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By Obert Madondo, on June 16, 2013, at 8:44 pm By: Obert Madondo Twitter: @Obiemad
Earlier this month, the Federal Court heard oral arguments in the Hupacasath First Nation’s legal case against the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Act (FIPA) trade deal. The Hupacasath, a small band in Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, argued that the deal infringed on their inherent Aboriginal title and rights. And that they weren’t consulted as required by the Canadian Constitution.
In its rebuttal, the Harper Government used baseless arguments. For example, the Conservatives argued that Canadians had been invited to respond to FIPA since 2008. The truth is: the deal was negotiated in secret.
Here’s (Read more…)
By Obert Madondo, on June 16, 2013, at 6:05 pm By: Obert Madondo Twitter: @Obiemad
An Alberta businessman is included in a massive online database of secret tax-haven names released to the public on Friday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. David Ghermezian, the president of the West Edmonton Mall, is linked to a British Virgin Islands-registered company called Regal Mega Malls Development Corp, the CBC News reports.
Ghermezian’s inclusion on this list got me thinking about the pro-business Harper Conservatives and their undisguised determination to coddle tax havens and tax cheats.
The database, first leaked by the CBC and ICIJ in April, indicates that at least 130,000 people globally are (Read more…)
By Guest Blog, on June 15, 2013, at 11:57 pm By: Forest Ethics | Press Release
VANCOUVER, June 13, 2013 – The National Energy Board (NEB) reports that a crude oil spill of unknown size was detected late Wednesday near Merritt, British Columbia (BC). The source of the spill was the Kinder Morgan TransMountain pipeline.
Last month BC Premier Christy Clark announced her opposition to the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline proposal and called for it to be rejected in the province’s official final arguments to the National Energy Board Joint Review Panel process.
“This is yet another reminder that it’s not a matter of if spills will happen but (Read more…)
By Guest Blog, on June 14, 2013, at 5:39 pm By: Council of Canadians | Press Release
HALIFAX, NS, June 14, 2013 – Representatives of several- Halifax-based environmental, social justice and cultural groups are condemning the heavy-handed actions of the RCMP which have led to the arrest of 12 protesters seeking to halt the advance of fracking in Kent County, NB, north of Moncton.
Members of the Council of Canadians, The Sierra Club of Canada and other concerned citizens visited the sacred fire yesterday and were outraged to learn that the RCMP had made several arrests this morning in order to facilitate the exploratory drilling of the area by (Read more…)
By Obert Madondo, on June 13, 2013, at 6:56 pm By: Obert Madondo Twitter: @Obiemad
A new report by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) condemns the Harper Conservatives for repeated violations of union and worker rights.
The annual report, titled Countries at Risk: 2013 Report on Violations of Trade Union Rights, was released in Geneva earlier this week. It suggests that labour conditions have deteriorated under Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government.
Most importantly, the reports spotlights the Conservatives’s dictatorship-style repressive responses to legitimate labour actions, including back-to-work legislation.
Related: Canada’s Laws Fuel Migrant Worker Exploitation: Report
Here’s the report’s take on Canada:
Interference by public authorities in migrant workers’ (Read more…)
. . . → Read More: The Canadian Progressive: International report condemns Harper government’s attacks on workers, trade unions
By Obert Madondo, on June 13, 2013, at 3:21 pm By: Pratap Chatterjee
Keystone Pipeline Handout
TransCanada and the provincial government of Alberta are paying former advisors to the Obama administration – as well as former staff of the Hillary Clinton and John Kerry presidential campaigns – to help them lobby for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to transport tar sands fuel to the U.S.
The pipeline from Alberta – which is to be built by TransCanada – has been delayed for over four years pending approval from the U.S. State Department which has final say because it crosses the international border. President Barack Obama is expected to (Read more…)
By Obert Madondo, on June 13, 2013, at 2:21 pm By: Obert Madondo Twitter: @Obiemad
Activists outside the British Parliament protest Canada’s tar sands. (Photo: Facebook/Idle No More UK Solidarity Action)
Environmental activists protesting “petrocrat” Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and our dirty tar sands were arrested at the British Parliament earlier today, The Guardian (UK) and other media report.
