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P:CA

Monday, January 27, 2025

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Introduction

Flag and Arms of Canada

Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's second-largest country by total area, with the world's longest coastline. Its border with the United States is the world's longest international land border. The country is characterized by a wide range of both meteorologic and geological regions. With a population of just over 41 million people, it has widely varying population densities, with the majority residing in urban areas and large areas of the country being sparsely populated. Canada's capital is Ottawa and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy in the Westminster tradition. The country's head of government is the prime minister, who holds office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the elected House of Commons and is appointed by the governor general, representing the monarch of Canada, the ceremonial head of state. The country is a Commonwealth realm and is officially bilingual (English and French) in the federal jurisdiction. It is very highly ranked in international measurements of government transparency, quality of life, economic competitiveness, innovation, education and human rights. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration. Canada's long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its history, economy, and culture.

A developed country, Canada has a high nominal per capita income globally and its advanced economy ranks among the largest in the world by nominal GDP, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks. Recognized as a middle power, Canada's strong support for multilateralism and internationalism has been closely related to its foreign relations policies of peacekeeping and aid for developing countries. Canada is part of multiple international organizations and forums. (Full article...)

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Southern Cross is the sole wordless novel by Canadian artist Laurence Hyde (1914–1987). Published in 1951, its 118 wood-engraved images narrate the impact of atomic testing on Pacific islanders. Hyde made the book to express his anger at the US military's nuclear tests in the Bikini Atoll. (Full article...)

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Eric Alfred Havelock (/ˈhævlɒk/; 3 June 1903 – 4 April 1988) was a British classicist who spent most of his life in Canada and the United States. He was a professor at the University of Toronto and was active in the Canadian socialist movement during the 1930s. In the 1960s and 1970s, he served as chair of the classics departments at both Harvard and Yale. Although he was trained in the turn-of-the-20th-century Oxbridge tradition of classical studies, which saw Greek intellectual history as an unbroken chain of related ideas, Havelock broke radically with his own teachers and proposed an entirely new model for understanding the classical world, based on a sharp division between literature of the 6th and 5th centuries BC on the one hand, and that of the 4th on the other. (Full article...)

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Woody Point, Western Newfoundland. Panorama of the Gros Morne National Park with the Tablelands, overlooking Bonne Bay

Credit: Tango7174

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Adult in breeding plumage in Minocqua, Wisconsin

The common loon or great northern diver (Gavia immer) is a large member of the loon, or diver, family of birds. Breeding adults have a plumage that includes a broad black head and neck with a greenish, purplish, or bluish sheen, blackish or blackish-grey upperparts, and pure white underparts except some black on the undertail coverts and vent. Non-breeding adults are brownish with a dark neck and head marked with dark grey-brown. Their upperparts are dark brownish-grey with an unclear pattern of squares on the shoulders, and the underparts, lower face, chin, and throat are whitish. The sexes look alike, though males are significantly heavier than females. During the breeding season, loons live on lakes and other waterways in Canada, the northern United States (including Alaska), and southern parts of Greenland and Iceland. Small numbers breed on Svalbard and sporadically elsewhere in Arctic Eurasia. Common loons winter on both coasts of the US as far south as Mexico, and on the Atlantic coast of Europe. (Full article...)

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Healthcare in Canada is delivered through the provincial and territorial systems of publicly funded health care, informally called Medicare. It is guided by the provisions of the Canada Health Act of 1984, and is universal. The 2002 Royal Commission, known as the Romanow Report, revealed that Canadians consider universal access to publicly funded health services as a "fundamental value that ensures national health care insurance for everyone wherever they live in the country". (Full article...)

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The Peace Bridge in Calgary, Alberta
Credit: Ryan Quan

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Current events

January 24, 2025 – Canadian economic crisis: The Canadian Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship department announces a limit of 437,000 study permits for 2025, a 10% reduction from 2024, as part of efforts to address pressures on housing, healthcare, and other public services caused by the country's rapid population growth. (Reuters)
January 21, 2025 –: Much of Canada and the contiguous United States are impacted by a cold wave, killing one person near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Historic snowfall is expected in the US South, and historic blizzard and whiteout conditions are expected on the Gulf Coast. (CNN)
January 6, 2025 –: Davivienda, of Colombia, and Scotiabank, of Canada, announced a merger where Davivienda absorbs Scotiabank operations in Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama, and, in turn, Scotiabank acquires 20% of the stakes in Davivienda. (Scotiabank)
January 6, 2025 – Resignation of Justin Trudeau: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party and also announces that he will resign as Prime Minister once a new Liberal Party leader is chosen. (BBC News)
January 1, 2025 – Foreign relations of Mexico: Mexico's Tax Administration Service implements new tariffs, including a 19% duty on goods from countries without international trade agreements with Mexico and a 17% duty on goods from Canada and the United States under certain value thresholds. (Reuters)
December 16, 2024 – Resignation of Chrystia Freeland: Chrystia Freeland resigns as Canada's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance amid disagreements with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on increased government spending and how to handle possible U.S. tariffs imposed by the incoming Trump administration. (Reuters)

Past Canadian events

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... that Canadian punk rock musician Talli Osborne had only briefly spoken to the frontman of NOFX before the band wrote a song about her?
... that the Canadian journalist Bernard Descôteaux is credited with the economic revival of the independent newspaper Le Devoir?
... that the Canadian Night Watchman was the first operational radar system in North America?
... that Inuvialuk actress Marika Sila views her acting career as a platform for outreach and education on the culture and rights of Indigenous peoples in Canada?
... that there is an East Quoddy Head Lighthouse and a West Quoddy Head Lighthouse on opposite sides of a bay, but one is in Canada and the other is in the United States?
... that Canadian football player Nicholas Dheilly tied his team's single-game sack record in his debut?
... that John Neilson, a Scottish immigrant to Lower Canada, became a major publisher and bookseller, and was reportedly "the largest consumer of paper" in the country?

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Canada's Walk of Fame, located in Toronto, Ontario, is a walk of fame that acknowledges the achievements and accomplishments of successful Canadians. It consists of a series of stars imbedded in 13 designated blocks worth of sidewalks in Toronto, located in front of Roy Thomson Hall, the Princess of Wales Theatre, and the Royal Alexandra Theatre on King and Simcoe streets. The first group of members was inducted in 1998, and it has since expanded to include the RBC Emerging Artist Music Mentorship Prize competition, which assists emerging Canadian musicians with getting their careers off the ground. (Full article...)

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