Gunman kills four in Pacific island rampage

SAIPAN — A gunman went on the rampage in the Northern Mariana Islands in the western Pacific on Friday, killing at least four people and wounding eight mostly Korean tourists, officials and reports said.

Five bodies were in the hospital morgue on the US-administered territory's main island of Saipan, including the alleged shooter, who had killed himself, hospital staff said.

The Saipan Tribune reported the gunman first shot and killed two men in their late 20s and early 30s, both local residents, and two children under the age of 10.

He then went to a popular tourist site and shot a group of mostly South Korean tourists, wounding eight people, including two Korean children, the newspaper said on its website.

The man then shot himself at another popular tourist site, the report said.

Governor Benigno R. Fitial was due to hold a press conference to provide further information.

In a statement, which gave no details about the shootings, Fitial said the situation was under control and he confirmed the gunman had taken his own life.

Schools had been locked down after the situation unfolded about 1.30 pm (0330 GMT), Fitial said.

"I want to extend my heartfelt remorse and sadness to the individuals and families that were affected," he said.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Economics By Tom Gorman

Airvana to get $39.6M Nortel-related payment

CHELMSFORD, Mass. — Airvana Inc., which supplies products used by wireless operators, said Friday it will get a $39.6 million payment for outstanding invoices related to products and services it sold to Nortel Networks Inc. before Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection.

Airvana shares jumped 47 cents, or 7.9 percent, to $6.42 in afternoon trading.

Airvana said it will get the payment from Telefon AB LM Ericssson as that company finishes its purchase of Nortel's CDMA business. Airvana's contract with Nortel will go to Ericsson.

Airvana said $36.4 million of the payment is for product and service bills and $3.2 million is interest.

Canadian telecom equipment maker Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and Canada in January, a day before it was slated to make a $107 million debt payment. Since then, the Toronto-based company has been selling its operations off piece by piece.

APEC ministers agree economic crisis far from over

SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific ministers warned Wednesday that signs of recovery in the global economy are merely a respite, and future growth hinges on freer trade and improved social safety nets in Asia.

Finance and foreign ministers meeting in Singapore for this week's annual APEC meeting are mulling ways to keep economic recovery going once lavish stimulus spending ebbs, while tackling other regional security and political issues.

The forum culminates in a weekend summit of heads of state from APEC's 21 economies, including President Barack Obama.

The economic crisis is "by no means over," warned Singapore's foreign minister, George Yeo, urging nations to persist in opening markets wider.

"There is creeping protectionism now; that is very dangerous. It is a slippery slope, and if we're not careful, before we know it, all of us will be in a much more dire situation," he told reporters after hosting a breakfast meeting with foreign ministers.

The ministers agreed the economic crisis is in a respite, Yeo said, but recovery remains fragile.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged fellow leaders to forge ahead with plans to combat global warming and to help push Myanmar's military regime toward greater democracy.

She called for calm in the aftermath of a naval skirmish Tuesday between North and South Korea, but said it would not scupper plans to send envoy Stephen Bosworth to Pyongyang to persuade the regime to return to six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.

But the main focus for the regional dialogue remained the economy, and APEC nations are looking to the U.S. to add heft to efforts to push for a global trade pact and help dismantle trade barriers to help along the recovery.

APEC was founded 20 years ago to promote greater trade and integration around the Pacific Rim. Its scope has since expanded to encompass a wide range of issues, and ministers Wednesday stressed the need for action on climate change, energy security and ensuring food security for the millions of vulnerable poor in the region.

Boosting exports is the "best ticket" to creating jobs, ending the recession and bringing massive deficits under control, said Thomas J. Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"Expanding free trade across the Pacific can drive the global economic recovery, create badly needed jobs and advance economic and social progress in developing and developed countries alike," he told business leaders on the sidelines of the APEC meeting.

While Asia has 168 free-trade agreements, work on U.S. pacts with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama languish in Washington.

The Pacific Economic Cooperation Council, an APEC-affiliated think tank, urged in a report issued Wednesday for fundamental reforms to shift growth away from a dependence on exports to the U.S.

"U.S. consumers are not likely to drive world demand in the medium term, and the slack will have to be taken up in part by Asian consumption and investment," Peter Petri, a Brandeis University professor who coordinated a regional task force on the economic crisis, said in the report.

The think tank's survey of 400 business, government and expert leaders in the region found many convinced that the engines of growth are changing — a trend long anticipated but accelerated by the relatively strong recent performances of developing Asian nations, especially China and India.

"They are very conscious that the U.S. is not going to be the growth engine for the foreseeable future, and they are thinking very hard of how to find other ways to generate growth," said Yuen Pau Woo, who coordinated the report.

Obama, visiting Asia for the first time since he took office in January, will be seeking to counter the perception of declining U.S. power.

