Canada column for Sunday, Oct. 3/21
THE CANADIAN REPORT
By Jim Fox
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will name his new cabinet later this month after his Liberals were returned with a minority government.
In keeping with election promises, Trudeau, 49, said Parliament will return to business “before the end of fall” and implement a federal vaccine mandate as soon as possible.
With his government given a new mandate in the snap election, Trudeau said “Canadians made it very clear the kinds of things they want us to work on.”
Exact dates are still to be worked out, “but we are busy getting into the business of delivering on an ambitious agenda that Canadians laid out,” he said.
A highlight of his first week was the freeing from a Chinese prison of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, move assisted by President Joe Biden.
They were released after being detained on espionage charges since Dec. 10, 2018.
It happened once Canada dropped an extradition case of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.
She was being held in house arrest in Vancouver for the U.S. Department of Justice on fraud and conspiracy charges over sanctions against Iran.
Some of Trudeau’s priorities are climate measures, $10-a-day child care and affordable housing.
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Canadians marked their first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to remember the Indigenous children who disappeared years ago from “residential schools.”
It became a new federal holiday where Canadians were to reflect on the abuses, even deaths, of Native children at the many of the Catholic church-run institutions.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission estimates that 6,000 to 15,000 children died while attending the schools with hundreds of unmarked graves found this year.
The intent of the schools was to strip Indigenous people of their culture and language to be replaced with a Christian faith and English language.
Some 150,000 First Nations, Metis and Inuit children were forced to attend the schools from the 1870s and 1996 when the remaining ones were closed.
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News in brief:
Alberta has had its second-highest daily tally of COVID-19 deaths with 34 fatalities as doctors issued another desperate plea for a province-wide lockdown.
Intensive-care doctors with the Alberta Medical Association are urging the government to begin a “firebreak” lockdown of public places.
“We understand that implementing province-wide public health restrictions should be a last resort measure, used only in the direst of times,” said Dr. Paul Parks.
“As we face the largest wave of COVID-19 infections ever seen in our province during this pandemic, we cannot overstate how dire the times have become,” he said.
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Facts and figures:
Canada’s dollar is steady at 78 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar returns $1.28 in Canadian funds, before exchange fees.
The Bank of Canada’s key interest rate is unchanged at 0.25 percent while the prime lending rate is 2.45 percent.
Canadian stock markets are lower, with the Toronto index at 20,104 points and the TSX Venture index 860 points.
The average price for gas in Canada is steady at $1.37 a liter (Canadian) or $5.20for a U.S. gallon.
Lotto Max: (Sept. 28) 2, 5, 8, 18, 23, 31 and 35; bonus 43. (Sept. 24) 5, 13, 28, 35, 41, 49 and 50; bonus 34.
Lotto 6/49: (Sept. 29) 3, 5, 38, 39, 41 and 48; bonus 28. (Sept. 25) 3, 8, 10, 35, 46 and 48; bonus 17.
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Regional briefs:
- Thirty-nine miners trapped underground at Vale’s Totten Mine in Sudbury, Ontario were rescued unharmed after three days. They slowly made their way to the surface assisted by rescue teams and built-in safety measures. They were trapped after the collapse of an internal elevator and used ladders and ropes to escape from almost one-mile deep. The mine produces copper, nickel and precious metals and employs about 200 people.
- Travel within the “Atlantic Canada bubble” is continuing to open up. In Nova Scotia as of Monday, anyone who travels from another Canadian province or territory needs to complete the Safe Check-in Form and may need to self-isolate for seven days when they arrive in or return. People who are fully vaccinated or have isolated already in Prince Edward Island or Newfoundland and Labrador can enter Nova Scotia without self-isolating again or if they are exempt.
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Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com
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