» Canadian News

October 12, 2005

Labour

CBC: "About 60 per cent of the employees at the [massive slaughterhouse near Calgary] are immigrants, many from Sudan. Some people believe locally-born workers would report for work in the event of a strike, while the new Canadians remain on the picket line."

Globe: BC Teachers still on 'illegal' strike. "Since taking office in 2001, the Liberals have imposed two contracts on public-school teachers, stripped them of their right to bargain learning conditions and severely restricted their right to strike by designating education as an essential service."

October 10, 2005

Will they, won't they?

The Hill Times has a long piece weighing whether there will be an election this fall, and which party that would favour.

October 09, 2005

Caviar to Fake Crab Meat

In the last paragraph of this NYTimes piece on the effects of oil companies tearting up hundreds of thousands of acres of Alberta, Stéphane Dion gets the quote of the day.

"With concerted effort and the technology in play, we will be taking on the environmental challenge aggressively," Mr. Lambert of Suncor said. But he conceded that "the economic growth we are experiencing means a rising greenhouse gas production profile."

The only thing likely to slow production is a sustained decline in oil prices, something few energy specialists predict.
"There is no environmental minister on earth who can stop the oil from coming out of the sand, because the money is too big," said Canada's environment minister, Stéphane Dion, in an interview. "But we have to be very strict on environmental impact."

"What bugs me about oil sands is that it is a resource that is being inefficiently used," said Marlo Raynolds, executive director of the Pembina Institute, an environmental research group based in Calgary. "We're using natural gas, which is the cleanest fossil fuel, to wash sand and make a dirtier fuel. It's like using caviar to make fake crabmeat."

September 23, 2005

JTF2 Kills People

Canada admitted that JTF2 kills people in Afghanistan.

The quote of the week is in the last paragraph:

"The difference, and this is a significant difference, is the willingness of the political elite to talk about what they're using the military for and share that with the Canadian public," said Rob Huebert, a political scientist in Calgary.

September 20, 2005

Mohammad Mahjoub's Hunger Strike: Day 75

Security Certificate detainee Mohammad Mahjoub day 75 of a hunger strike for basic improvements in his jail conditions. According to doctors, he is pretty close to death. The Ontario government has refused to make any concessions.

September 18, 2005

In Canada

The LockedOutCBC headline Stephen Lewis offers support for Mulroney, but I'd say it's more along the lines of "the Liberals are worse than Mulroney". It's a case that has been made before, I think, by Murray Dobbin (among others).

There's another silly study about binge drinking among students. No mention of the intensive, university-sanctioned emphasis on alcohol during university activities.

September 07, 2005

Political participation

The T-Star has an interesting piece on political participation that cites a recent poll as saying that Canucks want influence in government, but aren't willing to sign petitions, protest, or join a party to do it. This immediately suggests that people are lazy and don't understand politics (the latter is almost certainly the case to a significant degree), but it could be that there's some unseen alternative (as the article suggests).

It's hard to imagine political influence being gained without either a) a lot of effort or b) a lot of money being spent to pay people to put in a lot of effort, so it's tempting to take the cynical view.

Still, the article is interesting for folks who want to understand Canadian politics.

Canadians are frustrated at not having more influence over the country's politics, yet one in four voters surveyed in a recent poll admitted to never undertaking grassroots activities like signing a petition, joining a party or marching in a demonstration.

SES Research conducted the poll for the Crossing Boundaries National Council and the Public Policy Forum, a pair of Ottawa-based think-tanks, to assess Canadians' attitudes toward political activism and governance.

Pollster Nik Nanos said the findings demonstrate voters are keen to play a greater role in government decision-making, but are frustrated with traditional ways of becoming involved.

"People want more input, but not based on the political paradigm that exists right now," said Nanos, who is president of SES.

Locked out CBC workers providing news coverage

Apparently, some locked out CBC reporters have begun publishing news coverage (and not just about the lockout) online.

Citizen on Pettigrew

While the press in general is unwilling to say anything when Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew contradicts verifiable facts (sometimes referred to as lying) in a press conference, the Ottawa Citizen recently did a little hit piece on Pettigrew and his propensity for spending all his time in Paris.

It's a basic fact of power relations in the press, which seems to have few exceptions: you can cover a controversial topic if there is a substantial division within one of the parties, or between parties.

But if there's a broad consensus on an issue (even if its a consensus that we should not talk about it, as in the case of Canada's involvement in Haiti), then there is no issue, and the basic facts about that issue, however incontrovertible or shocking are not acknowledge as being of this world.

However: if it's a case of an internal squabble in the cabinet, then all kinds of speculation (Pettigrew might be replaced by Dion, might end up being the ambassador to France) and investigation (the Citizen staked out his Paris apartment) are warranted.

September 06, 2005

Hassan Almrei and Mohammad Mahjoub on Hunger Strike for basic rights

Samir Shheen-Hussain: "according to a statement read at a rally held in Toronto today (September 3, 2005), Hassan Almrei, on the 73rd day of his hunger strike, expressing his sorrow that the government will not give him his rights, expressing his faith in the people of Canada, said that the outcry following his hunger-strike has given him enough new hope that he will end his hunger-strike, but not the struggle for his life. Mohammad Mahjoub continues with his hunger strike, having completed his 59th day today."

More info: Campaign to stop secret trials in Canada

Nationalize Gas?

CBC: "The Canadian Press said Monday a Leger poll suggested 49 per cent of respondents want petroleum resources nationalized while 43 per cent said they would like to see the same fate for gas companies."

67% of Quebecois polled supported nationalization of petroleum, while 59% of Albertans opposed it.

August 31, 2005

Telus Strike

WSWS: "Twelve-thousand five-hundred Telus workers in British Columbia and Alberta have been walking the picket lines since July 21. The conflict has been provoked by Telus, the largest telecommunications company in western Canada, with the intention of busting the union and shredding what few obstacles remain to the contracting out of any part of the company’s operations."

August 28, 2005

Finch Ave.

Toronto Public Space Committee: Maybe we shouldn't have burried that river in a concrete pipe...

August 24, 2005

CBC Lockout Coverage

Locked out CBC workers are covering the lockout on their own web site. Hopefully they'll start covering other stuff; it'd be interesting to see what CBC coverage was like, sans management.

July 11, 2005

Barrick in Argentina

Upside Down World covers protests against Toronto-based Barrick gold in Argentina.

Open pit mining contains two key steps. First, entire mountains are opened up and ore is extracted and crushed into a powder. Second, the ore is treated with chemicals (lixiviation) to collect the trace amounts of gold, silver and copper that naturally exist in the ore. The lixiviation process uses vast amounts of water and highly toxic chemicals such as cyanide.

June 24, 2005

Canadian Military accused of spraying Agent Orange

It was just a "small scale" spraying of the carcinogenic defoliant, says the Dept. of Defense.

The most obvious question is missing however..."Why?".

Presumably they were spraying to denude trees, since "At the time of the spray program, it was believed the chemicals were harmless to human health and virtually no precautions were taken to minimize human contact", according to CBC.ca, "U.S. forces sprayed Agent Orange to defoliate large areas of forest in Vietnam from 1961 until 1971, when it was discovered to contain dioxin".

June 18, 2005

Pettigrew with "blood" on his hands

Haiti Action Montreal: Pierre Pettigrew Splattered With Red Paint At Montreal Conference On Haiti; A Symbol Of The Haitian Blood On The Hands Of The Canadian Government.

June 15, 2005

Here is Theirs

Megan Wennberg did a story in the T-Star about the Irvings' buyout of the only independent English-language paper in New Brunswick. Irving now owns all of the English-language press in NB.

On Oct. 29, 2004, residents of Saint John, New Brunswick woke up to the news that here newspaper, the province's only alternative weekly, had been bought by the Irving family, the province's most powerful corporate entity with industries spanning oil and forestry, real estate and newspapers. Here was now in the crowded company of every English-language daily paper in the province, as well as the numerous weeklies, periodicals and radio stations owned by Brunswick News, Irving's media arm.

June 10, 2005

Kazemi

You remember Zahra Kazemi, right? She was beaten and raped before being killed by Iranian policemen because she was taking photos of a student protest.

The [simpering, gutless, corrupt --ed] mayor of Côte St. Luc in Montréal had some of her photos removed from an exhibition at a local library after one complaint. Her son, who organized the exhibit, said they could exhibit all of the photos or none of them, so they took the whole thing down.

The controversial photos (controversial photos!) were, of course, of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and the repression carried out there.

"It's a very complicated conflict, and to create an impression where the Palestinian cause is being martyred by oppression by the Israeli government, we don't consider that to be a fair portrait," Borough Mayor Robert Libman said.

Today, Jewish Alliance Against the Occupation held a protest denouncing the censorship of the photos. They say: "[city officials] should be offended, but not by the fact that the photos were taken, or [are] being shown. They should be offended by what's being shown, which is a brutal military occupation."

For a tonne of coverage and blogging about the censorship, check out Zeke's Gallery.

June 06, 2005

Today in Canada

A Saskatchewan school is hosting gay-straight clubs to dispel stereotypes and homophobia.

Lakes in the Arctic are disappearing.

Sick of getting their traps cut and the DFO doing nothing, lobster fishers from Burnt Church say they're going to fish in the fall, which is apparently off-season. A Woodstock, NB school dropped the "Warrior" as its mascot.

7,000 day care workers are on strike in Québec.

Gilles Duceppe is considering leading the PQ, though he's operated only at the federal level until now. The choice between criticizing policy and making policy seems like a no-brainer for a career politician, and the likelihood that he would be Premier is pretty high. I reckon he'll do it.

June 05, 2005

Landry Steps Down

Bernard Landry stepped down as leader of the PQ today. He had just received the endorsement of 76 per cent of his party, but apparently it wasn't enough.

In other news, the RCMP and CSIS don't have to give information to elected officials if they don't wanna, according to this report in the Star.

June 02, 2005

Engler on Haiti and the Media

Yves Engler: Media ignores Canada's role in Haiti

Did you read in your local paper that in mid-May, 250 people braved a rainy Sunday morning in downtown Montreal to confront Canadian colonialism? The demonstration, at the conclusion of a conference for Land, Decolonization and Self Determination and in conjunction with the Haitian community's flag day commemoration, was called to point out the link between the continued encroachment upon aboriginal land (in Kanehsatake and Grassy Narrows for example) and Canadian imperialism in Haiti.

May 30, 2005

FOIA: MIA or DOA?

According the to the Hamilton Spectator (and the Globe, and whoever else published stories on the recent study on FOIA requests), "freedom of information" is "a farce" in Canada.

Some leading access experts call the governments policy on information release a farce- largely due to political interference.

"Freedom of information is really not working," said Darrell Evans of the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association.

May 20, 2005

Dobbin on Harper

Murray Dobbin: Why Conservatives Should Thank Chuck Cadman

As for the leader of the loyal opposition, Stephen Harper just doesn't get it. Hidden in the media spin surrounding the budget votes yesterday is all the evidence the Conservative Party needs to rid itself of the man who cannot possibly win them power. Far be it from me to help this Reform/Alliance retread party be more effective, given its draconian, hidden agenda. But the fact is, this extremist agenda is exactly what Harper brings to the party. If the Conservatives actually chose someone from the old Progressive Conservative wing of their party as leader, not only would they do better, but Canada would not be constantly threatened by Harper's vision of creating a carbon copy of the US north of the border. While Harper is almost pathologically committed to an American vision of the country, what's left of the old PCs -- especially the Red Tories -- might just have enough good sense left to recognize that Canadians are moving to the left in their values and policy preferences.

Vote of Confidence

The World Socialist Web Site has some interesting analysis of the Stronach thing:

Given this background, it is evident that Belinda Stronach's decision to break ranks with the Conservatives at such a time and in such a fashion would not have been taken unless there are considerable reservations and apprehensions within business circles over Harper's alliance with the Bloc Québécois, demand that the power of the federal government be curbed in favour of the provinces, courting of the religious right, and readiness to paint the Liberal Party -- the ruling class's traditional governing party and the only one that can claim to be a national party's a criminal organization.

May 17, 2005

I've been saying...

...that the Liberals still have more than a few tricks up their sleeves, but I never expected this.

With Stronach gone, I think we can begin the Stephen Harper self destruct sequence.

10... 9... 8... "scandal" 7... "corruption!" 6... 5... "corrupt!" 4... 3... 2...

Not that the Liberals are looking so good, either. The NDP and the Bloc stand to make the biggest gains at this point.

Will it result in more accountability? It's been pretty well established at this point that political parties have very little to do with that. What drives politics are corporations, the media they own, and to a far lesser extent, social movements.

Outlook: bleak.

May 09, 2005

In Canada...

The Feds gave airports gave airports $8 billion (?!), the fact that Martin stole billions of dollars that Canadians paid into UI and used it for tax cuts is affecting PEI, and Don Boudria isn't running in the next election.

Businesses elicited a few nervous laughs when they said that the "unrealistic expectations" of aboriginal people are keeping the Mackenzie pipeline from being built. [Which unrealistic expectations? Was it the expected right to self-determination, the expectation of not having their way of life destroyed, or the expectation that they should have control of the land they have inhabited for thousands of years? --ed]

After supposedly relocating due to the possibility of another sovereignty referendum, the Shriners may be building a hospital in Montréal after all. Children are suffering an "Asthma epidemic" in Manitoba.

And because it wouldn't be a day without strategic spending announcements, the Feds are giving $1 million to study gang violence among Indo-canadian youth.

Silence of the Greens (and NDP)

Resist.ca: Iraq and the Cynical Silence of the NDP and Greens

Seven weeks ago NDP leader Carole James and Green Party leader Adriane Carr were emailed information regarding the $4.6 billion in B.C. pension funds that have been invested in corporations producing, among other things, the munitions, missiles, landmines, cluster bombers, attack choppers, tanks, fighters and depleted uranium weapons for use by U.S. armed forces in their occupation of Iraq.

