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Business and Trade |
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News from Connect2Canada
Canada's Engagement in Afghanistan
The Connect2Canada Team
Check out the Government of Canada's website on Canada's Engagement in Afghanistan: www.Afghanistan.gc.ca and learn about Canada's priorities, benchmarks, and signature projects in Afghanistan. While you're there, be sure to visit AfCam, our new multimedia gallery featuring photos, videos, and podcasts from the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar. You can also find AfCam on your favourite social media channels including YouTube, iTunes, and Flickr. Stay connected by subscribing to "Focus Afghanistan", an electronic newsletter that provides regular updates delivered right to your inbox, and become a fan on our Facebook page.
Special Features
President Obama and Prime Minister Harper vow joint effort on North American economic recovery
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Office of the Prime Minister
President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper today agreed the United States and Canada will pursue economic recovery measures and efforts to strengthen the international financial system to counter the global economic recession.
“I value our strategic partnership with Canada and look forward to working closely with the Prime Minister to address the global economic recession and create jobs, to protect our environment through promoting clean energy technologies, and achieve our shared goals in responding to international security challenges.” said the President.
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Prime Minister Harper announces Montreal's CAE to provide high-tech pilot training
Friday, February 13, 2009
Office of the Prime Minister
Canadian Forces pilots will be able to take advantage of high-tech flight-simulator technology from Montreal’s CAE, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced today.
“We want Canada’s men and women in uniform to have the best training and technology, and that training and technology can be found right here in Montreal,” said the Prime Minister who joined Public Works and Government Services Minister Christian Paradis in a tour of CAE’s high-tech training facilities. “We are creating jobs today, re-investing in our cutting edge aerospace industry, and ensuring the Canadian Forces have the tools they need to defend Canadian priorities and interests for decades to come.”
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Prime Minister Harper and Premier McGuinty announce major improvements to GO Transit system
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Office of the Prime Minister
GO Transit riders in the Greater Toronto Area and surrounding commuter communities will soon take advantage of improved access to GO Transit thanks to a joint investment between the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario.
“This investment will create jobs for local construction workers in communities throughout Southern Ontario,” said Prime Minister Stephen Harper who joined Premier Dalton McGuinty in making the announcement. “More efficient, reliable, and sustainable commuter transit will also help the Greater Toronto Area attract and keep the jobs of the future.”
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International News
Transcript of the CBC News interview with Obama
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
CBC News
MANSBRIDGE: Mr. President, thank you for doing this—Canadians are very excited about your trip.
OBAMA: Thank you.
MANSBRIDGE: When they watch you today sign your recovery bill into law, how concerned should they be that the "Buy America" clause is still there, even though you've given assurances international trade agreements will be respected—how concerned should they be?
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Obama thanks Canada's military families
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Canadian, Toronto Star
U.S. President Barack Obama is expressing his gratitude for Canada's contribution to the war in Afghanistan—and sending strong signals that his approach to the problem will be rooted in diplomacy and development, rather than force.
In an interview with the CBC, Obama says he's convinced the problems of Afghanistan, including the spread of extremism, cannot be solved by "military means alone."
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NATO’s future at stake in Afghanistan: MacKay
Monday, February 16, 2009
Robert Sibley, Ottawa Citizen
Defence Minister Peter MacKay has warned that the future of NATO is at stake if some of the alliance’s members don’t do more in Afghanistan.
“We need to have a frank discussion about the future of NATO,” Mr. MacKay said Monday in a speech to the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, England.
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Get your houses in order, Canada to tell G7
Friday, February 13, 2009
Megan Williams, Toronto Star
Sound regulation starts at home. That's the message Canada plans to push at today's Group of Seven meeting in Rome, where the world's developed countries have gathered to hammer out urgently needed economic revitalization tactics.
G7 finance ministers and central bank governors are assembling at a juncture when the United States, Europe and Japan are attempting to deal with simultaneous recessions for the first time since World War II.
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Economist says the fact that Canada is America's top export market often gets short shrift
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Julian Beltrame, Times & Transcript
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has one crucial mission when he meets Barack Obama for the first time Thursday—convince him that America's economic future is irrevocably linked with Canada's.
With the U.S. heading toward the worst slump since the Great Depression, the rookie president is under intense domestic pressure to put America first, as the recent inclusion of protectionist language in the US$800-billion stimulus package attests.
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Les grands enjeux commerciaux
jeudi 19 février 2009
Hugo Fontaine, La Presse
Les questions commerciales et économiques seront, avec l'Afghanistan, dans le haut de la liste des sujets pour la rencontre entre Barack Obama et Stephen Harper, aujourd'hui à Ottawa. Même si la relation commerciale entre les deux pays est en santé, tant le Canada que les États-Unis ont avantage à la soigner pour favoriser la reprise économique.
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Business and Trade
Canada's trade deficit ominous: Lewenza
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Dave Hall, Windsor Star
Canada's automotive trade deficit set a new record of almost $14 billion last year and imports of finished vehicles grew for the fifth straight year, according to a Canadian Auto Workers analysis of figures released by Statistics Canada.
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Why banks won't pass on some rate cuts
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Ellen Roseman, Toronto Star
The World Economic Forum ranked Canada's banking system the healthiest in the world in 2008.
