The Friday Files- news to celebrate
Well done to Toronto for jumping 9 spots in the recent The Global Cities Report 2020, landing in the number 2 spot behind London in the Global Cities Outlook category. Published by global management consultancy Kearney (one half of the original McKinsey organisation), the 2020 Global Cities Report provides "a snapshot of where cities stood as they entered the COVID-19 crisis."
Helena Chu, Good Morning Toronto, 2017. Winner of Toronto Snap & Share Contest
The criteria against which cities are measured in the Global Outlook are personal well-being, economics, innovation, and governance. For more information about Toronto's plans to remain competitive and connected, we talked with Aaron Rosland, the Ontario government's diplomatic representative to the United Kingdom and Ireland, who said, "I entirely agree with Kearney's observation that a city must be at the forefront of entrepreneurship and innovation to be considered a truly global city. No doubt this is why Toronto and London, two cities I’m immensely fortunate to be involved with, lead on the Global Cities Outlook category. It’s a pleasure to work closely with the City of Toronto, Toronto Global, Toronto Finance International, the Toronto Regional Board of Trade, and Destination Toronto to enhance Toronto’s profile in the U.K.”
As ever, the world's most successful cities, including Toronto and London, are those that achieve extraordinarily dense concentrations of human capital, infrastructure, and investment. Another lesson of this report is that, as we increasingly look to urban governments for leadership in responding to the climate crisis or infectious disease, we also need to be giving more thought to global cities' extraordinarily extensive reach and how we connect to each other for shared benefit. Watch this space in the weeks ahead as we look at this question.
HAPPPY HOLIDAYS
Warmest wishes for peace & health over the holidays and always
From all of us at
The Canada-UK Foundation and
The Canada Memorial Foundation
William Swords, Steven Lowe, Nigel Miller, Gabrielle Shaw, Matthew Grisoni, Reverend Dr. Allan Doig, Dr. Jonathan Heeney, Laura Peterson-Eurin, Christine Payne, Hasna Bloore, Stefan Zebrowski-Rubin, Juline Wiernasz, Wanda Hamilton.
The painting we have chosen to illustrate our holiday greeting is from Canadian Impressionist-trained Maurice Cullen who is especially known for his winter landscapes. Painted in 1910, the painting is titled Dominion Square with St. George’s Church and CPR Station.
Our Scholar feature has been contributed by our scholar, Dr. Alice Higgs:
”Have you ever wondered why Canadian fiction is littered with animals? My research attempted to answer this by looking at the work of a number of settler authors, such as Margaret Atwood and Gail Anderson-Dargatz to examine textual entanglements with animals in their work. It examined how these representations intersected with ideas of nationhood and aspects of personal identity, such as gender and sexuality.
I finished my PhD in October, for which I was a recipient of the Canada-UK Foundation’s UK Doctoral Studentship Award and I would encourage prospective students to apply – the network I have developed, along with the support of the Canada-UK Foundation have been invaluable."
For more information on our PhD Scholarship awards you are welcome to be in touch.