MPs return to Parliament today, with election on their minds

An election is a year or more away, yet when Parliament is back in business Monday it will be hard to interpret any activity in a way that isn't somehow related to the vote scheduled in 2015.

Expect to see a few new distractions. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau will be showcasing his new star MP Chrystia Freeland prominently on his front bench. One source of entertainment for political observers will be how she performs in question period.

Former New Democrat MP Bruce Hyer, who moved to the Green Party following a stint as an independent MP, will be sitting beside his leader, Elizabeth May, bringing the Green Party's total caucus to two.

But the main government theme of the winter sitting is the 2014 budget — rumoured to be early, perhaps coming down within weeks — that will prepare the ground for the election a year later.

There is only one goal the budget must achieve: to be in balance in time for the Conservatives' election campaign.  Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has been sounding bullish lately about eliminating the deficit in 2015. That will trigger some of the party's 2011 election promises, which hinged on the budget being in balance.

As Parliament returns Monday, politicians will be preparing the ground for the next election expected in 2015. (Patrick Doyle/Canadian Press)

"The indications are that the fiscal situation is better than they've let it be known," said Kul Bhatia, who teaches economics at Western University.

"This is based on some information that they have that is not in the public domain — that's my hunch."

What also might be hidden in the budget, says Nelson Wiseman, who teaches political science at the University of Toronto, is new legislation that has nothing to do with spending. Environmental changes and new rules about selecting Supreme Court judges were tucked away in the voluminous pages of last year's omnibus budget implementation bill.

"It's disrespectful of Parliament," Wiseman said. "But what the last election demonstrated, when (then Liberal leader) Michael Ignatieff made a point of running on the disrespect for Parliament, the Canadian public didn't care. And they [the Conservatives] know that."

Consumers' rights are a theme

One of the themes of this sitting will be aimed at how voters are perceived more and more by politicians: as consumers.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair spent last week on what the party called an affordability tour, focusing on credit card fees, gas prices and companies who ding customers who still get their bills by mail.   

NDP House Leader Nathan Cullen, speaking to CBC News, accused the Conservatives of stealing "four or five ideas from the NDP. Well, [it's] the nicest form of flattery, if you actually go out and do it."

Perhaps anticipating that do-nothing accusation from the NDP on the first day the House sits, the government quietly announced Friday it was removing the HST and GST from hospital parking fees.

Government House Leader Peter Van Loan said in an interview the government would be introducing legislation giving consumers the ability to unbundle their cable or satellite television service and choose only the channels they want. 

"More consumer choice, more freedom, more choices," he said.

Industry Minister James Moore is expected to introduce a bill on domestic roaming rates for cell phones almost right away, Yaroslav Baran, a former Conservative staffer who's now with Earnscliffe Strategy Group, told CBC News. 

The government also plans legislation this sitting on child sexual predators, as well as a long-promised victims' bill of rights. However, Van Loan said there would be no "immediate" legislation on prostitution, even though the Supreme Court of Canada last month threw out current laws and gave the government a year to come up with new ones.  

Senate scandal will return

For Justin Trudeau, this is his second crack at having several months in a row in the House as Liberal leader. It was predicted the House is a place in which he would not shine. Yet his party is not only still leading the polls nine months after he became leader, but also catching up to the Conservatives when it comes to fundraising.

A little more than a month after Canada Post announced it would eliminate urban letter-mail delivery within five years, the Liberals plan to make that change a focus of their work in the House, a spokeswoman for the party said Friday.

It's likely the Senate scandal will continue to take up much of the time in question period. The scandal's reach into the Prime Minister's Office makes it an irresistible issue for the NDP.

Observers are waiting to see whether the RCMP follow through with criminal charges against four errant senators, but Mulcair's prosecutor-in-chief style of questioning doesn't depend on charges.

The NDP leader has drawn praise for his skill in questioning the prime minister about what he knew about his former chief of staff's payment to Senator Mike Duffy.

The Senate scandal is "death by a thousand cuts for the Conservatives, at the moment," Cullen said.  

Baran said that as soon as the government receives an opinion from the Supreme Court about the constitutional legalities of its Senate reform bill, it will act "quickly and boldly," and could even introduce legislation about a referendum on Senate abolition.  

One topic that preoccupied political observers in the fall — whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper is planning on stepping down — seems to have vaporized, notwithstanding his trip to Israel last week, an experience so clearly meaningful to him it seemed like the ticking off of a bucket list.

"Harper is now going after the record books— the fourth consecutive win — that's driving him now," Bhatia said.

Baran agrees.

"I can speak from the perspective of someone who knows how his brain works and who knows him as a person," Baran said.

"This is his dream job. I don't see why he would leave it prematurely."

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5 memorable performances from the Grammys

Whether it was over-the-top turns from current chart-toppers or one of the U.S. Recording Academy's many risk-taking match-ups, the 56th annual Grammy Awards was a performance-packed extravaganza.

Here are five onstage performances that stood out at the Los Angeles ceremony.

1. Strappy leotard-clad Beyoncé kicked off the show with a steamy rendition of her tune Drunk in Love, featuring enough chair-gyrating to make people wonder: Rihanna who? The undeniably sexy performance (she was eventually joined by her husband Jay Z) was perhaps a questionable choice to open the show (8 p.m. ET, still family hour!), but it definitely got juices flowing and people talking.

