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American Association of University Women

The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide network of 170,000 members and supporters, 1,000 local branches, and 800 college and university partners. Its headquarters are in Washington, D.C. AAUW's CEO is Gloria L. Blackwell.

19th century
In 1881, Emily Fairbanks Talbot, Marion Talbot and Ellen Swallow Richards invited 15 alumnae from 8 colleges to a meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. The purpose of this meeting was to create an organization of women college graduates that would assist women in finding greater opportunities to use their education, as well as promoting and assisting other women's college attendance. The Association of Collegiate Alumnae or ACA (AAUW's predecessor organization) was officially founded on January 14, 1882. The ACA also worked to improve standards of education for women so that men and women's higher education was more equal in scope and difficulty.

At the beginning of 1884, the ACA had been meeting only in Boston. However, as more women across the country became interested in its work, the Association saw that expansion into branches was necessary to carry on its work. Washington, D.C., was the first branch to be created in 1884, and New York, Pacific (San Francisco), Philadelphia, and Boston branches followed in 1886.

In 1885, the organization took on one of its first major projects: they essentially had to justify their right to exist. A common belief held at the time that a college education would harm a woman's health and result in infertility. This myth was supported by Harvard-educated Boston physician Dr. Edward H. Clarke. An ACA committee led by Annie Howes created a series of questions that were sent to 1,290 ACA members; 705 replies were received. After the results were tabulated, the data demonstrated that higher education did not harm women's health. The report, "Health Statistics of Female College Graduates", was published in 1885 in conjunction with the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor. This first research report is one of many conducted by AAUW during its history.

In 1887, a fellowship program for women was established. Supporting the education of women through fellowships would continually remain a critical part of AAUW's mission.

Back in 1883, a similar group of college women had considered forming a Chicago, Illinois branch of the ACA; however, they had reconsidered and formed their own independent organization. They formed the Western Association of Collegiate Alumnae (WACA) with Jane M. Bancroft as its first president. WACA was broad in purpose and consisted of five committees: fine arts, outdoor occupations, domestic professions, press and journalism, and higher education of women in the West. In 1888, WACA awarded its first fellowship of $350 to Ida Street, a Vassar College graduate, to conduct research at the University of Michigan. In 1889, WACA merged with the ACA, further expanding the groups' capacity.

20th century
In 1919, the ACA participated in a larger effort led by a group of American women which ultimately raised $156,413 to purchase a gram of radium for Marie Curie for her experiments.

In 1921, the ACA merged with the Southern Association of College Women to create the AAUW, although local branches continued to be the backbone of AAUW. The policy of expansion greatly increased both the size and the impact of the Association, from a small, local organization to a nationwide network of college educated women, and by 1929, there were 31,647 members and 475 branches.

During World War II, AAUW officially began raising money to assist female scholars displaced by the Nazi led occupation who were unable to continue their work. The War Relief Fund received numerous pleas for help and worked tirelessly to find teaching and other positions for refugee women at American schools and universities and in other countries. Individual branch members of AAUW also participated by signing immigration affidavits of support. During 1940, its inaugural year, the War Relief Committee raised $29,950 for distribution with 350 branches contributing.

The organization was "largely apolitical" until the 1960s. On the other hand, women in the workforce had increased to the extent that they made up 38% of workers by the end of the 1960s. Women graduating from college were looking for good employment. Membership in 1960 was at 147,920 women, most of them middle class.

Activities
AAUW is one of the world's largest sources of funding exclusively for women who have graduated from college. Each year, AAUW has provided $3.5 to $4 million in fellowships, grants, and awards for women and for community action projects. The Foundation also funds pioneering research on women, girls, and education. The organization funds studies germane to the education of women.

The AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund (LAF), a program of the Foundation, is the United States' largest legal fund focused solely on sex discrimination against women in higher education. LAF provides funds and a support system for women seeking judicial redress for sex discrimination in higher education. Since 1981, LAF has helped female students, faculty, and administrators challenge sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, pay inequity, denial of tenure and promotion, and inequality in women's athletics programs.

AAUW sponsors grassroots and advocacy efforts, research, and Campus Action Projects and other educational programs in conjunction with its ongoing programmatic theme, Education as the Gateway to Women's Economic Security. Along with three other organizations, it founded the CTM Madison Family Theatre in 1965. AAUW joined forces with other women's organizations in August 2011 to launch HERVotes to mobilize women voters in 2012 on preserving health and economic rights. In 2011, the AAUW Action Fund launched an initiative to encourage women to vote in the 2012 election. The campaign was aimed to increase the number of votes by women and to advance initiatives supporting education and equity for women and girls.

AAUW's 2011 research report addresses sexual harassment in grades seven through 12.

AAUW's national convention is held biennially. AAUW sponsors a student leadership conference, called the National Conference of College Women Student Leaders (NCCWSL) designed to help women college students access the resources, skills, and networks they need to lead change on campuses and in communities nationwide. The student leadership conference is held annually in Washington, D.C.

Local chapters frequently host speakers who highlight a variety of topics related to women such as Molly Murphy MacGregor, a co-founder of the National Women's History Alliance.

A statement by 16 women's rights organizations including the American Association of University Women, the National Women's Law Center, the National Women's Political Caucus, Girls, Inc., Legal Momentum, End Rape on Campus, Equal Rights Advocates and the Women's Sports Foundation said that, "as organizations that fight every day for equal opportunities for all women and girls, we speak from experience and expertise when we say that nondiscrimination protections for transgender people—including women and girls who are transgender—are not at odds with women’s equality or well-being, but advance them" and that "we support laws and policies that protect transgender people from discrimination, including in participation in sports, and reject the suggestion that cisgender women and girls benefit from the exclusion of women and girls who happen to be transgender."

Notable members

 * Virginia Cleaver Bacon
 * C. Louise Boehringer
 * Pauline Suing Bloom
 * Kate Brousseau
 * Esther Caukin Brunauer
 * Marjorie Bell Chambers
 * Frances St John Chappelle
 * Vinnie B. Clark
 * R. Belle Colver
 * Della Prell Darknell Campbell
 * Permeal J. French
 * Harriet A. Haas
 * Winifred M. Hausam
 * Winifred G. Helmes
 * Arleen McCarty Hynes
 * Reba Hurn
 * Kate Wetzel Jameson
 * Rachel Fitch Kent
 * Robin Gee
 * Sarah Harder
 * Nancy A. Leatherwood
 * Eva Frederica French LeFevre
 * Lillien Jane Martin
 * Lena B. Mathes
 * Bernice McCoy
 * Kathryn McHale (general director of AAUW, 1929-1950)
 * Ruth Karr McKee
 * Eva Perry Moore
 * Ruth Crosby Noble
 * Helen Matusevich Oujesky
 * Bernice Orpha Redington
 * Cora Rigby
 * E. Ruth Rockwood
 * Wanda Brown Shaw
 * M. Elizabeth Shellabarger
 * Sarah K. Smith
 * Rachel Applegate Solomon
 * Fanny J. Bayrhoffer Thelen
 * Violet Richardson Ward
 * Wilhelmine Wissman Yoakum
 * Mary Yost
 * Blanche Hinman Dow
 * Angie Turner King


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Stéphane Dion

Stéphane Maurice Dion (born 28 September 1955) is a Canadian diplomat, academic and former politician who has been the Canadian ambassador to France and Monaco since 2022 and special envoy to the European Union since 2017. Dion was Leader of the Opposition and the leader of the Liberal Party from 2006 to 2008. He served in cabinets as intergovernmental affairs minister (1996–2003), environment minister (2003–2006), and foreign affairs minister (2015–2017).

Before entering politics, Dion was a professor of political science at the Université de Montréal. His research focused on Canadian federalism and public administration. Throughout his tenure in government, Dion held a number of portfolios. He was first named Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs by Prime Minister Chrétien in 1996, following the aftermath of the 1995 Quebec sovereignty referendum. His reference question to the Supreme Court of Canada, produced Reference Re Secession of Quebec and his Clarity Act, which provided guidelines for subsequent referendums. He returned to the backbench in 2003 when Paul Martin became the prime minister and dropped a number of ministers in an effort to disassociate himself from the former Chrétien government. After the 2004 election however, he returned to Cabinet as Minister of Environment, where he was in charge of implementing the Kyoto Protocol and chaired COP 11/CMP 1 when Montreal hosted the UN climate conference in 2005.

