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READ MORE “J’ai un tapis de sol, deux sacs de couchage et une couverture”, énumère Anne Lebreton, alors que des flocons s’écrasent sur sa doudoune. Comme une trentaine d’élus franciliens, cette adjointe au maire du 4e arrondissement de Paris va passer la nuit dans le froid d’une rue parisienne pour alerter sur le sort des sans-abri. “Oui, il va faire froid cette nuit, mais nos vies à nous ne sont pas plus importantes que celles des SDF”, martèle Mama Sy mercredi soir. La jeune élue (sans étiquette) d’Etampes (Essonne), est à l’origine de l’appel aux élus de tous les bords politiques à dormir dehors aux côtés des sans-abri de la capitale. Autour d’elle, au point de rendez-vous sur un quai de la gare d’Austerlitz, ils sont une trentaine d’élus locaux d’Ile-de-France, écharpe tricolore en bandoulière, à taper de la se...

READ MORE Representatives from the Finance Ministry and the Council for Higher Education signed an agreement with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Wednesday which is designed to put it on firmer financial footing in the face of major pension obligations that the university has been facing.  The agreement calls for the government to provide 70 million shekels ($20 million) annually for the next 10 years in addition to the other government support that the university receives. In return, the university has committed to a 2.7 billion shekel recovery plan, the largest in its history. The plan calls for the sale of hundreds of millions of shekels of real estate, salary cuts and staff reductions. The university has also committed to cover its accumulated deficit from its own sources and not at the expense of its academic activity. Among other commitments is one to boost the number of students engaged in high-tech related study by 70%, increasing the enrollment of ultra-Orthodox s...

READ MORE It was a ‘7’ that was actually supposed to be a ‘9’.  That mistake is now having ripple effects, not just on the life of Jarrod Bacon, but on the public’s perception of the corrections system. In 2012, Bacon was sentenced to 12 years in prison, minus time served, for smuggling 100 kilograms of cocaine. He was supposed to serve nine years before being eligible for statutory release. But according to the Parole Board of Canada, that was recorded as seven years instead on a prison document. Because of that, Bacon was released early in February 2017. Bacon breached the conditions of his release a few months later and was taken back to prison. His statutory release was revoked. Somewhere along the way, the typo was discovered. Bacon then argued he never should have been released at that time and, therefore, can’t be held responsible for the breach.  The Parole Board of Canada’s appeal division agreed. Baco...

READ MORE Walmart has become the second major U.S. retailer to restrict gun sales. The company says it will no longer sell firearms and ammunition to people younger than 21. The retailer’s new policy comes after Dick’s Sporting Goods announced earlier Wednesday that it would restrict the sale of firearms to those under 21 years old. It didn’t mention ammunition. Walmart says the decision came after a review of its firearm sales policy in light of the mass shooting Feb. 14 at a high school in Parkland, Fla. Walmart Inc. stopped selling AR-15 guns, and other semi-automatic weapons in 2015. It doesn’t sell bump stocks, the accessory attached to a semi-automatic gun that makes it easier to fire rounds faster. It also doesn’t sell large-capacity magazines. The retailer says it is also removing items resembling assault-style rifles from its website. Earlier yesterday, news that Dick’s Sporting Goods, one of the l...

READ MORE Despite a welcome boost in the amount of money Ottawa spends on foreign aid, the federal government’s new budget puts Canada’s international development assistance well below the average spent by its peers in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), say actors in the Canadian humanitarian and development community. The budget unveiled by Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Tuesday proposes to provide an additional $2 billion over five years, starting in 2018-19, to Canada’s International Assistance Envelope to support Ottawa’s humanitarian assistance and development priorities under its new Feminist International Assistance Policy. CARE Canada President and CEO Gillian Barth said that while the budget marks a welcome first step that will provide a measure of certainty and allow for longer-term planning, it falls short of expectations. “Beginning with an initial boost of almost nine per cent over last year’s internation...

READ MORE The four remaining Ontario PC leadership contenders squabbled tonight over the future of Patrick Brown, with at least one saying the former leader should never be able to run under the Tory banner again. During the last scheduled debate in Ottawa Wednesday, the leadership hopefuls differed on how best to handle the scandal-plagued Brown. Tanya Granic Allen speaks during the Ottawa leadership debate for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. (CBC) Candidate Tanya Granic Allen, an anti-sex ed campaigner, said Brown should be shown the door for good — not because of the sexual harassment allegations levelled against him but rather because of the “corruption” she said he allowed to fester in the party while leader, pointing to irregularities in some nomination races in ridings. “You three still stand here and say you’re fine with it. I want you to say no and you won’t let Patrick Brown run under you,” she sa...

READ MORE A street artist taking inspiration from the Oscar-nominated film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is taking aim at the entertainment industry just days before the Academy Awards. Three massive, consecutive billboards in Los Angeles — located just a few kilometres from where the Oscars will be held on Sunday — were covered over on Wednesday with messages attacking Hollywood for purportedly shielding pedophiles. “And the Oscar for the biggest pedophile goes to…” reads one sign. It is quickly followed by another bearing the message: “We all knew and still no arrests.” The first of the covered billboards appeared near Wilshire Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, with the other two located close by. (Courtesy NBC) A final billboard states: “Name names on stage or shut the hell up.” The messages are printed in black text across a giant swath of red fabric, appearing similar to the signage depicted in Marti...