From uni.ca ...
You probably missed it in the local news, but there was a report that someone in Pakistan had advertised in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed a Canadian - any Canadian.
An Australian dentist wrote the following editorial to help define what a Canadian is, so they would know one when they found one.
"A Canadian can be English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. A Canadian can be Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, Arab, Pakistani or Afghan. A Canadian may also be a Cree, Métis, Mohawk, Blackfoot, Sioux, or one of the many other tribes known as native Canadians. A Canadian's religious beliefs range from Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or none. In fact, there are more Muslims in Canada than in Afghanistan. The key difference is that in Canada they are free to worship as each of them chooses. Whether they have a religion or no religion, each Canadian ultimately answers only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.
A Canadian lives in one of the most prosperous lands in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which recognize the right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.
A Canadian is generous and Canadians have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return. Canadians welcome the best of everything, the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services and the best minds. But they also welcome the least - the oppressed, the outcast and the rejected.
These are the people who built Canada. You can try to kill a Canadian if you must, as other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world have tried, but in doing so you could just be killing a relative or a neighbour. This is because Canadians are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, can be a Canadian."
L'Institut Dominion, organisation vouée à la connaissance de l'histoire canadienne, vient de publier les résultats - déprimants - de son dernier sondage.
On a notamment posé aux Canadiens la question suivante: «Pouvez-vous me nommer le premier Premier Ministre francophone du Canada qui avait dit de façon optimiste que LE 20E SIÈCLE APPARTIENDRAIT AU CANADA?»
Seulement 25% des personnes interrogées ont pu donner la bonne réponse: Wilfrid Laurier. Au Québec, à peine 22% des répondants ont identifié correctement Laurier.
Interrogé sur l'identité du premier Premier ministre du Canada, 58% des Canadiens ont pu nommer John A. Macdonald, mais seulement 32% des Québécois ont trouvé la bonne réponse.
Une telle ignorance au sujet de deux des personnages les plus marquants de l'histoire canadienne - et de l'histoire des francophones du pays - est absolument renversante. Parmi les Canadiens de 18 à 34 ans, à peine 12% savaient que Wilfrid Laurier avait été le premier Canadien français à diriger le pays.
N'y a-t-il pas des cours d'histoire dans nos écoles? Personne n'a eu la curiosité de se demander qui était cet homme figurant sur les billets de 5$? Cet homme qui a des rues, des écoles, une université et combien d'autres établissements nommés en son honneur?
Pour plus de renseignements sur Wilfrid Laurier et John A. Macdonald, vous pouvez visiter ce site.
Not addressing the root causes of poverty is costing the Ontario economy about $13.1 billion annually, according to a study released on Thursday.
The study, entitled The Cost of Poverty, was conducted by the Ontario Association of Food Banks in collaboration with Canadian economists over a six-month period.
"It is wrong that so many Ontarians are forced to turn to food banks in our province," said Adam Spence, executive director of the food bank association. "But there is also an economic imperative to reduce poverty."
The study examines the relationship between poverty, poor health, lower productivity, and the social and economic future of children. It provides a cost-benefit analysis of poverty in Ontario from the standpoint of lost government revenues and lost economic activity.
"Poverty is a personal tragedy for everybody it inflicts. That alone justifies action," said Don Drummond, chief economist for TD Bank Financial Group, who served as a project adviser for the report.
The study's findings further strengthen the need to address poverty because it clearly illustrates the impact it is having on society, Drummond said.
The study finds that because of poverty, all Ontarians pay through increased costs for health care, crime and social assistance and in the loss of tax revenue that accompanies low earnings.
The social costs of poverty, in the private and public sectors, make up about 6.6 per cent of Ontario's gross domestic product, according to the report.
The study concludes the federal and provincial government are losing a combined total of as much as $13.1 billion a year in foregone tax revenues because of poverty.
By not addressing poverty, every household in the province is paying an up to extra $2,895 each year.
"The cost is so large that substantial efforts are warranted to fight it," Drummond said.
The research confirms that poverty has implications for all Ontarians, not just the poor, said James Milway, executive director of the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity.
"Whenever we hear that a program to help alleviate poverty by removing barriers or providing resources is going to cost X million dollars, there is seldom any mention of the savings that will accrue — there is an assumption that there are no offsetting savings — but nothing could be further from the truth," said John Stapleton, an innovation fellow with the George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation.
Developing a strategy that is primarily focused on attacking the roots of poverty could generate substantial government savings, the report indicates.
The study doesn't say how much the Ontario government would need to spend to end poverty but it urges the government to invest in areas such as childhood development, programs to improve school performance, higher education for at-risk youth, language training and workforce integration for new immigrants.
With files from the Canadian PressRae has served as the foreign affairs critic since being elected as an MP for the Toronto Centre riding in a byelection March.
He was Ontario's NDP premier from 1990 to 1995. He ran unsuccessfully for the Liberal leadership in 2006, which Stéphane Dion won. After the Liberals lost 18 seats in the Oct. 14 federal election, Dion announced he would step down as party leader when a new one was chosen.
A leadership convention is likely to happen in Vancouver in May, where the party had planned a biennial policy conference.
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