TORONTO (Reuters) – The operator of Canada’s largest stock market has thrown its support behind a C$3.8 billion ($3.8 billion) takeover offer from a group of banks and pension funds, embracing the deal four months after a failed attempt to merge with the London Stock Exchange.

TMX Group, which owns the Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange for small-cap issues, said it would now urge shareholders to vote for a once-hostile bid from Maple Group, formed in opposition to Canadian exchanges falling under foreign ownership.

The current offer price and deal structure won’t change, the companies said in a joint statement late Sunday. But Maple agreed to the appointment of an independent chairman and other concessions to address corporate governance issues raised by TMX.

“The most substantial factor in the new agreement is Maple’s acceptance to an independent chair, which would have otherwise been investor group leader Luc Bertrand,” said Chris Damas, a TMX shareholder and president of BCMI Research.

TMX shares rose about 2 percent on Monday morning to C$43.34 a share. That is still well below Maple’s C$50 offer price, reflecting regulatory uncertainty surrounding the deal.

TMX Group said it would back Maple in seeking the necessary approvals, including clearance from the federal Competition Bureau.

The proposal could raise objections because it would put the Toronto Stock Exchange under the same ownership as its largest competitor, the Alpha Group. Many of Maple’s bank members are also owners of Alpha.

Earlier this month, Maple submitted applications related to its bid to provincial regulators in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, and British Columbia.

The battle for TMX began in February with a friendly offer from the operator of the London Stock Exchange, valued at about $3 billion at the time. LSE eventually withdrew its bid when it failed to gain sufficient shareholder support, stalling its drive to gain international heft in a consolidating exchange industry.

“Let me put it this way: I preferred the London deal to the Maple; I (now) prefer the Maple deal probably to no deal on a purely financial basis,” said Thomas Caldwell, an outspoken TMX shareholder who had expressed reservations with the Maple bid.

GOVERANCE ISSUES

Maple’s proposal, which has been extended to January 31, would create an integrated group offering trading, clearing, settlement and depository services for a broad array of financial instruments.

In addition to the appointment of an independent chairman, Maple agreed that more than half of the 15 members of the proposed board would be independent, consistent with current TMX governance rules. At least four of the current independent TMX board members would join the board of the new company.

The board will also include four nominees from Maple pension fund investors, at least one nominee from Canada’s independent investment dealer community, four nominees from Maple bank-owned participating organizations and the chief executive.

Maple’s members have also agreed to standstill agreements blocking them from raising their ownership in the exchange operator for five years after the deal’s closing.

($1 = 0.997 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Euan Rocha and Pav Jordan in Toronto and Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Frank McGurty)

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/tmx-group-supports-maples-3-8-billion-bid-041422584.html

October 31, 2011, 10:30 AM EDT

By Theophilos Argitis

(Updates with analyst comment in fourth paragraph, currency in fifth paragraph.)

Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) — Canada’s gross domestic product gained for a third month in August on higher oil production, suggesting that global market turmoil during the month didn’t derail the world’s 10th largest economy.

Real GDP rose 0.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. Economists expected a 0.2 percent gain, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey with 24 responses. The agency also raised its July growth estimate to 0.4 percent from an initially reported 0.3 percent.

The data add to evidence that growth resumed in the third quarter after shrinking in the April-to-June period, when wet weather slowed work on energy projects in western Canada and Japan’s earthquake and tsunami disrupted automobile production. The report is unlikely to prompt changes to Bank of Canada interest rates though, as policy makers gauge the longer-term impact of a deepening of Europe’s debt crisis and concerns about U.S. growth, said Royal Bank of Canada’s Paul Ferley.

The data “is probably not going to result in any shift in policy,” said Ferley, assistant chief economist at Royal Bank in Toronto, by telephone. The central bank will “probably take some comfort you’ve got more momentum in the economy to withstand the headwinds, especially if they intensify,” he said.

Dollar Outperforms

The Canadian currency, which had a fourth weekly advance last week on optimism Europe’s leaders will manage to contain the region’s crisis, outperformed a majority of its most-traded peers today. It fell 0.7 percent to 99.82 cents per U.S. dollar at 9:57 a.m. in Toronto.

Today’s GDP data suggest a 2.8 percent annualized expansion in the third quarter, Ferley said. The Bank of Canada cut its growth forecasts last week through the middle of 2012, projecting annualized growth of 2 percent in the third quarter and 0.8 percent in the final three months of this year.

