Canada report

By JIM FOX
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 21, 2002

Senate: Government can't afford health care

A Senate report says if Canadians want good health care they will have to pay more or accept a two-tier system.

In either case, the federal government will have to put up new money to keep the system going, the report added.

This contradicts claims by the Liberal government that it provides ample money to maintain universal access to care and the need is for better use of existing resources.

"Canada's publicly funded health care system is not fiscally sustainable given current funding levels," the interim report said.

It suggested three options: rationing of health services, increased government funding through taxes or health premiums and a two-tier system where people can pay for service.

News in brief

Halifax will host the upcoming G-8 finance ministers meeting, Finance Minister Paul Martin said Friday. The June 14-15 meeting of the finance ministers of the several largest industrial nations will focus on fighting international terrorism and finding ways to reduce debt in the developing world, he said.

Thirty Canadian Rangers are sitting on top of the world. The rangers, who act as the Canadian military's eyes and ears in the Far North, reached the edge of the magnetic North Pole for the first time. They traveled 500 miles on snowmobiles pulling sleds carrying tents and supplies to get as close as possible to the pole.

In a sales slump, Toronto-based Nortel Networks is cutting 3,000 more jobs after plunging revenues dragged the company to a first-quarter net loss of $841-million U.S.

Facts and figures

The Bank of Canada moved to control a heated economy by raising its key interest rate for the first time in two years.

The 0.25-percent increase puts the trend-setting rate at 2.25 percent while banks raised their prime lending rates to 4 percent.

The Canadian dollar benefited, rising to U.S. 63.53 cents on Friday, while the U.S. dollar returned $1.5740 Canadian, before bank exchange fees.

Stock markets advanced, with the Toronto exchange index at 7,849 points and the Canadian Venture Exchange 1,161 points.

Lotto 6/46: (Wednesday) 19, 35, 36, 39, 44 and 48; bonus 11. (April 13) 15, 27, 35, 38, 44 and 46; bonus 23.

Regional briefs

Christopher Rocancourt, a con man known as the "counterfeit Rockefeller" admitted in a Vancouver court that he bilked the rich of millions of dollars. Wanted across the United States, he pleaded guilty to fraud and will be held until sentencing June 14. His wife, former Playboy Playmate Maria Pia Reyes, also will appear on that day on a fraud count.

Alberta school teachers will again coach sports teams and perform other extracurricular activities in a breakthrough agreement with the provincial government. The deal will have the government make a $54-million payment to the teachers' pension fund and work to improve classroom conditions. In exchange, the teachers will drop court action to challenge a bill that strips them of a right to strike and imposed arbitrated salary settlements.

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