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2. It might have been one of the evening's head-scratchers on paper, but who would have thought that rising rap star Kendrick Lamar (unfortunately left without any Grammy hardware Sunday night) and best rock performance-winner Imagine Dragons would deliver such a blistering duet performance? The two acts melded their hits m.A.A.d. City and Radioactive in an unexpected, energetic and thoroughly enjoyable way.

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3. Let's call this two very different sides of today's pop music coin. Katy Perry offered up a dark and witchy, pyrotechnics-ladden, heavily choreographed rendition of Dark Horse that was apparently inspired by Stevie Nicks (but actually felt closer to a bizarro version of a Weird Sisters scene from Macbeth).

Meanwhile, Lorde was sparse, haunting and effective singing an understated version of her double-Grammy winner Royals.

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4. It was a slightly awkward but ultimately well-meaning, sweet and celebratory moment as Macklemore, Ryan Lewis and Mary Lambert performed their equality-championing hit Same Love (with contributions from Madonna, Queen Latifah and Trombone Shorty) as 33 couples, some gay and some straight, marked their marriages at the Staples Center.

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5. "We're all about to get lucky," actor Neil Patrick Harris declared as he welcomed Daft Punk, Nile Rodgers, Pharrell and Stevie Wonder to the stage and indeed we did.

It was a fantastic celebration of the year's catchiest song, the night's biggest winners and definitely the performance that won over viewers at home and online, and the star-studded crowd 100 per cent (plus, cameras had a field day filming everyone from Yoko Ono to Steven Tyler to Taylor Swift to Jay Z and Beyoncé seriously grooving to the track).

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Honorable mentions: Taylor Swift's stagey headbanging (to herself, playing piano), Pink showing the Grammy-viewing audience the high-flying aerial dance you'd see at her concerts, Metallica rocking out with Lang Lang, Pharrell Williams's Mountie-inspired hat, and both the partial Highwaymen reunion and partial Beatles reunion.

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The bloody backlash against Russia's gays: Nahlah Ayed

Dmitri Chizhevsky's injured left eye is hidden behind a simple cotton disc and a slash of medical tape.

He imagines that when his eye is finally healed, he will be able to see with it again. The doctors disagree, insisting he's lucky even to be alive.

Watch Nahlah Ayed's documentary on what it is like to be gay in today's Russia on The National tonight on CBC TV.

In November, unknown assailants shot Chizhevsky with a pellet gun. The metallic pill that took away his sight lodged itself directly behind the eye, just centimetres from his brain.

"I can see lights … I can see very small dots of light," he says. "That brings me hope."

Despite his ordeal, the 27-year-old computer programmer still hangs on to all kinds of hopes. One is that Russia will one day allow gay marriages.

Dmitri Chizhevsky lost the use of his left eye and was nearly killed when anti-gay thugs shot him with a pellet gun and beat him up in November. (Richard Devey / CBC)

Another is that the two masked men who shot him, called him a "faggot" and then beat him with a bat, might one day be brought to justice.

To be gay in Russia today is possibly the toughest it has been since Soviet times when homosexuality was a crime.

Since the passage of Russia's controversial gay propaganda law in June, gay people here have been painted as a threat to marriage, to society, to the church — and labeled as foreign spies and pariahs. A rash of homophobic attacks have gone unpunished.

Chizhevsky tries to soothe his anger by speaking out, something he has rarely done before.

He reserves special scorn for the politicians who, he feels, should be held responsible for what's happened to him.

One of them works just a few minutes from the offices of the gay community centre where Dmitri was attacked — and just a short ride from some of St. Petersburg's hippest gay clubs.

Vitaly Milonov is outspoken, too, but on the other side of Russia's sudden debate over homosexuality.

A St. Petersburg legislator who belongs to United Russia, President Vladimir Putin's party, Milonov is the inspiration behind the controversial law that criminalizes homosexual "propaganda" around minors, including any talk of equating same-sex families with traditional ones.

Putin signed it into law last June.

Milonov says stories like Chizhevsky's are fabrications, made up for foreign news cameras. He has also denounced gays and lesbians as unnatural, and far worse.

United Russia deputy Vitaly Milonov hold at rally to mark International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia in St. Petersburg in May 17, 2013. Milonov was the instigator behind the anti-gay law that Vladimir Putin signed in June. (Alexander Demianchuk / Reuters)

His law, he explained, is aimed at protecting children from them, claiming it's a perfect reflection of Russia's traditional family values.

Pressed to cite examples, though, he could not come up with one that might have inspired this law.

"It was like a protection, preservation against a disease, a spiritual disease," he says.

An organized campaign

As the debate rages, for the first time really, church and state — even some media — weigh in, painting homosexuality as one of the most dangerous threats facing modern Russia.

It was never perfect before, but "all of a sudden it's like back to the dark, dark ages," says activist Masha Gessen. The attack "makes you feel totally exposed. There isn't a closet for you to hide in."

An outspoken gay activist and writer, Gessen has borne the brunt of the backlash. Her family's been called perverted. Critics send her death threats. A politician volunteered to adopt her children.

She spoke to CBC near Moscow just weeks before she relocated with her partner and three children to New York, partly out of fear the state would try to take her children away.

