BC Liberal leader Christy Clark. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan HaywardPolitical buffs like me look for trends in elections and lately they've been depressing, like the shrinking voter turnout in national and provincial polls.

So here's some good news in the political trend department: Just over a third of the people elected to the B.C. legislature in last Tuesday's vote were women.

Of the 85 seats, 29 were won by women — 15 Liberals, 13 New Democrats and one Independent. That's just over one third, thought to be a record percentage in Canada.

The tally likely could grow to 30 seats when Liberal Premier Christy Clark, who lost her Vancouver seat, gets back into the legislature via a byelection. It depends on whether a male or female Liberal MLA steps aside in favour of Clark, CTV News points out.

Interestingly, although the NDP nominated more women than the Liberals —32 versus 30 — the incumbents got more of theirs elected. The Green Party nominated 13 women and the Conservatives seven, CTV News said.

With this election, British Columbia nips Quebec for

Read More »from Record number of women elected to B.C. legislature may be highest percentage in Canada

Toronto has a fascinating attraction these days, and it's not Mayor Rob Ford.

The doors opened Saturday to the Toronto Zoo's exhibit of giant pandas Da Mao and Er Shun, who arrived from China two months ago.

The cuddly-looking bears sent their first weeks in isolation before their official coming out Thursday in front of guests and dignitaries, including Ford, the National Post reports.

“Today is a proud day for all Canadians,” zoo CEO John Tracogna told the invitees.

The bears were serenaded by a flautist and a children's choir who sang the Chinese and Canadian national anthems.

[ Related: Giant pandas from China make debut at Toronto Zoo today ]

The pandas took all the hoopla in stride, lounging in their enclosure. Male Da Mao munched on imported bamboo shoots imported, while female Er Shun stayed in an area painted to look like the bears' mountainous habitat in China, the Post said.

Maria Franke, the zoo's curator of mammals, told CTV News the pandas each eat about 20 kilograms of bamboo

Read More »from Cuddly pandas go on display at the Toronto Zoo this weekend

The ongoing investigation into the death of Ontario father Tim Bosma and the man who has been charged with his murder has led investigators down several dark paths in recent days.

The announcement that Dellen Millard has been charged with first-degree murder in Bosma's death has led police to reconsider two other cases – one involving a missing woman who is said to have been last in contact with the young pilot, and the apparent suicide of Millard's own father.

CTV News reports that police are investigating a link between Millard and a 23-year-old woman who went missing last July.

Laura Babcock was last seen in Toronto last summer. Her former boyfriend told the network she was last known to be in the company of Millard and her phone records showed she had called him 13 times between June 30 and July 3, when the phone suddenly stopped being used.

[ Related: Tim Bosma public memorial Wednesday in Hamilton, Ont. ]

Toronto police told CTV Toronto's Tamara Cherry that nothing had seemed

Read More »from Tim Bosma murder makes police reconsider old investigations tied to suspect

A recent incident involving an Enbridge Inc. crew working on the Northern Gateway project and a B.C. First Nation provides a hint of what the Calgary-based energy company can expect if the oil sands pipeline is ever approved.

The Canadian Press reports the Gitga'a First Nation turned away an Enbridge spill-response survey crew earlier this month. It won't be the last time work on the as-yet unapproved mega-project is tripped up.

The re-election of the resource-friendly Liberals in this week's B.C. election may have let Northern Gateway's backers breathe a little easier.

“I think British Columbians have spoken quite clearly that economic development and economic prosperity is a priority, but not at the expense of the environment,” Enbridge spokesman Ivan Giesbrecht told the Globe and Mail after Tuesday's vote.

“You know, that has been our message all along as well, and we are certainly committed to working with the Liberal government to move that forward.”

Premier Christy Clark set five

Read More »from Northern Gateway crew turned away from B.C. First Nations territory shows pipeline project faces tough road

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford called reports that he had been videotaped smoking what appears to be a crack pipe “ridiculous” on Friday in a brief statement dismissing the allegations that he may have used illegal drugs.

U.S. news site Gawker and the Toronto Star have both published stories that claim reporters were shown a video of the mayor smoking from what appears to be a crack pipe. In both cases, reporters suggest the video shows Ford heating the pipe with a lighter and inhaling.

Ford started the morning by greeting a cadre of news cameras outside his Etobicoke home claiming the accusation was ridiculous. He reiterated himself during a brief press scrum at city hall.

"Like I said this morning, these allegations are ridiculous. It is another story with respect to the Toronto Star going after me. That is all I have to say right now," Ford said.

But while Ford was painting this as another attack by the Toronto Star, both news groups that made the allegations against him were quick with

Read More »from Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denies drug video allegations as world watches

Say what you will about the firing of Ontario Lottery and Gaming chairman Paul Godfrey and the resignation of its entire board of governors, but at the very least it suggests the province’s once-ambitious plans to modernize and expand the gambling industry have been put on the back-burner.

Godfrey was dismissed Thursday evening, just hours after Toronto Mayor Rob Ford accused the province of dragging its feet on plans to build a casino in the city’s downtown. A downtown Toronto casino was to be the jewel in the crown of a massive OLG modernization that was said to include as many as 29 new casinos and bring more revenue into provincial coffers.

The Canadian Press reports that Godfrey's dismissal triggered the entire OLG board to resign in protest, leaving the corporation completely leaderless just as massive plans for expansion were coming to a head.

Godfrey was appointed head of OLG in 2010 under former premier Dalton McGuinty, who had indicated he wanted the government-run gaming

Read More »from Ontario’s gambling modernization plan in question after Paul Godfrey fired

Former Manitoba MLA and MP Elijah Harper has died at the age of 64.

Harper was instrumental in stopping the 1990 Meech Lake Accord by famously holding an eagle feather in the Manitoba legislature and saying "No" in his refusal to support the accord while the clocked ticked down. Scuttling the accord blocked the amendment package negotiated to gain Quebec's acceptance of the Constitution Act of 1982.

Harper protested that the proposed accord was negotiated in 1987 without the input of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples.

[ Related: 'No:' Elijah Harper, who scuttled Meech Lake, dies at age 64 ]

The accord required ratification by all 10 provincial legislatures and Parliament, and Harper's action prevented Manitoba from doing so before the deadline.

Newfoundland followed by cancelling its free vote in the legislature.

Harper was the first status Indian elected to the Manitoba legislature where he served from 1981 to 1992. That included a two-year stint as minister of native affairs in former NDP

Read More »from Elijah Harper, MP who stopped Meech Lake Accord, dead at 64

Canada's largest-circulation newspaper and one of America's most-read news sites have both come out claiming they have watched a video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking from what appeared to be a crack pipe.

News and gossip blog Gawker broke the news late Thursday night, claiming that a staff member visited Toronto specifically to meet with a man who claims to have shot the video. The Toronto Star declared a short time later that two of their reporters had also met with a man and watched the video. An exclusive was published on the newspaper's front page today.

The allegations have not been proven and Ford allies have urged the public not to jump to conclusions. As neither organization has obtained a copy of the video, apparently being shopped with a six-figure price tag, the accuracy of the reports cannot be verified.

Both reports appear to have been written and published independent of one another and share some key similarities and some differences.

[ Related: Video of Rob Ford

Read More »from How the Gawker and Toronto Star allegations against Mayor Rob Ford stack up