NICE, France, March 31 (UPI) — Patrick Chan of Canada successfully defended his men’s title at the World Figure Skating Championships in Nice, France, Saturday.

Chan brushed off a fall during his free-skate routine and produced the highest score of the day, a 176.70 that gave him a two-day total of 266.11 points.

Chan became the first male skater to win two consecutive titles since Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland did it in 2006. Chan placed second at the World championships in 2009 and 2010.

Daisuke Takahashi of Japan, who won the championship in 2010, took second place with 259.66 points. His countryman, Yuzuru Hanyu won the bronze medal.

Jeremy Abbot was the top American finisher in eighth place.

Article source: http://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2012/03/31/Canadas-Chan-defends-mens-skating-title/UPI-71981333218425/?spt=hs&or=sn

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“We can’t be confident,” he said, according to Concacaf.com. “We have to be alert. Canada beat the U.S. for a reason.”

Mexico have been led by the scoring exploits of forwards Alan Pulido and Marco Fabian, who have struck seven goals between them, including hat tricks for both men.

Their free-scoring attack will be put to the test against a Canadian side that has made it this far based on its strong defensive record.

Undefeated in the group phase, the under-23s of Canada conceded just a solitary goal in three matches, against Cuba. They also caused the shock of the tournament so far by topping the highly fancied U.S. side in a 2-0 win.

But Canadian U23 coach Tony Fonseca is well aware of the challenge that awaits his young players at LiveStrong Sporting Park.

“We know exactly what we’re going to face,” he said, according to Concacaf.com. “It’s a powerhouse. It’s a team with a lot of quality, a lot of good things going for them.”

This does not mean Canada is without confidence, though. Forward Evan James, who scored in the 1-1 draw with Cuba last time out, believes his team can cause an upset and lead the nation to its first Olympics soccer appearance since 1984.

“If everybody on the team works hard for each other for 90 minutes, I think we can accomplish anything,” James said, according to Fox News. “I think it’s going to come down to us outworking the other team and believing in ourselves.”

Prediction: Although the club’s members are saying the right things, Mexico must be delighted at having avoided a grudge match against the United States as it looks to return to the Olympics after missing out in Beijing four years ago.

Canada’s disciplined defense should prevent the game from being a blowout, but Mexico has too much quality to go the way of the United States.

Mexico 2-0 Canada

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Article source: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/322340/20120331/mexico-canada-olympic-qualifying-live-stream-online.htm

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was talking about the Canadian penny and why the Royal Canadian Mint will end its production this fall as part of his austerity budget.

“The penny is a currency without any currency in Canada, and it costs us 1.5 cents to produce a penny,” Flaherty told reporters.

Responses Friday were mixed, with some Canadians saying it would make life easier, while others worried it would become an opening for sneaky price hikes.

David Berman, a blogger at the Toronto Globe and Mail, took issue with Flaherty calling the penny a nuisance. “For a government that has been warning Canadians against piling on too much debt, it seems like a contradiction to then denigrate the one-cent coin — hey, it’s still money — as nothing more than a waste of space. It isn’t.”

Flaherty said a Canadian senate committee held hearings on the penny last year and not one witness came forward to say it should be spared.

A government statement said New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Sweden and others “have made smooth transitions to a penny-free economy.” It said penny production cost $11 million a year, and that the coins, which feature two maple leaves and Queen Elizabeth II in profile, would remain legal tender until they eventually disappeared from circulation.

It said it expected businesses to round out the numbers on price tags where necessary.

“Our members are not opposed to the proposal as long as the proposed system of rounding is adequately explained to Canadians. That’s the sweet spot. We’ve got to make sure people understand what’s going on,” said Sally Ritchie of Retail Council of Canada.

Ralph Moyal, President of the Retail Merchants’ Association, said dropping the penny might speed up transactions.

“Pennies are unnecessary and no longer have any function,” Moyal said. “I haven’t heard any complaints from our retailers.”