But when it comes to communicating with customers, Canadian banks get a failing grade.
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Harper confident GM won't quit Canada
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Canadian Press, Globe and Mail
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he's confident that General Motors will not pull out of Canada.
General Motors Corp., and Chrysler LLC are racing to complete restructuring plans to present to Washington today.
Mr. Harper says restructuring will be complex, but he's not worried about GM pulling out of this country if it files for bankruptcy protection.
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'Buy American' wording finalized
Friday, February 13, 2009
Mitch Potter and Les Whittington, Toronto Star
Canadian officials took cold comfort today as the U.S. government finalized the wording of a provocative Buy American initiative with no last-minute surprises that would awaken further trade-war fears.
Diplomatic sources in Washington early today confirmed that the nearly $800-billion stimulus package will proceed toward President Barack Obama's desk to be signed into law with a provision to steer the money toward American-made products—but not in any way that would violate international agreements.
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Goldcorp empoche un profit de 986 M$
jeudi 19 février 2009
La Presse
Goldcorp (T.G) a terminé son exercice 2008 en affichant la plus importante production aurifère trimestrielle de son histoire et une hausse de sept% de ses réserves, tout en engrangeant un bénéfice net du quatrième trimestre de 958,1 millions, principalement attribuable à un gain de 985,7 millions de dollars US lié au taux de change sur devises étrangères réalisé à la suite d'une réévaluation fiscale.
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Canadian News
Canadian warships take part in anti-piracy training
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Times & Transcript
Three Canadian warships steamed out of Halifax harbour yesterday for an intense, four-week training exercise in the North Atlantic.
The destroyer Athabaskan, as well as the patrol frigates Toronto and St. John's, sailed one by one through the harbour under bright blue skies.
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McGuinty urges leaders to focus on open border
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Rob Ferguson, Toronto Star
Preserving jobs by keeping the Canada-U.S. border open and secure should be at the top of the agenda as Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets today with President Barack Obama, says Premier Dalton McGuinty.
With the new Obama administration reviewing border security, McGuinty said it's time to get on the American radar screen to make sure efforts continue to speed up traffic along the world's longest—and busiest—undefended border.
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Canada’s love affair with Barack Obama
Friday, February 13, 2009
Charlie Gillis, Macleans
We love him, with an asterisk. The broad-band smile, the Lincolnesque bearing, the sense of the man as an avatar of multiculturalism—it all makes Barack Obama the perfect U.S. president in the eyes of Canadians. Heaven knows we’ve been waiting. When the motorcade rolls down Wellington Street next week, or pulls up to Rideau Hall, you can expect dewy-eyed kids to line barricades with paper flags, no matter how foul the Ottawa weather. Eighty-two per cent of us say we approve of Obama, the polls indicate, and the number requires a moment to digest. Never mind American politicians. Who’s the last American we can say that about?
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Al-Jazeera English seeks approval to broadcast
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Canadian Press, Toronto Star
The English-language arm of the controversial channel Al-Jazeera is seeking permission to broadcast in Canada, and if it wins approval the station would also open a Canadian news bureau, the managing director of Al-Jazeera English said today.
Tony Burman said the all-news channel, based in Doha, Qatar, hopes to be up and running here by the fall. He credited the channel's recent coverage of the Israeli-Gaza war, which included exclusive material from Gaza, with significantly raising its North American profile and fostering a demand for international news.
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CRTC looks to retool Canadian TV
Friday, February 13, 2009
Grant Robertson and James Bradshaw, Globe and Mail
In a move that would reshape prime time television, the federal broadcast regulator is considering placing a cap on how much the country's biggest TV networks can spend to acquire hit U.S. shows, such as Grey's Anatomy, The Office and House.
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Obama a salué la foule à Ottawa
jeudi 19 février 2009
Malorie Beauchemin, La Presse
Contrairement à ce que les services de sécurité avaient annoncé, le président américain, Barack Obama s'est arrêté ce matin pour saluer la foule à son arrivée sur la colline parlementaire.
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Opinion/Editorial
Paul Volcker: The banking world needs more Canadas
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Kelly McParland, National Post
Paul Volcker, the former U.S. Federal Reserve Board chairman who is now a member of President Barack Obama's advisory team on the economy, spoke in Toronto recently as part of the Grano Speakers series.
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Toward a big North American idea
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Globe and Mail
Understanding Canadian attitudes to the United States is one of the most complex and misunderstood areas of public opinion research. American attitudes to Canada are, on the other hand, fairly straightforward. Based on low levels of fluency and interest, Americans see us in either positive or benign terms. For many Americans we are seen as mostly like them, an acknowledgement they would consider complimentary. Although this loosely formed sense of sameness is in large measure accurate, many Canadians bridle at the thought of being seen as largely similar to Americans. Herein lays the essence of a national conundrum.
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Getting shovels into the ground and money into more brains
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Jeffrey Simpson, Globe and Mail
Some Canadian university researchers are up in arms, and their hero is coming to town.
U.S. President Barack Obama, arriving tomorrow in Ottawa, has signed a stimulus package that increases scientific research by $15-billion. In Canada, the Harper government just cut research funding in a budget that sprinkled money everywhere, including $2-billion for buildings on college and university campuses.
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