The recent use of Canadian documents by Russian spies is just one more example of the use of Canadian identies by other governments and their emmisaries. Eleven people are now in custody facing what Moscow calls “baseless” American charges. The affidavit from an FBI officer charges that four of the 11 claim Canadian birth or citizenship, including one who allegedly took the identity of a Montreal infant who died in 1963. All are charged with spying, for a decade or longer, on the U.S. for Russia’s foreign intelligence agency while posing as average suburban couples in New York, New Jersey, Seattle and Virginia. The incident confirms how easy it can be to claim to be Canadian if you want to slip under the radar. It’s also a tactic that’s been used in the past by other countries. Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, tried to pass off two of its spies as Canadian tourists in 1997 while on a mission to kill a Hamas official in revenge for a suicide bombing in Israel. Another known incident occurred in 1973, when Mossad agents with Canadian papers killed a man in Lillehammer, Norway who they mistakenly believed was involved in the attack on the Israeli Olympic team at the 1972 Games in Munich.
Opposition party MPs called for the government to try to dissuade countries that maintain stables of overseas spies from using posing as Canadians, experts say there’s little chance of that happening. Tracing every last lost or stolen passport, birth certificate and driver’s license would require a massive bureaucratic effort.While it only becomes front page news every 20 years or more, the incidents are sufficient to make me wonder how often they have been used and never detected.
I cannot help but wonder why our official documentation like passports cannot be made so that they are 1) more difficult to duplicate and 2) more difficult to get with a false identity. Surely our country owes it to ourselves to ensure that those people who claim Canadian citizenship are actually Canadian. These people are choosing Canadian documentation for a reason. Is it that the documents are easy to obtain or that our world wide reputation makes the spy's assumed identity more believable and less threatening? One way or the other, this has to be stopped to preserve the Canadian reputation around the world.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
This is MY Country
I wish I were the second young man's mother! I am very proud of him and the way he represents us!
How to celebrate Canada Day
1. Wear something red and or white
2. Have maple syrup with pancakes for breakfast
3. Kiss a Canadian or two
4. Eat wild blueberries
5. Have a beaver tail
6. Try to make a moose call (always easily confused with a reaction to drinking too much)
7. Write a letter to a Veteran’s home and say thanks
8. Say ‘Welcome’ to an immigrant
9. Share a 2 4 with your friends
10. Listen to/buy music by a Canadian musician (you have plenty to choose from! - Check Wikipedia under Bands from Canada- the list is endless!)
11. Add any other that feel great and celebrate your Canadian identity!
Happy Canada Day, Neighbour!
2. Have maple syrup with pancakes for breakfast
3. Kiss a Canadian or two
4. Eat wild blueberries
5. Have a beaver tail
6. Try to make a moose call (always easily confused with a reaction to drinking too much)
7. Write a letter to a Veteran’s home and say thanks
8. Say ‘Welcome’ to an immigrant
9. Share a 2 4 with your friends
10. Listen to/buy music by a Canadian musician (you have plenty to choose from! - Check Wikipedia under Bands from Canada- the list is endless!)
11. Add any other that feel great and celebrate your Canadian identity!
Happy Canada Day, Neighbour!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
High School Graduation- Ottawa
I had the pleasure of attending a graduation ceremony at Ottawa's Adult High school recently. It was a wonderful experience. All of the other graduation that I have attended have been in the Niagara Region where there is very little immigration so I was able to get a glimpse of Canada's future in a way I never could have from my home area. Of the 320 graduates, the vast majority were immigrants to Canada reaching out for the good life that they believed to exist here. There were very few native born Canadians and fewer white students. There were many Somalians, people from Arab nations and people from the far east. The teachers were clearly committed to seeing all of their student flourish.
The ceremony itself was vibrant and well choreographed. A blind singer and another student sang O Canada acapella and later sang another duet. There were two Valedictorians. One was an English speaking student and the other an ESL student. The stories of overcoming bad choices, life upheavals and of working hard to achieve their accomplishments were interesting to listen to and think about. The young man had been a criminal. I learned later that he has several children by different women and in class had never been hesitant to express misoginistic points of view. He had nothing but praise for the teachers and appeared to take responsibility for his drug dealing past. The young woman had an education in her native country and appeared to feel that it was unjust that she had to repeat her education here to get ahead. She was working to support a husband who was also in school, two children and going to school full time. She was the receipient of several awards.
One of the best things that we can do to understand our own country is to experience it in other areas. We begin to see the challenges that are quite real for others and the stresses upon the systems that we take for granted.
The ceremony itself was vibrant and well choreographed. A blind singer and another student sang O Canada acapella and later sang another duet. There were two Valedictorians. One was an English speaking student and the other an ESL student. The stories of overcoming bad choices, life upheavals and of working hard to achieve their accomplishments were interesting to listen to and think about. The young man had been a criminal. I learned later that he has several children by different women and in class had never been hesitant to express misoginistic points of view. He had nothing but praise for the teachers and appeared to take responsibility for his drug dealing past. The young woman had an education in her native country and appeared to feel that it was unjust that she had to repeat her education here to get ahead. She was working to support a husband who was also in school, two children and going to school full time. She was the receipient of several awards.
One of the best things that we can do to understand our own country is to experience it in other areas. We begin to see the challenges that are quite real for others and the stresses upon the systems that we take for granted.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Why Is Canadian Banking the Envy of the World?
Canada's Banking System Really So Smart?
Maclean's April 13, 2009
One of the odder turns in the financial crisis has been the emergence of what can only be described as a worldwide cult of the Canadian banks. Yes, those Canadian banks: fat, slow, bone-stupid, deniers of loans and graspers of fees, easy targets for generations of low-rent columnists and politicians on the make.
Yet look at them now, the toast of five continents. The Financial Times calls Canada's banks "the envy of the world." Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria gushes that, thanks to its banks, "Canada has done more than survive this financial crisis. The country is positively thriving in it." Barack Obama, no less, confessed during his recent visit that Canada "has shown itself to be a pretty good manager of the financial system in ways that we haven't always been here in the United States," while Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman and eminence grise in the Obama administration, has touted Canada's banks as the model for what a reformed American system should look like.
He's not alone. At this week's conference of the G20, Stephen HARPER would have found an attentive audience whenever the subject turned to financial regulation. The notion that "the Canadian system" offers a blueprint for other countries' BANKING sectors has become accepted wisdom - in Ireland, for example, they are more or less explicitly copying it. And, needless to say, the Prime Minister has not been shy about trumpeting our success at home, even urging Canadians to set aside their usual modesty and toast their banks' good health. If other countries wish to idealize Canada, who is a Canadian politician to argue?
But what is this "Canadian system"? Are we really as others imagine us, an island of financial prudence in a sea of recklessness? What accounts for this, if so? Is it, as so many suggest, our more strict system of oversight and regulation? Or is it the more buttoned-down, risk-averse culture of our bankers? Is the future of banking the simple, no-frills model that Volcker suggests, where banks take deposits and make loans, but do little else? You know, like they do up in Canada?
We can date the origins of this particular mania with unusual precision. On Oct. 8 of last year, with stock markets collapsing around the world and several major banks threatening to do likewise, the World Economic Forum released its annual Global Competitiveness Report, a dense compendium of statistics purporting to rank the "competitiveness" of various national economies across a number of categories, or "pillars": infrastructure, innovation, labour market efficiency, and so on. Canada ranked 10th overall in 2008, up from 13th the previous year: a respectable showing, but hardly earth-shattering. But buried in the numbers was one striking figure, of unusual interest at this particular moment: in the category of "soundness of banks," Canada ranked number one. The world's soundest banking system. That caught people's attention.
The methodology of the report may be debated. It's survey-based, for starters. The World Economic Forum did not collect a lot of hard data on each country's banking system - leverage ratios, loan-loss provisions, that sort of thing. Rather, they asked 75 Canadian executives what they thought of their country's banks. And they compared this to the responses other countries' executives gave to the same questions about their banks. As it turned out, our guys thought our banks were sounder than their guys thought their banks were.
Still, there's no denying that Canadian banks have weathered the storm better than most. It's true that we have suffered no bank failures since the crisis began: the United States had 25 in 2008, with more banks likely to shut their doors this year. It's true-ish that Canada's banks have not had to be rescued by their government, if you don't count the $25 billion - later raised to $75 billion, then $125 billion - in government purchases of MORTGAGE assets through the CANADA MORTGAGE AND HOUSING CORPORATION: not a bailout, as such, since the CMHC was on the hook as the insurer of the mortgages anyway, but not quite laissez-faire either.
And it's true that, by virtually any measure, Canada's banks are in healthier shape than their international rivals: profitable, well-capitalized, even raising $9 billion in capital since the fall through fresh share issues - an unheard-of feat in today's markets. As American banks have tumbled, collapsed, or merged, Canadian banks have risen in relative terms. Of the 10 largest banks in North America, measured by assets, four are now Canadian; a decade ago, we had none in the top 10. Just seven banks in the world retain a AAA rating from Moody's Investors Service. Two - Royal and Toronto-Dominion - are Canadian.
But their record is hardly unblemished. If Canada's banks did not issue the dodgy sub-prime mortgages that were at the root of the crisis, they did buy them, or rather derivative products based on them: CIBC, for example, was forced to take a $3.5-billion charge on its portfolio of mortgage-backed securities last year. All told, the banks have taken some $20 billion in writedowns since the crisis began - nothing on the U.S. scale, but hardly chicken feed.
The banks also played a small but pivotal role in the collapse of the asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) market in Canada. What turned a debacle into a full-blown crisis was the Canadian banks' refusal to honour their commitments to the issuers of these products to be the buyers of last resort. That was no doubt prudent, but it's probably not the sort of thing the banks' new-found fans have in mind.
What explains the less-awful performance of the Canadian banks, when compared to their international counterparts? For many, the answer lies in the stringency of the Canadian regulatory system, the most conservative, by some accounts, in the world. Viewed strictly in prudential terms, there is some truth in this. Where the international standard, as set out in the first Basel Capital Accord - a 1988 agreement among the world's leading monetary and banking authorities - required banks to hold no less than $4 in "tier 1 capital" (common equity, published reserves and equivalents) for every $100 they lent out, and where U.S. regulators consider a bank well-capitalized at a six per cent ratio, Canadian regulators set the bar at seven per cent.
