The American National Security Agency (NSA) has been all over the news the past couple weeks. A program the NSA was using named Prism was monitoring the telephone calls and emails of Americans. The NSA is not mandated to do domestic spying. The argument put forward by the President and the NSA is they are doing this to prevent another terrorist attack. And that makes sense to me. But unknown to many Canadians is that Canada has its own version of the NSA. This organization is top secret and is almost never in the media.
This is their own blurb on what they do:
Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) is Canada’s national cryptologic, the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties (called adversaries) agency. We provide the Government of Canada with two key services: foreign signals intelligence (SIGINT) in support of defence and foreign policy, and the protection of electronic information and communication (Information Technology (IT) Security). Additionally, CSEC provides technical and operational assistance to federal law enforcement and security agencies.
CSEC’s SIGINT services support government decision-making in the fields of national security, national defence and foreign policy. The Establishment’s SIGINT activities relate exclusively to foreign intelligence and are directed by the Government of Canada’s intelligence priorities.
The role of CSEC’s IT Security services is to enable government departments and agencies to effectively secure their electronic information systems and networks. CSEC is the technical lead for information technology security to safeguard Government of Canada electronic information.
CSEC headquarters in Ottawa
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The CSEC is accountable to the Minister of National Defence through its deputy head, the Chief of CSEC. The Minister of National Defence is in turn accountable to the Cabinet and Parliament.
Unique within Canada’s security and intelligence community, the Communications Security Establishment Canada employs code-makers and code-breakers (cryptanalysis) to provide the Government of Canada with information technology security (IT Security) and foreign signals intelligence services. CSEC also provides technical and operational assistance to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and federal law enforcement and security agencies, including the Canada Border Services Agency and the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority.
CSEC’s SIGINT program produces intelligence that responds to Canadian government requirements. At CFS Leitrim, the main military SIGINT facility in the south end of Ottawa, the establishment collects foreign intelligence that can be used by the government for strategic warning, policy formulation, decision-making in the fields of national security and national defence, and day-to-day assessment of foreign capabilities and intentions. The station at Leitrim specializes in intercepting electronic communications to and from embassies in Ottawa. Other Canadian military SIGINT facilities are located at: CFB Gander Newfoundland with a detachment from CFS Leitrim, CFS Masset, BC (under remote control from CFS Leitrim) and CFS Alert, Nunavut.
Canadian Forces Station (CFS) Leitrum
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CSEC code breaking capabilities degraded substantially in the 1960s and 1970s but were upgraded with the acquisition of a Cray X-MP/11 (modified) supercomputer delivered to the Sir Leonard Tilley building in March 1985 and the hiring of code breaking analysts. It was, at the time, the most powerful computer in Canada. In the early 1990s, the Establishment purchased a Floating Point Systems FPS 522-EA supercomputer at a cost of $1,620,371. This machine was upgraded to a Cray S-MP superserver after Cray acquired Floating Point Systems in December in 1991 and used the Folklore Operating System supplied by the NSA in the US. These machines are now retired. Little information is available on the types of computers used by the CSEC since then. However, Cray in the US has produced a number of improved supercomputers since then. These include the Cray SX-6, early 2000s, the Cray X1, 2003 (development funded in part by the NSA), Cray XD1, 2004, Cray XT3, Cray XT4, 2006, Cray XMt, 2006 and Cray CX1, 2008. It is possible that some of these models have been used by the CSEC and are in use today. -note: Distinctions should be made between Cray Research, Inc (acquired by SGI) and Cray Computer (a different company founded by Seymour Cray after he left Cray Research).
Cray X-MP/11 Supercomputer
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Formerly known as communications security (COMSEC), the CSEC’s IT Security Program grew out of a need to protect sensitive information transmitted by various agencies of the government, especially the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), DND, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). As a result of this critical and urgent need, the IT Security program’s strategic stance has made possible a shift to that of a predictive nature allowing the program to provide relevant knowledge based upon sound practices and forward looking solutions.
CSEC’s IT Security Program has earned highly valued global respect and a reputation of technical excellence. It now extends its expertise past its traditional technical clients to those within the Government of Canada who are responsible for the formulation and implementation of policy and program managers, and is committed to ensuring cyber networks and critical infrastructures are trustworthy and secure. CSEC also conducts research and development on behalf of the Government of Canada in fields related to communications security.
