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Sunday 29 April 2018

Rex Murphy: Grants to anti-pipeline activists a hammer blow to the heads of the unemployed

Trans Mountain protesters are receiving government funding while religious charities have effectively been barred from such subsidies
A woman demonstrates in support of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion outside the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton on April 12, 2018.David Bloom/Edmonton Sun
If you are an Albertan, or a Newfoundlander, or for that matter a person from any Canadian province or territory, who has been laid off and out of work for the past couple of years because of the downturn in the oil industry, and the fierce opposition to all efforts — pipeline construction — to revive it, the news that your federal government is funding summer jobs for professional groups whose only goal is to kill the oilsands forever, must be a hammer blow to the head.

I know lots of such people, who worked for a decade and more in Alberta, and find themselves these days filling out online resumes, traipsing to job sites, trying to work off debts, all the time shadowed by the sense of displacement and anxiety that goes with any period of long unemployment. In a brief phrase, which doesn’t carry the full misery of the situation, being out of work is a continuous anxiety and a despairing condition.

Sunday 22 April 2018

Engineers Are Leaving Trump’s America for the Canadian Dream

The long wait for green cards was bad enough. Antagonism toward immigrants is pushing skilled foreigners across the border.

By Karen Weise and Saritha Rai


Vikram Rangnekar grew up in Mumbai, studied computer science at the University of Delaware, and by the waning days of the Obama administration had been working in Silicon Valley for almost six years. Through his job as a software engineer at LinkedIn Corp., Rangnekar secured an H-1B, the temporary visa for high-skilled workers, and the company began the process of sponsoring his green card way back in 2012. But he had dozens of senior colleagues from India who’d been waiting a decade or more for their green cards and still didn’t have them. “Some said it’d take 20 years for my turn,” Rangnekar remembers. “Others calculated 50 years—which is basically never.” As a young man with a global sensibility and an in-demand set of skills, Rangnekar had no reason to let the uncertainty of a green card application define his family’s life. In the early fall of 2016, he, his wife, and their two young boys made the move north, to Canada.

Gold nearing bull breakout

Gold remains largely forgotten, off the radars of most investors. But that’s likely to change soon as this leading alternative investment is nearing a major bull breakout. Once gold climbs to decisive new bull-market highs, sentiment will turn and investors’ interest will surge. Their resulting buying will rapidly drive gold higher, attracting in more capital inflows. Gold is only a couple modest up days away from that key breakout.

Universally in all markets, traders’ psychology is completely dependent on price action and levels. When prices are high and rising, speculators and investors alike eagerly buy in. They love chasing winners, so buying begets buying. This creates powerful self-reinforcing virtuous circles, with rising prices helping to entice in ever-more traders. In recent years this dynamic catapulted the market-darling FANG stocks higher.

With capital inflows following performance, investments that aren’t high and rallying naturally see waning popularity. That’s the story of gold over the past couple years or so. Gold’s last new bull-market high came way back in early July 2016, when it hit $1365. That was 21.3 months ago, which may as well be an eternity in terms of sentiment. In most traders’ minds, gold has effectively been dead and buried ever since.

While contrarian investors always follow gold, most mainstream investors don’t. They only get interested when gold is powering up to major new highs. This psychology holds true everywhere in the markets, it’s certainly not unique to gold. A handful of mega-cap tech stocks have soared since Trump’s election win in November 2016, but other mega-cap tech stocks have lagged far behind. Traders always pursue performance.

Commodities are flashing a once-in-a-generation buy signal

(Image by Chanthanee | Shutterstock) 

Since the commodities supercycle unwound nearly 10 years ago, many investors have been waiting for the right conditions to trigger mean reversion and lift prices. I believe those conditions are either firmly in place right now or, at the very least, in their early stages. Among them are factors I’ve discussed at length elsewhere—a weaker U.S. dollar, a steadily flattening yield curve, heightened market volatility, overvalued stocks, expectations of higher inflation, trade war jitters, geopolitical risks and more.

In addition, nearly 60 percent of money managers surveyed by Bank of America Merrill Lynch believe 2018 could be the peak year for stocks. A recent J.P. Morgan survey found that three quarters of ultra-high net worth individuals forecast a U.S. recession in the next two years.

