After the initial enthusiasm of nuclear power starting in the 1950’s, that enthusiasm began to wane a few decades later, especially after the Hollywood film, The China Syndrome, and the almost simultaneous 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear disaster. Now a newer idea is being promoted of these smaller localised reactors. Indeed, three of Canada’s provincial leaders recently signed a deal to develop the technology of SMR’s, or small modular reactors. Warren Mabee (PhD) explains SMR's. He's the direct...
Dec 04, 2019
Most alliances historically don’t last more than a couple of decades, but the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance is 70 this year, and has grown over that time to its now 29 members. Originally formed as a protection against the Soviets, new and much different types of threats lurk, and there are divisions in the organisation. Colin Robertson, a former Canadian diplomat and a Vice President of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. discusses the issues. ListenEN_Interview_1-20191203-WIE10 U.S. Presid...
Dec 03, 2019•10 min
So who's next to go in this National Hockey League public relations nightmare? One wonders. Don't bet against Marc Crawford. Crawford is currently a Chicago Blackhawks assistant coach. Sort of. Marc Crawford leads a Colorado team practice in Denver in 1996 as assistant coach Bob Hartley looks on. Crawford led the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup that spring. (Paul Chaisson/Canadian Press) At the moment, he is away from the team while the Hawks and the National Hockey League investigate some alleged ...
Dec 03, 2019•7 min
Holodomor - derivation of “moryty holodom” to kill by starvation Rhea Clyman was her name, a ground breaking woman in so many historic ways, yet few have heard of her, few remember. Self-taught and absolutely daring, this young Canadian woman from a poverty stricken background, became a foreign news correspondent at a time when such a thing for women was almost unheard of. She was also the first western journalist to expose the forced starvation in Ukraine that killed millions Jars Balan, Direct...
Dec 02, 2019•8 min
Stop me if you've heard this one: another natural treasure is under threat--really under threat. Just the Great Lakes, folks. You know: those five enormous and gorgeous bodies of water, straddling Canada and the U.S., that have long served as an oh-so-vital component of our collective physical, cultural, economic and spiritual life. A new study finds they are now filling with so much plastic waste that they are about to rival the world's oceans in that no-so-healthy regard. And God knows, we've ...
Nov 28, 2019•8 min
The United Nations latest warning on climate says we’re heading for a global average increase of 3.2 degrees Celsius. It notes that countries agreed to targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to slow the increase are well short of the timeframe needed. Robert McLeman (PhD) , discusses the implications of the report. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario ListenEN_Interview_1-20191127-WIE10 The re...
Nov 27, 2019•7 min
For the second time in less than a month, hockey is back in the headlines for--what staunch supporters will tell you--are all the wrong reasons. In what seems like a heartbeat ago, everybody was venting--pro or con--about the firing of Don Cherry, the long-time Saturday night television mainstay/icon, who was fired by Sportsnet following some loaded words directed at immigrants. Now, the hockey coach of the NHL Calgary Flames, Bill Peters, appears to be in serious trouble--the result of an alleg...
Nov 27, 2019•9 min
With pro-democracy protests still ongoing, albeit, slightly calmed, the elections for the lower echelon of government, the regional councils, were held on Sunday. Pro-democracy candidates won almost all positions and now 17 of the 18 regional councils are dominated by pro-democracy members. Colin Robertson gives an analysis of the implications, and Canada’s position. He is Vice-President at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, an independent, non-partisan research institute related to foreign ...
Nov 26, 2019•10 min
For many of us, one of the great pleasures of life is playing a team sport. One of the things that makes it great is the locker room, a place we tend to feel safe, mainly, I would submit, because we are hanging out with our peers, people we feel are not all that different from who we believe we are, or would like to be. It's something most of us pretty much take for granted. Or not. Take Harrison Browne. Harrison Browne, centre, takes a shot on Stephen Cadigan during Boston Pride Hockey LGBT hoc...
Nov 26, 2019•7 min
Something brand new has happened in Canadian politics. Just last week, the recently re-elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, named his cabinet. One of the ministers was named to a new position of Minister of Middle-Class prosperity. Stephen Gordon (PhD) takes a look at how we define this “class” and the job of the new ministry. He is a professor of economics at Laval University in Quebec City. ListenEN_Interview_1-20191125-WIE10 Gordon says Mme Fortier, as the associate Minister of Finance, res...