The president wants "to send a message that the United States intends to deepen its engagement in this part of the world; that we intend to compete in this part of the world; and that we intend to be a leader in this part of the world," Jeffrey Bader, a National Security Council official, told reporters from Washington.

Still, with the U.S. economy growing at less than half the rate of China's 8.9 percent in the third-quarter, and consumer demand still languishing amid a so-far job-scarce recovery, Asia's pivotal role is evident.

"The engines of growth are shifting from the U.S. to Asia; from exports to domestic spending, especially on social priorities and from production of goods to production of services," Woo said.

Higher spending on social needs such as education, health care, services for the aging and welfare networks; freer trade in services, and policies to promote green technologies — all can contribute, he said.

Devoting more to those resources would help rebalance the wide gap in U.S.-China trade, among other distortions, that helped bring on the crisis.

By boosting social spending, China and other Asian nations could help reduce the need among their citizens to scrimp and save to cover such costs, freeing them to improve living standards and spend more.

The report estimates that $300 billion of the $28.8 trillion in regional economic activity represents trade and other imbalances that need to be redressed.

Associated Press writers Alex Kennedy, Matthew Lee and Jim Gomez contributed to this report.

Tories win back Nova Scotia stronghold, steal Bloc riding in Quebec

OTTAWA — The recession-ravaged Conservatives showed surprising resilience in Monday's byelections, reclaiming a former stronghold in Nova Scotia and overrunning a Bloc Quebecois fortress in Quebec.

The Bloc easily held on to another Quebec riding in Montreal's east end while the NDP kept the B.C. riding of New Westminster-Coquitlam

The Tories, thought to be moribund in Quebec only a few months ago, showed surprising strength in Montmagny-L'Islet-Kamouraska-Riviere du Loup in the province's lower St. Lawrence region.

With almost all polls reporting, Conservative Bernard Genereux held a four percentage point lead over the Bloc's Nancy Gagnon.

Former Parti Quebecois cabinet minister Daniel Paille easily held on for the Bloc in Hochelga, a longtime fiefdom for the party. The NDP finished a surprising but distant second, ahead of both the Liberals and Conservatives.

In British Columbia, Fin Donnelly hung on to New Westminster-Coquitlam for the NDP, taking 52 per cent of the vote with half the polls reporting. The Tories finished a distance second and the Liberals an even further distant third.

In Nova Scotia, Tory Scott Armstrong easily staved off an NDP challenge to win in Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley.

That riding had been a longtime Tory fortress until Bill Casey - punted from the Conservative caucus over criticism of the 2007 budget -captured the riding as an independent in 2008. With Casey now retired from federal politics, his supporters appear to have returned to the Tory fold.

Armstrong took 45.8 per cent of the vote, compared to 25.7 per cent for NDP challenger Mark Austin, who had hoped to ride the coattails of the recently elected NDP provincial government of Darrel Dexter. Liberal Jim Burrows was third with 21.3 per cent.

The four contests turned out pretty much as NDP strategists had hoped, allowing them to claim to be the only opposition party with momentum, particularly as compared to the Liberals who finished no better third in any of the races.

The Liberals had set a modest goal of improving their share of the vote in the four ridings over the dismal results gleaned in 2008 under the unpopular leadership of Stephane Dion. They fell short of that goal.

Only in Cumberland-Colchester were the Liberals able to increase their vote share and, even then, only compared to 2008 when Casey's run as an independent sapped the strength of all the parties.

Compared to the 2006 election - when there was no popular independent to skew the results - the Tories are down about six percentage points and the Liberals are down two points, enough to cede second place to the NDP, which increased its vote share by about six points.

"Governments rarely win byelections, so we are pleased we were able to win this seat in Nova Scotia," said Conservative party spokesman Fred DeLorey.

He claimed the win as a sign that Canadians approve of the government's efforts to help Canada weather the global economic recession.

DeLorey said the byelection results are an indictment of Michael Ignatieff's leadership of the Liberals.

"What kind of official Opposition party hoping to win government does not do well in byelections in the midst of a global economic downturn? One that's in trouble."

Liberals issued talking points earlier Monday to party members arguing that the byelections were actually a referendum on Prime Minister Stephen Harper's leadership.

"If the Conservatives fail to win all of the seats in tonight's byelections, it will be a signal that Canadians are still not willing to turn over the keys to such a partisan and incompetent government," the party maintained.

The media lines went on to argue that Liberals have not held the four ridings "in 30, 40 50 years" whereas Conservatives "have held all four in recent memory."

In fact, the Liberals won Cumberland-Colchester in 1993. And they won what is now a big chunk of B.C.'s New Westminster-Coquitlam in 1997.

Most recently, the B.C. riding has see-sawed between the NDP and Tories. Conservatives held the riding until losing narrowly to the NDP in 2006 and again in 2008.

