REUTERS/Ammar Awad
OTTAWA ASKING SUPREME COURT TO DECLARE KHADR ADULT OFFENDER
Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr’s case returns to Canada’s top court for a third time today. This time, the federal government is asking the Supreme Court to declare him an adult offender for crimes he committed as a 15-year-old. The case centres on whether the eight-year sentence a U.S. military commission handed him for war crimes should be interpreted as a youth or adult sentence.
CANADIAN EXECUTIVE AMONG AMTRAK CRASH VICTIMS
A Canadian executive with a U.S. financial services company has been identified as one of seven people killed in an Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia. Wells Fargo said Wednesday that Abid Gilani, a senior vice-president at the company, was among the victims of Tuesday’s crash, which also left more than 200 people injured. A company spokeswoman said Gilani was a married father of two.
CANADIAN OFFICIALS SEEK INFO AFTER KABUL HOTEL ATTACK
Foreign Affairs says Canadian officials in Kabul and Ottawa are working to get more information after gunmen stormed a guesthouse in the Afghan capital. American Amin Habi told The Associated Press that a party was going on at the Park Palace Hotel at the time to honour an unidentified Canadian. A Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said “all staff at the Canadian Embassy in Kabul are safe and accounted for.”
PARTI QUEBECOIS COULD HAVE A NEW LEADER ON FRIDAY
Voting has started in the Parti Quebecois leadership race. Party members have until 5 p.m. ET Friday to choose between Pierre Karl Peladeau, Alexandre Cloutier or Martine Ouellet. Peladeau is considered the front-runner. If no one gets 50 per cent of the vote, a second round of voting featuring the top two finishers will be held next week.
$20 MILLION NEWFOUNDLAND LEGISLATURE RENO BALLOONS TO $56 MILLION
There are renovation nightmares, and then there’s the Newfoundland and Labrador legislature. It started in 2009 as a window replacement job that was to cost about $20 million and take three years. But the project morphed into a $56 million structural overhaul that’s only now entering the home stretch.
ALSO IN THE NEWS TODAY …
– Suspended senator Patrick Brazeau stands trial in Gatineau on allegations of sexual assault and assault.
– Information commissioner Suzanne Legault will table a report entitled “Investigation into an Access to Information Request for the Long-gun Registry.”
– Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson will holds a teleconference call following a meeting with NATO foreign ministers.
– Prime Minister Stephen Harper will make a morning announcement in Windsor, Ont., then deliver remarks in the evening at the Cobequid Educational Centre in Halifax.
– Sentencing arguments begin in Montreal for Jennifer Pawluck, who was found guilty of criminal harassment after she posted a photo of graffiti depicting a police officer with a bullet in his head.
– Trial begins for Adonay Zekarias, charged with first degree murder in the death of Toronto hotel worker Nighisti Semret.
– The Ontario Labour Relations Board will hear application from three school boards in the province asking for strikes to be declared illegal.
– Statistics Canada releases the new housing price index for March.
