Canadian Report

By JIM FOX

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 7, 2001

Canada's tourism industry struggling

Staying close to home, avoiding the United States, overseas destinations and air travel, appears to be the trend among Canadians after the recent terrorist attacks.

Canada's normally robust fall tourism season is taking a beating with the losses soaring from canceled conventions, group tours and an uneasy feeling among travelers.

Ad campaigns by the Canadian Tourism Commission and provincial governments wooing U.S. and foreign visitors have been put on hold or altered as the industry seeks more visitors from local and regional markets.

Quebec City faces a tourism loss of up to $40-million after 25,000 hotel room nights were canceled through the end of the year, while the province of Quebec has seen its huge Asian market for fall color tours dry up.

Tourism officials in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and the Atlantic provinces are trying to tabulate the economic impact while urging people to take close-to-home trips to escape the cares of the world.

U.S.-owned cruise ships are still docking at eastern ports on Canada-New England fall color sailings but passenger numbers are much lower.

Rocky Mountain resorts in Alberta have been pushed into the off-season a month early, said Holly Wood of Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. Room occupancy is "hovering around 50 percent."

Responding to terror

Canada is considering an international spy agency because of the new global terrorist threat.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley made the comment Friday, warning that Canada will have to pay much more for defense, foreign aid and intelligence if it wants to play a significant role in world affairs.

The existing Canadian Security Intelligence Service is primarily a defensive counter-espionage and counter-terrorist agency operating almost entirely within Canada.

Also under review is the military budget of $11.2-billion (Canadian) as part of a look at all aspects of national security.

News in brief

Mohamed Zeki Mahjoub, 41, an Egyptian refugee accused of being an international terrorist with links to Osama bin Laden, has been ordered deported by the Federal Court of Canada. He has been in a Toronto jail since June 2000.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien appointed three new senators: Gerard Phalen of Nova Scotia; Joseph Day, in New Brunswick; and Michel Biron for Quebec. Air Canada didn't get the $2-billion (Canadian) it was seeking to offset the current loss of business. Instead the government said it would give the airline $100-million of a $160-million package offered to the industry.

Montreal police arrested 31 demonstrators after they sprayed graffiti on the city hall to protest the eviction of squatters from an abandoned building. One of the slogans called Mayor Pierre Bourque a fascist. They blame him for not providing enough low-income residents with affordable housing.

Facts and figures

Canada's jobless rate was steady at 7.2 percent last month but analysts say recent events will push the economy into a downward spiral with thousands of job losses by Air Canada and Nortel.

The Canadian dollar gained a third of a cent, closing Friday at 64.01 U.S. cents. The American greenback returned $1.5622 Canadian before bank exchange fees.

Stock markets were higher Friday with the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 Index at 6,894 points while the Canadian Venture index was 2,857 points.

There's no change in the Bank of Canada key interest rate of 3.75 percent or the prime lending rate at 5.25 percent.

Lotto 6-49: (Wednesday) 19, 20, 22, 28, 40, 42; bonus 1. (Sept. 29) 2, 11, 16, 18, 21, 33; bonus 5.

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