As the psychologically dark shadow of the city’s perennial moving day (July 1st) cozies up to hints of the summer sun, Montreal’s stout-hearted residents–many of them surrounded on three sides (as I am) by streets closed for road repairs (as well as all those pipes and wires that the guys on the job site like to stand…...إقرأالمزيد

Debate–mostly passionate, often heated and sometimes vitrolic–continues in both Canada and around the world over a ruling last week at the Court of Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland that rejected two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya’s appeal against the introduction of new rules regulating the testosterone…...إقرأالمزيد

The ongoing multi-year saga of Canada’s attempt to replace its ageing CF-18 fighter jets took yet another bizarre twist today. Every country making such enormous multi-billion dollar purchases  seeks to have domestic benefits in terms of manufacturing of components. Canada was to buy the F-35 in 2010, and has been sending tens of millions…...إقرأالمزيد

Canada’s Auditor-General, Sylvain Ricard, released a report yesterday that was critical of several aspects of government, among them the handling of asylum seekers. With a huge increase in asylum seekers entering into Canada from the U.S. at “irregular” crossing points, the system to deal with them is facing huge backlogs. Guidy Mamann…...إقرأالمزيد

Six conservation organizations and 40 partners from both Canada and the U.S. are meeting to try to maintain corridors between protected land in the province of Quebec. The conservation of the corridors is seen as essential for the movement of lynx and other animals like moose, bears and wolves. The Nature Conservancy of Canada says this will…...إقرأالمزيد

During this Asian Heritage Month, the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 will feature an event called Forgiveness, Family and Canadian Identity. It will involve a discussion with Mark Sakamoto who wrote a book about his Canadian grandparents who experienced World War II from very different angles. His grandfather, Ralph Maclean, was a Canadian…...إقرأالمزيد

A new study by Canadian and German scientists says the world is not on track to meet targets set in 190 countries, including Canada, to reduce alcohol consumption and its resulting ill-effects. The study, in Tuesday’s issue of The Lancet, comes eight months after the the largest and most detailed research ever carried out on the…...إقرأالمزيد

The unlikely Canadian undercover agent awarded the British Empire Medal Unlike the dapper spies of movies, an undercover agent has to be inconspicuous. Thus, Canadian Bill Chong, often dressed like a homeless peasant became one of the most successful of undercover agents operating in Japanese occupied Hong Kong. Born in 1911 in Vancouver, he was raised…...إقرأالمزيد

China’s growing involvement and interest in the Arctic could pave the way for a strengthened military presence in the region, including the deployment of submarines to act as deterrents against nuclear attack, the Pentagon said in a report released on Thursday. The one-page assessment of the potential Chinese threat in the Arctic is included…...إقرأالمزيد

In the March “Economic Action Plan” of 2012, a segment was devoted to the penny, the one cent coin. Originally made of copper, by 1997 to save production costs it was almost all zinc with a copper coating, and by 2000 mostly steel with a copper coating. Finance Minister Flaherty holds the last penny struck which will be entrusted to the…...إقرأالمزيد