides with expensive infrastructure.

The IPCC report gathers the best science from around the world. It’s clear: There’s no time to delay. The first chapter examines the current science of climate change, the second will look at impacts and the third will consider strategies to deal with the problem. A report synthesizing the three chapters will be released in 2014. We must take it seriously.

Article Courtesy: www.troymedia.com

Letters to the Editor

Separation of Church and State Re: “Public backlash intensifies on Quebec Charter’s crackdown on religious freedom,” by Sangeetha Arya, The Ottawa Star, September 26, 2013.

On the so-called “ethnic” issue, Québec’s Première Pauline Marois is the only political leader in Canada who publicly defends our democratic principles of the Separation of Church and State and gender equality.

In 1912, the Hon. James Whitney, Premier of Ontario, aided and abetted by the silence of Sir Robert Borden, adopted Regulation 17 by ministerial order, which stipulated that English was to be the language of instruction and communication with students in all schools across the province. English was considered the only language of instruction in Ontario public schools. As many Canadians now know, there is no going back and the depth of the resentment caused by Whitney and Regulation 17 can never be reversed or surmounted. Ontario Premier James Whitney was the instigator of our 100-year language and religious dispute that fuelled resentment between sisters and brothers across Canada. It

takes only one bigot and a hundred years to split up a great and beautiful country. Today, a hundred years later, the separation of Church and State in Québec and Canada is the best assurance for the future of our fundamental Canadian rights.

The Toronto Star’s Bob Hepburn correctly observed, “Harper has shown a stunning lack of understanding for how much Canada has changed,” in the face of the irreparable Whitney-induced language dispute across Canada culminating in the inevitable break-up of this great country.

Although Michel Leblanc, president of the Montreal Board of Trade, wrongly claims that Marois has decided that her government’s priority for the upcoming fall session of the legislature will be the controversial Charter, the fact remains that Québec “indépendentistes” have only one goal: to ensure Québec becomes an independent nation no later than 2017, the 150th anniversary of Confederation, the target date scheduled by Première Pauline Marois.

Robert G. Sheehan-Gauthier, Ottawa

PAGE 8 • www.OttawaStar.com

Entertainment

Ottawa Star • October 10, 2013

Tom Clancy, known for his geopolitical thrillers, dies at 66 The Associated Press

NEW YORK - In 1985, a year after the Cold War thriller “The Hunt for Red October’’ came out, Tom Clancy was invited to lunch at the White House, where he was questioned by Navy Secretary John Lehman.

Who, the secretary wanted to know, gave Clancy access to all that secret material?

Clancy, the bestselling novelist who died Tuesday in Baltimore at 66, insisted then, and after, that his information was strictly unclassified: books, interviews and papers that were easily accessed.

Also, two submarine officers reviewed the final manuscript.

But his extreme attention to technical detail earned him respect inside the intelligence community and beyond and helped make Clancy the most widely read and influential military novelist of his time.

Clancy said his dream had been simply to publish a book, hopefully a good

one, so that he would be in the Library of Congress catalogue. His dreams were answered many times over.

His novels were dependable hits, his publisher estimating worldwide sales at more than 100 million copies.

Born in Baltimore on April 12, 1947, to a mailman and his wife, Clancy entered Loyola College as a physics major but switched to English as a sophomore. He later said that he wasn’t smart enough for the rigours of science, although he clearly mastered it in his fiction.

After school, he worked in an insurance office that had military clients. By the early 1980s he had written a piece about the MX missile system that was published by the Naval Institute. Boredom with his job led him to try writing fiction.

Films based on Tom Clancy books: - “The Hunt for Red October,’’ 1990, starring Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin.

- “Patriot Games,’’ 1992, starring Harrison Ford.

Does ‘Breaking Bad’ finale stack up against other series finales?

By Frazier Moore, The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Now that the dust (and ricin) have settled from Sunday’s “Breaking Bad’’ finale, it’s worth considering what makes a drama series’ exit good or bad.

As much as fans may miss ``Breaking Bad,’’ they were able to bid farewell satisfied that it met its obligations at the end no less than it did every week from the first episode.

“Breaking Bad’’ left the air with a finale that stands alongside the best ever, inventively tying up five seasons of narrative loose ends.

Now what about a bad finale? Easy: “Dexter,’’ which aired the week before.

It was disappointing, full of holes and a disservice to a series that, against all odds, managed to make a sociopathic serial killer attractive and believable to viewers for eight slice-and-dice seasons. The finale was a contrivance meant to drag the series to the finish line. In only that respect did it succeed.

But not every worthwhile series even gets a finale.

In 2010, “Law & Order’’ concluded after 20 seasons and some 450 episodes missing a proper goodbye or opportunity for closure. Though it was largely episodic, without the serialized through-line many dramas trade on epically, “Law & Order’’ and its viewers were denied the ceremony they were due at the end.

Similarly, “Deadwood’’ fans still grouse that HBO pulled the plug in 2006 after its three seasons with no finale or, despite vague promises by the network, a movie that could wrap up this rich, complex frontier saga.

The finale for “House,’’ though hardly at the level of best-ever, did right by this medical series when it aired in 2012 after an eight-season run. The quirky, pill-popping Dr. House was facing jail for a prank gone wrong as well as the demise of his cancer-ridden best friend. He faked his own death to evade arrest, then he and Wilson rode into the sunset on their motorcycles. The perfect getaway. The perfect ending.

No finale was more wickedly perfect than that of “The Shield,’’ aired in 2008.