The Liberal government lost the 2006 election and Martin resigned as leader. Dion campaigned to replace him and subsequently won the party leadership election. Dion ran on an environmental platform in the 2008 federal election, but was defeated by the Conservatives led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in one of the Liberals' worst electoral showings. After a subsequent parliamentary dispute, he was replaced as leader by Michael Ignatieff. Dion continued to sit as the member of Parliament for Saint-Laurent. In 2015, the Liberal Party returned to power and Dion was named Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, serving until 2017, when he left politics and assumed his current diplomatic postings.

Early and personal life
Dion was born on 28 September 1955 in Quebec City, the second of five children. His mother, Denyse (née Kormann), was a real-estate agent born in Paris, France, and his father, Léon Dion, was a Quebec academic. Dion holds dual citizenship in France because of his French-born mother. Dion was raised in a modest home on boulevard Liégeois in Sillery, today part of Quebec City. While growing up, he remembers being taunted for his family's secularism in a society which was then predominantly Roman Catholic.

Dion was involved with the sovereignty movement, first as a teenager attending a Jesuit college in Quebec City, and later as a university student campaigning for Parti Québécois candidate Louise Beaudoin in the 1976 election. Dion described his experience as follows:

"Because the party was there... I wanted to challenge my dad... the way to become an adult sometimes is to say the contrary to your father. Each evening, I would try out a new argument I had heard on the separatist network and my father was demolishing it... My father very quietly and very respectfully was refuting me, without insulting me."

Dion has said that his involvement as "an activist for the separatist cause" ended during a five-hour discussion with a federalist household while he was going door-to-door for the PQ, but he did not openly commit to federalism until much later. At the time of the 1980 referendum, his sentiments were neutral. In his own words, the 'no' victory left him "neither moved nor outraged. To tell the truth, I felt no particular feeling." (Moi, je ne me sentais ni ému ni révolté. À vrai dire, je n'éprouvais aucun sentiment particulier.)

He studied political science at Université Laval in the department co-founded by his father; this was also where he met his future wife, Janine Krieber, a fellow student in the same program. In April 1986, Stéphane Dion married Krieber, and later the same year, they travelled to Peru to adopt their only child, Jeanne Krieber-Dion. His wife is an "expert in strategic studies and counter-terrorism issues," who teaches political science and sociology at Royal Military College Saint-Jean in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.

Education and academic career (1977–1996)
After Dion obtained BA and MA degrees in 1977 and 1979 respectively (his master's thesis presented an analysis of the evolution of Parti Québécois electoral strategies ), he and Krieber departed together for France.

Dion spent four years in Paris, living with Janine in the Montmartre district and studying public administration under the supervision of noted sociologist Michel Crozier. After receiving a doctorate (doctorat d'état) in sociology from the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (commonly known as Sciences Po), Dion worked briefly as a teaching assistant at the Université de Moncton in 1984 before moving on to the Université de Montréal to assume an assistant professor position. Dion taught there from 1984 to January 1996, specializing in public administration and organizational analysis and theory, and was a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., during a 1990–91 sabbatical leave.

After the failure of the Meech Lake Accord in 1990, Dion directed his intellectual inquiry towards an analysis of Quebec nationalism. His decisive conversion to federalism, as he later recounted to journalist Michel Vastel, occurred as he was preparing for a presentation in Washington:

"I sat down at my computer at 11 o'clock, and, at noon, I had a text that was so interesting that the Americans wanted to publish it. It was on that day that I realized I was truly a federalist. (Je me suis assis devant mon ordinateur à 11 h et, à midi, j'avais un texte tellement intéressant que les Américains ont voulu le publier. C'est ce jour-là que je me suis rendu compte que j'étais vraiment fédéraliste.)"

In this period, the sovereignty movement had begun to promote the idea that federalism was inefficient for Quebec due to the duplication and overlap between the two levels of government. An expert in public administration, Dion emerged as a key figure in publicly criticizing this line of argument. His appearances on Le Point, a Télévision de Radio-Canada current affairs program, brought him to the attention of Aline Chrétien, who in the days following the close referendum defeat urged her husband, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, to recruit him.

Between 1987 and 1995, Dion published a number of books and articles on political science, public administration and management. A collection of Dion's speeches and writings on Canadian unity was published under the title Straight Talk (Le pari de la franchise) in 1999. Dion was also a guest scholar at the Laboratoire d'économie publique de Paris from 1994 to 1995, a co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Political Science from 1990 to 1993, and a research fellow at the Canadian Centre for Management Development (now part of the Canada School of Public Service) from 1990 to 1991.

Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs (1996–2003)
In anticipation of by-elections in early 1996, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien appointed two new "star candidates" from Quebec — Stéphane Dion and Pierre Pettigrew – to Cabinet. On 25 January 1996, Dion was named Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Pettigrew was named Minister for International Cooperation, and both were sworn into the Queen's Privy Council for Canada.

Chrétien felt safe in appointing Dion to Cabinet because Dion was slated to run in Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, the second-safest Liberal riding in Quebec. In 25 March by-election, he was easily elected. This was not without precedent; in 1941, Mackenzie King had appointed Louis St. Laurent to Cabinet after nominating him to run in a safe Quebec riding. Dion would hold the riding in general election of 1997, and was re-elected again in the 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, and 2015 elections. Dion continued to serve as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs until the end of Jean Chrétien's ministry on 12 December 2003.

Clarity of referendum question
In his responsibilities as Intergovernmental Affairs minister in the Jean Chrétien government, Dion was tasked with challenging the arguments of the Quebec sovereignty movement much more vigorously than in the pre-referendum period. The people of Quebec voted against the sovereignty option by a razor-thin margin (50.58% to 49.42%). Many federalists in Ottawa were caught off-guard by the results and believed that the referendum results would have no legal standing under Canadian law. The strongest complaints were on the presumed ambiguity of the 1995 question and that Quebec had tabled a law reserving the right for the National Assembly to declare independence unilaterally if constitutional negotiations with the Government of Canada failed.

Supreme Court reference re secession of Quebec
On 30 September 1996, Dion submitted three questions to the Supreme Court of Canada constituting the Supreme Court Reference re Secession of Quebec:

 * 1) Under the Constitution of Canada, can the National Assembly, legislature, or government of Quebec effect the secession of Quebec from Canada unilaterally?
 * 2) Does international law give the National Assembly, legislature, or government of Quebec the right to effect the secession of Quebec from Canada unilaterally? In this regard, is there a right to self-determination under international law that would give the National Assembly, legislature or government of Quebec the right to effect the secession of Quebec from Canada unilaterally?
 * 3) In the event of a conflict between domestic and international law on the right of the National Assembly, legislature, or government of Quebec to effect the secession of Quebec from Canada unilaterally, which would take precedence in Canada?

As soon as these questions were made public, both parties of the National Assembly, the Bloc Québécois and numerous federalists denounced Ottawa's gesture. An Act respecting the exercise of the fundamental rights and prerogatives of the Québec people and the Québec State was passed in the National Assembly of Quebec by the Parti Québécois government two days after the Clarity Act had been introduced in the Canadian House of Commons.

On 20 August 1998, the Supreme Court answered, concluding that Quebec does not have the right to secede unilaterally under Canadian or international law. However, the federal government would have to enter into negotiations with the Quebec government if Quebecers expressed a clear will to secede. It confirmed that the Canadian Parliament had the power to determine whether or not a referendum question was clear enough to trigger such negotiations. The Canadian constitution would remain in effect until terms of secession were agreed to by all parties involved, and these terms would have to respect principles of democracy, minority and individual rights as outlined in the Canadian constitution.

Both the Government of Quebec and the Government of Canada publicly stated that they were very pleased with the opinion of the Supreme Court, which stated both that Quebec could not legally separate unilaterally from Canada and that the Parliament of Canada would have a 'political obligation' to enter into separation negotiations with Quebec in the event that a clear majority of its populace were to vote in favour of independence.

Three letters
The Supreme Court reference launched a public debate between Dion and members of the Parti Québécois government in open letters published in the press. Following Lucien Bouchard's open letter to the Premier of New Brunswick, Frank McKenna, in 1997 defending the legality of a unilateral secession, Dion wrote the first of three open letters to leaders in the sovereignty movement. Dion challenged three assertions that Bouchard had made: that a unilateral declaration of independence is supported by international law; that a majority of "50% plus one" was a sufficient threshold for secession; and that international law would protect the territorial integrity of Quebec following a secession. Against the first assertion, Dion argued that the vast majority of international law experts "believe that the right to declare secession unilaterally does not belong to constituent entities of a democratic country such as Canada." In regard to the simple majority argument, Dion argued that due to the momentous changes to Quebecers' lives that would result from secession, a simple majority that could disappear in the face of difficulties would be insufficient to ensure the political legitimacy of the sovereigntist project. In regard to the territorial integrity of Quebec, Dion retorts that "there is neither a paragraph nor a line in international law that protects Quebec's territory but not Canada's. International experience demonstrates that the borders of the entity seeking independence can be called into question, sometimes for reasons based on democracy."

