A Canadian-U.S. team of researchers has developed a new “sharp-shooter” drug they hope will be a breakthrough in treating several types of cancer.

The experimental drug is known for now as CFI-400945 and is a new class of cancer drug that targets a certain enzyme that gives rise to some malignancies.

Those tumours include breast, ovarian, colorectal, pancreatic and prostate cancers.

The researchers have applied to Health Canada and the U.S. FDA to begin testing the drug in patients.

Dr. Tak Mak of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto and Dr. Dennis Slamon of the University of California, Los Angeles, led the teams that developed the drug.

The two world-renowned researchers have spent a decade developing the drug, funded solely by money raised through donations.

(The Canadian Press)

In the midst of a raging scandal over the abuse of taxpayers' money by senators, the Senate has hired two speakers to help denizens of the maligned upper chamber feel better about themselves.

All senators, their staff and Senate employees have been invited to attend talks by communications consultant Barry McLoughlin and motivational speaker Marc-Andre Morel.

According to an email sent out by the Senate clerk's office, the pair will talk about what it describes as “the enduring value of the Senate and help bring a little perspective to the current situation.”

The subject line of the email invitation tells recipients that “the Senate values you and the work you do - come find out why.”

The talks are scheduled for Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. (ET) - when the Senate is supposed to be sitting.

It's not immediately clear how much the Senate is paying for the speakers or whose idea it was to invite them.

(The Canadian Press)

Seven isn't a lucky number for London Road.
Wharncliffe Road South has been rated the seventh worst road in Ontario in the CAA's annual list of the Top 10 Worst Roads in the province.

For the second year in a row, Dufferin Street in Toronto has been voted the worst road in Ontario.
The auto club says Dufferin Street has made the list seven times over the years, not far behind Steeles Avenue, also in Toronto, which previously earned eight spots on the list but did not make this year's top 10.

Half the roads on this year's list are from the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, after the CAA counted more than 10,000 votes from across the province.

This year, Burlington Avenue East in Hamilton moved up one spot on the list - to second place - while Finch Avenue West and Bayview Avenue, both in Toronto, jumped five spots - to third and fifth place respectively.

Fourth place goes to Kraft Creek Road in Timmins, while Lawrence Avenue East in Toronto was sixth, Wharncliffe Road South in London was seventh, Bouvier Road in Clarence-Rockland was eighth, and Carling Avenue in Ottawa and Stanley Avenue in Niagara Falls rounded out the list.

Dalton McGuinty's former chief of staff is defending the move by top Liberals in the former premier's office to delete their emails on cancelled gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga.

Chris Morley says there are 99 different reasons listed in the Ontario Public Service rule book that instruct government staff to “destroy immediately” several types of records, including emails.

Morley forcefully told the legislature's justice committee that he did not keep all of his records because the rules told him not to.

However, McGuinty's former top aide testified he did turn over 300 documents Monday to the province's archives.

The opposition parties say the Liberals destroyed emails in an attempt to cover up the true cost of cancelling the gas plants, which ballooned to $585 million after the Liberals claimed it was $230 million.

New Democrat Peter Tabuns says the Liberals cancelled the gas plants to “save their hides” in the 2011 election, when they were reduced to a minority government.

(The Canadian Press)