Quebec's government is calling for Montreal's interim mayor to step down after he was arrested and charged in connection to a massive corruption investigation.

Michael Applebaum was arrested and charged in connection with improper dealings between public officials and members of Quebec’s construction industry. He faces 14 charges including fraud, breach of trust, conspiracy and municipal corruption.

Jean-François Lisée, Quebec's minister responsible for Montreal, said after Applebaum was charged that he should step down and allow council to select an interim mayor.

There is some sense to that. After all, Applebaum was named interim mayor last November after his predecessor stepped down amid the early stages of corruption allegations.

[ Related: Montreal's interim mayor, a self-styled corruption fighter, faces fraud charges ]

Anti-corruption investigators said Applebaum’s arrest, and the arrest of two other public officials, came following a months-long investigation into two real estate Read More »from Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum, charged in corruption investigation, urged to step down

Saturday marks the second anniversary of Vancouver's Stanley Cup riot, when thousands of drunken sore losers rampaged through the city's downtown after the Canucks dropped Game 7 to the Boston Bruins.

British Columbia's government auto insurer (ICBC) is marking the occasion with a massive lawsuit against 46 people who they finger for trashing dozens of vehicles.

"ICBC has a responsibility to protect our customers’ premium dollars and is taking legal action to recover the costs of these acts of vandalism to ensure they are not passed on to our customers," spokesman Adam Grossman said in a news release Friday.

In its statement of claim, ICBC says it paid out more than $500,000 for damage to 77 vehicles, several of which had to be written off. The rioters were quite egalitarian, smashing and torching everything from plebian Hyundais and Mazdas to luxury BMWs and Audis, up to a 2006 Bentley Continental that sustained more than $60,000 in damage.

[ Related: Stanley Cup riot prompts ICBC to file

Read More »from On second anniversary of Stanley Cup riots, B.C. auto insurer suing vandals for $500k

Aneel Samra is a Sikh who can't currently play games in Quebec because he wears a turban.It was expected that Quebec Soccer Federation’s confounding ban on turbans in soccer would end with an apology. But did anyone expect a sincere apology?

One day after the sport’s international body sided against Quebec’s decision to refuse entry into soccer leagues to anyone who wears a turban or other religious headgear, the Quebec Soccer Federation (QSF) announced that it would abandon its policy.

Brigitte Frot, director-general of the Quebec Soccer Federation told a press conference on Saturday that she was relieved the controversy could be put to rest and apologized for poorly communicating the reason for the ban.

“We needed instructions and clarifications from FIFA. We felt relieved with respect to safety in terms of the parameters of the wearing of these scarves. Therefore the ban on the wearing of turbans is lifted,” Frot said, through a CBC News translator.

“We were forced into a discussion on religious issues when we were only seeking information about an issue involving the

Read More »from Quebec Soccer Federation officially abandons turban ban

A review into the death of Rehtaeh Parsons, a Nova Scotia teen who killed herself after being subjected to cyberbulling following a "traumatic" incident at a house party, makes more than a dozen recommendations on how the school board should change but doesn't really address the issue of Parsons herself.

The Halifax Regional School Board released its external review on Friday and, as promised, it did not dig into what caused the 17-year-old girl to take her own life. Her death was considered to be more of a MacGuffin - a plot point that spurred the board's desire for change.

Of the issue that preceded Rehtaeh's death, the report describes it as "something dramatic and traumatic."  At question was how the school board should have handled what followed.

"Rehtaeh was a young woman of great promise whose needs were not met. The tragedy of her death and the surrounding media attention were the catalysts for this review," the document reads.

[ Related: Rehtaeh Parsons report calls for review of

Read More »from Review into Rehtaeh Parsons death offers only a glimpse at the problem

The path to controlling marijuana in Canada could soon lead the federal government through a jungle of potted plants tucked into basements, particularly in British Columbia.

New federal regulations announced this week are meant to better control medical production, stopping legal grow operations in private homes.

But according to reports, implementing the changes could mean dismantling an underground industry in B.C., whereby some legal growers are supporting their families selling weed on the streets.

Thirty minutes on Skype with a doctor launched a B.C. man's marijuana business that nets him about $120,000 a year, a licensed grower told the CBC.

[ Related: Medical marijuana lets B.C. growers earn thousands on streets ]

His basement full of marijuana plants is perfectly legal under the "Personal Use Production" licence the government issued him and thousands of other Canadians. But then, police say, many of these growers sell the drug to a middle man, who sells it to others illegally.

For

Read More »from Have Canada’s medical marijuana regulations grown into a mess of tangled weed(s)?

When asked whether an alleged recording of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking from a crack pipe was connected to a massive drug and guns bust in Toronto this week, the city's police chief said forcefully and unequivocally that he would not comment on that.

Chief Bill Blair told reporters there was a time and a place to discuss the evidence gathered in Project Traveller, a year-long investigation into the gang scene in Toronto's Etobicoke neighbourhood. That place was court; that time was at trial.

"The Criminal Code makes it an offence to disclose that information. So I’m certainly not going to confirm or deny that," Blair said at a Thursday press conference.

His words came as CTV News sited high-level sources that confirmed the tape was embroiled in the massive investigation. The network reported that wiretaps captured conversations surrounding the video in question well before reports of its existence became public.

[ Related: Massive Toronto police raid tied to Rob Ford crack video scandal

Read More »from What Toronto’s police chief didn’t say about Mayor Rob Ford

And now, Quebec really does stand alone in its stance against turbans being worn in the game of soccer. But how much longer the Quebec Soccer Federation will hold onto its ban on religious headgear is now in question, after the federation announced it was relieved the sport's international body clarified its stance on the issue.

The Canadian Press reports that the Canadian Soccer Association has sent a letter to its provincial counterparts saying that it reached out to FIFA, the game's international body, and the International Football Association Board and that both have authorized the wearing of male head covers.

The Canadian Press writes:

The letter says the headwear must be the same colour as the jersey, look professional, must not be attached to the jersey, and not pose any danger to any players.

It was FIFA's hesitancy to allow head gear that the Quebec Soccer Federation hid behind when it outlawed the use of turbans in youth soccer.

[ Related: FIFA says it is OK with Sikh head

Read More »from Quebec Soccer Federation claims 'relief' that FIFA announced opposition to turban ban

Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion.If Hazel McCallion, the 92-year-old mayor of Mississauga, Ont., ever leaves office, the legend goes that it be on the back of a winged unicorn as trumpets blare and citizens cheer.

And that it would come at the whim of McCallion herself, the mythical municipal leader who has held the position for 34 years. Fantasy and legends aside, Hurricane Hazel is a political force that has shaped Mississauga since she was first elected in 1978. In her last election she received 76 per cent of the vote.

On Friday, Canada learned that McCallion would survive a conflict of interest charge, despite receiving a severe dressing down by the ruling judge.

The Canadian Press reports that Justice John Sproat accused McCallion of being “willfully blind” when she participated in a 2007 vote that could have saved her son’s development company some serious money.

[ Related: McCallion denies knowing vote would help son ]

Allegations against McCallion suggest she voted in 2007 to help Peter McCallion's company World

Read More »from Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion survives damning conflict of interest ruling