Canadian economy heavily depends on immigrants. Ottawa reveals plan to welcome 5 Lakh immigrants a year by 2025 to address a critical labour shortage across Canada.
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Advocate and introduce legislation promoting the free movement of citizens between the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand
We believe in the citizens of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom (the CANZUK countries) benefiting from a freedom of movement initiative, advancing the ever growing cultural, historical, economical and political connections that we already share through our Commonwealth ties.
Finally! Science proves that Canadians are way more polite than Americans.
by Sarah Kliff
It is a generally assumed principle, much like the sun rising in the east or bears hibernating in the winter, that Canadians are an unfailingly polite people. They don’t like to argue; they apologize for mistakes that others make.
We accept that Canadians are exceedingly polite — and now we have some data to prove it. Two doctoral students at McMaster University, a bit outside of Toronto, compared millions of geotagged tweets from the United States and Canada from 2015. They looked at the top 10 percent of words most likely to be used by Canadians and compared them with the top 10 percent most likely to be used by Americans.
They found that Canadians, true to form, are just way nicer on Twitter. This is a word cloud of each country’s most-used words — note that some on the American side had to be blurred out, as they were not appropriate for the university’s website:
Read more » Vox
See more » http://www.vox.com/2016/1/7/10729110/canadians-polite-twitter
Long Live Canada! – Canada named world’s most well-respected country
Canada named world’s most well-respected country by holidaymakers… but the UK and US fail to crack the top 10
Read more » DailyMail
Today, I wish Pakistan and India could be more like Canada
Dear Pakistan and India,
Today was a beautiful day in Canada. The sun was shining bright, and it was a warm day in the cold month of November. The temperature in my city was 20 degrees centigrade. Warmer still were the temperatures of hearts in Ottawa where our new handsome Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, whom you loved when he relished biryani in a mosque or performed bhangra with the desi community, was taking the oath of office along with 30 other ministers. Half of these ministers are women.
Read more » The Express Tribune
In 1972 Richard Nixon predicted Justin Trudeau would be PM
As calls of congratulations rolled in to Canada’s Prime Minister-designate from leaders around the world, it appears Nixon’s gracious comment was a prophecy.
By: Thestar.com and The Canadian Press
As Justin Trudeau took calls of congratulations from world leaders Tuesday, a story emerged of a prediction for his future made a few months after his birth, by a former U.S. president.
It has already been dubbed “the Richard Nixon prophecy.” At a state dinner in Ottawa in 1972, when Justin Trudeau was just a few months old, the then-U.S. president toasted the baby’s arrival, and joked that Pierre Trudeau’s son would himself become prime minister someday.
It’s an obvious thing to say about the offspring of a fellow world leader. But it is also now the case that Nixon, who made errors and misjudgments that finally brought down his presidency, called Justin Trudeau’s ascension correctly.
Read more » The Star
See more » http://www.thestar.com/news/federal-election/2015/10/21/in-1972-richard-nixon-predicted-justin-trudeau-would-be-pm.html
White House Says Obama Would Veto Keystone Pipeline Bill
President Obama will veto a bill authorizing the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline if it passes Congress, his spokesman said on Tuesday, setting up a clash between the White House and the new Republican-led Congress.
“I would not anticipate that the president would sign this legislation,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said during a briefing. He later clarified that the president would indeed veto the bill.
The Keystone bill was the first introduced in the Senate in the new Congress, and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the new majority leader, has vowed to make it the first measure sent to the president’s desk. The House is expected to pass the bill on Friday, while the Senate is expected to take up the measure next week.
It was widely expected that Mr. Obama would veto the measure. As written, the bill would remove the requirement that the president authorize the construction of the oil pipeline to Canada, and instead give that authority to Congress. Mr. Obama issued a veto threat to a similar bill passed by the House in 2013.
News courtesy » The New York Times »» FirstDraft
Learn more » http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/01/06/?entry=7990&action=click&contentCollection=Personal%20Tech®ion=Footer&module=TopNews&pgtype=article
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More » via Twitter » Sanders Statement on Tar Sands Pipeline Veto Threat
See more » http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-statement-on-tar-sands-pipeline-veto-threat
Canada condemns ‘sinister’ terrorist attack on Pakistani school
By Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press
The burned-out buildings dotted the landscape of Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled Swat Valley as veteran Canadian aid worker David Morley drove the bumpy roads with a local aid worker more than three years ago.
