Canada Post has been mailing more than 900,000 letters across the country hoping to convince people to remove “no flyer” signs from their mailboxes.

Canada Post is paid to distribute flyers and other unaddressed material.

The letter reminds residents that flyers, catalogues, product samples and community notices can “save you money and keep you connected with your local community.”

Anick Losier, a spokeswoman for Canada Post, said her organization wants to be sure that citizens are not missing out on important, but unaddressed, mail.

“[The letter is] to remind people what unaddressed ad mail is,” said Losier.

“It’s not just flyers and coupons, it’s also fundraising incentives, it’s also catalogs, as well as municipal notices.”

Losier said Canada Post sent out the letters to help the organizations and people who pay Canada Post to distribute flyers and notices reach more homes.

In St. John’s, however, homeowners Evelyn Osborne and Peter Duchemin said the Canada Post letter will not convince them to remove the “no flyers” sign on their mailbox.

“No, it [the letter] will persuade me to absolutely keep it up,” said Osborne.

Duchemin, who had been doing some painting around their property, painted an exclamation mark on the “no flyers” sign, just to make their point to Canada Post more emphatic.

Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2013/05/23/nl-canada-post-flyers-523.html?cmp=rss

A man accused of plotting to derail a train in Canada with support from al-Qaida asked Thursday to be represented by a defense attorney willing to use the “holy book” as a reference in his case.

At a previous hearing, Tunisian-born Chiheb Esseghaier declined court-appointed legal representation and rejected the allegations against him. He said he did not recognize the court’s authority, saying Canada’s criminal code is “not a holy book.”

“I have one point. I have agreed to have a lawyer, no problem, but I wish that this lawyer will cooperate with me. I need the holy book as a reference. I don’t want a book written by humans,” Esseghaier said via video link.

The justice of the peace told Esseghaier he would have to discuss his need to use the Quran with his lawyer once one has been assigned.

The 30-year-old was arrested last month along with suspected accomplice Raed Jaser in connection with a plot to derail a Via passenger train running between New York City and Montreal. Investigators say the men received guidance from members of al-Qaida in Iran. Iranian government officials denied having anything to do with the plot.

Police — tipped off by an imam worried by the behavior of one of the suspects — said it was the first known attack planned by al-Qaida in Canada. The two, who are charged with conspiring to carry out an attack and murder people in association with a terrorist group, could face life in prison if convicted.

Esseghaier, who was living in Montreal at the time of his arrest, has not entered a plea and is scheduled to return to court on June 3.

Jaser, 35, who was born in the United Arab Emirates to Palestinian parents but is not an UAE citizen, was living in Toronto at the time of his arrest.

He also appeared briefly via video link Thursday, saying only that he wished to speak with his lawyer. Both men donned orange prison suits and sported beards. Jaser was scheduled to for another court appearance on June 25.

Brydie Bethell, co-counsel for Jaser, said Thursday that her client denies all charges against him and that they are working on a bail application for Jaser.

A few weeks after Esseghaier and Jaser were arrested, FBI officials arrested Tunisian man in New York who they said was linked to the Via rail terror plot.

Ahmed Abassi was charged with trying to stay in the United States illegally to build a cell for international acts of terror.

Prosecutors, in a letter submitted to a U.S. District Court judge in Manhattan, said Abassi had radicalized Esseghaier.

The indictment charges Abassi with two counts of lying on applications for a green card and work visa. Each count carries a maximum term of 25 years in prison upon conviction. His lawyer Sabrina Shroff said Abassi denies the accusations in the indictment.

Article source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/c/35229/f/654825/s/2c51e410/l/0Labcnews0Bgo0N0CInternational0CwireStory0Ccanada0Eterror0Esuspect0Elawyer0Eholy0Ebook0E192430A99/story01.htm

By Solarina Ho

TORONTO (Reuters) – The Bank of Canada’s next interest rate hike won’t come until the fourth quarter of 2014, according to a Reuters survey that saw economists push back forecasts for the next tightening due to the economy’s tepid growth and low inflation.

All 34 economists polled by Reuters expect the central bank to leave its benchmark rate unchanged at 1 percent on May 29, when it announces its next scheduled rate decision.

“The bank certainly has sent a strong message that they’re comfortable with the level of monetary accommodation in the near term,” said Derek Burleton, deputy chief economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, whose rate hike forecast falls on the median fourth quarter of next year.