On April 26, James and Carr were mailed a registered letter signed by 14 individuals asking for her to clarify the NDP's position in regard to divestment of these funds, and ending BC's complicity in the occupation of Iraq.

May 08, 2005

Political Predictions

Harper is either going to a) self-destruct before the election or b) self-destruct after he wins a fragile minority.

So does that mean that Belinda Stronach will be the next Conservative leader?

May 07, 2005

Across Canada

Egad, it's amazing how many minor scandals and other distractions I have to filter through to get the basic news.

Canadian soldiers are heading to Sudan.

You wouldn't know it except for a single story on the Saskatchewan CBC site, but union activists are picketing 43 Wal-marts across Canada.

A pro-gay-marriage former MLA won a "heated" contest for an Ottawa Conservative nomination.

The northerners are fighting amongst themselves about the pipeline. The range of debate? Those who want to tax the pipeline to those who want to placate the corporations that are getting huge federal cash to steal resources from the local inhabitants, while eliminating their way of life and threatening the ecology that sustains them. Absent, of course, are those that say the pipeline should not be build at all. (See Macdonald Stainsby's excellent analysis on this.)

And they're maybe building a big wind farm in Manitoba.

Irving's Tax Break

There is active resistance to multi-million dollar tax break for the Irving Group, which basically owns New Brunswick. A local group is threatening to help un-elect MLAs that support the deal.

From the CBC:

Under the deal, the companies will pay $500,000 a year in property taxes for the next 25 years. That's about 10 per cent of the taxes they would normally be required to pay.

April 29, 2005

Pepper? It's what I put on my q-tip.

A US jury has decided that police shouldn't q-tip pepper spray into protesters eyes. Literally.

April 27, 2005

Jack Layton is Kaiser Sosei

After ten years of slicing and dicing social programs, $100 billion in tax cuts for the most wealthy and corporations, $4.6 billion in new spending is, apparently making people freak out.

Apparently, it's enough to warrant the claim that Jack Layton is the devil. (See the last line of Ibbitson's column.)

It's almost as hilarious as all of the major media giving Thomas d'Aquino (of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives) what amounts to an op/ed in the news section to diss the rollback of the "modest" tax cuts (coming as they did on the tail end of ten years of quite immodest tax cuts).

April 23, 2005

Residential School Program Priorities

CBC: "The cost of a program that was supposed to fast track claims of residential school abuse is skyrocketing. The cost of administering the program has reached $34 million, while less than $1 million has been paid out."

In other news...

A few hundred people in Iqaluit (and Salma Hayek) staged a demonstration against climate change. Because, y'know, we can make basic changes that would stop the climate from changing so fast.

A journalism prof at the Université de Moncton dissed the Irving family's media monopoly in New Brunswick publicly. The Irvings own all of the English dailies in New Brunswick, and something like six of the weeklies.

Vancouver NDP MLA candidate Rollie Keith was forced to resign his candidacy because of an article he wrote where he said there wasn't any evidence for Milosevic committing "genocide". (Noting, as we should, the difference between massive human rights violations and genocide.) Returning from service in th emil, he wrote:

However, the NATO bombardment has been counterproductive, as it has created a significant European humanitarian problem of more than 600,000 external refugees that threaten to destablize the surrounding vulnerable nations, exacerbating regional security. Another estimated 600,000 plus internally-displaced Kosovars are also being subjected to the deprivations of the full-scale civil war. Then in the end the international community will also have to rebuild not only Kosovo, but the rest of Yugoslavian to ensure their future participation in the new Europe of the 21st century, This is what the failure of diplomacy with its consequent ill-prepared and ill-conceived air bombardment has accomplished.

What is crucial to have happen then, is that the unjustified moral certitude that that has resulted in the demonization and vilification of Yugoslavia and its nationalist President Milosevic cease, and be replaced by a rational discourse to enable a fair and just solution to be agreed to.

"Closer ties between U.S., Canada inevitable: Ridge"

The Globe and Mail ran a piece today in their "International" websection written by "investigative reporter" Michael Den Tandt.

April 22, 2005

Israel and War Crimes

York U law professor Michael Mandel says that under Canadian law, Israel's West Bank and Gaza settlements are war crimes.

April 21, 2005

Today in Canada

Telus froze wage and vacation increases to put pressure on its employees in Alberta. A union rep said Telus was trying to start collective bargaining over "at square one". Moncton was planning to run its sewage plant with wind power.

The Liberals delayed a Conservative effort to call an election by about three weeks, and Ralph Goodale was thinking about giving Canada's only nuclear power station a $200 million grant. Anglo teachers in Québec went on strike.

Pierre Pettigrew is contemplating running as a compromise candidate for the Presidency of the Organization of American States.

Disney is going to make video games in Vancouver, and Gordon Campbell's BC Liberals had an eight point lead as an election was called.

The conservative party was trying to recruit a TV news anchor to run in Québec, and Harper and Martin traded insults, as did some Liberal loyalists. Three independent MPs held the balance of power.

The press reported that Paul Martin is seeking "an independent foreign policy".

Saskatchewan made it easier to sell organic wheat, SaskEnergy doubled its profits, Ontario wanted to have more renewable energy, and the Ontario Teachers' Pension plan bought a Massachusetts-based power company.

High School students in New Brunswick said that idle hands are the devil's workshop, and the CBC wrote an article about Brascan that didn't really explain anything.

April 18, 2005

In Today's News

Kids in Winnipegs north end turned their school grounds into a "gorgeous garden". The body of one of 84 women missing or murdered in the last 20 years in Western Canada was found by an oilfield worker in a field near Edmonton.

Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell said that an early federal election "would be stupid", and Toronto mayor David Miller said that Toronto should get half of any new federal funding for cities.

Students in Saskatoon picked a Pope in a mock enclave and Indian outsourcing companies were setting up shop in Toronto.

The Liberals warned that their funding programs for cities would be at risk if an election was called, and Québec continued to be pissed off at the Liberals. Prison guards in New Brunswick used tear gas after prisoners tried to break through a prison wall by smashing it, an inmate was found dead in a Manitoba prison,Trout from a lake in PEI were found to contain high levels of mercury, and a magazine for and by gay youth out of Halifax was having trouble attracting advertisers.

April 13, 2005

TTC to Strike

CTV: "Commuters in Canada's biggest city may find themselves stranded early Monday morning as Toronto transit workers are planning to go on strike."

And that just happens to be the day I'll be arriving in Toronto. Dang. Couldn't it be a fare strike instead?

Messe a-go-go

The T-Star has a piece on the decline of the Catholic church in Québec, from 90% attendance in 1960 to less than 7% today.

Contains this rather amusing bit:

"Should nuns wear miniskirts?" scoffs John Cornwell, author of a critical biography of the late Pope John Paul II. "Should we have hamburgers and Coca Cola instead of bread and wine?"

Probably not, although back in the 1960s, the church in Quebec sought to stem falling attendance by celebrating what it called "messe a-go-go," mixing rock music with Holy Communion.

April 11, 2005

Canada Failing Haitians Says McDonough

Former NDP Leader Alexa McDonough Speaks out on Canada's role in a deteriorating Haiti. She raises questions about a reported $7 million in illegal arms shipments by U.S. to Haiti's puppet Prime Minister, Gerard Latortue.

Read it and circulate it, call your MP, pressure them to follow suit and speak out also...

Allan Rock is heading to Haiti this week as part of the UN Security Council /UN Economic and Social Council delegation to Haiti, April 13-16, "to review progress achieved in areas such as security, development, the political transition, human rights, institution-building and the humanitarian situation."

"On 23 November 2004, Members of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti elected H.E. Mr. Allan Rock, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to become the Chairman of the Group.

Contact Allan Rock, convey McDonough's (and your own!) message to him about the farcical nature of this "mission" to Haiti, premised as it is on the illusion of "progress achieved."

Rock.A@parl.gc.ca

April 07, 2005

Dobbin v. Bay St.

In the Georgia Straight, Murray Dobbin lets corporate Canada have it... on its own terms.

The sheer lack of entrepreneurial vision is evident in Bay Street's determination to tie itself to what more and more economists are declaring a declining economic power. The growing consensus is that smart countries and companies are getting in on the game where the growth is: China, India, Brazil, Russia, and South Africa. But not Canadian companies. Even retiring World Bank president James Wolfensohn recently expressed surprise that Canada sends only six percent of its exports to these rapidly growing markets. Business writer David Crane says: "Canada's future well-being will depend on companies with a global strategy, not a North American strategy."

April 06, 2005

Bummer.

Toronto Star: "The smell of beer hung in the air after a truck carrying 46,368 bottles of Keith's tipped over on a Halifax overpass yesterday."

April 04, 2005

Publication Ban?

According to this Conversvative American blog (about whose reliability I have no idea), the Liberal "sponsorship scandal" is about to bust wide, wide open. For example:

[quote deleted for fear of getting nailed in some round about way via the publication ban (the Dominion's website is currently hosted stateside, though we publish in Canada)]

Conservative government, anyone?

Thanks to Chris from Zeke's Gallery for the link.

If you want to start the downward spiral into self-destructive nihilism get depressed, read the comments on the blog post linked above.

April 01, 2005

Economic Disruption Week Continues

CMAQ: "Earlier today [ed: Thursday, March 31st] around 500 students swarmed into the Complexe Dejardins as part of CASSÉÉ's week of "economic disruptions". While inside, many students blocked entrances, clapping and cheering, while others went into the IGA supermarket and raided food, cheese, and wine. While a minor scuffle broke out between an IGA security guard and students trying to take a cart out of the IGA, only a small amount of food was taken and the police did not get involved and there was no violence or property destruction."

Quebec Students Occupying the Vieux Montreal CEGEP

March 30, 2005 -- Police surround the student-occupied Vieux Montreal CEGEP, dismantle blockades, and appear to be preparing to take the building. Other students and protesters surround the police, and an hour later, they go back from whence they came. In the meantime, the people inside wait for police to move, and play foosball while keeping the table ready to block the doors. After the police leave, students gather to rebuild the barricades. Completely by chance, I was inside when all of this happened, and took some photos.

More CEGEP Occupation Photos

March 28, 2005

Legalize it?

Maisonneuve has a mediocre article about prostitution up, which has some good discussion at the end.

The ongoing discussion seems to be over what model of legalization is the best. There is the Dutch/general European model, which simply legalizes prostitution and attempts to regulate it, while providing the right for female prostitutes to unionize. And then there's the Swedish model, which makes it legal to be a prostitute, but illegal to profit from the work of prostitutes, and illegal to visit a prostitute.

The idea behind the latter model is that the problem with prositution is not adultery per se, but violence against women. The argument against it seems to be that prostitution will exist no matter what, and its better if it's above-ground. The problem, some Swedish-model-advocates point out, is that a) this perpetuates and accentuates a culture of objectification of women (and the inevitable violence) and b) opens the door to even more of a below-ground sex trade, of which there is evidence in the Netherlands, for example.

While some of the attacks on the Swedish system seem a bit vociferous, it's easy to get distracted from what seem to be unavoidable points: any sound policy has to...

• ...aim to eliminate, not perpetuate, violence against women
• ...take into account the socio-economic situations that make prostitution necessary or appealing, including histories of abuse, lack of decent jobs, lack of pay equity
• ...reach out to all of those (arguably the vast majority) who are working as prostitutes who not by choice, but by necessity
• ...not criminalize the activities of those being exploited (which often intensifies their exploitation

I think this one is a good starting point:

Elaine Audet: Prostitution: Rights of Women or right to women?

March 24, 2005

Canada Denies US Soldier Refugee Status

The verdict is in -- American conscientious objector Jeremy Hinzman has been denied refugee statusby the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board. They argued that the 26-year-old Hinzman had not convinced them that he would be subject to persecution if he returned to the US, despite the fact that he will face a court martial and possibly five years in prison as a "deserter".

March 18, 2005

Cellucci joins Magna

Former US ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci will join Magna Entertainment, which is owned by Frank Stronach, (Conservative MP Belinda Stronach's father).

You may remember the stink that arose in 2003 when the Eves government decided to announce the provincial budget at Magna's auto parts HQ in a departure from the democratic tradition of making the announcement at Queen's Park.

March 15, 2005

Student General Strike in Quebec

Check out the latest on the spreading student strike in Quebec.

February 27, 2005

Gary Freeman, Joseph Pannell

Supporters of Joseph Pannell, aka Gary Freeman, who I wrote about a few months ago, now have a web site up. They're demanding he stay in Canada.

February 26, 2005

Pierre Pettigrew Reading the Griffin Report

Activist/Writer Yves Engler presenting Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew with a copy of the Griffin/University of Miami report. Bill Graham (Defence Minister), Pettigrew, and Aileen Carroll (Minister of International Cooperation) have all denied knowledge of human rights reports indicating massive human rights abuses by the RCMP-trained Haitian National Police.

This photo is available under the Creative Commons Attribution License (free reprinting with attribution). (Photograph by Dru Oja Jay, The Dominion, February 25, 2005.) A high-resolution version is available here.

February 22, 2005

The feline has exited the sack

Canadian Press: "McKenna told the foreign affairs committee he wasn't sure what more U.S. President George W. Bush needs from Canada on the controversial plan to create a continental missile shield. Afterward, the former premier of New Brunswick went much further with reporters. Asked directly if Canada is already part of the program, McKenna responded: 'We are. We're part of it now and the question is what more do we need?'"

With huge opposition to missile defence building, and the Liberals consistently saying that they haven't joined the Missle "Defence" program yet, that's gotta hurt.

Warren Kinsella: "Holy smokes! Get ready for the next election campaign, if this one is allowed to stand uncontradicted for another 24 hours."

