PM Manmohan Singh inaugurates Rs. 21,500-cr refinery

Phulokhari (Bathinda), April 28, 2012
This village, located 40km from Bathinda town, witnessed history on Saturday. The Rs. 21,500-crore Guru Gobind Singh oil refinery, Punjab's biggest-ever project in terms of investment, is dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The project is a joint venture of the government-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal's investment firm Mittal Energy Limited.
Besides the PM, the inauguration is attended by Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, union oil minister S Jaipal Reddy, HPCL chairman-cum-managing director S Roy Choudhury and Lakshmi Mittal.

Back in 1963, India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, had dedicated Punjab's maiden mega project, the Bhakra Dam, to the nation. The dam has been the state's lifeline all these decades.
The refinery project was announced in 1995; then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee laid its foundation stone in 1998. The HPCL acquired 2,400 acres in Bathinda district in September 1998 for the project, which remained on the drawing board for several years after 1999.
In 2007, the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government put the project back on track by signing a deed of assurance with the HPCL. The project was to be completed by November 2010, but the refinery finally became fully operational on February 24 this year. It stands seventh in the country in terms of capacity (9 million metric tonnes per annum).
It is India's 22nd refinery and the third in the northern region after the ones at Panipat (Haryana) and Mathura (Uttar Pradesh). In terms of annual turnover, Rs. 30,000 crore, it stands fifth in the country.
Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said, "It is the biggest-ever investment in Punjab. It will transform the state's economy. It will have a multiplying effect in establishing ancillary units and subsidiary industries."
The refinery will produce 1.8 lakh barrels of fuel everyday. The total crude oil processed and refined will include 3.7 million metric tonnes (MMT) diesel (nearly 41%), 1 MMT petrol (11%) and 0.7 MMT LPG (8%).
Everyday, about 400 truckloads of various fuels would roll out of the refinery for different destinations in north India. Railway wagons - for which five dedicated tracks have been laid - and a 260km pipeline will be the other modes to carry the refined fuel.
Mittal Energy Limited, a Luxembourg-incorporated company, is wholly owned by Lakshmi N Mittal and his family. It holds a substantial share holding in its flagship company, ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel producer.

NRI Sabha chief brought on production warrant

Chandigarh, April 27
The police today brought the NRI Sabha chief, Amarjeet Singh Virk, on production warrant from Patiala jail. He was arrested on the statements of a woman who had alleged that Virk had pressurised her to lodge a complaint of rape against three persons. In November last year, the woman had alleged that she was abducted and raped by three youths in a car. However, subsequent police investigations found that the three accused as alleged were abroad at the time the woman was alleging rape.
As the police confronted the woman, she told the police that she made the allegations as part of a conspiracy by Virk who has been lodged in Patiala jail in a rape case. Thus, Virk was arrested today. The statements of the woman were recorded in the court.

PM Harper plays Hitler card against NDP, Twitterverse mocks Harper's Hitler gaffe

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's erroneous statement this week that the "leader of the NDP, in 1939, did not even want to support war against Hitler" has triggered a torrent of Twitter messages mocking the mistake — all identified with the hashtag "#HarperHistory" — and prompted New Democrat MP Dan Harris to gleefully recite several examples in the House of Commons on Friday.

The effort to ridicule Harper's misplaced dig at the NDP — founded in 1961 after the eclipse of forerunner CCF, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation — had Twitter users blaming the NDP for everything from the fall of Rome to the Boston Tea Party to the betrayal of Jesus Christ.

On Thursday, in a heated exchange about when Canadian troops would be leaving Afghanistan, Harper responded to pointed questions from NDP leader Thomas Mulcair by stating: "Unlike the NDP, we are not going to ideologically have a position regardless of circumstances," he said. "The leader of the NDP, in 1939, did not even want to support war against Hitler."

Harper was referring to pacifist CCF leader J.S. Woodsworth, well known for voicing lonely opposition in 1939 to Canada's participation in the Second World War.

After howls from the opposition benches about Harper's misstatement, he tried to laugh it off by blurring the distinction between the NDP and CCF.

"OK, CCF, same difference," Harper said. "Parties do change their names from time to time."

Harper's casual rewrite of history gave creative Twitter users all the inspiration they needed: "It is a fact that, at the time, the #ndp refused to support our troops during the War of 1812," read a typical example from the flood of tweets unleashed by the Harper-NDP flap.