Running results from Monday's federal byelections (percentage of vote in brackets; x denotes winner):

CUMBERLAND-COLCHESTER-MUSQUODOBOIT VALLEY

245 of 245 polls reporting

Scott Armstrong, Conservative: 11,167 (45.8)

Mark Austin, NDP: 6,267 (25.7)

Jim Burrows, Liberal: 5,193 (21.3)

Jason Blanch, Green party: 807 (3.3)

Jim Hnatiuk, Christian Heritage Party: 776 (3.2)

Kate Graves, Independent: 149 (0.6)

HOCHELAGA

200 of 219 polls reporting

Daniel Paille, Bloc Quebecois: 7,733 (50.8)

Jean-Claude Rocheleau, NDP: 3,107 (20.4)

Robert David, Liberal: 2,130 (14.0)

Stephanie Cloutier, Conservative: 1,522 (10.0)

Christine Lebel, Green party: 496 (3.3)

Gabrielle Anctil, neorhino.ca: 110 (0.7)

Christine Dandenault, Marxist-Leninist: 68 (0.4)

John Turmel, Independent: 57 (0.4)

MONTMAGNY-L'ISLET-KAMOURASKA-RIVIERE-DU-LOUP

225 of 257 polls reporting

Bernard Genereux, Conservative: 10,450 (42.6)

Nancy Gagnon, Bloc Quebecois: 9,515 (38.8)

Marcel Catellier, Liberal: 2,969 (12.1)

Francois Lapointe, NDP: 1,198 (4.9)

Charles A. Marois, Green party: 402 (1.6)

NEW WESTMINSTER-COQUITLAM

103 of 225 polls reporting

Fin Donnelly, NDP: 4,986 (51.4)

Diana Dilworth, Conservative: 3,376 (34.8)

Ken Beck Lee, Liberal: 870 (9.0)

Rebecca Helps, Green party: 471 (4.9)

Study: Fiddler crabs exchange sex for survival

SYDNEY — In the world of fiddler crabs, the best form of protection for females is, apparently, having sex with the neighbors, according to an Australian study published Wednesday.

Researchers from The Australian National University in Canberra found male fiddler crabs will happily defend a nearby female against intruders — partly because the females will dole out sex in return.

"The fact that the neighbor comes over and helps to defend another territorial individual is pretty unusual," said Michael Jennions, who helped conduct the study, the results of which were published in the journal Biology Letters.

"This study shows, for the first time, that in exchange for sex and other benefits, males protect their female neighbors from territory-seeking male intruders. The paper provides the first evidence of 'defense coalitions' between territorial males and females," he said.

Jennions and fellow ANU researchers Richard Milner and Patricia Backwell studied the behavior of fiddler crabs living in mud flats off the African country of Mozambique in October and November 2008. Male fiddler crabs have giant claws to defend themselves, but the researchers wanted to see how female crabs — which only have two small feeding claws — protect their homes.

Fiddler crabs are territorial and live in burrows. The researchers gathered crabs from distant parts of the mud flats and tethered them near new, occupied burrows. In 21 trials involving male intruders, the researchers found that male crabs would scuttle over to fight off the invaders on a female neighbor's territory 95 percent of the time. But in 20 trials involving female intruders, the males crabs only fought off the invaders 15 percent of the time.

That suggests the male crabs preferred to keep females nearby, largely because they will almost always have sex with their male neighbors, Jennions said.

Most of the time, female fiddler crabs are selective about their partners and choose to mate in the male's burrow. But the researchers also found females mating on the surface — and 85 percent of the time the surface sex was with a neighbor. The researchers speculated the female crabs were having the neighborly sex in exchange for some sort of benefit. In this case, that benefit appeared to be protection, Jennions said.

Orpha Bellwood, a lecturer of marine and tropical biology at James Cook University in Townsville, said she was particularly interested in the motivations behind the crabs having sex on the surface, which is unusual and makes them vulnerable to predators.

Bellwood wonders whether it might just be the proximity of the crabs to their own homes that allows them to feel safe enough to mate in the open, or whether the females are indeed gaining some sort of protective advantage by doing so.

"It opens up a lot of those questions," she said.

Peter Davie, senior curator of the Queensland Museum in Brisbane, said the males are known to use their claws to protect themselves.

"But to have that sort of encompass the territories of the females as part of his sexual territory sounds quite interesting," said Davie, who has spent 30 years studying crabs.

Swapping sex for favors is not unheard of in the animal kingdom. Antarctica's Adelie penguins exchange sex for highly coveted stones used for nest building.

Another reason the crabs might help fight off their neighbors' intruders is to keep a familiar comrade next door, Jennions said. Even for crabs, he said, sometimes it's a case of "better the devil you know than the devil you don't."

Bell to launch high-speed network Wednesday, a day ahead of Telus

MONTREAL — BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE) will launch its new, advanced wireless network on Wednesday, levelling the playing field on network capabilities between Bell, Telus (TSX:T) and Rogers (TSX:RCI.B).

