WCA July 2007

From the Americas

the war in Iraq. The change has slowed Nissan’s profits.” (‘Nissan Plans Diesel for US Market,’ 18 th April). Of related interest . . . According to an official of the Paris-based International Energy Agency, which advises developed countries on energy policy, China is poised to surpass the US as the world’s biggest source of greenhouse gases this year. China had been forecast to pull ahead of the US as a polluter in 2010 but its surging economic growth has pushed the date forward, the IEA’s chief economist, Fatih Birol, was quoted as saying. In an interview appearing in the Wall Street Journal for 24 th April, Mr Birol also said that China’s rising emissions will cancel out the good effects of attempts by other countries to reduce their own pollution of the atmosphere. China is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol which assigns mandatory emission limitations for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, but is exempt from its restrictions because it is still considered a developing country. ❖ Deregulation of its telecommunications industry is a contentious issue in Canada, with opponents – including some consumer groups and cable companies – claiming that the removal of restrictions would enable established telephone companies to trump the competition in the near term, only to raise their prices later on. Rejecting this argument, Canada’s government announced on 4 th April that it was largely deregulating the country’s telephone market. Local markets served by at least three operators with their own networks – including existing telephone companies, cable system operators, and cellphone service providers – were to be eligible for deregulation after 18 th April. Unlike their counterparts in the US, telephone companies in Canada were not separated into separate local and long-distance operations to alleviate antitrust concerns. Thus, at the end of 2005 about 90% of Canadian local lines were under the control of established telecom. Service in eastern Canada has been dominated by Bell Canada and other units of Montreal-based BCE; in much of western Canada, by Telus (Vancouver, British Columbia). The new Canadian plan will not require legislative approval. But the industry minister, Maxime Bernier, did adopt some of the suggestions of the Parliamentary committee whose objections were overruled. These include the establishment of an independent telecommunications ombudsman for consumer complaints, to be financed by the industry. Telecom A decade later than the US, Canada opts for deregulation

Congress

A House committee denounces Mr Bush’s proposals for cuts to federal small-business programmes A report issued on 4 th April by the House Committee on Small Business asserts that the budget recently proposed by President George W Bush, a self-styled champion of the American entrepreneur, calls for an 80% cut for small business programmes. The budget proposal for fiscal year 2008 would reduce or terminate 90 of the 110 federal programmes aimed at helping entrepreneurs start or expand small businesses, a reduction of nearly $800 million. The report, which reflects the strong partisan bent of the opposition Democrats newly in control of the House of Representatives, observes that the amount allotted for small businesses by the Republican administration constitutes less than 1% of the proposed fiscal 2008 budget. It says, “In comparison, the proposed payments on net interest for the nation’s debt are over $260 billion, nearly 10% of total federal expenditures.” The report claims that nearly 15% of the reductions deal with technology and innovation-orientated companies, several of them slashed by as much as 50%. In addition, the president’s budget proposal does not provide additional funding for the Small Business Administration’s popular 7(a) loan programme, which brought in $2.4 billion in funding for California businesses alone in fiscal year 2006. While the proposed budget reductions highlighted by the House committee may be taken as a bellwether of White House attitudes, Brian Wingfield of Forbes.com pointed out that they do not necessarily indicate what the programmes will eventually receive. That will be determined when Congress finalises appropriations later this year. (‘Funding for the Little Guy,’ 5 th April). Mr Wingfield also noted that Capitol Hill is not the only Washington venue where small business interests are being examined. He wrote: “The Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal regulators are currently considering revising auditing standards adopted five years ago in the Sarbanes- Oxley Act. Industry groups say the standards, put in place to discourage corporate fraud, are too cumbersome for small and medium-sized businesses.”

Dorothy Fabian Features Editor

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Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 2007