"My partner and my friend," Prime Minister Stephen Harper says of Jim Flaherty

Jim Flaherty's colleagues, political opponents and friends are remembering him for his commitment to public service, his playful sense of humour and his devotion to his family.

Flaherty, who resigned last month as federal finance minister, died of an apparent heart attack Thursday at age 64.

Flaherty's wife, Ontario MPP Christine Elliott, asked for privacy on behalf of her and the couple's triplet sons, John, Galen and Quinn.

"We appreciate that he was so well supported in his public life by Canadians from coast to coast and by his international colleagues," Elliott said in a statement.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, speaking to Conservative MPs and senators, called Flaherty — until last month, his only finance minister — his friend and partner.

"This comes as an unexpected and a terrible shock to Jim's family, to our caucus and to Laureen and me," Harper said, as his wife, Laureen, wiped tears from her face.

A source close to the family told the CBC's Evan Solomon that Flaherty died of a massive heart attack. Emergency services were called to Flaherty's home in Ottawa at 12:27 p.m. Thursday.

MPs suspended the House of Commons just before the daily question period, around 2:15 p.m. ET, as news of Flaherty's death made its way through Parliament Hill. NDP Leader Tom Mulcair moved for the adjournment.

MPs hug, shake hands

"After consultations among House leaders, there is general agreement the House will now suspend," Speaker Andrew Scheer told MPs.

The flag on the Peace Tower was lowered to half-mast in Flaherty's memory and Ontario's provincial legislature adjourned early. Flaherty was a member of Queen's Park in Toronto for 10 years.

G20 finance ministers, including Canada's Joe Oliver, are meeting in Washington, D.C.. They will start their evening with statements on Flaherty's death.

Opposition MPs crossed the floor to shake hands with Conservative MPs and offer their condolences. Some hugged each other.

An hour later, Conservative caucus members were gathered in a room on Parliament Hill to await hear Harper's statement and reminisce. Harper had been scheduled to meet with the visiting president of Peru in the room.

Many senators and MPs were visibly upset, wiping tears from red-rimmed eyes. Some gathered to comfort Kellie Leitch, who had worked on Flaherty's Ontario PC leadership campaign a decade ago and considered Flaherty a mentor.

Leitch said in a statement that Flaherty had encouraged her to get involved in politics.

"He was my champion. Canada has lost a giant and our government has lost one of its most respected and capable members," she said.

"Jim’s family meant the world to him and he took great pride in telling his colleagues of their successes and accomplishments. My heart breaks for them and words cannot express what they must be going through."

'Heartbroken'

Treasury Board President Tony Clement, who started working with Flaherty when they were members of Ontario's legislature more than two decades ago, tweeted his grief.

"Just crushed at the loss of my colleague and friend @JimFlaherty. We spent 25 years together in public life. An Irish lion is gone," Clement said on Twitter.

Mulcair, often a fiery opponent of the Conservative government, made an emotional statement outside the House.

"Catherine and I want to express to Christine Elliott our profound sadness at the departure of our friend Jim Flaherty," Mulcair said, his voice breaking.

"We share in their loss. We're very, very sorry for their loss. Jim Flaherty was an extraordinarily dedicated public servant," Mulcair said.

In a statement, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Flaherty had been his mentor at Queen's Park, Ontario's legislature.

"I could always rely on Jim to be a devout friend through tough times, and an encouraging figure through good," he said.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, a family friend of Flaherty's, tweeted his condolences to Elliott and said he was devastated.

"The Ford family is heartbroken," he tweeted.

'Absolute commitment' to Canada

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau was on a plane to Vancouver when the news broke but tweeted his reaction after landing.

"Like all Canadians, I join in expressing my sadness at Jim Flaherty’s passing. My sincere condolences to @chriselliottpc and his children," he said.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said MPs were all in shock. "I don't think there was anyone better loved across party lines."

