Latest news with #Canadian-built
News18
10-05-2025
- Politics
- News18
Who Is Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, Father Of Pakistan ISPR Chief With al-Qaeda & Taliban Links?
Last Updated: Bashiruddin Mahmood, father of Pakistan's ISPR chief Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhary, is a nuclear scientist who was sanctioned by UN for providing chemical information to al-Qaeda The father of Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) chief Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhary is a nuclear scientist, who has been sanctioned by the United Nations for providing the Taliban and al-Qaeda with information about chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood is known for his eccentric views on science, as he had once claimed that djinns could be used to generate electricity. As per the UN, Bashiruddin had met with slain al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and 'provided information about the infrastructure needed for a nuclear weapons programme and the effects of nuclear weapons". Bashiruddin also founded the Ummah Tameer-e-Nau (UTN) in 1999 – a right-wing organisation that was banned and sanctioned by the United States in 2001. He was among those who were listed and sanctioned by the Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee in December 2001. He was also sanctioned as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the United States' Office of Foreign Assets Control, with an address listing of the Al-Qaeda Wazir Akbar Khan safe house, Kabul. His Projects Bashiruddin is believed to have studied engineering in the United Kingdom and Germany. He was honoured with Pakistan's third-highest civilian honour, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Later, however, Bashiruddin became a critic of the politician, and supportive of jihadists in Afghanistan. He subscribes to a brand called 'Islamic science", which holds that the Quran is a fount of scientific knowledge. Bashiruddin has also published papers concerning djinni, which are described in the Quran as beings made of fire. He has proposed that these entities could be tapped to solve the energy crisis, and he has written on how to understand the mechanics of life after death. 'I think that if we develop our souls, we can develop communication with them," Bashiruddin Mahmood said about djinni in The Wall Street Journal in an interview in 1998. 'Every new idea has its opponents," he added. 'But there is no reason for this controversy over Islam and science because there is no conflict between Islam and science." Bashiruddin came to prominence as an engineer in the 1970's when he worked out a technique for detecting leaks in steam pipes at a Canadian-built reactor, the Karachi nuclear power plant, in Pakistan. Bashiruddin also spearheaded the development of the Kahuta plant near Islamabad, which, according to a 1992 issue of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, has the capacity to produce about 100 kg of enriched uranium a year, enough for half a dozen bombs. In an interview with The Financial Times, Bashiruddin said he opposed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty on the ground that Pakistan needed to carry out test explosions to develop peaceful uses of atomic energy. After his arrest in 2001, Bashiruddin had admitted to meeting with Osama bin Laden. But he stressed that he only discussed raising funds for a technical college in Afghanistan. The ISI released him after it concluded that Bashiruddin did not possess the technical knowledge to pass on nuclear weapons secrets to al-Qaeda. His Prophecies Following his retirement from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, Bashiruddin wrote books on doomsday, seeking to merge religious scripture with science. In 'Mechanics of the Doomsday and Life after Death', he warned that the Last Hour is not very far off. 'A few hundred years, this way or that, is of little significance. The end is imminent," he wrote, as quoted by ThePrint. First Published: May 10, 2025, 11:10 IST
National Observer
09-05-2025
- Automotive
- National Observer
Arrow reborn: an all-Canadian EV aims to revolutionize industry
Turns out $20 million could be a good price for a new EV. If that car is the Project Arrow prototype — an all-Canadian electric vehicle dreamt up by an auto industry body that has already drummed up $500 million in contracts for the companies which contributed their technologies, that is. The EV concept, named after the avant-garde but controversial Canadian-built Avro Arrow supersonic fighter jet cancelled in 1959, has been logging thousands of air miles of its own since its launch in 2020. The distinctive gun-metal grey design was on display at Canada's pavillion at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, UAE, and has been in the spotlight at industry exhibitions around the world. International interest in the eye-catching EV model has already translated into half a billion dollars in deals for the 25 home-grown startups that delivered technologies for the prototype, ranging from an innovative electric drive-train through a 3D-printed chassis to a state-of-the-art navigation system. For Flavio Volpe, who as head of Canada's Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association (APMA) spearheaded development of the project, the enthusiasm and deal-making are a vindication of the 'true value for money' of the EV concept, which raised $12 million from the Canadian auto sector and received $8 million in government backing to build the prototype. 'This is not about prototyping a design for mass production. These are designed to be a platform and showcase,' he stated, speaking with Canada's National Observer. 'So $20 million is a lot for a car, but not when you think about it in terms of what it can generate for the Canadian auto sector, for the Canadian economy.' 'Things are changing very rapidly. This is an occasion for a big rethink of the auto sector canon. We can't continue to think conventionally." APMA's Flavio Volpe 'With Project Arrow, Canada shows it has the technology and the people to do an 'all-Canadian' car,' said Volpe. An industrial net-zero call-to-arms The spark of conception for the Arrow came five years ago during the federal throne speech, which included a government call-to-arms to all in industry to imagine what their sectors 'could look like in a net-zero future.' Volpe took the question to representatives from APMA's 400-plus parts-supplier members with the challenge of designing and building a new EV. The car that took shape had 'innovation' as its watchword. The Arrow design came from a team at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ont., and 'every last part' came from one of more than 60 Canadian suppliers. This included power train engineers Narmco, software developers Ettractive and YQG Technologies, injection moulding specialist Papp Plastics, and cybersecurity outfit Vehiqilla. The prototype was assembled by Ontario Tech University, in Oshawa, Ont. 'We are saying: 'If a [car-maker] is interested in the Arrow's navigation system or the power-train — or the steering wheel, seats or door handles, here are the companies to buy from,'' said Volpe, who also sits on the Prime Minister's Council on Canada-US Relations. Progress on the project was given a major boost last November when APMA secured a further $11 million to build the first dozen 'Arrow 2.0s,' demonstrator models that could be used as virtual kit-cars by any automaker looking to start manufacturing an all-Canadian EV. 'Through Project Arrow [the Canadian auto sector] will prove that we can land on the moon. But it is not for APMA to colonize it,' said Volpe, noting he has had many requests to launch a car company off the back of the prototype. Still, the idea is tempting. Particularly given that Canada's vaunted $100 billion EV ecosystem strategy has been misfiring in the last year due to a slow-down in electric car and truck demand growth and the impact of the 'uncertainty shock' to the auto sector from the imposition of US tariffs. An EV designed and built in Canada with exclusively Canadian parts and technology will have a domestic market eventually, Volpe said, whatever US President Donald Trump's 'ambitions' or the industrial vagaries of the transition from internal combustion engines to electric drive-trains. Statista, a data provider, forecast Canada's EV market to reach over $11.5 billion in 2025 and grow almost 10 per cent a year to $17 billion by 2029, by which time almost 250,000 EVs will be on Canadian roads. 'The technologies being delivered by our member companies are going to drive down the cost of vehicles. If we are going to compete with the Chinese, we have to invest in these product innovations and also in the process and technologies to manufacture these EVs,' he added. 'Things are changing very rapidly. This is an occasion for a big rethink of the auto sector canon. We can't continue to think conventionally,' Volpe said of the transition to EVs, adding: 'If I launched a car today, it wouldn't combust anything. It would be electric.' On the road 'for $35,000' By APMA figuring, a compact SUV model Arrow could roll off a Canadian assembly line by 2029 with a sticker price of $35,000, he added, ready to be one of the two million cars sold each year in Canada. Development of the next-generation Arrow is going to test the design for ultra-harsh Canadian winter conditions, with Ontario Tech set to put the car through its paces in the university's climatic aerodynamic wind tunnel, which can simulate Arctic blizzards and 'extreme weather events.' Like the prototype, the Arrow 2.0 is retaining its identity as a 'lighthouse for the sector but a showcase for our suppliers' technologies,' said Volpe. But he feels the spirit of the project needs to continue reflecting its namesake, the Avro Arrow, developed in response to the 'existential threat' of Russian bombers flying over the Arctic Circle to attack Canada and the US. 'We built a Canadian jet from a 'clean sheet' that could fly twice as fast and fly twice as high as anything out there in the '50s. We couldn't think conventionally to do this.' The American economic attack on Canada with tariffs could be seen as comparable, Volpe said, given the damage that might be done to our national security and sovereignty, and provides government and industry with the opportunity to reposition the auto sector 'to play to our existing strengths.' 'We have a world-class auto manufacturing cluster in southwestern Ontario, we have a strong advanced technology cluster — software and hardware — we have steel and aluminum, and we have critical minerals for energy-dense EV batteries. And then there is AI and machine learning, which Canadians pioneered.' Through Project Arrow, Canada now also has its own EV prototype. And Volpe adds APMA is happy to hand over the 'five years of homework done for this project to anybody who wants to take a shot at it.'
Epoch Times
08-05-2025
- Automotive
- Epoch Times
Report Calls for ‘Auto Pact' Tying Duty-Free Vehicle Imports to Canadian Production
A new report suggests that if Canada can't convince President Donald Trump to drop all auto tariffs, it should negotiate a new auto trade agreement with the U.S. and Mexico that would impose permanent import tariffs but grant automakers a break if they meet minimum local production requirements. The strategy outlined in the report, released Thursday by the C.D. Howe Institute, draws inspiration from the 1965 Canada-U.S. Auto Pact. Author Stephen Beatty, a former Toyota Canada executive, argued that in response to any U.S. tariffs, Canada should impose its own surtax on imports of U.S. light-duty vehicles. But he said auto manufacturers currently assembling vehicles or manufacturing major components in Canada should be provided with a tax break proportionate to their Canadian production. That move would be aimed at incentivizing the U.S. and Mexico to review the automotive provisions of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement once renegotiations of that deal begin. There, Beatty said Canada should propose permanently reinstating tariffs on automobile trade between the three countries and establishing a common external duty rate. He argued the countries should each agree to waive their duties on a defined volume of vehicles imported from the other two by any company that maintains a manufacturing base in the importing country. For example, a manufacturer that produces 100 vehicles in Canada, the U.S., or Mexico would be entitled to import up to 100 vehicles in combination from the two other countries. Related Stories 4/4/2025 3/26/2025 'Canada needs to use this window to build leverage and put a real plan on the table,' said Beatty in a press release. 'We can't leave the future of an auto sector that supports good jobs on both sides of the border to the fate of another round of familiar but damaging tariffs.' On April 3, a 25 percent tariff by the U.S. on Canadian-built vehicles came into effect. Canada responded with its own 25 percent tariff on vehicles imported from the U.S. that are non-compliant with CUSMA. The sector did get some relief last week when U.S. Customs and Border Protection guidance said automobile parts compliant with CUSMA will not be hit by Trump's tariffs. While 'plan A' for Prime Minister Mark Carney's government should be to reach a new deal with the Trump administration that 'preserves mostly tariff-free trade,' Beatty said Canada also needs a 'plan B.' He said there is a pressing need to counterbalance the incentive for companies to abandon their investments in Canada and move south due to the threat of U.S. tariffs. Canada's vehicle assembly footprint has shrunk in recent years—a 'troubling' development, Beatty noted, as Mexico has grown its share of North American production, while U.S. manufacturing has remained stable. 'Recent layoffs highlight the current fragility of Canada's auto sector,' said Beatty. 'If we want to keep good jobs, maintain investments, and guard against the very real threat that this could all slip away, we need to rethink our strategy.' The proposal for a modernized auto pact would seek to appeal to the Trump administration's call for the elimination of trade imbalances and reinforced domestic supply chains, said Beatty. 'A reinvigorated North American auto industry, spread across the three countries, would attract foreign investment while creating a home-court advantage for companies that either grew up here or North Americanized their businesses,' he said in the report. 'Nothing could be more in the spirit of tariff reciprocity than a policy that is inherently self-balancing.'