Dion's second open letter, to Quebec's intergovernmental affairs minister Jacques Brassard, came on 19 November 1997. Dion expanded upon his earlier arguments against the territorial integrity of Quebec following secession by highlighting the inconsistency in the argument that Canada is divisible but Quebec is not. Secondly, Dion underscored that without recognition by the Government of Canada and when opposed by a strong minority of citizens, a unilateral declaration of independence faces much difficulty in gaining international recognition.

In Dion's third open letter to Premier Lucien Bouchard came on 25 August 1998, shortly after the Supreme Court ruling on Secession had been handed down. He criticized the Quebec premier for accepting some aspects of the ruling (such as the political obligation for the Government of Canada to negotiate secession following a clear expression of will from the people of Quebec) and not other sections of the ruling (such as the need for a clear majority on a clear question and the unconstitutionality of a unilateral declaration of independence). In regard to the ruling, Dion makes three claims: that the federal government has a role in the selection of the question and the level of support required for it to pass, that secession can only be achieved through negotiation rather than a "unilateral declaration of independence", and that the terms of negotiation could not be decided solely by the Government of Quebec.

First International Conference on Federalism
Dion organized and hosted the First International Conference on Federalism in Mont Tremblant in October 1999 to foster international support for the cause of federalism in Canada. Quebec sovereigntist leaders were granted a prominent role in the conference and used their floor time to denounce Canadian federalism to an international audience to the great annoyance of their federalist host. But Dion's views got a big boost during the closing speech by United States President Bill Clinton. Clinton appeared to echo the Supreme Court Reference, warning that "when a people thinks it should be independent in order to have a meaningful political existence, serious questions should be asked.... Are minority rights as well as majority rights respected? How are we going to co-operate with our neighbours?". Clinton argued that federalism allows peoples seeking recognition of their identity a way to do so without isolating themselves in a nation-state. The speech laid to rest any doubts about the U.S. position on the legality and desirability of unilateral secession in Quebec.

Clarity Act
The Supreme Court reference and three letters formed the basis for the Clarity Act (Bill C-20) presented by Dion to the House of Commons on 13 December 1999. The legislation established the conditions under which the Government of Canada would enter into negotiations that might lead to secession following a vote by one of the provinces. It stipulated that in order to lead to separation negotiations, a referendum on independence in a given province would have to have "clearly" (according to the judgement of the House of Commons) framed its question to voters in terms of independence, and that the result would have to be a "clear majority" in favour, rather than a "50% plus one" majority. It was passed by the House on 15 March 2000.

Views on federalism
Dion has often been described in Quebec as a Trudeau centralist due to his strong defence of Canadian federalism and forceful arguments against Quebec sovereigntists. However, his position on federalism is far more nuanced. It would be most accurate to describe him as a federal autonomist. While Dion supports cooperation, flexibility, and interdependence in the Canadian federation, he unequivocally argues against jurisdictional intrusion, stating "[T]he Constitution must be respected. We must do away with the all-too-convenient excuse that a given governmental initiative responds to a need that is too urgent to be stymied by issues of 'jurisdiction'. Infringement of jurisdiction creates confusion which damages the quality of public policy." Dion's position on provincial rights is not only the result of respect for the Constitution of Canada, but also a strategy to prevent the "joint decision trap" in which the capacity of a government's ability to act is restricted by the need for approval from the other constituent governments.

Dion has contested the political concentration on the division of powers between the federal and provincial governments, arguing that:

"[I]dentity, rather than the division of powers, that is at the source of our unity problem. Francophone Quebecers want the assurance that their language and culture can flourish with the support of other Canadians. They want to feel that their language and culture are seen by other Canadians as an important asset, rather than a burden. They want the assurance that they can be both Quebecers and Canadians, and that they don't have to choose between Quebec and Canada."

In the same vein, Dion was the planner of the 1999 Social Union Framework Agreement, which, according to rabble.ca journalist Duncan Cameron, limited the national spending jurisdiction. Dion has described Quebec's Bill 101 as "a great law".

Gomery inquiry and 2004 election
Dion had a prominent role within the Chrétien administration at the time of the sponsorship scandal, and his position as "National Unity" minister (an unofficial term for the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs) made him a figure of particular interest to the subsequent Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities (the Gomery Commission). He stated before the Gomery Commission that although in mid-2001 he was aware of the disproportionately large percentage of sponsorship funds going to Quebec, he was never directly involved in the administration of the program. Indeed, Dion had been critical of the program while in cabinet, and openly doubted that it would do much to sway Quebecers from sovereignty. Along with most of the other ministers in the Chrétien cabinet, Dion was exonerated of all responsibility in the affair in the Phase I report of the Gomery Commission:

 * "On the evidence there is no basis for attributing blame or responsibility to any other Minister of the Chrétien Cabinet [excepting Jean Chrétien and Alfonso Gagliano], since they, like all members of Parliament, were not informed of the initiatives being authorized by Mr. [Jean] Pelletier and their funding from the Unity Reserve."

In early 2007, after winning the Liberal Party leadership, Dion suggested that Marc-Yvan Côté's lifetime ban against rejoining the party may have been an excessive punishment for Côté's involvement in the scandal. He later clarified his remarks, saying that he would not take any steps to reinstate Côté's party membership and that such reinstatement would probably not occur. Dion has also defended Jean Pelletier, saying that the former Mayor of Quebec City had "served the country well for decades."

After Paul Martin's assumption of the office of Prime Minister, Dion was dropped from Cabinet as part of a general effort to dissociate the new Liberal government from the outgoing Chrétien administration. He was also criticized by Jean Lapierre, Martin's new Quebec Lieutenant. Lapierre was a Quebec nationalist and founder of the Bloc Québécois and his views on intergovernmental relations differed significantly from Dion's. At one stage in the buildup to the 2004 election, Lapierre described Dion's Clarity Act as "useless", and although Manitoba Premier Gary Doer said the legislation was "extremely popular" in Western Canada, Martin defended Lapierre by saying that the Act would make little difference under his administration. An unconfirmed CTV report in 2004 claimed that Martin's organizers were planning a nomination challenge in Dion's riding.

Minister of the Environment (2004–2006)
On 20 July 2004, Paul Martin appointed Dion the Minister of the Environment. Shortly after his appointment, a Globe and Mail article described Dion as being "bent on transforming the environment dossier from the traditional tree-hugger's last stand into a forward-thinking economic portfolio.". Dion championed a "new industrial revolution" focused on "environmentally sustainable technologies and products", and he sought to nurture a collaborative relationship with big business rather than a confrontational one. His maiden speech before the Calgary Chamber of Commerce illustrates just how accommodating he was ready to be: "Calgary is one of Canada's most impressive economic engines.... Alberta could soon be the second-largest oil-exporting jurisdiction on Earth, behind Saudi Arabia. This is tremendous blessing for Canada." In October 2005, Dion nominated oil and gas executive Allan Amey to head up the government's $1-billion Clean Fund, the largest single element in Dion's Kyoto implementation strategy.

Dion's ministry declined to protect Sakinaw and Cultus sockeye salmon under the Species at Risk Act because it "could cost the sockeye fishing industry $125 million in lost revenue by 2008," This led to some criticism from environmentalists.

Dion earned high praise for his work chairing the U.N. Climate Change summit (COP 11/MOP 1) in Montreal in 2005. Later, when Dion's record as environment minister was under scrutiny in the closing days of the Liberal leadership campaign, former Sierra Club of Canada director and current leader of the Green Party of Canada Elizabeth May came to his defence, calling him a "very very good environment minister."

The government did not make significant progress towards reducing Canada's greenhouse gas emissions during Dion's brief tenure in office. In April 2005, Dion unveiled his "Project Green" to combat climate change, but the program was immediately criticized by some environmental groups for being too timid and for lacking in meaningful regulations. Johanne Gélinas, Canada's environment commissioner, criticized the government's stewardship of marine areas and national parks, as well as its efforts to ensure the safety of drinking water.