With the rapid expansion in the number of CSEC personnel since the 9/11 attack in the US, the existing CSEC facilities are no longer sufficiently large. A new C$880 million, 72,000 sq. m. facility is being built in SE Ottawa, immediately west of the headquarters building for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Construction began in early 2011 and it is expected that it will be completed in 2015. Plans indicate that there will be a secure physical connection between the two buildings allowing for the passage of personnel between them.
Canadian Forces Station Alert, also CFS Alert, is a Canadian Forces signals intelligence intercept facility located in Alert, Nunavut on the northeastern tip of Ellesmere Island.
Located in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada, it is the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world. It takes its name from HMS Alert, which wintered 10 km (6.2 mi) east of the present station off what is now Cape Sheridan, Nunavut in 1875-1876.
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There are currently around 70 personnel at Alert. However, not many are Canadian military, the Conservative government has been contracting out many positions to the private sector.
Among Canadian provinces, smoking rates vary from a low of 15.8 per cent in B.C. to 23.8 per cent in Saskatchewan, according to Statistics Canada’s Canadian Community Health Survey for 2011. As the map above shows, the numbers for Canada’s North are significantly higher.
Smoking rates have been falling for the last quarter-century, but since 2009 the rate of decline has levelled off. In 2011, 5.8 million Canadians 12 years and older smoked, a rate of 19.9 per cent.
Worldwide, there are about 1.1 billion smokers, about 22 per cent of the adult population. About 80 per cent live in low- or middle-income countries.
Our graph showing the total percentage of smokers in Canada by year goes back to 2003, when the rate was 23 per cent, but smoking rates have declined considerably from nearly a half-century ago. In 1966, 41 per cent of Canadians 15 years and older were smoking.
Significantly more men than women smoke in all age groups, 22.3 per cent compared to 17.5 per cent. However, in the youngest age group, the male and female rates are almost the same.
According to U.S. data, about 80 per cent of high school students who smoke will smoke into adulthood.
The smoking rate in Canada is highest in the 20-24 year age group, for both men and women.
Worldwide, the number of male smokers is about four times the number of female smokers.
The tobacco market
Total cigarette sales in Canada numbered 31.1 billion in 2011. That’s down from the 31.7 billion cigarettes sold the year before but higher that the 30.2 billion sold in 2006.
Unlike Canada, worldwide cigarette consumption has been increasing. “Smokers consumed nearly 5.9 trillion cigarettes in 2009, representing a 13 per cent increase in cigarette consumption in the past decade,” according to the Tobacco Atlas, by the World Lung Foundation .
In Canada, three manufacturers control 99.5 per cent of the Canadian tobacco market:
Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. (51.2 per cent market share).
Rothmans, Benson & Hedges (33.5 per cent).
JTI-Macdonald (14.8 per cent).
The big three are all owned by multinational corporations. And those three multinationals are highly profitable. For example, British American Tobacco, which owns Imperial Tobacco, had profits totalling $8.3 billion US in 2012.
Stubbies are used extensively in Europe, and were used almost exclusively in Canada from 1962 to 1986 as part of a standardization effort intended to reduce breakage, and the cost of sorting bottles when they were returned by customers. Due to their nostalgic value, stubbies were reintroduced by a number of Canadian craft brewers in the early 2000s.
The Canadian stubby bottle was traditionally 341 ml (11.5 U.S. fl oz; 12.0 imp fl oz) while the U.S. longneck was 355 ml (12.0 U.S. fl oz; 12.5 imp fl oz). Some of the expected advantages of stubby bottles are: easier to handle; less breakage; lighter in weight; less storage space; and lower center of gravity. And less wind resistance when thrown out of the window of a moving car so the bottle lands in the ditch and not on the road.
The beer above would leave you with a hang-over so intense that you couldn’t taste or smell anything for half a day, not to mention the blurred vision. And it would take hours to remember your own name.
The passing of former Alberta Premier Ralph Klein was front and centre in the Canadian media over the weekend. Ralph was colourful and a populist, but he wasn’t the second coming as the media seemed to portray.
Ralph Phillip Klein, OC, AOE (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) served as the 12th Premier of Alberta. He led the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 2006. Klein’s tenure as premier ended when the Alberta Progressive Conservatives’ new leader, Ed Stelmach, assumed office December 14, 2006,exactly fourteen years after Klein first became Premier. His nickname was “King Ralph”,which is a reference both to his political longevity and his perceived autocratic style of leadership.
