Canadian opposition party gets new leadership candidate
Canadian buck takes vertiginous drop
TORONTO: OTTAWA TO ACQUIRE MORE MORTGAGES
Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the government will buy $50 billion more worth of residential mortgages to alleviate the credit crisis that banks are enduring. The move increases by three times the numbers of ensured mortgages that the government can acquire by the end of the fiscal year. The decision is intended to free up cash that under banking rules can be made available to borrowers. In related new, the Bank of Canada has announced it will inject an extra $8 billion into the country's money markets.
OTTAWA: NDP WANTS HELP FOR CONSUMERS
New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton met with Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday and told him that consumers need help to cope with the global economic crisis, not just banks and other big businesses. Mr. Layton also urged the federal government to spend billions of dollars on infrastructure projects and incentives for environmental home renovations. The first ministers agreed on Monday on the need to hasten infrastructure projects. The NDP leader also called on Mr. Harper to scrap corporate tax cuts, which he refused to do during the recent election campaign. The prime minister met as well with Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe, who said he would await the government's fall economic statement before deciding whether to accept the government economic moves.
OTTAWA: LIBERAL TO ANNOUNCE LEADERSHIP BID
Federal Liberal Party Member of Parliament Michael Ignatieff was set to announce his candidacy for its leadership in the capital on Thursday. The former Harvard University academic is considered the frontrunner. The current leader, Stéphane Dion, announced his resignation after the Liberals's stunning defeat in the Oct. 14 national election. Former Ontario Premier and current MP Bob Rae has declared his candidacy. Only two other candidates are still weighing a run at the leadership, Martin Cauchon, a former cabinet minister from Quebec, and New Brunswick MP Dominic LeBlanc. At the leadership race in 2006, there were 11 candidates. The resulting splintering of the ballots allowed Mr. Dion to achieve a come-from-behind victory over Mr. Ignatieff and Mr. Rae.
KANDAHAR: REBELS SAID ACTING IN 'DESPERATION'
Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, the commander of Canada's land force in Afghanistan, says that two brutal attacks in Kandahar on Wednesday prove the Taliban have reverted to terrorizing the population, having failed to defeat coalition forces militarily. He was reacting to a suicide bombing outside a provincial council meeting that killed six people and injured 42. In a second attack, two men on a motorcycle attacked eight schoolgirls by throwing acid on them. Three were hospitalized with serious burns. During the rule of the Taliban, girls were banned from schools and were forbidden to leave the house without a male escort. The Taliban assumed responsibility for the suicide bombing but not the acid attack.
OTTAWA: MOUNTIES PURSUE AIR INDIA CASE IN INDIA
Members of Canada's national police force are in India to question two Sikh separatists who have been sentenced to death. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers believe the men had ties to the people thought to be involved in the 1985 Air India bombing that claimed the lives of 329 people. The plane, after leaving Canada, exploded in mid-air off the coast of Ireland. Most of the victims were Canadians of East Indian origin.
OTTAWA: GOVT. DEFENDS JAILED BURMESE ACTIVISTS
Canada has expressed concern over the imprisonment of 14 activists in Burma. Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon says the sentences of 65 years each given to the men are too severe and demands that the prisoners belonging to the group known as 88 Generation Students be released immediately. The group was a major force during the 1988 pro-democracy uprising and its members were subjected to lengthy prison terms and torture after the rebellion was brutally suppressed by the military. Canada and other countries have since imposed sanctions on Burma for its poor human rights record.
OTTAWA: KIDNAPPED REPORTER DESCRIBES RELEASE DEAL
A Canadian journalist who kidnapped, held for 28 days and freed in Afghanistan on Saturday says she was exchanged for jailed relatives of her abductors. Melissa Fung, a journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., says her kidnappers were clearly members of a criminal gang rather than the Taliban. Miss Fung says the Afghan government had agreed to release jailed family members of the gang's ringleader in return for her freedom. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Tuesday that no "political prisoners" had been exchanged for Miss Fung, nor had ransom been paid.
