Canada
column for Sunday, Jan. 26/14
THE CANADIAN REPORT
(c) By
Jim Fox
Canada’s slumping dollar – dipping to a six-year low of 89.5 U.S. cents
– is making it more expensive to travel to warm-weather destinations.
Several
travel tour operators are immediately implementing a “currency surcharge” on
vacation packages.
Air
Canada Vacations and Transat A.T. will add a $35 fee Monday to offset the
decline of the dollar to destinations including Florida, California, the
Caribbean and Mexico.
Sunwing’s
similar surcharge takes effect Thursday on flights and package vacations.
The intent of the surcharge is to recover some of the added costs for
fuel and hotels charged in U.S. dollars.
Transat chief executive Jean-Marc Eustache said he didn’t expect the small
amount would deter travel to sunny destinations.
Sunwing passengers who booked before the surcharge begins are not
affected while WestJet Vacations said it wasn’t planning to add a surcharge at
all.
Finance
Minister Jim Flaherty said it’s not all bad news as a weaker currency spurs
economic growth by boosting exports to help eliminate the government’s spending
deficit.
---
Toronto
Mayor Rob Ford is back in the news in a negative way after a video emerged of
him in a rambling, profane rant in a restaurant last Monday night.
Ford, who admitted he had been drinking “on his own time,” was shown
criticizing Police Chief Bill Blair in a largely incoherent rant using Jamaican
swear words.
The mayor said in November he had quit drinking after admitting to
smoking crack cocaine in one of his “drunken stupors.”
After the revelations and refusing to resign, city council stripped Ford
of most of his powers and staff.
---
News in brief:
-
The death toll of five is expected to climb as 30 people are missing after
Residence du Havre, a seniors’ home in the eastern Quebec town of L'Isle-Verte,
burned to the ground. Investigators said the home only had a partial sprinkler
system. The building was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived early
Friday and they were hampered by severe cold weather and ice.
-
On his first visit to Jordan, Prime Minister Stephen Harper committed another
$100 million to help the country deal with an influx of Syrian refugees. Canada
earlier committed $110 million and $47.7 million for security-related
assistance. While in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Harper
for cutting diplomatic ties with Iran.
-
First it was home telephones to go in favor of cellphones, now a survey says
one Canadian in seven plans to drop cable or satellite TV service in the next
year. The Media Technology Monitor survey found they will opt for free
over-the-air signals, web-based feeds or cheaper alternatives such at Netflix.
---
Facts and figures:
News
of the low Canadian inflation rate in December of 1.2 percent helped support
the dollar as it rose to 90.29 cents U.S. on Friday. The U.S. dollar returned $1.1075
in Canadian funds, before bank exchange fees.
Even with the recent fall of the dollar, the currency remains strong,
the Bank of Canada said as it kept its key interest rate at 1 percent. The
prime-lending rate remains at 3 percent.
Stock
markets were lower on Friday, with the Toronto exchange index at 13,730 points and
the TSX Venture index 966 points.
Lotto 6-49: (Jan. 22) 4, 16, 18, 25, 36 and 40; bonus 11. (Jan. 18) 2, 15,
33, 36, 42 and 49; bonus 13. Lotto Max: (Jan. 17) 4, 9, 18, 32, 35, 38 and 40;
bonus 12.
---
Regional briefs:
-
Kathy Dunderdale, who was widely criticized about her leadership, is resigning as
premier of Newfoundland and Labrador as well as leader of the Conservative
party. Two members of her caucus defected to the Opposition Liberals and she
was especially criticized over rolling power outages that left 190,000
customers without electricity earlier this month. Finance Minister Tom Marshall
has been named interim premier.
- Brutally
cold weather has returned to eastern Canada with wind chill warnings and record-breaking
temperatures, all blamed on a “polar vortex.” Temperatures of below 0F at night
and in the single digits by day were widespread in Ontario and Quebec with
blowing snow. A storm dumped up to 20 inches of snow across the Maritimes while
out west, Vancouver and Calgary were 48F on Friday and Winnipeg was 30F.
-30-
Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com
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