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Croatia qualifies for its 4th consecutive European Championship with help from Italy

ROME — With some help from Italy, Croatia qualified for its fourth consecutive European Championship after a 1-0 win at Malta on Tuesday.

Croatia claimed second place in Group H after Italy came from behind to beat Norway 2-1.

Alessandro Florenzi scored one goal and set up another for Graziano Pelle as the Azzurri overturned a 1-0 halftime deficit in Rome.

Ghana-born midfielder Alexander Tettey scored with Norway's only shot of the first half.

"We did what we had to do," Italy coach Antonio Conte said. "We didn't deserve to lose. I always want this intensity and this nastiness. We're on the right road. It's important to have this approach, whether you win or lose."

In Ta'Qali, Ivan Perisic scored midway through the first half for Croatia.

Italy won the group with 24 points and Croatia —which had a point deducted for a swastika that was painted on the pitch before a match against Italy — finished second with 20.

Norway took third place with 19 points, sending the Scandinavian squad to the playoffs.

"They were much better than us in the 90 minutes and they of course deserved to win," Norway coach Per-Mathias Hogmo said.

Croatia's best performance at the Euros was reaching the quarterfinals in 1996 and 2008. Coach Ante Cacic, who was hired last month, has several strong forwards to choose from with Perisic, Mario Mandzukic — who is currently injured — and Nikola Kalinic, who recently scored a hat trick for Serie A leader Fiorentina against Inter Milan.

Italy stretched its unbeaten streak in European Championship and World Cup qualifiers to 50 matches, extending back to a 3-1 loss to France in September, 2006.

Conte was without several key midfielders, with Daniele De Rossi suspended and injuries to Andrea Pirlo and Marco Verratti.

Still, the Azzurri were able to take control and create several chances before Tettey, who plays for Norwich City, gave Norway the lead.

Tettey used one touch to drive a powerful effort from the edge of the area past outstretched goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.

A header from Graziano Pelle just a few meters (yards) out went wide in the 35th for Italy's best chance of the half.

Roberto Soriano then had a long shot pushed wide by goalkeeper Orjan Nyland.

A superb Nyland also negated efforts from Pelle and Florenzi late in the second half, before Florenzi's equalizer arrived in the 73rd.

Substitute Sebastian Giovinco crossed from the left and Haitam Aleesami attempted to stop the cross with his chest, leaving it for Florenzi to poke in.

Less than 10 minutes later, Giovinco was again involved as Pelle finished off a counterattack following a cross from Florenzi.

Norway ended with only one shot on target — Tettey's goal.

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(An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of the Norway scorer. The correct spelling is Tettey)

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Andrew Dampf can be followed at www.twitter.com/asdampf

Andrew Dampf, The Associated Press

Canadian women’s hockey team to break in new goalies at Four Nations Cup

CALGARY — Canada will be green in goal at the Four Nations Cup women's hockey tournament.

Hockey Canada has announced the country's 22-player roster for the tournament Nov. 4-8 in Sundsvall, Sweden.

Canada is the defending champion having beaten the U.S. women 3-2 in a shootout in last year's final in Kamloops, B.C. Finland and Sweden round out the tournament field.

Canadian goaltenders Emerance Maschmeyer of Bruderheim, Alta., and Erica Howe of Orleans, Ont., have fewer than five career starts for the national team between them.

"We know what we have in some of our other goalies, but it's important to give some of these young players an opportunity to see what they can with the senior team," head coach Laura Schuler said Tuesday.

Shannon Szabados, Canada's winning goalie in both the 2010 and 2014 Olympic finals, is playing men's pro hockey for the Southern Professional Hockey League's Columbus Cottonmouths.

Maschmeyer, 21, was the winning goalie in two preliminary-round games last year in Kamloops. She dressed for two games in April's women's world championship in Malmo, Sweden, but did not play in the tournament.

Maschmeyer and Howe, 23, may be short on national-team starts, but they've played international games for Canada's under-22 and under-18 teams and both have played in an NCAA Frozen Four final, points out general manager Melody Davidson. 

"While on paper it might seem they're inexperienced, they definitely have pretty good pedigrees, both of them," Davidson said. "We need to see if what they bring on all the other levels, they bring at the senior level as well."

In non-Olympic years, the world championships and Four Nations Cup are the only two major international tournaments for the Canadian women.

The 2016 women's world championship will be March 28 to April 4 in Kamloops. The Americans are the defending champions after beating Canada 7-5 in Malmo.

Canada's Four Nations roster includes seven players who won Olympic gold in 2014 in Sochi, Russia: Marie-Philip Poulin, Meghan Agosta, Natalie Spooner, Jennifer Wakefield, Rebecca Johnston, Laura Fortino and Lauriane Rougeau.