All of this makes the investment case for commodities, gold and energy more compelling than at any other time in recent memory.

ALL THAT MATTERS

The tragedy that struck the Humboldt Broncos provides everyone with a valuable lesson in perspective



When it is all said and done, most players who lace up a pair of skates and hit the ice will one day take those skates off without ever playing a college, junior or professional hockey game. Some may not even see the ice for their high school team.

Yet, in the end, none of that matters.

Thursday 19 April 2018

Built for Boston | by Brad Marchand


If you like me, you’ll like this story.

If you hate me, you’ll love it.

It’s kind of a famous story in my family, and it’s probably the first thing I can remember. I was like three years old, and my dad had bought me this sick electric four-wheeler truck for my birthday. I’d always ride it around the cul-de-sac outside our house in Halifax like a maniac. It was yellow with blue seats, and it even had a horn and everything. It was unreal.

So one day I was hanging out with one of my little neighbor buddies, and I guess I got distracted or something, because the next thing I know, I turn around, and he’s in the truck, honking the horn, just lovin’ it.

So, of course, I go nuts.

I’m like, “No! That’s mine!”

And he’s like, “No! My turn!”

He takes off. He’s driving around our garage, laughing. I’m fuming, man. This little rat is driving around my truck, in my driveway, honking my horn, you know? After about 30 seconds, I couldn’t take it anymore. I jumped right in front of the truck and put my hand out, like, “You’ll have to run me over.”

He stopped, and I shoved the kid right out of the front seat. Yoink.

He was on the ground crying, being a real baby about it, like, “Whyyyyyy.”

I went riding off into the cul-de-sac, honking the horn. My mom says I had this little smirk on my face, too.

What can I say? I was a little animal. But it wasn’t just me. It was my brother and all my cousins, too. There was like eight of us who all lived on the same street, and we’d be tearing up the neighborhood every day.

Eventually, I think the neighborhood kind of had enough of the craziness, and our families ended up moving to another town with a little more space, where we could do our thing in peace.

Actually, moving was probably the most important thing that ever happened in my life, because we moved to a house on a lake, and I met three kids who were just as obsessed with hockey as me — Andy, Ryan and Justin — and they became my best friends for life.

We’d be out there skating every day in the winter. If we weren’t at school, we were at hockey practice. If we weren’t at hockey practice, we were on the lake. If the lake wasn’t frozen, we were playing ball hockey in the driveway. If it was raining, we were inside beating up my little brother, Jeff.

I say little, but he was only a year younger than me, and he was such an unbelievable pest. He was the original pest. He was my inspiration. We’d be out on the lake, shoveling snow for like two hours, and he’d claim that he had to do his science homework or something ridiculous like that. But of course he’d be inside on the computer typing away on AIM to some girl he liked. “Hey, hehe, lol. O.K. babe, BRB.”

Dear Youth Hockey: 5 Things You Need to Change

DEAR YOUTH HOCKEY,

How is everything going on your end?

Not great?

Yeah, I can see where you are coming from.  I spent the past season coaching in your world, and my goodness did I witness the craziness you have to deal with.  From what I can tell, you have a really tough job ahead of you…

BUT IT’S TIME FOR YOU TO STEP UP.

Like…NOW.

2018 World Silver Survey

Click on picture

Wednesday 18 April 2018

9 Practices that Make Great Leaders Great

Positive leadership is not Pollyanna leadership. Positive leadership is the way to lead if you want to build a great team and organization. It's the stuff that makes great leaders great. In this spirit here are 9 practices that make up the positive leadership framework that you can begin to implement today.

Trump reflects America at the moment, which has hardly anything to do with traditional values: Neil Macdonald

He personifies few if any of the values for which Americans are brought up to believe their country stands


Former FBI director James Comey, on the other hand, the man Trump now calls 'slippery' and 'a slimeball,' has hardly been about anything other than public service, law and order and fidelity — traditional American values. But to many Republicans, he's the bad guy. (Getty Images)
 Quick: is or is not the following statement an insult to the United States?