February 20, 2005

Support for Israel

Writer/partisan/lawyer Warren Kinsella explains again why he's fully in support of Israel:

...my unqualified support for Israel stems from history, and from justice: that is, throughout the length and breadth of history, the Jewish people, and Israel, have been denied justice. They continued to be denied justice.

What I can never seem to understand with such justifications is what this justice is, exactly (in relation to Israel), and why it involves the systematic division and dismantling of an entire society.

I'm also interested in why that is just. I generally see overwhelming evidence in support of the Palestinians, and say so frequently, but for the benefit of democratic debate, I'll back up a moment and re-understand what this conflict is about... if anyone will respond.

After all, I may have missed something. (I'm not being sarcastic, though I am generally skeptical from previous experiences.)

If anyone wants to explain, email can be sent to dru at dominionpaper.ca. (Comments are off due to comment spam.)

Charkaoui released

After two years of being held under a security certificate, Adil Charkaoui is out.

"We now look forward to two things. The day that my brother is entirely cleared of these allegations, and the day that this discriminatory, Kafkaesque process is eliminated altogether," added Hind Charkaoui.

February 11, 2005

Canadian Govn't Backs GM "Terminator" Seeds

Guardian: Canada backs terminator seeds

An international moratorium on the use of one of the world's most controversial GM food technologies may be broken today if the Canadian government gets seed sterilisation backed at a UN meeting.

Who are these "Canadians", anyway? Apparently they don't have anything to do with this country, because the media that is owned by people who live here has yet to cover this story.

February 10, 2005

Kevin Pina Victoria and Vancouver Speaking Schedule

**Please Circulate Widely**

Kevin Pina on Occupied Haiti

Wake Up With Co-Op Radio, Friday Moring, 8:40 A.M. 102.7 FM,
http://www.coopradio.org
Friday, February 11, 7p.m. public forum at SFU Harbour Centre, Room 1900. and,
Friday, Feb. 11, 11a.m. Film screening and discussion at Langara College Student
Union Lounge
Friday, Feb. 11, 2:30p.m. Discussion with trade unionists, Boardroom 3 at Maritime
Labour Centre (111 Victoria Dr.)
Saturday, 9:00 A.M. Interview, Red Eye Radio on Co-op Radio, 102.7 P.M. www.coopradio.org
Saturday, meet Kevin Pina at the Co-Development Film Festival, Faculty Lounge (through student cafeteria) Langara Campus 11 a.m. Join discussion 12:30 to 1:30
p.m.

Independent journalist Kevin Pina will be visiting Vancouver as part of a cross-Canada tour. This is a unique opportunity to get on-the-ground news and analysis about the situation in occupied Haiti. Kevin will also be travelling to
Victoria, and will be meeting with trade unionists, students and others while in
B.C.

The Canadian government and military played a key role in the coup against Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and continues to be a major player in the
occupation and
illegal regime change. For more information on Kevin Pina's tour, contact afenton@riseup.net. Check out www.haitiaction.net for continuing coverage from
Haiti.

Organized by Haiti Information Project Tour Committee.

Endorsed by StopWar.ca and Vancouver & District Labour Council

Victoria:

Democracy Betrayed: Occupied Haiti
February 10, 2005, 7:30 PM
University of Victoria
UVIC David Strong Building, Room C103

Independent journalist Kevin Pina will be visiting Victoria as part of a cross-Canada tour. This is a unique oppotunity to get on the ground news and analysis about the situation in occupied Haiti.

The Canadian government and military played a key role in the coup against Jean Bertrand Aristide, and continues to be a major player in the occupation and reinforement of the illegal regime. For continuing coverage from Haiti check out www.haitiaction.net

Organized by the Victoria Peace Coalition, Co-Sponsors: UVIC Faculty of Education, UVSS, Armed With Understanding, Central American Support committee.

February 07, 2005

Joseph Pannell

Those who followed the case of Joseph Pannell (or read my piece about about the media coverage of his case) will be interested in two decent articles from the Toronto Star: Cold case fuelled by race and politics and You see a fugitive, I see a friend.

But the reopening of what one Chicago investigator has called the coldest of cold cases is raising disturbing questions of race, politics and power.

"I wonder if a black man had been shot by a police officer 36 years ago, whether this kind of pursuit through the decades would've taken place,'' said Pannell's Canadian lawyer Julian Falconer....

we export more to Home Depot than we do to France.

Canada and the United States: Engaging the new Administration -- where do we go from here?
Remarks by Michael Kergin,
Ambassador of Canada to the United States
to the The Vancouver Board of Trade
Vancouver, British Columbia
December 9, 2004

January 21, 2005

Police Attack Peaceful Protest at York University

Recent trends of harassment and intimidation of student dissidents came to
a head yesterday at York University, as security worked with police to
forcibly disperse a demonstration marking the inauguration of US President George W. Bush.

January 11, 2005

Leonard Asper, Emperor of the Known Universe

The CanWest Global Contract for freelancers has some curious language.

Freelancer hereby irrevocably grants and assigns to CanWest all rights of every kind in and to the Content (including copyright), and agrees that CanWest shall have the right to exclusively use and exploit the Content in any manner and in any and all media, whether now known or hereafter devised, throughout the universe, in perpetuity. For greater certainty, Freelancer shall have no right to re-sell or re-publish the Content without CanWest's express written permission.

January 10, 2005

Digital Canada

Can a country digitize everything it has ever written?

Michael Geist proposes digitizing every Canadian book, ever.

January 08, 2005

Chief Justice

The Globe has an interesting feature on Canada's Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin.

"I think that people are coming to understand better and better . . . that it is not a political role; that it is not a partisan role. People understand that while they may not agree with every decision, the institution -- and the fact we have an institution to decide these difficult issues -- is absolutely necessary to our society and our democracy."

Canadian Labour, Tsunami

Canadian Labour Unions donated over one million dollars to disaster relief.

January 04, 2005

Canada's Export Development Corporation

This article by Asad Ismi from 2001 provides a broad overview of Canadian companies, subsidized by taxpayers, who are wreaking havoc in the third world.

December 22, 2004

Patriot Act in Canada

Vancouver Sun: "Highly sensitive personal, military and national security information held by the Canadian government is accessible to U.S. authorities under the Patriot Act, according to a document obtained Friday."

December 21, 2004

News of the Day

CBC North: "After months of negotiation, victims of abuse at an Indian residential school in the Yukon are being told their claims are invalid."

Bitch Magazine discusses "I had an abortion" t-shirts.

You don't hear much about nuclear threats against North Korea.

There was more rape in the US in 2004 than in 2003.

December 19, 2004

Joining the Dark Side (assuming there's a light side)

Don Martin, Calgary Herald: "Four senior reporters have fled Ottawa newsrooms in the last month to deliver spin over substance for six-figure salaries in ministerial offices, joining another two who quit earlier to join the Paul Martin administration."

December 15, 2004

Fenton on Flashpoints, Debunking Canadian Myths, Anti-Imperialism

Dominion Media Analysis Editor Anthony Fenton was interviewed Tuesday, December 14th on Flashpoints Radio, discussing Canada's role in the extermination of democracy in Haiti. The interview is archived and downloadable.

In other related but more general news, Samir Hussain published an incredible article Canada's Myths and Realities, while Justin Podur posted his engaging interview with David Orchard, Canada, Nationalism, and Empire.

December 09, 2004

Canada to host Haitian Criminal Latortue

Montreal Conference with the Chalabis of Haiti

Below is an announcement of a Conference to be held by the Chalabis of Haiti
and their International sponsors in Canada on December 11 and 12, 2004.

The same Canadian officials, who conspired to destroy Haiti's democracy with
the forceful removal of Haiti's elected government, are currently in the
process of following through with the international communities' ultimate plans to
place Haiti under direct occupation with the pretext of an "international
protectorate." To that end, Canadian foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew iis
holding a meeting with the Chalabis of Haiti on December 10, 11, 2004. The
Government of Canada is proceeding with its war on the Haitian people in the form of this new conference ostensibly to be attended by the "leaders in the Haitian community abroad." However, the leaders in the Haitian community who have credibility with the grassroots movements for democracy in Haiti are not invited or welcomed to attend this meeting. Yes! Authorized Lavalas officials and
grassroots leaders from Haiti and abroad are not invited. Thus, this is simply
another Canadian attempt, like the Ottawa Initiative, to further humiliate the
people of Haiti.

Read on...

December 02, 2004

Sexual Trafficking, Canada

Élaine Audet: Canada Contributes to the Sexual Trafficking of Women for Purposes of Prostitution

According to the Minister and the spokepersons of this ministry, "Canadian women do not want to work any more in this profession ". They argue that the "scarcity" of perfomers such as lapdancers could only be filled by recruiting women abroad and by granting them special visas. According to the Minister, "there are needs in the exotic dance industry” and the government has "the obligation to answer them.". Under cover of this spurious excuse, immigration officers worked hand in hand with organized crime to supply the owners of clubs with a constant renewal of foreign women to meet the alleged "needs" of the prosperous Canadian sex industry.

Halifax protests Bush

Frantic energy reached a peak in Halifax this morning, as about 5,000 people rallied against the state visit of George W. Bush. The march began in Grand Parade square, and proceeded south along Barrington street to Victoria Park, where the Halifax Peace Coalition had organized a roster of speakers. Eager protesters continued to march down Marginal Road, heading closer to the location of the official speeches at Pier 21. Some of the crowd broke off and took a stand back at the park, but from what I could see the large majority of the crowd descended past the police pylons, down the hill towards Pier 21.

November 30, 2004

Callout: Bush in Halifax

::: Communique I: Callout :::

On Wednesday, December 1st, the commander-in-chief of the United States
war machine, George W. Bush, will dodge soft criticism in Parliament with
a photo-op in what his planners consider the sanctuary of Halifax.

We are calling for a day of action to express our contempt for America's
wars of conquest and the crimes that they entail - from the cages of
Guantanamo Bay to the rape and torture at Abu Ghraib.

Read on...

Anti-imperialists greet Bush across Canada

Ottawa is the "Green Zone"! Become the Resistance Inside the Empire!

Download Pamphlet here

Check out this pamphlet on Canadian and American imperialism. It will be
distributed by the People's Global Action Bloc at the anti-Bush demos in
Ottawa this week.

The pamphlet has articles on:

- Canadian imperialism in the Middle East
- Canadian complicity in Haiti
- Canadian arms manufacturers
- Paul Martin's plan for an "L20"
- Immigration policy convergence between Canada and the US
- and much more!

Anti-imperialists, anti-capitalists, and anti-authoritarians from Ottawa,
Montreal, and Toronto will form an autonomous bloc to participate in the
demonstrations against Bush from November 29th to December 1st. On the
occasion of Bush's visit to Ottawa, the bloc is calling for direct
confrontation with the US and Canadian administrations, their policies of
imperialist aggression abroad (Iraq, Palestine, Haiti, Afghanistan) and
the construction of a racist and brutal continental 'security' perimeter
at home (Fortress North America). The bloc is based on the People's
Global Action (PGA) Hallmarks (www.agp.org).

November 23, 2004

Corollary

What's the flipside to the media's refusal to call politicians on their verifiable contradiction of fact (sometimes referred to as "bald faced lies")?

It's to thoroughly castigate them when they point out the obvious.

Naturally.

Canada-Palestine Film Festival

The Canada-Palestine Film Festival is happening this week in Halifax, and has a solid lineup of films.

A stunning disconnect

Murray Dobbin: "At no time in the past 50 years, at least, has Canada's élite been so openly contemptuous of its own country, or so eager to give up its self-appointed role of protecting Canada's unique place in the world. And at no time in this same period have 'ordinary' Canadians been more proud of their values and traditions and so confident in them."

November 17, 2004

Bush in Canada

The Killing Train: Bush is coming to Canada - Nov 30. Will we be ready?

It is imperative that the "spectre of protests" become a reality. Unfortunately, NDP leader Jack Layton's initial statements don't offer much: "NDP Leader Jack Layton said he hopes the President will meet with party leaders as well as the Prime Minister. He said he would congratulate the President for doing a better job of controlling emissions and air pollution than Canada has. He added he would raise concerns about missile defence."

I hope that the rest of us who meet Bush in Ottawa can think of a few other things to raise. Perhaps mass murder in Iraq?

November 05, 2004

"I'm moving to Canada" achieves meme status

MarryAnAmerican.ca. "Now that George W. Bush has been officially elected, single, sexy, American liberals - already a threatened species - will be desperate to escape"

Scott Piatkowski thinks there are reasons for Americans to stick it out, though that's easy enough for Canadians to say.

November 04, 2004

In other news...

... B'Nai Brith official Adam Aptowitzer resigned for saying he supported terrorizing Palestinian civilians on the same show where Mohammed Elmasry said that Israelis in the military are legitimate military targets.

The difference? Canadian media (especially CanWest papers) ran front-page stories and lead editorials about Elmasry's comments, but ignored Aptowitzer for the most part.

But B'Nai Brith made him resign not because terrorizing civilians is wrong, but because they refuse to acknowledge that what Israel does is terrorism. From their statement: "[We] reiterate our position that the measures Israel is forced to take to protect itself against ongoing Palestinian terrorist attacks against its civilians constitute legitimate self-defence, and not 'state terrorism.' "

The Globe's coverage is fair in some ways, but in one specific way, it uses one of the most common techniques of the lazy or ideological (take your pick) journalist:

The groups said Mr. Aptowitzer's apparent endorsement of terrorism did not receive the same degree of scrutiny by the news media as Mohamed Elmasry's controversial statement on the same program...

Not surprisingly, journalists will fact-check claims that they know are wrong. But it's always a judgement call whether they do it or not, so it's just another way ideology works in the media: marginal claims that are true are mere assertions, while claims by the powerful are uncritically raised to fact.

