[August 26, 2011] Canada at a Glance: AM Tweet WINNIPEG, MB, Aug. 26, 2011 (CNS Canada), Aug 26, 2011 (Commodity News Service Canada, Inc. via COMTEX) -- The following is a quick glimpse of the news making the headlines in Canada. HARPER WRAPPING UP ARCTIC VISIT Yellowknife - Prime Minister Harper wraps up his annual northern tour today with a visit to the Yukon community of Haines Junction. Yesterday Harper was in Yellowknife, announcing an extension of a northern health care agreement. The $60-million extension will take the program to 2014. Harper says by then the government will have to renegotiate the 10-year-old health-care funding deal with the provinces. Harper acknowledges the difficulties in providing health services to a sparse population spread across remote northern communities. He says a new health accord will look at ways to improve the situation. Harper also spent some private time yesterday visiting families of the victims of last weekend's First Air crash in Resolute that claimed 12 lives. (Associated Press) LIBERALS BLAST TORIES FOR DECISION TO SKIP EXPO 2012 Vancouver - The federal Liberals say the Conservative government is making a mistake by skipping next year's world's fair in South Korea. Heritage Minister James Moore has said Canada won't participate in Expo 2012 because it would be too expensive when the country is dealing with a budget deficit. The Liberals say the Conservatives spent $50 million to bring the G8 leaders to Tony Clement's Ontario riding, but don't think it's important to invest $10 million to showcase Canada to millions of visitors at the 2012 fair. The Liberals say snubbing South Korea is shortsighted and will hurt the Canadian tourism industry and the economic recovery in general. Vancouver businessman David Sinclair, who builds pavilions for major events, says some Korean officials are offended Canada has rejected the invitation, adding it doesn't look good when Canada is negotiating a free-trade deal with South Korea. A Harris-Decima report commissioned for Heritage Canada following Canada's participation in Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China indicated that Canada is not a top draw at world expositions. (Canadian Press) CANADIANS LAX ABOUT CELLPHONE SECURITY Less than half of Canadian cellphone and tablet users put password locks on the devices or adjust settings to limit the sharing of personal information stored on the devices, a poll commissioned by Canada's privacy commissioner has found. "Canadians are recognizing that their personal information is not safe in this new digital environment, unless they take concrete measures to protect it," Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said in a news release Thursday with the results of the poll. "Unfortunately, however, too few are taking even the most basic precautions." The telephone survey of 2000 adults, conducted between Feb. 23 and March 6 by Harris/Decima, found that among the 74 per cent that owned a mobile device, just 39 per cent used password locks and 40 per cent adjusted settings to protect their personal information. Women (35 per cent) were less likely to use a password lock than men (42 per cent). The survey is considered accurate within plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Those who said they stored personal information or had apps on their device were more likely to take precautions to protect their privacy. The survey also found that: -One third of Canadians use public Wi-Fi at places such as coffee shops and airports where online communications are not always protected by encryption. -One in five users of social networking sites do not adjust privacy settings to control who can see photos and information about them online. Those aged 18 to 34 were more likely to use features such as passwords and settings to protect their privacy than older Canadians. "This was a gratifying finding," Stoddart said in a statement. "Young people are sometimes stereotyped as digital exhibitionists who are quite uninhibited in posting comments and personal images. And yet, this new data shows that they not only care about privacy, they are actually leaders in protecting it." However, younger people were least likely to say their knowledge of privacy rights was very good or express confidence in their ability to protect it. The survey was conducted more than a month before a series of high profile data breaches, including one in April that affected more than 100 million users of Sony services such as the PlayStation Network. At that time, respondents were less concerned than they were in 2009 about hacking technologies and identity theft. (CBC News) [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]