Bản tin tiếng Anh - Canada now

`Hardship'' consideration became hard-hearted
ALLAN THOMPSON
It looks as if thousands of illegal immigrants who are working under the table may soon be allowed to regularize their status and get a temporary worker permit from the immigration department.
This is the same department that routinely turns down applications from illegal immigrants who are married to Canadians and want to remain in Canada on humanitarian grounds while their spousal immigration applications are processed.
Go figure.
Citizenship and Immigration Minister Denis Coderre announced last week that he hopes to establish a pilot project to grant temporary worker permits to illegal immigrants who are already working in the country. The initiative is set to begin in Ontario''s worker-hungry construction sector and could be extended to include the textile and service sectors as well.
For many people, this virtual amnesty is good news. The workers will likely be given two-year temporary permits and become eligible to apply for permanent resident status when the permits run out. Tens of thousands of illegal workers could eventually be eligible.
The logic is that if these workers are desperately needed in Canada''s economy and have committed no crime (other than breaking immigration rules), then it makes sense to keep them here. "Using immigration as an economic issue is very important to the future government," Coderre told reporters last week.
But his officials continue to take a hard line with another class of illegal immigrants, the thousands who have family ties to Canada through marriage or common-law partnership.
Many of these people, including rejected refugee claimants and visitors who overstayed a visa, have been living in this country without status for years.
The immigration department used to routinely allow people who were married to Canadians to stay in the country while their applications for landed immigrant status were processed. To separate them from their spouses and children by forcing them *****bmit an immigration application from overseas was deemed to pose an "undue hardship." The only hurdle was demonstrating that the marriage was bona fide.
But a rule change imposed last year â?" but buried in the fine print in an obscure policy manual â?" effectively revoked the informal exemption that had been in place for more than 20 years. It created two categories of spousal applicants:
Those who are in Canada legally as visitors, students or temporary workers are automatically allowed to remain in the country while their spousal immigration applications are processed.
But spousal applicants who are in Canada without status have to convince immigration officials that they should be allowed to await processing from within Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
The new manual rejected the notion of undue hardship and stated that being married to a Canadian, in and of itself, was not enough to allow an applicant to stay in this country on humanitarian grounds. Immigration officers now tell such applicants that the prospect of being separated from their spouse, or even children, for months at a time does not amount to undue hardship.
The processing time for a spousal sponsorship submitted overseas is at least four months and can be as long as two years.
The irony is that the vast majority of spousal applicants are eventually accepted and allowed to return to Canada. But even though the vast majority of such spousal applicants are eventually allowed to settle in Canada, immigration officials are reluctant to let them stay in Canada while their files are being processed.
Critics say the rule change has resulted in many couples being torn apart for months or years while applications work their way through the system. That contradicts the policy of keeping families together.
Immigration officials say they want immigration applications filed from outside Canada. The rule was changed to eliminate a "pull factor" for illegal immigrants created when people who were in Canada illegally could stay while using marriage as a way to attain permanent residency.
Immigration officials say they don''t want to encourage people to stay in Canada illegally, then use marriage as a way to stay. That would create a "pull factor" for illegal immigrants. That said, Coderre will have to explain why he thinks it is okay for illegal workers who are living underground in Canada to jump the queue and get status while people who are married to Canadians are shown the door.

