SUNDERLAND, Ont. - The Ikea monkey has shed his shearling coat and may soon be moving to a new home.

Darwin has now been at Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary for two years, ever since he was scooped up in a Toronto Ikea parking lot wearing the coat — and diaper — that made him an international celebrity.

The volunteer-run, donation-funded sanctuary, in Sunderland, Ont., is fundraising to move to a new, bigger property nearby that currently houses an exotic animal ranch.

They have raised about $10,000 so far but are still well off their goal of "a couple hundred thousand."

"Darwin has become known worldwide and we really saw that as an education opportunity as well," said sanctuary volunteer Rachelle Hansen.

"People see the picture with him in the coat and say, 'Oh I love Darwin he's so great,' but then for people to understand that he's going to live at least another 40 years if not more...there's a whole life behind that," she said.

"So we wanted to have Darwin as the ambassador for monkeys that come out of the pet situation."

The sanctuary opened its doors to media Friday for a glimpse at Darwin — or "Boo Boo" or "Dar Dar," as the sanctuary volunteers call him.

The Japanese macaque, who has doubled in size from the time of his IKEA adventure, bounced around his cage for hours, swinging from ropes and climbing the bars.

"His coat's coming in very beautifully," Hansen said. "We're thrilled when we see him do normal macaque behaviour."

Before Darwin came to the sanctuary he lived with Yasmin Nakhuda, who called herself his "mom."

In videos and photos she had posted online, the monkey could be seen wearing clothing, sleeping with her in bed and brushing his teeth with her.

But Darwin bit people, Nakhuda's husband especially, and could not be house broken so he had to wear a diaper. He wore a harness most of the time so he couldn't run away.

It was from Nakhuda's car that he got loose that day at Ikea. The monkey became the subject of a prolonged, heated court battle, that ultimately saw Nakhuda lose possession of him for good.

Though it has been two years, emotions on Nakhuda's side have clearly not lessened.

A Facebook page run by Nakhuda and her supporters was updated this week angrily recalling the past two years since Darwin was "stolen" from his "mom."

"You've been caged for 2 years. You've not been held and cuddled and we all know how much you needed to be held," the post to Darwin reads.

"They sell your virtual kisses ... but you cannot have kisses from your mom."

Nakhuda spent $250,000 on legal bills and "cries in her pillow many a night," the post reads.

An Ontario Superior Court judge ruled in September 2013 that the monkey is a wild animal, and based on case law that means Nakhuda lost ownership the minute Darwin made his great escape.

Nakhuda admitted in court that she paid $5,000 for the monkey from a man known only as Ayaz.

The exotic pet trade is not that unusual in Canada, Hansen said Friday.

Of the 23 primates at Story Book, the majority come from pet situations, but others come from roadside zoos or research facilities, she said.

"This is not a foreign problem," Hansen said. "This is a problem right in our neighbourhood."

SEOUL, South Korea - A Korean Air flight attendant described being insulted and shamed by the airline's executive who ordered him removed and the plane returned over macadamia nuts, and then being asked to lie about the incident to investigators.

The "nut rage" drama has captivated South Korea with tales of outrageous behaviour followed by public apologies from the executive and her father, the airline's chairman.

Cho Hyun-ah, who has since resigned as head of cabin service at Korean Air, was angered when a flight attendant in first class offered her macadamia nuts in a bag, not on a plate. She ordered him off the plane and forced the flight to return to the gate at John F. Kennedy airport in New York City.

"People who haven't experienced will not understand that feeling of being insulted and shamed," senior flight attendant Park Chang-jin told South Korea's KBS television network on Friday.

After being confronted about the nuts, he said he and his colleague kneeled down before Cho.

He said Cho poked the back of his hand with a corner of the flight manual book several times.

According to Park, Cho yelled at the crew to "call right now and stop the plane. I will stop this plane from leaving." Park said that in such a situation, he could not dare to refuse the "owner's daughter."

When Park returned to South Korea on a separate flight after being forced out from the plane, five to six officials from Korean Air came to visit his home every day and asked him to give a false account to authorities of what happened, he told KBS. The officials asked him to tell investigators that Cho did not use abusive language and that he voluntarily got off the plane, Park said.

Korean Air confirmed that Park was the senior flight attendant — or head of cabin crew — who was on the flight with Cho Hyun-ah and who had to leave the plane. The company declined to comment on the matter under investigation by the transport ministry and prosecutors.

