Presentation Transcript

1. CURRENT EVENTS APRIL 25 GAS PRICE JUMP 'DOESN'T MAKE SENSE Drivers looking for a good reason for major gasoline price jumps across Canada overnight will be left lacking, as the usual seasonal influences don't add up to those types of increases. Montrealers woke up to eye-popping price hikes of more than nine cents per litre Wednesday morning. At an average price of $1.53, the city now has the dubious distinction of having the highest gas prices in Canada, according to website TomorrowsGasPriceToday.com. Other cities saw similar hikes. In Regina and Edmonton, prices went up by an average of five cents per litre. In Calgary and Quebec, the jump was four cents. Vancouver now has the second-highest prices across Canada at $1.51 a litre, while Toronto is looking comparatively cheap, at $1.40 a litre, on average http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/ID/2451327851/
2. CURRENT EVENTS APRIL 25 Typically, spring is a time of fluctuating gas prices, as refineries move from making a blend of gasoline tailored for cold weather driving, into a new blend targeted at summer driving. It's also a time when refineries make less petroleum products like heating oil, and readjust production towards gasoline to keep up with demand during the busy summer driving season.  The lower loonie, however, isn't helping. As oil is priced in U.S. dollars, and the Canadian dollar has lost about 10 per cent of its value compared to the greenback in recent months. Even absent all other factors, a weaker loonie is going to leave Canadians paying more at the pump that they're used to. Despite being a self-professed energy superpower, a lot of Canadian crude oil from Alberta gets shipped south to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast for processing, where it's then shipped to Canada and elsewhere to be used. Indeed, much of the gasoline used in Eastern Canada isn't Canadian at all, and likely comes from European sources.
3. CURRENT EVENTS APRIL 25 Ottawa to propose new pension scheme, but not budging on CPP Ottawa is preparing to announce a proposal to create yet another new pension scheme designed to occupy a middle ground between defined-benefit plans, generally favoured by workers, and defined-contribution plans favoured by employers. The announcement for a so-called target benefit plan, or shared-risk plan, would apply to Crown corporations and federally regulated workers is being sold as a proposal for "affordable and sustainable" lifetime pensions. Ottawa has announced several recent reforms to its public-service pension plan, including hiking contributions, but has kept benefits, which are fully indexed for inflation, largely untouched.
4. CURRENT EVENTS APRIL 25 C.D. Howe Institute president Bill Robson says there are a wide number of permutations that can be written into the plans, including limiting indexing as has occurred under the Ontario teacher's plan, all the way to lowering actual benefits once a plan's funding level falls below a pre-proscribed threshold. As well, the plans could allow for a portion of benefits to be guaranteed and a portion based on investment returns. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-to-propose-new-pension-scheme-but-not-budging-on-cpp-1.2620242 Financial advisers recommend contributing to both a registered retirement savings plan and a tax-free savings account, but only 24 per cent of those eligible contributed to an RRSP in 2011, and participation in TFSAs was similarly low.
5. CURRENT EVENTS APRIL 25 SOUTH KOREA FERRY: CREW 'UNDER COMMAND' TO ABANDON SHIP A member of crew of a South Korean ferry that sank last week said on Thursday she and her colleagues were "under command" to abandon ship. The Sewol, weighing almost 7,000 tonnes, sank on a routine trip from the port of Incheon, near Seoul, to the southern holiday island of Jeju. Investigations are focused on human error and mechanical failure. Of the 476 passengers and crew on board, 339 were children and teachers on a high school outing. Only 174 people have been rescued and the remainder are all presumed to have drowned. The number of confirmed deaths currently stands at 159.
6. CURRENT EVENTS APRIL 25
7. CURRENT EVENTS APRIL 25 South Korea mobilized an advanced underwater drone called a Crabster on Wednesday in efforts to speed up its search operation for missing passengers while divers extended their search into the night. South Korea mobilized an advanced underwater drone called a Crabster on Wednesday in efforts to speed up its search operation for missing passengers while divers extended their search into the night. http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/south-korea-ferry-crew-under-command-to-abandon-ship-1.2620154 Searchers and divers look for people believed to have been trapped in the sunken ferry . South Korean officials are still characterizing the operation as a "rescue," although marine experts say that it is unlikely that there are any survivors