Ottawa news

• Ontario to spend $784M on new school construction, repairs this year

  15-01-2018 23:58 via ottawacitizen.com
  TORONTO  Ontario will spend $784 million this year to build or renovate 79 schools across the province, but opposition critics say it’s not enough to address a growing multibillion-dollar repair backlog.
  Education Minister Mitzie Hunter said the funding announced Monday will support construction of 39 schools, and additions and renovations to 40 additional facilities. The work will include development of child care centres in the schools, with plans to create 2,700 new child care spac
  
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• 80,639 requests later, Ottawa bylaw might make case for more resources

  15-01-2018 23:54 via ottawacitizen.com
  An increased number of calls to Ottawa bylaw officers could help their case for adding more resources when city council receives a consultant’s review of the department later this year.
  There were 80,639 requests handled by the bylaw department in 2017, an eight per cent increase over the previous year.
  The two call types that stand out are parking (15 per cent increase) and property standards (20 per cent increase).
  Bylaw Chief Roger Chapman cautioned that the department hasn’t
  
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• Ontario man ran site that peddled billions of pieces of personal data: RCMP

  15-01-2018 23:47 via ottawacitizen.com
  A Toronto-area man faces several criminal charges for allegedly peddling information from an online database containing 1.5 billion usernames and passwords.
  The arrest announced Monday by the RCMP provides a glimpse into the murky layers of the so-called dark web — the shadowy, underground corners of the internet — and highlights the perils of staying secure in cyberspace.
  The Mounties accuse Jordan Evan Bloom of Thornhill, north of Toronto, of selling stolen personal identities thro
  
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• Local businesses ramp up orders after brewery's IPA yanked from LCBO

  15-01-2018 23:42 via ottawacitizen.com
  Local businesses have rallied around a Carleton Place-based microbrewery after one of its beers was yanked off LCBO shelves because of its label.
  Stalwart Brewing Company’s Dr. Feelgood India Pale Ale was removed from LCBO stores last week over concerns its label suggested it had medicinal properties, which violates the alcohol retailer’s regulations.
  The brew’s original label borrows imagery from the Rod of Asclepius, a design that features a snake coiled around a sword that&r
  
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• Blame France, downplay problems: Veterans Affairs had talking points after Vimy 100 complaints

  15-01-2018 23:33 via ottawacitizen.com
  As angry complaints washed over Veterans Affairs Canada about its handling of last spring’s Vimy Ridge centennial, the department’s communications strategy appears to have been to minimize the blame — and, where possible, shift it.
  The event in France last April hosted 25,000 Canadians, many of whom reported big problems.
  As this newspaper reported in December, scores of visitors wrote letters complaining of being pushed against metal barriers and being stranded in the dark for
  
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• Scanlan: For sports concussion treatment to be effective, the culture needs to change

  15-01-2018 23:14 via ottawacitizen.com
  Over the years, Dr. J. Scott Delaney has learned a thing or two about collecting concussion data.
  A Montreal Alouettes team doctor, and a professor of sport medicine at McGill University, Delaney released a study last week that raised concern because more than 80 per cent of CFL players who responded to the survey (454) admitted they had hidden concussion symptoms in the previous year (the data was collected in the summer of 2016).
  Practitioners will take their victories where they can. At least
  
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• 'Unreal and unfair': Friends mourn Ottawa man, 23, killed in North Glengarry crash

  15-01-2018 22:46 via ottawacitizen.com
  “Don’t focus on the things you hate all the time,” Matthias Foks posted on social media last month. “Remember the things you love.”
  On Monday, as the OPP identified the 23-year-old Ottawa man as the victim of a weekend crash on Highway 417 in North Glengarry Township, friends recalled a clearly beloved “great soul” who was devoted to making music and inspired others to do the same.
  “He was really genuine,” said Zach Rubens, a close friend and
  
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• Public school board considers selling four schools closed for declining enrolment

  15-01-2018 22:32 via ottawacitizen.com
  Ottawa’s English public school board should sell four schools that were closed because of declining enrolment, says a staff report to be debated by trustees Tuesday.
  The report says Grant Alternative, Leslie Park Public School and D.A. Moodie Intermediate, all west-side schools that closed last June, should be put up for sale, along with the former McGregor Easson Public School on Dynes Road, which closed in 2010.
  The report recommends the board hang onto Century PS, Greenbank Middle
  
