Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 18, 2014, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A13 winnipegfreepress. com CANADA WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2014 A 13 * Offer valid at participating trade- in locations in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Limit of one trade- in per customer. See telus. com/ tradein for full details. ? Taxes, long distance, additional airtime, roaming and pay- per- use charges are extra plus provincial government 911 emergency service fees will apply in Saskatchewan ( 62�). Directory assistance 411 charge is $ 2.50 per call. ? Premium and subscription messages are not included. An additional 40�/ message charge will apply for each text message or attachment sent to non- Canadian numbers. Customers with devices not able to display picture or video messages will receive a text message that includes a web address for viewing. ** Additional usage will be charged at 5�/ MB. Cannot be combined with any other data plan. Tethering included. Access to BlackBerry Enterprise Service is not included. Data usage is subject to a monthly overage limit of 10 GB. ?? Best customer service claim based on a comparison of national wireless service providers drawn from the most recent report of the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services; visit the CCTS website or see telus. com/ bestservice for details. TELUS, the TELUS logo, telus. com and the future is friendly are trademarks of TELUS Corporation, used under licence. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. � 2014 TELUS. For more details, visit your TELUS store, authorized dealer or retailer, or call 1- 866- 264- 2966. TELUS STORES & AUTHORIZED DEALERS Polo Park St. Vital Centre 393 Portage Ave Brandon Shoppers Mall Winnipeg Garden City Shopping Centre Kenaston Power Centre 3653 Portage Ave 1555 Regent Ave West Visit telus. com/ findastore for your nearest trade- in location. Switch and enjoy the best customer service in Canada. ?? Go from out of date to up to date . Trade in any old phone and get towards a new smartphone. * $ 120 Pair your new smartphone with our $ 65 plan ? and enjoy: Unlimited nationwide talk & text ? Up to 5 GB of nationwide data ** Caller ID and Voice Mail TM M EXICO CITY, Mexico - Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in Mexico City with a plan that could pave the way for getting rid of his host's biggest complaint about Canada - the onerous visa on Mexican travellers. Trade Minister Ed Fast, who is also in Mexico with the prime minister, has been authorized by the federal cabinet to sign an expanded airline access agreement with Mexico, The Canadian Press has learned. That agreement would allow Mexican airlines greater access to more cities and Canadians more direct flights to Mexico. The expanded air access would likely be a precursor to the Conservative government eventually lifting the controversial visa it slapped on Mexican travellers in 2009 to combat an increase in bogus asylum seekers. Harper isn't expected to announce a lifting of the visa this week, but the two countries are hopeful the issue can be ironed out in the coming months. A document dated earlier this month from the Privy Council Office, the bureaucratic arm of Harper's office, authorizes Fast " to sign, on behalf of the Government of Canada, subject to ratification, the agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the United Mexican States on air transport." Sergio Alcocer Mart�nez, Mexico's undersecretary for North America, said the new air agreement would greatly expand the current one between the two countries, which is more than 50 years old. It would allow more direct Mexican flights to Canadian cities, beyond the current routes to Montreal and Toronto. " The new agreement, which will be signed, is much broader in terms of allowing more companies, more destinations, code shares among the airlines. And that certainly will help our trade, our business people, to move back and forth, as well as tourism," he told The Canadian Press. " It is important to facilitate the movement of people." A Canadian expert on Latin America, who has been advising the Mexican government on the Harper government, said the air access agreement is expected to be one of the main announcements of the bilateral portion of Harper's visit. " I can't fly... from Calgary, the energy capital of the superpower that is Canada, to Mexico directly," said Carlo Dade, director of the Centre for Trade and Investment Policy at the Canada West Foundation. " You'll see a new announcement on flights." Mexican officials, not authorized to speak on the record, said if Canada opens its skies to more air links, it would make no sense to keep the visa in place. Harper's plane touched down late Monday afternoon in Mexico City; his only scheduled public event of the day was to place a wreath at the Altar of the Nation, Mexico's principal war memorial in Chapultepec Park. The visa irritant has been hanging over Harper's four- day trip to Mexico. The Mexican government has complained loudly and publicly about the visa requirement, which it says is invasive, time- consuming and to blame for a major decline in Mexican visitors to Canada. Dade and other analysts say Harper won't have had a successful visit by any measure if he doesn't supply some sort of relief to the Mexicans on the visa issue. The powerful Canadian Council of Chief Executives has urged Harper to lift the visa, or at least simplify it with a less onerous online process that would be similar to the standard to which the United States subjects Mexican applicants. " If I have to make two connections to get down to Mexico, am I really going to do that deal? Am I going to open a plant? Am I going to schedule business meetings?" said Dade. " It's a pain and has an impact on business." Dade said Harper is " going to get to brag about the Mexicans thanking him for lifting the visa" before the week is out. After his visit today with President Enrique Pe�a Nieto, Harper will take part in the North American leaders' summit with U. S. President Barack Obama. Mexico is pushing for a major reset of so- called Three Amigos summit process. " I am not expecting great things out of this summit," said Laura Macdonald, a Canada- Mexico expert with Carleton University in Ottawa. In a news release, Harper's office ranks North American economic competitiveness as the top agenda item for the meeting. Other items include energy and the environment and defence and security issues. - The Canadian Press Canada, Mexico to expand airline access Could pave way to lifting visa requirements By Mike Blanchfield SEAN KILPARICK / THE CANADIAN PRESS Prime Minister Stephen Harper ( left) lays a wreath in Mexico City Monday. A_ 13_ Feb- 18- 14_ FP_ 01. indd A13 2/ 17/ 14 9: 51: 42 PM ;