Ontario electricity rates to rise

By DARREN YOURK
Globe and Mail Update



Ontario''s new Liberal government broke another of its key campaign promises Tuesday, raising retail electricity rates across the province.
Energy Minister Dwight Duncan introduced a bill at Queens Park on Tuesday that will keep the current cap in place at 4.3 cents a kilowatt hour until next spring.
Starting April 1, the cap will rise to 4.7 cents/kwh and a new two-tiered pricing system for based on energy consumption will be introduced.
The new price will apply for the first 750 kilowatt hours of usage by homeowners and small businesses. Any use above the 750 hour limit rate will cost consumers 5.5 cents/kwh.
õ?oThe electricity price freeze is contributing to the $5.6-billion deficit at the rate of hundreds of millions of dollars a year,õ? Mr. Duncan told the House after tabling the bill. õ?oIn fact, since the price cap was put in place more than a year ago it has cost all of us over $800-million.õ?
õ?oIf we are to provide the people of Ontario with the service the expect and deserve, the 4.3 cent electricity price freeze simply cannot be sustained.õ?
Under the Liberal''s proposed legislation, the new pricing plan would stay in place until the independent Ontario Energy Board develops new mechanisms for setting prices in the future, expected to be in place no later than May 1, 2005.
Eliminating the cap on power rates is expected to save around $700-million annually. Electricity, capped at 4.3Â/kwh for consumers, actually cost an average of 5.9Â/kwh in October, with public coffers making up the difference.
Mr. Duncan said the new bill is a responsible, fair and predictable solution possible for consumers.
õ?oSince the proposed interim pricing plan wouldn''t take effect until April, consumers would have a chance to review their energy use, take conservation measures and as a result, limit the impact on their electricity bill,õ? he said.
Premier Dalton McGuinty pledged during the election campaign to keep the hydro rate cap at 4.3 cents a kilowatt hour in place until 2006.
In a speech to the Economic Club of Toronto on Oct. 30, however, he said he would have to eliminate the rate cap to help reduce the $5.6-billion deficit independent au***or Erik Peters found after Mr. McGuinty asked him to examine the province''s books.
On Tuesday the Premier admitted that public institutions like hospitals and schools could find themselves squeezed by the higher prices, but said he had little choice.
õ?oIf we stop subsidizing electricity prices in the province of Ontario, which cost us somewhere between $700-million and $800-million this past year, we''ll be in a better position financially to provide real, meaningful help to all of our transfer partners,õ? he told reporters Tuesday.
Tory MPP Cam Jackson accused the Premier of breaking trust with Ontarians, saying the new Liberal bill is a knee-jerk reaction to a õ?omanufactured deficit projection.õ?
õ?oYou knew all along you were going to change this cap,õ? he said. õ?oThere''s no way you''ll convince this province that you had some revelation after [Erik] Peters'' report. You knew all along. This was deliberate, this was deceptive and this was willful on your part to make this change.õ?
The former Tory government reimposed the freeze in 2002 after being swamped with complaints from irate consumers who had watched their power costs skyrocket during months of unregulated pricing.
Initially, Mr. McGuinty had criticized the Tory government''s decision to put a cap on the retail price, but he adopted the government''s price cap as his party''s own policy amid the public furor.
õ?oWe have to move forward,õ? Mr. Duncan said Tuesday. õ?oWe believe the responsible thing now is to acknowledge that the cap didn''t work. It was the wrong public policy, and we''re ready to move forward in what we consider to be a responsible fashion.õ?
õ?oIf we don''t deal with this, if we don''t conserve, we''re going to have big problems down the road.õ?

Canada tops G-7 list on spending for education
We also score well on post-secondary training, but our high-school graduation rates lag behind