OTTAWA: NATIVES HOST TB CONFERENCE
Native leaders and health experts from 60 countries are meeting to devise a plan to reduce rising tuberculosis rates among the world's poor. TB has made a comeback in many regions of the world, including Canadian native communities. Officials blame overcrowded housing and lack of health care for 1,600 new Canadian cases yearly. The Ontario vice-chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Angus Toulouse, notes that between 2002 and 2006 TB rates for natives were 29 times higher than for non-natives. Delegates to the conference are seeking ways to cut by half TB incidence among aboriginal people by 2015. The conference is hosted by the Assembly and by the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami group.
MONCTON: CHALLENGES FOR IMMIGRANTS TO EASTERN CANADA DEBATED
The challenges faced by immigrants to Canada will be on the table for discussion during a series of workshops being held during the Atlantic Dialogue event in Moncton Wednesday and Thursday. Atlantic Dialogue is a two-day conference aimed at employers and organizations to establish partnerships to help immigrants find work in jobs and professions that match their education, skills and experience. Catherine Rouanes, executive-director of the Greater Moncton Immigration Board, says one of the major hurdles facing immigrants is having their professional credentials recognized by employers in Canada. She says there have been many examples of professionals who speak good English unable to get jobs because their experience and/or education are not recognized by employers here.
EDMONTON: PROVINCE EASES CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR NEWCOMERS
The province has unveiled a new plan to improve recognition of foreign-earned qualifications, training and experience in order to help immigrants put their skills to work in Alberta. The province has released A Foreign Qualifications Recognition Plan for Alberta. Developed through stakeholder consultation and involving several government ministries, the plan incorporates and recognizes the critical role of employers, educational institutions, professional regulatory organizations and immigrant-serving agencies in the labour market integration of immigrants.
Foreign qualification recognition is the process of verifying that the education, skills and job experience obtained in another country meet the standards established for Canadian workers. The 10 actions in the plan focus on three areas: specialized information, assessment standards and resources, and bridging the gap. Alberta has more than 50 professional regulatory organizations, more than 25 educational institutions, a number of industry councils or non-government organizations, and numerous employers involved in foreign qualification recognition work.
UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the latest offer by the Sudanese government of a ceasefire in the western region of Darfur, as well as the intention stated by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to disarm all the region's militias. However, the secretary general added that a ceasefire's effectiveness depends on the parties' commitment to it, noting as well that past ceasefires have been unsuccessful. One of the Darfurian insurgent groups, the Justice and Equality Movement, denounced the proffered ceasefire as a "PR exercise" and vowed to continue fighting until a genuine ceasefire is achieved.
EGYPT
U.S.-based Human Right Watch has called upon Egypt to stop shooting African migrants who try to cross the Sinai Desert to reach Israel. A report by the rights lobby on the issue says that the Egyptian security forces have shot or beaten to death at least 33 mostly African migrants headed for Israel since July 2007. Human Rights Watch says Israel has repelled dozens of migrant Africans back into Egypt without allowing them to make refugee claims and their fate in Egypt is unknown. Egypt had long tolerated thousands of migrants passing through its territory but began cracking down on them in 2007 under pressure from Israel. The rights lobby says 13,000 migrants have crossed through Egypt into Israel since 2006.
SYRIA
A security conference on Iraq will go ahead as planned in Damascus on Nov. 22. An unnamed diplomat told the Reuters news agency that there has been doubt that the conference could be held because of the U.S. military raid against Syria on Oct. 29 near its border with Iraq. Syria said the raiders killed eight non-combatants but the U.S. claimed to have killed a smuggler of foreign fighters into Iraq. Countries invited to the security conference include the U.S., France, Iran, Iraq and its other neighbours.
ZIMBABWE
The ruling ZANU-PF part of President Robert Mugabe has asked him to form a new government, an indication that the party's power-sharing accord with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change is falling apart. The accord brokered by South Africa was announced on Sept. 15. But the agreement has not been implemented because of the contention by the MDC of Morgan Tsvangirai that ZANU-PF is trying to monopolize the most important ministries. The MDC says it will decide whether to continue negotiations after a leadership meeting on Friday.