Those players minus Agosta, along with forwards Jillian Saulnier, Bailey Bram, Jessica Campbell, Emily Clark, Sarah Davis and defenders Courtney Birchard, Brigette Lacquette and Halli Krzyzaniak, all won a silver medal at the world championship.

Defencemen Renata Fast of Burlington, Ont., and Sarah Edney of Mississauga, Ont., as well as forwards Sarah Lefort of Ormstown, Que., Sarah Nurse of Hamilton and Sarah Potomak of Aldergrove, B.C., will make their national-team debuts in Sweden.

So Schuler can get the attention of a quarter of her team in Sweden by shouting just one name.

"Isn't that funny?" Davidson said. "I said (to Schuler), if you get in trouble, you can just yell 'Sarah' from the bench."

Agosta, Canada's leading scorer and tournament MVP at the 2010 Winter Olympics, returns to the national team after taking police training in Vancouver last winter.

Left off the Four Nations roster were Sochi veterans Hayley Wickenheiser, Haley Irwin, Jocelyne Larocque, Brianne Jenner, Melodie Daoust, Tara Watchorn and goaltender Charline Labonte. Those players participated in the national team's September camp.

Davidson said Wickenheiser (foot) and Jenner (abdomen) need more time to rehabilitate from surgeries they had earlier this year, while Irwin is dealing with hip issues.

The Canadian roster includes 13 players from the Canadian Women's Hockey League and seven from the NCAA.

"This roster is by no means necessarily our roster for the world championship," Schuler said. "This is an opportunity to see what we have and where is our depth?

"The players we have selected, there's a reason why we selected them. They're performed in the past and done well and now it's an opportunity to see what they can do at that next level."

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press

Blue Jays draw monster ratings for Game 3 of American League Division Series

TORONTO — An average of 4.17 million people watched the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers on Sunday in Game 3 of the American League Division Series, Rogers Sportsnet said in a release.

According to Numeris, a peak audience of 5.45 million viewers were tuned in when Troy Tulowitzki hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning to put the Blue Jays up 5-0.

As of Sunday, it was the most watched broadcast in Sportsnet's history.

The network said over 9.4 million Canadians watched some part of the game.

Sportsnet and Numeris did not yet have ratings for Game 4, which the Blue Jays won 8-4 to force Game 5 Wednesday at Rogers Centre.

Game 2 drew an average audience of 2.4 million people and a peak of 3.98 million.

The Canadian Press

Study suggests 2014’s EV-D68 not more severe than other cold bugs, but jury out

TORONTO — The respiratory bug known as enterovirus D68, which caused clusters of children in Canada and the U.S. to get sick in late summer-early fall last year, does not seem to have increased the need for ICU care or the risk of death compared to other cold-causing viruses, a Canadian study suggests.

That's the conclusion drawn from a study of 87 children treated at McMaster Children's Hospital in Hamilton, who tested positive for EV-D68, and 87 other kids who had a different virus causing their cold symptoms.

There are more than 100 enteroviruses, the second most common cause of the common cold after rhinoviruses. EV-D68 tends to cause symptoms in the lower part of the respiratory system, putting children with asthma or wheezing at greater risk of developing more acute illness from the infection; most cold viruses typically affect the upper airways.

The study found that children who turned out to be infected with EV-D68 were more likely to be in respiratory distress when they were seen in the emergency department and more often required hospital admission, compared to kids infected with other enterovirus or rhinovirus strains.

"However, they were not significantly more likely to require admission to the pediatric critical care unit or to die," said lead researcher Dr. Dominik Mertz, medical director of infection prevention and control at Hamilton Health Sciences.

"We didn't find any evidence that they were worse off than children infected by the other strains of the common cold," Mertz said Tuesday from Hamilton.

The study, published Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, found 23 per cent of children infected with EV-D68 needed to be cared for in intensive care, with or without a ventilator to assist their breathing. For kids with a different cold virus, 15 per cent needed ICU admission.

That difference, the researchers concluded, is not what's called in medicine "statistically significant."

"So even those with the normal strains, one in seven kids ended up in the ICU," he said. "And I think that's something some people underestimate, the fact that with what is perceived as the common cold, some children can get severely sick from that as well and it doesn't need to be EV-D68."

Dr. Danuta Skowronski, an infectious disease specialist at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control who was not involved in the study, said "it's important and interesting to see the Canadian experience with the enterovirus D68 event last season."

But Skowronski questioned the researchers' conclusion that EV-D68 was not associated with greater risks of admission to a critical care unit or death, suggesting that the number of patients in the study may not have been large enough for such an assertion.

"For me, the risk of further severity — in other words, admission to ICU or death — is really an issue of sample size and needs to be resolved," she said from Vancouver.

After examining the data presented in the paper, Skowronski said she would have been more cautious about drawing a similar conclusion "on the basis of these results."

