Canada
column for Sunday, May 6/12
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THE CANADIAN REPORT
(c) By
Jim Fox
Not
exactly a “snowbird,” former media mogul Conrad Black is returning to Canada
from time spent in Florida.
Allowing a “felon” to enter the country after release from prison and
renouncing his Canadian citizenship led to an uproar for two days in the House
of Commons.
Black,
67, was released Friday from the Federal Correction Institute in Miami after
serving 42 months for fraud and obstructing justice involving his former Hollinger
newspaper chain.
He
has been granted a one-year temporary resident permit allowing his return to Canada
where he has a home and wife, Barbara Amiel, in Toronto.
This could lead to extensions of the permit for the Montreal-born Black
and even a bid to regain the citizenship he renounced in 2001to become a
British Lord.
New Democratic Party Leader Thomas Mulcair said Black is a British
citizen now who has been “convicted of serious crimes” and is being given
“special treatment” not granted to other felons.
Citizenship
and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said there was no political interference
and the decision to approve Black’s application to return was made
independently by the public service office.
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Canada has produced its last penny as it eliminates the lowly but costly
coin.
The Royal Canadian Mint commemorated the demise of the penny with a
ceremonial coin strike in Winnipeg on Friday.
It
was costing 1.6 cents to produce each penny or about $11 million a year for
something this is bothersome for businesses to handle, Finance Minister Jim
Flaherty said.
The government estimates tens of millions of pennies are being hoarded
and while they are being withdrawn from circulation they can still be used indefinitely.
Canada’s new polymer $20 bills will go into circulation in November
after the recent launch of the plastic-like $100 and $50 bills designed to
thwart counterfeiters. New ten-and five-dollar bills will follow next year.
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News in brief:
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Police said a British Columbia hang glider pilot whose passenger fell to her
death will stay in jail until a digital memory card he’s alleged to have
swallowed passes through him. William Orders, 50, was arrested for obstructing
justice after Lenami Godinez-Avila, 27, tumbled out of her harness and fell to
her death over the Fraser Valley. Police said the video on the card from the
flight would provide evidence of possible negligence.
-
Florida-based daredevil aerialist Nik Wallenda is preparing to walk across Niagara
Falls on a tightrope on June 15. It’s estimated the stunt will be watched by 125,000
people in person and as many as 400 million on TV around the world. A wire
stretching 1,850 feet will be anchored between two cranes, one at Table Rock in
Ontario and the other on Goat Island on the U.S. side.
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Facts and figures:
Canada’s
dollar is lower at $1.0046 in U.S. funds while the U.S. greenback returns 99.53
cents Canadian, before bank exchange fees.
The Bank of Canada’s key interest rate is steady at 1 percent while the
prime-lending rate is 3 percent.
Stock
markets are lower, with the Toronto exchange index at 11,849 points on Friday and
the TSX Venture index 1,399 points.
Lotto
6-49: (May 2) 18, 19, 33, 40, 44 and 47; bonus 10. (April 28) 9, 21, 22, 42,
44 and 48; bonus 28. Lotto Max: (April 27) 3, 23, 28, 40, 42, 43 and 45; bonus
17.
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Regional briefs:
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The Quebec government is holding “emergency” meetings with student leaders to
try to put an end to three months of protests over proposed tuition fee
increases. With unrest and violent protests growing and about one-third of
students boycotting classes, both sides remain far apart. Students, many of
whom rallied in their underwear to get attention on Thursday, pay the lowest
tuition fees in Canada at $2,168 a year. The government wants to raise the rate
by $325 in each of the next five years.
-
James Marker, the man credited with inventing Cheezies, the quintessential
Canadian snack, has died at age 90 in Belleville, Ontario. The Dayton, Ohio
native and Chicago confectioner W.T. Hawkins started the snack-food company in
1949 in Ontario that now employs 100 people. Marker invented a machine to
process cornmeal into fried cheese-coated bits, with “no two Cheezies alike.”
-30-
Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com
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