Premier Dalton McGuinty Praises India, Promotes Ontario's Strengths
Busy Day In Indian Capital Includes 10 Agreements Signed By Business Mission Delegates

NEW DELHI, Jan. 15 /CNW/ - Ontario is determined to play a major role in India's dynamic economic growth, Premier Dalton McGuinty told key government officials and business leaders here today.
"We are here from Ontario - a large delegation of our finest business people and researchers, educators and builders - because we are indebted to India's rich history. We are impressed by the exciting India of today and we are intent on playing a bigger role in India's future," Premier McGuinty said in his first major speech here.
"We are focused on areas where we see infinite potential: culture and education, financial services and infrastructure, and research and innovation," Premier McGuinty said.
"But our ultimate goal is to build a stronger India, and a stronger Ontario, by developing the opportunities that will, in turn, strengthen our people."
Premier McGuinty's address received a standing ovation from business and political leaders, including India's Minister of Science and Technology, Kapil Sibal.
India's economy has posted an impressive average growth rate of 6.8 per cent since 1994 following economic reforms and liberalizations. Minister Sibal told the audience that growth is expected to average nine per cent over the next five years. He said this creates massive challenges for India and tremendous opportunities for Ontario in areas such as energy, drinking water, agriculture and infrastructure.
In his speech, Premier McGuinty stressed that Ontario's greatest strengths are the education and skills, work ethic and diversity of its people, including more than 500,000 Ontarians of Indian descent.
"Ontario matters. We're cost effective, we innovate, and we offer access to North America, one of the world's richest markets," Premier McGuinty said.
"You will feel at home when you do business in Ontario. We are home to one of the largest Indian populations - outside of India - in the world."
Premier McGuinty's speech was the highlight of Emergent India: Now and Into the Future, a conference that brought together Indians and Ontarians interested in working together.
Ontario's trade with India surpassed $1 billion in 2005, but Ontario wants to take business with India "to the next level," he said.
The mission's next stop is Bangalore, home to many of India's most important information technology companies.

What is the Growing Gap?

By 12:13 pm on New Year’s Day, while many Canadians were still nursing a hangover, Canada’s 100 highest paid CEOs had already pocketed what will take minimum wage workers the rest of 2007 to earn.

http://www.growinggap.ca/     

• Canadians can go from rags to riches if they work hard enough—right? The reality is that most Canadians will stay in their original earning category all their lives. More… 
 
• Why is the gap getting worse? Every year more well-paying jobs are being replaced by work that is less secure, and/or work that pays less and fails to offer benefit packages. And the social safety net no longer catches most working Canadians when they fall on hard times. More…
 
• What about the rest of us? Many Canadians have the sense they’re working harder but not getting ahead. It’s not fiction; it’s reality. The growing gap affects everyone, including the middle class. More…

• What’s happening to families in the middle? Canadian households used to save about 20 per cent of their after-tax income. Today, the savings rate averages zero, and our personal debt is at an all-time high.More…

• Do you feel like you’re one or two missed paycheques away from hard times? You’re not alone—almost half of Canadians feel they are always just one or two missed paycheques away from being poor. And 1.5 million Canadians live among the ranks of the working poor, making up about 40% of all low-income Canadians. More…
 
• Who is falling behind? The poorest of the poor—especially single mothers. Welfare incomes have decreased across Canada, even in the richest provinces. More…  

• What can we do about the growing gap? Take action to bridge the gap. More…

Post-Boomers Embrace Spirituality
Young Canadians seek a structured faith, says sociology professor

http://www.wcr.ab.ca/news/2007/0115/bibby011507.shtml
By BILL GLENWCR Staff Writer Lethbridge

The next two decades may have a profound impact on the Catholic Church in Canada with the Baby Boomer generation aging into retirement and beyond.
While secularists would have you believe that the future is fraught with peril, noted Lethbridge sociology professor Reginald Bibby says the interest in organized religion has been dramatically underestimated.
Bibby says 20 years from now, the Church could actually be bulging with worshippers and energized as never before.

Spiritual boom
In his recent book, The Boomer Factor: What Canada's Most Famous Generation is Leaving Behind, he sees a resurgence of religion and spirituality in a post-Boomer era.
"Post-Boomers have a freshness towards spirituality," says Bibby, 63, a leading expert on religious and social trends.
"There is an openness."
For 30 years, the former Edmontonian has amassed demographic information on adults and youth in Canada with his Project Canada national surveys. While much has been written that anticipates the Boomers, those born between 1946 and 1965, putting a strain on the nation's health care system and draining pension plans, Bibby says a new generation might actually elevate the overall quality of life in Canada.

Tumbling faith
The Boomers were deeply affected by secularism, he said. "The overall assumption was that organized religion in Canada was experiencing a decline."
In an interview with the WCR, Bibby suggests the Church was always present. It's just that the data was interpreted through "secularization glasses" due to a mindset that was imported from Europe.
It was assumed that Canadian trends would follow those of Western Europe, he said. Attendance of weekly worship services varied from around 10 per cent of the population in England to just three per cent in Denmark.
But Bibby maintains Canada should be compared to its neighbour to the south - the United States - where weekly attendance has remained at 45 per cent for some 60 years.
"The irony now is that we realize (secularization) does not nor ever did apply to the United States. Attendance in the U.S. has never gone down in proportion to the population. It raises the question of what's been going on in Canada."
The post-Boomers in the current era (those under 40) display signs of a high level of receptivity to being involved in religious groups - if they can find the groups that are meaningful to them, he said.
Bibby determined that in 2005, the receptivity level was even higher than it was five years earlier.
"If you break that down by age, the post-Boomers are saying there is not an antagonism towards organized religion. They are not acting as if religion is a thing of the past. Not at all.
"They are very pragmatic, saying they want greater involvement if they can find a significant ministry that touches their lives and the lives of their families.
"I'm not saying organized religion doesn't have its problems, but as far as participation, we don't have a free-fall situation. The bottom isn't falling out. There is new life and interest among young Canadians."
The hope for the future lies in the reaction of post-Boomers to secularization, Bibby says.

Goan Voice designed and compiled by Demerg Systems India for Silverline Technologies Ltd.,
Campal Trade Centre, Next to Military Hospital, Campal, Panjim, Goa-403001
Tel: +91 832 2420797 Email: info@goanvoice.ca