The central bank’s fourth quarter forecast looks “very weak to me,” Ferley said.

Statistics Canada said energy output gained 2.8 percent in August, the third straight rise, as the industry rebounded from an earlier decline that resulted from poor weather conditions in western Canada. Spring breakup, when wet weather prevents rigs from working in marshy western Canadian fields, lasted longer than usual this year because of late snowfall. Wildfires also swept across northern Alberta, the biggest energy-producing province.

Mixed Picture

The picture was mixed in other industries with Canada’s inflation-adjusted output excluding energy unchanged in August, the statistics agency said.

The finance and insurance sector rose 1.4 percent in August, partly due to higher stock trading volume, the agency said. Other industries recording gains were construction and retail trade.

Manufacturing fell 0.4 percent and output of utilities was down 0.8 percent during the month. Wholesale trade recorded a 1.4 percent decrease.

“While sporting a snappy headline, underlying GDP growth was much less impressive,” Doug Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto, said in a note to investors. “Much as the Q2 decline for GDP was largely driven by special factors, so, too, was the Q3 rebound.”

Annual Growth

Gross domestic product grew 2.4 percent in August from the same month a year earlier, Statistics Canada said, the same as July’s revised pace.

In a separate report, the agency said the industrial product price index rose 0.4 percent in September from August, faster than the 0.2 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 13 economists.

The raw-materials price index increased 1.4 percent in September on higher prices for crude oil. The gain was larger than all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of 11 economists that had a median estimate of a 1.9 percent decrease.

Over the 12 months ending in September, industrial prices rose 5.3 percent while raw-materials costs jumped 15.2 percent, suggesting factory profit margins have been shrinking.

–With assistance by Ilan Kolet in Ottawa. Editors: Paul Badertscher, Gail DeGeorge

To contact the reporter on this story: Theophilos Argitis in Ottawa at targitis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net; David Scanlan at dscanlan@bloomberg.net.

Article source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-31/canada-s-gdp-grows-0-3-in-august-on-higher-energy-output.html

SAGUENAY, Quebec — Charles Hamelin led a Canadian sweep in the men’s 1,000 meters Sunday in a World Cup short-track speedskating event.

Hamelin, from Sainte-Julie, Quebec, won in 1 minute, 28.748 seconds. Michael Gilday was second, followed by Olivier Jean and South Korea’s Kwak Yoon-gy. Tremblay won the 500 in 41.655 seconds. Fellow Canadian Guillaume Bastille was second, and China’s Liang Wenhao was third.

In the women’s competition, Canada’s Marianne St-Gelais won the 1,000 in 1:30.710. Britain’s Elise Christie was second, followed by South Korea’s Cho Ha-ri. Italy’s Arianna Fontana won the 500 in 44.279, countryman Martina Valcepina was second and China’s Liu Qiuhong finished third.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

Article source: http://espn.go.com/olympics/speedskating/story/_/id/7171282/canada-sweeps-1000m-world-cup-short-track

Enlarge Image

Canada’s Adam Froese, right, battles for the ball against Argentina’s Rodrigo Nicolas Vila, left, during first half men’s gold medal field hockey final at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette (NATHAN DENETTE / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Enlarge Image

Canada’s goalies Antoni Kinnler, left, and David Carter shed tears after being defeated by Argentina during men’s gold medal field hockey final at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. Canada lost 3-1. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette (CP)

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – When the whistle blew to end Canada’s best hope for a berth in the London Olympics, Ken Pereira and Rob Short found each other on the pitch for a long hug that said everything.

Canada’s men’s field hockey team lost out to an old foe in its bid for an Olympic berth, dropping a heartbreaking 3-1 decision to Argentina in the gold-medal match at the Pan American Games on Saturday.

“It’s devastating, it’s been hard to keep the tears back I must say, when you see your parents, you see your family, it’s hard,” Short said. “We weren’t good enough today, the moment was too big for our team, and we showed our inexperience for this.”

Vancouver’s Scott Tupper scored the lone goal for the Canadians in the 10th consecutive gold-medal meeting between the two teams and a result that sends Argentina to the London Olympics.

The Canadians still have another shot at securing a London berth through a second-chance qualifier this spring, but it’s a difficult back-door route that Canada has never successfully navigated.

Canada still had success at the Pan Am Games, with Mandy Bujold claiming gold in women’s boxing, Richard Dalton taking gold in canoe and Ryan Cochrane and Hugues Fournel finishing first in kayak.