Tom Clancy. Photo: AP Photo/Vince Lupo

- “Clear and Present Danger,’’ 1994, starring Harrison Ford and Willem Dafoe.

- `”NetForce,’’ 1999, TV movie starring Scott Bakula.

- “The Sum of All Fears,’’ 2002, starring Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman.

- “Jack Ryan: Shadow One,’’ due in 2013, starring Chris Pine and Kevin Costner.

Detective Vic Mackey, its brutish antihero, received a fate worse than death or any prison term: the loss of authority as well as his family into witness protection, and a desk job as part of his immunity agreement.

Not only an honest tearjerker, the finale of “Six Feet Under’’ in 2005 was flawlessly in synch with the series’ sensibility. A drama about a funeral home, it had been a five-season meditation on life and death. Fittingly, the finale tracked the life and eventual death of its family of characters. The moral was clear and beautifully drawn: No one is immune.

Or course, some finales leave viewers scratching their heads as much as nodding them with pleasure. After six seasons and 120 episodes, “Lost’’ left the air in 2010 with a rapturous close that provided more comfort and inspiration than hard answers. For one last time, viewers were obliged to get lost in the many dimensions of “Lost,’’ and did. On its own oblique terms, it worked.

But there was no more jaw-dropping finish to a show than that of “St. Elsewhere,’’ a pioneering, often mordantly funny hospital drama a quarter-century ago. On the night of May 25, 1988, viewers learned that the series’ entire six-season run had been a figment of an autistic child’s imagination. His snow globe containing a toy replica of the hospital was seen in the series’ final shot.

If that ending fueled debate, its scale and intensity was nothing compared to

the uproar after “The Sopranos’’ cut to black in June 2007.

An argument can still be sparked among “Sopranos’’ fans over What That Ending Meant: Was the nervous implication (that Tony Soprano was about to be whacked as he dined with his family in a local restaurant) carried out after the screen went dark? Or had Tony, glancing up, just been acknowledging his daughter Meadow’s entrance?

Was the scene one of brilliant ambiguity (life goes on, whether or not TV keeps showing it to viewers), or a screwingaround-with-the-audience cop-out?

After all this time, no resolution has ever been arrived at, while, ever since that historic blackout, conflicting views have only hardened. “The Sopranos’’ got flack (and praise) for an inconclusive ending, and still does. The furious debate proves how good it was.

“Breaking Bad’’ (a vastly different show in nearly every way) chose a different kind of ending: Display the complete puzzle with the pieces all in place, letting viewers at last see everything with clarity.

Good finales are recalled and spur conversation for years, as that of “Breaking Bad’’ is likely to do.

Meanwhile, future finales are eagerly awaited, long before viewers are ready to turn loose of the series.

For instance, “Mad Men’’: What will be Don Draper’s destiny? We’ve got two years to wonder.

Ottawa Star • October 10, 2013

Entertainment

www.OttawaStar.com • PAGE 9

YouTube stars headed to Toronto for inaugural Buffer Festival for web videos

By Michael Oliveira, The Canadian Press

TORONTO - Just weeks after some of Hollywood’s biggest names cleared town at the end of the Toronto International Film Festival, the city will soon be host to another barrage of visiting filmmakers attending a multi-day festival.

This one is dedicated to the art of YouTube.

The inaugural Buffer Festival, which highlights the work of some of the top creators on Google’s video streaming website, comes to Toronto on November 8 and runs for three days.

While not household names, the creators behind the YouTube channels CTFXC, Charlie Is So Cool Like, DailyGrace, The Fine Brothers, Jack’s Films, MysteryGuitarMan, Prank vs Prank, Schmoyoho, IISuperwomanII and What the Buck? each have more than one million subscribers who have signed up to see everything they post online.

“In 2011, YouTube was definitely something that everyone knew about, but I think in 2013 it’s something that everybody not only knows about but is starting to respect and the public is starting to become aware of what a YouTube celebrity is,’’ said St. Catharines, Ontario, native Corey Vidal, whose company ApprenticeA Productions is spearheading the festival.

“They know about people like Jenna Marbles and Ray William Johnson, whose names are entering the mainstream, people know that people are building careers off of YouTube.’’

Vidal is a YouTube veteran himself.

He unofficially launched his YouTube career back in 2006 and went pro in 2008, after creating a viral hit with an a cappella tribute to composer John Williams and “Star Wars,’’ which is at 18.6 million hits and counting.

Vidal said he first had the idea for a YouTube film festival in 2011 but it wasn’t until a chance meeting last year with someone from the Canadian Film Centre that a real plan took shape.

His film fest idea won funding and support from the CFC’s Ideaboost program - which bills itself as :a bootcamp for technology platforms and interactive applications for the entertainment industry’’ - and it didn’t take long for major sponsors including Google, Contiki, Canon and Cineplex to come on board.

With funding in hand, Vidal was able to book screenings at some of the top movie theatres in town, including the TIFF Bell Lightbox and the Scotiabank Theatre, and fly in YouTube superstars for the event.

Each screening costs $15 and is 90 minutes long, with roughly half the running time dedicated to watching videos

on the big screen and the other half allotted for discussions with the content creators. A ticket also buys access to a two-hour meet and greet after the screening.

“The content is going to be a combination of the absolute best content that a creator has made, whether popular or not, and then they’re going to premiere some new stuff,’’ said Vidal.

“It’s going to be very interactive, very fun and fresh, it’s not sitting in the dark for an hour and a half.’’

Vidal said he’s already starting to plan how to make the festival even bigger next year.