But it's a long way from this to explaining the relative performances of Canadian and, say, American banks as a simple matter of regulation versus deregulation. For one thing, the actual capital of the Canadian banks has consistently been in the neighbourhood of 10 per cent, well in excess of the regulatory standard. To be sure, banks would normally want to add some margin of safety, just to be sure of not running afoul of their overseers, but the size of the margin suggests their prudence had a commercial rationale as well, whether impressing the ratings agencies or reassuring prospective business partners.
For another, there was no deregulation of American banks in the last decade, or certainly none that had anything to do with their willingness to issue subprime mortgages. Nor was there any regulation to prohibit it here; indeed, subprime mortgages make up about seven per cent of the Canadian market. And while American banks were typically more leveraged, it's not clear that imposing higher capital ratios would have changed matters, given the American banks' heavy reliance on securitization, that is, on selling mortgages to third parties. Since the purpose of securitization was to get these assets off the banks' books (so they would not be counted against their capital), tighter capital requirements might have simply spurred even more securitization.
Finally, in important ways Canadian banks are actually less heavily regulated than the American. Canadian banks do not labour under anything like the Community Reinvestment Act, for example, which obliges American banks to extend mortgages to low-income households, even at the cost of watering down their usual lending standards. Nor is there any Canadian equivalent to the government-sponsored enterprises known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which by their own strenuous efforts to provide funding for subprime mortgages did so much to bring the system to ruin.
The truer statement about the Canadian approach to financial regulation is not that it's tighter, but that it's different. Where other countries adopt a detailed, "rules-based" approach to regulation, Canada uses a more discretionary, "principle-based" approach. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions doesn't set out a fixed formula for what it considers adequate provision against loan losses, for instance, but it knows it when it sees it - and has the power to step in to compel banks to make the necessary adjustments. Likewise, where other countries' bank regulators have involved themselves in a wider range of concerns, from privacy to racial profiling, ours have kept the focus on risk - risk, whatever its source or precise form.
An example: long before the 1999 reforms lifting the long-standing ban on American banks owning other types of financial institutions, Canadian banks were free to do the same. After the MULRONEY government's 1987 deregulation bill, most of the country's large investment houses were swallowed up by the Big Five. But whereas each subsidiary of an American banking conglomerate might be subject to a different regulatory authority, according to whether it was classed as an insurance company, investment bank, or commercial bank, in Canada power was consolidated in the OSFI to regulate the whole entity. So, far from destabilizing the banks, the brokers' absorption into the banks served to stabilize the brokers. Where a Lehman Brothers or Bear Stearns had neither parents with deep pockets nor prudential regulation to save it from disaster, our investment banks had both.
So the notion that seems to be afoot among some of our international admirers, that "the Canadian model" amounts to confining banks to the traditional deposit-and-loan knitting, untainted by any suspicion of investment banking, currency hedging, or other dark arts, is hard to square with the facts. It's not true, and it wouldn't be a good idea if it was.
Perhaps of greatest importance, Canadian banks are federally chartered, and nationally based. There never was any Canadian counterpart to state and federal laws forbidding interstate banking or even branch banking within states, which has stuck the U.S. to this day with more than 8,000 banks of hugely varying degrees of solvency, not to say competency. Likewise, Canadian banks are spared some of the wilder state laws, such as those permitting homeowners to tear up their mortgages once their houses are "under water" (when the value of the house sinks below that of the mortgage). Much of the behaviour of the American banks can be explained as an attempt to get around the limits imposed by regulation: just as the securitization craze was driven in part by banks' efforts to diversify their asset base beyond their immediate surroundings, so their traditionally greater reliance on commercial paper markets for funds, as opposed to deposit-taking, owed much to legal restrictions on the interest rates they could pay depositors.
Similarly, the Canadian banks' more restrained behaviour is probably best explained as a consequence of historical accident - dumb luck, in other words. In broadest strokes, where financial regulation in America, with its populist, agrarian tradition, has historically been tilted to the benefit of creditors - notably in the matter of mortgage interest deductibility - ours has tended to favour the lenders. Partly in response to earlier American adventures in hyper-localized "unit banking," dating back to Andrew Jackson's dismantling of the Second Bank of the United States, the FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION chose to make banking a federal matter. Banks were thus able to develop broad, national branch systems, which the best of them soon did. Indeed, in a curious way our thinly dispersed population proved to be a source of strength for the front-runners: once a bank had gone to the trouble of setting up the extensive branch networks needed to service such a customer base, each additional branch cost much less.
Economies of scale and survival of the fittest quickly served to winnow down the number of banks, from 38 in 1890 to just 10 in 1925. With the collapse of the Home Bank in 1923, the last major bank failure in Canadian history, the industry had assumed broadly its current form, with five or six major national banks (the Toronto and Dominion banks merged in 1954) dominant, all with roots going back to the 19th century. With a broad base of depositors to draw upon, and similarly diversified loan portfolios, our banks have been less hostage to the ups and downs of local economies, while the steady stream of fees from their retail banking activities lessened the need to gamble on riskier ventures. The dominance of the big five banks, moreover, disadvantageous as that can be at most times, may well be a source of strength in a crisis. Fewer, larger banks makes for greater institutional memory, better risk management, and, if necessary, more easily coordinated responses.
Still, attempts to explain our banks' ability of late to avoid the worst excesses of their international rivals in terms of a more risk-averse national culture have to reckon with repeated episodes in the past where those same banks collectively showed a talent for rushing off the nearest cliff. From the Third World debt crisis of the early 1980s, through the Dome Petroleum fiasco and Northland and Canadian Commercial bank failures later in the decade, all the way to the Olympia & York meltdown of the early 1990s, Canada's bankers have shown themselves capable of blowing their brains out with the best of them. Had they been permitted to merge some years ago as they intended, the better to compete in foreign markets, they might have spent the last decade following the global herd to disaster.
Therein may perhaps lie the best explanation for their recent, relative success. Having sown their wild oats, as it were, in previous decades - with painful, though not fatal consequences - the Canadian banks were a chastened lot by the time the party was really getting under way. A stable industry structure, a firm regulatory hand: these played their part. But there's nothing like a crushing hangover to bring a sinner to Jesus.
Maclean's April 13, 2009
One of the odder turns in the financial crisis has been the emergence of what can only be described as a worldwide cult of the Canadian banks. Yes, those Canadian banks: fat, slow, bone-stupid, deniers of loans and graspers of fees, easy targets for generations of low-rent columnists and politicians on the make.
Yet look at them now, the toast of five continents. The Financial Times calls Canada's banks "the envy of the world." Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria gushes that, thanks to its banks, "Canada has done more than survive this financial crisis. The country is positively thriving in it." Barack Obama, no less, confessed during his recent visit that Canada "has shown itself to be a pretty good manager of the financial system in ways that we haven't always been here in the United States," while Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman and eminence grise in the Obama administration, has touted Canada's banks as the model for what a reformed American system should look like.
He's not alone. At this week's conference of the G20, Stephen HARPER would have found an attentive audience whenever the subject turned to financial regulation. The notion that "the Canadian system" offers a blueprint for other countries' BANKING sectors has become accepted wisdom - in Ireland, for example, they are more or less explicitly copying it. And, needless to say, the Prime Minister has not been shy about trumpeting our success at home, even urging Canadians to set aside their usual modesty and toast their banks' good health. If other countries wish to idealize Canada, who is a Canadian politician to argue?
But what is this "Canadian system"? Are we really as others imagine us, an island of financial prudence in a sea of recklessness? What accounts for this, if so? Is it, as so many suggest, our more strict system of oversight and regulation? Or is it the more buttoned-down, risk-averse culture of our bankers? Is the future of banking the simple, no-frills model that Volcker suggests, where banks take deposits and make loans, but do little else? You know, like they do up in Canada?
We can date the origins of this particular mania with unusual precision. On Oct. 8 of last year, with stock markets collapsing around the world and several major banks threatening to do likewise, the World Economic Forum released its annual Global Competitiveness Report, a dense compendium of statistics purporting to rank the "competitiveness" of various national economies across a number of categories, or "pillars": infrastructure, innovation, labour market efficiency, and so on. Canada ranked 10th overall in 2008, up from 13th the previous year: a respectable showing, but hardly earth-shattering. But buried in the numbers was one striking figure, of unusual interest at this particular moment: in the category of "soundness of banks," Canada ranked number one. The world's soundest banking system. That caught people's attention.
The methodology of the report may be debated. It's survey-based, for starters. The World Economic Forum did not collect a lot of hard data on each country's banking system - leverage ratios, loan-loss provisions, that sort of thing. Rather, they asked 75 Canadian executives what they thought of their country's banks. And they compared this to the responses other countries' executives gave to the same questions about their banks. As it turned out, our guys thought our banks were sounder than their guys thought their banks were.
Still, there's no denying that Canadian banks have weathered the storm better than most. It's true that we have suffered no bank failures since the crisis began: the United States had 25 in 2008, with more banks likely to shut their doors this year. It's true-ish that Canada's banks have not had to be rescued by their government, if you don't count the $25 billion - later raised to $75 billion, then $125 billion - in government purchases of MORTGAGE assets through the CANADA MORTGAGE AND HOUSING CORPORATION: not a bailout, as such, since the CMHC was on the hook as the insurer of the mortgages anyway, but not quite laissez-faire either.
And it's true that, by virtually any measure, Canada's banks are in healthier shape than their international rivals: profitable, well-capitalized, even raising $9 billion in capital since the fall through fresh share issues - an unheard-of feat in today's markets. As American banks have tumbled, collapsed, or merged, Canadian banks have risen in relative terms. Of the 10 largest banks in North America, measured by assets, four are now Canadian; a decade ago, we had none in the top 10. Just seven banks in the world retain a AAA rating from Moody's Investors Service. Two - Royal and Toronto-Dominion - are Canadian.
But their record is hardly unblemished. If Canada's banks did not issue the dodgy sub-prime mortgages that were at the root of the crisis, they did buy them, or rather derivative products based on them: CIBC, for example, was forced to take a $3.5-billion charge on its portfolio of mortgage-backed securities last year. All told, the banks have taken some $20 billion in writedowns since the crisis began - nothing on the U.S. scale, but hardly chicken feed.
The banks also played a small but pivotal role in the collapse of the asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) market in Canada. What turned a debacle into a full-blown crisis was the Canadian banks' refusal to honour their commitments to the issuers of these products to be the buyers of last resort. That was no doubt prudent, but it's probably not the sort of thing the banks' new-found fans have in mind.
What explains the less-awful performance of the Canadian banks, when compared to their international counterparts? For many, the answer lies in the stringency of the Canadian regulatory system, the most conservative, by some accounts, in the world. Viewed strictly in prudential terms, there is some truth in this. Where the international standard, as set out in the first Basel Capital Accord - a 1988 agreement among the world's leading monetary and banking authorities - required banks to hold no less than $4 in "tier 1 capital" (common equity, published reserves and equivalents) for every $100 they lent out, and where U.S. regulators consider a bank well-capitalized at a six per cent ratio, Canadian regulators set the bar at seven per cent.
But it's a long way from this to explaining the relative performances of Canadian and, say, American banks as a simple matter of regulation versus deregulation. For one thing, the actual capital of the Canadian banks has consistently been in the neighbourhood of 10 per cent, well in excess of the regulatory standard. To be sure, banks would normally want to add some margin of safety, just to be sure of not running afoul of their overseers, but the size of the margin suggests their prudence had a commercial rationale as well, whether impressing the ratings agencies or reassuring prospective business partners.
For another, there was no deregulation of American banks in the last decade, or certainly none that had anything to do with their willingness to issue subprime mortgages. Nor was there any regulation to prohibit it here; indeed, subprime mortgages make up about seven per cent of the Canadian market. And while American banks were typically more leveraged, it's not clear that imposing higher capital ratios would have changed matters, given the American banks' heavy reliance on securitization, that is, on selling mortgages to third parties. Since the purpose of securitization was to get these assets off the banks' books (so they would not be counted against their capital), tighter capital requirements might have simply spurred even more securitization.
Finally, in important ways Canadian banks are actually less heavily regulated than the American. Canadian banks do not labour under anything like the Community Reinvestment Act, for example, which obliges American banks to extend mortgages to low-income households, even at the cost of watering down their usual lending standards. Nor is there any Canadian equivalent to the government-sponsored enterprises known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which by their own strenuous efforts to provide funding for subprime mortgages did so much to bring the system to ruin.
The truer statement about the Canadian approach to financial regulation is not that it's tighter, but that it's different. Where other countries adopt a detailed, "rules-based" approach to regulation, Canada uses a more discretionary, "principle-based" approach. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions doesn't set out a fixed formula for what it considers adequate provision against loan losses, for instance, but it knows it when it sees it - and has the power to step in to compel banks to make the necessary adjustments. Likewise, where other countries' bank regulators have involved themselves in a wider range of concerns, from privacy to racial profiling, ours have kept the focus on risk - risk, whatever its source or precise form.
An example: long before the 1999 reforms lifting the long-standing ban on American banks owning other types of financial institutions, Canadian banks were free to do the same. After the MULRONEY government's 1987 deregulation bill, most of the country's large investment houses were swallowed up by the Big Five. But whereas each subsidiary of an American banking conglomerate might be subject to a different regulatory authority, according to whether it was classed as an insurance company, investment bank, or commercial bank, in Canada power was consolidated in the OSFI to regulate the whole entity. So, far from destabilizing the banks, the brokers' absorption into the banks served to stabilize the brokers. Where a Lehman Brothers or Bear Stearns had neither parents with deep pockets nor prudential regulation to save it from disaster, our investment banks had both.
So the notion that seems to be afoot among some of our international admirers, that "the Canadian model" amounts to confining banks to the traditional deposit-and-loan knitting, untainted by any suspicion of investment banking, currency hedging, or other dark arts, is hard to square with the facts. It's not true, and it wouldn't be a good idea if it was.
Perhaps of greatest importance, Canadian banks are federally chartered, and nationally based. There never was any Canadian counterpart to state and federal laws forbidding interstate banking or even branch banking within states, which has stuck the U.S. to this day with more than 8,000 banks of hugely varying degrees of solvency, not to say competency. Likewise, Canadian banks are spared some of the wilder state laws, such as those permitting homeowners to tear up their mortgages once their houses are "under water" (when the value of the house sinks below that of the mortgage). Much of the behaviour of the American banks can be explained as an attempt to get around the limits imposed by regulation: just as the securitization craze was driven in part by banks' efforts to diversify their asset base beyond their immediate surroundings, so their traditionally greater reliance on commercial paper markets for funds, as opposed to deposit-taking, owed much to legal restrictions on the interest rates they could pay depositors.
Similarly, the Canadian banks' more restrained behaviour is probably best explained as a consequence of historical accident - dumb luck, in other words. In broadest strokes, where financial regulation in America, with its populist, agrarian tradition, has historically been tilted to the benefit of creditors - notably in the matter of mortgage interest deductibility - ours has tended to favour the lenders. Partly in response to earlier American adventures in hyper-localized "unit banking," dating back to Andrew Jackson's dismantling of the Second Bank of the United States, the FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION chose to make banking a federal matter. Banks were thus able to develop broad, national branch systems, which the best of them soon did. Indeed, in a curious way our thinly dispersed population proved to be a source of strength for the front-runners: once a bank had gone to the trouble of setting up the extensive branch networks needed to service such a customer base, each additional branch cost much less.
Economies of scale and survival of the fittest quickly served to winnow down the number of banks, from 38 in 1890 to just 10 in 1925. With the collapse of the Home Bank in 1923, the last major bank failure in Canadian history, the industry had assumed broadly its current form, with five or six major national banks (the Toronto and Dominion banks merged in 1954) dominant, all with roots going back to the 19th century. With a broad base of depositors to draw upon, and similarly diversified loan portfolios, our banks have been less hostage to the ups and downs of local economies, while the steady stream of fees from their retail banking activities lessened the need to gamble on riskier ventures. The dominance of the big five banks, moreover, disadvantageous as that can be at most times, may well be a source of strength in a crisis. Fewer, larger banks makes for greater institutional memory, better risk management, and, if necessary, more easily coordinated responses.
Still, attempts to explain our banks' ability of late to avoid the worst excesses of their international rivals in terms of a more risk-averse national culture have to reckon with repeated episodes in the past where those same banks collectively showed a talent for rushing off the nearest cliff. From the Third World debt crisis of the early 1980s, through the Dome Petroleum fiasco and Northland and Canadian Commercial bank failures later in the decade, all the way to the Olympia & York meltdown of the early 1990s, Canada's bankers have shown themselves capable of blowing their brains out with the best of them. Had they been permitted to merge some years ago as they intended, the better to compete in foreign markets, they might have spent the last decade following the global herd to disaster.
Therein may perhaps lie the best explanation for their recent, relative success. Having sown their wild oats, as it were, in previous decades - with painful, though not fatal consequences - the Canadian banks were a chastened lot by the time the party was really getting under way. A stable industry structure, a firm regulatory hand: these played their part. But there's nothing like a crushing hangover to bring a sinner to Jesus.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Dr. Birute Galdikas -The Orangutan Lady
Dr. Galdikas is currently a professor at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia and a Professor Extraordinaire at Universitas Nasional in Jakarta, Indonesia. Biruté Galdikas has devoted her life to studying orangutans. She wanted to understand why these great apes did not evolve the way our ancestors did into human beings who lived and worked in communities. Orangutans never learned this. They have not changed in millions of years because the forests where they live have not changed. They have always had enough food and space to continue their solitary existence. Galdikas has learned more than any other human being about what it means to be an orangutan, and what she has found out is that orangutans like to be left alone. An adult male’s range is at least 40 square kilometres, and he can spend weeks loping slowly from tree to tree eating fruits, nuts, insects, leaves and bark without meeting any of his kin.
She was born in Wiesbaden, Germany but became a naturalized Canadian citizen and grew up in Toronto. She earned a degree in psychology and biology in 1966 and went on to earn an MA jointly conferred by the University of British Columbia and UCLA. While at UCLA and then a PhD at UCLA. While a graduate student there, she met Kenyan palaeontologist Steven Leachy. He, with the aid of National Geographic, subsequently helped her set up a research camp to conduct field study on orang-utans in Borneo. She has been called the third of Leachey’s Angels (Jane Goodall who studies chimpanzees and Dian Fossey who studied mountain gorillas are the other two). IN 1971 Galdikas and her then husband a photographer went to Tanjung Putting Reserve in Indonesia. In the time since then, she has greatly expanded human knowledge of orang-utan behaviour, habitat and diet. She has also made contributions to scientific understanding of rainforests and biodiversity.
Galdikas's has focused on the rehabilitation of many orphaned orangutans through her organization Orangutan Foundation International. It is done with the help of her husband Pak Bohap, a rice farmer and tribal president and co-director of the orangutan program in Borneo. Her study is now one of the longest continuously running studies of a mammal ever conducted. Her memoir is entitled “Reflections of Eden’. Both Galdikas and Jane Goodall were awarded the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement laureates in 1997 for their work in field research and lifetime contributions to the advancement of environmental science.
Earth Shake
Earthquakes are rare in Canada. I was sitting far from the epicenter in Niagara Falls, Canada when the sofa that I was sitting on started to rumble around. I wondered if some mechanical system of the house was giving up the ghost or if some large piece of machinery was outside my home. When it was over, I did not think about it until the news reports started to come out. For me it was an Earth shake not an earthquake.
This made me reflect on how safe it is to live in Canada. Beyond the dangers of the cold in midwinter, there are few natural things in Canada that will kill you. We have no natural killer bugs (although blackflies in the North may be the manifestation of real vampires) and although we are supposed to have the Muskoka rattler, I have never seen one. We have a temperate climate most of the time and although we do experience tornados they have been rare. However, recently the planet seems to be manifesting the great changes we see in our climate so that even Canada's stable and safe environment is reflecting the changes.
This made me reflect on how safe it is to live in Canada. Beyond the dangers of the cold in midwinter, there are few natural things in Canada that will kill you. We have no natural killer bugs (although blackflies in the North may be the manifestation of real vampires) and although we are supposed to have the Muskoka rattler, I have never seen one. We have a temperate climate most of the time and although we do experience tornados they have been rare. However, recently the planet seems to be manifesting the great changes we see in our climate so that even Canada's stable and safe environment is reflecting the changes.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Governmental Apologies
In my opinion, governmental apologies are an important step in helping communities and our country heal and in making it clear that we have learned lessons from our mistakes of the past. To ignore grievous hurts that were done in the name of the collective Canada divides our country, placing one group on one side of an open wound and the other group on the other side.
Consider the systematic abuse of aborignal children by the church run residential schools, the incarsaration of our Asian communities during WW2 and the errors made in the Air India bombing.
No, current Canadians did not perpetrate the offenses in most cases but until and unless we collectively (and that is through our governmental leaders) say 'we get it' and 'we grieve with you for this injury' the offended or injured parties never really know that it is over and will not happen again.
If the people of South Africa can forgive each other for apartheid and the terrible things inflicted upon each other by bringing them to light and allowing living perpetrators to ask for and recieve forgiveness - we should follow their lead. We need to take this out of the realm of only monetary compensation and put a human face on the reparations. As human beings we need that admission and reduction in threat that comes with an apology and the balm that comes of knowing that someone acknowledges that the events were wrong.
In this matter, I stand behind and with Steven Harper as he tells my fellow Canadians that we truly grieve for what they have experienced, that we do care about what happened to them and that we will do better in the future.
Consider the systematic abuse of aborignal children by the church run residential schools, the incarsaration of our Asian communities during WW2 and the errors made in the Air India bombing.
No, current Canadians did not perpetrate the offenses in most cases but until and unless we collectively (and that is through our governmental leaders) say 'we get it' and 'we grieve with you for this injury' the offended or injured parties never really know that it is over and will not happen again.
If the people of South Africa can forgive each other for apartheid and the terrible things inflicted upon each other by bringing them to light and allowing living perpetrators to ask for and recieve forgiveness - we should follow their lead. We need to take this out of the realm of only monetary compensation and put a human face on the reparations. As human beings we need that admission and reduction in threat that comes with an apology and the balm that comes of knowing that someone acknowledges that the events were wrong.
In this matter, I stand behind and with Steven Harper as he tells my fellow Canadians that we truly grieve for what they have experienced, that we do care about what happened to them and that we will do better in the future.
Air India is Behind us
Plaque to the citizens of the Irish town that assisted the families of the Air India bombing.
While we learned that there is great evil in the world and that we ourselves make mistakes we also learned from the people of this small Irish town that there are many more people that embrace a world of love and peace.
Canada is a young country. We have opened our hearts and made a place for the disposessed of the world. Just as in the lives of open hearted individuals, there will be times when we as a nation are taken advantage of but we will learn and we will adapt. It is a fine balance between closing your heart and becoming wise and we will always choose the later.
John Humphrey author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
John Peters Humphrey (1905-1995), a Canadian, (pictured here with Elenor Roosevelt)played a fundamental role in the creation and adoption of the landmark document-The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Humphrey, a Professor of law at McGill University, was called upon to set up the Division for Human Rights in the UN Secretariat, a division he remained in charge of for the next twenty years. It was during his first few years with the UN that Humphrey prepared the first draft of the Declaration and guided it to its adoption by the General Assembly in 1948. The Nobel Laureate, Rene Cassin of France also played a significant role in the initial drafting process. Subsequent drafters include Eleanor Roosevelt of the USA, Dr. Charles Malik of Lebanon and Dr. P.C. Chang of China, demonstrating that the creation of the Universal Declaration was truly an international effort. These individuals sat on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Drafting Committee which was set up by the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR).
Jurist and diplomat, Humphrey was born at Hampton, New Brunswick. He was educated at Mount Allison University and at McGill University. Called to the Quebec Bar in 1929, Humphrey practiced law in Montreal before joining McGill's Faculty of Law in 1936. He briefly served as the Faculty's dean before being appointed director of the UN Secretariat's Human Rights Division in 1946, where he was the principal drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Humphrey would remain with the United Nations for the next twenty years. John Humphrey was the representative of the UN Secretariat to the Commission on Human Rights. His position within the United Nations was Director of the Human Rights Division in the Secretariat’s Department of Social Affairs.
Humphrey was well suited to sit on the Commission. Like Cassin, he combined an extensive knowledge of international law (he was Dean of Faculty at McGill University in Canada) with avid support for the protection of human rights worldwide. At Commission meetings he served as an invaluable mediator between different philosophical factions. His most recognized contribution was the preparation of a four hundred-page blueprint for the Universal Declaration, which was consulted by the Drafting Committee during the UDHR’s formation. That draft outline contained the comprehensive information that was used to define the UDHR’s thirty articles, including a bill of rights drawn up by Humphrey, and numerous suggestions by government Delegations and non-governmental organizations.
In 1966 he returned to teaching at McGill and continued to do so well into his eighties. He was awarded the Order of Canada in 1974 and the UN's Human Rights Award in 1988. An ardent internationalist, John P. Humphrey was also a proponent of pan-Americanism. In 1942 he authored The Inter-American System: A Canadian View, in which he argued that Canada should join the Pan-American Union. He attended the 1941 Carnegie Endowment conference on Canadian-American relations held at Queen's University.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Canadian Monopoly celebrates Canadian Cities!
In January and February of this year Hasbro held a contest to vote for the Canadian cities that would be placed on the new Canadian version of the Monopoly board. Sixty-five cities were in contention and only 22 could be chosen. The cities that were awarded the top rent spots are the ones who marshalled themselves to place the most votes for their city. Congratulations to all of the cities who made it on to the board and kudos to the cities with the most civic enthusiasm!
The following 22 cities earned spots on the Monopoly: Canada Edition game board, and are listed with the highest rent properties first:
Dark Blue: Chatham-Kent, Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu
Green: Calgary, Sarnia, Edmonton
Yellow: Windsor, Quebec City, Trois-Rivieres
Red: Medicine Hat, Gatineau, Shawinigan
Orange: Kawartha Lakes, Chilliwack, Montreal
Magenta: Kelowna, North Bay, St. John’s
Light Blue: Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver
Brown: Beauceville, Banff
Along with the 22 property spaces featuring great Canadian cities, the game will include updated Chance and Community Chest cards that highlight events and culturally relevant scenarios from Canada. Players may take flight at the International Balloon Festival in Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, skate along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa or win big at the casinos in Niagara Falls. The new Monopoly: Canada Edition also features an Electronic Banking unit with cards instead of cash. Players can collect rent and buy their favourite Canadian cities with the touch of a button!
The new Monopoly: Canada Edition will be available in stores across the country, in both English and French on June 28th, 2010 for an approximate retail price of $39.99. For more information please visit www.hasbro.ca.
Read more: Monopoly Canada edition – the towns that won the results are in
Muchmor Magazine http://www.muchmormagazine.com/2010/06/monopoly-canada-edition-the-towns-that-won-the-results-are-in/#ixzz0rbHqJHq0
The following 22 cities earned spots on the Monopoly: Canada Edition game board, and are listed with the highest rent properties first:
Dark Blue: Chatham-Kent, Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu
Green: Calgary, Sarnia, Edmonton
Yellow: Windsor, Quebec City, Trois-Rivieres
Red: Medicine Hat, Gatineau, Shawinigan
Orange: Kawartha Lakes, Chilliwack, Montreal
Magenta: Kelowna, North Bay, St. John’s
Light Blue: Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver
Brown: Beauceville, Banff
Along with the 22 property spaces featuring great Canadian cities, the game will include updated Chance and Community Chest cards that highlight events and culturally relevant scenarios from Canada. Players may take flight at the International Balloon Festival in Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, skate along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa or win big at the casinos in Niagara Falls. The new Monopoly: Canada Edition also features an Electronic Banking unit with cards instead of cash. Players can collect rent and buy their favourite Canadian cities with the touch of a button!
The new Monopoly: Canada Edition will be available in stores across the country, in both English and French on June 28th, 2010 for an approximate retail price of $39.99. For more information please visit www.hasbro.ca.
Read more: Monopoly Canada edition – the towns that won the results are in
Muchmor Magazine http://www.muchmormagazine.com/2010/06/monopoly-canada-edition-the-towns-that-won-the-results-are-in/#ixzz0rbHqJHq0
Monday, June 21, 2010
Which Canadians have been in Space?
Name Launch Vehicle Mission Launch date International Space Station Notes
Marc Garneau Challenger STS-41-G October 5, 1984 First Canadian in space
Roberta BondarDiscoverySTS-42 January 22, 1992 First Canadian woman in space
Steven MacLean Space Shuttle Columbia STS-52October 22, 1992
Chris HadfieldAtlantis STS-74 November 12, 1995 Only Canadian to visit Mir
Marc Garneau EndeavourSTS-77May 19, 1996 First Canadian to return to space
Robert ThirskColumbiaSTS-78June 20, 1996
Bjarni Tryggvason Discovery STS-85 August 7, 1997
Dafydd Williams Columbia STS-90 April 17, 1998
Julie Payette Discovery STS-96 May 27, 1999 First Canadian to visit International Space Station (ISS mission)
Marc Garneau Endeavour STS-97 November 30, 2000 ISS mission, Return to space (third visit)
Chris Hadfield Endeavour STS-100 April 19, 2001 ISS mission, Return to space (second visit), First spacewalk by a Canadian
Steven MacLean Atlantis STS-115 September 9, 2006 ISS mission, Return to space (second visit), Canadian Spacewalk
Dafydd Williams Endeavour STS-118 August 27, 2007 ISS mission, Return to space (second visit), Canadian Spacewalk
Robert Thirsk Soyuz-FG Soyuz TMA-15 (Союз ТМА-15) May 27, 2009 Expedition 20, Expedition 21
Return to space (second visit), First flight on a Russian launch vehicle by a Canadian, first Canadian on a permanent ISS crew
Julie Payette Endeavour STS-127 July 15, 2009 ISS mission, First Canadian woman to return to space, First time two Canadians were in space simultaneously (with Thirsk), Largest gathering (13) of humans in space, as 7 STS-127 arrivals join 6 already on ISS, Largest gathering (5) of nationalities in space, as USA, Russia, Japan, Canada, and Belgium have astronauts together on ISS
Guy Laliberté Soyuz Soyuz TMA-16 (Союз ТМА-16) September 30, 2009 First Canadian space tourist
Marc Garneau Challenger STS-41-G October 5, 1984 First Canadian in space
Roberta BondarDiscoverySTS-42 January 22, 1992 First Canadian woman in space
Steven MacLean Space Shuttle Columbia STS-52October 22, 1992
Chris HadfieldAtlantis STS-74 November 12, 1995 Only Canadian to visit Mir
Marc Garneau EndeavourSTS-77May 19, 1996 First Canadian to return to space
Robert ThirskColumbiaSTS-78June 20, 1996
Bjarni Tryggvason Discovery STS-85 August 7, 1997
Dafydd Williams Columbia STS-90 April 17, 1998
Julie Payette Discovery STS-96 May 27, 1999 First Canadian to visit International Space Station (ISS mission)
Marc Garneau Endeavour STS-97 November 30, 2000 ISS mission, Return to space (third visit)
Chris Hadfield Endeavour STS-100 April 19, 2001 ISS mission, Return to space (second visit), First spacewalk by a Canadian
Steven MacLean Atlantis STS-115 September 9, 2006 ISS mission, Return to space (second visit), Canadian Spacewalk
Dafydd Williams Endeavour STS-118 August 27, 2007 ISS mission, Return to space (second visit), Canadian Spacewalk
Robert Thirsk Soyuz-FG Soyuz TMA-15 (Союз ТМА-15) May 27, 2009 Expedition 20, Expedition 21
Return to space (second visit), First flight on a Russian launch vehicle by a Canadian, first Canadian on a permanent ISS crew
Julie Payette Endeavour STS-127 July 15, 2009 ISS mission, First Canadian woman to return to space, First time two Canadians were in space simultaneously (with Thirsk), Largest gathering (13) of humans in space, as 7 STS-127 arrivals join 6 already on ISS, Largest gathering (5) of nationalities in space, as USA, Russia, Japan, Canada, and Belgium have astronauts together on ISS
Guy Laliberté Soyuz Soyuz TMA-16 (Союз ТМА-16) September 30, 2009 First Canadian space tourist
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Thank you Paul Martin
With the G8/G20 Summits underway and Canada taking a position as a world leader in this time of world financial crisis, I think it is time to recognize a great Canadian leader who stabilized our finances and led us to this safer place. This man is our former Prime Minister Paul Martin.
