Federally regulated employees in Canada will no longer be forced into retirement because of their age, thanks to new legislation signed into law last week.

According to an article in the National Post, the Harper government has "quietly" repealed the section of the Canadian Human Rights Act that required workers to retire at age 60 or 65 in industries such as banking, communications, and transport.

"We're not born with date stamps saying our fitness for work expires at 65," David Langtry, acting chief commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission said in a statement of support of the new rules.

"Age discrimination is discrimination, pure and simple."

Encouraging people to work longer was also one of the recommendations in a report to the Harper government, last summer, about the problems associated with Canada's aging population.

Specifically, the report talked about the rising cost of health care and retirement benefits in the face of a shrinking number of working-age

Quebec's Premier Jean Charest gives an opening speech at a convention for members of Quebec's Liberal Party convention at the congress center in Quebec City October 21, 2011. REUTERS/Mathieu BelangerHeading into the holiday season, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall is the envy of his counterparts across Canada.

According to an Angus Reid  survey released Monday, Wall, who was recently elected to a second term in office, has the highest approval rating of all premiers in the country at 71 per cent.

He is followed by Newfoundland and Labrador's Kathy Dunderdale (60 per cent), Alberta's Alison Redford (53 per cent) , and Manitoba's Greg Selinger (50 per cent).

4 out of the top 5 most popular leaders are conservative in philosophy.

The two premiers hoping for a Christmas miracle to reinvigorate their political careers are Ontario's Dalton McGuinty and Quebec's Jean Charest.

Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty, who recently won his third straight mandate, albeit with a minority, finished eighth on the list.  Only 38 per cent of those living Ontario approve of the Liberal leader's performance.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest, who is mired in a succession of corruption and cronyism

Blair RobertsonWhen it came to federal politics in Canada, 2011 was an eventful year. There was an election, a new majority government and the death of NDP leader Jack Layton.

What will 2012 bring?

Yahoo! Canada News spoke with psychic medium Blair Robertson to find out. Robertson is an accomplished psychic whose past predictions have been featured by news outlets across North America.  While he admits that not all of his forecasts have come true, Robertson did accurately predict Japan's March earthquake and tsunami.

Here are his Canadian political predictions for 2012:

Prediction #1: Quebec MP Thomas Mulcair will win the NDP leadership race.

But, with Jack Layton gone, the party will spiral into disarray. The NDP will become much weaker from the upcoming infighting and backstabbing from the leadership race.

The Liberals will be the beneficiaries of the NDP crises.

Prediction #2: The Conservatives will maintain their level of support in 2012 but, at some point during the year, will be rocked by a sex

The wreck of the Maud, a ship that once belonged to Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, sits partially submerged in the waters near Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. A Norwegian group wants to bring the wreck to Amundsen's home country. Ottawa has turned down a request for a federal export permit for a sunken Arctic ship once sailed the first European adventurer to travel the Northwest Passage and the first person to reach the South Pole.

As the story goes, Norway's Roald Amundsen intentionally stranded the Maud in an Arctic ice pack in 1918, figuring the vessel would drift with the current to the North Pole. Unfortunately,  the ship became stuck and, after a few years, a bankrupt Amundsen was forced to sell it to Hudson's Bay Company, the National Post explains.

The fur-trading giant renamed the Maud to the Baymaud and used it as a floating warehouse and radio station before it sank in Cambridge Bay in 1930.

Then, in 1990, HBC transferred the wreck to Norwegian authorities for $1 and they handed the deed to them in June.

In August, the National Post wrote that the Maud Returns Home salvage group was planning a multi-million dollar expedition to raise the wreck with special balloons. Backed by Norwegian investors, the

In a preemptive act to protect his reputation, a Toronto-area politician is coming clean about his mental illness.

In a statement published on his website Thursday, Thornhill/Markham Ward 2 city councillor Howard Shore said he wanted to publicize his mental health struggles before the Toronto Star sensationalized personal incidents that were "very embarrassing."

"I have struggled with mental health issues for some time. It has, and continues to be, a tremendous burden for me and my family. As a result of my illness, I have been involved in some incidents which are very embarrassing to me and my family. I am receiving help from medical professionals and taking prescribed medication. I am also taking all appropriate steps, with medical support, to ensure that I remain worthy of the trust of the people of Markham," he wrote.

"The Toronto Star is planning to publicize the difficulties I have had over the years. That is their right. I am concerned however, that The Star will sensationalize

Interim New Democratic Party leader Nycole Turmel speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa December 12, 2011. REUTERS/Chris WattieFor the NDP, the parliamentary session that ended Thursday is one to forget.

Aside from MP Charlie Angus's 'heroics' in bringing attention to the Attawapiskat situation, the New Democrat caucus has failed miserably in its efforts to hold the Conservative government to account.

While several of the party's veteran MPs are busy campaigning for the party's leadership, the remaining caucus of young and inexperienced members have been trampled on by the Conservative majority.

"Government bill after government bill — on crime, on dismantling the wheat board, on ending the long-gun registry — has been pushed through Parliament this fall with limited debate and no consideration given to amendments proposed from the other side of the House, noted Gloria Galloway of the Globe and Mail.

Moreover, those MPs who are running for the leadership have so far failed to excite the electorate in any meaningful way.

In an article he wrote for the Huffington Post, former Harper advisor Keith Beardsley

If this whole 'politics thing' doesn't work out for Liberal MP Rodger Cuzner, he may have a career as a poet.

The MP from Nova Scotia, who became a YouTube sensation in March for his rhyming yarn about the Bev Oda affair, stood in the House, Thursday, to share his latest work - 'Twas the week before Christmas (on Parliament Hill).'

Text: (reproduced from Liberal Party of Canada website)

"Twas the week before Christmas and all over the Hill

The humbuggish Tories were imposing their will.

The stockings in Muskoka were stuffed to the brim

But life for First Nations remained woefully grim.

And at the North Pole, Santa's problems abound

There was much work to do but no workers around.

How can we do Christmas with no reindeer or elves?

The sleigh is a wreck, there's no toys on the shelves.

Costs have just spiraled, the elves threaten strike

They won't work this Christmas without a pay hike.

Tory payroll taxes have taken their toll

Now unemployed elves populate the North Pole.

Federal money

Justin Trudeau apologizes for swearing following Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, December 14, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean KilpatrickDespite claims he doesn't want the job, Justin Trudeau is most Canadians' top choice to be the next leader of the federal Liberals.

An Angus Reid poll conducted after the May 2 election found that across the country, almost half of the respondents (48 per cent) believe Trudeau would be a good choice to lead the Grits.

Judging by the mostly forgiving responses to the newly coined 'shiddle diddle' incident in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Trudeau's popularity has just risen.

As reported in the Toronto Star, Trudeau lost his cool when Conservative environment minister Peter Kent scolded an NDP critic for failing to attend a climate change conference in South Africa.

Outraged because Kent had refused to allow Opposition critics to travel as part of Canada's delegation, Trudeau leaned forward and hollered across the aisle: "Oh, you piece of sh--!"

Trudeau did apologize and said he behaved in an "unparliamentary manner."

For the most part, however, the incident casts Trudeau in a