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Snowbirds can return sans passport

By JIM FOX
Published January 21, 2007

Canadian snowbirds spending the winter away from home are getting a reprieve from the new U.S. passport law.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says winter visitors will be exempt for now from the new security law effective Tuesday that requires a passport for anyone flying to and from the United States.

"We will allow them to depart the United States without having a passport for some significant period of time - we don't want to strand them here," he said.

Canadian officials had concerns about the fate of the annual sun-seekers who might be flying home without passports.

The United States is continuing to work on implementing passport requirements at land border crossings and seaports early next year "in the same spirit of efficiency and speed," Chertoff said.

At present, Canadians entering the United States by land and sea can continue to use documents such as birth certificates and driver's licenses.

The shadow team

New Liberal Leader Stephane Dion is getting his team in fighting form for a possible Canadian election as early as the spring.

Dion has named a parliamentary team that has the "enormous responsibility of offering Canadians a constructive, effective opposition and to pave the way for an election that could come up at any time."

Former leadership rival Michael Ignatieff was named deputy leader while 53 members of Parliament make up the so-called shadow Cabinet.

Other rivals who received positions: Bob Rae is in charge of developing an election platform; Scott Brison is the industry critic; Joe Volpe is transport critic; Ken Dryden will chair the new social justice committee.

Dion said it is hard to imagine his 101 Liberals supporting initiatives by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's "far right" minority government.

News in brief

- Canadian consumers are being advised to check credit card statements after a major security breach at Winners and HomeSense stores in Canada. U.S. parent company TJX Cos. said computer hackers broke into a system that lists credit and debit card transactions along with checks and merchandise returns.

- Jennifer Stoddart, Canada's privacy commissioner, is investigating how a computer file containing the personal information of up to 470,000 Talvest Mutual Funds customers was lost in transit. Fund manager CIBC Asset Management reported the security breach last month.

- The Mounties are taking "very seriously" a threatening letter claiming to be from a new cell of the FLQ, a former Quebec terrorist group. It said "strategic targets of importance" have been selected in the mainly English-speaking area of Montreal from Feb. 15 to March 15. It mentions highways, shopping malls, bridges, rail lines, airport facilities, water supplies, municipal buildings and service stations.

Facts and figures

The value of the Canadian dollar is lower at 85.21 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar advanced to $1.1735 in Canadian funds before bank exchange fees.

The Bank of Canada has decided not to change its key interest rate of 4.25 percent while the prime lending rate stays at 6 percent.

Stock markets are higher, with the Toronto exchange index at 12,720 points and the Canadian Venture Exchange 2,829 points.

Lotto 6-49: Wednesday 5, 7, 9, 30, 39 and 40; bonus 25. (Jan. 13) 1, 2, 3, 19, 25 and 41; bonus 31.

Regional briefs

- The bodies of two skiers from Kamloops, British Columbia, were found in a collapsed snow cave near the Wapta Icefields near Lake Louise, Alberta. Rescuers found a shovel sticking out of one of the glaciers and an avalanche dog led them to the man and woman, whose names weren't released by police.

- Retired Alberta Premier Ralph Klein has taken a job with the Calgary office of Borden Ladner Gervais, Canada's third-largest national law firm. His duties will include assisting foreigners wanting to invest in Alberta and Canada.

- The Court of Appeal has granted the Manitoba government the right to appeal a lower court ruling that its antismoking law is discriminatory because it doesn't apply to native reserves. It's expected the case will eventually be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada as it would set a precedent nationally.

- Atlantic Canada politicians warn of cuts in services and tax increases if the federal government reduces equalization payments. Preliminary figures show cuts or no increases in the payments designed to eliminate fiscal imbalances between wealthy and poorer provinces in providing similar standards of services.

Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com

[Last modified January 21, 2007, 01:11:40]