LOCAL
Former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty’s advisers tried to pressure the Speaker of the legislature into changing his mind about a major ruling that went against the governing Liberals. The Speaker ruled in favour of the Progressive Conservatives move to have then-energy minister Charles Bentley found in contempt for not handing over documents relating to the gas plant scandal, and a series of e-mails shows Liberals tried to pressure him to alter his decision, which he didn’t. [Globe and Mail]
A Toronto police officer at the centre of the streetcar shooting of Sammy Yatim has been suspended with pay as new enhanced audio emerged of the aggressive warning issued seconds before nine gunshots were fired. The 18-year-old was holding a three-inch knife on the empty streetcar when the police said, “If you take one step in this direction with that foot …[inaudible] die.” [National Post]
Hundreds attended “justice for Sammy” protest along Dundas St. against Friday’s the fatal streetcar shooting. Grieving relatives and about 1000 protestors took place in a vigil at Yonge and Dundas square before marching west towards the scene of the crime where they held placards, wore t-shirts, and decried the actions of police in chalk at the scene of the shooting. [Globe and Mail]
NATIONAL
Quebec’s environment minister has ordered the rail company responsible for the deadly explosions in Lac-Megantic to pay for the clean up. In response, the company has asked for more time to respond to the lawsuits they face. [CBC]
The Harper government has quietly given permission for Canada’s electronic eavesdropping agency permission to exchange information with foreign partners even when it may put someone at risk of torture. The policy is meant to help security agencies when seeking or sharing information puts someone in foreign custody at risk of torture, but human rights advocates and opposition MPs roundly criticized it, saying it violates international commitments. [National Post]
An officer who was among the four mounties the night Robert Dziekanski died has been found not guilty of lying at the public inquiry of the Polish Immigrant’s death. The first of the four mounties to be tried for perjury, the crown was unable to prove he knowingly made a false statement. [National Post]
INTERNATIONAL
Pope Francis reached out to gays on Monday, declaring he won’t judge priests for their sexual orientation, saying “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” His predecessor, Pope Benedict the XVI, signed a document in 2005 saying men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be priests. [National Post]
Two trains in Switzerland collided head-on, injuring 35 people, 5 of them seriously. They were regional trains travelling relatively slowly, otherwise the damage could have been considerably worse. [CityNews]
Egypt’s military-backed government seems intent on bringing back the feared secret police units that characterized both the Mubarak and the Morsi eras. Following Saturday’s massacre of at least 83 Islamists, the interior minister announced the reinstatement of Egypt’s state security investigations services, which was supposedly closed in March of 2011. [The Guardian]
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