Finally! A 100-kg Canadian gold coin

From alalam.ir

OTTAWA, Canada, May 6--Got change for a million? Canada does: the world's biggest pure gold coin at 200 pounds. Already, three buyers have shelled out for one of the 1 million Canadian dollar coins introduced last week.

The Royal Canadian mint made the coins--20 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick--mostly to seize the bragging rights from Austria, which had the record with a 70-pound, 15-inch wide coin.

"They're not doing this because there is huge demand for 100-kilo gold coins," Bret Evans, editor of Canadian Coin News said Saturday. "They're doing it because it gives them some bragging rights in having the largest purest gold coin in the world."

"They'll kick the Austrians out of the Guinness World Book of Records," he said.

Listed as 99.999 percent pure gold bullion, the coin features Queen Elizabeth II on one side and Canada's national symbol -- the maple leaf -- on the other.

It takes about six weeks to make and has a face value of 1 million Canadian dollars ($903,628), though it sells for approximately $2.7 million depending on the market value of gold.

The coins will give the mint a higher international profile.

"We wanted to raise the bar so that we could say the government of Canada, or the Royal Canadian Mint, produced the purest gold coins in the world," said David Madge, the mint's director of bullion and refinery services.

Austria's 100,000 Euro coin ($138,155) was 70 pounds and 15 inches in diameters.

Evans said the Canadian mint recently lost some market share as mints in Australia, Austria, China and the United States pushed their own high-quality gold coins.

What does one do with a 220-pound gold coin?

Evans said bullion dealers use it as a promotional tool. A Japanese dealer, he said, puts one of the Austrian coins in public venues to draw people's attention.

"And while they're looking at that, they are being exposed to the idea of buying one ounce or half-ounce gold coins," he said.


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From CBC news

he Royal Canadian Mint has produced the world's first 100-kilogram gold coin with a face value of $1 million. And they're for sale.

Why did it do this? "Because we can," the mint said on its website.

The coin is the size of a "very thick pizza" — 50 centimetres wide and three centimetres thick — and is .99999 pure.

It was originally meant to be a one-off novelty item to help promote the other gold coin the mint unveiled Thursday — a new line of one-ounce Maple Leaf bullion coins that will have a face value of $200.

But after several interested buyers came forward, the mint decided to produce "a very limited quantity" of the $1-million coins on a made-to-order basis for public sale.

Even though the big coin has a face value of $1 million, it won't sell for that. At current prices, the coin's 3,215 troy ounces of gold are worth well over $2 million.

A mint spokesperson said the coins will sell for between $2.5 million and $3 million. So far, the mint has received confirmed orders for five coins.

The Royal Canadian Mint faces international competition from a variety of other countries that also make gold coins.

Baird rejects Gore's criticism of Tory green plan

Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, now one of the world's most famous climate-change activists, has called the federal government's new green plan "a fraud."

Gore criticized the plan while in Toronto on Saturday to attend the Green Living Show and screen his Oscar-winning documentary on the environment, An Inconvenient Truth.

Conservative Environment Minister John Baird promptly shot back, saying Gore didn't do nearly as much to fight climate change during eight years in office.

"The fact is our plan is vastly tougher than any measures introduced by the administration of which the former vice-president was a member," Baird said in news release.

Gore was vice-president from 1993 to 2001 when Bill Clinton was president.

Baird also said it was "regrettable" that Gore spoke without having been briefed on the Conservative plan.

The Conservatives have said their strategy, introduced earlier in the week, will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and improve air quality, but Gore said he has heard it all before, south of the border, and he doesn't like what he hears.

"I'm hearing a reduction in intensity is going to be presented to the Canadian people as a legitimate policy," he said at the consumer environmental show. "In my opinion, it is a complete and total fraud. It is designed to mislead the Canadian people."

A reduction in intensity means that big industrial emitters of greenhouse gases will have to reduce emissions for each unit of output, but total output could increase.

Former U.S. vice-president supports Suzuki

Gore said the rest of the world looks to Canada for moral leadership, and that's why news of the plan was so "shocking."

Gore also praised one of Canada's best-known environmentalists, David Suzuki, for confronting Baird on Friday, the first day of the three-day Green Living Show.

Suzuki told Baird his plan was a disappointment and doesn't go far enough.

The government is creating the illusion of attacking the problem by talking about reducing intensity, but "the reality is it's really a cover for allowing industry to increase its pollution," he said.