Along with the silver in field hockey, Canada also won silver in men’s water polo, women’s team epee fencing and women’s synchronized diving.

Canada is fifth in the standings with 118 medals (29 gold, 40 silver, 49 bronze). The United States leads with 234 medals, followed by Brazil (139), Cuba (135) and Mexico (132).

After the field hockey loss, some of the Canadian players tugged their jerseys over their faces, others lay on the pitch sobbing. Pereira pulled himself up over the stadium railing to hug his parents, plus another dozen or so Canadian fans.

The blow was a particularly cruel one for Pereira, from Unionville, Ont., and Short, from Tsawwassen, B.C., who were looking toward London for what would likely be their final Olympic appearance to cap a pair of illustrious careers. Pereira, 38, and 39-year-old Short have combined for nearly 700 national team appearances — a record 336 for Pereira and 334 for Short — an almost unheard of number in any sport.

“I love my buddy, we started playing together when I was 17 on the junior Canadian team and we’ve been together ever since,” Short said, barely holding back tears. “We’ve always played beside each other in the midfield, he’s my best friend, and this is a hard moment for us. I think there’s more tears to be shed for us.”

Their 17-year careers have taken them to two Olympic Games and now five Pan American Games. They were hoping for one more Olympics.

“Three hundred games together, it’s tough. He was ahead of me by about six or seven caps awhile ago then I caught up to him. Then just this summer he had an injury and I went two ahead of him,” Pereira said through tears. “We promised we would retire with the exact same amount of caps, we were hoping it would be in London this way, but now we’ve got to go another route.

“Hopefully it will still be there. He’s one of my best friends and he’s a great player, great captain. I’ve learned a lot for him.”

Now Canada faces a difficult route to make it to London. Eighteen teams that haven’t qualified play in three six-team tournaments, the winner of each goes to the Olympics.

“We don’t know where it’s going to be, we don’t know what teams, but this team is a tough bunch of guys, we’re not giving up yet,” said Short. “We’ll be there, we’re going to fight for it.

“I just sure hope we can make London, I’d love to retire there.”

Short earned his masters degree in coaching last year and plans to coach in the Canadian program, while Pereira will be 42 when Toronto hosts the Pan Am Games four years from now.

“I don’t know if I’ll be there,” Pereira said. “I would love to be, but we’ll see how it goes.”

Ignacio Bergner, Pedro Ibarra and Lucas Vila scored second-half goals for Argentina, who are ranked one spot behind Canada — the Canadians are 10th, while Argentina is No. 11.

Tupper scored with 10 minutes left in the first half when Pereira collected a penalty corner from Short and dished off the ball to Tupper.

“Still digesting,” Tupper said. “It’s obviously devastating. To lose a game like this, this is something you train for, for three year since the last Olympics and to have it go away in 35 minutes, it’s tough to put into words.”

Goalkeeper Antoni Kindler and Canada’s defence did well to keep Argentina off the scoreboard for most of the game until Argentina poured it on with 26 minutes left when first Bergner scored to tie the game, then Ibarra scored five minutes later on a penalty corner. Vila’s goal came on a driving shot from far out with 17 minutes left to play.

The 2,870-seat Pan American Hockey Stadium, set in a lush city park, was full and noisy. Fans banged big conga drums and blew horns. The crowd broke into spontaneous chants of “Ca-na-da!,” started each time by a large selection of Canadian athletes. Curt Harnett, former Olympic cycling star and the team’s assistant chef de mission at the Games, threw Canadian pins into the stands and waved a Maple Leaf.

Governor General David Johnston presented the medals, one of several events he had planned over a two-day visit that also included a trip to the show jumping final and a tour of the athletes village.

“It’s very exciting to see that determined group of young men who were obviously disappointed but we’re very proud of them, they did everything they could,” the Governor General said. “I said to them they symbolize a terrific effort. . . we celebrate for everyone.”

The Canadians defeated Argentina four years ago on penalty flicks at the Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to earn an Olympic berth.

Later Saturday, Bujold, from Kitchener, Ont., won the second women’s boxing gold for Canada in as many days with an 11-5 victory over Colombia’s Ingrid Valencia in 51-kilogram division. Teammate Mary Spencer won gold in the 75-kilo division on Friday.

“I’ve been calling our Canadian women’s team the female version of the (powerful) Cuban team,” Bujold said. “We’ve been doing so well and we made a lot of history this week.”

