Special Features |
International News |
Business and Trade |
Canadian News |
Opinion/Editorial
In this issue:
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News from Connect2Canada
New citizenship rules
The Connect2Canada Team
A new law amending the Citizenship Act will come into effect on April 17, 2009. The new law will give Canadian citizenship to certain people who lost it and to others who will be recognized as citizens for the first time. Some people will not become citizens under the new law. Please visit the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website for full details.
C2C Podcast: Dr. Joseph MacInnis
The Connect2Canada Team
Native to Canada, Dr. Joe MacInnis is a physician, scientist, deep-sea explorer, and motivational speaker. He has also worked extensively in the United States. Listen as he discusses his famous Titanic expedition, the impact of global warming on the Arctic, and his experiences of working together with people from different nations.
Special Features
Canada's Economic Action Plan
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Government of Canada
Today the Harper Government released its first quarterly report on the progress of Canada’s Economic Action Plan – the Government’s broad and aggressive response to the global recession.
Through Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the Government is acting to counter the effects of the global recession at home, while working with our international partners towards a quick return to global economic growth and long-term prosperity.
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IMF Supports Stimulus Measures in Canada's Economic Action Plan
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Finance Canada
The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, today welcomed an International Monetary Fund (IMF) statement of support for the fiscal stimulus in Canada's Economic Action Plan, which it called "large, timely and well-targeted." Noting the stimulus package is well above the Fund's benchmark of 2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), the IMF statement said the immediate focus should be to implement the budget to mobilize spending.
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Minister Cannon Outlines Canada’s Arctic Foreign Policy
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, will outline Canada’s Arctic foreign policy today, as well as the leadership role the country is playing on northern issues, to an audience in Whitehorse, Yukon. The audience will include members of Canada’s Arctic Council Advisory Committee.
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International News
Les visites de ministres à Washington se multiplient
Dimanche 8 mars 2009
Lee-Anne Goodman, La Presse
Les visites à Washington de ministres du gouvernement canadien se multiplient depuis l'arrivée au pouvoir du président américain Barack Obama, donnant ainsi l'impression à la population canadienne que la plus grande puissance mondiale est à l'écoute du Canada.
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Ottawa hails Obama's call for Afghan talks
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Mike Blanchfield, National Post
Barack Obama's call to negotiate with less hardened Taliban was welcomed in Canada yesterday, even though what the U. S. President said represented no change in his country's policies.
However, Mr. Obama's comments to The New York Times on Sunday were the first time an occupant of the White House has acknowledged Afghanistan's government must sit down at a negotiating table with at least some of its enemies if it is to secure peace.
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Canada to lobby for bigger global role
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Alia McMullen, National Post
Canada will continue to push for a greater international role in the assessment of the global financial market and the liberalization of trade barriers when it heads to the Group of 20 meeting in the United Kingdom this weekend, a senior Finance official said yesterday.
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Helicopter assault 'milestone for troops'
Monday, March 09, 2009
Archie McLean, National Post
Canadian soldiers soared into western Zhari District on Saturday to disrupt suspected Taliban compounds, the first air-assault mission done with Canadian helicopters in the country's military history.
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Soldiers may get one-year break in 2011: Forces
Monday, March 09, 2009
Mike Blanchfield, National Post
Starting in the summer of 2011, Canada's soldiers may have to take an operational pause of at least one year, the Canadian army chief said Monday.
Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, chief of the land staff, cited shifting demographics, attrition and competition from civilian industry that are draining away a talented pool of soldiers. Lt.-Gen. Leslie also said damaged equipment will need to be refurbished from the rigours of combat in Afghanistan.
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Business and Trade
Canada among the top innovators
Monday, March 09, 2009
Richard Blackwell, Globe and Mail
Canada ranks 14th in a field of 110 countries when it comes to innovation in the manufacturing sector, a new report says.
The study, compiled by international consulting firm Boston Consulting Group, judged countries partly based on government support for innovation – through tax and education policies, and the quality of infrastructure.
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Tories encouraging foreign investment
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Andrew Mayeda, Windsor Star
The Harper government is proposing to relax its oversight of foreign takeovers, even as it cranks up the political pressure on foreign companies that acquire Canadian firms to ensure such deals benefit Canada.
Under amendments to the Investment Canada Act contained in the budget bill, the Conservatives have proposed raising the threshold under which foreign takeovers by companies from WTO-member countries come under review to $1 billion in enterprise value.
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Big-league players step up for oil sands
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Claudia Cattaneo, National Post
As Alberta's oil sands industry struggles with depressed oil prices and opposition from the environmental movement, a new front is emerging to support it—in Washington.
From the recently formed Center for North American Energy Security (CNAES), headed by former Republican Congressman Tom Corcoran, to the American Petroleum Institute (API), some of the world's major oil companies and some big guns in Washington's lobby community, including former U. S. ambassadors to Canada such as Gordon Giffin, are taking up the oil sands cause.
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CAW agrees to pay freeze
Monday, March 09, 2009
Tony Van Alphen, Toronto Star
Teetering General Motors is further away from bankruptcy today and closer to securing more than $6 billion in life-saving government aid after reaching a tentative deal with its union to slash labour costs.
