Shanghai shares recover after global market slide

(CBC) - Chinese stocks recovered Wednesday following their worst plunge in a decade as regulators shifted into damage control, denying rumours of plans for a 20 per cent capital gains tax on stock investments.

The Shanghai Composite Index gained 3.9 per cent to 2,881.07 after opening 1.3 per cent lower. On Tuesday, it tumbled 8.8 per cent, its largest decline since Feb. 18, 1997.

Concerns about slowdowns in the Chinese and U.S. economies sparked Wall Street's worst drop since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 416 points, or 3.3 per cent.

In Canada, the benchmark index of the Toronto stock market endured one of its most dramatic one-day point losses in three years, ending the day down 364 points, or 2.7 per cent, to 13,040.

Across Asia, many markets fell for a second day Wednesday. Japan's benchmark Nikkei index sank 2.85 per cent, while stocks in the Philippines tumbled nine per cent. Malaysian shares dropped six per cent and Indonesian shares were down 5.2 per cent.

Analysts said they expected China's stock market to stabilize and keep climbing over time, though further near-term declines were possible given concerns that prices may have risen precipitously in recent months.

Tuesday's "sell-off does not reflect any fundamental change in the outlook for China's economy," Yiping Huang and other Citigroup economists said in a report released Wednesday. "A sharp contraction in excess liquidity that would reinforce damage in the stock market remains unlikely," it said.

Capital gains tax may have been factor in sell-off

China's big institutional investors are all state-controlled and would be unlikely to sell so heavily as to reverse gains that more than doubled share prices last year. With a key Communist Party congress due in the autumn, the authorities have a huge stake in keeping the markets on an even keel.

"They are acting now to nip a nascent bubble in the bud," said Stephen Green, senior economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Shanghai, adding that it's a challenge given generally bullish sentiment and the massive amount of funds available for investment.

"So they have to somehow calibrate the rhetoric and policy actions to keep a lid on this, while not triggering a collapse," Green said.

One option is a capital gains tax on stock investments. Rumours that such a tax may be enacted are thought to have been one factor behind Tuesday's sell-off.

But the Shanghai Securities News ran a front-page report denying those rumours. The newspaper, run by the official Xinhua News Agency and often used to convey official announcements, cited unnamed spokesmen for the Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation.

China has refrained from imposing a tax on capital gains from stock investments, largely because until last year the markets were languishing near five-year lows. The Shanghai Securities News report cited officials saying that the government had little need to impose such a measure now, given that tax revenues soared by 22 per cent last year.

Reasons for China decline unclear

The exact cause of Tuesday's decline in China was unclear, given the lack of any significant negative economic or corporate news.

Some analysts blamed profit-taking following recent gains: the market had hit a record high on Monday, with the Shanghai Composite Index closing above 3,000 for the first time.

Others pointed to comments by former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, who warned in remarks to a conference in Hong Kong that a recession in the U.S. was "possible" later this year.

Adding to those factors was a persisting expectation that China might impose further austerity measures, such as an interest rate hike, to cool torrid growth: China's economy grew 10.7 per cent last year - the fastest rise since 1995 - and most forecasts put growth at between 9.5 per cent and 10 per cent this year.

China's markets took off after a successful round of shareholding reforms helped alleviate worries over a possible flood of state-held shares into the market. Efforts to clean up the brokerage industry and end market abuses also helped.

Stocks unusually volatile this year

Their confidence renewed, millions of retail investors began shifting their bank savings into the markets in search of higher returns last year. Strong buying by state-controlled institutional investors and overseas funds also helped.

China still limits foreigners' purchases of the yuan-denominated stocks that make up the biggest share of the markets, though that is gradually changing as regulators allow increasing participation by so-called qualified foreign institutional investors.

Stocks have shown unusual volatility this year, with the Shanghai index notching one-day drops of 4.9 per cent and 3.7 per cent already this year - before recovering to hit new records.

But there are limits to how far shares are allowed to drop in a single trading day: single-day gains and losses are capped at 10 per cent.

Malaysian military plagued by termites; personnel appointed to curb the menace

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia's military is fighting a formidable foe - termites. Many of the Southeast Asian country's 80 army bases are believed to be plagued by the pests, forcing authorities to assign special officers to tackle the problem, newspapers reported Saturday.

"There are several problems with our camps, like old age and wear and tear. But the biggest problem are the termites," the New Straits Times quoted Deputy Defense Minister Zainal Abidin Zin as saying while visiting a naval base Friday in eastern Malaysia.

"These termites are like guerrillas inflicting damage on our facilities," Zainal was quoted as saying by The Star. "There are more termites than members of the force."

Officials have "found the termites not only attacking the wood but also the concrete sections of buildings," the minister said, according to The Star.

A ministry panel will appoint personnel to pinpoint which camps are afflicted and take steps to curb the menace, the reports quoted Zainal as saying.

Calls to Zainal's office seeking comment went unanswered Saturday.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Remote control used to guide pigeons, Chinese say

(CBC) - Chinese scientists have succeeded in controlling a pigeon's flight with tiny electrodes implanted in the bird's brain, state media reported.

Xinhua News Agency said the scientists at the Robot Engineering Technology Research Centre at Shadong University of Science and Technology can command the pigeons to fly left or right and up or down.

Scientists sent signals by computer to the implants that mirror signals generated by the brain to control body movement. These signals stimulate different areas of the pigeon's brain and cause it to respond to the command, the researchers said.

Chief scientist Su Xuecheng said it is the first such successful experiment on a pigeon in the world.

Su and his colleagues told Xinhua they hope the technology can be put to practical uses but did not specify what those might be.

It's not the first time scientists have experimented with animals and remote control.

Su had previously conducted a similar experiment on mice in 2005, Xinhua reported.

Researchers at State University of New York in Brooklyn said in 2002 they had developed a way to control rats using remote control signals. John Chapin, a professor of physiology and pharmacology at the university, said arming the rats with tiny cameras could one day allow them to be used to search for disaster survivors in places humans couldn't access.

And Japanese researchers surgically implanted a device in a cockroach in 2001 that allowed them to control its movements.

With files from the Associated Press
© the CBC, 2007

DaimlerChrysler approves deal with China's Chery, mum on Chrysler fate

FRANKFURT (AP) - DaimlerChrysler AG, seeking to cut costs and boost sales in North America, said Tuesday it will start selling Chinese-made cars there and in western Europe as it tries to meet demand for smaller, more economical vehicles. The world's fifth-largest automaker said its supervisory board approved the framework of a limited partnership that will see China's Chery Motor Co. build the cars in China.

They will be sold in North America and western Europe under its Chrysler Group brands, which include Dodge and Jeep. Financial details were not released.

"Small vehicles such as these will allow Chrysler Group brands to compete in segments in which the brands do not currently compete, and which are especially important in price-and fuel-economy sensitive markets," the German-U.S. automaker said in a statement after a meeting of its supervisory board.

The deal is expected to be finalized in late March but still requires the approval of China's government, a move the company said was likely.

There was no word about Chrysler's fate after the supervisory board meeting, only a reiteration of DaimlerChrysler's position that the company is examining all its possibilities.

Speculation about a DaimlerChrysler divorce has been rampant since CEO Dieter Zetsche said Feb. 14 that all options are on the table for the money-losing U.S. business. He would not rule out a sale.

Chrysler earlier this month announced that it lost $1.475 billion in 2006 and said it expects losses to continue through 2007. Parent DaimlerChrysler, however, earned $4.26 billion in 2006.

The Chrysler losses were accompanied by an announcement of plans to shed 13,000 jobs, including 11,000 production workers and 2,000 salaried employees as Chrysler trims expenses and factory capacity to match declining sales.

The group has been hurt by consumer demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles - rather than the light trucks and larger vehicles it has been producing.

Several automakers, including Volkswagen AG and the Renault-Nissan alliance, have ruled out any interest in acquiring Chrysler. FAW Group Corp., one of China's biggest automakers and a local partner of Toyota Motor Corp. and Volkswagen, refused comment Tuesday on a report that it is considering bidding for a stake in Chrysler.

The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported Tuesday that worker representatives on the DaimlerChrysler board are opposed to a deal that would see the company take an equity stake in General Motors Corp. in exchange for Chrysler - another reported option.

DaimlerChrysler said the Chery deal is expected to help Chrysler become a "bigger player on the global automotive stage by giving it access to products in new segments more quickly, with less capital spending."

