Evangelicals get top PMO jobs after shuffle

More proof Harper close to religious right: Egale

A shuffle in the Prime Minister's Office has put another evangelical Christian figure near the top political post in the country.

Darrel Reid, the former head of Focus on the Family Canada, has moved from the position of director of policy to become the new deputy chief of staff.

"It's something we've suspected for a long time — that Harper has deep roots with the religious right, and this just further acknowledges that that is in fact the case," says Egale Canada executive director Helen Kennedy. "This is pretty overt though — we haven't really seen that in the past."

UFO sightings soar in Canada

Strange floating objects and eerie bright lights were among the record number of Unidentified Flying Objects that Canadians spotted in the sky in 2008, according to Winnipeg-based Ufology Research.

The volunteer group of a half-dozen researchers said Canadians made a total of 1,004 UFO sightings in 2008 — up more than 25 per cent from the previous year and the highest number in the 20 years Ufology has been keeping track.

"It's astonishing to me that we had such a dramatic increase," spokesman Chris Rutkowski said.

"It could be an indication that there's actually something up there seen in greater numbers than ever before, it could be that there are perhaps more military flights, it could be … that people are more able to access websites where they can report the UFOs."