|
|
Perspectives from North of the 49th “These are very exciting times for IAFP as we have turned
the corner financially and are providing exciting,
new services for members ” I hope you are getting as excited as I am about this year’s Annual Meeting! Besides the great program we have lined up, we also have a fabulous venue. Calgary is situated approximately 200 miles (322 km) north of the US border on the banks of the Bow River below the Rocky Mountains. There are two major rivers that run through the city. The Bow River is the largest and flows from the west to the south. The Elbow River flows northwards from the south until it converges with the Bow River near downtown. Although Alberta’s second city, Edmonton, is the state capital, Calgary is the territory’s commercial and cultural centre and offers hikers, fishermen and lovers of the great outdoors, the pleasure of enjoying the dramatic countryside and splendid national parks. The city is the gateway to the Canadian Rockies, including Banff National Park, which hopefully you will have time to visit. Millions of years ago, the area around Calgary was part of a huge sea. During the dinosaur era, this area was warm, and hosted not only dinosaurs, but also generous vegetation needed to support such large animals. Over millions of years, this vegetation died and settled on the bottom of this sea. As continents shifted, Calgary became part of North America and the sediments were lifted well above sea level. The pressure of deep layers of rock on the decaying vegetation created the vast oil and gas reserves that drive a large part of Alberta’s economy today. Speaking of dinosaurs, located only 81 mi (130 km) northeast of Calgary in Alberta’s Badlands, the Drumheller Valley is best known for its diverse and unique topography. This area provides a vast landscape that is definitely worth visiting (see Monday’s tour description on page 341). The world’s largest dinosaur statue is situated in downtown Drumheller! The city is probably best known as the home of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, a world-class facility dedicated to the study of Drumheller’s early residents, the dinosaurs. Visitors to the museum can explore hundreds of preserved fossils and take part in interactive displays and exhibits. The city of Calgary is famous for the Calgary Stampede, a very large agricultural fair and rodeo that takes place every July. The Stampede officially bills itself as “The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.” It features an internationally recognized rodeo competition, a midway, stage shows, agricultural competitions, chuck wagon races, and First Nations exhibitions, among many other attractions. It is among the largest and most well known festivals in Canada. Calgary is currently a bustling metropolis with a population of slightly over a million people. The oil and gas boom has created a pleasant situation (for job-seekers!) where there are many more jobs than there are qualified people. In fact, Calgary is now second only to Toronto for its concentration of corporate head offices and boasts a higher GDP per capita than any other major Canadian city. Although Calgary’s winters can be downright cold, Environment Canada still ranks the city as having the third most temperate climate in the country (of major cities) after Victoria and Vancouver. This is due in large part to the dry Chinook winds that routinely blow into the city from the Pacific Ocean during the winter months. These winds have been known to raise the winter temperature by up to 20˚C (68˚F) in just a few hours, and may last several days or even weeks. The Chinooks are a very common feature of Calgary’s winters. Although summer daytime temperatures in the +30s (high 80s) are not uncommon, due to Calgary’s high elevation, the city does not usually experience the extremely high temperatures common to some other Canadian prairie cities. On average, the temperature ranges from a daily minimum of 15˚C in January to a daily maximum of 23˚C in both July and August. Calgary receives an average of 16.2 inches (413 mm) of precipitation annually, with 11.8 inches (301 mm) of that occurring in the form of rain, and the remainder as snow. It really is in the uncommon energy and its unique combination of adventure, spirit and western hospitality that makes Calgary such a great place to visit. So be sure to try and bring your friends and families to Calgary. You will not be disappointed! As David mentioned in his March column, by the time you read this column, the Board and IAFP staff will have just met for a strategic planning session. This will give us a chance to take stock of what we have accomplished since the last strategic planning meeting took place, and to plan ahead so that we can be well situated as we head into the next 2–3 year time period. As noted several times in this column these are very exciting times for IAFP as we have turned the corner financially and are providing exciting, new services for members. We will definitely keep you updated on the outcomes of our strategic planning session and would love to have your views on the plan as we move forward. Finally, a hearty congratulations to our new incoming secretary, Vickie Lewandowski of Kraft! I know that she is going to be a very valuable and hard-working member of our Executive Board. The whole team really looks forward to welcoming Vickie . We would also like to extend our great appreciation to Dr. Leon Gorris for agreeing to run on the slate for secretary. We certainly had two great candidates running for secretary this year! Dr. J’s Science Corner Although there is no proof at present to demonstrate that cats play a role in the transmission cycle of the H5N1 avian influenza virus, the virus has been found in cats in Indonesia, Thailand, Germany and Austria; the scientific community will have to keep a close watch on this one. As recently reported in the journal Science, the virulence of the H5N1 virus may be partially due to a number of previously unnoticed amino acids in a small non-structural protein, referred to as NS1. I am sure that all you tea aficionados know that the heart-protective properties of tea are due to potent antioxidants called flavenoids. Well, you may not have known that in general, the more processing a tea undergoes, the less flavenoids it will have. In fact, white tea, which is the least processed, has greater antioxidant activity than green tea. Black tea, which is the most processed, contains the least amount of flavenoids. As always, I can be reached by E-mail at: jeff_farber@hc-sc.gc.ca and would love to hear from you! Have a great month!
|