Four stories in the news for Friday, May 17
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LIBERALS WIN MINORITY IN NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR VOTE
Voters in Newfoundland and Labrador registered their frustration with traditional politics Thursday by reducing the incumbent Liberals to minority status — a rare event in the province’s history. The last time a sitting government won less than a majority was in 1971 when the province’s first premier, Joey Smallwood, failed to win his seventh consecutive majority government. With all polls reporting, Premier Dwight Ball’s Liberals had won 20 of the legislature’s 40 seats, the Tories — led by political rookie Ches Crosbie — took 15, the New Democrats won three and two Independents were elected.
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DECISION EXPECTED TODAY IN CHILD BRIDE CASE
The B.C. Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision today in the case of a former leader in a fundamentalist Christian sect that practises polygamy in Bountiful. James Oler is accused of removing an underage girl from Canada to marry a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which operates in British Columbia and the United States. He was acquitted in 2017 by a judge who was not convinced Oler did anything within Canada’s borders to arrange the girl’s transfer to the U.S., but the B.C. Court of Appeal agreed with the Crown that proof of wrongdoing in Canada was not necessary and ordered a new trial.
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LIBERALS STOP COMMITTEE INQUIRY INTO NORMAN CASE
The Liberals used their majority on a House of Commons committee Thursday to block an opposition attempt to launch an inquiry into the failed prosecution of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman. Conservative and NDP members of the Commons defence committee forced a special meeting to debate a Tory motion that would have initiated an investigation into how the military’s former second-in-command came to be prosecuted on breach-of-trust charges. The case fell apart last week, when Crown prosecutors told the judge that new evidence they’d received from Norman’s defence team had led them to conclude there was no reasonable chance of convicting him. The admiral had been accused of leaking government secrets to Quebec’s Davie shipyard.
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CHILD-SEX OFFENDER POSTS PROFILE SAYS HE’S LONELY
A Saskatchewan man who was the victim of a notorious pedophile says it’s disgusting and a risk to the public that his abuser has a profile on a pen-pal website for inmates. Zach Miller, now 24, was 10 years old when he was abducted and sexually assaulted by Peter Whitmore in 2006. Whitmore already had a record as a prolific sex offender who posed a high risk to reoffend when he kidnapped Miller and a 14-year-old boy from Manitoba. Whitmore is serving a life sentence. The post on Canadian Inmates Connect says Whitmore is lonely, has cancer and is seeking friendship.
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ALSO IN THE NEWS:
— The first-degree murder trial continues today for Perez Cleveland. The Winnipeg man is accused of killing Barrett, whose body was found in a barrel.
— The trial continues today for Calgary police Const. Trevor Lindsay on a charge of aggravated assault. It’s alleged that he repeatedly punched a suspect and threw him into the pavement, causing a brain injury.
— Environment Minister Catherine McKenna and Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will make an announcement regarding zero-emission vehicle charging and refuelling stations at Parks Canada places.
The Canadian Press
