Sandro Contenta

The scheme reached deep inside city hall, and on Monday night it led to the downfall of Montreal’s long-serving mayor, Gerald Tremblay. He announced his resignation while insisting he would eventually be cleared of wrongdoing, and blaming the scandal on political allies and close associates.

Some long-time observers of Quebec politics see Denis Blanchette murder as the extreme manifestation of anxiety rekindled in Quebec’s anglophone minority — and across English-speaking Canada — by the Parti Quebecois victory. What many now fear is that Blanchette’s murder is the violent harbinger of political and social tensions to come, with Canada’s national unity once again at stake.

Three oil spills in a month. Missing greenhouse gas reduction targets. What's happening to the US' nice green neighbor?

For Canada, the power is shifting from the center to the oil-happy western province of Alberta, a Conservative stronghold. And the country’s delicate unity hangs in the balance.