While the focus of my role here in Canada is to engage with Canadians there is always value in keeping in touch with expat kiwis who now make Canada their home. We have the KEA (Kiwi Expats Abroad) network, which is global, and there are active chapters in Toronto and Vancouver. There is also CANZBA

I mentioned a couple of blogs back that I would be visiting Bruce County in Southern Ontario.  Well what a wonderful three days I had in the region with MP Larry Miller (Chair of the Federal Parliamentary Agriculture Committee) and Stan Eby (President of Canada Agrifood Trade Alliance) - both local farmers.  Part of my mission was to find

With this year’s Bledisloe Cup (for trans-Tasman Rugby superiority) already decided and the All Blacks looking pretty good for the Tri Nations Trophy (which includes South Africa) as well, most New Zealanders are probably wishing the Rugby World Cup was this year and not next.  Of course there are two key elements to RWC 2011:

This coming week I am going to spend three days visiting  Southern Ontario.  Wiarton is on Georgian Bay/Bruce Peninsula and the hometown of Federal Member of Parliament, Larry Miller.  Larry is Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture so we are never short of things to discuss when we meet.   The Georgian Bay area has a rich

Being a proud Wellingtonian and having lived in New Plymouth and Palmerston North at various times, I am familiar with the odd gentle zephyr or two.  Ottawa is, by comparison, a pretty windless city, where 20km of wind constitutes a stiff breeze.  Last weekend my family and I were down in New Hampshire and drove (yes

United States Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, visited Ottawa last week for talks with his counterpart, Trade Minister Peter Van Loan.  I attended a lunch where Kirk was the guest speaker.
 
Not surprisingly, given the audience, the focus of his comments tended to be on the importance of the Canada-US bilateral trade and investment relationship, within the

I spent the day in Toronto last Tuesday.  A 7 am flight down means you can comfortably make a 9am meeting and get a full day in and the 7 or 8 pm return flight home.  Not dissimilar to a Wellington-Auckland-Wellington business day.   The reasons for making that trip are pretty similar as well.  While both Ottawa

It is hard to believe that it was six months ago that we arrived in Ottawa.  I figured the first six months were going to be very demanding as you tend to accept almost every invitation, make a lot of introductory calls and, of course, spend considerable time reading into issues.  Having Prime Minister Key

This week we are having a family holiday.  We are only a 90 minute drive from Ottawa.  We have rented a cottage in the 1000 Islands on the St Lawrence River.  We are in sight of the bridge system that provides the Canada/US border crossing for this part of Canada.  It is not the busiest crossing

 Canada Day fell on a Thursday this year, perfect placement for a public holiday for many to take advantage of  the summer weather and extend the weekend out to four days.  Bronwyn and I, however, had both July 1 and 4 firmly in our diaries as days to be in Ottawa.  We celebrated Canada’s 143