From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs is an international organization that brings together scholars and public figures to work toward reducing the danger of armed conflict and to seek solutions to global security threats. It was founded in 1957 by Joseph Rotblat and Bertrand Russell in Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Canada, following the release of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto in 1955.
Pugwash and Rotblat jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 for efforts on nuclear disarmament. International Student/Young Pugwash groups have existed since 1979.
Origin of the Pugwash Conferences
The Russell-Einstein Manifesto, released July 9, 1955, called for a conference for scientists to assess the dangers of weapons of mass destruction (then only considered to be nuclear weapons). Cyrus Eaton, a Canadian industrialist who had known Russell since 1938, offered on July 13 to finance the conference in his hometown of Pugwash, Nova Scotia. This was not taken up at the time because a meeting was planned for India, at the invitation of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. With the outbreak of the Suez Crisis the Indian conference was postponed. Aristotle Onassis offered to finance a meeting in Monaco instead, but this was rejected. Eaton's former invitation was taken up.
The first conference was held in July 1957 in Pugwash, Nova Scotia, hence the organization's name. It was organized by Joseph Rotblat, who served as secretary-general of the organization from its inception until 1973. The Russell-Einstein Manifesto became the Pugwash Conferences' founding charter.
Twenty-two scientists attended the first conference:
• seven from the USA (David F. Cavers, Paul Doty, Hermann J. Muller, Eugene Rabinowitch, Walter Selove, Leó Szilárd, Victor F. Weisskopf)
• three from the Soviet Union (Alexander M. Kuzin, Dmitri V. Skobeltzyn, Alexander V. Topchiev)
• three from Japan (Iwao Ogawa, Shinichiro Tomonaga, Hideki Yukawa)
• two from the UK (Cecil F. Powell, Joseph Rotblat)
• two from Canada (Brock Chisholm, John S. Foster)
• one each from Australia (Mark L. E. Oliphant), Austria (Hans Thirring), China (Chou Pei-Yuan), France (Antoine M. B. Lacassagne) and Poland (Marian Danysz).
Cyrus Eaton, Eric Burhop, whom Eaton had requested be invited, and Vladimir Pavlichenko also were present. Many others were unable to attend, including co-founder Bertrand Russell, for health reasons.
Organizational structure
Officers include the president, secretary-general and executive director. Formal governance is provided by the twenty-eight-person Pugwash Council, which serves for five years. There is also a six-member executive committee that assists the secretary-general. Jayantha Dhanapala is the current president.
The four Pugwash offices, in Rome, London, Geneva, and Washington D.C., provide support for Pugwash activities and serve as liaisons to the United Nations and other international organizations.
There are more than forty national Pugwash groups, organized as independent entities and often supported or administered by national academies of science.The International Student/Young Pugwash groups works with, but are independent from, the international Pugwash group.
Contributions to international security
Pugwash's first fifteen years coincided with the Berlin Crisis, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, and the Vietnam War. Pugwash played a useful role in opening communication channels during a time of otherwise-strained official and unofficial relations. It provided background work to the Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963), the Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968), the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (1972), the Biological Weapons Convention (1972), and the Chemical Weapons Convention (1993). Mikhail Gorbachev admitted the influence of the organisation on him when he was leader of the Soviet Union.
As international relations thawed and, as more unofficial communication channels appeared, Pugwash's visibility decreased, but still remained important in arms-control issues of the day: European nuclear forces, chemical and biological weaponry, space weapons, conventional force reductions and restructuring, and crisis control in the Third World. Pugwash's focus also has expanded to include issues of development and the environment.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Paul Anka and Diana
In 1957 Paul Anka, a Canadian boy from Ottawa made his first number one hit song based on a woman from his real life- his one time babysitter- Diana.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Leaven of Malice- Canadian Literature
Leaven of Malice, by Robertson Davies, was written in 1954, before he became famous with the publication of Fifth Business, the book he's best known for, in Canada at least. The Leacock Award for Literary Humour goes annually to the best humorous book written by a Canadian. In 1954, it went to Leaven of Malice, which seems appropriate, as the spirit of Leacock's Sunshine Sketches of a Small Town infuses Davies' work. Don't look here for potty or vulgar humour, except where Davies invites you to laugh at that type of humour. If you read this book after reading his serious and significant works (What's Bred in the Bone, The Cunning Man, Murther and Walking Spirits), you can almost see Davies flexing his serious muscles, while busily entertaining you with sharp satire.
Leaven of Malice as a story, seems perched on the narrowest of ledges. The Salterton Evening Bellman, in the classified section, announces the engagement of Solomon Bridgetower and Pearl Vambrace, to take place on November 31st. Only problem is that Pearl and Solomon aren't getting married. They aren't engaged. It's a joke. "So what?" I can hear you thinking. "Who cares". Remember, it's 1954, this is small-town Ontario, and people still care about improprieties, at least on the surface. Especially Professor Vambrace, Pearl's father. The Professor sees this announcement as an assault on his good name, and is certain that this Solomon Bridgetower, son of the man who years ago deprived him of the job of Head of the Classics department at Waverly University, is part of a cabal determined to bring him down. The Professor is pretty much a loon, with delusions of grandeur and a paranoid personality that would probably have him put away were he not safely out of society's view, in academia.
Although the Professor takes this joke most personally, others in this small town are affected as well. Gloster Ridley, middle-aged editor of the Evening Bellman, is inclined to dismiss the false advertisement with a corrective notice the next day. He is aware, however, that there are forces at work to get him removed as editor, and that this mistake could cost him his job if he's not careful. Gloster is an odd duck, and occasionally a figure of fun to many. He lives alone, tended by Constant Reader, his cleaning lady, and cooks his own lunch on a hotplate in his office. His pride and joy is his work with Waverly University in developing a journalism program, and the possibility of receiving an honorary doctorate.
The people most affected by this joke are not introduced until well into the novel, and under amusing circumstances. Solomon Bridgetower and Pearl Vambrace react rather well to the news that they're engaged, all things considered. They are both decent people, and don't want to raise a fuss, demanding retractions, etc because they don't want to give the impression that the other is unworthy of being proposed to, or unworthy of proposing. A correction notice would be fine.
But the Professor has other ideas, and his anger is not to be denied. The search for the practical joker, and the confrontation between all interested parties in Gloster Ridley's office manages to make suspenseful something that, in today's society, would be laughed off by most people. Robertson Davies looks at small-town life with a sharper eye than Stephen Leacock would have. Where Leacock's satire was gentle in the extreme, and subtle, Davies' pen is sharper, and some characters come in for a rough go. His descriptions of his characters are leisurely and thorough. A former newspaperman himself, he follows our hero, Gloster Ridley through morning rituals at the paper, reading all other newspapers to come up with witty apercus with which to pepper his editorial page, reading letters to the editor (some of which are hilarious), and meeting with various loony staff members.
Several characters do stand out from the story. Mr. Snelgrove, a self-important lawyer for instance. Davies describes his lawyerly affectations, now so ingrained into his character that Snelgrove has perfectly assumed the character of a movie-lawyer. He sucks the end of his glasses, polishes them, clears his throat authoritatively, and does a dozen other things that mark him a movie lawyer. His comeuppance is particularly satisfying.
Why I like this book so much
Davies, although sharp with his words occasionally, is gentle here. There's an air of silliness that pervades much of Leaven of Malice, and that's refreshing after reading other Davies' books, enjoyable but very serious. Davies was a mere stripling of 41 when he wrote Leaven of Malice, and it's interesting to see his writing before his enthusiasm for certain topics began to affect his writing. Alchemy, for instance, an underlying theme in many of his later novels, is not mentioned once here. Leaven of Malice is a farce without completely improbable situations or very much slapstick comedy.
Davies wrote many books with humorous intent. His earliest novels, The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks, and Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks poke fun at a lot that is provincial in our smaller Ontario towns. There's a thread of that sort of humour in Leaven of Malice as well, but it is, I stress, humour of a very gentle sort.
And sometimes I need that kind of humour. Leaven of Malice is a book I've turned to many times over the years, when I want to read about the kind of town that my Grandparents came from. For anyone still living in small towns, it might still be relevant today.
Highly recommended- I first read it in highschool decades ago and I remember it fondly.
Leaven of Malice as a story, seems perched on the narrowest of ledges. The Salterton Evening Bellman, in the classified section, announces the engagement of Solomon Bridgetower and Pearl Vambrace, to take place on November 31st. Only problem is that Pearl and Solomon aren't getting married. They aren't engaged. It's a joke. "So what?" I can hear you thinking. "Who cares". Remember, it's 1954, this is small-town Ontario, and people still care about improprieties, at least on the surface. Especially Professor Vambrace, Pearl's father. The Professor sees this announcement as an assault on his good name, and is certain that this Solomon Bridgetower, son of the man who years ago deprived him of the job of Head of the Classics department at Waverly University, is part of a cabal determined to bring him down. The Professor is pretty much a loon, with delusions of grandeur and a paranoid personality that would probably have him put away were he not safely out of society's view, in academia.
Although the Professor takes this joke most personally, others in this small town are affected as well. Gloster Ridley, middle-aged editor of the Evening Bellman, is inclined to dismiss the false advertisement with a corrective notice the next day. He is aware, however, that there are forces at work to get him removed as editor, and that this mistake could cost him his job if he's not careful. Gloster is an odd duck, and occasionally a figure of fun to many. He lives alone, tended by Constant Reader, his cleaning lady, and cooks his own lunch on a hotplate in his office. His pride and joy is his work with Waverly University in developing a journalism program, and the possibility of receiving an honorary doctorate.
