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You can listen to a quick summary of the top headlines from the country's top newspapers plus get The Hill Datebook and Parliamentary Birthdays by clicking on my profile at AudioBoo.fm. At that page, take a look at the links under my picture. You can subscribe to these audio podcasts through iTunes or get them automatically through your favourite RSS reader. Here's this morning's headlines:

You can listen to a quick summary of the top headlines from the country's top newspapers by clicking on my profile at AudioBoo.fm. At that page, take a look at the links under my picture. You can subscribe to these audio podcasts through iTunes or get them automatically through your favourite RSS reader. Here's this morning's headlines:

You can listen to a quick summary of the top headlines from the country's top newspapers by clicking on my profile at AudioBoo.fm. At that page, take a look at the links under my picture. You can subscribe to these audio podcasts through iTunes or get them automatically through your favourite RSS reader. Here's this morning's headlines:

The loonie is flying (left, the Cdn vs U.S. currency since July 1), great news for those buying things from Americans but lousy news for anyone who, like most exporters, sells things to Americans.

Consumers tend to cheer a loonie that's close to par with the American greenback and for good reason. Because the world oil market works through U.S. dollars (even the oil produced and sold in Canada, believe it or not), a strong loonie keeps energy prices relatively low. Lettuce from California and broccoli from Florida will be (or ought to be) cheaper for Canadians.

But we're in a recession, not because of American broccoli or lettuce was getting a bit pricey, but because not enough people are working. And a high loonie works against a jobs recovery because, for many manufacturers, a Canadian worker has just become relatively more expensive than, say, a worker in South Carolina. Given the option of ramping up production in the U.S. or in Canada, a multinational manufacturer will find it makes more economic sense where workers are cheaper and that ain't Canada when our dollar is worth 97 cents.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, speaking in Vancouver, seems to agree with Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney that this scenario ain't a good one but, on the other hand, he doesn't think the loonie's strength threatens, at this point, to derail the recovery here:

We know that Canada's economy is relatively stronger than certainly virtually any other developed country, industrialized economy, certainly stronger than all of the G7 economies and stronger than most in the developed world.

And obviously, some of these factors, you know, will have something to do with the rise of the dollar.

That said, the governor of the Bank of Canada has been clear that too rapid a rise in the dollar is a risk to our recovery.

As we have said before, we are not out of the woods. There are many risks., some of them within our control, some of them beyond our control and obviously, the value of the Canadian dollar is a risk to recovery.

I don't think it's a risk to choking off the recovery but if it goes up too rapidly, it does have difficult effects on our economy. That's why the governor has expressed those concerns.

Arguably the funniest bit ever on an American sitcom … Happy Thanksgiving all!

Over the weekend, I filed a story based on the contents in this briefing note, a memo to Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt from her deputy minister, Cassie Doyle. (See: Environmental impact of ethanol use overstated, government warned, Oct 1, 2009) Feel free to download the briefing note yourself.
Here's some key chunks:

• The Gcvemment of Canada must fully assess the implications of actively promoting the production and use of E85 in Canada.
• The voluntary Company Average Fuel Consumption (CAFC) program in Canada provides a fuel consumption credit for the production and sale of alternative fuel vehicles. The vast majority of the credits currently being allocated to manufacturers are for the production of [Flex Fuel Vehicles] FFVs. Given that E85 is not sold in significant quantities, these credits are not tied to actual GHG emission reductions because Canada's FFVs are fuelled almost exclusively with gasoline.
• NRCan's life-cycle analysis of E85 fuel shows GHG emission reductions in the order of approximately 35-40 percent, depending on the feedstock used to produce the ethanol (e.g. com, wheat, ete.). for FFVs operating on E85 compared to these same vehicles operating on gasoline. However, the regulated mandate for renewable alternatives to gasoline will deliver an equivalent GHG emission reduction regardless of whether it is through the use of E10 or E85 ethanol blends.

NDP MP Paul Dewar riffs off of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's performance on Saturday of the Beatle's classic “With a Little Help From My Friends” with this statement, delivered moments ago in the House of Commons:

Mr. Speaker, we saw the Prime Minister's attempt to sing a new song on the weekend.

While those in attendance at National Arts Centre's gala enjoyed the Prime Minister's show, the question is will he honestly change his tune when it comes to supporting the arts? Will he take a sad song and make it better?

For example, will he check the math of his heritage minister? This Minister has inflated the costs of the proposed national portrait gallery by 50 million dollars. Money can't buy you love, but you can invest in a portrait gallery with many fewer notes.

Will he clarify the minister's “twist and shout” on the portrait gallery? Or will the Prime Minister allow disharmony to continue and simply Let it Be?

Millions of dollars have already been invested in preparing the former US embassy for use as our national portrait gallery. Canadians want to know what the government is planning to do with this space now that they have decided to cancel the gallery. Do they have a plan or is it just a Magical Mystery Tour?

Mr. Speaker, if he truly wants to sing a new song on the arts, and not just be a “day tripper,” I ask the Prime Minister to stop “hiding his love away” and start supporting the portrait gallery.

Michelle Higgins, writing at the “In Transit” blog on the New York Times site says that both IOC voters and U.S. tourism industry associations say that, for too many foreigners, it's just no fun entering the U.S. and that may have been one of the reasons Obama's charm could not sway IOC voters in Copenhagen:

Among the toughest questions posed to the Chicago bid team this week in Copenhagen was one that raised the issue of what kind of welcome foreigners would get from airport officials when they arrived in this country to attend the Games. Syed Shahid Ali, an I.O.C. member from Pakistan, in the question-and-answer session following Chicago’s official presentation, pointed out that entering the United States can be “a rather harrowing experience.””

Once the news came out that Chicago lost its Olympic bid, the U.S. Travel Association didn’t miss an opportunity to point that out, sending out a critical press release within hours.

“It’s clear the United States still has a lot of work to do to restore its place as a premier travel destination,” Roger Dow, U.S. Travel’s president, said in the statement released today. “When IOC members are commenting to our President that foreign visitors find traveling to the United States a ‘pretty harrowing experience,’ we need to take seriously the challenge of reforming our entry process to ensure there is a welcome mat to our friends around the world, even as we ensure a secure system.”

[Read the rest of Higgins' post]

The National Bank released its monthly house price index. The most recent month for which data is available is July.

The bank found that the national average for a home price fell 5.1 per cent in July compared to the same month last year.

But the bank also found that, for the first time in 13 months, the average price in July rose — in every region of the country — compared to the prior month.

Some more details:

The July monthly rises were 2.6% in Ottawa, 2.2% in Toronto, 1.5% in Vancouver, 0.8% in Halifax, 0.7% in Montreal and 1.0% in Calgary. For Calgary it was a first monthly rise after 12 consecutive months of decline. In three of the six markets surveyed, July prices were also above the pre-recession peak, as Halifax and Ottawa joined Montreal on this score. In the other markets, prices were still below those of a year earlier. The decline was 4.6% in Toronto, 9.3% in Vancouver and 11.1% in Calgary.