"Yesterday, the Prime Minister accused the NDP of not doing enough to stop Hitler," Harris, a Toronto-area MP, noted in a member's statement on Friday. "I am sure the NDP's founding members would have found this pretty strange when they first gathered in 1961."

Harris then highlighted the rising tide of hilarity in the Twitterverse and how Harper's anachronism had become the model for "tens of thousands" of messages linking the NDP to various historical and fictional events.

"Comedian Dan Speering led things off last night by tweeting, 'Damn you NDP for not standing up to Genghis Khan.' Another wrote, 'It was really the NDP that helped organized the stampede that killed Mufasa in The Lion King,' " said Harris. "I hope the Conservatives take this humour in stride and do not respond with more of their humourless anger."

The Conservatives responded, however, with further references to Woodsworth.

Nova Scotia MP Scott Armstrong, echoing Harper's comments, said in his own member's statement: "The NDP leader stated this week it does not support this mission. This is not surprising from the left. In 1939, the leader of the CCF even said: 'I would ask whether we are to risk the lives of our Canadian sons to prevent the action of Hitler.' "

Shortly after, in response to further questions from the NDP about Canada's withdrawal plans in Afghanistan, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird again equated the CCF and NDP and repeated the Woodsworth statement from 1939.

"The NDP do not support sending troops abroad for anything," said Baird, referencing "the former leader of the NDP-CCF."

At the time of the debate prior to Canada's entry into the Second World War, Liberal prime minister Mackenzie King praised the CCF leader for his principled stance on Canada's military involvement in the conflict — despite the considerable political costs he knew Woodsworth would suffer.

"There are few men in this Parliament for whom I have greater respect than the leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation," King said at the time. "I admire him in my heart, because time and again he has had the courage to say what lays on his conscience, regardless of what the world might think of him. A man of that calibre is an ornament to any Parliament."

Woodsworth died in 1942.

The CCF and the newly formed Canadian Labour Congress combined forces to launch the NDP in 1961. Tommy Douglas, who had served as CCF premier of Saskatchewan since 1944, became the NDP's new leader.

Here's a list of some of the choicest tweets in response to the prime minister's Hitler crack:

- The leader of the NDP couldn't even be bothered to stop the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.

- The NDP was the second shooter on the grassy knoll.

- The NDP traded Wayne Gretzky.

- It is well known that the #ndp supported the assassination of Julius Caesar.

- The NDP kidnapped the Lindbergh baby.

- The NDP stole Christmas, not the Grinch.

- The NDP refused to come to the aid of men when Mordor invaded Gondor.

Edmonton City launches new bus route to International Airport

Edmonton - As of this Sunday, a cab or shuttle won’t be your only travel options to and from the Edmonton International Airport. A new bus route connecting the city to the airport will begin this weekend. 

“It’s a critical link for us,” says Edmonton International Airport’s Myron Keehn. “Connectivity to the world means everything to local economy.”

The new 747 route runs between the Century Park transit centre and the airport, and will operate from 5:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. During the peak hours in the morning and afternoon, buses will run every 30 minutes.

“It’s great! Direct connectivity with transit is an important step for the airport,” explains Keehn. “We’re one of the few airports in Canada left to get transit, and it really is important for us to have choices for our customers to get to and from the airport.”

“I give a lot of credit to the mayor and council and to city administration and ETS for making this happen.” 

City council is very pleased, but thinks it’s about time a transit service to the airport came through. “Our citizens have been asking for it for a long time,” says Mayor Stephen Mandel. “It’s a far more cost-effective way for two parts: for tourists, and second: for our citizens.” Mandel says there are also thousands of Edmontonians who work at the airport, and will now have another option to get to and from work.

Air travelers are pleased with the new service. Tony Hendrix doesn’t mind Edmonton is one of the last Canadian airport to get public transit service, “I’m just happy to see it here,” he says. Taxi driver Guldar Nirman doesn’t agree. “I think it’s an extra burden on the taxpayers,” but he doesn’t think the bus service will threaten the taxi business at all. 

Transit passes and transfers won’t be accepted on the route, so riders will have to pay a $5.00 fare each way. The trip will be a direct route. ETS expects about 80% of passengers will be airport staff, with the remainder being business travelers. The 747 buses are fitted with racks to hold luggage. 