Klein was a fiscal conservative. And he did balance the Alberta budget in no time. But at certain costs. In a rabidly conservative Alberta, less government spending is the best government.
His government took a knife to funding for arts and health programs, going so far as to demolish hospitals, laying off thousands of nurses, and selling off the provincial public telephone company, AGT to private interests. Klein’s social and environmental views were seen by opponents as uncaring. Supporters argued in response that Klein was merely choosing appropriate priorities for limited government funding.
Klein was opposed to the Kyoto Accord, since Alberta was a major producer of oil and natural gas, and he felt that environmental measures would hurt the economy. The successive government initiated a massive carbon-capture project.
In 2003, mad cow disease was discovered in a cow in Alberta. The cow was inspected, found to be substandard and removed so that it would not be fed to animals or humans. The carcass was turned to oils and the head sent to the United Kingdom where the case of mad cow was confirmed. Klein said, “I guess any self-respecting rancher would have shot, shovelled and shut up, but he didn’t do that,” referring to the farmer in northern Alberta whose animal was found to have the disease when it was taken to a slaughterhouse.
In late June 2003, Klein and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, widely reported to be friends,met to discuss the beef ban and the route of an Alaskan oil pipeline, which Klein vehemently argued had to be integrated with the extensive Alberta pipeline system. This was popular with Cheney and other advocates of North American energy independence in the oil industry.
Following the federal Parliament’s approval of same-sex marriage in 2005 via Bill C-38, Klein announced initially that his government would fight the distribution of same-sex marriage licences. However, he later recanted, stating publicly that there was no legal route to oppose the federal act (neither via the notwithstanding clause nor the province’s power over civil marriage), and the government reluctantly acknowledged the marriages.
In September 2005, Klein announced that each Albertan resident would qualify for a Prosperity Bonus as a result of an oil-driven budget surplus.
Reacting to comments made in March 2006 by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty opposing any two-tiered health care system in Ontario that Klein has proposed in Alberta which would allow quicker access to surgery for those who pay, Klein stated “I’m no doctor, but I think that Mr. McGuinty’s got a case of premature speculation”.
During a charity roast on November 9, 2006 Klein made a lewd joke at the expense of former Conservative Member of Parliament Belinda Stronach: “Belinda roasted me as a Conservative, but of course now she’s a Liberal.. and I wasn’t surprised that she crossed over; I don’t think she ever did have a Conservative bone in her body.. well, except for one.” (Referring to Peter MacKay, her former boyfriend, who is a member of the Conservative Party of Canada.) Klein refused to apologize for the remark stating that “a roast is a roast is a roast is a roast”, while his spokesman pointed out that “Ms. Stronach roasted the premier two years ago and made remarks about his weight, his clothing and even his flatulence”.
On March 12, 2012, controversial Bill C-10, the Safe Streets and Communities Act was passed into law. Amphetamines and their isomers, derivatives, and analogues, including MDA and MDMA (Ecstasy), as well as potential “date rape drugs” Rohypnol and GHB were rescheduled from Schedule III to Schedule I. Dealers of Schedule I drugs now face mandatory minimum sentencing of 1 year imprisonment. Also, the rescheduling imposes harsher punishment for possession.
Schedule I are trouble.
Schedule I
Amidone
Methamphetamine
DOM
Ampromides
Amphetamines, their salts, derivatives, isomers and analogues (Adderall, Adderall XR, Vyvanse, Dexedrine)
Benzazocines, excluding Cyclazocine
Benzimidazoles
Coca and derivatives (including Coca leaves, Cocaine, Ecgonine)
Codeine when not in a medication containing at least two other active ingredients.
Fentanyls
Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol)
GHB
Heroin
Ketamine
MDA
MDMA (Ecstasy)
Methadols
Moramides
Morphinans (Buprenorphine, Levomethorphan, etc.)
Excluding Dextromethorphan (DXM), Dextrorphan, etc.
Some Barbiturates (barbiturate hypnotics indicated for short-term treatment of insomnia that are intermediate acting [half-life range of 8–48 hours], include: pentobarbital, secobarbital, and amobarbital).
Most barbiturates, including those used as general anesthetics and those indicated for seizure disorders and anxiety disorders are ultra-short to short acting, or long-acting, or those considered to be mild hypnotics. These include: phenobarbital, barbital, sodium thiopental, butalbital, and mephobarbital.
