PRESS DIGEST - Canada - Feb 23

Feb 23 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL:

-- Dismayed by the dramatic dismissal of TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) general manager Gary Webster, opponents of Rob Ford are building a new coalition of council votes to derail the mayor's subway plans.

Reports in the business section:

-- Canada's reputation as a low-tax destination for business investment is poised to take a hit as key provinces balk at further cuts, just as plans heat up in Washington to slash much-higher U.S. corporate rates.

-- Members of Air Canada's largest union have rejected a tentative pact, opting instead to support a strike mandate.

NATIONAL POST:

-- Elections Canada has traced fraudulent phone calls made during the federal election to an Edmonton voice-broadcast company that worked for the Conservative Party across the country.

-- Graham James -- described as "the most hated man in hockey" by his own lawyer -- appeared in a Winnipeg courtroom on Wednesday, looking like a shell of the man who once held the hopes and dreams of hundreds of aspiring young athletes in hands. Now older, greyer and much more frail, James offered a soft-spoken apology for the horrors he inflicted on several of his former players.

Reports in the business section:

-- After the mess in the U.S. over Keystone XL, Canada could really use a win on Thursday - or at least the benefit of the doubt - when the European Union votes on whether to label oil from the Alberta oil sands as "highly polluting."

-- Air Canada's mechanics and ground crews have voted against a new tentative agreement at the airline, and have given their union a strike mandate. But the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said it has no plans to serve strike notice at this time.