“Our forecast incorporates some of the bank’s medium term view, but keeps the rates stable in the short term, which is consistent with an economy that’s struggling to advance.”

Canada’s inflation rate in April fell to its lowest level since October 2009, making any upward interest rate move even less likely.

Unlike other major central banks that have used ultra-easy monetary policies to stimulate their lackluster economies, Canada’s central bank has left interest rates untouched for the longest period since the early 1950s, following three successive hikes in 2010.

Last year, the Bank of Canada said it plans to raise borrowing costs eventually, making it the only Group of Seven central bank with an explicit tightening bias.

It has since toned down the hawkish language, however, as the economy sputtered at the end of last year.

Economists say Canada started this year stronger than it ended 2012, growing faster than expected, but more recent data also showed some of that growth was due to one-time factors.

“We don’t see the economy continuing to accelerate. If anything we see a bit of a pull back in Q2, so very much an economy that’s growing modestly at best,” said Burleton.

The latest Reuters poll has the median forecast for the next quarter-point rate hike pushed to the fourth quarter of 2014 from an April poll which had pegged the next hike to occur during the third quarter of 2014.

Canada’s 12 primary dealers, the institutions that work directly with the Bank of Canada as it carries out its monetary policy, backed this view in the latest poll and said the Bank of Canada’s incoming governor Stephen Poloz is expected to retain the tightening bias.

Current governor Mark Carney will be taking over as head of the Bank of England on July 1.

MIXED DATA

This week, retail sales showed that Canadians bought more items in March, even though the value was unchanged from February, indicating the economy was more robust than expected in the first quarter.

Canada’s latest employment data for April showed the unemployment rate held steady at 7.2 percent, with a modest 12,500 new jobs added in April following some 54,500 jobs estimated to have been lost in March.

On the housing front, the number of housing starts slipped in April from March, the latest sign Canada’s housing market is cooling.

“A soft landing seems to be unfolding, which doesn’t subtract too much from growth,” said Michael Gregory, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

“Government restraint continues, but not to the point where it’s taking away too much from growth and consumers are continuing to spend a little bit but not by very much.”

BMO sees the Bank of Canada raising its benchmark interest rate in the third quarter of 2014.

The Bank of Canada is also in no hurry to raise borrowing costs too far ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve, where rates have been slashed effectively to zero, with no sign of a hike until at least 2015.

“It’s no longer obvious that the next Bank of Canada rate hike will come any earlier than the first upward move by the U.S. Fed,” said Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at Scotiabank, which is calling for the first Canadian hike to come in the first quarter of 2015.

The Federal Reserve’s monetary stimulus is helping the U.S. economy recover but the central bank needs to see further signs of traction before taking its foot off the gas pedal, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday.

(Polling and additional reporting by Deepti Govind; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson and Nick Zieminski)

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/bank-canada-rate-hike-view-pushed-last-quarter-162640680.html

A man accused of plotting to derail a train in Canada with support from al-Qaida asked Thursday to be represented by a defense attorney willing to use the “holy book” as a reference in his case.

At a previous hearing, Tunisian-born Chiheb Esseghaier declined court-appointed legal representation and rejected the allegations against him. He said he did not recognize the court’s authority, saying Canada’s criminal code is “not a holy book.”

“I have one point. I have agreed to have a lawyer, no problem, but I wish that this lawyer will cooperate with me. I need the holy book as a reference. I don’t want a book written by humans,” Esseghaier said via video link.

The justice of the peace told Esseghaier he would have to discuss his need to use the Quran with his lawyer once one has been assigned.

The 30-year-old was arrested last month along with suspected accomplice Raed Jaser in connection with a plot to derail a Via passenger train running between New York City and Montreal. Investigators say the men received guidance from members of al-Qaida in Iran. Iranian government officials denied having anything to do with the plot.

Police — tipped off by an imam worried by the behavior of one of the suspects — said it was the first known attack planned by al-Qaida in Canada. The two, who are charged with conspiring to carry out an attack and murder people in association with a terrorist group, could face life in prison if convicted.

Esseghaier, who was living in Montreal at the time of his arrest, has not entered a plea and is scheduled to return to court on June 3.

Jaser, 35, who was born in the United Arab Emirates to Palestinian parents but is not an UAE citizen, was living in Toronto at the time of his arrest.

