Canada
column for Sunday, Oct. 21/12
---
THE CANADIAN REPORT
(c) By
Jim Fox
The Canadian government has no plans to speed up the arming of border
guards even though an agent narrowly escaped death when shot.
Lori
Bowcock was critically wounded when shot in the neck by a Seattle man trying to
cross into Canada last Tuesday.
The gunman, identified as tattoo artist Andrew Crews, 32, then shot and
killed himself at the Peace Arch Border Crossing in Surrey, police said.
The 2 p.m. shooting was at the busy crossing between British Columbia
and Washington State, south of Vancouver.
Bowcock,
of London, Ontario, began working with the Canadian Border Services Agency at
the crossing in July and was previously a 911 dispatcher with the Ontario
Provincial Police.
She remains hospitalized and doctors expect she will make a full
recovery.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said he is “deeply concerned” by the
shooting and that the arming of border agents is a key component of
strengthening the agency.
Officers
are being trained to carry and use firearms and all 4,800 should be ready to do
so by 2016, he said.
---
The XL Foods beef-processing plant in Alberta – linked to 15 people
becoming ill and the center of a massive product recall – remains closed.
There are reports that JBS USA, a subsidiary of Brazil global
meat-packing giant, will take over management of XL with an option to buy the
company.
The
Canadian Food Inspection Agency will decide when the country’s second-largest
packinghouse with 2,000 workers will be allowed to reopen.
The facility has been idle since Sept. 27 over E. coli contamination and
the recall of
1,900 products from across Canada, the U.S.
and 20 countries.
---
News
in brief:
-
Canada’s largest grocery store chain, Loblaw Co. Ltd., is immediately cutting 700
management and administrative positions at its Toronto head office. The
subsidiary of George Weston Ltd., with 135,000 employees at more than 1,000
stores, is restructuring to cut costs. It faces increasing competition from
expanded Walmart grocery offerings and the arrival next year of U.S. discount
retailer Target Corp.
-
Executives of Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. said they will ask the Canadian
government to intervene after broadcast regulators rejected a proposed
$3.4-billion takeover of Astral Media’s TV and radio empire. The Canadian
Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission said the proposal would place
too much power in one company. “BCE failed to persuade us that the deal would
benefit Canadians," said chairman Jean-Pierre Blais.
---
Facts and figures:
The
Canadian dollar is lower at 1.0094 in U.S. funds while the U.S. currency returns
99.06 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 have advanced, with the Toronto exchange index at 12,446 points and the
TSX Venture index 1,310 points.
Lotto
6-49: (Oct. 17) 4, 20, 22, 23, 42 and 44; bonus 41. (Oct. 13) 6, 14, 26, 27, 34
and 46; bonus 37. Lotto Max: (Oct. 12) 5, 7, 12, 15, 35, 45 and 47; bonus 40.
---
Regional briefs:
- Ontario
Premier Dalton McGuinty, 57, has abruptly announced he is quitting. As well, he
immediately suspended the business of the legislature until his successor has
been named, likely in late January. McGuinty headed the minority Liberal
government and has not confirmed suggestions that he plans to seek the
leadership of the federal Liberal party.
-
Hackers from the group Anonymous say they have identified a man in his 30s from
New Westminster who was the alleged tormenter of Amanda Todd, 15, who committed
suicide over cyberbulling. The teen from Coquitlam, British Columbia posted a
YouTube video describing bullying and sexual exploitation she faced for years.
In London, Ontario police have arrested eight teenaged girls on suspicion of
criminal harassment in a bullying investigation at a high school.
-
Restoration of the iconic Bluenose II schooner whose image appears on the
Canadian dime has passed a milestone with the addition of her masts. The hull was
returned to the water last month in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The project, which has
taken two years and cost $17 million, culminates next spring when she returns
to service.
-30-
Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment