PRESS DIGEST - Canada - Aug 30

Aug 30 (Reuters) - The following are top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL:

- A study set to be published on Monday has found elevated levels of mercury, lead and 11 other toxic elements in the oil sands' main fresh water source, the Athabasca River, refuting long-standing government and industry claims that water quality there has not been affected by oil sands development.

- The federal government's refusal to give a Commons committee the email records of a Conservative staff member has not deterred opposition members who say they will fight to get the documents into their hands.

Conservative House Leader John Baird wrote last week to the clerk of the opposition dominated access to information, privacy and ethics committee to say the government would "not be acceding" to the committee's demand for the electronic correspondence of a political aide who blocked the release of an access to information request.

BUSINESS SECTION:

- BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) will consider selling off the nitrogen and phosphate businesses held by Potash Corp (POT.TO) if successful in its $38.6 billion bid for the world's largest fertilizer firm.

- At a celebration of BP's (BP.L) (BP.N) centennial last October, CEO Tony Hayward boasted to guests that the oil company "lives on the frontiers of the energy industry."

But this week, in the first major sign that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill may have caused lasting damage to the company's long-term strategy of embracing projects with high risks, BP was frozen out of a potentially lucrative license to drill for oil off the coast of Greenland.

NATIONAL POST:

- The power of the Internet may mean the heavy dictionaries gracing the reference libraries and the desks of keen editors may soon disappear altogether, Nigel Portwood, the chief executive of the Oxford University Press, the legendary dictionary's publisher, told the Sunday Times.

- When Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff arrives for his party's summer caucus meeting in the picturesque Cape Breton town aboard his well-traveled bus Monday, he will have shaken countless hands, kissed dozens of babies, overdosed on Tim Hortons coffee and worn out the checkered shirts that have dominated his wardrobe for the past eight weeks.

Ignatieff set off on his cross-country bus tour in mid-July and more than 37,250 kilometres and 140 events later, he will join his fellow Liberals on Monday afternoon for three days of meetings that will most certainly have a different tone than they did last year.