Special Features |
International News |
Business and Trade |
Canadian News |
Opinion/Editorial
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News from Connect2Canada
Presidential Inauguration—C2C Live on Twitter
The Connect2Canada Team
Follow Connect2Canada on Twitter for live updates on and before Inauguration Day, January 20th. In addition to continuous Twitter updates, we will be featuring photos and videos from the Canadian Embassy rooftop on Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C. as the day's events unfold. If you are planning on attending the Inauguration in person, follow Connect2Canada for important updates on security, transportation, and more. If you won't be in Washington, you can participate from the comfort of your home or on your mobile device. Stay tuned for more details!
Senator Leahy from Vermont visits Champlain exhibit at the Embassy
The Connect2Canada Team
On December 18, 2008, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) took the opportunity to visit the exhibit in the Embassy art gallery, Champlain’s Dream. The visit was reported by Vermont Public Radio and on YouTube. In 2009, Vermont will be commemorating the explorer for whom Lake Champlain is named, with celebrations across the state.
Special Features
Canada and the United States Renew Treaty to Conserve Pacific Salmon Stocks and Ensure Long-Term Sustainability of Pacific Salmon Fishery
Monday, January 05, 2009
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Canada and the United States have ratified an agreement on changes to five chapters of the Pacific Salmon Treaty (PST), which expired at the end of 2008, the Honourable Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, announced today.
The renewed chapters, which took effect January 1, 2009, will help ensure the long-term sustainability of Pacific salmon stocks while supporting an economically viable fishing industry on both sides of the Canada–U.S. border.
"Conservation and the long-term sustainability of Pacific salmon are the key objectives being pursued through the Pacific Salmon Treaty," said Minister Shea. "This is a crucial agreement that will help people on both sides of the border benefit from sustainable fishing opportunities for years to come. The agreement will also promote increased cooperation between our countries as we manage our shared salmon stocks."
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Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology, Applauds the Communications Research Centre Canada for its Second Emmy Award
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Industry Canada
The Communications Research Centre (CRC) Canada will receive a second Emmy Award at a ceremony taking place today at the Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards Gala. In a statement, the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology, congratulated the CRC—the Canadian government's primary laboratory for research and development (R&D) in advanced telecommunications—for their contribution to the standard for digital TV.
"I congratulate the CRC and applaud their contribution which has garnered the organization such deserving attention," said Minister of State Goodyear. "This second Emmy Award demonstrates the high standard of the government's performance in S&T."
CRC is among four organizations being recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for their efforts in standardizing the ATSC Digital Television System to replace the analog NTSC television system. The transition will take place in Canada by August 31, 2011. CRC's Advanced Television Evaluation Laboratory conducted all subjective evaluation tests of picture quality and assessed the effects of transmission impairments. These results enabled the selection of the best HDTV format and digital transmission system that is defining a new era of digital television broadcasting to home viewers.
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International News
Prestation de serment de Barack Obama
Jeudi 8 janvier 2009
Joël-Denis Bellavance, La Presse
Le ministre de l'Immigration, Jason Kenney, représentera le gouvernement canadien à Washington à l'occasion de la cérémonie de prestation de serment du nouveau président des États-Unis Barack Obama le 20 janvier, a appris La Presse hier.
M. Kenney, l'un des hommes de confiance du premier ministre Stephen Harper, pourrait être accompagné d'autres ministres ou députés conservateurs, a-t-on indiqué hier au bureau de M. Harper.
M. Kenney a obtenu une promotion au cabinet après les élections du 14 octobre en se voyant confier l'important ministère de l'Immigration. Auparavant, M. Kenney avait été ministre d'État responsable du multiculturalisme et de l'identité canadienne. En 2006, il avait également servi comme secrétaire parlementaire du premier ministre. A ce titre, il avait notamment la responsabilité des relations canado-américaines.
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Toronto-based choir to perform at Obama inauguration
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
James Bradshaw, The Globe and Mail
A performance by the Toronto-based Nathaniel Dett Chorale will be Canada's gift to the U.S. public at the presidential inauguration ceremonies of Barack Obama.
