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Beyoncé performs at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)Pop diva Beyoncé reigned over the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday night, setting a record for the most wins by a female artist.

The hit singer accepted six Grammys — with the potential to win a seventh — for her album I am… Sasha Fierce and hit songs like Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It).

“This has been such an amazing night for me and I’d love to thank the Grammys,” she said as she took the stage to accept the trophy for best female pop vocal performance for her ballad Halo.

Her voice wavering with emotion, she also thanked her fans and her family, extending the shout-out to husband — and another of Sunday night’s multiple Grammy-winners — Jay-Z.

She had previously earned the televised show’s first award of the night — song of the year for Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) — and turned in a spirited performance of her track If I Were a Boy and Alanis Morissette’s You Oughta Know.

Coming into Sunday with a leading 10 nominations, she was a dominant force even at the non-televised Los Angeles gala Sunday afternoon, where she won contemporary R&B album for I am…Sasha Fierce, best R&B song and best female R&B vocal performance for Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) and traditional R&B performance for At Last, from the film Cadillac Records.

Beyoncé led what was largely a ladies night at the Grammys, with chart-toppers Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga also scoring multiple honours.

Country ingenue Swift was honoured with the best country album Grammy for her bestselling release, Fearless.

“This is my first time walking up those stairs to accept a Grammy on national television!” she exclaimed. “I just feel like I’m standing here accepting an impossible dream.”

She showed as much enthusiasm as when she accepted a pair of trophies (female country vocal performance and country song for White Horse) at the pre-show ceremony and declared, “This is my first Grammy, you guys!”

Outrageous dance-pop artist Lady Gaga kicked off Sunday night’s broadcast with a fiery, eye-popping performance that segued into a duet with British icon Elton John. She too started the gala with a pair of Grammys already under her belt: dance recording for Poker Face and electronic/dance album for The Fame.

Southern rockers Kings of Leon landed a trio of Grammys, with the track Use Somebody winning the band the coveted record of the year title, best rock duo or group and best rock song.

The Black Eyed Peas, another top contender, started the broadcast having already won three Grammys: for their album The E.N.D. (pop vocal album) and their hit songs I Gotta Feeling (pop performance by a duo or group with vocals) and Boom Boom Pow (short-form music video).

Other key winners included:

• Country’s Zac Brown Band, winner of best new artist after the success of its debut album The Foundation.
• Jay-Z, whose track Run This Town (featuring Rihanna and Kanye West) was named best rap/sung collaboration and best rap song. His song D.O.A. (Death of Autotune) also picked up the Grammy for best rap solo performance.
• Hit TV satirist Stephen Colbert, whose A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! was named best comedy album.
• Green Day, who picked up best rock album for 21st Century Breakdown.
• Rapper Eminem, whose album Relapse won best rap album and whose track Crack a Bottle (featuring Dr. Dre and 50 Cent) scored rap duo or group performance.
• Double-winner R&B singer Maxwell (R&B album for BLACKsummers’night and best male R&B vocal performance for Pretty Wings).
• Singer-songwriter Jason Mraz, whose tune Make It Mine nabbed male pop vocal performance and whose duet Lucky (with Colbie Caillat) won pop collaboration with vocals.

Along with Gaga, Beyoncé, Black Eyed Peas and country group Lady Antebellum, performers also included Green Day, who took the stage with cast members of their musical American Idiot, and singer Pink, who participated in an impressive aerial acrobatics routine while singing her ballad I Don’t Believe You.

The show also featured periodic mentions of special Grammy award winners — including lifetime achievement award winners Leonard Cohen and Loretta Lynn — and some out-of-the-ordinary performances.

Céline Dion, Usher, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson and Smokey Robinson performed along with a recording of Michael Jackson’s Earth Song, in front of 3-D footage created for the late Jackson’s This is It concerts. Two of Jackson’s children, Prince Michael and Paris, then accepted their father’s lifetime achievement award.

Mary J. Blige and Andrea Bocelli teamed up to sing the classic Simon and Garfunkel song Bridge Over Troubled Waters, with their collaboration to be offered for sale as a charity single supporting Haitian earthquake relief at the iTunes online music store.

