The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 12

THE GAZETTE, MONTREAL, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2002 AI2 MEWS J4 IN BRIEF Minister urges envoy! talks TOPIC: EXPULSIONS Russians were military attaches JACK AUBRY AND JIM BRONSKILL f'' 4 SOUTHAM NEWS Ottawa Two Russian diplomats expelled from Canada in November were military attaches at their country's embassy in Ottawa, the Ottawa Citizen has learned. 1 Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham said yesterday he and Defence Minister John McCal-lum are seeking a meeting with their Russian counterparts to discuss the affair Graham said he had already talked about the expulsions with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov during a visit to Moscow last month. Both governments were trying to keep the diplomatic -spat quiet before a Citizen report made the matter public Saturday Russia expelled two Canadian diplomats from Moscow last week in a tit-for-tat response to the earlier action against the Russian envoys in Ottawa One of the Canadians is for- MARCOS TOWNSEND THE GAZETTE Liberal candidate Richard Giroux delivers a speech after losing a federal by-election in Berthierville last night. In the Lac-Saint-Jean-Saguenay riding, the Bloc candidate won with 48 per cent of the vote. inflk4(Soiif PAUL MARTIN WASN'T A MIRACLE WORKER Margins of victory narrow in Lac-Saint-Jean-Saguenay and Berthier-Montcalm ONTARIO Pastor covers stolen funds A southern Ontario pastor opened his own wallet after a thief made off with a Salvation Army donation kettle in a brazen daylight smash-and-grab Saturday in the heart of downtown Stratford.

"It happened so fast," Rev. Robert Henderson said yesterday. "He just grabbed it and whipped it off of there and ran with it." Henderson said he wrote a personal cheque to cover the lost money so that people who donated don't feel their contribution was for nothing. The money collected helps fund Salvation Army programs and services such as its food bank, winter relief and buying toys for needy children for Christmas. Killer whale makes bid for freedom A young killer whale put on quite a show in Niagara Falls when it jumped out of its tank at Marineland.

The killer whale, 4-year-old Hudson, is reportedly doing just fine. "He was playing around over at the edge and he just slipped over," Marineland owner John Holer said. The incident happened on Saturday, while a company Christmas party was taking place and some employees were watching the whales being fed. Staff were feeding the whales when one jumped right out "Youngsters like to play," he said. "We put him in a stretcher and we lifted him up with a crane and put him back in the pool," Holer said.

"He'sfine" NOVA SCOTIA i Labradors to keep flying A new search-and-rescue helicopter or iginally bound for an airbase in Nova Scotia has been diverted elsewhere. The delay means aging Labrador helicopters, which were to retire in July, will be kept in operation until September. The base in the Annapolis Valley, which is the principal search-and-rescue air-base on the East Coast, has only one of the new Cormorant helicopters. The Labradors will remain the primary search-and-rescue helicopter over the next several months while crews train on the new chopper, which can fly faster, for longer distances and in worse weather NEWFOUNDLAND Disabled Russian boat being towed to Newfoundland A disabled Russian fishing vessel was being towed into St John's, yesterday The 55-metre ship has been dead in the water since its prop became snarled in netting or wire cable several days ago. The Coast Guard ship Sir William Gren-fell arrived on scene early yesterday and managed to get a line on board.

HMCS Halifax had been alongside since Saturday to make sure the 18 crew members could be rescued quickly if the weather worsened. The warship was on patrol Saturday when it received a call for help. NEW BRUNSWICK Fredericton methadone clinic to open A methadone treatment program isn't scheduled to begin in Fredericton until January, but the health clinic already has a waiting list of 100 drug addicts seeking help. "We're seeing a big problem province-wide," said Margaret Dykeman, the downtown clinic's nurse manager Dykeman said she's seen a steady increase in the rate of drug abuse in New Brunswick since it was determined in 1996 that the level was higher than the Canadian average. Dykeman said while most provinces have a strategy to deal with the drug abuse, New Brunswick doesn't STRATFORD BEACON HERALD, CP, ST.

CATHARINES STANDARD, FREDERICTON CLEANER Action Democratique candidate in Johette riding. The last time the Liberals held the most federal seats in the province was after the 1980 general election, when under Pierre Trudeau's leadership they swept all but one out of 75. They were reduced to 12 seats during the 1984 Conservative landslide led by Brian Mulroney, and in the last three general elections they were beaten out by the Bloc Quebecois, though in the 2000 election they won the most votes of any federal party in the province, but only 36 seats to the Bloc's 38. The Liberals were keen to win Lac-Saint-Jean because of its symbolic significance as the province's bastion of sover-eignist support and Bloc founder Lucien Bouchard's federal riding before he turned to provincial politics and became premier. Liberal hopes were raised by a fight for the Bloc nomination in Lac-Saint-Jean, which caused a split in the party's local ranks and prompted some campaign workers to defect to the Liberals.

The Liberal candidates in both ridings had previous associations with the Bloc and ran not so much as federalists as promoters of their regions. Tremblay, a 57-year-old Alma municipal councillor, ran under the Liberal banner as a "region-alist" while Giroux, a 45-year-old notary and mayor of Saint-Genevieve-de-Berthier, said he than 4 per cent of the vote. Turnout was low in both ridings compared to the last general election as voters were deterred by frigid weather and widespread indifference to the by-elections. In Lac-Saint-Jean, 34 per cent voted, and only 28 per cent did in Berthier-Montcalm. The results leave the Bloc once again holding the greatest number of federal seats in Quebec, 37 to the Liberals' 35.

The two had been tied before yesterday's vote. There are also two independent federal members in the province and a lone Conservative MR Andre Bachand. Even though they held neither of the ridings before the vote, the double loss represents a disappointing setback for the Liberals, who threw a lot of resources into the contest in hopes of gaining clear ascendancy over the Bloc in the province. The by-elections were forced by the recent switch from federal to provincial politics by two former Bloc MPs, Stephan Tremblay in Lac-Saint-Jean and Michel Bellehumeur in Berthier-Montcalm. Tremblay won the Lac-Saint-Jean National Assembly seat in provincial by-elections last June, while Bellehumeur lost to the KEVIN DOUGHERTY, PHILIP AUTHIER AND HUBERT BAUCH THE GAZETTE The Bloc Quebecois held on to two Quebec ridings up for grabs in federal by-elections, despite a determined push by the Liberals to regain dominance in the province.

In both cases, however, the Bloc margin of victory was drastically reduced from the last general election In the Lac-Saint-Jean-Sague-nay riding northeast of Quebec City, Bloc candidate Sebastien Gagnon won over Liberal candidate Gilbert Tremblay with 48 per cent of the vote, to Tremblay 41 per cent The Bloc margin of victory, however, fell from 14,000 in the last election to just over 1,300 yesterday In the riding of Berthier-Montcalm on the north shore of the St. Lawrence east of Montreal, Bloc candidate Roger Gaudet defeated Liberal Roger Giroux by just over 2,000 votes in a 50 per cent to 42 per cent split The Bloc margin of victory was 15,000 last time. All other candidates in both ridings were far out of contention, with none getting more considers himself "above all a Quebecer." "I voted mainly for Tremblay, but after that I voted for Martin," said Lac-Saint-Jean voter Guy Cote yesterday, adding it was the first time in 35 years that he voted Liberal. But the jubilation in the end was at Bloc headquarters where cheering supporters chanted "two, two, two" for the two victories as Lac-Saint-Jean winner Gagnon took the stage for his victory speech. Gagnon blamed the low turnout on Prime Minister Jean Chretien for calling the vote knowing that winter conditions might discourage voters.

"But he underestimated the commitment of Bloc voters," he said. In Berthier-Montcalm about 100 Bloc supporters watched the lead change four times before Giroux pulled ahead for good. The result sends two messages Giroux said in his victory speech. "The first is that the Bloc is more useful than ever to defend the interests of Quebec and to promote Quebec sovereignty," he said. "The second is that Ottawa must reinvest its budgetary surpluses here." Giroux also said the Bloc victory in Berthier-Montcalm shows former finance minister and likely Liberal leadership successor Paul Martin, who campaigned in the riding, is less than a miracle worker tion of recent immigrant workers who were self-employed almost doubled," wrote Frenette.

"The proportion of Canadian-born workers who were self-employed rose only marginally over the same period." In 1981, an estimated 8 per cent of recent immigrants were self-employed. That figure had jumped to 14 per cent by 1996. Self-employed workers account for roughly one sixth of the immigrant workforce. The study found that self-employed immigrants are more likely to work in consumer services than self-employed Canadian workers (33 per cent vs. 25 per cent) but the number of self employed immigrants in distributive services such as wholesaling is increasing.