The people most affected by this joke are not introduced until well into the novel, and under amusing circumstances. Solomon Bridgetower and Pearl Vambrace react rather well to the news that they're engaged, all things considered. They are both decent people, and don't want to raise a fuss, demanding retractions, etc because they don't want to give the impression that the other is unworthy of being proposed to, or unworthy of proposing. A correction notice would be fine.
But the Professor has other ideas, and his anger is not to be denied. The search for the practical joker, and the confrontation between all interested parties in Gloster Ridley's office manages to make suspenseful something that, in today's society, would be laughed off by most people. Robertson Davies looks at small-town life with a sharper eye than Stephen Leacock would have. Where Leacock's satire was gentle in the extreme, and subtle, Davies' pen is sharper, and some characters come in for a rough go. His descriptions of his characters are leisurely and thorough. A former newspaperman himself, he follows our hero, Gloster Ridley through morning rituals at the paper, reading all other newspapers to come up with witty apercus with which to pepper his editorial page, reading letters to the editor (some of which are hilarious), and meeting with various loony staff members.
Several characters do stand out from the story. Mr. Snelgrove, a self-important lawyer for instance. Davies describes his lawyerly affectations, now so ingrained into his character that Snelgrove has perfectly assumed the character of a movie-lawyer. He sucks the end of his glasses, polishes them, clears his throat authoritatively, and does a dozen other things that mark him a movie lawyer. His comeuppance is particularly satisfying.
Why I like this book so much
Davies, although sharp with his words occasionally, is gentle here. There's an air of silliness that pervades much of Leaven of Malice, and that's refreshing after reading other Davies' books, enjoyable but very serious. Davies was a mere stripling of 41 when he wrote Leaven of Malice, and it's interesting to see his writing before his enthusiasm for certain topics began to affect his writing. Alchemy, for instance, an underlying theme in many of his later novels, is not mentioned once here. Leaven of Malice is a farce without completely improbable situations or very much slapstick comedy.
Davies wrote many books with humorous intent. His earliest novels, The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks, and Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks poke fun at a lot that is provincial in our smaller Ontario towns. There's a thread of that sort of humour in Leaven of Malice as well, but it is, I stress, humour of a very gentle sort.
And sometimes I need that kind of humour. Leaven of Malice is a book I've turned to many times over the years, when I want to read about the kind of town that my Grandparents came from. For anyone still living in small towns, it might still be relevant today.
Highly recommended- I first read it in highschool decades ago and I remember it fondly.
Map of Solar Activity in Canada
If you are thinking about clean energy and solar panels this map should help you determine how much sun you can count on in your area of the country
Saturday, August 28, 2010
CIA reports on Canada's economy
The CIA's assessment of the Canadian Economy
As an affluent, high-tech industrial society in the trillion-dollar class, Canada resembles the US in its market-oriented economic system, pattern of production, and affluent living standards. Since World War II, the impressive growth of the manufacturing, mining, and service sectors has transformed the nation from a largely rural economy into one primarily industrial and urban. The 1989 US-Canada Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (which includes Mexico) touched off a dramatic increase in trade and economic integration with the US, its principal trading partner. Canada enjoys a substantial trade surplus with the US, which absorbs nearly 80% of Canadian exports each year. Canada is the US's largest foreign supplier of energy, including oil, gas, uranium, and electric power. Given its great natural resources, skilled labor force, and modern capital plant, Canada enjoyed solid economic growth from 1993 through 2007. Buffeted by the global economic crisis, the economy dropped into a sharp recession in the final months of 2008, and Ottawa posted its first fiscal deficit in 2009 after 12 years of surplus. Canada's major banks, however, emerged from the financial crisis of 2008-09 among the strongest in the world, owing to the country's tradition of conservative lending practices and strong capitalization.
GDP (purchasing power parity): $1.279 trillion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 15
$1.312 trillion (2008 est.)
$1.305 trillion (2007 est.)
note: data are in 2009 US dollars
GDP (official exchange rate): $1.336 trillion (2009 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
-2.5% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 153
0.5% (2008 est.)
2.2% (2007 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$38,200 (2009 est.)country comparison to the world: 27
$39,500 (2008 est.)
$39,600 (2007 est.)
note: data are in 2009 US dollars
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 2.3%
industry: 26.4%
services: 71.3% (2008 est.)
Labor force:
18.39 million (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 32
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 2%
manufacturing: 13%
construction: 6%
services: 76%
other: 3% (2006)
Unemployment rate:
8.3% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 93
6.2% (2008 est.)
Population below poverty line:
10.8%; note - this figure is the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO), a calculation that results in higher figures than found in many comparable economies; Canada does not have an official poverty line (2005)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.6%
highest 10%: 24.8% (2000)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
32.1 (2005)
country comparison to the world: 100
31.5 (1994)
Investment (gross fixed):
20.9% of GDP (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 80
Budget:
revenues: $521.6 billion
expenditures: $578.7 billion (2009 est.)
Public debt:
75.4% of GDP (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 18
64.9% of GDP (2008 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
0.3% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 32
2.4% (2008 est.)
Central bank discount rate:
1.75% (31 December 2008)
country comparison to the world: 109
4.5% (31 December 2007)
Commercial bank prime lending rate:
4.73% (31 December 2008)
country comparison to the world: 137
6.1% (31 December 2007)
Stock of money:
$356.2 billion (31 December 2008)
country comparison to the world: 6
$391.6 billion (31 December 2007)
Stock of quasi money:
$1.299 trillion (31 December 2008)
country comparison to the world: 5
$1.381 trillion (31 December 2007)
Stock of domestic credit:
$2.335 trillion (31 December 2008)
country comparison to the world: 9
$2.382 trillion (31 December 2007)
Market value of publicly traded shares:
$NA (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 10
$1.002 trillion (31 December 2008)
$2.187 trillion (31 December 2007)
griculture - products: wheat, barley, oilseed, tobacco, fruits, vegetables; dairy products; forest products; fish
Industries: transportation equipment, chemicals, processed and unprocessed minerals, food products, wood and paper products, fish products, petroleum and natural gas
Industrial production growth rate: -13% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 152
Electricity - production: 620.7 billion kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 7
Electricity - consumption: 536.1 billion kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 8
Electricity - exports: 55.73 billion kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity - imports: 23.5 billion kWh (2008 est.)
Oil - production: 3.289 million bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 6
Oil - consumption: 2.151 million bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 11
Oil - exports:
2.421 million bbl/day (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 4
Oil - imports:
1.165 million bbl/day (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 15
Oil - proved reserves: 178.1 billion bbl
country comparison to the world: 2
note: includes oil sands (1 January 2009 est.)
Natural gas - production:
161.3 billion cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 4
Natural gas - consumption: 94.62 billion cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 7
Natural gas - exports: 94.67 billion cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 3
Natural gas - imports: 16.59 billion cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 16
Natural gas - proved reserves: 1.64 trillion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 21
Current account balance: -$36.13 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 186
$7.61 billion (2008 est.)
Exports:
$323.4 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 11
$459.1 billion (2008 est.)
Exports - commodities: motor vehicles and parts, industrial machinery, aircraft, telecommunications equipment; chemicals, plastics, fertilizers; wood pulp, timber, crude petroleum, natural gas, electricity, aluminum
Exports - partners: US 75.02%, UK 3.37%, China 3.09% (2009)
Imports: $327.2 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 11
$415.2 billion (2008 est.)
Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, motor vehicles and parts, crude oil, chemicals, electricity, durable consumer goods
Imports - partners: US 51.1%, China 10.88%, Mexico 4.56% (2009)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $54.36 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 28
$43.87 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Debt - external: $833.8 billion (30 June 2009)
country comparison to the world: 12
$781.1 billion (31 December 2008)
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
$494.6 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 9
$412.3 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
$576.2 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 11
$520.4 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Exchange rates: Canadian dollars (CAD) per US dollar - 1.1548 (2009), 1.0364 (2008), 1.0724 (2007), 1.1334 (2006), 1.2118 (2005)
As an affluent, high-tech industrial society in the trillion-dollar class, Canada resembles the US in its market-oriented economic system, pattern of production, and affluent living standards. Since World War II, the impressive growth of the manufacturing, mining, and service sectors has transformed the nation from a largely rural economy into one primarily industrial and urban. The 1989 US-Canada Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (which includes Mexico) touched off a dramatic increase in trade and economic integration with the US, its principal trading partner. Canada enjoys a substantial trade surplus with the US, which absorbs nearly 80% of Canadian exports each year. Canada is the US's largest foreign supplier of energy, including oil, gas, uranium, and electric power. Given its great natural resources, skilled labor force, and modern capital plant, Canada enjoyed solid economic growth from 1993 through 2007. Buffeted by the global economic crisis, the economy dropped into a sharp recession in the final months of 2008, and Ottawa posted its first fiscal deficit in 2009 after 12 years of surplus. Canada's major banks, however, emerged from the financial crisis of 2008-09 among the strongest in the world, owing to the country's tradition of conservative lending practices and strong capitalization.
GDP (purchasing power parity): $1.279 trillion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 15
$1.312 trillion (2008 est.)
$1.305 trillion (2007 est.)
note: data are in 2009 US dollars
GDP (official exchange rate): $1.336 trillion (2009 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
-2.5% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 153
0.5% (2008 est.)
2.2% (2007 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$38,200 (2009 est.)country comparison to the world: 27
$39,500 (2008 est.)
$39,600 (2007 est.)
note: data are in 2009 US dollars
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 2.3%
industry: 26.4%
services: 71.3% (2008 est.)
Labor force:
18.39 million (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 32
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 2%
manufacturing: 13%
construction: 6%
services: 76%
other: 3% (2006)
Unemployment rate:
8.3% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 93
6.2% (2008 est.)