"What we're fleeing is not homophobia," she says. "What we are fleeing is a Kremlin-organized campaign.

"Russia is suddenly becoming this traditional values capital of the world."

Olympic role model?

Arriving virtually on the eve of the Sochi Olympics, Russia's gay propaganda law was condemned by Western governments, including Canada's.

"This mean-spirited and hateful law will affect all Russians 365 days of the year, every year," Foreign Minister John Baird told the Canadian Press. "It is an incitement to intolerance, which breeds hate. And intolerance and hate breed violence."

That certainly seems to be the case. Today you can find online videos of apparently gay Russian teens being shamed and beaten.

In one, a youth is made to drink urine by vigilantes who say they're hunting pedophiles.

Russian activists largely blame the law for such actions, and supporters worldwide have called for a boycott of the Games as a result.

Not Konstantin Yablotsky. The self-described gay sports activist believes that hosting the Olympics may help reshape Russian perceptions about gays.

Konstantin Yablotsky is hoping the Sochi Olympics will send a message to Russians that you can be gay and still be a successful athlete or whatever. (Nahlah Ayed / CBC)

"When an Olympic champion says that it's okay to be gay, you can be successful, you can do sports, you can win medals … games change the world," Yablotsky said in an interview in Moscow.

Yablotsky, who won gold in figure skating at the Cologne gay games in 2010, is helping plan the first so-called Russian Open Games, to be held right after the Olympics.

The event won't have any big sponsors, but will be gay-friendly and open to everyone.

"We want to show Russia that we are not terrible people, that we take part in sport and we do important things in our lives," says Viktor Romanov, one of the organizers. "We don't just go to gay parades and get drunk."

However, the plans have hit many obstacles. Venues have refused to grant them space when they learn the nature of the event, says Yablotsky.

Even at smaller events that they've put on — like a badminton tournament in November — participants are nervous. Many of them come from small towns where they would never dream of coming out.

Putin's word

The International Olympic Committee has said that it has Putin's assurances there will be no discrimination during the Games based on sexual orientation.

Yet in recent comments to the press, the Russian president seemed to equate gays and pedophiles — a common comparison, it seems, among ordinary Russians.

In answering questions on whether foreign gays and lesbians would be subject to the new law, Putin said no one would be arrested at the Olympics.

"We don't detain people on the street, we don't hold anyone responsible for those relations, unlike a lot of other countries in the world," he said.

The very next day, however, a protester who unfurled a rainbow flag and jumped into the path of the Olympic torch relay was tackled and detained.

"What I think we need is not an athletic boycott of the Olympics, what we need is a political boycott of Vladimir Putin," says Gessen. "We need to see him alone in the box during the Olympic Games.

"It needs to be communicated to Russia that it is a pariah for doing what it does."

No countries are boycotting the competitions, but some have sent clear messages — like the U.S., which has included high-profile gay figures in its official delegation.

A performer prepares to take part in a drag queen show at Mayak, a gay cabaret club in Sochi, in October 2013. During Soviet times, Sochi gained a reputation for tolerance, but the city's once vibrant gay scene has been shrinking since Russia won the right to host the 2014 Winter Games. (Thomas Peter / Reuters)

None of that will really change things for Russians, though. Russia's gays, even in well-established gay communities like St. Petersburg, live in a state of palpable apprehension.

Chizhevsky, for one, can scarcely believe what happened to him. As he speaks to us near where he was attacked, a neighbour emerges to listen.

The man shakes his head in disgust, complains that strange things happen there. Men meeting men. "It's not right," he says.

Chizevsky is concerned he won't be the last to be attacked. As he says, "Now it's very dangerous,"

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The new ministerial responsibility: punish the underlings

Near the end of the fall sitting of Parliament, Tom Mulcair had a little bee in his bonnet over the lost, then found, emails of Ben Perrin, the prime minister's former legal counsel at the centre of the Duffy-Wright affair. 

During question period in the Commons Dec. 3, Mulcair pummelled Harper's stand-in, Industry Minister James Moore, with questions about transparency.

After a bit of back and forth, Moore offered that "the Privy Council Office has taken responsibility for the mistake that it made in not handing over the information to the RCMP."

To which Mulcair replied, "apparently the only person who has not assumed responsibility is the person who is responsible. The Privy Council Office is the ministry of the prime minister and ministerial responsibility should apply first and foremost to the prime minister."

Well, not so much. And here's why the Leader of the Official Opposition should remember that when Parliament resumes sitting Monday.

Somewhere between the first Conservative election victory and the last election, the rules on ministerial responsibility changed without any fanfare or public discussion.

The 2007 guide for ministers, written by the PCO, explained ministerial responsibility this way: "Ministers are individually responsible to Parliament and the prime minister for their own actions and those of their department, including the actions of all officials under their management and direction, whether or not the Ministers had prior knowledge."

By 2011, there had been a shift in thinking.

"Ministerial accountability to Parliament does not mean that a minister is presumed to have knowledge of every matter that occurs within his or her department or portfolio, nor that the minister is necessarily required to accept blame for every matter," wrote PCO in an updated version of the pamphlet.

This includes Nigel Wright

And the new rules didn't just apply to bureaucrats but to the minister's political staff as well. They are the partisans who handle everything from answering media inquiries to advising them on policy.

