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6 April 2009

6 April was the 6th day of tenth month of the 3rd year of Canadian national consciousness rising to invincibility.

6 April 2009

Dr William Overall, National Director of the Global Country of World Peace in Canada, presented highlights of news reports reflecting Canada's rising invincibility from Yogic Flying groups across Canada and the large Invincible America Assembly at Maharishi University of Management and Maharishi Vedic City, USA.

Extensive scientific research has documented the Maharishi Effect of rising coherence, harmony, and peace created in the collective consciousness of a nation by large groups of Yogic Flyers. The effect has been found to extend beyond national borders when the group is of sufficient size.

Following are press reports featured in Dr Overall's presentation:

The Globe and Mail - G20 ushers in a 'new world order' (3 April 2009) The leaders of the Group-of-20 countries put on a show of unity to fight the global recession with pledges of more than US$1 trillion in aid to help struggling countries and revive trade. The G20 countries also agreed to rein in the world's financial system through the creation of international accounting standards, the regulation of debt-ratings agencies, a clampdown on tax havens, and controls on executive pay. Characterizing the agreement as historic, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the agreement ushered in a new period of international co-operation. Prime Minister Harper joined fellow leaders in the praise, saying new regulations will help the market work better. 'The declaration is very clear that globalization, that open markets, that liberalized trade remain the essential base of our economic system and will be the basis of any recovery and future economic growth,' he said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was pleased the group came to a broad agreement after such a short period of time. 'We now have been able to rally around a message of unity,' she told a news conference. Commodities rose following the announcement as traders evidently took the view that global growth would revive more quickly than they had expected.

From a Toronto Star report on this: Prime Minister Harper said the world economic crisis is better than it was when the G20 held its meeting in November. 'The worst aspects of instability, I do believe, are behind us,' Harper remarked. 'We're seeing some degree of stability. I'm optimistic that as fiscal and economic measures kick in, we will begin to see more positive news.'

The Globe and Mail - Resource financings keep Bay Street flush (6 April 2009) Bay Street [centre of the Toronto financial district] bankers are finding themselves in the unprecedented situation of being just as busy selling stock as New York financiers, with Canadian companies raising almost as much money so far this year as those based in the United States. Canadian companies raised about C$9.2 billion selling stock in the first three months of 2009, according to figures from Thomson Reuters. That's just behind the C$9.6 billion raised on U.S. markets—with both figures calculated on the same basis and in Canadian dollars to make them comparable. In Canada, business held up thanks to a spate of gold and energy deals, a sale by resource-hauling Canadian Pacific Railway, and one big financial stock sale—the unloading of a big stake in ING Canada by the insurer's parent company in Holland. Add in C$5.2 billion of preferred shares, mostly sold by the country's banks, and it was the best quarter in the past two years, said Roman Dubczak, who heads the department that arranges stocks sales at the securities arm of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. 'On a global basis, outside of financials, the deals that are getting done are resource-based, and because of the heavy resource bias in Canada they're getting done here,' Mr Dubczak said. In fact, Canada's steady performance counted for a big share of all the global stock sales in the quarter, which totalled US$47.3 billion. The numbers go a long way to explaining how it is that Canadian banks have been able to hold on to staffers. RBC Dominion Securities was the busiest in the first quarter, leading 12 deals worth C$1.4 billion. CIBC World Markets and TD Securities were close behind, rounding out the top three. The same three banks, in the same order, topped a busy quarter for bond sales as governments sold more debt to fund stimulus plans. Bond sales in the first three months of the year jumped to C$33.7 billion from C$28.2 billion a year earlier.