TORONTO: LOONIE SUFFERS WORST DIP
The Canadian dollar suffered its worst one-day drop in trading against its U.S. counterpart, losing 2.77 cents to close at US.80.81. Analysts say the drop is due to falling prices for such commodities as oil, metals and minerals, as well as by global economic uncertainty. One expert cited by the Canadian Press said that investors were made nervous by the announcement by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that a $700-billion federal rescue plan for banks won't be used to purchase toxic mortgages from banks as originally planned.
OTTAWA: GOVT. TOLD TO BE BANK OF LAST RESORT
The Conference Board of Canada has joined industry groups in recommending that the federal government become a major lender to help Canadian business ride out the deepening economic slump. The Board's report on the subject says the government ought to become more "directly involved" in extending credit to business through loan guarantees and by injecting "significant equity capital" into public lending institutions. These include the Business Development Bank of Canada, Export Development Canada and Farm Credit Canada, which the report says can fill gaps in commercial money markets. Several hours after the Board made public its report, Industry Minister Tony Clement announced he had increased the Business Development Bank's borrowing authority by $2 billion to $11.5 billion. The CEO of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters lobby, Jayson Myers, says the auto and forestry industries are feeling the credit crunch most acutely at present, but warns that many other sectors could soon need to obtain loans. Automakers have asked for loans totalling more than $1 billion to survive until sales recover in the U.S.
TORONTO: CANWEST MAKES MAJOR LAYOFFS
CanWest Global Communications says it will cut 560 jobs, or five per cent of the media giant's workforce to achieve savings of $61 million a year. CanWest explains the layoffs as due to lower advertising revenues because of the slumping economy as well as to competitive pressures on its conventional broadcasting operations. CEO Leonard Asper also blames the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for its decision several weeks ago to reject demands by conventional broadcasters including CanWest's CTV to oblige cable television firms to pay to transmit the broadcasters' signals.
VANCOUVER: TECK STOCK CONTINUES TO DESCEND
Shares of mineral firm Teck Cominco lost almost one-quarter of their value on Wednesday, closing at $6.63, after having declined by 19 per cent on Tuesday. Teck stock has been losing ground for more than a week because of investor fear that it will be unable to repay the $9.8 billion of debt which it incurred to acquire Fording Canadian Coal Trust for $US$14 billion, a transaction completed in October. Fording is the country's biggest producer of the coal used to make steel. On Tuesday, Teck said it would start paying down the debt by cutting costs and capital spending, by selling assets and by using internal cash. Teck is a world leader in the production of zinc and metallurgical coal, producing copper, gold and speciality metals as well. The company has been adversely affected by the slumping demand for zinc and copper due to the worldwide economic slowdown.
MARKETS
TSX on Wednesday: 8,906, down 518. The Canadian dollar plunged 2.77 cents to close at US80.81 cents. The euro was worth C$1.5444, up 2.01 cents. Light, sweet crude: US$56.16, down $3.17.
FOOTBALL
Quarterback Ricky Ray, who guided the Edmonton Eskimos to a
historic playoff win Saturday over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, was
named the Canadian Football League's offensive player of the week.
Ray was 27-of-37 passing for 303 yards in Edmonton's 29-21 win
over Winnipeg in the East Division semifinal.
Cornerback Ryan Phillips of the B.C. Lions captured defensive
player honours. Phillips had three tackles, two interceptions, returning one 54 yards for a touchdown, in the Lions' 33-12 West Division semifinal win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Kick-returner Jason Armstead of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers
received the special-teams player nod. Armstead returned nine punts. After an 8-and-10 season and an early playoff exit, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are making a coaching change. The Bombers have fired head coach Doug Berry, who led Winnipeg to the playoffs in each of his three years there.
Weather
British Columbia on Thursday: mostly sunny, high 11 Celsius Vancouver. Yukon: sun. Nunavut, Northwest Territories: snow. Alberta: sun. Saskatchewan, Manitoba: rain. Edmonton 2, Regina 6, Winnipeg 3. Ontario, Quebec: rain. Toronto 11, Ottawa 3, Montreal 6. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia: sun. Charlottetown: rain. Newfoundland and Labrador: mix of sun, cloud. Fredericton, Charlottetown 5, Halifax 6, St. John's 1.
