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Un paddock rénové à Montréal Charles Rooke Journal de Montréal 13/02/2008 10h29 Le paddock du circuit Gilles- Villeneuve ne devrait plus être la risée du circuit de la formule 1 car, selon ce qu'a appris le Journal de Montréal, une subvention de 1,25 million de dollars du gouver nement fédéral serait accordée afin qu'on procède à sa réfection. L'an der nier, Ber nie Ecclestone, le grand manitou du cirque de la formule 1, avait critiqué les installations du Grand Prix de Montréal. Durant la semaine du Grand Prix, des employés de l'écurie Honda avaient été jusqu'à affirmer que les installations montréalaises étaient «une honte». Les écuries avaient même dû faire la vaisselle avec l'eau provenant du bassin olympique. Les organisateurs du Grand Prix ont donc fait une demande de subvention de deux millions de dollars au gouver nement fédéral en novembre afin de remédier à la situation. La somme de 1,25 million serait débloquée prochainement, et l'annonce de l'octroi de la subvention pourrait être faite au cours des prochaines semaines. Quelques détails à régler L'entente ne serait pas encore finalisée, mais il resterait quelques détails à fignoler afin d'officialiser le tout. Le ministre des Travaux publics, Michael Fortier, aurait fait une priorité de ce dossier. On n'a toutefois pas voulu confirmer la nouvelle du côté de son bureau. Il a été impossible de joindre un membre de l'organisation du Grand Prix hier. Cette nouvelle tombe sans doute à point pour le Grand Prix de Montréal car, la semaine dernière, Bernie Ecclestone, un Britannique, a menacé de retirer le Grand Prix d'Angleterre en raison de la désuétude des installations. Le Grand Prix des États-Unis a, quant à lui, déjà été rayé du calendrier de la formule 1 en 2008. Le gouvernement provincial pourrait également annoncer sa participation à ce projet. Cette année, le Grand Prix du Canada aura lieu du 6 au 8 juin. http://www2.canoe.com/sports/nouvelles/archives/2008/02/20080213-102902.html
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Le gouvernement fédéral vient à la rescousse du chantier maritime situé à Lévis avec des prêts et des garanties de prêt totalisant 380 M$ afin de permettre à l'entreprise de poursuivre la construction de cinq navires. Pour en lire plus...
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How Montreal Can Become The Top Entrepreneurial City In The G20
un sujet a posté _mtler_ dans Discussions générales
Solid blog. What do you guys think? Huffington Post At the beginning of September, as Sherpa Delegate, I will lead a delegation of 35 young Canadian entrepreneurs, who have been selected to participate in the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Summit in China. They will join some of the top 500 young entrepreneurs of the G20 nations to recommend policies to foster youth entrepreneurship and tackle youth unemployment. Among these 35 Canadians, 16 are from Montreal. This fact clearly reflects that there is currently a boom of new entrepreneurs in this city. As a business person myself, I witness a vibrant entrepreneurial community. Montreal hosts many startup events and hackathons, and boasts an increasing number of incubators and co-working spaces. In the last three years, I have had the opportunity to meet entrepreneurs from various countries, through my active involvement in a global youth movement, called the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance. This international experience has made me realize that Montreal has everything it takes to be among the best cities for entrepreneurs in the world. Like an unpolished diamond, it merely requires some efficient government measures. Technology has enabled even smaller entrepreneur-led businesses to expand into global markets, which can be a powerful driver of growth. We need to implement concerted strategic policies on federal, provincial and municipal levels, to make Montreal a high-standard international entrepreneurial city. Policies that take into account the following points: Firstly, Montreal is the second biggest university city in North America, after Boston. The government should tap into this strong suit in order to make it an entrepreneurial city. We need a clear strategy that encourages and supports the creation of university-based incubators and accelerators in partnership with the private sector, institutions and foundations. University students in Montreal should have the opportunity to start businesses throughout their studies, with the support of and resources from their institutions. As a target, I propose to increase the number of university students involved in entrepreneurship by 50 per cent in five years, and students’ R&D investment/collaboration with entrepreneurs by 50 per cent, to complement formal entrepreneurship education. Secondly, many young entrepreneurs want to go global and do business with other cities, provinces and countries. Technology has enabled even smaller entrepreneur-led businesses to expand into global markets, which can be a powerful driver of growth. We need to devise a joint game plan on federal, provincial and municipal levels, to adopt policies and incentives that support young entrepreneurs as they assess their activities and expand into external markets. For instance, inclusion of young entrepreneurs in trade missions led by our mayor, premier and prime minister, training of diplomats and trade commissioners in the realities of young entrepreneurs, encouraging Montreal incubators to collaborate with those of other countries, and creation of co-working hubs and incubation services for early-stage exporters in diplomatic missions (to trade offices, embassies and consulates). Finally, Montreal is an open, creative and multicultural city, with a great quality of life. Let’s make our city the number 1 destination in the world to start a business! Entrepreneurs are a rare breed. We need to attract them. I suggest federal, provincial and municipal collaboration to implement long-term visas and fast clearance for entrepreneurs. A landing pad for entrepreneurs, in conjunction with university-based incubators and the private sector, is also required. On August 26, 2016, the Obama administration proposed a rule aimed at attracting thousands of the world’s best and brightest entrepreneurs, to start the next great companies in the United States. I think our federal government should be inspired by this initiative. The city of Montreal plans to release an orientation paper on its international relations in the coming months. I sincerely hope our municipal administration integrates “Montreal as an international entrepreneurship capital” into its vision. Winston Chan is an entrepreneur and former Chairman of the Federation of Young Chambers of Commerce in Quebec. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk -
How Montreal Can Become The Top Entrepreneurial City In The G20
un sujet a posté _mtler_ dans Discussions générales
Solid blog. What do you guys think? Huffington Post At the beginning of September, as Sherpa Delegate, I will lead a delegation of 35 young Canadian entrepreneurs, who have been selected to participate in the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Summit in China. They will join some of the top 500 young entrepreneurs of the G20 nations to recommend policies to foster youth entrepreneurship and tackle youth unemployment. Among these 35 Canadians, 16 are from Montreal. This fact clearly reflects that there is currently a boom of new entrepreneurs in this city. As a business person myself, I witness a vibrant entrepreneurial community. Montreal hosts many startup events and hackathons, and boasts an increasing number of incubators and co-working spaces. In the last three years, I have had the opportunity to meet entrepreneurs from various countries, through my active involvement in a global youth movement, called the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance. This international experience has made me realize that Montreal has everything it takes to be among the best cities for entrepreneurs in the world. Like an unpolished diamond, it merely requires some efficient government measures. Technology has enabled even smaller entrepreneur-led businesses to expand into global markets, which can be a powerful driver of growth. We need to implement concerted strategic policies on federal, provincial and municipal levels, to make Montreal a high-standard international entrepreneurial city. Policies that take into account the following points: Firstly, Montreal is the second biggest university city in North America, after Boston. The government should tap into this strong suit in order to make it an entrepreneurial city. We need a clear strategy that encourages and supports the creation of university-based incubators and accelerators in partnership with the private sector, institutions and foundations. University students in Montreal should have the opportunity to start businesses throughout their studies, with the support of and resources from their institutions. As a target, I propose to increase the number of university students involved in entrepreneurship by 50 per cent in five years, and students’ R&D investment/collaboration with entrepreneurs by 50 per cent, to complement formal entrepreneurship education. Secondly, many young entrepreneurs want to go global and do business with other cities, provinces and countries. Technology has enabled even smaller entrepreneur-led businesses to expand into global markets, which can be a powerful driver of growth. We need to devise a joint game plan on federal, provincial and municipal levels, to adopt policies and incentives that support young entrepreneurs as they assess their activities and expand into external markets. For instance, inclusion of young entrepreneurs in trade missions led by our mayor, premier and prime minister, training of diplomats and trade commissioners in the realities of young entrepreneurs, encouraging Montreal incubators to collaborate with those of other countries, and creation of co-working hubs and incubation services for early-stage exporters in diplomatic missions (to trade offices, embassies and consulates). Finally, Montreal is an open, creative and multicultural city, with a great quality of life. Let’s make our city the number 1 destination in the world to start a business! Entrepreneurs are a rare breed. We need to attract them. I suggest federal, provincial and municipal collaboration to implement long-term visas and fast clearance for entrepreneurs. A landing pad for entrepreneurs, in conjunction with university-based incubators and the private sector, is also required. On August 26, 2016, the Obama administration proposed a rule aimed at attracting thousands of the world’s best and brightest entrepreneurs, to start the next great companies in the United States. I think our federal government should be inspired by this initiative. The city of Montreal plans to release an orientation paper on its international relations in the coming months. I sincerely hope our municipal administration integrates “Montreal as an international entrepreneurship capital” into its vision. Winston Chan is an entrepreneur and former Chairman of the Federation of Young Chambers of Commerce in Quebec. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk -
How Montreal Can Become The Top Entrepreneurial City In The G20
un sujet a posté _mtler_ dans Discussions générales
Solid blog. What do you guys think? Huffington Post At the beginning of September, as Sherpa Delegate, I will lead a delegation of 35 young Canadian entrepreneurs, who have been selected to participate in the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Summit in China. They will join some of the top 500 young entrepreneurs of the G20 nations to recommend policies to foster youth entrepreneurship and tackle youth unemployment. Among these 35 Canadians, 16 are from Montreal. This fact clearly reflects that there is currently a boom of new entrepreneurs in this city. As a business person myself, I witness a vibrant entrepreneurial community. Montreal hosts many startup events and hackathons, and boasts an increasing number of incubators and co-working spaces. In the last three years, I have had the opportunity to meet entrepreneurs from various countries, through my active involvement in a global youth movement, called the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance. This international experience has made me realize that Montreal has everything it takes to be among the best cities for entrepreneurs in the world. Like an unpolished diamond, it merely requires some efficient government measures. Technology has enabled even smaller entrepreneur-led businesses to expand into global markets, which can be a powerful driver of growth. We need to implement concerted strategic policies on federal, provincial and municipal levels, to make Montreal a high-standard international entrepreneurial city. Policies that take into account the following points: Firstly, Montreal is the second biggest university city in North America, after Boston. The government should tap into this strong suit in order to make it an entrepreneurial city. We need a clear strategy that encourages and supports the creation of university-based incubators and accelerators in partnership with the private sector, institutions and foundations. University students in Montreal should have the opportunity to start businesses throughout their studies, with the support of and resources from their institutions. As a target, I propose to increase the number of university students involved in entrepreneurship by 50 per cent in five years, and students’ R&D investment/collaboration with entrepreneurs by 50 per cent, to complement formal entrepreneurship education. Secondly, many young entrepreneurs want to go global and do business with other cities, provinces and countries. Technology has enabled even smaller entrepreneur-led businesses to expand into global markets, which can be a powerful driver of growth. We need to devise a joint game plan on federal, provincial and municipal levels, to adopt policies and incentives that support young entrepreneurs as they assess their activities and expand into external markets. For instance, inclusion of young entrepreneurs in trade missions led by our mayor, premier and prime minister, training of diplomats and trade commissioners in the realities of young entrepreneurs, encouraging Montreal incubators to collaborate with those of other countries, and creation of co-working hubs and incubation services for early-stage exporters in diplomatic missions (to trade offices, embassies and consulates). Finally, Montreal is an open, creative and multicultural city, with a great quality of life. Let’s make our city the number 1 destination in the world to start a business! Entrepreneurs are a rare breed. We need to attract them. I suggest federal, provincial and municipal collaboration to implement long-term visas and fast clearance for entrepreneurs. A landing pad for entrepreneurs, in conjunction with university-based incubators and the private sector, is also required. On August 26, 2016, the Obama administration proposed a rule aimed at attracting thousands of the world’s best and brightest entrepreneurs, to start the next great companies in the United States. I think our federal government should be inspired by this initiative. The city of Montreal plans to release an orientation paper on its international relations in the coming months. I sincerely hope our municipal administration integrates “Montreal as an international entrepreneurship capital” into its vision. Winston Chan is an entrepreneur and former Chairman of the Federation of Young Chambers of Commerce in Quebec. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk -
With a goal to make John Abbott College a leader in health-related fields, a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony took place Tuesday for the CEGEP's new science and technology building. The new five-storey, $30-million project will house facilities to train nurses, ambulance technicians and pharmaceutical technicians. "This will train students in English in areas where we have a shortage of qualified workers," said Education Minister Line Beauchamps. To be completed in 2012, the building, equipped with geothermic heating, will benefit from $8 million in financing from federal and provincial governments. http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100831/mtl_JAC_100831/20100831?hub=Montreal
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Cet édifice fédéral est situé dans le nouveau quartier écologique d'Estimauville à Québec. Photographe : Stéphane Groleau -