New Democrat MP Charlie Angus recalled being in Rome with Flaherty, relaxing with a couple of beers.

"He looked like a little altar boy, he was so proud to be in Rome," Angus said.

"It's just so bloody sad."

Liberal MP Scott Brison, a former finance critic, said Flaherty was a great father.

"You could differ with him, but you never ever doubted his absolute commitment to serving the people of Canada," Brison said.

Bruce Heyman, the new American ambassador to Canada, noted Flaherty's eight years in "one of government's most demanding roles."

"That he did so during challenging economic times makes his achievement all the more impressive," Heyman said in a statement. 

Health problems

Flaherty stepped down from cabinet less than a month ago, citing a plan to return eventually to the private sector.

He had spent more than a year publicly battling health problems.

Until he stepped down last month, Flaherty was the only finance minister to serve under Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Flaherty's last tweet as finance minister, announcing his departure, was his last-ever tweet:

"It has been an honour to serve Canada. Thank you for the opportunity."

The left brain right brain theory is credited to the 1981 Nobel prize winner, Roger Sperry on split-brain research. He noticed the two sides of our brains serve different functions.

Our Left Brain is your verbal and logical brain. It thinks sequentially and breaks it down to numbers and words. It's the analytical, objective side.

Our Right Brain is the non-verbal and intuitive part of your brain.It thinks in pictures or patterns and doesn't understand "breaking down" to numbers and words. It's the subjective and holistic side.

So, why should we care? In the book, The Age of Spiritual Machines, author Ray Kurzweil: (page 103)

"The human brain has about 1000 billion neurons. With an estimated average of one thousand connections between each neuron and it's neighbors, we have about 100 trillion connections, each capable of a simultaneous calculation. That's rather massive parallel processing, and one key to the strength of human thinking. A profound weakness, however, is the excruciatingly slow speed of neural circuitry, only 200 calculations per second. For problems that benefit from massive parallelism, such as a neural-net based pattern recognition, the human brain does a great job. For problems that require extensive sequential thinking, the human brain is only mediocre.

Our culture has a high emphasis on left-brain activities: reading, writing, math. However, from the quote above, our left brain is the "slow" side of the brain, only doing 200 calculations per second, whereas the right side can do 100 trillion calculations per second.Understanding the left brain right brain theory is about advancing ourselves in some way, tapping into our inner resources to accomplish whatever goals we have.

Exercise: Left Brain Right Brain Freeze

For most of us feel normal when we think in left brain mode (which is not the case for dyslexic people or kids). Most of our waking ours are spent in left brain mode, talking, writing, speaking, etc. So it's no wonder we have a difficult time accessing our right brain. In her phenomenal book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, has an exercise to illustrate getting from left brain to right brain mode.

For the face vase picture below, start with one side and draw the profile pattern. If you are left-handed, START at the upper right side of the drawing (and vice versa). As your pencil goes over the lines, mentally name the parts "head, nose, lip, chin, neck". Then as you go to the other side and draw, your brain will likely go into paralysis. (it was a very interesting and frustrating experience when I did this exercise).

This happened because you were using your left (verbal) brain to identify and draw the vase, which required right brain thinking. To successfully complete the drawing, you need to identify the lines as "lines", not as the 'body part' to avoid going to the left brain mode. Seriously, give it a shot!

Make a Left Brain Right Brain Switch

So, how do we work from our right brain? Barring brain injury, we all have the ability to access our right brain, and do it all the time. It's just that our ability to consciously make the "switch" has been dormant. Here's a list of ways to help make the switch from left brain mode to right brain mode:

• Play music (without words)
• Walk around the room with eyes closed
• Daydream on a time you had fun (vacation, sports, etc)
• Pick up juggling
• Put your notes/ideas in a mind map
• Doodle, play with your pen
• Use your non-dominant hand to write, brush your teeth, etc
• Journal your feelings and your random thoughts
• Learn PhotoReading, you "read" using both sides of your brain
• The absolute best way I know how to develop this is to get the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain"

The idea is to start thinking in terms of images and away from numbers and words when trying to think in right brain mode. Good artists do this better than most of us.