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• Phoenix pay centre falls further behind, but end of key bottlenecks in sight

  15-01-2018 22:27 via ottawacitizen.com
  The federal government’s efforts to whittle down a growing backlog of pay transactions failed significantly during the two pay periods ended Dec. 27.
  Public Services and Procurement Canada, the department in charge of the troubled Phoenix pay system, reported Monday that its pay centre in New Brunswick processed just 53,000 regular transactions during the four-week stretch.  Not only is that down 25 per cent from the pay centre’s average performance between late July and late No
  
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• Reevely: British megacontractor that plows roads and helps run Royal Ottawa goes bust

  15-01-2018 21:46 via ottawacitizen.com
  The company that cleans the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, makes the food, runs the laundry, cuts the grass and fixes the building is being liquidated, but patients and staff shouldn’t notice much difference, the hospital’s chief financial officer says.
  Carillion, a British company with 6,000 workers in Canada, announced Monday morning that it’s going bust, owing the equivalent of $3.5 billion in debt and pension obligations and unable to get more credit.
  Besides the non-me
  
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• ICYMI: Former hostage Joshua Boyle awaits bail hearing bit.ly/2mxXjXK https://t.co/FzvLHegd9P

  15-01-2018 21:23 via twitter.com
  
  ICYMI: Former hostage Joshua Boyle awaits bail hearing bit.ly/2mxXjXK https://t.co/FzvLHegd9P
  
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• BREAKING: PM Trudeau releases statement following news that the hijab cutting attack didn't happen in Toronto https://t.co/fhNCEZUlOM

  15-01-2018 21:21 via twitter.com
  
  BREAKING: PM Trudeau releases statement following news that the hijab cutting attack didn't happen in Toronto https://t.co/fhNCEZUlOM
  
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• Police lay more charges against man accused of posing as Uber driver

  15-01-2018 21:18 via ottawacitizen.com
  Ottawa police have laid more charges against a man accused of posing as an Uber driver to sexually assault women and steal their credit and debit cards in the ByWard Market area.
  Sami Hassan Khreis, 37, was charged Monday with sexual assault causing bodily harm, flight from police and breach of probation on top of his original charges, which included sexual assault, fraud and theft.
  Police said more people have come forward since Khreis was arrested Friday, and that the charges stem from inciden
  
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• STORY: Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan dead at 46 bit.ly/2DdyrQj https://t.co/ZGLCo7Lfln

  15-01-2018 21:10 via twitter.com
  
  STORY: Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan dead at 46 bit.ly/2DdyrQj https://t.co/ZGLCo7Lfln
  
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• Ottawa man faces numerous sex assault and fraud-related charges bit.ly/2EIUoD0 https://t.co/lU0rcF2iAQ

  15-01-2018 21:08 via twitter.com
  
  Ottawa man faces numerous sex assault and fraud-related charges bit.ly/2EIUoD0 https://t.co/lU0rcF2iAQ
  
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• Ex-hostage Joshua Boyle makes Ottawa court appearance

  15-01-2018 19:37 via ottawacitizen.com
  Joshua Boyle, the former hostage now facing 15 charges including sexual assault, assault and forcible confinement, will remain in custody following a brief court appearance Monday.
  Boyle, 34, wearing an orange jail-issued jumpsuit, said little as he addressed court while his defence team set a date for a judicial pretrial hearing.
  Boyle has not yet had a bail hearing and remains in custody at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, where he appeared Monday by video link.
  His defence team, led by O
  
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• Canal stretch reopening to skaters Tuesday

  15-01-2018 19:20 via ottawacitizen.com
  Some cold-weather pain is skaters’ gain.
  The National Capital Commission announced Monday that the stretch of the Rideau Canal Skateway between Somerset Street and Hartwells Locks will reopen Tuesday at 8 a.m.
  But crews still need to keep working overnight, so stay off the ice for now, the NCC said.
  The skateway opened for the season Jan. 5 but closed late Jan. 10 due to warm temperatures, rain and heavy snow, which forms an insulating blanket that eats away at the ice surface, the NC
  
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• Section of the Rideau Canal Skateway reopens tomorrow, #ottnews twitter.com/NCC_Skateway/s…