This case particular case is minor, but it's worth noting that there are choices and value judgements happening all the time, and it's worth understanding where and how.

Strangeness

Carolyn Parrish says what everything is thinking, gets reprimanded by the PM.

October 22, 2004

Huuuuge News: Martin wanted to scrap CHA, join Iraq war

From the "News flash!!!!!!!" dept..

From all of the fuss that papers are making about Sheila Copps' revelations that Martin wanted to scrap the Canada Health Act and join the Iraq invasion, one would think that it wasn't already obvious. But it was. Copps' allegations just make it a bit more clear how blatantly the Liberal Party is contradicting its mandate to govern in the interest of Canadians, as opposed to corporations.

For example: the Feds have refused to allow any avenues of legal accountability to determine whether they're upholding the CHA, and one look at his public comments makes it pretty frickin' clear where he stands on the Iraq war (he's for it). The guy was repeated US propaganda points long after the US itself had all but admitting they were false, fergoshsakes.

Did no one notice this before now?

October 09, 2004

Go... North?

Paul Martin has his eyes on the Arctic. But no one in the mainstream is talking about the people that live there.

Amnesty says the Canadian government has been ignoring violence against aboriginal women.

If you read that Concordia denied Ehud Barak the right to speak on campus (which is dumb), you might as well read about Barak's constantly referred-to "generous offer". (The short version: it wasn't.)

Media Democracy Day is happening in Montreal! (October 18, Concordia)

Scott Brison is talking about selling off government-owned buildings. P3's: no matter how often they fail miserably, they're still great!

Monsanto's court victory over Percy Schmeiser is having a ripple effect for the corporate control of seeds.

October 07, 2004

Racial Profiling at Concordia

Read this first-hand account of Canada's Police State in action: "What Happened to me Today at Concordia University"

In related news, see below Alexa McDonough's recent "Speech to the Muslim community council of Ottawa-Gatineau."

October 04, 2004

Urgent Haiti Action in Canada

Stop the new wave of Violent repression in Haiti, details here. Demand that there be a parliamentary investigation into the widespread human rights abuses since Aristide's ouster. Demand an investigation into Canada's role in the ouster and Ottawa's connections to Haiti's elite and paramilitaries.

New foreign affairs minister Pierre Pettigrew:

Ottawa Office: 613-995-1851, E-mail: pettigrew.p@parl.gc.ca

Continue...

October 02, 2004

OCAP, Robin Hood

The folks at the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) stole $3,500 of food and essentials from an upscale Toronto grocery store and distributed it to low-income families in the metro area. They sent the bill to Dalton McGuinty. Their premise is that welfare rates need to be raised until they are enough for people to rent an apartment and eat food all month.

September 24, 2004

Resist.ca review

In the last few days on resist.ca... OCAP is giving food to the poor and sending McGuinty the bill, demonstrators were arrested at Sun Peaks, the arrests were condemned by the BC Chiefs, FN blockades blocks hunters, and the big unions are giving up on fighting free trade by being wishy-washy.

September 22, 2004

1000 march in support of Palestinian refugees

About 1000 people marched in Montreal last Saturday in support of the Palestinian refugees in Canada who are facing deportation... in some cases to refugee camps where they are at risk of being persecuted or attacked. One old couple that was driven from their homes in 1948 have been taking refuge in the basement of a church for eight months, because immigration Canada is threatening to send them back to refugee camps in Lebanon.

The march also commemorated the 22nd anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacre.

See Stateless and Exhausted, by Aaron Lakoff. There are also photos and a good video of the demo. Most of the video is in French.

August 27, 2004

Jaggi Singh responding to mainstream media lies

'Reply to New York City tabloid and police smears and lies'

Dear friends and allies:

As some of you might know, there has been a series of scare-mongering articles in New York City and beyond -- targeting mainly anarchists and other left-wing political organizers -- in anticipation of the mobilization against the Republican National Convention (RNC) this weekend and next week. Some of these articles mention me by name (although I was never contacted beforehand for comment by any of the reporters, and I'm not even attending the anti-RNC protests). Normally, I wouldn't care too much about these negative pieces, based solely on anonymous police sources, but two of the recent articles in mainstream New York City daily newspapers are just so outrageous and untrue that I need to respond clearly and publicly.

August 24, 2004

US and Canada Clips

Long before Plan Colombia, the US had knowledge that Colombian President Uribe had close ties to Medellin drug cartels. (According to recently declassified files.)

Three articles on prisons in Canada 1, 2, 3.

Longshoremen in Halifax went on a one-day illegal strike in opposition to the firing of a member of their union. No word from the CBC on what happened to the guy who was fired.

The excellent folks at the National Security Archive have a book on Mohammed Mossadegh and the US/British-sponsored overthrow of democracy in Iran. (Three line summary, according to what I know: progressive democratic types took power, stopped giving away their oil to British companies. CIA helped the Shah take power; he was a brutal tyrant. There was a revolution, but the democratic movements had been decisively weakened, so the Islamic folks took power.)

More intense stuff from the NSA: details of the still-classified Single Integrated Operational Plan: the US's plan for how to wage nuclear war. It still exists, of course, but we know nothing of the current version.

Three multinational meatpacking corporations used the mad-cow crisis to generate massive profits for themselves, even as farmers were (famously) struggling, and sometimes closing up shop.

Life After Capitalism looks like a compelling reason to show up a few days early to the Republican National Convention, which promises to be the biggest demo in recent US history.

The most intense convention protest of recent memory was 1968. Go read this timeline; it's insane.

August 09, 2004

Canadian Imperialism in the Arctic

The Coming Northwest Passage Through the Heart of
the Arctic Nations: Oil, Diamonds and Self-Determination

"Since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, indigenous sovereignty has gained a wider understanding among progressives and activists across Turtle Island (North America), and in particular in Canada. Many writers and activists have offered insight and support into ongoing struggles over sovereignty for the Shuswap Nation's Secwepemc people at what is commonly referred to as “Sun Peaks” near Kamloops, British Columbia. Also, near Montreal Quebec, the Mohawk Nation's Kanehsatake community continues to be under siege from the Federal government, police and federally appointed “chiefs”."

[...]

"However, perhaps the single most important battle over sovereignty is also the single most important move by Canadian imperialism since WWII. And it has yet to register on the radar screen, though the battle has been under way for over three decades.

It is in the Arctic regions where the fastest process of settler colonialism in the Western Hemisphere is occurring, with new untapped resources-- particularly oil and gas-- being discovered, along side some of the largest diamond deposits on the planet. Just as Canadian and American imperialist designs on Iraq, the Sudan, Nigeria and Venezuela are often in large part about crude and energy, so too is this not-new battlefield."

Please read and *circulate* this important article by Macdonald Stainsby

July 27, 2004

Kanehsatake and Charkaoui

The Mohawk folk at Kanehsatake are asking for help to deter an invasion of their land by the federal government. That's happening here in Canada. Is that weird?

(See Justin's article, and these two backgrounders from the CPCML: 1, 2.)

The Justice for Adil Charkaoui folks aren't happy with the recent decision to keep him in jail.

July 15, 2004

Martin's Line

Paul Martin said some rather grotesque things about Canadian Foreign policy in his speech to an audience of billionaire media moguls (his first major post-election speech), things that Canadians who think that Canada is all about peacekeeping and humanitarian aid would do well to pay attention to.

"Fundamentally, I think that Canada and the United States should see each other as more than simply important partners, more than simply friendly neighbours, but I really do think that it’s time that we understood our responsibilities as joint stewards of North America and those areas where, at least, our common interests intersect."

"In short, just as companies have to improve their governance, so do countries.  Better governance within fragile, failing or failed states means building effective public institutions. It is true that fragile states often require military intervention to restore stability.  You in the United States know this well and so does Canada."

"The problem was that we left before the institutional structures were put in place, and the institutional structures that were required if Haiti was to have any chance of standing on its own two feet.  The country needed functioning government ministries, a system of laws, honest policing and independent courts.  It needed most of all the rule of law and the accountability of a political system.  The problem is that none of us, neither the States nor Canada nor France, though all of us were involved, stayed long enough nor did we make the time and the effort that was required to build these institutions. "

"It is public institutions that work.  There are 183 nations that are part of the IMF.  There are close to 50 which are deemed to be failed or failing.  This is an enormous international effort that is required and it is one, to be quite honest, which I don’t think that we, as nations, have begun to face up to."

[emphasis added]

Fear of a Spendathon Cabinet

Canada's "business community" is whining about what are likely to be extremely slight increases in social spending. As if a decade of deep, permanent spending cuts, record corporate profits, stagnating wages, and the outright theft of UI funds somehow never happened.

Shut up already.

July 05, 2004

Just in case you missed

The most hyped "horse race" in recent memory, endless hype about a blue storm, and voter turnout was the lowest in Canadian history.

June 23, 2004

Propaganda and Terrorism: Canada's Election Threat

by Anthony Fenton

Most Canadians don't even know it, but the war on terrorism is providing the backdrop to the country's first 'post-9/11' federal election, slated for June 28th. That the discourse surrounding terrorism is perhaps the most Orwellian of the overall election propaganda is rather disconcerting, revealing that Canada has very poor "prospects for democracy" for the foreseeable future.

As Canada's "War On Terrorism Watch" says: "Indeed, many governments are using the war on terrorism to further clamp down on critical voices within their own countries, including writers, journalists and political dissidents."

Read on...

The Challenge Facing Small Parties in Canada

- Charles Boylan, MLPC Candidate in Vancouver South -

The challenge facing the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada (MLPC) is the same challenge that faces the vast majority of Canadians: how do we, all of us citizens, residents, Indigenous peoples and members of the Quebec nation, collectively become the decision-makers in our country? How do we, the people, on an ongoing basis get to set the political agenda? How do we, the people, set the direction for the Canadian economy and create a situation where we can exercise control over our lives? Who decides what happens to our resources, our social programs or the foreign policy we want? This is the issue.

Read On...

June 18, 2004

Canadian Elections: posturing, half-truths and outright lies

Canadian Elections:

Leaders’ debates characterized by posturing, half-truths and outright lies.

"The leaders’ debates in Canadian elections are more bad theatre than serious exchange of political views. The leaders posture, delivering lines largely scripted in advance, while the corporate media sets itself up as the judge of who “won” the debate. Monday evening’s French-language and Tuesday’s English debate were true to form..."

Another solid article by World Socialist's Keith Jones...

June 14, 2004

Reborn anti-war: the men who would be prime minister

From the latest issue of Seven Oaks Magazine...

June 14 , 2004
Derrick O’Keefe

Paul Martin and Stephen Harper have belatedly joined the anti-war movement. I guess we should all just be grateful –better late than never! –but this exercise in bandwagon jumping is just too cynical and opportunistic to let pass.

With polls showing roughly 80% saying they support Canada’s (publicly announced) non-participation in the Iraq war, the retroactive all-party political consensus on the conflict is convenient. Harper’s position, of course, is the most untenable, and it’s been almost embarrassing watching old Alliance hawks contort themselves to tow the new party line.

Read On...

June 10, 2004

Stephen Harper and the 'corporate welfare bums'

Murray Dobbin, in Today's Winnipeg Free Press...

"BY telling the fat cats at the Toronto Board of Trade they would have to pay
for new tax cuts, Stephen Harper has let the cat out of the bag. He may have
trouble stuffing it back in..."

June 06, 2004

Marxist-Leninist Party Demands to Know Truth About What Canada is Doing in Haiti

MARXIST-LENINIST PARTY OF CANADA
PRESS RELEASE - June 1, 2004
 
A death-squad democracy prevails in Haiti after the coup d'etat engineered in that country by the U.S., Canada and France. The Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada (MLPC) demands to know the truth about what Canada is doing in Haiti and thinks this is an election issue which profoundly concerns Canada's role in the world.

The MLPC also calls on the Canadian working class and people to demand the immediate withdrawal of U.S., Canadian and French troops from Haiti and the immediate restitution of the government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, along with the full payment of reparations to Haiti. This includes redress for all damages caused as a result of the coup d'etat and the imposition of U.S. and International Monetary Fund (IMF) dictate on Haiti, as well as the demand that France restitute to the Haitian people the indemnity payments Haiti was forced to pay in 1825 and redress the damages incurred as a result.

The big powers must be forced to redress the financial and human damages they have inflicted, not just in Haiti, but throughout the world.

See the June 1 and 2 issues of TML Daily for coverage on Haiti, including on the demand for reparations.

May 28, 2004

Dobbin's Word Warriors - Letters to the Editor...In a Hurry

The NDP is getting hammered by all the usual obnoxious suspects protecting
their wealth.

The general message is: it is about time some party proposed a more
progressive tax system. We have seen our tax system get more and more unfair
for the past 20 years and we need to reverse that trend - not just to be
fair but because we need the revenue for social programs.

PLEASE DO THIS TODAY AS IT IS TIME SENSITIVE.

May 23, 2004

Canada’s Liberal government boosts military, courts Bush administration

By David Adelaide
22 May 2004
http://wsws.org/articles/2004/may2004/cana-m22.shtml

Under Paul Martin, Canada’s Liberal government has given increased importance and prominence to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). In answer to demands from Canadian big business and Washington that Canada increase its contribution to “global security,” Ottawa has announced new or speeded-up weapons purchases, deployed troops to Haiti, extended the CAF mission in Afghanistan, and all but dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s on Canadian participation in the Bush administration’s missile defence program.