GM of Canada Ltd. and the Canadian Auto Workers announced yesterday they had negotiated significant concessions affecting employees and retirees that will freeze their wages and pensions, increase personal expenses for health care benefits, reduce employee holidays and eliminate annual bonuses.
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CBS et NBC achètent des émissions canadiennes pour économiser
Jeudi 10 mars 2009
La Presse
CBS Corp. et NBC, qui cherchent à réduire les coûts de leur programmation aux heures de grande écoute au moment où les revenus de publicité baissent, se tournent vers les producteurs canadiens pour obtenir de nouvelles émissions de télé.
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Canada, EU talk trade
Friday, March 06, 2009
Alia McMullen, National Post
Canada and the European Union have agreed to begin free-trade negotiations that, if successful, could boost Canada's economy by about $12-billion, the federal government said yesterday.
After months of "scoping exercises," the two parties have come to an agreement on the areas they would like to negotiate, including trade in goods, services and investment, and have now adjourned to prepare their proposals to take to the negotiating table.
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Canadian News
Optimistic Harper sees quick recovery
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Kenyon Wallace, Les Whittington and Bruce Campion-Smith, Toronto Star
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's political opponents accused him of ignoring reality after he visited Brampton to deliver an upbeat economic message at a time of mounting job losses, tumbling stock markets and a weak Canadian dollar.
Striking a positive tone in his first major address since the economic crisis hit, Harper said Canada is well-positioned to "catch the wave" of economic recovery.
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Obama’s stem cell decision raises Canadian cheers—and brain drain worries
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Canadian Press, Red Deer Advocate
U.S. President Barack Obama’s move Monday to loosen strictures on American stem cell research provoked a surge of excitement, a dash of envy and some competitive concern from Canada’s world-class stem cell scientists.
Leaders in the stem cell research community found themselves battling conflicting emotions—joy that American colleagues were shaking off the yoke of religious ideology and apprehension that with new political support and infusions of stimulus cash, American research institutions may soon siphon off some of Canada’s best talent.
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Brace for sharp slump, IMF warns Canada
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Heather Scoffield, Globe and Mail
Canada's economy will likely contract rapidly in the next few months, putting pressure on bank credit, especially in the West, the International Monetary Fund warns in its latest report card on Canada.
In a thorough assessment of how the country's policy makers and financial institutions are handling the global financial crisis, the IMF gives the federal government and the Bank of Canada glowing reviews.
But it also warns of dangers ahead, and tells policy makers not to rest on their laurels.
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Universities make push to recruit the best students
Friday, March 06, 2009
Elizabeth Church, Globe and Mail
One university has hired U.S. experts to help track them down. Another has chartered buses to bring them in from nearby provinces. Still another is sending envoys to a Toronto mall during March break to try and catch their attention.
The target? Undergraduates.
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Maladjusting with Francophone band Malajube
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Ben Rayner, Toronto Star
We Canadians have a habit of dismissing our neighbours to the south as insular sorts who don't give a toss about our culture and, as Scott Thompson once memorably put it on The Kids in the Hall, "show up at the border with skis in July."
By this rationale, francophone pop from Quebec's chances of finding an audience in the States should be about on par with the survival rate of snowballs in Hell. But after their ears were alerted by the Arcade Fire to the many wonders within the Montreal music scene, Americans took to Malajube's 2006 sophomore album, Trompe L'Oeil, in large enough numbers to establish the quartet as an in-demand international touring act that could play packed houses night by night in unlikely places like Cleveland, Omaha and Phoenix. Thanks to blog-stoked word of mouth, the U.K. wasn't far behind.
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Le Twitter est encore peu populaire au Canada
Dimanche 8 mars 2009
Hugo De Grandpré, La Presse
La vague Twitter qui frappe le Congrès américain s'installe peu à peu dans les moeurs politiques canadiennes - avec un décalage horaire.
L'outil de socialisation sur l'internet, semblable à Facebook, fait de plus en plus parler de lui dans les médias. Il y a quelques semaines, le magazine The Economist y a consacré un article intitulé «Un engouement internet arrive au Congrès».
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Canadian-born CNN anchor Roberts inducted into broadcasting hall of fame
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Nick Patch, Winnipeg Free Press
Canadian-born CNN anchor John Roberts is used to earning accolades.
He's been recognized with three Emmy Awards, a National Headliner Award and an Edward R. Murrow award. And, on Thursday, he'll be inducted into the broadcast industry hall of fame at Canadian Music Week.
But he says being named the worst correspondent of the first 100 days of George W. Bush's presidency by a conservative think-tank was one of his favourite kudos.
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Opinion/Editorial
Build a world energy market
Friday, March 06, 2009
Pierre Alvarez, Michael Cleland and Roger Gibbins, Telegraph-Journal
Canada's federal government has stated clearly that developing a Canada/U.S. partnership on energy and the environment is a priority. This idea finds support across the spectrum of opinion in Canada, creating common ground between environmental and energy interests. But what's in it for the new U.S. administration?
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Le spectre du chômage
Dimanche 8 mars 2009
André Pratte, La Presse
Selon les données publiées vendredi, 651 000 personnes ont perdu leur emploi aux États-Unis en février. Depuis le début de la récession chez nos voisins du sud, 4,4 millions d'Américains ont perdu leur travail et le taux de chômage a atteint son niveau le plus élevé (8,1%) depuis 1983.
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