ISIL Combat Mission Extended
Canadian jets could soon be launching airstrikes in Syria now that MP's have approved a plan to expand and extend the military mission against ISIL in Iraq.
They last night voted in favour of extending the mission for up to a year and authorizing bombing runs against ISIL targets in Syria.
Neither the NDP nor the Liberals supported the original mission, nor its extension.
The New Democrats tried last night to amend the motion to remove Canadians from combat and refocus all government efforts on humanitarian work, but their amendments failed to pass.
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Grain Transportation Review
A transportation analyst is hopeful about news Ottawa is not renewing minimum weekly grain transportation volumes for railways.
Walter Spracklin of RBC Capital Markets says the move suggests the government doesn't believe the minimum requirements are an effective way to promote fluidity within the grain supply chain.
Canada's two biggest railways moved more than 50 million tonnes of grain last year, exceeding the minimum volume requirement by 5.5 million tonnes.
Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart says the federal government's decision is reasonable.
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Halifax Crash Landing Reviewed By TSB
The Transportation Safety Board says the type of hard landing that happened Sunday at Halifax's airport is something it's been watching for a long time.
The agency's Mike Cunningham calls it a ``runway excursion'' and says the board will investigate why the Air Canada flight from Toronto landed so short of the Halifax runway.
He notes the agency has long called for Canadian airports to make approaches and landings safer.
All 138 people who suffered through Sunday's crash landing survived, but 25 were injured.
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Convicted Rapist On Parole During Attack
Court has been told that a convicted Winnipeg rapist was still on parole when he randomly attacked another young woman whose pleas for help were recorded in a 911 call.
Christopher Assiniboine, who is 32, is being sentenced after being found guilty by a jury last year of sexual assault and uttering threats for the July 2011 attack on Balmoral Street.
Assiniboine has 36 prior criminal convictions, including the September 2009 rape of a 14-year-old girl he randomly attacked on the street.
Crown and defence lawyers have agreed that Assiniboine should be branded a long-term offender and placed on 10 years of community supervision upon his release from prison.
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German Co-Pilot Had Suicidal Tendencies
Authorities probing last Tuesday's deadly crash of the Germanwings Airbus in the French Alps say they've so far identified 78 sets of DNA from the remains.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in Duesseldorf, Germany say co-pilot Andreas Lubitz had lengthy psychotherapy before getting his pilot's license.
They say his medical records referred to ``suicidal tendencies.''
Lubitz is accused of locking the pilot out of the cockpit and intentionally crashing the plane, killing himself and all 149 others on board.
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Manitoba Berry Has Cash Crop Potential
It could be berry good news for northern Manitoba.
Although it's not yet a harvested cash crop in Manitoba, researchers have discovered lingonberries grown in the province are healthier than in most other places.
That could lead to a commercial future for potential growers of what researchers are calling a super-berry.
Chris Siow, a research scientist at St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre, says he's never seen a fruit that has such high antioxidant levels.