Earlier, in the men’s C1 200-metre race, 32-year-old Dalton, a native of Halifax, won in 40.333 seconds.

Nivalter De Jesus of Brazil took the silver in 40.619, while Roleysi Baez (41.403) of Cuba captured bronze.

“It was another very intense battle,” Dalton said. “I haven’t taken one second off since I made this team because I knew how tough my competition was.

“I didn’t leave anything to chance, so I’m very happy with the result.”

The win earned Canada a spot in the men’s C1 200-metre event at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Cochrane, from Windsor, Ont., and Fournel, a native of Pointe-Claire, Que., took the gold medal in the men’s K2 200-metre kayak race in 32.375.

“Usually, we would have rested after the world championships, but we just kept going,” Cochrane said. “Everything just came together. We did what we would always do and it just worked.”

Argentina’s Miguel Correa and Ruben Voizard-Resola was right behind them, earning silver in 32.494, while Brazil’s Givago Ribeiro and Gilvan Ribeiro took bronze with a time of 32.902.

In fencing, Ainsley Switzer of Ajax, Ont., Sherraine Schalm of Brooks, Alta., Daria Jorquera of Winnipeg and Sandra Sassine of Montreal settled for silver after losing 45-36 to the U.S. in the women’s team epee final.

In diving, Emilie Heymans of Greenfield Park, Que., and Jennifer Abel and Laval, Que., won silver in the women’s synchronized three-metre platform event with 336.30 points. Mexico’s Paola Espinosa and Laura Sanchez won gold with 338.70 points.

Canada collected a silver in the men’s water polo final. Kevin Graham scored twice and Dusko Dakic had a single in a 7-3 loss to the United States.

The win earns the U.S. a berth to London 2012 while Canada will play in an Olympic qualifying tournament in Edmonton next April.

Article source: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/canada-richard-dalton-races-to-canoe-gold-at-pan-american-games--132848813.html

By Rex Gowar

GUADALAJARA, Mexico |
Mon Oct 31, 2011 9:23am IST

GUADALAJARA, Mexico (Reuters) – The Vancouver Winter Olympics set a new standard for Canada in sporting achievement and this has been reflected at the Pan-American Games, assistant chef de mission Curt Harnett told Reuters.

“Canada wants to see winners out on the field, off the diving boards and in the pool. Vancouver brought that to us, it showed that we care, the athletes now know that, seeing and sensing we need to deliver that,” he said in an interview.

Canadian athletes stumbled early in Vancouver last year but went on to win 14 gold medals, a record for a host country in a Winter Olympics.

Now Canada, who want to carry that ambition through to the 2012 Olympics in London and the next Pan-Am Games to be hosted by Toronto in 2015, return home on Monday well pleased with the performance of their athletes in Guadalajara.

“We’re performance obsessed and I think that’s the key,” Harnett, a former Olympic and Pan-Am medal winner and 200 metres time trial world record holder in cycling, said on the pitch after Saturday’s men’s hockey final in which Canada lost to arch-rivals Argentina.

Harnett said the Canada team management was impressed with how their competitors performed, amassing 30 gold medals and 119 overall, finishing in fifth place behind the United States (92/236), Cuba (58/136), Brazil (48/141) and Mexico (42/133).

He said performance was measured by the different budgets of the various sports federations, the Olympic goals of some performers and teams with places at the 2012 London Games.

“Then there’s the Pan-Am only sports and to them this is their Olympic Games,” he added.

BASEBALL SURPRISE

Canada were surprise winners of the baseball gold medal that Cuba won at every one of the quadrennial Games from 1971 to 2007. The United States were runners-up in the last five Games including Guadalajara.

“The third level of objectives was a lot of up and coming competitors, athletes and basketball teams for whom I think this experience will give us a real depth on the bench in years to come,” Harnett said.

The 46-year-old said that holding the Games at home in Toronto would not be an exception in how Canada went about selecting a team in four years time.

“The policy is always reevaluated (but) relationship the COC (Canadian Olympic Committee) has with the federations would be the same as coming here, we’re happy with that,” he said.

“As much as you’d like to send top athletes all the time to the Pan-Am games, unfortunately there are other events that are maybe more important or provide other opportunities,” he said.

“There is no doubt this is a great experience for some of our future stars to cut their teeth on these type of experiences.”

Established elite performers like shot putter Dylan Armstrong, the silver medalist at the world championships this year who retained his Pan-Am title, also benefit from competition as much or more than training, Harnett said.