1-50 Regulation in Effect for all Aircrafts as of August 1, 2015 Transport Canada has announced that the 1:50 ratio will be the new regulation in effect for both wide and narrow-bodied aircraft effective August 1, 2015. Airlines will be able to “flip flop” between the former 1:40 ratio and the new 1:50 ratio according to their operational requirements. Exit doors may also be left uncovered on wide-bodied aircraft, a major change from previous proposed regulations. Your Union views this development as a completely unacceptable and unnecessary risk to the safety of both crewmembers and the public. In changing the regulation without the usual consultation process, Transport Canada and the Harper government continue to act on behalf of the airline industry and in a manner that is without sufficient parliamentary and public scrutiny. Decades of privatization, deregulation and hyper-competition have led to a relentless drive to cut labour costs. Transport Canada makes no secret of this, and has calculated that the regulation will allow operators to achieve cost savings of $288,469,940 during the next ten years by reducing the number of Flight Attendants and associated costs including salaries, hotel stays and per diems. To read the new regulation, please see: http://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2015/2015-06-17/html/sor-dors127-eng.php. For the federal government and its transportation officials to so baldly place profit over safety is a national disgrace. It appears this government has learned nothing from the rail tragedy in Lac Megantic, which has also been linked to deregulation and the loosening of safety rules Your Union is reviewing all available options to continue our legal fight against the 1:50. We will update you on our intended response as soon as possible. We also look forward to the upcoming federal election, which we are confident will oust Harper and elect a government that supports worker rights and public safety. But to achieve that goal, our members must do their part. The Airline Division Political Action Committee will be working hard between now and the election to turn out Flight Attendants to vote. We will bring the full weight of our safety expertise forward to the new government and the public. Our research on this issue has been extensive, and is grounded in the real life understanding of the safety risks associated with reduced cabin crew. In fact, we believe our members’ real life experience is the best possible evidence that 1:50 jeopardizes safety, disrupts service, and reduces the job satisfaction and morale of Flight Attendants. During the past several months we have been compiling our members’ stories about the effect of 1:50. In the coming weeks, we will publish a series of bulletins that capture the voices of members describing how 1:50 has affected them on and off the job. Each bulletin will describe a different aspect of how 1:50 has affected them, including at work where members report increased fatigue, anxiety about decreased safety and service; and at home, where members report reduced income, greater stress and depression, and harm to personal relationships and overall wellbeing. These stories are gleaned from the responses of well over 100 Flight Attendants who responded to questionnaires made available by the Component and CUPE Local 4092. We encourage members to continue to share their stories in the months to come. Please follow the next bulletins. Your Union remains committed to fighting the 1:50 ratio on the legal, regulatory, and political levels. http://accomponent.ca/
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Je me permets de publier cet éditorial du devoir que j'ai mis originalement dans la section politique. Comme c'est un sujet qui concerne tout le monde, j'ai pensé qu'il était plus pertinent de le mettre dans les discussions générales et ainsi ouvrir la porte à un débat plus large. http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/canada/421057/conjoncture-chaud-devant CONJONCTURE Chaud devant! 15 octobre 2014 |Jean-Robert Sansfaçon | Canada Alors qu’Ottawa et les provinces poursuivent avec acharnement leurs efforts de compression budgétaire, l’économie canadienne fait du sur-place et subit les contrecoups de la faible croissance à l’échelle mondiale. S’ils n’y prennent garde, nos gouvernements aggraveront le mal qu’ils disent vouloir combattre. Chacun de son côté, les principales provinces canadiennes et le gouvernement fédéral ont entrepris une course contre la montre pour revenir à l’équilibre budgétaire. Dans le cas du Québec, l’opération est d’autant plus difficile que l’emploi progresse très lentement, avec les conséquences que l’on sait sur les recettes de l’État. À Ottawa, les choses vont mieux grâce aux revenus pétroliers et aux cotisations à l’assurance-emploi largement plus élevées que les prestations versées aux chômeurs, dont 38 % seulement ont désormais accès au programme. Or cette situation pourrait tourner rapidement si le prix du pétrole continuait de baisser comme c’est le cas depuis l’été. Plusieurs experts prédisent même une chute du prix du baril jusqu’à 70 $US comparativement à plus de 110 $ le printemps dernier et à 82 $ hier. Si c’était le cas, non seulement les recettes des gouvernements en seraient affectées, mais ce serait aussi la fin temporaire du boom d’investissements dans les sables bitumineux. Cette baisse de prix est due à la conjoncture économique mondiale défavorable, tant en Asie et en Amérique du Sud qu’en Europe, où le FMI évalue à 40 % le risque d’une troisième récession en sept ans. Bien sûr, pour l’instant la situation n’est pas si difficile chez notre principal partenaire, les États-Unis. Mais cela pourrait ne pas durer puisqu’étant devenus de grands producteurs de pétrole et de gaz de schiste, ils subiront à leur tour les effets d’une baisse des prix qu’ils appelaient pourtant de tous leurs voeux lorsque le pétrole provenait des pays de l’OPEP. En conséquence, les gouvernements qui comptent largement sur les ressources, tels l’Alberta et le gouvernement fédéral, risquent d’être directement touchés. Le Québec ne produit pas de pétrole, mais il subit aussi les contrecoups du ralentissement mondial de la demande en ressources. Et même si les libéraux de Philippe Couillard se veulent rassurants, ils ont très peu d’influence sur les investisseurs qui préfèrent attendre des signaux positifs du marché avant d’aller de l’avant avec leurs projets de mines et d’usines de transformation. Devant tant d’incertitudes, il est décevant de constater qu’on s’entête à placer ses ambitions politiques devant les exigences de la conjoncture. C’est vrai pour le Québec aux prises avec un manque à gagner plus important que prévu. Ce qui devrait inciter les libéraux à revoir leur échéancier de retour à l’équilibre sous peine de comprimer les dépenses au-delà de ce qui est raisonnable. Mais c’est surtout vrai du fédéral, dont c’est la responsabilité première de veiller à la stabilité économique du pays. Au lieu de promettre des bonbons, les trois principaux partis fédéraux devraient s’engager dès maintenant à stimuler l’activité économique en rehaussant de façon importante le programme des infrastructures, surtout en matière de transports collectifs, si peu développés chez nous, et en redonnant accès à l’assurance-emploi aux travailleurs mis à pied. Après tout, contrairement à l’idéologie d’un parti, l’économie d’un pays n’est pas un long fleuve tranquille sur lequel il suffit de se laisser glisser pour se maintenir au pouvoir.
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Je ne sais pas d'où vient cette carte, mais c'est quand même intéressant. -
Péréquation : l'Ontario reçoit maintenant plus que le Québec
un sujet a posté monctezuma dans L'actualité
Incroyable, c'est une première de mon vécu. *** Transferts fédéraux: l'Ontario recevra plus que le Québec 15-12-2014 | 10h38 Dernière mise à jour: 15-12-2014 | 12h12 AGENCE QMI OTTAWA - C'est la province de l'Ontario qui bénéficiera le plus des largesses du gouvernement fédéral dans la prochaine année fiscale. Le ministère fédéral des Finances, Joe Oliver, a rendu publics les chiffres des transferts fédéraux aux provinces et aux territoires qui sont prévus en 2015-2016 en matière de santé et de programmes sociaux, ainsi que pour la péréquation. Le soutien financier du gouvernement fédéral au Québec atteindra 20,36 milliards $ en 2015-2016, mais l'Ontario recevra la part du lion avec 20,44 milliards $. Au total, en 2015-2016, Ottawa versera aux 10 provinces et aux trois territoires canadiens un montant de 67,9 milliards $, ce qui représente une somme de 1890 $ par habitant. Selon le ministre des Finances fédéral, Joe Oliver, ces transferts du gouvernement fédéral donnent aux provinces et aux territoires la capacité de fournir des services publics de «grande qualité». Le ministre Oliver a par ailleurs fortement suggéré aux provinces de s'inspirer de son gouvernement est de faire les efforts nécessaires pour diminuer les impôts et les dépenses. Le ministre Leitao en veut davantage Même si la province recevra du fédéral une somme record de 9,5 milliards $ en paiement de péréquation pour 2015-2016, Québec estime qu'Ottawa peut en faire plus en matière de santé et d'infrastructure. C'est ce qu'a indiqué le ministre des Finances du Québec, Carlos Leitão, à l'entrée d'une rencontre réunissant ses homologues provinciaux et fédéral à Ottawa lundi. «Pour la péréquation c'est un montant record, mais il y en a d'autres transferts fédéraux et en infrastructure, par exemple, nous pensons qu'il y a de la place pour augmenter ces transferts-là. Et il y a toute la question des transferts en santé», a mentionné le ministre Leitao. Le dossier des infrastructures constitue une des priorités que M. Leitão souhaite amener à la table des discussions. Il a indiqué que le Québec dépensera 90 milliards $ sur dix ans dans ses infrastructures, alors que le fédéral prévoit investir 70 milliards $ à l'échelle du pays au cours de cette période. Il invite Ottawa à délier davantage les cordons de la bourse dans ce domaine, faisant valoir que dans le cycle économique actuel, les dépenses en infrastructure constituent «le meilleur moyen d'accélérer la croissance». -Avec Dominique La Haye -