Tuesday 17 April 2018

Expanded Panama Canal Feels Benign Impact Of U.S. Oil And Gas Exports To Asia

Even by the harshest of gauging parameters, the Panama Canal is nothing short of an engineering marvel and testament to human ingenuity. Currently in its 104th year of serving as a man-made marine shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, this fascinating inter-oceanic artery operates through a system of dual-lane lock complexes.

Those privileged enough to have traveled on the waterway, as your correspondent recently did, would notice the locks – including the iconic Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks – serve as water lifts to raise or lower ships from the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans, depending on their North or Southbound routes, either side of the Isthmus of Panama, to the artificial Gatun Lake 27 meters above sea level; the Canal's connecting water body for transit.

The entire process and interim journey takes 8 to 12 hours depending on traffic, saving shippers time and money. For example, a voyage from Houston, Texas, U.S. to Chiba, Japan, takes about 30 days via the Panama Canal, compared with 45 to 48 days via the Suez Canal, 50 to 52 days via the Cape of Good Hope and 54 to 56 days via Cape Horn, on average depending on maritime conditions.

Ship transits through the Panama Canal's Miraflores Locks © Gaurav Sharma, 2018.

Monday 16 April 2018

Youth sports referees across the US are quitting because of abusive parents

Youth referees across the nation are packing up their whistles and going home in response to increased instances of verbal and even physical abuse from volatile parents and coaches.

The shrinking pool of officials has become a national crisis that threatens to alter the landscape of youth sports as leagues scramble to find enough referees to hold games.

Eighty percent of high school officials are quitting before their third year, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, which launched a national recruitment effort last year to attract more officials.

Sunday 15 April 2018

China’s Built a Road So Smart It Will Be Able to Charge Your Car

The road of the future is likely to become the brain and nerve center of an autonomous-driving revolution.



The road to China’s autonomous-driving future is paved with solar panels, mapping sensors and electric-battery rechargers as the nation tests an “intelligent highway” that could speed the transformation of the global transportation industry.


Saturday 14 April 2018

The Valley of Darkness


An unthinkable tragedy struck Humboldt when a bus crash killed 16 members of the Broncos junior hockey team. As the small city recovers, it doesn’t want to be defined by the crash; it wants to be defined by how its heartbroken community responds.

The night before the accident, Leroy and Shirley Haugan had their son and his family over for dinner. Shirley laid out chicken wings, turkey, ham and salad, while her two grandchildren, 12-year-old Carson and 9-year-old Jackson, scooted around the living room, oblivious to the NHL game playing on TV.


Friday 13 April 2018

700-plus cadets seek glory, camaraderie in West Point contest

U.S. Military Academy cadets participate in the water-crossing event during the 2017 Sandhurst Military Skills Competition at West Point, N.Y., April 7, 2017. This year, 64 teams from the Academy, and other service academies and universities from across the country as well as 14 other nations are expected to compete. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Michelle Eberhart)



A U.S. Military Academy cadet participates in the 2017 Sandhurst Military Skills Competition at West Point, N.Y., April 7, 2017. This year, 64 teams from the Academy, and other service academies and universities from across the country as well as 14 other nations are expected to compete. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Michelle Eberhart)

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- When Cadet Ross Poulin vies against hundreds of cadets from around the world Friday and Saturday during the Sandhurst Military Skills Competition here, the memory of one special cadet who is not competing will help push him through the grueling events.

Thursday 12 April 2018

Patriots, Robert Kraft express condolences for Humboldt broadcaster

Tyler Bieber, who was a broadcaster for the Humboldt Broncos, will be the first of the Humboldt bus crash victims to be laid to rest Thursday. He was 29.

His funeral is being held Thursday at Elgar Petersen Arena in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, where the Broncos played their home games.

Bieber was a New England Patriots fan. Upon hearing this, the Patriots sent flowers for the services. Additionally, team owner Robert Kraft left a voicemail for Bieber's mother on Wednesday expressing his condolences.

Bieber was in his first year as a play-by-play announcer for the Broncos. The junior hockey team was en route to a playoff game last Friday when its bus collided with a truck carrying peat moss. Of the 29 people on board, 16 have died, including the team coach, players and bus driver.