In Toronto, Mary Pascale, who co-owns a gourmet food shop, agreed the penny was a nuisance and said she already rounds out prices to the nearest 5 cents. Otherwise “it takes time to count all the change.”

Theo Danilov, a web developer, said: “I am happy about having less change in my pockets.” But he had qualms about the rounding up, saying: “It’s another way for merchants to nickel and dime their customers.”

Brian Grant Duff, a Vancouver coin collector and dealer, said he’ll mourn the penny but acknowledged there’s very little use for it.

“It’s sad for collectors and history buffs. It makes you think of all those expressions — a penny for your thoughts or having a lucky penny,” he said. “I was born in the mid ’60’s, so even in my lifetime there hasn’t been a lot you can buy with a penny. And now if you walk down the street most people would be too ashamed to pick up a penny or wouldn’t bother, and they probably wouldn’t feel too good about handing a penny to a homeless person.”

As for the U.S., however, he said: “It’s hard for me to imagine the Americans saying, ‘That’s it, we’re getting rid of the penny. It’s got Lincoln’s head on it.’”

The U.S. Treasury Department cited a statement from Treasurer Rosie Rios from earlier this year when asked about the Canadian decision. She said the Obama administration has looked at possibly using cheaper materials to make the penny, which is now made of zinc.

That’s quite a difference from when candidate Obama was campaigning to become president.

“We have been trying to eliminate the penny for quite some time — it always comes back,” Obama said at the time. “I need to find out who is lobbying to keep the penny.”

Two separate bills calling for the demise of the penny, introduced in 2002 and 2006 by Republican congressman Jim Kolbe, failed to advance in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The American zinc lobby has been a major opponent to suggestions that the penny be eliminated. Another advocacy group called Americans for Common Cents passionately defends the tiny coin.

“Eliminating the penny is a losing proposition because it will result in rounding to the nearest nickel and higher prices for America’s working families,” a statement on the group’s website reads.

“This increased cost to consumers will be felt in everything from the grocery store to the gas pump. Pennies add up to millions of dollars every year for charities across the country. Simply put, the penny plays an important role in our everyday lives and in our nation’s economy.”

Article source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-03-31/canada-penny/53911656/1

OTTAWA, CANADA (Catholic Online) – In the House of Commons, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said, “Other Western countries face the risk of long-term economic decline. We have a rare opportunity to position our country for sustainable, long-term growth.” 

He continued, “Canadians have every reason o be confident,” as he presented the budget for “the next generation.”

The plan combines cuts with the expectation that the economy will grow around 2.1 percent annually. Among the cuts is a nearly 5 percent reduction in the size of the government workforce. 
The retirement age may be raised to 67, beginning in 2023.

Other measures are proposed in the bill. The penny may finally be discontinued, with an estimated Can$11 million in annual savings. 

These savings measures are expected to reduce the national deficit to Can$21 billion from Can$24.9 billion. 

Meanwhile, the left is opposing the plan and accuses conservatives of reneging on promises made as part of the last election. 

As Canada looks to cut costs, the nation is also evaluating other measures to boost its economy. Immigration reforms are expected to attract more money and talent to the country. The government also proposed digitizing more documents to cut printing costs. The government will also streamline review processes for major industrial projects to spur development.

Another part of the measure is to develop exports to new markets. While the US is Canada’s largest trading partner the recent rejection of a pipeline into the US has the government looking elsewhere to sell some of it products. 

Canada is expected to strengthen trade ties with the European Union, China, and India.
For the moment, the plan is still a proposal, but if it is accepted, it could mean a smaller deficit – and bigger changes for the growing Canadian economy. 

2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM. 

Article source: http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=45501

NICE, France (AP) — Patrick Chan of Canada won the figure skating world title for the second straight year Saturday despite a flawed free skate that included a late tumble. He is the first man to win consecutive titles since the now retired Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland in 2006.

“It’s more special than the first to be honest. I had my doubts,” Chan said. “I think I kind of made it over the hump now.”