Left Brain Exercises

Now, how do we work on the left brain? Most of us won't have a difficult time accessing left bran mode, but here are a few exercises to that use your Left Brain:

• Play with Crosswords puzzles
• Do Math exercises
• Play Number puzzles like Sudoku
• Do Memory Retention exercises
• Play Spelling games
• Get some brain teasers

To summarize the left brain right brain theory; your left brain is the logical, sequential brain that's actually the slower part of your brain. The right side of your brain thinks in images, and sees the big picture, and is the faster side of your brain. Because of culture and influence, most of us have a strong left-brain thinking, but there are ways to consciously switch to right brain mode.

The more you are able to tap into your right brain, the more you'll discover what you're capable of, in many areas of your life: work, home, business, etc. So, see how you can make the left brain right brain theory work for you!

All 3 tops for ‘resilience’ and growth potential, says U.K. report

Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary have been ranked as the three best places out of 50 cities around the world in terms of where best to invest in real estate for the long term, according to a centuries-old London real estate firm.

Need help getting to sleep? Your bedroom could be the cause of your insomnia. Here are 12 quick fixes that will make your bedroom a healthier sleeping environment

1. Buy a new mattress

2. Choose the right bedding

3. Pay attention to scent

A quick spritz of soothing lavender water on your pillows before bed will help calm your exhausted mind.

4. Chill before bed

Lower the temperature of your bedroom before you climb into bed, says Becky Wang-Cheng, M.D., a medical director at Kettering Medical Center in Ohio. Lower temperatures tell your body it’s time to sleep. If your bed partner objects, just tell him to bundle up. 

5. Have a bath

6. Schedule a massage

7. Put your needs first

8. Shut the drapes

9. Ditch the night-lights

10. Pull on socks

11. Ignore the clock

12. Sleep naked

It’s easier to adjust your comfort zone with sheets and blankets you can pull up or throw off rather than a long nightgown or a pair of fleece pajamas, says neurologist Charles J. Bae, M.D., a sleep specialist at the Cleveland Clinic Sleep Disorders Center. The idea is to make the adjustment in a way that rouses you from sleep the least.

April 3, 2014 -- Toronto Real Estate Board President Dianne Usher announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported strong year-over-year increases in TorontoMLS home sales and the average selling price in March 2014. Home ownership affordability, backstopped by low borrowing costs, continued to be a key factor underlying this growth.

A total of 8,081 sales were reported in March 2014 – up by 7.2 per cent in comparison to March 2013. Sales growth was much stronger in March compared to the first two months of the first quarter. Sales for Q1 as a whole were up by three per cent compared to the first three months of 2013.

“Sales activity in the GTA accelerated last month. Compared to last year, a greater number of buyers found affordable home ownership options, as evidenced by sales growth for all major home types. Against this backdrop, however, overall inventory at the end of March remained lower than last year. This means competition between buyers increased, which is why the average selling price continued to climb,” said Ms. Usher.

The average selling price for March 2014 sales was $557,684 – an increase of almost eight per cent compared to the average reported for March 2013. The average price for the first quarter of 2014 was up by 8.5 per cent year-over-year.

“With borrowing costs remaining low, and in fact declining, strong home ownership demand will continue to butt up against a constrained supply of listings. Strong price growth will be the result for the remainder of 2014. If the pace of price growth experienced in the first quarter is sustained, TREB may revise its outlook for the average selling price,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis.

Condo investors wanting to cash out within the next 18 months will enjoy a healthy return, according to a new report.

It's hard to believe that it has been 10 years since Unionville Meadows Public School first opened it's doors.  And what a great 10 years it has been.  The school has quickly climbed in ratings and is now known as one of Ontario's highest ranked public schools for academic excellence.  