OTTAWA -- Canada ranks first among major industrialized countries in education spending, just ahead of the United States, indicates a new report released Tuesday.
In 1999-2000, spending on education represented 6.6 per cent of the Canadian gross domestic product, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, says the report by the Canadian Education Statistics Council.
That puts Canada first among the G-7 countries -- also including France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom -- in 1999 in percentage of the GDP allocated to education, notes the council, a partnership between Statistics Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education.
While at least one observer said the report suggests Canada is making strides in boosting education, one of the authors warned against complacency.
Dr. Paul Cappon, director-general of the ministers'' council, said provinces and educators should continue to focus on improving Canada''s education standing and performance world wide.
"Canada has always been a high-expen***ure country, but the question is, will we have that over the next few years," Cappon said in an interview.
The report notes that until 2000, governments in Canada had spent more on education than health. A year later, education accounted for 15 per cent of their total expen***ure, compared with 17 per cent for health.
"I''ve checked those numbers three times. It is surprising. You hear a lot more about the health system, but there''s a high level of spending in education," Francois Nault, assistant director of the Centre for Education Statistics at Statistics Canada, said in an interview.
The reversal in priorities occurred after six of the 10 provinces cut spending to elementary and secondary schools from 1998-99 to 2001-02, even though enrolment mostly increased or remained stable.
The most dramatic reduction occurred in Ontario, where government spending dropped from $16.49 billion in the academic year of 1998-99 to $14.97 billion in 2001-02, in 2001 dollars. In one year during this period, student enrolment jumped by 31,963.
The report on education indicators shows the school system will soon get a reprieve after watching enrolment grow by six per cent in the 1990s. Due to the recent drop in births, Canada can expect the population aged five to 13 to decline by an estimated 14 per cent between 2001 and 2011, after peaking at 3.7 million children in 2001.
A corresponding decline can be expected for those aged 14 to 18 between 2006 and 2016.
The report says all jurisdictions should experience a period of declining school-age population at some point in the next two decades. However, the report cautions that uncertain international and interprovincial migration could boost school enrolment in a few provinces, including Ontario and B.C.
Meanwhile, Canada can lay claim to having the highest proportion of working-age population with college or university credentials among all OECD countries.
In 2001, 41 per cent had either a college or university education, compared to 37 per cent in the U.S., 36 per cent in Ireland, and 34 per cent in Japan.
The population aged 25 to 34 in 2001 is the most highly educated ever: 61 per cent have credentials beyond high school.
Still, Canada''s high school graduation rate is hardly stellar. It increased slightly in the late 1990s, climbing to 78 per cent in 2000, but remains well below that of Japan (94 per cent), Germany (91 per cent) and France (84 per cent).
Nault says the two trends are not contradictory because Canada''s immigrants are so well educated. "You have an influx in immigrants in our population that are very educated, and our school system is turning out a lot of graduates. The mix of immigrants and the Canadian-educated people keeps us in the lead."
Despite gains in recent years, aboriginal youth in Canada are still the most likely to drop out of high school; in 2001, the proportion of aboriginal people with a high school diploma was 23 per cent.
The report also points to other areas of improvement.
In 2000, there were on average seven students per computer in a Canadian school, compared to the OECD average of 31 students; the U.S. and Australia lead the pack, with six students per computer.
Still, the percentage of students in Canada who regularly used computers at school (39 per cent) was only slightly higher than the average across OECD countries (38 per cent), with higher percentages in Australia (50 per cent) and Sweden (45 per cent).
The report also shows an over-all decline on education spending in comparison to other social programs.
The three largest areas of government spending -- social services, health and education -- accounted for 58 per cent in all public expen***ures in 2001, compared with 52 per cent in 1990, an increase in six percentage points.
By comparison, education expen***ure grew by less than half a percentage point over this period, the report states .
â Copyright 2003 Vancouver Sun

Một vụ án gây nhiều tranh cãi trong nhưng ngày qua tại Manitoba.
Manitoba orders review of Driskell case
By ALLISON DUNFIELD
Globe and Mail Update with Canadian Press


The Manitoba government has ordered an independent review of the case of James Driskell after suspicions were raised that he had been wrongly convicted of murder.
Of particular concern is the way prosecutors handled documents disclosed in the Driskell matter, a statement from the provincial justice department said.
Retired provincial court judge John Enns will oversee the probe.
?oRecent developments have raised concerns over the handling of disclosure documents relating to the Driskell matter,? said Gord Mackintosh, Manitoba''s Justice Minister, in a statement.
?oThese developments can impact public confidence in the justice system and need to be examined by an independent reviewer.?
Mr. Mackintosh said the probe will look at whether police handed over key evidence in the case to prosecutors and whether the prosecutors in turn handed it over to Mr. Driskell''s lawyer.
Mr. Driskell has spent more than a decade behind bars following his 1991 conviction for the fatal shooting of his friend Perry Harder.
The federal Justice Department is already reviewing the case, in part because DNA tests conducted last year on crucial hair evidence raised doubts about Mr. Driskell''s guilt.
As well, Mr. Driskell''s original lawyer says he was never given important information about the case, including the fact that police had doubts about a key Crown witness.
Mr. Mackintosh said Judge Enns will:
---examine the issue of disclosure in the prosecutions department, related both past and present procedures
---decide if appropriate safeguards are in place; and compare the police review with the prosecution''s files.
Mr. Mackintosh said he wants the findings to be transparent as long as it is determined that the release of the information won''t jeopardize the legal proceedings.
?oWe are presently dealing with matters that happened many years ago,? Mr. Mackintosh said . ?oWe need to have an independent set of eyes review this matter to permit the department to move forward in a sure-footed manner.?
Mr. Driskell will be in court Thursday to ask that he be released from prison while his case is reviewed.