Population below poverty line:
10.8%; note - this figure is the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO), a calculation that results in higher figures than found in many comparable economies; Canada does not have an official poverty line (2005)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.6%
highest 10%: 24.8% (2000)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
32.1 (2005)
country comparison to the world: 100
31.5 (1994)
Investment (gross fixed):
20.9% of GDP (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 80
Budget:
revenues: $521.6 billion
expenditures: $578.7 billion (2009 est.)
Public debt:
75.4% of GDP (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 18
64.9% of GDP (2008 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
0.3% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 32
2.4% (2008 est.)
Central bank discount rate:
1.75% (31 December 2008)
country comparison to the world: 109
4.5% (31 December 2007)
Commercial bank prime lending rate:
4.73% (31 December 2008)
country comparison to the world: 137
6.1% (31 December 2007)
Stock of money:
$356.2 billion (31 December 2008)
country comparison to the world: 6
$391.6 billion (31 December 2007)
Stock of quasi money:
$1.299 trillion (31 December 2008)
country comparison to the world: 5
$1.381 trillion (31 December 2007)
Stock of domestic credit:
$2.335 trillion (31 December 2008)
country comparison to the world: 9
$2.382 trillion (31 December 2007)
Market value of publicly traded shares:
$NA (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 10
$1.002 trillion (31 December 2008)
$2.187 trillion (31 December 2007)
griculture - products: wheat, barley, oilseed, tobacco, fruits, vegetables; dairy products; forest products; fish
Industries: transportation equipment, chemicals, processed and unprocessed minerals, food products, wood and paper products, fish products, petroleum and natural gas
Industrial production growth rate: -13% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 152
Electricity - production: 620.7 billion kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 7
Electricity - consumption: 536.1 billion kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 8
Electricity - exports: 55.73 billion kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity - imports: 23.5 billion kWh (2008 est.)
Oil - production: 3.289 million bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 6
Oil - consumption: 2.151 million bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 11
Oil - exports:
2.421 million bbl/day (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 4
Oil - imports:
1.165 million bbl/day (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 15
Oil - proved reserves: 178.1 billion bbl
country comparison to the world: 2
note: includes oil sands (1 January 2009 est.)
Natural gas - production:
161.3 billion cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 4
Natural gas - consumption: 94.62 billion cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 7
Natural gas - exports: 94.67 billion cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 3
Natural gas - imports: 16.59 billion cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 16
Natural gas - proved reserves: 1.64 trillion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 21
Current account balance: -$36.13 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 186
$7.61 billion (2008 est.)
Exports:
$323.4 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 11
$459.1 billion (2008 est.)
Exports - commodities: motor vehicles and parts, industrial machinery, aircraft, telecommunications equipment; chemicals, plastics, fertilizers; wood pulp, timber, crude petroleum, natural gas, electricity, aluminum
Exports - partners: US 75.02%, UK 3.37%, China 3.09% (2009)
Imports: $327.2 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 11
$415.2 billion (2008 est.)
Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, motor vehicles and parts, crude oil, chemicals, electricity, durable consumer goods
Imports - partners: US 51.1%, China 10.88%, Mexico 4.56% (2009)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $54.36 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 28
$43.87 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Debt - external: $833.8 billion (30 June 2009)
country comparison to the world: 12
$781.1 billion (31 December 2008)
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
$494.6 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 9
$412.3 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
$576.2 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 11
$520.4 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Exchange rates: Canadian dollars (CAD) per US dollar - 1.1548 (2009), 1.0364 (2008), 1.0724 (2007), 1.1334 (2006), 1.2118 (2005)
Sharks in the St. Lawrence
If you want to help the scientists Volunteer scientists studying large sharks in the St. Lawrence Seaway are seeking help from the public.
Their research on the little-known Greenland shark, funded by their own money and private donations rather than government grants, just got a boost in the form of a donated boat.
The problem is that they have no way to get the boat from Rouses Point, N.Y., to a shipyard in Les Méchins, Que., where it will be refitted for scientific work in the seaway.
The group is seeking donations to pay for transport company to move the 4.6-metre-high boat with a special trailer so it will fit under highway underpasses. The researchers hope to have the boat ready in time for the 2011 research season. "We're at the point where we need a boat," said Jeffrey Gallant, a college teacher in Drummondville, Que. As founder of the Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Research and Education Group, he has been studying the sharks for about 10 years.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/08/27/greenland-shark-boat.html#ixzz0xu7ksY6r
Canadian Space Agency is learning about Greenhouses in the Arctic
Canadian Scientific Research is really out of this world!
Lettuce, radishes and beets have been planted in a remote Arctic greenhouse, where researchers are learning how to grow crops without human contact in an environment that can't normally support edible plants.
Arthur C. Clarke
The greenhouse is named after Arthur C. Clarke, the British science fiction author best known for writing the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, along with the screenplay for the 1968 Stanley Kubrick film of the same name. He died in 2008 at age 90. Alain Berinstain, the Canadian Space Agency scientist in charge of the project, said no other greenhouse is designed to operate autonomously like the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse on Devon Island in Nunavut.
"Every greenhouse needs … electrical power, it needs heat and it needs people, to some extent," said Berinstain, director of science and academic development at the space agency. "The way we provide the people is through a remote link." On the flip side, humans will need greenhouse-grown plants to provide food and clean the air and water if they begin to spend a lot of time on another planet or the moon, Berinstain said.
Researchers visit every summer to set up a fall crop and a spring crop and upgrade the computer hardware and software. This year, Matt Bamsey of the Canadian Space Agency, Thomas Graham of the University of Guelph and Talal Abboud of the Canadian Space Agency, left to right, did the work. (Mars Institute)The greenhouse is at the Mars Institute's Haughton-Mars Project research station, which is staffed for just a few weeks each summer. The surrounding environment is a polar desert where temperatures can dip below freezing even in July and there is little annual precipitation.
"There's very little vegetation, [it's] very rocky," Berinstain said. "It's beautifully desolate." The harsh conditions and rocky, Mars-like landscape make it a popular spot to test robots, space suits and other technology designed for use on other planets. "Wherever we end up operating greenhouses on other planets, it will be an extreme environment," Berinstain said. "So it's about learning to work with a greenhouse that way." The project was established in 2002 after the Canadian Space Agency heard the Mars Institute was interested in having a greenhouse at the research station.
The researchers visit every summer to set up a spring crop and a fall crop. They also upgrade the computer systems that let them monitor the plants and keep them watered and warm during the growing seasons. The greenhouse is heated with propane during the summer, and the computers run on solar power. Water comes from a nearby stream and some of it is saved over the winter. The plants are monitored with webcams and sensors that detect the acidity of the nutrient solution, the water levels and the temperature.
When fall arrives, the propane runs out, the plants freeze and the computers are kept running with wind power during the 24-hour darkness of the Arctic winter.
6 years of effort
In spring, temperature sensors detect when it is warm enough to start a second crop. The computer systems run on solar power in the summer and wind power in the winter. (Mars Institute)"It took us about six years of trying before we could have a system robust enough to even work in spring," Berinstain said, adding that electronics are not designed to survive the extreme cold of the Arctic winter.
"Just being able to send commands and being able to gather data in the spring was a big milestone."
For the past three or four years, the researchers have been collaborating with scientists at the University of Florida to develop a new type of "living sensors" that can detect greenhouse conditions. They are in the form of plants from the mustard family, called arabidopsis. Researchers have genetically engineered arabidopsis plants to glow in the dark when they're stressed — too hot, too cold, or short of water or nutrients."With this technique, you can ask a plant directly, 'Are you hungry, are you thirsty, are you hot, are you cold?" Berinstain said.That means people would no longer have to guess the plant's condition, based on the sensors.Berinstain said such living sensors would be very robust and could be used in greenhouses both in space and on Earth.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/08/27/mars-greenhouse-arctic.html#socialcomments-submit#ixzz0xtzoMV6e
Arthur C. Clarke
The greenhouse is named after Arthur C. Clarke, the British science fiction author best known for writing the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, along with the screenplay for the 1968 Stanley Kubrick film of the same name. He died in 2008 at age 90. Alain Berinstain, the Canadian Space Agency scientist in charge of the project, said no other greenhouse is designed to operate autonomously like the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse on Devon Island in Nunavut.
"Every greenhouse needs … electrical power, it needs heat and it needs people, to some extent," said Berinstain, director of science and academic development at the space agency. "The way we provide the people is through a remote link." On the flip side, humans will need greenhouse-grown plants to provide food and clean the air and water if they begin to spend a lot of time on another planet or the moon, Berinstain said.
Researchers visit every summer to set up a fall crop and a spring crop and upgrade the computer hardware and software. This year, Matt Bamsey of the Canadian Space Agency, Thomas Graham of the University of Guelph and Talal Abboud of the Canadian Space Agency, left to right, did the work. (Mars Institute)The greenhouse is at the Mars Institute's Haughton-Mars Project research station, which is staffed for just a few weeks each summer. The surrounding environment is a polar desert where temperatures can dip below freezing even in July and there is little annual precipitation.
"There's very little vegetation, [it's] very rocky," Berinstain said. "It's beautifully desolate." The harsh conditions and rocky, Mars-like landscape make it a popular spot to test robots, space suits and other technology designed for use on other planets. "Wherever we end up operating greenhouses on other planets, it will be an extreme environment," Berinstain said. "So it's about learning to work with a greenhouse that way." The project was established in 2002 after the Canadian Space Agency heard the Mars Institute was interested in having a greenhouse at the research station.
