Conservative MPs are said to be extremely concerned about the Senate expense scandal that has the government on the defensive.

Since Thursday, the Tory caucus has lost Senators Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin, and Nigel Wright resigned Sunday as Harper’s chief of staff.

Wright has been under the gun for secretly cutting a personal cheque for $90,000 to repay Duffy’s improperly claimed housing expenses.

New Democratic M-P Charlie Angus says the government is in “panic mode.”

Wright has insisted he acted on his own in coming to Duffy`s financial aid – and that Harper wasn’t involved.

But Angus wants an independent investigation to determine whether that’s truly the case.

After Monday’s caucus meeting, Harper flies to South America for a four-day trade mission.

Queen’s University Professor Monica LaBarge said Ford should come out and directly say whether the alleged drug use the video reportedly appears to show is true – something she says Ford could have used this week’s edition of his Toronto talk radio show to do.

“If there’s nothing there then you should be able to say, ‘No I have never done this and this is all fictional,’ whereas quite clearly that has not come out as an answer,” LaBarge said Sunday.

She said that in previous scandals either Ford, his spokesman or brother Coun. Doug Ford have flatly denied allegations of misbehaviour, such as a Toronto Star report in March alleging the mayor was removed from a military gala for being intoxicated.

But this time Ford and those who speak for him do not appear to have nailed down a strategy to handle the drug-use allegations swirling around the purported video, LaBarge said.

“For whatever reason it doesn’t seem like they have a plan. So whether this video is true and the story is true or not, it seems like they’re scrambling a bit,” she said.

The Toronto Star and the U.S.-based website Gawker.com reported the story Thursday night. Two reporters from the Star and the editor of Gawker said they viewed the cellphone video and said it appears to show Rob Ford smoking crack.

The media outlets reported the video was shown to them by an alleged drug dealer who has been reportedly trying to sell the video for at least $100,000.

Ford on Friday slammed the Toronto Star report on the video as a smear job and called it “ridiculous,” while his lawyer Dennis Morris has called the reports “false and defamatory.”

Morris has also told the Toronto Star it was impossible to tell what a person was smoking by watching a video.

Doug Ford on Saturday told Vancouver radio station CKNW that he planned to respond to the story about his brother on Tuesday. He added had “never seen my brother around crack cocaine – ever, in my entire life.”

He made a similar comment to Toronto radio station Newstalk 1010 – which hosts the Ford show.

But LaBarge said Rob Ford – and not his brother – should publicly state whether he has used the drug, and that not doing so only further fuels speculation about whether the video allegations are true.

Newstalk 1010 has said they expect the Ford brothers to be back hosting their show next week.

The Toronto Star has stood by its story and rejected any suggestions the paper was out to get the mayor.

Meanwhile, Gawker is trying to raise $200,000 from the public, which it says it needs in order to buy and post the alleged footage.

By Monday morning it had raised more than $73,000 toward its goal.

Toronto Coun. Josh Matlow has told The Canadian Press that regardless of whether there is a video of Ford and whether it ever surfaces, in the meantime the city’s public image is taking a beating due to the mayor not giving a full explanation.

“If he chooses not to then I think speculation will only increase and the harm to our city’s reputation internationally will get worse.”

Another councillor, Frank Di Giorgio, said in his view the mayor’s influence over council “will remain unaltered” until all the facts of the video become available.

Gatineau Police say the fight involved at least four men in their twenties. It broke out near Le Forum bar on Jacques-Cartier Street. just after 3 a.m.

The Sun reports police found two men unconscious, one suffering from a stab wound when they arrived at the scene and both men were transported to hospital. The stabbing victim is in critical, but stable condition.

Police are still searching for a male suspect, but have not released his age. A man in his twenties was arrested when he was let out of the hospital and remains in custody. His name has not been released.

The injured men were also to be questioned by police.

That dry, hot weather will not be constant, however, and is expected to be split up by several cool fronts.

This will likely come as a relief to many, with Accuweather Lead Forecaster Brett Anderson saying it won’t be as sweltering as last year.

“We’re going to see much more changeable weather, yes we’ll have heat, we’ll have spells of dry weather, but we don’t expect patterns where it’s going to lock in for weeks on end,” Anderson said.

The summer is still expected to rank among the 10 warmest on record, but that’s largely due to overall warmer-than-normal temperatures especially in Canada’s north.

