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Montreal, Quebec, Canada (AHN) – Environment Canada admitted it was way off the mark when it released its weather forecast for Quebec.

The weather agency estimates it made a 1,000 percent miss when it said Quebec residents should expect just 2 to 4 centimeters (0.78 to 1.6 inches) of snow on Monday.

However, by Tuesday afternoon up to 25 cm (9.8 inches) of snow had blanketed Quebec City and there were more coming.

Vehicles and fire hydrants were buried by the snow, while in Montreal long lines of travelers were waiting for trains and buses Monday evening.

A meteorologist of the agency said they use a tool called numerical guidance that simulates weather patterns.

He said the guidance is not capable of picking up fine details of the weather pattern, leading to a low snow volume forecast. He added Quebec’s first snowstorm had a very unusual weather pattern that caused the agency to miscalculate snow volume.

Although city crew were clearing streets and sidewalks, officials said it could take five days to remove the heavy snowfall.

Another city that struggled with heavy snowfall was London in Ontario, where over 100 cm (39.4 inches) of snow fell in the past two days. It is just a few centimeters away from the snow that fell in the city from December to March.

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – A survey in early November by Angus Reid found out that many Canadians are not prepared for winter driving despite the start of the season this week.

The survey discovered that 30 percent of 2,000 poll respondents had not yet installed winter tires on their vehicles, and another 33 percent have no plans of placing one. Ironically, the provinces hit hardest by the winter weather this week were the one where majority of drivers said they do not intend to change tires – at 58 percent in Alberta and 50 percent in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

The host of a television show featuring Canada’s worst drivers pointed out that many Canadian motorists develop bad driving habits during spring and summer that it take them too long to prepare for icy roads even if winter comes every year.

The host reminded Canadian motorists to replace their all-season tires with winter tires once the temperature goes down below 7 degree Celsius. He explained winter tires’ treads clear slush and snow from the vehicle’s path and will remain soft at the coldest temperature, which provides better grip.

The three provinces and British Columbia logged below zero temperatures this week. In Victoria the barometer read minus 10 degrees, while in Alberta it was even negative 30 with the wind chill. Environment Canada warned Ontario and Quebec residents to brace for bad weather by the end of this week.

Other bad driving habits made by Canadians in whatever season of the year is the use of a mobile phone while behind the wheels despite laws banning the practice. According to another Angus Reid survey released last week, 88 percent of Canadians said they saw motorists talking on their mobile units while driving. What is worse is that in provinces where the practice is prohibited, sightings of drivers yakking while driving are higher than the national average at 90 percent in Ontario and 89 percent in BC.

Because of the unsafe practice, 83 percent of the survey respondents are in favor of making the ban Canada-wide.

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – Ottawa rejected Tuesday a request by Edmonton to help finance the city’s bid to host the 2016 World Fair to celebrate Canada’s 150th founding day.

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty explained Ottawa is going through a tough time with a record-high budget deficit, so the government could not afford to fund the project. Flaherty added it is not only Edmonton’s request that Ottawa had turned down, but also hinted the government would also say no to Quebec City’s request for assistance to build a hockey arena.

Flaherty added that the rejection is part of Ottawa’s policy not to commit to spending that would lead to larger deficits and higher taxes.

Aside from the huge budget deficit, Edmonton MP and cabinet minister Rona Ambrose pointed out the possible skyrocketing of security costs was a main reason why Ottawa said no.

The decision disheartened and angered Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel who lobbied hard for Ottawa’s financial support. Mandel said the decision appears that fiscal responsibility of Ottawa applies only to western Canada.

Edmonton sought a $706 million federal share for the expo, which is expected to cost $2.3 billion. Federal Heritage Minister James Moore said Ottawa is not prepared at this point to take such a huge financial risk in anticipation of federal share eventually ballooning to more than $1 billion.

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – A survey by Ipsos Reid shows that the Liberal-run Ontario government is at risk of losing if an election was held tomorrow. About 41 percent of survey respondents said they would vote for Progressive Conservative candidates instead of Liberal bets in an election.

Only 32 percent picked the Liberal Party, 20 percent opted for the New Democratic Party and 7 percent selected the Green Party.

The survey firm found in September that 75 percent of Ontarians said they wanted to vote out of office the current Liberal government headed by Premier Dalton McGuinty. In the summer of 2009, the Liberals were ahead of the Conservatives by 14 points; now the tide has reversed and the Tories outpace the Liberals by 9 points.

The growing disenchantment with McGuinty’s government comes from an economic slowdown that has caused Ontario to grapple with a record budget deficit and projected higher electricity costs in the next five years.

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Montreal, Quebec, Canada (AHN) – More political careers in Canada are being placed on the chopping block in response to residents’ disenchantment with public officials.

Just a few weeks after British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell resigned over the unpopular harmonized sales tax imposed in July, another premier is the target of an ouster move. The latest target is Quebec Premier Jean Charest over corruption in the construction industry.

The online petition has garnered more than 36,000 signatures as of Monday evening. The rash of support for the ouster petition caused the website hosting the petition to almost crash. Reports said the portal froze several times, an indicator of very high hits.

There are 40 new signatories added every minute. The petition will be open for additional signatures for three more months. Legislator Amir Khadir of the Quebec Solidaire Party, who initiated the petition, said there is no target how many signatures the petition would generate, but the lawmaker said he would be satisfied it there would be at least 50,000 or 100,000 names.

Quebec’s Union of Municipalities also joined the growing clamor for a public inquiry into the corruption charge, which Charest has rejected.

