Governing Conservatives present platform days before vote
Canadian PM unfazed by eventual new minority govt.
Toronto exchange again hits the skids
TORONTO: TORIES FINALLY OFFER PLATFORM
The governing Conservative Party has presented its party platform, just six days before the Oct. 14 election, the four other main parties having already done so. The cost of the pledges in the platform would be $8.7 billion over four years. The document promises $200 million for the Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative, a program that encourages strategic research and development to enhance the competitiveness of Canadian aerospace, defence, space and security companies; and a further $200 million for the Automotive Innovation Fund. The Conservatives also pledge the elimination of tariffs on a range of imported equipment, a measure which they say would save manufacturers $345 million a year. The platform promises as well to have the Senate "reformed or abolished." And in a gesture to the arts community, the Conservatives promise to abandon a controversial tax-credit eligibility change that artists claimed would give the government power to determine what films and television shows could be subsidized.
VANCOUVER: DION, LAYTON DERIDE TORY PLATFORM
Both Liberal leader Stéphane Dion and NDP leader Jack Layton dismissed the Conservative platform. Speaking in Vancouver, Mr. Dion said the proposal to help industry is "too little, too late." Mr. Dion has promised if elected to put an economic recovery plan in place within a month and to accelerate infrastructure spending to create jobs. Also in Vancouver, Mr. Layton said that the Conservatives' last-minute platform would offer nothing to Canadian families worried about pensions, savings and jobs. The NDP leader added that the $400 million promised to manufacturers are nothing in comparison with the $50 billion in tax breaks which Mr. Harper's government has offered the country's biggest corporations. Mr. Layton says an NDP government would freeze corporate taxes at 2007 levels and use the extra money to improve services for ordinary families.
TROIS RIVIÈRES: BLOC CHIEF TOO SCORNS TORY PROGRAM
Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe was equally scornful of the Tory platform as in his view an improvised product of political desperation. Mr. Duceppe says the measures announced would do little to help people in the reeling manufacturing and forestry sectors. The Bloc leader announced his own measures to ease the crisis, including refundable tax credits and interest-free loans for manufacturers and lumber firms. Mr. Duceppe also called for the abolition of tax benefits for big oil companies and the restoration of the cultural programs which the Conservatives cut last summer, a suggestion which the Conservatives have apparently already accepted.
TORONTO: PM UNFAZED BY EVENTUALLY SECOND MINORITY GOVT.
Meanwhile, Mr. Harper has told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that if he wins another minority government, it would automatically have a stronger mandate than the first. The prime minister says a new Conservative victory would be a "pretty severe warning" to the opposition parties not to topple the government. Nonetheless, he acknowledges he worries about "renewed gridlock" in Parliament. The government's official justification for the election is the supposed impossibility of working constructively with the opposition parties in the House of Commons. The popularity of the Conservatives with voters has been sinking in recent days. When the campaign began a month ago, Conservative popularity stood at 41 per cent, 40 per cent being considered the minimum percentage for a majority government. However, the latest Canadian Press Decima Harris poll on Tuesday puts the Conservatives at 33 per cent. The governing party had hoped to win enough seats in Quebec to achieve a majority, but the same poll shows the Bloc Québécois leading with 38 per cent, followed by the Liberals at 22 per cent and the Conservatives in third place with 21 per cent.
OTTAWA: COST OF AFGHANISTAN MISSION TO BE REVEALED
The parliamentary budget officer will reveal the cost of Canada's intervention in Afghanistan on Thursday. The officer had wanted to do so last month, but refrained for fear of interfering with the election campaign. He changed his mind after receiving all-party approval. The government has estimated the cost of the six-year mission so far to be slightly less than $8 billion. If the actual figure is in fact much higher, the revelation could cause political trouble for the Conservatives and add more unpleasant food for thought for voters already worried about the global financial meltdown.
