Canada report

By JIM FOX

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 22, 2001

Castro just wouldn't budge

Cuba again remains shut out of this weekend's Summit of the Americas in Quebec City although Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien tried to intervene.

Chretien tried to persuade Cuban leader Fidel Castro to sign an international rights treaty so he would be invited to the hemispheric talks.

"I spent hours trying to get him to sign this covenant of the United Nations, and he would not budge," Chretien said as he prepared to host 33 world leaders.

Canada's normally warm relations with Cuba have cooled somewhat after Chretien visited Castro to ask that he sign the U.N. Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and to release jailed political dissidents.

Castro refused both requests.

Chretien, meanwhile, can enjoy this third term of office without having to undergo a leadership review for two years.

His Liberal party executive decided Chretien has until February 2003 for a review and decision between retiring or fighting to keep his job.

Supporters of leader-in-waiting Finance Minister Paul Martin were hoping the convention would be held earlier to pressure Chretien, 67, to announce his retirement after almost 40 years in federal politics.

In brief

The Ontario government, concerned over mounting health costs, will review the Canadian law guaranteeing that all Canadians receive the same standard of health care regardless of income. The comment by Premier Mike Harris could signal a move toward an expansion of private medical services. The government also announced a further 10 percent cut in personal income taxes.

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled the Red Cross was negligent in managing the blood system in the early years of the AIDS crisis. The Red Cross must pay more than $2.5-million Canadian in damages, plus interest, for HIV infections in three patients, two of whom died, after they were given tainted blood between 1983 and 1985.

Toronto public elementary and high schools will be closed Monday if there is no end to the 3-week-old strike by support staff. Toronto District School Board trustees said the strike has left the 600 schools so filthy that they will have to be closed. The 13,000 caretakers, secretaries, education assistants and lunchroom supervisors want an 8 percent increase over two years.

Facts and figures

Canada's dollar shot up after U.S. and Canadian key interest rates dropped. The dollar rose to 64.76 cents U.S. Friday while the U.S dollar was worth $1.5441 Canadian before bank exchange fees.

The Bank of Canada's key interest rate dropped one-quarter percent to 5 percent while the prime lending rate was lowered to 6.5 percent.

The annual inflation rate slid to 2.5 percent in March from 2.9 percent in February despite higher food and natural gas prices, Statistics Canada reported. Stock markets were lower over gloomy news from Nortel Networks with a first-quarter loss of $2.58-billion U.S. and plans for 5,000 more job cuts.

The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 Index was still up from last week at 8,049 points while the Canadian Venture Exchange index was 3,023 points.

Lotto 6-49: (Wednesday) 11, 16, 20, 25, 46 and 48; bonus 5. (April 14) 3, 12, 14, 30, 33 and 40; bonus 36.

Regional briefs

The Manitoba government has offered $100,000 in compensation to each of 12 families whose babies died after botched heart surgery at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Center. The infants, who died in 1994, were the subject of a 30-month inquest that found numerous faults with the pediatric heart program.

A snowmobiler was killed in an avalanche in the Fort Steele area near Cranbrook, British Columbia. It was the sixth avalanche death in the region this year.

In a bid to cut the provincial deficit to $90-million Canadian this year, the Nova Scotia government has approved a budget that will set user fees and call on school boards and district health councils to cut spending.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright