Mood:  chatty

Canada’s Policy on Immigrants Brings Backlog

Twenty percent of people living in Canada are foreign-born, a proportion second in the world only to Australia.

On Census day, May 16, 2006, almost 20 per cent of the population, or 6,186,950 people, were foreign born.

And for starters, for the first time, the proportion of foreign-born immigrants from Asian and Middle Eastern countries (41 per cent) have outstripped those of European heritage ..

I suppose the main reason why this is news breaking and not making is the fact that the level of this percentage of citizen immigration has not been duplicated since the 1930's, over 75 years ago.

More than one million immigrants arrived in Canada in the last five years, in places such as Richmond BC outside of Vancouver the number of citizen residents who were not born in Canada reflect most accurately the statistics above. Much the same as Greater Toronto where up to half the population is born out of Canada.

Half of GTA foreign-born: Census

In fact, the brunt of these growth spurts are being absorbed by the three largest cities in Canada (Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver) which are struggling to cope with a flood of newcomers primarily from places like China, India, the Philippines and Pakistan.

(Of course as a corrolary to all this impressive growth, on a sidebar note; and with this population growth contributing to multi-ethnic vitality are reports of the usual pockets of racism.)

But taking the last ten years of influx: Canada’s foreign-born population growth rate quadrupled the rate of the Canadian-born population.

But is there something else lost in this? Sure how about the number of Canadians going the other way. According to APFC, the rough equivalent of nine percent of Canadas population live abroad.

For comparison sakes, this is the statistical equivalent of being the 4th largest diaspora in the world - outpacing even China and iNdia.

The lions share of these Canadian foreign passport holders and Canadas largest ex-pat group outside of the U.S. are enclaved in the mountainous archipelago known as Hong Kong. Rough estimates put that number as between 200 to 300 hundred thousand dual-Citizenship holders.

But take an average well educated girl like Amy Wong who speaks Mandarin, Cantonese French and English who cant find a job in Vancouver with these language skills but finds opportunities in Hong Kong : "everywhere".

Is all of this lost opportunity? Of course it is. When a Ryerson University graduate goes on to gain exclusive rights to open up 25 Comfort Inns across China by 2010, but can't find wallpaper or furnishings sourced by Canadian companies, it's probably about time to take stock of our assets and our tally's.

Source for all this wonderful information?

Business journalist Andrea Mandel-Campbell, a veteran journalist specializing in international business and global competitiveness,  who traveled to China last year on a media fellowship the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and author of a new book entitled:

Why Mexicans Don't Drink Molson: Rescuing Canadian Business from the Suds of Global Obscurity

http://www.thecommentary.ca/ontheline/20070430b.html 

  --

Thanks for visiting the Cafe today. Like most immigrants and visitors to our great country, you knew you'd at least get something new though didn't you?

:)

Its not the first time someone has stated a matter of factly that Canada stands to lose if it doesn't stand out itself more to compete internationally in the global marketplace. Good place to start? What a no-brainer. Tap the aboriginal population of course.

  - -

Africa: The Investment Destination for Double-digit Growth Rates

CANADIANS ABROAD
Toronto Star,  Canada - 14 Nov 2007
This weekly feature asks Canadian expatriates what it's like living abroad

UAE - one of world’s most attractive expatriate destinations, in ...

Tourism Vital for Dubai

Three Names the World Should Know

-  - 

Ciao!

Posted by mach1231 at 6:54 PM PST

Updated: Tuesday, December 4, 2007 10:13 PM PST

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Mood:  special

Attention News Editors:

The Learning Partnership publishes action agenda on education

Federal and provincial policy makers, educators
and community leaders must develop a more collaborative and cohesive strategy
to address demographic challenges that pose serious risks to Canada's public
education system.

This integrated approach emerged as a key theme from a national series of
roundtable discussions, which examined the effect of immigration as well as
Aboriginal and rural populations on Canadian classrooms.

Hosted by school boards, universities, educational associations and
community organizations, the 11 roundtables have produced an "action agenda"
designed to enhance educational outcomes among these diverse groups and, in
turn, improve the economic prospects of individuals, families and the nation
as a whole. A summary of policy recommendations can be found at
http://www.thelearningpartnership.ca. 

Established in 1993, The Learning Partnership is a national
not-for-profit organization dedicated to championing a strong public education
system in Canada through innovative programs, credible research, policy
initiatives and public engagement. 