Nov 25, 2019•7 min
A hardy bunch of Canadians will gather this Sunday for the 107th time in a city with a football stadium to--at the very least--partake in some darn good parties and, yes, watch a football game. This year it's between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. It's Grey Cup time in Canada, everybody! This year it's in Calgary, Alberta. Game time: 4 p.m. Hamilton Tiger Cats wide receiver Brandon Banks (16) celebrates his highlight reel touchdown catch from quarterback Dane Evans (9) in...
Nov 22, 2019•9 min
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death worldwide with heart attacks as a major concern, This is when blood flow to the heart itself is restricted which can lead in some cases to heart failure. In Canada there are approximately 600,000 patients living with advanced heart disease. In what is being hailed as a “world first”, researchers in Canada have developed a new treatment that can easily help restore a percentage of heart function, preventing or greatly delaying heart failure Emili...
Nov 21, 2019•6 min
The fact is that most people give very little thought to where their food comes from, or who’s producing it. Filmmaker Kelsey van Moorsel is from a farming background in Alberta and found that many people in the urban centres where she spent time had a misconception about farming: what’s actually involved and who farmers were. With her own knowledge, she contacted three women who were farmers to talk about their roles as the leaders on the farm and they they are not just the wives and daughters ...
Nov 20, 2019•7 min
November carries a lot of baggage in Canada--mostly a mix of shivering and foreboding. This year we get to throw in shovelling, as winter--not officially, mind you--has come early to way too many places across the country. So what happens next? We all wonder, though we have a pretty good idea. The Weather Network issued its winter forecast Monday. There are those who say the best way to cope with winter is to just stop fighting it. (Conservation Officer Service of British Columbia) "The upcoming...
Nov 19, 2019•6 min
Many of the several hundred students barricaded at Hong Kong University have surrendered to police early this morning. However, it seems unlikely that the protests, now several months old, will abate anytime soon. Colin Robertson, is Vice-President at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, an independent, non-partisan research institute related to foreign policy a former diplomat, as Canadian Consul in Hong Kong, Former Canadian diplomat in Hong Kong gives his analysis of protest situation there...
Nov 19, 2019•8 min
Imagine the millions of stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, and the millions more planets orbiting those stars, Now imagine a cluster of galaxies, perhaps thousands of them. Toby Brown (PhD) is a post-doctoral fellow at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. He is also leading an international team of some 30 astronomers studying the process that kills galaxy clusters far far out in deep space. ListenEN_Interview_1-20191114-WIE10 The universe is a “star factory” converting gas into stars which ...
Nov 14, 2019•9 min
Camille Labchuk took a vow of silence over the weekend. Bound for no ashram to meditate, the silence was simply another step in her relentless pursuit to protect animals, who--she is always quick to note--lack the power to advocate for themselves. Labchuk is the executive director of the animal rights group Animal Justice and making life better for animals requires money to fight court battles in pursuit of, well, animal justice. Lawyer and Animal Justice executive director Camille Labchuk is a ...
Nov 14, 2019•7 min
A dire report from Canadian medical, veterinary and economic experts begins with the words, ”Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is now recognized as a global threat that if not addressed will have a devastating impact on the health and welfare of the planet that may be difficult to reverse.” It suggests that increasing incidence of anti-biotic resistance could result in the deaths of almost 400,000 Canadians, and a hit to the Canadian economy in the hundreds of billions of dollars just within the ne...
Nov 13, 2019•10 min
As we reported yesterday, Canada's own very own version of Archie Bunker has exited, and it sure didn't go unnoticed across Canada--making front page news across the country. Don Cherry finally rolled snake eyes Saturday night, going after newcomers to Canada for not buying poppies. After pushing his luck for years, it was one giant, clumsy step too many. Don Cherry and his sidekick, Ron MacLean, pose for a photo during the unveiling of their joint star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto on Mon...
Nov 12, 2019•15 min
Over 104 years ago, as the First World War raged around him, a Canadian surgeon sat in an ambulance in a part of Belgium that had already seen more than its fair share of carnage and fighting and would see a whole lot more through the rest of the 20th Century. Poppies surround a newly unveiled statue of Lt.-Col. John McCrae to commemorate the Second Battle of Ypres and his poem 'In Flanders Fields,' during a ceremony in Ottawa on Sunday, May 3, 2015, 100 years to the day that he wrote his famous...