99 categories on pre-telecast

Earlier in the afternoon, a fast-paced pre-telecast gala — hosted by Grammy-winning singers Kurt Elling and Tia Carrere — awarded trophies in 99 categories.

Several Canadians were among those early winners.

Neil Young snagged the award for best boxed or special limited edition package for his elaborately designed box set The Archives, Vol. 1 1963-1972.

The Canadian music legend had also been honoured during the weekend’s festivities as the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences’ MusiCares person of the year.

Actor Michael J. Fox won the best spoken word album Grammy for Always Looking Up, based on his book Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist — which explores his personal philosophy amid an ongoing struggle with Parkinson’s disease and stories of other optimists who have triumphed over adversity.

Crooner Michael Bublé was honoured with the award for traditional pop vocal album, for his album Michael Bublé Meets Madison Square Garden.

Canadian acts who failed to win included rap newcomer Drake, Montreal duo Beast, rock group Nickelback, hit producer David Foster, R&B singer Melanie Fiona and aboriginal singers Northern Cree.

Other pre-telecast highlights included:

• Engineered album, non-classical: Ellipse, by Imogen Heap, who arrived out of breath onstage from having just arrived moments before. The quirky artist turned up clutching a transparent parasol and bearing a sort-of electronic scarf featuring a scrolling Twitter feed.
• Jazz vocal album: Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling sings the music of Coltrane and Hartman, by gala co-host Kurt Elling. The singer noted that it was his first win after nine nominations.
• Remixed Recording: When Love Takes Over, by David Guetta with Kelly Rowland. French D.J. Guetta noted that he received “five nominations, so it means that finally DJ culture and dance music is growing in America… I’m not a real musician, trained. I cannot write music, but I started remixing music and that’s how I started making music.”
• Traditional folk album: High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project, by Loudon Wainwright III, who ended his acceptance speech by thanking his late ex-wife Kate McGarrigle, “who taught me how to frail the banjo 40 years ago.” Canadian folk icon McGarrigle, mother of singers Martha and Rufus Wainwright, will be honoured at a memorial in Montreal on Monday.
• Metal Performance: Dissident Aggressor, by Judas Priest. Singer Rob Halford noted that the win came after the five Grammy nominations. “Judas Priest has been making metal for over 35 years… Around the planet, we love what we do.”

Taylor Swift reacts to winning the the best female country vocal performance award during the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards’ pre-telecast show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. (Robyn Beck/Getty Images)

The Raptors’ Marco Belinelli, left, is guarded by the Pacers’ Roy Hibbert on Sunday. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press)

Chris Bosh scored 26 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the Toronto Raptors to their fifth victory in a row, 117-102 over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday.

Andrea Bargnani added 17 for the Raptors, who had seven players score in double figures before a crowd of 16,715 at the Air Canada Centre.

The Raptors lost Hedo Turkoglu after the first minute when he was struck above the eye by Mike Dunleavy while driving for the basket. But the Raptors were boosted by the play of their reserves.

“We have a strong bench,” Bosh said.

“I think that was one of the keys to our success this year, how our bench was going to play. So far we’ve played pretty well. We will need them to continue to play well. Just play hard, play with passion and play defence every night.”

Jarrett Jack scored 16 points, Antoine Wright 15, Sonny Weems 13, and Jose Calderon and Amir Johnson 12 each.

Luther Head scored 15 for the Pacers, who had six players score in double-figures. Troy Murphy and Brandon Rush each scored 14, Dunleavy and Roy Hibbert scored 12 apiece and Earl Watson had 11.

The Pacers cut Toronto’s lead to one point early in the second half, but consecutive three-pointers by Jack and Bargnani gave Toronto an 83-70 lead with 6:27 left in the third quarter.

The Pacers cut the lead to 97-94 in the fourth when Hibbert hit a nine-foot turnaround jumper with 8:59 left in the game and the Raptors called a timeout.

A three-pointer by Head with 7:59 left in the game tied the score 97-97, but a Bosh basket put the Raptors back into the lead and Weems made two free throws to make it 101-97.

After Dunleavy made a free throw, Bosh came back with a driving layup and then hit a 19-footer with 5:38 left to put Toronto ahead 105-98.

Jack hit a three-pointer with 5:00 to go to put Toronto up by 10, 108-98.

“Bosh was just too much for us,” Pacers head coach Jim O’Brien said.