Posted by mach1231 at 10:25 PM PST

Updated: Saturday, December 1, 2007 10:39 PM PST

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Mood:  a-ok

Have you ever had a stomach sickness from poor water quality after a storm?

 - - -

It may be just a-,...to use an excuse for a poor play on words,--taste of whats to come.

Despite virtually no concrete evidence to draw definitive co-relations between climate change and health, thereby making it difficult to predict outcomes, there have been still some attempts to study the potential problems stemming from global climate change as related to health.

The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) The IPCC has now concluded with high confidence that climate change would cause:

• increased heat-related mortality and morbidity,

• decreased cold-related mortality in temperate countries,

• greater frequency of infectious disease epidemics following floods and storms, and,

• substantial health effects following population displacement from sea level rise and increased storm activity.

 - -

 For North America, the IPCC concluded that insect-born diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever, may expand their ranges in the United States and may even develop in Canada.

Working families, the poor, the elderly and the disabled will be affected the most because they have the fewest resources.

 - -

Warning: Climate Crisis Maybe Hazardous to Your Health     Meanwhile, the weather office has predicted the coldest weather to arrive this season in Canada since the last 15 years. Already it has been minus -30 below in Reg-g-g-gg-g-g---ina

 Every winter, Americans die from exposure to the cold, carbon monoxide poisoning, traffic accidents in ice and snow and heart attacks when shoveling snow.

Bundle up..!

T-max conquers Canada's cold!

Posted by mach1231 at 8:59 PM PST

Updated: Friday, November 30, 2007 9:21 PM PST

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Twenty thousand delegates, observers, business leaders, and government ministers from 190 countries meet in Bali, Indonesia
to  bow to Canadas demands-,.... er, sorry, re-write! discuss global climate change

Indonesia plans to make ministers from around the world use bicycles to get about at the UN talks at the talks which start December 3, so it might be fun to see us on bikes.

Meanwhile, just trust the experts. 

Media Availability - Greenpeace keeps keen eye on UN climate

- - 

9/11 was an intelligence failure.

Pearl Harbour was an intelligence failure.

The Yom Kippur War, when Egypt invaded Israel at the Suez Canal......was...an intelligence failure.

Now, apart from the wars that we wage on each other for territory, resources , idealogy, dominance...there is a different type of catastrophe impending upon us.

When our leader stands up in our Parliament to deliver a few well placed lines about our stand on global warming and our commitment to the betterment of the planet, he is looking sideways at the facts.

 Im my opinion, our country and our leader is suffering from some type of intelligence deficit. Old leaders of the past have sometimes remain entrenched in their own positions, irrevocable and unmovable from their own strong opinions. IN some instances this can be quite admirable whenever a person displays strong resolve. But not in the case where a certain type of blindness occurs, or a resolute stubborness comes into effect, no one thinks its admirable or pretty. Even for a pretty boy like Harper. Make that, especially for a pretty boy like Harper. The least of the reasons for thereof, being our interaction with nature and the consequences of our actions or non-action. Already before even arriving, we are guilty of over-estimating ourselves. No matter how much we bleat about resolve or use canned speeches in their stead.

  - - - - - - -

Travel Postcard: 48 hours in Bali

Posted by mach1231 at 10:09 AM PST

Updated: Friday, November 30, 2007 10:49 AM PST

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Mood:  caffeinated

CBC/Radio-Canada needs a contract with
Canadians if it is to

reach its potential as the national public broadcaster Canada needs.

"The Broadcasting Act has not changed in more than 15 years, CBC/Radio-Canada has not received an increase to its base operating appropriation in more than 30 years, and the broadcasting environment is shifting dramatically and rapidly..."  - Robert Rabinovitch, President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada

A contract reviewed on a regular cycle would provide direction on what Canadians could expect from their national public broadcaster in return for a clear commitment from Government
with regards to funding commensurate to the mandate.

"Such an approach is essential if CBC/Radio-Canada is going to be able to continue to respond to the needs of Canadians. Countries such as the U.K., Ireland and South Africa have already followed a
similar path, conducting mandate reviews that include widespread consultation, resulting in clear, contemporary mandates that equip public broadcasters for the future."

- -

While it may be cheaper to get a cell phone in the future at some point, the government should balance that with solidity in our own soveriegntity on endeavours that re-inforce our increasingly swelling pride in our own country at home.