The researchers visit every summer to set up a spring crop and a fall crop. They also upgrade the computer systems that let them monitor the plants and keep them watered and warm during the growing seasons. The greenhouse is heated with propane during the summer, and the computers run on solar power. Water comes from a nearby stream and some of it is saved over the winter. The plants are monitored with webcams and sensors that detect the acidity of the nutrient solution, the water levels and the temperature.
When fall arrives, the propane runs out, the plants freeze and the computers are kept running with wind power during the 24-hour darkness of the Arctic winter.
6 years of effort
In spring, temperature sensors detect when it is warm enough to start a second crop. The computer systems run on solar power in the summer and wind power in the winter. (Mars Institute)"It took us about six years of trying before we could have a system robust enough to even work in spring," Berinstain said, adding that electronics are not designed to survive the extreme cold of the Arctic winter.
"Just being able to send commands and being able to gather data in the spring was a big milestone."
For the past three or four years, the researchers have been collaborating with scientists at the University of Florida to develop a new type of "living sensors" that can detect greenhouse conditions. They are in the form of plants from the mustard family, called arabidopsis. Researchers have genetically engineered arabidopsis plants to glow in the dark when they're stressed — too hot, too cold, or short of water or nutrients."With this technique, you can ask a plant directly, 'Are you hungry, are you thirsty, are you hot, are you cold?" Berinstain said.That means people would no longer have to guess the plant's condition, based on the sensors.Berinstain said such living sensors would be very robust and could be used in greenhouses both in space and on Earth.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/08/27/mars-greenhouse-arctic.html#socialcomments-submit#ixzz0xtzoMV6e
Alan Gotleib- Interview on The Washington Diaries
Alan Gotleib was Canada's Ambassador to the United States for many years. In this interview he speaks about the Canadian American relationship then and now.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Today on 'Gives me Hope'
My cousin was the 97th Canadian soldier to die in Iraq. When we were coming back from the airport outside of Toronto where his body landed, we drove down the Highway of Heroes. Along the road and on every overpass, people where crowded to wave their flags and support us and give respects to my cousin. They do this every time a soldier dies. GMH. -- CanadianSoldier
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Street Gangs in Calgary, Canada
Its great to live in Canada,
where for the most part, Street gangs are vegetarians.
Ekhart Tolle on George Strombolopolis
Canada has not been known for spiritual leaders unless you want to consider Tommy Douglas as a spiritual leader. Ekhart Tolle while born in Germany now lives in Vancouver so I am claiming him as Canadian for the purposes of this post .
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Canadians from Ottawa Hospital Research Group work to make vision better
Dr. May Griffith is seen here with the corneal material.
They've developed a biosynthetic cornea that can actually help the eye repair its own damaged eye tissue and restore vision. And with further research, they say their approach could help restore sight to millions of people around the world who have lost their sight from diseases that lead to clouding of the cornea. The research, published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine is a small one, involving just 10 people. But scientists say they were surprised that the treatment worked in the majority of patients who had scarred corneas, helping to restore the sight of nine of the 10 patients.
The cornea is the thin, transparent layer of collagen and cells that acts as a window on the eyeball. In most cases of corneal damage, only a transplant can restore sight. But in this research, Dr. May Griffith of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, the University of Ottawa and Linköping University in Sweden created corneas using biosynthetic collagen produced in the lab that was moulded into the shape of a cornea, much like a contact lens.
After first testing the corneas on pigs (who have eyes similar to humans), they recruited 10 Swedish patients with advanced keratoconus, or central corneal scarring. Each patient underwent surgery in 2007 to remove damaged corneal tissue. That was then replaced with corneas made from synthetic human collagen, which were sewn onto the eyes.
For two years, researchers watched what happened. Over time, the implants acted as scaffolding to help the eye restore normal corneal cell and nerve growth. "You put the material in the eye and it becomes almost an integral part. It allows the natural cells of the person treated to go into the material and become part of it," co-author Rejean Munger of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute told CTV News.
The corneas even became sensitive to touch and started making tears to keep the eyes oxygenated.
Griffith says while the study was intended only to test the safety of the new corneas, her team found that nine of the 10 patients saw their vision improve, though some needed to wear contact lenses. The 10th patient is improving though much more slowly.
"We were actually very surprised and happy that we saw improvement in the vision," Griffith said.
"After surgery, patients didn't have perfect vision, but they could see better," she says. "One patient had almost perfect vision; others had slightly less than perfect vision." The research was published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Dr. Keith Gordon of the CNIB notes that there are millions of people in Canada and around the world who need new corneas, but there is a dire shortage of donor corneas. A synthetic cornea from a lab would be an important new way of treating patients. "If these transplants are as effective as they appear to be, we have got a winner. And it will be exciting and useful for people with vision loss due to corneal disease," he says. Researchers think it will take another five years to further improve the implants, and to test them in other eye conditions
Canada to open new Arctic station at Cambridge Bay
Prime Minister Harper and our government are actively defending our sovereignty in the Arctic and I applaud him for taking a strong stand on the issue and for putting our money where his mouth is.
Mr Harper said the centre will expand Canada's knowledge of the Arctic's resources and climate Canada will set up a research station at Cambridge Bay in the Arctic, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said.
The facility will be a "world-class, year-round, multidisciplinary facility exploring the cutting-edge of Arctic science" Mr Harper said in a statement.The announcement comes at a time when melting ice has opened the territory up to shipping and mineral exploration.
The move is designed to bolster Canada's claims to disputed parts of the territory.
At the start of his annual summer tour to the region, Mr Harper shrugged off an incident earlier this month when Danish tourists planted Danish and Greenland flags on a disputed islet called Hans Island, saying Canada had bigger fish to fry.
'Vibrant and secure'
Canada says the facility is part of a new four-part strategy in the north.
It also said other parts of the plan include protecting the Arctic ecosystem, developing a strong Northern economy and encouraging greater local control. Interest in the region has increased because of the Arctic's melting ice, which could give oil rigs improved access to the sea floor.
"By building this leading-edge research station, we are advancing Canada's knowledge of the Arctic's resources and climate while at the same time ensuring that Northern communities are prosperous, vibrant and secure," Mr Harper said during a five-day tour through the Arctic.
The prime minister made his announcement from Churchill, which he said would receive funding to improve the local airport. Canada and the United States began a five-week joint Arctic survey early in August, which will partly take place in a section of the energy-rich Beaufort Sea that is claimed by both countries. The survey could grant the countries exploitation rights to potential energy and mineral wealth above and below the sea floor.
Mr Harper said the centre will expand Canada's knowledge of the Arctic's resources and climate Canada will set up a research station at Cambridge Bay in the Arctic, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said.
The facility will be a "world-class, year-round, multidisciplinary facility exploring the cutting-edge of Arctic science" Mr Harper said in a statement.The announcement comes at a time when melting ice has opened the territory up to shipping and mineral exploration.
The move is designed to bolster Canada's claims to disputed parts of the territory.
At the start of his annual summer tour to the region, Mr Harper shrugged off an incident earlier this month when Danish tourists planted Danish and Greenland flags on a disputed islet called Hans Island, saying Canada had bigger fish to fry.
'Vibrant and secure'
Canada says the facility is part of a new four-part strategy in the north.
It also said other parts of the plan include protecting the Arctic ecosystem, developing a strong Northern economy and encouraging greater local control. Interest in the region has increased because of the Arctic's melting ice, which could give oil rigs improved access to the sea floor.
"By building this leading-edge research station, we are advancing Canada's knowledge of the Arctic's resources and climate while at the same time ensuring that Northern communities are prosperous, vibrant and secure," Mr Harper said during a five-day tour through the Arctic.
The prime minister made his announcement from Churchill, which he said would receive funding to improve the local airport. Canada and the United States began a five-week joint Arctic survey early in August, which will partly take place in a section of the energy-rich Beaufort Sea that is claimed by both countries. The survey could grant the countries exploitation rights to potential energy and mineral wealth above and below the sea floor.
Canadian Archeologist- Ian Kuijt
Canadians are doing amazing work all around the world. Here is one excellent example
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Alex Covile is 90
David Alexander Colville, PC, CC, ONS (born August 24, 1920 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian painter.
Colville's family moved from Toronto to Amherst, Nova Scotia in 1929. He attended Mount Allison University from 1938–1942, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Colville married Rhoda Wright that year and enlisted in the Canadian Army under the War Artist Program. During his four-year deployment to the European Theatre, he worked as one of Canada's most famous war artists, famously painting troops landing at Juno Beach on D-Day.
Colville returned to New Brunswick after the war and became a faculty member with the Fine Arts Department at Mount Allison University where he taught from 1946 - 1963. Colville left teaching to devote himself to painting and print-making full-time from a studio in his home on York Street; this building is now named Colville House.
In 1973, he moved his family to his wife's hometown of Wolfville, Nova Scotia where they lived in the house that her father had built and in which she was born. The Colvilles have three sons and a daughter along with eight grandchildren
Canadians Working Abroad
In a recent newspaper article it was reported that the Canadian government was moving to ensure that foreign workers here in Canada are fairly treated. I think that this is imperative for a number of reasons. The first is that the exploitation of anyone should be an anathma to Canada and Canadians. Anyone who mistreats a foreign worker taints Canada in the eyes of everyone who will ever hear of that person's experience in our country. Secondly, if you see the chart above it is evident that many Canadians work abroad and in order to protect them and to ensure that we have a say in how they are treated we must have our own house in order.
I recently learned that a friend's daughter and her boyfriend who when to Korea at Christmas last year have been very badly treated while there on a teaching contract. They were promised a year of employment, living accomodations and return transportation. Now, half way through the contract they are being denied the remainder of the contract, the living accomodations and their return trip ticket because the Korean owner of the private school says he cannot afford what he promised. They are half way around the world and there is no one to appeal to for enforcement of the 'contract'.