Bell's launch will come a day before Telus (TSX:T) launches its new network, making each of the two major cellphone players able to carry Apple's sought-after iPhone.

The only Canadian carrier that has been able to offer Apple's touchscreen smartphone until now has been their rival Rogers, (TSX:RCI.B), a cable, wireless and Internet company.

CEO George Cope called the launch of Bell's new network the most significant technology announcement for the company in 25 years.

"Wireless is still without a doubt the fastest growing area of telecom," Cope told a luncheon speech, adding it will remain so for the next 10 years.

Bell and Telus will join Rogers in having HSPA networks (High Speed Packet Access), allowing faster Internet downloads of music, video and software applications.

Cope said after his speech that Bell supports a recent CRTC decision that ruled new cellphone company Globalive didn't meet Canadian ownership and control requirements.

"It's just absolutely clear that we all have to live under the same rules," he said.

Cope noted there are other new cellphone players to contend with, such as Quebecor's Videotron (TSX:QBR.B) and competitors DAVE Wireless and Public Mobile, all expected to be up and running in the coming months.

"No one would be mistaken that there's not new competition coming to the Canadian wireless industry," Cope said.

With Toronto-based Globalive sidelined, analysts say there will still be price cutting, but maybe not as much as consumers would like.

Analyst Carmi Levy said Rogers, Bell and Telus will be able to hold the line on pricing for as long as they can.

"Prices will come down over time but probably not as fast as Canadians would like because of that," Levy said, referring to the CRTC decision on Globalive.

"You still only have three major, national players," said senior vice-president of strategic consulting for Toronto's AR Communications Inc.

"The competitive landscape isn't any different today than it was last week."

Analyst Duncan Stewart said prices usually come down in the 12 months before new players get into the cellphone market and in the year they are up and running.

Prices will likely come down about 10 per cent in that two-year period, said Stewart, director of research and analysis at DSAM consulting in Toronto.

"They've already come down a bit but not as fast as most consumers would like," he said.

After that, there is price stability and then one of the new players usually cut prices, other competitors follow suit and eventually someone gets bought out or folds, Stewart said.

"Then prices go back up. It's about a five-year cycle."

Cogeco says it's committed to cable operations in Portugal;Q4 profits increase

MONTREAL — Bridling at what one analyst called "market chatter" that Cogeco Inc. (TSX:CCO) may retreat from the Portuguese cable industry, CEO Louis Audet said he's "not uncomfortable" with the Montreal company's first European subsidiary.

"We don't comment on rumours," Audet said on a conference call to discuss the fourth-quarter and year-end financial results for Cogeco and its primary subsidiary, Cogeceo Cable Inc. (TSX:CGA), which he also heads.

In previous discussions with reporters and analysts, Audet has said he sees the fragmented European market as a better growth opportunity than Canada, where the cable industry is dominated by a few familty-controlled companies including Cogeco, where the Audets hold sway through multiple-vote shares.

Audet acknowledged that Cogeco is paying a price to preserve its share of the Portuguese cable market against larger rivals, but said the investment will pay off in the longer term.

"Last quarter, what we said is that we thought: Portugal continued to be an interesting source of growth for the future, that it was going through a transitional phase of increased competition with which we are not uncomfortable," Audet told analysts.

"There may be short-term pain (but) we consider Portugal an important source of future growth," he said.

Cogeco has learned about how to face its competition there, he said.

"In Canada, market demand remains strong for our services," Audet added.

Cogeco reported earlier Friday that its net income rose to $15.7 million or 91 cents a share from $9.7 million or 58 cents in the year-ago period, mainly due to special items at Cogeco Cable.

Overall revenue, including a small increase at Cogeco's radio operations in Quebec, increased to $316.3 million, up eight per cent from $292.9 million, the company said.

In financial guidelines for fiscal 2010, which began Sept. 1, Cogeco maintained its revenue outlook at just under $1.3 billion but reduced its estimate for operating income before amortization by $19 million to $486 million from $505 million.

After adjusting for special items at Cogeco Cable, Cogeco Inc.'s net income would have been $8.2 million or 49 cents per share, down from $9.7 million or 58 cents in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008.

Analysts estimates compiled by Thomson Reuters, which tend to exclude unusual items and the impact of currency fluctuation, had put Cogeco Inc.'s earnings per share at 63 cents and revenue at $317 million.

Most of the revenue increase came from Cogeco Cable, supplemented by a small increase from its radio operations.

"On the radio front, things are going extremely well," Audet said.

"Revenues have continued to grow vigorously in a shrinking market," he said, adding that has helped reduce debt at Cogeco Inc.

Audet also said the company has no immediate interest in getting into the mobile phone business, even though the CRTC has decided that new wireless player Globalive doesn't qualify to set up shop because of its heavy foreign ownership.

"We remain flexible and watchful of market needs. Our position really hasn't changed regardless of what the CRTC has decided in the case of this particular company," Audet said.