The Conservative plan calls for Canadian reductions of current greenhouse gas emissions by 150 million tonnes by 2020. Most industries will have to reduce greenhouse gases by 18 per cent by 2010.

Canada produced about 775 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2004, a government website says. The Kyoto target is 563 million tonnes.

What do CEO's and Teachers have in Common: Workopolis Unveils Canada's Top 20 Jobs

Both Rank Highest in Job Satisfaction

Toronto , March 29, 2007 – It really is better at the top. Workopolis, Canada's leading provider of internet recruitment and job search solutions, today announced the results of The Top 20 Jobs, a comprehensive study of working Canadians. CEO’s / President’s report the highest levels of job satisfaction, with Teachers ranked second in the overall scoring.

The study developed by NorthStar Research Partners for Workopolis asked almost 9,000 working Canadians to evaluate job satisfaction of their current position based on 11 factors that contribute to employee satisfaction, such as corporate culture, the opportunity to learn and financial rewards.

“Job satisfaction is the holy grail of the workplace,” said Patrick Sullivan, President of Workopolis. “Every employee wants to find it and every employer wants to provide it. This research really dug beyond the surface of what people say to uncover what truly motivates them and makes them happy – or unhappy – at work.”

A comprehensive report and interactive quiz can be found at www.TheTop20Jobs.com

Complete Top 20 List:

Rank	Job	Key Drivers of Satisfaction
1	CEO / CFO / President	Corporate Culture Opportunity to Learn
2	Teacher / Tutor	Work / Life Balance Corporate Culture
3	HR Professional	Corporate Culture Opportunity to Use Skills
4	Actor / Director	Opportunity to Learn Ability to be Creative
5	Nutritionist	Stress Level Opportunity to Contribute to Community
6	Career Counselor / Trainer	Corporate Culture Opportunity to Learn
7	Chef	Ability to be Creative Work / Life Balance
8	Mental Health Counselor / Social Worker	Corporate Culture Work / Life Balance
9	Graphic Designer	Opportunity to Use Skills Opportunity for Advancement
10	Market Researcher / Analyst	Corporate Culture Opportunity to Use Skills
11	Public Relations / Communications Specialist	Opportunity to Use Skills Ability to be Creative
12	Writer / Journalist	Opportunity to Use Skills Corporate Culture
13	Nurse	Corporate Culture Opportunity for Advancement
14	Computer Programmer	Ability to be Creative Corporate Culture
15	Bar / Restaurant / Hotel Manager	Opportunity to Use Skills Financial Rewards & Benefits
16	Web Designer / Developer	Corporate Culture Opportunity to Use Skills
17	Product Manager	Corporate Culture Financial Rewards & Benefits
18	Construction Tradesperson	Opportunity for Advancement Work / Life Balance
19	Medical / Biological Researcher	Flexibility in Work Hours Ability to be Creative
20	Engineer	Opportunity to Learn Ability to be Creative

Understanding Job Satisfaction

According to the survey, the top three drivers of job satisfaction were: corporate culture, the opportunity to use skills and the opportunity to learn. Financial rewards, flexible work hours and stress level were the bottom three drivers.

“Canadians have made it clear that money really isn’t everything,” said Sullivan. “We’re seeing a strong shift in priorities on the job. Factors like learning and development, creativity and corporate culture have become true indicators of job satisfaction for today’s working Canadians.”

The Workopolis Top 20 Jobs found that corporate culture was nearly twice as important to job satisfaction as flexibility in work hours, and three times as important as maintaining manageable stress levels. Interestingly, the ability to be creative and the opportunity for advancement are less important to the 18-24 age group than to those in the 25-34 and 35+ age groups.

What Would You Change About Your Job?

Despite the new definition of job satisfaction, the number one desired change respondents want of their current job is improved financial rewards and benefits – by a margin of 24 per cent. The other top changes indicated were: the opportunity for advancement and reduced stress. Financial considerations are even more important to satisfying the younger crowd, with 41 per cent of those 18-24 indicating this would be what they would most like to change.

While CEO’s and Teachers finished in a close race, the top two professions differ greatly when revealing their desired changes at work:

• CEO’s seem to be sacrificing a lot for the love of the job and autonomy: nearly one quarter (23 per cent) indicate a need for more work/ life balance.
• On the other hand, when Teachers were asked what they would change about their career choice, the overwhelming response was financial rewards (42 per cent) revealing once again that money really isn’t everything when it comes to the love of a job.

But What Would You Miss the Most?