On Friday, in her first public appearance since the incident, a gloomy-faced Cho bowed and said "I sincerely apologize. I'm sorry," before droves of journalists in an almost inaudible, trembling voice. She said she will meet the victimized crew member and "apologize sincerely."

She is facing questioning over the possibility her actions violated aviation safety law.

Hours before her apology, Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho also made a deep bow before journalists. He called his daughter's behaviour foolish and said he regrets he didn't raise her better.

"It's my fault," he said. "As chairman and father, I ask for the public's generous forgiveness."

Earlier this week, Cho resigned as Korean Air's head of cabin service but retained other executive roles at the airline and its affiliated companies. Her father said Friday she is resigning from executive roles at all affiliates of Hanjin, the group that controls Korean Air.

South Korean media called the 40-year-old a princess and some Koreans said she was an international embarrassment to her country. Still, many South Koreans were not surprised by Cho's display of entitlement, pointing to a culture that held in high esteem the families who founded the industrial conglomerates credited with leading the country to modernization and wealth.

Nowadays, however, there is growing criticism of ostentatious wealth and unfettered power, particularly directed at the newest generation, which is inheriting the business empires founded by their fathers and grandfathers. All three children of Cho Yang-ho rose quickly to the top ranks of the airline, holding executive roles in it and affiliate companies.

The federal government has granted an exemption to Microsoft Canada that will allow the company to bring in an unspecified number of temporary foreign workers to British Columbia as trainees without first looking for Canadians to fill the jobs.

A notice posted on the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website says foreign workers will receive specialized training in a new human resources development centre in the province. The tech giant will not have to perform a labour market impact assessment (LMIA) — a rigorous process that would include a search for Canadians who could fill the positions.

The exemption was granted under a provincial-federal agreement that gives a pass to companies that gain provincial approval.

The Canadian government argues the arrangement is the result of a significant investment by Microsoft that will create jobs for Canadians as well at a new 400-person training centre.

Nevertheless, some legal observers say the decision appears at odds with the government's promise to crack down on abuse in the system in order to protect Canadian jobs.

"There is certainly no justification that I can see that would support granting an exemption to a large number of foreign workers to come into Canada to take away jobs that could easily filled by Canadians," said Toronto immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman.

"On the one hand, the government is telling us they are protecting Canadian jobs; on the other hand they're signing agreements with big corporations in which they're allowing them to bring in foreign workers."

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Two-year work permits

The government notice says the new training and development centre will focus on "software and engineering." The centre will add 400 jobs that will "include paid internships for Canadian students and long-term employees," as well as "bring international employees into 18-month rotational training positions."

The notice also says foreign workers will be given 24-month work permits to allow them to stay in Canada "until they are transitioned by Microsoft into a new position elsewhere."

A source familiar with the LMIA process says he's flabbergasted the government would allow the exemption, since it gives Microsoft a significant competitive advantage

The source, who works in immigration law, noted that many other tech companies also offer training but are not being given such an exemption. He said the trainees who come through the centre will not just be learning, they will be "developing product" for the company.

"It's fantastic that Microsoft wants to offer this [training centre], but a lot of companies offer unique opportunities [like this]," he said. "These are jobs in Canada that require work permits, and they could find Canadian graduates from computer science programs to fill them."

In an email, Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokesperson Sonia Lesage said the trainees are not going to be entering the Canadian workforce, and therefore won't be competing with Canadian workers.

"They are employees of a major international corporation who are being sent for training at the Centre of Excellence before moving on to positions at other Microsoft facilities," she wrote.

In a later email, Lesage said the international trainees will enter Canada under the International Mobility Program, while other foreign nationals at the facility "would be subject to all regular rules of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program or International Mobility Program (IMP), depending on their specific situation."

Waldman called this "doublespeak," because the International Mobility Program includes all programs that are exempted from the LMIA process. He said the online notice clearly states the exemption is being made for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program at the request of the province.

And, he added, the exemption sets a precedent.

"There is no other exemption that is specific to a corporation, and it does not fall within any of the other categories where exemptions are normally given," he said. "The effect is to create a new category: the Microsoft Exemption. And, if Microsoft can get one then why not IBM?"

U.S. immigration 'a factor'

Microsoft Canada did not immediately respond to questions about the deal. 