  15-01-2018 19:18 via twitter.com
  Section of the Rideau Canal Skateway reopens tomorrow, #ottnews twitter.com/NCC_Skateway/s…
  
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• Four arrested in armed, masked home invasion

  15-01-2018 19:06 via ottawacitizen.com
  Four people from Pembroke are under arrest after the occupants of a Lake Dore Road home were allegedly assaulted by masked suspects armed with guns early Monday morning, Killaloe OPP says.
  One of the victims, a 64-year-old man, was taken to hospital with injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening. 
  Police said they responded to a robbery at the house in the Township of North Algona Wilberforce at 12:59 a.m. 
  “There is no risk to public safety,” Killaloe OP
  
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• SIU won't lay charges in death of man who fell from balcony

  15-01-2018 18:56 via ottawacitizen.com
  Ontario’s police watchdog has determined there are no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges against an Ottawa police officer after a man died falling from a balcony in September 2016.
  An investigation into the incident — which concluded with a 52-year-old man falling 12 storeys from a balcony — found no evidence to warrant criminal charges against the officer involved, said the Special Investigations Unit on Monday.
  Preliminary information suggested that Ottawa police
  
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• Ottawa man, 23, killed in North Glengarry crash

  15-01-2018 18:41 via ottawacitizen.com
  A 23-year-old Ottawa man died Saturday after a crash on Highway 417 in North Glengarry Township.
  Matthias Foks was pronounced dead at the hospital, Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry OPP said Monday.
  The cause of the single-vehicle crash was still under investigation but police said his eastbound car went off the road around 1:24 p.m., rolled over and landed on the centre median. It happened at mile marker 40 near the Maxville and St. Isidore exits.
  Anyone with information is asked to call the OPP a
  
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• Coming up at 12:30: Associate Professor @padams29 joins @_MarkSutcliffe on State of the Media: 📻: 1310 💻:… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  15-01-2018 18:27 via twitter.com
  Coming up at 12:30: Associate Professor@padams29 joins @_MarkSutcliffe on State of the Media: 📻: 1310 💻:… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• Kamadia: Oprah for president? Please, no

  15-01-2018 18:16 via ottawacitizen.com
  The word “arrogant” doesn’t automatically come to mind when most of us think of Oprah. But what better word would describe her if she were to run for President of the United States in 2020?
  One reason she should not be “actively thinking” – though she apparently is, according to unnamed friends in news reports – about running is both obvious and familiar to anyone who opposed the Trump presidency: He had absolutely no political or military experience.
  We
  
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• The @rick_gibbons Show for Monday, January 15th: 1:10: @SparksStreet 1:15: @JerryPDias 1:30: @AndyBlatchford 1:45:… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  15-01-2018 18:14 via twitter.com
  The @rick_gibbons Show for Monday, January 15th: 1:10: @SparksStreet1:15: @JerryPDias 1:30: @AndyBlatchford 1:45:… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• Today's letters: Saving Sparks Street – the good old days are gone

  15-01-2018 17:49 via ottawacitizen.com
  Time to open up Sparks Street for traffic
  Re: Let us try, once more, to save Sparks Street, Jan. 12.
  Sparks Street was a great and successful experiment in its day, but those days are long gone. You can’t revive a dead horse.
  Sparks Street will never be another Distillery district (because it’s not Toronto), and it will never be another Crescent Street (because it’s not Montréal). Ottawa itself has changed since the peak Spark Street days.
  Many Ottawans do not live downt
  
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• Ex-hostage Joshua Boyle tells judge 'I have no idea' what's happening during court appearance

  15-01-2018 17:44 via ottawacitizen.com
  Joshua Boyle, the former hostage now facing 15 charges including sexual assault, assault and forcible confinement, made a brief court appearance Monday.
  Boyle, 34, wearing an orange, jail-issued suit, said little as he addressed court while his defence team set a date for a judicial pretrial hearing.
  Boyle has not yet had a bail hearing and remains in custody. He appeared Monday by video link from the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre.
  When asked by a judge if he understood what was going on, he
  