http://www.ledevoir.com/economie/actualites-economiques/423699/perspectives-seul-avec-son-petrole PERSPECTIVES Seul avec son pétrole 13 novembre 2014 |Gérard Bérubé | Actualités économiques Le gouvernement fédéral est rattrapé par son obsession pétrolière. Il doit aujourd’hui composer avec une chute importante des cours et un accord sino-américain sur le climat l’isolant dans son aveuglement bitumineux. La mise à jour économique faite mercredi par le ministre des Finances Joe Oliver ramène à l’avant-scène ce déséquilibre fiscal avec des provinces qui, comme c’est le cas au Québec, peinent à dénicher les revenus salvateurs. Elle réveille également cette blessure, issue du « mal hollandais », ayant longtemps imposé aux provinces manufacturières le lourd tribut au développement des sables bitumineux dans l’Ouest. Pourtant, ils étaient nombreux et incessants ces appels dirigés au gouvernement Harper l’exhortant à tenir compte des « risques bitumineux » dans ses choix politiques. L’industrie pétrolière et gazière étant de nature spéculative et les cours, hautement volatils, le gouvernement fédéral a été plus d’une fois convié à bien mesurer l’ampleur des distorsions et la précarité d’une ruée des cours de l’or noir pouvant rapidement se transformer en bulle pétrolière. Au sommet d’avant la récession à 147,50 $US le baril, la coûteuse exploitation des sables bitumineux était financièrement rentable. À 95 $US, soit le cours d’équilibre retenu dans les divers scénarios, l’exploitation du pétrole de l’Ouest pouvait se poursuivre, mais au prix d’un contrôle rigoureux des coûts. Le cours de référence se situe désormais à 77 $US, son plus bas en trois ans. Il faut le rappeler. Nous sommes passés d’une pénurie appréhendée à un choc de l’offre en l’espace de six ans. Si la prophétie du « peak » hantait le marché pétrolier en 2007, les grandes agences ont annoncé que la grande révolution énergétique devient celle du schiste. Avec, aux premières loges, les États-Unis se hissant au premier rang des producteurs mondiaux. Les hydrocarbures non conventionnels ont littéralement changé la donne. Illusion bitumineuse Dans sa mise à jour économique, le ministre fédéral des Finances nous confirme donc que le gouvernement fédéral est revenu à l’ère des surplus budgétaires. Mais quant aux externalités de l’illusion bitumineuse… On le sait, le redressement des finances publiques fédérales s’est fait largement sur le dos des provinces. Réforme de l’assurance-emploi et de la Sécurité de la vieillesse, plafonnement des transferts en santé et en péréquation, et incursion dans le programme de formation de la main-d’oeuvre ont été autant d’initiatives ayant contribué au retour du déséquilibre fiscal. On oublie toutefois que s’ajoute ce clivage Est-Ouest, manufacturiers contre pétrolières, sans autre compensation, adoucisseur ou mécanisme de redistribution de la rente pétrolière, grossi par la fièvre fédérale des sables bitumineux. Le syndrome hollandais a été bien présent. Ce lien entre la flambée des cours pétroliers, la hausse du dollar canadien et le déclin du secteur manufacturier fut démontré dans nombre d’études. Selon l’opposition néodémocrate, près de 500 000 emplois manufacturiers, concentrés essentiellement dans les provinces de l’Ontario et du Québec, auraient été sacrifiés sur l’autel du boom pétrolier dans l’Ouest ayant poussé le dollar canadien à sa parité avec le dollar américain. Or cela, c’est du passé. Aujourd’hui, le gouvernement Harper est invité à sortir de son engouement pétrolier aveugle. La manne n’est plus ce qu’elle était, les revenus du fédéral étant désormais amputés par la chute des cours pétroliers. Il n’a également plus l’excuse de l’inaction des autres grands pollueurs de la planète. Les engagements de la Chine et des États-Unis à réduire leurs émissions de gaz à effet de serre imposent un nouveau leadership mondial dans la lutte contre le réchauffement climatique. Certes, cet accord est surtout politique et les cibles retenues se veulent minimalistes. Mais s’y greffent les engagements récents de l’Europe. Les projecteurs sont désormais braqués sur des pays qui, comme le Canada — qualifié de plus grand émetteur de GES par habitant parmi les pays industrialisés —, ratent systématiquement leur cible. Le gouvernement fédéral peut toutefois se consoler. Le Conference Board a prédit que l’intensification de l’activité économique américaine et la dépréciation du huard appellent le secteur manufacturier à redevenir le principal moteur de la croissance de l’économie canadienne.
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29724907 Ottawa 3 tireurs impliqués, dont 2 au Parlement. (on avait rehaussé la sécurité à mon bureau - Gvt fédéral) Plus de détails à la radio/télévision.
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Train à haute vitesse Montréal-Boston
un sujet a posté Habsfan dans Projets oubliés et/ou en suspens
Train à haute vitesse Montréal-Boston: Tout le monde à bord? http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/200911/13/01-921553-train-a-haute-vitesse-montreal-boston-tout-le-monde-a-bord.php Yves Schaëffner (Boston) Le projet de train à haute vitesse entre Montréal et Boston est bel et bien sur les rails, si l'on en croit le gouverneur du Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, et le premier ministre Jean Charest. Les deux hommes, qui ont eu un entretien d'une demi-heure vendredi midi, ont dit vouloir tabler sur l'intérêt de l'administration Obama pour le transport ferroviaire afin de faire avancer le projet. «Il y a beaucoup d'intérêt, a assuré le gouverneur américain. Nous avons des échanges commerciaux très importants, nous avons des liens sociaux très forts et, durant certaines périodes de l'année, c'est intéressant d'aller et de venir entre les deux places pour les matchs de hockey», a plaisanté le gouverneur. Entouré de ses deux chiens dans son bureau, il a poursuivi en expliquant qu'un lien Montréal-Boston pourrait s'inscrire dans le cadre du projet de train régional à haute vitesse sur lequel planche plusieurs États du nord-est des États-Unis. Montréal pourrait un jour devenir le dernier arrêt sur cette ligne. Les gouverneurs de la Nouvelle-Angleterre qui ont soumis différents tracés espèrent recevoir l'appui de l'administration Obama pour développer leur projet. Si le projet d'un train à haute vitesse reliant Boston à Montréal fait l'objet de spéculations depuis des années, Jean Charest pense que le projet est davantage sur les rails aujourd'hui qu'il ne l'était par le passé. «D'abord, ce qu'il faut noter, c'est que les États de la Nouvelle-Angleterre se sont mis ensembles pour présenter des tracés conjoints. Cela ne s'était jamais fait auparavant, a-t-il précisé après sa rencontre. Le contexte est évidemment unique parce que le gouvernement fédéral (américain) a annoncé sa volonté d'investir massivement dans le transport ferroviaire, ce qui n'était pas le cas jusqu'à l'élection du gouvernement Obama.» Abondant dans le même sens, le gouverneur du Massachusett a renchéri: «Nous sommes plus avancés dans le sens qu'il y a des sommes qui sont mises de côté dans le plan de relance économique. Il y a des crédits budgétaires tangibles.» Alors, à quand la première pelletée de terre? «Vous devez demander ça au gouvernement fédéral (américain), a répondu M. Patrick. Je lui pose également la question. Espérons que cela soit bientôt.» À travers son plan de relance économique, l'administration Obama compte investir 8 milliards de dollars US pour moderniser le système ferroviaire du pays. Mais, évidemment, la compétition est rude entre les différents États pour obtenir ne serait-ce qu'une portion de cette somme. En juillet, le gouvernement fédéral avait déjà reçu des demandes totalisant plus de 100 milliards dans le cadre de ce programme, selon le Boston Globe. Ça me semble bien intéressant comme projet...mais disons que je ne suis pas convaincu que nous allons voir un nouveua lien à haute vitesse entre MTL et BOS d,ici 2015!!! -
Tel que promis, voici quelques-uns des projets dont je vous parlais. La suite est à venir! Voici un projet de centre administratif imaginé par Jean-*Omer Marchand, en 1913. Ce dernier imaginait un hôtel de ville (au centre), un palais de justice (à gauche) et un bâtiment administratif fédéral et provincial (à droite). L'emplacement n'était pas encore définitif, mais Marchand l'imaginait au centre du quadrilatère formé par les rues Bleury, Craig (Saint-Antoine), Dorchester (René-Lévesque) et Saint-Denis.