If Cogeco believes there is a "meaningful" need to offer wireless in the future, it will pick a partner that has products it can resell, he said.

The company's cable operations span parts of southern Ontario and southern Quebec, although the largest cities in those provinces are dominated by Rogers Communications Inc. (TSX:RCI.B) and Quebecor's Videotron Inc. (TSX:QBR.B).

Cogeco Cable reported separately that its net income including special items rose to $46.6 million in its fiscal fourth quarter, up from $31.9 million a year earlier.

Adjusted income was $28 million, down 12.1 per cent from $31.9 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008.

Cogeco Cable's revenue increased to $307.8 million, up eight per cent from $284.9 million for the 2009 and 2008 fourth quarters ended Aug. 31.

Besides the cable company, which operates in Ontario, Quebec and Portugal, Cogeco Inc. owns and operates the Rythme FM radio stations in Montreal, Quebec City, Trois-Rivieres and Sherbrooke, as well as FM 93 in Quebec City.

Cogeco Inc. shares were down $1.10 to $24.25 in afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, but Cogeco Cable was down $1.31 or about four per cent at $30.95.

Long Lake maintenance cuts into Nexen's production in Q3; levels ramping back up

CALGARY — Nexen Inc. (TSX:NXY) says it ironed out problems at its Long Lake oilsands project in northern Alberta during the third quarter, when the oil and gas producer saw an 86 per cent slide in earnings.

The company, and its partner Opti Canada Inc. (TSX:OPC), shut the project down temporarily to replace valves, clean out water treatment equipment and complete other maintenance work.

The volume of bitumen Nexen and Opti were able to churn out from Long Lake suffered as a result, but production has returned to pre-turnaround levels of between 10,000 and 12,000 barrels a day.

And the upgrader, which converts the thick, tar-like substance into easier-to-refine synthetic crude oil, is close to being up and running again, Nexen said.

"We have put many many significant issues behind us and more encouraging than that, we are not revisiting some of those issues again once we put them behind us," said Nexen chief executive Marvin Romanow on a conference call with analysts Wednesday to discuss the company's financial results.

Long Lake is a joint venture between Nexen and oilsands junior Opti. Nexen is the operator with a 65 per cent stake, with Opti holding the remaining interest.

Opti chief executive Chris Slubicki warned Long Lake will take longer than expected to reach its design rates than its target of late 2010 and said the company would consult with Nexen before providing updated targets.

"We are expecting a vast improvement, but the slope of the line is difficult to forecast right now," Slubicki said.

Phase 1 of Long Lake is designed to produce 72,000 barrels of bitumen per day.

Nexen's Romanow said it's likely ramp up levels will to return to the above-average rates Long Lake enjoyed when it first started up, before problems at the water treatment plant emerged.

"When I look at how many things we've put behind us, how many problems we've been able to solve, I think that we have a very good opportunity to get back on a ramp up curve that has a similar slope to what we saw in the early days," he said.

Haywood Securities analyst Alan Knowles has a cautious outlook for Long Lake.

"Because of how complicated it is, I wouldn't be surprised to see some more issues. You just don't know what they're going to be, but something will rear its head," he said, adding it's wise to get the maintenance work out of the way as soon as possible, even if it causes delays.

Nexen, which has operations in Canada, the Middle East, the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere, reported earlier Wednesday that it earned $122 million or 23 cents a share for the three months ended Sept. 30, down sharply from $886 million or $1.68 per share last year.

The average analyst estimate had been for earnings of 22 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Nexen's quarterly revenue was cut in half to $1.1 billion from $2.2 billion in the third quarter of 2008.

The company attributed the decline to a combination of lower output because of maintenance downtime, reduced sales volume because of the economy and lower prices.

Nexen said it produced an average of 214,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day for the quarter, down from 249,000 barrels a day a year go. In addition to Long Lake, Nexen also did some maintenance work on operations in the North Sea.

With production ramping up in the oilsands and North Sea, Romanow said fourth quarter production volumes are expected to be strong.

Nexen shares were off 40 cents, or about 1.67 per cent, to $23.59 in afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Opti's shares dropped nearly 10 per cent to $2.21.

Canwest debts published by court monitor

The public got a rare glimpse of the day-to-day finances of Canwest Global Communications Corp. after its court-appointed monitor published a list of debts as the media giant restructures under creditor protection.

The detailed list of nearly 1,000 bills and debts shows that insolvent Canwest owes from a handful of dollars to millions to a long list of companies, including television production houses, taxi firms and a florist.

Some of the bills — comprised mainly of typical corporate expenses for a company that owns dozens of newspapers, the Global TV network, and web properties — go as high as much as several million dollars. Those include debts owed to E! Entertainment Television, Universal Studios Canada and Twentieth Century Fox, which provide the bulk of the company's programming.