In February 2006, after the Liberals had been defeated and the Conservatives had taken over the reins of government, Dion said that Canada would very likely not be able to reach its targets under the Kyoto Protocol. Nevertheless, he argued that this was missing the point:

 * "Everyone is saying target, target. But ... it is to be more than to reach a target. It's to change the economy. It's to have resource productivity, energy efficiency when we know that energy will be the next crisis for the economy of the world.... All my ministries will be green. Maybe I'll make one department of industry and the environment – a department of sustainability. That's not a commitment, but if you want to change the mind, you have to change structure...."

2006 Liberal leadership election
Stéphane Dion announced his candidacy on 7 April, the day of the official beginning of the Liberal leadership race. His leadership campaign was referred to as the three-pillar approach. This approach focused on social justice, economic prosperity, and environmental sustainability, and a claim that a combination of these pillars would bring Canada into the 21st century. He said that his campaign would focus on sustainable development of the economy and creating a "hyper-educated" Canadian workforce in order to compete with China.

Dion was a lower-key figure during most of the leadership race, with much of the media and political attention being centred on the race's two most high-profile candidates, Michael Ignatieff and former Ontario New Democratic Party premier Bob Rae. Federal NDP leader Jack Layton described Dion as "A man of principle and conviction and therefore almost certain not to be elected leader of the Liberal party." For much of the campaign, front-runner Ignatieff had the strongest support in Dion's home province of Quebec. Dion's level of support was similar to that of former Ontario cabinet minister Gerard Kennedy, both candidates being in a distant third or fourth place, though still significantly higher than the other four leadership contestants.

On 2 December 2006, at the Liberal Party leadership convention, Dion finished third after the first ballot, garnering 17.8 per cent of the delegates. After the second ballot, Kennedy threw his support behind Dion. Earlier, the two leadership contenders had allegedly struck a pact in which the first off the ballot would throw his support to the other. Pundits said that this surprise move had caught the Ignatieff and Rae strategists off guard. When the totals of the third ballot were released, Dion held a narrow lead with 37 per cent, followed closely by Ignatieff with 34.5%. Rae, with only 28.5 per cent, freed his delegates, many of whom backed Dion, as did former leadership candidates Ken Dryden and Joe Volpe. On the fourth ballot, Dion captured 54.7 per cent of votes cast and was declared the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

After the election win, Federal NDP leader Jack Layton urged Dion to renounce his dual citizenship with France saying that "I would prefer that a leader of a party hold only Canadian citizenship, because one represents many Canadians, and for me that means that it's better to remain the citizen of one country." Dion dismissed such calls.

Leader of the Official Opposition (2006–2008)

As rumours circulated of a possible election in early 2007, Dion bolstered the image of a Liberal Party renewed and healed of its internal divisions by appointing many of his former leadership rivals to key campaign positions. Ignatieff was named deputy leader, Rae and Scott Brison became platform development co-chairs, Kennedy was named special adviser for election readiness and renewal, Martha Hall Findlay was charged with platform outreach, and Ken Dryden, who received special acknowledgement from Dion for being "the heart of our party", was tasked "to be everywhere".

In early January 2007, Dion made a leadership decision in regards to Wajid Khan, a Liberal MP who was serving as a Middle-East adviser to the Prime Minister. Dion thought it was inappropriate for a member of the Official Opposition to be serving the government so he told Khan to give up the position. Dion was confident that Khan would stay with the caucus and give up advising the Prime Minister, but Khan chose to cross the floor, and join the Conservative caucus instead.

On 18 January 2007, Dion unveiled the remainder of his shadow cabinet. Shortly after Dion led the Liberal caucus in its rejection of the 2007 Conservative budget, arguing that it failed Canadians on economic prosperity, social justice and environmental sustainability.

In response, the Conservatives would launch a series of attack ads aimed directly at Dion, attacking his leadership abilities and record as environment minister. Similar ads attacking Dion would appear in November over statements that Dion would prefer new spending on health care and social programs to the tax cuts introduced by the Conservatives.

Parliamentary Opposition
On 1 February, Dion tabled a motion challenging the Conservatives to reaffirm Canada's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol, attempting to capitalize on a 2002 letter in which Prime Minister Harper described the Accord as a "socialist scheme" that is based on "tentative and contradictory scientific evidence" and designed to suck money out of rich countries. Tory environment minister John Baird responded by blaming the Liberals for what he described as a "shameful record over 13 years of inaction on the environment," while Harper said that his government would "stabilize emissions." Dion's non-binding motion passed on 5 February.

On 27 February, Dion's Liberals, together with Bloc Québécois and NDP members of Parliament, voted down a Harper government proposal to extend two controversial provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act for another three years. Dion argued that the measures — which allowed police to arrest and detain terror suspects for three days without a warrant and which allowed judges to force witnesses to testify in terror cases — "have done nothing to fight against terrorism" and "have not been helpful and have continued to create some risk for civil liberties."

On 12 April 2007, Dion announced that the Liberals would not run a candidate against Green Party leader Elizabeth May in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova (then represented by Conservative Peter MacKay) in return for the Green Party leader's agreement not to run a Green candidate in Dion's riding of Saint-Laurent—Cartierville. The deal was criticized by the Conservatives and the NDP (Layton had rejected earlier attempts by May to cut a "backroom" deal with his party ), and also by some within the Liberal Party. Dion later gave reassurance that the controversial deal was "an exceptional circumstance where Liberal voters are invited to help her [May] to win against Peter MacKay."

On 8 November 2007, Dion released a policy plan, that he compared to the United Kingdom's Labour Party under former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Dion mentioned that his party will tackle poverty in Canada in order to create a "greener", "richer" and "fairer" Canada. He set up targets to reduce general poverty by 30 percent and child poverty by 50 percent as well as helping working families with work rewards as well as increasing the Canada Child Tax benefit, increasing guaranteed revenues for seniors.

In January 2008, Dion and Ignatieff went to Kandahar, Afghanistan to visit a provincial reconstruction team. The visit was supposed to be secret, but was leaked to the public by Conservative junior minister Helena Guergis. After his return, Dion angrily criticized Guergis' action, saying that she put him at risk for being attacked by the Taliban. In a letter to Harper, Dion demanded Guergis' resignation or firing, saying that Guergis committed a "gross breach of Canadian security" that raised doubts about her fitness for Cabinet.

On 3 June 2008, Stéphane Dion voted to implement a program which would "allow conscientious objectors...to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations...to...remain in Canada..."

Internal discord
The first federal by-elections contested by the Liberals under Dion's leadership took place on 18 September 2007, in three Quebec ridings: Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean, Outremont and Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot. The party's candidates were defeated by large margins in all three races. The Outremont by-election was deemed a crucial test for Dion's leadership by some pundits, as it had been held by the Liberals almost uninterruptedly since 1935. Others said it was a "poor measure of where the parties really stand." Dion's handpicked candidate Jocelyn Coulon, who was selected over Justin Trudeau, was defeated by the NDP's Thomas Mulcair. A Dion aide blamed the Outremont by-election on several factors, including poor organization, lack of communications, and lack of a clear policy on Quebec. In addition, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald reported that unidentified "Dion loyalists" were accusing Michael Ignatieff supporters of undermining by-election efforts. Though Ignatieff phoned up Dion to deny the allegations, The Globe and Mail suggested that the report had a negative impact on the Liberals' morale, citing the NDP's widening lead after the article's release. Undaunted, Dion declared: "From this defeat, we can learn something and work together as a united party."

On 23 September 2007, Liberal Party national director Jamie Carroll sparked controversy when, during discussions about whether francophone Quebecers should be hired in order to appeal to francophone voters, he commented: "Do we also have to hire people from the Chinese community to represent the Chinese community?" Carroll argued that the comment was taken out of context, but it nevertheless raised the hackles of many Liberals in Quebec, prompting calls from MPs Pablo Rodriguez and Liza Frulla for Carroll to be fired. Stéphane Dion stood by Carroll's version of events and rejected calls for Carroll's dismissal. On 10 October, a Liberal press release announced Carroll's resignation and commended him for his "loyalty to our leader and to our party".

Marcel Proulx resigned as Dion's Quebec lieutenant hours before the Harper government's throne speech, taking the fall for the three by-election losses. Dion first approached Montreal MPs Denis Coderre and Pablo Rodriguez to succeed Proulx, but they declined. That evening he named Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette to the vacant post. While the Party was divided on whether or not the government should be toppled on a confidence vote regarding the Throne Speech, Dion mentioned in a statement in the House of Commons on 17 October that the Liberals will support the Throne Speech but with major amendments including the Kyoto Protocol and the end of mission in Afghanistan by 2009 and had criticized the government on several aspects including the economy, seniors and child poverty, the crime policy, the Senate reform. The latter amendment proposal was rejected by the NDP, who favoured an immediate end to the mission. Dion explained the decision as that Canadians are not willing to have a third election in just over three years. All Liberal members abstained from voting on the Throne Speech on 24 October 2007, which passed 126–79.