"But I still think their paper is a welcome addition to the body of knowledge around D68 and other enteroviruses generally. And I think enterovirus D68 last year opened our eyes to the severe end of the clinical spectrum."

The EV-D68 outbreak was also associated with neurological symptoms in some children, including a condition called acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), which is characterized by extreme muscle weakness. The enterovirus family — which includes polio — is known to be linked with such neurological complications as AFP, meningitis and encephalitis.

But during the 2014 outbreak, not all children who developed AFP tested positive for EV-D68, suggesting that another enterovirus may have contributed to the development of paralysis symptoms in children, suggests an accompanying CMAJ editorial.

"Further studies are needed to define whether EV-D68 is truly a more severe pathogen than other enteroviruses and rhinoviruses for all patients, or whether there are certain populations at increased risk of severe disease," write Drs. Michelle Science and Upton Allen of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

"Such research should also address whether there are factors that are related to viral or patient genetic variation that might be associated with disease severity."

Skowronski added that future research needs to look at both hospital-based and community-based patients to determine the overall prevalence of EV-D68 "to better reflect the full spectrum of illness."

"Hospital-based clusters are important signals, but we shouldn't hang our hats on them in terms of risk assessment. For that we need much broader community sampling."

 

Follow @SherylUbelacker on Twitter.

Sheryl Ubelacker, The Canadian Press

De Bruyne, Mertens on target as Belgium beats Israel 3-1 to top Group B and FIFA ranking

BRUSSELS — Kevin De Bruyne and Dries Mertens both scored a goal and provided an assist to help Belgium secure top spot in Group B and first place in the FIFA rankings with a 3-1 victory over Israel in their European Championship qualifier on Tuesday.

Victory meant that the 2-0 win of runner-up Wales over Andorra had no impact on the final standings. In a head-to-head for a third-place playoff spot, Bosnia-Herzegovina beat Cyprus 3-2 to give the 2014 World Cup finalist a shot at a second straight major tournament from the playoffs.

In Brussels, Mertens broke the deadlock in the 64th minute on an assist by De Bruyne, finishing off with a low shot. Manchester City's De Bruyne scored with a 25-meter free kick in the 78th before Eden Hazard added a goal in the 84th leaving Israel with no more than a last minute consolation goal from Tommer Hemed.

"I am super pleased. Yes! No. 1 in the world," said Mertens on Belgium's unlikely run from 71st place in 2007 to sweeping past Germany and Argentina over the past weekend to top place.

Israel knew what opposition it faced and fell back in defence even if it needed victory for a shot at advancing to the playoffs.

Before a raucous crowd of 42,000 at the King Baudouin stadium, it fell to Mertens to break the deadlock. As so often, Belgium then pushed through in the final stages of the match.

"Whatever happens, we get through it," defender Vincent Kompany said.

In a seesaw cliffhanger in Nicosia where the lead changed three times, it was finally Bosnia which pulled through to reach the playoffs, based largely on a brace of first time goals from Deportivo La Coruna's Haris Medunjanin.

In Cardiff, it was another player in Spanish employ, Real Madrid's Gareth Bale, who was celebrating. With the last goal of Wales' successful campaign, he set off the party for the team's first qualification for a major tournament since 1958 after Aaron Ramsey had scored the opener.

Belgium finished top of the group with 23 points, two more than Wales. Bosnia finished with 17 for the playoff spot while Israel was fourth with 13 points, one more than Cyprus. Andorra had none.

Raf Casert, The Associated Press

Elections Canada estimates more then three million voted at advance polls

Netherlands loses 3-2 to 10-man Czech Republic, fails to qualify for European Championship

AMSTERDAM — The Netherlands squandered its last chance of reaching the playoffs for next year's European Championship in a humiliating 3-2 defeat by 10-man Czech Republic on Tuesday.

The debacle in Amsterdam came in sharp contrast to the celebrations of Group A rival Turkey, which beat Iceland 1-0 to take the automatic qualifying place for Euro 2016 as the best third-place finisher.

The Dutch had started the match two points behind Turkey, but also behind on the teams' head-to-head record. It meant that Turkey only needed to avoid losing to Iceland to at least qualify for the playoffs and condemn the Dutch to missing the European Championship for the first time since 1984.

In the end, the Turks beat Iceland with a late goal and the Dutch torpedoed their own playoff hopes with another display of hapless defending and hopeless finishing — just over a year after finishing third at the World Cup in Brazil.

Following a promising start that saw winger Anwar El Ghazi draw a save from Petr Cech in the first minute, the Netherlands lapsed back into the sort of ponderous build up play that plagued the team's qualification campaign.

