1.Air Canada put monkeys in cargo, activists charge
TORONTO – A U.K.-based animal advocacy group is taking Air Canada to task for allegedly shipping lab monkeys in the cargo holds of planes.
Sarah Kite, a spokesman for BUAV-- an advocacy group campaigning to end animal experiments -- said Sunday that a whistle-blower at Pearson International Airport complained the airline flew 48 monkeys from China to Toronto over the weekend.
"We're calling on Air Canada to stop shipping monkeys," Kite said. "It's a very cruel industry and Air Canada is playing a very key role."
Kite alleged the monkeys travelled as cargo from the Chinese capital of Beijing to Toronto on Saturday and were kept in crates for 15 hours after their arrival before being flown to Montreal.
Kite said the monkeys are believed to be headed to a research laboratory in Laval, Que.
Air Canada spokesman John Reber said the airline will not comment on the nature of its cargo shipments.
Many airlines, such as British Airways, United Airlines and Qantas Airways, have stopped shipping monkeys, said Kite.
She sent a letter on behalf of BUAV to Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinescu requesting that the airline follow suit.
2. Immigrant income gap, airline wars
The following are excerpts from recent posts on Postmedia Network blogs. For the full postings, for other postings on these blogs and for other blogs on a wide range of topics, go to canada.com/blogs
The Search
Gap between rich and poor immigrants has lessons for all Canadians, posted Jan. 18 by Douglas Todd
There are lessons for all Canadians in a new study revealing a big financial gap among recent immigrants ... University of B.C. economist Thomas Lemieux teamed up with Brahim Boudarbat of Universite de Montreal to produce the report, which a federally funded labour research publication titled: "The Poor Got Poorer."
The disturbing report shows recent immigrants are falling into extremes. They're either doing better than native-born Canadians in education, business and the professions, or they're descending into an increasingly struggling immigrant under-class ...
The most successful cohort of recent immigrants comes to Canada with strong English or French language skills, workplace contacts, high levels of education and work experience.
This group's accomplishments are reflected in data showing that the proportion of immigrants with a higher education has skyrocketed in recent decades, to the point that 12.7 per cent in 2001 reported having postgraduate degrees ...
However, the picture is much more gloomy for the immigrant cohort that is rapidly falling behind. This camp is generally made up of immigrants who are older, have limited ability in English or French and low education levels.
What does this new study mean for all Canadians, both immigrants and native-born?
Economists such as Lemieux acknowledge it's not necessarily a sign of Canadian social injustice that immigrants tend to report lower earnings.
It's a natural result of many immigrants having difficulties with the country's two official languages; coming from countries with lower educational standards or having fewer years experience in Canada's workforce.
Still, Lemieux has some smart suggestions ... The Quebec-raised economist supports the Canadian government's move to increasingly favour prospective immigrants who show high ability in French or English.
In addition, Lemieux says it's not wrong for the Canadian government to continue to approve would-be immigrants who have lined up jobs in Canada before their arrival.
Douglas Todd writes about spirituality and diversity for the Vancouver Sun. He blogs at The Search. For more, go to vancouversun.com/blogs
Canada at War
Emirates' airline hopes on wing and prayer, posted Friday by Matthew Fisher
An opinion piece written by Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi about Canada's quarrel with the UAE over landing rights that appeared in the Jan. 20 edition of the Globe and Mail is seriously misleading in several respects.
The article states that "hundreds of injured Canadian troops were given free medical care in the UAE before being airlifted home." This figure has deeply puzzled Canadian military and medical people in Kandahar and in Canada. The correct figure is not "hundreds." It is zero ... .
Citing the BBC as a source, the sultan states that the UAE has also been the only Arab country conducting "full-scale operations" in Afghanistan. I don't quite know what is meant by that term. Not one soldier from the UAE has been killed in Afghanistan, according to statistics kept by iCasualties.org... .
Nevertheless, the sultan makes some good points. It is absolutely true that the UAE's ambassador to Canada has tried to see Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon for several years but has been unable to do so. Such behaviour by Cannon is totally unacceptable ... .
Al Qassemi is also right about the UAE being a huge regional business hub and banking centre. But with so much business being conducted electronically today, and with neighbouring countries such as Bahrain and Qatar keen to provide similar services ... it is hardly an absolute necessity for Canadian businesses to establish themselves in the UAE.
The UAE's colossal global ambitions for its two airlines are understandable. It is blessed to lie between Asia and Europe and North America. Because of this, it can provide one-stop service for travellers from Auckland, Brisbane, Peshawar or Hyderabad on their way to Newcastle, Toronto or San Francisco. But the great majority of the millions of passengers carried by the UAE's two carriers do not have any links to that country beyond the airplane tickets they have purchased. At the same time, airlines in the countries they are travelling to and from do not get any of their money.
The sheikdom's particular anger with Canada is also understandable. Emirates and Etihad have more than 200 wide-body jets on order and must find places to land them or they will be out tens of billions of dollars ... If Ottawa maintains its principled stance, even more western countries may follow its lead, as Germany just has. That would be a nightmare for the tiny Gulf state's declared ambition to rule the skies.
Matthew Fisher has spent far more time in Afghanistan than any other Canadian journalist. He regularly blogs on Canada's first war in half a century.
3.Copa to beef up service to the U.S. and Canada
Panama's Copa Airlines announced today that it will fly to three new destinations and increase frequencies on other key routes as part of its 2011 expansion plan.
Copa's new routes will begin in June when the carrier adds service from Panama City to Toronto Pearson, Nassau in the Bahamas and Porte Alegre, Brazil.
Copa also will add one daily round-trip flight on five routes from its Panama City hub. Two of those routes are to Florida, where Copa's Miami service will increase to four daily round-trip flights and Orlando will go to three daily round-trip flights. Bogota (up to six daily round-trip flights), Lima (three) and Santiago, Chile, (three) are the other routes.
Copa also plans to reorganize its flight schedule, saying in a press release that it will transition from a schedule of four daily flight banks to a six.
That will begin June 15, with Copa saying it "will allow the airline to better utilize (Panama City's) Tocumen Airport's existing infrastructure as well as offer passengers more and better scheduling options."
In its release, Copa asserts that its Panama City hub "continues to be the most efficient and convenient connection point on the continent."
4. Air Canada delays Toronto Island airport launch
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Air Canada Inc ACb.TO has no schedule for starting to fly from Toronto's downtown airport after failing to reach a deal with the terminal operator in time for the February launch it had planned.
The country's No. 1 airline said negotiations are continuing with City Center Terminal Corp to lease space at Billy Bishop Airport, but it would not identify the issues in contention.
Billy Bishop is a small airport on Toronto Island in Lake Ontario, close to the city's core.
"We are not in a position to confirm a revised timeline for start-up, but suffice it to say we look forward to resuming service as soon as possible," Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said.
The airline had planned to offer up to 15 daily nonstop flights from the airport.
Air Canada flights will be operated by Sky Regional Airlines Inc, a switch from Air Canada's regional carrier, Chorus Aviation Inc CHRb.TO, which flew from the airport until 2006 under its previous name Jazz Air.
Sky is a regional operator that won Air Canada's competitive bid to operate the Island airport service.
Air Canada has said flights will be operated with Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft and that it intends to lease five of the planes.
Privately owned regional carrier Porter Airlines currently has a monopoly on flights from the Island airport. Porter Chief Executive Robert Deluce also heads City Center Terminal Corp, which is in talks with Air Canada.
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