But in an interview earlier this year with Bloomberg Businessweek, Karen Jones, Microsoft’s deputy general counsel, said the deal will allow Microsoft to bypass stricter U.S. rules on visas for foreign workers.

"The U.S. laws clearly did not meet our needs. We have to look to other places," she told the wire service. She went on to say Microsoft didn’t choose to expand in Vancouver "purely for immigration purposes, but immigration is a factor."

The source said that means the company will take advantage of rules governing intra-company transfers, which require employees to work for at least one year at a company subsidiary before being transferred to the U.S. He says the result will be a net disadvantage for Canada.

 "So we're not getting any long-term benefit here — we're just a turnstile."

But the government argues the training centre will create Canadian jobs where there are none, saying it's "an important and beneficial development" for the country.

"Hosting the Microsoft Centre of Excellence in Canada will also provide training opportunities for Canadians and will create long-term jobs that would not exist otherwise," Lesage wrote.

The department did not indicate how many temporary foreign workers Microsoft intends to bring in each year, but said the number would increase "over time as the facility becomes fully established."

Foreign worker changes

Last June, when Employment and Social Development Minister Jason Kenney tabled reforms to the temporary foreign worker program, he emphasized provinces would not get a free pass when it came to the new rules, despite the longstanding side agreements or annexes that allowed this exemption.

At the time, his department wrote, "Annex agreements with provinces and territories are being changed so that employers that used to bring temporary foreign workers to Canada through these agreements will now be subject to an LMIA."

Kenney announced the overhaul after stories about alleged abuses surfaced in the media.

Since then, Kenney has been under pressure from small business groups, the restaurant and hospitality sector and provincial governments to ease up and once again allow more temporary workers in.

Waldman argues that the fact new Microsoft employees will be trained here means the company can't argue there's a skills shortage that requires them to bring in foreign workers.

"Why can't we have Canadian trainees hired by Microsoft? Why does Microsoft have to bring foreign trainees in to work in Canada without having to prove there aren't Canadians available for the positions?"

Pirate Bay, the notorious file-sharing site that has been in the crosshairs of entertainment lawyers for the better part of the last decade, has been down for several days now, fuelling speculation that it may finally have been forced to walk the plank.

But legal analysts say that even if this hugely popular site goes under, legal and logistical hurdles make it difficult to stop the broader phenomenon of illegal downloading.

"You could shut down Pirate Bay permanently and someone's going to jump up to take its place," says Allen Mendelsohn, an internet law specialist in Montreal.

In fact, in recent days there has been a spate of stories popping up claiming that one site or another has resurrected the Pirate Bay mantle.

Earlier this week, Swedish police raided a Stockholm office of Pirate Bay and confiscated equipment. A statement by Swedish police said it was "in connection with violations of copyright law."

A "torrent tracker" that provides links to free downloads of movies, music, video games and software, Pirate Bay has been a lightning rod of controversy in the debate over copyright infringement since its launch in 2003. It has also withstood numerous legal challenges.

In 2004, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) filed a criminal complaint in Sweden to shut down a number of torrent tracker sites based in that country. A number of sites did go under, but not Pirate Bay.

In 2006, Swedish police confiscated Pirate Bay servers from the website's office. The site went down for three days, but eventually returned.

In 2009, three of Pirate Bay's founders received one-year prison sentences and a nearly $3 million US fine for assistance to copyright infringement. But even that was not enough to stop its operation.

Elusive technology

Jeremy de Beer, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, says many countries have comprehensive laws when it comes to copyright infringement, but it's difficult to enforce them across geographical borders.

It is a problem that applies not only to copyright infringement but also to issues such as offshore tax accounts, he says.

"People will move their servers or their investment accounts in order to take advantage of favourable legal climates," says de Beer. "That's an intractable problem."

Another hurdle is the fact that the technology that powers Pirate Bay and its many imitators makes it easy to elude authorities.

Back in the late 1990s, when Napster was creating headaches for the music industry, each downloadable file was distributed in whole, meaning that authorities could identify the physical location of the originating user.

The technology associated with sites such as BitTorrent changed the game significantly.

Now when you download a show or music file, it's actually been assembled from many smaller pieces distributed across a network of thousands of users across the globe.

Technology news site TorrentFreak says BitTorrent has become "a mainstream file-sharing mechanism which is fast, efficient and difficult to stop."