In December, the company and Chery agreed on a plan for the Chinese car maker to build small cars that would be sold globally and be based on an existing model that would be modified jointly by Chrysler and Chery engineers.

The move gives Chrysler a relatively quick entry into a growing segment of the car market where it now has no significant product, and it prepares the company in case gasoline prices escalate to above $3 per gallon in the U.S., where prices averaged about $2.38 a gallon last week in a government survey.

Chrysler has sought a Chinese partner to build small cars, saying it cannot make money by manufacturing them in the United States due to high labour and other costs.

Big name automakers have set their sights on China and other fast-growing developing markets to help offset legacy costs and provide sales growth missing in the U.S. and other western markets.

So far, domestic and foreign manufacturers have focused mainly on meeting soaring demand inside China. At the same time, though, Chinese automakers have begun looking overseas for acquisitions, both to expand their market reach and to tap advanced technology and design capacity.

Chery is China's biggest domestic automaker, with 272,400 vehicles sold last year, but it trails General Motors Corp., which sold 876,747 vehicles last year, as the country's biggest automaker.

Shares of DaimlerChrysler fell nearly 2.4 per cent to 52.40 euros ($68.96) in Frankfurt. Its U.S. shares dropped $2.33, or 3.3 per cent, to $68.24 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

B.C., Quebec have highest percentage of poor seniors: report

(CBC) - B.C. and Quebec had the highest percentage of low-income seniors among all 10 provinces in 2003, according to a report released Tuesday by Statistics Canada.

"A portrait of seniors in Canada" looks at the well-being and wellness of people across the country aged 65 and over.

According to a table that accompanies the report, 10.3 per cent of seniors in both B.C. and Quebec fell into the category of low income after taxes in 2003.

Manitoba followed close behind, with 8 per cent of seniors classified as low-income after taxes, while Saskatchewan had the lowest percentage, with only 1.7 per cent of seniors considered low-income after taxes.

Statistics Canada uses the term low-income cutoff, or LICO, to define low income in Canada. The agency says a family has a low income after taxes if it has to spend a disproportionate amount on such necessities as food, shelter and clothing.

It compares the total spent on such necessities by a family to the amount spent on the same things by an average Canadian family. If a family spends more than 63 per cent of its gross income on food, shelter or clothing, then it is said to be below the LICO.

A senior living alone or a senior couple would fall into the category of low income if either household has to spend 20 percentage points more of its gross income on those necessities than the average Canadian family of roughly the same size. LICO varies depending on the size of a family and the population of the area where the family lives.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, only 2.1 per cent of seniors were considered low income after taxes in 2003, while Ontario was closer to the middle, with 4.9 per cent of seniors having a low income after taxes in 2003.

In the other provinces, the percentage of seniors classified as low income after taxes in 2003 was 2.9 per cent in New Brunswick, 3.5 per cent in Alberta, 4.5 per cent in P.E.I. and 5.0 in Nova Scotia.

Fewer poor seniors now than in the 1980s

The report says, however, that overall, seniors are now doing better financially than they were in the 1980s.

"Rising income levels among seniors have benefited those in lower-income categories, contributing to a well-documented decline in the incidence of low income among seniors in Canada," it says.

"The incidence of low income can be measured in a number of different ways, but all show the same downward trend since the early 1980s."

For example, in 1980 in P.E.I., 34.2 per cent of seniors were considered low income after taxes, while in that same year in Quebec and B.C., 25.9 per cent and 20.8 per cent fell into that category, respectively.

The financial situation for seniors in P.E.I. improved the most over the years; 8.5 per cent of seniors were considered low income after taxes by 1986 and 6.2 per cent by 1996.

Statistics Canada has separate low-income cutoffs for different sizes of family, from unattached people to families of seven or more, and for five community sizes, from rural areas to urban areas greater than 500,000 people.

© the CBC, 2007

Tommy Chong raising money to help 'Guru of Ganja' defend himself at U.S. trial

PIEDMONT, Calif. (AP) - Comedian Tommy Chong will help raise money to defend the self-proclaimed "Guru of Ganja," who is charged with growing hundreds of marijuana plants for a dispensary. The Canadian-born Chong, who starred with Cheech Marin in stoner movie classics "Up in Smoke" and "Nice Dreams," will appear at a $125-per-person event for Ed Rosenthal.

Rosenthal, 62, famed for his marijuana cultivation books and the "Ask Ed" column he wrote for High Times magazine, will host the event at his Piedmont home on March 4.

"The party will celebrate how far we've come in legalizing medical marijuana as well as provide me with the money I need to fund my current trial that is defending all of our rights," Rosenthal said.

Rosenthal, who's scheduled to appear in federal court March 19, estimates his trial and related expenses could cost more than US$300,000.

Federal prosecutors accused Rosenthal of growing marijuana, laundering money and falsifying tax returns from October 2001 through February 2002.

In a post to his web log, "The Blog of Chong," on Saturday, Chong urged his readers to attend the benefit for Rosenthal and donate to his defence. "Ed is being dogged by the feds for his marijuana work with sick people," Chong wrote. "It is the feds who are sick."

http://www.cheechandchong.com/

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Water opens door for Canadian actor

Lisa Ray says the passion in Deepa Mehta's film propelled momentum
GAYLE MACDONALD
Globe and Mail

LOS ANGELES — It's amazing what a nod from the balding, gold guy can do.

Since Deepa Mehta's film Water was nominated for best foreign film by the Academy Awards, Toronto-born actress Lisa Ray's phone has been ringing off the hook.

This past week, the 34 year-old brunette has been working 15-hour days on a Hollywood studio lot auditioning for a new project with the Wachowski brothers, the same duo who created and directed the Matrix trilogy as well as V For Vendetta.

Ray plays down the impact the film's Oscar nomination has had on her career recently, but adds the success of Water has "opened a certain amount of doors."

Like her co-stars in the acclaimed film, Ray has spent much of the last three weeks at a slew of luncheons and parties in Los Angeles -- all part of a huge lobbying strategy by U.S. distributor Fox Searchlight to raise the film's profile with Academy members.

"Obviously your chances improve the more you're on everyone's radar screen," says Ray, who was voted star of the future at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival, after she starred in another Mehta film, Bollywood/Hollywood. "It's been a roller coaster in terms of the amount of commitments," adds the actress, who flew down to Los Angeles three weeks ago to help Mehta promote her movie and also audition for several new films. "It's all been a bit of a blur to be honest."

Of Indian (her dad) and Polish (mom) descent, Ray grew up in Etobicoke, Ont., but has travelled to India often, and in recent years, worked there frequently. She speaks fluent Hindi, and is a household name in that country which voted her one of its 10 most beautiful women. After studying drama for three years in London, Ray has lived all over the world -- India, Paris, Toronto -- and she is now temporarily putting down roots in California, reading new scripts and talking to filmmakers who were impressed with her work in Water (where she plays a beautiful widow forced into captivity at a temple in the holy city of Varanas).

Ray describes Water as one of the most special projects she's ever worked on, but admits after filming wrapped, she jumped at the chance to do something lighter. Her next project, All Hat, is a horse-racing caper film from director Leonard Farlinger. Shot in rural Ontario, that film stars Luke Kirby, Rachel Leigh Cook and Keith Carradine.

"We wrapped that in November, and it was a completely different world [from Water,]" Ray laughs, "and probably easier for me because it's closer to who I really am."

Ray initially thought about going into journalism. But she was asked to model for a fashion magazine, and ended up on its cover. She modelled in India for a while, before attending drama school. Her first feature film was a Bollywood title.

"I wasn't one of those kids who grew up dreaming of becoming an actor," she says. "It took me by surprise. I love it. I'm glad I discovered it, or it discovered me."

Similarly, with Mehta, "We kind of found each other," Ray says of her director, friend and mentor. She adds that she knew from the moment she read Water's that the film was going to make an impact.

"In your gut, you know that kind of work will gain momentum and receive a certain amount of response," Ray says. "But it's so rare. It's so bloody rare. Unfortunately, I read a lot of scripts these days, and a lot of them are crap. They lack the element of passion that Deepa brings to all of her work. [Water] was such a huge milestone for me, personally and professionally. It was an experience such that right after we finishing filming it, we all collectively sat there and said, 'You know what, even if no one sees this film, it's been so fulfilling working on it, that's reward in itself.' "

Bitter ACTRA strike leaves Hollywood North battered

Canadian Press

Toronto — A bitter six-week labour dispute between Canadian actors and producers was nearly the "final nail in the coffin" for the country's already battered film and television industry, which experts say now faces a long, hard, uphill climb along the road to recovery.

