Canada column for
Sunday, Oct. 7/17
THE CANADIAN REPORT
(c) By Jim Fox
The decision by TransCanada
to cancel its proposed $15.7-billion Energy East pipeline has been greeted with
cheers and disappointment.
Environmentalists
were thrilled while opposition politicians blamed the Liberal government for
the demise of the plan to build the 2,800-mile pipeline.
It would have
carried 1.1-billion barrels of crude oil daily from the Alberta oilsands in the
west to refineries in the east in Quebec and New Brunswick.
Also canceled was
the Eastern Mainline project of 230 miles of natural gas pipeline in Ontario.
TransCanada president
Russ Girling announced the decision that followed the National Energy Board’s
revision of its policy to now also review indirect greenhouse gas emissions.
Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau called the move a “business decision” because of dropping oil
prices.
It is a “grave
disappointment” as the project would have created thousands of jobs, said
Perrin Beatty, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
He said court
challenges with the Trans Mountain expansion in British Columbia and that
province’s now-abandoned NorthWest natural gas project can be blamed on
Canada’s “convoluted” regulatory framework.
---
A Somali man,
arrested for stabbing a police officer in Edmonton and ramming a moving van
into pedestrians on Sept. 30 and injuring four people, came to Canada as a
refugee after being ordered deported from the U.S.
As well, Hasan
Sharif Abdulahi, 30, had been questioned by the Mounties in 2105 for his extremist
views and released.
He was arrested on
five counts of attempted murder and on terrorism charges, police said.
Prime Minister Trudeau
said the government will review what happened and whether changes are required
in the refugee process.
---
News in brief:
- Montreal-based
Bombardier Inc. executives are calling additional U.S. duties an “egregious
overreach and misapplication” of trade laws. The U.S. Commerce Department
levied 79.82-percent in duties on its CSeries commercial jet in its trade
fight with Boeing. That’s in addition to the U.S. government putting on countervailing
tariffs of nearly 220 percent on Bombardier. It contends the company is being
unfairly subsidized by the Canadian government.
- Canada’s economy
registered its 10th month of net job gains with a jump in the number of
full-time work last month. Statistics Canada said September’s unemployment rate
was steady 6.2 percent, a nine-year low, with 10,000 net new jobs, including
112,000 for full-time work. Wages were up 2.2 percent.
---
Facts and figures:
Canada’s dollar is
lower at 79.83 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar returns $1.252 in Canadian funds
before exchange fees.
The Bank of Canada’s key interest rate is
steady at 1 percent while the prime-lending rate is 3.2 percent.
Stock markets are higher, with the Toronto
exchange index at 15,728 points while the TSX Venture index is 788 points.
The average price for gas in Canada is lower at
$1.09 a liter or $4.14 (Canadian) for a U.S. gallon.
Lotto 6/49: (Oct. 4) 4, 6, 10, 11, 20 and 35; bonus 43.
(Sept. 30) 6, 27, 33, 38, 40 and 47; bonus 16. Lotto Max (Sept. 29) 1, 6, 14, 23,
38, 40 and 47; bonus 25.
---
Regional briefs:
- U.S. Education
Secretary Betsy DeVos is planning a trip to Ontario to learn more about
Canada’s publicly funded education system. While DeVos’ advocacy for school
choice isn’t favored by Ontario, Premier Kathleen Wynne said “we'd want to
celebrate the success of our system” and welcomes her visit to be arranged.
- A brief stop to
buy chicken feed at McLeod Trading Post in Peers, Alberta resulted in Brett
McCoy and Robin Walker winning one of the largest lottery jackpots in Canada.
They were the sole winners of a tax-free cash prize of $60 million in the Sept.
22 Lotto Max draw on an $11 Quick Pick ticket. They said they would sit tight
with the money for now as they decide “the best things to do with it” for them
and their four kids aged 4 to 16, Walker said.
-30-
Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com
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