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YANKEEDOM. Founded on the shores of Massachusetts Bay by radical Calvinists as a new Zion, Yankeedom has, since the outset, put great emphasis on perfecting earthly civilization through social engineering, denial of self for the common good, and assimilation of outsiders. It has prized education, intellectual achievement, communal empowerment, and broad citizen participation in politics and government, the latter seen as the public’s shield against the machinations of grasping aristocrats and other would-be tyrants. Since the early Puritans, it has been more comfortable with government regulation and public-sector social projects than many of the other nations, who regard the Yankee utopian streak with trepidation. NEW NETHERLAND. Established by the Dutch at a time when the Netherlands was the most sophisticated society in the Western world, New Netherland has always been a global commercial culture—materialistic, with a profound tolerance for ethnic and religious diversity and an unflinching commitment to the freedom of inquiry and conscience. Like seventeenth-century Amsterdam, it emerged as a center of publishing, trade, and finance, a magnet for immigrants, and a refuge for those persecuted by other regional cultures, from Sephardim in the seventeenth century to gays, feminists, and bohemians in the early twentieth. Unconcerned with great moral questions, it nonetheless has found itself in alliance with Yankeedom to defend public institutions and reject evangelical prescriptions for individual behavior. THE MIDLANDS. America’s great swing region was founded by English Quakers, who believed in humans’ inherent goodness and welcomed people of many nations and creeds to their utopian colonies like Pennsylvania on the shores of Delaware Bay. Pluralistic and organized around the middle class, the Midlands spawned the culture of Middle America and the Heartland, where ethnic and ideological purity have never been a priority, government has been seen as an unwelcome intrusion, and political opinion has been moderate. An ethnic mosaic from the start—it had a German, rather than British, majority at the time of the Revolution—it shares the Yankee belief that society should be organized to benefit ordinary people, though it rejects top-down government intervention. TIDEWATER. Built by the younger sons of southern English gentry in the Chesapeake country and neighboring sections of Delaware and North Carolina, Tidewater was meant to reproduce the semifeudal society of the countryside they’d left behind. Standing in for the peasantry were indentured servants and, later, slaves. Tidewater places a high value on respect for authority and tradition, and very little on equality or public participation in politics. It was the most powerful of the American nations in the eighteenth century, but today it is in decline, partly because it was cut off from westward expansion by its boisterous Appalachian neighbors and, more recently, because it has been eaten away by the expanding federal halos around D.C. and Norfolk. GREATER APPALACHIA. Founded in the early eighteenth century by wave upon wave of settlers from the war-ravaged borderlands of Northern Ireland, northern England, and the Scottish lowlands, Appalachia has been lampooned by writers and screenwriters as the home of hillbillies and rednecks. It transplanted a culture formed in a state of near constant danger and upheaval, characterized by a warrior ethic and a commitment to personal sovereignty and individual liberty. Intensely suspicious of lowland aristocrats and Yankee social engineers alike, Greater Appalachia has shifted alliances depending on who appeared to be the greatest threat to their freedom. It was with the Union in the Civil War. Since Reconstruction, and especially since the upheavals of the 1960s, it has joined with Deep South to counter federal overrides of local preference. DEEP SOUTH. Established by English slave lords from Barbados, Deep South was meant as a West Indies–style slave society. This nation offered a version of classical Republicanism modeled on the slave states of the ancient world, where democracy was the privilege of the few and enslavement the natural lot of the many. Its caste systems smashed by outside intervention, it continues to fight against expanded federal powers, taxes on capital and the wealthy, and environmental, labor, and consumer regulations. EL NORTE. The oldest of the American nations, El Norte consists of the borderlands of the Spanish American empire, which were so far from the seats of power in Mexico City and Madrid that they evolved their own characteristics. Most Americans are aware of El Norte as a place apart, where Hispanic language, culture, and societal norms dominate. But few realize that among Mexicans, norteños have a reputation for being exceptionally independent, self-sufficient, adaptable, and focused on work. Long a hotbed of democratic reform and revolutionary settlement, the region encompasses parts of Mexico that have tried to secede in order to form independent buffer states between their mother country and the United States. THE LEFT COAST. A Chile-shaped nation wedged between the Pacific Ocean and the Cascade and Coast mountains, the Left Coast was originally colonized by two groups: New Englanders (merchants, missionaries, and woodsmen who arrived by sea and dominated the towns) and Appalachian midwesterners (farmers, prospectors, and fur traders who generally arrived by wagon and controlled the countryside). Yankee missionaries tried to make it a “New England on the Pacific,” but were only partially successful. Left Coast culture is a hybrid of Yankee utopianism and Appalachian self-expression and exploration—traits recognizable in its cultural production, from the Summer of Love to the iPad. The staunchest ally of Yankeedom, it clashes with Far Western sections in the interior of its home states. THE FAR WEST. The other “second-generation” nation, the Far West occupies the one part of the continent shaped more by environmental factors than ethnographic ones. High, dry, and remote, the Far West stopped migrating easterners in their tracks, and most of it could be made habitable only with the deployment of vast industrial resources: railroads, heavy mining equipment, ore smelters, dams, and irrigation systems. As a result, settlement was largely directed by corporations headquartered in distant New York, Boston, Chicago, or San Francisco, or by the federal government, which controlled much of the land. The Far West’s people are often resentful of their dependent status, feeling that they have been exploited as an internal colony for the benefit of the seaboard nations. Their senators led the fight against trusts in the mid-twentieth century. Of late, Far Westerners have focused their anger on the federal government, rather than their corporate masters. NEW FRANCE. Occupying the New Orleans area and southeastern Canada, New France blends the folkways of ancien régime northern French peasantry with the traditions and values of the aboriginal people they encountered in northwestern North America. After a long history of imperial oppression, its people have emerged as down-to-earth, egalitarian, and consensus driven, among the most liberal on the continent, with unusually tolerant attitudes toward gays and people of all races and a ready acceptance of government involvement in the economy. The New French influence is manifest in Canada, where multiculturalism and negotiated consensus are treasured. FIRST NATION. First Nation is populated by native American groups that generally never gave up their land by treaty and have largely retained cultural practices and knowledge that allow them to survive in this hostile region on their own terms. The nation is now reclaiming its sovereignty, having won considerable autonomy in Alaska and Nunavut and a self-governing nation state in Greenland that stands on the threshold of full independence. Its territory is huge—far larger than the continental United States—but its population is less than 300,000, most of whom live in Canada. http://www.tufts.edu/alumni/magazine/fall2013/features/up-in-arms.html
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J'ai lu ça dans le Globe ce matin, mais rien nulle part ailleurs?? Si c'est vrai, ce serait alors un des plus gros projet d'infrastructure au Québec dans les prochaines années. OTTAWA — Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. is fighting for its survival, as industry supporters say the federal government is preparing to pull the plug on the heavily subsidized Crown corporation if it loses a bid to build two nuclear reactors in Ontario. If the nuclear agency loses the multi-billion-dollar contract to one of two global players, Ottawa would blame the McGuinty government for the nuclear agency's demise, according to sources. The two governments - which have battled on several fronts - are engaged in a quiet game of chicken over Canada's flagship nuclear vendor and its network of Candu suppliers. The Ontario government wants to be assured that Ottawa has a long-term commitment to the nuclear supplier before selecting its ACR1000 reactor, which is still under development. Ottawa, meanwhile, is considering selling the company, and the result of the highly competitive Ontario bid will be an important factor in its decision. "The [Ontario] competition has accelerated for the feds the whole question of what they are going to do with AECL and the ACR1000 reactor," said Bryne Purchase, a former deputy energy minister in Ontario and now director of the energy and environment program at Queen's University. "This is not just about selling a reactor in