Among the factors that could help explain the statistics is the increase in immigration in recent years from East Asia. The study found 16 per cent of recent East Asian immigrants were self-employed in 1986, compared to 27 per cent in 199a ethompsonthegazette. southam.ca mer Montrealer Guillaume Siemienski, a first secretary based at the embassy who works for the Canadian International Development Agency The other is one of two military attaches at the Moscow Embassy There were no details about where or when a meeting between Graham, McCallum, Ivanov and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov might take place Court designed for kids Edmonton facility lessens trauma for child witnesses LISA ARROWSMITH CANADIAN PRESS edmonton Alberta unveiled a child-friendly provincial courtroom yesterday, designed to lessen the trauma children may face when testifying in sexual abuse trials or cases involving violent crime Children are among the most vulnerable witnesses to take the stand and the province wants to make the process less intimidating, Alberta Justice Minister Dave Hancock said. "Testifying in court is never easy, and for a child being asked to give evidence against an adult is much more difficult," Hancock said. Children will enter through a private entrance used by judges so they don't have to see the accused or face scrutiny from those in the public seating area.

There is a brightly coloured waiting area equipped with toys, a computer, a washroom and a refrigerator for snacks.The idea is to lessen the chances child witnesses will run into an accused in the elevator or common areas of Edmonton's provincial courthouse Children will sit behind a tall witness box facing the judge, which also shields them from the public. Video monitors wiJJ. show the child testifying behind the wall of the witness box. Sometimes kids are so terrified in open court, they spend their time in the witness box staring at the floor, perhaps unable to speak, said chief provincial court Judge Ernest Walter "They are sometimes so verx very nervous when they're looking out over the accused and the courtroom, Fm not sure you always get the best evidence in that situation," Walter said. 1 The child-friendly provincial courtroom will open in March.

A similar project is under way at Edmonton Court of Queen's Bench. Child-friendly courtrooms have also been adopted in Montreal, Toronto and London, Ont Immigrants find self-employment pays However study finds newcomers who work for others earn less than workers born here Frenette said it is difficult to know exactly why there is so much of a gap in the income levels. When he factored in different variables, such as education, age, family composition, geography and whether someone was from a visible minority, it didn't affect the results. The study, based on census data for male immigrants between the ages of 20 and 59 years old, found recent immigrants tend to be more educated. However, the statistics do not say whether a recent immigrant is being paid less than a Canadian-born colleague for the same job or whether they are earning less because they can't work in their field.

Nor can the statistics reveal whether discrimination is at work, said Frenette. "Whether discrimination is a factor or not that's a very difficult question to answer," said Frenette "It's one that I'd rather leave others to speculate upon." Frenette's study also found the proportion of recent immigrants who choose self-employment has risen sharply in recent years. "From 1981 to J996, the propor and Canadian-born self-employed workers in 1995, that was an increase of only one percentage point since 1985. In 1995, self-employed recent immigrants earned an average $16,495 compared to $23,000 for their Canadian-born counterparts. In fact, the study found that longer established self-employed immigrants, those who immigrated between 1976 and 1980, earned slightly more on average than Canadian-born self-employed workers $23,845 compared to $23,000.

When it came to paid work, however, none of the groups of immigrants who arrived since 1976 had incomes equaling those of Canadian-born paid workers. "Successive cohorts of recent immigrants have fared progressively worse in the paid labour market relative to paid native-born workers," wrote author Marc Frenette. "This is not the case in the self-employed workforce" ELIZABETH THOMPSON GAZETTE OTTAWA BUREAU Ottawa Recent immigrants who start their own businesses fare better economically than their counterparts who work for someone else, according to a new Statistics Canada study The study, made public yesterday, found recent immigrants in paid jobs have incomes of up to 38 per cent less than Canadian-born employees. In 1995, recent immigrants earned $16,623 on average, compared to $26,615 for those born in Canada Nor does the gap appear to be shrinking. In 1985, the wage disparity between those who immigrated to Canada less than five years earlier and Canadian-born workers was 27 per cent The gap isn't widening, however, for recent immigrants who areselfemployed.

While there was still a 28-percent gap between the incomes reported by recent immigrants.