Canada

MONTREAL - So, did you hear that Canada is finally granting the vote to citizens of Irish ancestry? And that diabetics in this realm of permafrost can take heart that legalization of insulin appears just around the corner? And the country's public school system is expanding to offer ninth grade? That's the good news. On the downside, it's doubtful that Canada will find the moral fiber to end its unhappy custom of stranding old folk in the Arctic to cut social security costs. And global warming poses a threat to the national Parliament building - constructed, as everyone knows, of ice bricks in the form of a giant igloo.

Canada's headlong plunge toward, or desperate flight from, disintegration swept past another milestone last weekend when a parliamentary committee presented the country with the latest blueprint for keeping Quebec within confederation and saving the country -- making their deadline by a full 54 minutes.The last time the government went through this drill, in the failed Meech Lake Accords, criticism was raised that Quebec was being singled out for largess. (Those accords, drawn up in 1987, collapsed in 1990.

NAGANO, Japan -- For a women's sport, there sure is a lot of testosterone flowing between the United States and Canada in ice hockey.If their supposedly meaningless first-round game proved anything, it's that someone should write a sequel to "Slap Shot," featuring the Hanson sisters.Yes, for a sport with no body checking, there sure was a lot of contact in Team USA's 7-4 victory, a lot of pushing and shoving, even a lot of post-game yapping.After this, the gold-medal game is bound to be a disappointment.

On the one hand, she would be Canada's first female prime minister and the first from British Columbia. On the other, he would be Canada's youngest-ever prime minister and yet another Quebecker.She is Defense Minister Kim Campbell, he is Environment Minister Jean Charest, and today 3,846 delegates to a Conservative party meeting in Ottawa are almost certain to pick one of them to replace Brian Mulroney as party leader and therefore as prime minister.Whoever wins will be only halfway home, though, if she, or he, wants to become more than a footnote in Canadian history.

Gunbattles. Rumrunners. Federal law officers hot on their trail.Reminiscent of an age-old racket, bootleggers from states such as Maryland are running booze to Canada, where stiff sin taxes are rekindling the lucrative trade that once dominated the Roaring '20s and the rumrunning days of Al Capone.In federal court in Baltimore this month, a Cecil County liquor store owner was sentenced for his role in a busy, international smuggling ring. Federal agents say it is all part of a new trend for lawbreakers in the United States -- boxing up cases of liquor and heading to the Great North.

PRIME MINISTER Jean Chretien, the Quebecer holding federal Canada together, has reopened the debate on Quebec sovereignty just when the separatist Quebec premier, Lucien Bouchard, was hiding the issue for two years while gearing the economy up to it. Mr. Chretien is right to be pro-active and not merely reactive.When Quebec's referendum last October defeated separatism by less than one percentage point, creating a sense of inevitability, federal Canada had no position. What was the legal standing of the referendum?

U.S.-CANADA BORDER, British Columbia -- It looks easy enough to get across.One short hop over a shallow trench is all that separates Double Ditch Road in the United States from Zero Avenue on the Canadian side.But with a growing number of illegal immigrants sneaking into Canada from the United State, this idyllic picture of two rural roads is deceptive.The "world's longest undefended border" is actually bristling with seismic sensors, hidden video cameras, and border agents in unmarked cars.

TORONTO -- Under strong U.S. trade pressure, the Canadian government announced yesterday that it would end discrimination against imports of foreign beer over the next three years, which could be a boost to the G. Heileman Brewing Co. brewery in Halethorpe.The confrontation between the United States and Canada over beer sales is one of several trade disputes that has had the two North American partners accusing each other of protectionist ways recently. Other battles are being fought over lumber and automobiles.

Quebec voters will decide on Monday whether Canada will go forward in unity or face the prospect of breaking into two countries. Canadians outside Quebec do not get to vote on Quebec sovereignty, and have only lately realized the referendum's profound effect on them.If the vote is no, Canada will remain intact, with a constitution that Quebec considers imperfect, but still a country that most people in all provinces consider one of the most blessed.But if the vote is yes -- that Quebec should offer a new partnership to the rest of Canada and upon rejection declare its sovereignty -- the only assured result would be prolonged and anguished confusion.

CALGARY, Alberta -- As Quebec voters prepare for an anticipated autumn vote on whether to separate from Canada, the rest of the country is sending a new message to would-be separatists: Love it or leave it.In a reversal of 30 years of Canadian popular sentiment and public policy, Quebecers are being told not to count on any more compromises or concessions in exchange for staying in the country, and to expect tough negotiations on the terms of separation if...