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Kim Clijsters pumps her fist after taking the second set. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

Regular service has resumed at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, but that doesn’t mean it was easy sledding by any means for one top-ranked player.

Kim Clijsters joined a number of seeds who moved on to the tournament’s third round on Wednesday, but she was pushed to the limit by the 101st-ranked Bethanie Mattek-Sands before eventually prevailing 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

What should have been an easy second-round affair for Clijsters turned into the match of the tournament in the early going, with fantastic high-pressure shot-making throughout. Clijsters, ranked fourth in the world and seeded fifth at the Rogers Cup, arrived in Montreal on the heels of a victory in Cincinnati last week and is the hottest player on the tour right now.

But Mattek-Sands, who is 97 spots below Clijsters in the world rankings, nevertheless confounded the 27-year-old Belgian with her aggressive shot-making for the first half of the match, breaking Clijsters twice in the first set to take it 6-4.

The 25-year-old American had never defeated a top-10 opponent in her career, but kept up the pressure on Clijsters in the second set. A major upset was definitely brewing when she put Clijsters down 4-1 with the reigning U.S. Open champion facing double break point.

But that’s when the match swung the other way — Clijsters held her nerve and battled back to win the game and then took the next four to win the set 6-4.

The momentum went back and forth in the final set, with Clijsters and Mattek-Sands exchanging early breaks.

Mattek-Sands looked like she had Clijsters on the ropes for good, as the Belgian faced triple break point while down 3-2. But Clijsters dug deep yet again, battling back to win the game and then took the next three to advance to the third round.

If Clijsters fell, she would’ve joined No. 1 Jelena Jankovic on a flight home. Jankovic fell to qualifier Iveta Benesova 7-6 (3), 6-3 a day earlier.

Instead, Clijsters will face Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in the third round, as she defeated Sybille Bammer of Austria in her second-round match.

Other seeds advance

Clijsters also joined a number of other seeded players who booked their spots in the third round by earning victories Wednesday.

Caroline Wozniacki from Denmark returns to Patty Schnyder during second-round play at the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Wednesday. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark overcame a tough challenge from Swiss Patty Schnyder to emerge victorious 7-5, 7-5.

Wozniacki’s next opponent is No. 15 Flavia Pennetta, of Italy, who defeated Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova 6-3, 6-3 on Wednesday. No. 6 Francesca Schiavone, also of Italy, moved on to the third round with a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2 victory over Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova.

Joining Wozniacki in the third round is defending Rogers Cup champion Elena Dementieva. The No. 4 seed from Russia was pressed by the Czech Republic’s Klara Zakopalova, before finally earning a 6-2, 6-4 win.

No. 7 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland set the tone for the seeded players, beginning the day by beating American Vania King 6-0, 6-3.

No. 17 Marion Bartoli of France had the easiest time of the seeded players. She advanced to the third round after her opponent, Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan, withdrew from the tournament with a strained left quadriceps muscle.

Date Krumm, 39, defeated Monica Niculescu of Romania in three sets Tuesday.

No. 10 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus also earned a spot in the third round with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Russia’s Maria Kirilenko.

In an all-Russian matchup, Dinara Safina outlasted No. 18 Nadia Petrova 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 to book her spot in the third round.

Hungarian Agnes Szavay upset No. 13 seed Yanina Wickmayer of Belarus 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4.

There are no Canadians remaining in the field after the final two lost their first-round matches on Tuesday.

Russian Alisa Kleybanova, ranked No. 26 in the world, defeated Heidi El Tabakh of Oakville, Ont., 6-1, 6-2. Valerie Tetreault of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., had a quick first appearance at the Rogers Cup, losing 6-1, 6-0 in 69 minutes to Bartoli.

Fellow Canadians Aleksandra Wozniak and Stephanie Dubois were eliminated Monday on the first day of competition.