Many debts in the filing by court-appointed restructuring monitor FTI Consulting Canada are below $100, with $96.05 owed to Shaver's Flowers in Ontario, and another $13.75 to Guildford Cab in British Columbia.

"It paints a very vivid picture of the day-to-day operations for a company like Canwest," said Carmi Levy, a media analyst at AR Communications Inc.

"Even something as mundane as a $50 bill for graphics … or a small contribution to an interest group, all of these things add up. They shed light on how integral to the local economy a national company like Canwest can be."

Billions in debt

The Winnipeg-based media giant has been unable to pay such operating expenses as it struggles with $4 billion in corporate debt, built up mostly in its acquisition of the former Southam newspaper business once controlled by disgraced publishing baron Conrad Black and the acquisition of Alliance Atlantis' specialty channels in 2007.

This month, Canwest filed for creditor protection for some parts of its business, including its conventional television assets and the National Post Company after it was unable to meet financial covenants associated with its debt. Canwest hopes to restructure its business and emerge from creditor protection by the end of January.

The creditor list also includes money owed to several levels of government, their unions and the press gallery.

Some of the more unusual bills include $25.74 owed to the New Style Barber Shop in Woodbridge, Ont., a debt of $3,180.14 to GoodLife Fitness in North York, Ont., and $651.05 to Miracles in the Marketplace Inc., a religious organization in Plymouth, Minn.

However, most charges were for typical corporate expenses, and pale in comparison to some of the more lavish bills racked up by executives at other struggling corporations.

Nortel Networks' former chief executive Mike Zafirovski was criticized this year for spending thousands to fly in the company's private jet nearly a week after the telecommunications equipment maker filed for bankruptcy protection.

For Canwest, the list includes more mundane office costs like a $128.49 charge from the Eecol electric company in Saskatoon, and $1,820.39 outstanding to Enbridge for a gas bill.

FedEx Canada is owed $6,864.87, and paper shredding company Shred-It International $66.67.

Most owed to broadcasters, studios

A large chunk of what Canwest owes is to American broadcasters like NBC, Fox as well as major Hollywood production houses like MGM Studios.

"It's millions of dollars for the rights to broadcast this stuff in Canada," Levy said.

"The largest outflows of cash are always programming-related and the vast majority of them are American. Unfortunately for Canada, a lot of that money does cross the border."

Canwest spokesman John Douglas said some of the companies on the creditor list have been repaid, most notably Fox television, which had been owed $8.5 million.

"We do have an agreement with them, so there isn't an outstanding claim there whatsoever," Douglas said Sunday.

"On the programming side, we have dealt with all the studios and we have reached terms."

In documents filed this month, the court outlined stipulations that allowed Canwest to continue receiving services deemed essential to its operations, like television programming, while it restructures.

Last week, Canwest's noteholders agreed to give it more time to work on a planned transfer of the National Post to a division that owns the company's other newspapers, including the Montreal Gazette, Edmonton Journal and Ottawa Citizen dailies.

The deadline for transferring the national newspaper to the limited partnership that owns the dailies and other publications was extended to Oct. 30. Although there's been much speculation about the future of Canwest's newspapers, the company has not said they are for sale.

Tory ridings get more stimulus money: CBC study

Conservative ridings are getting more economic stimulus money than ridings held by opposition members of Parliament, a CBC News analysis suggests.

According to the analysis of the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, Conservative ridings have received about 60 per cent of the funding, compared with 40 per cent for opposition ridings.

For example, the Saskatchewan riding of Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale, who has been a vocal critic of the stimulus spending, has received about $4.8 million. But the Conservative riding next door received about $6.5 million.

Crunching the numbers in a sample of other ridings across the country shows a similar pattern.

The minority government Conservatives have been defending themselves all week against allegations they are favouring Tory ridings with stimulus spending.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said nearly half of the projects are in opposition ridings — and the largest projects are in such ridings, he added.

But Peter Donolo of the Strategic Council polling firm said the Tories' record is much better than it used to be.

“There’s this long tradition in Canada, a time-honoured tradition in Canada, of opposition roads not being paved and government-controlled roads being paved. That goes back decades.”

But Donolo, a former communications director for former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien, said it's a dangerous game to play for political gain.

"It's probably more than offset by the bad odour, the bad optics that come from a government looking like it's playing politics with public money at a time like this,” he said.

Chrétien was known to dish out government money to Liberal-held ridings. But Donolo said the problem for Harper is that he promised to do things differently.

International Ponzi scheme case put over to December

CALGARY — Two men accused of creating a Ponzi scheme that allegedly defrauded investors around the world of millions of dollars won't be back in a Calgary court until Dec. 14.

The case was put over Monday because lawyers for the two still need to be found.

Gary Sorenson and Milowe Brost are both charged with fraud and theft over $5,000 in a pyramid scheme. Neither appeared in court.