“This is critical for him too. Here’s a guy who wants to get that kind of experience,” he said.

DOPING LESSON

Harnett said Canada would learn from the Games’ single doping case involving water skier Aaron Rathy who tested positive for a banned stimulant and was stripped of his silver medal in wakeboard.

“It’s obvious it was an inadvertent test, it certainly taught us as an organisation that we really need to emphasise (caution) before the Games,” he said.

“Unfortunately Aaron was an alternate, sometimes you can’t get direct contact with all of the athletes. We support Aaron, he fully cooperated and we have to look forward.”

Forward means Toronto 2015 where, according to Allen Vansen, senior vice-president of operations, “we’re very focused on delivering a Games that is very Canadian, that will represent our multiculturalism and will really be a fusion of sport and culture and very accessible for everybody.

“We have a number of existing venues that are very suitable for our use. We will build five new major venues and make some renovations to 22 venues to update them,” he told reporters.

Vansen said C$700 million ($707 million) is being invested in the five new venues to be completed in mid-2014 for test events one year before the Games.

He held hopes that Toronto, who has twice bid and failed to stage the Olympic Games, could see their chances improve through hosting the Pan-Am Games.

“If we deliver an exceptional Games we will open the door,” he said.

(Editing by Frank Pingue; to query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Article source: http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/10/31/idINIndia-60208520111031

Beyond the Border, a bilateral trade initiative launched with a splash last winter by President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is purported to be a thorough sprucing-up of the continental relationship.

Good idea, long overdue. But where is it?

Since summer’s end, economics wonks on both sides of the border – but mainly the northern side – have waited with bated breath for details of the 30-point plan to be formally unveiled. When that didn’t happen by September, the substance of the accord was leaked by sources “not authorized to speak publicly on the matter” – code for bureaucrats permitted to speak on background.

The delay in the ceremonial unveiling, it was reported, was due to scheduling: Obama, a busy guy, could not find time to get together with Harper, also busy but perhaps not quite as busy as Obama, what with the world collapsing around him all the time. And so they’d wait until an opportune moment.

The accord, people familiar with its thrust say, is about process: focusing on areas such as baggage preclearance, better coordination of border enforcement, reducing customs waits for pre-cleared passengers, and the like. There’s nothing to elicit too extreme a meltdown among nationalists; just lowkey, important progress on the details of a trading relationship worth $1.7-billion a day, across a border that has become burdensomely “thicker” since 9/11.

But here we are at Halloween, and still no unveiling. What gives?

According to sources familiar with the talks, the deal is done, has been for some time. They’re still looking for a venue. The Canadian side, that is to say the Prime Minister’s Office, is holding out for a high-profile summit featuring the president and prime minister side by side, pens in hand. The Americans, for reasons of their own, are interested in something that looks a little more routine – perhaps on the margins of a larger summit, such as this week’s G20 confab in Cannes, or the APEC summit in Honolulu in mid-November.

But for reasons that remain unclear, there’s no buzz in Ottawa now about this being done at either of those international get-togethers. Indeed, the issue of timing appears to be a black box. U.S. ambassador David Jacobson has previously said it will be soon. Observers in Canada expect it before the end of this year. Beyond that, no one seems to be able to say. Neither, it’s worth noting, is there buzz around the talks having gone off the rails, which you’d expect if they had. There’s just quiet.

This may be just what it appears to be – a matter of putting the final pieces of a complex puzzle in place. The president and the PM must stand together, reinforcing the importance of the relationship for both sides and conferring their mutual blessing. Otherwise, as former Canadian ambassador to Washington Derek Burney says: “It will be nibbled to death in the bureaucracies.” They need to sell the deal.

Fair enough. But at what point does it become imperative for Canada to get this done sooner, not later, lest it be subsumed by the U.S. presidential election cycle and a political dynamic increasingly driven by protectionism?

Article source: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/todays-paper/Canada+needs+push+trade+pact+before+gets+cold+feet/5631491/story.html

The unseasonable October storm that dumped up to 70 centimetres of snow on parts of the northeastern United States surged into Atlantic Canada on Sunday, bringing wind, rain and snow and triggering more than 40,000 power outages.

RCMP say the weather was a possible factor in at least two fatal motor vehicle accidents — a three-vehicle crash near Kent Junction, N.B., in which three people were killed, and a single-vehicle accident on Route 3 near Pooles Corner in Kings County, P.E.I.