The Liberal Party won three of four by-elections held on 17 March 2008, as Dion's former leadership rivals Bob Rae and Martha Hall Findlay won convincing victories in Toronto Centre and Willowdale, while Joyce Murray was narrowly elected in Vancouver Quadra. The Conservatives won a fourth contest in the northern Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, which the Liberals had narrowly taken in the previous election. Dion declared the results a victory for his party, while also conceding that some Liberal support was lost to the Green Party. Some journalists described the outcome as a mixed result for both the Liberal Party and Dion's leadership.

2008 federal election
In 2008, as part of a measure for cutting greenhouse emissions, Dion called for a carbon price. He also praised a similar measure introduced and approved by the British Columbia government in the 2008 provincial budget as well as the province of Quebec that introduced a carbon-based tax which revenues will be used for green technologies. Critics from other parties as well as some Liberal MPs said that the concept would be "too confusing, expensive and politically risky". The plan received support from David Suzuki who added on CTV's Question Period that: "To oppose the carbon tax plan, it's just nonsense. It's certainly the way we got to go".

In June 2008, Dion unveiled the new policy called the "Green Shift" and explained that this tax shift would create an ecotax on carbon while reducing personal and corporate income taxes. He stated that the taxation on carbon would generate up to $15 billion per year in revenues to offset the reduction in income tax revenue. The plan was immediately criticized by Prime Minister Harper, who described it as a tax grab and compared it to the National Energy Program that the federal Liberal government adopted in the 1980s. On 11 September 2008, NDP leader Jack Layton also criticized the Green Shift, saying that it would hurt consumers, would be nothing more than a nuisance for energy producers, and evaluates emission equally across all sectors instead of maximizing reductions where the cost is lowest. Layton further noted that Dion's proposal does not set a target for reducing emissions.

Near the end of the campaign, Dion had an interview with CTV Halifax's anchor Steve Murphy, where Dion asked the host three times to restart the interview because he didn't understand the mixed tense and timing of a question about the economy: "If you were Prime Minister now, what would you have done about the economy and this crisis that Mr. Harper has not done?" Murphy initially agreed not to air it but network executives decided to release it, generating controversy. On election night, Dion angrily refused to speak to the CTV reporters scrumming around him, saying "The last one I want to speak first [sic] is CTV – you understand that?"

The Liberals lost support on 14 October federal election, being reduced to 77 seats, down from 103 won in the 2006 election. They captured only 26.2 per cent of the popular vote — two points lower than the disastrous showing in 1984 under John Turner and only four points ahead of the party's worst ever result in 1867. Dion became the first Liberal Opposition Leader to fail to make a net gain in seats at his first election since Lester B. Pearson in 1958. Dion said that the party lost because he did not get the Liberal message out, and took responsibility saying "If people are asking why, it's because I failed." Dion added that he never had a chance to establish his personal image with voters because of the Conservative ads depicting him as a "dithering egghead". Liberal veterans described Dion as a "lone wolf" who dismissed suggestions from his senior advisers to avoid using the Green Shift as an election platform. A party insider also said that Dion was reluctant to emphasize the Liberal team because he felt that he was being overshadowed by leadership rival Bob Rae. On 20 October, Dion announced his resignation as leader, pending the election of his successor, "because I failed."

2008 parliamentary dispute
In November 2008, the Conservative government provided the House of Commons with a fiscal update, which included austerity measures. Since money bills are matters of confidence, the opposition was forced to consider whether to accept the motion or bring down the government. The update was ultimately rejected by the opposition parties on the grounds that it lacked any fiscal stimulus during the ongoing economic crisis. Rather than force a new election, Liberals and NDP reached a deal to form a minority coalition government, with support from the Bloc Québécois. In the agreement, Dion would have been the Prime Minister until May, when the Liberal Party would elect his successor. Dion sent a letter of the plan to Governor General Michaëlle Jean, and the opposition had scheduled a non-confidence motion for 8 December 2008. To draw public support, Prime Minister Harper and Dion both addressed the nation on 3 December 2008. Dion's Liberal rebuttal, however, was considered poor in production quality and delivered late to the networks, and some believed that this had undermined support for the coalition. On 4 December 2008, the Governor General granted Prime Minister Harper's request to suspend parliament until January 2009, thereby delaying a scheduled non-confidence vote and the likely defeat of the Conservative government.

Shortly afterwards, Dion came under increasing pressure from the party to immediately step down as Liberal leader. On 8 December, Dion announced that he would resign the leadership as soon as an interim leader was chosen by caucus; his resignation took effect two days later, upon the selection of Michael Ignatieff as interim leader. This made Dion the second permanent Liberal leader in Canadian history not to become Prime Minister, after Edward Blake in 1887. On his retirement, Dion became the shortest serving non-interim leader of the Liberal Party since Confederation—serving for approximately four months less time (740 days to 855 days) of the next shortest serving leader, Paul Martin (2003–2006). Dion delivered a farewell speech on 2 May 2009, at the Liberal Party leadership convention.

Post-leadership
Ignatieff appointed a smaller shadow cabinet after being named interim leader and did not give Dion a critical role within it. Over the course of Ignatieff's time as leader Dion stayed out of the limelight, working quietly in his riding and expressing his views privately to Ignatieff.

In September 2009, it was reported that Denis Coderre, Ignatieff's Quebec lieutenant, was attempting to oust Dion and fellow Montreal-area MPs Raymonde Folco, Lise Zarac, and Bernard Patry for the next election, with the hope of replacing them with star candidates. However, Coderre ended up resigning as Quebec Lieutenant during this time over conflicting views with Ignatieff and his inner circle.

In the 2011 election, the Liberal Party placed third in a federal election for the first time in Canadian history. Dion was one of just seven Liberal MPs re-elected in his home province, he won 43.43 per cent of the popular in his riding which was the highest vote share for a Liberal in Quebec. In the 41st Parliament, Dion had a much more prominent role within the Liberal caucus than he had after his resignation as leader in 2008. Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae appointed Dion as the Liberals Critic for Intergovernmental Affairs and spokesman for la Francophonie. A month after the election Dion attended the NDP's federal convention as the observer for the Liberal Party, at that time he called on NDP leader not to appease separatists as a way to maintain his party's support in Quebec. He also criticized the NDP's policy that 50-per-cent-plus-one in a referendum would justify Quebec separating from Canada.

In November 2011, Dion was awarded with the Fray International Sustainability Award at Fray International Symposium in Mexico, for his work and advocacy towards sustainable development.

Minister of Foreign Affairs (2015–2017)
The 2015 election was a resounding victory for Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party, and Dion was comfortably re-elected to an eighth term representing the newly reformulated Saint-Laurent riding. On 4 November 2015, Dion was appointed the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Justin Trudeau's cabinet. Dion was also named as chair of the cabinet's committee on environment and climate change. As a senior cabinet minister, Dion was third in the order of succession. One of his first foreign policy statements included a call to diffuse Sunni-Shiite tensions in the aftermath of Nimr al-Nimrs execution.

In a March 2016 speech at the University of Ottawa, Dion used "responsible conviction" – a term syncretized from the work of German sociologist Max Weber – to describe the Trudeau government's foreign policy. Dion sought re-engagement with the world, including authoritarian regimes such as Russia and Iran and a focus on multilateralism, climate change, and the United Nations. Dion indicated that Canada would oppose capital punishment for Canadians imprisoned abroad and would change its contribution to the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant from providing airstrikes to providing special forces trainers. Dion also tied the concept of responsible conviction to continuing some policies of the previous Stephen Harper government in a modified manner, such as continuing its maternal and newborn health initiative but with new funding for abortion and family planning. He also justified continuing a $15 billion sale of light armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia despite its human rights abuses to protect Canadian jobs and preserve Canada's credibility in signing major international deals, but committed to reassessing the rules on Canadian export permits so that future deals would conform to Canadian interests such as human rights promotion. Dion ended his speech by rejecting the concept of Canada as an honest broker, because that term had become too associated with moral relativism and lack of conviction, instead saying that Canada had to be "a fair-minded and determined peace builder."