Cathine
Schedule V is for nasal congestion
Schedule V
Propylhexedrine
Possession
If treated as an indictable offence, the penalty is:
Schedule I: Maximum 7 years imprisonment Schedule II: (exceeding amounts set in Schedule VIII): Maximum 5 years imprisonment Schedule III: (Requires a prescription or license to legally possess.) Maximum 3 years imprisonment Schedule IV: It is not an offence to possess a Schedule IV substance for personal use; however, Subsection (2) of Section (4) of the CDSA states that “no person shall seek or obtain a substance or authorization from a practitioner to obtain a substance in schedules I through IV.” Subsection (7) then states that it is an indictable offence to contravene subsection (2). Therefore, it is an indictable offence to attempt to acquire a Schedule IV substance but not an offence for possession. Section 5 provides that possession for the purpose of trafficking of a Schedule IV substance is an offence.
If treated as a summary conviction offence, the penalty is:
Maximum $1000 fine for first offence and/or maximum 6 months imprisonment. Maximum $2000 fine for subsequent offence and/or maximum 1 year imprisonment.
Charles Thomas “Stompin’ Tom” Connors, OC (February 9, 1936 – March 6, 2013) was one of Canada’s most prolific and well-known country and folk singers. Focusing his career exclusively on his native Canada, Connors is credited with writing more than 300 songs and has released four dozen albums, with total sales of nearly 4 million copies.
He was born Charles Thomas Connors (known as Tommy Messer) in Saint John, New Brunswick to the teenaged Isabel Connors and her boyfriend Thomas Sullivan. He was a cousin of New Brunswick fiddling sensation, Ned Landry. He spent a short time living with his mother in a low-security women’s penitentiary before he was seized by Children’s Aid Society and was later adopted by the Aylward family in Skinners Pond, Prince Edward Island.
At the age of 15 he left his adoptive family to hitchhike across Canada, a journey that consumed the next 13 years of his life as he travelled between various part-time jobs while writing songs on his guitar. At his last stop in Timmins, Ontario, which may also have been his big “break”, he found himself a nickel short of a beer at the city’s Maple Leaf Hotel. The bartender, Gaet Lepine, agreed to give Tom a beer if he would play a few songs. These few songs turned into a 13-month contract to play at the hotel, a weekly spot on the CKGB radio station in Timmins, eight 45-RPM recordings, and the end of the beginning for Tom Connors.
Connors released music on no fewer than seven different labels. His earliest foray into recording was on the CKGB Timmins radio station label. These 45 RPM singles were pressed by Quality Records in Toronto, and distributed (and paid for) primarily by Tom. His first two albums (and two subsequent 45 RPM singles) were released on the Rebel Records bluegrass label, under the name “Tom Connors”. These two albums were subsequently re-released on Dominion Records under the Stompin’ Tom moniker and had to be totally re-recorded due to a dispute with Rebel Records owner John Irvine.
Most of Connors’ well-known albums were released on Dominion Records (1969–70), and after 1971 on the Boot Records label that he co-founded with Jury Krytiuk and Mark Altman. His releases on Dominion (and all subsequent releases) were done under the name “Stompin’ Tom Connors”. Most of the Rebel and Dominion albums would be reissued (and in some cases, re-recorded) under the Boot label, and would represent the bulk of his recorded material. It was released on 331⁄3 RPM record albums, 45 RPM record singles, 8-tracks, and cassette tapes.
After his retreat from the music business in the late 1970s, he started the A-C-T (Assisting Canadian Talent) label in 1986, and released two albums: “Stompin’ Tom is Back to Assist Canadian Talent” and his comeback album, “Fiddle and Songs” in 1988. A-C-T also re-released Tom’s back catalogue on cassette tapes only.
All of his subsequent releases (and re-releases) have been through Capitol Records / EMI. Most of this work is now available on Compact Disc. In recent years, many of his album releases have included at least one re-recording of one of his earlier songs.
Sudbury Saturday Night
The girls are out to Bingo and the boys are gettin’ stinko,
And we think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night.
The glasses they will tinkle when our eyes begin to twinkle,
And we’ll think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night.
With Irish Jim O’Connel there and Scotty Jack MacDonald,
There’s honky Fredrick Hurchell gettin’ tight, but that’s alright,
There’s happy German Fritzy there with Frenchy getting tipsy,
And even Joe the Gypsy knows it’s Saturday tonight.