The underlying technology makes it easy, from an operational standpoint, to create mirror sites if the main site is shut down, which has happened repeatedly with Pirate Bay, including this week. (Pirate Bay bills itself as "the galaxy's most resilient BitTorrent site.")

"Anyone who's relatively internet savvy knows that there are hundreds of other sites, maybe not quite as good as Pirate Bay or as comprehensive, but certainly that have the same functionality," says Mendelsohn.

The risk of criminalizing consumers

These significant challenges have not deterred the entertainment industry from trying to recoup lost revenues.

But de Beer says copyright holders have largely pulled back from prosecuting individual downloaders, a tactic that has given the film and music industries a reputation as bullies.

In the long run, "trying to portray the huge numbers of people who use these websites as criminals, and to morally shame them into complying with copyright laws is unlikely to succeed," says de Beer.
 

Ariel Katz, a law professor and Innovation Chair of Electronic Commerce at the University of Toronto, believes that humans will always engage in "illicit activity."

He says that one possible way to curb illegal downloading is to reframe the conversation around it.

Rather than seeing illegal downloading as the problem, maybe it's a "symptom" of a larger problem, which could be that entertainment producers are charging too much for their content, he says.

One way to solve that is for entertainment companies to make their content available cheaply and legally, which is the case with burgeoning streaming services such as Netflix and Shomi.

Katz says this has already had a palpable effect.

In 2011, Netflix surpassed BitTorrent in terms of bandwidth use, prompting Wired magazine to write that "for perhaps the first time in the internet's history, the largest percentage of the net's traffic is content that is paid for."

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Nearly 300 people marched from Place-des-Arts in Montreal on Saturday afternoon, protesting against proposed changes to Quebec's in vitro fertilization program.

- New Quebec health bill to restrict IVF treatments, impose quotas for family doctors  

Among today's protesters were Hughes Leclair, his partner Janie Bertrand and their 15-month-old son, Logan. Leclair and Bertrand conceived Logan with the help of IVF because Leclair lives with cystic fibrosis, a disease that makes conception difficult.

They say their life changed “for the best” when Logan was born, and though they hope to have a second child, that’s not why they took part in the march.

“It’s not only for us. We’re doing it for others,” said Bertrand.

Those present said the program was an important distinguishing characteristic for Quebec.

"It was a really nice program. It was recognized worldwide. Everywhere I went, Quebec was recognized as an example," said Dr. Louise Lapensée, an obstetrician/gynecologist.

IVF program too expensive, says Quebec government

The Quebec government has proposed a plan to suspend public health care coverage for IVF treatment. In addition, only women aged 18 to 42 would have access to IVF treatment – after passing a psychological evaluation.

The changes are included in Bill 20, the controversial health bill tabled near the end of this fall's legislative session at Quebec’s National Assembly.

Barrette has elaborated on those proposals, saying some exceptions could be made for women who have tried other therapies but failed to conceive. However, he said, women who have had a tubal litigation, men who have had vasectomies or a parent or parents who already have one child would not benefit from this exemption.

He also said that doctors who advised their older patients to seek IVF treatments outside of the province would be subject to hefty fines.

Other concerns with Bill 20

While the march was happening, a group of doctors also spoke out against Bill 20.

Hundreds of doctors met in Montreal for an annual meeting. Quebec's Federation of General Practitioners used it as an opportunity to speak out against the bill, of which they have been extremely critical.

Many family doctors in the province are opposed to the legislation because it will impose minimum patient quotas on them.

They say forcing them to see a minimum number of patients each day would affect the quality of care they can provide to patients.

"We need to take the time with the patient to talk with our patients," said Dr. Louis Godin, president of the Quebec Federation of General Practitioners.

"We are not on a chain. We cannot say that after ten minutes, that's it, it's over. Go away."

He also said if passed, it could encourage doctors to leave the province or to retire early. 

Godin said it may even deter young people from wanting to become family doctors in the first place.

TORONTO - A hacking problem that affected the Ontario government's websites have been resolved and the province says full service is being restored.

A government statement says the websites were not directly hacked, but a third party domain routing service that routes traffic to the government's site was compromised on Friday.

The statement says the third party service provider has fixed the problem, but it is expected to take up to 24 to 48 hours for service to get completely back to normal.

The government says until then, some users may still see the hacker’s website when they attempt to access Ontario.ca websites.