Canada, it's critical to AECL's plans to compete in the world." AECL is competing with two much-larger foreign vendors, France's Areva Group, and U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC. Both those companies have access to commercial-type financing from their export credit agencies, and both have more prospects for sales than AECL, meaning they can spread development costs among more projects. As a result, AECL and its partners, led by SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., have asked Ottawa to provide financing and risk-sharing in order to keep its costs competitive. Last week, Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn said the federal government stands behind AECL. In its most recent budget, the Harper government allocated $300-million to the Crown corporation to continue work on the ACR, and to refurbish its Chalk River research site. But some of AECL's Team Candu industry backers, which include Babcock & Wilcox Canada and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy Canada, along with SNC-Lavalin Nuclear, worry that the Harper government is injecting just enough money into the company to prepare it for a sale, and to make a plausible - but not necessarily successful - run at the Ontario bid. They fear Ottawa will balk at providing the required billions of dollars in loan guarantees, nor will it wish, as AECL's lone shareholder, to assume the financial risk for potential cost overruns the province will almost certainly demand. AECL and its partners have acknowledged the critical nature of the Ontario decision for Team Candu. In a letter to Mr. Lunn obtained by The Globe and Mail, SNC-Lavalin Nuclear president Patrick Lamarre said an Ontario deal would be a "springboard to support our futures sales worldwide." Based on AECL's past share of the global nuclear market, Mr. Lamarre said the consortium could generate $100-billion for the Canadian economy. However, few people expect AECL to maintain its past market success, or match the heady prediction contained in its recently approved, five-year business plan that it will sell 25 reactors during the next 25 years, and four (including two in Ontario) during the next five years. In 1996, AECL forecast that it would sell 10 reactors over 10 years. It sold three - two to China and one to Romania, in a deal that was resuscitated from one that had begun under former dictator NicolaeCeausescu, and then was halted when his government collapsed. AECL got some good news yesterday for its booming business of refurbishing aged Candus. Hydro-Québec announced a $1.5-billion rebuild of its Gentilly-2 nuclear reactor, which will be completed by the federal corporation. Shawn-Patrick Stensil, an anti-nuclear campaigner for Greenpeace, said both levels of government appear to be looking to "outsource the blame" if AECL fails in Ontario and Ottawa decides to get out of the nuclear business. "The feds will blame the province and the province will say, 'We heeded the advice of outside experts,' " he said. (Ontario has set up an evaluation committee that includes its two nuclear operators, Ontario Power Generation and privately owned Bruce Power.) Since the Chinese and Romanian deals, AECL has been shut out of most promising markets, including the United States, which is itself heavily subsidizing the first few new reactors to be built in that country. Both Areva and General Electric Co. have expressed interest in buying AECL, which is prized for its existing reactor technology for smaller markets, its highly skilled work force, and its lucrative work in servicing Candu reactors around the world. Despite its challenges, however, AECL isn't out of the game in Ontario. While the province has said cost and on-time deliverability are key factors, a third one is the promise of industrial benefits for the province, and the Crown corporation has a deep supplier base in the province to give it an advantage on that score. At the same time, the province and the federal nuclear regulator have invested heavily in Candu know-how, and it will be costly to operate and regulate two
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Hypothèques: des règles plus strictes Première publication 20 juin 2012 à 21h41 Mise à jour : 20 juin 2012 à 23h52 Crédit photo : archives, Journal de Québec TVA Nouvelles Le ministre fédéral des Finances, Jim Flaherty, annoncera jeudi un resserrement des règles qui touchent les emprunts hypothécaires. Ottawa compte réduire la période d'amortissement d'un prêt hypothécaire de 30 à 25 ans. De plus, les propriétaires ne pourront plus ré-hypothéquer leur maison à hauteur de 85%. Le pourcentage sera ramené à 80% de la valeur de la résidence. En janvier 2011, le fédéral avait fait passer la période d'amortissement maximum de 35 à 30 ans. La Banque du Canada a maintes fois dit s'inquiéter de l'endettement des ménages canadiens. http://tvanouvelles.ca/lcn/economie/archives/2012/06/20120620-214114.html
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Le renouvellement perpétuel qui se passe dans les 50 états et milliers de villes que forment les USA. State of renewal The federal government could learn some lessons from the states Jun 2nd 2012 | from the print edition THE American political system, as all the world thinks it knows, is gridlocked, not to mention dysfunctional and broken. The tea-maddened Republicans who seized control of the House of Representatives are holding Barack Obama and the Democrat-controlled Senate to ransom, refusing either to balance the federal budget or to pass any of the administration’s legislation without first getting swingeing cuts in taxes for the rich and in aid for the poor. In the White House Mr Obama is too busy planning his re-election to govern, while the economy races towards a “fiscal cliff” of tax increases and spending cuts that will take effect on January 1st next year unless they can find consensus; that seems more elusive than at any time since the end of the civil war. All true, up to a point; but not the whole story. Across America, most obviously in the battered Midwest and the property-busted sunnier climes of Florida and Nevada, a turnaround is under way. Thank many things for that: lower energy prices, recovering demand in at least a few places abroad, exceptionally loose monetary policy at home and the effects of the stimulus that Mr Obama was able to push through Congress before he lost control of it at the 2010 mid-terms. But also thank the fact that gridlock in Washington does not mean gridlock in the real drivers of America’s prosperity, its 50 competing states and its hundreds of self-governing cities. It is in those states and those cities that America is endlessly renewing itself. It is at city and state level, for instance, that America’s education system is being rewired, thanks to the independent or “charter” school revolution that was pioneered in places as diverse as New York City and Texas and is growing all the time. Experiments with health care in states as far apart in every way as Utah and Massachusetts pre-dated anything done at the federal level. A clutch of new Republican governors elected at those mid-terms have been driving forward the reform of the public sector, often controversially but in the long-term interest of their states. In Republican Indiana Mitch Daniels, the governor, has made his state the only one in the Midwest to ban the closed shop; other states in the region may have to do the same if they don’t want to be left behind. And, it bears repeating, since states and cities are not supposed to run deficits, it is at these levels that most progress has been made in restoring public finances. Jon Kasich, the new Republican governor of Ohio, for instance, has made up an $8 billion shortfall while cutting taxes. A number of states, mostly Republican ones, have “rainy-day funds” which saw them through the worst of the post-Lehman storm, though the federal government also helped a lot. Slashing red tape and opening government to inspection by the public by means of “sunshine laws” have also played their part; here again, the record of Republican states has been better than Democratic ones. California, for the eighth year in a row, has just been voted the worst state in which to do business, with New York (also strongly Democratic) a close second, thanks to high taxes and excessive regulation. According to Chief Executive magazine, which did the survey, all top ten spots are held by Republican states, with Texas in the lead. As we report here, a feature of the past year or so of the recovery is that among the dozen “swing states” that will determine the outcome of the election, unemployment has fallen by more than the national average. You might think that this is bad news for Mr Romney: his pitch is that Mr Obama has failed to sort out the economy and that he can do better. Actually, it is potentially good news for the man who this week clinched his nomination with a spectacular victory in Texas. Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin, probably the five states most critical to the election, are all run by new small-government Republican deficit hawks. Mr President, learn from your enemies The newcomers do not deserve all the credit, of course. The bail-out of the car industry, for instance, was what saved Michigan. Yet Mr Obama should take note. Sound public finances, opening up government, taking on unions, privatising services: the mid-terms showed that there is a great appetite in America for these right-of-centre remedies. http://www.economist.com/node/21556247
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Doing business in Brazil: Rio or São Paulo?
un sujet a posté mtlurb dans Projets ailleurs dans le monde.