They are people like Nigel Wright, the prime minister's former chief of staff, who cut a $90,000 cheque to Senator Mike Duffy last year. According to the new rules, those people are now responsible for their screw-ups.

Nigel Wright is the prime minister's former chief of staff. He cut a $90,000 cheque for Senator Mike Duffy last year. He no longer works for the prime minister because of that. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld)

"This shift in the guidelines puts them in a more precarious position. Because if the minister isn't responsible for their actions — at least in terms of explaining them — then the minister has this incredible 'get out jail free' card to just blame staff," said David McLaughlin, who served as chief of staff for former prime minister Brian Mulroney and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

But there is something even more fundamental about the change in ministerial responsibility, according to Lori Turnbull, a self-described political nerd with a job to match her interests. She teaches political science at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

"In a parliamentary system, it's the way that a government is held to account in the House of Commons," she explained.

"That's how Canadians know what's going on in government, what's going on in departments, what's going on with spending, policies, programs. It's because the ministers have to be in the House to answer questions. That's what ministerial responsibility is in a practical sense."

For McLaughlin, that is the most important thing about holding cabinet members to account: we know where they live. They live in the House of Commons. Political staff, on the other hand, don't really have a fixed address like their bosses.

"This movement away from that principle in the guideline is fudging that accountability linkage," said McLaughlin.

The switch is making it harder to hold the minister and government responsible for their actions, he argued.

"They can simply say, well, it was a political staffer. I'm not accountable for that. I'm not responsible for that."

PCO: language plainer

In an email to CBC News, the PCO's chief spokesman disagreed with that assessment.

"Ministers are required to attend to all matters in Parliament concerning their portfolio organizations, including answering questions. As stated in the 2011 edition, ministers must also take appropriate corrective action to address any problems that may arise within their portfolio organizations, which includes problems arising from the actions of officials," wrote Raymond Rivet, the PCO's director of communications.

In essence, cabinet members don't have to take the blame but they do have to clean up the mess. And this, wrote Rivet, is nothing new.

"There has been no shift in the concept of ministerial accountability; there has always been a distinction between actions deemed blameworthy and the idea that ministers must answer questions in Parliament," argued Rivet. All that has changed is the language.

It's a lot plainer, he explained.

Stockwell Day says he couldn't agree more.

Stockwell Day is a former minister of Public Safety, International Trade and president of the Treasury Board. He doesn't think ministers should have to take responsibility for everything that happens in their offices or departments. (CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)

"A minister cannot be held responsible for the actions of every employee in her ministry," the former Conservative minister of Public Safety, International Trade and Treasury Board president said in an email to the CBC.

He even offered up an example of how he interpreted the concept of ministerial responsibility: the obnoxious drunk in the office.

"The minister cannot be held responsible [for this]. However she must require that a thorough assessment of the situation be done, including  an undertaking on behalf of anybody who may have been hurt and whether there is a counselling plan and/or legal consequences in place for the offender."

Narrowing of accountability

McLaughlin calls this explanation a narrowing of accountability. He said it's obvious that not every offence demands a ministerial hanging despite what the opposition and the media often demand. 

But he thinks the original principle is critical.

"Accountability means accepting responsibility (a) for the action, and (b) for the correction. PCO/PMO guidelines suggest only the latter responsibility."

Turnbull put an even sharper point on it than that.

While these guidelines are written down, they are just guidelines, she said. The idea of ministerial responsibility is a convention. It is an unwritten constitutional rule.

"It's easier to ignore an unwritten convention than it is to ignore a written part of the constitution," she pointed out.

"It becomes a test of what the government can get away with if they want to start playing with conventions. And that's a huge problem," she added.

"These guidelines do not gel with the rest of our system."

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Send in the Marines? The quiet Western buildup in Africa: Brian Stewart

In the U.S. military's remarkably globalized world staff, officers deep in a special headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, are organizing training missions over three continents all dedicated to one special place — Africa.

What's striking is that this far-flung and little noticed U.S. Africa Command —​ AFRICOM as it's called — has been on a roll at a time when the Pentagon is undergoing a big downsizing.

But the move coincides with new thinking in Washington that big wars like Iraq and Afghanistan are far less likely in future, so it's now time to shift priorities towards preparing for smaller regional conflicts.

This will require, the thinking goes, relatively small, fast-moving actions by units specially trained for working with local forces on a wide range of missions from counter-insurgency to backup support of UN and African Union peace missions.

What also makes AFRICOM notable is the low-profile stance adopted by all concerned.

No African nation has agreed to host the full U.S. command given all the security headaches that would entail. Which is why the HQ is in Germany, and many of the soldiers are training in mock-up African villages on the plains of Kansas.

The low-key approach can't hide the fact, however, that U.S. troops in Africa will reach full brigade status this year (5,000 soldiers).

They will also have a presence in 38 of Africa's 54 nations and could conduct as many as 100 separate missions on the continent, often supported by teams of U.S. State Department specialists and private contractors

The French connection

This mini-buildup is raising eyebrows in strategic study centres around the globe.

While the U.S. military objectives seem clear enough, it is assumed Washington has an unstated strategic goal as well — to lay down markers again in an Africa increasingly being courted by China and other Asian nations.