“We’re already thinking big picture, we don’t want to count our chickens before they hatch but there’s so much in motion and so much momentum,’’ he said, adding that he hopes creators will start thinking of Buffer Festival like major film fests, where creators take big new projects to debut.

“Who knows what type of content people might create for next year?’’

Pictured top right and clockwise: Michael Buckley from What The Buck?, Charlie McDonnell from Charlie Is So Cool Like, Charles and Alli Trippy from CTFXC, Jack Douglass from Jack’s Films, Lilly Singh from IISuperwomanII, and Jeana Smith and Jesse Wellens from Prank vs Prank. Screenshots courtesy of Youtube.com

for weekly specials or more information, please visit:

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PAGE 10 • www.OttawaStar.com

Ottawa Star • October 10, 2013

Call for Parti Quebecois values charter to be watered down Continued from page 1

to achieving sovereignty, he launched ahead with a referendum strategy as soon as he was elected in 1994.

He quit politics the day after the referendum loss, which in a bitter concession speech he had blamed on “money and ethnic votes.’’

In an interview on Montreal radio station 98.5 FM, Parizeau said his policy on the values charter had nothing to do with making up for those 1995 remarks.

He also insisted that the now-infamous comments were not meant to target specific voters—just community organizations.

“The common front of the Italian, Greek and Jewish congresses was politically active in an extraordinary way in the No camp and had formidable success,’’ Parizeau told host Paul Arcand.

“It was very efficient.’’

He certainly didn’t make that point clear on the night of Oct., 30, 1995.

In fact, he began that concession speech with an observation on voter behaviour. In a less-remembered part of the speech, Parizeau noted that a certain type of Quebecer was far likelier to support the new country than a certain other type.

“Let’s stop talking about francophones from Quebec, if you don’t mind. Let’s talk about ‘us,’’’ is how Parizeau began the speech, using the French pronoun “nous.’’

“At a rate of 60 per cent, we voted for (a country).’’

A few minutes later, after he made some cheerful predictions about how another referendum might soon be held and won, his sunny facial expression faded and it morphed into a scowl as he delivered the more famous line.

“It’s true we were beaten, but by what?’’ Parizeau told the crowd.

“By money and ethnic votes, essentially. What that means is that next time instead of being 60 or 61 per cent to vote Yes, we’ll be 63 or 64 per cent and it’ll be done.’’

Parizeau’s admirers have argued that the speech was out of character for the man, who in his youth had lived

Former Quebec premier Jacques Parizeau

abroad and in more recent decades had worked to build bridges between the PQ and ethnic voters.

The next day he admitted his speech had gone too far. He also announced his imminent departure from politics, saying he had no plans to remain premier of a Canadian province.

Ever since then, the PQ grassroots has judged its leaders against the independence-seeking standard set by Parizeau.

And he has been frequently critical of the party, to the point now of practically becoming one of its actual opponents.

Parizeau, who spoke last year at an Option nationale rally, said in the radio interview that, with the proposed charter, “a fire is starting in our society.’’

The former premier said newly arrived immigrants are starting to be scared.

“All these people come from countries that are rife with conflict, crises and tension based on these religious matters.

Here they had peace...And now all of a sudden we’re going in with our big boots.’’

Parizeau’s latest stand could be a test of how much influence he still

Is It Time For A Second Opinion?

Photo: The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes

wields within the PQ. In recent years he and other more ardent sovereigntists have drifted away toward the fringe party Option nationale.

In the column, Parizeau said he believes this is the first time a Quebec government has ever attempted to legislate against religion.

He said he believes the policy stems from a fear of Islam.

“It’s understandable,’’ he said.

“About the only contact most Quebecers have with the Islamic world is through images of violence, repeated ad infinitum: wars, riots, bombs, the World Trade Center attack and the one at the Boston marathon.

There’s also the image of the subjugation of women and the violence against them when they try to free themselves. The reaction is obvious: Don’t bring that here!

“It’s less the case in Montreal, where we interact more.’’

But Parizeau said Quebecers are not mean or vindictive people, pointing to a poll this week that suggested a strong majority opposed firing someone over their religious headwear.

He made one other suggestion in his column: that the crucifix be removed from the central spot it holds in the Quebec legislature and moved to another place in the building.

The column began with an overview of how Quebec public institutions were already made more secular in the 1960s, when he was a senior provincial public servant.

Critics might pick at some aspects of Parizeau’s analysis.

While he describes Montreal as unique in the province, polls have suggested there’s not much of a gap between francophones in Montreal and other parts of the province on the issue. In fact, among francophones, support for the charter has been lowest in Quebec City, not Montreal.

Also, in his reference to the poll on Quebecers’ willingness to see headscarfwearers fired, he might have overstated the number of those opposing the idea.

He referred to “three-quarters’’ opposed to the notion of firing someone, but that finding from a recent poll was actually a national number. The figure was about a dozen percentage points lower for Quebec, though it was still above 60 per cent.

When the markets turn as volatile as they have been in recent years, even the most patient investors may come to question the wisdom of the investment plan that they’ve been following.

I would be pleased to provide you with a personal consultation and second opinion on your portfolio. Call me at 613 239-2881.

Patrick Brooks, Investment Advisor 50 O’Connor Street, Suite 800 Ottawa, ON K1P 6L2 patrick.brooks@cibc.ca

Canada

Ottawa Star • October 10, 2013

www.OttawaStar.com • PAGE 11

Canada news in brief The Canadian Press

Foes of Tories getting together near Conservative policy convention next month

Nearly half of Canadians facing major illness struggle financially

OTTAWA—Imagine if the people who rankle you the most decided to hold a party on the same day as yours, and just down the street.