The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists went on strike Jan. 8 and later extended their protest to Quebec, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

The dispute, which focused on wages and how actors should be compensated for work across new media platforms, lasted for more than six weeks before a tentative agreement was announced last week, to the collective relief of an industry that observers say has suffered a substantial blow.

"This labour dispute drove a lot of business away from here and it's going to take time to bring it back," said John Barrack, the national executive vice-president for the Canadian Film and Television Production Association and chief negotiator during the strike.

"Productions are planned six months to a year in advance and the labour instability hurts, so it's going to take some time for that work to come back."

But Paul Bronfman, chairman and CEO for The Comweb Group, said the strike was just the latest problem for an industry that was already reeling from a number of other factors.

"The strike certainly was almost the final nail in the coffin," said Mr. Bronfman, speaking from the CFTPA's conference in Ottawa.

"That basically held everybody hostage . . . right now [the industry] is being taken off life support and it's going to take us months to recover from this fiasco."

It's unclear exactly how much money was lost due to the strike, though the experts agree a number of American productions took one look at the labour unrest and decided to film elsewhere. Toronto, the heart of Canada's film industry, lost an estimated $400-million in production revenue.

Yet CFTPA figures suggest the industry has been in financial decline for several years. Film and television production dipped nine per cent in 2004-05, "an indicator that a downward trend is beginning," the association's report says.

In that same time period, production generated 11 per cent fewer jobs than the previous year — the third consecutive annual decrease.

Charlie Keil, the director of the University of Toronto's cinema studies program, said the strike "added insult to injury" because a number of other factors are already working against the industry.

A number of "unforeseeable blights," including the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Toronto's SARS outbreak in 2003, took a heavy toll that has yet to be recovered. A strong Canadian dollar relative to its U.S. counterpart has also made Canada less appealing to U.S. producers.

But what has really hurt the industry is the very thing that once gave it life, said Mr. Keil.

"Various incentives and tax breaks made Canada an appealing place to do business," he said. Then, "other municipalities [in the U.S.] figured out that they too could offer competitive tax incentives."

With jurisdictions outside Canada constantly upping the ante, Hollywood North has had a difficult time competing.

Still, there remains reason for optimism, said Stephen Waddell, the union's national executive director and strike negotiator.

"Given that the [American] studios will be presumably beginning to stockpile productions looking forward to the potential for a Writers Guild of America or Screen Actors Guild strike in the U.S., I think we'll see increased production in Ontario."

Another encouraging sign is a mega-studio in the works for Toronto, said Mark Dillon, the editor of Playback magazine, an industry business publication.

Toronto's talented work force and production tax credits aren't enough at the moment to draw American producers north of the border, and the studio could change all that, he said.

"Finally Toronto will have a cutting-edge space that I would imagine would succeed in luring some pretty big Hollywood projects," he said. "It's about time that Toronto had something like that."

Canada's international travel deficit soars to all-time high in 2006

OTTAWA (CP) - Canada's international travel deficit soared to an all-time high in 2006, as spending by Canadians in both the United States and overseas climbed to record levels. The deficit - the difference between spending by Canadians abroad and spending by foreigners in Canada - jumped $1.4 billion to an estimated $7.2 billion in 2006.

The travel deficit has increased every year since 2002, more than quadrupling in the process.

The burgeoning deficit was the result of record spending abroad: Canadian residents spent an estimated $23.6 billion outside the country in 2006, up 6.2 per cent from the previous high in 2005.

Foreigners in Canada spent about $16.4 billion in 2006, a slight decline from the previous year.

Canadian spending abroad has gone up 27.9 since 2001, while there has been little movement in foreign spending in Canada.

Canada's travel deficit with the United States climbed to $4.5 billion in 2006, the highest since the early 1990s when record deficits flirted with the $6-billion mark and well above the 2002 low of $544 million.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

North American stocks plunge after Shanghai market sells off almost 9%

TORONTO (CP) - The Toronto stock market plunged almost 400 points Tuesday, its worst day in almost three years, as a selloff on China's main stock market raised fears about the economy and future demand for commodities - the items that have yielded strong gains for four years. The S&P/TSX composite index closed with a loss of 364.35 points to 13,040.11, down 2.7 per cent, after the Shanghai composite index, which had surged 174 per cent since mid-2005, tumbled 8.8 per cent amid speculation about new austerity measures from the Chinese government to slow sizzling economic growth.

The junior TSX Venture Exchange dropped 164.67 points to 3,109.97, while the Canadian dollar surrendered 0.43 of a cent to 85.73 cents US.

New York markets also sustained sharp losses with the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average falling 416.02 points to 12,216.24 amid sentiment further eroded by negative economic news.

The Nasdaq composite index dropped 96.65 points to 2,407.87 while the S&P 500 index declined 50.33 to 1,399.04.

TSX losses were right across the board, led by steep declines in mining companies as investors worried about a possible sharp drop in demand for metals and oil.

What surprised some market experts was the breadth of the decline with even normally defensive stocks getting caught in the selloff.

"You're just seeing people cashing out. The biggest group in the index is financials - it's the second hardest hit; they're like taking whatever they can and selling it," observed Chyanne Fyckes, chief investment manager at Stone Asset Management.

"They're looking for liquidity, clearly that's what they're doing. Even things like telecom stocks are getting hit very badly."

But analysts pointed out that the Shanghai market had been vastly overvalued.

"You will see the resource stocks sell off short term. But long term, we don't think it's a major negative. It is actually encouraging in a way that China's having its bubble deflated now," said Gavin Graham, director of investments with Guardian Group of Funds.

"What they don't want, with the Olympics in 16 months, is uncertainty and unhappiness anytime during 2008."

It may be better for the Chinese to deflate the bubble now and build on strength next year, he said.

The TSX metals and mining sector was down 5.3 per cent. First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (TSX:FM) moved $3.22 lower to $69.16 and Teck Cominco (TSX:TCK.B) gave back $3.01 to $82.50.

The April contract for light sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up seven cents to US$61.47 a barrel but the TSX energy sector slid 2.15 per cent with EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA) declining 97 cents to $56.33 and Petro-Canada (TSX:PCA) off $1.00 to $43.94.

The April gold contract on the Nymex fell $2.60 to US$687.20 an ounce, taking the Toronto gold sector down six per cent. Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX:K) faded $1.15 to $15.84.

Non-resource companies joined in the rout, and declining stocks swamped advances 1,365 to 316 with 194 unchanged on TSX volume of 489 million shares worth $8.6 billion.

The financial sector declined 1.3 per cent, with Royal Bank (TSX:RY) lower by $1.02 at $54.60.

In addition to the Chinese jitters, economic data weighed on the markets. Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket goods fell 7.8 per cent in January.

This exacerbated concerns about the U.S. economy, which had intensified Monday when former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan raised the possibility of a recession this year.

In other U.S. data, sales of existing homes rose in January by three per cent, but home prices declined for a sixth straight month.

While Shanghai sold off, other Asian markets racked up modest losses. Tokyo's Nikkei index shed 95.43 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 18,119.92 after its highest close in nearly seven years on Monday. Hong Kong's blue-chip Hang Seng index dropped 360.08 points, or 1.8 per cent, to 20,147.87.

"You would expect tomorrow you might see a bounceback (in the Shanghai market)," said Fyckes.

"I think what people are concerned about is that you might see it continue because it has been so overdone."

© The Canadian Press, 2007

The Institute for Canadian Citizenship Organizes Roundtable Discussions at Community Citizenship Ceremony in Vancouver

Vancouver has been chosen by the Institute of Canadian Citizenship (ICC), a newly established organization founded by former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, as the location to launch its Community Citizenship Ceremony on Thursday, March 1, 2007. The event will mark the third of three ceremonies the ICC will host to generate greater discussion on citizenship and immigrant integration, as well as build a bridge between newly-arrived Canadians and engaged Canadians.

“We feel that Community Ceremonies will provide an impetus for new Canadians and offer something to active Canadians,” said the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson. “The Ceremonies are a metaphor for a process of dialogue, a starting gate for greater interaction and discussion about what it means to be Canadian.”

The event will begin at 1:00 pm with a roundtable discussion between Canadian citizens and citizenship candidates. It will be followed by a Citizenship Ceremony at 2:30 pm presided by Judge Sandra Wilking, the first foreign born Chinese-Canadian woman to be elected to public office in B.C. The event will be hosted by the ICC’s Vancouver Volunteer Committee, which is chaired by Larry Beasley C.M., the former Director of Planning of the City of Vancouver. It will take place at the Italian Cultural Centre, 3075 Slocan Street.