The Canadian Embassy in Washington has invited the chorale—a 25-voice group committed to Afrocentric music from a variety of genres, including jazz, blues, gospel and folk—to sing at the embassy both before and after the Jan. 20 parade. Their performances are expected to take place in the embassy garden to give access to the public, though details, including the repertoire, have yet to be finalized.
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Canada pushes for end to Gaza fighting
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Meagan Fitzpatrick, Canwest News Service
Canada wants to see an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and is contributing $4 million to humanitarian efforts, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon announced Wednesday.
"Canada is calling for an immediate and durable ceasefire," Cannon said following a Conservative caucus meeting. Cannon has issued several statements on the conflict, but had not spoken publicly about the violence that broke out almost two weeks ago and has killed more than 600 people.
Cannon said Canada is concerned about the humanitarian situation that is developing because of the attacks between Israel and Hamas and that Canada is contributing $3 million to the United Nations and $1 million is going to the Red Cross.
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48 Canadians evacuated from Gaza
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service
Forty-eight Canadian citizens were among 298 foreigners allowed to leave Gaza by Israeli officials Thursday in an evacuation operation co-ordinated by Canadian officials.
The Canadians, who were almost all of Palestinian descent, were to be taken in two buses, decked out in Canadian flags, to the Allenby crossing with Jordan.
Marwan Diab, 39, a psychologist from Calgary, was among the evacuated along with his wife and four young children.
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City agency gets chance to deliver aid
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Meghan Hurley, Winnipeg Free Press
A Winnipeg-based aid organization will have an easier time getting supplies into the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.
Israel announced a daily three-hour ceasefire to allow Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) and other humanitarian agencies to bring supplies across the border.
"It was very difficult to find a way to transport anything into the Gaza Strip," said Robert Granke, CLWR's executive director. "This gives us the window where we can organize together with the Israeli authorities to bring the goods in. It's really helping the situation dramatically."
CLWR and other organizations such as Action by Churches Together (ACT) stepped in to provide aid to the Palestinians. They will bring in rice, flour, high-protein biscuits, blankets, medical supplies and counselling.
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Business and Trade
Canadian housing market still looking good compared to U.S.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Garry Marr, Canwest News Service
House prices continue to plummet in the United States, but the consensus in Canada remains that the impact of the downturn will not be as severe here.
Home prices in 20 major U.S. cities are now falling faster than at any point on record, hit hard by increasing foreclosures and slumping sales. The S&P/Case-Shiller index declined 18 per cent in October from a year earlier after dropping 17.4 per cent in September. The gauge has fallen every month since January 2007.
House prices have been falling fast in Canada as well. The Canadian Real Estate Association, which represents 100 real estate boards across the country, said this month that average price of a Canadian home sold in November was down 9.8 per cent from a year ago.
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Ottawa looks to prop up auto leasing
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Shawn McCarthy and Greg Keenan and Karen Howlett, Globe and Mail
The federal government plans to unveil measures to boost consumer financing for car loans and leases in its upcoming budget, a move aimed at further propping up the battered auto industry.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has indicated he will address the auto sector's credit woes as part of the budget's broader push to ease credit, according to people familiar with the matter.
Ottawa has not yet decided what form the support will take. But one option would be similar to the government's $25-billion effort in the fall to promote bank lending by purchasing insured mortgage-backed securities from the banks.
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Flaherty hints personal tax cuts may be in budget
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
The Globe and Mail
Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty hinted Tuesday that personal tax cuts could be included in this month's budget as a way to help stimulate the country's economy.
“What I've been hearing across Canada and also from my council of economic advisers has been that we need to invest more in infrastructure,” Mr. Flaherty said ahead of a meeting with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation as part of his pre-budget consultations.
“That is one way of course of supporting the economy, of stimulating the economy, but also we need to look at tax reductions, additional tax reductions, as another way of supporting the economy.”