The government says the hacker's identity is not known but police have been contacted.

The government also says no personal information or any government data was ever at risk and the websites remain secure.

TORONTO - Savings at the pump may allow many Canadians to shell out more for gifts this holiday season and boost sales for retailers, analysts say, particularly as a weaker loonie prompts fewer shoppers to venture south of the border.

Oil prices have fallen well over 40 per cent since the summer, leading to a major sell-off of energy stocks, but it has also translated into savings for motorists filling their tanks.

And that's likely to spur lower- to middle-income Canadians to splurge more on Christmas gifts said Mark Satov, president and founder of Satov Consulting.

Weakness in the loonie also means fewer Canadians will go across the border to do their holiday shopping, Satov added.

"When you do a price parity comparison and you go and see what that jacket is selling for in Buffalo, it's getting more and more expensive as the Canadian dollar drops," he said.

While all Canadian retailers are likely to benefit from Canadians having more disposable income in their pockets, RBC analyst Irene Nattel says convenience stores are "on the front lines of this new spending opportunity," especially those attached to gas stations.

"Savings at the pump are likely to drive the purchase of small indulgences in the short-term," Nattel said in a note to clients.

Steve Tennant, the vice-president and general manager of Hasty Market, said lower gasoline prices will motivate Canadians to do more driving.

"If there is an increase in people driving, that means more frequent stops at the gas station," Tennant said.

Some of the money saved at the pump will likely go to paying down debt, said Tennant, but not all of it.

"Hopefully we can sell a few more lottery tickets because there's more disposable income in everybody's pocket," he said.

Lower gasoline prices will also reduce the fuel surcharges that retailers pay to have goods shipped to their stores, said Tennant.

Alex Scholten, president of the Canadian Convenience Stores Association, said gas stations are also likely to see fewer incidents of customers driving off without paying.

"When the price of gasoline goes down, customers don't feel the pinch as much, and as a result our experience has always been that the incidence of those drive-offs goes down significantly."

But retailers could end up suffering if low oil prices persist for a long time and leave the economy battered, Satov noted.

"What you could see is further downward pressure on the stock market, and on the economy in general, because we're so resource based, which would lead to lower consumer confidence, which would lead to lower retail spending," Satov said.

"So short term, for Christmas, I think we're probably fine and maybe even positive. Longer term, depending on what happens, I think you could see an economic downturn to some degree, and retail never does well in economic downturns."

LIMA, Peru - Climate negotiators salvaged a compromise deal in Lima early Sunday that sets the stage for a global pact in Paris next year, but rejected a rigorous review of the greenhouse gas emissions limits they plan.

More than 30 hours behind schedule, delegates from more than 190 countries agreed on what information should go into the pledges that countries submit for the expected Paris pact.

They argued all day Saturday over the wording of the decision, with developing nations worried that the text blurred the distinction between what rich and poor countries can be expected to do.

The final draft alleviated those concerns with language saying countries have "common but differentiated responsibilities" to deal with global warming.

"As a text it's not perfect, but it includes the positions of the parties," said Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, who was the conference chairman and had spent most of the day meeting separately with delegations.

The momentum from last month's joint U.S.-China deal on emissions targets faded quickly in Lima as rifts reopened over who should do what to fight global warming. The goal of the talks is to shape a global agreement in Paris that puts the world on a path to reduce the heat-trapping gases that scientists say are warming the planet.

Many developing countries, the most vulnerable to climate change's impacts, accuse rich nations of shirking their responsibilities to curb climate change and pay for the damage it inflicts.

In presenting a new, fourth draft just before midnight, Peru's environment minister gave a sharply reduced body of delegates an hour to review it. Many delegates had already quit the makeshift conference centre on the grounds of Peru's army headquarters.

It also restored language demanded by small island states at risk of being flooded by rising seas, mentioning a "loss and damage" mechanism agreed upon in last year's talks in Poland that recognizes that nations hardest hit by climate change will require financial and technical help.

"We need a permanent arrangement to help the poorest of the world," Ian Fry, negotiator for the Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu, said at a midday session.

However, the approved draft weakened language on the content of the pledges, saying they "may" instead of "shall" include quantifiable information showing how countries intend to meet their emissions targets.

Also, top carbon polluter China and other major developing countries opposed plans for a review process that would allow the pledges to be compared against one another before Paris.

