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McGill University takes hit to prestige as medical school put on probation
McGill University's medical school in Montreal, one of Canada's most prestigious educational facilities, has been put on probation for failings in several areas, Ingrid Peritz reports.
The Canadian and U.S. bodies responsible for accrediting medical faculties across the continent inspected McGill's undergraduate program and cited inadequacies in two dozen areas, including concerns over students' learning experiences and the quality of instruction in women's health.
In a letter to faculty and students, the dean of medicine, David Eidelman, said the university has 18 to 24 months to “demonstrate significant progress” on the problems authorities identified.
“In general, probation is not common, and it’s a sign of serious concern,” Dan Hunt, co-secretary for the U.S. Liaison Committee for Medical Education, said from Washington, D.C. “You really don’t want to have this happen.”
McGill recently boasted that Maclean's magazine named it the top university in the country among institutions with medical-doctoral programs, for the 10th year in a row.
Dr. Eidelman said the faculty set up a task force after getting preliminary findings from the accreditors in April. Members came up with an action plan and most of the issues will be addressed by the end of this year, he said.
The findings will not threaten the future of students currently enrolled and their diplomas will be recognized.
Sex allegations against Senator Don Meredith referred to ethics officer
Allegations that Senator Don Meredith was having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl were referred to the Senate ethics officer Thursday, causing the battered Senate to reel from yet another body blow.
“I find this sort of (alleged) behaviour disturbing, unacceptable and intolerable and I hope that the ethics commissioner will come back in an expeditious fashion,” Senate Speaker Leo Housakos said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Meredith resigned from the Conservative caucus Wednesday night after the Toronto Star reported that a woman claims to have had a sexual relationship with him that began shortly after she turned 16. The pair met at a Black History Month event at a church in Ottawa.
She said the pair had intercourse twice after she turned 18, before the 50-year-old Meredith ended the relationship earlier this year.
The age of consent in Canada for sexual relations is 16, except in cases of a relationship of trust or authority in which the young person is in a dependant or exploitive relationship, when it increases to 18.
Conservative Sen. Vern White called the allegations “disgusting” and said if they are proven true, Meredith should be expelled from the Senate.
“This is his scandal. This isn’t mine, this isn’t ours. This is his and he’ll own it.”
Charleston church shooting suspect arrested during traffic stop
Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old white gunman accused of killing nine people at a historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C., was arrested during a traffic stop in North Carolina, Charleston's police chief said.
The shooter, a white man with sandy blond hair, sat with churchgoers inside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church for about an hour on Wednesday before opening fire, Police Chief Gregory Mullen said. Roof may be charged with a hate crime, which typically carry harsher penalties.
“This is an unfathomable and unspeakable act by somebody filled with hate and with a deranged mind,” Charleston Mayor Joe Riley told reporters.
Police say six females and three males died in the shooting.
The shooter told one survivor he would let her live so she could tell others what happened, the president of the Charleston NAACP, Dot Scott, told the local Post and Courier newspaper.
Ottawa to help fund Toronto’s $8-billion SmartTrack plan
Toronto Mayor John Tory’s SmartTrack transit plan is getting some help from the federal government, Bill Curry and Oliver Moore report.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Finance Minister Joe Oliver announced Thursday that Ottawa will contribute up to $2.6-billion to the commuter rail plan. The money will come from the new Public Transit Fund that was launched in the April federal budget.
SmartTrack adds more stations to the provincial proposal and a new spur west alongside or under Eglington Avenue to an area south of Pearson International Airport.
Mr. Tory said the $8-billion project would be split between the three levels of government.
For the federal Conservatives, the ability to make splashy government announcements in the run-up to the October election gives the party an advantage over the opposition.
Trudeau vows to repeal parts of Bill C-51
Justin Trudeau's pledge to"repeal" parts of the government's new anti-terrorism legislation doesn't mean unravelling all those new police and spy powers, Campbell Clark writes. It’s more like tinkering.
Vocal opponents of Bill C-51 have called for repeal of some of the new police and spy powers, like longer terms for preventive arrest without charge and a new mandate for CSIS.
Former Toronto police chief Bill Blair has said he doesn't think the new powers for police and spy agencies go too far, but they just need to be balanced with more oversight and scrutiny.
Mr. Trudeau told reporters Tuesday his Liberals are “committed to bringing in reforms and repealing the sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act that cause so much concern for so many Canadians.” But apart from adding oversight, the Liberals have been proposing modest amendments.
The NDP’s Thomas Mulcair, who says he would repeal the whole bill, has scarred the Liberals with attacks on the issue.