He also appeared briefly via video link Thursday, saying only that he wished to speak with his lawyer. Both men donned orange prison suits and sported beards. Jaser was scheduled to for another court appearance on June 25.

Brydie Bethell, co-counsel for Jaser, said Thursday that her client denies all charges against him and that they are working on a bail application for Jaser.

A few weeks after Esseghaier and Jaser were arrested, FBI officials arrested Tunisian man in New York who they said was linked to the Via rail terror plot.

Ahmed Abassi was charged with trying to stay in the United States illegally to build a cell for international acts of terror.

Prosecutors, in a letter submitted to a U.S. District Court judge in Manhattan, said Abassi had radicalized Esseghaier.

The indictment charges Abassi with two counts of lying on applications for a green card and work visa. Each count carries a maximum term of 25 years in prison upon conviction. His lawyer Sabrina Shroff said Abassi denies the accusations in the indictment.

Article source: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/canada-terror-suspect-lawyer-holy-book-19243099

Canada Post has been mailing more than 900,000 letters across the country hoping to convince people to remove “no flyer” signs from their mailboxes.

Peter Duchemin adds an exclamation mark to the ‘no flyers’ message on his mailbox. (CBC )

Canada Post is paid to distribute flyers and other unaddressed material.

The letter reminds residents that flyers, catalogues, product samples and community notices can “save you money and keep you connected with your local community.”

Anick Losier, a spokeswoman for Canada Post, said her organization wants to be sure that citizens are not missing out on important, but unaddressed, mail.

“[The letter is] to remind people what unaddressed ad mail is,” said Losier.

“It’s not just flyers and coupons, it’s also fundraising incentives, it’s also catalogs, as well as municipal notices.”

Losier said Canada Post sent out the letters to help the organizations and people who pay Canada Post to distribute flyers and notices reach more homes.

In St. John’s, however, homeowners Evelyn Osborne and Peter Duchemin said the Canada Post letter will not convince them to remove the “no flyers” sign on their mailbox.

“No, it [the letter] will persuade me to absolutely keep it up,” said Osborne.

Duchemin, who had been doing some painting around their property, painted an exclamation mark on the “no flyers” sign, just to make their point to Canada Post more emphatic.

Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2013/05/23/nl-canada-post-flyers-523.html

TORONTO –  Canada said Thursday that it is considering retaliatory measures against the United States in a dispute over meat-labeling rules that Ottawa and the World Trade Organization consider discriminatory.

The Canadian government said that new U.S. country of origin labeling regulations announced Thursday that require tracking beef, chicken and hogs from livestock through the meat processing and distribution systems are unduly burdensome.

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Trade Minister Ed Fast said in a joint statement that rule means additional costs for producers on both sides of the border and increased damage to the industry.

“Canada will consider all options at its disposal, including, if necessary, the use of retaliatory measures,” the statement said.

In 2009, the U.S. issued a requirement that retail outlets put country of origin labels on meat and other products in an effort to give U.S. consumers more information about their food.

The rule led to lower U.S. imports of livestock from Canada cutting Canadian cattle shipments to the U.S. by 50 percent within a year and cut the export of slaughter hogs by 58 percent, according to the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada department.

The Canadian Pork Council estimates the labeling rule has already cost Canada about US$97 million (CA$1 billion) annually in beef and pork exports.

The WTO said last year that the 2009 U.S country of origin rule discriminated against livestock from Canada and Mexico. Washington had until Thursday to ensure the labeling rule complied with trade obligations.

The Canadians said the U.S. regulations will not bring the Americans into compliance with last year’s ruling by the World Trade Organization.

Tom Vilsack, U.S. agriculture secretary, said the new rules are aimed at resolving the tense trade dispute between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

“USDA remains confident that these changes will improve the overall operation of the program and also bring the mandatory (country of original legislation) requirements into compliance with U.S. international trade obligations,” he said in a statement.

The new labels will include such information as “born, raised and slaughtered in the United States” for American meat. Cuts of meat from other countries could carry labels such as “born in Canada, raised and slaughtered in the United States.”

The USDA says its country-of-origin labeling system was designed to help consumers make informed decisions about food choices.

