Schwarzenegger, McGuinty sign pacts

TORONTO, May 31 (UPI) -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty signed pacts Wednesday to promote stem cell research and fight global warming.

Schwarzenegger said his state has committed to spend $3 billion on the controversial medical research, while the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research will spend $30 million to study cancer stem cells, The Globe and Mail of Toronto said.

He said stem cell research is important to him because his father-in-law, Sargeant Shriver, suffers from Alzeimer's disease.

"I'm a Catholic and a very dedicated Catholic, but that doesn't interfere with my decision-making because I know that stem cell research the way we are doing it in California ... is the right way to go," the CanWest News Service reported Schwarzenegger as saying. "We will save, very quickly down the line, lives and cure a lot of these illnesses."

Schwarzenegger, on a three-day swing through Canada to promote trade and pollution-fighting efforts, and McGuinty also signed an accord to fight climate change.

"Like California, Ontario is leading the way in recognizing that we must take action now to fight global warming and to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels," Schwarzenegger said. "We're soulmates on this issue."