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Business and Trade |
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Opinion/Editorial
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News from Connect2Canada
C2C Podcast Series: President Obama's Visit to Canada
The Connect2Canada Team
Listen to this week’s Connect2Canada podcasts featuring analysis on President Obama’s forthcoming visit to Canada on February 19th. Commentary is provided by leading academic and think tank scholars on Canada-U.S. relations. Useful information about the visit is also available on the Embassy of Canada website.
February Science and Technology Update
The Connect2Canada Team
C2C's February Science and Technology Update is now online! Highlights from this issue include the discovery of a new BSE test which can be performed on live animals, the invention of a portable energy harvesting device that can be slipped around your knee, and the identification of a new protein which causes breast cancer. If you're interested in receiving this newsletter in the future, please sign up for C2C or modify your profile if you are already a member.
Special Features
Canada to double number of Iraqi refugees
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Canada will more than double the number of privately sponsored Iraqi refugees it accepts from the Middle East, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney has announced.
“Taken together with government-assisted refugees, this means that the number of Iraqi refugees coming to Canada will have more than quadrupled since 2005,” Minister Kenney said while speaking before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.
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The Government of Canada Counts Down to 2010 Winter Games with Official Launch of New 2010 Winter Games Website
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Canadian Heritage
The Honourable Gary Lunn, Minister of State (Sport), today announced the official launch of the Government of Canada's new 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games website, www.canada2010.gc.ca.
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Government of Canada Honours Fuel-Efficient Vehicle Award Winners
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Natural Resources Canada
The Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Natural Resources, today announced the 2009 recipients of the ecoENERGY for Vehicles Awards at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto. The awards recognize the most fuel-efficient cars and light trucks available in Canada.
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International News
Why Canada is more interesting than it looks
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Dave Schechter, CNN
President Obama’s first foreign visit will be to Canada on February 19.
Americans, can you name the capital of Canada or its Prime Minister? Name three major news stories in Canada. Hockey doesn’t count.
Okay, I’ll help you out: automobiles, Afghanistan and energy.
Those are important issues in the United States, too, but we’ll get back to that in a moment.
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Ottawa moves to lessen U.S. dependence
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Alia McMullen, National Post
Canada is in the midst of a wave of free-trade negotiations that could soon include the European Union, hopefully India and possibly Japan, in a high-speed effort to wean exporters off their entrenched dependence on the United States. But even as Ottawa opens doors, exporters appear reluctant to carry the expense of establishing themselves in distant markets.
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Majority would limit industry's right to challenge environmental policies
Monday, February 09, 2009
Martin Mittelstaedt, Globe and Mail
A new poll of Americans and Canadians by Environics has found that more than 70 per cent of respondents in both countries want restrictions on the ability of energy companies to use the North American free-trade agreement to sue governments over their environmental-protection polices.
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Presidents and prime ministers, some friends, some foes
Sunday, February 08, 2009
John Ward, Macleans
Canadians like to think it's a tradition that a newly elected president of the United States comes to Ottawa for his first foreign trip, but it's a tradition that's been breached as much as honoured in recent years.
President Barack Obama is to visit on Feb. 19, but of his seven immediate predecessors, only three made Ottawa their first foreign destination.
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McGill présente une exposition sur Abraham Lincoln
Jeudi 12 février 2009
La Presse Canadienne
La bibliothèque de l'Université McGill souligne le 200& anniversaire de naissance d'Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), 16e président des États-Unis, en présentant diverses pièces choisies à même sa collection alimentée par un important don en 1986.
L'Université McGill a hérité cette année-là de la collection du Dr Joseph N. Nathanson (1895-1989), un de ses anciens étudiants.
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Business and Trade
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative: Canadian banks are typically leveraged at 18 to 1--compared with U.S. banks at 26 to 1.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek
The legendary editor of The New Republic, Michael Kinsley, once held a "Boring Headline Contest" and decided that the winner was "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative." Twenty-two years later, the magazine was rescued from its economic troubles by a Canadian media company, which should have taught us Americans to be a bit more humble.
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Economy will grow but U.S. decisions crucial: Carney
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
CTV News
Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney expects Canada's economy to grow in 2010 but says his projections could be impacted by decisions made by the U.S. and other major economies.
Carney made the comments the same day the U.S. Senate passed President Barack Obama's massive economic stimulus package. Worth more than US$800 billion, it must now make its way through tough House-Senate
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Loonie key to improving trade balance: Flaherty
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Jamie Sturgeon, National Post
Canada's finance minister said on Wednesday that a decline in the value of the Canadian dollar should help its trade balance. He was speaking after Canada reported its first trade monthly deficit in more than three decades.
"The dollar has adjusted. It will make a difference going forward," Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told reporters after the release of the trade data."It has a lot to do with the currency ... with the (past strength) of the currency."
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Consumer bankruptcy filings surge
Monday, February 09, 2009
Globe and Mail
Bankruptcies among consumers are surging across Canada.
The number of consumers filing for bankruptcy in December soared 50.6 per cent, although filings fell from a month earlier, the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada said Monday.