Winnipeg Free Press
08-05-2025
- Automotive
- Winnipeg Free Press
Report calls for ‘auto pact' tying duty-free vehicle imports to Canadian production
TORONTO – A new report suggests that if Canada can't convince President Donald Trump to drop all auto tariffs, it should negotiate a new auto trade agreement with the U.S. and Mexico that would impose permanent import tariffs but grant automakers a break if they meet minimum local production requirements. The strategy outlined in the report, released Thursday by the C.D. Howe Institute, draws inspiration from the 1965 Canada-U.S. Auto Pact. Author Stephen Beatty, a former Toyota Canada executive, argued that in response to any U.S. tariffs, Canada should impose its own surtax on imports of U.S. light-duty vehicles. But he said auto manufacturers currently assembling vehicles or manufacturing major components in Canada should be provided with a tax break proportionate to their Canadian production. That move would be aimed at incentivizing the U.S. and Mexico to review the automotive provisions of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement once renegotiations of that deal begin. There, Beatty said Canada should propose permanently reinstating tariffs on automobile trade between the three countries and establishing a common external duty rate. He argued the countries should each agree to waive their duties on a defined volume of vehicles imported from the other two by any company that maintains a manufacturing base in the importing country. For example, a manufacturer that produces 100 vehicles in Canada, the U.S., or Mexico would be entitled to import up to 100 vehicles in combination from the two other countries. 'Canada needs to use this window to build leverage and put a real plan on the table,' said Beatty in a press release. 'We can't leave the future of an auto sector that supports good jobs on both sides of the border to the fate of another round of familiar but damaging tariffs.' On April 3, a 25 per cent tariff by the U.S. on Canadian-built vehicles came into effect. Canada responded with its own 25 per cent tariff on vehicles imported from the U.S. that are non-compliant with CUSMA. The sector did get some relief last week when U.S. Customs and Border Protection guidance said automobile parts compliant with CUSMA will not be hit by Trump's tariffs. While 'plan A' for Prime Minister Mark Carney's government should be to reach a new deal with the Trump administration that 'preserves mostly tariff-free trade,' Beatty said Canada also needs a 'plan B.' He said there is a pressing need to counterbalance the incentive for companies to abandon their investments in Canada and move south due to the threat of U.S. tariffs. Canada's vehicle assembly footprint has shrunk in recent years — a 'troubling' development, Beatty noted, as Mexico has grown its share of North American production, while U.S. manufacturing has remained stable. 'Recent layoffs highlight the current fragility of Canada's auto sector,' said Beatty. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. 'If we want to keep good jobs, maintain investments, and guard against the very real threat that this could all slip away, we need to rethink our strategy.' The proposal for a modernized auto pact would seek to appeal to the Trump administration's call for the elimination of trade imbalances and reinforced domestic supply chains, said Beatty. 'A reinvigorated North American auto industry, spread across the three countries, would attract foreign investment while creating a home-court advantage for companies that either grew up here or North Americanized their businesses,' he said in the report. 'Nothing could be more in the spirit of tariff reciprocity than a policy that is inherently self-balancing.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2025.
Business Wire
07-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
WELLSTAR Technologies Launches Nexus AI: A Transformative AI Platform for Canadian Healthcare Providers
VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WELL Health Technologies Corp. (TSX:WELL, OTCQX:WHTCF) (' WELL ' or the ' Company ') a digital healthcare company focused on positively impacting health outcomes by leveraging technology to empower healthcare practitioners and their patients globally, is pleased to announce that its subsidiary, WELLSTAR Technologies Corp. (' WELLSTAR '), Canada's leading provider of interoperable technology solutions for healthcare providers, has launched Nexus AI™—a groundbreaking, Canadian-built artificial intelligence platform that seamlessly integrates with popular Canadian EMR systems. Nexus AI streamlines clinical workflows while reducing healthcare providers' administrative burden and cognitive load. The platform's first feature, an AI medical scribe, enables real-time clinical documentation across care settings. It automatically documents patient encounters and prepares draft notes, offering customized templates for each provider's specialty and unique documentation style. The underlying AI technology powering Nexus AI has been developed by a multidisciplinary team of physicians and AI researchers from the University of Toronto and is commercialized by WELL's subsidiary HEALWELL AI. Through WELLSTAR's strategic relationship with HEALWELL, this proven technology is now integrated into Nexus AI and made widely available to Canadian healthcare providers. It is actively used by thousands of primary care and specialist physicians in communities, hospitals and regional health authorities across Canada, bringing proven performance in clinical environments. 'We are extremely excited to be launching this transformative AI platform - Nexus AI. This is a foundational part of our strategy to bring the latest AI innovations to healthcare providers in a way that is seamlessly integrated into their workflows,' commented Amir Javidan, CEO, WELLSTAR Technologies Corp. 'WELLSTAR has established the largest ecosystem of digital health technology applications in Canada, creating an environment that enables partners to build AI tools that prioritize the provider experience collaboratively.' Nexus AI is purpose-built for compatibility across Canada's diverse EMR landscape and continues to be developed in close partnerships with leading EMRs across Canada to provide deeper automation of tasks for providers. Starting with best-in-class ambient scribe capabilities, Nexus AI will serve as the hub for expanding automated AI and agentic features, including disease detection for rare and chronic care conditions, medical coding, billing automation, and other clinical decision support. This positions WELLSTAR at the forefront of delivering intelligent, integrated solutions to Canadian healthcare providers. The platform is fully hosted and operated in Canada, which aligns with WELLSTAR's commitment to data residency and sovereignty. Built with enterprise-grade security, Nexus AI is currently being deployed across a wide range of clinics and hospitals nationwide. Nexus AI is participating in Canada Health Infoway's AI Scribe Program. This important national initiative will fund one-year licenses for AI scribes for up to 10,000 eligible primary care clinicians, providing early adopters access to tools that help improve documentation processes and streamline workflows. Providers and clinicians interested in accessing Nexus AI can visit: WELL HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES CORP. Per: "Hamed Shahbazi" Hamed Shahbazi Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and Director About WELL Health Technologies Corp. WELL's mission is to tech-enable healthcare providers. We do this by developing the best technologies, services, and support available, which ensures healthcare providers are empowered to positively impact patient outcomes. WELL's comprehensive healthcare and digital platform includes extensive front and back-office management software applications that help physicians run and secure their practices. WELL's solutions enable more than 41,000 healthcare providers between the US and Canada and power the largest owned and operated healthcare ecosystem in Canada with more than 200 clinics supporting primary care, specialized care, and diagnostic services. In the United States WELL's solutions are focused on specialized markets such as the gastrointestinal market, women's health, primary care, and mental health. WELL is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol 'WELL' and on the OTC Exchange under the symbol 'WHTCF'. To learn more about the Company, please visit: About WELLSTAR Technologies Corp. WELLSTAR Technologies supports Canada's healthcare providers with our extensive expertise in healthcare technology, clinic operations, and digital transformation. As part of WELL Health, which operates over 200 healthcare clinics and supports over 41,000 providers across Canada, we bring deep industry knowledge and a proven track record of optimizing clinical workflows, enhancing patient engagement, and streamlining administrative processes. With a comprehensive suite of technology solutions, we have successfully helped thousands of providers adopt and benefit from modern, interoperable technologies that improve patient outcomes and system efficiency. To learn more about WELLSTAR, please visit
