Preface

Introduction

Canada is a country of vast expanse; it covers an area, which is larger than any other country. Canada - from west to east - has several time zones. The country extends from Northern Territories, Where, in most part, perenial ice sheet conceals the earth beneath, to southern Ontario, which enjoys a fairly comfortable summer. Original inhabitants, the Indians, as in U.S. and other countries of America, form now a minority, mostly restricted to few Autonomous Territories, though they have theoretically equal political and/or economic rights. In the far east, St John's, the city which celebrated the 400th anniversary, is the capital of a comparatively backward maritime province. This is the city, where people of mainly British origin established a colony, and thought perhaps they had found a New land. They called the province, Newfoundland, and together with Labrador forms the easternmost province of Canada. Whereas racial prejudice and related tension is practically non-existent among friendly and simple people in the eastern province, western province, though materially much more developed, is the home of many vocal people with minds still embedded in medieval hypocrisy and with a false notion of white supremacy.

Most of the intellectual community, politicians allied to Liberal and National Democratic Party are liberal in outlook but the rise of Reform Party in the west have raised the question whether the general attitude in this part of Canada is fair to all the communities enjoying so far full social and economic benefits of a welfare state. It is now common knowledge that a section of people have prejudice and do not give houses on rent or employ or even like to talk to minority communities of the wrong colour.

Canada, Australia and U.S.A. are the countries inhabited by people who migrated to the continents after 17th or 18th Century. Immigration Department still allows refugees into Canada every year. Usually, they get subsistence allowance from the State. Many of the Canadians think that the immigrants are encroaching into their employment sphere and hence immigration should be more stringent. In 1993, the target was to admit 250,000 immigrants but, it is sure, much lower number of people were admitted.

Intolerance is showing an upward swing as regards immigration with rising unemployment. Confidential government survey found 50% of the people surveyed were either intolerant or outright "xenophobes" (those with a general fear and dislike of foreigners ). Of course many of the people have a "Compassionate" view. It was found that the anti-immigration sentiment is acute among those with low education and job skills.

Some of the figures released make interesting reading: Refugee admission dropped in 1993. In 1992, more than 50% of the immigrants, i.e., 137,000, settled in Ontario. 60% of all immigrants go to three cities : Toronto (31%), Montreal (17%) and Vancouver (12%). Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton accommodated 10%. 44% of the immigrants were admitted on the basis of family ties. Family includes spouses, children, spouses' family dependents, parents and their dependents, grandparents and their dependents. A number of people (slightly above 4,000) claimed to marry the one to be admitted, About 4,000 rich foreigners bought their Canadian immigration under a program which requires them to invest a minimum of Can $ 250,000 in Canada, Roughly 50% of these foreigners are from Hongkong and 20% from Taiwan. Out of 500,000 people of Indian origin living in Canada, about 250.000 live in Toronto alone.

Previously, there were discriminatory procedures, which caused majority of the immigrations from Europe or U.S. This is quite natural; the discovery of American continent led to massive influx of Europeans and the original Red Indian inhabitants were turned into a minority community. The process continued. Only in 1992, after the introduction of non-discriminatory immigration programs, less than 20% were from Europe or U.S.A. 60% of those competing for Canadian job markets are immigrants, but only 15% were allowed in on the strength of their qualification. Though outwardly, there is no sign of discrimination, but unemployment ratios in the different communities suggest a different picture of the situation.

However, immigrants and refugees have the same rights as citizens, with the exception of the right to vote. Canada is a country where the Charter of Rights extends to every citizen, regardless of race, country of origin, or religion.

Canada now has a Governor General (Head of State) who is herself an immigrant, of Chinese origin. The country also have a Cabinet Minister - Mr. Herb Dhaliwal, MP, from British Columbia - Minister of Fisheries & Oceans; a Minister of Chinese descent and one from the West Indies.

United Nations declared the year, 1994, as the International Year of the Family. Family statistics of a country provides us with a social picture of the country. There are about 7.4 million families in Canada. More than 60% of the families had two wage earners in 1991. Among younger families with children under 19.71% depended on two incomes compared with 30% about twenty years ago. This is because of the steady rise in women employment. In 1992, 71% of the married employed women with young children had full time jobs but studies show that 60% of them were willing to jeopardize their career prospects to devote more time to personal and family life.

