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Fr. Paul Charbonneau Has Died

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 04:03:00 +0000

Fr. Paul Charbonneau, founder of Brentwood recovery home, has passed away at the age of 87 from congestive heart failure.
He was the guiding force behind the recovery of many addicts at the 46 year old centre. Tonight, Brentwood Recovery Centre and the thousands of people who have felt the impact of Fr. Charbonneau's care and guidance, are mourning a great loss.

Windsor Star article

Save Lucy

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:59:00 +0000

Lucy is a 34 year old Asian elephant living at the Valley Zoo in Edmonton Alberta. She is socially isolated in a little enclosure, has medical problems and must endure extreme cold Alberta weather. Join the campaign to save Lucy by moving her to a sanctuary where she can be with other elephants, to socialize and roam free.

Check out these sites to learn more about how you can help Lucy.
Save Lucy
Sign the Petition to save Lucy

Join Bob Barker (Celebrity - Original Host of "The Price is Right"), William Shatner ("Captain Kirk" of the original Star Trek series), Debbie Leahy (Director of PETA), Margaret Atwood (Author).... and thousands of others, to help save Lucy from a life of isolation.

Shocking Video on Texting & Driving

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:50:00 +0000

Graphic PSA on Texting & Driving: This was the subject of today's Lynn Martin show on AM 800 CKLW
Do you think this public service announcement is too shocking and do shock advertising and PSA's work? Do you think this video should be shown on T.V. in the evening hours to shock and scare people?

Very graphic and may be disturbing to sensitive viewers.

Should Canada legislate everything you cannot do while you're driving?

Mississauga: Couple asked to take down Canadian flag

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:51:00 +0000

A Mississauga couple were asked to take down the flag they have on a tree in the front yard of their home, for the past three years. It appears the flag has upset or "offended" someone.

"Rose Whittemann and Richard Field put up the flag about three years ago, but only recently received a message from the company that manages their housing complex, saying they would have to remove it.

"Our landlord received a letter claiming that we've either offended or upset somebody by having the flag," Whittemann said.

The company said if the couple did not remove the flag, maintenance workers would take it down and they would be charged a $200 fee. Whittemann and Field relented."

Source: CTV Toronto

I find it outrageous that someone can become upset, offended or in any way have their panties bunched up in a knot over our nations flag and an act of support and patriotism. I find it even more upsetting that this couple was bullied into taking it down and threatened with it's removal by maintenance workers at a charge of $200., if they didn't comply.

As an act of support, I would like to ask everyone to fly their Canadian flags and send us a picture of it to add to our Oh Canada album. Please include the city ( and other information you might want included e.g. photographer etc...)

Wow! What a Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:58:00 +0000

This was one of our busiest weekends so far this summer.
We started off Saturday with the London Ribfest, a trip to Port Elgin, a hike over the Menesetung Bridge and through the Tiger Dunlop Heritage Trails in Goderich and a look at the Salt Mines.

Then Sunday we visited Fort Malden in Amherstburgh for the Military Heritage Day, followed by a walk around town to see the cars and their proud owners at the Amherstburg's Gone Car Crazy and travelled to the Emancipation Day Celebrations at Windsor's Civic Plaza. Finally an opportunity to taste jerk chicken (vicariously), which I was told, is very spicy but soooo good.

I'm guessing there are a whole lot of people not sitting at their computers this weekend, if the turnout at the various functions is an accurate indicator. If you were one of the lucky people out there, we'd love to see your pics.... in the meantime, check out ours by clicking on the links in this blog entry.

The links open in new windows.
Enjoy!

Tecumseh Girl Needs Your Votes

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:30:00 +0000

"Chelsea Durocher is hoping to become the next Miss Teen Canada-World and she needs your help."

Shoreline Week

Durocher, the reigning Miss Teen Ontario-World, is asking the community to vote for her in the online People's Choice Awards. Visit MissTeenCanadaWorld.com, become a VIP member and cast your vote for Chelsea. The contestant who receives the most online votes, will win the People's Choice Award and automatically make the top 20.

The Miss Teen Canada-World pageant is at 8 pm, July 25th
at the John Bassett Theatre-Metro Toronto Convention Centre
255 Front St. W., Toronto, ON M5V 2W6 Get Your Tickets

Click here for a list of all contestants.