Doing business in Brazil Rio or São Paulo? For the first time in decades, Brazil’s Marvellous City looks attractive for business Sep 3rd 2011 | RIO DE JANEIRO AND SÃO PAULO | from the print edition LAST year Paulo Rezende, a Brazilian private-equity investor, and two partners decided to set up a fund investing in suppliers to oil and gas companies. Although this industry is centred on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s second-largest city, with its huge offshore oilfields—and fabulous beaches, dramatic scenery and outdoor lifestyle—they instead established the Brasil Oil and Gas Fund 430km (270 miles) away, in São Paulo’s concrete sprawl. Even though it means flying to Rio once or twice a week, Mr Rezende, like many other businesspeople, decided that São Paulo’s economic heft outweighed Rio’s charms. But the choice is harder than it used to be. For many years, São Paulo has been the place for multinationals to open a Brazil office. It may be less glamorous than Rio, as the two cities’ nicknames suggest: Rio is Cidade Maravilhosa(the Marvellous City); São Paulo is Cidade da Garoa (the City of Drizzle). But as Mr Rezende sadly concluded: “São Paulo is the financial centre, and that’s where the money is.” Edilson Camara of Egon Zehnder International, an executive-search firm, does 12 searches in São Paulo for each one in Rio. The biggest mistake, he reckons, is for firms to let future expatriates visit Rio at all. “They are seduced by the scenery and lifestyle, and it’s a move they can sell to their families. But many have ended up moving their office to São Paulo a couple of years later, with all the upheaval that entails.” From a hamlet founded by Jesuit missionaries in 1554, São Paulo grew on coffee in the 19th century, industry in the first half of the 20th—and then on the misfortunes of Rio, once Brazil’s capital and its richest, biggest city. The federal government abandoned Rio for the newly built Brasília in 1960, starting a half-century of decline. Misgoverned by politicians and fought over by drug gangs and corrupt police, Rio became dangerous, even by Brazilian standards. The exodus gained pace as businesses and the rich fled, mostly for São Paulo. Now, though, there are signs that the cost-benefit calculation is shifting. São Paulo’s economy has done well in Brazil’s recent boom years and it is still much bigger, but Rio’s is growing faster, boosted by oil discoveries and winning its bid to host the 2016 Olympics (see table). Last year Rio received $7.3 billion in foreign direct investment—seven times more than the year before, and more than twice as much as São Paulo. Prime office rents in Rio are now higher than anywhere else in the Americas, north or south, according to Cushman and Wakefield, a property consultancy. Community-policing projects are taming its infamous favelas, or shantytowns: its murder rate, though still very high at 26 per 100,000 people per year (2.5 times São Paulo’s), is at last falling. Brazil’s soaring real is pricing expats paid in foreign currencies out of São Paulo’s classy restaurants and shopping malls; Rio’s recipe of sun, sea and samba is still free. Even Hollywood seems to be on Rio’s side: an eponymous animation, with its lush depictions of rainforest and carnival, is one of the year’s highest-grossing films. Rio’s mayor, Eduardo Paes, has big plans for capitalising on the city’s magic moment. He has set up a business-development agency, Rio Negócios, to market the city, help businesspeople find investment opportunities, and advise on paperwork and tax breaks. It concentrates on sectors where it reckons Rio has an edge: tourism, energy, infrastructure and creative industries such as fashion and film. “A couple of years ago, foreign businessmen would come to Rio and ask what we had to offer,” says Mr Paes. “We had no answer. Now we roll out the red carpet.” The political balance between the two cities has changed too. In the 1990s São Paulo was more influential and better run: it is the stronghold of the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy (PSDB), the national party of government from 1995 to 2002. Now the PSDB is in its third term of opposition in Brasília, and though it still governs São Paulo state, it is weakened by internal feuds. In Rio, by contrast, the political stars are aligned. The state governor, Sérgio Cabral, campaigned tirelessly for the current president, Dilma Rousseff—and received his reward when police actions in an unruly favela late last year were backed up by federal forces. São Paulo’s socioeconomic segregation, long part of its appeal to expats, is starting to look like less of an advantage. Most of its nicer bits are clustered together, allowing rich paulistanos to ignore the vast favelas on the periphery. In Rio, selective blindness is harder with favelasperched on hilltops overlooking all the best neighbourhoods. But proximity seems to be teaching well-off cariocas that abandonment is no solution for poverty and violence. Community policing and urban-renewal schemes are bringing safety and public services. Chapéu Mangueira and Babilônia, twin favelas a 20-minute uphill scramble from Copacabana beach, are being rebuilt, with a clinic, nursery and a 24-hour police presence. The price of nearby apartments has soared. Other slums are also getting similar make-overs. Rio’s Olympic preparations include extending its metro and building lots of dedicated bus lanes, including one linking the international airport to the city centre. By 2016, predicts City Hall, half of all journeys in the city will be by high-quality public transport, up from 16% today. São Paulo’s metro extensions are years behind schedule, and the city is grinding towards gridlock. Its plans to link the city centre to its main international airport (recently voted Latin America’s most-hated by business travellers) rely on a grandiose federal high-speed train project, bidding for which was recently postponed for the third time. Rio is still unpredictably dangerous, and decades of poor infrastructure maintenance have left their mark. Its mobile-phone and electricity networks are outage-prone; the língua negra(“black tongue”, a sudden overflow of water and sewage) is a staple of the rainy season; exploding manholes, caused by subterranean gas leaks, are a hazard all year round. All in all, still not an easy choice for a multinational—but it is no longer foolish to let prospective expats fly down to Rio to take a look. http://www.economist.com/node/21528267 -
(Courtesy of The Montreal Gazette) I guess that is a step in the right direction
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Canadian provinces' budget gaps at 'tipping point'
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http://www.montrealgazette.com/Canada+driversdeserve+Roads+Czar/4434450/story.html I am not thinking highly of a federal office to solve problems. That said, the monies recieved from at least the federal gasoline and diesel excise tax & GST on gasoline should be invested in roads and highways and not the BS black hole it goes into currently (notwithstanding various federal-aid highway projects which seem to be common, like A-30, A-85, Montreal bridges, Calgary & Edmonton ring roads, NB Route 2 etc, the total investment is still much less than the excise revenues).
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Interesting article, Gazette, Jul 25, 1962: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=H4Y1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=eJ4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1948,3612930&dq=quebec+metropolitan+boulevard&hl=en I remember looking on the BANQ website and seeing strange pictures of cars around the Metropolitan, I think one was a '62 Chevrolet or so, with some equipment, and the like. Ah now I think I understand what was going on! Cars flying off the top of the Met, hilarious if one ignores the probable injuries... Note also the 55 mph (88 km/h) speed limit... 10 mph reduction, 45 mph = 72 km/h and why today we are stuck with 70. Comment, Aug 22: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VoU0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=jJ4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=5024,3387255&dq=montreal+metropolitan+speed+limit&hl=en "many people mistake this roadway with one like the Auto-Route" One interesting thing is that the road was apprarently planned and mostly built by the Montreal Metropolitan Corporation, which was its only project, and financed via tax levies on the municipalities, some which were collected, but then, transferred to the province (MVQ?) who paid the cost in conjunction with some federal assistance under the TCH program, and then the municipalities had to pay back their citizens, while the old MTC had no jurisdiction and was prohibited by law (!) to build a subway... Aug 1960: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Go0tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GZ0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=6874,879561&dq=quebec+metropolitan+boulevard&hl=en 1960, Transit plan! http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vIwtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HJ0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=6747,3452991&dq=quebec+metropolitan+boulevard&hl=en 1955, congested Decarie - Cote de Liesse circle needs solution: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zYMtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iJkFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5178,4054845&dq=montreal+metropolitan+boulevard&hl=en Ha the stupid thing is still there they just added some flyovers And random tractor vs streetcar accident. Planning article, suggest 17 mile central section to cost 20 MM $, Financial Post, 1952: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OWo_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=ClQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5048,5229372&dq=montreal+traffic+plan&hl=en It suggests a 12-lane artery. There isn't really anything like that there, it is basically 6 lane with Cremazie and Cote de Liesse on the sides but that hardly counts...
