Winnipeg Free Press

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MODEL SHOWN: CIVIC TOURING - IC * O TTAWA - The governing Conservatives will use today's federal budget to unveil a crackdown on multinational companies that charge Canadian customers more than Americans on everything from books to clothing and appliances. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's budget will include a promise of legislation to stop " country pricing" - when multinational brands set different prices in Canada and the United States, a government official told The Canadian Press. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the budget's release, said the legislation will address the price gap and empower the country's competition commissioner to enforce the new rules. The government also intends to monitor whether last year's elimination of tariffs on baby clothing and sports equipment - some of them as high as 20 per cent - is being passed onto consumers at the retail level. A recent report by the Retail Council of Canada, which has worked with the government to tackle country pricing, concluded the tariff cuts have resulted in lower prices for consumers. But the Consumers Association of Canada has expressed skepticism about whether such steps do indeed cut costs, and Flaherty is not expected to chop any more tariffs. The new initiatives are part of the government's effort to respond to consumer complaints about higher costs, price- gouging and price discrimination, the official said. But the no- cost commitment also dovetails with what's shaping up to be the budget's underlying theme: demonstrating to voters the government is taking action to help them, but with precious little new spending. The Tories' pre- budget media blitz has been peppered with a number of such low- cost pledges, such as legislation to enshrine balanced budgets and tighter rules for charitable status to curb the link between charities, terrorists and organized crime. Ottawa is also promising $ 800,000 to help skilled newcomers to Canada find work in their fields as part of a larger, job- centred effort that's expected to be one of the budget's key planks. They have previewed more expensive promises, but only those that either delay spending - the government's income- splitting promise, for instance, was contingent on a balanced budget - or spread it out over several years. Flaherty said there will be money for major infrastructure projects, which would likely include Toronto- area subways, replacing Montreal's Champlain Bridge, building a second bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ont., and Vancouver's Evergreen Line - all of which were highlighted in last October's throne speech. But the $ 70 billion will be spread out over the next decade. Last week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the marquee announcement of a long- awaited plan to rework native education, promising $ 1.9 billion over several years. But money won't start flowing until 2016, when the Tories expect to have a fresh electoral mandate and some cash to spend. Both CBC and the Globe and Mail have said the budget will include plans to extend or improve high- speed Internet access to 280,000 households and businesses in rural and remote areas. It's expected to be comparable to a previous $ 225- million program, with the cash spread out over several years. And the Tories have a brand- new revenue source to tap: The Commons finance committee has recommended such projects be funded through the proceeds from the 700- megahertz wireless auction. The last auction raised $ 4.3 billion. But the road to balancing the budget in 2015 will come at a price; one that will likely require some number crunching. Treasury Board President Tony Clement, who has sparked a war with public sector unions in his quest to cut costs, has outlined proposed changes to sick leave policy, which would include five to seven sick days a year, a shortterm disability leave of a week to six months and long- term leave for more than six months. The changes would also eliminate bankable sick days. Flaherty has insisted he won't balance the books by cutting transfers, but two of the country's most populous provinces are already waving red flags. Premier Kathleen Wynne is demanding Flaherty compensate Ontario for slashing $ 641 million from its equalization payments, while Quebec's Parti Qu�b�cois government warned against any " ugly surprises" in this year's budget that could provoke new squabbles. - The Canadian Press Multinationals under the gun in Tory budget Canadian, U. S. customers charged different prices By Lee- Anne Goodman and Maria Babbage AARON VINCENT ELKAIM / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Jim Flaherty's budget isn't expected to offer much in the way of spending. BAGHDAD - An instructor teaching his militant recruits how to make car bombs accidentally set off explosives in his demonstration Monday, killing 21 of them in a huge blast that alerted authorities to the existence of the rural training camp in an orchard north of Baghdad. Nearly two dozen people were arrested, including wounded insurgents trying to hobble away from the scene. The fatal goof by the al- Qaida breakaway group that dominates the Sunni insurgency in Iraq happened on the same day the Speaker of the Iraqi parliament, a prominent Sunni whom the militants consider a traitor, escaped unhurt from a roadside bomb attack on his motorcade in the northern city of Mosul. Nevertheless, the events underscored the determination of the insurgents to rebuild and regain the strength they enjoyed in Iraq at the height of the war until U. S.- backed Sunni tribesmen turned against them. The militants are currently battling for control of mainly Sunni areas of western Iraq in a key test of the Shiite- led government's ability to maintain security more than two years after the withdrawal of U. S. troops. While the Iraqi army has been attacking insurgent training camps in the vast desert of western Anbar province near the Syrian border, it is unusual to find such a camp in the centre of the country, just 95 kilometres north of the capital. The discovery shows " the terrorist groups have made a strong comeback in Iraq and that the security problems are far from over, and things are heading from bad to worse," said Hamid al- Mutlaq, a member of the parliament's security and defence committee. The militants belonged to a network now known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an extremist group that recently broke with al- Qaida. The ISIL, emboldened by fellow fighters' gains in the Syrian civil war, has tried to position itself as the champion of Iraqi Sunnis angry at the government over what they see as efforts to marginalize them. Car bombs are one of the deadliest weapons used by this group, with coordinated waves of explosions regularly leaving scores dead in Baghdad and elsewhere across the country. The bombs are sometimes assembled in farm compounds where militants can gather without being spotted, or in car workshops in industrial areas. The explosion Monday took place at a camp tucked away in an orchard in the village of al- Jalam, a farming area that has been a stronghold of al- Qaida close to the Sunni city of Samarra. According to a police officer, an army official and a hospital official, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, the events unfolded as follows: The militants were attending a lesson on making car bombs and explosive belts when a glitch set off one of the devices during the car- bomb part of the demonstration. Security forces rushed to the area after hearing the thunderous blast and arrested 12 wounded militants along with another 10 trying to flee. Authorities searched two houses and a garage in the orchard, finding seven car bombs as well as several explosive belts and roadside bombs. The cars did not have licence plates. Bomb experts then started the work of defusing the devices. Later Monday, a bomb exploded near a caf� in western Baghdad shortly after nightfall, killing three people and wounding 11 others. The U. S. strongly condemned the assassination attempt on parliament Speaker Osama al- Nujaifi, a roadside bombing that wounded one of his bodyguards. Violence has spiked in Iraq since last April, when security forces cracked down on a Sunni protest camp north of Baghdad in clashes that left 45 dead. The situation deteriorated significantly in late December, when security forces dismantled a protest camp near the Anbar provincial capital of Ramadi. To defuse the tension, the security forces withdrew from Ramadi and the nearby city of Fallujah. ISIL militants promptly took over parts of Ramadi and the centre of Fallujah. - The Associated Press Car- bomb teacher blows up self, pupils I raqi training camp set up in orchard By Sameer N. Yacoub KHALID MOHAMMED / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Car bombings are common in the Middle East. Here, a Baghdad shopkeeper cleans up after a blast earlier this month. In rural Iraq Monday, 21 people learning how to make car bombs, and their instructor, died in an accidental blast. A_ 10_ Feb- 11- 14_ FP_ 01. indd A8 2/ 10/ 14 9: 54: 21 PM ;