April 2012
Two-tiered wage system announced by Tories →
thestar.com
“Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has always vehemently denied bringing cheap foreign labour into Canada. Employers had to pay foreign temporary workers “the prevailing wage,” he pointed out. That indeed is what the rules said – until Wednesday, when Human Resources Minister Diane Finley quietly changed them. Employers will now be allowed to pay foreign temp workers 15 per cent less than the average wage.
[…]
Despite her 15-per-cent wage cut, Finley expects the influx of foreign temporary to swell. She’s undoubtedly right. Employers will always be ready to find workers overseas who are eager to come to Canada and willing to work long hours for low pay. And under the Conservatives, boosting economic growth will always eclipse protecting workers’ rights.”
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DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE TO BUY TURNTABLES?
“Statistically, the most dangerous roads are those in town where the speed limit is 30. The safest roads are motorways, which have a limit of 70… It seems to me that the best solution is to impose a minimum speed limit of, say, 175mph. Because if you are travelling through suburbia at this speed, it is extremely unlikely that you would retreat into a daydreamy world of work, phone calls and Colin Firth coming out of a lake with a wet shirt.”
—Jeremy Clarkson’s answer for “distracted driving”
Toronto teen Michelle Yu apologizes for mysterious disappearance →
ottawacitizen.com
One week after she mysteriously disappeared — only to turn up unharmed in Vancouver — Toronto teenager Michelle Yu apologized Monday night in a brief statement outside her North York home.
“Your kindness, from everybody, has shown me how much I am really loved… . I’m so sorry for putting everybody through this,” she said.
When asked how she got to British Columbia, Yu said “it’s been a really difficult time” before going back inside.
Yu vanished after school last Tuesday, her whereabouts last recorded by security cameras at a TD Bank branch in downtown Toronto. Friends say she attended all her classes that day but failed to show up at a Girl Guides meeting afterward. She also left behind vital heart medication. *
The disappearance sparked a massive police search, as well as pleas from her family that “things will change” if she returned.
On Sunday, Yu contacted her family and on Monday flew back to Toronto with her father.
Powerful laser hits Toronto-area police helicopter →
canada.com
A Toronto-area police helicopter was forced to land after it was repeatedly struck with a high-powered laser Saturday.
Durham Regional Police said the pilot of the helicopter had to put his aircraft down on the property of the nearby police station. The helicopter returned to its home base at the Oshawa airport, 30 kilometres south of the police station, hours later, police said.
Melissa Perry, 20, has been charged with mischief endangering life and assault with a weapon. She was also charged under the Canadian Aviation Act and the Aeronautics Act.
The helicopter was flying over the train station in the village of Uxbridge — about 75 kilometres northeast of Toronto — looking for vandals, when the laser was pointed at it multiple times for several minutes, police said.
Spokeswoman Sgt. Nancy van Rooy said the pilot was taken to hospital to ensure he hadn’t suffered any eye damage from the laser.
While he was released, it is possible that damage could take several days to emerge, van Rooy said.
The spokeswoman said the helicopter was equipped with sensors to easily track down the source of the beam, but would not elaborate further.
According to the World Health Organization, Class 3A lasers — the type used against the helicopter — can cause serious damage to eyesight with extended exposure.
Class 3A lasers are the most powerful legally available in Canada.
