Canada column for Sunday, July 26/20
THE CANADIAN REPORT
(c) By Jim Fox
Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau are being called on to resign
over alleged conflicts of interest.
The Conservatives
and Bloc Quebecois also threaten to seek a vote of non-confidence in the
minority Liberal government and force a fall election.
An ethics
investigation is underway for the two politicians not recusing themselves in awarding
WE Charity a $912-million contract.
The money, now
withdrawn, would have had WE supervise a program to pay students up to $5,000
for volunteer service.
Since they have
family ties to the organization, Trudeau and Morneau have apologized for not
declaring possible conflicts.
WE would have
earned $43 million for running the program to create 20,000 volunteer
placements.
Trudeau’s wife, brother
and mother were paid about $300,000 to take part in earlier WE programs and one
of Morneau’s daughters works for the charity.
Morneau said he just
repaid WE $41,000 for trips his family took to Kenya and Ecuador in 2017 to see
its humanitarian work.
---
The Canadian government
has ordered 75-million syringes, alcohol swabs and bandages for when a COVID-19
vaccine is ready.
Government minister
Anita Anand said this would stockpile enough vaccine supplies to give at
least two doses to every Canadian.
There are about 24 vaccines
in clinical trials and 140 more in early stages of development.
Researchers predict
it will next year before the first vaccines will be ready for widespread use.
Medicago, a Quebec
biopharmaceutical company, began Canada’s first human vaccine trials and
expects to have initial results by early fall.
There are 113,208
confirmed COVID-19 cases with 98,870 resolved and 8,881 deaths in Canada.
---
News in brief:
- Two young girls
whose bodies were found in a wooded area southwest of Quebec City were murdered
by their father, who then took his own life, police say. An intense search led
to the body of Martin Carpentier after daughters Norah, 11, and Romy, 6, were found.
- A global drop in
air travel has led to 500 jobs being eliminated by the Greater Toronto Airports
Authority. The cuts at Pearson International Airport will be through the
elimination of unfilled positions, voluntary departures and layoffs. The
authority has also cut capital spending by $265 million.
- Second Cup coffee
chain has opened its first cannabis dispensary in midtown Toronto. Six more
locations are planned across Ontario this year. Second Cup is restructuring and
some of its shops will become weed locations known as Hemisphere Cannabis Co.
---
Facts and figures:
The Canadian dollar
is higher at 74.54 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar returns $1.315 Canadian before
exchange fees.
The Bank of Canada’s
key interest rate remains unchanged at 0.25 percent while the prime lending
rate is 2.45 percent.
Canadian stock
markets are mixed with the Toronto index lower at 15,997 points and the TSX Venture
index up to 691 points.
The average price
for gas in Canada is lower at $1.046 a liter (Canadian) or $3.97 for a U.S. gallon.
Lotto Max: (July 21) 7, 22, 26, 35, 46, 47 and
49; bonus 19. (July 17) 5, 11, 15, 18, 20, 24 and 46; bonus 37.
Lotto 6/49: (July
22) 5, 14, 19, 42, 46 and 47; bonus 8. (July 18) 5, 23, 37, 40, 44 and 45;
bonus 47.
---
Regional briefs:
- Nova Scotia police
are searching for Tobias Doucette accused of attempting to murder a police
officer by stabbing him and injuring a police dog. The Cape Breton man was last
seen in Bridgewater after police responded to a domestic violence call at a
hotel. Sergeant Matthew Bennett and the dog are recovering after surgery. Also
in Nova Scotia, a public review has been announced into the April mass shooting
that left 22 people and gunman Gabriel Wortman dead.
- Provinces in
Atlantic Canada remain cautious about letting anyone “from away” enter during
the pandemic. Premiers still haven’t opened the region to travel from other
provinces or beyond. Premier Dwight Ball said Newfoundland and Labrador
remain closed to anyone outside Atlantic Canada even though there are just two recent
positive cases.
-30-
Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com
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