Category: Canada

Price pressures continued to be broad-based, pinching the pocketbooks of Canadians and in some cases affecting their ability to meet day-to-day expenses….reports Asian Lite News

Canada’s consumer inflation rose to 7.7 per cent year over year in May, the largest yearly increase since January 1983, authorities said.

Statistics Canada said on Wednesday that the latest figure was also up from a 6.8 per cent gain in April, reports Xinhua news agency.

The acceleration in May was largely due to higher prices for gasoline, which rose 12 per cent compared with -0.7 per cent in April, it added.

According to the agency, excluding gasoline, the CPI rose 6.3 per cent year over year in May, after a 5.8 per cent increase in April.

Price pressures continued to be broad-based, pinching the pocketbooks of Canadians and in some cases affecting their ability to meet day-to-day expenses.

Higher prices for services, such as hotels and restaurants, also contributed to the increase. Food prices and shelter costs remained elevated in May as price growth was unchanged on a year-over-year basis, Statistics Canada said.

On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 1.4 per cent in May, following a 0.6 per cent increase in April.

On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI was up 1.1 per cent, the fastest pace since the introduction of the series in 1992.

Wage data from the Labour Force Survey found that average hourly wages rose 3.9 per cent year over year in May, meaning that, on average, prices rose faster than wages in the previous 12 months, said Statistics Canada.

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As part of the upgrade, Canada will build a new radar-warning system to detect “who and what is entering Canadian aerospace from the North…reports Asian Lite News

Canada will spend $3.8 billion over six years to modernise its continental defense as part of its alliance with the US through the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

Addressing reporters at a military base on Monday, Defence Minister Anita Anand said the upgrade is “to protect Canadians from new and emerging threats”, reports Xinhua news agency.

“The threat environment has changed. As our threats evolve, so must our defensive capabilities. What we aim to do with this announcement today is to ensure that we, across the board, are engaging in the most significant and relevant upgrade to Canadian NORAD capabilities in almost four decades.”

As part of the upgrade, Canada will build a new radar-warning system to detect “who and what is entering Canadian aerospace from the North”, reports Xinhua news agency.

Canada will also establish a “Crossbow” system across the country to detect incoming threats, and acquire advanced air-to-air missiles that can engage threats from short, medium and long ranges.

A space-based surveillance system that can detect threats from around the world is included in the NORAD overhaul as well.

The Canadian government will spend nearly $31 billion over the next two decades to bolster its continental and northern defense systems, according to Anand.

“NORAD has continually adapted and evolved in response to new threats. Today we turn another page and begin NORAD’s next chapter,” she added.

Founded in 1958, the NORAD is a combined organisation that conducts aerospace warning, aerospace control and maritime warning for Canada and the continental US.

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Many parts of the area were without electricity on Tuesday, especially in rural parts where residents are also without water….reports Asian Lite News

Power outages caused by the destructive storm that swept across Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec stretched into the fourth day.

An intense wall of thunderstorms swept across Ontario and into Quebec on Saturday, with high winds knocking down trees and bringing down power lines, killing 10 people and knocking out electricity for millions.

Many parts of the area were without electricity on Tuesday, especially in rural parts where residents are also without water.

Canada’s capital city Ottawa was one of the worst-hit areas, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson spoke to residents and the media in a virtual press conference on the storm damage and rescue efforts.

“I was out in four or five different parts of the city today (Tuesday) and I’ve seen firsthand some of the devastation that is taking place,” Watson said. “Now the city has reached out to the province, I spoke to the premier yesterday to see what additional support we can get from them to help at our recovery.”

The storm traveled from the west part of Ontario and as it passed over Ottawa and Quebec it hit the region with an abrupt combination of rain and wind. Clean-up continued on Tuesday as crews grappled with downed power lines and trees, battered neighbourhoods and increased calls for service.

David Phillips, Senior Climatologist for Environment Canada, spoke with Xinhua from his home in Barrie, Ontario, and said these storms aren’t common. What’s difference in this case is the storm wall, the “derecho”, which travelled across some of the biggest cities in the region, whereas normally they happen in northern forested regions where nobody is very affected.

He also pointed out that this storm happened in May, when there are enough leaves on the trees to catch wind and add stress on the plants in big winds, but not late enough in the season for the roots of the plants to have gotten to the full strength they gain in July.

“What surprised me was this is sort of almost like a winter kind of event that stretches from the southern part of the province right up to the central to the northeastern and into Quebec, almost half a continental wide. It was the collection of systems that moved very rapidly and the winds were fairly powerful. In Ottawa, for example, the wind speeds were up to 120 kilometers per hour, I think the winds probably were stronger at other places,” Phillips said.

“Millions of people were affected by this storm. The significant impact of the storm was the deaths of 10 people. The power outages are really significant. Almost a million people were without power. Some were for short time, but others will probably be a week before they get power restored to their facility. It’s a big headliner and it should be it’s a major weather catastrophe here in Ontario and Quebec,” he said.

Speaking with the news agency from her home in Mississauga, Ontario, Tiziana Baccega Rosa, spokesperson for Hydro One, the largest supplier of electricity in the province of Ontario, said, “We have 150,000 customers still to restore within Hydro One service territory. Crews have returned and restored power to over 480,000. And that number will continue to grow.”

Hydro One is pulling out all of the stops to combat this emergency, the spokesperson said. “We had a group come up on Monday night. And so in total we have 500 additional skilled labour to help us get the power back on here.”

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