Nov 11, 2019•22 min
It’s an alarming thought, but leaving sponges, clamps, needles, probes inside patients after surgery is a possibility, and a new study shows it happens all too often in Canada. A new report puts Canada in a bad light in this regard. Tracy Johnson is Director of Health Systems Analysis and Emerging Issues at The Canadian Institute for Health Information. Tracy Johnson of the Canadian Institute of Health Information talks about their latest report on the state of health care service in CanadaEN_In...
Nov 11, 2019•4 min
It's November--time to partake in a long-standing Canadian rite of passage: ugly professional football. The Canadian Football League conference semifinals take place Sunday--the first hurdle for any team looking to win the 2019 Grey Cup in two weeks time. Montreal hosts Edmonton and Calgary hosts Winnipeg. Relentless snow in the first half and a cameo from the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made for a truly Canadian championship Grey Cup game in 2017. (Canadian Press/ Getty Images) Winners advanc...
Nov 08, 2019•9 min
Eli Pasquale died of cancer on Monday. He was 59. He was a terrific basketball player, a Canadian Basketball Hall of Famer. For lovers of the game, he was a big part of our collective consciousness back in the 1980s--not just because he helped win five straight university titles at the University of Victoria or went to two Summer Olympic Games. No, it was the way Pasquale played that inspired so many of us. Pasquale was a fierce competitor at both the university and international levels. (Courte...
Nov 07, 2019•7 min
I'm an old guy so I'm forced to confess that I lack the intense terror that Greta and her friends feel about where this planet is heading. For me, the terror remains mostly above my shoulders. For the young people--the ones taking to the streets around the world--the terror goes a whole lot deeper. Maybe that's why Greta and her friends refuse to pull their punches as they confront the environmental insanity. And Neither does an open letter in the journal BioScience, released Tuesday, the same d...
Nov 06, 2019•15 min
Canada has instituted a carbon tax in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, a new study show there may well be unintended and less desirable consequences. Carlos Murillo prepared a study of these concerns. He is the senior research associate, energy and environment at the Conference Board of Canada, a non-partisan think tank. ListenEN_Interview_1-20191106-WIE10 Murillo’s report is called, "Tipping the Scales: Assessing Carbon Competitiveness and Leakage Potential for Canada’s EI...
Nov 06, 2019•9 min
As we approach Remembrance Day on November 11, a new book on Canadians in war has had a timely release. The book’s title is “Seven Days in Hell, Canada’s battle for Normandy and the rise of the Black Watch Snipers". It tells of how a disparate group of volunteers and a few army “regulars’ came together in a already legendary Montreal regiment and fought their way across Normandy and into a brutal and devastating battle at Verrieres Ridge in an effort to break German resistance, Historian and aut...
Nov 05, 2019•11 min
Care to know a whole lot more about polar bears? I know just the place. A new centre in Churchill, Manitoba aimed at helping the fight to save the world's polar bears opened on the weekend. (BJ Kirschhnoffer/polarbearsinternational.org) Treat yourself to a trip to Churchill, Manitoba, the Hudson Bay town that bills itself as the "Polar Bear Capital of the World." A lot of people were there on the weekend for the grand opening of Polar Bears International House that supporters hope will serve as ...
Nov 05, 2019•7 min
It's November, the clocks got turned back this weekend--time to accept that summer won't be returning to these parts any time soon. A perfect time, in other words, to take one last stab at a summer state of mind by talking a little tennis, the game of sun and sweat. Indeed, Canadians--both fans and players--can look back at a whole year of terrific tennis. Bianca Andreescu receives a medical treatment on her leg after suffering a knee injury during the WTA Finals Tennis Tournament against Karoli...
Nov 04, 2019•10 min
Are obese people addicted to food? It’s an often proposed idea and something researchers in Montreal investigated Dr Alain Dagher (MD. FRCP) supervised the research team. He is a professor in the department of neurology at the Montreal Neurological Institute (the Neuro) Dr Dagher talks about research showing obesity is only slightly linked to addiction to foodEN_Interview_1-20191031-WIE10 Statistics from the World Health Organisation indicate that obesity rates have tripled since 1975. Obesity b...
Oct 31, 2019•7 min
By October of 1944 Canadians had fought their way from the Normandy beach to the French interior, then along the Atlantic coast through Belgium, capturing German rocket sites and all of it bitterly defended by hardened German troops. After fighting through Normandy through to Caen, the Verrieres Ridge and being instrumental in closing the Falaise gap, the Canadians were given a new assignment. By the end of the month, they had to attack Walcheren Island. But there was only one very narrow access...
Oct 30, 2019•9 min
