By STEVEN CHASE, Toronto Globe and Mail

OTTAWA - Six months after the Canadian government boasted of improved safeguards for detainees, top Canadian soldiers responsible for handing captives to the Afghans complained about being kept in the dark on the health of transferred prisoners.

OTTAWA - Right-wing pundit Ann Coulter cancelled a University of Ottawa address this week after organizers decided it wasn't safe for her to speak.

The move followed boisterous demonstrations outside that sponsors of the appearance feared could turn violent.

OTTAWA - Canada's paper money is going plastic.

Starting in late 2011, the Bank of Canada will replace the country's cotton-paper bank notes -- prone to wear and tear -- with synthetic polymer ones that last two to three times as long.

Canada's mapping of the Arctic is pushing into territory claimed by Russia in the high-stakes drive by countries to establish clear title to the polar region and its seabed riches.
Survey flights Ottawa conducted in late winter and early spring went beyond the North Pole and into an area where Russia has staked claims, a Canada Department of Natural Resources official said.

The Canadian military has been studying the Soviet debacle in Afghanistan for clues on how to prevent similar mistakes as NATO tries to beat back a persistent insurgency and ready the country's weak but pro-Western government to assume greater control.It began a research project in 2006, a year in which fighting intensified in the war against the Taliban.

OTTAWA -- Americans' privileged access to Canada's massive oil and gas reserves could be disrupted if Washington cancels the North American Free Trade Agreement as Democratic presidential candidates threaten, Canadian Trade Minister David Emerson warned.