Police allege thousands of investors in Canada, the United States and overseas were swindled between 1999 and December 2008.

Investigators say the amount of money lost could be close to $400 million.

Don MacLeod, who was acting for Sorenson, said there is a massive amount of material in the case and he will help his client secure another lawyer with time to go through it all.

He said outside court that there was "absolutely nothing unusual" about the accused not appearing in court.

A handful of investors did show up, however.

Doreen Brown said she put "quite a bit" of money into the alleged scheme starting in 2007. She said she was brought in by a friend whom she now sees she trusted blindly.

"I sort of had a lot of faith in her ... I suppose I should have known better, but sometimes you don't," Brown said.

She added she was disappointed the accused didn't appear, saying it was unfair for them to just sit back while investors try to find out what happened to their money.

Sorenson and Brost have been free on bail.

Police have said the pair face up to 14 years in prison if convicted for what is alleged to be "the largest Ponzi-type scheme" in Canadian history.

Brost and Sorenson were charged Sept. 13. Brost was arrested at that time, but Sorenson was still at large and police believed he was living in Honduras.

He was arrested Sept. 29 after stepping off a plane at the Calgary airport. Police say he returned voluntarily after discussions between his lawyer and government officials.

RCMP say the alleged scheme involved the creation of Syndicated Gold Depository S.A., which was supposed to lend money to Merendon Mining Corporation Ltd., with the promise of a high rate of return and tax advantages.

The perks, police say, were used to entice investors to put their money into offshore shell companies, which were run by handpicked nominees and marketed by Capital Alternatives Inc. and The Institute for Financial Learning Group of Companies Inc., two firms owned by Brost.

The shell companies included Asset Trax Inc., Quatro Communications Corp., Rapid Express Corp., Strategic Metals Corp. and Merendon Mining (Nevada) Inc.

Police said last month they had interviewed about 100 investors, many of whom came forward after the charges were originally laid.

Investors have told stories of dashed retirement dreams and lost homes.

Graham McMillan created a website in 2006 warning against companies allegedly run by Sorenson and Brost after his father invested money. He has said he's heard from people who have had to move in with relatives.

Sorenson is looking forward for the chance to clear his name, MacLeod said.

"From the moment he found out about these charges, (he) was anxious to return to face them. He maintains his innocence and he's now determined to set about charting his course with regard to defence."

Lottery scam targeted U.S. seniors

The RCMP says several Calgary residents tricked 24 elderly or disabled Americans out of about $3 million over a three-year period by telling them they had won a lottery.

Police released more details Thursday of what they're calling a cross-border telemarketing scam.

Between 2005 and 2008, the victims were contacted by letter or phone and told they had won a lottery or sweepstakes but were required to pay taxes, administration fees or lawyers' fees before they could collect winnings, which didn't exist.

One person sent in between $500,000 and $1 million, with the scam collecting about $3 million in total, said RCMP Insp. Frank Smart.

Some people lost their life savings, have been ostracized by family or have been forced to remortgage their homes. Others in their 70s had to return to work, said Smart.

The 24 victims all lived in the United States, but there were hundreds more on a telemarketers-type list, which can be purchased online in that country, he said. That may be why Canadians were not targeted, Smart speculated.

A police investigation began in late 2006, when two undeclared parcels containing $10,000 in cash were delivered to the Calgary suspects.

Investigators have arrested four people from Calgary, one from Burnaby, B.C., and one from Toronto. Canada-wide arrest warrants are outstanding for three other suspects who police believe are in the Calgary area.

On Wednesday, RCMP announced 261 charges had been laid, including money laundering, fraud over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit fraud.

Cdn Embassy suggests mayors get involved in push to soften Buy American policy

TORONTO — Mayors from coast to coast are being asked to wade into an anti-Buy American fight and appeal directly to their U.S. counterparts after one northern Ontario mayor's efforts attracted national attention.

Victor Fedeli, the mayor of North Bay, Ont., sent letters earlier this month to the mayors of three U.S. cities where North Bay made large purchases recently, imploring them to think about the effect on their community if Canada succumbed to protectionism.

The Canadian Embassy in the U.S. was copied on those letters and Fedeli said officials there contacted him to say having 100 Canadian mayors on board will help build American-based political support for his position.

Letters from Canadian mayors and positive responses in the U.S. will be "one more tool in the arsenal" for officials working to get the Americans to soften their stance, Fedeli said in an interview.

"I think so many mayors have done so much hard work in the last six months that they're close and I'm really, truly now hoping that this letter-writing campaign will be the straw that breaks the camel's back and common sense will take over," Fedeli said.

"I was naive to think that my letter alone was going to achieve any real goals. It's going to take the strength of numbers."

The more than 1,775 municipalities across Canada received an advisory Tuesday from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, highlighting Fedeli's mayor-to-mayor approach.