“We did not defend at a level that would allow us to beat these guys. Giving up 60 per cent is not going to get it done against these guys.”

Unlike the previous four victories of their current run, the Raptors did not fall behind by double digits before coming back.

When the Raptors last played Indiana, Jan. 11, they blew a 23-point lead and lost the away game 105-101.

Toronto has scored 100 or more points in a franchise-best 13 successive games and is 9-4 over that stretch.

Wright and Bargnani each scored eight points to boost the Raptors to a 32-29 lead after the first quarter that included an 11-0 Toronto run.

Murphy led Indiana with eight first-quarter points.

The Raptors led 63-59 at the half, with Bargnani and Calderon contributing 10 points each. Indiana’s Rush led all first-half scorers with 12 points.

In first-half shooting, Toronto hit 62.8 per cent from the floor and Indiana shot 54.3 per cent.

Maple Leafs acquire Phaneuf in 7-player swap

All-star defenceman Dion Phaneuf was the centrepiece of Sunday trade between the Maple Leafs and Flames that also saw forward Fredrik Sjostrom and defensive prospect Keith Aulie head to Toronto for forwards Niklas Hagman, Matt Stajan and Jamal Mayers along with defenceman Ian White.

New Flames hope to help ignite offence

Former Maple Leafs Niklas Hagman, Matt Stajan and Jamal Mayers as well as defenceman Ian White are looking forward to joining the Calgary Flames as a group with a chance to spark a sputtering offence and compete in the playoffs.

Leafs get Giguere for Blake, Toskala

Toronto general manager Brian Burke found someone to assume Jason Blake’s fat contract: his former employee in Anaheim, Bob Murray, now his Ducks counterpart. The forward heads to Anaheim for equally inconsistent goalie Vesa Toskala for veteran netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

WHARNSBY: Pushing the salary cap

Although Brian Burke’s moves to acquire defenceman Dion Phaneuf from Calgary and goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere from Anaheim continued to put the Maple Leafs right up against the NHL’s salary cap, subtracting forward Jason Blake’s $4-million US salary from the books is a big relief.

FRIEDMAN: 2 GMs desperate for a shakeup

It was Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke’s best chance to napalm his roster, finding another GM equally as desperate for a huge shakeup. Thanks to a nine-game losing streak (although it ended Saturday night), Darryl Sutter became that guy. The two men had no choice. Both teams were drowning in disappointment.

MORRISON: Phaneuf still has upside

Maple Leafs newcomer Dion Phaneuf may not be having a good season and his offensive output may be in decline, but at age 24 there is still a potentially huge upside. Phaneuf has the potential to make the Toronto power play better, and he is a physical presence added to a team that wasn’t team tough.

MAREK: Leafs have better nucleus today

While the Maple Leafs have been knocked, and perhaps rightfully so, for emptying the prospect shelves, they now have a future nucleus that includes Dion Phaneuf, Phil Kessel, Luke Schenn (who many feel is too good to be this average for this long), Nazim Kadri, Jonas Gustafsson and Keith Aulie.

It’s turning out to be ladies night at the Grammy Awards as chart-toppers Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga dominated the stage at popular music’s biggest night.

Coming into Sunday with a leading 10 nominations, pop diva Beyoncé proved a dominant force as she picked up four trophies at the non-televised Los Angeles gala Sunday afternoon: contemporary R&B album for I am…Sacha Fierce, best R&B song and best female R&B vocal performance for Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) and traditional R&B performance for At Last, from the film Cadillac Records.

Beyoncé performs at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)She then earned the televised show’s first award of the night — song of the year for Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) — and turned in a spirited performance of her song If I Were a Boy and Alanis Morissette’s You Outta Know.

Country ingenue Swift was honoured with the best country album Grammy for her bestselling release, Fearless.

“This is my first time walking up those stairs to accept a Grammy on national television!” she exclaimed. “I just feel like I’m standing here accepting an impossible dream.”

She showed as much enthusiasm as when she accepted a pair of trophies (female country vocal performance and country song for White Horse) at the pre-show ceremony and declared, “This is my first Grammy, you guys!”

