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Sunday, April 15, 2018

Record high gas prices could follow pipeline fallout, dollar dip in Canada


   Canada column for Sunday, April 15/18

   THE CANADIAN REPORT
   (c) By Jim Fox

   Canadian drivers could be paying record-high gas prices – even hitting $2 a liter out west – this summer as a dispute over a crude oil pipeline project heats up.
   Also at play, says Dan McTeague, an analyst at Gas Buddy, are rising global oil prices and a lower-valued Canadian dollar.
   “The world is getting its oil fundamentals back in balance and supply and demand are looking a lot closer,” McTeague said.
   With gas prices topping an average of $1.30 a liter, or $4.94 (Canadian) for a U.S. gallon, it’s almost 18 cents a liter higher than a year ago.
   A major concern is the Alberta’s government threat to reduce the flow of crude oil to neighboring British Columbia in a feud over the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
   Environmental protesters have been hampering progress on the pipeline work to west coast ports even though it has been approved by the federal government.
   The British Columbia government is also opposing the project, leading owner Kinder Morgan to suspend work until the end of May and to threaten to cancel the project.

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   There continues to be an outpouring of grief and sympathy for the small city of Humboldt, Saskatchewan after the horrific hockey team bus crash.
   The death toll has risen to 16 including players aged 15 to 20, coaches, the play-by-play announcer, bus driver and most-recently Dayna Brons, 24, team trainer, with the Humboldt Broncos along with 14 seriously injured.
   Police have not identified the uninjured 30-year-old driver of a semi-truck that slammed into the bus at a highway intersection near Tisdale on April 6.
   Cause of the crash in which the truck approached a stop sign has not been released yet as the police investigation continues.
   Adesh Deol Trucking owner Sukhmander Singh said his driver was recently hired and is receiving counselling.

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   News in brief:
   - The federal government is reviewing concerns by a group of franchisees of Canada’s iconic Tim Hortons’ coffee shops about the conditions placed on a deal that sold the chain to Restaurant Brands International, owned by Brazilian investors. At issue are maintaining franchisee relationships, the rent and royalty structure for five years and existing employment levels.
   - Tougher controls on home mortgage requirements and taxes for foreigner speculators to cool last year’s market have driven sales and prices lower. There was a 23-percent drop in the number of Canadian homes sold last month and a 10-per-cent price decline from a year ago, the Canadian Real Estate Association said.

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   Facts and figures:
   Canada’s dollar is higher at 79.34 cents U.S. while the U.S. greenback returns $1.26 in Canadian funds before exchange fees.
   The Bank of Canada’s key interest rate is unchanged at 1.25 percent while the prime-lending rate is 3.45 percent.
   Stock markets are up, with the Toronto exchange index at 15,273 points while the TSX Venture index 795 points.
   The average price for gas in Canada is up to $1.309 a liter or $4.97 (Canadian) for a U.S. gallon.
   Lotto 6/49: (April 11) 3, 7, 10, 32, 41 and 43; bonus 33. (April 7) 18, 22, 36, 40, 47 and 49; bonus 32. Lotto Max: (April 6) 7, 18, 29, 30, 41, 45 and 46; bonus 40.

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   Regional briefs:
   - Paul Bernardo, one of Canada’s most infamous killers convicted in the deaths of three Ontario teenaged girls, was arrested from within prison on a weapon’s offense. Police said it involved the discovery of a “homemade shank (makeshift knife) composed of a screw and a pen for a handle” at the maximum-security Millhaven Institution. In 1995, Bernardo was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years.
   - Scientists are investigating the discovery of abnormally warm water off the southern coast of Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean. Dave Hebert, research scientist with the federal Fisheries Department, said deep water temperatures reached 14 degrees Celsius (57F) in the northeast channel in the Gulf of Maine between Georges Bank and the Scotian Shelf. That is 6C warmer than average but it’s “too early” to say whether climate change is the cause, he added.

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Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com

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