Tag: Interview

Indian envoy has pre-ordained agenda for Canada

| July 5, 2013 | 0 Comments
Indian envoy has pre-ordained agenda for Canada

Indian High Commissioner and retired Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma joined the Indian Navy in 1970 and became the 20th chief of the naval staff in 2009. He retired from service after commanding three ships, including an aircraft carrier. Over his career, he served on vessels in the former Soviet Union and studied at the Royal […]

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Tunisia’s bold gamble on democracy: ‘One day or another, we will win’

| April 5, 2013 | 0 Comments
Tunisia’s bold gamble on democracy:  ‘One day or another, we will win’

In December 2010, the Arab Spring erupted through the impervious soil of authoritarian rule in the Middle East. The Arab awakening drove dictatorial and nepotistic rulers from power, first in Tunisia and then Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Popular protests swept the region — Syria, Algeria, Morocco, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, and Sudan, with smaller demonstrations […]

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Getting the world’s most impoverished nation on its feet

| January 4, 2013 | 0 Comments
Getting the world’s most impoverished nation on its feet

Frantz Liautaud is Haiti’s first ambassador to Canada in five years. The son of a diplomat, he comes to diplomacy from the world of business. Prior to his appointment as ambassador, he was president of the Haitian-Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The former property developer — has a civil engineering degree from the School […]

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Flora MacDonald: On war, foreign policy and Afghanistan

| October 4, 2012 | 2 Comments
Flora MacDonald: On war,  foreign policy and Afghanistan

Flora MacDonald has been to Afghanistan 12 times. Not every woman her age — she’s 86 — can say the same. But then Ms MacDonald’s whole life has been about firsts. She was the first woman to mount a serious campaign for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada (no women had run for […]

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Afghanistan’s ambassador: thank you, Canada

| June 28, 2012 | 0 Comments
Afghanistan’s ambassador: thank you, Canada

Barna Karimi, Afghanistan’s new ambassador to Canada, has a varied background which most recently included two key jobs in Afghanistan — first working as President Hamid Karzai’s deputy chief of staff (2005-2007) and then working for him as a deputy minister (2007-2011). But he comes with corporate and cultural distinctions, too. For four years (2001-2005), […]

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Andrew Scheer: master of the House

| April 12, 2012 | 0 Comments
Andrew Scheer: master of the House

  Andrew Scheer is Canada’s youngest-ever speaker of the House. For a kid who grew up in Ottawa and skipped classes at Immaculata High School (formerly on Bronson Avenue) to watch Question Period on Parliament Hill, it almost seems like destiny. But for the member for Regina Qu’Appelle (his wife is from Saskatchewan), life is […]

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Gaining influence: Military role puts Canada back on the map

| October 26, 2011 | 0 Comments
Gaining influence: Military role puts Canada back on the map

Richard Cohen was born in Montreal and attended the Royal Military College in Kingston before enlisting in the Canadian army. Seven years later, he left Canada to join the British army where he felt he’d find more action and where he did find more action — enough to keep him there for 21 years, including […]

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The remarkable career of diplomat Margaret Huber

| June 26, 2011 | 0 Comments
The remarkable career of diplomat Margaret Huber

Margaret Huber, Canada’s chief of protocol, comes to the demanding job in the 38th year of her career with Foreign Affairs. That career has included head-of-mission positions in the Czech Republic, Pakistan, Jordan, Iraq and Oman, consul-general positions in Milan and Osaka and postings to Washington, New York and Brussels. Diplomat talked to Ms Huber […]

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Winning ground — and holding it — in Afghanistan

| December 1, 2010 | 0 Comments
Winning ground — and holding it — in Afghanistan

Canadian Forces’ Chief of Defence Staff, General Walter Natynczyk, grew up in Winnipeg and had jobs as a paperboy and burger flipper before joining the military in 1975 and rising through the ranks to the top job, which he did in 2008. For the past four years, he has skipped Christmas with his family — all […]

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Canada – Europe: Peter Van Loan on the next big prize

| September 2, 2010 | 0 Comments
Canada – Europe:  Peter Van Loan  on the next big prize

“Canada will be, if we have this agreement in place, the only developed country in the world with a free trade agreement with both the United States and the European Union — the two biggest economies in the world” By Donna Jacobs   nternational Trade Minister Peter Van Loan has no trouble making the switch […]

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