The media is invited to attend both events.

“We established the Institute for Canadian Citizenship to continue the work done by Adrienne and I in our time in Rideau Hall,” said John Ralston Saul. “It was our intention to build a deeper appreciation of the meaning of citizenship, and believe that this legacy will be first and foremost captured in culturally-enriched citizenship ceremonies such as the one we will be hosting in Vancouver.”

The Institute for Canadian Citizenship works to encourage a more involved citizenry, particularly among newly-established Canadians. With goals to provide support, as well as inform, engage and interact with Canadians, the ICC operates through grassroots programs, enhanced citizenship ceremonies, national non-partisan forums and research which are made accessible and meaningful to the public.

For more information contact: Jeannie Bates at 604.790.1143 or jeannie_bates@telus.net

VANCOUVER HERITAGE AWARD OF HONOUR GOES TO TLC & KOGAWA HOUSE COMMITTEE

VANCOUVER, BC – TLC The Land Conservancy and Kogawa House Committee has received a 2007 City of Vancouver Heritage Award for their work in protecting the childhood home of Canadian author, Joy Kogawa.

The 28th annual City of Vancouver Heritage Awards were presented on February 19, the first day of Heritage Week, to tribute the extraordinary efforts of architects, community organization, developers, writers, artists and ordinary citizen who work to preserve Vancouver’s heritage.

Mayor Sam Sullivan conferred an award of honour to TLC and the Kogawa House Committee, for its outstanding advocacy efforts in saving the Historic Joy Kogawa House, bringing municipal, provincial, national and international attention to the effort with its theme of “Hope, Healing and Reconciliation”, thus preserving an important part of Vancouver’s cultural heritage.

Historic Joy Kogawa House is the childhood home of author Joy Kogawa, from which she and her family were removed from the home in 1942 as part of the Government’s policy of internment of Canadians of Japanese ancestry during World War II. Located in the Marpole neighbourhood of Vancouver, at 1450 West 64th Avenue, this house is featured prominently in Kogawa’s award-winning novel Obasan.

“It is an honour to be recognized among the heritage community and I’d like to thank everyone that worked on this fundraising campaign as well as our 550 donors,” says Bill Turner, TLC’s Executive Director. “I’m pleased to say this accomplishment is a testament of what a community of concerned individuals can to do to make a change in the world. It is important for us to ensure our stories as a national do not disappear over time. The story of the Historic Joy Kogawa House will live on with everyone it touched.”

“This house was saved by the poets, writers, film makers, literary and heritage lovers, and the activists and visionaries of our community, “ says Todd Wong of the Kogawa House Committee. “It is a powerful gift to Vancouver, BC, Canada and the world for the voices of conscience. That the house has survived this long is a miracle, and it took a miracle to save it. This house was destined to become both a historical and literary landmark. The Kogawa House committee is honoured to receive this award, and we are in debt to all the believers.”

In light of the fact TLC purchased the Historic Joy Kogawa House in early June 2006, donations are still required for restoration and an endowment to allow the house to be used both as an educational site addressing the issue of the internment of Canadians of Japanese heritage during the World War II and as a site for a writers-in-residence program. Donations can be made by calling: (604) 733-2313.

For further information:
TLC: Bill Turner (250) 213-1090; bturner@conservancy.bc.ca
Save Kogawa House Committee: Todd Wong (604) 240-7090; gunghaggis@yahoo.ca

YTV Canada Inc: THE ZONE - CO-HOST

Imagine going to work every day and having a blast. Sound good? Then read on!
Ever been accused of being too much fun? Are you articulate with an
interesting point of view? Can you think on your feet and improvise in any
situation? Is your look as unique as your personality? Do you look 18 - 24?
Does the camera love you?

YTV has your dream job waiting for you in Toronto!

YTV is searching for a co-host for the long-running and crazily popular
after-school block, The Zone. This energetic, hard-working individual will
join an incredibly creative team and be given the opportunity to entertain
kids across Canada, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

This individual will be expected to research, write and co-host segments
on The Zone.

If you're looking for an incredible opportunity and you think you fit the
bill send us a resume and demo reel and include a cover letter telling us
why you're the only person for the job.

Packages must be received by March 9, 2007, and sent to:
Sandra Kasturi
Production Coordinator
YTV Dayparts
32 Atlantic Avenue
Toronto, ON
M6K 1X8

*Absolutely no phone calls please. Only those selected for an audition
will be contacted.

Corus is committed to providing a fair and equitable work environment and
encourages applications from qualified women, men, visible minorities,
aboriginal peoples and people with disabilities.

THEATRE PASSE MURAILLE PRESENTS: The Shipping of Souls and the Reception of Cultures

The Shipping of Souls and the Reception of Cultures:
Staging Migration in Intercultural Performance

(Toronto) Following last winter's successful conference on Canadian
collective creation, Theatre Passe Muraille is pleased to announce a
second three-day artist/scholar conference. The Shipping of Souls and
the Reception of Cultures runs February 26-28, 2007 at Theatre Passe
Muraille. It focuses on the staging of migration in intercultural
performance.

The conference will provide all those interested in the performing
arts at the local and international levels a unique opportunity to
engage in discussion with leading Toronto-area theatre artists,
historians, theorists and commentators.

The Shipping of Souls and the Reception of Cultures features
presentations and papers by speakers whose work involves and
challenges intercultural performance. Presenters include Judith
Rudakoff (YorkU) and the "Common Plants: Cross Pollinations in Hybrid
Reality" Web Project, fu-GEN Theatre, Carlos Bulosan Theatre,
Guillermo Verdecchia (theatre artist), Damiano Pietropoalo (CBC
Radio), Ato Quayson (UofT), Alan Filewod (UGuelph), Holly Lewis
(theatre artist), Naila Keleta Mae (theatre artist) and Aktina
Stathaki (UofT).

Keynote Addresses will be given by theatre artist, producer and
cultural advocate Jean Yoon and University of Guelph Professor Ric
Knowles.

Accompanying the presentations is a Roundtable Discussion on
"Producing Intercultural Theatre" moderated by Kathleen Gallagher
(UofT OISE) and featuring some of Toronto?s leading theatre producers
and instructors: John Van Burek (Pleiades Theatre), C. Derrick Chua
(independent producer), Soheil Parsa (Modern Times Stage Company),
Michal Schonberg (UTSC) and Jovanni Sy (Cahoots Theatre Projects).

The Shipping of Souls and the Reception of Cultures expands on themes
raised by Theatre Passe Muraille's second show of the season,
The Sheep and the Whale (Feb 20 - Mar 11, 2007), a co-production between
Cahoots Theatre Projects and Modern Times Stage Company, in
association with Theatre Passe Muraille. The conference features a
special matinee performance of the play, with post-show talkback, on
Wednesday (2pm).

February 26 - 28, 2007 at Theatre Passe Muraille. 16 Ryerson Ave., Toronto
3-Day Conference Registration: $20 ($15 for students)
Order in advance at the Bell Arts Box Office: 416.504.7529 or visit
artsboxoffice. ca
For more information, please contact Bramwell Pemberton at 416.504.7529 x2140

Armando Choy, Chinese-Cuban General to Speak in Vancouver

Vancouver Public Library, March 11 at 2:30; the Asian Centre at UBC, March 12

Armando Choy, a Chinese-Cuban general who fought in the Cuban revolution alongside Che Guevara, is coming to Vancouver March 10-12 as part of a cross-Canada tour. In April 1961, Choy led one of the combat battalions that defeated the U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. In the 1980s he helped lead 375,000 Cuban volunteers in Angola in the defeat of South Africa’s invading army. He subsequently rose to become a general in the Cuban armed forces.

Armando Choy and two other Chinese-Cuban generals, Gustavo Chui and Moisés Sío Wong, have written Our History is Still Being Written: The Story of three Chinese-Cuban Generals in the Cuban Revolution published by Pathfinder Press. (Information: www.pathfinderpress.com.)

In the book Choy tells the story of how he took part in the battle against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in the mid-1950s, first as a student leader, then as part of the Rebel Army. Che Guevara promoted him to captain, the third highest rank in the Rebel Army. Choy was only 24.

Today Choy heads the massive economic and environmental project for the Cleanup, Preservation and Development of Havana Bay. Cuba is an international environmental leader named by the World Wildlife Federation as the only country in the world with sustainable development in its 2006 Living Planet Report (www.panda.org).

