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Government surplus may lead to rebates

Canadians can expect to receive a form of profit sharing from the federal government each time there's a larger-than-expected budget surplus.

As well, lower-income Canadians will receive payments of up to $250 by January to help with soaring bills for home heating.

The new plan to handle surpluses, which have occurred since 1997-98, is to give taxpayers a cut.

In 2002-03, when the surplus ballooned to $9.1-billion, the dividend would have averaged about $135 for each taxpayer.

As it prepares for an election within six months, the Liberal government said it would use the remaining equal amounts of the surplus for debt reduction and program spending.

The new energy rebate plan also includes subsidies to make low-income housing more energy efficient.

An Office of Petroleum Price Information is to be established to offer advice on energy issues, but it wouldn't have a mandate to curb prices.

Medical authorities believe the mysterious respiratory disease that has killed 17 residents of a Toronto seniors' home is Legionnaires' disease, a form of pneumonia.

"We'll continue to look for other possibilities, but we feel pretty confident we're dealing with Legionnaires' disease," said Dr. Donald Low of the Ontario Public Health Laboratory.

Those who died were residents of Seven Oaks Home for the Aged. In all, 70 residents, 13 employees and five visitors became ill and 41 remain in the hospital.

The air-conditioning system is being investigated as the possible source at the city-run home.

Authorities rushed to assure Toronto residents there is no public health risk as the rising death toll attracted international media attention.

Two years ago a SARS outbreak killed 44 people and cost the city's economy more than $1-billion in lost spending and tourism.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest has joined U.S. politicians urging the government to abandon its plan to require passports to cross the Canada-U.S border. "It would be a further impediment to travel and trade," Charest said. By 2008, travelers crossing land borders will have to show a passport, when just a driver's license and birth certificate is acceptable now.

A settlement has been reached to end the lockout of 5,000 Canadian Broadcasting Corp. workers. They have been out since Aug. 15 in a bitter dispute over the hiring of contract workers. The CBC will cap contract workers at 9.5 percent of the full-time workforce, increase pay by 12.6 percent over four years and give a $1,000 signing bonus.

Deputy Conservative Leader Peter MacKay has decided against going home to seek the leadership of the Nova Scotia Conservatives after the retirement of John Hamm. MacKay, 40, will continue with the federal party as it is "on a road back to government," he said.

The Canadian dollar rose Friday to 85.23 cents U.S. with news of a drop in the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent, the lowest in 30 years. The U.S. dollar returns $1.1732 Canadian, before bank exchange fees.

The key interest rate of the Bank of Canada is steady at 2.75 percent while the prime lending rate is 4.5 percent.

A resurgence of energy issues ended three days of big losses on the Toronto Stock Exchange where the composite index ended the week at 10,611 points. The Canadian Venture Exchange was lower at 2,097 points.

Lotto 6-49: (Wednesday) 1, 12, 15, 16, 21, 35; bonus 40. (Oct. 1) 9, 14, 19, 23, 43, 45; bonus 20.

Southern Ontario had a return to summer weather at midweek with temperatures in the 80s. It was the opposite in northwestern Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan where a blizzard dumped several inches of snow with daytime temperatures around freezing. A "Colorado low" drew cold into the prairies a few months earlier than usual, meteorologists said.

An environmental commission says an Alberta train derailment that poisoned Wabamun Lake exposed flaws in the emergency response system. After reviewing the CN Rail incident, it found officials need better training, broader definitions of harmful substances and a list of Alberta's high-risk areas.

Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com