Oilsands research could be 'game changer' for renewable energy

Researchers are extracting vanadium from the oilsands and using it to build batteries
Shell Canada's JT Steenkamp is leading a project to research the extraction of vanadium from the oilsands to create large utility-scale electricity storage for renewable energy projects. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)
 Originally from South Africa, JT Steenkamp doesn't usually enjoy brisk Canadian winter weather, but this year is different for the engineer who is testing out a new type of battery at Shell Canada's research centre in Calgary. The battery is built using a little-known metal found in bitumen, and the technology could represent a pivotal moment for both the oilsands industry and the renewable energy sector.

Wednesday 11 April 2018

The making of Tom Cochrane's hit song 'Big League' and how it became a 'Canadian anthem'

The song, Big League, is four-and-a-half minutes long, and told through the voice of an anguished hockey parent from an unidentified northern town



TORONTO – In 1988, Tom Cochrane and Red Rider, a well-travelled Canadian rock band with a handful of hits already on the air, released an album featuring an unusual song about the sport of hockey. What made it unusual was its duality: An aspirational opening leading to an adrenaline-coated chorus, blending into what appeared to be a deeply depressing story.

‘It’s got to be a tough job being the GM’: Canadian musician Tom Cochrane does not envy Leafs GM Dave Nonis

Tuesday 10 April 2018

Where Have All the Public Companies Gone?

Some businesses are staying private. Others are getting bigger. That’s not necessarily a problem.
Not right for every company.
 Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
The people who supervise the U.S. stock market are grappling with what they see as a troubling trend: One of the great innovations of Western capitalism -- the public company -- appears to be losing ground.

Before deciding what to do, they should first ask whether this is a problem at all.

Friday 6 April 2018

How to cut the murder rate


THE planet has rarely been so peaceful. Even with terrible fighting in such places as Congo, Syria and Yemen, wars between and within countries are becoming less common and less deadly. But a dark menace looms. Some of the developing world’s cities threaten to be engulfed by murder.

Of the 560,000 violent deaths around the world in 2016, 68% were murders; wars caused just 18%. Murder has been falling in rich countries (though London is suffering an outbreak—see article), but it has long plagued Latin America and is starting to climb in parts of southern Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The world often goes to great lengths to stop wars. Just imagine if it put as much effort into stopping murders.

Monday 2 April 2018

Fear, greed, broken dreams: How early sports specialization is eroding youth sports

Youth sports advocate Glen Mulcahy, founder of Paradigm Sports, cautions against early single-sports specialization in youth. GERRY KAHRMANN / PNG
Kyle Turris is an NHLer because of his dog.

Well, maybe not exactly, but while growing up his golden retriever deserves at least some of the credit for turning Turris into a 12-year NHL veteran. His ball-obsessed dog would chase a young Turris around their Burnaby backyard, the future hockey pro carrying a ball in his lacrosse stick as his hyperactive blur of fur tried to snag the hard rubber prize.

Call it skills training.

Sunday 1 April 2018

Getting tough on Russian aggression, everywhere but in the Arctic

Canada is taking the recent nerve agent attack in the U.K. seriously. But what about Arctic sovereignty?
Whether we like it or not, Canada is perfectly placed to be the battleground of choice in a future conflict: we share a long and long-disputed Arctic border with an increasingly militaristic and hostile superpower. (The Canadian Press)
Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent boast of possessing an arsenal of undetectable nuclear weapons has not really had material effect on geo-political relations — yet. North American and European preoccupation of late has been less on Russia's military procurement than on the acute issue of the nerve agent attack on an ex-spy in the U.K.

Barrick Gold founder Peter Munk dead at 90

Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist Peter Munk, who founded Barrick Gold and built it into the world's biggest gold-mining company, has died at the age of 90.

Entrepreneur and philanthropist died peacefully in Toronto, surrounded by family


Barrick Gold's chairman and founder Peter Munk has died at the age of 90. (Chris Young/ Canadian Press)

"Munk passed away peacefully in Toronto today, surrounded by his family," Barrick said in a release.