Celebration Canada is to return to Hakka Cultural Park in Taipei on July 1 after years of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, Canadian representatives said on Thursday.
This year’s event is special, as Canada Day falls on a Saturday, allowing people to more easily celebrate with Canadians, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan told a news conference in Taipei.
Taiwanese and members of the international community can join Canadians for the national day festivities, with food and drink, live music and activities for kids, Canadian Chamber of Commerce chairman Brandon Thompson said, adding that admission is free.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The outdoor party would have poutine — French fries with gravy and cheese curds — maple syrup snacks and other Canadian food, along with Moosehead beer and international food items, Thompson said.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has abated, there would be a return to the full program of activities, including sharing a Canada birthday cake, live music, a raffle, mini-hockey, a poutine eating contest, and face painting and other children’s activities, including a bouncy castle, he said.
Air Canada is providing two economy-class tickets to Canada and vouchers for hotel accommodation as the top prizes in the raffle, as well as Canadian-made shirts and other items of clothing, he said.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is the event’s main organizer, with sponsors including Air Canada, EVA Airways, Northland Power, Bank of Montreal, Moosehead Beer, TCS Experimental Education, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office and others, Thompson said.
Canadian Trade Office in Taipei Trade and Investment Director Ed Jager said he looks forward to a large crowd at the event enjoying the party and the booths, while learning about the important relationship between Taiwan and Canada, which share many commercial links.
Trade and business links are expected to increase this year as the global economy recovers from the pandemic, boosting tourism and air travel between Taiwan and Canada, so it is likely that the number of Canadian tourists to Taiwan would rise, while young people might be drawn to visit Taiwan on school exchanges, or to teach English or find other work, Jager said.
Air Canada is working to restore direct flights between Taiwan and major Canadian cities and airline officials are making adjustments as demand for flights changes, Holiday Tours sales manager Jennifer Shi said, speaking on behalf of Air Canada.
For the summer travel season, Air Canada hopes that bookings would return to 90 percent of what they were before the pandemic, Shi said.
Before direct flights are restored, people traveling on Air Canada routes can check in their baggage at the international airports in Taoyuan or Kaohsiung and collect them in Canada after a stopover in Japan, South Korea or Hong Kong, she said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS