Zakir Virani's Civics Blog

check yo self

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Alberta will look like the moon unless oil sands development

Rock legend Neil Young continued his campaign against the Alberta oilsands Thursday, saying he hopes to use his celebrity to bring more attention to the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation community and their fight against the oil industry.

Neil Young wants to promote preserving the lands as long as he can. Alberta has recently and always has been going through many phases of oil production.

Rock legend Neil Young continued his campaign against the Alberta oilsands Thursday, saying he hopes to use his celebrity to bring more attention to the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation community and their fight against the oil industry.

Neil Young wants to promote preserving the lands as long as he can. Alberta has recently and always has been going through many phases of oil production.

Last month, the Canadian government approved an expansion project with Shell that aimed to double oilsands production to nearly 300,000 barrels a day.

I feel that Neil Young is a very strong man and is really helping Canada whether it be natives or our beautiful land. Neil has also received some criticism, but I believe he really knows what he wants and does it right at his age trying to persuade people to let them know that this is a serious problem.

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/neil-young-alberta-will-look-like-the-moon-unless-oilsands-development-stopped-1.1642675#ixzz2qckBblab

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First Nations teen told not to wear sweater saying 'Got Land?'

       A Saskatchewan student was told not to wear a sweatshirt in school which has the words "Got Land? Thank an Indian" on it, although officials  have since relented. Tenelle Star is a 13 year old in grade 8 and she is a member of the nearby Star Blanket First Nation. She told CBC news on Tuesday: "It supports our treaty and land rights... It's important" The message references the link between the historic treaties for land that were made which would become the country of Canada. Other students had complained about the message on Tenelle's sweater and she was asked to change. Some people viewed the message as racist. She was embarrassed by the request to change, and she wore the weatshirt again on subsequent school days. This led to a meeting with school officials, Star and her mother. After that she was told to wear the sweater inside out and she said what is the point of wearing it inside out.

       There was a vote at the bottom of the page with the following buttons.

Where can I get one?

I applaud her wholeheartedly

That slogan offends me.

It made me think

       I voted on I applaud her, and so did 47.82%. The next most was That slogan offends me at 22%. I feel that she has the right to wear that sweater and she is right, it is an important topic. The slogan is not racist, it is more of a protest. 

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Tory leader Tim Hudak promises a million jobs over eight years

      The Conservative leader Tim Hudak says he's got a plan to create one million jobs over eight years in Ontario which includes a call for an end for government funding of wind and solar power projects. Ontario lost 39,000 jobs last month. The progressive Conservative leader will provide details Monday about how the plans to go about it. 

“Our unemployment rate has peaked the national average for 84 consecutive months. That’s seven years,” Hudak, the party leader for more than four years, says in an op-ed piece in Monday’s Star.

Hudak is to introduce his bill when the legislature resumes sitting on February 18th. Last month 588,500 Ontarians were out of work. 

The Tories road map to more jobs is in a five-point plan:

    Reduce debt and taxes to encourage employers to hire and signal to Ontario's population they will keep more of their money.

    Encourage more young people to train for skilled trades such as mechanic, electrician, plumber, and so on.

    Increase trade with other provinces.

    Make better use of federal immigration programs that match immigrants to jobs.

    Reduce regulatory red tape by one-third over three years.

Ontario has been waiting too long for the government promising jobs. Once he unveils his plan, Hudak is expected to bring it to every corner of the province.

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Pakistani Teenager who died after tackling suicide bomber

     Aitzaz Hassan, hailed as hero, aged around 15 died in a hospital after stopping a suicide bomber by tackling him but then blew himself up. This was at the gates of his school in the northwestern district of Hangu, Pakistan. His father said "Many people are coming to see me but if they try to express sympathy, I tell them to congratulate me instead on becoming a father of a martyr' - ,Mujahid Ali Bangash, 55. "I will be even more happy if my second son also sacrifices his life for the country."

Many tweets were made for Aitzaz's bravery on Twitter such as:

"The School name should be changed from Govt Hight School Ibrahimzai to Govt Hight School Aitzaz Hassan, Hangu." - Zeeshan Khattak

"May Allah give Shaheed Aitzaz Hassan what he truly deserves in Heavens."

Just read about Aitzaz Hassan - I'm at a loss for words.

      I found this a very brave action from saving the bomber to hurt others. I am deeply proud of Aitzaz Hassan and may his soul rest in peace.

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Typhoon Haiyan

      11.5 million people were affected by this typhoon that occurred in the Philippians on November 3rd to 11th. This was the deadliest Philippine typhoon on record killing at least 6,183 people in that country alone and 1,779 others who remain unaccounted for. Typhoon Haiyan is also the strongest storm recorded in landfall. Many storm warnings and emergency signals went out but peoples homes and large towns got completely demolished. Officials say rebuilding will take at least three years. Many funds across the world have been raising in aid for the Philippines and the people affected including Canada's red cross which is helping a lot.

       A disaster this big will take a lot of money and time to rebuild. The Philippians and the people need countless aid and money to support themselves from this disaster.

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Chris Hadfield moves back to Canada

         The national treasure and global media sensation is now retiring from space and moving back to his home. He just recently got his driver's license and OHIP card and is ready for life back on earth. Up in space he was writing a playing a lot of music on his guitar and he has a whole CD's worth of music that he recorded up there. Now he's writing books and in magazines. And he still faces the weighty task of recovering from his last return to Earth, which takes a huge physical toll and many months to get over. "It took about four months to be able to run probably again," said Hadfield. "It's like a big illness that you're recovering from, and I'm still growing bone back. I still have pretty fragile hips, like osteoperodic hips." Hadfield figures it will take until next spring to grow back the "more flexible, spongy bone" that "got dissolved" while he was in space.

         There are a lot of things that can happen do your body when you live in space for too long, that is why most astronauts have to retire very early. I feel he was a great astronaut role model to whoever wants to work in space or something related. He also conducted many science experiments in space and made videos for the public to see. I believe he is a very well rounded person because he also is very talented in music. Chris Hadfeild was a great astronaut.

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Honest Ed's sold to Vancouver developer!

Toronto's favourite discount store and big landmark since 1948 is now closing and being redeveloped. The owner of the store Ed Mirvish who died in 2007 passed the store onto his son and now the family feels its time to sell the store. The buyer is Westbank Properties, which built the Shangri-La hotels in Toronto and Vancouver. The son, David Mirvish, confirmed the sale Sunday night says the deal will close later in the year. The property is huge considering its in a downtown area. The financial details were not disclosed but they Toronto Star says when Dave Mirvish started to look for a buyer in July the reported asking price was 100 million dollars.

Honest Ed's is a very special place for my family. When we moved in 1974 we didn't have much money and Honest Ed's would be the place we shopped for furniture, groceries, pots and pans, cutlery, and even just decorative things. The location of Honest Ed's at the time in the 1950s was in a really poor area, so every Christmas Ed would give all the poor free Turkeys. There would be a huge line up and everybody would get a Turkey from Honest Ed. I recently went to the store in August and bought a hat for $1.35, 

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Super Smog hits northern China City

The visiblity shrank in a northern China city to less than half a football field. This soared to a record 40 times higher than an international safety standard. The manager of a U.S jazz singer Patti Austen said that the singer had canceled the concert in Bejing because of an asthma attack likely linked to this pollution. Usually winter brings the worst air pollution because of the combination of weather conditions and the burning of coal for homes and heating systems. One citizen thought it was snowing. She also said "It's scary, too dangerous. How could people drive or walk on such a day?" The density of fine particulate matter was well above 600 micrograms per cubic meter. Last month China's cabinet released an action plan that aims to make a small reduction of the country's heavy reliance on coal to below 65% of total energy usage by 2017. In 2011 coal consumption for 68.4 of total energy use in 2011.

This is a really bad problem that needs to be resolved. Coal is very pollutant and in North America it is being used less and less. If this continues this could be a huge problem for these northern cities in China. It could affect the climate, the peoples lifestyles, and also peoples lives. It is quite scary if you haven't seen the sun for the whole day and how could you drive and get to work and live a normal life. Hopefully these dangerous smog levels will lower to a safer level and the Chinese government will solve the coal problem and lower the usage for heating. 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/10/21/china-smog/3142201/

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Electric Car tops Norway's auto sales

The American made Tesla model S. fully electric car is becoming more and more popular in the world. "These cars work fine in the winter conditions" says Finn Helge Lunde the northernmost owner of the Tesla electric car. The owners of these cars have to charge their electric car at home for now until more stations are built. The company says that now roughly 90 percent of Norway’s population lives within 320 kilometers of a Supercharger station. Tesla followed its Norway rollout by expanding the charging network to Germany, Belgium and Spain, among other countries. The interest for these cars are very high because there are so many advantages of electric cars.