Dion was dropped entirely from the cabinet in Prime Minister Trudeau's 10 January 2017 cabinet shuffle and replaced as Minister of Foreign Affairs by Chrystia Freeland. The move, which was bitterly resented by Dion, was seen in part as a response to United States President-elect Donald Trump's incoming presidency.

Diplomatic career (2017–present)
After his departure from cabinet, Dion was reportedly offered the position of Canada's Ambassador to the European Union and Germany. Other sources stated that he could be appointed Canada's Ambassador to France.

Dion announced his retirement from politics, making no mention of either potential position, in a statement released shortly after the cabinet shuffle. He confirmed, in his farewell speech to the House of Commons on 31 January 2017, that he had accepted the position of Ambassador to the EU and Germany instead of accepting an offer from the Université de Montréal. His resignation from Parliament officially took effect on 6 February 2017.

Dion served as Ambassador to Germany until 1 June 2022, when he was appointed Canada's Ambassador to France and Monaco while retaining his role as special envoy to the European Union.

Electoral record
Source: Elections Canada

Honorary Degrees

 * Stephane Dion has received many Honorary Degrees, These Include

 * Honorary Degrees

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Stéphane Dion


text:
Fosh

Fosh or FOSH can refer to:
 * The Fosh (Star Wars), a fictional race in the Star Wars universe
 * Fosh (Haganah unit), an elite Jewish strike force
 * Fosh (baseball), a type of baseball pitch
 * Free and open source hardware
 * Fosh, a surname
 * Marc Fosh (born 1963), British chef
 * Matthew Fosh (born 1957), British cricketer

title: Fosh


text:
Alt key

The Alt key (pronounced   or  ) on a computer keyboard is used to change (alternate) the function of other pressed keys. Thus, the Alt key is a modifier key, used in a similar fashion to the Shift key. For example, simply pressing A will type the letter 'a', but holding down the Alt key while pressing A will cause the computer to perform an Alt function, which varies from program to program. The international standard ISO/IEC 9995-2 calls it Alternate key. The key is located on either side of the space bar, but in non-US PC keyboard layouts, rather than a second Alt key, there is an 'Alt Gr' key to the right of the space bar. Both placements are in accordance with ISO/IEC 9995-2. With some keyboard mappings (such as US-International), the right Alt key can be reconfigured to function as an AltGr key although not engraved as such.

The standardized keyboard symbol for the Alt key, (which may be used when the usual Latin lettering "Alt" is not preferred for labeling the key) is given in ISO/IEC 9995-7 as symbol 25, and in ISO 7000 "Graphical symbols for use on equipment" as symbol ISO-7000-2105. This symbol is encoded in Unicode as. Macintosh keyboards equate the Alt key with the key, which has its own symbol, similar to that of the ISO standard.

The Alt key should not be confused with the Altmode key (sometimes also labelled Alt) on some Teletype and ASCII terminals, which is a synonym for the ASCII escape character.

Evolution
The Alt key has come to replace the Meta key of the old MIT keyboards. In their original function, both Alt and Meta would set the high bit of the signal generated by the key to 1 (for example, A generates 01000001 while Alt generates 11000001). However, in modern software, due to the requirement for all bits to be used for post-ASCII 8-bit character sets, Alt no longer works in such a way.

Since the 1990s Alt has been printed on the Option key on most Mac keyboards. As of 2017, the newest Apple keyboards do not contain the Alt label. Alt is used in non-Mac software, such as non-macOS Unix and Windows programs, but in macOS it is always referred to as the Option key. The Option key's behaviour in macOS differs slightly from that of the Windows Alt key (it is used as a modifier rather than to access pull-down menus, for example).

Alt key combinations
The Alt key is well known as part of the key combinations:

 * Ctrl may restart the computer (its original function); in some operating systems it brings up a task manager - see Control-Alt-Delete.
 * Alt (often referred to as Cmd.) brings up the Force Quit window in Apple's macOS, see Option key.
 * Ctrl usually causes the X display server to shut down or to restart, see Control-Alt-Backspace.
 * Alt closes the current window (or shuts down the computer if the desktop is in the foreground) on most windowing systems.
 * Alt switches between language layouts.
 * Alt switches between the currently opened windows on most windowing systems, often referred to as alt-tabbing.
 * Alt allows for a new line when Enter performs another command. (This is also done by Shift in other programs.) For example, in a word processor, this creates a line break rather than a paragraph break.
 * Holding Alt while dragging the mouse over a hyperlink selects it as if it were solid text. On Linux, this is done using Super + Alt . (The Linux "Super" key is the physically the same as the Windows key.)
 * When only holding Alt while dragging with the mouse on Linux (X Window System), the window is moved.

Windows
In Microsoft Windows, holding down the Alt key while typing in numbers (often referred to as Alt codes) on the numeric keypad allows the user to type special characters not normally available on the keyboard. For example, holding down Alt while typing 0225 (Alt225) on the numeric keypad will result in á, the character at 225 in the (Western Latin) code page 1252. These extended keyboard characters are useful for persons using foreign languages, mathematics, currency symbols, business use, etc. Some computers work the same if the Num Lock key is on.

macOS
On a Macintosh, the Alt key is called the Option key. It is not used to enter numeric character codes. Instead, keyboard letters and numbers are used. The diagram below shows the special characters a US Mac keyboard will produce when the Option key is pressed.

The highlighted orange keys show the accents available from the combination of the Alt key and the keyboard characters e i u (on the top letters row) and ` n (on the bottom letters row). The accent then can be applied to associated letters both lower and uppercase. The additional characters a Mac will produce are a combination of both the Option key and the Shift key pressed down together. With this combination pressed the keyboard will now produce a different set or an uppercase version of the previous set in some cases.

Alt key pressed alone
When a user presses the Alt key by itself on Microsoft Windows, that moves keyboard focus to the menu bar of the application having keyboard focus, and the key is not delivered to the application. In that state, another press of the Alt key will be delivered to the application.

On other platforms, for example Ubuntu, the Alt key pressed by itself may invoke another application and not be delivered to the application having keyboard focus. In Ubuntu 16.04, pressing the key opens the HUD, which is an input field that lets the user perform menu commands such as opening a file, or creating a new file.

title: Alt key


text:
Category:Baroque composers

Baroque composers are those individuals who wrote music in the Baroque era, between approximately 1600 and 1760.

title: Category:Baroque composers


text: User talk:81.86.98.250

title: User talk:81.86.98.250


text:
The Fly II

The Fly II is a 1989 American science fiction horror film directed by Chris Walas. The film stars Eric Stoltz and Daphne Zuniga, and is a sequel to the 1986 film The Fly, itself a remake of the 1958 film of the same name. Stoltz's character in this sequel is the adult son of Veronica Quaife and Seth Brundle, a scientist who became a human-fly hybrid as a result of an experiment gone awry, played by Jeff Goldblum in the 1986 remake. With the exception of footage of Goldblum from the first film, John Getz was the only actor to reprise his role, with another actress filling the Geena Davis role as Quaife in the opening birth scene. Unlike the previous film, this film received negative reviews.

Plot
Several months after the events of The Fly, Veronica Quaife gives birth to a larval sac and dies. The sac splits open to reveal a seemingly normal baby boy. Anton Bartok, the owner of the company that financed Seth Brundle's teleportation experiments, adopts the child and names him Martin. Martin grows up in a clinical environment. His physical and mental maturity is highly accelerated, and he possesses a genius-level intellect, incredible reflexes, and no need for sleep. He knows he is aging faster than a normal human, but is unaware of the true cause, having been told his father died from the same rapid aging disease.

At age three, Martin has the physique of a 10-year-old and frequently sneaks around to explore the Bartok complex. He finds a room containing laboratory animals and befriends a dog. The next night, he brings it food but finds it missing. He enters an observation booth overlooking Bay 17. There, scientists have reassembled Brundle's Telepods, but have been unable to duplicate the programming that enabled them to teleport living subjects. An attempt to teleport the dog fails, leaving it horribly deformed. It maims one of the scientists, horrifying Martin. Two years later, Martin's body has matured to that of a 25-year-old. On his fifth birthday, Bartok presents Martin with a bungalow on the Bartok facility's property and offers Martin the job of repairing his father's Telepods. When Martin is uneasy about the proposition, Bartok shows him Veronica Quaife's videotapes, which documented Seth Brundle's progress with the Telepods. Seeing his father describe how the Telepods ostensibly improved and energized his body, Martin accepts Bartok's proposal.

