Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 28, 2012, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A10 A 10 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 2012 CANADA winnipegfreepress. com Valid on select in- stock merchandise, while quantities last. Not valid on kiosk orders. Discount percentage, prices and selection may vary between stores and online. Indigo, Chapters and Coles are registered trademarks of Indigo Books & Music Inc. SALE select books, gifts, home d�cor, toys and more! In- store and online. off 75 % up to SUMMER / chaptersindigo ELLIOT LAKE, Ont. - Search and rescue workers doffed their hats and bowed their heads in sorrow on Wednesday after efforts to find survivors in the wreckage of a partially collapsed shopping mall concluded in the removal of two bodies. Crews who had spent the past two days sifting through the rubble of the Algo Centre Mall in this northern Ontario city used sophisticated equipment to try to clear a path to anyone who might have survived when a roof came crashing down through the two- storey building. In the end, however, the rescue became a recovery operation. Officials said crew members had only to search one 12- metre- long pile of rubble before wrapping up the operation later Wednesday. Bill Neadles of the Heavy Urban Search and Rescue team told a news conference he did not expect more bodies will be found. Ontario Provincial Police Insp. Percy Jollymore said officers still have a list of people who remain unaccounted for, but stressed those names may not be tied to the mall collapse. Police have not officially released the names of the two people recovered from the mall, but retired miner Rejean Aylwin has previously said he feared his daughter Lucie was trapped inside. The search had been called off on Monday, hours after would- be rescuers detected signs of life amid the rubble. The search was reinstated after community members took to the streets in protest and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty intervened directly. Officials said the suspension was never meant to be permanent, adding dangerous conditions within the building would have endangered the 37 crew members looking for survivors. - The Canadian Press O TTAWA - Two donors to Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro's 2008 election campaign have produced copies of cheques they say were reimbursements paid by a small electrical company owned by Del Mastro's cousin. The cheques show the donors each received $ 1,050 from Deltro Electric Ltd. of Mississauga, Ont., two days before they made $ 1,000 donations to Del Mastro's electoral district association in Peterborough. The donors also produced copies of the personal cheques they sent to the riding association in September 2008. The cheques could be key pieces of evidence should Elections Canada expand its ongoing investigation of Dean Del Mastro's 2008 campaign expenses. Under the Elections Act, it is a serious offence to conceal the real source of donations to an election campaign. Deltro owner David Del Mastro has denied issuing any reimbursements to his cousin's campaign contributors and says he only asked people to give voluntarily. One of the cheques obtained by the Ottawa Citizen is payable to a former Deltro employee who, earlier this month, signed a statutory declaration describing how Deltro staff were asked to enlist family and friends in the alleged reimbursement scheme. David Del Mastro " advised me at that time that he wanted to make a large monetary donation to the re- election campaign of his cousin, Dean Del Mastro Member of Parliament," the statement said. " My employer assured me that if I would do so, my employer would cause his company, Deltro Electric Ltd. to reimburse me for the full sum of $ 1,000, plus a further bonus of $ 50, and that I would receive an income tax receipt for the donation." The alleged scheme was intended to circumvent the limit on political donations, the former employee said. The Conservative government lowered the limit to $ 1,100 through its 2006 centrepiece ethics legislation, the Federal Accountability Act. The statement listed the names of seven friends and family members of the employee who also participated in the scheme. The employee also listed the names of 11 Deltro employees, their family members or friends of the owner who, Elections Canada records show, also all gave $ 1,000 to Del Mastro's campaign or riding association. The former employee and two other donors with the same story of donations and reimbursements spoke on the condition of anonymity. Reached on his cellphone Wednesday, David Del Mastro said he had no comment and hung up before he could be asked about the cheques. He did not respond to a fax and email requesting comment. He has denied previously he ever reimbursed anyone for giving money to his cousin's campaign. Claims to the contrary were likely from a disgruntled former employee, he suggested. On the way into his party's caucus meeting last week, Dean Del Mastro, who is Prime Minister Stephen Harper's parliamentary secretary, described a previous story about the alleged reimbursements as " silly." Asked for comment Wednesday, Del Mastro wrote in an email that " all donations to my campaigns have been received in the proper form, properly recorded and reported and receipts issued as per Elections Canada guidelines. Always have been, always will be." Pressed on the whether he knew about any reimbursements, Del Mastro said he thought his previous answer was clear and repeated it again. Elections Canada is investigating allegations that Del Mastro's campaign exceeded its spending limit by hiring an Ottawa company to do $ 21,000 worth of voter identification and get- out- thevote work. Del Mastro insists his postelection filings were in order and has denied any wrongdoing. The Conservative Party did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday, but spokesman Fred De- Lorey has previously said that the reimbursement story from former Deltro employees was not true. - Postmedia News OTTAWA - A member of the Governor General's Foot Guards was seriously injured during the Changing of the Guards ceremony on Parliament Hill Wednesday morning. The 20- year- old male suffered a severe stab wound to the arm from his rifle- mounted bayonet after falling during the parade. Medics from the Canadian Forces immediately provided first aid to the injured man, applying pressure to his wound to stem his severe blood loss. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was in serious but stable condition. Dozens of tourists remained on the scene, taking photos of the guard while he was wounded on the ground. Devron Gaber, from Victoria, B. C., witnessed the incident. The man had fallen as he was turning by the main gates of Parliament Hill. A few seconds before he fell, another guard had also slipped in the same spot, but managed to recover and continue marching, said Gaber. Gaber believes both men had slipped on the manhole cover, located in the spot where the guards turn. " There is a flaw in the ceremony," said Gaber. " It's the fact that the guards have to turn on that manhole. With the shoes they wear, several of them were slipping and losing their footing as they turned. It's dangerous." This was only the second Changing of the Guard ceremony of the year. The parade started on June 26, and will be performed daily until Aug. 23. - Postmedia News Two bodies found in collapsed mall likely only victims, officials say Governor- General's guard falls, stabs self on bayonet By Alicja Siekierska Cheques linked to Tory MP's campaign Pair claim payment made for donations By Glen McGregor and Stephen Maher FRANK RONNELS / POSTMEDIA NEWS A seriously injured guard is helped after mishap during ceremony Wednesday. Dean Del Mastro A_ 10_ Jun- 28- 12_ FP_ 01. indd A10 6/ 27/ 12 9: 12: 36 PM ;