Các bác ở Montreal vui thật, bây giờ các bác có cả quán cafe Marijuana.
Marijuana cafe opens in Montreal

Canadian Press
Several dozen Montrealers experienced high times on Saturday as a marijuana cafe opened its doors less than a block away from a police station.
"The music, the atmosphere...it''s amazing," said Antoine Debast, 23, peering through a thick haze of smoke at the hustle and bustle at Chez Marijane.
"This is more like a rave than a cafe."
Hugo St-Onge, leader of Quebec''s Bloc Pot party, was all smiles as he cut a red, black and green ribbon and declared the cafe officially open.
"It''s time to stop the persecution," St-Onge said on the cafe steps as trucks passed by honking support.
"Here at Chez Marijane (people) can come to express themselves and share their culture in a friendly and secure environment."
The cafe will not sell pot, but people can bring their own to smoke, St-Onge said.
Possession of even small amounts of pot is illegal and police said last week they would enforce the law.
Police did keep an eye on the cafe Saturday but had not intervened three hours after its opening.

Không hiểu một người phải ngồi tù 13 năm như trường hợp của Driskell rồi sau đó được kết luận là không guilty thì có được hưởng lợi nhuận gì từ chính phủ không nhỉ?
Manitoba judge releases Driskell on bail

By GREAME SMITHE
From Saturday''s Globe and Mail

Pale and frightened, James Driskell stepped into the cold sunlight of a Winnipeg winter yesterday and savoured his first moment of freedom in more than 13 years.
Earlier that morning, a judge granted Mr. Driskell bail pending a review of his murder conviction, saying that new evidence raised "very serious concerns about the accuracy of the conviction."
That allowed Mr. Driskell to walk out of a downtown courthouse without handcuffs and leg irons ?" a new experience he said was bewildering. "It''s very scary right now," he said. "I focused strictly on doing time, a long time. I didn''t put hope into anything. It''s kind of a shock."
The judge who released Mr. Driskell also expressed shock at some of the evidence presented in court.
In his oral decision, Mr. Justice John Scurfield of Manitoba''s Court of Queen''s Bench said that either the new DNA evidence in the case or the facts that emerged about two key witnesses would have been enough to affect jury deliberations in Mr. Driskell''s 1991 trial.
That trial found him guilty of killing his friend, Perry Dean Harder, partly on the basis of three hairs found in Mr. Driskell''s van that a police expert testified had come from the victim. It was the only piece of physical evidence linking Mr. Driskell with the crime. Years later, a DNA test showed that the hairs didn''t belong to Mr. Harder and, in fact, came from three different people.
"It proves that a material piece of evidence upon which the jury may have relied was wrong," Judge Scurfield said.
Other reasons for thinking the jury may have decided differently, the judge said, were undisclosed payments of at least $70,000 to witnesses, and the secret belief of key witness Ray Zanidean that he was exchanging his testimony for immunity against arson charges he was facing in Saskatchewan.
"It is reasonable to conclude that the evidence of payment to the witnesses together with Mr. Zanidean''s belief that he was obtaining immunity in respect of a serious charge could have constituted the straw that broke the jury''s confidence in these witnesses," the judge said.
Citing the fact that Mr. Zanidean later recanted his testimony, and the Crown''s failure to disclose many of these items despite the urgings of Saskatchewan''s Justice Department, Judge Scurfield concluded that the case against Mr. Driskell was flawed.
"The new evidence does not simply identify procedural irregularities as suggested by the Crown. It goes to the heart of their case."
At a press conference, Mr. Driskell said he''s grateful to the court and to the lawyers who worked countless unpaid hours to gain his freedom. The 45-year-old said he plans to spend some quiet time with his eight children and 12 grandchildren, before eventually brushing up on his skills in carpentry, automotive or electrical work and considering the many job offers he''s received.
Under his bail con***ions, he cannot leave Manitoba and must obey a curfew at his temporary new home with friends in a town south of Winnipeg.
He appeared to be struggling with conflicting emotions. "I haven''t got a clue how I''m going to deal with this yet," he said.
There is a bitter undercurrent to his celebratory mood, he said, as he considers the years he lost. "The anger has built up. I''ve learned to deal with it several different ways. Eventually I imagine it will go away, but not for a long time because there''s still lots that has to be done."
Outside lawyers hired by the province''s prosecutions division told the court this week that the new evidence didn''t exonerate Mr. Driskell. They are fighting his request for a new trial, currently being considered by the federal Justice Department. Mr. Driskell''s lawyers say this leaves them with many hurdles yet to overcome.
"I just don''t know what we have to do to convince them," said James Lockyer, a founding director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, who acted on Mr. Driskell''s behalf.
"It''s incredible to me that we are still at a stage where yesterday they [Manitoba''s prosecutors] were opposing bail and today they continue to oppose our application to the Justice Minister in Ottawa," he said. "I appeal directly to Manitoba Justice to finally take off the blinders."
Lawyers Hymie Weinstein and William Olson, who acted for the Crown, said very little about the decision.
"The fact is, he''s still convicted," Mr. Weinstein said. "Whether he''s innocent or not, is not up for us to decide or the Justice Department to decide. It''s up to the review by the minister and there could potentially be a new trial."
None of the legalities appeared to matter much to Mr. Driskell''s family, however. They hugged and passed around Kleenex to dry their eyes as the judge read his decision in court.
"We''re all happy that he''s out and we can spend some more time with him," said his mother Florence, 72. "Sunday dinner and all, he was never there for 14 years."
She added: "He''s still my baby."