Keehn hopes Edmontonians will make good use of the new bus route. “People like to drive their cars in Edmonton and Alberta, but the more people riding transit the better it is for the environment,” he explains, before adding “and, there are lots of people that don’t have a car.”

His message to citizens and visitors is simple. “Please come out and fly a lot, and take the bus when you come out.”
 

Alberta’s Envoy to Asia Gary Mar cleared of any wrongdoing, headed back to Hong Kong

Edmonton - An investigation into a fundraiser held by Alberta’s Envoy to Asia Gary Mar has cleared Mar of all wrongdoing. 

In early March, a concern was raised that Mar may have used his position with the Government of Alberta to raise money to pay off debt incurred by Mar during his run for PC leadership. Financial statements showed he incurred a $262,000 deficit from the campaign. 

On March 1, Mar held a fundraiser at the Edmonton Petroleum Club. Tickets were $400 each, and guests heard Mar speak about conducting business in Hong Kong. A trip to Hong Kong was also auctioned off. 

Premier Alison Redford asked Peter Watson, Deputy Minister of Executive Council to look into the allegations. Watson is responsible for investigations regarding the Code of Conduct and Ethics for the Public Service, which applies to senior officials in the Government of Alberta. 

Watson hired an independent investigator to help examine the allegations, and also used outside legal counsel for the review. 

In the findings, released Friday afternoon, the review has cleared Mar of wrong-doing. The report determined Mar was not involved in the direct solicitation of funds from the dinner, none of the funds raised from the dinner would be paid to him, and no special access was provided to or expected by the winner of the Hong Kong trip. 

Based on those results, Watson found there was no conflict of interest under the Code of Conduct and Ethics for the Public Service, and he’s directed Mar return to his position. 

Mar will be returning to Hong Kong next week.

Melcor CEO new University of Alberta chancellor

EDMONTON - It was the University of Alberta that first brought Ralph Young to Edmonton in 1969, drawing him to the city for a master’s degree in business administration.

On Friday, the U of A board of governors elected the highly respected 66-year-old businessman and community volunteer as the university’s next chancellor, the honourary head of the university.

Young, CEO of Melcor Developments, a long-established and successful Edmonton property development company, had less than an hour to get used to the new title before it was announced. He officially assumes the post on July 1st.

“I’ve always been incredibly appreciative of the education I received at this university and I’m very, very honoured to have the opportunity now to serve it in this new manner,” said Young, who sported two U of A pins on his lapel Friday.

Young’s relationship with the U of A has continued over the decades. He has served in myriad alumni and philanthropic roles.

U of A president Indira Samarasekera said Young, a civil engineer, will be a tremendous asset given his commitment to Edmonton and his ability to work with a wide range of people across the city.

Samarasekera described Young as someone who “absolutely cares deeply about the university, is passionate about western Canadian history and brings to us that breadth of perspective.”

Young is the university’s 20th chancellor. He will chair the university senate, serve on the board of governors and represent the university at ceremonies.

Samaraskera said the chancellor also fills an important role as counsellor to the president, offering advice and serving as a sounding board.

“This is an important role that I have valued as president with Eric Newell and Linda Hughes,” Samaraskera said, referring to the last two chancellors, who were the former CEO of Syncrude and former publisher of the Edmonton Journal respectively.

“Ralph Young is absolutely in that league and we have great expectations for him in that position.”

Ceremony commemorates workers killed or hurt on the job as part of an international Day of Mourning on Friday

EDMONTON - Workers killed or injured on the job were commemorated as part of an international Day of Mourning on Friday.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees held a memorial ceremony to mark the day of remembrance, which was launched by the Canadian Labour Congress in 1984 and is now recognized around the world.

“On this Day of Mourning, we recommit ourselves to fighting as hard as we can for improved health and safety for all workers,” said AUPE president Guy Smith. A moment of silence honoured workers killed on the job, including 64 AUPE members since 1977.

Larry Womack, director of workplace health and safety services at Alberta Health Services, spoke at the ceremony about two AHS employees, an emergency medical services worker and a hospital groundskeeper, who died on the job.

“These are not only staff members or colleagues, they’re friends and family who we care about deeply,” he said.

On Saturday, the Edmonton and District Labour Council will unveil a monument to fallen workers in Grant Notley Park, at 11603 100th Ave. The obelisk, called Broken Families, is made of concrete, stainless steel and granite and features images on each of its four sides of families missing one member.