Outrageous dance-pop artist Lady Gaga kicked off Sunday night’s broadcast with a fiery, eye-popping performance that segued into a duet with British icon Elton John. She too started the gala with a pair of Grammys already under her belt: dance recording for Poker Face and electronic/dance album for The Fame.

The Black Eyed Peas, another top contender this year, came into the broadcast having already won a trio of Grammys: for their album The E.N.D. (pop vocal album) and their hit songs I Gotta Feeling (pop performance by a duo or group with vocals) and Boom Boom Pow (short-form music video).

Other winners included:

• Kings of Leon, who netted the coveted record of the year honour for their track Use Somebody.
• Country’s Zac Brown Band scored the title of best new artist, after success of its debut album The Foundation.
• Hit TV satirist Stephen Colbert, whose A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! was named best comedy album.
• Green Day, who picked up best rock album for 21st Century Breakdown.

Along with Gaga, Beyoncé, Black Eyed Peas and country group Lady Antebellum, performers also included Green Day, who took the stage with cast members of their musical American Idiot, and singer Pink, who participated in an impressive aerial acrobatics routine while singing her ballad I Don’t Believe You.

The show is also to feature a pair of special performances.

Céline Dion, Usher, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson and Smokey Robinson will take part in a 3-D tribute to Michael Jackson, while Mary J. Blige and Andrea Bocelli will honour the classic Simon and Garfunkel song Bridge Over Troubled Waters.

99 categories

Earlier in the afternoon, a fast-paced pre-telecast gala — hosted by Grammy-winning singers Kurt Elling and Tia Carrere — awarded trophies in 99 categories.

Several Canadians were among those early winners.

Neil Young snagged the award for best boxed or special limited edition package for his elaborately designed box set The Archives, Vol. 1 1963-1972.

The Canadian music legend had also been honoured during the weekend’s festivities as the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences’ MusiCares person of the year.

Actor Michael J. Fox won the best spoken word album Grammy for Always Looking Up, based on his book Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist — which explores his personal philosophy amid an ongoing struggle with Parkinson’s disease and stories of other optimists who have triumphed over adversity.

Crooner Michael Bublé was honoured with the award for traditional pop vocal album, for his album Michael Bublé Meets Madison Square Garden.

Canadian acts who failed to win included rap newcomer Drake, Montreal duo Beast, rock group Nickelback, hit producer David Foster, R&B singer Melanie Fiona and aboriginal singers Northern Cree.

Other pre-telecast highlights included:

• Engineered album, non-classical: Ellipse, by Imogen Heap, who arrived out of breath onstage from having just arrived moments before. The quirky artist turned up clutching a transparent parasol and bearing a sort-of electronic scarf featuring a scrolling Twitter feed.
• Jazz vocal album: Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling sings the music of Coltrane and Hartman, by gala co-host Kurt Elling. The singer noted that it was his first win after nine nominations.
• Remixed Recording: When Love Takes Over, by David Guetta with Kelly Rowland. French D.J. Guetta noted that he received “five nominations, so it means that finally DJ culture and dance music is growing in America… I’m not a real musician, trained. I cannot write music, but I started remixing music and that’s how I started making music.”
• Traditional folk album: High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project, by Loudon Wainwright III, who ended his acceptance speech by thanking his late ex-wife Kate McGarrigle, “who taught me how to frail the banjo 40 years ago.” Canadian folk icon McGarrigle, mother of singers Martha and Rufus Wainwright, will be honoured at a memorial in Montreal on Monday.
• Metal Performance: Dissident Aggressor, by Judas Priest. Singer Rob Halford noted that the win came after the five Grammy nominations. “Judas Priest has been making metal for over 35 years… Around the planet, we love what we do.”

Taylor Swift reacts to winning the the best female country vocal performance award during the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards’ pre-telecast show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. (Robyn Beck/Getty Images)

Barack Obama’s new budget to be released Monday says the deficit could reach $1.6 trillion U.S., according to a congressional official provided the information from a White House summary document. (Reuters)

U.S. President Barack Obama’s proposed budget predicts the national deficit will crest at a record-breaking almost $1.6 trillion US in the current fiscal year, then start to recede in 2011 to just below $1.3 trillion.

Still, the administration’s new budget to be released Monday says deficits over the next decade will average 4.5 per cent of the size of the economy, a level that economists say is dangerously high if not addressed.