1950's and 1960's are well-known in Canada as the baby-boom years when the birth rate per woman climbed to 4 children. In 1951, 9 Out Of 10 Married men headed families with wives at home. Out of 3.3 families, A divorced person headed only 10,000 at the time. At present, 20% of Canadian families, who are raising children, are now headed by a lone parent. One couple out of 8 is living with a common-law arrangement and 7% of families raising children are blended families in which divorced parents bring their offspring from previous marriages.

One-third of all marriages is actually remarriages compared to only 9% in 1961. 40% of to-day's marriages are expected to end in divorce. This fear of divorce has led many unmarried mothers to remain single. More than 80% single parents raising children are mothers. Most of them are either separated or divorced but a growing number, now perhaps 1 in 5 have never married.

Economic prosperity has led to a declining birth rate. Birth-rate has dropped to 1.8 children per woman compared to 4 children per woman 30 years ago. 15% to 20% of couples are having no children at all. 62% of single mothers and their families are poor. About 49% such mothers had employment in 1992, 5% less than the figure of 1981. Another fallout of growing unemployment and higher living standard is the rise in average age of men/women at first marriage. The average age of men and women at first marriage were 24.9 and 22.6 years respectively in 1971 but in 1993, the figures were 27.9 and 26 years, In 1993, 18% Of Canadians Of 15-24 Year-old range was unemployed. This figure is half for the above 25 Year-group Canadians. Affluence seems to influence the divorce rate. Newfoundland has the highest unemployment rate but has also the lowest Divorce rate. Alberta, a relatively affluent province, has the highest divorce rate, Another important feature of Canadians is their mobility. 50% of the Canadians move every 5 years and many families do not have relatives or close friends nearby.

There are about 500,000 infertile couples in Canada. About 82,000 Canadians owe their existence to the modern artificial insemination. In 1985, first child was born in Quebec by 'in vitro' fertilization. The entire expenditure of 'in vitro' fertilization was still borne by Government Health Scheme. However, pressure is there on the Government to withdraw this facility in view of the huge budgetary deficit.

There are three levels of Government: Federal; Provincial/Territorial; Local Government (Municipalities etc.) An idea can be made of the extent of supervision of the three levels from the 1993 Public employment figures :

Federal Government is concerned with defense, currency and foreign affairs. During my stay, I had the opportunity of witnessing the Federal Election called by the outgoing Prime Minister, Kim Campbell, at the fag end of her term. Before the election, Progressive Conservative Party had the majority and were there for two consecutive terms. One or other ruled provinces of the three parties: Progressive Conservative Party, Liberal Party and National Democratic Party. Among the three, the NDP, which held power in Ontario at the time, had a slight left leaning since the party is dominated by trade unions.

During the election there were no open-air public meetings or blurting of loud speakers or long processions to espouse people to vote for a particular party. There was no outward excitement at all. Of course, TV shows, debate, Question-answer sessions form the most important medium of propaganda. Leaders of the three major and two minor parties toured the country campaigning for their respective candidates in group meetings. In the western provinces, Reform Party also joined the fray. In the French- Speaking Province, Quebec, a regional party for the promotion of an Independent Quebec dominated the scene.

Huge deficit forced the government to cut down expenditure. Even in the election Year, there was practically complete freeze in federal employment. The left-leaning Provincial NDP Government of Ontario declared that it would sign a new Social contract which envisages voluntary lowering of wages by workers; They would have to take 12 days' unpaid leave per year as per contract and reduce the government deficit.

Federal Government spent $ 41.9 billion to help individuals; this forms more than one-fourth of all federal spending and is the single largest Head of expenditure. Half Of these payments to individuals go towards Income support for elderly Canadians. More than 3 million seniors received $ 19.1 billion in 1993. Three-fourth of this amount went to those with Yearly income of family less that $ 30,000. I do not know any other country in the world spending such a high proportion of revenue on seniors though the federal debt has climbed to $ 465 billion or more than two-thirds of the total value of all goods and services produced annually in the country. $ 98 billion of the debt was owed to foreigners. Interest Payments alone on the debt hit a high of $ 39.4 billion or 24 cents to the Dollar spent by the federal government. Other major heads of Expenditure were defense (8%), science & technology (8%), overseas aids (2%) and subsidy to crown corporations (3%).

