Back to newsletter list 22/10/2008 23:45:39 (UTC) Canada | World Briefs | Business News | Sports | Weather Headlines  - Ontario to run budget deficit - Delay sought for Guantanamo Canadian's trial - Canadian retail sector slips
TORONTO: PROVINCE WILL INCUR DEFICIT The Ontario government says it will run a $500-million budget deficit. In his fall economic update, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said the government prefers a deficit to slashing social programs in a time of dwindling revenue. Mr. Duncan says it's better to protect spending for health care and education and that the decision is a balanced response to difficult economic times. The minister told the legislature that the only alternative to a deficit would be to cut the very programs that are helping individuals, families and businesses ride out the storm. Mr. Duncan estimates that the government's revenue will decrease by $918 million from the forecast in the 2008 budget, while expenses will increase by $132 million. REGINA: SK. RESISTS DOWNTURN While Ontario is reeling from bad economic news, the western province of Saskatchewan appears to be riding out the storm. The government of Premier Brad Wall outlined in a Throne Speech an income tax cut that will save a family with two children $1,300 a year. The basic personal and spousal amounts for tax exemption will be raised by $4,000 a year. The government also outlined in its agenda for the fall session of the legislature lower property taxes, increased support for low-income seniors, and a $1-billion paydown of the provincial debt, all with a balanced budget. Mr. Wall says Saskatchewan's rich resource base allows his government to be generous even in a time of global economic uproar. MONTREAL: ANGLICANS INTERCEDE FOR GUANTANAMO PRISONER The Anglican Church of Canada is offering to sponsor an Algerian national who has been detained for almost seven years at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Djamel Ameziane lived in Canada for five years until 2000, when he was denied refugee status. He was snatched by bounty hunters in Afghanistan in 2001 and handed over to the U.S. the following year. Officials representing the Anglican Diocese of Montreal, Amnesty International and other human rights groups are urging Canada to take him in. Mr. Ameziane fears being imprisoned and tortured if he is returned to Algeria. TORONTO: LAWYERS SEEK POSTPONEMENT FOR GUANTANAMO CANADIAN In related news, lawyers defending the Canadian who is the only remaining terrorism suspect detained at Guantanamo are seeking a delay in the trial by military tribunal that is scheduled to start on Nov. 10. The lawyers defending Omar Khadr say he cannot get a fair trial until their psychologist can complete an evaluation of his mental state. Lawyer Nate Whitling said from Edmonton says the assessment would involve his ability to participate in his defence by being able to understand the legal issues, his ability to remember, the impact of his having been a child soldier and his capacity for rehabilitation. Khadr's lawyers have asked the tribunal for the evaluation in a pre-trial motion. The U.S. government accuses Khadr of having killed an American soldier in Afghanistan in 2002. CALGARY: DOW CHALLENGES QUEBEC PESTICIDE BAN A Canadian division of the U.S. firm Dow Chemical has challenged a ban on its 2,4-D weed killer under the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Dow AgroSciences says there is no scientific basis for the ban. NAFTA allows parties in one country to sue a second government if it judges its interests harmed, circumventing local courts and bringing the conflict before an international tribunal. The document filed by Dow AgroSciences does not start the case but allows it to go ahead after a 90-day expiry period. The company bases its complaint on a Health Canada ruling this year that found that 2,4-D can be safely used according to label instructions. The Canadian Press cites the Canadian Physicians for the Environment as saying there is much scientific evidence linking the pesticide to cancer, neurological impairment and reproductive problems. NORTH BAY: E. COLI CASES UP SHARPLY Health authorities report a sharp increase in numbers of suspected and confirmed E. coli contamination to 190 on Wednesday from the 158 reported the previous day. Thirty-six of the cases have been confirmed through laboratory testing. The contagion has been traced to a fast-food restaurant which has been closed since Oct. 12, but the precise source within the establishment remains unknown. TORONTO: 4,500 SIGN UP FOR BAD MEAT LAWSUIT The Regina, SK, lawyer who is guiding a proposed class-action lawsuit against Maple Leaf Meats Inc. because of the listeriosis outbreak in August says 4,500 people across the country have signed up for it. The epidemic claimed 20 lives. The claims accusing Maple Leaf of negligence have been filed separately in six provinces. The suit filed in Ontario, where most of the 20 deaths occurred, demands $350 million in general and special damages. The