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Competition gives telecom customers new options

VANCOUVER -- Canada's biggest telephone companies saw their well-laid plans for conversion to income trusts snatched away in 2006, while agile new competitors crept in to siphon away a share of the lucrative local phone market.  But as cheap offerings from mobile phone and Internet-based providers move in traditional telecom turf and the federal government looks to accelerate competition in local phone service next year, things may be looking up.  Full article here.

Coal-fired power plants stir up controversy

Public scrutiny of British Columbia's electricity system is going to intensify as the province makes its first serious stab in two decades at expanding the volume of power moving through the grid, some experts are predicting.  Of 38 independent power projects BC Hydro has approved this year, the ones attracting the greatest attention are a pair of coal-fired generation projects. One is proposed for Princeton in the south and the other for Tumbler Ridge in east-central B.C.  Full article here.

500,000 new jobs by 2020

VICTORIA -- Canada's economy could generate a bonanza of $230-billion a year in increased trade and as many as 500,000 new jobs by 2020 if the country's governments unite to build up West Coast ports, promote Asian trade and foster cultural ties with the Asia Pacific, predicts a B.C. government study. Full story here.

Fashion industry fights anorexia

ROME -- Italy's fashion industry on Friday signed a code of conduct aimed at fighting anorexia among women and the vogue for stick-thin models.  The self-regulatory code, drawn up with the Italian government, requires models to show medical proof they do not suffer from eating disorders, bans models younger than 16 and calls for a commitment to add larger sizes to fashion collections.  It also aims to redefine feminine beauty and to re-evaluate "a healthy, sunny, generous, Mediterranean model of beauty."  More here.

Boomer phenom even hits charities

An overwhelming 72 per cent of baby boomers in B.C. want to know exactly where their charitable dollars are going before they hand over their cash, according an Ipsos Reid survey for BMO Harris private banking released Wednesday.  Full article here.

Seniors & learning in Canada

You don’t stop learning when you grow old; you grow old when you stop learning. This has been the motto for the Seniors Program at Simon Fraser University (SFU) for decades. Learning is widely recognized as an important factor in keeping a person’s mind active and agile. Brain experts believe that active learning helps maintain brain health by preventing loss of brain function and cognitive skills such as memory, reasoning, and judgment. Increasing numbers of older adults are enrolling in various forms of continuing education in Canada. At SFU alone, enrolment among mature students (age 55+) increased dramatically from 297 in 2000 to over 1,100 in 2005. Many seniors across Canada are also engaged in active informal learning.  Full article here.

US charities set up education fund

Two huge U.S. charitable foundations are teaming up to find ways to improve dismal education opportunities for the masses in several parts of sub-Saharan African and developing Asia.  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is making a one-time grant of $40 million US over three years and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is adding $20 million more to fund six to 12 large-scale demonstration projects to improve teaching in places with poor schools. Each could involve hundreds of thousands of students in primary and secondary grades. Full article here.

Sex-trade workers - not a "job of choice"

There is one thing that everybody involved in the debate over prostitution and human trafficking agrees on: Change is needed to protect women and children from predators.  The controversy comes first in defining predator, then over what kind of protection is needed as is evidenced by this week's report(s) of the parliamentary subcommittee on solicitation.  Many women and groups representing them define predators as all men who buy sexual services. They define all forms of work in the sex trade as violence against women.  Full article here.

Wireless growth

Wireless growth of 12 to 13 per cent and an easing in losses on the wireline side of telecommunications giant Telus could push sales up by more than half a billion dollars in 2007, the company said Thursday.  In its annual look ahead, Telus forecast revenues of between $9.17 billion and $9.27 billion next year. That compares to a top end of $8.7 billion in 2006. The company also predicts normalized per-share profits of $3.25 to $3.45 next year, up from $3.15 to $3.25.  More info here.

Tax breaks

Provincial Finance Minister Carole Taylor laid out Wednesday $90 million in tax breaks that the government will use to attract more people into skilled-trades training.  In its 2006 budget, the province promised to spend an additional $400 million over four years for trades training, including tax breaks to people who enter skilled-trade courses. Full article here.