Archivo etiqueta «Canadá»
By William (‘Bill’) Ayers, an academic, formerly distinguished professor of education and senior university scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), and founder of the Small Schools Workshop and the Center for Youth and Society. He has written extensively about social justice, democracy and education, and teaching. His books include Teaching Toward Freedom, A Kind and Just Parent, Fugitive Days, On the Side of the Child, and Teaching the Personal and the Political (THE GUARDIAN, 16/06/11):
In January this year, I was invited by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) to address the Worldviews Conference … Seguir leyendo
By Michael Taube, a former speechwriter for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper (THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 06/05/11):
On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper won his third straight federal election since 2006 – and first majority-Conservative government. This means Canada-U.S. relations will remain strong for another four years.
Many Canadian conservatives rejoiced after Mr. Harper got his majority. In two straight minority Parliaments, the Tories have struggled to get meaningful legislation passed because of the political left: the opposition Liberals, socialist New Democrats and separatist/socialist Bloc Quebecois.
That’s the way the political game is played, and all Canadian parliamentarians and … Seguir leyendo
By John Vaillant, the author of The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 02/01/11):
When people ask me, an American expat, what it’s like living in Canada, I tell them, “It’s kind of like living in the States, if the States were on lithium.”
This is the price of living in the land of “Peace, Order and Good Government.” With the notable exceptions of Arcade Fire fans and the Alberta tar sands developers, there’s just not a lot of mania to be found north of the border. But for a few weeks last … Seguir leyendo
Por Gregorio Morán (LA VANGUARDIA, 10/07/10):
La región canadiense de Quebec ha sido principal suministradora de ideas a nuestro nacionalismo “casolano”. ¡Cuántas historias habría que contar de la Universidad de Laval! Hubo un tiempo en el que se mandaron instructores lingüísticos y políticos. El calco quebecois del nacionalismo catalán posmoderno alcanza prácticamente toda la gama de lo que por aquí se consideran identidades únicas e intransferibles. Después de dos referéndum de separación fallidos, es raro encontrar en Quebec alguien capaz de insistir. La única persona que jalea a los quebecois a un tercer referéndum figura como representante de nuestra inefable … Seguir leyendo
Por Gregorio Morán (LA VANGUARDIA, 26/06/10):
La primera vez que escuché la expresión estar en la isla fue hace muchos años. Procedía de la marginalidad y se exhibía como invención magistral del lenguaje popular. Estar en la isla era tanto como ensimismarse; nada que ver con la hermosa e intraducible expresión catalana, badar,digan lo que digan los diccionarios. Todos soñamos con una isla, menos los que viven en ella. Una isla con casitas bajas de tejas verdes y caminos arbolados que se bifurcan; unos hacia el bosque y otros hacia el mar. También una ensenada donde echan sus cañas los … Seguir leyendo
Por Gregorio Morán (LA VANGUARDIA, 19/06/10):
Las razones por las que amamos o detestamos las ciudades son inexplicables. Podemos dedicar muchas páginas a una gran metrópoli que nos ha seducido o a una villa provinciana, recoleta y tranquila, pero en el fondo es difícil escapar a los tópicos, que tratamos de llenar de fundamento. Incluso a menudo turisteamos convencidos de antemano de lo que vamos a encontrar. Luego está lo personal. Porque las ciudades no cambian tanto como nosotros. Por eso sorprende si alguien dice “¿te has fijado cómo ha cambiado Venecia, o Florencia, o París o Londres?”. Y resulta … Seguir leyendo
By Michael Taube, a former speechwriter for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper (THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 24/03/10):
On Monday, Ann Coulter half-jokingly told a boisterous crowd at the University of Western Ontario that she was a victim of a “hate crime” in Canada. Here’s the funny thing: She’s not completely wrong.
Miss Coulter is currently on a small speaking tour in Canada. The Claire Boothe Luce Policy Institute is reportedly covering the balance of her appearances, and Canadian author Ezra Levant is introducing her at each stop.
One of the cities Miss Coulter was going to visit was Ottawa. But … Seguir leyendo
By Lance T. Izumi, Koret senior fellow and senior director of education studies at the Pacific Research Institute and Jason Clemens, director of research, strategic planning and budgeting at the institute (THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 23/02/10):
In a speech on Canadian television touting the health care system of our northern neighbor, liberal filmmaker Michael Moore said, “It’s not that you need to become more like Americans, we need to become more Canadian-like.” If America mimicked Canadian education policy, however, Mr. Moore might never recover from the shock.
