Obama’s Canada Visit ‘Good News’ To Filipino - Canadians

by ALEX P. VIDAL

Filipino-Canadians in Toronto, Canada hailed the Feb. 19 first foreign visit of US President Barack Obama in Ottawa saying "it created a sense of buoyancy, an uplifting of mood, and that’s always good in terms of economy."

Celestino Miranda, whose father in Aklan, Philippines is among the beneficiary of the Filipino veterans equity law in the stimulus bill Mr. Obama signed recently said the President’s visit in Canada is expected to spur em-ployment opportunities because of the reopening of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which will benefit both the United States and Canada.

Miranda, a financial analyst said, since both countries are each other’s "best customers", both countries "build things together and some imports can cross the border many times during the production process."

"Almost one quarter of the merchandise trade is in autos, trucks and parts and many Filipinos who lost their jobs last year due to recession are expected to rebound this year," Miranda said.

Cristobal Palacios, an engineer, said Canada is the largest export market for 36 of the 50 states. More than $1 million a minute in business crosses the border, he said.

Palacios said many Filipino skilled workers will be benefited as jobs will return once the NAFTA will reopen.

Filipinos also credited Obama now that the "infamous" Rescission Act of 1946 has been rescinded with the passing of the stimulus bill that will benefit the Filipino veterans equity provision.

There were about 430,000 Filipino WW II veterans who were slated to receive US military benefits (health care, G.I. Bill of Rights, pension, vocational rehabilitation, etc) when this bill removing those benefits was approved by the US Congress on February 18, 1946, political analyst Rodel Rodis reported earlier.

Before signing the bill into law, the late President Harry S. Truman declared that "the passage and approval of this legislation does not release the US from its moral obligation to provide for the heroic Philippine veterans who sacrificed so much for the common cause during the war."
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, Mr. Obama acknowledged he has said NAFTA does too little to protect U.S. workers and the environment. Canada, the United State’s largest trading partner, is leery of changes to the deal.

Robust trade helps both nations, Obama said. Noting that NAFTA has side agreements on labor and the environment, he added: "If those side agreements mean anything, then they might as well be incorporated into the main body of the agreement so that they can be effectively enforced."
He said he hopes there will be a way to do so eventually "that is not disruptive to the extra-ordinarily important trade relationships" between the two nations.

Both leaders said that as economies around the world face challenges, it’s important for the U.S. and others to resist calls for protectionism.
Surviving Canada’s ‘Winter Misery’ On my way to Toronto, Canada from Cleveland, Ohio via Buffalo, New York on February 12, fog blanketed much of Canadian territories starting from Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Burlington, and Oakville, with 100 meters visibility.

Freezing rain coated roads and sidewalks with a sheen of ice that refused to melt in many areas for 48 hours, as Canadians tottered down city sidewalks in a modified penguin shuffle.

Arms stiff and legs straight, they’ve waddled in baby steps, trying, and often failing, to avoid a painful meeting of keester and concrete. From downtown Toronto, I went straight to the Philippine Consulate General on 161 Eglinton

Avenue East via CTC train. At the University Avenue, I picked a copy of The Globe and Mail. Winnipeg writer Patrick White provided advice for visitors, the newcomers who often underestimate the full brunt of a Prairie winter and suffering the bruising, frost-bitten consequences:

1. Long underwear has sex appeal. It also shows intelligence. Be informed enough to have long chats about the merits of various weights and materials.

2. Memorize this: 35.74 + 0.6215T - 35.75V(**0.16) + 0.4275TV(**0. 16). It’s the formula for wind-chill calculations. Or, for those who don’t have advanced math degrees, just book-mark the Environment Canada website.

3. Plug in your car at night. No, you don’t have to have an electric car. Block-heaters keep parts of the engine warm overnight so that you don’t have to beg a neighbor for booster cables in the morning.

4.If you want to lose your toes, wear shoes. Otherwise, invest in some real cold-weather boots. Most retailers sell massive moon-boots that are good to no degrees. Those should do.

5. Fleece doesn’t cut a 40-below wind. Buy a down parka with an insulated hood. Nobody minds if you look like the Michelin Man.

6. Always carry a book. Inclement weather can sneak up at anytime. To ward off cabin fever, wait the storm out with a good, long read. War and Peace should do. /MP