That will be the case for the Conservatives next month as some of Canada’s best known left-leaning activists organize a conference a kilometre away from the big Tory policy convention in Calgary.

Environmentalist David Suzuki, Council of Canadians chairwoman Maude Barlow, Attawapiskat First Nation Chief Theresa Spence and union leader Paul Moist are among those scheduled to attend the so-called “Pros and Cons’’ conference.

Even activist Brigette DePape—the former Senate page who held up a “Stop Harper’’ sign during the last throne speech—will be on hand for the Nov. 1 event.

The organizers say the conference is designed to inform people about the impacts of Conservative policies, and discuss possible alternatives.

Suzuki in particular has been the subject of much derision inside the Conservative movement, criticized for his vigorous opposition to oil pipeline development.

TORONTO—Nearly half of all Canadians facing a major health crisis, such as cancer or a stroke, are struggling financially as a result, according to the latest research from Sun Life Financial.

The company’s annual health index found that 40 per cent of those surveyed reported feeling financially strapped after a serious health issue or diagnosis, while 53 per cent of 45- to 54-year-olds said they’d been hit hard by unforeseen health-care costs.

The survey showed that in the past 12 months, Canadians spent an average of $1,354 on medical or health-care products and additional services.

One-fifth of those surveyed had no group insurance, personal insurance or health expense savings—and more than 81 per cent hadn’t put any money aside for health-care emergencies.

Sun Life said that among those who did experience a health crisis, 22 per cent turned to credit cards or personal lines of credit, another 22 per cent tapped into personal savings, 12 per cent borrowed

Liberals defending $7M in bonuses for Pan Am execs if games on budget TORONTO—Ontario’s Liberal government is defending a $7-million bonus package for officials with the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games committee.

Games CEO Ian Troop, who was paid $477,000 last year, will be eligible for a $780,000 bonus if the games come in on budget and on time.

There are 63 Pan Am executives earning between $190,000 and $250,000 who will be eligible for bonuses of up to 50 per cent of their annual pay when the games are over.

The opposition parties say it’s ridiculous to pay people just to complete the job they were hired to do, but the government says it’s standard procedure to avoid losing key personnel close to the actual games.

Tourism, Culture and Sport Minister Michael Chan says the bonus structure adopted by TO2015 is similar to other multisport event organizations like the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games.

Chan says the Pan Am Games will be even bigger than the Vancouver Olympics, with more than 10,000 athletes and officials from 41 nations, who will compete in 51 sports.

The government ordered TO2015 to tighten its expense rules earlier this week after it was learned some of the well-paid executives, including Troop, had billed taxpayers for things like a 91-cent parking ticket and $1.89 cup of tea.

from a loved one and five per cent had to either remortgage or sell their home.

Overall, the poll found Canadians were feeling good about their physical and emotional health.

Saskatchewan tops 1.1 million people for first time, largely due to immigration REGINA—Premier Brad Wall says international immigration is a huge part of Saskatchewan’s latest population boom.

According to Statistics Canada, the number of people living in the province has passed the 1.1 million mark for the first time.

That’s an increase of 20,757 people in the past year and more than 106,000 people since 2007. The premier says the new goal is to have 1.2 million people by 2020.

He says the economy is drawing people to Saskatchewan for jobs and helping to keep new graduates in the province.

The premier also says better immigration policies helped.

“We’ve got to keep our eyes focused on that because we need newcomers as well, not just for the economy and the labour shortage, but because it makes us better,’’ Wall said.

“I love all the accents.’’

Ethnic and gluten free foods continue to dominate at the grocery store TORONTO—Gluten-free foods and ethnic offerings are expected to continue their march onto store shelves as grocers also look to sustainability and ponder how to deal with online ordering.

Ethnic products have been top of mind for retailers for several years. In the past, “if you wanted to get those products you had to go to a traditional ethnic grocer and now it’s switched where you’ve now got the large players putting it in and making it permanent sections,’’ Tom Barlow, president and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, said.

“Even non-ethnic Canadians are looking for those products and have introduced them into their diets.’’

People want ease of preparation, noted Barlow, like the salad that’s three-quarters made so they can add the remainder of the ingredients or an Indian or Italian dish in which the sauce is prepared and can simply be heated and combined with a protein and rice or pasta.

Government launches internal review of Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh case The Canadian Press

OTTAWA—The federal government says it will conduct an internal review of its involvement in the case of Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh, but the Cape Breton man’s lawyer says a public inquiry is really what is needed.

Brian Casey represents MacIntosh, a former businessman who had 17 sexual abuse convictions thrown out when the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ruled in 2011 that his case took too long to get to trial.

The Supreme Court of Canada upheld that decision earlier this year, saying the 14-year delay was unreasonable.

Casey said two other internal reviews have already been completed—one by the RCMP and another by Nova Scotia’s Public Prosecution Service—but plenty of questions remain.

He said a public inquiry, unlike an internal review, would require public officials to explain their actions.

“Sometimes there’s a good explanation for why something took six weeks or six months,’’ Casey said.

MacIntosh was in India working as a consultant when the sex abuse allegations first surfaced in Nova Scotia in 1995, but he wasn’t extradited to Canada until 2007 and his first trial didn’t start until 2010.

Federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay said the review, to be conducted by his de-

Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh is escorted in custody by RCMP officers on June 7, 2007.