They say that once fully charged it will give you around 400km of driving. Then you either go to a charging station, or charge at home (which still needs some improvement) In states like California charging stations are now everywhere and this car is getting lots of attention in the US. Canada too is starting to build up the charging stations. Just like Nikola Tesla's dream to wirelessly provide electricty to every home free, the charging stations for this car will be free forever. 

http://barentsobserver.com/en/business/2013/10/electric-car-tops-norways-auto-sales-15-10

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Exile on Queen Street?

Should we be worried about all of the vacant stores on Queen street? Queen West is lowly emptying and its becoming too expensive to fill. Between University and Bathurst just alone there were 13 empty storefronts, only two were reportedly leased out by a major retail franchise. For many business owners, the rent alone is too high for most upstart businesses to afford which results in common vacancies. Its not rare that leasers pay up to $10,000 a month for a ground floor shop. Prices for empty stores can range from $7,581 per month for 2,166 square-feet main floor, to $9,516 per month for the 2,379 square-foot ground floor space of 552 Queen St. West. These rates don't even include the monthly tax, maintenance and insurance costs, which could average near $3,000 for properties like these. "In order to stay there, I had to make $1000 a day," says a store owner. "Screw you I'm moving."

It really is sad for these store owners that they can't make a living while stationed there. We don't want the world to turn into all large corporations controlling over us, which will happen if these properties keep their rent prices high. Some people move their stores and pay half the price as these buildings.The quality of the buildings are nothing special. It seems that the landlords are wanting people out so they can charge the next tenant even more. Does this not look similar to Detroit, Michigan?

http://www.thegridto.com/life/real-estate/exile-on-queen-street/

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Malaysia commits $36 billion to B.C gas plant, pipeline

Malaysian Prime Minister, Mohd Najib springs a pledge of $36-billion investment in Canada. Petrona, the government owned corporation is the company that is making the deal. Last year they spent 5.5-billion to buy Alberta-based Progress Energy Inc. Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper replied to the deal almost muted by contrast. He said that we view the Petrona investments very positively. "The government of Canada is very excited about that possibility, as are all those I've talked to in the energy sector." This is the largest direct foreign investment in Canada by any country. The Prime Minister's Office, however declined to provide any details of the promised $36-billion investment and it referred reporters to Petronas for details.

This is very exciting for Canada, because it is one of the biggest overseas deals ever made. Alberta and B.C are very rich in natural gasses and all the companies want to control this. This could be good but at the same time bad. Harming the earth is never good if this project is not done environmentally, but this could bring a lot of money into Canada and also provide a lot of jobs. There are many pros and cons of this, but Canada is very welcoming to this offer.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/10/06/malaysias_petronas_commits_36_billion_to_bc_gas_plant_pipeline.html

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Queensway Crash Mississauga- ran red-light

October 3rd morning around 9am, a major crash occurred at the intersection of Camilla and Queensway. Police say it was a minivan that caused a devastating crash. Three people were injured in the collision. "Thank goodness the injuries were minor considering the damage to the vehicles," said Const. Lilly FitzPatrick. Two other people including a female driver were also hospitalized with minor injuries when two minivans collided in the intersection causing one to roll over and smash into a stopped car. They were all treated at Mississauga Trillium Hospital, which thankfully is just down the road. Charges are pending police said.

l live right down the road from where the collision happened, and I am always seeing people speeding on Queensway because it is such a straight road in a very quiet neighborhood. I always bike there and there is tons of pedestrians walking and kids biking. This could be a very dangerous threat when speeding and a collision like this occurs. Police are still trying to get information on the crash and who should get charges. Speeding on the west side of Queensway needs to stop because it is a very quiet residential street with lots of children and pedestrians walking, biking, and rollerblading. At night I can also hear street racers on the road. This case wasn't street racing at night, but it could happen.

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Toronto Fake Clinic Owner Guilty of Fraud

A Toronto woman Rowena Villaneuva, was accused of bilking other Filipinos of $500,000 in a phony chiropractic scam, and pleads guilty to 16 counts of fraud. She will be sentenced next January after the victims present their impact statements in court. There was similar fraud charges against her husband, Quintin Robles, 57, are expected to be withdrawn an will be dealt with on that day. Both of them were originally co-charged with 34 fraud-related offences. The police got involved. The investment scheme took place between 2007 and 2011. Known losses total more than $500,000. Peter Christie of financial crimes unit says that there are other victims who did not come forward. 

