Blog Posts by Steve Mertl

Clayworth's life has been a nightmare since he and Yan broke up, he told CBC News.The suicides of teenagers Rehtaeh Parsons and Amanda Todd, among others, have demonstrated the devastation that cyber bullying can cause.

The Internet has also become fertile ground for life-ruining cyber stalkers, whose victims might not be driven to kill themselves but whose lives are disrupted and even ruined.

The case of Vancouver teacher Lee David Clayworth gives us some idea of how vulnerable people are to cyber stalking, and how ineffective the legal system seems to be in countering it.

The CBC News Go Public unit details how Clayworth, who was teaching in Malaysia, was hounded relentlessly by his former girlfriend. Not even a contempt-of-court ruling and the threat of a stint in a Malaysian jail stopped Lee Ching Yan from posting bogus accusations of unsavoury and even criminal behaviour about him on the web.

Clayworth's life has been a nightmare since he and Yan broke up, he told CBC News. He said Yan's false claims about him have made it hard to find work.

"I feel not only shut

What is it about Canadians and big shiny new hockey rinks?

The sturm und drang over plans for a new arena complex in downtown Edmonton highlights our obsession with fancy sports palaces to house our national winter pastime.

According to the Edmonton Journal, the future of the $460-million project — more than $600 million when all the bells and whistles are included — is in doubt because of skepticism over funding.

A new report recommends city council green-light the project next week and deal later with an estimated $69-million shortfall in financing from other levels of government.

“It will be an unfortunate thing to do, but it might come to that, that we might not be able to proceed with the downtown arena,” Edmonton Coun. Amarjeet Sohi told the Journal.

“Not getting a commitment from the province at this time, up to the writing of the report, I don’t see how we will proceed with it.”

Edmonton needed $100 million from the Alberta government, the Journal reported. It got $55 million. It

Canadian Forces. CBC photoA Canadian army officer who dodged charges of making pornography more than a decade ago is ensnared in another sexual accusation.

Maj. David Yurczyszyn, commander of the Canadian Forces training base at Wainwright, Alta., has been relieved of command and charged with one count of sexual assault under the Criminal Code, as well as drunkenness and disgraceful conduct under the National Defence Act, the military said in a news release.

The alleged offences took place on Nov. 11, 2012, Remembrance Day, but no details of what led to the charges were released.

“All members of the Canadian Armed Forces are expected to conduct themselves in an appropriate and professional manner at all times,” Maj. Kevin Cadman, deputy commanding officer of the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service, said in the news release.

“The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service and the Military Police consider these charges to be significant and have taken action accordingly.”

The charges remain to be proven

LiveScience.com photoScrewing up military procurement contacts is as Canadian as shinny and maple syrup.

Word that there are questions surrounding the Conservative government's program for new Arctic patrol ships, including of course the cost, should startle no one.

You can go back a century to the infamous Ross rifle that Canadian soldiers took into the trenches in the First World War, only to find the mud made them jam and worse — the bolts sometimes fell out or even flew back and hit soldiers in the face when they fired.

Flash forward to more recent history and you've got the Liberals' purchase of second-hand British submarines that have been in the repair dock more than at sea, the endlessly delayed replacement for the navy's ancient Sea King helicopters and of course the budget-busting F-35 stealth fighter program.

It is surprising that the government appears to be circling the wagons on questions about the plan to build eight ice-capable offshore patrol vessels, just as it did when questions were first

Ezra Levant of the Sun News Network (Yahoo Canada News)I guess we shouldn't be surprised that an organization known for taking things to extremes would put a gun to its own head, hoping to get its way.

Sun News Network is warning federal regulators that it will have to close its doors unless it gets a guaranteed spot on the most broadly available tier of TV channels, The Canadian Press reports.

The network, owned by media giant Quebecor, had its final appearance Thursday before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on its application for mandatory carriage.

Sun News is one of almost two dozen new and existing applicants that want the CRTC to require cable and satellite providers to put them in the basic tier of channels, which helps guarantee a larger revenue stream regardless of audience size.

But its bid by far has garnered the most attention because of the right-leaning network's resolutely free-enterprise point of view. The irony that it's now asking the broadcast regulator to compel viewers to pay for the

Flag of the International Civil Aviation Organization. (Image courtesy ICAO/United Nations)The Conservative government's positions at the United Nations on Israel and Palestine could yield some serious consequences for Canada.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper moved Ottawa from being a broker in the Middle East to lining up with the Israel's staunchest allies on issues affecting the region.

It may have helped cost Canada a seat on the UN Security Council in 2010 and now potentially threatens the transfer of an important UN agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), out of Montreal where it's been headquartered since 1947.

According to the Globe and Mail, the Persian Gulf state of Qatar wants ICAO's offices moved there. It's trying to line up enough votes among the 191 member states to affect the transfer when the organization holds its 38th assembly beginning in late September. It needs support from 115 states to achieve the 60 per cent margin required to force the move.

The Globe said some Arab states may back the bid as a way of punishing Canada for its stance

Treasury Board President Tony Clement

The Conservative government's plan to revamp its employee job-performance structure could threaten one of the cornerstones of working in the public service, job security.

The Globe and Mail reports Treasury Board President Tony Clement wants to strengthen the "performance management" system used to assess employees.

“I think it is perfectly reasonable for management to work with an underperformer, try to get him or her up to performance standards and, if that fails after successive tries, then I think that we have the right to say that perhaps this job isn’t for you,” Clement told the Globe.

"That goes to the management function that hasn’t been looked at recently, to be honest with you.”

You could interpret that to mean if an employee doesn't measure up under the system Clement's musing about, they could be fired.

Historically, public servants earned lower salaries than their private-sector counterparts but the trade-off was job security and the prospect of a pension at the end of a long

Even in a city becoming inured to public gang violence, the execution of Sandip Duhre in the busy restaurant of a posh downtown Vancouver hotel last year was shocking.

Now police have confirmed the man they believe was a key player in the hit is under arrest in Greece and awaiting extradition.

Vancouver police announced Wednesday that Rabih (Robby) Alkhalil, 25, will face a first-degree murder charge for what they termed a "contract killing" once he's returned to Canada.

The only question is where he'll be tried first, since Alkhalil is also facing murder charges in another gang hit in Toronto last summer.

Duhre, who was part of a rival drug gang, was shot several times as he was eating at the Sheraton Wall Centre's lobby restaurant in January 2012. The murder was witnessed by dozens of patrons and members of Cuba's women's national soccer team who were staying at the hotel.

"We believe this was a well-planned public execution involving a coordinated and deliberate effort to carry out the