“We’ve been working at this for five years and raised over $200,000 to construct it,” said Brian Henderson, labour council president.

While Henderson is pleased to unveil the monument, he said workplace safety in Alberta must improve.

There were 123 work-related deaths in Alberta in 2011 and there have been 10 deaths so far in 2012.

“When you have 123 deaths in one year, there’s always more that can be done,” Henderson said.

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, is concerned the number of workplace injuries and fatalities will rise as development in the oilsands picks up.

“We’re heading into another boom not as prepared as we should be to deal with the inevitable rise in safety concerns,” McGowan said.

Human Services Minister Dave Hancock said Day of Mourning is an important recognition of the workers who have died on the job and the families they have left behind.

Hancock said the government continues to make sure workplace safety is the top priority for employers and employees.

“We’re educating people coming on to the job site to know and understand their first order of business is to make it home safe and we’re beefing up enforcement, so we drive home the fact that the regulations are there for a reason,” he said.

7 Habits of Highly Frugal People

The book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has sold over 15 million copies since it was first published in 1989, teaching people all over the world how to live a happier, more successful and more satisfying life. One of the prevailing themes of the book is the fact that to change your life you need to change your attitude because no one else is responsible for what happens to you but you, so you can either complain about the things you don’t like in your life or you can set about changing them. Not surprisingly, this directly relates to the state of your finances. This post is a parody to the concepts presented in the book.

If you are tired of living paycheck to paycheck, of having your phone regularly cut off or having to make excuses to skip dinners with your friends if the money has run out before the end of the month then you can use the seven habits of highly effective people to take control of your money situation and live a more frugal lifestyle, and a happier one.

Habit One: Be Proactive

The first habit of highly effective people is to take responsibility for their own lives; if they fail, they have no one to blame but themselves. Regardless of how you were raised or how you were treated at school you are able to choose your behavior now. Being proactive means understanding that you are in control of the direction your life takes and in control of your day to day interactions. Whereas a reactive person is often affected by their environment and will find external sources to blame for their behavior, for example if the weather is good they are in a good mood but if the weather is bad it affects their attitude and so the weather is to blame for their bad mood.

Here are 6 Action Steps to Take When You Feel Financially Vulnerable

However what most people forget is that between the stimulus and your response is your freedom to choose your response, and one of the most important things you choose are your words. The language you use is an effective indication of how you see yourself and if you use proactive language such as ‘I can’ or ‘I will’ you are starting with a more positive attitude than a reactive person who uses language like ‘I can’t’ or ‘I have to’ or ‘if only…’

How to be proactive for effective frugality:

• Take the first step. You cannot take control of your finances until you make the commitment to do so because the more you ignore the situation the worse it will get. Instead take a long hard look at your finances and your budget, your debts, income and expenses and understand where your money is going and where you can budget better. (To help you out, here are 25 ways to pay off your debt more easily.)
• Tell people. Using proactive language to vocalize your goal of being more frugal and more financially responsible not only helps you crystallize your goal but can also help you avoid the peer pressure which can make budgeting and frugality hard. If you explain to your friends and family how you are trying to live a more frugal lifestyle then they are less likely to pressure you into one more round of drinks at the pub or dinner out, again.
• Listen. Listen to yourself and listen to the reasons you give each time you make a purchase outside of your budget or decide not to put those spare funds into your savings account. Taking the time to stop and listen to the reasons you give yourself for spending more than you earn will give you the opportunity to hear just how shallow many of those reasons are, and can stop you from making purchases which can impede your goal of effective frugality.

Habit Two: Begin with the End in Mind

Those who are effective in achieving their goals are able to envisage their end result despite the obstacles. Highly effective people adhere to this habit based on the principle that all things are created twice, there is the first mental creation and then the second physical creation, and the physical creation follows the mental creation in the same way as the building follows its blueprints.

If you don’t visualize what you want out of life then you are at risk of other people and external circumstances influencing your life because you are not influencing it yourself. Instead begin every day and every task with a clear vision of where you want to go and how you’re going to get there and make that vision a reality with your proactive skills from habit one.