lawyer, Tony Merchant, says in his affidavit that Maple Leaf should have recalled the contaminated meat much sooner than it did and should have warned the public when it realized the likely dangers instead of delaying. The company says it issued a recall hours after it discovered the problem at its Toronto packing plant. QUEBEC CITY: POTENTIAL NEWCOMERS NOT OBLIGED TO KNOW FRENCH Quebec Immigration Minister Yolande James says the government won't require that candidates for immigration understand the French language before arriving in the largely French-speaking province. Mrs. James says the government will encourage them to learn Quebec's official language before arriving, but the potential numbers of francophone immigrants is too small to allow the government to achieve its immigration targets. The government wants to increase numbers of immigrants arriving yearly from 45,000 to 55,000 by 2010. Sixty-per cent of immigrants to the province are now estimated to understand French.
UNITED STATES President George W. Bush has invited Canada and the other Group of 20 nations to a summit in Washington on Nov. 15 to discuss the world financial turmoil. Participants will discuss its causes, review progress made in countering it and draw up reforms. The event is to be the first in a series of summits aimed at coping with the long international recession which economists have predicted. French President Nicolas Sarkozi visited Mr. Bush last Saturday and proposed a world economic summit. The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, the president of the World Bank and the UN Secretary General also will attend the summit. ARGENTINA The stock market fell another 10 per cent on Wednesday in response to Tuesday's announcement by President Cristina Kirschner that the government will nationalize Argentina's 10 private pension funds. The market has lost 23 per cent of its value since word of her government's intentions surfaced on Monday. The pension funds hold more than $30 billion and are the country's biggest institutional investors. The plan is likely to be approved by Congress. Mrs. Kirschner defended the nationalization by explaining that the government is protecting the funds from the global market crisis, while critics accuse the government of a cash grab to drum up money to pay billions of dollars of debt obligations next year. BELGIUM International donors have pledged $4.55 billion to help Georgia recover from its brief war with Russia last August. The U.S. has promised $1 billion and the EU $642.8 million. The loans and grants promised in a donors' conference in Brussels are from both governments and the private sector. The UN and the World Bank had estimated that Georgia would need $3.25 billion over three years to help tens of thousands of refugees and to rebuild infrastructure. Also on Wednesday, the government of the breakaway territory of South Ossetia named a former Russian official as prime minister, to which the Georgian government reacted by accusing Russia of having annexed the territory. IRAQ Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari says the government will demand amendments to the security pact which it concluded with the U.S. last week, but says that the changes don't involve the draft agreement's basic principles but rather "wording and descriptions." The cabinet demanded the changes despite having agreed last week to a "final draft" after months of negotiations with the Americans. U.S. troops are authorized to remain in the country under a UN resolution only until the end of the year. The draft agreement permits their presence until 2011. The accord would also allow Iraqi courts to try American soldiers for serious crimes committed while off duty. BELGIUM The EU has revealed a "Blue Card" scheme aimed at attracting skilled immigrants to fill labour shortages. The plan is intended to make the EU more competitive with the U.S. and other aging Western nations for high-technology and hospital workers from developing countries. Some critics of the idea say it will be ineffective because it allows the immigrant to live in only one EU member state at a time rather than have access to all 27 of them. The U.S. Green Card allows its possessor to work in all of the 50 states. High-skilled foreign workers make up only 1.7 of the EU workforce, compared with 9.9 per cent in Australia, 7.3 per cent in Canada and 3.2 per cent in the U.S. ITALY The government is continuing its crackdown on illegal immigrants with the announcement that 167 Gypsy camps in and around Rome, Naples and Milan will be moved to specially equipped villages and the camps closed. The villages will be equipped with sanitary necessities such as running water. Roma without residence permits, however, will be expelled. No more illegal camps will be permitted. The Italian government has been criticized for its policies toward Gypsies. Earlier in the year, the government announced it would start fingerprinting Gypsies this month after the European Commission ruled that such a move wasn't discriminatory.