Chatham Ribfest 2009

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:19:00 +0000

If you haven't gone yet, there's still time.
It's at Tecumseh Park in Chatham Ontario

More Ribfest Pics Here

Happy Canada Day

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:12:00 +0000

This house has come to be known as the "Canada House" and is located at 1004 Lincoln Ave in Windsor, Ontario. The home is owned by Dan Beaudoin who designed and painted the house himself. It is a great display of Canadian patriotism.

Video of "The Canada House" appeared in the online edition of the Windsor Star, June 30th, 2009.
This man's house is incredible and a must see.

Enjoy!

If you have photographs that showcase Canadian patriotism, we would love to include them in our gallery.

Fireworks 2009

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:39:00 +0000

Fantastic, beautiful, loud and not long enough - that's what I thought of last nights fireworks on the river. I took a million pictures (give or take 900,000 or so) but wasn't particularly interested in capturing it on video, as I did last year.

I think the pictures turned out really well, visit the gallery and see for yourself

Enjoy!

RedBull Air Race

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:31:00 +0000

Day one and the city was buzzing with excitement.
There was so much going on downtown.
We had a great time and managed to get some nice pictures of the race (some bird's eye view as well) - a quick lunch at Peppers and a casual stroll about town before we called it a day.

Take a peek at the pics in the gallery

Any complaints? Yes, the cost of admission to Carousel
Didn't that used to be free?

CAW Warns Parents & Coaches of Sport's Leagues

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Sat, 30 May 2009 01:21:00 +0000

"Playing field mowers are scabs, CAW warns
Union says it may stop funding children's sports leagues if coaches, parents cut grass during strike"

That was the headline to a story in The Windsor Star, May 29 - by Frances Willick

I really wasn't going to mention this strike at all.
It's ugly and both sides have issues but this warning is very disturbing.

The CAW may stop sponsoring children’s sports leagues if coaches and parents take to the baseball diamonds and soccer fields with lawn mowers during the city workers’ strike.

“We don’t have a habit of funding scab organizations,” said Gary Parent, secretary-treasurer of CAW Local 444.

Mowing the sports fields would be tantamount to being a scab, he said, and that sort of interference would “absolutely” affect the council’s sponsorship.

“That would be taken into deep consideration,” he said, adding the council would have to investigate to find out who was maintaining the fields.

Holding the city hostage and making threats like a regular school yard bully might not be the way to deal with this. I'm sure when the dust settles there will be people on both sides that won't forget what's happened and some hurt feelings will linger. We really don't need the bad publicity nor do we need another black eye when all eyes will be upon us soon. Realistically, Gary Parent has already announced his upcoming retirement (if memory serves me correctly), so he won't be the one to clean up the mess this war of words will leave behind.

Click here to read the original Star article.

Local Wine route

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:53:00 +0000

After about an hour of driving around sightseeing in the county, we found ourselves spontaneously following the local wine route on Saturday. It was a fun day and I bought some delicious wines from Colio, Pelee Island, Black Bear, Mastronardi and Aleksander wineries. Prior to this day, we had only visited Rush Creek Wines, where I bought almost a dozen fruit wines.

For more information and location, click here

New Drinking & Driving Law: Effective May 1, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:47:00 +0000

New Drinking & Driving Law: Punishing you before you break the law
3-day licence suspension, $150 fine for blood alcohol level between .05 and .08

Currently, you have to reach .08 on a breathalyzer to get a 12 hour license suspension with no monetary fine or administrative fee. Apparently, Ontario cannot reduce the blood alcohol threshold to .05 or zero tolerance ("probably with good reason" Brian Ducharme speaking this morning on AM 800 CKLW), so this is a way around it.

The Intelligencer

These suspensions will be on your permanent driver abstract, will affect your insurance for 3 to 5 years, and can't be disputed. I'm in complete favour of zero blood alcohol levels for drivers but something seems terribly wrong with a law that punishes you BEFORE you break the law.

Earth Hour 2009

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 22:40:00 +0000

Tomorrow at 8:30 pm we'll be turning off our lights for Earth Hour.
We hope everyone joins us from 8:30 - 9:30 pm on March 28 to vote for Earth Hour
Your light switch is your vote.
Click your lights off and cast your vote for Earth Hour.