As he works on the Telepods, Martin befriends an employee, Beth Logan. Beth invites Martin to a party at the specimens division, where he learns that the mutated dog is still kept alive and studied. Thinking Beth is aware of the dog's imprisonment, Martin argues with her, leaves the party, and goes to the animal's holding pen. The deformed dog, in terrible pain, still remembers Martin, and he tearfully euthanizes it with chloroform. Martin reconciles with Beth and arrives at his father's revelation and realizes the Telepods' computer needs to analyze living flesh. Martin shows Beth his perfected Telepods by teleporting a kitten without harm. They become lovers, but Martin shows signs of his eventual mutation into a human-fly hybrid. Martin devises a potential cure for his condition, which involves swapping out his mutated genes for healthy human genes. Martin shelves this idea when he realizes the other person would be subject to a grotesque genetic disfigurement.

Eventually, Martin learns that Bartok has hidden cameras in his bungalow. Martin breaks into Bartok's records room, where he learns of his father's true fate. Bartok confronts Martin and explains that he is aware of and has been waiting for his inevitable mutation. Bartok reveals his plan to use Martin's body and the Telepods' potential for genetic manipulation for profit. Martin's insect genes fully awaken and his transformation into a human-insect hybrid begins, and he escapes from Bartok Industries. Bartok is unable to use the Telepods, as they are locked by a password. Martin also installed a computer virus which will erase the Telepods' programming if the wrong password is entered. Bartok orders a search for Martin.

Martin goes to Beth and explains the situation, and the two flee. They visit Veronica Quaife's old confidant, Stathis Borans, who confirms for Martin that the Telepods are his only chance for a cure. They keep running, but Martin's physical and emotional changes become too much for Beth to handle, and she eventually surrenders them both to Bartok. Without revealing the password, Martin becomes enveloped in a cocoon. Bartok interrogates Beth for the password. Shortly after, the fully transformed Martin emerges from his cocoon and breaks into Bay 17. He grabs Bartok, forces him to type in the password, "Dad", and drags Bartok and himself into a Telepod. Martin gestures Beth to activate the gene-swapping sequence and she complies. Martin is restored to a fully human form, and Bartok is transformed into a deformed monstrosity.

Inside the dog's former enclosure, the Bartok creature crawls towards a food bowl filled with slops, and sees a single housefly sitting on its edge.

Cast
In addition, Saffron Henderson briefly appears as Veronica Quaife, the role played by Geena Davis in the original film while archive footage of Jeff Goldblum, uncredited, shows him in the Seth Brundle role from the original film.

Production
Geena Davis, who played Veronica Quaife in the first film, was replaced by Saffron Henderson for the sequel, as Davis refused to reprise her role due to her character's death in the first act disallowing the opportunity for character development. Keanu Reeves was offered the role of Brundle but turned it down as he disliked the script. Josh Brolin was passed after a failed audition for the role. The Fly II is an early entry in the filmography of Frank Darabont, who co-wrote the screenplay. Tom Sullivan worked as a sculptor for the film's visual effects. Ken and Jim Wheat were tasked with rewriting Mick Garris's draft of the screenplay after Fox turned down the duo's proposal for After Midnight The Wheat's described the initial draft of the film as "broad" and attempted to refocus the film but were unable to do so due to Fox's rushed schedule as well as receiving notes from eight different people that were oftentimes in conflict with each other.

Home media
The film was released on VHS by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, and in 2000, the film was released on DVD as a double feature with The Fly. The film received a standalone DVD release on October 5, 2004. In March 2017, Australian distribution company Via Vision Entertainment released a five-disc, region-free box set containing the original 1958 The Fly, its sequels Return of the Fly and Curse of the Fly, the 1986 version of The Fly, and The Fly II on Blu-ray.

Box office
The Fly II grossed $20,021,322 at the US box office and a further $18,881,857 abroad, resulting in a worldwide total of $38,903,179.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 29% based on 17 reviews with a weighted average rating of 4.57/10. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

Janet Maslin from The New York Times gave the film a negative review, writing, "The only respect in which it matches Mr. Cronenberg's Fly is in its sheer repulsiveness, since this film degenerates into a series of slime-ridden, glop-oozing special effects in its final half hour." Richard Harrington from The Washington Post offered the film similar criticism, calling the film's script "flat", and criticized the film's special effects as being "clumsy". Author and film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film his lowest rating, calling the film "Alternately dull and messy but mostly dull". David Hughes from Empire awarded the film 3/5 stars, writing, "Whilst this fly is not as tightly scripted or keenly directed as its parent, it does have pace, breathless tension and the sort of gross-out effects that rules out kebabs for some time after the credits have rolled." Ryan Lambie of Den of Geek wrote that while the film "wasn't particularly clever, ... as an exercise in pure, claret-stained entertainment, it deserves far more credit than it frequently receives".

Comic books
Beginning in March 2015, IDW Publishing released a five-issue comic book miniseries titled The Fly: Outbreak, written by Brandon Seifert.

title: The Fly II


text:
Category:Republic of Ireland

This category is for pages specifically referring to the Republic of Ireland only.

Category:Ireland covers both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and deals with topics relating to the two jurisdictions on the island of Ireland.

title: Category:Republic of Ireland


text:
Central Bank of Iceland

Iceland bonds.webp in 2008

]]

The Central Bank of Iceland (Seðlabanki Íslands) is the central bank or reserve bank of Iceland. It has served in this capacity since 1961, when it was created by an act of the Alþingi out of the central banking department of Landsbanki Íslands, which had the sole right of note issuance since 1927 and had conducted only limited monetary policy.

Seðlabanki Íslands is owned by the Icelandic government, and is administered by a governor and a seven-member supervisory board, elected by the country's parliament following each general election. It has the sole right to issue notes and coins of Icelandic krónur and to manage the state's foreign currency reserves. The Central Bank Act of 1986 eliminated the ability of the Central Bank to regulate the interest rates of commercial banks and savings banks.

Though nominally independent, the Central Bank of Iceland was historically expected to follow the lead of the central government. In 2001, however, a floating exchange rate policy was introduced and since then the Central Bank has been empowered to adopt an inflation target and manage monetary policy so as to achieve price stability independent of the policies of the central government.

Monetary reform
In 2015, after the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis, the government of Iceland considered "a revolutionary monetary proposal" to abolish private money creation and to end to fractional-reserve banking. Similar to the Swiss Sovereign Money Initiative, this plan would remove the power of money creation from the commercial banks and give it to the Central Bank of Iceland.

title: Central Bank of Iceland


text:
Category:Optics

Optics is the science of light and its interaction with matter.

Optics is a broad subject area. Much of the content is covered in subcategories. Many basic concepts are covered in Category:Geometrical optics, in which light is considered as if it were composed of rays. Articles dealing with the wave nature of light can be found in Category:Physical optics. More advanced topics are in Category:Nonlinear optics, Category:Photonics, and Category:Quantum optics. For optical devices, see Category:Optical devices. For individual optical elements like lenses and mirrors, see Category:Optical components.

title: Category:Optics


text:
Talk:Achilles tendon

Humans are great apes
Article says that the achilles tendon is "short or absent in Great Apes, but long in arboreal gibbons and humans." Humans are great apes. Also, the comma in the quote is unnecessary. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.152.104.238 (talk) 18:02, 16 February 2011 (UTC)

Is exquisitely the right word?
Is "exquisitely painful" an appropriate phrase in this context? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.111.164.115 (talk) 12:03, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Suggesting an external link to Achilles tendon research summary
I suggest that we add an external link to what I believe is the only listing and summary of peer reviewed Achilles tendon research on the web. The 50+ Achilles tendon research papers listed are a selection of earlier ground breaking research, current state-of-the-art research, and research overviews. Each listing includes the research paper’s key point or points. The URL is: http://achillestendon.com/research/

Wikipedia’s External Link Guidelines for What Can Normally Be Linked includes: “3. Sites that contain neutral and accurate material that is relevant to an encyclopedic understanding of the subject and cannot be integrated into the Wikipedia article due to copyright issues,[3] amount of detail (such as professional athlete statistics, movie or television credits, interview transcripts, or online textbooks), or other reasons.” I believe the “Sites that contain neutral and accurate material that is relevant to an encyclopedic understanding of the subject and cannot be integrated into the Wikipedia article due to ... amount of detail” applies here.

I am suggesting it here on the talk page rather than adding it myself because I have a potential Wikipedia conflict of interest: I am one of achillestendon.com’s authors. Thanks in advance for considering this suggestion.

ChessFish (talk) 00:48, 10 March 2013 (UTC)

title: Talk:Achilles tendon


text:
High Plains (Australia)

The High Plains of south-eastern Australia are a sub-region, or more strictly a string of adjacent areas, in and adjacent to the Australian Alps, part of the Great Dividing Range. They were long used for summer grazing, in some cases since the 1830s. Much of the sub-region are now national parks.

Location and features
Consisting of a weathered plateau divided by deep gorges, the High Plains region provided natural paddocks. The higher areas were natural grassed pastures, and lower areas were cleared of the native forest by settlers, some of whom had grazing licenses while others were merely squatters. Fences were necessary only for stockyards, as during summer the cattle had no incentive to wander into the forests or down the steep gorges. However it was essential to muster the cattle in autumn before colder weather, and even snowfalls, drove them down into the gorges. If this happened because of unseasonably early snow, or other factors, the cattle might be lost or might go feral.

European history
Droving cattle to and from these summer pastures (a practice known as yaylag pastoralism) presented enormous challenges of horsemanship. In this part of the world, the easiest trails normally follow the ridges, not the valleys. Attempts by early explorers to follow the valleys ended in sheer cliffs. However, persuading cattle to climb a narrow spur in order to follow a ridge route required skill and courage. Such routes were also unsuitable for all but the strongest wheeled vehicles, and slow and risky even for bullock drays, so pack horses were the more common way of transporting freight.

Some of Australia's favourite stories and poems originated in this area, notably "The Man from Snowy River" by Banjo Paterson.

title: High Plains (Australia)


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Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs

The minister of public safety, democratic institutions and intergovernmental affairs (ministre de la sécurité publique, des institutions démocratiques et des affaires intergouvernementales) is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet responsible for overseeing Public Safety Canada, the internal security department of the Government of Canada, and the Emergency Management Act. The portfolio succeeded the role of solicitor general of Canada in 2005.

The position was nominally created in December 2003 as a successor to the previous position of solicitor general, with the official title of Solicitor General carrying over during the 27th Canadian Ministry. It incorporated the responsibilities associated with the solicitor general, including responsibility for the Correctional Service of Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Parole Board of Canada, and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. The portfolio also assumed responsibility for the Canada Border Services Agency upon that agency's formation in December 2003. The title of Solicitor General was abolished in 2005 and formally replaced in relevant laws with the present title.

List of ministers
Key:

{{legend||Liberal Party of Canada|border=1px solid #AAAAAA}} {{legend||Conservative Party of Canada|border=1px solid #AAAAAA}}


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Talk:United States Memorials

Headline text
I think (location, opened in date) is a fairly good way to provide such data on each monument. If anyone has a better idea, that's fine, but regardless, all the entries need to be uniform. Also, please ensure that words are spelled correctly and that appropriate things are Wikified. -- Slowking Man

National
Is it just me, or is the Phil. Firefighters Mem. out of place on this page? This page seems to be for "National" memorials. --J Clear 01:57, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
 * You migth be right, but it's just the way it's written. It would be simple enough to expand the page. --evrik 16:29, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

Criteria?
What is the purpose of this page? What are its inclusion criteria? Rmhermen (talk) 22:32, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

title: Talk:United States Memorials


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Category:Classical composers

Classical composers are those individuals who write/wrote music in the traditional forms, also known as classical music (not limited to the classical music era). Composers should be listed in one of the subcategories; as such this page should only contain those categories and no articles.

title: Category:Classical composers


text: Category:Chubu region

title: Category:Chubu region


text: Category:Kanto region

title: Category:Kanto region


text: Category:Shikoku region

title: Category:Shikoku region


text: Category:Tohoku region

title: Category:Tohoku region


text: Category:Chugoku region

title: Category:Chugoku region


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Frizzle

Frizzle may refer to:
 * Frizzle (chicken plumage), a domestic chicken plumage pattern featuring curled feathers
 * Frizzle chicken (breed), a specific breed of domestic chicken featuring the frizzle plumage pattern
 * Ms. Frizzle, a character in The Magic School Bus
 * To fry (food)

title: Frizzle


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Talk:High Plains (Australia)

Untitled
Just on a hunch, please don't 'correct' the term droving to driving. Droving is correct. Andrewa 01:05, 31 May 2004 (UTC)

title: Talk:High Plains (Australia)


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User:Naus

University of Chicago medical student. Native Chinese and English speaker.

title: User:Naus


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Jack (1996 film)

Jack is a 1996 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film co-produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film stars Robin Williams, Diane Lane, Jennifer Lopez, Brian Kerwin, Fran Drescher, and Bill Cosby. Williams plays the role of Jack Powell, a boy who ages four times faster than normal as a result of a unique medical condition.

Jack was released in the United States on August 9, 1996. The film received negative reviews from critics and grossed $78 million against its $45 million budget.

Plot
During a costume party, guest Karen Powell goes into labor and is rushed to the hospital by her husband Brian and their friends. The baby boy, named Jack, inexplicably looks full-term and healthy despite having been born in the 10th week of gestation. Medical exams reveal that Jack suffers from a unique condition that results in his growing four times faster than normal.

Ten years later, at age 10, Jack has the body of a 40-year-old man. One day, four boys are lurking outside of his house, intrigued by rumors of a monster inhabiting it. Jack scares them away by dipping a fake eye into slime and throwing it at them from his window. Jack has grown childish due to this secluded life, having socialized only with his parents and his tutor, Lawrence Woodruff, who suggests that he attend school. Jack's parents initially reject the suggestion, fearing that school could be traumatic to him, but they eventually agree.

When he first attends school, Jack is rejected by most kids due to his appearance. His father gives him some encouragement by installing a basketball hoop to help him learn to fit in. One day, a boy named Louis picks him for his team to play basketball, and they end up winning against some bullies. After school, Louis asks Jack to pose as the principal to avoid punishment from his mother, Dolores. Afterward, they become friends and Louis invites him to a clubhouse with the other kids, eventually enlisting him to get adult items for them.

Jack develops his first crush on Miss Marquez, his teacher, but, when she rejects him, he becomes deeply saddened and collapses going down the stairs. At the hospital, Jack is revealed to have begun developing cardiovascular problems, a sign that he is aging. Realizing the dangers that it might entail for his health, his parents decide to withdraw him from school, which upsets him.

Jack sneaks out of the house and goes to a bar, where he gets drunk, befriends a man named Paulie and tries to hit on Dolores. However, he gets into a fight, and both are arrested. Dolores bails out Jack and comforts him after dropping him off at home. He locks himself in his room and does not come out for weeks. Karen speculates that Jack realized the fragility of his life and is now scared of facing the outside world again.

Meanwhile, his friends continue to come to his house, hoping that he will come out and play, but he refuses. Finally, Louis manages to lure Jack out of the house by bringing over the entire class, spending the day playing in the front yard. The next day, Jack decides to return to school.

Seven years later, an elderly-looking Jack and his four best friends are at their high-school graduation. He delivers the valedictorian speech, reminding those in attendance that life is short, and he encourages his classmates to make the best of it as they all head into the future.

Production
In January 1995, it was announced that Robin Williams would star in Jack with Francis Ford Coppola set to direct. John Travolta was interested in playing the lead role of Jack, but due to an apology from Disney to Robin Williams regarding royalties from Aladdin, Williams was guaranteed the role.

Release
Jack debuted at number one at the US box office and grossed roughly $58.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $78 million worldwide, on a budget of $45 million.

Reception
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 17% of 35 critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Robin Williams' childlike energy is channeled in all the wrong places with Jack, a bizarre tragedy that aims for uplift but sinks deep into queasy schmaltz." Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B+" on a scale of A+ to F.

Todd McCarthy of Variety called it a "tedious, uneventful fantasy" that wastes the talents of the filmmakers.

Accolades
Jack was nominated for Worst Picture at the 1996 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards but lost to Striptease.

Response from Francis Ford Coppola
About the film's reception, Francis Ford Coppola said, "Jack was a movie that everybody hated and I was constantly damned and ridiculed for. I must say I find Jack sweet and amusing. I don't dislike it as much as everyone, but that's obvious—I directed it. I know I should be ashamed of it but I'm not. I don't know why everybody hated it so much. I think it was because of the type of movie it was. It was considered that I had made Apocalypse Now and I'm like a Marty Scorsese type of director, and here I am making this dumb Disney film with Robin Williams. But I was always happy to do any type of film."

Music
The film's theme is "Star", performed by Canadian musician Bryan Adams.

title: Jack (1996 film)