Canada
column for Sunday, Oct. 4/15
THE CANADIAN REPORT
(c) By
Jim Fox
Canada’s ruling Conservative government has a “clear lead” in public
support in advance of the federal election on Oct. 19.
Support for Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives jumped to 34
percent in a Forum Research poll.
Should the results hold up, the Conservatives would form a majority
government with 151 seats in the 338-seat House of Commons.
The socialist New Democratic Party (NDP) would form the opposition as
before with 104 seats, the Liberals would have 76 members, Bloc Quebecois six
and the Green Party, one.
The poll put NDP support at 28 percent and the Liberals with 27 percent
while the Bloc and Green are tied at 5 percent, and the remaining 1 percent is for
“other” candidates.
“Canadians know that this election presents a serious choice between
experience and dangerous risk,” said Conservative spokesman Stephen Lecce.
“It’s
a choice between our Conservative low-tax, balanced budget plan and the
Liberals’ dangerous approach that will raise taxes on all workers, cancel
benefits to families and put our country into permanent deficits,” he said.
---
An
accused drunk driver arrested after a Toronto-area crash killed three children
and their grandfather is in jail awaiting a bail hearing on Oct. 19.
Marco
Muzzo, 29, of King Township faces multiple counts including impaired driving
causing death and dangerous driving.
Police
said an SUV crashed into a minivan carrying six members of a family last Sunday
afternoon.
Daniel
Neville-Lake, 9, his brother Harrison, 5, sister Milly, 2, and their grandfather,
Gary Neville, 65, were killed. A grandmother and great-grandmother were
seriously injured.
Muzzo’s family, which owns, Marel Contractors, is listed as one of the richest in Canada
worth about $1.8 billion.
---
News
in brief:
- Eighty-seven
percent of Canadians say they are proud of being citizens of this country, data
from Statistics Canada says. The agency’s social survey named Canadian history,
the health-care system, Armed Forces and the Constitution as greatest
achievements. Leading values were human rights and respect for the law, both at
92 percent.
-
Toronto-based Hudson’s Bay Company is cutting 265 jobs in corporate offices
across North America, two years after it acquired Saks Inc. and earlier buying Lord
and Taylor. The department store chain, founded in 1670 and has 45,000 employees,
also bought German store chain Kaufhof in June for $3.3 billion.
---
Facts and figures:
Canada’s
economy grew 0.3 percent in July, the second consecutive monthly gain as the
country eases away from a “mild” recession in the first half of the year.
The
Canadian dollar is higher at 75.72 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar returns $1.3206
in Canadian funds, before bank exchange fees.
The
Bank of Canada’s key interest rate is steady at 0.5 percent while the prime-lending
rate is 2.7 percent.
Markets
are lower with the Toronto Stock Exchange index at 13,263 points and the TSX
Venture index 523 points.
The
average price of gas is higher at a national average of $1.0593 a liter or $4.02
(Canadian) for a U.S. gallon.
Lotto 6/49: (Sept. 30) 1, 6, 8, 13, 21 and 26; bonus 3. (Sept. 26) 6,
13, 14, 24, 32 and 34; bonus 12. Lotto Max: (Sept. 25) 1, 7, 15, 18, 21, 30 and
45; bonus 22.
---
Regional briefs:
-
Former Quebec Lieutenant-Governor Lise Thibault, 76, was sentenced to 18 months
in prison for fraud and breach of trust. Thibault, who is appealing the
verdict, was also ordered to pay back $300,000 of the $700,000 auditors said
were improper expenses paid when she held the vice-regal post between 1997 and
2007.
-
Two British Columbia federal Liberal candidates have withdrawn over contentious
Facebook posts. Cheryl Thomas of Victoria referred to mosques as “brainwashing
stations,” criticized Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and said “Santa
has to be white.” Also dropping out was Maria Manna of Vancouver Island who questioned
the origins of the 9-11 attacks.
-
Twelve Markham, Ontario co-workers have claimed the record $60-million cash jackpot
from the Lotto Max lottery. A jokester Dennis Cartier, ticket holder for the Canadian
Black Book car evaluation workers, told his colleagues they should quit the lottery
pool as they’d only ever won $90. He then produced the jackpot winner worth $5
million tax-free each.
-30-
Jim
Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com
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