Mr. Moore loves Canada’s centralized, government-run health care system, but it turns … Seguir leyendo
By Colin Horgan, a Vancouver-based freelance writer (THE GUARDIAN, 07/12/09):
When George Monbiot wrote his searing judgment of Canada‘s recent descent into what he claimed is a “petro-state,” he was talking about Canada’s global reputation. But what he was actually addressing is a long history of domestic inter-governmental and inter-regional strife, currently embodied by Stephen Harper, Canada’s prime minister. Monbiot’s article left many Canadian heads spinning: how did we get to this point?
Highway 22 in southern Alberta skirts along the barrier between flat prairie to the east and rolling foothills that quickly give way to the … Seguir leyendo
By Heather Mallick, a Canadian journalist (THE GUARDIAN, 02/12/09):
George Monbiot wrote a real porcupine of a column this week, excoriating Canada on its failure to act on climate change. The headline read, “Canada’s image lies in tatters. It is now to climate what Japan is to whaling.”
Brilliant! Just what smug Canada needs, a real seeing-to by an environmental wise man. Monbiot, a hero of mine, had earlier written a toned-down piece for the leaden opinion page of Canada’s dullest newspaper, the Globe and Mail. I wish he hadn’t done that.
The headline was “Please, Canada, clean … Seguir leyendo
By Colin Horgan, a Vancouver-based freelance writer (THE GUARDIAN, 22/11/09):
One man has Canada in an uproar. Former second-in-command at the Canadian embassy in Kabul, Richard Colvin, told a parliamentary committee in Ottawa that all detainees handed over to the Afghanistan government by Canadian soldiers were abused. The opposition parties have called for a public inquiry, but the Harper government has called Colvin’s testimony into question. Now, Canada must yet again have a serious discussion about its role in Afghanistan.
Colvin sat before the parliamentary committee and flatly stated: “According to our information, the likelihood … Seguir leyendo
By Colin Horgan, a Vancouver-based freelance writer (THE GUARDIAN, 30/10/09):
After 19-year-old singer-songwriter Taylor Mitchell was killed this week by coyotes in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the world has suddenly noticed the wolf’s smaller cousin. Mitchell, a Torontonian who had recently been nominated for a Canadian folk music award, was attacked by two coyotes in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, in Nova Scotia on Tuesday. She was airlifted to a hospital in Halifax, but died from her injuries.
Her death has made global headlines, but any assumption that an attack this vicious is a normal occurrence has been … Seguir leyendo
By Colin Horgan, a Vancouver-based freelance writer (THE GUARDIAN, 24/10/09):
Down is the new up: Canadians suddenly like Stephen Harper, but for the wrong reasons.
Michael Ignatieff‘s announcement on Monday that his Liberal party will not “actively seek to defeat” the Conservatives “by proposing their own confidence motions,” was an almost direct contradiction to his resounding cry in September that Harper’s “time is up“. The Liberal threat to dismantle the Tory government is now effectively dead, and many Canadians couldn’t possibly care less. We like Harper now. Unfortunately, it will get us nowhere.
The biggest … Seguir leyendo
By Roger Howard, the author of The Arctic Gold Rush: The New Race for Tomorrow’s Resources (THE TIMES, 04/09/09):
The drastic climatic changes in the Arctic, viewed first-hand this week by an ‘alarmed’ UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, are threatening to unleash not only environmental catastrophe on the rest of the world but a furious political struggle between competing regional governments.
The Arctic Five – the US, Russia, Norway, Canada and Denmark (Greenland) – are scrambling to secure territorial rights to disputed and hitherto unclaimed parts of the world’s last great wilderness. This is partly because the retreat of … Seguir leyendo
By Heather Mallick, a Canadian journalist (THE GUARDIAN, 03/03/09):
Canadians are rolling their eyes at the latest oddity to emerge from their confused, clogged immigration system: a white South African admitted as a refugee because he claimed he was being persecuted by black people.
His lawyer says the case sets a precedent, which it well might, although it’s difficult to pin down exactly what it is. Brandon Huntley, a 31-year-old lawn sprinkler salesman who came to Canada on a work visa in 2006 and stayed illegally, told the Immigration and Refugee Board that he had been mugged and stabbed … Seguir leyendo