The last of the Environment Canada weather warnings in the Maritimes had been lifted by 2:15 AT Monday, but rain, snow and wind were zeroing in on Newfoundland overnight Sunday and into Monday morning.

Police in much of Newfoundland urged motorists to be cautious. RCMP said roads in central and western Newfoundland were particularly treacherous. Most roads west of Glovertown were snow-covered and slippery early Monday.

The winter-like storm had knocked out power in several parts of Corner Brook overnight, and outages were persistent early Monday on the Port au Port Peninsula, on the island’s west coast, as well as in the northeast community of Fortune Harbour.

Up to 25 centimetres of snow was expected for inland portions of the south coast, western and central Newfoundland, while up to 30 millimetres of rain was expected along the south coast and eastern Newfoundland.

Halifax residents had to deal with soggy driving conditions on Quinpool Road. Christina Copp/CBC

The system was also expected to bring strong northeasterly winds to much of the island, with winds gusts up to 120 km/h expected for parts of the south coast. Though the winds were expected to die down overnight, high waves and pounding surf were forecast along the east coast from Bonavista Bay to Cape Race, with flooding possible.

Newfoundland Power’s web site was reporting outages in multiple communities across the island, with power expected to be restored between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. NT, depending on the area.

Power outages across the Maritimes

NB Power reported more than 3,300 outages Sunday evening across New Brunswick, but that number had fallen to about 800 by 3 a.m. AT.

High winds and pounding surf caused a boat carrying two men to crash against the rocks near the Royal Kennebeccasis Yacht Club in Saint John. The men were able to get to shore on their own. They were wet and cold, but otherwise OK.

On Prince Edward Island, there were 2,000 Maritime Electric customers without power Sunday evening in the areas of East Point and Grand Tracadie.

In Halifax, rainfall and heavy winds Sunday caused flooding in some streets.

The Cobequid Pass toll plaza on Highway 104 saw snow, rain and high winds. The CBC’s Donna Allen reported early Sunday evening there was heavy rain on either side of the pass with snow on the top of the pass. Road conditions were slippery in places.

Early Sunday evening, more than 35,000 customers were without power in the Nova Scotia communities of southern Cape Breton, Chester, Dartmouth, Bridgetown, Digby, Barrington, Kentville, Cheticamp and Ingonish. That number had dropped to about 17,000 by 3 a.m.

Rough seas forced Northumberland Ferries to suspend service all day Sunday between P.E.I. and Nova Scotia. Confederation Bridge was closed to high-sided vehicles most of Sunday afternoon and into the evening due to strong gusts between 80 to 105 km/h.

The storm’s effects were being felt as far away as Quebec City, which saw flurries early Sunday morning.

Storm blamed for 11 U.S. deaths

In the U.S., the freak storm knocked out power to more than 3.1 million homes and businesses across the northeast, smashing snowfall totals for October.

Communities in western Massachusetts were among the hardest hit. Snowfall totals topped 68.6 centimetres in Plainfield, and nearby Windsor had been covered by 66 centimetres by early Sunday.

The storm was blamed for at least 11 deaths, and states of emergency were declared in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and parts of New York.

Roads, rails and airline flights were knocked out, and passengers on a JetBlue flight were stuck on a plane in Hartford, Connecticut, for more than seven hours on Saturday.

More than 800,000 power customers were without electricity in Connecticut alone — shattering the record set in August by Hurricane Irene. Massachusetts had more than 670,000 outages, and New Jersey more than 600,000.

Parts of Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, New York, Maine, Maryland and Vermont also were without power.

Saturday was only the fourth snowy October day in New York’s Central Park since record-keeping began 135 years ago.

With files from The Associated Press

Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/10/31/maritimes-weather-snow-storm.html

By Rex Gowar

GUADALAJARA, Mexico |
Sun Oct 30, 2011 8:37pm EDT

GUADALAJARA, Mexico Oct 30 (Reuters) – Two interception
tries from Conor Trainor spurred Canada to a 26-24 upset victory
over Argentina in the gold medal match in the inaugural rugby
sevens tournament at the Pan-American Games on Sunday.

The two-point winning margin ultimately derived from Nathan
Hirayama’s fine conversion kick from the left touchline after
Canada’s first try but it was Trainor’s successful forays into
the Argentina backline that kept his team in the match.

“This time last year he was on the fringe of going to the
World Cup and he’s just come back from the World Cup (where he)
scored two tries against New Zealand. Now he’s got a gold medal
here,” Canada coach Geraint John said of Trainor after the medal
ceremony.