The protesters, identifying themselves as Love Canada, Hate Tar Sands, were arrested after climbing the roof of the British Parliament building with T-shirts saying ‘oil out of politics’, ‘stop Harper’ and ‘stop the tar sands’. They also spilled molasses on the floor outside the building.
The activists criticized the UK government for (Read more…)
. . . → Read More: The Canadian Progressive: Londoners arrested for protesting petrocrat Stephen Harper, tar sands
By Obert Madondo, on June 12, 2013, at 6:21 pm By: Obert Madondo Twitter: @Obiemad
A massive anti-tar sands protest will greet Prime Minister Stephen Harper when he arrives in London on Thursday en route to the June 17-18 G8 summit in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland.
The UK Tar Sands Network and a coalition of environmentalists hope to show Harper “that there is huge opposition to tar sands in the UK”. And that Canada’s lobbying against the EU’s fuel quality directive is unacceptable.
The organizers also argue that Harper is unworthy of the honour of addressing the UK Parliament. Harper is scheduled to deliver the first speech by a Canadian PM to the British (Read more…)
By Guest Blog, on June 12, 2013, at 12:37 pm By: Food Democracy Now | Press Release
WASHINGTON, June 10, 2013 – A three-judge panel at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled today that a group of organic and otherwise non-GMO farmer and seed company plaintiffs are not entitled to bring a lawsuit to protect themselves from Monsanto’s transgenic seed patents “because Monsanto has made binding assurances that it will not ‘take legal action against growers whose crops might inadvertently contain traces of Monsanto biotech genes (because, for example, some transgenic seed or pollen blew onto the grower’s land).’”
In the ruling issued today in the (Read more…)
By Guest Blog, on June 11, 2013, at 11:03 pm By: Oxfam Canada | Press Release
Oxfam Canada urges Prime Minister Stephen Harper to help end global hunger by supporting strong steps at the G8 summit to close tax havens and lift the secrecy that enables massive global tax evasion.
June 10, 2013 – Oxfam Canada urges Prime Minister Stephen Harper to help end global hunger by supporting strong steps at the G8 summit to close tax havens and lift the secrecy that enables massive global tax evasion.
“Tax evasion and secret deals hurt people living in poverty,” said Mark Fried, policy coordinator at Oxfam Canada. “They deprive people of (Read more…)
By Obert Madondo, on June 11, 2013, at 6:03 pm
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: ‘” don’t want to live in a society that does these sort of things”
Video available on YouTube
We recommend: The NSA Black Hole: 5 Basic Things We Still Don’t Know About the Agency’s Snooping #freebrad: Tweeting Bradley Manning Trial Before US Military Court CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou: Torture was official US policy ‘Why I Did It’: Whistleblower Bradley Manning Tells US Military Court Aaron Swartz’s Last Gift: Site Launches Whistleblower Safe House
The post Journalist Glenn Greenwald interviews NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden [VIDEO] appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
. . . → Read More: The Canadian Progressive: Journalist Glenn Greenwald interviews NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden [VIDEO]
By Admin CP, on June 11, 2013, at 2:49 pm National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland.
By: Justin Elliott and Theodoric Meyer | ProPublica
Last week saw revelations that the FBI and the National Security Agency have been collecting Americans’ phone records en masse and that the agencies have access to data from nine tech companies. But secrecy around the programs has meant even basic questions are still unanswered.
Here’s what we still don’t know:
Has the NSA been collecting all Americans’ phone records, and for how long?
It’s not entirely clear.
