Opposition has another go at fallen minister
Canadian economy shrank
Ottawa's cellphone auction a success
OTTAWA: OPPOSITION KEEPS POUNDING OVER FM'S RESIGNATION
The opposition in the House of Commons continued for the fourth straight day to raise questions about the resignation on Monday of former Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier. Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced it, citing the former minister's having left classified documents at the residence of his former lady friend, a security breach. The Liberals criticized the Conservative government's decision to confide an investigation of the matter to foreign affairs officials. Liberal Member of Parliament Bob Rae said that the same officials may themselves be implicated in the affair, which is why a independent inquiry is required. Conservative House leader Peter Van Loan replied that the department can draw on "other resources of government" if necessary. The Liberals and Bloc Québécois also raised again the question of whether Mr. Bernier's companion, Julie Couillard, was issued a government spousal passport. Without saying "no," Mr. Van Loan answered that only spouses or common-law partners were eligible to receive such passports. Miss Couillard's relationship with the former attracted considerable comment at the beginning of the month when it emerged that she had had intimate relationships with three different men connected to the Hells Angels criminal biker gang.
TORONTO: ECONOMY SHRANK
Statistics Canada reports that the country's economy declined by .1 per cent in the first quarter in the first such quarterly shrinkage in almost five years. StatsCan attributes the decline chiefly to widespread cutbacks in the manufacturing sector, especially with motor vehicles. The agency also reports, however, that gross domestic product would have grown by .1 per cent in the quarter but for the vehicle industry and its downstream repercussions.
MONTREAL: FINANCE MINISTERS NONETHELESS UPBEAT
Despite the apparently dispiriting news from StatsCan, the country's finance ministers expressed optimism at the conclusion of their annual two-day meeting that the country won't fall into recession . Federal Minister Jim Flaherty says the economy's fundamentals are strong and predicts that the automobile and forestry sectors, the main sources of the quarterly decline, will recover. But Ontario's finance minister, Dwight Duncan, while acknowledging the economy's basic strengths, said the recovery would be hastened if the federal government joined in targeting those two sectors for immediate financial aid.
TORONTO: FARM MINISTERS DISCUSS WTO
While the finance ministers were meeting in Montreal, their agriculture colleagues were convened in Toronto. Federal Minister Gerry Ritz said that one of their concerns involved the Canada's negotiations with the World Trade Organization. Canada places quotas on imports of dairy products, poultry and eggs, and is worried that WTO proposals would either force Canada to increase the quotas or to reduce the penalties for exceeding them.
PRINCE ALBERT: WESTERN PREMIERS AGREE, DISAGREE ON ENVIRONMENT
The four western and three territorial premiers held their annual meeting on Friday and the environment was a main concern. The agreed that Alberta and Saskatchewan will lead a national "carbon capture" initiative by which harmful greenhouse gases would be buried instead of escaping into the atmosphere. B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell noted that his government is already involved in a project with a private partner to study the feasibility of carbon capture. There was disagreement over the imposition of a "carbon tax" on industrial polluters and on a cap-and-trade system. The former would allow government to impose pollution ceilings on polluters and the latter would allow companies that keep below their cap to receive payments from firms that can't or won't. Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik said his territory could never afford to pay a carbon tax.
OTTAWA: OPPOSITION AGAIN DEMANDS REPATRIATION OF GUANTANAMO CANADIAN
The official opposition Liberal Party has again demanded that the Conservative Party government request that the U.S. hand over the only Westerner still held prisoner at Guantanamo, Cuba, as a terrorism suspect. The Liberals were reacting to the replacement on Thursday of the military judge presiding over the special tribunal set up to judge 21-year-old Omar Khadr. Col. Peter Brownback had resisted setting a trial date and had ordered prosecutors to supply a classified prison log to the defence, which contends that Khadr has been coerced into making confessions. The Liberals said in the House of Commons on Friday that the judge's replacement is proof that the legal process at Guantanamo is rigged. But Deepak Obhrai, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs, replied that the government has asked for and received assurance that the Canadian is being treated fairly and won't intervene while the legal process and appeals continue.