The number one quality that people would miss about their current job is flexibility in work hours. This is especially true in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, with more than one-third (37 per cent) of respondents giving this response. Employees in the 18-24 age group also felt this way (36 per cent)

By profession:

• A nine to five position would be an issue for over half of Market Analysts/ Researchers (55 per cent would miss flexibility in work hours).
• Bar/ Restaurant/ Hotel Managers would most miss the flexible hours (47 per cent) as would Writers/ Journalists (33 per cent).
• More than a third (39 per cent) of Web Designer/ Developers and Graphic Designers (38 per cent) would miss their working environment.
• Chefs would most miss the ability to be creative (33 per cent).

What Profession Best Suits You? That Depends on What You Value

• The opportunity to use skills and abilities is the second most valued quality to the Canadian worker. C-level professionals, followed by Teachers can boast strong performance on this dimension. CEO's also rank significantly higher than the rest of the professions on the third most valued quality – the opportunity to learn.
• Although flexibility in work hours is not overly valued to Canadians as a whole; Market researchers, Web-designers, Cashiers and CEO's feel their jobs have a high degree of flexibility.
• While Marketing Assistant does not make the list of Top 20 Jobs, respondents in that profession feel that their jobs provide them with excellent corporate culture - the number one driving factor for all professions.

“To maintain job satisfaction, it’s important to assess how well your current job stacks up to the values you treasure most,” added Sullivan. “While a new company car might be an essential motivator for some, others may crave the ability to be creative or be autonomous. Keeping your options open to new opportunities can be a motivator to someone who has found themselves in a bit of a rut.”

http://www.workopolis.com/index.html

Canada cares for Israel: Day

By Anna Bratulic, The Suburban

Photo by Martin Chamberland, The Suburban A parade of blue and white headed down René Lévesque Blvd Tuesday as the Jewish community celebrated the anniversary of the independence of Israel. Federal Public Security Minister Stockwell Day spoke to the crowd of 7,500 who celebrated the 59th anniversary of the independence of the State of Israel. Photo by Jonathan Zimmerman Photo by Martin Chamberland, The Suburban Photo by Martin Chamberland, The Suburban Photo by Jonathan Zimmerman Photo by Jonathan Zimmerman

Federal Public Security Minister Stockwell Day yesterday pledged that Canada would stand by Israel in its battle against terrorism.

Speaking at Place du Canada before a huge crowd gathered to celebrate the 59th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, Day warned that threats against Israel uttered by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should not be brushed off as the rants of a madman.

“Just as there was a man, half a century ago, who wanted to exterminate all of the Jewish people in the world, there is a leader of a country who says he wants to do the same. And just as, over half a century ago, people said either he’s crazy or we don’t care, people today are saying [Ahmadinejad] is crazy or they don’t care. Canada cares for Israel,” said Day.

The event, which drew 7,500 people, kicked off with music and merrymaking in Philips Square and wound its way along René Lévesque in a procession to Place du Canada where dignitaries such as Day addressed the crowd.

Referring to Israel as “a rose in the desert”, Day praised Israel for being a model of democracy in the Middle East. “The people 59 years ago said that land shall be free and democratic; Arab, Christian or Jew could run for office, and they do and they serve. Arabs, or Christians or Jews could be in the Surpeme Court, and they are.”

Federal Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion in his speech said anti-Semitism, often viewed as a Jewish problem, should be everyone’s concern.

“When the United Talmud Torah School in my riding of St. Laurent-Cartierville, or when the [Ben Weider] Jewish Community Centre is firebombed on the eve of Passover, it’s an attack on the value of every Canadian. By the same token, when Israel’s right to exist is threatened, it is an attack of the values of every democracy. In this way, Israel’s fight for existence, is our fight.”

The serious tone of the speeches did not detract from the overall boisterous mood of the rally, which was attended by young and old alike.

“In school we’ve been learning about Israel, our nation,” said 12-year-old Matan Kushner, a student at Jewish People's Schools and Peretz Schools in Côte des Neiges who came with his mother, Shirley. “We want to keep our nation strong and alive.”

Rabbi Mordecai Zeitz of Congregation Beth Tikva in Dollard des Ormeaux said the rally sends out a message that Israel can count on the support of Canada.

“It sets a very important public tone that we’re not closet Jews, that we’re not closet supporters of Israel, but publicly we stand up for righteousness and justice, and hopefully for peace.”