Now when Mary Ann and Mabel come to join us at the table,
And tell us how the Bingo went tonight, we’ll look a fright.
But if they won the money, we’ll be lappin’ up the honey, boys,
‘Cause everything is funny, for it’s Saturday tonight
The girls are out to Bingo and the boys are gettin’ stinko,
And we think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night.
The glasses they will tinkle when our eyes begin to twinkle,
And we’ll think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night.
We’ll drink the loot we borrowed and recuperate tomorrow,
‘Cause everything is wonderful tonight, we had a good fight,
We ate the Dilly Pickle and we forgot about the Nickel,
And everybody’s tickled, for it’s Saturday tonight
The songs that we’ll be singing, they might be wrong but they’ll be ringing,
When the lights of town are shining bright, and we’re all tight,
We’ll get to work on Monday, but tomorrow’s only Sunday,
And we’re out to have a fun day for it’s Saturday tonight. Yeah
The girls are out to Bingo and the boys are gettin’ stinko,
And we think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night.
The glasses they will tinkle when our eyes begin to twinkle,
And we’ll think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night.
We’ll think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night.
The cities of the western Canadian prairies experience a lot of sun. They get very cold weather in the winter, but it is a sunny cold. Blankets of white snow on a sunny crisp day can be very pleasing to the eye.
The big megalopolis cities of the east get a lot of sun also. But the hundreds of thousands of cars criss crossing on the giant freeways create choking smog on humid days.
Vancouver has been called one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but don’t forget your umbrella when you go outside. Plenty of rain on the west coast.
Below is a list of the sunniest cities in Canada from Environment Canada.
Average number of hours of bright sunshine a year in major Canadian cities.
City
Hours
Calgary, Alberta
2405
Winnipeg, Manitoba
2372
Regina, Saskatchewan
2338
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
2329
Edmonton, Alberta
2299
Victoria, British Columbia
2193
Hamilton, Ontario
2088
Ottawa, Ontario
2061
Barrie, Ontario
2055
Toronto, Ontario
2038
Winnipeg
Average number of days annually with some bright sunshine.
City
Days
Calgary, Alberta
333
Edmonton, Alberta
321
Regina, Saskatchewan
321
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
320
Winnipeg, Manitoba
318
Victoria, British Columbia
317
Windsor, Ontario
307
Kelowna, British Columbia
306
Montréal, Quebec
304
Barrie, Ontario
303
Ottawa, Ontario
303
Toronto, Ontario
303
Calgary
Percentage of daylight hours that are sunny
City
% sunshine
Calgary, Alberta
53
Winnipeg, Manitoba
51
Regina, Saskatchewan
50
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
50
Edmonton, Alberta
49
Victoria, British Columbia
46
Hamilton, Ontario
45
Ottawa, Ontario
45
Montréal, Quebec
44
Toronto, Ontario
44
Regina
Vancouver is Canada’s third most rainy city, with over 161 rainy days per year. As measured at Vancouver airport in Richmond, Vancouver receives 1154.7 mm of rain per year. By comparison, the amount of rainfall in London, England is nearly half that of Vancouver. In North Vancouver, about 20 km away from the Vancouver airport, the amount of rain received doubles to 2477 mm per year as measured at the base of Grouse Mountain.
This is the first time a non-American/Russian has commanded the I.S.S. Hadfield is definitely a man who has the right stuff.
Chris Hadfield, (born 29 August 1959) is a Canadian astronaut who was the first Canadian to walk in space. A former Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot, Hadfield has flown two space shuttle missions, STS-74 in 1995 and STS-100 in 2001, and served as capsule communicator for both Space Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) expeditions. On 19 December 2012, Hadfield launched in the Soyuz TMA-07M flight for a long duration stay on board the ISS as part of Expedition 35. He arrived at the station on 21 December as scheduled, and is the first Canadian to command the ISS.