Olympic bronze medalist Daisuke Takahashi and rising star Yuzuru Hanyu took the silver and bronze medals, the first time Japan has had two men on the podium.

Some of the crowd jeered when Chan won, perhaps because of his mistakes and Takahashi’s superb performance. Chan finished with 266.11 points, almost 6.5 points ahead of Takahashi.

“I knew when I got off the ice” I had won, Chan said. “I felt like I had won anyway, that opening (was great).”

Hanyu, the 2010 world junior champion, was second in the free skate, but finished behind Takahashi because he was so far back after the short program.

“I heard the big crowd’s cheers so I knew Yuzuru had a perfect performance. I felt like, ‘OK, I have to do well, I can’t let him defeat me,”‘ Takahashi, the 2010 world champion, said of his 17-year-old teammate.

U.S. champion Jeremy Abbott and Adam Rippon failed to win back a third spot for the Americans at next year’s world championships, the qualifier for the Sochi Olympics. Abbott and Rippon needed to finish with a combined placement of 13 or better, and Abbott was eighth and Rippon 13th.

Later Saturday, Alena Leonova of Russia was looking to win the women’s title for the first time.

Skating to the haunting sounds of Joaquin Rodriguez’s “Concierto de Aranjuez”, Chan piled up the points in the first part of his program, opening with a quadruple toe loop and also doing a quad toe-triple toe combination and a triple axel. His elegance quieted the awed crowd, only the whispers of his gliding edges breaking the silence. But he wobbled coming out of a triple lutz, blowing the rest of his combination.

“It was a jump I’ve been having trouble with this season,” Chan said. “On the highlight reel it’s not going to look great. But mistakes here and there, it shows that I’m human, right?”

He regained his composure and his momentum, only to come undone on his last jump. He pulled out of what was going to be a double axel and fell over.

“I guess it isn’t really normal that I don’t make a mistake, it’s kind of my thing to have a weird fall,” Chan joked. “I was late in the music so that may have been a factor. I rushed the take off. I’ve been pretty lucky not falling on it earlier the season.”

He twice lost his balance in Friday’s short program, both times just managing to stay upright. But on Saturday he knew he needed to score more than 170.26 points to win – his season’s best was 185.99 – and he did enough in the early part of his routine to avoid any embarrassment.

“I skated smart this week,” Chan said. “I made sure the little details added up and I still ended up on top.”

The world title caps an unbeaten season for Chan, who also won at Skate Canada, Trophee Bompard, the Grand Prix final and Four Continents. The five-time Canadian champion also won the 2011 Lou Marsh Award, given to Canada’s top athlete.

Takahashi nailed his jumps in a superbly clean routine, with barely a flurry of ice when he landed on his triple lutz-double toe-double loop combination. His performance was worthy of a gold, and certainly put the pressure on the Czech Republic’s Michal Brezina, second after the short program, and Chan, the final two skaters to go.

Brezina clearly felt it, falling on his quad toe loop and then putting both hands on the ice after landing awkwardly on a quad salchow. He wound up sixth.

While Takahashi had the best performance, Hanyu’s was by far the most emotional, reducing him to tears.

“I was very nervous, I felt the pressure,” said Hanyu, the world junior champion two years ago. “I didn’t expect to get on the podium at my first world championships.”

Hanyu started brilliantly, nailing his quad toe loop and a triple axel, but inexplicably fell forward moments later. He recovered to complete the rest of his routine with sublime elegance, and the tears rolled down his face as the crowd gave him a huge ovation.

Even the world champ was impressed.

“I wasn’t even close to winning a bronze at 17,” Chan said.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Article source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/news/20120331/figure-skating-championships-patrick-chan/index.html

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was talking about the Canadian penny and why the Royal Canadian Mint will end its production this fall as part of his austerity budget.

“The penny is a currency without any currency in Canada, and it costs us 1.5 cents to produce a penny,” Flaherty told reporters.

Responses Friday were mixed, with some Canadians saying it would make life easier, while others worried it would become an opening for sneaky price hikes.