OTTAWA: RETAIL DOWN Statistics Canada reports that retail sales dropped in August for the first time in six months by .3 per cent. The loss was due to lower sales in the automotive sector. It was the first retail loss since the sector fell .3 per cent in February. CALGARY: GLOBAL SLUMP COULD AFFECT OILSANDS PROJECTS The head of Husky Energy Inc., John Lau, predicts that while the major players in Alberta's oilsands business will continue their projects because they can afford to do so, smaller firms may suffer. Mr. Lau says that the smaller players face "a lot of challenges" because of the high costs of the project and the province's labour shortage. The CEO says Husky is well positioned to perform in the current conditions because of its "financial discipline and project execution over the years." On Tuesday, Husky said it had nearly doubled its third-quarter profit to $1.27 billion compared with the result a year earlier because of record high oil prices. Oil closed at US$66.75 on Wednesday. Mr. Lau says Husky can perform well with prices between US$75 and US$100 a barrel. Although Husky's head office is in Calgary, the company is owned by Hong Kong interests. MONTREAL: QUEBECOR POURS RESOURCES INTO NEW SERVICE Telecom giant Quebecor says it will spend as much as $1 billion and create hundreds of jobs at its subsidiary Vidéotron in the building of its new wireless business. CEO Pierre-Karl Péladeau says it hopes to have its high-speed wireless service in operation in 12 to 18 months. Quebecor was one of the companies that took part earlier this year in the federal government's spectrum auction aimed at providing more competition in the cellphone business. At present, only Bell Canada, Telus Corp. and Rogers Communications provide such service. MONTREAL: RIO TINTO INCREASES B.C. INVESTMENT Mining firm Rio Tinto says it will invest an additional US$300 million to modernize its Kitimat aluminum smelter in British Columbia, bring total investment in the facility to US$500 million. The announcement comes a week after the London-based company said it would review all capital spending in view of the world financial crisis. Rio Tinto acquired the Canadian aluminum firm Alcan Inc. a year ago for US$38 billion. MARKETS TSX on Wednesday: down 559 points or 5.7 per cent to 9,237 on top of a 456-point plunge on Tuesday. Canadian dollar: down 2.69 cents at US79.7 cents, its lowest level since May 2005. Euro: C$1.6119, up 2.73 cents. Light, sweet crude: US$66.75, down $5.43.
BASKETBALL The Toronto Raptors waived forward-centre Jamal Sampson on Wednesday. The NBA club signed Sampson as a free agent last month. He had two points and three rebounds in one pre-season game. The Raptors' roster currently stands at 13 players. Toronto opens the regular season Oct. 29 in Philadelphia. OLYMPICS One of Canada's most high-profile Olympic officials apologized Wednesday for unintentionally angering First Nations with comments that some interpreted as him calling them savages. Richard Pound told The Canadian Press Wednesday that he never intended to be derogatory when he used a French-language phrase in calling Canada a "land of savages" 400 years ago.
Weather British Columbia on Thursday: rain north, mix of sun, cloud south, high 12 Celsius Vancouver. Yukon, Northwest Territories: rain. Nunavut: sun. Whitehorse 4, Yellowknife 5, Iqaluit -11. Prairies: sun. Edmonton 10, Regina 14, Winnipeg 9. Ontario, Quebec: sun. Toronto 11, Ottawa 8, Montreal 7. New Brunswick: sun. Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador: rain. Fredericton, Halifax, Charlottetown 8, St. John's 5.
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