TORONTO: STUDENT TERROR SUSPECT WINS UNIVERSITY PRIZE
A 26-year-old student seeking to earn a master's degree in business at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, ON, has been awarded a $5,000 prize by the school for entrepreneurship. Suresh Sriskandarajah is only one of 13 business students to win a prize funded by CIBC. Two years ago, he was arrested in Canada at the request of the U.S. government on the grounds that he's an accomplice of the Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers group, which is listed in Canada and the U.S. as a terrorist group. The U.S. FBI accuses him of trying to obtain thousands of dollars to acquire sensitive British software used to design submarines and warships and also of trying to obtain night-vision goggles from a firm in B.C. The student has pursued his studies while out on bail pending his extradition hearing.
ST. CATHERINES: TEMPORARY MEXICAN APPEALS TO STAY
A Mexican seasonal worker suffering from failing kidneys is asking to be allowed to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. Thirty-six-year-old Hermelindo Gutierrez has worked through the federal seasonal agricultural program in the last several years on a farm for eight months a year, returning to Mexico the other four months. In March 2005, he was diagnosed with kidney failure and requires dialysis three times a week. Mr. Gutierrez was refused refugee status in December, a decision under appeal. He isn't covered by health insurance in Mexico and says he couldn't afford dialysis there. His lawyer says he'll try to prove that his client would undergo a specific undue hardship if returned to Mexico, namely death. Mr. Gutierrez' wife also has made a refugee request, the decision being pending.
IRELAND
One-hundred-and-eleven nations, including Canada, have formally agreed on the text of a treaty to ban cluster bombs after two weeks of negotiation in Dublin. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged states quickly to sign and to ratify the draft treaty. The agreement was reached after Britain promised to stop using the weapon. Opponents of its use argue that the bomblets released from a bomb exploded in the air often lie on the ground unexploded for months or years, threatening civilians long after a conflict has ended. The UN says the weapon has caused more than 13,000 injuries or deaths around the world, many in Vietnam, Laos and Afghanistan. The U.S., China, Russia and Israel reject the treaty. The tentative accord contains a clause which allows troops of a signatory state to co-operate with a non-signer like the U.S. A member of the Canadian delegation described the clause as a legal protection "...to accommodate situations in combined operations that may be beyond our control."
ZIMBABWE
The country's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, has declared itself the de fact governing party and has called a session of "Parliament." Party leader Morgan Tsangvirei addressed the "Parliament" meeting at Harare International Conference Centre that the country will experience "a new and different era of governance." The MDC won 110 of the legislature's 210 seats in the March elections. Mr. Tsangvirei won a plurality of votes for the presidency over President Robert Mugabe and a runoff vote will be held on June 27. The opposition accuses the president's supporters of engaging in a massive campaign of voter intimidation.
UN
The World Health Organization has called for a total ban on all advertising for tobacco products. The UN body issued its call on world tobaccoless day. The WHO says it wants to protect the health of 1.8 billion young people who are targeted by smoking ads. The organizations says that recent research shows that the more young people are exposed to such incentives, the more likely they are to end up smoking. The WHO published a report last February that indicates that 100 million people in the course of the 20th century died from having smoked.
BOLIVIA
Two more eastern Bolivian provinces will hold referendums on political autonomy on Sunday. The votes in Beni and Pando departments follow a referendum in Santa Cruz on May 4 the residents of which overwhelmingly voted for autonomy. A fourth referendum on the same issue will be held in late June in Tarija. The referendums reflect the power struggle between the conservative eastern regions and western Bolivia, where aboriginals predominate. Bolivia's first native president, Evo Morales, was elected in January 2006. Conservatives in the east, which contains most of the country's natural resources, oppose his plan to rewrite the constitution to give more political power to the country's poor, Indian majority.