Posted by mach1231 at 1:58 PM PST

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Mood:  a-ok

World Bank launches new AIDS strategy for Africa

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

From the author of The Fate of Africa: A vivid, gripping history of the turbulent years leading up to the founding of the modern state of South Africa in 1910

 Once called: "“the most sterile and worthless in the whole [British] Empire”

South Africa was the locus point for the costliest, bloodiest, and most humiliating war that Britain had waged in nearly a century(circa 1910).

Based on significant new research, the author provides a 'many-faceted, sensibly incisive overview of events that could easily be oversimplified' as has been done in the past.

 "Dismissing reductive ideas like the thesis that capitalism and imperialism collided to create a war that would benefit both, he shows how one misstep led to another, how fear yielded miscalculations, how national pride and arrogance created such poisonous conditions."

 You can find an excerpt from the book located here.

"[an] astute history… Meredith expertly shows how the exigencies of the diamond (and then gold) rush laid the foundation for apartheid."
—The New Yorker

"engrossing…Anyone interested in African history and the British Empire will find this book fascinating."
— Winnipeg Free Press

"Meredith offers an unvarnished portrait of what might be called 'Britain's worst hour… Diamonds, Gold, and War is a fine history of the formation of the most powerful country in Africa. It will certainly make uncomfortable reading for Rhodes' scholars, who may be shocked to learn of the bloodshed caused by the man whose name they wear with pride."
—
The American

Given that Mr Rhodes had finagled permission from Queen Victoria to wield private police power as well as public authority, I wonder if that meant he thought he had been granted license to kill?

Canada announces boost of foreign aid to Africa 

"Of all the Prime Minister's press releases, statements and speeches in the last year, not a single one mentions Africa - not the statement announcing support for HIV-AIDS research, not on the retirement of Kofi Annan, nor the Speech from the Throne..." Rt Hon Joe Clark , Former Progressive Conservative Party Leader and past Prime Minister of Canada, on Stephen Harpers inclusion of Africa in foreign-policy announcments.

When the world showed up at our door vis a vis an international conference on AIDS, Mr Harper was in the Artic protecting our sovereignty there instead. 

And Prime Minister Stephen Harper snubbed U2 singer and activist Bono at the last G8 summit, saying he is too busy to discuss the African AIDS crisis with him.

Harper says meeting Bono isn't his 'shtick'

 And now, well,.... for the first time since his Prime Ministerial inception, Stephen Harper has set foot on the soil of Africa.

Stopping over in Uganda (145th among 177 nations in the UN Human Development Index) on his way to Tanzania where he would go on to announce 110 million dollars in aid. (Doncha' know? Thats where the Canadian mining companies are?)

But it was Chretien in the Rocky Mountains of beautiful Banff (Canadas own Crown jewel) who first rolled his sleeves up and made monumental marches towards lifting Africa out of its grinding poverty.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2069632.stm 

Whereas outgoing PM Paul Martin continues to make Africas poverty the focus of his lifes work.

... the Harper government has referred to Africa as “Europe’s backyard:

CIGI event hosts experts on Africa

“the biggest danger in Africa is driving.”

?-                         - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  

http://www.ansafrica.org/ 

celebrities as the new diplomats,word.

Posted by mach1231 at 11:26 AM PST

Updated: Thursday, November 29, 2007 12:26 PM PST

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Mood:  energetic

Has your kid been diagnosed with ADD or something similar?

Just to be sure, you might want to check out this article.

And don't forget this one:

Thomas Alvin Edison is cited more often than any other historical figure for exhibiting classic hyperactive ADD behavior. ADD and divergent thinking styles have even been dubbed "The Edison Trait."

 http://borntoexplore.org/edison.htm

 ---------------

Now that the big announcement has come in regards to child poverty in BC, and now, along with a recent report from UNICEF that Canada lags far too much for a developed country with such a strong economy to let children be left behind in poverty

..its just another final touch to add to an already un-pretty and muddled picture, to point out that the provincial government, here in the "best place on earth"

 is also not coming along well with recommendations to enhance child
protection in BC.

 With report and study after study, from the Gove Inquiry to the Hughes recommendations

to a tragedy in my former hometown of Prince George involving the death of a 3 year old named Savannah Hall.

and still after that a girl named Sherry Charlie,

 ....few people are left who are not shaking their heads and wondering, perhaps in silent contempt or brimming anger, as to why the government can't seem to get its kit and kaboodle together.