"The Canadian Embassy in Washington suggests that you write letters to the mayors of U.S. communities where your municipality is purchasing goods and services, and draw attention to the contributions that your community is making to local U.S. economies," the federation's note said.

So far Fedeli's letters have caught the eye and support of two of the three mayors he wrote - one is on vacation. One of the letters went to Tom Gallagher, the mayor of Cortland, N.Y., where North Bay bought a membrane filtration system from a local company for $6.3 million.

"I thought he hit on something pretty interesting and I'm just wondering what our great leaders were thinking about when they talked about this and passed it," Gallagher said Tuesday after speaking on the phone with Fedeli.

Gallagher is going to bring the issue before council and his congressional representatives. He said he would like to see Canada excluded from the Buy American provisions that were included in the US$787-billion economic stimulus bill, which Congress passed in February and which favours U.S.-made manufactured goods in government-funded building projects.

"Buying locally is not a bad thing," Gallagher said.

"We try to get everybody to buy local here. (But) we know that can't happen because everything's not available here...There are some things that we need from Canadian companies that we can't get here."

Fedeli's other two letters were sent to the mayor of Brandon, S.D., where North Bay bought two fire trucks this year from a company there for $850,000 and the mayor of DeKalb, Ill., where North Bay bought a water reservoir for $1 million.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities recently stepped back from its threat to boycott U.S. suppliers if the country didn't back down on Buy American provisions within 120 days.

The federation said given current high-level talks on the issue it would be appropriate to suspend its deadline.

Elements of carbon capture established, but cost and scale remain a challenge

CALGARY — The individual pieces of a carbon capture and storage puzzle have been around for a while, but there's a long way to go before those fragments can be assembled at a big enough scale and cheap enough to put a worthwhile dent in greenhouse gas emissions.

"At large scale it's not been done, and we need to learn how to do it in a much more cost-effective manner," said Eddy Isaacs, executive director of the Alberta Energy Research Institute.

The technology - which got a $865-million boost from the Alberta and federal governments last week - involves separating climate-change-causing carbon dioxide from industrial emissions and injecting the gas deep underground, rather than letting it escape into the atmosphere.

Refineries, petrochemical plants and other industrial facilities have employed the "capture" part of the equation for some time, using special chemicals to scrub poisonous hydrogen sulphide and other contaminants from their emissions.

Methods of storing gasses are also well established. For instance, natural gas, used to heat most North American households during the winter, can be safely stored during the summer months when it's not needed.

Hazardous sour gas is routinely stored underground, and maturing oil fields are able to keep producing with the help of carbon injections.

"The technologies are existing at fairly large scales. It's just that they've not been arranged or configured to be specifically focused simply on carbon capture and sequestration," said Gerry Ertel, Shell Canada Ltd.'s manager of regulatory affairs.

A proposal spearheaded by Shell, along with minority partners Chevron Canada and Marathon Oil, was the beneficiary of the government funding announced last Thursday.

The Quest project would store up to 1.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year from Shell's Scotford oilsands upgrader. The CO2 would be carried by pipeline to a spot nearby and then injected about 2,300 metres underground.

The companies would foot the balance of the project's $1.35-billion price tag.

Shell aims to file its regulatory application in late 2009, but a decision to go ahead with the investment could take place many years into the future.

Projects like Shell's serve as a stepping stone toward figuring out how to make the technology better, said AERI's Isaacs.

"It's learning by doing as opposed to doing paper studies," he said.

"The whole idea is to learn about the reservoir potential for CO2 storage and what kind of volumes are you actually able to deliver on a commercial scale."

Not all CCS applications are created equal. The purer the stream of carbon dioxide, the easier it is to capture.

Fertilizer and petrochemical plants produce the least contaminated emissions, but it takes more work to isolate the carbon dioxide from the coal and oilsands emissions.

Proponents of CCS in the industry and governments are quick to point out that CCS is no "silver bullet" to cure climate change, and that investments in efficiency and improvements in extraction processes are also key.

Still, the executive producer of the Sierra Club in Canada, said the big bucks earmarked for CCS would be better spent elsewhere.

Stephen Hazell figures the cost of capturing carbon using CCS would be between $75 and $115 per tonne, far above the $15 a tonne level Alberta currently charges for emissions.

"Those are out of sight costs," he said. "There's so many ways that you can reduce greenhouse gas emissions much more cheaply than carbon capture and storage."

Those could include investing in renewable forms of energy like wind and solar and rolling out a major energy efficiency program for residential, commercial and industrial buildings.

"That's where you can really reduce emissions at low cost, create lots of jobs and make people's homes more comfortable."

Governments and industry like carbon capture and storage because it allows the status quo to remain in place for the foreseeable future, Hazell said.

"We dangle the prospect of carbon capture and storage down the road so that we can get more tar sands projects approved today," he said.

"Everybody knows that we're not going to have a single molecule reduction in CO2 from carbon capture and storage for at least the next 10 years."