A congressional official provided the information, which comes from a White House summary document circulating freely on Capitol Hill and among Washington lobbyists. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the spending proposal is not supposed to be made public until Monday.

Details of the administration’s budget headed for Congress include an additional $100 billion to attack painfully high unemployment. The proposed $3.8-trillion budget would provide billions more to pull the country out of the recession, while increasing taxes on the wealthy and imposing a spending freeze on many government programs.

Administration projections show the deficit never dropping below $700 billion, even under assumptions that war costs will drop precipitously to just $50 billion in some years instead of more than three times that this year and next.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the administration believed “somewhere in the $100-billion range” would be the appropriate amount for a new jobs measure made up of a business tax credit to encourage hiring, increased infrastructure spending and money from the government’s bailout fund to get banks to increase loans to struggling small businesses.

That price tag would be below a $174-billion bill passed by the House of Representatives in December but far higher than a measure that could come to the Senate floor this week.

Gibbs said it was important for Democrats and Republicans to put aside their differences to pass a bill that addresses jobs, the country’s No. 1 concern.

“I think that would be a powerful signal to send to the American people,” Gibbs said in an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union.

Job creation was a key theme of the budget Obama was sending Congress on Monday, a document designed, as was the president’s address, to reframe his young presidency after a protracted battle over health care damaged his standing in public opinion polls and contributed to a series of Democratic election defeats.

Obama’s $3.8-trillion spending plan for the 2011 budget year that begins Oct. 1 attempts to navigate between the opposing goals of pulling the country out of a deep recession and dealing with a budget deficit that soared to an all-time high of $1.42 trillion last year.

Congress debates

Obama’s new budget will set off months of debate in the Democrat-controlled Congress, especially in an election year in which Republicans are hoping to use attacks against government overspending to gain seats. Obama has argued that he inherited a deficit of more than $1 trillion and was forced to increase spending to stabilize the financial system and combat the worst recession since the 1930s.

Obama’s new budget was expected to repeat many of the themes of his first budget. But in a bow to worries over the soaring deficits, the administration is proposing a three-year freeze on spending for a wide swath of domestic government agencies.

Military, veterans, homeland security and big benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare would not feel the pinch.

The freeze would affect $447 billion in spending and is designed to save $250 billion over a decade. However, it would not fall equally on all domestic agencies. Some would see budget cuts to free up spending for programs the administration wants to expand, such as education and civilian research efforts.

NASA’s mission to return astronauts to the moon would be grounded with the space agency instead getting an additional $5.9 billion over five years to encourage private companies to build, launch and operate their own spacecraft for the benefit of NASA and others. NASA would pay the private companies to carry U.S. astronauts.

Obama’s budget repeats his recommendations for an overhaul of the U.S. health-care system, the fight that dominated his first year in office. It proposes to get billions of dollars in savings from the Medicare program and again seeks increased taxes on the wealthy by limiting the benefits they receive from tax deductions. Both ideas have met strong resistance in Congress.

Gibbs insisted Sunday that the president’s push for health care was “still inside the five-yard line,” but Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, also appearing on CNN, said the public was overwhelmingly against the bill and the administration should “put it on the shelf, go back and start over.”

Taylor Swift reacts to winning the the best female country vocal performance award during Sunday’s 52nd Annual Grammy Awards’ pre-telecast show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. (Robyn Beck/Getty Images) Canadians Neil Young, Michael J. Fox, Michael Bublé and American pop starlet Taylor Swift were among the early Grammy Award-winners in Los Angeles during Sunday’s non-televised portion of the annual musical honours.

Young picked up one of the evening’s first prizes, snagging the award for best boxed or special limited edition package for his elaborately designed box set The Archives, Vol. 1 1963-1972.

The Canadian music legend had also been honoured during the weekend’s festivities as the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences’ MusiCares person of the year.

Actor Fox won the best spoken word album Grammy for Always Looking Up, based on his book Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist — which explores his personal philosophy amid an ongoing struggle with Parkinson’s disease and stories of other optimists who have triumphed over adversity.

Bublé was honoured with the award for traditional pop vocal album, for his album Michael Bublé Meets Madison Square Garden.