Slideshow of Earth Hour 2008

Visit Earth Hour 2009 and see how you can take part.

Stumbling, Bumbling Sled Dog: 'Sorry, This Is My First Iditarod'

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:25:00 +0000

PUNTILLA LAKE, AK—After running directly into the grandstands during the Iditarod's ceremonial start and veering 55 miles off course late Tuesday to chase a marmot, Siberian husky and rookie sled dog Melvin apologized to his musher and fellow canines Wednesday for making a complete fool of himself in the early stages of the annual 1,150-mile race.

"First Iditarod jitters, I guess," Melvin told reporters

Poor Melvin... read more

BuyDomestic.net recommends a page from The Onion.

************************************************************************

Local food map lands more farms

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:52:00 +0000

Local food map lands more farms

http://communities.canada.com/windsorstar/blogs/offthehill/archive/2009/03/10/local-food-map-lands-more-farms.aspx

Phog Lounge Voted No. 1

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:27:00 +0000

Windsor's very own Phog Lounge, beat out some heavy-weight clubs across Canada in the CBC Radio 3 poll, by being voted top live performance venue. The five year old club attributes it's success to it's dedication and support of independent music and it's love for enriching the Windsor community with live performances.

When asked what they would do to celebrate if they were to win, owner Tom Lucier said;

If we won, we'd likely have to have a big event in our HUGE parking lot attached to our building. We'd need permission from the landlord, and the city, but we'd likely throw a massive outdoor party, with a big stage outside and the small stage inside...staggering performances inside and out. It would be a city-wide party, and everyone within 300 miles would know that they were invitied to see what Windsor has to offer to the cultural fabric of Canada.

Phog is located at:
157 University Avenue West
Windsor , ON N9A 5P4
519-253-1605

Source CBC Radio 3

Valentine's Day Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:23:00 +0000

I added some pictures of the Valentine's day event at [name removed] on our pics page. It was a fun time and the place was hopping.

My compliments to the owners and managers for putting on a top notch party with festive decorations and free munchies and chocolate hearts at each table. Excellent!

Nutella Cheesecake

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:22:00 +0000

Nutella Cheesecake

1 cup graham cracker crumbs or chocolate cookie crumbs
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp sugar

2 package cream cheese (room temperature)
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
Nutella

Mix the graham cracker crumbs (or cookie crumbs, whichever you decided to use) together with the sugar. Add the butter and mix together. Press the mix into the bottom of a non-stick round pan, probably about 9 inches. Place it in a 325F oven for about 10 minutes. Once done, remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Mix together the cream cheese and sugar until well blended and smooth. Add one egg at a time, mixing well as you add each egg. Take a small bowl and pour about 1/2 cup of the batter into it. Pour the rest of the batter into the pan with the cookie crust. Now take the reserve batter you set aside and add a dollop of Nutella. I added Nutella until I got the colour I wanted, which was a dark rich brown, as well as making sure the batter had the taste of Nutella.

Take the reserve batter and add a spoonful to the batter. Use a toothpick to swirl the nutella batter into the white batter. Add the Nutella batter by the spoonful until you get the look of a swirly cheesecake.

Place in the oven at 350F and bake for about 50 minutes or until the centre doesn't jiggle anymore. I suggest adding a water bath in the oven to prevent the cake from cracking. What I mean by this is just add a pan of water next to the cake.

Once the cake is baked, set it aside and let it cool. Then place it in the refrigerator and let it chill for about 4 hours. Before you remove the cake from the pan, just run a knife along the edge to loosen it.

From WindsorEats.com http://www.windsoreats.com/blog/?p=592

Nutella is made in Brantford, Ontario. Read the Nutella site FAQ

Exploding "bath bombs, balls and fizzies"

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 02:10:00 +0000

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that at least 13 people have been injured by exploding bath balls, also knows as bath bombs and bath fizzies.

A buildup of carbon dioxide blows the caps off the jars of Spa Factory's Aromatherapy Fountain kits and Spa Factory's Bath Benefits Kits.

Health Canada acknowledged the products were sold in Canada and are in the process of gathering information and will be issuing instructions for consumers regarding the recall. Both agencies agree that comsumers should stop using the products immediately.

These products were sold between August 2008 and January 2009, at Target, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and toy stores across the U.S. and cost $13 U.S. for the Bath Benefits Kit and between $30 and $50 for the Aromatherapy Fountain.