People who work in foreign countries do so for a wide variety of reasons. They disperse a bit of Canada to the world in a way no advertising or film can do. Fairness in our laws and a really good experience with Canadians is the best way forward towards world peace.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Electric Car with Chassis made from cannabis- Oh Canada!
Motive Industries, an automotive design firm in Canada, is developing the most literal of green vehicles--an electric car with a chassis made from cannabis.
The body of the Kestrel, a four-seat electric vehicle, is engineered using impact-resistant biocomposite derived from Canadian grown and manufactured hemp mats. Its construction takes enviromentally friendly engineering one step further--the hemp fibers in the composite keep the body weight low, which reduces the energy needed to propel the vehicle while offering a renewable alternative to composites derived from petrochemicals. Aptera, a California-based EV start-up, uses silica-based fabric for its composite material that is impossible to dent with a sledgehammer, according to the manufacturer.
Prototyping and testing on the Kestrel will take place later this month. Motive's goal is to achieve a reduction in weight while maintaining the same mechanical properties as the car's glass-based counterpart. More information about the zero-emission Kestrel will be released in September at the 2010 VE Conference and Trade Show in Vancouver
The body of the Kestrel, a four-seat electric vehicle, is engineered using impact-resistant biocomposite derived from Canadian grown and manufactured hemp mats. Its construction takes enviromentally friendly engineering one step further--the hemp fibers in the composite keep the body weight low, which reduces the energy needed to propel the vehicle while offering a renewable alternative to composites derived from petrochemicals. Aptera, a California-based EV start-up, uses silica-based fabric for its composite material that is impossible to dent with a sledgehammer, according to the manufacturer.
Prototyping and testing on the Kestrel will take place later this month. Motive's goal is to achieve a reduction in weight while maintaining the same mechanical properties as the car's glass-based counterpart. More information about the zero-emission Kestrel will be released in September at the 2010 VE Conference and Trade Show in Vancouver
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
The Canadian Accent
Russel Peters does the white Canadian Accent. (Be ADVISED that language is a problem in this video).
Friday, August 20, 2010
If I had a Billion dollars.....Barenaked Ladies go political
If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd build you a lake (I would build you a lake)
If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd buy you furniture for your lake (maybe a nice Muskoka chair, or a hammock)
If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd buy you a steamboat (a nice reliant paddleboat)
If I had a billion dollars, I'd buy you vote
If I had a billion dollars
I'd build a gazebo in your town
If I had a billion dollars
We could put it where the general store was torn down
If I had a billion dollars
Maybe we could put a jumbotron in there
(You know, we could just take the steamboat there and hang out,
even though it's nowhere near the summit
Maybe we'll see Tony Clement! or Russians!
I love Russians!)
If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd buy you rubber bullets (but not real rubber bullets that's cruel)
If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd buy you an exotic meal (like a duck breast, or maybe fugu)
If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd buy Diefenbaker's remains (All them crazy Prime Minister's bones)
If I had a billion dollars I'd buy your vote
If I had a billion dollars
We wouldn't have to walk to the shore
If I had a billion dollars
We'd build it in Toronto cause it costs more
If I had a billion dollars
We wouldn't have to eat Kraft dinner
(but we would eat Kraft dinner because we're trying to showcase Canada to the world here and Kraft Dinner is Canadian, right?)
If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd buy you a canoe (but not a real canoe that's cruel)
If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd buy you a fence (maybe concrete, or razor wire)
If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd buy you a sound cannon (haven't you always wanted a sound cannon?)
If I had a billion dollars If I had a billion dollars
If I had a billion ollars
If I had a billion dollars...
I'd be Steve.
(with minor edits throughout the day, and video soon to come)
Posted by Jennifer Smith at 11:49 PM
Topics: Conservative economics
Run Ze Cao- Overall 7th in the World
Run Ze Cao, a student from Martingrove Collegiate in Etobicoke, Ont., placed second in the competition among 233 of the world's brightest young scientists. His three teammates — Rex Xia of Toronto's Northern Secondary School, Qingda Hu of the Ontario Science Centre School in Toronto and Melodie Guan, a student from the University of Toronto Schools — placed in the top 50 per cent of competitors.
Each student was selected from high schools across the country though a rigorous evaluation process involving tests and essays. For Guan,it was a potentially life-changing experience. Like the rest of her team, Guan, 15, has always been a straight-A student. But it wasn't until she reached the international biology competition that she thought a career in biology-related research was possible.
Her parents suggested she pursue business administration because of Guan's affinity for mathematics. But since the competition, they have come around to the idea of a career in research. "They saw that I really liked it," she said. "And that I'm pretty good at it." Pretty good, indeed. Guan placed seventh overall in the world.
The competition, which ran this year from July 11 to 18, draws students from 59 countries to compete in theoretical exams as well as experiment-style labs. The first lab had students examine an aerial photograph and calculate the location's biodiversity. The second asked students to identify insects and plants and explain how one benefits the other. Another had them to examine the concentration of a specific protein, and the final lab was a dissection.
The specimen? A spider.
Guan said she breezed through the theoretical exams but was stumped by the dissection. "I had never dissected anything that small," she said. "I couldn't find a scalpel, so I tried to do it with my hands.
"That was definitely the most difficult part," she added. "During my training we dissected larger species, like starfish and worms, but never anything that small."
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/07/27/f-biology-olympiad-canada.html#ixzz0x9lTe0OX
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
David Suzuki endures Rick Mercer to get the message out
One of the earliest postings on this site was about David Suzuki, an admirable Canadian who has worked tirelessly to change our interaction with our home planet. Here he is a good sport playing along with Rick Mercer who has challenged him to some rigorous and crazy activities (even though Suzuki is 71 at that time).
,
,
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Bob and Doug McKenzie
If you look in Wikipedia under Bob and Doug McKenzie, you can learn about the identities and projects that these two Canadian comedians has undertaken. Their work has helped to shape American perception of Canadians. I went looking for this information after reading about the "Hoser Mafia" or the C100 business men. Canadian expats in Silicon valley are actively working to bring venture capital to Canada's brilliant computer technology engineers who have struggling start ups. Americans have dubbed them 'the Hoser Mafia'. - You just never know how far comedy will reach!
Hosers Eh!
Hosers Eh!
Monday, August 16, 2010
Weird Al Yankovich: Canadian Idiot
This song is pretty fun and it was done in response to American Idiot by Canadian band Green Peace.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Ottawa to pledge extra $30M for Pakistan
Last Updated: Friday, August 13, 2010
9:52 PM ET Comments95Recommend20.CBC News
The federal government will announce an additional $30 million in aid to help out flood-ravaged Pakistan.
House Leader John Baird will make the announcement Saturday, senior government sources told CBC News.The money is in addition to $2 million announced earlier this month.
Around 1,500 people have been killed in floods that have torn through many northern communities and are spreading in the south. As many as 14 million people have been disrupted and nearly 700,000 hectares of crops are under water, according to the United Nations.
The United States has donated the most, at least $70 million, and has sent military helicopters to rescue stranded people and drop food and water. Britain has pledged more than $32 million U.S.
Other major donations, also in U.S. funds, include $10 million from Australia, $5 million from Kuwait, $3.5 million from Japan and $3.3 million from Norway.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/08/13/pakistan-aid.html#ixzz0waIRe75B
9:52 PM ET Comments95Recommend20.CBC News
The federal government will announce an additional $30 million in aid to help out flood-ravaged Pakistan.
House Leader John Baird will make the announcement Saturday, senior government sources told CBC News.The money is in addition to $2 million announced earlier this month.
Around 1,500 people have been killed in floods that have torn through many northern communities and are spreading in the south. As many as 14 million people have been disrupted and nearly 700,000 hectares of crops are under water, according to the United Nations.
The United States has donated the most, at least $70 million, and has sent military helicopters to rescue stranded people and drop food and water. Britain has pledged more than $32 million U.S.
Other major donations, also in U.S. funds, include $10 million from Australia, $5 million from Kuwait, $3.5 million from Japan and $3.3 million from Norway.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/08/13/pakistan-aid.html#ixzz0waIRe75B
George Stombolopolis with Canadian Leaders
I have assembled below interviews with former Canadian Prime Ministers (in the first three interviews) and prominent leaders of opposition parties. George Strombolopolis is a great young interviewer with a lot of humanity and insight.
Mulroney – George Strombolopolis
Paul Martin – George Stromobolopolis
Jean Chretien- George Strombolopolis
John Layton- George Strombolopolis
Stephen Dion – George Strombolopolis
Mulroney – George Strombolopolis
Paul Martin – George Stromobolopolis
Jean Chretien- George Strombolopolis
John Layton- George Strombolopolis
Stephen Dion – George Strombolopolis
Friday, August 13, 2010
Polar Bear Fail
Wes Werbowy, 67, a longtime wilderness consultant, had a close bear encounter while he was camping on July 16 near Whale Cove, Nunavut, where he was training three Inuit hunters to be eco-tour guides.
The campers were about 48 kilometres inland from Whale Cove. Werbowy said they had set up separate sleeping and cooking tents in order to minimize the risk of a bear coming close. But that did not deter a large male polar bear from approaching Werbowy's tent just after 3 a.m., while he was tucked into his sleeping bag."I heard the scenting sound of a bear, and it's sort of ... inhaling, trying to get the scent of his supper," said Werbowy, making a deep snorting sound to imitate the bear's sound.
"The bear was like an apparition," he said. "There was no beginning of the movement; there was no subtlety. It was 'Vroomp!' [and] he was there."The front of my tent is collapsed inward, and his nose is about two feet from my face." If Werbowy's situation was not already dire enough, he said the polar bear was standing on his firearm, which he had left at the front of his now-collapsed tent.
So Werbowy said he did what an Inuit elder once told him to do: punch the polar bear in the nose.
"I quite believed it's going to be the last thing I ever did, so I might as well do a good job," he said. "The bear vanished as rapidly as he appeared." Punching the bear's nose felt like punching a slab of hamburger meat, Werbowy recalled.
As for Werbowy, he said every day since that fateful punch has felt like a blessing.
"I do not have a scratch, and the bear is alive. We didn't have to kill him," he said. "It was a win-win-win all the way around."
This sounds like a thoroughly Canadian approach to me! Well done Wes!
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2010/08/13/nunavut-polar-bear-punch.html#socialcomments-submit#ixzz0wWZRUhBO
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2010/08/13/nunavut-polar-bear-punch.html#socialcomments-submit#ixzz0wWYajHrX
Pearson announces the death of Kennedy
Archival footage demonstrates how closely the Canadian and American heart have been intertwined by the grief clearly demonstrated by the Prime Minister of Canada after JFK had been shot.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Microchip imbedded with brain cells
The Canadian Press
Date: Wednesday Aug. 11, 2010 9:14 AM ET
TORONTO — It seems like the stuff of science fiction, but Canadian researchers have created a microchip embedded with brain cells that allows them to "listen in" as the neurons communicate with each other.
This brain-on-a-chip will make it possible to test drugs for a number of neurological conditions in a much quicker, efficient and accurate way, said principal researcher Naweed Syed, head of cell biology and anatomy at the University of Calgary.
The so-called neurochip -- a millimetre-square marriage of the electronic and organic -- is a big step forward on a previous chip produced by Syed's group that used brain cells from snails, which are four to 10 times larger than human neurons. "This particular idea originates from our earlier finding a few years ago whereby we were the first team in the world to develop the first bionic hybrid," he said Tuesday from Calgary. "And what it meant was that you could now have brain cells that could talk to an electronic device and then the electronic device could talk back to the brain cells."
While this prototype biochip allowed the researchers to pick up the "talking bit," it wasn't refined enough to let them tune in to the underlying "chatter" that went on among brain cells. "So now we can detect it," said Syed, explaining that "talk" and "chatter" are metaphors for the electrical signals that pass between neurons.
Brain cells communicate with each other through electrical and chemical messages that cause them to either be excited or to relax. Electrical messages, for instance, take a pathway on the neuron's surface known as an ion channel -- a component of the brain cell that is critical when it comes to drug testing.
In the next few months, the team plans to begin drug testing using their tiny device embedded with a network of brain cells surgically removed from patients with epilepsy. "Now when we can get this cell, we can put it on our chip and then we can record ion-channel activity, but also find the best drug that will block seizures in that particular individual's cells," he said.
The research, conducted with the National Research Council and published online in the journal Biomedical Devices, could also speed up the search for drugs to treat such neurological diseases as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
The brain-on-a-chip could also help drug companies more easily isolate compounds that would provide the next generation of pain killers or medications that could control addictions, Syed suggested. "So I think it opens up the possibility of exploring brain cell function at a much higher resolution than has ever been done before."
Date: Wednesday Aug. 11, 2010 9:14 AM ET
TORONTO — It seems like the stuff of science fiction, but Canadian researchers have created a microchip embedded with brain cells that allows them to "listen in" as the neurons communicate with each other.
This brain-on-a-chip will make it possible to test drugs for a number of neurological conditions in a much quicker, efficient and accurate way, said principal researcher Naweed Syed, head of cell biology and anatomy at the University of Calgary.
The so-called neurochip -- a millimetre-square marriage of the electronic and organic -- is a big step forward on a previous chip produced by Syed's group that used brain cells from snails, which are four to 10 times larger than human neurons. "This particular idea originates from our earlier finding a few years ago whereby we were the first team in the world to develop the first bionic hybrid," he said Tuesday from Calgary. "And what it meant was that you could now have brain cells that could talk to an electronic device and then the electronic device could talk back to the brain cells."
While this prototype biochip allowed the researchers to pick up the "talking bit," it wasn't refined enough to let them tune in to the underlying "chatter" that went on among brain cells. "So now we can detect it," said Syed, explaining that "talk" and "chatter" are metaphors for the electrical signals that pass between neurons.
Brain cells communicate with each other through electrical and chemical messages that cause them to either be excited or to relax. Electrical messages, for instance, take a pathway on the neuron's surface known as an ion channel -- a component of the brain cell that is critical when it comes to drug testing.
In the next few months, the team plans to begin drug testing using their tiny device embedded with a network of brain cells surgically removed from patients with epilepsy. "Now when we can get this cell, we can put it on our chip and then we can record ion-channel activity, but also find the best drug that will block seizures in that particular individual's cells," he said.
The research, conducted with the National Research Council and published online in the journal Biomedical Devices, could also speed up the search for drugs to treat such neurological diseases as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
The brain-on-a-chip could also help drug companies more easily isolate compounds that would provide the next generation of pain killers or medications that could control addictions, Syed suggested. "So I think it opens up the possibility of exploring brain cell function at a much higher resolution than has ever been done before."
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Power of Social Networks
In his new book, Macrowikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World, Canadian Don Tapscott explains that we are at a turning point in human history.
Old models and old institutions, everything from the nation state to the media, have stalled, he says.
"Thanks to the internet, there are now new global networks that are multi-stakeholder and that are beginning to address global problems in new ways,"
"These are networks that involve governments, private companies, civil society organisations and a new fourth pillar of society — individuals.
"These individuals now, at their fingertips, have a powerful tool for finding out what's going on, for organizing a collective response to something and for participating in solving problems."
Changing aid work
Aid organizations are not immune from this change, Tapscott said. "We are in a period right now that's sort of like the Big Bang. There's all these pieces flying everywhere and nobody really knows how it's going to settle down." For him, though, one thing is clear: International aid — indeed, international politics — is going to have to "take into account these new models of global problem solving where you have multi-stakeholder networks."
So-called crisis camps sprang up in cities around the world, including Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Calgary. Over 1,500 people worldwide volunteered to help with the networking. These camps worked with groups that are providing direct aid to Haiti to get them information and tools they needed.
"This group has pioneered a new kind of aid organization," Crisis Commons posted on its web site.
"What we have achieved is this idea and this germination that we can help in a different way," Heather Leson, the volunteer CrisisCamp coordinator for Toronto, told CBC News.
"It's a whole new ballgame. It's a new way to collect donations better. It's a new way to get the message out and fast, a new way to build community and volunteers." For veteran internet observers such as Tapscott, the Haiti efforts show the medium can "marshal the collective ingenuity of society to solve problems on a time-scale that matters."
Tapscott was part of a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month, called, "The Power of Social Networks."
The theme of Davos this year was "Rethink, redesign, rebuild the world," and Tapscott said he was encouraged that there seemed to be an understanding of this "new paradigm" involving social media and their many uses in helping places like Haiti."There is a whole new paradigm, this multi-stakeholder network that will enable us to solve global problems," said Tapscott, "and then plunked right in the middle of the discussion is this actual example of this occurring."
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/03/30/f-haiti-rebuild-tapscott.html#ixzz0wFctFA7x
Monday, August 9, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Pakistani spy refused home in Canada
Pakistani spy refused home in Canada
By TOM GODFREY, QMI Agency
TORONTO - A Pakistani spy who kept an eye on Canadians, Americans and other foreigners abroad has lost a battle to make this country his home. Haroon Peer, a Danish citizen, was refused permanent residency in this country following a sponsorship bid by his Canadian-born wife to bring him here. The couple were married in 2002 and have three Canadian-born kids.
Peer, who now lives in Dubai, said he wanted to resettle here with his family to escape the "current instability in Pakistan." He was turned down because of his 1995 to 2004 work for three Pakistani intelligence agencies that included the Corps of Military Intelligence (CMI), the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI), according to Federal Court of Canada documents.
The notorious CMI is responsible for counter-insurgency operations in Pakistan. Its officers monitor military and political leaders and eliminate sleeper cells, foreign agents and other threats inside Pakistan. Peer appealed the August 2009 rejection to the Federal Court which last month upheld the travel ban.
"The Canadian High Commission in Islamabad flagged this disclosure as a possible source of inadmissability," Justice Russel Zinn said in a July 19 decision.
Peer told Canadian immigration officials he spied on Indian, Israeli and American intelligence personnel and services in Pakistan.
By TOM GODFREY, QMI Agency
TORONTO - A Pakistani spy who kept an eye on Canadians, Americans and other foreigners abroad has lost a battle to make this country his home. Haroon Peer, a Danish citizen, was refused permanent residency in this country following a sponsorship bid by his Canadian-born wife to bring him here. The couple were married in 2002 and have three Canadian-born kids.
Peer, who now lives in Dubai, said he wanted to resettle here with his family to escape the "current instability in Pakistan." He was turned down because of his 1995 to 2004 work for three Pakistani intelligence agencies that included the Corps of Military Intelligence (CMI), the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI), according to Federal Court of Canada documents.
The notorious CMI is responsible for counter-insurgency operations in Pakistan. Its officers monitor military and political leaders and eliminate sleeper cells, foreign agents and other threats inside Pakistan. Peer appealed the August 2009 rejection to the Federal Court which last month upheld the travel ban.
"The Canadian High Commission in Islamabad flagged this disclosure as a possible source of inadmissability," Justice Russel Zinn said in a July 19 decision.