He was born in Windsor in 1938 and his mother was part Metis. He grew up in Ottawa and represented a riding in Montreal as an elected representative. He married Sheila and had three sons after he completed his education at the University of Toronto Law school. He retired from politics in 2008.
I think he did his greatest service for Canada when he was finance minister under his predecessor Jean Chretien. He served as Minister of Finance from 1993 to 2002. He oversaw many changes in the financial structure of the Canadian government, and his policies had a direct effect on eliminating the country's chronic fiscal deficit.. At that time, Canada had one of the highest annual deficits of the G7 countries. As finance minister, Martin erased a $42 billion deficit, recorded five consecutive budget surpluses, and paid down $36 billion of national debt. There were undeniable costs in the form of reduced government services. This was probably most noticeable in health care, as major reductions in federal funding to the provinces meant significant cuts in service delivery. Martin's tactics, including those of using surplus funds from pension plans and Employment Insurance, created further controversy.
During his tenure as finance minister Martin was responsible for lowering Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio from a peak of seventy per cent to about fifty per cent in the mid-1990s. In December 2001, he was named as a member of the World Economic Forum's "dream cabinet." The global business and financial body listed Martin along with United States Secretary of State Colin Powell and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan as top world leaders.
Also during his tenure as finance minister, Martin coordinated a series of meetings between the finance ministers of all provinces to discuss how to address the pending crisis in the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). Consequently, Martin oversaw the creation of a general public consultation process in February 1996 that eventually led to major structural reform of the CPP. The results of this public consultation process were collected and analyzed by the Finance ministry. Eventually, it led to a proposal for overhauling the CPP, which was presented to Parliament and was approved soon after, thereby averting a pension crisis.
On February 24, 2005, Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew told the House of Commons that Canada would not participate in the American National Missile Defense Program, and that he expected to be consulted in the case of a missile being launched over Canadian air space. Martin's decision came with much praise, but others saw that the government was distancing itself from the U.S. His government continued to cooperate with the United States on border control, refugee claimants, and defence, and he appointed seasoned Liberal politician Frank McKenna as Canada's ambassador to Washington.
Martin was criticized for failing to reach a foreign-aid target of 0.7 per cent of GDP, most notably by Bono of Irish rock group U2 (who claimed that he was going to "kick [Martin's] butt," over the issue). Martin later responded that, in his view, many foreign leaders had made pledges that were too fanciful and that he would only commit to targets that he knew his government could be held accountable for.
Martin promoted the expansion of the G8 into a larger group of twenty nations G20. He also forged a closer relationship with the People's Republic of China by announcing the strategic partnership initiative during PRC President Hu Jintao's state visit to Canada in September, 2005.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Nanook Of the North
Nanook of the North was the only information that many citizens of the world ever had of Canada. If we allowed this to be all they knew of us, we should not be surprised at their ignorance of our country. If we did not communicate they could not be expected to change their perceptions. Ask yourself, for example if you can name the current leader of Korea, its capital and locate it on a map. I think that the Olympics and our current artists have done a wonderful job of reorienting the world to what Canada is today.
Take a look at the old film and how our native people were represented.
Take a look at the old film and how our native people were represented.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Russel Peters- How to become a Canadian
Russel Peters is a Canadian comedian who has the courage to take on stereotypes in a nation like Canada. We are doing a pretty good job, generally, of living multiculturally and he pokes fun at the intersection of communities and their thought patterns.
In this segment Peters shares an incident with his father. I do not know how much is true but it is a sweet strory of an immigrant trying to fit in with his 'Canadian' neighbours. I loved this story.
In this segment Peters shares an incident with his father. I do not know how much is true but it is a sweet strory of an immigrant trying to fit in with his 'Canadian' neighbours. I loved this story.
The Canadian Water Summit Starts Today- And we Better pay attention
The Water Summit is hidden in the shadow of the G8 but it could be the most important event with the most crucial consequences. Big business is attending- you can be sure of that. The issues are illustrated in the two video clips below.
Some of the organizations who are attending:
The following is a selection of the organizations that have already registered for the Summit:
•Air Miles for Social Change
•Alliance of Ontario Food Processors
•Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO)
•Bereskin & Parr LLP
•BMO Financial Group
•Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG)
•Building Water Solutions Inc.
•Canada Revenue Agency
•Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR)
•Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors
•Canadian Electricity Association (CEA)
•Canadian Federation of Agriculture
•Canadian Hydropower Association
•Canadian Institute for Chartered Accountants (CICA)
•Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy
•Canadian Trade Commissioner Service
•Canadian Waste Water Association - York Region
•Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership
•City of Barrie
•City of Mississauga
•City of Welland
•Commexus Inc.
•Corporate Knights
•Cossette Communications
•Cromaboo Inc.
•Cybera Inc
•Dagua Inc.
•Dalhousie University
•Desert Spring Products
•Enbridge Gas Distribution
•FCM Green Municipal Fund
•Federation of Ontario Cottagers' Associations
•Fer-Pal Construction Ltd.
•Fleming College
•Freshwater Consulting
•GHD
•Goldcorp
•Government of Ontario
•Grand River Conservation Authority
•Green Enterprise Ontario (GEO)
•Hanson Pipe and Precast, Ltd.
•Humber College
•Hydac Corporation
•Imperial Oil
•Independent First Nations Alliance
•Industry Canada
•International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)
•Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC)
•KPMG LLP
•Loblaw Companies Ltd
•MaRS Discovery District
•McDonald's Canada
•McKinsey & Company
•McMaster University
•McNally Construction
•Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
•Ministry of Economic Development & Trade
•Ministry of Finance
•Ministry of Research and Innovation
•Ministry of the Environment
•Molson Coors Canada
•Monteco Ltd.
•National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE)
•Network for Business Sustainability
•Nimbus Water Systems
•Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE)
•Ontario Clean Water Agency
•Ontario Climate Change Secretariat
•Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (OSSGA)
•Pulse Canada
•Procter & Gamble
•Real Property Association of Canada (REALpac)
•Regional Municipality of York
•Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)
•Sempa Power
•Siemens Water Technologies
•SNC-Lavalin
•Sobeys Inc.
•Summerhill
•Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
•Sustainable Buildings Canada (SBC)
•Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC)
•Sustainable Prosperity
•Telvent
•TD Bank Financial Group
•The Globe and MailL
•The TDL Group Corp.
•Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
•Toronto Region Research Alliance
•Tembec
•Trojan Technologies
•Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
•University of Guelph
•University of Queensland, Australia
•University of Toronto Centre for Environment
•University of Waterloo
•Walmart Canada
•Water Canada
•Waterlution
•WWF-Canada
•York Region
•And more!
Some of the organizations who are attending:
The following is a selection of the organizations that have already registered for the Summit:
•Air Miles for Social Change
•Alliance of Ontario Food Processors
•Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO)
•Bereskin & Parr LLP
•BMO Financial Group
•Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG)
•Building Water Solutions Inc.
•Canada Revenue Agency
•Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR)
•Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors
•Canadian Electricity Association (CEA)
•Canadian Federation of Agriculture
•Canadian Hydropower Association
•Canadian Institute for Chartered Accountants (CICA)
•Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy
•Canadian Trade Commissioner Service
•Canadian Waste Water Association - York Region
•Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership
•City of Barrie
•City of Mississauga
•City of Welland
•Commexus Inc.
•Corporate Knights
•Cossette Communications
•Cromaboo Inc.
•Cybera Inc
•Dagua Inc.
•Dalhousie University
•Desert Spring Products
•Enbridge Gas Distribution
•FCM Green Municipal Fund
•Federation of Ontario Cottagers' Associations
•Fer-Pal Construction Ltd.
•Fleming College
•Freshwater Consulting
•GHD
•Goldcorp
•Government of Ontario
•Grand River Conservation Authority
•Green Enterprise Ontario (GEO)
•Hanson Pipe and Precast, Ltd.
•Humber College
•Hydac Corporation
•Imperial Oil
•Independent First Nations Alliance
•Industry Canada
•International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)
•Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC)
•KPMG LLP
•Loblaw Companies Ltd
•MaRS Discovery District
•McDonald's Canada
•McKinsey & Company
•McMaster University
•McNally Construction
•Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
•Ministry of Economic Development & Trade
•Ministry of Finance
•Ministry of Research and Innovation
•Ministry of the Environment
•Molson Coors Canada
•Monteco Ltd.
•National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE)
•Network for Business Sustainability
•Nimbus Water Systems
•Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE)
•Ontario Clean Water Agency
•Ontario Climate Change Secretariat
•Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (OSSGA)
•Pulse Canada
•Procter & Gamble
•Real Property Association of Canada (REALpac)
•Regional Municipality of York
•Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)
•Sempa Power
•Siemens Water Technologies
•SNC-Lavalin
•Sobeys Inc.
