Complete: Organizers of Festival du Voyageur are pleased with this year’s turnout, reporting a 5% increase in visitor attendance.

The 44th annual Francophone festival ran February 15-24 and attracted 97,000 people throughout 10 official sites over 10 days.

“Our tremendous musical programming managed to please thousands of visitors and the addition of the Voyageur Apprentice Workshops gave people the opportunity to learn about the basics of traditional arts and crafts,” said executive director Ginette Lavack Walters. “We are pleased to note that this year’s theme, Find Your Place in History, resonated with our visitors.”

http://www.chrisd.ca/2013/02/26/festival-du-voyageur-2013-attendance-spike-visitor-turnout/

Ottawa will create an unlevel playing field if it grants Air Canada's request for a decade of relief from the $4.2-billion deficit in its defined benefits pension fund, the Air Transport Association of Canada said Tuesday.

The group, which represents small regional carriers and training centres, said Ottawa should provide broad pension assistance to all Canadian companies, instead of giving a competitive advantage to the former Crown corporation.

"Rather than dealing with the problem with Air Canada's pension funds, deal with Canadian pension funds as a rule because if they (politicians) create this precedent, I can think of all the other industries that are going to line up at the PM's door and say: 'Me too,'" association president John McKay said from Ottawa.

In a recent letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, McKay said singling out a company that has already received "immense support" not forthcoming to its competitors would seriously impact the competitiveness of the airline industry.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/airline-association-opposes-government-pension-relief-for-air-canada-193356931.html

Complete: OTTAWA - Statistics Canada says the country's international travel deficit with the world grew by $49 million to $4.6 billion during the fourth quarter of last year.

The agency says that while the deficit with overseas countries narrowed during the period, this was more than offset by a growing deficit with the United States.

On an annual basis, the international travel deficit reached $17.8 billion in 2012, up $1.5 billion from 2011.

During the year, Canadians spending abroad rose 6.7 per cent to $35.2 billion, while receipts from foreign visitors in Canada increased 4.4 per cent to $17.3 billion.

Canadians spent just under $9 billion outside the country during the fourth quarter, up 1.8 per cent from the third quarter, while receipts from foreign travellers in Canada increased 2.6 per cent to $4.4 billion

In the fourth quarter, Canada's travel deficit with the United States rose by $95 million to $3.8 billion, as Canadian spending in the U.S. rose 2.4 per cent to $5.6 billion.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/more-spending-by-canadians-in-us-pushed-up-travel-deficit-in-q4-193540911.html

Complete: OTTAWA - Statistics Canada says Canadians travelled more for pleasure in the third quarter last year, compared with the same quarter in 2011.

The agency says Canadians took 6.5 million overnight trips for pleasure outside Canada in the third quarter, up 9.9 per cent from the same quarter a year earlier.

It says 5.1 million of these trips were to the United States, a 10.8 per cent increase.

Canadian made 553,000 overnight business trips to the United States, down 0.2 per cent.

Pleasure travel was the most common reason for overnight travel to Canada from the United States, as American residents took 2.9 million overnight pleasure trips to Canada in the third quarter, down 2.1 per cent from the same quarter a year earlier.

The most common overseas destinations for overnight travel by Canadian residents were the United Kingdom, France and Italy, while the top three overseas countries of origin for visitors to Canada were the U.K., France and Germany.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/pleasure-travel-abroad-rose-99-per-cent-in-q3-compared-to-2011-statscan-193275221.html

TORONTO - Dozens of flights have been cancelled at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport because of a slow-moving storm in southern Ontario.

The weather system, which has paralyzed parts of the U.S. Midwest for the second time in a week, was making a slow eastward trek early Wednesday.

The departure board at Pearson was showing at least 106 cancelled flights through the late morning and at least 80 cancelled arrivals.

Most of the affected flights are to and from U.S. destinations coping with heavy, wet snow that has clogged roads and airports and blamed for at least three deaths.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/storm-grounds-dozens-of-flights-at-pearson-airport-193508731.html

This summer’s reduction in operating hours on the Rideau and Trent-Severn waterways should be suspended to prevent “immediate and devastating” consequences, say seven regional tourism organizations. OTTAWA — Seven regional tourism organizations in eastern and central Ontario want Environment Minister Peter Kent to suspend planned changes to the operating hours of the Rideau and Trent-Severn waterways, warning that they will have “immediate and devastating” consequences for affected communities and businesses.

Last fall, Kent, the minister responsible for Parks Canada, announced that the length of the boating season on the waterways would be preserved, but daily hours of operation would be reduced this summer by one-to-two hours.

But in a letter to Kent dated Feb. 25, the seven regional tourism organizations — industry-led, not-for-profit bodies created by the Ontario government to promote regional tourism — say they’re alarmed the federal government would make the cuts “without first considering the devastating implications for the communities, tourism operators and other businesses who depend upon these waterways.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Tourism+bodies+want+Peter+Kent+cancel+cuts+Rideau+Canal/8019201/story.html

Complete: BRUSSELS - European lawmakers are backing a proposal to freeze charges on carbon emissions for intercontinental flights, in a move that helps prevent a global trade dispute.