Peer told Canadian immigration officials he spied on Indian, Israeli and American intelligence personnel and services in Pakistan.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Canadians Win World wide Emergency Response Competition
It's the world's largest such competition, held every two years.
Congratulations to a team from London Ontario who won the world Emergency Response Competion in Israel.
The team included Sevro Rodriguez, program manager for the paramedic base hospital in London, Jeff Conway, advanced care paramedic with London-Middlesex, Dwayne Cottel, advanced care paramedic and regional paramedic educator with base hospital, and Dr. Yaniv Berliner, an emergency doctor at St. Thomas-Elgin General Hospital and the London Health Sciences Centre.
During the three-day competition held in the Carmel and Gilboa regions of Israel, their day would start at 7 a.m. when they were handed the first envelope. Inside would be the directions to where they had to go and the call type, such as to address a chest pain or shortness of breath, adult or child.
"That was all the information we had. It was much like if you were in Middlesex and you would get a call from the dispatch," Rodriguez said. The team was given a fully-stocked ambulance and a driver.
When they arrived at the scene, they'd find professional actors who had scripted roles and multiple evaluators.
In one scenario, they arrived at a park and found out they had to use horses to navigate the seven kilometres through rough terrain to get to the patient. That meant working out what equipment they needed to carry with them and what to leave behind. At some point in the exercises, the evaluators would call a halt, thank the team for their work and then hand them another envelope with their next assignment. "The process was repeated over and over and over again," Rodriguez said.
One of the most challenging exercises involved what paramedics call an MCI -- a mass-casualty incident -- in which there were victims that could be treated by the paramedics. The teams were told there'd been a group of school kids who were exposed to something and now had medical complaints, including burning eyes and respiratory problems.
While the other international teams rushed in to treat the patients, the Canadians held back and debated what to do. "'Do we go in? There are suggestions of gas, it is unsafe,'" Rodriguez said. Following their training, they waited until they were told the area was no longer life-threatening. "We were the last team to go into the situation. Others were treating patients, contaminating themselves," Berliner said.
Cottel said he's still pumped from the Canadians being awarded the top prize.
I found this information from an article written by:john.miner@sunmedia.ca
Canadian contribution to the Universal Declaration of Human rights
Human Rights- Universal Declaration of Human Rights John Humphrey
Friday, August 6, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Canadians more foul-mouthed than Britons, Americans: poll
When I was a child my father often said "Profanity is the crutch of a conversational cripple". That expression appears to be quite quaint in light of the following article.
Canadians more foul-mouthed than Britons, Americans: poll
By Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver Sun August 5, 2010 1:09 AM Canadians tend to swear more often than Americans or Britons when talking to their friends, but B.C. residents are more polite than most of their peers across the country, according to an Angus Reid poll.
Fifty-six per cent of Canadians polled in the online survey last month said they frequently or occasionally swear when talking to friends, compared with 51 per cent of Britons and 46 per cent of Americans. And when it comes to relatives, a third of Britons (33 per cent) and Americans (32 per cent) say they never swear in front of family members, compared with 27 per cent of Canadians. But even though Canadians might use foul language more often, the F-bomb isn't dropped uniformly across the country.
In B.C., 38 per cent of those surveyed say they always alter the way they speak so as not to swear in public, with only 11 per cent saying they never change their speech to avoid swearing. By comparison, a mere five per cent of respondents in the Atlantic provinces say they never alter their speech, which is significantly lower than 15 per cent in the Prairie provinces and 21 per cent in Ontario and Quebec.
"B. C. came out as one of the politest provinces in the country," Angus Reid spokesman Mario Canseco said. "What's pushed us over the edge is [survey results from] Quebec. B.C. is more conservative in how they use swear words."
The results were surprising to Canseco, who had expected Britons and Americans to swear more often than Canadians. The poll, which surveyed 1,012 Canadian, 1,013 American and 1,992 British adults, was initiated after Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson was overheard using the F-word following a public hearing at city hall last month. Seven in 10 respondents in all three countries didn't think it was appropriate for politicians, doctors, police officers or lawyers to swear -- even if they didn't believe anyone was listening -- while between 60 and 67 per cent deemed it was wrong for athletes to swear.
More than half of Britons and Americans condemned foul language used by actors and auto mechanics, while fewer than half of Canadians were unhappy about the language used by those groups. Canadians and Britons were more likely to report that their co-workers swore on a regular basis, while Americans said their relatives swore more frequently.
If you're in Britain, you can expect to hear the F-word more often from strangers, the poll found.
The July 20-23 poll, surveyed randomly selected adults who are Angus Reid Forum panellists, Springboard America and Springboard UK panellists. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points in Canada and the U.S. and 2.2 points in the U.K.
ksinoski@vancouversun.com
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Canadians+more+foul+mouthed+than+Britons+Americans+poll/3362075/story.html#ixzz0vjQmnY2D
Canadians more foul-mouthed than Britons, Americans: poll
By Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver Sun August 5, 2010 1:09 AM Canadians tend to swear more often than Americans or Britons when talking to their friends, but B.C. residents are more polite than most of their peers across the country, according to an Angus Reid poll.
Fifty-six per cent of Canadians polled in the online survey last month said they frequently or occasionally swear when talking to friends, compared with 51 per cent of Britons and 46 per cent of Americans. And when it comes to relatives, a third of Britons (33 per cent) and Americans (32 per cent) say they never swear in front of family members, compared with 27 per cent of Canadians. But even though Canadians might use foul language more often, the F-bomb isn't dropped uniformly across the country.
In B.C., 38 per cent of those surveyed say they always alter the way they speak so as not to swear in public, with only 11 per cent saying they never change their speech to avoid swearing. By comparison, a mere five per cent of respondents in the Atlantic provinces say they never alter their speech, which is significantly lower than 15 per cent in the Prairie provinces and 21 per cent in Ontario and Quebec.
"B. C. came out as one of the politest provinces in the country," Angus Reid spokesman Mario Canseco said. "What's pushed us over the edge is [survey results from] Quebec. B.C. is more conservative in how they use swear words."
The results were surprising to Canseco, who had expected Britons and Americans to swear more often than Canadians. The poll, which surveyed 1,012 Canadian, 1,013 American and 1,992 British adults, was initiated after Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson was overheard using the F-word following a public hearing at city hall last month. Seven in 10 respondents in all three countries didn't think it was appropriate for politicians, doctors, police officers or lawyers to swear -- even if they didn't believe anyone was listening -- while between 60 and 67 per cent deemed it was wrong for athletes to swear.
More than half of Britons and Americans condemned foul language used by actors and auto mechanics, while fewer than half of Canadians were unhappy about the language used by those groups. Canadians and Britons were more likely to report that their co-workers swore on a regular basis, while Americans said their relatives swore more frequently.
If you're in Britain, you can expect to hear the F-word more often from strangers, the poll found.
The July 20-23 poll, surveyed randomly selected adults who are Angus Reid Forum panellists, Springboard America and Springboard UK panellists. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points in Canada and the U.S. and 2.2 points in the U.K.
ksinoski@vancouversun.com
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Canadians+more+foul+mouthed+than+Britons+Americans+poll/3362075/story.html#ixzz0vjQmnY2D
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Meet Stewart Beck- 'Hoser' Helper
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Consul General,
Consulate General of Canada San, Francisco/Silicon Valley
BIO taken from government of Canada website
Stewart Beck was appointed Consul General of Canada in August 2009 with accreditation for northern California, Nevada, Hawaii, and Guam.
Mr. Beck graduated in 1979 from Queen’s University, Kingston with a BA, a BPHE and an MBA. He spent several years working as a business consultant and as Assistant Professor at Queen’s University School of Business in Kingston, Ontario. Mr. Beck joined Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1982 as a Trade Commissioner. Mr. Beck has served inthe United States, Asia and Canada, including positions in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Miami and Taipei as well as in Shanghai as Consul General for Canada.
Most recently, he has been responsible for the Government of Canada’s Foreign Direct Investment, International Innovation and International Business Development operations. This included oversight of the Canada-California Strategic Innovation Partnership, the management of Science and Technology agreements and relationships with other countries. As part of his mandate, Mr. Beck oversaw the development and execution of Canada’s Foreign Direct Investment Program; the focus of the strategy being the promotion of Canada’s knowledge-based industries and capabilities in key markets and sectors globally. This Canadian Foreign Direct Investment Program worked with organizations like Forbes and the Association for Corporate Growth to increase investment in Canada and to activate the Canadian brand. He oversaw the Trade Commissioner Service, a network with over 140 offices around the world, pursuing global business opportunities for Canadian clients working or headquartered in Canada.
You will read about the contributions that he is currently making in the posting below entitled The Hoser Mafia.
The 'Hoser' Mafia
In an article in Bill Mann's Canada in Marketwatch, I read the phrase the 'Hoser Mafia' for the first time and laughed aloud. Apparently, DFAIT with the help of a group of expat Canadians from Silicon Valley (C100) has organized barnstorming tours throughout Canada by a group of American and Canadian venture capitalists to selected Canada-based start-ups who are looking for VC help.
“Canada is a young and dynamic country with a young and highly educated population. We want to help Canadians build different kinds of companies, to start out on their own — instead of just being a Canadian subsidiary of a foreign company. Canada has traditionally relied on commodities, as we all know,” says C100 organizing committee member Ron Piovesan, Toronto-born manager of corporate development at Cisco Systems.
All this is being coordinated by Stewart Beck, Canadian consul general in San Francisco. Canadian government subsidies to tech start-ups have disappeared, so Beck and the government are now networking Silicon Valley tech people to their countrymen back home. Business Without Borders says some 300,000 Canadian expatriates work in such Silicon Valley companies as Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook, and many are execs of the big tech firms. DFAIT and the C100 are working together to get Silicon VC/tech money flowing northward to Canada.