The new draft mentioned only that all pledges would be reviewed a month ahead Paris to assess their combined effect on climate change.

"I think it's definitely watered down from what we expected," said Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Sam Smith, chief of climate policy for the environmental group WWF, said: "The text went from weak to weaker to weakest and it's very weak indeed."

Chief U.S. negotiator Todd Stern acknowledged that negotiations had been contentious but said the outcome was "quite good in the end." He had warned Saturday that failing to leave Lima with an accord would be "seen as a serious breakdown" that could put the Paris agreement and the entire U.N. process at risk.

Though negotiating tactics always play a role, virtually all disputes in the U.N. talks reflect a wider issue of how to divide the burden of fixing the planetary warming that scientists say results from human activity, primarily the burning of oil, coal and natural gas.

Historically, Western nations are the biggest emitters. Currently, most CO2 emissions are coming from developing countries led by China and India as they grow their economies and lift millions of people out of poverty.

During a brief stop in Lima on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said fixing the problem is "everyone's responsibility, because it's the net amount of carbon that matters, not each country's share."

According to the U.N.'s scientific panel on climate change, the world can pump out no more than about 1 trillion tons of carbon to have a likely chance of avoiding dangerous levels of warming —defined in the U.N. talks as exceeding 2 degrees centigrade (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above 19th-century averages.

It already has spent more than half of that carbon budget as emissions continue to rise, driven by growth in China and other emerging economies.

Scientific reports say climate impacts are already happening and include rising sea levels, intensifying heat waves and shifts in weather patterns causing floods in some areas and droughts in others.

The U.N. weather agency said last week that 2014 could become the hottest year on record.

___

Associated Press writers Frank Bajak and Nestor Ikeda contributed to this report.

About 20 young Cree people have walked nearly 850 kilometres to Montreal’s South Shore from their village in northern Quebec, protesting against uranium exploration in the province.

The youth left Mistissini, Que., northeast of Chibougamau in the James Bay region three weeks ago. On the way, they stopped in Quebec City to share their message.

They arrived in Longueuil, just across the bridge from Montreal, Saturday.

Their final destination is downtown Montreal, where they will deliver that message to the province’s environmental protection agency, known as the BAPE, when it holds the last of a series of public hearings on uranium exploration tomorrow.

The Cree young people have endured frigid temperatures and wintry conditions, walking an average of a marathon a day.

"We've lost a couple of toenails on this journey,” said Joshua Iserhoff, chair of the Cree Nation Youth Council.

But according to Iserhoff, it’s been worth it.

He said uranium exploration near his community could cause irreparable damage to the watershed.

"If we were to contaminate one of the largest freshwater lakes in Quebec, that would be one of the most devastating things we could ever allow to happen,” said Iserhoff.

Uranium extraction has been on the table in Mistissini since 2006.

A Boucherville-based company, Strateco Resources, has invested $120 million into developing a uranium mine in Mistissini in the last ten years.

In 2013, the then-Parti Québecois government banned uranium exploration mining in Quebec, putting the project on hold.

Last week, Strateco Resources filed a $190 million lawsuit against the province, asking for compensation for the investments made before the province blocked it last year.

Now the province is holding public hearings on uranium mining.

Increased consumer spending and additional money for savings are two of the benefits to lower oil prices, federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver has told CBC News, sounding a reassuring note about how plummeting oil prices will affect the Canadian economy.

Oil prices have dropped dramatically this fall, with the West Texas Intermediate price dropping below $58 US on Friday for the first time in more than five years.

The cost for a barrel of oil is more than $10 less than the estimate used by finance officials to put together the department's projections in Oliver's fall 2014 economic update last month.

The prices are also far below the estimates used by finance officials nearly two years ago, when the 2013 budget predicted a barrel of oil would be worth $96 in 2015 and trending up to $97 a barrel in 2017.

In an interview with CBC News, Oliver said he's still very comfortable the federal government will have a surplus in 2015. The fall economic update saw finance officials downgrade federal revenue by $2.5 billion a year for the next four years, but predicted a razor-thin surplus.

Oliver says he's continuing to monitor oil prices and the accompanying decline in corporate tax revenue.

"But you know it's not a one-way street and it's fairly complex, and we're not making any projections about where it's likely to settle or how long it will remain at a low level," Oliver said.