Doubles results from Wednesday:

Second Round

• Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic upset the top-seeded pair of Liezel Huber of the United States and Nadia Petrova of Russia 7-6 (0), 1-6, 11-9.
• No. 2-ranked Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Flavia Pennetta defeated Julie Coin of France and Alicja Rosolska of Poland 6-1, 2-6, 10-8.
• No. 3-ranked Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia defeated Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Caroline Wozniaki of Denmark 6-4, 2-6, 10-3.
• Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci defeated Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia 6-4, 4-6, 10-7.
• Monica Niculescu of Romania and Shahar Peer of Israel defeated Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 0-6, 7-5, 10-7.
• Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain and Zi Yan of China defeated Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4.

First Round

• No. 8-ranked Maria Kirilenko of Russia and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland defeated Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Ipek Senoglu of Turkey 6-0, 7-6.

Anti-HST proponent Bill Vander Zalm says public opinion will win out no matter what the court decides on his petition. (CBC)

A coalition of business groups has wrapped up its arguments in B.C. Supreme Court in an effort to force the provincial government to ignore the 700,000-name anti-HST petition.

Lawyer Peter Gall told the Vancouver court the petition treads on federal jurisdiction and is also misleading.

People who signed the petition may mistakenly believe that if the initiative succeeded, the harmonized sales tax would be immediately scrapped, Gall said.

Judge Robert Bauman reserved his decision on the matter, along with his decision on a counter-challenge by petition leader Bill Vander Zalm that was heard earlier this week seeking to declare the tax unconstitutional.

Lawyer Joe Arvay argued that to comply with the constitution, the HST should have been debated by the B.C. legislature, but instead was imposed through an order-in-council by the provincial cabinet.

Outside court, NDP critic Mike Farnworth said he disagrees with the business groups and said the legislature has supremacy on the issue.

Federal political implications

Vander Zalm said no matter what the court rules, the decision will be made in the court of public opinion.

In an interview later Wednesday on CBC News Network’s Power & Politics with Evan Solomon, Vander Zalm said that if the court decides the HST is in federal jurisdiction, there could be a political price to pay for the national Conservative Party.

“The NDP, in the next federal election, will undoubtedly play this,” Vander Zalm said. “They’ll say, ‘Look, it’s, according to the courts, the Conservatives that brought you the HST.’ So, we can’t ignore it federally. It will be an issue … I think [Prime Minister Stephen Harper] knows that.”

The petition was verified by Elections BC last week as meeting the standard required for it to be passed for consideration by a committee of the B.C. legislature.

But B.C.’s chief electoral officer said he would not forward the petition to the committee until the court decides on the petition’s constitutionality.

Withe files from The Canadian Press

Anti-HST proponent Bill Vander Zalm says public opinion will win out no matter what the court decides on his petition. (CBC)

A coalition of business groups has wrapped up its arguments in B.C. Supreme Court in an effort to force the provincial government to ignore the 700,000-name anti-HST petition.

Lawyer Peter Gall told the Vancouver court the petition treads on federal jurisdiction and is also misleading.

People who signed the petition may mistakenly believe that if the initiative succeeded, the harmonized sales tax would be immediately scrapped, Gall said.

Judge Robert Bauman reserved his decision on the matter, along with his decision on a counter-challenge by petition leader Bill Vander Zalm that was heard earlier this week seeking to declare the tax unconstitutional.

Lawyer Joe Arvay argued that to comply with the constitution, the HST should have been debated by the B.C. legislature, but instead was imposed through an order-in-council by the provincial cabinet.

Outside court, NDP critic Mike Farnworth said he disagrees with the business groups and said the legislature has supremacy on the issue.

Federal political implications

Vander Zalm said no matter what the court rules, the decision will be made in the court of public opinion.

In an interview later Wednesday on CBC News Network’s Power & Politics with Evan Solomon, Vander Zalm said that if the court decides the HST is in federal jurisdiction, there could be a political price to pay for the national Conservative Party.

“The NDP, in the next federal election, will undoubtedly play this,” Vander Zalm said. “They’ll say, ‘Look, it’s, according to the courts, the Conservatives that brought you the HST.’ So, we can’t ignore it federally. It will be an issue … I think [Prime Minister Stephen Harper] knows that.”

The petition was verified by Elections BC last week as meeting the standard required for it to be passed for consideration by a committee of the B.C. legislature.

But B.C.’s chief electoral officer said he would not forward the petition to the committee until the court decides on the petition’s constitutionality.

