Ontario News

CALGARY — Cenovus Energy (TSX:CVE) made a splash in the oil patch Wednesday with a $17.7-billion deal to buy a big chunk of U.S.-based ConocoPhillips's oilsands assets, doubling the size of the Calgary-based company in the process.

TORONTO — The Toronto Argonauts have re-signed star running back Brandon Whitaker.

TORONTO — Police in Toronto say a psychic has been charged with pretending to practise witchcraft after a customer allegedly paid more than $100,000 to have an "evil spirit" removed.

TORONTO — A ruling that senior RCMP officers mercilessly harassed a sergeant after deciding he had lied about his run for political office should be set aside as flawed, the federal government said Thursday.

TORONTO — CIBC increased its takeover offer for Chicago-based PrivateBancorp by 20 per cent on Thursday in a bid to win shareholder approval for the takeover deal. The offer values the U.S. financial services company at about C$6.

TORONTO — Andre Alexis's Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning novel "Fifteen Dogs" is the champion of this year's "Canada Reads" debate series.

WINNIPEG — A cross-border investigation has led to charges against a Winnipeg man who is accused of going online to direct the alleged sexual assault of a six-year-old child in the United States.

TORONTO — Police say they've charged a 42-year-old man in a child sexual abuse investigation.

OMAHA, Neb. — A coalition of environmental groups is challenging the federal permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline in court because they say additional environmental scrutiny is needed.

LEAMINGTON, Ont. — A southwestern Ontario national park popular with bird watchers is closed after a fire burned through part of the site on the north shore of Lake Erie. Leamington, Ont.