Canada column for
Sunday, April 15/18
THE CANADIAN REPORT
(c) By Jim Fox
Canadian drivers
could be paying record-high gas prices – even hitting $2 a liter out west – this
summer as a dispute over a crude oil pipeline project heats up.
Also at play, says Dan
McTeague, an analyst at Gas Buddy, are rising global oil prices and a lower-valued
Canadian dollar.
“The world is
getting its oil fundamentals back in balance and supply and demand are looking
a lot closer,” McTeague said.
With gas prices topping
an average of $1.30 a liter, or $4.94 (Canadian) for a U.S. gallon, it’s almost
18 cents a liter higher than a year ago.
A major concern is
the Alberta’s government threat to reduce the flow of crude oil to neighboring
British Columbia in a feud over the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
Environmental
protesters have been hampering progress on the pipeline work to west coast
ports even though it has been approved by the federal government.
The British
Columbia government is also opposing the project, leading owner Kinder Morgan
to suspend work until the end of May and to threaten to cancel the project.
There continues to
be an outpouring of grief and sympathy for the small city of Humboldt,
Saskatchewan after the horrific hockey team bus crash.
The death toll has
risen to 16 including players aged 15 to 20, coaches, the play-by-play
announcer, bus driver and most-recently Dayna Brons, 24, team
trainer, with the Humboldt Broncos along with 14 seriously injured.
Police have not
identified the uninjured 30-year-old driver of a semi-truck that slammed into
the bus at a highway intersection near Tisdale on April 6.
Cause of the crash
in which the truck approached a stop sign has not been released yet as the
police investigation continues.
Adesh Deol Trucking
owner Sukhmander Singh said his driver was recently hired and is receiving
counselling.
---
News in brief:
- The federal
government is reviewing concerns by a group of franchisees of Canada’s iconic
Tim Hortons’ coffee shops about the conditions placed on a deal that sold the
chain to Restaurant Brands International, owned by Brazilian investors. At
issue are maintaining franchisee relationships, the rent and royalty structure
for five years and existing employment levels.
- Tougher controls
on home mortgage requirements and taxes for foreigner speculators to cool last
year’s market have driven sales and prices lower. There was a 23-percent drop
in the number of Canadian homes sold last month and a 10-per-cent price decline
from a year ago, the Canadian Real Estate Association said.
---
Facts and figures:
Canada’s dollar is higher at 79.34 cents U.S.
while the U.S. greenback returns $1.26 in Canadian funds before exchange fees.
The Bank of Canada’s key interest rate is unchanged
at 1.25 percent while the prime-lending rate is 3.45 percent.
Stock markets are up, with the Toronto exchange
index at 15,273 points while the TSX Venture index 795 points.
The average price for gas in Canada is up to $1.309
a liter or $4.97 (Canadian) for a U.S. gallon.
Lotto 6/49: (April 11) 3, 7, 10, 32, 41 and 43; bonus 33.
(April 7) 18, 22, 36, 40, 47 and 49; bonus 32. Lotto Max: (April 6) 7, 18,
29, 30, 41, 45 and 46; bonus 40.
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Regional briefs:
- Paul Bernardo,
one of Canada’s most infamous killers convicted in the deaths of three Ontario
teenaged girls, was arrested from within prison on a weapon’s offense. Police
said it involved the discovery of a “homemade shank (makeshift knife) composed
of a screw and a pen for a handle” at the maximum-security Millhaven
Institution. In 1995, Bernardo was sentenced to life in prison without the
possibility of parole for 25 years.
- Scientists are
investigating the discovery of abnormally warm water off the southern coast of
Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean. Dave Hebert, research scientist with the
federal Fisheries Department, said deep water temperatures reached 14 degrees
Celsius (57F) in the northeast channel in the Gulf of Maine between Georges
Bank and the Scotian Shelf. That is 6C warmer than average but it’s “too early”
to say whether climate change is the cause, he added.
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Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com
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