But he gives much of his fortune back to the prairies, through a variety of philanthropic gifts.

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That has gradually shifted new immigrants away from the overcrowded cities to the sparsely populated Prairies and the Maritime provinces, where immigration provides a bigger economic boost.

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Don't let the book's length fool you, both plot lines are thrilling and fast-paced, stretching from the snow-swept prairies of Minnesota to the skyscraper heart of New York City.

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Mile by verdant mile, the view settles into undulating forest and farmland, sunset adding an autumnal tint to the ever-flattening prairies.

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And many immigrants have discovered that they rather like the Conservative appeal to the rugged individualism and family values of the Prairies.

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On the fertile coast, prairies of rice stretch to the horizon.

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Fattened, flightless, farm-raised, store-bought turkeys bear little resemblance to their tough, feral cousins that tromp through the forests, prairies, and scrublands of every state in the US except for Alaska.

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But that is unlikely to assuage westerners' gripes about being ignored by Ottawa, nor break the Conservative ascendancy west of the Prairies.

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His father, who seems to have been an intellectual but without much formal education, grew the hard red spring wheat of the northern prairies.

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