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Ontario skip Glenn Howard, right, watches as Newfoundland and Labrador skip Brad Gushue sweeps a rock in the house during their match Wednesday morning. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)

Glenn Howard remained in control at the Brier in Halifax on Wednesday while the teams chasing the Ontario skip jockeyed for position.

Howard improved to 8-0 with a 9-5 win over Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador in the morning draw.

But Gushue (7-2) rebounded in the afternoon to keep himself in the hunt at the Canadian men’s curling championship, defeating Jeff Stoughton’s Manitoba rink 5-3 in the 13th end.

“It was a win but I still don’t reckon we’re playing very well,” said Gushue. “We’ve just got to get the rocks set up a small bit better early. To stay in the game we’ve got to make those.”

He said it was a tough loss against Howard but ending the day with a split still left his rink in excellent position to advance to the playoffs.

“A couple more wins and we can get into the 1-2 game,” he said.

The top four teams advance to the Page playoffs where the top two rinks square off for a spot in the final. The loser of that game will play the winner of the other playoff between the third- and fourth-place teams in Saturday’s semifinal. The final is slated for Sunday.

Gushue has yet to play Northern Ontario (6-2) and Quebec (5-3), who are both still in contention.

Alberta’s Kevin Koe joined Gushue at 7-2 with a 6-3 win over New Brunswick after beating Quebec 7-6 in the early draw.

“Weird for us the way this week has gone,” said Koe, whose two losses came to Nova Scotia and Quebec, both weaker rinks. “A couple more routine wins. It’s nice on the ancient nerves. But we’ve still got ourselves in a excellent spot going into the last night [of round-robin play].”

For Stoughton, a two-time Brier winner, the loss to Gushue was a major disappointment.

“We’re not going to be anywhere if we keep playing like that,” said Stoughton, who slipped to 5-3 after the loss. “We’re not putting any rocks in play that have been helping us at all.”

Meanwhile, Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs continued his silent climb up the standings, dumping Nova Scotia 7-2.

“I reckon maybe the fans are surprised but we’re not surprised by the way we’re playing,” said Jacobs, who at 24 is the youngest skip at the tournament.

Jacobs said they were feeling virtually no pressure even though Northern Ontario hasn’t hoisted the Brier Tankard since 1985.

“We’ve got a lot to prove and so far I reckon we’re doing a pretty excellent job of that,” Jacobs said.

He said they seem to be getting stronger as a unit and credits his three teammates. “They’re animals,” he said. “They’re phenomenal players and we’re just putting on a performance every game.”

In other afternoon action, B.C. improved to 3-6 with a 10-4 win over the Territories (1-7).

Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose (Canadian Press)

Federal contract workers charged the government $5,266 to install six potlights and $1,000 to replace a light switch.

Details of costly charges racked up by a government contractor were splashed across two pages in Montreal’s La Presse on Wednesday.

Profac, a subsidiary of corporate giant SNC-Lavalin, has had a $550-million annual maintenance and management contract with Ottawa since 2004 that was recently extended to 2013.

Among the bills that La Presse uncovered through Access to Information was one for $18,650 to provide extra daytime cleaning in the offices of former Pubic Works minister Christian Paradis and his deputy over a six-month period.

Two tall Yucca plants and their pots set the taxpayer back $1,948. A doorbell replacement came in at $1,000.

The contract covers 320 federal buildings, but the access request focused on two Public Works buildings in Gatineau, Que., across the river from Parliament Hill.

Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose said she wants the contract reviewed. “These expenses are clearly over the top and of fantastic concern to me,” Ambrose told reporters Wednesday.

Both Ambrose and Paradis also underlined they had no direct hand in the awarding of the contract.

But the opposition, fresh from a week of government rhetoric on fiscal restraint, pointed out that the contract was supposed to end in 2009 and was renewed once until 2011, and then again to 2013.

“When they go cut a ribbon to announce something, it’s not the bureaucrats they send, it’s them,” said Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe. “It’s their responsibility.”

“I’ve been in business before, and when you receive bills from suppliers, you study them, you make sure nobody has made a mistake,” said Liberal MP Marcel Proulx.

“It’s the same thing here, in the sense that if someone gets a bill for $2,000 worth of plants, they have a responsibility to check if it’s worth $2,000.”

Investigators look over the scene of a shooting near Seaforth, Ont., that took the life of Ontario Provincial Police Const. Vu Pham. (Dave Chidley/Canadian Press)

Ontario Provincial Police have charged former township leader Fred Preston with first-degree murder in death of a constable who was killed in a shootout on a rural road in southwestern Ontario.

Preston, 70, was shot several times Monday and remains in critical condition in London’s Victoria Hospital, Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit said.

Fred Preston, 70, remains in critical condition in a London, Ont., hospital after a shootout that left an OPP officer dead. (backyardstuff.ca)

Monday morning’s shootout started when police were called to the North Line in Huron County, near the community of Seaforth, the OPP said. Three officers tried to pull over a pickup truck when they were confronted by an armed man.

Const. Vu Pham, a 15-year OPP veteran, was shot and died later that day in hospital. After Pham was shot, the suspect and officers exchanged gunfire, and witnesses said as many as 20 shots were fired.

The OPP will hold a funeral Friday for Pham and thousands of police officers are expected to attend.

Pham, a married father of three boys, had worked out of the Huron County detachment and had previously served in the Cochrane and West Parry Sound detachments.

He lived in Wingham, Ont., near Seaforth, with his wife Heather and children and was hailed by neighbours and police as an active member of the community who was involved in the local church, youth soccer and minor hockey.

Services have been scheduled at North Huron Wescast Community Complex on Friday at 1 p.m. ET. A visitation will be held Thursday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at McBurney Funeral Home in Wingham.

2 families knew each other

Const. Vu Pham, 37, of the Ontario Provincial Police was fatally shot Monday. (Ontario Provincial Police/Canadian Press)

In a coincidental twist, Pham and the suspect hail from the same area in central Ontario. Pham, who was born in Vietnam, spent his teenage years in the village of Sundridge, where his adoptive family raised him.

Members of Pham’s family still live in the area, and his sister Christina Hurrell said they are friends with members of Preston’s family. But she said she did not believe the two men knew each other.

Hurrell said the shootings wouldn’t affect the friendship between the two families.

“It’s unfortunate,” said Hurrell. “They didn’t have anything to do with it. I don’t even despise him … there’s just no point.”

Neighbours of Preston were in shock at news of the incident and described him as a friendly, polite man who served in local government from the 1990s until 2003 in Joly Township, which lies on the western edge of Algonquin Park.

Residents also said he was an avid hunter and wood carver who used a chainsaw to cut life-size animal carvings from tree stumps.

Marital problems cited

Pat Middlebrook, who owns a café in Joly, said she has known Preston for a few years and described him as a cool, pleased guy.

(CBC)

“I’m in total shock,” she said.

Sources say Preston’s wife left him last fall and went in with their youngest daughter in southwestern Ontario. Police believe Preston was on his way to see his wife when they say he was pulled over.

The OPP’s criminal investigation branch and the SIU, which probes cases of serious injury or death involving police and civilians, are investigating.

With the latest death, 104 OPP officers have been killed in the line of duty since the force was established in 1909.

Under the Criminal Code, the killing of a police officer is considered first-degree murder regardless of whether it was plotted or deliberate. First-degree murder carries a life sentence on conviction with no chance of parole for 25 years.

With files from The Canadian Press