Our History tells the little known story of the Chinese-Cubans and their history. In 1999 Wang Gungwu, the president of the International Society for the Study of Chinese Overseas, asked Moisés Sío Wong “How is it possible that you, a descendant of Chinese, occupy a high government post, are a deputy in the National Assembly, and a general in the armed forces?” This incident is described in a review of the book in the Journal of Chinese Overseas.

The review continues, “The answer seems to lie in the nature of Cuban society.” Sío Wong replied to Gungwu, “The revolution eliminated discrimination based on the color of a person's skin....That's what made it possible for the son of Chinese immigrants to become a government representative or anything else. Here discrimination - against blacks, against Chinese, against women, against the poor - was ended. Cubans of Chinese descent are integrated.” (For reviews of the book http://www.pathfinderpress.com/s.nl?sc=16&category=-116&category.)

Sponsors of Armando Choy’s Canadian tour and meetings in Vancouver include the Chinese Canadian National Council; ACCESS – Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity; the Vancouver Public Library; the Vancouver and District Labour Council; the Asian Library at UBC; and the Department of Latin American Studies at UBC. Among those writing letters of invitation to Choy to speak in Canada are M.P.’s Olivia Chow and Libby Davies; Jenny Kwan, MLA; and Wayne Samuelson, President of the Ontario Federation of Labour.

Other speakers at Choy’s Vancouver meetings include Sid Tan, chairperson, Chinese Canadian National Council and leader of the fight for Chinese head-tax redress; Grace Schenkeveld, co-chair of the Head Tax Families Society; film-maker Karin Lee; Eleanor Yuen, head of the Asian Library, Henry Yu and Alejandra Bronfman, UBC history professors; and Allan Cho, editor-in-chief of Perspectives, BC’s first English-Chinese student newspaper.

For further information, interviews or review copies of Our History contact:
Steve Penner, Armando Choy tour, Vancouver organizer 604-324-2671 stevepenner@telus.net

Premiers push Washington to relax border rules

(CBC) - Three Canadian premiers are in Washington to press for an easing of the U.S. rules that will require a passport to cross the land border.

At a joint news conference on Sunday to start the four-day visit, Manitoba's Gary Doer, Ontario's Dalton McGuinty and New Brunswick's Shawn Graham said new rules requiring a passport will hurt cross-border trade and tourism.

The premiers said they are getting a sympathetic response from U.S. governors, who will also face the same kind of tourism and economic problems the provinces fear.

Doer met Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, the chairwoman of the National Governors' Association, on Sunday. The governors "are concerned about the economic impact of this proposal," he said.

McGuinty reiterated his call for a "much more secure" driver's licence, with "cutting-edge technology," which he said could eliminate the need for a passport to cross the border.

"We would work with the federal government to have citizenship encoded in the card itself," said the premier, who hopes to roll out the high-tech driver's licences by the end of the year.

Doer called for the U.S. to delay the passport rules as long as possible. They could come into place as early as next year, or as late as the middle of 2009.

Graham said "our countries are an exceptional case" because there are communities that straddle the border, and people on both sides are used to easy crossings.

The CBC's Henry Champ suggested the premiers would get a good reception because the governors recognize the problems, and because there are more Democrats in Congress.

Canadian Ambassador Michael Wilson, who appeared alongside the premiers, said there has been positive feedback to a pilot project underway in Washington State and British Columbia to see if new driver's licences would pass muster for border security.

On Monday, the premiers will present their case to the governors who are visiting Washington for their association meeting.

In terms of trade and tourism:
- Canada is the largest export destination for 38 states, Graham said.
- Cross-border trade totals $1.9 billion a day, he said.
- American tourists spent $10 billion in Canada in 2004, and Canadians spent $11.7 billion in the U.S., McGuinty said.

The premiers fear cross-border traffic will slow to a crawl if everyone needs a passport. They are also worried some travellers simply won't bother.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said last week that children 15 and under and teens 16 to 18 travelling with schools, groups or teams can cross with certified copies of their birth certificates instead of passports.

It would make sense to extend that exemption to seniors, McGuinty said.

© the CBC, 2007

The Public Access Collective invites you to celebrate the launch of PUBLIC 34 d:\personal

Thursday March 1st
7pm-11pm

Camera Bar
1028 Queen St. West (Queen & Ossington)
Toronto

This extraordinary multimedia issue of the acclaimed interdisciplinary journal PUBLIC features critical writings and artists? projects focused on practices of the personal and confessional in relation to new media.

Come experience a stellar collection of digital art and narrative and be part of the first community to screen the DVD! Special price on issues and subscriptions available only at the launch!

Issue 34 Contributors include:
Chloë Brushwood-Rose, Lynn Cazabon, Michael Current, Hasan Elahi, Caitlin Fisher, Joyce Goggin, Nancy Han, Ben Hoh, Jennifer Lafontaine, Joe Lambert, Takahiro Ogasawara, Helen Papagiannis, Sascha Pohflepp, Leticia Ramirez-Arana, Rebecca Rouse, Jason Salavon, Edward Shen, Naohito Shimizu, Xiao Li Tan, Chao-Ming James Teng, Camille Turner, and Daisuke Uriu.

For more info contact Ari Berger (Managing Editor) at 416-726-2100 x.33485
www.publicjournal.ca

Foreign workers can stay longer in Canada, Tories say

(CBC) - Foreign workers will be allowed to remain in Canada for twice as long as before, Human Resources Minister Monte Solberg said Friday, a move that has angered at least one labour group.

Solberg said Canada is running out of workers and the rules are changing to help companies that are having trouble finding staff during an economic boom.

The government is doubling the time that a lower-skilled foreign worker can stay in Canada, from 12 months to 24 months, he said.

The length of time that live-in caregivers can stay in Canada is also being extended, from one year to three years and three months, he said.

Solberg, who made the announcement in Vancouver, said the changes will allow employers who recruit and train foreigners to get a better return on their investment.

Mark Von Schellwitz, vice-president of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, said he supports the move.

"In our industry, we are anticipating, in B.C. alone, a shortage of 44,000 people in the next 10 years, and it is going to get worse and worse. So we also need a permanent solution as well."

Schellwitz said restaurants would also like to see changes to make it easier for servers and cooks to remain permanently in Canada.

Albertje Willems, chief operating officer with K&F Global Partners in Vancouver, said the changes will not only make a difference to foreign workers, but to Canadians and the economy.

Willems' company hires workers from Europe for construction projects in Alberta and B.C.

"There is not a large enough Canadian labour force," she said. "In some areas of Canada, projects are not being completed and sometimes not even being started."

But Wayne Peppard, of the Building and Construction Trades Council, said the announcement does nothing to protect workers from exploitation.

"These people are vulnerable. They are indentured to their employer - whether it is 12 months or 24 months - they are still indentured to their employer," Peppard said.

"If they don't like the employer, they can't move. If the employer doesn't like them, they are gone home. And that's not fair to the workers."

Peppard added that foreign workers doing construction on the Canada Line, a rail-based rapid transit line in B.C., were being paid an illegal wage until his union stepped in last summer.

But Solberg said if an employer is caught exploiting the program, they will lose the ability to participate.

"There are very few examples of this occurring but when it does occur, it's dealt with quickly and decisively," he said.

With files from the Canadian Press

© the CBC, 2007

Feds fear Alberta so won't criticize greenhouse gas record: Suzuki

EDMONTON (CP) - Federal governments have been reluctant to touch Alberta's dismal record on climate change because they're scared of the consequences, says environmental activist David Suzuki. "Ottawa kind of tiptoes around Alberta all the time, because they're afraid. The closest thing to separation is Alberta, not Quebec," Suzuki said Saturday night after a sold-out talk to over 800 people at the University of Alberta.

"So Alberta is treated with kid gloves."

The inevitable friction was almost instant when Canada's most famous climate-change crusader began the Alberta leg of his cross-country tour promoting grassroots environmental activism. The provincial economy is booming, thanks largely to development of the northern Alberta oilsands, but the industry is one of the country's big emitters of the gases that contribute to climate change.

Alberta's new premier, Ed Stelmach, has warned of "dire economic consequences" if oilsands development is reined in.

At an appearance in Calgary on Friday, Suzuki told reporters he doesn't have any hope for environmental change under Stelmach.

The premier reacted angrily.

"Tackling the issue of greenhouse gas reduction will require more than hot air and grandstanding," he told the Calgary Sun on Saturday.