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• Coming up at 11:45 @environmentca Senior Climatologist David Phillips joins @_MarkSutcliffe on extreme cold: 📻: 1… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  15-01-2018 17:40 via twitter.com
  Coming up at 11:45@environmentca Senior Climatologist David Phillips joins @_MarkSutcliffe on extreme cold:📻: 1… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• Coming up on the Power Lunch at noon: @Baileymariereid & @rick_gibbons join @_MarkSutcliffe in studio: 📻: 1310… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  15-01-2018 17:35 via twitter.com
  Coming up on the Power Lunch at noon: @Baileymariereid & @rick_gibbons join @_MarkSutcliffe in studio: 📻: 1310… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• "If we're offering advice, here's mine for Andrew Scheer and Justin Trudeau" @thejohnrobson joins @_MarkSutcliffe… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  15-01-2018 17:10 via twitter.com
  "If we're offering advice, here's mine for Andrew Scheer and Justin Trudeau"@thejohnrobson joins @_MarkSutcliffe… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• Coming up at 11: @MDFarren joins @_MarkSutcliffe on how economic theory can explain the Tim Hortons wage debate:… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  15-01-2018 16:53 via twitter.com
  Coming up at 11: @MDFarren joins @_MarkSutcliffe on how economic theory can explain the Tim Hortons wage debate:… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• #BREAKING: Toronto police say hijab-cutting incident involving 11-year-old girl last Friday did not happen. In a re… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  15-01-2018 16:50 via twitter.com
  #BREAKING: Toronto police say hijab-cutting incident involving 11-year-old girl last Friday did not happen. In a re… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• STORY: bit.ly/2mxXjXK twitter.com/cmaconthehill/…

  15-01-2018 16:47 via twitter.com
  STORY: bit.ly/2mxXjXK twitter.com/cmaconthehill/…
  
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• Coming up at 10:45: Dr. Bandy Lee of @YaleMed joins @_MarkSutcliffe to discuss the mental state of Donald Trump:… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  15-01-2018 16:38 via twitter.com
  Coming up at 10:45: Dr. Bandy Lee of @YaleMed joins @_MarkSutcliffe to discuss the mental state of Donald Trump:… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• Coming up at 10:30: @cmaconthehill joins @_marksutcliffe with a look ahead at the week in Canadian politics: 📻:… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  15-01-2018 16:25 via twitter.com
  Coming up at 10:30: @cmaconthehill joins @_marksutcliffe with a look ahead at the week in Canadian politics: 📻:… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• Carleton Refrigeration, Heating and Air Conditioning Ltd. wants to help you achieve your New Years Resolution by gi… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  15-01-2018 15:57 via twitter.com
  Carleton Refrigeration, Heating and Air Conditioning Ltd. wants to help you achieve your New Years Resolution by gi… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• Victim identified in fatal Killaloe crash

  15-01-2018 15:11 via ottawacitizen.com
  A 55-year-old man died at the scene when his pick-up truck rolled on Highway 60, Killaloe OPP said Monday.
  They identified the man killed in Saturday night’s crash as Steven Reid of Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards Township, about 150 km west of Ottawa.
  Officers responded to the collision at about 11:36 pm. and Highway 60 was closed between Round Lake Road and Mask Road.
  It reopened at about 9 a.m. Sunday.
  The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
  UPDATE:COLLISION: #Hwy60 rem
  
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• Pets perish in early-morning barn fire

  15-01-2018 14:59 via ottawacitizen.com
  A menagerie of family pets died in Dunrobin barn fire early Monday morning.
  The fire department got a 911 call at 4:56 a.m. reporting that a neighbour’s barn was on fire. Firefighters declared a working fire at 2987 Stonecrest Road when they found the metal-frame structure fully engulfed in flames.
  Three sheep, three lambs, two goats, one miniature horse and two cats perished, the fire department reported.
  An investigator was dispatched to the scene as fire crews awaited heavy eq
  
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• Martin: The biggest and best presidential birthday bash

  15-01-2018 14:00 via ottawacitizen.com
  Friday marks the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s inauguration. 
  Apparently the president is preparing what the White House is calling “My First Presidential Birthday Party.” Little is known about the planned festivities except for the following:
  • It will be the biggest and best first presidential inaugural birthday party ever.
  • The following individuals will not be invited: Kim Jong-un, James Comey, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Robert Mueller and Micha
  
