Canada column for
Sunday, Jan. 13/19
THE CANADIAN REPORT
(c) By Jim Fox
Three people were
killed and 23 injured when an Ottawa transit bus slammed into the side of a
station shelter during Friday evening’s rush hour.
Investigators are
trying to determine why the double-decker bus hit the Westboro Station but a
witness said it had slipped on a patch of ice.
Police said
initially the female driver of the bus was arrested for questioning but
wouldn’t elaborate.
The driver lost
control of the OC Transpo bus and it hurtled over a curb and
into the shelter, ripping apart about seven rows of upper-level seats.
It
was the second deadly incident for Canada’s capital city transit system.
In
2013, a bus collided with a VIA Rail passenger train, killing six people
including the bus driver.
Voters will elect three
Members of Parliament on Feb. 25 to fill vacancies in the House of Commons
before the federal election on Oct. 21.
Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau authorized the by-elections in York-Simcoe, Ontario; Outremont Quebec;
and Burnaby South, British Columbia.
Burnaby is where
socialist New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh is seeking to win a
seat in the Commons to succeed Kennedy Stewart, now Vancouver’s mayor.
There is also a
vacancy after Sheila Malcolmson of the NDP resigned in Nanaimo-Ladysmith, British
Columbia and another is expected as Liberal Nicola Di Iorio plans to resign
in Saint-Leonard/Saint-Michel, Quebec on Jan. 22.
---
News in brief:
- The driver of a
transport truck involved in a deadly crash last April involving the Humboldt
Broncos Junior Hockey Team in Saskatchewan has pleaded guilty to all charges. A
sentencing hearing will begin on Jan. 28 for Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, 29, of
Calgary in the deaths of 16 on the bus and 13 who were hurt. A truck loaded
with peat moss slammed into the bus at a rural intersection.
- Two Canadian men
were treated for injuries at a Cuban hospital after a bus crash that killed
seven people and seriously injured five. The driver lost control on a winding
wet road in eastern Cuba. It was carrying 22 tourists and 18 Cubans and was the
fourth serious bus crash in a month in Cuba.
---
Facts and figures:
The Canadian dollar
is higher at 75.37 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar returns $1.326 Canadian before
bank exchange fees.
The Bank of Canada’s
key interest rate remains at 1.75 percent while the prime-lending rate is unchanged
at 3.95 percent.
Stock markets are higher, with the Toronto
exchange index at 14,939 points while the TSX Venture index is 601 points.
The average price for gas in Canada is steady $1.02
a liter or $3.87 (Canadian) for a U.S. gallon.
Lotto 6/49: (Jan. 9) 1, 10, 27, 38, 44 and 47; bonus 41.
(Jan. 5) 4, 10, 38, 40, 45 and 48; bonus 43. Lotto Max: (Jan. 4) 7, 22,
25, 26, 35, 41 and 45; bonus 3.
---
Regional briefs:
- General Motors
plans to keep Oshawa, Ontario its Canadian headquarters after ending production
later this year with the loss of 3,000 manufacturing jobs. “We are not actually
leaving Oshawa – we will still be Oshawa’s largest employer,” GM Canada
vice-president David Paterson told the Toronto Sun. There will still be about
2,000 workers due to innovation and new approaches, and about 1,000 salaried
employees, he said.
- Nine auto parts
workers in Guelph, Ontario plan to leave their jobs after sharing a tax-free
Lotto Max prize of $60 million. The co-workers at Linamar Corp. had only been
buying tickets together for several months. Meanwhile, someone who bought a
jackpot-winning lottery ticket a year ago in Victoria is out of luck. The
$1-million winning 6-49 ticket was not claimed within the one-year deadline ending
Jan. 3.
-30-
Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com
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