"Dr. Suzuki's comments reflect the unproductive emotional rhetoric and personal attacks that distract from efforts to find constructive solutions."

After his speech in Edmonton, Suzuki said his comments weren't personal, and that he only responded to what reporters told him about "Stel - whatever his name is."

Some environmental organizations have called for a moratorium on new oilsands development. Suzuki said he doesn't know enough about the oilsands to comment on that, but something needs to be done about the downside of unbridled expansion.

"Right now, if you look at Fort McMurray, it's an economic, it's a social and an ecological disaster zone."

His problems with Alberta go far beyond what any one person may say, Suzuki said.

A drought in southern Alberta and forest fires are the result of drying, warmer summers, he said. And a major pine beetle invasion - the tiny insects have ruined huge tracts of timber in British Columbia and have now advanced into Alberta's northern forest - is the result of winters that are no longer cold enough to kill them off.

Suzuki said politicians who use the economic argument to justify a lack of intervention are ignoring research that shows climate change will eventually cause the economy to collapse.

Suzuki said research needs to be done to find a method of extracting oil from the oilsands that doesn't burn so much fossil fuel in the process.

While Prime Minister Stephen Harper "seems to think that any kind of tax imposed on the oil industry to deal with the emissions is like a socialist plot to drain money out of the economy," Suzuki lauds a call by the Alberta-based Pembina Institute for a tax of up to $1.50 per barrel of oil extracted from the oilsands.

That money would then be used to research and develop "alternative, renewable green energy," which would also stimulate jobs and trade.

Suzuki rates British Columbia and Quebec at the head of pack on environmental issues and says Ontario isn't far behind. As for Stelmach?

"I think he'll have no choice. He's going to be shamed into coming up with an Alberta plan."

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Canon court loss to further stall launch of new TVs

(CBC) - A U.S. Federal Court has ruled that Canon Inc. breached a nanotechnology licensing deal, which is expected to further delay the company's plans to launch a new type of flat-screen TV.

Judge Samuel Sparks of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas issued a summary judgment that found Canon broke a licensing agreement. The agreement was for carbon nanotube screen technology with Nano-Proprietary Inc. of Austin, Texas, when it shared information with Toshiba Corp.

Nano-Proprietary sued Canon over the broken contract.

Canon and Toshiba began working on surface conduction electron emitter display (SED) TVs in 1999, missed a 2005 launch and then did so again in 2007. The screens are thinner than conventional cathode ray tube (CRT) TVs, but brighter than LCD or plasma.

Damages in the case are yet to be determined.

© the CBC, 2007

Freedom To Read Week

Feb 25 to Mar 3

Freedom to read can never be taken for granted. Even in Canada, a free country by world standards, books and magazines are banned at the border. Books are removed from the shelves in Canadian libraries, schools and bookstores every day. Free speech on the Internet is under attack. Few of these stories make headlines, but they affect the right of Canadians to decide for themselves what they choose to read.

For more info, visit www.freedomtoread.ca

1887 Anti-Chinese Riot Remembered

TORONTO . The Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) marked the 120th anniversary today of the anti-Chinese riot that took place in Vancouver . “We mark this anniversary today because it is part of our community’s unique history in facing the overt and often violent manifestation of racial discrimination that resulted in the Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act,” Sid Tan, National Chairperson of CCNC said today. “We should all take this opportunity to learn from our past mistakes, to restore dignity to the direct victims and to re-dedicate ourselves to a just society built on the foundations of respect and acceptance.”

“We are encouraged by the messages of solidarity from Hon. Jason Kenney, Secretary of State (Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity) and the Statement in the House of Commons by Bill Siksay, M.P. for Burnaby-Douglas.”

After the 1886 Great Fire razed Vancouver , the City leased 60 hectares of forested land to some 100 Chinese. However, this was the beginning of the Head Tax era, a period of overt racial discrimination against Chinese Canadians, which was legitimized by racist legislation. Mounting racist sentiment culminated in a riot on February 23, 1887 when an angry mob of 300 assembled to run the Chinese out of town. They tore down the shanty-town near Coal Harbour and roughed up the Chinese, some of whom managed to escape harm by jumping into the frigid waters.

Two policemen invoking the name of ‘Queen Victoria ’ stood their ground in between the mob and the Chinese labourers. The mob soon retreated but set fire to buildings. The 1887 riot also sparked a prompt response from police and government officials. The BC Attorney General introduced An Act for the Preservation of Peace within the Municipal Limits of the City which removed police powers from the city and sent over thirty-six special constables from Victoria , B.C. to restore the peace. While the riot ended without any death or serious injury, it did send a clear message to the Chinese that they were not welcome and they left Vancouver for New Westminster , and some moved east to Alberta and Ontario.The Chinese did eventually return to Vancouver .

CCNC will work with partners to mark a number of important anniversaries this year:

February 23, 2007: 120 year anniversary of the Anti-Chinese Riot in Vancouver

April 17, 2007: 25 year anniversary of Charter of Rights

May 14, 2007: 60 year anniversary of repeal of Chinese Exclusion Act

June 10, 2007: 50 year anniversary of election of Douglas Jung, the first CC MP

June 22, 2007: 1 year anniversary of Chinese Head Tax apology

Canada Day, 2007: 140 years of Confederation

September 8, 2007: 100 year anniversary of Anti-Asian Riot in Vancouver

October 1, 2007: 40 years of independent immigration (points) system

CCNC recently led a delegation to Ottawa to seek inclusive redress for the head tax families who are excluded from the June 22, 2006 announcement, and will continue to work collaboratively with other redress-seeking groups to seek a just and honourable resolution of the Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act.

Sid Tan, CCNC National Chairperson at (604) 433-6169
Victor Wong, CCNC Executive Director at (416) 977-9871

Foreign workers get extension on amount of time they stay in Canada

VANCOUVER (CP) - Temporary foreign workers looking to come to Canada to tap into one of the many sectors short of employees can now stay for up to two years. The move was announced by the federal government Friday and extends the program for a year. Nannies and others that come to Canada under the Live-in Caregiver Program will be able to stay for three years and three months, up from a year.

It was cheered by groups who say the Canadian economy will benefit and booed by labour groups who say the government should be doing more to train Canadians for the jobs.

The application process will also be simplified, with application forms becoming available online starting April 1. The process used to be completed through mail-in applications.

The changes are being praised by many in sectors such as tourism, hospitality and construction, which are often short of employees in provinces like Alberta and B.C.

Both provinces are expected to be short 350,000 workers each in the next few years.

Albertje Willems, chief operating officer with K&F Global Partners in Vancouver, said the changes will not only make a difference to foreign workers, but to Canadians and the economy.

Willems' company hires workers from Europe for construction projects in Alberta and B.C.

"There is not a large enough Canadian labour force," she said. "In some areas of Canada, projects are not being completed and sometimes not even being started."

However, not everyone is celebrating the changes.

A B.C. labour group is slamming the move, calling it a gift to employers looking for cheap labour.

Wayne Peppard of the Building and Construction Trades Council said the federal government is failing to protect foreign workers from exploitation and unsafe work conditions.

"The program ensures no responsibility for the treatment of the workers once they arrive in Canada and are put to work," he said.

"When these people come to Canada, many of them don't speak English so they don't know what their rights and responsibilities are and they're completely vulnerable to their employers."

Federal Minister of Human Resources Monte Solberg said if an employer is caught exploiting the program, they will lose the ability to participate.

"There are very few examples of this occurring but when it does occur, it's dealt with quickly and decisively," he said.

Employers will still be required by-law to advertise nationwide before resorting to foreign workers.

Peppard criticized the government for not having enough training programs in place for Canadians.

"Hot economy or no hot economy, there are many ways to accommodate that," he said. "Temporary foreign workers is only one of them."

Peppard suggested employers fly workers in from other provinces rather than other countries.

Philip Hochstein, president of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, said no matter how much training is available in this country, Canada will always be short-staffed.

"We're going to have one million job openings between now and 2010 and only 650,000 young people graduating from high school," he said.

"We can't simply train our way out of this thing."

In 2004, more than 90,000 foreign workers came to Canada. The highest number of those came from the United States, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

The highest number of female foreign workers came from the Philippines. The largest percentage of male workers came from the United States.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Families of Air India victims urge Ottawa to extend anti-terror law

OTTAWA (CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper flatly refused Thursday to apologize for appearing to suggest that Liberal opposition to anti-terrorism measures is aimed at protecting an MP's relative from questioning in the Air India bombing. Harper ignored Liberal MP Navdeep Bains' request for an apology. Instead, he launched into another round of accusations that the Liberals' refusal to renew two controversial provisions of the Anti-terrorism Act will hamper the ability of police to continue their investigation into the 1985 downing of Air India Flight 182.

