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Good news report from Canada

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1 April 2009

11 March was the 11th day of the ninth month of the 3rd year of Canadian national consciousness rising to invincibility.

11 March 2009 - Part II

Dr William Overall, National Director of the Global Country of World Peace in Canada, presented highlights of news reports reflecting Canada's rising invincibility from Yogic Flying groups across Canada and the large Invincible America Assembly at Maharishi University of Management and Maharishi Vedic City, USA.

Extensive scientific research has documented the Maharishi Effect of rising coherence, harmony, and peace created in the collective consciousness of a nation by large groups of Yogic Flyers. The effect has been found to extend beyond national borders when the group is of sufficient size.

Following are press reports featured in Dr Overall's presentation:

The Globe and Mail on former prime minister Paul Martin launches an investment fund for businesses with ties to native communities (11 March 2009) Former prime minister Paul Martin is launching a C$50 million investment fund that will target companies with ties to native communities. The Montreal-based fund is called CAPE, or Capital for Aboriginal Prosperity and Entrepreneurship. CAPE is being backed by some of Canada's largest companies and private foundations. They include the five major banks, Barrick Gold Corp., Teck Cominco, Manulife Financial, Sun Life Financial, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. and the Li Ka Shing Foundation. CSL Group Inc., which is controlled by the Martin family, is also involved. Mr Martin and his son David, who is a director of CSL, will serve on CAPE's investment committee along with David Tuccaro, a member of the Mikisew Cree First Nation who has run several businesses in Alberta; and Robert Dickson, who managed a joint venture company in Ontario called Niigon Technologies Ltd., which involved the Moose Deer Point First Nation and Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. CAPE expects to make investments ranging from C$1-million to C$7.5 million each. If the CAPE works, Mr Forton said, the group will go back to its investors and create a second fund.

The Canadian Press - Paul Martin says Canada's top CEOs interested in fund to build aboriginal business (11 March 2009) Former prime minister Paul Martin spearheaded the project with his son David. 'This is not charity, this is investment,' he said. 'It provides a financial return but it also provides a social return, which is the principal thrust of what we want to do here. 'I simply said to [business leaders] that the youngest and fastest growing segment of our population—the descendants of our first peoples, the First Nations, the Metis and the Inuit—are being denied access to mentorship, they're being denied access to opportunities, they're being denied access to entrepreneurship, and we've got to do something about that.' The fund's managing director, Peter Forton, says the fund reflects an emerging era of socially responsible investing. Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine said the fund represents an 'incredible opportunity' to create and promote economic independence for First Nations peoples.

From a National Post report on this: Businesses do not necessarily need to be aboriginally owned, but they must be connected to a First Nations group or community by geographic proximity or through its employment base. The fund doesn't owe its list of heavyweight contributors to his clout as a former prime minister, Mr Martin said. 'I found that among the investors who signed on, there was a huge recognition that the conventional thinking wasn't working.'

The Financial Post - Recognition of Canadian banks growing globally (11 March 2009) The global bank meltdown is giving Canadian banks new recognition on the world stage, says Scotia Capital analyst Kevin Choquette. Canadian banks now represent 12% of the MSCI Global Bank Index and nearly 11% of the FTSE Global Bank Index, with Royal Bank of Canada representing the sixth largest weight in this index. In 2000 Canadian banks represented only 1.9% of the FTSE index. Choquette is confident that a major Canadian bank rally is pending.

Canwest News Service on Canada is 3rd biggest participant in international coastal cleanup (10 March 2009) During the 23rd annual International Coastal Cleanup in September last year, 390,881 volunteers from 104 countries collected more than three million kilograms of debris. For every mile of beach cleaned, more than 180 kilograms of debris were removed. Marine life often suffered as a result of the pollution, with 443 marine mammals found entangled or trapped by marine debris—268 among them were found alive and released. Cigarette butts were the most collected type of debris worldwide (323,706 in Canada). Plastic bags were the second most-collected item internationally, but food containers came in second in Canada. Among other things, the debris in Canada included straws, beverage bottles, cups, plates, toys, and shoes. Of the 104 countries that participated in the cleanup, Canada ranked third in participation, with 34,320 volunteers. The US was first, and the Philippines came in second.

