Canada Newswatch

Keen to wring maximum political advantage from a $100 million budget windfall, Toronto Mayor David Miller is cannily easing up on tax hikes – burnishing his own legacy as outgoing mayor, while boosting re-election prospects for left-wing councillors.

What started out as a creative plan to encourage students to switch from plastic water bottles to reusable ones has morphed into a bizarre scheme to sell tap water for 50 cents a shot.

Few would quarrel with Justice Douglas Maund's observation that Rahim Jaffer caught "a break" when Crown prosecutors withdrew impaired driving and drug charges against him this week.

Premier Dalton McGuinty will have a difficult time developing a rich northern ore deposit – as this week's throne speech makes clear he intends to do – while respecting his previous commitments to protect the environment and respect native rights.

If current demographic trends hold, the term "visible minority" may need to be revamped for the Toronto area. According to Statistics Canada, the population of the country's largest city will be 63 per cent non-white by 2031, not counting aboriginals – a decided majority. And that transformation poses both opportunities and challenges.

Governor-General Michaëlle Jean did what she could to keep the world's fickle attention focused on Haiti this week, where people are still digging out from the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed 200,000 people and left 1.3 million homeless.

Try as he may, Prime Minister Stephen Harper can no longer stonewall the Afghan detainee controversy. That was clear in Parliament yesterday, where Harper came under renewed fire just days after he called in former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci to help arbitrate (and defuse) the crisis.

At a time of severe economic upheaval and widespread personal hardship, one thing that can safely be said about Monday's throne speech is this: the provincial government gets it.

Schools are supposed to educate children. But when they come to class hungry, from homes where their parents often can't help them with homework, it takes more than just a teacher and a classroom for them to succeed.

Given Prime Minister Stephen Harper's less-than-stellar record for helping urban Canada, it is hardly surprising that there was nothing new for cities in last week's federal budget. Still, Toronto Mayor David Miller lamented the missed opportunity in the budget to invest in urban infrastructure.