That allowed the Czechs to seize control of the match and the visitors took a deserved lead in the 24th minute when Jiri Skalak laid off the ball to right back Pavel Kaderabek who drilled the ball into far corner past Jeroen Zoet.

Josef Sural doubled the Czechs' lead when he easily shrugged off Virgil van Dijk and poked the ball in at Zoet's near post 11 minutes later.

Coach Danny Blind again left the Netherlands' all-time top scorer Robin van Persie on the bench, but introduced the veteran of 101 internationals before halftime as he went for all-out attack.

Marek Suchy helped the Dutch cause when he brought down Memphis Depay just before half time and was sent off.

But even against 10 men, the Dutch struggled and after Van Persie headed in a 66th-minute own goal the home fans stopped jeering their team and some started heading for the Amsterdam Arena exits instead.

The supporters who stuck around saw Klaas-Jan Huntelaar peg back the lead with a 70th-minute header and — with the Dutch fielding a five-man attack — Van Persie score at the correct end to make it 3-2 with seven minutes to go. Less than a minute later, Van Persie was booked for diving as he tried to win a penalty and that was as close as the Dutch got to scoring again.

Selcuk Inan scored an 89th minute goal to give Turkey a win that meant the Czechs won Group A from Iceland in second. Kazakhstan beat Latvia 1-0 in the group's other match.

Mike Corder, The Associated Press

Quebec judge signs off on $450-million settlement fund for Lac-Megantic victims

MONTREAL — A Quebec judge has given his final approval regarding the terms of the $450-million settlement fund for victims and creditors of the Lac-Megantic rail disaster.

Superior Court Justice Gaetan Dumas signed off today on the final agreement between victims, creditors and about 25 companies accused of responsibility in the train derailment that killed 47 people on July 6, 2013.

Canadian Pacific Railway (TSX:CP), the only company accused in the case to have not offered money, had requested that changes be made to the final version of the fund.

The railway sought leave to appeal the settlement fund but dropped its motions after learning all sides agreed to change some of the language of the terms.

The new terms of the fund offer certain legal assurance to CP if it is taken to court over its responsibility in the derailment.

Patrice Benoit, lawyer for the now-defunct railroad at the centre of the disaster, says the court has some procedural issues to take care of but that victims should begin receiving cheques before Christmas.

 

 

The Canadian Press

Panda gives birth to two cubs at Toronto Zoo; won’t be on display for 5 months

TORONTO — A panda on loan from China gave birth to two cubs Tuesday morning, but the Toronto Zoo says the public won't be able to see them for a few months as they face a critical time for their survival.

The cubs — the first weighs just under 188 grams and the second 115 grams — were born between 3:30 and 3:45 a.m., and "are doing very well," said zoo spokeswoman Jennifer Tracey.

The zoo has no immediate plans to show or even name the cubs.

"They're so small and so vulnerable at this age we don't want to get ahead of ourselves," said Tracey.

Their mother, Er Shun — who is on loan from China along with a male panda named Da Mao — is showing "excellent maternal instincts," she said.

"Er Shun has been an amazing mom today. For a first-time mom she is doing really, really well."

The first 30 days of life are critical, Tracey said.

The zoo has been swapping the cubs between their mother's care and an incubator set up in a quarantined room next to the panda's maternity ward, which is closed to the public.

Chris Dutton, the zoo's head of veterinary services, previously said allowing Er Shun to care for two cubs at a time would likely lead to the death of one due to neglect.

There are two keepers from China in town to help with the cubs' neonatal care.

Tracey said the zoo has the capability to broadcast live from the maternity ward, but hasn't made any plans to do so yet. In the meantime, she said, the public will receive updates through videos and photographs via social media.

Giant pandas are born blind and the cubs are pink with short, thin white fur. The cubs are about 1/900th of the size of their mother, making them among the smallest newborn mammals compared to their mother.

Sperm from three different donors — Da Mao and two pandas in China — was used during the one-day fertility window back on May 14, and it's unclear whether the cubs are twins.

"At this time zoo staff do not know the sex of the cubs and have not confirmed which panda is the father. It may be several months before we are able to determine the sex and paternity of the cubs," the zoo said. 

Zoo staff began conducting regular ultrasounds on Er Shun and announced the pregnancy in late September.

The zoo said it's the first time giant pandas have been born in Canada.

Staff have said the cubs, if they survive, will live at the zoo for about two years and will likely return to China once they are weaned from Er Shun. Er Shun and Da Mao arrived from China in 2013 and are slated to move to the Calgary Zoo in 2018.

It will be a difficult road ahead. Two cubs were born in Washington's National Zoo in August and one cub died four days later. The zoo said the cubs' mother didn't take to the cub-swapping.

The National Zoo said the mortality rate for panda cubs in human care in their first year is 26 per cent for males and 20 per cent for females.