Fraud is a very sneaky crime. Most of the victims do not know that it is happening and ongoing. Good thing that she got caught before she scammed more people. It is very stupid because now they have to pay back all the people and take out loans. They declared bankruptcy and have been spotted gambling in Casino Rama in Orillia and at the Blue Heron casino in Port Perry. Was it worth it? No.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/10/02/fake_clinic_owner_guilty_of_fraud.html

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Surrey 6 Murder trial set to begin in Vancouver

In Canada's gang capital, inside an apartment building in 2007, a gang war broke out and 2 bystanders were killed along with 4 gang members. By early 2009 gunfire on the streets was a regular thing, and was happening more often. That is when the city was announced gang capital of Canada. Now 6 years later the surrey 6 murder trial is finally going to begin. Young families are now moving into the high rise that the murders occurred in. On Monday, the first of the trials for three of the accused in the Surrey Six massacre at Balmoral Tower is set to begin in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver. Cody Haevischer, Matthew Johnston and Michael Le are charged with first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

It is quite crazy how 6 years later they are dealing with the trial. “Now that I know the wheels of justice have started moving,” she said, “at the end of the day I want to believe that there is going to be light at the end of the tunnel.” says Caesar Tiojanco the landlord of the appartment. Quite a few people moved out of the apartment in the first year.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/dead+years+later+Surrey+gang+slaying+trial+begins+Vancouver/8972614/story.html

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China aiming to launch space station by 2023

       China is expecting to complete its first ever orbiting space station within 10 years. The station will be able to support six crew on short-term missions and three for long-term stays. The launch target was revealed at the International Astronautical Congress in Beijing. Once the space station is operational, astronauts would and able to make long-term missions in orbit and be able to conduct technical tests and science experiments. The stations core module will be 18.1 m long and will weigh 20 to 22 metric tonnes and will have two self-contained labs attached to it. The whole space station will cover an area of 60 sq m.

      China became the 3rd country to launch a human into space independently in 2003 and has been expanding its space program ever since. The IAC event in Beijing has about 3,600 space scientists and business people attending, representing some 74 countries from around the world. I find this really interesting because now there is another space station in space, but also this could start competition between the two space stations. It is written that space shall never be militarized, but not signed by every country. This could be the next step to militarizing space or it could be the next step to creating mutual relationships between countries and space exploration I feel.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24282060

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7.8 Magnitude Earthquake hits Pakistan

     Major earthquake strikes southwestern Pakistan Tuesday the 24th of September. 45 people have been killed and more than 100 injured. Many women and children were among the deaths. The provincial government has declared an emergency in Awaran district of Balochistan, which that part was struck at 4:29pm local time.Tremors were felt all around the country including the port city of Karachi. The epicenter of the earthquake was in a very remote thinly populated mountainous area, although the earthquake did have major destruction of houses and other buildings. Two dousen houses collapsed in the villige of Awaran and rescue teams have been dispatched.

This earthquake was the same magnitude as the San Francisco 1906 earthquake where 80% of the city was destroyed, but of course this did not create as much damage. Thankfully the earthquake was in an uninhabited area. There were 400 casualties although. In 2005 a devastating earthquake hit which killed 80,000. Pakistan has a big history of earthquakes in the past since the country is right on the Indian and Arabian Plate.

  http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/09/201392412550158409.html

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Vietnam veterans to be honored Silver Bronze Stars 4 decades after battlefield actions

       Two Vietnam veterans were awarded for their heroism on the battlefield around 4 decades after they returned home from war, Joe Cordileone and Robert Moffatt. Marine Major General John Admire says the men were never awarded because the commanders that make those recommendations were killed. The two are being recognized for their actions during the first Battle of Khe Sanh which was in 1967. The two fought off the North Vietnamese army while recovering wounded troops. The Navy says that their actions in battle saved lives. Cordileone today is the chief deputy city attourney for San Diego and Moffatt is a retired cost estimator who lives in Riverside, California. 

        I feel it is quite sad that they are awarded 46 years later because you never know they could be dead and not get recognition for their actions. Although it is better late than never, they should have been awarded earlier. 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/09/20/vietnam-veterans-to-be-honored-with-silver-bronze-stars-4-decades-after/?intcmp=latestnews