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Article January 14, 2011 By KEITH BRADSHER BEIJING — Aided by at least $43 million in assistance from the government of Massachusetts and an innovative solar energy technology, Evergreen Solar emerged in the last three years as the third-largest maker of solar panels in the United States. But now the company is closing its main American factory, laying off the 800 workers by the end of March and shifting production to a joint venture with a Chinese company in central China. Evergreen cited the much higher government support available in China. The factory closing in Devens, Mass., which Evergreen announced earlier this week, has set off political recriminations and finger-pointing in Massachusetts. And it comes just as President Hu Jintao of China is scheduled for a state visit next week to Washington, where the agenda is likely to include tensions between the United States and China over trade and energy policy. The Obama administration has been investigating whether China has violated the free trade rules of the World Trade Organization with its extensive subsidies to the manufacturers of solar panels and other clean energy products. While a few types of government subsidies are permitted under international trade agreements, they are not supposed to give special advantages to exports — something that China’s critics accuse it of doing. The Chinese government has strongly denied that any of its clean energy policies have violated W.T.O. rules. Although solar energy still accounts for only a tiny fraction of American power production, declining prices and concerns about global warming give solar power a prominent place in United States plans for a clean energy future — even if critics say the federal government is still not doing enough to foster its adoption. Beyond the issues of trade and jobs, solar power experts see broader implications. They say that after many years of relying on unstable governments in the Middle East for oil, the United States now looks likely to rely on China to tap energy from the sun. Evergreen, in announcing its move to China, was unusually candid about its motives. Michael El-Hillow, the chief executive, said in a statement that his company had decided to close the Massachusetts factory in response to plunging prices for solar panels. World prices have fallen as much as two-thirds in the last three years — including a drop of 10 percent during last year’s fourth quarter alone. Chinese manufacturers, Mr. El-Hillow said in the statement, have been able to push prices down sharply because they receive considerable help from the Chinese government and state-owned banks, and because manufacturing costs are generally lower in China. “While the United States and other Western industrial economies are beneficiaries of rapidly declining installation costs of solar energy, we expect the United States will continue to be at a disadvantage from a manufacturing standpoint,” he said. Even though Evergreen opened its Devens plant, with all new equipment, only in 2008, it began talks with Chinese companies in early 2009. In September 2010, the company opened its factory in Wuhan, China, and will now rely on that operation. An Evergreen spokesman said Mr. El-Hillow was not available to comment for this article. Other solar panel manufacturers are also struggling in the United States. Solyndra, a Silicon Valley business, received a visit from President Obama in May and a $535 million federal loan guarantee, only to say in November that it was shutting one of its two American plants and would delay expansion of the other. First Solar, an American company, is one of the world’s largest solar power vendors. But most of its products are made overseas. Chinese solar panel manufacturers accounted for slightly over half the world’s production last year. Their share of the American market has grown nearly sixfold in the last two years, to 23 percent in 2010 and is still rising fast, according to GTM Research, a renewable energy market analysis firm in Cambridge, Mass. In addition to solar energy, China just passed the United States as the world’s largest builder and installer of wind turbines. The closing of the Evergreen factory has prompted finger-pointing in Massachusetts. Ian A. Bowles, the former energy and environment chief for Gov. Deval L. Patrick, a Democrat who pushed for the solar panel factory to be located in Massachusetts, said the federal government had not helped the American industry enough or done enough to challenge Chinese government subsidies for its industry. Evergreen has received no federal money. “The federal government has brought a knife to a gun fight,” Mr. Bowles said. “Its support is completely out of proportion to the support displayed by China — and even to that in Europe.” Stephanie Mueller, the Energy Department press secretary, said the department was committed to supporting renewable energy. “Through our Loan Program Office we have offered conditional commitments for loan guarantees to 16 clean energy projects totaling nearly $16.5 billion,” she said. “We have finalized and closed half of those loan guarantees, and the program has ramped up significantly over the last year to move projects through the process quickly and efficiently while protecting taxpayer interests.” Evergreen did not try to go through the long, costly process of obtaining a federal loan because of what it described last summer as signals from the department that its technology was too far along and not in need of research and development assistance. The Energy Department has a policy of not commenting on companies that do not apply. Evergreen was selling solar panels made in Devens for $3.39 a watt at the end of 2008 and planned to cut its costs to $2 a watt by the end of last year — a target it met. But Evergreen found that by the end of the fourth quarter, it could fetch only $1.90 a watt for its Devens-made solar panels, while Chinese manufacturers were selling them for as little as $1 a watt. Evergreen’s joint-venture factory in Wuhan occupies a long, warehouselike concrete building in an industrial park located in an inauspicious neighborhood. A local employee said the municipal police had used the site for mass executions into the 1980s. When a reporter was given a rare tour inside the building just before it began mass production in September, the operation appeared as modern as any in the world. Row after row of highly automated equipment stretched toward the two-story-high ceiling in an immaculate, brightly lighted white hall. Chinese technicians closely watched the computer screens monitoring each step in the production processes. In a telephone interview in August, Mr. El-Hillow said that he was desperate to avoid layoffs at the Devens factory. But he said Chinese state-owned banks and municipal governments were offering unbeatable assistance to Chinese solar panel companies. Factory labor is cheap in China, where monthly wages average less than $300. That compares to a statewide average of more than $5,400 a month for Massachusetts factory workers. But labor is a tiny share of the cost of running a high-tech solar panel factory, Mr. El-Hillow said. China’s real advantage lies in the ability of solar panel companies to form partnerships with local governments and then obtain loans at very low interest rates from state-owned banks. Evergreen, with help from its partners — the Wuhan municipal government and the Hubei provincial government — borrowed two-thirds of the cost of its Wuhan factory from two Chinese banks, at an interest rate that under certain conditions could go as low as 4.8 percent, Mr. El-Hillow said in August. Best of all, no principal payments or interest payments will be due until the end of the loan in 2015. By contrast, a $21 million grant from Massachusetts covered 5 percent of the cost of the Devens factory, and the company had to borrow the rest from banks, Mr. El-Hillow said. Banks in the United States were reluctant to provide the rest of the money even at double-digit interest rates, partly because of the financial crisis. “Therein lies the hidden advantage of being in China,” Mr. El-Hillow said. Devens, as the site of a former military base, is a designated enterprise zone eligible for state financial support. State Senator Jamie Eldridge, a Democrat whose district includes Devens, said he was initially excited for Evergreen to come to his district, but even before the announced loss of 800 jobs, he had come to oppose such large corporate assistance. “I think there’s been a lot of hurt feelings over these subsidies to companies, while a lot of communities around the former base have not seen development money,” he said. Michael McCarthy, a spokesman for Evergreen, said the company had already met 80 percent of the grant’s job creation target by employing up to 800 factory workers since 2008 and should owe little money to the state. Evergreen also retains about 100 research and administrative jobs in Massachusetts. The company also received about $22 million in tax credits, and it will discuss those with Massachusetts, he said. Evergreen has had two unique problems that made its Devens factory vulnerable to Chinese competition. It specializes in an unusual kind of wafer, making it hard to share research and development costs with other companies. And it was hurt when Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in 2008; Evergreen lost one-seventh of its outstanding shares in a complex transaction involving convertible notes. But many other Western solar power companies are also running into trouble, as competition from China coincides with uncertainty about the prices at which Western regulators will let solar farms sell electricity to national grids. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, shares in solar companies fell an average of 26 percent last year. Evergreen’s stock, which traded above $100 in late 2007, closed Friday in New York at $3.03. Tom Zeller Jr. in New York and Katie Zezima in Boston contributed reporting.