Federal Government directs $ 36 billion in transfer payments to provinces for social programs they administer. Two-thirds of it are transferred in Cash, while the the remainder is actually 'tax transfer' in which federal taxes are lowered and provincial taxes are raised by an equivalent amount. There are three programs, which are involved:

1) Canada Assistance Plan (CAP): Cost-sharing established in 1966. 50% of the costs of provincial and municipal programs such as welfare, day-care, Child welfare services and home-maker assistance, irrespective of how high is the expenditure. That is, there is no upper limit. In return, provinces abide by federal rules. Federal cost were estimated to be about $ 7.8 billion including $ 7.2 billion in cash.

2) Established Programs Financing (EPF): This program was established in 1977. Federal Government provides block of cash and tax transfers to each province based on their population to help funding ever increasing cost of health care and post-secondary education. The provinces are to follow federal rules. Federal cost for this category was estimated at $ 21.1 billion of which $ 9.4 billion was in cash and $ ll.7 billion was in the form of tax transfers. At the beginning of 1980's, federal govern- ment cut rate at which cash transfers were to grow. In 1990, cash transfers levels were frozen.

3) Equalization: Federal Government transferred money to seven provinces to provide services at a national average without having to charge unusually high taxes. Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta do not receive These grant as their revenues are above average. $ 7.8 billion was paid in cash but recession brought down equalization. This scheme is to expire in 1994.

In the towns and cities, City Councils provide a range of services. Local Government taxes in the Ottawa-Carleton region are assessed on the basis of water consumption. For a three to four member household, charges are about $ 30 per month. This amount actually soars to high levels during summer for watering lawns. Actually, water supply and sewerage maintenance during winter is very costly as the entire water and sewerage lines are required to be heated to prevent freezing. Other services include community halls, play grounds, swimming pools, etc. Some additional services are provided to the residents at a nominal cost: Swimming lessons, Computer training, Language lessons including among others some of the Modern Indian languages are some of the numerous services. Training in skating and skiing are provided to all age groups. Various supermarkets are, however, privately owned complexes with their own parking lots. These supermarkets are very clean and well maintained. Besides supermarkets, there are many smaller stores with limited range of wares. In downtown Ottawa, there are many stores owned by individual families.

Disposal of municipal waste has been left with contractors who collect from each household every week, on specific days of the week. Usually, recyclable materials are kept in blue boxes wherein old newspapers, empty tins are kept. Other waste materials, packed in large garbage bags (usually black plastic bags) or plastic covered drums, are collected separately. As in our country, there are no small scale traders dealing with old newspapers and so city administration gains handsome revenue from the recyclable materials. Garbage collected in big steel containers in big apartment and shopping complexes are lifted by cranes of mechanized trucks to be emptied in it.

I used to go out jogging early in the morning. Though the environment is very clean throughout the day, early morning used to offer a very fresh and clean air, which I enjoyed to my hearts content. Even during the severe winter months, when the mercury dropped to a low of -35 C, I enjoyed the refreshing breath. There is a large open space in the city of Ottawa, wherein the Central Experimental Farm is located. Ottawa River separates the city of Ottawa from Hull, the river separating also the two adjoining provinces - Ontario and Quebec, The Rideau Canal runs from south-west and joins the east flowing Ottawa River near downtown Ottawa. During summer, colourful boats of different sizes and designs adore the river and the canal. During part of winter, a part of the canal is kept ready for skating. Large multi-storied office and apartment complexes often look like huge mirror-sided boxes reflecting clearly the neighbourhood including streets, moving buses, adjacent buildings and parks.

Every unit, be it small house or a big apartment building, has to design its concrete basement wherein is located the furnace, water-heater, washing machine, garden implements, etc. The furnace is is either oil-fired or gas-fired and is essential to keep the house warm during the winter months which extend from the end of October to March. In houses other than multi-storied buildings, floor is made of polished maple wood; Entire structure upto two-storied buildings may be made of wood. All the living rooms and bedrooms have internal wiring for cable TV, telephone connections. At the entrance to the house or flat there is a porch and a wardrobe to keep heavy woolen jackets, water proof and shoes while entering the flat/house.