While Africa remains poor by global standards, the continent has enormous resource potential and future strategic value, which helps explain one of the most interesting trends on this new front — the upsurge in Franco-American military co-operation, despite the two sides' often prickly relationship in the past.

A U.S. Special Forces trainer conducts a military assault drill for a unit within the Sudan People's Liberation Army during an exercise in Nzara on the outskirts of Yambio in November 2013. The U.S. will have special forces and trainers in 38 of Africa's 54 countries this year. (Andreea Campeanu / Reuters)

France has become extraordinarily active in Africa over the past year. First it flew up to 4,000 soldiers, including special forces, to block the advancing al-Qaeda linked rebels in Mali; then, more recently, it sent another 1,000 troops to the Central African Republic to suppress Muslim-Christian violence following a coup there.

In both conflicts, the U.S. offered extensive air transport plus other logistical and intelligence support to the French, while expanding joint efforts in West Africa to counter al-Qaeda.

While French politicians moan about the heavy financial burden of intervening in Africa, Paris has strong strategic as well as sentimental interests in its former colonies.

It has now entered talks with Washington to build a whole new counterterrorism network across its traditional areas of concern.

According to Associated Press, a French buildup would include basing 3,000 permanent French soldiers in the Sahel region, and pre-positioning Mirage and Rafale fighters at an air base in Chad, actions that the French hope will both stabilize the region and encourage even more U.S. support.

"I don't think we want Americans to lose interest in this very sensitive zone," French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

Europe joining the fray

It now looks like the rest of Europe, long eager to avoid Africa's troubles, is taking more interest as well.

In a notable change of tone, European foreign ministers have just agreed to send a rapid deployment force of up to 600 troops to bolster French and UN peace efforts in the Central African Republic. Separately, Germany and Britain are sending logistical support. 

There's apparently new awareness of the cost of chaos in Africa and of the strategic realities of the region.

Still, this increasing Western military presence in Africa is a point of frustration for many in the West, and even more so for many Africans who feel it is time they should be able to cope with their own problems.

Soldiers from the African Union peacekeeping mission to Central African Republic take a break under a tree in Bossangao in December. The AU has been responding to regional conflicts all over the continent, but its resources are thin. (Andreea Campeanu / Reuters)

"Some African leaders tell you privately that there is a sense of embarrassment," Comfort Ero, African director of the International Crisis Group told the BBC last month. But, she added, "the continent still requires a significant amount of assistance."

There has been talk for years of building an effective regional peace force, even a centralized quick-reaction time, within the African Union to handle crises.

However, despite some increased deployments in Somalia and in West Africa, the problems are daunting.

Bluntly put, conflicts are too common, effective African military forces are far too few.

Some of the most efficient militaries on the continent, such as South Africa's, have shown little appetite for taking on onerous regional conflicts. Others are built on an unreliable officer corps that is self-serving, and a rank-and-file that is underpaid and ill-trained.

All this suggest the rising Western involvement is a huge, complex undertaking that is almost certain to last many years and become more controversial over time.

One safe bet, given the nature of turmoil of our time and the tendency of new American commands to keep expanding their reach, the role of AFRICOM won't be low-profile for very long.  

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2 detained after 'sexual act' on Air Canada flight

Two people were detained for allegedly having sex on an Air Canada flight this weekend.

The woman, 24, and man, 38, were detained when Air Canada flight 610 from Toronto landed in Halifax, N.S., on Friday evening. 

Sgt. Alain LeBlanc of the RCMP said officers received a call that the pair were "involved in a sexual act" on the flight. Police spoke to the pair in the Halifax terminal after flight crews pointed them out. 

"As the investigation began, the woman became very agitated and disruptive and was eventually placed under arrest for causing a disturbance," LeBlanc said. 

"During the escort to the RCMP office, the woman continued to be verbally abusive, physically resisting, and then assaulted police by kicking."

The woman was arrested and held overnight. She was released Saturday. The man was not arrested and was released at the airport. 

The woman, from Porters Lake Road in the Halifax area, faces several charges:

• Assaulting a police officer
• Causing a disturbance
• Mischief

She'll answer the charges on Feb. 25 in Dartmouth Provincial Court. 

LeBlanc said RCMP expect to lay additional charges against the pair, but he did not say what charges the man might be facing. Police did not say where the man was from. 

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Gas pipeline explosion leaves thousands without heat in southern Manitoba

A fire is out after burning for more than 12 hours at the site of a natural gas pipeline explosion near Otterburne, Man., about 50 kilometres south of Winnipeg. But officials say there are now natural gas outages affecting as many as 4,000 people in nearby communities, where temperatures dipped to near -20 C overnight.

The Rural Municipality of Hanover declared a state of local emergency Saturday afternoon in a release that said the outage was expected to last 24 to 72 hours.

The trouble began early Saturday when RCMP responded around 1:05 a.m. to a "loud explosion."

Witnesses who live close to the scene said it was massive. Paul Rawluk lives nearby and drove to the site.

"As we got closer, we could see these massive 200 to 300 metre high flames just shooting out of the ground and it literally sounded like a jet plane," he said. "And that's the thing that really got us, was the sound of it."

He said it was hard to describe the scale.