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• Ontario's tough distracted driving laws one step closer to taking effect: bit.ly/2mwUNBd https://t.co/Z8S658U69v

  15-01-2018 13:55 via twitter.com
  
  Ontario's tough distracted driving laws one step closer to taking effect: bit.ly/2mwUNBd https://t.co/Z8S658U69v
  
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• Update: @OttFire says a barn fire near Dunrobin is now under control. Family pets lost in the blaze. twitter.com/District8Chief…

  15-01-2018 13:53 via twitter.com
  Update: @OttFire says a barn fire near Dunrobin is now under control. Family pets lost in the blaze. twitter.com/District8Chief…
  
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• Frostbite advisory still in effect but milder temperatures are in sight

  15-01-2018 13:52 via ottawacitizen.com
  Brrr! And a bright spot.
  Ottawa awoke Monday to -24 C – which feels more like -34 – but the temperature should rise to above zero by the weekend.
  Public health officials said a frostbite warning continued to be in effect Monday. Environment Canada predicts a high of -14 C, with easterly winds at 20 km/h making it feel much colder.
  Periods of snow begin late Monday evening with a total of 2 cm expected as winds drop off. The low is -16 C.
  Tuesday’s forecast is for clouds, a 40 p
  
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• Update from police: N/B lanes of St. Laurent closed at Belfast. twitter.com/OttawaPolice/s…

  15-01-2018 13:48 via twitter.com
  Update from police: N/B lanes of St. Laurent closed at Belfast. twitter.com/OttawaPolice/s…
  
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• Collision on St. Laurent Boulevard -- you're asked to avoid area. twitter.com/OttawaPolice/s…

  15-01-2018 13:47 via twitter.com
  Collision on St. Laurent Boulevard -- you're asked to avoid area. twitter.com/OttawaPolice/s…
  
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• Missile-alert mistake feeds doubts about a real emergency: bit.ly/2DbKspj https://t.co/pmefYYNKxe

  15-01-2018 13:27 via twitter.com
  
  Missile-alert mistake feeds doubts about a real emergency: bit.ly/2DbKspj https://t.co/pmefYYNKxe
  
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• Mezzanine collapse inside Jakarta Stock Exchange tower hurts nearly 80: bit.ly/2EJcUv4 https://t.co/eIPmpt0T9h

  15-01-2018 13:19 via twitter.com
  
  Mezzanine collapse inside Jakarta Stock Exchange tower hurts nearly 80: bit.ly/2EJcUv4 https://t.co/eIPmpt0T9h
  
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• POLL: Do you agree with Margaret Atwood that the #MeToo movement has the potential to go too far and become a form… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  15-01-2018 13:08 via twitter.com
  POLL: Do you agree with Margaret Atwood that the #MeToo movement has the potential to go too far and become a form… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• School boards seek raises for executives as province ends a six-year pay freeze

  15-01-2018 13:00 via ottawacitizen.com
  Ontario’s school boards are leading the way in breaking the province’s six-year freeze on executive salaries in the broader public sector that also includes colleges, universities and hospitals.
  Most of the province’s school boards have asked the province to increase the total pay they can award executives by as much as five per cent a year, an analysis by this newspaper shows. 
  That’s the maximum annual increase the province has warned it will approve, according to
  
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• Margaret Atwood takes to Twitter to defend herself after #MeToo op-ed: bit.ly/2EJcftI https://t.co/ft9H60mC2i

  15-01-2018 12:58 via twitter.com
  
  Margaret Atwood takes to Twitter to defend herself after #MeToo op-ed: bit.ly/2EJcftI https://t.co/ft9H60mC2i
  
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• Sears Canada closes its final stores after months-long liquidation: bit.ly/2B2JK7M https://t.co/wbDQaX4Hzl

  15-01-2018 12:47 via twitter.com
  
  Sears Canada closes its final stores after months-long liquidation:bit.ly/2B2JK7M https://t.co/wbDQaX4Hzl
  
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• Comedian Aziz Ansari responds to sex misconduct allegations: bit.ly/2mH8v5j https://t.co/laKQHCLAS9

  15-01-2018 12:28 via twitter.com
  
  Comedian Aziz Ansari responds to sex misconduct allegations: bit.ly/2mH8v5j https://t.co/laKQHCLAS9
  
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