David Berman, a blogger at the Toronto Globe and Mail, took issue with Flaherty calling the penny a nuisance. “For a government that has been warning Canadians against piling on too much debt, it seems like a contradiction to then denigrate the one-cent coin — hey, it’s still money — as nothing more than a waste of space. It isn’t.”

Flaherty said a Canadian senate committee held hearings on the penny last year and not one witness came forward to say it should be spared.

A government statement said New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Sweden and others “have made smooth transitions to a penny-free economy.” It said penny production cost $11 million a year, and that the coins, which feature two maple leaves and Queen Elizabeth II in profile, would remain legal tender until they eventually disappeared from circulation.

It said it expected businesses to round out the numbers on price tags where necessary.

“Our members are not opposed to the proposal as long as the proposed system of rounding is adequately explained to Canadians. That’s the sweet spot. We’ve got to make sure people understand what’s going on,” said Sally Ritchie of Retail Council of Canada.

Ralph Moyal, President of the Retail Merchants’ Association, said dropping the penny might speed up transactions.

“Pennies are unnecessary and no longer have any function,” Moyal said. “I haven’t heard any complaints from our retailers.”

In Toronto, Mary Pascale, who co-owns a gourmet food shop, agreed the penny was a nuisance and said she already rounds out prices to the nearest 5 cents. Otherwise “it takes time to count all the change.”

Theo Danilov, a web developer, said: “I am happy about having less change in my pockets.” But he had qualms about the rounding up, saying: “It’s another way for merchants to nickel and dime their customers.”

Brian Grant Duff, a Vancouver coin collector and dealer, said he’ll mourn the penny but acknowledged there’s very little use for it.

“It’s sad for collectors and history buffs. It makes you think of all those expressions — a penny for your thoughts or having a lucky penny,” he said. “I was born in the mid ’60’s, so even in my lifetime there hasn’t been a lot you can buy with a penny. And now if you walk down the street most people would be too ashamed to pick up a penny or wouldn’t bother, and they probably wouldn’t feel too good about handing a penny to a homeless person.”

As for the U.S., however, he said: “It’s hard for me to imagine the Americans saying, ‘That’s it, we’re getting rid of the penny. It’s got Lincoln’s head on it.’”

The U.S. Treasury Department cited a statement from Treasurer Rosie Rios from earlier this year when asked about the Canadian decision. She said the Obama administration has looked at possibly using cheaper materials to make the penny, which is now made of zinc.

That’s quite a difference from when candidate Obama was campaigning to become president.

“We have been trying to eliminate the penny for quite some time — it always comes back,” Obama said at the time. “I need to find out who is lobbying to keep the penny.”

Two separate bills calling for the demise of the penny, introduced in 2002 and 2006 by Republican congressman Jim Kolbe, failed to advance in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The American zinc lobby has been a major opponent to suggestions that the penny be eliminated. Another advocacy group called Americans for Common Cents passionately defends the tiny coin.

“Eliminating the penny is a losing proposition because it will result in rounding to the nearest nickel and higher prices for America’s working families,” a statement on the group’s website reads.

“This increased cost to consumers will be felt in everything from the grocery store to the gas pump. Pennies add up to millions of dollars every year for charities across the country. Simply put, the penny plays an important role in our everyday lives and in our nation’s economy.”

Article source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-03-31/canada-penny/53911656/1

NICE, France (AP) — Patrick Chan of Canada won the figure skating world title for the second straight year Saturday despite a flawed free skate that included a late tumble. He is the first man to win consecutive titles since the now retired Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland in 2006.

“It’s more special than the first to be honest. I had my doubts,” Chan said. “I think I kind of made it over the hump now.”

Olympic bronze medalist Daisuke Takahashi and rising star Yuzuru Hanyu took the silver and bronze medals, the first time Japan has had two men on the podium.

Some of the crowd jeered when Chan won, perhaps because of his mistakes and Takahashi’s superb performance. Chan finished with 266.11 points, almost 6.5 points ahead of Takahashi.