While the filings spanned all regions of Canada, Alberta was highest at 106 per cent.
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Parochialism hard to uproot
Friday, February 06, 2009
Murray Mandryk, The Star Phoenix
A lot of politicians—local and national on both sides of the 49th parallel—deserve credit for taking on the lunacy of the "Buy American" provisions in the $819 billion stimulus package in the United States.
Hats off to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, International Trade Minister Stockwell Day and especially to our ambassador to the U.S., Michael Wilson, for their persistence.
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Sands shift for Chrysler's Canadian workers
Friday, February 06, 2009
Reuters, National Post
Slumping sales of the Chrysler Town & Country and the Dodge Caravan has caused Chrysler LLC to cut one of its three production shifts at its Windsor, Ont., assembly plant for the next three weeks.
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EnCana hausse ses profits de 50% en 2008
Jeudi 12 février 2009
La Presse Canadienne
Le groupe gazier et pétrolier canadien EnCana (T.EN) a vu son bénéfice net augmenter de 50% en 2008, tiré par la hausse des prix des matières premières, malgré une stabilisation sur les trois derniers mois de l'année, a-t-il annoncé jeudi dans un communiqué.
Au quatrième trimestre, le bénéfice net du groupe s'est établi à 1,077 milliard de dollars US, au même niveau que le 1,082 milliard enregistré sur la même période en 2007.
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Canadian News
New law to give police access to online exchanges
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Bill Curry, Globe and Mail
The Conservative government is preparing sweeping new eavesdropping legislation that will force Internet service providers to let police tap exchanges on their systems - but will likely reignite fear that Big Brother will be monitoring the private conversations of Canadians.
The goal of the move, which would require police to obtain court approval, is to close what has been described as digital "safe havens" for criminals, pedophiles and terrorists because current eavesdropping laws were written in a time before text messages, Facebook and voice-over-Internet phone lines.
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Syncrude charged in duck deaths
Monday, February 09, 2009
Dawn Walton and Nathan Vanderklippe, Globe and Mail
Alberta and Ottawa moved Monday to charge an energy heavyweight with breaking environmental laws after the industry – and the country – were humiliated last spring by the image of hundreds of oil-soaked ducks dying in a toxic byproduct of the oil sands.
Syncrude Canada Ltd. could face fines of up to $800,000 if convicted under provincial and federal environmental legislation in connection with the deaths of 500 waterfowl at one of its tailing ponds north of Fort McMurray, Alta.
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Birthplace of b-ball pioneer invites Obama for a visit
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Caroline Alphonso, Globe and Mail
U.S. President Barack Obama is known for his promise of hope and his penchant for hoops. An Ontario town is eager to take advantage of the latter.
When Mr. Obama makes his first trip to Canada's capital on Feb. 19, the town of Mississippi Mills, about an hour west of Ottawa, is inviting the basketball-loving President to make a quick stop at the birthplace of James Naismith, the inventor of his favourite sport.
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New coach brings passion, blue-chip resume to Canadian women's soccer team
Friday, February 06, 2009
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
Canada added some star power to its soccer lineup Thursday, naming Italian Carolina Morace as national women's coach.
"We aren't probably as aware of Carolina as the rest of the world is, but as far as a women's footballer, she's up there with the best of the last century and the most incredible players to have played the game," said former Canadian international Andrea Neil, who played against Morace and will now be part of her coaching staff.
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Toronto mosque offers 'detox' for extremists
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Stewart Bell, National Post
A Toronto mosque is offering a "12-step extremist detox program" for radical Muslims that its director says is the first of its kind in Canada.
The Specialized De-radicalization Intervention program is intended to provide "treatment and counselling" to young Muslims sympathetic to the al-Qaeda ideology.
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Wikibec et Quépédia
Samedi 07 février 2009
Stéphane Baillargeon, Le Devoir
Céline Dion est-elle une chanteuse canadienne ou québécoise? Pourquoi René Lévesque n'est-il représenté que par sa statue de bronze? Paul-Émile Borduas est-il mort en 1912? Que valent finalement les quelque 8350 articles sur le Québec de Wikipédia, un des dix sites les plus consultés dans Internet?
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Opinion/Editorial
Canada has no choice but to go global
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Lawrence Martin, Globe and Mail
The trade news was frightening yesterday. For the first time in 33 years, we're in the red. A $458-million deficit in December, fuelled by a 10 per cent plunge in exports, mainly to the United States. The American market is tanking. But it has been in decline for some time and even when this recession is over, the numbers will never be what they used to be. That's got voices yapping about having to find alternative markets - and they're right. For a long time, the warnings have been around. Having all your eggs in one basket is fine, so long as the basket country, the United States, continues to maintain its global economic dominance. But if the trend starts moving in the opposite direction, look out.
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Avantage au Québec
Samedi 07 février 2009
Claude Picher, La Presse
Sur le front de l'emploi, les villes québécoises ont maintenant l'avantage sur leurs concurrentes ontariennes.
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