Ottawa City Council is headed by a Mayor. At the time of my stay, it was headed by a lady, Ms.Jacquelin Holzman. As most of the municipal work is entrusted to private contractors and service industries, city fathers have ample time to pay attention to entertainment, social and cultural aspects of city life. Each block of the city has a playground and a community centre. These centres usually have a kitchen, a central hall, a gymnasium, a swimming pool, a library and adequate parking space for cars, In some centres, there may be a cafeteria, pottery studios, conference rooms, theatre etc.

Toronto is the largest city and has a sprawling suburb well-connected to the city centre by bus, railway and street cars (equivalent to our tram car) services. Besides, there is the METRO. In addition to the numerous multi-storied office buildings, the largest stadium, the Skydome, is also located at the centre of the city. The stadium whose top cover can be slid open is one of the best in the world. Important baseball matches are played there. Toronto Is well-connected by roads, some of the expressways criss-crossing the city has ten or more lanes, well-placed signboards indicating which ramp to take to reach a given destination.

Ottawa, the capital of Canada, is, however, not so fortunate. Toronto is the capital of Ontario province but it is also the business capital of Canada. The Government subsidizes bus services in Ottawa. Perhaps, this is true with suburban transport all over the world. There is an east- west concrete road called 'Transitway' reserved only for bus services. There is glass cubicles at bus stops for waiting bus passengers. City Map showing the bus routes are displayed there. Each bus usually carry less than 10% of its capacity, except during office hours when the bus fare is double than off-peak hours. Bus pass (monthly ticket) is available at a discount; bonafide students get a further discount. However, each bus ticket costs @ 1.50 and during office hours, it is nearly double. Each ticket entitles a passenger to travel to the extreme end in any one direction though one may have to change buses enroute. There are a few large car parks adjacent to a bus terminus to facilitate suburban people to park their cars and enter the city by bus as parking space within the city is limited and is very expensive.

School buses have a typical yellow colour and if such a bus stops for disembarking children, other vehicles must stop at least 20 Metres apart so that the children alighting from such buses may cross the roads safely. One aspect of the children of the western countries I watched with appreciation was their tendency to be self-reliant from the very beginning. They often do not ask their parents for their pocket money. Newspaper vans place packets of newspapers at different specified road junctions. Designated children pick the packets and distribute them to the specified households in the list supplied. It is amazing to see them toiling day after day even during the severe winter months when the temperature drops to much below O C. Moreover, the children also distribute fliers (advertisement hand-bills, price list of consumer stores etc.) ; there is one weekly paper consisting of about 20 pages of advertisements only is distributed free. The advertisements consist of small traders' advertisements, sale of personal goods (garden sale) notice, personal columns, etc.

Every household has, at least, one car. Most of the salaried people have care. Many of the graduate students of the University have cars. During summer, motorcycles are seen on the road occasionally. Bicycle is very popular with students of all ages. There are several tracks meant for bicycle use only.

The poor and the aged are provided with certain facilities by the State. Special flats are available for them; many non-government social organizations also distribute free food and clothing to the poor. Many of the aged (above 65) get old-age pension. Moreover, old-age couple often serve as caretakers for the multi-storied buildings. Usually, house cleaning is done by individuals themselves. But there are a number of firms which provide house cleaning services. It is not possible for ordinary citizens to keep domestic hands as it is costly, Baby-sitting is also a common occupation of retired people. Of course, baby-sitting needs training and one has to obtain a license to do baby-sitting.

Compared to the sparce population and relative affluence, crime rate is quite high. Robbery rate has declined in most cities and towns except the Metropolitan Toronto. Montreal and Ottawa. It is very strange that robbery rate in Ottawa has doubled from 68 in 1992 to 137 in 1993. It is said that 5 to 6 bandits committed 47 robberies and the police claim that 75% to 80% cases are solved. Some of the statistical figures relating to crime make interesting reading: in 1992, each Canadian spent $ 500 for crime-related incidents i.e., Canada spent $ 14 billion on this account. Federal, provincial and municipal institutions together spent $ 8 billion for police, court, jail and correctional services. About $ 67 million was spent on police in Ottawa alone, or,in other words, Ottawa city has 1 police for every 538 people excluding the suburbs. In 1992, violent incidents totalled 1635 and burglary comprised 9375. For every 10 Canadians, one had been victim of some form of crime.

