CANADA AT A GLANCE

SW News

Title: [SW News](Resource News International ) CANADA AT A GLANCE
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Date :[18 April 2000 4:04 PM EST ]

CANADA AT A GLANCE: PM 4/18

Story Filed: Tuesday, April 18, 2000 4:04 PM EST

Winnipeg, MB, Canada, Apr. 18, 2000 (Resource News International via COMTEX) -- FOOD POISONING MAY BE CAUSE OF GULL DEATHS IN ST. JOHN'S

Food poisoning might be to blame for the sudden deaths of at least 500 gulls in the St. John's area, says Newfoundland's chief veterinarian.

"A lot of them have human food in their mouths -- bits of hot dogs, potatoes, meat, peas, beans," said Hugh Whitney, who examined the bodies of several birds Tuesday.

Scores of dead seabirds, almost all of them herring gulls, were first spotted Saturday near Quidi Vidi Lake, which is in the city's east end. The body count has climbed since then.

"This is the first large-scale die-off that we've dealt with," Whitney said.

At first, there was speculation the birds died after eating a poison substance illegally dumped at the city's main landfill at Robin Hood Bay.

While that remains a possibility, Whitney said there are forensic clues pointing toward botulism.

Whitney also noted that some of the sickly birds brought to him on Monday have since recovered and stressed that food poisoning is fairly common among wild birds, particularly waterfowl.

Since 1996, tens of thousands of ducks and shorebirds have died of avian botulism at Whitewater Lake, Man. About 117,000 died in 1996 alone, but the numbers have declined steadily since then.

Avian botulism, which is not a health risk to humans, is a poison waterfowl consume when they eat maggots contaminated with the botulism toxin. (Canadian Press)

MONTREAL RESIDENTS RALLY AGAINST GARBAGE-TRANSFER DEPOT

Carla Valdivia, 4, was one of the youngest of 250 protesters who turned up at Montreal city hall last night to fight the city's plans to approve a C$9-million garbage-transfer depot to be built in St. Henri.

As she waved a balloon wrapped in a garbage bag as part of the protest before city council's meeting began, her mother, Susana, said she joined the battle because she fears for her daughter's health.

Valdivia, who lives in St. Henri, said her daughter will some day be attending James Lyng school on Notre Dame St., a short distance from the depot site.

The sentiment was shared by many of the four busloads of St. Henri residents and local politicians who showed up with placards and children in tow for the protest outside city hall.

Inside, Mayor Pierre Bourque was hit with more bad news as it was revealed officials with the McGill University Health Centre, which is planning to build its superhospital on a site near the proposed garbage-transfer depot, is against the project.

In a letter to Bourque dated yesterday, MUHC board chairman David Culver wrote that the garbage depot would not be tenable "in regards to the health and safety of the community" and cited particular concern for the elderly residents and schoolchildren nearby.

It was also revealed last night that lawyers for a 240-unit seniors' residence that's just 96 meters from the garbage site sent a legal notice by bailiff to Bourque and city officials yesterday advising them against approving the project at this week's council meeting because it could be illegal.

Under the proposal by the waste-management company Matrec, trucks would make about 215 visits a day, carrying 300,000 tonnes of residential and commercial trash and another 100,000 tonnes of dry waste. Garbage would be fed into compactors inside the facility for processing before being transferred into other trucks that would transport the waste to off-island dumps. (Montreal Gazette)

AXWORTHY BLASTS US SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQ, OFFERS C$1-MILLION IN AID

Lloyd Axworthy, the Foreign Affairs Minister, said yesterday Canada will send C$1-million to Iraq to upgrade schools, hospitals and water treatment systems.

The announcement, made at the opening of a UN Security Council debate on sanctions, underscores Axworthy's efforts to promote "smart" sanctions, which he says would punish rogue regimes by imposing specific disciplinary measures rather than broad-based trade embargoes that often hurt civilians.

For the past decade, the minister said, a United Nations embargo has been imposed on Baghdad that has had little impact on the regime.

"The objectives were and remain clear -- to coerce the Iraqi leadership to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction and to desist from pursuing such programs," Axworthy said. "However, the unintended humanitarian impact of these measures has been borne by Iraqi civilians, rather than the Baghdad regime."

The donation, the first direct Canadian government assistance to Iraq since the embargo was imposed, will be channelled through the United Nations Children's Fund.

Thus far, the United States has refused pleas from Canada, France and others to relax sanctions against Iraq as an incentive to comply with the world body's demands.

Axworthy and most Security Council diplomats believe the US stance is too harsh, rooted in punishment rather than in achieving a diplomatic or humanitarian breakthrough. (National Post)

LIBERALS WIN MAJORITY IN YUKON ELECTION

The Liberal party will form its first-ever government in the Yukon Territory in an election that saw the two other party leaders - including the former NDP premier - struggle for their seats.

The Liberals won 10 seats Monday, compared to five for the NDP and only two for the Yukon party.

The standings in the 17-seat legislature will be 10 for the Liberals, five for the NDP and two for the Yukon Party.

Premier Piers McDonald, an 18-year veteran of the territory legislature, was trailing behind the Liberals in his riding with only two polls left to report.

Meanwhile, John Ostashek, leader of the Yukon Party, lost by more than 100 votes out of about 700 in his riding.

Ostashek, who had been Yukon premier between 1992 and 1996, was expected to resign.

The Yukon embraced the party system in 1978 and since then, the Liberals have never formed a government. (Toronto Star)

RED CROSS ASKS CANADIANS FOR ETHIOPIAN AID

Ethiopia's famine isn't yet as serious as its mid-1980s disaster and that's why international aid should act now, says the Quebec chapter of the Canadian Red Cross.

"We can still prevent a lot of people from dying," France Hurtubise, a spokeswoman for the Quebec chapter, said today.

Hurtubise said the International Red Cross Society is flying 30 metric tonnes of emergency food each day from Kenya to the hard-hit Ethiopian region of Gode for distribution.

"We are getting food to the population in those pockets where there is a high rate of malnutrition."

The 1984-85 famine killed about a million Ethiopians.

The Canadian Red Cross launched an appeal April 7 for famine relief in the Horn of Africa. The relief target area includes Ethiopia, parts of bordering Somalia and northern Kenya.

The Ethiopian operation is expected to last at least until the end of June. The Red Cross is asking for cash donations and is not accepting in-kind gifts because they're too hard to handle. (Canadian Press)

QUESTION OF THE DAY: In which province was The Upper Canada Gazette first published in 1763?

ANSWER: The Upper Canada Gazette, the first newspaper published in what is now Ontario, was launched in 1763. End.

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