•Summerhill
•Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
•Sustainable Buildings Canada (SBC)
•Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC)
•Sustainable Prosperity
•Telvent
•TD Bank Financial Group
•The Globe and MailL
•The TDL Group Corp.
•Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
•Toronto Region Research Alliance
•Tembec
•Trojan Technologies
•Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
•University of Guelph
•University of Queensland, Australia
•University of Toronto Centre for Environment
•University of Waterloo
•Walmart Canada
•Water Canada
•Waterlution
•WWF-Canada
•York Region
•And more!
What We Lost
There is no turning the clock back to realize what the consequences of an event like the great deportation of the Acadians really cost Canada but I thought that I would include this Youtube video of the vibrant culture of the Cajuns, with their music and voice. These hardy people were brutalized by fate and yet they survived and added to the sum total of joy in the world.
The Expulsion of the Acadians
The Great Upheaval- the deportation of the Acadians
Canada was the New World and yet the insanity of the age old rivalries, prejudices and stereotypes followed the settlers here. When the Europeans brought their old war to this continent, people who had never seen France or England suffered the consequences. One example is the expulsion of the French speaking inhabitants of Nova Scotia.
When the British won the battle over the territory, they took over Nova Scotia and tried to force the inhabitants to swear and unconditional oath of loyalty to the crown of England. The Acadians' resisted for they were usesd to living as free men without interference of the European establishment. Many had intermarried with the Mik'mak tribes of Native Canadians and so did not consider themselves anything other than free men. Because the Mi'kmaq would not declare themselves British subjects and used armed resistance against the British occupation and settlement of Acadia, numerous proclamations were issued by Governors Paul Mascarene (1744), by Edward Cornwallis (1749), and, during the Expulsion, by Charles Lawrence (1756).
Even after France conceded present day mainland Nova Scotia to the British in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, Acadians resisted the British occupation politically by refusing to become unconditional subjects of Britain (1730). Various historians have observed that, while many Acadians may have seemed "neutral", many were not. From 1750-52, there was massive Acadian migration out of British occupied mainland Nova Scotia and into French occupied New Brunswick, PEI and Cape Breton.
Acadians numbering in the thousands were deported from mainland Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The deportees frequently were held onboard ships for several weeks before being moved to their destinations, thus exacerbating unhealthy conditions below decks and leading to the deaths of hundreds. Many hundreds more were lost through ship sinkings and disease onboard ships while enroute to ports in Britains American colonies, Britain and France. Britain also broke apart families and sent them to different places. Their justification for this was to more efficiently put people on the boats. This resulted in more loss of life as families could not survive without essential members. It also caused the Acadians to become more rebellious against the English. Many of the Acadians ended up in Louisianna and became the people we know today as the Cajuns.
The Acadian Expulsion
Canada was the New World and yet the insanity of the age old rivalries, prejudices and stereotypes followed the settlers here. When the Europeans brought their old war to this continent, people who had never seen France or England suffered the consequences. One example is the expulsion of the French speaking inhabitants of Nova Scotia.
When the British won the battle over the territory, they took over Nova Scotia and tried to force the inhabitants to swear and unconditional oath of loyalty to the crown of England. The Acadians' resisted for they were usesd to living as free men without interference of the European establishment. Many had intermarried with the Mik'mak tribes of Native Canadians and so did not consider themselves anything other than free men. Because the Mi'kmaq would not declare themselves British subjects and used armed resistance against the British occupation and settlement of Acadia, numerous proclamations were issued by Governors Paul Mascarene (1744), by Edward Cornwallis (1749), and, during the Expulsion, by Charles Lawrence (1756).
Even after France conceded present day mainland Nova Scotia to the British in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, Acadians resisted the British occupation politically by refusing to become unconditional subjects of Britain (1730). Various historians have observed that, while many Acadians may have seemed "neutral", many were not. From 1750-52, there was massive Acadian migration out of British occupied mainland Nova Scotia and into French occupied New Brunswick, PEI and Cape Breton.
Acadians numbering in the thousands were deported from mainland Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The deportees frequently were held onboard ships for several weeks before being moved to their destinations, thus exacerbating unhealthy conditions below decks and leading to the deaths of hundreds. Many hundreds more were lost through ship sinkings and disease onboard ships while enroute to ports in Britains American colonies, Britain and France. Britain also broke apart families and sent them to different places. Their justification for this was to more efficiently put people on the boats. This resulted in more loss of life as families could not survive without essential members. It also caused the Acadians to become more rebellious against the English. Many of the Acadians ended up in Louisianna and became the people we know today as the Cajuns.
The Acadian Expulsion
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Guy Laliberté and Cirque de Soleil
Guy Laliberté makes me proud of my fellow Canadians. His creativity is staggering, his commitment to humanity is moving and his success is admirable. Guy Laliberté, OC, CQ (born September 2, 1959) is a French Canadian entrepreneur, philanthropist, poker player, space tourist and currently the CEO of Cirque du Soleil. Starting out as an accordion player, stiltwalker and fire-eater; Laliberté created his circus which is a synthesis of all circus styles around the world. In 2006, the 95% share holder of the US $1.2 billion Cirque Du Soleil was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
He started and pledged support for the operating costs of ONE DROP whose aim is to fight poverty and provide fresh water for the world's impoverished. He pledged a $100 million contribution over 25 years. Field activities will be financed by donations from the employees of Cirque du Soleil and from the public, as well as through funding commitments by Canadian and international partners. Oxfam International, through Oxfam-Québec, has been associated with ONE DROP since 2005 in a three-year pilot project in Nicaragua. A leader in development aid, Oxfam brings expertise in selecting and implementing field projects. Their involvement with the ONE DROP Foundation is based on a common desire to support sustainable development with concrete actions and in collaboration with local partners.
A Youtube glimpse of Cirque de Soleil:
He started and pledged support for the operating costs of ONE DROP whose aim is to fight poverty and provide fresh water for the world's impoverished. He pledged a $100 million contribution over 25 years. Field activities will be financed by donations from the employees of Cirque du Soleil and from the public, as well as through funding commitments by Canadian and international partners. Oxfam International, through Oxfam-Québec, has been associated with ONE DROP since 2005 in a three-year pilot project in Nicaragua. A leader in development aid, Oxfam brings expertise in selecting and implementing field projects. Their involvement with the ONE DROP Foundation is based on a common desire to support sustainable development with concrete actions and in collaboration with local partners.
A Youtube glimpse of Cirque de Soleil:
Do Canadians live in Igloos?
A young Canadian man takes on the age old question "Do Canadians live in igloos?" He made this respectful educational video in response to the question that was asked of him by an American woman.
Canada Eh?
I absolutely love the Youtube videos submitted by average Canadians in tribute to their country. Some are done by students and others by adults but all have something wonderful about them. Take another look:
The Metis
In the early days of Canada, the early immigrants from France were primarily fur traders. They lived hard lives of isolation and travelled by canoes. For survival they soon befriended and worked with the aboriginal tribes and many married aboriginal women and had families. These communities became known as the Metis and many Canadians whose families have been here for mulitple generations claim at least one Metis or aboriginal relative. My mother's family is French Canadian and my grandmother's mother was a 'squaw' as my family used to say. Here is a fuller explaination of the Metis.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The Canadian Index for Well Being
The Canadian Index for well being has a number of recommendations for improving our lives. Below I have cut and pasted directly from their site a 11 of their ideas. Please read them and consider which ones you think are important.
Ideas for Positive Change
Canadians believe that the path to a meaningful life is built from, among other things,
balanced time use and fulfilling leisure and culture activities. Our quest to improve upon
the current situation will require both “remedying the bad” and “enhancing the good”.
Below are a number of ideas that could help bring about positive change. The list is by
no means comprehensive, nor is it intended to be. One of the objectives of the CIW is
to engage Canadians in a dialogue about the types of policy solutions that would
improve our quality of life. The CIW hopes that its research findings and ideas for
change will help spark such a dialogue.
1. Upgrade and effectively enforce employment standards to ensure all
workers have access to basic labour rights, including those in precarious
circumstances facing demands for flexible and non-standard employment. As a
way to improve enforcement of existing standards, the Workers Action Centre
(http://www.workersactioncentre.org/) has proposed the idea of extending investigation
of individual substantiated employment standards violations to cover all
employees within a workplace. This would help curb offences while reducing
duplication of individual claims against the same employer. Pilot projects within
sectors with a history of violations – such as cleaners, business services,
temporary employment agencies, small-scale manufacturing – could be a first
step in testing this approach across various jurisdictions.
2. Dig deeper on how time use, leisure and recreation are affecting
particular groups by collecting better and more frequent information. Some
groups of Canadians – defined by race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status,
dis/ability, gender, sexual orientation and language proficiency – experience
particular systemic barriers that further compromise time use patterns and limit
participation in leisure and health enhancing activities. By looking at the different
experiences of Canadians, we can more effectively pinpoint research and policy
development.
3. Reduce the time crunch through family friendly work policies. As a
result of a growing awareness of work-life balance issues and the impact on
employees, many companies are addressing the issue by offering parental leave
top-ups, onsite daycare, earned time off programs, working from home, job
sharing and other initiatives. For examples of good practices in Canada, check
out the list of Canada’s Top 25 Family Friendly Employers at
www.canadastop100.com/family.
4. Meet the needs of modern families through family friendly social
policies that are balancing caregiving of aging parents and/or younger children.
Expanding access to early learning and childcare is one part of the equation. The
OECD has identified access to early learning and care support (including out of
school hours care services) as a key family friendly policy. Parents in Québec
already have access to $7 per day childcare while Ontario will begin rolling out a
full day early learning program for 4 and 5 year olds starting in September 2010.
Strengthening eldercare and equitable access to aging at home options is the
other side. Polling by the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP)
shows that Canadians of retirement age would want to bring care services into
their home, even at a cost, rather than going to a facility for care. However,
seniors also report that not enough quality in-home or in-facility care services
are available in most provinces to meet the need – www.carp.ca.
5. Encourage neighbourhood “walkability” through the urban planning
process, to improve infrastructure, aesthetics, traffic safety and closeness to
stores. Walkable neighbourhoods offer diverse benefits to the environment, our
health, our finances, and our communities. To find out how your home stacks up
on “walkability” check out www.walkscore.com. It calculates the “walkability” of
any address based on the distance from that address to nearby amenities such as
stores, parks, restaurants, libraries and other services.