Hadfield attended White Oaks Secondary School in Oakville, Ontario until his senior year and then graduated as an Ontario Scholar from Milton District High School in 1977. As a member of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, he earned a glider pilot scholarship at age 15 and a powered pilot scholarship at age 16. After graduating from high school in 1978, he joined the Canadian Forces and spent two years at Royal Roads Military College followed by two years at the Royal Military College, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1982. Before graduating, he also underwent basic flight training at CFB Portage la Prairie. In 1983, he took honours as the top graduate from Basic Jet Training at CFB Moose Jaw, and then went on to train as a tactical fighter pilot with 410 Tactical Fighter Operational Training Squadron at CFB Cold Lake, flying the Canadair CF-116 Freedom Fighter and the McDonnell Douglas CF-188 Hornet. After completing his fighter training, Hadfield flew CF-188 Hornets with 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron, flying intercept missions for NORAD. He was the first CF-188 pilot to intercept a Soviet Tupolev Tu 95 long-range bomber in the Canadian Arctic.
In the late 1980s, Hadfield attended the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base and served as an exchange officer with the U.S. Navy at Strike Test Directorate at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station. His accomplishments from 1989 to 1992 included testing the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet and LTV A-7 Corsair II aircraft; performing research work with NASA on pitch control margin simulation and flight; completing the first military flight of F/A-18 enhanced performance engines; piloting the first flight test of the National Aerospace Plane external burning hydrogen propulsion engine; developing a new handling qualities rating scale for high angle-of-attack test; and participating in the F/A-18 out-of-control recovery test program.
In 1993, Hadfield conducted post-graduate research and obtained a master’s degree in aviation systems at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. In total, Hadfield has flown over 70 different types of aircraft.
Hadfield was selected to become one of four new Canadian astronauts from a field of 5,330 applicants in June 1992. Three of those four (Dafydd Williams, Julie Payette and Hadfield) have flown in space. He was assigned by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas in August of the same year, where he addressed technical and safety issues for Shuttle Operations Development, contributed to the development of the glass shuttle cockpit, and supported shuttle launches at the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida. In addition, Hadfield was NASA’s Chief CAPCOM, the voice of mission control to astronauts in orbit, for 25 space shuttle missions. From 1996 to 2000, he represented CSA astronauts and coordinated their activities as the Chief Astronaut for the CSA.
Hadfield served as Mission Specialist 1 on STS-74 in November 1995. It was NASA’s second space shuttle mission to rendezvous and dock with the Russian Space Station Mir. During the flight, the crew of Space Shuttle Atlantis attached a five-tonne docking module to Mir and transferred over 1,000 kg of food, water, and scientific supplies to the cosmonauts. He flew as the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm in orbit, and the only Canadian ever to board Mir.
In April 2001, he served as Mission Specialist 1 on STS-100, International Space Station (ISS) assembly Flight 6A. The crew of Space Shuttle Endeavour delivered and installed Canadarm2, the new Canadian-built robotic arm, as well as the Italian-made resupply module Raffaello. During the 11-day flight, Hadfield performed two spacewalks, which made him the first Canadian to ever leave a spacecraft and float freely in space. In total, Hadfield spent 14 hours, 50 minutes outside, traveling 10 times around the world during his spacewalk.
Hey, he’s from southern Ontario, he has to be a Leafs fan.
There is an old joke that goes: Where is the border between India and China? The Fraser river in downtown Vancouver.
Hockey Day in Canada also reached out to other ethnic groups as well – the 2007 event on January 13, 2007 featured Italian language commentary of the Vancouver Canucks / Toronto Maple Leafs matchup, which was seen on the Telelatino (TLN) cable channel, with special features and commentary by Alf De Blasis, who hosts soccer games for TLN. This was the first time Hockey Night in Canada was presented in Italian. The following two years, matches were presented in Punjabi, Mandarin and Cantonese. CBC has subsequently added a regular schedule of games broadcast in Punjabi via the network’s website and some cable/satellite providers. However, just prior to the beginning of 2010 NHL regular season, CBC ended the broadcast in Punjabi citing financial strains. It found a sponsor soon thereafter and was reinstated following fan outcry.
In 2012, Mike Duffy was one of a number of senators accused of claiming residency outside of Ottawa in order to claim living expenses for work in Ottawa. Duffy, who has lived and worked in Ottawa for decades, has claimed his primary residence is in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island and claimed $33,000 in Ottawa living expenses since 2010. When the Senate Standing Committee on Internal Economy investigating the expense claims requested health cards and other evidence of residency outside Ottawa, Duffy applied for a PEI health card and asked for the card to be fast tracked in time for the audit deadline. People living near Duffy’s PEI cottage say he is seldom seen there. Cavendish resident Morgan Eisenhaur said “We’ve never seen Mike Duffy, he should show some leadership on this. He should have known better.”