Led by outstanding Principals over it's 10 years, the school has thrived.  The first to take the helm was  Doug Wilton, followed by Amanda Leblanc, and now Leanne Hughes Fernandes.  Great Principals have provided the school with the leadership any great school requires to position itself as one of the tops in the Province.

This was the original group of teachers from Opening Day at Unionville Meadows.  Some have come, some have gone, but the core remains the same.  It was great to see many of the ones that have moved on to other schools come back for the Anniversary Celebration and the tears in their eyes as they saw what their hard work had resulted in.  Well-Rounded individuals that are nearing graduation from UMPS, already in high-school and some now in University.  Must have been a great feeling to know that you contributed to the success stories of today!

The level of care from the teachers, supports staff, and maintenance staff is phenomenal.  UMPS Children, are not just OUR children, they have become EVERYBODY'S children while at school.  The support and family type of environment rubs off on the children as well.  It's a close knit school community which sees everyone helping and encouraging each other to be the best they can be.  As Mr. Andonoff stated, the school has only had one fight between two students in it's TEN year history.  That says a lot just in that statement about how close the students are to each other.  Here is the 2013/14 Group.  Some new faces, but the same level of care and kindness that has become a hallmark of UMPS staff. 

Lifelong friendships have been formed amongst the students.  Ones that will continue into the future, well after their tenure at UMPS has ended.  Sabrina and Alexandra, below, first met in Junior Kindergarten on the day the school first opened.  After spending a few years together, Alexandra moved away.  Their friendship has continued over the years and they were back together again for the 10th Anniversary festivities, sharing memories and dreams.  

When the school first opened, the Junior Kindergarten classes were asked to paint what they wanted to be when they grew up on a tile.  The foyer of the school is now adorned with these tiles.  

Sabrina, of course, wanted to become an artist (with pink hair I believe). ;)  Ten years later, she is quite the artist! (but she does not have pink hair - Thank God!) 

Alexandra wanted to become a princess.  And her parent's would concur, she really does think she is now.  :)

The school's motto, and theme song, is From Seeds We Soar.  What a great motto for a school so dedicated to helping each and every student soar to heights beyond their dreams.  

Congratulations to all the staff and students of Unionville Meadows on a fabulous first ten years!  The next ten will be even better and as parents of the children you've helped raise and turn into success stories of the future, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!  Thank you for all you have done, and all you continue to do!  From Seeds You Have Soared!

Children who are physically fit absorb and retain new information more effectively than children who are out of shape, a new study finds, raising timely questions about the wisdom of slashing physical education programs at schools.

Parents and exercise scientists (who, not infrequently, are the same people) have known for a long time that physical activity helps young people to settle and pay attention in school or at home, with salutary effects on academic performance. A representative study, presented in May at the American College of Sports Medicine, found that fourth- and fifth-grade students who ran around and otherwise exercised vigorously for at least 10 minutes before a math test scored higher than children who had sat quietly before the exam.

More generally, in a large-scale study of almost 12,000 Nebraska schoolchildren published in August in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers compiled each child’s physical fitness, as measured by a timed run, body mass index and academic achievement in English and math, based on the state’s standardized test scores. Better fitness proved to be linked to significantly higher achievement scores, while, interestingly, body size had almost no role. Students who were overweight but relatively fit had higher test scores than lighter, less-fit children.

To date, however, no study specifically had examined whether and in what ways physical fitness might affect how children learn. So researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign recently stepped into that breach, recruiting a group of local 9- and 10-year-old boys and girls, testing their aerobic fitness on a treadmill, and then asking 24 of the most fit and 24 of the least fit to come into the exercise physiology lab and work on some difficult memorization tasks.

Learning is, of course, a complex process, involving not only the taking in and storing of new information in the form of memories, a process known as encoding, but also recalling that information later. Information that cannot be recalled has not really been learned.

