PRESS DIGEST - Canada - March 5

March 5 (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

- Canadian education is lurching into an era of austerity, as British Columbia's teachers walk off the job and Ontario feuds with its educators over a new hard-line stand on compensation.

- A month of controversy over pensions, privacy and Pierre Poutine has failed to dent support for the Conservative Party, according to a new poll by Nanos Research.

Support for the Tories remained exactly the same - at 35.7 percent - compared to a month earlier.

Reports in the Business Section

- Competition to broadcast the Olympic Games in Canada is about to become an event of its own, with Yahoo Inc considering a bid to steal the Games from the country's television powerhouses and push the coverage onto the Internet.

- Air Canada is targeting seven major Canadian cities as departure points for the long-range Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

The first plane in the carrier's order for 37 Dreamliners will arrive in the first quarter of 2014, followed by six more of the aircraft that year, said Ben Smith, Air Canada's chief commercial officer.

NATIONAL POST

- Vladimir Putin faces new protests on Monday to challenge his victory in a presidential election he said had prevented Russia from falling into the hands of enemies trying to usurp power.

- More than 40,000 public school teachers across British Columbia will skip work Monday, the start of a three-day strike designed to pressure the provincial government to accept their contract demands. These include a 15 percent pay increase over three years, which the government says it will not - that it cannot - meet.