May 04, 2004

Canada’s Year of the Threat (of a Good Example)

From the Latest Issue of Seven Oaks Magazine

by anthony fenton

There has been praise all around for the path that Chairman Martin’s government is charting for Canada’s foreign policy future. This past week, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Anne Mclellan tabled Canada’s first ever National Security Policy in the House of Commons. In a disturbing preface to Securing an Open Society: Canada’s National Security Policy, Paul Martin prioritised Canada’s role in the world with his best George Bush impersonation:

“Security issues are not new to Canada…Throughout our history, we have managed a wide range of threats to our society…We have addressed these threats…in a way that has strengthened the open nature of our country…Our prosperity is directly linked to this openness and to our ability to flourish in an increasingly interdependent world…The horrific events of September 11th, 2001, demonstrated how individuals could exploit such openness to commit acts of terrorism that attempt to undermine the core values of democratic societies.”

http://www.sevenoaksmag.com

April 20, 2004

Paul Martin

Number of times Paul Martin mentioned sovereignty in his (extremely vague) grand new plan for First Nations: 0

The interesting magazine "Traveling Soldier" has an interview with a member of the original invading force in Iraq.

The US is detaining about 200 Iraqis who refused to take part in the siege of Fallujah.

CBC's Disclosure went on a year-long quest to gain access to some basic documents about Paul Martin's meetings with CSL, and were denied.

20,000 public workers are on strike in Newfoundland and Labrador. It's the largest public sector strike in the province's history.

Adbusters chronicled US foreign interventions since 1801 in an interesting flash format.

The editorial department at the Globe and Mail is on crack. That, or they're deliberately ignoring well-known facts and twisting reality until it's unrecognizable to serve their own aims.

The Memory Hole has an interesting weblog.

A million women are expected to march on DC this weekend to protest Bush's retrogressive take on abortion.

The Quakers are getting out of Iraq.

Leonard Peltier is still in prison, and the Supreme Court rejected his recent appeal.

March 31, 2004

Seven Oaks, etc.

A new Seven Oaks is up, talking about the success of a Vancouver bus riders' union, Campbell's attack on women in BC, and an interview with a Venezuelan trade unionist about elections in El Salvador and Venezuela, and Charles Demers hates to love Kevin Smith's Jersey Girl.

Not in Seven Oaks, but worth reading: Robert Fisk on state killing; Israel's, in particular.

Also, two independent Canadian publications that I hadn't heard of, which look decent: Discourse and Disclosure, and The Republic.

March 26, 2004

Bad Medicine: Taxpayer Money Doesn't Talk

The well-meaning Christian Science Monitor repeated a widespread but crucial piece of disinformation in this article on Canadian legislation for generic drugs:

But what should be good news for poor countries is being overshadowed by a looming battle in Canada's Parliament. The battle pits pharmaceutical companies that have poured billions of dollars and countless research hours into developing these medicines against the generic-drug industry and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that say the world should "do the right thing." Canada's challenge is trying to strike the right balance between the two sides.

I'm sure many NGOs see it that way too, but this obscures an absolutely key point, which is that Pharmaceutical corporations don't pay for most of the R&D. Taxpayers, universities, university students, and donors do.

Pharmaceutical companies do spend billions developing treatments, but these treatments are only possible on the basis of many more years of research by scientists, physicians, and underpaid grad students. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research, for example, get half a billion dollars per year from the government of Canada to fund health research. That's not counting other research programs with health care applications, and other forms of direct funding of health research.

But in so many cases, it's the pharmaceutical companies that have arrogated the sole right to profit from this research to themselves. The amount of taxpayer dollars that are sunk into health research which corporations have the sole right to benefit from easily dwarfs the Canadian budget. Furthermore, the amassing of hundreds of patents in large corporations means that small companies that aren't allied have no chance of striking out on their own, because there's a very good chance that something they are doing is violating someone's patent. Or it's close enough to justify a lawsuit that will take years and millions of dollars to resolve.

March 23, 2004

Odious Debt

Kairos Canada: Iraq's Odious Debt Must be Eliminated, Not Rescheduled
Updated

During the January 2004 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Prime Minister Paul Martin announced that Canada would write off “the vast majority” of the C$750 million Iraq owes to federal agencies. Media reports implied that this debt reduction would occur right away. In fact the Prime Minister’s announcement put Canada squarely behind a US plan to delay Iraqi debt rescheduling until it could be tied to the acceptance of economic policies approved by the International Monetary Fund.

Canada is collaborating with a Bush Administration plan to reduce debts owed mostly to opponents of the invasion of Iraq, thus freeing up oil revenues for reconstruction projects led by US firms. In return Canadian companies will gain an opportunity to participate in lucrative sub-contracts.

A precedent for forgiving odious debt would be a dangerous thing indeed. The debts of Argentina, most of Africa, and many others would also have to be forgiven.

The pattern of US involvement is particularly grim. It goes like this: the US supports an atrocious dictator, and gives him massive aid and loans. Then the dictator is overthrown, puts much of the money into a swiss bank account, and goes into exile in the US, or elsewhere. The people of the country he was ruling are then held accountable to the debt that they never asked for, or benefitted from.

Argentina and Indonesia are the prime examples, but they're far from being the only ones. In Iraq, it's clearly the case. The US supported Saddam through the worst of his atrocities before he invaded Kuwait, and then kept him in power (while letting between 1 and 1.5 million Iraqis die) because they were afraid of a sucessful revolt of Shia Muslims (one of which they helped Saddam put down).

March 16, 2004

Be very afraid...

"(The) effect of the order would be to strip away anonymity," said Cameron. "Those documents were shared on the assumption the sharing was done anonymously . . . (if order is granted) people will perceive that online activities are no longer anonymous."

The National Post reports on the threat to on-line privacy in Canada.

Senate Filibuster Threatening Hate-Crime Legislation?

Svend Robinson's additions to hate crime legislation--mainly the formal inclusion of sexual orientation--passed in Parliament last year, but now it seems that it is being held up by a Senate filibuster.

What follows is an email from Svend Robinson that was forwarded to me. I don't see anything about this on google news (yet). We'll see.

No more art in Ottawa

Ottawa is getting set to slash its arts funding.

From an email that was forwarded to me:

The current per capita spending on the arts in Canada's four largest cities:

Montreal: $26.62
Vancouver: $17.71
Toronto: $14.64
Ottawa: $3.89 (Current)
Ottawa: 57¢ (If Draft Budget 2004 is approved)

The Ottawa Art Gallery has a petition to stop the cuts.

March 10, 2004

Who needs Sheila?

According to the Globe and Mail, Monia Mazigh, wife of Maher Arar, is planning to run for the NDP in the next federal election.

March 04, 2004

Haiti in perspective - CBC's Counterspin

Canada’s Counterspin: Haiti Special

'Recap' and 'Review' by Anthony Fenton

On Wednesday evening CBC’s Counterspin provided a mainstream Canadian audience with their first taste of what is really going on in Haiti. What took place was the sort of dialogue that has been largely absent from mainstream coverage of Haiti during its recent crisis.

The excerpts to follow are extensive, but it should be asserted that this was the first time such context has been offered to Canadians, due to the monopoly that international wires, such as the Associated Press and Reuters, have had on the flow of information about Haiti throughout the continuing crisis.

March 03, 2004

Haiti Letter Bombardment Campaign

Sample Letter #5

March 11, 2004

Dear Editor,

On Wednesday, as you know, there was an emergency debate on Haiti in the House of Commons.

The issue of "regime change" in Haiti was brought up by Conservative MP Stockwell Day. Day said "We have been a party to regime change in Haiti...actively supported [the] regime change of an elected leader."

The circumstances surrounding President Aristide's departure were also raised by the NDP's Joe Comartin and Svend Robinson. Comartin stated that the NDP is with CARICOM in calling for an independent "inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the removal of Aristide."

Specifically, Robinson asked Liberal MP David Kilgour if he supports this independent inquiry. Kilgour replied that Canada "can only gain from this process."

Several times during the debate Liberals such as Bill Graham, Scott Brison, Denis Coderre, and David Pratt, stated that Canada is committed to working with CARICOM. Yet when asked about CARICOM's demand for an investigation into Aristide's departure, there was much balking.

I have not noticed any coverage of this important debate in your newspaper today. Will these contentious issues be explored by the Globe and Mail tomorrow or in subsequent days? Do you think it's important to your readers that Canada may have been a party to "regime change" in Haiti, and that several Members of Parliament are calling for an inquiry into these matters?

Sincerely,

February 23, 2004

Child Labour in BC

Seven Oaks Magazine: "Bill 37, the child labour legislation adopted by the B.C. Liberals' during this past year, has sent a clear message to teenage workers across the province: You have been made redundant; there are now new, more easily abused workers in town; no matter how close you thought you were to completing your 500 training-waged hours, the bottom just got lower. Thanks to Minister of Labour Graham Bruce and Gordon Campbell’s B.C. Liberals bringing in the most regressive child labour bill in North America, 12-year-old children can now work and, hell, they might not even think that six bucks sucks."

February 20, 2004

Drop'd

CBC: Maritimes Hit by 'Weather Bomb'

Are we ever.

February 19, 2004

Scandal?

Cross-posted from PaulMartinTime.ca...

February 17, 2004

Fruits and Vegetables Prohibited At Border, Especially Pineapples

Just when you think all those "nice Canadian" stereotypes are baloney, along comes this story.

Canadian response to "confused" American woman bringing explosives into our country:

"It's quite likely this woman did not know that the grenade was inside her vehicle and she is apparently quite shaken up by the whole ordeal, so charges are quite unlikely," Constable Shields said.

If she had been a Canadian travelling into the U.S., she'd be in a Syrian prison by now.

February 16, 2004

The Trouble With Farms

National Farmer's Union: "Today, the federal government estimated Canadian realized net farm income for 2003 at negative $13-million - the lowest level ever recorded, far lower than during the Depression. Realized net farm income from the markets alone, net of government payments, is almostnegative $5-billion. "This is the most spectacular and damaging market failure in the history of Canadian agriculture," said NFU President Stewart Wells."

February 03, 2004

Seize the... Plant?

Unionized workers at have taken over an aluminum smelter run by Alcan. They're keeping the plant running normally while protesting plans to shut it down.

January 31, 2004

Canadian Punditry

Is it just me, or is this article by Barbara Yaffe almost identical in content to this column by John Ibbitson, published two days earlier?

They each strike the same pose: the NDP is doing well in the polls, but tsk tsk, they still lack credibility...

...even if they have to make up reasons for why that is. Both articles use the same word--"disingenuous"--to describe Jack Layton's characterization of Missile Defence as "Star Wars". Ibbitson says "disingenuous at best". They point out that the system will be land based. That is, a land-based system for shooting missiles in space, which is also likely to provoke a new arms race among those who don't feel like risking being on the receiving end of a winnable nuclear war with the US.

Doesn't sound quite as "disingenuous" with those facts in play, does it? Ibbitson's almost-calling Layton a liar itself seems disingenuous... at best.

I've sent emails to both pundits, explaning this. I have almost no doubt that they don't care at all. This is the nature of pundits: they make claims that set the terms of the debate--it hardly matters whether these claims are accurate or not. It'll be interesting to see how far the "disingenuous" trope travels through the national echo chamber.

In the US, the echo chamber is so big and blatant in its avoidance of reality that there's an excellent site (the Daily Howler) that provides a daily summary of the worst punditry (all of it written by respected commentators, of course).

So I suppose we're fortunate in Canada. Fortunate, anyway, if you discount Margus Gee, Margaret Wente, and most of the National Post and... ok, maybe we're not that fortunate.

January 30, 2004

Conflicts of Interest

Democracy Watch new release: "Democracy Watch believes that Martin is currently in a conflict of interest when participating in any discussions or decisions concerning tobacco, energy, media, transportation, telecommunications, health care and pharmaceuticals, environmental, postal, banking and corporate responsibility issues."

Rich Richer, Poor Poorer, you know the score

PaulMartinTime.ca: Inequality and Paul Martin

In 1981, the richest 10% of Canadians earned an average of $122,000 annually, 25 times the average earnings of the poorest 10%. By 1997, thanks to a combination of welfare cuts, wage cuts relative to inflation, and the appropriation of Employment Insurance money for other ends, the richest 10% were making over 108 times as muchas the poorest 10%.

This trend has continued in recent years. In 2001, the average earnings of the poorest 20% of Canadians fell by 4.7 %, while the income of the richest 20% rose by 2.2%.

The poor have also proven to be the first to have their wages substantially cut during a recession. Between 1981 and 1994, for example, the poorest 10% saw a startling 60% drop in income. Between 1989 and 1993, they experienced an unbelievable 86% drop in income.

I [heart] New York, I [spade] my cat, I [club] baby seals

Tiresome American celebrities still trying to end the Canadian seal hunt.

Let's see....

1) It is wrong to kill animals unnecessarily or inhumanely.
2) Human beings depend on the harvest of seals for their economic well-being.
3) If our governments knew how to manage fish stocks, maybe we wouldn't need a seal hunt.
4) People who protest the killing of "cute" animals but happily eat factory-farmed animals are hypocrites (at best).

I'm so confused.

(link via Quiet Indignity)

January 29, 2004

Martin's Companies Given an Extra $160 M

CBC: "Prime Minister Paul Martin's shipping companies received federal contracts, grants and contributions worth $161 million over the past 11 years - a figure more than a thousand times higher than the government's original estimate."

Who?

Just out of curiousity: In Canadian society, who is considered more likely to be killed:

a) A soldier occupying a foreign and

or

b) A woman living in Vanouver's downtown eastside?

So why is one major front page news and the other largely a footnote in Canada's national newspapers of record?

In any case, I'm willing to grant that a Canadian soldier dying is newsworthy. But in the context of the nearly nonexistent coverage of civilian casualties or effects of the ongoing occupation, does it really deserve to be on all of the front pages?

Honderich Pushed Out

Globe and Mail: "John Honderich was pushed out as publisher of the Toronto Star because he resisted making the deep cost cuts thatTorstar Corp. chief executive officer Robert Prichard demanded, observers in the media and investment industries say."

