THURSDAY’S HAPPENINGS
Alberta’s Notley diplomatic about Harper
Alberta’s NDP premier Rachel Notley says she’s backing her federal counterpart Tom Mulcair in the Oct. 19 national election, but she won’t be negative about the other candidates. She wouldn’t comment on Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, who this week called her government’s recent corporate tax hikes disastrous. Her diplomatic tone contrasted with that of Premier Kathleen Wynne, who has openly called for Harper’s defeat.
Accord on abortion flyers
The union that represents Saskatoon letter carriers refusing to deliver anti-abortion flyers says it has reached a resolution with Canada Post. Julee Sanderson of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers says some carriers have volunteered to handle flyers for the five employees who won’t deliver them, and in exchange, Canada Post has agreed not to discipline the workers. Sanderson says carriers are upset about graphic images in the flyers, which also have a photo of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau.
Twitter chats focus on money
Data from Twitter Canada show the economy, jobs and the possibility that Canada will slip into recession were the top discussion issues in the first few days of the official election campaign. Second was national security, particularly talk about the government’s anti-terrorism legislation. The federal leaders, particularly Stephen Harper, have used these issues to try to frame the ballot-box questions for the campaign.
Mixed reaction for reno credit
Experts are divided on the impact of a Conservative promise to revive a home-renovation tax credit. Ahmed Helmi, a Torontoarea real estate broker with Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., said the tax rebate could encourage homeowners to renovate and stay put, leading to lower inventories on the market, which could continue to push soaring home prices higher. But broker Desmond Brown said Harper’s promise to make the renovation tax credit permanent (contingent on the economy) is “not going to make an impact at all” because the rebate offered is too low.