Specifically, the weather in southern Ontario is expected to be pleasant, with hot periods broken up by what’s expected to be welcome cooler days, although some thunderstorms are expected earlier in the season.

“Overall the humidity, the temperature, is going to be fairly pleasant across much of southern Ontario this summer,” said Anderson.

Residents living in Montreal through to Quebec City can also expect the mercury to rise.

The high temperatures in Quebec will be a continuation of a warm, dry spring, which has resulted in less water evaporating from the ground – a process that has a cooling effect.

The deal announced Monday represents Mayer’s boldest move yet since she left Google 10 months ago to lead Yahoo’s latest comeback attempt. It marks Yahoo’s most expensive acquisition since the Sunnyvale, Calif., company bought Overture for $1.3 billion a decade ago.

Tumblr now figures to play a pivotal role in Mayer’s attempt to reshape Yahoo Inc.

Mayer is betting that Tumblr, a 6-year-old service started by high school dropout David Karp, will provide Yahoo with a hook to reel in more traffic and advertisers on smartphones and tablets.

The companies say Tumblr will remain independently operated and Karp will stay CEO.

The appointment of the 46-year-old Lawler comes after a tough year for Chesapeake. Its former CEO Aubrey McClendon was ousted last year amid a scandal over his personal investments in the company’s oil and gas wells.

Chesapeake shares rose 1.6 per cent to $20.60 in premarket trading Monday.

Lawler is senior vice-president for international and deepwater operations at Anadarko Petroleum. He also will join the Oklahoma City-based natural gas producer’s board. The appointments are effective June 17.

Lawler is a petroleum engineer with 25 years of experience in the exploration and production industry.

McClendon, who founded Chesapeake Energy Corp. in 1989, was stripped of his role as chairman last year and left the company earlier this year.

AHNA O’REILLY FETED AS SHE CELEBRATES TWO CANNES FILMS

Along the water on the yachts where many of the Cannes Film Festival’s uber-exclusive parties are thrown, guests are required to take off their shoes before stepping on the boat And for that, “Fruitvale Station” actress Ahna O’Reilly is grateful.

“I can’t be in heels for that long — I’m so uncomfortable!” the smiling actress said Sunday evening aboard the posh Jettee Albert Edouard. “But it’s amazing, I love seeing people all dolled up, it’s fine.”

This is O’Reilly’s first trip to the Cannes Film Festival, and she has two films on display. The actress, who was also in “The Help,” is starring in “Fruitvale” with good friend Octavia Spencer and also in “As I Lay Dying,” in which she was directed by another friend, James Franco, who also stars in the film. Both were in attendance as she was the guest of honour at the event, hosted by the charity Art of Elysium.

“I’m just pinching myself, I can’t believe it, and I’m here with some of my best friends in the world representing projects that I’m deeply passionate about, and also here tonight representing the ‘Art of Elysium, an organization I care a lot about,” she said. “So it’s just all of these people that I love in the most beautiful setting where everybody is celebrating their love of cinema, so it’s a total dream.”

The Art of Elysium has thrown events at Cannes for the past five years. The charity brings artists into hospitals to entertain children afflicted with life-threatening diseases like cancer.

Founder Jennifer Howell said it was a natural to have the event at a film festival: “We’re so artist-centric that we want to be tied into what are artists actually do as fundraisers.”

O’Reilly is in Cannes for a week as she promotes her two films. She hasn’t had much down time to explore the area, but had one to-do on her wish list:

“I’m dying to go to the Hotel du Cap,” she said of the ritzy hotel outside of Cannes where some of the festival’s top events are held. “Everyone says it’s the most beautiful location.”

— Nekesa Mumbi Moody, http://www.twitter.com/nekesamumbi

‘INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS’ AFTER-PARTY

What was inside the “Inside Llewyn Davis” after-party? Plenty of bold-faced names and of course, more folk music.

The movie, which got a rapturous reception when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday night, is about the folk-music scene in 1960s New York. The Coen brothers film features Justin Timberlake, Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hudland and stars Oscar Isaac.

Timberlake was on hand with wife Jessica Biel, while Hudland cozied with his girlfriend, Kirsten Dunst. Others at the party include Frances McDormand, Grammy-winning producer T Bone Burnett, CBS head Les Moonves and his wife, Julie Chen.

A DJ played music from the film, which is in competition at the festival.