Most startling disclosure about crime is the crime against women and children. A survey report, released in November, 1993, by Statistics Canada reveal that affluence did not bring family happiness and peace. 51% of Canadian women have experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence since the age of 16. Among the affected women, 25% were pushed or grabbed, 19% were threatened, 15% were slapped, object thrown at 11% of them, 11% were kicked, bit or hit, 9% were beaten up, 8% were sexually assaulted, 7% were choked, 6% were hit with object and in 5% of cases, gun or knife were used. 25% of the incidents were perpetrated by husbands including common law union partners. Of course, in India, most of these types of violent incidents are unreported. 16% of the violent incidents took place during dating or caused by boy friends, other known men comprise 23% of the violence. Another 23% of the incidents were the handiwork of complete strangers.

Statistical figures indicate that 40% of violent incidents occurred against women whose spouses drink. There is very little difference in the level of violence against women with people of different income levels. Education was also found to be not a major factor as there is very little difference in the rate of violence and the level of education. However, there is a perceptible increase in the rate of violence against women from Newfoundland on the east (33%) to British Columbia on the west (59%). Among the violent incidents, only 14% were reported to the police. But the data suggests one thing very clearly and, that is, the more developed a province is, the more vulnerable are its women to violence.

Violence against children that happened 10 to 20 years ago are coming to light now with litigation being initiated against the alleged perpetrators who are now above 50 years old. Frequently, new cases are also coming to light. However, it is very difficult to guess the extent of such crime being committed now, as there is no convincing statistical data available. It appears, however, that the newspapers are blowing a few incidents out of proportions.

An unskilled worker earns $ 8 to $ 20 per hour. However, temporary or casual unorganised labour may earn much less. At the time, temporary or casual workers are not regularly getting job because of the rise in unemployment (11%). Majority of the unamployed are fairly educated. A major portion of the income of ordinary people goes to pay for the house mortgage loan or house rent. Usually, in cities,$ 300 per person is needed for his or her accommodation alone. Most of the apartment or houses have at least three appliances: refrigerator, central heating system and a cooker. Nowadays, washing machine and micro-wave oven are also included in the list. There are more cars that can be accommodated in the availble garage space. So, a large number of cars are parked on the road-side. Petrol is cheap: one litre costing 55 cents at the time i.e., Ind.Rs 11/ per litre. Compared to the level of expenses ( bus fare for example), petrol price is very cheap indeed. Food prices are cheap if prepared at home.

Average income of Canadian farm families in 1990 was $ 47,426. Of the above amount, however, income that had come from sources other than farming amounted to $ 32,214. In other words, roughly one-third of the income of Canadian farm families come purely from farming. This is interesting revelation since the farming methods are highly developed and up-to-date technology is employed.

Monthly expenses of city people range very little if we leave out monthly house rent or mortgage expenses. Cable TV charges $ 14.25 for basic channels per month excluding taxes. For consumer gas, unit charge is roughly 22 cents excluding rent for the water-heater which is $ 4.70 and excluding taxes. During November, the monthly charge amounted to $ 65. Bell Telephone charges basic rate of $ 18 per month which included free unlimited local calls but calls outside Ottawa - Carleton region is charged extra. Electricity charges for domestic users charged by Ontario Hydro was about 8.5 cents per unit which comes to around Rs. 1.91 per unit. Municipal taxes are dependent on water consumption : a typical bill reads :

Total expenses, therefore, comes to roughly $ 32 per month.

Personal income taxes alone now account for about 20% of average family household spending up from 17.9% in 1981 and 12.6% in 1969. Income taxes comprise Federal Income Tax and Provincial Income Tax. Personal income tax including social security contributions primarily unomployment insurance and Canada Pension Plan contributions comprise 17.2% of the GNP and this figure is higher than all other G-7 countries except Germany. However, in contrast, corporate taxes amount to only 6% and, in this respect, Canada ranks lowest among major Industrial countries. One lnteresting information from the income tax filers is that assessees with over $ 100,000 annual income comprising 1% of the population and reporting 10% of assessed incomes pay only 18% of all personal income taxes.