Withe files from The Canadian Press

Cliff Pennington, left, of the Oakland Athletics is congratulated by Dallas Braden, right, after Pennington hit a game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth against Toronto. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Cliff Pennington hit an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to bail out Oakland’s bullpen and give the Athletics a 5-4 victory over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.

The A’s blew a 4-1 lead in the top of the ninth but managed to pull out the victory to remain undefeated in 51 games this season when they led after eight innings.

Gio Gonzalez allowed two hits in seven innings and Coco Crisp had a homer, two doubles and two RBIs for the A’s, who won their sixth straight home series.

Steve Tolleson started the winning rally with a leadoff single against Casey Janssen (4-1). He went to second on a passed ball by Jose Molina and scored easily on Pennington’s grounder into right field.

Fill-in closer Michael Wuertz was unable to preserve a three-run lead, blowing his first save in seven chances in place of injured all-star Andrew Bailey.

The Blue Jays entered the ninth with just two hits, including on an infield popup that was lost in the sun. But Adam Lind started the rally with a double. One out later, Wuertz threw eight straight balls to Lyle Overbay and Edwin Encarnacion to load the bases.

J.P. Arencibia hit an RBI single to make it 4-2 and knock out Wuertz. Jerry Blevins came on and surrendered a tying two-run single to Fred Lewis. Brad Ziegler (3-4) got out of the jam by getting Yunel Escobar to hit into a double play after his grounder down the first-base line was ruled just foul by umpire Tim Timmons instead of being an RBI hit.

Lucky break

Toronto’s lone run against Gonzalez was the result of bright sun and a lucky break. With runners on first and second and two outs in the fifth, Lewis hit a high popup in front of the plate. Third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff appeared to have trouble tracking the ball in the sun and catcher Kurt Suzuki was unable to come out and make the catch.

By the time Suzuki picked up the ball, he couldn’t get back to the plate in time to tag out Overbay and Lewis got credit for an RBI single. Gonzalez escaped without further damage by getting Escobar on a groundout.

The only other hit off Gonzalez was Vernon Wells’ second-inning double. The left-hander, quietly having a breakout season, struck out six and walked four.

The Blue Jays lost a fly ball in the sun in the bottom half of the fifth but it didn’t hurt them. Crisp was caught too far off second base after the ball fell in shallow left-centre and was tagged out in a rundown.

Toronto starter Marc Rzepczynski, who had walked only two batters in 18 1/3 innings in the majors this season, walked the first three batters in this game and struggled to find a rhythm. Suzuki and Kouzmanoff hit run-scoring groundouts to give the A’s a 2-0 lead.

Rzepczynski was hurt by wildness again in the second. Pennington walked with two outs and scored on Crisp’s double. Rzepczynski left after walking Conor Jackson with one out in the fifth for his fifth walk of the game.

Crisp added a solo homer in the seventh off Scott Downs.

Toronto Argonauts running back Cory Boyd, left, celebrates his touchdown against the Montreal Alouettes with teammate Adrian Davis. Boyd leads the league in rushing with 711 yards. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

Cory Boyd is stripping off his sweat-heavy shirts at the request of a visitor to reveal a tattooed chest, back and arms.

It’s the end of a Thursday practice on a hot day at the University of Toronto’s Mississauga campus, where the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts are based.

Each of Boyd’s dozen or so art pieces, it turns out, are evocative of some moment in a hard life that began in Orange, N.J., 25 years ago.

That upbringing includes the story of a mother who sold drugs on the street and would eventually die in jail, a father he never met until his mom’s funeral, and both a girlfriend and cousin who were shot and killed.

There was the escape to the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, a short stint in the NFL with the Denver Broncos (one game, mostly practice roster), a couple of years inactivity, and then a chance to try again, this time north of the border.

Of all of the art, the one that says the most about the CFL’s newest star is also one of the newest — noticeable for its simplicity and length and sitting over the right side of his chest because the left side over his heart had already been occupied.

It is the Gospel of John, chapter 3, verse 16, and in the King James Version, it says:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

That will be the last tattoo on this body, Boyd says, as there are other ways to tell the tale.

