Control Zone Expands In Avian Influenza Outbreak
Twenty-nine poultry farms in Ontario are under quarantine as part of an avian influenza control zone.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency made the move in the wake of the disease being found on a turkey farm in the province earlier this month.
The zone is meant to control the movement of animals, animal products and equipment in the region to minimize the spread of the disease.
The CFIA's new control zone effort has been recognized by the United States, Canada's largest trading partner, which will resume trading poultry products with areas outside the zone.
Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Uruguay and Barbados, however, have imposed trade sanctions as a result of the Ontario outbreak.
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Mandatory Minimum Sentence Decisions Come Today
A much-anticipated decision will come down today from Canada's highest court on a part of the Harper government's tough-on-crime agenda.
The Supreme Court of Canada will decide on two appeals involving mandatory minimum sentences for gun crimes.
Both the Ontario and federal governments appealed a 2013 ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeal that labelled the law cruel and unusual.
That court struck down the three-year mandatory minimum for a first offence of possessing a loaded prohibited gun, as well as the five-year minimum for a second offence.
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One Hundred Canadian Soldiers Set For Ukraine Deployment
Canada appears poised to send about 100 soldiers to western Ukraine to join a US-led training mission to prop up the capabilities of the battered Ukrainian military.
A defence source says Prime Minister Harper and Defence Minister Jason Kenney could announce today the deployment of training troops next month.
The Canadians would offer Ukrainian troops their expertise in countering mines and IED's, skills painfully learned during the combat mission in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
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Canadians Pulling The Plug On TV
More Canadians are choosing to cancel their cable TV and satellite packages.
A report by the Toronto-based Convergence Consulting Group says 95,000 fewer households had a cable TV or satellite subscription last year.
President Brahm Eiley expects the industry to lose another 97,000 this year, as the shift away from paying for traditional TV services continues.