“This used to be a boys’ school, that used to be a girls’ school, that used to be a clinic,” Morley recalled his Pakistani colleague telling him.
“What’s he going to be thinking today?”
‘I think it is beyond our comprehension why somebody would target children’ -Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Morley, the head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Canada, did not mince words Tuesday as news emerged of the suicide attack that killed at least 141 people — the vast majority of them children — at a school in Peshawar, the Pakistani city abutting the Khyber Pass leading to Afghanistan.
“This is a crime against humanity and it’s against civilized norms because we want to nurture and care for our children,” Morley said in an interview.
“We want them to learn and educate, and this is heinous act against all of those norms.”
The attack sparked similar condemnation in Canada and abroad. Many viewed it as a new low in the behaviour of Taliban terrorists, who took responsibility for the attack.
Students ranging from Grade 1 through Grade 10 accounted for most of the dead. They were killed along with their seven attackers, all of whom were wearing explosive suicide vests. Another 121 students and three staff members were injured.
Harper offers condolences
Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered his condolences to the families of the victims. It’s hard enough to understand the motives that underlie a terrorist attack, he said, but even more so when the targets are innocent children.
Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird has condemned the attack on the school, which he called cowardly and sinister. (Hasan Jamali/Associated Press)
“It’s hard for any of us, as rational and compassionate people, to understand terrorism — to understand why people would want, in the name of some political cause, to simply terrorize, hurt kill innocent people, whole sections of society,” Harper told a news conference in Quebec City.
“But I think it is beyond our comprehension why somebody would target children. As a father, your heart just breaks when you see that kind of thing.”
Read more » CBC
Learn more » http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-condemns-sinister-terrorist-attack-on-pakistani-school-1.2874900
Peel schools lower flags in support of people killed at Pakistan school
TORONTO – Flags will fly at half-mast outside of Peel District School board schools in support of those killed at Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan. The flags outside of the schools will fly at half-mast until the end of day Friday, Dec. 19.
“We were all shocked and saddened by the tragic events that transpired at Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan, today. Our thoughts are with all those affected, and we acknowledge the bravery of everyone who reacted immediately to protect the children and staff,” a press release from the school board read. A spokesperson for the Pakistani military said Tuesday that 132 children were among the 141 people killed when the school was attacked by Taliban fighters.
Read more » Global News
Learn more » http://globalnews.ca/news/1729686/peel-schools-lower-flags-in-support-of-people-killed-at-pakistan-school/
Canadian dollar sinks
Weaker loonie won’t save Canada’s low-skilled manufacturing sector, top economist says
Canadian makers of goods such as dishwashers shouldn’t look to a depreciation of the nation’s currency to save their businesses, said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics.
Parts of Canada’s manufacturing industry will be wiped out by lower-cost Asian rivals, according to Weinberg, who said the country doesn’t have any competitive advantage when it comes to the business of bolting together cars and appliances from imported kits.
Read more » Financial Post
See more » http://business.financialpost.com/2014/10/02/weaker-loonie-wont-save-canadas-low-skilled-manufacturing-sector-top-economist-says/
30,000 Canadians are homeless every night
200,000 Canadians are homeless in any given year, national report says
By CBC News
Despite sporadic success in addressing homelessness in Canada, little progress has been made toward a permanent cross-country solution, says a national report into the extent of the problem. The report’s initial numbers tell a grim story. Among the report’s findings:
At least 200,000 Canadians experience homelessness in any given year.
At least 150,000 Canadians a year use a homeless shelter at some point.
At least 30,000 Canadians are homeless on any given night.
At least 50,000 Canadians are part of the “hidden homeless” on any given night — staying with friends or relatives on a temporary basis as they have nowhere else to go.