SPAIN
Protests against rising fuel prices spread from France across southern Europe Friday. In Spain, almost the entire fishing fleet, the largest in Europe, remained in port in protest. In Italy, thousands more fisherman went on strike, shutting the industry down on both its main coasts. Portugal's fishing fleet also remained in port. Javier Garat, the secretary general of the Spanish fishermen's federation predicts the entire European fishing fleet will remain on strike for the next two to three weeks. Fishermen in Scotland and Belgium did not go on strike, although they have had talks with their respective governments over rising costs.
MONTREAL: CELLPHONE AUCTION RAISES BILLION
The Canadian government's wireless spectrum auction has received $1.2 billion in bids from the three established cellphone firms as well as newcomers to the market. The government is auctioning off 105 megahertz of radio spectrum to be used to cellphone service. Forty megahertz are reserved for firms not yet on the market. Telus Corp., one of the three established competitors, bid $183.5 million for 68 licences, while Quebecor Inc., a new player, bid $274.9 million for 24 spectrum licences. The auction is intended to introduce more competition into the cellphone business.
TORONTO: BANK PROFITS TANK
Canada's biggest banks have had their earnings almost halved in the second quarter to $2.47 billion, compared with last year's second-quarter results. The cause is the credit crunch that start in the U.S. last summer and battered the American housing sector. The crisis has affected consumer spending, corporate lending and mortgages in Canada. On Thursday, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reported a $1.1-billion quarterly loss. The banking results published Friday show that the Bank of Nova Scotia has outstripped the Royal Bank as the country's most profitable.
MONTREAL: CLIMATE CHANGE EXCHANGE LAUNCHED
The Montreal Climate Exchange was officially launched on Friday. Quebec Premier Jean Charest and federal Environment Minister John Baird were on hand for the inauguration. The exchange will allow industries that do not yet have the technology to begin cutting emissions to buy carbon credits so they can meet government-mandated targets. Companies that can meet emissions targets will get credits, which they will be able to trade at market value on this new exchange. The Montreal Climate Exchange is a joint venture with the Chicago Climate exchange and the Montreal Exchange, which is being merged with the TSX.
MONTREAL: QUEBEC PENSION BOSS QUITS
Henri-Paul Rousseau, the president and CEO of Canada's biggest pension fund, la Caisse de dépot et placement du Québec, has announced his resignation. Mr. Rousseau will become vice-chairman of Power Corp. of Canada starting next January. Mr. Rousseau has guided the fortunes of la Caisse since September 2002 and since then has doubted its assets, which are now worth $155 billion. His departure comes as credit markets show signs of recovery from the crisis caused by last summer's collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market. The crisis has caused a freeze of $32 billion of non-banking commercial paper in Canada, much of it held by la Caisse.
MARKETS
TSX on Friday: 12,638, down 8 points. Canadian dollar: US$100.70 cents, down 0.40 of a cent. Euro: C$1.5449, up 1.14 cents. Light, sweet crude: US$127.35, up $0.73.
HOCKEY
The Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins have another day to get ready for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final. Pittsburgh needs a win at home Saturday night to even the best-of-seven series at two games apiece. The Penguins have won 17 games in a row at the Mellon Arena.
OLYMPICS
Vancouver's Olympic organizers say the rights of
women ski jumpers aren't being violated by a decision not to include
them in the 2010 Winter Games.
The organization filed a statement of defence Friday against a lawsuit launched by nine jumpers earlier this month.
The suit said leaving their sport out of the Games violated the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms' guarantee of equality.
Men's ski jumping is included at the Games.
Weather
British Columbia on Saturday: sun south, rain north, high 20 Celsius Vancouver. Yukon, Northwest Territories: sun. Nunavut: cloud. Whitehorse 16, Yellowknife 12, Iqaluit 5. Alberta: sun. Saskatchewan: sun south, rain north. Manitoba: cloud. Edmonton 21, Regina 24, Winnipeg 19. Ontario, Quebec: rain. Toronto 22, Ottawa 17, Montreal 21. Maritimes: rain. Newfoundland and Labrador: sun. Fredericton 14, Halifax, Charlottetown 17, St. John's 16.