“He’s a very instinctive player … Sometimes as a coach we
tell them not to do it because it can put us out of our
structure, but it worked,” John added.

The curly-haired, 21-year-old Trainor said: “I’m sure the
coaches were pretty unhappy while I was running but I’m sure
their hearts lifted when they saw me catch the ball and go in.”

Rugby, which has also been played at the Commonwealth Games,
will return to the Olympic Games in the sevens format at Rio de
Janeiro in 2016.

The United States, last winners of the Olympic gold medal in
rugby in Paris in 1924, were third at the Pan-American Games
after beating Uruguay 21-17 for the bronze medal.

In the gold medal final, favourites Argentina went ahead
with a converted try under the posts by Gabriel Azcarate with
John Moonlight touching down in the left corner in a Canadian
breakaway and Hirayama converting to put the teams level at 7-7.

Francisco Cuneo crossed to give Argentina a 12-7 lead at the
interval but Moonlight scored his second try soon after the
restart and Trainor’s first intercept gave Canada the lead for
the first time.

Replacement Ramiro Moyano scored under the posts at the
other end and Gonzalo Gutierrez converted to put Argentina level
again at 19-19.

But Trainor, who scored his two tries against eventual
champions New Zealand in a pool match at the World Cup, made
another interception when Argentina lost possession in a tackle.

Hirayama’s conversion gave them a seven-point cushion going
into the final seconds.

Argentina kept the ball in play after the siren and
replacement Joaquin Luccheti went over for their last,
potentially match-saving try but Gutierrez failed to slot in the
conversion from out on the left where Hirayama had been
successful earlier.

“In the last couple of years we’ve been losing games we were
in the other team with by two, three points, often that came
down to a conversion so we’ve worked on it a bit,” an elated
Hirayama said.

Argentina’s coach Nicolas Fernandez Lobbe, middle brother of
Pumas Ignacio and Juan Martin, said his team had lost because of
their own mistakes.

“We had two errors, two interceptions in moments when we had
got on top. I think that affected us, but we played badly, I
think we lost it,” Fernandez Lobbe told Reuters.

Asked if Argentina’s game was easy to read, he said: “That’s
how to play sevens, especially a final when there’s a lot of
fatigue, you have to focus more on the system.

“In fact, (Hirayama’s first) conversion, which scraped over
‘asking for permission’, cost us the match.”

(Editing by Nick Mulvenney; to query or comment on this story
email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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Article source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/31/games-panam-rugby-idUSLDE79T00O20111031

Canada finished off the final medal podium for the first time in more than 50 years at the Pan American Games, nudged off by a proud host Mexican team and a Brazilian squad building toward the 2016 Summer Olympics.

But Canadian Olympic Committee officials said its difficult to gauge success from these Games, saying they won’t have much bearing on how Canada will do on the pitch and in the pool nine months from now in London.

More related to this story

• Mexico passes Pan Am torch to Toronto
• Canada wins Pan Am rugby gold
• Mary Spencer named flag-bearer for Pan Am closing ceremony

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Canadian standouts at the Pan Am Games

The Canadian team’s goal for these Games weren’t about winning medals but rather penning names on tickets to London.

“We achieved our primary objective. Canada is on track to success in London,” said Caroline Assalian, the COC’s chief sport officer.

Canada had 119 medals — 30 gold, 40 silver, and 49 bronze — to finish fifth behind the United States (236), Brazil (141), Cuba (136), and Mexico (133) on Sunday.

The last time Canada failed to finish in the top three was at the 1959 Pan Am Games in Chicago. The Canadians won 137 medals four years ago in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But Mexico rode the swell of pride as host country to just miss the podium, and Brazil fielded a strong team intent on gaining ground as it builds toward the Olympics five years from now in Rio.

And fielding a Canadian team comprised of a mixed bag of athletes — some sports such as track and field and swimming sent developmental teams to the Games, while others such as field hockey and water polo had their top teams gunning for tickets to London — Canada’s main goal was securing Olympic berths.

Canadians earned eight — two each in synchronized swimming and canoeing, and one in equestrian, shooting, table tennis, and modern pentathlon — two more Olympics spots than the team clinched in Rio.

Canada also claimed first-ever Pan Am titles in women’s soccer and men’s baseball, and Canada’s Mary Spencer and Mandy Bujold made history as the first gold medallists in women’s boxing, which made its debut at the Games.