Read more » CBC
See more » http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/30-000-canadians-are-homeless-every-night-1.1413016
Soldier dies after Parliament Hill attack, gunman also shot dead
Ottawa shooting: Cpl. Nathan Cirillo dies of wounds, gunman also shot dead
Downtown Ottawa remains in lockdown as police conduct searches around parliamentary precinct
Parliament Hill came under attack today after a man with a rifle shot and fatally wounded a soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial in downtown Ottawa, before seizing a car and driving to the doors of Parliament Hill’s Centre Block nearby.
The slain soldier is Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, 24, a reservist from Hamilton.
Moments later, MPs and other witnesses reported 30 to 50 shots fired inside the main Parliament building.
Read more » CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-shooting-cpl-nathan-cirillo-dies-of-wounds-gunman-also-shot-dead-1.2808710
Anger grows as wages soar for health-care CEOs while services cut for patients.
Kathleen Wynne must clean up home-care mess: Hepburn
Workers on the front lines of health care are angry that executive salaries are soaring while vital health services are silently slashed.
By: Bob Hepburn
She sits in her car and cries after telling a war veteran suffering from Parkinson’s disease that she can’t approve visits by a nurse to his home to give him the insulin he needs.
Read more » The Star
Sneak peak at Russia’s ‘under renovation’ Arctic base
Kotelny Island is a nondescript piece of frigid wasteland of no particular note. Except hosting a military base-in-the-making, the first of many from which Russia plans to project its military might to and across the Arctic. RT visited with the Navy.
The island is the largest in the Novosibirsk Archipelago, located in the Laptev Sea off the eastern Siberian coast. Back in the soviet days the military deployed an observation post and a radar station on the Kotelny Island, but with the fall of the country all the troops were withdrawn, leaving behind only a civilian meteorological station.
But now, after decades of desolation, the former military base is being rebuilt. Last year sailors and engineers of the Russian Northern Fleet began construction works, cleaning up rusty barrels and broken vehicles abandoned on the island and constructing a landing strip so that supplies could be airlifted rather than air-dropped.
Read more » RT
http://rt.com/news/188712-arctic-russia-military-base/
Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper blames Hamas for Palestinian casualties after Israeli shells hit UN shelter in Gaza
By Associated Press and Canadian Press
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is reiterating his government’s hard line against Hamas, saying it is solely responsible for the death and destruction in Gaza.
Harper said that while no one likes to see the suffering and loss that is occurring in the Middle East, Hamas is to blame. The prime minister said Hamas started the war because the terrorist organization wants to destroy the state of Israel.
PM Stephen Harper urges world leaders to side with Israel
“The indiscriminate rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel are terrorist acts, for which there is no justification,” Harper said in a statement issued Sunday.
OTTAWA—Terrorists are deliberately placing people in the path of an Israeli offensive aimed at stopping rocket attacks from Gaza, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Harper says there is evidence that Hamas, listed by Canada as a terrorist organization, is using human shields in its attempts to stave off the Israeli offensive.
Read more » The Star
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/07/13/pm_stephen_harper_urges_world_leaders_to_side_with_israel.html
Watch the interview of Omar Latif, the co-ordinator of the Committee of Progressive Pakistani-Canadians
Courtesy: Rawal Tv » 5th Dimension, Ep 54
Three police officers shot dead in Canada – BBC
Canada shooting: Manhunt as police officers killed in Moncton
Constable Damien Theriault: “People should stay inside and lock their doors”. A manhunt is under way in the Canadian city of Moncton after three police officers were shot dead and two hurt.
Police said they were searching for Justin Bourque, 24, who was “armed and dangerous”, and tweeted a picture of a suspect with weapons. Officials have warned people to stay inside and lock their doors.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) told the BBC the officers were shot responding to reports of an armed man wearing camouflage clothing.
Read more » BBC
http://www.bbc.com/news/27709330
Canada surprises with April jobs loss: Canada’s economy lost 28,900 jobs
Canada surprises with April jobs loss; trails U.S. employment pace
By Louise Egan
OTTAWA, May 9 (Reuters) – Canada’s economy lost 28,900 jobs in April, Statistics Canada said on Friday in a report that revealed across-the-board weakness in a labor market that is stalled and has been adding jobs at a more sluggish pace than in the United States.