“I knew when I got off the ice” I had won, Chan said. “I felt like I had won anyway, that opening (was great).”

Hanyu, the 2010 world junior champion, was second in the free skate, but finished behind Takahashi because he was so far back after the short program.

“I heard the big crowd’s cheers so I knew Yuzuru had a perfect performance. I felt like, ‘OK, I have to do well, I can’t let him defeat me,”‘ Takahashi, the 2010 world champion, said of his 17-year-old teammate.

U.S. champion Jeremy Abbott and Adam Rippon failed to win back a third spot for the Americans at next year’s world championships, the qualifier for the Sochi Olympics. Abbott and Rippon needed to finish with a combined placement of 13 or better, and Abbott was eighth and Rippon 13th.

Later Saturday, Alena Leonova of Russia was looking to win the women’s title for the first time.

Skating to the haunting sounds of Joaquin Rodriguez’s “Concierto de Aranjuez”, Chan piled up the points in the first part of his program, opening with a quadruple toe loop and also doing a quad toe-triple toe combination and a triple axel. His elegance quieted the awed crowd, only the whispers of his gliding edges breaking the silence. But he wobbled coming out of a triple lutz, blowing the rest of his combination.

“It was a jump I’ve been having trouble with this season,” Chan said. “On the highlight reel it’s not going to look great. But mistakes here and there, it shows that I’m human, right?”

He regained his composure and his momentum, only to come undone on his last jump. He pulled out of what was going to be a double axel and fell over.

“I guess it isn’t really normal that I don’t make a mistake, it’s kind of my thing to have a weird fall,” Chan joked. “I was late in the music so that may have been a factor. I rushed the take off. I’ve been pretty lucky not falling on it earlier the season.”

He twice lost his balance in Friday’s short program, both times just managing to stay upright. But on Saturday he knew he needed to score more than 170.26 points to win – his season’s best was 185.99 – and he did enough in the early part of his routine to avoid any embarrassment.

“I skated smart this week,” Chan said. “I made sure the little details added up and I still ended up on top.”

The world title caps an unbeaten season for Chan, who also won at Skate Canada, Trophee Bompard, the Grand Prix final and Four Continents. The five-time Canadian champion also won the 2011 Lou Marsh Award, given to Canada’s top athlete.

Takahashi nailed his jumps in a superbly clean routine, with barely a flurry of ice when he landed on his triple lutz-double toe-double loop combination. His performance was worthy of a gold, and certainly put the pressure on the Czech Republic’s Michal Brezina, second after the short program, and Chan, the final two skaters to go.

Brezina clearly felt it, falling on his quad toe loop and then putting both hands on the ice after landing awkwardly on a quad salchow. He wound up sixth.

While Takahashi had the best performance, Hanyu’s was by far the most emotional, reducing him to tears.

“I was very nervous, I felt the pressure,” said Hanyu, the world junior champion two years ago. “I didn’t expect to get on the podium at my first world championships.”

Hanyu started brilliantly, nailing his quad toe loop and a triple axel, but inexplicably fell forward moments later. He recovered to complete the rest of his routine with sublime elegance, and the tears rolled down his face as the crowd gave him a huge ovation.

Even the world champ was impressed.

“I wasn’t even close to winning a bronze at 17,” Chan said.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Article source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/news/20120331/figure-skating-championships-patrick-chan/index.html?section=si_latest

NICE, France (AP) — Patrick Chan of Canada won the figure skating world title for the second straight year Saturday despite a flawed free skate that included a late tumble. He is the first man to win consecutive titles since the now retired Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland in 2006.

“It’s more special than the first to be honest. I had my doubts,” Chan said. “I think I kind of made it over the hump now.”

Olympic bronze medalist Daisuke Takahashi and rising star Yuzuru Hanyu took the silver and bronze medals, the first time Japan has had two men on the podium.

Some of the crowd jeered when Chan won, perhaps because of his mistakes and Takahashi’s superb performance. Chan finished with 266.11 points, almost 6.5 points ahead of Takahashi.