"The Liberal party knows. . . they knew when they changed their position that the police inquiry requires these powers. Why are they standing in the way of the police investigation?"

On Wednesday, Harper set off a furor after he appeared to suggest that Liberal opposition to renewal of the measures is aimed at protecting Bains' father-in-law. He cited a Vancouver Sun story which said that Bains' father-in-law is on a confidential list of potential witnesses that the RCMP wants to compel to testify about the Air India tragedy.

Bains led off question period Thursday, demanding an apology.

"Yesterday the prime minister in the House of Commons attacked my integrity and the integrity of my family. Now that he's had some time to think, will the prime minister simply retract his remarks?"

Harper responded by noting that he'd just met with families of victims of the Air India tragedy and repeating his determination to ensure police have the powers they need to finally bring the perpetrators to justice. When Bains asked again for an apology, Harper effectively challenged him to point to any error in the Vancouver Sun story.

"If the honourable member denies any particular element in that Vancouver Sun story, I'd be more than happy to accept his word on the matter."

Earlier Thursday, a group representing families of victims of the Air India bombing urged all federal politicians to support renewal of Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act.

The Air India Victims' Families Association said MPs from all parties are playing political games with provisions of the law.

Association spokesman Bal Gupta said fighting over the provisions is an insult to the 329 people killed in the Air India plane went down off the coast of Ireland.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has said his party will oppose extending the provisions when they expire on March 1.

The Mounties had hoped to use the investigative-hearing provision of the act to compel testimony.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

N. Korea, U.N. to develop plan to dismantle nukes

Bob Drogin, LA Times Staff Writer

VIENNA, Austria -- In a fresh sign of easing tensions, North Korean officials on Friday invited the chief of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency to come to their capital, Pyongyang, next month to develop plans aimed at dismantling the nation's nuclear weapons program, officials said here.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that he hopes to discuss the "shut-down and eventual abandonment" of the plutonium-producing reactor facility at Yongbyon, ending its ability to produce fuel for additional nuclear weapons.

North Korea, which tested its first nuclear device in October, pledged earlier this month to stop, seal and ultimately disable operations at Yongbyon. It also agreed to let IAEA inspectors return to examine its bombs, nuclear fuel stores and other nuclear facilities. Inspectors were ordered out in December 2002 when the reclusive regime withdrew from the Nonproliferation Treaty.

Pyongyang did not promise to relinquish its current arsenal, believed to be up to six bombs or the fissionable material to make them, but agreed to further negotiations in the future.

"I see this as a step toward the denuclearization of the North Korean Peninsula," ElBaradei told reporters in a joint briefing with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is visiting Vienna. A spokeswoman said ElBaradei probably will visit in the second week of March.

The White House, which is eager to see North Korea disarm, applauded the invitation as a sign of progress. "It's a positive sign," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. "It shows that we're beginning to execute the terms of the agreement."

The breakthrough came a day after ElBaradei reported that Iran had defied a U.N. Security Council order to suspend its nuclear enrichment program. The report said Iran instead steadily has expanded low-grade enrichment of uranium, has installed further equipment used for enrichment, and continued construction of related facilities. The report cited numerous cases where Tehran has ignored IAEA requests for additional access or information.

In an interview Friday, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's representative to the IAEA, claimed that the report supported Iran because IAEA experts "found no evidence," he said, of diverted nuclear material that could be used for weapons. "It is a clean bill of health," he said.

The report, however, states that the IAEA "is unable to verify the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities" unless Tehran provides additional cooperation to solve a series of outstanding concerns. Inspectors are restricted in their travel in Iran, and may visit only sites that Iran has declared formally.

Soltanieh said that the IAEA report disproved concerns in Washington, D.C., that Iran secretly is planning to use a civilian nuclear fuel program to build nuclear arms.

"All these allegations have been proved by Mr. ElBaradei to be baseless," he said. "The report proves that all activities of Iran are for peaceful purposes."

Soltanieh repeated Iran's offer to start negotiations if Washington and its allies drop U.N. sanctions and their demands for an immediate freeze of nuclear activities as a precondition to talks. "We are a great nation and preconditions are a humiliation," he said.

Bush administration officials will meet other Security Council members in London on Monday to draft further U.N. sanctions proposals. The talks are expected to focus on European export guarantees that help prop up Iran's economy.

Ban, the new U.N. chief, urged Iran to follow North Korea's example and return to talks with the international community.

"I very much hope that the Iranian authorities learn from the case of the North Korean nuclear example," he said. "It should emphasize the better future of the nuclear issue through dialogue."

North Korea agreed Feb. 13 to freeze its production of plutonium at its five-megawatt facility at Yongbyon and to allow inspectors to monitor and verify its compliance. In return, the United States, China, South Korea and Russia agreed to provide about $400 million in food and fuel aid, plus security guarantees.

The United States also agreed to start the process of removing North Korea from its designation as a state that sponsors terrorism, and to discuss terms for normalizing relations and ending economic sanctions.

The pact defers several more difficult issues, including denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, a complete declaration of North Korea's nuclear activities. Some of President Bush's supporters have criticized the arrangement, saying the White House had rewarded Kim Jong-ll's government for testing a bomb.

2007 New Year's Full Moon Celebration

Don't miss the chance to meet other professional dancers in the New Year's Full Moon Celebration! We will play the DVD of Dae Jang Gum (world premier in 2006 Sooryu Dance Festival).

Date: March 3, 2007 6:00 pm
Place: Seoul House 3220 Dufferin Street
$20 for dinner

For reservation, please call 416) 443-9329 or e-mail to kdance@koreandance.net
This program is organized by Korean Dance Studies Society of Canada.

No Oscar for Water?

Marise Strauss
Playback

There will be no Oscar for Deepa Mehta, Paul Haggis or fellow Canuck Ryan Gosling when the 79th annual Academy Awards are handed out this Sunday in Los Angeles, according to a new poll of film critics conducted by CTV.

The net's first-ever nationwide Film Media Oscar Poll suggests that The Danish Poet -- the National Film Board production by Montreal animator Torill Kove, nom'd for best animated short - has the greatest chance of bringing home an Oscar for Canada. It is Kove's second Oscar nomination, following that for her 1999 short My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts.

Only 7% of respondents singled out Mehta's Water as an Oscar winner for best foreign film, favoring instead the fantasy drama Pan's Labyrinth from Mexico.

Canada's film critics were united in their choice for best actor, with 93% selecting Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland over Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson.

Paul Haggis -- who last year scored best picture and original screenplay for Crash -- will also go home empty-handed this year, they say, as his script for Letters from Iwo Jima received only 13% of the vote. Most critics singled out the ensemble drama Babel and the quirky comedy Little Miss Sunshine as possible winners in the category.

While voters are split over the best picture winner -- with Babel getting 47% support and The Departed 40% -- pundits overwhelmingly predict that Martin Scorsese will finally win his first Oscar for directing the latter.

Predictably, The Queen's Helen Mirren is the frontrunner for best actress, while voters singled out Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy in supporting categories.

The poll, conducted Feb. 12-19, will award $1,000 to the Canadian journalist who selected the most Oscar wins -- to donate to a charity of their choice.

© 1986-2007 Brunico Communications Inc.

CanAsian festival grows up

Biennial fest unites traditions from Korea to India, helped make Toronto a No. 1 venue

Susan Walker
DANCE WRITER
TheStar.com

The first year of the CanAsian International Dance Festival was a labour of love. "Everything was done on a volunteer basis," says Denise Fujiwara, the biennial festival's artistic director. All board members pitched in. "We sold tickets, put up posters, pushed the play button on the cassette deck."

Getting burned out after a few years of that, they applied for and received a Trillium grant, to keep Fujiwara and an office administrator working on a very part-time basis.

The festival has been gaining ground ever since, bringing in performers from abroad who would not otherwise be seen here, and highlighting the work of Toronto dancers and choreographers working in Asian modes of dance.

"This festival is unique in that it really is a reflection of Toronto," says Fujiwara, whose touring with Fujiwara Dance Inventions gives her a chance to be a scout for the festival. "We have well-developed communities that support artists who are now integrating their work with contemporary practices. The work that is coming out of Toronto now is really sophisticated."

