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International News |
Business and Trade |
Canadian News |
Opinion/Editorial
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News from Connect2Canada
Record Number of Canadian Musical Acts at SXSW 2009
The Connect2Canada Team
Over 125 Canadian acts have headed south to Austin, TX for the 2009 SouthBySouthwest Music Conference one of the most significant music industry events in North America. On March 18th the Canadian Blast BBQ kicked off the entire conference showcasing top musicians from Canada. This is the first year that Canada is taking over a live music venue on Austin’s famous 6th Street. Named Canada House, this venue features parties hosted by record labels, promoters and music industry associations showcasing four straight days of music of every style by artists from across Canada.
To check out all that is happening “Canadian” in Austin, follow the Canadian Blast on Twitter and for a full list of artists visit www.canadianblast.com. To learn about upcoming Canadian events in your area, check out the C2C National Events Calendar.
Science and Technology Update
The Connect2Canada Team
Our March Science and Technology Update is now online! Highlights from this issue include: The discovery of fossilized bones left behind by the world’s largest snake; a solution for patients with chronic inflammatory diseases that could improve their quality of life; and the invention of a quasi-robotic wheelchair for seniors who suffer from cognitive impairment. 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
Ministers Cannon and Day Conclude Successful Visit to Afghanistan and Announce Additional Support for Rule of Law
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Honourable Stockwell Day, Minister of International Trade and Chair of the Cabinet Committee on Afghanistan, today concluded a three-day visit to Afghanistan during which they announced additional support from Canada to help strengthen the rule of law in that country. Strengthening the rule of law is one of Canada’s six priorities in Afghanistan.
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Minister Van Loan to discuss security issues during visit to Washington, D.C.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Public Safety Canada
The Honourable Peter Van Loan, Minister of Public Safety, today highlighted key objectives for his meetings with members of the U.S. administration and Congress.
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PM participates in ceremony recognizing Canada's top scientists and researchers
Monday, March 16, 2009
Office of the Prime Minister
Prime Minister Stephen Harper today congratulated Canada’s top scientists, researchers and engineers for their outstanding work. The Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal and the Steacie Memorial Fellowships are funded by the Harper Government through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
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International News
Law and order top agenda for Tory ministers in Afghanistan
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Matthew Fisher, Ottawa Citizen
Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon and International Trade Minister Stockwell Day came face-to-face with a convicted terrorist at the notorious Sarpoza prison during a three-day visit to Afghanistan that ended Tuesday.
A large man with a skull cap and a huge jet-black beard told the ministers in a conversation through metal bars in the medieval-like wing where terrorists were held that he had been convicted of having "links to insurgents" and had recently lost a bid to overturn his five-year sentence on appeal.
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Québec lance le permis de conduire à puce
Mardi 17 mars 2009
Catherine Handfield, La Presse
Les conducteurs québécois peuvent se procurer depuis hier le «permis de conduire Plus», une pièce d'identité qui leur permettra de traverser la frontière américaine à compter du 1er juin. Cette solution de rechange au passeport canadien préoccupe un chercheur, qui craint une atteinte à la vie privée.
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No need for border worries: Van Loan
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Sheldon Alberts, Ottawa Citizen
Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan on Monday said he's convinced early worries that the new Obama administration might impose new security measures at the Canada–U.S. border have been overblown.
At the start of a three-day visit to Washington, Van Loan said he's satisfied that a U.S. review of its northern border—ordered in January by Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security secretary—was simply a matter-of-course exercise by the department's new head to become familiar with her portfolio.
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Canada expects better border relations
Monday, March 16, 2009
Paul Koring, Globe and Mail
Barack Obama's arrival in the White House, coupled with harsh economic realities, may herald a new era in better Canada-U.S. co-operation on the border, security and the need for unhindered trade flows, Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan said today.
“I sense a real opportunity to strengthen our relationship” with the arrival of the Obama administration, he said in an interview at the start of the three-day visit to Washington that will include sessions with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder.
