Cost Of Canadian Passports To Go Up Next Year

Border crossers will be digging a little deeper into their wallets in the new year.


Passport Canada announcing on their website that the cost of getting a five-year Canadian passport is jumping from $87 to $120 dollars in the new year.

Passport Canada says the increase is needed to maintain current operations, and offer security-enhanced travel documents.

The new fees come into effect July 1st, 2013, along with the introduction of the 10-year ePassport.
Passport Canada also states in March 2014, they will charge an additional $45 to replace a stolen or lost passport. Currently, that is a free service.

It's The End Of The World As We Know It

In the busy lead up to Christmas, you may have forgotten that the world is supposed to end tomorrow.


According to the Mayan calender, the world should end on December 21st.

Dan Riskin of Discovery Channel's Daily Planet tells CHSJ he can pinpoint an exact time everything will stop. He says, "No problem, the world will end in a few billion years. It will be because the sun expands and engulfs the earth. There's nothing to worry about for tomorrow, but just to be on the safe side, Daily Planet is doing a special on the Mayan 'supposed' apocalypse".

The Daily Planet special called 'End of the World 2012' premieres tonight at 8pm on the Discovery Channel.

Power Outages Getting Under Control

NB Power says there are still over 1700 people in the province without power.


Locally in St. Stephen, the number of outages has dropped to 4, with only 16 customers without juice.

Sussex and Woodstock are the darkest communities, with around 500 people each without electricity due to damage in yesterday's storm.

Opposition Trying To Stop Changes To Employment Insurance

Seasonal workers of Charlotte County -- cross your fingers.


The Opposition Liberals are calling on members of the provincial government to sign a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper to oppose changes to employment insurance.

The changes to the E-I program take effect January 6th, and Opposition Leader Victor Boudreau says they will have a devastating impact on seasonal industries and the provincial economy. Boudreau says, "Whenever it involves speaking out against the federal government and their Tory friends in Ottawa, you know, they just lose their voice and they don't want to put action in place to send out a clear message."
Premier David Alward says he opposes the changes and supports the united position taken by the Atlantic premiers on the matter.

The new regulations will mean that recipients of the program will face stricter, more complex rules for keeping their benefits.