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Investors to focus on dismal U.S., Canadian jobless data this week
Monday, January 05, 2009
Malcolm Morrison, Toronto Star
Investors intently looking for hints of a bottom to the U.S. recession will be looking out for the latest unemployment numbers coming out at the end of the week.
"That's what we watch," John Johnston, chief strategist for The Harbour Group at RBC Dominion Securities, said in an interview. "They're economy-wide and very timely. (They're) prone to revisions in the U.S., but it's the most important economic event of the month."
Markets got off to an auspicious start to 2009 trading last week, with the main indexes in Toronto and New York racking up solid gains as investors did their best to put a horrible 2008 behind them.
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GM's top strategic consultant a Canadian
Monday, January 05, 2009
Nicolas Van Praet, Financial Post
On the last Monday in November, as TV news networks continent-wide began their morning coverage of that day's hot topic—the unveiling of U.S. President-Elect Barack Obama's new economic team—a slim and athletic business professor from the University of Toronto arrived at the Detroit tower housing the world headquarters of General Motors Corp.
He whizzed up the elevator to the automaker's 38th-floor reception area, walked up one flight of stairs to the senior executive office level, and settled into the chairman's boardroom for a day of meetings. It was all pretty normal stuff for his once-a-month visits.
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Canada to fight EU's proposed seal product ban
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
St. Johns Telegram
A Canadian delegation will travel to Europe later in January to make the case against proposed new European Union rules banning seal products, said federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea.
Shea, who was in St. John's to meet with her Newfoundland counterpart, Tom Hedderson, said her officials will travel to Europe along with a Newfoundland official.
The new Canadian rules governing the seal hunt force sealers to take more time to ensure the mammals are dead before they are skinned.
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Economists predict more financial troubles for Canada in 2009, slow recovery
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Canadian Press Newswire
Canadians should brace themselves for another year of economic woe that could even top the misery that unfolded in the latter half of 2008, according to some of the country's leading bank economists.
The flood of dire financial challenges facing the United States is still working its way steadily across the border into Canada, TD Bank chief economist Don Drummond told a gathering at the Economic Club of Toronto Wednesday.
''We shouldn't really be thankful for the end of 2008 because I think (it) will have proven to be a better year than 2009,'' he said.
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Canadian News
Harper less gloomy on economic crisis
Thursday, January 08, 2009
David Ljunggren, Reuters Canada
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was less gloomy about the economy in an interview released on Thursday, saying Canada was in a strong economic position compared with others and should be able to exit the recession relatively quickly.
The comments to Maclean's magazine were noticeably more cheerful than those he made in an interview in mid-December, when he said he was very worried about the economy and speculated about the possibility of a depression.
Harper, who as recently as mid-October said he had a plan to avoid recession, now concedes there is no chance Canada can escape the global economic crisis. Ottawa has already made clear it will run budget deficits for the next few years.
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Harper pushes to gain control of Senate
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Gloria Galloway and Jane Taber, Globe and Mail
Facing an emboldened opposition and the possibility of defeat, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is making a significant switch in tactics, dropping his reliance on confidence votes and moving even further toward stacking the Senate with Tories.
A top aide said yesterday that Mr. Harper will no longer threaten elections to force opposition compliance on secondary policy matters.
He is also planning to fill Senate seats as they become vacant and will not stop until next January when his Tories will finally have the majority in the upper chamber, according to two senior government officials.
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Canadian budget to support car financing: report
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Jeffrey Hodgson, Reuters Canada
The Canadian government plans to unveil measures to boost consumer financing for car loans and leases in its upcoming budget, the Globe and Mail reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the newspaper said Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has indicated he will address the auto sector's credit woes as part of the budget's broader push to ease credit.
The report said Ottawa has not yet decided what form the support will take. One option would be similar to the government's effort to promote bank lending by purchasing insured mortgage-backed securities from banks.
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Canada on top of the world
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Kevin Mcgran, Toronto Star
It didn't look as if Angelo Esposito's eyes could get any brighter or his smile any wider.