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Canada to begin flying to Arctic to gather data on North Pole ownership
Monday, March 16, 2009
The Canadian Press, Globe and Mail
Forget about the Russian submarine—Canadian researchers are taking to the High Arctic skies to begin gathering definitive data on who owns the North Pole.
A specially equipped DC-3 will begin flying from airstrips on Ellesmere Island and Greenland all the way up to the top of the world this weekend to start mapping the undersea ridges that will determine which Arctic nation controls that part of the sea bed.
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Canadian, Danish scientists set to map Arctic Ocean
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Randy Boswell, Ottawa Citizen
Two years after a Russian submarine created an international uproar by planting a flag on the North Pole sea floor, Canada and Denmark are set to launch a joint aerial mapping mission over the Arctic Ocean that could help extend the territorial reach of the two countries to the Pole—or beyond.
Canadian and Danish scientists have already begun assembling at an ice camp on Ward Hunt Island, Canada's northernmost piece of land, for this weekend's launch of the mission.
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Business and Trade
Tax treaty changes good for those cross-border deals
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Julius Melnitzer, National Post
The fact that the 2007 protocol to the Canada-U. S. tax treaty came into force in late December, 2008, may mean little to most Canadians. But for just about anyone involved in cross-border commercial transactions—Canada and the United States do about $600-billion in trade annually—it means a great deal.
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Ritz promises to monitor COOL
Monday, March 16, 2009
Angela Hall, Star Phoenix
Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says he'll closely monitor the impact of a controversial U.S. meat labelling program that kicks in today.
"I made it clear our government will continue to work very closely with Canadian livestock producers to make sure they are treated fairly under our standing trade agreements," Ritz said from Washington, following his first face-to-face meeting with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
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Sursaut immobilier aux États-Unis
Mercredi 18 mars 2009
Maxime Bergeron, La Presse
Les exportateurs québécois de bois-d'oeuvre et de matériaux de construction ne devraient pas trop s'emballer devant le rebond inattendu de 22% des mises en chantier observé le mois dernier aux États-Unis.
«Il ne faut pas sabler le champagne, loin de là», avertit Francis Généreux, économiste principal au Mouvement Desjardins, en entrevue à La Presse Affaires.
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Canada has brief moment in the sun
Friday, March 13, 2009
Barbara Shecter, National Post
Canada has more foreign assets than liabilities for the first time since Statistics Canada began keeping records more than 80 years ago, but blink and you may miss the country's brief moment in the sun.
The soaring commodity prices that helped place it among an elite group of net-creditor nations such as Japan and Germany and such emerging markets as China in the fourth quarter have come screeching back to earth, meaning Canada isn't being paid as much as it was for its exports.
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Flaherty praises leaders' handling of crisis
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Canwest News Service, Leader-Post
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty emerged from a meeting of his major international counterparts saying there is a clear commitment to end the global economic crisis and to deal with toxic assets held by banks around the world.
Flaherty particularly praised the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, saying it has shown a willingness to deal with problems in the country's financial system.
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Economy shows positive signs
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Times & Transcript
The bad news continued to mount yesterday with new reports showing the average Canadian was about $14,000 poorer at the end of 2008 while business activity plunged to a new low as the recession entered its darkest period so far.
Statistics Canada said household wealth fell a massive $252 billion—or 4.4 per cent—at the end of 2008. On a per capital basis, the average individual worth fell to $165,300 from $179,300 in the second quarter.
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Banks begin to decline federal aid in first sign of recovery
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Tara Perkins, Globe and Mail
Canadian banks are turning down some of the funding that the government is making available to them, a sign that they are recuperating from the financial crisis.
The banks have stopped selling the government the full amount of mortgages they could under Ottawa's $125-billion mortgage purchase program, the centrepiece of the federal government's plan to help the industry.