Judge approves Li''s Air Canada bid

By TERRY WEBER
Globe and Mail Update

An Ontario judge has given the nod to Hong Kong businessman Victor Li''s proposed rescue of insolvent Air Canada, although a rival bid is still expected by the close of business Tuesday.
The court decision -- delivered Monday after a morning hearing -- was viewed as a key ruling in the insolvent carrier''s attempts to restructure after filing for bankruptcy protection in April.
Following Monday''s session, Ontario Superior Court Justice James Farley approved the $650-million deal with Mr. Li''s Trinity Time Investments Ltd., which had already received approval from the Ernst & Young, the court-appointed monitor.
Mr. Justice Farley''s decision was also seen by some as reducing the odds of Mr. Li being nudged aside by rival bidder, New York fund manager Stephen Feinberg. Mr. Feinberg''s Cerberus Capital Management LP lost out during the first round of bidding last month when Air Canada''s board picked Trinity.
But, the New York-based buyout firm''s counsel told court Monday it would present its counter bid for the carrier by the close of business Tuesday.
Air Canada''s board is expected to take an immediate look at the new Cerberus.
If successful, Mr. Li''s offer would give Trinity a 31-per-cent stake of the restructured airline, which faces about $103-billion in claims filed against it.
In a report released Sunday, the court-appointed monitor said only a fraction of those claims are likely to be found valid in a dispute settlement process, although the final tally is still expected to be at the upper end of Air Canada''s expected range of $8-billion to $10-billion.
Air Canada originally chose Trinity over Cerberus in a court sanction process in an effort to help raise much needed liqui***y. But once the court-sanctioned process closed, Cerberus returned with two more offers. Mr. Li has threatened to withdraw his investment if the court reopens bidding.
Cerberus has until Dec. 12 to come up with a new formal offer under a compromise hammered out last week by Mr. Justice Farley.