In my opinion, a national child and youth care advocate and Parlimentary Department and Minister is the best overall answer to see a longer term solution to these problems.  

Critics want action on family violence

Child care advocates alarmed at Conservative proposals

By far and wide, the problem is not limited by any scope to just within my neighborhood, my town, my province or my country.

Heres a man right here, a man

who left the New York City Department of Welfare to go directly into a war zone of a fledgling country called Biafra (now in Nigerias wing) which literally vanished during a genocidal tribal conflict. A man who then returned to NYC to study law and then moonlight as an author in order to become a full time advocate and defender for kids in trouble with the law or suffering needlessly from abuse. And thats the very rough and short version.

In this interview he all but gingerly but succinctly points out that amidst all the issues that roust peoples concerns for election goodies and make for good election platforms, not one candidate is outspoken enough to come forward with a proactive approach to tell citizens and voters what they intend to do to enhance their countries child protection laws and programs.

And in this day and age of so much concern for the safety and well being of the children in the age of the Internet, with recalled
defective toys,

(See also : Thin line between kids and unsafe toys)

contaminated playgrounds

and calls to: 

Health Canada downplays fluoride fears for infants
Globe and Mail, Canada - 13 hours ago
...

 ...and all the other stories and news items in similar vein...., that is , to use a much hackneyed cliche; to not have your prime ministerial or presidential candidates being more putspoken on these issues is, frankly: a real crying shame.

As per recommendation of internationally prepared reports, both the US and Canada should have a nationally mandated child protection advocacy portfolio with dedicated full time jobs, money and departmental resources to tackle all of these disparate but connected issues, to draw the strands together cohesively, one by one and head on, answering to other departments too like health and education and even perhaps export divisions and foreign trade to break away from this throw everything at the fan mentality.

It may not be the only way to prevent stories like this one

No objections to revisiting child deaths, coroner say

but it certainly seems like one of the smart ones. 

But, in spite of all of this negative scorekeeping, its unfair to sidestep and overlook what may bode well for the future so long as promises are kept.

Hillary Clinton Calls for Ensuring the Safety of Toys

Hillary Clinton has always suported the  Children's Defense Fund and also has some strong supporters (Barbra Streisands Charity work)

If the number of autism diagnoses in the US has risen from one/10,000 in 1993, to one/150 in 2007
and Ms.HR Clinton pledges to help autistic families by boosting funding for research and education to $700 million a year, theres real reason for hope.

Ms. Clinton would also invest more than $1 billion in programs that identify and support at-risk youth


Meanwhile, back here in Canada, with just a tenth of the population of the US, we have proportionally smaller concerns 

stories like: prison population climbs for first time in decade

and

youth violence as a national pastime ,

catch our eye but contrast so obliquely with ones like:

panic buttons and police: welcome to the school of the future.

 - - - 

 When the publics faith in national institutions is put to the

test in one case after another with news stories of the mentally ill or merely disordered or overly-stressed dying at the hands of police with both guns and Tasers.

what can be left to be said for the current Federal Tory government when it is revealed that they cut programs for autistic children?

And that it was only after an outcry that funding was restored?

While kids in oil-overflowing and rich Alberta lack childcare spaces (Alberta spends less on childcare than any other Canadian province.)

and whilst  bickering in the courts over who pays for the care and programs for such special needs kids,

a brand new report from America recommends earlier testing for the autistic condition in babies and children.

But, even if a question remains if this idea is

boon or bane..........?

...what is left to be said by the current Tories in both action and word is basically: not much. 

If we concede such politico-sophical questions are just too confusing, too disconcerting and too

mind numbing in this, a war ravaged world...

(Iraqi children bear the burden of an uncalled-for war)

...or too blasé to hold our interest or even if

were just too plain tired of it all and all energy sapped, it might all be just too bad in any case.

After all, just in case your child might get a false positive for lead, why bother with testing for early autism, right? 

  Bottom line is......

...beyond all of the talk, banter and care and concern over the well being of children, beneath the hoopla, rhetoric..

and electioneering, as thinking adults 

we are still left to answer to ourselves.

http://www.cosmikids.org

 - - - - - - - - 

"What drives me is real simple, one word: anger. I'm absolutely, morally convinced in my mind and my heart that child abuse is a greater cancer in this country than cocaine or communism." - Andrew Vachss

Thanks for visiting.