This is a man who gives no quarter on the football field and expects none for himself. Through the first seven games of his coming out season, he has amassed a league-leading 711 yards on 117 carries for an average of 6.1 yards a pop.

That’s 99 yards better than his next closest challenger, Arkee Whitlock of the Edmonton Eskimos.

All of the running back’s experiences have left him with a considered, thoughtful answer when you wonder what he might say if asked: “Who is Cory Boyd?”

“I would tell them that Cory Boyd is a living testimony,” he says, watching his teammates head for the locker-rooms and meetings. “I would tell them I am a rose that grew from concrete.

“You don’t see too many roses growing from concrete. It’s a tough place, the foundation is not fertile, and that’s also dealing with football, with me, and my life because my life has always been about how beauty has come out of it.”

We tend, in the media, to be uncomfortable about discussing faith and religion, and this is true with athletes as the separation of church and state also holds with church and sport. Professional athletes, brought up to believe they are special … chosen … the elite, often find solace in a spiritual expression.

Boyd is one. He sees his faith in everything around him, including the grass, the air, and the way football and basketball relate somehow to the Coliseum of ancient Rome and the attempt to bring glory to his God by using the athletic skills he believes were granted to him.

Those skills have produced some remarkable games this season, including 109 yards against Winnipeg, 142 in an upset against Calgary, 148 to squeeze past B.C. and 164 in a close victory over Edmonton.

Each time the approach is the same … hit and spin, hit and spin … ferocious and driven. After getting to know Boyd a bit, however, you start to understand what the rhythm is really about — bam (glory to God), bam (glory to his teammates), bam (gain yards and win the game).

He beats people up. They beat him up. Where does the courage to stick your head into the thick of the fight come from?

“Honestly, that just comes from God, really,” he says. “Giving me that strength every play. It’s like I’m saying to myself, my team needs me, God help me. Even though it looks like I’m out there having fun and punishing the other guys, you have to understand I’m flesh and blood the same way.”

And for the resurgent 5-2 Argonauts, Boyd has been a revelation, one that leaves you wondering why no one saw this in the runner before he got to the CFL.

“Until you have a player, there’s no way to know [his heart],” says Jim Barker, the Argonauts head coach. “It’s hard to show that stuff, for example, in an NFL camp, because they never hit. You get a couple of snaps in a pre-season game, and if you are in with a bad offensive line, it’s hard for a running back.”

Barker suspected there was something there, but really didn’t know what he was getting when Boyd arrived.

“A lot of [what Boyd does] comes from his heart,” Barker says. “It’s very important to him. He’s got the physical size that it takes, and that’s just the way he plays.”

And the way he is.

Fans have jumped on board

Earlier, in a small stand on the sidelines at this Argo practice, a small knot of fans sits in the stands and watches the proceedings.

It’s here you can find out what supporters really think of the men who fill out the Double Blue. They’ll tell you straight if any of them are jerks. They love Cory Boyd.

“I think he’s a real team player,” says Cindy LeRoy, who grew up in a football household where her father was a big Argo fan. “I found that in talking with him.

“I said ‘I didn’t see you celebrate when you scored all those touchdowns,’ and he said those touchdowns weren’t about me, they were about the team, and we play together as a team.”

There’s more than football that attracts the LeRoys (including husband Jim and son Thomas) to the young running back.

“[It's] the way he talks to people,” she says. “The way he comes and talks to the kids — and he talks to them about different things — he’s a very down-to-earth person.”

The LeRoys point out they have, in hanging around their favourite team over the years, seen more than one player who doesn’t fit that mould.

“Yeah, I can think of a few that got into the selfish mode,” Jim says.

Out on the field, Boyd is playing defence while teammate Chad Owens’s young son runs pass patterns against him. The big man is laughing his head off, having a great time.

Whatever it takes

About 48 hours later, it’s game time, Toronto vs. the first-place Montreal Alouettes, a team that blasted the Argos 41-10 just over two weeks ago.

Boyd is all anyone was talking about in media scrums — how the Als might approach stopping him as they did in Montreal when the Argos runner had 53 yards on nine carries.