"The purple caps on the recalled products are found on Spa Factory's Bath Benefits Kit (model 37836), Deluxe Spa Fantasy Aromatherapy Fountain (model 37908), Spa Fantasy Aromatherapy Fountain (model 37837), Spa Fantasy Aromatherapy Fountain (model 54892) and Spa Fantasy Aromatherapy Fountain (model 54857) "

quote source: CBC.ca

The importer of the Chinese product is JAKKS Pacific Inc. of Malibu California and they have recalled 516,000 of the kits so far and are offering replacement caps with vent holes.

CBC.ca goes on to say, "After testing potential solutions, we found that placing two small holes in the caps adequately allows all built up pressure to escape, thereby preventing the caps from flying off," the company said on its website. "

I found the website http://www.jakkspacific.com/ and the Spa Factory section, but didn't find any information about the recall, even when I did several searches on their site using as many key words as I could think of ....

If you've purchased the product or you have questions or concerns'
You may contact the company at — 1-877-875-2557 (toll-free, North America only) or 1-909-594-7771 x560 — Monday - Friday, 7:30 AM - 5:00 PM Pacific Time (GMT – 8), excluding holidays.

You may write to the company at:
JAKKS Pacific, Inc.
21749 Baker Parkway
Walnut, CA 91789

Source: CBC.ca

Canada Garlic Made in China?

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:19:00 +0000

After weeks of searching for Canadian garlic instead of the readily available Chinese variety, we were delighted to come across Canada Garlic brand and purchased a 2.2 pound (1 kg) bag.

Today I took a couple of pictures to include in this blog post and discovered that it is actually a product of China.

Here's a bit about Canada Garlic, as posted on their website:
"Canada Garlic is the largest garlic grower, importer, packer, distributor and processor of garlic in Canada." they also state, "Our priority is customer satisfaction and we believe that working hand-in-hand with our customers allows us to better understand and meet or exceed their expectations."

Well, understand this: My expectations are simple. If the product represents itself as a Canadian made or grown item, that is what I am laying my money down for.

A product with the name "Canada Garlic", based in Mississauga, Ontario, with a website called www.GarlicCanada.com, is representing itself as Canadian selling Canadian produce but has the audacity to sell a product of China. I feel deceived, disgusted and outraged that we can't even count on honesty from our produce suppliers.

Buyer beware is the bottom line.

Mailbag Response From Our Readers

January 23, 2009 4:45:11 PM
re: Canada Garlic
http://www.diytrade.com/china/4/products/1774141/Organic_Garlic_Can.html
This didn't come from me but if your interested look more into Canada Garlic. They sell processed product that is "product of Canada" but its all done in China.

February 4, 2009 12:40:32 PM
A reader sent me a message using our contact form, to let me know that I can purchase Canadian garlic from a Saskatchewan company called M & M Garlic. This is their website address: www.MMGarlic.com
Thanks for the information :)

Congratulations Mr. President

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:23:00 +0000

Today I witnessed the making of history.
The inauguration of the 44th president of the United States of America and with it, the promise of a new beginning for America and it's northern neighbour, Canada.

"Starting today we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America"

President Barack Obama,
Inaugural speach
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

Congratulations President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama

The Walmart Effect

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:57:00 +0000

Its Chinese imports have displaced nearly 200,000 U.S. jobs
June 26, 2007 | EPI Issue Brief #235
by Robert E. Scott

China?s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) was supposed to improve the U.S. trade deficit with China and create good jobs in the United States. But those promises have gone unfulfilled: the total U.S. trade deficit with China reached $235 billion in 2006. Between 2001 and 2006, this growing deficit eliminated 1.8 million U.S. jobs (Scott 2007). The world?s biggest retailer, U.S.-based Wal-Mart was responsible for $27 billion in U.S. imports from China in 2006 and 11% of the growth of the total U.S. trade deficit with China between 2001 and 2006. Wal-Mart?s trade deficit with China alone eliminated nearly 200,000 U.S. jobs in this period.

The manufacturing sector and its workers were hardest hit by the growth of Wal-Mart?s imports. Wal-Mart?s increased trade deficit with China eliminated 133,000 manufacturing jobs, 68% of those jobs lost from Wal-Mart?s imports. Jobs in the manufacturing sector pay higher wages and provide better benefits than most other industries, especially for workers with less than a college education.