The EU Parliament's Environmental Committee on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted to exclude all flights travelling to or from countries outside the European Union from the carbon tax for a year pending an international agreement.

It said the suspension could only be prolonged if there is "clear and sufficient" progress at the International Civil Aviation Organisation to agree worldwide measures to tackle carbon dioxide emissions that are blamed for global warming.

Airlines operating within the EU must buy pollution permits, but the planned inclusion of foreign airlines flying into or out of the 27-nation bloc drew criticism from the United States and China.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/eu-lawmakers-back-carbon-tax-freeze-for-intercontinental-flights-avoiding-trade-spat-193393981.html

WASHINGTON - Janet Napolitano, the Obama administration's homeland security chief, warned Tuesday that the looming array of U.S. spending cuts known as sequestration will cause pain for Canadians, in particular at the busy Canada-U.S. border.

"Sequester will be felt up there because there's only a few big crossing places for trade on the Canadian-U.S. border and they're really important crossing places," she said at the Brookings Institution think tank.

"In fact, trade-wise, they're probably the No. 1 or 2 crossing places in the world. As sequester evolves and we have to furlough people who are port officers, and not fill vacant positions, and not pay overtime, we're unfortunately going to see those lines really stretch."

The equivalent of 5,000 border patrol agent positions will be cut if Congress fails to reach a deal to avert sequestration, Napolitano noted.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/napolitano-warns-looming-us-spending-cuts-will-cause-border-woes-for-canada-193373211.html

LUXOR, Egypt -- A hot air balloon carrying tourists over Egypt's ancient city of Luxor caught fire Tuesday, and some passengers trying to escape the flames leaped to their deaths before the craft crashed in a sugar cane field. At least 19 tourists were killed in one of the world's deadliest ballooning accidents.

The accident was a new blow to Egypt's tourism industry, which has been gutted by the country's turmoil the past two years. The southern city of Luxor, site of some of the most dramatic pharaonic temples, has been particularly hard hit, with empty hotels worsening the area's poverty.

After the early morning crash, authorities suspended hot air balloon flights, a popular tourist attraction, while investigators worked to determine the cause. The crash raised accusations authorities have let safety standards slip amid the political instability since the 2011 fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak -- though the civil aviation chief insisted his ministry keeps stringent inspections of balloons.

The balloon was carrying 20 tourists -- from France, Britain, Belgium, Hungary, Japan and Hong Kong -- and an Egyptian pilot on a sunrise flight over Luxor, officials said.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/world/rides-suspended-after-balloon-blaze-193488611.html

(A complete article published originally in the WFP, Feb.  '70)

The Winnipeg Football Club wants an additional 3,000 seats constructed in the Winnipeg Stadium for the forthcoming football season.

The season begins in July.

The football club made the request Thursday at a board meeting of the Winnipeg Enterprises Corporation.

Chairman of the board Alderman J. Gurzon Harvey said "finances are rough to come by these days," but said the corporation would not like to see the football club fold.  The corporation agreed to undertake a study into the cost of constructing the extra seats.

Paul S. Quinton, president of the football club, told board directors that the present financial situation of the club wasn't good and the club would require additional revenue to continue to operate.

Mr. Quinton said the only apparent way to increase revenue would be to extend the seating capacity of the Winnipeg Stadium.  "The time is at hand for the landlord (Winnipeg Enterprises to construct more seats in the park. "

He said "at present, our ticket prices are in line with prices in other football parks across Canada, so it would be unwise for us to consider raising the price of tickets."

Mr. Quinton presented the board with two proposals.  He said the west grandstand could be extended upward 15 rows across the entire top of the grandstand, or the centre five rows of the west stands could be extended upward 21 rows.  Both proposals would provide 3,000 additional seats.

J. W. Abbott, vice-president of the football club said the football club could not again afford to take a financial loss such as last year.  He said "we'll simply be out of business if we don't make some money."

Mr. Abbott told the directors of the board, that the club had suffered a deficit of $27,000 last year.  The total deficit of the club at present is about $70.000.  Mr. Abbott said the total deficit figure did not include payment of a cancelled contract with a former coach.

"An increase in stadium seating would, provide an additional revenue of about $9,000 a game.  Our present game gross is $93,181 and with additional seating we could expect to gross $102,448."

Mr. Abbott said that Winnipeg Enterprises could expect about $14,000 yearly revenue from the erection of additional seats.  He said the figure was compiled on a eight-game schedule and that pre-season exhibition games and possible playoff games would provide additional revenue.

Mr. Abbot said that the construction of additional seating in the end zone area would be of little benefit to the football club. "We must construct the seats between the goal lines.  End zone seats just don't sell - we are usually forced to sell them in block form at a discount.  People want to sit as close to centre field as possible."