Canada

A Regina veterinarian says a special program to provide free spaying and neutering services for animals in remote communities is crucial to controlling stray dogs, especially in light of recent tragedies in northern Saskatchewan.

VANCOUVER (AFP) - Canada is spending over two billion dollars on the Winter Olympics but just steps away from the venue for the opening ceremony sits one of the country's most notorious slums where drug addiction and prostitution are rife.

An MRI on the sprained left ankle of Ryan Getzlaf shows no significant ligament damage, and the Anaheim Ducks centre is optimistic that he can still compete in the Olympics for Team Canada.

OTTAWA - Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl says when a province pulls funding for a university, that's a signal to Ottawa that it might want to do the same.

HINTON, Alta. - A judge has brought down a three-year suspended sentence for an Alberta man who pleaded guilty to letting his horses run loose along two busy highways.

EDMONTON - Alberta's Progressive Conservative government plans to run a record deficit and deplete its savings account in a budget that forgoes the kind of deep spending cuts that fiscal hawks have been screeching for.

VICTORIA, B.C. - The B.C. government says it will use the province's post-Olympics momentum to drive changes that include offering tax breaks to families with children, reforming education and lobbying Ottawa to amend "Byzantine bureaucratic practices."

VANCOUVER, B.C. - The RCMP have concluded two tonnes of potentially explosive ammonium nitrate fertilizer that appeared to go missing on the eve of the Vancouver Winter Olympics was not stolen.

WHISTLER, Canada (AFP) - Fears of a weather-affected Winter Olympics deepened on Tuesday when warm, spring-like conditions prompted quickfire remedial work at the mountain resort of Whistler which will stage the blue riband skiing events.

VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Vancouver residents are starting to heed calls to switch from their cars to mass transit, but are still short of the goal organizers set to avoid transportation problems during the Winter Games.

VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Athletes at the Vancouver Games using performance-boosting substances for which there is so far no test still cannot sleep easily and will be caught by the testers, the International Olympic Committee said on Tuesday.

WHISTLER, Canada (AFP) - Canada's luge team were salivating Tuesday after news that their team sponsor has offered one million dollars to anyone winning gold at the Winter Olympics.

The New Brunswick government introduces legislation to create two autonomous corporations to run the English and French community college systems.

Toronto police have arrested four teens in an attempted armed robbery of another youth near Coxwell Avenue and Gerrard Street in the east end.

TTC Chair Adam Giambrone will stay in the race for Toronto's mayoralty despite his admission that he has been involved in an "inappropriate relationship with a young woman."

VANCOUVER, B.C. - The federal government is heading to the Supreme Court of Canada to try to shut down Vancouver's supervised drug-injection site, but British Columbia's health minister says Conservative politicians should get past their ideological opposition to the facility.

A P.E.I. farmer who raises hens was among several people who appeared in front of an agriculture committee hearing Tuesday to express concerns about the future of their businesses.

An historic, restored grain elevator that was months away from opening as a tourist attraction in Fleming, Sask., burned to the ground early Tuesday morning in what RCMP say is a suspicious fire.

Five days after dissolving the board of governors of First Nations University of Canada, new interim appointments were announced Tuesday by the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, which controls the institution.

Ontario police spearheading a broad investigation of a military commander facing murder and sexual assault charges said Tuesday they're fielding calls from other forces and families of victims of crime about so-called cold cases.

WINDSOR, Ont. - Transport Canada confirms it has held talks with the owner of the Ambassador Bridge, which spans the Detroit River to connect Windsor, Ont., with Detroit.

An air force corporal allegedly killed by her military base commander was remembered Tuesday as a woman with a big, beautiful smile and a silly sense of humour.

Toronto Argonauts co-owners David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski have completed an agreement to sell the franchise to B.C. Lions owner David Braley.

OTTAWA - A top political aide who blocked the release of a sensitive report requested under the Access to Information Act has acknowledged his error - and has been stripped of his duties reviewing such files, says his boss.

Online retailer Amazon.ca says Saskatoon is Canada's most romantic community, based on an analysis of sales data just before Valentine's Day.

Calgary police are asking for help from anyone who may have information about the city's latest homicide.

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - The oil-rich Canadian province of Alberta predicted its third-straight budget deficit on Tuesday, though it said it expects to return to surplus in two years.

A plan to change the face of downtown Edmonton with a publicly-financed arena as its centrepiece was unveiled Tuesday by an official from the Katz Group, which owns the Edmonton Oilers.

A northern Saskatchewan man who says he fired a warning shot at a fishing boat while trying to protect traditional First Nations areas has been found guilty of careless use of a firearm.