“I knew when I got off the ice” I had won, Chan said. “I felt like I had won anyway, that opening (was great).”

Hanyu, the 2010 world junior champion, was second in the free skate, but finished behind Takahashi because he was so far back after the short program.

“I heard the big crowd’s cheers so I knew Yuzuru had a perfect performance. I felt like, ‘OK, I have to do well, I can’t let him defeat me,”‘ Takahashi, the 2010 world champion, said of his 17-year-old teammate.

U.S. champion Jeremy Abbott and Adam Rippon failed to win back a third spot for the Americans at next year’s world championships, the qualifier for the Sochi Olympics. Abbott and Rippon needed to finish with a combined placement of 13 or better, and Abbott was eighth and Rippon 13th.

Later Saturday, Alena Leonova of Russia was looking to win the women’s title for the first time.

Skating to the haunting sounds of Joaquin Rodriguez’s “Concierto de Aranjuez”, Chan piled up the points in the first part of his program, opening with a quadruple toe loop and also doing a quad toe-triple toe combination and a triple axel. His elegance quieted the awed crowd, only the whispers of his gliding edges breaking the silence. But he wobbled coming out of a triple lutz, blowing the rest of his combination.

“It was a jump I’ve been having trouble with this season,” Chan said. “On the highlight reel it’s not going to look great. But mistakes here and there, it shows that I’m human, right?”

He regained his composure and his momentum, only to come undone on his last jump. He pulled out of what was going to be a double axel and fell over.

“I guess it isn’t really normal that I don’t make a mistake, it’s kind of my thing to have a weird fall,” Chan joked. “I was late in the music so that may have been a factor. I rushed the take off. I’ve been pretty lucky not falling on it earlier the season.”

He twice lost his balance in Friday’s short program, both times just managing to stay upright. But on Saturday he knew he needed to score more than 170.26 points to win – his season’s best was 185.99 – and he did enough in the early part of his routine to avoid any embarrassment.

“I skated smart this week,” Chan said. “I made sure the little details added up and I still ended up on top.”

The world title caps an unbeaten season for Chan, who also won at Skate Canada, Trophee Bompard, the Grand Prix final and Four Continents. The five-time Canadian champion also won the 2011 Lou Marsh Award, given to Canada’s top athlete.

Takahashi nailed his jumps in a superbly clean routine, with barely a flurry of ice when he landed on his triple lutz-double toe-double loop combination. His performance was worthy of a gold, and certainly put the pressure on the Czech Republic’s Michal Brezina, second after the short program, and Chan, the final two skaters to go.

Brezina clearly felt it, falling on his quad toe loop and then putting both hands on the ice after landing awkwardly on a quad salchow. He wound up sixth.

While Takahashi had the best performance, Hanyu’s was by far the most emotional, reducing him to tears.

“I was very nervous, I felt the pressure,” said Hanyu, the world junior champion two years ago. “I didn’t expect to get on the podium at my first world championships.”

Hanyu started brilliantly, nailing his quad toe loop and a triple axel, but inexplicably fell forward moments later. He recovered to complete the rest of his routine with sublime elegance, and the tears rolled down his face as the crowd gave him a huge ovation.

Even the world champ was impressed.

“I wasn’t even close to winning a bronze at 17,” Chan said.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Article source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/news/20120331/figure-skating-championships-patrick-chan/?xid=si_topstories

GATINEAU, QUEBEC–(Marketwire -03/31/12)- Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is pleased to launch its new travelling exhibition Double Take: Portraits of Intriguing Canadians. The exhibition will open at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Canada’s National Memorial to the Fathers of Confederation-Confederation Centre of the Arts, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on March 31, 2012.

Double Take: Portraits of Intriguing Canadians showcases the richness of LAC’s national portrait collection. The exhibition includes 100 portraits, offering visitors a behind-the-scenes look at more than 50 fascinating people who have left their mark on this country and its history. The exhibition’s curator will be available March 31 at 2 p.m. (ADT) to lead a tour open to the public and media.