Posted by mach1231 at 2:10 AM PST

Updated: Thursday, November 29, 2007 2:16 AM PST

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J. R. Ackley, who owns an insurance business in Marble Rock, noted that the top three Democrats in the field - Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards - have mighty short Senate resumes compared to Biden, who was elected in 1972.

 http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/11/27/biden_fans_ask_why_not_take_on.html

Introducing

Joe Biden...

recalling the death of his wife and baby daughter in a car accident shortly after his first Senate election, and later, the two major brain surgeries that nearly cost Biden his life. Political advisors have urged to him to speak more of his struggles on the campaign trail.

But Biden told the crowd, "I'm not good at talking about it. I acknowledge it. I don't like to talk about it. You talk about it, you relive it." The crowd was frozen. "The neighborhood where I come from, a lot of people had a lot of tough things happen to them. At the end of the day, I think people will know who I am."

 Biden Gives His Take on Iraq Policy, Pakistan, Campaigning in Iowa

Posted by mach1231 at 6:29 PM PST

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If you go:

The World’s Worst Airports

 - -

Charles de Gaulle International Airport gets to be fifth.

“Charles de Gaulle is a disgrace … it’s like a third-world airport.” —Michel-Yves Labbé, president of French travel company Directours, Aug. 14, 2007

 - -

Not too to surprising amidst todays headlines of riots ,

students protesting against reform  ,

bitter tourists amidst a workers strike ,

and renewed allegations against past President Chirac to boot.

France's Ex-president: was Chirac involved in political sleaze

 - -

In similar vein as political turkeys, check out Forbes list of turkey cars you would be wise to do a little more than kick the tires on if you are in the market for a 2007 used car. In other words visit the site

BEFORE!

you plunk that cash down on the barrelhead for that Sebring you always wanted...

http://ca.pfinance.yahoo.com/ca_finance_general/426/the-years-poorest-performing-cars 

Posted by mach1231 at 11:36 AM PST

Updated: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 12:52 PM PST

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The location and period for 'In A Savage Land' emerged out of a fascination with the Trobriand Islands which began with the Director as an eight year old, looking at "old photos taken by his war-photographer father."

After spending over two years intensely researching the Trobriand Islands, which are located in the Solomon Sea, between the PNG mainland and Bougainville, "the idea of a love story set against this complex social structure evolved."

  - - - -

The result? 

- filming of  'In A Savage Land'  took place over eight weeks in the Trobriand Islands, (followed by a two week post-production shoot in Adelaide) at a cost of $10 - 12 million

- Nicole Kidman slated for the lead role of a young anthropologist, Evelyn, but opted out to spend time with Hubby Cruise

- key crew people spent six weeks building CGI models of authentic Japanese battleships needed for the impending invasion scene.

 - Shooting in Papua New Guinea was apparently alot more difficult than expected, despite all of Bennett's research:

Trobriand has no water, no electricity, no accomodation

"It was chosen for its..untouched wilderness and its savagery. But it took its toll, so isolated and undeveloped as to be the equivalent of shooting on the moon. A hot, steamy, jungle-covered moon."

 -a group of islanders punctured the film crews tyres, created a road block, and with machetes in hand demanded a payment of $10,000

- due to the fact that the film showed numerous bare-breasted women, a representative of the former PNG Prime Minister, Bill Skate, questioned the film crew over why he shouldn't deport them for 'making a pornographic film.'

 - An Australian produced film, the ending was tested on an American audience and changed to their liking.

- all of the scenes shot in Papua New Guinea were done by a handheld camera.

-a tidal wave in PNG (which killed 3000) meant the pic's freight had to ?

More info sites

http://www.geocities.com/vue2sewell/

In A Savage Land

http://www.themakeupgallery.info/hair/willingly/savage.htm 

 - -  -

"We wanted to give the film a dirty look. But every place we put the camera is so beautiful that we use seven filters. We wanted to take the romanticism out, to diffuse the sentiment, to avoid the cliches of the tropical islands. At the same time, we want to give it a caress. We want to avoid anything aggressive, because this is about a woman who finds her sensual self."

And now introducing

The Trobriand Islands Musicians

 http://www.amazon.com/Savage-Land-David-Bridie/dp/B00003ZKYA

 See also http://www.followthegeography.com 

--

Posted by mach1231 at 8:59 PM PST

Updated: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 11:22 AM PST

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