Canada column for Sunday, June 26/16
THE CANADIAN REPORT
By Jim Fox
The economic toll from
the massive wildfire that devastated Fort McMurray, Alberta could cost the oil sands
industry more than $1.4 billion.
While the losses continue to add up, local councilors
have unpopularly voted themselves big pay increases to cover their increased
workload due to last month’s fire.
The Athabasca oil
sands’ community’s 80,000 residents were forced to leave and 2,400 houses and
businesses were destroyed.
The oil industry
estimated a loss of 30 million barrels and it is taking longer than expected to
restart operations because of damage and clogged pipelines.
Suncor Energy could
end up losing $1 billion over lost production, an Edmonton refinery outage that
led to gasoline shortages in Western Canada and restarting costs, analysts
said.
Paul Cheng of Barclays
said about half of the 1 million barrels a day of interrupted production has
been restored.
Councilors from the
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes Fort McMurray, voted 7-4
to pay Mayor Melissa Blake and three of its members $150,000 a year to work
full time on a recovery committee.
The seven other
part-time councilors’ pay will increase to $75,000 a year from $36,000.
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Senator Mike Duffy
is being asked by the Senate to repay $16,955 in disputed expense claims after he
was acquitted on 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery.
Duffy, who was
reinstated as a senator after being ousted for two years, is disputing the claim
that could go to arbitration.
The expenses range
from $8 for personal photos to $10,000 for a personal trainer and Duffy has
been asked to “establish the eligibility” of them.
Duffy was “fully
exonerated” of the expenses in question in his trial, lawyer Donald Bayne said.
---
News in brief:
- Dellen Millard,
30, and Mark Smich, 28, were sentenced to life imprisonment for killing a young
father while stealing his pickup truck. The sentence provides no parole for at
least 25 years for the death of Tim Bosma, 32, of Ancaster, Ontario who had
taking them on a test drive. The men are also charged with killing Laura
Babcock, 23, Millard’s girlfriend, while Millard is also accused of killing his
father, Wayne Millard.
- NewLeaf Travel of
Winnipeg plans to operate 60 flights a week across Canada beginning July 25.
The discounter faced a license review because it doesn’t have airplanes but resells
seats from Kelowna-based Flair Airlines. It’s “no frills” flights start at $79
one-way, including taxes and fees. It is considering adding destinations such
as Florida, California, Texas and Colorado this winter.
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Facts and figures:
The Canadian dollar
is lower at 77.13 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar returns $1.296 in Canadian
funds, before exchange fees.
The Bank of Canada’s
key interest rate remains at 0.5 percent while the prime-lending rate is 2.7
percent.
Markets are mixed, with
the Toronto Stock Exchange index up at 13,946 points and the TSX Venture index down
at 712 points.
The average price for
gas has dropped to $1.07 a liter or $4.06 (Canadian) for a U.S. gallon.
Lotto 6/49: (June
22) 5, 15, 17, 18, 37 and 42; bonus 44. (June 18) 7, 8, 22, 32, 40 and 45; bonus
25. Lotto Max: (June 17) 1, 16, 20, 29, 33, 44 and 46; bonus 15.
---
Regional briefs:
- A working group
will study concerns over heated housing markets in Vancouver and Toronto where
single-family detached houses sell at up to $1.5 million. Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau said overseas money is playing a role and a measure being considered is
to tax houses owned by foreigner investors.
- Bombardier Inc. of
Montreal has reached an agreement with the Quebec government for a $1-billion
US investment in the CSeries passenger jet program. The deal gives the
government 49.5 percent of a new limited partnership. Bombardier is also
seeking $1 billion from the Canadian government.
- The Roman
Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal will forbid priests from being alone with
children and other “vulnerable people” in a pilot project starting in September.
Canon Francois Sarrazin said the policy will also apply to all diocese
employees and volunteers. The church in Quebec has been rocked by child-abuse
scandals.
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Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com
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