But they did when he was asked by a Hockey Canada official if he'd mind if they sent his stick – the one that scored the goal that clinched Canada's fifth consecutive gold medal at the world junior hockey championship – to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
"Wow," said Esposito. "That's pretty cool. I go there and see all the other guys' stuff and now my stuff's there."
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Canadian programming saves television from itself
Monday, January 05, 2009
Rob Salem, Toronto Star
This time last year, halfway through the U.S. writers' strike, our primetime choices were pretty much limited to reruns or reality ... short of the somewhat more drastic alternative of gutting the set and converting it into an aquarium (or, for flatscreeners, a very expensive ant farm).
But now, TV's vast wasteland is starting to look just a little bit less barren and bleak.
And get this: Canada deserves a good deal of the credit. This is not in itself necessarily a good thing, but it is a rather interesting turn of events.
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Midair baby gets Canadian citizenship
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Andrew Duffy, Canwest News Service
Canada has its first mile-high baby: Ottawa has granted citizenship to Sasha, the child born to a Ugandan woman on an international flight over Canada.
The 2.2-kilogram baby was delivered on a crowded Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Boston on New Year's Eve.
The mother, who was 81/2-months pregnant, went into labour about six hours into the eight-hour flight and delivered the child as the plane crossed through Canadian airspace.
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Canadian trio sets world record in South Pole trek
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Hayley Mick, Globe and Mail
After battling whiteouts, blisters and boredom, a trio of Canadian adventurers has set a world record for the fastest journey across Antarctica to the South Pole.
Exhausted but wired by adrenalin, Ray Zahab, Kevin Valley and Richard Weber arrived at the South Pole yesterday after trekking 1,130 kilometres on skis, snowshoes and foot through the frozen continent.
"I'm dying for some pizza," Mr. Zahab said in an interview from the South Pole, where he and his teammates arrived after dashing the last approximately 100 kilometres in two days.
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Opinion/Editorial
Our national sport
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Ottawa Citizen
The coast-to-coast delirium over Canada's gold medal in junior hockey was a reminder that hockey occupies a significant place in our national identity. In fact, it's hard to think of a more unifying force for Canadians than our shared self-image as a hockey nation.
Those lucky enough to have attended the gold medal game Monday night at Scotiabank Place witnessed an epic outpouring of patriotic pride. A sea of red and white, the national colours, undulated around the arena as screaming spectators repeatedly leaped to their feet.
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Le silence qui tue
Jeudi 8 janvier 2009
Rima Elkouri, La Presse
«Israéliens et Arabes ne pourront jamais être en paix.» Combien sommes-nous à être tentés par ce pessimisme en regardant défiler les images d'horreur de Gaza? Pourtant, l'idée que ce conflit est insoluble n'est rien de plus qu'une idée reçue, nous dit Pascal Boniface, dans son livre 50 idées reçues sur l'état du monde.
J'ai relu hier, comme pour m'en convaincre, ce passage où l'expert en relations internationales nous explique que, même si ce conflit ressemble à un combat sans fin, la paix «n'est pas impossible». Il rappelle entre autres avec justesse que «les différences entre Juifs et Arabes (musulmans ou chrétiens) ne sont pas d'essence religieuse, chaque communauté comptant des partisans de la paix et d'un rapprochement, et des partisans de la poursuite du conflit».
Ce conflit découle avant tout de choix politiques et non religieux, il est utile de le rappeler. S'il est plus simple de croire que «les» Juifs pensent comme ceci et que «les» Arabes pensent comme cela, la réalité est bien plus complexe. Prenez par exemple le cas du mouvement Voix juives indépendantes, formé depuis peu à Montréal, qui s'oppose fermement à l'intervention israélienne à Gaza. Un mouvement inspiré de l'Independent Jewish Voices, un groupe né en 2007 au Royaume-Uni qui rassemble des personnalités juives éminentes, dont l'historien Eric Hobsbawm. Le mouvement revendique le droit pour les juifs de critiquer le gouvernement israélien sans être accusés de manque de loyauté.
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