OTTAWA - Just weeks before it introduces divisive same-sex marriage legislation, the Martin government has launched an urgent study into the legal and social ramifications of polygamy.

Critics say the study underscores a deep concern in the federal government that legalized homosexual marriage may lead to constitutional challenges from minority groups who claim polygamy as a religious right.

It also suggests the government is suspicious that multiple marriage is more commonplace in Canada than is widely realized.

[. . . . ] Sayd Mumtaz Ali, president of the Canadian Society of Muslims, said he opposes same-sex marriage, but said if it is legalized in Canada, polygamists would also be within their rights to challenge for their choice of family life to be legalized.

It's amazing what you see in the subject lines of e-mail these days. Internet drugs, cheap Rolexes, penis enlargement therapies, requests for research proposals on polygamy. Yes, you read that last one right. The other day the bureaucracy at my university (McGill) forwarded a request from the Policy Research Fund at Status of Women Canada (minister: Liza Frulla) requesting proposals for research into polygamy. "This subject has been identified as an urgent issue requiring immediate policy research," said the covering letter. [. . . . ]

Guards with the Canadian Border Services Agency say that in the last three weeks, cars have whizzed past them at the Lacolle border crossing between Quebec and New York state.

Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle is Quebec's busiest border crossing, and the Canadian government says it is "an important link between Montréal and the and the American East."

Cars coming from Canada going into the United States illegally are likely to be chased down by police, or even a Blackhawk helicopter patrolling the border between Quebec and New York state. U.S. security has been stepped up since 9/11.

But cross back into Quebec without stopping, and border guards say chances are, you'll get through.

The guards say some days are worse than others. On New Year's Eve, they say five cars ran the border. On Boxing Day, it was a bus running through their check point.

Canadian border guards say they have the authority to arrest and detain, but they don't have the equipment or the mandate to make a vehicle chase. They would have to call the police for such events.

Last year the RCMP suspended its routine patrols along Quebec's border with the U.S. [. . . . ]

The six are suspected of having come into the United States from Mexico, and may have headed to New York and then to Boston, the target of a planned attack that could involve a lethal substance, possibly chemical or biological or explosive, three law enforcement officials briefed on the threat said.

The tip about the threat was given to the FBI by only one person, the officials said, and it had not been corroborated as of this afternoon.[. . . . ]

Samir Vincent entered the guilty pleas to four charges Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York, including engaging in prohibited financial transactions with Iraq, acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government and making false statements on his income tax returns.

During his plea, Vincent implied that he was aware of an unnamed U.N. official who may have been bribed by the Iraqi regime.

Vincent told Judge Denny Chin that in return for millions of dollars in cash payments and Iraq's permission to buy its oil, he lobbied U.S. and U.N. officials to have stringent international economic sanctions repealed.

He did not register as an agent for a foreign government, Vincent told the court, because "I understood that the Iraqi government did not want some of my activities on their behalf to become public."

In describing his deal with Baghdad, Vincent said that he and others were to receive millions of dollars once the oil for food program was successfully launched in 1996. [. . . . ]

PROVINCIAL officials are working to get immediate OHIP coverage for the thousands of tsunami survivors expected to arrive in Canada soon. As many as 5,000 people are being fast-tracked and are expected to arrive in March or April, immigration officials said.

Some 2,500 of the immigrants are expected to remain in Toronto with family members, organizers said.

Community organizers said the immigrants will require urgent health or dental care. [. . . . ]

There is a shortage of doctors in the province of Ontario. The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) estimates that the province is short approximately 2,000 family practitioners. The problem is especially acute in smaller centres and rural areas.

Dr. Ken Milne, a family physician in Goderich Ontario says that during the past two years, six of the 13 doctors in his area have left and he estimates that over half of the population of 7,500 is without the services of a family doctor.

Milne is urging his fellow practitioners to refuse to treat Liberal MPPs and replace the parliamentarian/patients with those who otherwise do not have the services of a family doctor.[. . . .]

There is nothing unethical or unprofessional in Milne’s suggestion. He is not advocating refusing treatment to a Liberal Member of Parliament in emergency situations, something that inevitably puts him at odds many other residents of Ontario. Doctors are not required to treat each and every patient that seeks their services. [. . . . ]

Despite all the preaching to the contrary, Canada does have a two-tiered medical system with the second tier located south of the border.

LONGER WAIT times and dirtier hospitals may be the future for patients as the hospital sector seeks to eliminate 8,700 positions over the next two years. Ontario Hospital Association president Hilary Short said there could be longer waiting times for services outside the five areas protected by the province -- cardiac care, cataracts, hip and knee replacement, MRI/CT scans and cancer treatment. [. . . . ]

A TORONTO immigrant group is trying to overturn a federal policy against parental sponsorships. Eugenia Yakhnin, 48, of Toronto, said under Judy Sgro, who stepped down as immigration minister last week, the number of parents being admitted to Canada plummeted from 19,300 in 2003 to 6,800 this year.

[. . . . ] Yakhnin said many immigrant women cannot work because their families aren't here to look after their children. [. . . . ]

Jessica Krawchuck's ordeal began Monday afternoon when the 15-year-old, who has learning disabilities, was upset over an incident and left Markham District High School near Hwy. 7 and McCowan Rd., police said.

[. . . . ] Another 97 shelter beds were kept open in Toronto last night as street patrols worked to help bring homeless people inside.

[. . . . ] Morden, who came out of retirement to lead the probe under the chairmanship of former U.S. Reserve Bank head Paul Volcker, was former Canadian deputy foreign affairs minister and ex head honcho of Canada’s main spy agency, the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS).

"…Like most Canadians, he regarded the UN as key to the nation’s cherished middle-power role as a peacemaker," Handelman wrote.

No polls exist showing that "most Canadians" see the UN as the key to Canada’s cherished role as a peacemaker. More likely, most Canadians do not know or even care what the UN is.

Morden, interviewed by the Star columnist in "a relaxed conversation over café au lait at a crowded New York brasserie", was waxing sanctimonious. [. . . . ]

All right, I've had enough. I am tired of reading distorted and grossly exaggerated stories from major news organizations about the "failures" in the war in Iraq. "The most trusted name in news" and a long list of others continue to misrepresent the scale of events in Iraq. Print and video journalists are covering only a fraction of the events in Iraq and, more often than not, the events they cover are only negative.

The inaccurate picture they paint has distorted the world view of the daily realities in Iraq. The result is a further erosion of international support for the United States' efforts there, and a strengthening of the insurgents' resolve and recruiting efforts while weakening our own. Through their incomplete, uninformed and unbalanced reporting, many members of the media covering the war in Iraq are aiding and abetting the enemy.

The fact is the Coalition is making steady progress in Iraq, but not without ups and downs. So why is it that no matter what events unfold, good or bad, the media highlights mostly the negative aspects of the event? The journalistic adage, "If it bleeds, it leads," still applies in Iraq, but why only when it's American blood? [. . . . ]