Canadian acts who failed to win included rap newcomer Drake, Montreal duo Beast, rock group Nickelback, hit producer David Foster, R&B singer Melanie Fiona and aboriginal singers Northern Cree.

99 categories

The fast-paced pre-telecast gala, hosted by Grammy-winning singers Kurt Elling and Tia Carrere, awarded trophies in 99 categories.

While a host of the winners weren’t in attendance, one of the entire evening’s top contenders was: country ingenue Taylor Swift.

The thrilled 20-year-old was beaming as she collected two trophies for her song White Horse as best female country vocal performance and best country song (which she shared with co-writer Liz Rose).

“This is my first Grammy, you guys! This is a Grammy!” she squealed as she took the stage for the first time.

“I live in awe of the people who I was nominated with in this category…Thank you to anyone who is a Grammy voter.”

Swift, who is slated to perform with Stevie Nicks during the televised gala later on Sunday night, is also nominated in the highly coveted categories of record of the year, song of the year (both for the track You Belong With Me) and album of the year (for Fearless ).

Her stiffest competition is from rival top nominees Beyoncé, The Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga — all of whom also won early trophies but were not present to accept.

Beyoncé snagged four R&B Grammys: for Single Ladies - Put a Ring on it (best R&B song and best female R&B vocal performance), At Last (traditional R&B performance) and I am…Sacha Fierce (contemporary R&B album).

Gaga picked up a pair of trophies: best dance recording for Poker Face and best electronic/dance album for The Fame.

The Black Eyed Peas scored three Grammys, for their album The E.N.D. (pop vocal album) and their hit songs I Gotta Feeling (pop performance by a duo or group with vocals) and Boom Boom Pow (short-form music video).

Other pre-telecast highlights included:

• Engineered album, non-classical: Ellipse, by Imogen Heap, who arrived out of breath onstage from having just arrived moments before. The quirky artist turned up clutching a transparent parasol and bearing a sort-of electronic scarf featuring a scrolling Twitter feed.
• Jazz vocal album: Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling sings the music of Coltrane and Hartman, by gala co-host Kurt Elling. The singer noted that it was his first win after nine nominations.
• Remixed Recording: When Love Takes Over, by David Guetta with Kelly Rowland. French D.J. Guetta noted that he received “five nominations, so it means that finally DJ culture and dance music is growing in America… I’m not a real musician, trained. I cannot write music, but I started remixing music and that’s how I started making music.”
• Traditional folk album: High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project, by Loudon Wainwright III, who ended his acceptance speech by thanking his late ex-wife Kate McGarrigle, “who taught me how to frail the banjo 40 years ago.” Canadian folk icon McGarrigle, mother of singers Martha and Rufus Wainwright, will be honoured at a memorial in Montreal on Monday.
• Metal Performance: Dissident Aggressor, by Judas Priest. Singer Rob Halford noted that the win came after the five Grammy nominations. “Judas Priest has been making metal for over 35 years… Around the planet, we love what we do.”

The Grammy Awards telecast will air live from Los Angeles, beginning Sunday at 8 p.m. ET.

Along with a host of medley performances showcasing prominent nominees, the televised show will feature a pair of special performances.

Céline Dion, Usher, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson and Smokey Robinson will take part in a 3-D tribute to Michael Jackson, while Mary J. Blige and Andrea Bocelli will honour the classic Simon and Garfunkel song Bridge Over Troubled Waters.

Tatiana Maslany accepts her special jury prize for breakout performance in world cinema for the film Grown Up Movie Star during the 2010 Sundance Film Festival awards ceremony in Park City, Utah. (Matt Carr/Getty Images)

Canadian Tatiana Maslany has made a big splash at the Sundance Film Festival, capturing a special jury prize for breakout performance in world cinema for her role as a rebellious teen in Grown Up Movie Star.

“Totally overwhelmed. Crazy, like shaking for hours,” said a tremulous Maslany over the phone from Park City, Utah, on Sunday, her voice still trembling. She was handed the trophy at Saturday night’s awards ceremony.

“I’m so excited that this film will hopefully, get some kind of audience. That’s what I’m most excited about.”

The film marked the first major onscreen role for the 24-year-old Regina-born performer who portrays a 14-year-old in the midst of a sexual awakening in the movie by Newfoundland native Adriana Maggs.