“The Confederation Centre Art Gallery is very pleased to be presenting this unique collection of portraits in Charlottetown,” said Gallery Director, Kevin Rice. “This show promises to be an intriguing walk through Canadian history.”

The works span four centuries, including early explorers Jacques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain and more contemporary icons such as David Suzuki and Joni Mitchell, using a variety of media: paintings, photographs, cartoons, drawings, video and sculpture.

“Double Take is an excellent example of LAC’s commitment to making the country’s heritage and history accessible to all Canadians-regardless of where they live,” said Daniel J. Caron, Deputy Head and Librarian and Archivist of Canada. “It is especially fitting that this exhibition is being launched at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery, just steps away from where the idea of forming a country was first discussed, 148 years ago, by delegates from Britain’s North American colonies.”

Double Take invites visitors to encounter a range of people who have helped shape Canada, to explore their stories, and to discover something new and unexpected about them.

The exhibition Double Take runs until September 3, 2012, at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown. It will then travel across Canada, opening at several other venues through 2014.

A virtual exhibition of these works will be available on LAC’s website in April. To learn more about Double Take: Portraits of Intriguing Canadians visit: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/portraits.

For more information on exhibitions at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery, visit the website at: www.confederationcentre.com.

Confederation Centre Art Gallery

The purpose of the Confederation Centre Art Gallery is to inspire appreciation, understanding, and enjoyment of Canada’s diverse cultural heritage by exhibiting, collecting, and communicating the work of Canadian visual artists. The Gallery is a program of the Confederation Centre of the Arts, Canada’s only National Memorial to the Fathers of Confederation and their 1864 meeting in Charlottetown. In the words of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, speaking at the opening ceremonies for the Confederation Centre of the Arts, October 6, 1964, “(This Memorial) is a tribute to those famous men who founded our Confederation. But it is also dedicated to the fostering of those things that enrich the mind and delight the heart, those intangible but precious things that give meaning to a society and help create from it a civilization and a culture.”

The Confederation Centre of the Arts showcases the best in Canadian visual and performing arts, and since 1965 has been home to The Charlottetown Festival’s iconic production, Anne of Green Gables – The Musical™.

About Library and Archives Canada

The mandate of Library and Archives Canada is to preserve the documentary heritage of Canada for the benefit of present and future generations, and to be a source of enduring knowledge accessible to all, thereby contributing to the cultural, social and economic advancement of Canada. Library and Archives Canada also facilitates co-operation among communities involved in the acquisition, preservation and diffusion of knowledge, and serves as the continuing memory of the Government of Canada and its institutions.

Article source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/library-archives-canada-launches-travelling-125500470.html

By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada, intent on boosting development of the oil-rich tar sands, will speed up the process for approving big energy and industrial projects such as pipelines.

The federal budget, released on Thursday, also said the right-of-center Conservative government would crack down on political activity by charities, some of which have strongly criticized Ottawa’s focus on energy exports.

The government, which has long complained about the complex approval system for pipelines and mines, said it would impose firm time limits on regulatory hearings, ensure that each project was only reviewed once and cut the number of environmental assessments.

At stake, it said, was up to C$500 billion ($500 billion) in investment in new Canadian projects over the next decade.

“Those who wish to invest in our resources have been facing an increasingly complicated web of rules and bureaucratic reviews that have grown over time, adding costs and delays that can deter investors and undermine the economic viability of major projects,” said the budget document.

“We need a regulatory system that reviews projects in a timely and transparent manner, while effectively protecting the environment.”

Ottawa and the 10 provinces share responsibility for regulation, which can mean some major projects are examined twice. Public hearings into proposed mines and pipelines can drag out the review process for up to seven years.

The government said it would impose a maximum 24-month limit for reviews. Hearings by the National Energy Board, the federal energy regulator, will be capped at 18 months and standard environmental assessments will take no more than 12 months.
  Continued…

Article source: http://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCABRE82S1EI20120329