Photo: CP Photo/Andrew Vaughan)

partment, would look into the extradition process and issues surrounding passport and border control. The review’s findings will be made public by Oct. 31, he said.

The review by Nova Scotia’s prosecution service earlier this year found the delays in the case were partly caused by the heavy workload facing a Crown attorney in Nova Scotia and two unexplained passport renewals that allowed MacIntosh to stay in India for years before he was extradited.

MacIntosh’s passport was renewed in 1997 and in 2002, despite the fact he faced outstanding charges and a warrant had been issued for his arrest.

Casey has said his client didn’t try to hide from Canadian authorities during his time in India, adding that the police officer in charge of the case had MacIntosh’s address as early as February 1995.

As well, he has said his client lived within three blocks of the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi, where he went regularly to renew his passport.

In May, MacIntosh wrote a letter to the provincial justice minister saying he maintains his innocence and would welcome a public inquiry into the case as long as it went beyond examining what caused the delays to bring his matter to trial.

World

PAGE 12 • www.OttawaStar.com

Phoney online reviews for products and services for $1 to $10 per review

By Michael Gormley, The Associated Press

A

LBANY, N.Y.— A perfect hotel? An amazing restaurant? Teeth whitener that leads to romance?

Such things may only truly exist in online reviews, and New York’s attorney general says many of them are fakes, just as more consumers searching for guidance are starting to bite.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is trying to dismantle what he calls a system of creating false online reviews for products and services. He announced that he has settled cases with 19 companies that included $350,000 in penalties.

The fake plaudits are sometimes called “astroturfing,’’ a reference to the synthetic grass used on sports fields.

“Consumers rely on reviews from their peers to make daily purchasing decisions on anything from food and clothing to recreation and sightseeing,’’ Schneiderman said.

He said that by 2014, one researcher estimates 10 per cent to 15 per cent of social media reviews will be fake.

The rise in the phoney review business comes as more people trust such commentaries, even though they are often posted anonymously. Schneiderman said Harvard Business School found that increasing a restaurant’s review score by one star on Yelp. com could boost business up to 8 per cent.

Cornell researchers found an extra star on Travelocity or TripAdvisor could translate into an 11 per cent increase in a room rate.

In April, the Nielsen consumer survey company found online reviews were the second most trusted form of advertising after word-of-mouth by family and

friends. The survey found 70 per cent of customers worldwide trust online reviews, rising 15 per cent in four years.

But Schneiderman found many of the reviews were written by people who not only never experienced the product or service, but never lived in the United States. Workers in the Philippines, Ban-

gladesh and Eastern Europe passed judgments on goods and services for $1 to $10 per review, Schneiderman said.

Some fraudulent writers also defended their fake reviews on websites challenging them.

Attorney general staffers posed as owners of a Brooklyn yogurt shop and called a company that offered to write fake reviews and post them on websites including Yelp. com, Google Local and Citysearch.com.

Such companies can set up hundreds of false online profiles of consumers and use software that allowed the companies to hide their origin, investigators said.

New York City cost per inmate $167,731

By Jake Pearson, The Associated Press

NEW YORK—Thanks to New York’s most notorious lockup, Rikers Island, the annual cost per inmate was $167,731 last year— nearly as much as it costs to pay for four years of tuition at an Ivy League university.

“Other cities don’t have Rikers Island,’’ said Martin F. Horn, who in 2009 resigned as the city’s correction commissioner, noting that hundreds of millions of dollars are spent a year to run the 400-acre island in the East River next to the runways of LaGuardia Airport that has 10 jail facilities, thousands of staff and its own power plant and bakery.

The city’s Independent Budget Office annual figure of $167,731 - which equates to about $460 per day for the 12,287 average daily New York City inmates last year - was based on about $2 billion in total operating expenses for the Department of Correction, which included salaries and benefits for staff, judgments and claims as well as debt service for jail construction

and repairs. 86 per cent of the operating costs go for staff wages New York’s annual costs dwarf the annual per-inmate costs in other big cities. Los Angeles spent $128.94 a day, or $47,063 a year, for 17,400 inmates in fiscal year 201112, its sheriff’s office said. Chicago spent $145 a day, or $52,925 a year, for 13,200 inmates in 2010, the most recent figures available from that county’s sheriff’s office. Those costs included debt-service and fringe benefits.

New York’s system differs from other cities in some other costly ways - it employs 9,000 relatively well-paid, unionized correction officers, for example, and is required by law to provide certain services to inmates, including high quality medical care within 24 hours of incarceration.

Another contributing factor to the inmate price tag is the length of stay for prisoners in New York’s criminal justice system.

Some inmates have waited years in city jails to see trial. In 2012 the average length of stay for detainees was 53 days and 38.6 days for sentenced inmates.

In Israel you can be a Jew, Arab, Druse and more but not Israeli Continued from page 1

Judaism plays a central role in Israel.

Religious holidays are also national holidays, and religious authorities oversee many ceremonies, such as weddings and funerals.

Yet since Israel’s establishment in 1948, a distinct Israeli nationality has emerged, including foods, music and culture, and for most Jews, compulsory military service.

While roughly half of Israel’s Jewish population define themselves first and foremost as Jewish, 41 per cent of Israelis identify themselves as Israeli, according to the Israel Democracy Institute, a think-tank.

In the Supreme Court case, the 21 petitioners argued that Israel is not democratic because it is Jewish. They say that the country’s Arab minority faces discrimination because certain policies

favour Jews and that a shared Israeli nationality could bring an end to such prejudice and unite all of Israel’s citizens.

