❌

Vue lecture

Comment Donald Trump alimente la fièvre sécessionniste dans la province de l’Alberta

Le président américain ne se contente pas de “troller” son grand voisin du Nord, il œuvre en fait au démantèlement du Canada, souligne, dans les colonnes du “New York Times”, ce journaliste qui a entrepris une tournée des idéologues et animateurs du mouvement séparatiste albertain. Ce 19 octobre, un référendum est organisé dans la province de l’Ouest canadien.

© DESSIN DE DAVID PARKINS PARU DANS THE GLOBE AND MAIL, TORONTO

Sur le tapis rouge : Bienvenue. Sur la pancarte : Finito.
  •  

Canadian Analysis: Permanent Daylight Saving Harms Sleep and Mental Health

"With the push to eliminate the twice yearly clock change, Permanent Daylight Savings Time has emerged as the favorite for most states and provinces," writes longtime Slashdot reader kbahey, sharing the findings from a recent analysis published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Sci.News reports: "Ending the clock change solves one problem, but it creates another decision: which time should we live on year-round?" said University of British Columbia's Professor Raymond Lam, lead author of the study. "The health evidence points to standard time, largely because morning light matters for our body clocks, sleep, and mood." Professor Lam and colleagues examined the health consequences of the two possible permanent systems rather than the broader question of whether seasonal clock changes should be abolished. They concluded that the accumulated evidence favors permanent standard time, which keeps the clock more closely aligned with human circadian biology. This distinction, according to the team, becomes particularly important during winter. Permanent daylight saving time would push sunrise an hour later. In cities such as Toronto, for example, the latest winter sunrise would occur at 8:51 a.m., compared with 7:51 a.m. under permanent standard time. In Calgary, the corresponding times would be 9:40 a.m. and 8:40 a.m. The extra hour of morning darkness could leave people traveling to work or school before sunrise, while shifting more daylight into the evening. The change could have consequences for sleep, mood, learning and productivity, particularly among people who already have difficulty sleeping or who must follow early schedules. The reason is rooted in the body's internal clock. "Our biological clocks need morning light to stay synchronized with the 24-hour day," said Simon Fraser University's Professor Ralph Mistlberger, co-author of the study. "Permanent daylight saving time moves that light an hour later just when winter mornings are already darkest." The analysis also highlights concerns about seasonal depression. [...] By delaying natural morning light, permanent daylight saving time would act in the opposite direction, potentially weakening an important circadian signal.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  •  

Au Québec, les indépendantistes de retour au pouvoir

Avec environ 28 % des voix, selon des résultats quasi définitifs, le Parti québécois ne disposera pas de la majorité absolue, ce qui pourrait compliquer la mise en œuvre de son programme. Pour la presse canadienne, le Canada doit toutefois se préparer à un nouveau chapitre mouvementé sur la question de l’unité du pays.

© Photo ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP

Le chef du Parti québécois (PQ), Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, prononce un discours après la victoire de sa formation, à Montréal, au Canada, le 5 octobre 2026.
  •  

‘‘Déchirant’’ : à quoi ressemble la fin du rêve canadien pour certains Français

De nombreux Français ont vu leur rêve de s’installer au Canada tourner au vinaigre ces derniers temps. Obstacles administratifs, qualité de vie moindre, nostalgie de l’Hexagone : les raisons sont multiples, dissèquent les médias locaux, qui ont recueilli les témoignages de plusieurs candidats à l’émigration.

© Photo Carlos Osorio/REUTERS

Un drapeau canadien flotte près du pont Gordie-Howe, qui relie Windsor (Ontario, Canada) à Détroit (Michigan, États-Unis), avant son ouverture, à Windsor, le 24 juillet 2026.
  •  

L’école maternelle française, un modèle à suivre ?

Quel âge est le meilleur pour scolariser un enfant ? Au Québec, où la maternelle n’est pas obligatoire, les écoliers y font leurs premiers pas le plus souvent à 5 ans, parfois à 4 ans. Rien à voir avec l’entrée à l’école à 3 ans en France, observe le quotidien “Le Devoir” en cette rentrée scolaire.