Liam Casey amd Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press

Next Man Up: With playoff berth secure, short-handed Whitecaps visit FC Dallas

With a playoff spot already secure, the Vancouver Whitecaps want to create some positive energy over the final two games of the regular season.

That could be difficult when head coach Carl Robinson can barely fill out a team sheet.

The Whitecaps (15-12-5) visit FC Dallas (15-10-6) on Wednesday night in the back end of a home-and-home series that saw the clubs play to a scoreless tie at B.C. Place Stadium on Oct. 6.

The result was enough to clinch Vancouver's second straight playoff berth, but a rash of injuries coupled with international call ups means that the Whitecaps travelled to Frisco, Texas, without a full compliment of players.

"Sometimes things are taken out of your hands. There's only one thing you can do — role your sleeves up and work," said Robinson. "We're like that as a group, as a club. We don't make excuses. We've got other players coming in. We've got a strong squad, I've said that from Day 1. The squad's really being tested at the moment."

Among the walking wounded for Vancouver is captain Pedro Morales and fellow midfielders Nicolas Mezquida, Mauro Rosales and Cristian Techera, while a host of others are also nursing various bumps and bruises.

"We've got guys hurting, but it's no excuse at this point in the season," said Whitecaps goalkeeper David Ousted. "The guys coming in for the injured players need to step up and show why they're here."

To make matters worse, Kendall Waston was away with Costa Rica for a friendly against the United States on Tuesday, while fellow defender Sam Adekugbe and midfielders Kianz Froese and Marco Bustos were with Canada for a game against Ghana. 

Robinson said he didn't know if any of those four will be available to play for him on Wednesday, while striker Darren Mattocks was with Jamaica for that country's friendly in South Korea.

"Without giving too much away, we've probably got 16, 17 healthy bodies," said Robinson.

The Whitecaps are a pedestrian 2-4-2 in Major League Soccer since the middle of August, but still managed to get into the post-season with two games to spare thanks to some stumbles from the teams around them.

"I don't think we want to coast into the playoffs," said Vancouver defender Jordan Harvey. "We want to build some momentum. We're without a doubt going for three points (on Wednesday). Are we disappointed if we get a draw? Probably not, but the goal is to get three points and build momentum."

The Whitecaps have lost all five visits to Dallas in franchise history, including last season's playoff defeat at Toyota Stadium.

"We've had some trouble there. My history there with other teams is we've won," added Harvey. "With this team and the talent we have, it's definitely possible."

The Whitecaps currently sit third in the Western Conference, a point back of first-place Dallas, which has a game in hand, and the Los Angeles Galaxy, who also have two games remaining. Sporting Kansas City is two points back of Vancouver with a game in hand, while the Seattle Sounders are three points back with two matches to go.

The top two teams in each conference get byes in the first round, while No. 3 hosts No. 6 and No. 4 hosts No. 5 in one-game playoffs, meaning that Vancouver's main focus is getting into at least one of the first four spots.

"Games at this stage of the season are very tight no matter who they're between," said Robinson. "With two games to go we're in. Now we've just got to regroup, refocus, get our minds right and see where we go from here."

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Follow @JClipperton_CP on Twitter

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press

Alberta climate panel has some reading to do with hundreds of policy submissions

CALGARY — Alberta's climate change advisory panel asked — and energy companies, trade associations, unions, think tanks and every-day Albertans answered.

The panel received close to 500 submissions following their request for public comment on what the government should consider when drafting its climate change policy. Everyone from climate-change skeptics to diehard greens represented.

Suggestions from those in favour of stronger action on climate change included switching all traffic lights to roundabouts to reduce idling, banning motorized lawn mowers and leaf blowers and giving nuclear power a chance. 

The most common requests, however, centred around more government funding for research, a faster phaseout of coal-fired power plants, more renewables and a price on carbon emissions.

"Please, Please, Please find a way to establish a 'SIGNIFICANT' price on fossil carbon emissions in Alberta!," suggested someone named Robert, whose full name was blocked out, as they were on many of the submissions.

Environmental groups made a variety of suggestions on what that carbon price should be, with the Pembina Institute recommending a $40 per tonne price next year, rising $10 a tonne every year for the first 10 years, while the Suzuki Foundation suggested a more modest $30 price, increasing by $10 a year for five years before a review.

Those advocating for a carbon price have allies in some oilsands companies, with Cenovus Energy, Shell, and Suncor among those supporting a widespread tax on carbon.

"A carbon price is the single most effective way to change the investment and operating decisions that drive real emissions reductions," Suncor said in its submission. 

Other oilsands players like Nexen and Husky Energy instead expressed support for a continuation of the current specified gas emitter regulations, with Husky saying Alberta shouldn't impose any more penalties until its competitors adopt an equivalent price on carbon.