Maslany, who says it’s her first time at Sundance, praised her co-star Sean Doyle and the Maggs’s writing.

“The minute I read the script, I felt I would be so fortunate to play this character because I loved her so much,” said the actress, who also played the character Kit Bailey on CBC-TV’s Heartland and has starred in Being Erica.

“It’s such an intelligently written character.”

In the film, the main character of Ruby, played by Maslany, is dealing with a family in crisis with her mother running off and her father (Doyle) about to come out of the closet.

Grown Up Movie Star had its premiere at the 10-day festival and was screened six times.

“It was always really scary to hear the reaction … they would laugh at different places and found different things to be shocking and different things to be touching,” Maslany said of the audiences.

“It really affects people in different ways.”

Maslany says she’s doing a few auditions in Los Angeles before returning to her home base in Toronto.

Mongrel Media has picked the film up for distribution in Canada. Grown Up Movie Star opened Jan. 29 in Toronto and St. John’s.

The view from inside the new Art Gallery of Alberta. (CBC) Edmontonians got their first glimpse of the newly renovated Art Gallery of Alberta at its grand opening Saturday.

After an official ribbon-cutting ceremony, guests wandered through the three floors of exhibition space.

Featured works include celebrated Canadian photographers as well as audio exhibitions.

Dawn Vaasjo went to the gallery opening with her family.

“It means putting some life back into the downtown, a reason to come back into the core of the city at night,” she said.

“It’s a very exciting time, [a] big weekend for Edmontonians. We’ve waited a long time and it was really nice to see such proud faces here.”

CBC News spoke to Reed Clarke at an exhibit that allows visitors to experience being in an abandoned Japanese dentist’s office during a storm.

He said the exhibit was very realistic.

“I can imagine this if there’s that much rain coming out – it’s intense. It’s really cool. It kind of puts you in the moment of this going on. You can feel what it would be like.”

The newly renovated Art Gallery of Alberta opened to the public on Saturday. (CBC)The $88-million gallery was redesigned by Los Angeles architect Randall Stout. It has double the exhibition space of the former gallery.

Tickets for the two-day grand opening celebration are sold out. Regular admission hours begin on Feb. 2.

Dion Phaneuf is in his fifth NHL season after being selected ninth overall by Calgary in the 2003 draft. (David Zalubowski/Associated Press)

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced on Sunday that they have made a seven-player deal with Calgary, with Flames defenceman Dion Phaneuf the centrepiece.

Forwards Niklas Hagman, Matt Stajan and Jamal Mayers and defenceman Ian White head to the Flames, with forward Fredrik Sjostrom and defensive prospect Keith Aulie also acquired by Toronto.

Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke announced the deal Sunday morning at the Air Canada Centre, just hours after Toronto lost its fifth consecutive game, squandering a three-goal lead in a 5-3 defeat to the visiting Vancouver Canucks.

Burke completed a separate deal later in the day, acquiring veteran Anaheim goalie Jean-Sébastien Giguère for netminder Vesa Toskala and forward Jason Blake.

It was a dramatic makeover, with the Leafs getting key parts in Phaneuf and Giguere, but resigning themselves in the coming weeks to a threadbare group up front.

Burke hopes the likes of Tyler Bozak, Christian Hanson and others can make a case for themselves for the future.

“We’ve got to create tension where there’s enough talent on the roster and a high enough battle level that the coach has decisions to make,” Burke told reporters. “Right now [coach Ron Wilson] doesn’t have decisions to make. It’s these guys who got to go on the ice. We’re trying to change that. Today is an important part of changing that.

Phaneuf appeared in shock when speaking to reporters in Calgary on Sunday morning.

“I know that’s a cliche … If Wayne Gretzky can get traded, anyone can get traded,” he said. “I was very surprised but on the other hand, I’m very excited to be going to the biggest hockey market in the world. I talked to them this morning and I’m very excited to be a Toronto Maple Leaf and getting there.”

Phaneuf has 75 goals and 153 assists in 378 career games, all with Calgary. The Flames selected him ninth overall in the 2003 NHL draft.

The rugged defenceman has 10 goals and 12 assists in 55 games this season, which puts him on pace for a career low in points.