The Globe and Mail on 'Confidence rampant' in Atlantic Canada (3 April 2009) George Halliwell has been a head hunter [corporate recruiter] in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, for seven years and has never seen such a wave of Canadians clamouring to move east. 'I'm searching for an engineer in Halifax right now . . . . They might make C$60,000 in Toronto or Guelph, but they're willing to take C$50,000 here because of the housing costs, the way of life is a lot simpler, there are no traffic jams and it's more family oriented.' Businesses are benefiting because they can choose from a wider pool of skilled talent, says Mr Halliwell, who does recruiting across Canada. His observations come as a Manpower Canada survey this month showed employers in Charlottetown are the most optimistic in the country about future hiring plans. 'Confidence is rampant,' says Douglas Coles, vice-president of Coles Associates, who has hired two engineers recently and plans to hire more to help design new hotels, schools, and hospitals in P.E.I. And the upbeat mood isn't confined only to Charlottetown. Atlantic Canada has so far been insulated from the worst of the downturn. Job losses have been more muted. 'We have a much more diversified economy, and a few areas [such as financial services] are even growing,' says Charles Cirtwill, Halifax-based executive vice-president of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies. Halifax's financial district continues to expand. Bermuda-based Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings said this month it's hiring up to 80 more people—positions with average salaries of about C$100,000. Research In Motion, meantime, is halfway through hiring 1,200 over the next five years for a technical support operations centre. Halifax boasts a skilled work force with a strong educational presence and much lauded quality of life. Nova Scotia leads the country in full-time job growth over the past year, according to Statistics Canada. Signs of relative health in the region aren't confined to the labour market. Retail spending rose in all four Atlantic provinces in January, and the growth over the past year outstrips all other provinces except Saskatchewan. Consumer confidence is climbing. And the most optimistic businesses in the country these days reside in Newfoundland, a Canadian Federation of Independent Business poll showed this month. The housing market, too, fares better by comparison. House prices in the Atlantic region are expected to rise or hold steady this year, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. predicts.

Canwest News Service - N.L. signs historic hydro deal with Quebec (3 April 2009) Newfoundland reached a deal that will, for the first time, see Labrador hydroelectric power transmitted through Quebec to the North American marketplace. 'This is truly a historic and momentous occasion for the people of our province, as never before have we been granted access through the province of Quebec with our own power,' said Premier Danny Williams. The transmission agreement with Hydro-Quebec is expected to generate between C$40 million and C$80 million per year for Quebec. Newfoundland has also signed a deal with a subsidiary of Nova Scotia Power, which will market the power that flows through Hydro-Quebec's lines to the Canada-U.S. border. Mr Williams said the agreements mean that Newfoundland will get the 'lion's share' of the profits from the sale of the power. The Premier said the move will not take any power away from communities in Labrador which will get their power first, but the surplus energy of between 130 and 250 megawatts, generated by the Upper Churchill, will now be sold for the first time to North American markets.

The Globe and Mail - McGuinty makes nice with Miller, offering $9-billion for transit (2 April 2009) With Toronto Mayor David Miller looking on, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced billions for public-transit projects. For Mr Miller, the highlight is a C$4.6-billion, 31-kilometre partially tunnelled light-rail line to Pearson airport, the central component of his Transit City light-rail plan. In all, Toronto was promised C$7.2 billion, with the province paying the entire capital costs of the projects. A beaming Mr Miller was effusive in his praise of the Premier's 'extraordinary leadership and vision'. And, in return, Mr McGuinty praised Mr Miller's Transit City plans as transformative for Toronto: 'They are nothing short of breathtaking. They are very, very significant.' Mr Miller stated: 'This is an incredible day for Toronto, and it can't be overemphasized. . . . There could not be a more important announcement about building a 21st-century city.'

The Globe and Mail - Financing secured for Calgary's Bow tower (3 April 2009) The final piece of financing for Calgary's landmark Bow tower has been secured, said H&R Real Estate Investment Trust, the firm building the C$1.5-billion Bow tower. H&R said it now has sufficient money to complete the 58-storey, two million-square-foot 'trophy' that will be the tallest Canadian tower west of Toronto. 'People consider it a talisman of continued confidence in the western economy,' said Stephen Carruthers, the Calgary managing partner for Zeidler, the architecture firm that teamed with Foster Partners to design the tower.

The Financial Post - Green age dawns at Stikeman (6 April 2009) Stikeman Elliott has new bragging rights, becoming the first national law firm in Canada to be certified 'carbon neutral'. It means the greenhouse gas output generated from the business is offset against credits the firm bought from a carbon trading company to achieve the neutral rating. 'It will be necessary, in a number of years, [for businesses] to be carbon neutral,' firm chairman Pierre Raymond predicted in an interview from his Montreal office. 'Today in Canada, being carbon neutral is not such a big thing. It is in Europe and we believe it will become a big concern in North America soon.' Achieving carbon neutrality was a year-long process for the 500-lawyer firm, whose clients are the cream of corporate Canada. It hired CarbonNeutral Co., an independent third party, to audit its carbon emissions. A number of companies now conduct such audits. A carbon-neutral certification sends much more of a moral message to the corporate world than other forms of certification. It reflects the wave of corporate social responsibility sweeping the corridors of Bay and Wall streets. The firm introduced a comprehensive recycling programme, adopted double-sided printing, reduced font size, adjusted building temperatures, reduced light levels, used more video-conferencing, and eliminated bottled water, replacing it with a filtered water system. Stikeman now diverts 80% of its waste, reducing garbage sent to the dump by 16,900 kilograms annually. The printing changes cut paper use by four million pages in Toronto alone. The modifications saved C$100,000 annually. However, businesses cannot entirely eliminate their CO2 footprint. That meant purchasing carbon offsets. Mr Raymond said the firm wanted them to relate to renewable energy and bought credits from an Indian wind project, a Chinese hydro project, and a U.S. methane capture project. That cost about C$100,000, the same as the savings.

