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Map of the world color coded based on the amount of female leaders they have had.

Paige Fusco

The United States has never had a female president, but since World War II, 121 women have been elected or appointed as head of state or government in 80 countries around the world.

The top country should be no surprise: Finland has elected four women president or prime minister, most recently Sanna Marin. Of the 11 countries that have been led by three or more women in pinnacle positions, seven are in Europe, and of the 29 women currently in office, 15 are in Europe.

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Paige Fusco

Former President Donald Trump was the first major candidate to launch his campaign for the 2024 presidential election cycle – on Nov. 15, 2022, roughly two years before Election Day. The US puts no limits on the length of campaigns, which leaves the door open for massive amounts of campaign spending and has the potential to leave voters exhausted by the time they head to the polls.

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Graphic of bar graphs showing the levels of government trust and distrust

Paige Fusco

Switzerland – which has the highest degree of trust in government – is leading by example as the host of this year’s Davos summit focused on Rebuilding Trust. Political stability, as well as government responsiveness and openness, help boost trust in governance. So it’s perhaps no surprise that the Land of William Tell, one of the most stable countries in the world, is brimming with it.

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Bah humbug! Christmas tree prices are soaring as demand rises, but supply dwindles. In North America, a continent-wide tree shortage is taking root thanks to a declining number of Christmas tree farms.

The number of US farms fell sharply during the 2008 financial crisis and has continued to decline – so much so that 96% of the Christmas trees sold in the US come from Canada. But Canadian farms took a hit this summer from droughts, floods, and wildfires, and Canadian farmers also say fewer young people want to take over their tree businesses when they retire.

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Line graph of beer consumption in Canada and the US

Paige Fusco

If “beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy,” then public health officials in Canada have strayed from the path of righteousness. Earlier this year, Canadian health authorities changed their recommendations on alcohol consumption to just two drinks a week for healthy adults.

In the United States, George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, set off a right-wing media firestorm in August when he said that the Department of Agriculture could follow Ottawa’s lead.

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line graph of shipping volume through the arctic

Paige Fusco

Climate change has opened Arctic shipping channels that can be navigated by freighters without icebreakers for several months a year – and year-round with icebreakers. Canada and Russia dominate the region, but Moscow is much more aggressively exploiting the economic opportunities there.

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Heat map of Canada and US voter registration levels

Paige Fusco

The United States and Canada are two of the world’s biggest advanced democracies. But when it comes to elections, the Great White North is far better at registering its voters.

Canada makes it easy and even encourages voters to register as late as Election Day. It can do this because it has a centralized voter database shared among the provinces, enabling them to keep up-to-date information about where voters should be voting, which eliminates fears of voter fraud.

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The fallout from allegations that India was behind the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar has thrown Indo-Canadian relations into the lurch. Each side has expelled a diplomat from the other, and India’s Embassy in Canada stopped processing visas – a serious diplomatic gesture, no doubt, but the material impacts are likely to be small. Only around 80,000 Canadians visited India in 2021 out of more than 1.5 million foreign tourists.

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