Procedural quagmire could kill dream of cheap AIDS drugs

I have a new story up on the national page of Xtra.ca, which previous the Third Reading debate on Bill C-393, which goes ahead first thing Monday morning. This latest piece adds to the layers of complexity piling up in terms of what this bill faces, and as the only reporter who's been following this story for the past two years or so, it's pretty interesting to see the ways in which this story keeps turning up new challenges. More to come on Monday.

Ignatieff signals opposition to crime bills

I have a short piece on the national page of Xtra.ca today, which stemmed from a press conference this afternoon. It would likely have been a piece intended for the blog, but it's nice when these things get that bit of an upgrade. I'm also happy with the picture I took for it, which isn't always such an easy task.

Federal HIV/AIDS funding falls short

I have a new story up on the national page of Xtra.ca today, which looks at the funding levels for the Federal Initiative to Address HIV/AIDS. It was a story that I could really sink my teeth into, in terms of looking up numbers and making tables, and so on, plus getting some good reaction to it. One of the tables didn't make it into the final version, but I did put it up in a post on my Hill Queeries blog, along with part of my conversation with Ujjal Dosanjh that didn't fit into the story, but was interesting nevertheless.

Immigration rules for gay couples haven't been toughened: CIC

I have a new story up on the national page of Xtra.ca today, which is a vastly different story than the one I had initially set out to write. Last Thursday, the Toronto Sun put out a story about how immigration officials were "tightening" the rules for same-sex couples. But as I looked into this further, which not only involved speaking with department officials, but getting my hands on the very same Access to Information documents the Sun cited, it turned out that the Sun story was completely bogus. And so my story went from looking into the supposed rule changes to debunking them. Like I said - not what I had in mind, but that's the thing about this job. Things don't always turn out the way you expect.

Fantino gets cabinet post

My first story of the New Year (and after a week of ersatz vacation) came out of today's federal cabinet shuffle. Xtra has a history of concerns with Julian Fantino, and there was worry that he would get a law-and-order related cabinet post. He didn't, mind you, but it was still incumbent to write it up, and get some reaction (not that anyone was too vocal about it).