Article source: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/05/23/canada-threatens-retaliatory-measures-over-new-us-meat-labeling-regulations/

Alice and Arthur John of Ross River, Yukon, have been married since 1932. That year, the couple took part in an arranged marriage ceremony in the Dena’ina tradition. Three years later, in 1935, they

Article source: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/canada-threatens-retaliatory-measures-over-us-meat-labeling-231007259.html

Canada announced Thursday its 18-man roster for a May 28 friendly against Costa Rica in Edmonton, and the prevailing theme is “inexperience.”

Julian de Guzman headlines a youthful group that will represent the Red and White, with no other player on the squad even close to matching the 32-year-old’s 63 international appearances.

The man with the second-most number of caps — André Hainault — is one of the team’s senior members at just 26 years of age. The defender has made 34 international appearances for Canada, and he will be a good bet to start for a highly experiemental side helmed by interim coach Colin Miller.

“The match against Costa Rica will be a great challenge for this young group,” Miller said in a statement. “Hopefully some of these young lads will rise to the occasion and stake a claim for a place at the CONCACAF Gold Cup.”

Among the youngsters in the mix are 18-year-old Samuel Piette, along with Toronto FC rookie Jonathan Osorio. Despite being the youngest on the roster, Piette has become somewhat of a regular at national team camps recently (although he has only one match appearance so far), while Osorio will be looking for his first cap at the senior level.

It’s not all teenagers and early twenty-somethings, however, as Canada can look to Portuguese league veteran Pedro Pacheco, goalkeeper Milan Borjan and forward Tosaint Ricketts for experience and leadership. All three have participated in the previous World Cup qualifying and CONCACAF Gold Cup campaigns.

Miller and the Canadian team will also benefit from an opponent that looks to be as experimental, with the Costa Ricans electing to rest most of their overseas stars ahead of a crucial World Cup qualifier the following week.

The Central Americans, like Canada, were also limited by the fact that the May 28 friendly falls outside of the FIFA calender for international matches.

Regardless, Miller says he’ll have the players at his disposal ready for the challenge of playing on home soil for the first time since Canada crashed out of World Cup qualification late last year.

“We are playing at home and we know that means we need to be positive – and I will certainly encourage the boys to be positive,” he said. “We will not sit back and wait for Costa Rica to come after us.”

FULL CANADA ROSTER

GOALKEEPERS (3): Haidar Al-Shaïbani (Nîmes Olympique), Milan Borjan (Sivasspor), Simon Thomas ( Vancouver Whitecaps FC)

DEFENDERS (5): Nana Attakora (San Jose Earthquakes), André Hainault (Ross County FC), Doneil Henry (Toronto FC), Ashtone Morgan (Toronto FC), Adam Straith (FC Saarbrücken)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Kyle Bekker (Toronto FC), Stefan Cebara (Nogometni Klub Celje), Julian de Guzman (SSV Jahn Regensburg), Issey Nakajima-Farran (Alki Larnaca) Jonathan Osorio (Toronto FC), Pedro Pacheco (CD Santa Clara), Samuel Piette (Fortuna Düsseldorf)

FORWARDS (3): Randy Edwini-Bonsu (Eintracht Braunsweig), Marcus Haber (Stevenage FC), Tosaint Ricketts (Sandnes Ulf)

Follow GOAL CANADA on Twitter

Article source: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/canada-announces-youthful-squad-costa-195700612--sow.html

TORONTO (AP) — Canada said Thursday that it is considering retaliatory measures against the United States in a dispute over meat-labeling rules that Ottawa and the World Trade Organization consider discriminatory.

The Canadian government said that new U.S. country of origin labeling regulations announced Thursday that require tracking beef, chicken and hogs from livestock through the meat processing and distribution systems are unduly burdensome.

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Trade Minister Ed Fast said in a joint statement that rule means additional costs for producers on both sides of the border and increased damage to the industry.

“Canada will consider all options at its disposal, including, if necessary, the use of retaliatory measures,” the statement said.

In 2009, the U.S. issued a requirement that retail outlets put country of origin labels on meat and other products in an effort to give U.S. consumers more information about their food.

The rule led to lower U.S. imports of livestock from Canada cutting Canadian cattle shipments to the U.S. by 50 percent within a year and cut the export of slaughter hogs by 58 percent, according to the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada department.

The Canadian Pork Council estimates the labeling rule has already cost Canada about US$97 million (CA$1 billion) annually in beef and pork exports.

The WTO said last year that the 2009 U.S country of origin rule discriminated against livestock from Canada and Mexico. Washington had until Thursday to ensure the labeling rule complied with trade obligations.