The Canadian Press - Ontario's first diamonds will be cut and polished in Sudbury (6 April 2009) Ontario's first diamond will be cut and polished in Sudbury. Crossworks Manufacturing has won a contract from DeBeers to process C$25 million worth of rough stones a year at a new facility in the northern Ontario city. The plant will be built this year and employ 50 people skilled in diamond-cutting trades, as well as administrative and maintenance staff. The deal stems from an agreement between DeBeers and the Ontario government to have 10 per cent of its Victor Mine's annual rough diamond production available for cutting and polishing in the province. The Victor Mine, near Attawapiskat in northern Ontario, is the province's first diamond mine. It's expected to produce about 600,000 carats of diamonds each year during its projected 12-year lifespan.

The Canadian Press - Tobacco farmers to receive $284 million under transition program (6 April 2009) New figures show Ontario's roughly 1,000 tobacco farm families have surrendered 99.7 per cent of their outstanding tobacco-growing quotas in exchange for about C$284 million from Ottawa under a federal programme to help Ontario farmers leave the business. The tobacco-growing business has been in serious decline in recent years. Lower consumption has contributed to the precipitous drop. Last year, Ontario farmers produced only 23 million pounds—less than 10 per cent of the available quota. Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said the government was pleased to offer the help to farmers who want to leave tobacco production and pursue new opportunities in agriculture. Under the transition programme, those taking the transition funds are required to undertake never to grow tobacco in the province.

The Canadian Press - Institutions get funding to buy Ontario produce (6 April 2009) Ontario is committing C$24 million over three years in an attempt to make Ontario-farmed foods available in more schools, hospitals, and jails. Premier Dalton McGuinty said it's important to understand that buying Ontario produce and dairy helps the economy. McGuinty has been pushing people to buy more Ontario fruits and veggies for years, and said all Ontario government buildings in the legislature complex in Toronto serve locally grown food in their cafeterias and restaurants.

The National Post - Trying to stay positive about dying tongues (1 April 2009) The third season of Finding Our Talk, premiering on APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network based in Winnipeg), starts with Canada's First Nations fighting to keep conversing in their original languages. Finding Our Talk airs Wednesday nights on APTN at 10:30 p.m. MT in western Canada and at 10:30 p.m. ET from Ontario to the East Coast. Adam McDowell spoke with Paul M. Rickard, president of Montreal-based production company Mushkeg Media and an Omuskego Cree, about three seasons of documenting indigenous language survival.

Q. What are you trying to accomplish by producing Finding Our Talk?
A. In 2001, Statistics Canada did a survey of languages in Canada, and they said three languages would survive the century [based on current trends]: Inuktitut, Cree and Ojibway—and that's out of 50 languages. In some communities they're down to their last speakers, and those are elders in their sixties and seventies. Communities are trying hard to promote their languages, trying to get more speakers interested in their language. I think it all relates to identity. I can't call myself Cree if I can't speak Cree. That's just the way it is, I think. By losing their language, I think people lose their sense of identity, and that's a sad thing to see. I've attended a lot of language conferences across the country and in the United States, and what I've found is a lot of communities, individuals and organizations go to these conferences trying to find out what other communities are doing to preserve their languages. I thought maybe trying to document some of these projects . . . hopefully aboriginal communities will pick up on some and adopt them.

Q. I was impressed by your focus in the episode about Ktunaxa Nation in British Columbia: Marisa Phillips, a 20-year-old woman who's leading her community in using information technology to create language teaching resources.
A. I think Marisa's kind of an ideal, what communities strive for—young people who are interested in languages. What I've found from the work I've done is a lot of the people working on aboriginal languages tend to be the older generation. I look at myself . . . . It wasn't until I got my diploma in journalism and then went back to my community and started talking to the elders for television programming that I realized that this is what I want to do: tell stories about my people from our own perspective.

Q. All things considered, the tone of Finding Our Talk is pretty upbeat—it seems like you're looking for positive stories to tell.
A. A lot of mainstream reporting focuses on the negative. It's fine to do those other stories, but for me it's also important to see that there are positive aspects to what these communities are about, especially with regard to what's going on in culture and language.

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