Monday's Canada News Briefs
By The Associated Press, Note: All dollars are Canadian unless otherwise noted Government Could Rewrite Federal Lobbying Law
TORONTO (AP) - As creditors and employees scrambled to recover their money after the weekend collapse of Canada 3000 Inc., a lawyer representing the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee held out hope Monday that part of the airline could still be saved.
Andy Kent, of Toronto law firm McMillan Binch, said that even though no one came forward with money to keep Canada 3000 from declaring bankruptcy Sunday, trustee Deloitte & Touche Inc. will continue to look for a way to keep the business going.
``In terms of a going concern, it was obvious that somebody would have to come forward who had money,'' Kent said. ``But there may be people who are interested still in trying to do something with a part of the airline. It's very unlikely to be the whole airline but at least a part of it.''
Montreal businessman Michel Leblanc, who sold Royal Aviation to Canada 3000 earlier this year, is the obvious candidate. He said Monday he's still interested in buying back the Royal division, but would have to revise his plans now that Canada 3000 is in bankruptcy court.
Canada 3000 folded on the weekend with losses of about $700,000 a day, $45 million in debt payments due and just over $20 million in cash in the bank. It sought a loan guarantee lifeline from the federal government but couldn't meet Ottawa's tough conditions, including a viable business plan.
OTTAWA (AP) - The government is thinking of rewriting federal lobbying legislation, 15 months after a Liberal organizer with ties to Prime Minister Jean Chretien avoided prosecution because of the way the current law is worded.
``Some wording of the legislation may be unclear and could represent a barrier to effective enforcement of the act,'' Industry Minister Brian Tobin acknowledged in a report quietly tabled in the Commons last week.
``The government will undertake to consider potential amendments, where necessary, in order to address issues of this nature.''
Howard Wilson, the federal ethics counsellor who doubles as watchdog over the Lobbyists Registration Act, was more direct in an interview Monday.
He expects the government will definitely proceed with legislative amendments, although he couldn't say when.
Concern was sparked by the case of Rene Fugere, a longtime Liberal who organized on behalf of Chretien in the prime minister's riding of St-Maurice.
Fugere was investigated by the RCMP - at Wilson's request - following media reports in 1999 that he had failed to register his lobbying activities on behalf of several firms seeking grants from Ottawa.
His activities were cited by opposition MPs as part of the so-called Shawinigate affair that centered on accusations of pork-barrelling and patronage in Chretien's constituency.
The case against Fugere was dropped in August 2000, however, after federal prosecutors concluded the language of the Lobbyists Registration Act set a burden of proof too high to make a conviction probable. Arab Billionaire Donates $4.4M to Hamilton-Based Water Research Group
OTTAWA (AP) - In what is being seen as a politically significant deal, a Dubai billionaire has donated $4.4 million to a Hamilton-based research agency for water-management projects in the Middle East.
The donation by Haji Saeed Bin Ahmed Al-Lootah is the first by a private philanthropist to the UN University, an agency founded with core funding from the Canadian government in 1996.
Ralph Daley, director of the UN University, said the contract shows there are benefits in supporting the UN and addressing root causes of terrorism.
That runs counter to a study by the Council for Canadian Security in the 21st Century, which last week called for less emphasis on the UN and closer collaboration with the United States and NATO (news - web sites).
But Daley said that if the UN were dismantled another organization would have to be built to replace it.
``There's no question that, if you work backward, the terrorist situation is at least in part a result of impoverishment and lack of development in many of the countries,'' he said in an interview.
He said Al Lootah made the donation in part to support the UN, but it also reflects Canada's history as a promoter of peace and development.
THE END
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