Hello and welcome to montrealgazette.com and welcome to Midday. Here’s the rundown on some of the stories we’re following for you today.
The Supreme Court of Canada has decided to weigh in on the case regarding the controversial ethics and religion course introduced into the Quebec school curriculum in 2008. The decision by the country’s highest court to hear the case has raised hope at Loyola High School in N.D.G. that it can still win its court battle with the Quebec government. The province refused to grant the 160-year-old Catholic boys’ school an exemption, and even turned down an offer of an equivalent course, saying religion and ethics can’t be taught from a Catholic perspective. In June 2010, Quebec Superior Court sided with the school, but the government appealed the decision and the school then lost the appeal in 2012. The Supreme Court is the last recourse for the school.
Jean-François Lisée, the Parti Québécois minister responsible for Montreal, said Thursday the Marois government is open to proposals to change the city’s heavy governance structure. After an earlier PQ government forced the merger of all cities on the island in 2000 and the Liberal government of Jean Charest allowed demerger referendums, the Montreal administration of Gérald Tremblay agreed to changes creating parallel structures in city boroughs that increased the number of elected positions. Lisée stressed that the current PQ government would not take the initiative, but would welcome proposals by the winner of the Nov. 3 municipal election.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that companies cannot patent parts of naturally-occurring human genes, a decision with the potential to profoundly affect the emerging and lucrative medical and biotechnology industries. The high court’s unanimous judgment reverses three decades of patent awards by government officials. It throws out patents held by Myriad Genetics Inc. on an increasingly popular breast cancer test brought into the public eye recently by actress Angelina Jolie’s revelation that she had a double mastectomy because of one of the genes involved in this case.
And finally, police from several forces across Ontario held a series of early-morning raids targeting guns and drugs Thursday, including around the Greater Toronto Area. Targets included an apartment complex in Toronto’s west end where about 100 heavily armed officers raided several units in two apartment buildings. One of the buildings is the same one where an alleged video showing Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine was reported to be located.
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