The Guardian published a court order that directed a Verizon subsidiary to turn over phone (Read more…)
. . . → Read More: The Canadian Progressive: The NSA Black Hole: 5 Basic Things We Still Don’t Know About the Agency’s Snooping
By Guest Blog, on June 10, 2013, at 8:20 pm By: Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care | Press Release
Photo: Doctors for Refugee Care
TORONTO, June 10, 2013 – Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care is holding a second National Day of Action on June 17th to call on the federal government to reverse the reckless cuts to refugee health care. It has been almost one year since the government made changes to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) which has left many patients – including sick children and pregnant women fleeing sexual violence – suffering. Due to overwhelming interest, events will be happening in at least 17 cities across the country. These events are a demonstration of health care workers and (Read more…)
By Guest Blog, on June 10, 2013, at 12:42 pm By: UFCW Canada | Press Release
Dr. Cindy Blackstock (Photo credit: Art Babych)
TORONTO, June 9, 2013 – As reported in the Toronto Star, the federal Canadian Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart has found that Dr. Cindy Blackstock, Executive Director of the First Nations Children and Family Caring Society (FNCFCS), has been the subject of surveillance by the Tory Government in Ottawa.
“I was shocked when I realized that in a democracy such as Canada our federal government thinks it is right to violate the privacy of citizens who have a view that is different from theirs,” says Prof. Blackstock. “By simply working (Read more…)
. . . → Read More: The Canadian Progressive: Harper Conservatives spying on well-known aboriginal rights advocate, says UFCW Canada
By Guest Blog, on June 9, 2013, at 6:49 pm By: Public Service Alliance of Canada | Press Release
On June 5th, Conservative MP Blaine Calkins for Wetaskiwin (Alberta) introduced Bill C-525, an Act to change the certification and revocation sections of the Canada Labour Code, the Public Service Labour Relations Act and the Parliamentary Employees Staff Relations Act.
The purpose of the bill is to remove the possibility of automatic certification of bargaining units, often referred to as “card check.” These proposed changes to existing federal legislation would put in place the highest barriers to unionization in the country. It is another attack from the Conservatives against (Read more…)
By Guest Blog, on June 7, 2013, at 9:14 pm By: Action Canada for Population and Development | Press Release
OTTAWA/GENEVA, June 7, 2013 – Governments and civil society are calling into question the leadership of the Canadian government on the theme of Violence Against Women at the 23rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC).
In previous years, the Canadian government, which chairs the negotiations of the annual HRC resolution on violence against women, has played a leadership role in helping to create advances seeking to protect women from violence. Yet this year, a number of concerns have been raised regarding Canada’s approach to the new resolution (Read more…)
By Obert Madondo, on June 7, 2013, at 6:00 pm
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s ex-chief of staff Nigel Wright tried to kill the Senate expenses scandal. He cut that $90,000 cheque which paid off Sen. Mike Duffy‘s fraudulent claims. Until now, the Conservatives have insisted that Wright used his own healthy bank account.
The money possibly came from a secret $1 million fund in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
According to the CBC News, the Harper Conservatives established the clandestine fund when they came to power in 2006. Most importantly, Wright had “exclusive signing authority” over the fund when he was chief of staff.
From the CBC:
CBC News has learned that (Read more…)
By Obert Madondo, on June 6, 2013, at 10:15 pm During Question Period on Thursday, Green Party leader Elizabeth May asked Stephen Harper whether the feds would still approve Enbridge‘s Northern Gateway Pipeline, now officially rejected by British Columbians. WATCH:
Elizabeth May:
Mr. Speaker, in 2001, the Prime Minister wrote a famous letter to the former premier of Alberta, which he urged him to act to “limit the extent to which an aggressive and hostile federal government can encroach on legitimate provincial jurisdiction”. Six days ago, the provincial government of British Columbia said no to the Enbridge project. It said that Enbridge had completely failed to demonstrate any evidence (Read more…)
By Obert Madondo, on June 6, 2013, at 4:04 am Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber (Photo: Alberta Diary)
Conservative MPs on the House of Commons’s ethics committee amended Brent Rathgeber’s private member’s bill seeking salary disclosures. He’d proposed forcing disclosures for public servants earning more than about $180,000. The committee upped the threshold to $444,000.