The report suggests economic growth has not been gathering the speed that was expected in the second quarter and that business confidence is still shaky.
Read more » Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/09/canada-economy-jobs-idUSL2N0NU26Y20140509?feedType=RSS&virtualBrandChannel=11563
Income Inequality in Canada
Canada gets a “C” grade and ranks 12th out of 17 peer countries.
Income inequality in Canada has increased over the past 20 years.
Since 1990, the richest group of Canadians has increased its share of total national income, while the poorest and middle-income groups has lost share.
Read more » http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/society/income-inequality.aspx
CANADA – Nurses’ strike creates confusion for Halifax-area patients
By CBC
Patients scheduled for surgery in the Capital District Health Authority are scrambling to learn if their procedures will go ahead after thousands of nurses started an illegal strike Tuesday morning.
Read more » CBC
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nurses-strike-creates-confusion-for-halifax-area-patients-1.2593847
Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois says sovereign Quebec would keep the loonie
Marois reiterates the separatist party’s long-held position that Quebec would keep using the Canadian currency — and seek a seat on the Bank of Canada.
QUEBEC—An independent Quebec would keep using the Canadian dollar and ask for a seat at the Bank of Canada, Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois said Wednesday.
Marois told reporters at a campaign stop that Canada would benefit from having a sovereign Quebec maintain its ties to the loonie and the central bank.
Read more » Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/03/12/parti_qubcois_leader_pauline_marois_says_sovereign_quebec_would_keep_the_loonie.html
Kenney says Canada can learn from Germany on skills training
By Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA – Canadians have much to learn from Germany’s famed apprenticeship system despite doubts it could succeed in Canada, Jason Kenney said as he wrapped up a fact-finding mission into how the European powerhouse streams its youth into skilled trades.
“Sure, we can’t pick up the German system and transplant it to Canada — that would be ridiculous,” the employment minister said in a telephone interview, adding it was a “lazy point of view” to be dismissive of the long-established German partnership among government, schools and business.
“Closer collaboration between the education system and employers is so important. Giving kids relevant information about what kind of education is likely to lead to promising careers and remuneration — these things don’t have to be unique to Germany.”
Kenney said Ottawa and provincial governments can also look at “ways of massively expanding paid co-op opportunities for students during post-secondary education” and consider “reinventing” vocational high schools.
The minister has been leading a 30-member delegation of Canadian politicians from five provinces, along with business and labour union representatives, on a trip to Germany and Great Britain to learn about their apprenticeship programs.
Read more » Yahoo News
http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/kenney-points-study-u-democrat-income-splitting-promise-180242293.html
CANADA – Ontario faces “chronic” youth unemployment
High levels of unemployment among province’s youth more than just by-product of economic cycle, report says
By: Peter Lozinski
Ontario is suffering from “chronic” youth unemployment, according to a new report released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives on Friday.
The rate of unemployment for Ontarians between the ages of 15-24 is hovering between 16 and 17 per cent, double that of the normal provincial rate and higher than the national youth unemployment rate of 13.5-14.5 per cent.
“Ontario is competing with the Maritime provinces for being the toughest place in Canada for youth to land a job,” the report says
Read more » http://o.canada.com/business/ontario-facing-chronic-youth-unemployment/
Canada lifts all restrictions on prostitution
Landmark Supreme Court ruling says bans on solicitation and brothels violated sex workers’ right to safety.
Canada’s top court has overturned all restrictions on prostitution, declaring that existing laws violated sex workers’ right to safety.
The Supreme Court of Canada struck down bans on brothels, street solicitation, and living on the earnings of prostitution in a unanimous 9-0 decision on Friday, and gave the Canadian government one year to re-write the country’s prostitution laws.
Read more » Aljazeera
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/12/canada-lifts-all-restrictions-prostitution-2013122015318412319.html
United States and Canada should unite ASAP – Diane Francis
Merger of the Century by Diane Francis: Review
The argument for Canada and the U.S. to unite
Diane Francis’s Merger of the Century, HarperCollins, 403 pages, $32.99.