"Massive, like absolutely massive," he said. "The police were by [Highway] 59 and you could just see little cars out there and you could see in comparison how big the flame was. It was just literally two to 300 metres in the air. And bright, I mean lit up the sky."

Tyler Holigroski, who lives in the Otterburne area, remembers seeing a flickering, bright light in the sky.

"Thought it was the neighbours' house or something like that," he said. "I thought there was a fire, but the way it lit the sky, it was like the sun coming up. The only thing is it was flashing. It would get brighter, get dim, get brighter, go dim.

"It lit up the whole sky here for half an hour," Holigroski said.

Hunter Gagnon and his dad live outside the evacuation zone.

"It was just insane," he said. "It was absolutely huge, the fire. It was at least 300 feet high, there was a bunch of people there all parked along the highway."

Otterburne resident Marc Labossiere was forced from his home moments after shooting a video of the blast. He lost power a short time later, and police knocked on his door, telling him to get out.

He's back at home now, and said he could still see the flames late Saturday morning.

"It went from 500-600 feet in the air down to manageable," he said. "Like, something they're just waiting for it to snuff itself out and it's still burning right now."​

Police said the burning gas was non-toxic.

Thousands lose gas service 

As many as 4,000 people in the area are without natural gas.

Emergency Measures spokesperson Nicki Albus on Saturday acknowledged cold weather is on the way.

"We know it's cold and people may be concerned about that but we are on the job here. Everyone here's communicating well. We have a great group of people at the site and in the communities who have set up their emergency operation centres to handle this dilemma."​

She said warming centres have been set up to take in residents who have no heat.

The town of Niverville said it has lost gas service and that will continue for at least 24 hours and possibly "multiple days."

Manitoba Hydro said the following communities are affected:

• New Bothwell.
• Niverville.
• Otterburne.
• Kleefeld.
• St-Pierre-Jolys.
• Grunthal.
• St. Malo.
• Dufrost.
• Ste. Agathe.

Hydro said it does not know when service will be restored but that people should "prepare for an extended outage."

The utility is reminding customers to use only approved space heaters indoors and where possible conserve use of electricity during this gas outage.It says people should not use barbecues or any unapproved heaters indoors because they may produce carbon monoxide. Anyone leaving home, should shut off the water supply and turn down the thermostat.

The New Bothwell cheese plant had to shut down production because it's sanitizer is dependent on gas to operate. The plant may try to switch its generator over to propane this week if the outage persists.

Pipeline crews worked to vent gas

The pipeline, which is owned by TransCanada, has been temporarily shut down according to a statement from a company spokesman. The statement also said that nearby roads have been closed, and that the company is not aware of any reports of injuries.

However, five houses within the vicinity of the fire were evacuated by RCMP and St-Pierre-Jolys Fire Department.

The residents of two of the homes have been allowed to return, but police were not letting residents return to the three homes closest to the site. 

Crews spent most of the day venting the natural gas from the system to eliminate the fuel source for the fire.

The company said that process generated a loud noise but posed no risk to the public.

By Saturday afternoon, more than 12 hours after it started, TransCanada officials said the fire was out.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

TransCanada is working with Manitoba Hydro to restore regular natural gas service, the company's spokesperson Davis Sheremata said in a statement Saturday night.

Trucks containing compressed natural gas are being sent to metering stations in the area. The initial supply will be used to provide gas to critical services such as personal care homes and hospitals, as well as schools or churches being used as emergency warming centres.

The company did not provide a timeline of when regular natural gas service will resume.

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'There were angels that night': stories of survival from L'Isle-Verte

Nelida Pettigrew always had boots, a scarf and a warm coat ready at the door, just in case.

Her daughter made a point of ensuring that if Pettigrew ever needed to leave her room at the Résidence du Havre in a hurry, she would be properly dressed.  

Last Thursday morning, when she realized the alarm bells echoing through the hallways weren't triggered in error, Pettigrew threw on those warm clothes and escaped with the help of a neighbour.

She is one of only about 20 people authorities believe safely fled the burning seniors' residence in the heart of the small town.

The toll of the missing and dead in L'Isle-Verte stands at 32. Ten of those have been confirmed dead, Quebec provincial police said on Saturday. Three of those eight have been identified by the coroner's office.

Police were initially reluctant to give a firm number of missing people, hopeful that some of the residents were away at the time of the fire and simply couldn't be reached.

"We can assume the worst," Lieut. Guy Lapointe of the Sûreté du Québec said at a news conference Saturday morning. 

Police said, however, they will not confirm the deaths of any victims until their remains are recovered from the scene.

Those efforts were brought to a halt temporarily on Sunday morning due to high winds and blowing snow.

Survivors staying in neighbouring towns

On Saturday, emergency workers brought in extra equipment to help melt the 60-centimetre-thick ice that coats some of the rubble as the search for those still missing resumed.

Those who survived are now scattered between family members and other assisted living homes in neighbouring Trois-Pistoles and Rivière-du-Loup.

That's where Pettigrew, 90, found herself after her home was destroyed in the blaze. Sitting in a room decorated with a vase of flowers and a few stuffed animals at a seniors' residence in Trois-Pistoles, she said she's been well taken care of since the fire.  

She escaped unharmed, but knows several of the people who didn't make it out. She wiped away tears as she described one woman with whom she shared her meals who she believes has died.