“I want players that play the game hard and are hard to play against,” said Burke. “This guy makes our power play better, he’s got one of the hardest shots in the league, he’s one of the biggest open ice hitters, he’s a quality person … I think it’s an important day for us.”

GM denied Phaneuf up for trading

Flames general manager Darryl Sutter denied Phaneuf was on the trading block in recent weeks. Much was also made earlier in the season of a heated argument the defenceman had with coach Brent Sutter after a game against Colorado.

Aulie, 20, is playing with the Abbotsford Heat in the American Hockey League. Calgary selected the big defenceman in the fourth round of the 2007 draft. Burke said he will stay in the AHL, switching to the Toronto Marlies.

The 26-year-old Swede, Sjostrom, joins his fourth NHL team. He has one goal and five assists in 46 games in his first season with Calgary. He has previously played with Phoenix and the New York Rangers.

Burke said he will be a needed addition for Toronto’s penalty killing, which has been woeful.

Burke said the two teams had been talking for quite a while on the deal, with the pieces surrounding Phaneuf changing. The Toronto GM said Phaneuf was not available earlier in the season when he inquired.

The Leafs return to action at the ACC on Tuesday, with the first of two games against the Devils. The clubs play again in New Jersey on Friday.

Matt Stajan, right, will now play alongside Calgary captain Jarome Iginla. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press)

Calgary obtained what amounts to an entire forward line as well as a mobile defenceman in the deal that sent longtime Flames defenceman Dion Phaneuf to Toronto on Sunday.

Erstwhile Toronto forwards Niklas Hagman and Matt Stajan, along with defenceman Ian White, will be expected to help the Flames restore a balanced scoring attack.

To a man on a media conference call Sunday, the trio said they were taken by surprise and that the move was difficult with families and young children involved. But they said they welcomed the opportunity for a new start with a team expected to compete in the post-season.

“At the same time, I’m very excited to go to a hockey city to a team that’s right there in the playoff mix and to go with three other teammates — I know we’re all pretty close — to go into this together with, from what I hear, a great group in Calgary is exciting for all us,” said Stajan.

Hagman brings the most recent playoff experience to bear, having played 20 playoff games with the Dallas Stars before joining the Maple Leafs prior to the 2008-09 season.

Stajan and Jamal Mayers haven’t been in a playoff contest since before the lockout, while White has yet to play in the NHL post-season.

The Flames were fourth in the Western Conference in 2008-09 in goals but they have been hard to come by this season.

Calgary is 22nd in the league in goals scored and had scored just 14 times in nine games before feasting on the hurting Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night. In the West, only Edmonton, St. Louis and the injury-depleted Detroit Red Wings have scored less.

Veteran Mayers, meanwhile, brings toughness and will likely compete for playing time on the fourth line. The 35-year-old Mayers indicated his interest earlier this week in getting dealt to a contender.

Stajan and White are moving for the first time in their careers.

Stajan has spent all 445 career games with the Leafs, scoring 87 goals and 136 assists, with 247 penalty minutes. He has already tied a career high with 16 goals this season, to go along with 25 assists.

The centre is decent on the draw and can also play wing, and wasn’t unenthusiastic when asked about the prospect of teaming on a line with Calgary captain Jarome Iginla.

“I’ve been lucky to play a lot of minutes here in Toronto the last few years with some key players … I like to pass the puck and find guys who can shoot the puck, so maybe it’ll be a fit there [with Iginla], but all I can do is try my best with what the coach wants.”

White has nine goals and 17 assists in 56 games this season. For his career, he has 28 goals and 77 assists in 296 games.

White, a Western Hockey League alum, is the only defenceman Calgary received, but isn’t looking to replace the big-name player heading the other way, Phaneuf.

“I don’t know, personally feel, I’m there to replace anyone. I have my own style of game and I play a certain style that I know how,” said White.

“I don’t feel extra pressure or any added scrutiny — we’ve been under the microscope here in Toronto for quite a few years and I’ve dealt with the pressure in playing in a market like this, so I’m just excited to have the chance to go there and help the team win.”

Hagman hit the 20-goal mark for the third consecutive season this week. He has scored 122 goals and 118 assists in 601 NHL games, beginning his career in Florida where his time overlapped with current Calgary forward Olli Jokinen.

Calgary returns to action Monday with a home game against Philadelphia.