— Nekesa Mumbi Moody, http://www.twitter.com/nekesamumbi

LARS ULRICH WORKING HARDER THAN EXPECTED IN CANNES

Metallica’s Lars Ulrich is used to fast-paced action, but even he was a bit taken aback by the pace at the Cannes Film Festival.

“Most people have a romantic notion of Cannes,” said Ulrich, who was promoting the band’s upcoming film “Metallica Through the Never.

“(But) there is a lot of work that goes on here. And I was a little bit unprepared for. basically the whole infrastructure of worldwide cinema and the movie business is here,” he said in an interview on Friday.

“People have a tendency to think that is just red carpet and movie stars and sipping champagne but people come here to work. People come here to sell their films, people come here to finance their films, people come here to create hype.”

“Metallica Through the Never” marries the concert film format with a dramatic narrative. Directed by Nimrod Antal and released by Picturehouse, the film stars young “Chronicle” actor Dane DeHann as a member of Metallica’s concert tour crew who’s sent on a special mission by the band. The movie blends concert footage with a plot that includes CGI effects.

“We wanted to challenge ourselves a little bit and try and do something different and try and bring a little bit more of a film element into it,” explains Ulrich.

“Whether anybody loves the film as much as we do we’ll have to wait and see in a few months, but the one thing I can guarantee you, which there is no question about, is that it is a very unique film. Nobody has ever seen a film quite like this.”

“Metallica Through the Never” is scheduled for release on Sept. 27.

— Nekesa Mumbi Moody and Adam Egan, (http://www.twittercom/nekesamumbi)

The new company is expected to be called Actavis PLC and will be incorporated in Ireland, where Warner Chilcott is currently incorporated.

Warner Chilcott shareholders would own a 23 per cent stake in the new company.

Warner Chilcott PLC shareholders will receive 0.160 shares of the new company for each share they own. This equals $20.08 per share, which is a 5 per cent premium to Friday’s closing price of $19.21. Actavis Inc. shareholders will receive one share of the new company for each share they own at closing.

Both companies’ boards unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to close by year’s end.

Warner Chilcott’s stock rose slightly in Monday premarket trading.

In his Chelsea studio, among various film posters and piles of moviemaking mementos, he has a few paintings in progress, including a new, livelier, “more Hendrix” version of a U.S. dollar bill. It’s only one of the many artistic endeavours he bounces between now that he’s begun his long-predicted hiatus from filmmaking.

On Tuesday, he will bring his Liberace film, “Behind the Candelabra,” to the Cannes Film Festival, where it will compete for the same Palme d’Or he won 24 years ago for his first film, “Sex, Lies and Videotape.”

Soderbergh has said this — a $23 million HBO movie starring Michael Douglas as the flamboyant pianist and Matt Damon as his lover, Scott Thorson, airing Sunday in the U.S. — will be his last film, at least for now. The 50 year-old’s career in film — 26 protean features including “Out of Sight,” ”Traffic” and the “Ocean’s” franchise — will effectively conclude in Cannes, the same place it was internationally launched.

“It’s not often you get the opportunity to arrange that kind of symmetry,” Soderbergh says. “It’s funny to think about how long ago that was.”

Shortly after Soderbergh began tweeting a sparse novella and gave a remarkable speech at the San Francisco Film Festival in which he vented his frustration at Hollywood studios, he sat for a lengthy interview as he steps away from movies. “In theory,” he says, “I’m finished.”

AP: When you look back on your filmography, what do you think of it?

Soderbergh: It feels like one big movie to me, like chapters of a novel. There’s continuity. There’s evolution. I shot “Sex, Lies” in 35 days and “Candelabra” in 30 days. I’m more economical. I’d probably make them all a few minutes shorter. Shorter is always better.

AP: The break from movies you’ve long talked about is now effectively underway. How’s it going?

Soderbergh: It’s been a little quieter for me. My wanting to consider what my relationship to movies is can sort of happen while I’m doing this other stuff. . It’s hard for me to do nothing.

AP: You’ve recently tweeted a novella, “Glue,” and given a wide-ranging speech about how Hollywood could function better.

Soderbergh: It was kind of an opportunity to organize in one place a lot of thing I’ve either said in interviews or bars. It was just a way for me to structure it all, get it out and close the door on it. . As I walked out the door, I felt there were some things I wanted to memorialize about what I’ve seen.

AP: It felt like a goodbye.