As to phasing out coal-fired power plants, many environmental groups have called for their total elimination by 2025 or 2030, but power producers have put forth their own, more long-term solutions.

Power generators TransAlta, Atco Ltd., and Maxim Power Corp. have recommend that coal emissions be cut by 20 per cent immediately and then their reduction obligations should be considered met. The gap in energy generation would be filled by natural gas, and eventually replaced with renewables with a goal of 15 per cent of electricity from renewables by 2020 and rising from there.

Power-distributor Enmax recommends restricting coal power plant production to 25 per cent below capacity starting next year, and then allowing the full phaseout to run its current course of a complete elimination by 2066. Capital Power is calling for a 50 per cent emissions reduction from coal plants by 2030.

And while energy companies didn't go so far as to question the premise of the need to reduce emissions, many members of the public did.

"Time will come you and your panel of shills shall be exposed. Treachery as this carries massive consequences," wrote Ian.  

"There is nothing wrong with a wait-and-see approach to climate change," wrote Pieter. 

Chuck said human-caused climate change is a theory with little hard evidence, and the government shouldn't threaten investment because of it.

"Stable policy is essential for sustained capital investment. Don't screw it up," said Chuck.

Possibly the most common comment, however, amounted to expressions of gratitude for being invited to give input by the province's first NDP government.

John, who wrote in to suggest that people should be able to sell energy from their personal solar panels back to the grid, said he had never given feedback to the government before.

"Thank you for the opportunity to provide input. I am 62 and this is the first time I have ever done so."

___

Follow @ibickis on Twitter

Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press

Neighbour testifies about Turcotte’s change in demeanour prior to slayings

SAINT-JEROME, Que. — A former neighbour of a Quebec man charged with killing his young children has testified that he showed a flash of anger in him as he discussed the breakup of his marriage.

"You don't know me," Johanne Leclair quoted Guy Turcotte as saying as they chatted in 2009, not long before the slayings.

Turcotte, 43, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in the killings of his son Olivier, 5, and daughter Anne-Sophie, 3, but has admitted to causing the deaths on Feb. 20, 2009.

She told jurors Tuesday the flash was a sudden change in his demeanour — one she'd never witnessed while living next door to him and his ex-wife since 2003 as well as often babysitting the two youngsters.

Turcotte had come to see her to ask if she could watch the kids on Feb. 21, 2009 — the day after they'd eventually be killed.

Leclair testified that Turcotte confided in her that his separation from Isabelle Gaston, the children's mother, was difficult.

She said he described a run-in with Gaston's new boyfriend, Martin Huot, at the couple's former home, in which the latter was punched in the face.

Leclair said she tried to reason with Turcotte, reminding him he was a public figure with a career as a cardiologist at the Saint-Jerome hospital.

"I told him: 'this isn't possible, Guy, you are so nice," she testified.

"He said, 'You do not know me' with a look I had never seen," she said, describing an anger in him. "I didn't know this look."

She testified that Turcotte emphasized the words by pointing his finger at her, a gesture Leclair said frightened her and led her to back off.

Earlier on Tuesday, a police investigator who searched Turcotte's laptop said the accused looked on the Internet for material related to suicide and methanol in the days leading up to the slayings.

Provincial police investigator Michel Dufour conducted the search, testifying the word 'suicide' did not come up prior to Feb. 15, 2009 — the same date Turcotte's laptop was used to gain access to what was described as a discussion forum on suicide.

Dufour's examination also turned up searches on methanol — a toxic alcohol — and thylene glycol.

The jury has heard Turcotte arrived at the hospital the morning after the slayings with an unknown level of toxic alcohol in his bloodstream.

A container of windshield washer fluid — which contains methanol — was seized by police in the bathroom of the family home.

Turcotte's lawyer, Pierre Poupart, attempted Tuesday to discredit the information gathered as incomplete, error-laden and incomprehensible.

"Pages and pages of inexplicable scribbles," Poupart said at one point about the computer records filed in evidence.

Stephanie Marin, The Canadian Press

Wynne says Ontario may drop provincial pension if Trudeau’s Liberals win Oct. 19

TORONTO — Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne suggested Tuesday that her government would drop the idea of a provincial pension plan if Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau becomes the next prime minister.

Wynne couldn't convince the Harper government to enhance the Canada Pension Plan, so her Liberal government introduced an Ontario Retirement Pension Plan that would mirror the CPP, essentially doubling deductions and benefits.

If Trudeau wins the Oct. 19 election and is willing to improve the CPP, that would address her concerns about people without a workplace pension plan not having enough money to live on when they retire, said Wynne.

"If we have a partner in Justin Trudeau to sit down and work out what they're looking at as an enhancement to CPP, that was always my starting point, that was the solution," she said.