“Canada is a young and dynamic country with a young and highly educated population. We want to help Canadians build different kinds of companies, to start out on their own — instead of just being a Canadian subsidiary of a foreign company. Canada has traditionally relied on commodities, as we all know,” says C100 organizing committee member Ron Piovesan, Toronto-born manager of corporate development at Cisco Systems.
All this is being coordinated by Stewart Beck, Canadian consul general in San Francisco. Canadian government subsidies to tech start-ups have disappeared, so Beck and the government are now networking Silicon Valley tech people to their countrymen back home. Business Without Borders says some 300,000 Canadian expatriates work in such Silicon Valley companies as Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook, and many are execs of the big tech firms. DFAIT and the C100 are working together to get Silicon VC/tech money flowing northward to Canada.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Joint US and Canadian Arctic Survey
US-Canada Arctic border dispute key to maritime richesBy Sian Griffiths
BBC News, Ottawa
Canada and the United States are beginning a five-week joint Arctic survey, part of which will take place in a section of the energy-rich Beaufort Sea that is claimed by both countries.The survey is intended to help the neighbours determine the extent of their continental shelves.
The bi-national study is part of an ongoing race by the Arctic nations - the US, Canada, Russia, Norway and Denmark - to gather evidence to submit claims under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It could grant them exploitation rights to potential energy and mineral wealth above and below the sea floor. Currently, coastal nations can claim exploitation rights in an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) - a 200-mile (322km) nautical area beyond their land territory.
If the Arctic nations can prove that their submerged territory extends beyond 200 miles, they could gain access to vast untapped resources which lie beneath the pristine waters of the polar region.
"perfect opportunity for a win-win, negotiated solution,”
Michael Byer University of British Columbia However, a major obstacle for Canada and the US is the uncertainty over how their Arctic maritime boundary should be defined.
"Canada and the United States need this data, both to delineate the continental shelf and to assist in the eventual resolution of the Beaufort Sea maritime boundary dispute," explained Canada's Foreign Affairs minister, Lawrence Cannon, in a press release describing why the two countries were co-operating on this mission.
Treaty claim
UNCLOS, which Canada has ratified and which the US has expressed a desire to ratify, has focused the attention of the two neighbours on their unresolved Arctic boundary, according to Professor Donald McRae of Ottawa University.
"The dispute really only dates from around the 1970s, because until the 200-mile zones came into existence, states paid little attention to maritime boundaries," Professor McRae, also a member of the UN International Law Commission, told the BBC. The US claimed its 200-mile zone in 1976; Canada in 1977.
But the roots of Canada's claim are historical - based on an 1825 treaty between Russia and Great Britain, the countries which possessed Alaska and Canada in the 19th century.
Russia sold Alaska to the United States in 1867 while Great Britain handed its Canadian possessions to Canada when it became an independent country. Canada's interpretation of the treaty, written in French, is that the maritime boundary extends north of the Alaska-Yukon border into the sea.
However, the US rejects Canada's claim that the treaty fixes a maritime border. Instead, it bases its claim on the equidistance method, "a line drawn so it is equidistant from the coasts of both parties," explains Professor McRae. On a map, the resulting overlap in border claims resembles a pie-slice, approximately the size of Lake Ontario - one of North America's Great Lakes, covering a vast area of just over 21,000 sq km.
Pressure to drill
While there was previously no pressure to resolve a border in a remote, icy, inhospitable region, the stakes have increased for both countries with the discovery of vast hydrocarbon deposits in the disputed area.
Melting sea ice is making the Arctic more accessible to shipping and resource exploration According to figures made available to the BBC by Canada's National Energy Board, the seabed below the disputed area is eye-wateringly resource-rich, containing a potential 1.7bn cubic metres of gas - enough gas to supply Canada for 20 years - and over 1bn cubic metres of oil.
The US has called a moratorium on any American offshore drilling pending a review of the Gulf of Mexico spill while Canada is currently considering bids from companies interested in offshore exploration.
However, no drilling is due to to take place in Canada's Arctic waters until the National Energy Board has completed its review of offshore drilling. But before any further development can take place, the border question has to be resolved.
Last month, it was revealed that quiet negotiations, a "dialogue of experts", began in Ottawa with the approval of Mr Cannon and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A second meeting is due to take place in Washington next year.
Ironically, says Professor McRae, beyond 200 miles "the Canadian line is better for the US - and the US line better for Canada".
This strange twist could actually be the key to resolving this outstanding border issue - to the great benefit of both parties, according to University of British Columbia law professor and Arctic expert Michael Byers. "All of a sudden, we have this almost perfect opportunity for a win-win, negotiated solution," said Professor Byers in an interview with the Ottawa Citizen earlier this year.
"Regardless of which method you use [to determine the boundary], each country is going to get a substantial amount of what is the new disputed sector - the perfect recipe for a negotiated compromise".
And with the territory comes access to the huge energy and mineral wealth lying beneath the waters.
BBC News, Ottawa
Canada and the United States are beginning a five-week joint Arctic survey, part of which will take place in a section of the energy-rich Beaufort Sea that is claimed by both countries.The survey is intended to help the neighbours determine the extent of their continental shelves.
The bi-national study is part of an ongoing race by the Arctic nations - the US, Canada, Russia, Norway and Denmark - to gather evidence to submit claims under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It could grant them exploitation rights to potential energy and mineral wealth above and below the sea floor. Currently, coastal nations can claim exploitation rights in an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) - a 200-mile (322km) nautical area beyond their land territory.
If the Arctic nations can prove that their submerged territory extends beyond 200 miles, they could gain access to vast untapped resources which lie beneath the pristine waters of the polar region.
"perfect opportunity for a win-win, negotiated solution,”
Michael Byer University of British Columbia However, a major obstacle for Canada and the US is the uncertainty over how their Arctic maritime boundary should be defined.
"Canada and the United States need this data, both to delineate the continental shelf and to assist in the eventual resolution of the Beaufort Sea maritime boundary dispute," explained Canada's Foreign Affairs minister, Lawrence Cannon, in a press release describing why the two countries were co-operating on this mission.
Treaty claim
UNCLOS, which Canada has ratified and which the US has expressed a desire to ratify, has focused the attention of the two neighbours on their unresolved Arctic boundary, according to Professor Donald McRae of Ottawa University.
"The dispute really only dates from around the 1970s, because until the 200-mile zones came into existence, states paid little attention to maritime boundaries," Professor McRae, also a member of the UN International Law Commission, told the BBC. The US claimed its 200-mile zone in 1976; Canada in 1977.
But the roots of Canada's claim are historical - based on an 1825 treaty between Russia and Great Britain, the countries which possessed Alaska and Canada in the 19th century.
Russia sold Alaska to the United States in 1867 while Great Britain handed its Canadian possessions to Canada when it became an independent country. Canada's interpretation of the treaty, written in French, is that the maritime boundary extends north of the Alaska-Yukon border into the sea.
However, the US rejects Canada's claim that the treaty fixes a maritime border. Instead, it bases its claim on the equidistance method, "a line drawn so it is equidistant from the coasts of both parties," explains Professor McRae. On a map, the resulting overlap in border claims resembles a pie-slice, approximately the size of Lake Ontario - one of North America's Great Lakes, covering a vast area of just over 21,000 sq km.
Pressure to drill
While there was previously no pressure to resolve a border in a remote, icy, inhospitable region, the stakes have increased for both countries with the discovery of vast hydrocarbon deposits in the disputed area.
Melting sea ice is making the Arctic more accessible to shipping and resource exploration According to figures made available to the BBC by Canada's National Energy Board, the seabed below the disputed area is eye-wateringly resource-rich, containing a potential 1.7bn cubic metres of gas - enough gas to supply Canada for 20 years - and over 1bn cubic metres of oil.
The US has called a moratorium on any American offshore drilling pending a review of the Gulf of Mexico spill while Canada is currently considering bids from companies interested in offshore exploration.
However, no drilling is due to to take place in Canada's Arctic waters until the National Energy Board has completed its review of offshore drilling. But before any further development can take place, the border question has to be resolved.
Last month, it was revealed that quiet negotiations, a "dialogue of experts", began in Ottawa with the approval of Mr Cannon and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A second meeting is due to take place in Washington next year.
Ironically, says Professor McRae, beyond 200 miles "the Canadian line is better for the US - and the US line better for Canada".
This strange twist could actually be the key to resolving this outstanding border issue - to the great benefit of both parties, according to University of British Columbia law professor and Arctic expert Michael Byers. "All of a sudden, we have this almost perfect opportunity for a win-win, negotiated solution," said Professor Byers in an interview with the Ottawa Citizen earlier this year.
"Regardless of which method you use [to determine the boundary], each country is going to get a substantial amount of what is the new disputed sector - the perfect recipe for a negotiated compromise".
And with the territory comes access to the huge energy and mineral wealth lying beneath the waters.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Canadian Heroes lost in Fighting Forest Fires
So often we forget to express our thanks. Across Canada forest lands and many lives are saved by the courage of the special people who face down forest fires. I am sure that many Canadians join me in sending their condolensenses to the families of the pilot and navigator of the water bomber that went down just before 9 p.m. local time Saturday, about 15 kilometres south of Lytton. The crash is said to have sparked an additional fire zone. Currently there are about a 1,000 firefighters on the front lines across B.C., supported by air tankers, helicopters and heavy machinery, to battle more than 300 forest fires.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/08/01/bc-wildfires.html#ixzz0vNAUJsuU
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