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Note: CETA negotiations continue in Brussels today (May 6) through at least Wednesday. By: Council of Canadians | Press Release: Amsterdam/Brussels/Ottawa – The proposed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the European Union (EU) and Canada would grant energy companies far-reaching rights to challenge bans and regulations of environmentally damaging shale gas [...] The post CETA: EU-Canada trade agreement threatens fracking bans appeared first on The Canadian Progressive. This and that for your Tuesday reading. - We shouldn’t be surprised that the corporate sector is reacting with contrived outrage to the Cons’ tinkering with a severely flawed temporary foreign worker program. But Jim Stanford points out what it would take to actually move labour standards upward rather than including Canadian workers in a race to the bottom: (T)he Harper government is now moving to avert a political disaster in the making. Advance coverage in the Globe and Mail indicates its proposed changes will include a new fee for temporary foreign worker permits, and requirements that employers promise to (Read more…) Council of Canadians celebrates vote for transparency and democracy By: Council of Canadians | Press Release: NANAIMO, B.C. – The Council of Canadians and its Mid Island chapter are celebrating a decision by City Council last night to demand a permanent exemption for the City from the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and [...] The post City of Nanaimo asks to be excluded from CETA appeared first on The Canadian Progressive. Not that this would change my voting preferences. The Tories lost me at Robert Stanfield. But it bothers me deeply that the latest federal budget lowers tariffs on hockey equipment and curling rocks but raises it on bicycles and a thousand other items. When it comes to trying to justify perpetually-increasing restrictions on democratic governance in the guise of “free trade” agreements, advocates present two polar opposite views as to what such agreements are intended to accomplish. The first – and more plausible – view of the actual and intended effect of trade agreements is that they primarily serve the purposes of the parties who push and negotiate them. When corporate interests and their pet Randians meet behind closed doors to draft agreements which will be subject to zero public accountability, it’s a safe bet that it’s the general public which stands to . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: On unbalanced trade By: Canadian Auto Workers Union | Press Release: Billions in new federal supports for Canadian industry is a partial, but important, step forward in assisting the country’s embattled manufacturing sector, said CAW President Ken Lewenza, in response to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s budget released today. In his budget, Minister Flaherty outlined the federal [...] The post Federal Budget 2013: CAW demands full national manufacturing strategy for Canada appeared first on The Canadian Progressive. By: Council of Canadians (Press Release) | March 1, 2013: OTTAWA – Two more municipalities have taken action as part of the Council of Canadians’ campaign to mobilize local governments against the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). This week, Prince Albert City Council endorsed community demands for a bigger public role in CETA while Toronto city councillors READ MORE Transatlantic Statement Opposing Excessive Corporate Rights (Investor-State Dispute Settlement) in the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) By Trade Justice Network | Feb. 5, 2013: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM and OTTAWA, ONTARIO and MONTREAL, QUEBEC – Labour, environmental, Indigenous, women’s, academic, health sector and fair trade organizations from Europe, Canada and Quebec representing more than 65 million READ MORE 
 Advocacy, Business News, Canada, Canada-EU, Canadians, CETA, Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, Corporate Rights, Corporations, democracy, europe, European Union, Europeans, Featured, Guest Blog, Indigenous Rights, Movements and Organizations, NAFTA, north america, Press release, public interest, quebec, trade, Trade and Investment Policy, World News Canada 140 years ago was a more intolerant, sexist, and unequal place, but on one important issue it was far more progressive than the Canada of today, and that’s on public education. Nations often like to look back and take pride at the progress they’ve made over the years, and Canada has a lot to be proud of, our country has moved forward on many important fronts, but in regards to education, it has not. In fact judged by the original intent of early Canadian governments, our education system has actually moved backwards. This retrograde is not due to new . . . → Read More: The Scott Ross: Canada Has Moved Backwards On Education: Our Past Demands Free Post-Secondary Heavily rumoured all weekend has been an impending trade between the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Mets. In their most recent permutations, rumours have the deal going as follows: To the Blue Jays: RA Dickey (2012 NL Cy Young Award winner, 3 consecutive strong seasons, 38 years of age, only making $5M in 2013, and only asking for a 2-year, $26M extension), Josh Thole (major league catcher who has performed below average offensively and defensively) and an unnamed non-elite prospect. To the Mets: Travis d’Arnaud (Jays #1 prospect; top-ranked prospect in MLB), Noah Syndergaard (Jays #2 ranked prospect . . . → Read More: Death By Trolley: Should Toronto Blue Jays trade d’Arnaud & Syndergaard for Dickey? by Forest Ethics: An in-depth review of shareholder information from Bloomberg shows that 71 per cent of all tar sands production is owned by non-Canadian shareholders. Supposedly Canadian companies (with Canadian headquarters and accounting practices who trade on our stock exchanges) are largely owned by foreign interests, including Suncor (56.8%), Canadian Oil Sands (56.8%), Nexen READ MORE Smugglers sneak B.C. bud ashore in Washington State. Below: Typical pot smugglers’ accoutrements. Actual Canadian marijuana smugglers may not appear exactly as illustrated. If we Albertans want a hint of what it may be like when the oil runs out – or is replaced by cold fusion or something – all we may have to … . . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: U.S. pot decriminalization: will B.C.’s economy go up in smoke? Right on AA! You did done good. Now maybe the Jays can once again contend in the AL East! Woo-hoo (5) Trashy, Ottawa, Ontario . . . → Read More: Trashy’s World: Look out Yankees!! Green Party leader Elizabeth May is spot on again! She’s demanding that CSIS should weigh in on the Canada-China treaty, due to be ratified by cabinet this week. The Harper Government wants Canadians to believe that the treaty will “address Canada’s trade imbalance with the Asian economic powerhouse.” The truth, as May argued on CTV’s Question Period earlier [...] Harper in China: Not likely to be an opera any time soon. Below: Sir Alec Guinness as George Smiley, where is our Smiley now that we really need him? Sub-Lieut. Jeffrey Delisle, as himself; Sir John Harington. Is it only me that sees a certain irony in the fact a naval officer who sold military secrets to the now-thoroughly-capitalist Russians for a few thousand dollars has been tossed in the slammer as a traitor by a government that would sign away our country’s sovereignty in an all-but secret treaty with the still-Communist Chinese? It certainly shows the difference a big . . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: None dare call it treason: Jeffrey Delisle’s secret sale and Stephen Harper’s secret treaty On the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the Council of Canadians is calling on provinces to follow the Quebec government’s lead by holding immediate public consultations on this generation’s big deal – the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). “The Great Free Trade Debate never ended; it rages [...] Emitting carbon has a cost to Canadians, whether we call it a carbon tax or not. Considering this Conservative government is spending money on increasing health care costs from respiratory damage due to pollution, that it is spending money on additional infrastructure because of climate change, and that it is spending money to improve air-quality and the environment; it’s clear this government is collecting additional money through taxes because of carbon emissions. The Conservatives may not think that the increase in taxes to pay for carbon emissions is a carbon tax, but the additional tax is still a tax and . . . → Read More: The Scott Ross: The Conservative Carbon Tax A new poll by Ipsos Reid, released today by the Council of Canadians and the Canadian Health Coalition, shows that what would otherwise be high support for a Canada-European Union free trade deal collapses on the issue of pharmaceutical drug costs, with 69 per cent of Canadians opposing a deal that would lengthen patent protections for brand name drugs. The two organizations are asking the provinces, whose trade negotiators are in Ottawa this week for another round of Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) talks, to insist on removing patent term extension and related pharmaceutical proposals from the EU trade deal. Failing to do . . . → Read More: Canadian Progressive: Canadians oppose drug patent extension in Canada-EU trade deal: POLL Prominent Academics Respond to the TPP (via EFF) We asked several academics to let us know their thoughts about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). The TPP is a secretive, multi-national trade agreement that threatens to extend restrictive intellectual property (IP) laws across the globe and rewrite international rules on its enforcement… RELATED: The Canadian Progressive World joins global protest against ACTA China’s state oil company is offering $15 billion for Calgary’s Nexen. At this point I’ve really lost count of how many Chinese acquisitions have been made in the last few years. The sale will probably be allowed as the looting of Canadian assets continues unabated. Welcome to Chinada, please temporarily enjoy your stay. China is dropping USD ‘like a boss’ all over the world, snatching up assets left, right, and yes even center. As an added bonus, for China, there really is no risk. They’re trying to get out of the U.S. treasury market and alongside with the BRICs . . . → Read More: Canadian Trends: UPDATE-1: Chinada Enbridge has provided an interesting response to Christy Clark’s concerns over the Enbridge pipeline. “We have a struggle here in B.C. and we know that,” said Janet Holder, the Enbridge executive vice-president in charge of Gateway. She said hearings this week in Prince George “did not take on any different focus because of what was released by the NTSB. People in B.C. still are very concerned and we will continue to try to find ways to help them understand that we can build this pipeline in a very safe, reliable and, I think importantly, sustainable way.” Everything . . . → Read More: Canadian Trends: What does ‘sustainable’ really mean? Yep, another Alberta post. Welcome to the reality of the two-tiered Alberta energy system. What do I mean by two tiered? Well let me explain. Over a year ago I wrote this piece on the “requirement” for the new high capacity transmission lines. Quoted in that piece is this little blurb: Alberta is Canada’s biggest per capita consumer of energy. In 2003, Alberta’s per capita consumption was two-and-a-half times higher than the national average. Between 1990 and 2003, per capita energy consumption increased by 11%. That surge was not entirely due to a sizeable increase in population. A big part of the . . . → Read More: Canadian Trends: Alberta, Canada’s ‘Energy Capital’, implements rolling blackouts Perspective is everything. When a Canadian citizen looks up at their government, they see a democratic institution being stolen from them through deceptive practices. When an international corporation looks down at a government, they see a tool for the implementation of policy. To understand the multi-facted implementation of policy and issues of debate you must view from the appropriate angle. Democracy, lately, is always on the defensive. It’s bill after bill after bill that no one really wants. Even CISPA drew the ire of conservative supporters. So where are these bills coming from? Further, and perhaps even more importantly, where . . . → Read More: Canadian Trends: There is no Canada, only Zuul Once upon a time, Alberta was in deficit. Their King at the time, Ralph, decided that this was completely unacceptable and from that moment forward (with the aid of an earlier oil boom and massive government cuts) the deficit would be no more. Ralph accomplished his goal, Albertans rejoiced, and in their deficit cutting glory they declared themselves the master deficit slashers of Canada. That was then, and this is now. There will be no more oil booms, at least none that last long enough for Alberta to see any lasting growth and as the cheaper to produce conventional oil . . . → Read More: Canadian Trends: $80 / barrel? Prepare yourself for the next Albertan epic fail. So, can we finally drop the act? Debt-fuelled economy unsustainable, Carney says. Canada’s relatively healthy economy has been largely based on borrowed money but the situation cannot go on indefinitely, Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney warned Thursday. Relative to the circus currently going on in the EU, or the $15T and counting debt in the U.S., maybe. But let me ask you something, if to pay your rent you have to continuously borrow money, would you consider your personal finances “healthy”? They may be relatively healthy when compared to the homeless but then again it is this . . . → Read More: Canadian Trends: Debt fuelled economy unsustainable? Gee, what a surprise |
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