The Star has been known for operating based on certain principles set out by one of the first publishers of the T-Star, Joseph Atkinson.

Those principles, it is said, are quickly being moved aside in favour of... profits! Profits may be a lot less exciting than good journalism, but those corporate types just can't seem to get enough of 'em!

FNGA scrapped?

The Martlet: Scrapped bill no great victory yet for First Nations

Prime Minister Paul Martin’s recent dumping of the unpopular Bill C-7, the First Nations Governance Act (FNGA), was little more than saving face according to some aboriginal critics.

“I’m not impressed. It will be back to business as usual,” said Dr. Taiaike Alfred, from UVic’s Indigenous Governance Program.

“The government will push the same legislation through, just in a smaller and more digestible fashion.”

January 25, 2004

Sexism, the Media, and Belinda Stronach

There's no doubt about it. Belinda's rich-kid tag will take some shedding. --Toronto Star

Frankly, she's way out of her league. --Frank Oliver

With her mix of looks, lineage and savvy intellect, Stronach, 37, was described yesterday by our bachelor contenders as the "perfect woman" who, in all likelihood, doesn't need our help. --Winnipeg Sun

What kind of crap is this? Does Paul Martin have any trouble at all shedding his "rich old guy" tag? Would any man of Stronach's position be called "way out of his league" after being nervous during his first-ever political speech?

There are plenty of reasons to think that Stronach is not good for Canada. The only thing that her looks have to do with it is the extent to which the media is obsessed by them.

Journalists pride themselves (apparently) on being ruthless with people like Stronach. But notice that their ruthlessness has very little to do with the substance of her political positions. Instead, they're singularly focused on her style, appearance, and ability to answer questions. That's just cruelty--an inability to deal with someone as a human being. And in terms of informing political decisions among Canadian citizens, it's useless.

There are certainly some things worth taking note of, like the fact that she said that gay marriage is a human right. That's a lot more of a stand than Paul Martin's "I believe in the charter" dodge.

I encourage everyone to criticize politicians on their inability to relate to mainstream Canada because of their vast wealth and circle of CEO friends, and to lambast them for being capitalists and lending support to imperialism. Comments about inexperience are not out of order.

But when these criteria are applied to women and not to men, it's sexism. And apparently, that's still an acceptable practice among Canadian journalists.

January 23, 2004

Barn-Raising for Life

...Amish men walk an average of 18,425 steps daily, and women an average of 14,196 steps.

One man logged an incredible 51,000 steps in a single day while plowing fields behind a team of horses.

In studies done in mainstream Canadian and U.S. society, adults tend to log about 2,000 to 3,000 steps.

The Globe and Mail reports on another black mark against TV, automobiles, computers, and drive-thrus.

January 22, 2004

RCMP Raids Home

The RCMP raided the home of a journalist who was investigating the Maher Arar case this morning. Apparently, a source had told the journalist that Canadian officials had been aware of the fact that the US had sent him to Syria.

The priorities are clear: "internal security" is a priority, accountability to people like Arar is not. This is neither novel nor surprising. The question is whether it is possible for the RCMP to be held accountable for anything. Certainly Paul Martin has no will in this regard.

January 21, 2004

Marc the Martian

The Canadian Space Agency wants to initiate a Canadian Mars Mission (perhaps to piggyback on any public enthusiasm for President Bush's election year pie in the sky). Former astronauts Chris Hadfield and Marc Garneau are both talking about the idea.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Arrow is using WWII V2 rocket technology to compete for the X Prize, which will be awarded to the first private group to safely send a human into space.

January 09, 2004

2004 Election

James Bow has some extensive and interesting Canadian election predictions, followed by some intelligent discussion. That's always fun.

Canadian Con

I'm becoming somewhat more aware than usual of the lack of Canadian content on this weblog. I seem to have acquired the habit of posting a lot of the US news that I come across here, and the small crowd of people who usually post about things Canadian have been posting less often lately.

Many of my Canadian-oriented efforts of late have been focussed on PaulMartinTime.ca, a website I've been working on far too much lately. We got a lot of national media attention when the Liberal party tried to shut us down with various threats and intimidation tactics. Since then (Dec. 23 or so), there has been a steady trickle of interview requests from across Canada, which has made the site seem more important than it might otherwise be. (Canadian Business and a right-wing radio show in Calgary are two of the more unlikely sources to cover PaulMartinTime.ca in recent days.)

In any case, the madness surrounding the site afforded me the opportunity to meet the Prime Minister two days ago. This consisted of me shaking his hand, asking him if he was still suing PaulMartinTime.ca, and then getting grabbed and pushed away by RCMP officers. I approached him four seperate times, didn't receive any response, and was finally escorted away and not allowed near him again.

But it was not in vain. We also came with a list of more substantial questions about his policies. We managed to get a "yes" and "no" answer out of him on two questions, before being yanked away by the RCMP. (No, we weren't threatening him, just asking questions.)

All that is a long way of saying that I've been spending a lot of time thinking about Canadian politics and news, but that tends to show up over at PaulMartinTime.ca.

Sometimes I even think about Canadian culture, geography, history, music, existence, and other things. I don't write about these as much, though, but I invite you to join the Dominion weblog and do so! (Send an email to dru@dominionpaper.ca)

January 02, 2004

Surprise: those who designed NAFTA benefit at workers' expense

Inter Press News Service: Numbers Up, Workers Down After 10 Years of NAFTA

North America's trade deal drove down the real wages of Canadian workers by about 20 percent -- if they did not lose their jobs altogether, says globalisation critic Murray Dobbin, author of a critical book about Canada's new prime minister, Paul Martin.

”All of the studies have shown that workers in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada have not profited from NAFTA,” says Dobbin, whose book 'Paul Martin: CEO for Canada', argues the multi-millionaire prime minister broke the unions in his companies, closed domestic shipyards and registered his fleet under ”flags of convenience” to drive down wages and workplace rights.

December 23, 2003

Paul Martin Time.ca Sued?

If you haven't heard, Paul Martin has threatened to sue PaulMartinTime.ca. The latter is a parody of Martin's official campaign site; they're saying we took their intellectual property. Canadian copyright law, it turns out, is much more strict than it is in the US. Parody has much less protection.

If we take it to court, it'll be a matter of setting the future precedent for cases like ours.

There's a press release about the threats, and I also wrote a more personal account of how they threatened us with various shades of lies and innuendo.

In any case, our site got some media attention out of the deal, including a Canadian Press article.

Mostly, I'm happy that the site is getting mainstream attention.

December 10, 2003

Spending Limit

Incoming prime minister Paul Martin justified Tuesday's $700-a-plate Bay Street fundraiser by saying his party is desperate for funds and must cash in before Liberal legislation bans such corporate sponsorship. (CP)

December 08, 2003

Pensions Fund the Military

Did you know that the 16 million Canadians who contribute to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) are funding the development of cluster bombs, land mines, missiles, tanks, and other weapons delivery systems used in Iraq, Afghanistan, and wherever the US invades next. (Neither did I.)

$2.55 billion has gone from the CPP directly to military contractors.

More information from the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade.

December 06, 2003

Unite the Right Merger Approved

The Progressive Conservative Party, Canada's oldest party, has just approved a merger with the Canadian Alliance, with 90 per cent of the Tory delegates in favour. This comes only a day after the Alliance members voted 96 per cent in favour of the merger. A lawsuit filed against the merger by David Orchard and 22 other Conservative party members was put down.

December 01, 2003

Martin's Cuts

Jim Stanford: "Canada was not alone in balancing its budget. Eighteen OECD countries balanced their budgets during the late 1990s almost as quickly as Canada, but with a fraction of the damage to public programs and infrastructure. Federal program spending declined far faster and far deeper during the Martin era than in any other major industrial economy - even those starting out with larger deficits and debts."

November 27, 2003

The Tyee

The Tyee is a new online paper in BC. Like the Dominion, it grew out of a frustration with the centralized ownership of other BC media.

November 22, 2003

Orchard in Tory Merger 'Coup'

A group of conservatives, including David Orchard, are suing Peter Mackay over his attempted merger to 'unite the right' in Ontario's Superior Court. They argue that unanimous consent ought to be required to dissolve Canada's oldest party. The vote, which will take place on Dec. 6, only needs a two-thirds majority for the merger.

"David Orchard is on a personal agenda that has nothing to do with a new Conservative party or the PC Party or conservatism in general," said Stephen Harper.

"It is without merit and without substance," said Mackay.

David Orchard and his fellow plaintiffs claim the merger violates their party's ground rules and cite a long history of party membership opposed to mergers. Their case will be heard Nov. 26.

The Vancouver Sun

November 15, 2003

MPs Pass Bill to Put Herbs Under Food Directorate

Common Ground:

"Parliament passed a bill Oct. 22 to place natural health products (NHPs) under a food directorate rather than a drug directorate."

"Many MPs voted across party lines to carry the bill. A historic act itself because while many nations are moving under pharmaceutical company pressure to restrict the use of dietary supplements and herbs, Canada is now moving in the opposite direction."

"In order to become law, the bill now must go to the Standing Committee on Health for examination and hearings before it returns to the House for third and final reading."

November 10, 2003

Accountability isn't for just anyone

NUPGE: "The B.C. Liberals have gagged their own human resources ministry to keep secret the number of people who will be cut off social assistance when a two-year cut-off rule takes effect next April 1. First, Human Resources Minister Murray Coell refused when questioned in the legislature to disclose the information. Now, the ministry has been silenced."

November 09, 2003

Barlow, Layton on Tape

Vancouver's Working TV has video of recent speeches by Jack Layton and Maude Barlow.

Layton does the usual slamming of Paul Martin, much of which is probably worth looking into, but the most interesting bit is his articulation of the NDP's plan to take a broader political approach--not just getting elected, but supporting and working with a variety of activist groups on issues not directly related to electioneering.

Barlow has a much broader view, talks about social movements around the world, and presents her point of view of the Cancun WTO meeting.

There's also audio available of a recent speech Stephen Lewis gave at CUPE's annual meeting.

November 08, 2003

There Is No Cure For Rape - Canadian Residential Schools

Apparently, the federal government is about to initiate a programme to address past wrongs regarding Natives in residential schools. For those not familiar, residential schools were set up to assimilate Natives into Euro-Canadian culture and rid them of their Indianess.

Beatings were regular if they tried to converse in their native tongue, and in o­ne school in British Columbia, they had nails put through their tongues if they spoke their language. Add to this the rampant sexual abuse that came upon these youth and you have a lethal combination that can, and did, cause damage to be suffered for generations to come. Realistically, we are speaking of situations most of us could never comprehend. The last residential school closed in the 1980’s.

October 30, 2003

Anti-Scab Legislation Off

Canadian Labour Congress: "Had Bill C-328 passed, it would have banned the use of scabs, during labour disputes in industries governed by the Canada Labour Code. Similar laws in place in British Columbia and Quebec have resulted in more tranquil labour relations, including a significant drop in the statistics for days of work lost due to strike or lock-out. The use of scabs prolongs disputes and has often provided the flash-point for violence or injury on picket lines."

I would link to a source that's less invested in the story than the CLC, but (at least according to google news) no papers covered it.

86 MPs voted for it, so I'd think it would be worthy of, say, a news brief or two. This is probably one of those cases where there's a sensible reason for a complete lack of coverage that I just don't know about.

October 23, 2003

"Liberal" being a misnomer...

It looks like Mike Harris is kinda sorta planning a run at the Conservative party leadership, starting with his speech in Halifax. (Local Halifax activists were on hand dressed as squeegee kids. From what I hear, Harris walked off the stage right after a reporter asked about Walkerton, but a media activist followed him, peppering him with questions about his record in Ontario until he was dragged away by security.)

In other news, I was reading about Paul Martin's policy positions the other day, and it looks like the right in Canada will soon be split again--this time between "Liberals" and "Conservatives" (both of which are misnomers at this point--what do they aim to conserve, exactly?).

In terms of making major gains, the next federal election is Jack Layton's to lose. But I'm not holding my breath.

October 02, 2003

No to Voting System Referendum

Yesterday the NDP tabled a motion

That this House call upon the government to hold a referendum within one year to determine whether Canadians wish to replace the current electoral system with a system of proportional representation and, if so, to appoint a commission to consult Canadians on the preferred model of proportional representation and the process of implementation, with an implementation date no later than July 1, 2006.

The motion was defeated with 76 Yeas and 144 Nays. Predictably the NDP and Alliance voted Yea and the Liberals voted en-block Nay. No big surprise there. A move towards proportional representation would take seats from the Liberals and allocate them to the smaller parties.

September 29, 2003

Masking the Problem

There has been a lot of debate lately about the merits and demerits of the public vs. private auto insurance models. There are number of facets to these discussions. The right leaning Fraser institute claims that public insurance pricing models promote accidents (pdf). Bernard Lord almost lost his N.B. provincial election over the issue of rising rates, and even the staunchly Tory Alberta, to the delight of some, is considering changes to their private insurance regime in the hopes of curbing Joe Citizen's cost.

What seems to get lost in all the noise is that the cost of insurance is driven less by the private/public model chosen by the province and more by the number and value of claims made by the insured. From the CBC:

Industry experts, however, say the number 1 factor is a rise in the value of claims filed for personal injury and rehabilitation. According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, medical claims have risen between 10 and 15 per cent each year since 1998. And many of them are fraudulent.

If we want to pay less for insurance we have to get a handle on the number of claims and more importantly the payout for personal injury claims. If auto insurance profits are not rising and insurance rates are rising - both private and public systems - where is the money going?

September 27, 2003

The Walrus Beached in Chapters

So, The Walrus has launched their first issue. I went downtown today to pick up a copy, but there are none to be found. As it turns out, the only retailer that got a substantial number of the first issue was... Chapters. Everyone else will get the leftovers from Chapters a few weeks down the road, if there are leftovers. Bah.