“The best way to gauge Olympic success is not by looking at the results at these Games, instead to look how Canada is doing internationally at the world championships that are going on,” Assalian said. “To date, with 80 per cent of the world championships complete, Canada has already earned more medals at 2011 world championships than it did four years ago leading into Beijing.”

The 26-year-old Spencer capped an historic Games by carrying Canada’s flag in Sunday’s closing ceremonies at Omnilife Stadium. The boxer from Windsor, Ont., who’ll be a favourite to claim gold when women’s boxing makes its debut in London, said the experience gained in Mexico was invaluable.

“I just imagine the Olympics is going to be very similar, just on a larger scale. It’s definitely good to have this kind of exposure before being thrown in the fire at the Olympics for the first time,” said Spencer.

Now, the focus switches to Toronto, host of the Pan Am Games four years from now. Some two dozen officials from Toronto’s organizing committee spent three weeks in Guadalajara soaking up lessons on how to run the Games. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was to receive the Pan Am Games flag at the closing ceremonies in the traditional handover between host cities.

“This road is coming to an end, as of Monday the road to the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games will lead us back home,” said COC president Marcel Aubut. “The road will culminate when team Canada enters a thunderous stadium at home in Toronto just as they did so well in Vancouver, Canadians will be cheering for our great athletes at the next Pan Am Games in Toronto.”

Article source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/more-sports/canada-bumped-off-the-pan-am-podium/article2219254/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Sports&utm_content=2219254

GUADALAJARA, Mexico (Reuters) – Two interception tries from Conor Trainor spurred Canada to a 26-24 upset victory over Argentina in the gold medal match in the inaugural rugby sevens tournament at the Pan-American Games on Sunday.

The two-point winning margin ultimately derived from Nathan Hirayama’s fine conversion kick from the left touchline after Canada’s first try but it was Trainor’s successful forays into the Argentina backline that kept his team in the match.

“This time last year he was on the fringe of going to the World Cup and he’s just come back from the World Cup (where he) scored two tries against New Zealand. Now he’s got a gold medal here,” Canada coach Geraint John said of Trainor after the medal ceremony.

“He’s a very instinctive player … Sometimes as a coach we tell them not to do it because it can put us out of our structure, but it worked,” John added.

The curly-haired, 21-year-old Trainor said: “I’m sure the coaches were pretty unhappy while I was running but I’m sure their hearts lifted when they saw me catch the ball and go in.”

Rugby, which has also been played at the Commonwealth Games, will return to the Olympic Games in the sevens format at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

The United States, last winners of the Olympic gold medal in rugby in Paris in 1924, were third at the Pan-American Games after beating Uruguay 21-17 for the bronze medal.

In the gold medal final, favourites Argentina went ahead with a converted try under the posts by Gabriel Azcarate with John Moonlight touching down in the left corner in a Canadian breakaway and Hirayama converting to put the teams level at 7-7.

Francisco Cuneo crossed to give Argentina a 12-7 lead at the interval but Moonlight scored his second try soon after the restart and Trainor’s first intercept gave Canada the lead for the first time.

Replacement Ramiro Moyano scored under the posts at the other end and Gonzalo Gutierrez converted to put Argentina level again at 19-19.

But Trainor, who scored his two tries against eventual champions New Zealand in a pool match at the World Cup, made another interception when Argentina lost possession in a tackle.

Hirayama’s conversion gave them a seven-point cushion going into the final seconds.

Argentina kept the ball in play after the siren and replacement Joaquin Luccheti went over for their last, potentially match-saving try but Gutierrez failed to slot in the conversion from out on the left where Hirayama had been successful earlier.

“In the last couple of years we’ve been losing games we were in the other team with by two, three points, often that came down to a conversion so we’ve worked on it a bit,” an elated Hirayama said.

Argentina’s coach Nicolas Fernandez Lobbe, middle brother of Pumas Ignacio and Juan Martin, said his team had lost because of their own mistakes.

“We had two errors, two interceptions in moments when we had got on top. I think that affected us, but we played badly, I think we lost it,” Fernandez Lobbe told Reuters.

Asked if Argentina’s game was easy to read, he said: “That’s how to play sevens, especially a final when there’s a lot of fatigue, you have to focus more on the system.

“In fact, (Hirayama’s first) conversion, which scraped over ‘asking for permission’, cost us the match.” (Editing by Nick Mulvenney)

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/canada-upset-argentina-win-inaugural-pan-am-rugby-003835509.html