Canada report

By JIM FOX

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 8, 2000

Nation's highest peak to get Trudeau name

Mount Logan, Canada's highest peak, is being renamed in memory of the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

The day after the funeral for the 80-year-old Trudeau, who died of cancer, Prime Minister Jean Chretien said Wednesday the mountain in Kluane National Park in the Yukon will be known as Mount Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

The park was created when Trudeau was prime minister and Chretien was in his Cabinet as the minister responsible for federal parks.

Trudeau, an avid outdoorsman, had visited the mountain with Chretien and said the two of them wanted to climb the 19,500-foot peak but didn't have the time.

"It is the highest and most beautiful (mountain) and Mr. Trudeau loved nature like few others," Chretien said.

The second-highest peak in North America after Alaska's Mount McKinley was named after Sir William Logan, a surveyor who made the first geological maps of Canada in the 1800s.

Another mountain in the park is to be given Logan's name. Logan also has another mountain named for him in Quebec.

Canada Post also plans to issue a special stamp next year to honor Trudeau.

Protester strikes Day with chocolate milk

Canadian political protesters brandishing food have struck again, this time against Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day.

A university student threw a container of chocolate milk, drenching Day as he arrived on stage Thursday in Kitchener, Ontario, to unveil his right-wing party's election platform.

After the protester, identified as Julian Ichim, 21, was arrested for assault, Day changed his clothes and returned to the stage to joke about the incident.

Ichim said people are ignoring the rise of a right-wing group "that attacks poor people, immigrants, people of color, gays and lesbians."

In August, a protester pushed a pie into the face of Prime Minister Jean Chretien in Prince Edward Island.

In brief

Bilingualism Commissioner Dyane Adam, in a scathing report, said the Liberal government lacks "clear, coherent leadership and will" to promote Canada's two official languages, English and French. Prime Minister Jean Chretien said the erosion of bilingualism, part of the Trudeau legacy, can be blamed on budget cuts, and he promised Friday to make changes to remedy the problem.

Canada's unemployment rate is again lower at 6.8 percent -- representing 1.1-million people -- as industries created 56,000 new jobs last month, Statistics Canada reported Friday. It climbed to 7.1 percent in August, causing fears the economy would cool. Analysts now predict a healthy pace of job growth for the rest of the year.

Facts and figures

The Canadian dollar is up slightly from a week ago at 66.59 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar is worth $1.5017 in Canadian funds, before exchange fees.

There's no change in the Bank of Canada key interest rate of 6 percent or the 7.5 percent prime lending rate.

Stock markets are still lower, with the Toronto 300 Index at 10,432 points Friday while the Canadian Venture Exchange index was 3,472 points.

Lotto 6-49: (Wednesday) 7, 14, 19, 40, 43 and 49; bonus 13. (Sept. 30) 15, 18, 20, 24, 31 and 41; bonus 1.

Regional briefs

Saskatchewan Justice Minister Chris Axworthy wants to succeed retiring Premier Roy Romanow, who will remain in the position until his New Democratic Party names a successor.

A 16-year-old boy accused in a deadly school shooting in Alberta will be tried in youth court, Judge Gerald DeBow ruled Thursday, dismissing a bid to try him as an adult. Jason Lang, 17, was killed by a student with a rifle at W.R. Myers high school in Taber in April 1999 and another student was wounded.

A French-language extremist group is taking credit for fire bombs left outside three Second Cup coffee shops in Montreal early Friday. There were no injuries or damage. The French Self-Defense Brigade warned it would target businesses whose names are in English. Second Cup and several other businesses were allowed to keep their English-only names in a recent ruling.

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