Royal Winnipeg Ballet workers join MGEU

Journey north with the Grey Cup

The Grey Cup spent eight days on the road, travelling through northern Manitoba to promote Grey Cup game in Winnipeg Nov. 29.

Alberta judge rejects NDP court challenge on voter list changes

EDMONTON - 
An Alberta judge has thrown out a court challenge filed by the Opposition NDP on restricted voter list rules made by the government last month.

Court of King's Bench Justice John Gill says in his decision that the government was within its rights to restrict what private information is provided to political parties.

He also says he agrees with the government that the restrictions won't meaningfully undermine the integrity of the upcoming separation referendum.

The government's changes mean Elections Alberta can only provide political parties with the number of registered voters in each voting area and municipality, rather than lists with full names, addresses and phone numbers.

Manitoba to open India trade office

Instead of being stationed on Broadway, a Manitoba government employee will set up their own office — in India.

The New Democrats will today announce their plans to open a trade office in the South Asia country.

“We’re going to be continuing to expand our global presence,” said Business Minister Jamie Moses.

Government has slated $150,000 for the trade office, including the representative’s salary. A request for proposal will be posted online Tuesday, Moses said.

Capital punishment as macabre theatre

There was already enough to write about the question of capital punishment when the State of Tennessee attempted to execute Christa Pike.

Pike would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years, but her execution on Sept. 30 did not go as planned — she survived, despite two lethal injections of pentobarbital, and was taken to hospital in critical condition.

Pike was released from hospital and sent back to the same prison where she has been incarcerated for the last 30 years, ever since she was convicted — as an 18-year-old — of the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995.

Pike faces a long recovery, and an uncertain one. Tennessee assistant attorney general Will Ayers has not said if the state will attempt to execute Pike again, but Gov. Bill Lee has halted all executions this year and ordered an independent review of what went wrong.

Ontario’s top court paves way to reopen challenge of Hamilton’s anti-encampment law

A challenge to Hamilton’s anti-encampment bylaw was revived on Friday by Ontario’s top court, after a panel of appeal judges found the lower court relied on stereotypes to discount the testimony of some homeless residents. 

The Ontario Court of Appeal left the constitutionality of the bylaw and the city’s enforcement practices for a new trial judge to decide. 

The challenge was brought by 14 encampment residents who argued their evictions and the city's bylaw that blocks sleeping in parks were unconstitutional. It's among a number of court cases in Canada to grapple with whether a city can clear an encampment when there's no viable alternative place to shelter and city-run sites are filled up. 

The Appeal Court's unanimous ruling found the trial judge's rejection leaned heavily on his finding that none of those evictions had taken place overnight, contrary to the testimony of several residents.