6. Invest more in school-based health promotion as a proven strategy to
boost young peoples’ physical activity, nutrition, and mental health as well as
contributing to moderating how much time young people spend in front of TV
and playing video games. FoodShare’s Good Food Café bills itself as “the future
of school lunches.” It serves healthy, affordable, and nutritious food to students
of the College Français, which shares the same building as the Café in west
Toronto. Mindful that students come from across the city, some are from
families with limited food budgets, Foodshare is working on ways to make
subsidized meals "invisible" through a debit card system. It's also boosting local
sourcing, and encouraging farmers/growers to visit the students or vice versa,
bringing food into the curriculum – www.foodshare.net.
7. Read to young children as a sure way to improve their learning and
communication skills and help them get ready for school. To find 'tips for
parents' on how to foster early literacy, visit the Canadian Council on Learning
(CCL) website at http://www.ccl‐cca.ca/CCL/Reports/LessonsInLearning/LiL‐1Feb2006.htm?Language=EN. To find a good read for a younger person, check
out the shortlist of candidates for the annual Book of the Year for Children
Award of The Canadian Association of Children’s Librarians available on the
Canadian Libraries Association website www.cla.ca.
8. Expand opportunities for lifelong learning, recreation and social
interaction for seniors through age-friendly community planning. Age-friendly
spaces reap benefits for urban populations as a whole. Barrier-free buildings and
streets enhance the mobility and independence of people living with disabilities,
young as well as old. Ensuring affordable and accessible public transit as well as
social and community supports for older people ease the stress of families caring
and allow for the kind of work and volunteering on the part of older people that
helps build strong communities. Ensuring participation also helps the local
economy profit from the patronage of older adult consumers.
9. Encourage barrier-free arts and culture activities though support and
promotion of performing artists, productions, festivals and venues. A good
example is the annual Luminato festival (www.luminato.com) , a ten-day
celebration of the arts where Toronto's stages, streets, and public spaces are
infused with culturally diverse theatre, dance, classical and contemporary music,
film, literature, visual arts, and design. Luminato provides many free, accessible
events, ‘accidental encounters with art’, and incorporates Toronto's cultural
diversity in its programming.
10. Promote inclusive environments for physical, leisure and social
activities by ensuring everyone has the opportunity to participate. Inclusion
can be enabled through initiatives such as discounted or free programming
available for those with limited incomes, as well as tax credits to allow all families
to better afford these programs. In the area of sports, True Sport
(http://www.truesportpur.ca/) is a growing movement of people across Canada who
believe that sport can transform lives and communities – if we commit to
organizing community sport activities that are healthy, fair, inclusive, fun and
stand against cheating, bullying, aggressive parental behaviour, and ‘win at all
costs’ thinking.
11. Engage volunteers from diverse backgrounds with various interests by more
effectively harnessing the opportunities and knowledge of the community and
voluntary sector. Volunteer Canada (www.volunteer.ca) is proposing the idea of a
Canadian Volunteer Support System for communities across the country. This
system would target training, knowledge sharing, innovation and basic volunteer
management resources for those at the grass roots level who must deal daily
with the challenges of finding willing volunteers and assuring that those
volunteers are effective in providing vital services.
Ideas for Positive Change
Canadians believe that the path to a meaningful life is built from, among other things,
balanced time use and fulfilling leisure and culture activities. Our quest to improve upon
the current situation will require both “remedying the bad” and “enhancing the good”.
Below are a number of ideas that could help bring about positive change. The list is by
no means comprehensive, nor is it intended to be. One of the objectives of the CIW is
to engage Canadians in a dialogue about the types of policy solutions that would
improve our quality of life. The CIW hopes that its research findings and ideas for
change will help spark such a dialogue.
1. Upgrade and effectively enforce employment standards to ensure all
workers have access to basic labour rights, including those in precarious
circumstances facing demands for flexible and non-standard employment. As a
way to improve enforcement of existing standards, the Workers Action Centre
(http://www.workersactioncentre.org/) has proposed the idea of extending investigation
of individual substantiated employment standards violations to cover all
employees within a workplace. This would help curb offences while reducing
duplication of individual claims against the same employer. Pilot projects within
sectors with a history of violations – such as cleaners, business services,
temporary employment agencies, small-scale manufacturing – could be a first
step in testing this approach across various jurisdictions.
2. Dig deeper on how time use, leisure and recreation are affecting
particular groups by collecting better and more frequent information. Some
groups of Canadians – defined by race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status,
dis/ability, gender, sexual orientation and language proficiency – experience
particular systemic barriers that further compromise time use patterns and limit
participation in leisure and health enhancing activities. By looking at the different
experiences of Canadians, we can more effectively pinpoint research and policy
development.
3. Reduce the time crunch through family friendly work policies. As a
result of a growing awareness of work-life balance issues and the impact on
employees, many companies are addressing the issue by offering parental leave
top-ups, onsite daycare, earned time off programs, working from home, job
sharing and other initiatives. For examples of good practices in Canada, check
out the list of Canada’s Top 25 Family Friendly Employers at
www.canadastop100.com/family.
4. Meet the needs of modern families through family friendly social
policies that are balancing caregiving of aging parents and/or younger children.
Expanding access to early learning and childcare is one part of the equation. The
OECD has identified access to early learning and care support (including out of
school hours care services) as a key family friendly policy. Parents in Québec
already have access to $7 per day childcare while Ontario will begin rolling out a
full day early learning program for 4 and 5 year olds starting in September 2010.
Strengthening eldercare and equitable access to aging at home options is the
other side. Polling by the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP)
shows that Canadians of retirement age would want to bring care services into
their home, even at a cost, rather than going to a facility for care. However,
seniors also report that not enough quality in-home or in-facility care services
are available in most provinces to meet the need – www.carp.ca.
5. Encourage neighbourhood “walkability” through the urban planning
process, to improve infrastructure, aesthetics, traffic safety and closeness to
stores. Walkable neighbourhoods offer diverse benefits to the environment, our
health, our finances, and our communities. To find out how your home stacks up
on “walkability” check out www.walkscore.com. It calculates the “walkability” of
any address based on the distance from that address to nearby amenities such as
stores, parks, restaurants, libraries and other services.
6. Invest more in school-based health promotion as a proven strategy to
boost young peoples’ physical activity, nutrition, and mental health as well as
contributing to moderating how much time young people spend in front of TV
and playing video games. FoodShare’s Good Food Café bills itself as “the future
of school lunches.” It serves healthy, affordable, and nutritious food to students
of the College Français, which shares the same building as the Café in west
Toronto. Mindful that students come from across the city, some are from
families with limited food budgets, Foodshare is working on ways to make
subsidized meals "invisible" through a debit card system. It's also boosting local
sourcing, and encouraging farmers/growers to visit the students or vice versa,
bringing food into the curriculum – www.foodshare.net.
7. Read to young children as a sure way to improve their learning and
communication skills and help them get ready for school. To find 'tips for
parents' on how to foster early literacy, visit the Canadian Council on Learning
(CCL) website at http://www.ccl‐cca.ca/CCL/Reports/LessonsInLearning/LiL‐1Feb2006.htm?Language=EN. To find a good read for a younger person, check
out the shortlist of candidates for the annual Book of the Year for Children
Award of The Canadian Association of Children’s Librarians available on the
Canadian Libraries Association website www.cla.ca.
8. Expand opportunities for lifelong learning, recreation and social
interaction for seniors through age-friendly community planning. Age-friendly
spaces reap benefits for urban populations as a whole. Barrier-free buildings and
streets enhance the mobility and independence of people living with disabilities,
young as well as old. Ensuring affordable and accessible public transit as well as
social and community supports for older people ease the stress of families caring
and allow for the kind of work and volunteering on the part of older people that
helps build strong communities. Ensuring participation also helps the local
economy profit from the patronage of older adult consumers.
9. Encourage barrier-free arts and culture activities though support and
promotion of performing artists, productions, festivals and venues. A good
example is the annual Luminato festival (www.luminato.com) , a ten-day
celebration of the arts where Toronto's stages, streets, and public spaces are
infused with culturally diverse theatre, dance, classical and contemporary music,
film, literature, visual arts, and design. Luminato provides many free, accessible
events, ‘accidental encounters with art’, and incorporates Toronto's cultural
diversity in its programming.
10. Promote inclusive environments for physical, leisure and social
activities by ensuring everyone has the opportunity to participate. Inclusion
can be enabled through initiatives such as discounted or free programming
available for those with limited incomes, as well as tax credits to allow all families
to better afford these programs. In the area of sports, True Sport
(http://www.truesportpur.ca/) is a growing movement of people across Canada who
believe that sport can transform lives and communities – if we commit to
organizing community sport activities that are healthy, fair, inclusive, fun and
stand against cheating, bullying, aggressive parental behaviour, and ‘win at all
costs’ thinking.
11. Engage volunteers from diverse backgrounds with various interests by more
effectively harnessing the opportunities and knowledge of the community and
voluntary sector. Volunteer Canada (www.volunteer.ca) is proposing the idea of a
Canadian Volunteer Support System for communities across the country. This
system would target training, knowledge sharing, innovation and basic volunteer
management resources for those at the grass roots level who must deal daily
with the challenges of finding willing volunteers and assuring that those
volunteers are effective in providing vital services.
The North West Passage
Canadians need to be aware of the world wide interest in the North West Passage. After all, a lot of the discovery and exploration of Canada was in an attempt to reach China and going through the North West Passage rather than the Panama canal would shorten the trip (and thus the expense) by 40%. With climate change, many around the world have reignited the search and the plans for expoiting our northern sea passage. China has invested in ice breakers and has a ministry of the Arctic. There is a lot of posturing and position of countries claiming ownership of the resources under the seas. Global warming is not just threatening the arctic but our sovereignty to it. I have included below a video of an American expedition through the North West Passage.
Second Box of Raspberries Award
It seems so 'unCanadian' to me to disrespect someone from our own country and for what? Being TOO NICE?
I am convinced that this is the same spirit and comes from the same place as bullying. It is defining oneself as 'cool' by defining someone else as 'not cool'. She is a unique human being with a talent that most of the world does appreciate. You do not have to attend her concerts (I never have) and you do not have to choose her style of music but what the heck! I would even accept satirizing her and her choices (like the second wedding ceremony) but not apologizing for her as a Canadian! We are all entitled to our preferences but we should certainly respect the person and the achievements. She is an excellent ambassador for our country, a humanitarian and a unique personality.