In view of the increased taxation on goods (Goods and Services Tax - (GST and Provincial Sales Tax - PST), smuggling across US border had become widespread. Smuggling of cigarettes is a familiar example. Suppose that a packet(25) of cigarette costs $ 5.75 legally; Canadian cigarette reimported to Canada costs $ 5.00. So, a large number of unemployed people are engaged in smuggling cigarettes. This feature is somewhat similar to the smuggling activity going on across the Nepal border. However, the volume of legal import-export financial dealings far outweigh monetary transactions in smuggling across Canada - US border and so smuggling is still not posing any major problem. It is common knowledge that small business transactions with individual traders avoid much of GST/PST by under-invoicing or, when possible, transactions are completed without any written documents. Similarly, as is the practice in India, many of the taxpayers other than the salaried class pay much less tax than they should. Even the number of tax-payers other than the the salaried employees is decreasing. So, the tendency is the same; higher the taxes greater is the tendency to tax evasion.

Average people in Canada and U.S.A. have very little knowledge about the outside world. Tuned to their TV, they usually get only the cable TV channels, most of which give very little news about the developing world. In Sports, very little coverage is found for games not popular in North America : e.g., soccer, cricket, badminton, table-tennis etc. As in other spheres of life, sports is also a business commodity. Players, spectators, media, stadia owners, clubs, kiosk owners, car-park-owners, and many others play their respective part in the enormous amount of business transaction that take place around a game. That is why, most people of entire North America, in some way, are inward looking. Newspapers sometimes publish articles on some aspects of developing world but that is negligible. Even Pierre Elliot Trudeau, former Prime Minister and popular Liberal Party leader, of Canada, admitted that, even at the age of 25 in 1944, he wan ignorant of the Second World War. He understood the importance of the war only when he was at Harvard. A person, who had been the Prime Minister for 16 years was having a care-free ignorant life even at the age of 25 when thousands of other Canadians of his age were fighting and dying. According to a gallup survey, the proportion of Americans who cannot find U.S. on an unlabelled map of the world is 1 in 7. A study by the U.S. Department of Education revealed that half of American adults possess the barest of language and mathematical skills. 20% of those who had the worst literacy skills were high school graduates. About 44 million people or 23% of adults are illiterate or can perform only the barest of tasks, such as signing names or adding a bank deposit slip. About 28% comprise the second lowest levels and understands an appliance warranty, find an intersection on a street map or can calculate postage for a certified mail. In 1989, a study found 22% Canadians can read only simple material, while 14% cannot even handle that simple task.

The effect of economic development is the same everywhere : lower birth rate, higher wages, increasing divorce rates, etc. One effect of higher minimum wages is the rarity of domestic hands. Only about 4% of Canadians feel the need of a domestic help compared to 29% of Mexicans. Perhaps, in India, it would be still higher. In 1991, average compensation for production workers in manufacturing in US dollar per hour was 17.31 in Canada compared to 15.45 in U.S.A. and only $ 2.17 in Mexico. Similarly, GDP per capita is $ 20,433 in Canada, $ 21,800 in U.S.A. and only $ 2,680 in Mexico.

Bilateral trade between U.S.A. and Canada larger than any two countries in the world. The two countries had a free trade agreement(FTA) since 1989. North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA) signed in 1992 among the three countries - U.S.A., Canada and Mexico - has enlarged the scope and has included many items that did not figure in FTA. Tariffs on farm products would be phased out over 15 years in all the three countries and Mexico would eliminate import licenses. Tariff on automobile would be phased out over 10 years. After 8 years, at least 62.5% of a car's value is to be created in North America to qualify for duty-free status. This restriction is obviously aimed at preventing the Japanese auto-makers benefitting from the agreement. After 10 years, US and Canadian companies would bid on all contracts offered by Mexico's oil and electricity monopolies. All restrictions on ownership of banks, insurance companies and brokerage hounses would be removed by 1st of January, 2000. This would be the first time in 50 years that Canadian and US companies would be able to set up wholly owned subsidiaries in Mexico. A large portion of the individual country's contracts would be open to suppliers of goods and services from the two other countries.