At practice, Boyd had quietly pointed out that if the East’s beasts wanted to key on him all night that would be fine with him, because the rest of the offence would be left wide open.

Just 19 plays into the game, Boyd had carried four times for 15 yards and seemed to be in check.

Until the league’s newest star unveiled a little versatility of his own, taking the ball from quarterback Cleo Lemon, heading right and then stopping and throwing his own return pass across the field to the pivot who was waiting on the other sideline.

Thirteen yards. First down.

Four plays later, Boyd pounded over from one yard out, and the Argos were up 14-0 on the way to an upset 37-22 win and a share of first place.

He would finish with 63 yards on 17 carries as Chad Owens, released by the Als’ intense focus on Boyd, emerged as the game’s star and ultimately the CFL’s offensive player of the week.

In the boisterous dressing room afterwards, the object of so much Montreal attention was happy as could be, even if he didn’t get his 100 yards.

“Like I said earlier, it’s all about the components,” Boyd said, as the media thronged around Owens and Lemon. “I did my job. My receivers went out and did their job. My quarterback did an excellent job, my offensive line blocked, and like I said, if you scheme on one man that’s ignorance on your part.

“It takes a team effort, and that’s something we are trying to focus on and help ourselves get through.”

My receivers. My quarterback. It seems easy and natural to substitute “my brothers” in there, and get to the heart of what Cory Boyd is all about.

General Motors has filed the first paperwork required for the initial public offering of its shares.

The automaker also said Wednesday that it will list on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

General Motors world headquarters in Detroit. The automaker says it will list its shares in Toronto. (Paul Sancya/Associated Press)

The company said the U.S. government and other stakeholders will sell common shares worth $100 million US, and GM will sell preferred shares worth $100 million.

Those numbers are rough estimates, and the amount raised in the actual stock sale is expected to be much higher.

The company did not immediately specify the selling price of the shares.

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Aug. 13 that Ottawa was “urging” GM to list on the TSX.

“I certainly expect the shares to be listed in Toronto,” Flaherty said. “That is, I think, a reasonable expectation on behalf of the people of Canada since we are a major shareholder in the company.”

On Wednesday, Flaherty said the IPO filing was the latest sign that the company “is on the road to recovery.”

“We achieved our primary goal of preventing the collapse of the auto sector in Canada,” Flaherty said in a statement, “including the parts sector, during this difficult period, and preserving Canada’s place in the auto industry.

“Our success is measured by the thousands of jobs that were saved in the auto sector.”

Ottawa might sell into IPO

Canada may participate in an initial public offering by General Motors, he said, “but any decision we take is with the goal of maximizing the return for taxpayers while reducing our ownership in the company as quickly as is appropriate.”

GM delisted its shares from the New York Stock Exchange in early 2009 when the company began a massive reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States. As part of its restructuring, the company accepted billions of dollars in aid from the American, Canadian and Ontario governments.

GM is eager to sell stock so it can pay off those loans. Its IPO could be the largest in U.S. history. It would have to bring in $70 billion US to pay back all of GM’s stakeholders.

The move came six days after the automaker announced that Edward Whitacre would step down as CEO on Sept. 1 and be replaced by board member Daniel Akerson.

It also reported a $1.3-billion second-quarter profit, its second-straight positive quarter.

With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the recent removal of the Canadian Firearms Program’s director was not a political decision, despite opposition MPs’ claims his ouster fits the Conservative government’s “pattern” of dealing with dissent.

RCMP Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak, seen here in this 2005 file photo, is being moved from his position as head of the Canadian Firearms Program. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press)

Harper’s comments on Wednesday came after the RCMP confirmed Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak, director general of the firearms program and a strong supporter of the long-gun registry, is being replaced after nine months on the job.

When questioned by reporters at an event in Lunenburg, N.S., Harper said the RCMP makes its own personnel decisions.

“This is an RCMP staffing matter; it’s not a political matter,” the prime minister said, adding that the government’s position on the gun registry is “well known.”

“This government strongly favours the abolition of the long-gun registry for farmers and duck hunters,” Harper said. “It is wasteful. It has been ineffective. But in terms of staffing decisions in the RCMP, these are made by the RCMP themselves.”

