Canada Post books first loss in 16 years

The Yukon government wants the Supreme Court of Canada to review an important court ruling that has thrown the territory’s “free entry” staking system into legal limbo.

OTTAWA — The Manitoba Metis Federation has won a victory in a land dispute more than a century in the making. In a 6-2 ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada says the way the federal government handed out land to children of the Metis more than 100 years ago failed to live up to its constitutional obligations. The long-running legal battle stems from a deal that ultimately made Manitoba Canada’s fifth province.

William Whatcott, the anti-gay pamphleteer from Saskatchewan who became the test case for Canada’s civil hate speech laws, has asked the Supreme Court to hear his case again. A written request by his lawyer Thomas Schuck states that the six judges who decided his case relied on a factual error — that Mr. Whatcott implied homosexuals are pedophiles.

OTTAWA — A think-tank commissioned by Canada Post is warning that the Crown corporation will be losing $1-billion a year by the end of this decade. The Conference Board of Canada says the postal service is being hit by a dramatic reduction in volumes in the age of digital communication. It estimates that the volume of bills, invoices, advertising and publications handled by Canada Post will decline by more than 25% by 2020.

The Ontario Court of Appeal made an important ruling for the province’s resource sector on Monday, overturning a decision in the Keewatin case. According to the original decision, the Ontario government could not approve projects in places where First Nations groups have treaty harvesting rights.

At 10 a.m. Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hold one hour of oral argument on whether police need a court order to get a blood sample from an individual suspected of drunk driving. 

The US Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear Microsoft's appeal of a 290-million-dollar verdict in a patent dispute with a Canadian company over its popular Word software.The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments in the case pitting the US software giant against Toronto-based i4i Inc during its winter session and to deliver a ruling before the end of June next year.In December, a US Court of Appeals upheld a jury verdict and lower court ruling in the case filed against Microsoft by i4i over its Word program.