"There's others who died as well. I saw a few who had all their arms burned," she said.

"I didn't cry then, but I cried after."

Pettigrew  believes if she hadn't been assisted by Arnaud Côté, a neighbour in the building's newer wing which sustained less damage than the older portion, she wouldn't have made it out of the fire.

"He saved me," she said. "If I didn't have Mr. Arnaud Côté, I wouldn't have known to take the emergency exit."

Pettigrew went down two flights of stairs to safety, leaving her walker behind.

She was taken to a community centre and then to another location before she was moved to the room in Trois-Pistoles.

She hasn't had the opportunity to talk to Côté, but said she's immensely grateful.

"I want to hug him like he's never been hugged before," she said.

New wing saved by firewall

Other incredible stories of survival have emerged in L'Isle-Verte as more family members arrive at the scene to support their mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles who escaped the blaze.

Marie-Luce Dionne drove from Campbellton, N.B., to help her mother, who was also living in the newer wing of the Résidence du Havre. The flames were cut down by a firewall between the two sections. The newer portion is still standing. The older portion of the building is completely unrecognizable.

"I told my mom there were angels that night for her because she used to be in the apartment 206 [in the old section], apparently where the fire started," Dionne said.

"She was moved down in the new [wing] on Dec. 27. There was a reason for that. She was saved maybe because she was moved there."

Many residents and family members said they received exceptional care at the seniors home. Dionne said her mother has a very close relationship with one of the owners and she called once a week to speak with them about her mother's care.

Dionne said her mother was assessed by medical staff, but didn't require hospitalization.

"I'm pleased that she's OK," she said.  "She's my mom, I love her and she asked to go, but I said, 'Mom, God is not ready for that. When you go I hope you go peacefully.'

"I'm so glad she was not in the building. I would not like her to die that way."

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Stanislas Wawrinka wins 1st major title at Australian Open

Stan Wawrinka added a win over Rafael Nadal to his list of firsts in a stunning run to his maiden Grand Slam title, extending his rival's injury-cursed run at the Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 upset in Sunday's final.

The 28-year-old Wawrinka had never taken a set off Nadal in 12 previous meetings, but attacked from the start against the 13-time major winner and regained his nerve after dropping the third set against the injured Spaniard.

Nadal appeared to be on the verge of retiring in the second set, when he hurt his back and needed a medical time out, but he refused to quit.

"It's really not the way you want to win a tennis match, but in a Grand Slam final I'll take it," said Wawrinka, the first man in 21 years to beat the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked players en route to a Grand Slam title.

Nadal was a hot favourite to win at Melbourne Park and become the first man to win each of the four Grand Slam tournaments twice in the Open era — instead, his injury curse struck again. It remains the only major he's hasn't won at least two times.

"Rafa, I'm really sorry for you, I hope your back is going to be fine, you're a really great guy, good friend and really amazing champion," Wawrinka said as he accepted his first major trophy. "Last year I had a crazy match, I lost it. I was crying a lot after the match. But in one year a lot happened — I still don't know if I'm dreaming or not but we'll see tomorrow morning." 

'Rafa, I'm really sorry for you, I hope your back is going to be fine, you're a really great guy, good friend and really amazing champion.'- Stanislas Wawrinka

Wawrinka lost in five sets to Novak Djokovic in the fourth round of the 2013 Australian Open, in the longest Grand Slam match of the season. Djokovic went on to win his third consecutive title at Melbourne Park, and then beat Wawrinka again in five sets in the U.S. Open semifinals.

But Wawrinka avenged those losses this time, beating Djokovic in five sets in the quarterfinals — ending a run of 14 straight losses to the Serbian player.

Now he'll move from No. 8 to No. 3. In doing so, he'll surpass Federer, a 17-time Grand Slam winner who lost to Nadal in the semifinals — to become the highest-ranked Swiss player for the first time in his career.

A constant supporter of his countryman, Federer was one of the first people to call and congratulate Wawrinka after his win.

Wawrinka also broke up a sequence of wins for the Big Four — with 34 of the previous 35 majors going to either Nadal, Djokovic, Roger Federer or Andy Murray.

"Stan, you really deserve it," Nadal said. "Luck was against me today but you really deserve it.

"Last thing that I wanted to do was retire. I hate to do that, especially in a final. Same time, is tough to see yourself during the whole year you are working for a moment like this, and arrives the moment and you feel that you are not able to play at your best. "

Nadal has had a terrible stretch with injuries at the Australian Open, and has described it as his unluckiest Grand Slam. He won the title in 2009, and lost an epic five-set final to Djokovic in 2012. But he missed the 2013 edition during a seven-month layoff with knee injuries and illness, and his quarterfinal losses in 2010 and 2011 were affected by injuries.

"It has been a very emotional two weeks — I'm sorry to finish this way," he told the Rod Laver Arena crowd. "I tried very, very hard — this year was one of the more emotional tournaments in my career."

A possible retirement was looming when Nadal was serving at 0-2 in the second set. He bent over at the waist to stretch his back and then grabbed his lower back with his hand and grimaced in pain. His serve immediately dipped to 141 kph (87 mph).

When Nadal took a medical timeout after falling behind a set and a break, and returned to a chorus of boos without a shirt after 7 minutes, it seemed that an early finish was on the cards.