I'm generally encouraged by the launch of a new magazine that's keen on raising standards and practicing actual journalism, but sidestepping independent newsstands and bookstores in favour of Chapters (!!) does not bode well.

But I'm sure there will be thousands of people who want to complain about various aspects of this magazine, which is clearly a Good Thing, so go read it, if you can get through to the web server.

September 22, 2003

Referendum on proportional representation!

Some incredible news. Members of Parliament will vote on Tuesday September 30th on the NDP's motion to call a referendum to see if Canadians want to change the electoral system to proportional representation. This will be the first time that parliament has voted on proportional representation in 80 years.

Proportional representation is the one issue that both the left and right in Canada agree on. (Don't know what proportional representation is? See the previous Dominion feature article on PR: One Citizen, One Vote-Towards Proportional Representation)

You can help the vote pass by contacting your MP and asking them to vote yes, and by signing the NDP petition. For more information see: http://www.ndp.ca/changethesystem.html

To find your MP visit: http://www.gc.ca/directories/direct_e.html

September 19, 2003

Car insurance relief coming

I live in Alberta where insurance is privatized--and this year that means my insurance rates have gone up basically past what I can afford, despite a good record. But help may be on the way. The Alberta government is actually considering more regulation for once, and is now drafting a plan to cap auto insurance rates by spring.

Not surprisingly, industry reps aren't happy. "Do we want more regulation? No we don't," said Jim Rivait, who heads the [insurance] bureau's Prairie region office.

Meanwhile, in Ontario, Premier Eves has brought in measures that should lower car insurance rates by 15%. Whether or not you agree with how he did it may be another matter though--he instituted cuts.

Central Donut Repository

Rabble.ca: "Frozen doughnuts, fried in a factory near Toronto and trucked 2,000 kilometres, are about to replace fresh, locally made doughnuts at stores in Atlantic Canada."

September 10, 2003

U.S.-Canada relations good now?

According to U.S Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci as quoted in the Globe and Mail, Canada is back in U.S. good books. Apparently sending 2000 Canadian soldiers to Afghanistan and a chunk of money for Iraq has smoothed over any difficulties caused by Canada's decision not to officially support the war on Iraq.

However, the new friendly turn in the Canada-U.S. relationship has yet to resolve trade disputes--including the long-standing softwood lumber issue, and now new shipping regulations the U.S. might put into effect.

From the article:

Mr. Kergin said he's concerned about new shipping inventory regulations being considered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The new rules requiring advance clearance would pose serious problems for people exporting perishable goods from Canada, such as seafood and produce.
"Lobsters don't pose a bioterrorist threat," Mr. Kergin told the governors and premiers.

September 02, 2003

Left nationalism is wrong?

Paul Kellogg has published a speech called "After Left Nationalism:The Future of Canadian Political Economy" that is causing a bit of a stir. Kellogg basically argues that "left nationalism" is over--and that Canada is an imperial country and so should not be concerned with a nationalist movement.

Robin Mathews, former spokesperson for the Waffle, and currently a prof, author, and columnist for Vive le Canada, argues that Kellogg is not basing his argument on accurate information and that left nationalism does indeed have a central role to play in Canada. See: Paul Kellogg's Cornflakes

In the interests of further debate, Kellogg has written a rebuttal of the Mathews article, including several charts. See: Why the left needs to abandon Canadian nationalism

And now Mel Hurtig, author of The Vanishing Country, has got into the act, posting his own comments on why the Kellogg rebuttal still doesn't prove Kellogg's point. See: Mel Hurtig's response

August 31, 2003

Land Claims Until 2058

Georgia Straight: New Native Land-Claim Act Appalls Experts

At the existing rate, it will take until 2058 to settle the existing claims, and 60 new ones are being filed each year. Half of the new cases are in B.C., where the backlog is the worst of any province.

August 27, 2003

Martin becomes a senior

On Thursday Paul Martin turns 65, and officially becomes a senior. Although Martin's own crew has lambasted the current PM for his age in the past, his people are being fairly quiet about the milestone (Martin is only four and 1/2 years younger than Jean Chretien) .

For more, see: Martin becomes a senior on Thursday

More racial profiling

In an example of how Canada is copying the new U.S. practice of detaining Muslims on "immigration" charges in order to investigate their alleged links to terrorism, CBC reports that 19 Muslim men are being held on "unproven allegations."

An anti-terrorism task force arrested the men after an investigation by the RCMP and the federal Immigration Department.

Some of the 19 are foreign students who came to Canada on student visas, while others are refugee claimants. They arrived between January 1998 and September 2001.

The government lawyers' claims are based on fragmentary information. They are still looking for more evidence.

However, under new immigration laws, such unproven allegations are enough to persuade judges to detain the men.

Muslim groups have said that the detentions are an example of racial profiling and that "These practices are simply placing us outside the … protection of the Canadian laws."

Of course, a lot of Canadians aren't concerned about issues like this because they feel like it can't happen to them--it's just happening to "the Muslims" or "the terrorists." Here's a great, often-printed quote that may be relevant:

"When they came for the communists, I was silent, because I was not a communist;
When they came for the socialists, I was silent, because I was not a socialist;
When they came for the trade unionists, I did not protest, because I was not a trade unionist;
When they came for the Jews, I did not protest, because I was not a Jew;
When they came for me, there was no one left to protest on my behalf."
- Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)

August 25, 2003

NAFTA law reference

Todd Weiler, an attorney who has been involved in a number of the earliest NAFTA claims, runs a website called NAFTALAW.org which is actually at the URL naftaclaims.com. A little confusing maybe but worth a look.

If you're wondering what a NAFTA claim is, the site offers a definition:

A NAFTA claim is a legal complaint submitted by a NAFTA Investor who has suffered loss by reason of a breach of certain NAFTA provisions by a NAFTA Party. The claim is heard by an international tribunal, normally composed of three members appointed by the Investor and the NAFTA Party being sued. Tribunals are formed under the Investor’s choice of commercial arbitration rules laid out by either the World Bank (through its International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes – the ICSID) or by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (under the UNCITRAL Rules).

August 20, 2003

Private Member's Bill Opposing FTAA Chapter 11

MP Pierre Paquette of the Bloc Quebecois introduced Motion M-391 in the House of Commons on April 3 2003. It draws on the public petition campaign demands and reads:

"That in the opinion of this House, any free trade agreement entered into by Canada, whether bilateral or multilateral, must include rules for the protection of foreign investments which do not violate the ability of parliamentary and government institutions to act, particularly on behalf of the common good, and must exclude any investor-state redress provisions; and consequently

"That, the Canadian government must enter into negotiations with its American and Mexican partners with a view to bringing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in line with the aforementioned principles

Charkaoui

Under public pressure for holding a closed trial, CSIS released a testimony from another convicted terrorist (Ahmed Ressam), saying he had seen Charkaoui at a training camp in Afghanistan. Charkaoui's lawyers are saying it's not credible.

One lawyer said, "we have received no explanation on how and when these statements where made." Since the US has all but admitted to torturing suspected terrorists, it's a valid question.

Charkaoui has claimed that CSIS was blackmailing him because he refused to spy on members of Montreal's Muslim community.

(The Dominion covered this a few issues ago.)

August 16, 2003

August News

It being mid-August, the news gets a little more weird and alcohol-related.

Calgary Sun: "A club for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts has found itself in a catch-22 because it may have to sell booze if it wants to allow smoking on the premises. A city bylaw dictates that all restaurants must be smoke-free. Clubs and lounges serving liquor are exempt from the bylaw."

CP: "A former beer-promoting Bud girl who was fired for drinking and driving on the job has been deluged by the international media, including an interview request from CNN. 'I've been completely bombarded,' said Lisa Mitchell, 23, adding the attention has been 'really stressful.'"

The Question.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "But if we are the rugged individualists, why do we spend so much of our time trying to get everyone to march in lockstep? And if Canadians are so reserved and moderate, why are they so progressive about letting people do what they want to?"

August 12, 2003

Surrey's Safer Status

In 2001, Surrey led Canada's 15 largest municipalities in incidents of violent crime with 1,567 incidents per 100,000 people. Though still not the safest place to park your car, the 2002 statistics find it in second place with 1,310 incidents per 100,000 people, the leader being Winnipeg which reported 1,325 incidents. That's a nineteen percent drop! More from Canadian Press

August 06, 2003

The Tusked Beast Breaches

The Walrus, an extremely well-funded attempt at "Harper's North", now has a redesigned web site, with more hype, but not much more content.

Quoth Z. David Berlin, Editor in Chief, in this Vancouver Sun article:

It’s as intimidating as hell. The expectations are tremendous, and I’m sure we’ll disappoint everybody.

They seem to be trying out a Slashdot-style, audience participation, submit-interesting-links-and-discuss, model. They're using a karma system, but calling it "Social Capital". And they haven't customized everything yet, so the possible topics are Linux, News, Slash, Slashdot, and User Journal.

It'll be interesting to see how that works with a literary crowd. My guess: it won't be pretty. (KarmaWhores with English degrees, anyone?) More seriously, it seems completely misguided to allow people to rate each others comments on subjects that as politically and subjectively divided as politics, art, literature, essays, and news. It seems slightly more misguided to turn those ratings into "Social Capital", which has consequences for the placement of one's future comments. A good way to quickly rid a forum of any independent or well-considered contributions.

But who knows?

The other thing they've done is set it up so that every user can create their own journal. Positively, this means that anyone with a valid email address can share their thoughts and contribute links and wisdom to the Walrus' web site.

Negatively, this means that anyone with a valid email address can spew forth and soil the Walrus' web site with their own rantings. In its current (and obviously unfinished) state, there is no clearly displayed policy about what can be acceptably posted. Nor is there any disclaimer seperating (for example) my remarks from the official Walrus site.

I'd like to congratulate the Walrus folks for their willingness to embrace audience participation from the get go, but this seems like a legal disaster waiting to happen. One person with a hotmail address and an imagination for libelous comments about high profile folks... All easily fixable, but since they didn't fix it before making the site public, it just makes them look a little naive, that's all.

July 27, 2003

Lots of Liberal Party Members

Globe and Mail: "The federal Liberal party says it has reached historic membership levels, with a roster of card-carrying members that dwarfs the population of Halifax."

July 23, 2003

Kissing, Groping at Klein Speech

CBC: "A speech on Tuesday by Alberta Premier Ralph Klein in Edmonton was accompanied by much kissing and fondling. Klein had just begun speaking to a crowd of about 6,000 gathered for pancakes and sausages at the city's annual Klondike Days breakfast when six same-sex couples rushed the stage and began kissing."

July 20, 2003

Blame Canada

[It seems that Susan and I posted about the same story at almost the same time. So that's why there are two posts on the same story]

NYTimes: Let's Blame Canada

Somebody at the White House decided not to wait. Matt Drudge, the conservative cybercolumnist, told Lloyd Grove, the Washington Post gossip columnist, that "someone from the White House communications office told him about the ABC story and also about a profile of the Canadian-born Mr. Kofman in The Advocate, a gay publication. Mr. Drudge quickly linked the two stories on his popular Web site, first headlining the Advocate piece, "ABC NEWS REPORTER WHO FILED TROOP COMPLAINTS STORY -- OPENLY GAY CANADIAN." Eight minutes later, he amended the headline to read, "ABC NEWS REPORTER WHO FILED TROOP COMPLAINTS STORY IS CANADIAN," leaving readers to discover in the body of the story what the Bush provocateur apparently felt was Mr. Kofman's other vice.

WorldNetDaily: White House blacklisting Canadian ABC reporter?: Journalist who told of soldiers' gripes exposed as homosexual on news sites

Update: Ikram Saeed suggests that "Canadian" might be a new euphemism. As in,

Yes, they are getting married, but it's a 'Canadian' wedding.

Judge Scalia thinks the US Supreme Court is advancing a 'Canadian' agenda

In other news, 150 Canadian soldiers are off to Kabul.

July 14, 2003

Internet Voting

Globe and Mail:

The first Internet voting machines to be used in Canada will be tested by the Town of Markham, Ont., home to a number of major high-tech companies. They will be used in the advance-voting process, from Nov. 3 to 7, the days leading up to the town's municipal elections on Nov. 10. Internet voting will not be offered on election day, when the city will continue to use traditional voting methods, such as optical-scan vote tabulators to count ballots at 68 municipal voting locations.

Kendall Clark: The Folly of Internet Voting, or Democracy and Disenfranchisement

Voting is an act of citizenship, a participation in the common life; or, as Thucydides would've said, an act of the polis, not the oikos. We vote as individuals enmeshed in social structures; we vote in public spaces, in public contexts, as a result of public interactions. Our vote should be the terminus, not the origin of public deliberation and discourse. Or at least that's the theory.

July 13, 2003

The Canada-US Switcharoo

Washington Post: Whoa! Canada!

"What emerges," writes Toronto-based author and pollster Michael Adams, "is a portrait of two nations evolving in unexpected directions: The once shy and deferential Canadians, who used to wait to be told by their betters what to do and how to think, have become more skeptical of traditional authority and more confident about their own personal decisions and informal arrangements. Americans, by contrast, seeking a little of the 'peace and order' that Canadians hoped 'good government' would provide, seem inclined to latch on to traditional institutional practices, beliefs, and norms as anchors in a national environment that is more intensely competitive, chaotic, and even violent."Adams found that Americans were adopting more conservative stances while showing more pessimism about the world. Canadians were moving in the opposite direction. Adams considers attitudes about "patriarchy" to be particularly revealing. He asked Americans and Canadians their view of the statement: "The father of the family must be the master in his own house."In 1992, 42 percent of Americans agreed strongly or somewhat, and 26 percent of Canadians did. By 2000, 49 percent of Americans agreed, 18 percent of Canadians.

