Close X
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
ADVT 
National

Leonardo DiCaprio nominates Prime Minister Stephen Harper to do ice bucket

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 26 Aug, 2014 08:12 AM
    EDMONTON - Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has nominated Prime Minister Stephen Harper to do the ice bucket challenge.
     
    DiCaprio was in northern Alberta last week visiting the oilsands to do research for an environmental documentary.
     
    The Oscar-nominated star of "The Wolf of Wall Street'' posted a video on his Facebook page of him doing the ice bucket challenge with two First Nations chiefs.
     
    Afterward, he called out Harper to do the same.
     
    Harper's press secretary says the prime minister had been already challenged by others last week to either dump a bucket of ice water over his head or make a donation, and he's made a donation to the ALS Association.
     
    The association raises money for Lou Gehrig's disease research and assistance.
     
     
    "The Prime Minister was challenged by others last week and posted the following message on Twitter: @pmharper: Thanks everyone for the #IceBucketChallenge nominations. Laureen & I will be making a donation to support the @ALSassociation," Vallee said in an email to The Canadian Press.
     
    "Obviously, the donation has been made since (to ALS Canada)."
     
    DiCaprio has a long history of involvement with the environment. He sits on the boards of several international conservation organizations and started an environmental charity foundation in 1998.
     
    "Hello from Lake Athabasca, we're here learning about the Canadian tar sands. We took a moment to join the #IceBucketChallenge movement in support of the ALS Association. My friends Chief Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation challenges Dave Collyer, president of Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Chief Courtoreille of the Mikisew Cree First Nation challenges Mark Little of Suncor Canada and The Sierra Club President Michael Brune challenges Shell CEO Ben van Beurden," says the post on DiCaprio's site.
     
    "And me? In addition to a donation from my foundation, I challenge Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper."
     
     
    The controversial oilsands development near Fort McMurray has seen a string of high-profile visitors in recent years.
     
    They include human rights leader Archbishop Desmond Tutu, musician Neil Young and Oscar-winning film director James Cameron.
     
    Since the ALS Association began tracking the campaign's progress on July 29, it has raised more than $53.3 million from 1.1 million new donors in what is one of the most viral philanthropic social media campaigns in history.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Liberals, NDP Plot To Storm Tories' Fortress Alberta In Next Federal Election

    Liberals, NDP Plot To Storm Tories' Fortress Alberta In Next Federal Election
    OTTAWA - Invading hordes of Liberal and New Democrat MPs will be doing some reconnaissance in Alberta over the next few weeks as their parties prepare plans to storm the Conservative bastion in the next federal election.

    Liberals, NDP Plot To Storm Tories' Fortress Alberta In Next Federal Election

    Questions remain about polygamy law as charges laid against men from B.C. sect

    Questions remain about polygamy law as charges laid against men from B.C. sect
    VANCOUVER - Legal experts say a criminal case involving a polygamous sect in B-C will probably reignite a debate over whether the ban on multiple marriages violates the right to religious freedom.

    Questions remain about polygamy law as charges laid against men from B.C. sect

    Feds Worried About Another 'Idle No More' After New Brunswick Fracking Protest

    Feds Worried About Another 'Idle No More' After New Brunswick Fracking Protest
    MONTREAL - Federal officials closely tracked the fallout of an RCMP raid on a First Nations protest against shale-gas exploration in New Brunswick, at one point raising concerns it could spawn another countrywide movement like Idle No More.

    Feds Worried About Another 'Idle No More' After New Brunswick Fracking Protest

    Pilot who died in New Brunswick air ambulance crash identified as plane's owner

    Pilot who died in New Brunswick air ambulance crash identified as plane's owner
    GRAND MANAN, N.B. - The company that operates the New Brunswick air ambulance that crashed Saturday on Grand Manan island has identified the pilot who died as the firm's owner Klaus Sonnenberg.

    Pilot who died in New Brunswick air ambulance crash identified as plane's owner

    Groups Representing Doctors Reject Anti-Drug Campaign, Say It Would Be Political

    Groups Representing Doctors Reject Anti-Drug Campaign, Say It Would Be Political
    OTTAWA - Three groups representing doctors say they will not take part in an anti-drug campaign by Health Canada that will target young people because it has become a political issue.

    Groups Representing Doctors Reject Anti-Drug Campaign, Say It Would Be Political

    Calgary: RCMP Say Divers Recovered 'Significant' Evidence In Alberta Family Slaying Case

    Calgary: RCMP Say Divers Recovered 'Significant' Evidence In Alberta Family Slaying Case
    CALGARY - Mounties say their investigation into the discovery of a dead family in a burned-out Alberta farmhouse took an important step when divers recovered evidence last month near a provincial park.

    Calgary: RCMP Say Divers Recovered 'Significant' Evidence In Alberta Family Slaying Case