“The Jewish identity is anti-democratic,’’ said Uzzi Ornan, the main petitioner who runs “I am Israeli,’’ a small organization devoted to having the Israeli nationality officially recognized.

“With an Israeli identity, we can be secure in our democracy, secure in equality between all citizens,’’ said Ornan, a 90-year-old professor of computational linguistics at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa.

Israeli Arabs have long contended that, despite their citizenship, they are victims of official discrimination, with their communities receiving fewer resources than Jewish towns. While some Arabs have made strides

in recent years in entering the Israeli mainstream, they are on average poorer and less educated than their Jewish counterparts.

The court’s deliberation focused mainly on how an officially recognized Israeli identity could pose a threat to Israel’s founding ideals and cause disunity.

The court said it was not casting doubt on the existence of an Israeli nation.

Anita Shapira, a professor emeritus of Jewish history at Tel Aviv University, said that Judaism and Jewish nationalism go hand in hand and that if nationalism develops into an Israeli one, the Jewish essence will be lost. She also said it could estrange Jews from other countries whose connection to Israel is through religion.

“The attempt to claim that there is a Jewish nationality in the state of Israel

Ottawa Star • October 10, 2013

World news in brief The Associated Press

Man crushed to death by 5 tons of grapes during Spain’s harvest MADRID, Spain—Emergency services say a man has died after being crushed by grapes during the annual harvest in the central Spanish wine producing region of Castilla-La Mancha.

A local rescue service centre said Friday the man was pulled out of a winery grape reception bay that he fell into the day before, just as a truck unloaded 5.5 tons (5 metric tons) of grapes ready for crushing into juice for winemaking.

Ambulance operators and firefighters tried to resuscitate the man - identified only by his initials, A.O.— but he was declared dead just before midnight Thursday.

With around 465,350 hectares (1,790 square miles) of vineyards, Castilla-La Mancha is considered to have more land dedicated to grape cultivation than any other region in the world.

Norway’s Conservatives team up with an anti-immigration party to form a coalition govt STAVANGER, Norway—The leader of Norway’s Conservative Party announced on Monday that she is forming a rightwing minority government, the first in the oil-rich country to ever include the antiimmigration Progress Party.

The two-party coalition is expected to tighten immigration policies. Many in Norway, which is widely considered to be a tolerant, liberal country—have called for a reduction in immigration, and the Progress Party has capitalized on that.

Erna Solberg, whose Conservatives finished second in this month’s parliamentary election, will team up with the Progress Party, which came in third.

“Now the Conservatives and the Progress Party start real negotiations on the government platform. This is the start of a committed relationship,’’ Solberg told reporters in Parliament.

Progress Party leader Siv Jensen said it hopes to tighten the nation’s asylum policies, secure more rights for the elderly and reduce Norway’s inheritance tax.

The new government will replace a moderate but left-leaning coalition led by the Labor Party, which will remain the largest party in Parliament. that is separate from the Jewish religion is something very revolutionary,’’ she said.

Ornan also appealed to Israel’s interior minister in 2000 and took the matter to court in 2003 in a failed attempt to identify as Israeli. He vowed to continue his campaign.

Others have also tried to tackle the population registry. The late Israeli author Yoram Kaniuk persuaded a court in 2011 to have him listed as being “without religion,’’ though his ethnicity remained “Jewish.’’

Secularists considered the change a coup.

Ottawa Star • October 10, 2013

World

This 2008 file photo shows members of Somalia’s al-Shabab jihadist movement. (AP Photo/File)

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Al Shabab and other Islamic militant groups in Africa develop ties

By Christopher Torchia, AP

J

OHANNESBURG, South Africa— The Westgate Mall attack in Kenya threw the spotlight on al-Shabab, a Somalia-based group of Islamic militants that claimed responsibility. But its relationship with al-Hijra, a relatively obscure cell of extremists in Kenya, represents what terrorism analysts say is a worrying trend in Africa: an increase in collaboration among religious radicals across borders and vast, poorly policed regions.

For now, the experts say, this networking lets militant groups in Africa aid one another in the face of pressure from security forces, but doesn’t entail a co-ordinated, continent-wide strategy that could sideline the local agendas they hold dear. The fear is that the more these groups talk to each other, the more people they will kill as they thwart efforts to contain them.

“It is the growing connectivity between some of these groups that is starting to form a network across Africa which could be very, very dangerous,’’ Gen. Carter Ham, then chief of the U.S. military’s Africa Command, said in December. Ham, who has since retired, warned at the time that al-Shabab and other like-minded outfits were increasingly working together in the fields of training, funding and weapons.

Al-Shabab, which has pledged allegiance to al-Qaida, said the assault was payback for Kenya’s military role in pushing back Islamic fighters in neighbouring Somalia. The Kenyan police, meanwhile, may be going after suspected al-Hijra members at home.

Al-Hijra, formerly known as the Muslim Youth Center, has been “plagued by unexplained killings, disappearances,

continuous ‘catch and release’ arrest raids and operational disruptions,’’ the United Nations said in a July report on Somalia and Eritrea.

“Al-Hijra is striving to regain the initiative, in part through its fighters in Somalia returning to conduct new and more complex operations and through strengthening its ties to other groups in the region,’’ the U.N. report said. It said al-Hijra was building links with extremists in Tanzania, as well as al-Shabab affiliates in Rwanda and Burundi.

These links among Islamic militants in Africa pose new challenges for resource-poor governments that sometimes struggle to work together, even as radical fighters get cash from smuggling and other illegal activities.