China has achieved its rapidly growing trade surpluses by purchasing more than $1 trillion in U.S. Treasury bills and other government securities over the past few years in order to artificially and illegally reduce the value of its currency and thereby lower the cost of its exports to the United States and other countries. It has also repressed the labor rights of its workers and suppressed their wages, making its products artificially cheap and further subsidizing its exports. Wal-Mart has aided China?s abuse of labor rights and its violations of internally recognized norms of fair trade behavior by providing a vast and growing conduit for the distribution of artificially cheap and subsidized Chinese exports to the United States.

China trade and U.S. job loss

Exports support jobs in the United States, and imports displace them. However, an increase in exports will not support the creation of new jobs if, for example, a domestic firm exports parts that used to be shipped to a domestic auto assembly plant, and those products are used to build cars that are then sent back to the United States.1 Thus, the net effect of trade flows on employment must be based on an analysis of the trade balance. This Issue Brief calculates the employment impacts of growing trade deficits by using an input-output model that estimates the direct and indirect labor requirements of producing output in a given domestic industry. The model includes 200 U.S. industries, 86 of which are in the manufacturing sector.2

The model estimates the labor that would be required to produce a given volume of exports, and the labor that is displaced when a given volume of imports is substituted for domestic output.3 The job losses presented here represent an estimate of what total employment levels would have been in the absence of growing trade deficits.4

U.S. exports to China in 2001 supported 189,000 jobs, but U.S. imports displaced production that would have supported 1,190,000 jobs, as shown in the bottom half of Table 1. Therefore, the $84.1 billion trade deficit in 2001 displaced 1 million jobs in that year. Job displacement rose to 2,763,000 in 2006. Growth in trade deficits with China has reduced demand for goods produced in every region of the United States and has led to job displacement in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Source: Economic Policy Institute

Winter Bites 2009

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:52:00 +0000

It’s time to give winter a kick! WindsorEats.com invites you to a week long event, the first of it’s kind in Essex County.

From January 18 to January 24, 2009 diners can visit any Winter Bites participating restaurant and indulge in a 3 course meal of an appetizer, entrée and dessert for only $25.

Each restaurant will offer a unique Winter Bites menu where diners can select from 3 appetizers, 3 entrées and 2 desserts.

Prix-fixe menu events have been done with great success in cities like Chicago, Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto. It was time to bring that same concept to Windsor.

Participating restaurants include:

Bamboo Catering Co.

Cafe Morena

The Chop House

The Gourmet Emporium

Mancuso's Trattoria

Mazaar Lebanese Cuisine

Mezzo Ristorante & Lounge

Mick's Irish Pub

Per Bacco Ristorante

The Pour House Pub

Thai Silk

Three...A Tasting Bar

World Marathon Ethiopian

WindsorEats is celebrating 5 years of success in 2009 by hosting events throughout the year. Since their launch in June of 2004, WindsorEats.com has become the leading guide to food and dining in Windsor and Essex County promoting all the region has to offer to thousands of visitors every month, throughout the world.

So get out, kick those winter blues in the butt and head out for Winter Bites for great deals at great restaurants!

Reservations are recommended to ensure a seating upon your arrival. The $25 3-course meal is per person and does not include beverages, taxes or tip.

Visit http://www.windsoreats.com/winterbites

Is Corporate Canada Being Hollowed Out?

noreply@blogger.com (~*~ Nancy ~*~) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 01:13:00 +0000

Mergers and acquisitions
Is corporate Canada being 'hollowed out'?
Last Updated May 27, 2007
CBC News

The recent spate of foreign takeovers of familiar Canadian companies has turned up the heat on a familiar debate in this country — whether such takeovers are desirable, and if not, what should be done?

The federal Liberals have called for a three-month moratorium on approvals of all foreign takeovers of Canadian firms. The federal New Democrats have called for an emergency debate on the issue. The governing Conservatives, pointing out that there are conflicting views on this subject, promise to review Canada's competition policies.

And it's not just politicians who've been weighing in. Union leaders and public policy groups of all stripes have also made their views known. So, too, have some of the biggest names in Canada's business community.