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2 đảng cánh tả đã chính thức sát nhập ngày hôm nay( Dec 8)Globe and Mail Update

The merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Parties became official Monday.
A new political party, the Conservative Party of Canada, has now been registered with Elections Canada, the leaders of the Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance parties announced.
Tory Leader Peter MacKay and Alliance Leader Stephen Harper held a press conference Monday morning in Ottawa to announce the registration of the new party.
Tories vote to unite the right
They also announced that Tory Senator John Lynch-Staunton will serve as interim leader, and that they have established an interim joint council, composed of six members of each party. The council is responsible for the logistics of merging the parties.
"We are putting in place the infrastructure, we are laying down much of the track that is going to carry us forward as we create and lay the foundation for the new Conservative Party," Mr. MacKay said.
Although the new party has been recognized by Elections Canada, both the PC and Alliance caucuses are to remain intact for now, with Mr. MacKay and Mr. Harper heading each. The parties will take several weeks to select new officers, caucus critics and whips, as well as a leader in the House of Commons, the two leaders said.
Decisions probably will not be made until January, they said, and both caucuses will be consulted before any announcements are made.
Mr. Harper said it is natural for the process to take some time.
"If the Liberal government can have two leaders for two years, then I think we can do so for two months, can''t we?" he said, referring to the transition of leadership from Prime Minister Jean Chrétien to Paul Martin, who officially takes over on Friday.
The two parties have also set up a new, Conservative trust fund, to facilitate the coming together of both parties'' assets. The Alliance and PC trust funds will be shut down.
The leaders said while they will examine how the two parties may be doubling up on staffing, they hope to grow the party, not shrink it.
Mr. MacKay said there will be an Ottawa office, as well as a possible Calgary office and others.
"This is going to be a bigger, broader, more active party, so to that end, we hope not to be downsizing but in fact, making this party larger. And that could include such things as other offices and more staff as opposed to less."
However, both leaders, particularly Mr. MacKay, admitted that they must work hard within their respective caucuses to make the transition as painless as possible.
Mr. MacKay planned to spend Monday''s 2 p.m. EST caucus meeting trying to smooth things over with his anti-merger MPs.
Although about 90 per cent of Progressive Conservatives voted in favour of the deal, compared with nearly 96 per cent of the Alliance, the Tory Leader will have to encourage harmony Monday among those who voted against it. Some MPs have threatened to leave the Tory caucus over the union.
Mr. MacKay said he hoped for a constructive caucus meeting.
"I certainly hope all members of the new party will remain members...it is my wish that every member of the PC caucus will participate in the new party," he said.
The overwhelming results of the vote are proof that change was needed, he said.
"The democratic voice of the party was resounding. This isn''t being thrust on anybody. This isn''t any sort of a surprise."
The leaders said that, beginning Monday, they hoped that the Tories and Alliance would use the new opportunity to fight the Liberals rather than each other.
Manitoba Tory MP Rick Borotsik is one of the naysayers who voted against the union on the weekend.
But he recognized that because of an impending federal election, action must be taken soon.
"I''m also a pragmatist, I also realize that we are heading in that direction, there''s no question about that," he told CBC Newsworld. Mr. Borotsik also added: "if Stephen Harper is taking this party forward, then that shows to me that it''s nothing more than a continual metamorphosis from the Reform [Party] to the Alliance to the Conservative."
"If that''s the way it''s heading, I have no part in the particular party." Tory MP Scott Brison has also said he will not remain in the party if it is led by Mr. Harper.
Two other MPs--former leader Joe Clark and New Brunswick MP John Herron ?" have said they will not sit with the new party. Quebec Tory MP André Bachand has also expressed misgivings about merger and has done nothing to quell speculation that the Liberals are trying to recruit him.
Mr. MacKay was expected to address MPs'' concerns on Monday, starting with an appeal to Mr. Clark to reconsider his stand.
New beginning
This week marks a new chapter in the union of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties.
Both leaders and others in the party are now looking ahead to a leadership vote.
Already, one candidate ?" Progressive Conservative Calgary lawyer Jim Prentice ?" has put his name forward to run for the leadership.
Mr. Harper is also expected to follow suit, as are Mr. MacKay and MPs Scott Brison, Brian Pallister and Chuck Strahl.
Mr. Harper, however, would not comment during the press conference Monday on whether he will run for the leadership. The merger agreement calls for a new leader to be chosen in March
MPs for the new conservative party will also be asked to map their future together at parliamentary retreat some time before the middle of January.
The parties are trying to prepare quickly for a likely federal election next spring, to be called by Mr. Martin.
Alliance President Don Plett told Newsworld that getting the new party ready for the election will be no small task.
He said the parties must prepare for 308 separate nomination meetings before the election.
"We need to bring our assets and liabilities together," he said.
With a report from Brian Laghi and CP