Many Islamic militants involved in deadly attacks in Africa find common cause with al-Qaida, adopting its hardline Islamic ideology and anti-Western agenda and benefiting from its global propaganda networks.

Other key groups are al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, in north and west Africa; Nigeria’s Boko Haram, blamed for mass killings of civilians in the past week; and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen, across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia.

Boko Haram sometimes uses tactics and language reminiscent of al-Qaida, but it remains fiercely focused on a local agenda, railing against what it calls Nigerian state oppression and corruption and seeking implantation of a harsh version of Islamic law, or Shariah, in all of Africa’s most populous country.

According to U.S. State Department figures, Somalia and Nigeria were among the top 10 countries with the most terrorist attacks in the world in 2012.

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Business

PAGE 14 • www.OttawaStar.com

Ottawa Star • October 10, 2013

Going where they go: Gillette built a razor for Indians by watching them shave The Associated Press

Indian man gets a shave during the annual cattle fair in Pushkar, Rajasthan, India. AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh

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NEW YORK – Gillette executives say it was striking the first time they witnessed a man shave while sitting barefoot on the floor in a tiny hut in India.

He had no electricity, no running water and no mirror.

The 20 U.S.-based executives observed the man in 2008 during one of 300 visits they made to homes in rural India.

The goal? To gain insights they could use to develop a new razor for India.

“That, for me, was a big ‘a-ha,”’ said Alberto Carvalho, vice-president, global Gillette, a unit of P&G. “I had never seen people shaving like that.”

The visits kicked off the 18 months it took to develop Gillette Guard, a low-cost razor designed for India and other emerging markets. Introduced three years ago, Guard quickly gained market share and today represents two out of every three razors sold in India. The story of how Guard came to be illustrates the balance companies must strike when creating products for emerging markets: It’s not as simple as slapping a foreign label on an American product.

Gillette has sold razors in India for over a decade. The company had 37.3 per cent market share in 2007, selling its high end Mach3 razor, which costs about $2.75, and a stripped down Vector twobladed razor on the lower end, which goes for about 72 cents.

But Gillette wanted more of the market. To do that, P&G executives would have to attract the nearly 500 million Indians who use double-edged razors.

Gillette had stumbled once before with its early version of the Vector in 2002.

Gillette, which is based in Boston, wanted to test the product among Indian consumers before launching it, but instead of making the costly trip abroad, they had Indian students at nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology test the razor.

“They all came back and said ‘Wow that’s a big improvement,”’ Carvalho recalls.

But when Gillette launched the razor in India, the reaction

was different. Executives were baffled about why the razor flopped until they travelled to India and observed men using a cup of water to shave. All the MIT students had running water. Without that, the razor stayed clogged.

“That’s another ‘a-ha’ moment,” Carvalho said. “That taught us the importance that you really need to go where your consumers are, not just to talk to them, but observe and spend time with them to gather the key insight.”

In 2008, the focus on India returned when Carvalho decided to bring 20 people, ranging from engineers to developers, from Gillette’s U.S. headquarters to India for three weeks.

They spent 3,000 hours with more than 1,000 consumers.

The takeaway: In the U.S., razor makers spent decades on marketing centred on a close shave, adding blade after blade to achieve a smoother cheek.

But men in India are more concerned about not cutting themselves.

With that knowledge, the Gillette team started making a new razor for the Indian market. The resulting Guard razor has one blade, to put the emphasis on safety rather than closeness, compared with two to five blades found on U.S. razors.

Gillette scrutinized the smallest details. It cut the number of components in the razor down to 4 compared with 25 needed for Mach3, Gillette’s three-blade razor. They even made the razor’s handle hollow so it would be lighter and cheaper to make.

The result? The Guard costs about one third of what it costs to make the Vector, Gilllette’s low-price Indian razor before Guard. Gillette sells the Guard for 15 rupees, or 34 cents, and each razor blade is 5 rupees, or 12 cents.

The company’s strategy seems to have worked. P&G says with 9 per cent market share, Guard has grown share faster than any other P&G brand in India. And Gillette’s market share for razors and blades in India has grown to 49.1 per cent, according to Euromonitor.

That’s up from 37.3 in 2007.

Ottawa Star • October 10, 2013

Business

www.OttawaStar.com • PAGE 15

Las Vegas clubs becoming Suit against Quebec fracking ban show perils bigger draw than gambling of free trade deals

By Hannah Dreier, The Associated Press

By Julian Beltrame, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - Free trade critics say a $250-million damage suit being pursued as a result of Quebec’s moratorium on fracking is proof Canada needs to be careful in negotiating trade pacts around the world.

The Council of Canadians, the Sierra Club and Quebec-based Eau secours say the suit by Lone Pine Resources Inc. shows that trade deals that include investor protection clauses are a bad idea because they can prevent governments from passing laws to protect the environment.

The groups are asking Lone Pine to drop the suit before a NAFTA panel, but company president Tim Granger says he is going ahead unless Quebec lifts its moratorium on fracking for natural gas under the St. Lawrence River.

The statement of claim filed Sept.

6 says the company ``expended millions of dollars and considerable time and resources’’ on the project and that the Quebec government was “arbitrary’’ and “capricious’’ in revoking the rights even before an environment study on the fracking process was completed.

But the groups say the suit has become symbolic for everything that is wrong with investor protection clauses in

major trade agreements.

The Canadian case has attracted even greater scrutiny because Quebec has yet to decide whether fracking - a process to inject fluid into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release natural gas inside - can be conducted safely under the St. Lawrence.