Wawrinka was aggravated during the time out, demanding that officials tell him why Nadal needed the break. And he came out aggressively to finish off the second set.

Nadal's serve speed dipped even further to 125 kph (77 mph) and then 114 kph (70 mph). The support in the stadium gradually shifted as the crowd saw the Spaniard battling to stay on the court.

His service speed improved in the beginning of the third set, prompting a fan to yell advice to Wawrinka: "C'mon Stan, no sympathy!"

By the end of the set, Nadal's serve was back up to 174 kph (108 mph) and Wawrinka's error count was escalating.

Wawrinka composed himself after an exchange of breaks in the fourth set to serve it out in 2 hours, 21 minutes. After a muted celebration, he consoled Nadal in the courtside chairs before getting a chance to hold up and kiss his first big trophy.

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U.S. study warns of risks and unknowns in shipment of Alberta oilsands products

​​U.S. scientists are warning that there are environmental risks, regulatory holes and serious unknowns regarding the shipment of Alberta oilsands products by pipeline, rail and tanker.

The findings are in a 153-page report from last September by the emergency response division of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The unit has expertise in preparing for, evaluating and responding to oil and chemical spills in coastal environments.

Enbridge (TSX:ENB), the company behind the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline to the British Columbia coast, counters that most of the concerns raised in the report are out-of-date, overstated or being resolved.

The study examined the different ways to transport Alberta's bitumen, a molasses-like crude oil, over U.S. land and water. Those included rail, the proposed Kinder-Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline to Vancouver, the Keystone XL line to Texas from Alberta, and Northern Gateway.

"Most oilsands products are transported to market via existing and proposed pipelines; however, a sharp increase in the use of rail and marine transport can be expected while new pipelines are constructed to match the increased production of oilsands products," the report says.

It was written by six experts at the University of Washington and supervised by Prof. Robert Pavia of the university's School of Marine and Environmental Affairs.

"While there are many arguments about the level of risk, no one believes the risk is zero," Pavia told The Canadian Press, adding that he was speaking personally. "In my mind it's not a question of whether a spill will occur, but how well-prepared we are for a spill once it does occur."

In the case of Northern Gateway, not only might there be potential to harm Washington state shores, there could be hazards from tankers leaving Kitimat, B.C., to travel through the waters of Alaska, near the Aleutian Islands to Asia. The proposed 1,177-kilometre-long pipeline would carry 525,000 barrels of bitumen daily from Alberta to the northern B.C. port.

Both Canada and the United States need to renew and expand efforts to reduce any risks, Pavia said.

Last December, a federal joint review panel supported the project — providing Enbridge meets 209 conditions. The final decision rests with the federal cabinet.

The U.S. report notes there are information gaps about the transport of bitumen.

"Little research is currently available regarding the behaviour of oilsands products spilled into water, and how they weather in the environment," the report says.

A truck carries a full load at the Shell Albian Sands oilsands mine near Fort McMurray, Alberta. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press)

"Most tests have been conducted in the laboratory, so predicting the actual behaviour of oilsands products for a range of spills is difficult." The risks associated with carrying oilsands products over water "are not well-defined."

The study does point out that only a handful of spills have occurred in the U.S. and Canada.

Enbridge communications manager Ivan Giesbrecht said that's a positive thing.

"This further supports that these products do not pose increased risk for transmission pipeline corrosion," he said in an interview.

In 2007, a neighbourhood in Burnaby, B.C., was covered in synthetic crude when excavation equipment ruptured a pipeline. In 2010, a pipeline leaked 20,000 barrels of oil into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan.

Last September's report also points out that anyone responding to an oilsands spill could face both oil that is light and floating or heavier oil that could sink.

"This could impact fish and birds that move between water and air, such as those that may inhale toxic fumes, or become coated by oil. Sinking oil could move into the water column and harm fish larvae.

"Current capabilities to detect and recover oil when it sinks or is suspended in the water column are poor."

Giesbrecht said each spill is unique and depends on where and when it occurs. He said it is also "an incorrect assumption," one not supported by studies or observations, that diluted bitumen in water would split into two portions of floating and sinking oil.

A Canadian government study released earlier this month shows that diluted bitumen does sink in salt water when battered by waves and mixed with sediment. If the bitumen is free of sediment, the crude floats even after evaporation and exposure to light.

The U.S. study says research is needed into the public health impacts of oilspills, weathering effects and biodegradation, and there should be more testing with a wider variety of oilsands products.

Giesbrecht said that Enbridge plans to join, with government and industry, a committee of technical experts to research spill behaviour and response. He also said the industry has already started to conduct such research.

Giesbrecht said Enbridge doesn't agree with the findings of the U.S. study. He said the company is committed to applying industry best practices and to developing leak-detection technologies.

The report also noted "regulator shortcomings," including that oilsands products aren't subject to the U.S. excise tax that provides funds for spill cleanup, and that there was scant product information provided by the facilities that transport the oil they're handling.

"There are additional gaps in policies and regulations that warrant scrutiny as transport of oilsands products and other unconventional oils increases," the report said.

Federal and state railway regulators have played a minor role in oil spill planning, but given recent high-profile accidents, like the deadly crash and explosion in Lac-Megantic, Que., the report suggests more regulatory oversight over rail transport should be considered.

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