Earlier studies of children’s learning styles have shown that most learn more readily if they are tested on material while they are in the process of learning it. In effect, if they are quizzed while memorizing, they remember more easily. Straight memorization, without intermittent reinforcement during the process, is tougher, although it is also how most children study.

In this case, the researchers opted to use both approaches to learning, by providing their young volunteers with iPads onto which several maps of imaginary lands had been loaded. The maps were demarcated into regions, each with a four-letter name. During one learning session, the children were shown these names in place for six seconds. The names then appeared on the map in their correct position six additional times while children stared at and tried to memorize them.

In a separate learning session, region names appeared on a different map in their proper location, then moved to the margins of the map. The children were asked to tap on a name and match it with the correct region, providing in-session testing as they memorized.

A day later, all of the children returned to the lab and were asked to correctly label the various maps’ regions.

The results, published last week in PLoS One, show that, over all, the children performed similarly when they were asked to recall names for the map when their memorization was reinforced by testing.

But when the recall involved the more difficult type of learning — memorizing without intermittent testing — the children who were in better aerobic condition significantly outperformed the less-fit group, remembering about 40 percent of the regions’ names accurately, compared with barely 25 percent accuracy for the out-of-shape kids.

This finding suggests that “higher levels of fitness have their greatest impact in the most challenging situations” that children face intellectually, the study’s authors write. The more difficult something is to learn, the more physical fitness may aid children in learning it.

Of course, this study did not focus specifically on the kind of active exercise typical of recess, but on longer-term, overall physical fitness in young children. But in doing so, it subtly reinforces the importance of recess and similar physical activity programs in schools, its authors believe.

If children are to develop and maintain the kind of aerobic fitness that amplifies their ability to learn, said co-author Charles Hillman, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Illinois and a fellow at the university’s Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, they should engage in “at least an hour a day” of vigorous physical activity. Schools, where children spend so many of their waking hours, provide the most logical and logistically plausible place for them to get such exercise, he said.

Or as he and his co-authors dryly note in the study: “Reducing or eliminating physical education in schools, as is often done in tight financial times, may not be the best way to ensure educational success among our young people.”

Many of us have a love-hate relationship with caffeine because we love the energy it gives us to start our day, but we hate the exhaustion it makes us feel at night. Although we have intimately familiarized ourselves with the stimulant drug during our mornings, mid-afternoon slumps, and in between errands, it masks the symptoms of fatigue and dehydrates the body. To avoid the highs and lows in this caffeine energy rollercoaster, here are six daily habits that will naturally boost your energy all day long.

1. Drink H2O

Replace your juice, caffeinated beverage, or energy drink with some H2O. Drinking a glass or two of water as a quick pick-me-up can give you an energy boost, clearer skin, and better digestion as it flushes toxins from the body. Not drinking enough water can result in dehydration and cause several systems in the body to slow down, and therefore, make you feel tired and irritable. Harvard Health Publications says water is the only nutrient that has been shown to enhance performance for even the most demanding endurance activities. It’s time to drink up!

Tip: To add some flavor to your water, add a lemon to transform water into a natural energy drink with electrolytes that help the cells produce energy.

2. Eat Healthy Fats

Do not eliminate all fats from your diet. Healthy fats are essential for the body to absorb antioxidants and provide you with more energy. A 2012 study found people absorbed fewer antioxidants from veggies when they ate fat-free dressing compared to those who had low-fat and full-fat dressing. Some antioxidants need fat in order to be absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract into the blood where they can take effect. Moreover, they help fight free radicals and give you better focus and clarity.

Tip: Fats from avocado, olive oil, coconut, and fish are best to maximize the amount of energy in your body.

3. Take a Brisk Walk

Going on a brisk walk every day is a good start to increasing your level of physical activity while increasing your energy. Exercising causes the body to release epinephrine and norepinephrine, which are stress hormones that can make you feel energized. In a 2006 study, a team of researchers reviewed 12 large-scale studies on the association between exercise and fatigue. Each study measured the amount of physical activity that participants were doing and how much energy or fatigue the participants experienced. Overall, all of the studies found there was a direct link between a reduced risk of fatigue for those physically active compared to their inactive counterparts.