Being back in the US for a few weeks, I've heard Americans comment that the situation here is looking more like a bad science fiction movie. When I tell people I'm living in Canada, they comment (surprisingly often) that it's looking more and more attractive as a place to go. One neighbour said that if he moved from where he is now, he would undoubtedly go to BC. That said, there are plenty of folks that I haven't talked to that wear aesthetically displeasing shirts with flags and eagles on them, are defensive about the suggestion of making fun of Bush, and drape tiny flags from their mailboxes and, enabled by a nifty attachment, fly them from their car windows as they drive.

I wouldn't say that the US has gotten more conservative, I'd say it's become much more starkly divided between liberal-skeptical and conservative-reactionary. The first population is smaller than the latter, but the latter population contains a lot of people who are just scared--of crime, terrorism, disease, and whatever else. And who wouldn't be, after watching CNN or pretty much any local news channel in the US?

In other news, the San Francisco Chonicle has an interesting story that compares Vancouver's city planning to San Francisco's.

(links via Formica and All About George)

July 12, 2003

Canadian Headlines

CP: "Canada's 54,000 police officers are merging their two national police associations in the hope it will give them more clout to lobby governments."

CTV "A camping trip to Squamish, B.C. by three Washington state residents turned ugly last week when they got into a huge fight with a large group of local youths. The campers were personally attacked and their campsite trashed, in what they say was an anti-American attack."

CTV: "A Canadian freelance photojournalist reportedly arrested and allegedly beaten into a coma in Tehran has died of her injuries, Foreign Affairs confirmed Saturday."

July 06, 2003

What Canadian Men Want?

The Globe and Mail covers the crop of new men's magazines that have been popping up over the past few years.

Canada falls to #8 on HDI

CP: "The UN rankings include life expectancy, education, health, income, poverty and the environment. Norway ranked first, followed by Iceland, Sweden, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United States."

July 04, 2003

Vancouver Olympics an excuse for corporate welfare? Never!

Pete McMartin in the Vanouver Sun: The Olympics here? -- not on my tab, thanks

(So, let's see: Taxpayers, according to announcements from the provincial government, are going to upgrade the Sea-to-Sky Highway into a freeway for anywhere between $365 million and $1.3 billion, vastly improving access to Whistler Mountain, already considered the Number One ski resort in the world. Then, employing more tax dollars, we will shower Whistler Mountain with free advertising associated with the Olympics. Then, again at our expense, we will stage Olympic events on Whistler Mountain, thus lending it the invaluable cachet attached to an Olympic-level venue, all the while exposing it to a world-wide television audience. And then we will compensate Intrawest for the privilege of doing so. I knew there was a reason I admired capitalism.)

Even if Poole's figure of $650 million comes in on budget, he is not counting the concomitant expenses attached to the Olympic bid. In earlier announcements, Poole made out a wish-list of projects he felt absolutely had to be built to make the bid viable, including the Sea-to-Sky highway upgrade, a half-billion dollar convention centre (purportedly to house an Olympic media centre) and a rapid-transit line from the airport to downtown, costing between $1-2 billion. Poole's reasoning for such huge expenditures? Those projects would have to be built sooner or later, so why not now?

Canadian Press reports on the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives' alternative estimates of the cost: $1.3 Billion, and only around 1500 new jobs.

The Seattle Times has old but interesting report which includes mention of some really high estimates:

Opponents scoff at the bid committee's estimate that the games would cost $2.3 billion to host. Their estimate: $6 billion. They say security costs were underestimated and conveniently not included was $4.2 billion for upgrading the highway between Vancouver and Whistler, extending the SkyTrain rapid-transit network to Vancouver International Airport and expanding Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre.

Supporters proclaim this is Vancouver's 'time to shine,' exploiting a city hang-up that it is one revolution shy of world class.

An interesting discussion among several Vancouverites.

Here's the Centre for Policy Alternatives study.

The study shows that the Olympics will not pay for themselves. “The Games are not attractive from a financial point of view,” says Dr. Marvin Shaffer, co-author of the study and one of the architects of the province’s Multiple Account Guidelines (used for undertaking cost-benefit analyses of major capital projects). “If Vancouver hosts the 2010 Winter Olympics, there will be a substantial net cost to British Columbians in the order of $1.2 billion, even taking into account increased tax revenues and the benefit of not having to upgrade the Sea-to-Sky highway at a later date.” And as the sole guarantor of the Games, the Province of British Columbia is assuming all the financial burden of what is clearly a risky business venture.”

Alan Greer, co-author of the study, says the economic benefits of hosting the Games are limited. “Job creation estimates have been wildly exaggerated. Realistic employment estimates range from 1,500 to 5,600 jobs created over the seven years the Games are estimated to have an impact. Based on a net cost of $1.2 billion to host the Games, that’s a public subsidy of $220,000 to $820,000 per job.”

July 01, 2003

Child Poverty, TO

Canadian Press: "One in three children in Toronto lived in poverty in 2000 according to the report, based on the most recent data available from Statistics Canada. Despite economic growth during that time, the report said the number of poor children in Toronto has increased by 21,800 since 1995."

Charest Coverage

CBC Ottawa: "Public services in Quebec could be facing disruptions later this year as the collective agreement between the government and tens of thousands civil servants expires on Monday."

NYTimes: "He balanced his first budget, at $37 billion, in part by cutting more than $140 million in welfare spending. But Mr. Charest also slashed tax breaks and subsidies to Alcoa, the Canadian National Railway, the Montreal-based television and movie production industry, securities dealers who trade on Nasdaq and even owners of racehorses, for a savings of more than $500 million. Such cuts touch the benefits of powerful interests, like the Quebec Federation of Labor, whose venture fund now has to pay income tax."

June 30, 2003

CUPW says Charest planning to cut child care

CUPW: "Jean Charest and his new Liberal government think the cost of the province's five-dollar-a-day universal educational service and child care system, along with its Centres de la petite enfance (CPEs), is too high. (Centres de la petite enfance are programs that include both family child care and centre base care.)The Quebec government is now thinking of: Massive funding cuts to the CPEs; Increasing the daily fee parents will have to pay for the program; Ending the programme's universality and forcing families that are financially better off to pay more for the programme; Leaving it up to the private sector to develop new services."

(Wasn't that, like, one of the PQ's good programs?)

June 29, 2003

National Missile Defense

Parliament of Canada: Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs discusses National Missile Defense

Lloyd Axworthy:

If I may be indulged for a moment, let me say that I think that the terms of reference of the committee are too restrictive. By simply looking at these issues within the context of Canadian-U.S. defence relations, it doesn't really encompass the full impact, significance, and consequences. The reality is that in dealing with a decision on missile defence systems, it is not a stand-alone, one-off, singular, silo-type policy, but is part of a much broader, seamless, interconnected military doctrine being put forward by the present U.S. administration, which challenges the ways in which this country and many others have been going about trying to deal with security over the last several decades. It's not possible to deal with it just as a Canada-U.S. issue, and to do so I really think ignores the full fallout and consequences of whatever decision is taken. It has major significance for issues of international peace and security, it has implications for multilateral treaty arrangements, and it has implications for very important decisions related to tackling the causes of terrorism and civil conflict.

So this is not something that can be designed purely within a Canada-U.S. context. It certainly is important, and because of our close relationship with the United States, it certainly is a major factor; but I would suggest that seeing it exclusively in those terms would not give the full weight or full understanding to what is really engaged in this discussion. Any decision the Government of Canada eventually makes will have a ripple effect internally, in terms of what we do as a country, but it will also have major implications for a wide variety of Canadian activities in other international relations. I also believe that because of the role we have played up to now as a major advocate and proponent of multilateral agreements, becoming part of a missile defence program would certainly influence and affect our standing, capacity, and reception as an advocate

Let me simply point out that a missile defence system as presently being put forward by the U.S. administration is integrated into a much larger set of issues. You can call them counterforce issues, you can call them spectrum dominance, or you can call them pre-emptive, but they basically are a repudiation of the notion that security can be fostered and developed through a series of verifiable restraints that countries agree to on limiting the supply of weaponry in the world. That's been a basic notion we've worked on assiduously; rather than dealing with threat and risk by counterforce and counter-threat, it's important to introduce into those discussions restraint, agreements, covenants, and protocols. That is not the position of the present U.S. administration.

Therefore, when one looks at missile defence, you have to put it in the same context as the recent decisions to seriously consider the resumption of nuclear testing and the development of mini nuclear devices. You have to look at it in the context of the substantial reduction in export controls on missile technology; and you have to look at it in the so-called pre-emptive strike capacity, coming out of national security defence, which was clearly expressed as part of the rationale for the invasion of Iraq. All of those things are tied together; they are not separate pieces, but are woven into a strand. You can't take one piece of that strand and one thread and pull it out and say that's what we belong to. If you become attached to that one piece, you get involved in or woven into the entire fabric.

Alexa McDonough:

 I do want to say that the assurances that the foreign affairs committee has conducted a comprehensive foreign policy review are simply not accurate. In fact, despite the urging of some opposition members, two of whom are here at the table, the call for a comprehensive review of NMD was strenuously resisted. In fact, they weren't even prepared to reinforce the status quo by saying we should take extreme caution with respect to Canada entering into some kind of participation in NMD.

This really brings me back to this sense—which I think we all have and which was certainly expressed by witnesses this morning—that we seem to be barrelling ahead with this with a sense of inevitability. At the foreign affairs committee, we've heard government members say both formally and informally, we don't agree with it and we don't think it makes any sense, but you know what, I think we have to do it to repair relations with the United States, for having had the audacity to chart our own independent course with respect to the war in Iraq—and besides, it won't cost Canada anything.

June 22, 2003

Security Certificates

Apparently, CSIS can now arrest immigrants and detain them indefinitely without charges or due process with something called a "security certificate". Indeed, they have done so recently to a man named Adil Charkaoui, who alleged has ties to Al Quaeda.

Some TAO folks have some background information on the certificates, CSIS, etc.

The name of the legislation which makes this possible? The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Canada, Arms Dealer

Stephen James Kerr: Canada the Global Arms Dealer

According to the Canadian Defence Industries Association, (CDIA) "Under the existing conditions, Canada can expect, at a minimum, about $270 million in NMD-related exports over the next 15 years. With appropriate levels of Government and industry action, (emphasis mine) there is a potential for that to increase to more than $1 billion in exports."

CDIA figures show that Canadian 'defence' industry revenues grew 35% between 1998 and 2000, far outpacing growth of the rest of the economy, which grew at approximately 3%. Canada's 'defence' market grew from $3.7 billion in 1998 to $4.08 billion in 2000, up 22.6%. Exports to the USA grew by 17% from just under a billion to $1.25 billion. And our arms exports to the rest of the world grew a staggering 75% in the same period from $798 million to $1.5 billion.

Meet the Canada you never knew, the global arms dealer with a heart of gold.

June 19, 2003

Fish in a barrel, or: media criticism in Canada

A fun game: count the number of native fishermen or DFO officials quoted this Globe and Mail story about a court ruling on Native fisheries, which appeared on page A1 today.

By my reckoning: zero. Everyone quoted in the article unambiguously affirms the exact same opinion.

May 21, 2003

Protesting the Native Governance Act

Thunder Bay Indymedia: "Around 4000 First Nations and non-aboriginal people took to the streets of Kenora to protest the First Nations Governance Act (FNGA). Kenora is the home riding of Bob Nault, Canadian Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, and his proposed suite of Bills would mean drastic changes to Aboriginal rights in Canada."

May 14, 2003

John Manley discloses

John Manley has recently disclosed all of the contributors to his leadership campaign. The media have all swallowed the spin about Manley "challenging" Martin and Copps to disclose their contributors as well, but almost no one is looking closely at the actual list. This is disappointing, since it offers us a rare opportunity to see Canadian democracy in action.

Here are the contributors who gave $25,000 or more:

American Farm Investment Corp.
Bell Canada Enterprises
Bombardier Inc.
Canwest Media Inc.
Capital Hill Group
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
Encana Corp.
Freeman, Jay
Kochar, Cuckoo
MacDonald, John A.
Magna International
Matthews, Terence
McLennan, John T.
Ottawa South Federal Liberal Riding Association
Profac Facilities Management Services
Torys LLP
Equity Management International limited
Dimakopolous, A.
Norbourg Inc.
Simpson Law Office

Manley's Donors

Democracy Watch: "Several companies making large donations to Manley's campaign are registered to lobby the government on a wide range of issues.  The corporate lobby firm Capital Hill Group, for example, contributed $20,000 in cash and another $30,000 in kind, covering staff salaries.  Other lobby firms on the list include Global Public Affairs ($1,500) and Hill and Knowlton ($1,500), as well as industry lobby associations, such as Canada's Research-Based Pharmaceuticals Companies ($9,000), the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance ($1,500), the Brewers Association of Canada ($3,000), Railway Association of Canada ($1,500), and Association of Canadian Distillers ($1,500). "

May 10, 2003

Don't Lift the Sanctions Yet!

Rahul Mahajan: Don't Lift the Sanctions Yet!

ï¿ŠAfter five years spent working to end the sanctions on Iraq, I find myself in an odd position. I'm opposed to the current U.S. plans to end the sanctions. The new situation is fascinating. For a dozen years, every time we in the anti-sanctions movement talked about the suffering caused by the sanctions (well over 500,000 children under the age of five dead and a society in ruins), the constant refrain from the Bush administration, the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration -- was that the suffering was not caused by sanctions but by the regime. Once the regime is destroyed, miraculously, the Bush administration realizes overnight that sanctions were actually harmful and that it's necessary to remove that burden from the Iraqi people in order to provide humanitarian aid and reconstruction.

Dykes

Alison Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For is a great comic strip.