Canada 2014

Yearbook 2014

Canada. Large parts of Canada were affected in January by snow storms and extreme cold, slightly below -30 degrees in the prairie landscapes, which affected air traffic. Thousands of households in Newfoundland became without electricity for several days and even Niagara Falls froze to ice in some parts.

Canada population in 2020 is estimated at 37,742,165. Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Israel in January and was called Israel’s “best friend” by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At a speech in the Israeli parliament Knesset, Harper opposed any talk of sanctions against Israel. However, he defended the Palestinians’ right to their own state.

When the budget was presented the same month, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty promised that state finances would be in balance for the 2015/2016 financial year. An important part of the budget was a so-called job grant, which means that almost 130,000 Canadians a year will receive vocational training to better fit into the labor market.

In March, Finance Minister Flaherty resigned, stating that he would return to work in the private sector. He was replaced by Joe Oliver, former Minister of Natural Resources.

A Nebraska court reversed the decision to allow the disputed management Keystone XL, which will connect the oil sands in Canada with the Texas refineries, to run through the state. Environmental activists breathed victory, while many politicians were critical of the decision being postponed indefinitely. Supporters of the US oil pipeline failed to gather enough votes to get the bill approved in the US Senate. Only one vote was taken, which was described as a major setback for Republicans.

The provincial government in Quebec announced new elections in March. Initially, it seemed to be evenly between the ruling separatist party Québec Party (PQ) and Liberals (PLQ). But support gradually increased for the Liberals, who won by a good margin. After the defeat, Pauline Marois resigned as party leader for PQ, and Philippe Couillard became the new head of government in Quebec.

Alison Redford, of the Progressive Conservative Party (PCP), resigned in March as Alberta head of government after being criticized for, among other things, his high costs for a South African trip in connection with Nelson Mandela’s funeral in 2013.

Provincial elections were held in June in Ontario, where the Liberals won. The party, which had already ruled the province for ten years, went to elections with a left-wing policy in which a new pension system for the province and investment in several infrastructure projects were some of the main points.

In September, the Liberals won the provincial election in New Brunswick.

After four years with scandalous mayor Rob Ford, Toronto residents elected Conservative politician John Tory in October as the city’s leader.

According to topb2bwebsites, the last Canadian soldiers left Afghanistan in March.

In April, Canada sent six fighter planes that would be part of NATO’s reinforcement in Eastern Europe, despite NATO having previously stated that it did not intend to intervene militarily in Ukraine. In May, a Canadian warship joined NATO’s reinforcement in Eastern Europe.

The government announced that it will phase out the oil truck trains that took 47 lives in July 2013 when the train derailed and exploded inside the city of Lac Megantic. In total, approximately 65,000 fuel trucks would be taken out of the transport system, of which 5,000 immediately.

Tsilhqot’in, which consists of six different Native American peoples, won a principally important case in the nation’s highest court over who is entitled to a 1,750 square mile area in the province of British Columbia. The dispute began in 1983, when a forest company was given the right to cut down forest in the area.

In July, Canada accused China of carrying out a hacking attack on computers belonging to one of the country’s leading research centers. China denied the accusations.

In the same month, Canada extended its sanctions against the Russian Federation as punishment for Moscow’s support to the Prorian rebels after a Malaysian passenger plane was shot down over rebel-dominated territory in eastern Ukraine.

In September, six Russian military planes approached US and Canadian airspace outside Alaska. They were reunited by the US and Canada Air Force and left the area without incident. The next day, Canadian planes fired two Russian bombers approaching Canada.

Scientists discovered fossils of a miniature jellyfish, large as a thumb, that gives a picture of life in it 50 million years ago in rainforest-covered northwestern Canada.

Canada initiated the project of mapping the Arctic seabed, which is part of plans to expand the territory up to the North Pole.

A shipwreck beneath the water surface of the Canadian Arctic was believed to be one of two ships that disappeared in 1845 during an expedition aimed at finding the Northwest Passage, a fairway north of the American continent that would shorten the journey between Europe and the Orient.

The EU and Canada agreed in August on a new free trade agreement. According to estimates by the European Commission, the new agreement could increase European exports to Canada by 24%.

Hamburger giant Burger King bought Canadian restaurant chain Tim Horton. In total, the deal was worth around $ 12.5 billion, close to SEK 80 billion.

In August, Canada decided to revoke the passports of Canadians who left the country or who intended to travel to the troubled area to fight for the Islamist group Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist groups.

The House of Commons voted in October to allow Canada to participate in the international action against IS in Iraq. Canada would participate in the air raids with six combat and surveillance plans and send 600 men to the region. In November, Canada conducted its first air strikes against IS moorings in Iraq. The attack came after reports that in a short time IS had murdered over 200, perhaps up to 400, members of a single clan in the Anbar province of Iraq.

On October 20, one soldier was killed and another injured in Montreal after being hit by a French-Canadian man, Martin Couture-Rouleau, who converted to Islam. He was later shot to death by police.

On October 23, gunfire erupted in several places in Ottawa. A man shot to death a soldier standing guard at a war monument. He then went to Parliament, where he was shot dead by police. The suspected perpetrator, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, was described by Prime Minister Harper as a terrorist.