ST. JOHN'S: PREMIER CONFIDENT NL CAN RIDE OUT FINANCIAL STORM
Premier Danny Williams says that while the global banking crisis worries him, he thinks the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador is well-positioned to cope with it. Mr. Williams says the province's offshore oil business remains viable despite dropping crude prices and that the Hebron project announced in August would be profitable even if oil dropped to US$50 a barrel, an unlikely eventuality. The province's economy relies heavily on offshore oil. Mr. Williams government has predicted a $544-million surplus for the present fiscal year, most of it due to offshore revenue.
OTTAWA: FRESH WATER CRISIS FORECAST
A report by Environment Canada made public by the Council for Canadians nationalist group indicates that the country is headed for a fresh water crisis. The document obtained through the Access to Information law says the demand for surface water is being subjected to foreign pressures and that the situation of the Great Lakes is worrisome because their water is non-renewable. The Council says it's disappointing to realize that no recommendations have been made concerning fresh water despite concerns about its supplies. The Council has called upon federal political parties to devise a national policy to protect the country's fresh water supplies, to ban bulk water exports and to recognize access to water as a human right.
OTTAWA: CHILD POVERTY FOUND PERSISTENT
A report indicates that not enough is being done to prevent child poverty in Canada. A report by Community Foundations of Canada finds that child poverty is virtually at the same level as it was in 1989. The report says in 2006 there were 1.6 million children or 23 per cent of Canadian children living in poverty. The highest child poverty rates among the 15 communities studied were found in two of Canada's major cities, Toronto and Vancouver. Canada has an population of about 33 million.
OTTAWA: IMMIGRANT REVENUE DOWN
The Community Foundations of Canada reports that revenue of immigrant families dropped by one per cent between 2000 and 2005. The charity notes that the decrease reaches three per cent for families that arrived in Canada less than five years ago. During the same period, revenue for Canadian-born families rose five per cent.
UNITED STATES
The International Monetary Fund has taken a position in favour of a muscular intervention by governments to ease the global banking crisis. The IMF published on Tuesday its quarterly report on world financial stability a few days from its fall general assembly. The IMF raised its assessment of the devaluation of U.S. financial assets to $1.4 trillion up from $945 million. Meanwhile, U.S. President George W. Bush discussed the crisis with French, British and Italian leaders and stressed the need for co-operation. Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will meet with his G-7 counterparts in Washington on Friday. Also in Washington, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a sweeping plan to buy large amounts of short-term debt to ease the credit squeeze.
LUXEMBOURG
The 27 EU nations have taken their first collective step to deal with the financial turmoil by more than doubling the bank deposit guarantees from 20,000 euros to 50,000. The agreement fell short of the 100,000-euro guarantee that had been debated before a meeting of EU finance ministers on Tuesday in Luxembourg, reflecting concerns that Eastern nations would have difficulty ensuring such a high guarantee. The ministers also decided to bail out struggling banks, but reserved the right to dismiss executives who are found to have taken excessive risks or made bad decisions. In another development, the European Central Bank joined with the U.S. Federal Reserve and three other central banks to co-ordinate moves to inject liquidity into the global banking system by the end of the year.
UNITED NATIONS
The Security Council has adopted a second resolution concerning piracy in the waters of the Indian Ocean off Somalia. The unanimously adopted resolution urges states to commit naval vessels and military aircraft "...to take part actively in the fight against piracy..." In June, the Council adopted a resolution empowering nations to send warships into Somalia's territorial waters with that country's government's consent. South Africa's ambassador, however, urged the Council not to lose sight of the big picture. Dumisani Kumalo said the issue in Somalia is its civil war, and said that as long as the conflict continues there will be pirates.
UNITED STATES
A U.S. district court in Washington has ordered the release to the U.S. mainland of 17 ethnic Uighurs who have been detained at Guantanamo, Cuba, for almost seven years. The court has rules that there's no evidence that the men are "enemy combatants" or present a security risk and ordered them released on the grounds that the U.S. Constitution forbids indefinite detention without cause. Government lawyers had argued that federal judges don't have the authority to order Guantanamo detainees released. The Uighurs were living in a camp in Afghanistan when the U.S.-led invasion began in 2001. After they fled to Pakistan, the Pakistanis handed them over to the Americans.