The Canadians said the U.S. regulations will not bring the Americans into compliance with last year’s ruling by the World Trade Organization.

Tom Vilsack, U.S. agriculture secretary, said the new rules are aimed at resolving the tense trade dispute between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

“USDA remains confident that these changes will improve the overall operation of the program and also bring the mandatory (country of original legislation) requirements into compliance with U.S. international trade obligations,” he said in a statement.

The new labels will include such information as “born, raised and slaughtered in the United States” for American meat. Cuts of meat from other countries could carry labels such as “born in Canada, raised and slaughtered in the United States.”

The USDA says its country-of-origin labeling system was designed to help consumers make informed decisions about food choices.

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/canada-disapproves-meat-labeling-rules-231024958.html

The Canadian dollar gained from a
one-year low against its U.S. counterpart amid speculation the
Federal Reserve may not taper its monetary stimulus, known as
quantitative easing, as soon as some investors anticipated.

The currency climbed against the majority of its 16 most-traded peers even as oil, the nation’s largest export, dropped
for a third day. It extended the advance after Statistics Canada
said the number of Canadians receiving jobless benefits fell 1
percent in March from the previous month. Fed Chairman Ben S.
Bernanke told lawmakers yesterday a premature withdrawal of
stimulus could endanger economic recovery in Canada’s biggest
trading partner.

“The feeling is that perhaps tapering or easing off of QE
is not quite as imminent as what we were expecting yesterday,”
Neil Jones, head of European hedge fund sales at Mizuho
Corporate Bank Ltd. in London, said in a telephone interview.
“The pound has appreciated, so has the euro, likewise Canada
and the Aussie are having a bit of revival as well.”

The loonie, as the Canadian dollar is known for the image
of the aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, rose 0.2 percent to
C$1.0343 per U.S. dollar at 11:04 a.m. in Toronto after touching
C$1.0394, weakest since June 5, 2012. One loonie buys 96.68 U.S.
cents.

Futures for crude oil tumbled 1.6 percent to $92.78 a
barrel in New York. Standard Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) of stocks
dropped 0.7 percent.

The number of regular beneficiaries of Canadian jobless
benefits declined by 5,220 to 523,700. From the year-ago month,
the total number of beneficiaries fell 8.1 percent, or by
46,390, the Ottawa-based agency said.

‘Easy Money’

“The potential end of easy money is coming, and that has
taken some of the steam out of the risk market,” Mark Chandler,
head of fixed-income strategy at Royal Bank of Canada (RY)’s RBC
Capital Markets unit, said by phone from Toronto. “But the
timetable for less easing is still rocky.”

The loonie fell 1 percent yesterday as Bernanke testified
in Washington that, as the outlook for the labor market
“improves in a real and sustainable way, the committee will
reduce the flow of purchases.”

The U.S. central bank is buying $85 billion of government
and mortgage debt each month to cap borrowing costs and help the
economy. Minutes of the Fed’s April 30-May 1 policy meeting
released yesterday showed that a “number” of officials were
willing to taper bond buying as early as the next meeting in
June should economic reports show evidence of sustained growth.

Flaherty’s View

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, speaking in Ottawa
yesterday, said the loosening of fiscal and monetary policies in
some countries may be increasing risks to the global economy.

Some policy makers favor “growth at any cost,” Flaherty
told a committee of lawmakers. Those authorities believe “not
only should they be doing more in fiscal policy, but they should
continue what some of them are doing in monetary policy,
printing money.”

The Canadian dollar is exhibiting some technical signs of
being oversold versus the U.S dollar, even as a strong U.S
currency trend is in place, George Davis, chief technical
analyst for fixed income and currency strategy in Toronto at
Royal Bank of Canada, wrote in a note to clients.

“This suggests a more cautious stance as the prospects of
a short-term corrective pullback are increasing,” he wrote.

The Canadian dollar has fallen 1.1 percent this week, the
most among 10 developed-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg
Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The dollar climbed 0.5 percent,
the euro advanced 0.7 percent and the yen jumped 1.2 percent.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Cordell Eddings in New York at
ceddings@bloomberg.net;
John Detrixhe in New York at
jdetrixhe1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dave Liedtka at
dliedtka@bloomberg.net

Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-23/canada-dollar-snaps-two-day-slide-amid-paring-of-easing-bets.html