Canada column for
Sunday, Sept. 2/18
THE CANADIAN REPORT
(c) By Jim Fox
Ruling that native
groups were not consulted properly, the Federal Court of Appeal has overturned
the Canadian government’s approval of the contentious Trans Mountain pipeline
expansion.
The three-member court’s
unanimous decision was a major victory for environmentalists and Indigenous
groups fighting the project.
They ruled that the
National Energy Board’s review of the proposal was flawed and the government
could not rely on it to approve the expansion.
The 710-mile Kinder
Morgan pipeline carries crude and refined oil to British Columbia ports from
Alberta.
This means halting the
recently started expansion and sending it back to the review phase to examine impacts
of ship tanker traffic and consulting more thoroughly with First Nations.
The decision comes
as pipeline shareholders approved a deal to sell the pipeline and expansion
project to the Canadian government for $4.5 billion, not including construction
costs that could be as high as $9.3 billion.
Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau said the government intends to have the pipeline expansion built
“in the right way” and accepts the court’s criticism of the approval process.
---
Hundreds of
back-to-school shoppers were forced to abruptly leave one of Toronto’s largest
shopping malls when gunshots were heard.
Panic erupted at Yorkdale
Shopping Center Thursday afternoon after two groups of men got into a fight and
several shots were fired, police said.
The mall was
ordered closed for the rest of the day as police searched unsuccessfully for
those involved.
No one appeared to
be injured and the incident was another in a continuing summer of violence in
the city.
---
News in brief:
- Talks to try to
revamp the contentious North American Free Trade Agreement are to resume
Wednesday in Washington after failing to produce a deal. U.S. president Donald
Trump said he wanted Canada to reach an agreement with the U.S. and Mexico by Friday
(Aug. 30). He now notified Congress that his administration intends to sign a
trade agreement in 90 days with Mexico and wants Canada to agree to the terms.
- Economists expect
the Bank of Canada will leave interest rates steady on Tuesday after reports the
Canadian economy grew by 2.9 percent in the second quarter of the year. The
Gross Domestic Project was unchanged in June. Canada’s dollar strengthened at
mid-week by investor optimism of a potential agreement to revamp the trade
agreement with the U.S. and Mexico.
---
Facts and figures:
Canada’s dollar is lower
at 76.66 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar returns $1.304 Canadian (before bank exchange
fees).
The Bank of Canada’s
key interest rate is steady at 1.5 percent while the prime-lending rate is 3.7 percent.
Stock markets are mixed, with the Toronto
exchange index lower at 16,262 points while the TSX Venture index is up at 724
points.
The average price for gas in Canada is slightly
lower at $1.303 a liter or $4.95 (Canadian) for a U.S. gallon.
Lotto 6/49: (Aug. 29) 7, 8,
14, 23, 35 and 40; bonus 39. (Aug. 25) 3, 6, 12, 24, 43 and 49; bonus 46.
Lotto Max: (Aug. 24) 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 20 and 29; bonus 30.
---
Regional briefs:
- A Guatemalan man
was arrested for smuggling foreigners to the U.S. from Canada through an
underground railway tunnel to Detroit. Police said Juan Antonio Garcia-Jimenez,
53, who lives in Windsor, Ontario, was allegedly paid thousands of dollars to
help at least five migrant farm workers use the tunnel under the Detroit River.
This was “one of the most dangerous methods I have seen,” said Chief Patrol
Agent Douglas Harrison.
- A large sinkhole continues
to expand after swallowing trees, picnic tables and part of a parking lot in Oxford,
Nova Scotia. Amy Tizzard, a geologist with the Nova Scotia Department of Energy
and Mines, said the “still-unpredictable” sinkhole’s growth has slowed. The muddy
hole had undercut the pavement at a Lions Club parking lot and playground equipment
was removed when cracks threatened to also take it down.
-30-
Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com
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