Trudeau is campaigning on a promise to expand the CPP and to return the age of eligibility for old age security to 65 from 67, and said he'd begin talks with the provinces on improving the CPP within three months of taking office.

New Democrat Leader Tom Mulcair also promises to enhance the CPP, and says he'd convene a First Ministers' meeting on improving the pension plan within six months of forming government. Like the Liberals, the NDP would also return the age for OAS eligibility to 65.

Ontario's pension plan, scheduled to begin Jan. 1, 2017, will require mandatory contributions of 1.9 per cent of pay from employers and a matching amount from workers — up to $1,643 a year — at any company that does not offer a pension.

As Wynne campaigned with federal Liberal candidates in the Toronto area Tuesday, she insisted she was not worried her attacks on Stephen Harper's Conservatives will make it hard to work with them if they're re-elected.

"Well, you know, it seems to me that before the federal election campaign started there was a little bit of a challenge working with Stephen Harper, but obviously I will continue to try to do that if Stephen Harper is the prime minister," she said to cheers and laughter from Liberal supporters.

Wynne, who has been the most vocal premier in the federal campaign and has clashed repeatedly with Harper over the Ontario pension plan, said the provinces need a government in Ottawa that will work with them on retirement security, climate change, infrastructure and the Syrian refugee crisis.

"I will work with whomever is the prime minister, but I really believe that in this country, at this moment, we have an opportunity to elect a prime minister who understands that working with the provinces and territories is in the best interests of the country," she said.

Ontario voters historically have supported different parties in government at the federal and provincial levels, but Wynne isn't worried about campaigning herself out of a job in the next provincial election.

"I think the opportunity we have right now is to have a federal government and a provincial government that are on the same page, that are actually pulling in the same direction, and that's exactly what I'm looking forward to," she said.

Wynne also defended her decision to campaign heavily for her Liberal cousins in the federal election as "standing up for the people of Ontario," and said she didn't need to take a vacation day from her duties as premier to do it.

"I work seven days a week, so this is part of the work that I do."

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Keith Leslie, The Canadian Press

After starting season with groin strain, Sens goalie Hammond cleared for duty

OTTAWA — Finally cleared for action, Andrew Hammond is looking forward to proving he's still the goaltender that backstopped the Ottawa Senators during last season's improbable run to the playoffs.

The 27-year-old missed the first two weeks of the season with a groin strain, but he took part in practice Tuesday morning and declared he was ready to play should he be called upon on the Senators' two-game road trip that features stops in Columbus and Pittsburgh.

"To be honest I was surprised when they told me probably two weeks, but I think we're coming in a little shy of that," Hammond said of his injury. "I feel like I've always been someone who kind of heals quickly so to have it drag on longer than I thought (was hard). In my mind I thought I was going to be ready for the opener, and obviously when it comes to be the day before and you're really not close you kind of get a little discouraged."

The Senators (2-1-0) know this two-game road trip will be a good challenge, as Pittsburgh and Columbus will be hungry after slow starts to the season.

The goaltender nicknamed "Hamburglar" rose to prominence last season after compiling a 20-1-2 record in relief of Craig Anderson and Robin Lehner, who were both injured. He was instrumental in the Senators advancing to the playoffs and was rewarded for his performance in the off-season with a three-year contract.

Hammond suffered the injury Oct. 1 and was expected to miss at least two weeks. Having never experienced a groin injury, Hammond admits it was difficult to play the waiting game.

"That was maybe part of the reason I didn't know really what to expect," he said. "It really is the first time going through a groin injury and it is more common for goalies, but for me it's something that I've never had to deal with."

Hammond is confident that with the time and work done over the past two weeks he can keep from getting injured again.

"We have a regimen for me now going forward, and I've been sticking to that over the last two weeks," Hammond said. "To be perfectly honest I feel a little bit better now than I did before and just putting a little bit more emphasis on those muscles in your body. Obviously I'm kind of seeing the benefits of that now."

Senators coach Dave Cameron didn't say exactly when he expects to give Hammond his first start, but with the Senators playing back-to-back against the Blue Jackets and Penguins he said, "he'll probably get a game somewhere."

With Hammond ready, the Senators reassigned rookie Matt O'Connor to Binghamton of the American Hockey League. O'Connor made his NHL debut Sunday in a 3-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.

Notes — Forward Curtis Lazar's status was unclear after he was seen hobbling after blocking a shot during Sunday's game. He missed Tuesday's practice for a maintenance day, but is expected to travel with the team. Shane Prince would get an opportunity to play his first game of the season should Lazar be unable to play on the upcoming trip. ... Cameron said he would also like to see defenceman Chris Wideman get his first game.

Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press

Canadian women’s hockey team young in goal for Four Nations Cup tournament

CALGARY — Canada will be green in goal at the Four Nations Cup women's hockey tournament.