© PHOTO BERTRAND GUAY/AFP

À l’école élémentaire Vigée-Lebrun à Paris, le 1ᵉʳ septembre 2025.
  •  

Canada Hires 48 Scholars Away From Top US Universities

Canada is recruiting 64 researchers to universities across the country (source paywalled; alternative source), including 48 from U.S. institutions such as Harvard, Yale, and MIT. The hires are backed by more than $364 million in government funding and are part of a broader effort to attract researchers in fields such as AI, climate science, and medicine. The New York Times reports: While scientists often shy away from political discourse, some are saying the Trump administration's assault on science is behind their departure. "I used to live in the country that I thought was the most enthusiastic about the prospects for science improving the human condition, of any country in the world," said Phillip Zamore, the chair of RNA Therapeutics Institute at the University of Massachusetts. "And I woke up one day and that wasn't true anymore." He has been recruited to McGill University in Montreal, which has also hired five other researchers, and will join the medical faculty. "If scientists don't stand up for truth, no one will," Dr. Zamore said. The Canada-bound brain drain from U.S. institutions began last year as the Trump administration put forward policies that targeted foreign students, academic freedom and funding for equity-related programs. Kevin Hall, a nutrition scientist who left the U.S. National Institutes of Health last year, accusing federal officials of censoring his research on ultraprocessed foods, has been hired at the University of Ottawa. "While certain countries are cutting research and turning their back on academic freedom, we're doubling down on science," Melanie Joly, Canada's industry minister, told reporters at the announcement, in Vancouver, of the new university hiring. She billed it as the world's "largest talent attraction" project. The European Union has made a similar push. "Years from now, we will look back at today's announcement, and we will be able to seize the lasting impact of our choices," Ms. Joly said. Unpredictable decisions about funding prompted Seth Guikema, a professor in civil and environmental engineering, who has specialized in natural hazards modeling at the University of Michigan, to look elsewhere. His work focuses on how climate hazards inequitably affect communities, and that work has become harder to fund, he said. "Every country sets its priorities in terms of what is going to get funded, and I think Canada has done a very good job of supporting research in areas that really matter to society," said Dr. Guikema, who will start at Western University in London, Ontario in January.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  •  

Canadian Streaming Content Becomes a US Trade Issue

Canada's cultural-content rules have become a flashpoint in its trade fight with the U.S., after American negotiators reportedly demanded that Ottawa drop requirements for streaming services to promote Canadian and French-language content. Canada refused, even as it has already backed away from some financial levies on streamers. "We were not prepared to compromise on our sovereignty, the protection of the French language, and our culture," Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a speech on Saturday after trade talks collapsed. CBC.ca reports: Ottawa has long required broadcasters to promote and support Canadian content (Cancon), all the way back to song quotas for AM radio stations. In 1991, the government brought in the Broadcasting Act. The law states that "the Canadian broadcasting system shall be effectively owned and controlled by Canadians" and that the Canadian broadcasting system should "serve to safeguard, enrich and strengthen the cultural, political, social and economic fabric of Canada." But decades later, the rising popularity in Canada of streaming platforms such as Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime and Spotify raised questions about Cancon and broadcasting rules. Video and audio streaming services were not, for example, required to support and promote Cancon, but their TV and radio counterparts were. Looking to address the imbalance, the former Trudeau government brought forward a bill in 2022 to update the Broadcasting Act, called the Online Streaming Act. "Canadian broadcasters have invested in and introduced us to the incredible Canadian programs that so many of us love. We are updating our laws so online streamers have to contribute in a similar and equitable way," a 2022 government news release said. The legislation was controversial from the start, with the government and supporters saying it was a necessary evolution of Canada's media laws in the digital age, while opponents expressed concerns that it was overreach and an attempt to regulate the internet. American streamers and digital media companies opposed the legislation fiercely. The bill passed with amendments and became law in April 2023, but the government delegated much of its interpretation -- including how much money streamers would have to contribute to Cancon -- to Canada's broadcast regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). But getting streaming companies to pay up has been a long and confusing saga. [...]. As for why the U.S. government is so invested in the issue? Mariane Bourcheix-Laporte, a postdoctoral fellow in the communication studies and media arts department at McMaster University in Hamilton, said it could be about power. "The Americans have had, since after World War II, a very strong cultural policy of pushing out American content into the world," Bourcheix-Laporte, who has worked with the CRTC, said. "This has been a strategy -- a soft-power strategy -- for the American government, in parallel to their military strategies and political alliances strategies."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  •  
❌