Willard S. Boyle, Nobel Prize Physics 2009
Willard S. Boyle was born on August 19. 1924 in Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada. He was the son of a medical doctor. He was home schooled by his mother until the age of fourteen. He attended McGill University. But his education was interrupted in 1943 when he joined the Royal Canadian Navy. He gained a BSc (1947), MSc (1948) and PhD (1950) from McGill University. After receiving a doctorate he spent one year in Canada’s Radiation Lab and two years teaching physics at Royal Military College of Canada. In 1953 he joined Bell labs. He invented the first continuously operating ruby laser with Don Nelson in 1962. He was also involved with the first appearance of a semiconductor injection laser. He became the director of Space Science and Exploratory Studies at the Bell Labs subsidiary Bellcomm in 1962, providing support for the Apollo space program and helping to select lunar landing sites. In 1964, he returned to Bell Labs to work on the development of integrated circuits. In 1969 they invented the charge couple device. U.S. Naval Observatory spokesman Geoff Chester said that CCD has done as much to revolutionize the way astronomy is done as the telescope did . It allows us to see deeper in the universe with the same equipment with a clarity that is unparalleled. He also said that without a CCD, there would not be anything like the Hubble Space Telescope and our current knowledge of the universe would be nowhere near what it is. Boyle was the executive director of Research for Bell labs from 1975 until his retirement in 1979.
Willard S. Boyle and his colleague George E. Smith shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2009. The CCD is similar to digital camera’s electronic eye. Boyle retired in 1979 and has a PhD in physics from McGill University, Canada. They invented a technology that has given rise to film free photography . They developed a sensor that turns light into electrical signals. The CCD technology is used in some devices that doctors use to match inside patients.Their inventions totally change our way of living.
AWARDS AND HONORS
Willard S. Boyle gained several awards for his invention of CCD with Smith. They received the Franklin Institute’s Stuart Ballantine Medal in 1973, the 1974 IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award, the 2006 Charles Stark Draper Prize, and the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for this invention.
The Night they Invented Poutine
Poutine is one of those things that you have to be Canadian to get. I once watched Shania Twain on the Martha Stewart show where she introduced Martha to the joys of poutine. Martha just did not get it. As Shania went through the steps to making poutine, Marthat appeared incredulous and confused. Anyone who was expert in facial analysis would have had enough video tape to prove the concepts of facial analysis. Poor old Martha seemed to be just disgusted- It was hillarious! All she had to do was try it! Bon appetite!
Monday, June 14, 2010
James Cameron tells the story of his life and creativity.
James Cameron was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, the son of Shirley (née Lowe), an artist and nurse, and Phillip Cameron, an electrical engineer. His paternal great-great-great-grandfather of the Clan Cameron emigrated from Balquhidder, Scotland in 1825. Cameron grew up in Chippawa, Ontario and attended Stamford Collegiate in Niagara Falls; his family moved to Brea, California in 1971.
Here is his life in his own words:
Here is his life in his own words:
Richest Canadians according to Forbes Magazine
Richest Canadians
Name Rank Worth (US)
David Thomson 20 $19 billion
Galen Weston 100 $7.2 billion
Irving family 212 $4 billion
Jim Pattison 212 $4 billion
Paul Desmarais 232 $3.9 billion
Bernard Sherman 237 $3.8 billion
David Azrieli 374 $2.5 billion
Guy Laliberté 374 $2.5 billion
Robert Miller 374 $2.5 billion
Emanuele Saputo 400 $2.4 billion
Jeffrey Skoll 400 $2.4 billion
James Balsillie 421 $2.3 billion
Wallace McCain 421 $2.3 billion
Mike Lazaridis 437 $2.2 billion
Charles Bronfman 488 $2.0 billion
David Cheriton 616 $1.6 billion
Stephen Jarislowsky 655 $1.5 billion
Daryl Katz 721 $1.4 billion
N. Murray Edwards 721 $1.4 billion
Clayton Riddell 773 $1.3 billion
Alexander Shnaider 773 $1.3 billion
Jean Coutu 828 $1.2 billion
Michael Lee-Chin 937 $1.0 billion
Douglas Fregin 937 $1.0 billion
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2010/03/10/forbes-billionaires.html#ixzz0qrAwexFK
Name Rank Worth (US)
David Thomson 20 $19 billion
Galen Weston 100 $7.2 billion
Irving family 212 $4 billion
Jim Pattison 212 $4 billion
Paul Desmarais 232 $3.9 billion
Bernard Sherman 237 $3.8 billion
David Azrieli 374 $2.5 billion
Guy Laliberté 374 $2.5 billion
Robert Miller 374 $2.5 billion
Emanuele Saputo 400 $2.4 billion
Jeffrey Skoll 400 $2.4 billion
James Balsillie 421 $2.3 billion
Wallace McCain 421 $2.3 billion
Mike Lazaridis 437 $2.2 billion
Charles Bronfman 488 $2.0 billion
David Cheriton 616 $1.6 billion
Stephen Jarislowsky 655 $1.5 billion
Daryl Katz 721 $1.4 billion
N. Murray Edwards 721 $1.4 billion
Clayton Riddell 773 $1.3 billion
Alexander Shnaider 773 $1.3 billion
Jean Coutu 828 $1.2 billion
Michael Lee-Chin 937 $1.0 billion
Douglas Fregin 937 $1.0 billion
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2010/03/10/forbes-billionaires.html#ixzz0qrAwexFK
Limited News shapes our perspective too
This TED talk from 2008 says so much in the very first slide of the talk but be sure to watch it all as it goes on to help us understand it in detail. Americans are being given a distorted world view but isn't it likely that we in Canada are given a pretty limited view as well? Aren't we influenced by American media, Google news and online sources that are influenced by American media? How can we get more world wide perspective?
Ken Watkin to Participate in Israel's Investigation into Gaza Bound Flotilla
Meanwhile, three Canadians who were aboard the Gaza-bound flotilla said Prime Minister Stephen Harper's reaction to the raid was "a disgrace."
Israel's Cabinet has given final approval for an official investigation into the navy's bloody attack on a Gaza-bound flotilla two weeks ago. The inquiry will be headed by a retired Israeli Supreme Court justice and it will include two high-ranking foreign observers: Nobel Peace laureate David Trimble of Ireland and Canada's former chief military prosecutor, Ken Watkin. The Cabinet gave its approval on Monday.
Ken Watkin has been the JAG, the legal adviser to the governor general, the minister of defence, and the Canadian forces on matters relating to military law. The JAG is also in charge of the military justice system. He was born in Kingston in 1954, and educated at the Royal Military College and Queen's University, Watkin began his career as a legal officer in 1982. In 1993, he was the legal adviser to a Canadian military/civilian board of inquiry investigating the activities of the Canadian Airborne Regiment Battle Group in Somalia. From 1995 to 2005, he was involved in a number of investigations and inquiries arising from the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. At the time of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he was Deputy JAG, responsible for operations. He is a published legal scholar and has been a visiting fellow at the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School.
U.S. Media Tribute to the Highway of Heroes
This report took place in 2008 so the tally of our losses is no longer accurate. We have now lost 147 soldiers.
Albert Bandura in his own words
Albert Bandura is one of the most influential psychologists of the century. His work on learning through imitation helped us to understand a great deal and he made contributions to many fields of psychology, including social cognitive theory, therapy and personality psychology. He was also influential in the transition between behaviorism and cognitive psychology. He is known as the originator of social learning theory and the theory of self-efficacy, and is also responsible for the influential 1961 Bobo Doll experiment. A 2002 survey ranked Bandura as the fourth most-frequently cited psychologist of all time, behind B.F. Skinner, Sigmund Freud, and Jean Piaget, and as the most cited living one. Bandura is widely described as the greatest living psychologist, and as one of the most influential psychologists of all time.
He was born in 1925 in Mundare Alberta and has taught at Stamford in the USA decades.
Please move the video to start at about 4 minutes for his introduction or to 9 minutes for his talk.
He was born in 1925 in Mundare Alberta and has taught at Stamford in the USA decades.
Please move the video to start at about 4 minutes for his introduction or to 9 minutes for his talk.
Canada Concerned over Death of Congolese Human Rights Defender
Taken directly from the site for Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade:
(No. 182 - June 3, 2010 – 6:25 p.m. ET) The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today voiced concern over the circumstances surrounding the death of prominent Congolese human rights defender Floribert Chebeya Bahizire and the disappearance of his driver, Fidèle Bazana Edadi, on June 2, 2010.
“This is an immense blow to human rights and human rights defenders in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said Minister Cannon. “On behalf of Canadians, I express my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Chebeya; my hope that Mr. Bazana will be found quickly, and safe and sound; and my solidarity with all Congolese human rights defenders.
“Canada urgently requests that an impartial, independent and fully transparent investigation be launched into the circumstances of Mr. Chebeya’s death and Mr. Bazana’s disappearance. Canada also urges the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to take the necessary measures to guarantee the protection of all human rights defenders.”
Mr. Chebeya was the executive director of the human rights group La Voix des Sans-Voix [Voice of the Voiceless] and had been campaigning in defence of democracy and human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the early 1990s. He met with the Governor General of Canada, Michaëlle Jean, while she was on a state visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo from April 18 to 20, 2010.
(No. 182 - June 3, 2010 – 6:25 p.m. ET) The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today voiced concern over the circumstances surrounding the death of prominent Congolese human rights defender Floribert Chebeya Bahizire and the disappearance of his driver, Fidèle Bazana Edadi, on June 2, 2010.
“This is an immense blow to human rights and human rights defenders in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said Minister Cannon. “On behalf of Canadians, I express my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Chebeya; my hope that Mr. Bazana will be found quickly, and safe and sound; and my solidarity with all Congolese human rights defenders.
“Canada urgently requests that an impartial, independent and fully transparent investigation be launched into the circumstances of Mr. Chebeya’s death and Mr. Bazana’s disappearance. Canada also urges the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to take the necessary measures to guarantee the protection of all human rights defenders.”
Mr. Chebeya was the executive director of the human rights group La Voix des Sans-Voix [Voice of the Voiceless] and had been campaigning in defence of democracy and human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the early 1990s. He met with the Governor General of Canada, Michaëlle Jean, while she was on a state visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo from April 18 to 20, 2010.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