How to visualize effective frugality:

• Define your goal. There are many ways to live a frugal lifestyle and you need to decide on how frugal you want to be. Do you want to be debt free, do you want to build a savings account balance of a certain value or do you want to be able to live on one income in a two income household?
• Decide how you’re going to get there. This will again draw on your budget, but you also need to be aware of the obstacles which are standing in your way. These may be literal obstacles such as credit card debts, or they may be obstacles you have identified in your behavior; for example are you spending $10 every day on junk food on your way home from work because you’re starving when you could be packing a two dollar muesli bar or a low GI lunch to keep you going until dinner. Or do you find that when you go shopping with your sister she always helps you justify a frivolous purchase when you could leave your credit card at home?

Make sure your goals are SMART! Here’s what I mean by that.

Habit Three: Put First Things First

Knowing why you are doing something is an effective motivator in helping you take the mental creation and transform that into an actual physical creation of your goal. Therefore ask yourself which are the things you find most valuable and worthy to you. When you put these things first you will be organizing and managing your time aroundyour personal priorities to make them a reality.

However for many people it is hard to say no but this is exactly the skill you have to learn to be able to keep your goals as your first priority. While we have all of these time-saving devices and we are told we can have it all if we just achieve that elusive work-life balance, in reality having it all is really about prioritizing which it is most important to you to have, and then doing that properly.

How to put effective frugality first:

• Recognize the effects of your finances. You may not dedicate as much time as you should to managing your finances and practicing frugal principles because you feel there is always something more important to be doing, whether it is work, taking the kids to soccer practice or getting ready for dinner with the girls. However, if your finances are not under control and you are regularly spending more than you earn, then this is having a negative impact on every other aspect of your life from your work to your family to your friends. Therefore you need to recognize that being frugal is your first priority.
• Just say no. It is easy to spend more than your budgeted amount each month when you are worried about missing out on a dinner with friends, feel as though you have to cater a birthday party for your son and 50 of his closest friends or you can’t possibly wear the same suit you wore last year to a work conference. However if you recognize that you don’t have to take on everything and that it is all right to say no then you will find you are more in control of your spending and your budget.

Habit Four: Think Win-Win

Most of us are taught to base our self-worth on comparisons to others and competition against our peers. We think we can only succeed if someone else has failed and if you win, then that must mean I lost. We are also taught that there is only so much pie to go around and if you get a big piece then I’m going to be missing out. When you think like this you are always going to feel like you’re missing out on something and nothing is ever fair. As a result many of us retaliate and take the pie before someone else can take it from us.

Thinking in a win-win mindset allows you to see mutual benefits from all of your interactions and as a result, you will see that when you share the pie it tastes even better. If you are able to approach conflicts and problems with a win-win attitude by showing integrity and standing up for your true feelings and values, it allows you to express your ideas and feelings with courage while having consideration for the feelings and ideas of others. When you focus on an abundance mentality, you are able to see that there is enough for everyone and you can see that balancing your confidence with empathy can help you achieve your goals while helping others achieve theirs.

How to create frugal win-win situations:

• Recognize that you don’t always know the full story. As you aim to implement frugal principles and stick to a budget, you may often find yourself thinking ‘it’s not fair’. It’s not fair that they get to go out to dinner. It’s not fair that they get a new car, and it’s not fair that they get to go on holiday and I don’t. However, take the time to realize that you are only seeing a small part of the finances of your friends and family who seem to ‘have it all’. And even though your best friend is taking that dream European holiday of yours or your brother is buying a sports car before you are, you will get there too if you manage your finances frugally and there will still be plenty of holiday destinations and plenty of fast cars when you can afford the expense.
• Understand the difference between possessions and net worth. While your friends and family may seem to have a fuller lifestyle because their house is bigger or their car is newer, you need to consider that it could just be a facade to cover their mountains of debt. True wealth is not measured in possessions but in assetsand when the value of your assets is greater than the amount you owe in mortgages, car loans and credit card debts, then you have a strong net worth and are truly wealthy. And in aiming to live a more effectively frugal lifestyle you will be able to achieve true wealth rather than just a life full of stuff.

When building wealth, remember to look at the big picture too.

Habit Five: Communication

Communication is often the desire to be heard and understood and most people will listen with the intention to reply to what you’re saying rather than to understand what you have said. However, to effectively communicate you need to first understand and then be understood because if you communicate with the sole intention of being understood you can find that you ignore what others are saying and miss their meaning entirely.

