Tag: Canada

Entertainment News

Canada Loses Its Troubador – Stompin’ Tom Connors Dead At 77

Some people say that Canada has two national athems: “O Canada” and “The Hockey Song” by Stompin’ Tom Connors.

The Canadian icon passed away on March 6, at the age of 77, leaving a hole in the heart and soul of the country.

Connors was a folk musician and a fierce Canadian patriot. He made his way up and down the country, documenting every square inch of every little Canadian town in his songs. He got his nickname because as he played and sang on stage, he stomped his cowboy booted left foot in time to the music.

The songs Stompin’ Tom wrote and sang were songs that Canadians connected with and which drew them together. They were simple, singable and relatable. Songs like “The Hockey Song,” which recounts a hockey game, inning by inning. Or “Bud the Spud,” about a trucker driving a load of PEI potatoes across Canada. Or Sudbury Saturday Night, which tells the tale of ordinary folks enjoying themselves in an Ontario town.

News Politics

Canadian Senators’ Expenses Being Reviewed

Senators are people who are chosen to help make the laws in Canada.

But right now, some of the senators are getting attention because of money they are spending on travel, and on apartments or houses to live in while they sit in the Senate in Ottawa, Ont., Canada’s capital city.

Senators can get as much as $22,000 each year from Canadians or their living expenses, as long as their main residence is at least 100 kilometres away from Ottawa.

But people say that some of the senators are claiming money to pay for their homes even though they are not living in them when they claim to be.

In other cases, people say the homes that are being paid for by Canadians are the main place of residence, or where the senators live most of the time — not just when they have to help make laws in the Senate.

If that is the case, these people say, the senators should be paying the cost themselves.

The senators who are being questioned about whether Canadians should be paying their housing and travel expenses include former TV news personalities Pamela Wallin and Mike Duffy.

Science

New Space Mission Will Study Asteroid In 2018

A new joint project between the Canadian and U.S. space agencies will bring a piece of the universe to Earth.

The goal of the mission, known as OSIRIS-REx*, is to study an asteroid.

NASA, working with the Canadian Space Agency, will send a spacecraft to Asteroid 1999 RQ36. A robotic arm will grab pieces of the asteroid.

The spacecraft will be launched in Sept. 2016 and it will reach the asteroid in 2018.

The asteroid will be studied and mapped for about six months in space and then the sample will be brought to Earth in 2023.

News Sports

Andrew Wiggins Awarded Naismith Trophy For High School Basketball

The top high school basketball player in the United States is a Canadian.

This week Andrew Wiggins was awarded the Naismith Trophy and named the Boys’ High School Player of the Year.

Wiggins was born in Vaughan, Ont. and is playing for Huntington Prep School in West Virginia.

Wiggins is 18 years old. His average per game is 23.6 points and 11.7 rebounds.

He hasn’t yet decided where he will go to university; many schools are competing for him.

The Naismith award winner is chosen by basketball journalists in the U.S.

Environment News Science

City Services Gearing Up To Battle Climate Change

Cities need to watch the weather closely in the future to make sure that city services are always in good working order, according to a new report being studied by the City of Toronto.

That’s because the changing climate–including severe weather and warmer temperatures–may affect cities’ infrastructure. In this case, “infrastructure” refers to services that support the city, such as roads, public transit and energy plants.

The report, requested by the Toronto Environment Office, summed up the past 10 years of serious weather events in and around Toronto.

In the last decade, several records were broken due to the weather. For instance, there was one day in which there was an unusually high demand for power during a very hot summer. This kind of high demand can put a strain on the city’s ability to provide power.

An all-time record 409 mm (millimetres) of rainfall was set at Trent University during this time. Four hundred and nine millimetres is equivalent to 14 billion litres of water in five hours.

Also, in the past 10 years, Toronto had its earliest ever official heat wave.

These kinds of weather events will likely continue and could affect the infrastructure of Toronto and other cities.

News Sports

Canada Shining At Winter Sports – Including “Slopestyle”

Downhill skier Erik Guay, from Mont Tremblant, Quebec, raced recently in Kitzbuehel, Austria.

The 3.3-kilometre course at Kitzbuehel is often referred to as “the Super Bowl of the ski season.”

Guay finished second, skiing just 0.13 seconds slower than the person who came in first. Because he came in second, Guay earned a spot on the “podium.” In skiing, “podiums” is an official statistic. It refers to coming in first, second or third.

Coming in second at Kitzbuehel earned Guay his 19th podium of his career. If he gets one more, he will be tied for the most podiums ever by a Canadian downhill skiier.

Guay is now preparing for the World Championships which take place on Feb. 10 in Austria.

Canada’s winter sports success continued in Aspen, Colorado at the Winter X Games.

News

Distribution Of Canadian Penny Ends

The penny has been dropped from Canada’s currency.

On Feb. 4, the Royal Canadian Mint stopped sending pennies to banks and businesses.

The government decided that pennies cost too much to make and distribute. They estimate the country will save about $11-million by eliminating the penny.

Without a one-cent coin, many business transactions will change.

The Canadian government told businesses they can “round” cash sales to the nearest five-cent mark.

News Politics

Rob Ford Wins His Legal Case, Remains As Toronto’s Mayor

Rob Ford has won his appeal and will remain as Toronto’s mayor.

Last November, Ford was removed from office – in other words, told by a judge that he could no longer be mayor.

The judge said Ford broke a “conflict of interest” law after he voted on an issue that he, himself was involved in. The judge said Ford must step down as mayor.

However, Ford appealed the judge’s decision. That means he asked the court to look over the case and reverse the decision.

Three judges from the Ontario Divisional Court did just that. They ruled that Ford never broke the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act.

Kids News

More Canadian Kids Taking French Immersion

More Canadian students are signing up for French immersion, according to a report by Statistics Canada.

Even though the number of students in Canada is going down, the number of students taking French immersion has gone up by 12 per cent in the last five years. That information is based on the 2011 census.

The trend is particularly strong out west. Over the past 12 years, the number of students in British Columbia and Alberta taking French immersion has risen steadily. The number in Saskatchewan and Ontario are also climbing.

French immersion is when a student whose first language is not French, studies in French.

Politics

Day In The Life Of Canada’s PM

Want to know what Canada’s prime minister did yesterday?

Just read his Twitter feed.

Harper tweeted a picture of his cat, Stanley, sitting on a chair beside him while the prime minister ate his breakfast.

He tweeted a time-lapsed video of his drive to work; viewers could see the Canadian flag flying on the hood of his car and watch the PM leave his limo with a briefcase full of work.