Soderbergh: I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how I can optimize my process as a filmmaker, and I haven’t seen a lot of effort expended on the part of the studios to optimize their process. And I don’t understand it. . The biggest stumbling block to this paradigm being revised is the cost of putting a mainstream movie out. It’s truly the tail that’s wagging the dog. It’s influencing every decision at every level. I can’t believe — unless there’s some aspect of the relationship between the studios and the theatre owners that I’m not aware of — that this is the only way it can be done.

AP: Is your stepping back motivated equally by industry frustration and by your desire to grow in some new way as a filmmaker?

Soderbergh: Yeah, absolutely, it’s a combination of a lot of different things. Some of them have to do with the way the business is working now, some of them have to do with me just wanting a break from the social aspect of it. The fact that you’re the target for tens of thousands of questions. It’s a very intense process and you can feel worn down after a while. And then my own feelings just about the grammar of it, the language of it: Is there some other way to transmit and release information that isn’t so prescribed? It’s quite possible that I could end up making something that is designed more to be seen in a museum than a movie theatre.

AP: Was there something you were bumping up against that made you feel like you weren’t evolving?

Soderbergh: It felt like: I need to tear everything down and start over. I’ve been thinking about that and thinking about what it might be. I want to take advantage of what people bring to a movie when they watch a movie. The fact that we’re so image driven and that we’ve been watching images since we were infants, and we have associations that are carried with them. I want to figure out a way to take advantage of that, so that I’m sort of using those associations as fuel for what I want to do. I think that’s going to require me taking some time to think about what those associations are, how I can use them, how I can build off of them, how I can subvert them. And see if there’s some way that I can reverse engineer a narrative in which you, by the end of it, understand everything that happened but you’re not quite sure how or why you did.

AP: It seems your search for a new kind of narrative is connected to what you’ve said about the confusing, fractured nature of life today.

Soderbergh: Especially in this country now, it’s really hard not to look around and go: What the hell is going on? Is it possible to get anything done? Is the centre of this country going to hold or is it just going to be completely marginalized by extremists on every side of every issue? I don’t know. I’m alarmed.

AP: The private sexuality of “Behind the Candelabra” bears some similarities to “Sex, Lies.”

Soderbergh: It was a great way to express my appreciation for a kind of movie I’ve watched my whole life but never got to make, which is kind of a melodrama. I looked at as being in line with all the Douglas Sirk movies and “Sunset Blvd.” and “All About Eve” and “Valley of the Dolls.” . It was interesting to look around and wonder when I’ll be doing this again.

AP: What will you miss the most?

Soderbergh: Editing.

AP: What’s surprising about you stepping away from filmmaking is that you seem to relish the process so much, shooting and editing your own films.

Soderbergh: I have a plan. I have an idea of how it can go, and I’m willing to throw it all out at a moment’s notice to go somewhere else with it. I expect to discover things. I expect accidents. I expect something that somebody suggests or says will move me in another direction. I’m creating an environment in order to conjure that kind of things. I want my experience of making something to be fluid and to be surprising. I want it to come alive in front of me.

AP: Some filmmakers spend years carefully constructing the films they hope will be masterpieces. That kind of approach has never been appealing to you?

Soderbergh: No, mostly because it makes my work worse. I discovered early on, the more time I had to mull something over, the worse it got — or the more insular it got, the more introspective, the more self-conscious. I needed to treat it like a sport.

AP: HBO picked up “Candelabra” after no studio would take it, and you’re currently contemplating several TV projects. Are you excited about television?

Soderbergh: Very. Very. There’s a lot of great stuff being made. You can go narrow and deep, and I like that. And this is all David Chase. He single-handedly rebuilt the landscape. Anything that’s on now that’s any good is standing on his shoulders. I don’t hear anybody talking about movies the way they talk about TV right now. . Knowing that I can’t swim upstream forever, it seems to me that if I want to work, that I need to move to a medium in which the way I like to do things is viewed as a positive and not a negative.

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle

His Cannes Film Festival entry “Shield of Straw” is a robust thriller about a team of police tasked with escorting a child-killer with a bounty on his head across the country.

Although touched with serious themes of loyalty and duty, it’s an old-fashioned action flick, bursting with car chases, gunfights and explosions to rival anything from Hollywood.

The director says he felt Japanese cinema had lost the art of making “spectacular scenes — so I gave myself a challenge.”

He succeeded, but only after travelling to Taiwan to film. He said Monday that in Japan, “it was impossible to close down the highways and get so many police cars on the road.”