Nothing has changed in the festival's mandate, designed to present a mix of traditional and contemporary work, from dancers representing as many Asian dance forms as can fit on one bill.

This year's mainstage performances in the Premiere Dance Theatre run from tonight through Saturday. A special show in the York Quay's Brigantine Room, running only tomorrow and Saturday before the mainstage show, is a solo performance from Yuko Kaseki of the Berlin-based cokaseki, which is influenced in part by the Japanese contemporary dance movement butoh.

"I saw her at the New York Butoh festival a couple of years ago," Fujiwara says. "I thought her work was remarkable. She synthesizes contemporary dance and kind of post-butoh dance." The dancer becomes a wonderful tragicomic character who wins the audience's empathy. Not wanting to spoil any surprises, Fujiwara will only say that the solo, called Tooboe – The Howl, involves "lots of water."

Kinya "ZULU" Tsuruyama from Tokyo met Toronto's Keiko Ninomiya the last time he performed at the CanAsian festival. Ninomiya, an independent dancer and member of the Green Tea Collective, invited Tsuruyama to work with her on a piece, called You see the tree, you don't see the forest. They worked with composers in Japan over the Internet. Tsuruyama, who had been thinking of winding down his career as a butoh dancer, was reignited after coming to the CanAsian festival a few years ago and getting nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award.

Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera Company from New York City keep to tradition in a show based on an ancient myth, The Monkey and the Princess Iron Fan. The four elaborately costumed and masked performers deliver music, song, acrobatics and martial arts. "They do these things with swords and spears that you can't believe," says Fujiwara.

Montreal's Sinha Danse will present a Toronto premiere of Apricot Trees Exist. The piece for six dancers grew out of a poem by Danish writer Inger Christensen. Roger Sinha goes for dynamic confrontations between East and West rather than a quiet fusion in his choreography, combining ballet and modern with South Asian gestures.

Soojung Kwon draws on traditional Korean shamanistic dance. Her new work, M_K, is a meditation on the many aspects of being female. She'll be accompanied live by the Opaque Ensemble of Korean musicians playing on traditional instruments.

Expect flat-out dance from Kathak performer Joanna de Souza, when she dances the solo Khammaj Tarana with the live percussion of the Toronto Tabla Ensemble.

Tomorrow night's performances will be followed with an exchange between artists and audience. It could be an opportunity to see how the CanAsian International Dance Festival fosters cross-pollination between continents and dance forms and why Toronto has become a No.1 venue for Asian dance.

Best Buy to open 130 stores in United States, Canada, China

Best Buy Co. Inc., Minneapolis, Minn., plans to open approximately 130 new stores in the United States, Canada, and China during its 2008 fiscal year, which begins on March 4. The company said it expects its total global retail square footage to grow 10 percent to approximately 46 million square feet by the end of fiscal 2008, as compared with the expected square footage at the end of fiscal 2007.

"Our focus is on reaching new customers in new markets or new ways," said Brad Anderson, Best Buy's vice chairman and chief executive officer. "Our core U.S. Best Buy business is growing as our employees continue to find ways to contribute their unique ideas and experiences in service of our customers."

Anderson continued: "We know that the better we listen to our customers, the better we are able to provide the experiences that reflect their particular lifestyles and priorities -- regardless of whether they interact with us in a store, in their home or business, online or on the phone."

Best Buy anticipates opening 12 to 14 stores in Canada -- expected to be equally split between its Best Buy and Future Shop brands. Canadian retail square footage is projected to grow 8 percent to approximately 4.0 million square feet. The company also plans to relocate two Future Shop stores in the fiscal year, including a move to the Yonge and Dundas Street location in Toronto, Ontario.

In China, the company plans to add 20 to 23 new Five Star stores during fiscal 2008. Additionally, the company expects to open two to three additional Best Buy locations in China in the next 12 to 18 months. The company estimates its China retail square footage will exceed 5.0 million square feet by the end of fiscal 2008, up from approximately 4.6 million square feet.

Additionally, Best Buy said starting in March, its Geek Squad will work with Carphone Warehouse (CPW) to provide home computing support services in the United Kingdom. CPW, Europe's leading mobile communications retailer, also is working with Best Buy to improve the U.S. mobile phone shopping experience through the Best Buy Mobile concept. Best Buy currently operates five stand-alone Best Buy Mobile stores and four Best Buy Mobile store-within-a-store experiences in the New York City area.

Best Buy expects to open approximately 90 new U.S. Best Buy stores. Best Buy estimates that approximately 60 of these stores will be in the 30,000-square-foot format, 20 in the 45,000-square-foot format, and 10 in the 20,000-square-foot format. The majority of new stores are projected to be opened in markets where Best Buy has an established presence. The company also expects to relocate eight U.S. Best Buy stores. The majority of the new U.S. stores are scheduled to open periodically throughout the company's first three fiscal quarters so that the new stores are open in time for the holiday shopping season.

Best Buy's fiscal 2008 store expansion plans are expected to bring more than 12,000 new retail management, sales and services jobs to communities in its markets. By the end of fiscal 2008, the company expects to employ more than 140,000 people.

Analyst scoffs at PlayStation 3 video download plan

(CBC) - Sony's plan to add functions to its online video game network, including movie downloads and HD television, is unlikely to meet with success, a leading video game industry analyst says.

The company's 10-year plan for its latest video game console includes "allowing people to download all kinds of digital content to their PlayStation 3 - not just games but movies, music, HD, standard definition TV, you name it," Phil Harrison, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s worldwide studios, recently told 1Up in an interview published on the video game website last week.

At least one industry analyst was skeptical about when - or whether - Sony's plan could be successful, especially with movie downloads.

"Never - the file sizes are too big," Michael Pachter, managing director of Los Angeles, Calif.-based Wedbush Morgan Securities told CBC News Online on Tuesday.

The 60-gigabyte hard-drive in the premium version of Sony's flagship console is "too small," Pachter said.

Harrison had noted in his interview that the inclusion of a computer hard drive in the PlayStation 3, launched late in 2006, was a critical component of the system and the console's future.

"I think PlayStation 3 needs to stand for gaming and digital entertainment in the living room - pushing the envelope of high definition, pushing the envelope of broadband, and of course that includes more than just games," Harrison told 1Up at the DICE video game industry conference in Las Vegas, Nev.

"If Resistance: Fall of Man is 30 gigabytes in size, how big is a movie going to be?" Pachter asked rhetorically, referring to Sony's flagship PS3 game. "It's not going to happen. Cable guys will dominate this before Sony does."

Pachter pointed to the problems that Microsoft Corp. had with the launch of its Xbox Live Video Marketplace online download service in November 2006 as evidence of the kind of challenge Sony faces.

People who tried to download content over the Xbox Live network initially complained they were unable to download or view television shows they had bought or movies they had rented; others said they had been charged multiple times for failed downloads, or that the process was taking days.

"Nothing goes smoothly when you do it for the first time," and that's a hard lesson Sony will have to learn, Pachter said. "They're running before they can walk."

But Sony may have better luck with digital downloads after 2010, once the technology has been further developed, Pachter said.

Sony spokespeople could not be reached for comment.

© the CBC, 2007

Wal-Mart vice chairman in India for talks on setting up chain of stores

NEW DELHI (AP) - A top Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executive arrived in India on Thursday for talks with India's Bharti Retail Pvt. Ltd. on hammering out details of deal between the two companies to set up a chain of supermarkets and big-box stores across India, the American company said. India's retail market remains dominated by small mom-and-pop shops, and major western retailers are anxious to move in before Indian companies have a chance to build their own chains.

But Indian law bars foreign multi-brand retailers like Wal-Mart from setting up shop on their own. So the American giant has linked up with Bharti and the two plan to use a loophole in Indian law to open their chain.

Much, however, remains to be worked out, and Wal-Mart Vice Chairman Mike Duke arrived Thursday in Mumbai, said Sachin Talwar, a spokesman for the company in India. Duke will travel to New Delhi on Friday for talks with Bharti executives.

Bharti plans to invest up to US$2.5 billion in the next eight years to set up the chain, but Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., has not said how much it will spend. It is also not clear whether the stores will be allowed to display the Wal-Mart name.

"We look forward to partnering with them, to build backward linkages with farmers and suppliers through a robust and efficient supply chain," Wal-Mart said in a statement about Duke's visit.

But, the company cautioned, no major news was expected to come out of the visit.

The Indian government has so far not raised any objection to Bharti's deal with Wal-Mart. But officials say the final agreement would be subject to government approval.

© The Canadian Press, 2007