“If a government is not even allowed to take a time out to study the impact without having to compensate a corporation, it puts a tremendous chill on a governments’ ability to regulate in the public interest,’’ said Ilana Solomon, director of the Sierra Club’s trade program in Washington, D.C. Another unusual aspect of the case is that Lone Pine is a Calgary-based firm and would not have standing as a foreign entity to sue Canada under NAFTA, but Granger said it can do so because it is registered in Delaware.

Although the suit complains against a Quebec government action, the federal government would be liable to pay any damages if it succeeds since it alleges that obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement were violated.

In 2010, Ottawa agreed to pay AbitibiBowater $130 million to settle the company’s claim that Newfoundland illegally seized some of its assets, a suit that was also filed under NAFTA.

LAS VEGAS - The cannon at the Flutter Fetti booth near the front of the gambling trade show in Las Vegas last week delivered regular bursts of metallic and crepe paper cutouts, shooting them to the ceiling in big booms and carpeting the floor with shimmering hearts, stars and circles. The glittery mess outshone the slot machines and online poker touchscreens in more ways than one.

A poll conducted this year by the national gambling lobby found that 26 per cent of casino-goers now eschew wagering, and the city’s growing mega-clubs are threatening to become the most lucrative draw for a town built on betting.

“It’s an arms race,’’ said CFO John Stern, eying the laser booth nearby at the Global Gaming Conference’s ``entertainment pavilion.’’ Lasers flickered in blinding circles on a white screen. Brightness is one of his product’s major selling points.

Sin City now boasts 21 of the country’s 100 most profitable nightclubs, according to the trade publication Nightclub & Bar. The town also dominates the top 10 spots, with seven clubs bringing in more than $25 million a year. The other three clubs with earnings in the same range are LIV and Mango’s Tropical Cafe in Miami Beach, and LAVO in New York City.

As clubs become increasingly important to casinos’ bottom line, programmers are competing ever more fiercely to

Two of Las Vegas’ most enduring icons are the showgirl and the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign. Photo by Las Vegas News Bureau.

offer partiers novelties they would never see at their local dance spot.

Several clubs are investing in individual confetti canons, cardboard tubes that range from $1 to $6 each. Hakkasan at MGM Grand likes to give a tube to everyone who walks in the door, Holmes said. Ghostbar at the Palms has purchased branded confetti throwers emblazoned with the club’s name.

Canavan’s laser installations might cost a club $9,000 for the night, but with table service starting at $10,000 at many Las Vegas venues, it’s a small investment.

Business News in Brief The Canadian Press

IKEA to bring residential solar panels to the mass market (AP)

Anti Keystone billionaire takes aim at Stephen Harper’s hard line on pipeline

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Swedish flatpack furniture giant IKEA says it will start selling residential solar panels at its stores in Britain in a move aimed at bringing renewable energy to the mainstream market.

The company said it will start selling solar panels made by Hanergy in its store in Southampton on Monday and in the rest of Britain in coming weeks.

It said a standard, 3.36 kilowatt system for a semi-detached home will cost 5,700 British pounds ($9,200) and will include an in-store consultation and design service as well as installation, maintenance and energy monitoring service.

IKEA Chief Sustainability Officer Steve Howard told The Associated Press that Britain is a test market and the company aims to continue launching the product in other countries after evaluating the British experience.

OTTAWA - An anti-Keystone XL pipeline crusader has written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, suggesting Canada’s aggressive lobbying for the project played a part in the ongoing government shutdown south of the border.

Tom Steyer, a San Francisco billionaire and a major Democratic party fundraiser, chastises Harper for saying he would not ``take ‘no’ for an answer’’ from U.S. President Barack Obama on TransCanada’s Keystone XL. In a question-and-answer session with the Canadian American Business Council last week in New York, Harper took a hard line on how Canada would respond if the Keystone XL project is rejected by the White House.

“My view is you don’t take ‘no’ for an answer,’’ Harper said. “This won’t be final until it’s approved and we will keep pushing forward.’’

Steyer takes issue with those comments in his letter to the prime minister.

“Have your government, your government’s lobbyist and/or agents representing TransCanada communicated with House Republicans about including Keystone in the original litany of demands put to President Obama?’’ Steyer asks in the letter to Harper.

“Included in the original list of House Republican demands was that the Obama administration grant approval for the building of the Keystone XL pipeline.’’

The combination of the advertising campaign and Harper’s comments last week “raises the question of whether your office is working hand-in-hand with TransCanada to try to exploit the current situation in Washington, D.C., at the expense of the American people,’’ Steyer wrote.

Application for Energy East Pipeline delayed until 2014 SAINT JOHN, N.B. - TransCanada has delayed its goal of filing an application for its proposed Energy East Pipeline with the

National Energy Board until next year.

Steve Pohlod, company’s vice-president, told an energy conference that there is too much work to do to be able to meet its initial goal of filing the application for the $12-billion project before the end of this year.

The 4,500-kilometre Energy East Pipeline would ship up to 1.1 million barrels per day of oil from Alberta to refineries and export terminals in Quebec and New Brunswick.

The proposal involves converting a portion of TransCanada’s underused natural gas mainline to oil service and building 1,400 kilometres of new pipeline to Saint John.

The pipeline is one of two projects that have been proposed to move oil out of Western Canada.

Enbridge plans to spend $110 million to reverse its Line 9B to carry western crude to meet Quebec’s refining needs. The National Energy Board will conduct hearings on the proposal in October, with a decision expected in 2014.

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