The Liberals and NDP have called for Cheliak to be reinstated and accused the government of political influence ahead of a key vote in the fall on the Conservatives’ attempt to scrap the federal long-gun registry, which is administered by the CFP.

Liberal MP David McGuinty said Cheliak’s removal shows that Harper’s Conservatives are more than willing to “suppress independent voices to achieve political success.”

If the prime minister is unwilling to reappoint Cheliak, McGuinty said whoever replaces him at the firearms program “had better keep their head down.” He cited the government’s recent decision not to renew the contract of Veterans ombudsman Pat Stogran as an example.

“Every time somebody here in this town does their job and speaks truth to power, they’re punished,” McGuinty told reporters in Ottawa.

NDP justice critic Joe Comartin said Cheliak’s removal is designed at silencing critics of the government’s move to scrap the federal long-gun registry, especially within the ranks of Canada’s police forces.

“It’s clearly a message that they’re sending out to the police forces … to shut up,” Comartin said.

In a statement Wednesday, the RCMP said the director general’s job is an assistant commissioner’s position and designated bilingual.

Cheliak, who is on leave before heading to the language training, “does not currently meet the linguistic requirements of the position,” the statement said.

The statement said Chief Supt. Geoff Francis is now acting director general and Cheliak’s replacement will be announced internally later in the day.

Chief Supt. Pierre Perron, director general of the RCMP’s criminal intelligence division, will replace Cheliak as head of the CFP, the CBC’s Brian Stewart reported.

“He’s very much a fresh officer coming into embattled territory,” Stewart said, noting Perron has no past experience with the firearms program.

Elliott should ‘move on’: union

Complaints over RCMP Commissioner William Elliott’s management sparked a workplace review of the force. (Pawel Dwulit/Canadian Press)Meanwhile, in an interview with CBC News on Wednesday in Ottawa, Charles Momy, president of the Canadian Police Association, said it is time for the RCMP commissioner to “move on.”

“Maybe it’s time for the government to really take a look at replacing Bill Elliott, potentially, and bringing in someone that is fresh,” Momy said.

Elliott, appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2007, is the first civilian to lead the Mounties. He is already facing a workplace assessment triggered by complaints of senior RCMP officers over his management style.

The CFP oversees the administration of the Firearms Act and regulations. In 2006, the responsibility for the CFP was transferred to the RCMP.

Cheliak had reformed the program and lobbied forcefully, including before a parliamentary committee, for a continued long-gun registry, something the Conservative government has been determined to scrap.

But Canadian police are adamant that the registry, which requires gun owners to register each rifle or shotgun, is needed to protect the lives of police officers and citizens.

Opposition hiding division: minister

Politicians and some high-ranking police officers are questioning Cheliak’s removal on the eve of September’s expected battle in Parliament over Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner’s private member’s bill to scrap the current registry.

Earl Campbell, chief of the Miramichi Police Service and past chair of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, told CBC News on Wednesday he is “dumbfounded and disappointed” by the decision to remove Cheliak, and can think of no other reason for the decision except for politics.

Earlier Wednesday. Hoeppner’s office told CBC News the story has nothing to do with her and the MP would not be offering comment.

The CBC’s Stewart reported on Tuesday that Cheliak was set to unveil a major report before the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police at its annual general meeting in Edmonton and get a president’s award for his work on the long-gun registry.

But Stewart said Cheliak was told by the RCMP he’s not going to be sent there.

The NDP’s Comartin said he believes the government is trying to prevent MPs from seeing the report before the bill faces another vote in the fall.

“We don’t have this information and we believe it’s crucial for Parliament to have this information before we vote,” he said.

In a statement, the office of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, the minister responsible for the RCMP, said the force “has complete autonomy to direct its own personnel matters.”

With files from Brian Stewart

British literary critic Frank Kermode, who was instrumental in creating the London Review of Books, has died at age 90.

The London Review of Books said he died Tuesday in Cambridge, U.K.

A respected scholar of Shakespeare and Donne, he was credited with bridging the academic world and the everyday reader with his criticism.