In view of the historical affinity with Britain, tourists from that country forms a large portion (18%). However, Japanese tourists spend more money in Canada than their number suggests (only 13%). In 1992, Japanese tourists spent 434 million dollars in Canada. This formed 17% of the income from tourists compared to 15% spent by British tourists. 70% of the tourists visit Ontario and British Columbia in order to witness the attractive dolphins, Niagara Falls and the Toronto city.

There are three types of highways that crisscross the country. First type consists of only single lane : i.e., one lane in each direction. There is always a yellow line separating the two opposing lanes of traffic. Second type of highway is nearly the same as the first except that it has wore than one lane for traffic in one direction so that a fast car can change lane to overtake slow moving vehicles without crossing the median yellow line. The first two types of highways are numbered with one or two digits (e.g., 1,2,15,16, etc.) and have usually the same level road crossings with similar highways. The third type of highways are called expressways and their 3-digit number begin with 4. There are no road crossings: each road come up as a ramp along the right side of the expressway to join it. There are road overbridge crossing other highways and expressways and ramp from opposite direction go under the highway to join the expressway along the direction of the traffic. There is usually an acceleration lane in the expressway so that the vehicle can speed up or down when joining or leaving the expressway. I found an expressway crossing the Toronto city with seven lanes in each direction. There are several privately managed restaurant and fast food shops with excellent toilet, wash basins and other facilities for the benefit of the travelling public. Excellent and fresh food and drinks are available there. A number of car service centres are also there on the way. Maximum speed allowed is 100 Km per hour but usually, cars, trucks and buses run at 120 Km per hour in normal weather conditions. Recently, spy camera has been installed to monitor violation of traffic rules. Long trucks nearly 5 to 6 times the size of TATA trucks running at 110 Km per bour is a familiar sight especially along "Queensway" connecting Niagara Falls with Toronto city.

The three main sports events are the Baseball, Ice Hockey and American Football. In Canada, Ice Hockey is known as Hockey and the hockey games played in our country is known as Field Hockey. Maintenance of plane surface of ice in the hockey stadia is very costly. A thick plastic transparent wall enclose the playing arena. The ball looks like a large sized caram coin. When the players skate with their outfit of different colours on the white ice, it is really a beautiful sight. The speed, the skill with which it is played is simply wonderful. Usually, each session in a game does not extend beyond 20 minutes. In view of the high cost, it is rare to find black players in this game.

American football is usually referred to as Football, Football, popular elsewhere, is known as Soccor. Baseball and football are the highest money-spinning games. Multi-million dollar "Skydome" - a covered stadium in Toronto is used mainly for the game of baseball. The stadium, whose roof can be slid open, is a masterpiece of civil engineering fit. There are five floors and seats are like our cinema hall seats. Each floor has its own restaurant, fast food shops and toilets. People come here more for entertainment than to witness games. There is a large screen where minute details of proceedings are displayed in magnified video or in slow-motion pictures. When a game featuring Toronto is played elsewhere, usually in U.S.A., the same game can be viewed live on the screen in the stadium. A large number of people pay their way into the stadium to witness the game instead of at home in view of the cosy, comfortable and festival-like atmosphere within the stadium where people can enjoy collectively with friends.