Gord Nixon, the CEO of Royal Bank, raised his takeover concerns during his recent address to shareholders at the bank's annual meeting. "We have not only seen the disappearance of major Canadian household names, but the loss of Canadian presence in industries where we have long had traditional strengths."

Dominic D'Alessandro, the CEO of Manulife Financial, worried in his address to shareholders that "we may all wake up one day and find that as a nation, we have lost control of our affairs."

Not so fast, says Don Drummond, the chief economist at TD Bank. He wrote in a recent op-ed piece that "the facts don't warrant the hysteria that the Canadian economy is being sold out."

As part of his argument, Drummond cited a recent study done by the Institute for Competitiveness & Productivity, which called the hollowing out argument a "myth." It acknowledges that some of Canada's corporate stars have indeed been bought out, but argues that Canada has created many more global leaders. To give a sense of the debate, here are excerpts from the Institute's report, as well as from the address by Manulife's CEO.

The following is an excerpt from an address to shareholders given May 3, 2007, by Dominic D'Alessandro, president and chief executive officer of Manulife Financial Corp.

'I believe that ownership matters a lot' I'd like to touch upon … the extraordinarily large numbers of Canadian companies that are being acquired by foreign interests.

In 2006, more than 100 of our public companies were taken over, and the list includes some of the oldest and most well-established companies across a broad spectrum of industries, everything from hotels to retailing, to metals and mining. And the trend continues.

I sometimes worry that we may all wake up one day and find that as a nation, we have lost control of our affairs.

I think we ought to have a vigorous debate about the extent to which it matters whether or not ownership of our economy resides in Canada or elsewhere. As you probably all know, I believe that ownership matters a lot. It matters not only for economic reasons but, more importantly in my opinion, for our own sense of self esteem and pride in our country.

It may surprise some of you to hear me express misgivings about foreign ownership given that our own company has successfully invested — and been welcomed as an investor — in so many countries around the world. My concern is not rooted in any chauvinism or in any antipathy towards foreign investment. Far from it. I happen to believe that globalization is a very positive development and that trade and investment across borders is to be encouraged. Canada benefits mightily from being "open for business" and we mustn't do anything to change that.

Manulife president and CEO Dominic D'Alessandro listens to a question during the company's annual general meeting in Toronto on May 3, 2007. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press) My concern stems from the fact that the world is awash with capital and that the consolidation trend in many industries will inevitably continue. We are a small country with a relatively small population. Canadian companies typically aren't of a size to be global players. All too often, decisions affecting the future of important firms and the communities that they sustain are made solely with a view to the short-term financial consequences. I find it particularly bothersome that so many of our natural resource companies — which I would argue represent unique and irreplaceable assets — are now owned elsewhere.

I know that I am touching upon a very delicate subject here and that for many people, particularly some economists and other "big picture" types, any suggestion that the "markets" should be other than totally unfettered is an anathema. I appreciate, too, that even under the best of circumstances, our ability to shape our destiny will always be in question. But, this doesn't mean that we shouldn't try, or at the very least, debate the matter.

So what are some actions that we might consider taking? Well, what if we were to consider the feasibility of adopting ownership restrictions for certain sensitive sectors of our economy that would be similar to those that now apply to our financial institutions? After all, I would argue that it is a demonstrable fact that public policy regarding the ownership of our banks and insurance companies has served the country well; there is no shortage of competition in the financial services sector and the services available to Canadians are as comprehensive and as affordable as exist anywhere in the world. It is also a virtual certainty that absent the ownership restrictions all of these institutions, that we are all so proud of, would be owned elsewhere. Might it not be the case then, that such an ownership policy could be usefully extended to other sectors of our economy?

Securities regulation is another area where some useful debate could be undertaken. Many feel that Canada now has the most bidder friendly environment in the world and that this may not always be in our country's best interests. Under our rules, shareholder rights plans — also know as takeover defences or "poison pills" — fall away after a very short 60 or 90 days, leaving the target company's board with far too little time in which to explore alternatives.

On announcement of a bid for control of a Canadian public company, financially savvy buyers have the virtual certainty of knowing that a change in control transaction is highly likely to succeed, absent competition or anti-trust issues. These investors quickly acquire significant amounts of the target company's stock. The result is that for all practical purposes, the board is left with no choice but to accede to a takeover.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/mergers/hollowed-out.html