The Winnipeg Free Press - Manitoba can help green plan: Doer (8 March 2009) The Midwestern Regional Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord was originally signed in November 2007 by Manitoba Premier Gary Doer and several Midwestern governors. An updated initiative, which includes Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, and Minnesota, would establish a cap-and-trade system to curb carbon dioxide emissions 15 to 25 per cent by 2020 and 60 to 80 per cent by 2050. Doer said because Manitoba is involved in the regional pact and provincial officials have made contact with many US experts, it can help the Harper government develop a green plan for Canada. 'We know a lot of people. I actually think we can be helpful to our national government,' he said.

The Vancouver Sun - UBC developing device to let sunshine into work places (11 March 2009) Physicists at the University of British Columbia (UBC) have begun rolling out test versions of a device known as a 'solar canopy' that uses a set of mirrors to redirect sunlight deep inside office towers. The result is banks of light that, on a sunny day, can light up an entire office floor without any electric power. The technology was invented by professor Lorne Whitehead. His team recently installed its first working prototype in two classrooms at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. With a C$2.1 million grant from Ottawa, announced Wednesday, the team plans to instal five more demonstration projects across the country. If those trials are successful, it hopes to make the canopies commercially available in as little as four years. Michele Mossman, manager of the UBC lab working on the project, said the solar canopy is roughly seven times more efficient than solar panels. That's because while panels have to convert light into electricity, and then back into light again, the canopy simply redirects the sunlight itself. At first glance, the classroom looks like any other, with two banks of lights running along the ceiling behind plastic panels. But on closer observation, the light seems different somehow. That difference, Mossman explains, is light spectrum. Fluorescent light, while very efficient, is not as 'full' as sunlight. Mossman argues that in such places as Los Angeles, where electricity is expensive and the sun often shines, they could pay for themselves in as little as five years. Mossman said research about the effect of the light on people is preliminary, but working under natural light could make people happier, and therefore more productive. 'Most people, if you ask them if they'd rather have sunlight or fluorescent light, they'll say sunlight,' she said. 'The ability to have sunlight inside has a lot of benefits.'

The Globe and Mail - A hand up - not a hand out (10 March 2009) Four years ago, the writer met a bright young man named Mohammed Shafique, who lived in Regent Park, a low-income enclave in downtown Toronto. Historically, most kids from Regent Park dropped out of high school. But Mohammed was heading off to university. He belonged to the first class that had been nurtured through high school by a remarkable programme called Pathways to Education. Today, the dropout rate in Regent Park is under 10 per cent. Eighty per cent of Pathways kids go on to postsecondary education. This spring, Mohammed will graduate with a B.Comm from Queen's. Pathways offers academic, social, and financial support. And it raises expectations.

From a National Post report on this: The Post interviewed founding programme director of Pathways to Education, Norman Rowen. Q: Every student gets C$4,000 for university or college? A: Every student. They're also eligible for provincial grants that are available to low income families, so that helps them spread the C$4,000 Pathways further. Eighty per cent of kids from Pathways pursue post-secondary education and [of those] there's a 95% retention rate, meaning they stay in school. Between the provincial money and our money, most of the kids are OK.

The Toronto Star - Failure rate cut by half in first year of program (10 March 2009) A little grassroots plan for at-risk teens that all but eliminated dropouts in Toronto's rugged Regent Park neighbourhood—and has been linked to falling crime rates, fewer teen pregnancies, and four times as many youths seeking higher education—has begun to work the same magic in two more high-risk Toronto neighbourhoods, cutting the failure rate in half in its very first year. Pathways to Education gives students in some of Canada's poorest neighbourhoods free tutors, free mentors, and a C$1,000 tuition scholarship for each grade they pass. Pathways to Education is run by community agencies, not schools, and relies on donations, although Ontario has pledged C$19 million over four years.

From another Globe and Mail report on this: In 2007, the program grew to serve the Toronto neighbourhoods of Lawrence Heights and Rexdale and communities in Ottawa, Kitchener, and Montreal. David Hughes, president of Pathways, said: 'In a very short period of time we will be a national program. By national I would say we're in four or five provinces and moving toward being in all provinces and communities where support is needed.'

For further information on creating invincibility for your nation, please visit: www.globalgoodnews.com/invincibility.

© Copyright 2009 Global Good News^®

Global Good News comment:
For information about Maharishi's seven-point programme to create a healthy, happy, prosperous society, and a peaceful world, please visit: Global Financial Capital of New York.

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