Canada column for
Sunday, Feb. 9/20
THE CANADIAN REPORT
(c) By Jim Fox
The first planeload
of Canadians arrived home after an emergency flight out of China, the epicenter
of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
A Canadian
government flight carrying 176 people from Wuhan touched down in Vancouver and
then flew to Canadian Forces Base Trenton in Ontario. Another flight is being
planned.
The passengers are
undergoing two weeks of quarantine and monitoring to see if they’ve contracted
the virus before being released, said Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe
Champagne.
A second group of
39 Canadians also made it home to Trenton through the gracious offer to fill
space on a flight chartered by the U.S. government.
Health authorities have
five confirmed cases of coronavirus in Canada and ordered the quarantine to
ensure the virus doesn’t spread further.
The Canadian
government is also monitoring 285 Canadians quarantined on cruise ships off the
coasts of Japan and Hong Kong.
There are seven
Canadians with confirmed cases of the virus aboard the Diamond Princess docked
in Yokohama and are being treated in hospitals in Japan.
---
Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau travelled to Africa to seek support for a seat for Canada on the
United Nations Security Council.
He attended a
session of the African Union in Ethiopia to meet with the country’s leaders
whose votes are critical to Canada’s success.
Part of his game
plan was to take along three cabinet ministers and Toronto Raptors basketball
president Masai Ujiri.
Raised in Nigeria,
Ujiri played professional basketball in Europe before becoming a player scout
and executive in the NBA.
---
News in brief:
- Via Rail has
suspended passenger train service since Friday between Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal
as Native protesters have a blockade near Belleville, Ontario. They are supporting
the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in northern British Columbia who oppose the
Coastal GasLink pipeline. They have used a snow plow and truck to block the
tracks while police are “monitoring” the situation.
- Canada’s economy grew
slightly by 0.1 percent in November, affected by higher utility costs, Statistics
Canada said. Unseasonably cold weather in central Canada pushed utilities up by
2.1 percent. The Bank of Canada has suggested a possible key interest rate cut
if there’s an economic slowdown.
---
Facts and figures:
The Canadian dollar
is lower at 75.14 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar returns $1.33 Canadian before
exchange fees.
The Bank of Canada’s
key interest rate is steady at 1.75 percent and the prime-lending rate is 3.95 percent.
Stock markets are mixed
with the Toronto Exchange index up at 17,655 points while the TSX Venture index
is lower at 574 points.
The average price
for gas in Canada is steady at $1.10 a liter or $4.18 for a U.S. gallon.
Lotto Max: (Feb. 4)
3,
12, 18, 25, 43, 46 and 50; bonus 33. (Jan. 31) 2, 27, 30, 39, 44, 45 and 49;
bonus 17.
Lotto 6/49: (Feb.
5) 1, 3, 6, 24, 29, 45 and 48. (Feb. 1) 13, 21, 35, 40, 45 and 48; bonus 47.
---
Regional briefs:
- The Canadian
government has ordered lower speed limits for trains carrying dangerous goods in
the area of a second fiery derailment in rural Saskatchewan. A Canadian Pacific
Railway freight train carrying crude oil jumped the tracks near Guernsey with
12 of 104 cars catching on fire. It’s the second oil-car derailment in the area
since December. No one was injured.
- Atlantic Canada
is getting another blast of winter weather with snow, ice pellets, freezing
rain and rain. The storm is affecting Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward
Island and parts of Newfoundland. The heaviest snow was up to 16 inches in the
area from McAdam to Summerside. Newfoundland is still digging out from a
massive storm that dumped three feet of snow last month.
-30-
Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com
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