Canada 2002

In 2002, Canada was a North American country with a population of around 30 million people. It was led by Prime Minister Jean Chretien and the ruling Liberal Party. According to computerannals, the economy was largely based on services, with the financial, manufacturing and technology sectors making up the majority of its GDP. In addition to services, natural resources such as lumber and minerals were important contributors to its economy. Education was highly valued in Canada and primary school enrollment had increased significantly since independence in 1867. Healthcare services were provided by both public and private institutions, though access to healthcare remained universal due to government subsidies. Despite its progress since independence, poverty remained an issue for many Canadians with over 10 percent living below the poverty line. The country also faced issues such as high crime rates and environmental degradation due to poor land management practices.

Yearbook 2002

Canada. Dissatisfaction within the largest opposition party Canadian Alliance in March led to a shift on the party leader post, when Stockwell Day was succeeded by Stephen Harper.

According to Countryaah website, national day of Canada is every July 1. Four Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan under US command were killed during an exercise in April when they were accidentally bombed by a US plane.

Canada Border Countries Map

In June, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien fired his popular finance minister Paul Martin. The relationship between the two had become increasingly tense as a result of Martin’s efforts to succeed Chrétien in both the post of prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party. A few months later, Chrétien unexpectedly announced his intention to resign as prime minister in early 2004.

Canada marked some distance to the United States when it was said in September that the government would not support an attack on Iraq unless sanctioned by the UN.

Opinion polls then showed that a majority of Canadians felt that the country had already given the United States sufficient support in its war on terror. After the UN adopted new tougher sanctions on Iraq, the government suggested that Canada could provide military support in the event of a possible attack on Iraq.

Some resentment sparked when a newspaper revealed that Françoise Ducros, a close associate of Chrétien, had called President Bush “the idiot” in a conversation with a journalist during a NATO meeting. Ducros filed its resignation application which was only reluctantly approved by the Prime Minister.

In Quebec, the major parties, the separatist Party Québécois (PQ) and the Liberals, faced strong competition from a relatively new party, the Action Démocratique du Québec (ADQ) in the provincial elections that must take place in late 2003. ADQ, had in opinion polls increased from 11% at the beginning of the year to 40% in October. ADQ leader Mario Dumont demanded a sharp slimming of the public sector and a liberalization of the economy. ADQ is a nationalist party but opposes an exit from the Canadian Federation.

The federal government ratified the Kyoto Agreement on December 16, which aims to reduce industrialized greenhouse gas emissions by developed countries. The agreement had met with fierce opposition from business organizations and provincial governments in the western part of the country in the fall, which claimed that the competitiveness of the Canadian industry would be hampered if the agreement was approved without the United States having acceded to the agreement.

Despite the Commission’s sharp conclusions, the abuses against the indigenous population continued. In July, construction of the Site C embankment project in British Columbia began, without the project’s impact on the original population being examined.

Also in June, the Conservative government’s proposal on anti-terror law was adopted. In many respects, it was a violation of fundamental human rights. It gave authorities across the state apparatus the right to share information regardless of the circumstances, and gave the intelligence service the right to “deal with security threats” even if the handling involved breach of basic rights. The legislative package also made it illegal to “defend or promote terror in general”. The concept of terror was unspecified and the law thus allowed for arbitrary restrictions on freedom of expression. After the Liberal government came to power in November, it promised to reduce some of the worst abuses written into the law.

The October 2015 parliamentary election became a stinging defeat for the ruling authoritarian Conservative Party. In one last desperate attempt to stay in power, the party was embroiled in a racist discourse facing Muslims in particular. Still, it lost 60 seats and had to settle for 99. Voters were just as tough on the Social Democratic NDP, which lost 51 seats and had to settle for 44. The big victor was the Liberal Party that went 148 seats until 184. After the election, Justin could Trudeau of the Liberals form government with himself as prime minister. He was the son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

In October, Canada adopted its agreement with the Trans-Pacafic Partnership (TPP) agreement, which is a free trade agreement and breach of state regulation among 12 countries around the Pacific. The agreement was a parallel agreement to the TTIP agreement between the US and the EU.

The Trudeau government marked a shift in both domestic and foreign policy according to the former Conservative government. In domestic politics, he advocated for tax cuts for middle-income earners to be paid by the wealthiest 1% of the population. Foreign policy, he removed Canada from the US war strategy in the Middle East, and instead set the policy up against the United Nations. He stopped Canada’s participation in IS bombing and rejected conservative proposals to characterize IS warfare as genocide. Only when a UN commission recommended the characteristic of genocide did it get Canada’s backing.

In January 2016, the Canada Human Rights Tribunal issued a ruling that the systematic underfunding of the child sector among the country’s indigenous population was a form of discrimination. The government accepted the ruling but did nothing to put an end to discrimination. In May, the government gave its unreserved support to the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights. At the end of the year, however, it remained unclear how the government would work with the country’s indigenous people to implement its obligations. In July, the government issued the necessary permits enabling the continued construction of the Site C dam in British Columbia despite pending litigation on obligations related to a historic treaty with the indigenous peoples concerned. After hunger strikes and protests, the state government over Newfoundland and Labrador in October helped reduce the risks to the health and culture of the Inuit population from the Muskrat Falls dam. In November, the state government over British Columbia recognized the need to investigate the resource sector’s impact on indigenous women and girls ’safety. A November investigation found that the Quebec Province Prosecutor’s Office had only indicted in 2 out of 37 cases where predominantly native women had complained of police abuse. The Independent Complaints Office appointed to oversee this type of case expressed a concern about systematic racism. In December, the state government declared itself willing to conduct a public inquiry into the government’s treatment of the indigenous peoples.

Canada Country Overview

Visa

As of March 15, 2016, passengers arriving in Canada by air will be required to have an electronic travel authorization, eTA. A travel permit is applied for and paid for online, which you can access from this link. The permit is priced at about 7CAD and is valid for the passport validity period, however, up to a maximum of 5 years.

The passport must be valid for at least 6 months after leaving

the country.

Insurance
Every person participating in the trip must have a valid travel insurance that covers medical expenses in the event of illness or other similar need. Please check the validity of your own insurance and the terms and conditions of the insurance cancellation cover.

Please pay attention to the special nature of your trip and check the coverage of the insurance in that respect as well. In many locations, the insurance must also be valid when moving at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters, in which case it also covers mountain sickness.

Many hiking or diving trips require more extensive insurance, which covers, for example, diving or moving on a glacier. Please check the contents of your insurance with your insurance company.

Vaccinations
Check the vaccination requirements at your health center or

Climate
The climate in the country is really variable. For the most part, the country has a subarctic climate. There the winters are really cold and the summers cool. The south and the plain have a continental climate. In winter, almost the entire country has air on the frosty side. The west coast is an exception.

Travel Seasons
If you are traveling to Canada for downhill skiing, then you may want to schedule your trip for winter or early spring. The best time for hikers is the summer season from June to August. In Toronto, for example, the weather is similar to Helsinki.

Currency: Canadian Dollar (CAD). Check the exchange rate of the target countries at www.forex.fi

Tips
Waiters expect 15-20% gratuity. Hotel employees can drop $ 1-2. Taxis tend to give 10-15% gratuity.

Mobile phones
Check with your network operator for the coverage of your mobile phone. Canada’s area code is +1.

Electrical current
The electrical current in Canada is 120 V. Finnish devices need an adapter.

Time difference
There are six time zones in use in Canada. The time difference to Finland is -5.5 / -10 hours.

Security
Canada is a safe country.