N.D.G. resident Josef Benifla, a senior, was one of the few people who wasn’t either waving an Israeli flag or decked out in one. He walked quietly among the crowd as it made its way toward Place du Canada.

“It sends a message that we exist and that we’re a people like everybody else.”

Rally spokesman David Bensoussan acknowledged the renewed rocket and missile attacks against Israel by Hamas, but said that shouldn’t detract from the day, which should be a full celebration for a country that has come a long way since being declared a country by the United Nations in 1948.

“We’re very happy about a country that was formed from refugees from Europe and from Arab countries was able to move straight ahead towards success, and hopefully towards peace because peace will come. Today it’s celebration. We’ll leave the politics for tomorrow.”

Ottawa names new ambassador to Iran

Published: Tuesday, April 24, 2007

OTTAWA - Canada has appointed a new ambassador to Iran, a busy post that has entailed handling sensitive issues such as the torture-murder of a Montreal photojournalist and Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Veteran diplomat John Mundy will take over the post after a 30-year career at Foreign Affairs that has taken him to across south and central Asia and Europe.

Most recently, Mundy was Canada's consul general to Australia between 1999 and 2003.

Mundy was active on the environment file during two public-service stints in Ottawa in recent years. He was seconded to Environment Canada as director-general of its Global Climate Affairs Office before returning to Foreign Affairs to serve as director of its environment and energy division.

Past foreign postings have taken him to the Philippines, South Korea, Pakistan and Brussels.

Mundy replaces Gordon Venner, who took over the post in November 2004 after what was a bleak period of bilateral relations between Tehran and Ottawa.

Canada withdrew Venner's predecessor in protest in July 2004 over Iran's handling of the death of Montreal photojournalist Zahra Kazemi. Iranian authorities arrested the Iranian-born Canadian citizen in July 2003 for taking pictures of a protest.

Venner was sent back to monitor the simmering nuclear standoff between Iran and the West. Iran says it wants to pursue a nuclear program to meet its energy needs but the West believes it will use the technology to create its own nuclear weapon.

Iran's leader a target at Ottawa Holocaust event

Sun. Apr. 15 2007 5:52

CTV.ca News Staff

Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Sunday said the world must stand up to terrorists and fanatics who advocate the destruction of Israel, as he honoured those who lost their lives during the Holocaust.

Speaking at a ceremony on Parliament Hill on Canadian Holocaust Remembrance Day, Harper spoke of how the hatred that gave rise to the "awful, incontrovertible truth" of the Holocaust lives on today.

He said the world must resist the mistake of viewing the Holocaust as a strictly historical event, because: "There are still people who would perpetrate another Holocaust if they could."

"It's not good enough for politicians to stand before you and say they remember and mourn what happened over six decades ago. They must stand up to those who advocate the destruction of Israel and its people today, and they must be unequivocal in their condemnation of anti-Semitic despots, terrorists and fanatics.''

Harper stopped short of naming Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly declared the Holocaust a "myth," threatened Israel with annihilation, and who has hosted an international conference in December in which the main focus was to question the Nazi genocide of the Jews during the Second World War.

Other speakers at Sunday's half-hour ceremony didn't hesitate to vilify the Iranian leader.

"The thought that a person, leader or government can decide to decimate an entire race of people . . . cannot be suffered again anywhere,'' said Alan Baker, Israel's ambassador to Canada.

"And any attempt to resurrect such designs, as we are presently witnessing emanating from the president of Iran and others, must be firmly dealt with by all responsible nations and peoples of the world."

Liberal MP and former justice minister Irwin Cotler said the world is "witnessing, yet again, in our own day, in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Iran, the toxic convergence of the incitement of the most horrific of crimes -- namely genocide -- embedded in the most virulent of hatreds -- namely, anti-Semitism.''

He warned that indifference and inaction are "complicit with evil (and) an invitation to aggression.''

Known to Jews as Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day was declared by an act of the Israeli parliament in 1959 and officially recognized by Ottawa on Oct. 21, 2003, through the Holocaust Memorial Day Act.

The date is determined each year by the Jewish lunar calendar and co-ordinated to mark the date of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising on April 19, 1943.

Len Rudner, community relations director for the Canadian Jewish Congress, said the day provides an opportunity to honour and remember those who suffered and died in the Holocaust -- but who have no graves, and whose dates of death are unknown.

"It is an opportunity for us to remember not only those who died in torment, but for those who fought against impossible odds to thrust back against a Nazi terror," Rudner told CTV Newsnet.