The baseball game is outwardly similar to cricket but it is quite different. It is quite popular in Canada. Both sides have pitchers (similar to bowler in cricket), hitters (batsmen in cricket), catchers (wicket-keeper in cricket) and other fieldsmen. 9 innings are played in one match normally. However, if there is no decision at the end of nine innings, additional innings are played until one side scores more than the other at the end of an innings. In each innings, one side hits and the other side fields as in cricket. There are four bases ( hence the name baseball) at the tour corners of a square. The ball that is used to play baseball looks like a tennis ball but the bat is round and slender at the handle. The pitcher is to pitch the ball around a designated area around the hitter. If it falls outside it, umpire will call no-ball. However, if the hitter swings his bat to hit the ball, no no-ball will be called and the umpire will call strike. If the hitter strikes the ball and if the ball bounces within the designated area, then the hitter must run at least to the first base. If a fielder collects a ball and touches the hitter or puts his feet at the first base before the hitter reaches it, he would be "ground out". If a hitter is already at the first base, he has to run to the second base and so on. If a hitter strikes a ball and a fielder catches it, the hitter would be "fly out". If a hitter cannot hit three strike balls, he would be "strike out" or "knock out". However, if the hitter hits 'strike balls' and the ball goes outside the designated area, it will be a foul ball and a hitter can hit as many foul balls as he pleases without being declared out. Similar to overboundary in cricket, if the hit ball goes over to the outside the defined area, the hitter will perform "home run", i.e., he would run through all bases to reach home. If there were hitters at the bases, they would also complete the home run and runs will be counted on the number of hitters reaching home. If, however, the ball drops in the field before going out, the hitter will go over to the second base. If there were already hitters in all the three bases, two runs will be scored. If the pitcher pitches 3 no-balls, the hitters will get free ride to the next base.

American football is quite popular in U.S.A. and Canada. I do not know why it is called football since the ball is played by foot only twice in one session by a team. The ball is oblong shaped and the players of one team tends to run with collected ball to the other side. The opposite team resists the progress of the rushers and a clash ensues. Each player wears a helmet and the body to padded to ensure less chance of injury during the squabble. Even with all these safety measures, injury is very common. When a team is successful in reaching the destination to the other side, six points are scored. Additional one point is scored by spot kick taken over a high goal post.

Each player earns a lot of money which amount to million dollars per season. The stadiums earn from the sale of tickets and by hiring kiosks, restaurants etc. Managers, transporters. restaurant and fast food shop owners, hawker and others connected to the game make a fortune from the games played. People get their money's worth in terms of entertainment, comfort and excellent facilities. The politicians take advantage of the popularity of the baseball team of Toronto - the Blue Jays. Jean Chretien was quoted to have said during an election speech, "Tomorrow, the Blue Jays will make the sky of Toronto blue and on Monday, the sky of Candda would be red", referring to the impending victory of the Liberals. Blue Jays became champion in the World Series Games. Kim Campbell of the Progressive Conservative Party responded by saying, "We are also going to show Canadians that Tories can hit a winning homer in the bottom of the ninth." Blue Jays really won The World Series in the ninth innings but the Tories were nearly completely wiped out securing only two seats in the parliament against the majority they had in the previous parliament. Reform Party was also not behind; they boasted that Reform Party "is within striking distance of doing that. This thing is not over; we are in the bottom of the ninth innings. We have got to elect more Reformers than BQ". Though the Reform Party got loss than BQ, they were not far behind. ( Reform Party : 52; Bloc Quebecois: 54).

Other important sports are skating and skiing. Skating in art form is very pleasant to see. Skating and skiing is immensely popular during the winter months and several sites are readied for the purpose. Even in Ottawa city, in addition to the usual ice-skating grounds maintained in the parks, a stretch of Rideau Canal is made suitable for the skating public. During leisure hours, people enjoy watching TV. I did not find the programs interesting especially the "soap operas". However, political commentary, interview with important personalities, open debate on specific topics or during election, is of a high standard.

I stayed for longer periods in two foreign countries with contrasting social, economic and political structures - Canada and Tanzania. India has a cultural heritage which dates back to 5000 years. When we had Emperor Asoke preaching "Non-Violence" and meditation, people in Europe were not even civilized in the proper sense. Entire social fabric was well knit in India. Evolution of American civilization is comparatively of more recent origin. When we visited Tanzania, it was practically limping back to normal life after the Ugandan war.

I have some belief; Man is above other creatures since he has higher level of thinking which pervades beyond his immediate surrounding. Evolution of man and the history of the earth shows that man who evolved from the apes will not only find out the origin of life but also how, what and why of the process. May be it may take another million years or so. After all man was born only in the last million years or so compared to the evolution of the first mammal which took place more than 60 million years ago. He achieved a miracle within the short time and I still believe he would achieve more only if does not waste time and energy in petty interest and quarrels.

TIME NOW...........

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