Anne McLellan, leader of the federal task force on marijuana, listens to a question during a news conference in Ottawa, Tuesday December 13, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Highlights from the news file for Tuesday, Dec. 13

LEGALIZE POT SALES FOR 18 AND OLDER, REPORT SAYS: A federal task force on legalized recreational marijuana is recommending storefront and mail-order sales to Canadians 18 years and older, with personal growing limits of four plants per person. The framework report, headed by former federal Liberal cabinet minister Anne McLellan, says recreational marijuana should not be sold in the same location as alcohol or tobacco, and that production should be monitored with a "seed-to-sale tracking system" to prevent diversions to the black market. The study gives shape to a Liberal promise to legalize recreational pot consumption and sales. The 106-page framework covers everything from advertising and branding — effectively banned, similar to tobacco — to penalties for illicit production and trafficking, all legislated under a proposed new Cannabis Control Act.

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SYRIA TO EVACUATE ALEPPO IN SURRENDER DEAL: Syrian rebels reached a ceasefire deal to evacuate from eastern Aleppo in an effective surrender on Tuesday, as Russia declared all military action had stopped and the Syrian government had assumed control of the former rebel enclave. The dramatic developments, which appeared to restore the remainder of what was once Syria's largest city to President Bashar Assad's forces after months of heavy fighting and a crippling siege, followed reports of mass killings by government forces closing in on the final few blocks still held by the rebels. Damascus confirmed the evacuation deal and the UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, told The Associated Press in a text message that the safe withdrawal of people from the besieged area was now "imminent."

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CANADIAN OIL FANS FILL TRUMP CABINET: Donald Trump's prospective cabinet is now stacked with friends of Canadian oil, with vocal proponents of the Keystone XL pipeline his picks to run key posts in the State and Energy departments. Both are from the state where the pipeline concludes: Texas. Trump announced Tuesday that he'll ask Congress to approve Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson as the U.S's top diplomat — and the decision on international pipeline permits belongs to the secretary of state. And Rick Perry is the pick for energy secretary, sources tell The Associated Press. When he announced his ill-fated run for president last year, the former Texas governor promised he'd waste no time approving the pipeline: "(I'll do it) on Day 1."

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TRUDEAU, MERKEL AFFIRM SUPPORT FOR CETA: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talked trade during a telephone call Tuesday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Germany is Europe's biggest economy and the two leaders affirmed their support for the Canada-EU free trade deal, which both sides hope to finalize next year. Trudeau signed the deal with EU leaders in October, but not before a region of Belgium had to be persuaded out of using a constitutional veto that nearly torpedoed seven years of negotiations. The House of Commons was expected to give second reading approval Tuesday to the bill that would implement the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA. The bill would then be studied by the Commons trade committee.

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NO POINT MEETING ON HEALTH SPENDING, MINISTER SAYS: B.C.'s health minister is sounding less than enthused about flying to Ottawa for health-care talks next week, suggesting there is nothing yet on the table that could break the stalemate over federal spending levels. Terry Lake says he is not aware of any reason he should be boarding a plane on the taxpayer's dime in order to discuss health care, such as a change in the federal government's position. A funding formula feud is expected to dominate discussions with the finance ministers next week after the premiers made no progress on health in their talks Friday with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The provinces are pushing back against a federal plan to cut in half the six per cent annual increase to health transfer payments next year.

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TRAVIS VADER TESTIFIES AT OWN SENTENCING HEARING: An Alberta man convicted of killing two missing seniors says he was humiliated with a strip search and subjected to horrendous conditions while in custody. Travis Vader is testifying at his sentencing hearing in Edmonton. He was convicted earlier this year of manslaughter in the 2010 deaths of Lyle and Marie McCann. The couple, in their late 70s, vanished on a camping trip to British Columbia. Defence lawyer Nathan Whitling is asking the court to stay the conviction or reduce the sentence because of the mistreatment. He has suggested a four- to six-year sentence and the Crown is asking for a life term.

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SWIMMER PENNY OLEKSIAK NAMED AS CANADA'S TOP ATHLETE: Swimmer Penny Oleksiak is the winner of the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s athlete of the year. The Toronto Star award is selected annually by a panel of sports journalists from across the country. Oleksiak won four medals at the Rio Olympics last summer, including gold in the 100-metre freestyle. She added four more medals at the short-course world championship this month in Windsor. The 16-year-old Toronto swimmer edged Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby for the honour. Other finalists were sprinter Andre De Grasse, golfer Brooke Henderson, Paralympic swimmer Aurelie Rivard, tennis player Milos Raonic and high jumper Derek Drouin.

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BRING BACK DELIVERY, MPS URGE CANADA POST: A House of Commons committee is recommending Canada Post come up with a plan to reinstate door-to-door delivery in parts of the country that lost the service in the last year and maintain a freeze on the installation of community mailboxes. The report from the Liberal-dominated committee released Tuesday also says there is no need to reduce the number of days a week that mail is delivered, suggesting reduced service standards could accelerate the decline the corporation has seen in the number of letters handled. The committee recommends increases in postal rates, muses about expanding Canada Post's mandate to provide cellular services or broadband Internet, including email services or "the basis for a Canadian social network," and suggests the corporation partner with e-commerce companies to increase revenues.

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CANADA'S TOP DOCTOR RETIRING AHEAD OF SCHEDULE: After a little more than two years in the job, Dr. Gregory Taylor is retiring as the country's top doctor, three years ahead of schedule. The Canadian Press has learned that Taylor's last day as chief public health officer will be Friday, and the Public Health Agency of Canada has posted a notice looking for his replacement. Taylor took over the position in September 2014 after succeeding Dr. David Butler-Jones, the first head of PHAC, which was created in 2004 in response to the SARS crisis. Butler-Jones was Canada's top physician for almost a decade and left the position in 2013 after suffering a stroke a year earlier.

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PBO, NATIONAL DEFENCE BATTLING OVER WARSHIPS: National Defence and Parliament's budget watchdog have been quietly battling over access to key information about the government's multi-billion-dollar plan to buy the navy new warships. The department says the information requested by parliamentary budget officer Jean-Denis Frechette is "very sensitive" and outside his mandate. Frechette, however, alleges there is a culture of secrecy within National Defence. The dispute is reminiscent of similar disagreements between National Defence and Frechette's predecessor, Kevin Page, particularly when it came to the F-35 stealth fighter. This time, the disagreement started in September when Frechette wrote two letters to National Defence's top bureaucrat, John Forster, asking for documents explaining the type of equipment and capabilities the navy requires in its new warships.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2016