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Thảm hoạ xảy ra tại Toronto ngày hôm nay.....Một nhà hát bị sập...
The collapse of a Toronto theatre on Monday has left at least one person dead and 14 others injured.
Officials said one person, an adult male, was pronounced dead at the scene after being pulled out of a school adjacent to the Uptown Theatre which was being demolished by a construction crew from Priestly Demolition Inc.
Fire units and a number of paramedics remain on the scene as rescue workers continue to search through the debris.
Fire division commander John Allard said the search is now focusing on two areas that rescue dogs have zeroed in on.
One area was in the rubble of an adjacent building that houses the Yorkville English Academy, and the other was a partially buried truck in a laneway behind the theatre.
?oWe have two teams now,? Mr. Allard said. ?oOne team is searching the interior where the dogs have given us an indicator, and the second team is working in the back lane looking at the truck where the second dog has given us an indicator.?
?oWe''re still in a rescue mode and hopefully there will be a successful outcome.?
Toronto Fire Chief Bill Stewart told reporters at the site that the rescue process would be a slow one.
"Certainly, with the amount of debris in the structure, it is going to be very painstaking," Chief Stewart said. "It is going to take an immense amount of time to be able to get in to the rubble, shore it up and ensure there are no further collapses from the debris coming down around the rescuers as they''re going in."
A two kilometre no-fly zone has also been established around the scene to help keep things as quiet as possible rescuers using sound equipment to listen for survivors.
At 10:35 a.m. Monday morning a wall in the theatre building gave way, collapsing on to the two-storey Yorkville English Academy.
The school normally teaches English as a second language to young adults, but at least three children were in the building at the time of the collapse.
Larry Roberts, a spokesman for Toronto Emergency Services, told globeandmail.com that the EMS transported 14 patients from the scene, including a 10-year-old who was taken to Sick Kids Hospital and is in stable con***ion with crushing injuries to the lower limbs.
?oObviously it is not a very happy day, but it''s good to know we had people on scene,? he said. ?o... We''re keeping people on standby in case more people are discovered. They still haven''t gotten the building secured, so it''s not really possible to go in there.?
Five members of the Priestly Demolition Inc. team were treated for minor injuries.
Toronto Police chief Julian Fantino said an investigation in to the collapse will happen in due time but that the current focus remains on helping the rescue operation.
?oEverything that can reasonably be done is being done,? Chief Fantino said. ?oThere''s nothing else that can be said.?
Toronto mayor David Miller promised the city would look in to how the incident could have happened.
?oWe''ll have the appropriate investigation to make sure we find out,?o Mr. Miller said. ?oWe have property standards and building inspectors whose job it is to inspect. Their records will be reviewed to see what was known beforehand and the fire chief and his people will determine what they can about why it happened.?o
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, who is in New York Monday, offered his condolences to the family of the dead man.
"I want to join with people across our province to express my deepest sympathy to the family and friends of the man who was killed by the collapse at the Uptown Theatre this morning," he said.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with all the accident victims and their families, as well as with the emergency workers who have been working hard to save their fellow citizens."
One of Toronto''s largest and oldest theatres, the Uptown originally opened in 1920 as both a movie theatre and a live stage show venue.
The theatre was damaged by a fire in the 1960s that gutted the main au***orium. It showed its final film in late September.
In May, Famous Players sold the building for $10-million to Piagga Ltd., a developer with plans to build a 50-storey condominium tower on the site.
In September of 2001, the Ontario Human Rights Commission ordered the theatre to renovate in order to meet wheelchair-accessibility requirements. Although Famous Players did submit renovation plans to the Board of Inquiry (an independent tribunal separate from the commission), the company decided to close the theatres instead.
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Các bác chú ý, có thể sang năm tới...Giá của các đồ Digital có thể tăng gấp rưỡi. Các bác nên mua ngay từ bây giờ đi chứ kẻo sau lại hối hân:
Copyright body may slap levy on digital music players
Would boost price of storage media
Economy will suffer, retailers say