"Certainly people are seeing the advantages at the pump, and that will mean more money for consumption. It'll be more money for savings. Clearly a number of industries including transportation and manufacturing will benefit from lower energy costs."

Low oil prices won't be sustained

The low oil prices could also boost the global economy as consumers around the world see the same benefit Canadians will, said former parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page. 

"This is a lot of disposable income for people around the world that are not net exporters," Page said in an interview with CBC News.

Page agrees with Oliver that Canadian consumers will likely boost consumption, and added that by spending less on gas and other fuel, they can start tackling the high amounts of consumer debt that are a potential risk to the economy.

"It's probably for the most part a bit of a wash," Page said.

It's likely the low oil prices won't be sustained either, he said, and in another year they could be back up to $80 or $85.

"I don't think anybody that's really rational thinks these prices are going to be sustained ... I think there will be a balancing effect overall," said Page.

Lower revenue for oil-producing regions

Provinces such as Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador will see declining revenue because of lower oil company revenues, said Oliver, who spoke to CBC News ahead of a meeting with the provincial and territorial finance ministers in Ottawa on Monday.

Asked whether he was going to tell his counterparts not to worry about the price of oil, Oliver laughed.

"No ... I'm not going to put it in those terms. I am going to say we're monitoring it, we'll have a discussion about what the implications will be and, as you know, some of them are positive and others are negative."

There are a number of outside factors, including major economies including China and Europe, Oliver said. Low energy prices will benefit the United States, Europe, China and Japan.

"Happily the United States is doing quite well," the finance minister said. "They're on a roll. It looks very much like their growth will be sustainable and that's very important to Canada because we have the biggest bilateral commercial relationship in the world with the United States."

Oliver said he will consult a group of private-sector economists prior to finalizing the 2015 federal budget.

"There's a lot of volatility and we'll just see how it goes," he said.

MONTREAL - The restaurant-bar at ground zero of the deadly train derailment and explosion that killed 47 people in Quebec in July 2013 is back in business.

The Musi-Cafe quietly opened its doors to the public in Lac-Megantic on Monday, about 400 metres from the original site.

Owner Yannick Gagne said only three of the original employees have returned to work with him in his new establishment.

"One of them is my chef, a friend," he told The Canadian Press in a phone interview.

"I have a girl who worked for me for three or four years — she's coming back — and one of my good friends, Karine Blanchette, will handle all the artists who will come here."

At the time of the disaster, Blanchette told reporters two children were left orphans after one of her friends died in the tragedy.

Many of the 47 victims were inside the Musi-Cafe when a runaway oil-tanker train rolled off the tracks and exploded in the heart of the town.

Gagne lost three workers in the blast and about a dozen have decided not to come back to work with him.

He now has a staff of about 20, which is five more employees than before.

Gagne also said that on Monday, not a lot of people showed up during the morning and that there was also a small crowd at lunch.

He added he believes the locals probably assumed the new place would be crowded.

Gagne, who had financing problems in the past, said the new restaurant-bar will cost $1.5 million when all the bills are finally paid.

But he is getting financial help.

"We have had confirmation that the federal government will be there to help us," he said.

"The provincial government has provided a loan, a financial bridge (and) we'll be able to finish the project and pay everybody."

Gagne is planning an official "red carpet and champagne" opening in February.

OAKVILLE, Ont. - The Burger King executive in charge of the fast food chain's expansion in Asia was named Monday to take over the reins at Tim Hortons.

The company named Elias Diaz Sese as president for Tim Hortons Brand following the takeover of the company by Burger King last week in a more than $12-billion stock and cash deal.

Diaz Sese replaces Tim Hortons chief executive Marc Caira, who moves to the role of vice-chairman of Restaurant Brands International (TSX:QSR), the new name of the combined company, following the acquisition of the Canadian coffee and doughnut chain.

Daniel Schwartz was named Restaurant Brands chief executive.

Diaz Sese, most recently president for Burger King Asia Pacific, is expected to move with his family from Singapore to Oakville, Ont., as he takes on his new job.

Also announced Monday was the appointment of David Clanachan as president and chief operating officer for Tim Hortons Canada. He has been chief operating officer at Tim Hortons since August 2012.

Mike Meilleur was appointed president for Tim Hortons U.S. He was executive vice-president, Tim Hortons U.S.A., before the merger.

Burger King closed its takeover of Tim Hortons Inc. on Friday.