GUATEMALA
The Mexican government has extradited former Guantemalan President Alfonso Portillo and he appeared in court in Guantemala City. The court released Mr. Portillo on $132,450 bail and ordered him not to leave the country. He was president from 2000-2004, when he sought refuge in Mexico. Mr. Portillo is accused of transferring $15.8 million from the defence ministry's budget, which he denies.
GREECE
The merchant marine reports having arrested more than 10,000 illegal immigrants in the first nine months of the year. The service says 173 people-traffickers were arrested and 137 boats seized. Border guards stopped more tha 5,500 illegal migrants in July, August and September alone. Most of the migrants are Asians arriving from Turkey en route to Western Europe. The Greek government has asked the help of the EU in the surveillance of its borders.
TORONTO, NEW YORK, MEXICO CITY: MARKET MAELSTROM UNABATED
North American markets continued in free fall Tuesday, the Toronto exchange losing 401 points, or four per cent, to close at 9,830. In New York, Dow Jones was off 508 points to 9,447, while in Mexico City the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores fell almost four per cent to 29,885. There was more bad news in Canada's industrial heartland of Ontario, as DDM Plastics at Tillsonburg announced more than 400 layoffs. Aron Gampel, the deputy chief economist at the Bank of Nova Scotia, told the Canadian Press that the continued weakness of credit markets suggests that the problem is far deeper than thought, as only a month ago many analysts around the world believed the situation to be a purely American predicament. And Beata Caranci, director of economic forecasting at Toronto Dominion Bank, says hiring in Canada has already slowed. She also said in a report that while it may seem impressive that 87,000 new jobs were created in the first eight months of 2008, if the construction industry is excluded from the calculation the figure is only 500.
OAKVILLE: DOUGHNUT CHAIN EXPANDS IN U.S.
Canadian fastfood chain Tim Horton's has announced further expansion in the northeastern U.S. The company has it has reached agreement with Tops Friendly Markets to set up 20 restaurants with service and 62 self-serve counters in the latter's food supermarkets. Details weren't announced.
MARKETS
TSX on Tuesday: 9,830. down 401. Canadian dollar: US90.31 cents, down 0.67 of a cent. Euro: C$1.5073, up 2.25 cents. Light, sweet crude: US$90.06, up $2.25.
AUTO RACING
The Canadian Grand Prix automobile race will not be held next year. The event in the city of Montreal has been dropped from the 2009 Formula One calendar. Montreal has hosted the Canadian Grand Prix since 1978. The move means there will be no Formula One race in North America next year. The United States Grand Prix was dropped from the F1 schedule last season. The inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix replaces the Canadian race, which has traditionally been held in June. There was no immediate reaction from Canadian organizers. The Canadian Grand Prix and its events brings the city of Montreal an estimated $75 million in revenues.
FOOTBALL
Quarterback Quinton Porter is the Canadian Football League's offensive player of the week. He led Hamilton to a 44-38 upset win over the Montreal Alouettes. Teammate Cameron Siskowic takes the defensive honours.
GOLF
Former Masters champion Mike Weir says that the inclusion of golf as an Olympic sport would help grow the game globally. He says that watching the Beijing Olympics on television this summer made him think about how exciting it would be to be part of the parade of athletes during the Games opening ceremony.
SOCCER
Montreal's Uniprix Stadium has been selected to host
the Americas Zone Group I Fed Cup tournament.
The event, which will be held Feb. 4-7, 2009, features seven
countries that will compete for one berth in the World Group II
qualifying round next April. Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay,
Puerto Rico, Venezuela and the Bahamas will all be taking part.
Weather
British Columbia on Wednesday: rain, high 13 Celsius Vancouver. Yukon: mix of sun, cloud. Northwest Territories, Nunavut: sun. Whitehorse, Yellowknife 4, Iqaluit 2. Alberta: sun south, mix of sun, cloud north. Saskatchewan, Manitoba: sun. Edmonton 8, Regina 10, Winnipeg 12. Ontario, Quebec: rain. Toronto 18, Ottawa, Montreal 17. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia: sun. Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador: rain. Fredericton 15, Halifax 13, Charlottetown 12, St. John's 8.