That 20-gigabyte MP3 player going under the Christmas tree this season could soon cost 20 per cent more if the Copyright Board approves a proposed levy tomorrow on the sale of digital music devices.
It could also mean new levies on recordable DVDs, removable flash memory and micro hard drives, as well as increased tariff rates on blank cassettes and recordable CDs, assuming a music-industry group called the Canadian Private Copying Collective, or CPCC, gets its way.
Claude Majeau, secretary-general of the Copyright Board, confirmed yesterday that a decision on the controversial levy is to come out Friday morning.
Both the CPCC and a group of electronics manufacturers and retailers aggressively fighting the levy have been arguing their respective views since the Copyright Board began formal hearings on the matter in January.
"It''s the kind of decision that''s likely to leave everybody unhappy," said Michael Geist, a professor of Internet law at the University of Ottawa and technology counsel for Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.
"The retailers won''t like it because they don''t like the levy, period. Consumers won''t like it because they won''t be paying a fair price for the product. And copyright holders will probably feel they''re not getting enough."
The CPCC already collects a levy on blank cassettes, recordable CDs and Sony minidiscs, but in May, 2002, the organization, which collects and redistributes the levy on behalf of the Canadian music industry, proposed that existing tariffs be substantially hiked and expanded to cover M3P players and other digital-memory products that carry music files.
The original purpose of the levy was to compensate artists for the widespread activity of making personal copies of music that an individual already owns.
But the growing popularity of CD burners and free Internet music-swapping services changed the nature and magnitude of "copying." Increasing and expanding the levy is a small yet symbolic attempt at compensating artists and record companies for widespread piracy, the CPCC argues.
"Everybody in the private copying collective is hoping we''ll get the levy extended to devices like iPods and other MP3 players with internal memory," said Paul Audley, policy advisor at the CPCC.
But Audley said hope and expectation are two different things, adding that the Copyright Board will likely stick with tra***ion and aim for a compromise.
"It will come down somewhere in the middle," he said. "And that certainly wouldn''t reflect what people think (music) rights are worth."
CPCC plans to hold a news conference tomorrow at the Fairmont Royal York to discuss the impact of the decision.
Meanwhile, a group called the Canadian Coalition for Fair Digital Access, or CCFDA, is preparing for the worst. Members include big-name retailers, such as Wal-Mart, CostCo and Staples Business Depot, and high-tech powerhouses such as Intel Corp., Dell Computer Corp., Apple Computer Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co.
"It''s a significant potential hit," said Kevin Evans, vice-president with the Retail Council of Canada and CCFDA co-chair. If the levy does get approved, "we believe it''s going to be the (retail) sales clerk that''s going to get the full blasting from consumers."
Under the proposed levies, a pack of 50 recordable CDs that have 700 megabytes of capacity will have a 49-cent levy on each disc. Today, that pack costs $29.99, but the levy would impose an ad***ional financial burden of $24.50 if approved.
The general argument against the levy is that it subsidizes the Canadian music industry by treating anyone who buys blank recording media as a potential music pirate, when in fact these same products can be used to store computer files, backup data, software and self-created music and video content.
"What you''ve got here is a levy that does not sufficiently target its purpose," said Geist.
The retail group, which insists it support the rights of artists and wants to open dialogue toward a better option, argues the levy is too broad and the method of tariff collection and distribution doesn''t work.
Members also hold the levy will increase prices on products and tempt consumers to buy in the United States, where a levy does not exist. This punishes Canadian businesses, they argue, and will have an impact on the Canadian economy.
"We''ve got a levy regime that''s way out of date and inefficient," Evans said.
So far, the organization has distributed $11 million back to Canadian artists since it began collecting the levy in 2000. It is expected to issue another $17 million to $18 million between next week and the end of January.
The Copyright Board decision comes as the Supreme Court of Canada begins a landmark copyright case that will determine whether Internet service providers must pay a tariff for being a conduit for the rampant downloading of free music.
That case, being followed by music companies and servie providers around the world, is expected to last six months.
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