Canada
column for Sunday, Aug. 26/12
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THE CANADIAN REPORT
(c) By
Jim Fox
There’s too much “dead money” in Canada that should be working to
improve the economy, the head of the country’s central bank says.
Company
owners are sitting on piles of cash that could be spent on expanding businesses
or at least be given back to shareholders, said Bank of Canada governor Mark
Carney.
Speaking at a Canadian Auto Workers meeting, Carney said the level of
caution by business owners “could be viewed as excessive.”
A
study said Canadian businesses have set aside $526 billion in unused cash
assets.
Business
investment and consumer spending provide the “chief support” for the continuing
economic recovery, he said.
Ongoing international concerns have led to a
“less robust” business investment than what was previously expected, causing
some of the caution.
Auto workers’ president Ken Lewenza called for some of that unused money
to be reinvested into technology, the workplace, productivity and training.
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Canada’s newest national park is in a vast tract of mountainous
Northwest Territories terrain near Norman Wells.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the decision to set aside the 1,660
square miles strikes a balance between protecting the environment and expanding
Canada’s economy.
Described
as a pristine area of lakes and rainbow-hued mountains, the country’s 44th
national park is surrounded by land rich in minerals that are prime for
development.
To
be known as the Naats'ihch'oh National Park Reserve, it is on aboriginal land
inhabited by the Sahtu Dene and Metis of the Tulita District.
Its boundaries protect 70 percent of the upper portion of the South
Nahanni River and reaches Yukon's border adjacent to the Nahanni National Park
Reserve.
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News
in brief:
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Polls indicate the Liberals are poised to be returned to office in Quebec’s
provincial election on Sept. 4. A Forum Research poll gives Premier Jean Charest’s Liberals
35 percent support compared with 29 percent for the Parti Quebecois and 24
percent for the Coalition Avenir Quebec. The sudden
turnaround in support for the Liberals followed a televised leaders’ debate last
weekend.
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Events were held across Canada on Wednesday to remember former New Democratic
Party leader Jack Layton who died a year ago. His death at age 61 from cancer
came only three months after the socialist party made an electoral breakthrough
by becoming Canada’s official Opposition party. The charismatic Layton “would’ve
loved this,” his widow Olivia Chow, a Member of Parliament, told crowds at the
largest event held outside Toronto’s city hall.
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Facts and figures:
The Canadian dollar continues above party with the U.S. currency at $1.0082
in U.S. funds. The U.S. dollar returns 99.18 cents Canadian.
The Bank of Canada’s key interest rate is unchanged at 1 percent while
the prime-lending rate is 3 percent.
Stock
markets are higher, with the Toronto exchange index at 12,112 points and the
TSX Venture index 1,247 points.
Lotto
6-49: (Aug. 22) 9, 13, 19, 32, 41 and 49; bonus 17. (Aug. 18) 7, 14, 15, 23, 35
and 37; bonus 36. Lotto Max: (Aug. 17) 18, 19, 22, 27, 29, 36 and 47; bonus 25.
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Regional briefs:
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An influential newspaper executive is proposing that a $13-billion refinery be
built in British Columbia instead of shipping unprocessed Alberta oil sands
crude to Asia. David Black, who heads the Black Press Group, said this would
create Canadian jobs and be safer to ship as finished products such as
gasoline, kerosene and diesel. The current proposal is to build the Northern
Gateway pipeline to move the crude to a port in Kitimat for shipping overseas.
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Ontario’s Liberal government will hold a special session early this week to
consider a bill to force new contracts with no pay raises for two years for the
province’s school teachers. Conservative Leader Tim Hudak said his party will vote
in favor of the controversial legislation that also bans lockouts and strikes in
a bid to attack a $15-billion government spending deficit.
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Consumers can expect to benefit from even lower prices for lobster. As the fall
lobster fishing season is getting underway in Atlantic Canada, Prince Edward
Island fishermen say they are getting far less than they did last spring and
half what was paid 10 years ago. Buyers are paying just $2.50 a pound for “canners”
and $2.75 a pound for market-sized lobsters.
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Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com
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