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Canadian News
Who is the next great Prime Minister?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Alex Strachan, Ottawa Citizen
Canada's Next Great Prime Minister is a political parlour game with a fundamental flaw: the best example of leadership is leadership by example. The country, and the world, has changed a lot since Canada's Next Great Prime Minister last aired. The economy is troubled, and the war in Afghanistan has taken on a more urgent, poignant meaning. It's doubtful that either would have topped a poll of national concerns as recently as a year ago, when health care, climate change and the environment were the burning issues of the day.
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'Risk-takers' will fix economy, Bush says in Calgary
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Dawn Walton, Globe and Mail
Calling it his "maiden voyage" into the post-presidential world, George W. Bush fittingly chose the comfy embrace of conservative Calgary yesterday, a city built on the same beef and oil foundation as his native Texas, for his first public address since leaving the White House.
The 43rd president of the United States was warmly received by more than 1,500 invited guests as he shared his hope that the free markets will salvage the economy, defended the war in Iraq, thanked Canada for being his country's "major supplier" of energy, and took time to wish his successor, Barack Obama, good luck.
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La récession décélérera avec le printemps
Vendredi 13 mars 2009
Rudy Le Cours, La Presse
L'adage veut que l'optimiste voie le verre à moitié plein, mais le pessimiste, à moitié vide.
C'est désormais faux, en prévision économique du moins. L'optimiste croit que la récession sera terminée avec le retour des beaux jours, alors que le pessimiste la voit s'étirer jusqu'au rougeoiement des érables, tant aux États-Unis qu'au Canada.
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Western premiers unite to combat violence
Friday, March 13, 2009
Justine Hunter, Globe and Mail
A new political bloc representing Canada's three westernmost provinces will meet today to press Ottawa for help to combat escalating gang violence.
Saskatchewan will be the newest partner at a joint cabinet meeting in Vancouver at which the common front on crime will be one half of an agenda that also aims to reposition the West in Canada's new economic reality.
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Doing it like the Irish
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Carolyn McTighe, Edmonton Sun
There is a saying that everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day, and that may very well be true, but if you're looking to celebrate the holiday like they do in Ireland, then there are a few things you need to know.
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Florida gives Ottawa its cool
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Ken Gray, Ottawa Citizen
Many people outside of Ottawa still cling to the cliché of the national capital being boring and the home of the dull, automaton, nine-to-five public servant.
The reality has certainly changed. Maybe soon the perception. The current flavour of the month in the intellectual world, Richard Florida, a disciple of the great urban critic Jane Jacobs, has highly complimentary things to say about Ottawa in the new Canadian edition of his latest tome, Who's Your City?.
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Meet the man who got it done
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Rob Mickleburgh, Globe and Mail
Dan Doyle was worried. For the first time since signing on as boss of the 2010 Winter Olympics' critical construction program, he was tossing and turning at night.
The soil foundation for the Games' signature venue, the spectacular speed-skating oval on the silty Fraser River delta in Richmond, B.C., had turned out far more challenging than anyone expected.
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Opinion/Editorial
Staking our Arctic claim
Friday, March 13, 2009
Toronto Star
Gunboats alone can't guarantee Canada's claim to the Arctic. While we should aim to project a credible military presence in the Far North, we must also play a more robust role in circumpolar diplomacy, science, geological mapping and development.
That was the gist of a forward-looking speech by Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon this week that stressed Canada's wider interest in leading a "collaborative process" with countries such as the United States and Russia to manage polar disputes as the resource-rich region becomes more accessible.
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EU trade
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Windsor Star
Without a great deal of fanfare, Canada and the European Union have agreed to begin formal free trade negotiations. A deal would not only boost bilateral trade, but could also provide significant opportunities for struggling manufacturing centres like Windsor.
The EU is Canada's second-largest trading partner—behind the U.S.—with $90 billion in the two-way trade of merchandise. A joint Canada-EU impact study has estimated a free trade pact would increase bilateral trade by more than 20 per cent, or about $12 billion in terms of Canadian output in just a few years. It's estimated a billion dollars of trade creates about 10,000 new jobs.
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