Rathgeber, the Conservative MP for Edmonton-St. Albert, didn’t like the dictatorship-style move very much. So much so that he’d to quit the Conservative caucus in protest.
And then he tweeted his protest:
I just notifed the Board of Directors of the Edm-St. Albert CPC Association and the Speaker that I have resigned from the CPC Caucus.
My decision (Read more…)
By Guest Blog, on June 5, 2013, at 9:00 pm By: Public Citizen | Press Release
WASHINGTON, June 5 – What: Press conference on Thursday, the day of Google Inc.’s annual shareholder meeting, led by consumer groups and shareholders, who will call on Google to institute a policy to disclose its political spending and end its membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Groups of Google investors sent a letter on Monday that echoes the message. Another set of Google investors representing more than $125 billion in assets under management is planning to send a separate letter today with the same requests.
The press conference comes after several public interest groups (Read more…)
By Guest Blog, on June 5, 2013, at 7:30 pm By: CUPE | Press Release
NEW WESTMINSTER, BC – Education workers and students are paying the price for ballooning deficits in Coquitlam and New Westminster. The districts have announced layoffs of CUPE support staff that the union says will severely affect the quality and even safety of education and services.
A $12.6-million deficient in Coquitlam brought the layoff of 51 CUPE employees, including those that deal with the most vulnerable students. In New West a projected $5.5 million shortfall led the board to send out layoff notices last week to 37 CUPE employees including 27 special education assistants.
(Read more…)
By Obert Madondo, on June 4, 2013, at 12:24 pm By: Obert Madondo
Satirical Duffy $90,000 Bill
Veteran B.C. newspaper satirist Dan Murphy engaged in a little good old-fashioned Canadian political satire when he created a fake $90,000 bill starring scandal-plagued Sen. Mike Duffy. The Bank of Canada wants us to believe a serious crime has been committed here, according to Times Colonist.
The video below explains the satirical bill’s key ingredients: fake high-tech security features, bacon scent, a singing and burping Duffy and a winking hologram of Nigel Wright, PM Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff.
How does the Bank of Canada respond? It dispatched a threatening email to (Read more…)
By Guest Blog, on June 3, 2013, at 9:27 pm By: Council of Canadians | Press Release
OTTAWA – Two weeks after the launch of a public petition, organizers have received over 3,000 signatures demanding that energy company Lone Pine Resources drop its $250 million NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement) lawsuit against Canada for Québec’s moratorium on fracking.
The petition sponsors—the Council of Canadians, the Réseau québécois sur l’Intégration continentale (RQIC), Sierra Club US, FLOW (For Love of Water), Eau Secours! and AmiEs de la Terre—sent three letters to Lone Pine today, each signed by 1,000 people, and will continue to collect signatures until the company agrees to (Read more…)
By Guest Blog, on June 3, 2013, at 5:56 pm By: Mining Watch Canada | Press Release
OTTAWA – The situation around Eldorado Gold Corporation’s mining projects in northern Greece is extremely tense. In the face of negative official response to social and environmental concerns from the company, Greek authorities, and even the Canadian Ambassador – a delegation from the affected area has come to ask Canadians for help.
The Canadian government strongly supports extractive resource development in Canada and internationally, where Canadian companies dominate the mining sector. It relies on “host” countries to regulate such operations in the absence of any relevant and binding international regulations. MiningWatch Canada (Read more…)
By Guest Blog, on June 2, 2013, at 9:50 pm By: Friends of Canadian Broadcasting | Press Release:
TORONTO, May 28, 2013 – CBC’s new licences, announced this morning by Canada’s broadcast regulator, are the culmination of years of neglect by successive governments and the product of the Harper Conservatives’ hostility toward public broadcasting in Canada.
The CRTC renewed the licences for all of the CBC’s broadcast services, giving the green light for a three-year period to the CBC’s request to introduce ads on Radio Two and its French language counterpart Espace Musique. Should the CBC wish to extend radio advertising beyond three years, it would have to seek (Read more…)
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