By: Don Tapscott
If the creation of the European Union is evidence, trade agreements, common markets and economic unions can lead to political unions. So it’s not so preposterous that 20 years after the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement, someone has finally crafted a serious proposal for the political integration of Canada and the United States.
Best-selling author, writer and pundit (and dual citizen of both countries) Diane Francis argues that the United States and Canada should unite ASAP. She sets out the economic benefits of joining forces, how the deal could be fairly structured, and the political hurdles to overcome.
Continue reading United States and Canada should unite ASAP – Diane Francis
Pakistani film Zinda Bhaag wins four awards in Toronto festival
KARACHI : Pakistani film Zinda Bhaag has won four major awards at the the Mosaic 2013 (MISSAF) festival in Toronto.
The festival is Canada’s largest South Asian event and includes a music and film festival featuring some of the top names from the region. Among the contenders this year were Meera Nair’s adaptation of Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist.
Zinda Bhaag, produced by Mazhar Zaidi and written and directed by Meenu Gaur and Farjad Nabi, won the prestigious best film award. Amna Ilyas bagged the best actress award and veteran Naghma Begum the best supporting actress for their roles in the film, that also features the Indian icon Nasiruddin Shah. Sahir Ali Bagga won the award for the best music/ soundtrack for his work.
Read more » The News
Three officials of Pakistan’s Toronto consulate fired
TORONTO: At least three functionaries, stationed at Pakistan’s Consulate General in Toronto, Canada, have been relieved from their duties with immediate effect, Geo News reported.
A notification to this consequence was issued by National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) headquarters Islamabad on Tuesday night.
The fired officials namely Israr Hussain, Samiuddin, and Aziz Khalid Baig were working in the NADRA section of the Consulate. They were appointed there three years back during the tenure of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led coalition government.
It must be noted that Israr Hussain and Samiuddin are the close relatives of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain, whereas Aziz Khalid Baig happens to be a kin of former Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Brigadier (Retd) Imtiaz Ahmed.
Courtesy: The News
http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-110696-Three-officials-of-Pakistans-Toronto-consulate-fired
Canada – Train derails in bridge collapse over Calgary’s Bow River
Train derails on bridge over Calgary’s Bow River
By CBC News
Train could be carrying diesel fuel, official says, with bridge ‘continuing to drop’
A train carrying what emergency officials say could be diesel fuel has derailed on Calgary’s Bonnybrook Bridge over the Bow River.
“The bridge is continuing to drop as we speak,” said Bruce Burrell, Calgary Emergency Management Agency director, adding that it has dropped at least two feet since emergency crews came on scene.
Burrell said that the contents of the train cars could be diesel fuel, or something similar to it.
Some nearby areas have been evacuated.
“Being a flammable product, we wanted to make sure we had people out of the area in case something happened,” said Calgary’s deputy fire chief Cam Uzeloc.
Read more » CBC
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/06/27/calgary-flood-train-derailment-bonnybrook-bridge.html
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Train derails in bridge collapse near Sudbury, Ont.
CP says no risk to public after several cars topple into Wahnapitae River
Canadian Pacific says there is no indication that a freight train derailment east of Sudbury on Sunday poses a danger to the public or the environment.
CP spokesman Ed Greenberg says one of the rail cars derailed and as a result struck a trestle bridge near the community of Wanup.
Images of the scene showed the bridge collapsed and a number of cars carrying containers fell into the Wahnapitae River.
Read more » CBC
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/06/02/ontario-sudbury-train-derailment-wanup.html
Canada drops in worldwide justice index
Access to justice is discriminating against poor and immigrant populations, says a new report by the World Justice Project.
By: Jeff Green, Staff Reporter
A new report from suggests immigrant and poor populations are being discriminated against in Canada because of a limited access to justice. Canada dropped since last year in six of the eight “Rule of Law” factors listed in the report from the World Justice Project.
The report ranked Canada among 97 countries worldwide in categories including government power, corruption, order, fundamental rights, open government, enforcement, and civil and criminal justice.
Some 97,000 people were polled worldwide, in addition to 2,500 experts in 97 countries to compile the report.
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