‘His wit and wisdom in speaking about writing is something that I will always remember.’ —Alan Samson, publisher

He wrote for The New Statesman and The Guardian, and was a judge for the prestigious Booker Prize, as well as created reviews for the BBC.

For the London Review of Books, which he helped found in 1979, he wrote more than 200 pieces. Recent reviews were of Phillip Pullman’s The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ and a biography of William Golding.

His most highly regarded work was 1967’s The Sense of an Ending in which he investigated the idea that readers long for endings to bring order to both life and literature.

He also wrote The Classic (1975), which explored the response of modern writers to a secular world, and The Genesis of Secrecy (1979), which examined the nature of narrative.

“He was one of the great conversationalists of our literature,” said Alan Samson, Kermode’s publisher. “His wit and wisdom in speaking about writing is something that I will always remember.”

Kermode was born on Nov. 29, 1919, in the small town of Douglas on the Isle of Man, between Ireland and Great Britain. Raised in modest circumstances, he studied at University of Liverpool.

During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Navy. After the war, he taught at the University of Durham, in northern England.

He had a series of increasingly prestigious academic posts at University College, London, Cambridge University, Harvard, Princeton and Yale.

Considered a modernist in his approach to literature, he did not enjoy Cambridge and made a high-profile exit in 1982. He continued throughout this period to write for newspapers and the BBC.

Kermode served as co-editor of Encounter, a British monthly, but quit when he realized the publication was being funded by the CIA.

He issued several collections of his essays and his last book, published last year, was about novelist E.M. Forster.

With files from The Associated Press

Tom Hicks is on the verge of selling the Dallas Stars and his 50 per cent stake in the American Airlines Center for nearly $300 million US, reports Forbes.

This will allow creditors of Hicks Sports Group to get back close to $200 million, in addition to what they will receive in the sale of the Texas Rangers, according to Forbes.

While there was no mention of a potential buyer, there have been reports that suggest Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who showed interest in purchasing the Pittsburgh Penguins at one point, would at least make an inquiry into buying the Stars.

Tsunami waves did not arrive at the predicted times and the aftershocks did not cluster around the main quake. The discovery that there were two quakes explains why. (Canadian Press)

The deadly tsunami that pounded several South Pacific islands last year was spawned by not one but two monstrous earthquakes, surprising new research reveals.

Initially, it was thought that a single powerful magnitude-8.1 jolt triggered the Sept. 29 tsunami that killed nearly 200 people in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga.

Two teams using different research techniques have now separately concluded that the disaster was the result of a rare double whammy — two so-called great earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 8 — that hit within minutes of each other.

What’s notable, they say, was that the quakes occurred along separate fault lines and ruptured differently.

Although the researchers differed on which struck first, their discovery of a one-two seismic punch solves a mystery that has baffled scientists since the disaster.

The findings are published in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature.

When the South Pacific sea floor rumbled last year, scientists initially blamed it on an “outer rise” earthquake of magnitude-8.1 caused by the flexing and bending of the Pacific tectonic plate. But tsunami waves did not arrive at the predicted times and the aftershocks did not cluster around the main quake — as they normally would — suggesting that something more complicated was at play.

GPS data used

Using GPS data and deep-ocean tsunami wave observations, a group led by geophysicist John Beavan of the New Zealand geological agency GNS Science determined that the tsunami was actually generated by two powerful quakes — the magnitude-8.1 “outer rise” quake and a magnitude-8 “megathrust” jolt caused by the diving of one plate under another.

While Beavan’s group is not sure which hit first, a separate team led by Thorne Lay of the University of California, Santa Cruz, concluded the magnitude-8.1 quake unleashed the megathrust jolt.

Normally, megathrust quakes trigger other jolts. Ground vibrations from the first were so strong that they masked the energy released by the second quake.

The second tremor “does show up clearly on seismic records, but only once you look very hard,” Lay said.

Scientists not involved in the latest research said the findings shed light on what happened in the South Pacific, but more work is needed.

“It is difficult to say how typical this behaviour is in the region,” said U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Paul Earle.

That’s because there’s a long time between earthquakes and modern instruments weren’t available for previous massive earthquakes, he said.