Paul W. Dewar, 48, New Democratic Party Member of Parliament for the riding of Ottawa Centre, is running a spirited campaign for the hotly contested leadership of the NDP in the wake of the untimely death of Jack Layton in August 2011. OLM’s Harvey Chartrand sits down with Dewar to discuss his plans for his candidacy for party leadership and beyond.

In December, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty unilaterally unveiled a new non-negotiable health-care funding plan that runs to 2024. Under this plan Federal healthcare transfers will continue to increase by six per cent until 2016-17.

The world’s top polar scientists will converge on Montreal in April to present their findings on climate change.

Don’t mess with Newfoundland and Labrador’s Premier Kathy Dunderdale. Armed with experience in many fields, Dunderdale is a powerful lady with a lot of clout.

As we move into 2012 , Canada’s North is in the hands of women. In natural resource-dependant Canada, this means that while Dunderdale and Aariak are guiding the fortunes of the North, they also have a hand in the success of Canada as a whole.

Canada’s Olympic heroes need more financial support from the government if they are to succeed at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Earlier this week whistleblower Andrew Frank released an open letter to Canadians alleging that the Prime Minister’s Office threatened to withdraw Tides Canada’s charitable status if it did not cease funding to the environmental group ForestEthics. The allegations stem from an apparent bullying campaign in which the PMO allegedly characterized ForestEthics as an “enemy of the Government of Canada” because of the organization’s work opposing oilsands expansion and the construction of pipeline/tanker routes in Canada.