Political observers said the groundswell of support reflect how dissatisfied Quebec residents are with Charest’s governance. Charest’s intransigent stand led Action Democratique du Quebec leader Gerard Deltell to call the premier the “godfather” of the Liberal party.

Charest resented the link to a Mafia-like organization, which coincided with the recent assassination and burial of Montreal immigrant Nicolo Rizzuto, who is considered the last godfather in the Canadian province.

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – The United Arab Emirates ambassador to Canada said Tuesday the new UAE policy requiring Canadian tourists to secure a visa before entering the emirates is based on reciprocity, not retaliation.

Mohamed Abdulla Al Ghaffi said UAE tourists entering Canada are required to get a visa, so the new rules only level the playing field between the two nations. Canada’s Foreign Affairs Department confirmed that UAE is merely implementing a 2009 decision to pursue visa reciprocity with different nations.

But unofficial reports said the real reason behind the new visa requirement is the diplomatic row between Ottawa and Dubai over the rejection by Canada of UAE’s request for more landing rights for two UAE-owned air carriers.

The rejection led the UAE to kick out Canadian troops from Camp Mirage, which the latter had been using for a decade for free. Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon got an extension in June of the use of Camp Mirage as the entry and exit point for Canadian troops deployed to Afghanistan, but the UAE was insulted because Ottawa failed to keep with its ministerial level agreement.

The deal was to negotiate a fair deal on air access, but Ottawa wanted to limit the added landing rights to just one flight weekly, which would land in Canadian cities other than Toronto.

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – The federal government of Canada appears to have learned its environmental lessons from the recent deaths of ducks in Alberta’s lakes used as tailings pond by oil sands companies.

On Tuesday, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said Ottawa had rejected the proposed Prosperity mine near Williams Lake in British Columbia. The decision was based on the possible negative impact of the mine on the surroundings, including Fish Lake, which is known for its picturesque scenery.

BC Premier Gordon Campbell had been pushing for the $800 million project because of its potential to boost the province’s coffers. BC Minister of State for Mining Randy Hawes said Ottawa’s decision is not embarrassing, just disappointing.

Hawes said BC would continue to help the operator, Taseko Mines, win the federal government’s okay and to subsequently register the gold-copper project.

On the same day, Prentice gave the go signal for a gold-copper mine project at Mount Milligan, near Prince George.

Prentice explained the different responses by Ottawa to the two projects. He said in a statement, “We believe in balancing resource stewardship with economic development. The Mount Milligan project has been designed in a way that minimizes impacts to the environment, while the significant adverse environmental effects of the Prosperity project cannot be justified as it is currently proposed.”

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Monday that Canada will accept between 240,000 to 265,000 immigrants in 2011. The figure is the same as 2010′s.

Kenney said Ottawa did not add to the annual immigration quota on permanent residents because of the fragile economic recovery.

Thus, while the numbers would remain, the composition of migrants would slightly change to reflect the situation.

Economic migrants would be reduced by 5,000 slots, but provinces would be allowed to raise their quotas based on actual need for certain types of workers. Slots for spouses and children would also go up to 48,000 from the current 45,000.

Kenney added refugees would also be granted more visas because of Ottawa’s commitment to double the number of applicants from overseas refugee camps. These are the refugees who followed the normal application process from overseas, not boat people who jump the line and seek asylum upon arrival in Canadian shores.

While the recession caused a temporary oversupply of foreign workers, the Conference Board of Canada pointed out with an economic recovery and aging population, Canada would need about 350,000 immigrants yearly by 2030.

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – An International Monetary Fund staff mission to Canada has backed the decision by the Canadian central bank to keep interest rates at their present level. The mission said the benchmark rate strikes the right balance between risks to the outlook and Canada’s advanced expansion.

However, the IMF warned Ottawa Thursday not to be complacent because weakening global demand, high household debt and protectionism could slow down Canada’s economic recovery.

Because of these threats, IMF Mission Chief for Canada Charles Kramer said in a statement, “In this context, Canada faces three main policy challenges: managing the exit toward a neutral macroeconomic policy stance; cementing fiscal stabilization; and incorporating the lessons from the crisis for financial supervision and regulation.”

Kramer said Canada is in a good position to adapt to international financial reforms that would improve supervision and regulations. He said Canada’s resilience during the crisis provides lessons on arrangements for promoting stability.

The IMF will release its final findings on Canada by the end of 2010.

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – Canadian Auditor General Sheila Fraser Tuesday criticized plans by Ottawa to purchase billions of dollars worth of new military aircraft, citing risks of delay and higher prices.

The warning over the price of new fighter jets and helicopters overshadowed Fraser’s review of the stimulus spending program of the government.

In her fall report, Fraser claimed Department of Defense officials often provide lower estimates when seeking federal government approval of aircraft, despite plans to later alter the design that jack up the cost. She cited the doubling of the prices of 28 CH-148 Cyclones and 15 CH-147F Chinooks, which had reached $11 billion.

The purchase of the Cyclones was started by the previous Liberal government, while the Chinooks were purchased by the present Conservative government in a contract award process Fraser described as not fair, open or transparent.

Fraser said she would also probe deeper into the planned purchase of $16 billion worth of F-35 fighter jets.

The Cyclone purchase was delayed by seven years and the Chinook by five years. When Defense Department officials presented the proposal to the Treasury Board for the purchase of the helicopters, they said it was an off-the-shelf technology. However, the officials later amended specifications of the helicopters, which caused the delay and increased costs.

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