Tip: Perform aerobic exercises for 30 to 60 minutes, three to five days a week to increase your energy, and promote good heart health.

4. Listen to Your Favorite Song

To get a quick burst of energy, put on your favorite song, and start dancing. The sound of music can elevate your mood and energy level as it invigorates the body by activating several areas of the brain simultaneously leading to new nerve connections, according to a study published in the European Journal of Neuroscience. It’s time to put on your favorite song, sing out loud, and dance for an energy boost.

Tip: Discover the optimal workout music playlist designed by scientists here.

5. Massage Your Ears

Although this may seem unusual at first glance, massaging your ears increases blood circulation, and therefore increases energy instantly. Dr. Art Karno, a chiropractor in California, says the ear maps the entire body and contains acupressure points that can stimulate every area, organ, or system in the body. He suggests vigorously rubbing your ears from top to bottom, including the lobes, and take three breaths as you do this. Inhale, exhale, and a panting breath for every repetition.

Tip: Start at the lobe and massage up to the top of each ear.

6. Take a Cold Shower

While hot showers can make you feel relaxed, and at ease, cold showers stimulate your body and speed up circulation, which makes you feel more alert. Tim Ferris, author of The 4-hour Body, says freezing cold showers can increase your metabolism, boost your energy levels, bolster your immune system, kick your sex drive into high gear, and even lead to healthier skin and hair. Cold showers are typically 50 degrees and can offer your body a refreshing burst.

Tip: Take a regular shower, and cool it down for the last five minutes or so to ease your body into these cold showers.

One of a Kind Show
For spring 2014, this semi-annual craft show boasts 450 amazing sellers peddling a variety of unique products, including beachy accessories and cute cottage decorations. See our top-ten picks here. Until Mar. 30. Tickets $12. Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place, 100 Princes’ Blvd., oneofakindshow.com

Toronto Festival of Beer
Attendees can sample local brews from brands like Granville Island, Flying Monkey and Brickworks Cider House. Food vendors like Rock Lobster and Pizza Libretto will also be on hand. Tickets are sold out for Saturday’s festivities, but beer-lovers can still grab some for Friday. (The ticket price includes 5 samples and a mug.) Mar. 28–Mar. 29. Tickets $30. The Evergreen Brick Works, 550 Bayview Ave.,beerfestival.ca

Body Percussion Festival
This inaugural festival features a variety of dance, voice and movement performances. Expect to experience everything from tap dancing to beatboxing. Mar. 28–Mar. 30. Regular tickets $25–$30.50.Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W., harbourfrontcentre.com

Cinéfranco
Cinéfranco is English Canada’s largest festival dedicated to showcasing international French cinema. There will be 25 feature films and 14 shorts, including films like Wrestling Queens and Angélique. Mar. 28–Apr. 6. Tickets $12. The Royal, 608 College St., cinefranco.com

Spacing Launch Party (FREE!)
To celebrate the launch of Spacing Magazine’s upcoming April issue, the publication is hosting a launch party that’s sure to be heavily attended by media, activists and city-hall operators. (Guests are virtually guaranteed to spot at least one mayoral candidate.) The party will be preceded by the 2014 Jane Jacobs Prize ceremony, which starts at 5:30 p.m. Mar. 27. Free, or $9 for a copy of the magazine. 918 Bathurst Centre, 918 Bathurst St., facebook.com 

The Post Market (FREE!)
This new Leslieville weekend market promises a great selection of local vendors. Visitors can hydrate with cold-pressed beverages from Greenhouse Juice and shop brands like Shop Wanderlust and Lauren Macrae Pottery. And of course, there will be lots of vintage, too. Mar. 29—Mar. 30. Free. 1075 Queen St. E.,facebook.com