Hockey Canada has announced the country's 22-player roster for tournament Nov. 4-8 in Sundsvall, Sweden.

Canada is the defending champion having beaten the U.S. women 3-2 in a shootout in last year's final in Kamloops, B.C. Finland and host Sweden round out the field for the annual tournament.

Goaltenders Emerance Maschmeyer of Bruderheim, Alta., and Erica Howe of Orleans, Ont., have fewer than five career starts for the national team between them.

Canada's roster includes seven players who won Olympic gold in 2014 in Sochi, Russia: Marie-Philip Poulin, Meghan Agosta, Natalie Spooner, Jennifer Wakefield, Rebecca Johnston, Laura Fortino, Lauriane Rougeau.

Those players minus Agosta, along with forwards Jillian Saulnier, Bailey Bram, Jessica Campbell, Emily Clark, Sarah Davis and defenders Courtney Birchard, Brigette Lacquette and Halli Krzyzaniak, won a silver medal at the women's world championship in April.

Maschmeyer, 21, dressed for two games at the world championship, but did not play in the tournament.

Defencemen Sarah Edney of Mississauga, Ont., and Renata Fast of Burlington, Ont., as well as forwards Sarah Lefort of Ormstown, Que., Sarah Nurse of Hamilton and Sarah Potomak of Aldergrove, B.C., will make their national-team debuts in Sweden.

Agosta, Canada's leading scorer and tournament MVP at the 2010 Winter Olympics, returns to the national team after taking police training in Vancouver last winter.

Left off the Four Nations roster were Sochi veterans Hayley Wickenheiser, Haley Irwin, Jocelyne Larocque, Brianne Jenner, Melodie Daoust, Tara Watchorn and goaltender Charline Labonte. Those players participated in the national team's September camp.

Goaltender Shannon Szabados, Canada's winning goalie in both the 2010 and 2014 Olympic finals, is playing men's pro hockey for the Southern Professional Hockey League's Columbus Cottonmouths.

Canada will be coached by 1998 Olympian Laura Schuler of Toronto.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press

Gas prices rise and fall over the Thanksgiving Long Weekend

Baseball fan critically injured in fight outside Dodger Stadium following playoff game

LOS ANGELES — A fight outside Dodger Stadium after a playoff game left a fan critically injured and police searching for suspects in the latest round of violence at the ballpark.

The victim was hospitalized Tuesday, but few other details about the Friday night brawl were available, including the person's age and gender, Los Angeles police Officer Ricardo Hernandez said.

The fight broke out around 10:30 p.m. in a parking lot after the Dodgers lost the opening game of the National League Division Series to the New York Mets, 3-1.

An argument between fans quickly escalated into violence, Hernandez said. It wasn't clear whether those involved were fans of rival teams. Detectives were interviewing witnesses and reviewing stadium surveillance footage, Hernandez said.

Dodger spokesman Steve Brener said Tuesday that the team had no comment.

Security at Dodger Stadium came under national scrutiny after a 2011 attack in the parking lot on opening day left San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow with brain damage. Two men — Marvin Norwood and Louie Sanchez — pleaded guilty in the beating and went to prison.

Stow sued the Dodgers and their former owner Frank McCourt, blaming them for the attack because of insufficient security and lighting. A jury faulted the team, along with Sanchez and Norwood, and awarded Stow nearly $18 million after a six-week trial in 2014.

The Associated Press

Fort St. John Mayor Lori Ackerman to speak at this year’s LNG Conference

Turcotte murder trial resumes with more Crown testimony following brief hiatus

SAINT-JEROME, Que. — A former cardiologist on trial in the stabbing deaths of his two young children searched the Internet for material related to suicide and methanol in the days leading up to the slayings.

Guy Turcotte's jury trial is hearing today that his laptop computer was searched by provincial police investigator Michel Dufour, who noted the search terms.

Dufour says the word 'suicide' did not come up prior to Feb. 15, 2009 — the same date Turcotte's laptop was used to gain access to what was described as a discussion forum on suicide.

Turcotte has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his son Olivier, 5, and daughter Anne-Sophie, 3, but has admitted to causing their deaths on Feb. 20, 2009.

The trial resumed today after sitting for just a few days last week due to jurors being unavailable.

Dufour's examination of the computer also turned up searches on methanol — a toxic alcohol — and on ethylene glycol.

The jury has heard Turcotte arrived at the hospital the morning after the slayings with an unknown level of toxic alcohol in his bloodstream.

A container of windshield washer fluid — which contains methanol — was seized by police in the bathroom of the family home.

Turcotte's lawyer, Pierre Poupart, attempted Tuesday to discredit the information gathered as incomplete, error-laden and incomprehensible.

"Pages and pages of inexplicable scribbles," Poupart said at one point about the computer records filed in evidence.

The Canadian Press