How listening can help you be effectively frugal:

• You are not the only person in your life. Chances are you are married, in a relationship, have children or all of the above. As a result, you are not the only person being affected by your decision to live a more frugal lifestyle. To be effective in your goal of frugality, you need to be able to listen to and understand the goals and behaviors of the other people in your life too. Consider how effective your frugality would be if you were taking packed lunches to work and avoiding the afternoon coffee run with your partner going on shopping sprees during their lunch break. Instead of living a more frugal lifestyle, you are really saving on one end and spending it on the other.
• Understand the goals and needs of others. While it is important to explain your desire to live more frugal lifestyle, it is also important that you understand the goals and needs of your family so that you can find a way to be more frugal without them having to give up all of the things which are most important to them. You can’t know what those things are unless you listen.

Habit Six: Synergize

Interactions and teamwork are some of the most important ways you can learn new skills and more effective behaviors. To synergize is the habit of creative cooperation where you work as a team to find new solutions to existing problems. Synergy is not something which just happens but is a process where you need to bring all of your personal experiences and expertise to the table to enable more effective results than you would have been able to achieve individually – the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

When you have genuine interactions with people you are able to gain new insights and see new approaches to your problems which you would not have otherwise thought of.

How to synergize for effective frugality:

• Look for new ways. In a society which has become so good at consumerism you have probably already realized that you need to find new ways of doing just about everything to be frugal. It is easy to buy your lunch every day but it is more frugal to take a packed lunch. It is easy to drive to work but it is more frugal to catch the train. It is easy to buy a new cocktail dress but it is more frugal to make one.
• Surround yourself with other frugal people. To be successful surround yourself with people who are where you want to be and whether you join online forums on frugal living websites or strike up a friendship with the woman who runs the local shop you will be able to share ideas and learn from others to be successful.

Learn to embrace the positive influence of saving money here as well.

Habit Seven: Sharpen the Saw

You are the greatest asset you have on your journey to achieving the lifestyle you want and so you need to look after yourself physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. When you take time to renew yourself in all four areas of your life you are creating growth and change which allow you to continue with the previous six habits you have mastered, which still need to be maintained to achieve success.

How to frugally renew yourself:

• Physically. By eating better you will feel better and if you start your own vegetable patch for example you will be able to save at the supermarket and will be eating better at the same time. Exercising keeps you fit and healthy and it doesn’t cost you anything to go for a walk or bike ride or even skip rope in the backyard. To rest your body you don’t need to go to a day spa you can simply slide into the tub at home and relax.
• Emotionally. Interacting socially with others allows you to make meaningful connections and this can come back to a conversation with the woman at the op shop or even scheduling in coffee and a chat with your mum once a week.
• Mentally. Exercising and expanding your mind through learning, reading, writing and teaching can be done frugally at your local library or even by volunteering at a school or retirement home to teach others a skill you may be taking for granted.
• Spiritually. Spending time close to nature to expand your spiritual self through meditation, music, art or prayer can be done frugally by taking a quiet moment to center yourself and empty your mind before you go to bed or going for a bush walk and being grateful for the beauty of nature surrounding you.

Frugality does not mean having to give up all the luxuries and things which make you happy because if you go through developing habits 1 to 6 without spending the time to renew yourself this is how you burn out, and frugality is something you want to develop and maintain for the long-term and with these seven habits you can be a highly frugal person.

This post is originally written by Alban, a personal finance writer. He offer money savings tips and helps people to compare home loans online.

Dalai Lama, Prime Minister Stephen Harper to hold 'courtesy meeting'

Ottawa - Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office has confirmed he will meet privately with the Dalai Lama on Friday.

A spokesman for Harper said the prime minister would hold a "private courtesy meeting" with the Tibetan spiritual leader.

The confirmation followed vague comments from Harper and his office earlier this week as to whether a meeting would take place.

Nima Dorjee, a national member of the Canada Tibet Committee, had said this week he suspected the federal government was under pressure from China to distance itself from the Dalai Lama.

In 2006, the federal Conservative government angered the Communist regime by awarding the exiled spiritual leader honorary Canadian citizenship.

When Harper and the Dalai Lama met in 2007, the Chinese Embassy warned Canada to "stop interfering with China's internal affairs."

Two years later, Harper chose not to meet with the Nobel Peace Prize winner while he was visiting Canada. Later that year, the prime minister received an invitation to Beijing.

The Dalai Lama will deliver a talk called Ethics for a Whole World on Saturday morning at an Ottawa arena.

He is also expected to meet Friday evening with the Parliamentary Friends of Tibet, an all-party group of parliamentarians.